Huffington Post,  May 4th, 2009

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama promised sternly on Monday to crack down on companies “that ship jobs overseas” and duck U.S. taxes with offshore havens. It won’t be easy. Democrats have been fighting _ and losing _ this battle since John F. Kennedy made a similar proposal in 1961. Obama’s proposal to close tax loopholes was a reliable applause line during the presidential campaign, but it got a lukewarm response Monday from Capitol Hill.

Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said the plan needed further study, even though similar ideas have been around for years.

The president’s plan would limit the ability of U.S. companies to defer paying U.S. taxes on overseas profits. At the same time, Obama would step up efforts to go after evaders who abuse offshore tax shelters.  More…

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (Ken.) said later on Monday that he could not endorse Obama’s plan since it “gives preferential treatment to foreign companies at the expense of U.S.-based companies.”  More…

Time for Credit Card Reform

This week the President recaps a busy week, from strides on fiscal discipline, to financial stability, to cracking down on tax havens and tax breaks for shifting jobs overseas. For his next big step, he calls for a credit card reform bill: “Americans know that they have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe. But they also have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties, and hidden fees that have become all-too common in our credit card industry.” Watch Your Weekly Address to hear what he plans to do about it.

Washington Post and Arizona Republic, May 13th, 2009

Washington Post: President Obama travels to Arizona today for the first of three college commencement addresses he’ll deliver over the next 10 days, two of which have been marred by controversy.

When tonight’s speech at Arizona State University was initially announced, a spokeswoman for ASU said no honorary degree would be conferred to the president since “his body of work is yet to come.” The school refused to back down despite evidence of the far less accomplished people who had received honorary degrees.

While White House officials dismissed the Arizona State incident as nothing more than a public relations mix-up, the ongoing fight over Obama’s commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, which is scheduled for Sunday, is far more complicated — and high profile. Click here for more at the Washington Post.

From the Arizona Star: President Barack Obama returns to Arizona State University today to rally graduates sobered by bleak job prospects and tout the value of higher education and public service.

Obama will deliver the commencement address during what has evolved into a Sun Devil Stadium extravaganza that will pit his trademark soaring oratory against the Valley’s soaring temperatures. Many of the 71,000 people expected for the speech will wait for hours in searing triple-digit heat to hear a speech that will last about 20 minutes.

The president is expected to “discuss the amazing opportunity that graduates have, the challenging world that they enter into,” said Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary. As he has done before, he is likely to talk about the importance of “the choices that you make leaving college, about being involved in your community and serving a purpose higher than yourself.”

CQ Politics and Political Wire.com, May 14th, 2009

New Hampshire: Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes, who has announced he is running for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Judd Gregg, holds small leads when matched against two potential GOP opponents, but both are well within the margin of error, according to a poll by Dartmouth University’s Nelson Rockfeller Center conducted April 27 – May 1.

Hodes leads former Sen. John Sununu, who lost his seat to Jeanne Shaheen last year, by 37.9 percent to 35.4 percent with 26.7 percent undecided. Hodes holds an even smaller lead over former Rep. Charlie Bass – 31.1. percent to 30.1 percent with 38.8 percent undecided. Hodes beat Bass for New Hampshire’s 2d district seat in 2006. The margin of error is 5 points.

The poll also measured voter sentiment on the issue of same sex marriage, finding them 44.8 percent to 40.8 percent against it. The New Hampshire Senate voted to legalize same-sex marriage by a narrow 13 to 11 vote last month.

Missouri A new Democracy Corps survey in Missouri shows Robin Carnahan (D) leading two Republican rivals in a U.S. Senate match up.

Carnahan beats Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), 53% to 44% and tops Sarah Steelman (R), 54% to 42%.

Analysis: “At this early and uncertain stage, Carnahan starts off the contest with a strong personal and professional standing that puts her in a position to defeat either potential opponent. At the same time, it appears as if Steelman may be the tougher foe with a stronger profile than Blunt and the potential to run a fresh outsider candidacy that Blunt cannot offer.”

CNN, May 15th, 2009

(CNN) — Finding a “smoking gun” linking Iraq and al Qaeda became the main purpose of the abusive interrogation program the Bush administration authorized in 2002, a former State Department official told CNN on Thursday.

The allegation was included in an online broadside aimed at former Vice President Dick Cheney by Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell. In it, Wilkerson wrote that the interrogation program began in April and May of 2002, and then-Vice President Cheney’s office kept close tabs on the questioning.

“Its principal priority for intelligence was not aimed at preempting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al Qaeda,” Wilkerson wrote in The Washington Note, an online political journal.

Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel, said his accusation is based on information from current and former officials. He said he has been “relentlessly digging” since 2004, when Powell asked him to look into the scandal surrounding the treatment of prisoners at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. More…

Two Pillars of a New Foundation: Health Care and Energy

This week the President discusses breakthroughs on two issues where stakeholders from all sides, who once opposed each other, are coming together for real reform. On health care and energy, solutions would provide key pillars for a new foundation for the country.

Salt Lake Tribune, May 16th, 2009

Washington: The question came in the Oval Office a week ago: Would Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. take on a crucial role as U.S. ambassador to China?
Huntsman, in Washington for the White House Correspondents Dinner, had been summoned by President Barack Obama for a quickly arranged meeting. It was a follow up to a phone conversation the two had on May 5, according to a senior administration official.

The president had been told by senior White House Asia advisor Jeff Bader, a friend of Huntsman’s, that the Utah governor was the “best qualified person for the job given his experience in the region, fluency in the language and culture, and knowledge of critical issues affecting the region,” the official told The Salt Lake Tribune .

Despite Huntsman being a Republican, and a former co-chairman of Obama rival Sen. John McCain’s campaign, Obama brought Huntsman and wife, Mary Kaye, into a private meeting in the Oval Office and popped the question. More…

Meanwhile, Republicans are organizing opposition to anyone proposed by Obama to become a Supreme Court Justice.

New York Times, May 16th, 2009

WASHINGTON — If President Obama nominates Judge Diane P. Wood to the Supreme Court, conservatives plan to attack her as an “outspoken” supporter of “abortion, including partial-birth abortion.”

If he nominates Judge Sonia Sotomayor, they plan to accuse her of trying to “expand constitutional rights beyond the text of the Constitution.”

If he nominates Kathleen M. Sullivan, a law professor at Stanford, they plan to decry her as a “prominent supporter of homosexual marriage.”

Preparing to oppose the confirmation of Mr. Obama’s eventual choice to succeed Justice David H. Souter, who is retiring, conservative groups are working together to stockpile ammunition. Ten memorandums summarizing their research, obtained by The New York Times, provide a window onto how they hope to frame the coming debate. No doubt more memorandums and plans are being hatched even now. More…

Huffington Post, May 16th, 2009

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Republicans can reach a broader base by recasting gay marriage as an issue that could dent pocketbooks as small businesses spend more on health care and other benefits, GOP Chairman Michael Steele said Saturday.

Steele said that was just an example of how the party can retool its message to appeal to young voters and minorities without sacrificing core conservative principles. Steele said he used the argument weeks ago while chatting on a flight with a college student who described herself as fiscally conservative but socially liberal on issues like gay marriage.

“Now all of a sudden I’ve got someone who wasn’t a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for,” Steele told Republicans at the state convention in traditionally conservative Georgia. “So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money.” More…

New York Times, May 17th, 2009

At Notre Dame, Obama Calls for Dialogue on Abortion

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — President Obama directly confronted America’s deep divide over abortion on Sunday as he appealed to partisans on both sides to find ways to respect one another’s basic decency and even work together to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.

Anti-abortion leaders protested his appearance at the University of Notre Dame and he was heckled four times during a commencement address by protesters yelling slogans like “abortion is murder.” But the audience shouted down the hecklers and cheered Mr. Obama as he called for “open hearts, open minds, fair-minded words” in a debate that has polarized the country for decades.

About 100 anti-abortion demonstrators shouted angry slogans at the edge of campus, angrily heckling back and forth with a smaller number of abortion rights demonstrators. They shouted through megaphones, waved banners at motorists, and handed out leaflets to pedestrians. At least five anti-abortion activists were led away in handcuffs Sunday, according to the Associated Press, which also reported that police had arrested 23 protestors on Saturday. More…

United Press International, May 17th, 2009

SOUTH BEND, Ind., May 17 (UPI) — Nineteen anti-abortion demonstrators were arrested at Notre Dame as the South Bend, Ind., university prepared for President’s Barack Obama’s visit, police said. The protesters, who were not students, were arrested Saturday when they entered the campus, which is private property, campus police spokesman Dennis Brown told CNN.

The president’s speech to Notre Dame’s 2009 graduating class has divided Catholics because of Obama’s pro-choice abortion beliefs and support for federal funding of stem-cell research. More…

More Coverage from: Fox News with the story that “bus loads of protesters will be brought in from Chicago.”

and from the Chicago Tribune with some of the issues

Climate bill moves to mark up today..

Blog for Our Future, May 18th, 2009

“The House Energy and Commerce Committee planned to begin work [today] on legislation that, for the first time, would limit the emissions blamed for global warming … The House Energy committee wants to complete work and vote on the climate and energy bill by the end of the week.”: AP

The Hill reviews the head-count: “… the important number is 30 – the number of votes [Rep. Henry Waxman] needs to get his cap-and-trade bill out of committee … Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) is expected to offer his endorsement of the bill … Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) has warned GOP leaders they can’t count on her as an automatic ‘no.’ … four key swing votes – Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), and Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) – negotiated a deal with Waxman on renewable electricity standards … Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) … is leaning toward voting for the bill, according to an aide … Members still considered to be on the fence late last week included Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.), Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio), Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas). The votes of Matheson and Barrow could be particularly important for the bill even after it gets out of committee, as they are the chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of the conservative Blue Dogs’ energy task force.”  More…