All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

American presidents often face their greatest speaking challenges when called upon to serve as consoler-in-chief to a nation grieving a collective loss.

But national calamities also give U.S. leaders an unequaled chance to inspire and provide solace.

Remember President Reagan's evening address to the nation on the day America suffered through the Challenger disaster that claimed the lives of 7 astronauts:

"Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss."

That speech is remembered as one of Ronald Reagan's finest and most moving – especially its ending.

"The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'"

In 1995, President Clinton found himself in a similar situation, trying to comfort the nation after the worst episode of terrorism to hit the U.S. to that time: the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.

Read full post…

On “Washington Unplugged” Monday, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller said that President Obama’s mission on Wall Street today was to convince Americans that “…he is trying to wind down the role of the government in the private sector . ”

“President Obama today is going to Wall Street in order to make the case that the government has taken steps to bring the financial markets back from the brink of financial collapse,” Knoller said of the president’s Manhattan appearance. “Plus he is going to announce steps he wants Congress to enact.”

Moderator John Dickerson asked if the president was on a public relations mission to prove that his administration does not advocate government control of the financial sector.

“You bet it is,” Knoller said. The president, he said, “wants the American people to know that some of that money [used for the financial bailout] has been paid back with interest.”

And his message to Wall Street?

“He wants to level the case that…he refuses to let Wall Street to go back to the reckless behavior that led them into the crisis,” Knoller said, adding that he is urging Congress to pass regulatory reforms on major financial companies.

Read full post…

Instead of "health care reform," President Obama made it clear he is really calling for "health insurance reform" at his primetime news conference Wednesday evening.

He used the phrase five times in his opening statement.

"Even as we rescue this economy from a full-blown crisis, we must rebuild it stronger than before. And health insurance reform is central to that effort," he said.

The White House clearly thinks that reforming health insurance is an easier concept to sell to Congress and the American people than a massive revamping of the health care system.

The prime time news conference in the East Room was not the first time Mr. Obama has used that formulation, but it was the most frequent.

As part of his revised sales pitch, Mr. Obama wanted to answer the questions he thinks Americans are asking about his health care plan: "What's in this for me? How does my family stand to benefit from health insurance reform?" (There was that phrase again.)

His arguments were the ones we’ve been hearing for months: more health care security and stability, coverage for everyone, no denials for pre-existing conditions, lower costs for patients and less deficit spending for the government.

He was adamant in stating that "health insurance reform" will not add to the federal deficit over the next decade. "And I mean it," he said as punctuation to the pledge.

Read full post…

In announcing his nomination this morning for U.S. Surgeon General, President Obama delivered his 200th speech since taking office.

The tally is based on a CBS News count of formal remarks, statements and addresses made by Mr. Obama starting with his Inaugural address on January 20. His news conferences and casual off-the-cuff remarks during photo ops were not counted as speeches, but his opening statements at Town Hall meetings and weekly radio/internet addresses were included.

An analysis of the 200 speeches reflects the issues on which he has placed the greatest importance.

Read full post…

As a budget policy, PAYGO sounds more like a public toilet that requires two quarters to enter.

Actually, it’s short for pay-as-you-go, a policy which, if enacted by Congress as President Obama today implored, would set what he calls a “simple” standard.

“Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere,” he explained.

With his first two federal budgets projecting the largest deficits in U.S. history, each above a trillion dollars, Mr. Obama wants to be seen speaking the gospel of fiscal discipline and distancing himself from the free-spending ways of Congress, of which he was a member for four years.

Read full post…

Though the U.S. government will be the majority stockholder of the new General Motors, the administration says it’ll keep its hands off management decisions.

“What I have no interest in doing is running GM,” the president declared today as he announced the additional $30-billion dollar “investment” to help the company emerge from bankruptcy and become competitive again.

Mr. Obama said a new Board of Directors and management team will “call the shots” for GM - not the government.

But the president will be missing an opportunity to put his administration's imprint on the new GM. Think of the impact if he took it upon himself to name the new models of GM cars:

Read full post…

CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller took this photo of Marine One carrying President Obama from the White House today, and we decided to post it purely because we thought it was cool. (Plus, it's a photo that cost significantly less than, say, $328,835.)

Mr. Obama took Marine One to Air Force One for a flight to Arizona, where he will deliver a commencement speech at Arizona State University this evening.

Pity the poor historian a couple hundred years from now, at a loss to figure out why Barack Obama, an American president at the start of the 21st century, was photographed meeting in the Oval Office with – a pirate.

What kind of unexplained policy initiative was being played out in this photo, the historian might wonder, perhaps confusing it for something other than what it was: a gag – one of dozens – for the president's remarks at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner.

The joke was the idea of three top presidential aides including senior advisor David Axelrod.

They would have Mr. Obama refer to his recent meetings with world leaders.

“There I am with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso,” he would say, followed by, “there I am with Gordon Brown.”

But the punch line was his assertion that he was living up to his campaign pledge that “we can’t just talk to our friends.” And with that, up would pop the photo of President Obama with a pirate.

Read full post…

Even President Obama is taking a hit among the $17 billion in budget cuts he's proposing for the fiscal year that begins October 1st.

He proposes to terminate the program to build a new fleet of helicopters to serve as Marine One.

The White House says the VH-71 program is six years behind schedule and is plagued by cost overruns with more projected on the horizon.

Mr. Obama will make due with the helicopters now in service, even though many of them are decades old. Cost savings: $750 million.

The choppers are one of 121 programs the president is targeting for budget reductions or eliminations.

"We have to admit that there is a lot of money that's being spent inefficiently, ineffectively, and, in some cases, in ways that are actually pretty stunning," said the president in announcing the cutbacks.

There are reductions or terminations in programs for agriculture, education, missile defense, energy and transportation.

But Mr. Obama tried to pre-empt suggestions that his proposed budget savings are little more than a drop in the bucket. They amount to less than one half of one percent of his $3.5-trillion dollars in spending next year.

"Even by Washington standards," he said, "that should be considered real money."

"To put this in perspective, the $17 billion is more than enough savings to pay for a $2,500 tuition tax credit for millions of students, as well as a larger Pell grant, with enough money left over to pay for everything we do to pay for -- to protect the national parks. And this is just one aspect of the budget reforms and savings we're seeking."

Read full post…

Some people noticed that many reporters rose from their seats last Friday when President Obama unexpectedly entered the White House briefing room, but the same courtesy was not always extended in the past when President Bush would make an appearance.

Comparison videos were even posted on YouTube.

It’s a long-standing practice for reporters to rise when the president enters the East Room for a news conference, but that hasn’t been the case in the briefing room.

I checked with two colleagues who served as senior wire service reporters during the Bush Presidency and who, in matters of press protocol, the rest of us followed.

“The briefing room is always a more informal place,” says Steve Holland of Reuters.

Read full post…