Official: Obama plans to slash deficit in half

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to help revive the economy and is working on a plan to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term.

Obama will touch on his efforts to restore fiscal discipline at a White House fiscal policy summit on Monday and in an address to Congress on Tuesday. On Thursday he plans to send at least a summary of his first budget request to Capitol Hill. The bottom line, said an administration official Saturday, is to halve the federal deficit to $533 billion by the time his first term ends in 2013. He inherited a deficit of about $1.3 trillion from former President George W. Bush.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the president has not yet released his budget for the fiscal year 2010, which begins Oct. 1, said the deficit will be shrunk by scaling back Iraq war spending, ending the temporary tax breaks enacted by the Bush administration for those making $250,000 or more a year, and streamlining government.

“We can’t generate sustained growth without getting our deficits under control,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that seemed to preview his intentions. He said his budget will be “sober in its assessments, honest in its accounting, and lays out in detail my strategy for investing in what we need, cutting what we don’t, and restoring fiscal discipline.”

Republicans were not convinced. They said Obama’s plan would hurt small businesses, including many filing taxes as individuals and possibly facing higher taxes under his plan.

“I don’t think raising taxes is a great idea,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “And when our good friends on the other side of the aisle say raising the taxes on the wealthy, what they’re really talking about is small business.”

Obama’s budget also is expected to take steps toward his campaign promises of establishing universal health care and lessening the country’s reliance on foreign oil.

Obama has pledged to make deficit reduction a priority both as a candidate and a president. But he also has said economic recovery must come first.

Last week, he signed into law the $787 billion stimulus measure that is meant to create jobs but certainly will add to the nation’s skyrocketing national debt. He also is implementing the $700 billion financial sector rescue passed on Bush’s watch; about $75 billion of which is being used toward Obama’s plan to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

source : news.yahoo.com

Newest US troops in dangerous region near Kabul

LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Close to 3,000 American soldiers who recently arrived in Afghanistan to secure two violent provinces near Kabul have begun operations in the field and already are seeing combat, the unit’s spokesman said Monday.

The new troops are the first wave of an expected surge of reinforcements this year. The process began to take shape under President George Bush but has been given impetus by President Barack Obama’s call for an increased focus on Afghanistan.

U.S. commanders have been contemplating sending up to 30,000 more soldiers to bolster the 33,000 already here, but the new administration is expected to initially approve only a portion of that amount. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday the president would decide soon.

The new unit — the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division — moved into Logar and Wardak provinces last month, and the soldiers from Fort Drum, N.Y., are now stationed in combat outposts throughout the provinces.

Militants have attacked several patrols with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, including one ambush by 30 insurgents, Lt. Col. Steve Osterhozer, the brigade spokesman, said.

Several roadside bombs also have exploded next to the unit’s MRAPs — mine-resistance patrol vehicles — but caused no casualties, he said.

“In every case our vehicles returned with overwhelming fire,” Ostehozer said. “We have not suffered anything more than a few bruises, while several insurgents have been killed.”

Commanders are in the planning stages of larger scale operations expected to be launched in the coming weeks.

Militant activity has spiked in Logar and Wardak over the last year as the resurgent Taliban has spread north toward Kabul from its traditional southern power base. Residents say insurgents roam wide swaths of Wardak, a mountainous province whose capital is about 35 miles from Kabul.

The region has been covered in snow recently, but Col. David B. Haight, commander of the 3rd Brigade, said last week that he expects contact with insurgents to increase soon.

“The weather has made it so the enemy activity is somewhat decreased right now, and I expect it to increase in the next two to three months,” Haight said at a news conference.

Haight said he believes the increase of militant activity in the two provinces is not ideologically based but stems from poor Afghans being enticed into fighting by their need for money. Quoting the governor of Logar, the colonel called it an “economic war.”

Afghan officials “don’t believe it’s hardcore al-Qaida operatives that you’re never going to convert anyway,” Haight said. “They believe that it’s the guys who say, ‘Hey you want $100 to shoot an RPG at a Humvee when it goes by,’ and the guy says, ‘Yeah I’ll do that, because I’ve got to feed my family.’”

Still, Haight said there are hardcore fighters in the region, some of them allied with Jalaludin Haqqani and his son Siraj, a fighting family with a long history in Afghanistan. The two militant leaders are believed to be in Pakistan.

Logar Gov. Atiqullah Ludin said at a news conference alongside Haight that U.S. troops will need to improve both security and the economic situation.

“There is a gap between the people and the government,” Ludin said. “Assistance in Logar is very weak, and the life of the common man has not improved.”

Ludin also urged that U.S. forces be careful and not act on bad intelligence to launch night raids on Afghans who turn out to be innocent.

It is a common complaint from Afghan leaders. President Hamid Karzai has long pleaded with U.S. forces not to kill innocent Afghans during military operations and says he hopes to see night raids curtailed.

Pointing to the value of such operations, the U.S. military said Monday that a raid in northwest Badghis province killed a feared militant leader named Ghulam Dastagir and eight other fighters.

Other raids, though, have killed innocent Afghans who were only defending their village against a nighttime incursion by forces they didn’t know, officials say.

“We need to step back and look at those carefully, because the danger they carry is exponential,” Ludin said.

Haight cautioned last week that civilian casualties could increase with the presence of his 2,700 soldiers.

“We understand the probability of increased civilian casualties is there because of increased U.S. forces,” said the colonel, who has also commanded Special Operations task forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. “Our plan is to do no operations without ANA (Afghan army) and ANP (Afghan police), to help us be more precise.”

The U.S. military and Afghan Defense Ministry announced last week that Afghan officers and soldiers would take on a greater role in military operations, including in specialized night raids, with the aim of decreasing civilian deaths.

The presence of U.S. troops in Wardak and Logar is the first time such a large contingent of American power has been so close to Kabul, fueling concerns that militants could be massing for a push at the capital. Haight dismissed those fears.

“Our provinces butt up against the southern boundary of Kabul and therefore there is the perception that Kabul could be surrounded,” Haight said. “But the enemy cannot threaten Kabul. He’s not big enough, he’s not strong enough, he doesn’t have the technology. He can conduct attacks but he can’t completely disrupt the governance in Kabul.”

source : news.yahoo.com

Economic stimulus package on track for final votes

WASHINGTON – Economic stimulus legislation at the heart of President Barack Obama’s recovery plan is on track for final votes Friday in the House and Senate after a dizzying final round of bargaining that yielded agreement on tax cuts and spending totaling $789 billion.

Obama, who has campaigned energetically for the legislation, welcomed the agreement, saying it would “save or create more than 3.5 million jobs and get our economy back on track.”

The $500-per-worker credit for lower- and middle-income taxpayers that Obama outlined during his presidential campaign was scaled back to $400 during bargaining by the Democratic-controlled Congress and White House. Couples would receive $800 instead of $1,000. Over two years, that move would pump about $25 billion less into the economy than had been previously planned.

Officials estimated it would mean about $13 a week more in people’s paychecks this year when withholding tables are adjusted in late spring. Next year, the measure could yield workers about $8 a week. Critics say that’s unlikely to do much to boost consumption.

“The most highly touted tax cut in the original proposal now translates into $7.70 a week for middle-class workers,” said Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Millions of people receiving Social Security benefits would get a one-time payment of $250 under the agreement, along with veterans receiving pensions, and poor people receiving Supplemental Security Income payments.

An additional $46 billion would go to transportation projects such as highway, bridge and mass transit construction; many lawmakers wanted more.

Brendan Daly, spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Don Stewart, an aide to McConnell, said final votes are likely in the House and Senate on Friday.

The Obama plan offers a 60 percent subsidy to help unemployed people pay health insurance premiums under the COBRA program and divvies up $87 billion among the states to help them with their Medicaid costs for the next two years. It provides $19 billion to modernize health information technology systems, even though such funding will create few jobs right away.

To tamp down costs, several tax provisions were dropped or sharply cut back. A provision popular with Republicans and the big business lobby that would have awarded about $54 billion to money-losing businesses over the next two years was instead limited to small businesses, greatly reducing its cost.

A $15,000 tax credit for anybody buying a home over the next year was dropped; instead, first-time homebuyers could claim an $8,000 credit for homes bought by the end of August. Car buyers could deduct the sales tax they paid on a new car but not the interest on their car loans.

But nothing could shake negotiators from insisting on including $70 billion to shelter middle- to upper-income taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax, originally passed a generation ago to make sure the super-rich didn’t avoid taxes.

The move is aimed at easing political and logistical headaches for lawmakers who wanted to do the so-called AMT “patch” now rather than later. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that provision will have relatively little impact on the economy.

In late-stage talks, Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pressed for $8 billion to construct high-speed rail lines, quadrupling the amount in the bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday.

Reid’s office issued a statement noting that a proposed Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas rail might get a big chunk of the money.

Scaling back the bill to levels lower than either the $838 billion Senate measure or the original $820 billion House-passed measure caused grumbling among liberal Democrats, who described the cutbacks as a concession to the moderates, particularly Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who are feeling heat from constituents for supporting the bill.

Specter played an active role, however, in making sure $10 billion for the National Institutes of Health, a pet priority, wasn’t cut back.

After final agreements were sealed Wednesday afternoon, staff aides worked into the night drafting and double-checking in hopes of officially unveiling the measure Thursday.

source : jang.com.pk

Pentagon may take control of US nuclear stockpile

WASHINGTON: Obama administration is considering the idea to hand over the US nuclear stockpile to the Pentagon.

According to a US newspaper, the US nuclear weapons program is currently under the Department of Energy (DOE) and the US government wants the Pentagon to take control of this program so that the DOE could focus more on research and preservation of energy initiatives.

The White House has directed both the departments to prepare a detailed report in this regard and a deadline of September 30 has been set for the purpose.

source : jang.com.pk

Obama freezes salaries of some White House aides

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s first public act in office Wednesday was to institute new limits on lobbyists in his White House and to freeze the salaries of high-paid aides, in a nod to the country’s economic turmoil.

Announcing the moves while attending a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to swear in his staff, Obama said the steps “represent a clean break from business as usual.”

The pay freeze, first reported by The Associated Press, would hold salaries at their current levels for the roughly 100 White House employees who make over $100,000 a year. “Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington,” said the new president, taking office amid startlingly bad economic times that many fear will grow worse.

Those affected by the freeze include the high-profile jobs of White House chief of staff, national security adviser and press secretary. Other aides who work in relative anonymity also would fit into that cap if Obama follows a structure similar to the one George W. Bush set up.

Obama’s new lobbying rules will not only ban aides from trying to influence the administration when they leave his staff. Those already hired will be banned from working on matters they have previously lobbied on, or to approach agencies that they once targeted.

The rules also ban lobbyists from giving gifts of any size to any member of his administration. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the ban would include the traditional “previous relationships” clause, allowing gifts from friends or associates with which an employee comes in with strong ties.

The new rules also require that anyone who leaves his administration is not allowed to try to influence former friends and colleagues for at least two years. Obama is requiring all staff to attend to an ethics briefing like one he said he attended last week.

Obama called the rules tighter “than under any other administration in history.” They followed pledges during his campaign to be strict about the influence of lobbyist in his White House.

“The new rules on lobbying alone, no matter how tough, are not enough to fix a broken system in Washington,” he said. “That’s why I’m also setting rules that govern not just lobbyists but all those who have been selected to serve in my administration.”

In an attempt to deliver on pledges of a transparent government, Obama said he would change the way the federal government interprets the Freedom of Information Act. He said he was directing agencies that vet requests for information to err on the side of making information public — not to look for reasons to legally withhold it — an alteration to the traditional standard of evaluation.

Just because a government agency has the legal power to keep information private does not mean that it should, Obama said. Reporters and public-interest groups often make use of the law to explore how and why government decisions were made; they are often stymied as agencies claim legal exemptions to the law.

“For a long time now, there’s been too much secrecy in this city,” Obama said.

He said the orders he was issuing Wednesday will not “make government as honest and transparent as it needs to be” nor go as far as he would like.

“But these historic measures do mark the beginning of a new era of openness in our country,” Obama said. “And I will, I hope, do something to make government trustworthy in the eyes of the American people, in the days and weeks, months and years to come.”

source : news.yahoo.com

Bush leaves White House as president

WASHINGTON: George W. Bush left the White House for the last time as US president Tuesday, accompanying his successor Barack Obama to Capitol Hill for Obama’s inauguration.

Following the ceremony, Bush was to leave the Capitol by helicopter for Andrews Air Force base just outside Washington and from there head back to his native Texas aboard a US Air Force jet.

source : jang.com.pk

Obama’s intel picks short on direct experience

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of an old White House hand to head the CIA shows a preference for a strong manager over an intelligence expert.

Obama’s decision to name Leon Panetta to lead the premier U.S. intelligence agency surprised the spy community and signaled the Democrat’s intention for a clean break from Bush administration policies.

Panetta is a retired eight-term congressman, former Clinton White House chief of staff, and former head of the Office Management and Budget. There isn’t a hint of direct intelligence collection or analysis experience on his long resume. Instead, he’s only been what Washington calls a consumer of intelligence.

Obama is sending an unequivocal message that controversial Bush administration policies approving harsh interrogations, waterboarding, warrantless wiretapping and the secret transfer of prisoners to other governments with a history of torture are over, several officials said.

Obama’s shift away from career intelligence officers to strong managers also could be an attempt to insulate the White House from the sometimes parochial agendas of the secretive spy agencies. The pick transmits the message that Obama’s management team will impose their priorities on agencies, not the other way around.

But despite Panetta’s strong history of bipartisan goodwill, news of his selection struck sour chords not only among predictable Republican skeptics but even among a longtime friend and fellow Californian, incoming Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She complained about Panetta’s lack of intelligence experience and Obama’s failure to consult with her on the decision.

Dennis Blair, the retired admiral whom Obama is tapping to become the next director of national intelligence — the president’s chief intelligence adviser — has almost as thin a resume as Panetta when it comes to the spy game.

Blair, the former head of U.S. Pacific Command, spent about a year at a post inside the CIA. He crafted a widely praised counterterrorism military strategy shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and he also brings to the intelligence post the military experience Congress wants to see in one of the two top jobs.

Neither Panetta nor Blair is tainted by associations with Bush administration policies, in large part because they both come from outside the intelligence world.

The picks were confirmed to The Associated Press by two Democratic officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama has not officially announced the choices.

A former senior CIA official who advises the Obama transition said Panetta will bring “good governance” to the agency and, just as importantly, to the administration. A former Republican, Panetta has good bipartisan political relationships. As White House chief of staff during the Clinton administration, he dealt with sticky foreign policy matters like the Bosnian war. A former Office of Management and Budget director, he oversaw tens of billions of dollars in secret intelligence spending.

In choosing Panetta, Obama passed over a list of former and current CIA officials who had impressive intelligence credentials. All had either worked in intelligence during the Bush administration’s development of controversial policies on interrogation and torture or earlier, during the months leading up to 9/11.

The search for Obama’s new CIA chief had been stalled since November when John Brennan, Obama’s transition intelligence adviser, abruptly withdrew his name from consideration. Brennan said his potential nomination had sparked outrage among civil rights and human rights groups, who argued that he had not been outspoken enough in his condemnation of President George W. Bush’s policies.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon hailed Panetta’s pick as a chance to restore the CIA’s accountability to Congress.

“For too long, our nation’s intelligence community has operated under a policy of questionable effectiveness and legality in which consulting two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee counted as consulting with Congress,” he said in a statement.

Panetta may face a tough nomination hearing. Feinstein said Monday she was surprised by the pick, adding that she was not informed or consulted.

“I know nothing about this, other than what I’ve read,” she said. “My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best-served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”

The top Republican on the committee, Missouri Sen. Kit Bond, was similarly skeptical.

“Job number one at the CIA is to track down and stop terrorists. In a post-9/11 world, intelligence experience would seem to be a prerequisite for the job of CIA director,” he said. “I will be looking hard at Panetta’s intelligence expertise and qualifications.”

The former senior CIA official who advises Obama defended the choice of Panetta. He said he was selected for his administrative, management and political skills, which will allow him both to control and advocate for the agency.

Veterans of the CIA were surprised at the pick.

“I’m at a loss,” said Robert Grenier, a former director of the CIA’s counterterrorism center and a 27-year veteran of the agency, who now is managing director of Kroll, a security consulting company.

He said Panetta is at “a tremendous disadvantage.”

“Intelligence by its very nature is an esoteric world. And right now the agency is confronted with numerous pressing challenges overseas, and to have no background is a serious deficit. I don’t say that he can’t succeed. It may that he can compensate for the obvious deficit.”

Panetta served on the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel that released a report at the end of 2006 with dozens of recommendations for reversing course in the war.

Like Panetta, Blair could face an uncomfortable confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In 2006, Blair resigned from his top position at the Pentagon-funded, nonprofit Institute for Defense Analyses after the Senate Armed Services Committee raised concerns about possible conflicts of interest.

After leaving the Navy, Blair became the institute’s president while serving on the boards of two defense contractors that worked on the F-22 fighter jet. He participated in two reviews of the F-22, including one that endorsed an Air Force proposal to buy the F-22 on three-year contracts rather than one-year contracts. The longer-term contracts would financially benefit F-22 contractors by guaranteeing a multibillion-dollar revenue stream for three years.

A 2006 Pentagon inspector general’s report found that Blair took no action to influence the outcome of either of the two studies.

Blair and Panetta would replace retired Adm. Mike McConnell and former Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, respectively. Both career military intelligence officers said publicly they would stay in their positions if asked.

source : news.yahoo.com

Obama picks Leon Panetta as CIA head: reports

WASHINGTON: U.S. president-elect Barack Obama has chosen former lawmaker and White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to head the Central Intelligence Agency, US media reported Monday.

It also reported that Panetta, who was White House chief of staff for former president Bill Clinton, was the incoming president’s choice to head the agency under scrutiny for its conduct in the fight against international terrorism.

source : jang.com.pk

Bush to establish 3 marine monuments in Pacific

WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush plans to designate three remote Pacific island chains as national monuments in what will be one of the largest marine conservation efforts in U.S. history.

The three areas are expected to include the Mariana Trench along the Northern Mariana Islands, Rose Atoll in American Samoa and seven islands in the central Pacific Ocean.

The White House confirmed plans for an announcement by the president on Tuesday but declined to provide other details.

Two years ago, the president made a huge swath of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument, barring fishing, oil and gas extraction and tourism from its waters and coral reefs.

source : jang.com.pk

Protesters, fans greet Obama in US capital

WASHINGTON: About 100 well-wishers and two dozen protesters braved the winter chill to greet President-elect Barack Obama as he arrived in Washington Sunday to prepare his transition.

A heavy security presence encircled the historic Hay-Adam hotel near the White House, where the Obamas will stay until January 15, as police set up cement barriers and kept onlookers at a city block’s distance. “He waved! That’s cool! Awesome!” said Keith Slade, 43, who having a drink at a nearby bar when he caught a glimpse of Obama passing by in the motorcade. Before Obama departed Chicago, he told reporters: “Well guys, I’m looking forward to seeing you guys in Washington. I gotta say I choked up a little bit leaving my house today.”

source : jang.com.pk

Gaza ground operation up to Israel: White House

WASHINGTON: Israel must decide for itself whether to go into the Gaza Strip with ground forces, the White House said on Friday, but it cautioned any actions should avoid civilian casualties and ensure the flow of humanitarian goods.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe did not directly answer questions about whether the United States thought a ground operation was justifiable or had sought to prevent such an attack.

“I don’t want to speak to an operation that has not taken place … Those will be decisions made by the Israelis,” he told reporters.

“Any actions they take in this overall operation that they are involved in right now need to avoid civilian casualties, and we also need to continue the flow of humanitarian goods into Gaza,” he said.

U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been in regular contact with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and have reminded the Israelis of this need, Johndroe said.

“So I think any steps they are taking, whether it’s from the air or on the ground or anything of that nature, are part and parcel of the same operation,” he said.

Rice told reporters after meeting Bush that the United States was working towards a “durable and sustainable” cease-fire in Gaza, but that she had no plans at this point to travel to the Middle East to try to broker one.

“We are working towards a cease-fire that would not allow a re-establishment of the status quo ante where Hamas can continue to launch rockets out of Gaza,” Rice said.

source : jang.com.pk

Ex-aides say Bush never recovered from Katrina

WASHINGTON – Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government’s poor handling of the natural disaster.

“Katrina to me was the tipping point,” said Matthew Dowd, Bush’s pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. “The president broke his bond with the public. Once that bond was broken, he no longer had the capacity to talk to the American public. State of the Union addresses? It didn’t matter. Legislative initiatives? It didn’t matter. P.R.? It didn’t matter. Travel? It didn’t matter.”

Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director and later counselor to the president, said: “Politically, it was the final nail in the coffin.”

Their comments are a part of an oral history of the Bush White House that Vanity Fair magazine compiled for its February issue, which hits newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday, and nationally on Jan. 6. Vanity Fair published comments by current and former government officials, foreign ministers, campaign strategists and numerous others on topics that included Iraq, the anthrax attacks, the economy and immigration.

Lawrence Wilkerson, top aide and later chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said that as a new president, Bush was like Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee whom critics said lacked knowledge about foreign affairs. When Bush first came into office, he was surrounded by experienced advisers like Vice President Dick Cheney and Powell, who Wilkerson said ended up playing damage control for the president.

“It allowed everybody to believe that this Sarah Palin-like president — because, let’s face it, that’s what he was — was going to be protected by this national-security elite, tested in the cauldrons of fire,” Wilkerson said, adding that he considered Cheney probably the “most astute, bureaucratic entrepreneur” he’d ever met.

“He became vice president well before George Bush picked him,” Wilkerson said of Cheney. “And he began to manipulate things from that point on, knowing that he was going to be able to convince this guy to pick him, knowing that he was then going to be able to wade into the vacuums that existed around George Bush — personality vacuum, character vacuum, details vacuum, experience vacuum.”

On other topics, David Kuo, who served as deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, disputed the idea that the Bush White House was dominated by religious conservatives and catered to the needs of a religious right voting bloc.

“The reality in the White House is — if you look at the most senior staff — you’re seeing people who aren’t personally religious and have no particular affection for people who are religious-right leaders,” Kuo said.

“In the political affairs shop in particular, you saw a lot of people who just rolled their eyes at … basically every religious-right leader that was out there, because they just found them annoying and insufferable. These guys were pains in the butt who had to be accommodated.”

source : news.yahoo.com

Politicians much more comfortable on late-night TV

NEW YORK – It proved to be more than a joke when David Letterman said in late September that “the road to the White House runs through me.”

Presidential candidates found late-night comedy shows a particularly valuable asset during the 2008 campaign, making more than four times the number of on-set appearances with Letterman, Jay Leno, Jon Stewart and the crowd than the 2004 contenders did, some new research has found.

“Candidates have figured out that you can reach voters through entertainment venues even better than news,” said Robert Lichter, a George Mason University professor and head of the Center for Media and Public Affairs.

Candidates made 110 appearances on the late-night shows, up from 25 in 2004, the center said. Fifty this time came before a primary vote was even cast, as a full complement of candidates in both parties looked for ways to get their faces in front of cameras — something President Bush didn’t have to worry about four years ago.

There’s a rich history of candidates using entertainment venues to show voters they can laugh at themselves: Richard Nixon went on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in” in 1968, and Bill Clinton played the sax on “The Arsenio Hall Show” in 1992. Yet it wasn’t until 2008 that the appearances began to seem routine.

Republican John McCain made 17 such guest shots on venues that relentlessly made him the butt of jokes, although one appearance he canceled — with Letterman — may be remembered longer than any of them. President-elect Barack Obama had 15 appearances, third behind Republican Mike Huckabee, who now has a talk show of his own on Fox News Channel.

For the shows, it was a way to tap into a campaign that was a television hit from start to finish. Leno had 22 candidate appearances, while Stewart had 21, Letterman had 19 and Stephen Colbert had 15.

Not only does a candidate have the chance to display a sense of humor to the late-night crowd, a good exchange could be magnified with endless repeats on YouTube or cable news networks the next day.

The shows also give the candidates a venue to talk directly to voters than they might otherwise get. In 2000, candidate George Bush had more time to talk in one appearance with Letterman than he had during a full month on the “CBS Evening News,” Lichter said.

And who wants to deal with pesky journalists, who always want to knock you off message?

“It’s a lot more risky, as Sarah Palin will attest, to do an interview with Katie Couric than it is with Jay Leno,” said Howard Wolfson, a veteran campaign strategist and former Hillary Clinton adviser.

They aren’t always puffball appearances, though. Letterman, in particular, has become a particularly sharp interviewer. When McCain backed off an appearance citing the economic crisis — then did an interview with Couric later that day — Letterman wouldn’t let him forget it until McCain came back and pleaded for forgiveness. At a crucial time, Letterman was repeatedly reminding viewers of McCain’s brief campaign suspension, a period the candidate would rather voters have forgotten, Lichter said.

His running mate stayed away from the talk shows but made one memorable appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” getting in on some jokes about her.

source : news.yahoo.com

US urges Hamas to cease rocket attacks on Israel

CRAWFORD, Texas – The U.S. on Saturday blamed the militant group Hamas for breaking a cease-fire and attacking Israel, which retaliated with strikes of its own during what became the single bloodiest day of fighting in years.

The White House called for the cease-fire to be restored, yet there were few indications that the violence, which has left more than 200 people dead and nearly another 400 wounded, was waning. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that the operation in Gaza would widen if necessary.

It was “completely unacceptable” for Hamas, which controls Gaza, to launch attacks on Israel after a truce lasting several months, said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

“These people are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people,” Johndroe said in Texas as President George W. Bush was spending the week before New Year’s at his ranch here. “They need to stop. We have said in the past that they have a choice to make. You can’t have one foot in politics and one foot in terror.”

President-elect Barack Obama was receiving an intelligence briefing on Saturday from various security agencies, Johndroe said. Bush has spoken to regional leaders and the administration will remain in close contact, he said.

Obama also spoke during the day with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was keeping Bush abreast of the situation.

Brooke Anderson, Obama’s national security spokeswoman, said Saturday that Obama “is closely monitoring global events, including the situation in Gaza, but there is one president at a time.”

As Israel bombed Gaza, defiant Hamas leaders threatened revenge. Hamas “will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood,” vowed spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who controls the West Bank, condemned Israel. Egypt summoned the Israeli ambassador to express condemnation and opened its border with Gaza to allow ambulances to drive out some of the wounded.

Asked if the United States would back a continuation of the retaliatory strikes by Israel, Johndroe said: “The U.S. doesn’t want to see any more violence. I think what we’ve got to see is Hamas stop firing rockets into Israel. That’s what precipitated this.”

At his ranch, the president took a call from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who wanted to discuss the violence that began eight days after a six-month truce between Israel and the militants expired.

“The United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza,” Rice said in a statement. “The cease-fire should be restored immediately. The United States calls on all concerned to address the urgent humanitarian needs of the innocent people of Gaza.”

Israeli warplanes launched counterattacks on dozens of security compounds across the Hamas-ruled territory in unprecedented waves of airstrikes. Most of those killed were security men, but an unknown number of civilians were also among the dead.

Hamas said all of its security installations were hit, threatened to resume suicide attacks, and sent at least 70 rockets and mortar shells crashing into Israeli border communities, according to the Israeli military. One Israeli was killed and at least six people were hurt.

With so many wounded, the Palestinian death toll was likely to rise. The strikes caused widespread panic and confusion in Gaza. Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely populated areas as children were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children.

Johndroe said the U.S. was concerned that humanitarian needs were being met in Gaza. He urged Israel to avoid striking civilians, but he refrained from commenting specifically on positions that had been hit on the ground.

“I know they are targeting security and Hamas headquarters facilities,” Johndroe said. “We urge them (the Israelis) to avoid civilian casualties.”

“The message from the United States is that Hamas is a terrorist organization that is firing rockets into Israel and they fired them onto their own people as well,” Johndroe said, noting reports he’d seen about the death of two Palestinian girls. “Hamas has done nothing for the people of Gaza.”

The offensive has sparked angry protests throughout the Arab world. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Vatican, the U.N. secretary-general and special Mideast envoy Tony Blair called for an immediate restoration of calm. The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss the situation.

source : news.yahoo.com

Bush withdraws 1 of 19 pardons he issued Tuesday

WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush on Wednesday revoked a pardon he had granted only a day before — a step unheard of in recent memory — after learning in news reports of political contributions to Republicans by the man’s father and other information.

Bush pardoned 19 people on Tuesday, including Isaac Robert Toussie of Brooklyn, N.Y., who had been convicted of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and of mail fraud. On Wednesday, the White House issued an extraordinary statement saying the president was reversing his decision in Toussie’s case.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the new decision was “based on information that has subsequently come to light,” including on the extent and nature of Toussie’s prior criminal offenses. She also said that neither the White House counsel’s office nor the president had been aware of a political contribution by Toussie’s father that “might create an appearance of impropriety.”

“Given that, this was the prudent thing to do,” she said.

The new information came to the White House’s attention from news reports, Perino said.

A story in the New York Daily News said Toussie’s father, Robert, donated $28,500 to the national Republican Party in April. It came just months before Toussie’s pardon petition, the newspaper said.

The counsel’s office generally doesn’t include vetting of political contributions in its reviews on such matters, as that would be “highly inappropriate on many levels,” she said. The White House decision on Toussie had come without a recommendation from the pardon attorney, Ronald L. Rodgers, as Toussie’s request for a pardon came less than five years after completion of his sentence, so that eliminated another step in the review process.

The Justice Department advises the president on who qualifies for pardons. Only people who have waited five years after their conviction or release from prison can apply for a pardon under the department’s guidelines. Criminals are required to begin serving time, or otherwise exhaust any appeals, before they can be considered for sentence commutation.

But the president can forgive people outside that process if he chooses. Under the Constitution, the president’s power to issue pardons is absolute and cannot be overruled — meaning he can forgive anyone he wants, at any time.

Perino said she did not know of another instance of a pardon reversal in “recent memory,” but that the White House couldn’t say for sure it never had happened before.

“The counsel to the president reviewed the application and believed, based on the information known to him at the time, that it was a meritorious application,” she said. Bush now believes the case should rest with the pardon attorney.

The Daily News story on Wednesday, and another in Newsday and on blogs, shed light on Toussie’s record. He pleaded guilty for lying to HUD and mail fraud, admitting that he falsified finances of prospective homebuyers seeking HUD mortgages. He was sentenced to five months in prison and five months’ house arrest, a $10,000 fine and no restitution, the Daily News reported.

In another case, Toussie pleaded guilty to having a friend send his local county a letter that falsely inflated property values.

The Daily News also located a lawyer representing hundreds of ex-customers who have sued Toussie in federal court, accusing him of luring poor, minority homebuyers into buying overpriced homes with mortgages that had hidden costs.

The attorney, Peter E. Seidman, said Wednesday that news of the pardon was “gut wrenching for his clients” and left him “baffled.”

“I am glad somebody at the White House woke up,” he said in an interview.

Maxine D. Wilson, 42, bought one of Toussie’s homes on Long Island in 1996. She later sued Toussie, claiming the house started to fall apart after she moved in in 1997. She said she was shocked when she learned Bush was going to pardon Toussie.

“I was angry at how money, power and influence seemed to trump justice,” she said. But on Wednesday, she said, “I feel today that somebody paid attention. Somebody stepped back and made us feel equal.”

Federal Election Commission records show a number of donations to Republicans this year by Robert Toussie and by a Laura Toussie who lists the same address. Between them, they gave $4,600 to Minnesota GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and another $4,600 to Oregon Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, all on Oct. 15. Coleman is locked in a still-undecided race against Democrat Al Franken, and Smith lost in November to Democrat Jeff Merkley.

On Oct. 30, Robert Toussie also gave $2,300 to GOP Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia.

His contribution to the Republican National Committee came as part of a fundraiser in March for GOP presidential candidate John McCain. Out of a total donation of $30,800 by Toussie, $2,300 went to McCain’s campaign and $28,500 went to the RNC.

Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University and a close follower of presidential clemency decisions, said the White House decision strikes him as unprecedented, but he said it’s not inconceivable that it had happened in the past.

“It’s, at best, embarrassing. At worst, it’s an extraordinary example of this White House’s ability to bollox up one bit of presidential authority that he clearly has,” Berman said.

Bradford Berenson, an associate White House counsel during Bush’s first term and Isaac Toussie’s lawyer, said in a statement that his client remained confident the pardon attorney would grant his request.

“Isaac Toussie is deeply grateful that both the counsel to the president and the president himself found Mr. Toussie’s pardon application to have sufficient merit to be granted,” Berenson said. “Mr. Toussie looks forward to the pardon attorney’s expeditious review of the application.”

Berenson declined to elaborate further on the case and its developments.

With the Toussie reversal, Bush has granted a total of 189 pardons and nine commutations. That’s fewer than half as many as Presidents Clinton or Reagan issued during their two-term tenures.

___

Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann in Washington and Adam Goldman in New York contributed to this story.

source : news.yahoo.com

Blagojevich questioning takes up Obama’s time

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama has said all along that neither he nor his team was involved in any eye-popping dealmaking over filling his vacated Senate seat. On Tuesday, Obama’s hand-picked investigator agreed.

“Everybody behaved appropriately,” declared Greg Craig, Obama’s incoming White House counsel and the person asked to conduct the internal inquiry into contacts between the transition team and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Prosecutors have said Obama is not implicated in the case against Blagojevich, accused of trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder. But the corruption scandal has drained precious energy from Obama’s preparations to take over the White House.

In addition to the time Craig devoted to the internal review that Obama requested, the topic also has surfaced at news conferences intended to highlight key appointments and policy priorities. And Obama himself had to sit down last week in Chicago for an interview by federal investigators, Craig’s report revealed. Accompanying him was lawyer Robert Bauer, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Federal investigators last week also interviewed two top Obama aides, incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. Though Craig completed his review more than a week ago, Obama delayed making it public until those interviews were finished and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald gave his team the go-ahead to put it out.

The inquiry was released in Washington while Obama was vacationing in Hawaii. Though Obama has taken questions on the matter on five occasions since Blagojevich’s Dec. 9 arrest, the president-elect did not make himself available Tuesday to talk about it.

Blagojevich is accused of trying to use his authority as governor to appoint Obama’s Senate replacement to get cash or a lucrative job for himself, starting days before Obama’s Nov. 4 election through Dec. 5. The governor has denied any criminal wrongdoing and has resisted multiple calls for his resignation, including from Obama.

Wiretapped conversations cited in the criminal complaint against Blagojevich were not available to the Obama lawyers who conducted the internal review.

The report states, as Obama has said, that the president-elect had no contact about the seat with the governor or his aides. Further, no one on Obama’s transition team discussed any deals or had any knowledge of deals, Craig’s report said.

Emanuel was the only Obama transition team member who discussed the Senate appointment with Blagojevich or his aides, and those conversations were “totally appropriate and acceptable,” Craig said.

Those with knowledge of the federal investigation have said that Emanuel is not a target in the case. There also is no indication that Jarrett ever was a target, a transition official said. Like Obama, both were accompanied by lawyers for their interviews with the prosecutor’s staff, Gibbs said.

Fitzgerald’s criminal complaint quotes the governor’s conversations with aides, including discussions about swapping the appointment if Obama provided a Cabinet post or an ambassadorship or helped raise millions for a private foundation Blagojevich could tap for personal use.

Obama’s report states that none of Blagojevich’s aides reached out to the president-elect’s staff. The report only notes that Obama friend Eric Whitaker was approached by one of Blagojevich’s top aides to learn “who, if anyone, had the authority to speak for the president-elect” about the Senate appointment.

Obama told Whitaker that “no one was authorized to speak for him” and that “he had no interest in dictating the result of the selection process,” according to the report.

Emanuel had “one or two telephone calls” with Blagojevich and four conversations with John Harris, the governor’s chief of staff, who later resigned after being charged in the federal case, the report says. Craig told reporters Emanuel said he couldn’t be sure it was only one call.

The report said Emanuel had recommended Jarrett for the Senate seat without Obama’s knowledge. Jarrett later accepted a job as a senior White House adviser.

Obama authorized Emanuel to pass on the names of four people he considered to be highly qualified to take over his seat: Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, Illinois Veterans’ Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the report said.

Others Obama considered to be qualified candidates, including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Chicago Urban League Director Cheryle Jackson, were offered later, the report said.

“Mr. Harris did not make any effort to extract a personal benefit for the governor in any of these conversations,” the report said.

During Emanuel’s interview Saturday, federal authorities played for him a taped recording of at least one conversation he had with Blagojevich’s office, according to a transition official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss information not included in the report.

Emanuel left for a long-planned family vacation in Africa on Tuesday and was not available for comment. Harris’ lawyer, James Sotos, declined to comment.

Blagojevich attorney Edward M. Genson, who has said the prosecutor’s allegations are built on nothing beyond talk, said Obama’s report proves his point.

Obama’s report details a conversation about the appointment between Jarrett and Tom Balanoff, head of the Illinois chapter of the Service Employees International Union, in which Balanoff told her that Blagojevich had “raised with him” the idea of being appointed Health and Human Services secretary.

Balanoff informed Jarrett he had told Blagojevich it wouldn’t happen, and Jarrett agreed, discounting the notion as “ridiculous,” the report states.

However, there was never any suggestion in the conversation that Blagojevich was linking the Senate appointment to the possible Cabinet posting, the report states.

SEIU officials are referenced, but not named, in the FBI affidavit, and Balanoff is believed to be one of them.

Blagojevich mentioned in a Nov. 5 conversation taped by the FBI that he would take the HHS job or “various ambassadorships” in exchange for appointing Obama’s choice, according to an affidavit filed with the federal complaint. The affidavit states he discussed it again days later with an unnamed SEIU official, believed to be Balanoff.

The governor told advisers in a Nov. 10 discussion that “it was unlikely” Obama would give him the HHS appointment or an ambassadorship, and he discussed other favors he could seek, according to the complaint.

Obama’s report also addresses confusion over earlier statements by David Axelrod, a top adviser who had said at one point that Obama discussed the Senate appointment with Blagojevich. Axelrod had discussed potential recommendations for the Senate appointment with Obama and Emanuel, and “was under the impression” that it would be Obama who would offer those to Blagojevich.

“He later learned that it was Mr. Emanuel who conveyed those names,” the report states

source : news.yahoo.com

No hard feelings” over shoe incident, White House

WASHINGTON: The White House declared there were ‘no hard feelings’ over the shoe assault on President George W Bush during a weekend trip to Baghdad, and said it was up to the Iraqi government to determine if the assailant should be punished.

‘The president harbours no hard feelings about the incident,’ White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

‘Obviously, he was very angry,’ Perino said of Montasser al- Zaidi, the reporter who is due to appear in court for the incident on Wednesday.

‘The president believes that Iraq is a sovereign country, a democratic country, and they will have a process that they follow on this,’ Perino said.

source : jang.com.pk

Bush arrives in Iraq on farewell visit

WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush began a farewell to Iraq Sunday, the country he ordered invaded in 2003, according to the White House.

The White House said Bush had come to meet Iraqi leaders, thank the troops and celebrate a new security agreement.

This is Bush’s fourth visit to Iraq since US-led troops toppled the regime of president Saddam Hussein in April 2003.

The visit comes after Iraq approved a status of forces agreement with the United States, which calls for the withdrawal of all US troops by the end of 2011.

US hopes for Pakistani ’shift’ on Lashkar

WASHINGTON: The White House said Wednesday that it hoped Pakistan would “shift” to a tougher approach towards Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, the group considered the prime suspect in the Mumbai attacks.

“What we are looking is to see if there’s going to be a shift in Pakistan as to how they deal with LeT,” said spokeswoman Dana Perino, using the organization’s initials.

“If it proves out, over time, that there is that shift, then that would be a good one, and something that we would welcome, but it’s just too early for us to say,” she told reporters.

Perino’s comments came after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said authorities there had arrested two senior members of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) in the wake of the bloody terrorist siege of Mumbai, which left 172 dead.

“What we have seen are preliminary reports out of region. We are following those reports very closely. I couldn’t tell you definitely that all that’s been reported is accurate,” said the spokeswoman.

“We continue to urge the Pakistanis and Indians to work together to get to the bottom of who was responsible for these attacks — and most importantly to try to prevent follow-on attacks,” said the spokeswoman.

Gilani said that Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah — both named by Indian media as suspected planners of the attacks in Mumbai — were in detention and an investigation is under way.

White House near deal for $15 billion auto bailout

WASHINGTON: Weary Democratic Congressional leaders and White House officials agree in principle on a $15 billion bailout of U.S. automakers that would give the government extraordinary power to restructure the failing industry.

But the rescue faces snags as Republican lawmakers raise deep concerns.

White House near deal for $15 billion auto bailout

WASHINGTON: Weary Democratic Congressional leaders and White House officials agree in principle on a $15 billion bailout of U.S. automakers that would give the government extraordinary power to restructure the failing industry. But the rescue faces snags as Republican lawmakers raise deep concerns.