Monday Morning Excerpts

"Finally a Progressive Budget" (Robert Reich):

President Obama’s new budget is, well, audacious -- not just because it includes several big, audacious initiatives (universally affordable health care, and a cap-and-trade system for coping with global warming, for starters) but also because it represents the biggest redistribution of income from the wealthy to the middle class and poor this nation has seen in more than forty years.

"Iraqi leaders embrace Obama’s withdrawal announcement" (Think Progress):

Yesterday, President Obama announced that he would withdraw combat troops from of Iraq by August 2010. ThinkProgress noted yesterday that several U.S. military service members have embraced the withdrawal timetable. The announcement has also been welcomed by Iraqi leaders, who have favored a U.S. withdrawal for years.

"We're really leaving Iraq" (Juan Cole):

On Friday, nearly six years after George W. Bush's swaggering "Mission Accomplished" speech, a new and humbler president addressed a cheering military audience and declared an end to the Iraq War. But some observers fear that President Barack Obama's blueprint, which extends the American presence for another quarter-decade, raises the possibility of a continued U.S. entanglement in that war.

"All Troops Out By 2011? Not So Fast; Why Obama's Iraq Speech Deserves a Second Look" (Jeremy Scahill):

Some anti-war analysts find hope in President Barack Obama's address at Camp Lejuene in North Carolina on Friday, in which he appeared to spell out a clear date for withdrawal from Iraq.

"I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011," Obama said in a speech that quickly generated headlines announcing that an end to the occupation is on the horizon. As far as rhetoric goes, Obama's statement seems very clear. But in reality, it is far more complicated.

"Budget chief: Obama will sign spending bill" (AP):

The White House on Sunday downplayed massive deficit spending and President Barack Obama's pledge not to sign legislation laden with billions in earmarks amid Republican criticism that he was recanting on a key campaign promise.

The administration's top budget official, Peter Orszag, said Obama would sign the $410 billion spending bill despite a campaign pledge that he would reject tailored budget requests that let lawmakers send money to their home states. Orszag said Obama would move ahead and overlook the time-tested tradition that lets officials divert millions at a time to pet projects.

It was the Washington equivalent of officials pinching their nose and swallowing a bitter pill.

"This is last year's business," Orszag said, offering an acknowledgment that Obama would sign a bill that doesn't conform with his campaign vows. "We want to just move on. Let's get this bill done, get it into law and move forward."

"Dean Talks About Not Getting HHS And Post-DNC Plans" (Sam Stein):

Having been bypassed for a cabinet post after leaving the DNC, former Gov. Howard Dean has chosen to pursue a multi-faceted career in health care advocacy, progressive political strategy, speeches, education and energy, and even election monitoring.

The Vermont Democrat, whose supporters were hoping to see him end up as Secretary of Health and Human Services, summed up his plans this way: "It is sort of outside government but doing the things that I want to do anyway."

"The Un-Rove" (Andrew Sullivan):

I've learned for two years now not to under-estimate Obama. I watched from the very start of the campaign how he strategized a path to achieving his goals partly by eschewing the kinds of tactics that Washington has come to see as political skill. I think of him in some ways as the Un-Rove.

Barack Obama