Sasha and the pardoned turkey, November 25, 2009
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Presidential Daily Schedule (All Times Eastern)
11:50AM: Pres. Obama departs Seattle, Washington
1:30PM: Pres. Obama arrives in San Francisco, California
2:35PM: Pres. Obama delivers remarks on immigration reform at the Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center
4:10PM: Pres. Obama delivers remarks at a DNC event at the San Francisco Jazz Center
5:00PM: Pres. Obama attends a DNC event at a private residence
6:30PM: Pres. Obama departs San Francisco, California
7:35PM: Pres. Obama arrives in Los Angeles, California
9:10PM: Pres. Obama delivers remarks at a DCCC/DSCC joint event at a private residence in Beverly Hills
11:20PM: Pres. Obama delivers remarks and answers questions at a DCCC/DSCC joint event at a private residence in Beverly Hills
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Yahoo: Obama, At Fundraiser, Calls GOP An ‘Impediment’
Obama told donors the sight of Mt. Rainier illuminated by a setting sun was particularly special because it reminded him of his mother, who attended high school in the Seattle area. “I feel the spirit of my mom,” he said. “I’m not a particularly ideological person,” he said, adding he still is passionate about giving people a fair shake, about the environment, and working for peace and national security. “But I’m pretty pragmatic about how we get there.”
High-profile events on the schedule include a reception at the home of retired basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson and his wife, Cookie, in Beverly Hills, Calif., and one at the house of Marta Kauffman, co-creator of television’s “Friends.” Accompanied by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, Obama attended a reception and dinner Sunday at the home of former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley.
In addition to a half-dozen fundraisers, Obama intended to use the trip to keep the heat on Congress to pass an overhaul of immigration laws. He planned to address that issue during a stop Monday at a Chinese recreation center in San Francisco, and to promote his economic agenda Tuesday at the DreamWorks Animation studio in Glendale, Calif.
More here
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Fred Kaplan: We Have A Deal With Iran. A Good One.
The Iranian nuclear deal struck Saturday night is a triumph. It contains nothing that any American, Israeli, or Arab skeptic could reasonably protest. Had George W. Bush negotiated this deal, Republicans would be hailing his diplomatic prowess, and rightly so. A few weeks ago, a “senior administration official” outlined the agreement that President Obama hoped to achieve in Geneva. Some reporters who heard the briefing (including me) thought that the terms were way too one-sided, that the Iranians would never accept them. Here’s the thing: The deal just signed by Iran and the P5+1 nations (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China plus Germany) is precisely the hoped-for deal laid out at that briefing.
It is an interim agreement, not a treaty (which means, among other things, that it doesn’t require Senate ratification). It is meant as a first step toward a comprehensive treaty to be negotiated in the next six months. More than that, it expires in six months. In other words, if Iran and the other powers can’t agree on a follow-on accord in six months, nobody is stuck with a deal that was never meant to be permanent. There is no opportunity for traps and trickery.
More here
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Maryland Health Benefit Exchange: Maryland Health Connection Update
The Maryland Health Benefit Exchange announced today that consumers who require health coverage effective January 1, 2014 can now enroll through December 23. This extension will allow consumers more time to review plan options, talk with their families, providers or enrollment assisters, and enroll in a plan. After enrollment in plans through Maryland Health Connection, consumers will receive their initial invoice for premiums from their insurance company. Carriers will accept payment from consumers through January 15, 2014.
Interest in Maryland Health Connection continues to be strong. Highlights from today’s report include that, as of November 16: More than 59,000 Marylanders have created identity-verified accounts, and there have been more than 450,000 unique visitors to the website; Enrollments in qualified health plans increased by more than 500 during the week ending November 16 to a total of 2,253 individuals, reflecting the most enrollments in a week to date; and Counting Medicaid pre-enrollments, new Medicaid eligibles, and individuals who have selected qualified health plans for enrollment, more than 90,000 Marylanders are on track for coverage beginning January 1, 2014, under the Affordable Care Act.
More here
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NYT: Getting To Yes With Iran
The interim nuclear deal between Iran and the major powers is an important step toward resolving the increasingly dangerous dispute over Iran’s progress on production of a nuclear weapon. President Obama and President Hassan Rouhani of Iran deserve credit for resisting fierce domestic opposition and a 30-year history of animosity between the two countries to get to this point.
Even though the temporary agreement does not achieve permanent and total dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program, no one can seriously argue that it doesn’t make the world safer. It would freeze key aspects of Iran’s program for six months and lay the ground for negotiating a comprehensive, permanent deal. The alternatives are ratcheting up sanctions and possible military action, with no assurance that those steps would stop Iran’s nuclear advances. A negotiated solution is unquestionably better; it is alarming to hear Israeli politicians reject it in extremist terms and threaten unspecified unilateral action.
More here
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Sahil Kapur: Why The Filibuster Change Is Fantastic News For Obama
The Senate’s historic “nuclear option” vote Thursday to end the filibuster for executive nominees and most judicial nominees is excellent news for President Barack Obama. Obama’s second-term agenda largely runs through the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which often has the final word on matters of White House and executive branch authority. That’s the strongest tool Obama has to still get things done, because as long as Republicans control the House, his legislative agenda isn’t going anywhere. The Senate rules change clears a path for the president to confirm his three stalled nominees to vacancies on the conservative-leaning court, and make it less hostile to his executive actions.
The D.C. Circuit has been the GOP’s most potent weapon against Obama’s use of executive power, as it has overturned a slew of his regulations on health care, financial reform, environmental protection, labor rules and recess appointments. Most recently, a three-judge panel on the court struck down Obamacare’s contraception mandate. Once Obama nominees Patricia Millett, Nina Pillard and Robert Wilkins become judges, the D.C Circuit’s active bench will have a 7-4 split of Democratic appointees.
More here
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Kathleen O’Brien: Two-Thirds Of Jerseyans At Risk Of Losing Their Health Policies Will Get Subsidies, Study Says
A crunch of the numbers by Families USA, a Washington-based non-profit, shows that two-thirds of New Jersey residents at risk for losing their existing health insurance have low enough incomes to get a subsidy.
Nationwide, 71 percent will be able to get a subsidy; the New Jersey figure is 67 percent.The study goes on to say only 4.8 percent of N.J. residents under the age of 65, or 361,000 people, have private, individual plans. That’s slightly lower than the national rate of 5.7 percent.
More here
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Susan K. Livio: Medicaid Applications Up 35 Percent Since Obamacare Exchange Opened
The opening of the Obamacare health exchange last month drove a 35 percent surge in new applications for Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people, the state Department of Human Services confirmed. The number of applicants to the State’s Medicaid program — known as New Jersey FamilyCare — during October totaled 21,946, an increase of 35 percent from September when 16,339 applicants were reported, according to NJ Citizen Action Health Policy Advocate Maura Collinsgru.
New Jersey is one of 26 states that agreed to accept billions of federal dollars to expand the income eligibility limits in the Medicaid program. Doing so is expected to net the state $227 million in higher reimbursements while also enrolling 104,000 new people next year.
More here
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Defense One: The Deal Is For Real
Every president since Jimmy Carter has tried to make a deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran. None have succeeded. President Barack Obama just did. It starts with a single step, and it is an important one. The first phase of the agreement just reached in Geneva makes it much more difficult for Iran to dash for a bomb. It also begins to lock down the nuclear program that has plagued United States officials for over ten years.
The deal Secretary John Kerry masterfully crafted in Geneva eliminates the threat Mr. Netanyahu said was his most serious concern. It completely stops the enrichment of uranium to 20 percent. It gets rid of all the uranium Iran had already enriched to this level. As a result, it doubles the time it would take Iran to dash to a bomb, plus it adds tough new daily inspections of the nuclear facilities that could spot any such dash, giving nations ample time to take appropriate actions. Coupled with the success of the agreement to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, the negotiations are a dramatic example of the efficacy of diplomacy in resolving the most difficult of security problems. It’s the real deal.
More here
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The Daily Banter: President Obama Ushering World Peace, Corporate Media Shrugs
When reached for comment, Republicans, bona fide warmongers and their useful idiots in the eye-rolling mainstream press determined that this is already just another failure of leadership and desperation by a lame-duck president still trying to distance himself from hisonly real achievement: Landmark healthcare insurance reform– which has since been forever and ever deemed a colossal failure because the American media, still obsessed with pretending that Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush weren’t paranoid, smiling psychopathic mass-murderers and race-baiters-at-heart say so.
But make no mistake. This is another win and another huge “first” in a long line of firsts for the Obama administration which just keeps moving us forward despite the nagging fat asses of soft-racism slowing us up to complain the whole way about the alleged lies and tyrannical policies that brought them better health insurance, record DOW and S&P, reduced deficit, stable gas prices, less nukes, financial sector accountability, saved the U.S. auto industry, blah, blah, blah. The president earned every bit of his Nobel Peace Prize this weekend, which should drive his buffoonish critics to new lows to explain away his mastery of presidential politics on the world stage.
More here
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Danny Westneat: Debunking Obamacare Sob Story
Another day, another Obamacare horror story. Only this one was different, because it came from right here in Washington state. One of the few places Obamacare was supposedly working. “Obamacare Under Fire: EXCLUSIVE,” blared CNN last Monday morning. A reporter did a live stand-up in front of the White House. “Single Mom Touted by President Loses Insurance,” read the crawl.
Except there’s a key detail none of these media outlets mentioned. Which is: Sanford’s son was discovered to qualify for Medicaid coverage at a cost of just $30 a month. He has ADHD and, according to Sanford, it costs them $250 a month for prescription drugs alone. Which will now all be covered. It’s true the rest of her insurance won’t get a big discount, as she had first thought. “That mistake is totally on us,” said Bethany Frey of the Washington state health exchange.
But a bronze-level policy for a 48-year-old woman making $49,000 can be had on the state exchange for $237 a month, and a silver-level policy for $313. So here’s a family that was totally uninsured for 15 years because it had always cost at least $500 to $600 a month for skimpy policies to cover them both. And what they can get now is full coverage for $30 a month for the son and scantier coverage in the $250 to $300 a month range for the mom. How is that a horror story?
More here
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Reuters: ‘Great Satan’ Meets ‘Axis Of Evil’ And Strikes A Deal
Saturday night had turned into Sunday morning and four days of talks over Iran’s nuclear program had already gone so far over schedule that the Geneva Intercontinental Hotel had been given over to another event. At around 2:00 a.m., U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia were brought to a conference room to approve a final text of the agreement which would provide limited relief of sanctions on Iran in return for curbs to its nuclear program.
At the last minute, with the ministers already gathered in the room, an Iranian official called seeking changes. Negotiators for the global powers refused. Finally the ministers were given the all clear. The deal, a decade in the making, would be done at last. Now that the interim deal is signed, talks are far from over as the parties work towards a final accord that would lay to rest all doubts about Iran’s nuclear program.
According to a senior U.S. State Department official, Kerry told Zarif there could be no more delay. President Barack Obama’s administration would call for even tighter sanctions on Iran unless a deal was reached now. Congress members were demanding new sanctions and the White House would join them. Kerry made the case that “there would be no way to hold back new sanctions to give room for (a) new round and we would lead the charge for more sanctions if we did not come to agreement,” the State Department official said. By Saturday evening, the final language was personally approved by Obama in Washington.
More here
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Jim Stuart: A Team Effort In The Long Game
What an exciting moment this is: a first stage, six month deal with Iran has been inked by the P5+1. The Supreme Leader in Iran has sent President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif a letter of congratulations. Iranian social media is happily abuzz on both sides of the political divide – reformers and pro-regime supporters. Israel and Saudi Arabia are negative, as are many US conservatives – which to my mind is predictable and makes our getting the deal done even more admirable.
Strategic patience is what Stratfor’s George Friedman has called it. That, and both the willingness and the capacity to play the long game – to have a crystal clear picture of what you would like to see happen, and to wait, and to take the hits, and to wait some more until the moment of possibility arrives. Clear vision. A strong team. A deep and quiet space within you that allows you to take the hits without flinching or flailing about. And patience. And if the other side really does have shred interests, a deal that is good for both sides can happen. And it just did! Bravo, Mr. President and Mr. Secretary! Bravo!
More here
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Brian Beutler: Whoops! Obamacare Turns Out To Be Great Deal Personally For Boehner
Poor John Boehner. Thanks to a Republican amendment to the Affordable Care Act, most members of Congress will see their government-provided health insurance lapse at the end of the year, leaving many of them no other choice but to enroll in dreaded Obamacare. As speaker of the House, Boehner is technically exempt from the requirement, but in order to avoid accusations of special treatment (i.e., because of politics) he decided to take the plunge, too. And he wants you to know how difficult it was. He even wrote a blog post about it.
t’s a bummer Boehner got that error message. Tyranny almost. But if he’d reached the point at which he was signing up for coverage, it means he’d already had a chance to shop around and pick a plan. His post is oddly quiet about that part of the experience. Which is curious. As a 64-year-old heavy smoker, it’s a marvel Boehner will be able to purchase individual market coverage at all. I wonder what crazy law guarantees that he can?
More here
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NYT: California Encouraged By Health Plan Enrollment
Nearly 80,000 people have enrolled in health plans through California’s online marketplace, at a rate of several thousand a day in November — a sizable increase over a month ago, state officials said. Especially encouraging, officials said, was the enrollment of young people, who are considered essential to the success of the Obama administration’s health care law.
Officials said 18- to 34-year-olds made up 22.5 percent of the nearly 31,000 Californians who selected a private health plan in October. The same age group makes up 21 percent of the state’s population. The enrollment of young people is important to insurers because their relative good health offsets the costs for people with serious medical conditions.
Officials said that over 10,000 applications for coverage were now being completed each day, with more than 360,000 applications having been completed through Tuesday. Those numbers include people who are also eligible for Medi-Cal, California’s no-cost health insurance program for the poor.
More here
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President Obama briefly glances up toward the sunset after arriving Sunday, Nov. 24, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
The Obama Diary 
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