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Warren Stays Quiet

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Politico notes Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is staying out of the spotlight.

“Since taking office, Warren has kept the lowest of profiles, speaking only to select Massachusetts media outlets while shutting out the national press save for a smattering of interviews, most notably with the liberal-friendly Huffington Post. For a left-leaning icon and national media darling, the role of silent senator is a sharp departure from her rousing campaign and outspoken consumer advocacy.”

“It’s the same tactic used by other first-term senators who entered the chamber to great fanfare, including former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.”

Missing Greatness

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Joe Klein: “Barack Obama, liberated from the thrall of electoral politics, has now given us two major speeches to set the style and substance of his second term. Both were powerful; both had moments of high passion, a quality the President kept in mothballs for most of his first term. But neither was daring; neither pointed a way past the rutted politics of the moment. They assumed the status quo. They paved the way to past arguments.”

“We’re citizens, Obama amplified. But most of us aren’t very active citizens, though, and the President never addressed the responsibilities that accompany citizenship. He asked nothing of us. But government isn’t only about taking from some and giving to others. It is about the creation and maintenance of something much larger than all of us–a learning, evolving democracy, which requires an informed, rigorous public. I haven’t heard a politician speak honestly about the sacrifices required for greatness in a long time.”


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Kentucky Democrats Worry Judd May Drag Down Ticket

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Roll Call: “Actress Ashley Judd’s movement toward a Senate run against Minority Leader Mitch McConnell makes Democrats in Washington, D.C., happy. But back in Kentucky, for many Bluegrass State Democrats, a potential Judd run brings a different feeling: heartburn.”

“Democrats plugged into the Frankfort, Ky., zeitgeist publicly and privately confirmed those sentiments. The crux of their worry is this: As a celebrity and strong supporter of President Barack Obama, Judd’s position at the top of the ticket could nationalize state and local races. They see her losing the Senate contest — an uphill climb for any Democrat — and potentially poisoning the conservative brand of some state Democrats.”

A new poll shows Judd tailing McConnell by nine points in a Senate match up.

Another Bonus Quote of the Day

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“I think it’s a mistake on the part of Republicans to try to pin the sequester on Obama. It’s totally disingenuous.”

— Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), quoted by BuzzFeed, adding “you can’t vote for something and, with a straight face, go blame the other guy for its existence in law.”

Pollster Warns GOP Not to Count on Six-Year Itch

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GOP pollster Neil Newhouse warned Republicans to beware of President Obama’s use of the bully pulpit this election cycle, Roll Call reports.

He also suggested they not count on the six-year itch.

Said Newhouse: “I kind of emphasized to the members that second midterm elections have never been friendly to the president. You can’t count on that. That’s not going to happen. We’ve got to realize that the House Republicans are going to be Obama’s top target.”

Senate Schedules Friday Vote on Hagel

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“Facing stiff Republican opposition to moving quickly on Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be secretary of Defense, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a cloture motion this afternoon to cut off debate,” Politico reports.

“Sixty votes will be required to cut off debate and then move to an up-or-down vote on the nomination; the vote is scheduled for Friday unless a deal can be reached to hold it earlier.”

Said Reid: “This is the first time in the history that a presidential nominee for secretary of defense has been filibustered. What a shame.”

Lawmaker Brags He Was First to Call Obama a Socialist

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Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) declares in a new fundraising letter that he was “the first Member of Congress to call him a socialist who embraces Marxist-Leninist policies like government control of health care and redistribution of wealth,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

Broun is running for U.S. Senate in Georgia for the seat being vacated by Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA).

Rubio’s Home for Sale

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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told the nation in his State of the Union rebuttal last night, “I still live in the same working-class neighborhood I grew up in.”

But the Miami New Times reports that Rubio “has been trying to sell that house for an un-working-class-like $675,000 so he can up and move his family to godless elite D.C.”

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

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“That’s the line that will cripple Barack Obama.”

— Newt Gingrich, in an interview on CNN, on the president’s State of the Union claim that his proposals would “not add a single dime to the budget.”

Gore Says Internet Will Reduce Influence of Money in Politics

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Al Gore said the Internet would eventually lessen the role of money in politics, Tech Crunch reports.

Said Gore: “Over time, the rise of the Internet will inexorably diminish the role of money in politics, which is driven today in significant measure by the need on the part of politicians to amass these huge war chests primarily for buying 30-second television advertisements.”

He added: “And as the Internet becomes more prominent and eventually the central way in which we communicate, it does bring the promise of re-empowering individuals to play their roles as citizens and to revitalize representative democracy.”

Advice from a Daughter

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With a burgeoning scandal involving a donor distracting Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) these days, Roll Call finds some advice written by the senator’s daughter in 2011 “to a generic embattled politician brought down by scandal.”

Writes Alicia Menendez: “So you’ve found yourself embroiled in a scandal, huh? In a perfect world we’d rewind to before this ever happened, when you were just some up and comer who was running for city council or state assembly. I’d tell you to make a list of your real, true friends. No big donors. No one who trades your name like a baseball card. No one who is more invested in you, the mighty and powerful than in the real you. My instinct is to tell you that that person is someone from your childhood, someone who knew you when you were still wearing bad suits and actually eating the chicken dinners they serve at political functions.”

Spitzer Denies He’s Mulling Comeback Bid

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Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) denied a New York Daily News report that he was considering a bid for Comptroller in 2014, the Politicker reports.

Said Spitzer: “Look, I haven’t even seen the article. I got a call or two about it. I think-I hope-the article said I did not speak to the reporter, have never spoken to him about it. It’s just made up out of nowhere. I have no idea where it comes from.”

No New Ideas from Republicans

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Ezra Klein: “After an election, the winning party typically tries to pass the policies it campaigned on while the losers go back to the drawing board to try to work up a more appealing agenda. But last night’s dueling speeches revealed, strangely, the reverse.”
 
“President Obama’s agenda has become much more ambitious since the election, ranging from universal pre-kindergarten to raising the minimum wage to gun control to immigration reform. But neither the Republican Party’s agenda nor its rhetoric has changed a whit.”

Wonk Wire has a good round up of the policy proposals included in President Obama’s State of the Union address.

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan 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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