Virginia's McDonnell plans stately response to Obama

RICHMOND -- Virginia's new Republican governor, Robert F. McDonnell, planned to talk about his views on the limited role of government, the need to rein in federal spending and the merits of offshore drilling as part of his party's response to the president's State of the Union address, according to early excerpts released Wednesday evening.

McDonnell was to deliver the nine-minute speech in the House of Delegates' chamber of the state's Capitol, a building designed by Thomas Jefferson. McDonnell invited 250 guests -- family members, friends, supporters and, at the last minute, a few Democrats -- as he tried to create a mini-State of the Union setting.

The setup was a clear departure from other State of the Union responses, which are generally delivered alone, often in an intimate setting. Four years ago, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) delivered his party's rebuttal from the Executive Mansion's ballroom.

Last year, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal delivered what was considered a flat speech from an empty room in the Louisiana governor's mansion, a setting that did not seem to flatter the young politician.

The congressional staffers and McDonnell advisers who organized this year's response sought a more commanding setting with an audience sure to applaud his vision for the country.

"I'm never going to match the ambience of the halls of Congress and the president of the United States, the leader of the free world," McDonnell told reporters earlier Wednesday. "I thought it would be a nice venue to invite a fair number of people so that they could hear the speech, to have a better backdrop than just a talking head on camera."

The theatrics surrounding the speech consumed Capitol Square, where a row of trucks was parked to assist FOX News, whose turn it was in a rotating pool of media organizations to air the speech.


The cost of the $30,000 event was paid for by the Republican Governors Association and the political action committees of McDonnell and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Congressional leaders chose McDonnell to deliver the response because of the way he campaigned and has so far governed: as a problem-solver who could appeal to Democrats and independents by talking about jobs and the economy.

In his first major national speech, according to the excerpts, McDonnell echoed many of the themes in his inaugural address two weeks earlier, calling for limited government and individual responsibility.

"The circumstances of our time demand that we reconsider and restore the proper, limited role of government at every level," he said.

McDonnell was expected to praise Obama for supporting charter schools and for sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. But he also prepared to say that Republicans have serious concerns over recent steps the government has taken regarding terrorism suspects.

Across Virginia, Organizing for America, an arm of the Democratic National Committee, was holding State of the Union parties, and Republicans were throwing their own parties to watch their new governor take his turn in the national spotlight.

Republicans in Richmond reveled in the moment, but Democrats continued to criticize McDonnell for giving the speech while failing to provide more guidance on how to close a multibillion-dollar budget.

"He's going to give a response having been in office for two weeks, on a country that goes from sea to shining sea," said Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond). "He's going to be talking about a budget that has a nearly trillion-dollar deficit. He's going to be talking about, potentially, wars in foreign countries. He's had enough time to be able to talk to us about the State of the Union. But he hasn't had enough time to talk to tell me and the 9th Senatorial District or my colleagues on this floor about $4 billion in cuts?"

House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry) said he was invited to attend the speech late in the day through a personal call from McDonnell. "It may be a little late, but I'm not offended," Armstrong said.

McDonnell will be the third Virginian to deliver the response in five years: Kaine gave it in 2006, just after he took office, and U.S. Sen. James Webb (D) delivered it in 2007.


Source:washingtonpost.com/

Obama Comments On Recent Bin Laden Tape

(Washington, DC) -- President Obama says Osama bin Laden's recent claim of responsibility for an attempted plane bombing on Christmas shows al-Qaeda is hurting.

In an interview aired on ABC's "Good Morning America," Obama said bin Laden's attempt to take credit for the attack indicates how weakened he is because, quote, "this is not something necessarily directed by him." The Christmas bombing attempt is alleged to have been carried out by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is currently in custody.

A wing of al-Qaeda based in Yemen has said it was behind the plot to blow up the plane as it approached Detroit.

In the interview, Obama highlighted measures taken since the 9-11 attacks that he argued have made the nation much safer than before.

A member of the State Department recently said that bin Laden's claim of responsibility was a grab for "reflected glory."

Sunday's best: Obama goes to church, hits the campaign trail

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.



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.





They also reminded Americans on NBC's Meet The Press that helping Haiti will take time.





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.





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.

Source:content.usatoday.com/

Obama, Democrats Put Politics Above Educating D.C.’s Disadvantaged Youth, Black Leaders Say

Black leaders say that President Obama, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and Congress have put politics ahead of helping low-income children in the District of Columbia by refusing to support a program that allows 1,700 children to go to a private school, including the school Obama’s two daughters attend.

Congress did not reauthorize funding for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) in the 2010-11 federal budget, ending a program that has helped thousands of disadvantaged children attend some of the best schools in the nation’s capitol since its inception in 2004.

And while Obama backed Congress’ move to continue funding scholarships for children already in the program until they graduate from high school, no new children will receive the $7,500 annual tuition scholarship.

“The cancellation of the program, in my view, has been an unprecedented move by the federal government, because this is a historic moment, historic government spending in our nation’s history – a time when the U.S. Treasury is giving hundreds of billions of dollars to Wall Street bailouts,” Juan Williams, political commentator, said at a press conference held last week at the National Press Club in Washington.

“Congress chose, in the midst of all this spending, to end a very small, $13 million dollar program that, according to the Department of Education (DOE), has increased and improved the reading scores of low-income children here in the District of Columbia,” he said.

“The move is a matter of politics, in my opinion, plain and simple,” Williams said. “Powerful special interest groups like the National Education Association are clearly committed to destroying and denying these programs as they benefit low-income families and denying them the same opportunities that powerful Washington politicians and privileged people take for granted – the power to choose a safe and effective school for their children.”

Williams, a Democrat and regular commentator for National Public Radio, said his own personal story – growing up in poverty with a single mom devoted to seeing that her children got an education – makes helping disadvantaged children a moral imperative. He also said Obama, who attended a private school on scholarships while growing up in Hawaii, should share his passion for school choice.

“Despite the fact that support is evident, locally and nationally, for school choice programs, the cries of D.C. parents have rung hollow with the Congress and even more disappointing to me, with President Obama.”

Williams called access to quality education the most important civil rights issue facing low income, mostly minority families in the country today.




Virginia Walden Ford has been fighting for school choice in Washington, D.C., for a decade, including championing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program that has helped thousands of disadvantaged children in the district attend the top schools in the nation's capitol -- for half the cost of educating pupils in its public schools. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)Virginia Walden Ford, president of D.C. Parents for School Choice and long-time champion for the OSP program, also expressed at the press conference her displeasure with Obama’s lack of support.

“It is so frustrating to me, particularly as an African American, that this president hasn’t jumped to help us,” Walden Ford said. “In his book, he has said if it had not been for the opportunity to attend a quality school, he may not have been where he is today.

“So why wouldn’t he understand the parents like Patricia and Carmen and the many parents who are fighting for their children?” Walden Ford said. “Why wouldn’t he understand that? It’s very, very confusing to me and very frustrating to me. I’m angry. I’m really, really angry that he wants us to have to fight for this program.”

Program successful

As reported CNSNews.com earlier, according to the Education Department’s own reports D.C. schools are the most expensive in the U.S., costing $18,339 per pupil per year for average daily attendance --- more than double the cost of an OSP tuition grant.

And the most recent Congress-mandated report on OSP three years after the program’s inception showed improved reading scores for the children enrolled in it and across-the board-support for the program by parents.

Math scores did not show significant improvement, but Dan Lips, an education policy expert with the Heritage Foundation, said reading was the most important indicator of the success of an academic program.

“It’s a shame that there hasn’t been a stronger effect in math, but from an education policy perspective, reading is really the focus of what we want to see first,” Lips said. “That’s the key that unlocks all the other doors to learning.”

A 30-minute documentary produced by the Heritage Foundation was also previewed at the press conference. “Let me Rise” is a moving account by parents and their children about how OSP has changed their lives.

The film also features footage from parents of the more than 200 children who were told they had been granted a scholarship for the 2009-2010 school year, only to be notified a short time later by DOE that OSP was not being reauthorized and no scholarships would be offered.

Presidential pledge

Ironically, when Obama spoke to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in March, he cited the importance of access to a quality education and said that his administration would only back programs the have been documented as successful by the DOE.

“What's at stake is nothing less than the American Dream,” Obama said. “It's what drew my father and so many of your fathers and mothers to our shores in pursuit of an education. It's what led Linda Brown and Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez to bear the standard of all who were attending separate and unequal schools.

“It's what has led generations of Americans to take on that extra job, to sacrifice the small pleasures, to scrimp and save wherever they can, in hopes of putting away enough, just enough, to give their child the education that they never had. It's that most American of ideas, that with the right education, a child of any race, any faith, any station, can overcome whatever barriers stand in their way and fulfill their God-given potential.”

Obama went on to cite the importance of only using federal funds to finance programs deemed successful by the DOE.

“Secretary Duncan will use only one test when deciding what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars: It's not whether an idea is liberal or conservative, but whether it works.”

As CNSNews.com reported, when asked why the Obama administration did not support the reauthorization of OSP, Duncan said in a statement that school vouchers would not fix D.C.’s failing schools.

“I appreciate the desire of every family to have the best possible education for their child,” Duncan said. “I also understand that our role is to support children, parents and educators. That is why this Administration is devoting more resources and supports more ambitious reform of our public school systems than any administration in history.”




Kevin Chavous, former member of the D.C. City Council, advised President Barack Obama on education policy when he was a candidate, but now Chavous said Obama and the Democrats are beholden to special interests, including the teachers unions, and are acting against school choice. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)Democrat opposition

When CNSNews.com asked if a direct appeal to resurrect the program has been made to Obama, former City Councilman Kevin P. Chavous said that although he was an education policy adviser to the president when he was a candidate, he hasn’t spoken directly to him about OSP.

“It’s clear to me that they just wish we would go away,” Chavous said. “I also think that there are powerful people who are supporting the president who have worked against us, and I put Sen. (Dick) Durbin (D-Ill.) in that category.”

He also included the long-time D.C. delegate as an outspoken opponent to school choice.

“Even though the mayor and the majority of the city council again support it, it’s clear that our delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, has been a strong opponent, and I think that’s had a real major impact on us getting support from the president,” Chavous said. “She has made it her mission to kill this program.”

At the press conference, however, both black leaders and parents in attendance vowed to continue their efforts to get OSP restored.

“We’ve been fighting this fight for a long time, and we will continue to fight,” Walden Ford said.

Soource:cnsnews.com/

Obama's A Wimp, Even to a Yellow Dog Dem Like Me

I am a 76-year-old yellow dog Democrat, with a picture of Franklin Delano Roosevelt still prominently displayed in my bedroom. And yes, I would likely vote for a yellow dog if the dog were running on the Democratic ticket against any of today's Republicans. To me, the current crop of Republicans represent, not simply the party of no, but the party of death, as shown in their unanimous opposition to health care reform.

They also represent the party of economic depression, as they did in the 1930s, as evidenced today by their opposition to the original economic stimulus, and additional, much-needed economic pump priming. Furthermore, their opposition to virtually anything President Obama proposes shows that they have put their selfish political fortunes way ahead of the good of the country. It is entirely accurate to say that Republicans hate America. And for this they should be severely punished.

Given my feelings, you may wonder why I am not more enthusiastic about the president one year into his term. After all, isn't he on the brink of a historic health reform? One that will bring necessary care to millions more people, that will end insurance companies' refusal to insure people with pre-existing conditions and halt caps on coverage?

Yes, if health reform becomes law I will applaud. But, frankly, most of my enthusiasm has long since fizzled out. I feel like I'm holding a balloon that has burst. Maybe it's because the president made devil's bargains with big pharma and other major "stakeholders," (not, of course, including the public). Pharma's deal is representative. The drug companies promised Obama $80 billion in lower drug costs over 10 years. Since they earn $300 billion in profits EVERY year, that wasn't much of a bargain. Then, to add insult to injury, they raised prices 10 per cent. And stopped reimportation of drugs from Canada. Other "stakeholders" made similar good deals for themselves. The insurance companies, not satisfied with the prospect of millions of new customers, many subsidized by taxpayers, managed to retain their anti-trust exemption, among other advantages. As for other major "stakeholders," I find doctors and hospitals less venal and more deserving.

I have been on Medicare for more than 10 years, a wonderful system. Ideally, health insurance reform would have meant Medicare for everybody. That would have been great, but I recognize that it never was feasible, given the ownership of our government by big business.

Until Obama talked it up, I'd never heard of the public option. He managed to convince me of its importance, assuring me as late as last July 18 that since there is little competition in the health insurance business, a public option was necessary to provide more "to keep the insurance companies honest." He said he wouldn't sign any bill that didn't include it. But hardly had Obama pledged himself to the public option than he began backing away from it, so we're not going to have one. Nor a buy-in to Medicare for people 55 and over, as was briefly proposed as a substitute.

On another crucial matter, a big new program to provide jobs and bring down our 10 per cent unemployment, Obama has been lackadaisical. Health reform has put job creation in the background. After health care reform is passed, if it is, Obama will finally turn his attention to this matter, which never should have been delayed. Nor should a related economic matter, the reregulation of Wall Street. One of my favorite bloggers, Kevin Drum, has an article in Mother Jones that says, in effect, that the chances for serious, necessary reregulation are already nil, because the presidency and both parties in Congress are owned lock and stock by Wall Street, which far outdoes every other industry in financing elections, and has little trouble getting what it pays for. So we can look forward to more bubbles and more Bush-like Depressions. Only Obama may be responsible for the next one. As for other matters, I still don't see an end to our two endless wars, or to Guantanamo, rendition or warrantless wiretapping.

As you can tell, after a year of Obama, I'm for him, but not with any real enthusiasm. Nice fella. Good talker. But I'm afraid he's deserving of a descriptive word once applied to the first George Bush. Obama is a wimp. I was always concerned about his lack of experience, and the fact that he was almost entirely untested. I'd have preferred Hillary. She may not have won the Nobel Prize, but she knew from bitter experience who the political enemy was and how to fight them.

I recognize that election of a Republican Congress and/or president would be a total disaster for this country. I will certainly continue to vote for Obama and other Democrats, but I doubt I'll contribute to or work for any. I hope Obama will get through as much of his program as possible this year. Because next year I doubt he'll have the sixty votes in the Senate necessary even to have a chance of legislative success. Mr. President, Good Night and Good Luck.


Source:huffingtonpost.com/