Politics Today: Cheney vs. Obama
Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:
**Former VP Cheney critical of Obama administration handling of CIA interrogation controversy...
**President Obama returns from vacation to increased tensions among lawmakers as well as his supporters...
**Sen. Hatch says health care reform is less likely without the late Sen. Ted Kennedy...
**Joe or Vicki Kennedy, or someone else to fill Kennedy's seat?
Expect White House spokesman Robert Gibbs to defend the administration at his press conference this afternoon; there is nothing on the president's schedule as he's technically still on vacation through the end of the week.
"Cheney called the Obama administration's probe of aggressive interrogations of terrorists an 'outrageous political act' that will have 'devastating' consequences within the CIA," reports Bloomberg News' Bill Schmick.
"The investigation 'will do great damage, long-term, to our capacity to have people take on difficult jobs, make difficult decisions, without having to worry about what the next administration is going to say,' Cheney said in an interview on 'Fox News Sunday.' …
"Cheney said the probe sets a 'terrible precedent' and he accused President Barack Obama of leading an 'intensely partisan, political look-back at the prior administration.'"
5274845"Mr. Cheney described the use of waterboarding and other coercive methods — including threatening detainees with a gun and a drill — as legal and crucial elements of the counterterrorism war," adds the New York Times' Rachel L. Swarns.
"'I knew about the waterboarding, not specifically in any one particular case, but as a general policy that we had approved,' said Mr. Cheney, who noted that neither a gun nor a drill had actually been used on detainees. 'The fact of the matter is the Justice Department reviewed all those allegations several years ago.'
"'The judgment was made then that there wasn't anything that was improper or illegal,' said Mr. Cheney"
Also in his interview, "Cheney hinted that, in the waning days of the Bush administration, he had pushed for a military strike to destroy Iran's nuclear-weapons program," writes the Wall Street Journal's Michael M. Phillips.
"'I was probably a bigger advocate of military action than any of my colleagues,' Mr. Cheney said in response to questions about whether the Bush administration should have launched a pre-emptive attack prior to handing over the White House to Barack Obama.
"'I thought that negotiations could not possibly succeed unless the Iranians really believed we were prepared to use military force,' Mr. Cheney said. 'And to date, of course, they are still proceeding with their nuclear program and the matter has not yet been resolved.'"
"Back from his first presidential vacation, a break truncated by the death and remembrance of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and the nomination of the Federal Reserve chief to a new term, Obama settles back into the Oval Office well aware his approval ratings have fallen.
"He now must spend heavily from that shrinking fund of political capital — with a highly uncertain outcome — if his vision of a health care overhaul is to emerge from Congress. ...
"Then there is Afghanistan and declining support nearly eight years after the U.S. invaded and drove the militant Islamic Taliban from power, forcing its al-Qaida allies — including Osama bin Laden, it is believed — to scatter to mountain hideouts across the border in Pakistan."
5247156The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz points out that the left is highly critical of the president on many of these issues now.
"[T]he criticism of Barack Obama has turned strikingly personal as some of his liberal media allies have gone wobbly on him. After playing a cheerleading role during the campaign, some are bluntly questioning whether he's up to the job.
"If Obama is losing Paul Krugman, can the rest of the left be far behind?
"'I'm concerned as to whether, in trying to reach out to the middle, he is selling out his base,' says Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page. 'I find myself saying, 'Where's that well-oiled Obama machine we saw last year?' . . . Maybe he's being a little too cool at this point.'
"David Corn, a blogger for Politics Daily, says that despite a reservoir of support for the president, some of his policies 'have caused concern, if not outright anger, among certain liberal commentators and bloggers. It's been a more conventional White House than many people expected or desired. . . . He's made compromises that have some people concerned about his adherence to principle.'?
"Perhaps that's why a recent Frank Rich column in the New York Times was headlined, 'Is Obama Punking Us?'"
McClatchy Newspapers' Steven Thomma adds, " At the dawn of the Barack Obama era, the promise of hope has faded. America's public square is an angry and bitter place.
"Finger pointing and yelling at town hall meetings this summer are signs of a country that's been building toward a boiling point for several years, stressed by a fast changing economy, a flood of immigration and threats at home by terrorists.
"It's a land at turns frustrated and irate at a government that led them into an unpopular war, proved itself inept at helping its citizens in a disastrous hurricane, presided over an historic economic collapse, then went on a spending spree that could commit their country to decades of crushing debt."
Politico's Josh Kraushaar writes that all of this could be trouble for Democrats in 2010.
"After an August recess marked by raucous town halls, troubling polling data and widespread anecdotal evidence of a volatile electorate, the small universe of political analysts who closely follow House races is predicting moderate to heavy Democratic losses in 2010.
"Some of the most prominent and respected handicappers can now envision an election in which Democrats suffer double-digit losses in the House — not enough to provide the 40 seats necessary to return the GOP to power but enough to put them within striking distance.
"Top political analyst Charlie Cook, in a special August 20 update to subscribers, wrote that 'the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and congressional Democrats.'"
Well, at least here's one thing Mr. Obama can smile about: "First family and entourage benefit Vineyard economy," reports the Cape Cod Times' Cynthia McCormick.
"'You're not going to get this big, broad Democrat spending bill -- you're not going to get Republican support,' Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican and close friend of the Massachusetts Democrat, said on CNN's 'State of the Union' program.
"Hatch said Kennedy's status as Congress's leading liberal often convinced Democrats they could support deals he had struck with Republicans. 'That's why Senator Kennedy was so important,' Hatch said. 'I don't know if another Democrat has the same clout in Congress.'"
"One longtime Kennedy friend and ally, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said lawmakers who want to honor the late senator should 'put behind us the blistering days of August, enter the cool days of September, and start acting like senators again,'" adds the Associated Press' Stephen Ohlemacher.
"Many members of Congress have spent much of the August recess locked in a fierce debate over health care. It remains to be seen whether they get past those differences when Congress returns to work next week."
"None of the half-dozen town-hall meetings the Democrat has held across the state during the August congressional recess got out of control, as some have across the country. But they featured a steady chorus of voters arguing passionately that they don't want more government involvement in their medical care," writes the Wall Street Journal's Janet Adamy.
"Mr. Nelson's experience at home offers a look inside at how the widespread concerns lawmakers heard from constituents have left some Democrats viewing proposed health-care legislation more warily.
"'I was going to be cautious before,' Mr. Nelson said about his vote on health legislation, in an interview after a town-hall meeting here Tuesday. 'Now I guess I would say I'll be super cautious.'"
New York Times' Robert Pear, "Health Bill Would Cut Drug Spending for Many on Medicare, Budget Office Says"
Washington Post's Dan Eggen on Obama supporters' efforts to campaign for health reform, "Health-Care Reform, One Stop at a Time"
New York Times' Katharine Q. Seelye profiles health reform opponent Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., "Fighting Health Care Overhaul, and Proud of It"
"No other Kennedy of his generation with the political stature to step into the role has signaled interest in it, according to Democratic insiders and people close to the family. And Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the senator's widow, who many expected would be a likely candidate, so far has indicated she is not interested in succeeding her husband, those close her have said.
"'Joe Kennedy, as emotionally drained as he must be, cannot help but be moved by the outpouring of affection and respect that has come from people all over the country in the last several days,' said Dan Payne, a longtime Democratic media consultant. 'I'm not saying he is going to run, but he wouldn't be human and he wouldn't be a Kennedy if he didn't give serious thought to running for the so-called Kennedy seat.'"
"A Democratic operative with Kennedy contacts told the Herald yesterday Vicki Kennedy is 'very much interested' in occupying the seat to see his life's work completed. A family friend said nephew Joseph P. Kennedy II also is being urged by friends and family to run.
"Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a close friend of the late senator, publicly urged Vicki Kennedy's appointment to the post, at least on an interim basis."
5216266VIRGINIA GOVERNORS RACE: The Washington Post may have delivered a gift to Democrat Creigh Deeds with its discovery of Republican Bob McDonnell's highly controversial college thesis.
"The paper, submitted in 1989, shows McDonnell's thoughts at the time about the harmful social impact of working women, feminists and nontraditional families; the flaws of public education; and his disagreement with a federal court decision allowing the use of contraceptives by unmarried couples," writes the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot's Julian Walker.
"The contents of the thesis were first reported Sunday in The Washington Post. McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor, wrote it at age 34 as a candidate for law and master's degrees at what is now Regent University in Virginia Beach.
"Democrats immediately pounced on the paper. Gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds' campaign labeled it a window into archconservative values that belie the moderate image McDonnell has tried to portray.
McDonnell, now 55, dismissed the writings in an e-mail as an academic exercise that doesn't reflect his current beliefs.
"'Like everybody, my views on issues have changed as I have gotten older,' McDonnell said. 'When I left the academic world and went into public service my record has been one of proposing innovative ideas, building consensus and getting bipartisan results to improve the lives of Virginians.'"
The original story from the Washington Post's Amy Garnder, "'89 Thesis A Different Side of McDonnell"
Politico's Alex Isenstadt, "Labor gears up for key governors races"
ALSO
**The Nashville Tennesseean's Chas Sisk reports on Saturday night's reunion of President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at a fund-raiser for the Tennessee Democratic Party:
**Washington Post's David A. Farenthold, "Environmentalists Slow to Adjust in Climate Debate – Opponents Seize Initiative as Senate Bill Nears"
"'I describe myself as a Charlie Crist Republican,' LeMieux said.
"LeMieux, named by Gov. Crist on Friday to take the spot of departing Sen. Mel Martinez, explained that means that he is a 'problem solver' who is unafraid to reach across party lines but still committed to 'limited government.'"
**Another temporary Senate replacement, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., may be facing a primary challenge next year, report the Denver Post's Michael Riley and Christopher Osher.
**Associated Press' Mike Smith on Gov. Mitch Daniels, R-Ind., as a possible 2012 presidential candidate, even though Daniels says he's not interested: "Republican Mitch Daniels has repeatedly insisted that his 2008 run for a second term as Indiana's governor was his last election and that he's not interested in the 'savagery' of a national campaign. But like it or not, Daniels' name is being dropped in conservative GOP circles as someone to watch in 2012. Many say Daniels is just what the battered GOP needs, a blend of conservative values, cool demeanor and fiscal discipline."