May 2009 - Posts
THE WEEK AHEAD: Obama meets with Saudi King, delivers major speech on relationship with Muslim world. Plus the New Jersey primary, 2012 politics, Sotomayor and your questions.
From NBC's Mark Murray President Obama strongly defended his Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor . But he also said that she could have "restated" her controversial sentence from 2001, in which she suggested that a Latina woman could reach a better conclusion than a white male.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I'm sure she would have restated it. But if you look in the entire sweep of the essay that she wrote, what's clear is that she was simply saying that her life experiences will give her information about the struggles and hardships that people are going through -- that will make her a good judge.
And, you know, she was pointing out, in that same essay, that it was nine white males who passed down Brown vs. Board of Education, which is probably responsible for me sitting here. So that's hardly the kind of statement that would indicate that she subscribes to identity politics.
In fact, what she really subscribes to is the exact opposite -- which is the sense that all of us have life experiences and struggles. And part of the job of a justice on the Supreme Court, or any judge, is to be able to stand in somebody else's shoes, to be able to, you know, understand that-- the nature of the case, and how it has an impact on people's ordinary day to day lives.
And so her, as a Latino woman part of her job is gonna be to listen to the farmer in Iowa. And, you know, if he's upset about a farm regulation. And be able to understand how hard it is to farm. And what that means. And to be able to incorporate that into her decision making.
It means that she has an understanding of what a corporate CEO might be thinking. And she had those experience as well. Having worked as a corporate litigator. That breadth of experience, that knowledge of how the world works, is part of what we want for a justice who's gonna be effective. And I think that when she's appearing before the Senate committee, in her confirmation process, I think all this nonsense that is being spewed out will be revealed for what it is.
From NBC's Pete Williams Sonia Sotomayor's most recent appeals court decisions shows that nearly every time, she voted AGAINST people who were claiming illegal discrimination, according to a lawyer who appears frequently before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The analysis, done by DC lawyer Tom Goldstein for his legal website SCOTUSblog, looked at her court's 50 most recent cases involving the issue of race. He found that the three-judge panels on which she participated upheld claims of discrimination only three times. In 45 other cases, the discrimination claims were rejected. Each time, the judges -- including her -- were unanimous. And the three panels that upheld discrimination claims included at least one Republican-appointed judge.
Two other cases were decided on technical procedural grounds.
"It seems to me that these numbers decisively disprove the claim that she decides cases with any sort of racial bias," Goldstein says.
From NBC's Chuck Todd Sonia Sotomayor used a "poor" choice of words in 2001, when she suggested a Latina would reach a better conclusion than a white male.
Asked how he knew she would say she chose her words poorly, Gibbs simply said that he's talked to people who have talked to her. He would not elaborate.
But clearly, we should expect Sotomayor to -- at some point -- say this herself, perhaps to members of the Senate next week and later at her confirmation hearing.
From NBC's Mark Murray Newt Gingrich is continuing to criticize the Supreme Court nominee on the issues of race and gender.
According to Time.com , Gingrich has penned a fundraising email for the group Renewing American Leadership, in which he calls for Sotomayor to withdraw her nomination.
"Can you imagine if the President of the United States nominated a judge to the U.S. Supreme Court who said this: 'My experience as a white man will make me a better judge than a Latina woman would be,'" he asks in the email. "Or could you imagine if that same judge ruled from the bench to deny 18 African-American firefighters a promotion just because of their skin color?"
"That judge would be called a bigot -- and in my judgment, rightly so! Would there be any doubt that he would be FORCED to WITHDRAW his nomination for the Supreme Court?"
Gingrich continues, "Judge Sonia Sotomayor has proven, by her own admission, that she is such a judge. Knowing this, President Obama should withdraw her nomination to the Supreme Court. Consider what Judge Sotomayor said about how her being a Latina woman will affect her decisions as a judge: 'I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.'"
"You read that right -- Judge Sotomayor said that her experience as a person of a particular sex and ethnic background will make her a better judge than a person of another sex and a different ethnic background! When did that view become acceptable?"
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Alicia Jennings Sonia Sotomayor will go up to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for meetings with Sens. Harry Reid (D), Pat Leahy (D), and Jeff Sessions (R). He also said the White House hopes she will meet with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R), but are working through scheduling issues.
"We are hopeful other visits can be scheduled for that Tuesday and throughout the week," Gibbs said.
Her questionnaire will go up to the Senate "at some point next week."
From NBC's Pete Williams Sonia Sotomayor was in her final year at Yale law school, she pulled a gutsy move by filing a complaint against a law firm that was interviewing her for a job. She forfeited any chance of working at that firm, but ended up getting an apology.
After a Yale student-faculty hearing determined that one of the firm's lawyers asked her discriminatory questions, the firm said his actions were "insensitive and regrettable."
All of this arose after a dinner in October 1978 at which the lawyer met with Sotomayor and other Yale students. The tribunal concluded that he asked her, "Do law firms do a disservice by hiring minority students who the firms know do not have the necessary credentials and will then fire in three to four years?"
It also found that he asked if Sotomayor would have been admitted to the law school if she were not Puerto Rican, and whether she was "culturally deprived."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Savannah Guthrie Sonia Sotomayor . This morning, Wendy Long, counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network and a former clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas , posted an item on National Review Online urging that the debate focus on her judicial philosophy.
Nevertheless, Long continues to believe Sotomayor's judicial philosophy is "very troubling" and that her comments in 2001, in which Sotomayor stated that a Latina woman may reach a wiser judicial decision than a white male, are fair ground for debate. Long also cites Sotomayor's 2005 comment that appellate courts "make policy" as cause for alarm.
Of course, Long herself was one of the early voices raising the race issue. On the day of the Sotomayor announcement, Long told NBC's Pete Williams, "Imagine if a white man said, 'I think a white man would make a better decision than a Latina or a black woman.' We would justifiably be completely outraged. And I think the outrage should be completely the same when it's coming from her side."
From NBC's Mark Murray Sonia Sotomayor .
By a 54%-24% margin, American voters approve of President Obama's Sotomayor pick, according to Quinnipiac University's survey; 22% say they're undecided.
Democratic voters approve of her, 81%-3%; independent voters approve of her, 50%-26%; and Republicans approve of her, 26%-46%.
Also, women approve of her, 59%-18%, while men approve of her, 48%-31%.
You can follow the tweets at http://twitter.com/InsideObamaWH and watch previous specials -- all the way back to NBC's 1952 special with President Truman on WhiteHouse.msnbc.com
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro Conservative vs. conservative: After Rush, Newt, and Tancredo called Sonia Sotomayor a racist, a bigot, and an “angry woman,” Charles Krauthammer today fires off this warning to his fellow conservatives: stop the personal attacks. “What should a principled conservative do? Use the upcoming hearings not to deny her the seat, but to illuminate her views. No magazine gossip from anonymous court clerks. No ‘temperament’ insinuations. Nothing ad hominem. The argument should be elevated, respectful and entirely about judicial philosophy.” In today’s Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan offers similar advice. Republicans, she says, should act like grown-ups . The Krauthammer/Noonan message to Republicans is this: fight Sotomayor respectfully and then confirm her. Of course, that advice is easier said than done. Just asking, but did Rush really hurt himself among Republicans and conservatives this week? John Cornyn -- nobody's liberal Republican in the Senate -- seemed to very coherently send a message to the unelected conservatives when he also chimed in and said the tone wasn't helpful. Could this week actually help the GOP if it means it gets the elected establishment to unite against the unelected leaders? Or will this week divide the party even further? It may be in Rush's court now.
*** A successful rollout so far: Given this conservative divide over Sotomayor, could this week have gone any better for the Obama White House? Yesterday, we couldn't find a single elected Republican serving in Washington issuing any press release on Sotomayor. (Sure, Pat Roberts went on the record against her, but he's not the household name that should fire up the troops.) Instead, all of their focus was on debating the Obama stimulus package. (That stimulus debate is one the White House wants, and yet we'd argue they were better off that it was overshadowed by Sotomayor. The reason: The economic numbers don't look good, and the White House doesn't easily have anything to point to -- yet -- when it comes to the stimulus package and whether it's definitely helped soften the economic blows many are still feeling. But we digress...) The Sotomayor pick has just devastated the Republicans, split them worse than anything so far the Obama White House has done.
*** Obama’s day: At 10:55 am ET from the White House, Obama delivers remarks on cyber security and announces the creation of a “cyber czar” to protect the nation’s computer networks. Then, at 2:30 pm, he attends a hurricane preparedness meeting at FEMA. But this relatively slow Friday appears to be the quiet before the storm that’s brewing for this summer. Indeed, consider all that will be happening in the coming weeks. Obama’s Cairo speech and Europe trip. The Sotomayor confirmation hearings. The battle over health care. The fight over the energy bill. And those are just the things we already know about…
*** Two questions on health care: Speaking of health care, Obama told his supporters over the phone yesterday that it’s now or never on the issue. “If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done,” he said. That is a HUGE drop of the gauntlet. There are two big policy debates about health care right now: Will the reform offer a public insurance option? And how will you pay for it? On the first question, liberal MoveOn is airing radio ads targeting Sens. Kent Conrad, Maria Cantwell, Bill Nelson, Tom Carper, Olympia Snowe, and Ron Wyden that urges them to support a public option. And on the second question, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page issues this reminder at Democrats who may be thinking about taxing employer-based health care benefits to finance reform: “Last year liberals mauled John McCain for daring to touch the employer-based exclusion to finance more coverage for the individually uninsured. He was proposing 'a multitrillion-dollar tax hike -- the largest middle-class tax hike in history,' said Barack Obama, whose TV ads were brutal.” Meanwhile, don't miss the leak of Sen. Ted Kennedy's health-care reform outline (apparently based a lot on the Massachusetts model, mandate everyone to have it etc.). Senate watchers will want to know, are Kennedy and Senate Finance Cmte Chair Max Baucus working together yet or not?
*** Gitmo politics: Here’s another issue that the Obama White House will have to be working on this summer: what to do about those Gitmo detainees. The Washington Post reports that European leaders are saying that if the U.S. won’t take Gitmo prisoners, then they won’t either. “Rising opposition in the U.S. Congress to allowing Guantanamo prisoners on American soil has not gone over well in Europe. Officials from countries that previously indicated they were willing to accept inmates now say it may be politically impossible for them to do so if the United States does not reciprocate… Interior ministers from the 27-member European Union are pressing the Obama administration to agree to a joint declaration that would commit the United States to accept some prisoners, something Congress has been highly reluctant to do.” Isn't this the argument some Republicans have been making on GITMO -- that no amount of kind words in Europe will help change their minds?
*** Bush speaks: The former president did an impromptu Q&A last night after a speech in Michigan, and he spoke about the interrogation debate. Despite some speculation to the contrary, Bush ended up, sort of, siding with Cheney. Then again, he couches things to a point that it seems as if he's defending his policy AT THAT MOMENT IN TIME, and then leaves himself some wiggle room for how he changed the policy later. "I made the decision within the law to keep the American people safe," the 43rd president told a large crowd in Benton Harbor, according to WSBT TV. "The information we gained saved lives. And, as for Saddam Hussein--the world is better without that man in power." But Bush also made clear, "Nothing I'm saying is meant to criticize my successor. I wish him all the best." Meanwhile, Bush and Bill Clinton today appear together in Canada.
*** Elsewhere today: Education Secretary Arne Duncan speaks at the National Press Club; HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan speaks to the National Association of Homebuilders; First Lady Michelle Obama visits an elementary school in DC; and Howard Dean announces the publication of his new book on health-care reform, “Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform.”
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We know this sounds cynical, but we’re sure leads like this make the White House smile. The Washington Post : ”The White House scrambled yesterday to assuage worries from liberal groups about Judge Sonia Sotomayor's scant record on abortion rights, delivering strong but vague assurances that the Supreme Court nominee agrees with President Obama's belief in constitutional protections for a woman's right to the procedure. Facing concerns about the issue from supporters rather than detractors, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama did not ask Sotomayor specifically about abortion rights during their interview. But Gibbs indicated that the White House is nonetheless sure she agrees with the constitutional underpinnings of Roe v. Wade.”
“‘In their discussions, they talked about the theory of constitutional interpretation, generally, including her views on unenumerated rights in the Constitution and the theory of settled law,’ Gibbs said. ‘He left very comfortable with her interpretation of the Constitution being similar to that of his.’”
CBN’s David Brody translates: “[Gibbs] pretty much said that the President and Sotomayor see eye to eye on judicial philosophy and how they view the Constitution. Umm, ‘nuff said right? If you’re a liberal, you have to be feeling more confident after that answer. If you’re a pro-life conservative, you’re more worried.”
"Sotomayor on Wednesday began her outreach to the Senate, speaking by phone with Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and that panel’s ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)," Roll Call says. "White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs noted that Sotomayor would do much of the preconfirmation Senate outreach herself. Gibbs also said the White House would not establish a 'war room' for the nomination, saying, 'I think to have a war room denotes that we think there’s some coming war, and we don’t believe that.'"
CONTINUED >>
“President Barack Obama will announce on Friday the creation of a ‘cyber czar’ position, stepping up his administration's efforts to better protect the nation's computer networks,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The cybersecurity chief will report to both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council, a compromise resulting from a fierce White House turf battle over the responsibilities and powers of the new office.” More: “Mr. Obama won't announce on Friday the person who will fill the new job. That isn't expected for at least a few more days.”
It’s now or never on health care, Obama said yesterday, per the AP . “President Barack Obama warned Thursday that if Congress doesn't deliver health care legislation by the end of the year the opportunity will be lost, a plea to political supporters to pressure lawmakers to act. ‘If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done,’ Obama told supporters by phone as he flew home on Air Force One from a West Coast fundraising trip.”
The Boston Globe front-pages , "Obama tells Israel to halt expansion." The paper adds , "But hours before the two men met, the Israeli government flatly rejected the demand. Spokesman Mark Regev said that "normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue," including some construction. The exchange has set the stage for one of Obama's toughest foreign policy challenges. As he prepares to fly to the Middle East next week to give a speech on his policy toward the region and US-Muslim relations, it seemed clear yesterday that his administration is willing to risk prickly relations with one of the closest US allies -- and possible anger from some Jewish voters -- to try to create a Palestinian state."
CONTINUED >>
CONGRESS: Kennedy vs. Baucus?
Meanwhile, "Senate Democrats have set forth an ambitious plan to begin marking up healthcare reform legislation by mid-June. A copy of a schedule for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee obtained by The Hill has the panel starting its markup of the healthcare reform bill on June 16. Six days are scheduled for the markup, which the committee hopes to complete on June 25."
In GQ, there's shirtless Levi Johnston saying "First Dude Todd Palin, the governor's husband, offered to buy Bristol a new car if she would dump him," the
New York Daily News writes.
CONNECTICUT: Chris Dodd is hitting the airwaves, Chris Cillizza reports. “Embattled Sen. Chris Dodd is on television with the first ad of his 2010 reelection race, a commercial featuring President Obama touting the work the Connecticut Democrat did to pass a measure placing strictures on credit card companies. An image of Obama signing the bill at the White House is shown (with Dodd standing in the background) as the president says: "I want to give a special shout-out to Chris Dodd who has been a relentless fighter to get this done." The ad seeks to remind Connecticut Democrats of two things: Dodd is one of them (hence the heavy featuring of the popular president) and that he gets things done for the state. Such early advertising by Dodd is a recognition that his image in the state has taken a number of serious hits and he is in a very tough fight for reelection next November.”
KENTUCKY: "Kentucky Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo (D) leads his main primary rival by double digits in an early poll conducted by the Democrat's Senate campaign," The Hill's Wilson reports. "Mongiardo, who came within a whisker of pulling off a stunning upset over Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) in 2004, leads Attorney General Jack Conway (D) by a 43 percent to 28 percent margin. Twenty-nine percent of registered Democrats remain undecided."
VIRGINIA: Ralph Nader returns! Per the Washington Post , “Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader went public Thursday with an allegation that Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe offered his campaign money to stay off the ballot in key states during the 2004 elections -- a disclosure timed to raise questions about McAuliffe's fitness for public office.”
Also: "Responding to a mailer sent out by McAuliffe’s campaign, Moran campaign manager Andrew Roos said in a statement that 'the last place we would go for a public service lesson is a Wall Street insider.' 'For decades, Mr. McAuliffe traded access for money, ensuring that big companies -- not people -- were in control, all the while pocketing millions through his proximity to power,' Roos said. 'Brian Moran will take no lectures on ethics from the booking agent of the Lincoln Bedroom and the architect of the Business Leadership Forum.'"
And the Washington Post profiles Creigh Deeds.
With Father's Day around the corner, MSNBC's Carlos Watson , writing at The Stimulist.com , breaks down what he sees as the top 10 most powerful political daughters -- five with the most promise and five with the most influence.
His lists: 5. Jenna Bush
Influence:
Discuss.
From NBC's Carl Sears Abraham Lincoln dated November 14, 1863 -- missing from public records for maybe 100 years -- has been donated today by a private collector to the National Archives.
The brief note on Executive Mansion letterhead in the President's handwriting signed "A.Lincoln" was sent to Treasury Secretary
Salmon Chase . It was written five days before Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, providing insight into the president's regard for a personal friend and his interest in West Coast politics even in the midst of the Civil War.
National Archivists discovered the Lincoln letter being sold online in 2006. It originally had been torn or fallen from an 1880 bound volume of government correspondence to the Treasury Department. There is no evidence that the letter was ever stolen, and how it went missing remains a mystery.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray and Harry Enten
Gallup appears to be the first polling outfit to survey Supreme Court nominee
Sonia Sotomayor , and it finds -- so far -- that her numbers compare favorably to the successful
Roberts and
Alito nominations.
According to the poll, 47% rate Sotomayor as an "excellent" or "good" pick, versus 33% who say she's "fair" or "poor."
By comparison, in November 2005, 43% rated Samuel Alito excellent or good, and 39% said he was fair or poor. For John Roberts, in July 2005, 51% said he was excellent/good, versus 34% who said he fair/poor.
As for Harriet Miers , who withdrew her nomination, Gallup had her at 44% excellent/good, and 41% fair/poor.
One other thing worth noting in the poll: Females have a much more positive opinion of Sotomayor than males do: 54% of females rate her excellent/good, versus 42% of males who said that.
From NBC's Mark Murray
During last year's presidential campaign,
Barack Obama's decision not to visit the military medical facility at Landstuhl in Germany became a point of controversy, with the
McCain campaign and Republicans arguing that Obama didn't want to visit the troops there. Indeed, the McCain camp aired a TV ad saying that Obama "made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops."
At the time, the Obama campaign responded that, because his European travel was a campaign trip, the Pentagon wouldn't permit him to visit the facility -- although the Pentagon said he could have visited the troops while in his capacity as a U.S. senator, but without his campaign military advisers. The campaign also pointed out that Obama visited troops while in Kuwait and Iraq.
Well, per the White House, President Obama is going to visit Landstuhl on June 5 when he goes abroad next week.
Here's the press release:
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Three of
President Obama 's top fundraisers are getting plum jobs as United States ambassadors.
Among the 12 ambassadors named last night by the White House, three --
Charles Rivkin ,
Louis Susman and
John Roos -- were so-called "bundlers" for candidate Obama.
Rivkin (named ambassador to France) and Roos (named ambassador to Japan) both raised $500,000 or more for Obama, according to data compiled by the
Center for Responsive Politics .
Susman (named ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) raised between $100,000 and $200,000 for Obama's campaign.
Top campaign fundraisers have long gotten these plum posts in past administrations -- Democratic and Republican alike. And then-President-elect Obama, in a
Jan. 9 press conference , said, "There probably will be some" ambassadors chosen who were top donors. “It would be disingenuous for me to suggest that there are not going to be some excellent public servants but who haven’t come through the ranks of the civil service,” Obama added.
Several administration officials, including
Valerie Jarrett ,
Greg Craig ,
Eric Holder and
Tina Tchen , for example, were also Obama bundlers.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro Much ado about nothing? Is it bad news for the Obama White House that abortion-rights groups are suddenly worried about Sonia Sotomayor’s record (or lack thereof) on abortion? Or it is it actually good news, given that it could deflect a lot of the conservative criticism against her nomination? Here’s the front-page headline in today’s New York Times : “On Sotomayor, Some Abortion Rights Backers Are Uneasy.” The L.A. Times has a similar headline: “Abortion Rights Groups Concerned About Sotomayor’s Stance.” Honestly, this news is a gift for Team Obama. Let’s get this straight: So the president didn’t impose a litmus test on abortion? Is that a problem? Also, would a constitutional scholar like Obama not be able to discern someone’s opinion on the ultimate contentious issue before the court? Of course, there’s always the potential that a Supreme Court pick, once on the court, could end up voting in unpredictable ways (see David Souter, the man Sotomayor would replace). But also do realize that this stated unease could actually be a potential straw-man argument to help pro-choice groups raise money. After all, interest groups on both the left and right use Supreme Court fights as a fundraising tool. And abortion-rights groups may have found a peg, even if it’s much ado about nothing.
Video: David Gregory, moderator of “Meet the Press,” and NBC’s Chuck Todd join the Morning Joe gang to discuss the battle to define federal judge Sonia Sotomayor and the looming confirmation process. *** How not to help your Latino and female outreach: After Senate Republicans took a measured wait-and-see approach to Sonia Sotomayor's nomination after it was announced, we're guessing that these same folks aren't enjoying seeing Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and Tom Tancredo leading the charge against her. In the past couple of days, these three men -- in one form or another -- called Sotomayor a racist, and Limbaugh added yesterday that she's an "angry woman." Just sayin’, but these statements probably aren’t what the doctor ordered as the GOP tries to improve its performance with Hispanic and female voters. There’s no doubt that some of Sotomayor’s opinions (like the one regarding the New Haven firefighters) and past speeches (on the “wise Latina woman”) are controversial and warrant scrutiny during the confirmation hearings. But with all signs pointing to the fact that she will be confirmed, is this kind of talk helpful to the GOP?
*** From Hollywood to the Middle East: Last night in Los Angeles, Obama raised some $3 to $4 million for the DNC. In attendance, per the L.A. Times , were some of the biggest names in Hollywood: Seth Rogin, Marisa Tomei, Kiefer Sutherland, Jamie Foxx, Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, and Tyler Perry. At 10:35 am ET, Obama leaves the West Coast, arriving back at the White House at 3:15 pm. Forty-five minutes later, he meets in the Oval Office (closed press) with Palestinian President Abbas. And then, at 4:45 pm, he holds an expanded meeting (pool spray) with the Palestinian leader.
Video: Msnbc's Courtney Hazlett reports on President Obama's return to Hollywood to give thanks to the celebrities who opened their wallets and helped get him elected. ***
California’s woes: Speaking of Obama’s stop in Los Angeles yesterday, the White House has found itself on the defensive over whether his California visit showed enough compassion for the state's fiscal woes. In fact, the state’s financial problems are so bad that Treasury Secretary Geithner was asked at a recent congressional hearing whether he thought he could use the same money set aside to bail out the banks and car companies to bail out California. The White House knows there are no easy answers for California, and they fear that if they go out of their way to bail out -- or even show extra compassion for the nation's largest state -- 49 other states will be looking for their attention.
*** Sestak to challenge Specter? One other person who was in attendance at last night’s fundraiser with Obama was brand-new Democrat Arlen Specter. Yet on the very same day, fellow Pennsylvania Democrat Joe Sestak said on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” that he’s intending to primary Specter, “pending a final family decision” that could come in the “not too distant future.” A new Quinnipiac poll shows Specter ahead of Sestak, 50%-21%. The poll also shows Specter leading Pat Toomey (R) in a general election match-up by nine points (46%-37%), which is down from Specter’s 20-point lead (53%-33%) earlier this month.
Video: Rep. Joe Sestak joins "The Ed Show" to discuss whether he will run against Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., in the Pennsylvania primary. ***
Jersey boys: As we and others have observed, the Republican Party is undergoing an important debate that might not be resolved anytime soon: Does it aim for the political middle, or does it remain planted firmly on the right? Is being a moderate a virtue, or a curse? And what is more desirable, winning races or ideological purity? This GOP fight is occurring across the country -- in Florida, where Charlie Crist squares off against Marco Rubio; in Texas, where Kay Bailey Hutchison is running against Rick Perry; and in New Jersey, where the moderate Chris Christie faces off in a gubernatorial primary against the more conservative Steve Lonegan this coming Tuesday. Recent polls show Christie with a comfortable lead. But the Cook Political Report’s Jennifer Duffy says Lonegan still has a shot. “Lonegan is praying for rain,” she said. “The lower the turnout, the better he does. I still think it’s hard. But to his credit, he has made this more of a race than it ought to be.” The question for many observers: After Tuesday’s outcome, will Republicans find themselves in a stronger position to challenge the very vulnerable Jon Corzine? Or a weaker one? Then again, a recent Quinnipiac poll showed Corzine trailing both Christie and Lonegan. For what it’s worth, Mitt Romney this morning endorsed Christie.
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The New York Times front-pages that “some abortion rights advocates are quietly expressing unease that Judge Sotomayor may not be a reliable vote to uphold Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 abortion rights decision. In a letter, Nancy Keenan, president of Naral Pro-Choice America, urged supporters to press senators to demand that Judge Sotomayor reveal her views on privacy rights before any confirmation vote.”
Video: TODAY’s Matt Lauer talks to David Gregory, moderator of “Meet the Press,” about the confirmation process lying ahead for President Obama’s first Supreme Court pick, Sonia Sotomayor, and what her views may be on abortion rights . “Because Judge Sotomayor is the choice of a president who supports abortion rights at a time when Democrats hold a substantial majority in the Senate, both sides in the debate have tended to assume she could be counted on to preserve the Roe decision… Presidents have miscalculated in their assumptions about the abortion views of Supreme Court nominees before. When the first President Bush nominated David H. Souter in 1990 to fill the seat that Judge Sotomayor would assume if confirmed, Mr. Souter was known as a ‘stealth nominee’ with no paper trail on abortion.”
The Washington Post also chimes in: “Several interest groups called on the Senate to try to discern Sotomayor's views on a woman's right to have an abortion vs. the government's right to restrict the procedure. ‘I don't know what her position is on the core constitutional protections of Roe v. Wade,’ said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, adding: ‘I will be nervous if the Senate doesn't get answers to the question.’”
CONTINUED >>
President Obama meets today with Palestinian Authority's Abbas. "The two leaders will talk one-on-one in the Oval Office before being joined by aides," the AP says. "After, the president will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then with senior advisers in the Oval Office."
"Top Palestinian officials traveling with President Mahmoud Abbas said he was working to repackage a 2002 Saudi Arabian plan that called for exchange of Arab land occupied by Israel in the 1967 war for normalized relations with Arab countries," the
AP adds. "Obama's meeting with Abbas is the third of four key sessions the administration had planned as the president tries to reinvigorate the push for Middle East peace, an accord that has eluded American leaders, the Israelis and their Arab neighbors for more than a half-century."
Obama's National Security Adviser James Jones
downplayed the North Korean threat in a speech yesterday. He said it WASN’T an "imminent threat." “Nothing that the North Koreans did surprised us,” Jones said, per The Hill. “We knew that they were going to do this, they said so, so no reason not to believe them.”
CONTINUED >>
The Boston Globe writes, "As the House Energy and Commerce Committee prepared to pass a landmark climate change bill earlier this month, committee leaders received a glowing letter from an unexpected source: the chairman of Dow Chemical Co., one of the firms that would be forced to limit the amount of pollutants it emits and pay new fees for the privilege of polluting."
The paper adds that "such accolades are increasingly common from business leaders to Democratic congressional leaders, who are ushering in a new era of regulations on the environment, healthcare, and finance. Confronted by Democratic majorities, a Democratic president, and a voting public furious over Wall Street lapses, the business community, which once adamantly opposed almost all forms of government regulation and mandates, has opted to join rather than fight." (Also, check out the centerpiece photo . Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was in Boston "to announce new tax credits aimed at creating jobs in low-income areas.")
The NRCC is running a TV ad hitting Democratic Rep. Frank Kratovil for blocking an investigation into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s back-and-forth with the CIA.
CONTINUED >>
FLORIDA: Mike Huckabee is reportedly set to endorse Marco Rubio over Charlie Crist in the Republican Senate primary.
ILLINOIS: The Burris story continues… The Chicago Tribune : “Beleaguered U.S. Sen. Roland Burris added another layer Wednesday to the evolving story of his appointment, saying he was only trying to ‘placate’ then- Gov. Rod Blagojevich's brother to keep his Senate prospects alive knowing no campaign money would ever change hands. The latest detail came as Burris spent the opening of a two-day Downstate tour offering his explanation of what was on covert recordings made by federal agents investigating Blagojevich in November. Burris said the transcript shows that he was not involved in "pay to play" because he told Robert Blagojevich, the former governor's brother, that if he donated and got the Senate appointment, ‘that means I bought it.’”
Video: Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., joins “Hardball” on the phone to discuss FBI wiretaps that reveal Burris talked with Rod Blagojevich’s brother about the possibility of throwing a fundraiser for the former Illinois governor at the same time he was lobbying for the vacant Senate seat. “But the transcript also shows Burris discussing various ways that he might join in fundraising events hosted by others or contribute money through Burris' law partner and current lawyer, Timothy Wright. On Wednesday, Burris said those discussions were an attempt to deceive Robert Blagojevich to keep himself in the mix for a Senate appointment and that no donations were ever forthcoming.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray
According to
Hotline On Call , newly minted Democrat
Arlen Specter is going to join
President Obama at tonight's fundraiser in Los Angeles.
"Specter will join Pres. Obama at the Beverly Hilton in LA for a DNC fundraiser... It marks his first outing with Obama -- and with Jennifer Hudson, we should note. The Academy Award winner will sing at the event. As will Earth, Wind and Fire."
From NBC's Mark Murray and Carroll Ann Mears
On his radio program today,
Rush Limbaugh tried to dismiss GOP fears about alienating Latino voters if they oppose
Sonia Sotomayor .
When
Clarence Thomas was nominated, Limbaugh asked, did the Democrats worry about angering the black vote when the opposed him?
Well, it seems they did. Back in 1991, when Thomas was confirmed -- by a
52-48 vote -- Democrats controlled the Senate, and 10 of them voted for Thomas. And eight of those Dems hailed from the South, where there are plenty of African-American voters:
Boren (OK)
Breaux (LA)
Fowler (GA)
Nunn (GA)
Hollings (SC)
Johnston (LA)
Robb (VA)
Shelby (AL)
Without those southern Democratic votes, Thomas wouldn't have won confirmation.
From NBC's Harry Enten
Appointed Sen.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) continues to be locked in a tight fight for re-election in 2010 -- and new polling shows she's have a difficult time with Republican former Gov.
George Pataki .
National Republicans are hoping that Pataki will run, but he has given no indication he will seek the seat.
According to a the latest
Siena College poll , Gillibrand and Pataki are tied 43%-43%, which is basically unchanged from last month's 41%-41%. More troubling for Gillibrand is that 39% of voters prefer to vote for somebody else, while only 27% say they would vote to re-elect her.
She continues to suffer from a lack of name recognition with 46% of New York voters having no opinion of the junior senator. Of the voters that do hold an opinion of her, 33% view her favorably, while 21% view her unfavorably.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Sotomayor TV ad. Well, here comes an anti-Sotomayor ad, courtesy of the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network.
Per a source familiar with this ad, it is currently not airing on TV -- instead, it's running on Web sites and has been emailed to conservative activists across the nation. The source adds that the Judicial Confirmation Network is assessing whether to go with a national buy.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Longtime Sen.
Chris Dodd (D-CT) continues to trail former Republican Rep.
Rob Simmons , but he has made up some ground in the past two months, according to the latest
Quinnipiac poll on the likely 2010 Senate race match up.
Simmons leads 45%-39%, down from his 50%-34% lead April 2. Dodd's movement, though, is because of improvement among Democrats, which express support for him by a 67%-16% margin -- up from 58%-38% in April.
Dodd still, though, has a low ceiling, so far. And a majority of Connecticut voters disapprove of his job, 53%-38%, which is only a slight improvement from April when 58% disapproved and 33% approved.
"Sen. Christopher Dodd's numbers are getting better, but they are still lousy," Quinnipiac Poll Director Douglas Schwartz said in a release. "He still has high negatives: About half of the voters don't trust Dodd and disapprove of the job he is doing. And he is still behind Simmons in a general election matchup. But Dodd is an exceptionally skilled politician, and he has plenty of time. He is lucky to get this early warning more than a year before the election."
Even Joe Lieberman continues to have a higher -- albeit split (46%-44%) -- approval than the Banking Committee chairman.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro To fight or retreat? While Washington gears up for a Supreme Court fight, do remember this: Sonia Sotomayor wouldn't change the court's ideological make up. After all, swapping a reliably liberal vote in Souter for an apparently liberal vote in Sotomayor is a wash. Perhaps realizing that -- as well as looking at the polls and the selection’s historic nature -- Republican senators were very measured with their statements yesterday. Their response was essentially the same: Sotomayor deserves a fair hearing where they can scrutinize her record. In fact, Mitch McConnell's office this morning sent an email to reporters hitting President Obama on job creation, not Sotomayor. That may be the most telling response. But the reaction coming from the conservative base is MUCH different. The National Republican Trust PAC, for instance, called Sotomayor a “radical nominee,” adding: “Republican senators should strongly oppose her nomination. The NRT PAC and their constituents will hold them accountable if they do not.” Also, Rush said she was a “reverse racist,” and Mitt Romney called her nomination “troubling.” This divide between the base and the senatorial establishment presents a potential quandary for Republicans: The GOP base wants a fight, while their elected officials want to hold off -- for now.
Video: TODAY’s Natalie Morales talks to NBC’s Chuck Todd about how Republicans and Democrats are responding to President Obama’s Supreme Court pick, Sonia Sotomayor. A 2012 litmus test? Also remember that John Roberts and Samuel Alito became Democratic presidential primary litmus tests -- explaining why anyone with White House ambitions (Obama, Hillary Clinton) voted against them. The Sotomayor vote for Republicans thinking about 2012 might play out similarly. If you are wondering who is pondering a presidential run in 2012 among GOP senators, our guess is that the "no" vote roll call will be a good starting place.
*** Roll out the barrel, we’ll have a barrel of fun : For Supreme Court nominations, Rollout Day is always important. And -- to borrow a metaphor from Sotomayor’s favorite sport -- yesterday was a homerun for the Obama White House. In fact, it was as good as the Roberts rollout. A misty-eyed mom? Check. Multiple references to Sotomayor’s humble background? Check. Adding that she saved Major League Baseball? Check. The only thing that seemed to be missing was the apple pie. Also, the Democratic responses yesterday were measured, as were the GOP ones (it probably helped that Obama waited until Congress was on recess to unveil his pick). In short, with 60 Senate Democratic votes in reach, Sotomayor’s odds of being confirmed are extraordinarily high. Then again, as we learned with Tom Daschle’s HHS nomination, nothing is ever a sure thing in American politics.
Video: President Obama announces federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Avoiding the culture wars : Here’s another thing that caught our eye about Sotomayor, courtesy of the New York Times : “Judge Sotomayor ... has issued no major decisions concerning abortion, the death penalty, gay rights or national security.” So even with his SCOTUS pick, Obama has found a way to downplay or avoid direct debates on hot-button cultural issues – although race and affirmative action will certainly be topics surrounding the Sotomayor selection. Still, it’s striking that Sotomayor has avoided dealing with any cases on abortion or guns or gay marriage. And as we have pointed out before, the president has gone out of his way to avoid gun issues (see credit card bill), gay issues (see Prop. 8 in California) abortion (his flip-flop on that abortion legislation), and immigration (he simply wants to enforce the laws on the books first). Somewhere, Heath Shuler is thanking Rahm…
*** Let the TV ads begin! One day after Sotomayor’s nomination, the liberal-leaning Coalition for Constitutional Values (made up of the Alliance for Justice, People for the American Way, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights) announced that it will begin airing a six-figure TV ad on national network and cable news praising the Sotomayor pick. The spot highlights her qualifications and her personal story. Dems seem to be borrowing a page from the GOP playbook. Remember how quickly Republican legal groups had ads up praising Roberts and Alito?
Video: Karl Rove Tuesday questioned the intellect of Sonia Sotomayor. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? At 2:00 pm ET today, in Las Vegas, Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tour a solar photovoltaic array (translation: a solar farm) at Nellis Air Force. And then 40 minutes later, the president will deliver comments marking the 100th day since his stimulus package became law. By the way, the likely reason the White House changed today’s event from a town hall to just straight remarks is so Obama could avoid questions about his comment about Vegas in February, when he said that U.S. companies receiving bailout money shouldn’t be taking trips to Las Vegas on taxpayers’ dimes. Locals are still mad about that Vegas remark (though we believe that 99% of America agrees with it), and we bet he tries to fix that today.
*** Obama and Prop. 8 : Later this evening, Obama travels to Los Angeles, where he attends another fundraiser -- this time for the DNC. Just askin’, but with Obama in California, is he going to comment on yesterday’s Prop. 8 ruling?
Video: NBC's Pete Williams reports on the Calif. Supreme Court upholding Proposition 8. Another em-Burris-ing revelation : Remember Roland Burris? Well, last night, his office announced that he is embarking today on a two-day swing through downstate Illinois. But he’s got much bigger things to worry about. As the papers are reporting, he's ON TAPE saying that he'd be willing to throw a fundraiser for Rod Blagojevich, and discusses trying to do it at his law firm under someone else's name so that he's not implicated if the news ever gets out.
*** Elsewhere today : Vice President Biden delivers the commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy at 10:00 am ET… Secretary of State Clinton lunches with Egypt's foreign minister and intelligence chief… And National Security Adviser Jim Jones speaks at 5:30 pm ET before the Atlantic Council; it's his first speech on the administration's approach to national security.
Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 6 days
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The New York Times' analysis : "Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s judicial opinions are marked by diligence, depth and unflashy competence. If they are not always a pleasure to read, they are usually models of modern judicial craftsmanship, which prizes careful attention to the facts in the record and a methodical application of layers of legal principles. Judge Sotomayor ... has issued no major decisions concerning abortion, the death penalty, gay rights or national security. In cases involving criminal defendants, employment discrimination and free speech, her rulings are more liberal than not."
Video: Psycho Talk:Law professor Jonathan Turley of George Washington University shares his view of Judge Sotomayor's past legal judgments with Countdown's Keith Olbermann.
The Wall Street Journal : “Judge Sonia Sotomayor has built a record on such issues as civil rights and employment law that puts her within the mainstream of Democratic judicial appointees.”
At his fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last night, Obama “touted his newly announced Supreme Court nominee … calling her a ‘brilliant individual’ with both sterling credentials and an admirable personal journey,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes. “The mention of Sotomayor drew a standing cheer. ‘I know that Harry Reid and others in the Senate will make sure that she is confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice,’ Obama said. ‘I know that because Harry has just as improbable a story, and so do I. That's what politics should be about: remembering that for a whole lot of folks, life isn't easy.’”
CONTINUED >>
Not surprisingly, the New York Times’ editorial page is a fan of the pick. “Based on what we know now, the Senate should confirm her so she can join the court when it begins its new term in October.”
And not surprisingly, the Wall Street Journal’s isn’t. “As the first nominee of a popular President and with 59 Democrats in the Senate, Judge Sotomayor is likely to be confirmed barring some major blunder. But Republicans can use the process as a teaching moment, not to tear down Ms. Sotomayor on personal issues the way the left tried with Justices Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito, but to educate Americans about the proper role of the judiciary and to explore whether Judge Sotomayor's Constitutional principles are as free-form as they seem from her record.”
The Washington Post’s editorial page : “Senators are right to closely scrutinize Judge Sotomayor's philosophy and qualifications. She has produced a rich record of opinions as an appeals court judge for the Judiciary Committee to discuss. Senators also should remember that Mr. Obama, like any president, is entitled to deference in choosing a justice.”
The New York Daily News' cover : "Pride of The Bronx" with an accompanying eight-page "special report." New York Post's cover : "Suprema" over a photo of Sotomayor.
CONTINUED >>
The Las Vegas Review-Journal previews Obama’s event today in Las Vegas. “The president is scheduled to hold an event touting the effects of the federal stimulus package this morning at Nellis Air Force Base, where he also will tour a solar energy installation.”
The Las Vegas Sun , meanwhile, notes that Obama didn’t mention the controversy surrounding his remarks back in February that companies receiving taxpayer help shouldn’t take trips to Vegas on the public’s dime. “President Barack Obama's speech at a Harry Reid fundraiser Tuesday night made no reference whatsoever to the remarks that sent Vegas boosters -- and Mayor Oscar Goodman in particular -- into a fury a few months ago… Local tourism officials and elected leaders, led by Goodman, said that the comments, regardless of context, created the perception among the public that the city was off limits. Notably, they have offered little to no evidence that declining business is related to the president's comments.”
They’re not the only ones who are unhappy… "Some California Democrats are upset with President Obama for skipping past the state’s Central Valley, devastated by foreclosures and high unemployment, as he heads to a $3 million Hollywood fundraiser Wednesday night," The Hill writes. "'He’s not showing us any empathy,' said Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), who endorsed Obama over then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) in the Democratic primary last May. 'He told us he would visit the heartland of California. He’s coming again and he’s not doing so.'"
"Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is pressing for new answers about funding for a counter-narcotics center that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) has supported for more than two decades,"
The Hill writes. "Coburn sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder late last week reiterating charges that the center in Johnstown, Pa., previously known as the National Defense Intelligence Center (NDIC) is a duplicative boondoggle and asking for the explanation behind a recently proposed name change."
We missed this yesterday, but it's worth reviving...
Norm Ornstein calls for a five-day work week for Congress: "Five sustained days would mean more time for debate and less opportunity to use endgames or time pressures to threaten filibusters or to use other delaying tactics successfully. It would also mean more predictability in scheduling, where now it is often unclear when evening votes will be held, or if sessions will be extended at the last minute. If I could wave a magic wand, I would also provide a much more generous housing allowance for lawmakers and even take over one of the House annex office buildings, convert it to apartments and/or condominiums, and rent them at cost to Members who bring their families to town. Right now, though, I would settle happily for the simple schedule change."
Ron Paul may try and play kingmaker of sorts in the 2010 elections. With his grassroots army ready to hit the ground, "Paul is expected to set up a campaign he’ll call 'Ten in ’10,'" Roll Call reports. "While he may personally endorse any number of candidates during the course of the cycle -- and in a few races, he already has -- he’ll invite candidates for all offices to seek special attention and assistance from his PAC."
ILLINOIS : Here's the transcript of the wiretap between Sen. Roland Burris and Rob Blagojevich, the ousted former Illinois governor's brother. Burris is on tape suggesting he might arrange a fundraiser for Blagojevich before the end of the year, discusses trying to do it through his law firm under someone else's name so that he's not implicated if it ever gets out and explicitly expresses interest in replacing Obama as senator.Roll Call writes.
NEVADA : The Las Vegas Review-Journal covers Obama’s Las Vegas fundraiser last night for Harry Reid. “At a sold-out fundraiser that was also a concert extravaganza, Obama was back in campaign mode as he had been in Nevada so many times before the election. The president told the crowd of about 4,000 at the Caesars Palace Colosseum that Reid will need the grass-roots energy Obama rode to victory for his re-election next year… Organizers said the star-studded fundraiser, which featured a lineup of entertainers including Bette Midler, Sheryl Crow, Rita Rudner and Clint Holmes, was expected to raise nearly $2 million for Reid and the Nevada Democratic Party.”
CONTINUED >>
From msnbc.com's Tom Curry
It’s easy to find examples on the Republican side, especially in the past few decades. During the Reagan and Bush presidencies, conservatives bemoaned the fact that many of the Republican presidents’ appointees to the high court turned out be liberals, at least on issues such as gay rights, the death penalty and abortion.
To find the last Democratic nominee to disappoint liberals you have to go back almost 50 years to Byron White, placed on the high court by his friend President John Kennedy in 1962. White turned out to be conservative, at least on abortion and gay rights.
Why the disparity between so many conservative Supreme Court letdowns but few liberal ones?
For that answer and more, continue reading.
From NBC's Harry Enten The other news this afternoon, "The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the election will continue to be married under state law," the
L.A. Times writes.
Gay rights activists have already signaled they might bring their own ballot initiative next year to overturn Prop 8. It passed with 52% last November, and recent polls suggest that a re-vote could be just as close.
Interestingly, the sole dissenter in the 6-1 decision was Carlos Moreno, who had been identified as being on Obama's Supreme Court short list.
From NBC's Athena Jones President Obama ended weeks of speculation today when he named Sonia Sotomayor , an Ivy League-educated judge currently serving on the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, as his pick for the Supreme Court.
Sotomayor, who would become the court's first Hispanic justice and only its third woman, would replace retiring Justice David Souter . Obama -- himself a historic first -- made the announcement before an audience that included Sotomayor's mother, brother, and other family members.
Calling the nomination of Supreme Court justices among the most serious and consequential responsibilities the Constitution grants a president, Obama said he had made his decision after consulting members of Congress from both parties, constitutional scholars, advocacy organizations, and bar associations.
He told the audience he wanted a judge with a "rigorous intellect" and mastery of the law who would not legislate from the bench, saying he wanted someone who understood that "a judge's job is to interpret, not make law, to approach decisions without any particular ideology or agenda rather a commitment to impartial justice, a respect for precedent and a determination to faithfully apply the law to the facts at hand."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Obama bested McCain 2-1 among this group), we posed this question earlier today: Would Republicans dare vote against the first Hispanic Supreme Court nominee?
That question prompted one reader to criticize First Read for "threatening Republicans with the race card if they oppose Judge Sotomayor ."
On the other hand, conservative Jonah Goldberg argued on National Review Online that while opposing Sotomayor isn't anti-Hispanic, "one advantage for Obama in picking the most left-leaning Hispanic possible/confirmable is that it actually allows the Democrats to -- once again -- cast Republicans as anti-Hispanic."
One of our goals at First Read is to generate political discussions. So we have two questions: First, do Republicans walk a political tightrope in opposing Sotomayor? And two, is this a legitimate question to raise?
From NBC's Mark Murray Sotomayor pick, calling the selection "a very prudent and wise decision from a far left liberal like Obama ."
While I would have liked to see a more conservative libertarian type on the high court, President Obama's selection of New York federal appeals court Judge Sonia Sotomayer, was a very prudent and wise decision from a far left liberal like Obama. Having initially been appointed to the bench by President George H. W. Bush , soon to be justice Sotomayer has previously pledged to follow the Constitution, and not legislate from the bench, and her career as a federal court judge suggests, as a whole, that this is the way she will administer to the law. It is also great to have a highly qualified Latina on the bench. The Latin culture, with its emphasis on family and family values, will be a welcome addition, as an understanding of real life relationships is important for any jurist. And, as the largest minority in the United States, its time that Latins can take pride that they too are now part of the legal system. On behalf of Freedom Watch and the American people, we wish Justice Sotomayer much success.
From NBC's Chris Donovan Jeff Sessions (who along with Judiciary chair Pat Leahy will be guests on Meet the Press this weekend ) on Sonia Sotomayor :
"The president's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court today is an important step in a constitutional process that includes the advice and consent of the Senate. I congratulate Ms. Sotomayor on her nomination. The Senate Judiciary Committee's role is to act on behalf of the American people to carefully scrutinize Ms. Sotomayor's qualifications, experience, and record. We will engage in a fair and thorough examination of Ms. Sotomayor's previous judicial opinions, speeches, and academic writings to determine if she has demonstrated the characteristics that great judges share: integrity, impartiality, legal expertise, and a deep and unwavering respect for the rule of law.
"Of primary importance, we must determine if Ms. Sotomayor understands that the proper role of a judge is to act as a neutral umpire of the law, calling balls and strikes fairly without regard to one's own personal preferences or political views. President Obama has stated his desire to have a full court seated at the start of its next term, a reasonable goal toward which the Judiciary Committee should responsibly and diligently move. But we must remember that a Supreme Court justice sits for a lifetime appointment, and the Senate hearing is the only opportunity for the American people to engage in the nomination process. Adequate preparation will take time. I will insist that, consistent with recent confirmation processes, every senator be accorded the opportunity to prepare, ask questions, and receive full and complete answers.
"I look forward to the coming months as we move forward with this process. As I told the president this morning, I will do all I can to ensure that Ms. Sotomayor receives a fair hearing before the Committee. I firmly believe that the American people deserve a full and thoughtful debate about the proper role of a judge in the American legal system, an issue that will be central to our review of Ms. Sotomayor's record."
From NBC’s Harry Enten and Mark Murray Sonia Sotomayor , have given her mixed reviews, according to anonymous comments from the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary:
Most lawyers interviewed said Sotomayor has good legal ability. CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland While it's unclear exactly when Sonia Sotomayor will have her Senate confirmation hearing, Senate Republicans are already sending the message that they will not be rushed through the process, opening the the possibility that she may not confirmed before the Supreme Court opens in October.
In his written statement today, Republican Judiciary Committee member
Jon Kyl stressed the need for Republicans to have plenty of time to review Sotomayor's record. Kyl cited examples from past Supreme Court confirmations under a Republican-controlled Senate where the then-Democratic minority was afforded "ample time" to review the nominee.
He says the entire process for each of the two most recent nominee took between two and three months to complete.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Chris Donovan and Mark Murray Sonia Sotomayor to sit on the 2nd Circuit back in 1998 , 29 Republicans voted AGAINST her -- including current Sens. Grassley , Hutchison , Kyl , McCain , McConnell , and Sessions (the latter of whom is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee).
But 23 Republicans also voted FOR her -- including current Sens. Collins , Gregg , Hatch , Lugar , Snowe , and Specter (the latter of whom is now a Democrat).
From NBC's Pete Williams, Ken Strickland, and Mark Murray Sonia Sotomayor . Said Wendy Long of the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network: "Judge Sotomayor is a liberal judicial activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important that the law as written. She thinks that judges should dictate policy, and that one's sex, race, and ethnicity ought to affect the decisions one renders from the bench."
Meanwhile, GOP senators aren't as aggressive, but they raise a common theme: that they'll scrutinize Sotomayor's record. Said Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell : "Senate Republicans will treat Judge Sotomayor fairly. But we will thoroughly examine her record to ensure she understands that the role of a jurist in our democracy is to apply the law even-handedly, despite their own feelings or personal or political preferences. Our Democratic colleagues have often remarked that the Senate is not a 'rubber stamp.' Accordingly, we trust they will ensure there is adequate time to prepare for this nomination, and a full and fair opportunity to question the nominee and debate her qualifications."
Added Senate Judiciary Committee member
John Cornyn : "Now that President Obama has nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace Justice Souter on the United States Supreme Court, it is time for the Senate to perform its Constitutional duty of advice and consent. Because Judge Sotomayor would serve for life if she is confirmed, it is essential that the Senate conducts this process thoroughly and the President has assured me that we will have ample time to give Ms. Sotomayor's record a full and fair review."
And here's
Lamar Alexander : "It is the Senate's responsibility to give the president's Supreme Court nominee both respectful and rigorous scrutiny. The nominee should neither be pre-confirmed nor pre-judged."
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
Sources familiar with the process say
President Obama called
Sonia Sotomayor last night at 9:00 pm, and called the other potential picks after that.
Obama then called congressional leaders this morning.
Obama met with Sotomayor last Thursday -- she was at White House for seven hours and went undiscovered.
Aides say the president was "blown away by her -- her personal story, her sharp intellect and confidence, and her experience as prosecutor, trial judge, litigator and appellate judge."
Aides say she has more federal judicial experience than anyone on Supreme Court in 100 years.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro *** It’s Sotomayor: At 10:15 am ET from the White House’s East Room, President Obama will again make history by nominating the first Hispanic to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd Circuit. The big question: Will she survive the confirmation process? Some Senate Democrats worry she'll be a heavier lift than others he could have nominated (like Diane Wood or Elena Kagan). But consider these points: One, it's clear Sotomayor -- whom the president knew the least about when this process began -- blew Obama away when he interviewed her on Thursday. In fact, White House officials believe that once Senate Democrats get to know her, they'll be as blown away as the president was, and she'll be confirmed easily. Two, would Republicans dare vote against the first Hispanic, especially after their rhetoric during the immigration debate of 2006-2007 clearly hurt them with this important voting bloc? And three, don’t ignore the politics surrounding this pick. As we’ve mentioned before, Latino groups have been grumbling somewhat about their representation (or lack thereof) in the Obama administration, as well as the fact that immigration reform doesn’t appear to be on the White House’s front-burner. But this pick buys Obama A LOT of time with Hispanics -- a demographic he won last year, 67%-31% -- on immigration and other issues. Is it a coincidence that Obama this week heads out West to Nevada and California, two states with large Latino populations?
Video: President Obama announces federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Sotomayor’s bio: Here’s the bio we ran on Sotomayor earlier this month : She currently serves on the Second Circuit in New York and was appointed to that position by Bill Clinton. BUT she was appointed to her first federal court appointment by President George H.W. Bush… She checks lots of boxes: Woman. Hispanic. Empathy… While working for the famed Robert Morgenthau in the New York District Attorney's office in the early 1980s, she described herself as a "liberal.”… Also has drawn criticism for saying in 2005: “All of the legal defense funds out there they're looking for people with court of appeals experience because it is-- court of appeals is where policy is made." She tried to backtrack, but conservatives are already rallying to defeat her based on this. Other bio information: Child of parents born in Puerto Rico... Grew up speaking mostly Spanish... Raised in a public housing project in The South Bronx in the shadow of Yankee Stadium... Father died when she was 9... A diehard Yankees fan, she's credited as the judge who saved baseball, issuing an injunction that led the eventual settlement of the 1990s-era Major League Baseball strike... Described by the New York Times in the early 1980s as an incessant smoker… Divorced from Kevin Edward Noonan in 1983 after seven-year marriage (no children). She left the NY District Attorney's office a year later and went into private practice... Graduated summa cum laude in 1976 from Princeton after winning a scholarship to the school... Earned her law degree from Yale in 1979, where she edited the Law Review.
*** Another crisis for Obama: In addition to Sotomayor, the other big political news has been North Korea’s nuclear test, as well as its firing of two short-range missiles. What do you do about a country whose leadership is so unstable it doesn’t respond to normal diplomatic overtures or threats? It’s an enigma wrapped in a riddle. The Washington Post’s editorial page says the time for reacting is gone. "It's time, at last, to break this pattern and call Mr. Kim's bluff. That doesn't mean threats of U.S military action or a blanket refusal to talk with the regime; those tactics have been tried and have failed as well. Instead, Mr. Obama should simply decline to treat North Korea as a crisis, or even as a matter of urgency." Of course, others like Council of Foreign Relations head Richard Haas believe it's time to ratchet things up more and get with Japan and South Korea and outline a "red line" for a military response. Key now is China and Russia, which have both amped up their rhetoric against North Korea more than they did during the Bush and Clinton years. But rhetoric is always the easy part…
*** Viva Las Vegas? After 4:00 pm ET today, Obama heads to Nevada, where he will attend a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who’s up for re-election next year, at Caesar’s Palace at 10:55 pm ET. Awaiting the president is a Republican governor who’s still angry at Obama’s months-old remark that TARP recipients shouldn’t be going on travel junkets to Las Vegas. “I am not interested in a handshake and a hello from President Obama,” Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (R) said, per Nevada political expert Jon Ralston. “I am interested in an apology and plan to undo the damage the President did. Working families are suffering because of the president's remarks. The president should retract his reckless statement about Las Vegas and make a public statement supporting business and tourist travel to Las Vegas and other destinations in the State of Nevada." Of course, note that Gibbons might be trying to create a distraction here, given his own political troubles in the state. Attention reporters: Be sure not to over-report Reid's political troubles -- they are minor compared with Gibbons’. However, the prospect of two Reids (Harry and son Rory) leading the Dem ticket should trouble some Dems. After all, dynasties on the same ballot in the same state can turn off voters. Just ask Mike Huckabee when he and his wife were on the statewide ticket together in 2002. Mike won fairly handily; Janet got clobbered.
*** Another political story to watch out West: The California Supreme Court is set to decide today whether Proposition 8, the state ballot measure banning gay marriage that passed last fall, is constitutional. “Today's ruling decides whether voters had the right, when 52% of them approved Proposition 8 … to amend the state Constitution to solidify the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman,” the San Francisco Chronicle writes. “If the justices uphold Prop. 8, they will also decide whether to dissolve the marriages of 18,000 same-sex couples who wed before the Nov. 4 election.” Per the L.A. Times , “most legal experts expect the court to uphold Proposition 8 but continue to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples wed before the November election.”
*** Report card time: Tomorrow is Day 100 since Obama’s signing of the $787 billion stimulus package. The president will be coming out with a 100-day report card of sorts, as will each impacted cabinet department. Of course, North Korea and the Sotomayor pick will loom over the president's trip out West…
*** Firing up the base: On Friday, former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe fired off a note to Obama’s email list, telling the 10 million-plus members that they’ll be kicking off the grassroots support for health care on June 6. “On June 6th, in thousands of homes across the country, we'll gather to launch our grassroots campaign for health care,” he said in the email. “We'll watch a special message from the President. We'll build the teams and draw up the plans for winning health care reform the same way we won the election: Building support one block, one neighbor, one conversation at a time. And we'll put those plans into action.” The question is whether this grassroots mobilization will be more effective than the previous ones for the stimulus and Obama’s budget, which didn’t seem to fire up the base. Then again, both the stimulus and budget did pass Congress.
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“One day after a surprise nuclear test drew angry and widespread condemnation, North Korea continued its defiance of the international community on Tuesday by test-firing two more short-range missiles, a South Korean government official said,” the New York Times reports.
The Washington Post : “Although Monday's detonation did not appear to be a significant technical advance over Pyongyang's first underground test three years ago, it has triggered a faster and more negative response from other countries, including China and Russia, North Korea's historical allies. The missile firings are adding to the tension.”
The Washington Times wonders whether these latest tests are part of Kim Jong Il's attempts at building a legacy before he steps down.
The Boston Globe calls North Korea’s nuclear test "its most defiant move since President Obama took office" and that it "presents a direct challenge to the new US administration's more conciliatory approach to ending North Korea's nuclear program."
The Washington Post’s editorial : Don’t respond.
CONTINUED >>
Politico looks at how the tide has turned for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. "Although Obama never lost confidence in one of his earliest Cabinet picks, a turning point for Geithner came during a seven-hour marathon meeting at the White House on March 15. The president’s top aides could see that he had thought through all the options and had thoughtful, authoritative answers to all their questions. The scathing Feb. 10 reviews were partly a result of an exhausted, overextended staff. But Geithner has had to work through a presidency’s worth of problems in just a few months."
The Hill takes a look at the possibility of Obama making "recess appointments," which would allow "him to install a nominee who would otherwise need Senate confirmation."
“U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in the past one of China's sharpest critics, Tuesday promoted common ground with China in the fight to combat global warming,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “‘I think this climate crisis is game changing for the U.S.-China relationship. It is an opportunity we cannot miss,’ Ms. Pelosi told the U.S.-China Clean Energy Forum, which brings together experts and businesses from both sides to come up with recommendations on climate-change policy.”
"After a politically messy few weeks that forced them to play defense, Democratic leaders will return to work next week hoping to shift attention back on their top priorities -- namely, a universal health care package and a climate change overhaul," Roll Call writes. "Congress enters a two-month legislative sprint starting June 1. But a slew of intraparty squabbles and ongoing controversies over torture and terror threaten to bog down the meat of the Democrats’ summer agenda." The Hill reports. Immigration reform , meanwhile, could be on the agenda for the fall.
CNN: “As Colin Powell fires back against Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh in the latest skirmish in the battle over the future of the Republican Party, a new national poll indicates that Americans have a much more favorable opinion of Powell than Cheney or Limbaugh. The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey , released Monday, suggests that 70 percent have a favorable opinion of Powell, who was Secretary of State during President George W. Bush's first term, and who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Persian Gulf War.”
“Only 30 percent of those polled have a favorable view of Limbaugh, the popular conservative radio talk show host, with 53 percent saying they hold an unfavorable opinion. In poll numbers released Thursday, 37 percent say they have a favorable opinion of Dick Cheney.”
"Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) is heading to Iowa on June 1 to deliver a keynote political address, tour a biotechnology firm and participate in a meet-and-greet at a local ice cream parlor," Roll Call writes. "Feel free to draw your own conclusions." Roll Call writes. "But Gingrich said he would not even decide on a 2012 White House bid until 2011."
OKLAHOMA: Former Rep. J.C. Watts
won't run for Oklahoma governor. "With Watts out of the race, Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.) is considered the front-runner against state Sen. Randy Brogdon, the only other announced GOP candidate" in the open governor's race.
PENNSYLVANIA: Stu Rothenberg , writing in Roll Call, throws some cold water on claims that Pat Toomey won in a Democratic-leaning district and says flatly that "Toomey is not the front-runner in that race" -- despite a former Toomey chief of staff making the claim.
First Read will be on vacation this long Memorial Day weekend, although we will update the site if news warrants. Otherwise, we'll see you Tuesday morning.
Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend.
THE WEEK AHEAD: Supreme Court choice, Viva Las Vegas, Durbin vs. Gingrich on Meet the Press, and Par-tay!
From NBC's Mark Murray Sarah Palin , Mitt Romney , Mark Sanford , and Bobby Jindal . But not so much on Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- outside of that never-ending recount in his state.
But conservatives are praising what appears to be Pawlenty's victory in his budget standoff with the Dem-controlled Minnesota legislature. Opines Kimberley Strassel in today's Wall Street Journal : "If Republicans are looking to get back their conservative groove, they could do worse than study Minnesota's budget brawl. Mr. Pawlenty deftly (and amusingly) outmaneuvered his Democratic opposition, not only saving his state from huge tax increases but clearing the way to cut government spending. Call it a refreshing break from the financial-crisis norm."
Next up for Pawlenty, though: that contentious Minnesota recount.
From NBC's Mark Murray Michael Steele no longer guest-host Bill Bennett's radio's show?
Subbing for Bennett again, Steele seemed to suggest that
Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination and the presidential contest because he's black -- and because the media didn't vet him due to the color of his skin.
According to the folks at the liberal-leaning
Think Progress blog, Steele said this:
"The problem that we have with this president is we don’t know him. He was not vetted, folks... He was not vetted, because the press fell in love with the black man running for the office. 'Oh gee, wouldn’t it be neat to do that? Gee, wouldn’t it make all of our liberal guilt just go away? We can continue to ride around in our limousines and feel so lucky to be alive in an America with a black president.' Okay that’s wonderful, great scenario, nice backdrop. But what does he stand for? What does he believe?"
He then said Republicans made a mistake by not seizing on Obama's ties to the controversial Jeremiah Wright. "And that's why I keep going to back the point -- the missed opportunity was dissecting and understanding Rev. Wright," Steele said.
From NBC's Mark Murray
Liberty University, the school in Virginia founded by the late
Jerry Falwell , has expelled the Democratic Party club on the campus, saying that the national Democratic Party's views contradict the university's mission. (Hat tip:
Ben Smith .)
Said a school official in an email to the Democratic club, according to the
Lynchburg (VA) newspaper : "The Democratic Party platform is contrary to the mission of Liberty University and to Christian doctrine (supports abortion, federal funding of abortion, advocates repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, promotes the "LGBT" agenda, hate crimes, which include sexual orientation and gender identity, socialism, etc.)."
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe held a conference call with reporters in support of the Democrats at Liberty University.
Of course, one must ask: Just how many Dems attend Liberty?
From NBC's Scott Foster President Obama just congratulated the son of his 2008 Republican rival, John Sidney McCain IV, as the younger McCain today became the fourth McCain to graduate today from the U.S. Naval Academy.
As the two shook hands at
the academy's commencement ceremony , the applause from the crowd was slightly more pronounced compared with the other graduating midshipmen.
Father
John McCain was in the audience for the graduation.
While Obama didn't refer to the Arizona senator in his graduation speech, earlier today he acknowledged McCain's presence at the graduation during a bill signing ceremony on reforming the Pentagon's weapons acquisition program. "Sen. McCain couldn't be here today, because he's making sure he has a good seat to watch his son graduate from the Naval Academy in a few hours. And that's where I'm headed as soon as I catch my ride over here."
From NBC's Mark Murray Creigh Deeds -- the least well-known of the three Dems -- picked up the Washington Post's endorsement , a boost for the sole candidate who hails from outside the DC suburbs.
Second, a new
DailyKos/Research 2000 poll shows
Terry McAuliffe with a sizable lead (36%) over
Brian Moran (22%), and Deeds (13%). Caveat: This race is hard to poll, because we just don't know who will turn out.
Now comes
a new story about the race in National Journal by Jennifer Skalka, who fixes her spotlight on McAuliffe.
"McAuliffe's supporters say he will bowl over the competition by launching an air and ground war (he has more than 50 field workers) that won't be easily rivaled, and that will be built on a retooled Bill Clinton esque 'It's the economy, stupid' message emphasizing job creation. Detractors predict that McAuliffe's appeal will prove quite limited, that voters will reject him as an interloper."
More: In a turn of the screw not lost on local political observers, McAuliffe is playing down the work for which he is best known -- boosting the Clintons -- to cast himself as an independent voice for Virginians. That is a tricky maneuver, given that McAuliffe is simultaneously trying to cash in on Bill Clinton's star power by appearing with him in Richmond, Roanoke, and the state's Washington suburbs... Obama's landslide in [Virginia's primary] signaled the state's lack of interest in Clinton 2.0. So McAuliffe is refashioning himself in the model of, well, Obama -- a post-partisan figure devoted to job creation and renewable energy. But questions remain: Why does the salesman want to govern? And can he win?"
From NBC's Mark Murray cover story of the latest issue of National Journal , Ron Brownstein brings up a theme we've discussed here: the Republican Party's increasingly geographic isolation to the South -- and the potential political problem that poses for the party.
"Republican strength in the South has both compensated for and masked the extent of the GOP’s decline elsewhere. By several key measures, the party is now weaker outside the South than at any time since the Depression; in some ways, it is weaker than ever before," Brownstein writes. "Today the GOP holds a smaller share of non-Southern seats in the House and Senate than at any other point in its history except the apex of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s popularity during the early days of the New Deal. What is perhaps even more dramatic is that Republicans in the past five presidential elections have won a smaller share of the Electoral College votes available outside of the South than in any other five election sequence since the party’s formation in 1854."
In the story, former New Hampshire Rep. Charlie Bass (R) says this: “The current crisis of the Republican Party is whether it wants to be a regional party or whether it can try to expand ideologically and appeal to other regions.”
So far in the first four months of the Obama presidency -- with Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switching parties, with Jon Huntsman of Utah going to work for Obama (and refused to speak to a Michigan GOP country because he wasn't conservative enough) -- we've gotten an early answer to Bass's question.
From Chuck Todd and Mark Murray The week that was : In the first four months of the Obama presidency, these past seven days might very well have been the toughest for the young administration and the Democratic Congress. The president received flak from the right and left over his national security positions; he suffered his biggest congressional setback when Congress stripped his desired funding to close the Gitmo prison; and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a rough week in her back-and-forth with the CIA (and tries to turn the page today with her weekly press conference at 10:15 am ET). But things this week were neither as bad for Democrats -- and good for Republicans -- as you might think. Although not in the spotlight, Congress passed two more pieces of legislation, on weapons acquisition reform and on credit cards, which President Obama signs into law today. (By the way, this is the umpteenth time the White House has broken its five-day review pledge.) Republicans can certainly say a lot of things about the Democrats in Congress and at the White House, but they can’t criticize them for being unproductive. This is no do-nothing Congress. In addition, while Republicans obviously are enjoying putting Obama and Pelosi on the defensive, you have to wonder whether highlighting Michael Steele, Dick Cheney, and a resolution equating Democrats as socialists was a positive development for them, at least in the long run.
Video: In dueling speeches delivered Thursday, President Barack Obama defended his plan to close Guantanamo, but former Vice President Dick Cheney made it clear that he viewed things very differently. NBC's Andrea Mitchell, Pete Williams, and David Gregory report.
***
Buying time : As for Obama’s speech yesterday, it was uncanny how similar it was to the one on race he gave a year ago in Philadelphia. It took place in a symbolic setting (the Constitution Center in Philly vs. the National Archives in DC); it touched on his own biography (“I stand here today as someone whose own life was made possible by these documents” -- the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence, he said yesterday); and it came at a time when he found himself on the defensive (Jeremiah Wright vs. national security). Unlike his speech on race, however, yesterday’s wasn’t a homerun, though Obama’s singles and doubles still look pretty. Also, as expected, it was short on details about what he plans to do with those Gitmo detainees. Finally, Obama was more defensive than we've seen in a while, and the nuance that he preached just isn't as accepted by partisans on either side of these thorny national security issues. But what the speech did do was buy himself time with Congress and the American public before Gitmo closes in January. And in the meantime, the administration hopes stories like this
Washington Post piece sink in: “Thirty-three international terrorists, many with ties to al-Qaeda, reside in a single federal prison in Florence, Colo., with little public notice.” What say you, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and Harry Reid?
***
Cheney’s turn : As for Cheney’s speech, the former vice president probably should have taken a few extra minutes to tweak his remarks. For instance, the part that hit Obama for not believing we're at war seemed odd, since the president spent a good chunk of his speech talking about just that -- we're at war. In fact, Obama’s war rhetoric was so striking that Jon Stewart found it rather easy to compare Obama's words to, ready for this, former President Bush. As for the rest of Cheney's speech, the play it's getting is probably what the White House was gambling on when it decided to elevate the ex-VP by giving his speech on the same day. Bottom line: Cheney's positions on national security are more popular than Cheney himself, and that may explain the motivation on the White House part to pick Cheney. Another thing: The style contrast between Obama and Cheney was more striking than the issue differences -- Obama's nuance and search for the middle ground, versus Cheney's assuredness and black-and-white rhetoric. And don’t miss this from
David Brooks : “When Cheney lambastes the change in security policy, he’s not really attacking the Obama administration. He’s attacking the Bush administration. In his speech on Thursday, he repeated in public a lot of the same arguments he had been making within the Bush White House as the policy decisions went more and more the other way.”
*** Changing the conversation : Back to Obama’s speech, one of his other goals was to get the national security conversation to the point that it goes back to page A4. Indeed, while we’re all fixated on the national security fight, check out all the other things Obama has accomplished this week:
-- May 18: Met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Middle East peace
-- May 19: Announced new national fuel efficiency standards
-- May 20: Signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act & the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act;
-- May 22: Signs the defense acquisition and credit card reforms into law. Also today, at 10:00 am ET, Obama gives his third and final commencement address this season -- to the Naval Academy’s graduating seniors. As Politico notes, one of those graduating seniors is John McCain’s son, Jack, and the whole McCain family will be in attendance.
*** Pure energy : Last night, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the long-awaited cap-and-trade bill. It’s amazing the attention a committee passage for a bill got yesterday. The fact that some environmental groups (like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen) are against the legislation may be music to the White House’s ears; when they get attacked from the left, it gives them the opportunity to look like the pragmatic compromisers. Maybe this energy bill has a better shot at passage this year than the developing C.W. had indicated a few months ago.
*** Mr. Deeds : Creigh Deeds getting the Washington Post’s endorsement today might be the death knell for Brian Moran. Yet if Moran continues to launch negatives on McAuliffe, then watch out for Deeds. Everything is going exactly the way Deeds needs it to go in a three-way race: He gets the Post endorsement for Northern Virginia, and Moran and McAuliffe are butting heads.
***
Meet Leah Ward Sears : Today, we profile SCOTUS possibility Leah Ward Sears, 53, who currently serves as the chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court; she was originally appointed to the court by Gov. Zell Miller in 1992… Is an African-American woman, and the conventional wisdom is that Obama will pick a woman, a minority, or both… She and her husband, Haskell Ward, both donated to Obama’s presidential campaign… Despite their opposing judicial philosophies, is friendly with Clarence Thomas; he reached out to her during her 1992 re-election bid when she was a target by some due to her race… In the widely reported case of 17-year-old Genarlow Wilson -- who was convicted of aggravated child molestation for having consensual oral sex with a 15 year-old girl -- wrote for the majority that Wilson’s punishment was "grossly disproportionate" to the crime, which "did not rise to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children."… Before joining the Georgia Supreme Court, served on the state’s Superior Court and on Atlanta’s city court… Received her law degree from Emory University (1979) and her undergraduate degree from Cornell (1976).
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“In back-to-back speeches, President Obama and former vice president Dick Cheney faced off yesterday, both forcefully presenting their sharply different views on how to keep America safe from terrorism, the effectiveness of harsh interrogations, and whether the 240 Guantanamo Bay detainees pose an imminent danger if brought to American soil,” the Boston Globe writes.
Video: President Obama delivers his address on national security, terrorism and the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison. The
Wall Street Journal says, “Mr. Obama, speaking forcefully from the rotunda of the National Archives before the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, sought to regain the high ground in the debate, arguing that his changes were needed to restore ‘the power of our most fundamental values.’ He conceded that some key Bush-era policies would remain, from extralegal military commissions to indefinite detentions. But he said he had hoped that by banning interrogation techniques that others have called torture, and by vowing to close Guantanamo Bay in his first week as president, he would move beyond the divisive debates of the past few years, and pivot to his ambitious domestic agenda.”
Video: Former Vice President Dick Cheney delivers his speech on national security. The
Washington Post : “Presidential scholars could not recall another moment when consecutive administrations intersected so early and in such a public way.”
Politico adds, “The most popular politician in the country found himself pushed up against a wall by one of the least popular in Cheney – the leading voice in a budding Republican attack on Obama over national defense, one of the GOP’s oldest (and most successful) cudgels against Democrats.”
CONTINUED >>
Politico: "After a one-two punch from Newt Gingrich and Dick Cheney, House Minority Leader John Boehner and other Republican lawmakers worry that their party has overplayed its hand on Nancy Pelosi. The Republicans’ fear: Gingrich’s call for Pelosi’s ouster has set an unattainable goal, and Cheney’s jabs at her during a speech Thursday will allow Democrats to portray the controversy as a partisan attack by one of the GOP’s most polarizing figures. ‘If the story becomes about us and not her, it’s a problem for us,’ said a senior Republican lawmaker.”
“A bill to create the first national limit on greenhouse-gas emissions was approved by a House committee yesterday after a week of late-night debates that cemented the shift of climate change from rhetorical jousting to a subject of serious, if messy, Washington policymaking,” the
Washington Post reports. “The 33 to 25 vote was a major victory for House Democrats, who had softened and jury-rigged the bill to reassure manufacturers and utilities -- and members of their own party from the South and Midwest -- that they would not suffer greatly.”
More: “President Obama supports the bill, an aide said yesterday, though some provisions are weaker than what he advocated during the presidential campaign. In particular, Obama called for all pollution credits to be auctioned off by the government, but the House bill would give away about 85 percent of them. After that shift and a weakening of the bill's demands for new renewable electricity, the environmental group Greenpeace withdrew its support. But many environmental activists have accepted the changes.”
In a conference call with reporters, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger said she was optimistic about Congress's chances of passing the contentious Employee Free Choice Act, a.k.a "card check," NBC's Harry Enten reports. "There needs to be a vote on [the legislation]... I think there is going to be a vote one way or another. I think we are going to pass the Employee Free Choice Act."
The RNC has a new
Web video – drawing on that old LBJ “Daisy” ad -- that hits the Obama administration over Gitmo.
From NBC's Mark Murray National Review political blog , former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney weighed in on today's Obama vs. Cheney showdown on national security. And he vigorously sided with the former vice president.
"Two speeches, two very different men," Romney writes. "Former Vice President Cheney seeks no political future. He speaks from the vantage of one who witnessed the killing of our fellow citizens, who deliberated and defined the strategy that would successfully prevent further murders of our fellow Americans. His address today was direct, well-reasoned, and convincing."
Romney continues, "President Obama, on the other hand, continues to speak as a politician... He struggles to explain how he is keeping faith with the liberal advocates who promoted his campaign but in doing so, he breaks faith with the interests of the American people. When it comes to protecting the nation, we have a conflicted president. And his address today was more tortured than the enhanced interrogation techniques he decries."
From NBC's Athena Jones America's founding documents are a compass that must guide government decisions on national security, President Obama told the audience at the National Archives, defending steps he says will make the country safer and improve its image in the world.
In a wide-ranging, 50-minute speech, the president addressed critics on the right and left -- without mentioning any by name. He spoke about his decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and how his administration would seek handle detainees; about his move to release legal memos on enhanced interrogation techniques; about his plans to overhaul the military commissions system; and about his decision not to release photos depicting torture of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama said the Guantanamo Bay prison was a result of "a series of hasty decisions" that were "based on fear rather than foresight, and all too often trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions." But he also acknowledged that cleaning up the "misguided experiment" would be complicated.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Luke Russert Steny Hoyer vigorously defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today. Hoyer stepped up to the press podium after GOP Rep. Rob Bishop introduced a resolution calling for a bipartisan investigation into Pelosi's claim that the CIA misled her about the use of waterboarding. The measure was later tabled by the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Defending Pelosi, Hoyer said: "I have been saying for some weeks now that Republicans are pursuing a policy of distraction -- a policy of trying to divert the view of the American public from the serious business that confronts this Congress and this country." He then repeated an old line from former Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt saying: "Republicans for the last few weeks have been focused on the politics of personal destruction." Hoyer, then quoting a line from Time magazine, added: "[I]n looking at the substance of the accusations, it increasingly looks like she [Pelosi] was right."
One of Hoyer's lines of defense was to repeat statements made by top Republican officials over the past five years that were highly critical of the intelligence community. Hoyer quoted Minority Leader John Boehner as saying on December 9th, 2007 in regards to the national intelligence estimate on Iran: "Either I don't have confidence in what the intelligence community told me several months ago, or I don't have confidence in what they are telling me today." Then Hoyer quoted Newt Gingrich on the same estimate in 2007 as saying: "It is so professionally unworthy intellectually indefensible and fundamentally misleading it is damaging to our national security."
Hoyer's tone was stern and serious, and it was clear he was fervently backing up the leader of his caucus. Hoyer rejected Boehner's call for a bipartisan commission to investigate Pelosi's charge that the CIA lied to her and instead called for an investigation into how the United States supposedly allowed torture to occur. *** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Luke Russert 411-0 vote , the House of Representatives passed the Weapons Acquisition System Reform Through Enhancing Technical Knowledge and Oversight Act of 2009. The legislation now heads to President Obama's desk, which he will surely sign.
The weapons bill aims to give the government more oversight regarding the specifics of the military's budget in order to curb wasteful spending. Among the reforms within the bill are the following:
The bill sailed through the Senate by a vote of 93-0. The Congressional Budget Office says the new reforms will cost about $55 million dollars and should be in place by the end of 2010. It is expected that the reforms will save millions if not billions of dollars over the next decade.
From NBC's Mark Murray
Reacting to
President Obama's speech, Senate Majority
Harry Reid told reporters today that he and other members of Congress are still awaiting details about the president's plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Reid has previously said that he opposes the transfer of Gitmo detainees to the United States. Asked today if Obama's speech had made him soften his opposition, Reid called the address "a broad vision," but said he is looking forward to the details when they come out. "We want and are willing to work with him to close Gitmo," the senator said.
Asked what else Congress and the American people need to hear from Obama on Gitmo, Reid answered, "I'm going to leave that to the president."
"He is better at speaking than I am."
From NBC's Luke Russert and Mark Murray
Responding to
President Obama's national security speech today, House Minority Leader
John Boehner criticized the president's stance on the closing of Guantanamo Bay. "Republicans oppose releasing these terrorists or importing them into our local communities," he said today at his weekly press conference.
Boehner also accused Obama of holding a "pre-9/11 mentality" in fighting terrorism -- which he argued has made America less safe. "Today, the president spoke a great deal about trust, but he declined to provide Americans with a clear plan for what to do with these terrorists," he added.
"What he did make clear, however, was that despite the overwhelming opposition from the American people and a bipartisan majority here in Congress, he's moving ahead importing terrorists into the United States for trial in our own civilian courts. I think this is a pre-9/11 mentality and I think it'll make our nation less safe. We cannot afford to learn the same lesson twice."
Also in his press conference, Boehner again went on the attack against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her back-and-forth with the CIA. He also noted that House Republicans were introducing a resolution to launch an investigation into Pelosi's allegations that the CIA misled her on the use of waterboarding. As expected, however, the Democratic-controlled House tabled the measure.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland
Republican Senate Leader
Mitch McConnell said Congress didn't need another speech from
President Obama , but instead needs a plan for closing Gitmo. "A big flowery campaign speech is fine," McConnell said at a news conference. "But what the Congress voted for yesterday is not for a speech, but for a plan."
He again criticized the president for setting an "arbitrary" deadline for closing the facility, adding that neither former
President Bush nor Sen.
John McCain set deadlines when they recommended closing Gitmo. "And the reason they didn't is because it's easier said than done," McConnell said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray
President Obama makes wise decisions, as I believe he has done in some respects on Afghanistan, and in reversing his plan to release incendiary photos, he deserves our support. And when he faults or mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer.
Video: Former Vice President Dick Cheney delivers a speech on national security. On enhanced interrogation techniques:
I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program. The interrogations were used on hardened terrorists after other efforts failed. They were legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do... [T]o call this a program of torture is to libel the dedicated professionals who have saved American lives, and to cast terrorists and murderers as innocent victims. What's more, to completely rule out enhanced interrogation methods in the future is unwise in the extreme. It is recklessness cloaked in righteousness, and would make the American people less safe.
Bush administration's record:
From NBC's Mark Murray President Obama's speech today on national security, on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, and on transparency.
On the U.S. Constitution and American values
Video: President Obama delivers an address on national security, terrorism and the closing of Guantanamo Bay prison. On the
Bush administration
After 9/11, we knew that we had entered a new era -- that enemies who did not abide by any law of war would present new challenges to our application of the law... Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, our government made a series of hasty decisions. I believe that many of these decisions were motivated by a sincere desire to protect the American people. But I also believe that all too often our government made decisions based on fear rather than foresight.
From NBC's Amna Nawaz About a dozen cameras and a packed room await Cheney's speech. A big screen has been set up in the small room, where the Obama speech will be piped into the Cheney audience.
Cheney's speech will immediately follow Obama's.
From NBC's Mark Murray and Michael Viqueira
At some point today, a Republican member of Congress will
introduce a measure on the House floor , calling for a bipartisan investigation into the back-and-forth between House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and the CIA.
The resolution has absolutely no chance of passing, but this is yet another way House Republicans are trying to keep Pelosi in the news -- even on a day dominated by Obama's and Cheney's dueling speeches on national security.
"The Speaker has had a full week now to either produce the evidence or retract and apologize, and she's done neither," a senior GOP aide tells First Read. There is no choice now. A bipartisan investigation is needed to get to the facts."
From Chuck Todd and Mark Murray *** Showdown over security : Last year was the first presidential contest since 1952 when a sitting president or vice president wasn’t on the ballot. But what if Dick Cheney had run to succeed the term-limited Bush? That’s a question New York Times columnist Ross Douthat raised last month, arguing that Cheney as the GOP nominee would have been good for the Republican Party, in general, because he would have been a more down-the-line conservative -- giving the right a look at how the campaign would have turned out in that case. Douthat also said that Cheney as the nominee would have been good for the country, because it would have settled the debate once and for all over the Bush administration’s interrogation practices; McCain, of course, opposed them. Alas, we never got that Obama-Cheney presidential race. But we get the next-best thing today: a debate between the two over torture and security policies. Obama speaks at 10:10 am ET from the National Archives, home to the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence. And then about 30 minutes later at the American Enterprise Institute, a neoconservative think tank, Cheney delivers a competing speech to defend the Bush administration’s interrogation practices and policies toward terrorist suspects in general.
Video: President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney are set to give competing speeches on national security and the president’s plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center. NBC’s Chuck Todd reports. ***
Previewing Obama’s speech : According to an administration official,
Obama’s speech will stress that keeping Americans safe is his paramount responsibility (“That is what the president thinks about every morning when he wakes up and every night when he goes to sleep”); that the previous administration’s policies weren’t effective or sustainable and “failed to trust in our institutions, and … failed to use our values as a compass”; that enhanced interrogation techniques aren’t effective and undermine the rule of law; and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay has weakened U.S. security (“For over seven years, we have detained hundreds of people at Guantanamo. During that time, the system of Military Commissions at Guantanamo succeeded in convicting only three suspected terrorists,” the official says.) As for what Obama plans to do with the Gitmo detainees, the official explains: 1) when feasible, try those who have violated U.S. laws in federal courts, 2) when necessary, try those violate the rule of war through military commissions, and 3) when possible, transfer detainees who can be transferred to third countries. One issue you should NOT expect the president to mention: Nancy Pelosi.
***
Previewing Cheney’s speech : Meanwhile, Politico’s Mike Allen gets a heads-up of what Cheney will say. The gist: “When President Obama makes wise decisions, he deserves our support. And when he mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer. The point is not to look backward. But a truthful telling of history is necessary to inform our choices going forward.” Allen also notes that Cheney will defend the effectiveness of Gitmo and enhanced interrogation techniques. Finally, Cheney will “say the American people deserve to see the whole picture as they assess the policies of the past -- not just half the story.” We've also gotten a heads-up on what the former VP will say. It's our understanding that among the praise Cheney will dish out will be the administration's decision to rescind releasing those military prison abuse photos. For his part, Cheney believes his role is helping keep the Obama administration from capitulating to the left on these national security issues, which he believes is its natural instinct. Cheney also will continue to make the case that the prosecution of the war on terror should be kept out of the hands of law enforcement and should stay in the hands of the military.
*** Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear : The hoopla over today’s dueling speeches on national security, however, is a bit ironic. As Jack Goldsmith, who served as Bush’s assistant attorney general, writes in the New Republic , many of Obama’s recent decisions on national security are much closer to the late Bush practices than many expected. Goldsmith offers a few reasons why the practices are similar: 1) that the Bush policies “were woven into the fabric of the national security architecture” in ways that are difficult to unravel; 2) that Bush’s policies reflected longstanding decisions on some executive powers; and 3) that governing is much harder than campaigning, especially when it comes to protecting the country. All that said, Goldsmith explains that the biggest difference between the Bush and Obama as it relates to terrorism is packaging. “The Bush administration shot itself in the foot time and time again … by indifference to process and presentation. The Obama administration, by contrast, is intensely focused on these issues.” He adds that the biggest mistake Bush and Cheney made: going public with their belief that executive power should be expanded.
*** The context : Today’s Obama and Cheney speeches come amidst some new national security developments. First, per NBC’s Pete Williams, Obama administration officials say they’ve decided on the first Guantanamo Bay detainee, Ahmed Ghailani, who will be brought to the U.S. to stand trial on terrorism charges. Ghailani is under indictment for his role in the Africa embassy bombings in 1998, and federal prosecutors would put him on trial in New York. Williams says that makes sense, because other defendants in the embassy bombings were tried and convicted there. Second, NBC’s Williams also reports that federal and local authorities said last night they've defeated a plot to attack several targets in the New York City area, including synagogues. They say it was the plan of four men who have long been under investigation. Third, the New York Times gets its hands on an unreleased Pentagon report concluding that “one in seven of the 534 prisoners already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has returned to terrorism or militant activity.”
Video: Under questioning on Capitol Hill, FBI Director Robert Mueller sides with Republican critics of the Obama administration concerned that terror detainees will end up on U.S. soil. NBC's Pete Williams reports. ***
Republicans making hay out of Gitmo : In recent days, the controversy over the prison at Guantanamo Bay has proven to be perhaps the most frustrating issue for the young Obama administration. And for that, the Obama folks can thank congressional Republicans, who have made considerable political hay out of this. As the
AP puts it, Republicans “have searched mightily for a good political issue this year as their traditional three Gs — gays, guns and God — have lost some steam. Now a fourth G — Guantanamo Bay — is handing them big boost, forcing President Barack Obama on the defensive.” Yet NBC’s Ken Strickland points out that the debate over where to put Gitmo detainees is a question that shows fractures inside both the Democratic and Republican caucuses. Some Republicans (like Mitch McConnell) don’t want to close Gitmo at all, arguing that it’s a safe and secure prison. But some Republicans (like John McCain) and most Democrats want to close Gitmo but see an Obama plan first. There are other Democrats (like Harry Reid) who want to close Gitmo but ensure that the detainees don’t come to the U.S. And then there are Democrats (like Dianne Feinstein) who want to close Gitmo and think detainees can be housed in U.S.-based prisons.
Video: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz joins the Morning Joe gang to discuss President Obama’s campaign promises, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's charge that she was misled about the use of waterboarding, and the future of the Guantanamo Bay prison. ***
Don’t miss this …: Very quietly yesterday, the Obama administration did something the previous Bush administration could never do: issue a memo to all federal agencies to be mindful of states rights. That's right -- Obama's administration issues a pro-states rights memo. Believe it or not, according to NBC's Pete Williams, the Bush 43 administration never put out a basic guiding memo to federal agencies on how to handle state regulations when they potentially conflict with federal regulations. Williams says that Reagan, Bush 41 and Clinton also issued a memo like this, but Bush 43 never did. The wording of this memo may seem contradictory to those on the right who want to believe that the Obama administration wants to concentrate MORE power with the federal government. And for those who love irony, keep reading...
*** Pot meet kettle : Yesterday afternoon, the Republican National Committee -- avoiding embarrassment -- watered down its resolution renaming the Democratic Party the “Democrat-Socialist Party,” and instead passed a resolution saying that the Democrats are “dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals.” RNC Chairman Michael Steele then released this statement: "The Republican Party strongly believes that a government which spends without restraint, incurs record amounts of debt, owns banks and makes cars is not the right kind of 'change' America needs.” But here’s the problem for Steele and the GOP, and here’s why Steele was a bit premature saying the party no longer needs to look back: Steele’s sentence -- sans the line about the cars -- could also apply to George W. Bush’s presidency.
*** Courting Wood : The buzz about Diane Wood for the open SCOTUS slot reached a bit of a fever pitch yesterday, as it's clear from multiple sources and reports she sat down with Obama in a one-on-one interview for the job. Perhaps the only thing keeping the president from having already named Wood: her age, 58. Many on the left would like to see the president nominate someone to the courts who’s a bit younger, a la John Roberts.
*** Meet Johnnie Rawlinson : Our latest profile of Obama’s potential SCOTUS picks is Johnnie Rawlinson, 56, who currently sits on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, nominated to the position by Bill Clinton in 2000…. As a black female, she checks the boxes of what Obama might be looking for (either a woman or a minority)… Was Harry Reid’s choice -- though second choice -- as a federal district judge in 1997, and has known Reid since he was on the Nevada Gaming Commission from 1977-1981… Has said this about race relations: “I can say truthfully, race relations have improved a thousand fold in the U.S. However, when I'm outside this building, people are taken aback that I'm a judge who's African-American. I think that's a testament to the fact that it has not become commonplace and evidence of the work we need to do, so that there is no surprise when there's an African-American judge, or a judge of any other ethnicity or a judge who's in a wheelchair."… Before being selected to the bench, worked in Clark County’s (NV) DA office… Earned law degree from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law (1979)… Earned undergraduate degree from North Carolina A&T State University (1974).
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Talk about the search for "green shoots.” Check out this
Washington Post lead: "The financial system, frozen solid for the past nine months, is in a spring thaw. And it's happening even though many of the Obama administration's major rescue programs have yet to get off the ground. The improvement reflects the combined impact of a wide range of actions, many of them taken with little public attention, according to government officials and private economists. But more important than any single program, the sources say, is a deepening confidence from financial markets that the government is prepared to take aggressive action -- a confidence that Obama officials have repeatedly worked to cultivate in speeches and public appearances."
“President Obama will attempt today to answer critics of his dismantling of Bush-era policies on detention and interrogation, in a speech reminding Americans that strong national security and adherence to laws and national values are not mutually exclusive,” the Washington Post reports. “Beyond this lofty reassurance, senior administration officials said, Obama will also repeat the case he made on his third day in office that the Bush administration's system of dealing with ‘enemy combatants’ -- resulting in three prosecutions in seven years and challenged by U.S. courts and allies -- was not sustainable.”
Obama’s speech comes as the New York Times front-pages this news: “An unreleased Pentagon report concludes that about one in seven of the 534 prisoners already transferred abroad from the detention center in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has returned to terrorism or militant activity… The conclusion could strengthen the arguments of critics who have warned against the transfer or release of any more detainees as part of President Obama’s plan to shut down the prison by January. Past Pentagon reports on Guantánamo recidivism have been met with skepticism from civil liberties groups and criticized for their lack of detail.”
The Times also reports on a closed-door meeting that Obama had with human-rights groups yesterday. “The two participants, outsiders who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the session was intended to be off the record, said they left the meeting dismayed. They said Mr. Obama told them he was thinking about ‘the long game’ — how to establish a legal system that would endure for future presidents. He raised the issue of preventive detention himself, but made clear that he had not made a decision on it. Several senior White House officials did not respond to requests for comment on the outsiders’ accounts.”
CONTINUED >>
According to the Washington Post , the Supreme Court buzz has centered on two possibilities: Diane Wood of the 7th Circuit and Solicitor General Elena Kagan. And Obama met with Wood yesterday. “Wood arrived in Washington on Tuesday to attend a conference at the Georgetown University Law Center, but she met with Obama as well, according to an individual familiar with the vetting process. Wood is a 14-year veteran of the federal bench and has known Obama since both taught at the University of Chicago Law School.”
Wood was at the White House yesterday, though no one saw her meet with the president. But according to multiple sources, she did have some one-on-one time with the president. Of course, the elephant in the room with Wood is that she's in her late 50s, and there are a bunch of liberals who would like to see the president borrow a page from the Bush playbook and find the youngest qualified court folks as possible.
CALIFORNIA : George Will hails the voters in the state for rejecting those budget ballot measures and wonders if Obama ends up bailing out the state. "California's voters are complicit in their state's collapse. They elect and reelect the legislators off whom public employees unions batten. Also, voters have promiscuously used their state's plebiscitary devices to control and fatten the budget. In November, as the dark fiscal clouds lowered, they authorized $9.95 billion more in debt as a down payment on a perhaps $75 billion high-speed-rail project linking San Francisco and Los Angeles -- a delight California cannot afford.”
“In a surreal attempt to terrify voters into supporting the propositions, Schwarzenegger (job approval: 33 percent) threatened to do something sensible: sell such state assets as San Quentin prison, which sits on prime ocean-view real estate. But Californians should now pay a real price, in realism about ways and means, for Schwarzenegger's wasted years. His governance-by-attention-deficit-disorder has involved flitting from one trendy irrelevance (e.g., stem-cell research) to another (e.g., cooling the planet) while the state has sagged. Fittingly, he was in Washington as his shambolic legacy was being defined by Tuesday's defeat. "
NORTH CAROLINA : GOP Sen. Richard Burr, who, if he wins re-election in 2010, could end up becoming a rising national star, is taking the lead for the Senate GOP on the issue of health care. "The Republican plan would tax health- care benefits that workers receive. But it would then give tax credits to families to buy their own health insurance on the free market. The effect could be to reduce the employer-based health insurance system commonly in use now. Burr says families ought to have more choice in their health coverage.”
“Meanwhile, Obama and congressional Democrats are pushing to cover 50 million uninsured Americans through both government and private health insurance programs The GOP proposal, written with Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and two House members, draws from the proposal that Republican John McCain used last year in his failed presidential bid. McCain in turn borrowed health-care ideas that Burr and Coburn first introduced in 2007.
PENNSYLVANIA : Vice President Biden has penned a letter for new Democrat Arlen Specter, reports the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza. "Three weeks ago, my friend Senator Arlen Specter added one more feat to his long and impressive career -- he became a Democrat," Biden writes to the more than 500,000 Pennsylvanians on Obama’s email list. "Over the years, we've certainly had our disagreements. During that time, however, Arlen has been my friend, my confidant, and my partner in enacting many pieces of significant legislation." Biden adds, "I know that once you come to know him like I do, you'll be just as happy as I am to have him.”
From NBC's Joel Seidman and Mark Murray
The resolution stated "that the Democratic Party is dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals," and it urged President Obama , the Congress, and the Dem Party to "stop pushing our country towards socialism and governmental control."
RNC Chairman Michael Steele issued this statement after the resolution passed: "The Republican Party strongly believes that a government which spends without restraint, incurs record amounts of debt, owns banks and makes cars is not the right kind of 'change' America needs. Republicans are united in opposition to the destructive policies of the President and Congressional Democrats. I am pleased that the committee adopted a resolution that focuses on the Democrats' policies and their destructive effects on America's economic engine, rather than attempting to rename our opponents. The RNC and the entire Republican Party is moving forward with strength and unity."
From NBC's Pete Williams Eric Holder says that despite the pushback from Congress, he believes the administration will achieve its goal of closing down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility by next January.
"We will be working with Congress to ensure ways that we can reach that goal. I'm confident that we'll be able to do it," he said today at a news conference on health-care fraud.
Asked about FBI Director Robert Mueller's statement today that the Gitmo detainees could pose a threat, even if held in a high-security U.S. prison, Holder said: "I've made consistently clear is that we're not going to do anything that's going to put the American people at risk."
But he said Mueller's concerns will be "taken into account in formulating the plan that we will ultimately use."
From NBC's Abby Livingston Al Franken was unable to appear in person today at the America's Building Trades Union's 2009 Legislative Conference in Washington, he did show up on live video via satellite.
Despite his past life as a comedic celebrity -- and controversial political figure -- Franken has kept a decidedly low profile as the recount has dragged on.
But he was classic Franken today, with lots of pro-union rhetoric. And he was unyielding in his conviction that he won the Minnesota Senate race. For Franken, the word “if” doesn’t exist; it is “when” he will be seated.
"I owe all of you a huge thank you. When you win an election by 312 votes, you know that not one bit of effort went to waste. And it's safe to say that without all of your help, I wouldn't have won this election,” he said.
Franken continued, “Now speaking of this election, many of you have been wondering when it's finally going to be over. We're almost done here with the legal proceedings here in Minnesota. But to tell you the truth, I don't know exactly when I'll get to be seated in Washington, but here is what I do know: I do know that Minnesota had a fair election and a careful recount and I know that I won."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Luke Russert
By a bipartisan 367-61 vote, the House this afternoon passed the Credit Cardholder's Bill of Rights Act of 2009. It passed the Senate yesterday by a 90-5 margin.
Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner said in a briefing on Tuesday that the bill will provide "a more fair, transparent and simple consumer credit card market." The bill has been deemed consumer friendly by many leading consumer rights groups, and is aimed at cutting down the rising interest rates placed on credit card holders who are more than 30 days late. Here are a few highlights of what the new laws will do for Americans:
-- The bill would extend the grace period from 30 to 60 days before credit card companies could increase the interest rate on the consumer's balance. That effectively bans "universal default," which is the practice of raising interest rates after a customer is 30 days late. If the customer pays on time after the 60 days for six months, the credit card company must revert back to the old interest rate.
-- If the credit card company decides to increase the interest rate on its customers universally, it must give the customers 45 days notice before implementing the new rate.
-- The bill also calls for credit card companies to freeze the initial interest rate of the cardholder for the first year they have the card. And it prohibits credit card companies from charging cardholders a penalty fee when they exceed their credit limit, unless they specifically agree to the penalty in writing.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Harry Enten Artur Davis leads two potential rivals for the Democratic nomination, as well as one Republican rival in the general election, according to a new Anzalone-Liszt Research poll commissioned by the Davis campaign.
In head-to-head matchups, Davis leads Democratic Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobbs , 54%-25%, and Commissioner of Agriculture and Industry Ron Sparks , 56%-26%. He's also ahead of Republican Bradley Byrne , 43%-38%. Byrne is chancellor of Alabama's community college system and a former state senator.
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Mark Murray
In advance of
Dick Cheney's big speech on national security tomorrow,
Colin Powell fired back at the former vice president and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh for their recent comments criticizing Powell for endorsing
Obama last fall.
"Rush Limbaugh says, 'Get out of the Republican Party,'" Powell said at a event yesterday in Boston, according to the
Boston Globe . "Dick Cheney says, 'He's already out.' I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there's another version of the Republican Party waiting to emerge once again."
More from the Globe: "Powell, who was talked about as a presidential candidate himself over the year, called Obama 'a transformational figure' who 'brings a fresh set of eyes, a fresh set of ideas' at a time the nation urgently needs them. 'He has met the standard of being president,' he said."
From NBC's Ken Strickland 90-6 margin , the Senate today voted to strip the money to close the Guantanamo Bay prison from the war supplemental legislation.
Those voting no: Durbin , Harkin , Leahy , Levin , Reed , Whitehouse (all Democrats)
Not voting today: Byrd, Kennedy , and Rockefeller
*** UPDATE ***
The chief concern, and possibly the most pressing question, for President Obama to address in his GITMO speech tomorrow is where to put the detainees if Gitmo closes. (Some Republicans think it should stay open.) It's a question that shows fractures among both Democratic and Republican caucuses. Here's a quick look at the various views in the Senate.
DON'T CLOSE GITMO AT ALL (Repubs): Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (today on Senate floor): "In my view, these men are exactly where they belong: locked up in a safe and secure prison, and isolated many miles away from the American people. Guantanamo is a secure state-of-the-art facility. It's got courtrooms for military commissions. Everyone who visits is impressed with it. Even the administration acknowledges that Guantanamo is humane and well-run. Americans want these men kept out of their backyards and off the battlefield. Guantanamo guarantees it."
CLOSE GITMO, BUT GET A PLAN FIRST (many Repubs and most Dems): Republican John McCain (yesterday on the floor): "I continue to believe that it is in the interests of the United States of America to close Guantanamo. But all policy-makers must understand just how essential it is to gain the trust of the American people on this sensitive national security issue. We cannot simply proceed without explaining to the American people what the plan is for how these prisoners will be handled in a way that is consistent with American values and protective of our national security."
CLOSE GITMO, BUT DON'T BRING THE DETAINEES TO THE U.S. (Reid and some Dems who's been asked about detainees in their home state prisons):
CLOSE GITMO, THE U.S. CAN HOLD THEM IN SECURE FACILITIES (some Dems):
From NBC's Pete Williams
In a surprisingly candid statement, FBI Director
Robert Mueller said
he's concerned about bringing Gitmo detainees into the United States .
He told a House hearing today that they could radicalize others, even if held in U.S. high-security prisons. And he said if any detainees with terror training are ultimately ordered released, then it would present a challenge to the FBI to keep close tabs on them, either with physical surveillance or wiretaps.
*** UPDATE ***
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Norm Coleman vs. Al Franken recount until June 1, there are two new developments to report.
First, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has committed $750,000 to help Coleman pay his legal bills. A Republican official insists that this money is to help pay past legal bills -- not future ones that might be incurred if Coleman decides to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. It's worth pointing out that this $750,000 isn't chump change.
Second, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D), chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has written a letter to Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty , asking him to urge Coleman to concede or sign the election certificate as soon as the Minnesota Supreme Court rules on the recount.
Below is the letter, which Kaine sent yesterday...
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Earlier today in First Thoughts , we asked this question: "So is living near a prison with CONVICTED rapists or murderers safer than living next to a prison with SUSPECTED terrorists? Discuss."
Well, we've received some answers from Republicans. GOP pollster Glen Bolger emails us, "It's a lot more likely scenario that fellow terrorists would attack a prison to free terrorists than it is for fellow murderers or rapists to do the same."
And Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman to House Minority Leader John Boehner, adds: "Last I checked, most rapists and murderers are NOT part of a radical, world-wide terrorist network. And remember, if the folks remaining at Gitmo weren’t that dangerous, they would have already been released. These are the most dangerous. AND lastly, you put one of these guys in a prison you up the chances of an attack on that prison."
From NBC's Mark Murray
The official adds that the language is still be worked out, although CNN is reporting that the resolution will call to condemn the "Democrats' march to socialism" -- or something similar to that.
The vote on the resolution is supposed to begin around 5:15 pm ET, and there's supposed to be a media avail after that.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Abby Livingston
***
Obama vs. Cheney : In the past week, a series of thorny national security issues -- all dating back to the Bush era -- has clearly frustrated Team Obama. First, the president angered liberals and human-rights groups when it announced it was opposing the release of those detainee photos. Then his administration said it was keeping the controversial military tribunals, although with some revisions. And now congressional Democrats have rejected Obama’s funding request to help close Guantanamo Bay. These things all set up Obama’s big speech tomorrow on Gitmo and national security. But get ready for a fascinating national security showdown tomorrow, because Obama isn’t the only one speaking on Thursday. Dick Cheney gives a speech tomorrow -- about an hour or so before Obama’s -- at the American Enterprise Institute, a neoconservative think tank. No doubt Cheney will try and respond to the criticisms the Obama administration and other Democrats have been leveling at the former vice president and other Republicans. Of course, Obama's speech comes with a lot of expectations. Many in Washington are already expecting him to somehow calm the critics down on both the left and right with a speech that 1) makes a clearer case why his administration doesn't want to look backwards on interrogations; 2) why Gitmo has to be closed; and 3) and where the Gitmo detainees should be moved.
*** Just askin’ : By the way, we have this one question for the GOP straw-man argument on Gitmo: So is living near a prison with CONVICTED rapists or murderers safer than living next to a prison with SUSPECTED terrorists? Discuss.
*** How to win friends and influence enemies : One thing supporters of the White House are pointing out this week is that, despite the rhetoric from some opponents, the president has had a remarkable early track record at getting long-time opponents to negotiate with each other and with the White House. The examples: yesterday’s emissions announcement (where industry and labor groups stood besides the president), health care (industry folks pledging to reduce health-care costs), and even financial regulation. Obama supporters point out that leading business leaders have showed a willingness to work with the White House, and he's used that to his advantage by getting major compromises early on. Can he keep this up?
Video: Surrounded by leaders from the auto industry, President Barack Obama announces a national energy policy that is designed to boost car and truck mileage, while decreasing fuel consumption and emissions. ***
Steele’s combative speech : Talk to those close to the RNC chair, and they'll tell you the most important takeaway from his speech to GOP state chairs yesterday was the following: The party plans to more directly confront Obama. As inviting a target as other Democrats may be (see Pelosi), Steele made the case the party won't make progress without starting to inflict political damage on the actual leader of the Democratic -- er, “Democrat-Socialist” -- Party: Barack Obama. “We aren’t going to be silent,” he said. “We are going to speak up, and we are going to show that we have the courage of our convictions.” But for those looking for something substantial, issue-wise, Steele's speech was lacking. It had one too many clichés, and didn't seem to get into exactly what the Republican Party stands for. But remember who Steele’s audience was yesterday: members of the RNC. And the chairman is still trying to win over the trust of these folks. So he needed to throw them some red meat and didn't need to get into the weeds. Steele's goal yesterday was assert himself as leader of the party, and he probably took a step forward with these party insiders. Still, it raises an interesting question for all Republican leaders: Just what does the party stand for? It seemed to be a struggle for Steele yesterday.
*** Move along, folks, nothing to see here : Also in his speech yesterday, Steele boldly declared that the Republican Party has turned the corner. “The time for trying to fix or focus on the past has ended…The introspection is now over. The corner has been turned.” But when Steele and other Republicans cite spending and the ways of Washington as the only reasons why they find themselves out of power and at all-time lows in polls, we're not so sure they've learned the lessons from 2006 and 2008 -- which also included Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. attorneys scandal, Harriet Miers, and Terri Schiavo. What do those things have in common? Ideology and favoritism trumped competence and governance; confrontation was more important than compromise. And Republican leaders often stood by and didn’t raise objections. To win elections, you have to win the middle, and right now the middle is breaking Obama’s way, with Arlen Specter joining the Democrats and Jon Huntsman about to work for the administration. One other thing: As Adam Nagourney recently wrote, tone matters in politics. Are RNC members really going to pass a resolution today calling the Democratic Party the “Democrat-Socialist Party”? We’ll find out, although the meeting isn’t supposed to be begin until 5:00 pm ET.
Video: Speaking at a party meeting, RNC Chairman Michael Steele says "the two-party system is making a comeback'" and he intends to make Democrats live up to their "arrogance of power." ***
Pelosi’s job is safe for now : As we noted yesterday, Democrats began rallying around embattled House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. At yesterday’s White House event on his new fuel standards, Obama went out of his way to praise her. And in his pen and pad session, Pelosi’s No. 2, Steny Hoyer, said he believed her in her dispute with the CIA. Still, Republicans are smelling political blood, with former Speaker Newt Gingrich (who knows a thing or two about pushing speakers out of office -- see Jim Wright and himself) writing in
Human Events , “The person who is No. 2 in line to be commander in chief can't have contempt for the men and women who protect our nation. America can't afford it.” But let’s get one thing straight: Pelosi isn't in danger of losing her job -- yet. Gingrich stepped down after a poor GOP showing during the 1998 midterms, as well as receiving an ethics reprimand. And Trent Lott, after his remarks about Strom Thurmond, was expendable for a Bush White House that didn’t trust him. Pelosi doesn't have those problems. In fact, the White House likes her because she takes so many arrows for Obama. But has her margin of error with DC Democrats been slightly eroded? How much does she need to watch herself, for instance, on the John Murtha story and make sure she doesn't get dragged into that?
***
The Terminated : As expected, the budget ballot measures that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger championed went down to defeat yesterday. The only ballot proposition that voters passed was a measure freezing state officials’ salaries when California faces a budget deficit. Schwarzenegger -- who remains in DC and has a media avail with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today at 10:45 am ET -- released this statement last night: “We face a staggering $21.3 billion deficit and in order to prevent a fiscal disaster, Democrats and Republicans must collaborate and work together to address this shortfall. The longer we wait the worse the problem becomes and the more limited our choices will be. That is why tomorrow, we will come together to begin to develop a budget solution that gets our state back on track.” Everything the governor seriously campaigned for went down. With this election now behind him, it's now the second serious attempt at government reform Arnold's attempted that's failed. Is the Arnold experiment now essentially over? Does he have ANY political capital left to attempt anything for the remainder of his term, or is he a lame duck governor thanks to the startup already of the 2010 campaign in that state?
***
Meet Carlos Moreno : Our latest SCOTUS profile is for Carlos Moreno, who currently sits on the California Supreme Court… Pros for Obama: Moreno is Latino, and Latino groups are pressing Obama to select the first Latino Supreme Court justice… Cons: He’s male, and the court is stacked with men with Justice Ginsburg now the only sitting woman. He’s also 60 years old, which might concern some liberals about how long he would be able to serve on the court… The
New York Times today breaks down his ideology: “A moderate whose opinions deftly blend matters of the head and heart, he is admired on the political left and right — part of the reason Kenneth W. Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton and is now the dean of Pepperdine University School of Law, said ‘he is genuinely revered here in California.’ … Before joining the California Supreme Court, served as a federal district judge (appointed by Bill Clinton)… Also served on the Los Angeles Superior Court and the Compton Municipal Court… Received his law degree from Stanford (1975) and his undergraduate degree from Yale (1970).
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The Washington Post front-pages, “Under pressure from Republicans and concerned about the politics of relocating terrorism suspects to U.S. soil, Senate Democrats rejected President Obama's request for funding to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and vowed to withhold federal dollars until the president decides the fate of the facility's 240 detainees. The decision represents a potentially serious setback for Obama, who as a candidate vowed to close Guantanamo and who signed an executive order beginning the process soon after he took office.”
The New York Daily News adds, “Party leaders said the President shouldn't ask for cash until he has announced his plan for turning out the lights in the U.S. terrorist prison camp in Cuba - and determined where the prisoners will go.”
The New York Times : “The move by Senate Democrats to strip the $80 million from a war-spending bill and the decision to bar, for now, transfer of detainees to the United States, raised the possibility that Mr. Obama’s order to close the camp by Jan. 22, 2010, might have to be changed or delayed… Senate Democrats said they still backed Mr. Obama’s decision to close the prison. But lawmakers have not exactly been eager to accept detainees in their home states. When the tiny town of Hardin, Mont., offered to put the terrorism suspects in its empty jail, Montana’s senators, both Democrats, and its representative, a Republican, quickly voiced opposition.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu is talking more peace. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel is ready for immediate peace talks with West Bank Palestinians even as Hamas in Gaza renewed rocket attacks,” The New York Daily News writes. “Netanyahu said he is working with President Obama ‘to reignite the peace process without waiting for action against Iran.”
“The Obama administration is actively discussing the creation of a regulatory commission that would have broad authority to protect consumers who use financial products as varied as mortgages, credit cards and mutual funds, according to several sources familiar with the matter,” the
Washington Post reports. “The proposed commission would be one of the administration's most significant steps yet to overhaul the financial regulatory system. It would also be one of its first proposals to address causes of the financial crisis such as predatory mortgage lending.”
The Washington Post on RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s speech yesterday: “Seeking to reassert himself as a party leader, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele yesterday implored GOP members to stop ‘navel gazing’ and sharply attack President Obama… It was Steele's most high-profile speech since a series of controversies left him apologizing to talk show host Rush Limbaugh and assuring Republicans he would reduce his number of mistakes as well as his number of television appearances.”
“But while encouraging stepped up party action, Steele has also warned against overreaching. His sharp criticism of Obama came as some members of the 168-person committee pushed for a resolution demanding the Democratic Party rename itself ‘the Democrat Socialist Party.’”
The New York Times’ Nagourney asks, “If Michael W. Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, declares that the Republican Party has turned a corner, does that make it so?”
The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank writes that Steele’s speech “was red meat for the party leaders … but they let many of the applause lines go without a murmur. When they did rouse themselves, about 60 percent applauded, 20 percent thumbed their BlackBerrys, and the rest were either eating dessert or daydreaming.”
Roll Call: “Democratic leaders tried Tuesday to muffle the ongoing flap over Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) knowledge of Bush-era interrogation tactics, but the controversy continued to lumber forward on new questions about the accuracy of CIA record-keeping.”
Politico chronicles how Boehner has milked Pelosi’s CIA drip, drip. “But nearly a week after Pelosi said the CIA failed to tell her about waterboarding in 2002, Boehner is still pounding out a daily drumbeat of criticism. In TV interviews, press conferences and newspaper op-eds, he has argued that Pelosi should ‘put up or shut up’ — either prove that the CIA lied to her or apologize for claiming that it did. And while Boehner hasn’t raised the prospect of Pelosi’s ouster, he has walked right up to the line.”
The AP writes. "The House was expected to pass, possibly as early as Wednesday, a bill that would enact sweeping new restrictions on the industry, including a requirement that customers penalized by higher interest rates because they missed a payment are given a chance to reclaim their lower rate after six months. The Senate passed the bill Tuesday, 90-5."
But the credit card bill also includes this: “To the frustration and discouragement of many Democrats, House and Senate lawmakers and aides say it now appears likely that President Obama will this week sign into law a provision allowing visitors to national parks and refuges to carry loaded and concealed weapons,” the New York Times writes.
Roll Call reports that Sen. Max Baucus’ top aides held a closed door meeting with Democratic lobbyists on health care reform. “According to sources familiar with the closed-door session, Sullivan and Selib made clear that lobbyists who want to be involved in health care reform going forward need to keep their complaints to themselves. A Baucus Finance Committee spokeswoman described it as an opportunity to keep stakeholders informed and pre-empt a mutiny. One participant said Selib and Sullivan “made a very strong appeal for people to remain constructive.”
MINNESOTA : DNC Chairman Tim Kaine wrote to Minnesota GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty, asking to bring an end to the endless Senate recount,
Politico writes. “‘To allow this to process to continue into the federal courts for no other reason than to deny for as long as possible the seating of another Democratic Senator would make what has been a bad situation for Minnesotans even worse,’ Kaine wrote. ‘I urge you to do everything within your power and influence to bring this process to an end.’”
CALIFORNIA : The San Francisco Chronicle writes, “California voters soundly rejected a package of ballot measures Tuesday that would have reduced the state's projected budget deficit of $21.3 billion to something slightly less overwhelming: $15.4 billion. The defeat of the measures means that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature will have to consider deeper cuts to education, public safety, and health and human services, officials have said.”
More: “Propositions 1A through 1E - which would have changed the state's budgeting system, ensured money to schools in future years and generated billions of dollars of revenue for the state's general fund - fell well behind in early returns and never recovered. The only measure that voters approved was Proposition 1F, which will freeze salaries of top state officials, including lawmakers and the governor, during tough budget years.”
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who supported the defeated measures, released this statement last night: "Tonight we have heard from the voters and I respect the will of the people who are frustrated with the dysfunction in our budget system. Now we must move forward from this point to begin to address our fiscal crisis with constructive solutions. We face a staggering $21.3 billion deficit and in order to prevent a fiscal disaster, Democrats and Republicans must collaborate and work together to address this shortfall. The longer we wait the worse the problem becomes and the more limited our choices will be. That is why tomorrow, we will come together to begin to develop a budget solution that gets our state back on track.”
FLORIDA : A new Florida poll shows Charlie Crist is the commanding front-runner for Senate, while Bill McCollum starts off with a slight lead over Alex Sink in the gubernatorial race. But a few warning signs for Crist: He ONLY has a 50% FAV rating among Republicans, and while he starts with a BIG lead over Marco Rubio in the primary, one can see the potential for vulnerability. As for McCollum, he's run statewide a number of times and yet is no more or less unknown as Sink. He'll need early money to redefine himself. Sink will have that money. Will McCollum?
NEW JERSEY : Yes, it's New Jersey. But an incumbent Democratic governor polling under 40% and trailing the GOP front-runner is something that strikes us as serious trouble for Corzine.
From NBC's Harry Enten CNN/Opinion Research poll, 69% of Americans do not want the Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade. That result comes as other recent polls have suggested that more Americans are pro-life rather than pro-choice on the contentious issue of abortion.
A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll released yesterday found more respondents (49%) who consider themselves pro-life than those who see themselves as pro-choice (43%). It confirmed a Gallup poll released last week that found -- for the first time since the organization began asking Americans about abortion in 1995 -- a majority (51%) call themselves pro-life, with 42% calling themselves pro-choice.
Some in the polling community questioned that Gallup poll, due to an unusually high number of Republican respondents. Yet the Fox poll had a party identification breakdown closer to most other recent polls.
On top of these results, recent Pew and Quinnipiac polls also found a decline in the number of Americans who believe that abortion should be always or mostly (usually) legal. In the Pew poll, 46% said that abortion should be always or mostly legal, while 44% said it should be mostly or always illegal. In the Quinnipiac poll, 52% of Americans believed that abortion should be always or usually legal, while 41% of Americans believed that abortion should be always or usually illegal.
From NBC's Athena Jones President Obama announced new national auto fuel-efficiency and emissions standards that he said would help reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil, cut pollution, and ultimately save people money.
Under the new rules -- which would replace a patchwork of different standards set by two government agencies and several states -- carmakers would have to produce vehicles with a fleet average of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, four years earlier than the CAFE law requires. The program begins in model year 2012, and would increase fuel efficiency by an average of 5% a year between 2012 and 2016.
The chief executives of 10 auto companies joined the president on stage for the announcement, along with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson , Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood , and United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger . Several of Obama's cabinet secretaries were also on hand for the event, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Govs. Jennifer Granholm (MI), Arnold Schwarzenegger (CA), and Deval Patrick (MA).
"For the first time in history, we have set in motion a national policy aimed at both increasing gas mileage and decreasing greenhouse gas pollution for all new trucks and cars sold in the United States of America," Obama told the crowd assembled in the Rose Garden.
"Everyone wins: Consumers pay less for fuel, which means less money going overseas and more money to save or spend here at home," he continued. "The economy as a whole runs more efficiently by using less oil and producing less pollution, and companies like those here today have new incentives to create the technologies and the jobs that will provide smarter ways to power our vehicles."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray and Chuck Todd reported that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer went out of his way to stand by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her back-and-forth with the CIA. "Let me be clear, so there is no misinterpretation of my view: I believe the speaker," Hoyer said.
President Obama also seemed to go out of his way to buck up the embattled speaker during his remarks today on the fuel-efficiency standards. "I want to make sure that I acknowledge some people who have been critical to this effort and critical to so many efforts at the state and federal levels," he said. "First of all, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has just been cracking the whip and, you know, making Congress so productive over these last several days. We are grateful for her."
From NBC's Doug Adams The bizarre Kentucky Senate race took another wild turn today as GOP Sen. Jim Bunning once again blasted his fellow Kentucky Republican -- Mitch McConnell , the Senate's top Republican.
In a conference call with reporters, Bunning called McConnell a "control freak" and said McConnell's animus is an asset. "If Mitch McConnell doesn't endorse me, that may be the best thing that could happen to me in Kentucky." It should be noted that McConnell is the most popular Republican in the state.
Bunning acknowledged that McConnell has told him he's "too old" and can't win re-election in 2010. Bunning continues to insist that he'll seek a third term next year. But his fundraising has been abysmal, and early polls show that he would be trounced by Democrats in 2010.
Bunning's comments follow his barbs from two weeks ago, when he criticized McConnell's leadership. "Do you realize that under the dynamic leadership of our leader, we have gone from 55 [seats] and probably to 40 in two election cycles? And if the tea leaves that I read are correct, we will wind up with about 36 after this election cycle."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Chuck Todd Pres. Obama gave shout-outs to three governors who attended today's Rose Garden announcement on the new national car emission standards. He called Governors Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.), Deval Patrick (D-Mass.) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) some of the "finest governors" in the country. Interestingly, majorities of residents in all three states don't seem to agree with the president on this issue.
Check out the most recent job ratings each governor received from their own constituents:
-- Granholm, who is term-limited and rumored to be on the president's Supreme Court short list, netted a 36% positive job rating according to the most recent EPIC-MRA poll of that state's voters. (conducted in late March). For those wondering, the three governors have a COLLECTIVE job rating of 34%... but who's counting.
President Obama carried all three states rather easily and all three respective governors hope to nab SOME reflected glory from the more popular president. Perhaps the president deserves some credit for not using these governor's bad poll ratings as reasons to duck being seen with them. Still, wonder if voters in these three states would agree with the president's "finest governors" description.
From NBC's Luke Russert Benjamin Netanyahu made an appearance this morning with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner outside of the speaker's chambers.
Both Pelosi and Boehner reaffirmed America's support of the Jewish state . Pelosi called Israel a "beacon of light" in the Middle East, while Boehner said, "We have no closer ally or friend in this world than Israel."
Regarding the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Pelosi said, "We must have a two-state solution -- and I emphasize the word solution." Both House leaders spoke of the importance of stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Pelosi said, "We must work together to make sure Iran does not get weapons of mass destruction." Boehner added, "We share a mutual concern about the development of nuclear weapons in Iran."
For his part, Netanyahu touched upon the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and also focused heavily on the issue of Iran. He said, "We face the challenge of the potential nuclear-arming of Iran, which is a great danger to all of us." On the Palestinian conflict, he added, "We want to see the advancement of peace between us and the Palestinians and like President Obama said with the broader Arab world."
From NBC's Ken Strickland sources say Senate Democratic leaders are planning to pull any remnants of money for closing Gitmo out of the supplemental war funding bill.
The emergency legislation, as it's currently written, would provide $50 million to the Defense Department to close Gitmo, but would release the money only after the administration puts forward a plan on how the funds will be used and where the detainees would be placed.
But according to Democratic sources, the Appropriations Committee chairman will offer an amendment to strip out the aforementioned language, which would in effect ignore any money for Gitmo altogether. This is the approach the House took when it passed its version of the supplemental.
Politically, this is a loss for the administration. President Obama had requested millions to close Gitmo with no strings attached. The House acted first as last week, when Democratic leaders passed its version and didn't give the administration a dime. Their attitude was essentially, "When you have a plan, we'll get you the money."
The Senate, at first, took a softer approach and decided to give the administration the money with significant strings attached. But today, the Senate appears ready to follow the House model and ignore the request all together.
From NBC's Mark Murray Nancy Pelosi .
Repeating his call from this past weekend, House Minority Leader
John Boehner has penned an
op-ed in U.S. News & World Report that asks Pelosi to either produce evidence that the CIA misled her about its use of waterboarding or other harsh interrogation techniques, or to apologize.
Accusing our intelligence professionals of lying to Congress is a very serious charge. If true, the speaker should produce evidence supporting her claim and turn it over to the Justice Department for potential prosecution. If she is unwilling to do so, then she should retract her statement and apologize to the men and women who dedicate their lives to protecting our nation. It is as simple as that, and as of this writing, the ball remains squarely in the speaker's court.
*** UPDATE *** NBC's Luke Russert has more on this Pelosi-vs.-CIA flap: "In his weekly pen and pad news conference this week, House Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer continued to deal with questions regarding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the accusations she made against the CIA... On the issue, Hoyer said: 'Let me be clear, so there is no misinterpretation of my view: I believe the speaker.' Hoyer went on to say that the perpetuation of the controversy surrounding the speaker was a 'Republican tactic to distract the public from focusing on what was done what the justification for doing it was.'"
More from Russert: "When asked what she should do to put the CIA issue past her, Hoyer said: 'She's telling exactly what happened.' He then accused the media of overplaying the story. 'As long as you feed on it, the Republicans will continue to feed.' Hoyer called the controversy a 'distraction' and said to the dozens of reporters in the room: 'You guys want to hang on to this thing like a laser...that's unfortunate.'"
From NBC's Mike Viqueira and Mark Murray David Obey has fired off a letter to CIA Director Leon Panetta , pointing out that the CIA mistakenly listed that an Appropriations staffer sat in on a key CIA briefing in 2006.
Of course, the CIA listing House Speaker Pelosi sitting in on a similar 2002 briefing -- and suggesting that she learned of controversial interrogation techniques like waterboarding there -- is at the heart of the dispute over what Pelosi knew about the practices and when she knew it.
The full letter:
May 18, 2009
Dear Director Panetta:
Sincerely,
From NBC's Mark Murray released excerpts of RNC Chairman Michael Steele's speech today, in which Steele says it's time for the GOP to stop apologizing, that the party has "turned the corner," and that is looking to the future.
"While we welcome Chairman Steele's words that the GOP wants to turn the page on its past, we are disheartened by the party's actions that tell the opposite story. While the Chairman talks of moving forward, the very convention he's addressing will not focus on coming up with new ideas to create jobs and setting right what the party got wrong over the last eight years, but instead will revolve around name calling and the petty politics of the past. While the Chairman speaks of no longer looking in the rearview mirror, just this weekend he and other party leaders stumbled over one another to endorse the leadership of one of the most divisive figures in recent American history, Dick Cheney . The test of the sincerity of the Chairman's words will be if he and the other GOP leaders stand up to the fringe elements of their party and whether they tell the polarizing faces of the past - including Cheney, Gingrich and Limbaugh - to stand aside. Unfortunately, they have shown no willingness to do so, which is why fewer and fewer Americans have confidence in the Republican party to lead during these tough times."
From NBC's Mark Murray
Yet another seemingly bizarre
Sarah Palin story.
Politico's Martin reports that John Coale -- a wealthy Clinton donor, one-time Palin adviser, and husband to FOX's Greta Van Susteren -- urged Palin to use her PAC to help retire
Hillary Clinton's campaign debt.
Coale's "broader aim, say Palin camp insiders, was to help Palin develop a relationship with the former first family that he thought could bolster the polarizing governor’s standing with Democrats and independents."
But Palin's folks decided against it. "Palin was amenable to getting acquainted with the Clintons but was skeptical of using her PAC to help the former first lady. She expressed concern to aides about Coale’s request that weekend and a few days later directed Meg Stapleton, an Alaska-based campaign aide, to tell Coale that she would not help retire Clinton’s debt."
From NBC's Chuck Todd The Center for American Progress is being very aggressive in trying to defend the need for a comprehensive new energy policy this Congress. The tea leaves continue to tell me that the likelihood of an energy bill that includes cap-n-trade won't happen this year. Instead, smaller chunks on the energy front will be tackled as trying to get both health care and energy through this Congress is a lot to ask.
Still, this isn't stopping CAP and its leader, John Podesta, from trying to change this conventional wisdom. In fact, they are doing daily updates on what is normally a mundane markup process of the energy bill in the House.
In reading their take on Day 1 of the markup session yesterday, one thing jumped out at me in their release this morning. Check out this paragraph:
"Five moderate Democrats announced their support for ACES [American Clean Energy and Security Act), including John Dingell (MI), Gene Green (TX), Bobby Rush (IL), Bart Gordon (TN) and G.K. Butterfield (NC), as they recognized the many benefits this bill will bring to districts across the country. As the debate continues, more members are expected to announce their position on the bill." Did I read this right? Did CAP call John Dingell and former black panther Bobby Rush "moderates"? Take a look at their vote ratings from the National Journal (
Dingell and
Rush ), it's hard to call them moderates; Gordon, Green and Butterfield are probably definitional moderates, considering the states and districts they come from, but Dingell and Rush, come on. Maybe on the energy issue, as far as CAP's concerned, Dingell is a "moderate" since he's always been on the side of the auto industry on key emissions votes. But should CAP really call these two moderates? Stuff like this in official press releases can immediately cost folks credibility with readers of said releases.
Of course, this actually is a good reminder of how Democrats are still struggling with how to ideologically define themselves. There's a big movement to change the word "liberal" to "progressive" and of course, many a Democrat likes the idea of being called a "moderate" even if they won't utter the word themselves. But how to define Democrats, particularly Congressional Democrats: should they be in three boxes: liberal/progressive, moderate and conservative? Are they in two boxes: liberal/progressive and moderate? Actually, it's a good challenge to you folks in comment land.
From Chuck Todd and Mark Murray The Green Mile : In covering this young Obama administration, the news never seems to stop, does it? A day after President Obama discussed Iran and Middle East peace with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, he today will unveil new regulations on auto emissions and fuel-efficiency standards at 12:15 pm ET. Per NBC’s Anne Thompson, Obama will announce that car fleets must average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016; the current fleet average is 25 miles per gallon. Breaking that down, Thompson adds, that means a standard of 39 miles per gallon for cars, and 30 miles per gallon for trucks. Standing at Obama’s side today will be Michigan Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm (will the two also talk SCOTUS today?), California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and industry and union leaders. As the Washington Post writes, the proposed regulations represent “a compromise among the White House; the state of California; and the auto industry, which has long sought national mileage standards and has waged an expensive legal battle against the California waiver. The industry will get its national standard, but at the price of one that approximates California's targets. Industry officials said they would drop all related lawsuits.”
Video: The Obama administration pushed up the deadline for automakers to produce higher gas mileage and lower emissions by 2016, as California agreed to delay its plan to impose a separate state environmental standard for cars. NBC Chief Environmental Affairs correspondent Anne Thompson reports. ***
California Dreamin’? By inviting Schwarzenegger to the White House today and giving him a victory on fuel standards, it appears that Obama did a big favor for Arnold. Why? Because
in California today, voters today are expected to defeat Schwarzenegger-backed ballot measures written after the state's budget deal in February. Polls show that five measures -- 1) which would establish a rainy day fund and cap state spending; 2) which would fund schools; 3) which would allow the state to borrow from its lottery funds; 4) which would transfer child-development money to the state’s general fund; and 5) which would transfer mental-health money to the state’s general fund -- are likely to lose. (The one measure that’s expected to pass would freeze pay for state lawmakers if the state is running a deficit.) If that happens, Schwarzenegger’s allies say the state’s budget shortfall will be much larger. Ironically, the budget situation and the governor's approval rating (at about 33% or 34%, per recent polls) aren't much different than they were when Gray Davis was governor. Which raises this question: Is California ungovernable? It’s worth asking when you consider the state’s property-tax laws, its overloaded ballot-initiative process, its term limits for state lawmakers, and the fact that it takes a supermajority vote to pass budgets or tax increases. Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner, Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom -- you really want to be governor?
***
Hillary vs. Barack isn’t over : It’s exactly three weeks until Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, and the candidates are fighting over … Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama. That’s right, Brian Moran began running a
radio ad in African-American areas reminding these voters that McAuliffe campaigned for Hillary over Obama during the primaries. The McAuliffe camp responded with a
Web video detailing the Macker’s support for Obama after the primary season was over, as well as with a statement from Tom Daschle, who said that McAuliffe “worked tirelessly to unify our party around Barack Obama and get him elected president.” All of this is a reminder of just how much McAuliffe is desperately trying to straddle the fence between Obama and Clinton supporters (and remember that many in Virginia voted for Obama in that Feb. 12 primary. The other candidate -- Creigh Deeds, who hails from rural Virginia -- is probably scoring best with actual Clinton voters.
*** Democrat vs. Democrat : Speaking of Democrats going after their own… Labor unions AFSCME, NEA, and UFCW are airing a radio ad (at a buy of $60,000) in Oregon against Sen. Ron Wyden’s (D) effort to tax health-care benefits as a way to pay for health-care reform. “Finally, Congress is working to fix health care,” the narrator says in the ad. “They should start by making insurance affordable for families and businesses… The last thing we need is to pay more. But Sen. Ron Wyden would TAX the health care benefits we get at work, as if they were INCOME. Taxing health benefits? That doesn’t make sense. Tell Sen. Wyden that Oregon families want quality, affordable health care -- not taxes on their health care benefits.” This radio ad comes as the lead Washington Post editorial criticizes Obama for not embracing taxing health-care benefits as a way to pay for reform. Indeed, Obama seems caught between a rock and a hard place: Does he stick to his campaign promise (against taxing benefits) and risk turning away a huge revenue stream to pay for health care?
*** Turning the page? After a respectable performance on “Meet the Press,” RNC Chairman Michael Steele is once again the spotlight, as he delivers remarks at 1:00 pm ET to the party’s state chairmen meeting taking place today and tomorrow in the DC area. According to excerpts of his remarks, Steele will say that the GOP isn’t going to dwell anymore on past mistakes. “The era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is now officially over. It is done… We have turned the page; we have turned the corner… From this point forward, we will focus all of our energies on winning the future.” He also will announce that Obama’s honeymoon is over. “Candidate Obama was very moderate in his views, but President Obama could not possibly be further to the far left… We are going to take this president on with class; we are going to take this president on with dignity. This will be a very sharp and marked contrast to the shabby and classless way that the Democrats and the far left spoke of the last president.”
Video: Meet the Press’ David Gregory asks RNC Chairman Michael Steele how the GOP intends to overcome the possibility that Democrats are consolidating power. ***
Name-calling is always productive! Speaking of class and dignity, the RNC tomorrow will consider a resolution tomorrow to call the Democratic Party the “Democrat Socialist Party.” Steele said on “Meet” that while he opposes the label, he can’t unilaterally stop party members from voting on that resolution. “You have legitimate activists in both parties who have very strong passions and feelings,” he
told NBC’s David Gregory . “And that's great, and we have a process in which that can be expressed.”
*** Meet Kim Wardlaw : In our latest profile, we take a look at Kim McLane Wardlaw, who currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco; Bill Clinton appointed her to that position in 1998… If selected and confirmed, would become the Supreme Court’s first Latino justice; her mother was a child of Mexican immigrants… Was a player in politics before her appointment to the bench: helped elect Richard Riordan as L.A. mayor; raised money for Dianne Feinstein’s Senate campaign in 1992; was a delegate to the ’92 presidential convention; and served on the Clinton administration’s Justice Department transition team… Her husband maxed out in contributions to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, but wrote a $2,300 check to Obama in August ’08… Has been described as having “empathy.” “She displays a deeply personal sensitivity to the problems of women and people of color,” Emma Coleman Jordan, who headed up Clinton’s transition team at Justice, told the Los Angeles Times… Despite her ties to Democratic politics, a legal publication described her rulings on the Ninth Circuit as “unpredictable.”
*** More Wardlaw bio : Before her job on the 9th Circuit, served as a federal district judge (nominated to that position by Clinton in 1995)… Worked in private practice at the firm O’Melveny & Myers from 1980-1995… Clerked for California federal judge William P. Gray… Received both her law (1979) and undergraduate degrees (1976) from UCLA… During Clinton’s presidency, she and her husband slept overnight in the White House’s Lincoln Bedroom. “Bill slept,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “I was so struck by the sense of history, I stayed awake all night.”… Her husband ran Richard Riordan’s mayoral campaign in 1993… Conducted a 2004 interview with a blog called “Underneath Their Robes.” The interview said Wardlaw was named “the #2 Superhottie of the Federal Judiciary.” Also in the interview, Wardlaw said “yes” when asked if she was a “judicial diva.”
Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 14 days
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“President Barack Obama plans to announce the first-ever national emissions limits for cars and trucks, as well as requiring a 35.5 mile-per-gallon standard,” the AP reports.
According to the Washington Post , “The administration is embracing standards stringent enough to satisfy the state of California, which has been fighting for a waiver from federal law so that it could set its own guidelines, sources said. Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) and Jennifer M. Granholm (D-Mich.) will be among a variety of state and industry officials who plan to attend an announcement today… The deal has been under negotiation since the first days of the administration. It represents a compromise among the White House; the state of California; and the auto industry, which has long sought national mileage standards and has waged an expensive legal battle against the California waiver. The industry will get its national standard, but at the price of one that approximates California's targets. Industry officials said they would drop all related lawsuits.”
The New York Times : “Environmental advocates and industry officials welcomed the new program, but for different reasons. Environmentalists called it a long-overdue tightening of emissions and fuel economy standards after decades of government delay and industry opposition. Auto industry officials said it would provide the single national efficiency standard they have long desired, a reasonable timetable to meet it and the certainty they need to proceed with product development plans.”
USA Today : “If a fragile compromise among often-warring factions — federal regulators, states and automakers — can last though the rulemaking process, the new regulations would be the first to blend emissions and fuel-economy standards, becoming perhaps the most dramatic suite of auto rules since the Clean Air Act of 1970. That law set auto-pollution standards for the first time and banned poisonous lead, which was used as a lubricant, from gasoline.”
“Auto executives plan to attend today's White House event,” the AP adds. “United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger also plans to attend, as do California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.”
The Wall Street Journal on yesterday’s Obama-Netanyahu meeting: “The leaders' one-on-one meeting at the White House lasted almost two hours, nearly twice as long as scheduled, which American and Israeli officials pointed to as a sign the talks went well. Still, the two remained divided on issues such as the future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Palestinians' right to statehood, and whether the Palestinian issue should take priority over concerns about Iran developing nuclear weapons.”
The Washington Post says Obama and Netanyahu “outlined the shared goals of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons and of achieving a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. But within those broad areas of agreement were significant differences in tone and terminology that exposed their divergent approaches toward achieving peace in the Middle East.”
Obama said “that he expected to know by the end of the year whether Iran was making ‘a good-faith effort to resolve differences’ in talks aimed at ending its nuclear program, signaling to Israel as well as Iran that his willingness to engage in diplomacy over the issue has its limits,” the New York Times reports. “The exchange was the first time Mr. Obama had seemed willing to set even a general timetable for progress in talks with Iran, a country that has not had diplomatic relations with the United States in three decades.”
The New York Times profiles potential SCOTUS pick Janet Napolitano. “To some, the fact that she has never been a judge makes Ms. Napolitano a long shot for the high court. To others, her success in elected office — putting pragmatic compromise ahead of ideology or standard partisan lines — gives her just the kind of real-world experience setting policy and reaching consensus that Mr. Obama might seek to add to a court filled entirely by former federal appellate judges.”
Meanwhile… “Today's auto industry-related event may not be the only reason for [Michigan Gov. Jennifer] Granholm to be in Washington,” the AP says. “She's been mentioned as a possible candidate to succeed Justice David Souter, who's retiring from the Supreme Court. The White House won't say whether Granholm will meet with Obama about the upcoming court vacancy.”
Here are other excerpts of the remarks that RNC Chairman Michael Steele will give at 1:00 pm ET in the DC area. “Our comeback is well underway out in the states, I can assure you of that… The folks inside the beltway don’t know it yet, but the people are beginning to rally, the comeback has begun. Those of you who live outside of Washington know what I’m talking about. Those of you who actually attend Lincoln Day dinners, county party events, and tea parties …those of you who toil in the vineyards, spending time in communities, in diners, barber shops, and coffee shops where real every day people can be found…you know it is real.”
Also: “But the thing we need to remember is this: Ronald Reagan never lived in the past. Ronald Reagan was all about the future. If President Reagan were here today he would have no patience for Americans who looked backward. Ronald Reagan always insisted that our party must move aggressively to seize the moment, he insisted that our party recognize the truth of the times and establish our first principles in both word and deed. As conservatives we must stop acting like we don’t really believe in our principles. Too often we act as if we are scared to apply our timeless principles to today’s problems and challenges… For Reagan’s conservatism to take root in the next generation we must offer genuine solutions that are relevant to THIS age.”
Meanwhile, the RNC has a new Web video hitting Pelosi over her back-and-forth with the CIA.
CALIFORNIA : “The battle over six state budget propositions on today's ballot sputtered to a close Monday with a burst of low-profile campaigning that belied the gravity of California's fiscal crisis,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose legacy will be shaped in part by the election's results, made a final pitch to voters before leaving the state ahead of the results. The governor is scheduled to join President Obama at the White House today for an announcement on auto emission rules. His absence in the face of widely forecast defeat drew mockery from his foes.”
The Wall Street Journal asks the same question we do in First Thoughts Is California ungovernable? “California's hard-to-govern reputation is hard-won. The state has passed a tangle of voter-initiated spending mandates and voter-approved antitax rules. Lawmakers have little leeway to raise revenue or slash spending in deficit years.” More: “Perhaps the biggest strike against Mr. Schwarzenegger, however, is that these days, Californians don't like their politicians. The governor's approval rating is at an all-time low, at 33%, according to a May 1 poll by Field, a nonpartisan group. The legislature's approval rating is 14%. The only ballot measure that has overwhelming support is one that prohibits pay raises for elected state officials in years that the budget is in the red.”
From NBC's Ken Strickland
The Senate's war funding bill includes $50 million to facilitate the closure, but only to be released if the administration provides a plan for how the money is used and exactly where the detainees will be placed. (The Justice Department gets $30 million.) But even though Republicans were influential in attaching strings to the money, they plan to push Democrats further.
Republicans hope to get roll call votes on amendments that could put additional restrictions on the money, eliminate it altogether, and/or put the Democrats on the record as to whether they support detainees living, held, or being tried on U.S. soil. (Or to put it in GOP speak, "Do you want terrorists in your back yard?")
The Gitmo debate also could spill into Senate hearings this week as well. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mullen will address Af-Pak strategy before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday. And Secretary of State Clinton testifies before Appropriations and Foreign Relations about the State Department budget on Wednesday.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Pete Williams
Saying it wants to be prepared when
President Obama announces a nominee, a conservative group has prepared short
internet-only ads , attacking three of the women most often mentioned as potential Supreme Court choices.
The Judicial Confirmation Network, which pushed strongly for the nominations of
John Roberts and
Samuel Alito during the
Bush administration, says
Elena Kagan ,
Sonia Sotomayor , and
Diane Wood are not moderates or centrists. "They are hard-left activists who would decide cases based on their feelings and their personal political agendas," said Wendy Long, a former law clerk to Justice
Clarence Thomas .
The video on Elena Kagan criticizes her decision, as dean of Harvard's law school, to re-impose a ban on allowing military recruiters access to law school facilities. Kagan said Harvard's anti-discrimination policy required the action, because the military does not permit gay people to serve. The ad says she "kicked the military off campus, incredibly during a time of war."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Harry Enten
McMahon's comments came in a conference call sponsored by several liberal groups. The Senate bill, introduced by vulnerable Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), will be voted upon tomorrow in Senate. The House has already passed a version of the bill, and McMahon believes that the two bills will be reconciled by the end of this week.
Video: A recent study found that college students with credit cards graduated with an average of $4,138 in card debt, but consumer advocates are hoping Congress will soon pass a law making it tougher to issue credit cards to anyone under 21. NBC's Lisa Myers reports. McMahon said that the bill was in response to the "unscrupulous tactics" of the credit card industry, such as "charging unfair and abusive credit card fees and interest rates."
The act protects consumers by "setting up fair, transparent set of rules of how and when credit card companies can raise interest rates." This includes a 45-day notification period before raising interest rates and prohibits companies from raising rates on existing balances.
If enacted into law, advocates hope it will specifically help out students. Pedro de la Torre, advocacy senior associate of Campus Progress from the Center of American Progress, wanted government to "make sure that youth don't get unsolicited credit card offers because of their age."
According to Christine Lindstrom, Higher Education Director for US PIRG, students "carry upwards of $3,000 of credit card debt upon graduation" mostly due to putting "textbooks,""transportation," and "other educational costs on their credit cards."
Part of the reason for this debt is that students are "targeted on campus" with cards that have "terrible terms and conditions."
From NBC's Pete Williams
The U.S.
Supreme Court today tossed out a lawsuit from a Pakistani Muslim , who sued former Attorney General John Ashcroft and the FBI director, Robert Mueller, for his harsh treatment during the roundup of potential terror suspects in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks. By a 5-4 vote, the court said when someone wants to sue high level government officials for mistreatment, the suit must be specific about what those officials did to cause harm. It isn't enough, the court said, simply to allege that the top level officials were in charge and are therefore responsible. Some more direct connection must be shown and this lawsuit, filed by Javad Iqbal, "comes up short." Had the court ruled the other way, it would have led to hundreds of similar suits.
Video: The Supreme Court says US officials cannot be sued for alleged post-9/11 abuses. NBC's Chief Justice correspondent Pete Williams reports. The court today also declined to find AT&T responsible for failing to give credit in calculating pensions to pregnant women who worked for the company during the 1960s and early 1970s. Back then, AT&T gave full credit for employees on disability, but it did not include pregnant women in that category. Today the court said -- by a 7-2 vote -- that based on earlier court rulings, such a practice would not have amounted to illegal discrimination. Congress changed the law in 1978. This case involved only women caught in the period between the earlier court decision and the time Congress changed the law to give women more protection. Justice Ruth
Bader Ginsburg , the court's only woman, was one of the two dissenters, along with
John Paul Stevens .
The court today also:William Jefferson (D-LA), who faces a corruption trial. He wanted the court to take up the legal dispute over what to do with evidence seized in the FBI's search of his congressional office.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Abby Livingston Quintessential Obama : Anyone who didn't think President Obama would give a speech that would aim to rise above the back-and-forth over his commencement speech yesterday at Notre Dame hasn't been paying attention over the last two years. It was quintessential Obama. He called for common ground to reduce unintended pregnancies, to make adoption easier, and to provide better health care for women who carry their children to term. But Obama also urged his audience for a more civil tone on thorny issues like abortion. “I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away… Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.” He added, “Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words.” Of course, those words didn’t stop the protests. NBC’s Athena Jones, who was in the auditorium covering the speech, notes that four men -- none of them appearing to be students -- interrupted Obama’s speech and a handful of graduates decorated their mortarboards with images of baby's feet and a cross in bright yellow. Still, the crowd as a whole was overwhelmingly positive.
Video: Watch President Obama's full speech at the University of Notre Dame's commencement ceremony. ***
Fair-minded words for SCOTUS debate? In way, you could interpret Obama's remarks about “open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words” as the opening shot -- or better yet, a call for truce -- in the upcoming effort to replace David Souter on the Supreme Court, because it has the potential to be the latest salvo in the culture wars. On Sunday, the
New York Times front-paged how conservative groups are stockpiling political ammunition for Obama’s eventual pick to succeed Souter. And Sunday’s
Washington Post noted how conservatives are focusing on gay marriage, believing that the issue “could provide a road map to an Obama nominee's judicial philosophy.” Still, today’s
New York Times says that some Senate Republicans might not be as eager as conservative groups are in wanting to pick a Supreme Court fight. “Those Republicans, including senior staff aides and some senators, suggested in interviews that they believed Mr. Obama’s first nominee for the court would be confirmed without great difficulty no matter how they framed the issues during the confirmation process.”
*** A-Huntsman we will go : Obama's nomination of Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman to be ambassador to China seems to benefit two people: Obama and Huntsman. For Obama, it was yet another signal to independents and moderates that he's reaching across the aisle (Ray LaHood, Arlen Specter, and even the failed nomination of Judd Gregg are the other examples); it all but removed a potential 2012 challenger and an important moderate voice inside the GOP; and it showed that Obama's serious about China (Huntsman has sterling credentials -- he speaks Mandarin, did his Mormon mission in Taiwan, and served as George W. Bush's deputy U.S. trade representative). For Huntsman, the nomination gives him a job he obviously desired; it gets him out of the country at a time when his party is undergoing internecine warfare; and it possibly preps him for a presidential bid in 2016, bolstering his foreign affairs credentials. By the way, the cynical side of us is very impressed with how Obama has so cleverly tied up two of his biggest potential rivals in the future. First, he offered Hillary the plum job at the State Department, removing her as a potential obstacle from the Senate. Now he's taken Huntsman off the table for 2012.
Video: President Obama introduces Gov. Jon Huntsman, R-Utah, as the new U.S. ambassador to China. ***
One other point about Huntsman : Whether it is Specter switching parties, Judd Gregg accepting the Commerce post (even for a few days), or this appointment -- it's going to be hard for Republicans to make the public case that somehow Obama hasn't attempted to reach across the aisle. Of course, the White House has been very strategic in its attempts at bipartisanship, which no doubt frustrates many Republicans because the president isn’t being bipartisan on everything. Moreover, there's plenty of evidence that things are sometimes just as toxic now as they were two or four years ago. One example: There's the Minnesota recount debacle. Seriously, why hasn't there been a compromise to seat Franken just temporarily, like Republicans did for Mary Landrieu in 1996? Isn't this getting a bit absurd? No doubt that Coleman has his right to keep fighting, but why not find some middle ground?
*** Barack and Bibi : Obama today turns his focus to the Middle East . He meets with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in the Oval Office at 10:30 am ET (closed press), and then again in an expanded Oval Office meeting an hour later (in which there will be a pool spray). And Obama and Netanyahu attend a working lunch at 12:20 pm. This is the start of three one-on-ones Obama will have in the next several days. Next up are Abbas of the Palestinians and Mubarak of Egypt.
*** The sprint to Memorial Day : This is the last week that Congress will be in session before its Memorial Day recess, and it may send the president a handful of bills (on credit cards, predatory mortgage lending, and Pentagon procurement). One thing you might expect from the White House this week is a bit of a look back -- a la what it did for the first 100 days. The first half of this congressional session was certainly busy, and the level of productivity is something the folks on the White House side of Pennsylvania Ave. would like folks to notice.
***
Tough times for Arnold? Tuesday will likely be another bad day in the political life of Arnold Schwarzenegger. If the polls are correct, he’s going to lose every ballot initiative he's pushing. It could be another blow for Arnold and his attempt at being bipartisan. The good news for him: He has united Republicans and Democrats. The bad news: They’re unified in disapproving of his job in office.
***
Meet Jennifer Granholm : The latest in our SCOTUS profiles is Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, 50… Has never been a judge or a law scholar, so there is no track record about her judicial philosophy… If selected and confirmed, would be the first non-judge to sit on the highest court in the land since William Rehnquist and Lewis Powell Jr. in 1972… Also would be the first Supreme Court justice to be born outside of the United States since Felix Frankfurter (who was born in Vienna, Austria)… Is pro-choice, but while governor signed a bill giving pregnant women considering abortion the option of viewing ultrasound pictures… Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation (at 12.6%), and critics might seize on that to evaluate her tenure as governor… A Granholm appointment to the Supreme Court would elevate Democratic Lt. Gov. John Cherry to the governor’s mansion… Endorsed Hillary Clinton over Obama during the Democratic presidential primary season.
*** More Granholm bio : Before becoming governor, was the first female to serve as Michigan attorney general… Also was Wayne County Corporation counsel (1994-1998) and federal prosecutor in Detroit (1990-1994)… Clerked for 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Damon Keith… Received her law degree from Harvard (1987) and her undergraduate degree in political science and French from the University of California, Berkeley (1984)… Won the Miss San Carlos (CA) beauty/talent contest… Tried to be an actress and was once a contestant on “The Dating Game”… Due to her beauty-pageant past, good looks, and considerable debating skills, played the part of Sarah Palin for Joe Biden’s VP debate practice… Her Facebook page says Paul Simon and James Taylor are among her favorite musicians; “Life is Beautiful,” Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth,” and “Patton” are her favorite movies; and “Profiles in Courage” and “Secret Life of Bees” are her favorite books.
Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 15 days
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“Amid a scattering of angry protests over his support for abortion rights, President Obama addressed the issue head-on Sunday at the University of Notre Dame, calling for ‘open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words’ in the pursuit of ‘common ground,’” the Washington Post says. More: “The vast majority of the 12,000 in attendance at the Joyce Center basketball arena gave the president several loud, sustained ovations, and the crowd rallied to his defense when people attempted to interrupt him at the start. One protester yelled ‘Abortion is murder!’ ‘Baby killer!’ and ‘You have blood on your hands.’ Another shouted, ‘Stop killing our children.’ The crowd responded with boos and then chants of ‘Yes, we can’ and ‘We are N.D.’”
Video: President Obama addresses the abortion issue during a commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, the country's most prominent Catholic university. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports. The
New York Times : “The encounter was a rare foray into one of the most volatile areas of public life for Mr. Obama… As recently as last week, aides said he would mention the controversy in his speech without dwelling on it. But ultimately, he decided to devote most of his address to bridging the chasm over abortion and other moral issues… In his address, Mr. Obama did not engage on the merits of the debate on abortion; he instead made an appeal to each side of the issue.”
The Los Angeles Times : “‘President Obama did exactly what he needed to do,’ said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. ‘He challenged the students to take on the problems of the day; he spoke beyond them to the wider audience of Catholic citizens and presented a demeanor that contrasted with those who tried to paint him as a demonic, anti-life fanatic.’”
”Michael McNaught, assistant director of Loyola Marymount University's Center for Religion and Spirituality in Los Angeles, said: ‘As a practicing Catholic, I found his speech inspiring and hopeful. . . . I suspect that one of his motivations is to kind of hit this issue head-on. He's not hiding from the controversy.’”
CONTINUED >>
The AP tees up Obama’s meeting today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The Obama administration is trying to promote dialogue with Iran and Syria, Israel's arch foes. Israel fears such efforts could lead to greater tolerance for Iran's nuclear ambitions. But Israel and the U.S. dismiss Iran's claims that its nuclear program is designed to produce energy rather than weapons. Mr. Netanyahu regards Iran as the greatest threat to Israel.”
Video: Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk discusses the upcoming meeting between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. More: “In the run-up to the Feb. 10 election, Mr. Netanyahu derided the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which stalled late last year, as a waste of time. He has made clear in the past that he does not think the Palestinians are ready to rule themselves. But that position has put him at odds with U.S. policy that supports Palestinian statehood as the cornerstone of broader Mideast peace efforts. Now, he's feeling the pressure from Washington to endorse Palestinian statehood, and there were some hints that he might be shifting his position.”
Reuters says Netanyahu “will stress the need for urgency in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions when he meets … Obama on Monday, a senior Netanyahu adviser said. By putting Iran at the top of his agenda, Netanyahu will be sending a strong signal to Obama that Palestinian statehood, backed by the United States but not endorsed by the new Israeli leader, is not an issue requiring immediate attention.” New York Daily News adds, “Expectations are modest for President Obama’s meeting Monday with Benjamin Netanyahu, but observers say Israel’s prime minister will be more flexible than he was at peace talks a decade ago.”
The New York Times says that “some Senate Republicans are lowering expectations that they are planning any major political fight. President Obama has not yet named his choice to succeed Justice David H. Souter, but several Republicans acknowledge that it is unlikely they will be able to derail the nomination absent some startling revelation about the candidate.”
Video: President Obama is reportedly considering a diverse list dominated by women and Hispanics to fill Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s spot. NBC’s Pete Williams reports. “Those Republicans, including senior staff aides and some senators, suggested in interviews that they believed Mr. Obama’s first nominee for the court would be confirmed without great difficulty no matter how they framed the issues during the confirmation process.”
That said, the Sunday Times front-paged that conservative groups are girding for a fight. “If President Obama nominates Judge Diane P. Wood to the Supreme Court, conservatives plan to attack her as an ‘outspoken’ supporter of ‘abortion, including partial-birth abortion.’ If he nominates Judge Sonia Sotomayor, they plan to accuse her of being ‘willing to expand constitutional rights beyond the text of the Constitution.’ And if he nominates Kathleen M. Sullivan, a law professor at Stanford, they plan to denounce her as a ‘prominent supporter of homosexual marriage.’”
And Sunday’s Washington Post said that conservatives are especially focusing on gay marriage. “Questions on social issues in confirmation hearings have tended for the past 30 years to focus squarely on abortion, with partisans from both sides poring over a nominee's writings and rulings and presidents typically denying that any ‘litmus test’ was employed in the selection. Same-sex marriage carries the same freighted potential to dominate a hearing, conservatives say. CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post : “House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ‘ought to either present the evidence or apologize' in the wake of her comments that CIA officials misled her about the use of controversial interrogation techniques on terrorist suspects. ‘Lying to the Congress of the United States is a crime,’ Boehner said yesterday on CNN's ‘State of the Union.’ ‘And if the speaker is accusing the CIA and other intelligence officials of lying or misleading the Congress, then she should come forward with evidence and turn that over to the Justice Department so they can be prosecuted.’”
Roll Call recaps Pelosi’s rough week. “But throughout the week, the story proved tough for the Speaker to wrangle. It had been boiling since the previous week, when the CIA released a declassified report revealing Pelosi sat in on a September 2002 briefing that described the use of enhanced interrogation tactics and learned from an aide five months later of the use of waterboarding. Pelosi’s office was hamstrung in its response at first because the Speaker was off on a surprise trip to Iraq and didn’t return until Tuesday. But even as the week got under way, Democrats stumbled trying to mount a defense.”
The race towards the Memorial Day recess… “If they can overcome a few snags, Democrats would head into a week-long recess by sending President Obama new restrictions on credit card companies, an effort to curb predatory mortgage lending, a bill beefing up federal resources to pursue financial fraud and a major overhaul in Pentagon procurement policies,” the New York Times writes. “The White House would also like to get the $96.7 billion war spending measure in hand before Memorial Day but that seems improbable since the Senate has not even considered its initial version yet.”
CONTINUED >>
CALIFORNIA : “Battling anger and indifference on the part of California voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger implored them Sunday not to make the state ‘the poster child for dysfunction’ by defeating a host of measures on Tuesday's ballot that seek to restructure the state's bleak finances,” the Los Angeles Times reports. “The sheer complexity of the ballot measures was only one of the reasons that polls showed most of them lagging among voters likely to cast ballots. With employment and savings plummeting, voters forced to tighten their own belts were responding angrily to a demand from state officials for more money. And many voters appear to be throwing up their hands at the constant call to the polls.”
The Sacramento Bee has more… “The Tuesday contest contains six measures that the Legislature placed on the ballot as part of a February budget compromise with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The proposals range from a spending limit and tax hike (Proposition 1A) to borrowing $5 billion against future California Lottery revenues (Proposition 1C). Polls show that voters have a sour view of all but one measure, Proposition 1F, which would ban pay hikes for state legislators in deficit years. Voters also have given record-low approval ratings to Schwarzenegger and the Legislature as an institution, which they associate with the measures.”
NEW JERSEY : Two weeks until the GOP primary, the Sunday Washington Post looked at the Christie-Lonegan race for the right to challenge vulnerable incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine. “[I]n an echo of the party's national internal debate, New Jersey Republicans aren't certain whether their best chance for success is with a candidate who can appeal to independents or with a staunch conservative who advocates a flat tax, would ban abortion and expresses disdain for moderates.”
From NBC's Athena Jones President Obama addressed directly the controversy surrounding his appearance at Notre Dame University's commencement Sunday, stressing the need to use "fair-minded words" in debating abortion rights and to try to seek common ground.
The school's invitation to the pro-choice president, and its decision to present him with an honorary degree, has sparked protests by anti-abortion opponents who believe the country's largest Catholic university should not grant him such honors.
The Roman Catholic Church opposes abortion and the destruction of human embryos for stem cell research. Obama supports stem cell research and has said he wants abortion to be both legal and rare.
Today, he sought to humanize the two sides of an often-contentious debate, urging people to open their hearts and minds to those who disagree with them in order to "discover at least the possibility of common ground." He also repeated the call he made during the campaign for parties on both sides of the debate to work together to reduce the number of women seeing abortions by making adoption more available and helping reduce unintended pregnancies.
"I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away," Obama told the audience. "Because no matter how much we may want to fudge it -- indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory -- the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable."
"Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction," he continued. "But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray My colleague, NBC's John Yang, makes this very smart point about the
Huntsman pick: After a rough last few news cycles for Team
Obama -- the administration's reversal on those detainee photos, its announcement to keep the military tribunals, and, of course,
Nancy Pelosi -- naming Huntsman to an important diplomatic post sure changes the conversation, no?
From NBC's Mark Murray and John Yang President Obama announced this morning that he was nominating Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman to be his ambassador to China. Huntsman speaks Mandarin fluently, has a daughter adopted from China, and served as George W. Bush's deputy U.S. trade representative.
Besides Florida Gov. Charlie Crist , who this week announced he's running for the Senate in 2010, Huntsman was shaping up to be the moderate Republican voice in a potential 2012 presidential field that includes Mitt Romney , Sarah Palin , Mark Sanford , and even Newt Gingrich .
Huntsman favors civil unions for gays and had also been urging to the Republican Party to expand its tent rather than play to its base. In fact, Obama's former campaign manager, David Plouffe, said this about Huntsman recently : "I think the one person in that party who might be a potential is Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah. I think he's really out there and speaking a lot of truth about the direction of the party."
Obama selecting him as ambassador to China, however, probably rules out the possibility that Huntsman might challenge Obama in 2012. As Politico notes, it's the equivalent of George W. Bush hiring John Edwards or Hillary Clinton in 2001-02.
One other thing: John Weaver, John McCain's old moderate political strategist, was advising Huntsman, which triggered even more speculation that Huntsman was potentially eyeing a presidential bid in 2012.
THE WEEK AHEAD: Obama meets with Netanyahu, climate change, Kaine vs. Steele on “Meet the Press,” and it's commencement time... Congraduations!
From NBC's Athena Jones today announced changes to the military commissions set up to try Guantanamo Bay detainees, saying he would bring them in line with the rule of law and make them a "legitimate forum for prosecution."
The administration also has requested additional continuances in nine pending military commission proceedings while it makes changes to the process. These proceedings were first continued in January, when Obama announced his plans to close the detention facility in a year.
In a statement, Obama said military commissions had a long tradition in the United States and -- if properly structured and administered -- they were appropriate for trying enemies who violate the laws of war, in addition to trials in so-called Article III courts, which are civilian federal courts.
The president's still-evolving Gitmo plans have come under fire from some lawmakers who want to know what the administration intends to do with prisoners who are released, including how and where they will be tried and held once they leave the island of Cuba. His support of military commissions, along with his decision earlier this week not to release photos of prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, have also angered some on the left.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray We don't know how we missed this, but Mitt Romney today addressed the National Rifle Association in Phoenix, AZ. And per Politico's Ben Smith , he used it to blast President Obama on national security.
I think the President is going to learn very quickly that abject apologies are always welcomed by thugs and terrorists. But what they need to hear instead is a message of American confidence and American resolve. With all that is happening here at home, there are some who have forgotten that our nation is still at war – and still the prime target of al-Qaeda terrorists...
But here’s the problem. That is the very kind of thinking that left America vulnerable to the attacks of September 11th. And the approval of left-wing law professors and editorial boards won’t be worth much if this country lets down its guard and suffers another attack.
Remember during the presidential campaign, when he called himself a lifelong hunter , despite going on just two hunting trips? Or when he said this: "I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small varmints, if you will"? Or his revelation that he joined the NRA only in 2006, a year before he began his presidential quest?
From NBC's Pete Williams
Today's announcement about military commissions is in many ways not surprising: The
Obama administration signaled from the beginning that it wanted to retain the option of trying some Guantanamo Bay detainees before military tribunals.
Attorney General
Eric Holder has repeatedly told Congress that the detainees could be tried in at least three different forums -- standing military courts martial, special military commissions, and regular civilian federal courts. During his confirmation hearings, he said the commissions would nonetheless have to be "substantially revamped to provide the due-process rights that I think are consistent with who we are as Americans."
According to senior officials, the administration is taking action now because a legal hold on the commission hearings at Guantanamo is about to expire. Government lawyers feared that simply asking for another stay would not succeed and would be perceived by the military judges there as a bad faith effort to stretch the process out. Only by showing a sincere interest in keeping the process going, Justice Department lawyers decided, could they succeed in further delaying the cases already pending before the Gitmo commission while the administration sorts out which detainees are to be tried before which forums.
But the officials say today's action is intended to do more than merely preserve the option of using the commissions. "I think you can assume that we intend to use the commissions for some of the detainees," one official said.
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Mark Murray Nancy Pelosi , CIA Director Leon Panetta tells them to ignore the political controversy.
"My advice -- indeed, my direction -- to you is straightforward: ignore the noise and stay focused on your mission. We have too much work to do to be distracted from our job of protecting this country. We are an Agency of high integrity, professionalism, and dedication. Our task is to tell it like it is -- even if that's not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it."
Video: CIA Director Leon Panetta says officials from his agency "truthfully" briefed lawmakers on interrogation methods in 2002, countering House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claims. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports. Yet also in the statement, he appears to take Pelosi's charge head on. "Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing "the enhanced techniques that had been employed." Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened."
Below is the full memo.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland Lindsey Graham said today he supports the Obama administration's decision to keep the military tribunal system for trying some suspected terrorists. "Today's action will afford us the opportunity to reform the military commission system and produce a comprehensive policy regarding present and future detainees," he said in a written statement.
Graham, a former military lawyer and judge advocate, has had several meetings with President Obama and his staff about this and other issue related to GITMO. "Detainee policy is very complex," he Graham. "The president wants to collaborate with Congress to reform detainee policy, and we should use this additional time to come up with a sensible national security policy regarding terror suspects."
Graham also reaffirmed the general Republican position that "a comprehensive plan should be in place before Guantanamo is closed" and that "no detainees should be released into the United States."
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-D) also voiced support for the administration's decision: "I am very pleased that the president has decided that the military commissions are the proper forum to try prisoners captured on the battlefield in the war against those who attacked America... President Obama has reinforced that we are at war, and that the laws of war should apply to these prisoners."
From NBC's Mark Murray National Journal , Ron Brownstein writes about how the business community is willing to play ball with the Obama White House and the Democratic Congress on key domestic issues. On energy, Brownstein says, the utility trade group Edison Electric Institute praised the compromise Waxman-Markey energy legislation (although it stopped short of a full endorsement). And on health care, industry groups on Monday pledged to the White House to cut $2 trillion in health costs over the next 10 years.
"Although disagreements remain on both fronts, each move suggests that key business interests have decided to cut deals with a dominant Democratic Party rather than bet on a weakened Republican Party," Brownstein says.
That said, today's New York Times reports that health-care industry groups are arguing that Obama overstated their promise to help shave health costs. "They say they agreed to slow health spending in a more gradual way and did not pledge specific year-by-year cuts. 'There’s been a lot of misunderstanding that has caused a lot of consternation among our members,' said Richard J. Umbdenstock, the president of the American Hospital Association. 'I’ve spent the better part of the last three days trying to deal with it.'"
And check this out: "Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, said 'the president misspoke' on Monday and again on Wednesday when he described the industry’s commitment in similar terms. After providing that account, Ms. DeParle called back about an hour later on Thursday and said: 'I don’t think the president misspoke. His remarks correctly and accurately described the industry’s commitment.'"
From Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro Pelosi under fire : If you were a Democrat watching yesterday's uncomfortable Pelosi presser -- where she accused the CIA of misleading her on waterboarding -- there was at least this silver lining: It knocked Wednesday's detainee photo story out of the news. (Then again, it did the same to Obama's message of the day on credit cards.) But overall, yesterday wasn't a good day for Pelosi and Capitol Hill Democrats. Why? It put the speaker and her credibility on the defensive, and kept the Democratic agenda (health care, energy reform, etc.) out of the spotlight. And the GOP seems to smell blood. But there's also a danger here for Republicans: Do they really want to fight on ground tilled by the Bush administration? If they do, they might find themselves on shaky P.R. ground. Indeed, as our former colleague Bob Windrem reported earlier this week, “Vice President Cheney’s office suggested waterboarding an Iraqi prisoner … who was suspected to have knowledge of a Saddam-al Qaeda connection.” Do Republicans really want to fight the past?
*** The ghosts of news cycles past : On Thursday, we wrote that the politics of the past (harsh interrogation techniques, detainee photos) was driving the political discussion, and that continues today -- with two new additions. First, the New York Times reports that the Obama White House will announce today that it’s keeping Bush’s military tribunal system for some suspected terrorists, although it will include expanded rights for them such as limiting hearsay, banning evidence gained for harsh treatments, and giving them more latitude to pick their attorneys. Still, as with Wednesday’s decision not to release those detainee photos, the announcement is angering liberals and human-rights groups. Second, the Washington Post notes that the federal prosecutor looking into those U.S. attorney firings in the Bush administration will today interview Karl Rove. The paper adds that Rove “is also tentatively scheduled to provide closed-door testimony to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and other members of the panel next month.” As Dan Balz writes, “Closing the books on the George W. Bush years has proven harder than anyone imagined -- certainly harder than Obama hoped.”
*** Nomination news : In addition to all this news today, NBC’s Jay Barbree reports that Obama has made his pick to lead NASA. “Former astronaut and retired Marine Corps Major General Charles F. Bolden, Jr. will meet with Obama in the Oval Office Monday morning and likely will be appointed the new NASA Administrator,” Barbree says. “Bolden, a veteran of four space flights with over 680 hours in earth orbit ... will be the first African-American NASA czar," if he’s confirmed by the Senate. Also this morning, the White House announced that Dr. Thomas Frieden, commissioner of New York City’s Health Department, is the new head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Acting Director Dr. Rich Besser, who has led the CDC’s coordinating office for terrorism preparedness and emergency response, will remain in that role. Frieden doesn’t need Senate approval for his new job. Next up -- Notre Dame : Obama’s public schedule for today is a light one. His only public event is a 12:20 pm ET appearance with the Philadelphia Phillies, last year’s World Series champs. He also meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office, but it’s closed to the press. Yet the big upcoming event for the president will be his much-anticipated commencement address at Notre Dame this Sunday. White House communications director Anita Dunn tells the New York Times that, as expected, Obama will likely refer to the controversy over his appearance and his pro-choice views. “You can’t ignore it,” she said, “but at the same time, you can’t allow it to become the focus of a day that’s actually supposed to be about the graduates.”
*** Card check gets a lifeline : When Sen. Arlen Specter said he was opposed to the Employee Free Choice Act, a.k.a., card check, and that he would support filibustering it, it appeared that organized labor’s chances of getting its prized legislation passed were slim at best. But labor got some good news yesterday when 1) Specter said that “the prospects are pretty good” for a compromise on the legislation, and 2) when Obama spoke favorably about the effort at his town hall yesterday in New Mexico. But the president also said this: “I think it's going to have a chance of passage, but there's still more work to be done.”Meet Janet Napolitano : The latest profile in our series on Obama’s potential SCOTUS picks is Janet Napolitano, the former Arizona governor who now serves as Obama’s Homeland Security secretary… Napolitano, 51, won Senate confirmation to her new post on Jan. 20, 2009 by unanimous consent… Is pro-choice, but also supported the death penalty, and cut deals with Republicans on taxes and school vouchers, which displeased some liberals but also won her praise as one of the country’s top governors… Recently angered conservatives when the Department of Homeland Security released a report suggesting that right-wing radicals, seeking to capitalize on the election of the nation’s first African-American president, might try to recruit members from the U.S. armed services returning from Iraq and Afghanistan… Was an attorney for Anita Hill when she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during Clarence Thomas’ contentious Supreme Court nomination hearings… In the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, endorsed Obama on Jan. 11, 2008, before the Arizona primary on Super Tuesday (which Hillary Clinton narrowly won).
*** More on Napolitano : Served as Arizona governor from 2003 to 2009… Before that, was Arizona attorney general and U.S. attorney in Arizona… Clerked for 9th Circuit Judge Mary M. Schroeder… Received her undergraduate degree from Santa Clara University in 1979 and her law degree from the University of Virginia in 1983… First job out of college was working for Republican Sen. Pete Domenici on the Senate Budget Committee… Is a survivor of breast cancer… Has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Himalayas
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“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) acknowledged on Thursday that she knew in 2003 that terrorism suspects were waterboarded,” The Hill reports. “During a tense press conference, Pelosi sought to deflect criticism to the CIA, which she said lied to her about the practice.”
The Washington Post’s Dan Balz : “Pelosi's performance in the Capitol was either a calculated escalation of a long-running feud with the Bush administration or a reckless act by a politician whose word had been called into question. Perhaps it was both.”
More: “Washington now is engaged in a battle royal of finger-pointing, second-guessing and self-defense, all over techniques President Obama banned in the first days of his administration. Both sides in this debate believe they have something to prove -- and gain -- by keeping the fight alive.”
The New York Times : “The issue is emerging as one of the toughest tests of Ms. Pelosi’s tenure, as she finds herself fending off accusations of hypocrisy from Republicans for criticizing the interrogation methods, even though she had known about them, and from liberal critics who say that she should have raised the alarm earlier if she knew what was transpiring.”
CONTINUED >>
The New York Times : “President Obama has decided to keep the military commission system that his predecessor created to try suspected terrorists but will ask Congress to expand the rights of defendants to contest the charges against them, officials briefed on the plan said Thursday.”
The Los Angeles Times adds, “Word of the decision infuriated human rights groups, which argued that any trials under the system created by President George W. Bush would be widely viewed as tainted. They said President Obama was duplicating Bush's mistakes. The announcement would follow other moves by Obama that have disappointed his administration's liberal allies but heartened Bush supporters, including his decisions to withhold photos depicting alleged abuse of detainees by U.S. soldiers and to retain the option of using a limited form of rendition, the practice of turning terrorism suspects over to other countries for questioning.”
The New York Times previews Obama’s meeting on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
“Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Thursday told a Senate panel that a ‘two-state solution’ to the Israel-Palestinian conflict was the only chance for peace in the Mideast,” The Hill reports.
The New York Times was the first to report on Obama picking Dr. Thomas Frieden to head up the CDC. “Dr. Frieden, a 48-year-old infectious disease specialist, has cut a high and sometimes contentious profile in his seven years as New York’s top health official under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. He led the crusade to ban smoking in restaurants and bars, pushed to make H.I.V. testing a routine part of medical exams, and defended a program that passes out more than 35 million condoms a year.”
“At the C.D.C., he will inherit a host of immediate and long-term problems, including a looming decision about whether and how to produce a swine flu vaccine. Health experts say the agency must resolve serious morale and organizational issues even as the administration struggles to overhaul the nation’s health care system.”
“President Obama on Thursday declared that ‘enough's enough’ when it comes to high credit card fees and sudden interest rate hikes and called on Congress to immediately protect consumers from abusive practices by credit card companies,” the Washington Post says. “Speaking during a packed town hall meeting here as senators debated credit card legislation back in Washington, Obama used the rhetorical power of the presidency to push Congress along. As he did last week, Obama urged lawmakers to pass legislation that he can sign into law by Memorial Day.”
CONTINUED >>
“Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, considered a potential nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, has drawn criticism from gay rights groups after announcing plans to join a think tank whose founder is an outspoken opponent of gay marriage,” the AP says, adding: “In 2006, Sears joined a unanimous decision that upheld Georgia's same-sex marriage ban. The court didn't rule on the merits of the ban. It just dismissed a challenge that claimed the law violated a rule governing the number of issues on a ballot measure.”
“Republican National Chairman Michael Steele urged supporters Thursday to get behind Rep. Michele Bachmann’s drive to block public dollars from going to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now,” Politico writes. “The Minnesota Republican’s efforts have been hemmed in by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, where Bachmann submitted her amendment to strip ACORN funding.”
The Washington Post : “Karl Rove will be interviewed today as part of a criminal investigation into the firing of U.S. attorneys during the presidency of George W. Bush, according to two sources familiar with the appointment.”
“Republican Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday that he expects to see a number of states follow his home state of Texas in pushing resolutions that will ‘assert their independence from the federal government.’ ‘If this administration gets its way, we’ll all be the same. We’ll all be the way Washington wants us to be,’ Perry said on a call with Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) and roughly 20,000 callers sponsored by the Republican Governors Association, and billed as Tea Party 2.0.
ARKANSAS : “A Republican Senate challenger in Arkansas called Sen. Chuck Schumer ‘that Jew’ at a campaign event and has spent a week backtracking, apologizing, and digging himself in deeper,” the New York Daily News writes. “Kim Hendren, now the minority leader of the Arkansas state Senate, dropped his J-bomb last week after he got mad that Schumer described conservative Republicans as ‘hard right’ in a TV interview.”
CONNECTICUT : Adventures of New Chris: “The Chris Dodd reclamation project is in full swing, but even Dodd admits it’s an iffy proposition,” The Hill reports. “Facing all-time low approval ratings as he heads into the 2010 election, Sen. Dodd (D-Conn.) is reinventing himself to the voters he’s represented for almost 30 years. The old Chris Dodd would have been on all the cable news and Sunday morning talk shows and shaking hands at glitzy D.C. events. The new Chris Dodd is doing more local events, keeping a low national profile and hoping that he has enough time to recover before Election Day.”
PENNSYLVANIA : “Joe Torsella (D) dropped out of the Pennsylvania Senate race Thursday evening, leaving Sen. Arlen Specter as the only announced Democratic candidate in the race at the moment.” In his drop-out video , he said the campaign would have been more about “Arlen Specter’s past.” And it wouldn’t be a campaign he could walk away holding his head high about.
TEXAS : National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn “says he is looking forward to becoming the senior senator from the Lone Star State and predicted that fellow Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will resign from the Senate this fall to run for governor,” writes the Fort Worth Star-Telegram . “In a wide-ranging discussion with Texas reporters in his Hart Building conference room Wednesday, Cornyn covered a range of issues including Hutchison’s long-anticipated departure.” More: “He distanced himself from Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, who surprised observers with published remarks Monday that the Obama administration was deliberately destroying the economy ‘to inflict damage and hardship on the free enterprise system, if not to kill it.’ Asked whether he thinks President Barack Obama is sabotaging the economy, Cornyn said ‘absolutely not.’ He made clear that he is ‘concerned’ about Obama’s economic policies but does not think the president’s motives are ‘intentional.’”
From NBC's Pete Williams
Karl Rove's lawyer says the Republican political strategist has indicated before that he'd be willing to talk to the prosecutor looking into the firings of U.S. attorneys that took place under Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales .
"Mr. Rove has consistently said he would cooperate with the investigation," said his lawyer, Robert Luskin. Luskin declined to specify the time or place for Rove's interview, said by the
Washington Post to be Friday. Government officials familiar with the process do not deny the Post story.
The prosecutor, Nora Dannehy, is the acting U.S. attorney in Connecticut. She was given the assignment of sorting out the U.S. attorney firings last fall, by
Michael Mukasey , who was then attorney general.
She has already questioned one of Rove's former assistants, Scott Jennings.
From NBC's Harry Enten Quinnipiac poll . David Paterson has pledged to sign it. Siena poll found a majority of New Yorkers (53%) approved of the state legislature voting in favor of same-sex marriage.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Danielle Weisberg Barack Obama's old Senate seat -- the Blago corruption scandal, the embattled Roland Burris who's currently holding the seat, and the other political players gunning for it in 2010 -- there's now plenty more.
Another well-known Illinois Democrat is thinking about joining the race; a Kennedy scion is considering it, too; and Fall Out Boy is pitching in with fundraising -- all the latest developments in this never-boring Senate race.
According to Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed , Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is now contemplating a Senate run. Madigan was previously thought to be eyeing a run off for the gubernatorial seat held by Democrat Pat Quinn , who replaced indicted the indicted Blagojevich. Sneed report that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has been courting Madigan -- the daughter of powerful Illinois House of Representatives leader Michael Madigan -- after early polls show her to be in a strong position for a seat the Democrats want to keep.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Luke Russert
The issue of harsh interrogation techniques -- and also the possibility of a truth commission to examine their use -- was the subject of dueling press conferences today on Capitol Hill by House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader
John Boehner .
Pelosi, under fire from the GOP for much of the week for giving conflicting accounts as to what she knew about waterboarding and when, said: "
The CIA briefed me only once on enhanced interrogation techniques, in September of 2002 , in my capacity as ranking member of the Intelligence Committee. I was informed then that the Department of Justice opinions had concluded that the use of enhanced interrogation techniques were legal. The only mention of waterboarding at that briefing was that it was not being employed."
Video: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explains that she was briefed by the CIA and told that waterboarding was not being used on suspected terrorists by U.S. interrogators. Yet after a grilling by the congressional press corps, Pelosi said, "The CIA gave me inaccurate information" about waterboarding, and she added that the CIA "misled the Congress." Pelosi also said that the GOP interest in her knowledge of enhanced interrogation techniques was a "diversionary tactic to get the spotlight off of those involved."
Pelosi then criticized the Bush administration's policies in the lead up to the Iraq war, saying, "They mislead us all the time. I was fighting the war in Iraq at that time."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Pete Williams
The CIA says it cannot comply with the request from former Vice President
Dick Cheney , who wants CIA documents declassified and released that he says would show the successful application of harsh interrogation methods.
The CIA's Paul Gimigliano says the following: "The process for Mandatory Declassification Review is governed by Executive Order 12958, as amended. That Order excludes from review information that is the subject of pending litigation. The two documents that former Vice President Cheney sought contain information that falls into that category."
"For that reason -- and that reason only -- CIA did not accept Mr. Cheney's request for a Mandatory Declassification Review. The Agency simply followed the Executive Order. This request was handled in accordance with normal practice by CIA professionals with long experience in information management and release. It was for them a straightforward issue."
From Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro *** Turning the page? As much as President Obama may have wanted to "turn the page" on the politics of the past, he probably feels a bit like Michael Corleone in Godfather III (“Just when I thought I was out, they PULL ME BACK IN”). Indeed, over the last few weeks, Washington has been pondering these questions: Did the Bush administration commit torture? What did Nancy Pelosi know about those interrogation techniques? What is Dick Cheney going to say next? And here was yesterday's topic: Should the Obama administration release photos showing detainee abuse? The earlier answer was yes, but the White House yesterday reversed course, arguing that the photos could “inflame anti-American opinion.” The decision angered liberals and human-rights groups, while it pleased Republicans and conservatives. These, of course, are not the fights that Obama wants to be waging. Then again, when you’re president, you often don’t get to pick all the issues you have to confront. By the way, the AP makes this very smart point: Obama’s decision yesterday essentially kicks the matter back to the courts, which have already decided that the photos must be released.
Video: President Obama says he will attempt to block the court-ordered release of photos showing detainees being abused at the hands of their U.S. captors. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports. ***
Dealing with Gitmo: Oh, and here’s one more tricky question of the past that Obama’s deliberating: What do you do with those Guantanamo prisoners? Today’s
Wall Street Journal writes. “The Obama administration is weighing plans to detain some terror suspects on U.S. soil -- indefinitely and without trial -- as part of a plan to retool military commission trials that were conducted for prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.” More from the paper: “The proposal being floated with members of Congress is another indication of President Barack Obama's struggles to establish his counter-terrorism policies, balancing security concerns against attempts to alter Bush-administration practices he has harshly criticized.”
*** SCOTUS news: There are several new developments in Obama’s search for a new Supreme Court justice. Yesterday, a new name surfaced : California Supreme Court Judge Carlos Moreno. Also, the AP confirmed that these six folks are being considered by the president: Moreno, Elena Kagan, Jennifer Granholm, Janet Napolitano, Sonia Sotomayor, and Diane Wood. (Your First Read team on Monday reported that all of these people -- sans Moreno -- were on the shortlist, and we had one other name the AP doesn’t: Merrick Garland, whom we profile below.) Moreover, the Washington Post says that Obama told the Senate leaders he met with yesterday that he would be reviewing candidates over the weekend, “leading participants to believe an announcement could come within days.” And finally, the conservative National Republican Trust PAC sent a letter to GP senators yesterday, warning them that the organization will hold them accountable if they end up voting for an “activist judge.” Check out this line from the letter: “As you may recall, the National Republican Trust PAC held former Sen. Arlen Specter accountable after he voted in favor of the President’s stimulus package. The gentleman from Pennsylvania no longer resides within our political party.”
*** Comedian-in-Chief: So how did Obama try to defuse the mini-controversy over the fact that Arizona State wouldn’t be awarding him an honorary degree because he hadn’t accomplished enough? He joked about it. “I’d like to clear the air about that little controversy everyone was talking about a few weeks back,” he said at the school’s commencement last night. “I have to tell you, I really thought it was much ado about nothing, although I think we all learned an important lesson: I learned to never again pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA bracket. And [Arizona State] President Crow and the Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS.” Will we see Obama use humor again when he speaks Sunday at Notre Dame, where there’s a real controversy over abortion brewing? Probably not. But a new Quinnipiac poll backs up an earlier Pew survey showing that a strong majority of Catholics approve of him speaking at the school. By a 60%-34% margin, Catholic voters say Notre Dame would be wrong to rescind Obama’s invitation to speak of the school because of his pro-choice views.
Video: In his first commencement speech as president, Barack Obama addresses the graduates from Arizona State University by telling them no matter how much they have done or how successful they may have been, “there’s always more to do, more to learn, more to achieve.” ***
Credit crunch: Yesterday Obama was in Arizona, which will most likely be a presidential battleground in 2012. And today, he’s the in the 2008 battleground of New Mexico, where he holds a town hall on credit card reform at noon ET. This town hall meeting comes as the Senate works on a legislation that would place new regulations on the credit card industry. Per NBC’s Ken Strickland, the Senate will likely vote on the measure early next week.
***
Meet Merrick Garland: As we continue our SCOTUS shortlist profiles, today we look at Merrick Garland, 56, who currently serves on the influential U. S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit; four of the Supreme Court's current justices hail from it… Was appointed by President Bill Clinton and served in his administration’s Justice Department… Also was an assistant U.S. attorney in DC under George H.W. Bush… While in the Clinton Justice Department, supervised the prosecutions of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski… Has been referred to as the Democratic version of John Roberts; in fact, Garland clerked for Judge Henry Friendly of the 2nd Circuit like Roberts did… His major hurdle is that he doesn't check the desired boxes. He's a white male, and the court is stacked with them… Described as "an intellectual force," an "obvious" choice, "moderate" or "liberal -- but he doesn't wear it on his sleeve," the Legal Times wrote.
***
More Garland: He wrote the opinion on Parhat v. Gates, which "rebuked a hallmark government method used in detaining prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.”… While a student at Harvard, was part of a committee that voted not to allow a referendum on whether ROTC should return to campus… Helped prosecute and convict former Reagan press secretary and political adviser Lyn Nofziger of "illegally lobbying for two defense contractors and a labor union," USA Today wrote. But: "A year later a federal appeals court threw out the conviction, saying prosecutors had failed to show Nofziger had knowingly committed a crime."… Other bio information: Grew up in the Chicago area, son of an ad man… Married 21 years; wife’s grandfather was a New York State Supreme Court justice and a special counsel to FDR and Harry Truman… Graduated summa cum laude from Harvard in 1974 with a social studies concentration and magna cum laude in 1977 from Harvard Law, where he, like President Obama, was editor of the Law Review… Currently president of the Harvard Board of Overseers.
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The Washington Post : “President Obama told senators at a White House meeting yesterday that he would review names of potential Supreme Court nominees over the weekend, leading participants to believe an announcement could come within days, according to senior Senate aides who were briefed on the gathering.”
Video: President Obama is reportedly considering a diverse list dominated by women and Hispanics to fill Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s spot. NBC’s Pete Williams reports. The
AP says that Obama is considering “Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Appeals Court judges Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Pamela Wood. California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno is also under review by Obama.”
Politico adds that “James B. Comey Jr., the top Bush administration official who rebelled against plans for domestic eavesdropping, is being pushed by some White House officials for inclusion on the short list of candidates.”
CONTINUED >>
The New York Times says Obama “said Wednesday that he would fight to prevent the release of photographs documenting abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan by United States military personnel, reversing his position on the issue after commanders warned that the images could set off a deadly backlash against American troops.”
Video: In a statement given at the White House, President Obama explains why he is trying to block the release of photos that allegedly show U.S. troops abusing prisoners. The Washington Post : “Civil liberties and human rights advocates said the reversal would serve to maintain the Bush administration's legacy of secrecy. Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Obama's shift was ‘deeply disappointing.’ ‘Even given that the photos will undoubtedly generate outrage in the region, the best way to dampen that outrage is to hold those responsible accountable,’ Roth said.”
The AP : “In reversing itself and blocking the release of photos of U.S. military personnel abusing detainees, the Obama administration claims to have found a new legal argument. It hasn't. What the administration has found is a way to pass the buck to the courts… The administration has also found a way to avoid distribution of the photographs just before Obama travels to Egypt to speak directly to Muslims… [T]he Bush administration already argued against the release on national security grounds -- and lost. ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer said that argument ‘has been made by the government multiple times, and has been rejected unequivocally every time.’”
Meanwhile, the New York Times front-pages that congressional Democrats “are voicing growing unease over the Obama administration’s national security policies, including the seemingly open-ended commitment in Afghanistan and the nettlesome question of what to do with prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.”
“The Obama administration yesterday unveiled a plan to regulate a vast market of exotic financial instruments known as derivatives, which fueled the global economic crisis and wounded some of the biggest names on Wall Street,” the Washington Post says. “The proposal would for the first time empower regulators to probe more deeply into the inner workings of these markets, and the firms that profit from them, and curb the risks traders can take.”
The New York Times adds, “Taken together, the rules would probably make it more expensive for issuers, dealers and buyers alike to participate in the derivatives markets. The proposal will probably force many types of derivatives into the open, reducing the role of the so-called shadow banking system that has arisen around them.”
“Documents made public on Wednesday confirm former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson gave nine major banks no choice but to allow the government to take equity stakes in them as the Bush administration moved to address turmoil in the financial industry,”
Reuters reports. “The documents, obtained by the public interest group Judicial Watch under a Freedom of Information Act request, include ‘talking points’ used by Paulson at the October 13, 2008, meeting with the banks' CEOs in Washington.”
“More than 60,000 people waited for hours in the broiling sun Wednesday to hear President Barack Obama's eloquent message to Arizona State University's graduating class - and his witty response to a lingering controversy over the school's decision not to give him an honorary degree,” the Arizona Republic reports. He said: "I have to tell you, I really thought it was much ado about nothing, but I do think we all learned an important lesson: I learned never again to pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA brackets. It won't happen again. (ASU) President (Michael) Crow and the Board of Regents will soon learn about being audited by the IRS."
The paper called the address “historic” because it was the first to an Arizona school by a sitting president. The school sparked controversy when it announced it would not be granting Obama an honorary degree. It then announced it would be naming a
scholarship program after him. But
The Daily Show pretty much summed it up before Obama spoke. By the way, Alice Cooper opened for Obama and sang “School’s out.” Temperatures hit 110 degrees and by the end of Obama’s speech more than 100 people required medical attention.
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post’s Dan Balz writes, “Today Cheney is the most visible -- and controversial -- critic of President Obama's national security policies and, to the alarm of many people in the Republican Party, the most forceful and uncompromising defender of the Bush administration's record. His running argument with the new administration has spawned a noisy side debate all its own: By leading the criticism, is Cheney doing more harm than good to the causes he has taken up and to the political well-being of his party?”
Video: Former Vice President Dick Cheney has emerged as the leading voice of his party, particularly in defense of the Bush administration, but it's the Democrats who seem to welcome each new appearance. NBC's David Gregory reports. From one conservative beauty queen to another… “Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin released a
statement Wednesday night defending Miss California against ‘the liberal onslaught of malicious attacks.’… Palin said she spoke to Prejean soon after the contest and ‘can relate as a liberal target myself.’ ‘What I find so remarkable is that these politically-motivated attacks fail to show that what Carrie and I believe is also what President Obama and Secretary Clinton believe -- marriage is between a man and a woman,’ Palin said.” She went on to praise Donald Trump and added, "Our Constitution protects us all -- not just those who agree with the far left."
Memories ...
The Hill : “Congressional Democrats have planned an ambitious July, stacking healthcare reform, climate change legislation, annual spending bills and a potential Supreme Court nomination battle on the ‘To Do’ list before the August recess. The five-week work period in the Senate -- four weeks in the House -- before the monthlong break represents the final push of what may be the busiest stretch of Obama’s first term.”
To that point, “House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said a climate change bill could be on the House floor
this summer after Democrats announced agreements on a few critical issues holding the legislation up.”
The New York Times has more: “The measure before the House panel, written by Mr. Waxman and Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, now calls for a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2020; the original target was 20 percent. The long-range target, an 83 percent reduction by 2050, still stands. Among the most difficult discussions were those that concerned the granting of free emissions permits under the bill’s cap-and-trade provisions. In the current compromise, 35 percent of all permits will be granted to local utility companies to cushion the higher costs of producing electricity in a way that emits less carbon dioxide.”
CONTINUED >>
MINNESOTA: “FBI agents in Minnesota have begun asking questions about the relationship between former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and a close friend and donor, according to a Minnesota source to whom the agents talked,” the
Pioneer Press reports. “The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the ‘main topic’ of the two agents' questions surrounded an allegation that Bloomington financier Nasser Kazeminy paid for suits and other items Coleman and his wife shopped for at Neiman-Marcus in Minneapolis.”
The
Huffington Post broke the news yesterday.
Frank Lavin, former undersecretary of Commerce, is joining Edelman Public Relations as the chairman of its Asia-Pacific public affairs practice.
From NBC's Betsy Cline
AIG CEO Edward Liddy testified before the House Committee on Reform and Government Oversight about the ways the company is spending more than $180 billion in taxpayer money, and AIG's plan to pay it back.
Liddy told members that AIG planned to have the money paid back in three to five years, assuming the world economic climate improved or remained as is. When GOP Rep.
Darrell Issa , the committee's rank minority member, pressed for a specific strategy to repay taxpayers.
But Liddy was unwilling to do so, citing the sensitive nature of the internal company memo. Yet when Issa pressed further, Liddy spoke with counsel and reluctantly agreed to release the plan to members of Congress if it came with a confidentiality agreement.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Michelle Perry Patrick Leahy (D-VT), took on former Vice President Dick Cheney today, responding to the public criticism he has been giving the Obama administration.
Leahy, appearing on Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC, said he disagrees with comments by the former vice president that the Obama administration is making America more vulnerable to another al Qaeda attack, by not using harsh interrogation tactics.
Video: Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy tells NBC's Andrea Mitchell that the U.S. standing in the world has been damaged by questionable legal memos supporting the Bush administration's use of torture. "I don't know if this is the run-up to the book the vice president is writing and hoping it will boost sales,” Leahy said, “but it is very interesting to notice the former president is not going on every single TV station to say the same kinds of things."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Libby Leist
The new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx was a sea of purple today as
Hillary Clinton addressed the 2009 graduates of New York University.
Clinton, who received an honorary degree from the university, told the new graduates that the world they were entering into is "more difficult and somewhat more daunting" than at other times in U.S. history.
But she said, "That’s when we really rise together."
She stressed that now during a global recession the world needs the "talents, energy, passion and commitment" of each graduate. She encouraged the class of 2009 to use new communication tools to become "citizen diplomats, citizen activists" and to work together on issues like climate change, hunger, poverty, extreme ideologies, new diseases and nuclear proliferation.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro Charlie Crist's (R) announcement that he will run for the Senate.
State Chief Financial Officer
Alex Sink -- the Democrats' strongest statewide candidate -- has announced she will run for governor. "Today, I'm announcing I will be a candidate for Governor of Florida in the November 2010 election, and put my business experience and know-how to work restoring our economy," she said in a statement.
The Crist news also has set off a scramble on the Republican side, with several GOPers -- including state Attorney General
Bill McCollum -- possibly eyeing the governorship.
The Florida GOP responded to the Sink news with a release entitled: "Floridians Won't Sink Florida."
“I welcome former banker Alex Sink to the governor’s race. After years of smoke in mirrors [sic], it is about time for Floridians to meet the real Alex Sink,” said Florida GOP chairman Greer.
From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski
Defense and military officials tell NBC News that White House Press Secretary
Robert Gibbs will announce that
President Obama will seek to delay the release of hundreds of photos which reportedly depict the abuse of prisoners by U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen.
Ray Odierno , the top U.S. military commander in Iraq met with President Obama at the White House yesterday to ask the administration not to release the photos. Defense officials say Odierno is "vehemently opposed" to the release, because he fears it could create a widespread "backlash" against military forces in both war zones. According to one official, "It would put a bull's eye on the backs of our forces."
According to military officials, many of the photos are similar to the infamous prisoner abuse photos out of Abu Ghraib prison, but many of these photos reportedly include mug shots of prisoners who appear to have been badly beaten during their capture or interrogation.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's John Yang
Republican Sens.
Mitch McConnell and
Jeff Sessions , and Democratic Sens.
Harry Reid and
Pat Leahy spoke to reporters after meeting with
President Obama on the Supreme Court vacancy.
McConnell said he saw no reason why someone couldn't be seated for the next court term as long as they weren't "controversial." Both said Obama did not float any names. Sessions said Obama did not give a time frame for an announcement, but said he didn't think one was "imminent.
Separately, Reid said the average time between an announcement and a hearing is 60 to 70 days, but said he would not be bound by artificial timelines. Leahy said it would be "irresponsible" not to have someone seated by beginning of the new Supreme Court term in October.
From NBC's Pete Williams
A former FBI undercover agent who questioned al Qaeda figure Abu Zubaydah told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee today that the most valuable information gained from interrogating him was not produced by using waterboarding or other harsh methods.
Ali Soufan, testifying behind a screen to conceal his identity, said it was his questioning that yielded a breakthrough bit of intelligence -- that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the 9/11 attack mastermind. By contrast, he said, when the CIA's contractors used their harsh methods, including waterboarding, they got nothing because Zubaydah shut down. Soufan said the Justice Department memos incorrectly said that the harsh methods produced that intelligence nugget.
Soufan also said it was his questioning, not the CIA's, that produced information about Jose Padilla. Soufan was ultimately ordered by FBI Director Robert Mueller to take no further part in the interrogation, out of the FBI's concern that the CIA's methods were over the line.
Law professors testifying at the hearing disagreed about whether the harsh methods amounted to illegal torture. Some cited opinions from international courts holding that while methods similar to the CIA's were inhumane, they did not amount to illegal torture.
From NBC's Luke Russert John Boehner says that any government component to health care is akin to "throwing the baby out with the bath water," because it would lead to the demise of all private insurance. He also thinks that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "can't have her cake and eat it too" on the interrogation issue.
At the Republicans leadership's weekly news conference following their caucus' meeting, Boehner addressed questions regarding health care and the recent controversy regarding Pelosi and her knowledge of CIA interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration.
Talking about health care, Boehner said that the president and the Democrats essentially want to push America toward a system similar to Canada's and Great Britain's, where patients have to wait longer for lower quality drugs and important health tests.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Hillary Clinton running for president for disgraced former Democratic fundraiser Hsu. Clinton's campaign gave back about $850,000 tied to Hsu.
The New York Daily News : "A gushing voicemail message from Hillary Clinton to admitted swindler Norman Hsu was played for jurors Tuesday at his campaign finance violations trial." New York Post : "Hillary Rodham Clinton gushed to disgraced Democratic fund-raiser Norman Hsu that he would 'single-handedly' help her win the presidency because nobody 'has been more loyal and been more effective' in landing donations."
From NBC's Ken Strickland President Obama's nominee to the No. 2 post at the Interior Department, David Hayes . On a procedural vote that required 60 votes to advance the nomination, most Republicans united to opposes the nomination. The vote was 57-39.
Hayes' chief opponents are Republican Sens. Bob Bennett (UT) and Lisa Murkowski (AK). They're concerned about the Interior Department's management of federal lands in the West, specifically oil and gas development.
At this point, it's unclear what happens next to Hayes' nomination. In the past, administrations have made concessions or not-so-subtle guarantees to the chief opponents in hopes of alleviating concerns. Yesterday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sent letter to Bennett and Murkowski, vowing to address their concerns moving forward once Hayes was concerned.
But it clearly wasn't enough.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Harry Reid switched his vote to "no" for procedural reason in order to call for a vote again later.)
CONTINUED >>
From Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro The Big Two : President Obama spends his day discussing health care and the Supreme Court vacancy. Get used to it -- these are the two stories that will likely dominate American politics between now and the fall. At 9:30 am ET, Obama and Vice President Biden meet in the Oval Office with House Democratic leaders to talk about health care, and the president will make a statement about it thirty minutes later. (Worth noting: This the third-straight day that Obama has focused on health care). Then, at 11:15 am, the president and vice president hold another Oval Office meeting with Sens. Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Pat Leahy, and Jeff Sessions to converse about the Supreme Court vacancy. This meeting comes as Sessions, the Senate Judiciary's new ranking Republican, pens a Washington Post op-ed , arguing that Obama’s pick should demonstrate judicial restraint, integrity, and a commitment to the rule of law. If Obama selects someone “who will allow personal preferences and political views to corrupt his or her decision making,” Sessions adds, “he will put before the public a central question: Are we willing to trade America's heritage of a fair and neutral judiciary … for a high court composed of robed politicians who apply the law differently based on their personal feelings toward a particular person or issue?” (Question to Sessions: You don’t think that Scalia and Thomas or Ginsburg and Breyer have different interpretations of the law based on their feeling towards issues like, say, abortion? Ok…)
*** SCOTUS focus : NBC’s Savannah Guthrie has additional information about today’s meeting on Obama’s upcoming Supreme Court pick: 1) It’s fair to say that senators are NOT likely to present him with a list of names of nominees they'd like to see considered; 2) this will be the first chance to consult face to face with Senate leaders on the nomination; 3) there will, of course, be talk about the timing of naming a nominee -- the White House and Senate leadership want to have the confirmation hearings before the August recess, and it usually takes about 60 days to get a nominee ready for the hearings; and 4) more than one official has made a point to say that none of the public "lists" of potential nominees is complete or exhaustive. As White House Press Secretary Roberts Gibbs said at yesterday’s briefing, “The president does take some heart in knowing that in all of the lists that have been seen and produced, there hasn't yet been one produced with the totality of names under which are being considered.”
Video: Obama meets with congressional leaders today over the upcoming Supreme Court vacancy. ***
Stimulus politics : Later this morning, when Obama receives his economic daily briefing, Biden will hand him the first quarterly progress report on the stimulus’ implementation through May 5. During that time, Biden’s office tells First Read, 150,000 jobs have been created or saved; more than $88 billion has been made available for programs and projects; more than 3,000 transportation projects have been funded in 52 states and territories; and 95% of working families have begun seeing money from their tax-credit checks. But the press has a less rosy view of the stimulus’ progress so far. The
New York Times front-pages that the federal government has paid out just 6% of the package’s $787 billion. “Some states and cities are beginning to complain that the money has yet to reach them. Others have been slow to get their paperwork to Washington; Virginia has yet to send the Transportation Department its list of road projects. At the same time, some economists have questioned the administration’s claims that the bill has saved or created 150,000 jobs.”
*** Let the commencement addresses begin! Finally today, Obama travels to Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ, where he will deliver an evening commencement address at that school (which just so happens to reside in a state that could become a competitive state for him in 2012). Of course, do remember that Arizona State received plenty of criticism when it said it wouldn’t be giving Obama an honorary degree, suggesting that the nation's first African-American president hadn’t accomplished enough. The school later apologized and said it would name a big scholarship in his honor. Next up: Obama’s controversial commencement at Notre Dame on Sunday. Also today, Secretary of State Clinton delivers New York University's commencement address at Yankee Stadium at 11:00 am ET
*** Just askin’ : Would Dick Cheney have spoken out as aggressively -- or at all -- on defending the Bush administration’s interrogation tactics had John McCain had won in November? Remember that McCain, a torture victim, spoke out against waterboarding and torture, and likely would have discontinued their practices as president. Speaking of this subject, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee today looks into the interrogation techniques practiced during the Bush administration.
Video: Cheney continues his defense of waterboarding on his media circuit tour. ***
Meet Elena Kagan : Here’s the latest in our profiles of potential SCOTUS picks… Kagan currently serves as the Obama administration’s solicitor general, becoming the first woman to be nominated and confirmed to that post… Won confirmation by a 61-31 Senate vote… Drew criticism for never having argued a case before the Supreme Court or an appellate court; still, all former solicitor generals since 1985 (Democrats and Republicans) endorsed her nomination… Seven Republicans voted for her confirmation: Coburn, Collins, Gregg, Hatch, Kyl, Lugar, Snowe; new Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter voted against her… Has plenty of ties to Obama and his administration beyond her job as solicitor general: Was hired by chief White House economics adviser Larry Summers to be dean of Harvard Law School, and while at the University of Chicago, tried to recruit Obama -- then a part-time lecturer in constitutional law -- to a full-time job in academia… Won praise (from liberals and conservatives) during her tenure as dean of Harvard Law… At 49, is one of the younger Supreme Court possibilities for Obama.
***
More Kagan bio : Before becoming a professor and dean of Harvard Law, was an associate counsel and later deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council in the Clinton White House… Clinton nominated her to a spot on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, but the GOP-controlled Senate never brought her nomination up for a vote… Clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall… Graduated from Harvard (J.D.), Oxford (M. Phil.), and Princeton (A.B.)… Born and raised in New York City, did not learn to drive a car until her late 20s.
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The AP previews today’s White House meeting. Press secretary Robert Gibbs “said he couldn't say whether Obama would be ‘washing names’ through the senators at Wednesday's meeting but that it would focus heavily on process. Obama is intent on trying to keep the names of those he is considering private. His thinking is largely driven by his own life: community organizer in Chicago, president of the Harvard Law Review, instructor of constitutional law, member of the Senate during two Supreme Court confirmations. He is not just setting the tone; he is engaged in the search."The Hill says the meeting is about timing: "President Obama and Senate leaders will meet on Wednesday to discuss how long it will take to approve his Supreme Court nominee, a question that could delay the president’s announcing his pick... A source familiar with White House discussions said Obama has had a shortlist of candidates for months." More: "With an August recess of up to nearly a month, Obama needs to give the Senate enough time to confirm his pick before leaving town. But if he announces his choice next week or in early June and confirmation drags on, the recess could push a final vote into September, leaving his nominee twisting in the political winds for three months."
The Washington Post is the latest to look at the “empathy” issue. “Obama, preparing to nominate a successor to Justice David H. Souter, has often said that the best judges take note of the real world. By making empathy a core qualification, he is uniting his own eclectic experience as a community organizer and constitutional-law professor while demanding what he has called ‘a broader vision for what America should be.’”
Roll Call writes, "Still stinging from their inability to mount opposition to the nomination of Attorney General Eric Holder, Senate GOP leaders are urging their Conference to avoid making any early pronouncements -- and, more importantly, endorsements -- of President Barack Obama’s pending Supreme Court pick. At the same time, Obama has tapped three Senate Democrats -- Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Conference Vice Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) -- to serve as informal advisers in the effort. The president has asked the trio to help him vet and gauge Senate support for prospective nominees."
Now you can add Medicare and Social Security to the list of problems that the Obama administration finds itself confronting. The New York Times says the administration yesterday reported “that the financial condition of the two largest federal benefit programs, Medicare and Social Security, had deteriorated, in part because of the recession. As a result, the administration said, the Medicare fund that pays hospital bills for older Americans is expected to run out of money in 2017, two years sooner than projected last year. The Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2037, four years earlier than predicted, it said.”
Don’t miss this point: “A resumption of economic growth is not expected to close the financing gap. The trustees’ bleak projections already assume that the economy will begin to recover late this year.”
The Washington Post : “The findings put a stark new face on the toll the recession has taken on the two enormous entitlement programs. They also intensify a political debate, gathering strength among Democrats and Republicans, over how quickly President Obama should tackle Social Security when health-care reform is his administration's most urgent domestic priority.”
CONTINUED >>
When Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Tuesday, he "will remind [him that] it will be easier to muster global pressure on Iran if the Mideast peace process resumes," the
New York Daily News reports. "'This isn't a threat, just common sense,' said an informed source... Experts privately acknowledge that significant progress is a long shot… The Arab and Israeli leaders were summoned to Washington amid a dire warning yesterday from King Abdullah of Jordan that there will be a violent Palestinian uprising if peace talks do not resume."
The New York Times’ Nagourney wonders if the GOP has become too negative. “A party that has over the years been the home of a series of optimistic figures in American politics — from Ronald Reagan to Jack Kemp, who died last week, to (at times) George W. Bush — is increasingly coming across as downbeat or angry. And it is something that has Republicans increasingly worried.”
Dick Cheney was back on FOX yesterday criticizing the Obama administration on torture, Guantanamo, and auto bailouts. He even implied that Israel would be within its rights to bomb Iran and endorsed Jeb Bush for President -- though not necessarily for 2012.
The AP's Hurst on Cheney's appearances: "One thing is certain: Glee among Democrats who are only too happy to see Cheney and Limbaugh -- given their narrow appeal -- flood into the Republican leadership vacuum." Politico's Simon writes. "When I asked if such a resolution would force RNC Chairman Michael Steele to use that label when talking about Democrats in all his speeches and press releases, the RNC member replied: 'Who cares?' Which pretty much sums up the attitude some members of the RNC have toward their chairman these days." Wow. First of all, never mind Steele's limited influence among his own members, but what about taking such a far-right branding stance, using a term -- "Socialist" -- that has already been tried and hasn't stuck so far?
And there's this: "You knew it was coming: Sarah Palin is ready to tell her side, agreeing to publish a memoir with HarperCollins. The book comes out in Spring 2010 -- the year she is up for re-election," the New York Daily News writes.
The New York Times writes about the Senate’s effort to tackle credit card reform. “The growing momentum behind the credit card crackdown was in marked contrast to the Senate decision last week to bow to the banking industry and reject a plan to allow bankruptcy judges to restructure mortgages of struggling homeowners. The difference shows that lawmakers see public antagonism to credit card companies as running deep enough to offset even such a powerful lobbying interest. The Senate bill does not cap or freeze interest rates, as some advocates have said is warranted. But it goes farther than a measure already easily passed by the House in imposing an array of new restrictions on credit card companies.”
Climate change legislation coming out of committee next week: "House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders on Tuesday night announced a new agreement on a contentious climate change bill, assuaging the concerns of enough committee Democrats to get the bill out of committee, they said. 'We’re going to go to markup on Monday with an expectation that we’re going to finish at the end of next week our energy bill,' Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) announced on Tuesday night. 'I expect that we’re going to have the votes in committee next week to pass this bill out.'... [A] number of issues still remained to be worked out, but said they have struck a deal on the highest hurdle of how strenuously to limit carbon emissions, overcoming the objections of coal-state Democrat Rick Boucher (D-Va.)."
The latest Pelosi/interrogation news: "The No. 2 Democrat in the House on Tuesday said Americans should be provided answers on what Speaker Nancy Pelosi knew about interrogations of suspected terrorists and when she knew about it," The Hill reports. "But he also indicated that those answers might give the embattled Speaker political cover."
MINNESOTA : "Former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) -- who continues to contest election results that appear to have Democrat Al Franken winning the Senate seat by a whisker -- is asking the Federal Election Commission for permission to use campaign funds for legal fees related to allegations that a supporter funneled payoffs through Coleman’s wife,"
Roll Call writes.
FLORIDA : The New York Times ponders the presidential implications regarding Crist’s Senate bid. “Mr. Crist has always been a restless politician, moving from one job to the next, and many here suspect that he harbors presidential ambitions while fearing that term limits would push him into obscurity if he won a second and final four years as governor.”
Democratic political consultant Phil Singer asks: If South Carolina GOP Sen. Jim DeMint backed Pat Toomey over Arlen Specter, does that mean that he’ll also back Rubio over Crist?
NEVADA : Politico writes that Harry Reid is "increasingly looking like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is going to get a pass for reelection in 2010."
PENNSYLVANIA : The pro-labor group American Rights at Work will be airing a TV a d in Pennsylvania (at least through the Memorial Day recess) urging Arlen Specter to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
VIRGINIA : Bill Clinton again campaigns for Terry McAuliffe today.
From NBC's John Holland and Domenico Montanaro Cheney was back at it, hitting Obama on torture, Guantanamo and auto bailouts. He even implied that Israel would be within its rights to bomb Iran and endorsed Jeb Bush for President -- eventually.
On torture:
They [the Obama administration] called it torture. I don't believe it was torture. We had attorneys who gave us a clear guidance as to what was appropriate and what wasn't.
On prosecution:
And they really began the debate then with the suggestions that perhaps people should be prosecuted for having participated in the program or the lawyers who gave us these opinions should be disbarred. I think it's an outrage. ... It's one thing to come in and change the policy, it's an entirely different proposition to come in and say that you're somehow going to go after the lawyers and the Justice Department or the agents who carried out that policy. I just -- I think that's outrageous.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray and Luke Russert Steny Hoyer downplayed Republican criticism that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has received over questions about her knowledge of controversial interrogation techniques. As Roll Call writes today, Pelosi insisted for weeks that she didn't know that intelligence officials were practicing waterboarding and other techniques, but a report declassified last week suggests otherwise.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Harry Enten Marco Rubio welcomed Gov. Charlie Crist to the campaign with a hard-hitting Web video describing him as a reckless spender and a political insider with ties the Democratic President Obama .
With a picture of Crist embracing Obama in the background, an announcer warns that “some politicians support reckless spending, borrowed money from China and the Middle East, mountains of debt for our children, and a terrible threat to our fragile economy. Today, too many politicians embrace Washington same old broken ways, but this time there is a leader who won’t. Let the debate begin.”
Rubio’s objective to try and cast himself as the fiscally conservative outsider has also been evident on his Twitter page .
CONTINUED >>
From Mark Murray and Luke Russert
It's expected to easily pass, and then will need to be conferenced with a Senate bill -- sponsored by Sens. Carl Levin and John McCain -- that passed unanimously last week.
On Thursday and Friday, the House will consider the $96.7 billion war supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan, which also contains $2 billion for pandemic flu preparedness.
There will be some Democratic opposition to the war supplemental from anti-war House Democrats, so the legislation is going to need Republican votes to pass. "If they [Republicans] vote as expected, it should pass with a strong vote," a senior Democratic leadership aide tells NBC News.
From NBC's Ken Strickland
As the hearing opened, about 25 women, who identified themselves as nurses stood up, turning their backs to the senators. Taped to each of their red shirts were signs that called on Congress to pass what's called a "single-payer system," a system in which the government alone would run health care -- no private insurance.
"Nurses say patients first," the signs read. "Pass single payer."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Harry Enten Mitch McConnell endorsed Florida Gov. Charlie Crist in his 2010 Senate bid over the more conservative Marco Rubio .
"I am pleased to endorse Governor Charlie Crist and provide my full support for his candidacy for the United States Senate," McConnell said in a statement. "Charlie Crist has been a tireless advocate for the citizens of Florida by fighting to lower taxes, reduce government spending and enhance the quality of life for all Floridians. Decisions are being made every day in Washington that have a direct impact upon the lives of all Americans and we need Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate to ensure that those decisions will benefit the citizens of Florida."
Crist, for his part, responded again on
Twitter : "I would like to thank U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for his endorsement" (12:06 pm.)
Crist also today lined up the endorsement of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which recruited him for the seat.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has yet to weigh in, though he has previously said he would consider withholding RNC funds for candidates who supported the president's stimulus plan. Crist gave the administration cover when he endorsed the plan, and Obama traveled to Florida for an event to promote the plan there.
*** UPDATE *** Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference also endorsed Crist: "The thought of Governor Crist becoming Senator Crist is welcome news. Three years into his first term as Governor, he's the most popular elected official in Florida’s history because of his outstanding career as a no-nonsense attorney general, a progressive education commissioner, and a fiscally conservative chief executive who last year led Florida to its largest property-tax decrease ever. The U.S. Senate needs Charlie Crist, and I'll do all I can to help him get there."
From NBC's Libby Leist
U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan
Richard Holbrooke , testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning, described the ouster of General McKiernan as "a very important command change," and he said whatever happens in Afghanistan also affects Pakistan.
Holbrooke told lawmakers that he and
General Petraeus have begun to operationalize the
Obama administration's new plan in Afghanistan, including putting in place an "upgraded" embassy team in Kabul with the new Ambassador General
Eikenberry and several high-level deputies.
He defended the increase of U.S. troops in Afghanistan when questioned about it by Sen.
Russ Feingold (D-WI). He said it was "absolutely critical" to the war effort, despite the risk that the Taliban and al Qaeda will be driven further into Pakistan.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro Charlie Crist .
"I am pleased today to endorse Governor Charlie Crist for the United States Senate," said
John Cornyn , chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in a statement. "With his record of reform in Florida, I know that Governor Crist will bring a fresh perspective to Washington in our efforts to fight for lower taxes, less government, and new job creation for all Americans. Charlie Crist is a tireless advocate on behalf of all Floridians and one of only three Governors who earned an 'A' from the CATO Institute for his efforts to restrain spending and cut taxes last year.
"While I believe
Marco Rubio has a very bright future within the Republican Party, Charlie Crist is the best candidate in 2010 to ensure that we maintain the checks and balances that Floridians deserve in the United States Senate. Governor Crist is a dedicated public servant and a dynamic leader, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee will provide our full support to ensure that he is elected the next United States Senator from Florida."
*** UPDATE *** The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee weighs in: “Charlie Crist’s record in Florida is not one to be proud of," spokesman Eric Schultz said in a statement. "His administration has created an economic mess with record deficits, staggering unemployment, and a mortgage crisis that has hit nearly every Florida community. Too many in Florida are hurting because Governor Crist has failed to provide leadership and a way out of this mess. He’s jumping ship when he’s needed the most. That isn’t leadership -- it is an abdication of responsibility.”
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
***
Crist-mas for the GOP: Over the last several months, Senate Republicans haven't caught too many breaks when it comes to the 2010 midterms. They've had some notable retirements (Kit Bond, Judd Gregg, Mel Martinez, George Voinovich). Then Arlen Specter switched parties, giving Democrats the possibility of 60 seats once/if Al Franken gets sworn in. And last week, their best chance to hang on to Pennsylvania after Specter's defection -- Tom Ridge -- decided not to run. But today, Republicans finally get some good news when
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announces he's running for the Senate , giving GOPers their most high-profile recruit of the 2010 cycle and improving their odds of holding on to Mel Martinez's seat. But this is worth noting: Florida has closed primaries, meaning that you have to be a registered Republican to participate in the GOP primary. So that could make Crist’s primary match-up against the conservative Marco Rubio, the former speaker of the Florida House, more competitive than many think it will be. In particular, Crist’s public support of Obama’s stimulus -- remember that Crist appeared at an Obama town hall on the subject -- could be a major issue in the primary. That said, a GOP official says that if Crist gets in, he will receive the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s full support. “We think highly of Marco and believe he has a bright future, but Crist is the GOP's best hope of keeping this seat in the GOP column.”
*** UPDATE *** Here's Crist
announcing on Twitter at 9:10 am ET: "After thoughtful consideration with my wife Carole, I have decided to run for the U.S. Senate."
*** An early look at the map: Despite this Crist news -- and despite their opportunities to get Republican Reps. Mike Castle and Mark Kirk to run in Delaware and Illinois, respectively -- Democrats are still poised to pick up more Senate seats in 2010, says Jennifer Duffy, who monitors Senate races for the Cook Political Report. Duffy tells First Read: "Florida looks better for GOP, and the jury is out on Ohio and Kentucky," where vulnerable GOP incumbent Jim Bunning may or may not run (he said over the weekend he's running). "New Hampshire is a problem for them, and Missouri is increasingly becoming one." But it's still VERY early. At this point in the 2006 cycle -- before Hurricane Katrina, before the Abramoff scandal got out of hand, and before the situation in Iraq kept getting worse and worse -- Democrats' best opportunities were only in Pennsylvania (Santorum's seat) and Rhode Island (Lincoln Chafee's). Missouri, Montana, Ohio, and Virginia didn’t become strong pick-up chances until much later into the cycle. Translation: We’ve still got a long way to go…
*** Obama’s second-straight day on health care: Despite the White House’s enthusiasm over yesterday’s event with health-care industry groups -- which pledged to help cut health costs by $2 trillion over the next 10 years -- the day-after coverage wasn’t all that positive. The Washington Post says “the industry's promises fell well short of the White House's expansive claims.” And the New York Times writes, “None of the proposals are enforceable, and none of the savings are guaranteed… At this point, cost control is little more than a shared aspiration.” Yet Obama spends a second-straight day on health care, participating in a roundtable with business leaders at 11:30 am ET to discuss ways to cut employer health-care costs.
Video: President Obama is welcoming the health care industry's promise to cut $2 trillion in medical costs and promises to keep working to find a solution for uninsured Americans. ***
The amazing adventures of Barack & Michelle: Also today, at 2:25 pm, Obama and Vice President Biden speak at the National Association of Police Organization’s Top Cops award winners. After that, the two meet with Gen. Ray Odierno and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill, and then they meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates (all closed to the press). And finally, at 7:45 pm, the president and first lady attend a White House event of poetry, music, and the spoken word. Per the
New York Times , the guest list for the event includes “actor James Earl Jones, the writers Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman (who are husband and wife), the jazz singer and bassist Esperanza Spalding and the pianist Eric Lewis. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote and starred in ‘In the Heights,’ the Broadway musical that won a Tony last year, will also perform.”
*** Meet Sonia Sotomayor : As we continue our SCOTUS shortlist profiles, today we look at Sonia Sotomayor. She currently serves on the Second Circuit in New York and was appointed to that position by Bill Clinton. BUT she was appointed to her first federal court appointment by President George H.W. Bush… She checks lots of boxes: Woman. Hispanic. Empathy… While working for the famed Robert Morgenthau in the New York District Attorney's office in the early 1980s, she described herself as a "liberal.”… Also has drawn criticism for saying in 2005: “All of the legal defense funds out there they're looking for people with court of appeals experience because it is-- court of appeals is where policy is made." She tried to backtrack, but conservatives are already rallying to defeat her based on this.
Video: Executive Director for the National Republican Trust Political Action Committee, Scott Wheeler, explains why choosing the next Supreme Court Justice should be done through a bipartisan process. ***
More on Sotomayor: Other bio information: Child of parents born in Puerto Rico... Grew up speaking mostly Spanish... Raised in a public housing project in The South Bronx in the shadow of Yankee Stadium... Father died when she was 9... A diehard Yankees fan, she's credited as the judge who saved baseball, issuing an injunction that led the eventual settlement of the 1990s-era Major League Baseball strike... Described by the New York Times in the early 1980s as an incessant smoker… Divorced from Kevin Edward Noonan in 1983 after seven-year marriage (no children). She left the NY District Attorney's office a year later and went into private practice... Graduated summa cum laude in 1976 from Princeton after winning a scholarship to the school... Earned her law degree from Yale in 1979, where she edited the Law Review.
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The New York Times writes, “President Obama engineered a political coup on Monday by bringing leaders of the health care industry to the White House to build momentum for his ambitious health care agenda. Mr. Obama pronounced it ‘a historic day, a watershed event,’ because doctors, hospitals, drug makers and insurance companies voluntarily offered $2 trillion in cost reductions over 10 years.”
But: “If history is a guide, their commitments may not produce the promised savings. Their proposals are vague -- promising, for example, to reduce both ‘overuse and underuse of health care.’ None of the proposals are enforceable, and none of the savings are guaranteed… Still, the event was significant. There was something in it for Mr. Obama, and something for the industry -- though not necessarily the same thing. Their interests overlap but do not coincide.”
The Washington Post : “Administration allies cheered the news that the once-recalcitrant health lobby is eager to join reform negotiations. But many offered a cautionary note that warm words from the industry cannot be mistaken for enforceable policy changes. ‘It's a goal and a good goal,’ said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). ‘But it's hardly locked in stone.’”
CONTINUED >>
Yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced he was replacing the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, Gen. David D. McKiernan, with Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the
Washington Post reports. ‘We have a new strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador. I believe that new military leadership is also needed,’ Gates said at a hastily convened Pentagon news conference. Gates also recommended that Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, a former head of U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan who is serving as Gates's military assistant, be nominated to serve in a new position as McChrystal's deputy. Gates praised McChrystal and Rodriguez for their ‘unique skill set in counterinsurgency.’”
The New York Times : “The move reflects a belief that the war in Afghanistan, waged against an increasingly strong Taliban and its supporters across a rugged, sprawling country, is growing ever more complex. Defense Department officials said General McKiernan, a respected career armor officer, had been removed primarily because he had brought too conventional an approach to the challenge.”
The Boston Globe says McChrystal’s selection “marks the continued ascendancy of officers who have pressed for the use of counterinsurgency tactics in Iraq and Afghanistan that are markedly different from the Army's traditional doctrine… McKiernan, an armor officer who led US ground forces during the 2003 Iraq invasion, was viewed as somewhat cautious and conventionally minded, according to senior officials inside and outside the Pentagon.”
The AP : “President Obama plans to visit Russia from July 6 to July 8 for talks expected to focus on reducing nuclear weapons and improving US-Russian relations. The trip will precede the July G-8 meeting in Italy.”
“As the White House mulls possible candidates to replace outgoing Supreme Court Justice David Souter, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) on Monday urged President Barack Obama to name a woman to the seat,” Roll Call reports. “In a letter to the president, the senators said the court’s current makeup -- which includes only one woman -- is out of step with the nation’s population and that diversity is key for the court’s success.”
Meanwhile, the Washington Post looks at the push for Obama to appoint a Hispanic to the court. “Those involved in the process inside the White House and those advising from outside say President Obama would relish such a choice. He studiously and successfully courted Hispanic support during the campaign and has maintained close ties to Latino leaders since coming to office. But the White House is constructing its appointment strategy on the belief that this will not be his only appointment to the court and that he need not reach his goal of changing the racial, ethnic and gender balance on the court with just one pick.”
More: “[B]oth the White House and the groups are taking pains to avoid the perception that putting a Hispanic on the bench would be either a demand or a reward, and Obama advisers warned that pressure campaigns can caricature potential jurists as purely ethnic choices. ‘Public lobbying campaigns might be more unhelpful than helpful,’ said one White House official who asked for anonymity to talk about the selection process. ‘At the end of the day, the president will decide based on the qualities that he outlined the day that Justice Souter announced his retirement.’”
And the New York Times profiles Supreme Court possibility Diane Wood of the 7th Circuit. “Judge Wood has established herself on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in the view of scholars and lawyers, as an unflinching and spirited intellectual counterweight to [conservative] Judges Posner and Easterbrook. She has taken on that pair and some of the court’s other conservative judges across a wide range of cases including abortion, immigration and access to courts.”
Palin backers
took exception to Mitt Romney’s slap at Palin about her inclusion on Time’s most influential list. Now they have “hit back with a
web video making fun of Romney, a potential rival in the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes,” the Boston Globe writes. “Entitled ‘There's a Bore in the Woods,’ it shows a fearsome bear and suggests Romney is running away by using a speeded-up version of the former Massachusetts governor's campaign ad last year of him jogging near his summer home in New Hampshire. The video … ends with Palin firing a hunting rifle and a bear's head on her trophy wall.”
Meanwhile, Michael Steele also took his shots at Romney. Guest-hosting Bill Bennett’s radio show again, Steele said: "Remember, it was the base that rejected Mitt because of his switch on pro-life, from pro-choice to pro-life. It was the base that rejected Mitt because it had issues with Mormonism. It was the base that rejected Mitt because they thought he was back and forth and waffling on those very economic issues you're talking about."
Romney camp didn’t take kindly to those words: "Sometimes when you shoot from the hip you miss the target. This is one of those times," Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom told The Hill .
Steele then did one of those I’m-sorry-if-my-comments-were-misinterpreted apologies: "Chairman Steele regrets the way his comments have been interpreted," RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said. "Chairman Steele believes Mitt Romney is a respected and influential voice in the Republican Party and looks to his leadership and ideas to help move our party and our nation in the right direction."
“Casting aside their president's misgivings, Democrats are racing into hearings to criticize newly released Bush administration memos justifying harsh terrorism interrogations. So far, however, the biggest embarrassment has engulfed a Democrat, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. As Pelosi keeps trying to clarify when she initially learned of the interrogation techniques, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee scheduled a hearing Wednesday that was billed as the ‘first public hearing on torture memos since their release.’”
Roll Call : “For Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), it’s a new week of old questions: What did she know about harsh Bush administration interrogation techniques, and when did she know it? Usually a master of message discipline, Pelosi has been thrown off balance by a mounting firestorm over whether she or her staff learned six years ago that intelligence officials were using extreme tactics such as waterboarding.”
“Credit card customers whose interest rates get jacked up when they fall behind on payments may be able to get their old, lower rates back under a bipartisan compromise reached in the Senate.”
Mmm, doesn’t that sound great? “A tin of Costco lasagna and some red wine may hold the key to solving the climate change debate -- at least in the House Democratic Caucus,” The Hill reports. “Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) has been hosting lasagna dinners in the Methodist House apartment near the Capitol that he shares with Blue Dog Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) in an effort to find common ground in the increasingly tense debate over a cap-and-trade bill.”
Oh, no! Not work on Monday! “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday warned his colleagues to prepare for votes next Monday to try to clear the backlog of executive branch nominations. ‘It appears that we have no alternative but to have votes next Monday,’ Reid said.”
MINNESOTA: In a conference call yesterday responding to a brief the Coleman campaign filed with the Minnesota Supreme Court, the Franken legal team said the brief was “without merit,” NBC’s Abby Livingston reports.
The Star Tribune : “Franken denied that variations in the way counties handled absentee ballots deprived some voters of their constitutional right of equal protection. Franken said the variations were "reasonable" and "minor" and not unconstitutional. ‘The different procedures were consistent with the different resources, personnel and technology available to each county and city,’ Franken's camp said.”
FLORIDA: “The expected announcement Tuesday by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist that he’s running for the Senate would seem to be a rare bit of good news for beleaguered Republicans,” Politico writes. “But while Crist is a brand-name recruit with sky-high approval ratings and bipartisan appeal, his path to keeping the seat of retiring Sen. Mel Martinez in GOP hands has at least one significant roadblock: Sunshine State conservatives.” The Florida GOP primary is closed, meaning independents cannot vote. So Crist has to “make his case to a restless GOP base dissatisfied with his high-profile advocacy for President Barack Obama’s stimulus and his handling of the state’s budget woes. And he will be facing a vigorous fight from former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a young, outspoken Hispanic conservative who is capturing the attention of activists in Florida and across the country.”
More: “A major wild card is the involvement of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a Rubio mentor who has deep support among many Florida GOP activists and a frosty relationship with his successor. Bush has given no signal of his future involvement in a primary, but those familiar with his thinking don’t expect him to back Crist.”
The Palm Beach Post : “Crist will put out a brief statement instead of holding a news conference to announce his decision. His press office, however, has invited the media to join him for a ‘Boots to Books’ press conference this morning and another later to launch a tourism program called ‘Viva Florida!’ State GOP officials said Crist wanted a "low-key" announcement.”
ILLINOIS: Jan Schakowsky hasn’t announced she’s running for Illinois Senate, but it looks like she might be. She’s ramping up fundraising and “held her annual women’s power lunch fundraiser” yesterday with “Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).” Politico calls the lunch “a good way to begin networking for a statewide campaign.”
From NBC's Pete Williams
The ruling today rejected a challenge to the law brought after a dramatic hate crime in 1999 -- the shooting of three young children, a teenager, and an adult at a Jewish community center in Granada Hills, CA. Later in the day, the man responsible for that shooting spree, Buford Furrow, shot and killed a postal worker. The victims and the postal worker's wife sued the makers of the guns Furrow was carrying, as well as the marketers, importers, distributors, and sellers of the weapons.
Their lawsuit claimed that the industry intentionally flooded the market with guns, creating a risk that guns would end up in the hands of illegal buyers. It was a novel legal gambit, because the victims could hardly claim that the guns were defective: The weapons did what they were made to do.
But today, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled that while such a lawsuit would normally be allowed under California's state law, the federal law controls, and it bans such claims. The law was passed in 2005, but the court ruled that Congress clearly intended it to be retroactive, so it covers this lawsuit filed in 2001.
From NBC's Ken Strickland Chuck Grassley called today's White House announcement that a coalition of health-care groups would cut cost by $2 trillion "a move in the right direction." But without any details on how they plan do it, he said the announcement is not big news.
"There's no doubt saving $2 trillion in health care costs would be a move in the right direction," Grassley said in a written statement. "When the White House and the industry put concrete proposals on paper and get a score from the Congressional Budget Office, then we'll know if the suggestions really achieve that kind of savings, and it'll be big news."
The Congressional Budget Office acts as an independent auditor and accountant to Congress, analyzing cost and making projections. It was the CBO that crunched the numbers on the president's budget proposal which produces the deficit figures currently used by Congress and journalists.
Grassley says without a "score" -- or analysis -- from the CBO, it's impossible to gauge how much money will truly be saved. "For health-care budgeting purposes, CBO's word is the only one that counts," he said.
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Scott Foster Asked for the
President Obama's reaction to comedian Wanda Sykes' joke at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner calling
Rush Limbaugh the 20th 9/11 hijacker, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he hasn't spoken to the president. But he added, "I think there are a lot of topics that are better left for serious reflection rather than comedy."
From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski
In high-level shakeup, Defense Secretary
Robert Gates will announce today that he is replacing Gen. David McKiernan as the top U.S. and NATO military commander in Afghanistan with General Stan McChrystal, the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
According to Pentagon officials, the shift is being made to coincide with the Obama administration's new strategy in Afghanistan, which is aimed more at "counter-insurgency" than conventional military operations.
Video: Gates has asked McKiernan to resign just a year after taking his post in Afghanistan. The officials say McKiernan, who's been top U.S. commander in Afghanistan for about a year was too much "old army." McChrystal, on the other hand, was one of the top Special Operations Forces commanders who led the operation that killed al Qaeda's top leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Gates and CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus reportedly decided McChrystal was the most logical and best choice to lead the new counter-insurgency, counter-narcotics campaign in Afghanistan.
Since Gen. McChrystal will also be the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gates reportedly consulted his NATO counterparts before making the move.
From NBC's Ken Strickland Eric Holder testified.
Tuesday: Janet Napolitano with Homeland Security/Government Affairs CommitteeWednesday: Hilda Solis before an Appropriations subcommitteeLisa Jackson before an Appropriations SubcommitteeThursday: Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen before the Armed Services Committee
The so-called "torture memos" will be addressed in a Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, the first congressional hearing since they were released. According to the committee, witnesses include a former FBI agent who "interrogated senior members of Al-Qa'ida, and objected to the use of the abusive tactics."
Former Bush Administration official Philip Zelikow will also testify. He objected to the reasoning detailed in the memos.
On the Senate floor, the week will likely be consumed with work in a bill to beef up consumer protections against credit cards.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro The SCOTUS shortlist? According to a couple of sources in the know, there appears to be a working short list of about six names for President Obama’s Supreme Court pick. The co-frontrunners (in no particular order): Diane Wood of the 7th Circuit, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd Circuit, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Merrick Garland of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Obviously, folks can slice this list all they want: Five are women; one’s Hispanic; one’s male; and all are in their late 40s or early 50s, except two (Wood, 58, and Garland, 56). Keep an eye on Napolitano. For this pick, it would be surprising if Obama named someone he didn't either know well or trust personally. Wood, Kagan, and Napolitano all fit this bill (Wood taught at the University of Chicago with Obama, and Kagan and Napolitano already have top slots in the administration). As for Napolitano, remember that she endorsed Obama early on (despite Emily’s List pressure to do otherwise). And from people familiar with the president's thinking, he's been as impressed with Napolitano as anyone in his cabinet. They click. That matters....
*** Developing conventional wisdom : In the next few weeks, the battle lines for the remainder of the president's domestic agenda will become clearer. What are we going to see? The White House's biggest challenge will be bringing together Democrats -- from the party’s left and right. The Republican Party, in fact, may end up largely irrelevant in the debates over health care, energy, and maybe event the Supreme Court. To put it another way, any political pain Obama will feel in the next few months will most likely come from Democrats. Shoot, even the interrogation issue is a problem on the left, not right. Single-payer health care is getting pushed hard on the left; cap and trade's potential shelving will upset committed Gore-ish enviros; and liberals want Obama to appoint a liberal equivalent of a Scalia to the Supreme Court, which probably won’t happen.
*** Harry and Louise aboard the O-Train? As it turns out, today’s White House focus is on health care and reducing health costs. At 11:30 am ET, Obama will meet at the White House with representatives from America’s biggest industry groups (including those who helped block health-care reform in the 1990s), who will propose cutting up to $2 trillion in health-care costs over the next 10 years. And at 12:30 pm, Obama will deliver remarks about the meeting. "We cannot continue down the same dangerous road we’ve been traveling for so many years, with costs that are out of control, because reform is not a luxury that can be postponed, but a necessity that cannot wait,” the president will say, according to excerpts from his speech that the White House released yesterday. "It is a recognition that the fictional television couple, Harry and Louise, who became the iconic faces of those who opposed health care reform in the ‘90s, desperately need health care reform in 2009. And so does America.”
Video: After getting laughs at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Obama turns to health care reform today. ***
A Trojan horse? Paul Krugman , normally not a big fan of the Obama administration, writes that this deal to squeeze $2 trillion in health savings “is some of the best policy news I’ve heard in a long time.” But he also warns that the deal could be a Trojan horse. “What’s presumably going on here is that key interest groups have realized that health care reform is going to happen no matter what they do… In particular, [the insurance industry] will surely try to use the good will created by its stance on cost control to kill an important part of health reform: giving Americans the choice of buying into a public insurance plan as an alternative to private insurers.” The
AP adds that “industry groups are trying to strike a deal now with Obama officials to help get coverage for all Americans in the hopes they can stave off legislation that would restrict their profitability in future years.”
*** Breaking news : Lawyers for jailed U.S. journalist Roxana Saberi "say she will be freed Monday after an Iranian appeals court suspended her prison term and she can leave the country immediately." Saberi had been sentenced "to eight years in prison. An appeals court heard her case on Sunday."Crist to announce bid on Tuesday : Senate Republicans missed out on getting Tom Ridge to run in Pennsylvania. But they appear to have gotten their man in Florida -- Gov. Charlie Crist. Politico reports that Crist will make his bid for the Senate official on Tuesday in Tallahassee, “giving Republicans their most high-profile recruit of the 2010 election cycle.” But Crist will have to survive a primary challenge from the right from former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio. “Many Florida conservatives have begun to rally around Rubio over dissatisfaction with Crist’s moderate positions, particularly his vigorous advocacy of President Barack Obama’s stimulus package,” Politico adds.
*** Rush -- love him or hate him : Rush Limbaugh is back in today's cable chatter, courtesy of Dick Cheney and comedian Wanda Sykes. "If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I'd choose Rush Limbaugh," Cheney said on CBS when asked about whose vision of the GOP he'd side with -- Limbaugh’s or Colin Powell’s. "My impression was that Colin was no longer a Republican." Meanwhile, at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Sykes said that Limbaugh’s statement that he hopes Obama fails amounted to treason, adding: “Maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker but he was so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight… I hope his kidneys fail.” The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza writes that Sykes’ remarks angered some Republicans in attendance.
Video: NBC looks at controversial comments made at the Correspondents' Dinner and whether its speakers went too far. ***
Meet Diane Wood : Given our working SCOTUS shortlist, we’re going to profile the top candidates this week and next. Today we start with Diane Wood. She currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago, and was appointed to that position by Bill Clinton… Knows Obama well, having served with him on the faculty at the University of Chicago Law School… Has a clear liberal and pro-choice track record on the 7th Circuit… At 58, is one of the older Supreme Court possibilities for Obama. Other bio information: Was deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s anti-trust division during the Clinton administration… Clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun and 5th Circuit Judge Irving Goldberg… Received both her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas at Austin… Husband Robert Sufit donated $2,250 to Obama during the ’07-’08 presidential campaign season… Her hobbies include playing the oboe and English horn, and has played in several Chicago-area orchestras.
Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 22 days
Countdown to VA Dem primary: 29 days
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 176 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 540 days
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The Washington Post reports that representatives from a half dozen health-care trade groups will make a formal offer at the White House today “to squeeze $2 trillion in savings from projected increases over the next decade… The groups aim to achieve the proposed savings by using new efficiencies to trim the rise in health-care costs by 1.5 percent a year, the officials said. That would carry huge implications for the national economy and the federal budget, both of which are significantly affected by health-care expenses.”
More: “The White House projects that the savings after five years under the proposal would mean about $2,500 a year in lower health-care bills for a family of four. Within 10 years, the savings would ‘virtually eliminate’ the nation's budget deficit. Despite such heady predictions, many aspects of the plan remain unclear. The groups did not spell out yesterday how they plan to reach such a target, and in a letter to Obama they offer only a broad pledge, not an outright commitment. In addition, White House officials said, there is no mechanism to ensure that the groups live up to their offer, only the implicit threat of public embarrassment.”
The New York Times : “In a letter addressed to Mr. Obama, six leaders of the health care industry say: ‘We will do our part to achieve your administration’s goal of decreasing by 1.5 percentage points the annual health care spending growth rate, saving $2 trillion or more. This represents more than a 20 percent reduction in the projected rate of growth.’ The letter was signed by executives of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, a lobby for medical device manufacturers; the American Hospital Association; the American Medical Association; America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group for insurers; the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; and the Service Employees International Union.”
The AP adds that “industry groups are trying to strike a deal now with Obama officials to help get coverage for all Americans in the hopes they can stave off legislation that would restrict their profitability in future years… There is a sense among some of the groups that this may be the best opportunity to strike a deal before public opinion turns against them, fueled by anger over costs. Insurers, for example, want to avoid creation of a government health plan that would directly compete with them to enroll middle-class workers and their families.”
CONTINUED >>
Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai and Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari didn't exactly inspire confidence on Meet the Press. "Zardari rejected the notion that his nation is on the brink of collapse and contended that Pakistan is merely one front in the global struggle against terrorism,"
The Hill writes of Zardari's appearance, adding, The Taliban is "kind of a cancer created by both of us, Pakistan and America and the world. We got together, we created this cancer to fight the superpower and then we went away--rather, you went away without finding a cure for it."
Video: Zardari discusses the worldwide effort against the Taliban on "Meet the Press." The
Huffington Post's headline : "Zardari asked about Osama bin Laden's Whereabouts: 'You Tell Me.'"
Obama's National Security Adviser Jim Jones
on bin Laden : "The truth is, I don't think anybody knows."
Oh, and by the way, Hamid... "In a blunt rebuff of the Afghan president, President Barack Obama's national security adviser said Sunday the United States
would not end airstrikes in Afghanistan even though they are blamed in the deaths of hundreds of civilians during the war." Jones: "We can't fight with one hand tied behind our back."
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said at Friday's briefing not to expect a Supreme Court announcement this week.
The Washington Post writes about Biden’s role in the hunt for a new Supreme Court justice. “With President Obama filling his first high court vacancy with the retirement of Justice David H. Souter, Vice President Biden finds himself regularly consulting with the president and fielding queries from the White House counsel and others for insights on the process. ‘The president is basically taking advantage of my experiences by asking me nuanced questions about both individuals and timing,’ Biden said in an interview Friday. ‘We've gone through specific nominees, which we're burrowing in on.’”
More: “A former head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden chaired half a dozen Supreme Court confirmation hearings and voted on every sitting justice with the exception of John Paul Stevens. His feel for the personalities, complexities and sensitivities of the process has been forged during some of the most explosive confirmation battles, including those of Justice Clarence Thomas and Judge Robert H. Bork, the conservative legal scholar who was rejected by the Senate.”
Stu Rothenberg, writing in Roll Call asks: "Do Capitol Hill Republicans dig in for an Alamo-like stand, opposing President Barack Obama’s nominee right to the bitter end, or do they adopt a more cautious style in evaluating what almost certainly will be a nominee who will likely mirror Souter’s views and merely reconstitute the court’s four-person liberal bloc?”
"If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I'd choose Rush Limbaugh," Cheney said when asked about whose vision of the GOP he'd side with . "My impression was that Colin was no longer a Republican."
The AP : "Even as Cheney embraced efforts to expand the party by ex-Govs. Jeb Bush of Florida and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and the House's No. 2 Republican, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the former vice president appeared to write his one-time colleague Powell out of the GOP."
Video: Cheney continues to defend interrogation tactics on a recent national TV interview. The
Washington Times : “Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday continued his verbal attack against President Obama, saying that the country is more vulnerable to a potential terrorist attack since the Obama administration took power.”
A DNC
Web ad tries to make fun of all the old GOP faces who appeared on the Sunday shows yesterday -- Cheney, Gingrich, McCain.
"[T]he National Council for a New America is composed of two distinct bodies: an informal Member caucus of House and Senate lawmakers, and an advisory group of current and former Republican governors as well as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)," Roll Call writes. "But marrying the two groups in a way that is compliant with the ethics rules has been a tricky endeavor, with Cantor and his staff organizing both entities."
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
made a surprise stop in Baghdad, where she met with al-Maliki. She also visited Qatar and Jordan.
Video: Pelosi made an impromptu visit in Iraq and met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. But "for Democrats pushing an investigation into potential criminal wrongdoing in the war on terrorism, the GOP now has a two-word response: Nancy Pelosi,"
Politico writes. “Republicans say new revelations about a CIA briefing Pelosi received in 2002 have given them their best shot yet at blocking a sprawling probe into Bush administration interrogation techniques by allowing them to insist that its targets would include the speaker of the House.”
FLORIDA : Charlie Crist is expected to jump into the Senate race, possibly tomorrow, Politico reports. But, The Hill points out that could have consequences for state GOP control: "Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s (R) candidacy would provide a good bit of clarity in a jumbled Senate race, but it would throw his home state’s government –- and the recent GOP control -– into serious flux."
The reason: “His current office and many others in the state … will be very much up for grabs, thanks the domino effect of an open governor’s race. That race would draw other statewide officials and lawmakers, who would therefore vacate their seats.”
KENTUCKY : "In his remarks to the roughly 400 party activists, [Kentucky Sen. Jim] Bunning reiterated his plan to run for another term next year but did not make any specific comments about McConnell -- whose leadership he had pointedly criticized earlier in the week. In one comment that could be considered a jab at the Senate leader, he said, 'I am nobody's puppet, I am my own man.' Meanwhile, McConnell heaped praise on Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R), whose move to set up a Senate exploratory committee and begin raising money for a statewide bid -- with Bunning's blessing -- set off furious speculation that the junior Senator was close to announcing his retirement."
The Hill notes: But Bunning saying he's going to run "came after Bunning recently gave Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R) the go-ahead to form an exploratory committee, even though Grayson has indicated he will not run if Bunning does."OHIO : Rep. Zack Space will not enter the Senate race and endorsed Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher. NEVADA : Harry Reid is a top GOP target for 2010 . "But Reid may have found the ultimate trump card: President Barack Obama. The administration’s decision last week to kill a proposed nuclear waste site at Yucca Mountain is the latest in a string of moves the White House has taken to help Reid in his runup to next year’s election."
VIRGINIA : Jill Lawrence writes about Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial bid. “Big is the word from McAuliffe as he describes his ideas for Virginia, and big is also the word for the transformation he is attempting: From fundraiser, spinmeister, dealmaker and Clinton-family stalwart to Democratic gubernatorial nominee and officeholder in his own right.”
THE WEEK AHEAD: The White House Correspondents Dinner, credit cards, war funding, Charlie Crist, and a cunning plan.
From NBC's Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro
Here's the White House statement from Press Secretary
Robert Gibbs :
The President has accepted the resignation of Louis Caldera as Director of the White House Military Office. ... The President has asked his Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina and Defense Secretary Gates or his designee to jointly review the organizational structure of the White House Military Office and the reporting relationship of its components to the White House and the Air Force, and to make recommendations to him to ensure that such an incident never occurs again.
From NBC's Mike Viqueira and Domenico Montanaro Nancy Pelosi is standing by her position on her previous statements on what she knew about torture techniques used by the U.S. government:
"Of the forty CIA briefings to Congress reported recently in the press, I was only briefed once, on September 4, 2002, as I have previously stated. As I said in my statement of December 9, 2007: 'I was briefed on interrogation techniques the Administration was considering using in the future. The Administration advised that legal counsel for both the CIA and the Department of Justice had concluded that the techniques were legal.' I had no further briefings on the techniques.
"My understanding of the briefing I received is consistent with the description that CIA General Counsel Scott Muller provided to Congresswoman Jane Harman in a letter dated February 28, 2003, which states: 'As we informed both you and the leadership of the Intelligence Committees last September, a number of Executive Branch lawyers including lawyers from the Department of Justice participated in the determination that, in the appropriate circumstances, the use of these techniques is fully consistent with U.S. law.' As reported in the press, the accompanying memo from CIA Director Panetta concedes that the descriptions provided by the CIA may not be accurate."
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell NBC News has obtained a letter from Defense Secretary
Robert Gates to the Senate Armed Services Committee that provides new information on the preliminary review of the April 27th flyover incident that frightened many New Yorkers and angered officials including
President Obama .
Gates gave the committee a description of the flight's purpose, writing the flight was a "continuation training pilot currency sortie and the crew flew a total of three hours, of which a portion was used to update the official photograph of the VC-25. With the exception of one combat photographer, a standard crew complement performed the mission in accordance with Air Force instruction and at Federal Aviation Administration approved altitudes."
Gates further writes that mission planning began in March 2009 and included "numerous teleconferences." Gates says the review indicates the "FAA notified multiple agencies of the impending flight, including the U.S. Park Police, NYC Mayor's Office, NYC Office of Emergency Management, NYC Police Department Operations, New Jersey State Police Regional Coordination Center and several New Jersey emergency operations centers...."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
At a small breakfast briefing, Afghan President
Hamid Karzai said civilian casualties from air raids -- and coalition forces bursting into people's homes -- are hurting the U.S. effort to conduct the war on terror.
"The war on terror cannot be won with the use of financial resources or military power," Karzai said. "Money cannot buy you love.... People are being driven into the arms of the Taliban."
He insisted that despite Pentagon contentions that the Taliban caused recent civilian deaths and made it appear to be the result of U.S airstrikes, "There is no doubt that the casualties were high and were caused by bombings ... bombs, the use of air power, definitely played a very big part."
He said he was deliberately being public about civilian casualties because they have been working on the issue for years and, "I did not get the right attention."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Athena Jones
America must fundamentally change the unemployment system to allow it to become a stepping stone to a better job,
President Obama said Friday.
Calling the community college system one of America's "underappreciated assets," the president urged states to allow the jobless to get the education and training they need for a better job, without losing their unemployment benefits.
"Now is the time to change unemployment from a period of 'wait and see' to a chance for our workers to train and seek the next opportunity -- so when that new and better day does come around, our people, our industry, and our entire country are ready to make the most of it," he said.
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Abby Livingston Jobs, jobs, jobs: The big news today is the latest unemployment number. It stands at 8.9% with another 539,000 jobs shed. It's the highest unemployment number since 1983 and is up from last month's 8.5 percent. The number is pretty much what was expected, as CNBC’s Erin Burnett noted on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, adding that the jobs-loss number was lower than expected. Not reaching the 600,000 jobs lost is an important psychologically, and it could be an indicator of a slowing in the recession, since “jobs are the last thing to recover,” Burnett said. There is a lot of confidence among the president's economic team that we have bottomed; There is an assumption many companies have done all of the tough stuff and many Americans, personally, have done the same thing. No one was spending money these last six months, whether business or personal. But with the market starting to move and with many companies cut to the bone, the expectation is that spending by both business and personal households will increase and that will cushion whatever increase in unemployment we continue to see over the next few months. There is still one big unknown out there: what happens when the millions of unemployed lose their benefits and what happens when those laid-off workers who have been living off of severance packages run out of THAT money? Today, the president talks on job training and job creation (11:30 am ET) at the White House. The point of this new program is to show some compassion for those who are unemployed and looking for job retraining.
Video: President Obama says he wants to change what he calls "senseless rules" that prevent out-of-work Americans from being trained for the industries of tomorrow. ***
Speaking of economic strength: The unemployment number follows those bank stress tests released officially yesterday. Treasury says the top 19 banks need to raise about $75 billion in capital. And if they can’t, the government will give it to them, so there’s enough of a cushion. The administration really here is trying to distinguish between strong banks and weak banks, and it says none risks insolvency. It’s a shift from earlier when the administration was criticized by Wall Street as casting a pall over the entire banking sector. But it’s hard to know whether these tests are real or just P.R. It’s almost impossible -- from a non-partisan, non-ideological point of view -- to validate the legitimacy of these stress tests. Listening to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs use words like "instill confidence" sounds more aimed at the market. Maybe the administration is banking on that kind of language sparking a recovery. If that happens, it won't matter if these stress tests are legit or just smoke and mirrors. There's an argument that the economy needs a little smoke-and-mirrors confidence boost every now and then. That said, let's remember, the credibility of both the administration and Fed Chair Ben Bernanke is on the line with this one, so it's hard to imagine they would have been sloppy with these tests, since the political punishment for glossing over these stress tests would be severe.
*** The interest group balancing act: The administration also holds a Spanish-language town hall with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis that will be live-streamed from the White House Web page. Again, it's part of outreach to the largest growing bloc of the electorate. Hispanic groups are also lobbying hard for a Supreme Court pick. But so are other Democratic interest groups, like gay-rights advocates and now, as The Hill reports, the Congressional Black Caucus is pushing to have one its members be the pick to replace retiring Justice David Souter. “They are pressing the merits of Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), who would increase the number of African- Americans on the court to two,” The Hill reports. By the way, many Hispanic Democratic activists believe the administration hasn't been nearly as aggressive as it should be when it comes to appointing Hispanics into high levels of government. It's a rock-and-a-hard-place issue: there aren't a lot of well-known names for some top positions but there won't be a lot of folks for these positions if the administration doesn't find more Hispanics for the mid-level jobs that would lead to the big appointments. And it's the mid-level jobs where Hispanics are disappointed to date.
*** A rough start for the GOP: Could the Republican Party have gotten off to a rougher start in the Obama era? It's hard to think so. Even with Bush and Cheney no longer heading the party, the GOP finds its favorability ratings at or near all-time lows. Despite their enthusiasm for their unified opposition to Obama (on the stimulus, the budget), they're blamed more for the lack of bipartisanship in DC. While starting out with all the advantages in NY-20, they still found a way to lose that race. Despite the initial positive reaction to his victory as RNC chair, Michael Steele's reign has been, shall we say, not good. And holding on to 41 votes in the Senate, they enabled a Republican who proved he could win in the increasingly blue state of Pennsylvania to switch parties, giving Dems the prospect of a filibuster-proof majority. Yes, Obama is popular right now. And, yes, the GOP is still paying for the sins of Bush and Cheney. But what has to disappoint Republicans right now is that most of their recent problems have been self-inflicted. And to top all of this off, an effort to re-brand the party ends up causing an internal fissure between one of the party's supposed rising stars, Eric Cantor, and many of the leading conservative voices, including Rush Limbaugh. Never mind the silly debate over whether Reagan should be used as an icon or not. The issue of Reagan reminds us of the Kennedy-obsession Democrats had for decades. One could argue it took the Democrats nearly 30 years to kick the Kennedy habit (maybe longer). So, this Reagan issue may take the Republicans another 10 years to get over.
Video: Hardball's Chris Matthews talks with former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge about his decision not to run against Arlen Specter for the Senate . ***
On the other hand…: Republicans believe they're planting the seeds for future growth. The near-unanimous opposition to Obama's stimulus and spending has been an effort to regain the mantle of fiscal discipline. They're holding town halls across the country to listen to voters and, more importantly, get out of Washington. And the National Republican Senatorial Committee has recruited well for 2010 -- Portman, Blunt/Steelman, maybe Castle, maybe Crist, a decent challenger against Boxer looks possible in California, Bunning may actually retire and Judd Gregg seems to be giving Republicans some hope he'll run again. Still, losing out on Ridge yesterday was a big blow. (And don’t miss Ridge on Hardball yesterday, refusing to say who he'd vote for between Toomey and Democrat Specter. It’s a “wonderful thing,” he said, that in this country we have a “secret ballot.”) The real question for the GOP will be whether these seeds can grow in a ground that's been so damaged by the previous administration. Strikingly, Republicans have yet to publicly break from Bush, whether on the issues (like insistence on tax cuts) or in tone (the GOP Web ads arguing Dems have made the country less safe).
*** Speaking of Bush-Cheney…: The Cheney legacy project continues. In his latest defense, Dick Cheney on a North Dakota radio show again blasted Obama on Guantanamo and torture, as well as the administration’s handling of the economy, the auto industry, even the fly by in New York City. It’s true that in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll a plurality do not approve of Obama's handling of Guantanamo or the torture memos, for example. But with Cheney's approval ratings what they are -- lowest ever -- there isn't much sympathy for him as a messenger among the American people and the Obama administration has to smirk every time it sees him on TV or on the radio. And how about his words of advice for the GOP? “I think it would be a mistake for us to moderate. This is about fundamental beliefs and values and ideas…” By the way, has anyone noticed there aren't many Bush officials sticking up for Cheney in these recent debates? Could it be Cheney's doing this because he thinks some of his Bush administration colleagues are going to start dumping on him as various books begin to be written and circulated?
***
Pelosi under the gun: As many problems as Republicans have, there are still some lingering issues for Democrats in the underbrush. We noted a couple of weeks ago that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi couldn’t seem to completely keep her story straight on
what she knew on torture techniques . She has been pressing for a so-called Truth Commission, yet it was unclear how much she exactly knew about the tactics and how vehemently she voiced disagreement when she was briefed that these tactics could be employed. And then there’s this today from the
Washington Post : “Intelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners, seemingly contradicting her repeated statements over the past 18 months that she was never told that these techniques were actually being used.” And there’s also that tricky issue of those ethics investigations that still haven’t happened relating to Jack Murtha and Charlie Rangel. It hasn't been the greatest 100 days, politically, for Pelosi, though she certainly has been a loyal soldier for President Obama's agenda. Pelosi advocates would argue she's taking many of the political arrows that would normally be aimed at the president.
*** Remembering Jack Kemp: Today at 2:00 pm ET is the memorial service for former Republican congressman/VP candidate Jack Kemp at the National Cathedral. The Wall Street Journal's Daniel Henninger asked yesterday if Republicans should forget Ronald Reagan. "The answer to that historic question is an apt subject this week as the GOP, looking for a path from the wilderness, says farewell at National Cathedral tomorrow to Jack Kemp, who remained a Reaganite to the end," The Journal wrote. "Jack Kemp, anyone who spent time around him will tell you, stayed on message. That message, like Reagan's, had a number of parts, but it is not possible to even guess how many times Jack Kemp summarized his explanations of that message in three words: 'Work, save and invest.' Republicans should think hard about building a governing philosophy on the foundation of those three words, ideas that most voters understand. ... Mr. Obama won the election and deserves time to see what his vision adds to the nation's productive life. If while it awaits that, the Republican Party can't renew what Reagan and Kemp gave them, its listening tour could last a very long time."
*** ‘Oboomers,’ a lasting coalition or an Obama bubble? Note this CQ piece about the swing districts with heavy African-American populations that Democrats will have to defend in 2010 -- without Barack Obama at the top of the ticket. “Banking on a different electorate in Obama’s first midterm -- one with less energy among African Americans and first-time voters -- [Cincinnati Republican Steve] Chabot is confident that he can oust freshman Democratic Rep. Steve Driehaus in a district in which 27 percent of residents are black. Not so fast, says Driehaus, one of a handful of Democratic victors in competitive districts influenced by African American voters -- call them the Oboomers -- whose first re-election bids will be watched closely by political strategists in both parties. ‘We actually thought there would be a greater turnout in 2008,’ Driehaus said. ‘While the African-American vote made a difference, it was all of it together.’” The 2010 midterms are shaping up to be the first test of whether this broad Democratic coalition is lasting -- or if it was just a Barack Obama bubble.
*** New president meets old tradition: Tomorrow night is the hottest ticket in town, the time-honored Washington tradition of the White House Correspondents Dinner. It will be Obama’s first as president. Comedienne Wanda Sykes is the featured entertainer. So what’s this going to be like? There were lots of highlights out of the Bush ones: Remember Colbert (awkward), that impersonator , Laura’s “Desperate Housewife ” line or striking up the band ? It will be interesting to see Obama settle into this stage. The only place we’ve seen him in a similar setting was that Al Smith white-tie dinner with John McCain during the campaign. Obama’s jokes were OK, but McCain stole the show. By the way, we know who WON’T be there… Sarah Palin. After yet another accepted and then unaccepted invitation, the Alaska Daily News reports, Palin has decided to stay behind “because of the severity of the flooding in the Interior.” Her husband Todd, though, will go in her place.
*** Enough already: By the way, the the Palins and the Edwards' continue to give daytime TV plenty of fodder. But we continue to ask: why? Why, in particular, is Elizabeth Edwards doing this? Apparently her friends are wondering the same thing. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7422971/
It's bad enough the administration was taking heat about whether $17 billion is a big budget cut or not. Now, it appears a bunch of Congressional Democrats might not even agree to those cuts.
Notes the Washington Post's Balz : "To date, the president's rhetoric about fiscal discipline exceeds his results. He has long said he would require his team to scrub the budget "line by line" for savings. Many of the reductions, while worthy, represent small change."
USA Today is gloomy on the long-term economy, writing, “Now, that esoteric revision is blossoming into a major economic shift that will affect living standards for years. Whatever other costs are borne as a consequence of the financial crisis, the U.S. economy appears doomed to an enduring episode of unimpressive growth.”
USA Today : “As unemployment soars, a combination of cash incentives and aggressive recruiting has left the Army National Guard with a surplus of soldiers, and now it plans to trim its force, according to government documents and interviews with Guard officials.”
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“Pakistan's prime minister told the nation Thursday that the armed forces were being ‘called in to eliminate the militants and terrorists’ who have forcibly occupied part of the country's northwest, sending thousands of civilians fleeing from the region in the past week,” the Washington Post reports. If this is a serious effort then perhaps this week's Af-Pak summit was a success.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is boosting the leadership ranks in Afghanistan, adding a three-star to Kabul.
“Obama, along with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have offered condolences about the [civilian] deaths [in Afghanistan]. At the same time, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, suggested the U.S. military may have been framed,” the AP writes.
The AP looks ahead to Netanyahu’s upcoming visit. “It is the president's first attempt at solving a dispute that has shadowed American presidents for more than 60 years. Obama is moving into the dispute with characteristic energy. But he acknowledged as a presidential candidate that "it's unrealistic to expect that a U.S. president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region."
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced on the TODAY show that the administration would be reopening the crown of the Statue of Liberty for tourists.
The Washington Post looks at conservative activists ready to fight Obama's pick. "The goal, they say, is to fire up supporters and shake up the debate in the Democratic-controlled Senate, in part as preparation for other court fights to come. "
Sen. Orrin hatch is no fan of Sotomayor. “Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Thursday that Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s past statement that the ‘court of appeals is where policy is made’ would be a problem for her if she were nominated for the Supreme Court,” Politico reports.
Great Scott: The CBC is pressing for Obama to seat Rep. Bobby Scott. He “got his undergraduate degree at Harvard and his law degree from Boston College in 1973 and returned to his home of Newport News to practice law. He practiced until he ran for Congress and won in 1992. He is known as an ardent civil libertarian, having opposed the Patriot Act and efforts to allow states to display the Ten Commandments in schools or government buildings. He was one of three members to oppose condemnation of a federal court decision declaring unconstitutional the words ‘One Nation Under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance.”
First Read’s Speculation List
CONTINUED >>
What did she know, and when did she know it? The Washington Post : “Intelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners, seemingly contradicting her repeated statements over the past 18 months that she was never told that these techniques were actually being used.” And there’s also that tricky issue of those ethics investigations that still haven’t happened relating to Jack Murtha and Charlie Rangel.
“CIA records show House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed in September 2002 on harsh interrogation techniques being used on terrorist suspects, but the records do little to settle a dispute over whether she knew waterboarding had already been used against one prisoner by then,” the AP reports.
More evidence card-check doesn’t have a chance this year ? Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE): “You take away the arbitration issue, and you still have the ‘card check’, so that doesn’t work. You take away the ‘card check’ and you still have the arbitration problem. And if both go away, you’re left with nothing. It’s a fool’s errand to do this. I just don’t see an agreement happening.”
Politico reports that not all members of the GOP are taking part in Eric Cantor and John McCain’s listening tour. “It’s a losing proposition to try to divide social and economic conservatives,” said Ken Blackwell, a one-time Ohio secretary of state and former candidate for Republican National Committee chairman. “They will constantly find themselves backpedaling and apologizing and repositioning because the composition of that group does not reflect a basic reality, which is that social and economic conservatives complement one another.”
The Alaska Daily News : “Gov. Sarah Palin won’t be going to the East Coast this weekend after all. The First Dude will take her place at the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., reportedly as a guest of Fox News. Todd Palin will also fill in at an Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute event Friday in New York that had the governor as featured guest. The governor’s office has been saying all week that Palin might not go on the trip. Palin said today she's decided to stay in Alaska because of the severity of the flooding in the Interior.”
The Hill notes that the NRSC appears to be taking a page from the Schumer playbook when it comes to cultivating moderate candidates. “[I]t seems almost every Republican recruit who will have any chance of winning this cycle will be a centrist,” the paper writes.
ILLINOIS: Nobody, not even Roland Burris, is really sure if Burris is going to run for reelection: “‘I have not sought to be a candidate. I have sought to be a senator,’ Burris told The Hill . ‘I think I can be a very good candidate once I become understanding and be a good senator.’ Burris has been so out-of-the-loop on the campaign side of things that he actually expressed surprise at having to file his first fundraising report last month, as well as his personal financial disclosure.”
LOUISIANA: Politico’s Allen reports that even GOP members wonder if Sen. Vitter – up for re-election in 2010 -- is making a risky move by holding up Obama’s FEMA nominee. “The Tampa Tribune said a fellow Republican, Sen. Mel Martinez (Fla.) considers it “dangerous politics for a Republican from storm-ravaged Louisiana to be holding up the FEMA chief just three weeks before hurricane season starts. ‘He needs to be in there,’ Martinez said. ‘Some people utilize (the nominations) process as a way of making a point, or getting attention.’”
PENNSYLVANIA: The Daily Kos commissioned the respected pollster Research 2000 to survey the PA senate race (before Ridge announced he was dropping out.) Specter is the overwhelming favorite. He beats Joe Sestak in a Democratic primary 56%-11% (though much of that seems to be name recognition). He also beats Republican Pat Toomey 55%-31%. Former Gov. Tom Ridge would have been much more competitive. It is a neck and neck between Specter and Ridge, with Specter with 45% and Ridge with 44%. But in the GOP primary, this poll -- which Toomey's camp shopped around yesterday -- shows that GOPers preferred Toomey 41%-33% over former Ridge, who decided against a run yesterday. But don't miss that Toomey is a net-negative in favorability: 33% fav/44% unfav. Specter is a net-positive 54%/36%. And Sestak is only a 29%/15% with 56% having no opinion, indicating he's largely unknown. Toomey, though, even loses to the largely unknown Sestak 37%-32%.
From NBC's Abby Livingston
The
Dick Cheney post-admin media tour continued this morning on a Fargo radio talk show hosted by local radio personality Scott Hennen. Torture, both in execution and legal theory was a dominant subject throughout the interview, with Cheney again vehemently defending the
Bush record.
“There are two documents in particular that I personally have read and know about that are still classified in that National Archives," Cheney said. "But I’ve asked that they be de-classified; I made that request over a month ago on March 31st. What those documents show is the success, especially of the interrogation program in terms of what it produced by way of intelligence that let us track down members of Al-Qaeda and disrupt their plans and plots to strike the United States. It’s all there in black and white…It demonstrates conclusively the worth of those programs. As I say, I’ve asked the administration to de-classify them and so far they have not.”
Hennen reminded Cheney of Obama’s recent statements that waterboarding and other practices were unnecessary and “we could have gotten this information in other ways, in ways that were consistent with our values, in ways that were consistent with who we are.”
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From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Pat Toomey agrees with former Gov. Tom Ridge 's decision not to run for the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat in 2010.
You don't say.
Toomey was trailing Ridge in the GOP primary by almost 40 points in one survey out this week. Now he's back to presumptive nominee essentially.
Here's Toomey's statement -- and don't miss the spin afterward that "By all accounts, Pat Toomey is the candidate who can unite Republicans and defeat the Democratic nominee in the general election."...
"Tom Ridge is a true patriot and a leader. In his eloquent statement today, he said: 'My belief is that those in my home state can best be served by the principles of limited government, less taxes, competent governance and shared responsibility.' I agree with Governor Ridge's statement 100%. That is exactly the message I will carry to the people of Pennsylvania in my campaign for the U.S. Senate. It is a message that will not only unite the Republican Party, but more importantly, it is one that a majority of our fellow citizens can rally around, regardless of their party affiliation."
*** UPDATE *** DailyKos poll number will show Toomey beating Ridge 41%-33%.
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From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and Domenico Montanaro three days ago that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would officially join the national Republican re-branding effort, the National Council for a New America, House GOP Whip Rep. Eric Cantor wanted to make it really official today.
"I am pleased to announce that Governor Palin has joined the panel of experts," Cantor said. "When NCNA was announced last week, we spoke about a dynamic organization that worked to constantly bring in new people and innovative ideas. The launch of the National Council was just the first step in a growing effort to engage the American people in a candid discussion as we work to overcome our shared challenges with common-sense ideas, building a stronger nation along the way."
This past Saturday afternoon, former Govs.
Jeb Bush and
Mitt Romney along with Cantor made their first visit with the group -- to an Arlington, Va., pizza place.
Palin's name had been mentioned to reporters as a possible member by former running mate
John McCain , who has failed to mention her as a future leader of the party more than a couple of times now -- most recently in an
appearance last month on NBC's The Tonight Show. Cantor said today that he expects other state and local leaders to participate in the weeks ahead.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Hotline's blog , reports that Mitt Romney is going to make his primary residence in... New Hampshire. Hmm...
"[T]he former governor is in the process of opening up the Lake Winnipesaukee house this month and 'will be spending more time on the East Coast,'" they write. "Since last year's election, Romney has been busy selling houses in Utah and Belmont, MA. Asked where Romney will establish a primary residence for the purposes of paying taxes and voting, [Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom demurred. 'I have no announcements to make on residency,' he said. 'He just recently closed on selling his Belmont house and, as of now, he's still registered to vote in Massachusetts.' ...
"But sources familiar with Romney's activities say the Republican, whose 2008 presidential campaign fizzled, intends to make his primary residence at the family vacation home in Wolfeboro, NH, which is also a favorite vacation spot of Romney's children and grandchildren. Romney is also maintaining a new home in the San Diego area, where his second eldest son, Matt, lives with his wife and four children; and his wife, Ann, enjoys the warm weather and riding, which is therapeutic for her multiple sclerosis, diagnosed in 1998. She is also recovering from a pre-invasive condition of breast cancer that was treated in December 2008. Romney has already established a beachhead in the Granite State; in March, his Free and Strong America PAC registered with the NH Secretary of State's office. The PAC made a $1,000 contribution to former GOP congressman Jeb Bradley, who won a special election for a state Senate seat that includes Wolfeboro on April 21. Bradley did not endorse in the 2008 GOP presidential primary."
From NBC’s Athena Jones
While some might call budget cuts totaling just under 0.5 percent for the year a drop in the bucket,
President Obama wants you to know that it's "real money" and an important first step in reaching his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term.
The White House said taxpayers would save some $17 billion in 2010 through the 121 budget cuts proposed today, including some $125 billion in savings from eliminating the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit, $632,000 saved by eliminating a Paris-based educational attaché and $5 million in savings from ending Public Broadcasting Grants.
"In Washington, I guess that's considered trivial," Obama said, of the $17 billion figure. "Outside of Washington, that's still considered a lot of money."
About half of the savings for next year are from cuts in defense programs, like a $465 million program that funded an unnecessary plan to build an alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, an airplane. All of the proposed cuts must be approved by Congress.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Tom Ridge will not run for U.S. Senate in 2010.
"After careful consideration and many conversations with friends and family and the leadership of my party, I have decided not to seek the Republican nomination for Senate," Ridge said in a statement, adding later, "The 2010 race has significant implications for my party, and that required thoughtful reflection. All of the above made my decision a difficult and deeply personal conclusion to reach. ... To those who believe that the Republican Party is facing challenges; they are right. To those who believe the Democratic Party is without its own difficulties, they are wrong. No one party has a monopoly on all of the answers. ... And so my desire and intention is to help my party craft solutions that both sides of the aisle can embrace."
This is a blow to Republicans who were hoping to recruit a candidate with the ability to defeat Arlen Specter , who defected to the Democratic Party. Recent polls, in fact, showed Ridge leading both Republican Pat Toomey in a GOP primary and Specter in a head-to-head general-election match up.
Ridge's full statement:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Pete Williams
At a hearing today with Attorney General
Eric Holder , Republican members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee suggested that any potential criminal investigation into the CIA's harsh interrogation methods might not easily be contained.
Both
Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and
Richard Shelby of Alabama pressed Holder on the CIA's "rendition" program that moved terrorism suspects from one country to another.
Didn't that happen during the Clinton administration?
"How many did you approve?" they asked.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Time in the spotlight apparently hasn't helped Alaska Gov.
Sarah Palin . According to a
Hays Research poll , Palin's positive rating has nosedived from 86% positive a year ago to just 54% now.
Palin still is a net-positive (54% positive, 42% negative), but compare that to fellow Republican Lisa Murkowski, who's approval is above 76%. (Hat tip:
Political Wire )
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
AP reports that "former top Democratic fundraiser
Norman Hsu has told a federal judge in Manhattan he will plead guilty to 10 counts of wire and mail fraud. The 58-year-old Hsu was indicted in 2007 on charges of cheating investors of at least $20 million in what prosecutors say was a huge Ponzi scheme. He had been scheduled to go on trial Monday. ... Prosecutors say he pressured his victims to contribute to political candidates as a way to raise his public profile so he could attract more investors."
Hsu's contributions to the Hillary Clinton campaign became political fodder during last year's Democratic primary. It resulted in the Clinton campaign giving back money donated by Hsu and a national search to Hsu.
From NBC's Ken Strickland
In an apparent effort to to ease the tension over
Arlen Specter 's bumpy transition into the Senate Democratic caucus, Sen.
Dick Durbin is willing to voluntarily relinquish his chairmanship on a Judiciary subcommittee to Specter, sources tell NBC News.
Specter will become the Chairman of the Crime and Drug Subcommittee. The committee is an important one, as it has substantial oversight over the Department of Justice. The vaunted Crime Bill was written in that committee.
As for Durbin, he will become chairman of a reconstituted subcommittee called Human Rights and the Law.
"I have offered the gavel of the Crime and Drugs Subcommittee to Senator Specter who has been a leader on criminal justice issues for decades," Durbin said in a written statement. He added that over the past few days Democratic leaders "have had a number of conversations about ways to best utilize Senator Specter's talents and experience in our Caucus."
Earlier this week, Majority Leader Harry Reid stripped Specter of all of his seniority within the committees. Reid has previously said that Specter's seniority would not allow him to leapfrog over others to claim a chairmanship post unless someone voluntarily stepped down.
*** UPDATE *** This post has been updated with Durbin's statement and context.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
***
Back to the economy : While the Af-Pak summit continues for another day, President Obama and his administration turn their focus today to the economy and domestic affairs. At 9:00 am ET, the administration unveils its full budget (the one it released back in February was an overview; this one goes program by program), and Obama delivers remarks about it at 10:35 am. The White House says it’s cutting $17 billion in spending by reducing 121 programs, but Republicans -- as they did when Team Obama instructed cabinet secretaries to find $100 million in savings -- say these cuts are miniscule compared with the $3.5 trillion budget. Today’s BIG event, however, is the release of those bank stress tests, which will come after the markets close at 4:00 pm. On “Charlie Rose,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said none of the biggest 19 banks is at risk for insolvency. But some will need more money. They'll have 30 days to develop a plan and six months to implement it. The administration hopes they find the money from private sources. “I think the results will be, on balance, reassuring,” Geithner said. Also today, the president meets with Al Sharpton, Michael Bloomberg, and Newt Gingrich to discuss education reform, and he also sits down with Secretary of State Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
*** Cuts you can believe in? Regarding those relatively small budget cuts, Team Obama can clearly read the polls because they are trying -- yet again -- to look like budget-cutters, especially since the public is concerned about government spending. In our NBC/WSJ poll, nearly seven in 10 respondents said that the budget deficit is a real and important number, and spending was one of the top concerns about the Obama administration. As a result, it's no wonder the White House is trying to overshadow the release of the line-by-line budget today with spending cuts. The public may be leery of the administration’s spin on this one. Their employer is talking 5%-10% cuts, and the government is at one half of one percent.
***
The two big questions : Turning to Af-Pak, there are two questions hanging over the summit. One, can Pakistan stabilize without U.S. troops? And two, can they keep their nukes safe? Well, the purpose of the summit was to prevent the need from having to answer yes to the first question and no to the second. As one smart observer said, this summit comes at a pre-crisis moment. It could be the last best hope we have before being faced with a direr situation in Pakistan.
*** Good news for Cornyn? There has been lots of discussion about the dire straits of the Republican Party -- and with good reason. But very quietly, as the Washington Post’s Cillizza notes, the GOP is putting together a decent Senate recruiting class. They already got Rob Portman in Ohio, and Roy Blunt and/or Sarah Steelman in Missouri (although all of them will face tough Dem candidates, and a recent Quinnipiac poll showed Dems with a clear advantage in Ohio). But if Republicans add Charlie Crist in Florida and Tom Ridge in Pennsylvania -- and both could happen in the next week or two -- then Republicans will have some good news to cheer. Mark Kirk in Illinois and Mike Castle in Delaware are real possibilities, too. It's still uphill, and still very early, but John Cornyn might be the only Republican having a decent first 100-plus days.
*** Mr. Low Key : And finally, don’t miss today’s Washington Post profile of national security adviser Jim Jones, which notes that he’s been an outsider so far in this administration, although things appear to be getting better. Jones held his first reporter briefing on camera yesterday, and it's clear the low-key former marine isn't interested in being a Kissinger or a Rice. In fact, low-key is a generous description. If he is this way in private meetings, then he may not be fitting in with the styles of Clinton, Gates, Biden, or Rahm.
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The Washington Post says the results from the stress tests of the country’s 19 biggest bank will “show that nearly all, including several that verged on collapse during the financial crisis, now have enough money to weather the recession.”
Video: As some of the nation's biggest banks await the results of tests designed to gauge whether they need more capital to survive a deeper recession, NBC's Chuck Todd examines the White House's handling of the assessments. More: “The report is expected to show clear distinctions among the nation's largest banks, according to sources familiar with the findings. J.P. Morgan Chase will not require additional capital, clearing the way for the bank to repay the government's investment. Bank of America and Wells Fargo also do not need more money, but will be required to strengthen their reserves, potentially by converting tens of billions of dollars of other forms of capital to common equity, the most dependable form of capital. Bank of America will need to increase these holdings by about $34 billion and Wells Fargo by $15 billion, sources said. Citigroup, the weakest of the giants, will be required to raise about $5 billion in new capital and take additional steps to strengthen its reserves.”
The Wall Street Journal : “The Federal Reserve directed at least seven of the nation's biggest banks to bolster their capital levels by $65 billion while effectively blessing the stability of six others, marking for the first time a bold line between some of the nation's stronger and weaker banks.”
The New York Times : “The results so far seem to suggest that the 19 institutions that underwent these exams will need less than $100 billion in additional equity to cope with a deep recession, far less than some investors had feared. The question now is, where will banks get that capital? Most of them would prefer to raise money privately, either by selling shares to the public or a big investor, or by selling some of their businesses. But if that is not enough, the odds are the government will step in.”
In a New York Times op-ed , Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner describes how the government conducted these stress tests. “The Federal Reserve marshaled hundreds of supervisors to spend 45 days rigorously reviewing the banks’ detailed loan data. They applied exacting estimates of potential losses over two years, along with conservative estimates of potential earnings over the same period, and compared them with existing reserves and capital. The results were then evaluated against strict minimum capital standards, in terms of both overall capital and tangible common equity.”
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The Boston Globe’s centerpiece front-page photo is Obama with Afghanistan’s Karzai and Pakistan’s Zardari with the headline, “United front against insurgents.”
Video: As Pakistan's military went on the offensive against the Taliban Wednesday, President Barack Obama met with leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, who said they are equally committed to defeating al-Qaida and its extremist allies. NBC Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports. The
New York Times : “The three-way meeting with Mr. Zardari and Mr. Karzai was intended by the White House, in part, to press both men to do more to crack down on the rising threat from the Taliban and Al Qaeda in both countries. “We meet today as three sovereign nations joined by a common goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda and its extremist allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to prevent their ability to operate in either country in the future,” Mr. Obama said.”
“There are no plans to deploy U.S. ground troops to Pakistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday, despite concerns over increasing violence between Pakistani troops and Taliban militants,” the AP writes. AP reports. “Sergey Lavrov has appointments with Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton after canceling a May 19 meeting at NATO to protest the alliance's military exercises this week in Georgia.” CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post profiles 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor, saying that she “presents a contradiction, say those who know her. Her detractors have said she can be short-tempered, tough on the bench and at odds with the amicability that President Obama has often sought in his appointments. But her supporters -- former Yale classmates, law firm colleagues and former clerks -- say she meets the definition of what Obama has said he is looking for: a qualified nominee with legal and real world experience, as well as an appreciation for the impact of court decisions on everyday life.
“‘I think her life experience gives her exactly the kind of perspective the court needs,’ said Robert H. Klonoff, dean of Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., and a classmate and friend of Sotomayor's from Yale Law School's class of 1979. ‘When I read [Obama's] description of what he thinks of as an ideal justice, she just fits it to a T.’ Besides her background, he said, ‘her credentials are unbelievable.’”
Karl Rove devotes his
Thursday Wall Street Journal column to the upcoming SCOTUS battle. “Senate Republicans may not be able to stop Mr. Obama's nominee, but they can explain to the public the party's reasons for opposing judges who think of themselves as legislators with life tenure. GOP senators appear to be comfortable making this argument, believing that the country favors judges who strictly apply the law. They're right. This confirmation battle will remind people that elections have consequences, few of which are as important or lasting as a Supreme Court nomination.”
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“Congress is close to putting its final stamp on a new commission to examine the financial crisis, but Democrats and Republicans already are tussling over its membership,” The Hill reports. “The House on Wednesday passed legislation on a strong 367-59 vote that would set up a financial markets inquiry commission. More Republicans supported the formation of the commission than opposed it, but the party’s leadership was split… The panel’s 10 members would hold subpoena power and would report back with findings and possibly recommendations by Dec. 15, 2010… What drew Republican ire was that Democrats get to appoint more members than Republicans to the commission. Democrats get six appointments, while the GOP gets four.”
The Washington Post’s Balz writes that Arlen Specter bucking his new party – the Democrats – shouldn’t be surprising. “For years Specter has driven his minders mad. Independent barely describes his modus operandi. Predictably unpredictable might be the better description. Specter has intellect and experience, but a team player he is not. Democrats knew all this when the switch was in the works, but in case some forgot, Specter has gone out of his way to remind them.”
Al Franken was at the White House yesterday to chat with Joe Biden.
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“For those writing Republican centrism’s obituary after Arlen Specter’s party switch, holster your quills,” The Hill reports. “In fact, if the next few weeks go well for the GOP, it might pave the way for a whole new chapter in the left flank of the right-leaning party. The month of May will be huge, recruiting-wise, for Senate Republicans, with decisions expected from several big-name candidates, including Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, Rep. Mark Kirk (Ill.) and possibly Rep. Mike Castle (Del.).”
Stu Rothenberg, writing in Roll Call , looks at places where the national committees are trying to “stir the pot” in this off year.
FLORIDA : Republicans tell First Read they are hopeful Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will announce he’s getting into the race for the open Florida Senate seat. “But [NRSC Chairman John] Cornyn added that he will not intervene in a contested primary , in which Crist would be facing former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio. Rubio, a conservative Republican, announced his candidacy Tuesday and has been critical of Crist for supporting President Barack Obama’s stimulus proposal,” Politico writes.
OREGON : Politico: “National Republicans have landed a top-tier recruit to run against Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.). Springfield Mayor Sid Leiken announced Tuesday that he would run against DeFazio, who was elected to the seat in 1986 and has never won reelection with less than 61 percent. But DeFazio may not even run for a 13th term; the Oregon Democrat has spoken openly about the prospect of waging a campaign for governor in 2010.”
From NBC's Athena Jones President Obama said today at the close of the first day of a trilateral summit.
The administration brought together Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in what it called an "unprecedented" series of meetings over two days that are meant to encourage greater cooperation with all three countries in fighting Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other extremists along their shared border.
The two leaders met individually with the president, and then all three of them met for trilateral talks. During brief remarks following the meeting, Obama -- flanked by Zardari and Karzai -- said there was a great deal of work to be done on the military and economic fronts.
"Along the border where insurgents often move freely, we must work together with a renewed sense of partnership to share intelligence and to coordinate our efforts to isolate, target, and take out our common enemy," he said. "But we must also meet the threat of extremism with a positive program of growth and opportunity and that why my administration is working with members of Congress to create opportunity zones to spark development."
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From NBC’s Harry Enten
With NBA Hall of Famer
Dave Bing 's victory last night in the Detroit mayoral election, we wanted to mention some other American professional athletes-turned-politicians.
Here are 10 (in alphabetical order), but if you think of anyone we missed, let us know:
Bill Bradley led the New York Knicks to their only two NBA Championships in 1970 and 1973. After a career as a shooting guard and small forward that lasted from 1967-1977, this NBA Hall of Famer became a Democratic United States Senator from New Jersey from 1979-1997. A policy wonk, Bradley led the fight for federal tax and campaign finance reform. In 2000, Bradley ran against Al Gore for the Democratic nomination. Advocating for universal health care and stricter gun control, he didn’t win a primary.
Jim Bunning was the first pitcher to pitch no-hitters -- including a perfect game -- in both the American and National Leagues. A seven-time All-Star over a career that lasted from 1955-1971, Bunning was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. Later, he became a Republican congressman from Kentucky from 1987-1999 and was elected to the United States Senate in 1998. Over his 20-year career in Washington, Bunning has been known as a staunch conservative. Lately, though his career seems in jeopardy, as he has feuded with Republican leadership.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Doug Adams
Kathleen Sebelius testified in the House today on health-care reform, her first appearance before Congress since becoming HHS Secretary. Insisting that "health-care reform cannot and will not wait another year," she said President Obama is committed to doing health-care reform this year.
"Now is the time,” she said. “As we're fixing the economy, we have to fix health care as part of overall strategy."
Sebelius spent much of the hearing trying to reassure skeptical Republicans that a public insurance option would not undermine the existing private system and was not a "prelude" to a single-payer, government-run system. But she repeatedly said the playing field now is not level -- because private insurers can "cherry pick" the healthiest patients to make a profit while declining coverage to the sickest.
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From NBC's Ken Strickland
Newly-turned Democrat
Arlen Specter today hinted that that Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid reneged on his word to allow Specter to keep his seniority on committees on which he sits. "Sen. Reid assured me that I would keep my committee assignments, and that I would have the same seniority as if I had been elected as a Democrat in 1980," Specter said in a written statement today.
Last night on the Senate floor, Reid shepherded a resolution that put Specter at the back of the line on every committee he sits -- most importantly, the powerful Appropriations Committee. Seniority on that panel is instrumental in securing millions of dollars for home state projects.
Last week when Specter announced his party switch, Reid said in a news conference that Specter would keep his seniority. According to a transcript, a reporter asked Reid, "Can you talk about Sen. Specter's seniority now? He said he would be coming in as if he were elected, in 1980, a Democrat." Reid responded, "That's right."
With almost 30 years in the Senate, Specter now sits on committees behind Democratic freshmen like Gillibrand , Burris , and Kaufman . When the Supreme Court nominee is questioned by the Judiciary Committee later this year, Specter's new rank makes him the last senator to quiz the nominee.
"Some members of the caucus have raised concerns about my seniority, so the caucus will vote on my seniority at the same time subcommittee chairmanships are confirmed after the 2010 election," Specter said. "I am confident my seniority will be maintained under the arrangement I worked out with Sen. Reid."
From NBC’s Mike Viqueira
Senior Republicans in Congress today continue to work to formulate a policy and political response to the currently popular president.
It seems that the last time the president had GOP leaders to the White House he challenged them to come up with their own cuts in government spending, consistent with his edict requiring administration agencies to find $100 million in savings over the next 90 days.
That level of cuts was widely derided as less than a drop in the ocean.
So today, House GOP leaders gathered around a table up in Eric Cantor 's office, shed their suit coats and invited in the press for a photo-op of them working to cut.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Chuck Todd President Obama today met personally with two more Republicans who serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee: Tom Coburn and Chuck Grassley .
In addition, the president has telephoned the new ranking Republican on the committee, Jeff Sessions . No official readouts on any of the meetings. But for those keeping score, it's worth noting we can now confirm he's telephoned or met personally with four of the seven remaining Republicans on Judiciary since the Souter vacancy became public: Coburn, Grassley, Sessions and Hatch .
No word on when he'll reach out to Lindsey Graham , Jon Kyl , and John Cornyn specifically on the court vacancy.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro signed a bill into law allowing same-sex marriage in his state . Maine becomes the fifth state to do so. The other four: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont.
"In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions," Baldacci said in a statement. "I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage."
There is serious legislative activity to approve gay marriage in DC (where last night the city council voted to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere), New Jersey, New Hampshire and New York.
Also, in California, there’s a state Supreme Court challenge to Prop. 8.
As we wrote this morning, it's example #457 that we’re long removed from 2004.
Here's Baldacci's full statement:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Mike Viqueira
House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi does not endorse setting performance benchmarks for Afghanistan and Pakistan and tying it to aid. That puts her in conflict with a senior Democratic chairman in the House, who has written just such a requirement into the funding bill now pending in Congress.
Appropriations Chairman David Obey said Monday that by this time next year, the administration must come up with an assessment of whether Afghanistan and Pakistan "are, or are not, demonstrating the necessary commitment, capability, conduct and unity of purpose to warrant the continuation of the President's policy… ."
Obey's benchmarks include the level of political consensus, commitment to fighting corruption, and performance in fighting insurgency.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Athena Jones
Important clarification from the White House on our reporting about vaccines.
The lower press office says no decision has been made on a vaccination plan yet, despite what the Washington Post had wrote today.
This press official, who was watching MSNBC this morning, said there is no White House vaccination "plan" as of yet and therefore any reference to a plan that would "cost trillions" is inaccurate.
He said reports -- on television or in newspapers -- suggesting there is a White House plan are "getting substantially ahead of where we are."
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Libby Leist Clinton and envoy Richard Holbrooke went to the Willard Hotel in DC this morning for an hour-long private meeting with Pakistan President Zardari and his ambassador to the U.S.
Their breakfast was not announced publicly -- and it wasn't on her schedule. They have been pressing Zardari hard to do more to fight the Taliban.
Clinton then returned to the State Department, where she met with Afghan President Karzai as scheduled.
Now she's meeting with both Karzai and Zardari together, also as scheduled.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro Obama's doctrine on display: The start of today's two-day Af-Pak summit is perhaps as good of an early example of what President Obama believes can be done on the international front. It may be seen some day as "quintessential Obama": bringing people together, holding numerous meetings on various levels (including non-military meetings with cabinet secretary equivalents), and talking -- then, like shampoo directions, rinse, wash, repeat, and (in this case) never stop. The administration is hoping to hold these trilateral meetings with Afghanistan and Pakistan multiple times a year. The next meeting will take place after Afghanistan’s elections in August. Here’s today’s agenda: Presidents Karzai and Zardari begin their day at the State Department for private bilateral and trilateral meetings with Secretary of State Clinton. The two men then head to the White House for afternoon meetings with Obama -- first one-on-one (Karzai’s is at 2:00 pm ET; Zardari’s is at 2:40 pm), and then the trilateral at 3:30 pm. Obama will then deliver remarks at 4:15 pm. The day ends at the Naval Observatory, with Vice President Biden hosting a dinner for the two presidents, which will include key members of Congress. The summit continues Thursday with a slew of cabinet-level meetings led by Agriculture’s Tom Vilsack, DOJ's Holder, FBI's Mueller, and CIA's Panetta.
Video: Obama is set to meet with Presidents Karzai and Zardari at the White House today. ***
It’s tricky… tricky, tricky, tricky: Today’s meetings are a tricky affair. The administration has sent numerous signals about its unease with both leaders, and yet it’s giving Karzai and Zardari the red-carpet treatment as if they are America's two most important allies. And you know what, they just might be... What's the alternative at this point? If this summit gives Karzai and Zardari political strength at home to make decisions in the U.S. interests, then it will be a success. The bigger focus today and tomorrow will be Pakistan and not Afghanistan. The issue in Pakistan is as much about its military strategy (will they stop focusing on India and start focusing on the Taliban?) as its political strategy. There are too many leaders in the country who aren't on the same page when it comes to the idea that all three nations share a common enemy: Islamic extremism. The mixed signals some in Pakistan have sent by negotiating truces with Taliban in certain parts of the country are what have led to the Taliban's renewed strength in the country, the U.S. believes. For what it's worth, the Obama administration dismisses the various threats from Capitol Hill about future funding for either country. Why? It believes everyone in Congress believes instability in either country is a U.S. national security threat. That said, there will be healthy debate about how many strings get attached to funding decisions.
*** Specter’s tough week: Life as a Democrat hasn’t been that easy for Arlen Specter so far. He twice voted against Democratic measures, including last week’s budget vote. Then came his interview on “Meet the Press,” in which he said he wouldn’t be a loyal Democrat. And now there’s an upcoming New York Times magazine interview, in which Specter says he wants Norm Coleman to win in his recount battle against Al Franken. (Specter tells CQ that he misspoke to the NYT mag. "In the swirl of moving from one caucus to another, I have to get used to my new teammates," he said. "I'm ordinarily pretty correct in what I say. I've made a career of being precise. I conclusively misspoke.") All of these moves/remarks have infuriated the liberal blogosphere, which is now conducting a straw poll to determine whether there should be a Draft Joe Sestak movement to challenge Specter in a Dem primary. As Specter is undoubtedly finding out, it’s sometimes lonely being stuck in the middle. Just ask Joe Lieberman. By the way, considering Specter's moderate tendencies, doesn't it actually make sense that he'd be supportive of Coleman? Does the quick back-track show he's more concerned already about his Democratic prospects than his supposed moderate principles?
*** Give Geithner credit? Assuming there truly are no surprises tomorrow with the OFFICIAL release of the bank stress test results, it seems as if the Treasury Department and the Fed are managing the rollout of these results pretty well. The leaks feel selective and purposeful -- as if coordinated with the banks. And the market appears to be responding well to it. Again, there could be hidden bombs somewhere tomorrow, but one would assume we would have already heard about it. Plenty of critics on the left will say the stress tests were never designed to find the really BAD news, and that the government is working too closely with the banks to make sure the public doesn't see the really bad news. But assuming the critiques on this front are more about conspiracy theories than fact, then Treasury and Geithner in particular ought to feel good about how the start of HIS second 100 days is going.
*** Some backlash: With her upcoming book and her appearance on “Oprah” this Thursday, it was inevitable that Elizabeth Edwards would begin to receive some backlash -- given that she campaigned so aggressively for her husband in 2007 and 2008, despite her book’s claim that she begged him to drop out of the race after she learned about his affair. Today, Maureen Dowd writes, “John Edwards’s political career is over… Nobody -- except Rielle -- has any interest in hearing from him again... But now Saint Elizabeth has dragged him back into the public square for a flogging on ‘Oprah’ and in Time and at bookstores near you.” And Politico’s Ben Smith has this quote in a piece about how the Edwardses are back in the spotlight: “‘Assuming the timeline that has been made public is accurate, I think both Elizabeth and John are to blame -- both of them carried on this facade,’ said David Redlawsk, a professor at the University of Iowa who was a prominent Edwards supporter in the key state. ‘For the good of the country, he certainly shouldn’t have run. For the good of the country, she should have said something.’”
Video: Elizabeth Edwards talks about her husband's affair for the first time. ***
Don't miss this nugget: The Washington Post reports Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is running the Supreme Court search, in conjunction with the White House counsel's office and the Vice President's office. Is this a case where the White House realizes the SCOTUS pick needs a political vet more than a judicial one? Also today, Sen. Tom Coburn is meeting with Obama in the Oval Office. Coburn's a member of the Judiciary committee -- and the second Republican he's talked/met with before Jeff Sessions?
*** I’m a survivor, I’m going to make it: The Democratic National Committee today has some Wednesday fun with a new Web video featuring the current leaders of the GOP -- Michael Steele, Mitch McConnell, Newt, Rush, Cheney, etc. -- in a “Survivor”-like contest. “Which one will win the battle for the heart and soul of the GOP?” the video asks.
*** Example #457 that we’re long removed from 2004: DC yesterday voted to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, and the Maine House passed legislation that would legalize gay marriage. As of now, four states have legalized gay marriage (CT, IA, MA, VT), and serious legislative activity to approve gay marriage is occurring in DC, ME, NJ, NH, and NY. Also, in CA, there’s a state Supreme Court challenge to Prop. 8.
*** Bing scores: Former NBA great Dave Bing beat Kenneth Cockrel Jr. in Detroit’s mayoral race yesterday, 52%-47%. “Mr. Bing, the longtime owner of a local auto parts business, will serve the final eight months of former Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick’s second term,” the New York Times says. “He will have to begin campaigning to keep his job almost immediately. The regularly scheduled election, for a four-year term, is in November, and the filing deadline for the August nonpartisan primary is next Tuesday. Mr. Cockrel is expected to be among those trying to unseat Mr. Bing in the fall.” This is a big win for the so-called Detroit outsiders; it's a "change" win. Now, can Bing handle America's toughest mayoral job?
*** Steny eyes social security: Also today, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer gives the keynote address at the Bipartisan Policy Center’s symposium in DC on putting the country’s fiscal house back in order. According to excerpts of his speech, Hoyer will call for enacting Social Security reform. “Of our entitlement programs, I believe we would have the easiest challenge in reforming Social Security… We can bring in more revenues. We can restrain the growth of benefits, particularly for higher-income workers, while we strengthen the safety net for lower-income workers. And/or we can raise the retirement age… What is missing here is not ideas -- it is political will.” He also will call for reining in health-care spending. "We have pledged that, in the healthcare reform bill we will debate this session, we will pay for expanded access, so that healthcare reform does not add to the short-term deficit. But that is not enough. It is imperative that we slow the growth of healthcare spending over the long term.” Hoyer speaks at 12:30 pm ET.
Countdown to NJ GOP primary: 27 days
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Obama holds a trilateral with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. "The president is pressing Zardari to stand up to the threat of a wider war by Taliban and al-Qaida forces inside Pakistan. He's also seeking broader cooperation between Zardari and Karzai, who blames the Taliban's resurgence in his country on its havens across the border," the AP writes.
How do you solve a riddle like Karzai? The Washington Post says "the consensus view among State Department, Pentagon and CIA officials is that Karzai almost certainly will win reelection to another five-year term this August. Vexed by the challenge of stabilizing Afghanistan with a partner they regard as less than reliable, Obama's advisers have crafted a two-pronged strategy that amounts to a fundamental break from the avuncular way President George W. Bush dealt with the Afghan leader.”
“Obama intends to maintain an arm's-length relationship with Karzai in the hope that it will lead him to address issues of concern to the United States, according to senior U.S. government officials. The administration will also seek to bypass Karzai by working more closely with other members of his cabinet and by funneling more money to local governors.”
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post front-pages, “The Obama administration's plan to ‘stress-test’ 19 large banks is yielding benefits even before the findings are released tomorrow. The announcement of the tests in February roiled the markets initially. But the 12-week wait for results has since provided a respite, allowing investors to breathe deeply and giving time for a raft of federal rescue programs to start showing results.”
“The banks, eager to demonstrate that they don't need more federal aid, have spent the time racing to get stronger. The healthiest banks, such as Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase, have tried to show that they can walk without government crutches, for example by issuing debt without federal assistance. Weaker banks such as Citigroup have agreed to sell valuable business units and moved with greater urgency to offload troubled assets.”
The New York Times : “The government has told Bank of America it needs $33.9 billion in capital to withstand any worsening of the economic downturn, according to an executive at the bank. If the bank is unable to raise the capital cushion by selling assets or stock, it would have to rely on the government, which has provided $45 billion in capital through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.”
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post has the type of story that suggests it may know more than it reported. "The selection of a small and very senior group of administration officials to help manage the nomination is designed, in part, to avoid the kinds of leaks that angered several Cabinet nominees during Obama's transition."
"Running the selection are White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, counsel Gregory B. Craig and deputy counsel Cassandra Q. Butts, a classmate of Obama's at Harvard Law. Obama has reached out to Republican and Democratic Senate leaders, seeking their recommendations. But the chance that he would veer from his own list, which began taking shape in December, is slim."
Politico profiles the man who it says will be the GOP’s chief inquisitor during any confirmation hearing: Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions. “By elevating Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions to their top spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republicans have selected their chief inquisitor for President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee: a Southern, white conservative man who has drawn fire for racially insensitive comments in the past. Democrats like how this is looking. ‘Sessions will help galvanize and crystallize why we need a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate,’ a Democratic senator, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told POLITICO Tuesday.”
CONTINUED >>
The
Washington Times reports that RNC Chair Michael Steele has agreed to certain restrictions on how he handles the party's finances. "The ‘good governance’ agreement revives checks and balances Mr. Steele resisted implementing for RNC contracts, fees for legal work and other expenditures that were not renewed after the 2008 presidential nominating contest. The agreement, proposed by several current and former RNC officials, goes further, making 33-year RNC veteran Jay Banning, who was fired by Mr. Steele along with his deputy last month, an on-call adviser to the RNC treasurer. Mr. Banning was seen as a trusted liaison to RNC members critical of Mr. Steele's tenure and financial management."
"The Senate adopted by voice vote Tuesday evening a resolution adding Sen. Arlen Specter as a Democrat to five committees, giving Democrats an extra seat on Appropriations, Environment and Public Works, Judiciary, Veterans' Affairs and the Special Committee on Aging," The Hill writes. "Republicans did not get any extra seats on those committees to make up for the loss of Specter." Politico writes of the unlikely unified front of Pelosi and Hoyer: "Far from friends but no longer enemies, this long-feuding pair has forged a once-unthinkable partnership, leveraging their former rivalry -- and the ideological divide that separates them -- for a tighter grip on the party they lead.
The Hill writes that Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is plotting a backup health-care plan. "Grassley and his close friend, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), have been working for months to strike what could prove an unattainable compromise."<
