“I’m gonna try nothin’ to see if I get somethin’.” After a frustrating year, you just have to imagine President Obama is at his wit’s end – and this clip imagines how he would handle it if he let his veneer crack just one iota. It’s spot-on.
The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington, or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.
President Barack Obama • In his weekly radio address, where he assailed the recent Supreme Court decision on campaign financing. Obama himself made a stronger pledge for transparency and pointed out that his administration has made strides to run a clean ship. He also pledges that “it will be a priority for us until we repair the damage that has been done.” In other words, the Supreme Court totally failed. source
I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements in the package that people agree on.
President Barack Obama • Regarding his signature health care bill, which got screwed up by Scott Brown winning the Senate race yesterday. It’s perhaps the largest failure of his presidency so far, but one with a silver lining. Now Obama has an opportunity to push for that bipartisan congress that never really happened. Or maybe the Republicans can just stonewall some more. It’s worth noting a couple of things: The fact that Obama plans to wait until Brown takes office to tackle health care is smart. And, as Andrew Sullivan notes (amazingly), he could totally use this as an opportunity to turn the tables during his State of the Union address next week. We want to see him do that. source
If Scott Brown wins tomorrow, the Senate bill hits the House floor. Facing a possibly embarrassing loss for the Democratic party in Massachusetts tomorrow, President Obama has a pretty good solution in mind for the health care bill that he’s long fought for. The Senate bill – which has already passed – will get sent, with no changes, to the House. Then it gets voted on. And if it passes, this massive cluster#(&@ of a bill will finally get signed by Obama. A little sneaky, but it technically works – and fast! Well, as long as everybody goes along with the plan. source
morning Apple announced a vaguely worded “special event” will take place on the morning of the 27th, which will likely be whatever this slate thingy is. Nerds are excited.
evening Obama, after nearly angering “Lost” fans by picking the day of the show’s season premiere, will have his State of the Union on the 27th. The GOP has their claws out.
58%of Americans thought Obama would change race relations before his inauguration
41%of Americans say he’s actually improved race relations in his first full year in office source
Where was the freefall? Strangely enough, it was largest among other blacks. While white voters dipped to about 40 percent from 55 percent, blacks were at 75 percent a year ago, free-falling to 51 percent – a 24-point decline.
The former presidents will head the fundraising efforts. In an effort to emphasize the lack of politics at play in the face of a major tragedy, former presidents Bill Clinton (the U.S.’s special envoy to Haiti) and George W. Bush would lead the push for aid. This would be Bush’s first major public effort since leaving the White House in January, by the way. He’s pretty good at fundraising, by the way, helping to push $200 million into Southern Methodist University – home of his presidential library – since leaving office. source