Politics Today: Mending Relationships in Asia
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:
** The president meets with world leaders...
** Afghanistan decisions to come next month...
** The story on WH counsel Greg Craig's resignation...
"After a meeting and news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama ... in Tokyo, Obama will deliver a speech tomorrow intended to articulate his vision for a Pacific alliance that focuses on geopolitical and economic issues including trade, climate change and halting the spread of nuclear weapons."
During today's news conference, Mr. Obama said the U.S. and Japan must "find ways to renew and refresh the alliance for the 21st century," reports the Associated Press.
Hatoyama noted that Japan will no longer refuel ships that supply Afghanistan, but he promised aid for Afghan civilian needs such as schools, agriculture and police. He also vowed to cooperate with the United States on combatting climate change and nuclear proliferation.
On the nuclear issue, Mr. Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama" also "agreed to host a conference in January on nuclear security," Reuters reports.
"The two leaders agreed that it was vital for Iran and North Korea to uphold their international obligations on their nuclear programs, the governments said in a joint statement.
"They urged North Korea to return to six-party talks and urged Iran to work to restore international confidence regarding its nuclear activities."
The New York Times' Helene Cooper and Martin Fackler write, "Mr. Obama will spend the next week trying to convince Asian leaders that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not completely distracted the United States from Asia."
"But in Japan, Mr. Obama will have a lot of convincing to do. American relations with Japan are at their most contentious since the trade wars of the 1990s. Japan's newly elected Democratic Party has been blunt about seeking a more 'equal' relationship with the United States, and Japanese officials say they now intend to focus more on cementing their relationships with other Asian nations.
"The Japanese government has said that the country intends to withdraw from an eight-year-old mission in the Indian Ocean to refuel warships supporting American military efforts in Afghanistan. And Japan also plans to revisit a 2006 agreement to relocate a Marine airfield in Okinawa to a less populated part of the island, and to move thousands of Marines from Okinawa to Guam.
"Mr. Obama met with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday evening, and the two leaders were expected to try to smooth the diplomatic wrinkles. At a joint news conference, Mr. Obama noted that Japan was the first stop of his Asia tour and said 'our effort will be focused on revitalizing that friendship.'"
Los Angeles Times' Peter Nicholas, "Obama taking his fence-mending campaign to Asia": "Other countries on the itinerary are China, Singapore and South Korea. Obama will use the weeklong trip to strengthen ties to Asian leaders and send a strong message that the U.S. is "an Asia-Pacific nation and we are there for the long haul," as one administration official put it.
"Obama will need willing Asian partners as he works to combat nuclear proliferation, reduce the threat of global warming and invigorate the world economy. But before the trip, the White House downplayed expectations that concrete agreements would result right away."
"Speaking at a news conference Friday after a 90-minute meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Obama said he has taken exceeding care in examining a new strategy because he wants 'to get it right.'"
New York Times' Jeff Zeleny, "Obama Purposely Taking Time on Troop Decision": "It's been 22 days since Mr. Obama was first accused by former Vice President Dick Cheney of 'dithering' as he decides about sending more troops to Afghanistan. An announcement is still very likely at least two weeks away — perhaps more — and White House officials have purposely made no apologies for the extended timetable. ...
"While much has been made of the four military options that are on the table — all turning on how many troops to send to Afghanistan and for how long — the president also made clear that he is not yet fully satisfied with these choices and will not approve an open-ended commitment. He has also asked, officials said, that some of the options be redrafted.
"The White House has been eager to show that Mr. Obama is engaged in extensive deliberations before making what is likely to be one of the most debated decisions of his presidency. Drawing on studies of how decisions were made to escalate the war in Vietnam, Mr. Obama and his aides seem intent on showing the nation and the world that he is not being rushed by the military, nor making a judgment without considering the long-term implications."
Wall Street Journal's Peter Spiegel, "President Barack Obama wants to blend together elements of the different troop-increase options presented to him Wednesday to formulate a new strategy for the Afghan war, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
"Speaking a day after the eighth cabinet-level meeting of Mr. Obama's war council, Mr. Gates said the president asked his advisers to re-examine the four scenarios to see if elements of each could be mixed.
"Mr. Obama aims to find 'how can we combine some of the best features of several of the options to maximum good effect,' Mr. Gates said. 'There is a little more work to do. I do think that we're getting toward the end of this process.'"
Meantime, "The White House sent its strongest signal yet Thursday that it is searching for an eventual way out of Afghanistan even as it considers sending thousands of additional troops to join the war there," report the Los Angeles Times' Christi Parsons and Julian E. Barnes.
New York Times' Mark Landler and Jeff Zeleny, "Among Obama Aides, Debate Intensifies on Troop Levels": "The disclosure that the United States ambassador in Kabul has expressed written opposition to deploying more American troops to Afghanistan lays bare the fierce debate within the Obama administration over the direction of the war, even after weeks of deliberations and with the president on the verge of a decision."
Washington Post's Karen DeYoung and Joshua Partlow, "Weak allies limit Obama's options": "As Obama nears a decision, proponents of differing options have questioned whether either Kabul or Islamabad is up to the task. 'Do we have any assurances of what Pakistan will do?' said a senior administration official identified with advisers who are skeptical of a large new deployment. 'At least in Iraq, you had some functioning government there at the time of the surge. In Afghanistan, there is no government there.'"
McClatchy Newspapers' Jonathan S. Landay, Dion Nissenbaum and John Walcott, "Another Afghan war: Media leaks spark administration fight"
New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller, "Gates Condemns Leaks on U.S. Afghan Policy and Ft. Hood"
"Mr. Craig, the top lawyer at the White House and a close aide to President Barack Obama, has helped lead the administration's efforts on several national-security policies that initially enjoyed popular support but have since become liabilities for Mr. Obama.
"These include the planned closure of the prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the release of Bush administration-era national-security documents…
"A leading candidate to replace him is Bob Bauer, a prominent Washington attorney who worked with the Obama campaign."
The Washington Post's Anne E. Kornblut and Ellen Nakashima add, "The departure comes after months of dissatisfaction over Craig's management of Guantanamo policy and other matters and less than a month after officials said Craig was no longer guiding the effort to close the prison. His departure represents the highest-level White House shake-up to date. ...
"The timing appears likely to coincide with announcements related to Guantanamo, in particular a pending decision by the Justice Department over the legal fate of some key detainees and whether Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, will be transferred to federal court for prosecution. ...
"White House officials have conceded they will not make the January closure deadline that Craig helped Obama settle on and are at a loss as to where to house a number of hard cases who cannot be transferred to foreign countries or tried in U.S. or military courts.
"And there were other problems in his path. The vetting of nominees, a job typically overseen by the counsel's office, did not go well at first. Craig never quite penetrated the president's inner circle of advisers, despite his close personal relationship with Obama -- and his high-profile role in the Guantanamo struggle made him an easy target, according to defenders of his who said he should not have been held responsible for the politics of such a thorny issue."
The New York Times' Jeff Zeleny writes, "One day this summer, when the first reports of his impending departure were published in the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Craig smiled as he left the White House to get a quick lunch from a street vendor. He made easy banter with a reporter, but declined to talk about his future.
"But at several moments, administration officials said, Mr. Craig's authority has been trimmed back. Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, assigned Pete Rouse, a senior adviser with deep ties to Capitol Hill, to oversee Guantanamo issues.
"And after Mr. Craig started the search that produced the Supreme Court nomination of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Mr. Emanuel assigned the confirmation fight to Ronald A. Klain and Cynthia Hogan, aides to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. with long experience handling judicial appointments. Mr. Craig was assigned to other matters."
"In 'Going Rogue,' which will be released Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn't afford — preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it's as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., had never left Wasilla.
"The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that 'will hurt her.'
"While the book — which contains 68 color photos but no index — stays away from Johnston, the former vice presidential candidate digs in when it comes to those who ran Sen. John McCain's campaign."
"In the book, Palin accuses the McCain campaign of leaving her a $50,000 bill, the amount, she suggests, that her vetting cost the campaign," add the Washington Post's Jason Horowitz and Michael D. Shear. "She asserts the thousands of dollars in clothes purchased from some of the country's most exclusive department stores was explained to her as all 'part of the convention.' Palin also says she carefully revised a statement about her daughter Bristol's pregnancy, with her teenage boyfriend, Levi Johnston, the father, only to see the campaign's less delicate version distributed to the media.
"A spokeswoman for McCain's Senate office, Brooke Buchanan, declined to respond to the charges. But multiple former McCain officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, as the senator had not authorized any participation, disputed Palin's claims.
"'John McCain offered her the opportunity of a lifetime, and during the campaign it seems that, for all of her mistakes, she is searching for people to blame,' said one former senior official in the McCain campaign. 'We don't need to go through this again.'
"Regarding the $50,000, several high-ranking McCain aides said Palin was most likely conflating the cost of her vetting, which the McCain aides counter was actually minimal, with the fees she spent to defend herself from various accusations of ethical wrongdoing in her home state."
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