President Obama's centrist, pragmatic policy inclination has potentially begun to alienate one-time liberal supporters. Under the headline "Some On Left Souring On Obama," The Politico reports that "barely four months into his presidency, Obama is confronting growing dissatisfaction among members of his liberal base, who feel spurned by a series of his early decisions on issues ranging from guns to torture to immigration to gay rights." On its website yesterday, The Hill reported that "some of the people who voted" for Obama "are seeing change," but "unfortunately for them, it's not the kind of change they can believe in. It's Washington changing Obama and not the other way around, they say."
The Wall Street Journal cites "Obama's decision to maintain Bush-era military commissions" as "the latest in a series of compromises and delays that allies on the left see as a disappointing shift away from campaign pledges." The Journal adds that "on everything from national security to climate change to immigration, liberal groups are saying the president's recent actions contradict his soothing ability to convince them that he will move dramatically on their issues." On CBS's Face The Nation, the ACLU's Anthony Romero said, "The tribunals themselves are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense. That's a mistake. That's the same Department of Defense that authorized, enabled, and allowed torture to occur. It lacks the credibility to undertake that effort. "
The Washington Times also reports "Obama already has disappointed many liberal supporters with shifting stances on national-security issues. In just the past week, he reversed himself by declining to release photos of detainee abuse and also said he would continue to use military tribunals to try Guantanamo detainees, a practice for which he had criticized the Bush administration."
McConnell: Obama Taking Cheney's Advice The Hill reports, "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Sunday that...Obama has modified his stance on a number of national security issues partially in response to criticisms by former Vice President Dick Cheney." McConnell, "noting that Obama reversed an earlier decision to release photos of possible detainee abuse and has decided to continue with a modified version of Bush's military tribunals," said "the President has accepted some of Cheney's advice."
Asked if he sees the recent shifts as a "vindication for the Bush policies," McConnell said on Fox News Sunday, "Absolutely. ... I think he's adjusting his sails on all of these issues now that he is President and knows that one of his principal responsibilities is to keep the American people safe."
Obama Said To "Revel" In Power Jon Meacham, in a cover story for Newsweek, titled, "A Conversation With Barack Obama," writes, "What he has learned is that he likes, and enjoys, power -- the capacity to shape reality in his image and by his lights -- and that he finds crisis defining, bracing and useful. That a president feels suited to power is hardly a startling observation, but that Obama so revels in it -- in the understated way Obama revels in anything -- confounds the competing popular impressions of his persona."
Newsweek reprints excerpts portions from an interview with Obama conducted last Wednesday. Asked, "What's the hardest thing you've had to do?" Obama responded, "Order 17,000 additional troops into Afghanistan. There is a sobriety that comes with a decision like that because you have to expect that some of those young men and women are going to be harmed in the theater of war. And making sure that you have thought through every angle and have put together the best possible strategy, but still understanding that in a situation like Afghanistan the task is extraordinarily difficult and there are no guarantees, that makes it a very complicated and difficult decision."
Under the headline "Sen. Webb Reverses On Gitmo Plans," The Hill reports, "With Capitol Hill Republicans cranking up the volume on the issue of where to send alleged terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Sen. Jim Webb (Va.) reversed himself Sunday, and questioned President Obama's 'artificial timelines' for closing the facility." Webb, on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," said that "after reviewing Obama's plans to close the facility within one year, he doesn't agree with the president's time schedule and he opposes bringing any detainees to US soil."
Webb, appearing on ABC's This Week, said, "I think that the people who have been held in Guantanamo are being charged essentially for acts of international terror, for acts of war, and they don't belong in (our) judicial system, and they don't belong in our jails. ... We need commissions like this because there are issues of evidence that you cannot take care of inside the regular American court system, classified information that might have an impact on how we collect intelligence and those sorts of things."
The AP reports that "Republican lawmakers said Sunday they expect...Obama to extend his 'arbitrary' January deadline for closing the Guantanamo military prison as he finds it difficult to relocate the suspected terrorists held there." Sen. Mitch McConnell, on "Fox News Sunday," said, "The president made a mistake by picking a date certain. ... He's changed his mind about a number of things. This is one, I think, that requires an adjustment in his position."
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President Obama's commencement address at Notre Dame generated intensive media coverage, including the lead stories in the two network newscasts that aired last night. While the reports note the protests his presence on campus generated, they also describe his audience of graduating students as overwhelmingly supportive. Moreover, most analysts give the President credit for addressing the abortion issue head on, and portray him as trying to find common ground with his opponents. NBC Nightly News, for example, reported that Obama "not only acknowledged the controversy and protest his appearance had generated, but challenged Americans on both sides of the abortion debate to change the tone."
In a similar report, ABC World News reported that "Obama walked right into the heart of the abortion debate and essentially told both sides to lower the volume." The South Bend Tribune reports "Obama was interrupted four times by hecklers. During most of those outbursts he pressed onward with the speech, stopping once when the arena filled with shouts of 'We are ND!' to drown out the protester."
The AP reports the President "ceded no ground. But he said those on each side of the debate 'can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions.'" The Washington Post reports "Obama appeared energized by the controversy over his appearance, and he addressed the debate over abortion with relish."
Bloomberg News notes "anti-abortion demonstrators have staged protests almost daily, and more than 74 bishops have publicly criticized the university's decision to award the President, who supports abortion rights, an honorary degree." Reporting on Obama's "call for a more respectful disagreement over abortion," NBC Nightly News said that that call "was not heard outside of the Notre Dame campus, where nearly three dozen demonstrators were arrested today, mostly for trespassing."
USA Today says, "Protest organizers Alan Keyes, a former GOP presidential candidate, and conservative activist Randall Terry, both of whom had been charged with trespassing during earlier protests leading up to Obama's visit, stayed outside Sunday to direct the opposition."
Steele: Honorary Degree "Inappropriate" The AP reports, "The chairman of the Republican Party says the University of Notre Dame should not award an honorary degree to...Obama." RNC Chairman Michael Steele, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," "says Notre Dame is right to be honored that Obama is speaking at Sunday's commencement. But he says granting Obama an honorary degree is 'inappropriate.'"
Steele, on NBC's Meet the Press, said, "First off, any institution's going to be honored to have the president of the United States come and address them. And that's separate from that institution then placing its imprimatur on the president by conferring a degree, which is what--which is the case here."
51% Say They Are Pro-Life In Gallup Poll The AP reports that "Obama's appearance appeared additionally complicated by fresh polls that show Americans' attitudes on the issue have shifted toward the anti-abortion position." According to "a Gallup survey released Friday," 51% "of those questioned call themselves 'pro-life' on the issue of abortion and 42 percent 'pro-choice.'"
GQ reports that "on the morning of Thursday, April 10," Donald Rumsfeld's "Pentagon prepared a top-secret briefing for George W. Bush." The highly-classified briefing, known as the Worldwide Intelligence Update, "showed the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down in Firdos Square, a grateful Iraqi child kissing an American soldier, and jubilant crowds thronging the streets of newly liberated Baghdad. And above these images, and just below the headline secretary of defense, was a quote...from the Bible, from the book of Psalms." The inclusion of bible passages, "which until now has not been revealed, had become routine."
ABC World News briefly noted the GQ report, and noted that "at least one Muslim analyst at the Pentagon was offended and others worried about possible outrage in Muslim countries." The New York Times, meanwhile, reports that "Lawrence Di Rita, the Pentagon spokesman during Mr. Rumsfeld's time as secretary of defense, said that he had no recollection of the biblical briefs, but that he doubted the famously acerbic and sometimes cranky secretary would have tolerated them for long, much less shared them with Mr. Bush."
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The Wilmington News Journal reports this morning that GOP heavyweights, including Sen. John McCain and former President George H.W. Bush, are pressuring Delaware Rep. Mike Castle (R) to run for Senate, but he has "gently put out the word recently to cool it, saying he'd decide on his own timetable." Castle tells The Politico that he'll decide in the next two months. If he enters the race, he'll likely face Beau Biden (D), son of the Vice President, in the open seat contest.
The New York Times reports Rep. Steve Israel (D) announced on Friday that he would not challenge New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D), "saying that President Obama had asked him not to enter the race." In a statement, Israel said, "This is a tough, heartfelt decision for me. I have received encouragement to pursue this fight from all corners of our great state." The Hill reports Israel "is one of three members of the state's House delegation who have been weighing a primary challenge to Gillibrand," along with Carolyn Maloney and Carolyn McCarthy. McCarthy "has said she will challenge Gillibrand if nobody else does." Roll Call and The Politico also report on Israel's decision.
The AP reports that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was asked on Fox News yesterday, but he "still won't say if he will endorse" fellow Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning's (R) 2010 bid for reelection. Roll Call adds "many" Republican leaders "privately believe that the GOP will have a better chance of holding the seat next year if Bunning is not the nominee. Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R) recently created an exploratory committee for a possible Senate bid, and other Republicans are poised to jump in the race if Bunning does not run."
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Jay Leno: "The economy is so bad, Nancy Pelosi now saying she was misled by E.F. Hutton."
Jay Leno: "Well, let's see what's going on about that whole torture thing. Last week, Nancy Pelosi said she was never briefed by the CIA about their harsh interrogation methods. ... And then after a memo proved she was there and did get briefed, she changed her story to, 'They're lying about me. And they never told me. They didn't tell me anything.'... In fairness to the CIA, they assumed she was paying attention because she didn't blink for three hours."
Jimmy Fallon: "This is a big controversy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that the CIA lied to her in 2003. Yeah, apparently, they sent her a document saying that her makeup looked subtle."
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