Politics Today: Obama's Counterterrorism Efforts
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:
** Getting input on Afghanistan...
** An important health care vote gets pushed back...
** Obama considers tax cuts...
5356466PRESIDENT OBAMA: The president's day is focused on global terror issues as he will meet with the leadership of the National Counterterrorism Center this morning. Later, at 2:30pm ET, he'll hold a discussion at the White House with congressional leaders on Afghanistan and Pakistan. In attendance will be House and Senate leadership from both parties as well as the chairmen and ranking members of the relevant congressional committees.
"The meeting comes amid mounting casualties in the eight-year war and as President Barack Obama weighs a pending request for 40,000 more troops from the leading commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal," report the Hill's Mike Soraghan, Molly Hooper and Sam Youngman.
"It is the first time in six months that House Republican leaders have been invited to the White House to discuss official business; Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) are both scheduled to attend. If Obama decides to send all the troops McChrystal wants, he will probably need Republican votes to sustain the escalation."
Yesterday, "Amid tension between the military and President Barack Obama over military action in Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a gathering of Army officers ... that the Pentagon would follow any strategy that Obama orders," reports McClatchy Newspapers' Nancy A. Youssef.
"'Speaking for the Department of Defense, once the commander in chief makes his decisions, we will salute and execute those decisions faithfully and to the best of our ability,' Gates told the Association of the U.S. Army in Washington.
"Gates' comments seemed to include a rebuke to Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Last week, McChrystal appealed for more troops during a speech before the Institute of International and Strategic Studies, calling current White House consideration of proposals that would not increase U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan 'short-sighted.'
"On Monday, Gates said that military and civilian advisors should provide 'our best advice to the president candidly -- but privately.'"
"Geoff Morrell, Mr. Gates's spokesman, said the secretary's remarks were not aimed at any individual. 'This admonition was aimed at anyone and everyone who is involved in these debates with the president,' he said.
"Supporters of Gen. McChrystal have said that his address Thursday to the International Institute for Strategic Studies has been widely misinterpreted as an effort to press for an increase in troops when it was a restatement of the importance of a counterinsurgency -- a policy backed by Mr. Obama in March and one Gen. McChrystal has advocated in public comments repeatedly."
"Late Monday, when asked at a roundtable discussion whether he is trying to muzzle McChrystal, Gates said: 'Absolutely not,'" report the Washington Post's Ann Scott Tyson and Scott Wilson. "He added that he has full confidence in the general, saying, 'I can't improve on General McChrystal's assessment -- that the situation is serious and deteriorating.'"
Washington Post's Walter Pincus, "Critics Don't See the Nuance in McChrystal's Comments on War"
New York Times' Peter Baker, "Surgical Strikes Shape Afghanistan Debate"
Meantime, the New York Times' Eric Schmitt reports: "Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of American military forces in the Middle East, received a diagnosis of early-stage prostate cancer in February but has undergone 'successful' radiation treatment to deal with the illness, according to a statement issued late Monday.
"General Petraeus, 56, who as head of the United States Central Command oversees operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, underwent two months of radiation treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which had 'minimal impact on his work schedule,' according to the statement.
"The statement was issued by the general's spokesman, Col. Erik O. Gunhus, in response to questions from The New York Times."
CBS News' full coverage of the war in Afghanistan, "Afghanistan: The Road Ahead"
"But if the news of the delayed vote disappointed them, Democratic leaders in the Senate took heart from pro-reform statements from some high-profile Republicans, including former Senate majority leader Bill Frist and former health and human services secretary Tommy G. Thompson...
"Thompson teamed with former House majority leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) in citing some 'troublesome and unresolved' issues in the Finance Committee's bill. The two men urged Congress nevertheless to overcome its differences and get the job done. 'Failure to reach an agreement on health reform this year is not an acceptable option,' Thompson and Gephardt wrote. 'It is time for action.'"
The New York Times' Robert Pear: "As Democrats prepare to take up health care legislation on the floor of the Senate and the House, they are facing tough choices about two competing priorities. They want people to pay affordable prices for health insurance policies, but they want those policies to offer comprehensive health benefits.
"These goals collide in the bills moving through Congress. The different versions of the legislation would all require insurance companies to provide coverage more generous than many policies sold in the individual market today. That is good for consumers, Democrats say.
"But Republicans say the new requirements would mean added costs for some consumers and for the government, which would help pay premiums for millions of low- and middle-income people.
"That tension between keeping costs low and improving coverage is just one of many challenges facing Congress and the Obama administration as they head toward the final stages of the effort to pass health care legislation."
The Wall Street Journal's Janet Adamy and Greg Hitt report, "Insurers Fight Bid to Ease Penalties in Health Bill": "Hospitals and insurance companies are pushing back against changes to the latest Senate health-care bill that ease the penalties for Americans who don't carry health insurance. ... Senators refining the legislation last week narrowed the scope of a new requirement that all Americans carry health insurance out of concern it penalized people who can't afford to buy it.
"The changes mean the new mandate would apply to two million fewer people, largely those with lower incomes.
"Hospitals say that leaves too few people covered under the bill -- a shortfall that could undermine a cost-cutting pledge by the industry. In July, the hospital industry agreed to swallow $155 billion in government payment cuts over the next decade to help fund expanded coverage of the uninsured. Uninsured patients cost hospitals money when institutions provide treatment that isn't fully paid for."
"[T]he Democratic National Committee is launching a national ad campaign starring a Washington, D.C.-area doctor and nurse who echo President Obama's talking points on why his plan is needed," reports Talking Points Memo's Christina Bellantoni.
"'Our health care system is broken ... our patients need real reform,' Prince George's County, MD registered nurse Elizabeth Prah says in the ad, an early copy of which was obtained by TPMDC. Dr. Jeremy Spinks of Arlington, Virginia says patients need 'stability and security,' in their health care plans, going along with a focus on those who have insurance.
"'Tell Congress to pass health insurance reform now,' says Spinks, an E.R. doctor, while Prah adds, 'We simply can't afford to wait.'
"The ad will run on national cable for two weeks starting Wednesday, the DNC said."
"The discussion of the initiatives, including a boost in transportation spending and an extension of an expiring tax credit for first-time homebuyers, comes as the White House is balancing rising concern about unemployment and a budget deficit the Congressional Budget Office estimates will total $1.6 trillion for 2009, and $1.4 trillion in 2010.
"Administration officials have told allies in Congress that a broader transportation bill, and extensions of a homebuyer tax credit and unemployment benefits are all on the table, a Senate aide said."
The New York Times' Jackie Calmes adds, "With unemployment expected to rise well into next year even as the economy slowly recovers, the Obama administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are discussing extending several safety net programs as well as proposing new tax incentives for businesses to renew hiring.
"President Obama's economic team discussed a wide range of ideas at a meeting on Monday, following his Saturday radio address in which he said it would "explore additional options to promote job creation." But officials emphasized that a decision was still far off and that in any event the effort would not add up to a second economic stimulus package, only an extension of the first.
"'We're thinking through all additional potential strategies for accelerating job creation,' said Mr. Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod...
"Among the options for additional steps is some variation on Mr. Obama's proposal during the stimulus debate to give employers a $3,000 tax credit for each new hire, which Congress rejected last winter partly out of concern that businesses would manipulate their payrolls to claim the credit. Another option would allow more businesses to deduct their net operating losses going back five years instead of the usual two; Congress limited the break to small businesses as part of the economic stimulus law."
Richmond Times-Dispatch's Jim Nolan and Jeff E. Schapiro, "BET co-founder apologizes after mocking Deeds' stammer"
Associated Press, "Gov. Jon Corzine pulls even with Chris Christie in N.J. Gov race, poll shows": "A new poll finds the top two candidates for New Jersey governor running nearly even. The Fairleigh Dickinson University-PublicMind Poll out Tuesday has Gov. Jon Corzine at 44 percent, Republican challenger Chris Christie at 43 percent. The difference is within the poll's margin of error. A September poll had Christie ahead, 47-42 percent. The new poll finds 54 percent have an unfavorable view of Corzine, the same as last month. Forty-two percent now have an unfavorable opinion of Christie, up from 35 percent in September."
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