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Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The Morning Scoop - Obama's Next Budget Deal Cave-In
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Fresh after caving in to Tea Party demands that nearly $40 billion be slashed from the parts of the budget his supporters elected him to protect, President Obama is apparently giving every indication that he has not yet had enough. He'd like to inflict a little more punishment on his own side in the course of yet another cave-in on the question of raising the debt limit. Ahead of the president's speech on the deficit today, The Daily Beast's Eric Alterman says it's time for Obama to come out punching.
It's certainly worth trying again: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that President Obama will soon lay out a new comprehensive plan for Arab-Israeli peace talks, part of a larger reframing of U.S. policy in the Middle East and North Africa. Obama's attempt at direct Israel-Palestinian peace talks last year was a failure, and the president is currently under pressure to come up with a new initiative in the wake of the Palestinian campaign to be recognized as a state under the United Nations. Clinton's remarks to the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, a gathering of Arab and U.S. policymakers sponsored by Qatar and the Brookings Institute, also came on the heels of revolutions that have rocked the Arab world in Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, and Libya.
Maybe they'll be better at diplomacy than they are at military tactics. Libyan rebels are undertaking their first diplomatic mission as they send a delegation to meet with an international "contact group" in Qatar. The rebels are expected to demand the departure of Muammar Gaddafi as a precondition to any negotiated settlement. They will also meet with Moussa Koussa, Gaddafi's longtime foreign minister who fled Libya last month.
President Obama once said he would restore integrity to science, but apparently he and Congress have higher priorities: Included in the $38 billion budget deal was a rider removing the gray wolf from the endangered species list. It's the first time Congress has ever taken such an action rather than entrusting it to a science-based federal agency. "Now, anytime anybody has an issue with an endangered species, they are going to run to Congress and try to get the same treatment the anti-wolf people have gotten," says one environmentalist. The rider also prohibits judicial review of the delisting. Senators John Tester and Mike Simpson pushed to remove the wolf, so that farmers in their state could hunt them.
Egypt has detained former President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons for 15 days pending investigations into allegations of corruption and abuse of authority, according to the country's prosecutor general. The announcement came several hours after the former leader was hospitalized with heart problems. Reports indicated Mubarak was healthy enough for questioning to continue at the hospital, where one doctor described him as "somewhat" well. Al Jazeera says Mubarak is in stable condition and remains under police guard in the hospital. As Mubarak's sons, Gamal and Alaa, were driven away in a police van, an angry crowd of 2,000 people formed and pelted the vehicle with water bottles, rocks, and flip-flops.
Already armed to the teeth, Mideast states are snapping up more front-line jets and missiles. But far from stirring more Arab conflagrations, Western policymakers believe the arms are helping keep the peace—for now, writes Leslie H. Gelb.
William and Kate's Royal Wedding: Enough Already! by John Avlon The media hype over Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding is at fever pitch, with reports on everything from royal souvenirs to the couple's fashion choices. But the world doesn't really care who the next British monarch is, John Avlon writes.
The American Idol Implosion by Richard Rushfield Wan contestants, useless and uncritical judging, bloated episodes, no room for girl singers—Idol has gone from comeback kid to twice-weekly chore. Richard Rushfield misses Simon Cowell.
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