Archive for February, 2009
State Department Daily Press Briefing
Today’s Daily Press Briefing from the State Department.
Hillary Clinton's Winning Trip Abroad
In her first official trip overseas, Hillary Rodham Clinton showed herself to be a different kind of secretary of State for a different time. She broke with almost half a century of tradition in choosing Asia rather than Europe or the Middle East for her initial voyage, going to countries not only where American prestige is largely intact but whose help with the global economic crisis is, as she put it, “indispensable.” Throughout her tour of Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China, it might be said that Clinton aggressively projected a nonconfrontational foreign policy — and rightly so.Human rights activists were understandably worried when Clinton decided to soft-pedal concerns with the government of China over Tibet, the jailing of dissidents and other violations of civil liberties. She went too far in saying that human rights “can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis.” There is real cause for concern about China’s human rights record, and who will press the Asian giant if not the United States? Unfortunately, the decision reflects political and economic realities of the moment. It is difficult for the United States to deliver lectures on human rights in the wake of waterboarding. What was Clinton to say: Release your prisoners next year, just as soon as we close Guantanamo and figure out what to do with ours?
Furthermore, the United States isn’t in a position right now to extol the virtues of American capitalism. Clinton could hardly urge less state intervention in the economy and currency exchange liberalization when the U.S. financial system has seized upand the government is practically nationalizing banks. And especially not when asking China to keep buying U.S. debt on top of the more than $600 billion it already owns.
So what did she do? Clinton used President Obama’s popularity and the force of her personality to try to restore America’s standing abroad. She opted for direct talk over the usual diplomatic caution in highlighting international concern about leadership changes in North Korea. She spoke with women in Japan about balancing career and family, and working with men. She honored a democratic transfer of power in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country.
Rather than lecturing China about greenhouse gas emissions, Clinton urged the government not to make the mistakes the United States and Europe had made, effectively taking partial responsibility for the problem. She said that lecturing China has never been productive and that it was time to give the country some of the respect due the world’s third-largest economy. It was a successful first foray by the secretary of State. She’ll have other opportunities to use the moral and political force of a superpower — once this country has regained its standing — to address human rights abuses in China.
Obama's Trillion Dollar Spending Spree is like a Prize Patrol for Big Business
Can’t wait for Friday’s Tea Party here in Chicago!
Why does White House Chief of Staff receive Secret Servive protection?
Here’s a question we haven’t been able to find an answer to — but maybe those of you out there, especially on the Republican side, can answer: why does White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel receive what appears to be Secret Service protection?
This came to our attention yesterday, when POLITICO ran a blurb in Ben Smith’s column relating an anecdote about Rahm Emanuel seeing a movie (The Wrestler), with an unidentified Secret Service agent in Washington, DC on Saturday night.
Why was Rahm Emanuel at the movies with a Secret Service agent?
Is it legal for Rahm Emanuel to have a Secret Service protective detail, at taxpayer expense?
According to the Secret Service’s official site, here are some rules for protectees, as set by law, in terms of who does and does not receive Secret Service protective details:
- The president, the vice president, (or other individuals next in order of succession to the Office of the President), the president-elect and vice president-elect
- The immediate families of the above individuals
- Former presidents and their spouses for their lifetimes, except when the spouse remarries. In 1997, Congressional legislation became effective limiting Secret Service protection to former presidents for a period of not more than 10 years from the date the former president leaves office
- Children of former presidents until age 16
- Visiting heads of foreign states or governments and their spouses traveling with them, other distinguished foreign visitors to the United States, and official representatives of the United States performing special missions abroad
- Major presidential and vice presidential candidates, and their spouses within 120 days of a general presidential election
- Other individuals as designated per Executive Order of the President
- National Special Security Events, when designated as such by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
It seems Rahm might be using that “other individuals as designated per Executive Order of the President” to receive his own detail. But, if that’s true, then what Executive Order was it tha Obama issued to grant Rahm this expensive perk?
Because that’s what it is, really, in this case: a perk Rahm has that makes him look and feel important in his new position.
The average American does not know who Rahm Emanuel is. Though, the average American does not know who Joe Biden is, as evidenced by another anecdote POLITICO ran back in December, when Biden and his wife tried to see The Curious Case of Benjamen Button in Delaware, complete with Secret Service detail, and they couldn’t get in because the theater was sold out. And no one bothered Biden, or even asked for an autograph. Because regular people had no idea who he was, and were focused instead on seeing their movies.
So, why, again, does Rahm Emanuel take a Secret Service agent to the movies with him?
There’s just something really very strange about that.
Did Bush’s Chief of Staff take Secret Service agents to the movies too?
Did they go see wrestling movies too?
When the Secret Service takes Rahm to the movies, who springs for the popcorn and Sprite?
Or is that diet Sprite, ’cause, girl, a Chief of Staff’s gotta watch his waist?
With budgets tight everywhere, and seemingly no reason for Rahm Emanuel to have Secret Service protection at movies, why are we paying for his date nights?
Does anyone know?
Republicans should unseat Specter, Snowe, and Collins, and replace them with people who can read
Arlen Specter, especially, should be brought down for supporting Obama’s Trillion Dollar Spending Spree without even bothering to read the bill.
Specter, thus, approved wasting ONE TRILLION DOLLARS on projects that will not create the jobs the White House promised, some of which won’t even begin construction until 2011 or 2012.
Specter admits he didn’t read the bill before voting on it, but voted yes anyway.
If you either can’t, or won’t be bothered, to read something that important before voting on it, then it’s time to leave the Senate and retire.
That goes for everyone in Congress who allowed that bill to be rammed through without proper debate. Retirement for everyone is what we’d like, but primary challenges for the three GOP spending votes is a nice start.
What's Hillary Clinton Doing Today? February 24th
7:45 a.m. Delicious breakfast with Vice President Biden.(in which Hillary will have something sensible, like grapefruit and oatmeal, while Biden will most likely Yabba Dabba Do! his way through a big bowl of Coco Pebbles (which he makes everyone at the Naval Observatory call, “Biden Flakes”).
9:45 a.m. Bilateral with His Excellency Miguel Angel Moratinos, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain.
10:30 a.m. Attend The President’s bilateral with His Excellency Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan, at the White House.
1:15 p.m. Bilateral with His Excellency Jose Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.
3:00 p.m. Bilateral with The Honorable Lawrence Cannon, P. C., M.P., Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada.
5:00 p.m. Bilateral with His Excellency Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
6:30 p.m. Drop by Reception and supper for Diplomatic Corps attending The President’s address to Joint Session of Congress.
9:00 p.m. Attend The President’s address to Joint Session of Congress.
Busy day for a very busy Secretary of Great.
Go, Hillary, Go!
Secretary of State of the Day: John M. Clayton (18th Secretary of State)
Term in Office: March 8th, 1849 – July 22nd, 1850
Succeeded by: Daniel Webster
In 1829 Clayton was elected to the United States Senate as its youngest member. Six years later he declined re-election, but the General Assembly elected him anyway, only to have him resign. He served from March 4, 1829 until December 29, 1836. Here his great oratorical gifts gave him a high place as one of the ablest and most eloquent opponents of the Jackson administration. He early distinguished himself in the Senate by a speech during the debate on the Foote resolution, which, though merely relating to the survey of the public lands, introduced into the discussion the whole question of nullification. His argument in favor of paying the claims for French spoliations was also a fine instance of senatorial oratory. Clayton favored the extension of the charter for the Second Bank of the United States and his investigation of the Post Office Department led to its reorganization. At various times he served on the Military Affairs, Militia, District of Columbia and Post Office Committees, but his most important position was the Chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee in the 23rd and 24th Congress.
After returning to Delaware from his first term in the United States Senate, Clayton was appointed Chief Justice of the Delaware Superior Court, replacing his cousin Thomas Clayton, who had been elected to the vacant U.S. Senate seat. He served in this position from January 16, 1837 until September 19, 1839, when he resigned to support the presidential candidacy of William Henry Harrison.
Clayton was once again elected to the United States Senate in 1845, where he opposed the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War, but advocated the active prosecution of the latter once it was begun. His tenure was only from March 4, 1845 until February 23, 1849, as he resigned to become U.S. Secretary of State.
On March 8, 1849 Clayton became U.S. Secretary of State in the Whig administration of U.S. President Zachary Taylor. His most notable accomplishment was the negotiation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 with the British minister, Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton. This treaty guaranteed the neutrality and encouragement of lines of travel across the isthmus at Panama, and laid the groundwork for America’s eventual building of the Panama Canal. His tenure was brief, however, ending on July 22, 1850, soon after President Taylor’s death.
As secretary of state, Clayton was intensely nationalistic and an ardent advocate of commercial expansion. But his strict interpretation of international law created unnecessary crises with Spain, Portugal, and France. His interest in commercial expansion was clear in his advocacy of increased trade with the Orient – later implemented by the mission of Matthew Perry to Japan – and his negotiation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty in 1850. This treaty won British recognition of an equal American interest in the Central American canal area, and it remained in effect until 1901, when the United States acquired full dominance there. [2]
Clayton was again elected to the United States Senate one last time in 1853 and served from March 4, 1853 until his death on November 9, 1856. There he opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and watched the dissolution of his Whig Party. One of his most noted speeches delivered in the Senate was that made in 1855 against the message of U.S. President Franklin Pierce, vetoing the act ceding public lands for an insane asylum.
After the death of his second son, Clayton moved his residence back to Dover, Delaware, where he died November 9, 1856. He is buried there in the old Presbyterian Cemetery.
His contemporaries considered Clayton one of the most skilled debaters and orators in the Senate. He was always accessible, and was noted for his genial disposition and brilliant conversational powers. Clayton Hall at the University of Delaware is named in his honor, as is the town of Clayton, Delaware, Clayton, New York on the St. Lawrence River, Clayton County, Iowa and several other cities and counties in the United States. In 1934 the state of Delaware donated a statue of Clayton to the National Statuary Hall Collection.
Today in History: February 24th (Year One, Day 36 in The Golden Age of Obama)
303 – Roman Emperor Galerius publishes edict to begin persecution of Christians in his portion of the Empire
1387 – King Charles III of Naples and Hungary assassinated
1538 – Treaty of Nagyvarad between Ferdinand I and John Zapolya
1582 – Pope Gregory XIII announces Gregorian calendar, coincidentally named after himself
1739 – Battle of Karmal: Persian Nadir Shah defeats Mughal Emperor of India, Muhammad Shah
1803 – SCOTUS establishes judicial review in Marbury v. Madison
1804 – London’s Drury Lane Theater burns to the ground
1826 – Treaty of Yandaboo ends First Burmese War
1831 – Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek: first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act; Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the west
1839 – Steam shovel patented
1848 – King Louis-Phillippe abdicates throne of France
1863 – Arizona organized as US territory
1868 – First parades with floats staged at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana
1868 – President Andrew Johnson impeached by the United States House of Representatives, but acquitted in the Senate
1875 – SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and sinks, killing 100, including high level civil servants and dignitaries
1881 – Sino-Russian IIi Treaty signed
1890 – Chicago chosen to host Columbian Exposition
1893 – American University chartered
1909 – Hudson Motor Company founded
1917 – US ambassador to UK given the Zimmerman Telegram, in which Germany promised to return New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if it declares war on the United States
1918 – Estonian Declaration of Independence
1942 – “Battle of Los Angeles”: unidentified flying object over Los Angeles causes panic, and heavy anti-aircraft fire into the sky, with people believing California was under attack from either Japan, or space aliens
1945 – Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha killed in Parliament after reading a decree
1968 – Tet Offensive halted, South Vietnamese recapture Hue
1970 – National Public Radio founded
1976 – National Constitution of Cuba proclaimed
1981 – Engagement of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer announced
1981 – 6.7M earthquake in Athens
1989 – Ayatollah Khomeini issues $3 million bounty on head of Salman Rushdie
1989 – United Airlines Flight 811 bound for New Zealand from Hawaii rips open in flight, sucking 9 passengers out of business class (faulty door locking mechanism to blame)
1999 – China Southern Airlines crash on approach to Wenzhou airport, killing 61
2006 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017, placing the country in a state of emergency to subdue a possible military coup
2007 – Japan launches fourth spy satellite to watch North Korea
2008 – Fidel Castro retires as President of Cuba after 50 years
Media pushing for Bobby Jindal for 2012 again
The more we see of Jindal, and actually hear him speak, the more we like the man…for 2020 or 2024 (when another Democrat can beat him, not the one we want to see lose to a Republican in 4 years). In 4 years we want a really good, strong, competent Republican to deny Obama a second term (and end what we believe will be 4 years of wasteful spending).
Jindal would not beat Obama in 2012. He does not offer a clear narrative break from Obama, or supply an effective remedy to any of Obama’s faults — though it is still much, much too early to know how voters will feel in 2012, and who exactly would be the best alternative and remedy to Obama at that time. But, just on the surface, Jindal is cut from the same Obama pattern, and worse, there’s the fact Jindal attended and participated in an exorcism, and also backed creationism in schools (things the left accuse other Republicans we like of doing, while Jindal’s actually DONE THEM).
But, the enthusiasm the media has in pushing Jindal, and also Charlie Crist, for 2012 should give Republicans pause. Why on Earth would you listen to the media and pick the candidate they want to see run against Obama, when the media wants Obama to have a second term?
Makes. No. Sense.
Because if you think in 2012 the media’s not going to talk about the unusual things Jindal’s engaged in religiously outside the mainstream, then maybe you need an exorcism too.
What was Rahm Emanuel doing with a Secret Service agent at a movie?
This story in POLITICO is really strange:
No rest for Rahm at the movies
A surprised fellow moviegoer passes on word that Rahm Emanuel took time out Saturday night to see The Wrestler at the E Street Cinema last night with a Secret Service Agent.
It was not a quiet night out.
“The guy sitting next to Rahm — literally sharing an armrest with him — had a seizure of some kind,” the moviegoer tells me. “Rahm used some vulgarities to impress upon the movie theater staff — who wanted to move the guy out of the movie theater so they could restart the film — that they should wait until EMS got there.”
Emanuel stayed and helped, I’m told, until EMS arrived.
It’s strange because the White House Chief of Staff is not assigned a Secret Service detail.
Back in the Clinton administration, Republicans forced reforms at the Treasury Department that severely curtailed what was lampooned as a baroque attachment of endless Secret Service details to all manner of officials, past and present. As a result, rules were changed, and the Clintons became the last First Couple to receive Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives. The George W. Bushes will receive Secret Service protection until 2019, ten years after Bush left office. All former presidents will only receive that protection for 10 years after they leave office.
To our knowledge, Vice Presidents lose their details almost immediately after they leave office. And, per the new rules in the 90s, others not part of direct presidential succession do not have Secret Service protection, which is very expensive.
So, why was Rahm Emanuel, who is no longer an elected official, is not part of the line of presidential succession, and is merely an adviser to the President (and not a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate), going to a movie with a Secret Service agent?
Was it a date?
Because, it sure sounds like a date.
The two of them, at a movie together, in the dark, possibly sharing popcorn (“Extra butter, motherf***er!”, shouts Rahm, we imagine). Canoodling? Sounds highly plausible.
We hope Rahm and the unidentified Secret Service agent (on duty, or off?) go see Confessions of a Shopaholic on their next date night, because not only was it fabulous, and right up Rahm’s alley (entendre included), but it’s a good lesson for all Democrats on just how badly spending sprees can go, and how hard it is to dig yourself out from mountains of spending debt.
Wear your green scarf when you go, Rahm. You can re-enact scenes from the movie with it later!
