TPMDC Morning Roundup
Obama Signing Stimulus Bill Today, In Denver
President Obama is scheduled to leave Washington at 10 a.m. ET, en route to Colorado. He will arrive in Colorado at 1:30 p.m. ET, where he will conduct a 2:15 p.m. ET tour of a solar panel installation in Denver -- and then at 2:40 p.m. ET, he will sign the stimulus bill into law at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Afterwards, he'll leave for Phoenix, Arizona, where he will talk about the housing crisis tomorrow.
Obama Giving Interview With Canadian TV, Ahead Of Visit This Thursday
President Obama is also preparing for his first trip to another country, namely Canada, with an interview set for this morning at 9:25 a.m. ET with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. During Thursday's visit, Obama will meet Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal opposition leader Michael Ignatieff, with trade issues expected to be a major point of discussion.
Japanese P.M. Will Be First Foreign Leader To Visit Obama
Hillary Clinton has announced that Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso will be the first foreign leader to visit President Obama at the White House. The meeting will happen next week.
WaPo: Geithner's Bailout Speech Spoiled By Last-Minute About-Face
The Washington Post reports that Tim Geithner's speech last week on the revamped financial bailout -- which was heavily criticized for a lack of detail -- happened that way because of a last-minute decision to drop the whole plan he'd been working on: "They needed an alternative and found it in a previously considered initiative to pair private investments and public loans to try to buy the risky assets and take them off the books of banks."
NYT: Obama Fights With Congressional GOP -- And Gets Help From Republican Governors
The New York Times says that the stimulus bill has shown a split between the Congressional Republicans and the party's governors -- that is, the GOPers who actually have real political power right now have almost entirely supported the stimulus bill. Florida Governor Charlie Crist told the Times: "As a governor, the pragmatism that you have to exercise because of the constitutional obligation to balance your budget is a very compelling pull."
Pope To Meet With Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi will be meeting Wednesday with Pope Benedict XVI, as part of her official trip this week to Italy. The Pope is officially receiving Pelosi in her capacity as a head of state, but The Hill points out there could be some friction -- Benedict has endorsed religious sanctions, from denying communion to full-blown excommunication, against pro-choice Catholic politicians.
Steele Reaches Out To The Online "Rightroots"
As part of his efforts to modernize the Republican Party's organization and reach out on the Internet, Michael Steele and former RNC rival Saul Anuzis held a meeting with 300 conservative techies this past Friday morning. "When we get to 2010, I want my campaigns here," Steele declared, holding up a BlackBerry. A tip for Steele: Don't seek out any advice from this man.
Josh
Elana
Matt
Eric
What's fascinating is that some of these Republican Governors that are choosing to support Obama are potential 2012 opponents, and they're sure to get in A LOT of trouble with Republican primary voters. This is especially the case with Charlie Crist, who already has a stormy relationship with conservatives; it's now likely to get worse. Defeating Crist will be as important to Republicans in 2012 as defeating Lieberman was to liberals in 2004.
Also: An important story that happened yesterday is that Florida's SEIU decided to (already) endorse Kendrick Meek in the Florida Senate race. Who would have thought Meek would look like such a formidable contender so quickly? With Sink and Boyd out and with such early support from SEIU (and even from people like Clinton), he is increasingly looking favored to win the Dem nod.
February 17, 2009 9:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Crist isn't going to run in 2012. He's too smart for that. He's waiting for 2016. By then the republican party will either have remade itself into something other than southern right-wing knuckle-scrapers or it will be extinct.
February 17, 2009 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Uh...they're not supporting Obama...they have state revenue shortfalls and want federal cash...not really the big uprising y'all are making it.
February 17, 2009 9:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
What part of my post said they were supporting Obama? You really should learn to follow a thread.
They're not supporting Obama; they're trying to help the people in their states. The DC repugs are all about a bankrupt fiscal theory. But governors know that theory doesn't feed the people. Theory doesn't keep cops, firefighters, teachers on the job.
They are realists. Congressional repugs? Not so much!
February 17, 2009 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
I apologize for clicking you comment rather than the comment you were commenting on...
February 17, 2009 11:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, uprising may be a strong term, but it certainly amounts to the wholesale rejection of what the National GOP--Cantor, Boehner, McConnell and the like--are saying. They are standing on ideological principles, saying, "This is the way out of the wilderness, a platform of tax cuts and no spending," while state GOP elected officials, who do not have the luxury of simply voting "no" and are instead required to actually solve problems and balance budgets etc., are saying, "Yeah, we hear you, but we are going a different way, and trying to get some of that money you guys voted against."
The current GOP structure is leaderless, and it is cratering. Did you hear J.D. Hayworth on Hardball last night, SFCWallace? Do you think what he said made sense? Do you really believe that the last 8 years is the fault of Chuck Schumer and George Soros?
Because that's the hot lunch your party is going to keep putting up over and over and over between now and 2010.
The GOP has no ideas to fix things. None. They had their shot at actually, hey, governing, and they blew it. They only have ideas on how to keep their base on the reservation. They keep beating drums to raise the specter of socialism and evil libruls and tax cuts tax cuts tax cuts, because that's all they have. That's it. There is no there there.
The GOP has strong support, indeed, in places like Alabama and Utah and the Florida panhandle and South Carolina and Idaho. And it's that base they keep playing to, even after the voters have clearly and unmistakably said with one voice, we want something else.
But hey, i'm all for the J.D. Hayworths and the Jack Kingstons and the Michelle Bachmans and the Ginny Foxes, the know-nothing, no-voting figureheads at the forefront of your party. Because they provide a contrast.
Sure, maybe the state GOP officials are not "supporting" Obama. But the faster they leave the GOP talking point platform, the more contrast there is between those who want to fix things and those who want to go on hardball and scream their Rush ditto points and pull their puds.
This is a nation no longer that interested in pud-pulling.
February 17, 2009 11:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yep, totally agree. I couldn't believe jd hayworth last night. Was he on drugs? It was really bizarre. Maybe it will be rambo/jd in 2012. That would be the ticket.
They have no leadership and are leaving the states to flounder. Republicans in the states are freaking out about their jobs and are not getting any help from the dc party or any direction or leadership. Sounds like the makings of a new party on the horizon.
February 17, 2009 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
re: Geithner
Growing pains or a yank on the leash?
I wonder if he was on his way off the reservation and got yanked back or if in the midst of all the other stuff going on there wasn't enough oversight?
February 17, 2009 9:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
If you read the article, the pullback was because they realized committing so much taxpayer money to the banks would backfire on them politically.
February 17, 2009 9:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
I felt it was because they didn't want to frighten all the investors away prior to not having their plan ready in place. When they give details as to what will happen to banks that fail the stress tests, that news alone could cause a massive exodus from stocks once they realize their shares will be worth nada.
If Geithner and gang have their plan in place, the systematic coordinated takeover and reselling of assets will be easier to manage, if that is indeed the route they intend to go.
If investors started cashing in on all their stock now, from the way Roubini and others are explaining it, any income these banks were making from investments in stock would disappear quickly.
February 17, 2009 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right, but was he allowed to develop an errant policy or did he just do it and they killed it when they realized what he was up to?
February 17, 2009 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
One can only hope. So long as the GOP refuses to join the reality-based community, it will remain a shrinking, largely irrelevant minority.
February 17, 2009 9:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here is a great opportunity for the Republican Governor of Alaska to take a stand on stimulus money to her state.
Appropriate response: "Thanks but no thanks."
C'mon, Sarah, you know you want to.
February 17, 2009 9:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
well she doesn't support the stimulus, but she does support taking the money; she wouldn't be sarah any other way.
February 17, 2009 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Thanks but no thanks" is only something you say after you've taken the money.
February 17, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well it's better that Geithner yanked a bad plan than to put out a bad plan and have to retract it.
Based upon how Obama has shifted his language even from a week ago when he said in the ABCNews interview that he wasn't for nationalizing the banks to the interview given to a bunch of columnists (Herbert, Page, Dionne, Brownstein, Parker) on Friday where he didn't rule out nationalizing insolvent banks.
Perhaps the Obama economic team is rethinking their whole approach. The first step is "stress testing" the banks to see which ones are insolvent.
I find it interesting that Geithner/Summers wrote extensively about how the Japanese model was bad in the 1990's on how they approach solving their banking crisis and yet they seemed to be following the Japanese model. Maybe they are rethinking things.
February 17, 2009 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
I read the bit about Obama's CBC interview at 9:25 -- at 9:25. I've checked the TV (Newsworld -- weather; CBC Toronto: kid's shows) and there's nothing still. Are you sure about the time?
February 17, 2009 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Uhm...last I checked, President Obama was the head of state in the US (US presidents are both head of state and head of government). Perhaps the Pope has had a gender-change?
February 17, 2009 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's a very neat side-step by the Vatican. Pelosi gets the audience and the Pope doesn't have to reprimand her for advocating choice.
The Vatican justified the meeting as a head of state meeting by explaining that Pelosi is third in line for the Presidency.
A side-step is still a side-step....
February 17, 2009 11:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
This article refers to Pelosi as "a" head of state, not "the" head of state.
If we had a parliamentary system, Pelosi would be the prime minister. Perhaps that is the rationale for referring to her as 'a' head of state? Or just that she's a very VIP?
(Italy and several other governments with parliamentary systems have a president as well as a prime minister, but the president in these systems is almost always a somewhat powerless figurehead confined to conducting ceremonial duties)
February 17, 2009 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama needs to hurry up and sign the "Messiah Act" stocks are down 300 already today...
February 17, 2009 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I can taste your desperation...
...And it is delicious.
February 17, 2009 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wish Republicans would stop cheering for failure and put COUNTRY FIRST instead.
February 17, 2009 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
The problem is, is that country first is not in their dna. Never has been and never will be. It's always about me first and screw everyone else when it comes to republicans. That goes all the way back to the b-movie actor's "revolution" in 1980. It was the me first motto that has gotten us in the horrible mess that we are in today. I hope the party dries up and blows away in the wind in the very near future.
February 17, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
"...As you can see, Sir Allen is a real Texas-size character. He actually looks a bit like Clark Gable..."
Do you need to come out of the closet or what? Far stretch of the imagination to see resemblance to Clark Gable...where did that thought come from and why. Surprised you didn't mention ..."he's got shoulders you could land a 747 on". Geez
Why is Rove even on TV much less making every show around. Is it the need to feel relevance. He's a gutter purp and always has been...yet every time I turn around it's Rove this or Rove that. He's always wrong, he always lies and Fox with other media darlings keep putting him on. Geez.
One look at Burris, one minute of his mouth moving should have told us beware...loser on parade. You remember me, I was your dog catcher comptroller and now I'm your senator and you should be proud.
You run Fox chatter everyday just to remind us how pathetic many of our citizens are and what they will believe for money. What I have noticed is that almost all of what is on this site, informative as it may be, is focused on all the idiot negative goobers and their activities. Aren't there a lot of good liberal progressive people and activities going on now that we have finally halted the republican nightmare.
If the polls show that a majority are excited about the direction this country is starting to take...how we see the right as a loud ignorant deeply flawed minority...then why is so much attention being given to these goobers. I get sick of even hearing Graham's voice or watching McCain's suppressed rage. Ex republican reps means they failed the ignorance test...too dumb to be called ignorant. They are the people's obstructionist party and that is their only function since they have no viable policies or plans that have not been proven failures...yet they are still presented everywhere. I am so done with them...I want to know what the dems are doing and thinking...I want to see them everywhere. If you banned Fox news and Fox people from TPM...half your material would vanish.
But without Muck we'd be blinded by the light.
February 17, 2009 5:22 PM | Reply | Permalink