In this week’s dead tree edition I have a story about Organizing for America, the remnants of the Obama campaign housed at the Democratic National Committee. I went canvassing on Long Island with OFA volunteers — a rather fruitless exercise as when they discovered I was with TIME they sent me door knocking to the homes of half the …
Domestic Policy
Morning Must Reads: Daylight
—The Fed sees “deceleration in overall economic activity.”
–Preisdent Obama used the word “Boehner” more than the word “hope” in his speech on the economy yesterday.
–A few bright spots from this morning: New jobless claims dropped to a two-month low last week and exports hit a near two-year high.
Wave? Not yet in KY, CA & FL
Sure, all those pundits on cable and inside the Beltway may be predicting a wave year where Dems lose the House and maybe even the Senate. But the tsunami hasn’t yet been reflected in three new CNN/TIME/Opinion research polls of registered voters in Kentucky, California and Florida out today. In fact, most races were tied or just within …
Morning Must Reads: Choice
–Obama is set to unveil his new business tax credits proposal today in Cleveland. You can bet he’ll work in some jabs at one Ohio native in particular: “the man with the plan to be Speaker.”
–The White House will reportedly draw a line in the sand on extending the Bush tax cuts: no dice on cuts for the top 2 percent. The policy …
Morning Must Reads: Spelling
–Two major polls, the Wall Street Journal/NBC News and Washington Post/ABC News surveys, find that while the generic ballot remains neck-and-neck among all registered voters, Republicans have a commanding lead when predicted turnout is taken into account — an indication that the enthusiasm gap is spelling doom for Dems.
–Stuart …
The Problems with Obama’s Infrastructure Request
On this Labor Day, President Obama announced that he’s calling on Congress to pass an additional $50 billion in infrastructure investment. While I’m sure this pleased the construction, steel, plumbers and transportation unions – and, let’s face it, unions haven’t been the happiest of groups of late – I see several problems …
The Call: How Obama Slipped In The Polls
The podcast returns! Scherer and Kate join me for this week’s edition:
Morning Must Reads: Proactive
–The unemployment rate ticked up to 9.6% in August as the economy shed 54,000 jobs. The somewhat silver lining: It’s not as bad as predicted, private companies continued to expand their payrolls and some who feared a precipitous drop into a double dip are breathing a sigh of relief. But the hard reality remains that job creation has …
Morning Must Reads: Talk
Reuters
–Direct Israeli-Palestinian talks begin today at the State Department.
–Ethan Bronner writes Bibi has the power to deal.
–Ben Smith thinks the whole affair has a fly-by-the-seat-of-their pants feel to it and that yesterday’s pre-game posturing went well for the White House.
–Scherer dives deep into Obama’s …
The Most Important Newspaper Column Today
The Financial Times’ Martin Wolf, arguably the most important financial columnist in the world, pens a blistering appraisal of President Obama’s response to the economic decline, and the Republican Party’s counterfactual contention that the stimulus didn’t work and tax cuts don’t increase the deficit. He seems to get the politics exactly …
Morning Must Reads: Oval
–President Obama will address the nation from the Oval Office tonight on the end of combat operations in Iraq. Crowley provides some good context of the challenges the speech presents. Marc Ambinder engages in some (informed) speculation on what he’ll say. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs makes it sound like it will be a pivot from Iraq …
Morning Must Reads: When It Rains, It Pours
Reuters/Jim Young
—Obama is going out on a limb by associating himself with the precarious direct Mideast peace talks, writes the L.A. Times.
–Bibi is reassuring fellow Likudniks that he’s made no promises on settlements.
–Martin Indyk knows hope.
–Coming soon to a Harry Reid attack ad near you: Sharron Angle opposed …
Dogs, Homework and New Jersey’s $400 Million Mistake
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has been promoted as a model of effective Republican governance, has been faced this week with a clerical error that prevented New Jersey from being in the running for a Race to the Top grant of $400 million. The governor had initially defended his education commissioner Bret Schundler, saying that …