First thoughts: The need for speed
Posted: Thursday, January 08, 2009 9:21 AM by Domenico Montanaro
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First Thoughts
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann
*** The need for speed: For the first time since the night he won the presidential election, Obama today will do what he might do best -- deliver a major address. Today’s speech, which he’ll give at 11:00 am ET at George Mason University in Northern Virginia (which just happens to be the site of his first rally after announcing his presidential exploratory committee), will be an effort to sell his stimulus plan, the price tag of which is $775 billion. (Obama acknowledged to CNBC’s John Harwood yesterday that the amount could grow.) “There is no doubt that the cost of this plan will be considerable,” Obama will say, according to excerpts released from his transition office. “It will certainly add to the budget deficit in the short-term. But equally certain are the consequences of doing too little or nothing at all, for that will lead to an even greater deficit of jobs, incomes, and confidence in our economy.” In fact, almost every paragraph the transition office released (see below for more of them) is about creating a need of urgency. The speech, in short, seems like a plea for speed. Obama’s challenge is to sell this urgency to a Congress and public that might have “urgency exhaustion” after being told of mushroom clouds and the immediate need to rescue the financial and auto industries.
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Video: The President-elect talks to CNBC's John Harwood about the massive spending package and the people he has chosen to surround him in office.
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The TARP problem: Remember the $700 billion bailout for the financial industry? Remember the provision that Congress had to re-appropriate two $350 billions halves? Well, the first $350 billion is basically gone. When will this Congress re-appropriate the next $350 billion? Will it happen in the next week? Does the incoming Obama administration want to have the debate about appropriating the rest of the TARP while its stimulus plan is getting debated? The financial folks need the TARP money; some of it has already been promised. But when will Congress tackle it? Some in Congress are hesitant to appropriate any more TARP money while Hank Paulson is still running things. So if Congress can agree -- but delay the release of the funds -- it could get done before the inauguration. But can the financial industry handle the TARP money being delayed until after the Obama stimulus plan is passed in mid-February?
*** One other thing here: When you add the $350 billion in TARP money and the low-end figure of $775 billion for the stimulus, that comes to nearly $1.2 trillion members of Congress are being asked to shovel out from the government’s coffers before President’s Day…
*** Snubbing Dean? After delivering his speech on the stimulus today, Obama will head to Democratic National Committee to hold a press conference with the man he has selected to lead his party, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine. But there will be one notable absence -- Howard Dean, the current DNC chair. Dean is reportedly traveling today to American Samoa, but had he been invited to participate at today’s event, those travel plans could always be rescheduled. Why wasn’t Dean invited? Your guess is as good as ours. While it would be wrong to suggest that Obama’s victory in November was somehow directly tied to Dean, the former Vermont governor did provide Obama with a roadmap he used (internet fundraising, 50-state strategy, a people-powered campaign). Perhaps more important, as head of the DNC, Dean was a pretty even-handed referee during the contentious Obama-Clinton fight. Does anyone not think that the decisions on the disputed Florida and Michigan primaries would have turned out differently had a Terry McAuliffe or Harold Ickes been DNC chairman instead? No doubt that Obama will have some nice words about Dean, and Obama’s transition office insists they aren’t snubbing Dean here. But the current chairman’s absence is hard to explain away.
*** Reid’s tough start: Well, it looks like our nation’s most pressing issue -- whether or not Roland Burris will be seated in the Senate (and just in case, we’re joking here about it being the most pressing issue) -- will soon be over now that Burris seems to have the green light. The person who has come out scarred from the entire ordeal is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who had adamantly opposed Burris’ seating and has since backtracked -- getting rolled by Blagojevich here. (Then again, it’s never easy when a sane person is negotiating with someone who seems crazy like a fox. Or to put it another way, Harry Reid is a boxer; Rod Blagojevich is a barroom brawler.) As the Washington Post notes today, recent Senate majority leaders haven’t had much success. “Bill Frist … retired in 2006 after a four-year stint left him so unpopular that he aborted plans to run for president. Thomas A. Daschle … lost his Senate seat in 2004 after his state's voters felt he tilted too far to the left in serving as party leader. And Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who rode herd on the chamber from 1996 to 2001, was on the verge of reclaiming the title of majority leader when his notoriously garrulous nature led him to praise the late Strom Thurmond's segregationist 1948 presidential campaign.”
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Video: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin say it will be up to courts and the full senate to decide the legality of seating Roland Burris.***
Daschle’s day: Today is the start of the Senate confirmation hearings for Obama’s cabinet picks. And up first is Tom Daschle, who will appear today before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee at 10:00 am ET. Below are his bio and a brief description of his potential hold-ups:
Age: 61 (b. Dec. 9, 1947, Aberdeen, S.D.)
Key Prior Jobs: U.S. Senator, 1987-2005 (Maj. Leader 2001-03, Minority Leader 1994-2001); U.S. Rep., 1979-87; Legislative Asst to Sen. James Abourezk, 1973-77; Air Force, 1969-72 (intelligence officer); Air Force Reserves, 1975-78
Education: B.A., South Dakota State University, 1969
Family: Married (Linda), three children: Kelly, Nathan, Lindsay (from his first marriage)
Potential Hold Ups: (1) Lobbying Ties: Since leaving Congress in 2004, Daschle has given “strategic advice” to K Street law firm, Alston & Bird. Though he’s not a registered lobbyist, the ties straddle Obama’s call for a strict separation between lobbyists and his administration. Additionally, Daschle’s wife has been an aviation lobbyist at a firm where some have clients with interests in health care. Some her early clients, including pharmaceutical company Amgen and tobacco giant Phillip Morris, had an interest in health policy. (She is leaving her firm to start her own and said she won’t allow lobbying on health issues.) (2) Accused of Helping a Friend’s Firm Avoid Wrongdoing: “After three people died in the 1994 crash of a small plane operated by a friend of Mr. Daschle, he was accused of helping his friend’s firm evade oversight, and his wife was accused of helping her husband hide his efforts,” the New York Times wrote. “Both Mr. Daschle, who was then the top Senate Democrat, and Ms. Daschle, who then worked for the Federal Aviation Administration, were cleared of wrongdoing.”
*** Replacing Richardson: Speaking of Obama’s cabinet, here are the names we’re hearing for Commerce: Federico Pena, American Express’ Ken Chenault, Laura Tyson, and Bill Daley.
*** Obama and the BCS: Tonight is the supposed BCS national title game in college football. The winner will be considered by many to be the consensus national champion. Now Obama has said he's for a college football playoff. Well, he does have a way to publicly protest the BCS -- he can refuse to invite the BCS champion to the White House, or he could he could decide to invite the four teams who will all have some claim to this year's national title: tonight’s winner, Texas (which beat Oklahoma a neutral field, 45-35), USC, and Utah. Now THAT would be an interesting White House ceremony. [Editor’s Note: The Texas-Oklahoma score reminder came from just ONE of your First Read authors.]
*** Electoral Vote count: One other thing today: Congress will conduct its Electoral Vote count. Obama ended up winning 365 electoral votes to McCain’s 173. Will there be any odd protests like 2000 and 2004 when some electoral voter decides to withhold their vote to, say, protest D.C. statehood?
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 12 days
Countdown to RNC winter meeting: 20 days
Countdown to VA Dem primary: 152 days
Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 145 days
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 299 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 663 days
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