White House insiders say Obama budget axes Constellation program, plan to return astronauts to the moon - OrlandoSentinel.com
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Showing posts with label obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obama. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
White House insiders say Obama budget axes Constellation program, plan to return astronauts to the moon - OrlandoSentinel.com
White House insiders say Obama budget axes Constellation program, plan to return astronauts to the moon - OrlandoSentinel.com
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Obama speaks at MLK service
from usatoday.com:
"Happy Sunday from The Oval. On this day of worship for many Americans, thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Haiti.
President Obama attended services this morning at Vermont Avenue Baptist Church. He made the visit in connection with tomorrow's holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr., who spoke in the same pulpit back in 1956.
"At the core of King's success was an appeal to conscience that touched hearts and opened minds," Obama said. "A commitment to universal ideals -- of freedom, of justice, of equality -- that spoke to all people, not just some people."
This afternoon, the president engages in the more temporal activity of campaigning. He travels to Boston to stump for embattled Senate candidate Martha Coakley. A Democratic loss in the surprisingly close race to replace Ted Kennedy would hurt Obama's domestic agenda.
Meanwhile, the Sunday morning news shows aired pre-taped interviews with former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who are heading up a major new fundraising drive for Haiti.
The Clinton Bush Haiti fund website is here. The two ex-presidents also authored a New York Times op-ed on their efforts.
On CNN's State of the Union, Bush said he has not given Obama any advice based on his (heavily criticized) handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Said Bush: "People love to point fingers. But what people should focus on in Katrina is ... how the American people responded to help a neighbor in need. Same situation here."
Making his first trip to the White House since his term ended, Bush also told CNN's John King: "I frankly don't miss the limelight. I'm glad to help out, but there's life after the presidency is what I've learned, and I'm going to live it to the fullest, and this is part of living it to the fullest, to help other people."
Bush also decried political comments about aid to Haiti. Asked on ABC's This Week about questions from prominent conservatives on whether the U.S. should contribute money to Haiti given its government corruption, Bush said: "We've got to deal with the desperation, and there ought to be no politicization of that."
On CBS' Face The Nation, the ex-presidents spoke with Bob Schieffer about their personal relationship, which have included many phone calls in recent years:
CLINTON: I was always pleased when he called me. I'd make it a practice never to bother the president. I don't call President Obama, either ... You know, they have got plenty to do. But we have developed a very honest, good friendship. And we've made our disagreements respectful and we've had a good time doing it.
BUSH: My mother calls me my fourth brother -- calls him my fourth brother.
SCHIEFFER: Is that right?
CLINTON: The black sheep of the family.
The ex-presidents also reminded Americans on NBC's Meet The Press that helping Haiti will take time.
Fox News Sunday also featured Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who called the Massachusetts "a referendum on the national health care bill." He also said the politics of health care are "toxic for the Democrats."
The Sunday interview shows also featured Gen. P.K. Keen, deputy commander of the U.S. Southern Command, and Rajiv Shah, the administrator of USAID.
In the meantime, newspapers are starting to publish stories on Obama's one-year anniversary in office, which rolls around Wednesday. The Washington Post today writes that Obama is "testing the promise of pragmatism."
And, lastly, we'd like to wish a happy birthday to first lady Michelle Obama."
Obamas celebrate first lady's 46th birthday a bit early
from usatoday.com:
"WASHINGTON (AP) — President Obama has treated first lady Michelle Obama to a surprise birthday party at a tony Washington restaurant known for its commitment to organically grown food.
Surprising the birthday girl Saturday night at Restaurant Nora in Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood were her mother Marian Robinson and friends, including Attorney General Eric Holder, White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett and Jocelyn Frye, who is a domestic policy adviser to both the president and first lady.
Mrs. Obama walked into the restaurant in a dark, knee-length frock. President Obama was dressed casually with no tie.
Michelle Obama will turn 46 on Sunday but her husband is expected to be in Massachusetts campaigning for Martha Coakley, who is in a tough fight with Scott Brown to replace the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and retain the Democratic party's 60-vote majority in the U.S. Senate.
She spent part of her last birthday on a train from Philadelphia to Washington, as her husband made his way to the Capitol to be inaugurated.
Restaurant Nora claims to be a pioneering organic restaurant, with 95% of its food produced by organic growers since 1999."
Saturday, January 16, 2010
President Obama at One Year: Lower Ratings, Higher Doubts
from abcnews.com:
"Jan. 17, 2010—
Bruised if unbroken, President Barack Obama faces shrinking public confidence, increasingly negative views of the country's direction and far lower ratings than those he carried triumphantly into the White House a year ago this week.
But it could be worse.
Despite their disappointments, 53 percent of Americans in this ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of Obama's job performance overall -- 15 points lower than his opening grade, but still just over half at the one-year mark. He remains personally popular, if far less so. And confidence in his leadership, as weakened as it is, greatly exceeds that in the Republicans in Congress, or, for that matter, in his own party.
Click here for a PDF with charts and questionnaire.
The comedown nonetheless is dramatic, partly given the high expectations when Obama took office. Sixty-two percent of Americans now say the country's off on the wrong track, the most in 11 months. For the first time more than half, 53 percent, aren't confident in Obama to make the right decisions for the country's future. Just 41 percent say he's keeping his major campaign promises. And while a year ago 76 percent thought he'd bring "needed change" to Washington -- his campaign mantra -- far fewer, 50 percent, today say he's actually done so.
Indeed more than half, 52 percent, now say Obama hasn't accomplished much overall -- up sharply from 36 percent at the three-month mark, the height of his economic recovery efforts. With the economy still rated as the country's most pressing problem, Obama's approval for handling it has fallen from 60 percent a month after he took office to 47 percent today. And a new low, barely over a third, says his policies are making the economy better.
The economy's not the only challenge. While Obama has focused attention on health care -- its rating as the country's most pressing problem is sharply up -- his prescription lacks broad support; 52 percent disapprove of the way he's handling the issue, more than half for the second month and up from 29 percent last spring. And he continues to take it on the chin for the deficit; 56 percent disapprove, more than half steadily since summer.
GRACE: There are some grace notes. Fifty-five percent approve of Obama's handling of the threat of terrorism; more, a notable 62 percent, approve of the way he's handled the government's response to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines jet.
Obama's buoyed, as well, by the fact that 58 percent of Americans continue to express a favorable opinion of him personally, the most basic measure of a public figure's popularity. (George W. Bush, for comparison, left office with 37 percent favorability.) Obama's down a steep 21 points on this score, but it does remain positive for him.
Moreover, 63 percent see Obama as a strong leader, 57 percent say he understands the problems of people like them and 55 percent think he shares their values. These are down, respectively, by 9, 15 and 12 points from their levels when he took office. But personal favorability and empathy serve as a politician's cartilage when the road gets rough, and Obama's aided by the fact that his remain positive overall.
Also, more than half of Americans, 54 percent, see Obama as "about right" ideologically, rather than too liberal, 37 percent (its peak was 40 percent in November) or too conservative. But this too, is down, from an usually high 65 percent "about right" when he took office.
CONFIDENCE and IRE: As noted, confidence in Obama's decision-making has deteriorated markedly. Forty-seven percent trust him to make the right decisions for the country's future, down from 61 percent when he took office. Fifty-three percent don't, up from 37 percent.
But that's better than the other chief players in Washington politics. Far more Americans, 75 percent, don't trust the Republicans in Congress to make the right decisions for the country's future; just 24 percent do -- up 5 points from its nadir in October, but still only half Obama's level of trust. Sixty-eight percent don't trust decision-making by the Democrats in Congress, up 12 points since January. Thirty-two percent do.
Some ire is also deflected by the fact that far more Americans blame the country's economic straits on the Bush administration, for inadequate regulation of the financial industry -- 67 percent -- than separately blame Obama, for not doing enough to turn things around, 36 percent. It's true, too, that today's 62 percent "wrong track" figure, while 14 points worse than its recent best last spring, is still better than its record 90 percent in October 2008.
Also, while 42 percent call the economy the single biggest problem for the president and the Congress to address, still far and away the top item, it's down from 66 percent a year ago. That reflects a large rise in the number who cite health care as the top problem, now 24 percent.
PRECEDENTS: To a large extent Obama's treading the predicted path for a president presiding over 10 percent unemployment. His course in approval almost precisely matches that of the last president to take office in the tempest of a recession, Ronald Reagan, who went from 68 percent job approval shortly after he took office to 52 percent at the one-year mark. Obama's gone from 68 percent to 53 percent in the comparable period. Their first-year ratings correlate at .88, with 1 representing a perfect match.
The worrying news for Obama is that Reagan went on to slip below 50 percent and pretty much stayed there throughout his second year, bottoming out at 42 percent at the two-year mark (and losing 26 House seats en route). He recovered only when the economy did.
Better for Obama is the long-term precedent; Reagan did recover, and completed his two-term presidency with an average 56 percent approval, solidly in the midrange for a postwar president.
Some of Obama's ratings also call to mind another previous president. In January 1994, with the public mood fouled by a recession hangover, just 37 percent of Americans said Bill Clinton was keeping most of his major campaign promises, and 53 percent said he hadn't accomplished much so far -- both similar to Obama's ratings now. Clinton, however, went on to end his two terms with an average 57 percent approval, almost identical to Reagan's.
The net change for Obama in his first year, down 15 points, is about the same as it was for Jimmy Carter as well as Reagan, and was worse for two presidents (both unelected) -- Harry Truman, down 36 points in his first year, and Gerald Ford, down 26 points.
On an individual level, marks at one year in office don't always predict full-term success. George W. Bush soared at one year after 9/11, but had a disastrous second term; Richard Nixon had 63 percent approval after one year but ended with a career average of just 49 percent. Nonetheless, there is a relationship overall; for presidents since Truman, approval at one year correlates with full-career approval at .63. Exclude Bush and it's .82.
PARTISANSHIP: Partisanship and ideology are the two most powerful features of Obama's ratings -- as is customary, and increasingly so in the past generation. Eighty-seven percent of Democrats approve of his performance in office, virtually unchanged from the first ABC/Post reading a month after he took office. That plummets to 20 percent approval among Republicans, down 17 points as the president's first year has unfolded.
More troubling for the administration is the shift among independents, the centerweight of national politics. Obama's approval rating in this group is down from 67 percent a year ago February to 49 percent now, an 18-point fall.
The trend is all the more important because independents, 38 percent of the public, outnumber Democrats and Republicans in this poll, as they did across 2009 for the first time since 1995. One key reason is continued defections from the Republican Party; 23 percent in this survey identify themselves as Republicans, matching the 2009 average and down steadily from its peak, 31 percent, on average in 2003. But Democrats have slipped too, to 32 percent now, compared with an average 36 percent in 2008, their best year since 1992.
The partisan divisions are different for Obama than they were for Reagan, who took office in a somewhat less partisan age. Reagan maintained 57 percent approval from independents after his first year, 8 points better than Obama, and also did better among Democrats than Obama among Republicans. But Reagan -- perhaps surprisingly given his iconic status in the GOP -- was a bit weaker in his own party at one year than Obama is today.
All this has implications for the midterm elections, but there's also time for it to change. An ABC News analysis, reported in more detail last month, finds a substantial correlation since 1946, .51, between a president's approval rating a year before his first midterm election and his party's losses in that election. But the correlation is much higher, .8, using approval immediately before the midterm election. What matters more is not Obama's approval now, but where it is in 10 months.
GROUPS Obama remains most popular among young adults, ages 18 to 29, whose record level of support was crucial in the 2008 election. Nonetheless his approval rating is down 22 points in this group, from 84 percent last February to 62 percent now -- a big drop in a core group. His approval from seniors, meanwhile, is down 17 points, to 42 percent, his weakest age group.
Obama's lost 11 points in approval among liberals and moderates the past year, but twice that, a 20-point drop, in approval among conservatives, from 49 percent last February to 29 percent now. It hurts him especially since the ranks of self-identified conservatives have grown, to 38 percent in this poll (about half again as many liberals) and 37 percent on average last year, the most in ABC/Post annual averages since 1988. (The 1988-2008 average was 32 percent.)
Obama has held tough among people who say they voted for him; 89 percent approve of his work. His rating falls to 11 percent among supporters of John McCain, and it's 53 percent among those who say they didn't vote. Indeed in some ways we're back to Nov. 4, 2008: Obama was elected that day with 53 percent of the vote precisely his approval rating now. "
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Arkansas Man Pleads Guilty for Plotting to Kill Obama
from foxnews.com:
"
JACKSON, Tenn. — An Arkansas man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he plotted to kill then-Sen. Barack Obama and dozens of other black people in 2008.
Paul Schlesselman, 19, of Arkansas, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, one count of threatening to kill and harm a presidential candidate and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
He faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in April.
A co-defendant, Daniel Cowart, 21, of Tennesse, remains in custody.
Authorities have described the two as white supremacist skinheads who hatched a plot for a cross-country robbery and killing spree that was to culminate with an attack on Obama, who was then a candidate for president.
They were arrested in October 2008 and have been held without bond since.
"Despite great civil rights progress, hate-fueled violence remains all too common in our country, as illustrated by this unthinkable conspiracy," Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department, said in a statement.
An after hours message left with the federal public defenders office, who represented Schlesselman, was not immediately returned Thursday evening.
Authorities have said that although the two had enough guns to create carnage, they never got close to carrying out their plans.
When arrested, Cowart and Schlesselman were staying with Cowart's grandparents in rural northwest Tennessee. Much of the government's evidence against the two was seized by sheriff's deputies from the grandparents' home. Items seized from the home included a sawed-off shotgun, a high-powered rifle, a handgun and several swords and knives.
Federal investigators have said the two gave statements about their plans, which included shooting at Obama from a speeding car while wearing white tuxedoes and top hats.
Prosecutors have said investigators were looking for Schlesselman and Cowart on a tip from an informant when the two drove up to the home of Cowart's grandfather in a car emblazoned with a large swastika on the hood and the slogan "Honk if you love Hitler" on the back.
Authorities say Cowart and Schlesselman met over the Internet where they shared common white supremacist views."
Obama Announces $100 Million for Haiti Earthquake Relief
from foxnews.com:
"President Obama announced Thursday that the United States has committed an "immediate investment" of $100 million to help with the relief and recovery efforts in Haiti in the aftermath of its devastating earthquake.
He said that fund -- to cover everything from food to medicine to equipment -- would grow in the coming year and encouraged Americans to donate toward the relief efforts as well.
"This is one of those moments that calls out for American leadership," Obama said. "We need to summon the tremendous generosity and compassion of the American people."
To the Haitian people, Obama said, "America stands with you. The world stands with you. ... Help is arriving. Much, much more help is on the way."
U.S. troops, ships and supplies are either in or on their way to Haiti to join up with international relief teams that have pledged help. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake did untold damage to the island, but casualties are feared to be at least in the tens of thousands.
The USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier, is on its way and expected to arrive on Friday. The ship is carrying 19 helicopters and has several dozen hospital beds, three operating rooms and a water purification system on board.
Two-thousand Marines are also leaving for Haiti on an amphibious assault ship equipped with disaster relief supplies and hovercrafts that can operate on land and water. Three-thousand troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne will begin arriving Thursday. And the hospital ship USNS Comfort is expected to arrive by Jan. 22. It is equipped with 250 hospital beds and 12 operating rooms.
Earlier, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States is providing the "glue" to hold together Haiti, explaining that the country is suffering from a government vacuum as aid pours in from around the world.
"It is beyond our comprehension as yet," Clinton told Fox News.
The government in Haiti was hit especially hard. The presidential palace collapsed into itself and the country's parliament building was destroyed, trapping the Senate president inside. Clinton said the United States and other nations are stepping in to fill that void and help the Haitians "piece together governmental authority" again.
"The government's been destroyed. They have no communication system. The president did get out alive, but most of his government is unaccounted for," Clinton said.
"The United States is providing a lot of the glue that is keeping people communicating, working together, as we try to assert authority, reinstate the government and begin to do what governments have to do to rebuild and reconstruct this damaged country," she said.
Clinton said United Nations peacekeeping troops will be providing "law and order."
"We're going to be on the ground in force and we're going to do everything we can to help alleviate this," Clinton said."
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Obama Wants Record $708B for Wars
from foxnews.com:
"
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of a record $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned -- a request that could be an especially hard sell to some of the administration's Democratic allies.
The extra $33 billion in 2010 would mostly go toward the expansion of the war in Afghanistan. Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops for that war as part of an overhaul of the war strategy late last year.
Military officials have suggested that the 2011 request would top $700 billion for the first time, but the precise figure has not been made public.
The administration also plans to tell Congress next month that its central military objectives for the next four years will include winning the current wars while preventing new ones and that its core missions will include both counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations.
The administration's Quadrennial Defense Review, the main articulation of U.S. military doctrine, is due to Congress on Feb. 1. Top military commanders were briefed on the document at the Pentagon on Monday and Tuesday. They also received a preview of the administration's budget plans through 2015.
The four-year review outlines six key mission areas and spells out capabilities and goals the Pentagon wants to develop. The pilotless drones used for surveillance and attack missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan are a priority, with the goals of speeding up the purchase of new Reaper drones and expanding Predator and Reaper drone flights through 2013.
U.S. officials outlined the coming requests on condition of anonymity because the budget request will not be sent to Congress until later this month.
Obama's request for more war spending is likely to receive support on Capitol Hill, where Republicans will join moderate Democrats to pass the bill.
But the budget debate is also likely to expose a widening rift between Obama's administration and Democratic leaders, who have watched public opinion turn against the military campaign.
"The president's going to have to make his case," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters last month at her year-end briefing.
The 2010 budget contains about $128 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
That figure would rise to $159 billion next year under the proposals prepared for Congress.
The Pentagon projects that war funding would drop sharply in 2012, to $50 billion, and remain there through 2015. That is a calculation that the United States will save money from the withdrawal of forces in Iraq, as well as a prediction that the Afghanistan war will begin to wind down in the middle of 2011.
Obama has promised that U.S. forces will begin to withdraw from Afghanistan in July 2011, but his defense advisers have set no time limit for the war.
The Pentagon projects that overall defense spending would be $616 billion in 2012; $632 billion in 2013; $648 billion in 2014; and $666 billion in 2015. Congress sets little store by such predictions, which typically have fallen short of actual requests and spending.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected to testify to Congress about the budget and the policy review in February.
The four-year policy statement is a more important statement of administration goals. For the current wars, the policy statement focuses on efforts to refocus money and talent on beefing up special operations forces, countering weapons of mass destruction and terrorism threats, and maintaining cyber security.
For example, the Pentagon would like to expand special operations aviation by expanding the gunship fleet from 25 to 33."
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