Politics Today: Trip to New Orleans Too Quick?
Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:
** Assessing NOLA's ongoing recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina...
** Will leaders listen to Snowe and ditch the public option in health care reform...
** News from the Palin front...
"President Barack Obama will be in New Orleans on Thursday, making his first post-inauguration visit to a city and region desperate to impress upon him both the long strides made since Hurricane Katrina, and the daunting challenges in housing, education, health care, levee protection and coastal restoration yet ahead," reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune's Jonathan Tilove.
"From wheels-down to wheels-up, the stopover will clock in at three hours and 45 minutes, enough time to visit the only school to reopen in the Lower 9th Ward since Katrina, conduct a town hall at the University of New Orleans, and grab a to-go lunch order from Dooky Chase."
"[P]raise for Mr. Obama's work has, in recent days, been eclipsed by criticism of his visit," adds the New York Times' Campbell Robertson. "Mr. Obama, who visited the city five times during his presidential campaign and attacked Mr. Bush for his response to Hurricane Katrina, is spending only a few hours here — at the charter school and at a campus of the University of New Orleans, where he is holding a town-hall-style meeting — before flying to San Francisco for a fund-raiser. He is not visiting the storm-ravaged areas in Mississippi.
"Representative Steve Scalise, a Republican from southeastern Louisiana, held a news conference in which he called Mr. Obama's visit a 'drive-through daiquiri summit.' Representative Gene Taylor, Democrat of Mississippi, wrote a critical five-page letter to the president…
"According to the White House, there were 22 visits by senior administration officials to New Orleans or nearby Biloxi, Miss., from March to August — 13 of them by cabinet secretaries."
The Washington Post's Michael D. Shear writes about New Orleans' residents' impatience and frustration with the government's pace in rebuilding"
"Four years after Hurricane Katrina, swaths of New Orleans remain devastated by the winds and floods that tore through. More than 65,000 homes remain abandoned. There is no public hospital. The levees that keep back the Gulf of Mexico are still vulnerable.
The responsibility for getting more federal help to New Orleans has now passed from President George W. Bush to Obama, and with it the impatience of the city's residents.
"'The people that I talk to are frustrated with the setbacks that they have had to endure, are frustrated with the nature of the bureaucracy that allows decisions to be unmade for long periods of time,' said Sheila Crowley, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition."
"But while Mr. Bush may have visited the area 13 times after the storm, he has not exactly been lauded for doing so," writes CBSNews.com's Brian Montopoli. "Instead, his administration's performance in the wake of Katrina is widely remembered as a tragic failure. For residents of the storm-battered region, presidential visits ultimately matter less than presidential action - and it is on that front that Gulf Coasters are now starting to take stock of Mr. Obama.
"'I think you can be judged on what you've said you're going to do for New Orleans and for the Gulf, or you can be judged on what you've done and what you're continuing to do,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. 'I think if people judge us on the latter, which is what matters to people that live in that region, I think they know the difference.'
"So how, then, has the new administration's performance been? The reviews, at this early point, are mixed. Yet the general consensus seems to be that the new administration represents, at the very least, an improvement over the last one. In August, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican with a national profile, said he respected the Obama administration's new Federal Emergency Management Agency chief, Florida's Craig Fugate, and his team."
"Invisibility means that literally an object cannot be seen, but it can also mean that because of perception or philosophical blindness, or lack of knowledge, a person or group, or a place such as Mississippi may be invisible."
In his critical letter to the president, Rep.Gene Taylor, D-Miss., began, "I understand that you will not visit the Mississippi Gulf Coast when you travel to New Orleans later this month. Since you have not been to the Mississippi Coast since Hurricane Katrina as a Senator, a candidate for President, or as President, I am sending you a copy of Katrina: South Mississippi's Story, produced by WLOX-TV." Taylor went on to push for reform of the National Flood Insurance Program."
Mr. Obama will be greeted at the airport by rising Republican star, Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., who has a laundry list of items he'd like to chat about with the president, if he gets the opportunity.
"Jindal said getting federal dollars to cover increased Medicaid costs, speeding the construction of hurricane-protection barriers and financing the proposed Louisiana State University teaching hospital will be his top priorities when he and Obama meet for only the second time since the president took office in January," writes the Times-Picayune's Jan Moller. "'When you talk to the president of the United States, you want to be sure that you summarize the top-line issues,' Jindal said.
"The governor said he plans to greet Obama as he lands at Louis Armstrong International Airport. He also plans to attend the town hall meeting at the University of New Orleans and the visit to a charter school in the Lower 9th Ward. But as of late Wednesday, there was no time set aside for a private sit-down meeting between the two leaders, who often find themselves at polar ends of the political spectrum. Jindal said he asked for a private audience but was told that because of the compressed schedule, he will have to settle for talking to the president between events.
"'We've made it clear, obviously, that we're available to spend as much time as possible' with Obama, Jindal said."
"The Senate Finance Committee's passage Tuesday of a sweeping healthcare bill -- with the support of all of its Democratic members, plus Republican Olympia J. Snowe of Maine -- offered powerful evidence that a moderate legislative blueprint can command a majority in the Senate with at least token GOP support. Passage of a major bill by the House also is considered increasingly likely.
"But that success has spawned a furious scramble among insurers, labor unions and others to protect their interests in the weeks before the House and Senate begin voting on their final healthcare bills. The maneuvering increasingly has turned into a zero-sum game among groups that for much of the year had appeared to work together to advance the healthcare overhaul. Now, any financial gain by one group will likely correspond with losses by the others."
Meantime, "A coalition of labor unions is emerging as a leading critic of an $829 billion health care bill heading toward a Senate vote, complicating debate among Democrats over how to pay for the measure," writes USA Today's John Fritze.
"Unions had largely supported President Obama's effort to revamp the nation's $2.6 trillion health care system, but 27 labor groups have launched a campaign against key provisions in the bill passed this week by the Senate Finance Committee. ...
"Unions want [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid to include a government-run insurance program in the merged bill and remove a tax on high-priced insurance policies. Gerald McEntee, head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), estimates half of its 1.6 million members would be affected by the tax."
"One day after the Senate Finance Committee approved a measure without a 'public option,' the question on Capitol Hill was how President Obama could reconcile the deep divisions within his party on the issue. All eyes were on Senator Olympia J. Snowe, the Maine Republican whose call for a 'trigger' that would establish a government plan as a fallback is one of the leading compromise ideas.
"Two senior administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House looked favorably on the Snowe plan. But liberal Democrats were maneuvering against it Wednesday, arguing that Ms. Snowe, the lone Republican to vote in favor of the Finance Committee's bill, was gaining undue influence over the talks.
"'It's one vote, she won't make the commitment on the final product, and she says she's got to have the trigger,' said Representative Raúl M. Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona, who is leading an effort in the House to round up votes for a government plan akin to Medicare. 'I think the administration has put her in the driver's seat; it's very disconcerting.'"
"Days after the insurance lobby began an aggressive campaign against a Senate plan to overhaul the nation's health-care system, senior Democrats fired back, threatening Wednesday to revoke the industry's long-standing antitrust exemption," report the Washington Post's Lori Montgomery and David S. Hilsenrath.
"Health insurance is one of only a few industries exempted from certain federal antitrust regulations, and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the exemption was 'one of the worst accidents of American history. It deserves a lot of the blame for the huge rise in premiums that has made health insurance so unaffordable.'
"Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) joined Schumer in a stinging denunciation of health industry practices, but the insurance lobby dismissed their threat as 'a political ploy.'"
Meantime, "Republican Sen. Susan Collins Wednesday signaled a willingness to work with Democrats on health-care legislation, adding momentum to President Barack Obama's push for a bill despite a move by Republican leaders to slow down the debate," write the Wall Street Journal's Greg Hitt, Janet Adamy and Naftali Bendavid. "Ms. Collins's fellow senator from Maine, Olympia Snowe, became the first Republican lawmaker Tuesday to back a Democrat-led health bill with a 'yes' vote in the Finance Committee. Ms. Collins said she would "work with members on both sides of the aisle" to craft bipartisan legislation.
"Ms. Collins said the finance-panel bill is the "best effort so far" on Capitol Hill, though she said she has 'serious concerns' with it, including the impact of Medicare cuts on seniors. The senator was a pivotal player in the debate on Mr. Obama's economic-stimulus package, helping to build a bipartisan compromise that led to passage earlier this year."
"Allegations of fraud in the Afghan presidential election over the summer have raised questions about the legitimacy of Hamid Karzai's government, complicating U.S. efforts to partner with him. Meanwhile, the country's security forces are seen as ill-equipped to confront an insurgency that is gaining strength.
"Such factors are figuring prominently in the debate over the Obama administration's strategy in Afghanistan, official say. Although the discussions also include making a decision on whether to deploy tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops, an administration official said the president was 'very focused on the complexity of the situation' Wednesday -- looking past the military aspect of the equation and toward the civilian effort."
McClatchy Newspapers' Jonathan S. Landay and Hal Bernton, "While U.S. debates Afghanistan policy, Taliban beefs up": "A recent U.S. intelligence assessment has raised the estimated number of full-time Taliban-led insurgents fighting in Afghanistan to at least 25,000, underscoring how the crisis has worsened even as the U.S. and its allies have beefed up their military forces, a U.S. official said Thursday. The U.S. official, who requested anonymity because the assessment is classified, said the estimate represented an increase of at least 5,000 fighters, or 25 percent, over what an estimate found last year."
NY Times' John F. Burns and Peter Baker, "British Plan Would Deploy Bigger Afghanistan Force": "Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced a cautious and heavily conditioned plan on Wednesday to send 500 more British troops to Afghanistan, which would raise Britain's contingent — the second largest in the 41-nation coalition fighting the eight-year war — to 9,500."
Meantime, "The surging campaign of third-party candidate Chris Daggett has turned the New Jersey governor's race into a dead-heat and left Republicans divided over the seriousness of the threat he poses to GOP nominee Chris Christie," reports Politico's Jonathan Martin.
"Daggett, a centrist independent who is currently drawing support in the low double-digits in a series of polls, has been the apparent beneficiary of Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's self-funded advertising onslaught against Christie. The result has left the Republican grappling with a two-headed Hydra that could enable a narrow plurality win for the deeply unpopular incumbent.
"Christie, who had been running a traditional anti-incumbent campaign against Corzine, must now reckon with a perennial question faced by candidates who are imperiled by a lesser-known, third-party contender: To attack Daggett is to elevate him, effectively acknowledging that he's a serious candidate and offering him free publicity. But ignoring him could amount to disregarding the most serious threat to Christie's campaign, leaving Daggett to siphon away a significant amount of voters who are intent on registering their opposition to Corzine."
In Virginia, where Democrat Creigh Deeds could use Mr. Obama's help, the president is staying away, writes Bloomberg News' Heidi Przybyla. "The state had shown signs of becoming Democratic territory when Barack Obama became the first presidential candidate of his party to win Virginia since 1964. The governor and both U.S. senators are Democrats, too.
"That trend may be in trouble. The Democratic candidate for governor, state Senator Creigh Deeds, trails Republican Bob McDonnell, a former attorney general, by 53 percent to 44 percent, according to a Washington Post poll of likely voters released Oct. 9. ...
"National headwinds on health care and voter anxiety over new spending programs are playing a role in Virginia, said Senator Mark Warner, a former Democratic governor of the state.
"The climate in Washington is 'making it harder in places like Virginia,' Warner said. 'The challenge is also that the presidential-year electorate often looks different than the gubernatorial-year electorate.'"
"The New York Post reported this week that Palin's new group will be called 'Stand Up For Our Nation.' (News Corp. owns both the Post and The Wall Street Journal as well as HarperCollins Publishers, publisher of Palin's book.) Crawford, who is treasurer of Palin's existing political-action committee, SarahPAC, refused to provide any details about the new organization's purpose or structure."
Meantime, "[T]he top strategist for Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign defended the decision to pick Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate and criticized conservative talk radio hosts who opposed McCain's nomination," reports the Arkansas News Bureau's John Lyon.
"Former McCain adviser Steve Schmidt praised Palin during remarks at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, despite having said earlier this month that a Palin presidential nomination would be 'catastrophic' for the GOP.
"'I believe to this day that had she not been picked as the vice presidential candidate, we would never have been ahead — not for one second, not for one minute, not for one hour, not for one day,' Schmidt said today…
"Asked after the talk if he stood by his recent critical comments about Palin's viability as a presidential candidate, Schmidt said he did. 'I said what I said on the 2012 (race). … I said what I said today,' he told reporters."
New York Times' Monica Davey reports from Buffalo, Minn., "G.O.P. Has a Lightning Rod, and It's Not Palin": "Representative Michele Bachmann will appear in the 2010 calendar of "Great American Conservative Women" (she will be November). Her likeness has been transformed into an action figure. And, so far in 2009, she has been interviewed on a national cable news show every nine days, on average, an analysis by Smart Politics, a nonpartisan blog affiliated with the University of Minnesota shows. ... Here in Ms. Bachmann's district, and in much of the country, that outsized celebrity has boiled down to this: They adore her or they loathe her."
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