We go OBAMA!

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2009-11-30T00:24:00.000-08:00

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Rival Messages as Obama Lands in the Mideast

2009-06-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

By JEFF ZELENY and HELENE COOPER -June 4th, 2009
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Aiming to repair the American relationship with the Muslim world, President Obama was greeted on Wednesday with reminders of the vast gulfs his Cairo speech must bridge, as voices as disparate as Al Qaeda’s and the Israeli government’s competed to shape how Mr. Obama’s message would be heard.

In a new audiotape, Osama bin Laden condemned Mr. Obama for planting what he called new seeds of “hatred and vengeance” among Muslims, while in Jerusalem, senior Israeli officials complained that Mr. Obama was rewriting old understandings by taking a harder line against new Israeli settlements. [Pages A6 and A14.]

The speech that Mr. Obama is to deliver Thursday in Cairo is intended to make good on a two-year-old promise to use a major Muslim capital as the scene for a major address. Mr. Obama has pledged a new face and tone to relations between the United States and the Muslim world. But whether his expected call for America and Islam to come together can trump Mr. bin Laden’s call to arms is a question that could define Mr. Obama’s presidency in the years to come.

Aware of the high expectations for the speech, Mr. Obama and his advisers have spent months soliciting opinion and advice from a wide variety of experts, from men of the cloth to Arab businessmen to Persian scholars. On his first stop in the Middle East, Mr. Obama spent Wednesday afternoon with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s two holiest sites, and declared on arrival, “I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began.”

In a bid to make sure that Mr. Obama’s message will be heard, particularly among young people, the White House has mounted an unusually aggressive campaign, including a Web site created in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English where people outside the United States can sign up to receive the speech via text message. The State Department is to translate the speech into at least 13 languages.

Mr. Obama’s advisers nevertheless sought to lower expectations. “There’s been an undeniable breach between the American and Islamic world,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president.

“That breach has been years in the making. It is not going to be reversed with one speech. It’s not going to be reversed, perhaps, in one administration.”

The speech will cover a wide swath of territory, advisers said, beginning by challenging the misperceptions that Americans may hold about Muslims and that Muslims may hold about Americans. Mr. Obama will touch upon violent extremism, the threat of a nuclear Iran and the need for the expansion of human rights and democracy.

But even on Wednesday night, as Mr. Obama headed to his quarters at Al Janadriyah Farm, where he is a guest of the king, he told his advisers that he had more thinking to do on the speech and that he would deliver a final version by dawn.

As the son and grandson of Muslims, Mr. Obama has had years to reflect on America’s troubled ties with the Islamic world. But the path to the Cairo address, as described by some advisers, also offers a case study in the president’s approach to a delicate issue, one in which he reached out to dozens of people on how to shape his message.

Before his trip, he and his aides talked to American chief executives of major companies who are Muslims. He read unsolicited essays that were sent to the White House. And he sought out not only Muslims, but also Jews and people of other faiths and experts across academia.

In recent weeks, as advisers presented him with drafts of the speech, Mr. Obama would end sessions with a question. “Are you making sure that we are hearing a Muslim voice?” he would say, according to participants.

Among the Muslim business leaders consulted during the preparations were: S. A. Ibrahim of the Radian Group; Tariq Malhance, the president of UIB Capital; Hultam Olayan of the Olayan America Corporation; and Noosheen Hashemi, a former vice president at Oracle.

On the Friday afternoon before the Memorial Day weekend, White House officials hosted a group of Muslim and other foreign policy scholars to discuss what points Mr. Obama should touch on. The meeting was organized by Michael McFaul, the White House senior adviser for Russia, who arranged it under his purview as a senior democracy adviser. Other White House officials in the 90-minute meeting included the National Security Council officials Mara Rudman, Dan Shapiro, Denis McDonough and Ben Rhodes.

On the other side of the table were Karim Sadjadpour, an Iranian-American expert from the Carnegie Endowment, Ghaith Al-Omari, a former Palestinian peace negotiator, Vali Nasr, another Iran expert who is soon to join the Obama administration, and Shibley Telhami, a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, who described for the assembled officials the results of polling in the Middle East about attitudes toward the United States, according to people in the meeting.

Even as Mr. Obama flew toward Saudi Arabia early Wednesday, he sat on Air Force One, long after most of his advisers had fallen asleep, working with pen in hand through page after page of the speech.

On the first of a five-day trip through four countries, Mr. Obama was treading carefully, with every move being carefully watched in the Middle East. He exchanged a light embrace and a double-kiss with King Abdullah, but the president did not bow as he did at their first meeting in London this year in a gesture that drew criticism.

“I also want to express my best wishes to the friendly American people who are represented by a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position,” King Abdullah said, presenting the president with a large gold medallion known as the King Abdul Aziz Collar.

“Shoukran,” Mr. Obama replied, which in Arabic means “thank you.”

Jeff Zeleny reported from Riyadh, and Helene Cooper from Washington.

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Obama won't oppose ruling weakening 'don't ask'

2009-05-20T01:10:00.000-07:00

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

(05-19) 20:19 PDT -- The Obama administration, criticized by gay rights advocates for not following through on a campaign promise to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on military service, has taken a quiet step to allow a federal court in San Francisco to limit enforcement of the policy.

Without fanfare, the Justice Department told congressional leaders last month that it would not seek Supreme Court review of a May 2008 ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling cast doubt on the constitutionality of discharging gay and lesbian soldiers from the military for revealing their sexual orientation and required military officials to justify each dismissal.

President George W. Bush's administration had asked the court to reconsider the ruling but fell short of the majority vote needed for a new hearing in December. The Obama administration was given extensions of time to file a further appeal but let the deadline expire May 3.

The decision not to appeal was made "after extensive consultation with the Department of Defense," Attorney General Eric Holder said in the letter to Congress. He said the Justice Department will defend the policy when the case returns to a trial court to determine whether an Air Force officer should be discharged because of a lesbian relationship. In the meantime, the ruling is binding on federal courts in California and eight other Western states covered by the nation's largest appellate circuit.

"This decision makes it significantly easier to strike down at least the application of 'don't ask, don't tell' in many if not most cases," gay rights attorney Jon Davidson, legal director of Lambda Legal, said Tuesday. Davidson filed arguments supporting the Air Force officer in the case.

"We're happy that this is not going forward to the Supreme Court at this point," Davidson said. He said many opponents of the policy would prefer to steer clear of the high court during a period of international tension when the justices are likely to defer to military decisions.

"Don't ask, don't tell," approved by Congress and President Bill Clinton in 1993, replaced a ban on gays in the military. It bars the armed services from asking members about their sexual orientation but requires the military to discharge those who acknowledge being gay or engage in homosexual activity. At least 12,500 gays and lesbians have been discharged since the policy took effect.

President Obama said during last year's campaign that gays and lesbians should be allowed to serve openly in the military. But he has not made the issue a priority, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates told an interviewer in late March that any change was "down the road a little bit."

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said Tuesday that Obama still wants the policy repealed and is consulting with military officials to see that "this change is done in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security."

But until Congress changes the law, LaBolt said, "the administration will continue to defend the statute" in court.

The appeals court ruling, the first of its kind in the nation, came in the case of Maj. Margaret Witt of Spokane, Wash., a decorated flight nurse, who was suspended without pay in 2004 and discharged in 2007 after the Air Force learned of her longtime relationship with a civilian woman.

In reinstating Witt's lawsuit challenging her discharge, the appeals court relied on its interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 ruling overturning state laws against gay sex.

That ruling established a new level of constitutional protection for gays and lesbians, the three-judge appellate panel said. It said courts can no longer accept the government's claim that all openly gay service members weaken the armed forces, and instead must require the Air Force to prove that discharging Witt would promote troop readiness or unit cohesion.

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/20/MNBO17NEVG.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Washington - Obama Urges House To Pass Hate Crimes Bill Quickly, Vote Passed 249-175

2009-05-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

Washington - President Obama urged the U.S. House of Representatives to pass hate-crimes legislation quickly.

The House is scheduled to vote this week on the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (the Matthew Shepard Act), which would permit greater federal involvement in investigating hate crimes and expand the federal definition of such crimes to include those motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.
Last night, President Obama issued a statement to urge the quick passing of the bill by the House this week:

"This week, the House of Representatives is expected to consider H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance – legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. I also urge the Senate to work with my Administration to finalize this bill and to take swift action." White House.

The bipartisan Senate bill is being carried by Democrat Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine. Other cosponsors include Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Republican Susan Collins of Maine, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who switched his affiliation Tuesday from Republican to Democrat.

U/D:
Hate-crimes legislation passes House
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act by a vote of 249-175.

Ethanol test for Obama on climate change, science

2009-05-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press WriterSun May 3, 10:11 am ET

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's commitment to take on climate change and put science over politics is about to be tested as his administration faces a politically sensitive question about the widespread use of ethanol: Does it help or hurt the fight against global warming?

The Environmental Protection Agency is close to proposing ethanol standards. But two years ago, when Congress ordered a huge increase in ethanol use, lawmakers also told the agency to show that ethanol would produce less pollution linked to global warming than would gasoline.

So how will the EPA define greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol production and use? Given the political clout of farm interests, will the science conflict with the politics?

Environmentalists, citing various studies and scientific papers, say the agency must factor in more than just the direct, heat-trapping pollution from ethanol and its production. They also point to "indirect" impacts on global warming from worldwide changes in land use, including climate-threatening deforestation, as land is cleared to plant corn or other ethanol crops.

Ethanol manufacturers and agriculture interests contend the fallout from potential land use changes in the future, especially those outside the United States, have not been adequately proven or even quantified, and should not count when the EPA calculates ethanol's climate impact.

"It defies common sense that EPA would publish a proposed rule-making with harmful conclusions for biofuels based on incomplete science and inaccurate assumptions," complained Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

He was one of 12 farm-state senators, both Democrats and Republicans, who wrote EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in March, urging the agency to stick to assessing only the direct emissions.

Ethanol, which in the future may come from cellulosic sources such as switchgrass and wood chips, is promoted by its advocates as a "green" substitute for gasoline that will help the U.S. reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, especially foreign oil. That transition is a priority of the Obama White House.

In 2007, Congress ordered huge increases in ethanol use, requiring refiners to blend 20 billion gallons with gasoline by 2015 and a further expansion to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022.

Congress said any fuel produced in plants built after 2007 must emit 20 percent less in greenhouse gases than gasoline if it comes from corn, and 60 percent less if from cellulosic crops.

Meeting the direct emissions would not be a problem. But if indirect emissions from expected land use changes are included, ethanol probably would fail the test.

Nathaniel Greene, director of renewable energy policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, said that wouldn't mean the end of ethanol.

Ethanol from existing production facilities is grandfathered and "there are ways to produce advanced ethanol's that would comply with the greenhouse thresholds," even using land use climate impacts if the industry chose to adopt them, Greene said.

But farm interests and their allies in Congress are pushing to get the EPA to at least postpone any consideration of the land-use impacts issue, arguing the science surrounding the issue is uncertain.

The senators' letter said that an overreaching regulation by EPA on ethanol's link to climate change "could seriously harm our U.S. biofuels growth strategy by introducing uncertainty and discouraging future investments."

Environmentalists say there have been enough studies on the indirect impact of ethanol on greenhouse pollution to justify the science.

Ignoring the indirect impacts "will undermine the environmental benefits" of the renewable fuels program "and set a poor precedent for any future policies attempting to reduce global warming pollution," 17 environmental group wrote Jackson in response to the senator's plea.

Greene said the EPA's handling of the ethanol rule will be a "a test of our ability to follow sound science" even when it conflicts with the interests of powerful interests.

The environmental organizations noted that Obama has "vowed to make the U.S. a leader on climate change" and put science over politics, and "now is the time to uphold those pledges."

EPA spokeswoman Andora Andy declined to say when an agency proposal — a holdover issue from the Bush administration — would be issued. Interest groups on both sides of the debate said it could come in days. The White House Office of Management and Budget concluded its review of the EPA proposal last week.

___

On the Net:

Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov

Senators' letter: http://tinyurl.com/cwd69f

Natural Resources Defense Council: http://www.nrdc.org/

Obama Vows ‘Independent’ Replacement for Souter

2009-05-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

By DAVID STOUT

May 2, 2009

WASHINGTON — Justice David H. Souter formally told the White House on Friday that he will retire from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term in June, a development that stirred intense interest about who his replacement will be and how the change will affect future court rulings on abortion and the balance between personal liberty and national security.

President Obama praised Justice Souter and his record on the court, and said he hoped to have a new justice confirmed by the Senate by the time the court reconvenes in October.

Promising to nominate a replacement with “a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity,” Mr. Obama, who startled reporters by walking to the lectern for a cameo appearance in the middle of the daily White House press briefing, said that he would look for a candidate for whom the law was not a matter of abstract theory, but a force that affects real people in their daily lives.

He took no questions, and offered no clue about the choice of a new justice, always one of a president’s most lasting decisions. But even before Justice Souter’s letter was delivered to President Obama in mid-afternoon, the speculation about a successor was rampant, with much of the attention focused on women or minority candidates. Reports of Justice Souter’s deccision to retire first emerged Thursday evening on National Public Radio.

Mr. Obama and some close aides and friends are known to have been thinking for months that he would soon face the need to fill a vacancy on the court. The White House Counsel’s office prepared privately to step up its efforts to search for a replacement on Friday.

Lawyers and legal scholars said on Friday that while Mr. Obama may choose a white man for a later vacancy, he would probably not do so in his first opportunity to shape the court. Names of prominent women and minority jurists, on the other hand, were widely discussed as likely candidates.

At 69, Justice Souter is two decades younger than Justice John Paul Stevens, and there have been no rumors that Justice Souter has serious health problems. But he is known to like his home state of New Hampshire much better than he does Washington.

The immediate reaction to Justice Souter’s impending departure demonstrated how polarizing the issue of abortion continues to be; the fundamental debate over constitutional rights and whether they have been eroded in recent years and, at least implicitly, whether the next justice should be someone other than a white man from a privileged background.

“Justice Souter has been a consistent supporter of abortion rights,” Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights said in a statement. “His departure provides a critical opportunity for the president to nominate someone who has a strong understanding of and voice on the realities of women’s lives and to deliver on his stated commitment to nominate justices with ‘empathy,’ who understand the real life experiences of people.”

The Alliance for Justice issued a statement praising Justice Souter “for his commitment to public service and the rule of law.” His replacement should be “a highly qualified nominee who will uphold our Constitution and the law to provide equal justice and protect personal freedoms for everyone in America, not just a few at the top,” the organization said.

“Recent appointees to the Supreme Court are aggressively and systematically undermining the Constitution,” the alliance said. That was an unsubtle allusion to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who were picked by former President George W. Bush.

President Obama will surely be under pressure from some quarters to nominate a woman, which would delight Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has made no secret of her disappointment that a woman was not named to succeed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. He may feel the need to select a member of a minority group.

And if he feels it necessary to put someone with “real world” experience on a court now heavy with former appellate judges, he may turn to someone with political, rather than judicial, experience — or someone who has both. A dozen or more names were floated as possible candidates on Friday, including black women, and some had appealing, up-from-the-bootstraps personal histories.

The coming vacancy will be a Democratic president’s first chance to fill a high court seat since President Bill Clinton named Justice Stephen G. Breyer in 1994. President Bush’s nominations of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito were in line with the president’s pledge to name justices who would interpret the law, rather than try to make new law — code language for conservative jurists, to the extent that labels are reliable.

Now, President Obama has a strong Democratic majority in the Senate, and he has a chance not to change the ideological makeup of the court at this point but, at least, to keep it from becoming more conservative.

As for labels, Justice Souter is a reminder that they are not always dependable. After being nominated by the first President Bush in 1990, he provided to be far more centrist, even liberal, in his judicial philosophy than the president and his supporters had expected.
endit

Peter Baker, Jeff Zeleny, Jim Rutenberg, Adam Nagourney, Neil Lewis and Doug Mills contributed reporting.

He makes the boys SWOON.

2009-04-28T11:23:00.001-07:00

As President Obama began addressing Federal Bureau of Investigation employees at FBI headquarters Tuesday, the crowd went wild with applause — and one FBI worker fainted.

“Did somebody faint? Do we have an EMT here?” Obama asked, pausing in his speech.

“Give him a little space,”

Specter To Switch Parties

2009-04-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

By Carl Hulse

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said on Tuesday he would switch to the Democratic party, presenting Democrats with a possible 60th vote and the power to break Senate filibusters as they try to advance the Obama administration’s new agenda.

In a statement issued about noon as the Capitol was digesting the stunning turn of events, Mr. Specter said he had concluded that his party had moved too far to the right, a fact demonstrated by the migration of 200,000 Pennsylvania Republicans to the Democratic Party.

“I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans,” Mr. Specter said, acknowledging that his decision was certain to disappoint colleagues and supporters.
If Al Franken prevails in his ongoing court case in Minnesota and Mr. Specter begins caucusing with Democrats, Democrats would have 60 votes and the ability to deny Republicans the chance to stall legislation. Mr. Specter was one of only three Republicans to support President Obama’s economic recovery legislation.

The news shocked Senate Republicans, who had been hanging on to their ability to block legislation by a thread. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, called an emergency meeting of party leaders who had no forewarning of Mr. Specter’s plans.

On Capitol Hill, Mr. Specter arrived for a vote shortly after noon with his wife, and said he would be lunching in the private Senate dining room rather than joining either of the weekly party policy lunches that were being held.

Democrats were jubilant about the development.

President Obama was handed a note from an aide at 10:25 a.m. on Tuesday during his daily economic briefing. The note, according to a senior administration official, said: “Specter is announcing he is changing parties.”

Seven minutes later, Mr. Obama reached Mr. Specter by telephone. In a brief conversation, the president said: “You have my full support,” according to the official who heard the phone call. The president added that we are “thrilled to have you.”

“We will welcome him with open arms,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan.
Mr. Specter faced a primary challenge from former Republican Congressman Pat Toomey and polls showed him trailing Mr. Toomey. But he had previously resisted overtures to join the Democrats.

Mr. Specter faced a primary challenge from former Republican Congressman Pat Toomey and polls showed him trailing Mr. Toomey. But he had previously resisted overtures to join the Democrats.Doug Mills/The New York Times Mr. Specter’s announcement shocked Senate Republicans.

“Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration tobecome Democrats,” Mr. Specter said in a statement released in the early afternoon. “I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.”
He said he has experienced a change of heart since the response to his vote for the stimulus legislation.

“Since then, I have traveled the State, talked to Republican leaders and office-holders and my supporters and I have carefully examined public opinion,” his statement said. “It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable. On this state of the record, I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate.”

Mr. Specter, who has a history of finding his own way in the Senate, said he would not be a guaranteed vote for Democratic initiatives and he declared that he would remain opposed to a top labor priority – legislation that would make it easier to unionize American workplaces.

“Whatever my party affiliation, I will continue to be guided by President Kennedy’s statement that sometimes party asks too much,” Mr. Specter said. “When it does, I will continue my independent voting and follow my conscience on what I think is best for Pennsylvania and America.”

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and a man with his own history of breaking with his party, expressed regret and said he had no indication that Mr. Specter would change parties. But Mr. McCain said he understood the reason for Mr. Specter’s shift: “It’s pretty obvious the polls show him well behind his primary opponent.”

Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, did not mince words about the senator, saying Mr. Specter “didn’t leave the G.O.P. based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record. Republicans look forward to beating Senator Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don’t do it first.”

But Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, who also supported the Obama administration’s economic stimulus legislation, said Mr. Specter’s decision reflected the increasingly inhospitable climate in the Republican party for moderates.

“On the national level of the Republican Party, we haven’t certainly heard warm, encouraging words about how they view moderates, either you are with us or against us,” Ms. Snowe said. She said national Republican leaders were not grasping that “political diversity makes a party stronger and ultimately we are heading to having the smallest political tent in history for any political party the way things are unfolding.”

Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, called the decision “a real problem.”

Mr. Specter, who has had serious health problems in recent years, remains active on a variety of major issues and has been a leading advocate for increased funding for health care research.
Democrats called the decision a game-changer. “It helps on everything,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California. “This is a substantial change.”

Democrats said they made no promises to Mr. Specter about committee positions or other incentives to switch, but the party can provide significant campaign support and deter other Democratic candidates from running against him in the primary next year.

The turnabout was reminiscent of the decision in 2001 by Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont to leave the Republican party and become an independent, handing control of the Senate back to Democrats just as President George W. Bush’s first term was beginning. The Jeffords switch flipped party control but some Democrats said Mr. Specter’s move could be just as consequential given the Senate’s recent struggles with filibusters.

“Specter’s decision could be more consequential because it came just as the Senate was beginning work on health care reform,” said Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon. “Specter’s decision is a big impact decision.”

Mr. Specter’s move to the Democratic column is likely to have a chilling effect on other potential Democratic candidates for the Senate. So far, Joseph Torsella, former head of the National Constitution Center and a former deputy mayor of Philadelphia, is the only Democrat to have declared his candidacy.

Others with higher name recognition seem to have been holding back to see how the field would shape up. Even before Mr. Specter announced his switch today, Representative Allyson Schwartz, a Democrat representing parts of Philadelphia and the nearby suburbs, had told The New York Times she was unlikely to make the run. Other possibilities, including Representatives Patrick Murphy and Joe Sestak, had also stayed mum.

Gov. Edward G. Rendell, a Democrat, and Vice President Joseph Biden, both of them long-time friends of Mr. Specter, had urged him to switch parties several weeks ago but Mr. Specter declined. Mr. Rendell said in a recent interview that he had promised Mr. Specter that if he became a Democrat, he would help him raise money; Mr. Specter joked that if he became a Democrat, he wouldn’t need Mr. Rendell’s help on that front.

There had been speculation in Pennsylvania political circles that something was afoot because Mr. Torsella, a close colleague of Mr. Rendell, said little about Mr. Specter when he announced his candidacy.

But Mr. Specter put the kibosh on talk that he might leave the Republican Party and become either a Democrat or an independent, insisting, though without much evidence, that there was room in the Republican Party for moderates.

The move brings Mr. Specter full circle with his earlier political leanings. He was a registered Democrat when he first ran for district attorney of Philadelphia in the mid-1960s, though he ran on the Republican line.

Read Mr. Specter’s full statement.

View an interactive timeline of Mr. Specter’s political career.

Jeff Zeleny from Washington and Katharine Q. Seelye from New York contributed reporting.

The highs and lows of Obama's first 100 days

2009-04-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

2 hrs 48 mins ago
Ever since FDR, the judging of the president's first 100 days is a time-honored tradition, something akin to a teacher issuing a report card. Or a fraternity hazing the new pledge.
Luckily for President Obama, there's only one "First 100 Days." But unluckily for President Obama, the stakes are much higher: In his hands lies the future of Wall Street, two wars and a recession. Here's a look at the president's report card so far:

HIGHS
Domestic policy: During the election, much was made about then-Sen. Barack Obama's lack of experience. But President Obama hit the ground running: Just days after his inauguration, Obama issued a White House pay freeze, ordered the closure of Guantanamo Bay and signed his first bill into law.

Obama then pushed through a massive $787 billion stimulus bill, ended the ban on stem-cell research, and lifted travel limits to Cuba. Oh, and a few weeks ago, he authorized the use of U.S. force against Somali pirates holding an American sea captain hostage.

Foreign policy: Depending on whom you ask, Obama's European trip for the G20, NATO and EU-US summits was either a successful first step toward "soft diplomacy," or as Karl Rove dubbed it, the "President's Apology Tour."

In a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Obama set the tone for his trip, telling Brown that he came to Europe "to listen and not to lecture." By reaching out, Politico declared that Obama made it clear to the world that "the Bush era of foreign policy is over." In return, various heads of state lavished praise for the new U.S. president. A sampling:

- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown: "Your first 70 days in office have changed America, and you've changed America's relationship with the world."

- French President Nicholas Sarkozy: Called Obama a "U.S. president who wants to change the world and who understands that the world does not boil down to simply American frontiers and borders."

- Chinese President Hu Jintao: "Since President Obama took office, we have secured a good beginning in the growth of this relationship."

Back home, however, analysts were on the fence as to what Obama actually accomplished. The New York Times called the trip a "mixed bag," while Politico commented that Obama got "a warm embrace and a cold shoulder" from our NATO allies. The verdict? Not a solid "high," but since Obama was universally well-received, his trip falls into the "plus" column — for now.

The White House: So far, the Obama White House might be the most relaxed — and open — administration yet. Even after he was elected president, Obama was seen in Chicago, taking Michelle out for Valentine's Day dinner. In D.C., the president was seen sipping a beer courtside watching the Bulls play the Wizards.

It's definitely the most wired administration; Obama managed to keep his Blackberry and his weekly radio addresses are the first to be released as Web videos. In March, Obama became the first sitting president to appear on "The Tonight Show" and hosted the first virtual town hall at the White House.

And honestly — when was the last time the president and the secretary of state held a briefing meeting at a picnic table?

LOWS
Vetting nominees: But it hasn't been all roses and rainbows since inauguration day. No less than four nominees have been flagged for not paying taxes, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, despite what the administration called a "comprehensive" vetting form.

Geithner paid his overdue taxes and still got the job, but three nominees — Nancy Killefer, Tom Daschle and Bill Richardson ended up withdrawing their nominations.

Missteps, mixed messages: On the way to the White House, Obama earned the nickname "No-Drama Obama" for his famously disciplined campaign. But as of late, that famous discipline seems to be slipping. In March, when news of AIG bonuses became public, Obama waited several days before making an official statement. When it became known that the White House knew about the bonuses for almost a week, the story turned into "who knew what when" — and why Obama didn't say something sooner.

Things came to a head at a press conference at which CNN's Ed Henry asked the president why he waited so long to respond. Obama replied tersely, "It took us a couple of days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak." (Watch the clip here.) Afterward, Obama sought to limit the damage, going on a whirlwind media tour, appearing on "60 Minutes," "Jay Leno" and ESPN.

Obama's latest misstep — and one that may have the most lasting consequences — involves the investigation of detainee interrogations. On April 21, AP reported that Obama was open to a probe of the Bush-era detainee program. Days later, however, the White House declared Obama was opposed to a special commission to investigate detainee interrogations. But the president is still facing pressure from key Democratic lawmakers to establish a "truth commission" to probe abuses.

The divider: Yes, Obama has the high approval marks, but for someone who made bipartisanship a theme of his campaign, polls also show that Obama is "a polarizing figure in the mold of Bush," says RealClearPolitics. An ABC/Washington Post poll shows 93 percent of Democrats support his actions, while only 36 percent of Republicans do.

Pew Research Center finds that "Barack Obama has the most polarized early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades." AP reports that for every step toward bipartisanship by the White House, there has been one step back: Obama put two Republicans in his Cabinet, but when Republicans pushed for more tax cuts in the stimulus package, Obama replied, "I won. So, I think on that one, I trump you."

According to David Axelrod, Obama's senior adviser, the 100-day review is the "journalistic equivalent of the Hallmark holiday." But perhaps because of Wall Street, two wars and a recession, these 100 days do matter, because now more than ever, people need the change Obama promised.

- Lili Ladaga

Yahoo! News bloggers compile the best news content from our providers and scour the Web for the most interesting news stories so you don't have to.**

There's always one guy...

2009-03-02T23:14:00.000-08:00

NBA fan exercises his constitutional right to trash-talk the president: Wizards supporter Miles Rawls good-naturedly razzes President Obama, a Bulls fan, at the Chicago-Washington game in the nation's capital. The Bulls are losing.

Obama Scolding Congress for being Immovable on the Stimulus Plan

2009-02-23T21:55:00.000-08:00

Living Presidents 2009

2009-02-16T13:39:00.000-08:00

"Hardy harday har har har" echoed down the hollow coradores leading from the oval office to more neutral ground of the White House foyer.

Obama names an acting FERC chief

2009-01-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 29 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has named a former Nevada consumer advocate as the acting chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Jon Wellinghoff is one of two Democrats already on the commission. Wellinghoff succeeds Republican Joseph Kelliher.

Kelliher resigned his chairmanship when Obama became president, but he is staying on the commission while he explores job opportunities. Kelliher has recused himself from most FERC business.

The FERC oversees power grid reliability and wholesale natural gas markets. Its five-member commission can have no more than three members of the same party. Obama cannot nominate a third Democrat until Kelliher departs.

Obama's first speech as US president

2009-01-23T12:20:00.000-08:00

"Click the Pic" to see the Inaugural Speech in full!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7840926.stm

Couldn't find the embedded link. It's still moving even if you gotta follow the link!

Barack Obama has made his first speech as president.
Millions of people gathered in Washington to see the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States and first ever African-American leader.
In his inaugural address President Obama said what was needed now was, "a new era of responsibility" in which every American had duties to themselves, their nation, and the world.

The wired president: Obama creates an e-mail trail

2009-01-23T11:14:00.000-08:00

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer Pete Yost, Associated Press Writer 40 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama is the first wired president, ready to exchange e-mail with close friends and advisers. When do the rest of us get to read them?

We may have to wait until as late as 2028, depending on when Obama leaves office as president. That's according to leading presidential historians who make their living hunting through records at the National Archives and Records Administration.

White House lawyers maintain that Obama's messages are subject to the Presidential Records Act, a post-Watergate law intended to stop former presidents from carting away the records of their time in office. But the law also gives ex-presidents exclusive access to their own records for lengthy periods, allowing them to cash in on memoirs that rely on material the public hasn't seen.

"Basically, anything that Obama's thumbs tap out into the ether is of historical value and has to be saved," said Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, a private Washington-based group that seeks to open government information to the public.

Obama's electronic circle of friends includes some senior staffers and some personal friends who "are able to BlackBerry with the president so he can stay in touch with them," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Friday.

Historians already are drawing parallels between Obama's e-mails and the communications habits of some of his predecessors. President Richard Nixon dictated late-night memos on important and mundane subjects, giving historians an opportunity to peer inside the administration of the only president to resign from office.

"I wrote a whole chapter in my book from those late-night memos," said University of Wisconsin Professor Stanley Kutler, author of "The Wars of Watergate."

Under the Presidential Records Act, former presidents and vice presidents can restrict access to some of their records, including confidential communications with advisers, for up to 12 years. If Obama were to serve two full terms, that would put the release date for many of his records at 2028.

Former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush made such claims. Former President Bill Clinton was more open, waiving some of the privileges invoked by Bush and Reagan.

Five years after a president leaves office, the public can begin requesting documents. Reagan released huge chunks of material after only five years, including many on his meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

In 2001, President George W. Bush gave former presidents and vice presidents more authority beyond the 12-year period to claim executive privilege. Obama overturned Bush's order on his first full day in office this week. Bush's order enabled the withholding of papers that contained military, diplomatic or national security secrets, communications among the president and his advisers or legal advice.

Obama's spy-proof phone

2009-01-23T11:08:00.000-08:00

Rajini Vaidyanathan: He has admitted he's addicted to it, now it looks like Barack Obama's craving for his Blackberry will continue to be satisfied.

Reports suggest President Obama will be given a special spy-proof smartphone.

The speculation is that the president will be given an extra-secure phone which will enable him to make personal phone calls and send personal e-mails. The National Security Agency would not comment on this, and there is still no word from the White House.

In a recent interview Mr Obama said: "I think we're going to be able to hang onto one of these. I want to be able to have voices, other than the people who are immediately working for me, be able to reach out and send me a message about what's happening in America."

The biggest concern is how secure any device would be. It seems the new phone is likely to be a Sectera Edge, which according to its website "is certified to protect wireless voice communications classified Top Secret and below as well as access e-mail and websites classified Secret and below."

UPDATE: So, now we know... At a media briefing today, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that the president will get to keep his Blackberry "through a compromise that allows him to stay in touch with senior staff and a small group of personal friends". He will become the first US president to have personal email in the White House.

Obama to speak to joint session of Congress

2009-01-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

11 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans to address a joint session of Congress next month to deliver a State of the Union-style speech.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday that Obama plans a speech at the Capitol in February. Gibbs said no date has been set but joked that they are trying to schedule it around "Dancing with the Stars."

Such a speech is typical for a new president. President George W. Bush delivered a similar address shortly after taking office in 2001.

Obama is working with congressional leaders to push through an economic stimulus plan that could cost $825 billion. He met with legislative leaders Friday morning at the White House.

Obama says stimulus deal on track

2009-01-23T10:59:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama has said that Congress is on target to approve his planned $825bn (£608bn) economic stimulus package by 16 February.

His comments came after he met with Democrat and Republican leaders.

While the legislation is expected to face a relatively easy passage - due to the Democrats' majority in both houses - Mr Obama wants bipartisan support.

Various parts of the $825bn (£608bn) package have already been passed by House of Representatives committees.

President Obama said the US was facing an "unprecedented economic crisis" that had to be dealt with quickly.

'Working hard'
"Yes we wrote the bill, yes we won the election," said Democrats leader and House Speak Nancy Pelosi.

"But that doesn't mean we don't want it to have sustainability and bipartisan support, and the president is working hard to get that done."

Ms Pelosi reiterated the president's position that the bill would get to him by 16 February.

Despite Ms Pelosi's comments, some Republicans have accused the Democrats of "barrelling ahead without any bipartisan support".

Republicans claim the president's package is too expensive and doesn't create enough jobs.

Mr Obama said that while he was confident the bill would be delivered, he recognised that some opposition remained.

"I recognize that there are still some difference around the table and between the administration and members of Congress about particular details on the plan," he said.

The bill is currently being scrutinised by Congressional committees.

On Thursday, the ways and means committee approved the $275bn in planned tax cuts, with the 24 Democrats on the committee voting for the proposal, while the 13 Republicans voted against.

Another part of the bill, the call for spending $2.8bn on increased broadband services has passed through the energy and commerce committee.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7847236.stmPublished: 2009/01/23 15:20:16 GMT

Obama appoints key hotspot envoys

2009-01-23T10:50:00.000-08:00

US President Barack Obama has named his two key envoys - to the Middle East, and Pakistan and Afghanistan.

George Mitchell, who negotiated an end to Northern Ireland's Troubles, has been charged with moving the Middle East peace process forward.

Richard Holbrooke has been named envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He brokered the 1995 deal that ended the war in the former Yugoslavia.

Earlier, Mr Obama ordered Guantanamo Bay prison camp to close within a year.

The US Senate has approved President Obama's choice of Mary Schapiro to head the financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Confirmation of his Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, is expected on Monday, Democratic Senate leaders said.

A panel cleared the way for his full nomination despite concern he failed to pay his taxes on time some years ago.

'New management'
All overseas CIA detention centres for terror suspects are to close as well, Mr Obama ordered.

He also signed executive orders for a review of military trials for terror suspects and a ban on harsh interrogation methods that critics have said amount to torture.

With Thursday's announcements, Mr Obama has signalled that American diplomacy is under new management, says the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington.

Newly-appointed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the Middle East and Afghanistan-Pakistan as the two most pressing foreign policy issues confronting the US.

"We have no time to lose," said Mr Obama after Mrs Clinton introduced the new envoys.
Mr Mitchell would head to the Middle East as soon as possible to shore up the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel must re-open the border crossing into the Gaza Strip "to allow the flow of aid and commerce," Mr Obama said.

"Hamas must end its rocket fire... The United States and our partners will support a credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime so that Hamas cannot re-arm," he added.

But Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan told al-Jazeera television that Mr Obama would fail in the Middle East unless he changed his position.

Israel ended a three-week offensive on Sunday, pounding the Gaza Strip with bombs and shells and sending in tanks and infantry in an attempt to stop Palestinian militants firing rockets into southern Israel.

'Central front'
Richard Holbrooke, a former ambassador to the UN and the architect of the Dayton Accord that ended the war in the Balkans, is to co-ordinate US policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mr Obama said there was a "deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan" and that the region was now "the central front" in the battle against extremism.

The office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he spoke to Hillary Clinton on Thursday to discuss the "joint struggle against terrorism and relations between the two countries".

The Afghan president emphasised to Mrs Clinton "that Afghanistan is a friend of the United States", a statement said.

Earlier, as he signed orders to set in motion the closure of Guantanamo Bay, Mr Obama said the US would continue to fight terror, but would maintain American values while doing so.

"The United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism," he said.

"We are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals."

Mr Obama has repeatedly promised to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, where some 250 inmates accused of having links to terrorism remain. Many of the detainees have been there for years and have never been charged.

The move was welcomed by President Karzai, who has repeatedly called for detained Afghan citizens to be released so they can face trial in Afghanistan.

"This decision by the United States is a major step towards bringing more international support to the struggle against terrorism, and enlisting all nations in this war," he said.

However, correspondents say closing the prison will not be easy. Questions remain over where those charged will be tried and where those freed can be safely sent.

Secret CIA prisons around the world are also to be closed, although the time frame for this is unclear.

The secret rendition - or transfer - of terror suspects to these prisons was widely criticised after they came to light in the wake of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Mr Obama also banned the use of threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding in the interrogation of suspects - all techniques that had been permitted under the Bush administration.

Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7846229.stmPublished: 2009/01/23 11:33:12 GMT

Some music for inauguration was taped, not live

2009-01-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON – The classical music played for millions of people watching President Barack Obama's inauguration was not the live performance it appeared to be.

Unless you were one of the fortunate few sitting within earshot of the celebrated performers, what you heard was a recording made two days earlier.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriela Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill made the decision a day before Tuesday's inauguration to use a previously recorded audio tape for the broadcast of the ceremonies.

Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said the weather was too cold for the instruments to stay in tune.

"They were very insistent on playing live until it became clear that it would be too cold," said Florman in a telephone interview Thursday night.

People sitting nearby could hear the musicians play "Air and Simple Gifts", written for the inauguration by John Williams, but their instruments were not amplified.

"It would have been a disaster if we had done it any other way," Perlman told The New York Times, which first reported that the music was taped on its Web site Thursday. "This occasion's got to be perfect. You can't have any slip-ups."

The Marine Band, the youth choruses and the Navy Band Sea Chanters performed live, Florman said, although Aretha Franklin was accompanied by taped music and voices.

Florman said all the acts "laid down tape" before Tuesday's inauguration. When they did their sound checks on Monday, all but the quartet made the decision to have their live performances broadcast.

The temperature hovered around 30 for the ceremony on the Capitol steps, too cold for McGill's clarinet, Ma's cello or Perlman's violin to offer true pitch. But the cold played havoc with the piano, which can't hold tune below 55 degrees for more than two hours, Florman said. The group played at 11:43 a.m., and guests seated near them could hear them as well as the tape made two days earlier. Guests seated farther away, the crowds that thronged the National Mall, and the millions who watched around the world heard the taped version of Williams' piece.

"This isn't Milli Vanilli," Florman insisted, referring to the late 1980s group stripped of a Grammy for lip-syncing. "They had to perform in such cold weather, the instruments couldn't possibly be in tune. They were able to play in sync with the tape. It's not unusual."
(This version CORRECTS spelling of the first name "Gabriela.")

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press.

Obama telephones congratulations to Gillibrand

2009-01-23T10:40:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has telephoned his congratulations to U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (JILL'-ih-brand), chosen by New York's governor to fill the state's newly vacant Senate seat.

At Friday's briefing for the media, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama had spoken with the new senator.

Gibbs read a statement from Obama, in which he said New York Gov. David Paterson made a wonderful choice in tapping Gillibrand to fill the seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton is now serving as secretary of state.

Obama said Gillibrand has been known during her career as a strong voice for transparency and reform in government, and that she has "the integrity, character and dedication to public service to help us achieve our greatest goals."

Obama phones British, Canadian and Saudi leaders

2009-01-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has phoned the leaders of Canada, Britain and Saudi Arabia.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday that Obama had talked that morning with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, British Prime Minster Gordon Brown and Saudi King Abdullah.

Obama plans to make his first international trip as president to Canada, a key ally that shares a border with the United States. The trip will keep with tradition, with most U.S. president making Canada their first stop.

Britain and Saudi Arabia also are longtime allies of the United States.

Earlier this week, Obama talked with Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders about the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press.

Geithner signals tougher stance on China

2009-01-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger, Ap Economics Writer 2 hrs 2 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner says President Barack Obama believes China is "manipulating" its currency, a declaration that American manufacturers have long sought in their efforts to combat America's soaring trade deficit with China.

However, Geithner also suggested that now might not be the right time to brand China as a currency manipulator under U.S. trade law, a designation that would trigger negotiations between the two countries and could result in U.S. economic sanctions against China.

"President Obama — backed by the conclusions of a broad range of economists — believes that China is manipulating its currency," Geithner wrote in answer to questions submitted to him by members of the Senate Finance Committee.

"President Obama has pledged as president to use aggressively all the diplomatic avenues open to him to seek change in China's currency," Geithner said.

He noted that while in the Senate, Obama sponsored legislation along with other senators that would overhaul the process for determining what countries are manipulating their currency to gain trade advantages in competition with the United States. That legislation would have authorized a new enforcement process "so countries like China cannot continue to get a free pass for undermining fair trade principles," Geithner said.

Geithner's comments raise the possibility that the Obama administration will take a tougher line with China than former President George W. Bush did. The previous administration refused to cite China as a currency manipulator in a report that Congress requires the Treasury Department to prepare twice a year.

Instead, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson insisted that the best way to get China to revalue its currency was through diplomatic engagement. Paulson began the Strategic Economic Dialogue, high-level discussions that have been held twice a year starting in late 2006.

During this process, China did allow the value of its currency to rise by 21 percent. But American manufacturers say that the Chinese yuan is still significantly undervalued, making Chinese goods cheaper for U.S. consumers and American products more expensive in China.

If Paulson had labeled China as a currency manipulator, that designation would have launched negotiations between the two countries and if that process had failed, the United States could have imposed trade sanctions on Chinese imports.

While Geithner did state that Obama believes China is manipulating its currency, he said the new administration would consider a number of factors in deciding how to proceed.
"The question is how and when to broach the subject in order to do more good than harm," Geithner wrote. "The new economic team will force an integrated strategy on how best to achieve currency realignment in the current economic environment."

In response to another question on China's currency, Geithner noted that China's economy is slowing at present as a result of the global downturn which has cut into China's ability to export.
"Because China accounts for such a large fraction of the world economy, a further slowdown in China would lead to a substantial fall in world growth and demand for U.S. exports and delay recovery from the crisis," Geithner said. "Therefore, the immediate goal should be for us to convince China to adopt a more aggressive stimulus package as we do our part to try to pass a stimulus package here at home."

Under U.S. trade law, the first currency report that the new administration must submit to Congress will be due in April although past administrations have often missed the deadlines.
Frank Vargo, vice president for international affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers, said Friday that the new administration's acknowledgement that China was engaging in currency manipulation represented an important change but that it needed to be followed with actions that will get China to resume allowing its currency to rise in value.

Vargo said China's currency appreciation came to a halt last summer as China became more worried about what a slowing world economy was doing to its exports.

"The National Association of Manufacturers has long thought it was necessary for the U.S. government to tell the Chinese government that we know they are manipulating their currency.
The previous administration always dodged that," Vargo said. "Until you acknowledge the problem, you can't go ahead and get a good solution."

In response to another question on China, Geithner did not commit specifically to continuing the current Strategic Economic Dialogue talks but he said the administration wanted a "deep engagement" with China.

Geithner's nomination to be treasury secretary was approved by the Finance Committee on an 18-5 vote on Thursday despite unhappiness on the part of many senators over mistakes
Geithner made on his tax returns earlier in the decade.

The full Senate is expected to take up Geithner's nomination on Monday and he is expected to win approval at that time with supporters saying that the current economic crisis requires quick approval of someone with Geithner's qualifications.

Geithner is currently head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. In that post, he was a key participant in the financial rescue decisions made by the Bush administration and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press.

Officials: Obama to reverse abortion policy

2009-01-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

By LIZ SIDOTI and MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writers Liz Sidoti And Matthew Lee, Associated Press Writers 1 hr 1 min ago

WASHINGTON – In a long-expected move, President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option, officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

Liberal groups welcomed the decision while abortion rights foes criticized the president. Known as the "Mexico City policy," the ban has been reinstated and then reversed by Republican and Democratic presidents since GOP President Ronald Reagan established it in 1984. President Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but President George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.

The policy bans U.S. taxpayer money, usually in the form of U.S. Agency for International Development funds, from going to international family planning groups that either offer abortions or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion. It is also known as the "global gag rule," because it prohibits taxpayer funding for groups that lobby to legalize abortion or promote it as a family planning method.

The Democratic official and senior U.S. official who disclosed the plans did so on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to pre-empt Obama's announcement.

Obama was expected to sign the executive order at a low-key event, one day after the 36th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.

The move was not a surprise as both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will oversee foreign aid, had promised to do away with the gag rule during the presidential campaign. Clinton is to visit the U.S. Agency for International Development, through which much U.S. foreign aid is disbursed, later on Friday.

Obama has spent his first days in office systematically signing executive orders reversing Bush administration policies on issues ranging from foreign policy to government operations. But, save for ending the ban, Obama has largely refrained from wading into ideological issues, perhaps to avoid being tagged a traditional partisan from the outset after his campaign promises to change "business as usual" in the often partisan-gridlocked capital.

Rather, Obama has chosen to focus initially on issues in which there is consensus across the political spectrum and support from the public, such as closing the prison camp for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to making government documents more accessible.

In a move related to the lifting of the abortion ban, Obama also is expected to restore funding to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) at his earliest opportunity, probably in the next budget. Both he and Clinton made this a campaign issue.

The Bush administration had barred U.S. money from going to the fund, contending that work in China supported a Chinese family planning policy of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization. UNFPA has vehemently denied that it does.

Organizations that had pressed Obama to make the abortion-ban change were jubilant.
"Women's health has been severely impacted by the cutoff of assistance. President Obama's actions will help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, abortions and women dying from high-risk pregnancies because they don't have access to family planning," said Tod Preston, a spokesman for Population Action International, an advocacy group.

Anti-abortion groups criticized the move.

"President Obama not long ago told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions, but today he is effectively guaranteeing more abortions by funding groups that promote abortion as a method of population control," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press.

Obama asks lawmakers to back stimulus bill

2009-01-23T10:14:00.000-08:00

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press Writer 56 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats sought to ease Republican complaints about a massive economic stimulus plan Friday, meeting with GOP leaders in the White House and promising to consider some of their recommendations.
Many Republican lawmakers say the $825 billion package is too costly, and that too much of the spending is for long-range projects that will not stimulate the economy quickly. Some economists say the package should be even bigger, however, and it was unclear whether Republicans would have much impact.

House and Senate GOP leaders "had some constructive suggestions, which we'll review," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters after the meeting with Obama and House and Senate leaders from both parties in the White House's Roosevelt Room.

Speaking briefly before the meeting started, Obama urged bipartisan support for the package, adding that he wanted to hear the Republicans' concerns.

"I know that it is a heavy lift to do something as substantial as we're doing right now," Obama said. "I recognize that there are still some differences around the table and between the administration and members of Congress about particular details on the plan.

"But I think what unifies this group is a recognition that we are experiencing an unprecedented, perhaps, economic crisis that has to be dealt with, and dealt with rapidly."

He thanked congressional leaders for working quickly to move the rescue package that he says will create 3 million to 4 million new jobs.

"That is going to be absolutely critical and it appears that we are on target to make our President's Day weekend," he said. President's Day falls on Monday, Feb. 16.

Obama also said that any legislation governing the use of an additional $350 billion in financial industry bailout money must include new measures to ensure accountability and transparency.

After the meeting, House Republican Leader John Boehner said he and his colleagues told Obama they feel the stimulus package is too expensive and too slow. He said Republicans told Obama of their own plans to "get fast-acting tax relief in the hands of American families and small businesses, because, at the end of the day, government can't solve this problem."

Republicans have been seeking deeper tax cuts and have said there was no reliable estimate of the bill's impact on employment.

Democrats tried to mitigate the impact of a Congressional Budget Office study that questioned administration claims that the money could be spent fast enough to reduce joblessness quickly.

After attending the White House meeting, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said there was "significant discussion about the CBO numbers." He said Obama's budget director, Peter Orszag, who recently headed the CBO, told participants that the study analyzed only 40 percent of the pending stimulus bill and that Orszag "would guarantee that at least 75 percent of the bill would go directly into the economy within the first 18 months."

Also on Friday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus unveiled a Senate version of the tax-cutting portion of the bill. Social Security recipients would get a bonus payment of $300 under the plan. Its tax cuts and spending proposals total $355 billion. It will be paired with $400 billion in further spending proposed by the Appropriations Committee on the Senate floor.

The House version of the bill advanced in committees this week. Republicans, who are in the minority, were unable to make inroads with their proposals.

The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday approved $275 billion in tax cuts on a party-line vote of 24-13. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, also working on the bill, cleared $2.8 billion to expand broadband communications service. And on Wednesday night, the House Appropriations Committee approved a $358 billion spending measure on a 35-22 party-line vote.

Obama is scheduled to meet with House Republicans next week, at their request. But by then the House bill could be on the floor awaiting a vote.

Government reports showed the number of new jobless claims was up and new home construction hit an all-time low in December.
___
Associated Press writers Charles Babington, Andrew Taylor, David Espo, Stephen Ohlemacher and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press

Ask not what San Francisco can do for you...

2009-01-22T14:59:00.000-08:00

Inauguration Issue: How progressives can participate in changing the city and world
By Molly Freedenberg
› molly@sfbg.com
Inauguration Issue: How progressives can participate in changing the city and world
By Molly Freedenberg

Wednesday January 21, 2009
It's been a depressing decade for progressives. In fact, it seems our inability to fight the Bush administration and its misadventures in Iraq and elsewhere left us with the symptoms of a kind of collective Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: disillusioned, disappointed, and tired. That is, until Barack Obama's election woke us up with a little thing called Hope™.

Now that we have all this energy, though, where should we direct it? How, on an individual level, can we support the Obama administration in making real change? Michelle Obama started to answer this question when she announced the Call to Service, asking Americans to devote time to neighborhood organizations and causes on Jan. 19 and beyond, via www.usaservice.org.
We'd like to add to the discussion by highlighting some local groups, causes, and nonprofits who could use year-round help.

ADVOCACY
Perhaps the best way to use your renewed political energy is putting it toward a cause you care about. For example, if you're worried about how this year's massive budget deficit might devastate healthcare in San Francisco, you might want to get involved with Coalition to Save Public Health (415-848-3611 ext. 3628, home.comcast.net/~mylon01/publichealth). Also check out nonprofits and grassroots groups working towards marriage equality, energy reform, or whatever pet issue you're passionate about.

CITY GOVERNMENT
An even more direct way to be involved in local government is to volunteer inside City Hall, particularly with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (1 Carlton B. Goodlett, SF. 415-554-5184, www.sfgov.org). Every supervisor has two aides, who in turn rely on donated labor to maintain the busy officials' schedules and duties. To get involved, visit the Web site and fill out an application specifying your skills, availability, and preferred supervisors. Keep in mind four current supervisors once worked as staff or interns in these same offices, so this is a great way to get into politics while helping our government run more efficiently. It's win-win.

BIKES
Though SF might seem like a bicycle-friendly city, we've still got a lot of work to do, from promoting the bike as primary transportation to representing bicycle interests in local government and city planning. If you're a fellow velo-fanatic, give your time to the Bicycle Coalition (995 Market, SF. 415-431-BIKE, www.sfbike.org). Check the Web site to volunteer in the office, at Volunteer Nights, with bike valet parking, or with outreach.

PARKS
It's easy to forget how important beautiful, open spaces are to a community until you don't have them. But just imagine how different the Mission would be without Dolores Park, or the Lower Haight without Duboce. Support the maintenance, beautification, and continued improvement of these and other green spaces by volunteering with the Neighborhood Parks Council (451 Hayes, F. 415-621-3260, www.sfnpc.org). The Council welcomes everything from one-time feedback or participation in a scheduled work day to longer-term internships for youth 16-23 years old, and everything in between.

... AND MORE
One of our favorite recent-ish developments on the Interwebs is the proliferation of Web sites connecting philanthropic types to specific causes — especially two SF-based organizations who work specifically with volunteers. Check out Chinatown-based Volunteermatch.org for a list of specific opportunities and a chance to upload your volunteer résumé — great for medium- to long-term volunteering — or former Best of the Bay winner One Brick (www.onebrick.org), which hosts an event calendar of upcoming volunteer events — great for one-time, short-term, and short-notice involvement.
Most important, we'd like to point out that community service, though incredibly important, is only one way to address our society's ills. "It can be a Band-Aid approach to systemic problems," said Sup. Chris Daly. What we really need, he said, is "to demand more from elected leaders, for people to put themselves forward and take control of political institutions. There's no greater service than keeping elected leaders accountable to the people they serve."

True dat.

Wednesday January 21, 2009

Transportation Bonanza

2009-01-22T14:57:00.000-08:00

Inauguration Issue: The first year of Obama's term could see the biggest federal investment in transportation projects since the creation of the interstate highway system
By Steven T. Jones SF BAY GUARDIAN
› steve@sfbg.com

GREEN CITY The first year of President Barack Obama's term could see the biggest federal investment in transportation projects since the creation of the interstate highway system, so there's now a mad scramble to determine where — both geographically and in terms of transportation modes — that money will go.

Transportation activists were already geared up for this October's omnibus transportation bill reauthorization, the first serious chance in four years to alter federal policies and spending priorities. But now that Congress is considering economic stimulus bills as large as $825 billion — including $71 billion to $85 billion in transportation projects — it's looking like a potentially even more bountiful year.

Many Bay Area groups and agencies have forwarded their wish lists to state and federal policymakers and transportation officials, from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's $500 million in capital projects to the $1.6 billion "Bay Area Conference of Mayors
Transit Infrastructure Wish List," which claims it would create 14,197 jobs.

San Francisco has the biggest chunk of that latter proposal at $713.9 million, including such big ticket items as $200 million for the so-called train box in the new Transbay Terminal project (see "Breaking ground," 12/10/08), $275 million for projects associated with Muni's Transit Effectiveness Project, and $100 million for the Doyle Drive rebuild.

Randy Rentschler, public affairs directors for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, told us that for too long, the federal government has simply deferred transportation decisions to the states.

"Just having a block grant program to states does not assert a federal interest in transportation," he said.

Yet Rentschler acknowledges the difficulty of creating federal transportation mandates. Unlike programs such as carbon capture, which affect large factories, or fuel standards, which affect automakers, making big changes to transportation policy potentially impacts every citizen.
"When you talk about transportation, what you're really asking for is the participation of 300 million Americans," he said.

Tom Radulovich, director of Livable City and an elected BART board member, is worried about the political dynamics of the stimulus package.

"Stimulus is sort of garbage in, garbage out," Radulovich said, noting that the federal imperative for "shovel-ready projects" that can break ground in a matter of days or weeks means that road projects that have been lined up waiting for money will get priority over more complicated, visionary efforts to create a green infrastructure and better alternatives to the automobile.

Radulovich and other activists have been focused on the quadrennial transportation bill, and on persuading Congress to shift priorities that reflect the current 80 percent of federal transportation dollars that go to automobile projects.

"The danger is Congress will shoot its wad now on all these highway projects and then say they're out of money," Radulovich said.

Rod Diridon, executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute and a board member on both the American Public Transit Association and California High-Speed Rail Authority, agrees that a shift in federal priorities is overdue.

"You see a lot more money in the highway and bridge projects than you see for transit," he told the Guardian.

Yet Diridon expressed more hope than Radulovich that Democrats in Washington, DC, particularly Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, are taking the right steps to promote the transformation we need. He said the stimulus bill is a good example.

"Speaker Pelosi has been a real crusader for doing this the right way," Diridon said, noting that she is refusing to allow members to attach earmarks for favored projects; instead she is basing the list of recipients on Department of Transportation criteria.

Quentin Kopp, chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, is trying to get more money for the $33 billion first phase of the high-speed rail project that voters approved a $10 billion down payment for in November.

"You don't want to expect anything. You want to be pleasantly surprised," Kopp said. "I'm not counting on the money, but we will seek several billion dollars on the theory that we can get contracts with people who are threatened or have encountered employment setbacks."

Change you can live in?

2009-01-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Inauguration Issue: New stimulus plan falls short on housing money
By Rebecca Bowe SF BAY GUARDIAN

If you ask San Franciscans about the most pressing issues facing the city, homelessness and affordable housing are always near the top of the list. While this city's housing problems are particularly dramatic, homelessness is on the rise across urban America. And in nearly every big city, public housing projects are crumbling, suffering from years of federal neglect.

But you wouldn't know that to look at the latest stimulus package coming out of Washington, DC.
The proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, introduced Jan. 15, contains only $16 billion for affordable housing. That's about half what advocates had sought — and a tiny fraction of what's really needed.

The bill has the affordable housing community shaking its collective head. "Unfortunately, the news right now is not good. This first pass at the stimulus bill is not encouraging," Matt Schwarz, president of the California Housing Partnership, a San Francisco–based nonprofit working to expand affordable housing stock throughout California, told us.

Will President Obama, who barely mentioned homelessness during the campaign, look at affordable housing as a priority? Most housing activists say they're cautiously optimistic. But some are starting to sound the alarm.

"I think, when it comes to political clout in DC, poor people and their allies are still in trouble," said Paul Boden, director of the San Francisco–based Western Regional Advocacy Project, a group that focuses primarily on homelessness issues. "It was disheartening to go to the Obama [transition team] Web site and find ... a very miniscule mention of homelessness — and it's under 'veterans.'<0x2009>"

City officials are looking at the bright side. "Most people would agree that there's been very little new money available at the federal level for affordable housing [in the past eight years]," Doug Shoemaker, director of the Mayor's Office on Housing, told us. Shoemaker expects that to change under the Obama administration, especially with the pick of New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Shaun Donovan as US Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary, whom he characterized as "an incredible leader who really understands homelessness and affordable housing."

Olson Lee, deputy director of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, sounded a similar note. "We're looking forward to an administration that cares about affordable housing," he said. Projects like the Hunters View reconstruction project, which would restore a dilapidated public-housing complex in the Bayview–Hunters Point neighborhood, tops the list of projects that would shift into gear again if new federal dollars are made available, Lee noted.
But while city agencies seem to have high hopes for federal dollars that could be headed to San Francisco under the new administration, many grassroots-level affordable housing advocates are more cautious.

Longtime affordable housing activist Calvin Welch pointed out that there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the allocation of federal funding under the economic recovery package. "The first test is, does the Obama administration view affordable housing — especially affordable rental housing in cities — as a priority?"

From Welch's perspective, the answer appears to be yes. But he added that no affordable housing practitioners were named to Obama's transition team. And in San Francisco, a pending blow to health and human services due to local and state budget cuts will bring about more distress linked to housing issues.

"When those health and human services are reduced, the effect is an increase in the homeless population, or at least the temporarily unhoused population — a population with very challenging housing needs, which is at extreme risk," Welch told us. "I haven't seen any response to that consequence. I have not read that any portion of the Obama stimulus package is focused on health and human services." Until the details are hammered out, he said, "We're holding our breath."

A recent report issued by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities — a DC-based research and analysis organization focusing on issues affecting low-income families — underscores Welch's concerns. The recession has prompted a rise in homelessness nationwide, the report notes, and an unusually large number of people are still likely to fall into severe poverty, putting them at risk of being turned out onto the streets.

"It is important that the package include funding for effective homelessness prevention strategies," CBPP notes.

Specifically, the report recommends that funding be made available for 200,000 additional Section 8 housing vouchers, which allow very low-income residents to rent privately-owned units of their choice. That number would only begin to address the need. In San Francisco, the waiting list for Section 8 has been closed since 2001, and some 13,000 people have languished on the list, according to Sara Shortt, director of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco.

Despite the urging of organizations like CBPP, the first draft of the bill included no new additional funding for Section 8 vouchers.

The Obama administration has made it clear that new funding will become available for "shovel-ready" projects — those that are ready to move forward in a matter of months. According to the results of a survey conducted by the California Housing Partnership, San Francisco has 24 such affordable housing development projects waiting in the wings, which could provide an estimated 3,915 affordable homes and could potentially generate 4,500 construction-related jobs.

But Schwarz, president of CHP, says he's less optimistic that those projects will move forward after seeing the proposed legislation. Schwarz says the $16 billion included for affordable housing measures in the proposed legislation was disheartening. With that figure, "We're not expecting a significant portion of those stuck developments to get unstuck," he said. "There seems to have been some major backtracking, and we're not quite sure where this is coming from."

While the bill falls short of what many of San Francisco's affordable housing advocates had hoped for, it does include funding for public housing repair. "This economic recovery bill includes $5 billion to allow public housing authorities to complete repair and construction projects, including critical safety repairs," Drew Hammill, press secretary to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wrote in an e-mail to the Guardian. "This is more than double the amount that was included for this account in the fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill and double the amount that is pending in fiscal year 2009."

But Hammill acknowledged that the need for such repairs is great in San Francisco: "The existing backlog in San Francisco is over $250 million" he wrote, "with approximately $26 million of additional physical deterioration occurring each year."

Shortt, who heads the Housing Rights Committee, looks back on the past six years as "a disaster" for public housing. "It is very likely that we'll see an infusion in public housing and affordable housing in this recovery package," she said. But she regards the expected $5 billion for public housing capital funds as "a drop in the bucket. It's estimated that the overall need is $33 billion nationally." .

Shortt did have praise for Donovan, Obama's HUD secretary pick. Even so, she says, "Whether Obama himself feels strongly about housing or not, politically it's going to take a while before it's high on the priority of the Beltway. It's been relegated to the bottom of the heap for so long."

Wednesday January 21, 2009

Analysis: For Cuba and US, making up is hard to do

2009-01-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

By NIKO PRICE, Associated Press Writer Niko Price, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 20 mins ago

HAVANA – Raul Castro says Barack Obama seems like a good guy, and his brother Fidel says he's certain of Obama's honesty. The new U.S. president wants to sit down and negotiate, and is in a better position to do so than any other since Eisenhower.

But making up is hard to do. To restore relations and end the U.S. embargo, Obama would have to drop demands for democracy on the island, or Cuba would have to accept them — both unlikely scenarios.

Never since a young Fidel Castro traveled to the United States in 1959 have hopes for U.S.-Cuba relations been higher, nor the obstacles to closer relations fewer. Among the positive signs:

• An ailing Fidel Castro handed the presidency to his brother Raul in 2006, removing a symbolic hurdle to closer ties.

• Obama didn't need the anti-Castro vote in Florida, once thought indispensable. In any case, a recent poll indicates most Cuban-Americans in the heart of Florida's exile community want an end to the embargo that bars most U.S.-Cuba trade and travel.

• A stream of Latin American leaders has visited Havana in recent weeks, and the region is beginning to speak with one voice against the U.S. embargo.

• Obama took heat during the campaign for saying he'd sit down with a Castro — and won anyway.

• And the Castros, who covered Havana with images of former President George W. Bush as a bloody-fanged vampire, actually seem to like the new president.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was convinced of this after a private meeting with the elder Castro Wednesday, telling reporters that Fidel told her Obama is an honest man — "un hombre sincero."

Raul Castro chimed in: "He seems like a good man."

Fidel Castro said Thursday in his first essay in more than a month that he watched Obama's inaugural speech and "has no doubt of the honesty with which Obama ... expresses his ideas."

Obama's Cuba policy appears clear: He'll quickly end limits imposed by the Bush administration on the number of trips Cuban-Americans can make to see relatives, and on the amount of money they can send home. He signed an order Thursday to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, which Cubans considered to be an affront to their patrimony — the U.S. naval base was built on land permanently leased from Cuba under terms imposed when American troops occupied the island in 1903.

But Obama said during the presidential campaign that he would keep the embargo in force, using it as a bargaining chip for democratic change in Cuba.

"The road to freedom for all Cubans must begin with justice for Cuba's political prisoners, the rights of free speech, a free press and freedom of assembly, and it must lead to elections that are free and fair," Obama said as he outlined his Latin America policy last May.

Cuban officials recoil at the thought of a U.S. president telling them how to run their country.
"It would cost us our dignity. Under pressure we won't do anything," Miguel Alvarez, senior adviser to the president of Cuba's National Assembly, told The Associated Press. "That's very Cuban."

One problem, says Dan Erikson of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, is that there is no high-profile figure in the United States with a background in Cuba to lead the charge for normalization, like war veterans John Kerry and John McCain did for U.S.-Vietnamese relations.
Erikson said it will be hard to overcome the "inertia" of U.S. policy, which for 50 years has been based on the increasingly improbable hope that isolating the island and draining it of foreign capital will weaken the government's hand and allow an opposition to flourish.

"This despite the fact that almost no one thinks this policy will be successful at its goal: achieving democracy in Cuba," he said.

Many observers suggest the U.S. could have far more impact by unilaterally ending the embargo and removing the sanctions Cuba's government uses to explain away the island's poverty and other restrictions on what Cubans can say or do. That way, Cubans would be able to judge their rulers on their own merits.

"I don't see any downside to ending the embargo. The embargo at this point is an anachronism that makes us look foolish," said Wayne Smith, the former chief of the U.S. mission in Havana.
Ending the embargo would require backing down from entrenched positions neither side seems ready to abandon. It would also require an act of Congress, since lawmakers wrote key parts of the restrictions into law in 1992 and 1996.

But relations also could be revolutionized if either side takes smaller steps that carry minimal political cost.

Cuba, for example, could free political dissidents from its prisons. Raul Castro said last month he'd be willing to send them and their families to the United States in exchange for the freedom of five Cubans locked up in U.S. prisons as spies.

The United States could lift restrictions that bar most Americans from traveling to Cuba, sending a million ambassadors of democracy fanning out across the island every year. Cuban officials say they'd happily take in the tourists, for the hard currency they would bring to the economy.

"If you remove the travel restrictions, the embargo becomes irrelevant," a Cuban official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss policy.

While the politicians mull their next moves, ordinary Cubans are infused with a hope the island hasn't seen in quite some time.

"Everything changed over there today," Havana resident Roberto Gonzalez marveled as Obama took the oath of office Tuesday. Gonzalez, 40, mugged for tourist photos with a dachshund wearing an "Obama-Biden" pin, hoping he might make a few dollars in tips.

"I can see the day that Barack Obama will step onto Cuban soil," he said. "That day isn't very far off."
___
Niko Price is Latin America Editor for The Associated Press and has covered the region since 1997.

Europe lauds Obama shutdown of secret CIA prisons

2009-01-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK and FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press Writers Shawn Pogatchnik And Frank Jordans, Associated Press Writers 39 mins ago

DUBLIN, Ireland – U.S. President Barack Obama's decision Thursday to shut secret CIA-run prisons abroad brought renewed calls for their locations to be disclosed as well a fresh denial from Poland, one of two eastern European countries most closely linked to the practice.

Across Europe, governments uneasy that CIA flights had been carrying terrorism suspects through their airports and air space for years said they were relieved to be heading into a new rendition-free era.

Dick Marty, the Swiss lawmaker who spearheaded the Council of Europe investigations that sought to expose the existence of clandestine interrogation centers in Eastern Europe and Africa, said he expected the truth would come trickling out once the centers were closed.

"For some countries, things are going to become very embarrassing. I think European countries would do well now to tell the truth," Marty said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Marty said he "would be very surprised" if any CIA-run facilities were still operating in Europe, but added "in East Africa, or Morocco, I might assume there is something." He said Obama's order granting Red Cross officials access to all secret facilities might prove critical in revealing their locations, both past and present.

"I have deep respect for what's happening in the United States now. That's America as we love and respect and admire it," Marty said.

Poland and Romania are the NATO newcomers that welcomed U.S. military deployments and strongly backed former President George W. Bush's "war on terror." One country offered a strong new denial of involvement, while the other kept silent.

"There are no American prisons in Poland," said Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski. "We've said that many times in recent years and our position and statements haven't changed, and we have nothing new to say."

But Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, who directed Poland's foreign intelligence agency until 2004, expressed doubts that Obama's moves would make the West more secure from terror.
"It won't make things easier ... one will have to devise new methods, different methods," Siemiatkowski said, declining to elaborate.

Romanian government officials issued no statement on Obama's move and did not respond to numerous calls for comment. Romania has repeatedly denied that it allowed CIA secret prisons or permitted the agency to make flights across Romania carrying terrorism suspects.

But a Romanian intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Thursday that Obama's move had made Romanian authorities "worried."

"They are not going to say anything because it will make Romania look guilty," he said.
In Ireland, government and opposition leaders united in praise for Obama's move.
The officially neutral nation had spent years uneasily permitting CIA flights to refuel at Ireland's strategically placed Shannon Airport. On every occasion, the Bush administration insisted, no rendition suspects were on board. U.S. officials also said that Irish authorities never search the planes.

"Certainly, CIA planes involved in rendition refueled at Shannon and were going to and from Guantanamo Bay from Shannon. We have not been able to inspect the contents of the planes to determine if there were detainees in them. So we were complicit in this illegal, abominable activity," said Joe Costello, human rights spokesman for Ireland's opposition Labour Party.

Costello, like so many across a continent largely opposed to Bush's policies, expressed pleasant surprise that Obama had changed course so quickly.

"Ireland expected that he would close down Guantanamo Bay, but it's a wonderful bonus to close down all the secret centers," he said.

Costello said he doubted that the world would ever learn the true scope of the CIA's interrogations network.

"It's going to be difficult to get official recognition from any government that torture or illegal detention took place on their soil. Things will be leaked over time," he said, "but I don't expect any government to admit to anything."

Wolfgang Kaleck, an attorney who last June sued the German government to demand that it pursue the extradition of 13 CIA agents sought in the alleged kidnapping of German citizen Khaled al-Masri, said Obama's executive order could clear the way for more clarity into European governments' involvement.

"We believe, based on reports from human rights organizations, that there are still people detained through this program," Kaleck told The Associated Press.

"We hope, in many cases, that American files and information will be made public," he said. "We know that in Germany, as in Italy, warrants were passed on to the CIA that were highly suspicious."

Al-Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, maintains he was abducted in December 2003 at the Serbian-Macedonian border and flown by the CIA to a detention center in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was interrogated and abused.
___
Associated Press writer Frank Jordans reported from Geneva. AP reporters Ryan Lucas in Warsaw, Poland, and Patrick McGroarty in Berlin contributed to this report.

Senate panel approves Geithner for treasury post

2009-01-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger, Ap Economics Writer 16 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Senate Finance Committee has cleared the nomination of Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary despite unhappiness over his mistakes in paying his taxes. The committee approved the nomination on an 18-5 vote, sending it to the full Senate. President Barack Obama is hoping for quick approval so that the point man for the administration's economic rescue effort can begin work.

The committee vote came a day after Geithner appeared before the panel to apologize for what he called "careless mistakes" in failing to pay $34,000 in taxes earlier in the decade, when he worked at the International Monetary Fund.

Geithner paid the back taxes plus interest for the years 2003 and 2004 after being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. But he did not pay taxes he owed for 2001 and 2002, even though he had made the same mistakes for those years, until shortly before he was nominated by Obama last November to be treasury secretary.

The nomination was expected to win approval by the full Senate, with many lawmakers saying that given the serious economic crisis facing the country, the new president deserved to have the services of a man of Geithner's abilities and experience.

Geithner has been the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for the past six years and was a key participant in decisions made by the Bush administration to deal with the worst financial crisis to hit the country since the Great Depression.

All five of the "no" votes on the committee came from Republicans, including the top GOP member of the panel, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. Those voting no said that they did not believe Geithner had been candid in his answers on why he failed to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. They said they viewed this as a serious error for an official who would head the agency that oversees the IRS.

"I am disappointed that we are even voting on this," said Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo. "In previous years, nominees who made less serious errors in their taxes than this nominee have been forced to withdraw."

Even Democrats who voted for the nomination said they were disappointed in Geithner's actions.
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said that in normal times he would oppose Geithner but "these are not normal times."

The committee acted on an expedited basis, voting shortly after Geithner submitted to the panel 102 pages of answers to written questions committee members had posed after Wednesday's hearing.

We got this, man!!!

2009-01-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

Newly appointed Secretary of State- Hillary Clinton

2009-01-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

YOU GO GIRL! [couldn't resist]

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer Matthew Lee, Associated Press Writer 12 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Hillary Rodham Clinton took charge of the State Department on Thursday, proclaiming the start of a new era of robust U.S. diplomacy to tackle the world's crises and improve America's standing abroad. Before a raucous, cheering crowd of about 1,000 people, the nation's 67th secretary of state pledged to boost the morale and resources of the diplomatic corps and promised them a difficult but exciting road ahead.

"I believe with all of my heart that this is a new era for America," she said to loud applause in the main lobby of the department's headquarters, which President Barack Obama visited later in the day to underscore his administration's commitment to diplomacy.

With Obama at her side in the ornate Ben Franklin Room, Clinton introduced former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell, D-Maine, as a special envoy for the Middle East. Former U.N. ambassador Richard Holbrooke was announced as a special adviser on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The posts are the first of several new special envoys the administration plans to create to deal with particularly vexing problems abroad.

Clinton began her first day on the job at the State Department one day after her Senate confirmation.

"This is going to be a challenging time and it will require 21st Century tools and solutions to meet our problems and seize our opportunities," Clinton said at her welcoming. "I'm going to be asking a lot of you. I want you to think outside the proverbial box. I want you to give me the best advice you can."

"I want you to understand there is nothing that I welcome more than a good debate and the kind of dialogue that will make us better," she said. "We cannot be our best if we don't demand that from ourselves and each other."

In her spirited 10-minute pep talk, she spoke of the importance of defense, diplomacy and development — the "three legs to the stool of American foreign policy" — and noted that the State Department is in charge of two of them.

"We are responsible for two of the three legs," said the former New York senator and first lady. "And we will make clear as we go forward that diplomacy and development are essential tools in achieving the long-term objectives of the United States."

Clinton's mandate from Obama is to step up diplomatic efforts and restore the nation's tattered image overseas. She has vowed to make use of "smart power" to deal with international challenges.

"At the heart of smart power are smart people, and you are those people," she told the assembled throng. "And you are the ones that we will count on and turn to for the advice and counsel, the expertise and experience to make good on the promises of this new administration."
Clinton takes over an agency that was often sidelined during George W. Bush's eight-year presidency, particularly in his first term over the decision to go to war in Iraq. Although former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice restored some of the department's influence, diplomats still complained of a lack of access to the top, as well as funding.

In introductory remarks, Steve Kashkett, vice president of the union that represents diplomats, noted that Obama and Clinton had both "decried the neglect that the foreign service and the State Department as a whole have suffered in recent years."
Clinton, meanwhile, sought to reassure frustrated diplomats that they will be heard.
"This is a team, and you are the members of that team," she said. "We are not any longer going to tolerate the kind of divisiveness that has paralyzed and undermined our ability to get things done for America."

She predicted her team would experience "a great adventure. We'll have some ups and some downs. We'll face some obstacles along the way. But be of good cheer and be of strong heart, and do not grow weary as we attempt to do good on behalf of our country and the world. ... And now, ladies and gentlemen, let's get to work."

After her remarks, Clinton made telephone calls to foreign leaders, toured some of the department's key offices and received briefings before hosting Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and national security adviser James Jones. They are to meet in a closed-door session before Obama addresses the diplomatic corps.

Obama urges Israel, Hamas to keep peace in Gaza

2009-01-22T13:58:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is calling on Israel and Hamas to take steps aimed at ensuring that the cease-fire that's in place in Gaza will endure. Weighing in on the conflict for the first time following his inauguration, Obama said that going forward, Hamas must end rocket fire at Israel, and Israel must "complete the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza." Although those steps were taken this week, low-level violence has marred the fragile cease-fire.
Obama said his administration will support a "credible" system of ending smuggling into Gaza.
He said he's "deeply concerned" by the loss of life among both Israelis and Palestinians, and by the suffering taking place in Gaza. He said his heart goes out to civilians who are going without food, water or medical care.
He said Gaza's borders should be opened to allow aid to come in, with "appropriate monitoring."

Obama signs order to close Guantanamo in a year

2009-01-22T11:58:00.000-08:00

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer 25 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama began overhauling U.S. treatment of terror suspects Thursday, signing orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, shut down secret overseas CIA prisons, review military war crimes trials and ban the harshest interrogation methods.

With his action, Obama started changing how the United States prosecutes and questions al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans — and overhauling America's image abroad, battered by accusations of the use of torture and the indefinite detention of suspects at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba.

"The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly and we are going to do so effectively and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals," the president said.

The centerpiece order would close the much-maligned Guantanamo facility within a year, a complicated process with many unanswered questions that was nonetheless a key campaign promise of Obama's. The administration already has suspended trials for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo for 120 days pending a review of the military tribunals.

In the other actions, Obama:
_Created a task force to recommend policies on handling terror suspects who are detained in the future. Specifically, the group would look at where those detainees should be housed since Guantanamo is closing.

_Required all U.S. personnel to follow the U.S. Army Field Manual while interrogating detainees. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding, a technique that creates the sensation of drowning and has been termed a form of torture by critics. However, a Capitol Hill aide says that the administration also is planning a study of more aggressive interrogation methods that could be added to the Army manual — which would create a significant loophole to Obama's action Thursday.
"We believe that the Army Field Manual reflects the best judgment of our military, that we can abide by a rule that says we don't torture, but that we can still effectively obtain the intelligence that we need," Obama said. He said his action reflects an understanding that "we are willing to observe core standards of conduct, not just when it's easy, but also when it's hard."
A task force will study whether other interrogation guidelines — beyond what's spelled out in the Army manual — are necessary for intelligence professionals in dealing with terror suspects.
But an Obama administration official said that provision should not be considered a loophole that will allow controversial "enhanced interrogation techniques" to be re-introduced. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the administration's thinking.
The order also orders the CIA to close all its existing detention facilities abroad for terror suspects — and prohibits those prisons from being used in the future. The agency has used those secret "black site" prisons around the world to question terror suspects.

_Directed the Justice Department to review the case of Qatar native Ali al-Marri, who is the only enemy combatant currently being held on U.S. soil. The directive will ask the high court for a stay in al-Marri's appeals case while the review is ongoing. The government says al-Marri is an al-Qaida sleeper agent.
An estimated 245 men are being held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, most of whom have been detained for years without being charged with a crime. Among the sticky issues the Obama administration has to resolve are where to put those detainees — whether back in their home countries or at other federal detention centers — and how to prosecute some of them for war crimes.
"We intend to win this fight. We're going to win it on our terms," Obama said as he signed three executive orders and a presidential directive.
The administration official said Obama's government will not transfer detainees to countries that will mistreat them, including their own home country.
In his first Oval Office signing ceremony, Obama was surrounded by retired senior military leaders. He described them as outstanding Americans who have defended the country — and its ideals.

What we don't know about Obama

2009-01-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

Jim VandeHei, John F. Harris Jim Vandehei, John F. Harris Thu Jan 22, 4:44 am ET

We know a lot more about Barack Obama than we did on Election Day. He wastes little time making big decisions. He was serious about surrounding himself with seasoned people, even if they are outsized personalities likely to jostle one another and unlikely to salute on command. He intends to move quickly to put his personal stamp on government and national life.
Yet much about how the 44th president will govern remains a mystery—perhaps even to Obama himself. The stirring rhetoric witnessed on the campaign trail and in Tuesday’s inaugural address is laced with spacious language — flexible enough to support conflicting conclusions about what he really believes. Only decisions, not words, can clarify what Obama stands for. Those are coming soon enough.
Until then, here are the questions still left hanging as the Obama administration begins:

DOES HE REALLY THINK AFGHANISTAN IS WINNABLE?
The new president has strongly signaled that he thinks the answer is yes. But neither his rhetoric nor his policy proposals so far have fully reckoned with the implications.
If he intends to win in Afghanistan, he is not going to be a Peacemaker President. To the contrary, he is committing himself to being just as much of a War President as George W. Bush, certainly for the first term and very possibly for a potential second.
Most military experts think a decisive win in Afghanistan — as opposed to a muddle-through strategy leading to a gradual withdrawal —will involve a major surge in troops and a willingness to tolerate high costs and high casualties.
In any event, the country and its unruly neighbor, Pakistan, will quite likely dominate Obama’s attention much more than Iraq.
Obama advisers say one of the biggest surprises of recent secret briefings on trouble spots around the globe was how unstable, exposed and dangerous Pakistan is. A nuclear neighbor that harbors terrorists injects all the more danger and uncertainty to the war on the other side of its border.
Joe Biden’s first trip abroad as vice President-elect included a stop in Afghanistan. When he returned home, he told Obama: “The truth is that things are going to get tougher in Afghanistan before they’re going to get better.”
If that’s true, Obama may in the end find muddle-through more attractive than victory.

DO DEFICITS MATTER?
In the short-run, Obama and his advisers believe, just like Bush and his advisers, that pumping up the economy is the top priority —budget deficits be damned.
But when does the short-run become the long-run?
Obama has said long-term, trillion-dollar deficits are “unsustainable.” His inaugural address warned about the need to cut programs that don’t work and make “hard choices.”
Does he really mean it? If so, the second half of Obama’s first term likely will be marked by austerity just as much as the first half is going to be marked by massive spending in the name of economic stimulus. Embracing balanced budgets would also mean embracing steep cuts in weapons systems and entitlement programs, as well as curbing his ambitions for new initiatives in health care and energy. Tax hikes would also be part of the remedy.
With unpleasant medicine like this, Obama may instead find common cause with Democratic liberals and with Dick Cheney, who, according to former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, once dismissed GOP deficit hawks by saying that Ronald Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.

HOW FAST IS TOO FAST IN IRAQ?
The president says he still wants U.S. troops out of Iraq in 16 months. Tellingly, he always adds caveats that conditions and advice from commanders will dictate the pace. Defense Secretary Gates recently made this clear: “He also said he wanted to have a responsible drawdown. And he also said he was prepared to listen to his commanders. So, I think that that’s exactly the position the president-elect should be in.”
What if conditions change for the worse? Violence is way down and many of the most troubled areas are showing signs of stability. But this remains an extremely volatile region that could erupt in new bloodshed. Will Obama still cling to a speedy pull-out if it means the country could implode?
Obama met with his military commanders on Wednesday. But it’s anyone’s guess whose advice he’ll be listening to most closely, and which members of his heavyweight foreign policy team – within which there are significant disagreements over the Iraq war – will really have his ear.

WHAT’S IN THE FILES?
Any time someone criticized their policies on use of force, covert surveillance, or detention or interrogation of terrorism suspects, Bush and Cheney had an answer that was impossible for any outside critic to fully contend with: You don’t know what we know.
What they said they knew was top-secret intelligence showing how many people with murderous designs on the United States are roaming the planet, how imminent the threats are, or how effective controversial anti-terrorist programs had been in averting another attack. Since no one else could see the files, no one else could be on equal footing in deciding whether the administration was right or wrong.
Since Tuesday, Obama has all the same files, and all the same access to the nation’s top secrets, that Bush and Cheney ever did.
How will Obama react when he gets a constant morning diet of dire warnings? The president today moved to shut down the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay and end torture – and has surrounded himself with critics of both who are unlikely to tolerate backsliding. But it is not unfathomable that Obama has a “Few Good Men” moment and has to tell liberals and civil libertarians they can’t handle the truth – and that drastic steps sometimes need to be taken to avert disastrous consequences. What’s more, it is hardly a given that any president—no matter his philosophy—would wish to give up the expanded executive power that Bush claimed in the name of national security.

DO UNIONS WEAR WHITE HATS?
Obama, for the entire campaign, said all the right things when it comes to keeping peace with Big Labor. He praised the power and fairness of unions. He expressed skepticism about free trade agreements like NAFTA. Most of all, he proudly sponsored legislation to make it much easier for workers to unionize. Lately, he sounds like a man rethinking his enthusiasm.
In a recent interview with the Washington Post, he suggested he would not aggressively push for legislation to free workers to easily unionize (the bill is known as the Employee Free Choice Act. “If we are losing half a million jobs a month, then there are no jobs to unionize.” Even Nancy Pelosi seems inclined to cut him some slack for a while on this one – but at some point the pressure will intensify and we will learn if this is truly a pro-union White House.

CAN U.S. POWER SAVE DARFUR?
Darfur will be the first test case - but almost certainly not the last one - in which we will learn just how strongly Obama believes his stated view that the United States should act aggressively when it can use its military power to stop genocide or other humanitarian catastrophes.
There is powerful momentum inside the Democratic Party to come to the aid of the suffering people of Darfur. Among the biggest advocates are two of Obama’s top advisers: Biden and U.N Ambassador-designate Susan Rice.
But with the military stretched thin, and with many others in his administration more skeptical about the use of force on problems that don’t directly threaten national security, nothing is likely to happen unless Obama puts his own influence and reputation strongly behind an intervention.
During the campaign, he signaled a willingness to intervene, but also cautioned: “There’s a lot of cruelty around the world. We’re not going to be able to be everywhere all the time.”

HOW MUCH DOES HE HAVE TO PLACATE THE LEFT?
In his inaugural speech, Obama spoke of tired ideologies and a time to think anew about policy and politics. That is easy to do if he simply means rejecting Bush’s idea. But he has suggested this rethinking will hit the left, too – that’s trickier.
Some times, Obama has been wiling to tick off the left. He picked Rick Warren, a Christian conservative, to deliver Tuesday’s opening prayer and filled his cabinet and staff mainly with centrists. Other times, he seems to bend to liberal frustration.
Obama nixed John Brennan’s appointment to be CIA director after anti-torture advocates expressed outrage over Brennan’s involvement in Bush-era interrogations. Brennan’s going to be working in the White House anyway, but not in any position that requires Senate confirmation. Obama also quickly moved to give a prime role to Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly gay religious leader from New Hampshire, when liberals protested the choice of Warren to deliver the inaugural prayer.
Politically savvy liberal activists are an important reason Obama beat Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic nominating contest, and a big reason he blew through all fund-raising records. It will be hard for Obama to govern without their enthusiasm, onthe other hand, it will be tough to reinvent politics if Obama is forced to routinely throw bouquets to the various factions of the Democratic Party.

Argentine prez: Fidel Castro 'believes in Obama'

2009-01-21T16:07:00.001-08:00

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press Writer 29 mins ago
HAVANA – Fidel Castro watched the U.S. inauguration on television and said Wednesday that Barack Obama seems "like a man who is absolutely sincere," Argentina's president said after meeting with the ailing Cuban icon. "Fidel believes in Obama," Cristina Fernandez said.
The meeting with Fernandez, just before she ended a four-day visit to Cuba, dispelled persistent rumors that the 82-year-old Castro had suffered a stroke or lapsed into a coma in recent days.
"I was with Fidel about an hour or more," she told reporters at the airport as she left. "We were chatting, conversing. He looked good."
Fernandez said Castro wore the track suit that has become his trademark since he fell ill in July 2006 and vanished from public view. A spokesman said the two met alone.
"He told me he had followed the inauguration of Barack Obama very closely, that he had watched the inauguration on television all day," Fernandez said. "He had a very good perception of President Obama."
Fernandez said Castro called Obama "a man who seems absolutely sincere," who believes strongly in his ideas "and who hopefully can carry them out."
Raul Castro, who took over the presidency from his brother, appeared with Fernandez, scoffing at the rumors about his brother's health.
"Do you think if he were really gravely ill that I'd be smiling here?" Raul Castro said. "Soon I'm going to take a trip to Europe. You guys think I could leave here if Fidel were really in grave condition?"
Castro, 77, said his older brother spends his days "thinking a lot, reading a lot, advising me, helping me."
The rumors about Castro's health were fanned by the fact that he hasn't written a newspaper column in more than a month and hadn't held a confirmed meeting with a foreign leader since Nov. 28. The presidents of Panama and Ecuador visited this month but left without saying they had seen the elder Castro.
"Now you know that Fidel is fine, and not like the rumors around here," Raul Castro said.
Earlier Wednesday, Raul Castro said Obama "seemed like a good man" and wished him luck.
Obama has pledged to ease limits on Cuban-Americans' visits to the island and on how much money they can send home to relatives. He has also offered to negotiate personally with Raul Castro, though he has said he won't push Congress to lift the U.S. trade embargo, at least not right away.
Cubans see those as important steps in improving U.S.-Cuba relations. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, tightened sanctions on the communist-governed country.
The comments by the Castro brothers contrast with those of their ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose government took exception to Obama's characterization of Chavez as "a destructive force in the region." Obama made the comments in an interview with the Univision television network.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said he hoped Obama would "rectify" the comments, which he said showed his "total ignorance" about Latin America.
"President Chavez has won 12 of the 14 elections in the past 10 years," the state-run Bolivarian News Agency quoted Maduro as saying. "He is the legitimate president."
___
Associated Press writer Mayra Pertossi contributed to this report from Buenos Aires.

Senate confirms Clinton as secretary of state

2009-01-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer Anne Flaherty, Associated Press Writer 22 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Senate confirmed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state Wednesday as President Barack Obama moved to make his imprint on U.S. foreign policy, mobilizing a fresh team of veteran advisers and reaching out to world leaders.
The Senate voted 94-2, with Republican Sens. David Vitter of Louisiana and Jim DeMint of South Carolina opposing.
Republicans and Democrats alike said her swift confirmation was necessary so that Obama could begin tackling the major foreign policy issues at hand, including two wars, increased violence in the Middle East and the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.
"It is essential that we provide the president with the tools and resources he needs to effect change, and that starts with putting a national security team in place as soon as possible," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Obama's presidential rival, Sen. John McCain, was among those who spoke in Clinton's favor.
"This nation has come together in a way that it has not for some time," said the Arizona Republican, on the Senate floor for the first time since the inauguration.
Voters "want us to work together and get to work," McCain said.
As the Senate debated Clinton's appointment, Obama wasted no time in his first day at the White House. According to a White House spokesman, Obama placed telephone calls to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The administration also planned to name former Senate Democratic leader George J. Mitchell as Clinton's special envoy for the Middle East. Dennis Ross, a longtime U.S. negotiator, was also expected to advise Clinton on Mideast policy, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the move.
She was sworn in as the nation's 67th secretary of state in her office in the Russell Senate Office Building. Attending the private ceremony was her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and her Senate staff. According to her office, she used the Bible that belonged to her late father. To assume the position, she submitted her resignation as senator in twin letters to Vice President Joe Biden, as president of the Senate, and New York Gov. David Paterson.
The former first lady planned to report to the State Department on Thursday, where she was expected to address employees in the main lobby that morning — a tradition of sorts for secretaries of state on their first day on the job.
Clinton received overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress despite lingering concerns by some Republicans that her husband's charitable fundraising overseas could pose conflicts of interest.
Sen. Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, proposed that former President Bill Clinton's foundation reject foreign contributions. But Hillary Clinton rejected Lugar's proposal, contending that the foundation's plan to disclose annually its list of donors and a range of its contributions already exceeds legal requirements.
Lugar said he hoped Clinton would re-examine her position but supported her appointment, citing her "remarkable qualifications" and "pressing global issues."
Vitter and DeMint, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said they were unsatisfied. Last week, Vitter cast the sole opposing vote in the committee's 16-1 endorsement of Clinton. DeMint voted in favor of Clinton on the committee because he said he didn't want to obstruct a full Senate vote on her appointment, but ultimately did not support her nomination.
In addition to concerns surrounding the foundation, DeMint said he opposes Clinton's positions on such matters as providing aid to foreign groups that offer abortions.
"I do not plan to slow up this nomination, but I do find it difficult to support a nominee who I know will pursue policies so contrary to American sovereignty and the dignity of the human person," he said.
Following the vote, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed Susan Rice to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a post Obama has elevated to the Cabinet level.
Meanwhile, the Senate considered other appointments by Obama.
Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner apologized to the Senate Finance Committee and said he was careless for failing to pay $34,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes earlier this decade. The committee planned to vote on his appointment on Thursday.
Eric Holder's bid to become the first African-American attorney general was delayed for at least a week when Republicans demanded more time to question him about harsh interrogations, Guantanamo trials and other topics.
___
Associated Press writers Barry Schweid, Martin Crutsinger and Larry Margasak contributed to this report.

At Last

2009-01-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

Black is beautiful...

FYI they were dancing to Beyonce singing:

Etta James' "At Last"

Obama to sign order shutting Gitmo in a year

2009-01-21T15:55:00.001-08:00

By LARA JAKES and DAVID ESPO, Associated Press Writers Lara Jakes And David Espo, Associated Press Writers 17 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Associated Press has learned that President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order Thursday to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center within a year and halt military trials of terror suspects held there.
The executive order was one of three expected imminently on how to interrogate and prosecute al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters believed to threaten the United States.
A senior Obama aide said the president would sign the order on Thursday, fulfilling his campaign promise to shut down a facility that critics around the world say violates domestic and international detainee rights. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the event has not yet been announced.

Obama's whirlwind first day

2009-01-21T15:51:00.000-08:00

Obama's whirlwind first day: economy, war and more
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent David Espo, Ap Special Correspondent
15 mins ago

WASHINGTON – In a first-day whirlwind, President Barack Obama showcased efforts to revive the economy on Wednesday, summoned top military officials to the White House to chart a new course in Iraq and eased into the daunting thicket of Middle East diplomacy. "What an opportunity we have to change this country," said the 47-year-old chief executive, who also issued new ethics rules for his administration and hosted a reception at the presidential mansion for 200 inauguration volunteers and guests selected by an Internet lottery.

After dancing at inaugural balls with first lady Michelle Obama past midnight, Obama entered the Oval Office for the first time as president in early morning. He read a good luck note left behind by President George W. Bush, then began breaking cleanly with his predecessor's policies.

Aides circulated a draft of an executive order that would close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year and halt all war crimes trials in the meantime.

Closing the site "would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice," read the draft prepared for the new president's signature. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press, and an aide said privately that Obama would sign a formal order on Thursday.

Some of the 245 detainees currently held at Guantanamo would be released, while others would be transferred elsewhere and later put on trial under terms to be determined.

Obama's Cabinet was moving closer to completion.

At the Capitol, the Senate confirmed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state after a one-day delay forced by Republicans. The vote was 94-2, and spectators seated in the galleries erupted in applause when it was announced.

Treasury-designate Timothy Geithner emerged unscathed from his confirmation hearing, apologizing for having failed to pay $34,000 in taxes earlier in the decade.

To the evident anger of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republicans on the panel invoked longstanding rules to postpone a vote on Eric Holder's appointment as attorney general.

Counting Clinton, seven Cabinet members have been confirmed so far, as have the two top officials at the Office of Management and Budget.

Obama's schedule for the day included separate sessions on the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new president has pledged to take bold steps to revive the economy, which is struggling through the worst recession since the Great Depression. Last week, he won approval to use $350 billion in leftover financial industry bailout funds.

He presided over the White House meeting on the economy as the House Appropriations Committee moved toward approval of $358 billion in new spending, part of the economic stimulus package making its way to his desk.

The new commander in chief held his first meeting in the Situation Room, where he, Vice President Joe Biden and senior military and foreign policy officials discussed war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama campaigned on a pledge to withdraw U.S. combat forces from Iraq within 16 months, and to beef up the commitment in Afghanistan.

The new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said Obama's phone calls to leaders in the Middle East were meant to convey his "commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace from the beginning of his term."

Gibbs also that in conversations with Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders, the president emphasized he would work to consolidate the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Obama intends to name former Senate Majority leader George Mitchell as a special envoy to the region.

Not everything was new at the White House.

In the Oval Office, Obama worked at a desk built from the timbers of a British naval vessel, the HMS Resolute, and used off-and-on by presidents since the 1870s, including Bush. It also appeared that the carpet that Bush used in his second term, a yellow sunbeam design, was still in place.

If some of the furnishings remained in place, there was no doubt that the new president meant to fulfill his campaign promise of change.

"As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any ... other administration in history," Obama told reporters as he signed the new rules. The restrictions included a ban on gifts by lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration.

He also imposed a pay freeze for about 100 White House aides who earn $100,000 or more. Its implementation was unclear, since none of them was on the payroll before Tuesday's noontime inauguration.

On Tuesday, within hours of Obama's inauguration, his administration froze last-minute Bush administration regulations before they could take effect.

Among them was an Interior Department proposal to remove gray wolves from Endangered Species protections in much of the northern Rocky Mountains, and a Labor Department recommendation that would allow companies that manage employee retirement plans to market investment products to plan participants.

Obama and his wife began their day at a prayer service that is traditional for the first business day of a new administration. They were joined in front-pew seats by Biden and his wife, Jill, as well as former President Bill Clinton and his wife, hours away from confirmation as the nation's top diplomat.

"Grant to Barack Obama, president of the United States, and to all in authority your grace and good will. Bless them with your heavenly gifts, give them wisdom and strength to know and to do your will," prayed the Rev. Andy Stanley, one of numerous clerics from several religions to speak.

Obama and his wife also played host and hostess for a select 200 at an open house.

"Enjoy yourself, roam around," a smiling Obama told one guest.

"Don't break anything."

___

Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven, Darlene Superville, Philip Elliott, Ben Feller and Lara Jakes contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

GOP chairman 'shocked' that Obama parody sent out

2008-12-28T11:18:00.000-08:00

By NATASHA T. METZLER, Associated Press Writer

Saturday, December 27, 2008

(12-27) 19:38 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

The chairman of the Republican National Committee said Saturday he was "shocked and appalled" that one of his potential successors had sent committee members a CD this Christmas featuring a 2007 parody song called "Barack the Magic Negro."

In spite of RNC Chairman Robert M. "Mike" Duncan's sharply negative reaction, former Tennessee GOP leader Chip Saltsman said that party leaders should stand up to criticism over distributing a CD with the song. He earlier defended the tune as one of several "lighthearted political parodies" that have aired on Rush Limbaugh's radio show.

Saltsman, who managed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign, is seeking the RNC chairmanship. During the presidential campaign, GOP officials denounced efforts by those in the party who criticized or mocked Democratic nominee Barack Obama along racial lines. Obama was vying to be the nation's first black president.

A spokesman for Obama, now the president-elect, declined to comment on the matter.

The ditty by conservative comedian Paul Shanklin refers to a March 2007 opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times by David Ehrenstein headlined "Obama the 'Magic Negro.'" In the article, Ehrenstein argued that voting for Obama helped white voters alleviate guilt over racial wrongs in the past.

Shanklin's parody is sung to the music of "Puff, the Magic Dragon." Among other Shanklin tunes on the 41-track CD that Saltsman sent with a Christmas message: "I Can Talk Like a Coal Miner's Daughter,""Love Client #9" and "Down on the Farm with Al Gore."

"Barack the Magic Negro" calls into question Obama's racial identity. Born to a black father and white mother, the president-elect was raised primarily by his white grandparents.

"The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party," Duncan said in a statement. "I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction."

In a statement that followed Duncan's, Saltsman said: "Liberal Democrats and their allies in the media didn't utter a word about David Ehrenstein's irresponsible column in the Los Angeles Times last March. But now, of course, they're shocked and appalled by its parody on the 'Rush Limbaugh Show.'

"I firmly believe that we must welcome all Americans into our party and that the road to Republican resurgence begins with unity, not division. But I know that our party leaders should stand up against the media's double standards and refuse to pander to their desire for scandal," he said.

One of Saltsman's competitors for the GOP chairmanship, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, didn't refer directly to Saltsman or the parody. Blackwell, who is black, contended in a statement Saturday that "there is hypersensitivity in the press regarding matters of race" because of Obama's election, and he concluded, "All of my competitors for this leadership post are fine people."

The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper that published a story about the CD on Friday, reported that Saltsman said members of the GOP committee have "the good humor and good sense" to see Shanklin's tunes as "lighthearted political parodies."

Sorry, Mr. President. Please surrender your BlackBerry.

2008-11-16T13:34:00.000-08:00

November 16, 2008
Lose the BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe
By JEFF ZELENY

WASHINGTON — Sorry, Mr. President. Please surrender your BlackBerry.

Those are seven words President-elect Barack Obama is dreading but expecting to hear, friends and advisers say, when he takes office in 65 days.

For years, like legions of other professionals, Mr. Obama has been all but addicted to his BlackBerry. The device has rarely been far from his side — on most days, it was fastened to his belt — to provide a singular conduit to the outside world as the bubble around him grew tighter and tighter throughout his campaign.

“How about that?” Mr. Obama replied to a friend’s congratulatory e-mail message on the night of his victory.

But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

For all the perquisites and power afforded the president, the chief executive of the United States is essentially deprived by law and by culture of some of the very tools that other chief executives depend on to survive and to thrive. Mr. Obama, however, seems intent on pulling the office at least partly into the 21st century on that score; aides said he hopes to have a laptop computer on his desk in the Oval Office, making him the first American president to do so.

Mr. Obama has not sent a farewell dispatch from the personal e-mail account he uses — he has not changed his address in years — but friends say the frequency of correspondence has diminished. In recent days, though, he has been seen typing his thoughts on transition matters and other items on his BlackBerry, bypassing, at least temporarily, the bureaucracy that is quickly encircling him.

A year ago, when many Democratic contributors and other observers were worried about his prospects against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, they reached out to him directly. Mr. Obama had changed his cellphone number, so e-mail remained the most reliable way of communicating directly with him.

“His BlackBerry was constantly crackling with e-mails,” said David Axelrod, the campaign’s chief strategist. “People were generous with their advice — much of it conflicting.”

Mr. Obama is the second president to grapple with the idea of this self-imposed isolation. Three days before his first inauguration, George W. Bush sent a message to 42 friends and relatives that explained his predicament.

“Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace,” Mr. Bush wrote from his old address, G94B@aol.com. “This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you.”

But in the interceding eight years, as BlackBerrys have become ubiquitous — and often less intrusive than a telephone, the volume of e-mail has multiplied and the role of technology has matured. Mr. Obama used e-mail to stay in constant touch with friends from the lonely confines of the road, often sending messages like “Sox!” when the Chicago White Sox won a game. He also relied on e-mail to keep abreast of the rapid whirl of events on a given campaign day.

Mr. Obama’s memorandums and briefing books were seldom printed out and delivered to his house or hotel room, aides said. They were simply sent to his BlackBerry for his review. If a document was too long, he would read and respond from his laptop computer, often putting his editing changes in red type.

His messages to advisers and friends, they say, are generally crisp, properly spelled and free of symbols or emoticons. The time stamps provided a window into how much he was sleeping on a given night, with messages often being sent to staff members at 1 a.m. or as late as 3 a.m. if he was working on an important speech.

He received a scaled-down list of news clippings, with his advisers wanting to keep him from reading blogs and news updates all day long, yet aides said he still seemed to hear about nearly everything in real time. A network of friends — some from college, others from Chicago and various chapters in his life — promised to keep him plugged in.

Not having such a ready line to that network, staff members who spent countless hours with him say, is likely to be a challenge.

“Given how important it is for him to get unfiltered information from as many sources as possible, I can imagine he will miss that freedom,” said Linda Douglass, a senior adviser who traveled with the campaign.

Mr. Obama has, for at least brief moments, been forced offline. As he sat down with a small circle of advisers to prepare for debates with Senator John McCain, one rule was quickly established: No BlackBerrys. Mr. Axelrod ordered everyone to put their devices in the center of a table during work sessions. Mr. Obama, who was known to sneak a peek at his, was no exception.

In the closing stages of the campaign, as exhaustion set in and the workload increased, aides said Mr. Obama spent more time reading than responding to messages. As his team prepares a final judgment on whether he can keep using e-mail, perhaps even in a read-only fashion, several authorities in presidential communication said they believed it was highly unlikely that he would be able to do so.

Diana Owen, who leads the American Studies program at Georgetown University, said presidents were not advised to use e-mail because of security risks and fear that messages could be intercepted.

“They could come up with some bulletproof way of protecting his e-mail and digital correspondence, but anything can be hacked,” said Ms. Owen, who has studied how presidents communicate in the Internet era. “The nature of the president’s job is that others can use e-mail for him.”

She added: “It’s a time burner. It might be easier for him to say, ‘I can’t be on e-mail.’ ”

Should Mr. Obama want to break ground and become the first president to fire off e-mail messages from the West Wing and wherever he travels, he could turn to Al Gore as a model. In the later years of his vice presidency, Democrats said, Mr. Gore used a government e-mail address and a campaign address in his race against Mr. Bush.

The president, though, faces far greater public scrutiny. And even if he does not wear a BlackBerry on his belt or carry a cellphone in his pocket, he almost certainly will not lack from a variety of new communication.

On Saturday, as Mr. Obama broadcast the weekly Democratic radio address, it came with a twist. For the first time, it was also videotaped and will be archived on YouTube.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company