Category: National Politics

Sen. McCaskill: Obama ‘not a schmoozer’

Posted by dwilson – December 5, 2012

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Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., was on MSNBC this week answering media questions about whether President Barack Obama is doing enough to engage members of Congress in avoiding the fiscal cliff.

McCaskill said people are overreacting to a report that Obama and Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, did not speak to each other during a reception for members of Congress at the White House. She said presidents generally remain in the “photo room” and don’t get to mix with guests.

During one exchange, McCaskill said, “He’s not a schmoozer, that’s true.”

The clip above is long, but it gives McCaskill’s thoughts on the showdown between Republicans and Democrats about automatic tax hikes and program cuts that will kick in soon unless there’s a congressional compromise.

White House report on Obama, Romney lunch

Posted by dwilson – November 29, 2012

News junkies will have plenty of sources for coverage of the lunch between President Barack Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Rather than rehash the stories and the comments coming from on-air commentators, here’s a copy of the release from the office of the White House press secretary.

“This afternoon, President Obama and Governor Romney visited for an hour over lunch in the Private Dining Room adjacent to the Oval Office.

Governor Romney congratulated the President for the success of his campaign and wished him well over the coming four years. The focus of their discussion was on America’s leadership in the world and the importance of maintaining that leadership position in the future.

They pledged to stay in touch, particularly if opportunities to work together on shared interests arise in the future.

Their lunch menu included white turkey chili and Southwestern grilled chicken salad.”

It sounds like a very civil affair, right down to the use of turkey in the chili and grilled chicken in the salad, so as not to favor either side in the poultry wars.

Missouri poll shows incumbents in tight races

Posted by dwilson – July 30, 2012

President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill are locked in tough campaigns against Republican challengers in Missouri.

According to a poll conducted by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and KMOV, the two Democratic incumbents have much higher unfavorables among the electorate than the GOP standardbearers.

Obama had a 34 percent favorable rating, a 51 percent unfavorable and 15 percent neutral response from registered voters who responded to the survey July 23-25. Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney had 35 percent favorables and 27 percent unfavorable, with 33 percent neutral.

In another part of the poll, respondents gave Romney a 51-42 edge over Obama if the election were held that day — with only 5 percent undecided and 2 percent selecting Libertarian Gary Johnson.

It was no surprise that Obama is most popular in the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas, which generally have much larger Democratic majorities than other parts of the state. What is surprising is that Obama’s lead is not very big.

In St. Louis, Obama is favored 53-41 over Romney. In Kansas City, Obama has a 49-43 edge. Outside of those areas, in northern, central, southeastern and southwestern parts of the state, Obama has between 28 and 30 percent support and Romney has between 62 and 64 percent support.

According to the Post-Dispatch poll, McCaskill would have lost to Republican John Brunner 41-52, if the election had been held that day. Against Republican Sarah Steelman, McCaskill would have fallen 49-41. And dark horse GOP candidate Todd Akin would have beat McCaskill 49-44.

The poll had better news for Gov. Jay Nixon. The first-term Democrat would have beaten Republican Dave Spence 48-39 if the election had been held that day. Independent voters favored Nixon 52-31 and women favored him 52-33. Spence had a 46-44 edge among men.

Polls don’t tell the whole story, but they shed some light on the mood of Missouri as the August primary approaches and the November election sprints begin.

Health care ruling will excite, exasperate

Posted by dwilson – June 27, 2012

No matter how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, it will give part of the population heartburn.

Everybody knows that the court could: Uphold the act, reject the entire act or reject part of it.

Most people expect that the individual mandate will be struck down. It is the provision that would require everyone who can pay for insurance to do so. Those who fail to buy policies would be hit with fines or taxes at least equivalent to what their policies would have cost.

Justice Anthony Kennedy asked during the court’s hearing on the law whether it is “changing the relationship of the individual to the government?” In another part of the hearings he wanted to know whether the government can “create commerce in order to regulate it” by creating a situation where customers must buy health care coverage in order for the government to be the final arbiter of said coverage.

If the mandate is struck down, it will rip a huge chunk of the financing out of the heart of the health care law. Even if the rest of the law stands, it is hard to imagine that it can proceed as it was envisioned.

President Barack Obama didn’t get everything he wanted when he called for a national health care law, but he is forever linked to the law which is often called Obamacare.

If the law is partially or fully invalidated, many people may see it as a repudiation of Obama. Whatever amount of blame belongs to the president, millions of American voters already took out their frustrations on members of Congress in the 2010 elections, knocking off lots of Democrats who supported the act.

As President George W. Bush’s push for a two-headed war came back to haunt him and Republicans, Obama’s push for a health care law may be remembered as one of his failings, rather than an accomplishment.

Luetkemeyer sees history in the making

Posted by dwilson – June 15, 2012

U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, believes this is a historic time for the United States.

“About every 50 to 75 years as you look at the history of the United States, we come to a point where we as a society, we as a country, have to make a decision as to whether we’re going to continue down a particular road or change direction,” Luetkemeyer said during a visit to Hannibal on Wednesday.

Within 25 years or more, with the benefit of hindsight, Luetkemeyer said historians will look back at the years 2010, 2012 and perhaps 2014 and see that voters made long-range decisions on the direction of the nation.

Luetkeymeyer has talked about these historic crossroads before. He believes Republicans will do very well in the November election and will seek to limit federal spending.

Pennsylvania Democrat defects to Republican party

Posted by dwilson – May 30, 2012

Jo Ann Nardelli, a state Democratic committeewoman in Pennsylvania, has resigned from her party position and switched her affiliation to the Republican party due to her religious convictions.

Nardelli, the founding president of the Blair County Federation of Democratic Woman, made the switch after President Barack Obama embraced gay marriage. Nardelli, a pro-life Catholic, announced her switch at a press conference last week, where she endorsed Mitt Romney for president.

“As the Democratic Party has taken the stand for same-sex marriage, then I must take a stand on my faith that marriage is between a man and a woman. God’s principles of life never change,” Nardelli told the Altoona Mirror.

 

 

Joe the Plumber becomes Joe the Candidate

Posted by dwilson – May 4, 2012

Joe Wurzelbacher — better known as Joe the Plumber after his famous, video-recorded grilling of candidate Barack Obama in 2008 — is still stirring things up in the political realm.

Wurzelbacher is a Republican candidate for Congress in Ohio. He is challenging 15-term incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur in a district that is packed with Democrats.

While political analysts believe Wurzelbacher will have a tough time winning his race, they also believe he will help engage Republican voters in his important swing state.

Wurzelbacher, who visited Pike County, Ill., last year, has a penchant for saying things that get attention. In March he said that anyone who voted for the Affordable Care Act “has committed treason.” He recently claimed that Obama’s mother was an atheist and both the president’s parents were communists — something that Wurzelbacher’s campaign manager later admitted could not be substantiated.

Candidates who say controversial and often incorrect things do capture attention. Wurzelbacher is not the first, the last or the worst offender. It will be interesting to see how he does with voters and whether his attention grabbing statements are a positive or a negative for his party.

Politico analyst says tea party not part of GOP

Posted by dwilson – April 23, 2012

James Hohmann wrote an analysis piece for Politico last week after the Republican National Committee completed its annual meeting in Arizona.

One of his major themes is that tea party adherents have to rise through the ranks within the Republican party apparatus just like everyone else. Jack Kimball’s story is used as an example of what can happen when someone is put in a leadership position for which they are not prepared.

Kimball was elected as the New Hampshire Republican chairman, but resigned after he failed or refused to lead on several fronts. Fundraising crumbled, special elections were lost and Kimball signed an election petition for a Libertarian candidate.

The larger theme of the essay is that the tea party is more like any of the constituencies in the Republican party, such as defense hawks or fiscal conservatives.

Happy reading.

Members of Congress banned from insider trading

Posted by dwilson – April 4, 2012

It may have looked like a “Duh?” moment to most people, but President Barack Obama has signed a law that outlaws insider trading by members of Congress.

The law, of course, was passed by members of Congress. It has been proposed before, but finally got favorable treatment in an election year. It remains to be seen whether doing the right thing will improve approval ratings for Congress which hover at between 12 and 19 percent — depending on the wording of the survey.

The STOCK Act is an acronym for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge. It requires public disclosure of transactions exceeding $1,000.

Americans say individual mandate unconstitutional

Posted by dwilson – March 26, 2012

Gallup conducted a poll last month and found that 72 percent of Americans believe the individual mandate, which requires every American to buy health insurance or pay a fine, is unconstitutional.

Public opinion is not supposed to play a part in the U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the Affordable Care Act of 2010, which take place through Wednesday. The justices are supposed to focus strictly on whether the health care law violates the U.S. Constitution.

Streaming audio of the arguments today through Wednesday, are available at the Supreme Court’s website (www.supremecourt.gov)

A breakout of poll results shows that 70 percent of independents and 56 percent of Democrats think the health care law goes beyond the constitutional authority granted to Congress. Another question in the poll elicited a 72 percent response that the health care law will make things worse, or won’t help the nation.