Daily Political Wire 4-3-2010

George Wenschhof

Yesterday, President Obama had a one hour telephone conversation with China President Hu Jintao - Jintao agree to attend a nuclear summit meeting with international leaders to be held in D.C. later this month. Also discussed were economic issues and the Chinese relationship with Tibet and Taiwan. President Obama has been calling for tougher UN sanctions against Iran to persuade them to be more transparent about their nuclear program. MSNBC.com has more here.

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Sunday morning "Talking Heads" lineup - some of the discussion will center on the economy and how the remainder of the year looks like for job creation. NBC "Meet the Press" will have White House Council of Economic Affairs chair Christina Romer. Also appearing will be Representative Jane Harman (D-Calf.), Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and former homeland Security Adviser Michael Chertoff.

It will be interesting to see what former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan says about the economy. He will appear on ABC "This Week". Greenspan retired and got out while the getting was good, prior to the financial collapse in the fall of 2008. Yet, he was in office while most of the government relaxation of financial regulation took place which led to the collapse of the financial markets.

National Economic Council chair Larry Summers will do double duty as he appears on CNN "State of The Union" and ABC "This Week". Let's see what he thinks the 162,000 added jobs in March means for the remainder of the year and if he will predict a lowering in unemployment which has remained at 9.7%. If strong growth occurs over the next five months and overall unemployment is reduced only one percentage point to 8.7%, it would bring validation to the Obama administration and the Democratic Party backed Stimulus bill. This type of news coming at the beginning of October would buoy Democrats in the November mid term elections.

Also on CNN "State of The Union" will be Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren. Let's see what he says of the recent breakdown of the U.S. brokered "proximity talks" between Palestine and Israel.

"Fox News Sunday" will feature Senators Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Arlen Specter (D-Pa.). Also appearing will be Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-Calf.).

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Early speculation on possible candidates should Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens retire - Stevens indicated he would make an announcement soon as he nears his 90th birthday on April 20. Bloomberg.com has more here. Three names have already surfaced; two of whom made it to the short list when Sonia Sotomayer was nominated by President Obama.

The three names are U.S. Soliciter General Elena Kagan, along with federal appellate judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland. Stevens surely understands he does not want to retire during a Republican administration; giving them an opportunity to add to their current narrow 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court.

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