Democratic News 4-29-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

President Barack Obama will travel to Arnold, Missouri this afternoon - In a run up to his national press conference tonight marking his first hundred days in office, he will attend a town hall meeting at Fox Senior High School. The "show-me" state of Missouri had been an accurate predictor of presidential elections until this year when they narrowly voted for Republican candidate John McCain.

The national press conference held at the White House will begin at 8:00 PM ET. Interestingly. the "fair and balanced" Fox News will not broadcast the press conference. It will be available on all the other major networks and cable MSNBC and CNN.

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First Flu fatality in U.S. reported - sadly, it was a 23 month old child in Texas. President Obama asked everyone to take "utmost precautions" and said schools should consider closing if infections are reported. Rueters.com has more here.

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Finally, the Obama cabinet is complete with the senate approval yesterday of Kathleen Sebelius as Health and human Services Secretary - the outbreak of the swine flu in the U.S. prompted quick action by the Senate yesterday as this position will oversee much of the U.S. efforts to contain the outbreak. The vote was 65-31. CNN.com has more here.

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On the 100th day of his presidency, President Obama joined by Vice President Joe Biden welcome new Democratic Senator Arlen Specter to the White House - around 9:00 AM ET, Specter was warmly greeted at the White House in a publicized press conference. Politico.com has more on the remarks here.

The Republican party continues to be in disarray and continued obstructionist actions by the "right wing nuts" will only serve to keep them a minority party in Washington. Senator Specter is now guaranteed a victory next year and the state of Pennsylvania will remain Democratic.

Adding to Republican woes is a op-ed in the NY Times today by Olympia Snowe who is a Republican senator from Maine. She speaks about why the Republican party lost Senator Specter and that it did not need to happen. You can read her op-ed here.

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First Quarter reports from Commerce Department shows economy continues to shrink - this clearly illustrates the magnitude of the problem facing the Obama administration and Americans. The last quarter of 2009 showed a decline of 6.3% in the GDP and the first quarter of 2010 shows a decline of 6.1% of the GDP. MSNBC.com has more here.

The positive effects of the 787 billion Obama stimulus bill will not be able to be measured until after the second quarter. Also keep in mind, if the swine flu outbreak becomes serious in the U.S. and around the world, it will further exacerbate a bad economic situation.

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