First thoughts: Obama calls timeout
Posted: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 9:22 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
First Thoughts
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg
*** Obama’s timeout: In the game of basketball, after your team commits some errors and after the opposition runs off a couple of easy baskets, you'll routinely see the coach make this move: call a timeout. It's intended to settle down the team, get them back to basics, and slow down the opponent's momentum. And that might be the best way to view today’s televised Rose Garden press conference at 12:30 pm ET. As we’ve mentioned before, it's been a tough past week for President Obama. He's been on the defensive on health care, Iran, the economy, and the deficit. Even his poll numbers are coming back down to Earth, although the latest Washington Post/ABC poll has his approval in the mid-60s. So, like a basketball coach watching his team endure a mini-slump, he's decided to call a timeout and reset his message. (Also today, Obama meets with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.)
Video: NBC’s Chuck Todd and The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson discuss the political stakes for President Barack Obama in getting his health care reform plan passed this year.
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Time to trot out Will.i.am, too? In fact, you could argue that -- on the subject of health care -- he actually first called this timeout yesterday. Monday’s White House announcement on cost savings for prescription drugs seemed to serve as a pep talk for Democrats worried about the chances of passing health-care reform this year. "To those who, here in Washington, who’ve grown accustomed to sky-is-falling prognoses and the certainties that we cannot get this done, I have to … revive an old saying we had from the campaign: Yes we can.” But yesterday's event was also bizarre, because at noon ET and then at 2:30 pm, nobody from the administration could answer how the $80 billion would save money for the government when or if it reforms health care. By 5:00 pm, the White House finally gave us a number -- $50 billion of the $80 billion would be money that could be used to cut down on the cost of the health-care reform effort. Our question: Why not have that number at the ready at noon with the president or even 2:30 pm for Robert Gibbs? It was very odd, very slapped together. Clearly, the White House was desperate to show off some good news on the financial front on this issue after a week of bad news from the Congressional Budget Office. Also, as for the president's use of the "Yes we can" slogan yesterday, it may be a reminder of how much the president misses having an opponent. Right now, his opponent is himself.
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Video: President Obama’s health care reform plan now has the support of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical trade group, PHRMA, which is pledging $80 billion to lower prescription drug costs for seniors and the U.S. government. Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, discusses how this deal will help lower overall costs. ***
We’ll always have Cairo: Obviously, one of the questions that Obama will receive at today’s news conference will be the GOP criticism about his statements regarding the violence and protests in Iran. But we pose this question: Do you think Republicans would be less critical if Obama had simply stated what he said in his Cairo speech about freedom IN GENERAL in the Middle East? “All people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak you're mind and have a say in how your are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. These are not just American ideas. They are human rights.” Privately, the White House points to the Cairo speech quite often. But why not simply use these words for Iran specifically? Also, the president may have to answer this question today: Do Iranians have the ability to speak their mind, to say how they are governed, have the confidence in the rule of law and the EQUAL administration of justice? Has the Iranian regime been transparent, have they stolen from the people? If he can't answer in the affirmative for any of these questions, doesn't that mean there should be consequences for the regime in its dealings with the U.S. and the world?
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Video: Republicans have been lining up to argue that President Barack Obama isn’t saying enough to support the protesters in Iran. A Hardball panel debates whether his response is too timid.
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Where in the world is ... Mark Sanford? If you're a leader in your party trying to go toe-to-toe with the Democratic administration on fiscal policy, as well as a potential 2012 candidate, chances are that you don't want 1) headlines announcing you've gone missing for several days; 2) your wife saying that she doesn't know where you are but that she isn't concerned; and 3) your spokesman saying you've gone away to clear your head after your stimulus battle. It’s all just … weird, even though Sanford associates insist that he does this all the time. Well, last night, Sanford’s office announced that he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
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“I want to emphasize that this isn't something that either staff or Mrs. Sanford is concerned about,” the governor’s chief spokesman said in a statement. “As we said earlier today, it isn't unusual for the governor to be out of pocket for several days after the legislative session. We knew he would be difficult to reach, and that he would be checking in infrequently.” What’s also interesting is that
two critics most concerned about his disappearance and whereabouts weren’t Democrats, but Republicans -- Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and state Sen. Jake Knotts. The old saying, marching to the beat of his own drummer, applies as well to Sanford as it does any elected official. How likely, though do folks who march to their own drummer beat end up as nominees for their party?
*** I’m a joker, I’m a smoker… : One thing the media seemed to make crystal clear yesterday and this morning is that the president is still an occasional smoker. In all of the coverage of the president's signing of the tobacco legislation, many reporters made note of the president's past smoking, as well as Robert Gibbs' unconvincing spin that he's constantly fighting this addiction. The White House, of course, won't confirm the president still smokes. But it has not said these words: "He's no longer a smoker." Is it a big deal? No, just one of those presidential oddities that biographers live for. And everyone will want to know: When does he smoke? Is it on the golf course? The Truman Balcony?
Video: Saying "I know how difficult it can be" to stop smoking, President Obama signs a bill substantially strengthening anti-smoking efforts.
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Let’s talk about sex, baby… let’s talk about you and me: Finally,
Roll Call reports that embattled Sen. John Ensign will address his GOP colleagues at their weekly luncheon. “While no one knows exactly what Ensign will say to his fellow Senators, the move is becoming an increasingly familiar one for embattled Republicans. Sen. David Vitter (La.) and former Sens. Ted Stevens (Alaska) and Larry Craig (Idaho), while facing scandals of their own, went before the Conference to discuss their respective situations.”
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