Obama in the Middle of Illinois Governor Trial

CHICAGO -- The blacked-out portions of a subpoena request filed by lawyers for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- which were revealed through a simple computer trick -- suggest President Obama may have played a role in finding his own Senate replacement.

On Thursday, Blagojevich's lawyers asked a federal judge to subpoena the president to testify about questions surrounding the government's allegation that Blagojevich was selling or trading Obama's Senate seat after his election to the White House in November 2008.

"President Barack Obama has direct knowledge of the Senate seat allegation," reads Blagojevich's 11-page motion, filed with U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel.

The court erred when it posted the motion in a pdf file with redactions that could be revealed simply by copying and pasting the blacked-out portions to a plain text file.

Blagojevich attorney Sheldon Sorosky brushed off the error, telling Fox News that he didn't know how the redacted file became viewable, and blaming it on a "low tech guy." - FOX News Story

GM Uses Bailout Money to Back Bailout Money?

A top Senate Republican on Thursday accused the Obama administration of misleading taxpayers about General Motors' loan repayment, saying the struggling auto giant was only able to repay its bailout money by dipping into a separate pot of bailout money.

Sen. Chuck Grassley's charge was backed up by the inspector general for the bailout -- also known as the Trouble Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Watchdog Neil Barofsky told Fox News, as well as the Senate Finance Committee, that General Motors used bailout money to pay back the federal government.

"It appears to be nothing more than an elaborate TARP money shuffle," Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a letter Thursday to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

GM announced Wednesday that it had paid back the $8.1 billion in loans it received from the U.S. and Canadian governments. Of that, $6.7 billion went to the U.S. treasury.

But Grassley said in his letter that a Securities and Exchange Commission form filed by GM showed that $6.7 billion of the tens of billions the company received was sitting in an escrow account and available to be used for repayment. He called on Geithner to provide more information about why the company was allowed to use bailout money to repay bailout money, and how much of the remaining escrow money GM would be allowed to keep.

"The bottom line seems to be that the TARP loans were 'repaid' with other TARP funds in a Treasury escrow account. The TARP loans were not repaid from money GM is earning selling cars, as GM and the administration have claimed in their speeches, press releases and television commercials," he wrote.

Vice President Biden on Wednesday called the GM repayment a "huge accomplishment." - FOX News Story

Obama Takes Wall Streets Money then Calls them Greedy

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Misguided. Unworkable. Hypocritical.

Wall Street was unimpressed by President Obama's argument for financial reform on Thursday. The reaction of nearly a dozen financial industry workers ranged from skepticism to animosity.

"It doesn't seem necessary for him to come down here," said Frank Clemente, a stock broker. "It's all political, not any real reform."

Clemente was particularly annoyed that Obama criticized the financial industry after having accepted political contributions from Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) employees during his presidential campaign.

"He took their money before, so it's kind of hypocritical to attack them now," he said. - Cnn Story

Obama Calls Arizona Legislation Misguided? Are You Kidding?

President Obama said Friday that his administration is keeping an eye on the impact of legislation passed in Arizona that would allow state police officers to check the documents of people they suspect are living in the United States illegally.

Obama said he has told members of his administration to “closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation.”

"Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others," Obama said at a naturalization ceremony for service members. "That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe."

He added, “If we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country.” - Politico Story

This coming from the President who has lead us in misguided legislation and actions from the moment he took office. Are you kidding me?

Democrats Blast Obama Israel Policy

New York Senator Chuck Schumer harshly criticized the Obama Administration's attempts to exert pressure on Israel today, making him the highest-ranking Democrat to object to Obama's policies in such blunt terms.

Schumer, along with a majority of members of the House and Senate, signed on to letters politely suggesting the U.S. keep its disagreements with Israel private, a tacit objection to the administration's very public rebuke of the Jewish State over construction in Jerusalem last month.

But Schumer dramatically sharpened his tone on the politically conservative Jewish Nachum Segal Show today, calling the White House stance to date "counter-productive" and describing his own threat to "blast" the Administration had the State Department not backed down from its "terrible" tough talk toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Schumer, a hawkish ally of Israel since his days as a Brooklyn Congressman, described "a battle going on inside the administration" over Middle East policy.

"This has to stop," he said of the administration's policy of publicly pressuring Israel to end construction in Jerusalem.

"I told the President, I told Rahm Emanuel and others in the administration that I thought the policy they took to try to bring about negotiations is counter-productive, because when you give the Palestinians hope that the United States will do its negotiating for them, they are not going to sit down and talk," Schumer told Segal. "Palestinians don’t really believe in a state of Israel. They, unlike a majority of Israelis, who have come to the conclusion that they can live with a two-state solution to be determined by the parties, the majority of Palestinians are still very reluctant, and they need to be pushed to get there.

"If the U.S. says certain things and takes certain stands the Palestinians say, 'Why should we negotiate?'" Schumer said. - Politico Story

Obama Not Helping Dems Save his Old Seat

Sen. Dick Durbin slipped into the West Wing last week to ask Rahm Emanuel for White House help in saving Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.

But he didn’t leave with any ironclad commitments.

Durbin told Emanuel that Democratic nominee Alexi Giannoulias could use some serious presidential intervention in his uphill race against Republican Rep. Mark Kirk.

At the moment, the White House seems open to the idea of losing Obama’s old seat rather than putting the president’s prestige on the line for Giannoulias, the brash and boyish Illinois state treasurer — and onetime Obama basketball buddy — whose campaign has been rocked by the financial meltdown of his family’s bank.

Durbin said Emanuel was sympathetic to his pleas but ultimately noncommittal, telling him that the White House was “considering the race, weighing their options and weighing a decision on what to do.”

Emanuel, a former congressman from Chicago, tried but failed last year to get Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan into the race. Now, he told Durbin, it’s up to Giannoulias to prove his campaign has enough “viability and strength” to warrant Obama’s involvement. - Politico Story

New Reports that Health Care Bill Won't Actually Save Money

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law will increase the nation's health care tab instead of bringing costs down, government economic forecasters concluded Thursday in a sobering assessment of the sweeping legislation.

A report by economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department said the health care remake will achieve Obama's aim of expanding health insurance -- adding 34 million Americans to the coverage rolls.

But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president's twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, however, since the report also warned that Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, forcing lawmakers to roll them back.

The mixed verdict for Obama's signature issue is the first comprehensive look by neutral experts.

In particular, the warnings about Medicare could become a major political liability for Democratic lawmakers in the midterm elections. The report projected that Medicare cuts could drive about 15 percent of hospitals and other institutional providers into the red, "possibly jeopardizing access" to care for seniors. - FOX News Story

ACORN CEO Proud to Be Socialist?

McCarthyism? Jim Crow? Segregation? Japanese internment?

Child's play. ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis says the times people are living in now will "dwarf" all those stains on America's history. And she points to the Tea Party movement -- or "bowel movement," in her words -- as a harbinger of the persecution to come.

"They are coming. And they are coming after you," the embattled head of ACORN said during a talk last month to the Young Democratic Socialists, the youth branch of the Democratic Socialists, the U.S. branch of the Socialist International.

During the address, Lewis praised the group's members for calling themselves socialists, and warned that undefined forces are plotting their doom.

"Any group that says, 'I'm young, I'm Democratic, and I'm a socialist,' is all right with me. You know that's no light thing to do -- to actually say, I'm a socialist -- because you guys know right now we are living in a time which is going to dwarf the McCarthy era. It is going to dwarf the internment during World War II. We are right now in a time that is going to dwarf the era of Jim Crow and segregation," Lewis said.

Lewis went on to explain that she wasn't exaggerating -- just look at the Tea Parties, she reasoned.

"This is not rhetoric or hyperbole -- this is real," Lewis said. "This rise of this Tea Party so-called movement -- bowel movement in my estimation -- and this blatant uncovering and ripping off the mask of racism." - FOX News Story

Democrats Won't Make Tough Decisions Until After Election

Senate Democrats released details Wednesday of a five-year budget plan that promises to narrow the deficit dramatically by 2015 but still accumulates almost $3.9 trillion more government debt over the same period.

Trying to survive the political storm around them, Democrats would postpone the toughest decisions until after November’s elections, when a presidential fiscal commission is scheduled to make its report to Congress. But there is no escaping the political bind that grips the party, exhausted from the debate over health care reform and under political pressure to extend Bush-era tax cuts.

Health care ate up most of the available Medicare savings and popular tax offsets that might otherwise be tapped to narrow the deficit. And as a result, it’s harder to dig out of the deficit hole, and little progress will be made in the short term. - Politico Story

Democrats Wall Street Problem

Word came this week that former Obama White House Counsel Greg Craig is advising Goldman Sachs as it fends off civil fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission. POLITICO reports that Craig is the latest prominent Democrat to engage in lucrative business and lobbying opportunities seemingly at odds with their defender-of-the-little-guy rhetoric while in public office. Former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt lobbies for Goldman Sachs, Visa and the coal industry. Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle — President Obama’s first choice to head Health and Human Services — is an adviser for a lobbying firm that represents Charles Schwab, Comcast, Lockheed Martin, Verizon and a host of other corporate interests. Other examples abound.

Do Democrats have a hypocrisy problem, considering their ongoing legislative efforts to reign in Wall Street and often-bombastic rhetoric toward business? Feel free to comment on any aspect of this story. - Politico

Park Police to Blame or Covering Obama's Butt?

The U.S. Park Police is taking responsibility for chasing reporters away from the White House as six uniformed members of the armed services were arrested after handcuffing themselves to the White House gate to protest "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" yesterday.

"That was strictly the U.S. Park Police that screwed up – that has nothing to do with the Secret Service of the White House or the Administration," said Park Police spokesman Sergeant David Schlosser of the incident, which drew complaints from reporters and online speculation about darker motives.

"We had some young officers who, when they were told to move the people back -- which we typically do when we're going to make arrests - they moved the people back a lot further than we typically do," said Schlosser. "That was a rookie, amateur error and they screwed up on that."

"A high ranking official recognized the problem and opened the access back up, but the damage was done at that point," he said.

Schlosser said some Secret Service officers had "assisted," but stressed that the error was the Park Police's.

"It's just embarrassing," he said. - Politico Story

White House Not So Transparent - Tries to Hide Protestors

Police chased reporters away from the White House and closed Lafayette Park today in response to a gay rights protest in which several service members in full uniform handcuffed themselves to the White House gate to protest "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

People who have covered the White House for years tell me that's an extremely unusual thing to do in an area that regularly features protests.

A reporter can be seen in the YouTube video above calling the move "outrageous" and "ridiculous." - Politico Story

Democrats Close Ties to Wall Street

President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are promising a climactic clash with Wall Street, but there’s a complication in their battle plan: The Democratic Party is closer to corporate America — and to Wall Street in particular — than many Democrats would care to admit.

Former White House counsel Greg Craig has just signed on as an institutional Sherpa for Goldman Sachs, the iconic financial firm facing fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt lobbies for Goldman Sachs, Visa and the coal industry. Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle — Obama’s first choice to head Health and Human Services — is an adviser for a lobbying firm that represents Charles Schwab, Comcast, Lockheed Martin, Verizon and a host of other corporate interests.

Attorney General Eric Holder once lobbied for Global Crossing — sometimes described as the Democratic Enron — and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel made eight figures in a little more than two years as the Chicago-based managing director at Wasserstein Perella & Co. between jobs as a senior aide in President Bill Clinton’s White House and as the congressman representing Illinois’s 5th District.

And the Democrats rode to their majorities in the House and the Senate on a wave of cash Emanuel and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer helped them raise from Wall Street. Earlier this month, a hedge fund manager at the center of the Goldman Sachs fraud case held a fundraiser for Schumer in New York. - Politico Story

Buying Your Way to Power in Washington

New House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin is doling out cash like he wants to keep his gavel — and fellow tax writer Richard Neal is spending like he wants to take it away.

Levin, a Michigan Democrat, contributed $100,000 to 64 Democratic candidates in March, according to his first-quarter filing with the Federal Election Commission. He also turned over $110,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and even found a few bucks for the state party and two state House candidates.

He found himself flush with cash soon after winning the chairmanship when Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) stepped down in early March amid an ongoing ethics investigation. Levin pulled in $314,969 in the first three months of the year — at least $231,550 of it in the 28 days he held the gavel — making it his best fundraising quarter since at least 2000. It’s also more than double the roughly $153,00 he raised in the first quarter of the previous election year.

“First and foremost, he is absolutely engaged in making sure that we stay in the majority,” Levin’s chief of staff, Hilarie Chambers, told POLITICO, adding that he is also preparing for a primary and continuing to “play a role in Michigan politics.”

Of course, Levin’s also purchasing insurance on the gavel — which could be up for grabs again in the next Congress. But the goodwill he buys with colleagues and party leaders by helping to fund campaigns in tough districts may or may not be enough to stave off Neal. - Politico Story

Obama Losing the War in Afghanistan?

KABUL- In recent weeks, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s anti-western behavior has become well known to even the most casual observers of Afghanistan. First, he stood next to, and appeared to agree with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the Iranian President called America and its international allies fighting in Afghanistan “occupiers.” Days later, Karzai told supporters in a closed door meeting he might consider joining the Taliban if his western partners didn’t stop pushing him to clean up government corruption and interfering in Afghan affairs. The White House was so angry at Karzai’s actions, it threatened to withdraw his invitation to visit Washington later this Spring.

US officials have since come to the defense of Karzai –trying to smooth over the rocky relationship. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Karzai a “reliable partner,” and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Karzai has an excellent relationship with Gen. Stanley McChrystal. While the Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke told reporters in Kabul that Karzai’s comments were misinterpreted.

But Karzai’s comments are only the tip of the iceberg of a growing anti-western sentiment brewing in Afghanistan’s capital. Since being sworn in for a second term last November, Karzai’s government has significantly made life more difficult for the western community supporting his fledgling government – for no apparent reason.

International contractors, who do much of the work in Afghan Ministries, complain that getting work permits and visas for western employees is becoming significantly more difficult.

“Compared to what we had to deal with just last year, the obstacles are great, and getting worse,” said one western contractor who asked not to be identified. - FOX News Story

Nearly 80% Don't Trust Big Government

WASHINGTON -- Nearly 80 percent of Americans say they can't trust Washington and they have little faith that the massive federal bureaucracy can solve the nation's ills, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center that shows public confidence in the federal government at one of the lowest points in a half-century.

The poll released Sunday illustrates the ominous situation facing President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party as they struggle to maintain their comfortable congressional majorities in this fall's elections. Midterm prospects are typically tough for the party in power. Add a toxic environment like this and lots of incumbent Democrats could be out of work.

The survey found that just 22 percent of those questioned say they can trust Washington almost always or most of the time and just 19 percent say they are basically content with it. Nearly half say the government negatively effects their daily lives, a sentiment that's grown over the past dozen years.

This anti-government feeling has driven the tea party movement, reflected in fierce protests this past week.

"The government's been lying to people for years. Politicians make promises to get elected, and when they get elected, they don't follow through," says Cindy Wanto, 57, a registered Democrat from Pennsylvania who joined several thousand for a rally in Washington on April 15 -- the tax filing deadline. "There's too much government in my business. It was a problem before Obama, but he's certainly not helping fix it." - FOX News Story

Obama Goes After Goldman...Several Ex-Goldman Employees work in White House

The SEC's civil fraud allegations against Goldman Sachs continues to have political reverberations. The SEC contends that Goldman Sachs created a purposefully toxic mortgage security with the help of a big hedge fund client (John Paulson), who netted a billion dollar profit betting against the security. As POLITICO's "Morning Money" reports, "The 140-year-old firm's executives believe they are 'a prop in a campaign' for Wall Street reform, and say they plan to continue expressing confidence 'after a sucker punch' by focusing on clients, who they believe are largely sympathetic."

Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein and other executives will appear April 27 before Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee), for a hearing on "The Role of Investment Banks" as a series on "Wall Street and the Financial Crisis."

Can the Obama administration and congressional Democrats gain politically by going after Goldman Sachs? Can they create the perception that congressional Republicans' opposition to the Dodd financial reform bill is part of an unholy alliance with the big banks and financial institutions?

Also, based on information public now, did John Paulson do anything wrong in helping Goldman allegedly bet against the housing market? Didn't he have his own financial "skin in the game?" If the housing market continued to rise he would have lost billions instead. Doesn't a free market system need naysayers willing to be against rising financial bubbles? - Politico Story

Sen. Brown says He Will Fillibuster Finance Reform

(CBS) While saying that President Obama has politicized the debate over financial reform, Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., said today on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he is opposed to the Democrats' proposed legislation to overhaul America's banking system and would filibuster if it came to a vote.

Host Bob Schieffer noted that each day seems to bring more outrage about Wall Street banking practices, yet minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has come out against financial reforms that Democrats want to bring to the Senate floor, claiming it will enable future taxpayer-funded bailouts of banks. President Obama called McConnell's assertion about bailouts the exact opposite of what the bill would allow, and characterized the Republican leader's comments as "cynical and deceptive."

Brown told Schieffer that he disagreed with Mr. Obama's position, and stands with McConnell.

"I think the president's political arm is now taking over this debate," said Brown. "It's unfortunate because I, like many others in my state and throughout the country, want banks to be banks. I don't want them to be casinos and take risky bets on our money. I think that this is an issue that we can clearly come to common ground on and just solve the problem."

Brown suggested that the financial reform bill in its current form would hurt Massachusetts. He specifically referenced Liberty Mutual and Mass Mutual as companies that would be adversely affected, claiming that the bill would lose the country 25,000 to 35,000 jobs.

Schieffer asked how Brown could make that claim. - CBS News Story

Poll Shows Obama Would Lose to Paul for President

Pit maverick Republican Congressman Ron Paul against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, and the race is – virtually dead even.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote. Eleven percent (11%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

Ask the Political Class, though, and it’s a blowout. While 58% of Mainstream voters favor Paul, 95% of the Political Class vote for Obama.

But Republican voters also have decidedly mixed feelings about Paul, who has been an outspoken critic of the party establishment.

Obama earns 79% support from Democrats, but Paul gets just 66% of GOP votes. Voters not affiliated with either major party give Paul a 47% to 28% edge over the president. - Politico Story

America is a SuperPower, Like it or not?

WASHINGTON, Ill. - Sarah Palin criticized President Barack Obama on Saturday for saying America is a military superpower "whether we like it or not," saying she was taken aback by his comment.

"I would hope that our leaders in Washington, D.C., understand we like to be a dominant superpower," the former Alaska governor said. "I don't understand a world view where we have to question whether we like it or not that America is powerful."

Obama said earlier this week that the United States must do its best to resolve conflicts around the world before they grow too serious.

"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them," Obama said. "And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."

Palin's remarks came in a question-and-answer session after a speech at an event in the central Illinois town of Washington to raise money for scholarships and a community center. She spoke to a crowd of about 1,100. - FOX News Story

McCain Ratches up Heat on Obama over Iran

Sen. John McCain renewed his call for the United States to "pull the trigger" on sanctions against Iran and more, after a memo from Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the White House warned that the United States lacks a long-term plan for dealing with Iran's nuclear program.

Gates wrote the three-page memo in January and it set off efforts in the Pentagon, White House and intelligence agencies to come up with new options, including the use of the military, The New York Times said in its Sunday editions, quoting unnamed government officials.

Senior officials confirmed the existence of the memo to Fox News, but denied that the document prompted reassessment of diplomatic or military options.

"The White House has been planning for all contingencies regarding Iran since long before January," one official said.

But McCain told "Fox News Sunday" that the memo was merely stating the obvious, and that regardless of what's being done about it the United States needs to do much more than just threaten to take punitive action against Iran.

"I didn't need a secret memo from Mr. Gates to ascertain that," he said. "We do not have a coherent policy... We have to be willing to pull the trigger on significant sanctions." - FOX News Story