Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

South Africa Embraces Visit By First Lady - the five day visit by Michele Obama has been warmly received, including a rare meeting with the ailing 92 year old Nelson Mandela. The NY Times has more here.

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Obama Speech on Afghanistan Satisfies Few - in his televised address to the nation last night, President Obama laid out his plans to withdraw the 33,000 surge troops by the end of next year, with the remaining 70,000 troops to be withdrawn by 2014.

The reaction from the left and the right politicos was mostly opposed to such a slow timetable. The advise given by the Military was a even slower draw down of U.S. troops, making the announcement more in the center of a debate on the level of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Chris Cillizza of TheFix.com has a good read here.

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House To Vote Tomorrow on Libya - House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has scheduled votes tomorrow on two bills regarding U.S. involvement in Libya. One, supports U.S. military action and is expected to fail by a large margin. The other bill, which is still being revised, would cut sharply the funding for U.S. military action in Libya. TheHill.com has more here.

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Unemployment Claims Up Again - initial claims were up 9,000 higher than expected last week as bad news continues to prevail in the national economy. This news comes as the government stimulus program is winding down and deficit reduction talks are taking place in earnest. Reuters.com has more here.

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Federal Reserve Chair Cautions Against Deep Cuts - with the latest information showing the outlook for the economy being more gloomy than expected, Ben Bernanke warned lawmakers of the danger of making too deep cuts in spending in the short term. Politico.com has more here.

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Bill To legalize Marijuana to be Introduced Today - in the House by Representatives Ron Paul (R-Tex.) and Barney Frank (D-Mass.). modeled after the bill that repealed the prohibition of alcohol, it would allow states to regulate the use and tax the sale. You can read more here.

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Gore Critical of Obama on Climate Change - former vice president and presidential candidate; Al Gore says President Obama has "failed" in his approach to global warming. Al Gore's organization www.RepowerAmerica.org sent an email out to supporters last night with a link to an article written by Al Gore which will appear in the "Rolling Stone" magazine issue available tomorrow. You can read it here.

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