Obama returns to campaign mode

NEW YORK — NEW YORK President Barack Obama is opening a six-week burst of fundraising for Democrats, offering an early look at how he'll frame the messy health overhaul rollout and recent government shutdown for donors and voters ahead of next year's pivotal midterm elections.

After putting political events on hold for about a month, Obama was returning to campaign mode Friday in New York, first at a top-dollar fundraiser for House Democrats, flanked by film producer Harvey Weinstein and prominent CEOs before another, closed-door event benefiting the national Democratic Party.

Before the fundraisers, Obama visited a Brooklyn high school to showcase a rare partnership among public schools, a public university system and IBM that lets students finish high school with an associate's degree in computers or engineering. With budget talks set to resume next week, he urged Congress to put more money into education.

"I don't want to hear the same old stuff about how America can't afford to invest in the things that have always made us strong," Obama said. "Don't tell me we can afford to shut down the government, which costs our economy billions of dollars, but we can't afford to invest in our education systems. There's nothing more important than this."

Accompanied by Bill de Blasio, the Democratic mayoral candidate who is leading in the polls going into the Nov.5 general election, Obama made a campaign-style appearance at Junior's, a Brooklyn landmark known for its cheesecakes. He shook hands, gave out hugs, posed for photos and bought two cakes to go.

His fundraising schedule condensed, Obama will headline at least nine fundraisers from Florida to Texas to California before the end of November for Democratic campaign committees. Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are holding their own events.

Traditionally the president is a party's most potent fundraising tool, and the effort isn't without potential reward for Obama. A return of Congress to full Democratic control next year would open the door to sweeping policies Obama would love to enact, but Republicans refuse to consider. After winning re-election last year, Obama vowed to go all-in for Democrats by holding at least 20 fundraisers ahead of the midterm elections.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted

View the original article here

Analysis: Obama works to regain political standing

SAN FRANCISCO — SAN FRANCISCO President Barack Obama is urging donors to buck up and making a thread-the-needle appeal for bipartisanship with Republicans even as he calls for replacing the House GOP majority and holding his Democratic edge in the Senate.

Obama is seeking to gain back his political standing in the aftermath of his administration's botched launch of health care enrollment by defining himself as a pragmatic victim of tea party conservatives while casting his policies on the economy and immigration as popular remedies that could win bipartisan support.

"Right now in this country there is at least one faction of one party that has decided they are more interested in stopping progress than advancing it, and aren't interested in compromise or engaging in solving problems and more interested in scoring points for the next election," he told Democratic donors in San Francisco on Monday.

For Obama, the call for compromise is a veiled olive branch that also disguises a threat.

"What we're looking for is not the defeat of another party, what we're looking for is the advancement of ideas that are going to vindicate those values that are tried and true," he said at a fundraiser Sunday with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi seated among about 60 high-dollar donors. "But to do that we're going to need Nancy Pelosi as speaker, because there's just a lot of work to be done right now."

Less than 24 hours later, pressing for an overhaul of immigration laws, Obama extended a hand to House Republican Speaker John Boehner.

"Speaker Boehner is hopeful we can make progress" on immigration, Obama said Monday in San Francisco. "I believe the speaker is sincere, I believe he genuinely wants to get it done."

The diverging messages reflect Obama's dual desire to win a legislative victory even as he performs his duties as leader of the Democratic Party.

"I'm not a particularly ideological person," he said, adding he still is passionate about giving people a fair shake. "But I'm pretty pragmatic about how we get there."

Raising money in Washington and California, states he won handily in his two elections, Obama faced protests and hecklers from his liberal flank. During his immigration remarks in San Francisco, he was interrupted by a protester standing immediately behind him. The young man condemned the Obama administration's record number of deportation of immigrants who are in the country illegally.

"Stop deportation, stop deportation!" the young man yelled. Obama turned and listened then said that he was required to follow the law.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted

View the original article here

Obama to honor Lyndon Johnson and the Civil Rights Act

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act in the East Room of the White House on July 2, 1964. (Associated Press)

AUSTIN, Texas — President Obama has tried to model Abraham Lincoln's team of rivals and Teddy Roosevelt's power of the bully pulpit. He's lauded Ronald Reagan's communication skills and linked himself to the Kennedy clan. He's praised his onetime nemesis, George W. Bush, as well as his onetime adversary, Bill Clinton.

But Obama has rarely cozied up to the predecessor some argue did more than any other modern president to pave the way for his election as the nation's first black president: Lyndon B. Johnson.

Five years into his presidency, Obama will head to Austin on Thursday to remedy what some Johnson admirers have described as a "pattern of omission." At a ceremony at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, Obama will honor Johnson and the Civil Rights Act, signed 50 years ago this year.

But it is other elements of Johnson's legacy that have confounded and irked the Obama White House. As a president who tried to end two wars, Obama was not inclined to align himself with a president who escalated the Vietnam War.

More recently, any mention of Johnson and Obama in the same sentence is typically a comparison of their legislative prowess — and Obama comes up short. In the age of partisan gridlock, the master of the Senate, as Johnson became known during his time as majority leader, has become for many Democrats an example of how a president once used government to do big things. By comparison, the current president has become a symbol of how little government can get done.

But the story of Obama's and Johnson's legislative records is more complex — and with a more similar arc than sometimes described. Both passed sweeping legislation in short order, taking advantage of early political momentum, mindful, in Johnson's words, that a newly elected president is "a giraffe; six months later, he's a worm."

Both also faced great frustrations and backlash in later years. And like Johnson, Obama hopes history will prove his earliest major legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act, to be his most widely embraced.

For now, the White House is quick to note the many differences between the two presidents and their times.

Most obviously, Johnson benefited from large Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress when he pushed the Civil Rights Act, even as the country mourned John F. Kennedy. Those majorities jumped — to a whooping 295-140 in the House — after the 1964 election. When Obama passed his healthcare overhaul in 2010, Democrats had 253 seats.

But Johnson also embraced the sort of parliamentary maneuvers and horse trading that today would have good government advocates screaming about legislative payoffs and backdoor politics. And thinking Obama could wine and dine his way to moving his legislative agenda is to misunderstand the current political climate, White House aides argue. Political polarization has diminished common ground between the parties and left few moderates to woo.

Even Obama seems to chalk up Johnson's success to political momentum, noting that his election in 1964 was followed in 1966 by Democratic losses in the congressional elections, although the party retained control of Congress. Obama has faced a Republican majority in the House since 2011.

"When he lost that historic majority, and the glow of that landslide victory faded, he had the same problems with Congress that most presidents at one point or another have," Obama said in a recent interview with the New Yorker.

For those close to the Johnson legacy, attributing his legislative accomplishments to mere political good fortune ignores Johnson's political gift.

"Schmoozing is not just sitting and having a drink — though LBJ did plenty of that," said Joseph Califano Jr., a former Johnson aide. "It's knowing exactly what buttons turn congressmen on and off. I think, bluntly put, Johnson knew the price of every member of Congress — whether it was a dam or a schoolhouse or invitation to dinner."

Califano noted, "Obama has other skills, but that was a big one for Johnson."

Mark K. Updegrove, a historian and director of the Johnson library, noted that Johnson was willing to alienate his old friend and mentor Sen. Richard Russell, a fierce opponent of the civil rights legislation. Russell, a Georgia Democrat, warned that he'd risk losing the presidency and also the defection of Southern states to the GOP.

"LBJ said that, if that was the price for the bill, he'd gladly pay it," said Updegrove, author of three books on the presidency, including one on Johnson. "He said, 'What the hell is the presidency for?'"

That's a question Obama faces regularly in his fifth year, as he uses his executive authority to move his priorities, including environmental regulation, increasing minimum wage and, this week, closing the gender pay gap.

H.W. Brands, a presidential historian at the University of Texas in Austin, said Obama could not count on the same kind of powerful social movement and growing consensus that benefited Johnson in passing civil and voting rights bills. "The issues are less clear-cut today and the parties are more clearly at odds," he said.

Even Johnson saw the limits of his powers of persuasion. After the 1966 midterm election, Johnson came to feel a backlash from lawmakers he had won over, particularly when it came to paying for the Great Society programs.

But Johnson's agenda was cemented into American life. Medicare, passed in 1965, was quickly accepted by the opposition, implemented successfully by the administration and, over time, embraced by both parties — along with the Civil Rights Act.

Despite that, Johnson's legacy has often been overshadowed by the Vietnam War. Thursday's event, and Obama's remarks, were anticipated by those who have sought recognition for LBJ's domestic achievements.

"Every family wants to have their loved ones get the credit they believe they deserve. But I grew up in politics. I know that doesn't happen when you want it to, as you want it to; that's part of life," said Luci Baines Johnson, the president's daughter. "Whatever has happened in the past and people have not focused on Lyndon Johnson, I'm just so glad they are now."

christi.parsons@latimes.com

kathleen.hennessey@latimes.com

View the original article here

Obama administration delays decision on Keystone XL pipeline

Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) calls for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline at a news conference in March on Capitol Hill. (Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images / March 25, 2014)

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has delayed a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project, perhaps until after November’s midterm election.

A further delay in the evaluation of the pipeline, which already has lasted more than five years, is necessary because of a Nebraska state court decision in February that invalidated part of the project’s route, the State Department said in a statement.

Shortly after the court ruling, administration officials had said the Nebraska case would not have an impact on their deliberations. But in the new statement, the State Department said federal agencies could not evaluate the pipeline’s impact until the “uncertainty created by the ongoing litigation” is resolved.

That could take awhile. Nebraska officials have appealed the case to the state Supreme Court but have said they do not expect a ruling until late this year at the earliest.

In the meantime, the latest delay could get President Obama off a politically difficult hook in an election year. The White House has been pressed on one side by environmentalists who have turned opposition to the pipeline into a major cause and on the other by conservative Democrats from energy-producing states who support it.

Administration officials have differed on both the substance and the politics of a decision on Keystone, which would carry oil from the tar sands deposits underneath Canada’s western prairies to refineries in Texas and Oklahoma.

Opponents say the project would worsen global warming by opening up the tar sands to development. Supporters say it would reduce U.S. dependence on oil from the Middle East, Africa and other unstable parts of the world and that Canada will develop the tar sands whether the U.S. approves a pipeline or not.

Obama has said he would approve the project only if it could be proven not to worsen emissions of greenhouse gases that lead to global warming. His approval is needed because the pipeline crosses an international border.

Politically, Obama’s advisors have disagreed about the impact on a difficult election season in which Democrats face a strong prospect of losing control of the Senate.

Some advisors believe that a decision to kill the pipeline could boost enthusiasm among Democratic activists, which has been lagging. Others argue that since most of the key Senate races are taking place in red states, such as Louisiana, Alaska and Arkansas, a decision against the project could hurt Democratic prospects.

Those political calculations were on display as lawmakers and others reacted to the administration’s decision.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who has campaigned for reelection by stressing her independence from Obama, lambasted the delay as “irresponsible, unnecessary and unacceptable” and vowed to use her position as head of the Senate Energy Committee to win approval for the pipeline.

“Today’s decision by the administration amounts to nothing short of an indefinite delay of the Keystone pipeline,” she said, warning that it sends “a signal that the small minority who oppose the pipeline can tie up the process in court forever.”

Another conservative Democrat, Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), said the move “leaves everyone waiting in limbo.”

“It hurts all of us when no decisions are made,” she said in a statement.

Republicans and the oil industry quickly denounced the decision.

“At a time of high unemployment in the Obama economy, it’s a shame,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

“It’s a sad day for America’s workers when politics trumps job-creating policy at the White House,” American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard said in a statement.

Russ Girling, chief executive of TransCanada, which is proposing to build the pipeline, said in a statement that the company was “extremely disappointed and frustrated with yet another delay.”

Environmental groups were thrilled. The League of Conservation Voters hailed the delay as “great news” that “makes us even more confident that the harmful Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will ultimately be rejected.”

david.lauter@latimes.com

Twitter: @DavidLauter

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

Twitter: @LisaMascaroinDC

View the original article here

Obama, lampooning GOP, calls for hike in minimum wage

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Wednesday that Republicans were "not necessarily coldhearted" in their policies but then devoted much of his speech at the University of Michigan to lampooning GOP opposition to his views on economic issues, including his proposal to raise the federal minimum wage.

As Congress gears up for a debate on his proposal to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, Obama said lawmakers would have to decide between sticking with him or sticking it to working Americans.

"They've got to make a clear choice — talk the talk about valuing hard work and families, or walk the walk and actually value hard-working families," Obama said. "You've got a choice. You can give America the shaft, or you can give it a raise."

The address in Ann Arbor featured Obama in a feisty mood, a day after he announced that 7.1 million people had signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, exceeding the administration's target.

Obama said that if Republicans tried to sell their economic plans at the deli where he had just ordered a Reuben, "they'd have to call it the Stinkburger or the Meanwich." And he said opponents to a minimum-wage increase complain it will primarily help young people, which he suggested was not much different than yelling, "Get off my lawn!"

The edgy message opened a new phase for Obama. With the rollout of his 2010 health law nearly complete, the president is now focusing on the congressional elections and on keeping the Senate in Democratic hands, a task his advisors think depends in part on his ability to draw a sharp contrast with the GOP's economic proposals.

For starters, Obama is leading off with the fight to raise the $7.25 minimum wage, an idea that polls have shown is favored by a strong majority of Americans.

But even as Obama used the minimum wage to highlight a difference with Republicans, Democrats on Capitol Hill are preparing for the politics of the issue to grow more complicated.

Democrats concede that they are unlikely to get enough support from Republicans to overcome a 60-vote procedural hurdle to advance the measure. But there is also some concern that an effort by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to support a smaller increase — perhaps to $9 an hour — could siphon off some Democratic support. Collins is the only Republican senator running for reelection this year in a state that Obama won in 2012.

A Collins aide said the senator has had discussions over the last three weeks with a number of Democrats about packaging a wage increase with other economic measures, including tax credits for small businesses.

Senate Democratic leaders say they are committed to passing the president's $10.10 proposal. Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, argued Wednesday that other Republicans had made it clear they would not support a minimum-wage measure no matter what the increase might be.

"We're sticking with $10.10," Schumer said. "We're not negotiating against ourselves."

But Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, raised the possibility of a compromise, although he also predicted that Democrats would "hold our votes" to open debate on an increase to the $10.10 level.

"Let me be honest about this," he said. "If we reach a level where we don't have the votes to pass it, then we have to be open for conversation about what it might look like in the future."

It took months of work to advance an extension of unemployment insurance benefits, a measure that could finally pass the Senate on Thursday. The plan attracted enough Republican votes to end a filibuster Wednesday.

"How many times did we come at that before we finally reached a bipartisan agreement?" Durbin said.

In the Republican-controlled House, an aide to Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) took issue with a minimum-wage increase, noting reports from economists who say that the president's proposal would lead to job losses.

"The president's plan would increase costs for consumers and eliminate jobs for those who need them the most," Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said. "The House is going to continue focusing on our plan to protect workers' hours and create jobs, not the president's plan to destroy them."

In Michigan, where the retirement of Sen. Carl Levin has fueled GOP hopes of picking up a Democratic seat, Obama delivered a sharp-edged critique that fused Republican policy with Republican personality.

The new House Republican budget plan is a replay of the party's 2012 campaign themes, the president said, "like that movie 'Groundhog Day,' except it's not funny."

christi.parsons@latimes.com

michael.memoli@latimes.com

View the original article here

Analysis: Obama works to regain political standing

SAN FRANCISCO — SAN FRANCISCO President Barack Obama is urging donors to buck up and making a thread-the-needle appeal for bipartisanship with Republicans even as he calls for replacing the House GOP majority and holding his Democratic edge in the Senate.

Obama is seeking to gain back his political standing in the aftermath of his administration's botched launch of health care enrollment by defining himself as a pragmatic victim of tea party conservatives while casting his policies on the economy and immigration as popular remedies that could win bipartisan support.

"Right now in this country there is at least one faction of one party that has decided they are more interested in stopping progress than advancing it, and aren't interested in compromise or engaging in solving problems and more interested in scoring points for the next election," he told Democratic donors in San Francisco on Monday.

For Obama, the call for compromise is a veiled olive branch that also disguises a threat.

"What we're looking for is not the defeat of another party, what we're looking for is the advancement of ideas that are going to vindicate those values that are tried and true," he said at a fundraiser Sunday with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi seated among about 60 high-dollar donors. "But to do that we're going to need Nancy Pelosi as speaker, because there's just a lot of work to be done right now."

Less than 24 hours later, pressing for an overhaul of immigration laws, Obama extended a hand to House Republican Speaker John Boehner.

"Speaker Boehner is hopeful we can make progress" on immigration, Obama said Monday in San Francisco. "I believe the speaker is sincere, I believe he genuinely wants to get it done."

The diverging messages reflect Obama's dual desire to win a legislative victory even as he performs his duties as leader of the Democratic Party.

"I'm not a particularly ideological person," he said, adding he still is passionate about giving people a fair shake. "But I'm pretty pragmatic about how we get there."

Raising money in Washington and California, states he won handily in his two elections, Obama faced protests and hecklers from his liberal flank. During his immigration remarks in San Francisco, he was interrupted by a protester standing immediately behind him. The young man condemned the Obama administration's record number of deportation of immigrants who are in the country illegally.

"Stop deportation, stop deportation!" the young man yelled. Obama turned and listened then said that he was required to follow the law.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted

View the original article here

House Republicans, Obama seek end to budget stalemate

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON Negotiations to end the government shutdown and avert default continued Friday as Senate Republicans huddled with President Barack Obama privately to discuss a pathway out of the impasse.

POLL: MOST FAULT REPUBLICANS FOR SHUTDOWN

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed more people blaming Republicans than President Barack Obama for the shutdown, 53percent to 31percent. Just 24percent viewed the Republican Party positively, compared with 39 percent with positive views of the Democratic Party.

"The question is: Can you get something in the next 72 hours? The president seems committed to being engaged in it, and he hadn't been up to this point, so I'm optimistic," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., after the meeting.

House and Senate Republicans appear to be pursuing different negotiations with the White House, and it is unclear whether either proposal can win over Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who is leading congressional Democrats in the negotiations.

Democrats have resisted GOP efforts, led by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to engage in budget talks until the government is reopened and the debt ceiling is increased before the Oct.17 deadline.

Day 11

The shutdown, in its 11th day Friday, began when Republicans demanded a delay or defunding of the Affordable Care Act in exchange for their votes to keep the government running.

The funding discussion has now snowballed to include a plan to increase the U.S. borrowing limit so the nation can continue to pay its bills on time. Republicans have since moved on from focusing solely on the health care law to seeking broader concessions on fiscal issues.

Congress will continue to work through the weekend. House Republicans will huddle Saturday morning and the Senate is scheduled to vote on a key procedural hurdle to move ahead with a 15-month increase in the debt ceiling with no conditions attached.

House Republicans have offered a short-term path to resolve the shutdown and avert default in order to reach a broader budget deal, while Senate Republicans appear to be mulling longer-term solutions in order to reach an agreement.

Stopgap measure

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is working with senators in both parties on a budget framework that includes a six-month stopgap funding bill and suspends the debt ceiling through January. The extensions would give Congress breathing room to reach a broader budget agreement.

"I believe that still gives us plenty of leverage to work out a long-term fiscal plan, but it removes the threat of an immediate default," Collins said Friday.

Multiple Senate Republicans said the conversation with the president did not include the competing House proposal that would increase the debt ceiling for six weeks.

Republicans have also proposed a short-term stopgap spending bill to reopen the government after Obama rejected their proposal for only a debt ceiling increase.

Senate Republicans seem eager to resolve the impasse. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., cited a "devastating" NBC/WSJ polled released Thursday that showed the Republican Party's favorability at an all-time low. "I know that they're reading the polls," McCain said of House Republicans.

Copyright 2013 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted

View the original article here

Obama returns to campaign mode

NEW YORK — NEW YORK President Barack Obama is opening a six-week burst of fundraising for Democrats, offering an early look at how he'll frame the messy health overhaul rollout and recent government shutdown for donors and voters ahead of next year's pivotal midterm elections.

After putting political events on hold for about a month, Obama was returning to campaign mode Friday in New York, first at a top-dollar fundraiser for House Democrats, flanked by film producer Harvey Weinstein and prominent CEOs before another, closed-door event benefiting the national Democratic Party.

Before the fundraisers, Obama visited a Brooklyn high school to showcase a rare partnership among public schools, a public university system and IBM that lets students finish high school with an associate's degree in computers or engineering. With budget talks set to resume next week, he urged Congress to put more money into education.

"I don't want to hear the same old stuff about how America can't afford to invest in the things that have always made us strong," Obama said. "Don't tell me we can afford to shut down the government, which costs our economy billions of dollars, but we can't afford to invest in our education systems. There's nothing more important than this."

Accompanied by Bill de Blasio, the Democratic mayoral candidate who is leading in the polls going into the Nov.5 general election, Obama made a campaign-style appearance at Junior's, a Brooklyn landmark known for its cheesecakes. He shook hands, gave out hugs, posed for photos and bought two cakes to go.

His fundraising schedule condensed, Obama will headline at least nine fundraisers from Florida to Texas to California before the end of November for Democratic campaign committees. Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are holding their own events.

Traditionally the president is a party's most potent fundraising tool, and the effort isn't without potential reward for Obama. A return of Congress to full Democratic control next year would open the door to sweeping policies Obama would love to enact, but Republicans refuse to consider. After winning re-election last year, Obama vowed to go all-in for Democrats by holding at least 20 fundraisers ahead of the midterm elections.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted

View the original article here

Obama Pauses From Fray to Raise Money for 2014

WASHINGTON — As he battles to advance legislative priorities on gun control and taxes, President Obama opened a multimillion-dollar fund-raising drive Wednesday in the hope of winning a friendlier Congress for his final two years in office.

With a two-day swing through the money corridors of Northern California, Mr. Obama began fulfilling a promise to Congressional Democrats to use the power and prestige of his office to fill their coffers for the 2014 election in a way he did not during his first term.

The president was the headliner at the first two of four big-dollar events Wednesday night and planned to appear at two more Thursday before returning to Washington. Although his approval rating is stuck below 50 percent in many polls, Mr. Obama remains a top draw for wealthy Democratic patrons, particularly in the supportive realms around San Francisco.

“Two thousand twelve was a referendum on the president, so the president had to campaign for himself,” Representative Steve Israel of New York, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in an interview. “Two thousand fourteen is going to be a referendum on House Republican obstruction, and so the president is now helping House Democrats.”

The president returned to the campaign trail while making a high-profile effort to court Republican lawmakers. He has taken Republican senators to dinner, and is scheduled to have another dinner with Senate Republicans next week after releasing his long-delayed budget plan.

Such dual-track efforts are common for presidents of both parties, but this one could complicate Mr. Obama’s outreach on issues like deficit reduction and immigration.

“My hope is that we’re going to see more and more Republicans who say, you know what, I didn’t come here just to fight the president or demonize Nancy Pelosi, I came here to get some stuff done,” Mr. Obama said at one of the Wednesday night fundraisers, where he was flanked by Mrs. Pelosi, the House Democratic leader. “But, realistically, I could get a whole lot more done if Nancy Pelosi is speaker of the House.”

Mr. Obama’s choice of hosts likewise opened the president to criticism. His first reception Wednesday was at the San Francisco home of Thomas F. Steyer, the hedge fund billionaire, and his wife, Kat Taylor, where 100 guests each paid between $5,000 and the $32,400 legal maximum. After that, the president was headed to the San Francisco home of the billionaire philanthropists Ann and Gordon Getty, who had invited 75 people to write checks for $32,400.

On Thursday morning, the president is due in nearby Atherton for a brunch for 30 guests paying $32,400 apiece at the home of Mark W. Heising, founder of a private equity investment firm, and his wife, Liz Simons. Then Mr. Obama is due at the Atherton home of John D. Goldman, a Levi Strauss heir, and his wife, Marcia, for a reception for 250 donors paying between $1,000 and $20,000 each.

The Republican National Committee posted a video mocking Mr. Obama for calling on the wealthy to pay more in taxes and then hitting what it called “Billionaires’ Row” to collect big campaign checks.

“On the campaign trail, Obama’s favorite applause line was attacking the very people he’s now begging for campaign cash,” Reince Priebus, the party chairman, said in a statement. “Hypocrisy at its finest. Barack Obama has his priorities completely backward — prioritizing billionaires over the taxpayers who demand and deserve a budget.”

Republicans were not the only ones protesting Mr. Obama’s fund-raising trip. The Sierra Club and other environmental groups picketed outside the Getty home to press him to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, the latest of several such demonstrations.

“Americans are showing up by the thousands to tell the president in person: ‘You must be bold on climate. You must reject Keystone XL,’ ” said Michael Brune, executive directorof the Sierra Club.

Mr. Obama may get that message even more directly from Mr. Steyer, who retired last year from Farallon Capital Management. Mr. Steyer, an environmental advocate, is such an ardent foe of Keystone that he recently threatened to broadcast ads against a Senate candidate in Massachusetts unless the candidate renounced support for the pipeline.

The events Wednesday night were to benefit the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Mr. Obama promised to hold eight fund-raisers for the group this year, including two with its Senate counterpart. He appeared at only two fund-raisers for the committee in 2009 and one in 2011. The Thursday events will be for the Democratic National Committee.

View the original article here

Obama Faces Political Risks in Emphasizing Effects of Spending Cuts

But as president, Mr. Obama is charged with minimizing the damage from the spending reductions and must steer clear of talking down the economy. A sustained campaign against the cuts by the president could become what one former aide called “a self-fulfilling kind of mess.”

As a result, Mr. Obama is carefully navigating between maximizing heat on Republicans to undo the cuts while mobilizing efforts to make sure that the steep spending cuts do not hurt Americans. His advisers acknowledge the potential political perils ahead as the president struggles to find the right kind of balance.

At his first cabinet meeting of his second term on Monday, Mr. Obama called the cuts an “area of deep concern” that would slow the country’s growth, but promised to “manage through it” while pursuing a robust agenda. It was an echo of his formulations from the White House podium on Friday, when he began to dial back the dire warnings about long lines at airports and furloughs of F.B.I. agents, to name a couple, that he had made over the past several weeks.

“I’ve instructed not just my White House but every agency to make sure that regardless of some of the challenges that they may face because of sequestration, we’re not going to stop working on behalf of the American people,” Mr. Obama said, using the formal name for the spending cuts.

The president’s approach is unlikely to satisfy Mr. Obama’s most partisan backers, who view blaming Republicans for the deep spending cuts — especially in the military — as a tantalizing opportunity for political gain. And stepping back from a battle over the cuts could allow the significantly lower spending to become the “new normal” for the federal budget.

But a high-profile focus on the cuts in the months ahead is risky, too.

If severe economic pain ultimately fails to materialize, Mr. Obama could be blamed for hyping the situation, much like his cabinet secretaries were in recent weeks. (Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, for example, was criticized for declaring the nation would be “less safe” because of furloughs of border patrol agents.)

Seeking short-term political gain with the spending cuts could also make more difficult the president’s hopes for a longer-term budget deal with Republicans on taxes and entitlement spending.

Mr. Obama’s team is keenly aware that the more he focuses on the cuts, the more he threatens to divert attention from his second-term priorities on guns, immigration and preschool.

“You can’t simply put them on hold and simply deal with this,” David Axelrod, a former top adviser to Mr. Obama, said in an interview. The danger of sounding the alarm on the sequester, he said, is that “you can so magnify the impact of it so that it becomes an even bigger self-fulfilling kind of mess.”

Mr. Obama was careful during his first term to seize on any bit of good economic news so that no one could accuse him of hurting the economy by his statements. That desire to be upbeat — as in 2010, when administration officials declared a “recovery summer” just before the economy dipped again — sometimes got him into trouble.

The question now for the president is how much to keep up the drumbeat of concern about the spending cuts in the weeks ahead.

In talking points distributed by the White House to Democratic pundits on Friday, advisers suggested focusing on how Republican refusal to accept tax increases will “threaten our national security and hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs and our entire economy while too many Americans are still looking for work.”

But the document also urges them to make the point that it is time to turn to other issues. Former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Democratic leader during the Clinton years and the first term of George W. Bush, said he expects the president will not spend much time talking about the cuts.

“What he has to do is say, ‘I warned you about this, it’s going to happen, it’s gradual, but at the same time, we’ve got a country to run,’ ” Mr. Daschle said. “You’re not going to hear him with much more hyperbolic rhetoric.”

Senior White House aides said as much on Friday before Mr. Obama formally signed the order putting the cuts into effect. They told reporters that sequestration cuts would not be the only thing the president talks about — or even the majority of what he talks about — in the weeks ahead.

But they said he will try to score a political point when opportunities arise.

Aides continue to bet that they will. Even without Mr. Obama’s intervention, White House officials said they expect the effect of the cuts will slowly become more visible.

Government workers will begin forced furloughs in April, air control towers in small towns will eventually close and a lack of overtime for airport security officers will make lines longer over time.

“This is a slow-roll disaster instead of a meteor hitting,” said Matt Bennett, a Clinton-era adviser and the vice president for communications at Third Way, a liberal research group. “It’s coming on slowly. You are going to see it popping up.”

But it’s also possible that the severe angst is limited to relatively small communities of interest: federal workers, defense contractors, service providers who depend on government grants. If that happens, Mr. Obama would have little leverage to use against Republicans.

“It’s imperative not to lose sight of the rest of the agenda,” said Jim Manley, a former top aide to Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. “They are smart enough to realize it’s a delicate balancing act.”

View the original article here

Obama Will Seek Citizenship Path in One Fast Push

Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats will propose the changes in one comprehensive bill, the officials said, resisting efforts by some Republicans to break the overhaul into smaller pieces — separately addressing young illegal immigrants, migrant farmworkers or highly skilled foreigners — which might be easier for reluctant members of their party to accept.

The president and Democrats will also oppose measures that do not allow immigrants who gain legal status to become American citizens one day, the officials said.

Even while Mr. Obama has been focused on fiscal negotiations and gun control, overhauling immigration remains a priority for him this year, White House officials said. Top officials there have been quietly working on a broad proposal. Mr. Obama and lawmakers from both parties believe that the early months of his second term offer the best prospects for passing substantial legislation on the issue.

Mr. Obama is expected to lay out his plan in the coming weeks, perhaps in his State of the Union address early next month, administration officials said. The White House will argue that its solution for illegal immigrants is not an amnesty, as many critics insist, because it would include fines, the payment of back taxes and other hurdles for illegal immigrants who would obtain legal status, the officials said.

The president’s plan would also impose nationwide verification of legal status for all newly hired workers; add visas to relieve backlogs and allow highly skilled immigrants to stay; and create some form of guest-worker program to bring in low-wage immigrants in the future.

A bipartisan group of senators has also been meeting to write a comprehensive bill, with the goal of introducing legislation as early as March and holding a vote in the Senate before August. As a sign of the keen interest in starting action on immigration, White House officials and Democratic leaders in the Senate have been negotiating over which of them will first introduce a bill, Senate aides said.

“This is so important now to both parties that neither the fiscal cliff nor guns will get in the way,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, a Democrat who is a leader of the bipartisan discussions.

A similar attempt at bipartisan legislation early in Mr. Obama’s first term collapsed amid political divisions fueled by surging public wrath over illegal immigration in many states. But both supporters and opponents say conditions are significantly different now.

Memories of the results of the November election are still fresh here. Latinos, the nation’s fastest-growing electorate, turned out in record numbers and cast 71 percent of their ballots for Mr. Obama. Many Latinos said they were put off by Republicans’ harsh language and policies against illegal immigrants.

After the election, a host of Republicans, starting with Speaker John A. Boehner, said it was time for the party to find a more positive, practical approach to immigration. Many party leaders say electoral demographics are compelling them to move beyond policies based only on tough enforcement.

Supporters of comprehensive changes say that the elections were nothing less than a mandate in their favor, and that they are still optimistic that Mr. Obama is prepared to lead the fight.

“Republicans must demonstrate a reasoned approach to start to rebuild their relationship with Latino voters,” said Clarissa Martinez de Castro, the director of immigration policy at the National Council of La Raza, a Latino organization. “Democrats must demonstrate they can deliver on a promise.”

Since the election, Mr. Obama has repeatedly pledged to act on immigration this year. In his weekly radio address on Saturday, he again referred to the urgency of fixing the immigration system, saying it was one of the “difficult missions” the country must take on.

Parallel to the White House effort, Mr. Schumer and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican, have been meeting with a group of at least four other colleagues to write a bill. Republicans who have participated include John McCain of Arizona, who has supported comprehensive legislation in the past; Jeff Flake, also of Arizona, who is newly elected to the Senate; and Mike Lee of Utah. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida participated in one meeting last month.

Democrats in the meetings include Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat; Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado.

View the original article here

Obama nominates Kerry for State post

President Barack Obama has picked Sen. John Kerry for secretary of state, hailing him as an extraordinary lawmaker who has played a central part in every major foreign policy debate of the past 30 years.

Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and decorated Vietnam veteran, would replace Hillary Rodham Clinton if he's confirmed by his fellow senators.

"Today, I'm looking ahead to my second term, and I'm very proud to announce my choice for America's next secretary of state, John Kerry," Obama said. The president added: "Over the years, John has earned the respect and confidence of leaders around the world. He is not going to need a lot of on-the-job training."

Kerry's path to the nomination cleared last week when another candidate -- United Nations ambassador Susan Rice -- announced she would not pursue the post. Kerry, who turned 69 this month, has had a lifelong involvement in foreign issues. The son of a foreign service officer, Kerry fought in Vietnam and later became a leader of a veterans group that opposed the war.

Elected lieutenant governor of Massachusetts in 1982, Kerry won his first U.S. Senate race two years later and is currently in his fifth term. He secured the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2004 but lost the general election to incumbent President George W. Bush. During his Senate years, Kerry opposed U.S. assistance to Nicaraguan rebels during the 1980s and criticized the Iraq war during his 2004 presidential bid against Bush.

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted

View the original article here

September Is the Best Fund-Raising Month for Obama in 2012

President Obama’s campaign raised more money in September than any candidate has raised in a previous month this year, according to several Democrats familiar with the campaign’s money-raising operation.

Several sources said the president’s haul last month exceeded the $114 million he raised in August, in part on the strength of donations that flowed in after the Democratic National Convention and former president Bill Clinton’s well-received speech.

One Democrat familiar with the fund-raising effort said Mr. Obama and his allies at the Democratic National Committee raised more than $150 million in September.

Officials with the campaign declined to comment on the news, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. One Democratic source said aides were still tallying the funds raised in September ahead of the official report they must submit later this month.

Mr. Obama edged out Mitt Romney’s $112 million in August. In 2008, Mr. Obama had the biggest month ever for any presidential candidate, raising $193 million that September.

This year’s haul signals a boost in financial support for Mr. Obama as he nears the conclusion of his battle with Mr. Romney in a little over a month. It ensures that Mr. Obama will have plenty of money for the balance of the campaign despite having been outraised by his Republican rival throughout the summer.

And it comes as Mr. Obama’s campaign confronts the president’s lackluster performance at the first presidential debate Wednesday night.

Mr. Romney’s campaign did not release any information about its fund-raising on Thursday.

Mr. Obama’s advisers have long warned that Mr. Romney’s fund-raising prowess and the success of Republican “super PACs” that are backing him threatened to put the president at a financial disadvantage going into the final stretch.

In fact, it appears to be Mr. Romney who has struggled to keep up. Mr. Obama’s campaign has run far more ads than Mr. Romney in the last several weeks. And the president’s ground operation — which was built over the course of several years — is far larger than Mr. Romney’s.

The never-ending money chase is largely Mr. Obama’s own doing. By choosing to reject federal campaign funds in 2008, Mr. Obama effectively condemned himself — and his future rival — to a continuing need to raise money all the way to election day. (Senator John McCain of Arizona chose to take the federal money in 2008 and was vastly outspent.)

Now, both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney have continued to hold fund-raisers and make appeals to their supporters for cash even as they hold big rallies in battleground states across the country.

Mr. Obama’s apparent success in September may be a result of a surge in small donors, who have long been a vital part of the president’s financial base. The campaign said on Monday that it had collected money in more than 10 million individual donations, a record.

By contrast, Mr. Romney has tended to rely more on fewer — but wealthier — donors. That has meant that more of Mr. Romney’s money is housed at the Republican National Committee, which, by law, can accept much larger contributions from individuals.

Follow Michael D. Shear on Twitter at @shearm.

View the original article here

Romney Ad Says Obama Distorts Tax Cut Plan

In a television ad released Sunday, the Romney campaign returned to one of the most contentious issues of the presidential debate, accusing President Obama of falsely claiming that Mitt Romney would cut $5 trillion in taxes.

Mr. Obama repeated the accusation several times in the debate last Wednesday and that assertion has been a staple of Democrats’ accusations that Mr. Romney’s economic plans favor the rich.

“President Obama continues to distort Mitt Romney’s economic plan,’’ the narrator of the ad says. “The latest? Not telling the truth about Mitt Romney’s tax plan.’’

The ad cites an independent fact-check by The Associated Press and even includes a sound bite of Stephanie Cutter, Mr. Obama’s deputy campaign manager, telling CNN, “Well, O.K., stipulated, it won’t be near $5 trillion.”

The issue turns on semantics as much as math. Mr. Romney has proposed a package of tax cuts, including a 20 percent reduction in marginal income tax rates and zeroing out estate taxes, as well as making permanent the Bush-era tax cuts. Add everything up and the theoretical loss of federal revenue over 10 years is $5 trillion, according to the independent Tax Policy Center.

But that is only half of the story. Mr. Romney describes his proposal as “revenue neutral’’ – any hole punched in the annual deficit would be filled by eliminating tax deductions on high earners and closing other loopholes.

“I’m not looking for a $5 trillion tax cut,’’ Mr. Romney insisted in the debate. “What I’ve said is I won’t put in place a tax cut that adds to the deficit. That’s part one. So there’s no economist that can say Mitt Romney’s tax plan adds $5 trillion if I say I will not add to the deficit with my tax plan.’’

Mr. Romney has left himself open to the Democrats’ attacks by not specifying how he would make up the loss in revenue, specifically which tax deductions he would eliminate. And he also counts on his plan to spur economic growth and add to tax collections, a proposition that federal budget experts have difficulty factoring into their estimates.

The issue is hardly going away.

The Obama campaign released its own video on Sunday accusing Mr. Romney of rewriting his earlier proposals during the debates, including the $5 trillion reduction in taxes. “When the cameras rolled, a performance began,’’ the video says. “But the problem is, that’s all it was.’’

And on Thursday Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who will face Representative Paul D. Ryan in a vice presidential debate this week, mocked Mr. Romney’s claims about his tax proposals. “Last night we found out he doesn’t have a $5 trillion tax cut,’’ he said. “I guess he outsourced that to China or something.’’

View the original article here

Romney Has Conciliatory Remarks on Obama and Health Overhaul

3:09 p.m. | Updated Mitt Romney said Sunday that he would retain elements of President Obama’s health care overhaul, blamed Republicans as much as Democrats for the “mistake” of agreeing to automatic cuts in military spending to avoid a fiscal crisis and acknowledged that Mr. Obama’s national security strategy has made America in “some ways safer.”

The remarks, made in an interview on the NBC News program “Meet The Press,” seemed to mark the emergence of a less openly partisan, more general-election-oriented Republican nominee, who is intent on appealing to middle-of-the-road voters who have not yet made up their minds. At one point, Mr. Romney said that a speech on Thursday by the country’s last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, had “elevated” the party’s convention in Charlotte, N.C.

When the show’s host, David Gregory, asked Mr. Romney what elements of Mr. Obama’s health care program he would maintain, Mr. Romney said he would still require that insurance companies cover those with pre-existing conditions, just as the president’s law has.

“I’m not getting rid of all of health care reform,” Mr. Romney said, while emphasizing that he planned to replace the president’s plan with his own. “There are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I’m going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage.”

Mr. Romney, whose standing in several national polls improved slightly after the Republican convention in Tampa, said, “I’m in a better spot than I was before the convention.”

“People got to see Ann and hear our story,” Mr. Romney said, referring to this wife. “And the result of that is I’m better known, for better or for worse.”

With the Federal Reserve contemplating actions to stimulate the economy, Mr. Romney registered his disapproval, saying that he did not think that “easing monetary policy is going to make a significant difference in the job market right now.”

Mr. Romney, who has criticized the president over the rising federal debt, said he would seek to balance the budget in 8 to 10 years, perhaps after his own potential presidency would end. Any attempt to do so in a first term, Mr. Romney said, would have “a dramatic impact on the economy — too dramatic.”

Mr. Romney said he disagreed with a compromise made last year by the White House and Congressional Republicans that called for automatic cuts to military spending as a way to force a deal on deficit reduction.

“I thought it was a mistake on the part of the White House to propose it. I think it was a mistake for Republicans to go along with it,” he said.

The interview provided another forum in which Mr. Romney was questioned about the omission in his convention speech of any mention of the war in Afghanistan. Mr. Romney seemed defensive when Mr. Gregory asked him about criticism from the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard — and from others on both sides of the ideological divide — ­ that he did not speak about the conflict in accepting his party’s nomination at the Republican convention in Tampa, Fla.

“The Weekly Standard took you to task in your convention speech for not mentioning the war in Afghanistan one time,” Mr. Gregory asked. “Was that a mistake, with so much sacrifice in two wars over the period of this last decade?”

Mr. Romney answered, “You know, I find it interesting that people are curious about mentioning words in a speech as opposed to policy,” noting that he had discussed the war in Afghanistan just before the convention, in a speech to the American Legion. “I went to the American Legion,” he said, “and spoke with our veterans there and described my policy as it relates to Afghanistan and other foreign policy and our military.”

When Mr. Gregory noted that his American Legion address did not have the same large audience as the convention speech ­ — “tens of millions of people” — Mr. Romney replied: “You know, what I’ve found is that wherever I go, I am speaking to tens of millions of people. Everything I say is picked up by you and by others, and that’s the way it ought to be.”

In leaving the war out of his convention address, Mr. Romney seemed to have left an opening for President Obama, who said in his own speech: “Tonight, we pay tribute to the Americans who still serve in harm’s way. We are forever in debt to a generation whose sacrifice has made this country safer and more respected. We will never forget you.”

Pressed on his social views, Mr. Romney reiterated that he did not think that taxpayers should have to pay for abortions and that he wanted Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Reminded that he had once called himself a “severe” conservative, Mr. Romney seemed to play down that description. “I am as conservative as the Constitution,” he said.

In an appearance in Melborune, Fla., Sunday, President Obama, picking up where former President Bill Clinton left off, said that the budget proposals offered by Mitt Romney and Paul D. Ryan do not add up.

The president was quick to jump on appearances by his Republican rivals on the Sunday morning talk shows, in which they were asked separately what loopholes they would close to pay for their proposed tax cuts. Neither of the men answered the question.

The relationship between Mr. Obama and Mr. Clinton started off rocky — Mr. Obama, after all, ran against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008. But after Mr. Clinton’s ringing endorsement of Mr. Obama in a well-received Democratic convention speech on Thursday, the president mentioned his Democratic predecessor at every stop on a bus tour of Florida over the weekend.

“President Clinton told us the single thing missing from my opponents’ proposal was arithmetic,” Mr. Obama told a rally here, to a burst of applause.

“When my opponents were asked about it today,” Mr. Obama said, “it was like 2 plus 1 equals 5.”

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this post misstated a subject Mitt Romney addressed during his convention speech. He did not mention conflict in Afghanistan.

View the original article here

After a Disappointing Jobs Report, Romney Attacks Obama

Michael Appleton for The New York TimesMitt Romney questioned President Obama’s jobs policies at a campaign event on Friday in Orange City, Iowa.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Seizing on a disappointing jobs report, Mitt Romney questioned on Friday whether President Obama “knows what he’s doing” when it came to fixing the economy.

“There’s almost nothing the president has done in the past three and a half, four years that gives the American people confidence that he knows what he’s doing when it comes to jobs and the economy,” Mr. Romney told reporters as he stopped here for a campaign rally.

In Mr. Romney’s first remarks since the Democratic National Convention wrapped up on Thursday night, the Republican nominee said Mr. Obama had offered little more than empty promises. The employment report released on Friday morning showed that the economy added 96,000 jobs in August, down from a revised figure of 141,000 in July and well below the 125,000 level economists had been expecting.

“What is he going to do to get this economy going?” Mr. Romney said. “And all he said last night was the same as what he said four years ago — which, by the way, he made a lot of promises four years ago. Can you think of any of those promises that was met? I mean, he was going to create jobs. We haven’t. Lower unemployment? He hasn’t. Rising take-home pay? It’s gone down.”

His appearance in Iowa came as the Romney campaign was ramping up activity on another front. It announced on Friday a major advertising campaign in eight swing states. The commercials – 15 in all – are specifically tailored to resonate with voters in each of those states.

In Florida, for example, people will see commercials about falling real estate values and high foreclosure rates. In Colorado, where the military and defense contractors are large employers, people will hear how the president’s budget cuts could cost 20,000 military jobs there.

And here in Iowa, they will hear how “excessive government regulations are crushing small businesses and family farms.”

View the original article here

Obama, Invoking Clinton, Says Romney Budget Doesn't Add Up

MELBOURNE, Fla. — President Obama, picking up where former President Bill Clinton left off, said Sunday that the budget proposals offered by Mitt Romney and Paul D. Ryan do not add up.

The president was quick to jump on appearances by his Republican rivals on the Sunday morning talk shows, in which they were asked separately what loopholes they would close to pay for their proposed tax cuts. Neither of the men answered the question.

The relationship between Mr. Obama and Mr. Clinton started off rocky — Mr. Obama, after all, ran against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008. But after Mr. Clinton’s ringing endorsement of Mr. Obama in a well-received Democratic convention speech on Wednesday, the president mentioned his Democratic predecessor at every stop on a bus tour of Florida over the weekend.

“President Clinton told us the single thing missing from my opponents’ proposal was arithmetic,” Mr. Obama told a rally here, to a burst of applause.

“When my opponents were asked about it today,” Mr. Obama said, “it was like 2 plus 1 equals 5.”

On NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Mr. Romney did not answer several questions from the host, David Gregory, on which tax deductions he would seek to eliminate, saying only that he would target “some of the loopholes and deductions at the high end” while lowering the “burden on middle-income people.”

On the ABC News program “This Week,” Mr. Ryan said that “the best way to do this is to show the framework, show the outlines of these plans, and then to work with Congress.”

Mr. Clinton, at the Democratic National Convention, said the Romney-Ryan plan did not  add up. Since then, Mr. Obama has adopted that line on the stump, and he has reiterated it in almost all of his public remarks.

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: September 9, 2012

An earlier version of this post said incorrectly that former President Bill Clinton addressed the Democratic convention on Thursday. His speech was Wednesday.

View the original article here

Column: Obama takes aim at Romney

Cal Thomas is a conservative columnist. Bob Beckel is a liberal Democratic strategist. But as longtime friends, they can often find common ground on issues that lawmakers in Washington cannot.

By H. Darr Beiser,, USA TODAY

Head of the Democratic National Committee: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida tests the podium Tuesday in Charlotte, in preparation for the first day of the party's convention.

By H. Darr Beiser,, USA TODAY

Head of the Democratic National Committee: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida tests the podium Tuesday in Charlotte, in preparation for the first day of the party's convention.

Today:Obama takes the stage

Bob: Gallup reports that Mitt Romney had the smallest polling increase from any presidential convention since 1984. Romney's address to the GOP convention in Tampa, according to Gallup, was the least well-received speech since Bob Dole in 1996. Romney wanted this election to be a referendum on Barack Obama, but because Romney failed to close the sale on his own candidacy, he's given Obama an opening to make Romney an issue.

Cal: Nice try at those DNC talking points, Bob. Here in North Carolina, where I am spending the week with your political brethren, the new Elon University/Charlotte Observer Poll shows Romney leading President Obama 47% to 43% in the state. But enough about polls. Last week, we agreed on what Romney needed to say to the GOP convention and those watching on TV. Now, what do you think the president should say in his speech tonight?

Bob: In his acceptance speech, Romney did not harshly attack the president, which I thought was a good strategy. He let others, including Paul Ryan, do his dirty work for him. Speaker after speaker at the Democratic convention has attacked Romney for proposing warmed over policies from "the last century" and his running mate as radical and dangerous. Obama should do something similar, and to the extent he mentions Romney, it should be to compare the president's policies, popular or not, with Romney's lack of a single new idea.

Cal: The "last century" with its economic booms and defeat of communism in Russia and fascism in Germany is looking better all the time. I agree the president has a record. I anticipate the "failure" of the Democratic convention will be that Democrats will offer more of the same failed solutions. The president made some spectacular promises four years ago, few of which he has kept. It's going to be very difficult to defend that record, given the high expectations he generated, especially on unemployment, which he pledged the stimulus would hold to under 8%. Even Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley admitted to Bob Schieffer last Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation that America is no better off today than it was four years ago.

Bob: My cardinal rule in politics is to effectively manage expectations. The goal of any campaign should be to keep expectations in the right place so the candidate's strengths can exceed expectations and in the process minimize his weaknesses. If any president has ever suffered from high expectations, it's Barack Obama.

Cal: That was not the Republicans' fault. He almost single-handedly created those expectations with all of that lowering of the oceans business and other messianic talk.

Columns

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes a variety of opinions from outside writers. On political and policy matters, we publish opinions from across the political spectrum.

Roughly half of our columns come from our Board of Contributors, a group whose interests range from education to religion to sports to the economy. Their charge is to chronicle American culture by telling the stories, large and small, that collectively make us what we are.

We also publish weekly columns by Al Neuharth, USA TODAY's founder, and DeWayne Wickham, who writes primarily on matters of race but on other subjects as well. That leaves plenty of room for other views from across the nation by well-known and lesser-known names alike.

Bob: I agree. Obama has himself to blame after raising expectations during his extraordinarily effective campaign in 2008. He made promises that were nearly impossible to fulfill, particularly about changing the tone in Washington. He did not expect to be facing a Republican Party that had moved radically to the right and had no interest in working with President Obama.

Cal: Whatever happened to the Democratic Leadership Council, which Bill Clinton headed? These were moderate Democrats who were willing to compromise to move the ball forward. Look at the convention lineup of speakers. There isn't a pro-life, smaller-government, lower-taxes, less-spending, traditional-marriage speaker among the lot. The Democratic Party is now ruled exclusively by the hard left, and yet there are many Democrats who favor some, or all, of these moderate-to-conservative issues. Do you think the president in his speech tonight will have anything to say to these Democrats?

Bob: The DLC was a Clinton-driven organization that left the scene when he did. If you like radical speakers, Tampa was full of them last week. Back to the president's speech. I think Obama must address the expectations issue, and I know some people around him agree. As he told a CBS reporter, he failed "to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism."

Cal: It's a little late for that, don't you think?

Bob: No, I don't. For all his formidable skills as a campaigner and orator, Obama failed to tell the country why he was embarking on new directions in health care and why his stimulus package was necessary. He never sought to downplay the expectations of 2008 when he knew full well that they could not be met. Therefore, I think Obama needs to do a bit of mea culpa in his speech to let the voters know that he knows he hasn't met all their expectations, but that he is making every effort to do so.

Cal: A mea culpa doesn't fit his personality and will seem disingenuous. It would be like Madonna suddenly advocating modest dress. The public is cynical enough about politicians in both parties. The late comedian George Burns is supposed to have said, "Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you've got it made." Given the public's growing distrust of government, it is increasingly difficult to "fake sincerity." You've been a strategist. Should he attack Romney, or ignore him?

Bob: As I've mentioned, a little of both. When Obama talks about Romney, he should avoid talking about Bain Capital and Romney's refusal to release more of his tax returns. Those issues have been covered in his advertising and by others. Rather, Obama should point out that Romney is quick to raise all the problems facing America and has yet to offer solutions to solve them.

Cal: That's a fair point. As for Bain, Deroy Murdock wrote last week in the New York Post, "Bain's private-equity executives have enriched dozens of organizations and millions of individuals in the Democratic base — including some who scream most loudly for President Obama's re-election." So lay off Bain, Mr. President, and tell us if we're in for more of the same policies if you are re-elected.

Bob: Speaking of policies, even TheWall Street Journal panned Romney's speech because he offered no new policies beyond cutting taxes, increasing defense and, in a break with his running mate, Romney said he will protect Social Security and Medicare. This adds up to massive deficits and perhaps taxes on the middle class. It's no wonder so many economists laugh at Romney's warmed over trickle-down policies.

Cal: With the national debt climbing past $16 trillion, I'm glad you are suddenly concerned with debt, which is caused by overspending, not under-taxing. More and more voters don't trust either party to do what it says, but I think they'll give Republicans one more chance to rescue us from this financial sinking ship. If they fail, as we have written in a previous column, voters will keep tossing out incumbents until they get leaders who will do the necessary things to repair the economy.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

View the original article here

Obama to state his case

President Barack Obama finds himself in a delicate position as Democrats descend on Charlotte, N.C., for their party's national convention.

He must build his case for a second term amid continuing economic anxiety, reminding Americans how bad things were when he took office in January 2009 and arguing that the situation could again deteriorate if he loses the White House.

But even the most effective argument from the president may not immediately be reflected in public-opinion polls despite the extensive media coverage planned for this week's three-day Democratic convention, which begins Tuesday and runs through Thursday.

Such events rarely provide as much of a boost in the polls for presidents as they do for their challengers, simply because Americans already have well-formed opinions of their chief executives after four years in office.

Obama's job-approval rating stood at 45 percent as the Republican National Convention got under way in Tampa on Monday. Only one president -- Republican George W. Bush in 2004 -- has won re-election with an approval number below 50 percent.

Obama cannot rest his case on accomplishments such as the 2011 killing of international terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Historically, the economy has been key in determining a first-term president's fate, and the slow post-recession progress is a challenge for him.

In Charlotte, Democrats are expected to keep the heat on Obama's Republican opponents, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his vice- presidential running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, a ticket that Democrats have tried to paint as extreme on issues such as Medicare reform and immigration. And, in an attempt to change the conversation from the economy, Democrats likely will highlight contrasts with the GOP platform on social issues such as abortion rights, which Republicans oppose.

"Remember, President Obama inherited the largest set of problems at once of any president since FDR," said Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman and a Florida congresswoman. "The economy was hemorrhaging 750,000 jobs a month when he took office. And now, after almost four years of his policies, including the recovery act, which saved those teacher and first-responder jobs and created new green-energy jobs, we've had 29 straight months of job growth in the private sector. We've begun to turn things around."

The Romney-Ryan ticket offers a return to "the snake oil that never worked when the Republicans tried it," Wasserman Schultz told The Arizona Republic, as well as to policies that Democrats blame for bringing about "the worst economic crisis that any of us living today have ever faced."

So far, voters are not convinced. National polls released ahead of last week's GOP convention showed the presidential race deadlocked. Some had Romney with leads within the surveys' margins of error.

"The economy isn't good enough for the president to break out, but it's not bad enough for Romney to seize the lead," said John J. "Jack" Pitney Jr., a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College in Southern California. "So it's not surprising that they are running roughly even. It's unlikely that there will be such a big (economic) surge that the president will be able to coast."

The late-summer political conventions, where the major parties' candidates are officially nominated, and Labor Day mark the traditional point at which many undecided and independent voters start paying attention to the presidential race. Romney accepted the GOP nomination last week at a convention featuring themes such as "We Can Do Better" and "We Can Change It."

This week's Democratic convention in North Carolina, a swing state that Obama carried in 2008, "will be the most open and accessible and inclusive national convention that's ever been held in history" and will provide clear contrasts with the Republicans on diversity and other issues, Wasserman Schultz said.

Obama will deliver his nomination acceptance speech Thursday in front of an anticipated crowd of thousands at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will become the first Hispanic to deliver the keynote address at a Democratic convention. Other featured speakers include former President Bill Clinton, actress Eva Longoria, convention chairman and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, 2004 presidential nominee and U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown Law School graduate whose advocacy for contraception coverage earned her scorn -- and an apology -- from conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican turned independent who endorsed Obama last month, also is expected to appear.

Charlotte is expecting 35,000 visitors, including Arizona Democrats such as U.S. Reps. Raúl Grijalva and Ed Pastor; Arizona Corporation Commissioner Sandra Kennedy; Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton; Phoenix City Councilmen Michael Johnson and Michael Nowakowski; Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox; state Sen. David Schapira; state Reps. Ruben Gallego and Anna Tovar; and Tohono O'odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris.

There also has been speculation that former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords might show up. Mark Kelly, Giffords' retired astronaut husband, said in April that an appearance was possible if her rehabilitation regimen allowed for the trip to North Carolina. Giffords resigned Jan. 25 to focus on her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head that she suffered in a 2011 assassination attempt.

Richard Carmona, the former U.S. surgeon general who is running against U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., for Arizona's open U.S. Senate seat, is campaigning in Arizona this week and will not attend the convention. Carmona, a former independent, entered the Senate race as a Democrat at the urging of Obama and other senior national Democrats.

Acknowledging that the economy is a concern, Grijalva said he hopes the convention conveys a tone and message that Obama and Democrats are serious about issues facing the nation. He said it's unfair for Republicans to blame the last few years on Obama and Vice President Joe Biden when Congress failed to take more aggressive action on the recovery. Republicans regained control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections.

"The fingers are being pointed at Democrats. This is an opportunity to point them back," Grijalva said.

Pastor, the senior member of Arizona's U.S. House delegation, also said he believes Obama can ultimately sway voters on the economy.

"He's arguing that the hole that he inherited in terms of the economy was pretty deep, but that we're slowly getting out of it," Pastor said. "He's holding his own."

But Pastor also said he hopes the Democrats will use the convention to continue to press Republicans on social issues such as abortion and gay rights following the furor over comments about rape made by U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, an anti-abortion Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Missouri. Akin sparked outrage by claiming that "legitimate rape" rarely causes pregnancy because women's bodies respond in a way that stops it.

"Keep Todd Akin on TV," Pastor said. "What's happening in Missouri sure as hell isn't going to endear a lot of women to their cause. And their (tough-on- illegal-immigration) platform isn't going to endear a lot of Hispanics to the Republican ticket. Medicare is still going to play, and we'll just keep pounding away."

However, one political observer said the Democratic convention runs the risk of coming across as "boring," given that the party is so solidly behind Obama and there is no trace of party infighting or conflict. In addition to continuing to define Romney in a way that drives up the Republican's negative numbers and lay out a plan for his second term, Obama also needs to keep his troops fired up for the battle ahead, said Simon Rosenberg, president and founder of NDN, a left-of-center think tank in Washington, D.C. The Republican convention, against the backdrop of a hurricane, provided more drama.

"The question is whether the boringness and the togetherness of the Democratic Party right now, which is not a typical situation, is going to be a problem in itself," Rosenberg said. "Where's the excitement going to come from in this convention? ? You could make the argument that Obama has done a good job at keeping this diverse coalition together."

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted

View the original article here

Ralph Reed: Obama camp misjudging Ryan

Mitt Romney's selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate is a window into his governing philosophy and management style, one that should cheer conservatives and give his critics pause. Contrary to the caricature of Romney as a risk-averse Harvard MBA, a power-point wielding, paint-by-the-numbers leader, in choosing Ryan candidate Romney showed a capacity for bold and inspired decisions.

By Charlie Neibergall, AP

Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition.

By Charlie Neibergall, AP

Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition.

Conservatives are fond of pointing out that personnel is policy. In the first and most important personnel decision of his future administration, Romney has chosen in Ryan one of the most respected, influential and substantive conservative leaders of his generation.

I first got to know Paul Ryan when he worked for Jack Kemp and Bill Bennett at Empower America, a conservative think tank, in the early 1990s. When he was elected to Congress in 1998, he quickly impressed his colleagues with his rare combination of a rapier intellect, wonkish public policy knowledge and moral courage.

Yet Ryan has never been enamored with either Washington or the national stage. A devoted husband and father, he chose to keep his family in his hometown of Janesville, Wis., living in a house within blocks of where he grew up and went home virtually every weekend.

A man of deep Christian faith, he remains rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition of his upbringing, even citing the social teaching of the church to defend his budget plan. "Our rights come from nature and God, not government," Ryan said in his announcement speech.

A true believer in supply side economics, he insists that lower tax rates lead to greater economic growth and therefore more revenue — an assertion backed by the historical record. But he has also demonstrated a remarkable capacity to blaze his own intellectual trail, even when it means standing alone. Ryan has made reining in big government and restraining entitlement spending the touchstone of his public service, shaping the contours of the public debate in a way few members of Congress ever do.

He has also compiled a 100% pro-life voting record in his 14 years in Congress and is a strong supporter of traditional marriage, thrilling social conservatives. It would be ironic if the first national ticket in U.S. history without a Protestant wins with the strong backing of evangelical Christians, who will play a critical role in the outcome of the election.

Columns

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes a variety of opinions from outside writers. On political and policy matters, we publish opinions from across the political spectrum.

Roughly half of our columns come from our Board of Contributors, a group whose interests range from education to religion to sports to the economy. Their charge is to chronicle American culture by telling the stories, large and small, that collectively make us what we are.

We also publish weekly columns by Al Neuharth, USA TODAY's founder, and DeWayne Wickham, who writes primarily on matters of race but on other subjects as well. That leaves plenty of room for other views from across the nation by well-known and lesser-known names alike.

The choice of a running mate lays bare the character of future presidents. John F. Kennedy's selection of Lyndon Johnson in 1960 revealed a quiet confidence and steely pragmatism unusual for a man then only one year older than Paul Ryan is today. Bill Clinton's choice of Al Gore reflected the rising aspirations of the Baby Boom generation and a reach for the vital center, eschewing the Democratic Party's ossified liberal past. George W. Bush's choice of Dick Cheney reflected a preference for substance over style, a governing partner over a politically motivated pick.

Similarly, Romney's choice suggests that he will govern as a conservative reformer. Romney has laid down a marker, offering a stark choice between two competing visions for the country's future. So much for simply seeking to be viewed as an acceptable alternative to Obama.

The response of the Obama campaign to the Ryan announcement was predictable, and predictably arrogant. Obama's surrogates snickered that Romney had played right into their hands, choosing the author of a budget that would "end Medicare as we know it," take food from the mouths of children and wage war on women. Obama adviser David Axelrod vowed to hang the Ryan budget around Romney's neck.

But this could be a fight Obama will come to regret. At a time of economic anxiety, high unemployment and record deficits, Romney's pick of Paul Ryan guarantees a choice election. There is now no avoiding a vigorous debate over large issues such as the size and role of government, the future of the entitlement state and the moral imperative of democratic capitalism.

The choice of Ryan tells us a lot about Romney. The voters' choice in November will tell us even more about America.

Ralph Reed is the chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

View the original article here