First Read: “A week after Prime Minister Netanyahu’s election win last Tuesday, relations between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu aren’t getting better — they’re getting worse.”
“We’re having a hard time thinking of another time when two allies have been THIS angry and been THIS public about their disagreements. Talk about venom and score-settling. As with most angry disagreements between friends, it’s hard to remember who landed the first punch.”
“Weeks after being dogged by accusations of secrecy, Hillary Clinton told journalists that she wanted “a new relationship with the press,” Politico reports.
She acknowledged that her “relationship with the press has been at times, shall we say, complicated” and said she was “all about new beginnings…. A new grandchild. A new hairstyle. A new email account. A new relationship with the press. No more secrecy, no more zone of privacy … After all what good did that do for me?”
Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN) told Indy Politics that he will not run for another term in the U.S. Senate.
“Coats said he deliberated for months before making his decision. He says he informed leadership today of his decision and will be making a formal announcement later.”
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Neil Irwin: “On the central question around which America’s partisan battles are fought, the size and scope of the federal government, Ryan-Murray didn’t decisively move the needle one way or the other, which is why it was able to attract bipartisan support. Rather, it preserved the basic status quo while making both parties a little bit happier with the exact mix of federal spending.”
“It’s not the stuff of soaring political oratory or world-historical accomplishment, but in a world of divided government and polarized politics, keeping the government running without a lot of brinkmanship and high drama may be the best we can hope for. If the start of 2015 is a guide, even that much isn’t guaranteed.”
New York Times: “The last time she ran for president, Hillary Clinton did not have to take a position on the Common Core, teacher evaluations or Race to the Top… Now, as she prepares for a likely second run at the White House, Mrs. Clinton — who largely avoided domestic policy when she was secretary of state — is re-entering the fray like a Rip Van Winkle for whom the terrain on education standards has shifted markedly, with deep new fissures opened up in the Democratic Party.”
“I wish Reagan would rise from the dead and come back.”
— Pat Robertson, on his television show The 700 Club, while noting President Obama “does not believe in America” and was mentored by “leftists who don’t really love this country.”
Former Secretary of State James Baker harshly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, echoing White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough’s comments earlier in the day, Haaretz reports.
Baker acknowledged his disappointment with “the lack of progress regarding a lasting peace,” saying that the chances for a two-state solution diminished since Netanyahu’s reelection last week. Baker further slammed Netanyahu’s “diplomatic missteps and political gamesmanship,” saying that the prime minister’s “actions have not matched his rhetoric.”
Donald Trump told Fox News he doubts Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) can legally run for president because he was born in Canada.
Said Trump: “It’s a hurdle; somebody could certainly look at it very seriously. He was born in Canada. If you know and when we all studied our history lessons, you are supposed to be born in this country, so I just don’t know how the courts will rule on this.”
The Hill reports Cruz said he is still a natural born citizen by birth because his mother was American.
Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential bid “has prompted an outpouring of excitement and delight — from Democrats,” The Hill reports.
“To liberal activists, the firebrand Texan is much too far to the right for the nation at large and too extreme to even win the Republican nomination. But they want nothing more than for him to run strongly throughout the primary season. The more momentum he develops, they argue, the more likely he is to push the eventual GOP nominee further to the right than that person will want to go.”
The New York Times has a good look at what it would take for Cruz to win.
A new Ogden & Fry survey in Chicago finds Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) well ahead of challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D) in the race for mayor, 49% to 32%.
“Soon after the U.S. and other major powers entered negotiations last year to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, senior White House officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal, current and former U.S. officials said. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe, the officials said.”
The BBC reports Israel denies spying on the nuclear talks.
Even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Israeli Arabs for comments made during his re-election campaign, “the White House issued a new signal that it remained furious with Mr. Netanyahu for campaign comments that also appeared to close the door on a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict,” the New York Times reports.
Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) “splashy entry into the 2016 race Monday intensifies the early battle to consolidate conservative voters who are intent on denying the Republican Party establishment yet another presidential nomination,” the Washington Post reports.
“In a primary fight more up for grabs than Republicans have seen in a generation, at least a half-dozen credible contenders are likely to join Cruz in competing for the hearts of conservatives. They face a labyrinth of tests of ideology and temperament, on talk radio and at tea party and faith forums, in a melee to become the hard right’s standard-bearer.”
Politico: Cruz’s strategy is to destroy the “mushy-middle.”
“There was a presidential candidate who ran in 2012 promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and that campaign pledge didn’t work out very well for him.”
— White House press secretary Josh Earnest, quoted by The Hill, noting the GOP presidential candidates who want to repeal Obamacare.
The Guardian reports there will be a sequel to Nelson Mandela’s A Long Walk to Freedom, one of the best selling political memoirs ever.
“More than 20 years later, the world will finally get an answer with the posthumous publication of a sequel based on a little known manuscript that Mandela wrote by hand but never completed, chronicling his time as South Africa’s first black president.”
“As House Republicans try to pass a 2016 budget blueprint, GOP leadership is relying on an obscure legislative procedure to try to break the impasse between staunch fiscal conservatives and defense hawks,” Politico reports.
“The move is called called ‘Queen of the Hill,’ and it’s hardly ever used on Capitol Hill. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)… will allow one vote on Rep. Tom Price’s (R-GA) Budget Committee’s spending plan, which infuriated defense-minded lawmakers who thought it underfunded the Pentagon.”
“They’ll also allow a vote on a nearly identical budget, which includes language to increase defense spending. Whichever plan gets the most votes will become the House GOP’s budget. It’s a gamble for GOP leadership. It is betting that Price’s budget will fail and the spending plan with increased defense money will pass and become the fiscal plan for the House Republican Conference.”
Harry Enten notes that what’s important right now in the GOP presidential race “isn’t where you stand in the polls; it’s where you stand with donors and activists. While Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee and Scott Walker haven’t filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), they have been running for months. In fact, not declaring and instead raising money for your super PAC holds distinct financial advantages in raising unlimited funds.”
“Cruz is actually late to the party. He has fallen behind the leading contenders. A candidate who isn’t as flawed as Cruz could afford such a misstep. Cruz, though, needs to run a perfect campaign to have any shot of winning. He’s already failing to do so.”
Politico: The curse of being first
Nate Cohn: “Political scientists argue that the single most important determinant of the outcome of the nomination is support from party elites: those operatives who can staff a winning campaign; the donors who fund it; the elected officials and interest group leaders who bestow the credibility necessary to persuade voters and affect media coverage.”
“The candidate with the most support from party elites doesn’t always win the nomination, but support from elites is probably a prerequisite for victory… Mr. Cruz has done nothing to endear himself to the elites.”
The Atlantic: “Why is Cruz a longshot? He’s a first-term senator (yes, yes, exceptions and rules, etc.). He’s probably too conservative even to win a GOP primary, but particularly to win a general election: Even his backers portray him as a latter-day Barry Goldwater, only somehow able to win. In just a few short months, he has managed to consistently alienate even his Republican colleagues — which, whatever you think of the merits of Senate courtesy, won’t help in a primary campaign.”
Dan Balz: “If there is a senator who has had chillier relations with his colleagues, it would be hard to name that person.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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