President Obama, on the passing of Alan Krueger: https://t.co/G6dsa87sif
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David Gura (@davidgura) March 18, 2019Posts Tagged ‘Alan
07
Sep
13
Rise and Shine
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The Week Ahead:
Saturday and Sunday: The President has no public events scheduled
Monday: Attends meetings at the White House
Tuesday: Addresses the nation from the White House
Wednesday: The President, the Vice President, the First Lady, Dr Jill Biden and White House staff will gather on the South Lawn of the White House to observe a moment of silence to mark the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The President will then travel to the Pentagon Memorial to attend the September 11th Observance Ceremony
Thursday: The President will hold a Cabinet Meeting. The Vice President will attend
Friday: Welcomes to the White House the Amir of Kuwait, His Highness Shaykh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al Sabah
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Steve Benen: Putting the goalposts firmly in place
…. If congressional Republicans ignore President Obama, it’s evidence of Obama failing. If congressional Republicans ignore their own party’s leaders, it’s still evidence of Obama failing.
If the president bypasses Congress to pursue his national security strategy, he’s dictatorial. If he seeks congressional authorization for his national security strategy, he’s weak and undermining the stature of his office.
If lawmakers reject a resolution authorizing force in Syria, Obama will struggle to get anything through Congress for the rest of his term. If lawmakers approve a resolution authorizing force in Syria, Obama will struggle to get anything through Congress for the rest of his term.
If the president uses the military to intervene in Syria, Obama will have undermined the credibility of the United States on the global stage. If the president honors a congressional vote against using the military to intervene in Syria, Obama will have undermined the credibility of the United States on the global stage.
I’m starting to think this game is rigged in a heads-I-win; tails-you-lose sort of way…..
Full post here
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The People’s View: When Democrats Were Humanitarian Hawks (#KosovoDems)
It passed the Senate by a 58-41 vote, and failed in the House in a 213-213 tie. 93% of Democrats in the Senate voted for it, as did 86% of House Democrats – that made for 42 Democratic senators and 180 Democratic House members. It was the Congressional resolution to allow the United States to intervene militarily, unilaterally if needed, to end a humanitarian catastrophe – under a Democratic president. It was the humanitarian catastrophe of death and displacements in Kosovo. President Clinton lead an airstrike despite the failure of the vote in Congress, under the NATO umbrella.
Kosovo’s civil war was a humanitarian disaster of epic proportions, but in the perspective of Syria, it is in danger of looking miniscule….
Yet, Congressional Democrats remain largely skeptical of an intervention in Syria while roughly 90% of Democrats in Congress in 1999 voted to allow Bill Clinton to intervene in Kosovo. I am left wondering why this is….
Full post here
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In America, the white Republican who lied us to war had more backing from Democrats than the black Democrat who tells the truth. #syria
— BWD (@theonlyadult) September 7, 2013
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Smartypants: Rep. Keith Ellison asks us to listen to Syrian Americans
While an awful lot of liberals are jumping in front of TV cameras to announce their collaboration with tea party libertarians to oppose military intervention in Syria, one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (and one of only two members of the House who are Muslim) seems to be struggling a bit more deeply with the issues involved.
PEACE community, consider thoughtful words of Syrian Americans as you think about Congress’ vote next week. http://t.co/yduqX4kIt0
— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) September 5, 2013
You can bet that with that kind of nuance, Rep. Ellison isn’t going to be asked to appear on any of the cable network shows.
But I’d ask you to do what the Congressman has requested: take a moment to read the letter to the anti-war movement from the group known as United for a Free Syria…..
Full post here
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“If we cannot summon the courage to act…our ability to lead in the world is compromised.” —@AmbassadorPower: http://t.co/GP1itDCS3B #Syria
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 6, 2013
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It was hard to imagine Alan Grayson could sink any lower this week – see ‘Alan Grayson Conspires with Far Right Lunatics to Lie and Fundraise off of Syria’ at The People’s View and ‘Rep Alan Grayson Cackles That Syrian Atrocities ‘Simply Not Our Problem’ at Mediaite) – but then there was this:
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Steve Benen: When crass fundraising takes a Grimm turn
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) announced just days ago that he would support President Obama’s call for military intervention in Syria. “We have to keep our word; this is about our credibility,” the New York Republican said last weekend. “We can’t permit a precedent where there is a use of chemical weapons and there is no response.”
Four days later, Grimm changed his mind, and announced yesterday he opposes the policy he’d previously endorsed.
I’ll leave it to others to speculate as to why, exactly, the congressman reversed course so quickly and completely …. The fundraising appeal, sent within a few hours of Grimm’s newly announced position, asks donors, “Will you stand with me in opposing President Obama’s plan with a donation of $25 or more right now?” It adds, “Stand with me today with a donation of $25 or more to strongly oppose military action in Syria.”
Full post here
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Smartypants: President Obama and WMD’s
The whole concept of reducing the threat of weapons of mass destruction was seriously discredited when Bush/Cheney used it as an excuse to lie us into an unnecessary war. Its clear by now that some people simply cannot have a rational conversation about the topic as a result.
But since President Obama has been trying to convince the US and the world to live up to their commitments about responding to the use of chemical weapons, I’ve been thinking about how that position is linked to a rather bold promise he made back when he was running for president in 2008….
More here
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Stay tuned for more details, but on Monday, White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice will give a speech at @NewAmerica Foundation.
— Eric Schultz (@Schultz44) September 6, 2013
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The PCTC Blog: Pacifists and Liberals ; When Do We Actually Stand Up For Those We Allegedly Care About?
Being a pacifist isn’t easy. Not easy at all.
A lot of self-described pacifists think it is easy. Essentially, the equation for many is, if it maims or kills, you don’t do it. Period. That’s easy, isn’t it?
There’s just one problem. It’s not pacifism.
Like everything else in life, being pro-peace is complicated. It’s a constant calculation, based on the circumstances in each situation. It’s not a blanket belief that no one should ever do anything violent, but a calculation of which actions will bring us closer to peace, and save the most innocent lives? Unfortunately, sometimes, the necessary action may be a violent one. Sometimes, in the grand peace calculation, there is little choice but to act violently. It’s a sad but true fact of life….
Full post here
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Oh boy, these people…..
TPM: Weekly GOP Address Makes No Mention Of Syria
As the country debates what it should engage in another military conflict, the Senate Republican weekly address Saturday made no mention of Syria.
Instead the address, delivered by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), was exclusively dedicated to attacking Obamacare ahead of the Oct. 1 initiation of enrollment in the law’s health insurance exchanges.
More here
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President Obama views the Gulf of Finland during a break before the first plenary session at the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg (Photo by Pete Souza)
More Pete Souza photos from the Summit here
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Paul Krugman: It Takes A Government (To Make A Market)
Lots of reporting on the new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of what we know so far about premiums under Obamacare. It definitely looks as if there will be a mild “rate shock” — in the right direction….
What’s going on here? Partly it’s a vindication of the idea that you can make health insurance broadly affordable if you ban discrimination based on preexiting conditions while inducing healthy individuals to enter the risk pool through a combination of penalties and subsidies. But there’s an additional factor, that even supporters of the Affordable Care Act mostly missed: the extent to which, for the first time, the Act is creating a truly functioning market in nongroup insurance.
…. In an alternative universe, conservatives would be celebrating this good … But in this universe, conservatives claim that creating a real market for health insurance, and making sure that everyone can afford it, is the moral equivalent of slavery.
Full post here
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What Is Working: 40 Ways Obamacare is Working
The House of Representatives has voted 40 times to repeal Obamacare. To mark the occasion, here’s a quick rundown of 40 ways that Obamacare is already working for millions of Americans and will impact more beginning in 2014.
1. Say goodbye to lifetime limits: Insurance companies will no longer be able to place an arbitrary cap on coverage.
2. Children can no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.
3. Starting in 2014, adults will no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.
Free preventive care, including:
4. Annual check-ups
5. Contraception
6. Vaccinations
7. Gestational diabetes screenings
8. Mammograms….
More here
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ThinkProgress: North Carolina Hospital Will Shut Down In Six Months Because The State Won’t Expand Medicaid
On Wednesday, residents of Belhaven, North Carolina got a taste of how stubborn GOP opposition to the Affordable Care Act can affect them personally when executives at Vidant Health System unanimously voted to shut down the local Vidant Pungo Hospital within six months. Vidant officials said the move was necessary as a consequence of North Carolina’s refusal to participate in Obamacare’s optional Medicaid expansion.
Belhaven is a small town of 1,688 where more than 55 percent of the population is African-American and approximately 28 percent of residents live in poverty….
….. Obamacare reduced reimbursements to these so-called “disproportionate share hospitals” — one of which is Vidant Pungo — since the law originally intended all states to expand Medicaid for every American living up to 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. If things had unfolded that way, these hospitals wouldn’t need the additional government payments since their patients would finally be able to pay for their own care through Medicaid.
Full post here
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More information here
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ThinkProgress: Washington State Is Getting Flooded With Hundreds Of Phone Calls About Signing Up For Obamacare
Obamacare’s state-level insurance marketplaces open for enrollment on October 1, and state officials are trying to get out the word about the new health care options that will be available soon. But many uninsured Americans still aren’t aware that they’ll be able to qualify for assistance to buy new plans under Obamacare, and lots of people in general remain confused about what the health law means for them. Health reform skeptics aren’t convinced that the marketplaces’ roll-out will be smooth enough to successfully reach all of those people.
If Washington State is any indication, however, some of those fears may be overblown. Washington hopes to target about one million uninsured residents with information about signing up for Obamacare. And it’s off to a relatively good start, as state officials there say that hundreds of people have contacted them this week asking for more details about the new Obamacare plans.
More here
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President Obama during a briefing in Sweden (Pete Souza)
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@petesouza: Instagram photo from Air Force One leaving Russia
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MooooOOOOoooorning – and the deepest of sympathies to our Australian TOD friends on Tony Abbott becoming their next PM 😦
12
Jan
12
evening all
King of Bain – the 60 second version
And the 30 second version:
Greg Sargent: There seems to be widespread agreement that the half-hour documentary attacking Mitt Romney’s Bain years that was released yesterday by the pro-Gingrich Super PAC was a very effective piece of political communication. Ed Kilgore, for instance, described it as a “heat seaking missle aimed directly at the white working class id”.
But what will South Carolina voters themselves see? Will this attack translate well in the 30-second and 60-second ads based on this documentary that the Newt Super PAC ad will run in the state?
…. Rick Tyler, the GOP operative who works for Winning The Future, says the ads are part of a $3.4 million buy that includes other media. We should obviously treat that figure with serious skepticism until the money is actually spent, but if that’s true, that’s a significant buy for South Carolina.
More here
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Robert Shrum: … what he spoke on election night in New Hampshire puts the presumptive Republican nominee at odds with the essential character of America. In a well-coiffed gentrification of the racist-tinged attack on Barack Obama as “the other” – a somehow alien and illegitimate president – Flip Romney, in full pander mode to the paranoia of the far right, arraigned the president for “tak[ing] his inspiration from the capitals of Europe” — and seeking “to turn America into a European-style entitlement society.”
…. In reality, Obama has been defending and extending the nation’s long march toward fulfilling its founding ideals. It’s Romney who, on critical economic issues, takes his inspiration from the capitals of Europe….
…. I doubt Romney will give up the xenophobia anytime soon. It plays well among primary voters who are suspicious that he’s not reliably reactionary; it’s a code-coated formula to depict Barack Obama as someone from another country, another continent, another tradition. In that sense, it’s a modulated form of “birtherism.”
Romney’s right when he says this election is about “the soul of America”. With his hostility to economic justice and the social safety net, his record in business, his desertion of the American quest for equal rights, and his embrace of floundering European economics, he would, if he ever got there, be the president of a very different and lesser United States…..
Full article here
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TPM: If a speech Thursday morning by one of his top economists is any indication, President Barack Obama is going all in with the 2012 re-election message of stemming the rise in income inequality and reforming a system that’s increasingly perceived to be rigged in favor of the rich.
White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Alan Krueger rattled off a flurry of statistics illustrating the rise of inequality and its connection to the shrinking middle class. He blamed it on economic policies tilted to favor top earners – including income tax reforms (presumably during the Bush era) and the “drastic cut in the estate tax.”
He also argued that implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans are eager to repeal, will help reduce the disparities.
It’s a message that bore an uncanny resemblance to the “Teddy Roosevelt” speech President Obama delivered in early December, which was interpreted by many as laying out the grounds for his re-election campaign …. Romney has taken to decrying this message as the “politics of envy” and “class warfare” …. Krueger’s speech Thursday makes clear that that’s a fight the White House is happy to have.
Full post here
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Our old GOPolitico friend Byron Tau got very excited today about the date on that DoJ memo on recess appointments. Read and learn Byron:
Mother Jones: ….. The opinion itself is dated January 6, two days after the appointments were announced – but that doesn’t mean the opinion was sought retroactively. “It is common, especially where time is of the essence, to give legal advice prior to a formal written opinion,” says Marty Lederman, a former attorney with the Office of Legal Counsel. “It takes time to produce an opinion with this level of detail.”
Young Byron then updated his post with this: White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters in the briefing that the DoJ memo was based on advice given by the president’s Office of Legal Counsel. “The opinion was rendered verbally prior to the date of the opinion itself,” Carney said, explaining the discrepancy. “The opinion was based on the advice provided by OLC”
Discrepancy? 😆 Byron? Quit while you’re that far behind behind.
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Full video here
“This is typical Barack, saying something he shouldn’t”:
29
Aug
11
chat away
President Obama speaks as he nominates Alan Krueger to be the next chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, August 29
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Hi everyone, I’ll be out for a few hours this afternoon, if you have any links to post or stuff you want to talk about, this is the thread for you. See you all later 😉
29
Aug
11
monday
The personnel announcement concerns Alan Krueger who the President has nominated to be the next chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers.
The 50-year-old Princeton University professor, who was the assistant secretary for economic policy and the chief economist of the Treasury Department from 2009 to 2010, will replace Austan Goolsbee, who left to teach at the University of Chicago. Krueger also was a chief economist at the Labor Department in President Bill Clinton’s administration.
** Read Steve Benen on Krueger here **
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NYT: Consumer spending in the United States rebounded strongly in July to post the largest increase in five months on strong demand for motor vehicles, a government report showed on Monday, supporting views the economy was not falling back into recession.
The Commerce Department said consumer spending increased 0.8 percent, the largest gain since a matching increase in February, after slipping 0.1 percent in June.
… When adjusted for inflation, spending rose 0.5 percent last month, the largest gain since a matching increase in December 2009, after being flat in June.
The data suggested the economy started the third quarter with some strength after growth almost stalled in the first half of the year…..
Conceptual Guerilla (Daily Kos): …. If you’re a Democrat, there is a lot to like about Alan Grayson. I have never heard anyone complain that Congressman Grayson was “centrist”, or that he was an “appeaser” of Republicans, or that he practiced any of that “triangulation” stuff. Alan Grayson was an unapologetic liberal Democrat, who fought for his beliefs and principles. Alan Grayson can fairly be called a poster boy for the kind of progressive leadership many Kossacks hoped Obama would display.
Which brings me to the bad news about Alan Grayson.
Alan Grayson lost.
Did his unabashed liberal priniciples inspire respect among voters who may not have agreed with everything he said? No.
Did his clear embodiment of progressive leadership cause Democrats in his district to turn out and vote? No.
… Democrats in Orlando stayed home … just like they did everywhere else.
….The people who make policy are the people who win elections, not the people who lose them. Alan Grayson was there to fight for healthcare reform, because he won in 2008. Alan Grayson was not there to do diddly squat in the debt ceiling fight, because he got beat … His voters stayed home….
…This is the world Barack Obama operates in.
1. There aren’t enough of progressives to win an election. You’re not a majority. Not only that, there are twice as many self-identified conservatives, and “independents” skew more conservative.
2. There are plenty of you who are very good at complaining about all that nifty progressive stuff we all wish Obama would pull out of his ass. I have observed President Obama enough to be confident in this belief: If he could pull single payer out of his ass, he would. He can’t.
…. Here’s the reality. The stimulus passed in February ’09 wasn’t enough. It was all Obama could get out of the likes of Joe Lieberman, Max Baucus, and Ben Nelson. Those were our guys. Same with healthcare reform … which Obama got passed where every other Democratic President failed going all the way back to Harry Truman.
Some of you people don’t understand how hard it is to get ANYTHING done in Washington. Ever.
… Let me suggest to you that Obama is very cannily, very amiably, very reasonably helping the Republican Party to self-destruct. You may not see it, but Obama might just be the leader you wanted him to be…..
Full post here
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Thanks so much to 57andFemale for this link – as she said, “this is one of the best smackdowns of the PL and description of Obama’s horrible plight I’ve ever read”.
You know how reluctant I usually am to link to DK, it truly has become a miserable PL cesspit, which makes the efforts of people like Conceptual Guerilla to counter the vitriol there all the more admirable. Thanks again 57andFemale.
31
May
11
twitteriffic
Larger image here
Irish Central: President Obama’s visit to Ireland, and more importantly his famous visit to Ollie Hayes’s pub in Moneygall to enjoy a pint of Guinness, along with the thousands of people who tweeted about the President’s visit, inspired a Wicklow businessman to create this piece of art.
Alan O’Flaherty … created a one off image of Obama made from approximately 1,000 Twitter avatars of users who tweeted on May 23rd … the poster is entitled “Is Féidir Linn” (“Yes We Can”) .. “It’s made up of 1,000 photographs of people who tweeted about the visit on the day. I got the idea of making the image after seeing something similar done when Obama was first elected president.”
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with the co-chairmen of the president’s deficit reduction commission, including Alan Simpson, right, April 14
Steve Benen: Last week, much of the media establishment drooled all over itself while praising Paul Ryan’s right-wing budget plan. For most major news outlets, the far-right chairman of the House Budget Committee was “courageously” tackling an issue the media cares about – deficit and debt reduction – in a way they found satisfying (slashing health care for seniors and the disabled = “serious”).
Perhaps, then, the media would be pleased with President Obama’s debt-reduction plan. After all, he’s playing the game the establishment wants him to play – focusing on fiscal responsibility – and doing so with a sound, credible proposal that would actually do what it sets out to do. Best of all, the White House made sure the president’s numbers add up, which is more than we can say about Ryan’s plan.
But the media’s still not happy. Mark Halperin complained yesterday that Obama “failed to offer a bold, paradigm-shifting budget proposal”. What? A center-left Democratic president, saddled with a massive Republican debt, has a plan to reduce the budget shortfall by $4 trillion… Is this not exactly what the media establishment said it wanted? Is the only acceptable plan one that hurts Medicare, Medicaid, and low-income families?
Politico chastised the president overnight for being “partisan” and hurting Republicans’ feelings…. So, if a Democratic president sounds like a Democratic president, even while tackling an issue that’s allegedly critical to Republicans, it’s a failure. Obama’s job, apparently, was to address the Republican goal, in Republican terms, while touting Republican ideas…
…There’s no reason for so many in the media to be so annoyed. If I didn’t know better, I might think the establishment noticed that much of the left liked the speech, which necessarily led pundits to assume there was something wrong with it.
Full post here
The Obama Diary 
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