Democratic Chatter 3-14-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

Today, in his weekly address to the nation, President Barack Obama discusses food safety in the U.S. and announces several appointments to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Margaret Hamburg will be Commissioner and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein will be deputy Commissioner for the FDA. You can watch his address by clicking on the video below. WhiteHouse.gov has the full text of his speech here.

download .mp3 or .mp4 also available here read transcript

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Lawrence Summers is the newest face from the Obama administration to discuss economic recovery plans - He is the chair of the national economic council and spoke yesterday to the Brookings Institute, a Washington D.C. think tank. He used phrases similar to what President Roosevelt used when he said "the excess of greed had lead to an excess of fear". FDR has said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". Tomorrow morning Mr. Summers will appear on "This Week" and "Face The Nation". If he fares well, look to see Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner moved out the the PR end of things. MSNBC.com has more here.

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Senate Commerce committee to hold confirmation hearing on Gary Locke next Wednesday - Locke is the third appointee of president Obama for the position and is expected to be easily confirmed as Commerce Secretary. Reuters.com has more here.

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Elizabeth King expected to be named by President Obama as head of legislative affairs for the Pentagon - she is the senior policy adviser to Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.). Senator Reed at one point was lloked upon as a possible running mate for Barack Obama. TheHill.com has more here.

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On the foreign policy front, former U.S. foreign policy officials believe U.S. should have dialogue with Hamas - Former national security advisers Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brezinski are among the group of nine former U.S. officials who believe discussions are needed with Hamas to encourage them to disarm and work within the Palestinian authority. They believe this is critical to future peace in the Middle East region. Under the George W. Bush administration, Hamas had been labeled a terrorist organization and communication had ceased. The Boston Globe has more here.

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Democratic Chatter 1-27-2009

George Wenschhof Bio

President Barack Obama reaches out to Muslims in interview - I watched on CNN part of the interview conducted by Hisham Melhem broadcast on Al-Arabiya. This was a significant interview where the president was reaching out in friendship to the many moderate Muslims. he pointed out the actions of radical Muslim factions resulting in the tearing down of communities as opposed to the building of communities. George Mitchell, the recently appointed Middle East envoy is on his way to the region to begin negotiations. McClatchydc.com has more and some video of the Obama interview here.

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President Barack Obama will meet with Republican Congressmen today - he is expected to continue to push his Economic Stimulus bill. Republicans and some democrats are questioning the size of his bill and how effective it will be. Meanwhile, Caterpiller, Sprint and others announced large numbers of layoffs. Reuters.com has more here

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Vice President Joe Biden to swear in Kristen Gillibrand as NY Senator today.- the ceremonies are expected to take place at 12:30 PM ET in the U.S. Capitol. Earlier today, the Vice president had breakfast with the new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Time.com has more here.

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Timothy Geithner confirmed as Treasury Secretary - this was expected in spite of the revelations Mr. Geithner had not paid social security taxes for several years. Geithner is expected to spell out new restrictions on the 700 Billion bailout program today after criticism of no accountability for the first 350 Billion that has been spent. Read more here. William Dudley is reported to be the person to replace Geithner as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Bloomberg.com has more here.

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McAuliffe's race for Governor of Virginia not a given - for many Democrats, he was referred to as "McAwful" when he served as chair of the Democratic National Committee. Now, he is bringing his experience of raising millions to the Virginia Governor race. RealClearPolitics has a good read here. Expect Brian Moran, a former Democrat state delegate to battle for the Democratic nomination. He is already calling on candidates to refuse to accept out of state contributions, clearly a shot at McAuliffe. In addition, Moran has just added Joe Trippi as his media director. Read more here. Joe Trippi gained notoriety when he managed the Howard Dean campaign for President in 2004.

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