Wall Street Journal: “As Mrs. Clinton prepares to embark on a race for the presidency, she has a web of connections to big corporations unique in American politics—ties forged both as secretary of state and by her family’s charitable interests. Those relationships are emerging as an issue for Mrs. Clinton’s expected presidential campaign as income disparity and other populist themes gain early attention.”
Archives for February 2015
Democratic Base Much More Unified Than GOP Base
Amy Walter: “One of the biggest assets for Democrats – especially for Hillary Clinton – going into this next election is the fact that they are much more ideologically united than the GOP. From social issues to economic ones, the overwhelming majority of Democrats are on the same page. This, of course, leaves little room for a primary challenger to Hillary Clinton to expose a gap or drive a wedge.”
“Not so much for Republicans who are divided on almost everything other than foreign policy and a desire to repeal Obamacare. This is will not only make it difficult for a Republican to become a ‘consensus’ candidate in the primary, but could make it difficult to unite the party post-primary as well.”
Obama Presidential Library Will Be In Chicago
Politico: “It took personal intervention by Emanuel, who faces reelection next week, to find a way to end the land dispute and put Chicago — specifically, the city’s South Side — back at the front of the pack. That would locate the library in the neighborhood the president represented in the state senate, anchor it to the school where he used to teach, and put it within walking distance of the home he still owns.”
“The Barack Obama Foundation, the nonprofit charged with siting the library, is set to announce the location by the end of next month. Obama was set to visit the neighborhood on Thursday and get a briefing by foundation members on the library plans.”
Democrats Look for Someone Better Than Sestak
“Anxious about a candidate considered to be an unreliable maverick and a political liability, Democratic Party leaders have undertaken a quiet, intensive search in recent months to recruit a serious primary challenger to former Rep. Joe Sestak, the party’s Senate nominee in 2010 who is again running for the seat,” National Journal reports.
“The effort has involved former congressman, state senators, county leaders and, recently, even a prominent district attorney. Their anxieties are being driven by party officials, who are concerned that Sestak could cost Democrats a must-win state in 2016. They’ve yet to turn up a successful alternative, but in their telling, it’s only a matter of time before a new challenger—one with the backing of the party establishment—enters the race.”
Obamacare Not Hurting U.S. Companies
“The biggest entitlement legislation in a generation is causing barely a ripple in corporate America,” Bloomberg reports.
A review of conference-call transcripts and interviews finds the Affordable Care Act “is putting such a small dent in the profits of U.S. companies” that many refer to its impact as “not material” or “not significant.”
“That’s even after a provision went into effect this year requiring companies with 50 or more full-time workers to provide coverage, and after more workers are choosing to enroll in existing company coverage because of another requirement that all Americans get insured.”
Wonk Wire: A GOP flip flop on Obamacare
Christie Pushes Persona Over Policy
Gov. Chris Christie, “while he considers a presidential future for himself, is visiting key states and sharing, as he did Monday, many of the same familiar stories and popular applause lines that he has used at events across New Jersey since taking office,” the Bergen Record reports.
“Christie is not offering directly, as Bush did Wednesday, the outlines of a presidential platform. And Christie is doing something else that Bush is not — shaking hands and connecting with voters the same way he did when he twice won the governorship of a blue state, analysts said. For Christie it is a smart move, they said, because voters in New Hampshire and Iowa expect that kind of one-on-one attention.”
Adelson Won’t Back a Candidate Until Next Year
Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson won’t get involved in the presidential primary contest until “well into 2016,” his top political adviser told Bloomberg.
Said adviser Andy Abboud: “Any support of a presidential candidate is at least a year away.”
“What Adelson does matters. The 81-year-old billionaire casino owner spent more money on the 2012 presidential race than anyone else in the country, and his every move is being closely watched for signs that he has a favorite this time around.”
Biden Visits Another Early State
“Vice President Biden will travel to New Hampshire Wednesday — his third trip to a state with an early 2016 presidential nominating contest this month,” The Hill reports.
“By the end of February, Biden will have traveled to three of the four states with the earliest presidential nominating contests in 2016 this month alone.”
Why Bush Might Not Be Best Against Clinton
Philip Klein: “In a general election, nominating Bush would neutralize one of Hillary Clinton’s biggest liabilities (the idea that she, too, is a figure from the past trying to ride her last name to power). Instead of having the clear contrast that would be possible if Republicans were to name a fresh candidate, the 2016 election would devolve into a proxy battle over whether Americans want to restore the Bush or Clinton presidencies. Whether the GOP likes it or not, that isn’t a matchup that favors Republicans.”
An Election Stuck in the Past
First Read: “The problem you get when a Bush, a Clinton, a Huckabee, a Santorum, and even a Paul are all preparing White House bids is an early presidential contest that seems stuck in the past. For Jeb Bush, the current question is: If you’re your own man, why are you surrounding yourself with many of the same foreign-policy advisers your brother and father had, including the architects of the 2003 Iraq war? For Hillary Clinton, the current question is: Why is Clinton Inc. continuing to engage in shady fundraising practices, with the Clinton Foundation accepting donations from foreign governments? (Conflict of interest, anyone?) And for Rand Paul, who appears set to announce his presidential bid on April 7, the question is going to be: Do you agree or disagree with what your father said about (fill in the blank)?”
“To be sure, all elections litigate the past — a record in public service, old statements, problematic associations, even what happened during your childhood. But ultimately, most presidential elections are about the future.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“Vice President Biden, in a very candid moment, which he enjoys, flew into LaGuardia and said, ‘You fly into LaGuardia, and you think you’re flying into a Third World country.’ Now, that was a slight overstatement, slightly insensitive, slightly insulting. But, basically true.”
— New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), quoted by the New York Observer.
Most Expensive Election Ever But With Fewer Donors
Center for Responsive Politics: “The 2014 election was the most expensive midterm election in history, costing a grand total of $3.77 billion. But for the first time since 1990, fewer Americans donated money in this midterm election than the one before.”
Can Jeb Bush Be His Own Man?
Rick Klein: “Can you be your own man while sharing a last name with other men with complicated legacies inside and outside your own party? Can you be your own man while talking to the same men (and some of the women) who advised those other men during some of the low and high points of their foreign policies? These are central questions facing Jeb Bush, as he only starts to answer for how he plans to define himself as opposed to the Presidents Bush.”
“The fact is he can’t and won’t ever entirely be able to be his own man in politics. His name and family connections confer early front-runner status on him, making him something other than just another ex-governor. They also make him the fundraising juggernaut he will always be. (One wonders whether the money folks talking about the ‘shock and awe’ fundraising strategy remember what that phrase meant in George W. Bush’s Iraq war.) For big donors as for the foreign-policy establishment, the Bush name is a comfortable and powerful one. For voters and caucus-goers, it gets quite a bit more complicated. The next question inevitably becomes, does a man who once famously said he never disagreed with anything his brother did as president find a few areas where he parts ways?”
Perspective
Oliver Sacks on learning he has terminal cancer:
“I feel a sudden clear focus and perspective. There is no time for anything inessential. I must focus on myself, my work and my friends. I shall no longer look at ‘NewsHour’ every night. I shall no longer pay any attention to politics or arguments about global warming.”
“This is not indifference but detachment — I still care deeply about the Middle East, about global warming, about growing inequality, but these are no longer my business; they belong to the future.”
Quote of the Day
“I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America. He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.”
— Rudy Giuliani, quoted by Politico.
Outside Spending Did Not Sway 2014 Elections
Alan Abramowitz: “Republicans made major gains in the 2014 Senate elections but the findings reported here indicate that outside spending by conservative groups had little or nothing to do with those gains. The main reason why Republicans did very well in 2014 was that Democrats were defending far more seats than Republicans and many of those seats were in states that normally favor Republicans based on recent presidential voting patterns. Democrats lost all seven of their seats in states carried by Mitt Romney in 2012 even though Democratic candidates enjoyed an advantage in outside spending in several of those races.”
Obama Faulted for Not Using ‘Islamic’ Label
New York Times: “Obama aides say there is a strategic logic to his vocabulary: Labeling noxious beliefs and mass murder as ‘Islamic’ would play right into the hands of terrorists who claim that the United States is at war with Islam itself. The last thing the president should do, they say, is imply that the United States lumps the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims with vicious terrorist groups.”
“But Mr. Obama’s verbal tactics have become a target for a growing chorus of critics who believe the evasive language is a sign that he is failing to look squarely at the threat from militant Islam. The vague phrasing, they say, projects uncertainty and weakness at a time when extremists claiming to fight for Islam threaten America and its interests around the world.”
Los Angeles Times: “Republicans accuse Obama of tiptoeing around the issue out of an apparent reluctance to offend Muslims.”
Kasich Not Close to Deciding on Presidential Bid
For those thinking Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) would announce a bid for next year’s Republican presidential nomination during a trip to South Carolina, the Columbus Dispatch notes his answer last night was clear: Not yet.
Said Kasich: “All options are on the table, and I’m not even close to making a decision on this.”
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