President Obama met with 24 Democratic senators at the White House Tuesday to talk about healthcare reform legislation. During the meeting the president reportedly gave tentative support for taxing employer-provided health benefits, but the White House later stressed that Obama would rather use other methods to pay for reform. Many news outlets note that Obama opposed the tax during his presidential campaign, and called the move a "pivot" or "shift" in his views. The New York Times reports that "Obama on Tuesday affirmed his support for the creation of a government-sponsored health insurance plan, but he acknowledged that such a plan would sharply reduce the chances for Republican support of legislation to overhaul the healthcare system, Democratic senators said."
The Washington Post reports that Obama told the senators "that he is willing to consider taxing employer-sponsored health benefits to help pay for a broad expansion of coverage." This is "a pivot from some of his harshest campaign rhetoric," according to the Post, but "White House officials moved quickly to clarify that taxing the health insurance provided by businesses is not Obama's first choice, but aides refused to rule out the possibility."
Like the Post, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times led with Obama's comments concerning taxing employer health benefits. According to the Journal, after Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) "indicated that President Barack Obama may be warming to the idea of taxing employer-provided healthcare benefits," the administration and Sen. Chris Dodd (CT), "a key Democratic senator, quickly shot down the idea that the president has had a change of heart."
The AP says the President "is leaving the door open to taxing healthcare benefits, something he campaigned hard against while running for president." Such a tax "would reap about $250 billion a year if it treated healthcare benefits given to employees like wages and taxed them."
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag said Tuesday, "I think we have been clear that it was not in the president's plan, it is not in our budget. You heard today from Sen. Baucus that he and others have been putting out that idea forward and I think we need to stay where we are," the Hill reports.
Other sources focused on intraparty conflict and an August deadline President Obama set for healthcare reform. The Boston Globe reports in "the last several days, differences have emerged between the two main architects of the healthcare legislation in the Senate, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Max Baucus of Montana." Obama called healthcare reform a "necessity" in comments before the meeting, CNN notes, and "called the two-month window before Congress goes on its August recess a 'make-or-break' period for his year-end timetable."
Roll Call called the meeting an "attempt to bridge intraparty differences on healthcare reform, with Obama wading ever deeper into the political fight to deliver on his signature domestic campaign promise." Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) "said the meeting today provides a "fork in the road," where Democrats can decide to proceed with a bipartisan plan, or to go it alone on legislation," Bloomberg News reports.
As the President leaves for his Mideast trip, media coverage last night and this morning lowered expectations about the short-term outcome of his efforts to forge a framework for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Moreover, analysts suggest the President risks domestic political fallout over what some casting as frayed US-Israeli ties. AFP, for example, says that Obama is "seeking Arab backing for his bid to revive peace moves while a US confrontation steadily builds with Israel." ABC World News reported the Israelis have said "absolutely not" to Obama's call for a freeze in settlement expansion, and "this is the big problem."
In fact in Israel, says the Financial Times under the headline "Israelis Fear Unravelling Of US Alliance," "the latest tensions between Washington and the new right-wing Israeli government are sparking concern bordering on alarm...amid suspicions that the formerly-rock-solid alliance is unravelling." The Wall Street Journal says one "risk" he faces is his "expected lack of specificity about his plans for Israeli-Palestinian peace." The Financial Times reports that Obama's settlement freeze demand poses "a test of his credibility," even as "US legislators call on him to scale down his demands and Israel maintains its opposition."
The Politico reports that the "escalating pressure on Israel to freeze all growth of its settlements on Palestinian land has begun to stir concern among Israel's numerous allies in both parties on Capitol Hill." The New York Times, meanwhile, reports that "Obama on Tuesday played down" the "dispute with Israel," and told the BBC that "he believed the United States was 'going to be able to get serious negotiations back on track' between Israel and the Palestinians."
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As he departed for the Middle East, media coverage of President Obama's upcoming Cairo speech was largely positive, with reports on all three networks and major print outlets casting it as a potentially game-changing attempt to mend US ties to the Muslim world. Analysts cautioned, however, that the President faces some steep hurdles in his mission. In an interview that aired on NBC Nightly News, the President seemed to agree: "One speech is not going to transform very real policy differences and some very difficult issues surrounding the Middle East and the relationship between Islam and the West. ... I do hope that we can start opening a dialogue that will be more constructive moving forward."
The CBS Evening News refers to "a speech of reconciliation with the Muslim world," while ABC World News says the President is "hoping to persuade the people of the region that democratic values are principles they can embrace."
Thomas L. Friedman writes in the New York Times "it was clear from" a 20-minute interview "that the president has no illusions that one speech will make lambs lie down with lions. Rather, he sees it as part of his broader diplomatic approach." USA Today reports the White House "says the president plans to remind Muslims of his personal connection to them." The New York Times reports that "officials in Saudi Arabia and Egypt said that the president had already made progress on his Middle East agenda."
The Christian Science Monitor says that "there are high hopes in the Arab world." The Hill, meanwhile, notes that in an audio message, "al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri" said that "choosing Cairo as the location for the speech 'is a clear message that America does not stand with reform and change and other lying American propaganda, but it stands with the continuation of the existing tyrannical, rotten regimes.'"
Obama Invites Muslim Brotherhood Figures To Speech The Wall Street Journal reports that "in a stark departure from the Bush administration, the Obama administration has invited to the speech parliamentarians affiliated with Egypt's banned Islamic movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Mohammed Katatni, head of the group's legislative bloc. ... The Bush administration championed Egypt's secularists, but never encouraged or met members of the Brotherhood whose goal is a state based on Islamic principles of justice." The Journal cautions that "Obama isn't rushing to embrace the Brotherhood. Mohammed Habib, the deputy supreme leader of the group says that there has been no direct contact between his group and the Obama administration since it took office."
Obama: Iran Entitled To Peaceful Nukes The AP reports that in a BBC interview broadcast Tuesday, Obama "reiterated that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy -- provided it takes steps to prove its aspirations are peaceful." Said the President, "Without going into specifics, what I do believe is that Iran has legitimate energy concerns, legitimate aspirations. On the other hand, the international community has a very real interest in preventing a nuclear arms race in the region."
Coverage of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's visit to Capitol Hill yesterday is generally positive, and suggests she is likely to win confirmation. McClatchy, for example, reports that "Democrats, who control 59 Senate seats, emerged largely satisfied and unsurprised by what they heard." The Hill notes that "at least one GOP member of the Judiciary Committee acknowledged her confirmation is all but a foregone conclusion."
Dana Milbank writes in his Washington Post column that Sotomayor's "task was to be seen but not heard. ... Rather, it was a time for senators to show how terribly important they are." NBC Nightly News said that Sotomayor did address "conservative criticism" in private, "largely of her remarks suggesting that a Latina judge might reach a better conclusion than a white male." The CBS Evening News reported, "With so much talk about...Sotomayor's background, her message today was: The law is more important."
The AP reports ranking Republican Jeff Sessions "appeared to come away from the meetings unconvinced about her approach and whether she would be an 'activist' who tried to set policy from the bench."
The New York Times reports, "The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked 'highly confidential,' that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation's civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons." The release of the information on a Government Printing Office Web site was made public Monday and "set off a debate among nuclear experts about what dangers, if any, the disclosures posed."
According to the Washington Post, "Nuclear experts said it was theoretically possible that the document could benefit terrorists contemplating an attack on one of the facilities," but because the "the information was unclassified and most of it is publicly available through other sources, the release generally was deemed more embarrassing than harmful."
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In a report typical of the heavy coverage in the current news cycle, ABC World News says Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) "fueled new speculation that he might run for the White House" yesterday when he "announced he will not seek a third term as governor." Similarly, the Minneapolis Star Tribune says the move is "widely seen in political circles as the first step in a possible presidential run," though he would not immediately commit, saying, "I don't know what the future holds for me. I'm not ruling anything in or out." The AP adds Pawlenty "said he wouldn't hesitate to travel the country on behalf of a party he thinks needs refreshing." The St. Paul Pioneer Press notes that Pawlenty "was a finalist to be Sen. John McCain's running mate on the 2008 GOP ticket," and has "kept up a steady schedule of speeches around the country and appearances on cable television news shows."
The New York Times says Pawlenty's "decision reflected his conclusion that it would be difficult to try to run for the White House while serving as governor. His re-election would hardly be assured in a state where President Obama ran strongly, and he most likely would have faced tough and distracting battles with the Democrats who control the Legislature."
The Newark Star-Ledger reports Chris Christie yesterday defeated "conservative" Steve Lonegan in New Jersey's GOP gubernatorial primary 55%-42%, after "an unexpectedly bloody, hard-fought primary campaign." Christie's win "sets the stage for what could be the most competitive gubernatorial race in more than a decade, as he takes on" New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) in November. The AP says Corzine likely will "face a tough re-election bid" as a "series of polls has shown him trailing Christie." The New York Times says the general election "could be a fierce and expensive confrontation with the wealthy Mr. Corzine, who came to office vowing to rescue the state from financial crisis but has watched his popularity sink to record lows as the recession made matters worse." The race also "promises to be treated to varying degrees as a referendum on President Obama's momentous first year or on Republicans' continued viability - in New Jersey, if not nationally."
The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot reported that a Public Policy Polling survey of 559 likely Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary voters conducted May 28-31shows Creigh Deeds leading with 27%, followed by Terry McAuliffe with 24% and Brian Moran with 22%. The Richmond Times-Dispatch notes that last month's PPP survey showed McAuliffe leading with 30%, followed by Moran with 20% and Deeds with 14%. In a story headlined "Money can't buy McAuliffe an easy race," the Washington Times reports, "He's raised record amounts of money, spent more than double his opponents at $53,000 a day, fielded an army of 5,500 volunteers and drawn the eyes of the nation when" ex-President Bill Clinton "campaigned with him." Yet the PPP poll shows McAuliffe "in a dead heat in a survey he led solidly just two weeks ago." McAuliffe's camp "says the numbers confirm what they already knew: The race is going to be tight."
Roll Call reports that Sen. Arlen Specter (D) was "for years...organized labor's best friend in the Republican Conference," but as a Democrat, "local union leaders said his record might not pass muster in a 2010 primary" against Rep. Joe Sestak (D). Sestak's "expected entrance into the Senate race would create a tough choice for labor unions in the state because the two-term Congressman would be a sure vote for their most important piece of legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act," which Specter has not promised to support.
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Conan O'Brien: "Joe Biden's busy. Last night in New York City, Vice President Joe Biden gave a speech at a $1,000 a plate fundraising dinner. Yeah, and since Biden spoke before dinner, everyone's still waiting to eat."
David Letterman: "Hey, how about General Motors? Oh, my gosh. It's crazy what's going on. General Motors, bankrupt. Biggest corporation in the world and now they still want money. They still want billions more bailout money. I think I speak for all Americans when I say, 'You want more money? Wait here while I talk to the manager. I'll be right back.'"
Craig Ferguson: "Over the weekend, Barack Obama took Michelle on a date. ... He and the First Lady flew to New York City, they had a fancy dinner and...they went to see a Broadway show. ... Mr. President, I respect you, but knock it off! You're making the rest of us look bad. .... Really, this is not the kind of change that I can believe in."
Craig Ferguson: "Most Republicans aren't unhappy with the date itself...they're just mad because it cost $100,000. ... They did their best to keep costs down, the Obamas. Well, they didn't have to pay for a babysitter, because their older daughter watches the younger daughter and then the younger daughter watches Joe Biden. I'm kidding! They have their dog watch Biden."
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