President Obama's expected announcement today of new Federal stem cell research guidelines is generating largely positive media coverage. USA Today reports "Obama will sign an executive order...lifting limits on human embryonic stem cell research and will direct federal agencies to 'restore scientific integrity' to decision-making, White House aides said Sunday." ABC and NBC reported the story last night (CBS ran a very brief newscast due to sports coverage). ABC World News said that with his announcement, Obama would "fulfill one of his campaign promises," and that "could lead to better treatments and possibly cures for many diseases," even if "it will not end a visceral debate." NBC Nightly News reported "researchers say stem cells may hold the key to curing such diseases as Alzheimer's, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, but because they're extracted from embryos, social conservatives say it's destroying human life."
The AP reports Obama's announcement Monday "will include a broad declaration that science -- not political ideology -- would guide his administration." In a story titled "Obama Aims to Shield Science From Politics," the Washington Post reports Melody C. Barnes, "director of Obama's Domestic Policy Council, told reporters during a telephone briefing" yesterday, "The president believes that it's particularly important to sign this memorandum so that we can put science and technology back at the heart of pursuing a broad range of national goals."
Under the headline "Obama To Keep Stem Cell Promise," The Politico reports "Monday's announcement means he will instead supplant Bush's executive order with one of his own -- a move that will please many of Obama's supporters who were pushing him to make the change." AFP says the move is "already delighting scientists and vexing conservatives."
On its front page, the New York Times reports that "Obama intends to avoid the thorniest question in the debate: whether taxpayer dollars should be used to experiment on embryos themselves, two senior administration officials said Sunday."
The Washington Times meanwhile, notes "House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican, called Mr. Obama's plans a 'distraction' from the serious economic troubles the nation and its political leaders have been battling." The Hill notes Cantor said on CNN, "Why are we going and distracting ourselves from the economy?"
US News Digital Weekly's Washington Whispers reports, "President Obama's reluctance to blame his Republican predecessor by name for the financial mess irks Democrats. 'He should be out there going coast to coast blaming George Bush for this mess. He doesn't have to own it,' says one key party adviser." Also in US News Digital Weekly, Kirk Shinkle writes that with Republicans "blaming the president for the 30 percent drop in the Dow Jones industrial average since Election Day, Obama jauntily countered that stocks looked to him like 'a potentially good deal.'" But by "several measures, stocks still look more expensive than they did during past downturns."
Meanwhile, in Newsweek, Robert Samuelson writes, "To those who believe that Barack Obama is a different kind of politician...please don't examine his administration's recent budget. ... Barack Obama is a great pretender." A "prudent president would have made a 'tough choice' -- concentrated on the economy, deferred his more contentious agenda." Instead, Obama "clings to dubious, partisan policies (mortgage cramdown, union checkoff) that arouse fierce opposition."
Orszag Defends Obama Economic Policies Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag on Sunday defended the economic stimulus package and President Obama's budget plans, calling for patience and saying it would take time for the Administration's economic policies to gain traction. Media reports which were mixed in tone -- noted that Orszag's defense comes as Republican criticism of the Administration is increasing. The Wall Street Journal reports that in an appearance on CNN's State of the Union, "said President Barack Obama's recovery plan needs time to take effect, as Republican congressional leaders stepped up criticism of the president's handling of the economy."
The Politico reports Orszag "signaled Sunday that the administration plans to stand up fiercely to critics of its economic policies despite a deepening recession." Taking the Administration's "hardest line yet, Orszag in two appearances on the Sunday shows went after Republicans for their budget proposals, repeatedly asking them to put up or shut up." Orszag said, "With regard to the criticisms, it's almost like, as Ronald Reagan said, 'there they go again.'"
Under the headline, "White House Budget Director Says Economy Is 'Weak,'" the AP reports Orszag "said in television interviews that the economic downturn has been years in the making but cautioned that the new administration wasn't yet looking at a second economic stimulus package. Orszag said the already-in-place $787 billion stimulus should have a chance to work before officials ask Congress to consider a sequel." And AFP headlines its story, "White House Mocks Republican Ire On Economy," saying the White House "ridiculed Republican attacks on its big-spending economic revival plans as President Barack Obama eyed the green shoots of recovery this year."
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The White House announced President Obama has nominated three senior Treasury Department aides, a move that comes as the Administration garners criticism for the slow pace at which it is filling key positions in the department and other agencies. The AP reports "a slow pace of hiring has put the agency on the defensive." The White House "said Obama is nominating David S. Cohen to be assistant secretary in dealing with terrorist financing; Alan B. Krueger for assistant secretary for economic policy; and Kim N. Wallace as assistant secretary for legislative affairs." The Financial Times notes Krueger is "a Princeton University professor and former labour department chief economist," Wallace is "a former congressional aide and Lehman Brothers employee," and Cohen is "a Clinton-era Treasury official, for the top terrorist financing job."
The Wall Street Journal reports that "in recent weeks, at least two other candidates for top jobs at the Treasury, Annette Nazareth and Caroline Atkinson, have withdrawn their names from consideration." In a story titled "At Treasury, A Sense Of Cascading Problems And No Relief," the New York Times reports, "Rarely have so few people had so little time to prop up so many pillars of the economy as those in the Treasury Department under...Geithner," who has only "a skeleton crew of unofficial senior advisers."
Newsweek asks" why are key posts at the Treasury Department -- every single job requiring Senate confirmation -- vacant except for" Treasury Secretary Geithner's? One answer is that "a tough IRS bureaucrat is spooking potential hires and embarrassing people who do apply. But officials on Capitol Hill and in the financial sector say the White House is making excuses, and frustration is mounting."
McClatchy (3/9, Helling) reports, "Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius may feel a bit lonesome at the top, at least at first, if she ends up moving into the nation's Health and Human Services Department," because "there are 19 subcabinet jobs at HHS that require presidential appointment and Senate confirmation -- assistant secretaries, administrators, commissioners and directors, all key players at the $730 billion agency," and "fifteen of those jobs are open." McClatchy adds that "hundreds of other senior-level jobs across the executive branch lack permanent occupants."
Summers Said To Be Over-Confident Author Joseph Epstein, also in Newsweek says economists," as a profession...specialize in displaying such relentlessly high confidence" Epstein says Larry Summers, President Obama's chief economic adviser, "is a case very much in point. Bullish on himself, bullish (in a different sense) in manner, Summers has gained a reputation for not suffering fools gladly, no matter how many times, in making incorrect predictions, he has been foolish himself."
The US and Britain announced that they would be drawing down their forces in Iraq. NBC Nightly News reported the US announced "new details of troop withdrawals from Iraq. Two of its 14 combat brigades are to return home by September." The Financial Times notes that in addition, "4,000 British troops" would also "leave by September. The move would still leave about 135,000 troops in place to provide security for elections scheduled for later this year." President Barack Obama "last week vowed to remove all combat troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010, adopting a slightly longer timetable than he promised during the presidential campaign."
The AP reports the withdrawals "will most likely come from Baghdad and Anbar province, once main battlefields of the war." Also as part of the drawdown, "the US will turn over 74 facilities and areas under its control to the Iraqis by the end of March." The timing of Sunday's announcement, reports the Washington Post, "underscored that Iraq is likely to remain dangerous, turbulent and vulnerable to major acts of bloodshed during an American withdrawal." The Christian Science Monitor notes that "Iraq's own security force has grown in recent years to more than 600,000 and become increasingly more capable."
At Least 28 Killed In Baghdad Bombing NBC Nightly News reported, "Carnage in Baghdad today. At least 28 Iraqis were killed in a suicide bombing outside a police academy, the deadliest attack in the capital for a month." The AP notes "no group claimed responsibility for the blast, but suicide bombings are the signature attack of Sunni religious extremists, including al-Qaeda."
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The Los Angeles Times reports, "By stocking his Cabinet with some of the Democrats' top political prospects," President Barack Obama "has created a number of opportunities for Republicans ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, particularly in governors races in Arizona, Iowa, and Kansas and senate races in Colorado, New York, and Illinois.
The AP reported over the weekend Sangamon County, Illinois, State's Attorney John Schmidt, who is "exploring the possibility of perjury charges" against Illinois Sen. Roland Burris (D), "has asked federal officials for FBI tapes of phone conversations between Burris and ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich's brother, an individual with knowledge of the case said Friday." Schmidt "wants to compare the taped conversations with what Burris said under oath before the House committee that voted to impeach Blagojevich."
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The AP reported over the weekend that the Minnesota Supreme Court on Friday "blocked" Al Franken's (D) "petition for an election certificate that would put him in the U.S. Senate without waiting for a lawsuit to run its course," meaning "the seat will remain empty until the lawsuit and possible appeals in state court are complete." The Minneapolis Star Tribune adds the court ruled 5-0 that Franken "was not entitled to be certified as the election winner until the legal contest has made its way through the state courts."
The Hill reports Sen. Arlen Specter (R), who "faces an extremely difficult primary race against former Rep. Pat Toomey," does not have the "fall-back option of running as an independent should he lose his 2010 primary election," which is barred by state law, "giving the senior lawmaker strong incentive to abandon his party this year."
The AP reports that Newt Gingrich "was asked Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press' whether he wanted to run for president in 2012. His two-word response: 'Not particularly.'"
The New Hampshire Union Leader reported that former New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu's (R) "appointments to three corporate boards and a congressional oversight panel" doesn't necessarily mean that he won't run for his state's open Senate seat this cycle, according to local experts.
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Jay Leno: "President Obama got some good news today. Listen to this. It seems so many of his cabinet appointees have been forced to pay their back taxes, he now gets a finder's fee from the IRS."
David Letterman: "Hey, you know what it is this weekend?" On Sunday, it is Daylight Saving Time, when you are "going to lose an hour of sleep," but so what? You've "pretty much lost everything else."
Jimmy Fallon: "This weekend" is Daylight Saving Time, "everybody. ... You lose one hour of sleep, but under Obama's tax plan, you lose two, actually."
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