Politics Today: Debate Rages as Obama Vacations
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:
**President Obama begins his Vineyard Vacation as health care debate rages on...
**Are there enough U.S. troops in Afghanistan?
**Virginia, New Jersey gubernatorial roundup...
**Could Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid be in re-election trouble in 2010?
"Obama, sitting in the back seat of a black Cadillac Escalade, led the 20-car motorcade as it made the 10-mile drive from Martha's Vineyard Regional Airport to Blue Heron Farm, where the first family will spend its first official vacation since Obama took office," reports the Cape Cod Times' Jake Berry.
"More than 50 people, waving flags and cheering, stood outside the general store, about a half-mile from Blue Heron Farm. They chatted happily for hours, enjoying drinks and ice cream as they waited for the president to arrive.
"When a police motorcycle officer drove through the town about 3 p.m., lights flashing and sirens screaming, the onlookers jumped to their feet and cocked their cameras into ready position. Moments later came the motorcade, a fleet of dark-colored SUVs, a number of police cruisers and an ambulance.
"Within about two minutes, the procession disappeared from sight and entered the 28-acre Blue Heron estate in Chilmark. Several state police officers, with security tape and barriers, stood outside the property yesterday afternoon, waving away onlookers. The estate cannot be seen from the road.
"The White House has not announced any public events during Obama's vacation, but that didn't squelch speculation around the Vineyard yesterday. Rumors about beach outings, rounds of golf with Tiger Woods, and visits to ailing U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy in Hyannisport circled the island like a sea breeze."
Regarding those rumors, the White House and sources close to Kennedy tell CBS News Mr. Obama has no plans to head to Hyannisport this week. And White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters yesterday that the Tiger Woods rumor was just that, a rumor.
"The arrival on the Vineyard, under tight security, was about four hours behind schedule. The family had delayed their departure from Andrews Air Force Base to avoid Hurricane Bill and arrived on the island just hours after the National Hurricane Center lifted a tropical storm warning for the Cape and Islands," add the Boston Herald's Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa.
"At Andrews, first daughters Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, were first aboard Air Force One, followed by their mom and finally, the president, who gave a quick wave as he headed off on vacation. Also on board the president's flight to Bourne were Bo, the first dog, the president's sister, Maya, and her family, and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who used to host the Obamas at her Oak Bluffs home before Barry became Leader of the Free World."
5257929The Boston Globe's Susan Milligan writes, "The president is expected to make some calls to members of Congress about the politically ailing health care package. But Obama is absolutely determined to spend some downtime on the island, golfing and swimming, said Bill Burton, the White House deputy press secretary. Local residents said they have seen the Secret Service checking out two island golfing areas.
"'He wants you to relax and have a good time. Take some walks on the beaches. Nobody's looking to make any news,'' a sandal-footed, tie-less Burton insisted to reporters en route to Martha's Vineyard."
The Los Angeles Times' Christi Parsons and Jim Tankersley report that the White House hasn't completely ruled out newsmaking, however.
"Senior White House officials have not ruled out the possibility of a town hall -- which, in Obama world, might qualify as a fun vacation activity.
"That's probably not First Lady Michelle Obama's notion of the ideal vacation. For months, aides have been planning as normal a summer getaway as possible, whittling down the possible sites until they found a secluded spot on a tony island, where stars and presidents have long been able to expect privacy. ... The estate where the Obamas will be staying comes with a long stretch of beach and plenty of room, making it possible that the vacationers might not even venture off the grounds."
Politico's Nia-Malika Henderson, "Obama vacations where the elite meet"
HEALTH CARE: Members of Congress continue hearing from voters at town meetings this week and some of those members turned up on the Sunday news shows to weigh in on the health care battle.
"Grassley, R-Iowa, again touted the benefits of a health care cooperative which would arguably provide competition for large insurance companies without running them into the ground, as some legislators argue, a public option would.
"'If you have a public option and you eventually get to only one option then there [are] no choices,' he said.
"Senator Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, has been on the record saying that if there is a public option in health care legislation it cannot pass the Senate.
"'It is very clear that in the United States Senate the public option does not have the votes,' Conrad said bluntly. 'If we have to get to sixty votes we cannot get there with the public option.'
"The membership controlled co-op alternative is 'the only proposal that has bipartisan support and therefore going to get 60 votes,' he argued."
"New York Senator Charles Schumer said President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders are considering "alternatives" to a bipartisan health-care bill amid continuing opposition from Republicans," adds Bloomberg's Heidi Przybyla.
"Schumer, speaking on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' said Obama and Democratic leaders are "bending over backwards" to win Republican support for a bill. 'It's looking less and less likely that certainly the Republican leadership in the House and Senate will want to go for a bipartisan bill,' he said."
5173860Meantime, Republicans continue hammering end-of-life issues; Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele unveiled a new "Seniors' Health Care Bill of Rights" today, which stresses those issues.
"[W]e need to outlaw any effort to ration health care based on age," Steele wrote in an op-ed in today's Washington Post.
"Obama has promoted a program of 'comparative effectiveness research' that he claims will be used only to study competing medical treatments. But this program could actually lead to government boards rationing treatments based on age. For example, if there are going to be only so many heart surgeries in a given year, the Democrats figure government will get more bang for its buck if more young and middle-aged people get them."
"The administration continued on Sunday to wrestle with questions about planning for medical care at the end of life," adds the New York Times' Robert Pear.
"Senator Arlen Specter, Democrat of Pennsylvania, called for hearings to investigate a guide used by the government to counsel veterans with critical or terminal illnesses.
"On 'Fox News Sunday,' H. James Towey, the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush, said the guide seemed to encourage people to 'hurry up and die.'
"The booklet, 'Your Life, Your Choices,' asks people to consider whether life would be worth living if, for example, they were in severe pain, relied on a feeding tube or a breathing machine, lived in a nursing home or imposed 'a severe financial burden' on family members."
5192102Associated Press' Steven R. Hurst, "Health overhaul tactics need overhaul": "Barely eight months in office, Obama is trapped between the jaws of a tightening vise. On one side, Republicans refuse to countenance further government involvement in health care; on the other, liberal Democrats insist Obama keep his campaign pledge to make sure the estimated 50 million Americans who are without coverage can afford health insurance.
"'The people don't have sufficient information, and I'm surprised the administration and others backing reform haven't done much more to educate the public,' said Robin Lauermann, professor of politics at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa.
"As he struggles against a powerful wave of opposition to reforming the system, his poll numbers are slipping significantly."
CQ Politics' Megan McCarthy, Drew Armstrong and Alex Wayne, "Vetting the Health Care Rhetoric"
Politico's Andie Collier and Daniel Libit, "Some lawmakers engage in made-for-YouTube crazy talk"
Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, "Journalists, Left Out of the Debate"
"The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of American troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against American troops and their Afghan allies.
"The possibility that more troops will be needed in Afghanistan presents the Obama administration with another problem in dealing with a nearly eight-year war that has lost popularity at home, compounded by new questions over the credibility of the Afghan government, which has just held an as-yet inconclusive presidential election beset by complaints of fraud."
"In Virginia, Kaine is under pressure to help elect [Creigh] Deeds to cement his legacy as a popular governor and to extend his party's recent electoral successes. Nationally, Democrats will be counting on Kaine, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, to deliver his own state and provide a political boost to President Obama. If he can't manage that, many will wonder how effective a chairman he can be."
"For Democrats, who have watched, despairingly, as he galloped ahead of the incumbent, Gov. Jon S. Corzine, in the polls, it was a rare stumble by Mr. Christie, a former federal prosecutor running on a platform of ethics reform. …
"It is unclear what the misstep will mean for Mr. Christie, who quickly and profusely apologized. But the gaffe marked a pivotal moment, with both sides battling not only over the issue, but also about what this expensive, marquee governor's race will be fought over.
"Republicans, who cheered in July when a federal investigation resulted in corruption charges against dozens of local officials, believing they underscored Mr. Christie's strengths, are now calling for him to focus on more conventional issues like property taxes, jobs and education.
"Democrats, seeing a chance to turn a referendum on an unpopular incumbent into a referendum on a challenger with some holes in his armor, want to talk about nothing else."
Newark Star-Ledger's Susan K. Livio, "Christie and Corzine battle over health policy"
"The results suggest the Democratic Senate majority leader will have to punch hard and often in order to retain his position as the most accomplished politician in state history, in terms of job status.
"Nevadans favored Tarkanian over Reid 49 percent to 38 percent and Lowden over Reid 45 percent to 40 percent, according to the poll."
ALSO TODAY:
The New York Times' Peter Baker reports that "fewer than half of" Mr. Obama's top appointees "are in place. ... Of more than 500 senior policymaking positions requiring Senate confirmation, just 43 percent have been filled — a reflection of a White House that grew more cautious after several nominations blew up last spring, a Senate that is intensively investigating nominees and a legislative agenda that has consumed both."
The New York Times' David Johnston writes, "The Justice Department's ethics office has recommended reversing the Bush administration and reopening nearly a dozen prisoner-abuse cases, potentially exposing Central Intelligence Agency employees and contractors to prosecution for brutal treatment of terrorism suspects, according to a person officially briefed on the matter."
Anne Kornblut of the Washington Post reports, "President Obama has approved the creation of an elite team of interrogators to question key terrorism suspects, part of a broader effort to revamp U.S. policy on detention and interrogation, senior administration officials said Sunday."
The Palm Beach Post's Dara Kam reports, "Gov. Charlie Crist added three more Florida politicians to his possible appointees to fill U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez's soon-to-be-vacated seat. Former U.S. Reps. Mike Bilirakis, Lou Frey and Clay Shaw are now among the candidates Crist is considering, bringing his list to ten."
The Wall Street Journal's Jim Carlton on the California Republicans' hopes for success in 2010 with two former CEOs running for Senate and Governor: