Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Make sure you read The Big Picture's very strong review of the previous week, and look forward to his monthly entry judging President Obama's progress on key issues as he enters his 7th month in office.
RALLYING THE TROOPS: Today was the President's birthday, and he can ask for no greater present than the support and cooperation of Senate Democrats. The 60 member Democratic caucus had lunch at the White House today, and both the President and Senate Democrats came out of the meeting feeling positive. Majority Leader Reid said that the President talked about the importance of health reform, and that there was unanimity in the caucus that health care needs to pass this year. They even got Max Baucus to say that while he prefers getting a bipartisan bill out of the Senate, he recognizes the urgent need to get reform done. I hope he sticks to this promise. I think it's very important to remind some Senate Democrats what team they're on, and that their political fate, and the fate of the country, rests on their President.
TOWN HALLS GONE WILD: Over the past couple of days we've seen more and more staged outbursts at town hall meetings with Democratic Congressmen, staged by right-wing interest groups and conservative activists. They have managed to make a scene now, as they planned all along, at several local events across the country. You can watch countless YouTube clips from the past few days that show these awkward confrontations. On the one hand, I think that these antics could backfire on conservatives, because they could come off as a discredited loony fringe. It happened late in the Presidential campaign last year, when people at McCain-Palin rallies started shouting "terrorist" and "communist" when President Obama's name was mentioned. On the other hand, the media loves and sympathizes with angry old white people. Oftentimes, the extreme action of a few can seem to represent the public will, even when it doesn't. It reminds me of when Republican staffers stormed the Miami-Dade vote counting headquarters in 2000 to stop the Florida recount. You can't underestimate the power of a disruptive, angry mob. I think the strategy, as outlined well last night by Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, should be to bring people who have suffered under our current health care system to each one of these events, and make the angry protesters engage in these antics in front of their face. It's a lot harder to act disrespectful when you're yelling at a cancer patient who was denied treatment because of a pre-existing condition.
BUBBA TO THE RESCUE: In a very interesting story, Bill Clinton went to North Korea today to help facilitate the release of two American journalists. The President met personally with Kim Jong Il to help negotiate the terms of the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee. It was the first time that an American representative has met with Kim Jong Il this decade. The former President apologized to Kim Jong Il for the behavior of the two journalists who had illegally entered the country. Kim Jong Il offered the journalist a full pardon, and they are on their way home. The White House insists that Clinton did this as a private citizen, but it's clear that administration was supportive. There will be a lot of ideological talk about about how we shouldn't be negotiating with tyrants, but try telling that to the families of these two women, who would have spent the next 12 years doing hard labor.
THE SENATE: The Senate today finished consideration of the Agriculture appropriations bill, before moving on to the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, which will occupy the chamber for the next several days. So far, 57 Senators have committed to support the nomination, which ensures that Sotomayor will be confirmed by the end of the week. The debate started tonight with speeches from Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and ranking Republican Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Most Senators will get the opportunity to speak on her nomination before a vote occurs, possibly Thursday or Friday.
As for that Agriculture bill, it passed by a large margin of 80-17. 16 Republicans joined Evan Bayh (D-IN) in voting no. The bill must be reconciled with the House version before it goes to President Obama for his signature. Prior to a vote on final passage, the Senate considered several amendments:
-First, the Senate voted against an amendment from Senator McCain to eliminate watershed and flood prevention programs. Some times I don't know whether John McCain can differentiate between the "wasteful spending" items he tries to cut from every bill. The amendment failed by a vote 27-70, on a vote that did not fall along party lines.
-Next, the Senate rejected a Coburn (OK) amendment to eliminate funding for duplicate digital conversion efforts in the department. Pay money now, save later. It's a pretty simple concept, Senator. The amendment failed 37-60.
-Third was a Coburn motion to send the bill back to committee for major changes in funding levels. This failed by a vote of 32-65.
-Finally, the Senate agreed to a Sanders (Socialist-VT) to increase funding for the Farm Service Agency. The amendment violated budget rules, so it needed 60 votes to pass. It got exactly 60 votes, with 37 senators voting no.
That's it for tonight, see you tomorrow!
Showing posts with label North Korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Korea. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The Weekly Strike-5/26-5/31
Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike! Thanks for bearing with us this weekend while we were gone on Memorial Day vacation. I hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend. We intend to return this week with a bang!
THE WHITE HOUSE: Congress is out of session this week, so any and all political happenings will come from the executive branch. The big news just in this morning is that President Obama will name his choice for Supreme Court Justice at 10:15am. We will be waiting with intense curiosity. I'll make sure to update you when the choice is made. That should dominate the news cycle for a couple of days. Following the appointment, the nominee will make courtesy visits to Capital Hill for the next month or so, and presumably complete hearings in July. President Obama wants the nominee to be confirmed by August so that the nominee doesn't get pummeled during the August recess.
The President has no other public events today. He flies out to Las Vegas this evening to hold a fundraiser for his friend and ally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid is not winning many popularity contests in his home state these days. Republicans have sensed an opportunity to defeat Reid in next year's elections, but have so far been unable to find a good candidate.
Obama won't exactly be welcomed to the state with open arms. The governor of Nevada, the immensely unpopular Jim Gibbons, is refusing the President's invitation to meet him at the airport. Apparently, Gibbons was upset about comments the President made about CEO's "living it up in Vegas." I'm sure you've stroked political gold, Gibbons. Everyone loves an embattled governor who stands up a popular President of the United States.
Vice President Biden also will head west today for a meeting of the White House Middle Class Task Force, which he chairs. I'm sure Biden will want to lend a political hand while he's there. I'll be anxious to see if he does any campaigning for newly appointed Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, who is still pretty unknown statewide.
Tomorrow, Biden addresses the graduates of the Air Force Academy, while Obama holds a town-hall style event in Las Vegas, and a DNC fundraiser in Los Angeles. Thursday, the President meets at the White House with Palestinian President Abbas. Abbas will most likely ask the President to pressure the Israelis to give up settlements in the West Bank.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: All of this week's action will be against the backdrop of some scary stuff going on in North Korea. Over the weekend, the rogue state tested a nuclear weapon and fired a short-range missile. They tested two additional short-range missiles today. This presents a major test for U.N. ambassador Susan Rice. North Korea had agreed to abandon their nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic aid last year, but the plan fell through, and the program has continued to advanced. It will be interesting to see if the U.N. Security Council can pass additional sanctions against North Korea that actually might have some teeth.
CONGRESS: Congress is out of session for the week after a successful legislative period. One thing that happened while we were gone was that the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill. This ambitious environmental measure will presumably come to the full House for a vote in the next few weeks. The vote was strictly party line, with the exception of Republican Mary Bono Mack of California, who bucked her party's leadership to support the bill. Republicans say that cap and trade will decimate the economy because it will cause energy prices to go up. The best part of the mark-up, though, had little to do with the bill. Republicans threatened to delay the bill by forcing the reading clerk to read the 900 page piece of legislation. The GOP saw this as a procedural tool to stall the bill's passage while they made a more convincing case to the public. In response, Democrats hired a speed reader, who would be able to read 900 pages in about 3 hours. Republicans eventually agreed to dispense with the reading, but the speed reader was already there, and members, led by Republican ranking member Joe Barton, wanted to see what he was made of. This is highly entertaining.
That's it for this morning. We will fill you in on the Supreme Court choice as soon as it becomes available.
THE WHITE HOUSE: Congress is out of session this week, so any and all political happenings will come from the executive branch. The big news just in this morning is that President Obama will name his choice for Supreme Court Justice at 10:15am. We will be waiting with intense curiosity. I'll make sure to update you when the choice is made. That should dominate the news cycle for a couple of days. Following the appointment, the nominee will make courtesy visits to Capital Hill for the next month or so, and presumably complete hearings in July. President Obama wants the nominee to be confirmed by August so that the nominee doesn't get pummeled during the August recess.
The President has no other public events today. He flies out to Las Vegas this evening to hold a fundraiser for his friend and ally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid is not winning many popularity contests in his home state these days. Republicans have sensed an opportunity to defeat Reid in next year's elections, but have so far been unable to find a good candidate.
Obama won't exactly be welcomed to the state with open arms. The governor of Nevada, the immensely unpopular Jim Gibbons, is refusing the President's invitation to meet him at the airport. Apparently, Gibbons was upset about comments the President made about CEO's "living it up in Vegas." I'm sure you've stroked political gold, Gibbons. Everyone loves an embattled governor who stands up a popular President of the United States.
Vice President Biden also will head west today for a meeting of the White House Middle Class Task Force, which he chairs. I'm sure Biden will want to lend a political hand while he's there. I'll be anxious to see if he does any campaigning for newly appointed Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, who is still pretty unknown statewide.
Tomorrow, Biden addresses the graduates of the Air Force Academy, while Obama holds a town-hall style event in Las Vegas, and a DNC fundraiser in Los Angeles. Thursday, the President meets at the White House with Palestinian President Abbas. Abbas will most likely ask the President to pressure the Israelis to give up settlements in the West Bank.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: All of this week's action will be against the backdrop of some scary stuff going on in North Korea. Over the weekend, the rogue state tested a nuclear weapon and fired a short-range missile. They tested two additional short-range missiles today. This presents a major test for U.N. ambassador Susan Rice. North Korea had agreed to abandon their nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic aid last year, but the plan fell through, and the program has continued to advanced. It will be interesting to see if the U.N. Security Council can pass additional sanctions against North Korea that actually might have some teeth.
CONGRESS: Congress is out of session for the week after a successful legislative period. One thing that happened while we were gone was that the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill. This ambitious environmental measure will presumably come to the full House for a vote in the next few weeks. The vote was strictly party line, with the exception of Republican Mary Bono Mack of California, who bucked her party's leadership to support the bill. Republicans say that cap and trade will decimate the economy because it will cause energy prices to go up. The best part of the mark-up, though, had little to do with the bill. Republicans threatened to delay the bill by forcing the reading clerk to read the 900 page piece of legislation. The GOP saw this as a procedural tool to stall the bill's passage while they made a more convincing case to the public. In response, Democrats hired a speed reader, who would be able to read 900 pages in about 3 hours. Republicans eventually agreed to dispense with the reading, but the speed reader was already there, and members, led by Republican ranking member Joe Barton, wanted to see what he was made of. This is highly entertaining.
That's it for this morning. We will fill you in on the Supreme Court choice as soon as it becomes available.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
The Daily Strike-4/5/09-4:30am Phone Call
Good Sunday evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. I think we might need a sequel to Team American World Police. Let's get to it.
NORTH KOREA: Last night, North Korea launched a long-range missile last night, igniting a challenge that marks a critical point in the Obama Presidency. Although it was clear that North Korea would violate the UN Security Council and launch the missile in the next couple of weeks, the timing is particularly suspicious. The launch happened hours before Obama gave a speech calling on the world to abandon nuclear weapons. Because the launch happened in the middle of the night, Obama was woken up by the proverbial phone call from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have been proud of herself, if she weren't busy dealing with a potential international crisis.
North Korea basically lied to its people, and to the international community by saying it was launching a satellite as part of a peaceful program. The missile did not make into orbit, and instead landed in the Pacific Ocean. Still, the provocative act presents an unexpected foreign policy challenge early in Obama's term. Prior to January 20th, a lot of us thought that the Bush administration's deal with North Korea was one of its few diplomatic successes. It was criticized by the far-right for being too lenient on the regime. These critics continued barking today. Former UN ambassador John Bolton criticized Obama's approach, saying that diplomacy has been useless. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich says that the US should have tried to intercept the weapon. I hope Obama never takes advice from these neo-cons.
TURKEY: The President moves on to Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey in the next couple of days. At the NATO meeting in Prague today, Obama voiced strong support for including Turkey in the EU. Turkey has been trying to attain EU membership for years, but it's application has been stalled by many European leaders, notably French President Nikolas Sarkozy. European countries have been reluctant to accept Turkey because it shares a border with volatile Middle-East countries, and has some political and legal practices that don't conform to European values. It's interesting that President Obama would wade into such a lightning-rod issue that has little practical effect on the United States. One reason he may be pushing Turkish accession is because it would be a message to the Muslim world that they are welcome in the West. Turkey is the only majority Muslim country that would be a part of the European Union. The President may want to be building as much goodwill with the Muslim world as possible.
Today was one of the few days we only covered international news! More on domestic politics in tomorrow's Weekly Strike. Please leave comments!
NORTH KOREA: Last night, North Korea launched a long-range missile last night, igniting a challenge that marks a critical point in the Obama Presidency. Although it was clear that North Korea would violate the UN Security Council and launch the missile in the next couple of weeks, the timing is particularly suspicious. The launch happened hours before Obama gave a speech calling on the world to abandon nuclear weapons. Because the launch happened in the middle of the night, Obama was woken up by the proverbial phone call from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would have been proud of herself, if she weren't busy dealing with a potential international crisis.
North Korea basically lied to its people, and to the international community by saying it was launching a satellite as part of a peaceful program. The missile did not make into orbit, and instead landed in the Pacific Ocean. Still, the provocative act presents an unexpected foreign policy challenge early in Obama's term. Prior to January 20th, a lot of us thought that the Bush administration's deal with North Korea was one of its few diplomatic successes. It was criticized by the far-right for being too lenient on the regime. These critics continued barking today. Former UN ambassador John Bolton criticized Obama's approach, saying that diplomacy has been useless. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich says that the US should have tried to intercept the weapon. I hope Obama never takes advice from these neo-cons.
TURKEY: The President moves on to Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey in the next couple of days. At the NATO meeting in Prague today, Obama voiced strong support for including Turkey in the EU. Turkey has been trying to attain EU membership for years, but it's application has been stalled by many European leaders, notably French President Nikolas Sarkozy. European countries have been reluctant to accept Turkey because it shares a border with volatile Middle-East countries, and has some political and legal practices that don't conform to European values. It's interesting that President Obama would wade into such a lightning-rod issue that has little practical effect on the United States. One reason he may be pushing Turkish accession is because it would be a message to the Muslim world that they are welcome in the West. Turkey is the only majority Muslim country that would be a part of the European Union. The President may want to be building as much goodwill with the Muslim world as possible.
Today was one of the few days we only covered international news! More on domestic politics in tomorrow's Weekly Strike. Please leave comments!
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