With GM declaring bankruptcy, President Obama lauded the company's plan to rebuild itself and made assurances that he wants the federal role in GM to be temporary. The CBS Evening News noted that GM is "for now owned largely by you and me, the taxpayers." The New York Times reports Obama "said the government would take a hands-off approach to managing G.M., and would divest its stock in the company as soon as it could. But that is likely years away." NBC Nightly News showed Obama saying, "Difficult days lie ahead. More jobs will be lost, more plants will close. More dealerships will shut their doors and so will many parts suppliers."
Media commentators cast Obama's move as a potentially perilous gambit. CNN's The Situation Room reported, "Clearly, the reality here is that GM's problems are also Obama's. ... The President at times sounded like the reluctant car salesman in chief." The New York Times says Obama "will most likely come under extraordinary pressure to sell the government's...stake in the 'new GM,'" and "his own auto task force has warned him that the exit strategy could be messy." USA Today similarly refers to "a risky gambit by the White House," and the Washington Post sees "significant political risks for his administration. ... The success or failure of that investment will be easily measurable based on the company's eventual share price." The Los Angeles Times adds, "The big question is whether" the restructuring "adds up to a return to profitability -- or simply delays the company's eventual collapse into insolvency." The Los Angeles Times says in an editorial that "even though...Obama and administration officials say they won't tell GM how to run its business, that promise is undercut by the administration's efforts to force all automakers to produce more fuel-efficient cars. The higher fuel-efficiency standards are almost certain to yield lighter and less powerful vehicles, despite U.S. consumers' history of favoring the opposite."
Republicans Pounce USA Today reports House minority leader John Boehner asked yesterday, "Does anyone really believe that politicians and bureaucrats in Washington can successfully steer a multinational corporation to economic viability?" The Washington Times also reports that Republicans "plan to use the government takeover...as ammunition in their bid to defeat congressional Democrats next year, saying it's a glaring example of big government intrusion into the marketplace that will rankle average voters." The Hill notes that GM's "restructuring...will have an immediate impact on more than a dozen lawmakers who will see plants in their districts shut down and thousands of constituents lose their jobs." The Politico's Ben Smith notes that RNC Chairman Michael Steele took "a sharp line against the White House auto industry plan," saying that it is "nothing more than...another handout to the union cronies who helped bankroll his presidential campaign."
The View From Detroit The Detroit Free Press reports that the President "described bankruptcy as a painful but necessary step," while the Detroit News reports GM said it "had no other choice" but file for bankruptcy "because the Obama administration would only provide it with additional funding in bankruptcy." The Wall Street Journal says in an editorial that Obama is "so busy not running GM that he had time the night before to call and reassure Detroit Mayor Dave Bing about the new GM's future location. GM is being courted to move its headquarters to nearby Warren, Michigan. And Mr. Bing told the Detroit News that he had received a call Sunday evening from the President 'informing me of his support for GM to stay in the city of Detroit."
The CBS Evening News reported last night that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor "goes to Capitol Hill tomorrow to visit key senators from both parties. Today she was at the White House going over her Senate questionnaire which examines her background as well as her public statements and political activities." The Washington Post reports Sotomayor "huddled with administration lawyers at the White House yesterday." Roll Call notes that "while these visits may seem like little more than courtesy calls, they will in fact play a central role in the fate of Sotomayor's nomination, if history is any guide. Take the case of Harriet Miers, the much-maligned friend of President George W. Bush who saw her nomination to the Supreme Court yanked before her hearings could even get started in 2005. Republicans and Democrats alike credited her collapse to a poor performance in her meetings with Senators."
The AP reports that "the White House has not identified any one person to shepherd Sotomayor's confirmation, but rather a team of insiders working on her behalf." The team "meets each morning and evening with Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and senior Obama adviser David Axelrod. Leading the group is Cynthia Hogan, chief counsel to Vice President Joe Biden. She was Biden's lead counsel when he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee during the Senate confirmation reviews of justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer."
The Wall Street Journal says that "amid a backdrop of discontent from some conservative activists, Senate Republicans have shown little indication that they intend to put up much of a fight to the federal appeals-court judge's nomination." The Washington Post reports Republican Senators "signaled that they will resist President Obama's push to confirm her by Aug. 7, the start of the Senate's summer recess." Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican, "have begun informal talks about the committee's summer schedule, with the aim of striking an agreement to minimize any procedural delays before and after the nomination reaches the chamber floor. But senior Senate aides in both parties are skeptical that a deal to expedite Sotomayor's confirmation can be reached." According to The Hill, Sen. Sessions "said Monday he doubted a final vote on Sonia Sotomayor could be held before the congressional recess in August." Sessions "repeatedly said he disagrees with the need for the process to conclude by the end of July."
The Wall Street Journal says that "in at least one area," Sotomayor "would likely make an immediate difference: oral arguments. ... Reticence isn't Judge Sotomayor's style." The Journal says she "won a reputation as an aggressive questioner during her 11 years on the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York." Sotomayor "could become a foil for" Chief Justice Roberts.
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In a dispatch titled "Why'd Obama Switch On Detainee Photos? Maliki Went Ballistic," McClatchy reports that "President Barack Obama reversed his decision to release detainee abuse photos from Iraq and Afghanistan after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki warned that Iraq would erupt into violence and that Iraqis would demand that US troops withdraw from Iraq a year earlier than planned, two US military officers, a senior defense official and a State Department official have told McClatchy."
The AP reports the American Civil Liberties Union "urged a federal appeals court Monday to allow the release of pictures of detainee abuse despite the Obama administration's stance that the images could incite violence in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan."
McClatchy reports that "a US official who's knowledgeable about the photographs told McClatchy that at least two of them depict nudity; one is of a woman suggestively holding a broomstick; one shows a detainee with bruises but offered no explanation how he got them; and another is of hooded detainees with weapons pointed at their heads."
And CNN's The Situation Room reported that former president Jimmy Carter is now openly at odds with" President Obama, "over the release of more photos showing the abuse of detainees in US custody." Carter said, "I think most of his supporters were hoping that he would be much more open in the revelation of what we've done in the past. I don't agree with him, but I certainly don't criticize him for making that decision."
President Obama and Vice President Cheney resumed their dialogue on the merits of the closing the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. The Politico reports President Obama "told NPR on Monday that former Vice President Cheney was 'wrong' in his tough critique of the new administration's policy on detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." Obama said Cheney "happens to be wrong. Right? And last time, immediately after his speech, I think there was a fact-check on his speech that didn't get a very good grade."
The Hill reports that speaking at the National Press Club yesterday, Cheney "kept up his near-constant critiques of the Obama administration, which he has accused of making the United States weaker." Cheney went on to defend "the use of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, saying the Obama administration is running into the same problems as the Bush administration." Fox News' Special Report also reported that Cheney "fired off a couple of new salvos in his war of words with the Obama administration." Cheney "insist[ed] that Guantanamo Bay should stay open, and once again attack[ed] the Obama administration for deciding to close it."
The Washington Times notes that Cheney said, "The administration made a mistake of the president issuing an order that he wants it closed within a year, but didn't have a clue as to how to proceed. ... And now they're having trouble because they're having to come up with a plan of some kind."
Former Sen. Bob Graham, on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show (6/1), said, "I sometimes think the Vice President [Cheney] is like some of those Japanese soldiers years after the war was over still living in a cave on a Pacific island thinking they're fighting the war still. I think the Vice President needs to realize that that war is over, he lost, the American people in November decided we were going to go in a different direction."
Cheney Refers To Bin Laden As Obama The Hill, which headlines its story "Cheney Mixes Up Obama, Osama," notes Cheney "confused the president of the United States with the world's most-wanted terrorist" in his a speech, "in a faux pas certain to end up on cable news networks and late-night talk shows." Cheney said, "The important thing is that I don't think he [bin Laden] can have much impact in terms of managing an organization, because that link between Obama [sic] and the people under him is pretty fragile."
Public Opposed To Closing Gitmo USA Today reports, "Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to closing the detention center for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and moving some of the detainees to prisons on US soil, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds. By more than 2-1, those surveyed say Guantanamo shouldn't be closed" and "by more than 3-1, they oppose moving some of the accused terrorists housed there to prisons in their own states." USA Today adds that in the Gallup poll "Americans were inclined to accept the argument by Cheney and former president George W. Bush that the detention center had made the United States safer."
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The AP reports that Mitt Romney (R) "scolded" President Obama yesterday in a speech on foreign policy, "arguing that he has failed to take a tougher line against US critics in the global arena." The Washington Post adds Romney said "arrogant, delusional tyrants cannot be stopped by earnest words and furrowed brows." The Hill adds, "Like most governors, Romney found himself lacking in foreign affairs credentials during his [2008] White House bid. In establishing himself as a deep thinker on national security and foreign policy, Romney sought to fill a key gap."
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that attorneys for Norm Coleman (R) and Al Franken (D) appeared before Minnesota's Supreme Court on Monday, where they faced pointed questions from the five justices, though the "vigorous interrogations left no decisive signals about the justices' thinking." However, several other news outlets highlighted the difficult questions the justices had for Coleman's team. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Coleman's attorney "hammered home the point that a three-judge panel that heard Coleman's appeal of the results applied different standards than county elections officials on whether to accept or reject absentee ballots that proved crucial to the outcome of the race." However, "several justices asked tough questions of Friedberg, including whether state rules on absentee votes are clear and forcing him to concede that there was no widespread fraud in the election." The AP similarly says, "Barely a minute into oral arguments, justices began challenging Coleman's attorneys on the adequacy of evidence they presented in an election trial and the legality of their suggested remedy."
The AP reports that Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn (R) said yesterday he would seek reelection in 2010. The Oklahoman adds, "In his announcement," the Senator "said he first made the decision to run for public office because he was 'alarmed by Washington's desire to impose collectivism and socialism on the public, particularly in health care.'" The Tulsa World reports Coburn "said the most difficult part of his decision was 'whether I could continue to sacrifice my family.' He said he will keep his 2004 pledge not to seek more than two terms in the Senate." Roll Call says Democrats "are not expected to contest" the race and Coburn "is heavily favored to win another term."
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David Letterman: "General Motors filed for bankruptcy. Said they owe $175 billion, filed for bankruptcy. You know what that means, ladies and gentlemen? You know what it means, GM filing for bankruptcy? I'll tell you what it means. It means another enormous bonus for their CEO. That's what it means."
David Letterman: "Yeah, the taxpayers are going to be lending bankrupt General Motors $30 billion. Taxpayers' money. Exactly, right. I mean, GM has become America's brother-in-law. You know what I mean?"
Jimmy Fallon: "I want to congratulate General Motors' newest CEO, us."
Craig Ferguson: "Dick Cheney said today, he supports gay marriage. ... I think he only supports gay marriage because he sees marriage as a form of torture, but anyway, he supports it."
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