Blogs > September 2010: Obama Presidency & Midterm Campaigns Roundup

Sep 26, 2010

September 2010: Obama Presidency & Midterm Campaigns Roundup



President Obama and his economic team, White House Photo, Pete Souza, 9/15/10

OBAMA PRESIDENCY & 111TH CONGRESS:

IN FOCUS: STATS

  • A Pledge to America: The Fall 2010 Agenda
  • Fox News Poll: Voters Use Midterm Elections to Send Message to White House: With the balance of power in Congress at stake, many voters plan to register dissatisfaction with a Democratic- controlled White House – making the midterm elections a referendum on President Obama.
    A Fox News poll released Thursday finds that 41 percent will use their vote this year to express opposition to Obama's policies, compared to 34 percent who describe their vote as expressing support. The message is even clearer among the swing group of independent voters: by an 11 percentage-point margin, independents will cast their ballot to express opposition (41 percent) rather than support (30 percent) for Obama.
    That's not surprising given the lack of support for some of the administration's policies. More voters favor rather than oppose repealing the new health care law (46-42 percent). That includes 24 percent of Democrats and 44 percent of independents who want the law repealed.
    And by a wide 54-36 percent margin, voters favor legislation stopping the government from spending the hundreds of billions of dollars of unspent stimulus money.
    While 57 percent say the Tea Party will not be a factor in their vote for Congress, fully 70 percent of voters support the"main issues the Tea Party has raised" -- calling for lower taxes, less government spending and less government regulation. That includes 49 percent of Democrats.
    Those who will use their vote to make a statement on the Tea Party are more likely to cast their ballot as an expression of support for the movement rather than opposition (21-13 percent). It’s important to note the new poll finds just 13 percent consider themselves"part of" the Tea Party movement.
    Almost all voters -- 86 percent -- say it feels like the country is still in a recession.... - Fox News, 9-30-10
  • Factbox: Senate poll averages by Real Clear Politics: Republicans must sweep nearly all the competitive races to pick up the 10 seats needed for a majority in the Senate, where Democrats now hold a 59-41 edge.
    The polls show Republicans leading in races that could give them a net gain of eight seats, which would leave Democrats with a 51-49 edge. Republicans are close in several other races.... - Reuters, 9-28-10
  • Poll: Majority may vote against Obama in 2012: A new national poll suggests that a majority of Americans are considering voting against President Barack Obama in 2012, but the survey indicates Obama would come out on top if Sarah Palin is the Republican presidential nominee.
    According to Politico/George Washington University Battleground poll, 38 percent of those questioned say Obama deserves reelection as president, with 44 percent saying they will vote to replace Obama, 13 percent saying they will consider voting for someone else, and six percent unsure.
    The results of the survey are similar to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey conducted early last month, in which 45 percent of registered voters said they would back Obama for re-election with 50 percent saying they would back the Republican presidential nominee.
    According to the Politico poll, if the 2012 presidential election were held today and Palin was the GOP nominee, 42 percent say they would definitely, probably, or maybe vote for the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, with 51 percent saying they would definitely, probably or maybe vote for Obama. Eight percent are undecided.... - CNN, 9-27-10
  • Poll: Democrats Brown, Boxer hold narrow leads: The Los Angeles Times-University of Southern California poll released Saturday shows Brown with support from 46 percent of likely voters, compared with 41 percent support for Republican Meg Whitman. Brown also fares well among Hispanics.
    Boxer is favored by 48 percent of likely voters, while 40 percent support Republican challenger Carly Fiorina.... - AP, 9-26-10
  • Poll: Rubio's lead over Crist grows; Meek gains ground: With a little over a month remaining before the Nov. 2 election, the three-way race for U.S. Senate is turning into a two-man race -- for second place. A statewide poll released Saturday night shows Republican Marco Rubio building on his lead over independent challenger Charlie Crist, while Democrat Kendrick Meek appears to be closing in on Crist in the closely-watched contest.
    Rubio is favored by 40 percent of likely voters, up from 38 percent last month; Crist's support has dwindled to 28 percent from 33 percent, according to the Mason-Dixon Research & Associates survey of 625 likely Florida voters. The margin of error: plus/minus four percentage points. The poll found that Meek is gaining on Crist, with his support rising sharply to 23 percent of likely voters, up from 18 percent. Nine percent are undecided Miami Herald, 9-25-10
  • AP-GfK Poll: Dems disliked, but so is GOP: In an Associated Press-GfK Poll this month, 60 percent disapprove of the job congressional Democrats are doing — yet 68 percent frown on how Republicans are performing. While 59 percent are unhappy with how Democrats are handling the economy, 64 percent are upset by the GOP's work on the country's top issue. Just over half have unfavorable views of each party.
    Most say President Barack Obama isn't cooperating enough on the economy, yet even more accuse Republicans of the same thing. Former President George W. Bush and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — the only two Republicans the AP-GfK Poll tested — are both viewed negatively by more than half in the survey, worse than Obama's marks. And people overwhelmingly fault Bush more than Obama for the recession.... - AP, 9-24-10
  • Dems keep wide lead over GOP in voter registration: Democrats continue to hold a wide registration lead of nearly 2.3 million voters over Republicans in California, despite aggressive efforts by the GOP to close the gap. A report released Friday by the secretary of state's office showed the electorate holding roughly steady since the June primary, with 44.3 percent registered as Democrats, 30.9 percent as Republicans, and nearly 20.2 percent declining to state a party preference.... - AP, 9-17-10

THE HEADLINES....

  • Emanuel’s Departure Set; Rouse to Replace Him: President Obama will give his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, a send-off Friday as Mr. Emanuel officially announces his departure from the West Wing to run for mayor of Chicago, officials familiar with the decision said. The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, at his daily briefing on Thursday afternoon said that the president will give two personnel announcements on Friday morning from the East Room of the White House. Mr. Gibbs, admitting that he was being purposely “oblique,” would not confirm whether the announcements would concern Mr. Emanuel.
    The two officials, who declined to be named in advance of the official announcement, confirmed that Mr. Obama plans to name Pete Rouse, a senior adviser, to replace Mr. Emanuel. Mr. Rouse has been at the president’s side since Mr. Obama arrived in Washington nearly six years ago as a senator, serving as his chief of staff. NYT, 9-30-10
  • Jimmy Carter leaves Ohio hospital after 2-day stay: Former President Jimmy Carter has left an Ohio hospital on Thursday where he spent two days recovering from a viral infection doctors say likely gave him stomach problems. Carter waved to the cameras as he walked out of the emergency room and again from a vehicle as the motorcade passed the media.... - AP, 9-30-10
  • U.S. Works to Persuade Israel to Renew Settlement Freeze: Efforts to salvage Middle East peace talks were at full throttle on Thursday as American officials sought to persuade Israel to renew a West Bank settlement freeze with military hardware and diplomatic guarantees while urging the Palestinians to accept a partial end to Israeli building there through a separate set of inducements. So far, no formula had been found... - NYT, 9-30-10
  • House Passes 9/11 Health Care Bill: The House on Wednesday approved legislation to provide billions of dollars for medical treatment to rescue workers and residents of New York City who suffered illnesses from breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke at ground zero. The vote was 268 to 160, with 17 Republicans joining Democrats in support of the bill. Opposing the measure were 157 Republicans and three Democrats. Republicans raised concerns about the $7.4 billion cost of the program. The bill’s fate is unclear in the Senate. Republicans have enough votes to filibuster the measure, and Senate Democrats have not shown great interest in bringing the measure to the floor.... - NYT, 9-29-10
  • Jimmy Carter recovering from likely viral infection, doctors say: Former President Jimmy Carter, spending a second night at a Cleveland, Ohio, hospital, is recovering from a likely viral infection, according to a joint statement Wednesday from the hospital and the Carter Center. Carter, who suffered stomach distress Tuesday during a flight to Cleveland, was in"very good spirits" and will remain under doctors' observation at MetroHealth Medical Center, the statement said."His medical team ... has determined that the likely cause was a viral infection that is now clearing up," the statement said."President Carter thanks all those who have expressed concern and sent greetings to him."... - CNN, 9-29-10
  • Obama to headline rally for Maryland Gov. O'Malley: This will be the president's first campaign event for a fellow Democrat since January.... - LAT, 9-29-10
  • In Obama's backyard visits, GOP is the absent foe: A priest expressed concern to President Barack Obama about an unemployed parishioner. A businessman criticized Obama's tax policy. A woman said her son and his friends, once inspired by Obama,"are losing their hope." Obama addressed all those concerns, and more, during his two-day, four-state tour that ended Wednesday in Richmond. In the middle, he drew raucous cheers at a college rally in Wisconsin.
    "I know times are tough," he told thousands of students at the University of Wisconsin on Tuesday. In 2008, he said,"the feeling was, well, this is just exciting. You got those nice 'Hope' posters.""Sometimes it feels a long way from the hope and excitement that we felt on Election Day," he said, but young voters' involvement" can't end with the vote that you cast in 2008."... - AP, 9-29-10
  • Lawmakers Head for Exits After Prolific Session, Democrats Ready Final Push to Explain Record to Voters: House Minority Leader John Boehner, right, flanked by Minority Whip Eric Cantor, left, and GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence on Capitol Hill Wednesday. Congress's expected adjournment this week will leave many major issues unresolved, including the fate of expiring Bush-era tax cuts. Congress is adjourning early for the campaign home stretch, with Democrats on the defensive even as they end one of the most prolific legislative sessions in decades. Skittish Democratic lawmakers have been eager to leave Washington and address voters in an 11th-hour effort to explain—or distance themselves from—their party's legislative record. Congress's adjournment, expected late Wednesday or Thursday, will leave many major issues unresolved, including the fate of tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush, which expire at the end of this year. That unfinished business will likely fall to a lame-duck session in November, which is also expected to address legislation to repeal the"don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibiting gays from serving openly in the military and appropriations for the coming year. Also awaiting Senate action is the Start arms-reduction treaty with Russia.... - WSJ, 9-29-10
  • Rahm Emanuel: If he exits, an opportunity for Obama: Rahm Emanuel has played bad cop to the president’s good cop. Now, if Rahm Emanuel resigns, Obama could name a new right-hand man (or woman) to help him navigate the post-midterm reality.... - CS Monitor, 9-29-10
  • Emanuel White House departure for mayor's race likely to come Friday: Rahm Emanuel likely will announce Friday that he is leaving his job as White House chief of staff to"explore" a run for mayor, sources said today.
    The White House is considering the possibility of announcing Emanuel's decision to leave in the Rose Garden. The possible venue would appear to suggest that President Barack Obama will announce Emanuel's departure personally, but those familiar with the discussions haven't yet confirmed a participants list. Emanuel is expected to be back in Chicago next week to continue setting up a bid to succeed Mayor Richard Daley, who is not seeking re-election. He'll go on a"listening tour" to hear what Chicago residents are concerned about, a source close to Emanuel said.
    An official announcement of Emanuel's candidacy wouldn't come until later, the source said. That's a typical move for politicians looking to maximize news coverage of their campaigns. It's not uncommon for high-profile candidates to dribble out news of their impending candidacies, make a formal announcement and then hold a campaign kickoff rally, all to attract more attention to their campaigns.... - Chicago Tribune, 9-29-10
  • Apathy could hurt Democrats, Obama says: President Obama delivered an impassioned argument to young voters Tuesday night, declaring that the changes he promised in 2008 are underway and that"now is not the time to give up." Trying to recapture the enthusiasm that catapulted him into office, Obama returned to the proven format of a large college campus to launch a pre-election push for fellow Democrats. Speaking to what was once one of his most fervent fan bases - students - he unleashed a string of dire warnings about Republican control, arguing that his opponents are banking on Democratic indifference to return to power."The biggest mistake we could make is to let disappointment or frustration lead to apathy . . . that is how the other side wins," Obama said."If the other side does win, they will spend the next two years fighting for the very same policies that led to this recession in the first place."... - WaPo, 9-29-10
  • Obama's rescue mission in Madison: When President Obama steps onto the stage Tuesday evening at the University of Wisconsin, it will be back to the future. But for how long? The Madison rally likely will be a feel-good moment for Obama and those around him, a reminder of the glory days of 2008, when he drew 20,000 or 50,000 or 100,000 people in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign. But will Madison be remembered as the beginning of a Democratic rebound that could save the House and Senate from falling into Republican hands on Nov. 2 or just a fleeting moment of good music and stirring rhetoric in a bleak year for the White House?... - WaPo, 9-28-10
  • Obama cautious of D.C. public schools, but they worked for my kids: Could Obama's children get as good an education in D.C. public schools as they’re getting at pricey Sidwell Friends? Here's a look at that question through the experience of one family.... - CS Monitor, 9-28-10
  • Obama Returns to College Campus in Election Appeal to Students: President Barack Obama urged thousands of college students at a campaign-style rally last night to “stay fired up” and help Democrats hold back a Republican surge in November’s congressional elections. Obama returned to the University of Wisconsin in Madison seeking to energize a voting base that he used to help propel his campaign for president and direct it toward the party’s candidates for the House and Senate. “We need you to stay fired up,” Obama said at the event, which was broadcast to more than 200 other campuses. “We face another test and the stakes could not be higher.”... - Bloomberg, 9-28-10
  • Obama To Attempt To Dismantle GOP's 'Pledge To America': President Barack Obama will use stops in several states across the U.S. this week to attempt to dismantle plank-by- plank the Republican party's"Pledge To America" governing platform. His trip is part of an overall push to revive voters ahead of tough midterm elections and characterize the GOP as unable to tackle the economy, an issue that has dogged his presidency and Democrats for months.... - WSJ, 9-27-10
  • Obama and Biden to student-age voters: Help!: 'You can't sit it out,' President Obama told student journalists on Monday, speaking of the midterm election. He and Vice President Biden will visit college campuses Tuesday to rally student voters.
    Obama reached out to college journalists Monday, reminding them of the youth-oriented reforms he has implemented – such as taking student loans out of the private sector and allowing young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance until age 26 – and urging them to keep faith in the political process.
    "I want to send a message to young people across the country about how important this election is,” Obama said on a conference call with student journalists. The president acknowledged that the democratic process isn’t always “fun and games,” and referred to the highly partisan battles that have marked his tenure in office. “During that time, naturally, some of the excitement and enthusiasm started to drain away because people felt like, gosh, all we’re reading about are constant arguments in Washington and things haven’t changed as much as we would like as quickly as we’d like – even though the health-care bill got passed, and financial regulatory bill got passed, and we’ve brought an end to our combat mission in Iraq," Obama said."But still it seems as if a lot of the old politics is still operating in Washington.""Change is always hard in this country," he told the students, seeming to preview Tuesday’s pep rally – or perhaps even going back to his days as a community organizer, when it could be hard to convince people that if they worked together, they could make a difference.... - CS Monitor, 9-27-10
  • Prosecutor in Ted Stevens case commits suicide: A Justice Department prosecutor killed himself while under investigation over whether he and other attorneys in the prosecution of Sen. Ted Stevens acted improperly in the case, officials said. Nicholas A. Marsh, 37, committed suicide on Sunday, two years after being part of the Justice Department team that convicted Stevens on corruption charges that were eventually thrown out. Marsh's suicide was confirmed by his lawyer, Robert Luskin.
    "I think Nick loved being a prosecutor and I think he was incredibly fearful that this would prevent him from continuing to work for the Justice Department," Luskin said Monday."It's incredibly tragic after all this time when we were on the verge of a successful resolution.".... - AP, 9-27-10
  • Report: Significant cheating by FBI agents on exam: A Justice Department investigation has found that FBI agents, including several supervisors, cheated on an important test covering the bureau's policies for conducting surveillance on Americans. Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine said Monday that his limited review of allegations that agents improperly took the open-book test together or had access to an answer sheet has turned up"significant abuses and cheating." Fine called on the bureau to discipline the agents, throw out the results and come up with a new test to see if FBI agents understand new rules allowing them to conduct surveillance and open files on Americans without evidence of criminal wrongdoing..... - AP, 9-27-10
  • The Democratic Tax Retreat The economic policies of the last four years are being repudiated: Listen closely to the political debate in Washington these days, and you can hear the rumble of shifting tectonic plates. The economic policies that have dominated for the last four years are slowly being repudiated, and a new paradigm is struggling to emerge—or, more accurately, re-emerge. That's the larger political meaning of the decision this week by House and Senate Democratic leaders to abandon a vote on the Bush-era tax rates before Election Day. Only a week ago, President Obama and his media supporters were asserting that they had Republicans caught in their class-war pincers: They'd lure the GOP into opposing an extension of lower tax rates for the middle class in order to defend lower tax rates for those making more than $200,000 a year. In the event, the Democrats have cut and run, lest they get blamed for voting for a tax increase in a slow-growth economy. This is how legislative majorities behave when they've lost the political argument and can sense their days are numbered. They lose their ideological nerve and try to save their own individual careers.... - WSJ, 9-27-10
  • Shaky Start on Mideast Peace Talks Is Latest Complication for Obama's Foreign Policy Agenda: Three weeks after President Obama heralded the re-launch of Middle East peace talks, the administration is scrambling to keep negotiations from falling apart. The roadblock — in this case Israel’s decision to resume settlement construction in the West Bank — stands as the latest complication in the president’s drive to make his mark on the world stage. Though he won election on a wave of hope that international good will toward his candidacy would translate into foreign policy gains, the president has few diplomatic accomplishments to call his own. Aside from an arms control treaty with Russia that has not yet been ratified and a fourth round of United Nations sanctions on Iran, the president’s accomplishments have fallen mostly in the domestic column since he won a Nobel Peace Prize based on his diplomatic vision a year ago.
    "It's almost a truism or a cliché ... that the expectations were too high and they have not been met," said David Pollock, a State Department adviser during the Clinton administration. With so little in the outbox of his foreign policy portfolio, a lot is riding on the peace talks. His announcement in early September that direct negotiations would resume marked arguably the biggest diplomatic endeavor of his presidency..... - Fox News, 9-27-10
  • Obama Signs Bill to Cut Taxes for Small Businesses:

    President Barack Obama signed legislation that will cut taxes and provide credit help for small businesses, calling it an essential step for job growth in a slow economy. Small businesses"have borne the greatest brunt of this recession” because of lower demand from consumers and less available credit," Obama said. The government" can't create jobs to replace the millions that we lost in the recession, but it can create the conditions for small businesses to hire more people," the president said at the signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House.... - Business Week, 9-27-10
  • Obama Returns to Campaign Mode With Altered Team: On a Monday night in July, President Obama's political advisers gathered for their weekly strategy session in a small, windowless, wood-paneled room in the West Wing. After 18 months marked by legislative victories but political setbacks, the question before them was how to re-energize the Democratic base – particularly young people who had turned out in droves for him in 2008.
    When Mr. Obama steps onto Library Mall at the University of Wisconsin at Madison on Tuesday for an old-fashioned get-out-the-vote rally, it will mark a return – albeit a limited one – to campaign mode for the president on a campus where more than 17,000 turned out to see him in the final, heady days of his White House run. Two years later, his political value diminished, Mr. Obama is trying to recapture that magic. Whatever effect he has, the public face of Mr. Obama's campaigning masks a White House political operation that some Democrats say is not nearly as focused or driven as the machine that carried Mr. Obama to the presidency in the first place.... - NYT, 9-27-10
  • U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet: Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is"going dark" as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone. Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct"peer to peer" messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages. The bill, which the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year, raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with protecting privacy and fostering innovation. And because security services around the world face the same problem, it could set an example that is copied globally.... - NYT, 9-27-10
  • Election-year politics confound tax-cut extension plan: Democrats and Republicans both say they want Bush-era tax cuts extended this year for most, if not all Americans. Then why has it been so hard to make it happen? The answer is election-year politics, with each party battling for any advantage in a climate of voter anger about politics-as-usual in Washington. At issue is who will get credit for what is considered the most likely outcome -- the lower tax rates enacted in 2001 and 2003 getting extended permanently for Americans earning up to $250,000 per family or $200,000 as individuals.... - CNN, 9-26-10
  • House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer: Stephen Colbert was an 'embarrassment': Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's 'The Colbert Report,' testifies before a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on a proposed agriculture jobs bill and immigrant farm workers. Even some Democrats thought Stephen Colbert's Capital Hill routine was more gaffe than goof. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer called the Comedy Central star’s bit, which had some laughing and others groaning last week,"not appropriate."
    "I think it was an embarrassment for Mr. Colbert more than the House," the Maryland politician said on"Fox News Sunday.""What he had to say was not the way it should have been said," Hoyer added.
    The"Colbert Report" funnyman was invited to testify before the House Judiciary Committee by Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a move that rankled some.... - NY Daily News, 9-26-10
  • Obama critical of GOP's 'Pledge to America': The president accuses Republicans of touting 'the same worn-out philosophy: Cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires; cut the rules for Wall Street and the special interests; and cut the middle class loose to fend for itself.'
    President Obama used his weekly radio address Saturday to rip the GOP's recently unveiled"Pledge to America" manifesto, while a House Republican leader hit back in his own radio remarks.
    Obama accused Republicans of wanting"to put special interests back in the driver's seat in Washington," arguing that the latest GOP prescriptions are"grounded in the same worn-out philosophy: Cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires; cut the rules for Wall Street and the special interests; and cut the middle class loose to fend for itself."... - LAT, 9-25-10
  • Obama: Ahmadinejad's speech 'offensive' and 'hateful': President Barack Obama blasted his Iranian counterpart Friday for what he called offensive and hateful remarks about the September 11 attacks. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the United States for the 2001 terrorist attacks, an accusation that triggered a walkout Thursday by several United Nations delegates.
    "Well, it was offensive. It was hateful," Obama said in part of an interview with BBC Persian released by the White House."And particularly for him to make the statement here in Manhattan, just a little north of ground zero, where families lost their loved ones -- people of all faiths, all ethnicities who see this as the seminal tragedy of this generation -- for him to make a statement like that was inexcusable," Obama said.... - CNN, 9-24-10
  • GOP's Pledge to America has lots of new ideas, or does it?: On The Daily Show Thursday, comedian Jon Stewart examines the Pledge to America and experiences déjà vu. CS Monitor, 9-24-10
  • Will 'Pledge' Get Republicans to the Promised Land?: House minority leader John Boehner unveils"A Pledge to America," a 45-page document detailing the Republicans' new governing agenda. The 45-page document — laced with florid language about American ideals, inspirational quotations and glossy images — is a mix of policy proposals and campaign-season agitprop."In a self-governing society, the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent," the authors write. The pledge is divided into five sections: economic revival and job creation, government spending, health care, congressional reform and national security. In each area, Republican members promise a smaller, stingier government — the antithesis of"the tyranny of unchecked government action" practiced by the Obama Administration, as West Virginia Representative Shelley Moore Capito put it.... - Time, 9-24-10
  • How Sarah Palin Is Winning the War With(in) the GOP: Palin is now more popular nationally, more in demand by conservative groups as a speaker and far richer than she's ever been. She has earned an estimated $9 million by talking and writing — her first book ended up being a best seller, thank you very much — and she has inked a reported $1 million annual contract with Fox News. Oh, and she's become the most important independent endorser in a generation: her 16-11 win-loss record in the recent GOP primaries gives her a lot of political chits to call in if — just to suppose — she were to weigh a presidential run... - Time, 9-24-10
  • Pelosi says tax cut vote possible before election: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't ruling out a vote to extend soon-to-expire tax cuts before lawmakers go home to campaign in the next week, even though Senate Democrats have abandoned plans to vote before the Nov. 2 election.... - AP, 9-24-10
  • Colbert storms Capitol Hill for migrant workers: There's nothing funny about the issue of migrant farm labor -- unless Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert is discussing it.
    Colbert, accompanied by a media swarm, sarcastically testified on Capitol Hill Friday about the conditions facing America's undocumented farm workers. The popular host of"The Colbert Report" told members of a House Judiciary subcommittee that he hoped to bring attention to the workers' hardships."I certainly hope that my star power can bump this hearing all the way up to C-SPAN 1," he joked.
    "America's farms are presently far too dependent on immigrant labor to pick our fruits and vegetables," he told the subcommittee, keeping in character with the arch-conservative he plays on television."Now, the obvious answer is for all of us to stop eating fruits and vegetables. And if you look at the recent obesity statistics, many Americans have already started." Colbert told the panel that"we all know there is a long tradition of great nations importing foreign workers to do their farm work."
    "After all," he said,"it was the ancient Israelites who built the first food pyramids. But this is America. I don't want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American, then sliced by a Guatemalan, and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian.""My great-grandfather did not travel across four thousand miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see this nation overrun by immigrants," he declared."He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor.".... - CNN, 9-24-10
  • GOP 'Pledge' vows cuts, repeal of health care law: Pushing toward big gains on Nov. 2, House Republicans promised to end a slew of Democratic policies and restore Americans' trust in government as they rolled out a campaign manifesto designed to show they're listening to an angry public and are focused on creating jobs."The land of opportunity has become the land of shrinking prosperity ... Our government has failed us," Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California declared."We will take back our country. We will restore for a better future. This is our pledge to you."
    At a hardware store in suburban Washington, senior House Republicans in shirt sleeves showed off the 21-page document they say would guide them should they gain a majority of seats in the midterm balloting five weeks away. The"Pledge to America" was filled with familiar proposals to slash taxes and spending and cut down on government regulation, as well as repeal President Barack Obama's health care law and end his stimulus program. In a show of unity, Senate Republicans and Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, issued strong statements of support.... - AP, 9-23-10
  • Congress sends small business bill to Obama: Democrats controlling Congress are sending President Barack Obama a long-delayed bill to help struggling small businesses with easier credit and give them other incentives to expand and to hire new workers. The legislation passed by a 237-187 vote that split along party lines. It establishes a $30 billion government fund to help Main Street banks lend to small businesses and cut taxes on both big and small businesses. The legislation is aimed at easing a small-business credit crunch that worsened dramatically after the financial crisis two years ago. It's a modest victory for Democrats, whose jobs agenda has otherwise mostly been stalled by Senate Republicans opposed to new spending programs.... - AP, 9-23-10
  • Obama, at UN, urges nations to support Middle East peace drive: In his second address as president to the annual opening of the UN General Assembly, Obama urges supporters of Palestinians to back their pledges with deeds, and asks Arab states to normalize ties with Israel. President Obama on Thursday implored the world not to sit on the sidelines of the relaunched Israeli-Palestinian negotiations but to actively support two parties that he said could, with courage, deliver an independent Palestine within a year. In his second address as president to the annual September opening of the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Obama in particular upbraided the world’s many declared friends of the Palestinian people, whom he said are not doing enough to support a successful outcome in the talks."Many in this hall count themselves as friends of the Palestinians. But these pledges must now be supported by deeds," Obama said, calling on Arab states in particular to give robust support to the Palestinian leadership and to"seize this opportunity" by normalizing relations with Israel as promised in the Arab Peace Initiative.... - CS Monitor, 9-23-10
  • GOP's Pledge to America laced with 'tea party' slogans: Economically, the GOP's Pledge to America, released Thursday, is aimed at small businesses, repealing health-care reform, for example. But the document is also a clear pledge to 'tea party' supporters: You can trust us.... - CS Monitor, 9-23-10
  • Obama tax plan: Who gets hit?: We've all heard that 'nobody making less than $250,000' gets a tax increase. But just how is President Obama defining that? President Obama’s plan to raise taxes on the nation’s highest income households may not quite mean what you think. A closer look suggests that fewer people may get whacked than either Obama or his Republican critics suggest. And for many of the victims, the club won’t be the president’s plan to raise rates to 36 percent and 39.6 percent. Those rate hikes may be getting most of the attention, but the real cudgel would be higher taxes on capital gains and dividends going to high-earners.... - m CS Monitor, 9-23-10
  • Obama returns to stump for health care, this time to praise new law: Six rocky months after winning passage of the landmark health-care overhaul law, President Obama celebrated the half-year mark by assembling at a sunny, backyard gathering in the Virginia suburbs a sampling of Americans who he said are"already benefiting." Yet even before he started touting early provisions of the law that take effect Thursday, the president sought to counter the belief among some that health care distracted him from addressing what many voters view as the more pressing matter: the economy."Obviously the economy has been uppermost in our minds," began Obama, speaking in his shirtsleeves on the back patio of the Falls Church home of Paul and Frances Brayshaw."So much of our focus day-to-day is trying to figure out how do we just make sure that this recovery that we're slowly on starts accelerating in a way that helps folks all across the country."... - WaPo, 9-22-10
  • 'She's our friend': GOP reverses course, doesn't demote Lisa Murkowski: Sen. Lisa Murkowski angered GOP colleagues by reentering the Alaska Senate race as a write-in candidate. But they didn't have the heart to strip her of a leading role on the energy committee.... - CS Monitor, 9-22-10
  • "Decent Chance" Emanuel Will Leave White House in October, Source Says: There is a"decent chance" Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will leave the White House as soon as October of this year to run for mayor of Chicago, a senior White House official confirmed to CBS News, though the official stressed that no final decision has been made.
    Emanuel has been considering a move since earlier this month, when Richard M. Daley announced that he would not be seeking re-election to the post of Chicago Mayor - a job the top White House adviser has long had his eye on.
    And while President Obama has given Emanuel his blessing to leave the White House and throw his hat into the ring, he emphasized that Democrats have"a lot of work to do" in the next couple of months, and that he didn't expect Emanuel to announce a decision until after November.
    "My expectation is, he'd make a decision after these midterm elections," Mr. Obama said in a September 10 interview on ABC's"Good Morning America.""He knows that we've got a lot of work to do. But I think he'd be a terrific mayor."... - CBS News, 9-22-10
  • Obama economic advisor Lawrence Summers to step down at end of year: Larry Summers, known as a brilliant economic thinker with a prickly personality, will step down at the end of the year to return to Harvard University, where he had a controversial five-year stint as president.... - LAT, 9-21-10
  • Republicans block bill to lift military gay ban: Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an effort by Democrats and the White House to lift the ban on gays from serving openly in the military, voting unanimously against advancing a major defense policy bill that included the provision. The mostly partisan vote dealt a major blow to gay rights groups who saw the legislation as their best hope, at least in the short term, for repeal of the 17-year-old law known as"don't ask, don't tell." If Democrats lose seats in the upcoming congressional elections this fall, as many expect, repealing the ban could prove even more difficult — if not impossible — next year. The Senate could take up the measure again during a lame-duck session after the elections, but a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hasn't decided whether to do so... - AP,
  • House Republicans set to unveil policy agenda Thursday: House Republicans will release their long-awaited governing agenda on Thursday at an event at a hardware store in Sterling, Va., offering a set of proposals they would look to enact if they control Congress after the midterm elections. Attempting to rebut the Democrats' charge that the GOP is the"Party of No,"about a dozen Republicans, led by House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), are expected to attend the unveiling. The campaign plan is modeled on the 1994"Contract With America," released by the party before it took the majority of seats in both chambers in that year's elections.... - WaPo, 9-21-10
  • Bill Clinton: Economy, disasters imperil millions: Former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday warned of the growing devastation of the global economic downturn and said the dangers posed by natural disasters around the world had been increased by the effects of climate change. The former president spoke in New York on the first day of the annual Clinton Global Initiative. The conference brings together leaders from government, business and philanthropy, who make financial commitments aimed at tackling poverty and disease around the world.... - AP, 9-21-10
  • Amid Bush Tax Cut Debate, Obama Tax Cut Quietly Nears Expiration: As Congress fights over whether to extend the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy, President Obama's stimulus tax cut for middle class workers is in danger of expiring if lawmakers don't act by the end of the year. While the debate over President George W. Bush's tax cuts has raged in recent weeks, there's hardly been any talk of extending Obama's tax cuts, which benefit 95 percent of working Americans.
    "If the president and speaker wanted to make it a priority, we would see it on the floor next week," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, who didn't say whether the Ohio Republican would support extending the Obama tax cut.
    But a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cried foul."It's hypocrisy coming from Republicans who opposed the recovery package, including one-third of the package that was tax cuts, to express concern for a Democratic proposal to help the middle class," Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami told FoxNews.com.... - Fox News, 9-21-10
  • Kirsten Gillibrand the 'hottest' senator? What is Harry Reid thinking?: Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democratic senator from New York, is apparently the 'hottest member' of the Senate. So said Harry Reid in the latest in a series of gaffes by the majority leader... - CS Monitor, 9-21-10
  • First lady to headline 9 Democratic fundraisers: Michelle Obama is jumping into the midterm political fray in a big way: She'll headline at least nine fundraisers in six states next month for endangered Democrats. That's a fairly big commitment for a first lady who's always said she's not a political animal, but the White House insists Mrs. Obama is eager to get out there.
    And it's no surprise that the Democrats are anxious to use the first lady's star power: Polls show she's more popular than her husband, President Barack Obama.... - AP, 9-21-10
  • Senate GOP moves to strip Murkowski of Energy post: Senate Republicans on Tuesday moved to strip Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski of her post as top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, further punishing her as she mounts a write-in bid to try to hold onto her seat.
    Murkowski already has stepped down from her leadership role in the GOP caucus and could lose her Energy Committee position as soon as Wednesday if the 41-member Republican caucus votes to remove her in a secret ballot. The events marked a swift downfall for Murkowski, who in her first full term rose to be Alaska's senior senator and a powerful voice on energy issues and climate change.... - AP, 9-21-10
  • The recession is over! So where's the party?: It turns out the recession ended more than a year ago. Feeling better now? The panel that determines the timing of recessions concluded Monday that this one ended — technically, anyway — in June 2009, and lasted 18 months. The duration makes it the longest since World War II. It may be over, but you won't be hearing any cheers from the millions of Americans who are struggling to find a job. Or are worried about the ones they have. Or have lost their homes. Or are behind on the mortgage.... - AP, 9-20-10
  • The Plum Line: Dems close to vote on tax cuts: Okay, it looks like Senate Democrats are getting close to staging a major confrontation over whether to extend the Bush tax cuts for the middle class. A senior Congressional aide tells me that the Senate Finance Committee, in tandem with Harry Reid's office, is working on legislation that would"force a vote on middle class tax cuts.""Dems will likely introduce a middle class tax cut package and ideally that would be voted on, whether as an amendment to a stand-alone piece of legislation or as an amendment to a bill," the aide says, adding that the Dem leadership wants the bill on the floor"next week."... - WaPo, 9-20-10
  • Lady Gaga Goes Political in Maine: There were no strobe lights, no outlandish costumes and only a mediocre sound system. But Lady Gaga was here, and the crowd jumped up and down, snapping photos as a whirl of platinum-blond hair emerged from an S.U.V. and walked up a concrete ramp to a tiny stage."There she is," a girl shrieked. Not the typical reception for someone who is on hand to deal with a Congressional filibuster. Lady Gaga, the pop music sensation whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, was here to make an impassioned speech to the crowd of college students, parents with small children, teenagers and service members calling for the repeal of the military’s"don't ask, don’t tell" policy.
    "Equality is the prime rib of America, but because I am gay, I don’t get to enjoy the greatest cut of meat my country has to offer," Lady Gaga said, referencing a dress she wore last week to the MTV Video Music Awards that was made out of cuts of steak."Shouldn’t everyone deserve to wear the same meat dress I do?" she said.... - NYT, 9-20-10
  • Obama hints at Summers, Geithner departures: President Obama on Monday hinted that he may be switching leadership on his White House economic team. John Harwood asked Obama at a"town hall" here: We're coming up to the midterm election; have you asked your Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, and your top economic adviser, Larry Summers, to stay with you through the end of your term? Or might you make some changes?"
    Said Obama,"Well, look, I -- I have not made any determinations about personnel. I think Larry Summers and Tim Geithner have done an outstanding job, as have my whole economic team. This is tough, the work that they do. They've been at it for two years. And, you know, they're going to have a whole range of decisions about family that'll factor into this as well. But the bottom line is -- is that we're constantly thinking, is what we're doing working as well as it could? Do we have other options and other alternatives that we can explore?"... - Chicago Sun-Times, 9-19-10
  • GOP divided on how to replace health overhaul law: Republicans are promising to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's health care overhaul if they win control of Congress. But with what? Not even they know. Some have proposed major changes to workplace coverage, even turning Medicare into a voucher plan. Many prefer small steps that tiptoe around political land mines. Others want a clean start.... - AP, 9-19-10
  • Talking Tea Party Leader discusses county branch of movement: People are not asked their party affiliation at local Tea Party events. All are invited to attend, according to Mel McGinnis, temporary president of the Southern Tier Tea Party Patriots. The reason is similarly why McGinnis doesn't want the movement to morph into a third party itself. It should be open to everyone, he believes, regardless of how they vote."All people are asked is to come and see if the issues we're talking about resonate with them," McGinnis said. Specifically, McGinnis pointed to such areas of concern as spending policies, balanced budgets, fair taxation, decreased regulation and border security."I think we in the Tea Party see the triangle of power inverted," McGinnis said,"meaning that power now resides in Albany and Washington, not with we the people and our own county. We want to turn that triangle right-side up."... - Observer Today, 9-19-10
  • Stewart, Colbert announce Washington rallies: Two Comedy Central funnymen are apparently entering into the partisan political fray with rallies of their own in the nation's capital. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have set October 30 as the date for their respective rallies.... - CNN, 9-17-10
  • Bill Clinton: Obama is"Getting His Groove Back": President Obama"was socked by the intensity of Republican opposition" in the past 20 months, but is"getting his groove back," former President Bill Clinton said Sunday.
    Obama earned some friends across the aisle while he was in the Senate and pledged not to investigate the Bush administration, but he was wrong to think his presidency would attract some Republican support in Congress as a result, Clinton said."It disoriented him for a while," Clinton said.
    Speaking on two different Sunday morning news shows -- NBC's"Meet the Press" and CBS'"Face the Nation -- the popular former president said that Obama believed that if he were successful legislatively it"would be reflected in a better political climate."... - Fox News 9-19-10
  • Carter says Kennedy delayed health care years ago: Former President Jimmy Carter says Americans could have had comprehensive health care coverage decades ago if Sen. Edward M. Kennedy hadn't blocked a plan Carter had proposed. Carter revisited the old spat in an interview with CBS'"60 Minutes" to be aired Sunday. Portions of the interview, prompted by the publication of his White House diary, were posted on the program's website Thursday.
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