Obama’s Economist Pick Seen As Sign Of New Agenda
The Associated Press reports: “Among the first announcements President Barack Obama will make upon returning from his Hawaiian vacation is his choice for top economic adviser, a decision that could signal a new direction for the administration as it struggles to jumpstart the economy and wrestle down unemployment.”
Obama Looks To Chicago For Campaign Headquarters
Politico reports on how President Obama’s campaign is considering basing its headquarters in Chicago, rather than the Washington area — a move that no modern president has done: “Obama’s top advisers have concluded that potential drawbacks to locating the headquarters in his home base of Chicago are outweighed by the benefits they anticipate from a break with precedent. And with Republican contenders already circling, there’s a sense of urgency toward beginning to set up the reelection effort.”
Sotomayor Guides Court’s Liberal Wing
The New York Times reports: “We are now three months into Justice Sotomayor’s second term on the court. That is awfully early in a justice’s career to draw any general conclusions. But some things are becoming tolerably clear. Justice Sotomayor has completely dispelled the fear on the left that her background as a prosecutor would align her with the court’s more conservative members on criminal justice issues. And she has displayed a quality — call it what you will — that is alert to the humanity of the people whose cases make their way to the Supreme Court.”
DCCC Targeting Marginal Districts In 2012
Roll Call reports: “Democrats are weeding through November’s election returns to decipher which Members are the most vulnerable Republicans, beginning with those who won marginal districts. Among others, the committee will target Republicans who won districts President Barack Obama carried in 2008 and those who won with 55 percent or less — the mark used as a ceiling for competitive races.”
Health Care Repeal Tops List Of Obama’s Showdowns With GOP
The Hill reports: “President Obama and Republicans taking over the House are girding for a series of showdowns set to begin almost immediately after Congress resumes next week…Fights over healthcare, spending and the national debt could result in grand bargains like the tax cut deal Obama struck with Republicans, or they could lead to a government shutdown, as when President Clinton went toe-to-toe with the GOP in 1995.”
Administration Steps Up Monitoring Of Banks That Miss TARP Payments
The Washington Post reports: “The Obama administration has begun monitoring the high-level board meetings of nearly 20 banks that received emergency taxpayer assistance but repeatedly failed to pay the required dividends, according to Treasury Department officials and documents. And it may soon install new directors on some of their boards…These ‘deadbeats,’ as they are sometimes called, are virtually all community lenders and collectively received billions of dollars in taxpayer assistance.”
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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