New West Notes

Monday Morning Quarterback, And More

Bill Bradley — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:27:50 +0000

Congressman John Murtha, the longtime chairman of the House Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations and a close ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, died today from complications from gall bladder surgery. Murtha became an outspoken and influential opponent of the Iraq War. His subcommittee is one of the most influential of all congressional panels. Through his membership on this body, and his influence over Murtha and others, then Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson was able to fund the covert war against the Soviets in Afghanistan.

** QUICK HITS. Congressional Republicans are agreeing so far to join President Barack Obama for televised negotiating session later this month on the national health care bill. This is perilous ground for them, given how things went when he appeared at the House Republican Caucus retreat. … California Attorney General Jerry Brown today called on the nation’s two largest public pension funds, California’s Public Employee Retirement System and State Teachers Retirement System, to demonstrate some action under the state law requiring to divest from companies doing business with Iran that are not ending the practice. Brown noted that the funds have reported on their 2009 activities but have failed to reveal whether they have actually divested or taken any steps. He spoke at rallies last year in support of Iran’s pro-democracy demonstrators who were forcibly suppressed by the Tehran regime. … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointee to be the state’s new lieutenant governor, moderate Republican state Senator Abel Maldonado, was to have had a confirmation hearing this afternoon in front of the Assembly Rules Committee. That’s been postponed till tomorrow. He’s drawing more opposition in the Assembly than in the Senate. … Schwarzenegger will be in lovely Vancouver, British Columbia on Friday morning to run in the last leg of the Winter Olympics Torch Relay. Schwarzenegger has done a lot on energy and environmental issues with the Canadian provincial government, which will help host the Opening Ceremony of the Games later that day.

** IRANIAN NUCLEAR CRISIS SPINS UP. As long anticipated on NWN, the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program is spinning up.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, a longtime man of the left, both said today that the European Union will join the U.S. in insisting on tough new sanctions against Iran.

“We don’t have any other option than to go to the Security Council for further measures,” Morin was quoted as saying following a meeting with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “On the Iran nuclear issue, our views totally converge.”

Also speaking on the Iranian nuclear issue was French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who was quoted by AFP as saying Monday afternoon that Iran’s usage of “blackmail” over its atomic program was forcing Western powers to insist on sanctions. “Negotiation is not possible,” he reportedly said.

After announcing Sunday that it would begin to enrich uranium in defiance of repeated entreaties by the UN and Western leaders, the regime in Teheran declared on Monday that it would enrich the potentially fissile material to 20 percent.

Iran’s announcement also served as a final, official rejection of a UN-brokered plan which would have required the Islamic republic to ship most of its uranium abroad to France, where it would undergo further processing into metal fuel rods.

** HOW LONG HAS MEG WHITMAN LIVED IN CALIFORNIA? In her introductory TV ad, released to the media on Thursday, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Whitman, the former national co-chair of the McCain/Palin campaign, said she has lived in California for 30 years.

As that was obviously impossible, she changed the TV ad on Friday to say that she’s lived in California for “many years.”

So how long has she lived in California?

On March 11, 2008, in an interview with veteran broadcaster Lesley Stahl, Whitman said that she has lived in California for less than 20 years.

In a getting-to-know-you softball interview, Stahl asked Whitman — who had just become national co-chair of the John McCain for President campaign — what she and her husband, Dr. Griff Harsh IV, like to do for fun.

We actually really like to hike. And it’s something that we do together, and locally. One of the great things about living in California is the state parks, all up and down the coast. So we do a fair amount of hiking together. This was a fun thing we did about a month ago. We went down to see the elephant seals at Año Nuevo. I have lived in California for nearly 20 years and I’ve never been to see the elephant seals. And we had a ball. We drove to Half Moon Bay, drove down the coast, had a picnic lunch, went to see the elephant seals, on the most spectacular California day that you have ever seen. And then took off to a hike in the redwoods that’s just north of … or just a little bit south of Half Moon Bay, and did about a 10-mile hike, which I was dying at the end of.

One wonders how Whitman got from having lived in California for less than 20 years — when talking with Leslie Stahl as she accepted the national co-chairmanship of the 2008 Republican presidential campaign — to having lived in California for 30 years in her much-rehearsed introductory TV ad for governor of California.

Space shuttle Endeavour blasted off last night from the Kennedy Space Center, heading toward the International Space Station on a construction mission. Monday’s lift-off was the final night time launch before the space shuttles are retired.

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.

Another big week in presidential politics, and a semi-big week in California politics.

President Barack Obama has a complex series of moves to make on the economy, health care, and geopolitics, especially with regard to Iran.

In California politics, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping for legislative cooperation on his appointment of a new lieutenant governor and some action on the chronic budget crisis. Jerry Brown, the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, edges closer to actually declaring his candidacy, having made a campaign-like speech and taken questions over the weekend in San Francisco. And the Meg Whitman camp is probably breathing a sigh of relief that California’s much diminished press corps didn’t bother to cover any of her public appearances last week.

One great development for Obama over the weekend was the definitive re-emergence of Sarah Palin as a political figure following her book tour. She’s clearly not just going to play media celebrity.

The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, who quit as Alaska’s governor midway through her first term, keynoted the National Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tennessee, ripping in to Obama as soft on terror. She received $100,000 for her speech.

Palin sounded a lot like a presidential candidate, both before the Tea Party crowd and on Fox News today. Which, as I write this, is not much of a distinction.

“We need a Commander-in-Chief, not a law perfessor standing at the lectern,” she declared to screams of approval.

Palin led a preference poll of Republicans for president last week.

For his part, Obama now has to follow through on his weekend pledge at the winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee to revive the national health care bill, which in different forms had passed both houses of Congress only to stall with the upset loss of the Massachusetts special election for Senate.

Obama is also pushing for a second, smaller economic stimulus bill as part of his newfound focus on job creation. The unemployment rate dropped for the first time in months but the situation is still sluggish at best.

While Obama monitors the welcome re-emergence of Palin, he places a bit more attention on several geopolitical crises he inherited, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran.

In Pakistan, it appears increasingly evident that the new head of the Pakistani Taliban was killed in a U.S. missile strike inside Pakistan ordered by Obama. The Taliban have refused to provide any proof of life for Hakimullah Mehsud.

The U.S. strike was in mid-January.

Mehsud’s predecessor was also killed in a U.S. missile strike ordered by Obama.

In Iran, regime leaders have further muddied the waters by vowing to host an international conference against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Even as they vowed to begin further enrichment of uranium, though not to weapons-grade levels, for medical purposes. Once uranium is enriched to 20%, it is much easier to then turn around and further enrich it to 90% for weapons purposes.

They also say that they want to send uranium abroad for further enrichment. But they don’t like the deal their negotiators agreed to late last year.

Defense Secretary Bob Gates, appearing today in Paris with French Defense Minister Herve Morin, said that the U.S. and its allies have no choice but to pursue stringent sanctions against the Iranian regime. At the same time, the U.S. and the European Union released a scathing joint statement on Iran’s human rights practices in the wake of last year’s disputed presidential election.

Things are not quite so good in Iraq, either. Last week, it appeared that the government was going along with an appellate court ruling restoring some 500 Sunni candidates for the March parliamentary elections. They had been banned for supposed links to the late Saddam Hussein, in a move that many considered a Shiite power play. Now it’s not so clear.

In Afghanistan, preparations continue for the first big military offensive since the Obama surge. U.S. Marines and British troops will take the lead, assisted by Afghan forces, in a major move against a Taliban enclave in southern Afghanistan.

Back in California, there’s been little action in the special legislative session on the budget called by Schwarzenegger. A state Senate committee has heard some testimony. An Assembly committee finally convened, but only to hear criticism of Schwarzenegger’s plans. The state will run out of money at the end of March if action is not taken.

While remaining state reporters and bloggers were transfixed by the sensational last week in the Republican contests for governor and U.S. senator — Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner’s claim that Whitman’s campaign violated the law in trying to force him from the race, Whitman’s clumsy attempt to force him out, Senate candidate Carly Fiorina’s cockeyed “demon sheep” video attack on Tom Campbell, and Whitman’s false claim to have lived in California for 30 years (when she was national co-chair of the McCain/Palin campaign she said she’d lived in California for less than 20 years) — Whitman herself moved around the state all week promoting her book.

And no one covered the billionaire gubernatorial hopeful. True, they were book tour events, not campaign events. Which is, well, nonsense. It’s all part of her campaign.

Whitman managed to appear, as I wrote 10 days ago that she would, in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sacramento. And to my knowledge, no journalist bestirred him or herself to attend, observe, and ask her a few questions.

Not that she would give much in the way of answers, but that’s the point. The press complains that Whitman isn’t available, that her staff gives boiler plate robot answers, that she won’t (or can’t) engage.

She’s not an author on a private book tour, she is an official candidate for governor of California. Everywhere she goes she is on the record.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.

Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

At 10:45 AM Pacific, Obama meets with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in the Oval Office.

Due to the massive snow storm along the Atlantic seaboard, Washington is essentially shut down today. Federal government offices are closed.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger surprised James Cameron Saturday night in Santa Barbara, presenting him with the Modern Master award at the Santa Barbara Film Festival. Cameron’s new film, Avatar, has already broken the domestic and global box office records set by his Titanic. Cameron and Schwarzenegger worked together on several major films.

UPDATE: Schwarzenegger’s event in San Luis Obispo will now be at 11 AM instead of 10 AM.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, and Sacramento today.

His appointee as California’s new lieutenant governor, moderate Republican state Senator Abel Maldonado, has a confirmation hearing this afternoon before the Assembly Rules Committee.

Maldonado won approval from the Senate Rules Committee on February 3rd.

If he is not rejected by the Legislature by February 22nd, Maldonado takes office.

At 10 AM, after touring REC Solar in San Luis Obispo, Schwarzenegger and Maldonado hold a press conference there to highlight Schwarzenegger’s proposal to promote green jobs through training and hiring incentives.

The event will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.

** LOST IN LOST. … From my February 4th essay.

** SELLING MEG WHITMAN: GLITCHES EMERGE IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S PLAN TO ACQUIRE THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP. What would Don Draper do?

Meanwhile, her eighth radio ad to date (featuring her campaign chair, former Governor Pete Wilson) blankets the state, as the others have for months. All is “on plan” in the selling of Meg Whitman. Or is it?

There’s just one thing. Television.

Well-informed sources tell me that Whitman and her panoply of high-paid consultants are having trouble coming up with a way to introduce the would-be governor on television to her hoped-for constituents.

In January, Whitman’s consultants presented 22 potential introductory TV ads to a focus group in Sacramento. The ads didn’t fly. The reaction to Whitman’s TV presentation was particularly problematic with women. … From my February 2nd column.

** WHAT A DIFFERENCE TWO MONTHS MAKES AS THE FATE OF OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY PLAYS OUT FAR FROM WASHINGTON. … From my January 29th column.

** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my January 27th column.

** SCOTT BROWN NEED NOT APPLY: CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS IN THE POST-ARNOLD ERA. … From my January 26th column.

** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008. … From my January 22nd column.

** 24 NATION.… From my January 19th column.

** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) … From my January 14th column.

** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE. … From my January 12th column.

** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.

** 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 long-suffering New Orleans Saints, whose city was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, upset the favored Indianapolis Colts in convincing fashion in the Super Bowl, 31-17.

** HELP FOR HAITI.

You can donate to the new Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.

** 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 is trading around $72 per barrel.

This is up about $38 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.

Weekend Edition

Bill Bradley — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:11:58 +0000

2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, sounding much like a presidential candidate, keynoted the National Tea Party Convention last night in Nashville. She ripped into President Barack Obama for supposedly being soft on terrorism and called for another American revolution.

** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.

Obama has received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

He has no scheduled public events.

Obama will hold a Super Bowl viewing party in the White House. Unlike last year, when the Pittsburgh Steelers (who gave Obama a great deal of support and whose owner became the U.S. ambassador to Ireland) were playing the Arizona Cardinals, Obama has no particular favorite in this game. He won Indiana, whose Indianapolis Colts are favored today, in 2008 and lost Louisiana, home of the New Orleans Saints. But New Orleans is a sentimental favorite, with the city having nearly been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

Washington is snowed under by the biggest blizzard there in the modern era.

2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who quit as Alaska’s governor midway through her first term, keynoted the National Tea Party convention last night in Nashville, Tennessee, ripping in to Obama as soft on terror.

Palin sounded a lot like a presidential candidate, both before the Tea Party crowd and on Fox News today. Which, as I write this, is not much of a distinction.

“We need a Commander-in-Chief, not a law perfessor standing at the lectern,” she declared to screams of approval.

Palin led a preference poll of Republicans for president last week.

She received $100,000 for her speech.

While Obama monitors the re-emergence of Palin, he places a bit more attention on several geopolitical crises he inherited, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran.

The U.S. strike was in mid-January.

Mehsud’s predecessor was also killed in a U.S. missile strike ordered by Obama.

In Iran, regime leaders today further muddied the waters by vowing to host an international conference against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Even as they vowed to begin further enrichment of uranium, though not to weapons-grade levels, for medical purposes.

They also say that they want to send uranium abroad for further enrichment. But they don’t like the deal their negotiators agreed to late last year.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnolf Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.

Early this morning, he toured the mud and debris slide which occurred yesterday in the LA area’s La Canada Flintridge.

Acting Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County on January 21st due to the effects of severe storms in the across the state. That state of emergency remains in effect.

In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama gave short shrift to the lowest unemployment rate in nearly a year and talked up small business as job creator.

** STATEWIDE CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES APPEAR IN SAN FRANCISCO. Most of the California Democrats’ statewide candidates will appear Saturday afternoon at a forum hosted by the California Young Democrats at an SEIU hall in San Francisco.

Among those speaking is Jerry Brown, an undeclared candidate who has nonetheless cleared the Democratic field for governor of California.

The event takes place from 1 PM to 4 PM.

You can watch a live video stream of the candidate appearances by clicking on this link.

** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.

Obama received his daily intelligence briefing in the Oval Office.

He then went to the Capitol Hilton to give the morning address at the winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee.

Obama pledged that he will not stop his push for national health care reform, which hit a major pothole with the upset election in Massachusetts of Republican Scott Brown to the Senate, depriving Democrats of the 60th vote needed to block Republican filibusters.

Obama made his way to the DNC meeting through deserted streets. The nation’s capital is in the grips of the biggest snowstorm in modern history.

Washington is a town which short-circuits with a little weather. With this sort of heavy weather, not much is going to happen there.

Washington, D.C. is literally snowed under by the biggest blizzard in modern history.

Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Iraq.

In Afghanistan, as I wrote over a week ago, the trend is now clearly towards seeking a coalition government with major elements of the Taliban. Recent remarks by General David Petraeus made this clear. This should, in the long run, relieve some of the pressure in Pakistan.

Which does not mean there’s not substantial fighting ahead. U.S. Marines are prepping for a major offensive in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, joined by British troops and a contingent of Afghan troops.

Taliban leaders today pledged stiff resistance, saying with bravado that they welcome the allied troops venturing out of their bases.

In Iran, there has been no apparent progress on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s unspecific statement earlier in the week that his country is now prepared to ship its uranium abroad for further enrichment. Which is to say, it hasn’t gotten more specific, meaning that it may be the latest attempt to obfuscate and buy time for a rogue nuclear program.

Germany today denounced Iran’s position, saying that it is time for the Islamic republic to accept the deal its negotiators accepted last year.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.

His appointee as California’s new lieutenant governor, moderate Republican state Senator Abel Maldonado, has a confirmation hearing in the state Assembly on Monday.

Maldonado won approval from the Senate Rules Committee on February 3rd.

If he is not rejected by the Legislature by February 22nd, Maldonado takes office.

** LOST IN LOST. … From my February 4th essay.

** SELLING MEG WHITMAN: GLITCHES EMERGE IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S PLAN TO ACQUIRE THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP. What would Don Draper do?

There’s just one thing. Television.

** WHAT A DIFFERENCE TWO MONTHS MAKES AS THE FATE OF OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY PLAYS OUT FAR FROM WASHINGTON. What a difference two months makes. Way back then, as it were, the staunchly resolute talk on Afghanistan was all about the big military surge just announced by President Barack Obama, with NATO leaders pledging to ante up lots of troops, too. (Even as actual national commitments were, well, lacking.) Now the talk coming out of Thursday’s big 70-nations conference in London on Afghanistan centers on talking with the Taliban, and on exit strategies.

In Washington, there was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting further into, and then out of, Afghanistan.

The economy is slowly recovering. One way or the other, Obama will be able to campaign for re-election in 2012 having staved off another Great Depression inherited from the Bush/Cheney Administration. Which he focused on effectively in his big speech. The question is how quickly and fully the recovery comes prior to the mid-term election, in order for Obama and the Democrats to limit expected losses. … From my January 29th column.

** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my January 27th column.

** SCOTT BROWN NEED NOT APPLY: CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS IN THE POST-ARNOLD ERA. Is there a Scott Brown-like figure to surprise California Democrats this year? No. The politicians who are vying to replace Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as the ranking California Republican could scarcely be less like Scott Brown. Or, for that matter, Schwarzenegger. … From my January 26th column.

** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008. … From my January 22nd column.

** 24 NATION.… From my January 19th column.

** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) … From my January 14th column.

** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE. … From my January 12th column.

** THE BAND OF THE DECADE: THE BEATLES?! What does it say that the biggest musical group of the first decade of this new millennium recorded its last album 40 years ago? … From my January 1st essay.

** THE COMMON THREADS OF AVATAR. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Probably. … From my December 22nd essay.

** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.

** 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.

** HELP FOR HAITI.

You can donate to the new Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.

This is up about $37 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.

Non-Random Notes (Throughout the day)

Bill Bradley — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:46:45 +0000

A judge declared today that a one-time top aide to former Senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is in contempt of court for not turning over an alleged sex tape being sought by Edwards’ former mistress. She had Edwards’ child during his 2008 presidential campaign. The ex-aide had been portrayed as the child’s father.

** QUICK HITS. At CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia today, President Barack Obama honored seven CIA operatives killed in Afghanistan by a bomb-carrying Jordanian agent who was actually a jihadist. The event was closed to the media, but according to a White House transcript, Obama said: “To their colleagues and all who served with them — those here today, those still recovering, those watching around the world — I say: Let their sacrifice be a summons. To carry on their work. To complete this mission. To win this war, and to keep our country safe.” … In an interview recorded for Sunday’s This Week on ABC, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said that the risk of a double-dip recession is very low and that the economy has begun “the process of healing.” … On her book tour today, California GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman tossed cold water on the notion of an across-the-board tax cut. Which her super-rich Republican rival Steve Poizner sees as an opening in their primary fight. … After Whitman’s spokesperson said, in the wake of the candidate falsely claiming to have lived in California for 30 years, that Whitman feels like she’s been a Californian for 30 years, waggish California Democratic chairman John Burton suggested that the billionaire pay taxes for all those years, to help with the state budget deficit. …

** CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN JOINS THE NATIONAL TEA PARTY CONVENTION. California Republican Party chairman Ron Nehring is in Nashville, Tennessee today with the National Tea Party Convention.

Nehring, who long worked for famed DC-based anti-government lobbyist Grover Norquist, is teaching two seminars today at the far right convention on organizing and coalition-building techniques.

The convention is at the Opryland Hotel and Convention Center.

** UPDATE: WHITMAN CHANGES HER TV AD, REMOVING HER FALSE CLAIM OF CALIFORNIA RESIDENCY. Meg Whitman today changed her ad, which hadn’t actually aired anywhere yesterday, to get rid of her false claim of having lived in California for 30 years.

WHITMAN YESTERDAY: “The state is in the worst shape that I’ve seen in the 30 years that I have lived in California.”

WHITMAN TODAY: “The state is in the worst shape that I’ve seen in the many years that I have lived in California.”

However many that may be.

** WHOOPS! HOW DID I MISS MEG WHITMAN’S FALSE CLAIM IN HER FIRST TV AD? Well, how did I miss the fact that Meg Whitman, the billionaire ex-eBay CEO running for the Republican nomination for governor of California, falsely claimed in her introductory TV ad to have lived in California for 30 years?

Frankly, I wasn’t paying that much attention to what she was saying when I saw the ad and wrote about it yesterday.

I was in the middle of something else, totally unrelated, at the time. It was only when California Democratic Party chairman John Burton put out a statement late yesterday pointing out Whitman’s false claim that I realized it.

Of course, I should have realized it from the text, reproduced below, not to mention watching the ad itself, which I did three times.

Whitman says she’s lived in California for 30 years. But unless she is older than she says she is, that’s simply impossible. Obviously.

She was born and raised in New York state, then went to college and graduate school on the East Coast. That’s nearly half her life there. Then when you add in the fact that we know she spent most of the 1990s working elsewhere, it’s clear that she’s lived in California for a lot closer to 20 than 30 years.

The reality is that Whitman went where her marketing executive career took her.

I noticed, incidentally, that Whitman’s campaign, responding to a newspaper reporter, won’t say when she actually lived in California.

Which is something that is pretty hard to parody, if you think about it.

I scanned her script and noticed the same old catchphrases from her radio ads, my eyes gliding right over the obviously false claim about her California residency.

What I was really interested in, with the half of my brain I was using at the time, was how Whitman’s consultants tried to deal with the major problems they encountered with focus group participants last month. Their solution, as I mentioned yesterday, was to minimize her presence in her own spot, having her look away from the camera in the brief snippets she was shown speaking, and to try to jazz up totally generic footage that played during the great bulk of her narration.

It’s an interesting patchwork approach.

Republican Scott Brown was sworn in yesterday as a U.S. senator, taking the Massachusetts seat long held by the late Senator Ted Kennedy and, before him, the late President John F. Kennedy.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington, Virginia, and Maryland today.

Obama received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

He then attended a memorial service at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

At 9:10 AM Pacific, Obama meets with small business owners in Lanham, Maryland.

At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on job creation and small business initiatives in Lanham, Maryland.

At 11:20 AM Pacific, Obama meets with the 2009 Little League World Champions at the White House.

At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

Obama, as you may have noticed, frequently does economy-oriented events when major financial statistics are released.

Today the unemployment numbers came out, and they were surprisingly good. Which is not the same as good.

Unemployment unexpectedly dipped from 10% to 9.7%.

This is the second week in a row of positive numbers. Last week we learned that the economy grew by a whopping 5.7% during the last quarter of 2009.

The recession is over, but employment continues to lag. Not that I put too much stock in the striking GDP number, though it’s obviously a positive sign. It’s inflated somewhat by government stimulus and by manufacturers having had to at last replace a drawdown in inventory.

Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Iraq.

In Afghanistan, as I wrote a week ago, the trend is now clearly towards seeking a coalition government with major elements of the Taliban. Comments yesterday by General David Petraeus made this clear. This should, in the long run, relieve some of the pressure in Pakistan.

A suicide bomber on motorcycle blew up a bus packed with Shi’ite Muslim worshippers in Karachi, the main seaport and financial capital of Pakistan. A bomb then exploded at the hospital where the bus casualties were being treated.

And serious unrest continues in Pakistan, increasingly spreading to the nation’s largest city, its financial capital Karachi. Two attacks today, apparently carried out by Sunni against Shia, killed dozens.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and San Diego today.

At 10:15 AM, Schwarzenegger will hold a press conference to promote the extension and expansion of the $10,000 homebuyer tax credit to include the purchase of existing homes as well as new residences. This is part of his job promotion initiative.

The event will take place in a housing development in Chula Vista, which is in the San Diego area.

The event will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.

** LOST IN LOST. … From my February 4th essay.

** SELLING MEG WHITMAN: GLITCHES EMERGE IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S PLAN TO ACQUIRE THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP. What would Don Draper do?

There’s just one thing. Television.

In Washington, there was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting further into, and then out of, Afghanistan.

** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my January 27th column.

** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008. … From my January 22nd column.

** 24 NATION.… From my January 19th column.

** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) … From my January 14th column.

** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE. … From my January 12th column.

** THE COMMON THREADS OF AVATAR. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Probably. … From my December 22nd essay.

** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.

** HELP FOR HAITI.

You can donate to the new Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.

** 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 is trading around $73 per barrel.

This is up about $39 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.

Non-Random Notes (Throughout the day)

Bill Bradley — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:00:05 +0000

The suicide bomber who killed three U.S. Special Forces soldiers in Pakistan on Wednesday — singling out their car in a motorcade — may have had inside information, police say. The attack has raised new questions over the role of the U.S. military in the country.

** QUICK HITS. Scott Brown, the surprise winner of the Massachusetts special election for the late Ted Kennedy’s old seat in the U.S. Senate, was sworn in today as a senator. He won’t get Ted Kennedy’s desk, however, which was previously used by John F. Kennedy. That goes to John Kerry. Who would probably rather not be getting it. … Speaking of Browns, California Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office was cleared this afternoon by the Alameda County district attorney of any wrongdoing in the taping by an aide of interviews with Brown and other officials conducted by a few reporters. This was hardly a surprise, as the interviews were for publication and in no way could be considered to be confidential conversations.

** LOST IN LOST. … From my new essay.

** AMERICANS VIEWS ON SOCIALISM AND A FEW OTHER MATTERS. A new Gallup Poll asked an interesting series of “Just off the top of your head what do you think of …” questions. Pretty much everybody has a positive view of small business. Big business, not so much. And socialism, well, 36% like it, 58% don’t.

More than one-third of Americans (36%) have a positive image of “socialism,” while 58% have a negative image. Views differ by party and ideology, with a majority of Democrats and liberals saying they have a positive view of socialism, compared to a minority of Republicans and conservatives.

“Socialism” was one of seven terms included in a Jan. 26-27 Gallup poll. Americans were asked to indicate whether their top-of-mind reactions to each were positive or negative. Respondents were not given explanations or descriptions of the terms.

Americans are almost uniformly positive in their reactions to three terms: small business, free enterprise, and entrepreneurs. They are divided on big business and the federal government, with roughly as many Americans saying their view is positive as say it is negative. Americans are more positive than negative on capitalism (61% versus 33%) and more negative than positive on socialism (36% to 58%). …

Wall Street, unfortunately, was not tested in this poll.

** WHITMAN SHOWS HER FIRST TV AD. Billionaire ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman has rolled out her first TV ad. She narrates it. However, she barely appears in the spot, which focuses instead on generic footage.

As I’ve reported, her campaign for the Republican nomination for governor of California is struggling with the reality that the candidate does not test well with focus groups.

Here is a transcript of the ad, which can be viewed here.

MW: “I will say the number one thing, I think, that faces California right now is actually a crisis of confidence. People are scared to death that California cannot be fixed.

The most important thing that the next governor of California has to do is actually deliver the goods. The professional politicians have been fighting in Sacramento for years and the state is in the worst shape that I’ve seen in the thirty years that I have lived in California.

We can turn California around. I think, actually, I can make a difference. I have run large organizations, I know how to create jobs, I know how to focus, I know how to balance a budget and I think a business perspective is a bit of what California needs right now.

The things that I think we need to focus on are first, creating and keeping jobs in California. Second is cutting government spending and third is fixing our education system.

We need to have California be what it once was and I think we can do it. Let’s say what we mean, mean what we say and let’s get it done.”

The TV ad’s text simply repeats what her radio ads say. By my trusty Seamaster, Whitman is on screen for 13 of the ad’s 60 seconds, for no more than four seconds at a time.

President Barack Obama, speaking this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast, said that the country needs to regain a sense of civility and that prayer can touch our hearts with humility.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.

Obama had a very early start to his day today as he and First Lady Michelle Obama attended the annual National Prayer Breakfast, where he gave the main address.

Obama then received his daily intelligence briefing and met with Democratic congressional leaders House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Steny Hoyer in the Oval Office.

Obama then met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

At 9 AM Pacific, Obama has lunch with business leaders in the State Dining Room.

At 12 noon Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner in the Oval Office.

At 12:30 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office.

At 2:45 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks and takes questions at a Democratic National Committee fundraising reception at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

At 5 PM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks at a DNC fundraising dinner at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.

France today joined Britain in pushing for tough new sanctions against Iran if it does not follow through on its renewed seeming acceptance of shipping its uranium abroad for further enrichment.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.

At 7:30 PM, Schwarzenegger discusses the priorities in the final year of his governorship in an address to the inaugural dinner gala of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce at the Beverly Hilton.

The event will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.

Schwarzenegger’s appointee as California’s new lieutenant governor, moderate Republican state Senator Abel Maldonado, won a confirmation vote late yesterday afternoon from the state Senate Rules Committee. But the full Senate, not to mention the Assembly, might vote to reject him before February 22nd, at which point he automatically becomes the lieutenant governor otherwise.

** SELLING MEG WHITMAN: GLITCHES EMERGE IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S PLAN TO ACQUIRE THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP. What would Don Draper do?

There’s just one thing. Television.

From my February 2nd column.

In Washington, there was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting further into, and then out of, Afghanistan.

** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my January 27th column.

** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008. … From my January 22nd column.

** 24 NATION.… From my January 19th column.

** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) … From my January 14th column.

** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE. … From my January 12th column.

On Tuesday, James Cameron’s Avatar passed his Titanic for the top spot on the all-time domestic box office list with over $601 million. With record-breaking international box office, Avatar had already broken Titanic’s global box office record.

** THE COMMON THREADS OF AVATAR. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Probably. … From my December 22nd essay.

** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.

** HELP FOR HAITI.

You can donate to the new Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.

This is up about $40 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.

Non-Random Notes (Throughout the day)

Bill Bradley — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:59:15 +0000

U.S. troops and their NATO and Afghan allies are planning their biggest joint offensive since the start of the Afghan War.

** STATE OF PLAY. The first major offensive of the Obama surge in Afghanistan is slated to kick off this month. Threre’s no date given, for obvious reasons of operational security, but it will be sooner than later. U.S. Marines will spearhead the offensive, joined by NATO and Afghan troops. … Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointee to be California’s next lieutenant governor, moderate Republican state Senator Abel Maldonado, won a 4-0 confirmation vote this afternoon in the Senate Rules Committee. Only a Republican senator who opposes Maldonado for the party nomination, Sam Aanestaad, did not vote for him, abstaining instead.

** GATES WARNS IRAN, AGAIN, AS THE DANCE PICKS UP TO A DIFFERENT TUNE. Defense Secretary Bob Gates told the House Armed Services Committee today that Iran faces “severe sanctions” if it does not soon compromise on its nuclear program. These sanctions, he said, would be imposed in part by the UN Security Council and in part by the U.S. and like-minded allies. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday came out of for tough sanctions on Iran. Gates’ statement came a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran is now willing to ship its uranium abroad for further enrichment, receiving a finished product in the form of fuel rods unsuitable to a nuclear weapons program. But he is being cagey about how this would be done — and apparently has not yet contacted the International Atomic Energy Agency, with which Iranian negotiators agreed last fall on a uranium deal, only to have the regime renege — and many believe this may be yet another delaying tactic.

** NEW SURVEY ON PARTISAN AND IDEOLOGICAL IDENTIFIERS. The Gallup Poll has a useful survey of partisan and ideological identifiers, both nationally and state-by-state. The most conservative states are where you would expect, the Deep South, along with the most liberal states, the Northeast and West Coast. It’s important to note that “most liberal” does not mean, in most instances, mean liberal.

Incidentally, President Barack Obama’s post-State of the Union bounce continues in the Gallup daily tracking poll, which again has Obama with a 51% job approval rating, with 42% disapproval. Before the State of the Union, it was 47-47.

On the question of partisan identification, Gallup pushes independents to choose between Democrats and Republicans.

On a national level, 49.0% identify or mostly identify with the Democrats, while 40.7% do the same with the Republcians.

40.1% think of themselves as mostly conservative, 35.8% mostly moderate, and only 20.4% as mostly liberal.

Something for activists quick to complain about Obama to keen mind. Remember that John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich did not do well running for president, even in the Democratic primaries.

In California, where 22% of the registered voters are independents (I include the American Independent registration, which snagged San Francisco First Lady Jennifer Newsom, along with the decline to state), 51.2% identify with the Democrats when pushed. Only 31.5% identify with the Republicans.

33.1% see themselves as mostly conservative, while 37;5% view themselves as moderates and 25.4% as liberals.

So much that perpetually baffles hyperpartisans of all stripes is explained by those few paragraphs above.

President Barack Obama met with his former Democratic colleagues in the U.S. Senate this morning, discussing the difficulties of moving forward in government and the necessity to do so.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have received the daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

Obama then delivered remarks and took questions at the Senate Democratic Policy Committee Issues Conference, which is being held today at the Newseum.

At 8:15 AM Pacific, Obama meets with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

At 9:30 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden have lunch in the Oval Office.

At 11 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with a group of Democratic and Republican state governors to discuss energy policy in the East Room.

At 1 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden lead a Cabinet-level exercise ahead of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.

There’s very good news in Iraq.

Vice President Joe Biden visited there last month to mediate a situation that threatened to upend the March elections for the national parliament.

Some 500 Sunni candidates had been banned from the election for supposed links to the regime of the late Saddam Hussein. Today they were reinstated to the ballot.

But another terrorist bombing killed dozens there, again striking against Shiite worshipers, not long before the deal was announced. So Biden’s diplomacy may have been only part of the equation.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and Sacramento today.

At 9 AM, Schwarzenegger joins Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and San Jose Mayor Chuck Ward at the San Jose/Santa Clara Valley Water Pollution Control Plant in San Jose.

There they will discuss the importance of infrastructure investments. Schwarzenegger and Rendell are, along with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, co-chairs of Building America’s Future, a group which promotes greater infrastructure investment around the country.

The event will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.

Schwarzenegger’s appointee as California’s new lieutenant governor, moderate Republican state Senator Abel Maldonado, has a confirmation hearing today before the state Senate Rules Committee. (See yesterday’s item on Maldonado’s comments and prospects.)

Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has endorsed Maldonado’s confirmation. California Democratic Party chairman John Burton is opposed.

The state Assembly has finally joined the Senate in scheduling a hearing on Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal.

** SELLING MEG WHITMAN: GLITCHES EMERGE IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S PLAN TO ACQUIRE THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP. What would Don Draper do?

There’s just one thing. Television.

From my February 2nd column.

In Washington, there was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting further into, and then out of, Afghanistan.

** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my January 27th column.

** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008. … From my January 22nd column.

** 24 NATION.… From my January 19th column.

** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) … From my January 14th column.

The would-be Christmas Day airline bomber is reportedly providing intelligence to U.S. authorities.

** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE. … From my January 12th column.

** THE COMMON THREADS OF AVATAR. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Probably. … From my December 22nd essay.

** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.

** HELP FOR HAITI.

You can donate to the new Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.

This is up about $43 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.

Non-Random Notes (Throughout the day)

Bill Bradley — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:41:33 +0000

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified today that it is time to end the “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy on gays and lesbians in the military. But Senator John McCain, a retired captain in the Navy, supports the ban. McCain was the 2008 GOP presidential nominee. His wife, Cindy McCain, has come out in favor of same sex marriage.

** QUICK HITS. President Barack Obama has gotten a good bump from his State of the Union address last week, and his bravura Friday appearance before the House Republican Caucus retreat. Prior to the State of the Union, his job approval rating was mired at 47-47. Now it’s 51-42. In California, Obama’s ratings are much higher. … Cali GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman said today — well, actually, her campaign said it, she doesn’t say much about politics — that she will not debate rival Steve Poizner at next month’s state Republican convention. Hardly a surprise, as she’s skipped all debates so far and has said for months that the first debate she will enter will be before the New Majority fundraising group in Orange County, after the Republican convention. … Bay Area Congresswoman Jackie Speier, seen in some quarters as an instant frontrunner if she ran, said today that she will not run for the Democratic nomination for California attorney general. That’s good news for San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, an early Obama backer who is the only woman in the field.

** MOVEMENT ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM? Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appeared to blink at least a little today on the question of his country’s nuclear program, which looks suspiciously like a weapons program. Seemingly reversing months of Iranian rhetoric, Ahmadinejad said that he has no problem turning over Iran’s uranium for further enrichment abroad, to be returned in the form of rods that are not usable in a nuclear weapons program.

After agreeing to do just that in negotiations a few months ago, Iran reneged and embarked on a course of obfuscation, delay, and saber rattling. In the meantime, the clamor for a new round of tougher sanctions increased and the U.S. this week moved anti-missile systems into the Persian Gulf.

The devil, of course, as always, is in the details.

Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad is offering to trade three very wayward UC Berkeley grads who foolishly wandered across the border for three Iranian prisoners.

** MALDONADO SAYS HE WON’T PLAY RUNNING MATE TO CALIFORNIA GOP GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE, STILL OPPOSES OFFSHORE OIL DEAL. State Senator Abel Maldonado, the moderate Republican nominated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve as California’s new lieutenant governor now that John Garamendi is in Congress, held a press conference call this afternoon. He led off by saying that he still opposes a Schwarzenegger pet project, a new and limited offshore oil drilling project off the Southern California coast. As lieutenant governor, Maldonado could have a deciding vote on the fate of the project before the State Lands Commission.

In the course of a long discussion with reporters, I asked Maldonado if he intends to function as a running mate to either Meg Whitman or Steve Poizner, the Republicans vying to take on Jerry Brown for governor of California. He told me that he does not. He also said that he does not intend to make mischief for the next governor.

Maldonado has a hearing tomorrow before the state Senate Rules Committee. Early soundings among Senate Democrats about Maldonado were negative, in part because at least one, the Central Valley’s Dean Florez, was running for lieutenant governor himself. But now it’s more likely that the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor will be Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, sister of former Los Angeles Mayor Jimmy Hahn and daughter of the late (and legendary) Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenny Hahn.

So Maldonado’s fate may hinge on whether Democrats feel confident in their ability to do what they ought to be able to do; i.e., pick up Maldonado’s Central Coast seat when he vacates it.

** SELLING MEG WHITMAN: GLITCHES EMERGE IN THE BILLIONAIRE’S PLAN TO ACQUIRE THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP. What would Don Draper do?

The selling of Meg Whitman has been underway for more than a year, the billionaire ex-eBay CEO and public affairs novice assiduously promoting herself as a potential governor of of the nation’s largest state even as she dodges debates and substantive interviews. After making no public appearances in California in January, but venturing back East last week to launch her CEO memoir, “The Power of Many,” she’s appearing up and down the state this week to promote her book, if not to discuss the pressing issues of the state she would presume to govern.

Meanwhile, her eighth radio ad to date (featuring her campaign chair, former Governor Pete Wilson) blankets the state, as the others have for months. All is “on plan” in the selling of Meg Whitman. Or is it?

There’s just one thing. Television.

Well-informed sources tell me that Whitman and her panoply of high-paid consultants are having trouble coming up with a way to introduce the would-be governor on television to her hoped-for constituents.

From my February 2nd column.

Not everything is included in President Barack Obama’s record $3.8 trillion budget proposal. Obama has axed the long troubled return-to-the-Moon program instituted by President George W. Bush.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and New Hampshire today.

Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

At 8:10 AM Pacific, President Obama departs the White House on Marine One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.

At 8:25 AM Pacific, President Obama departs Andrews Air Force Base on Air Force One en route to Manchester, New Hampshire.

At 9:45 AM Pacific, President Obama arrives in Manchester, New Hampshire

At 10:10 AM Pacific, President Obama tours a business in Nashua, New Hampshire.

At 11:15 AM Pacific, President Obama holds a town hall meeting at Nashua High School North.

As part of his jobs program, Obama will propose taking $30 billion repaid by bailed out Wall Street firms under the TARP program to create a new Small Business Lending Fund that will provide capital for community banks on Main Street.

At 1:10 PM Pacific, President Obama departs Manchester, New Hampshire on Air Force en route to Andrews Air Force Base.

At 2:25 PM Pacific, President Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, where he boards Marine One.

At 2:40 PM Pacific, President Obama lands on the South Lawn of the White House.

In other action, Vice President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the funeral of former Senator Charles “Mac” Mathias at the National Cathedral in the morning. In the afternoon, he meets at the White House with Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin.

Defense Secretary Bob Gates will appoint a task force today to recommend a path forward on ending the current “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy on gays and lesbians in the military.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Office of Management and Budget chief Peter Orszag go to Capitol Hill today to explain the federal budget proposal.

Obama Economic Recovery Board chair Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chief, will be on Capitol Hill to explain the new restriction on proprietary trading that he has championed.

Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Silicon Valley today.

At 10:15 AM, Schwarzenegger participates in the California National Guard change of command ceremony when he swears in Brigadier General Mary Knight as the first female adjustant general of the California National Guard.

The event takes place at the Armory of Mather Air Force Base outside Sacramento.

Knight is also the first African-American female commander of a state national guard in the U.S.

She replaces Major General William Wade, who is now deputy chief of operations for the NATO Response Force in Naples, Italy.

At 7:30 PM, Schwarzenegger, delivers remarks on the emerging energy economy at a conference sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the Lazard Freres investment banking firm at the Four Seasons Hotel in East Palo Alto.

Both events will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.

With state Controller John Chiang warning last week that, absent action, state government is two months away from running out of money, a state Senate committee will today hold a hearing on budget proposals by Schwarzenegger and others. The state Assembly has yet to move.

Schwarzenegger called a special session on the budget nearly a month ago.

In Washington, there was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting further into, and then out of, Afghanistan.

** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my January 27th column.

The Republican who takes on wily Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown — the former governor, presidential candidate, and Oakland mayor — will be not a pickup truck-driving pseudo-independent but a plutocrat hugging the far right rail of the current Republican primary.

The Republican who takes on feisty Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer will be not a populist-sounding moderate inveighing against the manipulations of entrenched wealth and power but a golden parachute corporate CEO, a fringe right state legislator, or an intellectual ex-congressman whose faculty advisor was Milton Friedman.

And none of them will be a global icon with a common touch. … From my January 26th column.

** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008. … From my January 22nd column.

** 24 NATION.… From my January 19th column.

** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) … From my January 14th column.

** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE. … From my January 12th column.

** THE COMMON THREADS OF AVATAR. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Probably. … From my December 22nd essay.

** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.

A new cast of stars has gathered to re-record “We Are the World,” 25 years after the original, to benefit the people of Haiti.

** HELP FOR HAITI.

You can donate to the new Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.

This is up about $42 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.

Monday Morning Quarterback, And More

Bill Bradley — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:28:38 +0000

A female suicide bomber walking among Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad detonated an explosives belt on Monday, killing at least 46 people and wounding more than 122. This is the latest in a series of terrorist bombings hitting Shia and Sunni. It may be a covert terror war between religious factions — at odds over the banning of hundreds of Sunni candidates from parliamentary elections — or it may be the work of those seeking to sow further discord.

** QUICK HITS. Republicans in the U.S. Senate today came out against President Barack Obama’s proposed tax on big bank beneficiaries of the Wall Street bailout. I’m sure Obama is crushed. … American-born Yemeni jihadist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who corresponded extensively with the Fort Hood shooter, said today that he met with the would-be Christmas Day bomber. This is not a shock. … In the suddenly very heated California GOP gubernatorial primary, billionaire Meg Whitman’s consultant Mike Murphy reacted to the charges outlined below by Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner by questioning Poizner’s “mental condition.” And just a few days ago, he wrote in his very foolish e-mail that Poizner is one of the Republicans’ brightest stars and would make a great U.S. senator if only he promised to let Whitman run unopposed. In his statement from the Whitman campaign, Murphy says he will say no more about this. Good luck with that.

** APPLE’S iPAD: THE FUTURE IS NOT YET NOW. Having been cured of my longtime tendency toward early adoption of new tech about 10 years ago — I have not so fond memories of ISDN (the high-speed connection that wasn’t) and the Apple Newton (which still couldn’t read my handwriting after three weeks, not that I could either), among other things — I’m still quite intrigued by Apple’s new slate computer, the cool-looking little iPad.

It looks to me like the future of computing … sometime in the near future, a few technological generations on.

After being launched last week in his usual inimitable fashion by Steve Jobs, on the same day of the State of the Union, the device still isn’t actually available. That’s nearly two months off. But video and specs are available, and it looks very impressive. Almost insanely great. Almost.

The size exactly what I’m looking for in a future computer. It weighs a pound and a half, and is nine and a half inches long, seven and a half inches wide, and a mere half-inch think. The touch screen is crisp, clear, and beautiful, its new Apple microprocessor very fast. It can be on the net 24/7 with the 3G version, and most of the time with the Wi-Fi version. And at $499 to $829, the device is, well, not as wildly overpriced as expected.

I work now off of two Apple laptops. Fond as I am of them, they’re not as easy to cart around everywhere as I once liked to think. And my days of live blogging from a BlackBerry, walking down the street with an Arnold Schwarzenegger or another political figure, are long gone, victim of dread BlackBerry thumb.

So something like the new iPad could end up being a perfect combination.

But it doesn’t seem quite sorted. I’m not so sure about touch screen typing on a virtual keyboard, at least right now. The iPhone doesn’t seem very good for that now. The iPad is keyboard accessible, but then you are attaching a keyboard, either through a dock or a wireless connection.

And I like to multitask. (That’s a major reason I use two laptops, both of which can multitask on their own.)

The iPad can’t multitask yet. And while it’s apparently perfect for YouTube and, naturally, iTunes video, it can’t play Flash, that hoggish video app which is a current standard on much of the net. (Though that may be on its way out.)

It works well as a music player and for reading e-books and other printed matter, with newspapers in their full glory, as it were.

In two years, with a few more generations of development, it looks like the computer of my future. For now, it looks like the in-between device of tech enthusiasts and early adopters, and those who want to read with device lighter than a laptop and full-fledged than a dedicated reader.

Since the iPad has a profit margin of between 50% and 55%, depending on the model, that will fund a lot more development. Apple, incidentally, is flourishing as never before in the midst of the great global recession. But that’s a matter for another time.

** CALI REPUBLICANS GET ROUGH AND TUMBLE AS GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFUL POIZNER URGES INVESTIGATION OF WHITMAN CAMPAIGN TACTICS. In a late morning press conference which I listened to over the phone (then getting caught up immediately after), state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner charged that ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman’s consultant Mike Murphy unlawfully threatened him with personal destruction if he files for governor and offered him the inducement of a U.S. Senate nomination if he drops out of the race.

Poizner produced an e-mail from Murphy to one of Poizner’s top hands threatening to spend $40 million assassinating Poizner’s character if he files next month for governor. Alternatively, he offered Poizner the 2012 Republican nomination against Senator Dianne Feinstein, reasoning that “2012 could be a good GOP year and DiFi will be 78 or 79 years old.”

Which is not an especially clever thing to say about California’s senior senator.

As I’m reminded of Mr. Dooley’s ancient dictum that “politics ain’t beanbag,” I don’t know that this is actually illegal.

I do know that it is certainly, let’s say, unwise.

I called Murphy — the ex-John McCain advisor fired by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as his chief political strategist after the 2005 special election debacle that nearly ended his governorship — on Murphy’s mobile phone for comment. But he didn’t pick up.

Needless to say, Poizner, who said that various threatening phone calls have also been made, is not dropping out of the race. In fact, I expect him to be on the air in the not terribly distant future.

Stupid rumors frequently flood what remains of California’s media and political community, and are credulously passed on. One is that Poizner is about to drop out.

Obviously not.

Another is that Feinstein is going to run for governor.

Obviously not.

Oh, and needless to say, if you are going to threaten someone, the Murphy technique really is not how you do it.

Unless you want the opposite effect.

Here’s a link to Poizner’s letter — which went to the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and (amusingly) Attorney General Jerry Brown — and Murphy’s extremely foolish missive.

In other news, Whitman has her eighth radio commercial up today. It features former Governor Pete Wilson, her campaign chairman, singing her praises.

President Barack Obama unveiled a $3.8 trillion federal budget this morning.

MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK.

There’s a huge week on tap in presidential politics. And an intriguing week in California politics.

President Barack Obama lays out his federal budget today, all $3.8 trillion of it (with about a $1.5 trillion deficit). The Pentagon issues its Quadrennial Defense Review, the document that lays out projected challenges and programs. And Persian Gulf allies of the U.S. are receiving missile defense systems from the U.S. to guard against potential Iranian attacks.

The new Obama budget proposal would end the big Bush tax cuts and enact a big new tax on banks rescued in the Wall Street bailout.

It would also extend the middle class tax cuts Obama had enacted last year, provide more spending on job creation and education and freeze certain other aspects of the budget.

Defense spending is up, with two wars underway and the expansion of U.S. ground forces underway.

The sharply reduced revenues from the troubled economy remains a key cause of deficits, set to reach a record high in the new Obama proposal.

The Obama Administration, as expected, has reversed course and now will not hold the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Manhattan.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailed the idea when it was announced in November. Since then, however, Al Qaeda has demonstrated that it is definitely alive and kicking with the narrowly averted 12/25 attack in the skies over Detroit. New York police officials determined that the trial will costs hundreds of millions of dollars a year to secure. New York real estate interests, looking at the massive security plans for Lower Manhattan, realized that it could seriously disrupt the real estate market there. New York politicians of all stripes came out against the plan this week.

Bloomberg, who once talked of the righteousness of holding terrorism trials near the site of the late World Trade Center, now says that KSM should be tried on a military base.

Iran has again made a vague offer of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency on its nuclear enrichment program. Is it genuine? Or merely another attempt to buy time?

The Obama Administration clearly has it doubts, which accounts for its deploying missile defense systems in the Gulf in the event of an Iranian reaction against new sanctions.

In California politics, the state’s chronic budget crisis drags on. State Controller John Chiang warns that the state government will run out of money by the beginning of April unless action is taken.

The state Senate holds hearings on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointment of moderate Republican state Senator Abel Maldonado to be the new lieutenant governor. Democrats appear split on the proposal. Maldonado’s vote will undoubtedly be needed to get the budget (re)done.

GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman, the billionaire ex-eBay CEO, will make her first public appearances of the year in California this week.

That’s right, she went the entire month of January without a public appearance in California. She also made no appearances the last few weeks of December.

To be fair, her mother died last month, in a reportedly sudden event. But she did spend last week promoting her new book. In the East.

This week, still promoting the book, a classic CEO tome, she will appear in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sacramento.

Meanwhile, her super-rich primary opponent, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, who may go on the air soon, made several appearances around the state last week, including a speech to the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

The Democratic favorite, Jerry Brown, who cleared the primary field without announcing his candidacy, must announce by … March. That’s when the filing deadline is.

Unless he plans to run in November as a write-in candidate, as he once did in the Oregon presidential primary. He did very well there. But I think that would be pushing things a bit.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.

Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings and met with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

At 7:45 AM Pacific, Obama delivered remarks on the federal budget proposal in the Grand Foyer.

At 10:45 AM Pacific, Obama participates in a YouTube interview.

At 1 PM Pacific, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with Secretary of Defense Bob Gates in the Oval Office.

In other action, Biden meets with Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi during the day and in the evening, he and Dr. Jill Biden host a reception in honor of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Naval Observatory.

Avatar is on the cusp of toppling Titanic’s domestic box-office record after leading all movies for a seventh straight week. Meanwhile, the film, from Terminator director James Cameron, passed the $2 billion mark in global box office over the weekend, having passed Titanic’s previous record of $1.843 billion last week.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Sacramento today.

At 9:30 AM, after he tours Quallion, a manufacturer of lithium ion batteries, he will promote his proposal to exempt green tech manufacturing equipment from the state sales tax with a press conference at the company facilities in Sylmar.

The event will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.

In Washington, there was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting further into, and then out of, Afghanistan.

** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my January 27th column.

And none of them will be a global icon with a common touch. … From my January 26th column.

** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008. … From my January 22nd column.

** 24 NATION.… From my January 19th column.

** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) … From my January 14th column.

** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE. … From my January 12th column.

** THE COMMON THREADS OF AVATAR. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Probably. … From my December 22nd essay.

** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.

** HELP FOR HAITI.

You can donate to the new Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.

This is up about $40 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.

Weekend Edition

Bill Bradley — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:09:53 +0000

The Ghost Writer, based on Robert Harris’s best-selling novel, The Ghost, premieres on February 11th at the Berlin Film Festival and opens in Los Angeles and New York on February 19th. Directed by Roman Polanski, it’s a roman a clef on former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, concerning the completion of his memoirs.

** TONY BLAIR’S FRIDAY, AND IRAQ. Tony Blair, the only Labour Party leader to win three terms as prime minister of the United Kingdom, has long seemed well-positioned to be the global statesman of the age. Highly intelligent, charming, articulate, and mediagenic, at 56 he and his foundation are involved around the world on a host of issues, from climate change to poverty to terrorism. He’s been the Middle East special envoy of the Quartet powers (US, UN, EU, and Russia) and was long the favorite to become the first president of the European Union.

There’s just been one thing in the way. The Iraq War.

The obstacle still remains.

On Friday, Blair at last was compelled to give six hours of public testimony on the origins of the Iraq War, before the Chilcot Inquiry in London. Arriving before dawn, hours before he was due, in order to avoid the protesters, he did not avoid the families of British soldiers killed in the Iraq War crowded into the hearing room.

He also did not acknowledge them.

Although he hardly broke under questioning, which was at most pointed, Blair struggled to justify his position in joining President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in the invasion of Iraq.

Blair had sold the war on the basis of Iraq possessing an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, which he dramatically claimed could be deployed in 45 minutes. But there was no WMD.

In December, Blair said that he would have taken Britain to war even had he known there was no WMD. Why? Because Saddam Hussein was a very bad guy and Iraq is better off without him. Which would make more sense if he were an aspiring leader of Iraq.

On Friday, he refined his position. The war was justified, he said, because in the post-9/11 era any potential threat could not be tolerated. In other words, since Saddam Hussein was against the West (which had supported him in his war with Iran), and since he had technologists capable of developing weapons of mass destruction, he had to act to eliminate that potential threat.

Of course, that explanation, which sounds suspiciously like that of Dick Cheney — who, ironically, opposed Blair in internal war councils as a too liberal influence on Bush — doesn’t fly very well.

In his testimony, Blair seemed curiously unaware of the vast Iranian influence inside Iraq. Or of how the elimination of Saddam would empower Iran within the region, by removing him as a strong counterweight. Or that his dramatic claim of WMD deployable “within 45 minutes,” which the public took to mean against, say, them, actually pertained to battlefield chemical weapons. Which also did not exist.

So the Iraq obstacle remains for Tony Blair.

Next month a new movie comes out, based on a best-selling novel by a former Blair friend, who broke with the prime minister over the Iraq War and his leadership of Britain in the war on terror.

Like the novel, the film — directed by Roman Polanski, who was suddenly arrested last year on 30-year old sex charges on a routine trip from France to Switzerland, while still working on the film — is a roman a clef about Tony Blair. Polanski was finally able to post a huge bond and moved, under house arrest, to his Swiss chalet, where he finally completed The Ghost Writer.

It stars former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan as former Prime Minister Adam Lang, British actress Olivia Williams (seen lately on American TV’s Dollhouse) as Ruth Lang, Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall as top Lang aide Amelia Bly, and Ewan McGregor (Obi-wan Kenobi in the recent Star Wars trilogy) as the unnamed ghost brought over from London to finish the politician’s memoirs on Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.

I’ve read the novel and followed the film and will write more on this.

** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.

He has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

Obama has no scheduled public events today.

Yesterday, following his scheduled meeting with former President George H.W. Bush, Obama made an unscheduled visit to a high-profile college basketball game, the clash between national Top Ten powers Georgetown and Duke. He was accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, senior advisor David Axelrod, and press secretary Robert Gibbs. Obama took the microphone during the national TV broadcast for the better part of a quarter delivering color commentary on the game.

Today Obama is monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and elsewhere.

Pakistani media reported today that the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban was killed earlier this month by a U.S. air strike. His predecessor was killed late last year by a U.S. air strike. The Pakistani Army has not confirmed the report. The Taliban deny the report. They had also denied that the previous leader had been killed.

Hamas says that a top Hamas commander, murdered earlier this month in a luxury Dubai hotel room, was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad. Dubai authorities say they are looking for a European “gang” of seven individuals traveling on the passports of various countries which they will not name. Mossad had no denied the Hamas claim. Israel says that the Hamas commander was in charge of smuggling arms from Iran into Gaza.

In Iraq, a top Sunni leader said he may call for a boycott of upcoming national parliamentary elections in the wake of the government’s banning of hundreds of Sunni candidates with supposed links to the former regime of the late Saddam Hussein.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SUNDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.

He has no scheduled public events.

President Barack Obama directly engaged Congressional Republicans, meeting yesterday at their retreat in Baltimore, in an extraordinary live session.

** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington today.

Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

He met early this morning in the Oval Office with former President George H. W. Bush, who was accompanied by his son, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

He has no other scheduled public events.

Obama scored yesterday, big time, when he appeared before the House Republican Caucus in Baltimore. There, in a televised session akin to Prime Minister’s Question Time in Britain, he told Congressional Republicans that their approach as the “party of no” is hurting America, challenged them to help govern the country through perilous times, and entertained their questions, some of which are more like little speeches.

The session was carried live on the cable news nets, and went so well for Obama that Fox News cut away long before CNN and MSNBC.

The Obama Administration, as expected, has reversed course and now will not hold the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Manhattan.

Bloomberg, who once talked of the righteousness of holding terrorism trials near the site of the late World Trade Center, now says that KSM should be tried on a military base.

Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.

Iran has again made a vague offer of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency on its nuclear enrichment program. Is it genuine? Or merely another attempt to buy time?

The big international conference on Afghanistan took place Thursday in London. And negotiation with the Taliban, as well as amnesty for many, is suddenly all the rage.

I think the play is to go for a coalition government in Kabul. Students of history will recall that Robert F. Kennedy proposed a “coalition government” for Vietnam in 1966.

I have a column on this, which is linked below.

In his weekend video/radio address, President Barack Obama says that reining in budget deficits, while ranking below job creation as his top priority, is critical for success.

In Iraq, security forces are still hunting for the planners of a bloody series of bombings in Baghdad. And the crisis over the banning of hundreds of Sunni candidates from the national parliamentary elections in March continues.

Yesterday in London, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave his first public testimony on the hotly disputed origins of the Iraq War. Appearing before the Chilcot Inquiry, Blair was forced to come up with a new rationale for the invasion, as the previous rationale of WMD obviously proved to be wrong.

I’ll have more on this later. Along with the brand new trailer for Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, based on the best-selling Blair roman a clef novel The Ghost by former Blair friend Robert Harris.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE – SATURDAY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles today.

He has no scheduled public events.

State Controller John Chiang warned yesterday that California’s state government will run out of money by the beginning of April if the Legislature does not get moving on budget solutions.

The state Senate has held hearings on Schwarzenegger’s budget proposals.

The state Assembly, in a now familiar pattern, has not.

In Washington, there was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting further into, and then out of, Afghanistan.

** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my January 27th column.

And none of them will be a global icon with a common touch. … From my January 26th column.

** WHAT SCOTT BROWN KNEW IN 2010 AND BARACK OBAMA KNEW IN 2008. This past Tuesday night, the politics of positioning beat the politics of branding. As it frequently does. Scott Brown figured it would. As Barack Obama did in 2008. … From my January 22nd column.

** 24 NATION. Well, 24 has returned, with a vengeance. The controversial hit TV series, one of the key shows of the past decade, is proving relevant in this decade, too. As recent polling clearly shows, it turns out that its hardball ethos on terrorism resonates just as well in the Obama Era as it did in the Bush/Cheney years. … From my January 19th column.

** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) … From my January 14th column.

** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE. … From my January 12th column.

** THE COMMON THREADS OF AVATAR. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Probably. … From my December 22nd essay.

** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.

** HELP FOR HAITI.

You can donate to the new Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.

This is up about $39 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.

Non-Random Notes (Throughout the day)

Bill Bradley — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:54:51 +0000

Testifying today in London, former Prime Minister Tony Blair defended his decision to take Britain into war with Iraq, telling an investigative panel that he would do the same again even though the weapons of mass destruction used to justify the invasion did not exist.

While all the attention — in the hyperventilating aftermath of the Democrats’ eminently avoidable Massachusetts special election loss — was on Obama’s State of the Union address, an event of far greater relevance to the fate of his presidency played out not in Washington, but in London.

In Washington, there was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting further into, and then out of, Afghanistan.

From my new column.

** WHITMAN SKIPS CALIFORNIA APPEARANCES IN JANUARY, BUT IS ABOUT TO RESURFACE. Billionaire Meg Whitman, the ex-eBay CEO who is running for the Republican nomination for governor of California, really hasn’t done a public event in California this month. She’s been doing some other things (more on that later), which includes her spending this week back East promoting her CEO memoir, “The Power of Many.”

But she will make public appearances next week in California, after going, as far as I can tell, more than a month-and-a-half without doing so.

She’s continuing to promote her book, of course. Whitman will appear in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sacramento.

While Whitman has been off the campaign trail, at least in the state which she seeks to govern in her first foray into public affairs, her Republican rival, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, has appeared at events all around the state.

That included a speech and extended question and answer session with journalists at the California Newspaper Publishers Association conference.

Whitman, who had two disastrous press conferences last year (one of which I filmed), has been dodging California political reporters for months.

But she has found the time to talk to East Coast media types, who naturally know little about California, usually of the conservative variant.

You’ll recall I referenced her interview on Fox News earlier in the week, in which she said that she trails Jerry Brown by 10 points.

She also appeared on The Today Show and other outlets promoting her book.

In the wake of the 12/25 attack, opposition to holding the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City has intensified and broadened. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has reversed his earlier position and both of New York’s Democratic senators are now opposed.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Maryland today.

Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

He then went to Baltimore, Maryland, where he has toured a small business.

At 8:25 AM Pacific, Obama delivers remarks on a jobs tax credit in Baltimore.

At 9:10 AM, Obama delivers remarks at the House Republican Issues Conference at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel.

At 10:55 AM Pacific, Obama returns to the White House.

At 1:45 PM Pacific, Obama meets with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in the Oval Office.

Democratic congressional leaders are still trying to work out the path forward on the national health care bill.

Obama has a new domestic problem to contend with, related to geopolitics.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an Obama friend, has come out against holding the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the Big Apple. And ranking Empire State pols, including Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, are joining him in that.

Bloomberg complains that it will cost a billion dollars to provide proper security for the trial, which he says is best held on a military base.

I think the Obama Administration will move the trial.

Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.

Iran has again made a vague offer of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency on its nuclear enrichment program. Is it genuine? Or merely another attempt to buy time?

The big international conference on Afghanistan took place yesterday in London. And negotiation with the Taliban, as well as amnesty for many, is suddenly all the rage.

I think the play is to go for a coalition government in Kabul. Students of history will recall that Robert F. Kennedy proposed a “coalition government” for Vietnam in 1966.

I have a column coming up on this.

Meanwhile, Taliban forces today came close to overrunning government troops in the capital city of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan.

This comes less than two weeks after a small Taliban team paralyzed the national capital of Kabul for hours with a daring raid.

A fierce battle broke out on Friday between Afghan security forces and a team of Taliban fighters targeting UN and government buildings in the capital city of southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.

And today in London, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has given his first public testimony on the hotly disputed origins of the Iraq War. Appearing before the Chilcot Inquiry, Blair was forced to come up with a new rationale for the invasion, as the previous rationale of WMD obviously proved to be wrong.

I’ll have more on this later.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Fresno today.

At 11 AM, Schwarzenegger joins U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation John Porcari, Congressman Jim Costa, and other business, labor, environmental, and community leaders in an event at the Fresno Amtrak station to discuss and celebrate the $2.3 billion in Recovery Act funding awarded to California for high-speed rail.

California garnered over one-fourth of the rail funding announced yesterday in Florida by President Obama, by far the most of any state.

The event will be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.

** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my January 27th column.

And none of them will be a global icon with a common touch. … From my January 26th column.

** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) … From my January 14th column.

** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE. … From my January 12th column.

** THE COMMON THREADS OF AVATAR. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Probably. … From my December 22nd essay.

** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.

** HELP FOR HAITI.

You can donate to the new Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.

This is up about $40 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.

Non-Random Notes (Throughout the day)

Bill Bradley — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:16:07 +0000

Leaders from 70 nations meeting today in London at an international conference on Afghanistan have agreed on a timetable of sorts for foreign forces to exit the country. The delegates also backed the Afghan president’s plan to lure Taliban fighters to renounce violence.

** NEW COLUMN COMING UP … AFGHANISTAN AGAIN: THE FATE OF OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY UNSPOOLS NOT IN WASHINGTON BUT IN LONDON.

** QUICK HITS. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke was confirmed for another four-year term today by the U.S. Senate. The vote was 70 to 30. California’s senators split on the vote, with Dianne Feinstein in favor and Barbara Boxer opposed. … Feinstein, the very active chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, joined New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg today in coming out against the Obama Administration’s plan to hold the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York City. Feinstein, Bloomberg, and a host of New York politicians now want the trial held on a military base. … The buzz coming out of the big London conference on Afghanistan is all about exit strategies. But it’s not exactly clear what the exit strategy is, or how it might work. … Proponents of legalized marijuana turned in petitions they say hold more than enough signatures to qualify an initiative for the November California ballot. The proposal had majority support in polling last year. … Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair testifies tomorrow in London at the Chilcot Inquiry into the origins of the Iraq War. Blair insisted at the time that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction which could be deployed in 45 minutes. …

** VERY GOOD NUMBERS FOR OBAMA’S STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS. Polls by CNN and CBS News show a strongly positive response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address last night.

In the CNN poll, 78% had a positive response to the speech and the goals outlined within it.

In the CBS poll, over 80% reacted positively.

But the number who reacted very positively is down from the reaction to Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress last February 24th. Which, of course, was at the height of the euphoria over Obama’s historic election.

Nearly half of Americans who watched President Obama’s State of the Union address said they had a very positive reaction to his speech, according to a poll of people who viewed the address.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey indicated that 48 percent of speech watchers had a very positive reaction, with three in 10 saying they had a somewhat positive response and 21 percent with a negative response. …

The poll also indicated that before the speech, 53 percent of people questioned said they thought Obama’s policies will move the country in the right direction. That increased to 71 percent when questioned after the speech. …

Six in 10 of those asked said they thought Mr. Obama conveyed a clear plan for creating jobs, and seven in 10 said his plans for the economy will help ordinary Americans. Another seven in 10 said President Obama has the same priorities for the country as they have.

The same individuals were interviewed both before and after Wednesday’s State of the Union, and after the speech, 70 percent said Mr. Obama shares their priorities for the country, up from 57 percent before the speech.

However, a sizable 57 percent said the President will not be able to accomplish all of the goals he set out in his speech. Most Democrats who viewed the speech (63 percent) said the man they elected would be able to accomplish all of his goals, but only 11 percent of Republicans and 33 percent of independent voters agreed.

Most Democrats and independents who watched said the president shares their priorities, while most Republicans did not.

I thought was good, but a laundry list, as is typical for State of the Union addresses. At least it hung together better than Bill Clinton’s State of the Unions, which really came off as strung together issues discussed in a typically discursive manner. And which, nonetheless, were generally more popular than the State of the Unions delivered by other presidents.

To me, Obama’s speech was more of a repackage than a reboot.

Of course, had the Massachusetts special election not been blown, no one would have expected a reboot. Instead, Obama would be moving past the months of mud-slinging, negotiation, and deal-making on health care and trumpeting the bill’s virtues.

Instead, Democrats are still searching for a path forward on health care while Obama pivots back to the economy.

There was barely a word on the issue on which I think Obama’s re-election will turn, that of getting into, and out of, Afghanistan.

The economy is slowly recovering. One way or the other, Obama will be able to campaign for re-election having staved off another Great Depression inherited from the Bush/Cheney Administration. Which he focused on effectively last night.

The question is how quickly and fully the recovery comes prior to the mid-term election, in order for Obama and the Democrats to limit expected losses.

In my view, the fate of Obama’s own first term hinges more on what is happening today in London, where 70 nations have come together to confer on Afghanistan, than what happened last night in Washington.

Nevertheless, the speech was effective. Obama laid out additional, if not new, ideas on stimulating the economy. He inveighed against the investment banking crisis which nearly crashed the global economy. He promised more reforms and railed a bit against the Supreme Court’s unleashing the floodgates of corporate money in politics. He promised to move forward on gay rights, ending the “don’t ask/don’t tell” policy in the military. He promised continued action on the environment, and on growing the green tech economy. The Bush/Cheney tax cuts for the rich and oil companies — which contributed greatly to the record deficits Obama inherited — are coming to an end. And Obama is reining some discretionary government spending — clearly a concern for worried independents — to the dismay of some of the left, while increasing spending on jobs and education.

All of which makes a great deal of sense politically.

** ANOTHER CALIFORNIA POLL. The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) has just added another poll alongside the Field Poll of this week. PPIC has a different methodology, which I think underestimates older voters.

In the governor’s race, PPIC came up with the same results it did last month. Where Jerry Brown led billionaire Meg Whitman by six last month, he led by five this month.

Whitman, incidentally, who polls extensively as you might imagine (Oh, does she poll.) just told Fox News that she is 10 points behind Brown.

Brown had the same big lead over Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner as he had last month.

And Whitman has a huge lead over Poizner in the Republican primary that she had last month. Of course, she has been advertising unchallenge for months, something which will change in the near future.

In the Senate race, Barbara Boxer is four points ahead of Tom Campbell. Who has a much bigger lead over Carly Fiorina than he has in the Field Poll.

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama is in Washington and Florida today.

Obama has received his daily intelligence and economic briefings in the Oval Office.

He and Vice President Joe Biden then flew on Air Force One to Tampa, Florida.

At 8:50 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden arrive in Tampa, Florida.

At 9 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden meet with service personnel at MacDill Air Force Base.

At 10:05 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden hold a town hall meeting at the University of Tampa. There they will announce the award of $8 billion in economic stimulus funds for high-speed rail.

Over a quarter of that money is actually coming to California.

At 11:55 AM Pacific, Obama and Biden depart Tampa, Florida on Air Force One en route to Andrews Air Force Base.

At 1:45 PM Pacific, Obama and Biden arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, where they embark on Marine One.

At 2 PM Pacific, they land on the South Lawn of the White House.

Obama is assessing his performance in last night’s State of the Union address.

The early soundings are promising.

I’ll have more on the State of the Union later.

Democratic congressional leaders are still trying to work out the path forward on the national health care bill.

And Obama has a new domestic problem, related to geopolitics.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an Obama friend, has come out against holding the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the Big Apple. And ranking Empire State pols, like new U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, are joining him in that.

Bloomberg complains that it will cost a billion dollars to provide proper security for the trial, which he says is best held on a military base.

Obama is also monitoring geopolitical crises in Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq.

The big international conference on Afghanistan is underway today in London. And negotiation with the Taliban, as well as amnesty for many, is suddenly all the rage.

Leaders from 70 nations are in London today discussing the crisis of Afghanistan. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is representing the U.S. Much of the conference centers on winning over elements of the Taliban.

I think the play is to go for a coalition government in Kabul. Students of history will recall that Robert F. Kennedy proposed a “coalition government” for Vietnam in 1966.

** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley today.

Schwarzenegger will tour BNSF Railway’s experimental Hydrogen Fuel Cell Switch Locomotive in the LA area’s City of Commerce and hold a press conference.

The press conference is at 10 AM.

At 12:45 PM, Schwarzenegger will deliver remarks on his California Jobs Initiative at the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce Annual Power Report Lunch. Schwarzenegger and state Senator Abel Maldonado, his appointee as lieutenant governor, will participate in a moderated Q&A.

The events will both be webcast live on www.gov.ca.gov.

** MAD MEN SWEEPS THE LATEST AWARDS AND LOSES A KEY CHARACTER. … From my new column.

And none of them will be a global icon with a common touch. … From my January 26th column.

** THE LAST CLINTON MELODRAMA? (AND OTHER SENSATIONALIST GAME CHANGE GOSSIP) … From my January 14th column.

** OBAMA’S SECURITY PROBLEMS: THE MEDIA, CHENEY AND, OH YES, THE ISSUE. … From my January 12th column.

** THE COMMON THREADS OF AVATAR. Is Avatar the future of cinema? Probably. … From my December 22nd essay.

** HOW JERRY BROWN CLEARED THE DEMOCRATIC FIELD FOR GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA. … From my December 9th column.

** HELP FOR HAITI.

You can donate to the new Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, www.clintonbushhaitifund.org, by clicking here.

This is up about $40 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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