First thoughts: On the road again
Posted: Thursday, June 11, 2009 9:25 AM by Domenico Montanaro
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First Thoughts
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** On the road again: So far in his young presidency, every time President Obama has wanted to sell a legislative priority to the public (and to Congress) he has hit the road. In February, when campaigning for his stimulus, he held town halls in Indiana and Florida. In March, when pushing for his budget, he traveled to California. And now, as health care has become the administration’s top priority for the rest of the year, Obama is hitting the road again by holding a town hall in Green Bay, WI at 1:10 pm ET. Political writer Matt Bai recently observed that Team Obama learned from its experience with the stimulus that it had to take a more active role in the legislative process -- even by holding town halls and giving speeches. ”The lesson Obama’s team took from this experience, and one that will no doubt inform its approach to health care, is that it’s fine for a president to stand back from the process -- but not so far back that Congress thinks he’s trying to duck the consequences… If Obama is going to sign a transformative health care law this year, it will, at some point soon, have to become his plan, no matter how much autonomy he wants to confer on his allies in Congress.” And why is Obama in Green Bay? The Washington Post says the president wants to highlight the city’s “strategy for squeezing out waste without hurting quality."
*** Straddling the fence: Yet also note this: The White House wants the president to be the face of health care reform, but it doesn’t want him involved in the congressional back-and-forth. It's a tough fence to straddle. But yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs somewhat stunningly said he wouldn't be addressing the details of the president's position on various pieces of the health-care reform debate. We'll see if the White House can truly keep that up.
*** Doctor(s) No? Obama also will hit the road on Monday, when he heads to Chicago to speak about health care to the American Medical Association. But that audience might not be a welcoming one. Per the New York Times, the AMA now formally opposes any public/government insurance plan that would compete with private ones. “[I]n comments submitted to the Senate Finance Committee, the American Medical Association said: ‘The A.M.A. does not believe that creating a public health insurance option for non-disabled individuals under age 65 is the best way to expand health insurance coverage and lower costs. The introduction of a new public plan threatens to restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers, which currently provide coverage for nearly 70 percent of Americans.’” Meanwhile, Sen. Kent Conrad (D) has been trying to find a compromise on the public insurance option. His idea of creating non-profit co-ops (a la utilities) seems to be gathering media momentum. And for what it’s worth, we're hearing positive things about it inside the White House. Also today, House Republicans will hold a press conference on health care at 11:45 am ET, and Mitch McConnell will address the topic on the Senate floor at 10:00 am.
*** Questions about bipartisanship: Sticking with the health-care debate, the president yesterday hosted key congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle to talk about health reform. The suggestion, of course, is that the White House wants to show it’s searching for a bipartisan compromise. But the question many observers on this issue have: How long will the White House pursue bipartisanship here? Do they NEED it, or do they need to do it publicly so they can keep more conservative Dems (like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu) in the fold? Or is the attempt at bipartisanship is enough to keep those folks happy? Also, what is bipartisanship these days when it comes to this issue -- the White House finding two GOP votes in the Senate (Collins and Snowe) or about 10 GOPers in the House? That's probably the most realistic bipartisan result.
*** Was the Department of Homeland Security right?
Video: Northeastern University criminologist Jack Levin discusses the warning of right-wing extremist violence issued by the Homeland Security Department in April, and what the government needs to do to prevent it from continuing.
Yesterday’s tragic shootings at the Holocaust Musuem, as well as the recent murder of abortion doctor George Tiller, have raised this question in the political community: Was the much-criticized Department of Homeland Security report correct when it warned that the current economic and political climate in the U.S. might increase the activities and recruitment of right-wing extremists? The
Washington Times has quotes from experts saying that these groups pose a threat. Said Maria Haberfeld, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice: "I am more concerned with the threat from the Christian-identity groups than the homegrown Islamic terrorists." Added Ken Piernick, a retired FBI agent who worked on terrorism cases: "I would expect based on their sentiments that [President] Obama's election would probably contribute to a bit of that," he said. "These people are not rational; they don't think of the consequences of what they do. They're not particularly smart people." Whether they’re right or not, it's clear that there’s going to be a discussion about what appears to be a rise in domestic political violence in this country and whether political demagoguery is playing a role.
*** Conservatives vs. FOX? By the way, don’t miss that some conservatives (like WorldNetDaily) are now going after FOX’s Shepard Smith, after he criticized the emails he’s receiving from conservatives, including those who believe that Obama doesn’t have a birth certificate and isn’t a natural-born citizen -- an opinion that yesterday’s gunman at the Holocaust Museum shared.
*** Iran’s election: It’s one day until tomorrow’s presidential election in Iran. According to the BBC, “Iranians will head to the polls on Friday to choose between the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and three rivals. They are Mohsen Razai, Mehdi Karroubi and the man seen by most observers as main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi… If one candidate fails to win a 50% majority in Friday's vote there will be a run-off between the two front-runners a week later.” The Boston Globe also previews tomorrow's election.
Video: In Iran's watershed presidential election campaign, tens of thousands of students, intellectuals and business owners have openly protested against hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in favor of his reformist challenger.
*** Biden Touting The Stimulus: The president isn’t the only one hitting the road today. Vice President Biden has events in Carlisle, PA (with Gov. Ed Rendell and Sen. Arlen Specter) and Overland Park, KS (with Gov. Mark Parkinson) to tout new road/construction projects that are being funded by the stimulus. Biden heads to another groundbreaking event in Michigan on Friday.
*** 2012 watch: Guess who was in Iowa yesterday...
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 145 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 509 days
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