Daily Democratic Wire 9-2-2009

George Wenschhof

President Barack Obama is planning a major speech on health care reform - White House senior adviser David Axelrod suggests the president will make the speech prior to the self imposed September 15 deadline to have a bill out of Congress. The focus now appears to be on being very specific on the goals of reform - about time. Time.com has more here.

This afternoon, the President and his family will head to Camp David where they will stay until Sunday before heading back to Washington. The family vacation at Martha's Vineyard was interrupted by the sad passing away of Senator Ted Kennedy. Expect this to be a working vacation for the President as he fine tunes a speech on health care reform he knows has to be good. In addition, U.S. policy in Afghanistan is receiving heavy criticism. Politico.com has more here.

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White House to focus on new regulations for Wall Street - with stiff opposition on health care reform and cap and trade legislation, speculation is cap and trade will be pushed off until next year and it will be replaced with a focus on new regulations on the financial markets. Probably a good strategy as voters will support added scrutiny of financial services firms. You can read more here.

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Afghanistan is another major problem for Obama - the recent election has been marred with claims of voter fraud and the results have yet to be certified. In addition, U.S. military leaders are calling for more troops. The NY Times has a good read here.

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Obama latest Gallup poll approval rating at 51% - an interesting statistic is all recent presidents, except Kennedy have fallen below a 50% approval rating. President Clinton did so in his fourth month in office, only to be easily elected to a second term. Gallup.com has more here.

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Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) to keep chair position of House ways and Means Committee - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will not make any changes unless prompted when the Ethics committee issues a report on various financial disclosure charges surrounding Rangel. TheHill.com has more here.

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