President Obama signaled that the White House would take a more assertive approach to the ongoing healthcare reform debate in Congress, a move that was generally reported positively by media sources. ABC and NBC both covered the story in the first half of their newscasts on Sunday. However, Sen. Charles Grassley, who is seen as a key to a bipartisan bill, voiced his objections to the President's rhetoric in a novel way, via Twitter. The AP reports, Sen. Grassley said via Twitter that President Obama has "'got nerve' to go sightseeing in Paris while telling lawmakers it's time to deliver on a health care overhaul." The Washington Times reports Grassley "wrote on Twitter, 'Pres Obama you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us 'time to deliver' on health care.'"
The AP reports the White House, "backing away from President Barack Obama's 'it's-all-on-the-table' approach initially advocated, prepared to get louder and more involved in the details of a health care overhaul that officials once were content to leave to Congress, administration officials said Saturday." ABC World News reported the White House says President Obama will "play a much stronger role and he'll demand an optional government-run health plan." NBC Nightly News reported, "This weekend the President signaled an aggressive stance to put his personal stamp on the sweeping legislation." In an interview with US News Weekly's Kenneth T. Walsh, White House adviser David Axelrod said, "Our hope is to get significant health reform, significant energy legislation, financial regulatory reform all done by the end of the year."
US News Weekly's Kent Garber writes, "The White House's leading face on healthcare, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag, has said in the past that up to 30 percent of the nation's current healthcare costs, or some $700 billion annually, could be eliminated simply by curtailing unnecessary or costly expenditures."
The AP reports although President Obama and his top aides have not supported taxing health insurance benefits, he "and his top aides won't quite say no, either, to an idea he attacked sharply in his campaign for the White House. Instead, they are in full straddle."
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports Sens. Max Baucus and Charles E. Grassley "expressed optimism in a joint interview on Thursday that 2009 is different, and that their backstage negotiations would soon clear remaining obstacles." On NBC Nightly News, John Harwood said Baucus and Grassley "say they're close to a bipartisan deal in their committee, but that's only a first step. Still huge differences between Democrats and Republicans over the role of government and how to pay for it."
The Wall Street Journal notes if the "liberal" Sen. Edward Kennedy "takes a lesser role" because of illness, "that could make it easier for the more-conservative Mr. Baucus to push the health-care legislation in a centrist direction." Time's Karen Tumulty reports that Sen. Baucus "sounds supremely confident when he talks about the odds that Congress will pass" healthcare reform.
The Detroit News reports top White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee "defended the Obama administration's auto-industry policy Sunday, denying that it had favored unions over lenders and saying forcing them immediately into bankruptcy would have meant liquidation."
On Fox News Sunday, Goolsbee also said President Obama "made clear we want to get out of this as quickly as possible. We are only in this situation because somebody else kicked the can down the road, and that's really an understatement." When "George Bush put money into General Motors, almost explicitly with the purpose -- how many dollars do they need to stay alive until January 20th, 2009? -- there was no commitment to restructuring, to making these viable enterprises of any kind."
The Hill reports the Obama Administration "has a familiar response to criticism of the General Motors bailout they inherited this mess from George W. Bush." Goolsbee "said the administration's options were sharply limited by President Bush's handling of the auto industry, and accused the prior administration of running out the clock."
Rattner "Calling The Shots" On Detroit The Detroit Free Press reports by "the evening of April 29, with their historic bankruptcy filing hours away, Chrysler Chairman Bob Nardelli and other company leaders were left with no doubt that Steven Rattner was calling the shots." As details "emerge in bankruptcy proceedings, it is clear Rattner has both the president's absolute trust and a go-for-the-jugular instinct. He was not interested in a mundane, outpatient treatment for suffering Chrysler. The president wants major surgery on Detroit's auto industry, and Rattner is running the operating room."
Indiana Funds Sue To Block Chrysler Sale The AP reports, "Three Indiana state pension and construction funds want the Supreme Court to block Chrysler's sale to Fiat so they can pursue an appeal in hopes of getting a better deal." ABC World News reported, "These pension funds say they're losing too much money in the deal. They also say the Obama Administration is illegally using bailout money that's meant for banks." The CBS Evening News reported the pension funds "claim the deal undermines secured debt holders."
On NBC Nightly News, John Harwood said, "It would stunning and extraordinary if the courts stepped in this case at the height of this new President's power and influence, especially because the justice with the initial decision on the case, will be Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who, of course, was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton."
The Wall Street Journal reports a "lengthy delay could jeopardize not only Chrysler's fate and thousands of auto-industry jobs, but also tarnish President Barack Obama's efforts to save Chrysler and General Motors Corp."
Auto Workers Said To Need New Skills The Washington Post reports in a nearly 5,000 word story that "critics of the auto industry express dismay" over workers' disinterest in learning new skills. They "contend that, as painful as change might be for some veteran workers, a zest for knowledge is a prerequisite for the success of American car companies."
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The New York Times reports in a front page story on the "underlying tensions that have gripped Mr. Obama's economic advisers as they have struggled with the gravest financial crisis since the Depression, according to several dozen interviews with administration officials and others familiar with the internal debates." Much "of the tension derives from the president's choice of the brilliant but sometimes supercilious" Lawrence Summers "to be the director of the National Economic Council, making him the policy impresario of the team."
Banks Eager To Repay TARP Funds The Washington Post reports the Obama Administration "plans to announce as soon as today that some of the nation's largest banks can repay billions in federal aid, but some officials caution that the show of progress is being underwritten by multiple layers of less visible government support." Through "cheap loans, debt guarantees and a promise that big banks will not be allowed to fail, these officials say the government has created an artificial environment in which profits and stock prices have rebounded, helping banks in recent weeks to raise about $50 billion from private investors."
USA Today reports, "Several large banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and American Express (AXP), hope they're about to get clearance to begin returning $65 billion of taxpayers' money." The Wall Street Journal reports the deadline for approval of the banks' capital-raising plans "could be overshadowed by a less publicized deadline: banks' equally in-depth review of their management." The management review "is creating major headaches."
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports the "controversial US toxic asset clean-up plan, aimed at clearing bad loans from US banks' books to enable them to raise capital and lend freely, has fallen behind schedule, and may never be fully implemented." The plan "has fallen prey to concerns from potential investors and regulators and waning interest from the banks themselves."
The New York Times reports the Obama Administration "plans to require banks and corporations that have received two rounds of federal bailouts to submit any major executive pay changes for approval by a new federal official who will monitor compensation, according to two government officials." The proposal "is part of a broad set of regulations on executive compensation expected to be announced by the administration as early as this week."
Would Crisis Have Happened Under Gore? In a column about British PM Gordon Brown, Paul Krugman writes in the New York Times, "What would have happened if hanging chads and the Supreme Court hadn't denied Al Gore the White House in 2000? Many things would clearly have been different over the next eight years," yet "one thing would probably have been the same: There would have been a huge housing bubble and a financial crisis when the bubble burst. And if Democrats had been in power when the bad news arrived, they would have taken the blame, even though things would surely have been as bad or worse under Republican rule."
Hours after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared on ABC's This Week that North Korea's charges against two US journalists on trial there were "absolutely without merit or foundation," and that she hoped "the trial ends quickly...and they're sent home," a court in the Asian nation announced it had found them guilty. The AP reports early this morning that North Korea's "top court has convicted two US journalists, and sentenced them to 12 years in labor prison." The Central Court tried Laura Ling and Euna Lee and "confirmed their unspecified 'grave crime' against the nation, and of illegally crossing into North Korea." The Hill notes Clinton had also said that she "is doing all she can to secure the safe return of two US journalists."
During her appearance on ABC, Clinton warned North Korea of consequences for its "provocative and belligerent behavior" regarding its nuclear program. Clinton said on ABC's This Week that "one of the positive developments in the face of what has been very provocative and belligerent behavior on the part of the North Koreans is that it has actually brought the members of six-party process" together, and "we are working very hard to create a mechanism where we can interdict North Korean shipments."
The Washington Post reports that that "State Department officials have noted that the process for reinstating North Korea" to the terror "list is difficult. The United States would need to document that North Korea has engaged in terrorist acts since its removal from the list."
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports on its front page that the Administration is "moving to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea." US officials are "seeking to dissuade Asian banks -- particularly from China -- from doing business with Pyongyang, in a similar push to Washington's drive to stop financial institutions from working with Iran." The Wall Street Journal notes Clinton's remarks "followed ones by President Barack Obama on Saturday that the US would take a 'very hard look' at how it handles North Korea, saying diplomatic efforts to date haven't worked."
On its front page, the New York Times reports that the Administration "signaled Sunday that it was seeking a way to interdict, possibly with China's help, North Korean sea and air shipments suspected of carrying weapons or nuclear technology."
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With the primary tomorrow, a Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey of 1,082 likely Virginia Democratic primary voters conducted June 6-7 shows Creigh Deeds leading with 40%, followed by Terry McAuliffe with 26% and Brian Moran with 24%; 10% are undecided. Pollster Dean Debnam said Deeds "has come on strong and barring some major event in the final 36 hours of the campaign looks like he will be the Democratic nominee. The Washington Post endorsement was really a game changer, giving him a card to play with suburban voters that complemented his strong support in the rural parts of the state."
The Politico reported that Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (D) had his "unofficial coming out party" as a Democrat on Saturday, addressing the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, where he said he was "pleased and proud to be a Democrat." The AP says Specter's address "capped two days of speechmaking and socializing in which the atmosphere of party unity that" Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) "and state party Chairman T.J. Rooney sought was clouded only by a small union rally and low-key campaigning by prospective Specter challengers in the 2010 primary." The Harrisburg Patriot-News reported, "If Specter has liabilities among Democrats, it's his support of President George W. Bush's war in Iraq and the way he has withdrawn support for the Employee Free Choice Act -- organized labor's top initiative."
However, in his Bloomberg News column, Albert R. Hunt calls Specter's "much-heralded" party switch "a pyrrhic victory" for Democrats, because had Democratic leaders "actively enlisted a solid Democratic candidate months ago, he or she would have been a prohibitive favorite to win a general election. Instead, Specter may struggle in a bitter Democratic primary next year against" Rep. Joe Sestak. And should Specter win, "he'll be 80 years old, beset with health problems and, as always, politically cantankerous."
The Hill reported on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) drew a crowd of 20,000 for an appearance in Auburn, New York, honoring William Seward, the 19th century Secretary of State who purchased Alaska from Russia. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle adds Palin's "two-day visit to central New York was generally nonpolitical, though she spoke about her decision not to allow Alaska to accept federal stimulus funds, her desire to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and why she thinks cutting defense spending in Alaska, as has been proposed, is a bad idea." CNN adds Palin "admonished the Obama administration on Saturday for proposing cuts to Alaska's missile defense network, a move she said would leave her state and the rest of the country vulnerable in the case of a future attack."
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Conan O'Brien: "Big stuff going on in the world. President Obama gave a big, historic speech yesterday in Egypt. ... President Obama impressed listeners by beginning his speech with the traditional Islamic greeting, 'As-salaamu alaikum.' Yeah, it's very cool. Yeah, it was especially impressive because a year ago, President Bush opened with, 'Shalom, amigos.'"
Conan O'Brien: "President Obama gave the historic speech at Egypt's Cairo University. Yep. Yeah, the crowd at Cairo University loved Obama's speech, especially the joke he made about their rival, Cairo State."
Jimmy Fallon: "President Obama's continuing his world tour. Yesterday, he was in Egypt. Did you see that? He visited the pyramids of Giza and he called them 'awe-inspiring.' That was an improvement over President Bush's tour of the pyramids. He called them 'pointy.'"
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