President Obama's announcement of a $80 billion deal with the pharmaceutical industry to cut prescription drug costs received favorable media coverage from a wide range of sources, but was only briefly mentioned by one network, ABC. Some coverage, however, noting the fine print of the deal, is cast in somewhat negative terms.
The Washington Post reports the President "announced an offer by drug manufacturers to contribute $80 billion over the next decade to narrow the controversial gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage, a deal the president said moves the nation a step closer to comprehensive health-care reform." The President "was joined at the White House today by Barry Rand, head of the influential senior citizens' advocacy group AARP, which endorsed the deal."
ABC World News reported, "In what he called a big step forward, the President announced a pledge by drug companies to give $80 billion in discounts to help older Americans on Medicare pay for their prescriptions." CNN's The Situation Room reported it "will be a major benefit for most beneficiaries for brand name medicines purchased in what's called the 'doughnut hole' gap in coverage. That involves drug costs for seniors between $2700 to $6100 a year that are not covered right now by the Medicare Part D plan."
McClatchy reports while "details of the agreement were still being worked out, the understanding announced over the weekend by lawmakers and the White House involves drug makers giving up $80 billion over the next decade to trim federal costs and help cash-strapped seniors." USA Today reports the deal "also could boost drug industry profits and help Congress pay to overhaul the nation's health care system."
The Wall Street Journal reports the agreement "could yield new business for drug makers, and provide them more certainty about how big a hit they'll take from government cost-cutting." The New York Times reports it was "not immediately clear how much the government would reap in savings that could be used to pay for coverage of the uninsured."
The AP notes the deal is not without qualifications, and is "valid only if Congress succeeds in passing a comprehensive health care bill encountering strong opposition from Republicans, an industry spokesman said Monday."
Democrats More Confident About Public Option The AP, meanwhile, reports Democrats are "becoming bolder about their idea that middle-class families get the option of joining a government insurance plan in any overhaul of the health care system. Their fervor carries a risk." Liberals, "citing polls that show support for a public plan, say they are increasingly frustrated with negotiations to make the idea more palatable to Republicans."
Howard Dean, on MSNBC's Countdown said, "One of the problems in the Senate is it becomes about the Senate instead of what's good for the country. The idea that 40 members of a determined minority can obstruct what 72% of Americans want is ridiculous. ... A health insurance plan without a public health insurance option is not health care reform."
The AP reports the White House said Monday that President Obama has been "moved" by the images of Iranian protestors. Said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs of Obama: "I think he has been moved what we've seen on television. I think particularly so by images of women in Iran who have stood up for their right to demonstrate, to speak out and to be heard."
Fox News' Special Report said the Administration "has tried to strike a balance between saying too little and getting too involved," but it "has been very much a work in progress." The White House "acknowledged today that President Obama has steadily escalated his tone and words on Iran as he has seen blood spilled in the streets there, and imagery of it spill over into American living rooms."
Sen. John McCain, on Fox News' On The Record, added, "I think the President can speak out far more strongly. I think he can reassert American values and our commitment to human rights. ... The Iranian people need to have our moral support now." Also appearing on Fox News' On The Record, Sen. Lindsey Graham said, "I thought [President Obama] was much too calculating at first. His statement a couple of days ago was better, but I think the President needs to appreciate the historical moment that we are in. ... The President is the leader of the free world. Other nations, like France, Germany, Great Britain, have been very forceful, and I would like to see my president, our president, speak up boldly and loudly."
The Washington Post meanwhile, reports on its front page that the protests have "exposed the sharply divergent ways in which the Obama administration and its Republican opponents view the nature of American power and the president's role in speaking to political dissent outside the borders of the United States." The debate over the Administration's response to the situation "has emboldened Republicans, who see an opportunity to criticize his foreign policy as too timid." But Obama's "approach to Iran, "including his assertion that the unrest there represents a debate among Iranians unrelated to the United States, is an acknowledgment that a US president's words have a limited ability to alter foreign events in real time and could do more harm than good. But privately Obama advisers are crediting his Cairo speech for inspiring the protesters."
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Coverage of President Obama's signing Monday of a bill granting the FDA greater regulatory control over tobacco focuses largely on his personal struggle with smoking and speculation about whether or not he has quit the habit. Yesterday's signing received brief coverage on two network news broadcasts, including ABC World News, which reported, "The historic measure gives the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented power to regulate tobacco. The President said he started smoking as a teenager and knows how hard it can be to break the habit." Similarly, the CBS Evening News reported the President signed the "landmark legislation today, saying it will save lives" and "said that as someone who started smoking as a teenager, he knows how hard it is to quit."
The Los Angeles Times reports, "Obama declared that his signature on the bill represented a significant defeat for tobacco companies that tried to hook young customers." While he "gave a stern warning about the dangers of smoking," CNN's The Situation Room reported the President "offered up only a Cliff's Notes version of his personal story."
White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs, The Hill reports, "continued to play coy about whether Obama still sneaks a cigarette," while The Politico notes that "shortly after the bill signing," Gibbs "conceded that Obama's addiction" is "something he continues to struggle with."
Obama, the New York Times reports in the first sentence of its report on the bill signing, "does not discuss the fact that he still occasionally smokes, a habit he very publicly tried to kick during his race for the White House. But there he was on Monday, talking about cigarettes" as he signed legislation "bringing tobacco products under federal control for the first time."
Similarly, the AP says the President "ruefully admitted on Monday that he's spent his adult life fighting the habit," but "didn't say how his own struggle was coming since he moved into the White House. And aides were no more forthcoming."
The President, reports the Washington Times, said Big Tobacco is "yet another special interest he and fellow Democrats have brought to heel so far in his young administration -- joining credit card companies, home mortgage lenders and defense contractors as businesses that needed stricter government oversight."
Poll: Most Americans Against Legislation The Hill reports, "A majority of Americans disapprove of the tobacco regulation legislation that President Obama signed this afternoon." A new Gallup poll finds that "52% of Americans are against granting the federal government new powers to regulate the sale of tobacco." Among smokers, opposition "shoots to 69%. Non-smokers favor the new regulations, but by the slim margin of 50%-48%."
The Washington Post reports, "Barely half of Americans are now confident that President Obama's $787 billion stimulus measure will boost the economy, and the rapid rise in optimism about the state of the nation that followed the 2008 election has abated, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll." Overall, "52 percent now say the stimulus package has succeeded or will succeed in restoring the economy, compared with 59 percent two months ago."
ABC World News reported the poll shows President Obama "remains highly popular," but on "the key issue of the economy, confidence seems to be fading that his stimulus plan will work."
Poll Trends Said To Be Negative For Obama The Politico reports, "Eroding confidence in President Barack Obama's handling of the economy and ability to control spending has caused his approval ratings to wilt to their lowest levels since he took office, according to a spate of recent polls, a sign of political weakness that comes just as he most needs leverage on Capitol Hill." The "good news for Obama is that his approval ratings - 57 percent in a Gallup tracking poll over the weekend - remain comfortably high by historical standards for presidents."
In the Wall Street Journal's "Capital Journal" column, Gerald F. Seib says that in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, among independents, "who tend to reside in the middle of the ideological spectrum, the president's job-approval rating fell to 45% from 60% in April." In particular, "the survey suggests, independents are developing gnawing fears about government spending."
After at least seven passengers were killed and more than 70 injured in a crash of two Washington Metro trains during rush hour on Monday, the AP notes, "President Barack Obama sent his condolences to the victims of the crash." In a statement issued Monday night, Obama said, "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends affected by this tragedy." Obama "also thanked rescue personnel who helped to save lives."
The collision attracted heavy national media coverage, including "late-breaking" reports on each of the network evening newscasts. The Washington Post reports in a front-page story, "Experts familiar with Metro's operations last night focused on a failure of the signal system and operator error as likely causes" of the crash. The Washington Times reports that the NTSB "will take the lead in investigating the accident," and "FBI agents were also assisting with the evidence collection."
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Columbia, South Carolina's, The State reports Gov. Mark Sanford's (R) "staff said late Monday that the governor is hiking on the Appalachian Trail, ending four days during which staff and state officials said they had not heard from him. Neither Sanford's office nor the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for governors, had been able to reach Sanford since he left the mansion Thursday in a black Suburban SUV assigned to his security detail," according to state Sen. Jake Knotts (R). The AP reports that Sanford "hadn't been at work for several days, and his office hadn't been in touch with him. Lawmakers and his wife said Monday that they didn't know where he was, leading critics to question who was in charge of South Carolina." The Charleston (SC) Post and Courier reports, "Reached at their beachfront home on Sullivan's Island in the afternoon, Sanford's wife, Jenny, said she didn't know where her husband was. She said he left Columbia on Thursday to work on a writing project."
The AP reports that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) "announced Monday he will not enter next year's race for California governor, ending months of speculation about his ambitions and reordering the emerging contest to run the deeply troubled state. The 56-year-old mayor, once widely seen as a rising Democratic star, said months ago he would consider jumping into the 2010" race. However, "Villaraigosa said he concluded that he couldn't step away from his job with a budget crisis at City Hall and his hometown struggling with double-digit unemployment and a housing meltdown."On its front page, the Los Angeles Times reports that "Villaraigosa's decision Monday to skip the 2010 race for California governor left a two-person contest for the Democratic nomination in which former Gov. Jerry Brown starts with a strong advantage in scooping up much of the mayor's support, political analysts said." The Sacramento Bee reported on its website, "'I can't leave this city in the middle of a crisis,' Villaraigosa, who is about to begin his second mayoral term, told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. 'I love the city I was born and raised in,' Villaraigosa said, citing Los Angeles' high unemployment rate and other issues."
The Politico reports that Nevada Sen. John Ensign (R) "returned to Capitol Hill Monday afternoon refusing to answer questions about his extramarital affair. "I said what I was going to say last week,'" Ensign "told POLITICO as he walked into his office in the Senate Russell building. Ensign's staff has said that Doug Hampton -- a former aide and the husband of Ensign's mistress -- sought money from the senator to keep the affair quiet." The Hill (6/23, Rushing) reports, "Emerging for a procedural vote on a tourism promotion bill," the Senator "walked from the Russell building outdoors to the front door of the Senate as a half-dozen reporters and cameramen trailed him. Ensign repeatedly resisted commenting when asked details about his affair with a staffer and reports that extortion was involved."
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Conan O'Brien: "John McCain, of all people, said that President Obama has 'done well' during his first few months in office. ... In fact, McCain's so proud of Obama, he sent him a card with a five dollar bill inside."
Conan O'Brien: "Some experts are saying the Iranian election was rigged because in some towns, voter turnout was more than 100%. ... What's even stranger, all those extra votes were from elderly Jewish people in Palm Beach, Florida."
Conan O'Brien: "According to a new report, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have greatly reduced their number of customer complaints. ... The automakers did this by greatly reducing their number of customers."
David Letterman: "President Barack Obama's approval rating" of "61%, which I thought was staggeringly high, has now dropped to 56%. ... So don't kid yourselves. Hillary could still win this thing."
David Letterman: "Did you hear this? Hillary Clinton busted her elbow. Apparently, she slipped and hit the floor when she...went home to her husband early, unannounced."
Jimmy Fallon: "Hillary Clinton is expected to make a full recovery after having surgery to repair her broken right elbow. ... Yeah, doctors say she'll be able to point and crazy smile at people in no time."
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