Axelrod to Democrats: Blame the GOP
White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod told Senate Democrats to go on offense against the Republicans in this November’s election. “We’re not interested in re-litigating the past but we don’t want to relive it either,” Axelrod said after a closed-door strategy session. “People need to know that when they cast that Republican vote they’re casting that vote for those same discredited policies that punished the middle class and created this crisis in the first place.”
Obama’s Day Ahead
President Obama will depart from the White House at 9:30 a.m. ET, then will depart from Andrews Air Force Base at 9:45 a.m. ET, arriving at 11:05 a.m. ET in Detroit, Michigan. He will tour the Chrysler auto plant at 11:50 a.m. ET, and will deliver remarks at 12:15 p.m. ET. He will then tour the General Motors auto plant at 12:55 p.m. ET, and deliver remarks at 1:40 p.m. ET. He will depart from Detroit at 3:10 p.m. ET, arriving at Andrews Air Force Base at 4:25 p.m. ET, and at the White House at 4:40 p.m. ET.
No Biden Events Today
Vice President Biden will be in Wilmington, Delaware. He does not have any public events scheduled.
Gates: WikiLeaks Consequences ‘Potentially Severe And Dangerous For Our Troops’
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told a press conference that the Pentagon will “aggressively investigate” the WikiLeaks documents about the war in Afghanistan. Gates said that “the battlefield consequences of the release of these documents are potentially severe and dangerous for our troops, our allies and Afghan partners, and may well damage our relationships and reputation in that key part of the world.”
Lawmakers’ Concerns About Deficit Slows Passage Of Spending Bills
The Hill reports: “Election-year deficit concerns are slowing the annual appropriations process as lawmakers wrestle with how much spending is palatable on everything from healthcare to homeland security. The House had passed just one of the 12 annual spending bills before Thursday’s vote on the Transportation-HUD bill — leaving it far behind last year’s pace — while the Senate has yet to pass any.”
Emotions Flare After Immigration Law Is Blocked
The New York Times reports: “As the Arizona governor on Thursday formally appealed a federal judge’s ruling that prevented the most contested parts of the state’s immigration law from taking effect, a burst of protest and recrimination made clear the ruling had hardly soothed emotions in the state. The new law technically went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, but major provisions of it, including one giving police officers a larger role in enforcing immigration violations, were suspended Wednesday by the court order.”
U.S. Takes A Tougher Tone With China
The Washington Post reports: “The Obama administration has adopted a tougher tone with China in recent weeks as part of a diplomatic balancing act in which the United States welcomes China’s rise in some areas but also confronts Beijing when it butts up against American interests. Faced with a Chinese government increasingly intent on testing U.S. strength and capabilities, the United States unveiled a new policy that rejected China’s claims to sovereignty over the whole South China Sea. It rebuffed Chinese demands that the U.S. military end its longtime policy of conducting military exercises in the Yellow Sea. And it is putting new pressure on Beijing not to increase its energy investments in Iran as Western firms leave.”
