USA TODAY

Obama's liberal base 'disengaged'

By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Is President Obama losing his base?

Liberal and progressive organizations that helped propel him to the White House are turning on him now, little more than a year after he took office. Their collective discontent, on issues from health care to nuclear energy to the handling of terror suspects, could mean bad news for Democrats during this fall's congressional elections.

Polls show liberals and blacks still approve of the job Obama's doing. That approval, however, doesn't necessarily mean they will make the effort to vote, and many of the activists and groups that worked to get people to the polls in 2008 say they're not inclined right now to help Democrats in the fall.

"The energized base which transformed the nation and elected our first black president (is) now disengaged," Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile says. "If this was September, I would hit the panic button."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs routinely brushes off questions about whether Obama and the Democrats are losing key constituencies, but he says the notion that the president is taking liberals for granted is "silly."

Still, signs of trouble for the Democratic majority in Congress are springing up in:

Read the rest here

AP: White House mulls military trials for 9/11 suspects 

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a potential reversal, White House advisers are close to recommending that President Obama opt for military tribunals for self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four of his alleged henchman, senior officials said.

The review of where and how to hold a Sept. 11 trial is not over, so no recommendation is yet before the president and Obama has not made a determination of his own, officials said. The review is not likely to be finished this week...........

"If this stunning reversal comes to pass, President Obama will deal a death blow to his own Justice Department, not to mention American values," said American Civil Liberties Union Anthony D. Romero. "Even with recent improvements, the military commissions system is incapable of handling complicated terrorism cases and achieving reliable results. President Obama must not cave in to political pressure and fear-mongering. He should hold firm and keep these prosecutions in federal court, where they belong."
usatoday.

•Virginia, where a host of liberal groups are rallying supporters and students to protest the upcoming University of Virginia appearance of former Bush administration top Justice Department official John Yoo.

Yoo, who wrote the legal memos authorizing the use of controversial interrogation techniques against terror suspects, is scheduled to speak at the school in Charlottesville on March 19. He will be greeted by protesters, from groups such as Veterans for Peace and the National Accountability Network, who are angry that the Obama administration has declined to prosecute him for the so-called "torture memos."

Organizer David Swanson calls the administration's positions on protecting state secrets and war crimes "a disaster."

Kliphnote: What did you expect from the ACLU.

Big surprise, protest John Yoo. 

But if this was  Castro or Hugo Chavez or some other left wing dictator

they would cheer.

Reconciliation 

[it's only for the budget, not health care]

The Byrd Rule (described below) was adopted in 1985 and amended in 1990. Its main effect is that reconciliation cannot be used for provisions that would increase the deficit beyond 10 years after the reconciliation measure.
Congress used reconciliation to enact President Bill Clinton's 1993 (fiscal year 1994) budget. (See Pub.L. 103-66, 107 Stat. 312.) Clinton wanted to use reconciliation to pass his 1993 health care plan, but Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) insisted that the health care plan was out of bounds for a process that is theoretically about budgets.

***During the administration of President George W. Bush, Congress used reconciliation to enact three major tax cuts, each of which substantially increased net tax receipts. These tax cuts were set to lapse after 10 years to satisfy the Byrd Rule.**********


When is Katie" Couric going to interview me?

Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest.................The Boxer  by Simon and Garfunkel