Yesterday, President Obama met with Senators at the White House and pushed them to pass comprehensive, clean energy and climate legislation. Still, the skeptics are spinning a monotonous web of negativity regarding what is achievable on this front. And, not surprisingly, the "mainstream media" once again has been asleep at the wheel in setting the record straight. Fortunately, we know that when this President rolls up his sleeves, he gets stuff done and delivers on his promises. One thing’s for sure; President Obama is anything but an underachiever!
Along these lines, President Obama held a press conference following the G-20 summit in Toronto. In response to a reporter’s question regarding how he would achieve his deficit reduction goals, the president responded:
For some reason people keep being surprised when I do what I said I was going to do. So, I say I’m going to reform our [health care system], and people say well gosh that’s not smart politics maybe we should hold off. Or I say we’re going to move forward on [Don’t Ask Don’t Tell] and somehow people say well why are you doing that, I’m not sure that’s good politics. I’m doing it because I said I was going to do it, and I think it’s the right thing to do. And people should learn that lesson about me, because next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficit and debt step up cause I’m calling their bluff.
To that list of accomplishments, we could also add:
Creating or saving 2.2-2.8 million jobs, well on the way to Obama’s February 2009 pledge that he would "create or save 3-and-a-half million jobs over the next two years."
Reforming Wall Street (likely to pass Congress any day now)
Overhauling the student loan market
Reaching a nuclear arms treaty with Russia
We could go on and on, but you get the point: anyone who continues, at this point, to be "surprised" when President Obama gets things done when he puts his mind to it is deep in denial. Or, as a previous president might have put it, they are wildly "misunderestimating" our 44th president.
Clearly, as we’ve seen over the past two years, underachieving is not a problem Barack Obama suffers from. Of course, even a superachiever like Barack Obama has an awful lot on his plate to deal with. And right now, one of the most important things on Obama’s plate is figuring out how to push comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation through the U.S. Senate. Along those lines, yesterday, Obama met with a group of Senators on this issue, reportedly holding firm in his call for putting a price on carbon emissions.
The question at this point is, will President Obama roll up his sleeves and deliver on another of his major campaign promise (as well as a major challenge facing our nation)? Given the long list of accomplishments mentioned above, it certainly wouldn’t be smart to bet against him. The fact is, Barack Obama usually succeeds in whatever he puts his mind to.
Given the nation’s increased focus on energy and climate issues – and the increased support by the American people for taking strong action as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster – now is clearly the time for boldness and for bluff calling by our nation’s leaders. Today, President Obama has the opportunity to demonstrate once more that, when he rolls up his sleeves, he accomplishes what he says he’s going to do. In sum, today is clearly the moment for President Obama to prove the doubters and naysayers wrong – to call their bluff - yet again!
As President Obama prepares for his meeting tomorrow with Senators at the White House to discuss clean energy and climate change legislation, he might want to check with the White House staff on an important matter first. No, not the details of the legislation, although that’s important of course. Instead, what President Obama might want to make absolutely sure about is the non-trivial matter of whether the White House air conditioning is in tip-top shape. I say "non-trivial," but these days it’s more like "life or death." How hot is it in the Washington, DC area? As NBC Washington puts it, "We're Talking Spontaneous Combustion." (UPDATE: it's more likely this is apocryphal than literally true, but it sure feels like plants could catch on fire these days in Washington, DC!)
How hot is it? It's so hot that dead plants are spontaneously combusting in Frederick, Md.
Don't believe it? Just ask Frederick County Fire Marshal Marc McNeal, who told the Frederick News-Post that excessive heat caused a dead plant to catch fire Sunday afternoon in a hanging planter on the rear deck of a townhouse.
The hanging basket fell to the deck and burned some vinyl siding, causing about $3,000 in damages.
It has definitely been hot in the Washington region. Monday will be the 10th day in a row that we've reached 90 degrees or higher, and this will be the 17th day of the month that the thermometer has reached 90.
NBC4 meteorologist Tom Kierein said that when it's all said and done, June 2010 likely will be the hottest June on record in the District.
Dead plants catching on fire in the hottest June on record in the Washington, DC area? Sadly, this may not be an aberration, but a frightening sign of things to come in a global warming world. True, we shouldn’t draw broad conclusions about the earth’s climate from one heat wave in one specific geographic area, as certain climate change deniers dishonestly did during last winter’s "snowpocalypse" blizzards. However, when we see month after month, decade after decade of record-setting heat globally, it starts to get a bit hard to ignore.
In fact, climate scientists are not ignoring these heat waves and other phenomena. Earlier today, for instance, The Project on Climate Science reported that the "record-breaking heat wave" we are currently experiencing in the eastern United States "is consistent with climate change." According to Tom Peterson, Chief Scientist for NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, "We’re getting a dramatic taste of the kind of weather we are on course to bequeath to our grandchildren." Of course, as The Project on Climate Science points out, "individual heat waves can be driven by a number of factors." However, they conclude, "more frequent heat waves are one of the more visible impacts of climate change already underway in the United States" and "will occur more frequently in the future."
In sum, if you enjoy record-setting warmth – not to mention the stronger storms, mass extinctions and "record sea ice shrinkage" in the Arctic that go along with that warmth – you have a lot to look forward to! If not, then you should contact your Senator and let him or her know you want climate action now.
Come to think of it, perhaps we should all hope for the White House air conditioning to be broken tomorrow – or turned off on purpose - so that the Senators meeting there get a taste of what the planet will feel like everywhere if they don’t do something about it now. When you think about it, a bit of Senatorial sweat and a few stained shirts is not too high a price to pay if it results in long-overdue, comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation on the President’s desk sometime this sweltering summer. Is it?
This is in response to President Obama's Q & A with Republicans yesterday which is almost universally being hailed as a boffo performance by the President.
To me, personally, it’s not a surprise. I debated policy with Mike Pence once and the guy is a stone-cold idiot. That was a years ago and I’ve been surprised since then to learn that conservatives consider him an unusually sharp policy mind and I take leading rightwingers at their word about that. But it’s the kind of thing that I think most Americans aren’t aware of.
Here's another review referencing Pence that made me chuckle:
At the end, shaking hands with the president, Pence's face looked as if he'd sucked a lemon for an hour – and in a way he had.
Here's the full video of the "Rumble in Baltimore" as some are calling it:
As mentioned yesterday, Senator Evan Bayh has been pushing in recent weeks for a substantial move to address the ballooning federal deficit. Yesterday, he got his wish, with the announcement by officials in the Obama administration that a three-year discretionary spending freeze will be touted at tomorrow's State of the Union address.
Bayh praised the move as good policy and good politics.
"It was a good move, it was a strong move, and I think people across this country will say it's about time," Bayh said during an appearance on MSNBC. "It's not only the right substantive to do, it's also the shrewd political thing to do."
[...]
Bayh said the focus on the deficit would reposition Democrats politically after they had faced choppy waters over the last year. Bayh said "of course" the healthcare debate had taken too long, weighing on Obama and Democrats' popularity, and that the party should have focused more intensely on job creation in the past year.
"We need to speak directly to independents, moderate Republicans and say, look, we're going to pursue common-sense solutions to get this country back on track," he said.
As we all drink our morning coffee and digest what this latest change-up means for the Senate, let me be the first to say - I continue to be hopeful that the Senate will take action on climate change.
The signs of momentum for a clean energy and climate bill outweigh any signs that come from the Massachusetts special election.
In case you are tired of making your own New Year's resolutions, President Obama would like you to help him set his. He is inviting Americans to tell him what we think the administration's priorities should be for 2010.
Here are a series of videos from the Pro-Health Care Reform rally held on IUPUI's campus in downtown Indianapolis on Monday evening.
We begin with the Obama bus pulling into the rally:
This is a video of the crowd getting fired up as they waited for the rally to begin:
Finally we have a video of U.S. Rep. Andre Carson (IN-7) giving a speech about health care reform. He says that many anti-reform protesters are paid by the insurance companies. Carson also recalls stories he has been told about health care:
It looks as if our days of being a political backwater are behind us, as President Barack Obama has announced he will make his first fundraising trip to the Hoosier State next month on behalf of four quality Indiana Democrats.
President Obama plans to cap his cap-and-gown commencement address at the University of Notre Dame later this month with an Indianapolis fundraising event for four Indiana House Democrats, according to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette's Sylvia Smith.
The president, with his sky-high approval ratings, could hardly be a better draw right now.
[...]
Among the four, only Carson's Indianapolis-based 7th District is a Democratic stronghold. Even as Obama in 2008 became the first Democrat to carry Indiana for president since 1964, Ellsworth's 8th District and Hill's 9th leaned to Republican John McCain, though by much smaller margins that those usually enjoyed by GOP presidential nominees.
Between this and the rumors that President Bill Clinton is likely to pop up in the state as well during May, it looks as if Indiana will stay on the national radar for at least a little while.
For those of you who have already watched President Obama's weekly radio address, you know that Indiana's own Baron Hill was on the receiving end of a PAYGO love-fest courtesy of the leader of the free world. Here's where we're at:
In his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama called on Congress to pass a pay-as-you-go legislation, known as PAYGO, that would require new federal spending to be offset by budgetary cuts or tax hikes.
"We need to adhere to the basic principle that new tax or entitlement policies should be paid for," he said, asserting that PAYGO "helped transform large deficits into surpluses in the 1990s. Now we must restore that sense of fiscal discipline."
Fiscally conservative Democratic lawmakers, known as Blue Dogs, told Obama on Friday that they're working on a PAYGO plan and that they prefer to offset new spending with spending cuts elsewhere. Rep. Baron Hill of Indiana will introduce legislation next week, a Democratic aide told FOXNews.com
And they said the Blue Dogs and Obama couldn't get along...
While the rabble continues to grumble and gripe over the University of Notre Dame's invitation of President Barack Obama to speak at their commencement day, the South Bend Tribune rightly takes a step back from the fiery rhetoric and asks for a little perspective.
One reason given is that some of the president's views are at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church. That thought was expressed as well when former President George W. Bush delivered the commencement address in 2001 and again when he spoke at the university in March 2005.
[...]
Obama will the sixth president to address a graduating class. None of his predecessors were Catholic nor did they necessarily share all Catholic convictions, but then such was not a prerequisite for the honor. Notre Dame's character isn't compromised by the university's open attitude toward academic inquiry or the welcoming of such highly placed commencement speakers.
The last few days have seen a few stories on the decision of Bishop John D'Arcy to not attend President Barack Obama's commencement address at the University of Notre Dame. Personally, I think there's something to be said for a spirit of cooperation on these divisive issues, but to each his own, I suppose.
(Craig has a decent point on that mess in diary-land.)
But lest you think this some partisan battle, take heart in the fact that the President Obama won't be the only one getting the cold shoulder -- RNC chief Michael Steele will similarly have to deal with an empty seat when he takes the stage.
Evansville Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger decided not to attend Vanderburgh County Right to Life's annual dinner, which will also feature Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, on April 16 because of Steele's comments published online by GQ two weeks ago, diocese spokesman Paul Leingang said Tuesday.
Gettelfinger, the spiritual leader of about 90,000 Catholics in southwestern Indiana, has attended the Right to Life dinner each year for at least a decade, Leingang said.
Steele, a Catholic who was adopted, told GQ that he believed abortion was "an individual choice." He later issued a statement saying he opposed abortion and that the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision should be overturned.
Chris Cillizza, aside from his love of all things Drudge, is a pretty smart guy. Time and time again during the oh-eight election season, he showed that he "got it" when it came to the national political landscape. And I think he hits the nail on the head once more this morning with his discussion of the rhetorical importance of President Obama's visit to Elkhart, Indiana -- a city of 50,000 that has lost roughly 8,000 jobs in the last year.
Obama and his team demonstrated time and time again during the campaign that they grasped the importance of symbolism when choosing event locations -- witness the coming-together of Obama and his one-time rival in Unity, N.H. (get it?), a town in which they each won 107 votes -- and heading to a traditionally Republican state in the middle of America that Obama won last fall is not an accident. It's meant to reinforce the message that the economic crisis that catapulted Obama into office is not a partisan issue and woe to politicians who view in through that lens.
Just in case anyone misses that message, Obama is bringing along a bipartisan group of lawmakers that includes Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Illinois congressman, and Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton as well as Sen. Evan Bayh and Donnelly among others.
Making his first westward trek since being sworn in, President Obama will fly into Elkhart today for a townhall meeting in one of the areas hardest-hit by the economic recession we find ourselves in. And for folks up in that neck of the woods, the help can't come quick enough.
The president is touring the country trying to sell his economic stimulus program.
Nowhere is it needed more than in this Northern Indiana city. Elkhart (population: 53,000) leads the nation in unemployment. According to Labor Department statistics released last week, the area's jobless rate hit 15.3 percent in December, up 10 percentage points in a year.
And in a sign of just how unique these dire times are, you can tune in to Fox News this morning to see the mayor of Carmel -- yes, that Carmel -- go to bat for the President and his stimulus plan. Strange days.
For those of you in Elkhart, here's to hoping you got your tickets early -- they sold out in one day. The Star website will have live video for the rest of us starting a little before noon.
Oh, and if you're wondering where our suddenly hard-to-find governor is while all of this is going on, he has chimed in with these uplifting words of compassion and heart.
"Being the world's capital of RV manufacturing was great until it wasn't great," said Governor Mitch Daniels. "So he will see how suddenly and severely this specific area of Indiana was hit."
The Elkhart-Goshen area's unemployment rate hit 15.3 percent in December, up from 4.7 percent the year before. That was the nation's biggest annual increase for a metropolitan area, according to the Labor Department.
[...]
"Naturally, we're very pleased that the president recognizes our plight here in Elkhart," said Mayor Dick Moore. "It's very, very troublesome."
Obama plans to talk about what's in the stimulus package moving through Congress, why both short-term and long-term solutions are needed and how the package will help Americans.
As refreshing as it is to have President Obama traveling the country to engage the American people in conversation, it sort of begs the question for us Hoosiers: Where the hell is Mitch Daniels?
Money makes the world go 'round, world go 'round, world go 'round.
It also creates a power struggle like no other. And with Congress moving full speed ahead on President Obama's stimulus package, things will undoubtedly be heating up as state leaders struggle to have their say over the estimated $5 billion that Indiana could see. Mary Beth Schneider of the Star takes a look at where things stand:
With Indiana's unemployment rate at 8.2 percent, a full percentage point higher than the national average, key lawmakers on Thursday also said creating jobs has to be the state's priority and questioned whether state tax cuts were necessary in light of federal tax cuts in the package.
"Tax cuts don't help the 266,000 people who don't have a job," said House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend.
In any case, the state isn't waiting for President Barack Obama to sign the stimulus bill into law before taking action.
Daniels said that the Indiana Department of Transportation will start seeking bids on projects next week and that the Indiana Finance Authority will invite bids on clean-water projects.
"We're not waiting for the bill," he said. "We intend to come right out of the starting blocks as soon as the president signs (it)."
If there's one thing the last eight years have shown us, it is that an economy cannot survive on tax cuts alone. Governor Daniels seems to be taking a cautious tone, but we shouldn't confuse frugality with belligerent inaction. Hoosiers are hurting, and this money needs to take a direct and efficient path into job creation.
The Washingtonian welcomes the arrival of a basketball-loving president with a look at who might join him on the rumored White House court. Our own Hall of Famer makes the list:
Baron Hill The Indiana congressman's high-school exploits put him in the state's basketball hall of fame. A Blue Dog Democrat, he threw his support to Obama before the nomination was clinched.
Nerves of steel, and he's already given the President a big assist? Seems like a sure-fire bet to me.
If there was one distinctly human moment yesterday amidst the fanfare and living history, it was the "what is going on?" moment that developed around the actual swearing in of President Barack Obama. An explanation is certainly in order:
Obama started to repeat his name, but then Roberts continued, speaking over Obama: "... do solemnly swear ..."
Obama caught up with both phrases. Then the awkwardness continued.
Roberts, 53, said, "...that I will execute the Office of President to the United States faithfully."
Obama, 47, began to repeat the chief justice's words but then paused, apparently realizing they were not quite right. The proper phrase is: "... that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States."
Roberts, who then began to correct himself, did not appear to have the wording of the oath handy for reference. His immediate predecessor, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, used to practice the oath repeatedly before the event and would bring a card with him for extra measure. The card showed the words of the oath and indications for pauses.
Conspiracy theorists jumped on Roberts' mistake as some sort of something -- and the less informed of the world lost their minds with Obama finger-pointing -- but I'll echo one legal expert in the belief that Roberts was probably just nervous.
Regardless, it was nice to see that even during the most beautifully scripted events, a few tricky words can bring everything to a temporary halt. Strangely refreshing, even if future generations may wonder just how the Chief Justice managed to screw things up.
David Maraniss, writing for the Washington Post a few days ago, outlined just a few of the historic firsts represented by the individual who in just a few short hours will become the 44th President of the United States.
The first president to enter the White House with a literate and introspective memoir behind him, Obama is his own book of firsts. He is the first president with a foreign father. He is the first president to grow up in Hawaii, the 50th state. He is the first president whose parents earned doctoral degrees. He is the first president who once could speak the Indonesian language. He is the first president who was president of the Harvard Law Review. He is the first president who was a hapa, as they are called in Hawaii, with parents of different races. He is the first president who has a sister from Asia and a sister from Africa and a wife from the black working-class South Side of Chicago. And he is the first African American president, yet one with no slaves but a few slaveholders in his ancestry.
The office of the presidency has been consistently filled over the last two centuries by leaders who staunchly defended our self-proclaimed history as a land of proudly defended contradictions, limitless opportunity, and peaceful diversity. Never before have we had the Oval Office occupied by someone who embodies these ideals so appropriately by his mere presence.
And yet, as Masson noted yesterday, the success of Barack Obama had little if anything to do with his race, and so much more to do with his ability to connect to the voters of this country on a personal level. Today marks an historic departure from the traditional notions of, well, a lot of concepts in this country, even as the problems associated with our dark and twisted history loom ever-present under the surface. Barack Obama enters office with great fanfare, and even greater challenges.
But today, we celebrate. We celebrate our country, our democracy, and our future.
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