Obama’s Healthcare Speech

“[T]he public is also very concerned about some aspects of the health care system, including the cost, including the security of their coverage. So depending on how this plays politically, I think there is the foundation for building support for broader legislation.”

- Mark McClellan, who ran the Food and Drug Administration and later Medicare under President George W. Bush, quoted in an article arguing that the prospects for healthcare reform are better than most reports would suggest. (NYT)

* Related Title: Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform by Howard Dean, MD with Igor Volsky, Faiz Shakir

War in Afghanistan

“We are pinned down. We are running low on ammo. We have no air. We’ve lost today.”

Maj. Kevin Williams, 37, a US Marine on active duty in eastern Kunar province in Afghanistan, speaking through his translator to an Afghan counterpart. Four U.S. Marines were killed Tuesday, the most U.S. service members assigned as trainers to the Afghan National Army to be lost in a single incident since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Eight Afghan troops and an interpreter also died. (McClatchy)

* Related Title: The Inheritance by David E. Sanger

Economic Recovery?

“The prospects of a robust recovery are very, very weak.”

- Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University professor and winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001, speaking to reporters at a roundtable held at Columbia. Some of the more recent U.S. economic data has been upbeat, but Stiglitz said the U.S. economy faces the possibility of a “double-dip” recession whereby a recovery is not sustained. (Reuters)

* Related Title: Making Globalization Work by Joseph E. Stiglitz

New Israeli Settlement Activity

“If you could not convince the Israelis to stop settlement activity, will anybody in the Arab and Islamic world believe you can make Israel return to the ‘67 borders or withdraw from settlements?”

- Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, commenting on Israel’s renewed push to build almost 500 more homes for Jewish settlers in Jerusalem. The US has urged Israel to stop all settlement of occupied Palestinian land as part of efforts to re-start peace talks in the Middle East. Erekat said the Obama administration’s whole diplomatic drive was now in doubt. (BBC)

* Related Title: Sowing Crisis by Rashid Khalidi

Support for Obama Slipping?

“I am one of the millions of frustrated Americans who want to see Washington do more than it’s doing right now,”

- Steve Hildebrand, the deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

* Related Title: Change We Can Believe In by Barack Obama

Van Jones Railroaded by the Right

“This guy’s a Yale-educated lawyer. He’s a best-selling author about his specialty. I think he was brought down, and I think it’s too bad. Washington’s a tough place that way, and I think it’s a loss for the country.”

- Gov. Howard Dean, on Fox News Sunday, commenting on the resignation of Van Jones, President Obama’s green jobs advisor. (UPI)

*Related Title: The Green Collar Economy, by Van Jones

President Obama’s Healthcare Speech

“The stakes are huge. I think his presidency will be judged on whether he can succeed where many other presidents have failed.”

- John Podesta, former Clinton Chief of Staff and head of the Center for American Progress, referring to the president’s planned address to a joint session Congress on Wednesday night, in which Obama will make the case for his vision of healthcare reform. (ABC)

“President Obama needs to start talking about what’s in the bill, not what’s not in the bill. Whenever I see him on TV, he’s talking about what’s not in the bill.”

- Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), referring to the same speech. (Washington Post)

*Related Title: Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform, by Howard Dean with Faiz Shakir and Igor Volsky

NATO Airstrike and Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan

“We stand behind the decision, and we continue to consider the military strike correct.”

- Thomas Raabe, a German Defense Ministry spokesman. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is facing strong international criticism over an airstrike ordered by the German military that killed scores of people, including civilians, in northern Afghanistan. (NYT)

* Related Title: The Inheritance, by David E. Sanger

A Global Deal on Climate Change

“The deal that the world needs in Copenhagen is in the balance.”

- David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, on prospects that agreement will be reached at a summit in Copenhagen in December on a new UN climate treaty to supplant the Kyoto Protocol. (BBC)

* Related Title: The Global Deal, by Nicholas Stern

Healthcare Reform and the Public Option

“I’m not sure if public option is going to survive, frankly.”

- Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, addressing a crowd in Missoula, Montana, about healthcare reform legislation. He says a co-op system is much more likely. (TPM)

*Related Title: Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer, by Howard Dean, with Igor Volsky and Faiz Shakir

NATO Airstrikes in Afghanistan

“Steps must be taken to examine what happened and why an air strike was employed [when] it was hard to determine…that civilians were not present.”

- Peter Galbraith, deputy chief of the U.N. mission in Kabul, Afghanistan. Yesterday U.S. jets bombed two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, setting off a huge fireball Friday that killed up to 90 people. It’s not clear at this writing whether civilians were among the dead. (AP)

*Related Title: The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, by Andrew J. Bacevich

Nuclear North Korea

“Uranium enrichment tests have been successfully carried out and that process is in the concluding stage.”

Report from North Korea’s state media. Uranium enrichment would give Pyongyang a second way to make a nuclear bomb, in addition to reprocessing and weaponizing plutonium. (BBC News)

*Related Title: The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power, by David E. Sanger

Unemployment Numbers

“The job market is in for a slog. It’s going to be slow, incremental improvement, and it’s the reason why the broader recovery’s going to be very fragile.”

- Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. Labor Department figures out today show unemployment has risen to 9.7% but that job loss slowed in August. (NYT)

*Related Title: The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, by Steven Greenhouse

President Obama’s Televised Speech to Students

“As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education — it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality. This is something you’d expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.”

- Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Steve Russell, referring to President Obama’s planned televised speech next week to students. Some school districts in a number of states have decided not to show the speech. Others are still thinking it over or are letting parents have their kids opt out. Conservative talk radio hosts and bloggers are urging schools and parents to boycott the address. (USA Today)

*Related Title: The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right, by David Neiwert

Healthcare Reform

“He’s got to get into the nitty-gritty and embrace very concrete proposals.”

Ralph Neas, head of the National Coalition on Health Care. Hoping to salvage his politically endangered health care overhaul, President Barack Obama will give a State of the Union-style address next week featuring fresh and more detailed arguments for revamping the system. (AP)

Related Title: Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform by Howard Dean with Igor Volsky and Faiz Shakir

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy: 1932-2009

“Some people make mistakes and try to learn from them and do better. Our sins don’t define the whole picture of who we are.”

- The late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whose memoir, to be published later this month, doesn’t ignore the lows of his life. (NYT)

Related Title: The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America by Thurston Clarke

Blackwater

“Every day that Blackwater operates in Iraq as a contractor for the United States our military and diplomatic objectives are put at serious risk,”

- Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., commenting on word that the State Department had extended a contract for protecting U.S. diplomats in Iraq with a subsidiary of the security firm formerly known as Blackwater USA even though the company doesn’t have a license to operate in the country. The Iraqi government refused to grant the company an operating license earlier this year amid continued outrage over a 2007 lethal firefight involving some of its employees in Baghdad. (AP)

Related Title: Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill

Bank Bailouts and Executive Pay

America’s executive pay bubble remains unpopped. And these outrageous rewards give executives an incentive to behave outrageously, putting the rest of us at risk.

- Sarah Anderson, lead author of “America’s Bailout Barons,” a report by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), which finds that since Jan. 1, 2008, the top 20 financial industry recipients of bailout aid have together laid off more than 160,000 employees. In 2008, the 20 CEOs at these firms each averaged $13.8 million in compensation, for a collective total of over $250 million. (AFL-CIO)

Related Title: Come Home, America by William Greider

Iran: Ahmadinejad Consolidates Power

With the oil ministry under their belt, they can funnel money to all their pet projects.

- A political analyst based in the United States, commenting on the Iranian parliament’s approval of all but three of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 21 nominees for his cabinet. Ahmadinejad now has close allies overseeing the key ministries of oil, interior and intelligence. (NYT)

Related Title: The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power by David E. Sanger

Financial Reform

The problem right now is that nobody’s talking about anything except health care. So all this other [legislation] that we need to get done…nobody’s got the time.

- A House Democratic aide noting that the prospects for reform the financial system any time soon are dim. (Politico)

Related Title: The Trillion Dollar Meltdown by Charles R. Morris

Quotes of the Day: Every morning we point you to the top stories of the day–and the books that supply the best context and background.

More troops to Afghanistan

“It makes sense to get rid of the clerks and replace them with trigger-pullers.”

- An anonymous Pentagon official on U.S. reports that officials are planning to add as many as 14,000 combat troops to the American force in Afghanistan in place of support units. (Los Angeles Times)

*Related Title: The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power, by David E. Sanger

Obama to get specific on healthcare reform

“The ideas are all there on the table. Now we are in a new phase, and it’s time to pull the strands of these together.”

- David Axelrod, top advisor to President Obama, says the president is considering giving a speech soon that will be “more prescriptive” about what he feels Congress must include in a health bill. (Time)

*Related Title: Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer, by Howard Dean, with Igor Volsky and Faiz Shakir

Stevens to retire from Supreme Court?

“It seems to indicate that he probably won’t go beyond the current term.”

- Joseph Thai, a former Supreme Court clerk and now a University of Oklahoma law professor, commenting on speculation that Justice John Paul Stevens will retire next year. Stevens has hired fewer law clerks than usual, a  sign that he might be preparing to leave the court. (AP)

*Related Title: The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, by Jeffrey Toobin

Tough times for young workers

“We’re calling the report “A Lost Decade” because we’re seeing 10 years of opportunity lost as young workers across the board are struggling to keep their heads above water and often not succeeding. They’ve put off adulthood—put off having kids, put off education—and a full 34 percent of workers under 35 live with their parents for financial reasons.”

- Richard Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, on a new report sponsored by his organization titled “Young Workers: A Lost Decade.” (AFL-CIO)

*Related Title: The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, by Steven Greenhouse

Climate change and rising sea levels

“It is urgently necessary to rein in greenhouse gas emissions while we still can.”

- Martin Sommerkorn, senior adviser for the environmental organization WWF’s Arctic program. A new WWF report finds the world’s seas could rise by more than a meter (3 feet) by 2100 as the melting Arctic has an impact on weather across the planet. (Reuters)

*Related Title: The Global Deal: Climate Change and the Creation of a New Era of Progress and Prosperity, by Nicholas Stern

“Genius, said de Gaulle…sometimes consists of knowing when to stop. Genius is not required to recognize that in Afghanistan, when means now, before more American valor…is squandered.”

- George Will, conservative columnist for the Washington Post, argues today that the US mission in Afghanistan is impossible and that American troops ought to withdraw.

Related Title: The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, by Andrew J. Bacevich

“[The division is] “getting back to doing what it has traditionally done. But it’s really only a start. I think the wounds that were inflicted on this division were deep, and it will take some time for them to fully heal.”

- Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who is reorienting the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division toward high-impact civil rights enforcement against policies in areas where statistics show that minorities fare disproportionately poorly. Under the Bush administration the division preferred to focus on individual cases in which there is evidence of intentional discrimination and was roiled by a scandal over politically tinged hiring.

Related Title: Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and and the Subversion of American Democracy, by Charlie Savage

“The main image people have of him is sitting down with the bad guys and getting nothing.”

- Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, referring to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who has had more face time with autocratic leaders than any of his recent predecessors, arguing that “quiet diplomacy” can help nudge the most recalcitrant leaders to mend their ways.

Related Title: Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World, by Samantha Power

“We might only get one shot at this before the politics back home mean that the conversation changes from getting more troops to keeping what we’ve got.”

- A senior US military officer in Kabul, commenting on a strategic report from the top US commander in Afghanistan, which called conditions on the ground there “serious” but the war still winnable. The report is fuelign debate over whether to send in more U.S. troops.

Related Title: The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power, by David E. Sanger

“I think the chances are still good. I talked to them, and they all want to do health care reform. But the sad part is a lot politics have crept in. They are being told by the Republican Party not to participate.”

- Sen. Max Baucus of Montana said in an interview yesterday that healthcare reform bill will pass this year even if Republicans back out of bipartisan talks.

Related Title: Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer, with Igor Volsky and Faiz Shakir

Quotes of the Day: Every morning we point you to the top stories of the day–and the books that supply the best context and background.

Dick Cheney on the federal investigation of CIA interrogations…

“It’s clearly a political move. I mean, there’s no other rationale for why they’re doing this.”

- Former Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking in an interview on Fox News Sunday, criticized the Obama administration’s decision to investigate the abuse of prisoners held by the CIA.

*Related Title: The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals, by Jane Mayer

…and on halting Iran’s nuclear program

“I thought that negotiations could not possibly succeed unless the Iranians really believed we were prepared to use military force. And to date, of course, they are still proceeding with their nuclear program and the matter has not yet been resolved.”

- In the same interview Cheney also suggested that he wanted President Bush to authorize a military strike against Iran’s nuclear-weapons program before he left office.

*Related Title: The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, by Andrew J. Bacevich

Climate Legislation

“Progressives and clean-energy types…made a mistake and slacked off. And the other side really kept making its case.”

- Joseph Romm, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. The Senate is expected to take up legislation that would cap greenhouse-gas emissions next month, and environmentalists run the risk of losing out to industry in their efforts to shape the final bill.

*Related Title: The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, by Van Jones

Bank Bailouts

“They are substantially in the money.”

- Guy de Blonay, a fund manager at Henderson New Star in London, commenting on news that taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid doled out to large banks last year under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The government still faces potentially huge long-term losses from other bailouts.

*Related Title: Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, by Liaquat Ahamed

Afghan Elections

“There has been a lot of talk about women’s civic life and political movements, but security comes first.”

- Safia Siddiqui, a legislator from Nangahar province in Afghanistan. Election monitors and women’s activists say a combination of fear, tradition, apathy, and poor planning kept turnout low for women in the Aug. 20 election.

*Related Title: The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power, by David E. Sanger

Quotes of the Day: Every morning we point you to the top stories of the day–and the books that supply the best context and background.

Engaging the Muslim World

“To put it simply, we need to worry a lot less about how to communicate our actions and much more about what our actions communicate.”

- Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has written a searing critique of government efforts at “strategic communication.”

*Related Title: Engaging the Muslim World, by Juan Cole

Middle East Peace Talks

“It will be crucially important that the Palestinian peoples are united among themselves and should be able to carry on these negotiations.”

- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on the need for a Palestinian united front to revive Middle East peace talks. He added that he had high hopes for President Obama’s approach of direct engagement in pushing forward with the peace process.

*Related Title: Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East, by Rashid Khalidi

“A New Vision” to Gulf Coast Reconstruction

“There is a sense of momentum and a desire to get things done.”

- Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La, on the Obama administration’s efforts to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Obama’s approach has earned high praise from people on both ends of the political spectrum.

*Related Title: It Takes a Nation: How Strangers Became Family in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina, by Laura Dawn

Healthcare Reform

“If you asked me that on Aug. 6, I would have said yes…. But you’re asking me on Aug. 27 and you’ve got the impact of democracy in America. Everybody’s showing up at town meetings.”

- Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, which is attempting to draft a bipartisan health care measure, when asked if negotiators can reach a bipartisan deal on healthcare reform in September.

*Related Title: Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer, by Howard Dean, with Igor Volsky and Faiz Shakir

Immigration Reform

“It’s a priority for both me and the president.”

- Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, when asked whether she thougth a bipartisan immigration-policy overhaul would at some point get through Congress.

*Related Title: The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization, by Rinku Sen and Fekkak Mamdouh

Quotes of the Day: Every morning we point you to the top stories of the day–and the books that supply the best context and background.

Edward M. Kennedy (1932-2009)

“His fight gave us the opportunity we were denied when his brothers John and Robert were taken from us: the blessing of time to say thank you and goodbye. The outpouring of love, gratitude and fond memories to which we’ve all borne witness is a testament to the way this singular figure in American history touched so many lives.”

- President Obama in an email to supporters marking the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy

Related Title: Why We’re Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America, by Eric Alterman

Healthcare and Immigration Reform

“The administration is certain to call for swift action on health care reform as a tribute to Kennedy. But it also should accelerate work on immigration reform in his name.”

- Morton M. Kondracke, a contributing writer to Roll Call.

Related Title: The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization, by Rinku Sen and Fekkak Mamdouh

CIA Detainee Abuse

“Whether criminal prosecutions are ultimately warranted for these individuals remains an open question. But there can be no question that a full investigation is required, and that these officials are equally, if not more, responsible for the C.I.A.’s use of brutality than the interrogators. If we are willing to consider holding to account only those without political power, what is left of the rule of law?”

– David Cole, a Georgetown law professor and author, commenting on Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to appoint a federal prosecutor to examine nearly a dozen abuse cases in which detainees were held by the CIA.

Related Title: The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals, by Jane Mayer

Afghan Elections

“I think Afghans have shown very clearly to the Taliban that despite the fear that was created before the election — which was massive, with night letters, threats, attacks — despite all of that they wanted to vote.”

- Nader Nadery, of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan. Views on the legitimacy of the election are mixed.

Related Title: The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World, by Larry Diamond

Unrest in Iran

“I don’t accuse the leaders of the recent incidents of being affiliated with foreign countries, including the United States and Britain, since the issue has not been proven for me.”

- Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, speaking with a group of university students on Wednesday, according to Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency.

Related Title: The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power, by David E. Sanger

An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States Senator of our time.

– President Barack Obama

“Today America lost a great elder statesman, a committed public servant, and leader of the Senate. And today I lost a treasured friend. “Ted Kennedy was an iconic, larger than life United States senator whose influence cannot be overstated. Many have come before, and many will come after, but Ted Kennedy’s name will always be remembered as someone who lived and breathed the United States Senate and the work completed within its chamber.”

– Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah)

“He taught us how to fight, how to laugh, how to treat each other, and how to turn idealism into action, and in these last 14 months, he taught us much more about how to live life, sailing into the wind one last time.

“No words can ever do justice to this irrepressible, larger-than-life presence who was simply the best — the best senator, the best advocate you could ever hope for, the best colleague and the best person to stand by your side in the toughest of times.”

– Sen. John Kerry

“Teddy never lost his drive to serve his country and honor his brothers’ memory.”

– Ted Sorenson, former aide and speechwriter to President John F. Kennedy

“I literally would not be standing here were it not for Teddy Kennedy. He was there, he stood with me when my wife and daughter were killed in an accident. He was on the phone with me literally every day. … I’d turn around and there’d be some specialist from Massachusetts, a doc I never even asked for, sitting in the room with me. It’s not just me that he affected like that; it’s hundreds upon hundreds of people.”

– Vice President Joe Biden