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Financial Reform Battle Boosts Obama
Tweet Share on Facebook April 30, 2010 Comment (5)Pollster John Zogby updates our weekly Obama Report Card with a grade on the president's performance. Zogby uses his polling, expert analysis, and interaction with major players to come up with a grade and some comments that capture how he see's the president's week ending.
Pollster John Zogby on Week 67
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Hoyer Says Bitter Partisanship is the GOP's Fault
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2010 Comment (8)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
Despite all the hot air, Hill bipartisanship is on life support. And House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says it's the fault of Republicans for playing legislative "gotcha" games. "To some degree, the Republicans have been hoisted on their own petard and that petard is that they have almost exclusively prepared political amendments, gotcha amendments," says the House Democratic No. 2. The result: Dems play defense by blocking the GOP from having a say. "We have not had an open process as I would have liked," Hoyer says, adding that it won't change soon. There are few Republicans who want their members to work with Democrats, he says. "There is no return to Republicans at this time, given the narrowness of their base, for coming to work together."
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Parties Debate Who Wins in Crist's Independent Run Decision
Tweet Share on Facebook April 29, 2010 Comment (3)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
Democrats and Republicans seem split on who will benefit most, or get hurt the worst, by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's likely decision to run in the Senate race as an independent.
"I think the individual who's going to be the happiest is Congressman Meek," said Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine, referring to Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek who is in the Senate race. But Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, cited polls that it will hurt Meek, propelling Republican Marco Rubio to the top. "I am convinced that he will win that race," Cornyn said of Rubio, who the Senate panel plans to endorse when Crist makes his announcement.
Previously, the committee had backed Crist but his plummet in the polls has led Cornyn and others to urge the governor to get out of the race and run in 2012 instead. Crist has ignored Cornyn's calls and now Cornyn is promising to demand that Crist return the thousands of dollars he has contributed to Crist's campaign. He predicted others would do the same thing, possibly financially devastating Crist's independent bid.
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Why Sarah Palin Would Make a Good President
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2010 Comment (1025)As Sarah Palin continues to make political headlines, the mania surrounding her future and potential GOP presidential primary candidacy is heating up. Some think she'll start a conservative think tank, but many hope she runs for the highest office in the land.
So would she make a good president or not? To answer this, we quizzed our large group of political insiders on whether she would make a good or bad president. Some think her conservative credentials would make her a hit as president. Others say it's the fact that she's a military hawk. See a slide show of 10 Reasons Sarah Palin Would Make a Great President.
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Former CIA Directors to Dish on SpyCruise
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2010 Comment (2)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
It's not exactly Disneyland, but two former CIA directors are getting a nice retirement hat tip: A Caribbean cruise where they'll be guest speakers, wowing about 1,000 passengers on spycraft. It's called "SpyCruise," and it's going to be the biggest one of it's kind, says organizer and retired spook Bart Bechtel. That's because the November 13-20 cruise will feature former CIA directors Porter Goss and Michael Hayden, along with authors and other spy celebs who'll speak to the Holland America guests and then hobnob with them over dinner and drinks. "It's a very big deal. I consider it a coup," Bechtel says of getting the former directors onboard. "This is a great opportunity for those with a strong interest in espionage to share a voyage of discovery with shipmates who have lived the life of secrets," says one ex-spook, who prefers to remain below deck.
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Rice Promises U.S. Will Pay U.N. Bills
Tweet Share on Facebook April 28, 2010 CommentBy Jessica Rettig, Washington Whispers
There's nothing like a sad movie about a slain diplomat to stir some tears for the United Nations, constantly under assault by conservatives for costing too much and doing too little. It happened this week after a screening of HBO's Sergio, which portrays the life and death of a Brazilian U.N. diplomat. During a post-screening discussion about the flick, Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, says the U.N. is a convenient "whipping boy," but weakening U.S. support would hurt its mission. To prove the Obama administration's commitment, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice promises that Washington will start paying the nearly $1 billion in arrears it owes to the world body.
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GOP Not Worried About Financial Reform Backlash
Tweet Share on Facebook April 27, 2010 Comment (9)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
In the face of stories and Democratic charges that they are scared of looking pro-Wall Street in their refusal to OK financial services reform, Republicans say they feel confident that the public is starting to get behind their effort to modify the legislation to help small businesses. Top Senate GOP leadership aides showed Whispers polling and anecdotal information that the public isn't fully onboard the Democratic reform freight train.
One official noted that Gallup has the Republicans even with Democrats on who can best handle the economy. Both are at 44 percent, a 5 percent drop for Democrats. "And meanwhile, back at the farm, Democrats are talking regulation reform and thinking they're making big gains," says one of the Republican leadership aides. "But we think they vastly overestimate the public's focus on this issue and they've squandered so much credibility ramming healthcare through that they can't just say, 'This bill is good, the Republicans are bad,' and have people reflexively believe it like they did a few years back."
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Janine Turner Is an Actress Turned Constitution Activist
Tweet Share on Facebook April 27, 2010 Comment (4)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
Northern Exposure and Friday Night Lights actress Janine Turner has played Martha Washington and Alexander Hamilton's mom. But now she's fulfilling her lifetime role: Queen of the Constitution. "I've always had this fascination with the revolution," says the quirky actress who started Constituting America, which aims to get kids interested in the Constitution. "We live it every day, we just don't know it," she says. And Turner has proof that kids care. She and her daughter studied the Federalist Papers over spring break. Says young Juliette: "It's cool."
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Andrea Mitchell Gets a Parental Pass
Tweet Share on Facebook April 26, 2010 Comment (4)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
An only in Washington moment: On Sunday, NBC's veteran reporter Andrea Mitchell was seen by our tipster, a long-time source, coming out of the Starbucks in the Spring Valley section of Washington. The always active newswoman was dressed in her white tennis outfit carrying a cup of Joe when she spilled some on her outfit as she got into a black sedan driven by hubby Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman.
"Damn it!" Mitchell said, obviously stung by the hot coffee. Then she looked around and saw our tipster with his little toddler on the sidewalk close by. She didn't miss a beat. "She apologized profusely," said the dad. "Mitchell was quite nice about her gaffe."
In fact, after she apologized, the amused dad helped to lighten the moment. "We assured Andrea that this was not the first time our toddler had heard the word."
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What Obama Can Learn From Bush
Tweet Share on Facebook April 26, 2010 Comment (5)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
It's one thing for Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, or Laura Bush to quickly pen books bragging on what a good president W was. But when academics start weighing in on the positives of the recently retired president's policies, it's only natural to wonder if they're jumping the gun to laud the much-vilified George W. Bush. So Whispers turned to John Graham, a former Bush budget office aide and a dean at Indiana University to get the lowdown on the rush to judgment. His new book, Bush On The Home Front, charts 43's string of domestic successes with Democrats and also suggests some paths for President Obama to follow as he struggles with partisanship.
"In the university world it's not good to be second, third, or fourth," says Graham, when asked why he wrote his book so soon. "I'm not trying to win a popularity contest. I'm trying to put a case out there for people to look at." He's the first to make the case that Bush was a big winner on the domestic stage, cutting deals with Democrats like the late Sen. Ted Kennedy on education, before losing steam in his second term. "There are a lot of lessons to be learned from Bush on how to get things done in a partisan world," says Graham.
Three stand out, he says. First, Bush picked issues to push that he thought Democrats would like to play ball on: education, energy, and healthcare for the elderly. Second, he sometimes went around lawmakers to interest groups to pressure his Democratic foes to the negotiating table. Take energy. He knew Democrats wouldn't go along with his bid for wider coal and nuclear use or for more domestic oil drilling. So he also included a provision for ethanol. That got pro-Democratic farm groups excited, and they in turn pushed farm state lawmakers to OK the plan.
The last lesson: Keep winning on policy. "You have to show success," Graham says. Once Bush stopped, into his second term, his domestic presidency was over. "It's hard to come back," he says.
Graham says Obama should follow Bush's first-term pattern of using one victory to jump to a next. "He ought to pivot off healthcare on to immigration," says Graham. "He'll have a chance at holding most of his Democrats together and picking off 10 to 15 Republican senators."
