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Obamacare Opponents Divided Over What to Do

September 16, 2013 at 6:05 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

With health insurance exchanges set to open on October 1, a new USA Today/Pew Research survey finds that 53% of Americans disapprove of President Obama’s health care law while 42% approve.

Key findings: “The 53% of the public who disapprove of the law are divided over what they would like elected officials who oppose the law to do now that the law has begun to take effect. About half of disapprovers (27% of the public overall) say these lawmakers ‘should do what they can to make the law work as well as possible,’ but nearly as many (23% of the public) say these officials ‘should do what they can to make the law fail.'”

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has the reason why: “Overall, nearly 70% of poll respondents said they didn’t understand the health-care overhaul passed by Democrats in March 2010 or only understood a part of it.”

Biden Stokes 2016 Speculation

September 16, 2013 at 6:01 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Iowa Democrats have often looked to Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry for a peek into the future of the party. On Sunday, Vice President Biden made clear he believes its future should be an extension of its present,” the Washington Post reports.

“Biden, flirting with a third try at the presidency in 2016, delivered a muscular and impassioned defense of the policies and priorities of President Obama’s administration and offered a marker by which he said they should be judged.”

Des Moines Register: “He made only joking references to the 2016 race as he spoke in the leadoff presidential-nominating state. But he shook hands for more than 45 minutes afterward, engaging in the friendly, back-slapping retail politics he’s famous for.”

No Plan B on Syria

September 16, 2013 at 6:00 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“The Russian-American deal to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal gives President Obama some breathing space after a politically damaging few weeks. But the list of things that could still go wrong is extensive and daunting,” the New York Times reports.

“The two sides could deadlock over the text of a United Nations Security Council resolution codifying the agreement. Syria could insist on deal-breaking conditions or fail to turn over a complete accounting of its weapons within a week, as mandated. International inspectors could be obstructed on the ground or chemical stocks could be hidden from them.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that a deal to rid Syria of chemical weapons will be enforced by the United Nations.

Summers Withdraws Name for Fed Chairmanship

September 15, 2013 at 4:33 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers called President Obama to say he is pulling out of the contest to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Summers: “I have reluctantly concluded that any possible confirmation process for me would be acrimonious and would not serve the interest of the Federal Reserve, the Administration or, ultimately, the interests of the nation’s ongoing economic recovery.”

The Week: Will Janet Yellen be the next Fed chair?

Secret Society Gets Into Local Politics

September 15, 2013 at 1:09 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

New York Times: “The school year at the University of Alabama has barely gotten started, and already the campus has found itself in a charged self-examination on issues of politics, power and race… But the turmoil began some weeks earlier. It raised the specter of the Machine, a secret society representing a league of select and almost exclusively white fraternities and sororities, which has been around for a century or more. Once a breeding ground for state political leaders, the Machine (it has long been known by that nickname) today maintains a solid hold on student government through an effective, and critics say coercive, brand of old-fashioned organization politics.”

“But the Machine’s apparent involvement in an August school board election, a rare appearance in municipal politics, has prompted a lawsuit, accusations of voter fraud and an outcry that in many ways primed the campus for the larger storm over inclusion and tradition that is now taking place.”

House Republicans Grow Angry With Their Leadership

September 15, 2013 at 12:52 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Republican lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated with what they say is a lack of communication from their leaders,” The Hill reports.

“Both centrist and conservative members in the House believe that Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and his lieutenants could have done more earlier this year to counter the Tea Party’s effort to defund ObamaCare. Some Republicans on Capitol Hill say such an effort is politically impossible with a Democratic-controlled Senate and a Democrat in the White House. Regardless, the rift on what to do on ObamaCare has opened up a civil war within the GOP.”

Coakley Will Run for Massachusetts Governor

September 15, 2013 at 11:42 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D), “who only three years ago appeared to be finished politically, will join the race for governor with an announcement in her home town of Medford on Monday followed by an 18-city barnstorming tour for the next three days,” the Boston Globe reports.

“After a lackluster performance that led to her humiliating loss to Scott Brown in the 2010 US Senate race, Coakley is expected to be a formidable candidate in the primary. Recent polls show she is now one of the most popular political figures in the state.”

Obama Won’t Say If He’ll Stay Neutral in 2016

September 15, 2013 at 11:36 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

President Obama declined to say in an interview with ABC News whether he would stay neutral in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election that could potentially pit Vice President Joe Biden against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Said Obama: “What I would say to folks out there is we are tremendously lucky to have an incredible former secretary of state who couldn’t have served me better, and an incredible vice president who couldn’t, who couldn’t be serving me better. And I suspect if you asked both of them, they’d say, ‘It’s way too premature to start talking about 2016.'”

Obama Will Not Negotiate on Debt Ceiling

September 15, 2013 at 11:33 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

On the eve of another fiscal showdown with congressional Republicans, President Obama is outright refusing to negotiate over an increase to the nation’s debt limit, saying doing so would alter “the constitutional structure of this government entirely,” ABC News reports.

Said Obama: “If we continue to set a precedent in which a president … is in a situation in which each time the United States is called upon to pay its bills, the other party can simply sit there and say, ‘Well, we’re not going to put — pay the bills unless you give us … what we want,’ that changes the constitutional structure of this government entirely.”

A Mayor’s Life

September 14, 2013 at 8:49 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

In the mail: A Mayor’s Life by David Dinkins.

“How did a scrawny black kid–the son of a barber and a domestic who grew up in Harlem and Trenton–become the 106th mayor of New York City?”

Gun Control is Dead

September 14, 2013 at 11:55 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Atlantic: “Ever since the Senate voted down gun-control legislation in April, some advocates have remained convinced there was still hope. As of Tuesday, that hope is officially dead.”

“On Tuesday, two Colorado state senators, both Democrats, were recalled by voters for their votes in favor of gun control. Gun-rights advocates instigated the recall drives; the National Rifle Association spent $360,000, sending mailers and airing television ads calling the lawmakers ‘too extreme for Colorado.’ Gun-control proponents, buoyed by donations from New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, outspent their opponents five to one. But the NRA turned the money against the lawmakers, painting them as pawns of fancy-pants out-of-state liberal interests. And the NRA won.”

U.S. and Russia Reach Deal on Syria’s Chemical Weapons

September 14, 2013 at 8:18 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The United States and Russia “have reached an agreement that calls for Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons to be removed or destroyed by the middle of 2014,” the New York Times reports.

“If President Bashar al-Assad of Syria fails to comply with the agreement, the issue will be referred to the United Nations Security Council. Mr. Kerry said that any violations would then be taken up under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter, which authorizes punitive action. But Mr. Lavrov made clear that Russia, which wields a veto in the Security Council, had not withdrawn its objections to the use of force.”

Key Democrat Signals Opposition to Summers

September 14, 2013 at 8:01 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Larry Summers’s prospects of becoming chairman of the Federal Reserve next year dimmed, “as an important Senate Democrat signaled that he would vote against the Harvard economist, should President Obama nominate him to lead the central bank,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), “considered a political centrist, joins at least three other Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee who are expected to vote against Mr. Summers if he is nominated.”

“The mounting opposition to Mr. Summers suggests his potential path to Senate confirmation is narrowing quickly. His nomination would need Republican support to advance from the banking committee to the Senate floor.”

Palin Sued for Copyright Infringement

September 14, 2013 at 7:26 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A New Jersey-based newspaper is suing Sarah Palin and her political action committee for copyright infringement over the use of an iconic September 11 photograph, the AP reports.

On Wonk Wire

September 13, 2013 at 7:38 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

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Just One Ad Per Candidate in Germany

September 13, 2013 at 4:07 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “Germany is in the heat of election season: in just over a week, voters will head to the polls to determine whether Chancellor Angela Merkel and her party get a third term leading the government. So where are the TV ads?”

“The comparative lack of political advertising on the airwaves here would be almost inconceivable to an American swing-state voter, who during presidential election season is bombarded by round-the-clock political advertising. Here in Germany, the air war isn’t really an air war: it’s more of a minor disagreement (and a polite one, of course). And instead of myriad ads on different topics featuring different people, each party in Germany typically releases just one main minute-and-a-half ad for the entire election.”

Lawmaker Lost Drunken Arm-Wrestling Match with Putin

September 13, 2013 at 3:51 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) told KPCC that Russian President Vladimir Putin once beat him in an arm-wrestling match to decide who won the Cold War.

Said Rohrabacher: “I didn’t know who he was then. He was deputy mayor of St. Peteresburg. That’s all we knew… But anyways, we started arguing about who won the Cold War, etc. And so we decided to settle it like men do when they’ve had too much to drink in the pub. And so we got down to these arm wrestling matches. And I ended up being paired up with Putin. And he’s a little guy, but boy I tell you, he put me down in a millisecond. He is tough. His muscles are just unbelievable.”

Vitter Seeks Ethics Investigation of Reid and Boxer

September 13, 2013 at 3:40 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) “is pushing back against a legislative proposal that alludes to his prior connection to a prostitution scandal,” Roll Call reports.

Vitter asked the Senate Ethics Committee for an investigation of Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Ethics Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) contending that the offices of the two senators are running afoul of the rules with “attempted bribery.”