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Gabrielle Giffords' Shooting: The Impact on Obama's Presidency

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 02:47:00 +0000

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Saturday’s shooting spree could prove a turning point in the Obama presidency. Jonathan Alter on how the White House should talk about the tragedy—and the echoes of Clinton at Oklahoma City. Plus, full coverage of the Arizona shooting.

President Obama is off to a good start in his handling of what the networks are now calling “The Tragedy in Tucson.” The moment of silence he asked for on Monday at 11 a.m.—resonant for older Americans of the exact hour on November 11 each year that the World War I Armistice was once observed—is an appropriate expression of what we need right now: Less Noise.

But silence will not be enough. This horrific event offers the president a chance to show leadership qualities that he’s inexplicably hidden away in some blind trust. The shootings and the resulting debate over the climate of incivility play to his strengths as a calm and rational leader. Just as Bill Clinton’s response to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings helped him recover from his defeat in the 1994 midterms, so this episode may help Obama change—at least in the short term--the trajectory of American politics.

Clinton did more than just speak movingly after Oklahoma City and pull the country together as griever-in-chief. He was able to use the event to discredit the militia movement and tamp down hate speech on talk radio enough that it wasn't much of a factor in his 1996 reelection. The Oklahoma City bombings were later seen by historians and Clinton-era officials as the turning point in his political comeback. Of course the viciousness of the attacks eventually resumed (especially after the Lewinsky scandal) but they weren’t as fierce again until the Obama years.

“The words we use really do matter,” Clinton said, reflecting on the Oklahoma City bombing. “There’s this vast echo chamber, and they go across space and they fall on the serious and the delirious alike.”

Looking back last spring on the 15th anniversary of the bombings, Clinton offered useful perspective. “The words we use really do matter,” he said. “There’s this vast echo chamber, and they go across space and they fall on the serious and the delirious alike.” That’s the critical point in assigning indirect blame for Tucson. We can never know exactly what hate speech produces, but why risk its interaction with underlying mental illness?

Whether or not he attends the funerals for the Tucson victims, Obama’s big chance to lead will come in his State of the Union address on January 25. He can both to speak to the moment thematically and confront the substantive concerns raised by the tragedy.

• Shushannah Walshe: Palin’s Other Arizona ‘Targets’• Peter Beinart: The Tea Party’s Terror Blind Spot• Full coverageConservatives like to argue that these are isolated incidents carried out by lunatics and therefore carry no big lessons (unless the perpetrator is Muslim, in which case it’s terrorism); liberals view them as opportunities to address various social ills. Obama is in the latter category and should act accordingly. “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” Rahm Emanuel famously said in 2008. The same goes for a shooting spree that gravely wounds a beloved congresswoman. Congress won’t enact gun control, as it did in the wake of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, but perhaps something positive can come from this.

The State of the Union will almost certainly begin with heart-wrenching symbolism. Ever since Ronald Reagan put a “citizen hero,” Lenny Skutnik, in the balcony of the House chamber after he rescued passengers from the wreck of an Air Florida jet that crashed in the freezing Potomac River in 1982, American presidents have all used their State of the Unions speeches to honor their own “Skutniks,” as they’ve come to be called in Washington. This year will be no different. At least one or two people connected to the horrific incident (The 20-year-old office intern who heroically applied triage to Gabrielle Giffords? A relative of slain federal judge John Roll?) will undoubtedly sit with Michelle Obama at the speech. And it’s hard to imagine that the poignant birth date of 9-year-old Christina Taylor Greene, September 11, 2001, will escape mention.

From there Obama and his speechwriters will try to set the incident in context. This won’t be easy. As I wrote last week, he needs to govern more in poetry than he has thus far. But if the prose is too purple, it falls flat. If he over-analyzes the tragedy, he risks seeming to middle-of-the-roaders as if he’s politicizing it. (The Right will think that in any event). And if he even implies a direct connection between the words and websites of politicians and the twisted mind of Jared Lee Loughner, he’s asking for trouble.

The president’s overall goal should be to champion civility and convince partisans to at least think twice before over-heating their rhetoric. It will be interesting to gauge the applause on the GOP side of the chamber if he extends the critique to talk radio, where the incitement has been the most conspicuous.

The parts of the speech about the tone of public debate—the use of violent imagery by both Republicans and Democrats, including Obama himself—may be among the most important words of his presidency. If he executes properly, he could simultaneously help the country heal and set the parameters of what’s permissible in our politics. The memory of Judge Roll, little Christina and the other victims (Obama will likely name them all, as he did with a much longer list of the dead at Fort Hood) will be powerful. But because Giffords is a member of the House, the references to her will have special resonance inside the chamber. “In the years that some of my colleagues have served—20,30 years—they’ve never seen it like this,” Giffords told MSNBC last March. I’d be amazed if Obama didn’t quote her in his speech.

Eventually the president will pivot away from the tragedy to the main sections of his speech, which, as usual, will include a description of national problems and a list of legislative priorities. While the focus will be on economic growth, other issues will get airtime. Even here the Tucson shootings can be relevant.

Judge Roll, an appointee of George H.W. Bush, spoke out publicly about the 100 unfilled vacancies on the federal bench, the result mostly of a dysfunctional Senate confirmation process. He felt that drug and immigration cases weren’t being heard because there aren’t enough judges. Obama should use Roll’s own words to prod the Senate to action.

Any hard look at the Tucson case suggests that the real cause of the tragedy was untreated mental illness. When Loughner was thrown out of Pima Community College, officials there told his parents he needed mental evaluation. But state and federal mental health budgets are on the chopping block. Obama should ask whether that makes sense and seek more funding.

Finally, the president should speak out forthrightly for better enforcement of existing gun control laws, which the gun lobby is always fighting to undermine. He should re-state his support of Andrew Traver to be head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive (ATF). The NRA is currently blocking the nomination because Traver once had the temerity to serve as an adviser to a police association on its gun violence reduction program. Obama can reiterate his (and Giffords’) support for the 2nd Amendment while using this chance to make a case for common sense gun control.

Even if he makes a good speech, the president may find that the memory of the Tucson tragedy fades quickly. Sad to say, if Giffords had died, she would have been mourned and soon the conversation would have moved on. But Giffords lives, thank God, which offers other possibilities. We won’t know for weeks or months whether she can function in public. If she can, she will prove a powerful referee of the boundaries of public discourse—more influential, perhaps, than the president himself.

Jonathan Alter is a national correspondent for Newsweek and an analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. He is the author of “The Promise: President Obama, Year One,” a New York Times bestseller being published this week in paperback with a new epilogue.

thedailybeast.com.

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New reality: Obama, GOP talk compromise, conflict

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:46:00 +0000

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A chastened President Barack Obama signaled a new willingness to yield to Republican demands on tax cuts and jettisoned a key energy priority on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he and fellow Democrats absorbed election losses so severe he called them a shellacking.

But he bluntly swept aside any talk of repeal of his signature health care law — right after the House Speaker-in-waiting, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, vowed Republicans would do everything they could to wipe the legislation off the books.

Boehner, a 60-year-old veteran of two decades in Congress, spoke at what amounted to his national debut as head of an incoming conservative majority that will include long-experienced lawmakers and tea party-backed political newcomers alike. He declared, "Our new majority will be the voice of the American people as they expressed it so clearly yesterday."

Separately, the Federal Reserve announced new steps designed to further lower interest rates on loans and lead to more job creation, using powers denied mere politicians.

Taken together, the fast-paced series of events confirmed the primacy of the economy as an issue in a country with 9.6 percent unemployment, record home foreclosures and disappointingly slow growth.

In purely political terms, they also underscored a dramatic overnight power realignment after two years of grinding partisanship in Congress followed by a coarse and costly campaign.

For all the uncertainty they loosed, there was little that was ambiguous about the election results. House Republicans picked up 60 seats to capture a majority and led for five more, ending a four-year span in which Nancy Pelosi served as the first female speaker in history.

The GOP picked up at least six seats in the Senate in races reflecting both the peril and the potential of a tea party movement that emerged during the campaign. Tea party favorites were elected to Senate seats in Florida, Kentucky and Utah, but they lost in Nevada, Delaware and Colorado — at a time when Republican victories in all three would have created a 50-50 tie.

Speaking to reporters in the Capitol, Boehner said he and fellow Republicans hope the president "will continue to be willing to work with us" on the priorities of creating jobs and cutting spending.

But, he added, "We're going to continue to renew our efforts for a smaller, less costly and more accountable government here in Washington, D.C."

Obama struck similar themes at his own news conference a few hours later, saying he was eager to sit down with the leaders of both political parties "and figure out how we can move forward together." He added, "It won't be easy," noting the parties differ profoundly in key areas.

Sounding more conciliatory than in the past, the president said he was open to compromise with Republicans on their demand for an extension of all of the Bush-era tax cuts due to expire on Jan. 1, including those that apply to upper-income earners.

"My goal is to make sure we don't have a huge spike in taxes for middle-class families," he said. He omitted mention of his campaign-long insistence that tax cuts be permitted to expire on upper-income families. The issue produced pre-election skirmishes in Congress and frequent disagreement during the campaign.

Obama also virtually abandoned legislation, hopelessly stalled in the Senate, that includes economic incentives to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, vehicles and other sources.

"I'm going to be looking for other means of addressing this problem," he said. "Cap and trade was just one way of skinning the cat."

Republicans have long slammed the bill as a "national energy tax" and jobs killer, and numerous Democrats sought to emphasize their opposition to the measure during their own re-election races.

Boehner, too, was asked about the expiring tax cuts, and he replied simply that he continues to believe they should all be extended.

Questions about the health care law elicited far more forceful answers from both men.

"I believe that the health care bill that was enacted by the current Congress will kill jobs in America, ruin the best health care system in the world and bankrupt our country. That means that we have to do everything we can to try to repeal this bill, and replace it with commonsense reforms that will bring down the cost of health insurance," Boehner said. Earlier, he had called it a "monstrosity."

Obama would hear none of it.

"I think we'd be misreading the election if we thought that the American people want to see us for the next two years re-litigate arguments that we had over the last two years," he said.

He added he was willing to listen to Republican ideas for improving the system. "But I don't think that if you ask the American people, should we stop trying to close the doughnut hole that will help senior citizens get prescription drugs, should we go back to a situation where people with pre-existing conditions can't get health insurance, should we allow insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick, even though you had been paying premiums. ..."

Obama attributed the Democrats' election defeat to a feeling on the part of many voters that the economic recovery is too slow. So did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The first woman to lead the House will have to give up the gavel after only four years.

"Nine and a half percent unemployment is a very eclipsing event," Pelosi said in an interview with ABC's "World News."

A frequent target of Republican attack ads, Pelosi said she has "no regrets" about pursuing the Democrats' ambitious agenda and has made no decisions about her political future.

"I'll have a conversation with my caucus, I'll have a conversation with my family, and pray over it, and decide how to go forward," said Pelosi. "But today isn't that day."

Ongoing concern over the economy prompted the Federal Reserve to announce it intends to buy $600 billion in Treasury bonds through the middle of next year, on top of an estimated $250 billion to $300 billion already planned.

The hope is the move will drive down interest rates on mortgages and other debt, and as a result create more consumer spending and, in turn, job creation.

On the morning after the election, there was little overt talk of the next election, now two years distant.

But it was clearly on the minds of some.

"Our friends on the other side can change now and work with us to address the issues that are important to the American people that we all understood, or further change obviously can happen in 2012," said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, leader of a larger minority, but a minority still.

Another Republican, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, worried aloud that voters could turn against the GOP next time.

"Let us be under no illusion — many of those who cast their vote for Republicans yesterday have their share of doubts about whether we are up to the task of governing; about whether congressional Republicans have learned our lesson," he said.

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

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Obama supporters at L.A. rally reflect his 2008 ‘hope’ coalition

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:46:00 +0000

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With congressional Democrats fighting against a Republican wave during an election year full of voter anger and frustration, President Obama rallied a diverse crowd of supporters Friday in Los Angeles that closely mirrored the "hope" coalition that elected him in 2008.

The setting near downtown L.A. with an estimated attendance of more than 35,000 was an ideal crossroads for Obama's voter base. A gathering of college students, whites, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and people of all ages gathered to hear him speak under the sun.

This election season, thousands of readers have weighed in on Ask America, the Yahoo! News informal polling forum, about Obama, his image and his supporters. Although the van has come and gone from the state, Yahoo! News went to check out the scene to see how his supporters are defending him and the Democrats outside cyberspace.

Obama fans we talked to came to the University of Southern California campus from as far away as Santa Barbara, which is about two hours from L.A. Several students also came from different colleges.

Based on interviews, most of them were there simply to see Obama rather than help him campaign directly for local candidates like incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown.

No surprise, the president was still popular with this audience, even at a time when the latest Gallup poll found the president's approval rating at 42 percent. Few criticized him out of anger, and all said he needed more time to deliver the change he promised in 2008.

"Too hard to say how much change he's made so far," Dominic Lopez, 22, a communication major at USC, said. "The economy is a drain. He can't fix it in just two years. I'm patient."

Lopez said he mainly came to see the president. As a military chopper flew overhead, cheers went up. "That's how he rolls!" Lopez joked gleefully.

When asked about the tea party, a movement touting fiscal conservatism that is capturing a lot of voter angst this election season, Lopez admitted he'd never heard of it.

"The Boston Tea Party?" he asked.

Another young Obama supporter, Krishna Rajagopalan, 18, who attends Pasadena City College, also drew a blank. Again, "You mean the Boston Tea Party?"

Both responses illustrate how little the midterm elections may be registering with younger Obama voters. Rajagopalan said he had missed class so he could see Obama. He said he is volunteering for the Democrats this election, but his focus remained on the president.

Youth voters, a key constituency for Democrats, do not typically show up for midterm elections, and recent polls show Obama's influence with young voters waning some.

An AP-mtvU poll conducted in September found that 44 percent of college students think Obama is doing a good job, while 27 percent disapprove of his performance. In May 2009, the approval number was 60 percent.

A nonscientific poll in Ask America found that of more than 70,000 responses, 82 percent think young voters are uninspired this midterm election.

Yahoo! user Lidi reflected that feeling, commenting, "The young people made this administration [happen], but they're too disillusioned to care now."

But another important voting bloc for Democrats, African-Americans, seemed the most engaged at the rally.

"The Democrats need to step their game up," Sardia Marley said. "They've been playing it safe, so to speak. If you want to win, you got to dig deep to stay ahead of the GOP. Republicans have now put a little whip on the Democrats. They were sleeping."

Another African-American voter, Charles Pulliam, 64, who lives in Pasadena, said the tea party had set a new level of enthusiasm and agreed that Democrats need to step it up.

"He's still in touch," he said of Obama. "We live in a now-now, me-me society. We lose patience. But he has the long-term vision. When you're out here, you see that he feels, and I feel what he says."

Ask America voters seem to disagree. Sixty-three percent of more than 100,000 responses to a question about Obama's public disconnect said he is out of touch.

After the rally, students trickled out of the central part of the campus, where the rally was held. Jon Rutledge, 19, and Mariam Agazaryan, 19, drove down from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in the morning to see Obama.

Agazaryan said the rally did not have the same "hope" feeling of 2008.

"It seemed too much like, 'We're down, we're trying,'" she said. "But I love the president. I'm still a supporter."

By Thomas Kelley

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Subdued Obama says suffered a voter "shellacking"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:45:00 +0000

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A chastened President Barack Obama on Wednesday pledged to seek compromise with Republicans who won big in congressional elections and admitted he had lost touch with voters who delivered a "shellacking" to him and his Democrats.

But on issue after issue, Obama gave little ground on his positions as the two sides gear up for negotiations over how to tackle the sluggish economy, the main reason the electorate has soured on his leadership.

At a White House news conference, Obama confessed to having suffered a long night on Tuesday as Republicans seized control of the House of Representatives and made gains in the Senate, handing him the biggest defeat of his career and threatening to block his agenda for the second half of his term.

"I feel bad," the subdued president said when asked to reflect on the drubbing his party took at the polls.

While stressing his commitment to seek common ground on issues like tax cuts and energy policy with Republican opponents he has battled for two years, Obama made clear there were some lines he would not cross on his main policy items.

"I'm not suggesting this will be easy," Obama said. "I won't pretend that we'll be able to bridge every difference or solve every disagreement."

Gone was the campaign rhetoric in which Obama skewered Republicans for wanting to take the country back to economic policies he believes have been discredited. Looking tired, Obama spoke in a quiet monotone, with an occasional smile.

Asked if he had lost touch with Americans, Obama said that "in the rush of activity sometimes we lose track of the ways that we connected with folks that got us here in the first place."

With his cerebral style and soaring oratory , Obama inspired voters' trust during the presidential campaign in 2008. But, in office, his "no-drama Obama" demeanor has sometimes come across as detached from people's economic pain.

UNDER PRESSURE

Obama said a readjustment in thinking in response to political setbacks is something every president must face. "Now I'm not recommending to every future president that they take a shellacking like I did last night," he said wryly. "I'm sure there are easier ways to learn these lessons."

Republicans picked up at least 60 House seats in the biggest shift in power since Democrats gained 75 House seats in 1948. The election outcome put pressure on Obama to make a mid-course correction as he seeks to reduce the 9.6 percent jobless rate and prepares to seek re-election in 2012.

Obama largely stuck to positions that he held before the elections. He said it is a top priority for Congress to extend expiring Bush-era tax cuts only for those making $250,000 or less. Republicans also want the tax cuts kept in place for wealthier Americans making above that amount as well.

Obama said he will sit down with congressional leaders in coming weeks to see how to move forward on extending tax cuts.

He said he did not believe the U.S. election result was a repudiation of his sweeping healthcare overhaul. But he signaled he was willing to work with Republicans on "tweaks." Republicans have vowed to repeal the healthcare law, something considered unlikely because of Obama's veto power.

"If the Republicans have ideas for how to improve our healthcare system, if they want to suggest modifications that would deliver faster, more effective reform ... I am happy to consider some of those ideas," Obama said.

Obama, whose former Illinois Senate seat went to a Republican, said he has made progress on the economy but believed "people are frustrated" by weak economic conditions.

"Clearly too many Americans haven't felt that progress yet, and they told us that yesterday. And, as president, I take responsibility for that," he said.

Obama said Americans are worried by spending and deficits, but the country should not cut funding for education or research while trying to bring the deficit down.

"In these budget discussions, the key is to be able to distinguish between stuff that isn't adding to our growth, isn't an investment in our future, and those things that are absolutely necessary for us to be able to increase job growth in the future as well, he said.

Obama acknowledged the need for what one questioner called a "reset" in his relations with U.S. business. Some corporate executives have accused his policies of being anti-business.

And Obama conceded that his chances of getting Congress to pass comprehensive climate change legislation, strongly opposed by Republicans, were "doubtful" for the rest of his term.

By Matt Spetalnick and Steve Holland, Associated Press Writer

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Obama: Consumers lose if financial law repealed

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 20:37:00 +0000

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President Barack Obama says consumers would lose if Republicans regain power in Congress and try to roll back his hard-won Wall Street overhaul.

He says the GOP's promised repeal of the law would mean the return of a financial system whose near-collapse led to the worst recession since the Depression.

"Without sound oversight and commonsense protections for consumers, the whole economy is put in jeopardy," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address. "That doesn't serve Main Street. That doesn't serve Wall Street. That doesn't serve anyone."

The law passed despite nearly unanimous Republican opposition. It sought to rein in a financial system that had sped ahead of outdated rules, allowing banks, traders and others to take increased risks.

Separate legislation tackled bank overdraft fees and abuses such as retroactive interest rate increases on credit card balances.

The financial overhaul law came in the wake of a $700 billion bank rescue passed in the final months of George W. Bush's presidency. While the bailout is credited with providing stability, it's deeply unpopular with voters angry of taxpayer money being used to help prop up huge banks.

Obama promised that the measure ensures that taxpayers will "never again be on the hook for a bailout."

Obama's address came less than two weeks before elections in which Republicans have a good chance of taking over the House, if not the Senate. The financial regulation measure hasn't been a central campaign issue.

House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio has called for a repeal, as have top Senate Republicans. But Obama still would stand in the way through his veto power.

In the GOP's weekly message, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota denounced Obama's economic stimulus bill, overhaul of the health care system and plans to allow Bush-era tax cuts for wealthier people to expire.

"We have learned the lessons not only of what hasn't worked over the past two years, but what didn't work the last time Republicans controlled Congress," Thune said. "We are determined to take this country in the right direction."Added Thune: "Are you better off today than you were two years ago?"

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer

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Obama: US a 'pushover' on trade with nations like China

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:50:00 +0000

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President Barack Obama said Thursday the United States had been a pushover on trade with developing nations like China and vowed to drive a tougher bargain for American products.

Obama, on a four-day swing through western states less than two weeks before congressional elections, argued that the global trading regime needed to be restructured so that it was more fair.

"When a lot of the trade rules were initially set up, I think we neglected to drive as tough of a bargain as we could have," Obama said, specifically mentioning China amid rising trade and currency tensions with Beijing.

Obama said that US trade negotiators had initially allowed China to base its economy on low wage or low skilled assembly line production which at the time was not a huge loss to the US economy.

But, he argued, at the latest of his nationwide series of "backyard" conversations with voters, that inevitably China had wanted to begin making more advanced products like computers and cars.

"They move up the value stream of the economy.

"If we have the same rules as we had where they are able to keep our products out but we are wide open to anything they want to send in then we are going to be at a huge disadvantage."

"I want to expand trade ... but I want to do so by driving a better bargain with our trading partners," Obama said.

"The truth of the matter is they probably expect it. They are probably trying to figure out why we have been such pushovers the last couple of decades anyway."

Obama has made repeated calls on China over its yuan exchange rate, which his administration contends is grossly undervalued to boost Chinese exports.

However, last week his administration delayed a controversial report on China's currency until after a key Group of 20 summit in Seoul in mid-November, averting for now a showdown between the two superpowers.

Beijing pledged in June to allow limited currency reform, since when the yuan has risen less than three percent against the dollar.

The US trade deficit with China ballooned to a new record in August, sharply widening the overall trade gap, according to official date released this month.

And in another side of rising tensions over US-China trade, the House of Representatives last month passed a bill allowing the government to impose countervailing duties on imports from nations found to be manipulating their currencies.

(AFP)

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Obama to meet Apple supremo Steve Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:49:00 +0000

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US President Barack Obama will meet Apple chief executive Steve Jobs in the San Francisco area on Thursday, to discuss technology's role in the economy, the White House said.

Obama, visiting California on a campaign swing ahead of mid-term elections on November 2, wanted to talk to Jobs about the "economy, innovation and technology education," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One that the meeting would last around 45 minutes, and that Obama last met Jobs on the presidential election campaign trail in 2008.

The meeting will take place a day after Jobs unveiled Apple's new MacBook Air notebook computer inspired by its winning iPad tablet devices.

Obama was also expected to attend a Democratic Party political fundraising event on Thursday hosted by Google executive Marissa Mayer.

(AFP)

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Obama seeks to boost Hispanic achievement

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:49:00 +0000

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President Barack Obama signed an executive order Tuesday intended to boost Hispanic education achievement, a priority for a key voting bloc two weeks ahead of critical midterm elections.

The measure is intended to widen the scope of a long-standing White House initiative on Latino education by increasing partnerships with the private sector and soliciting more input from the community. The objective is to focus on the educational challenges faced by the Hispanic community in order to increase enrollment and outcomes.

In a ceremony in the East Room, Obama noted that Latinos make up the largest minority group in the country's public schools, accounting for more than 1 in 5 students, but are likelier to attend low-performing schools and drop out.

"This is not just a Latino problem. This is an American problem. We've got to solve it," the president said. "Because if we allow these trends to continue, it won't just be one community that falls behind. We will all fall behind together."

Tuesday's announcement broke little new policy ground but allowed the White House to showcase an issue important to the Hispanic community ahead of midterm elections that will determine whether Democrats maintain control of Congress. Hispanic leaders and educators were invited, and were greeted by a mariachi band in the Grand Foyer outside the East Room.

Hispanics were 9 percent of all voters in 2008 — similar to the 8 percent they represented in 2006 and 2004 — and account for an even larger share of the electorate in several states where key Senate races are under way, including California and Nevada.

And, Hispanics put a higher premium on education than Americans overall do, according to an Associated Press-Univision Poll conducted earlier this year. Eighty-seven percent of Hispanics said a college education is extremely or very important, compared with 78 percent of the overall U.S. population.

(AP)

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GOP lawmaker looks to increase scrutiny of Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:49:00 +0000

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Anyone who's spent much time near parked cars has likely heard Rep. Darrell Issa's stern voice: "Protected by Viper. Stand back." After next month's election, Americans may be hearing a lot more from the millionaire congressman and car alarm inventor.

Already President Barack Obama's chief antagonist in Congress, Issa, R-Calif., would take over the main House investigating committee and control its probes of the White House and the federal bureaucracy if Republicans win back the House.

One liberal Democrat, Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, predicts that Issa (pronounced EYE'-suh) will use subpoena power as chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to conduct a "witch hunt in an effort to bring down the Obama administration."

Issa already is the bearer of daily anti-Obama sound bites on cable TV. Over a 10-day period in July, for example, his schedule showed 14 written statements and 11 television appearances.

The 56-year-old San Diego-area congressman is one of the wealthiest members of Congress. His annual financial report shows holdings worth a minimum of $161 million. He's probably worth more since only ranges of assets are listed.

He's also generous with his money. He asks staff members to identify their charities so he can contribute, and he raises money for military families at Camp Pendleton in his district and the local Boys and Girls Clubs.

Much of his wealth comes from inventing the Viper car security systems, which have sold more than 35 million units. When someone nears a Viper-equipped car or truck, it's still Issa's voice that warns them away before sounding six changing siren tones.

Issa is a computer expert with a hankering to fix breakdowns. His congressional staff won't tell him about technical troubles for fear he'll get too involved and blow through scheduled meetings.

His criticisms of Obama focus, in part, on the affordable mortgage program, financial bailout policies, preservation of White House records, correspondence with lobbyists and the president's political appointees to a stimulus panel.

A sign in his office, presented by his staff, says, "The corruption stops here."

Issa's in the habit of wielding whatever political power he can muster. In 2003, already in Congress, he spent nearly $2 million of his money on the successful recall of Democratic California Gov. Gray Davis. He vaulted over eight Republicans to become his party's senior member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"I still have a tendency to say, 'If not me, who? If not now, when?'" Issa said in an interview. "Do you seize opportunities when they come? Yes."

It's hard to imagine the tall, immaculately groomed conservative with his expensive suits, driving a hand-painted, Volkswagen bus-truck combo as a young man. Yet, there it is, with its peace signs as the background on Issa's office computer.

As a teenager of Lebanese descent, Issa grew up in a Jewish neighborhood near Cleveland delivering Kosher chickens for an orthodox rabbi who sold them as a business. The juice would leak into his station wagon. "I never closed the windows," he said.

Twice, in 1972 and eight years later, Issa and his brother were indicted on felony car theft charges. In each instance, the charges were dropped.

"We rode cars my brother 'borrowed,'" Issa said, making it clear who he thought was at fault. Ironically, one of Issa's first products in the car alarm business was a key pad that required a code to start the engine.

After leaving the Army in 1972, Issa pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for carrying a semiautomatic pistol and bullets. He was fined and got three months' probation.

He met his wife, Kathy, when she locked herself out of her apartment on a Sunday night. Issa, then a neighbor, climbed to her second-floor balcony and broke in.

"It's just been one adventure after the other ever since," she said.

The warehouse of his first business, in Cleveland, had a fire — destroying an inventory of bug zappers. "We were insured but devastated," Issa said. "But we were not down."

Opportunity beckoned when car thefts were soaring. The Issas started manufacturing their car alarms as a small business in Vista, Calif. They became multimillionaires before selling the business a decade ago.

Glenn Busse, senior vice president for sales at Issa's former company, Directed Electronics, said his old boss continues to come around, usually with a Diet Pepsi in his hand. Still a director of the company, Issa is constantly challenging ideas or pushing new directions for a product, Busse said.

"He's like a machine gun. 'What's going to happen with this? What about that?'" Busse said.

Dale Neugebauer, Issa's chief of staff since his election in 2000, recalls going to Issa's business office in 1998 when the congressman was in the midst of a losing campaign for the Senate.

"He was sitting there with a giant pile of boxes of counterfeit car alarms, counterfeits of his product," Neugebauer said. "He had a cordless drill, and he was opening each one to see where the parts were made."

Polished like few others in Congress, Issa knows how to deliver a sound bite on TV that gets right to the point. Every issue is an opportunity to react.

Any new administration comment about Obama's stimulus program, for example, triggers new Issa charges of wasteful spending.

Issa says he's only following the playbook of Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, a fellow Californian who made a name for himself as the hard-hitting senior minority member of the investigating committee and later its chairman during George W. Bush's presidency.

Waxman, who needled the Bush administration endlessly, cringes at suggestions that Issa is just like him.

"These are not the kinds of things I did in the minority or majority," Waxman said of Issa's badgering of Obama. "He's raised questions of presumed scandal which are all political."

Waxman said the subpoena power that Issa would inherit if he becomes chairman can easily be abused. "Subpoenas ought to be very, very rare," he said. "It's a backup."

Issa, unaware of Waxman's comments, made a similar point.

"This is not Dirty Harry," Issa said, referring to Clint Eastwood's movie cop who takes the law into his own hands. "You have to know your limits."

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer Larry Margasak, Associated Press Writer

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Fearing rout, Obama, Dems reach to female voters

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:49:00 +0000

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In a last-ditch effort to prevent electoral disaster, President Barack Obama and Democratic allies are vigorously wooing women voters, whose usually reliable support appears to have softened.

From blunt TV ads to friendlier backyard chats, they're straining to persuade women that it's the Democrats who are on their side and it's in women's vital interest to turn out and vote in the Nov. 2 elections that could give Republicans control of one or both houses of Congress.

In Seattle on Thursday, Obama told local women and others that "how well women do will help determine how well our families are doing as a whole." Accompanied by women who own businesses, he spoke in a family's backyard about the economy's effects on women and outlined ways he said his policies have helped them.

Later, trying to rekindle the enthusiasm of his presidential race, he all but ordered thousands of cheering supporters at a packed University of Washington arena to get out and vote, even though he's not on the ballot. Hoarsely shouting over the applause, he said, "If everybody that voted in 2008 shows up in 2010, we will win this election. We will win this election. But you've got to come out and vote."

Campaigning for one of the Democrats' female senators, Patty Murray, who is in a tight re-election fight, Obama attracted a bigger crowd than the 10,000 who could fit into the arena. The others moved to an overflow area set up in the university's football stadium, and the president ran through the stadium tunnel onto the field to greet them.

With the elections less than two weeks away and Democrats fearing big losses, candidates, party allies and others are joining Obama in seeking women's votes by hitting Republican opponents — in ads, mailings and speeches — on issues such as abortion rights. In every corner of the country, they are arguing that the GOP would erase progress American women have made under Democratic control of the White House and Congress.

The latest Associated Press-GfK poll underscores the Democrats' concern: Women long have leaned toward Democrats but, at a time of great economic unrest, those who are likely to vote now split fairly evenly between the two parties, 49 percent favoring Democrats, 45 percent Republicans. That's a significant drop from 2006 when Democrats had a double-digit edge. The current margin mirrors 1994, the year of a Republican wave that swept Congress.

Men usually break for Republicans, and they broadly favor the GOP this year, too.

Women could hold the key for Obama and his party as Democrats look to minimize expected widespread losses at all levels of government in a year when, particularly on the Republican side, female candidates top ballots in statewide races in Connecticut, South Carolina, California, New Hampshire, New Mexico and elsewhere.

Hope for the Democrats: A lot of women are undecided, and more than a third who are likely to vote say they could still change their minds before the election.

With that in mind, the White House, Democratic candidates and outside groups are reaching out to female voters.

Making it personal, Obama told the backyard group on Thursday he's determined to make sure that girls get as good an education as boys, particularly in math and science.

"As a father of two daughters, this is something that I spend a lot of time thinking about," he said.

He presented two women — Christina Lomasney, a physicist and president of a local metals company, and Jody Hall, who has five cupcake shops in the Seattle area — who praised the government for business help.

Besides the president, first lady Michelle Obama has campaigned on Democrats' behalf with a particular focus on women. She recently pleaded for their votes during a New York fundraiser that partly benefited the Women's Leadership Forum. She was flanked by Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill, and actress Sarah Jessica Parker of "Sex and the City."

Mrs. Obama reminded the crowd that her husband had named two women to the Supreme Court and that the first piece of legislation he signed as president was the Lilly Ledbetter Act to help women achieve equal pay.

Across the country, Democratic candidates and their allies are reaching out to women, mostly by casting their Republican opponents — some of them women as well — as out-of-step with their concerns.

The head of EMILY's List, Stephanie Schriock, recently warned voters in a speech that a Republican takeover of Congress — and Republican John Boehner as House speaker — would mean "a dangerous world." The organization, dedicated to electing women who favor abortion rights, had hundreds of female volunteers calling women in California urging them to vote for Sen. Barbara Boxer.

In Nevada, a new ad by the Service Employees International Union assails Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid's GOP challenger, saying Sharron Angle would force a rape victim who was impregnated to have the baby, and her ideas would hurt women's ability to get college loans, find jobs and have Social Security.

Elsewhere, Democrats have hammered Republican Ken Buck in Colorado's Senate race over claims of a woman who says Buck once refused to prosecute a case in which she said she had been raped. In Kentucky's Senate race, Democrat Jack Conway, trailing his GOP opponent in the polls, has an ad running that asks: "Why did Rand Paul once tie a woman up?" — a reference to an allegation of a college prank. And Washington Sen. Murray is assailing Republican Dino Rossi with an ad that accuses him of wanting to "turn back the clock" on abortion rights.

On Election Day a week from Tuesday, women could make the difference in a couple of dozen extraordinarily close congressional races scattered across the nation, and in a half dozen neck-and-neck Senate contests that could determine whether Republicans rise to power, among them Washington state, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Women also could affect governors' races from coast to coast, including the biggest prizes of the year in Ohio, California and Florida.

Top Democrats publicly shrug off the notion that women are fleeing the party, but the intense focus by the White House and candidates on this generally reliable constituency shows a concern.

"One of the issues that separates us from the Republican Party is our advocacy on these issues," said White House senior adviser David Axelrod. "There is a very strong case to be made for the advocacy that we've shown and for our belief that getting fair treatment for women, whether it's in the workplace, in the health care system, in obtaining capital in order to start or expand businesses."

To promote that position, Obama's National Economic Council released a report on "Jobs and Economic Security for America's Women" — detailing small-business loans, child care tax credits and other programs aimed at women — and top aide Valerie Jarrett made the rounds on morning talk shows to promote his policies.

"Strengthening opportunities for women in our economy is a key focus of the presidents economic agenda," Jarrett wrote the White House blog.

For Democrats, the challenge over the next days is great.

Women are less tuned into the election than men, with just 54 percent of women who are likely to vote saying they have a great deal of interest compared with 67 percent of men, according to the AP-GfK poll.

Still, nearly half of women say they want to see Democrats retain control of Congress, compared with 41 percent who would prefer the GOP. Men are the reverse.

Women likely to vote also are more apt than men to say they trust Democrats more than Republicans — or they trust the two parties the same — on most issues tested, including creating jobs.

And 54 percent of women likely to vote say they'd like to see their own House member re-elected. It's a good sign for Democrats in a Congress where they outnumber Republicans.

___

AP National Political Writer Liz Sidoti reported from Washington. AP Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

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Obama courts women voters on West Coast tour

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:47:00 +0000

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President Barack Obama will aim his economic message at women voters as he campaigns on the West Coast for two female candidates crucial to Democrats' chances of keeping their fragile majority in the Senate.

Obama will try to bolster incumbent Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Barbara Boxer of California with rallies and fund-raisers over the next two days.

Polls have shown an erosion in the slight leads held by the two Democratic candidates to razor-thin margins, with less than two weeks left before the November 2 congressional elections.

Obama is seeking to rev up core Democratic voters and targeting women, who vote Democratic in higher percentages than male voters, is part of that strategy.

"Our mission in the last two weeks is to get people energized and understanding that there are real stakes in this election and that it's important to participate," said senior White House adviser David Axelrod.

"There is a Democratic president and there is a Democratic Congress now and it's easy .... to be complacent," Axelrod said, adding that it is hard for supporters to "imagine the potential scenarios if the vote goes the other way."

Obama will hold a backyard discussion on women and the economy in Seattle on Thursday that will coincide with the release of a White House report analyzing the effects of the president's policies on women.

"Women and girls have been a focus of this administration from the very start. Economic issues are women's issues. Healthcare is a woman's issue," senior White House aide Valerie Jarrett told reporters.

The report from the White House National Economic Council showed women are a growing share of the U.S. workforce, making up nearly 50 percent of workers and were increasingly breadwinners for their families.

It said because of that, the recession has affected women more severely than other downturns but it also asserted that Obama's policies, like healthcare reform, were helping women.

"The best thing for the Democrats to do is probably focus on the economy and jobs and the class issue," said Lara Brown, professor of political science at Villanova University in Philadelphia. "They're probably better off attracting pretty much everyone in this electorate by focusing on how they are helping with jobs and the economy."

Wins by Republicans in the Washington state and California Senate races could spell disaster for Obama's Democrats. They are already forecast to lose their dominance in the House of Representatives and are focused on protecting their majority in the Senate.

Obama's popularity and that of his fellow Democrats has suffered amid discontent over the sluggish economy, 9.6 percent unemployment rate and $1.3 trillion U.S. budget deficit.

Obama accuses Republicans of having "amnesia" and has been reminding voters that the economic crisis began under his Republican predecessor, President George W. Bush.

At a rally in Portland, Oregon for Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber, Obama underscored his closing argument to voters -- a warning that Republican victories would put at risk his signature achievements, including healthcare and financial reform. Republicans have vowed to repeal those initiatives.

"We don't want them rolling back health reform so insurance companies can deny you coverage because you're sick," Obama told a rally of more than 8,000 people. "We don't want them rolling back Wall Street reform so now credit card companies can go back to hitting you with hidden fees."

After the Seattle event, Obama will travel to San Francisco and then attend a rally for Boxer in Los Angeles on Friday. He then heads to Nevada to campaign for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is in a virtual tie in polls with his Republican challenger, Sharron Angle.

Wrapping up his tour on Saturday in Minnesota, Obama will campaign for a gubernatorial candidate and raise money for House candidates in the state.

Republicans, who have 41 seats in the 100-member Senate, already hold commanding leads in races for Democratic seats in North Dakota, Arkansas and Indiana. That leaves them needing wins in seven of eight toss-up Senate races -- California, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois and West Virginia -- to regain Senate control.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Jeff Mason in Washington)

(Writing by Caren Bohan; Editing by Chris Wilson)

(Reuters)

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Jarrett: Obama still interested in bipartisanship

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:47:00 +0000

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One of President Barack Obama's top advisers says he's always been eager to reach out to Republicans for political accommodation and would be again if the GOP shows an interest in bipartisanship.

But senior adviser Valerie Jarrett says that first the White House wants to focus in the next 10 days on protecting Democratic control of Congress. She was interviewed on CBS's "The Early Show" a day after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told The Associated Press he hopes to work more closely with Obama next year on tax, trade and other economic policies.

Asked if Obama still had an interest in cooperating with the GOP given the political gridlock, Jarrett said, "He's not going to give up on that. He's going to keep trying, no matter who's in Congress."

Associated Press

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Obama to visit Pakistan in 2011: White House

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:47:00 +0000

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President Barack Obama will not visit Pakistan during his trip to Asia next month, but he is committed to a trip there in 2011, as well as welcoming Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington, the White House said on Wednesday.

Obama is traveling to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan next month.

Managing the complex U.S. relationship with Pakistan, including Islamabad's role in the U.S.-led Afghanistan war, is one of Washington's most difficult foreign policy challenges.

Despite a commitment of $7.5 billion in U.S. aid over five years and substantial U.S. aid after Pakistan's devastating floods, Pakistanis remain skeptical of U.S. intentions.

Some commentators had said it would be an insult if Obama failed to visit Pakistan while touring the country's arch-rival and neighbor, India.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Sandra Maler)(Reuters)

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Obama to bypass Pakistan on Asia trip next month

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:47:00 +0000

OBAMA FOR USA

President Barack Obama will bypass Pakistan when he visits India and east Asia next month, in the latest twist in America's tempestuous relationship with its vital ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda.

But the White House said the president had committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011 and added that he looked forward to welcoming Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to Washington, though no dates were specified.

Obama smoothly scotched speculation he would make a surprise visit to Islamabad on his trip, which begins in just over two weeks, in a meeting with a Pakistani delegation taking part in a strategic dialogue with US officials.

"The president explained that he would not be stopping in Pakistan during his trip to Asia next month, and committed to visiting Pakistan in 2011," a White House statement said.

Any trip to Pakistan by Obama would have been fraught with political sensitivity and security concerns, and may have been seen as a distraction from the symbolism of his three-day visit to Pakistan's arch-nuclear rival India.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was part of the Pakistani delegation, said Obama's statement was evidence of the high level of US-Pakistani ties.

"The fact that he has agreed to visit Pakistan next year, the fact that he has decided to invite the president of Pakistan to the United States of America, that is the level of engagement that is taking place," Qureshi said.

The United States and Pakistan have been going through another rocky patch in their tense, nine-year marriage of convenience, which emerged from the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

In a recent report to Congress, the White House said bluntly that though Pakistan had made sacrifices in the US anti-terror campaign, it could do more to crack down on extremist safe-havens in lawless tribal areas.

In the meeting with Pakistani delegates to the three-day US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, Obama said it was important to move the mutual relationship to a "true partnership based on mutual respect and common interests."

"The president and the Pakistani delegation agreed on the need for regional stability, and specifically on the importance of cooperating toward a peaceful and stable outcome in Afghanistan," the statement said.

Earlier, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates held a 30-minute meeting with powerful Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, about the aftermath of a cross-border NATO raid that severely strained relations.

Cooperation between military commanders had improved, "but this incident clearly indicates that there's more work to be done," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell, referring to the helicopter raid that left two Pakistani soldiers dead.

Obama also touched on the situation in Pakistan during his latest regular monthly meeting with his Afghanistan war cabinet.

The 90-minute session included a briefing on talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government and what a New York Times report said Wednesday were Taliban leaders at the "highest levels."

The meeting also covered the Afghan parliamentary elections last month, in which 1.3 million votes -- nearly a quarter of the total -- were thrown out on Wednesday over fraud concerns.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that Taliban leaders involved in the talks with the Afghan government were being offered safe passage by NATO troops from sanctuaries in Pakistan.

In one case, Taliban leaders crossed the border and boarded a NATO aircraft bound for Kabul, the paper said, though it added that most of the discussions had taken place outside the Afghan capital.

The White House has backed talks, though US officials insist Taliban fighters seeking reconciliation must renounce violence and lay down their arms.

US officials have also played down the potential for what are still described as "preliminary" contacts.

But the Times suggested that some officials hoped it might be possible to "split" the Taliban movement, and get large numbers of fighters to defect to the Afghan government.

The Taliban has denied a claim by Karzai that it is taking part in the talks, more than nine years after it was driven from power by a US-led invasion after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

During his visit to Asia in November, Obama is also due to make a twice-postponed visit to Indonesia and attend the APEC summit in Japan and G20 summit in South Korea.

by Stephen Collinson (AFP)

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Why US lawyers fight for law on gays Obama opposes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:47:00 +0000

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President Barack Obama opposes the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military, so why are Obama administration lawyers in court fighting to save it?

The answer is one that perhaps only a lawyer could love: There is a long tradition that the Justice Department defends laws adopted by Congress and signed by a president, regardless of whether the president in office likes them.

This practice cuts across party lines. And it has caused serious heartburn for more than one attorney general.

The tradition flows directly from the president's constitutional duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, says Paul Clement, who served four years in President George W. Bush's administration as solicitor general, the executive branch's top lawyer at the Supreme Court.

Otherwise, Clement says, the nation would be subjected to "the spectacle of the executive branch defending only laws it likes, with Congress intervening to defend others."

That is why solicitors general not only serve the president who nominated them but also have a special duty to Congress, "most notably, the vigorous defense of the statutes of this country against constitutional attack," Justice Elena Kagan testified to Congress in 2009 after Obama nominated her to be solicitor general. She joined the Supreme Court a year later.

On occasion, the Justice Department will even defend a law it knows is likely to be judged unconstitutional, said Seth Waxman, who served as President Bill Clinton's solicitor general.

Six federal judges had ruled against the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that made it a crime to make available to minors on the Internet material that was "indecent" or "patently offensive." Nevertheless, Waxman backed the law in an appeal to the Supreme Court. He lost there, but felt good about serving "our adversarial system of constitutional adjudication."

William French Smith, President Ronald Reagan's first attorney general, once said that defending congressional action that extended the ratification period for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment for women caused far and away his most uncomfortable moments in four years in office because of the irate calls he got from administration supporters — who staunchly opposed the ERA.

Obama's supporters have similarly criticized the administration for its legal efforts on behalf of "don't ask, don't tell," the law that bars gays from serving openly in the military, even after U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips in Riverside, Calif., ordered the military to immediately suspend and discontinue any investigation or other proceeding to dismiss gay service members under the law.

Indeed, Justice lawyers delayed their response to Phillips because the White House weighed in on the matter, according to a government official with knowledge of the situation. A couple of White House lawyers did not want to seek a court order that would temporarily suspend the judge's ruling, this person said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration's internal deliberations. Failing to challenge the ruling would have had the effect of ending the policy.

Obama says he supports repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" but only after careful review and an act of Congress.

Ultimately, the government did ask Phillips to suspend her ruling pending the government's appeal.

After Phillips refused, the administration asked the federal appeals court in San Francisco to freeze her ruling temporarily, which it did late Wednesday. Justice lawyers argued that while appeals were pending, abruptly ending "don't ask, don't tell" and immediately allowing openly gay service members could harm troop morale and unit cohesion when the military is fighting two wars.

On rare occasions, Justice officials conclude there is no reasonable argument that can be made in defense of a federal law.

Clement recalled two instances during his tenure. One posed free speech problems, because it sought to prevent recipients of federal transportation money from running ads favoring legalization of some drugs. The other was an obscure 1800s statute dealing with licensing of salvage operations.

When George H.W. Bush was president, he vetoed the Cable Television Act of 1992 in the belief that certain provisions were unconstitutional. The bill became law when Congress overrode Bush's veto.

Cable operators challenged the law in court, and Bush's Justice Department said it would not defend what the president had vetoed.

But then Clinton was elected. He reversed course and sent Justice lawyers into court on behalf of the law. The Supreme Court eventually upheld it.

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman, Associated Press Writer

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Obama's closing, familiar argument: Time to choose

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:45:00 +0000

OBAMA FOR USA

Closing out a perilous election season for Democrats, President Barack Obama's final argument sounds like this: Do you want to stick with progress or return to failure?

He's talking about control of Congress, not himself, but there is no escaping his imprint on this election.

With every echo of the spirited 2008 campaign, every mention of the unfinished work and every photo he takes with another candidate, Obama serves up another reminder that his own agenda is at stake on Nov. 2.

It is part of the tricky balance for the White House — deploying Obama to the right places to stir up enthusiasm and recruit first-time voters from two years ago, yet trying to keep people from viewing the election as a referendum on him and the battered economy.

Half of likely voters say how they vote on their House race won't be affected by Obama at all, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Yet almost as many said they will, in fact, base their House vote in part to send a message about Obama — 26 percent to oppose him, 23 percent to support him.

With Democratic control of the House, and possibly the Senate, in jeopardy after the Nov. 2 voting, the president is investing a lot of time to convince supporters that the midterm elections matter. As he put it at one fundraiser this month, "Unless we are able to maintain Democrats in the House and Senate, then we're going to be stalled for two years or four years, and we're going to start going backwards."

That is the message Obama has been pounding for weeks. Aides say he will stick with it throughout his final flurry of campaigning. He is referring to the fate of big items Congress already has passed, like health care and Wall Street reform, and promises not yet kept, including deficit reduction and immigration.

"We don't want them rolling back health reform, so insurance companies can deny you coverage because you're sick. We don't want them rolling back Wall Street reform, so now credit card companies can go back to hitting you with hidden fees and penalties," Obama said Wednesday night at a noisy indoor rally in Portland, Ore., for gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber. "We have tried that before and we're not going back."

Obama is in the midst of his longest campaign swing as president, a four-day trip through Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada and Minnesota. The audience in Portland, estimated at 8,000 people, leapt to its feet and erupted into cheers as Obama bounded onto the stage. That was a fraction of the 75,000 people who flocked to a riverfront rally in the city during his 2008 presidential campaign, but still more than the 5,000 people rally organizers had hoped would attend.

Obama's agenda Thursday includes an economic discussion geared toward women, a critical political constituency. And in a series of interviews and town halls of late, the president also has reached out to blacks, Hispanics and young adults to hammer home his message that the country is moving ahead despite weak economic times.

Democrats are expected to lose a significant number of seats in the House; Republicans need to gain 40 to regain control of the chamber they lost in the middle of George W. Bush's final term. In the Senate, Republicans are also likely to pick up seats, though probably not enough to win a majority.

Less than two weeks from the election, the question appears to be whether Republicans will enjoy a wave election, in which virtually all the close races tip their way and tilt power in Washington, or more moderate gains. Obama's aides profess confidence that Democrats will retain power but know all the factors working against them: near-10 percent unemployment, a history of midterm losses for the party of the president in power and public frustration with the slow economic recovery.

Obama's main roles are to raise money for the party, draw votes and media coverage for candidates in tight races, entice volunteers to knock on doors for scores of lesser-known candidates and try to shape the national election debate. He is intent on drawing a contrast between Democratic and Republican leadership of the country and will repeat it everywhere he goes, based on the assumption that it will be fresh to voters in Minnesota even if he just said it in Maryland.

His 2008 presidential campaign manager, David Plouffe, said Obama may well not be able to change the dynamic of a race in which a candidate is trailing by 8 to 10 points, but he could be a key factor if the margin is 51-49.

"The central actors in the election are the candidates themselves," Plouffe said. "It's how they handle the last two weeks that's most important."

Obama, though, is at the center of reminding voters that this election and the issues it will shape are an extension of his own win in 2008.

"I know that there are times where probably it's hard to recapture that sense of possibility," Obama said in Ohio this week. "It's hard sometimes to say, 'Yes, we can.' You start thinking, 'Well, maybe, I don't know.' It's not as inspiring a slogan. But I said during the campaign, this has never been easy."

By BEN FELLER and DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writers

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Obama heading out on 5-state, 4-day campaign swing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:30:00 +0000

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President Barack Obama is heading west on a five-state, four-day campaign swing, his longest of the season.

He'll be raising money and rallying voters in Washington state, California and Nevada for Democratic Sens. Patty Murray, Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid.

Obama will also stump for gubernatorial candidates in Oregon, California and Minnesota ahead of the Nov. 2 elections.

Obama has campaigned with each of the three senators — more than once in some cases. But he is making return visits because he needs a Democratic majority in the Senate to help get his agenda through Congress during the next two years.

The president departs Wednesday and is scheduled to return Saturday night.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer

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Obama seeks to boost Hispanic achievement

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:30:00 +0000

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Obamas have teacher conferences on Malia, Sasha

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:29:00 +0000

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President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, are attending parent-teacher conferences for both of their daughters.

The Obamas left the White House in a motorcade Tuesday morning and rode to the private elementary school in suburban Maryland where 9-year-old Sasha is a student. From there, it was off to check on 12-year-old Malia, who is in middle school.

Both Obama daughters go to the exclusive Sidwell Friends School, although their age difference means they attend different campuses.

(AP)

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CAPITAL CULTURE: Obama aide a constant amid change

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:29:00 +0000

OBAMA FOR USA

In a no-drama White House on the brink of big changes, there will remain a constant — Valerie Jarrett, longtime friend and trusted adviser to President Barack Obama.

While others in Obama's inner circle will leave the White House this year or shift to new responsibilities, Jarrett says she already has the job she wants: senior adviser to the president, White House liaison to outside groups and perhaps the only person left in Washington short of the president himself whose belief in the promise of hope and change remains unshaken.

Obama's detractors may dismiss his "Yes We Can" mantra as showing a naivete about the ways of Washington. Even many of his supporters now show symptoms of hope-and-change fatigue.

But Jarrett, a successful businesswoman who cut her political teeth in Chicago's city hall, can hardly be described as naive. As White House emissary to cities, states and minority groups, she hears the frustrations of Americans more directly than any other senior staffer.

Jarrett is the only woman within the president's tightest cadre of trusted advisers. And having formed a deep bond with the president and first lady Michelle Obama over nearly two decades, she might be the only one in the room who knows what the president is really thinking.

Jarrett's critics have dismissed her standing in the White House as simply an extension of that friendship, painting her as more of a confidant and less of a substantive policy adviser. It's an assumption her supporters say is oversimplified at best and insulting at worst.

"The president trusts her," said former White House communications director Anita Dunn. "But he also trusts her to get the job done."

Jarrett's turf extends to a vast array of issues and her responsibilities are far-reaching. She is the go-to person in the White House for state and local officials, the business community, women and minority groups, and her job is to represent these varied interests to the president.

Outreach is often symbolic, meaning success and failure can't always be easily measured — at least not in the short term. But Jarrett, 53, has been at the center of some of the administration's most sensitive engagement efforts.

When business leaders accused the president of being anti-business in the midst of the economic crisis, it was Jarrett, a former CEO of a real estate development firm and Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Stock Exchange, who invited small groups of executives in for a series of informal lunches to ease the tension.

Obama asked Jarrett to reach out to another critical audience earlier this month and speak to gay and lesbian advocates, who have criticized Obama for being too slow to fulfill his promises. Amid a spate of recent suicides among gay and lesbian youth, Jarrett assured the community that they had supporters in the White House.

And during the height of the Gulf oil spill, Obama tasked Jarrett with being the White House liaison to the Gulf Coast governors — all Republicans, plus Florida's Charlie Crist, a Republican-turned-independent. Jarrett approached the assignment with her trademark style — understated, empathetic and organized — holding morning conference calls with the governors every day for three months, and traveling frequently to the region.

Her work won her the rarest of victories in the current political climate: praise from Republicans.

"She is probably the most effective person I've ever had the opportunity to work with in a White House," Alabama's Republican Gov. Bob Riley said.

Riley said he may disagree on politics with Jarrett. But he recognized that she put in the time to fully understand the needs of the region, and take its concerns to the president

Jarrett speaks with a soft but precise voice, but is highly protective of her public image. She declined to be interviewed for this article.

When she speaks publicly, she often focuses on her admiration for the president's agenda and of what a "luxury" it is for her to contribute. She's also regularly seen, if not heard, standing at the president's side when the cameras are rolling.

Those close to Jarrett say the president's trust in her is built into their shared vision of hope and change to increase the diversity of voices within the government, and the voices that the government listens to when shaping policy.

Behind Jarrett's wonky title — assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement — is a portfolio tailored to that mission. Her focus is policy, not politics, a mandate formalized by the decision to separate her offices from the political affairs unit, where they were under previous administrations.

Like Obama, Jarrett brings a unique background to the White House. She was born in Shiraz, Iran, where her American parents lived while her father helped start a hospital as part of a program that sent U.S. doctors to developing countries. Jarrett also spent part of her childhood in London before her family moved to Chicago.

Jarrett first met the Obamas in 1991, when she wanted to hire a young lawyer to join Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's administration. But first the candidate, then named Michelle Robinson, wanted Jarrett to meet her fiance, Barack Obama.

After the three met for dinner, Jarrett hired the future first lady and quickly assumed the role of mentor to the Obamas, advising them on their careers and introducing them to many of the Chicago political and social elite that would go on to play a role in the presidential campaign.

The understanding that Jarrett, perhaps more than anyone else in the White House besides the first lady, has the president's ear has drawn praise and raised questions.

"People certainly know that she's close to the president and it reassures them that they're talking to somebody who is the president's eyes and ears," said Cecilia Munoz, who serves under Jarrett as the director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Yet friends say she's sensitive to criticism that her deep loyalty to Obama would keep her from giving him unvarnished advise or lead her to block out those who would. She goes to great lengths to avoid any appearance that she's using their friendship to overstep her bounds as an adviser.

"We work very hard to compartmentalize," Jarrett said during a recent appearance on ABC's "The View." Jarrett said she calls Obama "Mr. President" during the workday, but "when we're out of the office and we're just having dinner or something, then I talk his ear off and I'm just Valerie Jarrett."

Colleagues say Jarrett is intent on ensuring that there are many voices speaking to president, including White House staffers outside his inner circle. It's not uncommon for her to ask junior staffers to present their memos to the president directly rather than through her. And she's taken a particular interest in White House women, holding monthly dinners to discuss their concerns and urging the president to appoint more women to senior positions.

Underlying her approach, those close to Jarrett say, is a level of confidence — in the president and in herself — that allows her to feel comfortable opening doors for others, while being unconcerned about her own next step. When her name was raised as a possible replacement for former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, it was Jarrett who took her name off the list.

"I would like to just do what I'm doing," she said.
By JULIE PACE, Associated Press Writer

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CAPITAL CULTURE: Obama aide a constant amid change

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:29:00 +0000

OBAMA FOR USA

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Michelle Obama rallies Democrats in Conn., NY

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:29:00 +0000

OBAMA FOR USA

First lady Michelle Obama is campaigning for Democrats in Connecticut and New York.

She's starting out Monday in Stamford, Conn., headlining a fundraiser and rally for Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal. He's the state attorney general and is in a tight race with Republican Linda McMahon to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd.

The first lady later will join Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill, at fundraisers in Manhattan that are expected to pull in $1 million for the Democratic National Committee. One event is a concert hosted by actress Sarah Jessica Parker with entertainment by singer Patti LaBelle.

Obama has made several campaign appearances in recent days as Democrats brace for expected deep losses in next month's midterm elections.

(AP)

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Michelle Obama rallies Democrats in Conn., NY

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:29:00 +0000

OBAMA FOR USA

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Barack Obama 'will not visit Golden Temple over Muslim photo fears'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:27:00 +0000

OBAMA FOR USA

Barack Obama has reportedly abandoned plans to visit Amritsar's Golden Temple during his visit next month to India over fears photographs of him with his head covered would revive false claims that he is a Muslim.

Members of Mr Obama's White House team reportedly visited India last month and told Indian officials they were concerned that if the president wore the traditional headscarf during a visit to the Golden Temple, the photographs might be used to portray him as a Muslim, according to the New Delhi-based Indian Express.

Members of Mr Obama's White House team reportedly visited India last month and told Indian officials they were concerned that if the president wore the traditional headscarf during a visit to the Golden Temple, the photographs might be used to portray him as a Muslim, according to the New Delhi-based Indian Express.

Mr Obama, whose father was a non-observant Muslim, has been dogged by rumours regarding his faith since his battle for the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton in 2008. He has highlighted the fact that his middle name is Hussein at times to boost his credibility abroad since becoming president.

In August, a poll conducted by Time magazine found that almost one in four Americans thought he was a follower of Islam. The results came days after he waded into the dispute over controversial plans to build a mosque near the site of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.

Temple sources said on Tuesday three teams of officials from the US embassy in New Delhi had visited them in the last six weeks but they were unaware there was any concern over wearing a headscarf.

According to the Express, one American official had told his Indian counterparts that Mr Obama had to remind the United States "each day that he should not be mistaken for Muslim just because his middle name is Hussein."

A compromise was reportedly explored in which the president might wear a "modified baseball cap" but it is unclear whether this would have been acceptable to Sikh traditionalists.

The temple's head priest Giani Gurbachan Singh was quoted saying a baseball cap would not be allowed, but Dalmir Singh, secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee, the Sikh governing body, said the president could wear anything to cover his head.

"Whatever he wishes to wear, he can. Our concern is to make sure he does. We don't have problem even if he wears a baseball cap or Muslim skull cap. We are all set to welcome him. It will a great honour. If the visit is cancelled just because of American politics, its will be disheartening," he said.

But according to Indian officials, plans to visit Amritsar have been abandoned because of "logistical" problems.

A spokesman for the American Embassy in New Delhi said no plans to visit Amritsar had ever been announced and there would be no comment on whether wearing a headscarf had been a consideration. "We are not in a position to say whether there was a discussion about it," she said.

Mr Obama last month spoke at length about his faith during a visit to New Mexico when he was asked why he was a Christian. The president said he had chosen Christianity as an adult because "the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead – being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me," Mr Obama said, adding that his public service is "part of that effort to express my Christian faith."

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi (telegraph)

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Barack Obama George W. Bush Conflicting Christian Visions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:39:00 +0000

OBAMA FOR USA

A while back I wrote a nasty quadpome about George W. Bush. I have been writing steadily for almost three years about Barack Obama. But I just put one and one together today. George W. Bush and
Barack Obama can be understood as two sides of the same faith. And oddly enough this may explain more about George W. Bush than Barack Obama.

Here's how it goes. I cast George W. Bush as a quasi-evangelical, 12-step inclined, knee-jerkishly fundamentalist Christian. Hold that thought. I cast Barack Obama as what he says he was and is, more the follower of a way that he derives from the words and teachings of Jesus than the sort who would really be moved, as W might, by a praise song or by the testimony of a true-believing Jesus-saves Christian.

With George W. Bush you need to add in the preppy privilege Andover Yale thing, which more or less got modified when life dealt him the blow of alcoholism. It left him with an easy manner and utterly no embarrassment at all about this or that gaffe. We preppies can make all the gaffes we want, thank you.

With Barack Obama you need to add in a formidable back story that he has already told, from which I would take both the emptiness of an undefined identity and the almost nihilistic clarity he possesses when it comes to intuiting the possibilities that actually exist. It is for such reasons that Barack Obama can be seem as a betrayer to progressives about half or more of the time.

Now the meat of the argument.

When George W. Bush ascended with remarkable ease to the throne of grace, he was just fine thank you. Confident in his self-control. Pleasantly arrogant toward those around him. My snapshot is George W. Bush listening to Bill Frist advocate for African AIDS aid in Air Force One and, with his presidential feet up, asking "Billy Boy" how many votes that would get him. But oddly, when it came to political realism. this sort of cheap bravado was just that -- cheap.(by:
Stephen C. Rose, associatedcontent)

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