President Obama met at the White House with senators working on healthcare reform before leaving Washington for a town hall meeting in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and a speech in Chicago to sell the plan to the public. The Chicago Tribune reports Obama will appear today "at a town hall style event in Green Bay," and will address the American Medical Association on Monday in Chicago.
The Hill reports that prior to his departure, Obama "assembled the Democratic and Republican committee leaders at the White House Wednesday morning, where he stressed a bipartisan approach to the 651-page bill." Roll Call reports Obama "demanded Congress stick to his schedule for passing health care reform this year while reiterating his preference for a bipartisan bill." The Politico reports the four senators "assured Obama that they would keep to his proposed timeline."
Roll Call says the Chicago speech will be "part of a burgeoning White House effort to drum up public support for health care overhaul." The AP reports White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama "will call the status quo unacceptable during the Monday speech" before the AMA. The New York Times reports the AMA is "letting Congress know that it will oppose creation of a government-sponsored insurance plan."
The Washington Post reports, "When President Obama touches down today" in Green Bay, "he will be landing in one of the highest-value health communities in the nation, a city that by numerous measures has managed to control medical spending while steadily improving health outcomes." Obama's scheduled town hall meeting is "intended to spotlight one city's strategy for squeezing out waste without hurting quality."
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf now "faces the toughest task of his brief tenure: attaching a price to a monumental overhaul of the nation's health-care system. ... If the CBO says a health plan will break the bank, lawmakers generally will assume it's true." USA Today reports tax-free health benefits from employers, "the biggest tax break in America," could be "scaled back to pay for President Obama's overhaul of the nation's health care system."
Despite the calls for bipartisanship, Roll Call reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who did not attend the White House meeting, "pushed back against Republican criticism of his Conference's plans for health care reform, hinting subtly that Democrats are prepared to approve a bill without minority input."
The Hill reports "liberal lawmakers and labor groups are turning up the heat" on Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, "fearing he will not embrace a robust government-run insurance option in his healthcare reform bill. Some union officials have already approached" Reid to "voice their concerns about Baucus and would like to see him put some pressure" on Baucus.
Pelosi Defends Public Option On MSNBC's Ed Show, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "What we want to do is make sure that every American has the opportunity to healthcare." Asked what the public option would mean, Pelosi said, "The point of that is to make sure that every American has the opportunity to have quality, affordable healthcare."
The Financial Times reports on its front page that in an interview, Sen. John Kerry "has dismissed a key element in the West's long standing strategy on Iran's nuclear programme as 'ridiculous.'" In an interview with the Times, Kerry said Iran "had a right to uranium enrichment -- a process that can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons grade material." Kerry said, "They have a right to peaceful nuclear power and to enrichment in that purpose."
The Financial Times also reports, "For months, if not years...Obama has been talking about engagement with Tehran. But with western diplomats pushing for talks to begin once Iran's presidential elections are decided, the moment of truth is fast approaching." A key issue is the "impasse between the world's big powers and Tehran over its nuclear programme or whether instead Israel strikes Iran's nuclear facilities."
Iranian Election "Too Close To Call" NBC Nightly News reported, "There is a chance we could be seeing a big change coming in Iran. There is a knock-down drag-out presidential campaign under way, complete with massive rallies, negative attacks and the possibility of a real upset for the controversial incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."
The election continued to generate extensive coverage on print media. The Financial Times on its front page, reports that "a few analysts are predicting a victory for Mr Moussavi on Friday, although most say the race between him and Mr Ahmadi-Nejad is too close to call."
The AP reports that "heightening the tension before the race, a top official of Iran's hard-line elite Revolutionary Guards accused Ahmadinejad's reformist opponents of seeking to launch a 'velvet revolution' -- alluding to the 1989 ouster of the Communist government of then-Czechoslovakia -- and vowing to crush any such attempts."
Shirin Ebadi, who "won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her work defending human rights in Iran," writes in the Washington Post, "The world is watching. For many Iranians, this election will be a litmus test of the current government's claim that Iran is "the freest country in the world." While it is not officially on the ballot, the future of human rights in Iran is at stake."
Roger Cohen, in a column titled "Iran Awakens Yet Again," writes in the New York Times, "They're calling it the 'green tsunami,' a transformative wave unfurling down the broad avenues of the Iranian capital. Call it what you will, but the city is agog at the campaign of Mir Hussein Moussavi."
Bolton Mulls Possible Israeli Strike Against Iran Former US ambassador to the UN John R. Bolton writes in the Wall Street Journal that "given Iran's determination to achieve deliverable nuclear weapons, speculation about a possible Israeli attack on its nuclear program will not only persist but grow." Israel's "alternative is that Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs reach fruition, leaving its very existence at the whim of its staunchest adversary." Bolton adds that "a strike accompanied by effective public diplomacy could well turn Iran's diverse population against an oppressive regime," plus "most of the Arab world's leaders would welcome Israel solving the Iran nuclear problem."
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The Detroit Free Press reports Treasury Department senior adviser Ron Bloom, "a top member of President Barack Obama's auto task force," told the Senate Banking Committee that the "government had a 'reasonable probability' of earning back its investments" in Chrysler and General Motors. The AP reports Bloom told "skeptical lawmakers" that the government "had no plans to pump more dollars" into the two companies. Bloom said, "We strongly believe this is the last money that GM will require. I cannot make a promise about the future but I can assure you that it has been a vigorously debated and thought about question." The Washington Post reports Bloom also said the government "is playing no day-to-day role in overseeing the restructuring" of the companies.
The Detroit Free Press says the senators asked about "the government's role in GM and Chrysler's bankruptcies," but also "pressed Bloom to specify how and when the government would shed its stakes in the auto industry -- a contradiction in priorities that Congress has only begun to wrestle with." Sen. Sherrod Brown said, "On the one hand, we tell you we don't want the government running these businesses. On the other hand, we tell you to step in and make GM and Chrysler do this, this and this." The Detroit News reports Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd "worried that GM could become 'a kind of economic Vietnam,'" while Sen. Mike Johanns "called the Obama administration's handling of the auto industry 'heartless.'"
New GM Chief Under Fire For Comment NBC Nightly News reported, "The man who's been chosen to steer General Motors out of bankruptcy, the former CEO of AT&T Edward Whitaker, is in the news for something he said during the an interview. He said, 'I don't know anything about cars.' He went on to say, however, 'A business is a business,' in his view, and the principles, as he put it, are the same."
The Daily Press of Hampton, VA, reports, "The Rev. Jeremiah Wright says he does not feel any regrets over his severed relationship with President Barack Obama, a former member of the Chicago church in which Wright was the longtime pastor." Wright "said that when he went to the polls, he did not hold any grudge against Obama. 'Of course I voted for him; he's my son. I'm proud of him,'" he said. The Press notes that "asked if he had spoken to the president, Wright said: 'Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me.'" The Daily Press story also runs in today's Chicago Tribune. The Chicago Sun-Times, meanwhile, notes that "Wright's sermons were a lightning rod in the presidential race in 2008, particularly one in which he said 'God damn America.'" Obama "subsequently cut ties with Wright and the church where he was married and where his children were baptized."
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The Politico reports Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) took a "swipe" at David Letterman yesterday, calling one of his jokes "about one of her daughters 'disgusting' and 'sexually perverted.'" The Politico adds, "Riffing on Palin's trip to New York last weekend, Letterman joked Monday night that during the seventh inning of the Yankees game 'her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.'" Long Island Newsday says Palin was "effectively accusing David Letterman of being a dirty old man" by joking about her 14-year-old daughter, who accompanied her to the game. Letterman responded last night that he "was talking about her other daughter. 'I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl,'" Letterman said. The New York Daily News adds that responding to Letterman's Wednesday remarks, Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said, "It doesn't matter whether he was talking about Willow or Bristol, what he said was unacceptable."
The AP reports that in Iowa yesterday, Mike Huckabee (R) "warned Republicans...against moving to the 'mushy middle,' arguing that only clearly stated conservative policies can bring the party back to power." In an interview with Radio Iowa, Huckabee "stressed his desire for 'clarity' among Republicans about what it means to be a conservative. 'I was just stunned when I saw many people who pretended to be conservative who went out there and supported everything from the TARP bill to the bailouts. There's nothing conservative about that,' Huckabee said."
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The Washington Post reports Virginia gubernatorial nominees Creigh Deeds (D) and Bob McDonnell (R) yesterday "began outlining the broad themes of their campaigns for governor Wednesday in a race that will focus heavily on jobs and the economy and take on national political significance for both parties." CQ Politics says the race "will focus on kitchen-table issues that directly affect most voters, such as restoring economic vitality and improving the state's beleaguered transportation network." The New York Times says McDonnell "begins the general election campaign with a significant edge in money, largely because he faced no primary opposition. He has raised around $9 million, while Mr. Deeds has about $3 million." Despite the cash advantage, Stuart Rothenberg writes In his Roll Call column that Deeds' win makes the race "a whole lot tougher" for McDonnell, because Deeds "won't be as easily defined (or demonized) as a liberal" as primary losers Brian Moran or Terry McAuliffe "would have been."
The New York Daily News reports that Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D), "who has been inching toward a 2010 primary challenge to" New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D), "slammed the junior senator during an interview with NY1" Wednesday night, sounding "as if she were road testing some campaign themes." Meanwhile, Long Island Newsday reports "labor activist" Jonathan Tasini (D), who primaried Hillary Clinton in 2006, is expected to announce a challenge to Gillibrand today.
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Conan O'Brien: "President Obama's in the news, of course. He's put healthcare back in the news. Yup. President Obama says he wants to create a national healthcare plan that's both affordable and easy to use. Yup. Yeah, good. Yeah, and the insurance industry says they'll fight the plan with congressmen who are both affordable and easy to use."
David Letterman: "There is an agency now that keeps track of this kind of stuff, and I think it's fascinating. Do you like the presidential minutia? I love it. I can't get enough of it. And according to this tracking agency, President Obama invokes the name Jesus Christ more frequently now than did George W. Bush for the same amount of time in his Presidency. ... I never really noticed it but I'll bet it's true, because if you think about it, Obama is always saying, 'Jesus! Why did I run for president?'"
Jimmy Fallon: "Edward Whitaker, the former chairman of AT&T, was appointed the new chairman of General Motors. I'm not sure about his business plan. He's giving away free cars on nights and weekends. I think that's a bad idea."
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