Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Only a few days until Session II of the 111th Congress begins.
TERRORISM: President Obama today made remarks in which he took responsibility for the failures that led to the Christmas Day terror incident. It was a classic "Buck Stops With Me" speech, in which the President takes responsibility for being the President when something bad happens. It's not that the President thinks that he is responsible for the breakdowns in the intelligence community, but rather he wants the American people to know that he's in charge, that he gets it.
The President started the speech with a subtle rebuke to former Vice President Cheney, when he stated unequivocally that we are at war. He then outlined the intelligence failures in detail. Intelligence agencies knew about the suspect's radical past, but did not "connect the dots" in a way that would keep the suspect off of the vaunted no-fly list. The President also announced what he plans to do to rectify the situation. He will order his top terrorism advisor to find new ways to expedite putting terrorists on no-fly lists, and he asked the Secretary of Homeland Security to speed up the implementation of full body scanners at international airports.
Today's speech may have seem somewhat belated and contrived, but I don't ever remember George W. Bush taking responsibility for any lapses in intelligence. Not with 9/11, not with Richard Reid the shoe bomber, not ever. Also, George W. Bush would never have released any sort of negative internal review.
MASS-SENATE: We talked the other day about the upcoming special Senate election in Massachussetts to choose Ted Kennedy's successor. A recent Rasmussen poll showed the Democrat Martha Coakley beating the Republican Scott Brown by 9 points. This relatively small margin in such a liberal state caused the Cook Political Report to shift the seat from "Solid Democrat" to "Lean Democrat." I still think Coakley will win in the Bay State, but I can understand the freakout of Democrats if the nightmare scenario comes to pass: Ted Kennedy's replacement kills health reform. Friend of the blog KagroX reminded us today, though, that the Democrats have already passed a health care bill. If Brown was elected, and Democrats only had 59 votes, the Senate likely would not be able to pass health reform again. Luckily, they wouldn't have to. The House could simply vote to accept the Senate bill verbatim. House leaders should keep this option in the back of their brains regardless of who wins the Massachusetts race. With people like Lieberman and Nelson, there's always a chance that moderate Democrats could seek to make the Senate bill even worse than it already is. If the House agreed to what the Senate has already done, a bill could be sent directly to Barack Obama's desk.
I hope that the House and Senate bills can be reconciled, because I believe several House provisions should be included in the final version of the bill. But it never hurts to have a backup plan.
That's it for now. See you tomorrow.
Showing posts with label Terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terrorism. Show all posts
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
The Daily Strike-1/5/10-Dorgan and Coakley (Kinda Sounds Like a Sleazy Law Firm)
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. This town is slowly coming back to life after the holiday break, with President Obama conducting some official business today. But then again, politics never takes a holiday.
SENATE RACES: News out tonight is that Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota will retire when his term expires next year. This is very bad news for Senate Democrats. Dorgan was still very popular in a Republican state. If Republican Governor John Hoeven had stayed out of the race, Dorgan almost certainly would have won reelection. With the seat vacant, Republicans will now be favored to win this seat. We talked last night about the increasing amount of vulnerable Democratic Senate seats, and Dorgan's retirement brings North Dakota to the top of that list (especially if Hoeven now chooses to run). The Democrats do have a good potential candidate in Rep. Earl Pomeroy, who represents the entire state in the House. But Pomeroy may not want to run as a Democrat in a Republican state in this political environment. If Pomeroy doesn't run, the Democrats basically don't have anyone on the bench.
Dorgan's retirement doesn't significantly change the Senate math for November. But as many others have pointed out, it does add to the narrative that Republicans have significant momentum heading into the midterm elections. As Marc Ambinder put it, it affects the "social psychology" of the two political parties. I just hope discouraging retirements and social psychology doesn't effect Democratic voting patterns in Congress!!
Before we get to November, we must first go through the Massachusetts Special Election to replace Ted Kennedy. State Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democrat, is running against Republican State Senator Scott Brown. A Rasmussen (remember, they lean Republican) poll today showed Coakley with a 9-point lead, relatively small given the Democratic nature of the state. I don't think Coakley is in any real danger of losing. But the stakes in this race are large enough that Democrats should invest a little bit of money in making sure Coakley gets elected. If Brown wins, the Democrats lose their 60 vote coalition, and health care reform dies. Wouldn't it be tragic of Ted Kennedy's replacement ended up killing health reform? Massachusetts can NOT let this happen.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President today held a key meeting with his National Security team to discuss the Christmas "Panty" bomber incident. The President told his team that the attack failed because of citizen bravery, not because the "system worked." In a way, today's meeting was a way to formally rebuke the intelligence community for missing signals that could have prevented the incident. In another way, this was just a way for President Obama to show that he cares about the threat of terrorism.
But I only accept views on terrorism from the most trustworthy sources. That's why my thoughts on the issue can be summarized by this brilliant tweet, from none other than Sarah Louise Heath Palin:
FaceBook post today re:Prez's mtg w/Security Advisers does nothing2change fact:his fundamental approach 2 terrorist threat is fatally flawed
Wow.
HEALTH CARE: Briefly, House Democratic leaders will meet at the White House tomorrow to begin the process of reconciling the House and Senate versions of health reform. Today, House leaders held a press conference to discuss the planned bill merging process. The House returns to business next week, which is when negotiations should really kick into gear.
That's it for now. We'll see you tomorrow. Leave some comments!!!!!
SENATE RACES: News out tonight is that Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota will retire when his term expires next year. This is very bad news for Senate Democrats. Dorgan was still very popular in a Republican state. If Republican Governor John Hoeven had stayed out of the race, Dorgan almost certainly would have won reelection. With the seat vacant, Republicans will now be favored to win this seat. We talked last night about the increasing amount of vulnerable Democratic Senate seats, and Dorgan's retirement brings North Dakota to the top of that list (especially if Hoeven now chooses to run). The Democrats do have a good potential candidate in Rep. Earl Pomeroy, who represents the entire state in the House. But Pomeroy may not want to run as a Democrat in a Republican state in this political environment. If Pomeroy doesn't run, the Democrats basically don't have anyone on the bench.
Dorgan's retirement doesn't significantly change the Senate math for November. But as many others have pointed out, it does add to the narrative that Republicans have significant momentum heading into the midterm elections. As Marc Ambinder put it, it affects the "social psychology" of the two political parties. I just hope discouraging retirements and social psychology doesn't effect Democratic voting patterns in Congress!!
Before we get to November, we must first go through the Massachusetts Special Election to replace Ted Kennedy. State Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democrat, is running against Republican State Senator Scott Brown. A Rasmussen (remember, they lean Republican) poll today showed Coakley with a 9-point lead, relatively small given the Democratic nature of the state. I don't think Coakley is in any real danger of losing. But the stakes in this race are large enough that Democrats should invest a little bit of money in making sure Coakley gets elected. If Brown wins, the Democrats lose their 60 vote coalition, and health care reform dies. Wouldn't it be tragic of Ted Kennedy's replacement ended up killing health reform? Massachusetts can NOT let this happen.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The President today held a key meeting with his National Security team to discuss the Christmas "Panty" bomber incident. The President told his team that the attack failed because of citizen bravery, not because the "system worked." In a way, today's meeting was a way to formally rebuke the intelligence community for missing signals that could have prevented the incident. In another way, this was just a way for President Obama to show that he cares about the threat of terrorism.
But I only accept views on terrorism from the most trustworthy sources. That's why my thoughts on the issue can be summarized by this brilliant tweet, from none other than Sarah Louise Heath Palin:
FaceBook post today re:Prez's mtg w/Security Advisers does nothing2change fact:his fundamental approach 2 terrorist threat is fatally flawed
Wow.
HEALTH CARE: Briefly, House Democratic leaders will meet at the White House tomorrow to begin the process of reconciling the House and Senate versions of health reform. Today, House leaders held a press conference to discuss the planned bill merging process. The House returns to business next week, which is when negotiations should really kick into gear.
That's it for now. We'll see you tomorrow. Leave some comments!!!!!
Monday, January 4, 2010
The Weekly Strike-1/4-1/10
Good morning and welcome to the Weekly Strike. I hope you had a wonderful New Year, and weren't too deprived of the blog during the holiday season. If you're just getting back into the swing of things, check out my year-end entry below on the most important lessons of 2009. Now, on to the week in politics.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The House is out of session for another week, and the Senate is out of session for another two weeks, so all attention will be focused on President Obama for the time being. Three issues will dominate his agenda this week: terrorism, health care and jobs.
On the terrorism issue, the President is still coordinating the response to the failed Christmas Eve plot targeting a Northwest airliner. The President's team started out shaky, with Homeland Security Napolitano saying that "the system worked" (when it most certainly did not if a known extremist can board a U.S-bound flight), but they seem to be getting their footing. The administration has acted far more competently in the past couple of days, by addressing the systemic and human errors that caused the breach, and by instituting new regulations for the TSA (side note: get ready for full body scans!!). It also helps that the Republican party went off the deep end trying to turn this into a political issue. First, Dick Cheney came out with his usual nonsense about how the President doesn't understand the War on Terror. Then, Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who is running for governor of Michigan, sent out a fund raising email trying to turn the thwarted attack into cash. In fact, this might be a political pattern during 2010. Whatever missteps us Democrats might suffer, the absolute ineptitude of the Republican Party can still save us!
On the health care issue, the President will hopefully begin to wade in head first into House and Senate negotiations. Prior to the holiday break, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) objected to a unanimous consent request for a formal conference. Thus, if the Democrats wanted to hold formal conference negotiations to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the health care bill, they'd have to jump over a bunch of procedural hurdles. Instead, Democratic leaders will hold negotiations behind closed doors to work out some of the key remaining issues: subsidy levels, a national vs. state health insurance exchange, the size of the Medicaid expansion, abortion etc. Once an agreement is reached, the new bill will become a House amendment to the Senate-passed bill. The House will vote on that amendment, and then the Senate will vote to agree to the House amendment. Get it? Some people call this "ping-ponging," because the bill goes back and forth between chambers. But this is pretty much the same as holding a formal conference, because each chamber will only have to vote one more time to approve a final package.
Now is the time for President Obama to dive in head first. He needs to lay out his priorities and wield his considerable influence among Democratic leaders. I can see leaving the details up to Congress during the preliminary stages of the health care fight, but the stakes are too high at this point for him to stay on the sidelines.
And finally, on the jobs front, the new unemployment numbers will be coming out this Friday. I expect that unemployment will stay about where it is now, at 10%. Regardless of Friday's numbers, Democrats will still try and push through a job creation measure in Congress. The House passed a bill in late December that would invest in infrastructure projects, safety-net programs and aid to state and local governments. The House paid for these programs with leftover federal bailout money. I would love to see the Senate pass this bill immediately, but I don't think that's terribly realistic. More likely, the Senate will start working on its own bill later this month, and the President won't get something to his desk until March or so.
We'll keep an eye on these three issues and anything else that comes up this week. Leave us some comments as we start out our 2nd year here in Strike-land.
THE WHITE HOUSE: The House is out of session for another week, and the Senate is out of session for another two weeks, so all attention will be focused on President Obama for the time being. Three issues will dominate his agenda this week: terrorism, health care and jobs.
On the terrorism issue, the President is still coordinating the response to the failed Christmas Eve plot targeting a Northwest airliner. The President's team started out shaky, with Homeland Security Napolitano saying that "the system worked" (when it most certainly did not if a known extremist can board a U.S-bound flight), but they seem to be getting their footing. The administration has acted far more competently in the past couple of days, by addressing the systemic and human errors that caused the breach, and by instituting new regulations for the TSA (side note: get ready for full body scans!!). It also helps that the Republican party went off the deep end trying to turn this into a political issue. First, Dick Cheney came out with his usual nonsense about how the President doesn't understand the War on Terror. Then, Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who is running for governor of Michigan, sent out a fund raising email trying to turn the thwarted attack into cash. In fact, this might be a political pattern during 2010. Whatever missteps us Democrats might suffer, the absolute ineptitude of the Republican Party can still save us!
On the health care issue, the President will hopefully begin to wade in head first into House and Senate negotiations. Prior to the holiday break, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) objected to a unanimous consent request for a formal conference. Thus, if the Democrats wanted to hold formal conference negotiations to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the health care bill, they'd have to jump over a bunch of procedural hurdles. Instead, Democratic leaders will hold negotiations behind closed doors to work out some of the key remaining issues: subsidy levels, a national vs. state health insurance exchange, the size of the Medicaid expansion, abortion etc. Once an agreement is reached, the new bill will become a House amendment to the Senate-passed bill. The House will vote on that amendment, and then the Senate will vote to agree to the House amendment. Get it? Some people call this "ping-ponging," because the bill goes back and forth between chambers. But this is pretty much the same as holding a formal conference, because each chamber will only have to vote one more time to approve a final package.
Now is the time for President Obama to dive in head first. He needs to lay out his priorities and wield his considerable influence among Democratic leaders. I can see leaving the details up to Congress during the preliminary stages of the health care fight, but the stakes are too high at this point for him to stay on the sidelines.
And finally, on the jobs front, the new unemployment numbers will be coming out this Friday. I expect that unemployment will stay about where it is now, at 10%. Regardless of Friday's numbers, Democrats will still try and push through a job creation measure in Congress. The House passed a bill in late December that would invest in infrastructure projects, safety-net programs and aid to state and local governments. The House paid for these programs with leftover federal bailout money. I would love to see the Senate pass this bill immediately, but I don't think that's terribly realistic. More likely, the Senate will start working on its own bill later this month, and the President won't get something to his desk until March or so.
We'll keep an eye on these three issues and anything else that comes up this week. Leave us some comments as we start out our 2nd year here in Strike-land.
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