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Michelle Obama vows to strike Olympic gold for Chicago
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WASHINGTON (CNN) - First lady Michelle Obama vowed Monday to "take no prisoners" as she and her husband launch an unprecedented bid for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/09/29/michelle.obama.olympics/art.michelle.obama.afp.gi.jpg caption="First lady's attitude about the effort to secure Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics: "Take no prisoners.""]
"It's a battle - we're going to win - take no prisoners," the first lady said with a smile at a roundtable discussion with reporters in the White House State Dining Room.
She compared the intense lobbying effort to the 2008 presidential campaign, noting that in the election campaign, a lot of voters made their decision in the final days. She said members of the International Olympic Committee may do the same.
"And our view is, we're not taking a chance," she said. "We're just not going to assume that the bids - that the decisions are made, and so that no matter what the outcome is, we'll feel as a country, as a team, that we've done everything that we can to bring it home."
The White House confirmed Monday that President Obama will fly on Thursday to Copenhagen, Denmark, where the International Olympic Committee will be reviewing bids from several countries on Friday. It will be the first time that an American president has lobbied the IOC in this manner.
Madeleine Albright's pin-diplomacy
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is not only famous for becoming the first woman ever to hold the post, but also for her penchant for pins.
Her famous brooches sent a message to dictators, presidents, and foreign ministers.
It's the focus of her new book, "Read My Pins."
Our John Roberts had a chance to talk with Secretary Albright yesterday at New York's Museum of Arts and Design where more than 200 of her most important pins are on display.
Obama to make personal pitch for Olympics
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/28/art.obamachi.gi.jpg caption="Obama is lobbying for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games to be held in Chicago."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Barack Obama will travel this week to Copenhagen, Denmark, to make a big push for the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Chicago, the White House said Monday.
Obama will join First Lady Michelle Obama and other administration officials in pitching Chicago to the International Olympic Committee on October 2, spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
No other U.S. president has ever attended an IOC meeting.
Chicago is vying for the Summer Games against Madrid, Spain; Tokyo, Japan; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Leaders from Brazil, Spain and Japan are expected to also make an in-person pitch.
The United States has hosted four Summer Olympic Games. In 1904, the Games were held in St. Louis, Missouri; in Los Angeles, California, in 1932 and 1984; and most recently Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996.
Clinton: 'Vast right-wing conspiracy' virulent
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The "vast right-wing conspiracy" that attacked him during his presidency has been weakened, but continues to operate against President Obama, former President Clinton said Sunday.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/09/27/clinton.conspiracy/art.bill.clinton.august.afp.gi.jpg caption="Former President Clinton said Republicans won't see a 1994-like surge at the polls in 2010."]
On NBC's "Meet the Press," Clinton was asked about the term his wife Hillary Clinton, now secretary of state, famously coined. "Is it still there?" host David Gregory asked.
"Oh, you bet. Sure it is. It's not as strong as it was, because America's changed demographically, but it's as virulent as it was," the former president replied.
"I mean, they're saying things about him [Obama] - you know, it's like when they accused me of murder and all that stuff they did," Clinton said, in an apparent reference to conspiracy theories surrounding the suicide of White House deputy counsel Vince Foster.
"It's not really good for the Republicans and the country, what's going on now," Clinton said. "I mean, they may be hurting President Obama. They can take his numbers down, they can run his opposition up. But fundamentally, he and his team have a positive agenda for America."
Obama calls for new era in world relations
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) - President Obama made a forceful call Wednesday for a new era in global relations, urging the United Nations to move past old divisions and disputes to reassert itself as a leading force in confronting the most pressing issues of today.
In his first speech as president to the U.N. General Assembly, Obama sought to distance his young administration from unilateral policies of his predecessor, while pledging a U.S. commitment to work with the United Nations in forging a better common future for all.
"The United States stands ready to begin a new chapter of international cooperation - one that recognizes the rights and responsibilities of all nations," Obama said in concluding a speech that received strong applause.
He told the assembly that the world's countries, both individually and collectively as the United Nations, have failed to put aside old ways of thinking and acting as they confront threats to global security and stability.
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Republican pollster: Americans angrier than ever
From town halls to tea parties, a lot of people across the country are really ticked off. Last week in our special series "Mad as Hell," we looked at the sources and potential solutions for all of that national anger.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/28/luntz.frank.cnn.art.jpg caption="Pollster and Republican Party adviser Frank Luntz says Americans are angrier than ever."]
Frank Luntz is a pollster, communications expert, author of the new book "What Americans Really Want, Really" and has advised the Republican Party on hot-button issues like health care.
Luntz joined John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Monday. Below is an edited transcript of the interview.
John Roberts: So people in America, are they really angrier than they’ve ever been?
Frank Luntz: They are. 72% of Americans define themselves - we took a survey of 6,400 people, that's five times the typical CNN media poll – 72% of Americans are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. And they're mad at politics because they think there's no accountability in Washington.
They're mad at business because they think that their employers don't respect them. And they're mad at Hollywood for the coarseness of the culture. So you've got all three things going on at the same time and they don't find a solution to it.
Roberts: Let me quote from your book here because you say what's so important is not necessarily that Americans are mad as hell. You say, “It matters more that they're not going to take it anymore. Americans have hit a tipping point with Washington and, moreover, its political parties.” So we're at this tipping point. What does that mean for the country? You gave us the background of what people are mad at but why are they mad at all of this and what is this tipping point?
Luntz: They feel like the politicians aren't listening to them. And those elected officials who canceled their town hall meetings, boy, did they make a mistake. I wrote this book and I added that extra "really" to “What Americans Really Want” because the definitions of this anger the elites don't understand. They think the town halls are an aberration.
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