All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

After 30 years of a formal relationship between the U.S. and Chinese governments, their bilateral commitment to global issues is more important than ever, Jon Huntsman, U.S. Ambassador to China, said during a press briefing in Beijing Tuesday. The United States and China, he said, are the only two countries that together can solve issues relating to energy, climate change, regional security or the global economy.

"I would say today like never before we are in a position where we should be able to coordinate on many of these key issues in an unprecedented way," he said.

President Obama on Tuesday met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in what Huntsman called "an all-time high in terms of the bilateral atmosphere."

In spite of that positive assessment, Huntsman cautioned that the United States -- and he personally -- still have quite a bit to learn about China.

"Don't mistake me for being an expert, because I've been here for three months," Huntsman said. "And I've come to the conclusion that 'China expert' is kind of an oxymoron. And those who consider themselves to be China experts are kind of morons. So you take what you can, you learn what you can, and you begin to pull all the pieces together, and still it kind of remains sometimes a somewhat confused environment."

More on President Obama's trip to China:

Photo Essay: Obama in China
Obama Stresses Cooperation With Hu, China
At Shanghai Forum, Obama Stresses Freedoms
Transcript: Obama's Town Hall in China
President Obama, Can We Twitter?
U.S., China Fuel Each Other's Bad Habits
In China, Obama Meets America's Lender

Following President Obama's meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, the White House released a joint statement on the relationship between the two countries, "bilateral strategic trust," economic cooperation, regional and global challenges and climate change. Read it below.

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Eric Shinseki, the retired four-star general who currently heads the Department of Veterans Affairs, said his agency is "working diligently" to better aid veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues.

Shinseki appeared on CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday, a day after attending a memorial for the 13 victims of the Fort Hood shooting rampage. As a former Army chief of staff, Shinseki described the attack as a "heart wrenching, terrible tragedy - unexplainable."

He also said President Barack Obama's speech during the ceremony was important to "bring the community together and begin the healing."

Special Section: Tragedy at Fort Hood
Fort Hood Memorial

Shinseki said one of the focuses during his first nine months at the helm of Veterans Affairs has been on the increasing diagnoses of PTSD, traumatic brain injuries and other mental health issues – a problem "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith noted was exacerbated by multiple tours of duty in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Well, we are working diligently to increasing our capabilities here," Shinseki said, adding that Veterans Affairs employs 19,000 mental health professionals to address the problems.

Shinseki also said the department is busy implementing a new post-9/11 G.I. bill.

"We have a large backlog of claims that has been there for years. And that's the next priority. And we've begun taking that down, as well."

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President Obama still believes that the Sudanese government is responsible for genocide, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today, telling reporters that a U.S. policy shift toward working with the Khartoum government does not reflect a change in that belief.

After CBS News White House chief correspondent Chip Reid suggested that the United States will now be "working more closely with somebody the president believes committed genocide," Gibbs said that "the president still believes that."

"But what we're trying to do is seek a comprehensive solution to this problem that, again, addresses both the humanitarian crisis that has happened and is ongoing in Darfur, as well as the comprehensive peace between the North and the South," Gibbs said at his daily press briefing.

Reid pressed Gibbs on how the administration justifies working more closely with a leader, in Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Court, and whose nation is on the state sponsor of terrorism list.

"Well, I'd take a bit of an issue with your characterization of this," Gibbs said. "There are hefty sanctions in place against Sudan. The president in his statement today mentioned that."

"Our policy includes pressure on the Sudanese government and incentives," the press secretary continued. "And if the government doesn't act in a way that helps bring about this comprehensive strategy, sanctions can be ratcheted up, pressure can be added. If they do take steps to address components of this, there are incentives."

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With the world at a moment with "great promise but also with great peril," the mission of the Clinton Global Initiative is more critical than ever, President Obama said Tuesday at the opening of the organization's annual meeting in New York City.

"We need a new spirit of global partnership," the president said. "That is the spirit that guides this organization. I hope that is the spirit that guides my administration."

Founded by former President Bill Clinton in 2005, the organization focuses on addressing major global issues like building economic empowerment and citizen service, health and education, and energy and climate change.

Mr. Obama said today it was "no exaggeration" that the work of the organization could "save the lives of millions." And it proved, he said, that "you don't have to hold a public office to be a public servant."

He learned that lesson, he said, from watching his mother champion women's welfare in Indonesia as well as from working as a community organizer in Chicago.

"Whether you live in the foothills of Java or the skyscrapers of Manhattan, we all share common principles," he said.

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On today's "Washington Unplugged," former Bush adviser Jim Towey defended his growing campaign over an end-of-life planning book distributed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Towey said the pamplet, which was first published in 1997 and is called "Your Life, Your Choices," pushes veterans “towards a discernment of whether their life is worth living or not.” He called the VA’s text “tilted and biased” and said it was written by a prominent assisted suicide advocate.

Last week, Towey sparked the controversy with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled "The Death Book for Veterans."

“It seems to me that for the VA and government which has a financial stake in the end of life…It seems to me that the government should be a heck of a lot more neutral,” he told CBS News’ Nancy Cordes. “It should not be involved in biasing the discussion towards a hastened death.”

He also said his campaign against “Your Life, Your Choices” is completely independent of his push for the VA to buy and use his advanced care publication. Towey is the founder of the not-for-profit Aging with Dignity, which sells "Five Wishes," a manual with the same intent.

Also appearing on the show, Marcus Baram, a news editor at the Huffington Post, called the hoopla surrounding the book a “manufactured controversy” noting that the text has been around for over ten years and has similar guidance to other advanced care planning documents.

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Though progress toward a mideast peace agreement may be more elusive than getting a health care plan through Congress, President Obama sees "movement in the right direction."

"If all sides are willing to move off the rut that we're currently in, then I think there is an extraordinary opportunity to make real progress," said Mr. Obama.

In an Oval Office photo-op at the end of a meeting with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, Mr. Obama said he hopes for movement by the Israelis, the Palestinians and other Arab states.

"Everybody is going to have to take steps, everybody is going to have to take some risks," said Mr. Obama. He said an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is going to require a lot of hard work, but he said the U.S. "is committed to being a partner in this process."

He said his administration will devote "time, energy and resources" to bring about a mideast peace deal.

Mr. Obama views Egypt's Mubarak as in important participant in the process.

Speaking in Arabic, Mubarak said the Palestinians are the "pivotal issue" in the Middle East. That problem has defied resolution for 60 years, he said, and if it's not resolved now, it will trigger more mideast violence. Mubarak said he supports U.S. efforts to find a solution.

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President Barack Obama joined Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in declaring "deepened cooperation" in preparing for the resurgence of swine flu today.

In a statement released by the White House, the North American leaders said that they will "work together to ensure that we have effective strategies, grounded in the best available science" to address the H1N1 pandemic.

Mr. Obama, Calderon, and Harper met in Guadalajara, Mexico Monday to discuss issues facing their respective countries, including economic recovery and climate change in addition to the possible spread of swine flu in the fall.

The full statement is below:

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South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford won't be facing disciplinary measures from the U.S. Air Force Reserve, the Greenville News reports.

Sanford, a captain in the Reserve, could have been reprimanded over his heavily publicized extramarital affair with an Argentine woman. As the Greenville News reports, adultery is punishable under military code.

Air Force Reserve Command spokesperson Cliff Tyler said the Reserve "looked at all the facts and they looked at the circumstances and the decision was made as a command not to take any action against him.”

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said he had no comment on the decision. He told the newspaper that the governor is "looking forward, not backward."

Sanford joined the Air Force Reserves in 2002.

When President Obama announced today a new $20 billion commitment from the G8 countries for alleviating hunger in Africa, he emphasized that the money would help small farmers become more self-sufficient.

He emphasized this point with a personal story about his father's travels from Kenya to the United States.

"When my father traveled to the United States from Kenya to study, at that time the per capita income and Gross Domestic Product of Kenya was higher than South Korea's," Mr. Obama said. "Today obviously South Korea is a highly developed and relatively wealthy country, and Kenya is still struggling with deep poverty in much of the country. And the question I asked in the meeting was, why is that?"

South Korea, he said, has created transparent and accountable institutions that promote economic progress -- and, he said, there is no reason countries in Africa cannot do the same. Now that the G8 summit in Italy has concluded, he will travel to Ghana to underscore that point.

"Part of the reason that we're traveling to Ghana is because you've got there a functioning democracy, a president who's serious about reducing corruption, and you've seen significant economic growth," Mr. Obama said during a press conference in L'Aquila, Italy.

Mr. Obama's trip to Ghana is a source of pride for the nation, university students and leaders told the Hotsheet today, and should be a wake up call for the rest of Africa -- and the rest of the world -- about the changing nature of international relations and foreign aid.

Ghana's President John Atta Mills smoothly assumed power this year after winning a run-off election in January with just slightly over 50 percent of the vote. Ghana's strong democracy has facilitated the country's economic progress, Patrick Awuah, president of Ashesi University in Accra, Ghana, said in an phone interview.

"With the emergence of democratic government in Ghana, we have seen the opening of markets so that everyone can participate in the free market," Awuah said. "The politics of this country are such that leaders spend more time than they used to thinking about the public good."

If leaders in Africa are to continue improving their economic standing with the public interest in mind, he said, they should embrace Mr. Obama's message that foreign aid should be distributed in ways that will help countries become more self-sustainable.

"The idea of extending a helping hand rather than a hand out is a good one," he said. "It's not just a change that needs to happen in the United States, it's also a change that needs to happen in Africa -- for African governments not to be holding out their hand in a sort of demeaning posture from the perspective of their citizens."

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