American Morning
Behind the scenes at correspondents' dinner
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/10/art.obamadinner.jpg caption= "President Obama delivers some one-liners at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday."]
Hi all,
The annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner is a true who's who. I had the opportunity to attend tonight.
Before the actual dinner they have a cocktail party. And there we had a chance to bump into Chace Crawford from "Gossip Girl," Jon Bon Jovi, Ludacris, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, Eva Longoria and on and on. Photos
The Washington Hilton was abuzz with so many members of the media and celebrities as well as many politicians and a lot of security.
President Obama's speech was pretty funny. He teased his own Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, even House Minority Leader John Boehner. Watch
Now, it's rude to be blogging too much while sitting here, so much more later!
Kiran
Porn star seriously considering Senate run
She got her start in porn and now she’s thinking politics. Stormy Daniels is considering running against Louisiana’s Republican senator, David Vitter, in 2010. Vitter was linked to the D.C. Madame and her prostitution services in 2007. Daniels has launched what she is calling a listening tour in Louisiana. She spoke to Kiran Chetry on CNN’s “American Morning” Wednesday.
Kiran Chetry: You are considering this possible Senate run in Louisiana against Senator David Vitter and he is infamous, I guess you could say, for his link to the D.C. Madame. So as a former porn star, is there a little bit of irony here?
Stormy Daniels: I think so. I think that's one the things that people find kind of entertaining about the whole thing but you've got to remember what I do is legal and what he did is not. So, yeah, I think that people find that very interesting. I hear the word karma a lot.
Chetry: You still haven’t filed the papers yet, right? How seriously are you considering this run for Senate?
Daniels: Well, I'm seriously considering it. That's the whole reason why I'm here this week doing the listening tour. I think that before I can decide whether or not I'm going to move forward with actually campaigning and undertaking a possible candidacy, I want to do the responsible thing and do a listening tour so I can get a better feel of what the people here really want me to do.
Obama’s Recent Market Rally
John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and he writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast. Previously, he served as Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/04/29/avlon.john.art.jpg caption= "John Avlon writes that Obamanomics is starting to look pretty good these days."]
By John Avlon
Special to CNN
Despite all the recent screaming about socialism, Barack Obama’s past month and a half has quietly been pretty good for capitalists.
Yesterday, the stock market picked up more than 200 points, capping weeks of rallies that have erased almost all of 2009’s losses to date. The market hit its low on Obama’s 50th day in office – March 9th – but since that early crisis of confidence, the Obama administration’s economic plans have started to solidify and begun to take hold. Perhaps the most important measure is polls that show the American people feel our country is moving in the right direction again.
The acid test of yesterday’s rally was the fact that it continued after President Obama announced plans to close corporate tax loopholes and offshore tax-havens. If the market was feeling myopic there might been an immediate negative impact – some Wall Street commentators still reflexively tried to paint it as anti-big business class warfare. But it was accompanied by a plan to make the research and development tax credit a permanent tax cut, incentivizing long-term economic competitiveness. And the plan was carefully framed with Main Street common sense (despite the odd intro of Treasury Secretary Geithner, castigating individuals who don’t pay all their taxes): “I want to see our companies remain the most competitive in the world,” said the president. “But the way to make sure that happens is not to reward our companies for moving jobs off our shores.”
A bit of springtime optimism may be influencing this market rally. The absence of deepening crisis may be mistaken for good news. There will likely be additional bumps on the road to recovery – this week’s bank stress test might be one such bump. Some economists will argue that these closed loopholes should be accompanied by a reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate, which is the second highest in the world. The long-term economic impact of the unprecedented stimulus spending still remains to be seen. Our deficit and debt have ballooned and, if unaddressed, represent a new degree of generational irresponsibility. Remember, reckless spending got us into this mess in the first place.
But if President Obama was blamed by some partisans for the market’s decline in his first 50 days, then its only fair that he receive some credit for the rebound now. We’re not out of the woods – there’s plenty of anger left for both big government and big business – but at least compared to Bushonomics, Obamanomics is starting to look pretty good these days. And that’s good news for everyone who’s invested in America’s success.
John Edwards faces campaign fund investigation
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/05/edwards.john.getty.art.jpg caption= "Federal investigators are looking into payments from former presidential candidate John Edwards' campaign to his mistress."]
A sex scandal helped ruin his reputation and now former presidential candidate John Edwards could be in serious legal hot water. Federal investigators want to know more about over $100,000 his campaign paid to his former mistress’s company.
CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin joined John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Tuesday to talk about the investigation.
John Roberts: $114,000 was paid by Edwards’ campaign to Rielle Hunter, his mistress, for video production services. If that's what the money was going toward, is there a problem here?
Jeffrey Toobin: There is no scandal if that's the case. The good news for John Edwards legally is that Rielle Hunter did in fact work for the campaign. So payments to her might have a legitimate explanation. There is a certain pattern in the payments and the amount is such that there are certain suspicions, but, if it's simply payment for video services, there's no scandal.
Republican Party seeks to be more inclusive
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Republican leaders have launched a new effort in hopes of taking back some of the support they lost in the last election. GOP numbers are dwindling on Capitol Hill and former Florida governor and brother to the former president, Jeb Bush says he doesn't like what he's seeing.
“From the conservative side, it's time for us to listen first, to learn a little bit, to upgrade our message a little bit, to not be nostalgic about the past… But what I've seen in the last few years is really troubling.”
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor is on the Council for a New America, the new group that hopes to remake the Republican Party. He spoke to John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Monday.
John Roberts: Let's just take a look at how Republican fortunes have changed since 1995 when the Contract with America swept you to power. In 1995, you had 230 seats in the House, now you've got 178. You had 52 Senate seats, now 40. That's a pretty serious erosion. What happened?
Eric Cantor: Well, John, clearly we've had some setbacks, no question about it. Could we have done better in many areas? Absolutely. And that's why we've launched the National Council for a New America. And as Governor Bush… said, it is very important at this point that we go back out across the country; bring in as many people as possible to begin a conversation about the direction of this country. And the National Council for a New America is meant to be a forum for folks to gather, to come to discuss the issues confronting them in their communities and frankly to rally around the principles that we know have made this country great, which are liberty, opportunity and the devotion to the individual and free markets.
GOP at 100 days
From Bob Ruff, CNN
As the nation focuses this week on the president’s record during his first 100 days in office, Obama’s out-of-the-gate performance seemingly is being analyzed by every major media outlet in the nation. He’s even being compared to the man who virtually invented 100 days, Franklin Roosevelt.
But what about the Republicans? How’ve they done and what have they done since Barack Obama became president on January 20th?
Despite their minority status, they’ve certainly tried to be pro-active.
–In January House Republicans united to vote unanimously against the president’s stimulus package. But it didn’t work. Democrats passed the legislation anyway.
–That next month Rush Limbaugh, the radio host widely popular with conservatives, energized a Republican conference by saying he hopes “Obama fails.” Even some Republicans thought that was over the top.
–Dick Cheney on March 19th appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union”, launching a series of TV appearances that defended former President Bush’s eight years while criticizing President Obama’s performance. At one point he told CNN’s John King that the nation is less safe under the Obama administration. Some critics wondered why Cheney hadn’t been more visible when he was vice president.
–Later in March House Republicans led by Minority Leader John Boehner offered up “The Republican Road to Recovery” as an alternative to the president’s recovery plan. It went no where.
–And on April 15 a series of anti-tax rallies, advertised as non-partisan but attended overwhelmingly by conservatives, fizzled after just one day.
We decided to ask GOP pollster, Whit Ayres, why Republicans are reeling. “This is a center right country,” says Ayres, “and remains so despite President Obama’s election.”
But if that’s the case, what explains low support for Republicans in public opinion polls? And what about the announcement just this week by veteran Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter that he has defected to the Democratic party?
Ayers says Republican woes can be explained by a party leadership that has veered too far to the political right. To get back on track they have to “be a center right party, not just a right party.” They need to adopt Ronald Reagan’s approach, says Ayers, by appealing to groups not currently on the GOP’s radar.
Will it work? Ayres says eventually it will because public support for the parties ebbs and flows over time. He reminds people that Republicans were in the dumps after Watergate, and that the party rebounded nicely to elect Ronald Reagan and eventually majorities in the House and the Senate.
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