Obama Signs Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Obama Denounces 'Shameful' Wall Street Bonuses, Reps.: Cancel $400M Stadium Naming for Taxpayer-Rescued Citigroup, Lobbyists Grossed Record $3.2B in 2008, Senate Backs Child Healthcare Expansion, Blagojevich Removed from Office in Unanimous Impeachment, Israeli Peace Offer Would Maintain 230,000 West Bank Settlers, Israeli FM Promises ?Maximum Settlers? on Palestinian Land, Report: Israel Hid Settlement Data, UN Launches Gaza Appeal, Turkish PM Walks Out of Panel with Israeli President, Iraq Seeks Blackwater Replacement, French Workers Hold Nationwide Strike, Latin American Leaders Criticize US at World Social Forum, Army Suicides at Record High, RNC Protester Accuses Informant of Entrapment, 10 Arrested Blocking AIPAC Gala

In Depth

Obama Stiffs Nation on Health Care, Paul Krugman

The whole world is in recession. But the United States is the only wealthy country in which the economic catastrophe will also be a health care catastrophe — in which millions of people will lose their health insurance along with their jobs, and therefore lose access to essential care. Which raises a question: Why has the Obama administration been silent, at least so far, about one of President Obama’s key promises during last year’s campaign — the promise of guaranteed health care for all Americans?...

...This is, I suspect, the real reason for the administration’s health care silence — there’s the political argument that this is a bad time to be pushing fundamental health care reform, because the nation’s attention is focused on the economic crisis. But if history is any guide, this argument is precisely wrong. Don’t take my word for it. Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, has declared that “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” Indeed. F.D.R. was able to enact Social Security in part because the Great Depression highlighted the need for a stronger social safety net. And the current crisis presents a real opportunity to fix the gaping holes that remain in that safety net, especially with regard to health care....

Mr. Obama really, really doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes of Bill Clinton, whose health care push failed politically partly because he moved too slowly: by the time his administration was ready to submit legislation, the economy was recovering from recession and the sense of urgency was fading. One more thing. There’s a populist rage building in this country, as Americans see bankers getting huge bailouts while ordinary citizens suffer.

I agree with administration officials who argue that these financial bailouts are necessary (though I have problems with the specifics). But I also agree with Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who argues that — as a matter of political necessity as well as social justice — aid to bankers has to be linked to a strengthening of the social safety net, so that Americans can see that the government is ready to help everyone, not just the rich and powerful. The bottom line, then, is that this is no time to let campaign promises of guaranteed health care be quietly forgotten. It is, instead, a time to put the push for universal care front and center. Health care now!

Obama's Reversal of Specific Bush Policies

1. Begins process of closing the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, within a year; ending the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret prisons; and requiring all interrogations to follow the noncoercive methods of the Army Field Manual.
2. Ends the Bush ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions.
3. Orders his government not to rely on any legal opinions concerning interrogation, incuding torture, produced by the Justice Department or other agencies between Sept. 11, 2001, and Tuesday, when he assumed the presidency.
4. Executive orders mandate new limits onlobbyists and demand that the government disclose more information.
5. Appointment of two permanent envoys to major trouble spots—George Mitchell to the Mideast and Richard Holbrooke to Afghanistan and Pakistan. A sign that Obama intends a 180-degree reversal from the ultimatum-heavy approach of the Bush administration, which saw diplomacy mainly as an exercise in stating terms for surrender.
6.Moves quickly to undo Bush "midnight regulations," some designed to relax large swaths of environmental rules.
7. Appointed Bush's fiercest critics of his use of executive power to head up the Justice Dept.'s Office of Legal Counsel.
8. Directs regulators to tighten auto standards on emissions and fuel economy. Allows states to craft tighter standards than fed rules.
(above items quoted and paraphrased...tbc)

Obama vs. Bush: Style Makes the Man

1. Obama has visited (#s 2,3 same source) both the White House media quarters and its press room. Bush never did. Never.
2. Like nearly all previous Presidents, Obama works in his shirtsleeves in the Oval Office. Bush insisted everyone wear a coat and tie.
3. During a public ceremony in the Oval Office, Obama asked counsol for executive orders clarifications and read parts of each aloud. "That sort of deferral to someone else in a public setting and admission of a less-than-perfect command of the facts was never Bush's style."
4. Although his presidency is barely a week old, some of Mr. Obama’s work habits (#s 5-8 same source) are already becoming clear. He shows up at the Oval Office shortly before 9 in the morning, roughly two hours later than his early-to-bed, early-to-rise predecessor. Mr. Obama likes to have his workout — weights and cardio — first thing in the morning, at 6:45. (Mr. Bush slipped away to exercise midday.) He eats dinner with his family, then often returns to work; aides have seen him in the Oval Office as late as 10 p.m., reading briefing papers for the next day. (Note: Bush took off nearly 40% of his days in office.)
5. In the West Wing, Mr. Obama is a bit of a wanderer. When Mr. Bush wanted to see a member of his staff, the aide was summoned to the Oval Office. But Mr. Obama tends to roam the halls and go to their office.
6. Under Mr. Bush, punctuality was a virtue. Meetings started early — the former president once locked Secretary of State Colin L. Powell out of the Cabinet Room when Mr. Powell showed up a few minutes late — and ended on time. In the Obama White House, meetings start on time and often finish late. When the president invited Congressional leaders to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue last week to talk about his economic stimulus package, the session ran so long that Mr. Obama wound up apologizing to the lawmakers — even as he kept them talking, engaging them in the details of the legislation far more than was customary for Mr. Bush.
7. If Mr. Obama’s clock is looser than Mr. Bush’s, so too are his sartorial standards. Over the weekend, Mr. Obama’s first in office, his aides did not quite know how to dress. Some showed up in jeans (another no-no under Mr. Bush), some in coats and ties. So the president issued an informal edict for “business casual” on weekends — and set his own example. He showed up Saturday for a briefing with his chief economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, dressed in slacks and a gray sweater over a white buttoned-down shirt. Veterans of the Bush White House are shocked. (Bush once chewed out his counselor for 15 minutes for dressing casually on a weekend.)
8. Mr. Obama has also brought a more relaxed sensibility to his public appearances. David Gergen, an adviser to both Republican and Democratic presidents, said Mr. Obama seemed to exude an “Aloha Zen,” a kind of comfortable calm that, Mr. Gergen said, reflects a man who “seems easygoing, not so full of himself.”

From Swing Time, the 1936 Depression Era Film, to Prez Time , 2009
(Lyrics by: Dorothy Fields and Jerry Politex)

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America." --Obama's Inauguration Speech

CITIZEN: Please Prez, teach us something,
New Prez, teach us something.
We're as awkward as camels, that's not all,
Our minds haven't met yet,
But we'll be Prez's pet yet,
'Cause we're gonna keep our eye on the ball.

OBAMA: Nothing's impossible I have found,
For when my purse is on the ground,
I pick it up,
Dust it off, and
Start saving all over again.

Don't lose your confidence if you slip,
Just don't take that expensive trip,
Cook your own food,
Chop your own wood, and
Start walking all over again.

Work like a soul inspired,
Till the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired,
And have no insurance, my son!

Do you remember that previous Prez,
Who we watched fall and fell again?
He got us in war,
Broke all of our rules,
Hired unqualified whores,
Gutted our schools,

Poisoned our air,
Rewarded greed,
Lied everwhere,
Laughed at those in need,

But we'll start all over again.

Yes I was, I wanted to run the prompter for Chief Justice Roberts, but David Brooks beat me to it. Oh, and just for the record now that he's gone, the final count of Bush days off is over a thousand days, around 40% of his Presidency. We predicted this, along with the reason, prior to his selection by the Supreme Court in 2000, in a piece titled Do We Really Want a Part-Time President?

Obama A-G Confirmation Delayed In Plan to Protect Bush

HUFFINGTON POST reports that "Senate Republicans delayed a vote on the confirmation of Eric Holder to become attorney general for at least a week in order to pressure him to say whether he will prosecute intelligence agents for torture if they were following orders and acting within what they believed to be legal guidelines.

Holder told the Judiciary Committee last week that waterboarding is "torture" and therefore illegal. Susan J. Crawford, the top Bush administration official overseeing the trials of detainees, told the Washington Post that at least one individual held at the prison center at Guantanamo Bay was "tortured." The question Republicans want answered before Holder is confirmed: Will you prosecute those who took part in that torture?"

According to Thom Hartman on his radio show yesterday (Jan.21,2009), the question of illegal torture is, ultimately, an attempt by the Republicans to protect Bush from a unrelated wiretapping investigation by "running out the clock" on the statute of limitations. "There's one particular date where we know that George Bush took specific action, that's March 11th, 2004, that's when, you'll recall, James Comey was filling in for John Ashcroft, Ascroft was in the hospital, and Comey went to his bedside to prevent Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card from getting Ashcroft to sign a re-authorization of FISA (*), so he refused to sign it, saying it was illegal, so Bush signed it himself, and on March 11th, 2004 Bush authorized this program himself, and that was a crime, and the statute of limitations on that runs out on March 11th, 2009. So if they can run out the clock on this thing....

According to the NEW YORK TIMES, Comey subsequently told a Senate committee that Bush "quelled the revolt over the program’s legality by allowing it to continue without Justice Department approval, also directing department officials to take the necessary steps to bring it into compliance with the law....At Mr. Comey’s urging, Mr. Bush also met with Mr. Mueller, who emerged to inform Mr. Comey that the president had authorized the changes in the program sought by the Justice Department. 'We had the president’s direction to do what we believed, what the Justice Department believed, was necessary to put this on a footing where we could certify to its legality,' Mr. Comey said. 'And so we set out to do that and we did that.' Mr. Comey said he signed the reauthorization in 'two or three weeks.' It was unclear from his testimony what authority existed for the program while the changes were being made."

Thus, we're left with two questions: Was the original Bush warrantless wiretapping authorization legal in the first place? and Did Bush have the right as President to approve illegal wiretapping without Ashcroft or Comey's approval during the "two or three week" period prior to the DOJ's reauthorization? Hartman believes this is the question that has the Republicans stalling for time. --Jerry Politex, Jan. 22, '09

(*) At the time of Ashcroft's illness there was a battle between the Justice Department and the White House concerning the program of warrantless domestic electronic surveillance which GW Bush had authorized after the September 11, 2001, disaster. It was set to expire on March 11th, 2004.

Obama Slams Bush Administration in Inaguration Speech (excerpts)

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights....

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics....

Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed....

We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality... (APPLAUSE) ... and lower its costs....

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans....What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply....

And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government....This crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous....The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good....

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals....Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today...know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more....

Our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint....

To those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it....Jan. 6, '09

GOP Ex-Senator Norm Coleman Dams Obama Inauguration With Faint Praise

“Watching Barack Obama be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States will forever be etched into the minds of so many of us as one of those moments for which you remember where you were and what you were doing when it happened,” Mr. Coleman said in a statement yesterday." (NYT)

Obama Since the Election, Jerry Politex

Since Obama won the election, most of his moves have indicated that what we predicted over at Bush Watch has come to pass: the change that Obama promised during the campaign has turned out to be a change from radical conservatism to, at best, moderate liberalism. This is not what progressives like ourselves want, but it's better than nothing.

Here are the specifics, re the issues of the day:

THE WAR IN GAZA: Obama's pretty close to Bush when it comes to Israel. NYT's OP-ED colomnist Roger Cohen says as much in his latest, pointing out that Obama's special team of advisers on the Middle East are all "smart, driven, liberal, Jewish (or half-Jewish) males; I’ve looked in the mirror. I know or have talked to all these guys, except Shapiro. They’re knowledgeable, broad-minded and determined. Still, on the diversity front they fall short. On the change-you-can-believe-in front, they also leave something to be desired." According to pro-Arab James Zogby, Obama blew it: "“Do people in the region take note when Arab-Americans are not represented? Sure they do,” said Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute in Washington. “A message gets sent.”

THE ECONOMY: According to Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman, Obama's own economic team sees his plan as being too little, too late: "Obama needs to make his plan bigger. To see why, consider a new report from his own economic team [on] estimates of what the Obama economic plan would accomplish....The report...makes it clear that the plan falls well short of what the economy needs." Elsewhere, Krugman warns of dire consequences, once Obama's plan gets watered down through Mr. O's bipartisan strategy in Congress: "I’m sure that Congress will pass a stimulus plan, but I worry that the plan may be delayed and/or downsized....Here’s my nightmare scenario: It takes Congress months to pass a stimulus plan, and the legislation that actually emerges is too cautious. As a result, the economy plunges for most of 2009, and when the plan finally starts to kick in, it’s only enough to slow the descent, not stop it. Meanwhile, deflation is setting in, while businesses and consumers start to base their spending plans on the expectation of a permanently depressed economy — well, you can see where this is going. So this is our moment of truth. Will we in fact do what’s necessary to prevent Great Depression II?" Right now, even if Obama's stimulus plan is swiftly passed, his own economic team thinks it's too weak.

THE OBAMA CABINET: Take a look at it. The Republicans plan to put up token resistance, since it's pretty much same old same old. At least, unlike Bush, O didn't nominate folks who have records of opposing the mandates of the post they were nominated to serve.

TALK AND SYMBOLS: Like Bush in his first term, Obama's good at talking about what he's going to do, and also like Bush, he knows how to make symbolic gestures that don't necessarily reflect what he's really ready or willing to do.

BRING BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO JUSTICE: In effect, what Obama and the Dems are saying is that Bush and his administration caused so much chaos to our system that if time were spent bringing them to justice, there wouldn't be time to fix the problems created by their behavior: "As a candidate, Mr. Obama broadly condemned some counterterrorism tactics of the Bush administration and its claim that the measures were justified under executive powers. But his administration will face competing demands: pressure from liberals who want wide-ranging criminal investigations, and the need to establish trust....Mr. Obama added that he also had 'a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.'”

Top Twenty Actions Obama Should Take by 2010, Jerry Politex

Now that the executive and legislative branches of government are in the hands of the Democratic Party, here are the top twenty actions the Dems should take by 2010, if they expect the voters to remain loyal.

1. Stop the government's socialization for the rich policies. Such as: halt all tax cuts that are in the various Bush bills but have yet to be instituted and create rules designed to put teeth in economic regulations.

2. Call a halt to all earmarks --REPEAT: ALL EARMARKS-- until the national debt is zero, and do likewise with whatever loopholes the bloodsucking members of Congress come up with.

3. Raise the minimum wage by a substantial amount, allow federal employees to freely unionize, and cut the interest rate on student loans.

4. Rescind that part of the Bush Martial Law: HR 5122, section 1076, that makes Bush and future Presidents dictators.

5. Rescind the Bush Public Law 109-364, or the "John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007" (H.R.5122), that allows the President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder," making Bush and future Presidents dictators.

6. Force Bush to follow the perfectly adequate FISA law and stop illegal NSA spying on innocent american citizens. --Kim Anderson

7. Begin oversight hearings on 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, Energy meetings, Valerie Plame, Pentagon money contracts, congressional ethics, and [insert horrible event here]. Pass the entire 9/11 commission recommendations and point out how it took 6 years for it to be done. --Randall Roberson, Reba Peters, R. O'Connor

8. Impeach Bush and Cheney, or at least make an attempt, to win back a little of our once good name in the world. --Ben Seni, Thomas Roy

9. Figure out some way to outlaw or curtail "signing statements," which [are being used by Bush to] effectivly circumvent the constitution and make the exective the all-powerful branch (dictator) in the US. --Karl Scott

10. Hire new inspectors and enforcement officials to replace those laid off under Bush at the FDA and other agencies. --Bob Mawn

11. Get out of Iraq as fast as possible, and restart the middle east peace process, where we should have been concentrating our efforts all along. --Cherie

12. Congress really needs to push for reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine and encourage the FCC to use its oversight to limit (if not reverse) the mass media consolidation of the last 10-25 years. --Bob Hunter

13. Ensure on a national basis that voting can be verified with paper receipts; just because Dems won - doesn't mean the voting isn't fixed. --George Lacy

14. Appoint Jimmy Carter or Al Gore as chairman of a group to clean up the environment, create an energy policy that's not a boondoggle to the corporations, and rescind all portions of relevant bills to do so.

15. Slave Labor: Create a fair immigration policy that does not penalize the American worker, nor creates a guest worker program, but provides greater oversight and penalties with teeth for those who hire illegal immigrants.

16. Voting machines: get open-source code & a paper trail and whatever else the nonpartisan experts say. Put the whole process in public, not private, hands. --Gib

17. Get rid of "No Child Left Behind", [because it's generally unfunded it does just the opposite. In fact, let's do away with all bills, like Bush's illegal immigration fence bill, that is not unfunded.] --Sahib Khalsa [and Jerry Politex]

18. The strongest support, 92 percent, was for lowering drug prices for retirees on Medicare by allowing the government to negotiate directly with drug companies. --Newsweek Poll after elections

19. Draw up and pass some sort of a bill that will put us on the road to universal health care and take health care out of the control of for-profit corporations.

20. By 2010, provide the voters with a rational explanation why a Dem-controlled federal government has been unable to carrry out all of the above.