BILL CLINTON AT MCGILL UNIVERSITY:

THE HEADLINES….

President Bill Clinton receives honorary doctorate from McGill University: Webcast

• McGill University has granted honorary doctorate to Bill Clinton: The University has bestowed a Doctor of Laws degree on the 42nd president of the United States at a special private ceremony…
• Bill Clinton receives honorary doctorate from McGill Former US President addresses crowd of 700 at private ceremony: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton addressed an invitation-only crowd of 700 as he received an honorary doctorate from McGill last Friday. The ceremony, which took place at the Centre Mont-Royal, was part of McGill’s two-day Leadership Summit…. – McGill Tribune, 10-20-09
• Bill Clinton wows audience during Hon Doc ceremony: In a globe-trotting speech that touched upon everything from climate change in Afghanistan to linguistic demographics in Papua New Guinea, former U.S. President Bill Clinton accepted his honorary Doctor of Laws degree from McGill by urging his audience to tackle world issues by fostering a “communitarian consciousness.”…. – McGill Reporter 10-16-09
• Clinton accepts McGill degree 800 attend private, off-campus event: Former United States president Bill Clinton spoke to a crowd of around 800 people on Friday when he accepted an honorary doctorate from McGill for “a lifetime of outstanding leadership” from McGill. The ceremony was held at the Centre Mont-Royal, a privately owned building off campus, as part of the University’s inaugural Leadership Summit. The event was a private, invitation-only ceremony. Attendees included McGill Senate members and active volunteers with the Campaign McGill fundraising initiative. Very few students were invited to the ceremony, but those who attended included student senators and students awarded the Clinton-Dahdaleh scholarship…. – McGill Daily, 10-19-09
• Clinton praises Canadian unity: Unshackled from the restraints of presidential office, Bill Clinton dropped any pretence of neutrality on the national-unity file yesterday and bluntly welcomed an undivided Canada.
  Using the podium of an honorary-doctorate ceremony at McGill University, the former U.S. president seized on the august occasion to highlight Canada’s perennial national-unity debate…. Globe and Mail, 10-17-09
• Clinton picks up honorary degree, feels the warmth: Bill Clinton’s honorary doctorate was the coup of McGill’s homecoming weekend, the jewel in a month when the university basked in the reflected glory of Nobel Prize-winning alumni and saw its fundraising campaign climb above the $500-million mark.
  And the former U.S. president proved yesterday he still has the star power to charm and inspire, summoning all of us to be better citizens of the world.
  “We are going to have to stumble into the future together,” Clinton told 700 guests – mostly donors, alumni and volunteers – taking part in a two-day leadership challenge, at the Centre Mont-Royal. By turns funny and self- deprecating, determined and serious, Clinton spent more than an hour chatting about everything from hunger on World Food Day to his long, happy relationship with Canada and its commitment to health care and communal values…. – Montreal Gazette, 10-17-09
• Bill Clinton, McGill University Honorary Doctor of Law: Former U.S. President Bill Clinton brought his trademark plain-spoken and easy-going style to Montreal as he received McGill University’s highest honour. He joins the ranks of other honorary doctorate recipients such as fellow ex-U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, British PM Winston Churchill, ex-Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau and Canadian folk icon Joni Mitchell.
  Ushered in by the traditional bagpiper and ceremonial procession, Clinton charmed the socks off the invitation-only audience of over 700 people, joking about his new red honorary doctor of law robe and hood. “I have been studying the robed men and wondering how they wear this without choking,” Clinton told the crowd. “And I learned that what they did was to put their ties through.”… – CJAD, 10-17-09
• Bill Clinton to receive honorary doctorate Former U.S. President recognized for lifetime of outstanding leadership: During a private ceremony in Montreal on Oct. 16, Bill Clinton will become only the second U.S. president to be awarded an Honorary Degree by McGill, joining Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who received his in 1944. Clinton, who will speak at Development and Alumni Relation’s leadership summit that day, was the first Democratic president in six decades to be elected twice – first in 1992 and then in 1996. Under his leadership, the country enjoyed the strongest economy in a generation and the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, including the creation of more than 22 million jobs…. – McGill Reporter, 10–09

QUOTES

• “I am profoundly honoured to be here at this magnificent university and to be honoured in the way President [Franklyn Delano] Roosevelt was. I am particularly grateful for the priority that McGill has placed on making serious commitments to broadly shared prosperity, sustainability in the face of climate change, reaping the progress and promise of science and technology, promoting wellness and health, and trying to deal with the amazing array of diversity that exists in our countries and throughout the world that has to be both respected and reconciled….
  These challenges cannot be met unless we meet them together. We have to find a way to go forward together…. I’m not calling for world government, I’m just saying we have to have a world consciousness….
  There are always going to be gaps between where we are and where we want to be. In the last 20 years more than any time in history, non-governmental groups have arisen to try and fill those gaps. The NGO movement has run wild over the last 15 years and it’s one of the greatest things that have happened….
  “There were many occasions when leaders of the Republican Party suggested that I might want to move to Canada. And many when I thought it was not a bad idea… You have occasional votes about whether you ought not to be together. By the way, I’m glad you didn’t get a divorce. That’s the great thing about not being President any more – you can say whatever you want. Of course nobody cares what you have to say any more either….
  We simply have to understand that we are blessed to be alive. We should be proud of our own distinct differences, but our common humanity has got to drive every single important calculation of the 21st century. Because even the Nobel Prize winners – and I know McGill just produced two in science – are not nearly as smart as they think they are. Nobody is. So we are going to have to stumble into the future together.” — Former President Bill Clinton, Speech upon receiving an honorary degree from McGill University
• “An exuberant American original… a global leader and human rights champion of extraordinary breadth and vision…. A simply brilliant communicator on the world stage, president Clinton has dedicated over 30 years to the highest form of public service, and to the advancement of social justice. He has advocated powerfully and compassionately for progressive education programs and universal access to health care, [and] he has fought to end poverty, disease, and racial discrimination.” Principal Heather Munroe-Blum in her introduction
• “Both during his term in office and since leaving it [Clinton] has worked diligently, just as we do at McGill, to share knowledge and inspire others to achieve solutions to real world problems. Today he joins an outstanding roster of influential figures who have been recognized with honorary degrees from McGill.” — Chancellor Arnold Steinberg in his opening remarks
• “While it is normally a custom of McGill University to confer honorary degrees at our spring and fall convocations, this special and unique event, as part of our leadership summit, allows us to – and we’re delighted to – award this degree today.” — Provost Anthony Masi
• “Few individuals define the expression global leader as perfectly as Bill Clinton. During his presidency and in the years since, President Clinton has demonstrated an unyielding devotion to social justice in the world. His continued leadership inspires us all to do more, and we are honoured to have the opportunity to formally recognize his contributions.” — Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill

HISTORIANS COMMENTS

• Gil Troy “Clinton accepts McGill degree 800 attend private, off-campus event”: Gil Troy, history professor at McGill who studies American politics, said that Clinton’s reputation has fluctuated with the current world financial situation. “Whats interesting with the [George W.] Bush debacle and the rise of Obama [is that] in some ways Clinton’s administration has been both enhanced and diminished. It was enhanced because the recession was the Republicans’ fault and now there’s a resurge for the Democrats,” Troy said. “[But] if we look closely at the causes of the recession, [we] have to link the eighties with the nineties. It’s very hard to take Clinton out of the narrative of Reagan and [George H.W.] Bush.” – McGill Daily, 10-19-09

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY:

THE HEADLINES….

• Gasps as Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize: The announcement drew gasps of surprise and cries of too much, too soon. Yet President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday because the judges found his promise of disarmament and diplomacy too good to ignore. The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee — four of whom spoke to The Associated Press, said awarding Obama the peace prize could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration… – AP, 10-10-09
• After Nobel, Obama pressed to deliver on nuclear pledge: With a surprise Nobel Peace Prize in hand, President Barack Obama came under pressure Friday to make strides in his quest to rid the world of nuclear weapons, a goal experts said would be slow in coming. “It’s a long-term goal and a long voyage over a pretty big ocean of nuclear disarmament,” former United Nations nuclear weapons inspector David Albright told AFP. Obama is “trying to turn a big ship so it can become an important part of US policy,” he added…. Albright said an important “test” of that effort would be ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) or the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty. But Obama may lack the necessary votes in the US Senate… – AFP, 10-09-09
• News Analysis For Presidency in Search of Success, Nobel Adds a Twist: President Obama is given to big events at big moments, replete with stirring speeches, lofty backdrops and stadium-size crowds.
  But when Mr. Obama walked into the Rose Garden on Friday morning, having just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — an honor that would normally be a moment of high celebration, if not the culmination of a life’s work — he was humble and self-deprecatory, popping a hole in the balloon of his own accomplishment. He talked about being congratulated by his daughter Malia, who proceeded to remind him that it was the family dog’s birthday, and he suggested that he was undeserving of the award.
  Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations,” he said…. – NYT, 10-10-09
• From 205 Names, Panel Chose the Most Visible: Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairperson of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, announced on Friday in Oslo that the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize 2009 will be awarded to President Barack Obama.
  The five-member Norwegian Nobel committee spent seven months winnowing the dossiers on dissident monks, human rights advocates, field surgeons and other nominees — 205 names in all, most of them obscure — before deciding to give the Nobel Peace Prize to perhaps the most famous man on the planet, Barack Obama.
  While in recent decades the selection process has produced many winners better known for their suffering or their environmental zeal than for peacemaking, the panel’s new chairman, Thorbjorn Jagland, said that members this year took a more practical approach in their unanimous vote for President Obama.
  “It’s important for the committee to recognize people who are struggling and idealistic,” Mr. Jagland said in an interview after the prize was announced, “but we cannot do that every year. We must from time to time go into the realm of realpolitik. It is always a mix of idealism and realpolitik that can change the world.” NYT, 10-10-09
• President Obama Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Mixed Reviews: President Barack Obama was named this year’s Nobel Peace Prize honoree, becoming the third sitting president to win. Ray Suarez reports…. – PBS, 10-09-09
• Obama Nobel Peace Prize: Obama wins, and partisan fighting continues Obama’s Nobel stirs right, left: President Barack Obama’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize brought nothing of the sort at home, as political combatants were quick to assume their usual battlements: Democrats largely hailed the decision while Republicans and their allies ridiculed Obama and the Norwegian committee that awarded the prize.
  Within minutes of the announcement, a scorching debate broke out on TV airwaves, talk radio, the blogosphere and just about anywhere people of opposite political persuasions meet…. – Chicago Tribune, 10-11-09
• Surprise Nobel for Obama Stirs Praise and Doubts: The choice of Barack Obama on Friday as the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, less than nine months into his eventful presidency, was an unexpected honor that elicited praise and puzzlement around the globe. Normally the prize has been presented, even controversially, for accomplishment. This prize, to a 48-year-old freshman president, for “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” seemed a kind of prayer and encouragement by the Nobel committee for future endeavor and more consensual American leadership…. – NYT, 10-9-09
• Obama’s Nobel prize met with cheers, criticism: THE CHOICE of U.S. President Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize was cheered Friday by a global chorus from European leaders to minibus passengers in Kenya — but it also elicited criticism over the decision to break with tradition and recognize hopeful promise over concrete achievement. Obama is seen as having changed the direction of U.S. foreign policy, reversing many of his predecessor’s unilateral policies and emphasizing the need for diplomacy, co-operation and mutual respect.
  Last year’s prize winner, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, said the Nobel committee wants to encourage Obama to push harder for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Of course, this puts pressure on Obama,” he said. “The world expects that he will also achieve something.”… – AP London, 10-9-09
• President Obama Joins Nobel Peace Laureates Talking Points Memo, 10-9-09
• Letters: Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Laureate: Regarding the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama on Friday (The New York Times on the Web, Oct. 9)… – NYT, 10-10-09
• Obama’s Nobel: The Last Thing He Needs: The last thing Barack Obama needed at this moment in his presidency and our politics is a prize for a promise. Inspirational words have brought him a long way — including to the night in Grant Park less than a year ago when he asked that we “join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.”
  By now there are surely more callouses on his lips than his hands. He, like every new President, has reckoned with both the power and the danger of words, dangers that are especially great for one who wields them as skillfully as he. A promise beautifully made raises hopes especially high: we will revive the economy while we rein in our spending; we will make health care simpler, safer, cheaper, fairer. We will rid the earth of its most lethal weapons. We will turn green and clean. We will all just get along…. – Time, 10-9-09
• Kenyan grandmother is happy for Obama: President Barack Obama’s Kenyan step-grandmother on Saturday advised this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner to be of good character and continue to work for peace. Sitting on a plastic chair outside her compound in the quite village of Kogelo, Sarah Obama told The Associate Press she believes her step-grandson’s surprise win is a gift from God….
  The announcement was met with joy in Kenya, which has a special regard for Obama, the son of a Kenyan economist and an American anthropologist.
  Radio shows interrupted their programming Friday, and traders in the market huddled around hand-held radios and touts yelled the news to each other from the windows of local minibuses known as matatus. Many are already decorated with Obama’s picture. “I am happy for him,” the elderly Obama told the AP outside her compound in the village of tree-lined dirt roads and maize crops where Obama’s father grew up…. – AP, 10-9-09

REACTIONS: QUOTES

• President Barack Obama: Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”
• President Barack Obama: Building a World that “Gives Life to the Promise of Our Founding Documents” Well, this is not how I expected to wake up this morning. After I received the news, Malia walked in and said, “Daddy, you won the Nobel Peace Prize, and it is Bo’s birthday!” And then Sasha added, “Plus, we have a three-day weekend coming up.” So it’s good to have kids to keep things in perspective.
  I am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee. Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.
  To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace.
  But I also know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women, and all Americans, want to build — a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents. And I know that throughout history, the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes. And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action — a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century…. WH, 10-9-09

• The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009: The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.
  Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
  Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.
  For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”
  Oslo, October 9, 2009 Nobel Prize.org
• “What has President Obama actually accomplished? It is unfortunate that the president’s star power has outshined tireless advocates who made real achievements working toward peace and human rights.” Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee
• “Whether it’s celebrating the nation’s loss of the Olympics, or attacking the recognition of American leadership today, Republicans time and again are proving that they’re putting politics ahead of patriotism.” Hari Sevugan, a Democratic Party spokesman
• CBS Wonders: Will Nobel Prize Become Obama’s ‘Poison Chalice’?: Maggie Rodriguez and Bob Schieffer, CBS On Friday’s CBS Early Show, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer wondered about negative political fallout from President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize win: “one European commentator who said ‘will this become a poison chalice?’ In other words, is this going to hurt the President rather than help him?…is this going to widen the part of partisan divide rather than bring people together?”
  Schieffer spoke with Early Show co-host Maggie Rodriguez, who asked: “Clearly a surprise to everyone, including the White House, for the President to be awarded this less than nine months into his term. And already some people are questioning whether he deserves it.” Schieffer expressed that skepticism: “My first reaction was, ‘what?!….It’s almost as if they’re saying ‘we’re giving you the Nobel Peace Prize for winning the election.’…I can’t recall anybody who won this prize for his aspirations. People usually get it for results.”
  During 11AM CBS breaking news coverage of the President’s acceptance speech, anchor Jeff Glor got more Scheiffer reaction: “Is this more a commentary on the current administration and the current president or the previous administration, Bob?” Schieffer replied: “It’s almost as if the committee today was giving Barack Obama a prize for not being George Bush.”…. – Newsbusters.org, 10-9-09
• Op-Ed Columnist: The Peace (Keepers) Prize: The Nobel committee did President Obama no favors by prematurely awarding him its peace prize. As he himself acknowledged, he has not done anything yet on the scale that would normally merit such an award — and it dismays me that the most important prize in the world has been devalued in this way.
  It is not the president’s fault, though, that the Europeans are so relieved at his style of leadership, in contrast to that of his predecessor, that they want to do all they can to validate and encourage it. I thought the president showed great grace in accepting the prize not for himself but “as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”
  All that said, I hope Mr. Obama will take this instinct a step further when he travels to Oslo on Dec. 10 for the peace prize ceremony. Here is the speech I hope he will give…. – NYT, 10-11-09

HISTORIANS & ANALYSTS’ COMMENTS

• Fred Greenstein, author and professor of politics emeritus at Princeton University: “The jury is still out as to what his presidency is going to add up to. It’s more of an embarrassment to the Nobel process.” Greenstein said Obama is unlikely to gain any political advantage from the award, and it is unlikely to lead to any major policy changes. FOXNews.com, 10-9-09
• Allan Lichtman, professor of history at American University “They’re not comparable,” Lichtman said. “[Roosevelt and Wilson] were six or seven years into two-term presidencies, and Obama has not completed a single year of his presidency, so it makes very little sense.” Obama possesses a great deal of “promise,” but the jury is still out, Lichtman said. “It remains to be seen what his foreign policy legacy will be,” he said. “It is premature. This was to encourage rather than to recognize an accomplished fact.” The award might even become a “political headache” for Obama, Lichtman said. “On the one hand, his liberal base will be pushing him to live up to this,” he said. “And his Republican critics will say a bunch of Scandinavians socialists have given this award to another socialist. You’ll hear quite a bit of criticism from the right.” FOXNews.com, 10-9-09
• Stephen Wayne, professor of American government at Georgetown University “Praised Obama’s “good instincts” and strong belief in diplomacy, but said he failed to see accomplishments that merited the prize. “It does seem to me, at this point, that’s its premature,” Wayne said. “When I first saw it, I thought it was a joke. Obama may have been the first to get it for his rhetoric and his orientation.” Wayne said he was “startled” to learn Obama had been nominated for the award less than two weeks into his presidency. “What had he done by February? He had been the first African-American elected president and provided sawing rhetoric,” Wayne said. “In one sense, Obama has always been more popular in Europe than in the United States. That popularity is based in part on the contrast he provides to former President George W. Bush, who was not popular in Europe. I am very favorable toward President Obama, but this prize is a surprise to me.” FOXNews.com, 10-9-09
• Gil Troy: Obama’s prize: Noble hopes in an ignoble world: As liberals rejoice in Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize and conservatives grumble, let’s be honest: It is too early too tell. Awarding this prize either may be prescient or premature. Regardless, the award reflects the noble aspirations of the award committee and the prize winner.
  The committee beautifully described Mr. Obama’s greatest accomplishment thus far. “Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” the citation says. The fact that despite its racist past, despite the stains of slavery and Jim Crow, the United States sent a black man to the White House was a modern miracle. That this President was only 47 when elected, and had, by his own description, a “funny name,” is even more amazing especially following 9/11….

  The contrast between noble societies that invest in science and ignoble societies addicted to terror, between noble political cultures that produce hope-generators like Barack Obama and ignoble political cultures that produce mass killers, remains stunning – and daunting.
  Good people throughout the world should unite in hoping that the aspirations embedded in this award to a rookie President quickly transform into impressive achievements. Thus far, Mr. Obama has dazzled the world with his poetry. Let us hope that when we look back on this moment, his Nobel prize will be a milestone in his ability to turn his transcendent poetry into workable, governable prose, the hopes into feats, and, nations’ swords into plowshares. – Toronto Globe and Mail, 10-10-09

• Peter J. Kastor, Ph.D., an associate professor of history and of American culture studies in Arts & Sciences Historian finds ‘profound’ difference between President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize and those awarded to Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt: “At the time Presidents Roosevelt and Wilson were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, both of them were trying to assert a leadership role for the United States on the world stage. They were trying to make the United States validate not only the country’s global power, but the country’s global interventionist pretensions.
  “Although Roosevelt and Wilson received the Peace Prize for their roles in ending wars (the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, respectively), they could use the prize as part of their larger argument that the United States — and especially American presidents — had a right to shape the world order.
  “Both presidents championed intervening in the domestic affairs of other countries,” says Kastor, whose most recent book, “America’s Struggle with Empire: A Documentary History,” chronicles how the United States has governed foreign territory and foreign peoples.
  “President Obama is trying to assert the United States into a different role,” continues Kastor, who teaches a course titled “Americans and Their Presidents,” which examines the intersection of politics and culture as it revolves around the presidency.
  “More importantly, he’s operating in a profoundly different international context. The United States is no longer a nation asserting its role on the world stage, but rather it’s a dominant world power now engaged in defending and rethinking its actions in the midst of a global debate about the appropriate role of world powers.
  “Like Roosevelt and Wilson, Obama has also stated that the United States can and should be a force for good in world affairs. Unlike Roosevelt and Wilson, however, he has publicly questioned the right of the United States to inject itself into the domestic affairs of foreign countries, even as he is forced to take charge of governing two foreign countries, Iraq and Afghanistan.
  “He’s trying to say that the U.S. will take the moral higher ground. In some ways, his Peace Prize selection is closer to Jimmy Carter’s in that President Carter was brokering for world diplomacy where no one country can dictate to another.
  “Obama is rethinking both globalization and intervention. No one denies that intervention and interceding in other countries is being very hotly debated throughout America. It appears that it is a hot topic among members of the Nobel Prize Committee as well.” WUSTL, 10-9-09

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY:

(President Barack Obama speaks about the financial crisis on the anniversary of the
Lehman Brothers collapse Monday, Sept. 14, 2009, at Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City. 
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

IN FOCUS: STATS

• New Yorkers Want a Giuliani-Cuomo Face-Off in 2010: For months, the polls have been a ski slope for New York Gov. David Paterson – all downhill. The 2010 gubernatorial match-up that most New Yorkers want to see is Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on the Democratic side and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for the Republicans. And, in that contest, Cuomo leads 53 percent to 43 percent, with 4 percent undecided, according to a Marist Poll conducted Sept. 8-10. The margin of error for that result is 3.5 points. – Politics Daily, 9-16-09

THE HEADLINES….

(President Barack Obama speaks about the U.S. missile defense in Europe during a statement in the Diplomatic
Reception Room of the White House, Sept. 17, 2009.  Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

• Dems unhappy with proposed tax in health care bill: Unhappy Senate Democrats on Thursday found plenty to complain about in the fine print of the latest health overhaul bill, particularly a tax provision they fear would hit hard at middle-class Americans, from coal miners in West Virginia to firefighters in New York.
  The opposition sprang up a day after Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., unveiled long-delayed legislation that would transform the nation’s health care system, requiring almost everyone to buy insurance, making insurance companies cover people with pre-existing medical conditions and reining in spiraling health care costs.
  The bill has given fresh momentum to President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority of extending health coverage and controlling costs…. – AP, 9-17-09
• Rockefeller Stands Up for Liberals on Health Care: On Tuesday, John D. Rockefeller IV, a leading Senate liberal on health issues, said he would oppose a new Democratic proposal intended to win elusive Republican support to remake the health system. On Wednesday, he was summoned to a private meeting with President Obama…. – NYT, 9-17-09
• Dueling ‘racist’ claims defuse once powerful word: Everybody’s racist, it seems. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson? Racist, because he shouted “You lie!” at the first black president. Health care protesters, affirmative action supporters? Racist. And Barack Obama? He’s the “Racist in Chief,” wrote a leader of the recent conservative protest in Washington. But if everybody’s racist, is anyone? The word is being sprayed in all directions, creating a hall of mirrors that is draining the scarlet R of its meaning and its power, turning it into more of a spitball than a stigma. – AP, 9-17-09
• House bill would boost Pell Grants: The House voted Thursday in favor of the biggest overhaul of college aid programs since their creation in the 1960s — a bill to oust private lenders from the student loan business and put the government in charge.
  The vote was 253-171 in favor of a bill that fulfills nearly all of President Barack Obama’s campaign promises for higher education: The measure ends subsidies for private lenders, boosts Pell Grants for needy students and creates grant programs to improve community colleges and college graduation rates, among other things…. – AP, 9-17-09
• Obama Is Pushing Israel Toward War President Obama can’t outsource matters of war and peace to another state: Events are fast pushing Israel toward a pre-emptive military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, probably by next spring. That strike could well fail. Or it could succeed at the price of oil at $300 a barrel, a Middle East war, and American servicemen caught in between. So why is the Obama administration doing everything it can to speed the war process along? At July’s G-8 summit in Italy, Iran was given a September deadline to start negotiations over its nuclear programs. Last week, Iran gave its answer: No…. – WSJ, 9-15-09
• President Is to Appear on ‘Late Show With David Letterman’: After recording interviews for five Sunday political talk shows, President Obama will sit down with David Letterman on Monday night. Mr. Obama will be the sole guest on “Late Show,” CBS announced on Tuesday…. – NYT, 9-15-09
• Senate Health Bill Due Wed, But Bipartisan Deal Elusive: Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., will release a long-awaited health-care bill Wednesday, but his Republican counterpart decried an “artificial deadline” for coming to agreement on the bill and appears to be withholding his support for it.
  Baucus told reporters that he will continue negotiations on the bill after he releases it Wednesday, expressing optimism that he will attract bipartisan support for the measure before the Finance Committee votes on it. The Finance Committee is expected to take up the bill as soon as next week…. – WSJ, 9-15-09
• Jimmy Carter: Wilson comments ‘based on racism’: Former President Jimmy Carter says Congressman Joe Wilson’s outburst to President Barack Obama last week was an act “based on racism.” Carter says Wilson’s comment was part of an “inherent feeling” of some in this country who feel that a black man should not be president. Carter called Wilson’s comment “dastardly” and said the president should be treated with respect…. – AP, 9-15-09
• House Vote of Disapproval on Rep. Joe Wilson: The 240-179 roll call Tuesday by which the House passed a resolution of disapproval against Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., for Wilson’s “You lie!” shout during President Barack Obama’s health care address to a joint session of Congress.
  Voting yes were 233 Democrats and 7 Republicans. Voting no were 12 Democrats and 167 Republicans. Voting present were 5 Democrats…. – AP, 9-15-09
• Candidates Await Results as Polls Close: As the New York City primary election came to a close, candidates settled in and prepared to watch returns come in. At stake are the Democratic nominations for three citywide races — mayor, comptroller and public advocate — and for Manhattan district attorney. There are primary elections in 32 of the 51 City Council districts. Most incumbents seeking re-election were favored to win. NYT, 9-15-09
• Jody Powell, who was White House press secretary and among the closest and most trusted advisers to President Jimmy Carter, died Monday of a heart attack. He was 65. AP, 9-14-09
• Kennedy Senate race shaped by those not running: With the clock running on a shortened election calendar, the campaign to succeed Sen. Edward Kennedy has become notable for who’s not running, instead of who is.
  Not his wife, Vicki Kennedy. Not his nephew Joseph P. Kennedy II. Not Martin Meehan, a former congressman with a mother lode of $5 million in the bank. Not Andrew Card, a former White House chief of staff with the capacity to raise millions himself.
  On Monday, Rep. John Tierney said he wouldn’t run because he was more valuable to the state as a House veteran than as a Senate freshman. That was the same rationale his fellow Democrat, Rep. Edward J. Markey, gave Friday when he bailed on a campaign.
  So far, the field includes an attorney general not three years into her first statewide term, a state senator and a town selectman. Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has talked about running, and Stephen Pagliuca, co-owner of the Boston Celtics, is said to be weighing a campaign…. – AP, 9-14-09
• Obama, Clinton eat Italian after Obama’s NY speech: President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton met privately for about 90 minutes on Monday, discussing the global economy over a meal in Manhattan…. – AP, 9-14=09
• Rules on Wilson’s outburst open to interpretation: Republican Rep. Joe Wilson may have violated good taste when he yelled “You lie!” at President Barack Obama last week, and Democrats are moving forward with a resolution scolding him for it. But did he break any specific House rules? The answer is more complicated than it seems, and the rules that some initially cited don’t appear to apply…. – AP, 9-14-09
• For Obama, a Chance to Reform the Street Is Fading: President Obama on Monday sternly admonished the financial industry and lawmakers to accept his proposals to reshape financial regulation to protect the nation from a repeat of the excesses that drove Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy and wreaked havoc on the global economy last year.
  “We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis,” President Obama said.
  But with the markets slowly healing, Mr. Obama’s plan to revamp financial rules faces a diminishing political imperative. Disenchantment by many Americans with big government, along with growing obstacles from financial industry lobbyists pressing Congress not to do anything drastic, have also helped to stall his proposals…. – NYT, 9-14-09
• Obamas to hold event for Chicago Olympic bid: White House gathering on Wednesday will include Mayor Richard Daley, bid backers, athletes and schoolchildren… – Chicgo Tribune, 9-14-09
• Dems seek to play down role of public option idea: The White House and its Democratic allies on Sunday tried to play down the role of a government insurance option in health care legislation as the party in power worked to reclaim momentum on President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.
  His spokesman described the public option as just one way to achieve Obama’s goal of providing coverage to the estimated 45 uninsured Americans without insurance. His senior adviser contended the White House was not ready to accept that Congress would reject the idea, though he, too, said it was an option, not a make-or- break choice… – AP, 9-13-09
• Key group of lawmakers nearing healthcare deal: A key group of U.S. senators was “very close” to agreement on healthcare reform, one of its members said on Sunday, suggesting Congress was nearer to meeting President Barack Obama’s goal of passing a reform bill this year.
  “We think we are very close to an agreement,” said Senator Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and part of the “Gang of Six” bipartisan group that is trying to forge consensus, on “Fox News Sunday.”… – Reuters, 9-13-09
• Election trouble brewing for House Dems in 2010: Despite sweeping Democratic successes in the past two national elections, continuing job losses and President Barack Obama’s slipping support could lead to double-digit losses for the party in next year’s congressional races and may even threaten their House control…. – AP, 9-13-09
• Lawmaker Says No New Apology for Outburst: Representative Joe Wilson said Sunday that he would not apologize again for his outburst on Wednesday night, when he shouted “You lie!” to President Obama during Mr. Obama’s speech about health care legislation before a joint session of Congress. – NYT, 9-14-09
• Wilson funds reach $1 million after ‘you lie’ cry, aide says – CNN, 9-12-09
• Obama rallies Minneapolis crowd for healthcare reform: Drawing on the spirit of his presidential campaign, he likens the battle over the overhaul to that over Social Security under FDR.
  “I have no interest in having a bill get passed that fails,” Obama said.
  “I intend to be president for a while, and once this bill passes, I own it,” he continued. “And if people look and say, ‘You know what? This hasn’t reduced my costs. My premiums are still going up 25%, insurance companies are still jerking me around’ — I’m the one who’s going to be held responsible.”…. – LAT, 9-12-09
• In Health Care Battle, a Truce on Abortion: “And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up: Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortion, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”
  Did that apparently unqualified statement by President Obama to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday guarantee that health care overhaul, whatever its other travails, will not fall victim to the seemingly intractable moral battle over abortion? Of course not… – NYT, 9-12-09
• Commemorating 9/11, Obama renews resolve in terror fight: The president vows to ‘do everything in our power to keep America safe.’ He also notes Sept. 11’s ‘greatest lesson’: the spirit of service.
  Remembering those who died eight years ago in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President Obama on Friday pledged to “do everything in our power to keep America safe.” “Let us renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric act and who plot against us still,” Obama said Friday. “In defense of our nation we will never waver. In pursuit of Al Qaeda and its extremist allies, we will never falter.”
  This week, Obama circulated a memorandum to Congress that said: “The terrorist threat that led to the declaration on Sept. 14, 2001, of a national emergency continues.” Despite his stated resolve, however, a Gallup poll released Friday found that Republicans had an edge over Democrats — 49% to 42% — when Americans were asked which party would better protect the U.S. from terrorism and military threats…. – LAT, 9-11-09
• Healthy Minnesota offers Obama model for nation: President Barack Obama will be in one of the nation’s healthiest states Saturday, where most people have health insurance, medical care tends to be cost-effective and providers like the Mayo Clinic have made a name far beyond the Upper Midwest. AP, 9-11-09
• Senate committee tackles illegal-immigrant healthcare concerns: Drafters of overhaul plans had been considering the issue for months, and it gained new attention during Obama’s healthcare speech to Congress. But enforcement is fraught with its own problems…. – LAT, 9-12-09
• Olympics-Michelle Obama to urge IOC to pick Chicago for 2016: U.S. President Barack Obama is sending his wife Michelle to Copenhagen next month to urge Olympics organisers to select Chicago to host the 2016 Games…. – Reuters, 9-11-09
• Census Bureau Drops Acorn From 2010 Effort: The Census Bureau on Friday severed its ties with Acorn, a community organization that Republicans have accused of voter-registration fraud.
  “We do not come to this decision lightly,” the census director, Robert Groves, wrote in a letter to Acorn that was obtained by The Associated Press…. – AP, 9-11-09
• Former Bush aide Card not seeking Kennedy seat: Former Bush White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card said Friday he will not seek the Senate seat left vacant last month by the death of Edward Kennedy… – AP, 9-11-09
• Obama faces skeptics in Congress over Afghan war: Carl Levin, the influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was the latest top Democrat in Congress to voice opposition to a fresh military build-up in Afghanistan, as the White House weighs deploying yet more troop combat troops…. – AFP, 9-11-09
• The voices behind Joe Wilson: The South Carolina congressman is representative of the GOP’s talk-radio-led wing…. – LAT, 9-11-09
• Obama’s healthcare speech helps unify Democrats: Conservatives in the party praised the president’s pledge to ensure that an overhaul would not add to the government’s debt, and liberals cheered his endorsement of a government-run insurance plan…. – LAT, 9-10-09
• Senators pay tribute to Kennedy ‘One of a kind’ lawmaker lauded: Senators from both parties spent more than five hours yesterday paying bittersweet tribute to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, recalling their late colleague as the chamber’s generous elder statesman, a passionate liberal, and a fierce, well-schooled politician who never shied away from a political fight.
  But when the legislative skirmishing was over, his fellow senators recalled, Kennedy never held a grudge and knew the difference between an adversary and an enemy. And, they noted, he had nearly as many close friends among Republicans as he did among his Democratic allies…. – Boston Globe, 9-10-09
• Abortion foes aren’t buying Obama’s assurances: They continue to campaign against healthcare reform, contending that federal money will go toward abortions if the president has his way…. – LAT, 9-10-09
• Congress Faces Backlash Whether Overhaul Passes Or Not: When American political discourse has reached the point where a congressman shouts “You lie!” at the president during a nationally televised address, it must be a sign that the stakes are running pretty high.
  And so they are in the great health debate. Most analysis, though, has focused on only one side of the political poker game now under way: Will lawmakers pay a political price if they vote for a health bill that proves unpopular?
  There’s also a flip side to that question, which is about to get a lot more attention: Will lawmakers also pay a political price if nothing gets done — that is, if the effort to pass a health bill collapses in failure?… – WSJ, 9-10-09
• Obama to deliver speech in N.Y. on financial crisis: President Obama will give what the White House called a major speech on the financial crisis on Monday, timed to the first anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse that precipitated the meltdown. At Federal Hall in New York City, Obama “will discuss the aggressive steps the administration has taken to bring the economy back from the brink, the commitment to winding down the government’s role in the financial sector, and the actions the United States and the global community must take to prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again,” the White House announced yesterday. – USA Today, 9-10-09
• Obama advisers: 1M jobs saved or created: President Obama’s economic advisers estimated Thursday that the economic stimulus package has saved or created about 1 million jobs, drawing immediate criticism from Republicans.
  Christina Romer, the head of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said her team consulted other economists for its report to Congress on the likely effects of the $787 billion package of tax cuts, government spending and aid to states. The administration’s million-job estimate, while preliminary and uncertain, was “in the middle of the plausible range” of estimates made by independent experts, she said.
  “An economy that was in free-fall with a tremendous amount of downward momentum” is now improving in part because of the stimulus package, Romer said. – USA Today, 9-10-09
• US troops in Afghanistan run to remember 9-11: U.S. troops in Afghanistan donned shorts and laced up sneakers Friday to run in memory of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, as they fight a war that was born of that day but which has seen waning public support. More than 1,000 service members ran 9.11 kilometers (about 5 1/2 miles) at the main U.S. base to commemorate the anniversary and remember troops who have died in nearly eight-years of fighting. AP, 9-10-09
• Outrage over Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst isn’t dying down: Although President Obama accepted the Republican congressman’s apology for his ‘You lie’ remark, Democrats are calling for a public mea culpa and using the incident in fundraising appeals….
  “I’m a big believer that we all make mistakes,” Obama said in acknowledging the apology from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.). The lawmaker’s shout of “You lie!” during the president’s speech on healthcare was a significant break in decorum. “I do think that, as I said last night, we have to get to the point where we can have a conversation about big important issues that matter to the American people without vitriol, without name-calling, without the assumption of the worst of other people’s motives,” Obama said. – LAT, 9-10-09
• Sex scandal further damages lawmakers’ reputation: A scandal involving a family-values legislator caught boasting about his sexual escapades with his lobbyist mistresses created an embarrassing distraction for lawmakers Thursday, further diverting attention from California’s major policy issues in the crucial final days of their session. Republican Mike Duvall resigned Wednesday after a videotape surfaced in which he described to a colleague in lurid detail his sexual conquests, including a spanking fetish, the skimpy underwear of one mistress and his carrying on two affairs simultaneously. He sought to deny the affairs on Thursday…. – AP, 9-10-09

ELECTIONS 2010, 2012….

• GOP hope for 2010: Voters nervous about Obama spending: Republican strategists see an opening in the fact independent voters like President Obama but are nervous about his economic policies. The Republican advocacy group Resurgent Republic conducted five focus groups in August among independents who voted for Mr. Obama in the presidential election but were undecided about whether to support a Republican or Democrat in the 2010 congressional race…. – CS Monitor, 9-14-09

POLITICAL QUOTES

• Book: Bush dissed Obama, Palin (and Hillary’s behind): President George W. Bush’s former speechwriter Matt Latimer reveals that Bush considered Barack Obama unfit for the White House and predicted that vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin would be a disaster for the GOP.
  “After one of Obama’s blistering speeches against the administration, the president had a very human reaction: He was ticked off,” Latimer writes in his forthcoming book, “Speech-Less: Tales of a White House Survivor,” which has been excerpted in the October issue of GQ.
  “He came in one day to rehearse a speech, fuming. ‘This is a dangerous world,’ he said for no apparent reason, ‘and this cat isn’t remotely qualified to handle it. This guy has no clue, I promise you.’”… – KC Star, 9-15-09
• REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON FINANCIAL RESCUE AND REFORM Federal Hall New York, New York: While full recovery of the financial system will take a great deal more time and work, the growing stability resulting from these interventions means we’re beginning to return to normalcy. But here’s what I want to emphasize today: Normalcy cannot lead to complacency. … So what we’re calling for is for the financial industry to join us in a constructive effort to update the rules and regulatory structure to meet the challenges of this new century. That is what my administration seeks to do. We’ve sought ideas and input from industry leaders and policy experts, academics, consumer advocates, and the broader public. And we’ve worked closely with leaders in the Senate and the House, including not only Barney, but also Senators Chris Dodd and Richard Shelby, and Barney is already working with his counterpart, Sheldon [sic] Bachus. And we intend to pass regulatory reform through Congress.
  And taken together, we’re proposing the most ambitious overhaul of the financial regulatory system since the Great Depression. But I want to emphasize that these reforms are rooted in a simple principle: We ought to set clear rules of the road that promote transparency and accountability. That’s how we’ll make certain that markets foster responsibility, not recklessness. That’s how we’ll make certain that markets reward those who compete honestly and vigorously within the system, instead of those who are trying to game the system. …. – WH, 9-14-09
• Obama Pledges to ‘Own’ Health-Care Bill: President Barack Obama, continuing his push to secure support for a health-care overhaul, reiterated his willingness to address the issue of medical malpractice suits, a Republican priority. But the president suggested that his desire for a bipartisan bill wouldn’t trump his ultimate goal of passing legislation this year.
  “We’re not going to get a better opportunity to solve our health-care issues than we have right now,” he said in an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes…. – WSJ, 9-13-09
• WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Highlights New Treasury Report on Instability of Health Insurance in America: “In the United States of America, no one should have to worry that they’ll go without health care – not for one year, not for one month, not for one day. And once I sign my health reform plan into law – they won’t.”… – WH, 9-12-09

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• REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT WREATH-LAYING CEREMONY AT THE PENTAGON MEMORIAL The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia Secretary Gates, Admiral Mullen and members of the Armed Forces, fellow Americans, family and friends of those that we lost this day — Michelle and I are deeply humbled to be with you.
  Eight Septembers have come and gone. Nearly 3,000 days have passed — almost one for each of those taken from us. But no turning of the seasons can diminish the pain and the loss of that day. No passage of time and no dark skies can ever dull the meaning of this moment.
  So on this solemn day, at this sacred hour, once more we pause. Once more we pray — as a nation and as a people; in city streets where our two towers were turned to ashes and dust; in a quiet field where a plane fell from the sky; and here, where a single stone of this building is still blackened by the fires.
  We remember with reverence the lives we lost. We read their names. We press their photos to our hearts. And on this day that marks their death, we recall the beauty and meaning of their lives; men and women and children of every color and every creed, from across our nation and from more than 100 others. They were innocent. Harming no one, they went about their daily lives. Gone in a horrible instant, they now “dwell in the House of the Lord forever.”
  We honor all those who gave their lives so that others might live, and all the survivors who battled burns and wounds and helped each other rebuild their lives; men and women who gave life to that most simple of rules: I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper… – WH, 9-11-09

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• Dems answer Obama’s call for action on health care: Democratic leaders wrestling with health care legislation are confronting a host of knotty issues such as medical malpractice, abortion, illegal immigrants and Medicaid, all the while predicting passage of sweeping health care legislation within a few months.
  “That’s the legislative process,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said as she and other Democrats shifted from praising President Barack Obama’s health care speech this week to the less glamorous task of trying to negotiate a bill that will pass muster with a host of opposing factions.
  “As issues emerge, let’s drill down on the public option, let’s drill down on what this means to small business, let’s drill down on what this means to seniors,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday…. – AP, 9-11-09

HISTORIANS & ANALYSTS’ COMMENTS

• Stephen Hess “Change the channel Sunday, you’ll still see president”: On Sunday, Obama is scheduled to appear on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” ABC’s “This Week,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “State of the Union” programs, according to the shows’ websites and the White House. He will sit for an interview on the Spanish-language network Univision to air that day as well. Obama also is booked for “Late Show With David Letterman” on Monday night.
  “He’s pulling out all the stops, and why not,” said Stephen Hess, a presidential historian at George Washington University in Washington. “The answer to why not is that he’s overbooked or that he becomes an old story. I don’t think that cuts the ice. Those stories are written by people who watch everything.” – Bloomberg News, 9-16-09
• Gil Troy “‘He’s a black man’ What lies beneath the Obama backlash? A Democratic stalwart cries racism, igniting a fiery debate”: Gil Troy, a professor of U.S. history at McGill University, said he sees little difference between the treatment of Mr. Obama and the way opponents attacked his predecessors, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
  He pointed out that Mr. Clinton spent much of his presidency dealing with personal political attacks, while Mr. Bush was often branded a liar over his decision to invade Iraq.
  “When Obama was elected, everyone was talking about how it was a sign of Americans’ political maturity,” Prof. Troy said. “To immediately start playing the race card the first time he runs into trouble is a mark of his supporters’ immaturity.”
  If nothing else, the controversy makes it clear that Mr. Obama’s political honeymoon is over, he added.
  “His supporters are trying to demonize and marginalize normal politics. Conservatives do it to liberals. This time liberals are doing it to conservatives.” – Globe & Mail, 9-17-09
• Julian E. Zelizer “Commentary: Why the shock about Joe Wilson?”: When Rep. Joe Wilson interrupted President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress by yelling “You lie!” a livid House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looked as if she was about to jump out of her seat and give her colleague a five-minute “time out” for misbehavior.
  Majority Whip Jim Clyburn warned that he supports reprimanding Wilson unless he goes to the well of the House and apologizes. Many pundits and politicians have subsequently lamented that the incident has revealed a new level of incivility in Congress.
  And certainly this was an embarrassing moment for the GOP, which looked more like the party of Joseph McCarthy than Ronald Reagan. This has been a summer when some members of the Republican Party outside of Congress have chosen a strategy of yelling and screaming, rather than debating and legislating…. – CNN, 9-14-09
• Stephen Hess: Unplugged: LBJ Had Unique Talent to Pass Medicare: Johnson “was the president of the United States who knew the Senate and the Congress better than any president in history,” Hess, a presidential historian, told CBS News’ Sharyl Attkisson. “It would be love to have somebody else who had that capacity to twist arms, but there ain’t no Lyndon Johnson around.” (I dont get what the part in read means, is the quote right?) – CBS News, 9-16-09
• Stanley Kutler “Afghanistan: Doubt grows over another distant war”: “Americans aren’t conscious of Afghanistan,” says historian Stanley Kutler, editor of The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War. “You couldn’t help but be conscious of Vietnam because of the draft,” he said. But in Afghanistan, “The alleged reasons for going there have completely left the public consciousness.”… – AP, 9-10-09
• Rick Shenkman “Pelosi rates Obama’s speech one for the ages”: Historians will wait for the outcome of those fights and whether Mr. Obama wins before deciding whether his oratory was truly “great,” said Rick Shenkman, a presidential historian at George Mason University.
  “I don’t know what Nancy Pelosi was thinking,” he said, questioning what criteria she used to rate Mr. Obama’s forensic skills.
  He said Mr. Obama “got off a few good lines, I thought, but none that people are going to be quoting 50 years from now — let alone five months from now.”… – Washintton Times, 9-11-09
• Fred Beuttler “Heckling of president is rare in American history”: Presidents didn’t even address Congress between 1800, when John Adams held the job, and 1913, says Fred Beuttler, deputy historian at the House of Representatives, who calls the Wilson incident “highly unusual, if not unique.” “Occasionally, members of the opposing party have been known to boo and jeer as expressions of dissent on a specific point,” says Beuttler, citing instances during the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. But before Wednesday, he says, “expressions of individual opposition of members to a president’s speech had not been recorded.” – AP, 9-11-09
• Jack Bass, humanities professor, College of Charleston, Lacy K. Ford Jr., historian, University of South Carolina: Over the Line in South Carolina – NYT, 9-10-09
• Julian E. Zelizer “Commentary: Liberals’ passion for public option”: President Obama was caught off guard by the frustration that liberals expressed at the suggestion he might drop the public option from health care reform.
  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned that, “There’s no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option.”
  The proposal for the government to offer Americans health insurance as one of their options had excited many Democrats.
  But the White House insists that the public option was not central to its original plan. One senior adviser complained to the Washington Post, “I don’t understand why the left of the left has decided that this is their Waterloo.” Still, the administration responded to its critics and again expressed support for the public option…. – CNN, 8-25-09
• David M. Kennedy: Could Afghanistan Become Obama’s Vietnam?: “The analogy of Lyndon Johnson suggests itself very profoundly,” said David M. Kennedy, the Stanford University historian. Mr. Obama, he said, must avoid letting Afghanistan shadow his presidency as Vietnam did Mr. Johnson’s. “He needs to worry about the outcome of that intervention and policy and how it could spill over into everything else he wants to accomplish.” – NYT, 8-23-09

HISTORY BUZZ:

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY:

(President Barack Obama speaks to a joint session of Congress on health care at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009.  Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

IN FOCUS: STATS

• FACT CHECK: Obama drops iffy line on health plan: The change was subtle, but significant. In his speech to Congress on Wednesday night, President Barack Obama gave a more accurate — and less reassuring — account of the impact of his proposed health care overall than he has done in the past. It went by in a blink…. – AP, 9-9-09
• Obama disapproval on health care up to 52 percent: Public disapproval of President Barack Obama’s handling of health care has leaped to 52 percent, according to Associated Press-GfK poll that underscores the country’s glowering mood as the White House made a renewed pitch for an overhaul. Just 42 percent approve of the president’s work on the high-profile health issue. The survey was released Wednesday before his nationally televised effort to persuade Congress and voters to back his drive to reshape the nation’s $2.5 trillion-a-year medical system…. – AP, 9-9-09

THE HEADLINES….

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times President Obama was greeted by members of Congress as he entered the House chamber.

• Obama hopes his pitch will sway health care debate: President Barack Obama’s leadership in the days ahead will determine whether his forceful health care address to Congress heralds the kind of sweeping change he promised while campaigning for the White House…. – AP, 9-9-09
• The Congressman Who Cried ‘Lie!’: President Obama was halfway through his speech, trying to dispel what he called “bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform.” Then he ran into Rep. Joe Wilson’s agenda for the night. His plan would not insure illegal immigrants, said Obama. “You lie!” rang out in the chamber…. – WaPo, 9-9-09
• Obama Vows to ‘Deliver on Health Care’: President Obama sought to reframe the contentious debate over health care on Wednesday, asking a critical Congress and a skeptical nation to reach consensus on legislation to expand coverage to millions of Americans and lower costs through a sweeping overhaul that has eluded lawmakers for generations.
  “I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last,” Mr. Obama told a joint session of Congress, adding, “Our collective failure to meet this challenge — year after year, decade after decade — has led us to a breaking point.”…
  “What we have also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have toward their own government. Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics,” Mr. Obama said. “Some have dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise. Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge.” He added, “And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned.” – NYT, 9-9-09
• Live Blogging the President’s Speech: ….What was true then remains true today. I understand how difficult this health care debate has been. I know that many in this country are deeply skeptical that government is looking out for them. I understand that the politically safe move would be to kick the can further down the road – to defer reform one more year, or one more election, or one more term.
  But that’s not what the moment calls for. That’s not what we came here to do. We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. I still believe we can act even when it’s hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility, and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things, and that here and now we will meet history’s test. – NYT, 9-9-09
• On Brink, Obama Is Resolute and Clear: There was high drama in the setting and most of all in the timing. After a summer of chaos, criticism and confusion, President Obama stood before Congress on Wednesday night — with three major networks broadcasting live (Fox sat out the speech in favor of the season premiere of “So You Think You Can Dance”) — and tried to seize the last word on health care reform…. – NYT, 9-9-09
• Obama: Time for ‘bickering’ is over on health care: Shaking off a summer of setbacks, President Barack Obama summoned Congress to enact sweeping health care legislation Wednesday night, declaring the “time for bickering is over” and the moment has arrived to protect millions who have unreliable insurance or no coverage at all…. – AP, 9-9-09
• Obama Says Time Is Now for Health Reform: President Barack Obama sought to call Congress and the American public to action Wednesday night, in a prime-time speech aimed at resetting the terms of the debate over health care reform…. – PBS Newhour, 9-9-09
• Obama: Claims of death panels are a ‘lie’: President Barack Obama says the charge that Democrats want to set up death panels as part of health care overhaul is a “lie, plain and simple.”… – AP, 9-9-09
• Analysis: Obama gambles on making nice, no vetoes: Barack Obama faces the same obstacles that plagued former President Bill Clinton during a health care standoff 15 years ago. But Obama took a strikingly different path around them Wednesday night, choosing the promise of compromise over Clinton’s sharp-edged veto pen….
  “The time for bickering is over,” Obama told a joint session of Congress. “Now is the season for action.” – AP, 9-9-09
• Baucus may move health bill without Republicans: The Democratic U.S. senator leading an effort to write a bipartisan healthcare reform bill said on Wednesday he was ready to move forward without Republican support, but still hoped for a deal…. – Reuters, 9-9-09
• Obama tries to build momentum for health overhaul: Reaching for a game-changer, President Barack Obama is beset by conflicting goals in a prime-time address Wednesday expected to detail just how he wants to expand health care coverage and lower medical costs while signaling to a deeply divided Congress that he’s ready to deal. And show the public he’s in control…. – AP, 9-9-09

POLITICAL QUOTES

(President Barack Obama speaks to a joint session of Congress on health care at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday,  Sept. 9, 2009.  Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

• REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS ON HEALTH CARE U.S. Capitol Washington, D.C. – WH, 9-9-09
• Below is the text of the letter from Senator Edward M. Kennedy referenced by the President in tonight’s address to a Joint Session of Congress. – WH, 9-9-09
• Full Text: Obama’s Health Reform Speech Following is the text of President Barack Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday, as prepared for delivery, released by the White House and distributed to news organizations. – PBS Newshour, 9-9-09
• Full Text: GOP Response to Obama Reform Speech Following is the text of Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany’s GOP response to President Obama’s health reform address to a joint session of Congress Wednesday, as distributed to news organizations: “I read the bill Democrats passed through committee in July. It creates 53 new government bureaucracies, adds hundreds of billions to our national debt, and raises taxes on job-creators by $600 billion. The president had a chance tonight to take government-run health care off the table. Unfortunately, he didn’t do it.”… – PBS Newshour, 9-9-09

HISTORIANS & ANALYSTS’ COMMENTS

• Julian Zelizer “Obama’s speech: A simple message, a tough task”: Above all, he has to make sure he holds on to his liberal base, said Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.
  “If he goes too far and the compromise is so meager that it’s almost like doing nothing, that could trigger a backlash from supporters,” Zelizer said. But he also has to be seen as effective and open to cooperation with opponents. Obama created his challenge by holding himself out as a transformational politician. “If he looks just like the people he ran against, that would be very damaging,” Zelizer said. – Philadelphia Inquirer, 9-9-09
• Julian E. Zelizer: Commentary: Obama’s moment of truth: On Wednesday, President Obama will make the most important speech of his presidency. We hear this phrase so much that it has become a cliché. But, in this case, the cliché is accurate.
  President Obama suffered a politically brutal month in August. The opponents of health care dominated public debate about the legislation circulating in Congress. Public approval ratings for the president and his health care plan, as well as the Democratic Congress, have fallen. Democrats have become internally divided.
  It is possible Obama could end his first year in the White House without a major piece of legislation beyond the economic stimulus.
  For a president who began the year with his supporters talking about a transformative leader who would equal Presidents Lincoln or Roosevelt, this would be a major disappointment…. – CNN, 9-9-09
• Reactions to the Speech: A Health Care Roundtable – NYT, 9-9-09

AP With Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, left, and House Speaker Sam Rayburn, far right, President John F. Kennedy addresses a joint session of Congress in May 1961.

• A Bit of History on Presidents and Joint Sessions: President Obama’s health-care speech tonight is officially an address to a joint session of Congress. Such addresses are somewhat out of the ordinary but not all that rare.
  Certain events take place routinely during a joint session — counting electoral votes, for example, or delivering a State of the Union message. (When a president is first inaugurated, he usually gives just an address at a joint session.)
  Joint sessions are not necessarily called for emergencies or moments of crises but often, as in the case of Mr. Obama tonight, to push certain policies…. – NYT, 9-9-09

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY:

(President Barack Obama speaks at the AFL-CIO Labor Day Picnic in Cincinnati, OH on Labor Day.  September 7, 2009.  Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

IN FOCUS: STATS

• After years of trashing polls, Republicans now embrace them: “New Rasmussen Poll Shows That 53 Percent of Americans Oppose Democratic Government-Run Health Plan,” read an Aug. 13 release. It cited “no fewer than five polls” that it said “showed increasing concern, if not outright opposition” to the Obama administration’s efforts…. – McClatchy Newspapers, 9-7-09
• Obama’s declining support among whites: After a summer of health care battles and sliding approval ratings for President Obama, the White House is facing a troubling new trend: The voters losing faith in the president are the ones he had worked hardest to attract.
  New surveys show steep declines in Obama’s approval ratings among whites–including Democrats and independents– who were crucial elements of the diverse coalition that helped elect the country’s first black president.
  Among white Democrats, Obama’s job approval rating has dropped 11 points since his 100-days mark in April, according to surveys by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. It has dropped by nine points among white independents and whites over 50, and by 12 points among white women–all voter groups that will be targeted by both parties for support in next year’s mid-term elections…. – Chicago Tribune, 9-5-09
• Is Obama wrecking the Democrat party?: It’s no secret that President Obama’s popularity is on the skids. The current Rasmussen Poll lists his job approval rate at just 45%; down from a high of 65% in January. Perhaps more importantly, Rasmussen measures a minus 12 point gap in the number of people who “strongly disapprove” of Obama, over those who “strongly approve.” Gallup currently has Obama at a 54% approval level; as against a disapproval level of 40%…. – Examiner, 9-5-09
• Obama’s approval rating tumbles to lowest point at 53%: The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey results released yesterday show his overall approval number at 53 percent, down from 76 percent in early February, just after he took office…. – Boston Globe, 9-1-09
• Hostages of the Hermit Kingdom: Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two American journalists released last month after being imprisoned in North Korea, tell their story — and remind people of the story they wanted to cover…. – LAT, 9-1-09
• U.S. journalists say entered North Korea, arrested in China – Reuters, 9-1-09

THE HEADLINES….

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(President Barack Obama talks with Justice Sonia Sotomayor prior to her investiture ceremony at the Supreme Court September 8, 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

• Court signals it may loosen campaign spending: The Supreme Court signaled Wednesday it may let businesses and unions spend freely to help their favored candidates in time for next year’s elections. Such a step could roll back a century of attempts to restrain the power of corporate treasuries in American politics.
  The justices cut short their summer recess for a lively special argument that indicated the court’s conservative skeptics of campaign finance laws have the upper hand over its liberals, including new Justice Sonia Sotomayor…. – AP, 9-9-09
• Mass. Democrats support filling Kennedy seat now: Democratic politicians urged Massachusetts lawmakers on Wednesday to pass a law that would allow an interim senator to succeed the late Edward Kennedy immediately, preserving the party’s 60-vote majority during a battle to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system…. – Reuters, 9-9-09
• Obama tries to build momentum for health overhaul: Reaching for a game-changer, President Barack Obama is beset by conflicting goals in a prime-time address Wednesday expected to detail just how he wants to expand health care coverage and lower medical costs while signaling to a deeply divided Congress that he’s ready to deal. And show the public he’s in control…. – AP, 9-9-09
• Obama’s back-to-school speech inspires some kids: On the very first day of the school year, 12-year-old Mileena Rodriguez was reminded by President Barack Obama himself that hard work can take you places.Mileena listened to Obama’s plea to study hard and stay in school Tuesday, watching along with several of her classmates at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School and students across the country. For all the hubbub among adults over the back-to-school speech, many youngsters took the president’s message to heart…. – AP, 9-8-09
• Schools say no to Obama’s speech: Controversial address won’t be shown today by some area districts…. – Detroit News, 9-7-09
• Its recess over, Congress has hands full: As Congress returns today after a month-long recess, lawmakers face a pileup of pressing legislation, from immigration to energy, that has been eclipsed by the all-consuming battle over health care…. – USA Today, 9-7-09
• Obama faces a critical moment for his struggling presidency: President Barack Obama returned to the White House from his summer break Sunday determined to restart his struggling presidency by reasserting command of the health care debate and recalibrating expectations that some advisers believe got away from him. With his honeymoon seemingly over and his White House on the defensive, Obama faces what friends and foes alike call a make-or-break moment in his young administration. Because he has elevated health care to such a singular priority, advisers said he must force through a credible plan or risk crippling his presidency.
  “It goes without saying that a lot is riding now on his ability to re-energize the health care debate and bring it home to a successful conclusion,” said John Podesta, who ran Obama’s transition and still advises him on health care, energy and other issues. “Nothing will influence the perception of the presidency more than whether he can be successful in getting a health care bill through the Congress.”… – NYT, 9-6-09
• Obama to make Bloom manufacturing czar: President Barack Obama is to name auto adviser Ron Bloom as the administration’s manufacturing czar Monday, responsible for creating policies to boost the long-struggling industries…. – Detroit Free Press, 9-6-09
• Critics charge ‘indoctrination’ as Obama plans busy speaking week: President Obama will be delivering high-profile speeches three days in a row next week: On Monday, he’ll be the featured attraction at the AFL-CIO’s Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati. Not so coincidentally, that trip will put Obama in the backyard of Rep. Steven Driehaus, a freshman Democrat who faces a tough re-election battle in a district that Republicans held for 14 years before last November…. USA Today, 9-6-09
• Analysis: More wrangling could doom health care: The patient isn’t dead yet. A few more months of wrangling and indecision, and health care legislation to remedy America’s coverage and costs problem could be drawing its last gasps. As Congress returns to work this week, President Barack Obama and lawmakers have three broad options — competing treatment plans for a patient whose vital signs are growing weak. It’s not clear which one, if any, will work…. – AP, 9-6-09
• Financial Bailout Package, a Year Later: Obama has said he inherited the financial crisis from President George W. Bush. But he also received a powerful arsenal from his predecessor — the $700 billion financial bailout package…. – WaPo, 9-6-09
• Obama ‘green jobs’ adviser quits amid controversy: President Barack Obama’s adviser Van Jones has resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements, the White House said early Sunday. Jones, an administration official specializing in environmentally friendly “green jobs” with the White House Council on Environmental Quality was linked to efforts suggesting a government role in the 2001 terror attacks and to derogatory comments about Republicans. The resignation comes as Obama is working to regain his footing in the contentious health care debate.
  “On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me,” Jones said in his resignation statement. “They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.”… – AP, 9-5-09
• Senate Democrat aims to end healthcare deadlock: A key U.S. Senate Democrat, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus may seek to end a stalemate on healthcare legislation by offering a proposal next week prior to President Barack Obama’s highly anticipated address to Congress, Democratic aides said on Saturday…. – AP, 9-5-09
• FACT CHECK: Biden overlooked stimulus problems: Vice President Joe Biden proclaimed success beyond expectations for the $787 billion economic stimulus, but his glowing assessment overlooks many of the program’s problems, including delays in releasing money, questionable spending priorities and project picks that are under investigation…. – AP, 9-5-09
• Politics, not race, likely behind Obama speech uproar: After decades of criticizing public schools as places where hardly anybody learns anything, suddenly conservatives are upset that a 15- to 20-minute Web cast in schools might teach too much. That’s because the Web cast is by President Barack Obama. His critics fear he might teach something that they’d rather not have our schoolchildren hear…. – Houston Chronicle, 9-5-09
• Passing a health bill: What are the odds?: We look at the likely scenarios ahead and predict which results you can bet on… – Houston Chronicle, 9-5-09
• Obama To Meet With Liberals: Liberal Democrats in the House will get their wish: President Obama will meet with them face to face Tuesday or Wednesday to discuss health reform legislation. Atlantic, 9-4-09
• Calls to boycott Obama’s speech to kids offer a disturbing lesson in paranoia: Those who are whipping up hysteria over the president’s address are playing a dangerous game with an unhinged segment of public opinion….. – LAT, 9-4-09
• Kennedy death could impact Wall Street oversight: President Barack Obama’s plan to recast how the government regulates Wall Street could be thrown a curve this fall if Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat whose home state is a major hub for credit card companies, takes over the chairmanship of the Senate’s banking committee…. – AP, 9-4-09
• White House to Open Visitor Logs to Public: President Obama announced Friday that he will open up White House visitor logs on a regular basis for the first time in modern history, providing the public an unusually extensive look at who gets the opportunity to help shape American policy at the highest levels. “Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process,” the president said in a written statement issued by the White House while he vacationed with his family at Camp David. The new policy settles four lawsuits against the government seeking such records. NYT, 9-4-09
• Obama runs into resistance over school speech: The president is scheduled to address students next week about responsibility and goals. Florida’s Republican Party chairman issues a statement denouncing ‘Obama’s socialist ideology.’ LAT, 9-3-09
• Obama aims to take control of health care debate: Aside from State of the Union speeches, presidents rarely use joint sessions of Congress as backdrops for their remarks to the nation. But President Barack Obama will do just that next week to discuss health care. He hopes to gain control of a high-stakes debate that has been slipping from his grasp under relentless Republican-led attacks. AP, 9-3-09
• Obama’s big gamble on healthcare debate: The president seeks to retake control of the healthcare debate with his speech to a joint session of Congress next week. But it carries great risk as well…. – LAT, 9-2-09
• Obama faces a pivotal autumn: Americans are showing signs of impatience with their new president as Barack Obama enters a pivotal period facing a raft of critical decisions ranging from healthcare to Afghanistan. A wide variety of public opinion polls paint a difficult picture for Obama, with Americans expressing doubts about his handling of the U.S. economy, healthcare and Afghanistan. His job approval rating has drifted down to around 50 percent. It was at 68 percent when he took office in January. Reuters, 9-2-09
• Kennedy memoir reveals remorse over Chappaquiddick: In a posthumous memoir, Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy writes of fear and remorse surrounding the fateful events on Chappaquiddick Island in 1969, when his car accident left a woman dead, and says he accepted the finding that a lone gunman assassinated his brother President John F. Kennedy. The memoir, “True Compass,” is to be published Sept. 14 by Twelve, a division of the Hachette book group. The 532-page book was obtained early by The New York Times…. – AP, 9-2-09
• Kennedy-Obama Bond Put Health Care on Fast Track: Other than his victory in the Iowa Democratic caucuses, no moment catalyzed Barack Obama’s historic presidential campaign more than winning the endorsement of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy…. – AP, 9-1-09
• GOP senators seek go-slow approach on health care: An odd couple of Republican senators have hit the road, arguing for a go-slow approach to President Barack Obama’s push to revamp health care. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and 2008 presidential nominee John McCain are headlining the GOP’s answer to the raucous town hall meetings of August in which congressional Democrats had to shout over angry constituents about health care, growing deficits and the increasing role of the federal government…. – AP, 9-1-09
• Politician won’t apologize for ‘Obama tags’ remark: Idaho Republican Rex Rammell said Tuesday the hoopla over his remarks about hunting President Barack Obama has been a boon to his campaign, and he again refused to apologize for what he called a joke. “This country needs to lighten up,” the GOP gubernatorial candidate said during a press conference in a Boise park Tuesday…. – AP, 9-1-09
• Obama reduces 2010 pay increases to 2 percent: President Barack Obama notified Congress on Monday he is reducing pay increases for federal workers from 2.4 percent to 2 percent. Using powers employed by his two most recent predecessors, the president cited the national unemployment rate and the budget busting federal payroll…. – AP, 8-31-09
• Burr, McCain, McConnell to hold NC health forum: McCain will join North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell at event in Charlotte on Tuesday morning. McCain and McConnell are traveling around the country to discuss health care and take questions from those involved in the debate. The GOP lawmakers have been mounting a challenge to the plan offered by President Barack Obama that would create a government option to compete with private insurers. Burr’s plan would raise money by taxing health benefits and use the revenue to give people tax credits to buy their own care. AP, 8-31-09
• White House Not Pleased With Two Republican Senators: Senator Mike Enzi, the ranking Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, among copies of the health care reform bill before a committee meeting in June.
  The White House was evidently listening when Senator Michael B. Enzi delivered the weekly Republican radio and Internet address Saturday. And the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, did not like what he heard on health care from the Wyoming lawmaker who is supposed to be part of bipartisan talks…. – NYT, 8-31-09
• Key Republicans bail on ‘Obama-care’; Dems’ options narrow: The Democrats are edging toward a go-it-alone approach to legislation. Part 1 of two….
  As key Republicans grow increasingly hostile to President Obama’s plans for healthcare reform, the Democrats are edging toward a go-it-alone approach to legislation. In the Senate, where normal rules require 60 votes out of 100 to halt a filibuster, the Democrats’ hopes of passing a bill that way are hanging by a thread. The death of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts means the party is down to 59 votes in the Senate. It’s still possible a Republican or two could be persuaded to vote with them, but they would still need to hold onto the more conservative Democrats in their caucus, and that’s not a sure thing…. – CS Monitor, 8-31-09

ELECTIONS 2010, 2012….

• First Candidate Steps Up for Kennedy Seat: Attorney General Martha Coakley of Massachusetts on Tuesday became the first candidate to begin the formal process toward running for the United States Senate seat left vacant by the death last week of Edward M. Kennedy…. – NYT, 9-1-09
• Another Senator Kennedy in Massachusetts?: Another Kennedy just might occupy the Kennedy seat in the Senate. Amid the emotional public outpouring over the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, talk of a successor has focused on his widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph Kennedy II, the 56-year-old former congressman who could return to politics after a decade’s absence. “Even though he’s emotionally drained right now, he can’t help but be moved by the enormous flood of affection and respect from all over the country,” said veteran Democratic strategist Dan Payne. “He wouldn’t be human and he wouldn’t be a Kennedy if he didn’t give serious consideration to running for what is known as the ‘Kennedy seat’ in Massachusetts.”… – AP, 8-31-09
• Va. candidate distances self from college thesis: Virginia’s Republican candidate for governor said Monday he no longer believes his argument in a graduate thesis written 20 years ago that discrimination against gays and other groups is acceptable for the benefit of straight, married couples…. – AP, 8-31-09

POLITICAL QUOTES

(President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a memorial service for Walter Cronkite at Lincoln Center in
New York, September 9, 2009.  Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

• REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT MEMORIAL SERVICE IN HONOR OF WALTER CRONKITE Lincoln Center New York, New York: He was forever there, reporting through world war and cold war; marches and milestones; scandal and success; calmly and authoritatively telling us what we needed to know. He was a voice of certainty in a world that was growing more and more uncertain. And through it all, he never lost the integrity or the plainspoken speaking style that he gained growing up in the heartland. He was a familiar and welcome voice that spoke to each and every one of us personally.
  I have benefited as a citizen from his dogged pursuit of the truth, his passionate defense of objective reporting, and his view that journalism is more than just a profession; it is a public good vital to our democracy. Even in his early career, Walter Cronkite resisted the temptation to get the story first in favor of getting it right.
  Our American story continues. It needs to be told. And if we choose to live up to Walter’s example, if we realize that the kind of journalism he embodied will not simply rekindle itself as part of a natural cycle, but will come alive only if we stand up and demand it and resolve to value it once again, then I’m convinced that the choice between profit and progress is a false one — and that the golden days of journalism still lie ahead…. – WH, 9-9-09

• Assemblyman Mike Duvall resigns after his sex comments are broadcast: KCAL-TV in Los Angeles played a tape of the married Yorba Linda Republican speaking about sex with two women. He apparently did not realize a microphone was on during a legislative hearing
  “I am deeply saddened that my inappropriate comments have become a major distraction for my colleagues in the Assembly, who are working hard on the very serious problems facing our state,” Duvall said in a written statement. “I have come to the conclusion that it would not be fair to my family, my constituents or to my friends on both sides of the aisle to remain in office. Therefore, I have decided to resign my office, effective immediately, so that the Assembly can get back to work.” – LAT, 9-9-09
• REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN A NATIONAL ADDRESS TO AMERICA’S SCHOOLCHILDREN Wakefield High School Arlington, Virginia: I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
  Maybe you could be a great writer — maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper — but you might not know it until you write that English paper — that English class paper that’s assigned to you. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor — maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or the new medicine or vaccine — but you might not know it until you do your project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a senator or a Supreme Court justice — but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
  But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
  Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future…. – WH, 9-8-09

• Obama says ‘it’s time to act’ on healthcare: In a speech to the AFL-CIO, the president accuses critics and special interests of using scare tactics and spreading ‘lies’ in healthcare debate….
  The president, speaking at an AFL-CIO picnic, said that “special interests” were determined to “scare the heck out of people.” “I’ve got a question for all these folks who say, you know, we’re going to pull the plug on Grandma and this is all about illegal immigrants — you’ve heard all the lies,” Obama said. “I’ve got a question for all those folks: What are you going to do? What’s your answer? What’s your solution? “And you know what? They don’t have one.” – LAT, 9-7-09
• REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT AFL-CIO LABOR DAY PICNIC Coney Island Cincinnati, Ohio: But today we also pause. We pause to remember and to reflect and to reaffirm. We remember that the rights and benefits we enjoy today weren’t simply handed to America’s working men and women. They had to be won. They had to be fought for, by men and women of courage and conviction, from the factory floors of the Industrial Revolution to the shopping aisles of today’s superstores. They stood up and they spoke out to demand a fair shake and an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. (Applause.)
  Many risked their lives. Some gave their lives. Some made it a cause of their lives — like Senator Ted Kennedy, who we remember today. (Applause.)
  So let us never forget: much of what we take for granted — the 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, health insurance, paid leave, pensions, Social Security, Medicare — they all bear the union label. (Applause.) It was the American worker — men and women just like you — who returned from World War II to make our economy the envy of the world. It was labor that helped build the largest middle class in history. Even if you’re not a union member, every American owes something to America’s labor movement. (Applause)…. – WH, 9-7-09

• VP Joe Biden pledges to back workers in Pa. stop: Vice President Joe Biden told a rally at Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade that organized labor was the backbone of the country and that he and Sen. Arlen Specter would continue fighting for workers. “You built the middle class. The middle class cannot be rebuilt without a growth in labor,” Biden told a crowd of about 300 Monday morning outside Mellon Arena…. – AP, 9-7-09
• WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Announces New Initiatives for Retirement Savings: As we spend time with family and friends this Labor Day weekend, many of us will also be thinking about the state of working America. Yesterday, we received a report showing that job losses have slowed dramatically compared to just a few months ago. Earlier in the week, we learned that the manufacturing sector has posted its first gains in eighteen months, and that many of the banks that borrowed money at the height of the financial crisis are now returning it to taxpayers with interest.
  These are only the most recent signs that the economy is turning around, though these signs are little comfort to those who’ve experienced the pain of losing a job in the previous month, or in the previous two years of this recession. That’s why it is so important that we remain focused on speeding our economic recovery. Throughout America today, tens of thousands of recovery projects are underway, repairing our nation’s roads, bridges, ports and waterways; renovating schools; and developing renewable energy. We’re putting Americans back to work doing to the work America needs done – and mostly in private sector jobs…. – WH, 9-5-09

• Obama hosts dinner for Islamic holy month: President Barack Obama on Tuesday praised American Muslims for enriching the nation’s culture at a dinner to celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
  “The contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country,” Obama said at the iftar, the dinner that breaks the holiday’s daily fast…. – AP, 9-1-09
• WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Marks Fourth Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina; Will Visit New Orleans Later This Year: This weekend marks the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf Coast. As we remember all that was lost, we must take stock of the work being done on recovery, while preparing for future disasters. And that is what I want to speak with you about today.
  None of us can forget how we felt when those winds battered the shore, the floodwaters began to rise, and Americans were stranded on rooftops and in stadiums. Over a thousand people would lose their lives. Over a million people were displaced. Whole neighborhoods of a great American city were left in ruins. Communities across the Gulf Coast were forever changed. And many Americans questioned whether government could fulfill its responsibility to respond in a crisis, or contribute to a recovery that covered parts of four states…. – WH, 8-29-09

HISTORIANS & ANALYSTS’ COMMENTS

• Julian Zelizer “New rallying cry: ‘Win one for Teddy’ Dems look to unite pols on health care”: Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University political scientist, said Kennedy colleagues’ love for the departed senator isn’t going to be enough. “The reality is we saw in August a Congress that is very polarized, and the opposition is pretty set,” Zelizer said. “It’s hard to imagine they’d switch their vote because it’s called Kennedycare. That’s not the era we live in.” In an earlier era, the death of another Kennedy – President Kennedy – was invoked to pass long-stalled civil rights and Medicare legislation backed by the slain leader. But Zelizer said it was as much President Johnson’s legislative skill as Kennedy’s memory that got the bills passed. Besides, he said, in this case the sponsor died an old man. “It’s about the bill and not the name on the bill,” Zelizer said. – Boston Herald, 9-7-09
• Julian Zelizer “Commentary: Did Obama underestimate his critics?”: One of the great puzzles this summer has been why President Obama seemed to have underestimated the intensity of the counter-mobilization he would face in proposing health care reform.
  Historically, each time an American president has sought to reform the health care system, opponents mounted a fierce and unrelenting attack to undermine public support…. CNN, 9-1-09
• H.W. Brands: “As support fades, Obama attempts to reinvigorate agenda, Scholars say it’s time for Obama to step up leadership”: H.W. Brands , a University of Texas professor who was among a small group of historians who joined the president earlier this summer for a private dinner, said that much of what had happened to Obama this summer had been “entirely predictable.”
  “He sometimes sounds as if he’s still running a campaign. But once you get to be president, you’ve got to figure out who the bad guys are,” Brands said. “And you’ve got to convince Americans that the ones you think are the bad guys really are the bad guys.” – McClatchy Newspapers, 9-1-09
• Harold Cox “As support fades, Obama attempts to reinvigorate agenda, Scholars say it’s time for Obama to step up leadership”: Harold Cox , a presidential scholar and archivist at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, recalled how Ronald Reagan had great success in his first eight months, winning approval of a major tax cut and the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to the U.S. Supreme Court . When Congress returned in September, however, budget fights and a staggering economy made it hard for Reagan to control policy, and his approval numbers slipped.
  Bill Clinton suffered a similar fate in 1993 after he won approval of his massive deficit-reduction bill early in his term. Cox recalled how Clinton was distracted by the gays-in-the-military debate.
  Obama “needs to understand the glow can disappear awfully fast,” Cox said. “Even now, I’d say he’s got only a 50-50 chance at getting health care.” – McClatchy Newspapers, 9-1-09
• Ross Baker “As support fades, Obama attempts to reinvigorate agenda, Scholars say it’s time for Obama to step up leadership”: “Unless a president lays down a very visible, strong marker, Congress tends to wander,” said Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University.” Congress is historically a ship without a keel, and the president provides the keel. There comes a time when he has to step up and put his imprint on policy.” – McClatchy Newspapers, 9-1-09
• Kennedy letter to pope sought support: Scholars examine message, meaning… – Boston Globe, 9-1-09
• Julian Zelizer “Commentary: Ted Kennedy was a true believer”: …Americans suspect that a majority of politicians are willing to switch their position on any given day, depending on which way the political winds are blowing. Everyone, we sometimes fear, is a flip-flopper.
  This was certainly not the case with Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy. He was a refreshing presence in Washington for many Americans, even those on the right who hated the political ideas that he championed. Love him or hate him, as Walter Sobchak might say, at least Kennedy stood for something…. CNN, 8-27-09

HISTORY BUZZ:

EDWARD M KENNEDY, 1932-2009

Appleton/News Sen. Ted Kennedy spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention even though he wasn’t anywhere near 100 percent.

OBITUARIES….

• Edward M. Kennedy: Senator From 1962-2009: Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), one of the most powerful and influential senators in American history, died after battling a brain tumor. Kennedy was the vibrant symbol of American liberalism in an era of conservative ascendance. – WaPo
• Edward M. Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Is Dead at 77: Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew acclaim and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died late Tuesday night. He was 77…. – NYT, 8-26-09
• Edward M. Kennedy Left Major Imprint on Life in D.C.: At 3 p.m. Wednesday, students and teachers gathered around the flagpole outside Brent Elementary School on Capitol Hill to remember one of their own…. – WaPo, 8-27-09
• HNN Hot Topics: Edward Kennedy’s Life and Legacy – HNN
• A nation reacts to the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy… – Detroit Free Press, 8-27-09
• Residents at Hyannis Port mourn death of their neighbor, Ted Kennedy: Flags flew at half-mast and flowers were left outside the Kennedy compound Wednesday morning as Hyannis Port neighbors mourned the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy…. – NY Daily News, 8-26-09
• Sen Edward Kennedy dies: Kennedy was key part of Obama’s agenda and early ambitions: Senator’s death leaves president without early ally… Chicago Tribune, 8-27-09
• For Obama, Kennedy’s illness meant a missed chance for a mentor: Senator Edward Kennedy’s brain cancer dashed hopes he would help propel President Barack Obama’s bold agenda…. – LAT, 8-27-09

(President Barack Obama attends the funeral mass for Senator Edward Kennedy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009. Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

• The Kennedy Funeral: The funeral for Senator Edward M. Kennedy begins at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help just outside Boston. The rain outside, and the wet streets, offer up a symbolism often remarked upon at dampened funerals as a renewal of life. Or that the heavens are weeping…. – NYT, 8-29-09
• List of dignitaries attending Kennedy’s funeral Saturday – Boston Globe, 8-29-09
• US Capitol applauds Kennedy one last time: Thousands gathered outside the US Capitol broke into loud applause Saturday as Edward Kennedy’s funeral procession halted briefly next to the building on the last leg of the senator’s final journey. In unprecedented scenes at the nation’s top assembly, thousands of other ordinary by-passers had gathered solemnly on the lawns and roadsides nearby to bid farewell to Kennedy, who died late Tuesday from brain cancer aged 77. Waving flags and cheering, they came to honor the last of a band of brothers who shaped the politics of a nation…. – AFP, 8-29-09
• Kennedy’s Papal Correspondence and a Spontaneous Sing-Along: At the Capitol Despite the heat, people started gathering hours before the funeral procession’s arrival. According to CNN, United States Park Police estimated that 1,000 people had gathered on the Capitol steps and 4,000 on the grounds at around 5:45 on Saturday evening, hoping to catch a glimpse of the hearse during its brief stop…. – NYT, 8-29-09
• BURIAL AT ARLINGTON ‘We Loved This Kind And Tender Hero’ A Day of Mourning, Celebration Edward M. Kennedy Funeral Service: Thousands of Kennedy admirers stood outside Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston while family, colleagues and friends filled the church to say final goodbyes to the senator.
  On the day he was carried to his final resting place, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was remembered Saturday as a legislator of almost unequalled prowess, a political force who left a lasting imprint on the country and a husband, father and patriarch whose private acts of love and devotion helped his star-crossed family endure tragedy and misfortune…. – WaPo, 8-29-09

• Sen. Ted Kennedy spent his life looking out for others: Edward Kennedy came to the last rousing political speech of his life from a Denver hospital, already being treated for the brain cancer that finally took him last week. On top of that, Kennedy showed up for last year’s Democratic convention suffering from what would be diagnosed as kidney stones. So the great health care advocate needed more health care of his own, right before he stood up for Barack Obama…. – NY Daily News, 8-31-09
• An icon, for better or worse: In the spring of 1970, months after Mary Jo Kopechne died in Ted Kennedy’s car at Chappaquiddick, graphic designer George Lois produced an Esquire magazine cover depicting the senator in a Santa Claus hat, the same innocent headgear Lois had used seven years earlier to ironically crown Sonny Liston, the boxer whom most of middle-class America saw as an unapologetic thug. Lois said he returned to the idea for Kennedy to invoke “the bad-guy/good-guy theme at a time when he was being vilified.” Not long after Esquire’s June 1970 issue, featuring an article entitled “Reshaping Teddy’s Image,” hit newsstands, Lois encountered Kennedy on a Manhattan street, uncertain about the reaction he could expect. “I ran into him,” Lois recalled this week, “and he said: ‘I’m better-looking than that Sonny Liston!’”… – Boston Globe, 9-01-09
• Kennedy’s Closest Confidante, in Politics and Life – NYT, 8-29-09
• Vicki Reggie Kennedy: lawyer, widow, next U.S. senator from Massachusetts?: Time Magazine has called her “The Woman Who Saved Ted.” Now, though she has said she is not interested, pressure is mounting on Victoria Reggie Kennedy to save his agenda — serving as interim senator from Massachusetts until January when a special election is planned to fill the seat held by her husband, the late Edward Kennedy…. – LAT, 8-31-09
• Fame didn’t separate Kennedy from little guy: The world remembers Sen. Edward Kennedy for his passionate liberalism, legislative skill and stewardship of a political dynasty.
  Kevin Larson recalls a McDonald’s lunch. A decade ago, Kennedy hosted Larson’s 6- and 4-year-old sons to thank them for returning a lost diamond ring they had found at a playground. Larson remembers his boys bounding past a reception area filled with important people in suits to McDonald’s meals Kennedy’s staff had waiting for them in his office. The graciousness Kennedy showed his family that day was repeated in the coming years in notes and Christmas cards. “He never forgot the little guy,” said Larson, who lives in the Boston suburb of Malden…. – AP, 8-27-09
• Edward Kennedy memoir already a best-seller: Edward Kennedy was buried Saturday, but his impact will surely linger in the words contained in his memoir, “True Compass.” The book, which will be released Sept. 14, already has become Amazon’s best-selling biography. “Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy” by Peter S. Canellos was also in the Top 10 in that category. Jonathan Karp, editor-in-chief of Twelve, which is publishing the book, said in an open letter that “Kennedy has been keeping a personal journal through nearly 50 years of his public life, beginning with John F. Kennedy’s campaign for president in 1960. Five years ago, he began an oral history project at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, where he began to address all aspects of his life – his family, his career in the Senate, and his view of the historic events of our time.” – Baltimore Sun, 8-31-09
• National Portrait Gallery Displays Warhol’s Kennedy Portrait: Visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery can pay their respects to Edward Kennedy by viewing a portrait by Andy Warhol. Made as a campaign fundraiser for the late Massachusetts senator’s 1980 presidential campaign, the silkscreened work features subtle red and blue lines meant to mimic the American flag. Kennedy lost the Democratic nomination to Jimmy Carter, whom Warhol had painted only a few years before. Kennedy died August 25 at the age of 77. – Art Info, 8-31-09
• Edward Kennedy books: Sad to hear about Edward Kennedy’s death. For Baby Boomers, the Kennedy family held a special place, reflecting both the hope — and tragedy — of our youth. Recalling the 1960’s, when two of his brothers were felled by assassins’ bullets, the then-America seems an almost unbelievable place. Of course, young Teddy had his own demon: the Chappaquiddick incident that left a young woman dead. But he put together a remarkable political career as the only surviving brother…. – Baltimore Sun, 8-31-09
• Shriver: Uncle’s death may aid health care push: Maria Shriver says the death of her uncle Sen. Edward Kennedy could provide momentum to the senator’s lifetime effort to overhaul the nation’s health care system…. – AP, 8-29-09

QUOTES

Pool photograph by Brian Snyder Former President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former president George W. Bush and his wife Laura, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden and his wife Jill, former first lady Rosalynn Carter and former President Jimmy Carter wait for the services to begin.

• PRESIDENT OBAMA, on Senator Edward M. Kennedy: “His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives — in seniors who know new dignity, in families that know new opportunity, in children who know education’s promise, and in all who can pursue their dream in an America that is more equal and more just — including myself.”
• Vice President Joe Biden, quoted at WashingtonPost.com: The unique thing about Teddy was it was never about him. It was always about you. … People I admire, great women and men, at the end of the day gets down to being about them. With Teddy, it was never about him.
• Kennedy family statement: Veteran US Senator Edward Kennedy has died at the age of 77 after suffering a brain tumour diagnosed in 2008. The announcement came in a short statement from his family:
  Edward M Kennedy – the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply – died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port [Massachusetts].
  We’ve lost the irreplaceable centre of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever.
  We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all.
  He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.
• Obama Offers Tribute to ‘a Defender of a Dream’: “His extraordinary life on this earth has come to an end. His extraordinary work lives on,” Mr. Obama said, speaking from the Blue Heron Farm in the town of Chilmark. “For his family, he was a guardian. For America, he was a defender of a dream.”… “His fight has given us the opportunity that was denied us when his brothers John and Robert were taken from us,” Mr. Obama said, “the blessing of time to say thank you and goodbye.” – NYT, 8-27-09
• Grandchildren give thanks to Kennedy, ‘best in the world’: “When most people of Ted Kennedy, they think about the man who changed the lives of millions of people by fighting for a better health care. When I about him, vibrant memories of sailing, laughing, Thanksgiving dinner, talking on the front porch and playing with Splash come to mind,” Kiley Kennedy said. “To me, all the things he has done to change the world are just icing on my grandpa cake of a truly miraculous person.”… – NECN, 8-29-09
• Nancy Reagan remembers Kennedy, fondly: “Both of them respected one another. And it was a very good friendship. It’s what there should be more of today,” Reagan’s widow, Nancy, said Wednesday night on her son Ron’s radio show on Air America. “You can get so much done if you work together,” she added.
  Ron Reagan asked whether the president and senator shared a bond in some way because Reagan narrowly escaped assassination, and Kennedy’s two older brothers were killed. “Maybe there was,” Nancy Reagan replied. She said she and Kennedy worked together for stem cell research, and they did not talk about their political disagreements. “I’ll miss him,” she said of “Teddy,” who he said stayed in touch long past the 2004 death of her husband, with calls on her birthday and notes and flowers on other special events…. – Boston Globe, 8-27-09
• Biden Offers Personal Memories of Kennedy: “Don’t you find it remarkable that one of the most partisan liberal men in the last century, serving in the Senate, has so many of his foes embrace him?” Mr. Biden said. “Because they know he made them bigger. He made them more graceful, by the way in which he conducted himself.”…
  “I just hope we remember how he treated other people, and how he made other people look at themselves and look at one another,” Mr. Biden said. “That’ll be the truly fundamentally unifying legacy of Teddy Kennedy’s life, if that happens. And it will for a while, at least in the Senate.” – NYT, 8-26-09
• Obama Delivers Muted Eulogy for Friend and Supporter: President Obama said goodbye Saturday to his friend and mentor Edward M. Kennedy, offering a studious profile of a man whom he and much of the country had come to admire and respect….
  Obama said Americans are left with one image of Kennedy: “the image of a man on a boat; white mane tousled; smiling broadly as he sails into the wind, ready for what storms may come, carrying on toward some new and wondrous place just beyond the horizon.” – WaPo, 8-29-09
• REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT EULOGY FOR SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica Roxbury, Massachusetts: Ted Kennedy has gone home now, guided by his faith and by the light of those that he has loved and lost. At last he is with them once more, leaving those of us who grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good that he did, the dream he kept alive, and a single, enduring image — the image of a man on a boat, white mane tousled, smiling broadly as he sails into the wind, ready for whatever storms may come, carrying on toward some new and wondrous place just beyond the horizon. May God bless Ted Kennedy, and may he rest in eternal peace. – WH, 8-29-09

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• Brown calls Sen. Kennedy ‘great internationalist’: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has written that Sen. Edward Kennedy was “a great internationalist” who inspired social progress around the world…. He says “we owe a great debt to the vision and courage of Kennedy,” who died Tuesday at age 77…. – AP, 8-28-09
• Rep. Kennedy: Dad’s illness has united family: Rep. Patrick Kennedy has found something of a blessing in the curse of cancer afflicting his father: The family has been able to spend much more time with the stricken senator. “It’s been a chance for us to bond and be together and share a special time together that we would never have had together had he been taken from us,” Kennedy, D-R.I., said of his dad, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. “That’s a big gift. (It) let us have the chance to tell him how much we love him. And him to be there to hear it.” – AP, 8-13-09

HISTORIANS’ COMMENTS

• Douglas Brinkley on Ted Kennedy’s Life: ‘He Did a Kind of a Redemptive Work’: “Well, for starters, Ted Kennedy was Catholic, and a big part of Catholicism is forgiveness. It’s the confession. He’s asked to be forgiven by people. He did a kind of a redemptive work throughout his whole career. He would fall off the wagon. He had a bit of a drinking problem. There was a carousing issue that came up. But he constantly said, I can do better. He asked the public directly, a number of times, that these are my own personal shortcomings, and I’m working on it.” News Busters, 8-27-09
• JAY WINIK “Kennedy for the Ages Fierce partisanship is a proud senatorial tradition”: Over the course of a long and distinguished career, Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died Tuesday at the age of 77, was like a cat with nine lives who used every one of them. He came from a family touched by greatness, even as it was riddled with unfathomable tragedy. He was the torchbearer for liberalism, even when it was a fading voice on the political scene. If his life was the stuff of rich biography—his memoir, for which he was reportedly paid $8 million, is due out in just over two weeks—the question remains: What will history think of him? Despite all the encomiums, it is too early to tell…. – WSJ, 8-27-09
• Gil Troy “Mishpacha Ted Kennedy—friend of Israel, champion of social justice, advocate for Soviet Jews—became part of our family: “Kennedy, although not of the World War II generation exactly, was from the Hubert Humphrey-Alan Cranston school of liberals who were passionately pro-Israel, partially because the World War II vets among them had witnessed the Holocaust,” Gil Troy, a professor of history at McGill University and a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said by email yesterday. “Kennedy’s consistent support for Israel, along with his support for Soviet Jewry were givens, not in the sense of being taken for granted, but in the sense of being so central to his identity and worldview, it was assumed. Moreover, there was something very healing, very redemptive, for all concerned that Ted Kennedy, the son of that old anti-Semite Joe Kennedy, was such a good friend of the Jews. I don’t know of Ted discussing his father in that context, but Jews were certainly aware of the generational shift—and were grateful.” – Tablet, 8-27-09
• Doris Kearns Goodwin: Kennedy Was ‘Strong In The Broken Places’: Well, I’ve known him for probably over 35 years — my husband, of course, worked in the White House with President Kennedy; was with Bobby when he died; and then was very close to Teddy Kennedy, who was at our wedding. We’ve spent vacations with him.
  You know, I think the extraordinary thing about him when you think of that long life is the way it’s really hit individual people in their daily goings-about.
  There’s a real personal bond that you can feel, even out here today at the Kennedy Library. You know, so many of those people who also loved Jack and Bobby, but probably never saw him, only saw either one of them through the power of television.
  A lot of these people here today have actually seen Teddy, they’ve had some dealings with him, or the legislation that he sponsored has affected them — giving them children’s health insurance; helping to get the right to vote; letting them take family and medical leave when something happened in the family; or people who are gay knowing that he helped with them; disabilities, helping with those rights.
  In a certain sense, the senator, it showed, could have more power in some ways, than presidents in making different changes in people’s daily lives, and you feel that in the emotion of these people today….. – wbur.org (NPR Boston), 8-28-09

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY:

(President Barack Obama addresses the annual VFW convention in Phoenix, AZ on Monday, August 17, 2009.
Official White House photo by Samantha Appleton)

IN FOCUS: STATS

• Obama Weekly Approval Average Now 52%, a New Low Approval among seniors, upper-income Americans has fallen below 50%: President Barack Obama’s most recent weekly job approval rating is 52% for the seven-day period ending on Sunday, similar to the 54% reading from the previous week but down significantly from 59% a month ago. His average disapproval rating during the past week is 41%…. – Gallop, 8-24-09
• Public confidence in Obama drops, poll shows: Fifty-five percent see the nation heading on the wrong track, up from 48% in April. Opposition against a public healthcare option is also up…. The president’s overall approval rating stands at 57%, 12 points lower than its April peak, as disapproval has ticked up to 40%, its highest yet. On specific issues, Obama received more mixed marks. A majority, 53%, disapprove of his handling of the federal budget deficit, and his ratings on healthcare continue to deteriorate. On the economy, 52% approve of his actions, unchanged from June…. – LAT, 8-21-09
• FACT CHECK: Health overhaul myths taking root: The judgment is harsh in a new poll that finds Americans worried about the government taking over health insurance, cutting off treatment to the elderly and giving coverage to illegal immigrants. Harsh, but not based on facts…. – AP, 8-21-09

THE HEADLINES….

• Gov’t extends deadline for clunkers paperwork: Car dealers will have a bit more time to get reimbursed for their Cash for Clunkers deals after the government extended the deadline for filing applications for the $3 billion government incentives into Tuesday…. – AP, 8-24-09
• Health-Bill’s Pace Prompts Calls for Delay: President Barack Obama should re-evaluate his push to overhaul the nation’s health-care system and move more slowly, key senators in the debate said Sunday…. – WSJ, 8-23-09
• Obama’s partisan reasons for ‘bipartisan’ healthcare: Obama needs to woo doubting conservatives in his own party even more than he needs to win over Republicans…. – CS Monitor, 8-23-09
• The Obamas Arrive at the Vineyard: President Obama and his family arrived here Sunday afternoon, stepping off a helicopter under a clear, blue sky as they opened an eight-day vacation on Martha’s Vineyard. NYT, 8-23-09
• Obama Team Lacking Most of Top Players: As President Obama tries to turn around a summer of setbacks, he finds himself still without most of his own team. Seven months into his presidency, fewer than half of his top appointees are in place advancing his agenda.
  Of more than 500 senior policymaking positions requiring Senate confirmation, just 43 percent have been filled — a reflection of a White House that grew more cautious after several nominations blew up last spring, a Senate that is intensively investigating nominees and a legislative agenda that has consumed both…. – NYT, 8-23-09
• SCENARIOS-Passing healthcare reform in Congress: Democrats in the U.S. Congress hope to pass President Barack Obama’s overhaul of the country’s $2.5 trillion healthcare system amid mounting public skepticism and unified opposition from Republicans…. – Reuters, 8-21-09
• The Reshaping of the GOP: The Most Fertile Ground for the GOP Is Independents and Young People – ABC News, 8-22-09
• Ever the optimist, President Obama still hopeful for health care reform: By every obvious measure, health care reform is in deep trouble. But don’t tell that to the optimist in chief.
  In private, President Obama is even more bullish than his public posture – constantly rallying battle-fatigued aides with assurances that victory is inevitable.
  “Don’t get down,” he often tells them, repeating his admonition at a recent White House staff meeting where the frustration bubbled over. NY Daily News, 8-22-09
• With Smiles, Obama Leaves Capital Behind: President Obama strode across the South Lawn of the White House shortly after lunchtime on Friday, climbed the steps to Marine One and officially opened his nine-day August vacation…. – NYT, 8-21-09
• US to hike 10-year deficit forecast to nine trillion dollars: US President Barack Obama’s administration will raise its 10-year budget deficit forecast to about nine trillion dollars, up about two trillion from the previous forecast, a US official said Friday… – AFP, 8-21-09
• Obama’s healthcare messages are backfiring, strategists say: The president’s range of abstract arguments for reform are leaving people confused, some Democrats contend. LAT, 8-21-09
• Obama May Abandon Effort to Reach Health Deal With Republicans: President Barack Obama is likely in September to end Democratic efforts to work with Republicans on health-care legislation and press for a party-line vote if the stalemate on the issue in the U.S. Senate persists, a person close to the White House said…. – Bloomberg, 8-21-09
• So what’s up with Obama’s talk about Washington being ‘wee-weed up’? - LAT, 8-20-09
• Analysis: Health care endgame near but uncertain: With hopes growing ever dimmer for a bipartisan accord, White House and Democratic leaders are considering a wide range of strategies for getting a health care bill passed when Congress returns from its summer recess. Some are blunt. Some are complex and technical. All are problematic…. – AP, 8-20-09
• Ex-DHS chief links politics to terror alerts: Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge claims in a new book that he was pressured by other members of President George W. Bush’s Cabinet to raise the nation’s terror alert level just before the 2004 presidential election…. AP, 8-20-09
• Bush Official, in Book, Tells of Pressure on ‘04 Vote: Tom Ridge, the first secretary of homeland security, asserts in a new book that he was pressured by top advisers to President George W. Bush to raise the national threat level just before the 2004 election in what he suspected was an effort to influence the vote…. – NYT, 8-20-09
• Kennedy asks Massachusetts to change successor rules: His letter to Gov. Deval Patrick and state lawmakers appears aimed at ensuring another Senate vote for healthcare reform if his cancer keeps him from being there. State Republicans are not impressed…. – LAT, 8-20-09
• Warning: out of control summer for Obama and Hill Democrats: The 2010 Congressional elections are more than a year away, and much can change between now and then. But here is a troubling straw in the wind for President Obama and his supporters on Capitol Hill. Charlie Cook, one of the most respected political analysts in town (and no relation), has just fired off a memo to readers of The Cook Political Report, commenting that, “the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and Congressional Democrats.”… – CS Monitor, 8-20-09
• Why Obama Is a Lame Duck Obama has made himself already irrelevant on many of the issues he ran on in 2008: Just seven months into his term — and 14 months before the 2010 midterm election — and could it be, is President Obama already a lame duck? With his passive management style — which inevitably led to overreaching and heavy-handedness by Congressional Democrats Obama has made himself largely irrelevant on many of the issues he ran on, from health care “reform” to “resetting” our foreign relations. Here are seven signs that Obama’s political suasion is waning…. – Fox News, 8-20-09
• David Sirota: The Obama Double Standard – Huff Post 8-20-09
• A Basis Is Seen for Some Health Plan Fears Among the Elderly: White House officials and Democrats in Congress say the fears of older Americans about possible rationing of health care are based on myths and falsehoods. But Medicare beneficiaries and insurance counselors say the concerns are not entirely irrational.
  Bills now in Congress would squeeze savings out of Medicare, a lifeline for the elderly, on the assumption that doctors and hospitals can be more efficient…. – NYT, 8-20-09
• Latest myth on health reform: HAVING SUCCESSFULLY dispatched the fictional “death panels” from the health reform legislation making its way through Congress, conservative critics are aiming at another mythical target in the bill: “abortion mandates.”… – Boston Globe, 8-20-09
• Obama team planning to wind down ‘clunkers’ program: The Obama administration is developing plans to wind down the popular cash for clunkers program and could announce by Friday when the incentives will no longer be available…. – AP, USA Today, 8-19-09
• New Rx for Health Plan: Split Bill: The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their health-care overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes.
  The idea is the latest effort by Democrats to escape the morass caused by delays in Congress, as well as voter discontent crystallized in angry town-hall meetings. Polls suggest the overhaul plans are losing public support, giving Republicans less incentive to go along.
  Democrats hope a split-the-bill plan would speed up a vote and help President Barack Obama meet his goal of getting a final measure by year’s end…. – WSJ, 8-19-09
• Biden: I Know Bush, and He’s No Obama: Vice president jokes about former administration during a fundraising dinner when he responded to a suggestion that President Bush leaned heavily on Vice President Cheney for guidance.
  “He’s the president, I’m the vice president. We’ve got the pecking order in this administration right,” Biden said. “I know George Bush, and he’s no Barack Obama.”… – Fox News, 8-19-09
• Obama to preach his healthcare message to religious leaders: The president will address more than 1,000 leaders of different faiths in two conference calls, hoping they will pass on his ideas about the overhaul to their parishioners. LAT, 8-18-09
• Democrats Seem Set to Go Alone on a Health Bill: Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority’s cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks…. – NYT, 8-18-09
• Debate’s Path Caught Obama by Surprise Public Option Wasn’t Intended as Major Focus: President Obama’s advisers acknowledged Tuesday that they were unprepared for the intraparty rift that occurred over the fate of a proposed public health insurance program, a firestorm that has left the White House searching for a way to reclaim the initiative on the president’s top legislative priority…. – WaPo, 8-18-09
• More Fake Letters to Congress on Energy Bill: Congressional investigators have uncovered five more letters sent to members of Congress that falsely claimed to be from charities expressing opposition to climate change legislation…. – NYT, 8-18-09

ELECTIONS 2010, 2012….

• Survey: One in five would vote for Paterson: Fewer than one in five voters plan to support Gov. David A. Paterson in next year’s elections, according to a poll released Monday…. – Newsday, 8-24-09
• Poll: Harry Reid faces formidable foes in 2010: A newspaper poll says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid faces formidable opposition next year when he seeks a fifth term. The poll, taken last week by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., shows Reid lagging by as many as 11 percentage points against Danny Tarkanian. He had 49 percent to Reid’s 38 percent…. – AP, 8-23-09

POLITICAL QUOTES

• McCain: Obama must drop health care public option: Sen. John McCain says President Barack Obama will have to drop proposals for a government-run health insurance option if he hopes to reach congressional agreement on health-care reform…. – AP, 8-23-09
• Sunday shows: McCain, Duncan, Mullen, Wen Jiabao – LAT, 8-23-09
• WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Debunks “Phony Claims” about Health Reform; Emphasizes Consumer Protections: “This is our chance to march forward. I cannot promise you that the reforms we seek will be perfect or make a difference overnight. But I can promise you this: if we pass health insurance reform, we will look back many years from now and say, this was the moment we summoned what’s best in each of us to make life better for all of us. This was the moment we built a health care system worthy of the nation and the people we love. This was the moment we earned our place alongside the greatest generations. And that is what our generation of Americans is called to do right now.” – WH, 8-22-09

• Obama stands by belief a public option is viable: In an interview Thursday with Philadelphia-based radio talk show host Michael Smerconish, Obama said that “the press got excited and some folks on the left got a little excited” when the administration last weekend made statements indicating that a publicly-run health insurance option was just one of several alternatives.
  Obama said, “What we’ve said is that there are a number of components to health care.” The president also said that “the key is cost control” and that there are any number of ways to reach that objective…. – AP, 8-21-09
• On defense, Obama woos right, left on healthcare: With control of the healthcare debate slipping from his grasp, President Barack Obama pitched his ambitious plan to conservative talk radio and his own liberal supporters Thursday — and denied a challenge from one backer that he is “bucklin’ a little bit” under Republican criticism…..
  “I guarantee you . . . we are going to get healthcare reform done. And I know that there are a lot of people out there who have been hand-wringing, and folks in the press are following every little twist and turn of the legislative process,” Obama told a caller to Philadelphia-based radio talk show host Michael Smerconish during a broadcast from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room. “You know, passing a big bill like this is always messy.”… – AP, 8-20-09
• Pelosi: I Can’t Pass Bill Without Public Option: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she will be unable to pass health-care legislation in her chamber if it doesn’t include a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers. “There’s no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option,” Pelosi said during a press conference in San Francisco…. – Bloomberg, 8-20-09
• Biden: US closer than ever to health care reform: Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday the nation has never been closer to substantial health care overhaul despite “all the shouting and all the political turmoil” of recent weeks…. – AP, 8-20-09
• GOP Chief Steele Dares Democrats to Pass Health Overhaul On Their Own: Michael Steele told reporters that he thinks if Democratic senators think they have the votes, they should try a tactic that would allow them to get around a bill-killing filibuster without the 60 votes usually needed. “Get it to the floor. Up or down, baby,” Steele said at a news conference at the state GOP headquarters. “Put it on the table. And if you don’t think you’ve got enough votes to get to 60, you’ve got the nuclear option. You’ve got 51.”
  “You want it done? Pass the bill,” Steele said. “But they know it’s poisonous and they know the American people will not tolerate it. They’re scrambling now and they’re beginning to turn on each other because they’ve got a big problem, a political one, and they can’t solve it.” Fox News, 8-20-09
• Mitt Romney: Liberals given too much say in health care: Romney said that “if the president wants to get something done, he needs to put aside the extreme liberal wing of his party.” Romney, who ran for the Republican presidential nod last year, said Medicare and Medicaid already account for virtually half of health care and there shouldn’t be any greater federal role…. – AP, 8-20-09
• Obama Calls Health Plan a ‘Moral Obligation’: President Obama sought Wednesday to reframe the health care debate as “a core ethical and moral obligation,” imploring a coalition of religious leaders to help promote the plan to lower costs and expand insurance coverage for all Americans.
  “I know there’s been a lot of misinformation in this debate, and there are some folks out there who are frankly bearing false witness,” Mr. Obama told a multidenominational group of pastors, rabbis and other religious leaders who support his goal to remake the nation’s health care system….- NYT, 8-19-09

HISTORIANS’ COMMENTS

• Steve M. Gillon “Saving the Obama Presidency”: In his book “The Pact,” historian Steven M. Gillon puts it this way: “Ironically, Gingrich’s revolution may have saved the Clinton presidency by freeing him from the control of his party’s more liberal base in Congress, giving him the opportunity to return to the moderate message that helped him win election in the first place. “It was Gingrich who changed the language of American politics and forced Clinton to play the game on his turf,” he writes. “But it was Clinton who ultimately got the credit and emerged as the decade’s most popular leader.” – WSJ, 8-24-09