President Obama's address to the NAACP yesterday generated extensive, positive coverage. The CBS Evening News mentioned Obama's speech as part of a larger report on civil rights. The NAACP, said CBS in its preface to the story, "has much to celebrate, turning 100 the same year the first black president took office." The AP reports the President "traced his historic rise to power to the vigor and valor of black civil rights leaders, telling the NAACP that their sacrifice 'began the journey that has led me here.'" He also "bluntly warned, though, that racial barriers persist." Obama said, "Make no mistake: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America." In fact, Newsday reports Obama "alluded to recent data showing a widening joblessness gap in New York City that's pushing blacks further behind whites." The Washington Post quotes NAACP President Benjamin Jealous saying that "Obama made clear that 'the fight isn't over yet.'"
USA Today, however, notes Obama also said, "Overall, there's probably never been less discrimination in America than there is today." Along similar lines, the New York Times headlines its report "Obama Tells Fellow Blacks: 'No Excuses' For Any Failure," and calls Obama's speech a "a fiery sermon to black America" in which he warned "black parents that they must accept their own responsibilities by 'putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour,' and telling black children that growing up poor is no reason to get bad grades." The Washington Times reports that Obama "mixed in his personal responsibility message that he and his wife have featured as they speak to children and parents." The President called "for 'a new mind-set, a new set of attitudes,'" and "said adults must take responsibility for their children and for their neighbors' children." The Financial Times also says "continued his 'tough love' approach toward the black community, calling on parents to take greater responsibility for their children and asking young people to have ambitions beyond becoming athletes and rap stars."
The New York Daily News reports that "the euphoria" of Obama's election has "given way to a sense of restlessness by some civil right activists who feel Obama has yet to fully champion their causes of today." The Los Angeles Times reports that "the NAACP speech was tautly in line with Obama's established rhetoric on race. African Americans are more likely to be hit by unemployment, spiraling healthcare costs and AIDS, Obama said."
The AP reports President Obama "returned to campaign-style rhetoric on Thursday," saying at two New Jersey events that "inaction is not an option" as he urged supporters "to push for his overhaul of the nation's health care system." ABC World News, which opened with the story, called the President "a man on a mission. Everywhere he goes these days, he's pushing healthcare reform." The AP reports Vice President Biden was also touting reform, joining Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a forum in Virginia.
The Politico reports, "On the defensive over the economy and health care, the White House is shooting back with a double-barreled message for its critics and skeptics. To Republicans who say the stimulus isn't working: Back off. To moderate Democrats wary of health care reform: We're watching you." Bloomberg News, however, reports Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus "complained...Obama is 'making it difficult'" to create a bipartisan compromise in the Senate. Baucus said Obama's "opposition to the idea of taxing health-care benefits is 'not helping us.'" The Hill reports Baucus and other senators emerged from "another intense day of closed-door negotiations" to "admit they had not reached the finish line." Baucus said, "We're very close to reaching agreement. By close, I mean it's a matter of couple, three or four days, maybe."
Sen. John McCain said on Fox News' Your World, "The President has reiterated time and again his commitment to getting through before the recess. This thing is like a fish in the sun. If you leave it out there very long, it's going to begin to smell very, very badly to the American people. That is why they are in such a rush to fundamentally affect one-sixth of our gross national product."
USA Today reports that three tax increases "proposed by President Obama and House Democrats on the richest Americans could produce the highest tax rates in a quarter-century." About 500,000 taxpayers earning $1 million or more would pay a full 5.4 surtax under one plan; surtaxes at lower rates would impact anyone earning more than $350,000 per year. Obama's February budget "calls for letting tax cuts for top earners enacted at the beginning of the decade expire in 2011," and during the presidential campaign, Obama "favored bolstering Social Security by subjecting family income above $250,000 to the 12.4% payroll tax."
The New York Times reports Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf told the Senate that healthcare legislation proposed so far "would not curb the federal government's runaway spending on medical care, and that lawmakers would need to take more forceful action to meet President Obama's goal of controlling costs." His testimony "drew criticism from Democratic leaders" and "provided ammunition to Republican critics." The Wall Street Journal reports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "quipped that Mr. Elmendorf should consider running for Congress," while Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin "admitted that Senate Democrats were frustrated with the CBO's various pronouncements over their efforts to push through health-care overhaul."
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The AP reports Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor "sped toward confirmation as the nation's first Hispanic justice Thursday, encouraged by Republican promises of a quick vote. ... Even two of her Republican critics called the 55-year-old appeals court judge's rulings 'mainstream' -- noteworthy concessions for President Barack Obama's first high court nominee."
ABC World News reported Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Jeff Sessions "said his party will not delay a Senate vote on her Supreme Court nomination. That means it's all but certain she will be seated when the court meets in September." The CBS Evening News reported, "At least one Republican signaled he may vote yes." Sen. Lindsey Graham: "We'll see what your future holds but I think it's going to be pretty bright." NBC Nightly News reported Sotomayor "appears to be headed for confirmation to the US Supreme Court."
USA Today reports Sessions "commended Sotomayor on Thursday for her humor and 'direct' manner and said he has no plans to block a vote on her nomination in the full Senate. He said he believes the Senate will vote on Sotomayor before its summer recess, scheduled to begin Aug. 7," which could allow Sotomayor "to be in place for a major case to be heard Sept. 9 testing campaign regulation." The Washington Post reports Sotomayor "won virtual assurance of rapid confirmation." The New York Times reports, "Over her four days in the witness chair, Judge Sotomayor provided Republicans little ammunition with which to block the Senate from approving her elevation to the Supreme Court. ... Senior Republican staff aides said in interviews they expected that at least one and perhaps as many as three of the panel's seven Republicans" -- with Tom Coburn, John Cornyn, Lindsay Graham, and Orrin Hatch mentioned "might vote to approve the Sotomayor nomination and send it to the full Senate."
The Wall Street Journal reports, "Any prospect of a hitch to Judge Sotomayor's confirmation evaporated after the potentially most compelling witness -- Frank Ricci, the firefighter at the center of a controversial reverse-discrimination case she had ruled on -- declined to offer an opinion on her at all." In the Washington Post, Dana Milbank writes, "As a Sotomayor slayer, fireman Ricci didn't hold water. The nominee seems headed to confirmation without a fuss -- and, as it turned out, even Ricci didn't seem to have much of a problem with that."
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy said on CNN's Newsroom, "I think it's pretty clear that she will be confirmed. She will be the ninth member of the United States Supreme Court when it comes back in September. And I think she will have both Republican and Democratic votes in doing that."
The AP reports Vice President Biden, "in the backyard of the House's No. 2 Republican," Eric Cantor, "asked critics of the economic stimulus package Thursday to explain how they would help the struggling economy." Cantor "preemptively renewed the Republican attack, telling reporters in a conference call that the plan will destroy small businesses and deepen unemployment." The Washington Post reports the "debate over the effectiveness of the government's massive stimulus act hit a fever pitch yesterday," as Biden "took the White House message straight to" Cantor's district. Without "naming Cantor, the vice president, whom President Obama has dubbed the 'sheriff' of the stimulus plan, trained his rhetoric squarely at the Richmond lawmaker." Virginia's Roanoke Times reports Biden "delivered an aggressive defense of the federal economic recovery package."
Ohio's Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reports US District Court Judge Clay Land dismissed a suit filed by an Army reservist "who says he shouldn't have to go to Afghanistan because he believes Barack Obama was never eligible to be president." Land "sided with the defense, which claimed" Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook's suit "is 'moot' in that he already has been told he doesn't have to go to Afghanistan, so the relief he is seeking has been granted."
The Washington Post reports, "Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region and the Iraqi government are closer to war than at any time since the US-led invasion in 2003, the Kurdish prime minister said Thursday." Nechirvan Barzani "described a stalemate in attempts to resolve long-standing disputes with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's emboldened government." According to Barzani, "had it not been for the presence of the US military in northern Iraq...fighting might have already started in the most volatile regions."
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The AP reports President Obama "brought his star power to New Jersey on Thursday" in an effort to boost Gov. Jon Corzine's (D) "ailing re-election campaign, calling the governor a battle-tested ally who helped the White House develop a national economic recovery plan." The Newark Star-Ledger reports, "The event was the largest political rally Corzine has ever hosted and was geared to remind voters of the key theme of" his "re-election campaign: the incumbent is close to the new Obama administration and that relationship benefits the people of the Garden State." The New York Times says that while Democrats said the visit "may not produce an immediate effect," it "could cement" Corzine's "association with a popular president -- and make it easier to associate" challenger Chris Christie (R) "with former President George W. Bush." The Hill adds that, ahead of the campaign rally, Obama "helped raise more than $1 million" for Corzine at a fundraising reception in Holmdel, New Jersey.
The AP reports that Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning (R) "raised $302,466" in the 2nd quarter, about half brought in by potential primary rival Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R), who took in over $600,000. Bunning "has insisted he is running for re-election despite not-so-subtle hints from his GOP colleagues that they would like him to step aside." The Hill adds that the Q2 fundraising figures aren't "good news for Bunning, who has felt pressure all year to drop his bid for a third term." The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Cook Report analyst Jennifer Duffy said, "What is driving the Republicans nuts is that there is a 50/50 shot Bunning would win a primary but no shot he can win a general election."
Columbia, South Carolina's, The State reports that South Carolina state Sen. David Thomas (R) "said Thursday he wants a Senate panel to investigate whether Gov. Mark Sanford used state funds to visit his Argentine lover." Thomas "said he hoped lawmakers would give the three-member budget subcommittee he chairs authority to subpoena records and witnesses." The Greenville (SC) News adds that Thomas, "who is running for Congress, said the hearings aren't politically motivated. 'We're not on a witch hunt,' said Thomas," adding, "I want to know, and I think the public wants to know, was state money spent to accomplish these extramarital liaisons. These questions have to be answered."
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Conan O'Brien: Gov. Mark Sanford "is spending this week on vacation with his wife in order to improve their marriage. ... Apparently it's not going well, because Sanford keeps introducing his wife as 'my wing man.'"
Conan O'Brien: "At her confirmation hearing, Sonia Sotomayor said that judges gather information from everywhere, including Wikipedia...which explains why she kept citing the landmark case Roe v. Wade Boggs."
Conan O'Brien: "Earlier today, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he will strike Iran's enemies 'in the face so hard' that they will lose their way home. ... Then he told Israel to meet him after school by the flagpole."
David Letterman: "There is a new airline...that flies nothing but pets. ... This is why the rest of the world hates us, don't you think?"
Jimmy Kimmel: "Here in California, we have no money. Our budget situation is a mess. And when you have no money, what do you do? You sell drugs, right? A state representative from San Francisco just introduced a bill that would legalize marijuana. He claims it would raise almost $1.5 billion a year for the state in taxes, and...another $3 billion in Cheetos sales."
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