NQ First Responders: Pushback on Planet Obama
By LisaB on June 17, 2009 at 10:01 AM in Current Affairs
Today, I saw some interesting pushback for the high-flying Obama administration. Although not a huge story of plummeting polls or scandal, these show how complicated things are getting for the OJT president.
1) MSNBC notes the ironic fact that it and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have filed a FOIA suit to get the visitor list to the White House.
The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn’t have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions.
Despite President Barack Obama’s pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied msnbc.com’s request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present. It also denied a narrower request by the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sought logs of visits by executives of coal companies.
————–
The Obama administration is arguing that the White House visitor logs are presidential records — not Secret Service agency records, which would be subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The administration ought to be able to hold secret meetings in the White House, “such as an elected official interviewing for an administration position or an ambassador coming for a discussion on issues that would affect international negotiations,” said Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt.These same arguments, made by the Bush administration, were rejected twice by a federal judge.
Irony much? Of course, one had to believe in the promises of transparency by a guy who won’t even release his school records, birth certificate or records of his “service” in Illinois. Seriously, how could anyone have expected otherwise?
2) Politico has a story about the WH not attending a conference of US mayors.
America’s big-city mayors are steaming over what they view as “a very dangerous precedent” set by the Obama administration in its decision to shun the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Providence, R.I., this week.
In its attempt to honor the picket line of a local firefighters union involved in a labor dispute with the city, the administration has inadvertently angered some of its staunchest supporters in urban America, who argue that by declining to send an official contingent to the three-day mayors’ conference, the administration is caving in to labor and snubbing local governments at a time of economic strife.
I’m thinking BO was looking for a way out of this conference and the firefighters’ picket line was convenient. But what a pull-out.
Biden was one of many high-profile administration officials slated to attend, including senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Lisa Jackson, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Gil Kerlikowske, head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.But the International Association of Firefighters’ request that the administration not cross a picket they had planned outside the conference over a long-standing local firefighters’ pension dispute with Providence Mayor David Cicilline overrode the mayors’ concerns.
WTH? I’m certainly sympathetic to the firefighters, but avoiding all these mayors? The big WH pull-out sounds out of proportion.
In response to the furor, the White House made a counteroffer for mayors to come to the White House on June 29.
After the conference wrapped up on Monday afternoon, the more than 150 mayors had still not reached a consensus on how to respond to an invitation many of them viewed as a consolation prize.
“People are losing their jobs, and he expects us all to fly to Washington?” Pizzi said of Obama. “He had all the mayors in the country in one spot. We justified the expense to our constituents, our taxpayers, and by not showing up, he kind of puts us under the bus.”
“There’s a certain arrogance,” Pizzi added. “The suggestion that all the mayors should just come to Washington on Monday and we should meet with them — that just shows them being totally out of touch with what people are going through in most of the local cities.”
Certainly a power play of some sort. So the mayors need to buy another airline ticket and take more time to go to DC for a meeting that should have taken place at the mayors’ conference? Waste of time and money. And blaming this on the firefighters’ local at the conference site? Cheeseball move. I don’t see how that does the firefighters much good. If BO had wanted his people to attend the conference, they would have found a way. After all, BO is the great, “cool” and calm leader, right?
Something’s up. A message of some kind is being sent. If you’re a mayor and you know – please comment.
3) WaPo should remember a famous NYPost headline and just announce:
BO to CA: Drop Dead.
The Obama administration has turned back pleas for emergency aid from one of the biggest remaining threats to the economy — the state of California.
Top state officials have gone hat in hand to the administration, armed with dire warnings of a fast-approaching “fiscal meltdown” caused by a budget shortfall. Concern has grown inside the White House in recent weeks as California’s fiscal condition has worsened, leading to high-level administration meetings. But federal officials are worried that a bailout of California would set off a cascade of demands from other states.
————-
The administration is worried that California will enact massive cuts to close its deficit, estimated at $24 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1, aggravating the state’s recession and further dragging down the national economy.
Does CA deserve help? I have no idea. But that’s my objection. Whatever “policy” exists to help in trouble companies, etc isn’t at all clear. Who is going to get help and who isn’t? How can you tell? Transparency? Feh.
I’m not the only one reminded of that NYPost headline. I heard NPR use it today in a report on the rebuff to CA. However, American Girl in Italy also had the following suggestion:
BO to CA: No soup for you!
How about some other clever headlines????
4) The NYT opines that BO doesn’t support LGBT groups despite campaign promises. Anyone believe those promises? I didn’t.
The Obama administration, which came to office promising to protect gay rights but so far has not done much, actually struck a blow for the other side last week. It submitted a disturbing brief in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, which is the law that protects the right of states to not recognize same-sex marriages and denies same-sex married couples federal benefits. The administration needs a new direction on gay rights.
5) The AMA doesn’t feel the love from Obama either. They booed him. Breitbart notes a story from AP (I won’t quote the AP). The story says during an otherwise otherworldly, evocative and simply eloquent speech by Obama his audience actually booed him.
Obama told the physicians he was not interested in trying to get limits on jury awards for damages in malpractice cases.
Of course, that will make some lawyers happy, but could limit the success of Obama’s health care proposals that involve physicians. Interesting choice.
6) Lastly, what would a post-racial leader look like? Probably a lot like Alysa Stanton, the first black female rabbi who will serve in a mainstream (mainly white) synagogue. From the Guardian (UK):
She believes she represents the new face of diversity in American Judaism, pointing to the little known statistic that up to 400,000 people, about one in five American Jews, are from racial and ethnic minorities.
Her new congregation will be largely white. But she sees that as besides the point. “When I said I would become a rabbi it wasn’t to be a rabbi for only polka dotted people or green or white or black. I’m a rabbi and proud to be that.”
Change you CAN believe in. Best of luck to Rabbi Stanton!
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
by 
* (Included in the 
* 
.by David Fredosso who wrote 2008's 
- You'll have access to 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books, as well as ultra-fast Web browsing with Amazon Silk -- faster than iPad. Full e-mail and document access and a keyboard. Fire can transmit what is on your screen onto a connected TV or monitor without an accessory. It runs Flash (iPad doesn't). 
