President Barack Obama

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2009-08-31T10:15:00.001+08:00

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Back to Google News Obama returns to DC area from vacation

2009-08-31T10:11:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama has returned to the Washington area after a weeklong vacation on Martha's Vineyard.

The presidential aircraft returned to the capital Sunday evening from the first family's vacation spot off the Massachusetts coast.

While on the island, Obama played golf, took first lady Michelle Obama to dinner and went for a bike ride with his daughters. He also grabbed a deep-fried seafood lunch with pal and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett.

The vacation wasn't just all play. Obama on Tuesday announced he wanted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to serve another four-year term. On Saturday he delivered a eulogy for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in Boston.

The first family plans another attempt at a vacation over the Labor Day weekend. This time, they'll head to Camp David, Md.

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Obama still seeks health overhaul in 2009

2009-08-22T21:33:00.000+08:00

US President Barack Obama still hopes to pass his embattled health care overhaul in 2009 in the face of growing public doubts about his approach, the White House said Friday.

Obama met with former Senate Democratic majority leader Tom Daschle, once his choice to head the US Department of Health and Human Services and the reform effort, to discuss the way forward on the plan.

"The two agreed that substantive reform that lowers costs, reforms the insurance industry, and expands coverage is too important to wait another year or another administration," spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

"They agreed to stay in touch over the coming weeks and months as this critical effort moves forward," said Gibbs.

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Obama to Visit China in November, Focus on Environment, Energy

2009-08-22T21:32:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama will make his first official visit to China in November, seeking to foster collaboration on the environment, renewable energy and regional security, the new U.S. ambassador to China said.

“If we can tackle all of these, we will be able to take U.S.-China relations to new heights,” Jon Huntsman said today in Beijing at his first press meeting since arriving in the Chinese capital yesterday.

Obama accepted an invitation from Chinese President Hu Jintao in April when the two met in London at a Group of 20 summit called to deal with the global financial crisis. He is also scheduled to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore in November.

The appointment of Huntsman, 49, a fluent Mandarin speaker, as Obama’s envoy underscores the importance of trade and political relations between the world’s biggest market and the largest global manufacturer. The U.S. and China have a twice- yearly strategic and economic dialogue for resolving problems and also conduct a dialogue on human-rights issues.

“The human-rights dialogue has to be regularized so that it’s not just a regular meeting, but a meaningful meeting that reflects ourselves as a country,” Huntsman said today. “It has to be comprehensive, thoughtful and include issues like climate change and the economy.”

The U.S. and China must also collaborate on security issues, including disarmament in North Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, said Huntsman, who was Republican governor of Utah when tapped to head the president’s diplomatic overtures to Beijing.

‘Goodwill and Work’

“These will require the U.S. and China to work diligently, a lot of collaboration, goodwill and work,” he said.

Huntsman learned Mandarin when he was a Mormon missionary in Taiwan. He has served as a deputy U.S. Trade Representative and as American ambassador to Singapore.

As Utah governor, Huntsman focused on improving public education, the state’s economic competitiveness and the environment. He promoted the study of Mandarin in schools, and said about 5,000 students in the state are now learning the language spoken by some 70 percent of Chinese people.

Huntsman began his remarks today with an adage in Mandarin: “When the family is happy, all is well under heaven.”

He’s joined in Beijing by his wife Mary Kaye and three daughters Mary Anne, Gracie Mae and Usha. Gracie Mae was adopted from eastern China’s Yangzhou city.

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Congressman says Obama able to keep tax pledge

2009-08-17T13:39:00.000+08:00

The chairman of the House tax-writing committee says he thinks President Barack Obama can keep his promise not to raise taxes on most people and still overhaul health care.

Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York says that dealing with waste, medical errors and other problems that he says "hemorrhage" money would provide some immediate relief.

As a candidate Obama promised not to raise taxes on people earning less than $250,000 a year. Critics of the health care overhaul say it will result in huge tax increases.

Rangel says he doesn't know whether a House proposal to charge a surtax on the insurance benefits of wealthy Americans can survive in the Senate.

Rangel spoke Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

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Barack Obama invokes anguish at grandmother's death to dispute health care 'death panel' claims

2009-08-17T13:20:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama has invoked his distress at the death of his grandmother to combat suggestions that his health care reforms would create "death panels" for the elderly.

The president's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died on election day last year after a long battle with cancer. Mr Obama discussed his anguish at her death and rejected allegations that his plans would deny care to elderly patients.

"I just lost my grandmother last year. I know what it's like to watch somebody you love who's ageing deteriorate, and have to struggle with that," Mr Obama said. "So the notion that somehow I ran for public office or members of Congress are in this so they can go around pulling the plug on grandma? I mean, when you start making arguments like that, that's simply dishonest."

The American airwaves have been inundated with claim and counter claim about the health care plans. Supporters of Mr Obama's reforms have outspent their opponents $24 million (£14.5 million) to $9 million, with the overall total being largest sum spent on a single issue campaign.

Public reservations are deep-rooted even though 47 million Americans have no health insurance.

The president's stepmother, Kezia Obama, has entered the fray by claiming that the NHS saved her life when she suffered chronic kidney failure. US media gave prominent coverage to reports that Mrs Obama fell seriously ill with kidney failure and pancreatic problems during a summer visit to Britain seven years ago. The 66-year-old, who now lives in Bracknell, Berkshire, said she could not have afforded treatment in America.

"It's very simple: I owe my life to the NHS," she said. "If it wasn't for the NHS I wouldn't have been alive to see our family's greatest moment - when Barack became president and was sworn into the White House."

Her intervention came after Republicans branded the NHS "evil" and "Orwellian".

At his town hall meetings Mr Obama introduced members of the audience who had been denied health care by insurance companies, a practice which will be banned under his reforms. "If you think that can't happen to you or your family, think again," he said.

In an article in the New York Times, he said he was confident that his drive to overhaul the US health care system would succeed. Reform was closer to reality "than we have ever been", he said, citing support from the American Nurses Association, the American Medical Association and the American Association of Retired People.

He also said there was "about 80 per cent" agreement in Congress on the shape of the reform plan that he expected to emerge as legislation.

A vigorous debate about health care was, he said, "what America's all about". But he gave warning that "in the coming weeks, the cynics and the naysayers will continue to exploit fear and concerns for political gain.

"What's truly scary, truly risky is the prospect of doing nothing. If we maintain the status quo, we will continue to see 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every day. Premiums will continue to skyrocket. Our deficit will continue to grow. And insurance companies will continue to profit by discriminating against sick people."

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Obama Considers Raising Fees on Larger Financial Institutions

2009-08-14T21:00:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama’s administration is considering raising fees on larger financial firms to help cover costs of new regulation by an agency set up to safeguard consumer financial products.

The proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency “will be funded by fees, appropriations, and other transfers,” Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said yesterday. Firms with assets of more than $10 billion “will pay more for prudential and consumer supervision, while community banks will not pay any more for supervision than they do today. Non-banks will be assessed for the first time.”

The plan marks a further burden on banks such as Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. that may be subjected to more government fees, aimed at shielding consumers and buffering taxpayers from excessive risk taking. The proposal follows Obama’s plan to ensure systemically important financial institutions pay for costs of additional supervision.

The administration wants firms deemed too big to fail to be liable for costs of any government assistance. Collecting larger fees on major banks to fund the proposed consumer products agency isn’t part of the administration’s 600-plus page proposal to overhaul financial regulation, Williams said.

Led by chairman Sheila Bair, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has proposed slapping fees on the biggest bank holding companies to the extent that they carry on activities, such as proprietary trading, outside of traditional lending. That idea goes beyond the Obama administration’s regulation-overhaul plan, which would have the Fed adjust capital and liquidity standards for the biggest firms, without any pre-set fees.

Two-Tiered Structure

A two-tiered fee structure for consumer protection would levy higher fees on firms with more than $10 billion in assets, while fees for smaller institutions would be lower, an administration official said yesterday on the condition of anonymity because the proposals have not been announced.

Michael Barr, the Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial institutions, said the Obama administration is pleased with the debate on Capitol Hill over the proposals, even though they have yet to be embraced wholesale by lawmakers.

“It is not surprising that it’s generating debate,” Barr said in an interview this week. “It would have been crazy to think that we’d send it up and people would sing ‘Kumbaya’ and hold hands and pass it in five minutes. The entire conversation on the Hill right now, on regulatory reform, all revolves around people fighting about our plan.”

While the Treasury already has proposed some kind of assessment on financial institutions to cover its costs, the legislation does not specify exactly who would be assessed or how.

Fees Assessed

“The agency shall recover the amount of funds expended by the agency under this title, through the collection of annual fees or assessments on covered persons,” said the proposed legislation, released on June 30.

Regulators have each opposed some aspect of the Obama plan. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has sought to retain authority for protecting consumers of financial products after the administration sought to create a new agency for the task.

Bair and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman MarySchapiro have favored a council of agencies -- rather than the Fed -- to have powers to rein in risk-taking at financial firms so large or interconnected their failure would threaten the system.

Geithner, in a July 31 meeting aimed at cracking down on dissent, used strong language with the regulatory heads, reflecting concern at the fate of the administration’s proposals, a person briefed on the matter said on condition of anonymity.

Banks and other financial institutions have reported about $1.6 trillion in credit losses and writedowns worldwide since the global credit crisis began in 2007.

Consumer Oversight

As proposed, the Obama administration’s consumer regulator wouldn’t have the power to make major changes to the financial landscape, said William Black, a University of Missouri law and economics professor in Kansas City and a former U.S. bank regulator. That’s because the Obama administration plan calls for keeping broad-based, consumer-oriented oversight separate from bank examination and regulatory enforcement, he said.

“If it had been in place, it wouldn’t have stopped the last crisis,” Black said yesterday in a telephone interview. “This is another example of creating an ivory tower divorced from the day-to-day examination findings.”

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Obama visits Mountain West, knowing vulnerability

2009-08-14T20:58:00.000+08:00

Perhaps no region of the country better illustrates Barack Obama's political vulnerabilities than the mountain West, a region traditionally wary of the federal government.

He's hoping to ease some of those concerns in a Western swing blending town hall appearances and visits to national parks beginning Friday.

Democrats have made recent election inroads in the region by successfully courting independents, Republican crossovers and conservative-to-moderate loyalists in their own party. But it's these very voters — gun owners, civil libertarians, private property advocates — who seem to be turning away from the president across the country because of deep-seated concerns about expanding government and soaring budget deficits.

They are people who bristle at big business bailouts and decry government's reach into their own lives. They don't see Obama's stimulus plan jump-starting the economy or boosting employment. They fret about the enormous price tags of his sweeping proposals to overhaul health care and revamp energy policy.

"People are ready to see him move beyond the rhetoric. People want to see jobs come back. We want to see the economy recover. So we're still, I think, waiting to see that," says Chris Lawson, 30, who voted for Obama last fall and says he doesn't regret it. The Littleton, Colo., resident expressed worries about health care in particular, saying: "We are clearly moving toward more government in more people's lives. ... That's not a good thing, more government."

Another Obama voter, Eric Schreiber, 44, of Denver argued it's too early to judge the president. But, he added, Obama definitely hasn't sold him on the health care overhaul. "It's a good idea to do health reform, but I think everybody wants to know more about how it will work," Schreiber said.

Obama is hoping he can allay such worries as he promotes his plan at town hall-style events in reliably Republican areas: Friday in Bozeman, Mont., and Saturday in Grand Junction, Colo., near the Utah state line. The first family also plans to visit Yellowstone and Grand Canyon to highlight the country's national parks.

Just eight months ago, the president took office with sky-high job approval ratings, the first Democrat since Lyndon B. Johnson to win the White House with more than 50 percent of the popular vote. He did it by cobbling together support that spanned the ideological spectrum. He pulled new voters — particularly left-leaning young people and minorities — into the process and turned out his Democratic base in droves. And independents, disaffected Republicans and middle-of-the-road Democrats put him over the top.

That coalition — coupled with a national desire for change after years of Republican George W. Bush — made it possible for Obama to win a slew of states that hadn't voted for a Democrat in years, Colorado and Nevada, among them. He also won New Mexico, a perennial swing state, came very close to winning Montana, and lost by just 9 percentage points in Republican John McCain's home state of Arizona. Still, Obama lost badly in ultraconservative Republican bastions, including Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.

Since his inauguration, Obama has watched his support slide nationally. It hovered at 55 percent in a recent AP-GfK poll, though other surveys show him under 50 percent.

Out-of-power Republicans have tagged Obama as a classic big-spending, big-government liberal, and those gripes may have resonated with independents and centrists who polls show have turned away from Obama or whose support is soft. The GOP's message may be particularly well-received in the mountain West, a region traditionally wary of the federal government.

"Democrats had some success last year. Since then, I think the president has slipped not just a little but a great deal," said Dave Hansen, head of the Utah GOP who once held the same position in Montana. "He's a charming, charismatic guy, but all of a sudden the issues are taking over, and it's not going over well."

Tracking polls by Gallup from January through June show that of the 10 states where Obama's approval rating was the lowest, five are in the mountain West. They include the two states Obama is visiting this weekend as well as Wyoming, Idaho and Utah.

Those findings raise the question: Will the recent Democratic successes in the region last?

"I don't think we can say that yet," said Bob Loevy, a political scientist at Colorado College.

Certainly Obama's successful nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court will help with the region's rapidly growing Hispanic communities, a pivotal Democratic-leaning constituency. And future trips to the West are certain between now and midterm elections next fall.

For its part, the GOP in the mountain West has its work cut out for it.

The party can't seem to even field strong candidates to challenge incumbent Democrats. Most recently, Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., decided against challenging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid next year in Nevada, even though the Democrat's job performance numbers are dismal.

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Obama's Health Care Push Faces Citizens' Mounting Concern Over Deficit

2009-08-13T19:35:00.000+08:00

With mounting criticism of the Democrats' push for health care overhaul, President Barack Obama is trying to regain the momentum.

Yet, regaining the momentum may become increasingly difficult in light of the soaring federal deficit, which increased by $180 billion in July alone. At a record $1.27 trillion, the deficit is heading toward $2 trillion by the end of the fiscal year. Citizens at town hall meetings are expressing concern over the government's ability to pay for health care reform without adding to the deficit.

"The initial cost is over a trillion dollars for a down payment. Who is going to pay for this bill?" a woman shouted at Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., at a town hall meeting in Lebanon, Pa., yesterday. "My children and my grandchildren are going to pay for this bill."

Supporters of the president's health care reform push point out that spiraling health care costs in Medicare and Medicaid are a huge part of the deficit problem, and reform is necessary to tackle the issue.

"Health care reform that brings down the growth rate of health care costs will help our children and grandchildren in affording health care and having less debt," said Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., at a town hall in Hagerstown, Md., today.

"I happen to agree very strongly with frustration related to the deficits," Cardin said. "I believe very strongly that we have to balance the federal budget. I voted to balance the federal budget, and that's why I have said -- and I'll repeat now for the fourth time; you wanna keep asking the question, fine -- I won't vote for a bill that will increase the deficit."

But skeptics say Congress so far has avoided making tough decisions over how to foot the bill.

"From what we're seeing so far, it doesn't look like they're tackling the real cost drivers of health care. And that means if they don't do it, it will make the deficit situation worse," said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition.

"One of the things I worry about is whether Congress is up to making hard choices that would bring health care costs under control. It's not going to be easy to do, and Congress likes to take the path of least resistance," added Bixby.

The president has attempted to address citizens' concerns over a growing deficit.

"First of all, I said I won't sign a bill that adds to the deficit or the national debt. OK? So this will have to be paid for," he said Wednesday during a health care forum in Portsmouth, N.H.

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Obama awards Medal of Freedom to 16

2009-08-13T19:17:00.002+08:00

President Barack Obama awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor to 16 "agents of change" Wednesday, highlighting their accomplishments as examples of the heights a person can reach and the difference one can make in the lives of others.

Among the honorees was Nancy Brinker, who created Susan G. Komen for the Cure after her sister died of breast cancer in 1980 and raises money for research and other services through events like the Race for the Cure.

"What unites them is a belief . . . that our lives are what we make of them, that no barriers of race, gender or physical infirmity can restrain the human spirit, and that the truest test of a person’s life is what we do for one another," Obama said at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, overflowing with guests as well as White House aides who went to glimpse the celebrities in their midst.

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who is a member of Fort Worth’s Cowgirl Hall of Fame, film star Sidney Poitier, retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, civil rights icon the Rev. Joseph Lowery and tennis legend Billie Jean King were also among the recipients of the Medal of Freedom.

Another recipient, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was at home with brain cancer and mourning the death Tuesday of his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and did not attend the ceremony. His daughter, Kara, accepted the award for him.

Obama gave posthumous honors to former Republican Rep. Jack Kemp of New York, the quarterback-turned-politician who died in May, and gay-rights activist Harvey Milk, who was assassinated in 1978.

The other recipients were:

Dr. Pedro Jose Greer Jr., assistant dean of academic affairs for the Florida International University School of Medicine and founder of the Camillus Health Concern, which treats thousands of homeless patients annually.

Stephen Hawking, the Cambridge University physicist and mathematician known for his work on black holes. He has been almost com- pletely paralyzed for years and communicates through an electronic voice synthesizer.

Joe Medicine Crow, the last living Plains Indian war chief, who fought in World War II wearing war paint beneath his uniform.

Chita Rivera, actor, singer and dancer.

Mary Robinson, Ireland’s first female president and one-time U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

Dr. Janet Davison Rowley, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.

Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate for his global pioneering work extending "micro loans" to poor people who don’t have collateral.

President Harry S. Truman established the Medal of Freedom in 1945 to recognize civilians for their efforts during World War II. President John F. Kennedy reinstated the medal in 1963 to honor distinguished service.

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Obama wrapping up summit in Mexico

2009-08-10T19:38:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama wraps up his two-day visit to Mexico and then returns home to Washington.

First, Obama attends a trilateral meeting with President Felipe Calderon of Mexico and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada in Guadalajara. Trade, swine flu prevention and efforts to combat the violent drug trade between the United States and Mexico are high on the agenda for Monday's meeting.

After the meeting, the three men will hold a news conference.

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Obama cautious despite unemployment cheer

2009-08-08T18:05:00.000+08:00

The news was positive, but the response cautious.

President Barack Obama, after weeks of defending his economic policies in the face of falling public opinion polls, welcomed a report on Friday that unemployment dipped in July to 9.4 percent from 9.5 percent in June, but declined to declare victory.

The bad news may not be over yet, he said, after Labor Department data showed the U.S. unemployment rate fell for the first time in 15 months.

"Today we're pointed in the right direction," Obama said. "We have a lot further to go. As far as I'm concerned, we will not have a true recovery as long as we're losing jobs."

Analysts said the president was right to be circumspect.

"He doesn't want a 'Mission Accomplished' moment like Bush did on the war," said Michael Ettlinger, vice president for economic policy at the Center for American Progress, referring to an infamous photo of former President George W. Bush in front of a "Mission Accomplished" banner during the Iraq war.

"These numbers are a sign that we might be past the freefall period of this recession but we're still losing lots of jobs," Ettlinger said. "There still could be worse months than this ahead. It's going to be a long haul back."

Obama has defended vigorously the effectiveness of his $787 billion economic stimulus package in recent weeks, and the unemployment figures -- fresh after a report showing that GDP contracted only a modest 1 percent in the second quarter -- strengthened his argument.

The White House had played down expectations ahead of the jobs report, saying it would likely show a rise in unemployment and hundreds of thousands of further job losses.

After the data's release, Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, stuck to predictions that unemployment would hit 10 percent this year.

RISKS AWAIT

Analysts said Obama was wise to keep his reaction in check so opposition Republicans could not pounce if the next round of economic indicators is less rosy.

"The economy has stabilized, the markets have risen and we now have improved unemployment figures, but his best bet is to let voters connect the dots themselves," said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University history professor.

"If he and the administration boast too much, claiming credit for the good times, the danger is that bad numbers can appear in the coming months and he will hand Republicans the very argument they are looking for."

Republicans charge that the president's stimulus package was too expensive and did not do enough to spur economic growth, but the president made clear he saw vindication -- even if more work remained to be done.

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Obama signs 'cash for clunkers' bill

2009-08-08T18:02:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama on Friday signed a bill that funnels $2 billion to the so-called "cash for clunkers" automobile trade-in program, the White House said. The money, approved by the Senate Thursday night, will allow the program to continue through Labor Day. It offers consumers up to $4,500 to trade in older, less fuel-efficient vehicles and buy new, more fuel-efficient ones.

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Obama to Hold Mini Nuclear Summit at the UN

2009-08-06T17:34:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama has decided to personally lead a meeting of heads of state at the U.N. Security Council. The subject: nuclear weapons.

This week, the U.S. Ambassador the the United Nations, Susan Rice, announced the unusual move:

"The Security Council has an essential role in preventing the spread and use of nuclear weapons and is also the world's principal multilateral instrument for global security cooperation. The session will be focused on nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament broadly and not on any specific countries."

And there lies the rub.

I welcome President Obama's leadership on the nuclear weapons issue. But I worry about the mixed signals he sends. He supports both the elimination of nuclear weapons and their use as a deterrent. For even a nimble politician like Obama, that is quite a balancing act. This Security Council meeting sounds like it could be more of the same.

The September 24th meeting will focus on both nonproliferation and disarmament. Though these goals are often lumped together, they are separate concepts.

Disarmament clearly implies the elimination of all nuclear weapons from the planet. Most experts believe that this would be achieved in stages under an internationally-agreed plan. The president himself has espoused the concept, most notably in Prague this April, promising "America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."

Nonproliferation deals with stopping the spread of nuclear weapons. It is often interpreted to mean that the nuclear-armed nations of the world get to keep their WMD but other nations can't develop new weapons. In other words, some nations are more equal than others. Even the Non-Proliferation Treaty separates signatories as "nuclear-weapon " or "non-nuclear-weapon " states.

These non-nuclear-weapon states sometimes decide that they need to develop nuclear weapons to gain power, respect, influence or because they want to have a deterrent of their own -- Israel, Pakistan, India and North Korea are just some examples. In this way, "nonproliferation" as we have practiced it so far, has only increased the number of nuclear weapons and the number of countries that possess them.

So how can nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation be linked? This is a key question for Obama's mini-Summit.

On July 30, Ellen Tauscher, the U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security and former Congresswoman from San Francisco, had this to say:

"I believe the New START Treaty [the new arms control treaty being negotiated now between Russia and the United States] is the beginning of a new narrative for the post-Cold War generation that need not be paralyzed by the threat of nuclear war and it is a down payment for deeper reductions in the future."

This sounds promising. But in the same speech, Tauscher made this statement:

"We need to ensure that there is a safe and effective deterrent as long as nuclear weapons exist without nuclear testing. I strongly support the critical role that extended deterrence has played in our national security policy. It must remain a central element of our national security policy. We must be able to tell our allies, 'We've got your back.'"

The Obama administration has proven at ease with apparent contradictions in policy. Here, we are asked to believe that though the U.S. is "committed" to a world without nuclear weapons, it will keep the policy of deterrence "as long as nuclear weapons exist."

If the world is expected to find that strategy credible, President Obama needs to first state that nuclear disarmament is the top priority and that deterrence will be de-emphasized as the world's nations agree to dismantle their nuclear weapons. He must also show how nonproliferation will be re-defined so it is not an excuse for the status quo and instead points to greater nuclear security on the way to the elimination of nuclear weapons.

Perhaps he will present a roadmap for disarmament at the September Security Council meeting.

Meanwhile, Dr. David Krieger, President of the non partisan nonprofit Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, has four suggestions for the president :

-- First, visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just as he visited concentration camps in Europe. Be the first U.S. president to take this step. Make the threat of nuclear war, nuclear terrorism and nuclear proliferation vivid to people everywhere.

-- Second, direct our negotiators to be bold in agreeing to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Russian arsenals, to de-alert these arsenals and to declare policies of No First Use of nuclear weapons.

-- Third, assure that the new U.S. Nuclear Posture Review gives an accurate assessment of the risks of continuing to rely upon nuclear deterrence and the benefits of moving rapidly to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.

-- Fourth, convene the leaders of the world to negotiate a new treaty for the phased, verifiable, irreversible and transparent elimination of nuclear weapons.

This week marks the 64th anniversaries of the nuclear attacks by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. More than 140,000 people died in those attacks. The hibakusha are the people who witnessed the horror in Japan and managed to survive. They have made their views plain on the subject:

Nuclear weapons should never be used again. So we must eliminate nuclear weapons -- before they eliminate us.

President Obama has done more than anyone to change the dialogue over nuclear weapons. Now he needs to change the policy baggage we carry from Cold War days.

On the contrary, we should focus on the hundreds of thousands lives that can be safeguarded with the dismantling of each and every nuclear weapon. We should focus on building public support for a phased, verifiable and internationally-agreed plan to eliminate the weapons.

Best of luck in September at the Security Council, Mr. President. Thanks for having the courage to address this diffcult issue. The children of the world and many future generations are relying on your work for nuclear disarmament to be successful. Please remember them.

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Obama gives powerful drug lobby a seat at healthcare table

2009-08-04T19:13:00.000+08:00

As a candidate for president, Barack Obama lambasted drug companies and the influence they wielded in Washington. He even ran a television ad targeting the industry's chief lobbyist, former Louisiana congressman Billy Tauzin, and the role Tauzin played in preventing Medicare from negotiating for lower drug prices.

Since the election, Tauzin has morphed into the president's partner. He has been invited to the White House half a dozen times in recent months. There, he says, he eventually secured an agreement that the administration wouldn't try to overturn the very Medicare drug policy that Obama had criticized on the campaign trail.

"The White House blessed it," Tauzin said.

At the same time, Tauzin said the industry he represents was offering political and financial support for the president's healthcare initiative, a remarkable shift considering that drug companies vigorously opposed a national overhaul the last time it was proposed, when Bill Clinton was president.

If a package passes Congress, the pharmaceutical industry has pledged $80 billion in cost savings over 10 years to help pay for it. For his part, Tauzin said he had not only received the White House pledge to forswear Medicare drug price bargaining, but also a separate promise not to pursue another proposal Obama supported during the campaign: importing cheaper drugs from Canada or Europe. Both proposals could cost the industry billions, undermine its ability to develop new cures and, in the case of imports, possibly compromise safety, industry officials contend.

Much of the bargaining took place in July at a meeting in the Roosevelt Room, just off the Oval Office, a person familiar with the discussions said. In attendance were Tauzin, several industry chief executives -- including those from Abbott Laboratories, Merck and Pfizer -- White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and White House aides.

White House officials acknowledge discussing the importation question with Tauzin but had no comment on whether there was an agreement to block future Medicare price negotiations.

Yet everyone agrees that drug companies -- Washington's leading source of lobbyist money -- now have "a seat at the table" at the White House and on Capitol Hill as healthcare legislation works its way through Congress. If nothing else, a popular president who six months ago criticized drug companies for greed now praises their work on behalf of the public good.

"I think the pharmaceutical industry has been quite constructive in this debate," Obama told a small group of regional reporters last week. "And the savings that they've put on the table are real and significant and are appreciated."

The pharmaceutical industry's political transformation provides an example of Obama's approach to achieving his healthcare goals, which includes negotiation and compromise, even with those he and his allies have painted as a source of the problem.

The benefits to the White House go beyond budget savings. Tauzin's trade association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, is helping to underwrite a multimillion-dollar TV advertising campaign touting comprehensive healthcare legislation.

One ad resurrects Harry and Louise, the fictional couple whose caustic kitchen-table comments in ads sponsored by the health insurance industry helped sink Clinton's plan in 1994. This time, with the drug companies paying the bill, Harry and Louise have changed their view.

"A little more cooperation, a little less politics, and we can get the job done this time," Louise says in the commercial, a joint project of PhRMA and Families USA, a health reform advocacy group with which the drug industry used to be at odds.

In an interview, Tauzin said he carefully negotiated his agreements with the White House, offering the $80-billion discount program in return for assurances that there would be no government price-setting in Medicare Part D, the drug program for seniors.

It was important, he said, to block the threat of Medicare price negotiations, which he called tantamount to price-setting and a threat to the industry. In addition, Tauzin said the industry asked the administration not to allow the import of cheaper drugs because of safety concerns.

Linda Douglass, a White House spokeswoman, said that when drug company executives brought up the import plan, they were told that the administration believed that health reform would reduce drug prices so significantly that the legislation once backed by Obama would "not be necessary."

It's far too early to tell whether the pharmaceutical industry's decision to back Obama's health initiative will pay off.

"Since Obama came into office, the drug industry has received everything it wants, domestic and foreign," said James Love, who leads an international nonprofit promoting low-cost distribution of drugs to fight the world's most devastating diseases.

"Yes, the drug companies are getting tremendous sweetheart deals" from Obama, said Lawrence Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political scientist who studies the history of health reform and other major social and economic changes. "But these bargains are the price of admission for achieving substantial reform."

Tauzin, a Democrat who helped found the conservative Blue Dog coalition in the House before switching to the Republican Party in 1995, was chairman of the House committee that helped shepherd Medicare drug legislation through Congress, including the provision that the government not interfere with price negotiations.

Source

Q&A: Obama's birth certificate

2009-08-04T19:12:00.000+08:00

During the 2008 US presidential election, unfounded rumours began to circulate on the internet that Barack Obama had not been born in the United States, and was therefore not eligible for the presidency.

Mr Obama's campaign provided plenty of evidence to refute the claims, including the candidate's birth certificate, but the chatter has not died down, and some people have even launched lawsuits to question Mr Obama's eligibility.

With Mr Obama now installed in the White House, the a number of Americans who believe - despite all evidence to the contrary - that he is not eligible to be president, and that his birth certificate is a forgery appears to be growing.

And "birthers" - as those who doubt Mr Obama's eligibility for the presidency are pejoratively known - have started making their presence felt within the conservative movement.

What allegations are being made about Mr Obama?

The principal allegation is that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, and that he is therefore ineligible to be president, according to the US constitution, which states that "no person except a natural born citizen... shall be eligible to the office of President".

It is further alleged that any documents purporting to prove Mr Obama's eligibility are either insufficient or fraudulent.

Some of those challenging Mr Obama's eligibility allege that he was actually born in Kenya, or that he adopted Indonesian citizenship as an infant.

What documents have been presented proving Mr Obama's eligibility?

In June 2008, the Obama campaign - in an attempt to disprove another set of internet rumours that Mr Obama's middle name was Muhammad - made public his birth certificate.

The document - a Certification of Live Birth - indicated that Mr Obama had been born at 7.24pm on 4 August in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Researchers have also dug up birth notices for Mr Obama printed in the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in 1961.

The newspapers received information about births from Hawaii's Department of Health.

Did the documents stop the rumours?

No. When Mr Obama's Certification of Live Birth was published, as a scanned document on the Obama campaign's website, some people began to question its authenticity.

It was alleged in blog posts, chain emails and internet forums that the document did not have an official stamp or seal and that it lacked an official signature. Some even suggested that the document had been faked using picture-altering software.

Was there any substance to these allegations?

No. Representatives from the Annenberg Public Policy Center's Political Fact Check project examined the hard copy of the document and verified that it did in fact bear an official seal, and had been signed by Hawaii state registrar Alvin T Onaka (using a signature stamp). Both the seal and the signature were on the (unscanned) reverse of the document.

Did that put the rumours to bed?

No. Although most people accepted the authenticity of the birth certificate, a new allegation emerged.

The document released by the Obama camp was a Certification of Live Birth, freshly created in 2007 by Hawaiian officials at the request of the Obama campaign, based on Hawaii's computerised records, not the original hand-written long-form "Certificate of Live Birth", created by the hospital at the time of Mr Obama's birth.

A Certificate of Live Birth contains more information, including the hospital name, and the name of the attending physician.

Campaigners alleged that Hawaiian law permits the issuance of Certifications of Live Births to people born abroad, and began calling on the Obama campaign to release the long-form Certificate of Live Birth, which they said would answer all of their questions.

WorldNetDaily, a website that has been at the forefront of the campaign to probe Mr Obama's presidential eligibility, has drawn up a petition calling on Mr Obama to release the document.

Has the Certificate of Live Birth been released?

It has not. But Dr Chiyome Fukino, Director of the Hawaii Department of Health, has released a statement confirming that she has "seen the original vital records maintained on file by the Hawai¡i State Department of Health verifying Barack Hussein Obama was born in Hawai¡i and is a natural-born American citizen".

And, as Janice Okubo, director of communications for the Hawaii Department of Health, explains, no-one who was born abroad could get a certificate saying they were born in Hawaii.

"If you were born in Bali, for example," Ms Okubo told the Washington Independent, "you could get a certificate from the state of Hawaii saying you were born in Bali. You could not get a certificate saying you were born in Honolulu. The state has to verify a fact like that for it to appear on the certificate."

Have campaigners attempted to air their concerns in the courts?

A number of lawsuits have been filed by people who question Mr Obama's eligibility, but all of them have been dismissed at the earliest stages.

In July, Stefan Cook, a major in the US Army Reserve who was due to be deployed to Afghanistan, filed a lawsuit seeking to block his deployment, on the grounds that his orders were invalid, because President Obama was ineligible to serve as commander-in-chief. His case was dismissed.

Have any mainstream politicians endorsed the campaigners' views?

Most Republicans have rejected the claims, but Alan Keyes, a former Republican presidential candidate, has filed a lawsuit questioning Mr Obama's eligibility, and Republican Senator James Inhofe has said he does not "discourage" the movement.

Source

How fact-free claims about Obama's citizenship gained mainstream currency

2009-08-03T19:01:00.000+08:00

The false allegation that President Barack Obama was born in another country is more than a fact-free smear.

Marked by accusations and backstabbing, it's the story of how a small but intense movement called "birthers" rose from a handful of people prone to seeing conspiracies, aided by the Internet, magnified without evidence by eager radio and cable TV hosts, and eventually ratified by a small group of Republican politicians working to keep the story alive on the floors of Congress and the campaign trails of the Midwest.

It's a powerful story about what experts call political paranoia over a new face in a time of anxiety and rapid change - the sort of viral message that can take hold among a sliver of the populace that's ready to believe that their new president is a fraud, and just as ready to angrily dismiss anyone who disagrees with them as part of the conspiracy.

"He is NOT an American citizen," yelled a woman at a town hall meeting in Delaware, angrily confronting a congressman. "I don't want this flag to change. I want my country back."

When Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., responded that Obama is a citizen, she and others in the room jeered him.

"It's a fascinating phenomenon," said Jerrold Post, director of the political psychology program at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs and author of the recent book "Political Paranoia."

"They are not searching for the truth. They are searching for anything that confirms their fixed idea, their malevolent idea. ... It doesn't soothe people to tell them it's not legitimate. That makes them angry."

THE TALE

Birthers charge that Obama hasn't proved that he was born a U.S. citizen, and therefore isn't eligible to be president under the constitutional requirement that the president be 35 years old, be a resident of the country for at least 14 years, and be a natural-born citizen.

They also say that a birth certificate posted on the Internet by Obama during his campaign isn't the original, and a forgery anyway.

THE FACTS

First, the 2007 document isn't a forgery. Independent experts from such groups as FactCheck.org at the University of Pennsylvania have examined it and said it's real.

Second, it's true that the 2007 document issued by the state of Hawaii, called a Certification of Live Birth, isn't a copy of the original 1961 document. The longer, original form would show more details, including the name of the doctor, according to copies of other 1961 birth certificates.

White House aides say only that Obama has produced his birth certificate. That's true. It is A birth certificate, issued by the state Health Department and acceptable to prove citizenship to the federal government for purposes of obtaining a passport.

It's also true that it isn't THE original birth certificate.

Regardless, Hawaii state officials said again last week that they've examined the original and affirmed that it shows that Obama was born there.

Also, the two Honolulu newspapers report that they carried brief announcements of the birth of a boy to the Obamas in 1961. Said the Aug. 13 birth announcement in the Honolulu Advertiser: "Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama, 6085 Kalanianaole Hwy, son, Aug. 4."

The Hawaii state Health Department says it supplied the lists of births for those announcements. Announcements supplied by families were longer, more personal and normally included the child's name.

THE TAPE

Many birthers, such as Pennsylvania attorney Phil Berg, allege that Obama was born in Kenya and that his Kenyan grandmother is on tape saying that she was present at his birth there.

Yet the tape circulated on the Internet doesn't actually say that - and the full tape actually contradicts it.

On the tape, the woman thought to be Sarah Obama is prodded by a Berg ally who's a self-described bishop from the U.S. to affirm that Obama was born in Kenya.

"Was she present when he was born in Kenya?" Bishop Ron McRae asks in the taped phone call.

"She says yes she was. She was present when Obama was born," says the voice of translator.

The tape ends abruptly.

Despite Berg's assertions, the response didn't actually confirm a birth in Kenya. Moreover, a longer version of the tape shows the elder Obama decidedly denying a Kenyan birth immediately after the first tape was cut off.

"I would like to go by the place, the hospital where he was born. Can you tell me where he was born? Was he born in Mombasa?" McRae is heard asking.

"Obama was not born in Mombasa. He was born in America," the translator says after talking to the woman.

"I thought he was born in Kenya," McRae asks again.

"He was born in America, not in Mombasa," says the response. Another response later says, "Obama in Hawaii. Hawaii. She says he was born in Hawaii."

Still, the charge has spread despite no evidence that Obama was born in Kenya and compelling evidence that he was born in Hawaii.

THE BIRTHERS

A handful of people started spreading the story. Among them:

ANTHONY MARTIN

Martin, a Chicagoan, is a legal gadfly who was among the first to file a lawsuit demanding to see Obama's birth certificate in Hawaii, which was denied last year.

"I would like to claim the role of ringmaster in this birth certificate circus," Martin said last week on his Web site. "From the first day I began writing about Barack Obama's secret life five years ago, Obama has obstructed access to the truth about himself. Obama's sycophants in the media and government have tried to protect him from the truth and the facts of his life."

A frequent and always unsuccessful candidate for office - he's running this time for U.S. Senate in Illinois - Martin was the first to charge that Obama was a Muslim.

In an e-mail, he distanced himself from other birthers who claim that Obama was born in Kenya. "I have continually expressed doubt about the Kenya theory," he wrote. "I openly state that there is a not a shred of credible evidence Obama was born in Kenya."

Martin has a history of inflammatory and often anti-Semitic comments. He once called a Chicago judge a "crooked, slimy Jew who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race." When he was preparing to run for office in Connecticut, one of his campaign documents said that a purpose of the campaign was to "exterminate Jew power." A court filing in 1983 stated, "I am able to understand how the Holocaust took place, and with every passing day feel less and less sorry that it did."

Asked about the anti-Semitic comments, Martin said they "took place over a quarter of a century in a very vicious lawsuit in which names were called on all sides."

ORLY TAITZ

An attorney and dentist from Orange County, Calif., she's filed lawsuits challenging Obama's citizenship and has traveled the country to marshal support for her drive to prove that Obama is not a citizen and should not be president. Her Web site asks people to contribute money via a PayPal account.

She filed one lawsuit with the U.S. Supreme Court; it was dismissed. She filed another in Georgia on behalf of an Army Reserve officer who wanted to take back his volunteer offer to serve in Afghanistan because Obama was a foreigner and not really his commander in chief. The Army excused the officer from going to Afghanistan, saying any volunteer could back out.

Source

New GI Bill tops Obama's agenda

2009-08-03T18:59:00.000+08:00

The first new GI Bill since the 9/11terror attacks tops President Barack Obama's agenda.

The president is scheduled to attend a rally Monday morning at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., to celebrate the implementation of the bill, which provides veterans with comprehensive educational benefits. The Veterans Affairs Department began distributing tuition payments to schools participating in the program over the weekend. In the next decade, $78 billion is expected to be paid out.

Later Monday, Obama welcomes the emir of Kuwait, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, to the White House.

Source

Hawaii tries again to snuff Barack Obama birth certificate controversy

2009-07-28T19:16:00.001+08:00

Well, surely this will settle finally once and for all that Barack Hussein Obama was really, actually and factually born in the United States and, therefore, is fully qualified according to the U.S. Constitution to be the president that he has been since he took the oath of office on Jan. 20 and a second time shortly after, just to make sure.

Not!

In yet another quite possibly futile attempt to silence the zombie birther controversy that won't die, the director of Hawaii's State Department of Health, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, has just repeated her statement from October that she has personally and with her very own official eyes seen the "original vital records" regarding Obama's birth in Honolulu's Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital on Aug. 4, 1961.

At Monday's White House briefing, press secretary Robert Gibbs also sought to dismiss the issue as "fictional nonsense," suggesting the so-called birthers would never be happy with any evidence.

Nevermind that Obama might have been born on Mars for all anyone cares. The stubborn story of the refusal of many to stop questioning his birthplace as American and....

...therefore, to challenge his presidential legitimacy has become in itself an intriguing, if legally moot, tale.

Various courts have ruled in Obama's favor on the issue or refused even to consider it. (Aha, so maybe they are all part of a Kenyan socialist conspiracy?)

Hawaii's Republican governor is reported to believe Obama is a natural-born American. No one has produced solid conflicting documents that he wasn't born in the U.S.

The Obama campaign released an official state certificate of birth, which The Ticket published here months ago. Hawaii says it's authentic. Critics point out accurately it's not an official birth certificate. They claim the type font is newer than the date. Wonder where the doctor's signature is? And the infant's footprints?

But here's the real catch: Hawaii state law happens to forbid release of original birth records to anyone without a tangible interest in those records.

Barack Obama and his mother

And, so far, the tangible interest of any of the so-called "birthers" including even Alan Keyes here or the famous singer Pat Boone over here has yet to be proven. So the original documents remain transparently secreted in Hawaii while the story strangely simmers all over.

Wait! Unless, as a certain CNN celebrity commentator stubbornly suggests (despite his boss' own suggestion that the guy drop the stupid issue as dead), those historical documents were mysteriously destroyed somehow. Perhaps during computerization of state government documents. Or perhaps as part.....

But then, what is it state health director Fukino claims she looked at? And why exactly were Obama's documents destroyed? What were they hiding?

How did the Obama kid and his late mother ever get his U.S. passport without an actual certified birth certificate like everyone else has to produce? So they could travel to and live in Indonesia all those years ago? What about the report that some African relative recalls Obama being born in Kenya?

And, by the way, where was Lou Dobbs born?

The answer, according to legend, is that the often-outraged TV talker was born in the sparsely populated north Texas county of Childress, the son of two illegal immigrants. No, just kidding about the parent part because LD has made such a big deal out of illegal immigrants from Mexico. According to the little-known story, Dobbs' father Frank was a propane dealer, his mother Lydia Mae a bookkeeper.

What is not so well-known is that the county is named for George Campbell Childress. The very one.

And do you know who GCC was? He was the author of the Republic of Texas' Declaration of Independence from Mexico. The subversive (to Gen. Santa Anna) declaration was adopted on March 2, 1836. That precise date just happens to be almost exactly 109 years, six months and roughly three weeks before the birth of the conspiracist commentator who rails against illegal Mexican immigrants.

Source

Shock meets with Obama at the White House

2009-07-28T19:13:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama honored the Detroit Shock on Monday for contributions on and off the basketball court.

He welcomed the Shock to the White House’s South Portico to honor its 2008 championship season, its third WNBA title since the team started in 1998.

Bill Laimbeer, who resigned as coach in June, joined the players along with current coach Rick Mahorn, Shock and Pistons owner Karen Davidson and Donna Orender, the president of the WNBA. Michigan Sen. Carl Levin and Reps. Sander Levin and Carolyn Kilpatrick also were at the ceremony.

“I want to congratulate the Finals MVP Katie Smith, team captain Cheryl Ford and all the other women that make this such an outstanding team,” the president said.

“I also want to salute this organization and this team for donating so much time and energy to lifting up the Detroit community. They’ve given free tickets to underprivileged youth, mentored abused women and children, donated backpacks filled with school supplies to foster kids, restored a rundown library into a safe, clean place for kids to play and to grow.”

He pointed out that his daughters, Sasha and Malia, have never known a time when women did not play professional basketball in the United States.

“They look at the TV and they see me watching ‘SportsCenter’ and they see young women who look like them on the screen,” said Obama, who got a jersey from the Shock. “And it makes my daughters look at themselves differently; to see that they can be champions, too. So, as a father, I want to say thank-you.”

Before the ceremony Monday, the Shock took part in a WNBA clinic at the Richard England Boys & Girls Club in Washington, D.C.

Detroit is 5-9 so far this season. The Shock next plays the Minnesota Lynx on Friday at the Palace.

Source

Obama to give White House welcome to Detroit Shock

2009-07-27T18:59:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama will give a White House welcome to the defending WNBA champion Detroit Shock.

The team will be honored at a Monday ceremony hosted by Obama at the White House.

The Shock won last year's WNBA championship, their third league title in six years.

Before the presidential event, the Shock will host a fitness camp at a Washington community center.

Detroit is 5-9 so far this season. They play the Minnesota Lynx Friday at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Source

Obama missed his moment to fix health care

2009-07-27T18:55:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama says his Republican foes have no plan for health care. In fact, they do. They just don’t want to bring it up right now.

And one can hardly blame them.

The core of the conservative idea on health care is taxing health benefits. John McCain offered a version in 2008 that included a $5,000-per-family tax credit to offset the switch.

Obama brutalized McCain for his suggestion.

It was the ugliest phase of the Obama campaign, featuring a lot of scaremongering about how McCain’s plan amounted to a “trillion-dollar” tax on the middle class based on a “radical” idea that could have a “catastrophic” effect on health care.

The worst of it was a television ad warning seniors that they would lose Medicare coverage under the McCain plan, which called for savings through eliminating fraud, using electronic health records and paying doctors for good outcomes instead of procedures.

Those Medicare reforms may sound familiar because they’re essentially the same ones the president has proposed to help offset the costs of his trillion-dollar-plus health plan.

In fact, McCain’s reform weren’t that different from the ones Obama had proposed as a candidate. Obama tried to terrify little old ladies about the McCain plan while his own Web site was suggesting pretty much the same thing.

The irony now is that Obama, who once warned that McCain would cut $882 billion from Medicare and Medicaid, is trying unsuccessfully to squeeze a comparable cost estimate out of the Congressional Budget Office.

While the president accepts the McCain position on Medicare and Medicaid, taxing benefits is another matter.

Under the Republican plan, health insurance subsidies from employers would be treated as taxable income. Instead of looking at medical services as something that comes with a job, people would return to the common practice before benefits were exempted from taxes during World War II. The old model was for families to carry policies to protect against catastrophic costs from serious illness or injury and pay for the rest out of pocket.

Instead of recipients of care, Americans would return to be being consumers of health services. Imagine what would happen to the courts if every full-time worker in the land had unlimited access to legal services after paying a small deductible. Add a Byzantine set of regulations for payments and coverage, and you see why America’s hybrid health system has problems.

The disconnection between paying for and using regular medical care causes huge inefficiencies that will result in rationing. Liberals want the government to do it. Conservatives want individuals to do it by making their own decisions about what health care they need.

Aside from any ideological objections, Obama can’t accept the idea of taxing benefits because it would fall heavily on two groups with near veto power over his plan: labor unions and insurance companies.

In the current debate, the idea of taxing benefits popped up in the Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Max Baucus entertained a limited version of the plan in an effort to get some Republican support, but the White House and most of Baucus’ Democratic brethren batted it down.

The president is now coming around on the idea of taxing health benefits ... kind of.

Obama is entertaining an excise tax on insurance companies for issuing deluxe policies. If companies had to pay a 1 percent excise on each policy worth more than $40,000, it would raise an estimated $100 million to pay for some of the cost of expanding government coverage.

It’s pretty convoluted, but it recognizes that taxing benefits affects consumer behavior. Democrats argue that such a plan would help reduce overall costs by discouraging the issuance of “gold-plated” plans, which they say encourage overcharging and overspending.

The proposal is so thin that it won’t allow for a bipartisan solution, especially when coupled with a government-run insurance option.

That leaves the president little choice but to try to ram through a plan with parliamentary tricks.

But it didn’t have to be this way.

What if Obama had swallowed his pride, conceded the wisdom of McCain’s approach and asked the self-styled maverick for his help in taxing benefits? Odds are, McCain would have called for a bipartisan plan on health care and covered Obama’s back on the Hill.

In exchange for getting a market-based solution, Republicans might have accepted using the revenues to expand coverage for the uninsured.

Instead, Obama opted for the same kind of old-fashioned politics he once decried: demonize your opponent and then blame him for refusing to cooperate.

Source

Obama to unveil $4 billion school improvement plan

2009-07-24T19:16:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama is set to announce on Friday a competition for $4 billion in federal grants to improve academic achievement in U.S. schools, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

Obama wants states to use funds from the competition, dubbed the "Race to the Top," to ease limits on so-called charter schools, link teacher pay to student achievement and move toward common U.S. academic standards, the Post said.

Charter schools receive public funding but generally are exempt from some state or local rules and regulations. They are operated as an alternative to traditional public schools.

"What we're saying here is, if you can't decide to change these practices, we're not going to use precious dollars that we want to see creating better results; we're not going to send those dollars there," Obama told the Post in an interview.

"And we're counting on the fact that, ultimately, this is an incentive, this is a challenge for people who do want to change," Obama said.

Obama is scheduled to speak at the Department of Education on Friday.

The Post reported that the $4 billion education grant program was created under the $787 billion economic stimulus plan passed by Congress and signed into law by Obama in February.

The United States has one of the worst high school dropout rates in the industrialized world, and its students often rank below those in other Western nations in reading and math.

Obama has portrayed the drive to improve education as part of a broader push to promote economic growth in the face of a deep recession and the worst U.S. financial crisis in decades.

Source

President Barack Obama tours Cleveland Clinic heart center

2009-07-24T19:11:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama arrived at the Cleveland Clinic without fanfare about 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon, slipping unseen into a side entrance of the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Pavilion under the cover of a white tent.

Obama spent about 40 minutes at the hospital touring the heart center, learning more about the hospital's innovations in health information technology, and even getting a hands-on lesson with the Clinic's cutting-edge robotic heart surgery tools.

Obama chose the hospital because he believes that innovations like those he saw Thursday are examples of what makes the Clinic a model of low-cost and high-quality care.

About 200 Clinic employees, patients and their family members blocked a hallway in the Pavilion for an hour hoping to catch a glimpse of the president's arrival or departure. Many held up cell phones and took pictures every time a car appeared.

Even after a Clinic security employee told the crowd that Obama would not be coming through the area, only half of the group cleared out.

Terri McGlynn of North Ridgeville was among those hoping to see the president. She and her daughter Katie were at the Clinic because McGlynn's husband underwent surgery Monday.

They left Tim McGlynn on the 10th floor of the Miller Pavilion while they stood watching for Obama.

"My dad's gonna kill us," Katie said. "He's upstairs waiting to be discharged."

Outside, Cleveland and hospital police blocked off parts of Euclid Avenue near the building to foot traffic.

To ensure that no one could see Obama's entrance or exit from hospital windows that overlook East 96th Street, security removed hardware to keep people from opening the shades.

Obama said he wasn't at the hospital for an endorsement of his health-care plan. Instead, he was seeking information.

"There has been a lot of discussion in Washington about the very different model that we and the Mayo [Clinic] have, and he wanted to understand it better," explained Dr. Delos "Toby" Cosgrove, chief executive and president of the Clinic.

The Clinic's physician employee-based model -- which includes one-year contracts with annual professional reviews -- helps reduce costs, Cosgrove said.

Physicians are paid a salary instead of a fee for each service they perform, reducing the number of treatments a patient might receive.

The two also talked about lowering the cost and burden of often preventable diseases such as diabetes and obesity -- a topic Cosgrove has mentioned before on the national stage.

Dr. C. Martin Harris, the Clinic's chief information officer and the architect behind the hospital's innovative partnerships with Google and Microsoft, discussed the hospital's numerous health information advances with the president.

Harris has taken a national leadership role in the area.

In May, he was one of 23 experts named to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Information Technology Standards Committee, which makes recommendations to the federal government on the electronic exchange and use of health information.

The Clinic took a leading role in medical records management in early 2008 when it formed a partnership with Google to make patient records available online.

In November of that year, the Clinic began working with software giant Microsoft's program HealthVault, which allows patients to store their health information from multiple sources in one place and to stay connected to their physicians.

Currently, the Clinic has more than 200,000 patients managing prescriptions and appointments and receiving test results online.

Harris said Obama was interested in hearing about how the hospital used all its resources in combination with information technology programs to deliver high-quality care -- particularly preventing duplicate testing and reducing errors.

In June, Cosgrove told CNN that the hospital's health information technology efforts had not yet resulted in cost savings.

"What we've seen is our quality's gone up -- substantially," Cosgrove said.

"What we haven't seen is our costs come down. It's like the difference between an abacus and a cash register. Clearly the cash register is better, gives you a better record. But it isn't cheaper."

Harris would not address Cosgrove's comments directly, but said that he believes the Clinic's investments in this technology will result in long-term savings.

"It depends on how you define cost," said Harris.

"Directly implementing the technology does produce some cost savings, but I think that you end up at a wash from just installing the technology. Where the cost savings comes in, is how you use the technology in how you care for patients."

Electronic health records help reduce errors that result in costly hospitalizations or emergency room visits, and minimize unnecessary duplicate tests, he said.

"When you look at it from that perspective, in a well-coordinated care cycle, we believe that it will yield significant cost efficiencies."

Source

Obama seeks public's support for health care overhaul

2009-07-23T19:10:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama, conceding that ordinary Americans are skeptical of his plan to overhaul the nation's health care system, sought Wednesday to convince the public that the changes would benefit them and strengthen the economy.

"Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they become too sick or lose their job or change their job," Obama said at a prime-time news conference from the East Room of the White House. "It's about every small business that has been forced to lay off employees or cut back on their coverage, because it became too expensive. It's about the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid."

Obama used the event, the fifth full-scale White House news conference of his 6-month-old presidency, to try to reclaim a debate that has been slipping away from him in recent days.

With Republicans and some moderate Democrats on Capitol Hill balking at both the specifics of the legislation and Obama's timetable for House and Senate passage of the bills, the White House is now trying to rally legislative support and public opinion by linking health care to the nation's economic health and offering the promise of tangible benefits to Americans.

"If we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit," he said. "If we do not reform health care, your premiums and

out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket." He acknowledged that Americans were anxious, saying, "Folks are skeptical, and that is entirely legitimate."

For Obama, the stakes could not be higher. Health legislation is his highest legislative priority, and his success or failure could shape the rest of his presidency. But while he is under pressure from leading Democrats to delve more deeply into the negotiations, by taking positions on specific policy issues, he largely resisted doing so on Wednesday night.

But the president did weigh in on a controversial idea percolating in the House of Representatives to tax the wealthiest Americans to help pay to extend coverage to the nation's 47 million uninsured. At first, House Democrats were weighing a tax on Americans making more than $280,000 a year; now there is talk of imposing the tax on those households earning $1 million or more, an idea Obama said he favored because it would not put the burden of paying for the bill on the middle class.

"To me, that meets my principle, that it's not being shouldered by families who are already having a tough time," he said.

Obama also signaled that he might be open to another idea under consideration in the Senate: taxing employer-provided health benefits, as long as the tax did not fall on the middle class.

On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, said Democrats remained on track to reach a deal on major health care legislation. But she acknowledged that the process had slowed in response to concerns among conservative Democrats about the cost of the bill, and that some House Democrats were reluctant to embrace the income surtax on high-earners without knowing whether the Senate would go along.

Indeed, even as Pelosi insisted that Congress was closer than ever to achieving a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's health care system, Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, a leader of the Blue Dogs, a conservative faction of Democrats, issued a statement saying that a deal was still a long way off. And a senior Democratic aide on Capitol Hill said party leaders now believed it was essential for Obama to be more specific about what he wanted in a health care bill — and not just exhort Congress to pass one.

"The president needs to step in more forcefully and start making some decisions," said the aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be publicly identified as criticizing Obama. "Everyone appreciates the fact that Obama has devoted so much time to health care. The bully pulpit is powerful. But in view of the deadlines Congress has missed, we would like to hear more from the president about what he wants in this bill."

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Hatch, Bennett, Bishop balk as Senate sides with Obama to cut F-22 funding

2009-07-22T19:37:00.000+08:00

At the urging of President Barack Obama, the Senate agreed Tuesday to cut funding for construction of stealth F-22 fighters.

Utah Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett objected to the move, which could cost jobs at Hill Air Force Base.

The Senate voted 58-40 to cease producing the F-22 Raptors after 187 are built. Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Democratic and Republican leaders on the Senate Armed Services Committee fought to end the program, saying the money would be better used on other military technologies, including much cheaper unpiloted drones.

But they faced stiff opposition, since so many states contribute to the construction and maintenance of the nation's premier military jet, which costs $140 million each.

More than 100 people work directly on maintaining the F-22 at Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah.

Hatch argued on the Senate floor that the nation needed to continue building the F-22 to maintain its air superiority over the fighters being designed by Russia and China.

"Fast and unseen," Hatch said, "the Raptor will punch a hole in an enemy's defenses, quickly dispatching any challenger in the air and striking at the most important ground targets."

He also said moving to the cheaper, smaller F-35 Lightning fighters, won't get the job done if the nation found itself in an air war.

"The fact is that the F-35 is neither

as capable a fighter nor as stealthy as the F-22," Hatch said. "Only by utilizing the strengths of both aircraft do we ensure air dominance for the next 40 years."

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, appeared on Fox Business on Tuesday to defend the F-22 saying, "We should not skimp on the defense of this country, period."

Bishop, whose district includes Hill Air Force Base, was instrumental in passing a House amendment that would authorize funding for seven more F-22s. He has cited past military reports saying the nation needs 240 of the top fighters.

Obama slapped back at his detractors after the vote.

"I reject the notion that we have to waste billions of taxpayer dollars on outdated and unnecessary defense projects to keep this nation secure," the president said. "This would have been an inexcusable waste of money."

Backed by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Obama said 187 Raptors are enough. Obama threatened to veto the defense bill if the F-22 money was not removed.

While Hill will feel some impact from the F-22 cut, the Air Force has named the base as one of the main maintenance facilities for the F-35 and the unpiloted drones, which are effective weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Obama to address China-US economic talks

2009-07-22T19:30:00.000+08:00

US President Barack Obama will address the opening of top level strategic and economic talks between Chinese and US leaders here next week, a White House official said Tuesday.

"President Obama will address the opening session of the first US-China strategic and economic dialogue on Monday July, 27," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Gibbs added Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao "launched this dialogue during their meeting in London in April as a way of strengthening relationships between the two countries."

The new high-level discussions, set for Monday and Tuesday, are an extension of economic talks begun under the previous administration of George W. Bush, but with a broader focus.

The dialogue "will focus on addressing the challenges and opportunities that both countries face on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global areas of immediate and long-term strategic and economic interests," according to a joint statement from the US Treasury and State Departments last week.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will chair the American side of the dialogue.

Hu and Obama agreed when they met in April that Clinton and Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo will chair the "strategic track" and Geithner and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan will chair the "economic track" of the talks.

The US leader also accepted an invitation to visit China later in the year.

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Obama hits out at Wall Street banks

2009-07-21T21:16:00.002+08:00

President Barack Obama said on Monday that Wall Street banks had failed to show remorse for the "wild risks" that triggered a financial meltdown and helped to push the United States into recession.

Obama unveiled a sweeping regulatory overhaul in June aimed at improving government oversight of banks and markets to avert a repeat of the financial crisis.

"The problem that I've seen, at least, is you don't get a sense that folks on Wall Street feel any remorse for taking all these risks," Obama said in an interview with PBS television.

"You don't get a sense that there's been a change of culture and behavior as a consequence of what has happened. And that's why the financial regulatory reform proposals that we put forward are so important," he said.

Obama said the planned regulatory reforms would prevent Wall Street firms from taking the "wild risks" they had taken before the financial crisis. Shareholders should also have the right to weigh in on huge bonuses paid to executives, he said.

Wall Street paid more than $18 billion of bonuses in 2008, a year in which it needed trillions of dollars of taxpayer support.

Asked if he was concerned about the jump in profits reported by banks Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co, Obama said his administration had less leverage over them now that they had repaid government bailout money.

He said the measures put in his place by his government to stabilize the economy were working, despite unemployment projected to rise above 10 percent within months.

"I think we've put out the fire. The analogy I use sometimes is, we had this beautiful house. And there was a fire. We came in and we had to hose it down.

"The fire is now out, but what we've discovered is, we need some new tuckpointing, the roof's leaking, the boiler's out, oh, and by the way, we're way behind on our mortgage," he said.

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Obama administration delays Guantanamo report

2009-07-21T21:15:00.000+08:00

In a move already drawing fire from liberal activists, aides to President Barack Obama acknowledged the administration will miss its own Tuesday deadline to submit a report detailing its policy on detaining terror suspects.

The report is a key part of laying out the White House’s plan for shutting down the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

In a briefing for reporters Monday, four senior administration officials confirmed the task force dealing with detention policy has been granted a six-month extension to flesh out its plans, while a separate task force dealing with interrogation policy has been given a two-month extension to submit its own report to the president. The reports had been mandated to be completed this week by executive orders the president signed during his first week in office.

Despite the delays, the four senior officials insisted the Obama administration is making strong progress in resolving the thorny legal issues surrounding the 240 terror suspects that were detained at Guantanamo as of January of this year, and is still on track to shut the prison down next January as spelled out by executive order.

“I think we’re all comfortable with where we are in the process,” one senior administration official said of shutting the controversial prison.

A second senior administration official said it is the administration’s “goal” to still shut the prison. When pressed by reporters on whether this was a softening of the promise to actually close the prison down, this official insisted there has been no change and the administration is still planning to comply with the executive order.

This second official downplayed the delays in finishing the reports. “We wanted to get this right,” said the official. “We wanted to do this carefully.”

But officials at the American Civil Liberties Union criticized the delay in the release of the report on detainee policy in particular, noting Obama officials have also left the door open to holding some Guantanamo detainees indefinitely without charge or trial.

“The Obama administration must not slip into the same legal swamp that engulfed the Bush administration with its failed Guantanamo policies,” said Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director. “Any effort to revamp the failed Guantanamo military commissions or enact a law to give any president the power to hold individuals indefinitely and without charge or trial is sure to be challenged in court and it will take years before justice is served.”

Romero added, “The only way to make good on President Obama’s promise to shut down Guantanamo and end the military commissions is to charge and try the detainees in established federal criminal courts. Any effort to do otherwise will doom the Obama administration to lengthy litigation. A promise deferred could soon become a promise broken.”

But a third senior administration official insisted the White House is making good progress in dealing with all the terror suspects being held at Guantanamo. This third official told reporters the administration is “over halfway through reviewing the detainees at Guantanamo” by either transferring them to other countries or moving toward putting them on trial for prosecution.

This third official said that “substantially more than 50″ of the detainees are prepared for transfer, while a “significant number” are being prepared for prosecution.

A fourth senior administration official said the White House is making “great progress” in getting European countries like Italy to publicly agree to take on some detainees. The official said other European countries have privately agreed to take detainees, but will not publicly discuss it yet.

“In the weeks and months ahead we will build on that strong foundation,” said the official.

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Obama's approval rating drops below 60 pct

2009-07-20T22:23:00.001+08:00

For the first time since taking office, US President Barack Obama's job approval rating has dropped below the 60-percent threshold as Americans expressed doubts about his handling of the economy, the deficit and health care, a new opinion poll showed Monday.

The ABC News/Washington Post survey showed Obama's job approval rating fell to 59 percent, down 10 points from its springtime peak.

Slightly more than half of Americans, 52 percent, now approve of his work on the economy, down eight points from its peak, according to the poll.

Just under half, 49 percent, approve of his handling of health care, a drop of eight points. And only 43 percent approve of his handling of the budget deficit, with 49 percent disapproving, the survey indicated.

Obama has scheduled a prime-time news conference for late Wednesday to address the issues at hand.

The president's falliing numbers have offered some hope to Republicans, but the GOP's overall approval ratings remain low, the poll showed.

Approval of the way the Republicans in Congress are handling their job is up six points since spring and up 11 points from a year ago.

However, it still stands at just 36 percent, with 58 percent disapproving, according to the survey.

The poll was conducted by telephone July 15-18 among a random national sample of 1,001 and had a 3.5-point margin of error.

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Obama takes on health care, meets Apollo 11 crew

2009-07-20T21:26:00.002+08:00

President Barack Obama continues his push for revamping health care.

Obama will hold a round-table discussion Monday with health-care providers at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington. Afterward, he delivers a statement on his proposed health-care overhaul.

Later, the president welcomes the Apollo 11 crew and NASA administrator and former astronaut Charles Bolden to the White House.

It's the 40th anniversary of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin becoming the first men to land on the moon.

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Obama losing some support among nervous Dems

2009-07-18T20:10:00.002+08:00

Could it be that President Barack Obama's Midas touch is starting to dull a bit, even among members of his own party?

Conservative House Democrats are balking at the cost and direction of Obama's top priority, an overhaul of the nation's health care system. A key Senate Democrat, Max Baucus of Montana, complains that Obama's opposition to paying for it with a tax on health benefits "is not helping us."

Another Democrat, Rep. Dan Boren of Oklahoma, tells his local newspaper that Obama is too liberal and is "very unpopular" in his district.

From his first days in office, Obama's popularity helped him pass the landmark $787 billion stimulus package and fueled his ambitious plans to overhaul the nation's health care system and tackle global warming.

Obama continues to be comparatively popular. But now recent national surveys have shown a measurable drop in his job approval rating, even among Democrats. A CBS news survey out this week had his national approval rating at 57 percent, and his standing among Democrats down 10 percentage points since last month, from 92 percent to 82 percent.

With the economy continuing to sputter and joblessness on the rise, many of Obama's staunchest Democratic supporters are anxious for his agenda to start bearing fruit.

"We are eager and impatient, so you're seeing a little bit of that," said Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. "Elections have results, and those in the base are the most anxious to achieve what's promised in the election. That's why Democrats are showing some impatience in reaching our goal."

Obama won Ohio, a key swing state, by 4 percentage points in 2008 over Republican John McCain. But the one-time industrial powerhouse has been hit hard by the weak economy, and a Quinnipiac University poll released this month showed Obama with a lackluster approval rating of 49 percent.

Redfern argued that the stimulus program has begun to show tangible results in his state and people shouldn't expect the economy to turn around instantly.

A similar argument came from Nevada, another swing state Obama carried. Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Ross counseled patience, saying that voters in his state want Obama to succeed and that their support would be solidified once they saw stimulus-driven building projects under way.

"Generally, folks in Nevada are waiting to see the effects of the stimulus package," Ross said. "I think the president is probably just as impatient to get this money out in the country to employ people as anyone."

In Missouri, which Obama narrowly lost to McCain, Democratic strategist Steve Glorioso said hardcore base voters were as enthusiastic as ever for Obama but that there was a sense of disappointment about him among less committed Democrats and independents.

"People are scared," Glorioso said. "This is the worst economic time anyone under the age of 80 has ever experienced, and you can't discount people being afraid. Now that we are in July, the fear is turning to disappointment that the president hasn't fixed everything yet. I don't know why they thought he could change everything by now, but some did."

Glorioso said an open Senate race next year in Missouri, where Democrat Robin Carnahan is likely to face former Republican Rep. Roy Blunt, will be a crucial test of Obama's appeal.

"If the economy gets better and they pass a reasonable health care bill, his popularity will be way back up and Carnahan will win," Glorioso said. "If none of that happens, it's a moot point."

In Michigan, where the near-collapse of the auto industry has driven the unemployment rate to 14.1 percent, the nation's worst, the state's Democratic chairman, Mark Brewer, said support for Obama among Democrats has remained strong.

"People are very worried and concerned, I don't want to dispute that," Brewer said. "But they voted for the president in overwhelming numbers and want to support the things he's trying to do."

Obama traveled to Michigan this week to unveil a $12 billion program to help community colleges prepare people for jobs. There, he made an audacious declaration.

"I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, 'Well, this is Obama's economy,'" the president said. "That's fine. Give it to me!"

Redfern, the Ohio Democratic Party chairman, said he welcomed that statement but cautioned it came with a price.

"When it's the president's economy, it's the president's trouble," Redfern said. "Americans are eager for the change that they voted into office. They support him, they just want to see results sooner rather than later."

Source

Obama tries to regain momentum in healthcare debate

2009-07-18T19:56:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama appealed to Americans on Saturday to back his ambitious revamp of the U.S. health care system, seeking to regain momentum amid growing worries among lawmakers over how to pay for it.

Trading on his personal popularity, Obama has gone on the offensive to try to persuade doubters and face down critics of his more than $1 trillion plan to set up a government-run health insurance plan to compete with private insurers.

The Democratic president used his weekly radio address to again call upon lawmakers, including skeptics within his own party, to "seize this opportunity -- one we might not have again for generations -- and finally pass health insurance reform this year, in 2009."

Obama sought to frame the debate in terms of the country's very economic survival, saying the issue affected "the stability of our entire economy."

Reforming the United States' $2.5 trillion health care industry is Obama's signature domestic issue, but he is running out of time to get the enabling legislation passed this year. A delay to 2010, a congressional election year, could make it harder to win a final deal.

This week, the legislation advanced in key committees in Congress, but Obama was dealt a blow when the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said his plans would not contain the spiraling costs of government health programs.

The administration quickly rejected this, saying the CBO had failed to take into account the savings that would be achieved through separate legislation.

But the CBO's comments were seized upon by Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats concerned at the price tag for the overhaul as the country battles through its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

'SOME BIG PLOT'

Republicans charge the massive new spending and "job-killing taxes" in Obama's plan threatens the country's economic recovery.

"With a shaky economy and the need for new jobs, the last thing the president and the Congress should do is impose new taxes on America's small businesses," Senate Republican whip John Kyl said in the party's weekly radio address.

"New taxes on small business would cripple job creation, especially jobs for low-wage earners. It would empower Washington, not doctors and patients, to make health care decisions and would impose a new tax on working families during a recession," Kyl said.

Obama said this was not true. "I want to be very clear: I will not sign on to any health plan that adds to our deficits over the next decade."

He said opponents of healthcare reform "warn that this is all some big plot for socialized medicine, or government-run health care with long lines and rationed care. That's not true either."

"I don't believe that government can or should run health care. But I also don't think insurance companies should have free rein to do as they please," he said.

Seeking to control the healthcare debate and get his message across to the American people, Obama plans to hold a White House news conference next week. He also plans to travel to Cleveland on Thursday to spotlight healthcare reform.

Obama: Plan will strengthen community college field

2009-07-17T20:36:00.001+08:00

When President Barack Obama unveiled a $12 billion plan to help community colleges prepare millions of people for a new generation of jobs earlier this week, it recognized the growing role of community colleges across the nation, state and local officials said.

Obama announced the initiative on Tuesday in a state reeling from the loss of auto jobs. Michigan’s unemployment rate is 14.1 percent, the nation’s worst.

“The hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back,” Obama told a crowd at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. “They are the casualties of a changing economy.”

To that end, he proposed an “American Graduation Initiative” to bolster the two-year community college field that serves millions of students as a launching point for careers or a step toward expanded higher education. The idea is to train people for jobs, such as those expected in the clean energy industry, when the economy turns around and begins to create jobs again instead of shedding them.

Under the plan, competitive grants would be offered to schools to try new programs or expand training and counseling.

High dropout rates would be addressed by designing programs to track students and help them earn an associate’s degree or finish their education at a four-year institution. Money would also be spent to renovate and rebuild facilities, and online courses would be developed to help colleges offer more classes.

The White House says the cost would be $12 billion over 10 years; Obama says it would be paid for by ending wasteful subsidies to banks and private lenders of student loans.

“Time and again, when we have placed our bet for the future on education, we have prospered as a result,” Obama said.

Louisiana Delta Community College Chancellor Luke Robins said Obama’s announcement was a realization of the importance of community colleges.

“It’s a very positive response and it will be interesting to see how the Congress moves forward with it,” Robins said.

“I don’t see it as a long-term fix for declining state funding for higher ed. What it gives the LCTCS (Louisiana Community and Technical College System) is some seed money to start programs aimed at improving graduation and retention rates. We’re a developing system, and those kinds of programs take some money to get off the ground.”

LCTCS President Joe May is also pleased with Obama’s proposal.

“President Obama’s announcement really speaks to an understanding of the critical role of community and technical colleges in providing solutions toward developing a competitive workforce for our country and specifically the State of Louisiana,” May said.

“This tremendous investment in the areas of facilities, online courses, and program development and expansion can greatly assist our colleges in facilitating economic recovery for our state and increasing the skills level attainment of our local citizenry. Therefore, this announcement couldn’t be more timely as we continue to focus on transforming Louisiana’s work force and developing the high demand, industry-sensitive training needed for jobs of the 21st century.”

Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a former education secretary, said Obama’s plan is a “typical proposal” that sounds better than it is. “When our biggest problem as a country is too much debt, he’s taking the entitlement spending he claims to be saving from the student loan program and adding it to the debt,” Alexander said.

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Obama tells NAACP more yet to do on civil rights

2009-07-17T20:30:00.002+08:00

Saying that civil rights leaders from decades past paved the way for his election as the nation's first black commander in chief, President Barack Obama paid homage to the NAACP and advised members that their work remains unfinished.

Obama traced his historic rise to power to the vigor and valor of black civil rights leaders, telling the nation's oldest civil rights organization Thursday night that their sacrifice "began the journey that has led me here." He also prodded them to look beyond simply African-American rights as the group celebrated its 100th convention.

"Make no mistake: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America," the president told the friendly audience that erupted in standing applause and the occasional "Amen" during his remarks.

Rousing his audience, Obama offered his most direct speech on race since winning the White House, a mix of personal reflection and policy promotion. He had worked on the address for about two weeks and revised it until shortly before he spoke, his aides said, underscoring the importance of his message and his audience.

Implicit in his appearance was that he is seeking the backing of the powerful NAACP and its members for his ambitious domestic agenda. He also is careful not to forget a groundswell of black voters who reshaped the electoral map, although they didn't singularly deliver him to the White House.

Painting himself as the beneficiary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's work, Obama cited historical figures from W.E.B. DuBois to Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King Jr. to Emmet Till to explain how the path to the presidency was cleared by visionaries.

Despite the racial progress exemplified by his own election, Obama said African-Americans must overcome a disproportionate share of struggles, including being more likely to suffer from many diseases and having a higher proportion of children end up in jail.

"They're very different from the barriers faced by earlier generations. They're very different from the ones faced when fire hoses and dogs were being turned on young marchers," Obama said. "But what's required to overcome today's barriers is the same as what was needed then. The same commitment. The same sense of urgency."

Obama expanded his message of equal rights beyond the black communities. He said many Americans still face discrimination and suggested the NAACP — looking to declare a mission for its second century — might embrace a broader mandate in coming years.

Obama's remarks, steeped in his personal biography as the son of a white mother from Kansas and black father from Kenya, challenged the audience — those in the room and those beyond — to take greater responsibility for their own future.

He urged parents to take a more active role, residents to pay better attention to their schools and students to aspire beyond basketball stars and rappers.

"I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers," Obama said. "I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be president of the United States."

With that line, Obama drove the hotel ballroom audience to its feet.

Throughout his comments, Obama sought a balance, contending that the government must foster equality but individuals must take charge of their own lives. It was reminiscent of earlier Obama speeches, calling on fathers to help their children and adopting a tone that at times seemed drawn from the pulpit.

"We have to say to our children, `Yes, if you're African-American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that somebody in a wealthy suburb does not have to face," Obama said, returning to his tough-love message familiar from his two-year presidential campaign.

"But that's not a reason to get bad grades, that's not a reason to cut class, that's not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands."

Today, Obama said, it is not prejudice or discrimination that presents the greatest obstacles for blacks, but rather structural inequities_ in areas such as education and health care. Still, he said discrimination persists — and not just for blacks — and chided those who may contend otherwise.

Source

U.S. President Barack Obama Calls Senate Health Committee’s Vote on Healthcare Reform “Major Milestone”

2009-07-16T18:55:00.000+08:00

U.S. President Barack Obama has called the Senate health committee’s decision to approve a healthcare reform bill “a major milestone” and has urged Congress to pass a bill by the beginning of August, when Congress goes on recess.

Obama has been pushing for a healthcare bill that will expand coverage to all Americans yet that push has been met with resistance by several Republicans who have pointed to the cost involved in such a measure. Despite his detractors, Obama has continued to lobby for reform and has consistently called healthcare a necessity that had to be achieved.

Wednesday’s vote reflected the divisive nature of the healthcare reforms as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 13-10 to pass a to pass a $600-billion version of the bill with all ten detractors being Republican.

Under the HELP proposal healthcare would be expanded to all Americans by requiring individuals to be insured and providing assistance to those unable to pay for their coverage. The approval was the first passed by a congressional committee with several other committees working on their own version of a healthcare reform bill.

Obama the various bills will be debated and a combined bill will reach Congress with both House and Senate voting on the unified bill.

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Mwenda on Obama: Old wine in new bottles

2009-07-16T18:53:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama began his speech in Accra by saying: “We will begin from the premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans.” Instead of upholding this promise, he proceeded to give a lecture (not a speech). The lecture itself was a rehearsal of previous lectures Africans have been accustomed to from Western leaders and governments – about democracy, accountability, stability, war and growth.

The only difference Obama brought to the table was to be more explicit and candid about Africa’s ills. Other Western leaders are often diplomatic and very polite when talking about Africa’s failures. This is largely because being white makes them run the risk of being misunderstood. For example, they can be accused of racism if they speak frankly about Africa’s endemic tribalism and corruption.

Yet the enthusiasm with which many Africans received the speech was actually not a sign of hope but surrender. Many Africans, especially those who were celebrating over it, were also demonstrating the sense of powerlessness they feel rather than renewed energy to challenge the continent’s entrenched rulers. It was as if Africans finally had found someone who could speak to their rulers about the continent’s malaise. Africans have been waiting for a saviour from without to liberate them from their own rulers. To me this attitude is the biggest threat to the continent.

For all that Obama said, he seemed to radically misunderstand the source of Africa’s crisis. He thinks that Africa has failed because its leaders – either out of stupidity or bad judgement – made wrong choices. In focusing largely on the personality of individual presidents, Obama misses the incentives that make Africa’s rulers make choices that harm/hurt their citizens. From this wrong premise, Obama proceeds, thinking that Africa’s rulers can change their ways through moral exhortations.

Obama needs to study Africa more intimately before he can lecture about it. I personally think Africa’s rulers make the choices they make based on the structure of incentives they face. For example, many African countries pursued growth destroying policies in the 1960s and 70s because powerful interests within the state profited from them and therefore formed strong public sector constituencies against reform.

Today, with the exception of Rwanda, most African countries have extremely dysfunctional healthcare and education systems. On the face of it, these failures seem a product of poor policies, insufficient funds, administrative weaknesses and limited human resources. Yet the institutionalised corruption and incompetence in these sectors creates profitable opportunities, both politically and economically, to incumbents in the state.

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Obama Selects Alabama Doctor as Surgeon General

2009-07-14T19:16:00.001+08:00

President Obama has chosen Regina Benjamin, a family physician from Alabama, to be the next Surgeon General, filling a key public health post ahead of an expected surge in the H1N1 flu next fall.

Benjamin gained fame through her public efforts to rebuild her rural health clinic after Hurricane Katrina devastated it. She founded the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in 1990 and rebuilt it after the hurricane.

Benjamin has also served as the first black woman to head the State of Alabama Medical Association and was associate dean for rural health at the University of South Alabama's College of Medicine.

Obama announced her his intent to nominate her at a Rose Garden event this morning in which he also spoke of the challenges and need for health care reform. "I understand people are a little nervous and a little scared about making change. You know, the muscles in this town to bring about big changes are a little atrophied, but we're whipping folks back into shape. We are going to get this done," the president said.

"And if there's anyone who understands the urgency of meeting this challenge in a personal and powerful way, it is the woman who will become our nation's next surgeon general, Dr. Regina Benjamin."

The president's first choice to be surgeon general, CNN's Sanjay Gupta, pulled out of the running several months ago, saying he wanted to be able to spend more time with his family.

Gupta had initially said he was attracted to the position because of the ability to use his high-profile reputation to increase awareness of public health and the push health care reform through the Congress.

Since then, the administration has been without a top public health official, even as the swine flu has demanded attention.

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Obama Gets It Right on Africa

2009-07-14T19:14:00.000+08:00

There's a striking passage in "Dreams From My Father," in which a young Barack Obama, on safari in Kenya, gets an unembellished picture of everyday African life from his driver, a man named Francis.

"[Francis] said he enjoyed his work with the travel agency but disliked being away from his family. 'If I could, I might prefer farming full-time,' he said, 'but the KCU makes it impossible.'

"'What's the KCU?' I asked.

"'The Kenyan Coffee Union. They are thieves. They regulate what we can plant and when we can plant it. I can only sell my coffee to them, and they sell it overseas. They say to us that prices are dropping, but I know they still get one hundred times what they pay to me. The rest goes where?' Francis shook his head with disgust. 'It's a terrible thing when the government steals from its own people.'"

Terrible indeed. And perhaps it was an echo of Francis's voice that shaped Mr. Obama's speech last Saturday in Ghana, by far the best of his presidency.

Here's some of what Mr. Obama said: "No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20% off the top." "The purpose of foreign assistance must be creating the conditions where it's no longer needed." "The West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants." "We must support strong and sustainable democratic governments." "America can also do more to promote trade and investment." "We have a responsibility to support those who act responsibly and to isolate those who don't, and that is exactly what America will do." "History shows that countries thrive when they . . . create space for small and medium-sized businesses that create jobs."

All this is not only true, it's groundbreaking. Since British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan gave his "Wind of Change" speech (also in Ghana) nearly 50 years ago, Western policy toward Africa has been a matter of throwing money at a guilty conscience (or a client of convenience), no questions asked. The result, as Mr. Obama pointed out, was that countries such as Kenya, which had a larger GDP than South Korea in 1961, "have been badly outpaced."

Maybe it took a president unburdened by that kind of guilt to junk the policy. Or maybe it simply took a conversation with some of the Francises of Africa -- the politically invisible middle classes held down by their own kleptocratic rulers. Whatever the case, Africa will be well served if Mr. Obama can make good on his rhetoric.

Now if only Mr. Obama would apply those same principles to the rest of his agenda, foreign and domestic.

For instance, if trade and investment are good ideas for the U.S.-Africa relationship, why has the Obama administration dragged its feet on free-trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea? Or, if the U.S. owes Africa no apologies for its recent disasters, why has Mr. Obama gone to such lengths to apologize to Iran for the 1953 Mossadegh coup, and, in his Cairo speech, to the entire Muslim world for the politics of the Cold War? Or if Mr. Obama wants to "isolate" irresponsible actors, why does he continue to promise engagement with Iran, Syria, Russia and perhaps North Korea no matter how they behave?

Similarly, while U.S. government officials don't usually demand bribes (at least outside of Illinois), the U.S. corporate tax rate, at 39%, is the second highest in the industrialized world. That's about 10 percentage points higher than the OECD average, or nearly twice the 20% "bribe tax" that scandalizes Mr. Obama.

As for creating "space for small and medium-sized businesses," it's ironic that Mr. Obama would make this point on the same weekend that House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel is calling for a 3% surtax on the wealthy -- many of whom, as Scott Hodge of the Tax Foundation notes, happen to be business owners. These are the same people now facing the prospect of next year's expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the return to the 55% top rate on estate taxes, another scourge of small-business owners.

Finally, if the $2.3 trillion the West has given in foreign aid over the past five decades -- a "stimulus" package if ever there was one -- has done nothing to raise Africa out of poverty, why does Mr. Obama think that any amount of stimulus spending is going to revive America's economic fortunes? At least in Africa's case, the West could periodically forgive its debts. Who will forgive ours?

In his conversation with Francis, Mr. Obama records his lament that Kenya's "big men" fail to take responsibility for their country:

"'Attitudes aren't so different in America,' I told Francis."

"'You are probably right,' he said. 'But you see, a rich country like America can perhaps afford to be stupid.'"

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Obama proposes investing $12 billion in community colleges to help teach, train more people

2009-07-14T19:11:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama is proposing a multibillion-dollar investment in the nation's community colleges, a $12 billion effort to help the two-year institutions reach, teach and train more people for "the jobs of the future."

Obama was outlining his four-part program in a speech Tuesday afternoon at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich.

Under the initiative, schools could qualify for "challenge grants" so they'll have money to give new programs a try, or expand training and counseling.

Dropout rates would be addressed by designing programs to help students who want to earn an associate's degree or transfer to a four-year institution do so.

Money would be spent to renovate outdated facilities or build new ones, and to develop online courses and make them freely available to students and others who want to use them.

The total federal cost is $12 billion over a decade. Of that, $9 billion would go toward challenge grants and addressing dropout rates. Half a billion, or $500 million, would go toward online education. The remaining $2.5 billion would be used to spark $10 billion in renovation and construction nationwide, said James Kvaal, an Obama economic policy adviser.

Some of the money could be available by the 2010 budget year that begins Oct. 1.

Obama speaks of expanded education and job training as a way to help workers compete for jobs such as those expected in the clean energy industry, when the economy turns around and begins to create jobs again instead of shedding them.

"In an economy where jobs requiring at least an associate's degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience, it's never been more essential to continue education and training after high school," Obama said Sunday in a Washington Post op-ed piece.

"It's time to reform our community colleges so that they provide Americans of all ages a chance to learn the skills and knowledge necessary to compete for the jobs of the future," he said.

Community colleges have been feeling pinched lately. Enrollments have been increasing for several reasons, including rising college costs at public and private institutions, and because of the economy, as people who've lost jobs enroll to learn new skills.

About 6 million students attend community college. Obama wants to increase community college enrollment to 11 million by 2020, Kvaal said.

In his speech to a joint session of Congress earlier this year, the president urged every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training.

Obama's stop in Michigan will be his first visit to the state since he defeated Republican Sen. John McCain there in the presidential election.

The trip wasn't all about policy, however.

Before returning to the White House, Obama, an athlete who is more into basketball and, lately, golf, was dropping into Busch Stadium in St. Louis to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Major League Baseball's annual All-Star game.

It will be his first pitch as president. Obama skipped traditional opening day invites.

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Obama says slavery's past should be taught in US

2009-07-13T18:43:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama says slavery is a terrible part of the United States' history and should be taught in a meaningful way.

Obama compared the legacy of slavery to the history of the Holocaust. He said both are horrible parts of history but shouldn't be ignored. He says in a CNN interview that their lessons must never be forgotten.

Obama returned to Washington early Sunday morning from a trip that took him to Russia, Italy and Ghana. It was the first trip to sub-Saharan Africa for America's first black president.

Obama and his family visited a West African castle where traders once shipped slaves to the New World.

Obama was interviewed Saturday for CNN's "Anderson Cooper: 360." A brief excerpt was released on Sunday.

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Barack Obama focuses on health care reform

2009-07-13T18:40:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama returned from his overseas tour on Sunday to a struggle over his most important domestic promise: to reform America's ailing health care system.

Mr Obama has pledged to succeed where Bill and Hillary Clinton failed in the early 1990s and sign legislation by the end of this year guaranteeing health insurance for almost all of the 47 million Americans presently without cover.

Sharp disagreements have emerged over how to pay the bill of at least $1 trillion over ten years. Conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives oppose plans to raise taxes on the rich. Meanwhile, some Left-wing Democratic Senators, who are working on their own version of the law, are wary of a proposed new tax on the health insurance benefits provided by some employers.

An overhaul of health care, which would usher in a major new role for government, could become the defining issue of Mr Obama's first term, and help determine whether he wins a second.

"I'm confident that we're going to get it done," he said last week. "It is going to be hard, though. As dissatisfied as Americans may be with the health care system, they're also afraid of the unknown. And we have a long history of scaring people that they're going to lose their doctor, they're going to lose their health care plans, they're going to be stuck with some bureaucratic government system that's not responsive to their needs," he added.

Bringing the legislation to a vote this year is crucial because Congressmen might be reluctant to consider such a charged issue next year, when all House members and one-third of Senators face midterm elections.

There is widespread agreement that reform is essential and, for the first time, hospitals, health insurance companies and doctor's associations are broadly supportive of change, making the passage of some form of legislation much more likely.

Health care spending in the US has risen faster than inflation for years, and in 2008 accounted for $2.14 trillion, a sixth of the nation's gross domestic product and a sum only slightly lower than Britain's entire GDP.

America spends more per capita on health than any other country, yet 15 per cent of its 304 million people remain uninsured and millions of others find their policies deficient in the event of severe illness.

A guarantee of health insurance would make a significant difference to people like, Valerie Goodness, a firefighter who was forced to leave her job because of her 13-year-old son's autism. When her employer changed insurance companies, the new company refused to cover her son because of his "pre-existing condition" – a common dodge that is regarded as one of the system's great iniquities.

Now, if she earns more than $1,000 a month, she will lose the insurance provided by Medicaid, a state programme for the poor.

"And there is no way I could earn a job that would pay enough to pay for private nursing at $20 – $30 an hour. I feel like I am forced into poverty just so I can get insurance," said Mrs Goodness.

Most Americans get medical insurance from their employers, who choose from a variety of competing companies. The system has spurred innovation, helping American hospitals and specialists to become the best in the world, but it has also driven up costs.

"We have a payment structure that rewards volume over value," said Elizabeth Carpenter, of the New America Foundation think tank, adding that she is convinced reform will pass this year. "People in the health community see the writing on the wall. They see this is the last chance to preserve a uniquely American health care system. No reform will be perfect but we have to start."

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Obama orders review of alleged Afghan mass grave

2009-07-13T18:35:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama has ordered his national security team to investigate reports that U.S. allies were responsible for the deaths of as many as 2,000 Taliban prisoners of war in Afghanistan.

Obama told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday that if the United States violated international norms, he wants to know about it. He also says he will make a decision how to proceed after he has all the facts.

Witnesses said the Taliban members surrendered to the U.S.-allied Northern Alliance in November 2001 and were placed in sealed cargo containers for a two-day trip. A State Department report said the prisoners were suffocated and then buried en masse, with bulldozers used to move the bodies.

Northern Alliance soldiers also have said they opened fire on the containers.

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President Barack Obama proclaimed a new day for U.S. policy on climate change early Thursday, declaring, "In the past, the United States has sometime

2009-07-10T21:00:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama's stimulus bill was passed fewer than five months ago. Only a small fraction of the money has been spent, but Republicans already know it's a failure.

"The trillion-dollar stimulus passed in February has not produced the jobs that were promised," Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan said in a news release.

"I am convinced that it won't work," California Rep. Darrell Issa said on Capitol Hill.

"A second stimulus is an even worse idea than the first stimulus, which has been demonstrably proven to have failed," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters.

Republicans, of all people, are supposed to know instant gratification isn't always possible. Be patient, guys. Save yourselves for marriage.

More puzzling are similar sounds from Democrats, who in talking about a second stimulus package seem as if they're writing off the one they already passed like a Citigroup subprime mortgage.

"We need to be open to whether or not we need additional action," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Capitol Hill.

The country "should be planning on a contingency basis for a second round of stimulus," Obama economic adviser Laura Tyson told a conference in Singapore.

Don't pay much attention. Republicans just want to rile the base by damning helpful measures passed by their opponents.

Democrats are setting up excuses for next year's elections, when no matter what happens, the economy won't be making us all rich. It's not our fault, they'll say. The Republicans blocked a new stimulus.

But give the old stimulus a chance.

People keep grumping to me about Obama's "socialism" and then, in practically the same sentence, criticizing the paltry extra in their paycheck that the stimulus made possible.

"Thirty dollars a month. What a joke," they'll say, conjuring the old story of the Catskills resort customer who complains about the terrible food as well as the small portions.

Presumably for, say, $500 a month, socialism would be OK.

Nothing government does to the economy happens immediately.

When the Federal Reserve cuts or raises interest rates, it takes about 18 months to make a difference, economists estimate. Tax cuts or tax increases aren't fully felt for years.

The Obama stimulus isn't even out the door.

Only about $100 billion of the $787 billion package has been spent. As pointed out in yesterday's Wall Street Journal by Edward Lazear, who was head of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, much of that money was transferred to state agencies, which are still sitting on it.

But it will all get spent, much of it this year. It'll finance highway construction and fixing water systems and improving homes for soldiers. It'll weatherize government buildings, saving taxpayers on energy costs. It'll improve telecom connections, flood control, the electricity grid and the computers at the Social Security Administration in Woodlawn.

All this will create jobs. Most of the package is direct spending, approved on the not unreasonable notion that it will prompt hiring and buying whereas a tax cut of equal size would likely have been stashed in the bank. But Republicans conveniently forget that the deal includes $288 billion in individual and corporate tax cuts.

The fiscal stimulus is only part of the government's response. Other injections haven't been fully deployed, either. The Federal Reserve's and Treasury Department's Public-Private Investment Program, which has the potential to take billions in dubious mortgage assets off Wall Street books, hasn't spent a dime yet. The government isn't anywhere near done issuing credit to grease consumer lending or helping marginally troubled homeowners stay in their houses.

Did the Democrats tell a whopper about how bad the economy might get or how much the stimulus would help? Yes. It's very reminiscent of the fabulous job growth that Bush said would result from his 2003 tax cuts. Didn't happen.

Last week's miserable employment report was the main cause of the stimulus failure talk. The nation shed 467,000 jobs in June, according to preliminary estimates, far more than economists predicted. Unemployment rose to 9.5 percent.

Even so, job losses were worse in every other month this year but one. New claims for unemployment benefits peaked months ago. Factory orders for May rose the third time in four months. Consumer confidence has been rising.

The worst economy in 80 years won't heal in a few months. Republicans need to stop complaining about the medicine when most of it hasn't even been swallowed.

And Democrats ought to stop mixing up another dose. (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gets it: "There's no showing to me that a second stimulus is needed," he said, according to USA Today.) They've got enough work to do dispensing the one they already prescribed.

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Obama foiled at world climate talks

2009-07-10T20:58:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama proclaimed a new day for U.S. policy on climate change early Thursday, declaring, "In the past, the United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities. So let me be clear: Those days are over."

But by day's end, world leaders wrapped up climate talks at a familiar impasse.

Leaders of the Group of Eight nations declined prompt action to curb greenhouse gas emissions in favor of the high-sounding goal of reducing their own emissions by 80 percent and worldwide emissions by 50 percent by 2050 -- without pledging to take any specific steps to get there. China, India and other major developing countries, who had wanted action in the next decade, reacted by rejecting the G-8 package.

And a side meeting that Obama convened Thursday to bring together the developing and developed nations most responsible for greenhouse emissions ended with only general pronouncements.

The discussions yielded a consensus declaration that the world should try to limit warming to 3.6 degrees, a level scientists say would minimize the dangers of the most catastrophic warming effects.

Obama set for emotional visits to Vatican, Ghana

2009-07-10T20:56:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama is wrapping up finitely detailed talks with his G-8 partners on economic and environmental challenges and turning to more photogenic events: meeting the pope and becoming the first black American president to visit a mostly black African country.

He was throwing in a televised news conference from Italy for good measure.

Obama, his wife and daughters were to meet Pope Benedict XVI shortly before leaving Italy late Friday for Ghana. The two men have spoken by phone but not met before, aides say.

In Ghana, officials expect a tumultuous reception for Obama, whose father was from Kenya. Because the first family arrives rather late Friday night, the main ceremony in Accra will occur Saturday, before he departs for Washington after a weeklong trip that started in Russia.

It will involve drumming groups and Ghanians "putting their best foot forward in terms of the cultural richness of an incredibly diverse country," White House adviser Michelle Gavin told reporters Thursday. To help accommodate the many who cannot attend, U.S. and Ghanian officials have scheduled "watch parties," radio broadcasts and video coverage in theaters, parks and other places.

"I do not believe that there is a way in which we could ever fulfill or assuage the desires of those in Ghana or on the continent on one stop," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

But first, Obama had some final business at the Group of Eight nations meeting in central Italy, where he has had mixed success in seeking accords on greenhouse gas emissions and other matters. He was to meet with several African leaders early Friday, then hold a news conference.

Ahead of Obama's meeting with reporters, world leaders committed themselves to a $15 billion initiative to help farmers in poor countries boost production.

According to a draft statement obtained by The Associated Press, the money will be distributed over three years. Not all of it is new funding, though, and several countries are already well behind in aid pledges to Africa made four years ago.

The initiative, which would significantly change the global approach to hunger, was launched near the end of three days of G-8 talks. The draft statement is to be endorsed by another 19 nations, including African countries, which are attending the meeting.

Later Friday, Obama had an audience scheduled with the pope, whose generally conservative views will not entirely mesh with Obama's. They are likely to discuss world poverty, the Middle East and other topics, aides say, but the visit will be largely personal and spiritual.

"There are issues on which they'll agree, issues on which they'll disagree and issues on which they'll agree to continue to work on going forward," deputy national security adviser Denis McDonough told reporters Thursday.

"Given the influence of the Catholic Church globally," he said, and "the influence of the Catholic Church and church social teaching on the president himself, he recognizes that this is much more than your typical state visit."

Obama is a Protestant seeking a new church in Washington.

He will become the third straight U.S. president to visit Ghana, a relatively stable democracy in a continent wracked by poverty and heavy-handed governments. But he is the first such president of African descent.

Obama chose Ghana, Gavin said, "because it's such an admirable example of strong, democratic governance, vibrant civil society." There's much to admire, she said, and to hold up as "a counter to what one often hears about Africa."

On Saturday, Obama will meet with Ghana's president, John Atta Mills, and address the nation's parliament.

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Obama not talking about second stimulus: official

2009-07-09T20:22:00.001+08:00

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is not discussing a second stimulus plan to jolt the U.S. economy out of recession, a White House budget official told Congress on Wednesday.

"No one in the administration is talking about a second stimulus at this point," said Robert Nabors, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, who is tracking the effects of the economic recovery plan already in effect.

But the White House press secretary, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, suggested that could change if the country continues to lose jobs.

Nabors testified at a House of Representatives hearing on oversight of the $787 billion stimulus plan.

"What we are focused on right now is implementing the recovery act that Congress has already passed," he added.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama is "not ruling anything out, but at the same time he's not ruling anything in" on another stimulus.

"We continue to watch what's going on," Gibbs said. "I think the bottom line for the president is, if there are steps that he thinks, and his team thinks, need to be taken to improve our economy, we won't hesitate to do that.

Obama is meeting this week with leaders of the Group of Eight major industrial nations in L'Aquila, Italy, to discuss solutions for the languishing world economy.

World markets, which had been recovering since March, have recently lost ground, in part because comments by an Obama economic adviser were seen as signaling a U.S. recovery was farther off than hoped. The Dow average fell 1 percent on Wednesday but later pared some of its losses to 8,120.

Laura D'Andrea Tyson, an economist who advised Obama during the 2008 campaign and is a member of his economic advisory panel, said on Tuesday that the United States should be planning for a possible second round of fiscal stimulus that focused on infrastructure investment.

Nabors told the hearing Tyson did not represent the White House.

"She's an outside economic adviser. She does not work for the administration," Nabors said.

When he signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law in February, Obama hailed it as key to creating and saving jobs during the longest U.S. recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. But with the unemployment rate now standing at 9.5 percent, its highest in more than two decades, some are wondering if the various tax and spending measures can accomplish that mission.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday that U.S. leaders should be open to a second stimulus, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, also a Democrat, has said he sees no evidence another recovery package is needed.

Nabors said the country's losing 467,000 jobs in June was "unacceptable," but he noted that the rate of loss was much slower than during the first quarter of the fiscal year when the average monthly job loss was 691,000 jobs.

He said other indicators, such as orders for durable goods, were turning upward, showing the stimulus was having a positive impact and in the near future the country would see "genuine economic expansion and crucial job creation."

G8 pledges to cut global warming

2009-07-09T20:21:00.000+08:00

The United States and seven other of the world's top economic powers agreed Wednesday to broad goals for reducing global warming, but hedged on timetable details and expected to fail to get developing nations such as China and India to go along.

The Group of Eight industrial democracies agreed to a statement setting the goal of holding global warming to an increase of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2020, as measured since the dawn of the industrial age in 1900.

They also reaffirmed a pledge to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that cause warming -- by 50% worldwide and by 80% among industrialized nations -- by 2050. They hedged, however, on when to set the starting point to measure those cuts, saying they would measure from 1990 "or later years."

And they didn't adopt anything committing to specific emission cuts by 2020, a top goal of environmentalists.

Moreover, they acknowledged that their draft declaration for a larger meeting today, when China, India and other developing nations join, will not include targets for emissions cuts.
Progress toward treaty

Aides to President Barack Obama said the G8 agreements marked important progress toward the broad target of an international treaty to cut emissions.

Michael Froman, the White House deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, said the leaders "pledged to confront the challenges of climate change."

Environmentalists called it a disappointment that fell short of what's needed.

"This was a missed opportunity," said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The G8 countries are not putting a credible target on the table."

Scientists said the 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit limit -- which global warming already is near to hitting -- is critical, and that any additional warming beyond that would have grave consequences.

"The need for urgent action to address climate change is now indisputable," said a joint statement from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, along with counterpart agencies from around the world.

The NAS also urged that the international community commit to cutting the emissions of heat-trapping gases by 50% from 1990 levels by the year 2050.

The G8 agreed a year ago to set a target of a 50% cut by 2050, but it didn't stipulate whether the cut would be measured from 1990 or from the much higher levels in 2005. The leaders hedged again Wednesday, saying the nonbinding cuts would be measured against "1990 or later years," Froman said.

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Obama tells Lula still time to close gap on climate

2009-07-09T20:18:00.001+08:00

U.S. President Barack Obama told Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday there was still time to close the gap on climate change issues between major industrialized and developing nations, the White House said.

Obama told Lula such progress could be made before the U.N. talks on a new climate change treaty to be held in Copenhagen in December, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters at the G8 summit following talks between the two presidents.

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President Barack Obama, Russian Putin meet & play nice, but divisions remain

2009-07-08T18:44:00.001+08:00

Loeb/Getty

President Barack Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin shake hands during a meeting at the near Moscow Tuesday.

Soul mates? No. But President Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin could be called frenemies after their first high-stakes meeting outside Moscow Tuesday.

The two leaders shared breakfast at Putin's dacha, where they praised each other - but also acknowledged deep divisions.

A key flash point is their differing view of neighboring Georgia. The Kremlin backs separatists there and crushed the country's tiny army during battles a year ago, while the U.S. supports its admission to the NATO alliance.

"I don't anticipate a meeting of the minds anytime soon" on Georgia, Obama told Fox News.

Putin noted the two nations have been at loggerheads over "events of different, shall we say, color" - a reference many experts saw aimed at the U.S.-backed pro-democracy "color revolutions" in the former Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine.

Putin, extremely popular and widely regarded as the true ruler of Russia, consolidated his power dramatically while opposing those revolutions, branding them Western power grabs and attempts at regime change.

Obama still delivered a pro-democracy message after his meeting, though, leveling careful criticism at Russia's autocratic tendencies and widespread corruption.

"The arc of history shows us that governments which serve their own people survive and thrive," Obama told the progressive New Economic School. "Governments which serve only their own power do not."

Analysts saw the careful language and the acknowledgment of lingering differences as a good sign the two leaders may be able to build on eight agreements Obama announced Monday, including a deal to cut nuclear weapons.

"Obama came away with a better impression [of Putin] than he had going in," said Sam Charap of the White House-friendly Center for American Progress think tank.

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Obama Advisor Urges Another Economic Stimulus Plan

2009-07-08T18:43:00.000+08:00

The Obama administration appears to be sending mixed signals on whether a second stimulus package will be needed to pull the U.S. economy out of a deep and prolonged recession. Democrats and Republicans are expressing dissatisfaction with the impact of the $787 billion stimulus package President Barack Obama signed into law in February.

Obama economic advisor Laura Tyson says the federal government should begin crafting a second package to stimulate the U.S. economy on what she termed a "contingency basis," Tyson said.

"We are in a situation where the economic outlook is very uncertain and the risks are all on the downside [conditions could worsen]. It looks like the economy is weaker than expected. Why not begin to think about, over the next several months, whether we need a stimulus package and what it should include, so that we are ready [to act] as we get more information?"

Vice President Joe Biden in Washington (File)

Tyson spoke at a conference in Singapore. Her remarks raised eyebrows among economists and political analysts, coming two days after Vice President Joe Biden downplayed the suggestion that another stimulus package is needed.

"I think it is premature to make that judgment," Biden said.

Biden spoke on the "Fox News Sunday" television program. He admitted that, when President Obama entered office, the administration had "misread" the economy and how severe U.S. job losses would become. But the vice president said February's stimulus package, the biggest-ever federal effort to jumpstart the U.S. economy, was the proper tool to promote growth.

The $787 billion package includes infrastructure projects, energy initiatives, educational programs, aid for struggling state governments and tax cuts spread over a two-to-three year period.

House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer helped craft an early version of the bill.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer

"I do not think anybody can honestly say that we are satisfied with the results so far. But we believe that the stimulus was absolutely essential," Hoyer said. We need to get the money that is already in the stimulus bill out [spend it]."

But appropriating federal funds takes time. And many of the lawmakers who championed the bill are frustrated by the lag between enactment of the stimulus plan and getting the money into the economy.

Republicans say the fact that unemployment continues to mount more than four months after the stimulus package was signed into law shows that the plan was flawed from the start.

House Minority Leader John Boehner also appeared on Fox News Sunday.

"This [stimulus plan] was supposed to be about jobs, jobs and jobs. And the fact is, it turned into nothing more than spending, spending and more spending," Boehner said.

In February, President Obama said the stimulus plan would save or create more than two million jobs. Success or failure is hard to prove, given that no one knows how much worse the economy would be if no stimulus had been undertaken, according to former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin.

"We will never know what the world would have looked like without the stimulus package,"Holtz-Eakin said. "So we will never be able to put numbers on exactly what the impact was."

Holtz-Eakin appeared on Bloomberg television. He said America's worsening employment picture illustrates the limits of the federal government's ability to generate economic activity quickly.

He said he is skeptical of the current stimulus package and would opposed to a second one.

"We should hold off and really be cognizant of the fact that the U.S. has a very daunting fiscal outlook,"Holtz-Eakin said. "We cannot afford to be spending money without thinking what we will get for it."

Other economists argue that at a time when businesses and consumers are cutting back on spending, the federal government is the only entity capable of jolting the economy out of recession.

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Obama signs nuclear arms reduction deal with Russia

2009-07-07T22:06:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama signed an agreement Monday to cut U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals by at least one quarter, a first step in a broader effort intended to reduce the threat of such weapons drastically and to prevent their further spread to unstable regions.

Obama, on his first visit to Russia since taking office, and President Dmitry Medvedev agreed on the basic terms of a treaty to reduce the number of warheads and missiles to the lowest levels since the early years of the Cold War. The new treaty, to be finished by December, would then lead to talks next year on more substantial reductions.

The progress reflected an effort to re-establish ties a year after Russia's war with Georgia left the relationship more strained than any time since the fall of the Soviet Union. The two sides agreed to resume military contacts suspended after the Georgia war and sealed a deal allowing the United States to send thousands of flights of troops and weapons to Afghanistan through Russian airspace each year.

They remained at loggerheads over U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, which Washington describes as a hedge against an Iranian nuclear breakthrough and which Russia vehemently opposes as a threat in its backyard.

But after hours of meetings at the Kremlin, the presidents agreed to conduct a joint assessment of any Iranian threat and presented a united front against the spread of nuclear
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weapons.

Obama hailed the arms agreement as an example for the world as he pursued a broader agenda aimed at countering — and eventually eliminating — the spread of nuclear weapons, a goal he hopes to make a defining legacy of his presidency.

While the United States and Russia together have 95 percent of the world's nuclear weapons, Obama also views Russia as an influential player in deterring nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.

"This is an urgent issue, and one in which the United States and Russia have to take leadership," Obama said. "It is very difficult for us to exert that leadership unless we are showing ourselves willing to deal with our own nuclear stockpiles in a more rational way."

Medvedev expressed willingness to help fight the proliferation of nuclear weapons in places like Iran and North Korea. "It's our common, joint responsibility, and we should do our utmost to prevent any negative trends there, and we are ready to do that," Medvedev said.

The arms agreement drew starkly contrasting reactions in the United States.

Daryl G. Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, called the new agreement "an overdue if very modest step toward ridding each side of obsolete and expensive Cold War legacy weapons."

But John Bolton, an ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, said Obama was going too far. "The number they are proposing for delivery vehicles is shockingly low," he said.

Obama and Medvedev used the start of Obama's two-day visit to forge a stronger personal connection. As they waited for a news conference to start in a grand, gold-lined Kremlin hall, Obama and Medvedev whispered and smiled. Speaking with reporters, they professed warm respect for each other. Afterward, they retreated to Medvedev's country estate for dinner with their wives.

Obama will have breakfast today with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, generally considered the paramount political force in Russia.

The presidents also had what Obama later called a ''frank discussion" about Georgia, and he emphasized U.S. support for Georgian territorial integrity. ''Even as we work through our disagreements on Georgia's borders, we do agree that no one has an interest in renewed military conflict," Obama said.

Most of the one-on-one talks between the presidents were consumed by Iran and missile defense, U.S. officials said. Obama later told reporters that it was ''entirely legitimate for our discussions to talk not only about offensive weapon systems, but also defensive weapon systems," a statement that pleased the Russians, who have sought to link missile defense to arms cuts.

But Obama aides later said he still refused to link the new arms control treaty to any compromise on the missile defense project begun by Bush that is under review by the new administration.

The nuclear agreement set the outline for a replacement for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, which expires in December. Once a new treaty is enacted, Obama wants to open talks to cut arms more deeply.

Obama has vowed to ratify the long-stalled Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, secure vulnerable nuclear materials around the world within four years and hold a nonproliferation summit meeting in Washington next year. Obama asked Medvedev to play host to a subsequent meeting in Moscow.

Critics say Obama's ambition of eliminating nuclear weapons is naive and dangerous, given that countries like Iran and North Korea presumably would not go along.

Under Monday's agreement, the START successor treaty would reduce the ceiling on strategic warheads to somewhere between 1,500 and 1,675 warheads within seven years, down from the current ceiling of 2,200 warheads by 2012. The limit on delivery vehicles — land-based intercontinental missiles, submarines and bombers — would be somewhere from 500 to 1,100, down from the 1,600 currently allowed.

Source

Russians warm to U.S., poll shows before Obama visit

2009-07-04T19:15:00.000+08:00

Russians have warmed markedly to the United States under Barack Obama, but still think official ties are poor, a poll showed three days before the U.S. president visits on Monday.

Obama hopes his talks in Moscow during his three-day visit will help mend ties between the two largest nuclear powers that turned frosty under his predecessor George W. Bush.

The young and charismatic U.S. leader appears to have already changed Russians' attitudes to his country since his election in November, the survey by Russian pollster VTsIOM indicated.

Forty three percent of Russians viewed the United States "well or mainly well," up from 22 percent in September. Those with a negative attitude of the country fell to 25 percent from 40 percent.

However, few Russians believe their nation's official relations with Washington have warmed.

Only 5 percent would call them friendly, according to the poll of 1,600 people conducted in 140 locations in 42 regions in late June.

Nine percent think relations are good, 26 percent describe them as chilly, 13 percent said tense, while the number of those deeming ties "normal and calm" was 37 percent.

The percentages related to official relations were little changed from the same survey a year ago, when Bush was in power.

Despite the improvement in attitudes to the United States, positive views remain far below the peak in November 1991 when 83 percent of Russians said they viewed their recent Cold War arch foe sympathetically.

Source

Obama to mark July 4, daughter's birthday Saturday

2009-07-04T19:14:00.000+08:00

With a fireworks show and a picnic at the White House, President Barack Obama leads the nation in observing Independence Day.

Saturday is also his daughter Malia's 11th birthday. Twenty of her young friends have joined the first family at the Camp David presidential retreat in the mountains of Maryland to help celebrate.

By evening, the Obama family will be back at the White House, where the president hosts a barbecue on the South Lawn for 1,200 military families, saluting their service to the nation. It'll all be capped with Washington's traditional Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza.

The president sets off Sunday on a weeklong trip to Russia, Italy and Ghana, his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president.

Obama holds twice-delayed immigration meeting

2009-06-26T21:43:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama began tackling the contentious issue of immigration reform Thursday, hosting a bipartisan group of congressmen at the White House for what the administration called the "launch of a policy conversation."

The meeting, which was delayed twice as economic issues took center stage, was designed to be an "honest discussion of issues where we can identify areas of agreement, and areas where we still have work to do," according to the White House.

"I'm confident that if we enter into this (process) with the notion that this is a nation of laws that have to be observed and this is a nation of immigrants, then we're going to create a stronger nation for our children and our grandchildren," Obama said.

The president conceded, however, that "comprehensive immigration reform is difficult. We know it's a sensitive and politically volatile issue."

The meeting was short on specifics, but long on promises of cooperation across party lines. During the meeting, Obama sat next to his 2008 general election opponent, Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain.

The president said he wanted to "commend" McCain, who "has already paid a significant political cost for doing the right thing" on immigration.

McCain has been severely criticized by conservative Republicans for promoting a comprehensive immigration solution that includes a path to citizenship for the country's estimated 12 million undocumented workers.

Obama said the question of how to deal with those workers will have to be dealt with in a "practical, common-sense way."

The public is "ready for us to do so, but it's going to require some heavy lifting," Obama warned. "It's going to require a victory of practicality … over short-term politics."

The meeting came less than a week after the president told a Hispanic audience that the "fair, practical and promising way forward" is to strengthen border security, clarify the status of those who are here illegally, and require illegal immigrants to pay a penalty and taxes.

He also said undocumented workers should learn English and "go to the back of the line behind those who played by rules" in terms of applying for citizenship.

Source

Obama urges House to pass energy bill on Friday

2009-06-26T21:31:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama urged House members to pass an energy bill on Friday, saying it's a "jobs bill" that will also make clean energy profitable. The House is planning to vote Friday on the bill, which slashes greenhouse gases and boosts use of renewable energy sources. Speaking at the White House, Obama said the bill would spur a transformation and urged every member of Congress to support it.

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Obama to meet the pope while in Italy for G-8

2009-06-25T18:18:00.001+08:00

Pope Benedict XVI and President Barack Obama will meet on July 10, a much-anticipated Vatican audience with a president under attack by some American bishops for his support of abortion rights.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Wednesday the Vatican had informed the White House that Benedict is available to meet the president that afternoon.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs confirmed the meeting and told reporters in Washington that Michelle Obama would accompany the president to the Vatican audience.

The meeting will be at the end of Obama's stay in Italy for a G-8 summit meeting in the earthquake-stricken city of L'Aquila and just before he leaves for Ghana.

Such meetings in the afternoon are unusual for the tradition-conscious Vatican — most are held at midday. The Vatican clearly sought to accommodate Obama's busy schedule, a sign of Benedict's interest in meeting the American president.

The Vatican has been openly interested in Obama's views, despite his support for abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research, although some American Catholic bishops have been hostile to his administration.

Benedict broke Vatican protocol the day after Obama was elected, sending a personal note of congratulations rather than waiting to send an official telegram on inauguration day.

L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's daily newspaper, gave Obama a positive review after his first 100 days in office, saying in a front-page editorial than even on ethical questions Obama hadn't confirmed the "radical" direction he discussed during the campaign.

Tensions grew when Obama was invited to receive an honorary degree at the leading U.S. Catholic university, Notre Dame. Dozens of U.S. bishops denounced the university and the local bishop boycotted the ceremony.

Yet L'Osservatore concluded that Obama was looking for some common ground with his speech, noting he asked Americans to work together to reduce the number of abortions.

Some conservative American Catholics have criticized the Vatican newspaper for its accommodating stance, and some American prelates at the Vatican have been openly critical of Obama.

Former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, who now heads a Vatican tribunal, said the U.S. Democratic Party risks becoming a "party of death."

In an interview with an Italian Catholic newspaper, Burke was quoted as criticizing the party for its stands on bioethical issues, especially in defense of abortion rights.

Benedict had a warm relationship with Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, an abortion opponent, although the Vatican was opposed to the Iraq war.

Polls have shown that Obama received a majority of Catholic votes, especially from the growing number of Hispanic Catholics.

Source

Obama condemns Iran over violent response to protests

2009-06-24T18:14:00.001+08:00

US President Barack Obama condemned Iran’s aggressive response to the mass protests that have swept the country after its contested elections, saying that the United States and the international community “have been appalled and outraged” by the intimidation, beating and detention of peaceful demonstrators.

“I’ve made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of Iran,” he said.

“But we must also bear witness to the courage and the dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.”

He also said that comments by Iranian officials blaming the US, Britain and other Western nations for inciting the protests were “patently false” and a “tired strategy to use old tensions to scapegoat other countries” that will not work. “Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history.”

His comments, the toughest he has issued on Iran’s post-election turmoil, followed a decision by Iran’s most powerful oversight council to rule out overturning the results of the disputed presidential election, Iranian state television said Tuesday.

A day after announcing that the number of votes in 50 cities exceeded the number of eligible voters there by three million, the Guardian Council, which oversees the elections and legislation in Iran, said there was not enough proof of fraud to overturn the election, which official results gave to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in a landslide.

“Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place,” Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the Guardian Council, declared, according to the website of Press TV, Iran’s English-language state television satellite broadcaster.

Authorities have been steadily arresting a top tier of leadership in the moderate camp associated with Mir Hossein Moussavi, who placed a distant second in the June-12 presidential elections and has since emerged as the head of the mass protest movement that has taken to Iran’s streets over the past 10 days. A large group of clerics and politicians supports Moussavi, among them reformist former president Mohammad Khatami. But since June 13, many of Khatami’s leading associates have been detained, according to a website run by expatriate Iranians.

The crackdown may be spilling over into the powerful oil ministry, responsible for the lion’s share of the nation’s revenue. Deputy oil minister Akbar Torkan was replaced on Monday, apparently for political reasons, Reuters reported. Beyond that, opposition newspapers in Iran reported Tuesday that four of the six soccer players on the national team who had worn green arm bands in solidarity with the protesters had been dismissed.

Source

President Obama hits Big Tobacco hard with Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

2009-06-23T19:02:00.002+08:00

President Barack Obama, surrounded by members of Congress, and others, signs the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/06/23/2009-06-23_bam_inks_law_thats_pain_in_ash_for_big_tobacco.html#ixzz0JFbanDRk&C

With a nod to his own struggle with nicotine addiction, President Obama signed a bill Monday giving federal regulators sweeping new powers to scare smokers straight.

"Almost 90% of all smokers began at or before their 18th birthday. I know I was one of these teenagers, and so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time," said Obama.

Obama gave up cigarettes three years ago at wife Michelle's insistence, but he and White House aides have been cagey about whether he still chews nicotine gum or sneaks the occasional smoke.

The law empowers the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on Big Tobacco's efforts to lure kids into lighting up.

Later this year, the law will take cigarettes with candy, fruit and spice flavors off the shelves for good.

By next spring, tobacco manufacturers will no longer be allowed to sponsor sports and entertainment events under their brand names, nor will they be allowed to sell or give away logo clothing or other items. Distributing free samples of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco will be allowed only in adult-only facilities.

And in 2011, the FDA will be able to order manufacturers to place chilling, stark warning labels on half of the front or half of the back of a pack of cigarettes on the deadly and disabling diseases caused by smoking.

"There is plenty of evidence that graphic warnings in other countries send a message to kids that smoking is not cool," said Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "These pictures can tell of the effects of smoking better than any words ever could."

Tobacco companies fought against such controls for 15 years.

"Their campaign has finally failed," Obama said. "[The law] will force these companies to more clearly and publicly acknowledge the harmful and deadly effects of the products they sell."

Earlier this year, Obama signed a bill increasing the federal cigarette tax from 39 cents to $1.01 a pack, pushing the typical cost in New York City over $10.

Nearly 20% of Americans are smokers. The use of tobacco products kills about 440,000 people a year in the U.S.

Source

Pakistan can isolate extremists: Obama

2009-06-21T20:39:00.000+08:00

US President Barack Obama said in an interview Sunday he was confident Pakistan can "isolate extremists" and that the United States had no plans to send troops to the insurgency-hit country.

"I have confidence in the Pakistani people and the Pakistani state in resolving differences through a democratic process and to isolate extremists," he said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast Sunday by Dawn News television.

Pakistani security forces launched an offensive to dislodge Taliban guerrillas from three northwest districts around Swat valley in late April, after militants flouted a peace deal and thrust towards the capital Islamabad.

The US administration, which has put nuclear-armed Pakistan at the heart of its strategy to battle Al-Qaeda, has welcomed the Swat offensive.

Obama said the United States would support the Pakistani government and military in its anti-militant efforts.

"There?s been a decision that?s made that we support, that the Pakistani military and the Pakistani government will not stand by idly as extremists attempt to disrupt the country."

However, Obama said that the United States had no plans to send its troops to Pakistan.

"I will tell you that we have no intention of sending US troops into Pakistan. Pakistan and its military are dealing with their security issues," he said when asked about US missile strikes into Pakistani tribal areas.

Such regions are wracked by violence and are known as a hub for Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels who fled across the border to escape the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.

Missile attacks by unmanned drone aircraft used by US armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are a source of tension between Washington and Islamabad.

Pakistan publicly opposes the strikes, saying they violate its territorial sovereignty and deepen resentment among the populace. Since August 2008, more than 40 such strikes have killed nearly 400 people.

However, Obama said that worsening Taliban-linked attacks, including the bombing of a luxury hotel in Peshawar and twin suicide bombings at mosques that killed prominent anti-Taliban cleric Sarfraz Naeemi, were deepening public resentment.

"I think the Pakistani government and the people of Pakistan recognise that when you have extremists who are assassinating moderate clerics like Dr Naeemi, when you have explosions that are killing innocent women and children, that that can?t be the path for development and prosperity for Pakistan," he said.

Such attacks have killed nearly 2,000 people in Pakistan since July 2007.

Referring to Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who led the freedom movement that resulted in the creation of an independent state of Pakistan in August 1947 from British-ruled India, Obama said Pakistan could overcome its own problems.

"Dating back to Jinnah, Pakistan has always had a history of overcoming difficulties. There?s no reason why it can?t overcome those difficulties today," he said.

Source

Obama promoting fatherhood as national priority

2009-06-19T21:36:00.001+08:00

In an unusual devotion of time for the president, Barack Obama is blocking out nearly an entire afternoon to promote the importance of being a good dad as a national priority.

The emphasis on responsible fatherhood is personal for Obama. When he was a presidential candidate he rebuked absentee dads — particularly those in his own black community — for acting like boys and putting their kids at risk. Now one of the world's most famous fathers has a presidential megaphone.

Obama on Friday planned to visit a nonprofit center that helps train young adults for professional careers; host a town hall on personal responsibility, where successful everyday dads will share their stories; and invite male students from local schools to the White House to have fun hanging with some famous faces.

The day's events were intended to kick off a White House effort on fatherhood and mentoring. The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will host forums around the country this summer and fall to gather ideas on good programs and to help promote them.

"We think if we can lift some of that up, we can inspire more activity and engagement on these issues," Joshua DuBois, the director of the office, told The Associated Press. "Is everything going to change because of one day at the White House and a sustained commitment throughout the year? No. But the president thinks it's important to lead by example, and to do something about these matters."

It is common for presidents to celebrate strong fatherhood, particularly heading into Father's Day weekend.

But Obama is purposely giving the matter prominent attention, knowing that alone might draw the kind of media coverage the topic otherwise would not get at a time of war, economic crisis and other important news.

While the president is visiting Year Up, a highly regarded program that helps young adults, athletes and other figures will be visiting different nonprofits to broaden the outreach. Obama also recorded a video to be shown during Saturday's Rally for Responsible Fatherhood on the National Mall.

Obama spent much of his own life without a father around. His dad left home in Hawaii when Obama was 2 years old and the future president saw his father only one other time after that. The president and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters, Sasha, 8, and Malia, 10.

"This is an issue that he takes very seriously both because he grew up without a father in his own life, but also because he's seen the impact that present fathers can have, and absent fathers can have, in our communities," DuBois said.

An estimated 24 million children are growing up with absent fathers, and a disproportionate number of them are African-American. Those children are at higher risk of falling into lives of poverty and crime and becoming parents themselves in their teenage years.

Obama bemoaned those trends last Father's Day in an attention-grabbing speech at the Apostolic Church of God in his hometown of Chicago. He said families need help — more police on the street, more job opportunities, more good teachers — but that responsibility starts at home.

And he has spoken about the issue many other times, too.

The White House is not expected to unveil any new public policy. But part of the effort is designed to figure out how the federal government can support or adopt programs that help fathers and at-risk children succeed.

Source

Obama Plan Gets Wary Reception From Banks, Lawmakers

2009-06-18T20:24:00.003+08:00

The Obama administration’s overhaul of financial-industry rules faces a lobbying assault on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers question the Federal Reserve’s role and bankers say the plan may hinder economic growth.

President Barack Obama announced his proposals yesterday in the White House, and banks, hedge funds and commodities traders quickly pointed to provisions they didn’t like. The American Securitization Forum, whose members include Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., said Obama’s plan to fix the mortgage market “may not be the most effective way.”

Financial firms, some of them blamed for causing the credit crisis, say they want to make sure the industry isn’t further damaged by ill-conceived or burdensome regulations. They want to limit costs that may eat into profits and eliminate rules that give competitors an advantage, said Ernest Patrikis, a partner in New York law firm White & Case LLP.

“Anytime you have a new regulatory regime that’s this sweeping, there will be a lot of lobbyists engaged on all sides,” said Peter Peyser, principal at the Washington lobbying firm Blank Rome Government Relations LLC. “The momentum is clearly in the direction of more regulation.”

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said in an interview yesterday that Obama’s plan “is overwhelmingly likely to be passed substantially” in its original form. Even so, he and other top Democrats in Congress, who will guide the legislation, disagree with cornerstones of the proposal.

Fed’s Role

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled to testify today to the Senate Banking Committee about the financial regulatory system.

Obama would give the Federal Reserve the power to regulate all firms that pose a threat to financial stability. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said yesterday in an interview that the matter is “still an open question.” Frank said he also had concerns about the Fed’s ability to do the job. “We’ll see what alternatives people have to this,” he said.

Financial-industry executives were working to shape Obama’s plan well before it was announced, Peyser said. Some demands from lobbyists were already incorporated.

The financial, insurance and real estate industries contributed $39.7 million to Obama’s 2008 campaign, compared with $28.9 million for Republican rival John McCain, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Four years earlier, those industries gave $34.3 million to President George W. Bush and $14.6 million to Democrat John Kerry.

Bankers Unhappy

On Dec. 16, Obama’s staff met with some of the industry’s biggest trade groups, including the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the American Bankers Association, the Financial Services Forum, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable.

The American Bankers Association still isn’t happy with Obama’s plans for a new agency to monitor bank-lending practices whose mandate may “go well beyond consumer protection,” the group said yesterday in a statement. The group vowed to fight for changes, he said.

“The administration’s proposal is so vast and controversial that it will be extremely difficult to enact and will produce great uncertainty in the financial markets,” the association’s CEO, Edward Yingling, said in the statement. “It needlessly rips apart all the existing regulatory agencies.”

Other Obama measures likely to encounter pushback include higher capital requirements for banks deemed “too big to fail” and a rule that brokers act in their clients’ best interests when doling out investment advice.

How Much Capital?

“Stronger capital standards is really going to be an issue,” said Patrikis, a former general counsel for the New York Federal Reserve. “It all becomes a cost factor.” Patrikis was the general counsel of American International Group Inc. from 1999 to 2006.

The Washington-based Hedge Fund Association said in a statement that Obama’s registration requirements would be “unduly burdensome” on firms with less than $250 million under management and “could have a significant negative impact on the hedge fund industry and U.S. economy.”

Peyser said he expects “significant lobbying” on regulation of the insurers, hedge funds and private equity. “There’s a lot of detail that’s not here, and those industries will be working very hard to try to limit the scope of the regulation,” he said.

David Hirschmann, president and chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets, said “we can’t simply insert new regulatory agencies and hope that we’ve covered our bases.”

Battle Brewing

The brewing legislative battle recalls the industry’s reluctance to accept reforms after the 1929 stock-market crash, said Charles Geisst, a finance professor at Manhattan College in New York and author of a history of Wall Street.

“I don’t think anyone can buy the argument that by regulating too tightly, we’ll choke off capitalism,” Geisst said. “That argument is as shallow now as it was then.”

Banks may benefit from Obama’s decision not to merge Washington’s biggest financial regulators into a single agency, Patrikis said. Only the Office of Thrift Supervision and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency would be combined into a single National Bank Supervisor, with the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. remaining apart.

“It doesn’t eliminate this lack of accountability and supervision for a major banking organization,” Patrikis said. “Who’s responsible, the Fed or the Comptroller of the Currency? Those issues are still there. The industry probably loves being able to play between the two.”

Source

Five Ways Obama Could Promote Freedom in Iran

2009-06-17T21:09:00.001+08:00

The reform movement in Iran has clearly hit a new level, but the future is uncertain. The key issue is whether spontaneous protests crystallize into sustained dissent that involves the middle class. There are no cracks yet in the Iranian government's domestic security forces -- a common criterion for successful, bottom-up challenges to totalitarian regimes. But the Obama administration can take steps right now and in the months ahead to open a "second channel" to Iran -- this one to its people directly -- and improve the chances of real change.

The election held last Friday was a carefully controlled process that allowed only candidates approved by religious authorities to seek office. Nonetheless, it seems clear that many and likely most Iranians cast votes for challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi and against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
[Senor and Whiton] David Klein

Helping the Iranian people change a government they appear increasingly to loathe will not reduce American standing in the world. To the contrary, President Barack Obama has the chance now to break the string of slow U.S. government responses to moments of democratic opportunity and peril. Examples of lackluster responses include those after Tibet's 2008 widespread protests, the run-up to the 2005 Egyptian presidential elections, and the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia, to name just a few.

First, Mr. Obama should contact Mr. Mousavi to signal his interest in the situation and Mr. Mousavi's security. Our own experience with dissidents around the world is that proof of concern by the U.S. government is helpful and desirable. The administration was wise to send Vice President Joe Biden to Beirut on the eve of the Lebanese elections, and his presence there helped galvanize the anti-Hezbollah coalition. Mr. Obama's political capital in the region has only expanded since his June 4 Cairo address. If Mr. Mousavi deems talking to the American president not to be politically helpful, then he can refuse the call. But that should be a judgment for him to make.

Second, Mr. Obama should deliver another taped message to the Iranian people. Only this time he should acknowledge the fundamental reality that the regime lacks the consent of its people to govern, which therefore necessitates a channel to the "other Iran." He should make it clear that dissidents and their expatriate emissaries should tell us what they most need and want from the U.S. This could consist of financial resources, congresses of reformers, workshops or diplomatic gatherings. The key is to let the reformers call the shots and indicate how much and what U.S. assistance they want. Simply knowing we care, that we are willing to deploy resources and are watching their backs -- to the extent we can -- often helps reformers.

The 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine is a model. In that case the West joined Ukrainians in refusing to accept the results of a stolen election. This combined effort helped to force a final run-off vote that reflected the people's will. In Iran, this would mean not only redoing elections but also allowing a full field of candidates to run. As with Ukraine and the Soviet Union before, Mr. Obama could at least make it clear that the U.S. will separate the issues of engagement and legitimacy. Our engagement of the Soviet Union in arms-control talks did not prevent us from successfully pressing human-rights issues and seeking an alternative political structure. So it can be with Iran. Engagement without an effort to talk to the "other Iran" would not only be a travesty but tactically foolish as well.

Third, the president should direct U.S. ambassadors in Europe and the Gulf to meet with local Iranian anti-regime expatriates. From London to Dubai there are large Iranian communities throughout Europe and the Persian Gulf. The symbolism of this would be powerful, but this should be more than just a photo-op. Expatriates tend to know far more about their countries than even our intelligence experts -- and they could help guide efforts to aid reform.

Fourth, additional funding should be provided immediately for Radio Farda, an effective Persian-language radio, Internet and satellite property of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Farda helps Iranians get the information and analytical context that is often denied to them by their own government.

Fifth, the administration should take steps to give Iranian reformers and dissidents a level playing field with the regime in the battle of ideas. Just as providing photocopiers and fax machines helped Solidarity dissidents in communist Poland in the 1980s, today's reformers need access to the Web and other means of communication. Grants should be given to private groups to develop and field firewall-busting technology.

Money should be appropriated for an NGO-run "open window" platform that enables a wide variety of indigenous voices to be carried on radio, blogs, video clips and other media. This can take the form of satellite and terrestrial broadcasting and other information tools to provide Iranians with anonymous communications and access to Internet, television and radio content that their government attempts to deny them. The president should also call a White House meeting of the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, Google and other video-sharing and social-networking companies. Entrepreneurially minded high-tech companies can manage this project better than the government. Many of these CEOs are strong supporters of Mr. Obama; they should be brought on board to help make his foreign policy succeed. In the meantime, the president should order the military to make some of its EC-130 "Commando Solo" aircraft, which serve as flying television and radio stations, available to enable reformers and protest leaders to speak directly to the Iranian people.

None of this is tantamount to "imposing democracy." All the U.S. would be doing is signaling to reformers they can count on our support when they want it and backing up our words with resources. An approach like this would be consistent with the foreign policies of American presidents of both parties since Theodore Roosevelt. It is also in line with the message articulated by Mr. Obama earlier this month in Cairo, when he said that various rights we possess "are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere."

Source

Obama troubled by Iran violence

2009-06-16T15:34:00.002+08:00

US President Barack Obama says he is "deeply troubled" by violence in Iran following last week's disputed presidential elections.

Mr Obama called on Iran's leaders to respect free speech and the democratic process, and said he would continue pursuing tough dialogue with Iran.

His comments came after hundreds of thousands defied a government ban and attended an opposition rally in Tehran.

At least one person was killed after shots were fired during the protest.

I think that the democratic process, free speech, the ability for folks to peacefully dissent, all those are universal values and need to be respected
US President Barack Obama

Meanwhile, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Russia on Tuesday to attend a regional summit - a trip that had been delayed due to the protests.

In his first public comments on the situation in Iran, Mr Obama said: "I am deeply troubled by the violence that I've been seeing on television.

"I think that the democratic process, free speech, the ability for folks to peacefully dissent, all those are universal values and need to be respected."

But the BBC's Jonathan Beale, in Washington, says the president studiously avoided any comment on the allegations of vote fraud.

"We respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran," Mr Obama said.

'Political earthquake'

Earlier on Monday, hundreds of thousands of people, some shouting "death to the dictator", marched through the streets of Tehran to protest against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

It was an incredible sight. A huge crowd, hundreds of thousands of people maybe even millions of people there in defiance of open threats from the government that they should not assemble.

The security forces were staying well away - we were even able to film and usually the secret police come in straight away and stop you.

But the crowds were so enormous they were stepping back.

Iran's conservative-dominated Guardian Council is considering complaints filed by Mir Hossein Mousavi and fellow defeated candidate Mohsen Rezai, alleging that the poll was rigged.

The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, says the rally was the biggest demonstration in the Islamic republic's 30-year history and described it as a "political earthquake".

The government had outlawed any protest following two days of unrest, with the interior ministry warning that "any disrupter of public security would be dealt with according to the law".

Despite this, correspondents said riot police had been watching the rally during the afternoon and had seemed to be taking no action.

The first indications of trouble came at about 2045 local time (1615 GMT), when protesters were beginning to disperse from Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square.

An Iranian photographer told AFP news agency that the shooting happened outside a base of the Basij volunteer militia, which was set on fire. The dead man had been shot in the head.

Fire on the streets of Tehran as mass protests continue

Pictures of the incident showed armed men, in civilian clothes but wearing helmets, pointing guns at the crowds from the roof of the base. The photographer said the protester had been killed by shots fired by the armed men.

Other sources told the BBC as many as six people might have died in the incident.

A BBC correspondent said there had also been gunfire in the north of the city - traditionally an anti-government stronghold - and that the security forces appeared to be hunting down protesters.

There was a large police presence on major streets of the city on Monday night, but evidence of few ordinary people, our correspondent added.

Earlier, the demonstrators had gathered in Tehran's Enghelab (Revolution) Square, chanting pro-Mousavi slogans.

"Mousavi we support you. We will die, but retrieve our votes," they shouted, many wearing the green of Mousavi's election campaign.

Mr Mousavi eventually appeared, addressing the crowd from the roof of his car.

"The vote of the people is more important than Mousavi or any other person," he told his supporters.

Elsewhere in Iran, pro-Mousavi demonstrators were reported to have clashed with police in the historic city of Esfahan and the north-eastern city of Mashhad.

Police in Shiraz, south-west Iran, fired into the air to disperse demonstrations, witnesses said.

A crowd of about 2,000 people also took to the streets in the heavily Arab city of Ahvaz near the Iraqi border, reports say.

Mr Mousavi has said that another rally is planned for Tuesday in north Tehran.

The 12-member Guardian Council is due to meet Mr Mousavi and Mr Rezai on Tuesday to discuss their grievances.

State television reported that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has upheld the election result, urged the Guardian Council to "precisely consider" the complaints.

But the Iranian leadership has put itself in an impossible position, our Tehran correspondent says.

He says that Ayatollah Khamenei has given his complete endorsement to the election result and to President Ahmadinejad, and by doing so he has put at risk the very foundations of the Islamic republic.

'Completely unacceptable'

Dozens of opposition activists have been arrested since the protests began, while internet sites appear to have been blocked and the media heavily restricted.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was following the situation closely.

"The position of me and the United Nations is that the genuine will of the Iranian people should be fully respected," he told reporters.

EU foreign ministers expressed "serious concern" and called for an inquiry into the conduct of the election, while France and Germany each summoned their Iranian ambassadors to explain what was going on.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised the use of "completely unacceptable" force against protesters and called for a "transparent evaluation of the election result".

While the result of the election is disputed, correspondents note that Mr Ahmadinejad does have the backing of millions of Iranians.

Groups of his supporters gathered outside French and British embassies in Tehran on Monday, protesting against what they consider to be foreign interference in Iran's affairs.

"We have gathered here to protest the hidden interference of the Brits and the world, who are trying to create chaos in our country," one protester said.

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Obama to ask doctors to back his health care plans

2009-06-15T21:20:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama, continuing to barnstorm for his health care proposals, will urge doctors gathered in Chicago to support wider insurance coverage and targeted federal spending cuts.

Obama planned to tell the American Medical Association's annual meeting in his hometown on Monday that overhaul cannot wait and that bringing down costs is the most important thing he can do to ensure the country's long-term fiscal health, a senior administration official said.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president's remarks before they were delivered.

The nation's doctors, like many other groups, are divided over the president's proposals to reshape the health care delivery system. The White House anticipates heavy spending to cover the almost 50 million Americans who lack health insurance and has taken steps in recent days to outline just where that money could be found.

For instance, Obama wants to cut federal payments to hospitals by about $200 billion and cut $313 billion from Medicare and Medicaid. He also is proposing a $635 billion "down payment" in tax increases and spending cuts in the health care system.

To an audience of doctors Obama plans to say the United States spends too much on health care and gets too little in return. He says the health industry is crushing businesses and families and is leading to millions of Americans losing coverage, the administration official said.

Obama's turn before the 250,000-physician group in his latest effort to persuade skeptics that his goal to provide health care to all Americans is worth the $1 trillion price tag it is expected to run during its first decade.

The president plans to acknowledge the costs. But he also will tell the doctors it is not acceptable for the nation to leave so many without insurance, the official said.

Unified Republicans and some fiscally conservative Democrats on Capitol Hill have said they are nervous about how the administration plans to pay for Obama's ideas.

The New York Times reported Monday that Obama has been quietly making a case for reducing malpractice lawsuits to help control costs, long a goal of the AMA and Republicans. Obama has not endorsed capping jury awards

Obama has been speaking privately with lawmakers about his ideas and publicly with audiences, such as a town hall style meeting last week in Green Bay, Wis. Obama and his administration officials have blanketed the nation in support of his broad ideas, and Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday said it's up to Congress to pin down the details on how to pay for them.

"They're either going to have to agree with us, come up with an alternative or we're not going to have health care," Biden told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"And we're going to get health care."

In Chicago, the president's remarks are likely to focus on how his ideas might affect the medical profession.

His proposed cuts in federal payments would hit hospitals more directly than doctors, but physicians will be affected by virtually every change that Congress eventually agrees to. Many medical professionals are not yet convinced Obama's overhaul is the best for their care or their pocketbooks.

Broadly, the AMA supports a health care "reform" — a term that changes its definition based on who is speaking — although the specifics remain unclear.

In a statement welcoming Obama, AMA president Dr. Nancy Nielsen said the medical profession wants to "reduce unnecessary costs by focusing on quality improvements, such as developing best practices for care and improving medication reconciliation."

She also said doctors need greater protection from malpractice lawsuits and antitrust restrictions.

Many congressional Republicans, insurance groups and others oppose Obama's bid for a government-run health insurance program that would compete with private companies. On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., described a government plan as a "nonstarter."

"There are a whole lot of other things we can agree to do on a bipartisan basis that will dramatically improve our system," he said.

To that end, lawmakers were considering a possible compromise that involved a cooperative program that would enjoy taxpayer support without direct governmental control. The concessions could be the smoothest way to deliver the bipartisan health care legislation the administration seeks by its self-imposed August deadline, officials said.

"There is no one-size-fits-all idea," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

"The president has said, 'These are the kinds of goals I'm after: lowering costs, covering all Americans, higher-quality care.' And around those goals, there are lots of ways to get there."

Momentum might be on Obama's side. Aaron Carroll, an Indiana University medical professor who has surveyed doctors' views on U.S. health care delivery, said 59 percent "favor government legislation to establish national health insurance," an increase over a previous poll's finding.

He noted that many doctors are not AMA members, and therefore the association's views should not be overrated.

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Obama eyes $313 billion more cuts for healthcare reform

2009-06-13T21:10:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama on Saturday proposed an additional $313 billion in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and other programs to pay for healthcare reforms expected to cost about $1 trillion over the next decade.

"I know some question whether we can afford to act this year. But the unmistakable truth is that it would be irresponsible to not act," Obama said in an advance text of his weekly radio address.

Obama wants a healthcare reform bill on his desk by October, but faces opposition from Republicans who oppose creation of a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers.

Many of his fellow Democrats are wary of making deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, the U.S. healthcare programs for seniors and poor people, to pay for reforms.

With the cost of U.S. healthcare continuing to rise rapidly, Obama argued the country could not afford to wait another year for sweeping changes.

But he acknowledged the ambitious plan would increase government costs in the short run.

To address those concerns, Obama has pledged to come up with enough spending cuts and new revenue to pay for reforms.

"So today, I am announcing an additional $313 billion in savings that will rein in unnecessary spending, and increase efficiency and the quality of care -- savings that will ensure that we have nearly $950 billion set aside to offset the cost of health care reform over the next ten years," Obama said.

About $110 billion of the new cuts would come from reducing scheduled increases in Medicare payments. That would encourage healthcare providers to increase productivity, White House budget director Peter Orszag told reporters.

Obama also proposed cutting payments to hospitals to treat uninsured patients by $106 billion on the assumption those ranks would decline as healthcare reforms phase in.

An additional $75 billion would come from "better pricing of Medicare drugs," Orszag said, adding the White House was in talks with stakeholders over the best way to do that.

The remaining $22 billion in proposed cuts would come from smaller reforms, such as adjusting payment rates for physician imaging services and cutting waste, fraud and abuse.

The new cuts are in addition to a $635 billion "down payment" on healthcare reform that Obama outlined in his budget to Congress earlier this year.

About half of that came from cuts in Medicare and Medicaid and the rest from revenue proposals such as cutting tax deductions for families that make over $250,000 a year.

Altogether, the Obama administration is now asking Congress to trim spending on Medicare and Medicaid by more than $600 billion over the next decade, which is more than some Democrats are willing to swallow.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel told reporters after a closed-door meeting with fellow Democrats on the panel that the committee would include about $400 billion in Medicare and Medicaid savings in the healthcare overhaul legislation being drafted.

"We don't think we can do all the things he (Obama) is recommending. ... We think his 600 (billion) is our 400," Rangel told reporters.

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Obama aide: Auto rescue likely to pay off

2009-06-11T19:24:00.001+08:00

A top member of President Barack Obama’s auto task force said today the government had a "reasonable probability" of earning back its investments in General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, adding that the rescues “saved hundreds of thousands of jobs."

Several members of the Senate Banking committee questioned Ron Bloom, a senior adviser to the U.S. Treasury, over the government's role in GM and Chrysler's bankruptcies, including closed factories, shuttered dealers and bans against product liability lawsuits.

But the panel also pressed Bloom to specify how and when the government would shed its stakes in the auto industry -- a contradiction in priorities that Congress has only begun to wrestle with.

“On the one hand, we tell you we don’t want the government running these businesses,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. “On the other hand, we tell you to step in and make GM and Chrysler do this, this and this.”

Bloom said the rescues weren't "heartless," as Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., called them, but necessary and painful.

"Bankruptcies are about taking liabilities companies can no longer afford," Bloom said in response to a question about product liability lawsuits. "There are a lot of people General Motors made a promise to they can’t honor."

The hearing was part of a renewed interest on Capitol Hill in the details of the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, especially the nearly 3,000 dealer cuts proposed by the two automakers. The administration has said it was the automakers’ decision to pursue the cuts, but Bloom defended them as necessary to “right size” their businesses.

That drew several questions from senators. Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, said Chrysler was closing every dealer between Las Vegas and Provo, a move that he said appeared designed to clear the way for a new dealer to move in.

"We’ve never really heard the economic argument to close these dealerships," Brown said.

Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisc., said administration officials had defended Chrysler's decision to close the Kenosha engine plant while leaving its sister plant in Mexico open.
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"We put billions of dollars into this company and yet jobs go to Mexico," said Johanns.

Bloom said the Kenosha decision was exactly the kind of call that the task force vowed never to become involved in, adding that it would have no input on GM's decision for restarting a plant to build small cars.

"The alternatives for both of these companies are nothing for anybody," Bloom said.

The government has set aside $30.1 billion for GM and Chrysler $8.1 billion to go through bankruptcy and emerge as new firms through sales of their assets. The administration essentially wrote off the $23 billion lent to GM and Chrysler from January through March to survive.

Bloom hailed the closure of Chrysler's sale to a new partnership with Fiat SpA, predicted a similar successful sale by GM, and said government was continuing to monitor the health of auto parts suppliers.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who leads the committee, praised the administration’s efforts and defended the plan against criticism that it favored workers over investors. But he also vowed to explore how the administration planned to unwind its investments in GM and Chrysler.

“Getting out of the auto industry yesterday by the federal government would not be soon enough for me,” Dodd said.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said the decision by the Obama administration to take a 8% stake in Chrysler and a 60% stake in GM “embarked on a disturbing and difficult road.”

“The most difficult question, of course, is how the Treasury intends to get out,” he said in a statement.

"We put billions of dollars into this company and yet jobs go to Mexico," said Johanns.

Bloom said the Kenosha decision was exactly the kind of call that the task force vowed never to become involved in, adding that it would have no input on GM's decision for restarting a plant to build small cars.

"The alternatives for both of these companies are nothing for anybody," Bloom said.

The government has set aside $30.1 billion for GM and Chrysler $8.1 billion to go through bankruptcy and emerge as new firms through sales of their assets. The administration essentially wrote off the $23 billion lent to GM and Chrysler from January through March to survive.

Bloom hailed the closure of Chrysler's sale to a new partnership with Fiat SpA, predicted a similar successful sale by GM, and said government was continuing to monitor the health of auto parts suppliers.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who leads the committee, praised the administration’s efforts and defended the plan against criticism that it favored workers over investors. But he also vowed to explore how the administration planned to unwind its investments in GM and Chrysler.

“Getting out of the auto industry yesterday by the federal government would not be soon enough for me,” Dodd said.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said the decision by the Obama administration to take a 8% stake in Chrysler and a 60% stake in GM “embarked on a disturbing and difficult road.”

“The most difficult question, of course, is how the Treasury intends to get out,” he said in a statement.

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Obama girls see 'Lion King' in London

2009-06-10T22:59:00.001+08:00

Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama attended Tuesday night's performance of Disney's "The Lion King" in London, representatives for the musical said.

The wife and daughters of U.S. President Barack Obama joined an audience of more than 2,000 theater-goers for the show at the Lyceum Theatre in London's West End.

The visit to the award-winning musical was in celebration of Sasha's 8th birthday, the theater said a news release.

En route back to the United States from Paris, the Obama family also visited London's Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, the "Harry Potter" film set and a traditional British pub where they reportedly dined on fish and chips.

Obama to welcome Zimbabwe's prime minister

2009-06-09T13:24:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama will welcome the prime minister of Zimbabwe to the White House on Friday.

The White House said Monday that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (SVAHNG'-ur-eye) will meet with Obama in the Oval Office to discuss how they can create a stable democratic future for Zimbabwe. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says the United States wants to return the African nation to the rule of law, restore human rights and support free and fair elections.

Tsvangirai is on a three-week trip saying he is seeking re-engagement. Western leaders have long isolated Zimbabwe, accusing President Robert Mugabe of trampling on democracy and ruining a once-vibrant economy.

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Obama promises more than 600,000 stimulus jobs

2009-06-08T19:55:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama promised Monday to deliver more than 600,000 jobs through his $787 billion stimulus plan this summer, with federal agencies pumping billions into public works projects, schools and summer youth programs.

Obama is ramping up his stimulus program this week even as his advisers are ramping down expectations about when the spending plan will effect a continuing rise in the nation's unemployment.

Many of the stimulus plans that Obama announced Monday already were in the works, including hundreds of maintenance projects at military bases, about 1,600 state road and airport improvements, and federal money states budgeted for 135,000 teachers, principals and school support staff.

The administration had always viewed the summer as a peak for stimulus spending, as better weather permitted more public works construction and federal agencies had processed requests from states and others.

But Obama now promises an accelerated pace of federal spending over the next few months to boost the economy and produce jobs.

"We have a long way to go on our road to recovery but we are going the right way," Obama said in a written statement prepared for his public announcement of the additional summer stimulus activity. "Our measure of progress is the progress the American people see in their own lives. And until that progress is steady and solid, we're going to keep moving forward. We will not grow complacent or rest. Surely and steadily, we will turn this economy around," the statement said.

The announcement comes days after the government reported that the number of unemployed continues to rise; the unemployment rate now sits at 9.4 percent, the highest in more than 25 years. Hundreds of thousands of Americans continue to lose jobs each month, although fewer jobs were lost last month than expected.

Just how much of an impact Obama's recovery program had on the pace of job losses is up for debate. Obama has claimed as many as 150,000 jobs saved or created by his stimulus plan so far, even as government reports have shown the economy has lost more than 1.6 million jobs since Congress approved funding for the program in February.

Republicans remain critical of the stimulus spending, slamming it as a big government program that ultimately will do little for recovery. With only a fraction of the federal money actually spent thus far, it's premature to give the stimulus plan credit for economic trends, congressional Republicans said last week.

"I think the economy is just as likely to begin to recover on its own, wholly aside from this, before much of this has an impact. So I'm very skeptical that this massive sort of spending binge that we've engaged in is going to have much of an impact," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Obama initially offered his stimulus plan as a way to put people back to work, a promise that 3.5 million jobs would be saved or created. The administration's predictions that unemployment would rise no higher than 8 percent already have been shattered, leaving Obama's advisers to caution that job growth takes time, even as recovery spending intensifies.

Federal agencies will release billions of stimulus dollars to states in the coming months.

Health and Human Services will provide funding for 1,129 health centers to provide expanded service for 300,000 patients; Interior will begin improvements on 107 national parks; Veterans Affairs will start work on 90 medical centers in 38 states; the Justice Department will fund 5,000 law enforcement jobs; the Agriculture Department will begin 200 new rural waste and water system projects; and the Environmental Protection Agency will begin or accelerate the cleanup of 20 Superfund sites.

At the same time federal money for these projects is released, the nation's unemployment rate likely will continue to increase, said Austan Goolsbee, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

"I don't think there's any question it's going to be a rough patch not just in the immediate term, but for a little bit of time," Goolsbee said Sunday, "because you've got to turn the economy around, and jobs and job growth tend to come after you turn the economy around. So it's likely going to be a little higher."

Obama senior adviser David Axelrod argues that the stimulus program is working and points to fewer jobs lost in May than the month before as a hopeful sign of economic recovery. Improvements in unemployment numbers naturally come later, he said.

"It's going to take some time for these unemployment numbers to turn around, for the momentum to completely stop and turn in the other direction," Axelrod said. "It feels as if we're moving and the stimulus package now is not nearly done, it's just really at its beginnings."

Goolsbee spoke on "Fox News Sunday;" Axelrod was interviewed on CNN's "State of the Union."

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Obama meets wounded US troops in Germany

2009-06-06T22:10:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama has finally gotten to visit with wounded American soldiers recovering at the U.S. military medical center in Germany.

He had hoped to visit Landstuhl last year when he was running for office, but the visit was nixed amid concerns it would be seen as political.

This evening, the president spent about two hours visiting with dozens of recovering troops, including 24-year-old Army Cpl. Steven Baker of Corinth, Miss. Baker was wounded by a roadside bomb last weekend in Afghanistan. The president pinned a Purple Heart medal on his chest. And Baker said later he couldn't stop smiling.

Another soldier honored by the president is Sgt. Matt Berth of Rhinelander, Wis. He said Obama told them the troops are the first thing on his mind each morning. Berth says that the president saying "thank you" means a lot.

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Obama rebukes Bush's democracy-building effort

2009-06-04T21:23:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama says no country should try to impose a system of government on another nation.

It was a direct rebuke to efforts by his predecessor — George W. Bush — to spread democracy worldwide. And, it signaled to Muslim nations that Obama's administration won't follow suit.

Obama says America doesn't presume to know what is best for everyone. And, he says the U.S. doesn't presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election.

But Obama also says he believes governments must reflect the will of their people. And, he says he believes all people want to be able to speak their minds and have a say in how they are governed. He says he believes people want to have confidence in law and justice, as well as a transparent government and the freedom to live as they choose.

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Obama names Army secretary

2009-06-03T17:54:00.001+08:00

N.Y. legislator would be 2nd top Republican at Defense

President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated as secretary of the Army a nine-term Republican congressman whose upstate New York district is home to the 10th Mountain Division, which is said to surpass all other units in overseas deployments.

Rep. John McHugh, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, becomes the second Republican that Obama has chosen for a senior Defense Department position. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, originally named to the top Pentagon post by President George W. Bush, was asked to stay on in the new administration.

If confirmed, McHugh is likely to focus particular attention on issues affecting the quality of life of soldiers and their families, such as medical care, pay, family support and retention of experienced young officers and non-commissioned officers.

He has long been a senior member and sometime-chairman of the Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on personnel, an area where the service secretaries sometimes exert their greatest influence. Issues involving weapons and war tend to be dominated by the defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Obama said McHugh has been "a champion of men and women in uniform. ... As secretary of the Army, he will ensure that our soldiers are trained and equipped to meet the challenges of the time," Obama said.

McHugh said, "At the end of the day ... Republicans and Democrats alike have put aside those differences and worked for the common good" when it comes to support of the military.

"I grew up in the shadows of Fort Drum," home of the 10th Mountain Division, said McHugh, whose father served in the Army. "The Army's always had a special place in my heart."

Obama Pushes Middle East Thaw

2009-06-01T18:49:00.002+08:00

President Barack Obama this week will try to capitalize on his popularity in the Middle East to improve relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world.

A much-anticipated address in Cairo on Thursday will be the most significant effort to-date in a string of outreach measures that began with Mr. Obama's inauguration -- although no major policy changes on the thorniest issues, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are expected to be announced.

Rather, Mr. Obama will attempt to "change the conversation" with the world's one-billion-plus Muslims, said Denis McDonough, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications at the White House. "We want to get back on a shared partnership, back in a conversation that focuses on the shared values," he said.

Mr. Obama's visit is scheduled to begin on Wednesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and will end with stops in traditional U.S. allies Germany and France. The highlight is his Cairo speech, which White House officials have described as a major outreach effort to the Muslim world.

In 2007, Mr. Obama had promised to deliver such an address if elected president.

The president is likely to highlight his personal story: He has Muslim family members, spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, the world's most-populous Muslim nation, and has a Muslim name -- Barack Hussein Obama. He has already taken some steps welcomed in the Muslim world, promising to end the war in Iraq and to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Polling in the Arab world shows that Mr. Obama at this time is better liked than former President George W. Bush and that many are hopeful about his administration.

But the U.S. is still seen in a mostly unfavorable light in the region, and those attitudes have only marginally improved since Mr. Obama took office.

In his inaugural address, in a video message to the people of Iran and in an April speech to the Turkish parliament, Mr. Obama offered words of outreach.

Much of the negative feeling stems from anger over the lack of progress toward Palestinian statehood, for which many blame the U.S. In his first interview after his inauguration, given to the Arab-language broadcaster Al-Arabiya, Mr. Obama promised to re-engage on the peace process and bring a new attitude on Mideast and Islamic affairs.

Since then, he has invited regional leaders to the White House to discuss the matter, but there has been little progress so far. The White House has said no major policy initiatives should be expected this week.

Many in the region would like Mr. Obama to outline new, specific policy proposals. "We don't need pretty words. We need actions to satisfy ... [those Arabs] looking for transparency, human rights and justice," said Ali Al Ahmed, a Saudi human rights activist and director of the Institute of Gulf Affairs in Washington.

Those looking for a dramatic change in policy are likely to be disappointed, said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. He said Mr. Obama could try and lower anti-American sentiment by highlighting areas of agreement and making clear he is willing to listen to alternate views.

"That's the first task for the president -- to frame U.S. policy in a way that takes some of the passion out of widespread hostility to the United States. For a lot of audiences out there, moving them from violent hostility to grudging disapproval would be a tremendous victory," he said.

It's unclear whether Mr. Obama will meet with democracy activists in Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak has quashed domestic opposition to his 28-year rule. Over the weekend, Obama aides said the White House has invited "the range of political actors in Egypt" to Mr. Obama's speech, but they declined to say if the president would meet with civil society activists.

Meeting with activists could annoy his hosts in the Egyptian government, but Mr. Obama could come under criticism if he doesn't meet with them. Mr. Bush rankled feelings across the Middle East during his tenure not just with his policy decisions, but also because he was seen as rejecting democratically elected leaders the U.S. didn't like, such as Hamas, while embracing authoritarian leaders who supported U.S. policy.

Arab analysts said many in the Mideast will be paying especially close attention to any comments by Mr. Obama on the Lebanese parliamentary elections, scheduled for next weekend. The political wing of Hezbollah, supported by Iran and labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. and its allies, is expected to win a significant victory.

Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden visited Beirut in recent weeks in trips intended to bolster pro-U.S. political factions in Lebanon ahead of the vote.

Great Britain, in a tacit acknowledgement of Hezbollah's rising power in Lebanon, recently lifted its prohibition on politicians meeting with the group's ministers and parliamentarians. If Mr. Obama were to signal a similar U.S. policy shift, he could gain credibility among average Arabs, if not the largely Sunni-led Arab governments which support Hezbollah's political opponents.

"If we are to take Obama seriously there has to be an end to these political contradictions," said Cairo-based political analyst Hani Shukralla.

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Obamas enjoy a date on Broadway

2009-05-31T18:06:00.000+08:00

The Obamas flew to New York for the theatre and dinner date

US President Barack Obama has fulfilled a pre-election promise by flying first lady Michelle to New York for a date.

"I promised her during the campaign that I would take her to a Broadway show after it was all finished," the US president explained in a statement.

Republicans characterised the trip as insensitive and wasteful against the backdrop of US car giant General Motors preparing for an expected bankruptcy.

White House aides and media accompanied the first couple on their private date.

The president and first lady travelled to New York in a smaller plane than the regular Air Force One 747.

Mr and Mrs Obama ate dinner at Blue Hill restaurant, described as a trendy place where the food is grown by owner-chef Dan Barber.

Crowds lined the streets near the theatre for a glimpse of the couple

After dinner they moved on to the theatre.

Taxi drivers stood on the door frames of their vehicles as crowds gathered, up to eight people deep, to glimpse the first couple as their motorcade passed through blockaded streets.

The presidential date ended with a performance of August Wilson's play, Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

The play is set in a Pittsburgh boarding house during a time when thousands of descendants of former slaves seeking work moved in large numbers from the rural south toward the industrial cities of the north.

The Obamas flew back to Washington on Saturday night.

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Official preparing Obama's France trip hit by H1N1

2009-05-29T21:39:00.000+08:00

A U.S. official who is in France preparing President Barack Obama's visit next week has been admitted to hospital with swine flu story">H1N1 flu in the Normandy city of Caen, French officials said on Friday.

Obama stops in France next week to commemorate the 1944 D-Day landings on Normandy beaches by Allied forces.

"A U.S. citizen, who is in France as part of an official delegation preparing the D-Day ceremonies, has tested positive for swine flu story">H1N1 flu and has been hospitalized in Caen," said a spokeswoman for France's health authority.

No further details were immediately available.

The last data on swine flu story">H1N1 flu in France, released on Wednesday, showed there were 20 confirmed cases of the flu in the country and no deaths. A further 10 suspected cases were under investigation.

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Obama promotes clean energy, stimulus in Nevada

2009-05-27T21:26:00.000+08:00

In a Western trip devoted mainly to raising political money, President Barack Obama is highlighting two favorite issues: clean energy and his economic stimulus plan.

The president was scheduled to tour the "photovoltaic array" at Nellis Air Force Base, near Las Vegas, on Wednesday. The solar-powered cells provide a quarter of the base's power needs, White House officials said.

Obama also was expected to discuss the progress of his $787 billion stimulus package, which Congress passed three months ago. The money is paying for thousands of projects in construction and other fields throughout the country.

Obama sandwiched the midday event between two political fundraisers: one on Tuesday night in Las Vegas for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and one set for Wednesday night in Los Angeles for the Democratic National Committee.

Officials said Obama would address about 400 people at Nellis, including Air Force personnel, civilian workers and families living on the base.

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Congress to Obama: Gitmo plan before money

2009-05-25T19:29:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama shouldn't have assumed his Democratic allies in Congress were willing to pay for the shutdown of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They weren't, at least not without a plan.

Two top Obama allies called the approach a mistake. The president's Republican critics called the rebuke a reason to keep open the detention facility for suspected terrorists. And Obama's top military adviser called for more details.

What emerged for the White House was a clear choice: If Obama wants to close Guantanamo, he'd better come up with a step-by-step plan. Otherwise, the 240 suspected terrorists stay at the U.S. Navy-run base.

"We're saying, 'Mr. President, give us the plan,'" Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Sunday.

Democrats and Republicans alike have pushed Obama for specifics on how he could keep a promise to close its Guantanamo prison by early 2010. In a sharp rebuke, lawmakers last week denied Obama's request for $81 million to move suspected terrorists to undetermined alternatives.

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and Obama ally, conceded that the White House stumbled.

"Well, it was a mistake for us to entertain putting money — $80 million — in for the transfer of these detainees until the president's plan was released," he said.

Obama's fellow Democrats denied him funding to move the suspected terrorists while Republicans latched onto a message that helped the minority GOP drive sustained headlines for the first time in months.

"Well, I don't think you can convince the American people that you can bring the people from Gitmo to their states and they will be safe," said Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican.

The not-in-my-backyard chorus drove Obama to deliver a speech defending his decision to close the facility, proposed during the campaign and delivered during his second full day in power. Yet lawmakers and Obama's own advisers remained unsure after the speech how, exactly, the president would make good on his vow to close the symbol of the United States' detention of suspected terrorists.

When Obama didn't specify the mechanics for closing the prison, his allies were left scratching their heads and his critics asking why the need to shut it down, given that some of the prisoners were likely to go to scaled-down versions of Guantanamo anyway.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican who endorsed Obama's candidacy and has called for Guantanamo's closing, said Obama went to Congress prematurely.

"I think that's the message that came out of Congress: We can't give you $80 million," said Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

"There's a lot of internal home resistance to bringing these people into the country. So you come forward with a plan that makes some sense and you tell us how you're going to resolve all of these cases and do it in a way that we can support and then maybe we can move forward," Powell said.

The top U.S. military officer is also awaiting a decision from Obama.

"We're working hard now to figure out what the options are and what the best one would be," said Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen. "And that really is a decision the president is going to have to make, certainly in meeting this deadline of what we do."

Boxer and Shelby spoke on CNN's "State of the Union." Durbin spoke with NBC's "Meet the Press." Powell appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation." Mullen appeared on ABC's "This Week."

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Obama says he's a night owl, working on big issues

2009-05-23T20:54:00.000+08:00

Obama tells C-SPAN in an interview airing Saturday that after he's had dinner with his family and tucked his daughters into bed, he typically stays up until midnight going through a big stack of material he's taken into the White House residence.

He says he sometimes pushes the big stack aside to do some writing and focus on some of the issues "that are coming down the pike" — rather than immediate issues.

He says one example is a comprehensive plan to deal with national cybersecurity. Obama says that if he doesn't build in what he calls "some thought time," then these kind of issues can keep getting pushed aside by "the constant churning of events."

Obama's Day: National security, Steelers, Africa

2009-05-21T19:03:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama will discuss U.S. national security this morning in a major speech at the National Archives.

Obama will talk about his vision for strengthening the country's security and outline steps his administration is taking to support those goals and principles.

The president also is expected to detail plans for the closure of the U.S. prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In the afternoon, Obama will welcome the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers to the White House. After brief remarks, he will assemble care packages for U.S. troops with the players and wounded service personnel.

Later, Obama will meet with the president of Tanzania in the Oval Office.

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Automakers, Obama announce mileage, pollution plan

2009-05-19T20:54:00.000+08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama wants drivers to go farther on a gallon of gas and cause less damage to the environment — and be willing to pick up the tab.

Obama on Tuesday planned to announce the first-ever national emissions limits for cars and trucks, as well as require a 35.5 miles per gallon standard. Consumers should expect to pay an extra $1,300 per vehicle by the time the plan is complete in 2016.

Carol Browner, the White House energy and climate director, publicly confirmed the new initiative in appearances on morning network news shows Tuesday, calling it a "truly historic" occasion and saying that such tougher environmental standards have been "long overdue."

The plan also would effectively end a feud between automakers and statehouses over emission standards — with the states coming out on top but the automakers getting the single national standard they've been seeking and more time to make the changes.

Obama's plan couples for the first time pollution reduction from vehicle tailpipes with increased efficiency on the road. It would save 1.8 billion barrels of oil through 2016 and would be the environmental equivalent to taking 177 million cars off the road, senior administration officials said Monday night.

New vehicles would be 30 percent cleaner and more fuel-efficient by the end of the program, according to officials familiar with the administration's discussions. The officials also spoke on condition of anonymity because the formal announcement had not been made.

The plan still must clear regulatory hurdles at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department. Automakers appear to be in support.

Administration officials said consumers were going to pay an extra $700 for mileage standards that had already been approved. The comprehensive Obama plan would add another $600 to the price of a vehicle, a senior administration official said.

The extra miles would come at roughly a 5 percent increase each year. By the time the plan takes full effect, at the end of 2016, new vehicles would cost an extra $1,300.

That official said the cost would be recovered through savings at the pump for consumers who choose a standard 60-month car loan and if gas prices follow government projections.

"We worked very, very closely with all the car companies, with California, with the environmental groups," Browner said Tuesday. "This is truly historic. It is long overdue. ... Congress stood in the way of tougher fuel standards."

"Historically, the program was a fleet average," said Browner, who headed the EPA during the Clinton administration. "What we're doing here is proposing standards for every category of car."

Browner said the administration worked closely with the industry on this issue. "What they told us over and over again," she said, "was they wanted to make more fuel-efficient, they wanted to make cleaner cars and what they needed was the government to give them predictability and certainty so that they could make the investments toward cleaner cars."

In a battle over emission standards, California, 13 other states and the District of Columbia have urged the federal government to let them enact more stringent standards than the federal government's requirements. The states' regulations would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and trucks by 2016 — the benchmark Obama planned to unveil for vehicles built in model years 2012 and beyond.

The Obama plan gives the states essentially what they sought and more, although the buildup is slower than the states sought. In exchange, though, cash-strapped states such as California would not have to develop their own standards and enforcement plan. Instead, they can rely on federal tax dollars to monitor the environment.

The auto industry will be required to ramp up production of more fuel-efficient vehicles on a much tighter timeline than originally envisioned. It will be costly; the Transportation Department last year estimated that requiring the industry to meet 31.6 mpg by 2015 would cost nearly $47 billion.

But industry officials — many of whom are running companies on emergency taxpayer dollars — said Obama's plan would help them because they would not face multiple emissions requirements and would have more certainty as they develop their vehicles for the next decade.

Auto executives, including General Motors Corp. CEO Fritz Henderson, and executives from Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Daimler AG and others planned to attend the White House event. United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger also planned to attend, as did Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Opposing views on abortion 'irreconcilable', says Barack Obama

2009-05-18T21:28:00.001+08:00

The impassioned views of America's opposing camps on abortion are "irreconcilable", Barack Obama conceded today in a contentious graduation speech at a leading Catholic university that was disrupted by hecklers, protests and arrests.

The president was drawn reluctantly into a confrontation with anti-abortion activists who opposed his end-of-term visit to Indiana's Notre Dame university, but he gave little ground in his support for women's rights to choose. He urged campaigners on both sides of the debate to avoid "demonising" each other.

"No matter how much we may want to fudge it – indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory – the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable," said Obama as he accepted an honorary law degree.

His address to 12,000 students, relatives and teachers at the university's sports arena was interrupted several times by hecklers, one of whom yelled "stop killing our children". Pausing while much of the audience booed the protester, Obama responded: "We're not going to shy away from things that are uncomfortable."

Some of the 1,200-strong class of 2009 decorated their mortar boards with yellow Christian crosses and babies' feet to mark their disapproval of Obama's pro-choice stance and his support for stem cell research. About 10 students walked out during the president's speech and a splinter group boycotted the ceremony, preferring to attend a prayer vigil nearby. But one graduating student, Michael Angulo, scrawled "viva Obama" on his cap, complaining that the furore surrounding the president's visit had been whipped up by political groups outside the university.

Striving for common ground, Obama urged the rival causes to co-operate on issues such as reducing unwanted pregnancies and easing the process of adoption. While engaging in vigorous debate in a "vibrant and varied democracy", he said, they should remain civil while fighting for their causes with "open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words".

"Maybe we won't agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually – it has both moral and spiritual dimensions'," he said. He continued: "Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature."

Hundreds of protesters outside the university wielded placards with slogans such as "thou shalt not kill". A small plane flew over the campus pulling an anti-abortion banner and vans in the streets outside carried pictures of aborted foetuses.

Before the speech, police arrested 27 activists for trespassing on Notre Dame's grounds. Some lay down on the lawns, prompting police to carry them away.

Among those held was Norma McCorvey, known as Jane Roe in a landmark 1973 US supreme court case, Roe v Wade, which upheld abortion rights. McCorvey, who has since disavowed abortion, told Fox News: "I'm a peaceful protester, but if they come, they'll just take me away."

Earlier at the weekend, a former Republican presidential candidate, Alan Keyes, was taken into custody, as was an elderly priest, carried off singing "Ave Maria".

A 167-year-old institution founded by French missionaries, Notre Dame has hosted eight previous US presidents as graduation speakers. Obama is not the first to be greeted with protests – Ronald Reagan and George Bush faced opposition over their support for the death penalty. But Obama has angered many alumni by lifting a ban on public funding for charities which support abortion overseas and allowing funding for stem cell research.

A Gallup poll published this week showed most Americans opposing terminations for the first time in 15 years of surveys. Some 51% of respondents described themselves as "pro-life", while 42% considered themselves "pro-choice". Notre Dame's leadership argued that opposition to Obama's presence was largely from alumni or outsiders, with contemporary students overwhelmingly welcoming the president. The university's newspaper said that 73% of letters from students backed the invitation to Obama.

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Obama: Crucial role for Huntsman in China

2009-05-17T17:20:00.002+08:00

President Barack Obama on Saturday named Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to serve as U.S. ambassador to China, a dream job friends say the Republican governor had eyed for years.

Obama, appearing in the Diplomatic Room of the White House alongside Huntsman and his extended family, said Huntsman will bring a lifetime of experience to a post that is one of the world's most important ambassadorships.

"I can think of no one better suited to take on this assignment than the governor of the great state of Utah, Jon Huntsman," Obama said. "I hope the people of Utah will forgive me and understand how proud the nation is for their governor's willingness to answer his nation's
call."

Huntsman, who co-chaired the presidential campaign of Obama's opponent, Sen. John McCain, said he never expected to be called by the "person who beat us," but that he "humbly accepts" the offer.

"I grew up understanding the most basic responsibility one has is service to country," Huntsman said. "When the president of the United States asks you to step up ad serve in a capacity like this, that to me is the end of the conversation and the beginning of the obligation to rise to the challenge."

The president's move likely takes out a potential 2012 competitor and also bulks up the number of Republicans in senior positions in the Obama administration. Huntsman had made waves in the Republican party for touting
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more moderate views, such as his support for civil unions and for a regional cap-and-trade market.

Huntsman, who is expected to resign his office upon Senate confirmation, is well-versed in Asian affairs after serving as U.S. ambassador to Singapore under President George H.W. Bush and also as an LDS missionary in Taiwan in his youth.

The governor, now serving in his second term, is also fluent in Mandarin Chinese and has an adopted Chinese daughter, Gracie Mei. During his first term, Huntsman led a trade delegation to China and was scheduled for a second trip next week before it was canceled because of swine flu fears.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, praised Huntsman's nomination.

"Jon is very qualified to take this job and should be an excellent ambassador," Hatch said.

Huntsman planned a news conference for Monday with Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert to discuss the transition. Neither Huntsman nor Obama took questions at the brief announcement Saturday.

Obama shrugs off honorary degree snub at ASU

2009-05-14T19:32:00.003+08:00

President Barack Obama says Arizona State University officials aren't the only ones who think he needs to accomplish more to earn an honorary degree.

Add his wife Michelle to that list.

"I come here not to dispute the suggestion that I haven't yet achieved enough in my life," Obama said in a commencement speech Wednesday. With a smile he added: "First of all, (first lady) Michelle (Obama) concurs with that assessment. She has a long list of things that I have not yet done waiting for me when I get home."

"But more than that I come to embrace the notion that I haven't done enough in my life. I heartily concur. I come to affirm that one's title, even a title like 'president of the United States,' says very little about how well one's life has been led."
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Obama challenged the graduating class to find new sources of energy, improve failing schools and never to rely on past achievement. He congratulated them on earning a degree, and said the next steps mattered more than a piece of paper or a tassel.

"I want to say to you today, graduates, class of 2009, that despite having achieved a remarkable milestone in your life _ despite the fact that you and your families are so rightfully proud _ you, too, cannot rest on your laurels. ... Your own body of work is also yet to come," the president said, wearing a black gown with red embellishments and a blue hood.

Commencement speakers typically are awarded honorary degrees as a sign of respect and appreciation. Arizona State officials, however, did not award any such degrees this year.

"His body of work is yet to come. That's why we're not recognizing him with a degree at the beginning of his presidency," university spokeswoman Sharon Keeler said after the school's student newspaper first reported the decision. Numerous bloggers, in Arizona and elsewhere, regarded the university's stance as a snub of Obama.

To quell the controversy, the university instead renamed a scholarship for the nation's 44th president. At the beginning of his remarks, Obama thanked the school for the gesture.

He also met six recipients of the scholarship named for him and commissioned a group of Army and Air Force cadets.

While the dispute over Obama's honorary degree colored the buildup to the ceremony, a sweltering _ and packed _ Sun Devil Stadium seemed to care little. About 63,000 people crowded into the stadium to send 9,000 students into a marketplace that has lost 1.3 million jobs since February.

Obama was to fly to Albuquerque, N.M., after the speech. The president planned a town hall-style meeting there Thursday on proposed restrictions on credit card companies.

Obama plans commencement addresses Sunday at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., on May 22.

Protests were expected at Notre Dame, a Roman Catholic school, over Obama's support for abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.

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Obama is 'siding with terrorists' over proposed release of photos showing abuse of Iraq prisoners, claims Dick Cheney's daughter

2009-05-13T19:40:00.002+08:00

Barack Obama has come under fierce attack over his decision to release photographs showing abuse of prisoners held in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hands of U.S. soldiers.

Former vice-president Dick Cheney's daughter Liz condemned the U.S. President, accusing him of 'siding with terrorists'.

The former high-ranking state department official said the President seemed interested only in releasing information that showed the U.S. in a bad light.
Barack Obama
Liz Cheney

Barack Obama has been accused of 'siding with terrorists' and showing the U.S. in a bad light by former vice-president Dick Cheney's daughter Liz

'I have heard from families of service members, from families of 9/11 victims: "When did it become so fashionable for us to side with the terrorists?"' Ms Cheney said.

'For us to put information out that hurts American soldiers?'

Cheney, 42, made her comments in response to the decision by Mr Obama, as ordered by a judge, to release photos showing detainee abuse by U.S. soldiers.

More than 40 photos are said to exist that are similar to those of the Abu Ghraib scandal from 2004.

The pictures of prisoners being abused by guards at the prison near Baghdad led to a worldwide outcry that tarnished America's reputation. Two soldiers were jailed.

Cheney made her attack on a Fox TV news show.

Her father Dick has been one of the most vocal critics of the new Obama policies on terrorism, including closing Guantanamo Bay detention camp and outlawing harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding.

Mr Cheney accused Mr Obama of weakening U.S. defences with his policies.

While former president George Bush has remained silent since leaving office, Ms Cheney has gone on the offensive.

Mr Obama has not responded to the attacks but at the press correspondents' ball in Washington at the weekend he joked about the former vice-president: 'He is very busy working on his memoirs, tentatively titled, How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People.'

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Obama Targets Financiers to Close ‘Loopholes’ in U.S. Tax Code

2009-05-12T18:39:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama is increasingly turning to financiers and the firms that employ them as a source of revenue to plug holes in his budget and what he sees as gaps in the tax code itself.

Obama yesterday announced $58 billion in new proposals that his aides said would close “unfair loopholes” in the tax system. The changes would mean higher taxes for options and commodities brokers, hedge fund managers, and life insurers such as TIAA-CREF. The tax increases would help pay for Obama’s health care reforms.

Those proposals and others would nearly triple income taxes paid by executives at private equity firms and cap the value of itemized deductions. As part of the changes, high-income earners would be unable to avoid top marginal rates when they are reinstated in 2011 to 36 percent and 39.6 percent for Americans making more than $200,000 annually, analysts said.

The administration is “trying to do 39.6 percent and they’re trying to make that work better,” said New York University tax law professor Daniel Shaviro. “It makes sense to make that rate be less porous.”

The policy initiative was launched as the Obama administration issued revised budget figures projecting the federal deficit would hit a record $1.84 trillion this year and $1.26 trillion in fiscal 2010.

Obama, in his announcement yesterday, proposed to end the ability of options and commodities brokers to pay a blend of capital gains and ordinary tax rates on their income. He’d also abolish the use of equity swaps by offshore hedge fund managers to sidestep U.S. withholding taxes and increase penalties for Americans trying to evade tax by hiding money in offshore banks.

‘Carried Interest’

Those proposals follow an earlier plan to make executives at private equity firms and other investment partnerships pay the full tax rate on so-called “carried interest,” the share of a fund’s profits they earn as compensation that is typically 20 percent of any gains over a certain level.

“We continue to believe that carried interest should be treated as a long-term capital gain,” said Robert Stewart, communications director for the Private Equity Council, a trade group representing firms such as the Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group LP and KKR & Co. LP.

Obama also unveiled a trio of proposals that would affect life insurance products, including new rules applying to policyholders when they sell their coverage to investors and a proposed reduction of deductions insurers such as Hartford Life, MetLife and TIAA-CREF use to lower their tax burden.

Industry Reaction

The proposals drew criticism from two industry groups: The Washington-based American Council of Life Insurers, which warned against making insurance more expensive, and the Reston, Virginia-based Association for Insured Retirement Solutions.

“Seventy-five million American families rely on the products offered by life insurers for their financial and retirement security,” said Frank Keating, the former Republican governor of Oklahoma who is president of the life insurers council. “This is absolutely the wrong time to make it more expensive for families to obtain the security and peace of mind our products provide.”

Cathy Weatherford, president and chief executive of the insured retirement solutions group, said “burdening not only the life insurance companies but the brokers that sell the insured solutions will ultimately hurt Americans who are already suffering.”

Estate Tax

Additionally, Obama proposed to close so-called loopholes that would raise an extra $24 billion from the federal estate tax, which he wants to prevent from expiring as scheduled next year.

The proposal would change valuation rules, subjecting more of an estate to possible tax. Obama has proposed extending current law that allows the first $7 million of a couple’s estate to be bequeathed to heirs untaxed while imposing a 45 percent levy on additional amounts.

The new proposals augment Obama’s policy that would increase taxes on the richest Americans and corporations by more than $1 trillion over a decade while reducing them for many small businesses and the 95 percent of the population who earn less than $200,000 annually.

“We are taking the next step in creating fairness in our economy by ending loopholes that allow companies to avoid paying taxes while millions of hardworking families and small businesses pay their fair share,” Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement yesterday.

‘Easy to Demagogue’

The proposals drew a rebuke from Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable, a Washington lobbying group. He said the administration was overreaching with its proposals and that “it’s easy to demagogue” the financial services industry.

Will Acworth, a spokesman for the Washington-based Futures Industry Association, said his group was studying Obama’s proposal to eliminate a 28-year-old tax benefit for commodities brokers.

The law lets the brokers pay a blend of capital gains and ordinary tax rates on their income. It works this way: 60 cents of each dollar earned by an options dealer is taxed at the 15 percent capital gains rate while the remaining 40 cents is taxable at ordinary rates as high as 35 percent. Combined, the effective tax rate is 23 percent.

The Obama administration said there was “no reason” to keep the benefit.

Offshore Havens

The tax recommendations supplement a previous plan that focused on corporations, including $190 billion in proposals to force U.S.-based multinational companies such as Coca-Cola Co., General Electric Co., and Procter & Gamble Co. to pay an extra $190 billion over the next decade by eliminating ways for them to shift profits into offshore tax havens.

That proposal was cheered by labor groups such as the SEIU, which said the international tax rules create incentives for U.S. companies to expand overseas rather than create new jobs domestically.

“American businesses reap the benefits of millions spent on Washington lobbying with tax codes that allow them to shirk their responsibility to pay taxes and actually pay them to create jobs overseas instead of here in America,” said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger.

Eric Toder, a former Treasury Department official during President Bill Clinton’s administration, was among those disputing such assessments. He said research shows that arguments tying domestic job losses to U.S. international tax policy are “sort of a red herring.”

Obama Should Reject Commissions

2009-05-11T19:43:00.000+08:00

In regard to Lindsey Graham and John McCain's "How to Handle the Guantanamo Detainees" (op-ed, May 6): The news that the Obama administration is considering reactivating the military commissions put on hold when the president came into office is the latest in a series of disappointments for human rights campaigners. These are the same commissions that Barack Obama denounced on the campaign trail as "an enormous failure."

Should the president decide to abandon a campaign pledge to "reject" the Military Commissions Act, he will be breathing life into a court system with the fewest rights for suspects of any court in the Western world. His first instinct was right -- we should not bastardize our judicial system to accommodate practices that should not have been countenanced in the first place.

The detainees in Guantanamo were supposed to be the worst of the worst but the majority of those who have passed through its gates have now been released without charge. And lest we not forget, they were released by the Bush administration. These men were all erroneously detained on the basis of faulty intelligence reporting, and these military commissions will give unsupported intelligence the weight of evidence.

The Obama administration is about to go down a path that will repeat many of the mistakes of the past eight years. This is a time for moral courage, not moral compromise. We can do better and we need to make sure that this White House hears that message.

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Obama does turn as comedian in chief

2009-05-10T17:47:00.002+08:00

President Barack Obama served as comedian in chief on Saturday night, predicting that his second 100 days in office will be so successful that he will wrap them up in record time.

"I must confess I really did not want to be here tonight," Obama told guests at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner -- an annual black-tie gathering of journalists, politicians and Hollywood celebrities. "But I knew I had to come. That's one more problem that I inherited from George W. Bush."

Alluding to his reputation for staying cool and on message, Obama ticked off a series of goals he hoped to achieve.

In the next 100 days, he said, he would learn to go off the teleprompter and Vice President Joe Biden, famous for verbal gaffes, "will learn to stay on the prompter."

Obama said he also expected to house-train his new, seven-month-old Portuguese water dog, Bo.

"The last thing Tim Geithner needs is someone else treating him like a fire hydrant," he said, referring to his treasury secretary. Geithner was forced to pay $34,000 in unpaid back taxes before being confirmed to his job and he has been criticized for his handling of the financial crisis.

"Finally, I believe that my next 100 days will be so successful that I will be able to complete them in 72 days. And on the 73rd day, I will rest," he joshed.

In a dig at the press, Obama said: "We look for you for truth -- even if it's always an approximation."

Obama later endured some ribbing from stand-up comic Wanda Sykes. She shared the head table at the dinner that brought together some 2,700 people at the $200-a-plate event -- proceeds of which went to charity and to fund journalism scholarships.

Sykes, known for her blunt take on current events, mused about her pride in Obama's being the country's first black president.

"That's unless you screw up," she said, turning to him from the podium. "And then it's going to be -- what's up with the half-white guy."

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Obama, Yemeni president talk Gitmo

2009-05-09T20:36:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama has spoken directly with the president of Yemen about what to do with almost 100 Yemeni nationals detained at Guantanamo Bay, potentially easing the way for a mass transfer of prisoners away from the soon-to-be-closed U.S. facility.

Obama and President Ali Abdullah Saleh spoke for 25 minutes on Thursday in the first direct discussion between the two leaders about the future of suspected terrorists and how their countries could work together on counterterrorism policy, a senior administration official said Friday.

The official described the conversation on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive negotiations.

Obama officials are pushing for a deal that would send at least some — or perhaps all — Yemeni detainees to Saudi terrorist rehabilitation centers. Saleh has said he wants his citizens returned to their own country, although U.S. officials said the discussions with their counterparts have been productive.

The president earlier this year announced plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center that houses suspected terrorists, but the plan has faced strong opposition from members of Congress who do not want detainees relocated to their states. The not-in-my-backyard approach has vexed the White House, which is looking at how to safely deal with 241 detainees who remain under military guard.

Congressional critics of the plan, mostly Republican, say Guantanamo should remain open until it is clear where the detainees will be prosecuted or released. Obama wants it closed by January, although his Democratic allies in the House last week rebuffed the administration's request for $50 million to relocate prisoners.

U.S. officials have made a strong push for Yemen to endorse the Saudi plan, which would reduce the number of detainees that would be relocated to the United States. Senior security official John Brennan visited Yemen in March and spoke with Saleh last week. Defense Secretary Robert Gates discussed the plan with Saudi officials during his trip there this week.

Gates said that Saleh could be "reluctant to speak out openly and say that this would be a good idea, in part because he may feel that it reflects an inability in Yemen to handle the problem. So I think he is not likely to speak out."

The senior administration official said the two presidents were satisfied with the discussion and arrangements for potential transfers were still being worked out.

Few dispute that Saudi Arabia has one of the most successful jihadist rehabilitation programs in the world. Thousands of extremists, including Guantanamo detainees, have received job training, psychological therapy and religious re-education before being sent back to society. The vast majority have not rejoined the fight, according to Saudi officials and terrorism experts.

Yet some have. In an embarrassing episode for the kingdom, Saudi officials announced in February that 11 former Guantanamo detainees who went through the rehab program are now on its government's most wanted terrorist list for their connections to al-Qaida. Among them is Said Ali al-Shihri, who emerged as a leader of Yemen's branch of al-Qaida after being released from the Saudi program a year ago.

And the U.S.-Yemeni relationship has challenges as well.

Yemen infuriated the United States in 2007 by releasing Jamal al-Badawi, the convicted mastermind of the 2000 USS Cole bombing that killed 17 American sailors. Al-Badawi was set free after turning himself in and pledging loyalty to Saleh. He has since been taken back into custody after pressure from Washington.

Kirk Lippold, who commanded the USS Cole when it was attacked, sharply criticized the plan to turn the detainees over to either Yemen or Saudi Arabia as "an unacceptable compromise to our national security."

"Yemen has consistently proven themselves over the years to be an untrustworthy and unreliable partner in the war on terror," said Lippold, who now is with the nonpartisan advocacy group Military Families United.

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Ahead of $3.55 trillion budget, President Barack Obama floats $17 billion in federal savings

2009-05-07T20:04:00.001+08:00

The White House plans to deliver to Congress on Thursday a guide for saving about $17 billion in federal spending next year as part of the $3.55 trillion budget for 2010 that President Barack Obama already has proposed.

Acknowledging that the proposed savings are a fraction of what the president is asking Congress to spend next year, the White House calls them a worthy start.

"Seventeen billion, to anyone's accounting, is a significant amount of money -- that's in one year alone," a senior administration official said Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plan had not been made public. "This is an important first step," the official said, "but it is not the end of the process."

About half of the proposed savings come from the Defense Department, largely in cuts Defense Secretary Robert Gates already has publicly recommended.

Overall, the White House is proposing cuts in 121 areas, including about 80 that the administration had not publicly discussed. Among them:

A Long Range Radio Navigation System, rendered obsolete by satellite-based GPS systems, that still costs $35 million a year.

Payments to states for mine cleanups after they are finished, at $142 million a year.

Even Start, an early-childhood education program that costs $66 million a year. While supporting Head Start and other early-childhood programs, the White House calls this one inefficient.

An attache for the Department of Education in Paris at $632,000 a year.

Meanwhile, Obama is proposing to spend $1.25 billion to settle discrimination claims by black farmers against the Agriculture Department. The White House said the money would be included in the budget request.

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Obama to Meet Leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan on Insurgency

2009-05-06T19:08:00.000+08:00

U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Wednesday with the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan in what U.S. officials call an effort to get them to work more closely together to fight extremist insurgents.

Mr. Obama is due to meet separately at the White House with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, and then the three leaders will hold joint talks.

On Tuesday, ahead of the meeting, Mr. Zardari said his government is safe and the country's nuclear arsenal is in secure hands.

Mr. Zardari told a U.S. television network Tuesday that the Taliban insurgency does not pose a threat to his government, only to his security. He called it another chapter in the country's long-running tribal and ethnic conflicts.

President Karzai, meanwhile, has expressed concern about civilian casualties in U.S.-led military strikes in Afghanistan.

Earlier Tuesday, the special U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said Washington does not believe Pakistan is a "failed state" even though it is dealing with enormous social, political and economic pressures.

Holbrooke told the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee that Taliban advances have sparked a sense of panic in Pakistan and the United States, but that Washington is committed to supporting and stabilizing Islamabad.

The veteran diplomat appealed to Congress to approve pending legislation to provide Pakistan with billions of dollars in military and non-military aid.

That proposed bill would give military aid, military education training and hundreds of millions of dollars to strengthen Pakistan's democratic institutions, judiciary, law enforcement agencies and the educational system.

Holbrooke also dismissed media reports suggesting the Obama administration is distancing itself from the Zardari government in favor of political rival and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

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Obama’s Bid to End Offshore Tax Havens Faces Hurdle in Congress

2009-05-05T17:42:00.001+08:00

President Barack Obama’s plan to end tax breaks for U.S.-based multinational companies drew a skeptical response from fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill, indicating that his plan may face obstacles on its path through Congress.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, called for “further study” of Obama’s proposals within minutes of the president’s announcement yesterday. Representative Joseph Crowley, a Democrat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he’s wary because the tax changes would hurt Citigroup Inc., his New York district’s largest private-sector employer.

Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, said that any tax overhaul should not lead to “unintended consequences.”

Other Democrats, including House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel of New York, support the proposal. Some lawmakers, including Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate finance panel, are still weighing the plan.

Obama proposed outlawing three offshore tax-saving strategies commonly used by companies such as Citigroup, General Electric Co., and Procter & Gamble Co. In doing so, he reignited debate about whether U.S. companies can remain competitive in world markets if they have to pay billions of dollars in taxes on foreign profits.

Lawmakers will have “a great deal of willingness to listen to companies” that face as much as a 10 percent tax increase under Obama’s plan, said Clinton Stretch, managing principal of Deloitte Tax LLP in Washington. One proposal to limit deductions by companies that defer U.S. tax payments on foreign profits faces “very tough sledding in the Senate,” he said.

‘Broken Tax System’

The U.S. has “a broken tax system” that is “full of corporate loopholes that makes it perfectly legal for companies to avoid paying their fair share,” Obama said as he outlined his plan with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at the White House. Obama called most of the breaks “unjustifiable” and likened some company practices to a “tax scam.”

That rhetoric stung some executives: Carl Guardino, chief executive of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, told Treasury officials on a conference call after the speech that Obama’s “word choices were a bit troubling” because chief executives in his organization are “proud Americans.”

A reporter for Bloomberg News, who identified himself and his affiliation, was on the call between Treasury officials and the business leaders.

Surprised

In an interview after the call, Guardino said he and 52 other top executives of companies such as Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., and Oracle Corp., meeting in Washington this week found it “surprising to be construed in the same way as tax cheats.”

The package of corporate and individual tax changes, which will be part of a detailed budget the administration plans to release May 7, would generate about $210 billion in tax revenue over the next decade, according to Treasury estimates. Obama’s proposals, if adopted, wouldn’t take effect until 2011.

For the biggest chunk, the administration expects to raise $86.5 billion through 2019 by ending a strategy that lets U.S.- based multinational companies effectively hide the role their foreign subsidiaries play in shifting profits into low-tax jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands.

The proposal, combined with a $60.1 billion plan to limit many expense deductions for American companies that take advantage of laws allowing them to defer tax on foreign profits and a $43 billion crackdown on abusive foreign tax credits, including those with artificially inflated values, would be the biggest tax increase on U.S. corporations since 1986.

Burden of Proof

Obama’s plan also would shift the burden of proof to individuals when the IRS alleges assets are being hidden in certain offshore bank accounts, the White House said in a statement.

In exchange, Obama proposed to make permanent a research and experimentation credit worth about $75 billion over the same period to manufacturers and other companies that can claim it.

Obama’s plan drew immediate criticism from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives at some of the biggest U.S. companies. Roundtable President John Castellani said Obama is pushing “the wrong idea at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.”

‘Fresh Opinions’

An advisory group headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, which is studying tax proposals, isn’t bound by Obama’s plan, said Gene Sperling, an economic adviser to the president. “They are there to give the president fresh opinions,” Sperling told corporate executives on the conference call about the tax plan.

Obama based many of his proposals on earlier ideas by Democratic lawmakers such as Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas, and Rangel.

Baucus, who said he supports the president’s overall goals, said it’s best to consider an overhaul of international tax rules as part of a broader rewrite of the tax code.

“Further study is needed to assess the impact of this plan on U.S. businesses,” Baucus said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Crowley said he favors taking steps to “protect U.S. multinational companies, including Citibank which is the largest private-sector employer in Queens, so they are not subject to double taxation overseas.”

‘Misunderstanding’

Boxer’s spokeswoman Ravitz said that the senator’s experience in pushing a corporate “repatriation” tax holiday “indicates that there is a great deal of misunderstanding surrounding these issues.”

Other lawmakers reacted more favorably.

“Our tax code should reward companies that thrive by continuing to invest in America and American workers,” Rangel said. “I applaud President Obama’s commitment to simplifying our tax code and look forward to working with the administration to close these loopholes.”

Grassley said he supports efforts to crack down on tax abuse. “Out of fairness, corporate taxpayers generally shouldn’t pay pennies on the dollar compared to the rest of Americans,” Grassley said. However, he said, if Obama is “using tax shelters as a stalking horse to raise taxes on corporations at the cost of U.S. jobs, he’ll lose me.”

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Obama calls Mexico president about swine flu

2009-05-03T19:35:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama is working with Mexico's president on ways to keep the swine flu from spreading further and says the U.S. will be ready if the flu strain develops into something worse.

Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon spoke for 20 minutes Saturday to share information about each country's efforts and the importance of close U.S.-Mexican cooperation, the White House said.

Swine flu, or H1N1 flu as the U.S. government prefers to call it, has caused only one confirmed death in the United States. But medical authorities fear the flu could become much worse.

About a third of the 160 confirmed U.S. cases of swine flu are people who had been to Mexico and likely picked up the infection there. But investigations indicate many newly infected people are getting the illness here, and that it probably still is spreading, said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC officials said the agency knows of confirmed cases from 21 states, with Connecticut, Florida and Missouri the latest to join the list.

"This is a new strain of the flu virus, and because we haven't developed an immunity to it, it has more potential to cause us harm," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address. "Unlike the various strains of animal flu that have emerged in the past, it's a flu that is spreading from human to human. This creates the potential for a pandemic, which is why we are acting quickly and aggressively."

The virus, which has claimed far more victims in Mexico than elsewhere, has not proved as potent in the U.S.

Obama recapped his administration's efforts. They include asking schools with confirmed cases of the flu virus to close for up to 14 days; urging employers to let infected workers take all the sick days they need; and reminding Americans to wash their hands often, cover their coughs and stay home if ill.

Obama has asked Congress for $1.5 billion to buy more medicine and equipment if needed.

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Obama Says U.S. Taking Precautions Against Wider Spread of Flu

2009-05-02T22:04:00.000+08:00

President Barack Obama told Americans that the government is taking all precautions to ensure the swine flu that’s infected people in at least 19 states doesn’t turn into a more dangerous and deadly threat.

“This is a new strain of the influenza virus, and because we haven’t developed an immunity to it, it has more potential to cause us harm,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. “This creates the potential for a pandemic, which is why we are acting quickly and aggressively.”

Obama said while the strain of the flu, or H1N1, hasn’t been as virulent in the U.S. as in Mexico, where 16 deaths have been confirmed, Americans must prepare for the possibility of a resurgence. He’s asked lawmakers for $1.5 billion to battle an outbreak and develop a vaccine to prevent the virus from surfacing later this year during flu season.

“We will also continue investing in every resource necessary to treat this virus and prevent a wider outbreak,” he said. “The good news is that the current strain of H1N1 can be defeated by a course of antiviral treatment that we already have on hand.”

The virus has spread to 15 countries, bringing the world to the brink of the first influenza pandemic since 1968. Laboratory tests verified that at least 365 people in North America, Europe, Asia and New Zealand had the illness, with 10 deaths, according to World Health Organization’s Web site. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said evidence suggests that “transmission is widespread, and that less severe illness is common.”

Global Spread

The Geneva-based WHO urged countries to make final preparations against a disease that may sweep across the globe, preying on a world population that has no natural immunity to the new virus.

Obama said the U.S. started the week with 50 million courses of the treatment in a national stockpile and over the last few days, one-quarter of those were delivered to states. The government bought an extra 13 million treatments, he said.

Since the new flu strain was reported last week, Obama has encouraged public vigilance, while warning against panic. Today he repeated his call for people to make sure they keep their hands washed, cover their mouths when coughing and to stay home if ill.

Obama said yesterday that even if the steps being taken prove unnecessary, “it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Republican Address

Representative Lynn Jenkins of Kansas delivered the weekly Republican address today, continuing the party’s criticism of Obama’s economic policies. The targets include the $787 billion stimulus package approved mostly by Democratic lawmakers and a $3.55 trillion federal budget plan passed earlier this week.

The spending outline embraces Obama’s agenda, including his call to allow fast-track approval of an overhaul of the health- care system.

The budget “includes trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see,” said Jenkins, a former treasurer for the state of Kansas and certified public accountant.

“Trust me when I say Washington’s books are a mess,” the first term representative said.

Jenkins noted Obama’s first 100-days mark, which the president reached on April 29.

“While, like most of you, I like the president personally, I think the Democrats’ first 100 days running Washington can be summed up in three words: spending, taxing and borrowing,” she said. The plans passed so far “will add more to our nation’s public debt than all previous presidents combined in 200 plus years.”

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Senator Barack Obama on Supreme Court Justices

2009-05-02T00:32:00.001+08:00

A guide to President Barack Obama's approach to filling a new vacancy on the Supreme Court may be his approach to pass vacancies.

In September of 2005, then-Sen. Barack Obama spoke against the nomination of John Roberts:

"The problem I had is that when I examined Judge Roberts' record and history of public service, it is my personal estimation that he has far more often used his formidable skills on behalf of the strong in opposition to the weak. In his work in the White House and the Solicitor General's Office, he seemed to have consistently sided with those who were dismissive of efforts to eradicate the remnants of racial discrimination in our political process. In these same positions, he seemed dismissive of the concerns that it is harder to make it in this world and in this economy when you are a woman rather than a man.

"I want to take Judge Roberts at his word that he doesn't like bullies and he sees the law and the Court as a means of evening the playing field between the strong and the weak. But given the gravity of the position to which he will undoubtedly ascend and the gravity of the decisions in which he will undoubtedly participate during his tenure on the Court, I ultimately have to give more weight to his deeds and the overarching political philosophy that he appears to have shared with those in power than to the assuring words that he provided me in our meeting."

He later spoke about nominee Samuel Alito in January of 2006:

"I have no doubt that Judge Alito has the training and qualifications necessary to serve. He's an intelligent man and an accomplished jurist. And there's no indication he's not a man of great character.

"But when you look at his record - when it comes to his understanding of the Constitution, I have found that in almost every case, he consistently sides on behalf of the powerful against the powerless; on behalf of a strong government or corporation against upholding American's individual rights."

Obama concluded, "In sum, I've seen an extraordinarily consistent attitude on the part of Judge Alito that does not uphold the traditional role of the Supreme Court as a bastion of equality and justice for United States citizens."

Obama voted against both men's nominations.

Obama looks ahead on Day 100

2009-04-30T19:50:00.001+08:00

He addresses Pakistan's nukes, torture, abortion

President Barack Obama said Wednesday night that waterboarding authorized by former President George W. Bush was torture, and the information gained from terror suspects through its use could have been obtained by other means.

"In some cases it may be harder," he conceded at a White House news conference marking a whirlwind first 100 days in office.

The prime-time news conference was the third of Obama's presidency, and the first not dominated by the economy. Here are some highlights.

Interrogations: Obama said he was "absolutely convinced" he had acted correctly in banning waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, and in making public the Bush administration memos detailing its use as well as other harsh methods used on terrorism suspects. "Not because there might not have been information that was yielded by these various detainees ... but because we could have gotten this information in ... ways that were consistent with our values."

Iraq: Obama said recent violence flare-ups in Iraq are a legitimate cause of concern. But he said civilian deaths are lower than in the past.

He said the country's political system remains intact despite the spate of bombings. But he also said the United States must keep pressure on Iraqis to make progress.

Pakistan: Obama said he is confident Pakistan will keep its nuclear arsenal out of the hands of militants, even as his administration asked Congress for millions of dollars to aid its army.

Specter: Obama said he thought that Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's switch Tuesday from Republican to Democrat would "liberate him to cooperate on critical issues like health care, like infrastructure and job creation, areas where his inclinations were to work with us but he was feeling pressure not to."

Specter gave majority Democrats 59 votes in the Senate, pushing them one step closer to the 60 needed to overcome Republican filibusters. But Obama said he did not expect a rubber-stamp Senate.

Abortion: Obama said abortion is both a moral and an ethical issue, and abortion rights backers make a mistake when they consider it solely a matter of women's freedom.

He said he supports abortion rights because he thinks a woman is in a better position to make a very personal choice than a member of Congress or the president. Obama said the Freedom of Choice Act in Congress was not his highest legislative priority.

White House will probe presidential plane PR stunt

2009-04-29T19:10:00.001+08:00

The taxpayer bill for Monday's presidential plane flight over Manhattan was $328,835. The political cost to the Obama White House will be harder to calculate.

"It was a mistake ... and it will not happen again," President Barack Obama said.

But the origins of the government public relations stunt that went awry remained a mystery — and a potential political problem for Obama. The White House military office approved the photo op, which cost $35,000 in fuel alone for the plane and two jet fighter escorts.

"I think this is one of those rare cases where we can all agree it was a mistake," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said of Monday's "unfortunate" flight low over the Hudson River that for many on the ground evoked chilling memories of 9/11.

The sight of the huge passenger jet and an F-16 fighter plane whizzing past the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan financial district sent panicked office workers streaming into the streets.

WCBS-TV in New York reported Tuesday that it had obtained a Federal Aviation Administration memo outlining the photo op. The memo acknowledged "the possibility of public concern regarding (Defense Department) aircraft flying at low altitudes" around Manhattan, but the TV station reported that the FAA demanded secrecy from the New York Police Department, the mayor's office, the Secret Service and the FBI.

A White House official has said the New York City mayor's office and other New York and New Jersey police agencies were told about the Boeing 747's flight. The official said the FAA, at the military's request, told local agencies that the information was classified and asked them not to publicize it.

White House officials did not say why new photos were needed of the plane that is sometimes used as Air Force One — Obama wasn't aboard the flight — or who the presumed audience of the planned photographs were.

Air Force officials began to provide basic information Tuesday about the cost of the flights, but did not disclose how long the public has paid for similar photo op flights.

And public officials from the White House to New York still had not explained why they acceded to a plan that informed several dozen officials about the impending flight but kept the public in the dark.

"I think we've all learned something from it and now it's time to make sure our procedures are better and to get on with other things," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "It does seem like it was a waste of money, but that's up to the federal government."

White House officials said Obama was fuming mad and thinks Air Force One didn't need a new publicity photo anyway.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates "did not know in advance about this flying photo op," Morrell said. "Once he found out, suffice it to say he was surprised and not very pleased."

The presidential air fleet answers to the White House military office, whose director, Louis Caldera, issued a mea culpa on Monday.

"While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption," Caldera's statement said. "I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."

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Barack Obama 'met man who died of suspected flu' in Mexico

2009-04-28T18:09:00.002+08:00

The White House has insisted that President Barack Obama's health was "never in danger" despite visiting Mexico during the swine flu outbreak and meeting a man who died a day later.
>Barack Obama (L) waves as he is welcomed by Felipe Calderon, Mexico's president, during a ceremony at Los Pinos, the presidential residence, in Mexico City

The president's spokesman was barraged with media questions following reports that Felipe Solis, an archaeologist who showed Mr Obama around Mexico City's anthropology museum earlier this month, died the next day of "flu-like symptoms".

Mr Obama visited Mexico on April 16 and 17, at least four days after the beginning of the outbreak of highly contagious swine flu.

"The president's health was never in danger," said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary who said he had talked to Mr Obama's doctors.

Neither "the president nor anybody that I know of traveling with him in either governmental or press capacity has shown any symptoms that would denote cause for any concern," he said.

The White House later issued a statement from Ricardo Alday, a spokesman for Mexico's embassy in Washington, saying Mr Solis "died of complications of a pre-existing condition and not of swine flu."

Mr Obama has reassured Americans that the swine flu outbreak is " not a cause for alarm" despite the small but rising number of cases in the United States.

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Barack Obama tested for swine flu

2009-04-27T18:36:00.000+08:00

US President Barack Obama has been tested for swine flu after he just returned from a trip to Mexico where he was discussing the escalation of the country's violent drug related problems.

The president is assuring Americans the country is taking aggressive measures to control the virus.

New cases of swine flu have surfaced in the United States and Canada, taking the total to 26.

There are now more than 1300 suspected cases in Mexico.

People who are infected can spread the virus before they even start showing symptoms.

The symptoms of the H1N1 virus are similar to numerous other flu viruses - fever, headache, muscle aches, dry cough and extreme tiredness - and in this case also vomiting and diarrhoea

While most cases in the United States and Canada have been mild, it has killed up to 81 people in Mexico, including some fit young adults.

H1N1 has been around since the 1918 flu pandemic, in various forms but no one knows if this strain is different enough to cause widespread and severe disease.

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Obama Off to Solid Start, Poll Finds

2009-04-26T15:57:00.001+08:00

Barack Obama's performance in the first 100 days of his presidency draws strong public approval in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, but there is decidedly less support for his recent decision to release previously secret government memos on the interrogation of terrorism suspects, an initiative that reveals deep partisan fissures.

Overall, the public is about evenly divided on the questions of whether torture is justifiable in terrorism cases and whether there should be official inquiries into any past illegality involving the treatment of terrorism suspects. About half of all Americans, and 52 percent of independents, said there are circumstances in which the United States should consider employing torture against such suspects.

Barely more than half of all poll respondents back Obama's April 16 decision to release the memos specifying how and when to employ specific interrogation techniques. A third "strongly oppose" that decision, about as many as are solidly behind it. Three-quarters of Democrats said they approve of the action, while 74 percent of Republicans are opposed; independents split 50 to 46 percent in favor of the decision.
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The release of the documents, which was fiercely debated at high levels within the government, met with quick fire from former vice president Richard B. Cheney, who said last week that companion memos showing the "success of the effort" should be declassified as well, arguing that the methods had "been enormously valuable in terms of saving lives, preventing another mass casualty attack against the United States."

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who served in the same position in George W. Bush's administration, supported the release of the documents but said it made him "quite concerned with the potential backlash in the Middle East and in the theaters where we are involved in conflict -- that it might have a negative impact on our troops."

Americans also split about evenly on whether the new administration should investigate whether the kind of treatment meted out to terrorism suspects under the Bush administration broke laws, with 51 percent in favor of such inquiries and 47 percent in opposition. About seven in 10 Democrats support such action; a similar proportion of Republicans opposes it. As a candidate, Obama said: "I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of the Republicans as a partisan witch hunt, because I think we've got too many problems to solve."

The lukewarm response to Obama's actions on this front stand in stark contrast to his high ratings on handling terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of those polled said that, in general, his policies had either made the country safer from terrorism (32 percent) or not made much of a difference either way (43 percent).

Obama's overall rating remains high, with 69 percent of Americans approving of his job performance. He gets solid marks for his handling of the economy, maintaining a better-than-2-to-1 advantage over congressional Republicans on the issue. Majorities said that Obama has exceeded their expectations in his first three months in office, has accomplished big things and has kept his main campaign promises. Further, public optimism about the economy and the country's direction also remain on the rise since his election, even as few think his major economic initiatives have moved the needle on the nation's flagging economy, their communities or their finances.

Two-thirds of those polled approve of how Obama is handling international affairs in general, up slightly from last month, just before he embarked on his first European trip. Majorities of Americans also approve of how he is handling health care, global warming, taxes and Cuba, four areas in which the administration has tried to stake new ground in its first few months.

But Obama receives less glowing reviews on his handling of the burgeoning federal budget deficit and on immigration issues, where he is at the 50 percent mark, and he gets a negative rating on how he has dealt with the big U.S. automakers.

Beyond specific policy areas, Obama continues to get high personal favorability ratings across a range of attributes. Overall, 72 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of the new president, down slightly from the eve of his inaugural but far higher than it was during the 2008 campaign. It is also about double Bush's favorability rating when he left office in January (37 percent) and above where Bill Clinton's was at this stage in 1993 (59 percent).

Nearly two-thirds said Obama has accomplished "a great deal" or "a good amount" in his first three months in office. In a Post-ABC poll at the 100-day mark in Clinton's first term, 37 percent said he had done that much. A majority, 54 percent, also said Obama had exceeded their expectations, significantly more than had said so of Clinton or Bush at the outset of their first terms.

Six in 10 Americans said Obama has kept most of his major campaign assurances, although most said he has not reduced the amount of political partisanship in Washington, as he had pledged to do. At the same time, 90 percent said he is willing to listen to different points of view, and close to two-thirds, 63 percent, said he has brought needed change to Washington.

About three-quarters of Americans see Obama as a "strong leader," as "honest and trustworthy," as empathetic and as someone who can be trusted in a crisis. Six in 10 said he is in sync with their values, and nearly as many rate him a good commander in chief.

Most (62 percent) continue to see Obama's views on most issues as "just about right" ideologically, despite significant GOP pushback on his initial policy stances.

With 69 percent approving of his job performance, Obama's rating is about the average for postwar presidents at the 100-day mark. Obama's support among Republicans, with 36 percent approving, is similar to Bush's showing among Democrats in late April 2001, and at that time Bush's rating was a touch lower among independents than Obama's is today (62 percent then compared with 67 percent). In April 1993, Clinton had somewhat less backing from the GOP (26 percent of Republicans approved) and from the middle (independents were at 58 percent).
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General optimism about the national economy has increased, with 55 percent holding cheery views about the year ahead, the highest level in more than two years, but only a third of those polled said the new stimulus package has helped the overall economy. About a quarter said the same of their communities, and one in seven said their personal financial situation had improved as a result. Although few note immediate rewards, 59 percent said the government action either has or will boost the national economy.

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill are getting a rougher treatment from Americans. Approval ratings for both parties in Congress have slipped since late February, and public confidence in their ability to make the right decisions for the country's future has dipped as well. Two months ago, independents were as apt to approve as disapprove of congressional Democrats; now 38 percent approve, and 55 percent do not.

There is a warning sign for the GOP in the new poll: 21 percent of those surveyed said they identify as Republicans, the fewest to do so in a Post-ABC poll in more than 25 years. Last fall, Democrats outnumbered Republicans at the polls by the biggest margin in network exit polls going back to the 1982 midterms.

The latest survey was conducted April 21 to 24 among a random national sample of 1,072 adults using standard and cellular phones. The results from the full poll have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.