Obama agenda: More Cheney buckshot
Posted: Monday, August 31, 2009 9:14 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Barack Obama
On FOX yesterday, Cheney said of Attorney General Holder's decision to open up investigations into some CIA detainee abuses, "I think it's a terrible decision. President Obama made the announcement some weeks ago that this would not happen, that his administration would not go back and look at or try to prosecute CIA personnel. ... We had a track record now of eight years of defending the nation against any further mass casualty attacks from al Qaeda," Cheney said. "The approach of the Obama administration should be to come to those people who were involved in that policy and say, 'How did you do it? What were the keys to keeping this country safe over that period of time?'"
The New York Times: “Mr. Cheney described the inquiry as an ‘intensely partisan, politicized look back at the prior administration’ intended to placate the left wing of the Democratic Party. ‘It’s clearly a political move,’ he said. ‘I mean, there’s no other rationale for why they’re doing this.’”
The AP previews Obama's fall lineup. "Back from his first presidential vacation, a break truncated by the death and remembrance of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and the nomination of the Federal Reserve chief to a new term, Obama settles back into the Oval Office well aware his approval ratings have fallen. He now must spend heavily from that shrinking fund of political capital -- with a highly uncertain outcome -- if his vision of a health care overhaul is to emerge from Congress."
Good news from the CBO? “Medicare beneficiaries would often have to pay higher premiums for prescription drug coverage, but many would see their total drug spending decline, so they would save money as a result of health legislation moving through the House, the Congressional Budget Office said in a recent report,” the New York Times says.
Meanwhile, "Fewer Americans are afraid that they will be unable to pay for healthcare services and fewer expect to postpone medical treatments due to costs, according to a Thomson Reuters survey published on Monday. Researchers found a steady increase in people's confidence about their ability to pay for healthcare services -- it rose 12 percent between March and July this year."
Over the weekend, "Al Gore and Bill Clinton -- ghosts of Democratic victories past who are increasingly showing up to buck up the faithful as President Obama goes through his first real trials in office -- were the star guests at the Tennessee Democratic Party’s annual Jackson Day dinner."
The Washington Post writes that environmental groups have gotten out-worked so far in the debate over the energy legislation. “It seems that environmentalists are struggling in a fight they have spent years setting up. They are making slow progress adapting a movement built for other goals -- building alarm over climate change, encouraging people to "green" their lives -- into a political hammer, pushing a complex proposal the last mile through a skeptical Senate.”
And… Joe Biden was inducted into the Little League Hall of Fame on Sunday. "Biden isn’t the first vice president inducted into the hall. Dan Quayle was inducted in 1990. Other inductees include President George W. Bush, Gen. Peter Pace, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), columnist George Will, actor Kevin Costner and rock star Bruce Springsteen."
