On Tuesday, Obama won the 2008 Presidential Election and will become the 44th President of the United States. Many commentators have detailed the advantages Obama brought to the race. However, others have stated that Obama's victory was at least partly due to the McCain's many political problems. SNL's take...
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Executive Order Changes
There are many things President-elect Obama can do without Congress...
Obama positioned to reverse Bush actions
Stem cell and climate rules among targets of president-elect's team
Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.
A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.
In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.
"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.
Stem cell researchA spokeswoman said yesterday that no plans for regulatory changes had been finalized. "Before he makes any decisions on potential executive or legislative actions, he will be conferring with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, as well as interested groups," Obama transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said. "Any decisions would need to be discussed with his Cabinet nominees, none of whom have been selected yet."
Still, the preelection transition team, comprising mainly lawyers, has positioned the incoming president to move fast on high-priority items without waiting for Congress.
Obama himself has signaled, for example, that he intends to reverse Bush's controversial limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, a decision that scientists say has restrained research into some of the most promising avenues for defeating a wide array of diseases, such as Parkinson's.
Bush's August 2001 decision pleased religious conservatives who have moral objections to the use of cells from days-old human embryos, which are destroyed in the process.
But Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said that during Obama's final swing through her state in October, she reminded him that because the restrictions were never included in legislation, Obama "can simply reverse them by executive order." Obama, she said, "was very receptive to that." Opponents of the restrictions have already drafted an executive order he could sign.
The new president is also expected to lift a so-called global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion, even in countries where the procedure is legal, said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he rescinded the Reagan-era regulation, known as the Mexico City policy, but Bush reimposed it.
"We have been communicating with his transition staff" almost daily, Richards said. "We expect to see a real change."
While Obama said at a news conference last week that his top priority would be to stimulate the economy and create jobs, his advisers say that focus will not delay key shifts in social and regulatory policies, including some -- such as the embrace of new environmental safeguards -- that Obama has said will have long-term, beneficial impacts on the economy.
The president-elect has said, for example, that he intends to quickly reverse the Bush administration's decision last December to deny California the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles. "Effectively tackling global warming demands bold and innovative solutions, and given the failure of this administration to act, California should be allowed to pioneer," Obama said in January.
California had sought permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to require that greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles be cut by 30 percent between 2009 and 2016, effectively mandating that cars achieve a fuel economy standard of at least 36 miles per gallon within eight years. Seventeen other states had promised to adopt California's rules, representing in total 45 percent of the nation's automobile market. Environmentalists cheered the California initiative because it would stoke innovation that would potentially benefit the entire country.
"An early move by the Obama administration to sign the California waiver would signal the seriousness of intent to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil and build a future for the domestic auto market," said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Carbon dioxide emissionsBefore the election, Obama told others that he favors declaring that carbon dioxide emissions are endangering human welfare, following an EPA task force recommendation last December that Bush and his aides shunned in order to protect the utility and auto industries.
Robert Sussman, who was the EPA's deputy administrator during the Clinton administration and is now overseeing EPA transition planning for Obama, wrote a paper last spring strongly recommending such a finding. Others in the campaign have depicted it as an issue on which Obama is keen to show that politics must not interfere with scientific advice.
Some related reforms embraced by Obama's transition advisers would alter procedures for decision-making on climate issues. A book titled "Change for America," being published next week by the Center for American Progress, an influential liberal think tank, will recommend, for example, that Obama rapidly create a National Energy Council to coordinate all policymaking related to global climate change.
The center's influence with Obama is substantial: It was created by former Clinton White House official John D. Podesta, a co-chairman of the transition effort, and much of its staff has been swept into planning for Obama's first 100 days in office.
The National Energy Council would be a counterpart to the White House National Economic Council that Clinton created in a 1993 executive order.
"It would make sure all the oars are rowing in the right direction" and ensure that climate change policy "gets lots of attention inside the White House," said Daniel J. Weiss, a former Sierra Club official and senior fellow with the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
The center's new book will also urge Obama to sign an executive order requiring that greenhouse gas emissions be considered whenever the federal government examines the environmental impact of its actions under the existing National Environmental Policy Act. Several key members of Obama's transition team have already embraced the idea.
Other early Obama initiatives may address the need for improved food and drug regulation and chart a new course for immigration enforcement, some Obama advisers say. But they add that only a portion of his early efforts will be aimed at undoing Bush initiatives.
Striking a balanceDespite enormous pent-up Democratic frustration, Obama and his team realize they must strike a balance between undoing Bush actions and setting their own course, said Winnie Stachelberg, the center's senior vice president for external affairs.
"It took eight years to get into this mess, and it will take a long time to get out of it," she said. "The next administration needs to look ahead. This transition team and the incoming administration gets that in a big way."
Staff writers Juliet Eilperin, Spencer S. Hsu and Carol D. Leonnig and staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report. Washingtonpost.com
Obama positioned to reverse Bush actions
Stem cell and climate rules among targets of president-elect's team
Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.
A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.
In some instances, Obama would be quickly delivering on promises he made during his two-year campaign, while in others he would be embracing Clinton-era policies upended by President Bush during his eight years in office.
"The kind of regulations they are looking at" are those imposed by Bush for "overtly political" reasons, in pursuit of what Democrats say was a partisan Republican agenda, said Dan Mendelson, a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. The list of executive orders targeted by Obama's team could well get longer in the coming days, as Bush's appointees rush to enact a number of last-minute policies in an effort to extend his legacy.
Stem cell researchA spokeswoman said yesterday that no plans for regulatory changes had been finalized. "Before he makes any decisions on potential executive or legislative actions, he will be conferring with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, as well as interested groups," Obama transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said. "Any decisions would need to be discussed with his Cabinet nominees, none of whom have been selected yet."
Still, the preelection transition team, comprising mainly lawyers, has positioned the incoming president to move fast on high-priority items without waiting for Congress.
Obama himself has signaled, for example, that he intends to reverse Bush's controversial limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, a decision that scientists say has restrained research into some of the most promising avenues for defeating a wide array of diseases, such as Parkinson's.
Bush's August 2001 decision pleased religious conservatives who have moral objections to the use of cells from days-old human embryos, which are destroyed in the process.
But Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said that during Obama's final swing through her state in October, she reminded him that because the restrictions were never included in legislation, Obama "can simply reverse them by executive order." Obama, she said, "was very receptive to that." Opponents of the restrictions have already drafted an executive order he could sign.
The new president is also expected to lift a so-called global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion, even in countries where the procedure is legal, said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he rescinded the Reagan-era regulation, known as the Mexico City policy, but Bush reimposed it.
"We have been communicating with his transition staff" almost daily, Richards said. "We expect to see a real change."
While Obama said at a news conference last week that his top priority would be to stimulate the economy and create jobs, his advisers say that focus will not delay key shifts in social and regulatory policies, including some -- such as the embrace of new environmental safeguards -- that Obama has said will have long-term, beneficial impacts on the economy.
The president-elect has said, for example, that he intends to quickly reverse the Bush administration's decision last December to deny California the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles. "Effectively tackling global warming demands bold and innovative solutions, and given the failure of this administration to act, California should be allowed to pioneer," Obama said in January.
California had sought permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to require that greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles be cut by 30 percent between 2009 and 2016, effectively mandating that cars achieve a fuel economy standard of at least 36 miles per gallon within eight years. Seventeen other states had promised to adopt California's rules, representing in total 45 percent of the nation's automobile market. Environmentalists cheered the California initiative because it would stoke innovation that would potentially benefit the entire country.
"An early move by the Obama administration to sign the California waiver would signal the seriousness of intent to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil and build a future for the domestic auto market," said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Carbon dioxide emissionsBefore the election, Obama told others that he favors declaring that carbon dioxide emissions are endangering human welfare, following an EPA task force recommendation last December that Bush and his aides shunned in order to protect the utility and auto industries.
Robert Sussman, who was the EPA's deputy administrator during the Clinton administration and is now overseeing EPA transition planning for Obama, wrote a paper last spring strongly recommending such a finding. Others in the campaign have depicted it as an issue on which Obama is keen to show that politics must not interfere with scientific advice.
Some related reforms embraced by Obama's transition advisers would alter procedures for decision-making on climate issues. A book titled "Change for America," being published next week by the Center for American Progress, an influential liberal think tank, will recommend, for example, that Obama rapidly create a National Energy Council to coordinate all policymaking related to global climate change.
The center's influence with Obama is substantial: It was created by former Clinton White House official John D. Podesta, a co-chairman of the transition effort, and much of its staff has been swept into planning for Obama's first 100 days in office.
The National Energy Council would be a counterpart to the White House National Economic Council that Clinton created in a 1993 executive order.
"It would make sure all the oars are rowing in the right direction" and ensure that climate change policy "gets lots of attention inside the White House," said Daniel J. Weiss, a former Sierra Club official and senior fellow with the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
The center's new book will also urge Obama to sign an executive order requiring that greenhouse gas emissions be considered whenever the federal government examines the environmental impact of its actions under the existing National Environmental Policy Act. Several key members of Obama's transition team have already embraced the idea.
Other early Obama initiatives may address the need for improved food and drug regulation and chart a new course for immigration enforcement, some Obama advisers say. But they add that only a portion of his early efforts will be aimed at undoing Bush initiatives.
Striking a balanceDespite enormous pent-up Democratic frustration, Obama and his team realize they must strike a balance between undoing Bush actions and setting their own course, said Winnie Stachelberg, the center's senior vice president for external affairs.
"It took eight years to get into this mess, and it will take a long time to get out of it," she said. "The next administration needs to look ahead. This transition team and the incoming administration gets that in a big way."
Staff writers Juliet Eilperin, Spencer S. Hsu and Carol D. Leonnig and staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report. Washingtonpost.com
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Election Day
There is something romantic and uniquely American about Election Day. This day allows one to make such a seemingly inconsequential yet all empowering act. Below you will find a poem that, I believe, firmly explains this day's importance and appeal.
J.D. MCCLATCHY:
Election Day
The older couples had voted just after dawn,
And by noon the exit polls are underway.
Some talking head opines in San Jose.
A poster leans mute and silent on the lawn.
"As the wind blows, so the flag will wave,"
Says a cynic who is nevertheless waiting in line.
The woman in front of him has been assigned
The nearest booth where she plans, again, to save
The Republic from itself - the drama played out
In this miniature theater, with its curtain and cast.
Today will be a performance of the past,
Its fortunes and flaws, its certainty and doubt.
The pencil has no eraser. She makes her choice,
Determined but still uncertain how it will end,
As the Founders were as well who thought to lend
So much importance to each small impassioned voice.
But will the cynics vote now cancel hers?
She stays behind to watch him enter the booth.
(In our democracy, we think the truth
Is what everyone, regardless, secretly prefers.)
She won't know anything but threats and trends
Until, again in the dark, but midnights now,
She can sense what hope the numbers will allow,
And what you get when you smear or overspend.
She will sit and stare at charts on CNN.
(But aren't we redeemed by what they cannot show?
The struggle in each restless heart to know
The terms on which the nations fate depends.)
She will think how, at last, millions have spoken as one,
That freedom requires an open mind and hand,
And the strength to be forgiven and understand,
And that tomorrow morning it has all just begun.
J.D. McClatchy teaches at Yale. His sixth collection of poems, titled "Mercury Dressing," will be published in February.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec08/jdmcclatchy_11-07.html
J.D. MCCLATCHY:
Election Day
The older couples had voted just after dawn,
And by noon the exit polls are underway.
Some talking head opines in San Jose.
A poster leans mute and silent on the lawn.
"As the wind blows, so the flag will wave,"
Says a cynic who is nevertheless waiting in line.
The woman in front of him has been assigned
The nearest booth where she plans, again, to save
The Republic from itself - the drama played out
In this miniature theater, with its curtain and cast.
Today will be a performance of the past,
Its fortunes and flaws, its certainty and doubt.
The pencil has no eraser. She makes her choice,
Determined but still uncertain how it will end,
As the Founders were as well who thought to lend
So much importance to each small impassioned voice.
But will the cynics vote now cancel hers?
She stays behind to watch him enter the booth.
(In our democracy, we think the truth
Is what everyone, regardless, secretly prefers.)
She won't know anything but threats and trends
Until, again in the dark, but midnights now,
She can sense what hope the numbers will allow,
And what you get when you smear or overspend.
She will sit and stare at charts on CNN.
(But aren't we redeemed by what they cannot show?
The struggle in each restless heart to know
The terms on which the nations fate depends.)
She will think how, at last, millions have spoken as one,
That freedom requires an open mind and hand,
And the strength to be forgiven and understand,
And that tomorrow morning it has all just begun.
J.D. McClatchy teaches at Yale. His sixth collection of poems, titled "Mercury Dressing," will be published in February.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec08/jdmcclatchy_11-07.html
How the Media Reports
It is often stated that there is a liberal bias in the media coverage of political events. This claim was heard continuously throughout the presidential race between Senators Obama and McCain. Many commentators waxed that the media had "fallen in love" with Obama and were actively aiding his efforts by covering him in a positive light.
Here is SNLs Take
Yet, as is often the case in claims of media bias, little evidence was shown to confirm or disprove these statements. However, the Pew Center conducted an exhaustive study of media coverage during the campaign and did locate a bias. Yet the bias may not be what you think.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec08/campaignmedia_10-23.html
Here is SNLs Take
Yet, as is often the case in claims of media bias, little evidence was shown to confirm or disprove these statements. However, the Pew Center conducted an exhaustive study of media coverage during the campaign and did locate a bias. Yet the bias may not be what you think.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec08/campaignmedia_10-23.html
Friday, November 7, 2008
The 44th President of the United States
Nearly two years ago, if you had asked me if Sen. Barack Obama would become president I would have simply said no. However, I have been wrong before and I was proven wrong.
Much has been said of the role the economic meltdown played in this campaign. Surely, this contributed to Obama's victory, however, there was something more. The Obama campaign was able to market itself to the American people in a unique and refreshing way. Relying on the tremendous oratorical skills of its candidate the campaign build a clear and convincing argument: Empowerment. Change was the buzz word but what delivered victory was the foundation of a movement.
After watching the Denver Acceptance Speech, my father (an undecided voter at the time) commented that the Republicans were going to lose the election. The reason? As my father explained, their loss was inevitable because they were not merely facing a new and fresh candidate and a stumbling economy. Their inevitable loss would come at the hands of a campaign that had transformed itself into a movement.
This movement for change united a cross-section of the country. The united message of "Yes we can" spoke a simple refrain that the doubts, troubles, and problems facing this country could in fact be overcome. Thus, people were convinced to believe in themselves and in the Obama movement.
Never underestimate the ability of a leader to inspire. That is what Obama was able to do. He made his supporters believe in him and in themselves that this change, that this movement, was not only real but that it could win. And win it did.
Much has been said of the role the economic meltdown played in this campaign. Surely, this contributed to Obama's victory, however, there was something more. The Obama campaign was able to market itself to the American people in a unique and refreshing way. Relying on the tremendous oratorical skills of its candidate the campaign build a clear and convincing argument: Empowerment. Change was the buzz word but what delivered victory was the foundation of a movement.
After watching the Denver Acceptance Speech, my father (an undecided voter at the time) commented that the Republicans were going to lose the election. The reason? As my father explained, their loss was inevitable because they were not merely facing a new and fresh candidate and a stumbling economy. Their inevitable loss would come at the hands of a campaign that had transformed itself into a movement.
This movement for change united a cross-section of the country. The united message of "Yes we can" spoke a simple refrain that the doubts, troubles, and problems facing this country could in fact be overcome. Thus, people were convinced to believe in themselves and in the Obama movement.
Never underestimate the ability of a leader to inspire. That is what Obama was able to do. He made his supporters believe in him and in themselves that this change, that this movement, was not only real but that it could win. And win it did.
Hope's Message
"I don't want a country for me, I want a country for everyone." This I believe was the message of the Obama campaign and truer words have never been spoken.
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