TPMDC Saturday Roundup
Obama Thanks Troops In Memorial Day Weekend Address
In this weekend's Presidential YouTube address, President Obama recognized the troops on Memorial Day weekend -- and said that the public hasn't always fully support them, but he will change that:
"That is why I will send our servicemen and women into harm's way only when it is necessary, and ensure that they have the training and equipment they need when they enter the theater of war," said Obama. "That is why we are building a 21st century Department of Veterans Affairs with the largest single-year funding increase in three decades. It's a commitment that will help us provide our veterans with the support and benefits they have earned, and expand quality health care to a half million more veterans."
GOP Address: Barrasso Support "Red, White And Blue Jobs" For Energy
In this weekend's Republican YouTube, address Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) also thanked the troops on Memorial Day weekend -- and then proceeded to attack the Democrats on energy issues:
"Democrats have focused solely on what they call green jobs," said Barrasso. "Those are jobs from alternative energy. I support green jobs, but why discriminate? American energy means American jobs, which is why I support red, white, and blue jobs."
Obama At Camp David; No Obama Or Biden Public Events
President Obama is spending the weekend at Camp David, and departed from the White House earlier today. He will arrive back at the White House on Sunday night, and does not have any public events scheduled for this weekend. Vice President Biden is spending the weekend in Wilmington, Delaware, and also does not have any public events scheduled for this weekend.
Cheney Seeking Book Deal
The New York Times reports that former Vice President Dick Cheney is looking to sign a book deal, and is seeking a $2 million advance, to tell his story: "The coming crush of books reflects what former Bush officials describe as a desire to produce their own drafts of history after gritting their teeth for so long over the works of the journalists and disgruntled colleagues who penned the first, second and third drafts before them."
Obama Predicts Recovery For Auto Industry -- But Pain For Now
In an interview on C-Span, President Obama said the auto industry will be able to recover once the economy itself improves, and people then begin to make new-car purchases that they'd been delaying. "We're confident that they can emerge and take advantage of that new market and actually be very profitable and thrive," said Obama. "But it means going through some pain now, and the thing I worry about most is that so much of that pain is borne by workers and communities that have historically been the backbone of the auto industry and so we're going to have to work intensely with those communities."
Obama: I'll Announce SCOTUS Pick Soon
Also during the C-Span interview, President Obama said he will announce his Supreme Court nominee soon. And while Obama said he doesn't feel pressured by the time it takes to get a Justice confirmed, he does want it done by the time the Supreme Court begins its new term this Fall.
White House Approaches Cuba On Immigration Talks
The Obama Administration has reached out to Cuba to resume talks on legal immigration, which has previously been suspended by the Bush Administration after mid-2003. State Department spokeswoman Darla Jordan told reporters that Obama "wants to ensure that we are doing all we can to support the Cuban people in fulfilling their desire to live in freedom."


















I support orange, taupe and marigold-yellow jobs!
May 23, 2009 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why do Republicans reduce every issue to a competition of who is more American?
May 23, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
To do anything different would be bi-partisan.
May 24, 2009 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
To VivaAmerica!: because their values are un-American, fundamentally so. It's called hypocrisy, masking your true agenda, etc.
May 23, 2009 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
To everyone on here by Obama's comments, is he implicitly rejecting Bush's pre-emptive doctrine? It seems like he is by saying "That is why I will send our servicemen and women into harm's way only when it is necessary, and ensure that they have the training and equipment they need when they enter the theater of war,"
May 23, 2009 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep Obama is rejecting going into a war such as Iraq which never attacked us in the first place.
May 23, 2009 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
JUST LIEK BUSH!!!1
MEET NEW BOSS.... SAME AS OLD BOSS!!
BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
May 23, 2009 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama is trashing Bu$h's persistent warfare policy. Remember, Bu$h's national decision-making was shaped primarily by the military capability to act with brute force - not by any rigorous application of the purpose/method/end-state strategic framework. Way too many details for him to follow. That pretty much explains his decision-making process and why Operation Iraqi Freedom never had a coherent strategic design. He figured the US had the capability to remove Saddam Hussein and that was enough to justify his actions and he assumed that whatever happened after Baghdad fell the military and civilian contractor would muddle through and prevail. So it's easy to see why U.S. forces have been kept in Iraq long past the point when it was clear that our military and contractor presence in Iraq was a needless drain on the military and economic resources. Obama is rejecting this whole screwed up mess.
If you want to read the story
were I lifted these talking points, go to the following url:
http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2009/04/3901424
Refusing battle
The alternative to persistent warfare
BY Col. DOUGLAS MacGREGOR (Ret.)
May 24, 2009 12:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Some interpid investigative reporter could do a better, more accurate Cheney book than Cheney for 1/4 the price.
May 23, 2009 6:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rumor has it Cheney has been stirring the pot to get his book hyped up. I heard this rumor from a person that does not want to be named.
May 23, 2009 11:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone want to start a petition demanding that Obama cease and desist from starting any more sentences with "that's why..."?
Such a simplistic and defensive construction, implying Newtonian linear cause-effect relationships -- a handy segue by which he can transition from uninformative, pandering fluff to unsupported assertions regarding policies that actually harm the people he's pandering to and others (notice the implicit assertion that the war in Afghanistan is "necessary" -- with no evidence given).
Sorry if that seems harsh, but I'm really ready for true freedom and democracy and I get tired of the silly verbal games politicians play to blow hot air up our asses while carrying out idiotic authoritarian policies. Ditch the militarism and the persecution of pot smokers, and I'll ease up on the criticism of your language.
I'd like to see less lecturing and more conversation. The whole idea of "Your Weekly Address" seems so Old Media.
The New York Times today has an article on "The Coming Superbrain" http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/weekinreview/24markoff.html
Hooray for new levels of organization emerging and supplanting human politics! Good riddance to the BS!
May 24, 2009 5:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
AND THEN IT ENDED LIKE THIS???
President Weekly Address President Obama calls on Americans to praise the men and women who have served in the U.S. military and 'to pay tribute to our fallen heroes.watch video
And the GOP Weekly Address: is like this "THIS WEEKEND WE PAY TRIBUTE TO THIER CODE" A WHOLE 25 SECONDS AND NOT EVEN A THANK YOU WAS IN THAT 25 seconds, NO BLESSING FOR THE TROOPS AND FAMILIES in the 25 sec, NO BLESSING FOR USA in that 25 sec. WHAT IS GOING ON OVER AT THE GOP THAT YOU FORGET THE TROOPS ON Memorial Day Weekend To Make A Politico Point About Health Care
THANK YOU ALL TROOPS EVERYWHERE, EVERYWHERE, THANK YOU TO EVERY FAMILY MEMBER AND FRIEND OF EVERY TROOP EVERY WHERE FOR YOUR SACRIFICE AND TRUE LOVE OF COUNTRY I LOVE EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU DEEPLY
May 24, 2009 5:51 AM | Reply | Permalink