With a spate of negative headlines about the economy dominating TV and print coverage this morning, President Obama is scheduled to meet with GOP lawmakers in an attempt to build bipartisan support for his stimulus package. The Politico notes "Obama will meet there first with rank-and- file Republicans at noon and then cross the Capitol to join a Senate Republican luncheon." The visits will "follow two ominous signs late Monday. First, Obama's choice for treasury secretary and economic point man, Timothy Geithner, won Senate confirmation by just a 60-34 vote. Second, the Congressional Budget Office issued its final report suggesting that only about two-thirds of the money would reach the economy in the next 18 to 19 months, well short of the goal set by Obama." The Washington Post and Washington Times runs similar reports.
News accounts are casting the meetings coming one day before an expected vote by the full House as a potential watershed in Obama's young presidency. The Financial Times "Obama faces an unexpectedly early test on Tuesday of whether he can govern as a bipartisan president when he meets Republican lawmakers. ... Unless he comes up with a new incentive for Republicans to change their position, Mr Obama's bipartisan aspirations could go up in smoke before he has completed a week in office." The Times adds "observers are taken aback by the harsh tone of Republican opposition to the bill."
Most reports show the President in a positive light, crediting him with working to create a bipartisan consensus. The Politico, for example, calls Obama's Hill visit today "an exceptional gesture for any president." Under the headline "Obama Ramps Up Bipartisan Efforts," the Los Angeles Times refers to Obama's "series of high-profile efforts to reach across the aisle," but adds that "so far, his gestures have shown few signs of success, as Republicans have continued to snipe at his signature initiative -- legislation to stimulate the economy -- and even to question the sincerity of his efforts." The Hill, which headlines it story "High Noon For Stimulus," Wall Street Journal and Roll Call run similar reports.
Obey, Not Obama, "Shaped" Stimulus Bill The New York Times reports, "When House Republicans look at the $825 billion economic package headed toward a vote this week, they do not see...Obama. To them, the bill personifies Representative David R. Obey, the prickly Wisconsin Democrat who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee and has spent 40 years in Congress as a champion of federal spending." It was "Obey, the third-most-senior member of the House, who, in large measure, shaped the bill, in concert with other House Democratic leaders."
Stories on the layoffs at major US companies (Caterpillar, General Motors, Pfizer, Home Depot and Sprint Nextel) led two out of three network newscasts last night, and this morning are featured on the front pages of major newspapers. The CBS Evening News reported, "The recession is deepening, and for tens of thousands of workers today, it just turned into a downright depression." CBS (Mason) referred to the news as "a bloodbath of pink slips." NBC Nightly News said, "The numbers these days become staggering after a while, $300 billion worth of a bailout, a trillion dollars worth of stimulus, give or take. But today when the bad news came out on jobs, it was, again, very bad" for "more than 50,000 of our fellow Americans, people with families and car payments, mortgages and rent." CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 (1/26) opened its broadcast with a segment on "a brutal bloody Monday," while CNN's The Situation Room led its broadcast reporting on the "really horrible day for US workers." The New York Times reports "employers...are reaching for the saw," and the Financial Times reports on the job losses announced yesterday under the headline "Gloom Deepens As 76,000 Global Jobs Go." The Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today and McClatchy, among other news outlets, also report the story.
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ABC World News reported last night, "A key member of the Obama economic team was confirmed by the full Senate. Late today, Timothy Geithner was approved as Treasury Secretary by a vote of 60-34. His job will include overseeing the financial industry bailout that was passed by Congress." The CBS Evening News also noted the story in a brief report, reporting Geithner survived in the Senate "despite some bumps along the way."
Under the headline "Partisanship Is Officially Back," The Politico says the vote was the GOP's "first organized attempt to embarrass President Obama." 30 Republicans opposed Geithner, "as conservative talk radio rallied a flood of calls to Capitol Hill on Monday opposing his nomination. A majority of Senate Republicans heeded those calls, making it clear that Geithner may have a credibility gap with the GOP." The AP notes that "One Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, told reporters earlier in the day that he would vote yes, only to change his mind and vote no." In addition, "three Democrats and one independent voted against Geithner's confirmation, including Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., the longest-serving senator in history. 'Had he not been nominated for treasury secretary, it's doubtful that he would have ever paid these taxes,' Byrd said in a statement." The Wall Street Journal also reports "the 60-34 vote speaks to the controversial nature of Mr. Geithner's nomination." The New York Times and AP run similar reports. The Washington Post reports that "less than two hours" after the vote, "Geithner was sworn in inside the gilded Cash Room at the Treasury Department with President Obama by his side in a show of support."
The AP reports that the "re-emergence of two former Guantanamo Bay prisoners as al-Qaeda terrorists in the past week won't likely change US policy on transfers to Saudi Arabia," the Pentagon said Monday. The "online boasts" by two former detainees who were repatriated to Saudi Arabia, "where the government puts them through a rehabilitation program designed to encourage them to abandon Islamic extremism and reintegrate into civilian life," and later rejoined al-Qaeda in Yemen "underscore that the Saudi system isn't fail safe, the Pentagon said." Still, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, "said the US sees the Saudi program as admirable." The New York Times also reports that Saudi officials said Monday that "nine graduates" of the rehabilitation program "have been arrested for rejoining terrorist groups since the program started in 2004." The Christian Science Monitor says "the revelations illustrate the difficulties faced both by President Obama...and the Saudi government, which is trying to reform its own radical jihadis, many of whom were imprisoned at Guantánamo before being released back to the kingdom." Noting the case of one former Gitmo detainee, Said Ali al-Shihri, who completed the Saudi program and later rejoined Al Qaeda in Yemen, Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens writes, "No doubt some will conclude that the Gitmo ordeal is what turned a random collection of Peshawar holiday-makers and itinerant Saudi carpet salesmen, who made their way to the Afghan frontier on the eve of 9/11, into raging jihadists."
In its lead story last night, ABC World News reported, "Another day, another complete change of Bush policies by President Obama." Obama directed the EPA "to re-examine whether California and 13 other states should be allowed to set tougher auto emissions standards than those set by Washington, and he ordered the Transportation Department to enforce stricter fuel efficiency standards by 2011." Obama was shown saying, "Let me be clear, our goal is not to further burden an already struggling industry. It is to help America's automakers prepare for the future." USA Today quotes Obama as saying, "The days of Washington dragging its heels are over."
The Hill reports "Obama's view has opponents," including Sen. George Voinovich (R OH), who said, "The federal government should not be piling on an industry already hurting in a time like this." The New York Times reports automakers warned that "rapid imposition of stricter emissions standards could force them to drastically cut production of larger, more profitable vehicles, adding to their financial duress." The Washington Post says Obama's two orders "could prove stiff medicine for a U.S. auto industry already hobbled by financial troubles." The AP adds, "Industry analysts said the changes could cost consumers thousands of dollars - for smaller, 'greener' cars." However, NBC Nightly News noted, "Today the [auto] industry reversed course, saying it wants to work with the Administration to reduce the pollution fueling global warming." The Christian Science Monitor says Obama's moves will "likely to impose new costs on an already reeling auto industry, consumers, and probably taxpayers."
The Wall Street Journal says the President's EPA move began "the first round of what promises to be a lengthy fight between major industries and his administration over how to combat global warming." The Financial Times notes Obama "warned that US action would be effective only as part of a 'truly global coalition." The CBS Evening News showed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger saying, "California finally has a partner and an ally in Washington." The Hill says, "Spokesmen for environmental groups spent a busy day praising" Obama's EPA order." The AP, in an analysis, calls Obama's EPA order "the clearest signal yet" that his "administration plans to regulate the emissions blamed for global warming."
Clinton Appoints Climate Change Envoy As part of a series of sweeping environmental policies announced Monday by President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the selection of Todd Stern as a special envoy for climate change. ABC World News noted Stern "served as the chief US negotiator for the Kyoto Protocol, which President Bush withdrew the US from in 2001." Secretary Clinton, the AP reports, said Sterns' appointment sends "an unequivocal message that the United States will be energetic, focused, strategic and serious about addressing global climate change and the corollary issue of clean energy."
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The Illinois Senate on Monday began the impeachment trial of Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) , though did not attend the proceedings but instead continued his media blitz, appearing on a number of TV talk shows, where among other things, he bemoaned the trial as unfair and revealed that he considered selecting Oprah Winfrey to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat. The Chicago Sun-Times reported on its website that Blagojevich said Monday during an appearance "on ABC's 'Good Morning America,'" that "he considered offering Oprah Winfrey Illinois' once-vacant U.S. Senate seat, but that she 'probably wouldn't take it.' Blagojevich did not talk to" Winfrey, "who lives in Chicago." ABC World News adds that Winfrey "said she was pretty amused by the whole thing, and added, 'I think I could be a senator, I'm just not interested.'"
ABC World News reported that Blagojevich "could have attended his trial today, but he didn't" and "An empty chair stood where the Governor was invited to take part." Blagojevich "was in New York, taking to the national air waves." The CBS Evening News says that by the time the trial started, he "was already well into his efforts to upstage it with a series of high-profile TV appearances." NBC Nightly News reports that "at times," Blagojevich's "media blitz seemed more shtick than statesmanlike. It's not that there weren't serious question." Amy Robach, NBC's "Today:" "Have you prepared yourself for the possibility of prison?" Blagojevich: "No, I haven't." Cowan: "Instead, he made headlines by comparing himself to Gandhi, and revealing that he briefly considered Oprah Winfrey to fill Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat."
The Politico that though she has yet to be sworn in, New York Sen.-designate Kirsten Gillibrand (D) "isn't wasting any time in preparing for her 2010 election" and informed the Federal Elections Committee yesterday "that she will be closing her House campaign committee and creating a Senate fundraising committee, which allows her to begin raising money to seek a full term."
Kentucky Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo (D) yesterday announced he will challenge Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning (R) in 2010, the AP reports, though the Lexington Herald-Leader (1/27, Brammer) adds that "two other statewide Democratic officials - Auditor Crit Luallen and Attorney General Jack Conway - said they continue to consider a run for Bunning's seat," making it likely that there will be a contested Democratic primary.
The Hill reports Colorado Attorney General John Suthers (R), "in a surprising move, has decided not to run for the state's open Senate seat" but will instead seek reelection. The Hill adds that with Suthers out, "attention will now turn to former Rep. Bob Beauprez (R-Colo.), former state Treasurer Mark Hillman and Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier."
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Jay Leno: "And as you know, President Obama has signed an executive order closing Guantanamo Bay. ... Well, the big problem, how do you get these inmates back to their home countries? They're all on the do not fly list."
Jay Leno: "Citigroup" just "got $45 billion of our tax dollars. Did you see what they bought themselves? They spent $50 million on a brand new, French-made private jet for their executives. Has a bar, private entertainment center, seating for 12. ... You know, if there's ever a reason to reopen Guantanamo Bay, this is it, okay."
David Letterman: "But I got to say, so far so good for the Obamas. ... The family is settled in. There's the President and his wife and the kids and the mother-in-law. And they're settling nicely. The only problem, the only complaint -- and they don't want to make trouble -- but the only complaint is they can still hear creepy organ music coming from Dick Cheney's dungeon."
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