Paul Harvey: 'The rest of the story' ends

by Mark Silva

"Tough times for America often mean tougher times for African Americans,'' President Barack Obama says. "This recession has been no exception. The unemployment rate among black Americans is a full five points higher than the rate among Americans as a whole.''

Yet "government cannot and will not succeed alone,'' in opening more opportunities for all, the president says. "It will take all of us stepping up and doing our part. It will take the commitment of parents and teachers and community leaders. It will take a renewed faith in our common purpose and common values.''

The president will deliver his first State of the Union address next year - though this week's address to a joint session of Congress had all the trappings.

But today, Obama delivered a long-distance address by video for the "State of the Black Union'' forum that commentator Tavis Smiley assembled in Los Angeles, the 10th anniversary for the event.

Last year, Obama passed up an invitation to attend in person at the forum in New Orleans, citing the pressing schedule of the primary campaign underway. This year, the Republican National Committee was represented at the conference by its first African-American chairman, Michael Steele, who attended last year as a panelist.

Obama addressed the racial divide in America with a speech in Philadelphia during his campaign, a speech in which he spoke of the goal of "a more perfect union."

When it comes to confronting matters of race, the Obama administration's attorney general contends, America is "essentially a nation of cowards.

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," Att'y Gen. Eric Holder, a former federal judge, told employees of the Justice Department in a Black History Month address. ""We, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.''

The nation's unemployemnt rate rose to 7.6 percent in January, up from 7.2 percent the month before. Among black Americans, it rose to 12.6 percent, from 11.9 percent.

In his video address for the State of the Black Union forum, Obama told his remote audience: "You have tapped into a yearning in the community to address our toughest problems instead of leaving them for another day, or year, or generation.''

by Mark Silva

Kathleen Sebelius, governor of Kansas, has accepted President Barack Obama's nomination as secretary of Health and Human Services, White House sources are reporting this evening.

Obama plans to announce the selection on Monday, according to the Associated Press, citing a source. The Washington Post reports the same word.

Sebelius has long been seen as a likely prospect for the Cabinet post, since former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle withdrew from consideration after paying more than $100,000 in back taxes and penalties for limousine services. This is one of two Cabinet posts that Obama has had trouble filling: The president this week selected former Washington Gov. Gary Locke for Commerce after two previous nominees withdrew..

Sebelius, 60, supported Obama's nomination as president and campaigned for the former senator from Illinois. She had been eyed as a potential running mate.

The governor said in December that she had removed her own name from consideration for a Cabinet post because of her home state's budget problems. She is half-way through her second term as governor and prohibited by term limits from seeking another term. She also has been viewed as a potential Democratic candidate for the seat the Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas is leaving after 2010 - though the state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932.

The governor's father, John Gilligan, was governor of Ohio in the 1970s.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

by Mark Silva

President George W. Bush had his mountain bike.

President Barack Obama has his basketball.

The former president would slip out of the White House on a Saturday morning, if slipping entails a high-speed motorcade, and head for the woods.

This morning, on a cold and overcast day in Washington, the president and friend Marty Nesbitt (pictured here), wearing sweat suits, climbed into the presidential SUV at the White House for a short ride around the Ellipse in a slow-speed motorcade to the Department of Interior.

Obama aide Reggie Love, riding in another SUV, carried the first basketball.

"Who knew they had a basketball court?'' the Dallas Morning News' Todd Gillman, performing Saturday pool duty, wrote of the trip.

Like the former president's weekly bike rides, which were performed out of eyesight of the pool reporters, the president's game on the court at Interior was played in private. The outing ran a little under two hours.

It might have been a rough game: Nesbitt, who had joined the president in taking in a game of the Bulls and Wizards the night before at the Verizon Center, wore a brace on his right leg and walked with a limp as they returned to the White House.

Press aide Ben Finkenbinder's T-shirt was darkened with sweat from his first basketball game with the boss, and played the event like a dutiful press aide would: No details on the players, score or highlights of the game.

(Photo of the president's friend, Martin Nesbitt, returning to the White House after a basketball game at the Deparment of Interior, by Pablo Martinez Monsivais) / AP. With thanks to print pooler Todd Gillman).

by Mark Silva

In the days since President Barack Obama's televised address to a joint session of Congress, he has reclaimed the level of public approval with which he started his presidency.

Sixty-seven percent of Americans surveyed Wednesday through Friday said they approve of the job that Obama is doing as president, according to the findings of the Gallup Poll.

That restores the president's public support to roughly the level he enjoyed his first days in office, 68 and 69 percent in the Gallup Poll's daily tracking.

It also marks a "bounce'' since the prime-time address that Obama delivered this week. His public approval had slipped to 59 percent heading into that address, Gallup found.

It's also noteable, in light of the fact that 74 percent of those surveyed say the country is not well.

Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of the Gallup Poll, suggests that Obama's strong standing -- and the bounce he has gotten from a speech which may not have been a State of the Union address but sure sounded like one -- indicates that the public is handing the president a lot of confidence in his ability to do something about the condition of the economy.

The test, Newport says, will be how the economy responds.

by Mark Silva

President Barack Obama says the $3.55-trillion federal budget that he proposes is a matter of "keeping promises.''

Among the promises on which he campaigned: "A government that served not the interests of powerful lobbyists or the wealthiest few, but the middle-class Americans.''

"That is the change I promised as a candidate for president,'' Obama says in his weekly Internet and radio address. "It is the change the American people voted for in November. And it is the change represented by the budget I sent to Congress this week.''

Confronting a $1.75-trillion federal budget deficit this year, the Obama administration says that it can cut that to $1.17 trillion in 2010 and then halve it, to $533 billion, by the end of the president's first term. The president hopes to get there with a combination of spending cuts and tax increases for the wealthiest Americans -- with new tolls starting after 2011, with the repeal of the tax cuts that President Bush won in 2001 and 2003.

In the process, Obama hopes to start setting aside money for health care for more Americans, a $644-billion commitment over 10 years.

Republicans are calling the budget another spending spree, like the $787-billion economic stimulus that Obama signed four weeks in office.

"It seems like every day you pick up the newspaper, you're reading about another multibillion-dollar bill passed,'' says Sen. Richard Burr (R-N..C.), in the GOP's response today.

See the text of the president's address here:

by Mark Silva and updated

Once a senator always a senator.

It takes getting used to -- the White House -- we understand.

But President Barack Obama's staff apparently still is getting accustomed to the new surroundings, judging from the title on this week's Internet address on the White House Web-site:this morning:

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
Washington, DC

"Two years ago, we set out on a journey to change the way that Washington works....'' the address begins.

We figured they'd be changing that title soon, too.

And they did. Sometime around 9 am EST, "change'' came:

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
Washington, DC

by Frank James

The optimistic economic assumptions in President Barack Obama's budget overview now seem like a cruel joke after yesterday's GDP report that the economy contracted by 6.2 percent in 2008's fourth-quarter.

The Obama Administration's growth assumptions are significantly rosier than forecasts by the nation's top economists, something many critics pointed out when the document was released Thursday.

The administration envisions the economy contracting just 1.2 percent this year, then growing at rates of 3.2 percent, 4.0 percent and 4.6 percent in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively.

Maybe the economy will snap back to the degree the administration assumes. But we have clearly entered a hope-for-the-best, plan-for-the-worst period in the nation's, and the world's, economic history.

An interview aired yesterday on National Public Radio's Marketplace program captured the appropriate attitude. Host Kai Ryssdal asked Barry Bosworth, an economist at the Brookings Institution about the administration's economic assumptions in light of the most recent GDP reading.

Not only is the administration probably too upbeat, Bosworth said, but it also needs to catch up with the fact that its agenda has been blasted to pieces by the economy.

by Mark Silva and updated

President Barack Obama, wearing a black collarless shirt and slacks with a collared black jacket, left the White House tonight for a night of bigtime basketball in downtown Washington.

The presidential motorcade reached the Verizon Center arena in five minutes, entering through a loading dock.

The president arrived on the arena floor this evening, taking his courtside seat opposite the Wizards' bench amid general pandemonium.

He was taking in the evening's Bulls-Wizards contest with Chicago friend Marty Nesbitt.

The president's adopted hometown Wahington team had seized a 27-18 lead over the president's hometown Chicago team after the first quarter, powered by 13 points from forward Antawn Jamison.

With 45 seconds left in the first half, the president left his courtside seat for the owner's box, two dozen rows behind the team benches.

Throughout halftime, people seated in the section in front of the owner's suite stood with their backs to the floor, oblivious to the halftime act.

White House staff, including senior adviser David Axelrod, speechwriter Jon Favreau and presidential personal assistant Reggie Love, sat near the president's courtside vantage, six rows behind a basket.

After two quarters, the Bulls had cut their game deficit to 45-49, with optimistic Chicago fans projecting a surplus by the end of the fourth quarter.

The president, for his part, has vowed to cut the deficit in half. But by the end of the game, things were not looking so Bullish.

(Photo of Bulls-fan-in-chief with a beverage: Gerald Herbert / AP)

by Mark Silva

There comes a time when all the fashion and popular magazines' obsessions with the arms of the first lady become, well, secondary to the White House's own portrayal of the sleeveless new occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Michelle Obama, who has graced the cover of first Vogue magazine, in a photo shoot by Annie Liebovitz, and now People magazine, sans sleeves, clearly is proud of the workout her arms have gotten.

But when the White House itself produces an official photograph of the first lady sleeveless (pictured here at the right) it's clear that it is not merely the photo editors at Vogue and People who think the president's wife has something going on with her arms.

This is a White House, of course, that wants to keep arm's length from lobbyists who might carry the persuasions of their former, or future, employers into the administration.

But this also is a White House in which President Barack Obama has appeared in his own shirtsleeves, sans suit coat, to the chagrin of the former Bush administration, which, of course, had its shirtsleeve moments as well.

This also is a White House that hoped to set a new "tone'' in Washington.

It starts at home, with the toning of the limbs, perhaps.

Nothing wrong there.

The popular magazines will produce only the photos for which their models are willing to pose, remember.

Consent granted.

And the White House has complete control over the photos of the first family that it releases.

Executive consent.

And what does this all mean?

Well, nothing.

Except...

Thank God it's Friday.

by Frank James

After Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's speech Tuesday night, the Republican response to President Barack Obama's address to Congress, it was obvious that reporters and bloggers would be checking out Jindal's Sheriff Harry Lee story.

It was the tale of how, as a congressman in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he metaphorically locked arms with the Louisiana county sheriff against an idiotic government bureaucrat impeding storm-victim rescues.

And sure enough, bloggers and reporters took up the challenge and pretty much blew up the story.

TPM Muckraker sums it up in this excerpt:

Looks like the game is up.

Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday night -- about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue stranded victims?

Turns out it wasn't actually, you know, true.

In the last few days, first Daily Kos, and then TPMmuckraker, raised serious questions about the story, based in part on the fact that no news reports we could find place Jindal in the affected area at the specific time at issue.

Jindal had described being in the office of Sheriff Harry Lee "during Katrina," and hearing him yelling into the phone at a government bureaucrat who was refusing to let him send volunteer boats out to rescue stranded storm victims, because they didn't have the necessary permits. Jindal said he told Lee, "that's ridiculous," prompting Lee to tell the bureaucrat that the rescue effort would go ahead and he or she could arrest both Lee and Jindal.

by Mark Silva

"I've got a full plate,'' says President Barack Obama, asked if he feels "burdened'' by that presidential platter.

"I think that we are at an extraordinary moment that is full or peril but full of possibility and I think that's the time you want to be president,'' the president tells Jim Lehrer of the Newshour, in the interview of the president that PBS is airing this evening. While a lot of that talk focuses on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of it focuses on the breadth of the challenge that confronts the president.

"I think there's a sense that right now we are having to make some very big decisions that will help determine the direction of this country and in ways large and small the direction of the world for the next generation,'' he says. "And I won't lie to you. I wish that they weren't all having to be made at once. It would nice to be able to stage them on one another.

(Chicago Tribune photos By Bob Fila)

by Frank James

The soon-to-be-ex-mayor of Los Alamitos, Calif. sounds like he's maybe not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Not only did he e-mail a doctored photo of the White House South Lawn covered in watermelons under the words: "No Easter egg hunt this year" but he then came up with a lame explanation of what happened.

According to the Associated Press:

Grose said he didn't mean to offend anyone and claimed he was unaware of the racial stereotype linking black people with eating watermelons.

Ahem, Mayor Grose, if you were unaware of the stereotype then what made the e-mail worth sending out?

He did the honorable thing by announcing his plan to resign Monday.

But he ruined a good apology and his fall onto his sword with his laughable explanation.

Here's an AP excerpt:

Grose came under fire for sending the picture to what he called "a small group of friends." One of the recipients, a local businesswoman and city volunteer, publicly scolded the mayor for his actions.

Grose says he accepts that the e-mail was in poor taste and has affected his ability to lead the city. Grose said he didn't mean to offend anyone and claimed he was unaware of the racial stereotype linking black people with eating watermelons.

by Mark Silva

President Barack Obama, who spelled out his plans for withdrawing American troops from Iraq today, says he went to the Marines' Camp Lejeune for the announcement both to thank the troops and "to be very clear about our plans in Iraq, and that we are going to bring this war to an end.''

At the same time, Obama is boosting the American deployment in Afghanistan, even while he conducts a "soup to nuts'' review of the situation there to see what the best way forward may be. In Afghanistan, Obama says, he also is looking for "a clear exit strategy.''

Asked if the American invasion of Iraq, which he opposed as a state senator with no vote on the matter at the time was worthwhile, in retrospect, Obama says: "I think we can say without equivocation that our military was successful.''

Was it worth the more than 4,000 American lives lost, tens of thousands of casualties and many more Iraqis killed?

"Well, you know, I don't want to look backwards,'' Obama says in an interview with Jim Lehrer of the Newshour, which PBS will air this evening. "As you know, I opposed this war, I did not think it was the right decision, but I don't want to in any way diminish the enormous sacrifices that have been made by our men and women in uniform....

"I will tell you that the most sobering things that I do as president relate to the deployment of these young men and women,'' Obama tells Lehrer. "Signing letters of those who have fallen in battle, it is a constant reminder of how critical these decisions are and the importance of the Commander in Chief, Congress, all of us who are in positions of power to make sure that we have thought through these decisions free of politics and we are doing what's necessary for the safety and security of the American people.''

The Iraq withdrawal was announced at a Marine base that will be deploying an expeditionary force of about 8,000 to Afghanistan this Spring, as part of a plan to boost the U.S. deployment there by 17,000. And Obama, interviewed by Lehrer at the base, spoke to this.

by Frank James

They sure do have a sense of humor at the Conservative Political Action Committee, or C-PAC's annual gathering this week in Washington.

After Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association executive director, finished a red-hot speech in which he castigated members of the Obama Administration he viewed as anti-gun, the musical selection he was played off the stage with was 1965's "Shotgun" by Jr. Walker and the All-Stars which starts with the lyrics:

"I said, shotgun
Shoot 'em 'fore he runs, now"

Then, Steve Gill, a radio talk show host, introduced a panel which kept to the moment's Second Amendment theme by tackling the rather loaded topic: "Will Congress take your guns?"

Speaking of loaded, before making the introductions, Gill said: "One of my gun-owning buddies pointed out that if they're coming for his, he wants to remind them that his are loaded and cocked."

That buddy gets an "F" for gun safety.

by Mark Silva

President Barack Obama has made his call on the war in Iraq.

And today, he called former President George W. Bush about it.

Obama telephoned both Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq, and Bush, who led the U.S. into war in Iraq nearly six years ago, before standing up at a Marine base today to announce his plans for withdrawing American troops from Iraq.

Obama called al-Maliki from Air Force One en route to Camp Lejuene, according to the White House, and he called Bush from the base in North Carolina shortly before stepping on stage to spell out his plans.

It was a courtesy call, the White House said.

"Next month will mark the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq,'' Obama told the Marines. "By any measure, this has already been a long war.

"Many of you have endured tour after tour after tour of duty. You've known the dangers of combat and the lonely distance from loved ones. You have fought against tyranny and disorder. You have bled for your best friends and for unknown Iraqis...

"Today I've come to speak to you about how the war in Iraq will end,'' said Obama, voicing some words that will stand out in history. There was no word, however, about the conversation from the other end of the phone line with the former president who ordered the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March of 2003.

(Photo of former President George W. Bush in a limousine in Dallas by Tony Guitierrez / AP)

by Mark Silva

The GOP is making hay of the fact that Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, will attend the 10th annual "State of the Black Union'' forum staged by commentator Tavis Smiley of radio and TV on Saturday in Los Angeles - and that he is the first RNC chairman to do so.

Considering that Steele is the first African-American chairman of the RNC, and considering the fact that he attended last year's forum as a panelist, this shouldn't be very surprising.

Then again, even Barack Obama, then seeking to become the first African-American nominee for president of any major political party, skipped last year's State of the Black Union forum in New Orleans - Obama, now the first African-American president, was busy campaigning in his party's primaries, and not particularly interested in portraying himself as the black candidate.

So it's possible that Steele may draw some comparisons between his presence this year and Obama's absence last year. The chairman will hold a press conference before the forum at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Saturday morning - a sure sign that he has something to say.

by Mark Silva

In the political field, any poll taken far away from Election Day is a game of name-recognition.

And this is as close to far-away as one can get from the presidential election of 2012.

So what do Republicans say about election?

Palin. Huckabee. Romney.

Asked by Opinion Research Corp. and CNN to name the Republican whom they would be most likely to support in '12, Republicans lined up with:

-- Alaska Governor Sarah Palin: 29%
-- Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee: 26%
-- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: 21%
-- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal: 9%
-- Someone else: 10%

Notice that none of the three hold any sort of commanding lead for the attention of Republicans surveyed about a potential contest with President Barack Obama, seeking reelection three-plus years from now. And notice that "the rising star'' of the GOP, Louisiana's Jindal, is a single-digit contender in this survey.

by Julian E. Barnes

President Barack Obama announced today that he will pull the majority of U.S. military forces from Iraq by August 2010, fulfilling his campaign pledge to wind down the Iraq war -- but leaving a substantial residual force behind.

The force of between 35,000 and 50,000 troops will be charged with advising Iraqi units, protecting civilian advisors and officials and conducting counter-terrorism missions. That force will exit the country by the end of 2011.

Ironically, the announcement drew praise from Obama's election opponent, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and criticism from his Democratic allies in Congress who think the remaining force will be too large. And the Marines whom Obama addressed today applauded his announcement of troop withdrawals.

Obama said the U.S. would not be able to achieve a perfect peace in Iraq, but the time had come to shift the burden on to protecting the country to its own government.

"The United States will pursue a new strategy to end the war in Iraq through a transition to full Iraqi responsibility," Obama said in an appearance at a Marine base, Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina today. "This strategy is grounded in a clear and achievable goal shared by the Iraqi people and the American people: an Iraq that is sovereign, stable, and self-reliant."

Although Obama has been a fierce critic of the war in Iraq, opposing it from the beginning, today he took pains to praise the military's performance.

"For the men and women of America's armed forces - and for your families - this war has been one of the most extraordinary chapters of service in the history of our nation," Obama said. "You have endured tour after tour after tour of duty. You have known the dangers of combat and the lonely distance of loved ones. You have fought against tyranny and disorder."

(The Marines at Camp Lejeune applauded President Barack Obama, pictured above announcing the troop withdrawal from Iraq, and they applauded him when he pledged to boost their pay. AP photo by Gerry Broome.)

by Mark Silva

Sen. Judd Gregg could have been in the Obama Cabinet.

If he were, the New Hampshire Republican whom President Barack Obama nominated for Commerce secretary only to see Gregg withdraw over irreconcilable political differences, would face a lot more pressure today to explain a business dealing which the Associated Press has unveiled:

Gregg steered federal tax dollars to his home state's redevelopment of a former Air Force Base even as he and his brother engaged in real estate deals on the property, the AP's Sharon Theimer reports -- also reporting that Gregg says the business dealings had nothing to do with his withdrawal from a Cabinet nomination.

"Gregg (R-N.H.) has personally invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in Cyrus Gregg's office projects at the Pease International Tradeport, a Portsmouth business park built at the defunct Pease Air Force Base, once home to nuclear bombers,'' the report notes. "Judd Gregg has collected at least $240,017 to $651,801 from his investments there, Senate records show, while helping to arrange at least $66 million in federal aid for the former base.

"Gregg said he violated no laws or Senate rules. In a statement (today) he said all the federal money he steered to Pease had been requested by the National Guard, the city of Portsmouth or its mayor or other public officials "and did not involve my initiative but only my support of the requests."

Gregg not only withdrew from consideration for the Cabinet position of secretary of Commerce, potentially one of two Republicans on Obama's Cabinet, but also stepped up this week to speak for his party in opposition to Obama's proposed new $3.55-trillion budget as a runaway spending spree and deficit-buster.

Obama this week named Gary Locke, former governor of Washington state, as his Commerce nominee. The White House is probably just as happy to have Gregg on the other side of the fence criticizing the budget, in light of the news about business dealings that an erstwhile Cabinet member would have to explain.

by Mark Silva

The youngest at everything:

Rep. Aaron Shock, the Peoria Republican who became the youngest member of the House of Representatives this year, gets the star treatment today on the Today Show.

President Barack Obama calls him "a very talented young man.''

Schock already has been declared "the hottest freshman,'' and now this:

"He's only 27,'' NBC's Jamie Gangel says, "but don't be fooled by Aaron Shock's age or that he may look a little familiar. He's a rising star in the Republican Party who's been winning elections for a very long time. Aaron Shock is used to being the youngest. At 19, the youngest school board member.''

As young as he is, coverage like this never gets old for a congressman. See the Schock interview above, and the transcript below:

by Julian E. Barnes

President Barack Obama is set to announce today that he will pull the majority of U.S. military forces from Iraq by August 2010, fulfilling his campaign pledge to wind down the Iraq war.

But the plan will leave a substantial force in Iraq after the middle of next year, between 35,000 and 50,000 troops charged with advising Iraqi units, protecting civilian advisors and officials and conducting counter-terrorism missions.

Officials insisted that, with the exception of limited counter-terrorism operations, combat operations would cease after August of next year, the remaining force to be renamed an advisory force.

Administration officials said they would leave the timing of the precise withdrawals to Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Odierno is likely to withdraw only limited amounts of U.S. forces before the Iraqi national elections later this year, waiting until 2010 to withdraw the bulk of American forces.

"There was a focus on the elections," said a senior administration official. "Gen. Odierno thought it important to have a substantial force on the ground to get through the election."

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the president's 11:25 a.m. EST announcement at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The stage for the president's announcement today represents a shifting military stance for the U.S.: While the military draws down forces in Iraq, it will be increasing its deployment in Afghanistan, and about 8,000 Marines will deploy to Afghanistan from Camp Lejeune this Spring.

by Mark Silva

WD-40.

Flashlights, batteries and some night-lights.

That's what former President George W. Bush picked up in a recent stop at Elliot's Hardware in Dallas, the store in the retired president's newfound hometown that had made the former commander-in-chief a tongue-in-cheek offer of a job as a door-greeter.

"I'm looking for a job,'' Bush joked as he walked into the store last weekend, according to Andrea Bond, manager there.

The former president spent an hour shopping and mingling with customers during the surprise stop. He bought a few flashlights, nightlights batteries and a can of WD-40.

The Bushes have settled into a new home in the Preston Hollow area of Dallas, where the George W. Bush presidential library will be built - on the leafy campus of Southern Methodist University, alma mater of former First Lady Laura Bush.

Seeing as we had reported on the Dallas hardware store's job offer to Bush here in the Swamp, we thought it was worth noting that he showed up for the interview.

by Frank James

The economy appears to be even sicker than many people thought.

The gross domestic product fell at a 6.2 percent annual rate in last year's fourth quarter, with declining U.S. exports and consumer spending driving the economy's performance ever downward, according to the Commerce Department.

It's the worst contraction of the economy since 1982's first quarter, the Reagan years, when the economy shrank at a 6.4 percent rate.

Today's report should give the Obama Administration and the congressional Democrats who pushed for the $787 billion economic stimulus package that just became law even more ammunition. On the other hand, it likely makes the argument advanced by many Republicans that it contained too much spending a tougher sell.

One reason for that is contained in the report:

"The decrease in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected negative contributions from exports, personal consumption expenditures, equipment and software, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by a positive contribution from federal government spending."

So without the federal government's spending, the economy would have shrunk more, perhaps exceeding the 1982 mark. Either way, it's a very ugly report.

Here's an excerpt from the Commerce Department's report:

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- decreased at an annual rate of 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP decreased 0.5 percent.

by Jim Puzzanghera

The Obama administration announced this morning that it would increase its ownership stake in Citigroup as it tries to keep the struggling financial giant afloat.

The Treasury Department said it has offered to convert up to $25 billion of the government's $45 billion in preferred stock into common stock at Citi's request. The move would require no additional money from the federal government, but would improve the company's balance sheet as it tries to weather the recession and billions in toxic assets on its books.

"Citigroup is planning to strengthen its capital structure through conversion of a significant portion of its preferred securities to common equity in a series of exchange offers," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The deal is contingent on Citi reaching a similar deal with other preferred shareholders. Treasury would convert its preferred shares to match the amount that other preferred shareholders convert, up to $25 billion, at the most favorable terms which any other shareholder reaches.

Citi said the U.S. would convert its preferred shares at a price of $3.25 for each common share. The stock closed Thursday at $2.46 per share.

Citi said this morning the deal would boost the government's ownership stake in the company to 36%. Citi Chief Executive Vikram Pandit will remain in his job, but the Treasury Department said the company board will be altered "as soon as feasible" so that a majority will be new, independent directors.

by Mark Silva and updated with reaction

Rush Limbaugh, with the face made for radio, will be the voice of the Republican Party, if Democrats have anything to say about it in their campaign against Republicans balking at President Barack Obama's economic strategy. But the Democrats appear to be doing anything they can to take the focus of their "spending binge,'' the GOP says.

The GOP is the party of "no'' -- that's the message of the chorus of "nos'' from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader John Boehner and others featured in a new union-backed cable TV ad suggesting that the director of the choir is Limbaugh, the conservative radio commentator.

Obama himself hoisted Limbaugh's profile by acknowledging the loyal opposition. Now Democratic strategists James Carville and Paul Begala are behind a public relations bid to make Limbaugh the face of a GOP aligned almost unanimously against Obama's economic agenda.

With a cable TV ad entitled "No,'' the Democrats are airing Limbaugh on national cable networks and in Washington, D.C. "Rush Limbaugh is the leader of the Republican Party - he says jump and they say how high," says Brad Woodhouse, tincoming communications director of the Democratic National Committee.

"The vast majority of Americans want Obama to succeed and they know that if he fails, America fails," Woodhouse says. "Republicans have adopted this strategy, and this ad and a bunch of other stuff our side is planning is going to make them own it, and Limbaugh."

"The Democrats are running a permanent campaign rather than doing the bipartisan work of governing,'' Alex Conant, spokesman for the Republican National Committee, tells the Swamp. "These ads are part of the Democrats' larger strategy to do something, anything, to try to take the focus of their massive spending binge."

by Janet Hook

Just a month into his presidency, Barack Obama is calling for the most dramatic change in decades in the way the country tackles its most pressing problems - from the economy and healthcare to energy, education and taxes. Government, he says, must take the lead -- do things big, and do them now.

Not since Lyndon Johnson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt has a president moved to expand the role of government so much on so many fronts - and with such a demanding sense of urgency.

The scope of Obamas ambition was laid bare in the budget blueprint issued Thursday. It would raise taxes, redistribute income, spend more on social programs than on defense, and implement policies that touch almost every aspect of Americans' lives - their banks, health care, schools, even the air they breathe.

Even more stark than the breadth and scale of Obama's proposals was his determination to break with the conservative principles that have dominated national politicis and policy-making since President Reagan's election in 1980. (Deleting x x x but with the modest prescriptions for change embraced by Bill Clinton - the only other Democrat to occupy the White House thereafter.)

"It changes the whole paradigm," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) "We're going to have a government that helps people."

Indeed, Obama's budget plan asserts that, in some areas, government can do a better job that private enterprise and do it for less. For instance, he argues, Washington can provide loans to college students just as efficiently and at lower cost than the private lenders who now dominate the field.

And, after years of steady growth in the share of the nation's wealth owned by its most affluent citizens, Obama is calling for tax changes that would require high-income taxpayers to shoulder more of the load - including limits on their ability to deduct mortgage interest payments.

by Greg Miller

The Senate Intelligence Committee is preparing to launch an investigation of the CIA's detention and interrogation programs under former President Bush, setting the stage for a sweeping examination of some of most secretive and controversial operations in recent agency history.

The probe is aimed at uncovering new information on the origins of the programs as well as scrutinizing how they were executed -- from the conditions at clandestine CIA prison sites to the interrogation regimens used to break Al Qaeda prisoners, according to Senate aides familiar with the inquiry plans.

Officials said the inquiry is not designed to determine whether CIA officials broke laws. "The purpose here is to do fact-finding in order to learn lessons from the programs and see if there are recommendations to be made for detention and interrogations in the future," said a senior Senate aide, who like others, described the plans on condition of anonymity because they have not been made public.

Still, the investigation is likely call new attention to the agency's conduct in operations that drew condemnation around the world. It is also bound to renew frictions between Democrats and Republicans who have spent much of the past five years fighting over the Bush administration's prosecution of the war on terror.

The investigation also could draw comparisons to the special Senate committee formed to investigate the CIA in 1975 and headed by Sen. Frank Church, an Idaho Democrat. Revelations by the Church Committee led to greater congressional oversight and legislation restricting intelligence activities.

The terms and scope of the new inquiry still were being negotiated by members of the committee and senior staff Thursday. The senior aide said committee had no short-term plans to hold public hearings, and that it was not clear whether the panel would release its final report to the public.

The inquiry, which could take a year or more to complete, means the CIA will once again be the target of intense congressional scrutiny at a time when it is engaged in two wars and its ongoing pursuit of Al Qaeda.

by Noam Levey

Taking another step into the abortion debate, the Obama administration today will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows healthcare workers to deny abortion counseling or other family planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs, according to administration officials.

The roll-back of the so-called "conscience rule" comes just two months after the Bush administration announced it late last year in one of its final policy initiatives.

The new administration's action seems certain to stoke ideological battles between supporters and opponents of abortion rights over the responsibilities of doctors, nurses and other medical workers to their patients.

Seven states, including California, Illinois and Connecticut, as well as two family planning groups, have filed lawsuits challenging the Bush rule, arguing it sacrifices the health of patients to religious beliefs of medical providers.

The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology has reported cases such as that of a Virginia mother of two became pregnant because she was denied emergency contraception. In Texas, according to the group, a rape victim found her prescription for emergency contraception rejected by a pharmacist.

Supporters of the rule say it protects doctors who should not be forced to prescribe treatments like birth control pills or the so-called morning-after pill.

Obama - a longtime supporter of abortion rights - has been expected to reverse a number of Bush era policies restricting access to family planning services.

But the new president has also been very sensitive to the explosiveness of the reproductive rights issue.

by Mark Silva

Think of this as the post-Iraq war world.

The world in which the Washington-arriving prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, made his career in opposition to the government of John Howard, who was a solid ally in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with former President George W. Bush.

Rudd will visit the White House on Mar. 24. "Australia is a close ally of the United States,'' the Obama White House notes. "The two leaders will consult on effective measures to respond to the global financial crisis, as well as Afghanistan, climate change, nuclear nonproliferation, and other issues.''

Former Vice President Dick Cheney dropped in on then-PM Howard in Sydney, in a globe-encircling tour that also carried him to Afghanistan, two years ago. Cheney also set aside some time then to meet with Rudd, then the opposition leader. Howard's war, like Bush's war, had lost favor at home. Howard was one of Bush's last visitors in D.C.

As the Obama administration starts withdrawing most American troops from Iraq over the next many months -- too many months, for some critics, and not enough troops, for yet others -- the new president is meeting with the successors of former war allies -- such as Gordon Brown, the British prime minister who succeeded the PM, Tony Blair, who had grown so loyal to Bush and the war in Iraq that the press back home had taken to calling him Bush's "poodle,'' and leaders such as President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who, like his counterpart in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel, represents a government that never wanted any part of the war in Iraq.

Obama will travel to the summit of the Group of 20 industrial nations in April where the new president will share much in common with the leaders of a post Iraq-war world.

In the meantime, the president who campaigned with a promise to withdraw the U.S. from Iraq will play host to Rudd -- and learn that they speak the same language.

(Video of Randy Newman performing Political Sciece.)

by Mark Silva

The great, and disenfranchised, capital of the United States of America is looking at a long-sought dream today: The right to vote.

For a member of Congress, that is.

They just cannot have tough control - everything, in Washington, is a question of compromise.

The District of Columbia, long excluded from a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, inched closer today, with a vote of the Senate to give Washingtonians voting rights. President Barack Obama has said he would sign such a bill - though the issue is inevitably bound for the Supreme Court if Congress approves this.

Residents of the federal district have been fighting for voting rights since 1801, when Congress took control of the newly created capital.

It wasn't until 1964 that D.C. residents were able to vote in presidential elections, and it took nearly another decade for Congress to pass the Home Rule Act, permitting the direct election of a mayor and other city officials.

The district has a longtime delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, but she can only vote in House committees, not on the floor.

by Mark Silva

Today, on the day that the Rocky Mountain News announces that it will be printing its final edition on Friday, it's worth considering what freedom of the press - and the proliferation of a strong press - has done for democracy in America.

Today, we also have freedom of the Web.

And increasingly, Americans, free to roam like the buffalo, are turning to the Internet for their news.

Before anyone celebrates the decline of newspaper readership and the increase in Internet viewership, it's worth considering the financial resources that strong newspapers and magazines bring to bear in the investigation of corruption in government, wrongdoing in private life and abuse of power in general.

The business model of the Web-site and the resources it takes to publish one aren't likely to sustain the sort of prize-winning journalism that Americans have come to cherish as a national tradition and indeed expectation. There are several strong newspapers behind this Web-site, for instance - struggling with the economic troubles that have besieged the national in general, for sure, yet still robust enough to deliver the sort of journalism that brought to light the corruption of the former governor of Illinois.

The Pew Research Center has found that, among those surveyed last year, just 39 percent of Americans said they had read a newspaper the day before, either in print or online. That was down from 43 percent in 39 percent in 2006.

The proportion reporting that they had read solely a print version of a newspaper fell by roughly a quarter, from 34 to 25 percent. And the 14 percent of Americans who said they had read a newspaper online was up 9 percent.

by Mark Silva

Sorry, we have no dog news today.

No bones to pick with the White House over the pick of the first pup. But you'll wish we were talking about Labradoodles when you get done with this posting.

But, yes, it is midafternoon again here in the Swamp, and, in the interest of saving you from that perilous afternoon sinking spell, we thought we'd check in with the world's most-pierced woman.

Elaine Davidson, born in Brazil, lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She first made the Guinness World Record book in 2000 with 462 body-piercings:192 in her face.

She is attempting to prevent any competition for the honor: She now claims 6,005 body-piercings, including 500 which she calls "internal."

OK, now go back to work.

by Mark Silva

As flag-draped coffins came home from the war in Iraq, the Bush administration shielded them from public view, forbidding news photography.

The Obama administration's Defense Department is changing course.

The arrival of each casualty of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at an Air Force Base in Dover, Del., is a solemn occasion - and the subject of a new feature film about a Marine who volunteers to escort one of the war dead home.

President Barack Obama, who pens a personal note to the families of every war victim, will allow news photography of the returning caskets, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who straddled both administrations, plans to announce today.

Public opinion is with the president on this one, according to results of a poll released today by Opinion Research Corp. and CNN.

"When the remains of U.S. troops who were killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are flown back to the U.S., brief ceremonies are held when the caskets are taken off the plane at an Air Force base,'' the pollster asked. "Do you think the government should or should not allow the public to see pictures of those events on TV, in newspapers, and on websites?''

Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed said the public should be allowed to see pictures in the media, and 31 said no. Just 1 percent voiced no opinion.

The survey of 1,046 adults taken Feb. 18-19 carries a 3 percent margin of error.

Kevin Bacon plays the film role of Marine Lt. Col. Mike Strobl of Quantico, who volunteered to escort the body of Chance Phelps, a 19-year old lance corporal who was killed in Iraq on April 9, 2004, from Dover Air Force Base to his final resting place in Dubois, Wyo.

by Mark Silva

Record spending, record deficits - the president's proposed new federal budget offers Republican critics plenty of fodder.

Broken records - that's what the Republicans are starting to sound like, according to former President Bill Clinton.

"The era of big government is back, and Democrats want you to pay for it," House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio said today at a news conference on President Barack Obama's $3.55 trillion budget for 2010. Obama, Boehner suggested, is starting to make former President George W. Bush "look like a piker when it comes to spending."

Republicans aren't taking <strong>Obama's plans to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans - the first such increase in 16 years - too kindly.

That's what Clinton did.

For his part, Clinton suggests that the GOP is in such a deep hole that the party's only prayer is to get in line with Obama's agenda for now and try to articulate a reality-based alternative vision over the long term.

"Their only shot to get back in this debate is to look like they're willing to cooperate with him now, and then to develop alternative ideas,'' the <strong>former president said in an interview with The Plum Line. "Newt Gingrich even recognized that, that's why he ran on that Contract with America. It's just that he still had a country which was still vulnerable to the appeals of the Republican right. [People are] just not there anymore. ''

Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, third-ranking House Republican leader, says Obama can expect unified opposition to his proposed tax increase on the top-earning Americans -- about half of those earning $250,000 are small-business owners, and the proposed increase will stifle the slackening economy, he says.

""There will be overwhelming opposition from the American people and House Republicans to the idea that we should raise taxes during a recession," Pence told Bloomberg News in an interview. "Raising taxes in a recession is not a strategy for recovery."

by Mark Silva

A budget, any budget, is based on assumptions.

And the $3.55-trillion budget that President Barack Obama unveiled today - combined with his projections of the government's ability to finance health care for more Americans and other new initiatives in the years ahead - is based on an assumptions:

The American economy will be improving - not far over the horizon, for that matter.

The Obama administration is betting on it.

And they have some "inside information,'' one of the president's advisors joked today - they knew where their economic stimulus plan was headed as they put together the president's first federal budget, and of course are placing faith in the power of that plan to stir the economy, create jobs and raise revenue for the government.

"We have a lot of inside information, right?'' said Christina Romer, chair of the president's council of economic advisers.

"We knew what the plan was we were going to put in
place,'' she said. "And I think that was something I was trying to anticipate, the sense that we knew a recovery -- we had a good sense of what the stimulus package would look like.''

"I should say,'' Obama budget director Peter Orszag gently added with a little bit of a Wall Street humor soon after her comment, "we may have had inside information, but we didn't trade on it.''

These assumptions include such things as economic growth, and unemployment - with the White House saying it will come down somewhat in 2010 - albeit "only slightly'' - and then it will fall "much more rapidly'' in 2011-12.

by Mark Silva

Taxing motorists by the miles driven, as opposed to gallons of gas consumed, is the way to go - according to a federal commission's report today.

Trouble is, the White House already has deemed the idea of a Vehicle Mileage Traveled tax "a no go'' -- the words of the White House press secretary the day it was reported that the president's transportation secretary was talking up the VMT tax.

"The White House was somewhat premature'' in its reaction to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's creative thing, says Robert Atkinson, chairman of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission mileage plan.

The nation's reliance on gas taxes is unsustainable and "likely to erode more quickly than previously thought," the commission's report released today says.

Spending per mile traveled has dropped almost 50 percent, adjusted for inflation, since the Highway Trust Fund was created in the late 1950s.

The VMT tax requires an eyebrow-raising Global Positioning Satellite-tracked device in the cars people drive, though in Oregon, where they have road-tested the idea, the state was tracking miles traveled, not the locations of motorists.

"It's absolutely critical that we look at it,'' Atkinson told Bloomberg News in an interview. "The members of Congress that are committed to a robust transportation system are certainly very aware of the risks of that system not having as much money as it needs because of the stated policy of the Obama administration."

The 15-member commission recommends that the nation switch to a VMT tax that rises with inflation and phase out the gas tax by 2020. The panel also says the gas tax should be boosted in the meantime by as much as 10 cents a gallon, or 54 percent. The tax has been 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993 - but the government recently had to pump $8 billion into the highway fund to offset tax shortfalls.

by Mark Silva and Julian Barnes and updated

President Barack Obama, proposing his first new budget today - a $3.55-trillion plan delivering new record levels in both federal spending and deficits - called on Congress to make a commitment to not only fiscal responsibility in the coming year, but also healthcare for more Americans - and new taxes for the wealthiest - in the years ahead.

"In the end, a budget is more than simply numbers on a page,'' the president said this morning. "It is a measure of how well we are living up to our obligations.''

While the president is touting "a new era of responsibility'' with this budget, a theme resonant of his inaugural address last month, the short-term gap between what the federal government collects in revenue and what it is spending reaches a soaring level this year: A runaway record, $1.75-trillion annual deficit. The budget envisions a deficit of $1.17 trillion in 2010.

The president also is pledging to cut the deficit in half by the end of his four-year term, to $533 billion in the 2013 budget year - leaving a gap still larger than the record budget deficits recorded by his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, and Congress. The deficit for 2008 stood at $459 billion, a record then. This year's: $1.752 trillion.

The president proposes $2 trillion cuts in spending over the coming decade to help restore a not-quite-near-balance in spending and revenue.

"Having inherited a trillion-dollar deficit that will take a long time to close, we have to focus on what will move the economy forward,'' Obama said today. "I don't think we can continue on our current course... that means cutting what we don't need to pay for what we do.''

In a brief statement from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, headquarters for the presidential budget office where Obama's aides will roll out the broad outline of their new, $3.55-trillion-plus spending plan for 2010 today, the president said that he is delivering an "honest'' budget.

"For too long our budget has not told the whole truth of how our precious tax dollars are spent,'' said Obama, who is including the costs of the war in Iraq in his spending plan - Bush sought and won supplemental funding for the war outside of the budget. "We need to be honest with ourselves about what costs are being racked up.''

"We are winding down the war,'' Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag noted today, "and that will reduce costs over time.''

See the White House's budget summary and read on here:

by Mark Silva

The plot thickens for Sen. Roland Burris, appointed to the Senate from Illinois by the former, impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, for whom Burris tried to raise campaign funds.

Burris' son landed a $75,000-a-year state job under Blagojevich five months ago, our competitors at the Chicago Sun-Times report. Not just any state job: A lawyer's job at the state housing authority - for someone whose own home has gone into foreclosure.

How's this for a lede:

"The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

"Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10 -- about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house.

A nod to Chris Fusco, Tim Novak and Dave McKinney for a story that is sure to drive that steamroller known as the Burris-must-quit train. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has called on the senator to resign, senior Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois has suggested that he quit, too. And state Att'y Gen. Lisa Madigan says it's OK to hold a special election.

At least the senator's son has a job.

by Mark Silva

Day Two of the Bobby Jindal-Kenneth from 30 Rock comparisons.

Since some have compared the Louisiana governor to Jack McBrayer's "Kenneth the Page" character on the NBC comedy following Jindal's televised response to the president's address to Congress this week, McBrayer appeared on Jimmy Fallon's Late Night to respond.

As Kenneth,.

by Frank James

Oh no Karl Rove didn't.

Rove criticizes President Barack Obama for using "straw man" arguments, the rhetorical practice of attributing a cartoonish version of a political position to your opponent then knocking it down.

In a Wall Street Journal piece Rove, former President George W. Bush's chief political strategist, opines:

Even in an ostensibly nonpartisan speech marking Lincoln's 200th birthday, Mr. Obama used a straw-man argument, decrying "a philosophy that says every problem can be solved if only government would step out of the way; that if government were just dismantled, divvied up into tax breaks, and handed out to the wealthiest among us, it would somehow benefit us all. Such knee-jerk disdain for government -- this constant rejection of any common endeavor -- cannot rebuild our levees or our roads or our bridges."

Whose philosophy is this? Many Americans justifiably believe that government is too big and often acts in counterproductive ways. But that's a far cry from believing that in "every" case government is the problem or that government should be "dismantled" root and branch. Who -- other than an anarchist -- "constantly rejects any common endeavor" like building levees, roads or bridges?

... Mr. Obama portrays himself as a nonideological, bipartisan voice of reason. Everyone resorts to straw men occasionally, but Mr. Obama's persistent use of the device is troubling. Continually characterizing those who disagree with you in a fundamentally dishonest way can be the sign of a person who lacks confidence in the merits of his ideas.

First off, the president Rove once worked for used straw men so often his speeches were a risk to anyone with hay fever.

by Mark Silva

So an interview of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow may sound something like an interview of former Vice President Dick Cheney by FOX News' Sean Hannity.

Cue the choir.

President Barack Obama is "legislatively ambitious,'' Maddow said at the start of the interview aired last night on The Rachel Maddow Show, asking if the president's stated goal of starting on health care reform this year is feasible.

"That's a priority of the president of the United States,'' said Pelosi (D-Calif.) "It has always been a priority for the Democrats...

"If you're going have entitlement reform, you must have health care reform... and it's an economic issue.... It's a national debate for our country. We have to bring people together.''

It would be great to have the Republicans on board, the speaker said. "We should strive for that.''

And if they're not on board?

"Hopefully... the strategy is so clear and the results are so promising that the American people will insist that their representatives vote for it.'

by Mark Silva

Will Wonder never cease?

"Love was in the air at the White House,'' the faithful pool reporter reports from last night's appearance of Stevie Wonder in performance in the East Room of the White House. And here are some notes to prove it:

First Lady Michelle Obama, explaining that she had grown up listening to Stevie Wonder's music with her grandfather, told the audience that, years later, she "discovered what Stevie meant when he sang about love. Barack and I chose the song, 'You and I' as our wedding song."

And the fellow who started out as Little Stevie Wonder on the Motown circuit still is "thrilling a new generation of young girls, including our own,'' the first lady said.

President Barack Obama, presenting the virtuoso musician and singer with the Gershwin award, called Stevie Wonder's music "the soundtrack of my youth," saying that he had found in it "peace and inspiration, especially in difficult times."

"I think it's fair to say that had I not been a Stevie Wonder fan, Michelle might not have dated me,'' the president said. "We might not have married. The fact that we agreed on Stevie was part of the essence of our courtship."

(Photos by Ron Sachs / Bloomberg)

by Noam Levey
.
Making good on populist rhetoric he has employed since he was a candidate, President Obama plans to begin paying for a healthcare overhaul with $634 billion in new taxes on wealthy Americans and cuts in government healthcare spending, administration officials said Wednesday.

The money would help defray the staggering costs of insuring more than 47 million people in America currently without health coverage, a centerpiece of Obama's agenda.

Obama's plan does not lay out a proposal for how to expand access to insurance coverage. The White House is collaborating with senior Democrats on Capitol Hill on how that might be accomplished. Some are advocating potentially controversial concepts such mandating that every American obtain health coverage, or creating a new public insurance program to compete with private insurers.

An administration offical, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the proposal to raise revenue was intended to signal the president's seriousness about moving forward. Another official called it a "substantial down payment on reforming the health care system.''

By relying heavily on wealither taxpayers--couples making more than $250,000 a year--the president is adding another controversial element to Obama's healthcare overhaul, whose price tag could reach into the trillions of dollars. An outline of the plan will become public today when Obama releases a summary of his first federal budget.

The funding proposal comes on the heels of Obama's promise Tuesday night, during his address to Congress, to forge ahead with sweeping changes to the healthcare system despite the current economic crisis.

See the rest of the story on Obama's health care plans and taxes in Tribune newspapers and here in the Swamp:

by Mark Silva

It's been a long day for Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana and Republican Party poster candidate. Praised by allies, ridiculed by opponents, likened to Kenneth of 30 Rock, mocked by Chris Matthews of Hardball.

But as a coda of sorts comes this report from 60 Minutes, which will feature the young governor in a profile this weekend.

Jindal has a long time to play his political hand, suggests former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the profile reported by CBS News' Morley Safer.

Jindal "will automatically be a major contender for the presidency for many, many years,'' Gingrich tells Safer. "Remember, he'll be the same age as John McCain -- 34 years from now.'' McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, is 72.

Roland Burris has been a pretty lonely guy since he came to Washington. Maybe some new staffers will help. (Tribune photo at Tuesday's congressional address by Zbigniew Bdzak.)

by James Oliphant

Sen. Roland "What me worry?" Burris is not only ignoring calls for him to resign his seat.

He is staffing up.

Burris Wednesday announced he has hired two senior staff members for his Senate office

One, Brady King, will serve as interim chief of staff. The other, Jim O'Connor, will be Burris' communications director and chief spokesman.

King is a Hill veteran. He has worked for Rep. Chet Edwards (D-TX), Rep Allen Boyd (D-Fla.) and Sen. Edward Kennedy. (D-Mass.). O'Conner served as press secretary for U.S. Senate candidate Blair Hull in Illinois.

by Rebecca Cole

Labradoodle lovers, take heart.

After months of speculation, it appeared that the selection of a first dog was at hand. People magazine, with a fetching report on its Website today, revealed that First Lady Michelle Obama has narrowed the family's choice to a rescued Portuguese water dog. All that stands in the way now is Spring break - then comes a dog in April.

"You're getting some scoops here,'' the first lady told the magazine, People reported, and "the only thing still up in the air is the name."

But is the magazine barking up the wrong tree?

The first lady's press secretary, Katie Lelyveld, threw cold water on the report today, suggesting that a decision actually has not been made.

"They have not selected a breed," Lelyveld said. "Mrs. Obama likes the Portuguese water dog, but she is only one of four votes.''

The Obamas have not narrowed the search down to a particular breed, the spokeswoman said, but "their primary focus now is that they get a dog that works with their lifestyle." President Barack Obama had allowed in an earlier interview that the family had narrowed its search to the water dog or a Labradoodle, not a breed really, but a cross between a Labrador retriever and the Standard poodle.

(First Lady Michelle Obama may grace the cover of People magazine, with the story of the dog hunt, but President Barack Obama is featured on the cover of LA Tails, a complimentary magazine for pet lovers which dedicated a recent edition to rescue puppies.)

In happier days. (Photo by Carey Wagner/Sun-Sentinel.)

by James Oliphant

Seems like only yesterday John McCain was embarking on his final not-close-to-victory tour, with a beaming Joe Lieberman behind him every step of the way, a Sundance to his Butch on their way to their fateful encounter with the Bolivian army.

But the compadres were on opposite sides of a vote on the Senate floor Wednesday, with Mighty Mac having the audacity of trying to kill Joe's bill.

At issue is legislation that would grant the District of Columbia voting rights in the House. Under the bill, which survived a key procedural vote in the Senate Tuesday, the District would get a real, honest-to-goodness seat in Congress (and Utah would add a seat as part of the deal).

Right now, the District has a non-voting member in the House, Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Most Republicans hate the idea for reasons ranging from belief that it is unconstitutional, to pure antipathy for the District, to suspicions that if D.C. gets a House seat, it's only a matter of time before it ends up with two Senate seats, which likely would stay Democratic until the Earth falls into the Sun. Lieberman is a sponsor of the bill in the Senate.

McCain doesn't like the bill because he thinks its unfair to give Utah another House seat when other fast-growing states out West (like, for instance, Arizona) don't get anything. So he offered a point of order Wednesday, asking basically the Senate to basically declare the bill unconstitutional.

by Mark Silva

The president may be a BlackBerry fanatic, but the vice president is having a little trouble with his Web-sites - the one, indeed, which the president set up to track all the stimulus spending.

And Vice President Joe Biden is the one charged with overseeing the spending of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The morning after President Barack Obama touted his administration's commitment to "honest'' budgeting, Biden wanted to let viewers of the CBS Early Show today know how to find that Web-site, but couldn't think of the "number.''

"You know, I'm embarrassed,'' Biden told his host.

"Do you know the Web site number?" the vice president asked, turning to an aide off-set.

"I should have it in front of me and I don't,'' Biden confessed.

"I'm actually embarrassed."

Then, it came to him: "It is recovery.gov''

Now, the Internets may not work like a big telephone book, and you won't find recovery.gov in the Yellow Pages, but these Web-sites do have Internet Protocol addresses, and they are a series of numerals.

This one's IP address is 216.35.173.236

So we'll give the vice president the benefit of the doubt here, and assume he was trying to think of that IP address. Right.

by Frank James

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, is contemplating refusing a small part of the economic stimulus money heading to his state, just like some of his Republican counterparts.

An excerpt from The Hill newspaper:

Tennessee Gov. Bredesen, who is reported to be on the shortlist to take over the Department of Health and Human Services, told a Tennessee newspaper he had concerns similar to those of Republican governors who have suggested they would not take all the stimulus money.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) have all said they are concerned that taking additional money for their states' unemployment benefits programs would force them to expand those programs in perpetuity.

"We are evaluating this piece of money, whether it makes sense for us to take it," Bredesen told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "We may well be one of the states that say we can't take on that portion of it."

Tennessee would be slated to receive $141 million tagged for expansion of the state's unemployment benefits. That's a fraction of the $4.3 billion the state would get from the stimulus package, but no small amount of money, either.

by Mark Silva

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it is having a look at allegations of cronyism and other misdeeds at its hurricane recovery office in New Orleans. They are concerned about a "potentially hostile work environment.''

Officials have dispatched a team of Washington investigators to the office, they said today at a congressional hearing, under questioning from Rep. Joseph Cao (R.-La.) at a session on Hurricane Katrina recovery.

The new Republican congressman from Louisiana said there have been allegations of sexual harassment, cronyism, nepotism and other ethics violations in the FEMA office, and his office is exploring possible corruption.

He declined to elaborate - which seems in keeping with the lack of elaboration that the freshman congressman who replaced former Rep. William Jefferson - of the cold cash saga - provides about his own story on his congressional Web-site: "I took the oath of office for the 111th Congress on January 6, 2009. For information about my background, priorities, interests, accomplishments, expertise, and experience, please contact my office.''

They may want to check in with Gov. Bobby Jindal of Lousiana while they are there. "Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us,'' Jindal said in his response to the president's address to Congress last night.

"Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts.''

Wire services contributed to this report.

by Mark Silva

Chris Matthews has an explanation for that "My God'' that he uttered as Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana was making his way to the microphone for his televised response to the president's address to Congress last night.

Matthews plans to explain it tonight on his MSNBC Hardball show, according to the Huffington Post's Jason Linkins.

Linkins has an early look at the story line, according to an NBC spokesperson:

"I was taken aback by that peculiar stagecraft,'' Matthews says, "the walking from somewhere in the back of this narrow hall, this winding staircase looming there, the odd anti-bellum [sic] look of the scene. Was this some mimicking of a president walking along the state floor to the East Room?''

That's his story, and he's stickin....

Jindal, for his part, has declined an invitation to appear on Hardball.

by Mark Silva

To hear the White House tell it, the new stimulus-tracking Web-site -- www.recovery.gov --is going viral.

This is the portal that President Barack Obama promised the public as a means of keeping track of all those billions of dollars that the government is funneling into economic stimulus.

Peter Orszag, director of the president's Office of Management and Budget, said today that, "We've already stood up a Web-site, recovery.gov, which I'm told is receiving 3,000 hits a second, which I think underscores the interest in the accountability and transparency surrounding this endeavor.''

With a catchy title like, "Your Money at Work,'' who wouldn't be clicking on the OMB production every morning?

And with features like, "Share Your Recovery Story,'' this is not simply a government-watchdog undertaking.

It's recession therapy.

by Mark Silva

Stop the presses - or at least spread out the papers.

The first family is zeroing in on its first puppy: Portuguese water dog. Though it may not be a puppy. It may be a mature, rescue creature.

That's the scoop - and they'll need some on the South Lawn - from People.

"You're getting some scoops here,'' People.com reports of a recent conversation with First Lady Michelle Obama -- featured on the cover of the new edition on the newsstands Friday. The dog hunt will start in earnest in April, after the Obama daughters - promised a puppy by their father when he embarked on his campaign for the presidency - finish Spring break.

""You can't get a new dog and then go away for a week,'' the first lady explains. This presidential pet business is serious stuff -- see a gallery.

Their hunt is focused on a rescue Portuguese Water dog (read all about them here) who is "old enough" and a "match" for the family dynamic. "Temperamentally they're supposed to be pretty good," the first lady says of the breed developed by sailors.

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) who has two of his own, has been lobbying the first family on this matter. And he's not the only fan of the Portugee pups.

"From the size perspective, they're sort of middle of the road - it's not small, but it's not a huge dog,'' she says. "And the folks that we know who own them have raved about them. So that's where we're leaning."

by Mark Silva

President Barack Obama today nominated Gary Locke, former governor of Washington, to serve as secretary of commerce.

The former two-term Democratic governor who left office in 2005, the nation's first Chinese-American governor when he took office in 1997, holds experience in international trade and was an early supporter of Obama's main rival in the 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Hillary Clinton.

The pick marks the president's third attempt at seating a commerce secretary, filling in the membership of his Cabinet.

His first two picks - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, and New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican, withdrew. Richardson cited an investigation of state contracting in New Mexico, Gregg irreconcilable political differences with the president.

Locke is charged with promoting the nation's economic development at home while serving as an ambassador for American industry abroad.

"Our nation's economic success is tied directly to America continuing to lead in technology and innovation, and in exporting those products, services and ideas to nations around the globe,'' Locke said, joining Obama in the announcement of his nomination today. "The Department of Commerce plays a critical role in nurturing innovation, expanding global markets, protecting and managing our ocean fisheries, and fostering economic growth.

"Gary will be a trusted voice in my cabinet, a tireless advocate for our economic competitiveness, and an influential ambassador for American industry who will help us do everything we can - especially now - to promote it around the world," Obama said.

"I'm grateful he's agreed to leave one Washington for another,'' the president said, "and I look forward to having him on my team as we continue the work of turning our economy around and bringing about a stronger, more prosperous future for all Americans."

(Gary Locke, President Obama's Commerce nominee, pictured above with the president today in a photo by Win McNamee / Getty)

By Andrew Zajac

Chicago's Northern Trust Corp. now under fire for excessive merrymaking after collecting federal TARP money, earlier was under scrutiny for the favorable mortgage terms it granted to now-President Barack Obama when he bought his Hyde Park personal residence in 2005.

When they bought the $1.65 million property, the Obamas took out a $1.32 million mortgage for 5.67 percent.

At the time, jumbo mortgages in the Chicago area averaged 5.93 to 6 percent, according a Washington Post story detailing the transaction.

Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission alleging that the mortgage rate amounted to an illegal corporate campaign contribution by Northern Trust.

by Mark Silva

The morning after President Barack Obama's first big speech to Congress, people seem to be talking as much about the first big national appearance of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, he of the state where they used to say that half the place is under water and half the place is under indictment -- his words last night, in the GOP reply to Obama.

The criticism for Jindal runs the gamut from the political -- suggesting that the young Republcan governor is tacking so hard to the right that any notion of him having a shot at the GOP's presidential nomination in the near future is inextricably linked to a fateful decision by the party out of power: How far right will they take it? -- to the personal.

The personal has more to do with mannerisms -- "Was that Mr. Rogers?'' some asked today of the televised reply by Jindal to the president's address to a joint session of Congress. And the trappings of the response.

"Bobby Jindal, or Kenneth from 30 Rock,'' asks another.

Mr. Rogers, as one Swamp reader suggested, may be a stretch -- though Mr. Jindal's Neighborhood is catchy. But Kenneth?

"Let me start off by saying we certainly want the same things for our country as our president,'' Jindal said in an interview on NBC News' Today show this morning, discussing his many differences with the president, and the president himself: "We may disagree on the approach, but I think he's a good, decent, honest man.''

People's partisan stripes may be showing just a little too boldly in this debate, however. We thought we heard last night, as we listened to Jindal's response aired on MSNBC, an editorial sigh from the newsteam as Jindal stepped out to the mic.

We're pretty sure, this morning after, that we hear MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews exclaiming not quite far enough under his breath or out of shot of his mic: "My God...'' Then the newsroom laugh track.

We've seen cleaner moments in television, but then again, this is big:

In fairness to Jindal, and those Democrats who want to make light of him, the governor has gone out of his way to praise Obama -- today calling the president "an incredibily gifted speaker, maybe a once in a generational speaker.''

See Jindal's "American Can Do Anything'' speech here:

by Frank James

Gov. Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana Republican, did a credible job giving his party's response to President Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress. Delivering the response is always a difficult assignment since the president has all the trappings of his office, including the pomp and circumstance of his grand entry into the House chamber.

Jindal appeared comfortable in the role and looked the part of a credible Republican presidential candidate, which he isn't officially, but most everyone expects him to be, perhaps as soon as 2012.

The speech, however, had its jarring moments.

For instance, Jindal told a Hurricane Katrina story about a county sheriff who encountered bureaucratic interference as he tried to get rescue boats into the floodwaters.

Jindal said:

Let me tell you a story. During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office, I'd never seen him so angry. He was literally yelling into the phone: "Well, I'm the sheriff, and if you don't like it, you can come and arrest me!" I said, "Sheriff, what's got you so mad?" He told me that he'd put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up and ready to go when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn't go out in the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration.

And I told him, "Sheriff, that's ridiculous." Before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone, "Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!" Then he just told those boaters, "Ignore the bureaucrats and go start rescuing people."

There's a lesson in this experience. The strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and the enterprising spirit of our citizens. We're grateful for the support we've received from across the nation for our ongoing recovery efforts.

by Frank James

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite which failed to launch yesterday morning and crash landed somewhere near Antarctica had a lot of hopes attached to it.

Its destruction was overshadowed by all the attention paid to President Obama's speech yesterday. But for those concerned about global warming and efforts to slow down human contributions to it, that was one very important satellite.

The $278 million OCO was to be a key tool in learning more about carbon dioxide in the environment, especially the 60 percent of the compound that eventually winds up not in the atmosphere but somewhere else, like bodies of water or soil. The data it was going to collect and transmit would have been crucial for a better understanding of what scientists call the carbon cycle -- how carbon dioxide is created by human activity and naturally and then what becomes of it.

That information likely would have been valuable in terms of managing carbon, including a system that would allow companies and others to buy and sell the rights to emit carbon dioxide also know as cap and trade.

So the loss of the satellite was a major setback.

A recent Science Daily piece explains what scientists and policy makers were hoping to gain from the defunct satellite:

The observatory's ability to locate and monitor changes in carbon sources (places where carbon is generated) and sinks (places where carbon is absorbed or stored) will provide valuable information to support decision making by those responsible for managing carbon in the environment. It will assist them in developing effective strategies for managing global carbon dioxide and monitoring the effectiveness of those strategies.

by Mark Silva

This had to be music to the ears of Detroit:

"I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it,'' President Barack Obama said in his address to a joint session of Congress last night.

His point: That while "everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink... we should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices. But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win.''

The only problem is, this nation did not invent the automobile.

by Mark Silva

The challenge, critics say, remains the gap between rhetoric and action. Sen. John McCain, the Republican rival to President Barack Obama last year, credits the president with "an excellent speech'' before Congress, but complains: "I still am having trouble doing the math here.''

The speech "was very well received by the American people,'' McCain (R-Ariz.) said this morning in an appearance on CNN.

And that is born out in CNN's instant polling, with an Opinion Research Corp. survey this morning showing that 85 percent of those surveyed say Obama's plan will improve the economy and 11 percent say it won't.

"It was an excellent speech,'' McCain said with the authority of the morning after. "The president laid out the challenges that we face... He gave, in his speech, Americans a sense of optimism....''

But Obama's promise to cut the federal budget deficit in half will come face-to-face with continuing spending imperatives in Congress.

"I still am having trouble doing the math here,'' McCain added. McCain, who like most of the Senate's Republicans opposed the $787-billion economic stimulus, says the Senate this week will confront another routine spending bill carried over from the House that is laden with "earmarks'' -- "We have a spending bill in front of us, with still $200 million to support astronomy in Hawaii.

by Mark Silva and updated

President Barack Obama, striving to hold public support for massive government intervention in a staggering economy, vowed tonight that an embattled nation "will emerge stronger than before.''

With his first formal address as president to a joint session of Congress - and to a national television audience - Obama attempted to add a new dimension to the debate over what the government can offer for a financial crisis that has gripped the nation in a worsening recession: A sense of hope.

"While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken,'' the president said in his 52-minute prime-time address, "though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before. ''

After a month of attention on the $787-billion economic stimulus that Obama won from Congress after four weeks in office, and complaints from critics that the massive spending plan will only saddle the nation with more debt, the president also attempted to add new words to the dialogue going forward: "Fiscal responsibility'' in government, "honesty" in budgeting and deficit-cutting.

On Thursday, the president will propose a new federal budget for 2010 which the White House says will mark the beginning of a commitment to cut the annual federal deficit in half by the end of Obama's four-year term.

"My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue,'' Obama said. "It reflects the stark reality of what we've inherited - a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession. .. Given these realities, everyone in this chamber - Democrats and Republicans - will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars. And that includes me.''

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

EMBARGOED UNTIL DELIVERY

February 24, 2009

Remarks of President Barack Obama - As Prepared for Delivery

Address to Joint Session of Congress

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of the United States:

I've come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here.

I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others. And rightly so. If you haven't been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has - a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family. You don't need to hear another list of statistics to know that our economy is in crisis, because you live it every day. It's the worry you wake up with and the source of sleepless nights. It's the job you thought you'd retire from but now have lost; the business you built your dreams upon that's now hanging by a thread; the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope. The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.

But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this:

We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.

The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.

Now, if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that for too long, we have not always met these responsibilities - as a government or as a people. I say this not to lay blame or look backwards, but because it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we'll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament.

by Frank James

The White House earlier today released the names of those who will be in the First Lady's Box during President Barack Obama's speech tonight before a joint session of Congress, his first.

Among the guests: a banker, public-school students, police officer, small-town Kansas mayor and a soldier who will serve as human illustrations to underscore various points in the president's speech.

Here's the list:

Guest List for the First Lady's Box
2009 Joint Session of Congress