All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

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.

Read full post…

President Obama made an opening statement at his primetime news conference on Wednesday in which he made his case for health care reform. Read and watch it below.

Good evening. Before I take your questions, I want to talk for a few minutes about the progress we’re making on health insurance reform and where it fits into our broader economic strategy.

Six months ago, I took office amid the worst recession in half a century. We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month and our financial system was on the verge of collapse.

As a result of the actions we took in those first weeks, we have been able to pull our economy back from the brink. We took steps to stabilize our financial institutions and our housing market. And we passed a Recovery Act that has already saved jobs and created new ones; delivered billions in tax relief to families and small businesses; and extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who have been laid off.

Of course, we still have a long way to go. And the Recovery Act will continue to save and create more jobs over the next two years -- just like it was designed to do. I realize this is little comfort to those Americans who are currently out of work, and I’ll be honest with you -- new hiring is always one of the last things to bounce back after a recession.

And the fact is, even before this crisis hit, we had an economy that was creating a good deal of wealth for those folks at the very top, but not a lot of good-paying jobs for the rest of America. It’s an economy that simply wasn’t ready to compete in the 21st century -- one where we’ve been slow to invest in the clean energy technologies that have created new jobs and industries in other countries; where we’ve watched our graduation rates lag behind too much of the world; and where we spend much more on health care than any other nation but aren’t any healthier for it.

That is why I’ve said that 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.

Read full post…

Though President Obama regards Michael Jackson as a “spectacular performer” and “a music icon,” the White House did not issue a formal written statement on his passing.

Not every celebrity, even one as talented and widely-known as Jackson, merits a presidential tribute.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs quoted the president as saying that Jackson had “aspects of his life that were sad and tragic.” It was a polite way of referring to a troubled individual with a record of strange behavior and conduct that included a criminal trial on charges of child molestation of which he was acquitted.

Since taking office, President Obama has issued formal statements of condolence for only four individuals: President Bongo of Gabon, former President Roh of South Korea, former Congressman Jack Kemp and noted historian Dr. John Hope Franklin.

Each White House sets its own criteria for such statements of condolence.

President George W. Bush issued tributes upon the deaths of many celebrities, including TV’s Merv Griffin, actor Charlton Heston, artist Andrew Wyeth and “Godfather of Soul” James Brown.

Read full post…

President Obama this afternoon privately signed the $410 billion omnibus spending bill passed by Congress, which he has acknowledged is “imperfect” because of potentially-unnecessary earmarks. (Read more about the bill here.)

In announcing his signing of the bill, the president issued a signing statement saying the Department of Justice has advised him that the bill includes provisions that “raise constitutional concerns” and that he thus may not follow them.

“The signing statement on the Omnibus bill very much resembles the kind that President Bush was criticized for,” notes CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.

Mr. Obama outlined five objections in the statement. The first is that certain provisions “would unduly interfere with my constitutional authority in the area of foreign affairs by effectively directing the Executive on how to proceed or not proceed in negotiations or discussions with international organizations and foreign governments.”

“I will not treat these provisions as limiting my ability to negotiate and enter into agreements with foreign nations,” the president said.

Read full post…

Last week, we learned that the Obama Administration was willing to leave for another day the question of the legitimate, lawful scope of its “executive privilege” to mute former White House subordinates like Karl Rove and Harriet Miers. On Monday, we learned from Charlie Savage of the New York Times that the administration also can wait for an answer about the constitutional scope of a president’s power to issue “signing statements” in the way they were used by George W. Bush during his tenure at the White House. (More here.)

In both cases, the Obama White House sacrificed a measure of principle to achieve a form of pragmatism. In both cases, it reversed the practical import of Bush policy but kept for itself the option of reversing back yet again should circumstances require it. In both cases, it sought to avoid a court ruling that it may or may not have wanted for its own sake and for the sake of future presidencies. Sort of like cautious lawyer-politicians acting like… cautious lawyer-politicians! Go figure.

Read full post…

At the opening of her confirmation hearing this morning, Barack Obama's choice to be secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, gave a statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"We must use what has been called 'smart power,' the full range of tools at our disposal -- diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural -- picking the right tool, or combination of tools, for each situation," Clinton said. "With smart power, diplomacy will be the vanguard of foreign policy."

You can read her full statement, as prepared, here.