President Obama's announcement of a set of conditions for Detroit automakers to receive additional Federal aid dominates front pages across the country, and led cable shows and all three network newscasts last night. While the coverage included negative reactions to the Obama's words including Wall Street's selloff and charges that he is being tougher on Detroit auto workers than on banking executives the President himself was credited, particularly on network TV, with taking a decisive stance on behalf of US taxpayers. The CBS Evening News, for example, led its broadcast saying, "With all the anger across the country about taxpayer bailouts...Obama stood up to the auto companies today and said firmly, 'you're not getting another one, not unless you come up with a better plan for restructuring your companies.'"
To some analysts, yesterday's move may end up as one of the most significant in Obama's entire presidency. On NBC Nightly News, Chuck Todd said, "It's Reagan and firing those air traffic controllers. It's Truman and the railroads. This is a big moment, pivotal moment."
Yesterday, Obama also granted an interview to WJBK-TV Detroit, in which he said that "the most important thing we can do is to make sure the auto industry comes out of this difficult process stronger than ever and able to compete, and that's going to be our top priority." Asked if that goal could be achieved without a bankruptcy process, Obama answered, "What I've said is that I'm confident we can do this...but I think that we are going to have to find some legal tools if all the parties can't come together to make some of the accommodations and deal with the enormous debt burdens that both Chrysler and GM are dealing with." Obama added that he wanted affected workers in the auto industry to know "they've got a President who is thinking about them every single day. They are my highest priority in this whole process."
The Detroit Free Press reports Obama "made clear that the limits of federal aid to automakers was within sight, and that deeper cuts among workers, dealers, creditors and suppliers, along with a possible trip through bankruptcy court, would be needed for the automakers' survival." The Detroit News notes the President "sought to reassure consumers and workers that bankruptcy, if required, would be brief."
The CBS Evening News reported "the rejection of the GM and Chrysler restructuring plans helped send stock prices sharply lower today. The Dow plunged more than 250 points. The NASDAQ lost 43." On ABC World News, George Stephanopoulos said, "Bankruptcy is very much on the table right now and Administration officials tell me it's likely the leading option."
The Washington Post reports "the president's aggressive move against GM has left some banking executives wondering whether they are next in line." The Politico reports that under Wagoner, "General Motors and its political action committee gave twice as much to Republicans as they did to Democrats." From 2000, "when Wagoner took over...through the end of last year, GM and its PAC contributed $1.7 million to Republican candidates and committees, compared only $815,000 to Democratic ones."
The Washington Post reports in a front page story that the percentage of Americans "who said the country is on the right track still stands at just 42 percent, but that is the highest percentage saying so in five years and marks a sharp turnabout from last fall, when as many as nine in 10 said the country was heading in the wrong direction. Fifty-seven percent now consider the nation as moving on the wrong track." Two-thirds of Americans "approve of the way Obama is handling the country's top job, and six in 10 give him good marks on issue No. 1, the flagging economy."
USA Today, meanwhile, reports on its website on the results of a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, noting "64% of those surveyed over the past three days (Friday-Sunday) said they approve of the job President Obama is doing vs. 30% who said they disapprove and 6% who said they have no opinion."
President Obama on Monday traveled to the new Capitol Visitor Center auditorium to exhort House Democrats to back his proposed $3.5 trillion budget. Media coverage of the trip was light, but portrayed Obama's pitch to the House Democrats as upbeat and forceful. The New York Times reports President Obama "traveled to Capitol Hill on Monday evening to bolster House Democrats as Congress began a politically charged budget debate that will determine the president's ability to pursue his broad domestic policy agenda." The Politico reports the President's "tone in the closed-door sessions was upbeat in the face of partisan floor votes later this week in both chambers."
The Hill reports President Obama "made a strong sales pitch to House Democrats on Monday night to quickly and forcefully pass a budget, saying doing so would pave the way for major healthcare and energy reforms planned for later this year." The Politico reports President Obama "warned a closed meeting of House Democrats that Congress has to pass health care reform and major energy legislation this year 'or it will not get done,' according to people in the meeting."
Obama-DeFazio Exchange Noted The Politico also reports Obama "took eight questions from a crowd of about 150 Democratic lawmakers," including Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, who "told Obama he wanted more infrastructure funding -- and Obama remembered DeFazio's vote against the stimulus." According to a source in the meeting, Obama said, "I know you think we need more for that because you voted against it. Don't think we're not keeping score, brother."
Senate Democrats Debate Reconciliation Roll Call reports that "just because fast-track budget rules are not in the Senate's $3.5 trillion spending blueprint, that doesn't mean the fiscal 2010 budget battle in both chambers this week won't be dominated by a will-they-or-won't-they debate over including reconciliation instructions to protect health care and education reforms from a filibuster."
Democrats Eager To Close "Tax Gap" The Washington Times reports Democrats "at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue say they are going after the Holy Grail of deficit reduction: the 'tax gap.'" Administrations "for decades sought to close the gap between what taxpayers owe and what they actually pay, a bucket of lost revenue now valued at about $300 billion a year. The quest has never paid off." But President Obama "and the Democratic majorities in Congress, already forced to justify the massive shortfalls projected in the administration's budgets for 2010 and beyond, say this time will be different."
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Voters in the NY20 Congressional District will select a replacement to fill the seat formerly held by New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D). The special election -- which will see either Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R) or businessman Scott Murphy (D) elected to the House -- is being portrayed as an early referendum on President Barack Obama's economic policies, in particular, the President's stimulus package. The Politico says, "The race is being covered as a test of Obama's political swat because it's the first major election since his inauguration." Similarly, ABC World News reported that the contest "really is being viewed as a referendum on the Obama Administration." ABC adds, "This has been a Republican district until recently and one where Barack Obama won last November. ... Democrats want this to be the next victory in their winning streak." The Los Angeles Times reports that Tedisco "has combined the hot-button issues of the day -- executive bonuses, the economic stimulus package, Wall Street bailouts -- into a drum-pounding campaign message against the Democrats."
The New York Times reports, "At the start of the short campaign, in early February, Mr. Tedisco seemed the clear favorite, given his long political experience and the built-in Republican advantage: a registration margin of about 75,000 voters."
The Washington Times says that as voters head to the polls, "postelection narratives are already in place. A win for Mr. Murphy...will be seen as evidence of Mr. Obama's enduring electoral clout and voter appeal, even in a historically conservative district where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 74,000 voters." For the GOP, a Tedisco win "would provide a badly needed morale boost for the party and quiet - at least temporarily - critics of" RNC chairman Michael Steele's "shaky early days as head of the RNC."
The AP reports, "In ways both subtle and overt," 2008 presidential hopeful Mitt Romney (R) "is building toward a 2012 White House campaign by judiciously engaging and disengaging with the national debate" and he is also working on "a political book," that he says "will be aimed at shaking American economic and political complacency."
On its front page, the Washington Post (3/31, A1, Kumar, 696K) reports, "While his Democratic rivals confined their travels to Virginia," Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe (D) "quietly slipped out of the commonwealth a dozen times in recent weeks to attend fundraisers in his honor hosted by some of the nation's top Democratic donors." On the GOP side, the Richmond Times-Dispatch (3/31, Bowman) reports that Mike Huckabee (R) campaigned with Bob McDonnell (R) yesterday, "helping him raise $50,000 and praising him as the Republican who can help restore the party's fortunes nationwide."
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Roll Call reports state Sen. Sam Caligiuri (R) is set to launch a challenge to Sen. Chris Dodd (D), joining former Rep. Rob Simmons (R) in a GOP primary battle for the right to take on the reeling Connecticut Senator.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Illinois state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D) "announced Monday that if he makes his expected" 2010 bid for U.S. Senate, "he won't accept money from federal lobbyists or corporate political action committees - not that the wealthy banking heir may need the help."
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Jay Leno: "Big day in Detroit. You may have heard about this. The Obama Administration asked General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner to step down, and he agreed," which "is good news for Obama. You know, the last time he tried to get someone to quit, it took months. And even then, he had to promise her a job as Secretary of State."
Jay Leno: "According to the government, Rick Wagoner was forced to resign because of poor performance. That's embarrassing." You run "an organization that loses billions of dollars and then get fired by a guy who heads up an organization that loses trillions of dollars."
Craig Ferguson: "Today, President Obama announced he is using his own money to redecorate the White House." Meanwhile, he "is using...taxpayers' money to redecorate the houses of AIG executives."
Jimmy Fallon: "Did you hear this? Some guy is selling a video of Joe Biden's daughter snorting cocaine. I'm not really interested in that. I mean, if I want to see video of a rambling, incoherent Biden, I'll just turn on CNN."
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