Ted Kennedy addresses health care summit

Gupta withdraws as surgeon general nominee

CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta has informed President Obama that he no longer wants to be nominated for the position of surgeon general. While no public reason for the withdrawal was offered, it has been reported that Gupta was concerned about the massive paycut he would be taking for the position. Dr. Gupta has a lucrative medical practice and contract with CNN and would have had to give up both in order to become surgeon general.

Obama to name Sebelius HHS secretary tomorrow

President Obama will name Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-KS) the next secretary of health and human services tomorrow.

Sebelius’ nomination is being met with some resistance by the Catholic right while elements of the Catholic left are pushing back hard. The two groups are using Sebelius as a battlefield over abortion rights and it is not expected to hurt Sebelius in the confirmation process. Already, Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), who is a social conservative, has announced his full support of Governor Sebelius’ nomination.

In naming Sebelius, President Obama deals a major blow to Democrats’ chances of picking up the Senate seat being vacated by Brownback, who is running for governor in 2010. The DSCC and the NRSC quietly believed that if Sebelius ran for the seat, she would easily win. Now the DSCC is scrambling to find a new candidate to run for the seat in 2010.

“We will rebuild, we will recover”

President Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress was not his greatest speech, but it was very strong and demonstrated his grip on the reality of the problems confronting the country. It was striking to see how uncomfortable Obama looked when he received applause and standing ovations.

President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of Congress

Full text of President Obama’s address to Congress (as prepared)

Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of the United States:

I’ve come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here.

I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others. And rightly so. If you haven’t been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has – a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family. You don’t need to hear another list of statistics to know that our economy is in crisis, because you live it every day. It’s the worry you wake up with and the source of sleepless nights. It’s the job you thought you’d retire from but now have lost; the business you built your dreams upon that’s now hanging by a thread; the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope. The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere.

But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this:

We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.

The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.

Now, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that for too long, we have not always met these responsibilities – as a government or as a people. I say this not to lay blame or look backwards, but because it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we’ll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament.

Excerpts from President Obama’s address to Congress

The following are some excerpts of President Obama’s speech to tonight’s joint session of Congress that have been released by the White House:

While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.

The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.

…..

We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.

Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.

Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that’s what I’d like to talk to you about tonight.

…..

The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are the immediate steps we’re taking to revive our economy in the short-term. But the only way to fully restore America’s economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.

In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America – as a blueprint for our future.

My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue. It reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited – a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession.

Given these realities, everyone in this chamber – Democrats and Republicans – will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars. And that includes me.

But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.

….

Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we’re starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade.

In this budget, we will end education programs that don’t work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them. We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use. We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.

….

I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.

….

But in my life, I have also learned that hope is found in unlikely places; that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of Americans who are anything but ordinary.

I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn’t tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ”I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn’t feel right getting the money myself.

I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community – how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. “The tragedy was terrible,” said one of the men who helped them rebuild. “But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity.”

And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, “We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.

President Obama to tell Congress & nation that “we will recover” from economic crisis

In his address to a joint session of Congress tonight, President Obama will tell members of the House of Representatives and the Senate that “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” Below is an excerpt that was just released by the White House:

But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.

The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.

Locke to head commerce?

CNN is reporting that former Washington Governor Gary Locke is the likely choice to be President Obama’s commerce secretary.

Update: Other news outlets, including The Politico and The Washington Post have picked up the story.

The rumor that won’t die: Sen. Shelby raises doubts about Obama’s citizenship

When asked a question about President Obama’s citizenship by a consituent, Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) became the highest-ranking elected official to openly question President Obama’s citizenship and thus his legal right to be president. Said Shelby:

Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate… You have to be born in America to be president.

Senator Shelby’s statement will undoubtedly fan the flames in the far right blogospehere and among fringe conservative groups. His comments do not take into account that the State of Hawaii, where President Obama was born, concluded that his birth certificate is legitimate and that numerous lawsuits challenging Obama’s citizenship, including one brought to the Supreme Court, were all decided in the president’s favor and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case brought before it because in the Court’s eyes, it lacked merit.

Update: A Shelby spokesman says that Senator Shelby has no doubts about President Obama’s citizenship and eligibility.

Gibbs hits back at CNBC commentator

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs hit back hard against CNBC commentator Rick Santelli at his daily briefing today:

This is Santelli’s rant that made the headlines in a flash and caught the nation’s attention:

Sebelius to be HHS nominee

President Obama and Governor Kathleen Sebelius on the campaign trail in 2008

President Obama has decided to nominate Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to be secretary of health and human services. Sebelius was one of Obama’s earliest supporters in his presidential campaign and was given serious consideration to be his running mate. She replaces former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) who withdrew his nomination over a tax scandal.

The choice of Sebelius, while a good one, could be dissapointing to Senate Democrats who viewed her as the best candidate to pick up the seat of retiring Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) in the 2010 midterm elections.

Obama adds 17,000 troops to Afghanistan

President Obama has decided to add 17,000 more troops to fight the war in Afghanistan. 12,000 troops will imediately head to the region and an additional 5,000 will soon join them.

Economic Recovery Act passed by Congress; Obama to sign Tuesday

Yesterday afternoon, the House passed the Economic Recovery Act 246-183 with no Republicans voting in favor of the bill. Then last night the Senate followed suit and passed the bill 60-38 with Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) being the only senator to not vote due to his health. Every Senate Democrat voted in favor of the bill and they were joined by three Republicans; Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine.

The legislation is expected to be signed into law by President Obama in Denver, Colorado on Tuesday.

In a side note: Senate Democrats were forced to keep voting for the legislation open for several hours to get the sixtieth vote, as no Republican senator offered to be a proxy vote, which informal Senate tradition encourages, for the ailing Ted Kennedy, who missed the vote. The vote was allowed to remain open for such a long time because Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was returning to Washington directly from his late mother’s memorial service. Upon his return, Brown voted in favor of the bill and was the sixtieth vote that ensured its passage. The fact that no Republican offered to be a proxy vote for Kennedy or Brown because of the circumstances that prevented their voting (or in Brown’s case caused him to return directly from his mother’s funereal) angered Senate Democrats.

Gregg withdraws as commerce nominee

Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) has withdrawn as President Obama’s nominee to be secretary of commerce. Gregg is citing irreconcilable differences over the president’s economic recovery plan and the idea of moving oversight of the census to the White House.

Gregg’s announcement took the White House by surprise, as they believed, based on private conversations with Senator Gregg, that Gregg would be able to put aside his differences with President Obama in order to take the position that he actively campaigned for.

Breaking with tradition, Obama keeps Fitzgerald

US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

President Obama has broken with tradition and kept Patrick Fitzgerald as US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Fitzgerald, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, is most famous for his investigation of the Bush administration’s role in disclosing the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame and bringing criminal charges against disgraced former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich.

It is tradition for all ninety-three US attorneys to resign when a new president takes office, so that the new president can replace them with his own appointees. No president in recent history has kept a US attorney that was appointed by a president from another party.

Transcript of Obama’s press conference’s opening statement (as delivered)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good evening, everybody. Please be seated.

Before I take your questions tonight, I’d like to speak briefly about the state of our economy and why I believe we need to put this recovery plan in motion as soon as possible.

I took a trip to Elkhart, Indiana, today. Elkhart is a place that has lost jobs faster than anywhere else in America.

In one year, the unemployment rate went from 4.7 percent to 15.3 percent. Companies that have sustained this community for years are shedding jobs at an alarming speed, and the people who’ve lost them have no idea what to do or who to turn to. They can’t pay their bill and they’ve stopped spending money. And because they’ve stopped spending money, more businesses have been forced to lay off more workers. In fact, local TV stations have started running public service announcements that tell people where to find food banks, even as the food banks don’t have enough to meet the demand.

Liveblogging Obama’s press conference

President Obama answers questions at his first formal press conference at press conference

8:10pm: President Obama’s several minute long opening statement was quite shocking, as he did not do what past presidents would have done: say things are bad, but be cheery about it. He laid out the severity of the current economic situation and did so in terms that were blunt, honest and outright frightening.

8:15pm: He is taking quite a long time answering just the first question from the AP. The president is going on at length about the economy to the point that even policy wonks are yawning. This could be a very long press conference.

8:16pm: Reuters asks a foreign policy question regarding Iran. President Obama uses the standard diplomatic respectful language about the Iranian people, then moves on to say that diplomacy is possible and then states that there are things that are unacceptable (funding terrorists, pursuit of nuclear weapons, etc.). He hopes that there can be a relationship based on “mutual respect.”

8:20pm: CBS News asks about how quickly the spirit of bipartisanship disappeared on Capitol Hill. President Obama says he still believes bipartisanship is possible and then lists that he speaks to Republicans and has put three Republicans in his cabinet. He then states that he will make overtures to the Republican Party, but his priority is to “deliver for the American people” and not have Congress play the usual partisan political games. The president then chastised those who criticized his economic recovery package for not doing more to allowing the economic crisis to occur in the first place. He is hitting Republicans hard and looking good in the process.

8:28pm: NBC News’ Chuck Todd asks about how encouraging consumer spending is a good thing when it helped cause the economic crisis. Obama refutes the idea and states that irresponsibility among banks caused the crisis. He then says with regard to the economy that “our immediate job is to stop the downard spiral.” Then the president moves to the budget and encouraging economic growth so that we can fix the budget.

8:33pm: Bloomberg News asks if the government is going to need to spend more than $350 billion for bailing out banks. In a side note, the reporter referenced Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as an economic expert. Obama pivots and moves it to using the bailout money effectively. He lists Treasury Secretary Geithner and Larry Summers, two names that inspire confidence on Wall Street (his opening statement was one that had the power to send the Dow down several hundred points).

8:36pm: ABC News’ Jake Tapper asks how the country can gauge if President Obama’s programs are working. Obama says the initial measure of success is “creating or saving four million jobs.” Step 1 is job creation. Step 2 normalizing the credit markets. Step 3 stabilizing the housing market.

8:39pm: CNN’s Ed Henry asks about Afghanistan and the Pentagon policy banning the media from seeing the coffins of service members returning to the United States. Obama pivots and says that one of the most sobering moments of being president is signing letters to the families of fallen service members. He then says that they are reviewing with the Department of Defense the policy of showing the coffins returning home. President Obama then moves to Afghanistan, stating that Iraq is looking better and that Afghanistan is going to need to be reviewed and have more effective diplomatic and military efforts. He is shying away from stating that he will be committing more troops to the region, despite having previously stated it. The president does say that he will not allow al Qaeda to operate.

8:44pm: Helene Cooper of The New York Times asks another economic question. President Obama looks remarkably comfortable answering the economic questions.

8:45pm: Major Garrett of Fox News asks about a conversation Vice President Biden had with President Obama. The subject of the conversation is not known. President Obama says that he does not know what the vice president is referring to and then pivots to the economy. He is really comfortable talking about the economy.

8:47pm: Michael Fletcher of The Washington Post asks about the news of Alex Rodriguez admitting using steroids. President Obama calls it depressing and says that it “tarnishes an entire era.” He then says he is very concerned about the message it sends to kids.

8:49pm: Helen Thomas gets her question. She asks about Pakistan having terrorists within its borders and if there are any Middle East countries with nuclear weapons. Obama stands firm and takes the stance of terrorists will be eliminated. On nuclear weapons he points out that one of his goals is to work with Russia to curb the development of nuclear weapons throughout the world and reducing nuclear arsenals between the US and Russia.

8:52pm: Sam Stein of The Huffington Post asks about investigating the Bush administration, something Senator Leahy (D-VT) proposed earlier today. President Obama avoids the question by saying he has not heard what has been referenced, but the United States does not torture. He then says that if there are clear instances of wrongdoing then people should be prosecuted. Obama then moves to his position of the country should move forward.

8:54pm: NPR asks what must be done to get more bipartisanship. The president says that Washington has to put aside its differences to get things done because the country cannot afford to have partisan bickering. He then reminds the press that he brought the GOP to the table very early on and that he threw the tax cuts into the economic recovery bill when he could have waited and used it as a political handout later. He then smacks them for presiding over the doubling of the national debt. President Obama then moves back to the stimulus package and says that while some politicians are blasting it, economists from all political beliefs are saying that it needs to be passed and passed immediately (he even references how some who had advised John McCain’s presidential campaign agree with him).

President Obama answers questions about the economy in his first presidential news conference

Obama to hold primetime press conference Monday

President Obama will hold a primetime press conference Monday at 8pm. It will be his first formal press conference as president.

Obama to address Congress

The White House announced today that President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on February 24. The address will be like a “State of the Union” address, but as this is Obama’s first year in office, it is traditional that it be an “address to Congress” as opposed to State of the Union.

Daschles withdraws as HHS nominee

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) has withdrawn as President Obama’s nominee for secretary of health and human services due to fallout over the news that he had failed to properly pay taxes for use of a car and driver.

While some believe that Daschle might have been pushed out by the White House, our sources and Daschle say that the decision to withdraw came because of an editorial published in The New York Times this morning that called for Daschle to withdraw.

In reaction to the news of Daschle’s exit, one Democratic Senate aide emailed told us, “The exit of Tom Daschle came as a massive shock to all of us. Last night, we knew we had enough votes on the committee to send his nomination to the full Senate and enough for his confirmation. He was the strongest and quite possibly the only candidate who could effectively deal with fixing our broken healthcare system. This is a major loss.”