By RICK KLEIN
Talk about new beginnings.
Hallmark doesn’t make a card for it, but the next phase of the Obama presidency begins this week.
This is where he takes the keys back from Congress — or at least borrows them for a while. No longer will he watch the legislative process sputter toward an uncertain conclusion.
This issue of the moment is healthcare, and President Obama plans to become a player again — with what he hopes is an army behind him.
It’s the kind of leadership you’d expect from a president — and from a White House that knows it will own whatever bill Congress produces.
The trade-offs, though — public option or private plans, bipartisanship or reconciliation, taxes or other kinds of taxes, campaign promises versus governing compromises — look just as unappealing as they always have.
For all the president’s talk about tough choices, we may finally be about to get some.
“Now come the first real political tests of his presidency, a summer of mounting challenges that will be much more difficult than anything he's faced and that will force him to navigate through pressures from both right and left,” McClatchy’s Steven Thomma writes. “Having so many big proposals at one time, said Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill., ‘is uncharted territory for most of us.’ ”
“For Barack Obama, this signals the end, in a sense, of the eventful prologue to his presidency,” Matt Bai wrote in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. “Making good on his promise will require not just public expenditure on a disorienting scale but also the kind of activism and creativity, the birthing of new rules and institutions, at which Washington hasn’t succeeded for generations.”
“Within the next 10 days, Obama will give details of plans that White House aides say would pay for the bulk of a new health-care system,” Bloomberg’s Kim Chipman and Ryan Donmoyer report.
“The president is going to weigh in more heavily this week,” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos reported on “Good Morning America” Monday. “But there are at least three big questions that have to be answered before you can get healthcare reform this year.”
Those questions: public plan, how to pay for it, and much to push employers to provide coverage.
“After months of insisting he would leave the details to Congress, President Obama has concluded that he must exert greater control over the health care debate and is preparing an intense push for legislation that will include speeches, town-hall-style meetings and much deeper engagement with lawmakers,” Sheryl Gay Stolberg reported in the Sunday New York Times.
Gambling with the chips you’ve got (before the house wins them back — or the House and Senate take them back): “Obviously,” said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, “the president’s adoption of something makes it easier to vote for, because he’s — let’s be honest — popular, and the public trusts him.”
But first (making sure Rahm is right) Monday is another stimulus day, starting with a Cabinet meeting: “President Barack Obama wants agencies to lay out specific goals for economic stimulus spending over the next several months, a push to focus more on his $787 billion recovery plan,” per the AP’s Brett Blackledge.
“Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will discuss a renewed emphasis on reviving the economy with Cabinet members during a White House meeting Monday. In the wake of reports the recession could be subsiding, Obama wants to stress that agency heads should make economic recovery a priority during an expected jump in federal stimulus spending this summer.” (Why wasn’t this done already?)
Your latest claim: “The stimulus itself has produced hundreds of thousands of jobs,” David Axelrod said on “Face the Nation.”
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., tells ABC News: “Will this new stimulus spending spree include a new commitment for stimulus oversight and transparency or will the American people still have to wonder what their tax dollars are being spent on?” Issa is the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform committee.
Why new goals? Per the new Gallup Poll: A 51-45 majority in the poll disapprove of Obama’s job performance in “controlling federal spending.” “Americans have become increasingly less positive about Obama's handling of the economy in recent months, and are most negative when asked to say whether they approve of his handling of the federal deficit and federal spending.”
Do you need this said about the chief White House economic adviser? “By all accounts, much of the tension derives from the president’s choice of the brilliant but sometimes supercilious Mr. Summers to be the director of the National Economic Council,” Jackie Calmes writes in The New York Times. “His argumentative style has contributed to delaying some actions, officials say, like the Treasury-led overhaul of the bank bailout program that was inherited from the Bush administration and an overhaul of the financial regulatory system, which is now expected later this month.”
And if, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says, the president has passed his 3 a.m. test, surely it’s not much later than 3:05 now.
He gets to bring those high expectations home with him. The president “has raised the pressure on the administration to carry through, not only on peace initiatives but also on the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, the closure of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the enforcement of a ban on torture,” The Wall Street Journal’s Jonathan Weisman and Laura Meckler report.
Hurtling toward a confrontation: “North Korea said its top court convicted two U.S. journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in labor prison Monday, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States,” per the Washington Times write-up.
“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has appealed directly to North Korea to release two American journalists accused of illegally entering the country and committing unspecified ‘hostile acts,’ ” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos reports.
Said Clinton, on “This Week”: “I have been involved directly in working with our team as they have made approaches and requests for information through the channels we use with North Korea.”
Says White House spokesman Bill Burton: “The President is deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities, and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release.”
Movement? “The Obama administration signaled Sunday that it was seeking a way to interdict, possibly with China’s help, North Korean sea and air shipments suspected of carrying weapons or nuclear technology,” David E. Sanger writes in The New York Times. “The administration also said it was examining whether there was a legal basis to reverse former President George W. Bush’s decision last year to remove the North from a list of states that sponsor terrorism.”
Obama aides “know that North Korea will use these journalists as bargaining chips to get relief on those issues” regarding nuclear weapons, Stephanopoulos reported on “GMA” Monday.
Don’t forget Gitmo: ABC’s Jake Tapper had an exclusive TV interview in France with Lakhdar Boumediene, the former Guantanamo detainee whose Supreme Court victory against the Bush administration led to detainees being granted the right to challenge their detention in court.
Boumediene says he was tortured while at Guantanamo — physically abused and once kept awake for 16 straight days. Does he think he was tortured? “I don’t think — I’m sure,” he said on “GMA” Monday. (More to come on “World News” Monday night.)
Boumediene told Tapper he understands how the 9/11 prompted strong reactions from the US — but only to a degree. “I will agree with you but for one month, two months,” Boumediene said of his detention. “I give you two years, no problem. But not seven years.”
And might liberals be about to claim a victory, on the war supplemental? “The emergence of opposition from left and right to the expanded legislation has inspired anti-war forces to try to hand Obama his first major defeat,” Tom Edsall reports for Huffington Post.
“In one of the ironies of the legislative process, the threat of Republicans to vote en masse against the measure has empowered the liberal wing of the House Democratic caucus, giving it potential veto power over the legislation,” Edsall writes. “A number of war critics in the blogosphere including Jane Hamsher at firedoglake.com; buhdydharma on Dailykos.com; and Jason Rosenbaum at theseminel.com, think there is a chance to actually defeat the war-funding bill.”
Back to healthcare — after some bursts of optimism, a return to the expected state:
“Business groups reacted warily Sunday to the Senate's first stab at overhauling the nation's health care system, a rift that could complicate President Obama's goal of achieving bipartisan support for his top domestic priority,” USA Today’s John Fritze writes. “After weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations and friendly exchanges, debate over health care appeared to fall into familiar territory after a draft proposal by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee began circulating late last week.”
The Washington Post editorial: “More disappointing was Mr. Obama's restated commitment to a public health insurance option as part of the array of available plans. A public plan is not necessary to maintain a competitive market in health insurance, but including a public plan is almost certain to doom what Mr. Obama says are his hopes for a bipartisan agreement. Given the high stakes involved in an overhaul of this magnitude, it would be unfortunate indeed if health reform were to be a one-party endeavor.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial: “The main White House argument for health-care reform goes something like this: If we spend now on a hugely expensive new insurance program for the middle class, we can save later by reducing overall U.S. health spending. This ‘tastes great, less filling’ theory could stand some scrutiny, not least because it is being used to rush through the greatest social spending program in American history.”
“The toughest behind-the-scenes battles will be about how much the insurance companies, the drug companies and the providers are willing to give up to get a government bailout of the health system,” E.J. Dionne Jr. writes. “That was the significance of a little-noticed line in President Obama's letter last week to Kennedy and Baucus outlining his own goals in the bill.”
Keep watching senators Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, of the Finance Committee: “Their effort could falter if the Congressional Budget Office decides this week that their numbers do not add up. But if they do, and a Baucus-Grassley bill clears their committee by month’s end, Mr. Obama has a chance for the bipartisan bill he says he wants,” John Harwood writes in The New York Times.
(Don’t miss Grassley’s Twitter response to Obama’s declaration, in his radio address, that it’s “time to deliver” on healthcare. Grassley was “even workinWKEND.”)
Proximity matters: “If the liberal [Sen. Ted] Kennedy takes a lesser role, that could make it easier for the more-conservative Mr. Baucus to push the health-care legislation in a centrist direction,” Naftali Bendavid and Janet Adamy write in The Wall Street Journal. “Navigating the egos of the Senate and guiding bills to passage is a task at which Mr. Kennedy excels. Yet at this long-awaited moment, it isn't clear whether Mr. Kennedy can be on the scene to direct the effort.”
Personal involvement matters: “Obama will have to carry much of the burden of advocacy himself — if outside events don't intrude, as they did on Bill Clinton,” David Broder writes in his Washington Post column.
From the outside — Health Care for America Now enlists actress Edie Falco in its latest “rapid response” campaign. “HCAN will use its new text message campaign — asking supporters to text “HEALTH” to 94553 – to send updates on fast-moving health care reform activities throughout the summer and to continue to organize and mobilize its more than 1000 member organizations representing more than 30 million people nationwide,” per the release. It starts with a Web video featuring “The Sopranos” star.
On that other big domestic priority — look who’s getting it done (not that you’re likely to see him doing it). “As Congress wrestles with politically explosive issues surrounding climate change and energy, Gore is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere,” per ABC News. “He's worked the phones to squeak a bill through a key legislative committee. He's serving as an informal counsel to allies on Capitol Hill and inside the Obama administration, as they seek to solve a complicated political equation.”
“The not-for-profit Gore heads is running ads in targeted congressional districts, and holding town-hall meetings across the country to drum up support for climate-change legislation. . . . . The one thing the former vice president is not doing very much of: talking in public about what he's doing behind the scenes.”
Waiting for the battle that may not be . . . David Axelrod’s latest take on Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comment. “The point she was making and the point the president made about the point she was making is that we're all the sum total of our experiences and you bring those experiences with you to the bench,” Axelrod said, per The Hill’s Reid Wilson.
Said Newt Gingrich: “Having read what she said, I said that was racist, but I applied it to her as a person. The truth is, I don't know her as a person. It's clear that what she said was racist.”
The case against her: “Sotomayor's speech is in many ways a distillation of the most extreme views of the liberal civil rights establishment,” Jennifer Rubin writes in The Weekly Standard cover story. “We have never had a Supreme Court justice who subscribed to views like those described in Sotomayor's Berkeley speech and law review article. It will be up to the Senate to decide whether they are compatible with our constitutional tradition and the judicial role.”
Laura Bush weighs in on Dick Cheney: “I think that's his right, as a citizen of the US. And I think he also feels obligated,” the former first lady tells Robin Roberts on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Monday. “You know, these are issues that are really important to him and he knows a lot about 'em. He was briefed every day for eight years, just like George was and . . . I understand why he wants to speak out.”
“On the other hand, George feels like as a former president — that he owes President Obama his silence on issues, and that there's no reason to second-guess any decisions that he makes,” she said.
On GOP in-fighting: “I think that's also probably not that bad,” Mrs. Bush said. “It's like creating tension within a party, for people to talk about what it is they — how they want to be represented.”
How does this happen? “Sarah Palin’s on-again, off-again appearance at Monday night’s gala GOP fundraising dinner is off — again,” Politico’s Jonathan Martin writes. “After being invited — for a second time — to speak to the annual joint fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Palin was told abruptly Saturday night that she would not be allowed to address the thousands of Republicans there after all.”
Said Meg Stapleton: “Why, at a time when we’re trying to build the party, would you pull a move like that on somebody who earlier in the day just attracted 20,000 people?”
What she did get to do, with Rudy Giuliani: “They hope[d] to win the keys to the White House. Instead, they got tickets to Yankee Stadium,” per the New York Daily News’ Michael Saul.
What’s she’s breathing easier because of: “The accusations made news, but with another dismissal of an ethics charge last week against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential nominee has quietly been cleared of every ethics complaint filed since the torrent of allegations began in 2008,” Amanda Carpenter writes in the Washington Times. “Mrs. Palin, who became a target of such complaints after being named Sen. John McCain's running mate, is 14-for-14 in fighting off the complaints.”
The ally you’re not sure you always want around: “New York Sen. Chuck Schumer has crafted a role as one of the White House's go-to legislators. That doesn't mean they have to like him,” Ken Bazinet and Michael McAuliff write in the New York Daily News. “Mention of the famously aggressive Brooklynite is seldom met with a smile by many others who work for Obama. More common are complaints or rolls of the eyes.” Read more HERE.
Two examples: “A witness to Obama's recent credit card law-signing ceremony was aghast when Schumer tried to muscle his way to a spot nearer the President. A senior White House aide was unimpressed when Schumer became point man for a key piece of health-care legislation, and indicated other senators would have served just as well.”
Another ally you may not always want around: “The much-heralded [Arlen] Specter conversion, bringing Democrats close to the 60 votes required in the Senate to break a filibuster, is a pyrrhic victory,” Bloomberg’s Al Hunt writes. Politicians, like companies, usually suffer when they focus on short-term gain. The lure of party-switching is always greater than the reality, and in a way it illustrates why Specter’s home state of Pennsylvania is a graveyard for anyone with national aspirations.”
Read this, Joe Sestak supporters: “Here was the reality: Specter’s own calculations were that he would have lost a Republican primary against a conservative challenger he barely beat six years ago,” Hunt writes. “If President Barack Obama’s political team, Senate campaign committee chairman Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell had actively enlisted a solid Democratic candidate months ago, he or she would have been a prohibitive favorite to win a general election.”
Still looking for an Illinois Senate candidate: “After exploring a Senate run, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) told me Sunday she instead will seek another term in the House,” Lynn Sweet reports for the Chicago Sun-Times. “She told me a statewide contest ‘would have been very exciting,’ but she wanted to take advantage of ‘this moment in history’ to use her House leadership position — she is part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's inner circle — to work on pending health care and energy legislation.”
Team Bush takes on Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee. What Goolsbee said, on “Fox News Sunday,” on the subject of General Motors: “I don't know why the Bush administration simply handed them money and shoved the problem on to the next guy.”
Dana Perino’s take: “Taking over the White House doesn't come with a magic pen to rewrite history,” she writes at Politico. “If the Obama transition team had not wanted us to provide breathing space for the automakers — with an express condition of future proven viability — they should have said so at the time, and those concerns would have been given considerable weight and may have changed the outcome. It was, in fact, the new administration that decided last week to go whole hog and put taxpayers on the hook for a 60 percent stake in a company that has not proven in concrete terms how it will become viable in the future.”
Keith Hennessey, director of the National Economic Council under President Bush, writes that the Bush administration tried to get the incoming Obama folks on board, with a meeting held outside the White House during the transition: “Despite multiple efforts to get the Obama team on board, they did not take up our proposal, nor did they suggest any modifications. . . . Dr. Goolsbee’s comments this morning were both inflammatory and incorrect.”
Coming this week: “United Against Nuclear Iran, a well-funded group warning that enrichment activity by Tehran could be used for arms, is running its first TV ad this week to encourage President Barack Obama to ratchet up pressure on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” per Politico’s Mike Allen.
Driving politics this week (and this year): Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial primary sets the dance card in Virginia and New Jersey. “White House and Democratic Party leaders know that a loss in either state this fall will be interpreted as a setback for Obama. Republican victories in either state will boost a beleaguered party that is searching desperately for signs of renewal,” The Washington Post’s Dan Balz writes.
The Kicker:
“Pres Obama while u sightseeing in Paris u said 'time to delivr on healthcare' When you are a “hammer” u think evrything is NAIL I'm no NAIL.” — Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on his Twitter feed.
“There are only a few times that I felt like smacking Larry.” — Christina D. Romer, chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, explaining that she didn’t really want the president to slap Larry Summers.
Today on “Top Line,” ABCNews.com’s daily political Webcast: Richard Kirsch, of Health Care for America Now; and Christina Bellantoni of the Washington Times. Noon ET.
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