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Tuesday, October 7, 2008
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Several indications point to US progress at co-opting Iraq's Sunni minority, which has been the backbone of the insurgency in that country. Tired of the random violence wrought by al Qaeda terrorists, some Sunni political leaders and communities appear to be allying themselves with the US in an effort to rid themselves of al Qaeda. If those trends are confirmed, they could amount to a key watershed for the US mission. Meanwhile, US military leaders have sought to arrange separate ceasefires with different Sunni groups. The Washington Times reports, "A battle raged yesterday in western Baghdad after residents rose up against al Qaeda and called for US military help to end random gunfire that forced people to huddle indoors and threats that kept students from final exams, a member of the district council said." The AP says the Amariyah fight "reflects a trend that U.S. and Iraqi officials have been trumpeting recently to the west in Anbar province." Many Sunni tribes "in the province have banded together to fight al-Qaida, claiming the terrorist group is more dangerous than American forces." The Washington Post notes the mayor of the Amiriyah neighborhood, Mohammed Abdul Khaliq, "said in a telephone interview that residents were rising up to try to expel al-Qaeda in Iraq, which has alienated other Sunnis with its indiscriminate violence and attacks on members of its own sect."
Meanwhile, the AP reports the US military is "working more aggressively to forge cease-fires with Iraqi militants and quell the violence around Baghdad, judging that 80 percent of enemy combatants are 'reconcilable,'" Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno said Thursday. The Financial Times notes Gen. Odierno "cautioned that he did not want to be 'too optimistic' about the prospects for success," a point noted in USA Today. ABC World News reported, "So far, the talks have not included anyone tied to al Qaeda but General Odierno says he doesn't rule that out." As a "price for peace the insurgents are demanding jobs, pension and amnesty for their fighters, including those who have killed Americans. That's hugely controversy."
After a Tuesday speech in Georgia in which President Bush harshly criticized conservative critics of the immigration plan the President and his White House are trying to reassure his political base GOP on the deal and on Bush's bona fides as a conservative. In the Wall Street Journal's "Potomac Watch" column, Kimberly Strassel recounts her Wednesday morning interview with President Bush. Strassel asked if it can really be that this president -- who has previously identified so well with the Everyman in his party -- is completely off the reservation on this issue?" The "answer is no, although Mr. Bush is aware he'll have to work hard to prove it. In our 35 minutes together, he hardly comes across as blind to the fears and anger of his critics." And White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said on Fox News' O'Reilly Factor, "I'm going to be going around the country talking about immigration reform, and making a pretty simple case for conservatives, which is, number one, you have got a conservative president. Do you really think that the guy who has taken on Congress, who has taken on European heads of state, who has taken on the European Union, who has taken on the UN, who has taken on doubters all around the world, and has been subjected to savage criticism for conducting a war on terror, including in Iraq, a man who used to be governor of Texas, with the longest border with Mexico, do you think the guy is not going to be absolutely concerned about border security and the security of this country? Of course he is."
But former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, in her Wall Street Journal column this morning, suggests Bush's efforts to ease conservatives' anger may be too little, too late. Angry over Bush's remarks on Tuesday, she writes, "What conservatives and Republicans must recognize is that the White House has broken with them." Bush "sundered the party that rallied to him, and broke his coalition into pieces. He threw away his inheritance. ... Now conservatives and Republicans are going to have to win back their party. They are going to have to break from those who have already broken from them. This will require courage, serious thinking and an ability to do what psychologists used to call letting go. This will be painful, but it's time. It's more than time."
GOP Proposal Would Make English Official The Washington Times reports some Republican senators "are calling the English-language requirements in the immigration bill toothless and want the bill to declare English the 'national' language of the U.S. and the country's official means of doing business."
Other Views On Immigration Bill The New York Times on Friday ran a series of op-eds on the proposed immigration deal. Former National Security Council counterterrorism official Richard A. Clarke says that in the "absence of a secure border and verifiable biometric identification systems, preventing terrorists from getting in to this country and setting up sleeper cells here is almost impossible. Maybe we will get serious after the next attack." Jorge G. Castañeda, Mexico's foreign minister from 2000 to 2003, says the bill "has unduly harsh enforcement provisions at the border and the workplace," assesses "steep fines and fees" on immigrants, and if the "final law has too few slots" for guest workers, "it will not end illegal immigration." Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano says, "Even as the Senate debates its bill, the Bush administration is reducing by nearly half the number of National Guard members assigned to support the Border Patrol in the Southwest." Dani Rodrik of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard says the "legitimate concerns" about the guest worker program "have to be considered alongside the huge benefits that a well-managed temporary work visa scheme would generate." And Michael Lind, a fellow at the New America Foundation, proposes lowering "the residency requirement for legal immigrants who seek to become citizens from five years to two."
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The AP reports President Bush yesterday "called for a summit of the United States and other nations that spew the most greenhouse gases on the planet. The goal: set a long-term global strategy for reducing emissions -- and counter allegations that the United States is foot-dragging." Bush's announcement, made ahead of his trip to Europe to attend the G8 meeting, received decidedly lukewarm reviews from environmentalists and media commentators yesterday. The media portrayed Bush's announcement both as a substantial policy shift -- yet suggested the announcement amounted to little else than a PR ploy. NBC Nightly News said Bush "underwent something of a conversion. He called for new action on global warming, something he resisted doing for a long time." The CBS Evening News said Bush was "trying to head off critics of his policy on global warming by announcing he's ready to work with the rest of the world."
In a second report, NBC Nightly News said "environmental leaders...certainly weren't impressed. One said it was worse than too little, too late, and several agreed that it was a PR strategy, designed to keep...Bush from looking like an obstructionist at next week's G-8 meeting." McClatchy reports Greenpeace "called the president's proposal 'a dangerous sham' and 'a distraction from the real task' of cutting emissions." The Financial Times runs the story under the headline "Bush's Green Noises Greeted With Scepticism," while USA Today headlines its front-page report "Reaction Lukewarm To Bush On Emissions." The New York Times, meanwhile, says "the speech was greeted with intense skepticism by environmental advocates and some European officials." However, "the White House seems determined to alter the president's image on climate change before he leaves office in January 2009." The Financial Times and Chicago Tribune run similar stories, while the Washington Times offers a different version of events: "Bush's proposal was received enthusiastically by European leaders, while Democratic leaders in the United States panned it."
In an editorial, the New York Times says, "Given Mr. Bush's history of denial and obstructionism when it comes to climate change, there are good reasons to be cynical about this sudden enthusiasm, coming as it does on the eve of the meeting of the Group of 8 industrialized nations." The Financial Times runs a similar editorial that says, "Even by his standards," Bush's "comments on Thursday on climate change showed astonishing chutzpah."
NASA Chief Downplays Urgency NBC Nightly News reported "at least one member of the Bush Administration was pretty far off message. NASA administrator Michael Griffin telling NPR this morning that global warming wasn't necessarily a bad thing." That "led one NASA scientist, who was astonished, to say his boss was uninformed." ABC World News reports NASA's "top climate scientist, is outraged." James Hansen, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies: "I was shocked. I almost fell off my chair because it's a statement which indicates an ignorance of what has been learned over the last few decades, primarily from NASA observations." In his "Washington Sketch" column in the Washington Post, Dana Milbank made light of Griffin's remarks, "Yesterday, as the temperature pushed toward 90 degrees in the capital, global warming caused a meltdown in the Bush administration's message machine."
USA Today reports that as some "returning Iraq veterans join anti-war protests, free speech advocates say disciplinary cases against three outspoken former Marines could stifle dissent by those who may know the most about conditions in Iraq." The Washington Post notes that the Marine Corps does not appreciate veterans who wear their uniforms during antiwar protests, which can earn an "other than honorable" discharge, "something they may have to explain on applications for employment or security clearance. Whether it affects their Veterans Administration benefits would be up to the VA." However the cases raise "a fundamental question of interest to the roughly 158,000 men and women in the Marines' and Army's Individual Ready Reserve: Are they civilians -- free to speak their minds -- or not?" The Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Washington Times, meanwhile, recount the case of Adam Kokesh, who faces disciplinary action as a member of the Marine ready reserve.
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Under the headline "Ex-Clinton FBI Chief Pushing Prez Rudy," the New York Daily News reports "Democrat Bill Clinton's FBI director" Louis Freeh "is going over to the other side in a big way" in endorsing Rudy Giuliani for president. The "high-profile endorsement is a boon to the former mayor." Long Island Newsday focuses on the fact that Freeh had been backing Sen. John McCain, to whom he contributed $2,100 last November, and says Freeh's backing "burnishes Giuliani's anti-terrorism, anti-crime image and adds an outspoken critic of the Clinton White House should Giuliani run against Hillary Rodham Clinton." Freeh said on CNN's The Situation Room, "I think Rudy will make a tremendous president and a great leader for the country." He said he has "tremendous respect" for Clinton, and that "she's competent. I think she has a very good staff and good people advising her. But, again, as I said, I picked who I think is going to be the best president."
Mitt Romney, speaking in Sioux City, Iowa, criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton "as a European caricature who would turn the United States into a welfare state," the AP reports. Romney, said, "Her view is the old, classic, European caricature that we describe of big government, big taxation, welfare state. ... Her platform wouldn't even get her elected in France." Iowa's Sioux City Journal says that during a question-and-answer session, Romney was asked, "If you win the nomination of the Republican Party and Hillary wins the nomination of the Democratic Party, will you take the gloves off?" The question "was greeted with applause and laughter, and Romney responded, 'I'm sure we'll have a good time; the gloves will come off.' He added, 'Shudder the thought, if Hillary were president.'"
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The Hollywood references continue in ongoing coverage of Fred Thompson's likely presidential run. The Christian Science Monitor says Thompson is "ready to audition for the role of a lifetime." He would be getting in "late, but not too late, analysts say, particularly because about half the Republican electorate has indicated to pollsters that the choices so far are less than inspiring." The New York Times "TV Watch" column is headlined "In Casting For President, Will Actor Rate A Callback?" The Times calls the GOP race "politics ripped from TV Guide," a reference to the "ripped from the headlines" advertising line from Thompson's "Law and Order." And the Financial Times says Thompson "has his eye on the role of president."
In his New York Times column, David Brooks writes, "Thompson's political skills are as good as anybody now running, but his challenge is going to be building a concrete agenda on his anti-Washington message. ... Perhaps what the G.O.P. needs is Newt Gingrich's brain lodged in Fred Thompson's temperament."
The Politico reports Sen. John McCain's campaign announced he will speak on immigration before the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce on Monday. McCain "has done a series of conference calls with reporters in the early primary states on the topic." The speech is said to be the "next step in his campaign's effort to sell the controversial bargain struck in the Senate." Bloomberg says McCain spokesman Brian Jones "said McCain will 'likely draw contrasts with some of his opponents who are criticizing the legislation but not offering any solutions.'"
The Politico writes that "one reason to take" Al Gore "at his word" about his lack of interest in a presidential run "is that he is more comfortable as preacher and professor than he was as politician." During an interview with The Politico, Gore "said politics 'rewards a tolerance for artifice, repetition, triviality that I don't have in as great supply as I might have had when I was younger.' Democrats plainly like the current incarnation of Al Gore," but that "may in part be because he remains tantalizingly out of reach."
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The San Jose Mercury News reports Sen. Hillary Clinton "spoke the language of Silicon Valley" in a Thursday address to a Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Summit. The AP says Clinton "wooed Silicon Valley campaign donors and voters Thursday with a plan to create more high-paying jobs and maintain U.S. dominance in technology." Clinton said she is working to increase the number of H1B visas for highly educated workers. Clinton said, "If you think you have a skills shortage now, project it out a decade and we're going to be in real trouble."
NBC Nightly News ran a flattering interview with Michelle Obama from Chicago, a city with a "long list of distinguished native sons and daughters" that now includes Sen. Barack Obama and his wife. Michelle Obama "spoke candidly...about trying to find the delicate balance between the rigors of a presidential campaign and the demands of parenthood." Michelle Obama: "I get up in the morning, I get the girls ready, get their lunch, hair fixed, get them off. Then I get on a plane, I come here, I do events, then I get on a plane and I'm home before bedtime." NBC said, "Aggressive and direct, 43-year-old Michelle Obama is not unlike her husband's most formidable opponent. ... The Obama campaign is increasingly using Michelle to reach out to women who might otherwise be attracted to the candidacy of another Chicago native, Hillary Clinton."
Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said he was "very disappointed" in Sen. Barack Obama's March comments on the US auto industry, the Detroit News reports. During a Detroit visit, Obama said, "Three giants of American industry are hemorrhaging jobs and profits as foreign competitors answer the rising global demand for fuel-efficient cars." Ford said, "I would love to invite him to our Chicago assembly plant in his state and see where we make a vehicle that's more efficient than the one he's currently driving." The News says Ford builds several fuel-efficient cars, while "Obama drives the less fuel-efficient Chrysler300C."
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The New York Times runs a soft piece on the role of basketball as "one of the few constants" in Sen. Barack Obama's life. When he was young, it was "a way for a kid with a white mother, a Kenyan father and a peripatetic childhood to establish the African-American identity that he longed for." And today, Obama's friends say, basketball "has been his escape from the sport of politics."
In his blog for The Politico, Ben Smith writes that John Edwards "told a Google 'town hall' yesterday that he had read the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, the summary of the evidence that led to war in Iraq." But last week, Edwards spokesman Mark Kornblau told The Politico that Edwards had not read it. The New York Times says the Edwards campaign retracted the candidate's statement yesterday. An Edwards spokesman "said the candidate had 'simply misunderstood the question' and noted that Mr. Edwards had read only a declassified version of the intelligence report."
A lighthearted New York Daily News story begins, "Avast, matey -- is John Edwards a pirate? The Spaniards say yes, and they want their plundered loot back." Edwards "turns out to have a share of the recovered treasure trove first revealed last week." Edwards "is an investor in Odyssey Marine Exploration, the company that announced it found a 350-year-old sunken ship laden with 17 tons of silver coins and gold objects" worth "more than $500 million."
The AP reports that in Sen. Christopher Dodd's "new television ad, he is now the good cop. No more portraying Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama as followers, not leaders." His new spot "touts Dodd's energy plan -- and its corporate carbon tax -- as a solution to global warming." The Hartford Courant reported that the spot "is meant to position Dodd as a champion of stopping global warming." The Des Moines Register says the spot "represents a shift in his campaign, which has focused its first two television ads to a discussion of the war in Iraq."
USA Today says candidates for both parties' presidential nominations are "reaching out to Hispanic voters with an intensity that speaks to the importance of the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority group in the 2008 campaign." Mitt Romney "has hired a Spanish-language media adviser in Florida," and Gov. Bill Richardson, the only Latino in the race, "has made overt appeals to Hispanic voters, including announcing his candidacy in English and Spanish." Several candidates have Spanish-language sections on their campaign websites.
USA Today says New Hampshire's "tradition of 'retail politics,' in which voters meet candidates up close and personal, is coming under pressure this year" as "huge crowds" turn out to see big-buzz candidates like Sens. Clinton and Barack Obama. One woman who went to a crowded Obama event recently said her "first New Hampshire political experience involved 'arguing with (Barry) Goldwater -- over ice cream'" in 1964. Over in Iowa, USA Today writes, the candidates are also "attracting record crowds." One Democrat said that at this point in the last cycle, she "sat on a friend's living room floor and heard John Kerry explain who he was and what he stood for to about 60 people. This year, she says, it's not uncommon to see 300 people show up for a campaign event -- and not many Iowa living rooms hold that many."
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The late-night political shows were reruns last night.
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