Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Petraeus’s words prove prescient.
–House and Senate conferees are trying to wrap up their negotiations on financial reform today. You can watch on C-SPAN 3.
–They’ve saved the best (read: most difficult) for last.
–Blanche Lincoln is still defending her derivatives language, and Scott Brown is still holding the line for asset management company exemptions.
–The White House is already selling the end product.
–While Obama would like to walk into the G20 this weekend with a handle on what the U.S. is doing on financial regulation, it looks like fiscal policy will dominate the discussion. The first shots have already been fired over deficit-reduction vs. stimulus, and the battle lines look like EU vs. USA.
–There’s a lot of national angst evident in the latest NBC News/WSJ poll: Sixty-two percent say they believe the country is on the wrong track and the president’s job disapproval is up to 48 percent, both highs (from this survey) in the Obama era.
–Mark Halperin writes the Rose Garden general swap was “Obama’s most presidential moment thus far.”
–Interesting tidbit: Robert Gates, who has been an enormously influential voice in Obama’s cabinet, reportedly advocated for keeping McChrystal.
–Ryan Lizza explains Peter Orszag’s exit.
–Rory Reid avoids the family name.
–And Obama dabbles in the avant-garde.
What did I miss?
You can contact Adam at swampland@time.com.
