THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY:

IN FOCUS: STATS

• Unexpected drop in jobless rate sparks optimism: Two years of steep job cuts all but ended last month, unexpectedly pulling down the unemployment rate and raising hopes for a lasting economic recovery. Federal figures released Friday showed that the rate fell from 10.2 percent in October to 10 percent…. And the so-called underemployment rate, counting part-time workers who want full-time jobs and laid-off workers who have given up their job hunt, also fell, from 17.5 percent in October to 17.2 percent…. – AP, 12-4-09

THE HEADLINES….

• Sarah Palin speech: The view’s better from inside the bus than under it: The lines began forming Saturday morning outside the Sioux Falls Barnes & Noble bookstore, fully 35 hours before former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was to arrive there to sign her new book, “Going Rogue.”… – LAT, 12-6-09
• What Sarah Palin had to say at Saturday’s Gridiron dinner: Look at it this way, Sarah Palin told a Washington journalists’ dinner Saturday night: If Joe Biden had lost, he’d be peddling a book today titled, “Going Rogaine.” Biden, of course, is now vice president (and with a head of thinning hair), while Palin, the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, stopped in Washington Saturday to promote her book, “Going Rogue,” and entertain the Gridiron Club, a group of veteran Washington reporters and bureau chiefs at their annual winter dinner…. – McClatchy Newspapers, 12-6-09
• Obama: Efforts aimed at economy’s long-term health: The U.S. is emerging from an “economic storm,” President Barack Obama says, pledging new ways to put people back on the payroll after a painful recession. Readying a job creation proposal he plans to send to Congress in the coming week, the president said in his radio and Internet address Saturday that he’s focused on building an economy “that continues to make real the promise of America for generations to come.”…
  In a Washington speech Tuesday, Obama is likely to endorse expanding a program that gives people cash incentives to fix up their homes with energy-saving materials, according to administration officials….
  “So that we don’t face another crisis like this again, I’m determined to meet our responsibility to do what we know will strengthen our economy in the long run,” Obama said in his address. AP, 12-5-09
• Senate debates health care, rejects GOP amendment: Senate Republicans failed Saturday to eliminate $42.1 billion in cuts to Medicare home health care service in the health care bill. The 53-41 vote shot down a motion offered by Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Nebraska, that would have sent Majority Leader Harry Reid’s sweeping $848 billion reform plan back to committee with instructions to remove all home health care cuts. Johanns objected to the cuts, saying that the services “help some of the most vulnerable Americans.”… – CNN, 12-5-09
• Baucus Nominated Girlfriend for Post, Aide Says: A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Max Baucus says the Montana Democrat was in a romantic relationship with the woman he nominated for U.S. attorney…. – AP/NYT, 12-5-09
• Obama shifts Copenhagen travel plans to boost climate change deal: US president bows to international pressure to join other world leaders in crunch negotiating sessions. Barack Obama has bowed to international appeals for America to demonstrate commitment to action on global warming, and said he will join other world leaders for the crunch negotiating sessions of the Copenhagen climate change summit.
  The White House, in a statement from the press secretary, Robert Gibbs, last night said Obama would adjust his original travel schedule… “The president believes that continued US leadership can be most productive through his participation at the end of the Copenhagen conference on December 18th,” the statement said. “There are still outstanding issues that must be negotiated for an agreement to be reached, but this decision reflects the president’s commitment to doing all he can to pursue a positive outcome.”… – Guardian UK, 12-4-09
• Climategate? What Climategate? Congressional Democrats are Climategate deniers: The scandal involving leaked or purloined emails from the Climatic Research Unit at Britain’s University of East Anglia finally reached Capitol Hill this week, but not in the way you’d expect. Democratic committee chairmen ignored the evidence of scientific skullduggery at the influential research unit, even as its head Phil Jones stepped aside this week to make way for an investigation.
  Senator Barbara Boxer, chair of the Environment Committee, did rouse herself to comment on the emails, saying their release should be treated as a criminal matter. “You call it ‘Climategate’; I call it ‘Email-theft-gate,’” she said. “Part of our looking at this will be looking at a criminal activity which could have well been coordinated.”… – WSJ, 12-4-09
• Palin arrives to cheering crowd at Fort Hood: A cheering crowd has greeted former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin at Fort Hood in Texas. About 1,250 fans showed up to get signed copies of Palin’s book, “Going Rogue.” Because of limited space, only about 250 people were allowed in the food court building to see the former Alaska governor…. – AP, 12-4-09
• Senate preserves long-term care program: The Senate on Friday turned back a Republican effort to eliminate a long-term care insurance program to help seniors and the disabled, saving the plan once championed by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in its health overhaul bill. But the vote exposed the difficulties Democratic leaders face in persuading their own moderates to remain united behind sweeping legislation they hope to deliver to President Barack Obama. Eleven Democrats voted with Republicans, who warned that the new program would turn into a drain on the federal budget. Republicans fell short in a bid to strike the long-term care plan on a 51-47 vote. They needed 60 votes to prevail…. – AP, 12-4-09
• Obama, lawmakers target bailout fund for jobs bill: President Barack Obama’s options for spurring job growth may be limited by out-of-control budget deficits, but he is warming to moves by his congressional allies for a jobs-boosting bill. Taking his defense of the economy on the road, the president scheduled appearances Friday in Pennsylvania to showcase innovative businesses following Thursday’s White House jobs forum. That event combined cheerleading and brainstorming as Obama exhorted more than 100 CEOs, academics, small business and union leaders and local officials to focus on new ways to get businesses hiring again…. – AP, 12-4-09
• Allegedly green Obama lights National Christmas Tree, leaves them on: It was Barack Obama’s first time. But tonight for the 86th year in a row, a U.S. president turned on the lights of the national Christmas tree, a 40-foot Colorado spruce near the White House. Claiming to be technologically challenged, the BlackBerry-loving, 48-year-old president asked his daughters, Sasha and Malia, to help press the ceremonial button that lit up the tree planted on the Ellipse way back in 1978. In those days Obama was only 17 and an aging Vice President Joe Biden was already in the second of a gazillion terms as a senator from Delaware. “Watson, come here!” the 44th president exclaimed. No, just kidding. He actually exclaimed, “It worked!”… – LAT, 12-3-09
• Senate Democrats push ahead on health bill: They pass an amendment requiring insurers to cover women’s preventive care and screenings, and reject McCain’s bid to restore proposed cuts in what Medicare pays out… – LAT, 12-3-09
• Senate Breaks Health Stalemate; First Votes Today: At the end of a third day of Senate debate over sweeping health care legislation, Democrats and Republicans said Wednesday night that they had broken an impasse over the seemingly simple question of how and when to vote on the first amendments. But even as lawmakers announced an agreement to begin voting Thursday, Democrats accused Republicans of stalling debate and obstructing the legislation…. – NYT, 12-2-09
• Obama shifts White House spotlight to unemployment: President Barack Obama turns his attention on Thursday from Afghanistan to the battle against unemployment which has sapped his popularity and may shape his political future. Obama is hosting a forum with business leaders at the White House to discuss how to boost jobs after U.S. unemployment hit a 26-year peak of 10.2 percent in October. But the gathering has been dismissed by critics as a public relations exercise. The president’s public approval ratings have dipped as joblessness has grown, alarming members of his Democratic party who face congressional elections next year. Republicans say his economic recoveries policies have failed to deliver…. – Reuters, 12-2-09
• Obama rejoining economic debate with jobs summit: Under pressure from Republicans and an impatient public to fix the sputtering economic recovery, President Barack Obama is refocusing on this politically potent issue by talking job creation with business and labor leaders at the White House…. Administration officials are hoping Thursday’s jobs forum, an Obama trip to Pennsylvania on Friday and a major economic speech on Tuesday will help counter Republican critics who contend the administration’s economic recovery efforts have failed and its oversight of the $787 billion stimulus package has been inadequate…. – AP, 12-3-09
• Old Clemency May Be Issue for Huckabee: When Mike Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist minister then serving as governor of Arkansas, granted clemency to Maurice Clemmons nine years ago, he cited his age: Mr. Clemmons was 16 when he began the crime spree for which he was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison… – NYT, 12-1-09
• Palin reaches the 1 million mark: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s memoir ‘Going Rogue’ has sold more than one million copies after debuting only two weeks ago, her publisher Harper Collins tells CNN….- CNN, 12-1-09
• Tempers rise as Senate moves toward health vote: A Republican senator asserted Tuesday during a rancorous floor debate that President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul will shorten the lives of America’s seniors by cutting Medicare. “I have a message for you: You’re going to die sooner,” said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., an obstetrician- turned-lawmaker…. – AP, 12-1-09

ELECTIONS 2010, 2012….

POLITICAL QUOTES

• Obama Pledges to Put More Americans Back to Work: In his weekly radio and Internet address, the U.S. president said Saturday he will ‘focus every single day’ on building the economy and getting people into productive jobs. VOA, 12-5-09
• Weekly Address: President Obama Says Employment Trends Are Improving; But Remains Focused on Job Creation Remarks of President Barack Obama As Prepared for Delivery Weekly Address Saturday, December 5, 2009: History tells us this is usually what happens with recessions – even as the economy grows, it takes time for jobs to follow. But the folks who have been looking for work without any luck for months and, in some cases, years, can’t wait any longer. For them, I’m determined to do everything I can to accelerate our progress so we’re actually adding jobs again….
  And that’s exactly what I’m working to give them. In the coming days, I’ll be unveiling additional ideas aimed at accelerating job growth and hiring as we emerge from this economic storm.
  And so that we don’t face another crisis like this again, I’m determined to meet our responsibility to do what we know will strengthen our economy in the long-run. That’s why I’m not going to let up in my efforts to reform our health care system; to give our children the best education in the world; to promote the jobs of tomorrow and energy independence by investing in a clean energy economy; and to deal with the mounting federal debt…. – WH, 12-5-09
• President Obama’s remarks at National Christmas Tree, as provided by the White House: THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Washington, D.C. (Applause.) I want to, first of all, thank Secretary Salazar for not only the kind introduction, but the extraordinary work he is doing in preserving the incredible bounty and natural resources of this country. I want to thank all those involved in helping to organize this great event. Thank you to….
  …Randy Jackson, and all the performers putting on an incredible show. I told Sasha we’re not on American Idol — (laughter) — no singing. (Laughter.)
  I also want to thank Neal Mulholland, Jon Jarvis, and Peggy O’Dell from the National Park Service for being with us, and all the Park Service employees who’ve worked so hard to put this event together — give them a big round of applause. (Applause.) And I want to thank my outstanding Vice President and his gorgeous granddaughters — Joe Biden. Stand up, Joe. (Applause.)
  In 1923, the Washington, D.C. Public Schools wrote a letter to the White House asking if they could put up a Christmas tree on the South Lawn. And First Lady Grace Coolidge said they could use the Ellipse. (Laughter.) And in the eight decades since -– in times of war and peace, hardship and joy –- Americans from every corner of this nation have gathered here to share in the holiday spirit.
  Tonight, we celebrate a story that is as beautiful as it is simple. The story of a child born far from home to parents guided only by faith, but who would ultimately spread a message that has endured for more than 2,000 years -– that no matter who we are or where we are from, we are each called to love one another as brother and sister.
  While this story may be a Christian one, its lesson is universal. It speaks to the hope we share as a people. And it represents a tradition that we celebrate as a country –- a tradition that has come to represent more than any one holiday or religion, but a season of brotherhood and generosity to our fellow citizens.
  It’s that spirit of unity that we must remember as we light the National Christmas Tree –- a tree that will shine its light far beyond our city and our shores to every American around the world.
  And that’s why tonight our thoughts and prayers are with the men and women who will be spending this holiday far from home –- the mothers and fathers, the sons and daughters of our military who risk their lives every day to keep us safe. We will be thinking of you and praying for you during this holiday season.
  And let’s also remember our neighbors who are struggling here at home -– those who’ve lost a job or a home; a friend or a loved one — because even though it’s easy to focus on receiving at this time of year, it’s often in the simple act of giving that we find the greatest happiness.
  So on behalf of Michelle and Malia and Sasha and my mother-in-law, Mama Robinson — I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. May you go out with joy, and be led forth in peace.
  And now, to the serious business of pressing the button and lighting this beautiful tree. (Applause.) So, guys, come up here. I need some assistance. I’m technologically challenged and I might not get this right. So we’re going to do a countdown, starting from five. Everybody has got to help me out here. Five, four, three, two, one — ho! (Applause.) It worked! LAT, 12-3-09

HISTORIANS & ANALYSTS’ COMMENTS

• Historians comment on Obama role as consoler in chief: In the days ahead, Obama must master those moments to sustain support for the war in Afghanistan, says Jerald Podair, a history professor at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. “Grief is the one part of a president’s job that cannot be spun. It must be personal and come from the heart,” Podair says. Yet the cool and cerebral Obama is not known for opening his heart, Podair says… … If Obama bungles a public occasion for mourning, he can permanently damage his ability to lead, some historians say…. – CNN (12-4-09)
• Max Boot: Despite some questions, Obama’s Afghan policy is sound Given time, his strategy should work. But will there be time, and what about ‘winning’?: President Obama’s Afghanistan policy raises some serious questions (more on those in a moment), but to see why it has a decent chance of working, it helps to visit the town of Nawa in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand River Valley. I was there in October and found that 1,000 Marines who had arrived during the summer had already made substantial strides. When the Marines got there, Nawa was practically a ghost town…..
  At the same time, our troops must work to build up Afghanistan’s security forces. Yet another missing element in Obama’s speech was the lack of a specific commitment to expand the Afghan security forces, but there is little doubt that this is our only responsible exit strategy. Before the Afghans can take the lead, however, our troops must first reduce the enemy’s toughest strongholds. That process begins in Marjah. – LAT, 12-3-09
• Andrew J. Bacevich: Obama’s folly: Rather than trying to salvage Bush’s policy in Afghanistan, the president should show real courage and just pull the plug. Which is the greater folly: To fancy that war offers an easy solution to vexing problems, or, knowing otherwise, to opt for war anyway?
  In the wake of 9/11, American statecraft emphasized the first approach: President George W. Bush embarked on a “global war” to eliminate violent jihadism. President Obama now seems intent on pursuing the second approach: Through military escalation in Afghanistan, he seeks to “finish the job” that Bush began there, then all but abandoned.
  Through war, Bush set out to transform the greater Middle East. Despite immense expenditures of blood and treasure, that effort failed. In choosing Obama rather than John McCain to succeed Bush, the American people acknowledged that failure as definitive. Obama’s election was to mark a new beginning, an opportunity to “reset” America’s approach to the world…. – LAT, 12-3-09

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY:

IN FOCUS: STATS

• FACT CHECK: Obama overlooks some tough realities: President Barack Obama’s speech Tuesday night did not always match the reality on the ground in Afghanistan. The president raised expectations that may be hard to meet when he told Americans his troop increase in Afghanistan will accelerate the training of that country’s own forces and be accompanied by more help from allies. A look at some of his claims and how they compare with the facts… – AP, 12-1-09

THE HEADLINES….

• Qualified Support From G.O.P.; Skepticism From Democrats: Congressional Republicans offered qualified support Tuesday for President Obama’s proposed troop increase in Afghanistan but several senior Democrats took sharp exception to the president’s plan, illustrating the deep divide in the party over the conflict…. – NYT, 12-2-09
• Obama Adds Troops, but Maps Exit Plan: President Obama announced Tuesday that he would speed 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in coming months, but he vowed to start bringing American forces home in the middle of 2011. He said that the United States could not afford an open-ended commitment and that it was time for Afghans to take more responsibility for their country…. – NYT, 12-1-09
• Obama’s Afghanistan speech: five key points In President Obama’s Afghanistan speech, he announced Tuesday night that he will send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. But he’s already decided to start bringing them back by mid-2011: President Obama’s Afghanistan speech announced a new, historic chapter for the mission there, announcing the deployment of 30,000 additional troops in the “epicenter of the violent extremism practiced by Al Qaeda” but also promising to begin withdrawing those forces within 18 months. The surge of forces will bring the total American commitment to nearly 100,000. It will be composed of several combat brigades, new trainers and support troops and will be deployed at “the fastest pace possible” to be on the ground and fighting by summer, an onerous task for a military deploying forces to a landlocked country with a crude infrastructure. The much-anticipated formal announcement of a policy in Afghanistan punctuates three months of soul-searching within the administration and, regardless of the outcome, represents an historical turning point for Afghanistan and the Obama administration…. – CS Monitor, 12-2-09
• Analyzing Obama’s Afghan Speech: President Obama outlined his reasons for increasing troops in Afghanistan, but promised the war would not go on without end…. – NYT, 12-1-09
• Obama orders 30,000-troop boost in Afghanistan: Declaring “our security is at stake,” President Barack Obama ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops into the long war in Afghanistan on Tuesday night, nearly tripling the force he inherited but promising an impatient public to begin withdrawal in 18 months. The buildup will begin almost immediately — the first Marines will be in place by Christmas — and will cost $30 billion for the first year alone. In a prime-time speech at the U.S. Military Academy, the president told the nation his new policy was designed to “bring this war to a successful conclusion,” though he made no mention of defeating Taliban insurgents or capturing al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden…. – AP, 12-1-09
• Obama’s Afghan War Compromise Doesn’t Quell Strategy Debate By offering something to all sides in the debate, Obama may have left all sides unsatisfied: President Obama, after vowing last week to “finish the job” in Afghanistan, presented the nation Tuesday with a new war strategy that seemed to contain something for everyone: a troop increase, a preliminary timetable for withdrawal, tough words for the Afghan government and an emphasis on the U.S. partnership with Pakistan.
  But by offering something to all sides in the debate, Obama may have left all sides unsatisfied — from the liberal groups who have protested any troop increase to the conservatives who object to a fixed timetable for withdrawal that, they say, could signal to enemies simply to lie low and wait.
  The reaction to the plan in the hours after Obama’s prime-time speech was swift and wide-ranging, setting the tone for a potentially contentious foreign policy debate that could define the rest of Obama’s presidency. Fox News, 12-2-09
• With Troops Go Demands: In ordering the accelerated deployment of 30,000 fresh American troops to the country, President Obama made clear that he would demand a far greater effort from President Hamid Karzai to staunch corruption in his government and from Afghan soldiers and police officers to fight Taliban insurgents. The extra American soldiers, the president said, would only be on the ground for a limited time to ensure the Afghans followed through. But that is the heart of the problem: in laying down the gauntlet for the Afghans, President Obama is setting criteria for success that he and his field commanders may be able to influence, but which ultimately they will not be able to control…. – NYT, 12-2-09
• Obama Outlines Plan for Afghanistan Troop Surge: After a months-long review of the U.S. war efforts in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama laid out a new course Tuesday night, saying it is in “our vital national interest” to deploy 30,000 more troops to the fight…. – PBS Newshour, 12-1-09
• Will Obama’s war become his Vietnam?: As President Obama announced he’s sending more troops to Afghanistan, he also took on critics who made comparisons between the current situation and the war in Vietnam…. – CNN, 12-1-09
• Obama ally breaks with him on Afghanistan: Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky was one of President Obama’s earliest and most ardent supporters. She served in the Illinois state legislature with him, and she supported his run for the U.S. Senate. But on the issue of Afghanistan, the president can’t bank on the support of his longtime political ally. “He’s made up his mind that at this point there ought to be a troop increase, and I have to say I’m very skeptical about that as a solution,” she said… – CNN, 12-1-09
• Afghanistan Drawdown to Begin in 2011, Officials Say: President Obama will announce on Tuesday night that he will begin to draw American forces out of Afghanistan in July 2011, even after sending some 30,000 more United States troops there to reverse the momentum of Taliban insurgents, the White House said.
  “The 30,000 additional troops that I am announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010 – the fastest pace possible – so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers,” the president plans to tell the nation, according to excerpts released in advance by the White House. “They will increase our ability to train competent Afghan Security Forces, and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight,” Mr. Obama plans to tell a national television audience from the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. “And they will help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans.”… – NY”T, 12-1-09
• Obama’s Speech on Afghanistan to Envision Exit: President Obama plans to lay out a time frame for winding down the American involvement in the war in Afghanistan when he announces his decision this week to send more forces, senior administration officials said Sunday. Although the speech was still in draft form, the officials said the president wanted to use the address at the United States Military Academy at West Point on Tuesday night not only to announce the immediate order to deploy roughly 30,000 more troops, but also to convey how he intends to turn the fight over to the Kabul government.
  “It’s accurate to say that he will be more explicit about both goals and time frame than has been the case before and than has been part of the public discussion,” said a senior official, who requested anonymity to discuss the speech before it is delivered. “He wants to give a clear sense of both the time frame for action and how the war will eventually wind down.”… – NYT, 11-30-09

POLITICAL QUOTES

• Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Eisenhower Hall Theatre, United States Military Academy at West Point, West Point, New York 8:01 P.M. EST WH, 12-1-09
• Obama’s Address on the War in Afghanistan: Following is the text of President Obama’s address on a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, as released by the White House on Tuesday…
  Good evening. To the United States Corps of Cadets, to the men and women of our Armed Services, and to my fellow Americans: I want to speak to you tonight about our effort in Afghanistan — the nature of our commitment there, the scope of our interests, and the strategy that my administration will pursue to bring this war to a successful conclusion. It’s an extraordinary honor for me to do so here at West Point — where so many men and women have prepared to stand up for our security, and to represent what is finest about our country….
  To meet that goal, we will pursue the following objectives within Afghanistan. We must deny al Qaeda a safe haven. We must reverse the Taliban’s momentum and deny it the ability to overthrow the government. And we must strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan’s security forces and government so that they can take lead responsibility for Afghanistan’s future.
  We will meet these objectives in three ways. First, we will pursue a military strategy that will break the Taliban’s momentum and increase Afghanistan’s capacity over the next 18 months.
  The 30,000 additional troops that I’m announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010 — the fastest possible pace — so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers. They’ll increase our ability to train competent Afghan security forces, and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight. And they will help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans.
  Because this is an international effort, I’ve asked that our commitment be joined by contributions from our allies. Some have already provided additional troops, and we’re confident that there will be further contributions in the days and weeks ahead. Our friends have fought and bled and died alongside us in Afghanistan. And now, we must come together to end this war successfully. For what’s at stake is not simply a test of NATO’s credibility — what’s at stake is the security of our allies, and the common security of the world.
  But taken together, these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011. Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground. We’ll continue to advise and assist Afghanistan’s security forces to ensure that they can succeed over the long haul. But it will be clear to the Afghan government — and, more importantly, to the Afghan people — that they will ultimately be responsible for their own country.
  Second, we will work with our partners, the United Nations, and the Afghan people to pursue a more effective civilian strategy, so that the government can take advantage of improved security. This effort must be based on performance. The days of providing a blank check are over. President Karzai’s inauguration speech sent the right message about moving in a new direction. And going forward, we will be clear about what we expect from those who receive our assistance. We’ll support Afghan ministries, governors, and local leaders that combat corruption and deliver for the people. We expect those who are ineffective or corrupt to be held accountable. And we will also focus our assistance in areas — such as agriculture — that can make an immediate impact in the lives of the Afghan people.
  The people of Afghanistan have endured violence for decades. They’ve been confronted with occupation — by the Soviet Union, and then by foreign al Qaeda fighters who used Afghan land for their own purposes. So tonight, I want the Afghan people to understand — America seeks an end to this era of war and suffering. We have no interest in occupying your country. We will support efforts by the Afghan government to open the door to those Taliban who abandon violence and respect the human rights of their fellow citizens. And we will seek a partnership with Afghanistan grounded in mutual respect — to isolate those who destroy; to strengthen those who build; to hasten the day when our troops will leave; and to forge a lasting friendship in which America is your partner, and never your patron.
  Third, we will act with the full recognition that our success in Afghanistan is inextricably linked to our partnership with Pakistan.
  We’re in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country. But this same cancer has also taken root in the border region of Pakistan. That’s why we need a strategy that works on both sides of the border….
  It’s easy to forget that when this war began, we were united — bound together by the fresh memory of a horrific attack, and by the determination to defend our homeland and the values we hold dear. I refuse to accept the notion that we cannot summon that unity again. (Applause.) I believe with every fiber of my being that we — as Americans — can still come together behind a common purpose. For our values are not simply words written into parchment — they are a creed that calls us together, and that has carried us through the darkest of storms as one nation, as one people…. – NYT, 12-1-09

HISTORIANS & ANALYSTS’ COMMENTS

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Spelling out his plans for Afghanistan, President Obama on Tuesday said he could “bring this war to a successful conclusion.” More Photos >

• President’s Afghan drawdown plan called risky, ‘unrealistic’: Andrew Bacevich, a Boston University professor and former Army officer, said the balancing act could leave Obama facing “really unpalatable” choices in 2011 and beyond.
  “If you’re in my camp, you’re hard-pressed to see how everything is going to go smoothly in Afghanistan,” said Bacevich, who has called the Afghan war unnecessary and impossible to win.
  Obama could be forced to choose between sticking to his plans and leaving the American mission unfinished or extending the U.S. role in an unpopular war.
  “It’s hard to conceive that public support will have risen,” he said. “On the other hand, a president facing re-election who pulls the plug on a failing war is going to find himself charged with being an ineffective commander-in-chief.” – CNN, 12-1-09
• Julian Zelizer “President Obama set to hike troops in Afghanistan, risking political fallout and recalling Vietnam”: “Is Obama in danger of becoming an unpopular wartime president?”: “What we’ve seen with other presidents is the more you get bogged down by war, the more that becomes how Americans and fellow politicians define your presidency,” said Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He cited former President Lyndon B. Johnson and Bush as examples. Obama must quickly establish civil stability and get U.S. troops out within the year — a difficult task, Zelizer said.
  “Does the president’s challenge in Afghanistan mirror Johnson’s troubles in Vietnam?”: Johnson, like Obama, faced divisions in the White House and Congress on whether to escalate the war, and both wars are incredibly messy with no clear-cut enemy, Zelizer said. Obama, however, has Vietnam to learn from. “The memories and the fears of Vietnam, they’re shaping the debate over Afghanistan,” Zelizer said…. – AM NY, 12-1-09

HISTORY BUZZ:

Luke Sharrett/The New York Times
Gursharan Kaur, the first lady of India, Michelle Obama, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, and President Obama arrived for the state Dinner.

IN FOCUS: STATS

• Obama’s Approval Slide Finds Whites Down to 39% Support has declined much more among whites than among nonwhites: In his first full week in office (Jan. 26-Feb. 1), an average of 66% of Americans approved of the job Obama was doing, including 61% of non-Hispanic whites and 80% of nonwhites. In the most recent week, spanning Nov. 16-22 interviewing, his approval rating averaged 49% overall, 39% among whites, and 73% among nonwhites. Thus, since the beginning of his presidency, his support has dropped 22 points among whites, compared with a 7-point loss among nonwhites. – Gallop, 11-24-09
• SPIN METER: ‘War and Peace’ in 209 pages?: Republicans are using everything short of forklifts to show Americans that Democratic health care legislation is an unwieldy mountain of paper. They pile it high on desks, hoist it on a shoulder trussed in sturdy rope and tell people it’s longer than “War and Peace,” which it isn’t… – AP, 11-25-09
• The harris poll (r) President’s Job Approval Ratings Hinge on Good, Bad Element of Change Some think he is trying to do too much; others say his efforts are positive.: These are some of the results of The Harris Poll(R) of 2,303 adults surveyed online between Nov. 2 and 11, 2009 by Harris Interactive(R).
  Right now, more than two in five Americans (43 percent) give Obama positive job approval ratings. When these people are asked why they think some people like the job Obama is doing, the highest response, given by 13 percent of Americans, is that he is trying to bring about much needed change. One in 10 U.S. adults (9 percent) think people like the job the president is doing because he is working for the people’s best interests and doing the right thing. Further down the list as reasons are that he seems to care about everyone, or the common man (7 percent) and the same number say people like Obama because he is not George W. Bush. In fact, 5 percent each say people like the job the president is doing because the country needs a fresh outlook with new ideas. – The Ledger, 11-24-09
• AP Poll: Americans fret over health overhaul costs: It’s the cost, Mr. President. Americans are worried about hidden costs in the fine print of health care overhaul legislation, an Associated Press poll says. That’s creating new challenges for President Barack Obama as he tries to close the deal with a handful of Democratic doubters in the Senate. The poll found that 43 percent oppose the health care plans being discussed in Congress, while 41 percent are in support. An additional 15 percent remain neutral or undecided…. – AP, 11-16-09
• Michelle Obama’s poll numbers slide: When Michelle Obama moved into the White House, she instantly became one of the most famous first ladies in history, a symbol of racial pride, a victor in the battle of the sexes and the picture of a modern woman, mother and wife. But from her days on the campaign trail to her residency in the White House, Obama’s favorability rating has been in flux, from a low of 48 percent in June 2008 to a peak of 72 percent last March to a slide to 61 percent in a recent Gallup Poll. – Politico, 11-4-09

THE HEADLINES….

• Debate on Creating Jobs, Without Raising Deficit: As Democrats renew their push to create jobs, they are at odds over the timing, cost and scope of additional measures, with the White House’s concern about high budget deficits pitted against the eagerness of many in Congress to spur hiring before next year’s elections. After months in which his focus has been on a health care overhaul and foreign policy issues, President Obama will pivot later this week to the economy, convening a White House forum on Thursday to discuss ideas for job creation and then traveling to Allentown, Pa., for his first stop on a “Main Street Tour.” – NYT, 11-29-09
• Sam Tanenhaus: North Star Populism, politics, and the power of Sarah Palin. – New Yorker, 12-7-09
• US senators to begin fractious health care debate: The US Senate was set Monday to begin debate on a massive health care reform bill that is a key priority for President Barack Obama but faces stiff Republican opposition and is plagued by divisions in Democratic ranks. Debate is to begin Monday morning on the measure to overhaul the US health care system, at an estimated cost of 848 billion dollars through 2019, but a final Senate vote on the bill is not expected for a month at the earliest. The administration hailed the November 22 vote that cleared the way for debate to begin, but Senate Majority Harry Reid faces a tough challenge constructing a coalition strong enough to get the bill out of the Senate. He can count on almost unanimous opposition to the measure from Republicans, one of whom has vowed a “holy war” against the bill…. – AFP, 11-29-09
• Uninvited Pair Met Obama; Secret Service Offers Apology: President Obama and his wife, Michelle, had a face-to-face encounter with the couple who sneaked into a state dinner at the White House this week, White House officials acknowledged on Friday. The revelation underscored the seriousness of the security breach and prompted an abject apology from the Secret Service…. – NYT, 11-27-09
• Tis the season: White House Christmas tree arrives: The White House is open for Christmas. A day after celebrating Thanksgiving, first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha received the official White House Christmas tree: an 18 1/2-foot Douglas fir delivered from a farm in Shepherdstown, W.Va., by traditional horse-drawn carriage. Growers Eric and Gloria Sundback officially presented the tree to the Obamas on Friday…. – AP, 11-27-09
• Karl Rove: Voter Anger Is Building Over Deficits: The generic poll shows a 16-point swing to the GOP over last year. WSJ, 11-27-09
• Obama’s agenda runs into economic angst in Congress: U.S. President Barack Obama is paying a price for a recession that began before he took office, and fellow Democrats have started to balk at his legislative agenda and demand greater efforts to create jobs. Some liberal Democrats even want Obama to replace his economic team while moderates fear his bid to overhaul healthcare and stem global warming — two top priorities — may mean more fiscal hard times, at least in the short term…. – Reuters, 11-26-09
• Obamas’ Uninvited Guests Prompt an Inquiry: The Secret Service is investigating how a couple aspiring to be reality-show celebrities managed to appear at President Obama’s first state dinner without being on the guest list, provoking questions about security at the White House…. – NYT, 11-27-09
• Oprah to visit White House, interview Obamas for holiday special: Oprah Winfrey will interview President Obama and his wife, Michelle, next month for a 60-minute program to air before Christmas, the talk show host announced Wednesday. “Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special” will air at 10 p.m. ET December 13 on ABC, her Web site said…. – CNN, 11-25-09
• Evening gowns, saris at Obama’s first state dinner: Traditional evening gowns and vibrantly colored saris mixed with banded-collar dinner jackets and tuxedos at President Barack Obama’s first state dinner. There also were turbans and bindis and diamonds aplenty, as several hundred guests put on the glitz and joined a White House celebration in honor of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Outshining them all was first lady Michelle Obama in a strapless, cream and gold silk chiffon gown with a sparkling silver floral design…. – AP, 11-25-09
• Panel 1st up in SC Gov. Sanford impeachment debate: Gov. Mark Sanford’s tearful confession that he quietly disappeared from the state for five days to rendezvous with his lover in Argentina has shattered his marriage and dimmed his once-bright political future. A small group of lawmakers on Tuesday started the debate whether his decision to vanish last summer without telling his staff his whereabouts or leave anyone in charge rises to the “serious crimes or serious misconduct in office” standard necessary to impeach him…. – AP, 11-25-09
• Obama to vow greenhouse emissions cuts in Denmark: Putting his prestige on the line, President Barack Obama will personally commit the U.S. to a goal of substantially cutting greenhouse gases at next month’s Copenhagen climate summit. He will insist America is ready to tackle global warming despite resistance in Congress over higher costs for businesses and homeowners…. – AP, 11-25-09
• Obama will unveil Afghan troops move at West Point: President Barack Obama plans to announce a redrawn battle plan for Afghanistan, including what the military says could be a roughly 50 percent increase in U.S. forces, in a national address Tuesday night from the U.S. Military Academy… – AP, 11-25-09
• ‘Going Rogue’ Goes to Top of Book Sales Chart: “Going Rogue,” the newly released memoir by Sarah Palin, the former Alaskan governor and Republican nominee for vice president, sold 469,000 copies in its first week of release, according to sales figures released Wednesday by Nielsen BookScan. That made “Going Rogue” the top-selling book of the week on Nielsen BookScan’s chart. – NYT, 11-25-09
• Obama team battles to portray healthcare reform as cost-cutting: House and Senate bills on healthcare reform include most cost-cutting ideas that have surfaced in recent years, asserts Obama’s budget director…. – CS Monitor, 11-25-09
• Modern Flourishes at Obamas’ State Dinner: It is an old tradition, a White House dinner governed by ritual and protocol that happens to be this city’s hottest social event. But at their first state dinner on Tuesday night, President Obama and his wife, Michelle, made sure to infuse the glittering gala with distinctive touches…. – NYT, 11-25-09
• Obama’s first state dinner blends pageantry with politics: President Obama toasted a growing U.S. friendship with India at the first state dinner of his administration Tuesday, an evening of regal pageantry and symbolic politics in a tent on the White House South Lawn. “To the future that beckons all of us,” Obama said with glass raised toward his guest of honor, visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “Let us answer its call. And let our two great nations realize all the triumphs and achievements that await us.”…
  The Tuesday night dinner showed Obama’s intention to signal strong ties with the world’s largest democracy and go his own way in navigating the pomp and tradition of White House customs…. – CNN, 11-25-09
• Uninvited Guests Make It Into State Dinner: This much is known: About 7:15 Tuesday night, a glittering blonde, decked out in a red and gold sari, holding the hand of her black-tuxedoed escort, swept past the camera crews and reporters camped out to catch the red-carpet arrivals for the first state dinner given by President Obama.
  In fact, the couple — Michaele Salahi and her husband, Tareq — are Virginians who have been auditioning for a possible role in a different housewives TV franchise: “The Real Housewives of Washington.”… – NYT, 11-25-09
• SC lawmakers question impeachment for governor: A cool-headed legal debate has replaced the once-passionate calls to oust Gov. Mark Sanford that began after his tearful summertime admission that he disappeared from the state to pursue an extramarital affair in Argentina. A panel on Tuesday began debating whether his failure to inform his staff of his whereabouts and put anyone in charge rise to the high standard of impeachment, usually reserved for officeholders who break the law…. – AP, 11-24-09
• Obama to unveil plan to add troops in Afghanistan: War-weary Americans will support more fighting in Afghanistan once they understand the perils of losing, President Barack Obama declared Tuesday, announcing he was ready to spell out war plans virtually sure to include tens of thousands more U.S. troops. He is expected to make his case to the nation in a Tuesday night speech, even as the military completes plans to begin sending in reinforcements in the spring…. – AP, 11-24-09
• Looking for Tea Leaves in Obama’s Sliding Numbers: President Obama returned from his trip to Asia facing some unsettling news: two new polls showed that his approval rating had dipped below 50 percent for the first time. To many of his critics, who had chafed as he enjoyed broad support among Americans even as many were critical of his handling of specific issues like the economy, this erosion is a tipping point, the end of Mr. Obama’s perceived near-invulnerability. In many ways, the slide should not come as a surprise. And coming less than a year into his presidency, not to mention almost a full year from the 2010 Congressional elections, its long-term political significance is anything but clear…. – NYT, 11-24-09
• Schumer says failure not an option on health care: Failure is not an option on health care, a leading Democratic senator said Monday, even as Republicans turned up the heat on moderates who hold the fate of the legislation in their hands. “We’re not going to not pass a bill,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. With or without Republican support, Democrats will get it done, Schumer said, because a health care system that leaves nearly 50 million uninsured and spends more than any other is clearly broken…. – AP, 11-24-09
• Senate Democrats at odds over health care bill: Senate Democrats on Sunday sparred with each other over how to fix the nation’s troubled health care system, the moderates threatening to scuttle legislation if their demands weren’t met and the more liberal members warning their party leaders not to bend. The dispute among Democrats foretells of a rowdy floor debate next month on legislation that would extend health care coverage to roughly 31 million Americans. Republicans have already made clear they aren’t supporting the bill. Final passage is in jeopardy, even after the chamber’s historic 60-39 vote Saturday night to begin debate…. – AP, 11-22-09
• Dems snare 60 votes to move ahead on health care: Democratic leaders secured the last two votes to move ahead on historic health care legislation, clearing the way for a Saturday night showdown on President Barack Obama’s top domestic initiative. In long-awaited speeches, centrist Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said they would stand with their party and vote “yes” on the crucial test vote despite deep reservations with elements of the 2,074-page bill to remake the nation’s health care system. “The truth is this issue is very complex. There is no easy fix and it’s imperative that we build on what’s already working in health care in America,” Lincoln told her Senate colleagues…. – AP, 11-21-09
• GOP: Health test recommendations could affect care: Republicans are seizing on this week’s recommendations for fewer Pap smears and mammograms to fuel concern about government-rationed medical care — and to try to chip away support by women for President Barack Obama’s proposed health care overhaul. “This is how rationing starts,” declared Jon Kyl of Arizona, the party’s second-in-command in the Senate, during a news conference. “This is what we’re going to expect in the future.”… – AP, 11-21-09
• Obama, Holder predict conviction in 9/11 case: From opposite ends of the globe, President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder firmly rejected criticism Wednesday of the planned New York trial of the professed Sept. 11 mastermind and predicted Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be exposed as a murderous coward, convicted and executed. “Failure is not an option,” Holder declared. The president, in a series of TV interviews during his trip to Asia, said those offended by the legal rights accorded Mohammed by virtue of his facing a civilian trial rather than a military tribunal won’t find it “offensive at all when he’s convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him.”…. – AP, 11-19-09
• A Great Wall: Obama tours China’s iconic site: President Barack Obama absorbed history’s expanse Wednesday from atop the Great Wall of China, a manmade wonder of such enormity that Obama found himself putting daily life in perspective. “It’s magical,” Obama said, walking down a ramp alone, his hands in his pockets. “It reminds you of the sweep of history and our time here on earth is not that long. We better make the best of it.”… – AP, 11-18-09
• Obama: Rally the world for climate deal next month: President Barack Obama, with China’s leader at his side, lifted his sights Tuesday for a broad interim accord at next month’s climate conference that he said will lead to immediate action and “rally the world” toward a solution on global warming.
  Obama and President Hu Jintao talked of a joint desire to tackle climate change, but failed to move off differing positions on an root issue that could block a deal at the 192-nation conference in Copenhagen: how much each country can contribute to curb greenhouse gases and how the world will pay the billions of dollars needed to fight rising temperatures…. – AP, 11-18-09
• White House: Israeli housing plans dismaying: The White House rebuked Israel with heavy criticism Tuesday after the Jerusalem city government moved toward the construction of 900 additional housing units in a Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim for the capital of their future state. President Barack Obama has made restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians a top foreign policy goal. To that end, he has demanded that Israel cease building new or expanding existing Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Israel insists that East Jerusalem will never be surrendered to Arab rule and that the entirety of the city will remain the capital of the Jewish state. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordanian control in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed it…. – AP, 11-18-09
• Republicans blast ‘bait and switch’ health bill: Digging in for a long struggle, Republican senators and governors assailed the Democrats’ newly minted health care legislation Thursday as a collection of tax increases, Medicare cuts and heavy new burdens for deficit-ridden states. Despite the criticism, there were growing indications Democrats would prevail on an initial Senate showdown set for Saturday night, and Majority Leader Harry Reid crisply rebutted the Republican charges. The bill “will save lives, save money and save Medicare,” he said.
  The legislation is designed to answer President Barack Obama’s call to expand coverage, end industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions, and restrain the growth of health care spending. Republicans saw little to like. “It makes no sense at all and affronts common sense,” said Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, one of several Republicans to criticize the measure. He added that a plan to expand Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor, was a “bait and switch” with states as the victims… – AP, 11-19-09
• Senate health bottom line: $849 billion overhaul: The political stakes enormous, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid launched long-awaited health care legislation Wednesday estimated to extend coverage to 94 percent of eligible Americans at a cost of $849 billion…. – AP, 11-18-09
• Obama: How low can he go?: President Barack Obama’s deep bow to the Japanese emperor during a weekend visit in Tokyo has been met with sharp criticism from conservatives in the United States. Conservatives took to the airwaves and blogosphere Monday to rip Obama’s gesture as subservient, inappropriate and a sign of weakness, with one rightwing blogger going as far to call it “treasonous.”
  Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko hosted Obama for a meeting on Saturday. As Obama shook Akihito’s hand, he bowed a full 90 degrees forward. Blogging on the Los Angeles Times, Andrew Malcolm said the move might score him some points in Japan but will surely elicit frowns back home. “How low will the new American president go for the world’s royalty?” Malcolm wrote, pointing out that vice president Dick Cheney’s simple handshake with Akihito in 2007 was the proper way to greet the emperor. Obama received similar criticism when he offered more of a half- bow to Saudi King Abdullah in April, prompting The Washington Times to editorialize it as a “shocking display of fealty.” A senior administration official has dismissed the criticism, telling Politico it’s “just way, way, way off base.” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said it was merely “a sign of respect to the emperor.” – Earth Times, Kansas City Star, 11-17-09
• Obama says world urgently watching US-China talks: President Barack Obama declared Monday the world is urgently watching for a “meeting of the minds” between the U.S. and China as he meets with President Hu Jintao on the globe’s biggest issues — climate change, economic recession, nuclear proliferation and more.
  In his first visit here, Obama is strongly suggesting that China, now a giant in economic impact as well as territory, must take a bigger role on the world stage — part of “burden of leadership” it shares with the United States.
  “I will tell you, other countries around the world will be waiting for us,” Obama said in an American-style town-hall discussion with Chinese university students in Shanghai, where he spent a day before flying to China’s capital for a state visit with President Hu…. – AP, 11-16-09
• Dems, GOP split on NY trials of alleged terrorists: Bringing those accused in the Sept. 11 attacks to New York for trial would increase the security threat to the city and give radical Islamists a platform to propagate their ideology, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Sunday…. Democrats defended the decision of Attorney General Eric Holder to try the five in New York where more than 2,000 civilians were killed on Sept. 11. If someone murders Americans in this country, they should be tried in the U.S., said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. – AP, 11-15-09
• In first visit to China, Obama walks a tightrope: President Barack Obama is walking a tightrope on his first trip to China, seeking to enlist help in tackling urgent global problems while weighing when and how — or if — he should raise traditional human rights concerns. Obama arrived in Shanghai late at night, in a driving rain, hustling through a phalanx of umbrella-holding dignitaries to reach his limousine. On Monday, the president is holding talks with local politicians and, in one of the marquee events of his weeklong Asian trip, conducting an American-style town hall discussion with Chinese university students…. – AP, 11-15-09
• In Asia, Obama pushing arms control with Russians: A major pact within tantalizing reach, President Barack Obama aims to nudge forward an arms-control deal in talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum brought Obama to Singapore, but he is focusing on individual meetings Sunday with Medvedev and with Indonesia’s Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, president of the world’s largest Muslim nation and Obama’s home as a boy. The U.S.-Russia meeting takes place as the nations seek a successor to a Cold War-era agreement…. – AP, 11-14-09
• FACT CHECK: Palin’s book goes rogue on some facts: Sarah Palin’s new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven’t become any truer over time. Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer’s dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition…. – AP, 11-14-09
• Reid eyes payroll tax hike on wealthy: Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering a plan for higher payroll taxes on the upper-income earners to help finance health care legislation he intends to introduce in the Senate in the next several days, numerous Democratic officials said Wednesday…. – AP, 11-12-09
• Obama’s hesitancy on war buildup sends messages: President Barack Obama’s drawn-out decision-making on Afghanistan is sending messages. To the Afghan government: Clean up your act. To the Pentagon: I’m no rubber stamp. To the American public: More troops can’t be the sole answer. Obama has been accused by some Republicans of “dithering” about whether to send more troops and deepen U.S. involvement in an increasingly unpopular war. The slow process also has left him open to critics who recall his pronouncement in March, after developing what he called a “stronger, smarter and comprehensive” Afghan war strategy, that the situation there was “increasingly perilous.” He ordered more troops to battle then, with little discernible result so far…. – AP, 11-12-09
• White House: Obama eyeing host of Afghan choices: President Barack Obama is considering four options for realigning U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, his spokesman said Tuesday, while military officials said the choices involve several ways the president could employ additional U.S. forces next year…. – AP, 11-10-09
• House health bill unacceptable to many in Senate: Don’t look for the Senate to quickly follow the House on health care overhaul. A government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate. They’re locked in a battle with liberals, with the fate of President Barack Obama’s signature issue at stake. If a government plan is part of the deal, “as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome GOP filibusters. “The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said…. – AP, 11-9-09
• Obama asks House to vote on health care bill: President Barack Obama summoned Democrats to “answer the call of history” Saturday as the House pushed toward a vote on a landmark health care bill holding out the promise of coverage for tens of millions who lack it. After months of struggle capped by a final wrenching compromise over abortion, Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted, “we will pass health care reform,” and likened the events to the creation of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later. Across hours of debate, minority Republicans cataloged their criticism of the 1,990-page, $1.2 trillion measure. “The American people need to understand this is about a government takeover of the whole health care system,” said Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga…. – AP, 11-7-09
• What recovery? Unemployment shoots past 10 percent: Just when it was beginning to look a little better, the economy relapsed Friday with a return to double-digit unemployment for only the second time since World War II and warnings that next year will be even worse than previously thought. The jobless rate rocketed to 10.2 percent in October, the highest since early 1983, dealing a psychological blow to Americans as they prepare holiday shopping lists. It was another worse-than-expected report casting a shadow over the struggling recovery. President Barack Obama called it “a sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead.” He signed a measure to extend unemployment benefits and to expand a tax credit for homebuyers…. – AP, 11-6-09
• House Dems struggle for final votes on health care: Amid intense lobbying by the Obama administration, House Democratic leaders struggled Friday for the final votes needed to pass sweeping health care legislation, weighing fresh concessions to abortion opponents and working to ease concerns among Hispanic holdouts…. In a struggle that combined the fate of President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority and a 2010 campaign issue, bipartisanship was not an option. GOP leaders boasted that all 177 House Republicans stood ready to oppose the $1.2 trillion bill, which would create a new federally supervised insurance marketplace where the uninsured could purchase coverage… – AP, 11-6-09
• Democrats’ plan to help ‘uninsurables’ questioned: You’re afraid your cancer is back, and a health insurance company just turned you down. Under the health care bills in Congress, you could apply for coverage through a new high-risk pool that President Barack Obama promises would immediately start serving patients with pre-existing medical problems. Wait a second. Read the fine print. You may have to be uninsured for six months to qualify….
  Advocates for people with serious health problems, as well as some insurance experts, are raising questions about one of the most important upfront benefits in the Democratic health care legislation: a high-risk pool for the medically uninsurable. – AP, 11-5-09
• Obama, House Dems confident on health care vote: Buoyed by two major endorsements, House Democratic leaders on Thursday predicted swift passage of President Barack Obama’s historic health overhaul initiative. The president himself declared, “We are closer to passing this reform than ever before.”
  “I urge Congress to listen to AARP, listen to the AMA, and pass this reform for hundreds of millions of Americans who will benefit from it,” Obama told reporters during an unannounced visit to the White House briefing room after the endorsements were announced.
  “We are right on the brink,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “We have an historic opportunity for us to again provide quality health care for all Americans. It is something that many of us have worked our whole political lifetimes on.” – AP, 11-5-09
• THE INFLUENCE GAME: Liberals targeting moderates: Get on the health overhaul bandwagon, or don’t count on our help in your re-election. That’s the hardball message liberal groups are hurling at moderate Democratic senators in a battle that is dividing their party. Their demands: Support a bill that offers optional government-run health coverage and oppose Republican attempts to derail the legislation…. – AP, 11-4-09

ELECTIONS 2010, 2012….

• 4 Vie for Kennedy’s Seat, but Only 3 Seek His Mantle: Ask not how the Democratic candidates to succeed Senator Edward M. Kennedy would blaze a new path: most are too busy trying to prove themselves his ideological twin as the Dec. 8 primary draws near….
  But playing the Kennedy card may not be a winning strategy after all. Virtually every poll has put Martha Coakley, the state’s attorney general and the candidate least inclined to invoke Senator Kennedy, far ahead of her three rivals…. – NYT, 11-27-09
• Obama’s Breakeven Points Versus Palin and Romney: Nate Silver has published an analysis of how far Pres. Obama’s Gallup approval ratings could drop before he could expect to tie Govs. Palin and Romney in head-to-head elections:
  There have been 11 Palin versus Obama polls that have come out this year — 8 by Public Policy Polling and one each from Rasmussen, Clarus, and Marist. Those polls showed Obama approval ranging from 49 percent to 55 percent — not far from Dowd’s sweet spot — but Obama defeating Palin by margins ranging from 6 points to 23. If we make a scatterplot of these polls, we can extrapolate backward to get an estimate of where Obama’s approval rating would need to be in order to bring Palin into a tie with him; the answer is about 43 percent…. – race42008.com, 11-25-09
• 41 is the crucial number in 2010 battle for the House: In the battle for Congress, 41 is the crucial number. That’s the number of seats the Republicans need to win back from the Democrats in next year’s midterm elections to take control of the House of Representatives.
  Next November, all 435 seats in the House, where Democrats hold an 258-177 advantage, are up for grabs. After winning back Congress in the 2006 contests and increasing their majorities in the 2008 elections, the Democrats will be playing defense next year. Making matters tougher for the Democrats, the country’s political landscape has changed this year, mostly to the benefit of Republicans. But will it be enough to get them to 41? – CNN, 11-24-09
• GOP governors push for 2010 party rebirth: Thrilled with twin victories this month, Republican governors are looking to lead a party-wide resurgence in 2010 and shape the GOP for years to come.
  “Next year’s going to be a good year for Republican governors,” predicted Haley Barbour, Mississippi’s governor and chairman of the Republican Governors Association. “In states where there are Republican governors, people can see if conservative and Republican ideas, when actually implemented, work.”… – AP, 11-20-09
• 2012 already? GOP wannabes jockeying early: Sarah Palin is embarking on a book tour. Tim Pawlenty is building a national political operation. Mitt Romney is weighing in on the recession. They’re all jockeying for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination — even if they won’t say so. Make no mistake: At least a half-dozen Republicans are in the early stages of campaigning for the chance to challenge President Barack Obama in his expected re-election race… – AP, 11-15-09
• Analysis: Election lessons will shape ‘10 campaign: What we learned from the off-year elections: The president’s influence is limited, independents rule, incumbents beware, issues trump ideology and, once more, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Also: Republicans can win — even if they lack a leader and their base is cracked. And this certainly isn’t the Democratic-friendly political environment of 2006 and 2008 when the party captured control of Congress and the White House. The first Election Day of Barack Obama’s presidency was a big night for Republicans, who recaptured governorships in the swing state of Virginia and the Democratic stronghold of New Jersey. Democrats won two races for vacant congressional seats, including one in upstate New York that had been long held by Republicans and that exposed a GOP divide…. – AP, 11-5-09
• GOP Sweep: Big Governor Victories in Virginia, NJ: Republicans sweep governor races in Virginia, New Jersey _ troubling sign for Dems, Obama: Independents who swept Barack Obama to a historic 2008 victory broke big for Republicans on Tuesday as the GOP wrested political control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a troubling sign for the president and his party heading into an important midterm election year.
  Conservative Republican Bob McDonnell’s victory in the Virginia governor’s race over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds and moderate Republican Chris Christie’s ouster of unpopular New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was a double-barreled triumph for a party looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008…. – AP, 11-3-09
• Races an early test of Obama influence: President Barack Obama’s political standing a year after his election is being tested as voters cast ballots in Virginia and New Jersey, two states he’s worked hard to keep in Democratic hands. A handful of congressional and mayoral races and a same-sex union initative also are among the featured face-offs this Election Day.
  Obama has made a number of forays to neighboring Virginia and northeast to New Jersey as he has sought to ensure that Democrats win governor’s races and pick up a GOP-held congressional seat in upstate New York. In doing so, Obama raised the stakes of a low-enthusiasm off-year election season — and risked political embarrassment if any lost…. – Boston Herald, 11-3-09
• Election 2009: Test of Obama clout in NJ, Virginia: President Barack Obama’s political clout was on the line Tuesday as Virginia and New Jersey chose governors in contests that could serve as warning signs for Democrats about the public’s mood heading into an important midterm election year…. – AP, 11-3-09
• 2 hopefuls duel in upstate NY after surprise turn: With the Republican out of the race and unions lining up behind their candidate, national Democrats on Monday used a high-profile campaigner and ramped up get-out-the-vote efforts to try to grab a congressional seat in a district held for decades by the GOP. On the other side, a splintered Republican Party brought in its own big names to try to salve over wounds opened by a bruising special election campaign that has seen a maverick third-party conservative candidate outgun the hand-picked Republican…. – AP, 11-2-09
• Obama says NJ governor is key to his own agenda: In a final campaign swing on behalf of the only governor seeking re-election this fall, President Barack Obama on Sunday pitched Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine’s bid as a key component for the White House to make good on its political promises. “He’s one of the best partners I have in the White House. We work together,” Obama said. “We know our work is far from over.” Obama drew 6,500 people at a rally in Camden and another 11,000 later in Newark, according to White House estimates. He urged supporters to work hard to give Corzine another term in office so he can work with Washington to help repair a brittle economy. A Corzine loss would be seen as a political embarrassment for the White House…. – AP, 11-1-09

POLITICAL QUOTES

• Obama, GOP Air Differences Over Jobs, Economy In Thanksgiving Addresses: On this Thanksgiving, President Obama and top House Republican Mike Pence, R-Ind., each used his party’s weekly address in a bipartisan display of gratitude for U.S. servicemen and women serving abroad.
  “Too many are wondering if the dream of a middle class life – that American Dream – is slipping away,” Obama said. “It’s the worry I hear from folks across the country; good, hard-working people doing the best they can for their families – but fearing that their best just isn’t good enough. These are not strangers. They are our family, our friends, and our neighbors. Their struggles must be our concern.” The president argued that his economic policies and the stimulus “have helped break the back of the recession,” but he acknowledged that jobs growth has not yet materialized and “no matter what the economists say, for families and communities across the country, this recession will not end until we completely turn that tide.” Looking ahead to next week’s jobs summit, Obama said “it is my fervent hope – and my heartfelt expectation – that next Thanksgiving we will be able to celebrate the fact that many of those who have lost their jobs are back at work, and that as a nation we will have come through these difficult storms stronger and wiser and grateful to have reached a brighter day.” – ABC News, 11-26-09
• Toasts by the President and the Prime Minister: Following is a transcript of toasts by President Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India at the state dinner on Nov. 24, provided by the White House. Many of you were here when I was honored to become the first President to help celebrate Diwali — the Festival of Lights. (Applause.) Some of you were here for the first White House celebration of the birth of the founder of Sikhism — Guru Nanak. (Applause.) Tonight, we gather again, for the first state dinner of my presidency — with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Gursharan Kaur, as we celebrate the great and growing partnership between the United States and India.
  As we all know, in India some of life’s most treasured moments are often celebrated under the cover of a beautiful tent. It’s a little like tonight. We have incredible food and music and are surrounded by great friends. For it’s been said that “the most beautiful things in the universe are the starry heavens above us and the feeling of duty within us.”
  Mr. Prime Minister, today we worked to fulfill our duty –bring our countries closer together than ever before. Tonight, under the stars, we celebrate the spirit that will sustain our partnership — the bonds of friendship between our people.
  It’s a bond that includes more than two million Indian Americans who enrich every corner of our great nation — leaders in government, science, industry and the arts — some of whom join us tonight. And it’s the bond of friendship between a President and a Prime Minister who are bound by the same unshakable spirit of possibility and brotherhood that transformed both our nations — a spirit that gave rise to movements led by giants like Gandhi and King, and which are the reason that both of us can stand here tonight.
  And so, as we draw upon these ties that bind our common future together, I want to close with the words that your first Prime Minister spoke at that midnight hour on the eve of Indian independence, because Nehru’s words speak to our hopes tonight: “The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the great triumphs and achievements that await us…The past is over and it is the future that beckons us now.” – NYT, 11-25-09
• Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address Saturday, November 21, 2009: With this in mind, I traveled to Asia to open a new era of American engagement. We made progress with China and Russia in sending a unified message to Iran and North Korea that they must live up to their international obligations and either forsake nuclear weapons or face the consequences. As the two largest consumers and producers of energy, we developed a host of new clean energy initiatives with China, and our two nations agreed to work toward a successful outcome at the upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen – an outcome that leads to immediate action to reduce carbon pollution. And I spoke to young men and women at a town hall in Shanghai and across the internet about certain values that we in America believe are universal: the freedom of worship and speech; the right to access information and choose one’s own leaders…. WH, 11-21-09
• Weekly Address: President Obama Calls for Comprehensive Review of Events Leading to Tragedy at Fort Hood Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address November 14, 2009: Every fall, we set aside a special day to pay tribute to our veterans. But this year, Veteran’s Day took on even greater poignancy and meaning because of the tragic events at Fort Hood. On Tuesday, I traveled there to join with the Fort Hood community, the Army, and the friends and families of the victims to honor thirteen of our fellow Americans who died – and the dozens more who were wounded – not on some distant shore, but on a military base at home…
  There is an ongoing investigation into this terrible tragedy. That investigation will look at the motives of the alleged gunman, including his views and contacts. As I said in Fort Hood, I am confident that justice will be done, and I will insist that the full story be told. That is paramount, and I won’t compromise that investigation today by discussing the details of this case. But given the potential warning signs that may have been known prior these shootings, we must uncover what steps – if any – could have been taken to avert this tragedy…. – WH, 11-14-09
• Obama, Hu vow cooperation but produce few deals: President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao promised a determined, joint effort to tackle climate change, nuclear disarmament and other global troubles yet emerged from their first full-blown summit Tuesday with scant progress beyond goodwill.
  “The major challenges of the 21st century, from climate change to nuclear proliferation to economic recovery, are challenges that touch both our nations, and challenges that neither of our nations can solve by acting alone,” Obama said, standing with the Chinese leader in the Great Hall of the People.
  Hu, who heads a collective leadership that often has preferred to go it alone internationally, said: “There are growing global challenges, and countries in today’s world have become more and more interdependent.” – AP, 11-17-09
• Sarah Palin tells Oprah about controversies, future: “When I got the call, it was not such a shocking call to me,” Palin told talk-show host Oprah Winfrey in a highly anticipated interview that aired Monday. “I felt quite confident in my abilities and my executive experience and I knew that this is an executive administrative job. I was happy to get in there and contribute.” “It never occurred to me that I couldn’t do the job because of children,” she said. “My children are my strength. … They allow me to be grounded.”
  “I was surprised that they knew. I was surprised, too, that we didn’t handle that issue, that challenge better,” she said. “If we were given the allowance to deal with the issue in a more productive way, we could have perhaps sent a better message: This is not to be emulated.” She added, “I did not want that message sent out that we were giddy happy to become grandparents, and that’s what that message said.”
  “After the first segment, which didn’t go well, I didn’t do very well — I was annoyed with her badgering of questions — I was scheduled to do a second, then a third and then a fourth. … I know that there were hours of tape that were shot, and I would think that those few minutes that were edited together … and shown to the American public, if people only know me from that interview, [they would think] that I was not qualified,” she said.
  “The reason that we lost: The economy changed under a Republican administration,” Palin said. “People were sincerely looking for change. They were quite concerned about the road that America was on with its economy. They did not want more of the same. They did not want status quo. And I think, unfortunately, our ticket represented what was perceived as status quo.”
  “I resigned as governor of Alaska because I wasn’t going to run for a second term, and I was heading into a lame duck term,” Palin said of that decision, which shocked political observers.
  “We came back [from the campaign] to a new normal in Alaska. Everything had so changed in my administration,” Palin continued. “There were so many opposition researchers up there in Alaska that were sent, probably, by the Obama camp. … It was a point where my state of Alaska was being hampered by my presence there.” – CNN, 11-16-09
• Weekly Address: President Obama Extends Condolences to the Fort Hood Community Remarks of President Barack Obama As Prepared for Delivery Weekly Address Saturday, November 7, 2009: I’d like to speak with you for a few minutes today about the tragedy that took place at Ft. Hood. This past Thursday, on a clear Texas afternoon, an Army psychiatrist walked into the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, and began shooting his fellow soldiers.
  It is an act of violence that would have been heartbreaking had it occurred anyplace in America. It is a crime that would have horrified us had its victims been Americans of any background. But it’s all the more heartbreaking and all the more despicable because of the place where it occurred and the patriots who were its victims….
  Thursday’s shooting was one of the most devastating ever committed on an American military base. And yet, even as we saw the worst of human nature on full display, we also saw the best of America. We saw soldiers and civilians alike rushing to aid fallen comrades; tearing off bullet-riddled clothes to treat the injured; using blouses as tourniquets; taking down the shooter even as they bore wounds themselves…. – WH, 11-7-09
• Bill Clinton urges Senate passage of health bill: Former President Bill Clinton urged Senate Democrats on Tuesday to pass health care legislation by year’s end, pointedly telling skittish lawmakers that an imperfect bill is preferable to another failure like the one he and the party endured in 1994.
  “It’s not important to be perfect here. It’s important to act, to move, to start the ball rolling,” the former president told reporters after the closed-door meeting, held on the cusp of Senate debate on intensely controversial legislation. The House cleared its version of the bill late Saturday night on a narrow, party-line vote of 220-215…. – AP, 11-4-09
• Romney: Obama economic stimulus plan is a failure: Three days after the Obama White House touted the program as creating or saving some 650,000 jobs, Romney said in a nationally broadcast interview that “the stimulus that the president and the Congress passed is not what’s helped the economy.” Romney said on CBS’s “The Early Show” that the administration’s stimulus plan “didn’t work” and he said the reason things seem to be ticking up in the business world is because the “private sector” has regained its equilibrium on its own. – AP, 11-2-09

HISTORIANS & ANALYSTS’ COMMENTS

• Julian E. Zelizer “Keeping a promise to urban America”: One year ago, as Thanksgiving approached, many Americans were still feeling pleased about the fact that Americans seemed to have broken through an important racial divide. With the election of the first African-American president, some were talking about the possibility of a “post-racial” society.
  Despite all of the progress marked by that election, it remains painfully clear that we are not a post-racial society. Many of the racial disparities that are deeply connected to public policy, from our prison system to our education system to the damaged economies of urban America, remain unchanged.
  Although issues such as health care and the war in Afghanistan have garnered most attention, there is a significant initiative under way that seeks to tackle the problems that have faced African-American children living in poor communities in urban America: the Promise Neighborhoods program.
  The program aims to provide opportunity to young, largely minority Americans who are living in the impoverished neighborhoods of urban America….
  Promise Neighborhoods is one of the most ambitious efforts in recent years to tackle the crisis of urban youth. Geoffrey Canada’s work should offer one area of policy where Democrats and Republicans can join to show to the world that the election of 2008 did indeed reflect a genuine desire to eliminate some of the roots of racial inequality that continue to shape our country. – CNN, 11-25-09
• Stephen Wayne “In his slow decision-making, Obama goes with head, not gut”: Stephen Wayne, who teaches about the presidency at Georgetown, said: “He’s not an instinctive decision-maker as Bush was. He doesn’t go with his gut, he thinks with his head, which I think is desirable.” Referring to the Afghanistan decision, Wayne said, “I don’t think he is an indecisive person, I just think this is a tough one.” – Wa Po, 11-24-09
• Allan Lichtman “In his slow decision-making, Obama goes with head, not gut”: “I think the Obama we’ve seen as president is a very different Obama than we saw during the campaign. He doesn’t seem to be connected, he doesn’t seem to have the passion, he doesn’t seem to be conveying the grand and inspiring vision,” says the progressive historian Allan Lichtman of American University. “If you want to be a transformational president, you’ve got to take the risks.” – Wa Po, 11-24-09
• Sean Wilentz “In his slow decision-making, Obama goes with head, not gut”: Sean Wilentz, a history professor at Princeton, says Obama has suffered from unrealistic expectations among those who put him in office. “They kind of were sold Utopia, and they bought it, and it didn’t happen,” he says. “People were comparing the candidate to Abraham Lincoln before he served a day of his presidency. Nobody can live up to that.” – Wa Po, 11-24-09
• Victor Davis Hanson: We Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet: When it comes to the problems facing this country, an old slogan comes to mind: “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.” High unemployment, the recession and a terrorist resurgence in Afghanistan are bad enough. But there are a number of problems on the horizon that could dwarf President Obama’s first-year trials. Why the pessimism? In short, we are doing nothing to prepare for the crises to come. A global recession has led to low oil prices. Yet in this window of opportunity, America has not decreased its foreign-oil dependence. We are not encouraging domestic exploration. And we are still ambivalent on nuclear power…. – St Augustine, 11-25-09
• Stephen Hess “Sizing up the Kennedy dynasty’s next generation”: Stephen Hess, author of “America’s Political Dynasties,” said such dynasties often ebb and flow. And while no obvious family successors to the late senator are apparent, there is a pool of about two dozen Kennedy cousins. Some of them could go on to make their mark in national politics. “To be a dynasty, one of the things that is very helpful, almost necessary, is a lot of children,” said Hess, who has been a consultant, adviser and speechwriter to presidents dating back to Dwight D. Eisenhower. “That name, or that legacy, is going to inspire some of them to go into elective politics, particularly since it obviously gives them an advantage.” Hess noted that back in the 1960s, few were predicting Ted Kennedy would become the family’s standardbearer after his two older brothers, John, the president, and Robert, the former attorney general turned senator, were slain. “He was not expected to be the leading figure of his generation,” Hess said. “Not only was he, tragically, because of the death of his brothers, but more importantly because he stayed in the Senate and had a remarkable record of achievement.” – AP, 11-22-09
• John R. Bohrer: Hold the Hofstadter: Why the GOP Is Winning 2010: Over the last few months, a number of prominent political columnists have pointed to historian and social critic Richard Hofstadter to explain what is happening to the Republican Party. 1964’s The Paranoid Style in American Politics and his 1954 essay, “The Pseudo-Conservative Revolt,” among others, tell us why so many Republicans are lashing out at town halls and tea parties. And because the protesters make a lot of noise, wave disgusting signs and are embraced by a major political party, they get a lot of attention.
  Here’s the rub: their craziness turns away those who do not already agree with them, and yet the GOP is beginning to pull ahead in the generic congressional ballot match-up. How can this be?
  Perhaps it’s because while we’re all hopped up on Hofstadter and understanding what Sam Tanenhaus defines as The Death of Conservatism, we’ve forgotten about another important contingent of Americans: low-information 2008 Obama voters. Huffington Post, 11-17-09
• Julian E. Zelizer: Obama should focus on jobs, not deficit: Regardless of the outcome of the health care reform effort, the difficult issue of cutting the federal budget deficit is likely to move front and center in 2010. The size of the deficit is causing great concern in Washington. While most economists say the deficit should normally hover at around 3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, it has now reached almost 10 percent. With each piece of positive economic news, such as the recent fall in unemployment claims, pressure will grow to shrink the deficit. The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House is considering using some unspent TARP money for debt reduction while Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is pushing for spending cuts if Congress raises taxes….
  The pressure to move faster will intensify after the health care debate is done and the midterm elections approach. The president will need to be cautious about not repeating Roosevelt’s mistake. – CNN, 11-17-09
• Julian E. Zelizer “Are Republicans too giddy?”: Republicans have been downright giddy following the off-year elections in Virginia and New Jersey. In a swing state and a blue state, Republicans pulled off significant victories with Chris Christie’s defeat of Gov. John Corzine and Robert McDonnell defeating Creigh Deeds.
  Just two days after the election, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who had boasted of the results as evidence of a “Republican Renaissance,” issued a stern warning to his colleagues. Steele said that his message for the 2010 midterm elections was that Republicans should remain loyal to the party principles, or “we’ll come after you.”
  Republicans certainly can take some comfort in this election. It is clear that some of the excitement about the Democratic Party has faded since the beginning of 2009. The so-called jobless recovery, with unemployment now at 10.2 percent, is not sitting well with many Americans.
  But Republicans should be cautious. Both political parties have a history of over-reading election results and seeing mandates where none exist. The leaders of each party have often thought that the electorate sent a clear message endorsing a new direction in public policy only to learn that voters were relatively comfortable with the status quo….
  Rather than misread the message of the elections, Republicans must turn to the difficult job of rebuilding their party by finding a new generation of leaders and ideas, while broadening rather than narrowing their reach. If they don’t, their response will leave their ranks in even worse shape than before. CNN, 11-10-09
• Richard Kohn: Could Fort Hood visit redefine Obama’s relationship with the military?: Recent Democratic presidents have had an uneasy relationship with the armed forces. Obama’s visit to Fort Hood’s memorial service could set the tone for a new rapport with those in uniform.
  “Obama doesn’t have a lot of experience with the military, so in a sense, I don’t think he’ll be on trial [at Fort Hood], but he does fight a natural suspicion of Democrats in the military,” says Richard Kohn, a University of North Carolina historian and expert on presidential wartime leadership.
  “The thing to do is compare his response and emotional intelligence with them when he’s at Fort Hood as opposed to his normal kind of behavior with other groups,” adds Mr. Kohn. “Whether it’ll have the emotional content that many military people expect or seek and whether that can balance or even cancel the natural suspicion is a question.”
  “What Obama is trying to do is to restore the proper sense of, ‘I’m the guy in charge,’” says Mr. Kohn. “What you’re hearing is a kind of partisan buzz that would like to reframe and cancel out Obama’s very concerted effort not to be victimized by that history of Democratic presidents and the military.” CS Monitor, 11-7-09
• Betty Boyd Caroli: Michelle Obama’s poll numbers slide: “If you asked most people, they would say she defines her job as first lady as taking care of her family, and maybe that’s what the White House wants — what she wants,” said first lady historian Betty Boyd Caroli. “A lot of people appreciate that, but some people wanted more, and maybe that’s why the numbers are dipping.” – Politico, 11-4-09
• Julian E. Zelizer: What happened to bipartisanship?: When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he would be pushing for a public option in the final health care bill, it looked as if he had given up on the possibility of a bipartisan agreement.
  Most Republicans have been steadfast in their opposition to the Democratic health care proposals. The only serious possibility for GOP backing has come from Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. While expressing support for much of the Senate Finance Committee bill, she has said she would accept a public option only if private markets and new regulations fail to control costs and lower premiums.
  Reid’s decision is not a sign of commitment to an ideal but rather an act of political realism. The notion that either party will be able to find substantive bipartisan support for legislation today is dubious. The political forces that generate partisan conflict in Washington are deeply rooted and hard to change…
  Seriously searching for bipartisanship, for example, would require reforming the campaign finance system so that legislators are not in such desperate need of private campaign contributions, over which party leaders and activist organizations maintain tight control.
  Citizens should also support media outlets that place solid journalism above partisan analysis. Right now, bipartisan votes are not coming. In the past few weeks, Democrats seem to have come to this conclusion and are now focusing more on what will unite their own party than what will win Sen. Snowe’s vote. – CNN, 11-3-09

Happy Thanksgiving!

THANKSGIVING 2009:

• HNN Hot Topics: Thanksgiving: HNN
• Obama Saves ‘Courage’: “Thanks to the interventions of Malia and Sasha — because I was planning to eat this sucker — Courage will also be spared this terrible and delicious fate,” Mr. Obama said at a White House ceremony on Wednesday-. NYT, 11-25-09

• Obama pardons ‘Courage,’ the Thanksgiving turkey: For Barack Obama, some days are filled with reminders as to why he ran for the presidency. There are intense discussions about national security, efforts to win votes on health care, and, at night, glamorous entertainment – like last night’s state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
  And then there are days like today, when a rueful Obama, performing one of the least dignified of presidential rituals, proclaimed: “I pardon a turkey and send it to Disneyland.”
  This year’s annual presidential pardon for a Thanksgiving turkey went off without a hitch. No flyabouts, as occurred under President Reagan. (That would be the turkey flying about, not some rogue White House aide.)… – CS Monitor, 11-25-09

• Obama family distributes Thanksgiving treats: The Obama family passed out turkeys, stuffing and other Thanksgiving favorites to people at a food pantry organization. President Barack Obama tucked pumpkin pies into people’s bags at Martha’s Table in downtown Washington on Wednesday evening and wished them a happy holiday. Obama’s two daughters, first lady Michelle Obama and her mother, Marian Robinson, worked alongside the president, putting canned food, stuffing, and fresh vegetables into bags. Those in line also received frozen turkeys. – AP, 11-25-09
• Thanksgiving wishes from Lincoln, Truman, Reagan and — now — Obama: On Thanksgiving, our most home-grown of holidays, we at The Ticket would like to offer you a helping of history along with that turkey.
  We call it the Ghost of Thanksgiving Past. It’s a collection of some of the more interesting presidential proclamations relating to the holiday…. – LAT, 11-25-09
• Obama’s Thanksgiving proclamation: What began as a harvest celebration between European settlers and indigenous communities nearly four centuries ago has become our cherished tradition of Thanksgiving. This day’s roots are intertwined with those of our nation, and its history traces the American narrative.
  Today, we recall President George Washington, who proclaimed our first national day of public thanksgiving to be observed “by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God,” and President Abraham Lincoln, who established our annual Thanksgiving Day to help mend a fractured nation in the midst of civil war. We also recognize the contributions of Native Americans, who helped the early colonists survive their first harsh winter and continue to strengthen our nation. From our earliest days of independence, and in times of tragedy and triumph, Americans have come together to celebrate Thanksgiving.
  As Americans, we hail from every part of the world. While we observe traditions from every culture, Thanksgiving Day is a unique national tradition we all share. Its spirit binds us together as one people, each of us thankful for our common blessings.
  As we gather once again among loved ones, let us also reach out to our neighbors and fellow citizens in need of a helping hand. This is a time for us to renew our bonds with one another, and we can fulfill that commitment by serving our communities and our nation throughout the year. In doing so, we pay tribute to our country’s men and women in uniform who set an example of service that inspires us all. Let us be guided by the legacy of those who have fought for the freedoms for which we give thanks, and be worthy heirs to the noble tradition of goodwill shown on this day.
  Now, therefore, I, Barack Obama, president of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all the people of the United States to come together, whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place where family, friends and neighbors may gather, with gratitude for all we have received in the past year, to express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own and to share our bounty with others.
  In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of November, in the year of our Lord 2009, and of the independence of the United States of America the 234th (year).
  AP, 11-25-09

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY:

Doug Mills/The New York Times

• One year after his election, what has Obama achieved?: Obama got off to a quick start. But almost one year after winning the presidency, his deeds are at risk of paling next to his aspirations. – CS Monitor, 11-2-09
• No Walk in the Park: For Obama One Year Later, It’s the Slog of Governance: For a president elevated to power on the back of history, the tears and euphoria of Grant Park feel like a thousand years ago. It has been just one year, of course, since Barack Obama’s election, a year since that moment when supporters felt everything was possible amid lofty talk of “remaking this nation” and determined chants of “Yes, we can.”  Some White House aides are wistful for the days right after Mr. Obama won office, when everything seemed a lot simpler. A year later, as a few smaller elections yielded a more critical judgment, the hope and hubris have given way to the daily grind of governance, the jammed meeting schedule waiting in the morning, the thick briefing books waiting at night, the thousand little compromises that come in between. The education of a president is complicated, and as Mr. Obama has spent the last 12 months learning more about wielding power, his country has learned more about him.  Given the enormousness of the crises he inherited and the scope of the economic package he pushed through in his early weeks in office, it might seem odd to suggest that the hardest and most defining choices are only now confronting Mr. Obama…. – NYT, 11-4-09

• Ted Widmer: One year after his election, what has Obama achieved?: “He’s had a good first year,” says Ted Widmer, a presidential historian at Brown University in Providence, R.I., and a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. “Two of his biggest accomplishments are easy to overlook, but they were both important. He kept the financial crisis from becoming worse. And he vastly improved the way the rest of the world thinks about America.” – CS Monitor, 11-2-09
• Fred Greenstein: One year after his election, what has Obama achieved?: “A decent-seeming [health reform] would redound to Obama’s advantage and reduce the buzz over whether he is ‘tough enough’ and perhaps lead to a spike in public approval,” says Fred Greenstein, professor emeritus of politics at Princeton University in New Jersey. – CS Monitor, 11-2-09
• Russell Riley: One year after his election, what has Obama achieved?: Obama’s election itself raised expectations, says Russell Riley, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. “There was a miracle at the ballot box, and people expect those miracles to continue later,” he says. “But [Obama officials] don’t help themselves by setting deadlines early on that they then don’t meet.” – CS Monitor, 11-2-09
• Historian Eric Foner discusses Obama’s place in history: It is a major turning point in American history, and I don’t think that should be denigrated or minimized. On the other hand – and there was a lot of euphoria immediately following the election even among people who didn’t vote for him – the fact is that now most people are viewing President Obama the way they would any other president. In other words, with a “what are you doing for me?” If you look at the first eight or nine months of almost any president, they didn’t really accomplish a heck of a lot – except for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who came in under even a more dire situation than Obama. (And much of what he did in his first 100 days was sent to the scrap heap within a year or two of his administration anyway and later had to be changed.) So it’s still too early to tell what will happen with Obama’s presidency.
  Obama is a mainstream politician. I admire Obama, he’s certainly a lot more eloquent than many others, but he’s a mainstream politician. You never hear Obama say a word about “the poor.” Everything is the middle class – middle class tax cuts, middle class this and that. That’s fine, I don’t mind the middle class. But the poor – which is a rather disturbingly large number of people in this country – never get mentioned. Now, Obama is doing things to help the poor, but it’s kept under the radar. Similarly, Obama very strategically does not present himself as “a black president” in the sense of having a particular commitment to black America. I don’t think Obama’s going to come forward with a plan that says here’s what I’m going to do to help black America. I think he says, here’s what I’m going to do to help the American middle class, on the assumption that a lot of that will help blacks. And certainly, raising taxes on people earning over $250,000 a year is not going to hit a lot of black people, helping expand Medicaid will. Those aren’t race-based policies, but they will have racial effects, among others. – The Grio, 11-4-09

OFF YEAR ELECTIONS:

Photo by AP Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, smiles during a rally in Richmond, Va. yesterday.

ELECTIONS 2009….

• Analysis: Election lessons will shape ‘10 campaign: What we learned from the off-year elections: The president’s influence is limited, independents rule, incumbents beware, issues trump ideology and, once more, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Also: Republicans can win — even if they lack a leader and their base is cracked. And this certainly isn’t the Democratic-friendly political environment of 2006 and 2008 when the party captured control of Congress and the White House. The first Election Day of Barack Obama’s presidency was a big night for Republicans, who recaptured governorships in the swing state of Virginia and the Democratic stronghold of New Jersey. Democrats won two races for vacant congressional seats, including one in upstate New York that had been long held by Republicans and that exposed a GOP divide…. – AP, 11-5-09
• GOP Sweep: Big Governor Victories in Virginia, NJ: Republicans sweep governor races in Virginia, New Jersey _ troubling sign for Dems, Obama: Independents who swept Barack Obama to a historic 2008 victory broke big for Republicans on Tuesday as the GOP wrested political control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a troubling sign for the president and his party heading into an important midterm election year.
  Conservative Republican Bob McDonnell’s victory in the Virginia governor’s race over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds and moderate Republican Chris Christie’s ouster of unpopular New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was a double-barreled triumph for a party looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008…. – AP, 11-3-09
• Races an early test of Obama influence: President Barack Obama’s political standing a year after his election is being tested as voters cast ballots in Virginia and New Jersey, two states he’s worked hard to keep in Democratic hands. A handful of congressional and mayoral races and a same-sex union initative also are among the featured face-offs this Election Day.
  Obama has made a number of forays to neighboring Virginia and northeast to New Jersey as he has sought to ensure that Democrats win governor’s races and pick up a GOP-held congressional seat in upstate New York. In doing so, Obama raised the stakes of a low-enthusiasm off-year election season — and risked political embarrassment if any lost…. – Boston Herald, 11-3-09
• Election 2009: Test of Obama clout in NJ, Virginia: President Barack Obama’s political clout was on the line Tuesday as Virginia and New Jersey chose governors in contests that could serve as warning signs for Democrats about the public’s mood heading into an important midterm election year…. – AP, 11-3-09
• 2 hopefuls duel in upstate NY after surprise turn: With the Republican out of the race and unions lining up behind their candidate, national Democrats on Monday used a high-profile campaigner and ramped up get-out-the-vote efforts to try to grab a congressional seat in a district held for decades by the GOP. On the other side, a splintered Republican Party brought in its own big names to try to salve over wounds opened by a bruising special election campaign that has seen a maverick third-party conservative candidate outgun the hand-picked Republican…. – AP, 11-2-09
• Obama says NJ governor is key to his own agenda: In a final campaign swing on behalf of the only governor seeking re-election this fall, President Barack Obama on Sunday pitched Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine’s bid as a key component for the White House to make good on its political promises. “He’s one of the best partners I have in the White House. We work together,” Obama said. “We know our work is far from over.” Obama drew 6,500 people at a rally in Camden and another 11,000 later in Newark, according to White House estimates. He urged supporters to work hard to give Corzine another term in office so he can work with Washington to help repair a brittle economy. A Corzine loss would be seen as a political embarrassment for the White House…. – AP, 11-1-09

HISTORIANS & ANALYSTS’ COMMENTS

• Julian E. Zelizer “Are Republicans too giddy?”: Republicans have been downright giddy following the off-year elections in Virginia and New Jersey. In a swing state and a blue state, Republicans pulled off significant victories with Chris Christie’s defeat of Gov. John Corzine and Robert McDonnell defeating Creigh Deeds.
  Just two days after the election, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who had boasted of the results as evidence of a “Republican Renaissance,” issued a stern warning to his colleagues. Steele said that his message for the 2010 midterm elections was that Republicans should remain loyal to the party principles, or “we’ll come after you.”
  Republicans certainly can take some comfort in this election. It is clear that some of the excitement about the Democratic Party has faded since the beginning of 2009. The so-called jobless recovery, with unemployment now at 10.2 percent, is not sitting well with many Americans.
  But Republicans should be cautious. Both political parties have a history of over-reading election results and seeing mandates where none exist. The leaders of each party have often thought that the electorate sent a clear message endorsing a new direction in public policy only to learn that voters were relatively comfortable with the status quo….
  Rather than misread the message of the elections, Republicans must turn to the difficult job of rebuilding their party by finding a new generation of leaders and ideas, while broadening rather than narrowing their reach. If they don’t, their response will leave their ranks in even worse shape than before. CNN, 11-10-09

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY:

Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

IN FOCUS: STATS

• Hillary Clinton beats Obama in new Gallup poll: Barack Obama may have beaten Hillary Rodham Clinton in the presidential primaries last year, but she’s ahead of him in a new popularity poll. The Gallup survey conducted Oct. 1-4, and released Thursday, shows Clinton’s favorable ratings at 62 percent and Obama’s at 56 percent.
  Gallup said the juxtaposition is due more to Obama’s declining popularity than any rise in Clinton’s favorable numbers, which have changed little since January. Then, 78 percent saw Obama favorably, compared with 65 percent for Clinton. Gallup noted Obama’s decline has come after nearly nine months in office in which he’s confronted such issues as the auto industry bailout and the economic crisis. As Obama’s secretary of state, Clinton “has helped advance Obama’s foreign policy around the world, but in a far less prominent role than the president’s,” Gallup said. “Now operating in a much less bright spotlight than Obama does,” the former first lady and U.S. senator from New York has been able to retain her “strong” favorable rating…. – Newsday, 10-15-09
• Off the Charts The Divided States of Health Care: The Census Bureau sought to find that out, for the first time, in a survey taken last year and released in September. Over all, it found that 9.9 percent of children lack any health insurance, half the rate for adults under 65.
  Those who lack health insurance now are far more likely to live in states that usually vote Republican — the states whose senators and representatives are least likely to support a law to extend coverage…. – NYT, 10-10-09

THE HEADLINES….

• Obama Lifts Ban on Visitors With H.I.V.: President Obama said on Friday that the United States would do away with a government ban prohibiting foreign nationals who are H.I.V. positive from entering the country, lifting a 22-year-old “decision rooted in fear rather than fact” that he said had added to a stigma of the disease.
  “If we want to be the global leader in combating H.I.V./AIDS, we need to act like it,” Mr. Obama said, speaking in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House…. “We talk about reducing the stigma of this disease, yet we’ve treated a visitor living with it as a threat,” Mr. Obama said. “We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic, yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people with H.I.V. from entering our own country…. Congress and President Bush began this process last year, and they ought to be commended for it. We are finishing the job. It’s a step that will encourage people to get tested and get treatment, it’s a step that will keep families together, and it’s a step that will save lives.” – NYT, 10-30-09
• Stimulus saved, created 650,000 jobs, gov’t claims: Nearly 650,000 jobs have been saved or created under President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan, the government said Friday, and the White House declared the nation on track to meet the president’s goal of 3.5 million by the end of next year.
  New job numbers from businesses, contractors, state and local governments, nonprofit groups and universities were released, showing 640,329 positions credited to the stimulus, according to the independent federal board monitoring the program’s progress…. – AP, 10-30-09
• Path clearing for House to pass health bill: They may not like it, but many House liberals look ready to accept a compromise health care bill, putting Democratic leaders well on the way to delivering on President Barack Obama’s call for overhaul. After claiming for months they couldn’t vote for a bill without the strongest possible government-run insurance option, liberals are putting aside their disappointment over the weaker version in the legislation for a historic chance to remake America’s medical system.
  “The current language is far weaker than what I would have preferred, and I think that is also true of the Progressive Caucus,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Friday. “But because I did not come up here to participate in gridlock and acrimony, I have told leadership that I am willing to compromise.” – AP, 10-30-09
• Obama inks defense bill with hate crimes provision: Trumpeting a victory against careless spending, President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a defense bill that kills some costly weapons projects and expands war efforts. In a major civil rights change, the law also makes it a federal hate crime to assault people based on sexual orientation.
  The $680 billion bill authorizes spending but doesn’t provide any actual dollars. Rather, it sets guidance that is typically followed by congressional committees that decide appropriations. Obama hailed it as a step toward ending needless military spending that he called “an affront to the American people and to our troops.”
  “When Secretary Gates and I first proposed going after some of these wasteful projects, there were a lot of people who didn’t think it was possible, who were certain we were going to lose, who were certain that we were going to get steamrolled,” Obama said. “Today, we have proven them wrong.” – AP, 10-29-09
• Obama seeks new powers to dismantle nonbank firms: A year after Lehman Brothers collapsed, helping to trigger the worst financial crisis in seven decades, the Obama administration is pressing Congress for the power to dismantle other nonbank firms considered so large and influential that they could bring down the entire economy. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was asking a House panel on Thursday to pass legislation that would enable federal regulators to identify and monitor big financial firms and step in to wind them down before they collapse… – AP, 10-29-09
• Pelosi hopes new health plan is poised to pass: After months of contentious negotiating, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi prepared to unveil a retooled health care overhaul plan intended to bridge differences among Democrats and open a history-making floor debate on extending health insurance to nearly all Americans.
  Pelosi, D-Calif., wants to have the legislation on the floor next week, with a final vote before Veterans Day, Nov. 11, that would give President Barack Obama a bill to sign by year’s end, numerous Democratic officials said. She planned a formal announcement of the bill Thursday in front of the Capitol.
  The bill would require nearly everyone by 2013 to sign up through their employer, a government program or a new kind of purchasing pool called an exchange. Tax credits would be available for most of those buying coverage through the exchange. They would have the option of picking a new government plan or private insurance…. – AP, 10-29-09
• Senate Leader Blasts Holdup on Obama’s Nominees: Senator Harry Reid denounces the slow pace of reaching a consensus on some critical Obama nominees…. – NYT, 10-29-09
• Obama Signs Hate Crimes Bill: The expansion protects people who are victims of crime because of their sexual orientation… – NYT, 10-28-09
• Tracking the White House Energy Forum: The White House energy and climate team held a forum Wednesday morning on rebuilding the economy around non-polluting energy technologies…. – NYT, 10-28-09
• Next Up, a Classical White House Night: The Obamas continue their series of musical events, with award-winning artists holding a workshop for students in the afternoon and performing in the evening…. – NYT, 10-28-09
• House Democrats prepare to unveil health bill: House Democrats reached agreement Wednesday on key elements of a health care bill that would vastly alter America’s medical landscape, requiring virtually universal sign-ups and establishing a new government-run insurance option for millions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi planned a formal announcement Thursday morning in front of the Capitol. Lawmakers said the legislation could be up for a vote on the House floor next week. The rollout will cap months of arduous negotiations to bridge differences between liberal and moderate Democrats and blend health care overhaul bills passed by three separate committees over the summer. The developments in the House came as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tried to round up support among moderate Democrats for his bill, which includes a modified government insurance option that states could opt out of…. – AP, 10-28-09
• Long-term care insurance program gains in House: House health care legislation expected within days is likely to include a new long-term care insurance program to help seniors and disabled people stay out of nursing homes, senior Democrats say. The voluntary program would begin to close a gap in the social safety net overlooked in the broader health care debate, but it must overcome objections from insurance companies that sell long-term care coverage and from fiscal conservatives. “I’m pretty confident that it will be in there,” Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., a leading sponsor, said of the provision…. – AP, 10-27-09
• Gov’t may say recession over but not job losses: It’s about to become official: The recession is over — but not the pain. The government will release figures this week expected to show that the economy has awakened from its deepest slump since the 1930s and is in the early stages of a recovery. But the following week, the government will issue another set of figures expected to show unemployment continuing to rise toward and possibly above a clearly recessionary 10 percent. How can both be possible? The government releases third-quarter Gross Domestic Product figures on Thursday. Many forecasters say they will show GDP growing at an annual rate of about 3 percent, validating a widely held belief among economists that the recession ended in June or July. But try telling that to the more than 15 million still unemployed, the small businesses and individuals who can’t get loans and the people whose homes are worth less than their mortgages…. – AP, 10-27-09
• Obama says he will not rush Afghanistan decision: President Barack Obama mourned 14 Americans killed Monday in helicopter crashes in Afghanistan and told a military audience he will not be hurried as he evaluates whether to alter U.S. strategy in the war. “I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm’s way. I won’t risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary,” Obama said during a visit to Naval Air Station Jacksonville…. – AP, 10-26-09
• AP sources: Health bill may cut employer mandate: Businesses would not be required to provide health insurance under legislation being readied for Senate debate, but large firms would owe significant penalties if any worker needed government subsidies to buy coverage on their own, according to Democratic officials familiar with talks on the bill… – AP, 10-25-09
• Obama declares swine flu a national emergency: President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected patients…. – AP, 10-24-09
• Obama Plans Speech to Jewish Group: With his unpopular insistence that Israelis freeze settlements in the West Bank, the president will address a Jewish organization in Boston for the first time in his presidency…. – NYT, 10-23-09
• Senate bill may have public insurance plan: The Senate has long been seen as opposed to the federal government selling health insurance in competition with private industry, but now senior Senate Democrats and White House officials are strongly considering including such a measure in health care overhaul legislation, officials say…. – AP, 10-23-09
• Negotiators mull public option in health care bill: Senior Senate Democrats at work with White House officials on health care legislation are strongly considering a requirement for the federal government to sell insurance in direct competition with private industry, officials said Thursday, with individual states permitted to drop out of the system. – AP, 10-23-09
• White House rejects Cheney’s Afghanistan criticism – AP, 10-23-09
• The Early Word: The Public Option Rises: The Senate majority leader considers including the public insurance option into health care legislation. NYT, 10-23-09
• Key senators may rebuff Obama on health care: The Democrats’ control of a hefty majority in the Senate — plus the House — would suggest that President Barack Obama is within reach of overhauling the nation’s health care system this fall. Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., is interviewed by the Associated Press in his Capitol Hill office in Washington. Obama and other top Democrats sharply criticized his appointment to the Senate in December by an ethically tainted governor, Illinois’ Rod Blagojevich, and they forced Burris to abandon hopes of winning electionin 2010 by making it clear they would not back him. Burris, 72, has virtually nothing to lose by defying his party’s leaders and voting as he pleases on overhauling the nation’s health care system this fall… – AP, 10-22-09
• US signals Afghan coalition government is possible: The United States built pressure on Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday, signaling that a troop increase could hinge on a successful runoff election and that the Obama administration would be receptive to a power-sharing deal between Karzai and his chief rival… – AP, 10-22-09
• Afghan president’s rival accepts Nov. 7 runoff: Afghanistan’s election commission Tuesday ordered a Nov. 7 runoff in the disputed presidential poll after a fraud investigation dropped incumbent Hamid Karzai’s votes below 50 percent of the total. Karzai accepted the finding and agreed to a second round vote. President Hamid Karzai’s chief political rival agreed Wednesday to take part in the Nov. 7 runoff election, cementing the stage for a high-stakes showdown in the face of Taliban threats and approaching winter snows. AP, 10-21-09
• Obama cites higher hope for Afghanistan democracy - AP, 10-21-09
• Senate OKs transfer of Gitmo prisoners for trials – AP, 10-21-09
• Plans to Slash Pay of Bailout Executives: The administration is said to have plans that would cut by 95 percent over last year the cash compensation of top executives heading companies receiving the largest bailouts…. – NYT, 10-21-09
• AP sources: House Dems trim health bill to $871B: House Democrats are aiming to scale back the cost of their health care bill to well below President Barack Obama’s preferred price tag by giving the government a strong hand in selling insurance in competition with the private market… – AP, 10-21-09
• Reuters Summit-McCain says Republicans need positive agenda: Republican Senator John McCain said on Wednesday his party needed a positive agenda to better attract those Americans who are disenchanted with Democratic policies.
  McCain said he sensed “a lot of anger and a lot of frustration” among Americans over taxpayer-backed bailouts of banks and auto companies while they cope with a persistently high U.S. jobless rate of 9.8 percent and see bank executives get “obscene” bonuses.
  “There’s something going on out there. And I’d love to sit here and tell you that we Republicans are attracting all of those unhappy people, but we’re not. They’re out there kind of in the middle and they haven’t found a home. And in fact they haven’t even channeled their anger yet,” he said…. – Reuters, 10-21-09
• Kerry Becomes All-Around Adviser To Obama: He’s not president, a Cabinet member or ambassador, but Senator John Kerry has ascended to the unofficial role of President Barack Obama’s global adviser on key issues that could reshape the nation’s image around the world. Mediating Afghanistan’s presidential election vaulted Kerry from the already prominent chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee into the most exclusive circle around a new president who is juggling but has not resolved a variety of domestic and foreign policy matters. Beyond policy, Kerry knows how Washington works. “Obviously, Sen. Kerry is somebody who has a broad range of experience and an in-depth knowledge of issues, ranging form energy and climate change to health care to foreign policy,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. “I think it’s that experience and insight that (Obama) certainly greatly values.”…. – AP, 10-21-09
• Obama to meet with Iraqi leader, honor vets – AP, 10-20-09
• Gates: War strategy shouldn’t depend on result of Afghan election: Afghan election commission orders runoff: Afghanistan’s election commission has ordered a runoff election for Nov. 7 after a fraud investigation dropped President Hamid Karzai’s votes below 50 percent of the total. – AP, 10-20-09
• U.S. to end war on medical marijuana in legal states: A new Obama administration policy loosening guidelines on federal prosecution of medical marijuana on Monday signaled to users that they had less to fear from federal agents but still left their suppliers to contend with a tangled mesh of state laws and regulations…. – AP, 10-20-09
• Adviser: Obama awaiting finished health care bill – AP, 10-19-09
• Obama looking at all options for creating jobs – AP, 10-19-09
• School Day for Obama: President Obama popped in on third and fourth-graders at a Silver Spring, Md. elementary school Monday, to tout the benefits of reading for youngsters, just as they were having lunch. The First Reader stopped by the cafeteria at Viers Mill School, where Mr. Obama admitted to having read Harry Potter books (with his daughter, Malia), but not the Goosebumps series of children’s horror books that are apparently a favorite of many of the kids at the school… – NYT, 10-19-09
• White House pushes to shape health bill: Proponents of revamping the nation’s health care system will hold phone-bank events in 50 states today. Here in the nation’s capital, a coalition of more than 100 liberal interest groups will convene its weekly meeting, with health care atop the agenda. Congressional leaders will seek to meld five health care bills into two for House and Senate votes. Beyond the topic, all the public and private meetings will have one other thing in common: White House involvement. President Obama will speak from New York City by video hookup to hundreds of small gatherings sponsored by Organizing for America, a spinoff of his 2008 campaign. Top White House aides will attend the regular strategy session of the Common Purpose Project, a coalition headed by former Obama campaign officials to advance his agenda. And when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gather committee leaders to write the legislation, Obama’s chief of staff and other aides are at the table…. – USA Today, 10-19-09
• Kerry: too soon to send more troops to Afghanistan - AP, 10-18-09
• Artist admits using key AP photo for ‘HOPE’ poster - AP, 10-18-09
• Obama administration shifting policy on Sudan – AP, 10-17-09
• Bipartisan Spirit, at Least for a Moment, in Bush Country: President Obama ventured deep into Bush territory, joining the first President George Bush to promote volunteerism, a favorite theme of both men…. NYT, 10-17-09
• Obama honors Bush’s service; At an event in Texas, the president also calls for cooperation between Republicans and Democrats. In a glowing tribute to a Republican predecessor, President Obama on Friday praised President George H.W. Bush as an example of someone who eschewed “a life of comfort and privilege” and instead devoted himself to public service — inside government and out. LAT, 10-17-09
• Obama praises Senate committee’s health care vote – AP, 10-17-09
• Job Program Found to Miss Many States That Need It Most: Businesses with federal stimulus contracts have created few jobs in states with the worst unemployment rates, according to data released Thursday by the federal government. The new jobs reported Thursday come from a small slice of a sliver of the $787 billion stimulus program: the roughly $16 billion worth of stimulus contracts that were awarded directly by federal agencies, of which about $2.2 billion has been spent so far. But the preliminary data represented the first time that the federal government has reported actual job figures, and not just job estimates, and they provided the most complete snapshot yet of how one component of the sprawling program — direct federal contracts — was shaping up…. – NYT, 10-16-09
• In Saying No, G.O.P. Sees More Pros Than Cons: The numbers are striking: Of the 217 Republicans in the House and the Senate, only one, Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, has publicly supported a health care overhaul along the lines President Obama seeks.
  The Republicans’ opposition is a remarkable display of the unity emerging against the broader Obama agenda as a dangerous expansion of government. That stance is popular with, even demanded by, the party’s narrowed conservative base.
  But it also exposes Republicans to criticism that they have become political obstructionists with no policy agenda of their own. And that could keep them from extending their appeal to the centrist voters who are essential to rebuilding the party’s strength nationally….. – NYT, 10-16-09
• Obama and elder Bush team up on call to service - 10-16-09
• Baucus: All Senate Dems will support health bill – AP, 10-16-09
• Obama defends himself against New Orleans critics - AP, 10-16-09
• President Obama makes first trip to New Orleans – AP, 10-15-09
• Obama calls for $250 payments to seniors - AP, 10-15-09
• Health care legislation back behind closed doors: Health care talks slip back behind closed doors Wednesday as Senate leaders start trying to merge two very different bills into a new version that can get the 60 votes needed to guarantee its passage… – AP, 10-14-09
• House panel to begin push on financial overhaul – AP, 10-14-09
• Health bill clears hurdle with support from Snowe: Historic legislation to expand U.S. health care and control costs won its first Republican supporter Tuesday and cleared a key Senate hurdle, a double-barreled triumph that propelled President Barack Obama’s signature issue toward votes this fall in both houses of Congress. Senate Finance Committee member Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, smiles as she looks towards the Democratic side of the dais on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009, after she spoke at the committee’s hearing on health care reform. Snowe says she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, breaking with her party on President Barack Obama’s top legislative priority. AP, 10-14-09
• AP IMPACT: Obama’s travels carry a touch of blue – AP, 10-13-09
• Vote set for health overhaul in Senate committee: President Barack Obama’s plan to remake the nation’s health care system is about to take its biggest step yet toward becoming reality. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. enters an elevator on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. announced that the Finance Committee will vote next week on the health care bill. AP, 10-13-09
• Dems scramble after warning from health insurers: Insurance companies aren’t playing nice any more. Their dire message that health care legislation will drive up premiums for people who already have coverage comes as a warning shot at a crucial point in the debate, and threatens President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority… – AP, 10-12-09
• McCain says Palin remains strong force in the GOP: Sen. John McCain says Sarah Palin remains a formidable force in the Republican Party despite widespread criticisms of his 2008 running mate. McCain says he still has great affection for the former Alaska governor…. – AP, 10-11-09
• Gay rights advocates march on DC, divided on Obama: AP, 10-11-09
• As Pressure Grows, Obama Addresses Gay Rights Group; He Promises to End ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ President Obama, struggling to keep promises he made during last year’s campaign, renewed his pledge to end the military’s ban on openly gay service members as he appeared at a fundraising dinner for the nation’s largest gay advocacy group on Saturday night. “I will end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ ” Obama said at the Human Rights Campaign dinner. Recounting the ongoing effort to bring full civil rights to gays and lesbians, the president said: “I’m here with a simple message: I’m here with you in that fight. Obama did not offer specifics on how he would advance the cause of allowing gays to serve openly in the military, or of same-sex marriage, two areas where his inaction as president have disappointed many gay supporters. – WaPo, 10-11-09
• Gays question Obama ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ pledge: President Barack Obama restated his campaign pledge to allow homosexual men and women to serve openly in the military, but left many in his audience of gay activists wondering when he would make good on the promise. AP, 10-11-09
• DNC pulls health care ad after Dole objects: The Democratic National Committee is canceling a television ad touting GOP support for health care reform after protests from one of the Republicans mentioned, former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole. The ad quotes a series of Republicans — including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson — saying the health care system needs to be reformed. Dole is quoted saying: “I want this to pass. … We’ve got to do something.” The ad then accuses current GOP congressional leaders as “siding with the insurance companies” to fight health care reform…. – AP, 10-11-09
• If health care passes, subsidies will come later: Sixty years is how long Democrats say they’ve been pushing for legislation that provides health care access for all Americans. They’ll have to wait another three if President Barack Obama gets a bill to sign this year. Under the Democratic bills, federal tax credits to help make health insurance affordable for millions of low- and middle-income households won’t start flowing until 2013 — after the next presidential election. But Medicare cuts and a sizable chunk of the tax increases to pay for the overhaul kick in immediately…. – AP, 10-10-09
• AP source: Obama focusing on al-Qaida, not Taliban: President Barack Obama is prepared to accept some Taliban involvement in Afghanistan’s political future and will determine how many more U.S. troops to send to the war based only on keeping al-Qaida at bay, a senior administration official said Thursday…. – AP, 10-9-09
• Axelrod: Afghanistan plan deeper than troop surge: A senior White House adviser said Friday that President Barack Obama’s talks on Afghanistan with top national security advisers earlier in the day ran much deeper than the question of sending more troops into the war.
  Presidential adviser David Axelrod, in a speech at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said “a lot of different factors” are being considered in the internal discussions, including allegations of fraud in Afghanistan’s recent presidential election and America’s strained relationship with Pakistan.
  “Fundamentally, what we need to think through is what is the best way to achieve our goals, which is to disrupt and dismantle al-Qaida, so they can’t stage operations against the U.S. and our allies,” Axelrod said…. – AP, 10-9-09
• Obama, advisers weigh Afghanistan shift, Pakistan – AP, 10-8-09
• Health bill would cost $829B, cover 94 percent: Health care legislation drafted by a key Senate committee would expand coverage to 94 percent of all eligible Americans at a 10-year cost of $829 billion, congressional budget experts said Wednesday, a preliminary estimate trumpeted by the White House and likely to power the measure past a major hurdle within days…. – AP, 10-8-09
• AP Poll: Health care overhaul has a pulse: The fever has broken. The patient is out of intensive care. But if you’re President Barack Obama, you can’t stop pacing the waiting room. Health care overhaul is still in guarded condition… – AP, 10-7-09
• Clinton, Gates say US goals steady in Afghanistan: AP, 10-6-09
• Obama pitches health care plan in front of doctors: AP, 10-6-09
• WH says Obama won’t pull US out of Afghanistan: President Barack Obama won’t walk away from the flagging war in Afghanistan, the White House declared Monday as Obama faced tough decisions — and intense administration debate — over choices that could help define his presidency in his first year as commander in chief…. – AP, 10-5-09
• Congress readies Iran sanctions if diplomacy fails: Congress is ready to act swiftly to impose tough new sanctions on Iran if international talks on Tehran’s nuclear program show signs of faltering. Already, some lawmakers are demanding that the United States strike immediately with new penalties rather than wait for an uncertain multinational consensus…. – AP, 10-3-09
• Dems ease impact of health bill, big advance nears: Capping months of struggle, Democrats pushed health care legislation atop President Barack Obama’s agenda to the brink of a major Senate advance early Friday after last-minute changes to ease the impact on working-class families. The most far-reaching overhaul in decades aims to protect millions who have unreliable insurance coverage or none at all…. – AP, 10-2-09
• Obama: Iran must follow through on nuke promises: President Barack Obama on Thursday called landmark nuclear talks with Iran a constructive beginning, then challenged Tehran to match words with deeds by giving international inspectors “unfettered access” to a previously secret uranium enrichment plant within two weeks…. AP, 10-1-09

ELECTIONS 2010, 2012….

• Obama Stumps for Deeds in Va.: The president makes a rare campaign appearance for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, in a very close race under very close scrutiny because Virginia went Democratic in the presidential campaign last year. NYT, 10-27-09
• NY House race seen as test for GOP, Obama – AP, 10-18-09

POLITICAL QUOTES

Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama appeared with former President George H.W. Bush, center, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates at an event promoting community service at Texas A&M University on Friday.

• Weekly Address: “President Obama Says Recovery Act Creating Jobs and Strengthening Economy”: Remarks of President Barack Obama As Prepared for Delivery Weekly Address Saturday, October 31, 2009: Each week, I’ve spoken with you about the challenges we face as a nation and the path we must take to meet them. And the truth is, over the past ten months, I’ve often had to report distressing news during what has been a difficult time for our country. But today, I am pleased to offer some better news that – while not cause for celebration – is certainly reason to believe that we are moving in the right direction…
  Finally, the Recovery Act is saving and creating jobs all across the country. Just this week, we reached an important milestone. Based on reports coming in from across America – as shovels break ground, as needed public servants are rehired, and as factories whir to life – it is clear that the Recovery Act has now created and saved more than one million jobs. That’s more than a million people who might otherwise be out of work today – folks who can wake up each day knowing that they’ll be able to provide for themselves and their families…. – WH, 10-31-09
• Obama honors fallen Americans at Dover: Standing in the pre-dawn darkness, President Barack Obama saw the real cost of the war in Afghanistan: The Americans who return in flag-covered cases while much of the nation sleeps in peace. In a surprise midnight dash to this Delaware base where U.S. forces killed overseas come home, Obama honored the return of 18 fallen Americans Thursday. All were killed in Afghanistan this week, a brutal stretch that turned October into the most deadly month for U.S. troops since the war began.
  “It was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day, not only our troops but their families as well,” Obama said later Thursday, hours after his return to the White House. “The burden that both our troops and their families bear in any wartime situation is going to bear on how I see these conflicts, and it is something that I think about each and every day.”… – AP, 10-29-09
• Weekly Address: President Obama Says Small Business Must be at the Forefront of the Recovery: Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address October 24, 2009 Washington, DC: Small businesses have always been the engine of our economy – creating 65 percent of all new jobs over the past decade and a half – and they must be at the forefront of our recovery. That’s why the Recovery Act was designed to help small businesses expand and create jobs. It’s provided $5 billion worth of tax relief, as well as temporarily reducing or eliminating fees on SBA loans and guaranteeing some of these loans up to 90 percent, which has supported nearly $13 billion in new lending to more than 33,000 businesses.
  In addition, our health reform plan will allow small businesses to buy insurance for their employees through an insurance exchange, which may offer better coverage at lower costs – and we’ll provide tax credits for those that choose to do so.
  And this past week, I called on Congress to increase the maximum size of various SBA loans, so that more small business owners can set up shop and grow their operations. I also announced that we’ll be taking additional steps through our Financial Stability plan to make more credit available to the small local and community banks that so many small businesses depend on – the banks who know their borrowers, who gave them their first loan and watched them grow…. – WH, 10-24-09
• Cheney Slams Obama on Afghanistan Policy: The former vice president accused President Obama of “dithering” on strategies for the war in Afghanistan….
  “In the fall of 2008, fully aware of the need to meet new challenges being posed by the Taliban, we dug into every aspect of Afghanistan policy, assembling a team that repeatedly went into the country, reviewing options and recommendations, and briefing President-elect Obama’s team. They asked us not to announce our findings publicly, and we agreed, giving them the benefit of our work and the benefit of the doubt.”
  But on Sunday, Mr. Emanuel told CNN that “when you go though all the analysis, it’s clear that basically we had a war for eight years that was going on, that’s adrift, that we’re beginning at scratch, and just from the starting point, after eight years.” – NYT, 10-23-09
• President Recognizes Vietnam Vets as Heroes: “We have an obligation to all who served in the jungles of Vietnam. Our Vietnam vets answered their country’s call and served with honor. But one of the saddest episodes in American history was the fact that these vets were often shunned and neglected, even demonized, when they came home. That was a national disgrace. And on days such as this, we resolve to never let it happen again.” NYT, 10-20-09
• Weekly Address: President Obama Calls Hails Progress on Health Insurance Reform Despite Defenders of the Status Quo: Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address October 17, 2009: Now, as the debate draws to a close, we can point to a broad and growing coalition of doctors and nurses, workers and businesses, hospitals and even drug companies – folks who represent different parties and perspectives, including leading Democrats and many leading Republicans – who recognize the urgency of action. Just this week, the Senate Finance Committee approved a reform proposal that has both Democratic and Republican support. For the first time ever, all five committees in Congress responsible for health reform have passed a version of legislation. As I speak to you today, we are closer to reforming the health care system than we have ever been in history…. – WH, 10-16-09
• The Saturday Word: Health Care Battles: “They’re filling the airwaves with deceptive and dishonest ads. They’re flooding Capitol Hill with lobbyists and campaign contributions. And they’re funding studies designed to mislead the American people,” Mr. Obama said adding firepower to Congressional Democrats’ already hostile responses. “It’s smoke and mirrors. It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, “Take one of these, and call us in a decade.” NYT, 10-17-09
• The Saturday Word: Health Care Battles: “There are three big myths hurtling around Washington these days: no jobs equals an economic recovery, government-run health care will make it more affordable, and deficits don’t matter,” Representative Kevin Brady of Texas said in his party’s weekly address. “Liberal policies that will keep people out of work longer will only make the deficit worse. Americans know that deficits matter to our dollar, to our economy, to our future,” Mr. Brady said. – NYT, 10-17-09
• REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE’S VOTE TO APPROVE HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM Rose Garden: Today we reached a critical milestone in our effort to reform our health care system. After many months of thoughtful deliberation, the fifth and final committee responsible for health care reform has passed a proposal that has both Democratic and Republican support. This effort was made possible by the tireless efforts of Chairman Max Baucus and the other members of the Senate Finance Committee. It’s a product of vigorous debate and difficult negotiations.
  After the consideration of hundreds of amendments, it includes ideas from both Democrats and Republicans, which is why it enjoys the support of people from both parties. And I want to particularly thank Senator Olympia Snowe for both the political courage and the seriousness of purpose that she’s demonstrated throughout this process….. – WH, 10-13-09
• Weekly Address: New Momentum for Health Reform:
  WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Praises Emerging Consensus on Health Insurance Reform East Room: The historic movement to bring real, meaningful health insurance reform to the American people gathered momentum this week as we approach the final days of this debate. Having worked on this issue for the better part of a year, the Senate Finance Committee is finishing deliberations on their version of a health insurance reform bill that will soon be merged with other reform bills produced by other Congressional committees….
  In fact, what’s remarkable is not that we’ve had a spirited debate about health insurance reform, but the unprecedented consensus that has come together behind it. This consensus encompasses everyone from doctors and nurses to hospitals and drug manufacturers…. – WH, 10-11-09 Transcript
• Obama: One more push for health care cooperation: President Barack Obama sees both “unprecedented consensus” from outside Congress on his drive to remake the nation’s health care system and obstructionism by some on Capitol Hill. “The historic movement to bring real, meaningful health insurance reform to the American people gathered momentum this week as we approach the final days of this debate,” Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet video address.
  The consensus “includes everyone from doctors and nurses to hospitals and drug manufacturers” — even Republican governors and former GOP lawmakers, Obama said.
  “These distinguished leaders understand that health insurance reform isn’t a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, but an American issue that demands a solution,” Obama said. AP, 10-10-09
• Weekly Address: Health Reform Urgent for the Economy: WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Explains How Health Insurance Reform Will Strengthen America’s Small Businesses: When I took office eight months ago, our nation was in the midst of an economic crisis unlike any we’d seen in generations. While I was confident that our economy would recover, we know that employment is often the last thing to come back after a recession. Our task is to do everything we possibly can to accelerate that process.
  And we’ve certainly made progress on this front since the period last winter when we were losing an average of 700,000 jobs each month. But yesterday’s report on September job losses was a sobering reminder that progress comes in fits and starts, and that we will need to grind out this recovery step by step…. – 10-3-09 Transcript
• McCain admits problems with Palin: John McCain admitted the obvious Sunday: His staff clashed with the staff of VP running mate Sarah Palin during their 2008 presidential campaign. Much of the tension involved McCain top aide Steve Schmidt — who recently said it would be “catastrophic” if Palin were the GOP’s 2012 presidential candidate. But McCain certainly wasn’t going to criticize Palin herself; she remains very popular with the ultra-conservative part of the Republican Party. Said McCain: “She still is a formidable force in the Republican Party….”And I have great affection for her.” – Kansas City Star, 10-11-09
• DNC pulls health care ad after Dole objects: Dole told ABC News on Sunday that he objected to the ad’s criticism of the current Republican leadership. “I just didn’t think it was fair, when I’ve tried to be helpful in encouraging a bipartisan solution, for the DNC to run an ad that I interpreted and I know others did as a backhanded comment about Republicans,” Dole said…. – AP, 10-11-09

HISTORIANS & ANALYSTS’ COMMENTS

• Editorial: The Baucus Bill: The Senate Finance Committee may finally be ready to vote on its version of a health care reform bill. For months, its chairman, Max Baucus, and other members have struggled to produce legislation that could win significant Republican support. Fat chance. Only one Republican on the committee seems open to voting for the bill, and the entire Republican Congressional leadership seems determined — for ideological and partisan reasons — to torpedo the entire reform effort…. – NYT, 10-11-09
• KARL ROVE: The GOP Is Winning the Health-Care Debate: Passing health-care reform could be harmful to the health of congressional Democrats. Just look at how President Barack Obama’s standing has fallen as he has pushed for reform. According to Fox News surveys, the number of independents who oppose health-care reform hit 57% at the end of September, up from 33% in July. Independents are generally a quarter of the vote in off-year congressional elections. Among college graduates, opposition to health-care reform is now 50%, while only 33% support it, according to Gallup’s Sept. 24 poll. College graduates are slightly more than a quarter of the off-year electorate…. – WSJ, 10-10-09
• Richard Kohn: How Obama Compares To Other Wartime President [audio]: As President Obama weighs his military options in Afghanistan, how does his relationship to the military and his leadership style compare to other wartime presidents? Richard Kohn, a military historian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says President Obama’s frequency of contacts with Gen. Stanley McChrystal are typical. – NPR (All Things Considered) (10-5-09)
• Robert Dallek tells Obama “war kills off great reform movements”: At a White House dinner with a group of historians at the beginning of the summer, Robert Dallek, a shrewd student of both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, offered a chilling comment to President Obama. “In my judgment,” he recalls saying, “war kills off great reform movements.” The American record is pretty clear: World War I brought the Progressive Era to a close. When Franklin D. Roosevelt was waging World War II, he was candid in saying that “Dr. New Deal” had given way to “Dr. Win the War.” Korea ended Harry Truman’s Fair Deal, and Vietnam brought Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society to an abrupt halt…. – The Washington Post (10-5-09)
• Julian Zelizer: Commentary: Obama’s mistakes are a warning sign: During the past few months, two events have revealed a side of President Obama that we knew little about. First came his remark in July when he said at a press conference that the police who arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates had acted “stupidly.”
  The unrehearsed remark triggered controversy right at a time when Democrats needed to focus public attention on health care.
  And last week, at a climactic moment for the health care debate in the Senate, Obama suddenly went to make a personal pitch for holding the 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago, Illinois.
  When the International Olympic Committee said no to the president’s hometown in the first round of voting, and then gave the event to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Obama suffered an embarrassing defeat. The late-night comedians and his political foes were predictably chomping at the bit.
  These events contrast sharply with the other Barack Obama that most of us have come to know since 2007, a study in cool and deliberative decision-making. During the Democratic primaries, nothing seemed to shake Obama….
  In the end, two issues will shape this presidency much more than the Olympics: the outcome of the health care debate and the decision over whether to send troops to Afghanistan.
  Nonetheless, the incident should serve as a warning to the president and his staff. This is the kind of action they should not repeat. While Obama has thus far avoided making mistakes on the big issues of the day, this kind of slip-up would be devastating in a different context. And over time, too many of them, on issues large and small, will undermine the positive impression most Americans still have of his leadership abilities. – CNN, 10-5-09
• Obama Researcher Reveals How She Found President’s Irish Roots: Chief Family Historian for Ancestry.com Megan Smolenyak got the assignment of a lifetime when it was discovered in 2007 that future President of the U.S. Barack Obama had Irish roots. Smolenyak’s job? To find out where in Ireland Obama’s family came from. Ancestry.com had established that Obama was part Irish, and that his third great-grandfather on his mother’s side, Fulmoth Kearney, is his most recent connection to the Emerald Isle…. – ABC News (10-3-09)
• Obama and McChrystal Don’t Talk? Good, Says Army Historian: President Obama is about to convene his war cabinet, to discuss the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. It’ll be only the second time Obama has spoken directly with Gen. Stanley McChrystal since he became the top commander for coalition forces there – a fact that’s earning Obama a lot of grief in national security circles. But a leading Army War College historian says the critics are off-base… – Wired (9-30-09)

Annie Leibovitz, via the White House The Obama family portrait, released by the White House.

HISTORY BUZZ:

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