On New Year’s Eve, San Francisco became the host venue for the 34th America’s Cup, the Super Bowl of sailing, culminating in 2013 after various challenger rounds beginning next year. The Golden Gate Yacht Club-sponsored Oracle Racing won the America’s Cup last year off the coast of Valencia, Spain. San Francisco Bay will provide a spectacular and accessible setting for racing.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation. The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
The Obamas are extending their vacation, which began several days late for the president due to late-breaking action in Congress, through January 3rd. Obama will be back in the White House on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 4th.
On Sunday chat shows, Republican congressional leaders signaled that they expect to try to take down Obama’s national health care reform plan. I’m not sure how well that strategy works, if indeed it is their strategy.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in Northern California today.
He has no scheduled public events.
The 34th governor of California will become the state’s 39th governor on Monday morning in Sacramento.
There will be full coverage.
Brown, who is putting the finishing touches on his third inaugural address, has had no new announcements the past several days.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger will be on hand Monday as Attorney General Jerry Brown takes over the governorship.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama wishes America a Happy New Year and discusses the still sluggish economic recovery.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation. The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
The Obamas are extending their vacation, which began several days late for the president due to late-breaking action in Congress, through January 3rd.
Obama will be back in the White House on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 4th.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned from Sun Valley and is in Los Angeles.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger has made a number of late appointments, which I’ll discuss in the Monday Morning Quarterback feature.
He has not yet made a statement on San Francisco being chosen as the site of the America’s Cup, which occurred on New Year’s Eve.
The event, which is essentially the Super Bowl of sailing, is quite spectacular, and will occur sometime in 2013 when the current America’s Cup champion Oracle Racing, owned by Silicon Valley software mogul Larry Ellison and sponsored by the Golden Gate Yacht Club, defends its title on San Francisco Bay. Oracle won the Cup last February, defeating the Swiss Alinghi team off the coast of Valencia, Spain.
72-foot catamarans will be slicing through the waters inside the Golden Gate with vast throngs of spectators looking on in person, and on television around the world.
Prior to that, challenger rounds will take place in other parts of the world, and on San Francisco Bay, in 2012.
Gaining the America’s Cup for the first time in San Francisco is a coup for outgoing Mayor Gavin Newsom, who will be sworn in as lieutenant governor of California between now and January 10th. (He’s not joining the other statewide elected officials on Monday as he is waiting for a new and more moderate San Francisco board of supervisors to be sworn in, so as to avert the selection of an interim mayor from the far left.)
When Oracle Racing tried to extract a more lucrative deal from the city in terms of future development rights, Newsom seems to have held fast to the original deal, despite competition from Newport, the longtime Rhode Island capital of sailing, and Italy.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is preparing for his inauguration Monday morning at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.
New Zealand’s main city of Auckland, where I saw in the Millennium, became the first city on the planet to see in 2011.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM.
** OBAMA TODAY – FRIDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation. The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – FRIDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in Northern California today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition, including his third Inaugural Address.
His inaugural on Monday is shaping up as a spare, austere event with a certain degree of elegance.
He will be sworn in Monday morning, with the inaugural ceremony starting at 11 AM in Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, right across the street from the loft apartment that he and First Lady-to be Anne Gust Brown have taken in the capital city. The ceremony will be brief, lasting little more than half an hour.
Brown will be sworn in by new Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakuye, then deliver his inaugural address, which is still developing and has no set time on the schedule. As of now, there are no other scheduled speakers.
Brown’s only other major event of this spare inaugural is a reception from 4 PM to 7 PM at the California Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento, not far from the Western terminus of the Pony Express.
That’s set as strictly a meet-and-greet, with no set program of speakers or entertainment.
In between his inaugural ceremony and his inaugural reception, Brown will drop in on various gatherings. This may well include the hot dogs-and-chips party on the North side of the Capitol sponsored by the Orange County Employees Association, the largest public gathering of the inaugural. The union has been touting Brown’s appearance, but it’s not official.
Brown will also appear at some of the inaugural dos of the other statewide elected officials, the largest of which appears to be that of Attorney General-elect Kamala Harris, an early Obama backer and the San Francisco district attorney, at the California Museum.
Harris’s San Francisco colleague and likely rival down the line, Mayor Gavin Newsom, is delaying his inauguration as lieutenant governor until the city’s new board of supervisors selects an interim mayor not from the the far left.
What is Brown’s precise schedule? Surely you jest. As the saying has always gone (note to eternal Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters, who got it wrong in a recent column): It will emerge.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – FRIDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is with First Lady Maria Shriver and their family in Sun Valley.
He has no scheduled public events.
Amidst widespread concern about potential terror strikes over the holidays, five suspected Islamic jihadists were arrested in Copenhagen for allegedly planning an assault on the Danish newspaper which five years ago published cartoons making fun of the Prophet Muhammad. Danish authorities call it the most serious terror plot in the country’s history.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM.
** OBAMA TODAY – THURSDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation. The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
Obama is extending his vacation for another day. He arrived in Hawaii over four days later than scheduled due to the late-breaking press of business in Congress.
Obama will now leave Hawaii late on Monday, January 3rd, and will be back in the White House on the afternoon of Tuesday, January 4th.
He is, of course, monitoring widespread warnings of jihadist terrorist attacks. Danish authorities say they have just thwarted the worst terror plot in their nation’s history.
Obama has a team of national security consultants ensconced in a hotel in in downtown Honolulu.
On a brighter note, new applications for unemployment have reached a two-and-a-half year low. This, coupled with relatively strong holiday retail sales so far, is another encouraging sign for the nation’s slow-mo economic recovery.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – THURSDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in Northern California today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition, including his third Inaugural Address.
Brown hasn’t announced any appointments for several weeks. If he announces some late this week, they get far less attention with the New Year’s holiday and Brown’s Inauguration now close at hand.
There continue to be press reports that Brown will propose more big budget cuts and and extension of tax increases on sales, income, and car registration adopted in 2009 and scheduled to expire next year. That would require a special election.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – THURSDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is with First Lady Maria Shriver and their family in Sun Valley.
He has no scheduled public events.
The Kennedy Center Honorees at the White House earlier this month: Paul McCartney, Merle Haggard, Oprah Winfrey, Bill T. Jones, and Jerry Herman meet the Obamas.
** OBAMA TODAY – WEDNESDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation. The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu. They will be in Hawaii until January 2nd.
Obama went golfing and snorkeling yesterday. He also worked on the State of the Union and the White House staff shuffle and consulted with terrorism advisors.
Jihadist terror activity is up, along with chatter, over the past few weeks around the world. And it was at Christmastime a year ago that a jihadist nearly blew up a jetliner in the skies over Detroit.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – WEDNESDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is with First Lady Maria Shriver and their family in Sun Valley.
He has no scheduled public events.
The California Supreme Court decided yesterday not to intervene in a lower court’s move to block Schwarzenegger’s proposed sale of some major state buildings, which would save $1.3 billion for the current budget but cost more over time as the buildings were leased back. Actually, the entire Court recused itself, as one of the buildings on the block would have been its headquarters in San Francisco, so it was replaced for this action by seven state appellate court justices.
This means the sale will not go through while Schwarzenegger is governor, leaving its ultimate disposition to incoming Governor Jerry Brown, who has declined to defend the move as attorney general.
As a concept, Brown does not like the idea of selling off state assets to solve a shortfall in an operating budget.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – WEDNESDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in Northern California today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition, including his third Inaugural Address.
Heavy rains drenched San Francisco on Tuesday.
** MAD MEN FOR CHRISTMAS. Because there’s nothing that says Christmas quite like advertising and excess.
The advent of awards season, and of late Christmas shopping, brings … Mad Men! Yes, I know the show won’t be back for its fifth season for months to come. (And it will be back, even though creator Matthew Weiner and the studio and network are in the midst of their usual negotiation mishegoss. The key thing to know is that the actors’ options have all been exercised.)
As always, there be some spoilers ahead.
First, before we talk about the Mad Men books — including the faux Roger Sterling memoir much discussed in Season 4 — which can make late stocking stuffer presents, or even later presents to, er, one’s self, let’s go to the awards stuff. The best show on television is again being honored as the awards season begins to ramp up. … From my December 23rd column.
** 2010: A JERRY BROWN ODYSSEY.“Everyone thought we were the Bad News Bears up against the New York Yankees. But we pulled it out.”
– Anne Gust Brown, referring to her husband’s campaign against billionaire Meg Whitman, in her introduction of Governor-elect Jerry Brown’s victory speech. Brown won in a landslide.
In the long and winding road that is Jerry Brown’s life, there has been no shortage of odysseys. But with 2010 drawing to a close, and Brown confronting one of the greatest crises of governance seen in a modern state, it’s worth looking at this particular one.
A year ago at the holiday parties of the smart political set, Brown was seen as the most likely next governor of California. He’d cleared the field for the Democratic nomination and his Republican rivals, though loaded with money, didn’t seem all that formidable.
But early this year, the conventional wisdom changed. Billionaire Meg Whitman, making good on her promise to spend more than any other individual in the history of American politics, was inundating the airwaves. The media, mostly stiffed by Whitman herself, was hyping her megabucks consultants and staff, and every one of their tech-heavy moves, as an awesome political machine.
Moving hard to the right, as expected, to win the Republican nomination, Whitman nonetheless moved into a statistical dead heat with Brown, who had led her by nearly 30 points in the fall of 2009.
Most of the media and political community in California, always overly impressed by very big money, alternated between screaming in alarm at the rise of Whitman and exulting in her looming victory. … From my December 20th feature.
** JERRY BROWN ON CRISES PAST AND PRESENT.As Jerry Brown prepares to become California’s oldest governor more than three decades after he became its youngest in the modern era, keeping his own counsel, many search for clues to his thinking. As usual, the past is prologue, especially when it comes to thoughts of the future for this determinedly futurist politician. … From my December 10th essay.
** THE BEATLES’ RUBBER SOUL: 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS. … From my December 4th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $57 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
President Barack Obama made the first public appearance of his vacation when he popped into Island Snow on Kailua Bay to buy a “shaved ice,” as snow cones are known in Hawaii.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … WHO KNEW A NEW CHRISTMAS TRADITION?
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation. The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu. They will be in Hawaii until January 2nd.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
It shows support for the Republican presidential nomination fairly evenly divided between former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich close behind.
Intriguingly, Palin’s support is down.
Meanwhile, it turns out that Obama has very strong support within the Democratic Party, despite a lot of caterwauling among elements of the left.
78% of Democrats say he should be re-nominated, with only 19% opposed. Obama has actually gone up since just before the election — and before his tax cut compromise with Republicans — when 73% of Democrats backed his re-nomination with 22% opposed.
Obama is in much stronger shape within the Democratic Party following his mid-term elections defeat than Bill Clinton was at the end of 1994 when Democrats also lost control of the House of Representatives.
After that election, only 57% of Democrats favored Clinton’s re-nomination, with 32% opposed.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is with First Lady Maria Shriver and their family in Sun Valley.
He has no scheduled public events.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition.
Word continues to dribble out about the new administration, with reports the the current state lottery, natural resources, and environmental protection chiefs will be replaced. The latter, Environmental Protection Secretary Linda Adams, who was a top aide to former Governor Gray Davis, Brown’s gubernatorial chief of staff the first time around, before joining Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cabinet, was planning to leave.
And there’s more word that Air Resources Board chair Mary Nichols, who oversees the state’s landmark climate change program, will be staying on. Nichols, who served in the Davis Cabinet, actually first chaired the ARB three decades ago under Brown, when she replaced Tom Quinn, who is again one of Brown’s chief advisors.
Meanwhile, Brown’s bare-bones inaugural — think swearing-in ceremony in the drafty Sacramento Memorial Auditorium and reception at the California Railroad Museum — added an unofficial event in the form of the Orange County Employees Association’s noontime free hot dogs and chips party on the North Lawn of the Capitol. Brown will be hard-pressed not to stop by.
What, no Taco Truck Throwdown?
Time-lapse photography captures the great Northeastern blizzard, with 20 hours in 40 seconds.
** MAD MEN FOR CHRISTMAS. Because there’s nothing that says Christmas quite like advertising and excess.
The advent of awards season, and of late Christmas shopping, brings … Mad Men! Yes, I know the show won’t be back for its fifth season for months to come. (And it will be back, even though creator Matthew Weiner and the studio and network are in the midst of their usual negotiation mishegoss. The key thing to know is that the actors’ options have all been exercised.)
As always, there be some spoilers ahead.
First, before we talk about the Mad Men books — including the faux Roger Sterling memoir much discussed in Season 4 — which can make late stocking stuffer presents, or even later presents to, er, one’s self, let’s go to the awards stuff. The best show on television is again being honored as the awards season begins to ramp up. … From my December 23rd column.
** 2010: A JERRY BROWN ODYSSEY.“Everyone thought we were the Bad News Bears up against the New York Yankees. But we pulled it out.”
– Anne Gust Brown, referring to her husband’s campaign against billionaire Meg Whitman, in her introduction of Governor-elect Jerry Brown’s victory speech. Brown won in a landslide.
In the long and winding road that is Jerry Brown’s life, there has been no shortage of odysseys. But with 2010 drawing to a close, and Brown confronting one of the greatest crises of governance seen in a modern state, it’s worth looking at this particular one.
A year ago at the holiday parties of the smart political set, Brown was seen as the most likely next governor of California. He’d cleared the field for the Democratic nomination and his Republican rivals, though loaded with money, didn’t seem all that formidable.
But early this year, the conventional wisdom changed. Billionaire Meg Whitman, making good on her promise to spend more than any other individual in the history of American politics, was inundating the airwaves. The media, mostly stiffed by Whitman herself, was hyping her megabucks consultants and staff, and every one of their tech-heavy moves, as an awesome political machine.
Moving hard to the right, as expected, to win the Republican nomination, Whitman nonetheless moved into a statistical dead heat with Brown, who had led her by nearly 30 points in the fall of 2009.
Most of the media and political community in California, always overly impressed by very big money, alternated between screaming in alarm at the rise of Whitman and exulting in her looming victory. … From my December 20th feature.
** JERRY BROWN ON CRISES PAST AND PRESENT.As Jerry Brown prepares to become California’s oldest governor more than three decades after he became its youngest in the modern era, keeping his own counsel, many search for clues to his thinking. As usual, the past is prologue, especially when it comes to thoughts of the future for this determinedly futurist politician. … From my December 10th essay.
** THE BEATLES’ RUBBER SOUL: 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS. … From my December 4th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $57 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Christmas Day. Obama is keeping a very low profile on his family vacation and hopes that events cooperate.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
If all goes to plan, the week ahead is the shortest political week of the year.
President Barack Obama is on his third consecutive holiday vacation back home in Hawaii since winning the 2008 presidential election. He has no scheduled public events this week.
He’ll be back, though. For the inauguration of Governor Jerry Brown.
For his part, the governor-elect is in the San Francisco Bay Area. He, too, has no scheduled public events as the week begins. But it’s the last full week of gubernatorial transition, so he has much to do.
He and First Lady-to be Anne Gust Brown will preside over his inauguration as California’s 39th governor next Monday — the morning after New Year’s weekend! — at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. In keeping with the enforced austerity of state government in this time, as well as Brown’s own well-established inclinations, his inaugural will be a decidedly low-key affair, topped off, as it were, with a reception at the California Railroad Museum late that afternoon in Old Sacramento not far from the Western terminus of the Pony Express.
It won’t be at all like his father’s second inaugural. Governor Pat’s inaugural gala in January 1963, after he beat Richard Nixon, was organized by none other than Frank Sinatra. (Jerry was then a Yale Law student.) Sadly, the times dictate no Eagles headliner inaugural extravaganza for Governor Jerry’s historic third inaugural.
While Brown may not surface publicly this week, he will have some announcements about the emerging administration and the inaugural itself. And he has plenty to keep himself occuped as he prepares his third inaugural address as California’s governor. That is how Brown works on big speeches; he accepts input from friends and advisors, then decides himself what he is going to say.
Unlike Jerry Brown, Barack Obama may not have any missives to release this week. But that doesn’t mean that he’s not working on things.
The White House staff is going to go through a moderate shuffle, and Obama is reviewing proposals from new chief of staff Pete Rouse, but there will be no major changes in the near future in the Cabinet.
The Obama for President re-election campaign will again be run out of Chicago. White House senior advisor David Axelrod will oversee the effort as chief strategist, with current White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina (not to be confused with the musician) will be the campaign manager. Axelrod will be replaced in the West Wing by 2008 Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.
But don’t expect Obama for President to ramp up publicly very quickly, though the fundraising apparatus is already being prepared and a large political infrastructure is in place. Obama, who had a notably very successful lame duck congressional session, is going to let his would-be Republican opponents spin up their campaigns. And their alternatives. The Obama team’s thinking is that the more political focus on the Republican contenders the better.
Obama is also beginning work on his State of the Union address, which will be in late January sometime following the January 19th state visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Obama works out at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and most days gets in a round of golf, weather permitting. He’s spending his private time with family and a few friends. He doesn’t do the Bill Clinton-style hobnobbing with the jet set.
And Obama has the usual panoply of geopolitical crises to manage behind the scenes. But unless there is a major incident, as there was last Christmas with a jihadist nearly blowing up an airliner over Detroit, Obama has every intention of remaining very much out of public view this week.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation. The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu. They will be in Hawaii until January 2nd.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
South Korea is in the midst of a major military exercise. So far, North Korea has backed down on its promise to launch further attacks if the exercise took place.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is with First Lady Maria Shriver and their family in Sun Valley.
He has no scheduled public events.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition.
** MAD MEN FOR CHRISTMAS. Because there’s nothing that says Christmas quite like advertising and excess.
The advent of awards season, and of late Christmas shopping, brings … Mad Men! Yes, I know the show won’t be back for its fifth season for months to come. (And it will be back, even though creator Matthew Weiner and the studio and network are in the midst of their usual negotiation mishegoss. The key thing to know is that the actors’ options have all been exercised.)
As always, there be some spoilers ahead.
First, before we talk about the Mad Men books — including the faux Roger Sterling memoir much discussed in Season 4 — which can make late stocking stuffer presents, or even later presents to, er, one’s self, let’s go to the awards stuff. The best show on television is again being honored as the awards season begins to ramp up. … From my December 23rd column.
** 2010: A JERRY BROWN ODYSSEY.“Everyone thought we were the Bad News Bears up against the New York Yankees. But we pulled it out.”
– Anne Gust Brown, referring to her husband’s campaign against billionaire Meg Whitman, in her introduction of Governor-elect Jerry Brown’s victory speech. Brown won in a landslide.
In the long and winding road that is Jerry Brown’s life, there has been no shortage of odysseys. But with 2010 drawing to a close, and Brown confronting one of the greatest crises of governance seen in a modern state, it’s worth looking at this particular one.
A year ago at the holiday parties of the smart political set, Brown was seen as the most likely next governor of California. He’d cleared the field for the Democratic nomination and his Republican rivals, though loaded with money, didn’t seem all that formidable.
But early this year, the conventional wisdom changed. Billionaire Meg Whitman, making good on her promise to spend more than any other individual in the history of American politics, was inundating the airwaves. The media, mostly stiffed by Whitman herself, was hyping her megabucks consultants and staff, and every one of their tech-heavy moves, as an awesome political machine.
Moving hard to the right, as expected, to win the Republican nomination, Whitman nonetheless moved into a statistical dead heat with Brown, who had led her by nearly 30 points in the fall of 2009.
Most of the media and political community in California, always overly impressed by very big money, alternated between screaming in alarm at the rise of Whitman and exulting in her looming victory. … From my December 20th feature.
** JERRY BROWN ON CRISES PAST AND PRESENT.As Jerry Brown prepares to become California’s oldest governor more than three decades after he became its youngest in the modern era, keeping his own counsel, many search for clues to his thinking. As usual, the past is prologue, especially when it comes to thoughts of the future for this determinedly futurist politician. … From my December 10th essay.
** THE BEATLES’ RUBBER SOUL: 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS. … From my December 4th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
New York has suddenly turned into Alaska.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $57 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
The annual Doctor Who Christmas special, A Christmas Carol, aired for the first time in the US and UK on Christmas Day.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation. The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu. They will be in Hawaii until January 2nd.
Obama made a surprise Christmas Day visit to Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Kaneohe Bay.
Appearing on one of the Sunday chat shows, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said that, while the White House staff is going to go through a moderate shuffle, there will be no major changes in the near future in the Cabinet.
The Obama for President re-election campaign will again be run out of Chicago. White House senior advisor David Axelrod will oversee the effort as chief strategist, with current White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina (not to be confused with the musician) will be the campaign manager.
Axelrod will be replaced in the West Wing by 2008 Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.
The White House, incidentally, revealed that the Obama Christmas dinner consisted of steak, roasted potatoes, green beans, and pie.
This is the sort of detail the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger never released. Nor is it the sort of thing that Governor-elect Jerry Brown will release. And, as you might guess, it’s the sort of thing that I consider demeaning to ask about, so there we are.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Sun Valley with First Lady Maria Shriver and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area with First Lady-to be Anne Gust Brown.
He has no scheduled public events.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama discuss Christmas in the weekly video/radio address, with extensive illustrative video footage.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … WHO KNEW THE NEW CHRISTMAS TRADITION? The annual Doctor Who Christmas Special, this year entitled A Christmas Carol, airs today on the BBC and BBC America.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation. The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu. They will be in Hawaii until January 2nd.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Sun Valley with First Lady Maria Shriver and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area with First Lady-to be Anne Gust Brown.
He has no scheduled public events.
The White House is spectacularly decorated for the holiday season.
** OBAMA TODAY – FRIDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation. The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu. They will be in Hawaii until January 2nd.
The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
Obama worked out yesterday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii and got in a round of golf. He’s spending his private time with family and a few friends. He doesn’t do the Bill Clinton-style hobnobbing with the jet set.
Obama is going over changes in White House staffing arrangements proposed by new chief of staff Pete Rouse. (Who was Obama’s Senate chief of staff, and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Dachle’s chief of staff before that.
He is also beginning work on his State of the Union address, which will be in late January sometime following the January 19th state visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao.
President Hu, incidentally, is not a doctor. (That’s a little joke.)
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
More bellicose North Korean rhetoric, but nothing else, followed another day of major South Korean military exercises.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – FRIDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area with First Lady-to be Anne Gust Brown.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on his gubernatorial transition and California’s chronic budget crisis.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses the spirit of giving.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – FRIDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Sun Valley with First Lady Maria Shriver and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Schwarzenegger just delivered his last holiday season video/radio address as governor of California.
Hello, this is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with another California Report.
The holiday season is my favorite time of the year because it is about what matters most: family, friends and giving back. Here in California, we want to make this holiday season what Maria calls, “A Season of Giving.”
A few weeks ago, when we celebrated Chanukah and lit the Menorah at the Capitol, we also held a toy drive.
Then we took those toys to the hospital.
You should have seen the faces of the children light up when they got their toys.
When we lit our Capitol Christmas Tree we collected food for the needy.
A few days later, I was at Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital in South Los Angeles to light another Christmas tree.
There, the California Highway Patrol hosted another fantastic toy drive. We handed out those toys to the children there and again, you would not believe the joy that they showed.
These are difficult times.
And this is an opportunity to make a difference and also set an example for your family and your community.
I know this is a lesson I have taught my four children since they were babies: we are judged not by what we have, but by what we give.
So this holiday season let’s all commit to reaching out and helping others.
There is likely a family in your neighborhood that is hurting in these economic times.
There are children in a domestic violence shelter who need your support.
There is need everywhere and no matter what our situation is we can each do something to help.
So Maria and I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah and a fantastic holiday season.
Have fun. And don’t break a leg when you go skiing, by the way. So, thanks for watching, and thanks for listening.
Schwarzenegger, of course, is referring there at the end to the time when he broke his own leg skiing near his Sun Valley estate in Idaho four years ago at Christmastime, not long after winning his second landslide election as governor of California. As a result, he was on crutches, hobbling around at his second Inaugural in January 2007.
The Eagles with the studio version of Please Come Home for Christmas.
** MAD MEN FOR CHRISTMAS. Because there’s nothing that says Christmas quite like advertising and excess.
The advent of awards season, and of late Christmas shopping, brings … Mad Men! Yes, I know the show won’t be back for its fifth season for months to come. (And it will be back, even though creator Matthew Weiner and the studio and network are in the midst of their usual negotiation mishegoss. The key thing to know is that the actors’ options have all been exercised.)
As always, there be some spoilers ahead.
First, before we talk about the Mad Men books — including the faux Roger Sterling memoir much discussed in Season 4 — which can make late stocking stuffer presents, or even later presents to, er, one’s self, let’s go to the awards stuff. The best show on television is again being honored as the awards season begins to ramp up. …
** OBAMA TODAY – THURSDAY. President Barack Obama is in Hawaii today with First Lady Michelle Obama and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama will receive his daily intelligence and economic briefings at the private residence in which he is staying for this Christmas vacation.
The time in Hawaii is two hours earlier than the time in California.
The Obamas are staying on Kailua Bay about 12 miles from Honolulu. They will be in Hawaii until January 2nd.
Departing Washington on Air Force One not long after the Senate ratified the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) treaty with Russia yesterday afternoon, Obama landed in Honolulu a little before midnight Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HAST).
He’s hoping for a low-key vacation after a decidedly high-key lame duck session of Congress which saw the enactment of a huge tax cut/economic stimulus compromise measure, a major food safety bill, the repeal of the policy banning gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, and yesterday’s ratification of the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty.
But, despite the historic success Obama has had since supposedly going down for the count in the national mid-term elections, he certainly doesn’t control events. Remember it was only last Christmas that a would-be bomber nearly blew up an airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day.
Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
North Korea did some more rhetorical saber rattling today as a major South Korean military exercise continued.
The White House announced late yesterday that Chinese President Hu Jintao will arrive in Washington for a state visit, including a formal White House dinner, on January 19th.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – THURSDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Sun Valley with First Lady Maria Shriver and their family.
He has no scheduled public events.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – THURSDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area with First Lady-to be Anne Gust Brown.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on his gubernatorial transition and California’s chronic budget crisis.
Following Wednesday’s Senate ratification of the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty, President Barack Obama hailed “a season of progress” after the national mid-term elections. So much for the notion of a lame duck Congress.
** A NEW START. As expected, the U.S. Senate today ratified the New START treaty with Russia. The vote was 71 to 26. Under the new treaty, reached last April between President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the world’s two nuclear superpowers will reduce their strategic arsenals by one-third. In the end, 13 Republican senators went against their party leadership — but with every living Republican secretary of state, former President George H.W. Bush, the leadership of the U.S. Armed Forces, and America’s NATO allies — in voting to ratify the treaty.
One who voted no was Obama’s 2008 Republican opponent, John McCain, who was supposedly a supporter of the treaty going in. McCain also led the losing opposition to repeal of the old policy on gays in the military, which he’d said a few years ago he would work to repeal.
Obama is flying to Honolulu Wednesday evening on Air Force One to join his family for Christmas vacation. First Lady Michelle Obama and the girls flew on ahead last Saturday, when the family had originally been scheduled to depart.
** BROWN’S BARE-BONES INAUGURAL. Governor-elect Jerry Brown will be sworn into office, as expected, in Sacramento Memorial Auditorium in a ceremony beginning at 11 AM on Monday, January 3rd. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be back from vacation for the third Jerry Brown Inaugural.
The celebration will be quite low-key, with a reception in the late afternoon that day beginning at 4 PM at the California Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento.
Sacramento Memorial Auditorium was the site of Schwarzenegger’s second Inaugural, due to expected bad weather, as it was for Gray Davis’s second Inaugural.
It was also the site of Brown’s first big post-election forum on California’s chronic budget crisis.
California’s 34th and 39th governor (that would be Jerry Brown) has a penchant for the low-key when it comes to inaugural celebrations. His first inaugural as governor featured what I believe was a 7-minute address (this was before my time).
His most recent inaugural, as California attorney general, in the ornate and echoing San Francisco City Hall Rotunda in 2007 was a little more elaborate, but not much. Actually, his inaugurals as mayor of Oakland were the most elaborate, though hardly on the Arnold scale.
I’ll have more on this, including exclusive video, as we get closer.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … A MAD MEN CHRISTMAS?
President Barack Obama this morning signed a landmark law allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly for the first time in the U.S. Armed Forces.
** OBAMA TODAY – WEDNESDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Moving very early this morning, at 9:15 AM EST he then signed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act at the Department of the Interior.
Following that, Obama met with Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner in the Oval Office.
Obama is pushing today for Senate ratification of the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty, a lynchpin to much of his geopolitics in the re-set of relations with the one-time Communist superpower.
Victory there is assured. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid successfully invoked cloture, i.e., won a vote to cut off a filibuster, yesterday, by a whopping 67 to 28 margin. More Republican senators are joining a trickle of support for the treaty, which requires a two-thirds vote.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
South Korea is in the midst of a major military exercise. So far, North Korea has backed down on its promise to launch further attacks if the exercise took place.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – WEDNESDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger left the state early this morning for Christmas vacation with First Lady Maria Shriver and the family in Sun Valley.
He has no scheduled public events.
Late yesterday before leaving, Schwarzenegger proclaimed a state of emergency in Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo and Tulare counties due to extreme weather and storm conditions.
He also declared a special election in the 17th Senate district to replace Republican state Senator George Runner, who won election to the state Board of Equalization. The election is set for April 19, 2011. This will be the second California election held under the new open primary law successfully championed by Schwarzenegger in the June primary election.
Finally, Schwarzenegger named the San Francisco Civic Center Complex after former Chief Justice Ron George. The two state buildings within the Ronald M. George State Office Complex, the Hiram M. Johnson State Office Building and the Earl Warren Building, of course retain their names.
Schwarzenegger has not yet, alas, appointed me to the University of California Board of Regents.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – WEDNESDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition.
The annual Doctor Who Christmas special, this year entitled A Christmas Carol, airs on December 25th on the BBC and BBC America.
** 2010: A JERRY BROWN ODYSSEY.“Everyone thought we were the Bad News Bears up against the New York Yankees. But we pulled it out.”
– Anne Gust Brown, referring to her husband’s campaign against billionaire Meg Whitman, in her introduction of Governor-elect Jerry Brown’s victory speech. Brown won in a landslide.
In the long and winding road that is Jerry Brown’s life, there has been no shortage of odysseys. But with 2010 drawing to a close, and Brown confronting one of the greatest crises of governance seen in a modern state, it’s worth looking at this particular one.
A year ago at the holiday parties of the smart political set, Brown was seen as the most likely next governor of California. He’d cleared the field for the Democratic nomination and his Republican rivals, though loaded with money, didn’t seem all that formidable.
But early this year, the conventional wisdom changed. Billionaire Meg Whitman, making good on her promise to spend more than any other individual in the history of American politics, was inundating the airwaves. The media, mostly stiffed by Whitman herself, was hyping her megabucks consultants and staff, and every one of their tech-heavy moves, as an awesome political machine.
Moving hard to the right, as expected, to win the Republican nomination, Whitman nonetheless moved into a statistical dead heat with Brown, who had led her by nearly 30 points in the fall of 2009.
Most of the media and political community in California, always overly impressed by very big money, alternated between screaming in alarm at the rise of Whitman and exulting in her looming victory. … From my December 20th feature.
** JERRY BROWN ON CRISES PAST AND PRESENT.As Jerry Brown prepares to become California’s oldest governor more than three decades after he became its youngest in the modern era, keeping his own counsel, many search for clues to his thinking. As usual, the past is prologue, especially when it comes to thoughts of the future for this determinedly futurist politician.
Brown, as you know, won a landslide 54% to 41% victory in securing his third term as governor of America’s largest state, which is in turn the world’s eighth largest economy, equal to New York and Texas combined. In crushing billionaire Meg Whitman’s much vaunted machine, the biggest-spending non-presidential campaign in American history, by 1.3 million votes, Brown won more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in history. But his history in presidential politics has been decidedly more mixed.
Ironically, it may be the least successful of his three runs for the White House that turned out to be the most interesting. And the most relevant for what is to come in his historic third term as California’s governor, especially given his Wednesday summit in Sacramento laying out the stark reality of the state’s chronic budget crisis. Brown didn’t paper over deep problems in his most famous speech as a presidential candidate, a Francis Ford Coppola-produced address in 1980 that is eerily relevant today. And he’s not papering them over now. …From my December 10th essay.
** THE BEATLES’ RUBBER SOUL: 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS. … From my December 4th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $57 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
The Senate today voted 67 to 28 to shut off a potential filibuster against the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty. Enough Republicans have at last come on board to guarantee ratification of the treaty in a vote tomorrow.
** QUICK HITS. Another big win looms tomorrow for President Barack Obama with the Senate set to ratify his nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia. The treaty, worked out this past spring with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, is central to the “re-set” of U.S. relations with Russia, which in turns is a lynchpin of Obama’s geopolitical strategy. … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting ready to head out of town on Christmas vacation. His governorship is, at last, winding down. … Governor-elect Jerry Brown remained in stealth mode today as he prepared to take over the governorship, once again, on January 3rd. It doesn’t look as though there is going to be a glittering Inaugural Ball.
** 40% OF AMERICANS ARE STRICT CREATIONISTS, AND THEY’RE NOT ALL REPUBLICANS. A new Gallup Poll shows, rather amazingly, though not so much if one considers the influence of religion, that 40% of American adults believe in strict creationism. In other words, they believe that God created human beings 10,000 years ago. Forget about evolution.
Now, there are two things that are surprising here. First, the number of people who believe this errant claptrap is actually down from years past. Second, they aren’t all Republicans.
When I hear that 40% believe such utter nonsense, I immediately take note of the fact that that is the number of self-described conservatives, and tracks nicely with the baseline Republican vote.
But the reality is that large numbers of independents and, yes, Democrats, also believe this bizarre stuff.
Nevertheless, they are a minority in their political groups, whereas creationists are a majority in the Republican Party.
These Republican presidential primaries coming up will be fun. I’ll dust off my copy of Inherit the Wind that I picked up when Mike Huckabee made his move in the 2008 presidential race.
Four in 10 Americans, slightly fewer today than in years past, believe God created humans in their present form about 10,000 years ago. Thirty-eight percent believe God guided a process by which humans developed over millions of years from less advanced life forms, while 16%, up slightly from years past, believe humans developed over millions of years, without God’s involvement. …
A small minority of Americans hold the “secular evolution” view that humans evolved with no influence from God — but the number has risen from 9% in 1982 to 16% today. At the same time, the 40% of Americans who hold the “creationist” view that God created humans as is 10,000 years ago is the lowest in Gallup’s history of asking this question, and down from a high point of 47% in 1993 and 1999. There has been little change over the years in the percentage holding the “theistic evolution” view that humans evolved under God’s guidance.
Americans’ views on human origins vary significantly by level of education and religiosity. Those who are less educated are more likely to hold a creationist view. Those with college degrees and postgraduate education are more likely to hold one of the two viewpoints involving evolution. …
Americans who attend church frequently are most likely to accept explanations for the origin of humans that involve God, not a surprising finding. Still, the creationist viewpoint, held by 60% of weekly churchgoers, is not universal even among the most highly religious group. Also, about a fourth of those who seldom or never attend church choose the creationist view …
The significantly higher percentage of Republicans who choose a creationist view of human origins reflects in part the strong relationship between religion and politics in contemporary America. Republicans are significantly more likely to attend church weekly than are others, and, as noted, Americans who attend church weekly are most likely to select the creationist alternative for the origin of humans. …
Implications
Most Americans believe in God, and about 85% have a religious identity. It is not surprising as a result to find that about 8 in 10 Americans hold a view of human origins that involves actions by God — that he either created humans as depicted in the book of Genesis, or guided a process of evolution. What no doubt continues to surprise many scientists is that 4 out of 10 Americans believe in the first of these explanations.
These views have been generally stable over the last 28 years. Acceptance of the creationist viewpoint has decreased slightly over time, with a concomitant rise in acceptance of a secular evolution perspective. But these shifts have not been large, and the basic structure of beliefs about human beings’ origins is generally the same as it was in the early 1980s.
Americans’ attitudes about almost anything can and often do have political consequences. Views on the origins of humans are no exception. Debates and clashes over which explanations for human origins should be included in school textbooks have persisted for decades. With 40% of Americans continuing to hold to an anti-evolutionary belief about the origin of humans, it is highly likely that these types of debates will continue.
More than nine months after national parliamentary elections, Iraq at last has a new government.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
He then met with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama is pushing for Senate ratification of the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty, a lynchpin to much of his geopolitics in the re-set of relations with the one-time Communist superpower.
He is closing in on victory there. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will invoke cloture, i.e., move to block any filibuster by Senate Republicans, today. More Republican senators are joining a trickle of support for the treat.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
The U.S. Census Bureau this morning released preliminary numbers. There are now officially nearly 309 million Americans after a 9.7% growth in population, the slowest rate since the 1940s, over the past decade.
Seats in Congress are shifting, although not all that dramatically given the relative lack of migration during the big recession, from North and Midwest to South and West.
Texas will gain four new seats, Florida will gain two, New York and Ohio each lose two, and 14 other states will see gains or losses of one seat each.
California’s count will remain the same.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
After a very mild fall, the first day of winter sees California walloped by another round of big storms up and down the state. But it’s nothing compared to the chaotic weather being experienced in Europe.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition.
** 2010: A JERRY BROWN ODYSSEY.“Everyone thought we were the Bad News Bears up against the New York Yankees. But we pulled it out.”
– Anne Gust Brown, referring to her husband’s campaign against billionaire Meg Whitman, in her introduction of Governor-elect Jerry Brown’s victory speech. Brown won in a landslide.
In the long and winding road that is Jerry Brown’s life, there has been no shortage of odysseys. But with 2010 drawing to a close, and Brown confronting one of the greatest crises of governance seen in a modern state, it’s worth looking at this particular one.
A year ago at the holiday parties of the smart political set, Brown was seen as the most likely next governor of California. He’d cleared the field for the Democratic nomination and his Republican rivals, though loaded with money, didn’t seem all that formidable.
But early this year, the conventional wisdom changed. Billionaire Meg Whitman, making good on her promise to spend more than any other individual in the history of American politics, was inundating the airwaves. The media, mostly stiffed by Whitman herself, was hyping her megabucks consultants and staff, and every one of their tech-heavy moves, as an awesome political machine.
Moving hard to the right, as expected, to win the Republican nomination, Whitman nonetheless moved into a statistical dead heat with Brown, who had led her by nearly 30 points in the fall of 2009.
Most of the media and political community in California, always overly impressed by very big money, alternated between screaming in alarm at the rise of Whitman and exulting in her looming victory. … From my December 20th feature.
** JERRY BROWN ON CRISES PAST AND PRESENT.As Jerry Brown prepares to become California’s oldest governor more than three decades after he became its youngest in the modern era, keeping his own counsel, many search for clues to his thinking. As usual, the past is prologue, especially when it comes to thoughts of the future for this determinedly futurist politician.
Brown, as you know, won a landslide 54% to 41% victory in securing his third term as governor of America’s largest state, which is in turn the world’s eighth largest economy, equal to New York and Texas combined. In crushing billionaire Meg Whitman’s much vaunted machine, the biggest-spending non-presidential campaign in American history, by 1.3 million votes, Brown won more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in history. But his history in presidential politics has been decidedly more mixed.
Ironically, it may be the least successful of his three runs for the White House that turned out to be the most interesting. And the most relevant for what is to come in his historic third term as California’s governor, especially given his Wednesday summit in Sacramento laying out the stark reality of the state’s chronic budget crisis. Brown didn’t paper over deep problems in his most famous speech as a presidential candidate, a Francis Ford Coppola-produced address in 1980 that is eerily relevant today. And he’s not papering them over now. …From my December 10th essay.
** THE BEATLES’ RUBBER SOUL: 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS. … From my December 4th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $56 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
British police today arrested a dozen men in an alleged jihadist terror plot.
** QUICK HITS.And just like that, President Barack Obama’s policies are significantly better received. The new CNN poll shows 55% of Americans saying his policies are moving the country in the right direction. … Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this afternoon implored the Senate to ratify the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty. Nevadan Harry Reid will tomorrow invoke cloture to block any filibuster effort. … Something very important to the remaining California press corps has been revealed. Where Governor-elect Jerry Brown will live in Sacramento. And yes, unlike his predecessor, he’s not going to commute back and forth and will have a place in downtown Sacramento which is not an infrequently occupied hotel suite, as I told you all along would be the case. Brown and First Lady-to be Anne Gust Brown will rent a one-bedroom loft at 16th & J in downtown Sacramento, within brisk walking distance of the Capitol. There are two good restaurants on the ground floor, too, both serving Asian food, which Brown likes. One, Mikuni, is a terrific sushi restaurant. The other, P.F. Chang’s, is a good Chinese restaurant. … Brown also announced a $2 billion settlement with Wells Fargo for harmful home loans. (The loans were undertaken by banks acquired by Wells.) … And Brown did away with the new office of inspector general for Obama economic stimulus spending, currently occupied by high-profile LA politician Laura Chick, who alerted the media. His rationale is that it’s duplicative of other efforts and is just one of many things he’s cutting from the executive branch.
** 2010: A JERRY BROWN ODYSSEY.“Everyone thought we were the Bad News Bears up against the New York Yankees. But we pulled it out.”
– Anne Gust Brown, referring to her husband’s campaign against billionaire Meg Whitman, in her introduction of Governor-elect Jerry Brown’s victory speech. Brown won in a landslide.
In the long and winding road that is Jerry Brown’s life, there has been no shortage of odysseys. But with 2010 drawing to a close, and Brown confronting one of the greatest crises of governance seen in a modern state, it’s worth looking at this particular one.
A year ago at the holiday parties of the smart political set, Brown was seen as the most likely next governor of California. He’d cleared the field for the Democratic nomination and his Republican rivals, though loaded with money, didn’t seem all that formidable.
But early this year, the conventional wisdom changed. Billionaire Meg Whitman, making good on her promise to spend more than any other individual in the history of American politics, was inundating the airwaves. The media, mostly stiffed by Whitman herself, was hyping her megabucks consultants and staff, and every one of their tech-heavy moves, as an awesome political machine.
Moving hard to the right, as expected, to win the Republican nomination, Whitman nonetheless moved into a statistical dead heat with Brown, who had led her by nearly 30 points in the fall of 2009.
Most of the media and political community in California, always overly impressed by very big money, alternated between screaming in alarm at the rise of Whitman and exulting in her looming victory. …
North Korea backed down from its threatened retaliation for South Korea’s military exercises today. North Korea had promised an even bigger attack than the one which killed four South Koreans on November 23rd.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
With Christmas coming up this coming Saturday, it’s a short week in presidential politics and California politics.
In fact, you shouldn’t expect much of anything to take place in California politics. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is transitioning out of office and Governor-elect Jerry Brown is transitioning into office. Each is in quiet mode.
There’s a lot more action this week in presidential politics.
After winning passage of two top priority measures — the compromise tax cuts/economic stimulus bill and legislation allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. Armed Forces — Obama is now pushing for Senate ratification of the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) with Russia.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will move on Tuesday for a vote to surmount any threatened filibuster. A vote to ratify the treaty itself is expected sometime on Wednesday. Ratification requires a two-thirds vote.
Obama was to have left Saturday for Hawaii on Christmas vacation. But there is far too much pending business still, so his family went ahead while he stays on in the White House.
Obama successfully spent much of his effort last week pushing for his big compromise deal on extension of the Bush/Cheney era tax cuts, extension of unemployment benefits, new benefits for the middle class, and incentives for renewable energy.
The tax cuts and economic stimulus sailed through the Senate Wednesday, on a vote of 81 to 19, then passed the House Thursday night, 277 to 148. Had the bill not passed, everyone in America would have seen their taxes go up next month.
Democratic congressional leaders decided not to try to eliminate the tax cuts for the rich during the election season, thus making it clear that they had no real faith in the efficacy of the issue in swing districts. Indeed, the core opposition in the House stemmed from members representing very safe liberal districts.
In any event, the Republicans made it very clear that they would not budge on the issue. And the public, weary of politics after a too long election season, was clearly not going to get engaged heading into the holidays.
Over the weekend, the Dream Act, which would have made it possible for the emigrated children of illegal immigrants to become citizens by joining the military or graduating from college, was predictably defeated in the Senate.
But Obama won an historic victory as the Senate voted 65 to 31 to follow the House in repealing the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy on gays and lesbians in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Obama will sign the bill this week.
The legislation was carried by Obama’s former Senate colleague, Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman, who Obama insisted on being kept as a functioning member of the Senate Democratic Caucus despite Lieberman campaigning for Senator John McCain against him.
Next up is the big New START treaty with Russia, a lynchpin of Obama’s geopolitical strategy to “re-set” relations with Russia and work more harmoniously on a host of problems around the world, principally involving the jihadist war in its multiple forms.
The treaty also cuts the two countries’ strategic nuclear arsenals by one-third, furthering the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
Despite the fact that the treaty is backed by former President George H.W. Bush, every living Republican Secretary of State, the NATO allies, and the leadership of the military, conservative Republicans in the Senate are trying to block its ratification, trying all kinds of gambits, including spurious amendments that would require renegotiation of the treaty.
Among the principal complaints is that the treaty does not include tactical nuclear weapons. But none of the previous START treaties, all of which by definition are about strategic nuclear weapons, have done so. Another complaint is that the preamble of the treaty, which is not binding, does not adequately spell out America’s right to conduct a missile defense program.
None of these spurious objections bother the real Republican experts, just the far right types who increasingly dominate the once Grand Old Party.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama is pushing for Senate ratification of the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty, a lynchpin to much of his geopolitics in the re-set of relations with the one-time Communist superpower.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses public safety in one of his last video/radio addresses as governor of California.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
He has no scheduled public events.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** JERRY BROWN ON CRISES PAST AND PRESENT.As Jerry Brown prepares to become California’s oldest governor more than three decades after he became its youngest in the modern era, keeping his own counsel, many search for clues to his thinking. As usual, the past is prologue, especially when it comes to thoughts of the future for this determinedly futurist politician.
Brown, as you know, won a landslide 54% to 41% victory in securing his third term as governor of America’s largest state, which is in turn the world’s eighth largest economy, equal to New York and Texas combined. In crushing billionaire Meg Whitman’s much vaunted machine, the biggest-spending non-presidential campaign in American history, by 1.3 million votes, Brown won more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in history. But his history in presidential politics has been decidedly more mixed.
Ironically, it may be the least successful of his three runs for the White House that turned out to be the most interesting. And the most relevant for what is to come in his historic third term as California’s governor, especially given his Wednesday summit in Sacramento laying out the stark reality of the state’s chronic budget crisis. Brown didn’t paper over deep problems in his most famous speech as a presidential candidate, a Francis Ford Coppola-produced address in 1980 that is eerily relevant today. And he’s not papering them over now. …From my December 10th essay.
** THE BEATLES’ RUBBER SOUL: 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS.Music changed, thanks to an album released 45 years ago. Now it may be changed back. … From my December 4th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $54 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
On Saturday, the U.S. Senate repealed the law prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. Armed Forces. President Barack Obama will sign the legislation, championed by independent Senator Joe Lieberman, in the coming week. The opposition was led by Lieberman’s old friend, the man Obama defeated in 2008, Senator John McCain, who had previously supported repeal.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
The U.S. Senate is today debating Obama’s nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia.
Yesterday, Obama won an historic victory as the Senate voted 65 to 31 to follow the House in repealing the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy on gays and lesbians in the U.S. Armed Forces. Obama will sign the bill in the coming week.
The legislation was carried by Obama’s former Senate colleague, Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman, who Obama insisted by kept as a functioning member of the Senate Democratic Caucus despite Lieberman campaigning for Senator John McCain against him. Lieberman was actually McCain’s first choice for his running mate, but would have created a firestorm of controversy at the Republican National Convention, so McCain went another way and swung for the fences by picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
McCain led the opposition to the bill, despite the fact that he’d said a few years ago that he would support repeal of the policy.
McCain also opposed legislation yesterday that he once co-authored, the Dream Act allowing citizenship for illegal immigrants who serve in the military or graduate from college. That bill failed yesterday, as I expected it would all along.
John McCain is not the man I remember from when I was a member of Veterans for McCain in 2000.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and Korea, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
In Afghanistan today, the first Taliban attack inside Kabul in months killed a half-dozen solders on their way to work in a bus. There was also a serious attack to the north in Kunduz province.
In Pakistan, the ISI intelligence service is denying that it outed the identity of the CIA station chief to opponents of U.S. drone strikes in jihadist safe havens. The station chief was forced to flee the country.
In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is bracing for the fall-out from two controversial decisions: The ending of food and gasoline subsidies, and the sacking of Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki.
In Iraq, Prime MInister Nouri al-Maliki says he is close to at last finalizing a new government, this one including major Sunni elements.
With regard to the Korean crisis, the UN Security Council is meeting today in New York at the request of Russia and China, both of which say they are concerned about a South Korean military exercise set for Monday. North Korea has threatened another attack if the exercise takes place.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on his gubernatorial transition and the chronic California budget crisis.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is out of state.
He has no scheduled public events.
In his weekly video/radio address, President Barack Obama urges the Senate to heed the calls from former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, every living Republican Secretary of State, the NATO allies, and the leadership of the military to ratify the New START Treaty with Russia.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: THE U.S. SENATE REPEALS “DON’T ASK/DON’T TELL.” In an historic vote, the U.S. Senate repealed the Clinton era policy on gays and lesbians in the military under which some 13,500 members of the U.S. Armed Forces had been kicked out of the service.
The vote was 65 to 31. President Barack Obama’s 2008 opponent, Senator John McCain, a famed Vietnam War hero, led the fight against the repeal.
Eight Republican senators joined the Democratic majority in this historic move: Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, John Ensign of Nevada, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and George Voinovich of Ohio.
Here is Obama’s statement on the earlier vote to end McCain’s filibuster against this major policy change, which he and his administration have carefully orchestrated since taking office in January 2009:
Today, the Senate has taken an historic step toward ending a policy that undermines our national security while violating the very ideals that our brave men and women in uniform risk their lives to defend. By ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay. And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love.
As Commander-in-Chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as the best led and best trained fighting force the world has ever known. And I join the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as the overwhelming majority of service members asked by the Pentagon, in knowing that we can responsibly transition to a new policy while ensuring our military strength and readiness.
I want to thank Majority Leader Reid, Senators Lieberman and Collins and the countless others who have worked so hard to get this done. It is time to close this chapter in our history. It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed. It is time to allow gay and lesbian Americans to serve their country openly. I urge the Senate to send this bill to my desk so that I can sign it into law.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama was to have left for Hawaii today on Christmas vacation. But there is far too much pending business still, so his family is going on ahead today while he stays on in the White House.
Obama successfully spent much of his effort this week pushing for his big compromise deal on extension of the Bush/Cheney era tax cuts, extension of unemployment benefits, new benefits for the middle class, and incentives for renewable energy.
The tax cuts and economic stimulus sailed through the Senate Wednesday, on a vote of 81 to 19, then passed the House Thursday night, 277 to 148.
Had the bill not passed, everyone in America would have seen their taxes go up next month.
Democratic congressional leaders decided not to try to eliminate the tax cuts for the rich during the election season, thus making it clear that they had no real faith in the efficacy of the issue in swing districts. Indeed, the core opposition in the House stemmed from members representing very safe liberal districts.
In any event, the Republicans made it very clear that they would not budge on the issue. And the public, weary of politics after a too long election season, was clearly not going to get engaged heading into the holidays.
Obama is now pushing for wins on Senate ratification of the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty and elimination of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on gays and lesbians in the military.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
He has no scheduled public events.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
The annual Doctor Who Christmas Special, A Christmas Carol, is one week away.
** JERRY BROWN ON CRISES PAST AND PRESENT.As Jerry Brown prepares to become California’s oldest governor more than three decades after he became its youngest in the modern era, keeping his own counsel, many search for clues to his thinking. As usual, the past is prologue, especially when it comes to thoughts of the future for this determinedly futurist politician.
Brown, as you know, won a landslide 54% to 41% victory in securing his third term as governor of America’s largest state, which is in turn the world’s eighth largest economy, equal to New York and Texas combined. In crushing billionaire Meg Whitman’s much vaunted machine, the biggest-spending non-presidential campaign in American history, by 1.3 million votes, Brown won more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in history. But his history in presidential politics has been decidedly more mixed.
Ironically, it may be the least successful of his three runs for the White House that turned out to be the most interesting. And the most relevant for what is to come in his historic third term as California’s governor, especially given his Wednesday summit in Sacramento laying out the stark reality of the state’s chronic budget crisis. Brown didn’t paper over deep problems in his most famous speech as a presidential candidate, a Francis Ford Coppola-produced address in 1980 that is eerily relevant today. And he’s not papering them over now. …From my December 10th essay.
** THE BEATLES’ RUBBER SOUL: 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS.Music changed, thanks to an album released 45 years ago. Now it may be changed back. … From my December 4th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed at $88.02 per barrel on Friday. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $54 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Making lemonade out of lemons, President Barack Obama signed the big compromise tax cuts/economic stimulus bill today, hailing it as a victory for the middle class.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … 2010: A JERRY BROWN ODYSSEY.
** CALIFORNIA UNEMPLOYMENT FLAT, WHILE NEVADA RISES. California’s unemployment rate, out today, remains at 12.4%.
Here’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s last statement as governor on the state’s employment picture: While far too many Californians remain out of work, I am encouraged by some of the positive signs we are seeing in our economy. October set a record for California exports; California has gained construction jobs for two consecutive months, the first time since 2006; and as today’s report indicates, we have seen a year-over-year increase in jobs in the state. However, these gains are fragile, and it is important that government do everything possible to boost private-sector employment. As they make budget decisions, I urge Governor-elect Brown and the legislature to keep in mind that it is California’s employers who will bring our economy back.”
Meanwhile, Nevada, the next door neighbor state that supposedly benefits from California’s supposedly high tax/high regulation ways, saw its unemployment rate go up.
To a whopping 14.3%.
Clearly the very corporate-friendly policies of the Silver State are having little impact there.
** CALIFORNIA CONNECTION: A TEA PARTY FIRST. CNN and the Tea Party Express announced today that they will jointly produce a Republican presidential primary debate next fall at the site of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.
This is the first Tea Party presidential primary debate.
Tea Party Express is a money-making venture founded by Sacramento consultant Sal Russo, who played a key role in electint George Deukmejian governor of California in 1982, and former state Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian. It did a national bus tour to drum up enthusiasm and get its name out there, then became a major political action committee backing far right Senate candidates such as Nevadan Sharron Angle and Alaskan Joe Miller, both of whom lost.
Russo and Kaloogian were leaders of one of the 2003 California recall outfits that went nowhere, as I reported at the time, but did get a lot of names for fundraising lists. With an alliance with some far right radio talkers, they segued into support for Bush/Cheney war strategies, which then allowed them to segue into the far right presidential campaign PAC world. All of which has been very lucrative, if not very effective.
** NEW NATIONAL SURVEY: THERE ARE TWICE AS MANY CONSERVATIVES AS LIBERALS. A new Gallup Poll survey of political self-identification shows that there are twice as many conservatives in America as there are liberals.
Here’s the breakdown: Conservatives 40%, moderates 34%, liberals 21%.
In case anyone was wondering why it’s not a great idea to run as strictly a liberal outside liberal areas.
(And yes, there are such people.)
Over the past decade, conservatives have overtaken moderates as the largest ideological grouping in the country. This is due mostly to the decline of Republican moderates, with the GOP now principally a hard right-wing party.
The Democratic Party has also gotten more liberal over the past decade, as hyper-partisanship in each party provides its mirror opposite.
You’ll notice that the number of very conservative and very liberal people is quite small. Their views are amplified in the media.
The political composition of U.S. adults held fairly steady in 2010 compared with 2009. Conservatives remained the largest group, followed by moderates and then liberals. At 35%, the percentage of moderates has declined to a new low, highlighting the increased political polarization that has occurred over the past decade. …
In 2010, as in prior years, relatively few Americans described themselves as either very conservative (10%) or very liberal (6%). The vast majority of Americans favor the more temperate political labels. …
Fewer people in all three party groups call themselves moderate today than did so in 2002, but the decline is particularly steep among Republicans. The percentage of Republicans calling themselves moderate fell from 31% in 2002 to 27% by 2006, and now stands at 23%. There has been a commensurate increase in the percentage of Republicans calling themselves conservative, now at a record-high 72%. …
Among Democrats, Gallup trends document declines in the proportion of moderates as well as conservatives. At the same time, the percentage of Democrats identifying as liberal has climbed from 29% in 2000 to a record-high 40% today. …
The ideological orientation of independents was fairly steady from 2000 through 2008, but since 2009, their views have followed the same path as Republicans’, becoming less moderate and more conservative. Still, the slight plurality of independents remain moderate. …
Conservatism in 2010 Peaked in Second Quarter
Although the percentage of conservatives among U.S. adults averaged 40% in 2010, it varied slightly during the year, peaking at 42% in the second quarter (after a 41% reading in the first quarter), in the first few months after passage of the landmark healthcare reform act. The conservative ID subsequently fell to 40% and 39% in the third and fourth quarters, and will bear watching in 2011.
Bottom Line
While the political pendulum in Washington can swing widely, Americans’ political ideology, like their party identification, tends to shift more gradually. Such a shift has been underway in recent years. While the changes are not large, they are unmistakable. Moderates are growing fewer in number while the percentages of conservatives and liberals have expanded. Conservatism has gained ground among Republicans and independents, while the growth in liberalism is strictly among Democrats.
Late last night, as expected, the House of Representatives passed the $858 billion Obama compromise tax cuts and economic stimulus bill on a vote of 277 to 148.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8:55 AM Pacific, he meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
At 9:50 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner in the Oval Office.
At 11 AM Pacific, Obama meets with leaders from the country’s largest labor organizations in the Roosevelt Room.
At 12:50 PM Pacific, Obma signs what the White House has dubbed “the middle-class tax cut bill” in the South Court Auditorium.
Obama successfully spent much of his effort this week pushing for his big compromise deal on extension of the Bush/Cheney era tax cuts, extension of unemployment benefits, new benefits for the middle class, and incentives for renewable energy.
The tax cuts and economic stimulus sailed through the Senate Wednesday, on a vote of 81 to 19, then passed the House last night, 277 to 148.
Here’s the breakdown of the House vote: 139 Democrats and 138 Republicans voted yes. 112 Democrats and 36 Republicans voted no.
Had the bill not passed, everyone in America would have seen their taxes go up next month.
The compromise extends for two years all of the Bush/Cheney era tax rates, including for the rich. Which is what had many on the left very exercised.
In reality, that ship had long since sailed.
Democratic congressional leaders decided not to try to eliminate the tax cuts for the rich during the election season, thus making it clear that they had no real faith in the efficacy of the issue in swing districts. Indeed, the core opposition in the House stemmed from members representing very safe liberal districts.
In any event, the Republicans made it very clear that they would not budge on the issue. And the public, weary of politics after a too long election season — indeed, does it ever stop now? — was not going to get engaged heading into the holidays.
Obama is now pushing for wins on Senate ratification of the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty and elimination of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on gays and lesbians in the military.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, now free on bail in London after being jailed on Swedish sex charges following his group’s latest info-dump, discusses what he calls a smear campaign against him.
Swedish authorities, on a stop and start basis, charged Wikileaks founder Julian Assange with sex crimes stemming from encounters with two women a few months ago. Assange suddenly landed on Interpol’s most wanted list following the latest Wikileaks info-dump now roiling U.S. relations with nations around the world.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in Northern California today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and his gubernatorial transition.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.
At 11 AM, Schwarzenegger will join Governor’s Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy Director Paul Seave at LAPD headquarters to announce over $9.2 million in competitive grants awarded to 24 cities throughout the state under the Governor’s California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention (CalGRIP) initiative.
Yesterday afternoon, Schwarzenegger spoke at the California Air Resources Board meeting at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters. Late in the day, as long expected, the ARB finalized the cap and trade system to reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions as required under AB 32.
Also late yesterday, Schwarzenegger called the first election to be held under the open primary system he championed, a February 15th special election to replace the late state Senator Jenny Oropeza of Long Beach.
… THE CALIFORNIA AS FIRST “FAILED STATE” DEBATE: SCHWARZENEGGER, DAVIS, WHITMAN, AND JERRY BROWN. … From my March 2nd column.
** JERRY BROWN ON CRISES PAST AND PRESENT.As Jerry Brown prepares to become California’s oldest governor more than three decades after he became its youngest in the modern era, keeping his own counsel, many search for clues to his thinking. As usual, the past is prologue, especially when it comes to thoughts of the future for this determinedly futurist politician.
Brown, as you know, won a landslide 54% to 41% victory in securing his third term as governor of America’s largest state, which is in turn the world’s eighth largest economy, equal to New York and Texas combined. In crushing billionaire Meg Whitman’s much vaunted machine, the biggest-spending non-presidential campaign in American history, by 1.3 million votes, Brown won more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in history. But his history in presidential politics has been decidedly more mixed.
Ironically, it may be the least successful of his three runs for the White House that turned out to be the most interesting. And the most relevant for what is to come in his historic third term as California’s governor, especially given his Wednesday summit in Sacramento laying out the stark reality of the state’s chronic budget crisis. Brown didn’t paper over deep problems in his most famous speech as a presidential candidate, a Francis Ford Coppola-produced address in 1980 that is eerily relevant today. And he’s not papering them over now. …From my December 10th essay.
** THE BEATLES’ RUBBER SOUL: 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS.Music changed, thanks to an album released 45 years ago. Now it may be changed back. … From my December 4th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $54 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
President Barack Obama, joined by Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, and other officials, said this morning at the White House that the U.S. has made significant progress in Afghanistan over the last year of his new strategy there.
** QUICK HITS. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared “Larry King Day” today in California. Schwarzenegger appears on the veteran CNN talk show host’s last show tonight, and hosts a party thanking his staff. … The U.S. Senate appears to be close to having the votes both to ratify the big U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reductions treaty and to eliminate the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on gays and lesbians in the military. …
** ANOTHER POLL SHOWS STRONG OPPOSITION TO AFGHAN WAR.The new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows strong opposition to the war in Afghanistan even as the Obama Administration claims major gains which others say are illusory.
A record 60 percent of Americans say the war in Afghanistan has not been worth fighting, a grim
assessment – and a politically hazardous one – in advance of the Obama administration’s one-
year review of its revised strategy.
Public dissatisfaction with the war, now the nation’s longest, has spiked by 7 points just since
July. Given its costs vs. its benefits, only 34 percent in the latest ABC News/Washington Post
poll say the war’s been worth fighting, down by 9 points to a new low, by a sizable margin. …
Negative views of the war for the first time are at the level of those recorded for the war in Iraq,
whose unpopularity dragged George W. Bush to historic lows in approval across his second
term. On average from 2005 through 2009, 60 percent called that war not worth fighting, the
same number who say so about Afghanistan now. (It peaked at 66 percent in April 2007.)
** NEW POLL: OBAMA JOB APPROVAL SLIPS AMONG LIBERAL DEMOCRATS … TO 79%. President Barack Obama’s job approval rating is steady overall but has slipped among liberal Democrats since his tax and economic compromise with Senate Republican leaders.
In a new Gallup Poll, Obama has dropped among liberal Dems from 85% in the November 15-21 period to 79% in the December 6-12 period.
His task for re-election will be to win back a larger margin of liberals in his re-election race, which almost certainly will be against a Republican hugging the far right rail of American politics.
Liberal Democrats remain strong supporters of President Obama, but their approval of the job he is doing has fallen noticeably since the midterm elections. For the first time, it dropped below 80% in the week after the announcement of the tax deal he brokered with congressional Republicans. …
The Gallup data indicate that Obama’s support among liberal Democrats was starting to decline even before he reached the tax deal. He averaged 88% approval among this group the last full week before the midterm elections (Oct. 25-31) and 83% the first three full weeks (Nov. 8-28) after his party suffered major losses in those elections, and then dipped below 80% the week after the announcement of the tax deal on Monday, Dec. 6.
Democrats in Congress largely opposed the deal, mainly for extending the 2001 and 2003 income tax cuts for wealthy Americans and for its revisions to the estate tax. Those revisions included higher limits than Democrats wanted on the amount of inheritances exempt from taxes and lower tax rates on the portion of inheritances that are subject to taxes.
Liberal Democrats have been Obama’s most consistent supporters throughout his presidency, averaging 89% approval since he took office. That compares with an 82% average approval rating among moderate Democrats and a 75% average among conservative Democrats during his tenure in office.
Obama’s overall approval rating has been relatively stable in recent weeks, narrowly ranging between 44% and 46% since the elections.
Compared with mid-November, when Obama had a 46% average among all Americans, his support has dropped most among liberal and conservative Democrats, with other party and ideological groups showing only minor movement.
Among the broader party groups, the decline has been confined mostly to Democrats, and among the broader ideology groups, mostly to liberals. …
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, the informal U.S. emissary, arrived today in North Korea to try to help defuse the ongoing Korean crisis.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
At 6:30 PM Pacific, Obama delivered remarks at the White House Tribal Nations Conference at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden then received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8:45 AM Pacific, Obama delivers a statement to the press on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Annual Review in the Press Briefing Room.
At 9:05 AM Pacific, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Bob Gates and Marine General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, deliver the AfPak review briefing and take questions in the Press Briefing Room.
At 12:15 PM Pacific, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke present three U.S. organizations with the 2009 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award at the Grand Hyatt Washington.
Obama is spending most of his effort pushing for his big compromise deal on extension of the Bush/Cheney era tax cuts, extension of unemployment benefits, new benefits for the middle class, incentives for renewable energy, and ratification of the lynchpin U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty.
The tax cuts and economic stimulus sailed through the Senate yesterday, on a vote of 81 to 19.
Republican presidential co-frontrunner Mitt Romney, as expected, came out against the deal on Tuesday.
The Senate is to take up the nuclear arms treaty with Russia on Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada says the votes are now there for ratification. But some conservative Republicans say no.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is being freed on bail in London.
Swedish authorities, on a stop and start basis, charged Wikileaks founder Julian Assange with sex crimes stemming from encounters with two women a few months ago. Assange suddenly landed on Interpol’s most wanted list following the latest Wikileaks info-dump now roiling U.S. relations with nations around the world.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in Northern California today.
He has no scheduled public events.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis, with his budget proposal due at the printer this week for unveiling on January 10th, and his gubernatorial transition.
As I reported yesterday, his sister Kathleen Brown, the former state treasurer and 1994 Democratic gubernatorial nominee, is moving from Los Angeles to Chicago to serve as chair of investment banking for Goldman Sachs in the Midwest region. She has been in charge of public finance for the Western states. Clearly, continuing in that role, with her brother returning to California’s governorship, would have created the appearance of a conflict of interest. Brown’s husband, former CBS News president Van Gordon Sauter, has deep roots in Chicago.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.
At 2:45 PM, Schwarzenegger will give remarks at the California Air Resources Board meeting at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters. The ARB is finalizing the Cap-and-Trade system to reduce California’s emissions under AB 32.
** JERRY BROWN ON CRISES PAST AND PRESENT.As Jerry Brown prepares to become California’s oldest governor more than three decades after he became its youngest in the modern era, keeping his own counsel, many search for clues to his thinking. As usual, the past is prologue, especially when it comes to thoughts of the future for this determinedly futurist politician.
Brown, as you know, won a landslide 54% to 41% victory in securing his third term as governor of America’s largest state, which is in turn the world’s eighth largest economy, equal to New York and Texas combined. In crushing billionaire Meg Whitman’s much vaunted machine, the biggest-spending non-presidential campaign in American history, by 1.3 million votes, Brown won more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in history. But his history in presidential politics has been decidedly more mixed.
Ironically, it may be the least successful of his three runs for the White House that turned out to be the most interesting. And the most relevant for what is to come in his historic third term as California’s governor, especially given his Wednesday summit in Sacramento laying out the stark reality of the state’s chronic budget crisis. Brown didn’t paper over deep problems in his most famous speech as a presidential candidate, a Francis Ford Coppola-produced address in 1980 that is eerily relevant today. And he’s not papering them over now. …From my December 10th essay.
** THE BEATLES’ RUBBER SOUL: 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS.Music changed, thanks to an album released 45 years ago. Now it may be changed back. … From my December 4th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $54 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, based in Palo Alto, California, was today named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger inducted the 26-year old Zuckerberg into the California Hall of Fame last night in Sacramento.
** QUICK HITS. The California Supreme Court today denied a request to intervene against the initiative by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other reformers to create an open primary. The initiative, Proposition 14, passed in June on a 54% to 46% vote after losing earlier during Schwarzenegger’s governorship. While the case remains at the appellate court level, this should help clear the way for open primary elections beginning in 2012. Meanwhile, a special election to fill a vacant state senate seat early next year will take place under open primary rules. … Governor-elect Jerry Brown’s sister, former California Treasurer Kathleen Brown, is moving from Los Angeles to Chicago to head up investment banking for Goldman Sachs in the Midwest region. She has been in charge of public finance for the Western states. Clearly continuing in that role, with her brother returning to California’s governorship, would have created the appearance of a conflict of interest with regard to the 1994 Democratic gubernatorial nominee. Brown’s husband, former CBS News president Van Gordon Sauter, has deep roots in Chicago. … The Sacramento Bee, which is much interested in where Jerry Brown is going to live in Sacramento, with reporters asking me if I know, reported that he was looking at a few apartments in the downtown Sacramento area today. He has previously looked at apartments in, yes, the downtown Sacramento area. My view is that we will know soon enough which apartment he will rent in the downton Sacramento area.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … 2010: A JERRY BROWN ODYSSEY.
** BOXER AND FEINSTEIN JOIN OVERWHELMING SENATE MAJORITY IN PASSAGE OF THE OBAMA COMPROMISE ON TAX CUTS AND ECONOMIC STIMULUS. The U.S. Senate today passed President Barack Obama’s $858 billion tax cuts and economic stimulus compromise with Senate Republican leaders on a vote of 81 to 19.
Both Barbara Boxer, one of the most liberal senators, who was re-elected last month, and her California colleague Dianne Feinstein voted in favor.
Boxer had quite a bit to say about her vote:
“The framework of the bill,” she explained in her statement, “was sent to us by President Obama. There were negotiations with our Republican colleagues and then one very important addition was made to the bill because many of us here in the Senate wanted that, and I’m grateful for that addition.
“It was the 1603 program which is critical to our clean energy businesses and will result in tens of thousands of jobs because it allows companies that are moving forward with solar, wind and geothermal clean energy projects to essentially get a tax credit up front. It’s essential because there are a lot of plans on the drawing boards and if this hadn’t been renewed, we would have lost those plans and we would have lost those jobs.
“I wanted to lay out some of what compelled me to vote ‘yes’ to move that bill forward. The fact is this bill will be a help to the middle class.
“Different parties bring different passions to the table, and those passions are held deeply. I think the passion that the Democrats brought to the table was that first and foremost, the people who have been desperately hurt by this slow economic recovery aren’t left in the lurch for the next year. We brought that passion that we had to make sure that middle-class families who lost their jobs don’t lose everything else — their home, the ability to send their kids to school, and that they have this bridge of unemployment insurance.
“The other passion was to make sure that the middle class didn’t get a tax increase. We were passionate on the point and wanted tax credits for business that resulted in jobs.
“Those were the passions we brought to the table. I think it’s fair to say the passions the Republicans brought to the table were to help make sure that the very wealthiest got taken care of in any deal.
“Why do I say that? It’s a fact in evidence.
“Their non-negotiable terms included extension of the tax cuts to billionaires and millionaires. That was it. Just as we were passionate about helping the middle class, they were passionate on this point.
“This tax bill that I voted to move forward will help our working families. There’s a two percent cut in payroll taxes. There is the extension of the child tax credit from the Recovery Act, the earned-income tax credit, the childcare tax credit, education relief, refundable tax credits for college, the 1603 (renewable energy) provision, job-creating incentives, bonus depreciation and small business capital gains exclusion.
“I think moving ahead with this was very, very important. Most economic forecasters estimate the legislation will increase GDP growth and I think that is critical at this time.”
** NEW POLL: MIXED THOUGH MOSTLY POSITIVE REVIEWS FOR OBAMA ON TAX AND ECONOMY COMPROMISE. President Barack Obama’s compromise deal with some Republican leaders on tax policy and economic stimulus yields mixed if mostly positive reviews in the new Gallup Poll.
The data doesn’t support the notion of a Democratic primary challenge to Obama.
The largest segment of Americans, 38%, believe he struck the right balance, while, by 26% to 21%, slightly more say he did not compromise enough than say he compromised too much. Another 15% are unsure.
These findings are based on a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Dec. 10-12.
Some of the strongest congressional opposition to the tax deal has come from the Democratic caucus, stirring media speculation about whether Obama could face a challenge from the left in 2012. About a third of rank-and-file Democrats believe Obama compromised too much, but the majority (55%) say he either did not compromise enough or was about right.
Along the same lines, most Democrats (78%) say either that their respect for Obama has grown as a result of his work on the tax agreement or that their opinion of him has not changed. Fewer than one in five — 17% — say they respect him less.
The views of Democrats on this issue mirror those of the American public. …
The poll was conducted amid heated political debate in Washington over the merits of the compromise, and prior to any votes being cast. The rancorous tone from Congress during this period may not have sat well with Americans, and this is possibly seen in the sharp drop in Congress’ approval rating in December to a record-low 13%. Obama’s approval rating is largely unchanged. …
Republicans are a bit less pessimistic in their interpretation of the tax negotiations than independents and Democrats. This may reflect the fact that, by 57% to 48%, Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to support congressional passage of the plan, and may therefore be more tolerant of the process that produced it.
More generally, 49% of Americans think Congress should pass the compromise plan, 32% think Congress should not pass it, and 18% are unsure.
Bottom Line
Americans have told Gallup they value compromise over principled conflict. Now that President Obama and Republican leaders have, indeed, compromised over the extension of the Bush tax cuts, Americans seem to be saying “the compromise is fine, but next time, do it more gracefully.”
With the Senate about to act, President Barack Obama this morning called for prompt passage of the compromise tax and economic stimulus deal.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama delivered a statement to the press at the Eisenhower Executive Office Bldg.
Then at 6:30 AM Pacific, he began a working meeting with business leaders at Blair House.
At 1:05 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden chairs a United Nations Security Council High-Level Meeting on Iraq at the United Nations.
Obama is spending most of his effort pushing for his big compromise deal on extension of the Bush/Cheney era tax cuts, extension of unemployment benefits, new benefits for the middle class, incentives for renewable energy, and ratification of the lynchpin U.S.-Russia nuclear arms treaty.
The tax and economic portions sailed through an anti-filibuster vote Monday in the Senate, on a vote of 85 to 11.
Republican presidential co-frontrunner Mitt Romney, as expected, came out against the deal yesterday.
The Senate is likely to pass the tax and economic stimulus bill today.
The Senate will then take up the nuclear arms treaty with Russia on Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada says the votes are now there for ratification.
But Senate Minority Leader Jon Kyl of Arizona, who alternates between extreme opposition and claiming he has an open mind, says he will block the bill because there is not enough time to consider it between now and the end of the year.
Obama is putting the finishing touches on the year-end review of AfPak strategy and will present it on Thursday.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange remains in jail in London.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor-elect Jerry Brown is in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento today.
Yesterday he held his second “civic dialogue” event on California’s chronic budget crisis, this one focusing on education, in the Grand Ballroom of Ackerman Union at UCLA.
Brown made it clear that his first budget, which is due at the printer today prior to its unveiling on January 10th, will be very austere, with shocking cuts.
Then it wlll be up to the people, who polls show have some wildly uninformed views about the budget, to contemplate the situation.
Last night in Sacramento, Brown accepted the award of his late father’s induction into the California Hall of Fame from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who referred to Governor Pat as the “builder of modern California.”
For his part, the once and future governor said that the term that most brought to mind his father is “go-getter,” which Brown implicitly applied to Schwarzenegger, a quintessential go-getter, as well as the other Hall of Fame inductees.
Brown then told an amusing anecdote about the time he took his father to a monastery, where the former governor was thoroughly bored by the silence and meditation.
Having gone on vacation with Pat Brown, I can only imagine.
Jerry Brown, incidentally, will continue the California Hall of Fame program during his next governorship.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and the Inland Empire today.
At 10 AM, Schwarzenegger will join the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and local San Bernardino County officials to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Adelanto Detention Center Expansion Project, the first jail construction project as a result of AB 900, a prison reform program enacted in 2007.
** JERRY BROWN ON CRISES PAST AND PRESENT.As Jerry Brown prepares to become California’s oldest governor more than three decades after he became its youngest in the modern era, keeping his own counsel, many search for clues to his thinking. As usual, the past is prologue, especially when it comes to thoughts of the future for this determinedly futurist politician.
Brown, as you know, won a landslide 54% to 41% victory in securing his third term as governor of America’s largest state, which is in turn the world’s eighth largest economy, equal to New York and Texas combined. In crushing billionaire Meg Whitman’s much vaunted machine, the biggest-spending non-presidential campaign in American history, by 1.3 million votes, Brown won more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in history. But his history in presidential politics has been decidedly more mixed.
Ironically, it may be the least successful of his three runs for the White House that turned out to be the most interesting. And the most relevant for what is to come in his historic third term as California’s governor, especially given his Wednesday summit in Sacramento laying out the stark reality of the state’s chronic budget crisis. Brown didn’t paper over deep problems in his most famous speech as a presidential candidate, a Francis Ford Coppola-produced address in 1980 that is eerily relevant today. And he’s not papering them over now. …From my December 10th essay.
** THE BEATLES’ RUBBER SOUL: 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS.Music changed, thanks to an album released 45 years ago. Now it may be changed back. … From my December 4th essay.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
This is up about $54 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
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