Obama Appointee: ‘Making Progress’ on LGBT Issues; ‘Question of Sequencing Things’

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

When President Obama named Fred Hochberg to head the Export-Import Bank, the selection was cheered by LGBT activists, given Hochberg's prominence in the gay-rights community.

Now he sometimes finds himself in the position of counseling patience.

At this week's Bloomberg Washington Summit, I asked Hochberg about what he tells his friends and allies about the pace of progress on gay-rights issues under the Obama administration.

“People — of course they're going to be skeptical,” Hochberg said. “I think that President Obama's making progress. He would like to make greater progress. I think that, and in almost every area we look at, from LGBT issues to health care and so forth, things sometimes move at a slower pace than we'd like.”

“He's made a very clear personal commitment; he's made a very public commitment. He's made it clear to those of us who are serving the administration that this is important to him. And it's also a question of sequencing things,” Hochberg said.

Watch our discussion HERE.

The conversation also included a discussion of the Ex-Im Bank's attempts to work more seamlessly with small businesses — a Hochberg specialty — the president's trade agenda, and new ideas for job creation.

Hochberg's comments on LGBT issues come amid signs of movement on key priorities for gay-rights leaders. This week, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said Democratic leaders have settled on a strategy to repeal the military's ban on having gays and lesbians serve in the military next year.

Plus, as ABC's Teddy Davis reports, Melody Barnes, the head of the president's Domestic Policy Council, told students at Boston College Law School this week that she disagrees with the president on the subject of same-sex marriage.

By TEDDY DAVIS

Progress over perfection.

That?s how Paul Begala frames the choice facing Democrats.

In an op-ed in today?s Washington Post, the former Clinton strategist implores his fellow progressives not to make a government insurance option a litmus test for health-care reform.

Begala wants Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and other members of the Senate Finance Committee, to have “a little breathing room” as they work to produce a health-care bill that can garner enough votes to pass the Senate.

?The question is not whether I or other progressives will support a health-reform bill that includes everything we want but, rather, whether we will support a bill that doesn?t,? writes Begala.

Begala says he carries a ?heavy burden of regret? for his role in setting the bar too high the last time the U.S. tried fundamental health reform.

?I was one of the people who advised President Bill Clinton to wave his pen at Congress in 1994 and declare: ?If you send me legislation that does not guarantee every American private health insurance that can never be taken away, you will force me to take this pen, veto the legislation, and we?ll come right back here and start all over again.?

Begala is not the only high-profile Democrat who appears willing to jettison a public option to get a bill through Congress and onto President Obama?s desk.

Dick Durbin, the Senate?s No. 2 Democrat, signaled that he would not let the public option bring down health-care reform while appearing Sunday on CNN's “State of the Union.”

While Begala wants Democrats to give the Senate Finance Committee breathing room to come up with a compromise, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., tells today?s New York Times that the president has assured House members that he did not intend to let the Senate Finance Committee determine the final bill.

?This is going to be a genuine conference with give and take,? Mr. Waxman said. He added: ?The president has said he wants a public option to keep everybody honest. He hasn?t said he wants a co-op as a public option.?

While some progressives are trying to lay the groundwork for a compromise, others are stepping up their case that a public option is essential to real health-care reform.

Health Care for America Now, a liberal group which supports a public option, announced Thursday morning that it is expanding its advertising in a handful of states.

The ad targets two Democratic senators — New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D) and Delaware Sen. Tom Carper (D) — in addition to three House members: Pennsylvania Rep. Jason Altmire (D), South Dakota Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, and Virginia Rep. Rick Boucher (D).

The group?s ad will also run in upstate New York.

Watch the ads HERE.

White House tries to “go viral” on health care:
?Feeling victimized by misinformation spread virally through the Internet, the White House Thursday is launching its own ?viral e-mail? for supporters to spread,? reports ABC?s Jake Tapper.

?The e-mail outlines 24 points — eight ways the Democrats' health care reform measures will, in Axelrod's view, ?provide security and stability to those with or without coverage,? eight ?common myths? about reform, and eight reasons why reform is an urgent matter.?

The e-mail also features a Web video from White House health care reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle in which she refutes an opposition viral e-mail sent to one of her White House colleagues from his father, a physician.

PhRMA-Backed Coalition Makes Big Ad Buy
President Obama?s new ?what?s in it for me? message is picking up significant amplification today from a coalition supporting health-care reform.

Americans for Stable Quality Care, a coalition largely funded by the pharmaceutical industry, is launching a $12 million television ad campaign during the congressional recess supporting President Obama on health care.

Coalition members include PhRMA, FamiliesUSA, the Federation of American Hospitals, and the Service Employees International Union, according to an SEIU spokesperson.

?What does health insurance reform mean for you?? asks the ad?s narrator. ?It means you can?t be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition, or dropped if you get sick. It means putting health-care decisions in the hands of you and your doctor. It means lower costs, a cap on out-of-pocket expenses, tough new rules to cut waste and red tape, and a focus on preventing illness before it strikes. So what does health insurance reform really mean? Quality, affordable care you can count on.?

Watch the ad HERE.

As of last week, Obama allies were outspending Obama opponents two-to-one in the health-care ad wars, according to Evan Tracey of the Campaign Media Analysis Group.

California: Gay-Marriage Advocates Disagree on Date for Ballot Measure
For several months, gay-marriage advocates in California have been trying to decide whether to pursue a ballot measure in 2010 or 2012.

On Wednesday, one of the Golden State?s largest gay-rights groups, Equality California, went public with its conclusion, saying it was targeting 2012.

Some headlines treat the announcement by Equality California as resolving the 2010 vs. 2012 issue.

It doesn?t.

The announcement from Equality California came an hour after the liberal Courage Campaign said results of an early fund-raising push had emboldened it to push ahead with plans to oppose Proposition 8 next year. Here?s more from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Christian Science Monitor.

Cheney v. Bush
As his memoir takes shape, Dick Cheney?s disappointment with George W. Bush is beginning to surface, according to a front-page Washington Post story by Barton Gellman.

??In the second term, he felt Bush was moving away from him,? said a participant in the recent gathering, describing Cheney's reply. ?He said Bush was shackled by the public reaction and the criticism he took. Bush was more malleable to that. The implication was that Bush had gone soft on him, or rather Bush had hardened against Cheney's advice. He'd showed an independence that Cheney didn't see coming. It was clear that Cheney's doctrine was cast-iron strength at all times — never apologize, never explain — and Bush moved toward the conciliatory.??

Obama?s Thursday
President Obama has no public events today.

In the morning, the President will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing, the Economic Daily Briefing, and meet with senior advisors in the Oval Office.

The Kicker:

?I?m always nervous, and I tell them to be nice to each other. And they?re not always nice.? –Joyce L. Woodhouse explaining that she can barely stand to watch her sons (Brad Woodhouse of the DNC and Dallas Woodhouse of the conservative organization Americans for Prosperity) debate one another The Woodhouse brothers appeared Wednesday on ABC's “Top Line.”

Watch them HERE.

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note?s blog . . . all day every day:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/

Reid: Progress Being Made on Stimulus Bill

ABC News’ Z. Byron Wolf Reports: Opening the Senate floor this morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said progress is being made with the bipartisan group of senators trying to trim the stimulus bill. Reid said he doesn’t agree with everything the group is proposing, but he respects their effort and thinks they are trying to make the bill better.

“There is a small group of Republicans who are working — try to work — are working to come up with a solution,” Reid said. “They have been genuine in their efforts. They have been responsible in their efforts. While I don’t agree with everything they’re trying to do, I agree with the efforts that they’ve made. And we’ve made progress. We’ve made progress since last night. We’ve been in a number of meetings already this morning. We worked into the night last night. And I think that we’re going to be able to work something out. I feel very comfortable that we can do that. If we succeed, Mr. President, there’s going to be a lot of credit to go around. If we fail, there’s going to be a lot of blame to go around. As I’ve said, our entire country will — as I’ve indicated, our entire country will … suffer and the world will suffer; we are the economy that drives the world economy.”

“There is no perfect solution to what we’re attempting,” he added. “There’s no book we can check out of the library to say, ‘This is what should be done.’ There’s no group of economists we can go to and tell them to prepare a paper in the next couple hours to give us directions what to do. We must do this on our own and we will do this on our own.”

Meantime, Republican negotiators this morning were coming and going from Sen. Arlen Specter’s Capitol building office, including Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Mel Martinez, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. George Voinovich and Specter. Democrat Tom Carper was also seen coming and going from the office.

Upon leaving Specter’s office this morning, Collins said she was going upstairs to meet with Reid.