First Read: “Benghazi also provides a lesson to Democrats as they try to make political hay out of Christie’s bridge scandal: don’t overreach. The top conclusion about Benghazi was that there was an absence of leadership coming from the State Department, and that’s bad enough of a story for Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration. But Republicans and conservatives have hurt their cause by trying to make the story more than that — a conspiracy or a cover-up. And so instead of simply letting the facts tell a bad story about Clinton and calling into question her leadership abilities, too many of her detractors have claimed a more sinister storyline. And when that storyline is debunked, it’s made the original bad story look less harmful in the public. (Then again, Clinton antagonists have overreached with both Bill and Hillary for years, only to see the public respond the same way.) Christie’s folks are hoping that, at some point, his Democratic detractors over reach; it would actually help him weather this storm and even rally some skeptical Republicans to his side.”
New York Rivalry Escalates
New York Times: “Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has asked people if they think Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York State, wears eyeliner. Mr. Schneiderman has told people that he believes Mr. Cuomo’s administration is Machiavellian and is out to undermine him.”
“A little backbiting by the officials and their aides, who occupy power suites at opposite ends of the State Capitol’s second floor, might be chalked up to the kind of rivalry that is an unseemly but unsurprising fact of life atop the state’s political food chain. But this relationship, as described in repetitive detail by many in New York Democratic circles, has gone from bad to toxic.”
Said one Democrat: “The two men are like oil and water and lately fire seems to have been added.”
Obama Will Ask Congress to Decide Fate of NSA Program
President Obama “is expected to announce some new limits on the National Security Agency program that collects billions of Americans’ phone records, but he will call on Congress to help determine the program’s future, according to current and former officials familiar with the administration’s plans,” the Washington Post reports.
“Obama has concluded that the program has value as a counterterrorism tool, the officials said, but is also confronting difficult political realities. The program’s sweeping nature has prompted serious privacy concerns, and a divided Congress is unlikely to renew it when the law underpinning the program expires next year.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times looks at Obama’s journey from critic of the nation’s spying program to its overseer.
Many Lawmakers Have Had Enough
The Hill: “To put it bluntly, being a member of Congress sucks — and the 16 members in the growing caucus of legislators heading for the exits seem to agree.”
“Someone has announced his retirement every day this week… Now, the daily question in D.C. has become who will go next. The result has shaken up the political math for both parties heading into 2014, but more than anything it underscores just what a terrible, thankless and expensive job being a member of Congress is.”
House GOP Readies Immigration Push
“House Republican leaders are within weeks of releasing their principles for immigration reform — a blueprint that will detail positions on everything from border security to legal status,” Politico reports.
“The document, which has been kept under wraps until now, will call for beefed-up border security and interior enforcement, a worker verification system for employers and earned legal status for the nation’s undocumented immigrants, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions. It will also call for reforms to visa programs and a system to track those in the country legally.”
Lawmakers Seek to Block Obama on CIA Drones
“Congress has moved to block President Obama’s plan to shift control of the U.S. drone campaign from the CIA to the Defense Department, inserting a secret provision in the massive government spending bill introduced this week that would preserve the spy agency’s role in lethal counterterrorism operations,” the Washington Post reports.
“The measure, included in a classified annex to the $1.1 trillion federal budget plan, would restrict the use of any funding to transfer unmanned aircraft or the authority to carry out drone strikes from the CIA to the Pentagon.”
Obama Still Working on Last Year’s Agenda
“The State of the Union speech, less than two weeks away, is a chance for President Obama to showcase his priorities for 2014. In the time remaining, the White House is doing its best to make a dent in a long to-do list from 2013,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Amid criticism that the president has made little headway on his agenda, senior administration officials say a priority this month is to tie up loose ends and demonstrate that work is under way on the issues highlighted in last year’s State of the Union address.”
The Washington Post notes Obama “begins 2014 with none of the boundless hope that characterized the start of his second term last year, when the president believed that his sizable reelection victory might break the Republican ‘fever’ opposed to his policies.”
Spending Bill is Victory for Governing
Norm Ornstein: “One of the greatest tragedies of the decline of Congress as a deliberative legislative body and an effective overseer of federal policy is the deterioration of the appropriations process.”
“So the triumph of the omnibus spending bill that the House passed Wednesday and that will soon be voted on by the Senate is a big deal–it is the first time in a very long time that House and Senate appropriators, Democrats and Republicans, did things the way they should be done, going painstakingly through the myriad accounts and allocating scarce dollars to fit priorities, making dozens or hundreds of trade-offs to satisfy both parties and their caucuses without destroying key programs or damaging the possibility of a broad bipartisan coalition in support.”
Christie Scandal Will Go On
Jack Shafer: “Like so many scandals, this one has been fueled by an official investigation. Lacking subpoena power to gather evidence and compel testimony, journalists depend on those who do have such powers, and in the bridge case it’s the state legislature. Both branches of the New Jersey legislature are controlled by Christie’s political enemies, the Democrats.”
“No matter what anybody tells you, Chris Christie is the quarry here, not any of his staff or appointees. As mentioned above, testimony, subpoenas, and investigations stoke the news furnace whether they’re productive or not. Add a presidential front-runner such as Christie to the mix and political contention — not just within New Jersey but across the border into New York, where Gov. Cuomo and members of his party are glad to help hurt Christie — and you’ve got the makings of a long-running story.”
However, the Washington Post notes Christie and his allieshave begun laying the groundwork for a comeback campaign.
Staffers Release Bathroom Video of Politician
Gawker: “Former New York Assemblyman Dennis Gabryszak (D), facing accusations of gross sexual harassment, resigned this weekend, acknowledging that although he engaged in ‘mutual banter and exchanges’ that were ‘inappropriate in the workplace,’ it didn’t rise to the level of sexual harassment.”
“His accusers disagreed. So they released a video of the politician sitting in a bathroom stall, doing something — staffers say he was either masturbating or simulating receiving oral sex.”
Confessions of a Presidential Speechwriter
Looks interesting: Confessions of a Presidential Speechwriter by Craig R. Smith.
McConnell Ahead in Re-Election Race
A new Human Events-Gravis Marketing poll in Kentucky finds Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) leading challenger Allison Lundergran Grimes (D) by five points, 42% to 37%.
McConnell also leads GOP primary challenger Matt Bevin (R) by double-digits, 53% to 31%.
Christie Scandal Changes Few Minds
A new NBC News/Marist poll finds that nearly seven in 10 Americans say the George Washington Bridge scandal engulfing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration hasn’t changed their opinion of him.
Key findings: 18% say the scandal makes them like Christie less, compared with 5% who say it makes them like him more. But a whopping 69% say it hasn’t changed their opinion of the New Jersey governor.
Said pollster Lee Miringoff: “The numbers suggest it’s far from politically fatal for him. This is a developing story, so the extent
of the damage down the road is an open proposition.”
Despite these numbers, Christie has lost ground to Hillary Clinton in an early hypothetical presidential match up. He now trails Clinton by 13 points, 50% to 37% among nationwide voters.
McKeon Will Not Run Again
Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) will retire and not seek re-election, The Hill reports.
“Democrats are hopeful they can compete for McKeon’s slightly Republican-leaning now that he’s retiring. McKeon’s Southern California district leans slightly Republican, and President Obama won 48 percent of the vote there in 2012. Lee Rogers (D), who held McKeon to under 55 percent of the vote in 2012, is running again and had $180,000 in the bank as of the end of September.”
Topic A: Defense: Retirement sets up battle for House Armed Services chairmanship.
They Used to be Called ‘Reagan Democrats’
Coming this spring: Blue Collar Conservatives by Rick Santorum, who is almost certainly gearing up for another presidential bid.
Look Who Has a New Website
Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) has a new website and it sure looks like he’s running for something.
A new Public Policy Polling survey shows Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) leading Brown in a U.S. Senate match up, 46% to 43%.
We’re Still at War with Iraq
Topic A: Defense points out that the United States is still at war in Iraq — at least on paper.
All the Presidents’ Bankers
Coming soon: All the Presidents’ Bankers: The Hidden Alliances that Drive American Power by Nomi Prins.
