Media reports are portraying the Israeli offensive in Gaza as a setback to President-elect Obama's hopes to broker a lasting Middle East peace deal. At the same time, some reports suggest the flare-up increases the pressure on Obama to deal quickly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at a time when his foreign policy agenda is already crowded.
The AP reports the "deaths of hundreds of Palestinians in Israel's deadliest-ever air assault on Hamas further complicate" the President-elect's "challenge to achieve a Middle East peace - something that eluded both the Bush and Clinton administrations." ABC World News reported Obama is "receiving daily intelligence briefings on the conflict in Gaza and plans to talk with members of his national security team, General Jones and Senator Clinton this evening. Top aides say he is not expected to address this latest crisis in the Middle East at all." NBC Nightly News reported Obama is "steering clear from making any public statements about the Middle East."
Bloomberg News reports the "warfare between Israel and Hamas will put pressure on" President-elect Obama "to fulfill a campaign pledge to focus on the Palestinian conflict at a time when his agenda will already be overflowing with Iraq, Afghanistan and the economic crisis." The Los Angeles Times reports the "spiraling violence between Israel and Hamas has raised new obstacles" to President-elect Obama's "ambitious Arab-Israeli peace initiative and his broader effort to improve relations between the U.S. government and the Muslim world, Mideast experts and American officials said Sunday."
USA Today reports Obama is "already focused on ending the U.S. recession, moving troops out of Iraq and sending more into Afghanistan, Obama now must add the long-festering Israeli-Palestinian conflict to his early agenda." The Wall Street Journal says Obama's "pledge to mediate the Arab-Israeli conflict aggressively from 'day one' could be significantly complicated" by the violence.
The New York Times says the renewed violence "has dashed already limited hopes for quick progress on the peace process" and Obama "might have little to gain from setting out an ambitious agenda for an issue as intractable as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But the conflict in Gaza...suggests that he may have no choice." The Washington Post says the escalation "could scuttle any hopes the incoming Obama administration harbored of forging an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal."
The Politico reports the Israeli stirkes "end any faint hopes that" President-elect Obama will "take office with a clear path toward Middle East peace laid out before him." It "may also strengthen the hand of more hawkish advisers who have argued that his first step toward Middle East peace should be attempting to weaken and isolate Iran, not negotiating with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, analysts said."
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's attorney, Ed Genson, plans to submit the internal report compiled by White House counsel-designate Gregory Craig to the state House committee considering his impeachment to support the Governor's case. The Chicago Sun-Times reports Genson aims to provide "evidence the governor wasn't trying to enrich himself while deciding who to appoint to Illinois' vacant U.S. Senate seat." Genson was "denied the ability to subpoena Obama's inner circle," but he "told the Chicago Sun-Times Sunday that the report will buttress his arguments the governor has done nothing wrong and deserves to remain in office."
The New York Times reports on Meet the Press, host David Gregory "pressed" Obama adviser David Axelrod on whether Rahm Emanuel, the Mr. Obama's chief of staff, or any of his other advisers had been asked for any favors by Illinois Gov. Rod. R. Blagojevich, who faces federal corruption charges that include trying to sell Mr. Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder." Axelrod "said no. 'There was no reason to believe that there was anything unusual or untoward going on that would require contact with the U.S. attorney's office,' he said."
Meanwhile, on NBC's Meet The Press, host David Gregory asked Axelrod if Obama's decision to release "just a four-page narrative" on the Obama transition team's contacts with Gov. Rod Blagojevich "two days before Christmas" is "consistent with the promise of an historic level of transparency." Axelrod responded, "First of all, the reason it was released two days before Christmas was because we were abiding by a request from the US Attorney's office, and we released it when they told us we, we could release it. They also reviewed it. But it reflects the full record of, of contacts between members of the transition around the president-elect and, and, and Governor Blagojevich's office."
Blagojevich Impeached By February 12th? The AP reports Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn "said he is certain" that Gov. Blagojevich "will be out of office by Abraham Lincoln's bicentennial birthday celebration Feb. 12, 2009." Quinn, "speaking from Chicago, told CBS' 'Face the Nation' on Sunday he believes Blagojevich will be impeached and convicted by the Illinois Legislature." USA Today /AP reports in a brief dispatch that Quinn "would become governor if Blagojevich leaves office. He says he would call a special election to fill Obama's seat."
NBC Nightly News reported Quinn "predicted that Governor Rod Blagojevich would be impeached by the Illinois legislature and out of office in less than two months." The Wall Street Journal reports if the House "acts to impeach, the matter would move to a trial in the Illinois Senate, where two-thirds of the members would have to vote to convict the governor." Quinn "said Sunday that he thinks 'far more' than two-thirds of the state senators are prepared to do so."
The Hill reports Quinn "reiterated that he thinks that the best thing for the state would be for the governor to step down voluntarily. However, Blagojevich has remained publicly defiant, promising to stay in office as he works to clear his name." The Politico reports Quinn said "that if he replaces Blagojevich as governor, he would urge that the Senate seat that had been held by President-elect Barack Obama be filled in a June special election. Until then, Quinn said he would push the state legislature to make a temporary appointment to fill the seat."
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David Axelrod, a top adviser to President-elect Barack Obama, appeared on two Sunday talk shows, CBS' Face the Nation and NBC's Meet the Press, where he defended the incoming Administration's plans for a stimulus package.
The AP reports Axelrod said "that the country's slowing economy won't keep the new administration from fulfilling its plans for a middle-class tax cut." The "incoming administration is considering tax cuts of $1,000 for couples and $500 for individuals that will be delivered by reducing the tax withheld from paychecks. That plan has been estimated to cost about $140 billion over 2009-2010."
NBC Nightly News reported Axelrod said "tax cuts are coming sooner than originally planned, and will be part of Obama's massive economic recovery plan." On NBC's Meet The Press, Axelrod said, "It's absolutely essential that we move not just to restore confidence...but to do substantive things that will get this economy moving again."
The Chicago Tribune reports the Obama aides "stepped up a drive to build a broad political consensus behind Obama's core economic proposals."
The Washington Post reports Axelrod said "the massive recovery plan will seek to create or save 3 million jobs, he said in appearances Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press' and CBS's 'Face the Nation.'" Obama, "in the second week of a vacation in Hawaii, continues to work on his economic plan, aides said."
Axelrod Says He Won't Be Another Rove The Hill reports Axelrod "said Sunday that he will focus on helping the country and not spend his time worrying about President-elect Obama's reelection." When asked to "compare his role to that of former Bush adviser Karl Rove" on Meet the Press, Axelrod said, "Our view is that we've got tremendous challenges in this country right now, and what we should be thinking about is how we're going to address those and not the next election."
Axelrod Defends Warren Selection The Politico reports Axelrod "strongly defended the selection of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the opening prayer at the inauguration, telling moderator David Gregory on NBC's 'Meet the Press' that the nation needs to get beyond "'shaking our fists' across a political divide."
Interest Groups Lobby For Stimulus Stakes USA Today reports as Washington "prepares for debate next month on whether to spend hundreds of billions to revive the economy, congressional leaders and Obama aides are being bombarded by interest groups -- from road contractors to shoemakers -- looking for help."
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Clifford Winston of the Brookings Institution says the "deepest problem" President-Elect Obama "faces is not the diversion of funds to pork-barrel projects -- contrary to popular belief, this generally amounts to a modest share of public expenditures." Over the "past decade we have reaped a mere 1% return on our highway investments. And what's more, for every $1 the government has spent trying to reduce roadway congestion, motorists have saved a mere three cents in travel time and other costs."
The New York Times reports unions are "looking to Barack Obama and rising economic anxiety to reverse organized labor's long slide." Through "three decades of decline, union leaders have been predicting a renaissance that has not come. But labor invested more than $300 million to help elect Mr. Obama and enlarge the Democratic majority in Congress, and it expects both to enact legislation that will make it easier for millions of workers to unionize." However, skeptics "say the outlook for labor is as bleak as ever."
The Washington Times reports the unions' "return on their investment may be awhile in coming. Two days after Mr. Obama's win, AFL-CIO head John Sweeney called the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a long-stalled bill designed to boost a union's chances of organizing a workplace, the 'No. 1 legislative priority' for organized labor." But management "and labor partisans agree that the early signs have not been favorable for a quick EFCA vote in the new Congress, despite Mr. Obama's strong support and expanded Democratic majorities in the Senate and House."
The AP reports President-Elect Barack Obama "has again made the trip to a Marine Corps base near his vacation home for an hourlong morning workout." Obama and "his friends from Chicago -- Eric Whitaker and Martin Nesbitt -- went to the Semper Fit gym on Marine Corps Base Hawaii's compound Sunday morning. The president-elect didn't speak to reporters but made small talk with folks who gathered by the road inside the secure base."
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports the President-Elect's "good-humored waffling in various interviews about smoking made it plain that Mr. Obama, like many who have vowed to quit at this time of year, had not truly done so." Antismoking activists "would love to see him use his bully pulpit to inspire others to join him in trying to kick the habit, but he has not yet taken up their cause."
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The New York Daily News reports that a "defiant" Caroline Kennedy said yesterday that she "wouldn't be beholden to anybody" if she's picked to replace Sen. Hillary Clinton in New York. The Daily News adds, "Displaying her notorious shyness during the 30-minute chat" on Saturday, "the mother of three, author and public education advocate was pleasant, but spoke softly and rarely made eye contact. Her speech was often punctuated with extra 'you knows' and 'ums.'" The New York Times adds that Kennedy " is "sure of one thing. Among all the hopefuls seeking to succeed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, she said on Saturday, there is no better choice. 'I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I would be the best,' Ms. Kennedy said" in an interview Saturday morning.
However, not everyone is convinced. The New York Post reports state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D) said yesterday "he still has doubts about her selection even after a private 45-minute meeting with her on Friday." Silver said "he was disappointed that Kennedy has refused to unequivocally rule out supporting Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent Bloomberg for reelection next year, a sore point with many New York Democrats."
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that "next round of battling" in the tight Minnesota Senate contest is over the fate of 1,350 rejected absentee ballots, which are unopened, but "could weigh heavily in the race, which unofficially has" Democrat Al Franken leading Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman (R) "by 46 votes." The Star-Tribune adds, "Though campaign officials don't know whom the absentee votes were cast for, some observers say the list includes ballots from precincts leaning Democratic, presumably helping -- or at least not hurting -- Franken's narrow lead."
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David Letterman: "I have a five-year-old son...and I'm a little nervous because I think he was disappointed for Christmas morning. Yup, because after he opened his gifts, he started throwing shoes at me."
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