Live video of "Obama announces end of Iraq combat mission"

MSNBC, video (28:48).

Howie P.S.: Now that the live feed is over, video above is the archived version.

Barack Obama

"New MoveOn Director Backs The President, For a Change"

Ari Melber (The Nation):

Justin Ruben had a good meeting with President Obama last week.

As the new executive director of MoveOn.org, the 35-year-old Texan was invited to a small White House gathering for allies on February 18, where he brought a message from his five million members to the new President. "This is a moment to go big," he said, citing daily conversations with MoveOn activists. "We understand that's not going to be easy, but people are mobilized and willing to fight to make it happen. That's really what I carried with me into that room," he said. Ruben outlined MoveOn's goals, its Obama strategy and its mechanisms for grassroots accountability in an exclusive interview with The Nation this week, his first extensive discussion with the media since taking the helm of one of the largest progressive organizations in the country.

As executive director, Ruben must now take a network that has long battled bad ideas – impeaching Clinton, invading Iraq, gutting Social Security – and adapt it to supporting and broadening the administration's agenda. "We're in this amazing position now where we get to fight for stuff," he says. MoveOn's four "core" policy areas, decided by members during December house meetings, are economic recovery, universal health care, climate change and ending the Iraq war. "Finally our top priority," he enthused, "is winning real substantive changes that will make a difference in the lives of everyday Americans."

That change agenda tracks closely Obama's, obviously, and excludes some popular liberal issues that the administration has sidestepped. Politico's Andie Coller noted, for example, that MoveOn's new agenda does not address "holding the Bush administration accountable; fighting for gay rights and LGBT equality; and reforming campaigns and elections." And while MoveOn loudly led the battle against the Iraq "surge," Ruben said he not expect ending the war Afghanistan, where Obama is deploying additional troops, to make the priority list. The "overwhelming priority" is still Iraq, Ruben explains, and while his members are concerned about Afghanistan, they tend to "differ on what ought to be done about it."

Some critics complain that the organization has already swapped its independence for incumbent boosterism. "Clearly MoveOn has completed its morph into an Obama Cheerleading Squad" said John Stauber, a liberal critic of the group and longtime corporate gadfly.

Ruben, who has organized for labor, trade and environmental groups, thinks people have the ability to back incumbents and hold them accountable.

"Having spent a lot of time with MoveOn members, I think folks are loyal first and foremost to their vision of the country. They are tremendously hopeful about Obama," he acknowledged, while stressing how netroots activists gather a rich range of views on policy debates. "In the end they will come to their own judgment, and it will be informed by what he says, and what we say, and what they read in the New York Times and blogs -- and certainly Moveon members are pretty independent. They're not going to believe it just because we said it, or because the president said it."

While MoveOn is more democratic and member-driven than many liberal interest groups and virtually all foundations, the decision to tap Ruben was still made by five people, without any input from the group's millions of members. The board, made up of MoveOn's founders and the group's popular outgoing executive director, Eli Pariser, simply tapped Ruben from his post as organizing director. In our interview, Ruben was sympathetic to the idea that the members who provide the labor and money that fuels MoveOn should have more influence, but he argued that they control important decisions in other ways. It is worth quoting at length:

Ruben: The thing that's so interesting that a lot of folks don't get -- it wasn't obvious to me until I came work for MoveOn – [is that] you can only work on the stuff that is right on the tip of people's tounges, right on the forefront of their consciousness -- the things that people are looking for a way to have an impact on. As an organization, a huge part of our focus is just oriented on just trying to figure out what those things are -- what people want to work on and how we can give them opportunity to make biggest impact, much more so than any other organization I've ever been a part of. That's our DNA. It's our whole core operating model. In that sense, I've found MoveOn to be more member-driven than formally democratic institutions that I've been part of.

The Nation: Like unions?

Ruben: Yes, or other more local grassroots groups that work by consensus. Because there are always power dynamics in situations -- things are formally democratic but you can heave leaders who aren't seeking out what the great majority of folks are most passionate about. That said, technology is a powerful tool for aggregating opinions and allowing people to make decisions together. I am really interested in how we can keep using technology to make MoveOn more member-driven….When I think about role that members play in the organizaiton, I want to see more ways we can tap into ingenuity, skills -- a lot of them are smarter than me and know lots of stuff that I don't know. The question is more than just allowing people to click and sign a petition, make phone calls or organizing a rally… Can they be formulating policy? Finding opportunities for other MoveOn members to get involved? We have a small staff, [so] we tended to not be very process intensive. Historically, that's something that people like about us: "I don't have to do lots of meetings; I can do it right from my house; Let me know exactly when there's something to do." [We want] to do more, but without the trappings of process that an end up excluding folks.

In a blog post last August, Ruben wrote that he could envision MoveOn adding "more formal democratic mechanisms," noting that members could not "vote for the board" or "fire the staff" or "frame the questions" in emails, and such reforms might make the group stronger. For now, the focus is on trying to "devolve more responsibility to shape our campaigns on the ground," Ruben said, though he doesn't know if members will vote on the next executive director.

In the end, it is hard to balance moderated grassroots energy with coordinated national campaigns, or to toggle from White House meetings with the President to hammering the administration with independent pressure. But for a relatively young, self-organized political organization, these are good problems to have.

Barack Obama

Friday Roundup (excerpts, with video)

"President Obama's 2010 Budget" (MSNBC, video-08:13).

"President Obama Releases Budget" (NY Times video-02:26):

Reporter Peter Baker on President Obama's new budget blueprint, which estimates a stunning deficit of $1.75 trillion for the current fiscal year.

"Obama's budget upsets oil and gas industries" (Dallas Morning News):

President Barack Obama's first budget wallops the oil and gas industry by eliminating $31.5 billion in tax breaks while blaming the administration of former President George W. Bush for perpetuating the nation's dependence on fossil fuels.

If Congress agrees to Obama's proposals, the long list of tax breaks that would disappear would affect both big and small oil and natural gas producers.

Both reacted strongly against the proposals.

"What’s on the Chopping Block?" (Washington Wire-WSJ):

President Barack Obama’s budget outline includes a variety of pledges to cut spending, some more narrowly targeted than others.
(snip)
The Department of Education figures it will save about $4 billion a year with direct loans to students, rather than subsidizing loans made by banks and other lenders. It also promises to end federal education programs that can’t prove their effectiveness in a new review – specifically, programs with “narrowly focused curricula, staffing choices or school choices.”

"Senate to investigate CIA's actions under Bush" (LA Times):

The Senate Intelligence Committee is preparing to launch an investigation of the CIA's detention and interrogation programs under President George W. Bush, setting the stage for a sweeping examination of some of most secretive and controversial operations in recent agency history.

"Watch Live: Conservative Political Action Conference"(TPM video).

Howie P.S.: My favorite quote this morning from the Conservative Political Action Conference was a gentleman saying that Sarah Palin had him at "Lock and load!"

Barack Obama

"Anger and Aggregation The P-I's Online Plan and Its Discontents"

Eli Sanders (The Stranger):

The view from the executive conference room at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer looks westward, out over the train tracks that run behind the newspaper's headquarters on Elliott Avenue, over Puget Sound and the ferries and freighters and sailboats that traverse it, over islands and foothills and, finally, at the wall of white-and-blue peaks that make up the Olympic Mountains.

If you turn away from this quintessential Seattle view, you will see, on the wall opposite, a giant map of the world. It's the kind of newspaper office space, filled with a sense of dominion far beyond its confines, that harks back to an earlier time, when big-city dailies were, indeed, masters of all they surveyed. Powerful, barely challenged conduits of information and commerce, they were regarded much like those railway tracks once were: essential pieces of American life, impossible to do without.

On February 18, beginning at 9:00 a.m., Ken Riddick, the vice president for digital media at the Hearst Corporation, took up residence in this seductive space and held a series of 25 meetings with P-I journalists, each lasting about 20 minutes. The topic: What to do with the P-I's website now that Seattle's oldest daily newspaper—founded in 1863 and currently the longest-operating business in Washington State—is all but certain to meet its end in mid-March.

Riddick is a former photojournalist with a well-trimmed beard, balding head, and slight accent that struck some as Southern, or maybe Texan; he came to these conversations wearing a suit and black cowboy boots. His shirt and tie—well, they are remembered in different ways by the P-I reporters who met with him, and this may be because these reporters, accustomed to asking questions and taking note of everything, found themselves on this day in the opposite position. They were there to pitch Riddick their ideas for an online-only P-I, even though it was far from guaranteed that they would be part of such a venture.

Assuming Hearst continues with the process of closing down the print edition by mid-March, it's easy to imagine an online-only P-I staffed with as few as 20 people. Or even fewer. As a result, at this point nearly all of the paper's roughly 170 employees expect to be out of a job. No surprise, then, that there had been considerable ambivalence among the reporters when an e-mail went out on February 12 offering them the opportunity to sign up to meet "Ken Riddick from corporate."

"There are people with plenty of ideas here," said Athima Chansanchai, who has been at the paper four years and writes for the Arts & Entertainment section. But, she added, "What makes [Riddick] think people are going to give them away for free?"

This sentiment may have accounted for the fact that the afternoon before Riddick's arrival, the sign-up sheet to meet with him was far from full. However, fear of unemployment is a powerful thing. By the next morning, there wasn't an open slot to be had—and even Chansanchai, who, in the end, would prefer to keep working in Seattle as a journalist, had put herself on the list. "I was like, 'What the hell could it hurt?'" she explained.

"You feel a bit like it's an audition," said Mike Lewis, who has been at the paper eight years and writes the Under the Needle column. He signed up to meet with Riddick in the hopes of staying in journalism at a time when there are few jobs to be had in the industry. "You know that if they do keep an online publication—and my suspicion is that they will—that they're going to keep many fewer people."

Regina Hackett, the P-I's art critic for 27 years, described the tension this way: "He was sitting at the big table. The big Mussolini table. There's the view of the water. I'm taking in the waves. And then I turn around and see this warm open face... But he's a reporter. We all have that warm and open face, when we're working... And so I know I gotta be on my game. It's match, set, point."

O fficially, both inside and outside the P-I headquarters, all plans for the online-only P-I are discussed in purely hypothetical terms—if at all. But it's increasingly hard to imagine that an online-only launch isn't going to happen. "[Riddick] told me that they're operating as if we're going to go forward," said Andrea James, a business reporter who has been at the P-I since 2006. "So I didn't get the feeling that Hearst has a big question mark over its head and doesn't know what it's doing."

Hearst did not respond to a request to make Riddick available for an interview. But according to more than a half-dozen P-I reporters who participated in meetings with him that day, he was resolutely cagey.

"He was mainly receiving my ideas and input," said political columnist Joel Connelly, who has worked at the P-I since the summer of 1973 and is one of the paper's more loquacious storehouses of Northwest knowledge. True to form, Connelly used some of his 20 minutes with Riddick to take the man from corporate over to the window and tick off the names of every single one of the Olympic peaks in the distance. Later, Connelly regaled Riddick with tales of flush times when, at the P-I's expense, he traveled the entire length of the United States-Canada border with a photographer and reported back from the journey.

Connelly did not ask Riddick what the future holds. "Since you can't forecast the future, I wouldn't ask him to," he explained. James, the business reporter, recounted: "Ken was really clear that he wasn't going to tell me what the strategy was."

But even if Riddick didn't explicitly talk strategy, he did share some interesting information during the meetings. In addition, some important, highly visible changes to the website are happening already, without fanfare or broad internal discussion. Based on those changes, as well as on the accounts of Riddick's meetings and accounts of the planning currently under way at the P-I, it's possible to get a sense of what an online-only P-I will probably look like.

In a significant departure from longstanding P-I practice, the new website, as currently conceived, will become, in part, an aggregator of links to interesting stories and blog posts elsewhere. If that sounds familiar, it should. The model has been pioneered by sites like HuffingtonPost.com, which takes an eclectic, opinionated, and often celebrity-focused approach to information gathering, mixing reports from its tiny staff with blog posts by notable actors and politicos, photo albums of fabulous people, and a constant stream of links to the hot news stories of the day (almost all originally reported by other publications).

"I do think that they are trying to implement some things that Huffington Post and other online sites are implementing," said one P-I reporter who had a meeting with Riddick.

When told that it seems the P-I website will become some sort of aggregator-blog hybrid, much like the small, Seattle-focused website Crosscut.com—which itself is partly modeled on Huffington Post—Connelly made an affirmative sound, a sort of high-pitched, throaty "Mmmmhmmm." It was unclear whether he was confirming the new direction or merely endorsing the concept. "I don't want to jinx what I hope happens by making a prediction of what will happen," he explained.

In any case, some of it is happening far sooner than most people thought it would. On February 20, just two days after the Riddick meetings, the P-I home page prominently linked, in a style usually reserved for its own top stories, a post by the West Seattle Blog about the costs of this winter's big snowstorm. When readers clicked this link, they ended up on a separate blog whose content the P-I does not control, rather than a story by the P-I's own staff. Within a few hours, the P-I's home page also featured links to Lifehacker.com, King5.com, and Slog, The Stranger's news and arts blog.

Some P-I reporters were furious; they hadn't been warned in advance that this was coming—yet another sign that a small core of online decision makers is parting ways with the rest of the paper. "This is a HUGE change," wrote one P-I reporter via e-mail. Another P-I reporter, also via e-mail, wrote: "Sheesh. What's next? Linking to the [Seattle] Times?" And from a third: "This is the first time the P-I has given away its position of authority in such a clear way." It is, in fact, hard to overstate how big a transition this aggregation of outside links represents for a daily newspaper that, until now, has operated on the belief that local news should be conveyed only through its own trusted reporters.

But the change fits with something else that's been becoming more and more clear lately: Hearst wants to hold on to the P-I brand, and the online traffic that comes with it, but it's ready to jettison a lot of old notions about what makes a newspaper work. It will likely retain some of the P-I's more popular blogs (like the Microsoft blog, the crime-focused Seattle 911 blog, and the catchall Big Blog), and perhaps some of its expensive but popular talent (like Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist David Horsey and sports columnist Art Thiel). And it will probably keep a small group of reporters who will focus on core local beats and breaking news, as well as hold on to its user-generated content (like the frequently less-than-insightful—but free!—reader blogs and story "Sound Offs").

When all is redesigned and reoriented, the online-only P-I probably won't feel like the website of a traditional, midsize-city newspaper. One P-I reporter said that Riddick talked favorably about how Yahoo!, the massive search engine and portal, links only a few news stories on its home page. The lesson: It doesn't take much staff to run a high-traffic online publication. (On February 23, Hearst named a former Yahoo! vice president as its new special assistant to the CEO for digital media.)

W hat would be the point of moving the P-I's website in this direction? Increased traffic, for one. The online P-I already draws a considerable number of readers—more than 2.8 million page views for its blogs alone in January, and half a billion hits overall last year—but if it can transform itself into a "sticky" entry point into the online universe of Northwest news and opinion (in the sense that people tend to come there and stay a while before moving on, which advertisers like), then it has a chance to draw even more readers and, presumably, revenue.

In other words, by unmooring itself from the idea that its own content is king, drastically lightening its staff load, and mixing up its presentation, the new online P-I is going to try to float to the top of the Northwest link heap. Many of the small, local news blogs linked by the P-I home page will love the traffic and will therefore solicit links from the P-I, creating a nice positive feedback loop for the online-only staff. Larger blogs (such as Slog, which had 1.58 million page views in January) will also benefit, though to a lesser degree.

One big unanswered question is whether the new, aggregating P-I will ever link its former print rival, the Seattle Times. (According to one P-I reporter who met with Riddick, he said it probably would.) But if enough Northwest readers choose to always begin their online information-gathering journeys at the P-I—even though the links there may quickly take them to Lifehacker or West Seattle Blog or Slog or even the Times—the publication could return, in an online way, to the role that traditional newspapers used to enjoy: powerful gatekeeper.

Could Hearst actually make money this way? Probably not—at least initially. The Huffington Post, launched in May of 2005, still relies on venture capital to operate. On top of that, the P-I currently lacks something that the Huffington Post has had from the beginning: a clear identity as a tech-savvy and left-leaning virtual commons. The P-I's identity is more muddled: oldest newspaper in town, more left-leaning of the two dailies, scrappy but still somewhat stodgy, ward of the giant Hearst corporation since 1921, relative online neophyte. Hearst would essentially be playing the role of venture capitalist behind this work-in-progress, losing money for now on a product that might provide significant returns in the future.

In a way, this would make sense; whatever Hearst stands to lose by running a slimmed-down, online-only P-I, it is likely to be far less than the $14 million Hearst lost on the print and online P-I last year alone.

But the inevitable try-it-and-see dynamic of the effort also has its drawbacks, particularly for journalists looking for stability in an unsettled economy. "I'm not saying I would even take the job, frankly," said Chansanchai. "They would have to give me much more security than, 'Oh, we'll just try this out for a couple of months.'" Hackett, noting that she stands to get a full year's severance pay if she's laid off from the P-I in March, said: "I'm going to forego that and work for free for a year? No... I'm not sure I need them. I mean, I'm sure I don't need them. Do I want to be part of this? It depends on what form it takes." After all, with a year's severance, she could make a run at launching her own blog.

In fact, the low cost of starting up online ventures has inspired a number of conversations among P-I employees about websites they might launch together. "It's a contingency plan," said Kery Murakami, who has been at the P-I nine years and is helping lead one of the efforts. "The reality is we can't wait until they formally decide not to do anything, because then it's too late." However, in the event that Hearst launches an online-only P-I but doesn't hire some or all of the contingency planners like Murakami—well, they can easily turn their "contingency" plans into blueprints for a rival site.

The problem is funding, even for a "nonprofit" online business model (such as the model Crosscut just implemented after operating as a for-profit didn't work). The world is not exactly bursting with people wanting to donate to online journalism, and severance checks only go so far when there are still bills and mortgages to pay. Kathy George, of the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town, guesses that some of the city's high-paid investigative reporters might end up working out of the University of Washington, operating on money from the Knight Foundation. But other than that, discussions of independent staff start-ups don't seem to be going anywhere yet. "They're very circular conversations at a certain point," Lewis said. "The way you break that circle is you have money." Right now, few have it—except, apparently, Hearst.

W hich gets right back to the anxiety that P-I reporters are feeling. "I'm scared and I'm eager and I desperately want to keep a job in journalism," Lewis said. He brought an audio recorder to his meeting with Riddick, hoping to use the tape for a public-radio series he's doing on the end of his newspaper. He wasn't allowed to record the conversation, but he stayed anyway, trying to make his case. "Of course I'm going to play this game," Lewis said. "I don't know that I have any choice."

All the eye-blurring tension can make it hard to concentrate. Lewis thinks the color of Riddick's tie might have been bright red, though he can't remember for sure now. Murakami doesn't remember, either. Neither does James, though she did remember the black cowboy boots. ("He's based in Houston," she explained.) Another P-I reporter said: "Something was red." Still another P-I reporter recalled a loud, patterned tie and a "maroonish" shirt. Hackett, whose summation of her pitch—"I think I made a good case: I told him he doesn't need me"—underlined the general oddness and uneasiness of the whole affair, reported this about sartorial aesthetics: "I got a red-tie feeling. I have a ruddy feeling on the guy. I mean, he's in the warm tones. He's not in the cadaverous tones. I didn't get the sense of uptight suit."

Riddick told several of the nervous reporters that ultimately he's not the one making the decision about whether the online-only P-I goes forward. Who is making the call if not the vice president for digital media? Connelly, naturally, offered a mountain metaphor to explain the Hearst hierarchy: "Strange things occur when you get near the summit."

So, like everyone else, Lewis awaits the official answer (even as it becomes more and more apparent what it will be). Meanwhile, having made his best case to Riddick, he's now working on a nostalgic story slated to run in the P-I's final print edition. Recently, he asked his bosses what day the story would run. They said they didn't know.

Geithner won't say the "N" word on NPR (audio)

NPR-'Planet Money', audio (28:48):

If any single human being stands at the center of the global economic crisis, it's U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. This afternoon, Geithner took his hands off the intricate machinery long enough for an interview with Adam Davidson.

As you'll hear in the podcast, the pairing of titan and reporter made for quite a dance.

Bonus: Producer Katia Dunn describes the scene in Geithner's office, where an aide helped to keep the Treasury secretary on message.

H/t to Ben Smith, who shares the NPR producer's sketch of the scene:

a press aide "madly running around the room for the entire interview," "scribbling" and waving talking points, and "reaching more and more frantic levels of craziness."

Pelz: Appoint "a strong leader"

Dwight Pelz:

Last year a group of "political reformers" (financed by Republican business leaders) successfully passed a measure making county government non-partisan. Today that reform is just three months old, but already poised to fail its first major test. Ron Sims has just completed 12 magnificent years of service as our County Executive and has announced that he will leave to join the Obama Administration. Rather than pick a strong leader to succeed Ron, there is talk of choosing a "caretaker."

Succession of office is an important test of our democracy. When a government official resigns or passes away, provisions are made for that position to be filled and for government to continue.

For partisan offices, state law assigns the political parties a role which has allowed vacancies to be filled in an orderly, timely, and predictable fashion. The Precinct Committee Officers (PCOs) from the affected jurisdiction meet and choose three member of the party of the departed official, and forward that list to the County Council or County Commissioners, who pick one person.

Last month I traveled to Walla Walla to chair the meeting at which the PCOs convened to fill the vacancy left by the passing of Bill Grant. The PCOs designated three Democrats as suitable replacements, and forwarded that list to the 12 County Commissioners from the four counties in the 16th Legislative District. On February 21st Laura Grant-Herriott, Bill Grant's daughter, was chosen for the position and immediately sworn in.

A similar meeting took place 12 years ago when the PCOs met at the gym of Nathan Hale High School to designate a list of three Democrats to fill the last year of the term of then-County Executive Gary Locke, who was departing to be Governor. On that day, an impassioned Ron Sims stood up and gave a compelling speech about the challenges facing King County - and his ability as a leader to meet them. On that day no one called for a "caretaker" or a "placeholder." Ron was the choice of the PCOs and served for 10 months as the appointed Executive, then was elected to the post three times.

The PCOs and the Democratic Party will play no role in 2009 in filling this most recent vacancy. By state law governing vacancies in a non-partisan office, the nine members of the King County Council are charged with the responsibility of naming the next County Executive. But with some of the Council members vying for the job themselves, the Council appears unable to assemble five votes for a strong successor.

Today, instead of the terms "executive" and "leader," we hear talk of choosing a "caretaker" or a "placeholder." We hear cliches about "letting the voters decide the next County Executive, not the Council members." This is not the time for a placeholder. This is the time for the nine members of the King County Council to provide leadership. They need to take a hard vote and appoint a leader, not a caretaker.

King County faces enormous challenges. The County's economic model was in tatters before this current economic crisis began. 2009 will require real leadership in the Executive's office to maintain our courts, our public defenders and prosecuting attorneys, our jails, the Sheriff's office, environmental protection, and basic services.

Voters who chose to make the County government non-partisan were promised that government would work better because party loyalties disrupt decision-making. What we see instead is this decision being postponed because of personalities, not parties.

Political parties make our democracy function better. Congress could not make basic decisions without majority and minority caucuses. Our State Legislature would never adjourn on time without the discipline and structure provided by the parties. It is time to hold the refomers accountable for their reform and ask whether non-partisan government has improved or hindered decision making in King County?

In the past the role of the PCOs and the parties allowed us to fill the vacancy in the County Executive position with a strong leader. The five Democrats on the County Council can continue that tradition by appointing a strong Democrat as our next County Executive.

"Afghanistan + More Troops = Catastrophe" (Trailer)

bravenewfilms, with video (01:42):

Sign the petition: http://rethinkafghanistan.com

President Obama has committed 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan. This decision raises serious questions about troops, costs, overall mission, and exit strategy. Historically, it has been Congress' duty to ask questions in the form of oversight hearings that challenge policymakers, examine military spending, and educate the public. After witnessing the absence of oversight regarding the Iraq war, we must insist Congress hold hearings on Afghanistan.

Watch the first part from our full-length documentary that will serve as a driving force to help make oversight hearings a reality. Sign the petition urging oversight and tell us what questions you would ask.

Sign the petition: http://rethinkafghanistan.com

"Michelle Obama introducing Stevie Wonder at the White House" (Video)

CBS, video (01:40).

Fineman: "Reagan redux: Like the Gipper, Obama offers hope — and wishful thinking"

MSNBC, with video:

Pundits are declaring Barack Obama’s speech to Congress was “Reaganesque” in style and tone.

And it’s true: He is a “Great Communicator.”

But Obama is channeling Ronald Reagan in a more profound sense. Like Reagan, his promises are grand – and his budget is wishful thinking. Like Reagan, he’s betting that arithmetic matters less than inspiration.

At a similar spot in a different time – a deep recession in the twilight of the Cold War, 1981 – Reagan promised to double defense spending, cut taxes sharply and balance the budget. The plan was an impossible pipe dream. And yet Reagan’s optimism helped lift the country out of its funk and restart the economy.

But there was a cost.

We began the process of uncoupling federal spending from a sense of responsibility to future generations.

I’m wondering if the same thing is about to happen now.

The president is vowing to reform and vastly expand health care, to renew education, to remake the energy and auto industries, and to save the banking system. Oh, and let’s not forget: to end the recession.

He’s going to do all this and, at the same time, cut the deficit in half by 2013. He says, his budget will be a new model of candid “transparency” – unlike all of those fiction-filled budgets of the past.

I don’t think I’m being unduly cynical to wonder if it’s possible.

I believe that he believes he can make “hard choices” and root out “waste, fraud and abuse” and eliminate all those “unnecessary” programs and abolish the profligate use of congressional earmarks. I believe he believes that there will be enough peace in Mesopotamia and what used to be Persia to save much of the tens of billions we have spent in fighting wars there.

I also believe that the Washington Nationals will win the pennant.

Obama has a rationale for what he is proposing: that we need to spend heavily now to produce expanding wealth for the next “American Century.”

In that sense, his refusal to furl the flag of American ambition is not only laudable but also necessary. Hope is who we are and what we do. We need to believe – indeed, the world needs to believe – that “We will emerge stronger than before.”

So rather than curtailing our goals in the midst of a crisis, Obama insists on expanding them. He is a striking mix of the cautious and the bold, a personally conservative family man, wary of sweeping ideologies, yet convinced that the most pragmatic thing he can do for the country is to aim for and promise the moon.

But try to enumerate those promises as we wait for the new budget he is about to release.

We are going to get serious about “health care reform” – a process that initially, his budget director told me, is going to cost money before it has a chance (but not a certainty) of saving any. We are going to get our college-graduation rates back up to world-leading levels by 2020. We are going to find a cure for cancer.

And more. We will “double the supply of renewable energy in the next three years.” Soon we will lay “thousands of miles of new power lines.” We will make sure “every child has access to a complete and competitive education from the day they are born to the day they begin a career.” We are going to create a “retooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win.” Government will “save or create” 3.5 million jobs in the next two years.

And then there is the ever-growing economic rescue plan.

Almost in passing, Obama dropped some news into the speech on the bank-rescue front. Even though Congress already has voted $700 billion to shore up the credit system, the rescue “probably” will require “more than we have already set aside.” Given the continued deterioration of global banks and bad actors such as AIG, we could be talking hundreds of billions more.

We will soon find out how President Obama proposes to do all of this without making theoretical national bankruptcy a reality.

The fact is, our indebtedness is reaching levels unseen since World War II, but unlike then, we are not the sole manufacturing and marketing power in the free world. We have competition.

We are the world’s “reserve” trading currency, the rise of the euro and the yen notwithstanding. The experts that I talk to say the basic problem is not that there are too many dollars in the world, but that no one in the private sector is willing to invest them — so Washington has to print more and spend them on its own.

Can that process continue indefinitely? I don’t think so.

And I bet that Barack Obama doesn’t really think so either.

Barack Obama

Raw Video: Obamas Honor Stevie Wonder

AP:

President Barack Obama on Wednesday thanked musician Stevie Wonder for creating 'a style that's uniquely American' as he presented the singer-songwriter the nation's highest award for pop music.

Howie P.S.: PBS will broadcast "Stevie Wonder In Performance at the White House: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize" tonight @ 8pm.

Barack Obama

"Obama nominates Locke as commerce secretary" (with video)

Chicago Tribune with video from AP (02:11):

President Barack Obama today nominated Gary Locke, former governor of Washington, to serve as secretary of commerce.

The former two-term Democratic governor who left office in 2005 holds experience in international trade and was an early supporter of Obama's main rival in the 2008 Democratic primary campaign, Hillary Clinton. He was the nation's first Chinese-American governor when he took office in 1997.

The pick marks the president's third attempt at seating a commerce secretary, filling in the membership of his Cabinet.

His first two picks -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, and New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican -- withdrew. Richardson cited an investigation of state contracting in New Mexico, and Gregg irreconcilable political differences with the president.

Locke is charged with promoting the nation's economic development at home while serving as an ambassador for American industry abroad.

"Our nation's economic success is tied directly to America continuing to lead in technology and innovation, and in exporting those products, services and ideas to nations around the globe,'' Locke said, joining Obama in the announcement of his nomination today. "The Department of Commerce plays a critical role in nurturing innovation, expanding global markets, protecting and managing our ocean fisheries and fostering economic growth."

In a statement issued by the White House, Obama said: "Gary will be a trusted voice in my cabinet, a tireless advocate for our economic competitiveness, and an influential ambassador for American industry who will help us do everything we can -- especially now -- to promote it around the world.

"I'm grateful he's agreed to leave one Washington for another,'' the president said, "and I look forward to having him on my team as we continue the work of turning our economy around and bringing about a stronger, more prosperous future for all Americans."

After attempting to assemble a more bipartisan Cabinet, settling on a Democratic former governor will leave the president's Cabinet with one registered Republican, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Locke has experience in trade matters. He is a partner in the Seattle office of the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine. The firm's Web site lists his specialties as China, energy, government relations and corporate diversity counseling.

The firm has offices in eight other cities, including Washington, where several dozen lawyers and lobbyists specialize in media, technology, energy and other fields. The Washington office advises several Fortune 500 companies.

Between 2005 and 2008, Locke served on the board of directors of Safeco, a Seattle-based insurance company taken over last year by Liberty Mutual Insurance.

The White House says that "Locke broke down trade barriers around the world to advance American products. Locke has worked closely with business, labor and government at all levels to successfully negotiate complex issues."

Locke, a son of Chinese immigrants, was elected governor in 1996, becoming the first Asian-American governor on the mainland. In 2000, he was overwhelmingly re-elected to a second term.

"Gary didn't learn English until he was five, but he earned the rank of Eagle Scout, worked his way through Yale University with the help of scholarships and student loans, and got a law degree,'' Obama said. "So Gary knows the American Dream. He's lived it. And that's why he shares my commitment to do whatever it takes to keep it alive in our time.''

Locke served as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association and delivered the Democratic response to the State of the Union address in 2003.

The White House credits Locke with leading 10 "productive trade missions to Asia, Mexico and Europe, significantly expanding the sales of Washington products and services. He successfully fostered economic relations between China and Washington State."

Locke holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Yale University, and a law degree from Boston University.

The president should have an easy time winning Senate confirmation of the former governor. However, questions surrounding the Obama administration's intentions with the 2010 Census have raised concern among Republican critics.

Gregg had cited the White House's planned involvement in the Census, which is run by the Commerce Department, as one of his concerns.

"The first question for Governor Locke is whether he will block the brazen attempt by the White House to take over the traditionally nonpartisan census,'' Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R- Ohio), has said. "To be more than a figurehead, Governor Locke must promise to keep politics out of the Census by keeping control of it in the Commerce Department."

Howie P.S.: The Seattle P-I runs the AP story by "Donuts" Sidoti, "Locke's the 'right man' for Commerce":

If confirmed by the Senate, Locke would assume control of a large agency with a broad portfolio that includes overseeing many aspects of international trade, oceans policy and the 2010 Census.

Prompting outcry from Republicans, the administration recently took steps to assert greater control over the national head count. It has deep political implications because it is used to redraw congressional districts and distribute federal money.

"Who oversees the census won't change," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, adding that the director of it always reports to the Commerce secretary. "I think members of Congress and the White House both have an interest in a fair and accurate census count."

The Seattle Times story, "Locke's clout with China may have helped him land Commerce nomination," takes a different approach.


Barack Obama

Rahm stands tall for "bi-part" (video)

MSNBC, video (05:55).

Howie P.S.: Rahmbo talks with Brian Williams.

Barack Obama

“Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry”

U.S. Senate, Committee on Judiciary:

Senate Judiciary Committee

Full Committee

DATE: March 4, 2009
TIME: 10:00 AM
ROOM: Dirksen-226

---

OFFICIAL HEARING NOTICE / WITNESS LIST:

February 25, 2009

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE HEARING
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a hearing on "Getting to the Truth Through a Nonpartisan Commission of Inquiry" for Wednesday, March 4, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building.

By order of the Chairman.

Howie P.S.: March 4th is my birthday and I can't think of a better gift. Thanks, Senator Leahy! In the meantime, Sam Stein has this on HuffPo: "Leahy Takes Bush Truth Commission To Senate Floor." H/t to Ari Melber.

Obama: Early Wednesday Reax (excerpts, with audio and video)

"Nobel Prize-Winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz: Obama Has Confused Saving the Banks With Saving the Bankers" (Democracy Now with video and audio):

We get reaction to President Obama’s speech from Nobel Prize winner and former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz. Stiglitz says the Obama administration has failed to address the structural and regulatory flaws at the heart of the financial crisis and in the way of economic recovery.

"Obama’s Bipartisan Mentors: F.D.R. and Reagan" (Lou Cannon):

Barack Obama recognizes that bipartisanship must be more than a tactic. In “The Audacity of Hope,” he wrote that “genuine bipartisanship assumes an honest process of give-and-take,” and that the result must be measured by “some agreed-upon goal, whether better schools or lower deficits.” This is an eyes-wide-open bipartisanship. It has served Obama well in the opening weeks of his presidency, and will be much needed by him in the substantive battles that lie ahead.

"Getting Warmer" (Robert Scheer):

We are lucky to have Barack Obama as president. I write that even though I believe the content of his Tuesday evening speech deserved no more than a B+ / A-, for its failure to seriously address the origins of the banking crisis and for only hinting at the severe military budget cuts required to get close to his goal of reducing the federal deficit by the end of his first term.

Barack Obama

Howard Dean schools Tweety on Health Care (video)

MSNBC-Countdown, video (05:17).

Barack Obama

"Stop Flinching at Bipartisanship"

Booman Tribune:

Glenn Greenwald goes to great lengths this morning to demonstrate that the American people do not crave bipartisanship. He points out that a recent New York Times poll (.pdf) indicates that the people want (by a 56%-39% margin) Obama to stick to his campaign promises rather than diluting them with Republican ideas and that they would prefer it (by a 79%-17% margin) if the Republicans would drop their priorities and work with the president on his agenda.

In other words, the people want the Republicans to act in a bipartisan manner but don't want Obama to do so if it is going to water down the Change he promised.

So far, so good. Greenwald makes an important point and fairly criticizes the national press for failing to understand and report on the mood of the country. He also takes fair shots at Democrats that sometimes behave as if they don't understand the mood of the country either. But, what bothers me is the stridency with which Greenwald attacks the concept of bipartisanship, as if the Democrats are engaging in it in some self-destructive and self-defeating way. As far as I can tell, the only evidence for this is based in the theory that the stimulus package was watered down far beyond what was necessary to gain 60 votes in the Senate. And, even if we take this theory to be true (which I don't), it ignores the possibility of any tangential or delayed benefits from setting a tone of cooperation and respect in the context of a call for unity and setting petty bickering aside.

Obama's poll ratings remain stratospheric and it should be acknowledged that one likely reason for that is that people like his tone, temperament, and style. His 'bipartisanship' is all part of that brand. And one thing we should also acknowledge is that Obama will have an easier time getting 60 votes in the Senate if he retains his popularity. The less popularity he has, the more concessions he will have to make. At the same time, we make a mistake if we use the Republicans' near-unanimous opposition to the Economic Recovery Act as the baseline for future bills. Future bills will be worked through committees that Republicans serve on, and there will be ample opportunities to peel off votes in return for input. Treating the Republicans with a certain level of respect, even if unwarranted, allows them take down their defensive shield, if they are so inclined. And it also prevents them from finding easy rallying points around which to unify and do effective message opposition.

The fear that the Democrats will needlessly water down legislation is way overblown and ignores that a concession today can obviate the need for a concession tomorrow. I understand why after years in the minority many Democrats instinctively flinch at the idea of bipartisanship (capitulation), but we really need to get over it now that we're in the majority.

Barack Obama

The real religion of the US press: "the keepers of realism" (video)

mediagrrl9, video (04:06):

Bill Moyers asks Jay Rosen and Glenn Greenwald, "Why will Amy Goodman of Democracy Now never show up on 'Meet The Press'? on Bill Moyers Journal, Feb. 6, 2009.

Howie P.S.: The money quote from Jay Rosen:

I think that the ideology of the press is not so much liberal or conservative. They think themselves the keepers of realism, of saviness. I think the real religion of the American press is saviness."

"Despite subpoena, Rove a no-show" (video)

MSNBC, video (06:11).

Howie P.S.: Law professor Jonathan Turley reviews the case, and calls it a "flagrant example of contempt."

Barack Obama

"CLEAN TECH SCORES WITH STIMULUS" (video)

Evergreen Film, with video (03:32):

What’s NOT controversial about the new economic stimulus package is its extraordinary support for clean technologies and green jobs.

Howie P.S.: Jay Inslee narrates this video about the green energy funding in the stimulus bill that was signed into law last week.

Barack Obama

Some news you may not need to know

"And now, some detail from the dinner. POTUS was seated between Midge Rendell, the first lady of Pennsylvania, and Carole Rome, the first lady of Florida, at a table directly to the left of the wood and gold podium he spoke from. At a table directly to the right, FLOTUS sat between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Calif.) -- who those of you watching the Oscars may recall was an actor before he had to start showing up at these NGA events -- and Gov. Christine Gregoire (D-Wash.)."-LA Times, from the post on their political blog, "Barack and Michelle Obama's first White House state dinner: Part II."

Barack Obama