Politics Today: Obama's News-Less Vacation Makes News
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 to nominate Fed Chairman Bernanke to a second term...
**Deficit projection of $9 trillion to be announced today...
**Latest on CIA interrogations...
**President's vacation; health care debate continues...
"The president wanted the team that has been working to rescue this economy together," a White House official told CBS News' Rob Hendin last night when the news leaked. "This continuity is crucial and [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm [Emanuel], [Treasury Secretary Tim] Geithner and [chief economic adviser] Larry [Summers] all recommended to the president that Bernanke be retained to ensure this continuity. Larry [Summers] is of course staying first because no one can do what Larry can as the president's right hand advisor on the economy and because the president wants and needs his whole economic team together."
Mr. Obama said: "The man next to me, Ben Bernanke, has led the Fed through the one of the worst financial crises that this nation and this world have ever faced. As an expert on the causes of the Great Depression, I'm sure Ben never imagined that he would be part of a team responsible for preventing another. But because of his background, his temperament, his courage, and his creativity, that's exactly what he has helped to achieve. And that is why I am re-appointing him to another term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
"Ben approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom; with bold action and outside-the-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic freefall. Almost none of the decisions he or any of us made have been easy. The actions we have taken to stabilize our financial system, repair our credit markets, restructure our auto industry, and pass a recovery package have all been steps of necessity, not choice. They have faced plenty of critics, some of whom argued that we should stay the course or do nothing at all."
"While the markets are likely to cheer the move on Tuesday, reappointment will likely come only after sharp skirmishes on Capitol Hill," write the Wall Street Journal's Jon Hilsenrath, David Wessel and Sudeep Reddy. "Some critics say Mr. Bernanke was too slow to recognize the severity of the crisis.
"He enjoyed mostly broad support on Capitol Hill last year as many felt his views on the economy were independent and apolitical.
"But Mr. Bernanke has faced a much chillier Congress this year, with many Republicans fuming about the government's willingness to put taxpayer money at risk and Democrats angry that the government has been much quicker to aid banks and not homeowners or struggling borrowers. Some economists also worry that the Fed chairman was so aggressive at stemming the crisis after slow initial reactions that he might have unleashed new problems -- such as inflation."
"When former President George W. Bush chose Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan, the announcement was made more than three months before Greenspan's term was set to expire in January 2006. But that was a closely watched changing of the guard amid the departure of the man dubbed 'the Maestro,' at the time revered by most market participants.
"(In the 2000 Republican primary debates, Sen. John McCain joked about Greenspan: 'Not only would I reappoint him, but if he died we'd prop him up and put sunglasses on him as they did in the movie Weekend at Bernie's.') By contrast, Greenspan's initial appointment to succeed Paul Volcker came barely two months before Volcker's term was set to expire on Aug. 6, 1983.
"Greenspan was reappointed four times as Fed chairman, and three of those announcements came just about a month before his term was set to expire. The exception came in 2000. Then-President Bill Clinton nominated Greenspan to his fourth term in January, six months before the Fed chairman's time in office was set to expire. At the time, a contentious presidential election was gearing up, and the early move was aimed at keeping politics out of monetary policy.
Politico's Eamon Javers, Mike Allen, Craig Gordon and Nia-Malika Henderson, "Obama doubles down on Bernanke"
5177325DEFICIT ANNOUNCEMENT: "Get ready to hear a lot of huge numbers Tuesday: The Obama administration is expected to boost its estimate of the federal deficit over the next decade by $2 trillion, a move likely to trigger political wrangling over who's to blame and how harmful all the red ink will be," reports the Associated Press' Christopher S. Rugaber.
"The White House's Office of Management and Budget is expected to forecast $9 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years, up from a $7 trillion estimate earlier this year, according to White House officials who spoke last week on the condition of anonymity. The increase is largely due to lower-than-expected tax revenues as a result of the recession."
"The projected streak of red ink could further push up national debt levels as the nation reels from an economic crisis and adds pressure on Obama to scale back his ambitious healthcare overhaul plan," writes Agence France-Presse's P. Parameswaran.
"'The budget deficit is apt to become a greater political concern,' said Goldman Sachs economist Alec Philips said in a report Friday."
Politics Daily's Jill Lawrence, "The Skyrocketing Deficit: How Scared Should We Be?"
NY Post's John Hinderaker, "Bam's $2 Trillion Friday Surprise"
CIA INTERROGATIONS: "A newly declassified CIA report says interrogators threatened to kill the children of a Sept. 11 suspect," CBSNews.com reports.
"The document, released Monday by the Justice Department, says one interrogator said a colleague had told Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that if any other attacks happened in the United States, 'We're going to kill your children.'
"Another interrogator allegedly tried to convince a different terror suspect detainee that his mother would be sexually assaulted in front of him - though the interrogator in question denied making such a threat."
"The report, written in 2004, examined CIA treatment of terror detainees following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It has been declassified as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union."
"The decision does not reflect a sharp division between the Justice Department and the White House, government officials said, given the limits of the preliminary review and the respect that Obama says he maintains for the role of an independent attorney general," reports the Washington Post's Carrie Johnson.
"But it could mark the beginning of a painstaking inquiry that tests the boundaries of the Justice Department's discretion and its ability to evaluate incomplete evidence collected on the world's battlegrounds."
Bloomberg News' James Rowley and Christopher Stern add, "Holder, acknowledging his decision 'will be controversial,' said in a statement yesterday that only CIA employees who exceeded legal limits set by the Justice Department might be prosecuted. Department lawyers had issued a series of memos authorizing harsh techniques, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning. ...
"The decision will likely intensify the debate over the propriety of the questioning of detainees under the Bush administration and whether some officials should be punished. President Barack Obama is under pressure from pro-Democratic activist groups to penalize officials responsible for disputed interrogation techniques and secret CIA detention facilities overseas."
"The top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee called Holder's move a 'witch hunt' against those who'd kept American safe since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and predicted 'every CIA terror fighter will be in CYA mode.'," reports McClatchy Newspapers' Margaret Talev.
"Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., also said that with the change in interrogation oversight, the White House had usurped control and was signaling to the world a loss of confidence in CIA director Leon Panetta and the intelligence community. …
"Meanwhile, antiwar, human rights, constitutional law and liberal groups immediately pressed for a more far-reaching probe, renewing calls for independent truth commissions or wide-open criminal probes."
"'If the investigation generates a trial or two-and right now that is still a very big IF-we'd likely see a huge debate, in and out of court, over Bush-era interrogation policies, a debate the President very clearly said a few months ago that he didn't want to have."
New York Times' David Johnston, "Rendition to Continue, but With Better Oversight, U.S. Says"
Washington Post's R. Jeffrey Smith, "Two Administrations Drew Different Lessons From 2004 Report"
Associated Press' Pamela Hess and Matt Apuzzo, "Inside the CIA's haphazard interrogation program"
Associated Press' Tom Raum, "Obama in crosswinds on detention policy"
"UBS Investment Bank President Robert Wolf and White House aide Marvin Nicholson joined Obama and his friend Eric Whitaker for a round of golf. The foursome played at Farm Neck Golf Club, a semi-private course on Martha's Vineyard."
As for that golfing partner, Robert Wolf of UBS? Apparently he was part of a U.S. investigation into illegal tax shelters, reports the Post's Shear.
"According to news reports, Wolf and Obama met late in 2006 as the then-Illinois senator was about to launch his presidential bid. Wolf raised more than $250,000 for Obama's presidential bid, according to a Post report last year.
"But Wolf's firm was caught up last year in a Senate probe of financial firms that attempted to shield millions of dollars in offshore accounts from U.S. taxes."
The Cape Cod Times' Jake Berry reports on the Republicans who "feel isolated" on the Vineyard while the president visits:
The Boston Globe's Matt Viser writes that Mr. Obama's visit has a "normally quiet island enclave aflutter":
Meantime, "Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) called on the Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday to consider suspending its use of an end-of-life planning document that critics have dubbed the 'death book for veterans.'," reports the Washington Post's Steve Vogel.
"'There is an issue as to whether the VA document inappropriately pressures disabled veterans who forgo critical care by subtly urging them on end-of-life decisions,' Specter wrote in a letter requesting that the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee hold a hearing on the matter.
"VA officials said that the document has been misrepresented by critics and that the decade-old publication, titled 'Your Life, Your Choices,' is an 'educational resource' meant to help veterans direct in advance the medical care they want in the event they are incapacitated."
"Faced with a souring public mood on health care reform, Democrats and their supporters are launching a national grassroots push Wednesday to show lawmakers that the majority of Americans still support overhauling the system," reports Politico's Chris Frates.
"Reform supporters are planning to hold more than 500 events between Wednesday and when lawmakers return to Washington Sept. 8, ranging from neighborhood organized phone banks to professionally staffed rallies with hundreds of people.
"The Democratic National Committee and its grassroots arm, Organizing for America, are helping to organize the effort along with the Health Care for America Now, a group pushing to create government-run insurance plan."
Associated Press' Beth Fouhy, "Young Obama backers AWOL from health care fight"
Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Weisman, "Obama Allies Find Words Fail Them"
Politico's Jeanne Cummings, "Some Dems steer clear of town halls"
New York Times' Kevin Sack, "Calm, but Moved to Be Heard on Health Care"
ALSO TODAY:
Washington Post's Pamela Constable, "Karzai Won Election Convincingly, Afghan Official Says"
The Wall Street Journal's Stephanie Simon reports on the 2010 Census and what it means for Congressional redistricting.
What about that suggestion by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., that the state legislature change the law to allow Gov. Deval Patrick, D-Mass., to appoint a temporary replacement if he dies in office? The Boston Globe's Frank Phillip reports that the state Senate president now supports the idea after initially opposing it.
Will Rudy Giuliani run for governor of New York? The New York Times and New York Daily News report that he's thinking about it.
Rhode Island's government will shut down for 12 assorted days between now and the end of the fiscal year in June to save money, reports the Providence Journal's Cynthia Needham and Katherine Gregg.