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Today (all times Eastern):
12:0: President Obama delivers remarks at the installation of FBI Director James Comey
12:45: Jay Carney briefs the press
7:0: President Obama’s interview with Fusion airs
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USA Today: Obama to speak to new Hispanic cable network
A new cable network targeting young Hispanics has a special guest for its opening day on Monday: President Obama.
Fusion – which describes itself as a “news, pop culture, and satire TV and digital network,” and is a joint venture of ABC News and Univision – announced Sunday that Obama will be a guest on “AMERICA with Jorge Ramos” at 7 p.m. Monday.
…. Obama “will speak with Fusion White House Correspondent and ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jim Avila,” says Fusion. “The interview will take place Monday afternoon at the White House and air first on ‘AMERICA.'”
More here
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Can’t get enough of this toon:
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Steve Benen: Obama blasts ‘rooting for failure’
President Obama, not surprisingly, devoted his weekly address over the weekend to problems with the Affordable Care Act’s website … as part of the same message, Obama added an even more pointed sentiment, directed at the law’s critics on the right.
“[It’s] interesting to see Republicans in Congress expressing so much concern that people are having trouble buying health insurance through the new website – especially considering they’ve spent the last few years so obsessed with denying those same people access to health insurance that they just shut down the government and threatened default over it.
“…. it’s well past the time for folks to stop rooting for its failure. Because hardworking, middle-class families are rooting for its success.”
…. American norms suggest policymakers aren’t supposed to actively, publicly hope that the nation’s fortunes take a turn for the worse. It’s one thing for officials to predict failure; it’s something else entirely when they hope for failure. But these norms were apparently abandoned around January 2009….
More here
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In which CNN admit they’re only looking for bad news stories on Obamacare – remarkable is the word.
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Jonathan Cohn: Obamacare Rate Shock and Premium Joy: Now It’s Real
The conversation about Obamacare shifted a bit over the weekend. Nobody has forgotten about the technical problems with healthcare.gov. But now critics are also focusing on something else: Reports of sharp premium increases that some individual consumers are facing. In the last few weeks, several hundred thousand Americans have received notices from their health insurance companies, effectively cancelling their existing policies. These consumers can get new policies, of course, but frequently they have to pay more for them.
The news reports are real—and not at all surprising. Obamacare is transforming the existing health insurance market, in ways that will force some people to pay more than they do now. But that’s only part of the story. Many other people, quite possibly the majority, will pay less than they do now. And even those paying more will be getting more comprehensive, more secure insurance.
More here
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Booman: The Real Deadbeats
Karen Tumulty has piece in the Washington Post on why West Virginia has moved from a solidly Democratic state to an increasingly Republican state (at least, on the national level). She’s starts out with an anecdote about Pineville, where Jack Kennedy made a famous speech two weeks before winning the West Virginia primary in 1960.
….. You’ve got people for whom welfare and food stamps are “a way of life” to the point that they won’t take good work even if it is offered unless the pay comes under the table, and they think the Kenyan Muslim president is a socialist who is trying to take their hard-earned money and give it to undeserving blacks. President Obama is trying to screw them, but Hillary would be just fine.
Full post here
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Steve Benen: Graham pushes new obstructionism based on Benghazi conspiracy theories
When congressional Republicans finally ended their government shutdown two weeks ago, it was only natural for political observers to wonder what GOP lawmakers would tackle next. The most common guesses were obvious: (1) keep trying to undermine the Affordable Care Act; (2) kill immigration reform; and (3) bring back Benghazi conspiracy theories.
The first is well underway, as is the second, and right on cue, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is back to the third.
More here
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Charles Pierce: The Slow, Sad, Yet Oddly Entertaining Decline Of Marco Rubio
His strength is failing. The shrink-wrap is winning. And Marco Rubio (R-Flashinthepan) continues to flail around like a scarecrow in a windstorm. When our adventure began, young Marco was going to be the smiling face of the rebranding of the Republican party, which was going to habla the daylights out of the ol’ espanol because it finally had concluded that it wasn’t going to win an national election even if it did get the votes of everyone who owns the complete Murder, She Wrote on Blu-Ray. Of course, then Rubio made the mistake of believing that the party was serious about this whole rebranding business, proposed an immigration reform plan that made a little bit of sense, and then found his standing in the party sinking into Middle Earth. Ever since, he has done everything to romance the base save dress up as Angela Lansbury.
More here
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Steve Benen: Senate readies ENDA for floor vote
Back in July, the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee easily approved the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), 15 to 7. Since then, however, there’s been little action – Congress was out in August, and by September, the prospect of a government shutdown and/or debt-ceiling crisis dominated the landscape.
But with the crises having past, at least for now, senators are once again returning to the issue.
More here
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John Barnett
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On This Day:
I feel bad – I forgot TOD’s 4th birthday last Thursday 😕
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And 22 millions thank yoooooooous from all the blog tyrants for the number we’ll hit today!
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MooooOOOOoooorning!
The Obama Diary 
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