I/III. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_management_style_analysis;_ylt=Ak.8HJ4TnFeWwFusZY3qR_KtOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTE4Z2RmbTB0BHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl9wcm9tb3NfdG9wX2JhcgRzbGsDYW5hbHlzaXM-
<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_management_style_analysis;_ylt=Ak.8HJ4TnFeWwFusZY3qR_KtOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTE4Z2RmbTB0BHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl9wcm9tb3NfdG9wX2JhcgRzbGsDYW5hbHlzaXM->Analysis: Obama tied to health bill's fate By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press WriterSat Jan 16, 4:59 pm ET WASHINGTON – For months, President Barack Obama has owned the health care legislation that's struggling to cross the finish line in Congress. Now, after an extraordinary investment of a president's time and attention, Obama seems determined to be its chief architect, factory manager and nightshift supervisor as well. In a bid to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions, Obama summoned Congress' Democratic leaders to the White House for nearly eight hours Wednesday, followed by a session Thursday that ran well past midnight and a third meeting on Friday afternoon. Participants said the president occasionally broke away for phone calls — especially as the Haiti earthquake disaster unfolded Wednesday — but otherwise kept his seat in the Cabinet Room hour after hour as lawmakers haggled over details such as how to tax high-end health insurance plans. By Friday, lawmakers said they were near an accord. It's the type of nitty-gritty, down-in-the-weeds work that a president often delegates to a chief of staff or lower aide. But Obama led the negotiations himself, cajoling, wheedling and prodding House and Senate leaders to make compromises that will result in one bill that can pass both chambers, even if by the narrowest of margins and with no help from Republicans. The meetings surprised some who view Obama as too standoffish and cerebral for the sometimes grimy work of passing legislation. And his hands-on approach has tied him more tightly than ever to the health care package's fate. If Republicans manage to kill it — and a GOP win in Massachusetts's tight contest Tuesday to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy could position them to do so — then Obama will have no way to distance himself from the political disaster. And even if it becomes law, voters and historians may judge Obama harshly if his promises to curb health care costs and dramatically expand coverage fall flat. But Obama could join a small pantheon of domestic-policy heroes such as Franklin Roosevelt (Social Security) and Lyndon Johnson (Medicare) if the health care billleads to the extensive reforms that he and fellow Democratic leaders say it will. By any measure, Obama's willingness to negotiate for hours on end is remarkable, said Ross K. Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist who studies Congress closely. "Usually, not too much ink gets on a president's fingers," Baker said. "But he's rolled up his sleeves. He gave the framing job to Congress, and he's doing the finishing work now." Baker said former President George W. Bush eschewed such paragraph-by-paragraph dealmaking. Bill Clinton enjoyed the details of policy, Baker said, but he tended to work more with White House aides and outside experts than with lawmakers. Indeed, Clinton has long said that presenting Congress with a massive take-it-or-leave-it health care proposal in 1993 was a mistake. "I always felt badly that I didn't coordinate closely enough with the House," Clinton told House Democrats this week, according to an aide who took detailed notes of the pep talk. Several Washington insiders said Obama had little chance of reconciling the House and Senate bills without involving himself intensely. "Whenever there is a tough vote on a bill that's near the finish line, members want to know exactly where the president is," said Bruce Reed, the top domestic policy adviser in Clinton's White House. By leading the negotiations himself, Obama is leaving no doubt, Reed said. A congressional aide who attended Wednesday's marathon session said Obama rarely left his chair, where he was flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi andMajority Leader Steny Hoyer. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other senators sat across from them. Key staffers such as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel took the other seats. Obama listened a lot, but continually pushed the lawmakers to find middle ground, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations. "It's a lot of round and round, a lot of retreads over the contradiction in the bills," the aide said. Pelosi said the health legislation would not be on the brink of passage without Obama's direct involvement. She praised "the incredible time and his attention to the details." When contentious legislation veers between success and failure, the president must throw himself into it, said top White House adviser David Axelrod. "The stature of the president is important in terms of resolving those difficult last issues," he told reporters Friday. He said Obama is "highly, highly literate, fluent in the details of this. And he's pretty good at bringing consensus." But with opinion polls showing that many Americans oppose the legislation, it's unclear how time will judge his hands-on efforts. ___ EDITOR'S NOTE — Charles Babington covers the White House for The Associated Press. II. http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=2DC42A72-18FE-70B2-A814D52E39D16389 <http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=2DC42A72-18FE-70B2-A814D52E39D16389> *Rush, Robertson take heat* By: Andy Barr January 14, 2010 11:57 AM EST Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh<http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/RushLimbaugh> and televangelist Pat Robertson<http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/PatRobertson> are being scolded for their comments in the immediate aftermath<http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0110/Robertson_Haiti_cursed_since_Satanic_pact.html> of an earthquake in Haiti that has killed tens of thousands, according to early estimates. Critics from both the left and right are denouncing their remarks as insensitive to the disaster and attempts to score political points off human tragedy. Speaking on his radio show Wednesday, Limbaugh said the earthquake has played into Obama’s hands, allowing the president to look “compassionate” and “humanitarian” while at the same time bolstering his standing in both the “light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.” He added: “We've already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.” Limbaugh’s comments were, in part, a riff on Sen. Harry Reid’s<http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/HarryReid> (D-Nev.) much publicized remark<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31384.html> in a new book that Obama was able to win the election because he is “light-skinned” and lacks a “Negro dialect.” But regardless of the intended context, Limbaugh’s comments have been widely panned. “They are deeply insensitive,” said conservative commentator Pat Buchanan<http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/PatBuchanan> on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “The president speaks for the country when he says we’re going to go in there,” he said. “You want your whole nation, and it’s very positive. And I think Rush’s comments were cynical.” Sitting next to Buchanan on set, host Joe Scarborough<http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/JoeScarborough> called Limbaugh’s comments “deplorable.” “The insensitivity is stunning,” said the former Republican congressman. Liberal commentators also quickly jumped on Limbaugh. “Limbaugh did not know when to just shut up,” said liberal commentator Keith Olbermann <http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/KeithOlbermann> on his MSNBC show “Countdown.” “Today he blamed communism for the poverty of Haiti, blamed President Obama for holding a news conference the day after this cataclysm when he did not hold one after the failed half-assed terror attempt in Detroit <http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30994.html>.” John Amato from the left-leaning website Crooks and Liars added that “with thousands of people dead already and as the suffering continues in Haiti, Limbaugh and his ilk only care about one thing: destroying Obama.” The conservative media watchdog site Newsbusters stepped up to defend Limbaugh, saying his comments were not put in proper context, but very few others are backing the conservative firebrand’s latest controversial remarks. While Limbaugh received a modicum of support, nobody of note has stepped up to defend Robertson’s claim that Haiti got hit by an earthquake because it is “cursed.” Speaking about the disaster during his program “The 700 Club” on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Robertson said that when Haiti was still a French colony its leaders“swore a pact to the devil”<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBCPRqqURZM> to get out from “under the heel of the French.” “They said, ‘we will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal,’” Robertson claimed, as was recorded and sent around by the liberal group Media Matters. “But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other,” he continued. “That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle on the one side is Haiti the other is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic<http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0110/expressing_appreciation_e868cd30-3c05-4391-b44e-2bf2ca8d1ffb.html> is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty.” Robertson, who has a long history of making controversial remarks on his program, urged his followers to pray for the residents of Haiti and said that “out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come.” Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” White House adviser Valerie Jarrett <http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/ValerieJarrett> said Thursday morning she was left “speechless” by Robertson’s remarks. “That's not the attitude that expresses the spirit of the president or the American people, so I thought it was a pretty stunning comment to make,” she said. A statement from Robertson’s spokesman Chris Roslan tried to downplay the “cursed” remark. “Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God’s wrath,” the statement read. “If you watch the entire video segment, Dr. Robertson’s compassion for the people of Haiti is clear. He called for prayer for them. His humanitarian arm has been working to help thousands of people in Haiti over the last year, and they are currently launching a major relief and recovery effort to help the victims of this disaster.” III. http://www.juancole.com/2010/01/scott-brown-implies-that-obama-was-born.html <http://www.juancole.com/2010/01/scott-brown-implies-that-obama-was-born.html>Informed Comment <http://www.juancole.com/> *Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion*<http://www.juancole.com/> ** Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute Sunday, January 17, 2010 Scott Brown implies that Obama was born out of Wedlock<http://salon.com/news/martha_coakley/index.html?story=/opinion/walsh/politics/2010/01/16/scott_brown> Martha Coakley - Salon.com<http://salon.com/news/martha_coakley/index.html?story=/opinion/walsh/politics/2010/01/16/scott_brown> An evolution in the birthers and teabaggers? Joan Walsh points out that Republican candidate for senator from Massachusetts Scott Brown says he doesn't know if Obama's parents were married when they had him. You always knew what they called him in private, but here it is in public.<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hecen-81w0g> [Video clip] A subtext here is condemnation of adult men and women having children at 18. The Right wants to juvenilize us so as to control us, and are gradually defining up adulthood so that more of the population can be regulated by religious zealots, being actually 'children.' -- Peace Is Doable--
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