During a press conference yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama announced an internal probe of his transition team's contacts with the staff of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The AP reports Obama also said "he's 'absolutely certain' no one close to him was involved in an alleged plot...to sell his former Senate seat to the highest bidder." The New York Times notes Obama said "he was appalled and disappointed by what he read in the federal wiretap transcripts contained in the sprawling criminal complaint against Mr. Blagojevich, which included profanities and other references about the president-elect."
A number of media reports remark on Obama's tone, which is generally being cast as more forceful and effective -- that on previous days. NBC Nightly News says "there was this growing sense that" Obama "should show more outrage and condemn the Governor's alleged actions in stronger terms. Today he did that." ABC World News similarly reported that "two days ago, the President-elect said the charges against...Blagojevich saddened him. Today, sorrow turned to disgust." The Financial Times says Obama gave "a relaxed and humorous performance" which "went beyond the minimalist response most presidents are advised by lawyers to adopt in these situations." On its front page, the Los Angeles Times also offers a positive assessment of Obama's performance, saying "it took three tries in as many days for...Obama to roll out a strategy for defusing the crisis."
But other media accounts caution that the situation involves some political risks for the President-elect. The AP says it is "possible that more wiretapped communications will surface," and "if they involve Obama associates, even in seemingly innocent roles, it could fuel drama and headlines for months as the new administration tries to settle in." The Politico reports Obama "was elected president on a promise of 'transparency' but barely five weeks later...Obama is scrambling to meet his first big test on openness." The Hill reports Obama "said neither he nor his transition team have been contacted by federal officials seeking interviews in the matter, and pointed out that the affidavit filed on Tuesday makes it clear Obama's team was hesitant to make any deals." But the Wall Street Journal says "Obama and his aides have yet to answer some key questions related to the Blagojevich case."
NBC Nightly News also reported some questions remain "still unanswered," such as "what contacts Obama's staff may have had with the Governor's officer." Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal says officials "familiar with the matter say they assume the 'President-elect Advisor' referenced in the federal complaint is Rahm Emanuel, who will become White House chief of staff." The CBS Evening News noted Emanuel "was not standing in his customary spot at Obama's press conference today."
Blagojevich Said To Consider Resignation Chicago's WBBM-TV reported last night that Blagojevich is "actively considering resigning." Likewise, USA Today notes Illinois lieutenant governor Quinn "said he believes that the embattled governor will step down."
The Chicago Tribune reports this morning that as Gov. Rod Blagojevich "was trying to pick Illinois' next US senator, businessmen with ties to both the governor and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. discussed raising at least $1 million for Blagojevich's campaign as a way to encourage him to pick Jackson for the job, the Tribune has learned" from two unnamed businessmen who attended the meeting. Chicago's WBBM-TV reports that Frank Coconate, a "former city worker" who "was...Jackson Jr.'s northwest side point man when Jackson flirted with" a mayoral run, alleged that Jackson had been in the habit of "selling endorsements," during their association, and that he is "not shocked" by charges that a Jackson "emissary" attempted to purchase Obama's Senate seat.
Jackson Now Seen As Unlikely To Replace Obama The Hill reports, "Most political watchers in Illinois agree that" Jackson, "once a leading candidate to succeed...Obama in the Senate, is now a long shot to fill the seat." Jackson is "believed to be 'Senate Candidate 5'" in the criminal complaint, and he "did not help his own cause by holding a bizarre press conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday during which he left more questions unanswered than answered. ... To political observers, the press conference marked the end of Jackson's hopes of securing Obama's seat."
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Media reports cast last night's breakdown of Senate talks on a bailout measure for the auto industry as an ominous sign for the Big Three and the larger US economy. The AP attributes the talks' failure to the United Auto Workers' refusal "to accede to Republican demands for swift wage cuts." The Detroit Free Press reports UAW negotiators "wanted to hold off on reaching that level of parity" with Japanese auto workers in the US "until their current contracts with the Detroit automakers expire in 2011." The Los Angeles Times says on its front page this morning that "Republican opposition killed" the plan. The New York Times editorializes, "We were distressed by reports late Thursday night that Senate Republicans were close to scuttling the deal. Despite all the flaws of the temporary fix, we don't see a long-term solution without it."
The Detroit News reports the "only chance of survival" for GM and Chrysler "may be the Bush administration, which could tap the remains of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package, something the White House has rejected for weeks." USA Today also says "Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson could provide aid from the $700 billion financial rescue program, but he has said that money must be reserved to protect the financial system." The AP reports Majority Leader Harry Reid "said he hoped...Bush would tap the $700 billion Wall Street bailout fund for emergency aid to the automakers." The Washington Post notes Sen. Reid "warned that financial markets could plummet when trading opens this morning."
The Wall Street Journal says the breakdown is "a giant blow to the immediate hopes of the Big Three." The Politico and AFP run similar reports on the collapse of the talks. On its front page, the New York Times reports "the odds that General Motors and Chrysler will be insolvent by year's end are growing rapidly."
At a press conference in Chicago yesterday, Obama had urged the Senate to pass the bill. The Detroit News notes Obama said, "We cannot simply stand by and watch this industry collapse. Doing so would lead to a devastating ripple effect throughout our economy." The AP and The Hill also run short pieces on Obama's comments.
The Washington Times, meanwhile, notes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "called on President Bush to twist some Republican arms in the Senate to get the bailout loan passed," and The Hill notes the President's lobbying efforts, and the Financial Times says Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "defied the Bush administration" by rejecting the deal. The Hill states that McConnell's stance "has put pressure on...Bush to corral Senate Republicans at a time when his influence has reached its lowest point."
GM Retains Bankruptcy Counsel, Advisers. The Wall Street Journal reports, "General Motors Corp. has hired lawyers and bankers to consider whether to file for bankruptcy protection, said several people familiar with the matter."
Fox Poll: 58% Oppose Detroit Bailout Fox News' Special Report reported that a new Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll "indicates most Americans do not favor government loans for the automakers. The numbers are 58 to 37% against."
Media reports are casting the bipartisan Senate report on detainee abuse released yesterday by Sens. Carl Levin and John McCain as a rebuke of the Bush Administration and its counterterrorism policies. McClatchy says the report concluded that "top officials -- including former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- were responsible for the use of 'abusive' interrogation techniques on detainees at Guantanamo Bay, in Afghanistan and at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq."
The AP reports Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin said, "The message from top officials was clear: it was acceptable to use degrading and abusive techniques against detainees." McCain also said the policies "are wrong and must never be repeated."
The Wall Street Journal notes that according to the report, the interrogation programs examined "evolved primarily from a Pentagon program known as Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape, or SERE," which the committee said "was improper to use...as a blueprint for US intelligence gathering." The New York Times says the report "explicitly rejects the Bush administration's contention that tough interrogation methods have helped keep the country and its troops safe."
Likewise, the Los Angeles Times also calls the report "the most forceful denunciation to date of the role that Rumsfeld and other top officials played in the prisoner abuse scandals of the last five years" and "challenges assertions by senior Bush administration officials that the most egregious cases of prisoner mistreatment were isolated incidents of appalling conduct by US troops."
Rumsfeld Blasts Report The Washington Post reports Rumsfeld "rejected the report's conclusions and said it was the committee, particularly Levin, that had sullied the nation's image." He also "accused Levin of pursuing a politically motivated 'false narrative' that is 'unencumbered by the preponderance of the facts.'" The AP reports Lawrence Di Rita, "a senior aide to...Rumsfeld at the time the Abu Ghraib and other abuses took place, disputed the report," saying, "This oddly timed report provides no evidence that contradicts more than a dozen other investigations that found that there was no systematic or widespread detainee mismanagement."
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The Politico reports this morning that in the run-up to the November elections, Microsoft's Political Action Committee gave $9,000 to four GOP Congressmen, all of whom lost, and in the "two weeks after the election, Microsoft cut a $1,000 check to each of the Democrats who beat them." In "going with the winner - even after supporting the loser - Microsoft is hardly alone. Some of the biggest corporate names in the Washington influence game backed Republican incumbents before the 2008 elections, only to donate to their Democratic vanquishers afterward."
In his blog on The Politico, Ben Smith says John McCain's "top pollster," Bill McInturff, said yesterday that attacking Barack Obama's ties to Rev. Jeremiah Wright "would not have helped McCain's campaign and could have destroyed his presidency, had he been elected." McInturff said, "I said 'Look, if we do win we'll win with about 273 electoral votes and we'll lose the popular vote by 3 million. If [McCain] had used that issue that way, you'd already be delegitimized as a president. You couldn't function as government." Karl Rove had said earlier this week that the McCain camp should have gone after Obama over the Wright issue early.
CNN's The Situation Room reported that in a interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Colin Powell "makes some eyebrow-raising comments about Sarah Palin and others." Powell was shown saying, "I think that in the latter months of the campaign, the party moved further to the right. Governor Palin, to some extent, pushed the party more to the right. I think she had something of a polarizing effect when she talked about 'small town values are good.' Well, most of us don't live in small towns. I was raised in the South Bronx and there is nothing wrong with my value system."
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Jay Leno: "The bad news for Governor Blagojevich is that there's no chance President Bush will pardon him because Bush can't even pronounce his name."
Jay Leno: "Hey, a little bit of history for you. It was on this day, in 1872, America's first black governor took office in Louisiana. Did you know that? ... Ironically, the man he beat out for the job, John McCain."
Jay Leno: "In a recent interview with ABC, President Bush said he is not a literalist when it comes to the Bible -- or the Constitution either, for that matter."
Conan O'Brien: "Yesterday President-elect Barack Obama called on Illinois Governor Blagojevich to resign. ... And after...hearing this, Blagojevich said, 'If he wants to call and talk to me, it's $4.99 a minute.'"
Jimmy Kimmel: "Barack Obama had another press conference today. Among other things, he talked about the economy." He "says job prospects are worse than they have been in 26 years. This Obama is turning out to be a real bummer with these speeches, isn't he?"
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