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National Briefing

OBAMA

1. Promises, Promises

Today marks the first anniversary of Pres. Obama's election, and various news outlets examined whether the man has lived up to the promise.

New York Times' Zeleny notes, "one year after winning the election," Obama "has seen his pledge to transcend partisanship" in DC "give way to the hardened realities of office. A campaign for the history books, filled with a sky-high sense of possibility for" Obama "not just among legions of loyal" Dems "but also among converts from outside the party, has descended to an unfamiliar plateau for" a POTUS "whose political rise was as rapid as it was charmed."

Interviews with voters across IA "offer a window into how" Obama's "standing has leveled off, especially among" the indies and GOPers "who contributed not just to his margin of victory in the caucuses" but "also to the optimism among his supporters that his election would be a break from standard-issue politics." For Dems, "the immediate peril of failing to hang on to some of these swing voters could play out" today in VA, a state Obama "wrested away from" GOPers in '08 but where GOV candidate/state Sen. Creigh Deeds (D) "has struggled to recreate" Obama's "enthusiastic coalition."

In IA, Obama voter/ex-GOPer Pauline McAreavy "fears" that Obama's health care plan "will shortchange her Medicare benefits and mean infrequent mammogram examinations. She worries that his decision on Afghanistan will mean that her son," a member of the IA Nat'l Guard, will return to the battlefield. "And she believes that too many of" Obama's actions "are rooted in" Dem politics. McAreavy: "All my Republican friends -- and independents -- are sitting back saying, 'Oh, what did we do? ... I'm not to that point yet, but a lot of people are."

Obama "still has generally strong approval ratings and the opportunities that come with a" Dem majority in Congress. "Public opinion about him remains in flux, particularly as he heads into the endgame of a push to overhaul the health insurance system and nears a decision about whether to expand the war in Afghanistan." But "an erosion of support from" indies and disapproval from GOPers "suggests that the coalition" Obama built to win the WH "is frayed."

"In few places did people get a longer and closer look at" Obama than in IA, "a swing state home to deep strains of both conservatism and liberalism." Obama "was a constant presence here during the formative months of his candidacy. Many voters have pictures of him on their mantels, looking him in the eye as they took a measure of the man and the politician before giving him a crucial victory in the caucuses." A social studies teacher who saw Obama "on his maiden visit here wonders whether momentum from the election is gone forever. A retired electrical engineer who became a" Dem to support Obama believes that Obama "too often blames others for his troubles. And a teacher who voted for" Obama "because she was fed up with" George W. Bush "does not trust this" admin. "any more than the previous one."

"Yet a laid-off factory worker who returned to school for a degree said" Obama's "support for a new economy had changed his thinking." A PR exec. who changed parties to support Obama "says he saved the nation from fiscal collapse. And a nurse who believes" Obama could be a transformative POTUS, "because of health care and other issues, worries that the vitriol could endanger his life" (11/3).

Meanwhile, Christian Science Monitor's Feldmann notes, there's "no doubt that Obama got off to a fast start with Congress," passing a $787B stimulus package and expanded health care benefits for children. "But on the most important issue, jobs and the economy, debate rages over whether the stimulus has been a success or a failure." Health care reform and Afghanistan policy "also hang in the balance. The resolution of both will say a lot about how Obama operates" as POTUS -- "and whether his first year is perceived as successful or not."

"Viewed through the prism of how 'Obama so far' stacks up against past" POTUSes, "the issue of high expectations sits front and center. Twice since Obama's election," Time "has run cover stories on what he can learn from Franklin Roosevelt," the last POTUS "to tackle both economic crisis and war. On one, Obama's face is Photoshopped onto a famously jaunty picture of FDR. Obama himself has wrapped his image in the mantle of Abraham Lincoln. Obama also set the bar high by imposing deadlines."

But "the real test will come by year's end, when Obama needs to have something to show for all his effort before the midterm election season kicks into high gear" (11/2).

Culture Club

Obama "may not have delivered on all the policy changes he promised since his election," but "he and his family have brought dramatic social change to" DC "and to the country's collective image of its first family -- and not just because they're the first African Americans in charge at" the WH.

The "contrast with recent" POTUSes "is clear" -- Bush "had older kids, went to bed early, headed for his" TX ranch "as often as he could and presided over" a WH "tightly buttoned down after the 9/11 attacks. Bill Clinton had his own reasons to stay low-key after the Monica Lewinsky scandal began in his second term." Rice prof. Douglas Brinkley: "The Obamas' White House is the most open for cultural and intellectual activities since the Kennedy administration. ... It's not simply a matter of doing events of statecraft and cultural gravitas. They have a great flair for American pop culture."

"That the Obamas are a couple in step with the world around them is evident almost daily," whether Michelle Obama "is touting the benefits of organic food or" Obama "is admitting on TV that he hasn't done a good enough job handling his share of the child-care duties." He "carries a smartphone on his hip, goes out for burgers and plays pickup hoops. She goes to their daughters' soccer games, works in the garden and loves listening to her iPod. Together, they host poets, artists and musicians at their house and invite neighborhood kids to drop by."

Political observers "of both parties say it generally works to" Obama's benefit. Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson: "He has a genuinely appealing personality and his staff understands that and he understands that. ... Talking about his life is effective" (Hall/Puente, USA Today, 11/3).

Here Comes The Late Day Sun

WH press. sec. Robert Gibbs discussed Obama's first year since his election with CBS News.

Gibbs, on Obama: "He was under no illusion that being president would be easy."

Gibbs said the job has proven to be harder and more exhausting than Obama expected. Gibbs: "Oh, I don't think there's any doubt." Gibbs, on whether it's more exhausting than running for POTUS: "I actually think so, which is hard to believe since there were times in the campaign where coffee didn't do anything for you. There was no jolt left in your body." He said the past year has "mostly been a whirlwind." And it's gone by so rapidly, "it's hard to believe it's been a year."

Gibbs: "There really isn't on-the-job training regardless of what you've done beforehand. ... We haven't had the luxury of a learning curve because we faced so many different challenges so quickly."

Gibbs said he thinks Obama regards his job as "a tremendous joy." Gibbs: "I think the one thing he genuinely misses is being able to take a walk." He said he thinks Obama would love just to be able to walk off the grounds of WH, "without aides, security and other hangers-on, and spend an hour by himself browsing the shelves at a local bookstore. Just like any person who isn't" POTUS can do. Gibbs: "[He would] enjoy the fall air and the late day sun. ... Maybe in 4 or 8 years he'll get to do that" (Knoller, "Political Hotsheet," CBS News, 11/3).

CNN's Blitzer also sat down with WH sr. adviser David Axelrod, WH comm. dir. Anita Dunn and Gibbs for their first joint interview since Obama took office.

Axelrod, on whether there's anything the admin. would do differently: "I'm sure there are many things that, if we could do over, we would. ... The thing that's been pleasing to me is that, by and large, things have gone as we intended. We try and think things through. He certainly does. ... Now some of the decisions we made may not work out. But they're generally well reasoned. And, therefore ... there aren't major things where I said gee, man, I wish I had that back. I wish we had gotten the swearing in, the inaugural oath right the first time, but, you know, things happen."

Dunn: "I'm a person who can at the end of every week look back and find about 2,000 things I would have done differently. But I think ... if you look at what the president said during his campaign of what he wanted to get accomplished and you look at where we are now, roughly a year after he was elected, by and large, he has certainly kept to what he laid out as the challenges that he wanted to address and that the administration has done a pretty good job of executing to get him where he wants to go and where he wants to lead the country."

Blitzer: "I brought over the new issue of Newsweek magazine with the headline 'Yes He Can, (But He Sure Hasn't Yet).' ... Have you read that article?"

Gibbs: "I have. ... I think the American people understand that what brought us to the point right before the president was either elected or eventually inaugurated we didn't get to overnight. We got into where we were over the course of a long time, and I think the American people understand that we're on the road to change. We're on the road to building a new foundation for an economy that works for them and helps create jobs for them, but understands that it's not all going to happen overnight. I think what we saw in the candidate America has had a chance now to see for the better part of almost a year."

Axelrod, on whether M. Obama is an "adviser" to Obama on "substantive policy issues": "I think I'll put this way. I think he really values her opinion, and I don't think she takes folders on nuclear proliferation home and offers her point of view, but she's incredibly bright. She's got great sense, and she, like anyone who has a good solid relationship with their spouse, she offers her views, and he takes them seriously" (CNN, 11/2).

Mr. Hall Was Way Harsh. He Gave Me A C Minus.

Meanwhile, the pundits weighed in on Obama's report card so far:

•Washington Post's Robinson writes, Obama's months in office "have been so action-packed that it's easy to forget some of the historic steps he has taken: nominating Justice Sonia Sotomayor." Going "to Egypt and speaking directly to the Muslim world about cooperation rather than conflict. Embracing multilateralism as the template for U.S. foreign policy in the new century. Accepting the scientific consensus on climate change. Investing in 'green' jobs and education reform as key engines of economic development. And then there's health-care reform." He's "brought us to the brink of truly meaningful reform much faster than anyone could have imagined a year ago." "Quite a record for 287 days: All that, and a Nobel Peace Prize, too" (11/3).

•Washington Examiner's York writes, now that Obama is POTUS, "he is the power figure, not the supplicant or the protester. Certainly" a POTUS "still needs to convince foreign leaders to give him what he wants, but when it comes to dealing with the rest of the world, Obama isn't the underdog. His years on the South Side are little help. You can see Obama's community organizing approach at" the WH "every day, in the attempts to marginalize" GOP "opponents, or in the attacks on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. But handling the life-or-death issues of America's relations with the world -- that's a new job entirely. And Obama has no experience that prepares him for it" (11/3).

•National Review's Lowry writes in the New York Post, "in his first year in office," Obama "has visited more foreign countries than any other" POTUS. But "there's one stop Obama won't make: He has begged off going to Berlin next week to attend ceremonies commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. His schedule is reportedly too crowded." Obama's "failure to go to Berlin is the most telling non-event of his presidency. It's hard to imagine any other" POTUS "eschewing the occasion. Only Obama -- with his dismissive view of the Cold War as a relic distorting our thinking and his attenuated commitment to America's exceptional role in the world -- would spurn" German Chancellor Angela Merkel's invitation (11/3).

(Job) Generation Next

"In the face of increasing heat from Congress for decisive moves to create jobs," Obama on 11/2 "pushed his economic advisers to come up with job-generating ideas that can be hustled up to Capitol Hill."

With "unemployment rising and expected to be in double digits as lawmakers run for" re-election next year, Obama "conveyed a sense of urgency as he met with" business execs., "labor officials and economists who sit on his economic advisory board." Obama told the cmte during the hourlong meeting: "Congress is going to be looking to act. ... To the extent that we have very clear, crisp recommendations that we can present before them and do so soon, the better off we're going to be."

While the admin. "has fended off talk of a second stimulus bill, Obama made clear he's concerned that the stimulus legislation" passed in Feb. won't do enough to turn the jobs picture around. Obama: "Given the severity of the job losses that took place at the beginning of the year and the need for us to make up a whole lot of job loss, [it] is going to require, I think, some bold, innovative action on our part and on Congress's part and on the private sector's part [to boost employment]. ... This is my administration's overriding focus. ... We will not rest until we are succeeding in generating the jobs that this economy needs."

Panel members told Obama that the admin. "should look to three areas to spur job growth: exports, infrastructure and energy-efficiency technologies" (Gerstein, Politico, 11/3).

Meanwhile, New York Times' Herbert writes, Obama made an appearance in FL last week "that should have gotten more attention. At a time when many Americans are apprehensive about the state of the economy and uncertain about the nation's long-term prospects," he "delivered an upbeat speech that offered a glimpse of a broader overall vision and a practical way forward on the crucial issues of energy and jobs." The energy center "was one of dozens of projects receiving grants from" the federal gov't and "private industry for the development of smart-grid technology. These are the kinds of baby steps that, if encouraged, replicated and systematically expanded, can put the country on the road to a saner, more prosperous and more secure future" (11/3).

Blind, Deficits And Dumb

The WH "is beginning to send strong signals that it recognizes the" $1.4T budget deficit "is a looming political problem that needs to be addressed," even as Obama "reminds Americans that the country's fiscal crisis originated with" the Bush admin. "and will not be resolved overnight."

OMB dir. Peter Orszag will today deliver "the second major speech on the deficit in a week by a top" WH official. Orszag's speech on "reining in the deficit" will be the first time that a top WH economist "will look forward at the difficult task of reducing the gap between" gov't revenues and expenditures.

A speech last week by Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer "looked at the reasons for the deficit and at how it relates to health care reform." And Treas. Sec. Tim Geithner appeared on "Meet the Press" 11/1 to make clear that the admin. recognizes the deficit is growing too large (see 11/2 Hotline) (Ward/Mosk, Washington Times, 11/3).

 

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