Barack Obama dismissed from jury duty in Chicago

CHICAGO - Former US president Barack Obama answered a jury summons Wednesday, but was dismissed soon after arriving at a Chicago courthouse to perform the civic duty asked of all Americans.

As a prospective juror, Obama joined fellow citizens at Cook County's Daley Center courthouse, all waiting to see if they would be chosen to serve on a trial.

The former leader of the free world was the only juror to arrive by motorcade, however, accompanied by tight security and met with a throng of news media and court staff trying to snap a picture.

"He gorgeous!" one court clerk exclaimed upon spotting the former president, the Chicago Tribute reported. Potential juror Kelly Bulik told the newspaper she felt like a "piece of melting butter" as she shook his hand.

Obama thanked everyone for showing up, and was surprised by some who presented him with copies of his books to sign.

"Thanks everybody for serving on the jury. Or, at least being willing to," he said to laughter.

The former law professor left by midday, along with a number of others who were randomly selected for dismissal, according to the Tribune.

Before heading to court, the former president tweeted in the morning about Tuesday night's high-profile state and mayoral election results seen as a sweeping repudiation of the politics of his White House successor Donald Trump.

"This is what happens when the people vote," Obama wrote. "Every office in a democracy counts!"

Obama is not the first US president to show up for service that some Americans either dread or find excuses to avoid. Obama's predecessor in the White House, George W Bush, responded to a jury summons in 2015.

Bush was not selected to serve as a juror, but images of the smiling former president posing with delighted citizens at the courthouse in Dallas, Texas quickly showed up on social media.

Chicago has some experience with high-profile jurors. In 2004, media titan Oprah Winfrey, who at the time produced her talk show out of the midwestern city, was a juror on a three-day murder trial ending in a conviction.

While the Obamas currently live in Washington, the ex-president and first lady Michelle Obama maintain a home in Chicago, the city where he got his political start.

The south side of Chicago is also where the future Obama presidential center will be built, near the former leader's home.

nov/oh-ska/mdo

source: news.abs-cbn.com

No pressure to end Zambo crisis for Obama visit

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang has denied reports that it is being pressured to end the Zamboanga crisis before US President Barack Obama visits Manila next month.

Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said they want to end the conflict not because of Obama, but because they want to achieve peace in Mindanao.

The Zamboanga City crisis entered its seventh day on Sunday, with more than 50 people, including three civilians, killed in the fighting between the Armed Forces and the Nur Misuari faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

Obama will visit Manila on October 11 and 12 as part of a four-nation tour in the Asia Pacific.

In a statement, the White House said Obama “will meet with President Aquino to reaffirm the strong economic people-to-people and security links between our two countries.”

It will be Obama’s first visit to Manila. -- Report from ANC

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Obama mulls new cabinet picks

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama, fresh from re-election and facing a new clash with Congress, got back to work Thursday, with an important item on his to-do list -- stocking his new cabinet.

Obama is expected to lose heavyweights including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, for most if not all of his second four-year term.

The president will also likely have to make changes to his White House staff with some senior aides, exhausted by a crisis-strewn four years, expected to move on and others shifting to different jobs in the administration.

Speculation is already rife about who will replace Clinton, who has reiterated that she wants to reclaim a private life put on hold by decades in the spotlight.

Clinton has said she has no interest in another White House race, but the campaign blitz for Obama by her husband former president Bill Clinton, and the power couple's passion for top-level politics, has sparked renewed speculation.

Until Clinton makes her final decision known, the Democratic Party's other possible 2016 presidential candidates will likely hold their fire, as the former first lady would be a prohibitive favorite if she did run.

UN ambassador Susan Rice, who has been close to Obama for years, has long been seen as a likely replacement for Clinton at the State Department, despite being caught up in the furor over the raid in the US consulate in Benghazi.

Another possible contender is John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, whose stock rose with Obama after he played Republican nominee Mitt Romney in practice runs for the recent presidential debates.

Rice would be the second African American woman in the job after Condoleezza Rice, to whom she is not related. She is known at the United Nations for an assertive manner and is not shy about pounding home the US point of view.

A report in Russia's Kommersant newspaper Thursday said that Moscow, with whom Rice has clashed heatedly over Syria, would prefer to see Kerry get the job, at a sensitive time between Obama and restored President Vladimir Putin.

"It would be more difficult for Moscow to work with Washington" if Rice became Secretary of State, the unnamed Russian official was quoted as saying.

Kerry would have to step down from the Senate, however, and there is concern that his Massachusetts berth could fall prey to Republican Scott Brown, who lost a race with Democrat Elizabeth Warren for the state's other Senate seat.

White House sources said that the usual timetable for replacing cabinet members -- in plenty of time for confirmation by the Senate after the presidential inauguration in January -- could slip this time.

Geithner and Panetta are key figures in the year-end budget and tax showdown looming with Republicans, and may not move on until the so called "fiscal cliff" drama is resolved.

Some insiders talk about White House chief of staff Jacob Lew, himself a budget specialist, as a possible successor for Geithner while others speculate that Obama may reach for someone with business credentials to improve his shaky standing with the corporate world.

Panetta is expected to leave the administration at some point, but he did not serve for the full four-year first term, having taken over just last year from Robert Gates, a holdover from the previous Bush administration.

Also known as a budget specialist, Panetta may stay in place until expected spending reductions are factored in to the Pentagon's budgetary plan to return to his walnut farm in California's Carmel Valley.

The current favorite to succeed him is Michele Flournoy, who served as under secretary of defense for policy early in Obama's first term.

Her appointment may appeal to Obama's sense of history as she would be the first woman to hold the role.

Should Flournoy not get the job, some defense analysts think the current deputy defense secretary Ashton Carter could be in the frame.

There may also be other cabinet departures. It is unclear whether Attorney General Eric Holder, a close associate of Obama who has had a bruising from Republicans, will stay on.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan is expected to remain in place to pilot through Congress Obama's reform program, likely a highlight of his second term agenda.

Obama may also have some shuffling to do at the White House, especially if Lew moves to Treasury. The president's political guru David Plouffe is expected to leave and there may be other high profile departures.

It is unclear so far whether White House press secretary Jay Carney will stay. If he leaves, Obama's campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki has been mentioned as a possible replacement.

The president sparked speculation on Tuesday when he said he wanted to sit down with Romney to work out how they could take the country forward.

Obama's first term "Team of Rivals" approach of choosing former political foes such as Clinton, modeled on that of his hero Abraham Lincoln, could apply in Romney's case, perhaps in the Commerce Secretary job.

However, it is unclear whether Romney would be prepared to swallow his pride and work for the man who vanquished him in a bitter White House campaign.

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Obama campaign ads call Romney 'outsourcer-in-chief'

BOSTON -- The Obama campaign is taking outsourcing to the airwaves.

New television advertisements airing in a trio of three states accuse Mitt Romney of being a potential "outsourcer-in-chief," a buy that represents Team Obama's latest attempt to capitalize the business practices of Bain Capital.

Two of the 30-second spots, airing in Iowa and Virginia, highlight the Washington Post's report that characterized the former Massachusetts governor's private equity firm as "pioneers of outsourcing," investing in firms "that specialized in relocating jobs done by American workers to new facilities in low-wage companies."

The third spot, airing in Ohio, takes a more pointed jab at Romney by invoking China as a political bogeyman. It plays off a recent Romney ad that stated the Republican would stand up to China in his first 100 days in office. "But would he?" the Obama ad fires back. "Romney's never stood up to China. All he's done is send them our jobs." Ohio's unemployment rate is points higher than Virginia's and Iowa's.

President Obama's reelection team, which has long been building a case against Romney grounded in his time at Bain, seized on Friday's Post report almost as soon as it appeared online, and called it an important moment in the campaign. Obama himself addressed it at a campaign stop the same afternoon, and followed up on it again Monday during a stop in New Hampshire.

Spending figures behind the new ad buys were not immediately available. But it's a message that will figure heavily into messaging in manufacturing states that are also top electoral prizes. Vice President Joe Biden, starting a campaign swing in Iowa Tuesday, will contrast Romney's "history of shipping American jobs overseas" with the president's vision for boosting the middle class, a campaign spokesman said.

Obama will focus on the money chase Tuesday, with campaign fundraisers in Atlanta and Miami. Speaking to donors Monday night outside Boston, the president warned of the Republicans' spending advantage in the campaign.

"They're betting they don't have to offer much; they just say things aren't good and it's Obama's fault," the president said. But, he promised, "when we're out there speaking truth, over time it breaks through."

source: latimes.com

Obama support for gay marriage influencing American attitudes - poll

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's declaration of support for gay marriage may have prompted some Americans, especially blacks and Hispanics, to reconsider their opposition to letting homosexuals wed, an analysis of Reuters/Ipsos online poll data showed on Friday.

On May 9, Obama became the first US president to say he believed same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

His position was hailed by Democrats, gay rights groups and others as a benchmark for civil rights in the United States and criticized by Republican activists and conservative Christian leaders as a divisive campaign issue before the Nov. 6 election.

The poll data found that African-Americans in particular were less likely to oppose gay marriage after Obama's announcement than before. Before May 9, 34 percent of blacks opposed gay marriage. Afterward, 23 percent did.

The poll asked participants whether they opposed gay marriage, supported same-sex civil unions, supported gay marriage or were unsure.

Lower opposition by black Americans did not translate into support for gay marriage, according to the data.

Support by African-Americans for civil unions rose by 9 percentage points to 28 percent after Obama spoke, but support for gay marriage slipped by 2 points to 29 percent from 31 percent, and the percentage of African-Americans who were unsure rose 5 points to 21 percent.

"Black Americans are a critical constituency for the president looking forward to November, and this attitudinal shift is good news for Mr. Obama. If he is able to lead and push opinion, rather than only react to it, he will be able to more effectively govern if he wins a second term," Ipsos pollster Julia Clark said. Obama is America's first black president.

Hispanic support for gay marriage rose by 5 percentage points to 51 percent from 46 percent after Obama announced his new position. Hispanic opposition to gay marriage also shifted downward by 3 points to 20 percent from 23 percent.

White Americans' attitudes changed least. Whites' opposition to gay marriage slipped by just 2 points to 25 percent, and support for it rose, also by 2 points to 41 percent from 39 percent, the analysis found.

For the poll respondents overall, the percentage of people who opposed gay marriage dropped to 24 percent after Obama announced his shift, from 27 percent previously.

And the percentage who support marriage for same-sex couples rose to 41 percent from 39 percent.

Data were collected online via Ipsos' ongoing daily polling for Reuters. The data were taken from an aggregate analysis of all data collected so far since January 2012.

Questions on support for gay marriage as well as race have been in place since the beginning of the poll tracking. The data were cut so that all 'pre' figures predate Obama's announcement about his support for gay marriage, and all 'post' data follows the announcement.

The precision of Reuters/Ipsos online polling is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll had a credibility interval of plus or minus 0.7 percentage points for white Americans surveyed before May 9, and plus or minus 2.1 points for whites afterward.

For blacks surveyed before May 9, the credibility interval was plus or minus 1.7 points. It was plus or minus 5 points for blacks after May 9. For Hispanics, the interval was plus or minus 1.5 points for the "before" data and plus or minus 4.6 points for the "after."

source: interaksyon.com

Obama demands fair economy from 'top to bottom'

WASHINGTON DC -- US President Barack Obama Tuesday vowed to build a economy that is just from "top to bottom" in which the rich pay a fair share, as he sketched a populist vision to underpin his reelection campaign.

"We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by," Obama said in his State of the Union address 10 months before seeking a second term.

"Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules," he said.

The president, speaking firmly and at times in a defiant tone, said the "defining issue" of our time was how to safeguard the basic "American promise" that hard work could lead to a decent lifestyle.

He mounted a staunch defense of his efforts to revive the economy, which will form the central clash of the presidential election, as Republicans argue he delayed the recovery by wasting stimulus funds and piling up debt.

He said he had created more than three million jobs in less than two years, saved the US auto industry and said American manufacturing, the engine of the economy, was rising again.

"The state of our union is getting stronger, and we've come too far to turn back now," Obama said, delivering a sharp warning to Republicans expected to block almost all of the jobs and recovery plans contained in his speech.

"As long as I'm president, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum," said Obama, staring into the ranks of lawmakers packed into the House of Representatives for the showpiece speech.

"But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place," he said to loud cheers from Democrats.

Obama stayed mostly on domestic issues, as expected in an election year, but did refer to several foreign crises -- and touched on the darkening clouds of the nuclear showdown with Iran.

"Let there be no doubt. America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal," he said.

"But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better, and if Iran changes course, and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations."

And Obama hailed the killing of Osama bin Laden last year by a US special forces team in a daring raid into Pakistan and his promise kept to end the Iraq war as election year proof of his credentials as commander-in-chief.

Among a sheaf of job creation and economic measures, Obama demanded millionaires pay at least 30 percent tax, tapping into public anger at low rates paid by many millionaires, including his possible Republican general election rival Mitt Romney.

The president also pledged to keep up pressure on China over intellectual property piracy and promised to new measures to combat fraud in the finance industry and the mortgage sector.

But the president's tone on taxes set up an immediate clash with Republicans, given his demand for higher taxes for the wealthy.

"Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day deserve a government and a financial system that does the same," Obama said before millions of television viewers in a speech punctured by multiple standing ovations.

"It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: no bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody."

Obama's vision ran into immediate criticism from his Republican foes, including those who seek to consign him to the ignominy of a one-term presidency in November's election.

In a new advertisement, Romney, who earlier said Obama's State of the Union must be his last, compared the hope whipped up by the president in 2008 to his actual job performance.

"Three years ago, we measured candidate Obama by his hopeful promises and his slogans. Today President Obama has amassed an actual record of debt, decline and disappointment," Romney said.

And Mitch Daniels, the Indiana governor chosen to give the official Republican response to Obama's address, accused the president of adopting divisive election year tactics.

"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said, according to excerpts of his speech.

"If we fail to shift to a pro-jobs, pro-growth economic policy, there will never be enough public revenue to pay for our safety net, national security, or whatever size government we decide to have."

source: interaksyon.com

Focus group suggests State of the Union speech was well-received

As President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, a group of 50 swing voters armed with dial meters recorded strongly favorable reactions to his proposals on taxes, renewable energy, overcoming partisan divisions and defending the middle class, according to the pollsters who supervised the study.

The group, made up of Democrats, Republicans and independents, including both McCain and Obama voters from 2008, gave the president significantly higher marks after the speech than before on whether he will stand up for the middle class, whether he can be trusted on energy policy and on measures of empathy, such as whether he shares voters’ values and “makes me hopeful,” said Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg.

Such focus group reactions are “greater than what you see in real life” because people assembled in a conference room and instructed to watch a speech pay considerably more attention than the average viewer, noted Greenberg, who has conducted such studies for each State of the Union speech dating back to the Bill Clinton administration. Still, the reactions provide a rough gauge of the speech’s overall impact, he said.

“The most surprising” aspect of the reaction was “the lack of polarization” among the voters, he added. The speech has provoked a highly partisan reaction in Washington, but among the swing voters in the study, “the Democratic, Republican and independent lines” from the dial meters “tracked through most of the speech,” Greenberg said. “He captured people broadly.”

Not surprisingly, the moment in the speech that brought the most positive reaction was Obama’s mention of the death of Osama bin Laden. It drew an average reading of 80 on the 0-100 scale used by the meters. Obama’s call for more investment in renewable energy drew nearly as strong a reaction, however, said Andrew Baumann, another of the pollsters who conducted the study. The passages of the speech that talked about phasing out subsidies for oil companies and competing with China and Germany for new developments in wind power and solar energy did particularly well.

Not all the marks were positive. Although the voters reacted well to the speech, they remained skeptical that Obama would be able to achieve the goals he set out. When the speech ended, just under half said he was offering “realistic” proposals while about 60% said he would probably not be able to get his proposals accomplished. Both measures were slightly better than before the speech, but reflected voters’ doubts about Obama’s ability to break through Washington’s gridlock. And although the speech moved Obama’s overall job approval upward among the voters studied, the shift was small, from 50% favorable to 58%.

source: latimes.com

US 'ready' to help Philippines after deadly storm

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent condolences to the Philippines Saturday after more than 600 people were feared killed in a storm, and said the United States stood "ready" to help.

Relief workers said that 440 people had died and nearly 200 left missing after tropical storm Washi (local codename Sendong) wreaked havoc in the southern Philippines, unleashing mammoth floods across vast areas of the country and destroying whole neighborhoods.

"On behalf of President (Barack) Obama and the people of the United States, I want to send my deepest condolences for the devastation and loss of life caused by flooding from Tropical Storm Washi," Clinton said in a statement.

"The US government stands ready to assist Philippine authorities as they respond to this tragedy."

The top US diplomat said "our thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected."

About 20,000 soldiers have been mobilized in a huge rescue and relief operation across the stricken north coast of the island of Mindanao, where the major ports of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were worst hit.

President Benigno Aquino expressed concern at the extent of the tragedy and ordered government agencies to map out areas in the country most vulnerable to future flash floods. — AFP

source:gmanetwork.com

Democrats urge Obama to be more aggressive on jobs

Many want the president to stand up to Republicans and push for bigger, more ambitious programs to boost the economy.


As he sets out on a three-day bus tour of the Midwest focused on the economy, President Obama is coming under growing pressure from fellow Democrats to put forward a more aggressive strategy to create jobs than the one he has been touting for months.


Obama has offered a jobs package crafted to win Republican support in a divided Congress. But he faces two distinct problems: Republicans say they won't vote for several pieces of the plan. And Democrats contend the program, even if enacted in full, would fall short of what's needed to boost job growth or revive Obama's political prospects.

White House advisors said the president's economic team was working on a new approach to jump-start the sluggish economy.

"You'll see more ideas," said Jason Furman, deputy director of the president's National Economic Council. "People here are constantly thinking about new ideas and the president is constantly talking about new ideas."

But Furman and other White House aides have declined to reveal a timetable, and many voters are clearly impatient. Polls show Obama receives poor grades for his handling of an economy that may be slipping back into recession. On Sunday, Gallup reported Obama's overall approval rating had fallen to 39% in its daily tracking, the worst in his presidency.

Obama's jobs agenda, which he plans to tout on his Midwestern tour, calls for $30 billion to rebuild roads, bridges and ports; improvements to the patent system to spur innovation; trade deals with a trio of countries to boost exports; a $40-billion extension of unemployment insurance benefits; and renewal of the current one-year reduction of the payroll tax at a cost of up to $120 billion.

A range of economists and Democratic critics call those ideas inadequate.

Asked about Obama's support for free-trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a center-left think tank, said, "I would think they would be embarrassed to mention it."

"These are small countries, and we already have a lot of trade with them," he added.

Obama's policies "are just not big enough to make much of a difference," said Robert Reich, who was Labor secretary under President Clinton.

Alternative ideas have been floating up from Democratic think tanks, elected officials and strategists: Peter R. Orszag, Obama's former budget director, advocates tripling the size of the payroll tax break — essentially wiping out the payroll tax entirely — and keeping the rate low as long as unemployment remains high.

Others are pressing Obama to take advantage of low interest rates and borrow money to underwrite a far larger public works program. Such a plan would spur enough long-term economic growth to pay off the extra debt, supporters argue.

Mark Zandi, an economist who has advised the Obama administration, suggests making it easier for homeowners to refinance mortgages at today's extremely low rates. The idea would be to eliminate charges that currently make it too costly for some people to refinance. He also advises changing immigration policies so that foreign students with advanced degrees find it easier to stay in the U.S.

Still, "There's no magic bullet here," Zandi said.

White House aides counter that large-scale, costly ideas stand little chance of getting through the Republican-controlled House.

But it's no sure bet that Congress will go along with smaller-scale ideas either. Republican leadership aides said the GOP was supportive of the trade deals and a patent overhaul, although both have stalled several times this year. Obama's call for renewing the payroll tax cut has drawn fire from some Republicans, who argue it would worsen the deficit, and the GOP has also opposed his plan to extend unemployment insurance.

Pollster Stanley B. Greenberg, who polled for Clinton's White House, said voters had little patience for political leaders who limited policy proposals to what the opposition would support. White House officials can "get trapped in 'what can get through Congress' and the constraints of that debate," Greenberg said, recalling similar arguments in the Clinton years. "Voters want you to break out of that" and answer the question, "What are you battling for?" he said.

The complaints about Obama come not only from long-standing critics, but from some who have been supportive in the past.

One Democratic congressman who has defended Obama to fellow liberals said he told White House officials at a recent meeting that they seemed to have Stockholm syndrome — embracing the Republican view that deficit reduction should be a major national priority, in the manner of hostages who come to sympathize with their captors.

Obama "sat in the room with Republicans so long talking about deficit reduction that he seems to be parroting the same lines," said the congressman, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private meetings.

Peter Buttenwieser, a major Democratic fundraiser who is supporting Obama's reelection bid, said the president needed to treat the economy with a sense of urgency that has been lacking.

"He should go after the problem with everything he's got," Buttenwieser said in an interview. "He should travel the country and go where people are not employed and let the country know he cares about this in the pit of his stomach. … I don't think we've seen nearly enough. We've seen virtually nothing."


Source: latimes.com

Symbolic House vote on debt ceiling approaches

The Republican proposal calls for deep spending cuts. Negotiations to avert a federal default continue behind the scenes.




Reporting from Washington— The House prepared to vote on a Republican proposal to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for steep spending cuts, in defiance of President Obama's vow to veto the bill if it passed both chambers of Congress.

The standoff underscored the largely symbolic nature of the Republican measure amid ongoing behind-the scenes negotiations to avert a federal default.

The talks revolved around a Senate-led plan to let Obama act alone to increase the debt ceiling through 2012. The plan also would include as much as $1.5 trillion in budget cuts identified by Republican and Democratic negotiators after weeks of closed-door debate.

Senate leaders said Monday the chamber would stay in session through the weekend as negotiators scrambled for a deal to increase the government's borrowing authority. Without an increase by Aug. 2, Treasury Department officials have warned of a possible default, with financial upheaval rippling worldwide.

U.S. and overseas stocks stumbled Monday in the face of the deficit uncertainty as well as unsettled European debt woes, analysts said.

The House vote, scheduled for Tuesday, centers on a GOP plan known as "cut, cap and balance" legislation. The proposal would cut spending by $111 billion in 2012 and cap future outlays to 19.9% of the nation's gross domestic output. It also would require that Congress send a balanced-budget constitutional amendment to the states for ratification, a lengthy process.

The proposal is expected to pass the House but stall in the Senate. Even House endorsement of the package would not ensure that the proposed amendment, which would be formally introduced later, could win the two-thirds approval required for passage in each chamber.

Still, the vote Tuesday carries political significance by giving voice to the conservative majority that has refused to compromise with the White House on raising the debt ceiling.

The White House attacked the Republican cut, cap and balance plan, portraying it as a radical response to the deficit problem that would dismantle Medicare and other aspects of the federal safety net.

"It's dodge, duck and dismantle," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said at a news briefing.

As the floor action plays out this week, private negotiations are expected to continue. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) held an unannounced meeting with Obama on Sunday at the White House.

The $1.5 trillion in cuts in the still-forming Senate plan would probably include cuts to agricultural subsidies and federal pensions, and would bring in new revenue from communication spectrum leases.

It also would set up a committee of lawmakers to recommend future cuts for an up-or-down vote in Congress by year's end.

To attract Democratic votes, the package may include a proposal to swap the extension of an expiring break on workers' payroll taxes for the closing of tax loopholes for corporate jet owners and others.

Obama is still seeking a bigger and grander package, White House officials said.


Source: latimes.com

Obama bids to curb political damage from spill

philstar.com

PENSACOLA (AP) – President Barack Obama sought to show he was leading a winning battle against the raging oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, taking a message of hope to the devastated coast hours before a nationally televised address Tuesday night.

During stops in Alabama and Mississippi, Obama assured Gulf residents and businesses that the region's beaches would be restored to their "pristine condition" even as he promised he was bringing the full force of his government to get BP to pay damage claims in the country's worst environmental disaster.

Suffering under a growing impression among some Americans that he had reacted with too little too late, the president toured the damage from the BP oil well blowout that has been gushing millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf for 57 days.

The president's two-day tour aimed to stanch the political bleeding and show his deepening involvement. At the same time, Obama collected information and impressions for a televised address to the country from his White House office — the first such address of his presidency.

Obama's address to the nation sets the stage for his showdown White House meeting Wednesday with top executives at British-based BP, the company that leased the rig that exploded April 20 and led to the leak of millions of gallons of coast-devastating crude. It is part of an effort by Obama, who has been accused of appearing somewhat detached as the oil spill disaster has unfolded, to convince a frightened Gulf Coast and a skeptical nation that he is in command.

The oil gusher a mile or 1,600 meters deep in the Gulf has forced Obama and the federal government to rely on BP for an eventual fix. That is not likely to happen until a relief well penetrates the blowout in a couple of months.

With the oil continuing to wash onto beaches and into critical wildlife habitat — delicate marshlands in particular — Obama has taken a hit in the polls.

The crisis also has taken up massive amounts of his time and cut severely into his schedule, including forcing him to cancel a trip to Asia and Australia, and threatening his legislative agenda on such issues as financial overhaul, climate change and immigration reform.

As he took the microphone in Theodore, Alabama on Monday afternoon, Obama likely was previewing what he would tell the country at large from the Oval Office on Tuesday evening.

"I can't promise folks here in Theodore or across the Gulf that this oil will be cleaned up overnight," the president said. Yet he offered assurances that the "full resources of our government are being mobilized to confront this disaster."

Obama also told the country that seafood from the region remained safe to eat, and implored holidaymakers not to cancel visits to the Gulf coast where many of the famous white beaches remain untouched.

But oil from the blown out BP well is spoiling significant parts of the shoreline and already has penetrated into critical breeding grounds for wildlife, waterfowl and sea creatures — in particular shrimp and oysters. The shellfish are a mainstay of some of the Gulf state economies.

The trip gave Obama ammunition for the speech and for his meeting with BP executives where he intends finalize the details of a compensation fund. He visited vacant beaches in Mississippi where the threat of oil has scared off tourists, heard the stories of local employers losing business, watched hazmat-suited workers scrub down boom in a staging facility in Theodore, Alabama, and took a ferry ride through Mobile Bay and then to Orange Beach, Alabama, where oil has lapped on the shore.

He was beginning the day Tuesday in Pensacola, Florida, where he was to attend a briefing and then make remarks at Naval Air Station Pensacola.

Shortly before Obama toured the region, White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters with the president that the administration and BP were "working out the particulars" of Obama's demand that the oil giant set up a multibillion-dollar, independently run damage fund.

Burton said the account would be in the hands of a third-party and would amount to "billions of dollars."

"We're confident that this is a critical way in which we're going to be able to help individuals and businesses in the Gulf area become whole again," he said.

Obama's first stop on Monday was a briefing at a Coast Guard station here on Mississippi's coast, where he said that the two days in the region would help him prepare for a Wednesday showdown with BP executives in the White House. In particular, Obama said there continue to be problems with processing claims for damages and with effective coordination.

"We're gathering up facts, stories, right now so that we have an absolutely clear understanding about how we can best present to BP the need to make sure that individuals and businesses are dealt with in a fair manner and a prompt manner," the president said.

Afterward he ate a lunch of local seafood, declaring it delicious.

BP's board was in session Monday in London to discuss deferring its second-quarter dividend and putting the money into escrow until the company's liabilities from the spill are known.

The administration had said earlier — uncertain whether BP would voluntarily establish the damage fund — that Obama was prepared to force BP to take the step.

BP said in a statement that its costs for responding to the spill had risen to $1.6 billion, including new $25 million grants to Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. It also includes the first $60 million for a project to build barrier islands off the Louisiana coast. The estimate does not include future costs for scores of damage lawsuits already filed.

The company was likely to encounter even more anger Tuesday where Congress was holding three hearings on the Gulf tragedy, which has long ago outstripped the previously worst US environmental tragedy, the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

The administration said early Monday that BP had responded to a letter sent over the weekend asking the company to speed up its ability to capture the spewing oil.

BP said it would target containing more than 2 million gallons of oil a day by the end of June, more than three times the present rate. The government's high-range estimates say as much as 2.1 million gallons a day could be billowing from BP's runaway well.