The North Korean nuclear test led all three network broadcasts last night and is being reported on the front pages of today's major newspapers. Much of the coverage casts the incident as a major test for President Obama. USA Today, for example, describes the North Korean test as "just the sort of national security crisis that...Obama's campaign rivals warned he would face early in his term." Some analyses include some not-so-veiled criticism of the Administration. NBC Nightly News reported that the North Korean test "may require more intensive diplomacy, more than the White House has launched so far." In fact, "there was no sense of crisis. Well, they're not very relaxed any longer." The AP similarly reports that "just two weeks ago, the administration's special envoy for disarmament talks with North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, said during a visit to Asian capitals that 'everyone is feeling relatively relaxed about where we are at this point in the process.'" Adds the AP, "If so, they are no longer."
ABC World News, meanwhile, reported that "many experts believe there is still no consensus inside the Obama Administration on how to deal with North Korea and its leader," while the Washington Post says "Obama came into office saying he wanted to demonstrate that engagement with hostile nations is more effective than antagonism, but North Korea's nuclear test now leaves the young administration with critical choices about its response."
The Hill says the White House "characterized the test as unsurprising," but NBC Nightly News reported that it was "much larger than one conducted there just three years ago" and "largely unexpected by the White House." The Politico calls the test "a setback for...Obama's goal of eliminating nuclear weapons," while the Washington Times reports that "experts who have studied the isolated state for years warned that the US has few options and that more provocation likely lies ahead." The CBS Evening News said that "the North's attitude, if today's tests are any indication, seems to be, 'Forget any new talks anytime soon.'" CNN's The Situation Room called the tests "a powerful new blow to...Obama's efforts to reach out to the communist nation."
The AP reports that the UN Security Council "swiftly condemned" the test "as 'a clear violation' of a 2006 resolution banning them and said it will start work immediately on a new one that could result in stronger measures against the reclusive nation." US Ambassador Susan Rice "said the 15-member council agreed that work on the new resolution will begin Tuesday."
The New York Times, meanwhile, reports that "analysts called the test a sign that the ruling family may be preparing for a transition. Last month, Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law, Jang Seong-taek, joined the National Defense Commission, the most powerful group in the North Korean government, said Kim Sung-han, an international relations professor at Korea University in Seoul."
Media reports suggest President Obama will soon nominate a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, with sources noting the short list favors women candidates. The Financial Times reports President Obama "is expected to make his first Supreme Court nomination this week, promising to pick someone with 'intellectual firepower' but also a 'common touch.'"
ABC World News reported, "The focus tonight is really on two top contenders. Judge Sonia Sotomayor and Judge Diane Wood. Both of these judges have that long judicial experience, but also that life experience President Obama says he would like to see." Solicitor General Elena Kagan is "seen as someone more in the Ivory Tower, she's the new Solicitor General, she's also young."
The Hill reports that given President Obama's "schedule this week -- including a trip to Las Vegas and Los Angeles on Tuesday and Wednesday -- speculation is that the president could make public his choice early Thursday or Friday." The "list of potential nominees has remained largely static, with front-runners like Appeals Court Judges Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Wood and Solicitor General Elena Kagan generating the most buzz."
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports Stanford Law Professor Pamela S. Karlan "is a champion of gay rights, criminal defendants' rights and voting rights," and to "liberal supporters, she is an Antonin Scalia for the left." But while there are "clear political advantages to Mr. Obama if the perception is that he has avoided an ideological choice, Ms. Karlan's absence from his list of finalists has frustrated part of the president's base, which hungers for a full-throated, unapologetic liberal torchbearer to counter conservatives like Justice Scalia." The Times notes that "people close to the White House" list four candidates for the short list: Sotomayor, Wood, Kagan, and Napolitano.
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
According to US News Weekly's Kenneth T. Walsh, there are "warning signs that President Obama is starting to generate serious opposition on the fiery left. There is increasing unease about his sending 21,000 more troops into Afghanistan, which some compare to the early escalations in Vietnam. There is disquiet that Obama has abandoned his promise to release photos showing brutal interrogations of suspected terrorists. There is consternation that he is moving toward using military tribunals to prosecute some terrorists."
US News Weekly's Walsh, in another piece, says that in speeches last week, President Obama "described a world that is best handled with reason, restraint, and common sense, and where traditional American values of respect for the law, openness, and opposition to torture still matter. On the other hand, former Vice President Dick Cheney...painted a darker, more dangerous world, where policymakers must plan for the worst and where Americans must hunker down on a permanent war footing."
US News Weekly's Robert Schlesinger says that "even if Democrats as a party have closed the national security gap in public opinion, their officeholders seem unaware of it, as demonstrated by Senate Democrats' refusal this week to fund Obama's shuttering of the Guantánamo Bay prison facility. In retreat, they seemed just as worried as ever about the GOP national security cudgel."
The Wall Street Journal reports that when President Barack Obama visits Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday, those in the gaming and tourism industry are "hoping the president, even without spending a penny at the tables, brings back some luck and helps remove some of the stigma that has befallen the gambling hub. Some believe much of that stigma was placed there by Mr. Obama himself, who on Feb. 9 excoriated corporations that had taken federal bailout money, warning, 'You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer's dime.'"
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on its website that Las Vegas "is nursing a bruised ego since Obama mentioned Vegas junkets as the type of corporate excess that federal dollars shouldn't be funding. Among the local leaders and tourism officials who denounced Obama's comment was Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who called for an apology or at least some positive words about the city from the president."
CNN's The Situation Room, noting that Obama is slated to attend a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Las Vegas on Tuesday, reported that the President's "trip comes at a time when Vegas is really hurting. Officials there are still smarting over the remark by the President linking the city to corporate excess. ... Things got worse" Goodman "believes eight months ago after a dust up on how banks were spending federal bailout money."
Gibbons Wants "Apology" From President The Washington Times reports ever since President Obama "cited Las Vegas trips as an example of corporate greed run amok, 340 planned conventions and business meetings have been canceled there, costing the gambling Mecca 36,700 hotel-room nights and an estimated $130 million in non-gambling revenue." Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons (R), who "said he has been denied a meeting with Mr. Obama while he is in Las Vegas," is quoted as saying, "I am disappointed at the hypocrisy shown by this administration."
The Politico reports that "Gibbons turned down an invite to meet President Obama at the airport in Las Vegas on Tuesday." The Governor "declined because he was insulted by" the "comment" Obama "made about Vegas a few months ago. ... 'While I appreciate the offer, I am not interested in a handshake and a hello from President Obama, I am interested in an apology and plan to undo the damage the President did,' Gibbons said in a statement posted on his Web site."
The New York Times (reports Canada's public broadcaster "went too far with a New Year's Eve skit that joked about the possible assassination of President Barack Obama and suggested that he could be a thief, an industry panel ruled on Monday," according to a wire service report. The "Bye Bye" comedy show, "broadcast on the French-language Radio Canada network, received more than 200 complaints."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
The AP reports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) of Nevada, "vulnerable in home-state polls but without a big-name opponent so far, takes the stage Tuesday with President Barack Obama at a Las Vegas-style fundraiser billed as 'The Good Fight'" but the GOP has "yet to land a major candidate deemed capable of raising the money and enthusiasm needed to unseat a sitting majority leader." The New York Times reports that Reid "has emerged as a tempting target for Republicans as he prepares for re-election next year: unpopular at home, identified with partisan battles in Washington and shadowed by the memory of the election defeat suffered by the last Democrat who held his job, Tom Daschle of South Dakota." However, Reid "has studied Mr. Daschle's 2004 loss and is aggressively raising money, building a turnout organization and seeking to disqualify potential rivals, all with the aim of locking up his election to a fifth term well before a single voter goes to the polls in November 2010." The Las Vegas Review-Journal says that the Reid camp "expects to raise almost $2 million from" Tuesday's "star-studded fundraiser, money that will go to a joint account shared by the senator's campaign and the Nevada State Democratic Party."
The Politico reports former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press "he'll wait until 2011 to consider whether to mount a run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012." The Hill reports Gingrich is "setting himself apart as the Republican most willing to take on Democrats as he ponders whether to run for president in 2012." In the "last 10 days, Gingrich has stepped into the national debate in a more significant way," calling for House Speaker Pelosi to step down and joining the National Council for a New America, a GOP group "seeking to develop new ideas."
The AP reports that after "crushing losses at all levels of government in back-to-back elections," Republicans have pinned their hopes "on the only major contests" in 2009 gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia, "two states that Democrats control. Downtrodden Republicans hope victories this fall will revive the party heading into crucial congressional elections in 2010." Prospects in both states "seem promising for competitive races this fall, even though" President Barack "Obama is popular in both states."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Jay Leno: "Happy Memorial Day, everybody. ... As you know, the banks were all closed today. And tomorrow, surprisingly, some of them may actually reopen."
Jay Leno: "I can't believe...Dick Cheney keeps giving speech. He's appearing on TV news shows. It's like he thinks he is still president, you know?"
Jimmy Fallon: "Have you heard about North Korea? They've detonated an underground nuclear weapon today, so I guess they'll be ready if they're ever attacked by gophers."
Sign up here to get the US News Political Bulletin emailed to you each morning at 8 a.m.
Top
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5advertisement
Get your POLITICALBULLETIN
Click image for larger view.
Smart analysis, insightful reporting, in-depth perspective—in a new, digital format.
Log in | Buy Now | See sample
View sample page 2View sample page 3View sample page 4View sample page 5Embed exclusive U.S. News headlines, rankings, columns, and blog postings to your Web site, blog, or social network.
advertisement
Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.
