Obama Press Conference: Refreshing Differences

After the Bush years of obfuscation, a unusually somber President Obama should receive high marks for relative candor and a high degree of control in his first televised national press conference. Faced with a financial crisis with a second bailout and stimulus package up in the air, Obama made his case to the American public while deftly addressing questions put to him by the press.

For example:

Chip Reid: You have often said that bipartisanship is extraordinarily important, overall and in this stimulus package, but now, when we ask your advisers about the lack of bipartisanship so far -- zero votes in the House, three in the Senate -- they say, "Well, it's not the number of votes that matters; it's the number of jobs that will be created."

Is that a sign that you are moving away -- your White House is moving away from this emphasis on bipartisanship?

And what went wrong? Did you underestimate how hard it would be to change the way Washington works?

Obama: Well, I don't think -- I don't think I underestimated it. I don't think the -- the American people underestimated it. They understand that there have been a lot of bad habits built up here in Washington, and it's going to take time to break down some of those bad habits.

You know, when I made a series of overtures to the Republicans, going over to meet with both Republican caucuses, you know, putting three Republicans in my cabinet -- something that is unprecedented -- making sure that they were invited here to the White House to talk about the economic recovery plan, all those were not designed simply to get some short-term votes. They were designed to try to build up some trust over time.

And I think that, as I continue to make these overtures, over time, hopefully that will be reciprocated.

But understand the bottom line that I've got right now, which is what's happening to the people of Elkhart and what's happening across the country. I can't afford to see Congress play the usual political games. What we have to do right now is deliver for the American people.

So my bottom line when it comes to the recovery package is: Send me a bill that creates or saves 4 million jobs. Because everybody has to be possessed with a sense of urgency about putting people back to work, making sure that folks are staying in their homes, that they can send their kids to college.

That doesn't negate the continuing efforts that I'm going to make to listen and engage with my Republican colleagues. And hopefully the tone that I've taken, which has been consistently civil and respectful, will pay some dividends over the long term. There are going to be areas where we disagree, and there are going to be areas where we agree.

As I said, the one concern I've got on the stimulus package, in terms of the debate and listening to some of what's been said in Congress, is that there seems to be a set of folks who -- I don't doubt their sincerity -- who just believe that we should do nothing.

Now, if that's their opening position or their closing position in negotiations, then we're probably not going to make much progress, because I don't think that's economically sound and I don't think what -- that's what the American people expect, is for us to stand by and do nothing.

While not always answering questions head on, like in the case of whether he would reverse the policy about allowing the photographing of the draped coffins of soldiers returning to Dover AFB, he did say what criteria he would use to make his decision.

Perhaps one of his best and worst moments was in addressing the grand lady of the press, Helen Thomas, for the first time as President when he smiled and said "All right. Helen? This is my inaugural moment here. I'm really excited." Thomas, who was relegated to the bullpen during the Bush administration, didn't give him a pass in asking him "Mr. President, do you think that Pakistan and -- are maintaining the safe havens in Afghanistan for these so-called terrorists? And, also, do you know of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?"

His response was somewhat evasive when it came to the second part of her question as he said " With respect to nuclear weapons, you know, I don't want to speculate. What I know is this: that if we see a nuclear arms race in a region as volatile as the Middle East, everybody will be in danger.

And one of my goals is to prevent nuclear proliferation generally. I think that it's important for the United States, in concert with Russia, to lead the way on this.

And, you know, I've mentioned this in conversations with the Russian president, Mr. [Dmitry] Medvedev, to let him know that it is important for us to restart the -- the conversations about how we can start reducing our nuclear arsenals in an effective way so that we then have the standing to go to other countries and start stitching back together the nonproliferation treaties that, frankly, have been weakened over the last several years. OK." Then he cut her off on her follow-up.

On the whole, the President did what he set out to do, to discuss the stimulus package and reassure Americans that he was working for them.

Foreign Relations Running Hot and Cold

The problem with other countries is that they just don't do what we want them to do. Take Russia and Georgia. They have a beef with each other, they are ostensibly both our allies, and still they fight. What's a superpower to do?

As our lame duck president said, "The actions of Russia in recent days have damaged its credibility in the eyes of the free world. Bullying and intimidation are not the way to conduct foreign policy." I wonder if any country said that about our incursion into Iraq in March, 2002?

The Soviet bloc is no more, and supposedly the cold war is over. Yet, our relations with the Russians are tenuous at best between this festering sore and the U.S. agreement placing a missile defense system inside Poland--which the Russians are not so keen about. This only four months after President Bush and Prime Minister Putin met in Sochi, the Russian resort 15 miles from Georgia, and signed an “agreement” pledging cooperation on a variety of diplomatic and security matters and declaring that “the era in which the United States and Russia considered one another an enemy or strategic threat has ended.” Whoops!

Russia needs oil ports to sell its oil, Georgia has oil ports on the Black Sea (Georgia has been a key conduit of oil and gas from Central Asia to the West that bypasses Russia), we need oil, it seems pretty straight forward. Either encourage Georgia and Russia to play nice or work out an U.S. energy "plan b" that doesn't require playing referee with other countries whose are inextricably tied to fossil fuel.

But we should feel good because our president has his finger on the pulse of the situation. Bush said “got a lot of folks, smart folks, analyzing the situation on the ground and, of course, briefing us on different possibilities that could develop in the area and the region.” We'll hope they do better than in 2002.

NATO: Yes to Missle Shield, No to Ukraine, Georgia

Reuters reports NATO leaders were set to endorse a planned U.S. missile shield for Europe on Thursday, a senior U.S. official told reporters.

The final summit statement would "recognize the substantive contribution to the protection of the allies" from the missile defense system to be deployed in the Czech Republic and Poland, the official told reporters.

According to the BBC, NATO has confirmed it will not yet offer membership to Georgia or Ukraine after the 26-member alliance was split amid strong objections from Russia.

Due to a conflict between Greece and Macedonia over a territorial issue, the alliance also said it would not invite Macedonia to join.

In what may be a continuation toward increased NATO influence in the Middle East, United States will be able to move some of its troops to Afghanistan's south once France sends a battalion of troops to the east of Afghanistan as part of efforts to bolster the 47,000-strong peacekeeping force, meeting Canada's conditions to keep troops in Afghanistan, the official said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said earlier

Saber Rattling?

From the BBC

Russia in defence warning to US

The speech is Mr Putin's last before he steps down next year

Russia may stop implementing a key defence treaty because of concerns over US plans for a missile shield in Europe, President Vladimir Putin said.

Mr Putin made the threat during his annual address to parliament - which he said would be his last as president.

He also hit out at an influx of foreign money which he said was being used to meddle in Russia's internal affairs.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed Russian concerns over the missile shield as "ludicrous".

But BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Mr Putin's speech marks a significant upping of diplomatic stakes.

The Russian president accused Nato countries of failing to respect the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE), which limits military deployments across the continent.

The treaty was adapted in 1999 after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, but Nato states have not yet ratified the new version, linking it to the withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia and Moldova.

Mr Putin accused Nato states of exploiting the situation to increase their military presence near Russia.

He said that the Russian moratorium would continue "until all countries of the world have ratified and started to strictly implement it".

If there was no progress at upcoming talks between Nato and Russia, Russia would "look at the possibility of ceasing our commitments under the CFE treaty", he said.

Endangered Wolf(owitz) and Rudderless Hulks

The BBC Reports

A group of senior former World Bank employees has urged beleaguered head Paul Wolfowitz to resign, saying he can no longer be an effective leader.

Mr Wolfowitz is battling to remain in his job after admitting helping his partner win a promotion and pay rise.

More than 40 World Bank officials, including 18 former vice-presidents, published their call in an open letter to the Financial Times newspaper.

They said Mr Wolfowitz had "lost the trust and respect of bank staff".

"There is only one way for Wolfowitz to further the mission of the bank: he should resign."

"He has [...] damaged his own credibility on good governance - his flagship issue," the letter reads.

The letter was signed by, among others, the former number two in the organisation during the first year of Mr Wolfowitz's time at the Bank, Shengman Zhang.

The former senior officials warn that if Mr Wolfowitz remains in office, he will "preside over a rudderless hulk".

More

Speaking of "rudderless hulks", President Bush's surge strategy was dealt another blow over the weekend:

Violence has continued with three suicide bombers killing at least 27 people and wounding nearly 60 in various parts of Iraq, including one close to where [new US ambassador to Iraq] Mr.[Ryan] Crocker was speaking. "The road is going to be a tough one," Crocker said. "I don't begin my tour here with any illusions. It is going to be very, very difficult, but I certainly believe that success is possible. Otherwise, I wouldn't be standing here." Crocker said the months ahead will be "critical."

Speaking of "critical", Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov on Monday criticized a U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense system in central Europe, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

"We consider that the U.S. strategic missile defense system is a destabilizing factor that may considerably affect regional and global security," Serdyukov said after talks with his U.S. counterpart Robert Gates, who arrived here earlier on Monday for a visit.

The United States plans to deploy a missile defense radar in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland. The 3.5-billion-U.S. dollar project is set to start operating by 2011.

Russia has rejected the plan, alleging its real target will not be Iran as Washington has claimed, but Moscow.

The United States is offering Russia a new package of incentives to drop its strong opposition to American missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, including an invitation to begin linking some American and Russian antimissile systems, the New York Times reported on Saturday.