Obama agenda: Another national poll
Posted: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 9:17 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Barack Obama
The newest Washington Post/ABC poll has Obama’s approval rating at 65%, but it also shows that support for his stimulus has declined. “Overall, 52 percent now say the stimulus package has succeeded or will succeed in restoring the economy, compared with 59 percent two months ago… [N]ew questions about the stimulus package's effectiveness underscore the stakes for the Obama administration in the months ahead as it pushes for big reforms in health care and energy at the same time it attempts to revive the nation's flagging economy.”
More: “The survey found the favorability ratings of congressional Republicans at their lowest point in more than a decade. Obama also has significant advantages over GOP lawmakers in terms of public trust on dealing with the economy, health care, the deficit and the threat of terrorism, despite broad-based Republican criticism of his early actions on these fronts.”
The
AP tees up Obama’s news conference today. "A White House spokesman says Obama will open the afternoon event with remarks on health care reform, energy legislation and Iran's disputed elections." He then meets with Chile's Bachelet and "will also mark the 37th anniversary of Title IX, the federal law that requires schools to offer equal athletic opportunities to men and women."
Greg Sargent reports, “In a major new effort to throw Obama’s campaign apparatus into the push for health care reform, the White House’s political operation is set to launch a massive new online data bank of thousands of health care stories, which will be spread around the country via Obama’s extensive email list, officials familiar with the project tell me. The new ‘health care story bank’ -- as it’s dubbed by Organizing for America, Obama’s reconfigured political and campaign operation run out of the DNC -- is perhaps the most ambitious test case yet determining whether the technological apparatus that fueled Obama’s campaign can succeed in driving Obama’s governing agenda.”
The Congressional Budget Office has been a thorn in the side of the White House these last two weeks on health care. But on energy, the CBO provided some rare good news for them. "Climate-change legislation would cost the average household $175 a year by 2020, according to the Congressional Budget Office, far below the figure commonly used by GOP critics of the House bill. The CBO said yesterday that the poorest 20 percent of American households would actually receive a $40 benefit in 2020 from the legislation, which would establish a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions, while the richest 20 percent of households would see a net cost of $245 a year. The costs would result from higher prices for carbon-based fuels, offset by a complex series of tax breaks and free allowances, new technologies and behavioral changes, and impacts on corporations and their profits."
Clinton Watch: Ben Smith has a very interesting piece on Hillary Clinton's first five months heading up the State Department. One word may describe his take: grindstone.
Finally, "President Barack Obama is creating a White House council to handle issues that affect American communities and workers tied to the automotive industry," the AP says. "The White House says Obama will sign an executive order Tuesday to establish the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers. The council will be chaired by the president's economic adviser, Larry Summers, and his labor secretary, Hilda Solis."
Vice President Biden will announce this creation when he stops in Perrysburg, OH today.
