Cheney: Obama Putting America At Risk Of Another Attack
During his interview today on CNN, former Vice President Dick Cheney blasted the Obama Administration’s decisions to undo the previous policies on Guantanamo, waterboarding and other issues. “President Obama campaigned against it all across the country,” said Cheney. “And now he is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack.”
No Obama Or Biden Events Today
President Obama and Vice President Biden do not have any public events today. Obama has a 3 p.m. meeting on the economy at the Oval Office, which will be closed press.
Summers: AIG Bonuses “Outrageous” — But Government Cannot Abrogate Contracts
Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Lawrence Summers denounced the AIG bonuses as “outrageous,” and said the White House is doing everything it can to limit the bonuses — but he also added that there are limits to what can be done. “We are a country of law. There are contracts,” said Summers. “The government cannot just abrogate contracts. Every legal step possible to limit those bonuses is being taken by Secretary Geithner and by the Federal Reserve system.”
Goolsbee: Administration Doing Everything It Can About AIG Bonuses
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Austan Goolsbee addressed the AIG bonuses. “I don’t know why they would follow a policy that’s really not sensible, is obviously going to ignite the ire of millions of people, and we’ve done exactly what we can do to prevent this kind of thing from happening again,” said Goolsbee. “I think the root of the problem has been some of the people have things written in their contract that say, ‘Look, you sell this much life insurance, you get a bonus of X,’ and it’s in their contract and that part can’t be changed.”
Barney Frank Wants To See If AIG Bonuses Are Recoverable — And To Get Tough On The Executives
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Barney Frank said he wanted to see if the AIG bonuses are recoverable. “We can’t just violate law — legal obligations. I understand that,” said Frank. “But I do want to find out at what point these illegal obligations were incurred, who said, and at what point, we’re going to give these bonuses no matter what. And I do think it’s inappropriate for those people to stay in power at that company.”
WaPo: Jarrett High-Powered And Low-Key
The Washington Post profiles Valerie Jarrett, and her role as the public liaison for groups wanting to reach President Obama: “Jarrett’s ability to navigate the big personalities and even bigger egos in the administration will go a long way toward determining her success, and perhaps the president’s, in trying to change the tone of civic discourse and foster more grass-roots influence in Washington.”
Biden Raises Big Money For Blanche Lincoln
Joe Biden headlined a fundraiser in Arkansas yesterday for Senator Blanche Lincoln, kicking off her re-election bid. The Lincoln campaign told the media that the event brought in about $800,000 a considerable amount in the inexpensive Arkansas media markets.
Americans United Ad: We Want The President And America To Succeed
The latest ad from the labor-backed group Americans United For Change, running on national cable and in the D.C. media market, blasts Congressional Republicans for attacking President Obama’s budget plan, but failing to have a one of their own:
“Tell the Republicans that Americans won’t take No for an answer. Tell them we want our President – and America – to succeed,” the announcer says. Note that at this point, the group doesn’t even have to directly mention Rush Limbaugh, as they did in prior ads — the line about wanting the President and America to succeed gets the message across just fine.
