Obama surprised by political cost of health law

08. November 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Economy, Health, News · Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

9:34 A.M. — WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama says the political cost of overhauling the health care system turned out to be higher than he had expected. And he admits that he gets discouraged at times when dealing with the economy.

In an interview airing Sunday night on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Obama said the health care system itself is huge and complicated and that changing it eluded previous presidents because it was so difficult.

“I made the decision to go ahead and do it, and it proved as costly politically as we expected ? probably actually a little more costly than we expected, politically,” he said.

Obama said he thought that he would find common ground with Republicans by advancing health care proposals that had been introduced by Republican administrations as well as potential presidential candidate Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts.

“I couldn’t get the kind of cooperation from Republicans that I had hoped for,” he said. “And that was costly, partly because it created the kind of partisanship and bickering that really turn people off.”

Obama said the danger of a second major recession is “much reduced” and a great depression is not on the horizon. Still a danger, he said, is the nation being “stuck in a new normal where unemployment rates stay high.”

“I do get discouraged. I mean, there are times where I thought the economy would had gotten better by now,” he said. “One of the things I think you understand as president is you’re held responsible for everything. But you don’t always have control of everything, especially an economy this big.”

However, Obama sounded optimistic about the nation’s economic future.

“I am constantly reminded that we have been through worse times than these, and we’ve always come out on top,” he said. “And I’m positive that the same thing is going to happen this time.”

Obama said his two years as president haven’t changed his ideals.

“But I think that in terms of how I operated on a day-to-day basis, when you’ve got a series of choices to make ? I think that there are times where we said let’s just get it done instead of worrying about how we’re getting it done,” he said. “And I think that’s a problem. I’m paying a political price for that.”

The “60 Minutes” interview was taped at the White House on Thursday, before Obama left for a four-nation tour of Asia.

Obama surprised by political cost of health law

20. August 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Politics · Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Rev. Franklin Graham States Us president Obama was 'Born a Muslim'
Remarks Arrive As Poll Indicates One particular in 5 Us residents Wrongly Believes Obama Is Muslim

By BRADLEY BLACKBURN

Aug. 20, 2010—

Within the heels of a fresh poll suggesting that practically a single in 5 People in the usa incorrectly believes that Us president Obama is really a Muslim, certainly one of the nation's most prominent evangelical leaders has weighed in that has a seemingly lukewarm endorsement in the president's Christian belief.

The Rev. Franklin Graham waded to the discussion with his very own controversial explanation of why men and women wrongly feel the chief executive is often a Muslim. Graham, who prayed with Obama in the session with his dad, Billy Graham, earlier this yr, was asked no matter if he's any doubts about Obama's self-avowed Christian belief.

View 'World Information With Diane Sawyer' for additional on this story tonight on ABC.

“I feel the president's issue is always that he was born a Muslim, his dad was a Muslim. The seed of Islam is passed by means of the dad such as the seed of Judaism is passed as a result of the mom. He was born a Muslim, his dad gave him an Islamic name,” Graham advised CNN's John King in the televised interview that aired Thursday night time.

“Now it can be clear the fact that us president has renounced the prophet Mohammed, and he's renounced Islam, and he's accepted Jesus Christ. Which is what he states he's carried out. I are not able to say that he hasn't. So I just have got to think how the chief executive is what he's explained,” Graham continued, adding that “the Islamic planet sees the leader as amongst theirs.”

The us president himself has composed that his dad, Barack Obama Sr., was previously a confirmed atheist from the time he was born. His dad divorced his mom when Obama was 2 many years old, and he experienced tiny get in touch with with his dad in the course of his childhood.

White Home spokesman Bill Burton reacted to Graham's reviews at a White Residence briefing right now in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., saying basically that this chief executive is really a committed Christian and that Franklin Graham is entitled to his opinion.

Poll Demonstrates Additional Us citizens Wrongly Think Obama Is Muslim

Confusion in regards to the president's morals seems being growing one of the population, in accordance with a brand new poll from your nonpartisan Pew Forum on Religion and Public Living. The poll observed that 18 pct of all those surveyed wrongly identified Obama as Muslim, up from 11 per-cent in March '09. At the identical time, the quantity of People in america who explained they believed, effectively, that Obama is Christian has declined from 48 per-cent in March '09 to 34 percentage right now. But 43 percentage of People in america now say they usually do not know very well what Obama's religion is in any way.

The Pew poll was performed in between July 21 and Aug. five, prior to Obama weighed in within the controversial program to construct an Islamic middle close to the web site on the 9/11 attack about the Planet Trade Middle.

The misinformation continues to exist regardless of the president's personal declarations of his Christian belief and also the statements of his spiritual advisers.

Whie Household: Us president Prays Every single day

“The chief executive is, definitely, Christian. He prays on a daily basis,” Burton explained Thursday aboard Air Force 1.

“He communicates with his religious adviser everyday,” Burton mentioned. “There's a group of pastors that he will take counsel from regularly. His belief is essential to him, but it is not one thing which is a subject of conversation everyday.”

Burton mentioned the us president has talked “extensively” about his belief previously and “you can bet he'll speak about his belief once more.” But “making certain People in the usa know very well what a devout Christian he is” seriously isn't the president's best priority.

How Does Misinformation Distribute?

The poll indicates that groups who've proven one of the most willingness to think the incorrect notion how the leader is really a Muslim incorporate conservative Republicans, 34 percentage of whom trust Obama is Muslim. Eighteen percentage of independents stated the us president is really a Muslim, up from 10 pct in March '09.

“I believe the reality is the fact phony morals distribute like gossip a lot more than true data,” explained Andrew Perrin, an associate professor of sociology on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Perrin's exploration has demonstrated that a phony perception can distribute rapidly if people's pals and neighbors also have heard or feel a equivalent concept.

“False morals propagate when folks consider other people feel them, and once they possess a supportive source that desires them to carry it,” Perrin explained.

Perrin has uncovered that even direct denials in the bogus info usually do not usually solve the issue.

“In my unique investigation, when get trusted facts that discounts these values, they have a tendency to cling to people morals additional,” Perrin stated.

Misperception Also Exists Concerning President's Political Allies

But even one of the president's allies, the numbers are shifting. In March '09, 55 percentage of Democrats stated the us president is often a Christian. That variety is now 46 percentage.

African-Americans, who voted for Obama overwhelmingly, have found a related shift. In March '09, 36 per-cent of African-Americans explained they did not know the president's religion. That quantity is now 46 per-cent. Self-described liberal Democrats who do not know very well what religion the leader is shifted from 23 per-cent to 31 per-cent.

Chief executive Favors a Exclusive Belief

Obama has favored a additional exclusive belief considering he took business office in January '09, attending formal church providers just a handful of times, which include Easter of this yr.

Like his predecessor George W. Bush, Obama has stated he prefers worshiping in the chapel at Camp David. However the chief executive almost never goes towards the presidential retreat, and rather spends Sundays with the White Home. Weekend pursuits generally consist of basketball or golf.

Nevertheless, the us president has explained his Christian belief is aspect of his day-to-day living. Final calendar year, Obama explained to ABC's Terry Moran on “Nightline” that he relied on his BlackBerry as a single software to maintain the belief.

“My belief and neighborhood initiatives director, Joshua DuBois, he includes a devotional that he sends to me on my BlackBerry each day,” Obama explained. “That's how I start out my morning. You realize, he's acquired a passage, scripture, in some conditions, quotes from other faiths to reflect on.”

Obama: Belief Has Deepened Though in Office environment

The leader explained through a similar interview that his belief experienced deepened while in his time in office environment.

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Gulf oil spill: BP reopens part of oil cap to get ready for test

15. July 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: News · Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Watch live BP oil spill cam

11:45 A.M. UPDATE — NEW ORLEANS ? BP is temporarily letting oil pour out of a second pipe on its untested cap as part of preparations for closing all the valves to see how well it can contain the gusher.

The federal government’s point man on the disaster, Thad Allen, says all the pipes may be closed later today. That would start a 48-hour experiment to see if the massive capping stack can stop the oil without blowing a new hole in the well.

BP late Wednesday shut down two of the three valves that control the flow of oil through the cap. But a leak discovered in a pipe overnight required a fix and the pipe was replaced early today. That sent BP back to the start of preparing for the test, including by reopening one of the two closed valves.

Earlier reports

NEW ORLEANS ? After fixing a leak on a cap designed to plug up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP engineers readied today to see if the new top is enough to contain the gusher.

Kent Wells, a BP PLC vice president, said at a news briefing in Houston that the leak, which was discovered late Wednesday, was fixed by replacing the pipe called a “choke line” on the side of capping device. The work set back the testing process on the cap’s capabilities.

The test will involve closing off all three openings in the cap to the Gulf, in theory stopping the oil leaking into the Gulf. BP will be monitoring pressure under the cap. High pressure is good, because it shows there’s only a single leak. Low pressure, below 6,000 pounds per square inch or so, could mean more leaks farther down in the well.

BP expects to keep the oil trapped in the cap for 48 hours before it decides if the approach is working.

The cap – a 75-ton metal stack of lines and valves – was lowered onto the well on Monday in hopes of either bottling up the oil inside the well machinery, or capturing it and funneling it to the surface.

Now that the new choke line is in place, BP has to start from a few steps back to resume the process of testing the cap’s ability to shut off the flow of oil to the Gulf.

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“We’re going to keep moving forward with this,” Wells said.

It has to once again stop the collection of oil from surface vessels, which resumed after the leak was discovered. For the tests, all the oil has to be trapped under the cap to measure how much pressure it generates.

Then, BP has to recheck equipment used in the test and move undersea robots that perform the work back into position. Wells was hesitant to give a firm timeframe for when the test could start, but expected it to be today, possibly late in the morning.

“Bear with us,” he said.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man on the disaster, said a committee of scientists and engineers will monitor the results and assess every six hours, and end the test after 48 hours to evaluate the findings.

“I was gung-ho for this test and I remain gung-ho for this test,” he said Wednesday.

If the cap works, it will enable BP to stop the oil from gushing into the sea, either by holding all the oil inside the well machinery like a stopper or, if the pressure is too great, channeling some through lines to as many as four collection ships.

Allen said the testing will also offer insight into the other, more permanent solution to the fix: two relief wells intended to plug the gusher from deep underground. The mapping of the sea floor that was done to prepare for the well cap test and the pressure readings will also help them determine how much mud and cement will be needed to seal off the well.

Drill work was stopped on one relief well because it was not clear what effect the testing of the cap could have on it. Work on the other relief well had already been stopped according to plan.

The government estimates 1.5 million to 2.5 million gallons are leaking every day.

Gulf oil spill: BP reopens part of oil cap to get ready for test

Two Profiles in Class

09. November 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Politics · Tags: , , , , ,

Monday, November 09, 2009

Two Profiles in Class [Rory Cooper]

This past weekend, Americans were treated to two completely different profiles in class. First there was former president George W. Bush. On Friday night, George and Laura Bush traveled by car to Fort Hood to meet with the devastated families of last week’s tragedy. They specifically asked the base commander not to alert the press, and spent hours simply doing what they could to comfort the grief-stricken families.

The story was eventually uncovered, as these moments tend to be, but clearly President Bush did not see this as a personal opportunity, nor did he want to upstage the current president. The former president saw his interactions with wounded soldiers and their families as private moments.

Twenty-four hours later, President Obama was not at Fort Hood, but rather on Capitol Hill lobbying a private meeting of Democrats, who must not have known his position on health care. Obama told the lawmakers, according to Democratic congressman Earl Blumenauer in the New York Times: “Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit [Democratic voters] and it will encourage the extremists.”

Let’s dissect that statement. First, President Obama incorrectly states that conservatives are “anti-government,” which simply is untrue. Conservatives are in favor of the government’s performing its duties efficiently and effectively. Conservatives are not in favor of the government’s running a new national health-care entitlement that will surely fail. (The House passed a bill that costs $2.4 trillion, raises taxes by $700 billion, and massively expands a bankrupt Medicaid program — all while the nation’s unemployment rate stands above 10 percent.)

More disturbing is President Obama’s labeling his opposition as “extremists” and falling just short of using the profane “teabag” epithet that is popular among dismissive liberals. This is simply beneath the office he holds. When tens of thousands of multigenerational families descended onto Capitol Hill last week, they were protesting runaway federal spending and government control. They understood that while reform of our health-care system is necessary, the answer is not to compound the problem while ignoring uninsured Americans. These are not extreme views.

President Obama won a short-lived victory this weekend on health care, but he clearly misread the tea leaves if he believes that conservative Democrats will get more support in their home districts for supporting this disastrous plan. These electoral matters are not helped by the president’s demonization of a respectful and vigilant opposition to this government intrusion into their lives.

While President Bush was at Fort Hood consoling the victims of real radical extremism, President Obama was in Washington calling American families who don’t support his health-care plan “extremists.” A more enlightening profile of the two men could not be found.