Egyptian film star Omar Sharif, who starred in a little movie called Lawrence of Arabia, today called on President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Opposition leaders have called for a million people to protest Mubarak’s rule on Tuesday, and the army is pledging not to interfere.
** QUICK HITS. In his State of the State address, which you can read here, Governor Jerry Brown called for a public vote on his rescue package for California’s chronic budget crisis, noting the irony of Republican efforts to block democracy as pro-democracy protesters in Egypt and Tunisia fire the world’s imagination. He also pointed out that naysayers are continuing the practice of providing no alternatives. … As he prepared to deliver his State of the State address, Brown revealed through his campaign filing that he spent $36.7 million to win the governorship of California last November. … Billionaire Meg Whitman, who lost to Brown in a 54% to 41% landslide, reported spending $178.5 million. Of which over $144 million came from herself. … But her true total is much more than that, as it does not include the million-plus “investment” she made in consultant Mike Murphy’s credit-free Hollywood production company two days after he ankled GOP rival Steve Poizner’s campaign, or any of her unreported heavy spending early on on consultants, research, and travel. … A federal judge in Florida today declared the national health care reform bill to be unconstitutional, saying that the mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance is illegal. … U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, scion of the Huntsman Corp. and a relatively moderate one-term Republican governor of Utah, is resigning to return to the U.S. and explore a run for the Republican presidential nomination. Huntsman worked with former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on climate/renewable issues and is one of the highest profile Obama Republican appointees.
** NEW POLL: NO GETTING RID OF THE TEA PARTY.A new Gallup Poll shows how difficult it will be for Republican presidential candidates to distance themselves from the Tea Party.
A whopping 71% of Americans think it’s at least somewhat important for Republican leaders to strongly consider Tea Party positions.
That includes 88% of Republicans.
It also includes 53% of Democrats, and that is surely not because Democrats like the Tea Party.
Think mischief there.
When it comes to Republicans, the answer is far more straightforward. 52% of Republicans nationally count themselves supporters of the Tea Party. Only 5% are opponents.
About 7 in 10 national adults, including 88% of Republicans, say it is important that Republican leaders in Congress take the Tea Party movement’s positions and objectives into account as they address the nation’s problems. Among Republicans, 53% rate this “very important.” …
Although few Democrats (6%) are supporters of the Tea Party or even have a favorable view of it (11%), more than half say it is important that the Republican Party take the Tea Party’s positions into account. Why this is the case is unclear, although Democrats may simply feel that the opposing party should pay attention to all of its constituencies.
Perhaps underscoring the same principle, Republicans overwhelmingly feel their leaders should take the Tea Party’s positions into account, even though barely half are self-identified as Tea Party supporters.
Despite Americans’ willingness to have Tea Party voices heard, it is not clear that the Republican Party benefits when Tea Party leaders publicly overshadow its own. Indeed, the GOP confronted that issue last week when Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Tea Party-sanctioned response to Obama’s State of the Union address seemed to draw attention away from the Republican Party’s official response given by Rep. Paul Ryan. …
While media commentators duel over whether Bachmann’s response to the State of the Union address deserved prime-time coverage, the Republican Party has its own dilemma: how much deference to show Tea Party activists and their generally conservative proposals in crafting public policy. Almost all Republicans say it is at least somewhat important for GOP congressional leaders to take the Tea Party’s views into account, with about half saying it is very important. More broadly, the Tea Party has neither lost nor gained strength since the midterm elections. It remains popular with about 3 in 10 Americans who call themselves supporters of the movement, and it continues to generate as much opposition as support overall.
President Barack Obama delivered his widely heralded speech to the Islamic world, “A New Beginning,” on June 4th, 2009 at Cairo University. Today Cairo, and the rest of Egypt, is in a deep state of turmoil, along with Obama’s geopolitical strategy.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
It’s a very big week in presidential politics, and a big week in California politics.
In presidential politics, Barack Obama deals with one of the ultimate X-factor issues, the possible collapse of America’s longest standing ally in the Arab world.
In California politics, Governor Jerry Brown emerges from stealth mode and delivers his State of the State address. He is now nearly midway through his own schedule of getting a budget plan approved allowing him to take needed revenue solutions to a projected June special election.
What a difference a week makes. A week ago, Obama had confounded most experts by emerging in a strong position for re-election following widespread Democratic defeats in the mid-term elections.
Obama had a string of major successes in the lame duck Congress and delivered an elegant, moving speech in the wake of the Tucson tragedy that reminded people of why they liked him so much following his great keynote address at the 2004 Democratic national convention.
His State of the Union address was, as expected, quite successful.
And his Republican opponents for the 2012 presidential race are, not to put too fine a point on it, unimpressive.
Then came Egypt.
It was clear after the uprising in Tunisia that tectonic plates were beginning to shift in the Arab world, with people stirring against poverty, inflation, corruption, and decades of authoritarian rule. Beyond a certain point, things simply can’t be blamed on Israel.
But the Obama Administration was largely caught flat-footed by the uprising in Egypt, which is merely America’s longest standing ally in the Arab world and the site of Obama’s landmark address to the Islamic world in 2009.
President Hosni Mubarak’s only plan for succession to his regime was his son. Which was not flying even before the uprising, with the Egyptian military, the most admired and stable institution in the country, frowning mightily on the notion. Egyptian political culture is deracinated, with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood the only coherent non-Mubarak political force in the country.
Following days of protest, in a dramatic midnight address Mubarak named his national intelligence chief, rather than his son, as his new vice president and possible successor. Mubarak had left the vice presidency unfilled since taking power decades ago. Now it’s the 74-year old Omar Suleiman, like Mubarak a product of the Egyptian military.
Mubarak also named the former head of the Egyptian Air Force, now Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq as the country’s new prime minister. Mubarak, too, was the commander of the air force prior to becoming president.
But this increasingly seems merely a transitory solution, and Obama must pick his way forward through a political minefield without alienating the Arab street and without totally destabilizing the country, each of which could easily deliver Egypt into the hands of Islamists.
Egypt has been a bulwark of America’s counter-jihadist strategies, serving also as a key counter-weight to Iran and a stabilizer of the situation with Israel. But like many Arab countries, it has failed to address basic needs of most of its people and has squelched political reform efforts.
The chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, General Sami Anan, returned to his country on Friday from Washington, cutting short one of his regular visits to the US. The US announced that aid to Egypt, which amounts to $1.4 billion a year most of which goes to the military, is under review pending resolution of the crisis. (Egypt is the second biggest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, behind Israel.) Yet the military is only one part of this complex equation.
After a few days of uncertainty, the Obama Administration is making it clear to Mubarak that far more is expected of him than he’s offered so far. This is a wise rhetorical course, especially from a country that manufactures the tear gas used to suppress Egyptian protests, and which has propped up an authoritarian regime with military aid for decades.
Now there is talk of mobilizing mass demonstrations of a million people and more on Tuesday throughout Egypt. With the Internet cut off and texting on mobile phone networks disabled, organization will be more difficult.
But with the army refusing to suppress the protests so far, such things have a momentum of their own. And the reality is that huge demonstrations have been organized in the past without much in the way of technological aid.
Meanwhile, the administration is organizing an evacuation of Americans from Egypt. And that will be more difficult with the cut-off of the Internet and mobile phone texting. Undoubtedly some will be left behind.
In comparison to this, what Jerry Brown has to deal with is child’s play, certainly from an intellectual standpoint. Except it isn’t because the forces and figures involved in sustaining a chronic state budget crisis in one of the world’s largest and wealthiest economies are entrenched and intractable.
Brown, who has been unusually absent from the public eye during the first four weeks of his third term as governor, will speak to some familiar themes tonight in his State of the State address. I’ll have a full report on how he’s doing so far as governor.
But the reality is that the other actors have to get their heads out of, er, the sand in order for the state government to emerge from a crisis born of constitutionally hamstrung institutions and a dysfunctional political culture.
As is his custom, Brown has not laid out his week ahead. In fact, he does not lay out his day ahead, in contrast to Schwarzenegger, who no one would call a highly scheduled politician.
Here’s what Obama is doing this week, so far, with events in Egypt obviously overshadowing all.
On Monday, Obama will attend meetings at the White House.
On Tuesday, he will hold a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
On Wednesday, Obama will travel to the Penn State Campus at University Park in State College, Pennsylvania, where he will tour one of his administration’s new Energy Innovation Hubs and deliver remarks on innovation, energy efficiency, and clean energy. To, you know, “win the future.”
On Thursday, Obama will deliver remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC.
On Friday, Obama will attend meetings at the White House.
As always, Obama keeps his schedule in the latter part of the week vague and flexible to adjust for emerging events.
Opposition forces in Egypt are beginning to coalesce, with Nobel Peace Prize winner and former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei emerging as a prospective interim leader.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 8:10 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
Obama is extremely focused, needless to say, on the extraordinary crisis in Egypt.
He will be talking with world leaders and meeting with his national security team throughout the day.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento today.
He delivers the State of the State address tonight at 5 PM in the Capitol. This is the latest State of the State address that I can recall.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and on developing his nascent administration.
He is also working on his State of the State address, which he is essentially writing himself.
You can watch the State of the State on the local TV stations around the state, on the California Channel on cable, and online at www.calchannel.com.
Brown will discuss the state’s chronic budget crisis, as well as prospects for California when it emerges from the crisis.
There’s nothing terribly mysterious about this. The state’s budget crisis is unnecessary and preposterous. Brown must convince some of the most recalcitrant and self-absorbed interests on the planet to undertake the obvious: Cut back on spending and bring in new revenues.
He must then take things to the ballot, including some form of tax hike, this year, preferably in June, and get a majority of voters to either vote to continue higher taxes on themselves, tax corporations more, or approve some combination thereof.
That’s the whole story, boiled down from its faux complexity.
** OBAMA AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JFK INAUGURAL 50 YEARS ON.Why, 50 years after the fact, did official Washington celebrate the inauguration of a most imperfect man who served less than one term as president, and had far fewer accomplishments than many other presidents?
The answer undoubtedly lies in why John F. Kennedy continues to be rated higher in polling than all other modern presidents, and why Barack Obama became a major political figure in the first place and is resurgent today. Ideology, policy, even accomplishment has remarkably little to do with it. … From my January 22nd essay.
** THE JERRY BROWN ERA UNFOLDS (AGAIN).And he is off and running as governor of California. Again. The first week of Jerry Brown’s governorship told us a lot, and set the stage for the second week, in which a hellacious state budget proposal is dominating.
First, let’s look at that, and then at the first week of the Brown governorship as he took over from Arnold Schwarzenegger. A week that was telling and even, in its way, festive. At least at first. … From my January 11th feature.
** 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.
Following its weekend victories at the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild Awards, The King’s Speech has overtaken The Social Network as the Oscar favorite for Best Picture.
** 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.
It’s also up $5 a barrel since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was finally forced to name a vice president, and picked his longtime intelligence chief.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
He has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama has no scheduled public events.
Obama is meeting with key members of his national security team on the crisis in Egypt.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared on all five Sunday morning TV chat shows, saying that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has to do much more than he has so far to reform his regime. Denouncing “faux democracy,” she called for a transition to full democracy.
Protests continued today in Egypt, which is 10 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.
The Egyptian stock market, scheduled to open today, remained closed.
Mobile phone service has been restored, but texting services are blocked. The Internet is largely blocked, making Egypt the first country in history to be taken off the global cyber-network. The government is trying to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in the country.
With the police having largely withdrawn, the army is now much in evidence on the streets. Looting has become rampant and thousands of prisoners, including hundreds of Islamists, were freed in Saturday night raids on four prisons.
Egyptian fighter jets swooped low over downtown Cairo repeatedly today around the time of Mubarak’s new 4 PM curfew, which was nonetheless largely ignored.
The U.S. Embassy has suggested it would be prudent for American tourists to curtail their travel. Non-emergency U.S. employees and dependents are being allowed to depart immediately. That is, if they can get a flight.
In one more positive sign, Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency, was released from house arrest and addressed protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
He is prepping for his State of the State address, set for Monday at 5 PM.
This is a key event for him, as he’s made very few public appearances since being elected governor on November 2nd.
In his weekly video/radio address, filmed Thursday at Orion Energy Systems in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, President Barack Obama says that America “will win the future” by “out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building” its competitors.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. 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.
Obama is meeting today with members of the National Security Council on the crisis in Egypt.
Egypt is America’s biggest ally in the Arab world. But longtime leader Hosni Mubarak is 82 and ill, and has been attempting to foist his son off as his successor, to the notable disapproval of the country’s military. As is the case in much of the Arab world, the leadership is autocratic and unresponsive, most of the populace under-privileged and reeling from economic dislocations.
Today Mubarak named his national intelligence chief, rather than his son, as his new vice president and possible successor. Mubarak had left the vice presidency unfilled since taking power decades ago. Now it’s the 74-year old Omar Suleiman, like Mubarak a product of the Egyptian military.
Mubarak also named the former head of the Egyptian Air Force, now Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq as the country’s new prime minister. Mubarak, too, was the commander of the air force prior to becoming president.
Protests continued today, but were somewhat lighter, perhaps because protesters have been on the streets for days and need rest, perhaps because they are assessing the changing situation, perhaps because the army is out in force. But the soldiers are reportedly mainly guarding principal arteries and TV stations.
The army does not appear to be suppressing the protests. In fact, there are reports of troops protecting protesters from the security police, which are the most loyal to the Mubarak regime. The security police are guarding government ministries and the presidential palace.
The military is the most stable and credible institution in the country. If they turn on Mubarak, it’s clearly over for him.
The chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, General Sami Anan, returned to his country on Friday from Washington, cutting short one of his regular visits to the US.
A State Department spokesman warned Mubarak in a statement today that the US expects reforms in his regime, not merely a reshuffling of the deck.
The US announced yesterday that aid to Egypt, which amounts to $1.4 billion a year, most of which goes to the military, is under review pending resolution of the crisis.
Egypt is the second biggest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, behind Israel.
It’s been a bulwark of America’s counter-jihadist strategies, serving also as a key counter-weight to Iran and a stabilizer of the situation with Israel. But like many Arab countries, it has failed to address basic needs of most of its people and has squelched political reform efforts.
In that regard, mobile phone service is back on today in Egypt. But the Internet is still largely down or reduced in service.
Protests continued in Egypt on Saturday.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … JERRY BROWN 2.0: HOW’S IT GOING?
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California today.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and on developing his nascent administration.
He is also working on his State of the State address, now set for 5 PM on Monday.
** OBAMA AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JFK INAUGURAL 50 YEARS ON.Why, 50 years after the fact, did official Washington celebrate the inauguration of a most imperfect man who served less than one term as president, and had far fewer accomplishments than many other presidents?
The answer undoubtedly lies in why John F. Kennedy continues to be rated higher in polling than all other modern presidents, and why Barack Obama became a major political figure in the first place and is resurgent today. Ideology, policy, even accomplishment has remarkably little to do with it. … From my January 22nd essay.
** THE JERRY BROWN ERA UNFOLDS (AGAIN).And he is off and running as governor of California. Again. The first week of Jerry Brown’s governorship told us a lot, and set the stage for the second week, in which a hellacious state budget proposal is dominating.
First, let’s look at that, and then at the first week of the Brown governorship as he took over from Arnold Schwarzenegger. A week that was telling and even, in its way, festive. At least at first. … From my January 11th feature.
** 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 on Friday at $89.34 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $55 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Oil went up nearly $4 per barrel yesterday due to the turmoil in Egypt and much of the Arab world.
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 commented on the Egyptian crisis late today, following President Hosni Mubarak’s post-midnight TV address in Cairo. Obama, who had just spoken with Mubarak, called for an end to violence on both sides and recognition of fundamental human rights.
** QUICK HITS.The Obama Administration, which will hold a National Security Council meeting tomorrow on the sudden crisis in Egypt, has placed aid to America’s longstanding top ally in the Arab world into review. The head of the Egyptian military was in the U.S. on a regular trip to confer with American officials and look at military hardware, but flew back to his country today. … Governor Jerry Brown today issued an executive order to cut the California state government’s car fleet in half. Brown delivers his State of the State address at 5 PM on Monday.
** 3 PM UPDATE: U.S. GEOPOLITICS IN TURMOIL. The Obama Administration is in the midst of an unprecedented challenge with the government of Egypt, America’s longest standing major ally in the Arab world, teetering from widespread popular protests by Egyptians fed up with poverty, inflation, corruption, and authoritarian rule.
After being absent from public view for the past several days while Tunisia-inspired protests grew, President Hosni Mubarak appeared live on television in Cairo in a post-midnight address — Egyptian time is 10 hours ahead of California time — to announce that he is sympathetic to the protesters’ cause and is sacking Egypt’s prime minister and the rest of the national cabinet. (I watched Mubarak’s speech live via the NWN live link to Al Jazeera below.)
In other words, he threw the rest of the government under the bus and said the problems are not caused by him. Since Mubarak has been in power for decades, it’s questionable whether or not this gambit will have much credibility with Egyptians.
What will the Obama Administration do? And will it matter?
The Egyptian security forces placed Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency and former aide to the Egyptian foreign minister, under house arrest not long after he returned to the country to help lead protests.
He would presumably be an acceptable alternative for the U.S. and other Western countries. But I don’t know that a former law professor at NYU has the Arab Street cred he needs, though getting arrested is a good start.
The Obama Administration appears to have been caught off-guard by the mass protests in Egypt. Just the other day, the State Department’s sub-cabinet official for the region was saying that the revolt in Tunisia was unique to Tunisia, and not applicable to Egypt. In reality, Tunisia-style protests have spread not only to Egypt but also to Yemen and Jordan.
Needless to say, the White House is heavily focused today on the Egyptian crisis, with Obama receiving repeated briefings on the situation.
Tomorrow there will reportedly be an emergency meeting of the full National Security Council to go over the Egyptian situation.
Egyptian security shut down the Internet and mobile phone service prior to today’s planned post-Friday prayer protests. It hasn’t made a difference, and may actually lead to more chaos if protesters act in spasmodic fashion.
In an unprecedented post-midnight address, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, long America’s biggest ally in the Middle East, fired his prime minister and the rest of the cabinet and pledged to respect protesters’ concerns.
** 2 PM UPDATE: THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED. While I’m supposed to be wrapping up a piece on how Jerry Brown’s governorship is going so far, and focusing in conversation on domestic U.S. politics, I’ve actually been transfixed by the live TV feed from Cairo on the revolt in Egypt. The Egyptian police have failed to quell the protests, the governmental shutdown of the Internet has failed to quell the protests, people are out on the streets in violation of a curfew, army units are in evidence, but the government has been oddly absent.
You can watch this live on Al Jazeera by clicking on the live link below here on NWN.
The time in Egypt is 10 hours ahead of the time in California. But as you will see, things are very lively on the streets, as Egypt’s ruling party headquarters burns next to a national museum.
** NEW POLL: AMERICANS ARE DIVIDED ON OBAMA AND REPUBLICAN SPENDING PROPOSALS, MOSTLY LIKE OBAMA’S STATE OF THE UNION. Central to the Republican strategy for the 2011 congressional session and the 2012 presidential race is the notion that President Barack Obama is a wild, socialist big spender.
But he seems to be neutralizing that issue as both the session and the presidential race get underway.
According to a new Gallup Poll, 39% prefer Obama’s proposed five-year spending freeze on discretionary federal spending, while 41% prefer the Congressional Republicans’ proposal to cut discretionary spending back to 2008 levels.
Of the remainder, 7% prefer neither approach and 13% aren’t sure.
Which amounts to a wash.
And a wash on this issue is a win for Obama.
President Obama’s proposal to freeze discretionary domestic spending for five years was one of the key elements of his State of the Union address. Americans are generally divided when asked whether they favor his proposal (39%) or the Republicans’ plan (41%) to roll discretionary domestic spending back to 2008 levels. Democrats and Republicans generally line up behind their party’s plan. Independents tilt toward the GOP proposal, though many do not have an opinion either way. …
These results are based on a Jan. 26 USA Today/Gallup poll conducted the day after Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Overall, 34% of Americans say they watched the speech, and another 28% saw, heard, or read news coverage of it.
The poll finds that 65% of those who watched or saw coverage of the speech rate it positively, including 25% who say they have a very positive opinion of it. Those who watched the speech are more positive about it than are those who only saw news coverage of it.
That more positive response to the speech among those who watched is due in large part to the composition of the viewing audience for it. As is typical of most presidential speeches, the viewing audience for Obama’s speech was more friendly than not — 41% of those who watched the speech are Democrats, 33% independents, and 23% Republicans.
The speech afforded the president a prime opportunity to tell Americans how he plans to lead the country in the wake of the midterm elections, which returned the Republicans to majority status in the House.
However, Americans in general do not expect Obama to make significant changes in the types of policies he will pursue in the next year. Thirty-four percent say the speech was a signal that Obama will change course, but 47% disagree. About one in five have no opinion.
Those who watched the speech are more likely to believe it is a sign of a new Obama policy course, though even this group is divided in its views. …
Protests expanded today across Egypt, America’s longtime leading ally in the Arab world, with the police overwhelmed in many areas and army forces moving in.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
At 7:20 AM Pacific, Obama addressed Families USA’s 16th Annual Health Action Conference at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill.
Upon returning to the White House, Obama then convened a meeting with senior advisors in the Oval Office.
Obama’s national security team is all hands on deck with regard to the situation in Egypt.
Today is the largest day of protests yet in Egypt, America’s longest-standing ally in the Arab world, following on the example earlier this month of popular uprising in Tunisia.
It’s a chaotic situation, but in many areas the police have been overwhelmed by protesters, and in some areas replaced by units of the Egyptian Army.
The ruling party headquarters in Cairo, not far from where Obama made his major address to the Muslim world in 2009, was set on fire by protesters.
The Obama Administration has notably not made any particular show of support for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, instead calling on the government to respect the human rights of protesters outraged by poverty, inflation, and corruption.
In the wake of the Tunisian uprising, waves of protest, fed by social media, spread through Egypt, a key US ally, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and today. Security forces are cracking down, but apparently not effectively.
The unrest in Tunisia has spread to Egypt, where dissatisfaction with autocratic rule grew with help from social networks. But mobile phone service, Facebook, Twitter, and the Internet itself are running afoul of the authorities.
Massive protests were planned for today, when masses of people were already in the streets following Friday prayers.
Expectations proved accurate.
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which helped give rise to Al Qaeda, is lending its support to the protests.
And Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has returned to the country and helped lead protests on Friday.
Some members of his party were set upon by police in the streets and beaten, but ElBaradei himself is reportedly well.
Egypt is America’s biggest ally in the Arab world. But longtime leader Hosni Mubarak is 82 and ill, and has been attempting to foist his son off as his successor, to the notable disapproval of the country’s military.
As is the case in much of the Arab world, the leadership is autocratic and unresponsive, most of the populace under-privileged and reeling from economic dislocations.
Tunisia-inspired protests are also widespread in Yemen, a much poorer nation where US forces find themselves engaged, barely behind the scenes, against Al Qaeda.
Speaking this morning at the Families USA conference in Washington, President Barack Obama said that, while he is open to “tweaking” the national health care refom bill, he will stop any efforts to roll it back.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento today.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and on developing his nascent administration.
He is also working on his State of the State address, now set for 5 PM next Monday.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wrapped up a three-day speaking tour of Canada yesterday and spoke to students in upstate New York at the University of Buffalo last night.
He was in Montreal yesterday for a noontime address at Le Centre Sheraton for the Montreal Board of Trade.
Then he went to upstate New York for an evening speech in the University of Buffalo’s Alumni Arena as the Undergraduate Student Choice Speaker.
Press reports are of big crowds and enthusiastic responses.
Schwarzenegger did misspeak, however, and it is not what some California press report with regard to him saying that politicians who refuse to act boldly are “girly men.”
In Montreal, Schwarzenegger hailed the bravery of Canadian troops in Iraq. The problem is that Canada did not back or take part in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, due to its lack of support from the United Nations. Canadian troops have not participated in the Iraq War or subsequent operations there.
Canada has instead been very active in the war in Afghanistan.
A very small number of Canadians did take part in Iraq, but only as part of a regular exchange program with the U.S. military.
** OBAMA AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JFK INAUGURAL 50 YEARS ON.Why, 50 years after the fact, did official Washington celebrate the inauguration of a most imperfect man who served less than one term as president, and had far fewer accomplishments than many other presidents?
The answer undoubtedly lies in why John F. Kennedy continues to be rated higher in polling than all other modern presidents, and why Barack Obama became a major political figure in the first place and is resurgent today. Ideology, policy, even accomplishment has remarkably little to do with it. …
From my January 22nd essay.
** THE JERRY BROWN ERA UNFOLDS (AGAIN).And he is off and running as governor of California. Again. The first week of Jerry Brown’s governorship told us a lot, and set the stage for the second week, in which a hellacious state budget proposal is dominating.
First, let’s look at that, and then at the first week of the Brown governorship as he took over from Arnold Schwarzenegger. A week that was telling and even, in its way, festive. At least at first. … From my January 11th feature.
** 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. Russia is holding a day of mourning today in the wake of Monday’s devastating terrorist bombing at Moscow’s busiest airport.
The U.S. Space Shuttle Challenger, carrying the first non-astronaut, a New Hampshire schoolteacher, into space, exploded in the skies over Florida not long after lift-off 25 years ago today. It was the first of two space shuttle disasters. When the Challenger disaster occurred, NASA was planning as many as 15 flights a year.
** 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 $52 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.
Former Governor-turned-presidential candidate-turned-Oakland Mayor-turned-Attorney General-turned-Governor Jerry Brown provided the frame, and catchphrase, for his return to the California governorship with this March 2010 announcement video, in which he declared that he has an “insider’s knowledge” and an “outsider’s mind.”
Here’s my series of articles from the Huffington Post providing the narrative as the Era of Arnold gave way to Jerry Brown 2.0.
Former Mr. Universe-turned-action movie superstar-turned-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared victory at the Beverly Hilton in November 2006 after his second landslide election as governor of California.
The protests that brought down Tunisia’s government and are now boiling across Egypt have also hit impoverished Yemen, a key flashpoint in the jihadist war.
** QUICK HITS. Former White House chief of staff RahmEmanuel was restored to the Chicago mayoral ballot today by the Illinois Supreme Court. A state appellate court had ruled that he was ineligible on residency grounds. Emanuel, who voted absentee in Chicago but rented out his home, has a big lead in next month’s race. … The new White House press secretary, replacing soon-to-be Obama political advisor Robert Gibbs, is Jay Carney, the former Time magazine correspondent who has been Vice President Joe Biden’s communications director. … California’s Republican legislators say they want no taxes in any new budget solution, advocating cuts only. Which they won’t spell out. Today several joined labor and Democrats rallying against proposed cuts to in-home health services. Where exactly are all your cuts coming from, Republican folks?!
Amidst the not so good news, as I alluded yesterday in discussing the Gallup Poll on public attitudes toward budget cuts at the national level, Californians remain very ignorant about where the money goes in state government, and where it comes from. Less than 10% of likely voters know that K-12 education, which most don’t want to cut at all, is the greatest part of spending (merely roughly half), and the income tax is the top source of revenue.
But let’s go back to the good news for Jerry Brown.
A big majority favors his plan for a special election to deal with the chronic state budget crisis, some 66% of likely voters, 16 points higher than the figure for the 2009 special election on the budget. Most like his budget proposal, though they see the pain in it, and most are in favor of his budget election package, which includes continuing expiring tax hikes on sales, income, and car registration. Many more, though still a minority, think the state is heading in the right direction again. And Brown’s own job approval rating is decidedly positive, though his job approval is under 50%.
Brown’s predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, finished with a 32% job approval rating in the last PPIC poll, conducted in December among those who voted in the November election. That was up by a third from where it was in July.
Brown’s job approval among likely voters is 15 points higher than Schwarzenegger’s, at 47%. It’s 41% among all Californians. His disapproval rating is only 20% among likely voters, and 19% among all Californians.
Brown’s job approval under-performs his election landslide. He crushed billionaire Meg Whitman in November 54% to 41%, winning more votes than any other gubernatorial candidate in American history.
Why is his job approval lower than his election performance? Well, it’s a skeptical era, and he has only just been inaugurated little more than three weeks ago.
Another reason is that he’s been barely seen in public since his election.
In fact, he has only made one public appearance outside the two cities in which he lives — Oakland and Sacramento — since he won his historic third term as governor of California. That was his budget crisis forum on education at UCLA in December. And he has made only a few public appearances in the Capitol, including his own inauguration on January 3rd.
Brown has spent most of his time behind the scenes, pulling together his program. And it is a program that is finding a lot of favor with the public. Which is not surprising, since it’s designed to do so.
Some 54% of likely voters favor Brown’s cuts and revenues budget plan, including the continuation of temporary tax hikes for another five years.
73% favor his “realignment” of services from the state to the local level, a shift of revenue and responsibility.
63% back his phase out of redevelopment agencies and enterprise zones in favor of redirecting revenues to core services, which has to come as a blow to the mayors and other city officials who’ve met recently with Brown to protest his plans.
And a big majority favors raising corporate taxes to help balance the budget and preserve core services, a whopping 55% of likely voters, up sharply from just a few months ago.
But that’s not in Brown’s plan.
So we get to the not so good news for the renewed governor. The taxes that are in his plan — sales, income, and vehicle registration — are each supported by little more than a third of likely voters.
To the extent that voters focus on the specific taxes in the plan — or see them as tax increases rather than tax extensions — the plan is in trouble, even though it starts out, in general terms, in fairly good shape.
And big majorities are opposed to the specific areas cut by Brown’s budget proposal. Of course, this gets into the ignorance, willed or otherwise, of the body politic.
Because the only budget area that most voters want to cut is corrections. A plurality of voters, some 41%, believe that prisons and associated spending accounts for the biggest chunk of state spending. But actually it’s the smallest of the major areas, at around 10%. And increased spending in recent years has been forced by federal judges, with the overall shape of the system largely determined by, yes, public votes to crack down on crime.
Upwards of two-thirds of California votes also favor a state spending limit and a rainy day fund. The former was proposed a few times by Schwarzenegger; the latter is a Schwarzenegger proposal that passed the Legislature and is on the 2012 ballot.
President Barack Obama discussed how innovation and investment in renewable energy technology can help rebuild the economy yesterday at Orion Energy Systems in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
Obama and Biden then met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.
They almost certainly discussed the wave of Tunisia-inspired protest which is now sweeping Egypt and Yemen.
At 8 AM Pacific, Obama met with his national security team for the monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room.
At 9:45 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet for lunch in the Private Dining Room.
At 11:30 AM Pacific, Obama participates in a YouTube interview with Steve Grove in the Diplomatic Room.
Citizen questions were submitted to Obama via YouTube, and you can watch them and his answers on whitehouse.gov/live.
In the wake of the Tunisian uprising, waves of protest, fed by social media, spread through Egypt, a key US ally, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and today. Security forces are cracking down.
The unrest in Tunisia has spread to Egypt, where dissatisfaction with autocratic rule is growing with help from social networks. But mobile phone service, Facebook, and Twitter are running afoul of the authorities.
Massive protests are planned for Friday, when masses of people will already be in the streets following Friday prayers.
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which helped give rise to Al Qaeda, is lending its support to the protests.
And Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has returned to the country and plans to help lead protests on Friday.
Egypt is America’s biggest ally in the Arab world. But longtime leader Hosni Mubarak is 82 and ill, and has been attempting to foist his son off as his successor, to the notable disapproval of the country’s military.
As is the case in much of the Arab world, the leadership is autocratic and unresponsive, most of the populace under-privileged and reeling from economic dislocations.
Tunisia-inspired protests are also widespread in Yemen, a much poorer nation where US forces find themselves engaged, barely behind the scenes, against Al Qaeda.
Egypt remains in turmoil. After a third day of protests today, massive demonstrations are planned on Friday’s prayer day.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
A terrorist bombing killed 48 in a gathering of Shiites today in Baghdad. This brings the death toll from terrorist bombings, carried out against security force and Shiite targets, to more than 200 in little more than a week.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento today.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and on developing his nascent administration.
He is also working on his State of the State address, now set for 5 PM next Monday.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Canada today.
He is wrapping up a three-day speaking tour of Canada.
Today he is in Montreal for a noontime address at Le Centre Sheraton for the Montreal Board of Trade.
Then he goes to upstate New York for an evening speech in the University of Buffalo’s Alumni Arena as the Undergraduate Student Choice Speaker.
** OBAMA AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JFK INAUGURAL 50 YEARS ON.Why, 50 years after the fact, did official Washington celebrate the inauguration of a most imperfect man who served less than one term as president, and had far fewer accomplishments than many other presidents?
The answer undoubtedly lies in why John F. Kennedy continues to be rated higher in polling than all other modern presidents, and why Barack Obama became a major political figure in the first place and is resurgent today. Ideology, policy, even accomplishment has remarkably little to do with it. …
From my January 22nd essay.
** THE JERRY BROWN ERA UNFOLDS (AGAIN).And he is off and running as governor of California. Again. The first week of Jerry Brown’s governorship told us a lot, and set the stage for the second week, in which a hellacious state budget proposal is dominating.
First, let’s look at that, and then at the first week of the Brown governorship as he took over from Arnold Schwarzenegger. A week that was telling and even, in its way, festive. At least at first. … From my January 11th feature.
** 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. Russia is holding a day of mourning today in the wake of Monday’s devastating terrorist bombing at Moscow’s busiest airport.
** 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 $52 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 delivered his third State of the Union address last night at the U.S. Capitol, winning widespread plaudits. This is the enhanced version shown on the White House web site with various graphs and visual aids.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … JERRY BROWN 2.0: HOW’S IT GOING?
** QUICK HITS. In a quickly scheduled lunchtime press availability in the Governor’s Office prior to his afternoon meeting with the mayors of California’s largest cities, there to defend the redevelopment pot of gold, Governor Jerry Brown told reporters that his budget plans are on track. And he previewed his message for the mayors, which is that there is “no money,” hence the need to redirect revenue to core services, and predicted that they would just be among the first to walk the halls of the Capitol and beyond in protest of the state’s austerity budget. … Some of the mayors reportedly said after their session with Brown that he was listening to their pitch that their use of property tax revenues for shopping malls, sports stadiums, and the like was essential for economic revitalization and that he had called in staff and agreed to a dialogue. … Brown also challenged legislative Republicans, who are trying to pull their Arnold era scam of supporting only cuts in the budget but refusing to say what should be cut, to stop playing that game.
** OBAMA ACHIEVES S.O.T.U. KUMBAYA.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following joint statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address:
“America’s working families and business community stand united in applauding President Obama’s call to create jobs and grow our economy through investment in our nation’s infrastructure.
“Whether it is building roads, bridges, high-speed broadband, energy systems and schools, these projects not only create jobs and demand for businesses, they are an investment in building the modern infrastructure our country needs to compete in a global economy.
“With the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO standing together to support job creation, we hope that Democrats and Republicans in Congress will also join together to build America’s infrastructure.”
** NEW POLL: VOTERS WANT CUTS, JUST NOT WHERE THE MONEY IS. Just like Americans in California, Americans as a whole, according to the new Gallup Poll, want to cut government spending, just not where the money really is.
Of nine progam areas polled, foreign aid is the only one that a majority wants to cut.
And the foreign aid budget is a relative pittance.
In every other area, which happens to be where the money actually goes, majorities — usually big majorities — oppose cuts in spending.
You see, Californians are not uniquely ignorant and/or hypocritical.
Prior to the State of the Union address, a majority of Americans said they favor cutting U.S. foreign aid, but more than 6 in 10 opposed cuts to education, Social Security, and Medicare. Smaller majorities objected to cutting programs for the poor, national defense, homeland security, aid to farmers, and funding for the arts and sciences. …
In the weeks ahead, Congress and the White House will likely focus on negotiations over government spending and how to cut the federal budget deficit. In addition to broad concerns about the size of the deficit, Congress is under pressure to raise the legal limit on the national debt before U.S. borrowing exceeds the existing limit — or face what Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner describes as “catastrophic economic consequences.” Geithner’s department predicts the current debt ceiling could be exceeded as early as March 31 of this year.
The new Republican leadership in Congress has indicated it will look for progress on deficit reduction before agreeing to raise the federal debt ceiling, and Americans appear to agree with that point in principle. Half of Americans say the limit on the national debt should be raised only if Congress specifies in advance what measures would be taken to reduce the deficit in the future, compared with 16% who think Congress should raise the debt limit regardless. An additional third of Americans have no opinion on the matter. …
A thriving national economy can be effective in reducing the federal deficit, because it produces increased revenues even if tax rates remain the same. This happened in the late 1990s during the “dot-com” boom, but few economists are predicting a recurrence of those circumstances in the immediate future. That leaves two practical, but politically painful, approaches to deficit reduction: raising taxes and reducing spending. Americans certainly do not favor an increase in taxes for anyone other than the wealthy, and at this point frown on spending cuts in most of the obvious areas where such reductions could be made.
The largest slices of the current government spending pie, other than interest on the debt, are the entitlement programs and national defense. Entitlement programs are of particular concern, given the looming impact of the aging baby boom generation, the oldest members of which are now turning 65. Despite this, 64% of Americans interviewed in the Jan. 14-16 USA Today/Gallup survey are opposed to cutting government spending for Social Security, and 61% oppose cutting Medicare. Meanwhile, 57% of Americans oppose cutting government spending for national defense. A majority of Americans also oppose cutting education, anti-poverty programs, homeland security, aid to farmers, and funding for the arts and sciences. Foreign aid is the only area out of the nine measured that a majority of Americans agree should be cut.
Two areas of possible cuts generate the biggest differences between Republicans (including independents who lean Republican) and Democrats (including leaners): national defense and funding for the arts and sciences. Democrats are much more in favor of cutting the former, and Republicans, the latter. …
It has become a maxim of U.S. politics that Americans approve of cutting spending in concept but disapprove of cutting specific programs. The Defense Department long ago realized that closing specific military bases is difficult because local politicians always push to keep their area’s bases open. This realization led to the creation of a special commission that recommends base closures without directly involving Congress — an idea that may need to be replicated to achieve broader government spending cuts.
In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama called for a five-year freeze in most domestic federal discretionary spending, contrasting with Rep. Paul Ryan’s Republican response, which emphasized broader and deeper cuts in domestic spending. While Americans may believe, in principle, that the federal government should cut spending, the current data suggest they may be more receptive to Obama’s spending freeze, given that Republicans’ cuts will inevitably take aim at some programs Americans think ought to be spared.
I’ll have more from another poll on such matters, this one on California, when it comes off embargo.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Wisconsin.
Obama departed Washington early this morning for post-State of the Union appearances in Wisconsin. He receives his daily intelligence and economic briefings on Air Force One.
At 8:35 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
At 9:35 AM Pacific, Obama tours Orion Energy Systems, Inc. in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
At 10 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on the economy.
At 10:35 AM Pacific, Obama tours Skana Aluminum Company in Manitowoc.
At 11:50 AM Pacific, Obama tours Tower Tech Systems, Inc. in Manitowoc.
At 1:10 PM Pacific, Obama departs Green Bay, Wisconsin on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 3 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he boards Marine One.
At 3:15 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
For his part, Vice President Joe Biden is in Greenfield, Indiana late this morning to discuss how the Obama Administration is incentivizing investment in innovation.
Obama is getting high marks in instant polling for his performance in last night’s State of the Union address.
In many respects, while more centrist than some of his past presidential speeches, it was a return to the post-partisan uplift that characterized his early oratory, as I discussed in the essay below on Obama and the JFK Inaugural.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
In the wake of the Tunisian uprising, waves of protest, fed by social media, spread through Egypt, a key US ally, on Tuesday. Today security forces are cracking down.
The unrest in Tunisia has spread to Egypt, where dissatisfaction with autocratic rule is growing with help from social networks. But Facebook and Twitter are running afoul of the authorities.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento today.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and on developing his nascent administration.
He will meet privately this afternoon with mayors from a host of large cities around California opposing his plan to redirect revenues from redevelopment agencies and enterprise zones to core services.
They include the mayors of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa; San Diego, Jerry Sanders; San Francisco, Edwin Lee; Sacramento, Kevin Johnson; Oakland, Jean Quan; Santa Ana, Miguel Pulido; San Jose, Chuck Reed; Fresno, Ashley Swearengin; and Anaheim, Tom Tait.
This will be very interesting.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Canada today.
He is in the midst of a three-day speaking tour of Canada.
Today he is in Toronto for a noontime address at the Metro Toronto Convention Center.
Yesterday he addressed a crowd of 2300 at a luncheon speech in Calgary, and 850 at an evening speech in Winnipeg. Attendees are paying hundreds of dollars to hear Schwarzenegger.
What did they hear? An amalgam of inspirational talk and glimpses of an Arnold-style future marked by new, greener technology.
** OBAMA AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JFK INAUGURAL 50 YEARS ON.Why, 50 years after the fact, did official Washington celebrate the inauguration of a most imperfect man who served less than one term as president, and had far fewer accomplishments than many other presidents?
The answer undoubtedly lies in why John F. Kennedy continues to be rated higher in polling than all other modern presidents, and why Barack Obama became a major political figure in the first place and is resurgent today. Ideology, policy, even accomplishment has remarkably little to do with it.
Obama flashed on to the national scene in 2004 on the strength of nothing more than one great speech, his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. He was only a state senator in Illinois, about to become a freshman U.S. senator. But after that one speech, he was a major presidential prospect.
So, too, with Kennedy, finding his place on the stage of history with his great inaugural address.
When Senator John Kerry selected Obama to deliver the 2004 convention keynote, like most in politics I’d barely heard of him. But his obscurity and newness on the scene — in 2000, Obama had struggled to even get into the Democratic national convention in Los Angeles, as he endearingly recounted in The Audacity of Hope — didn’t stop him from delivering one of the great convention stemwinders of all time, an exercise in uplift, ennoblement, and possibility that launched him on a steep trajectory taking him to the presidency four years later. …
From my January 22nd essay.
** THE JERRY BROWN ERA UNFOLDS (AGAIN).And he is off and running as governor of California. Again. The first week of Jerry Brown’s governorship told us a lot, and set the stage for the second week, in which a hellacious state budget proposal is dominating.
First, let’s look at that, and then at the first week of the Brown governorship as he took over from Arnold Schwarzenegger. A week that was telling and even, in its way, festive. At least at first. … From my January 11th feature.
** 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.
Russia is holding a day of mourning today in the wake of Monday’s devastating terrorist bombing at Moscow’s busiest airport.
** 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 $52 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.
In its multi-modal full-court press around the State of the Union, the Obama White House provided this BTS video.
** EARLY EXCERPTS FROM OBAMA’S STATE OF THE UNION — OUR “SPUTNIK MOMENT.”
With their votes, the American people determined that governing will now be a shared responsibility between parties. New laws will only pass with support from Democrats and Republicans. We will move forward together, or not at all – for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics.
At stake right now is not who wins the next election – after all, we just had an election. At stake is whether new jobs and industries take root in this country, or somewhere else. It’s whether the hard work and industry of our people is rewarded. It’s whether we sustain the leadership that has made America not just a place on a map, but a light to the world. We are poised for progress. Two years after the worst recession most of us have ever known, the stock market has come roaring back. Corporate profits are up. The economy is growing again.
But we have never measured progress by these yardsticks alone. We measure progress by the success of our people. By the jobs they can find and the quality of life those jobs offer. By the prospects of a small business owner who dreams of turning a good idea into a thriving enterprise. By the opportunities for a better life that we pass on to our children. That’s the project the American people want us to work on. Together. …
Half a century ago, when the Soviets beat us into space with the launch of a satellite called Sputnik¸ we had no idea how we’d beat them to the moon. The science wasn’t there yet. NASA didn’t even exist.
But after investing in better research and education, we didn’t just surpass the Soviets; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs.
This is our generation’s Sputnik moment.
** JERRY BROWN “TURNS” ON ENERGY, REGULATORY APPOINTMENTS. Governor Jerry Brown made several rather pro-consumer and progressive appointments today to the California Public Utilities Commission and the state Energy Commission. Two of today’s four appointees are leaders of TURN (The Utility Reform Network). All are Democrats.
Mike Florio, TURN’s senior attorney since 1978, was named today by Brown, along with Santa Clara Law Professor Catherine Sandoval, a Rhodes Scholar.
The Public Utilities Commission has come under fire for being too pro-business, especially in the wake of the spectacular explosion of a Pacific Gas & Electric natural gas line in a Bay Area community last year.
Brown also appointed two to the state Energy Commission, including 32-year old Rhodes Scholar Carla Peterman, a member of the TURN board of directors who has done a series of studies on solar photovoltaics for the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and is a PhD. candidate at UC Berkeley, and Dr. Robert Weisenmiller, a veteran energy consultant first appointed to the commission a year ago by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Weisenmiller fills the engineer/scientist slot on the Energy Commission, and is Brown’s pick to serve as its new chairman.
** NEW POLL: ECONOMIC CONFIDENCE HITS THREE-YEAR HIGH. On the day of President Barack Obama’s third State of the Union address, a new Gallup Poll shows that U.S. economic confidence is the highest it’s been in three years.
This, despite the fact that unemployment remains stubbornly high.
Of course, economic confidence is higher among upper-income Americans.
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index improved to an average of -21 in Gallup Daily tracking so far in January, up from -28 in December. If these optimism levels continue through the end of the month, January 2011 will have the most positive economic confidence score since Gallup began daily measurement in January 2008. …
Optimism among upper-income Americans is increasing faster than that of their lower- and middle-income counterparts. Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index among upper-income Americans (those making $90,000 or more annually) has averaged -7 so far in January — a sharp improvement from -18 in December, and better than the -18 in January 2010. Lower-and middle-income Americans’ confidence shows a similar, if more modest, improvement: to -24 thus far in January, from -30 in December and -27 in January 2010. …
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index consists of two measures, both of which show improvement: one gauging Americans’ perceptions of current economic conditions and the other, their economic outlook. In January to date, 42% of Americans rate current economic conditions “poor” — a slight improvement from 44% in December and 45% in January 2010. Consumers’ assessments of current economic conditions improved slightly more among upper-income than among lower- and middle-income Americans (those making less than $90,000 annually). …
Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index shows that consumers are more optimistic about the economy in January than they have been in three years. It may be that the start of a new year, the more cooperative tone in Washington, the continued gains on Wall Street, the Federal Reserve’s continuing efforts to stimulate the economy, and the extension of the Bush tax cuts late last year have combined to make all Americans — and particularly upper-income Americans — more optimistic about the U.S. economy. Confidence is also up despite fears of continued financial problems in Europe, inflation problems in Asia, and state and local financial problems as well as housing issues in the U.S. …
Although overall economic confidence remains low as reflected by its negative score, its improved January status also provides a somewhat more positive setting for President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday. Improved economic perceptions may not only explain, at least in part, the recent increase in the president’s approval rating, but may also make Americans more receptive to any new actions he puts forth, particularly if they have bipartisan support.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin vowed retribution for yesterday’s terrorist bombing of Moscow’s busiest airport.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
It’s State of the Union Day.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office. Biden has thankfully been released from jury duty in Delaware.
At 12 noon Pacific, proverbial senior Obama Administration officials will hold an off-camera briefing in the South Court Auditorium to preview the President’s State of the Union Address. The briefing will be embargoed until the beginning of the president’s speech.
At 6 PM Pacific, Obama delivers the State of the Union Address in the United States Capitol.
Obama is spending much of his day prepping for his State of the Union address.
Given the Republican takeover of the House and widespread concern, especially among independent voters, about the burgeoning federal budget deficit, Obama will de-emphasize big ticket spending programs and focus on “future”-oriented topics such as education reform, technological innovation and competitiveness.
Obama’s moving somewhat back to the center since the midterm elections has resulted in a jump in the polls and big leads over all Republican candidates for the 2012 presidential race.
The viewing experience of the speech is enhanced online by a companion stream of visual aids, such as charts and quick stats to provide context and emphasize key points. Immediately after the speech, there is a live Open for Questions event with policy experts from the White House answering online questions about key issues in the speech.
In other action, former White House chief of staff, by far the frontrunner for mayor of Chicago, received a lifeline this morning in his attempt to avoid being thrown off the ballot by a state appellate court ruling that he is not a qualified resident of Chicago. The Illinois Supreme Court directed Chicago election officials not to go to the printer today with ballots as previously scheduled. Emanuel appealed late yesterday.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento today.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and on developing his nascent administration.
Late yesterday, he made several appointments. They include Gareth Edwards as legislative affairs secretary, former Acting Lieutenant Governor Mona Pasquil as appointments secretary, Sue Johnsrud as director of operations, and Nettie Sabelhaus as special advisor for appointments.
Edwards and Sabelhaus are former top aides to former state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, a longtime Brown ally who narrowly lost his bid for mayor of Oakland in November.
Johnsrud worked under Brown and, before that, former Attorney General-turned-Treasurer Bill Lockyer as chief administrative officer of the state Department of Justice.
Pasquil is a veteran of many Democratic campaigns. I worked with her a few decades ago when I was John Garamendi’s senior political advisor and she was a young assistant. Since then she worked in the White House political office under President Bill Clinton, was political director for Governor Gray Davis and a deputy political director of John Kerry’s presidential campaign, then chief of staff for Garamendi, who by this point had been elected lieutenant governor of California. When Garamendi won a special election for Congress, Pasquil took over as acting lieutenant governor until Abel Maldonado was finally confirmed as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointee.
In addition, Brown named Michael Cohen, a longtime senior staffer at the Legislative Analyst Office, as chief deputy director of the Department of Finance, Pedro Reyes, a former top aide to the Assembly Speaker’s Office, as chief deputy director for policy of the Department of Finance, and H.D. Palmer as deputy director for external affairs of the Department of Finance.
Palmer, who played the same role for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, is the first Republican appointed to the Brown Administration.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Canada.
He is on a three-day speaking tour of Canada.
He appears in Calgary for a luncheon speech to 2300 at the Telus Convention Center.
Tonight Schwarzenegger speaks at the Fairmont Hotel in Winnipeg, capital of Manitoba Province.
The event is sold out, with 800 attendees at $275 per person.
Manitoba, incidentally, is governed by the New Democratic Party, Canada’s social democratic party.
** OBAMA AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JFK INAUGURAL 50 YEARS ON.Why, 50 years after the fact, did official Washington celebrate the inauguration of a most imperfect man who served less than one term as president, and had far fewer accomplishments than many other presidents?
The answer undoubtedly lies in why John F. Kennedy continues to be rated higher in polling than all other modern presidents, and why Barack Obama became a major political figure in the first place and is resurgent today. Ideology, policy, even accomplishment has remarkably little to do with it.
Obama flashed on to the national scene in 2004 on the strength of nothing more than one great speech, his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. He was only a state senator in Illinois, about to become a freshman U.S. senator. But after that one speech, he was a major presidential prospect.
So, too, with Kennedy, finding his place on the stage of history with his great inaugural address.
When Senator John Kerry selected Obama to deliver the 2004 convention keynote, like most in politics I’d barely heard of him. But his obscurity and newness on the scene — in 2000, Obama had struggled to even get into the Democratic national convention in Los Angeles, as he endearingly recounted in The Audacity of Hope — didn’t stop him from delivering one of the great convention stemwinders of all time, an exercise in uplift, ennoblement, and possibility that launched him on a steep trajectory taking him to the presidency four years later. …
From my January 22nd essay.
** THE JERRY BROWN ERA UNFOLDS (AGAIN).And he is off and running as governor of California. Again. The first week of Jerry Brown’s governorship told us a lot, and set the stage for the second week, in which a hellacious state budget proposal is dominating.
First, let’s look at that, and then at the first week of the Brown governorship as he took over from Arnold Schwarzenegger. A week that was telling and even, in its way, festive. At least at first. … From my January 11th feature.
** 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.
The Academy Award nominees were announced early this morning in Los Angeles. The King’s Speech led the way with 12 nominations, establishing it as a rival for The Social Network for Best Picture.
** 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 $53 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.
Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, the overwhelming favorite to win the Chicago mayor’s race, has a real problem. A state appellate court has removed him from the ballot for not having been a Chicago resident for the year prior to running. He’s appealing to the Illinois Supreme Court. Meanwhile, ballots are being printed, without his name.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … JERRY BROWN 2.0 THREE WEEKS ON: HOW’S IT GOING?
** QUICK HITS. Governor Jerry Brown’s State of the State address now reportedly set for next Monday night, though there has been no announcement. The address is customarily delivered in January, and that’s the last day of the month. … California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who created a bit of confusion with remarks over the weekend that state IOUs might be necessary in a few months if there is no budget action, pushed back hard today against the notion that the state government might have to declare bankruptcy as being Newt Gingrich-inspired. … State Controller John Chiang announced that his auditors will investigate 18 redevelopment agencies around the state. There’s a lot of push-back from local government against Brown’s plan to redirect revenues now used for redevelopment to core services instead.
** NEW POLL: OBAMA JOB APPROVAL UP TO 55% ON EVE OF STATE OF THE UNION. The new CNN/Opinion Research poll has President Barack Obama’s job approval rating up to 55% in polling completed over the weekend.
That is a whopping seven-point jump from last month.
And it’s the highest rating he’s had since November 2009.
His job approval with independents, which had waned during the harsh health care debate and the midterm elections campaign, is a very healthy 54%.
But the news is not all good.
While Obama gets strong ratings for handling terrorism and foreign affairs, his economic policy approval is still under 50%.
Two car bombs struck Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala Monday, killing at least 18 people as crowds massed for religious rituals in Iraq. Deadly blasts shook the capital Baghdad as well.
MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.
A very big week on tap in presidential politics, and a big week in California politics.
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Obama, who is clearly resurgent since the midterm elections, will position his presidency for this year’s run-up to next year’s presidential election.
In California politics, Governor Jerry Brown, operating in stealth mode almost entirely behind the scenes, continues moving toward his austerity-with-revenues budget and special election solution. He also continues to fill out his nascent administration. This week and next, the state Legislature holds a series of budget hearings at the committee and subcommittee level, which will keep Brown Administration finance officials busy.
Obama’s State of the Union will be somewhat more centrist than his first two such addresses in that they won’t focus on big ticket spending programs and will emphasize some attempts to rein in the burgeoning federal deficit. That means he’ll talk about the future and focus on technological innovation, competitiveness, and trade promotion.
Obama is clearly resurgent in the wake of the November midterm elections, having improved markedly with independents as well as with Democrats, and having taken big leads over his potential Republican challengers as I’ve been discussing in recent weeks.
The economy, which nearly collapsed two years ago, continues to recover, albeit slowly.
But trouble continues to bubble on the geopolitical front, in Afghanistan of course as well as in the Arab world with much uncertainty in the wake of the Tunisian uprising. And what has been a major Obama success, the phase-out of US troops in Iraq, is under no question today as yet another terrorist bombing in Iraq capped a week of such bombings giving rise to growing questions about the Iraqi government’s ability to provide its own security.
In California politics, Jerry Brown’s real world budgeting strategy continues moving forward. He’s getting a lot of push-back from most quarters, each of which insists that sacrifice is needed, just sacrifice somewhere else.
And a far right-dominated Republican legislative contingent continues to insist that it’s against any new revenues and wants a cuts-only budget, though as usual it refuses to spell out any such budget.
What needs to be done in California state government is not mysterious. It’s much like giving a real answer to the question of how best to lose weight and get into shape. You eat less, and you exercise more.
Getting a sclerotic Capitol and state political system to acknowledge the obvious and move forward is the trick.
Meanwhile, Brown’s predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, very caught up in recent days with the death and funeral of his father-in-law, Sargent Shriver, heads to Canada this week for a series of speeches.
On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the action movie superstar will speak in Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.
The fact that Democrats are now seriously contemplating many budget cuts similar to those which he proposed and they rejected just last year can’t possibly be ironic to Schwarzenegger.
In the latest sign of how conventional institutions trail the flow of events these days, UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies held its quadrennial review of the race to succeed Schwarzenegger this past Friday and Saturday. I’ve been to every one of these things since they began in 1990, and registered for this one as well, but after realizing I couldn’t remember anything about the one four years earlier (and remembered only luncheon speaker state Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s self-immolation as a gubernatorial candidate from the previous confab), decided to skip it. Having covered the campaign every day on NWN, and having written some 40 columns, features, and essays — each at least 2000 words in length — in other words, the equivalent of a book already on the topic, there seemed little to be learned at this late date. Certainly not from campaigns I dealt with constantly.
Billionaire Meg Whitman’s campaign boycotted the event, removing any new reason to attend. Not that I hadn’t had excellent sources in that camp, as well. And the run-up to the event was marked by a bizarre controversy, stirred up by CalBuzz blog and San Francisco Chronicle reporter Carla Marinucci criticizing forum organizer Ethan Rarick for not inviting consultant Garry South to represent Gavin Newsom’s abortive Democratic primary campaign for governor.
Rarick is Governor Pat Brown’s biographer and made the right call about not having South represent Newsom. (Rarick’s California Rising: The Life and Times of Pat Brown is a terrific book.) As Newsom’s chief strategist, South provided political counsel that made sense only as a way to hurt Jerry Brown in the general election.
In fact, South’s political calls in the entire two-year election cycle were demonstrably wrong, from beginning to end, and his information led to his old reporter friends’ frequently erroneous coverage and analysis.
On top of that, South, who insisted the day before Newsom dropped out of the governor’s race (which was first reported on NWN) that he would never drop out, lashed out at Newsom immediately, using, among things, the CalBuzz blog to “anonymously” push attacks on Newsom. In a continuing bizarre performance, South publicly threatened to use confidential information he gained from working for Newsom against him in the primary race for lieutenant governor.
His appearance at the Berkeley conference would have been a bizarre spectacle. Though it would have been entertaining to ask him about his many ridiculous statements of 2009 and 2010. Nearly as good sport as having Whitman chief strategist Mike Murphy there. But Murphy has had the good sense to make himself very scarce in California.
Over 30 people were killed today in a terrorist bombing in the international terminal of Moscow’s busiest airport.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He and First Lady MIchelle Obama then delivered remarks at an event highlighting the federal government’s support for military families in the East Room.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Secretary of Defense Bob Gates in the Oval Office.
At 4:30 PM Pacific, the Obamas host a reception for new Members of Congress on the State Floor. Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden also attend.
For his part today, rather oddly, Biden has reported for jury duty in Delaware. He did so, he says, because he wants to highlight it as a civic duty.
Obama is spending much of his day prepping for his State of the Union address Tuesday evening.
The White House will have a host of online venues for viewing and participation around the State of the Union. I’ll run through those prior to the event.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento today.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and on developing his nascent administration.
** OBAMA AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JFK INAUGURAL 50 YEARS ON.Why, 50 years after the fact, did official Washington celebrate the inauguration of a most imperfect man who served less than one term as president, and had far fewer accomplishments than many other presidents?
The answer undoubtedly lies in why John F. Kennedy continues to be rated higher in polling than all other modern presidents, and why Barack Obama became a major political figure in the first place and is resurgent today. Ideology, policy, even accomplishment has remarkably little to do with it.
Obama flashed on to the national scene in 2004 on the strength of nothing more than one great speech, his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. He was only a state senator in Illinois, about to become a freshman U.S. senator. But after that one speech, he was a major presidential prospect.
So, too, with Kennedy, finding his place on the stage of history with his great inaugural address.
When Senator John Kerry selected Obama to deliver the 2004 convention keynote, like most in politics I’d barely heard of him. But his obscurity and newness on the scene — in 2000, Obama had struggled to even get into the Democratic national convention in Los Angeles, as he endearingly recounted in The Audacity of Hope — didn’t stop him from delivering one of the great convention stemwinders of all time, an exercise in uplift, ennoblement, and possibility that launched him on a steep trajectory taking him to the presidency four years later. …
From my January 22nd essay.
** THE JERRY BROWN ERA UNFOLDS (AGAIN).And he is off and running as governor of California. Again. The first week of Jerry Brown’s governorship told us a lot, and set the stage for the second week, in which a hellacious state budget proposal is dominating.
First, let’s look at that, and then at the first week of the Brown governorship as he took over from Arnold Schwarzenegger. A week that was telling and even, in its way, festive. At least at first. … From my January 11th feature.
** 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.
Sargent Shriver was laid to rest on Saturday night next to his wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama is prepping for his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, in which he is expected to emphasize technological innovation, economic competitiveness, and efforts to restrain the deficit.
As today is Championship Sunday in the National Football League — the day of the two conference championship games leading up to the Super Bowl — Obama is also rooting on the Chicago Bears. The Bears host the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field in the National Football Conference championship game, and Obama has already predicted their victory.
In the American Football Conference championship game, the Pittsburgh Steelers host the New York Jets.
As a Californian and a Pac 10 guy, I have to go against the president and back the Pack — and their great quarterback, former Cal star Aaron Rodgers — against the Bears for the NFC championship. (Besides, Green Bay is the westernmost team left in the play-offs.)
I know that Obama favors the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose owner and stars campaigned for him in 2008. But despite that, and even though I went to some games in great old Three Rivers Stadium with my first wife and her family, as a Californian and a Pac 10 guy who also likes the Big Apple, I’m backing the New York Jets, and their terrific young quarterback from USC, Mark Sanchez. Besides, the Steelers don’t play in Three Rivers anymore.
The Republican presidential race had its first straw poll on Saturday at the New Hampshire Republican Convention.
Next door neighbor Mitt Romney won it easily with 35% of the delegate vote, with libertarian fave rave Ron Paul a distant second at 11% and everyone else in single digits.
On the other hand, a Tea Party candidate easily beat a Romney backer for New Hampshire state Republican chair.
Incidentally, the presidential campaign straw poll phenomenon can be exceptionally misleading and a massive waste of time. I had to get very involved in it on Gary Hart’s behalf in the 1984 presidential campaign and on Jerry Brown’s behalf in the 1980 presidential campaign.
It usually doesn’t mean much, but can be a huge press-driven distraction.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SUNDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Massachusetts.
He is preparing for several speeches in Canada over the next few days.
Late on Saturday, he attended the private burial of his father-in-law, Sargent Shriver, in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
This followed a public funeral Mass Saturday morning at Our Lady of Mercy Parish, the Shriver family church in Potomac, Maryland.
Vice President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton, and former California First Lady Maria Shriver were among the eulogists, with Bono and Stevie Wonder performing.
Schwarzenegger was a pallbearer for his father-in-law, who mentored him in public service and, rather fatefully, introduced him to the after dinner cigar in 1977.
In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama discusses the steps he is taking to make America competitive in the short and long terms, and why he chose GE CEO Jeff Immelt to head up the new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
** OBAMA AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JFK INAUGURAL 50 YEARS ON.Why, 50 years after the fact, did official Washington celebrate the inauguration of a most imperfect man who served less than one term as president, and had far fewer accomplishments than many other presidents?
The answer undoubtedly lies in why John F. Kennedy continues to be rated higher in polling than all other modern presidents, and why Barack Obama became a major political figure in the first place and is resurgent today. Ideology, policy, even accomplishment has remarkably little to do with it.
Obama flashed on to the national scene in 2004 on the strength of nothing more than one great speech, his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. He was only a state senator in Illinois, about to become a freshman U.S. senator. But after that one speech, he was a major presidential prospect.
So, too, with Kennedy, finding his place on the stage of history with his great inaugural address.
When Senator John Kerry selected Obama to deliver the 2004 convention keynote, like most in politics I’d barely heard of him. But his obscurity and newness on the scene — in 2000, Obama had struggled to even get into the Democratic national convention in Los Angeles, as he endearingly recounted in The Audacity of Hope — didn’t stop him from delivering one of the great convention stemwinders of all time, an exercise in uplift, ennoblement, and possibility that launched him on a steep trajectory taking him to the presidency four years later. …
From my January 22nd essay.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He has no scheduled public events.
Obama is prepping for his State of the Union address Tuesday evening.
The White House will have a host of online venues for viewing and participation around the State of the Union. I’ll run through those prior to the event.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES – SATURDAY. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California today.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and on developing his nascent administration.
He’s getting a lot of pushback from most quarters, each of which insists that sacrifice is needed, just sacrifice somewhere else.
Not surprisingly, a host of city officials yesterday threatened to sue to block his plans to do away with redevelopment agencies and repurpose the property tax revenue for core services which would otherwise have to be cut.
Sargent Shriver was remembered on Friday evening at a wake at Holy Trinity Church in Washington.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts today.
Today a public funeral Mass is being held at Our Lady of Trinity Church in Potomac, Maryland. The former leading figure of Camelot was a native of Maryland.
Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton will be among the eulogists.
A host of notables will be in attendance, including First Lady Michelle Obama, Senator John Kerry, and Oprah Winfrey.
Last evening, a public wake was held at Holy Trinity Church in the Georgetown area of Washington. This is the church where John F. Kennedy took Mass on the morning of his inauguration as president 50 years ago yesterday.
Later today, Shriver will be buried next to his wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
** THE JERRY BROWN ERA UNFOLDS (AGAIN).And he is off and running as governor of California. Again. The first week of Jerry Brown’s governorship told us a lot, and set the stage for the second week, in which a hellacious state budget proposal is dominating.
First, let’s look at that, and then at the first week of the Brown governorship as he took over from Arnold Schwarzenegger. A week that was telling and even, in its way, festive. At least at first. …
From my January 11th feature.
** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. It’s the fate of Jerry Brown, the 34th and 39th governor of California, to succeed Republican movie stars as governor. Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a much bigger movie star than Ronald Reagan ever dreamed of being. (And Reagan is a much bigger Republican than Schwarzenegger ever intended to be, as angry right-wingers have been pointing out for years.)
Schwarzenegger wasn’t simply the biggest action movie star in the world prior to winning his first landslide election as governor of California in 2003, he was, more specifically, the biggest science fiction movie star in the world.
Indeed, there is something decidedly sci-fi about him becoming governor of California. (Cue raucous comments.) And there’s always been something more than a little sci-fi about Jerry Brown. … From my January 3rd feature.
** 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 on Friday at $89.11 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
This is up about $55 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.
Speaking at a General Electric plant in upstate New York, President Barack Obama said that “putting the economy into overdrive” is his top priority and named GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt as head of the new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … OBAMA AND THE JFK INAUGURAL 50 YEARS ON.
** QUICK HITS.As cities unsurprisingly threaten to sue as he moves forward with his plan to redirect redevelopment funds to core services, Governor Jerry Brown’s plans continued to unfold today. State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg told the Sacramento Bee Capitol bureau that he will pursue legislation during the latest emergency budget session of the Legislature to streamline regulations. That may attract a few Republican votes, as well as help gain business support for a special election grand alliance to continue temporary tax hikes. … Meanwhile, Brown’s governmental team continues to develop at what can only be described as a glacial pace. It may not matter. Yet. …
** LIVE COVERAGE OF SARGENT SHRIVER’S FUNERAL WAKE begins at 3:30 PM Pacific on CNN.com from Holy Trinity Church in Washington.
** NEW SURVEY: OBAMA’S AVERAGE JOB APPROVAL LAST YEAR 10.5% LOWER THAN FIRST YEAR. A new Gallup Poll survey reveals that President Barack Obama’s job approval in the second year of his presidency averaged over 10 points lower than in his first year.
But Obama has had a significant upswing since the November mid-term elections in which Democrats lost the House of Representatives and suffered major setbacks most everywhere in the country outside California.
At around 47%, Obama’s average job approval in his second year was far below the record for a modern presidency, which was 72% for John F. Kennedy.
But it’s above the 45% and 43% registered by, respectively, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.
Obama’s low second-year ratings are due in large part to the struggles of the U.S. economy. The other presidents with low second-year averages also took office during difficult economic times. With a Democratic congressional majority, Obama was able to achieve much legislatively, most notably the landmark, though not altogether popular, healthcare legislation passed in March 2010.
From his first to his second year in office, Obama’s average approval rating fell 10.5 percentage points, one of the largest first- to second-year drops Gallup has measured. Only Carter and Reagan had larger drops among elected presidents. …
Among all post-World War II presidents, Harry Truman had the largest drop, 37.8 points, from his first to second year in office. His 79.3% first-year average in 1945 was boosted by the rally in public support after Franklin Roosevelt’s death and the United States’ defeat of the Germans and Japanese in World War II.
George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are the only presidents whose average approval ratings did not decline from their first to second years in office; they benefited from rallies in public support due to international crises (Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001). …
However, the eighth quarter did bring some encouraging signs for Obama. Though his 46.0% quarterly average is still low in an absolute sense, this marks the first time his approval rating has improved from one quarter to the next, although by a modest 1.3 points. …
Obama’s more recent numbers have been even more positive, hovering around 50%. In fact, Obama ends his second year and eighth quarter in office with a 51% job approval rating in the latest Gallup Daily three-day rolling average, his best since May. …
Although President Obama accomplished a lot during his second year in office, it was a challenging year for him politically. His approval ratings generally held below the majority level, and were arguably a major reason his party suffered heavy losses during the midterm elections in November. He begins his third year in office on a bit of an upswing, hoping for continued improvement in his public support.
There is no clear pattern of change in presidents’ approval ratings between their second and third year; about as many improved (Truman, Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Reagan, the elder Bush, and Clinton) as got worse (John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Carter, the younger Bush).
President Barack Obama celebrated the 50th anniversary of the JFK Inaugural last night at Kennedy Center, in the process also honoring the late Sargent Shriver.
** Remarks by President Barack Obama at the 50th Anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration — The Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., 1/20/11
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. To Caroline and the Kennedy family, to all the members of Congress and distinguished guests here tonight, it is an extraordinary pleasure to join you to mark the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. (Applause.) And I can’t think of a better place to do it than here, in a living memorial that reflects not only his love of the arts, but also his recognition of how the arts can help sustain our national strength. (Applause.)
Now, we mark this anniversary with a measure of sadness, as we remember the extraordinary life of Sargent Shriver –(applause) — a man who embodied the spirit of the New Frontier as well as anybody. When a person passes away, there’s often an urge to define their legacy, and find a way in which it will endure. In the case of Sarge, that is not hard to do. His legacy is written in the villages around the world that have clean water or a new school through the Peace Corps. It’s written into the lives of all the children in our own country whose fortunes have been lifted through Head Start. And it will endure in the work of his children who are living out his legacy of service, and our thoughts and prayers are with them tonight.
One of the remarkable aspects in commemorating the JFK inauguration, in remembering those who were part of his team, like Sargent Shriver, who would help bring Kennedy’s soaring vision to life, is that none of it feels dated. Even now, one half century later, there is something about that day -– January 20, 1961 -– that feels immediate, feels new and urgent and exciting, despite the graininess of the 16-millimeter news reels that recorded it for posterity.
There he is, the handsome Bostonian, summoning a generation to service and a nation to greatness, in a speech that would become part of the American canon. And there’s the crowd, bundled up for the cold, making their way through streets white with snow, full of expectation. A nation, feeling young again, its mood brightened by the promise of a new decade.
Now, I confess, I don’t have my own memories of that day. (Laughter.) I wasn’t born until later that year. (Laughter.) What I know of that day and the 1,000 days that followed -– what I know of President Kennedy –- came from a mother and grandparents who adored him; from books I read and classes I took; from growing up in a country still mourning its beloved leader, whose name was spoken with reverence. And I know him through the legacy of his children and his brother Teddy who became extraordinarily dear friends of mine.
But I know him, John F. Kennedy, less as a man than as an icon, as a larger-than-life figure who graced this Earth for one brief and shining moment. But part of the function of this event, on this day, we must remember him as he was — as a father who loved his children, as a friend who lived life fully, as a noble public servant who wanted to make a difference.
A quick wit with a light touch, he was dealt, in many ways, a fortunate hand at birth. Attending one event, early in his career, where every speaker before him pompously claimed humble roots — things haven’t changed that much — (laughter) — John Kennedy confessed, when he took the podium, that he was –- and I quote -– “the only fellow here who didn’t come up the hard way.” (Laughter.)
And yet, it cannot be said that John F. Kennedy lived an easy life. He lost an older brother in the war; a sister shortly thereafter. He nearly lost his own life, too, when a Japanese gunship cut his PT boat in half, casting him into the water, from which he swam a crewmate to safety. Another sister struggled with a severe mental handicap. His own health was so poor that priests pronounced his last rites on several different occasions. And he endured the personal prejudice and political poison of anti-Catholic fervor.
And there is surely a possibility, under such circumstances, that a person will retreat from the world; that a person, particularly one born to wealth, will seek a life of luxury and ease; that a person, confronted by the coldness of chance, will become bitter or cynical or small. It has happened to others.
But that is not the life that John F. Kennedy chose. As he famously said at a press conference, “life is unfair.” We can’t choose the lots we are given in life, but we can choose how to live that life. John F. Kennedy chose a life in the arena, full of confidence that our country could surmount any obstacle, as he’d seen it do himself. He chose a life of leadership, fired not by naïve optimism, but committed realism; “idealism,” as his wife Jackie put it, “without illusions.” That is the idealism -– soaring but sober –- that inspired the country and the world one half century ago.
I can only imagine how he must have felt, entering the Oval Office in turbulent times. (Laughter and applause.) The Soviet Premier, Khrushchev, had threatened to “bury” America just a few years before. Wars of Liberation, as they were called, were being waged around the globe -– from Laos and Vietnam to Congo and Cuba, just 90 miles from our shore. At home, a young preacher’s cause was gaining traction across a segregated land.
In this volatile America, this tinderbox of a world, President Kennedy led with a steadying hand, defusing the most perilous crisis of the Cold War without firing a single shot. Enforcing the rights of young black men and women to attend the university of their choice. Launching a corps of volunteers as ambassadors for peace in distant centers of the globe. Setting America’s sights on the moon, unwilling to lose the Space Race in the wake of Sputnik.
We know the moon-shot story. It’s a familiar one, often invoked to make the case for an ambitious idea. But it’s easy to lose sight of just how improbable it seemed in May of 1961. When President Kennedy proposed going to the moon, America had just 15 minutes of manned flight experience in space. NASA had neither a plan nor a shuttle for making a lunar voyage. (Laughter.) Its own engineers had taken out the slide rules, and they were deeply skeptical of the mission. (Laughter.)
The science just wasn’t there. President Kennedy understood that. But he also knew something else. He knew that we, as a people, can do big things. We can reach great heights. We can rise to any challenge, so long as we’re willing to ask what we can do for our country; so long as we’re willing to take America’s destiny into our own hands. What President Kennedy understood was the character of the people he led: our resilience, our fearlessness, our distinctly American ability, revealed time and again throughout history, to defy the odds, to fashion our future, to make the world anew.
The world is very different now than it was in 1961. We face new trials and new uncertainties, from our economy to our security. We have a politics that can often seem too small for the hardships at hand. So meeting these tests won’t be easy. But we cannot forget, we are the heirs of this President, who showed us what is possible. Because of his vision, more people prospered; more people served; our union was made more perfect. Because of that vision, I can stand here tonight as President of the United States. (Applause.)
So John F. Kennedy captured that American spirit that not only put a man on the moon, but saved a continent from tyranny and overcame a Great Depression; that forged, from 13 colonies, the last best hope on Earth. And if we can hold onto that spirit today, I know that our generation will answer its call as ably as earlier ones did before us.
In December 1962, President Kennedy was asked by the Saturday Evening Post to submit his favorite quotation. A student not only of history, but also of literature, he chose a passage written by the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., father of the Supreme Court justice. Mr. Holmes wrote:
“I find the great things in this world — is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: to reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it -– but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.”
That, I think, captures well the daring, graceful spirit of the unfinished life we celebrate today; a life that inspires us and lights our way, as we sail on to the new frontiers of our own time. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless this country that we love. Thank you. (Applause.)
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington, New York, and Maryland.
Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.
He then hosted a reception for members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, who are holding a convention elsewhere in Washington, in
At 7:50 AM Pacific, Obama departs the White House on Marine One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 8:05 AM Pacific, Obama departs Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One en route to Albany, New York.
At 9:10 AM Pacific, Obama arrives in Albany, New York.
At 10:05 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on the economy at the General Electric Plant in Schenectady, New York.
This event was to have taken place just a few days after the tragedy in Tucscon, when it coincided with a GE anniversary, but was of course re-scheduled.
Obama is naming GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt as chairman of his revamped economic advisory panel.
At 11:10 AM Pacific, Obama departs Albany, New York on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.
At 12:05 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he boards Marine One.
At 12:20 PM Pacific, Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.
At 3:30 PM Pacific, Obama departs the White House on Marine One en route to Cambridge, Maryland.
At 4:30 PM Pacific, Obama attends the Democratic Issues Conference at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay.
This is the annual retreat for Democratic members of the House of Representatives. The times I attended it, it was held at the famed Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. This is a less costly alternative.
Obama then returns to the White House, landing on the South Lawn at 6:45 PM Pacific.
For his part, at 10:45 AM Pacific, Vice President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the Democratic Issues Conference in Cambridge, Maryland.
Obama’s appointment of the CEO of General Electric to head his economic advisory panel is a sign that the president is responding, perhaps over-responding, to criticism that his administration is anti-corporate.
Obama is revamping his economic recovery advisory board, headed till now by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, recasting it as a commission on jobs and competitiveness and naming General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt as its chairman.
Meanwhile, many on the left already felt that Obama was too pro-corporate.
Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Tunisia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Korean peninsula, as well as the Wikileaks crisis. One week after the ouster of President Ben Ali, protests continue in Tunisia.
The problem for Tunisia is that, with the exception of the ouster of the longtime autocratic president, the new government looks much like the old government.
In an Arab League summit in Egypt largely overlooked on account of the Tunisia story, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa warned that the Middle East is being “broken” by declining economic conditions for the vast majority of the populace which is low and no income.
Tunisia, he said, is an indicator of growing discontent in the Middle East.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Sacramento today.
He has no scheduled public events as of this morning.
Brown is working on California’s chronic budget crisis and on developing his nascent administration.
He’s getting a lot of pushback from most quarters, each of which insists that sacrifice is needed, just sacrifice somewhere else.
In a move that may not improve his relationship with the governor, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, now a member of the University of California Board of Regents, has been speaking out against Brown’s proposed $500 million cut in the UC budget.
Newsom has gone from getting a lot of press attention, at least in San Francisco, as mayor of San Francisco, to getting virtually none as lieutenant governor of California.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Maryland and Washington, D.C. today.
Today a public wake will be held in honor of his late father-in-law, Sargent Shriver, from 4 to 8 PM EST at Holy Trinity Church in the Georgetown area of Washington.
This is the church where John F. Kennedy took Mass on the morning of his inauguration as president 50 years ago yesterday.
On Saturday, a funeral Mass will be held at Our Lady of Trinity Church in Potomac, Maryland. The former leading figure of Camelot was a native of Maryland.
Shriver will then be buried next to his wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
** THE JERRY BROWN ERA UNFOLDS (AGAIN).And he is off and running as governor of California. Again. The first week of Jerry Brown’s governorship told us a lot, and set the stage for the second week, in which a hellacious state budget proposal is dominating.
First, let’s look at that, and then at the first week of the Brown governorship as he took over from Arnold Schwarzenegger. A week that was telling and even, in its way, festive. At least at first. …
From my January 11th feature.
** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. It’s the fate of Jerry Brown, the 34th and 39th governor of California, to succeed Republican movie stars as governor. Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger is a much bigger movie star than Ronald Reagan ever dreamed of being. (And Reagan is a much bigger Republican than Schwarzenegger ever intended to be, as angry right-wingers have been pointing out for years.)
Schwarzenegger wasn’t simply the biggest action movie star in the world prior to winning his first landslide election as governor of California in 2003, he was, more specifically, the biggest science fiction movie star in the world.
Indeed, there is something decidedly sci-fi about him becoming governor of California. (Cue raucous comments.) And there’s always been something more than a little sci-fi about Jerry Brown. … From my January 3rd feature.
** 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 $55 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
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