Summit

President Obama challenged Republicans to do some “soul searching” on whether they will support the Democratic health care plan, using the final moments of his health care summit to ask them to put up or shut up. If they don’t want to cooperate, the two parties can battle it out at the polls this November, the president said.

Obama’s statement and Democratic reactions after the summit were the clearest signal yet that the majority party is charging ahead and abandoning attempts at bipartisanship.

Interest groups closely watching the summit said as much, and Republicans confirmed they won’t be voting for any Democratic plan that doesn’t start with a blank sheet of paper.

The attendees at the summit read statements about the need for reform and complained about process, but came to no agreement and spoke little about the substance of the bill up for consideration on Capitol Hill. The seven-hour marathon refereed by Obama gives Democrats political cover to press ahead and finish this up.

“We are going to move forward, the ball is in everybody’s court,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters after the summit.

At the summit, there was minor tension and some talking point smackdown, but Republicans raised no new objections and presented no new ideas, giving the Democrats the clear path ahead to go their own way.

“I’d like the Republicans to do some soul searching,” Obama said. “We cannot have another year-long debate about this.”

He said if there was “significant movement and not just gestures” from the GOP there would be no need to start over because there is so much agreement on the broad issues.

Obama said:

So the question that I’m going to ask myself and I ask of all of you is, is there enough serious effort that in a month’s time or a few weeks’ time or six weeks’ time we could actually resolve something?And if we can’t, then I think we’ve got to go ahead and some make decisions, and then that’s what elections are for. We have honest disagreements about — about the vision for the country and we’ll go ahead and test those out over the next several months till November.

He admitted that “politically speaking, there may not be any reason for Republicans to want to do anything,” but said he would sure like to try.

“I don’t need a poll to know that most Republican voters are opposed to this bill and might be opposed to the kind of compromise that we could craft. It would be very hard for you politically to do this,” he said.

Obama said there won’t be another summit like this one in the interest of time.

The president criticized Republican charges the bill is too long, saying he would have done something uncomplicated if that were possible. “We’d love to have a 5-page bill,” he said.

Charge! With Bipartisan Hurdle Cleared Democrats Will Finish Off Health Care VIDEO | TPMDC.

Coming days before the much anticipated bipartisan health care reform summit this Thursday, the 11-page White House proposal is being pitched as a foundation upon which lawmakers can build. Presidential aides stressed repeatedly on a call with reporters Monday that Republicans will have opportunities to amend it.

“We view this as the opening bid for the health meeting,” said Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer. “We took our best shot at bridging the differences. We think this makes some strong steps to improving the final product. It is our hope the Republicans will come together around their plan and post that online prior to the meeting so that the American people have a chance to go look at it… and be thoroughly informed heading into this meeting.”

But it clearly remains a Democratic effort. Working off the Senate’s bill while melding key provisions from the House’s version, White House officials are proposing to add another $75 billion in costs to the legislation, bringing the total up to $950 billion over the next decade — all of which will be offset by increased revenue.

Among the major changes in the president’s proposal:

• It removes the $100 million in Medicaid funding that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) had secured for his home state of Nebraska — funding that, after intense criticism, even Nelson now wants removed.
• It adopts the House’s more generous measures to help individuals purchase insurance, and adopts the Senate’s approach when it comes to penalizing individuals who don’t buy insurance — basing the penalty on a reduced flat dollar assessment or percentage of income, and including a “hardship” exemption for families who simply cannot pay the fine. (This paragraph has been corrected.)
• It closes the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” coverage gap by 2010 — choosing the House’s language rather than the Senate’s (which would provide a 50 percent discount for only certain drugs in the hole). How this conforms to the deal that the White House cut with the pharmaceutical industry at the beginning of the health care reform process is unclear.

• It adopts the Senate’s model for health insurance exchanges (virtual marketplaces for consumers to compare and buy coverage) making them state-based as opposed to national. One plugged-in activist told the Huffington Post that this could be because it would be impossible to pass national exchanges into law using the Senate’s simple-majority reconciliation process.
• It adopts the Senate’s abortion provisions, which are more moderate than the aggressively anti-choice measures adopted in the House.
• It uses the Senate’s revenue provisions, though it goes a long way toward pacifying those concerned about the so-called “Cadillac tax”. The threshold at which health care plans would be hit by that tax would be raised from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500. And the provisions would not kick in at all until 2018.
• It includes a new wrinkle: establishing a national health insurance authority that would help states combat insurers that institute unreasonable premium increases. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced this same proposal last week.
• Finally, despite a late-stage push for the White House to include a public option for insurance coverage in the final bill, the president’s proposal does not include any element of government-run insurance.

“There is not a public option in here,” said Pfeiffer, before insisting that the president does support the provision.

via Obama’s Health Care Proposal Lays Blueprint For Democratic Action.

Cantor and Boehner - Bozos

Congressional Republicans have been calling for more bipartisanship for months, decrying closed-door Democrats-only meetings on health care reform. So President Obama invited GOP leaders to the White House Feb. 25 for a televised, bipartisan summit on reform.

In response, House Republicans leaders yesterday sent a letter to the White House listing a series of “questions” they want answered before they participate.

“Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people?” write the leaders, Reps. John Boehner and Eric Cantor.

“If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate,” they continue.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responds that Obama is “open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny. What he will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small business counting on it.”

You can read all of the Republicans’ letter here. Gibbs’ full statement is below.

The President is adamant that we seize this historic moment to pass meaningful health insurance reform legislation. He began this process by inviting Republican and Democratic leaders to the White House on March 5 of last year, and he’s continued to work with both parties in crafting the best possible bill. He’s been very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the American people: putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit.The President looks forward to reviewing Republican proposals that meet the goals he laid out at the beginning of this process, and as recently as the State of the Union Address. He’s open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny. What he will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small business counting on it. The recent news that a major insurer plans to raise premiums for some customers by as much as 39 percent is a stark reminder of the consequences of doing nothing.

Late update: Now RNC Chairman Michael Steele has chimed in, pointing out that the White House declined an offer to meet with Congressional Republicans in May.

“We’d ask Mr. Gibbs if he can offer one example of working with House Republicans on health care reform since then. Just one,” he wrote in a press release.

Later update: On Fox News this afternoon, Cantor said he will “absolutely” attend the meetin

more……

House GOP-ers: Start Over And We’ll Come To The Table. White House: No. | TPMDC.

Birthers

The Birthers were back in force at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville.

WorldNet Daily founder Joseph Farah used his prime-time speaking slot, broadcast on C-Span, to pump up claims that President Obama was not born in the United States—and received enthusiastic applause from the audience. Birther queen Orly Taitz was in the house, making the rounds as a celebrity conspiracy theorist.

The persistence of this much-debunked rumor is a reminder of how the fringe is blurring with the base in American politics. It provoked conservative Internet impresario Andrew Breitbart into a confrontation with Farah, the new guard versus the old, with Breitbart arguing that attempts to prove Obama was born abroad are stupid and self-destructive, “a losing issue.”

I determined that I was going to start digging up every bit of dirt that I could find on him and…convince the Democratic Party to dump him and make Hillary the nominee.”

more…..

The Secret History of the Birthers – Page 1 – The Daily Beast.

Bill Maher

Bill Maher was a guest on “The Jay Leno Show” Friday and took the time to joke about President Obama’s new populist tone, among other Washington news.

After the two laughed about the recent Conan-Leno-NBC debacle, Maher offered up his political observations. On health care reform, he wondered why Democrats and the Obama administration were so bad at selling an idea that most Americans agree with, “This is something that would save lives, save money. They couldn’t sell cub scouts to a pedophile.” And to get back on course, Maher joked, Obama’s taking such a populist tone that even Obama wants to see his own birth certificate.

Maher goes on to add a line about Ann Coulter’s balls and Obama’s bowling skills.

VIDEO is here

Bill Maher Talks Obama’s Birth Certificate, Ann Coulter’s Balls, And More On ‘Leno’.

VIDEO AND FULL TEXT AVAILABLE HERE.

In one key exchange this morning, Obama rebuked pleas from Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) (ASS Hat) that he moderate his agenda and work with Republicans to ease the current state of economic uncertainty.

Lincoln described a constituent who she said was “extremely frustrated because there was a lack of certainty and predictability from his government for him to be able to run his businesses.”

She asked: “Are we willing, as Democrats, not only to reach out to Republicans, but to push back in our own party for people who want extremes, and look for the common ground that’s going to get us the success that we need not only for our constituents, but for our country, in this global community, in this global economy?”

“Look,” said Obama, “there’s no doubt that this past year’s been an uncertain time for the American people, for businesses and for people employed by businesses. Some of that uncertainty just had to do with the objective reality of this economy entering into a free fall…

“Let’s remind ourselves that if you’ve got an economy suddenly contracting by 6 percent or a loss of trillions of dollars of wealth basically in the blink of an eye, where home values are descending by 20 percent, that that’s going to create a whole lot of uncertainty out there, in the business environment and among families. …

“And part of what we’ve done, over the course of this year, is to put a floor under people’s feet. That’s what the Recovery Act did.”

more…….

Obama Calls Out Conservative Democrats For Their Timidity.

The numbers speak for themselves — a large portion of GOP voters think that President Obama is racist, socialist or a non-US citizen — though, when considering them, it is important to note that a disproportionate percentage of respondents are from GOP strongholds in the South (42 percent) as opposed to the Northeast (11 percent). Also note that this is a poll of self-identified Republicans, which means that independent Tea Party types are not included.

Nevertheless here are some of the standout figures as provided by Daily Kos/Research 2000:

• 39 percent of Republicans believe Obama should be impeached, 29 percent are not sure, 32 percent said he should not be voted out of office.
• 36 percent of Republicans believe Obama was not born in the United States, 22 percent are not sure, 42 percent think he is a natural citizen.
• 31 percent of Republicans believe Obama is a “Racist who hates White people” — the description once adopted by Fox News’s Glenn Beck. 33 percent were not sure, and 36 percent said he was not a racist.
• 63 percent of Republicans think Obama is a socialist, 16 percent are not sure, 21 percent say he is not
• 24 percent of Republicans believe Obama wants “the terrorists to win,” 33 percent aren’t sure, 43 percent said he did not want the terrorist to win.
• 21 percent of Republicans believe ACORN stole the 2008 election, 55 percent are not sure, 24 percent said the community organizing group did not steal the election.
• 23 percent of Republicans believe that their state should secede from the United States, 19 percent aren’t sure, 58 percent said no.
• 53 percent of Republicans said they believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Obama.

more……

Large Portion Of GOP Thinks Obama Is Racist, Socialist, Non-U.S. Citizen: Poll.

The history of the back and forth

Democratic differences are endangering Democratic control of Congress, while blame for the collapse of health-care reform has been laid at President Obama’s doorstep. Pundits charge that Obama ceded control of his agenda to a dysfunctional Congress, futilely attempted to negotiate a bipartisan agreement in the Senate, and should have better communicated the benefits of reform to all Americans. These criticisms of his tactics aren’t entirely off-base, and Democratic defeats from Virginia to Massachusetts have turned the president into a convenient target for his critics. However, the reality is actually more complicated than the conventional wisdom has suggested.

Such divisions are partially traceable to internal bickering over the party’s vision and direction during the 1980s debates.

Reform’s spectacular collapse is attributable to a long-suffering Democratic Party with a decades-long tradition of ideological battle over major legislative initiatives. During the 2008 primary season, commentators repeatedly said Democrats had apparently fractured over gender, race, and class issues. But the centrist-liberal splits that emerged in the health-care debate are actually more salient divisions than this trio of issues.

more……

Democratic Déjà Vu – Page 1 – The Daily Beast.

Banks

PRESIDENT OBAMA 10 days ago set out one important element in the
needed structural reform of the financial system. No one can reasonably
contest the need for such reform, in the United States and in other
countries as well. We have after all a system that broke down in the
most serious crisis in 75 years. The cost has been enormous in terms of
unemployment and lost production. The repercussions have been
international.

Aggressive action by governments and central banks — really
unprecedented in both magnitude and scope — has been necessary to revive
and maintain market functions. Some of that support has continued to
this day. Here in the United States as elsewhere, some of the largest
and proudest financial institutions — including both investment and
commercial banks — have been rescued or merged with the help of massive
official funds. Those actions were taken out of well-justified concern
that their outright failure would irreparably impair market functioning
and further damage the real economy already in recession.

Now the economy is recovering, if at a still modest pace. Funds are
flowing more readily in financial markets, but still far from normally.
Discussion is underway here and abroad about specific reforms, many of
which have been set out by the United States administration: appropriate
capital and liquidity requirements for banks; better official
supervision on the one hand and on the other improved risk management
and board oversight for private institutions; a review of accounting
approaches toward financial institutions; and others.

As President Obama has emphasized, some central structural issues
have not yet been satisfactorily addressed.

A large concern is the residue of moral hazard from the extensive and
successful efforts of central banks and governments to rescue large
failing and potentially failing financial institutions. The
long-established “safety net” undergirding the stability of commercial
banks — deposit insurance and lender of last resort facilities — has
been both reinforced and extended in a series of ad hoc decisions to
support investment banks, mortgage providers and the world’s largest
insurance company. In the process, managements, creditors and to some
extent stockholders of these non-banks have been protected.

more……

Op-Ed Contributor – How to Reform Our Financial System – NYTimes.com.

A Fan

From POLITICO

President Obama visited the Verizon Center today to watch the Georgetown Hoyas thump the Duke Blue Devils, 88-77.

POTUS sat just feet from the court in a cushioned folding chair, pool reports, just to the right of a line of shirtless students in gray and blue body paint screaming out their support for the home team.

After one of those fans began a r-rated chant following a referee’s call he disapproved of, another student cut him off: “Dude, the President of the United States is right there!”

During one break in the game, a referee, ball in hand, went beneath one basket and shouted at Obama, “Sir. Sir!”

POTUS looked up, and the referee nodded toward first the ball and then the basket, to see if the president might want to take a shot.

Obama smiled in response, and then both men had a laugh about it.

With Obama at the game were Vice President Joe Biden and son hunter, Robert Gibbs and Rahm Emanuel along with their sons, and David Axelrod. Reggie Love was also there, but not sitting with POTUS. During the second half, Obama sat for awhile with the announcers at midcourt, where he said that owing to his day job, he can’t usually “watch a full game, unfortunately.” During the playoffs, though, he said he watches all of the games.

Asked who he was pulling for, POTUS offered a diplomatic response. “Obviously, two great teams,” he said.