The Point: Bill Clinton to the Rescue Again

(Nov. 11) — Bill Clinton took another step in defining his post-presidential role when he visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday to urge Senate Democrats to pass health care reform.

As he takes on the mantle of the Democratic Party’s elder statesman, Clinton is also becoming President Barack Obama’s go-to guy when the going gets tough.

Hillary Rodham Clinton wasn’t offered the vice presidency because Obama didn’t want her husband around all the time, according to a book by the new president’s campaign manager. But in the months since Obama took office, he’s sent Bill Clinton to North Korea to bring home two imprisoned reporters and to Virginia in a futile attempt to hold on to the governor’s seat for Democrats.

Now, with the signature initiative of Obama’s young presidency on the line, Clinton serves as a living reminder of the consequences of failure to pass health care reform. Remember the history here. In 1993, a young President Clinton tried to overhaul the nation’s health care system — with his wife, who became a lightning rod for critics, leading the way. “Hillarycare” opponents prevailed, and Democrats lost control of Congress the next year.

So Clinton’s words carry weight with wary Democratic lawmakers. He told senators during their private lunch that passing health care reform isn’t just an important element in reviving the economy, it’s good politics. “The worst thing we can do is nothing,” he said over and over.

Amid speculation that lawmakers might not be able to do something by the end of the year, Clinton appealed for speedy action, before the 2010 campaign season heats up.

“It’s not important to be perfect here. It’s important to act, to move, to start the ball rolling,” he told reporters after the meeting, saying any problems can be fixed later through amendments.

One senator at the luncheon, Rhode Island’s Sheldon Whitehouse, quoted Clinton as saying: “Just pass the bill, even if it’s not exactly what you want. … When you try and fail, the other guys write history.”

In this case, the “other guys” include Tea Party protesters. Clinton said the reason they’re so fired up about Obama’s health care reform push is “because we’re winning,” according to Whitehouse.

While conservative commentators may disagree over who’s winning, Hot Air’s Allahpundit called Clinton’s “pass anything now” strategy “a sound one.”

Blogger Taylor Marsh praised the White House for sending Clinton to use his powers of persuasion on “Blue Dog” Democrats from conservative states who fear a vote for health care reform could cost them their seats. “No one can talk to the Blue Dogs in the Senate like Bubba,” Marsh wrote.

The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan was struck by the unexpected “fusion of the Clinton and Obama brands” that’s taken place in the past year. With Secretary of State Clinton winning praise from some past critics for her foreign policy work and former President Clinton twisting arms for a major domestic initiative, Sullivan said the alliance of one-time rivals “speaks well” for all involved.

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my two cents…I wish Bill would stay out of this and stick to his Global Initiatives…just stay clear of this disaster in the making…

Pat over at no quarter had an interesting take on the House bill:

noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/11/10/hr-3926%e2%80%94congressional-graffiti/

……………….bottom line…no one knows what the hell they are doing and voting for…but they know enough to put FINES AND THE IRS on the rest of us…

…no wonder the repubs are beginning to run ahead of the dims in the generic gallup poll.. the dims are becoming little dictators…

Now for Obama’s share…the dude’s been in office for 10 months, almost one quarter of a presidential term. Pawning this off as “Bush’s mistake” doesn’t hold water.

The charge of ineptitude must be leveled fairly, and in this case, “Who the heck is overseeing the military???”.

But note that on the Tepid Scale of Criticism, this is a 10!!! The most anger she can muster against him is that “Obama has not been strong on the issue”.

Ooooh, snap.
Vicious.
Pitbull journalism.

“It’s an addiction that Washington has done little to quell. President Obama has not been strong on the issue, and Timothy Geithner coddles the wanton bankers whenever they freak out that they might not be able to put in their new pools next summer.”

The whole thing is worth a quick scan, but also contains this:

“No sooner had the Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd announced his plan to overhaul financial regulation Tuesday than compensation experts declared it toothless.”

nytimes.com/2009/11/11/opinion/11dowd.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/PDF/NEINHasanProfile.pdf

Northeast Intelligence Network
http://www.HomelandSecurityUS.com
Subject ProfileAmerica’s largest military base.

Generic Repubs lagged behind Generic Dems in mid-July 2009, 50 – 44%. By mid-October, they were dead even. The straight line trends continue, so Repubs up 48 – 44%.

Way to go, Dems!

And hail to the Chief, boldly leading the Dems!

gallup.com/poll/124226/Republicans-Edge-Ahead-Democrats-2010-Vote.aspx

PRINCETON, NJ — Republicans have moved ahead of Democrats by 48% to 44% among registered voters in the latest update on Gallup’s generic congressional ballot for the 2010 House elections, after trailing by six points in July and two points last month.

(go to link to see graph).

From this past Saturday’s NY Times:

nytimes.com/2009/11/07/us/07acorn.html

Acorn Offices in New Orleans Are Raided
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 6, 2009
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — State investigators raided Acorn’s offices here on Friday, taking hard drives and documents in an investigation into accusations of embezzlement and tax fraud when the group’s national headquarters was in New Orleans.

“This is an investigation of everything — Acorn, the national organization, the local organization and all of its affiliated entities,” said David Caldwell, an assistant attorney general.

A lawyer for Acorn said in a statement that the raid was prompted by accusations that former Acorn employees had removed or altered electronic documents and might do so in the future.

The lawyer, Pamela Marple, said investigators wanted “virtually every document in the possession of Acorn and any related entity.”

The raid was the latest in a string of troubles for Acorn. Videotapes released recently showed two people posing as a pimp and a prostitute seeking advice on tax evasion at Acorn offices. The responses given by the Acorn workers in the tapes led Congress and state governments to cut financing for the organization.

State prosecutors said their investigation into the New Orleans offices stemmed from accusations involving embezzlement at Acorn nearly a decade ago that were made last year by board members.

Last year, Acorn settled an internal dispute and a lawsuit involving accusations that Dale Rathke, the brother of the group’s founder, Wade Rathke, made about $948,000 in improper credit card charges in 1999 and 2000. The Rathke family and a donor repaid the money, and no criminal charges were ever filed.

Last month, Louisiana’s attorney general, James D. Caldwell, the father of David Caldwell, said he would investigate accusations that the embezzlement might have been as high as $5 million.

For 33 years, Acorn’s national headquarters was in New Orleans after Wade Rathke moved there in the 1970s from Little Rock, Ark., where he started the organization. The embezzlement scandal led the organization to move its headquarters to Washington this year, allowing the national organization to distance itself from the Rathkes.

By David Gollust
Singapore
11 November 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Tuesday’s naval clash between North and South Korea will not derail plans to send a U.S. envoy to North Korea to try to revive nuclear negotiations. Clinton discussed North Korea diplomacy in meetings with fellow foreign ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

The clash over the disputed sea boundary between the two Koreas left patrol vessels from both sides damaged and inflamed military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

But Secretary Clinton says it is not going to halt an Obama administration effort to get the Chinese-sponsored six-party talks in North Korea’s nuclear program going again.

A U.S. announcement Tuesday that special envoy Stephen Bosworth will visit Pyongyang before the end of the year nearly coincided with reports of the naval skirmish, the first of its kind in several years.

It prompted urgent consultations between Clinton’s traveling party and officials in Washington and was an issue in the Secretary’s day-long set of meetings at the APEC forum, including a bilateral meeting late Wednesday with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.

Appealing for restraint at a news conference, Clinton said she was encouraged by the calm reaction to the naval encounter and said plans for the long-anticipated Bosworth mission are going forward.

“This does not in any way affect our decision to send Ambassador Bosworth,” Clinton said. “We think that is an important step that stands on its own. It is connected to our efforts, along with our six-party partners, to move towards resumption of the six-party process. We think that is critically important. So we are certainly counseling calm and caution.”

Clinton said Bosworth’s mission to Pyongyang will not be a negotiation but rather an effort to pave the way for North Korea’s return to the six-party process.

North Korea agreed in principle in 2005 to scrap its nuclear program in return for aid and diplomatic benefits from the other participants, the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and host China.

But negotiations broke down last year over Pyongyang’s refusal to accept a verification plan for the declaration it made of it nuclear holdings and activities.

Clinton said APEC colleagues supported the decision to send Bosworth, and that while in North Korea he would press for adherence to the terms of the 2005 agreement and its goal of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-11-voa6.cfm