Distracted Driving: Federal Guidelines Proposed For Automakers

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:28:48 GMT

After years of accidents in the workplace caused by the use of mobile devices in vehicles, the Federal Government today proposed universal universal guidelines to encourage automobile manufacturers to electronically disable these devices when a vehicle is in operation. The enforcement of this safety-first proposal may establish a legal standard universally to bar the use of such devices in vehicles and encourage employees to have a safer working environment.

See: U.S. Department of Transportation Proposes ‘Distraction’ Guidelines for Automakers
"Issued by the Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the guidelines would establish specific recommended criteria for electronic devices installed in vehicles at the time they are manufactured that require visual or manual operation by drivers. The announcement of the guidelines comes just days after President Obama’s FY 2013 budget request, which includes $330 million over six years for distracted driving programs that increase awareness of the issue and encourage stakeholders to take action. "

18 USC 1751

kchan@justia.com (Ken Chan) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:47:24 GMT

Today, the FBI filed a criminal complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The FBI was seeking a warrant to arrest Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez for violating 18 U.S.C. Section 1751(c). That section pertains to attempts to kill the President of the United States.

Obama lays blame on potential job losses exactly where it belongs: On the GOP

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:11:43 GMT

President Barack Obama talks with a patron during a lunch stop in Reidsville, N.C., Oct. 18, 2011.
(Pete Souza/White House)

Nice.

President Obama wrapped up his three-day bus trip through North Carolina and Virginia today by telling a group of firefighters that public safety jobs across the country basically depend on congressional Republicans.
"We'll see if they'll fight just as hard for your jobs as they fight for their jobs," Obama told members of Fire Station 9 in North Chesterfield, Va.

In other words, if those firefighters lose their jobs, it's the GOP's fault.

Americans are livid with government for paralysis in the face of economic calamity. It's important people know exactly who is to blame if additional drastic cuts slash into the ability of government to serve and protect us.

With Occupy Wall Street setting the terms of the economic debate with a message that resonates with Americans, and Obama (finally!) on the offensive on jobs, you can sense Republican nervousness. It leads to insipid sounds bites like this one:

"Let's park the campaign bus, put away the talking points, and do something to address this jobs crisis," McConnell said. "The American people want action. The election's 13 months away. Let's do what we were elected to do."

Obama has only been on that "campaign bus" for three days, yet they desperately want him off it, don't they? But what have McConnell and the GOP been doing the rest of the last three years?

Obama is right—there's one party (for the most part) in DC that wants to save jobs and create new ones, and there's a party that is terrified at the prospect of job growth. There's one party that wants to see America working, and another one that is undermining our country for partisan gain.

There is nothing the GOP fears more than a job created, and they'll do everything in their power to prevent that from happening. It's now up to Obama and the Democrats (including the worthless Blue Dogs, if they want to survive 2012) to aggressively point that out.

Nathan, J., et al.

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:53:01 GMT

Delighted to take note of a federal judicial 1st:
A Senate confirmation vote Thursday had the welcome result of placing the 1st of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens' former law clerks on the federal bench.
She's our colleague Alison J. Nathan (right), now a U.S. District Judge in Manhattan.
Following her JPS clerkship, Ali had practiced as an associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, taught at Fordham University (prior post), and served both as an Associate White House Counsel and as a Special Counsel to the Solicitor General of New York.
Ali's pictured at left with her partner, our colleague Meg Satterthwaite (prior posts), a clinical law professor and human rights expert at New York University, their twin sons Oliver and Nathan, and President Barack Obama. (credit for official White House photo, made in July 2010 by Pete Souza)
On the same day last week, the Senate also approved 2 other women for the federal bench: Deputy U.S. Assistant Attorney General Katherine Forrest, who's also headed to the Southern District of New York, and state Judge Susan Hickey, who will serve in the Western District of Arkansas.

Heartfelt congratulations to all!

Daily Kos/SEIU State of the Nation Poll: Obama's approvals move up for second straight week

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:30:02 GMT

Public Policy Polling for Daily Kos & SEIU. 10/13-16. Registered voters. MoE ±3.1% (Obama trendlines 10/6-9, all others 9/2-25):

Two weeks ago, Barack Obama's job approval rating stood at an abysmal 41-54, mired near his all-time lowest rating in the Daily Kos/SEIU poll. Then, last week, his numbers unexpectedly jumped, and quite a bit at that—all the way to 44-50. At the time, I wondered aloud whether we might be seeing an outlier—a poll that, simply due to the vagaries of statistics, simply came back with numbers that didn't reflect reality. It seemed plausible, particularly since other pollsters weren't seeing a contemporaneous bump in their own surveys.

But while you can always speculate, you should never draw conclusions based on a single poll, especially when you get fresh data every week. If I had done so seven days ago, I'd have lost a lot of money, because I definitely would have bet that Obama's numbers would come back down this week. But not only have they not done so, they've gone up again. Indeed, in the first two weeks of October, the president's job approval has gone from -13 to -3, a jump of ten points. Such dramatic movement is generally quite rare, except in the face of major news.

And again, we haven't seen confirmation from other pollsters. Gallup (which runs a daily tracker) has shown Obama pretty steady over the last month. Few other organizations poll as frequently as we do, though, so we still need to wait to see whether we get any kind of confirmation here, or whether our numbers will continue to stick out like... well, I can't really say like a proverbial sore thumb, since these are positive!

It may be that we're on to something here, something that Gallup is in fact missing. Maybe Obama sticking it to Republicans over the jobs bill is paying dividends. Maybe the message of the Occupy Wall Street movement is generating new-found enthusiasm on the part of Democrats. Or maybe we're just wrong, and our numbers will soon fall in line. Time will, indeed, tell.

Poll: Most Republicans hope President Obama's policies fail

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:29:12 GMT

No wonder Mitch McConnell says his top priority is
defeating President Obama, not creating jobs
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

From CNN's latest poll (October 14-16, ±3%):

In general, do you hope that Barack Obama's policies will succeed, or do you hope that his policies will fail?
Total
Succeed: 67
Fail: 25

Democrats
Succeed: 92
Fail: 5

Independents
Succeed: 66
Fail: 24

Republicans
Succeed: 39
Fail: 51

Okay, I don't really have a problem with the fact that Republicans want President Obama himself to fail. That's just the nature of a partisan political system. But rooting for his policies to fail is utterly pathetic, not just because it's the country that suffers if his policies fail, but also because these Republicans are rooting for the failure of policies that they support.

According to the poll, 58% of Republicans support the payroll tax holiday, 63% support federal aid for teachers and first responders, 54% support federal aid for rebuilding roads, bridges, and schools, and 56% support raising taxes on income more than $1 million. The only policies they opposed were aid to unemployed workers and raising taxes on income over $250,000.

But even though Republicans support most of the policies in President Obama's jobs proposal by a wide margin, a majority of Republican voters also want those policies to fail. That's a terrible and self-destructive case of misplaced priorities, putting their hatred of the president ahead of their own views about what's in the best interest of the country.

With numbers like this, it's not hard to understand why every single Republican senator voted against the jobs bill despite its overwhelming popularity. It's a perfect example of the utter dysfunction of American politics—and how the heart of that dysfunction is located within the G.O.P.

Democrats will rally with public employees to push jobs bill

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:50:48 GMT

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Democrats are going all in behind the public employees who have been so vilified by Republicans throughout the country, rallying behind the first component of the larger jobs bill that President Obama is proposing, a $35 billion package to get teachers, fire-fighters, and police back to work. To that end, they're inviting these workers to come to D.C. this week.

A Democratic source says that on Wednesday, the party is likely to host firefighters, cops and other first responders along with teachers who face the threat of being laid off should lawmakers not send additional funds to states. Another source confirmed that preparations are underway for a rally.
The purpose of the affair is straightforward. It aims to put a human face on a legislative effort that would see $30 billion or so spent on education-related jobs and another $5 billion on first responders, all of which would be paid for by placing a tax on income above $1 million. By bringing those individuals who stand to benefit from the bill to Washington D.C., Democrats are practically doing the national press corps' homework for them.

Democrats have learned that that's precisely what you have to do for the national press corps. All the same, it's very smart positioning for the Democrats, highlighting the segment of the 99 percent that has been most attacked by Republicans.

Reid working with White House to push $35 billion jobs bill this week

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:54:57 GMT

(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

The president asks, the Senate will try to deliver.

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats in the Senate plan to bring up for consideration this week a portion of Obama's stalled $447 billion jobs bill, a senior party aide said on Monday.
In conjunction with the White House, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is crafting an initial stand-alone piece of the bill that would provide $35 billion to help states hire and prevent layoffs of teachers, firefighters and police officers, the aide said.[...]

Democrats initially planned to wait until November to bring individual sections of the bill to the Senate for consideration but changed plans and decided to start the process this week, the aide said.

This comes as President Obama is amping up his criticism of Congress, explaining the new approach on the jobs bill, saying, "Maybe they couldn't understand the whole thing at once ... We're going to break it up into bite-sized pieces, so they—they can take a thoughtful approach ... We're going to give members of Congress another chance to step up to the plate and do the right thing."

But he's also getting more pointed in his criticism of Republicans.

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama took the push for his stalled $447 billion jobs plan on the road Monday, telling a North Carolina audience that alternative proposals put forward by his Republican critics amount to little more than sops to the rich that will gut critical regulations and fail to restore economic growth.
My "bill will help put people back to work and give our economy a boost right away," Obama told the crowd at Asheville Regional Airport. "But apparently none of this matters" to GOP leaders.

"I've gone out of my way to find areas of cooperation" with congressional Republicans, the president declared. "We're going to give members of Congress another chance to step up to the plate and do the right thing."

But "if they vote against these proposals again ... then they're not going to have to answer to me. They're going to have to answer to you," he said.

Meanwhile, "House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and California Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Ed Royce will be together in [Southern California] for a fund-raising event." And John McCain says that President Obama is just on the campaign trail, rather than trying to put America back to work. That means that the Senate vote this week will give Obama and the Democrats more fodder for shaming the Republicans.

Obama, Uganda & the ICC

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:06:13 GMT

In furtherance of the Congress's stated policy, I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield.

So wrote U.S. President Barack Obama, in a letter (full text here) dated yesterday in which he notified Congress, "consistent with the War Powers Resolution," that he was deploying 100 "combat-equipped" military advisors to Uganda to help fight Lord's Resistance Army leader Kony.
The move is said to further a 2010 statute that, as posted, Obama signed just as the International Criminal Court Review Conference began in Uganda's capital, Kampala. Obama's letter discussed the LRA's activities in Uganda, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. (credit for 1997 map of Central Africa) It made no mention, however, of the fact Kony's the target of an ICC arrest warrant that was issued in 2005 and thereafter became the subject of frequent "peace v. justice" debates.
A remarkable move, particularly for a state not party to the ICC treaty.

Weekly address: Obama challenges Republicans to answer to Americans for upcoming jobs votes

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 14:00:02 GMT

But rather than listen to you and put folks back to work, Republicans in the House spent the past couple days picking partisan ideological fights. They’re seeing if they can roll back clean air and water protections. They’re stirring up fights over a woman’s right to make her own health care choices. They’re not focused on the concrete actions that will put people back to work right now.

From a GM plant "in the heart of a resurgent American auto industry," President Barack Obama recorded his weekly address, using the presence of President Lee of South Korea to discuss the benefits of the trade agreements passed this past week to the American worker … and to wallop on Republicans who stand recalcitrantly in the way of the American Jobs Act, which Republicans killed last week.

Republicans don't want a jobs bill in toto? Fine, the president said. We're going to bring it back at ya, piece by piece, and make you explain yourselves to voters.

Well, we’re going to give them another chance. We’re going to give them another chance to spend more time worrying about your jobs than keeping theirs.
Next week, I’m urging Members of Congress to vote on putting hundreds of thousands of teachers back in the classroom, cops back on the streets, and firefighters back on the job.

And if they vote “no” on that, they’ll have to tell you why. They’ll have to tell you why teachers in your community don’t deserve a paycheck again. They’ll have to tell your kids why they don’t deserve to have their teacher back. They’ll have to tell you why they’re against commonsense proposals that would help families and strengthen our communities right now.

In the coming weeks, we’ll have them vote on the other parts of the jobs bill–putting construction workers back on the job, rebuilding our roads and bridges; providing tax cuts for small businesses that hire our veterans; making sure that middle-class families don’t see a tax hike next year and that the unemployed and our out-of-work youth have a chance to get back in the workforce and earn their piece of the American Dream.

In closing, the president reminded listeners he's hitting the road (beginning with a bus tour to North Carolina and Virginia next week) to carry an insistent message of the importance of getting people back on the job:

That’s what’s at stake. Putting people back to work. Restoring economic security for the middle class. Rebuilding an economy where hard work is valued and responsibility is rewarded–an economy that’s built to last. And I’m going to travel all over the country over the next few weeks so that we can remind Congress that’s their job. Because there’s still time to create jobs and grow our economy right now. There’s still time for Congress to do the right thing. We just need to act.

The full transcript can be found beneath the fold and on the White House website.

Obama dispatches troops to central Africa to hunt down leader of the Lord's Resistance Army

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:25:07 GMT

Flag of the Lord's Resistance Army

Via CNN:

President Barack Obama is sending about 100 U.S. troops to Africa to help hunt down the leaders of the notoriously violent Lord's Resistance Army.
"I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield," Obama said in letter to the House Speaker John Boehner and Daniel Inouye, the president pro tempore of the Senate. He was making a reference to the head of the LRA.

"I believe that deploying these U.S. Armed Forces furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa."

Jamie Dupree has a copy of Obama's letter. According to Wikipedia's article on the LRA:

The group was formed in 1987 and until about 2007 it was engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the "spokesperson" of God and a spirit medium, primarily of the Holy Spirit, which the group believe can represent itself in many manifestations.
The group is based on apocalyptic Protestant Christianity, but also is influenced by a blend of mysticism and traditional religion, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and local Acholi tradition.

The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children and forcing children to participate in hostilities.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says Republicans would rather defeat Obama than create jobs

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:44:27 GMT

LaHood feigns being a blocking back before President Obama's
January, 2010 Q&A session with House Republicans (White House photo)

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who served as a Republican in the House before joining the Obama administration, slams his former colleagues:

The most prominent Republican in the Obama administration is accusing GOP House members of blocking efforts to resolve the nation's problems, partly because they don't want the president to be successful.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was asked at a transportation conference Friday why it was so difficult to get big infrastructure projects built right now.

He responded that "some people don't want Obama to be successful."

He said "a big percentage of the Republicans that were elected this time came here to do zero, and that's what they've done." LaHood says those lawmakers have obstructed other people who want to get things done.

So when John Boehner whines and complains about President Obama allegedly ignoring the Republican jobs plans, that's bull. What's actually happening is that President Obama and his administration are doing everything in their power to call attention to the Republican Party's jobs proposals. The problem is that that those proposals are to sit back and do nothing. If Republicans want to make the case that they are for creating jobs, then they need to stop saying no and they need to put the interests of the public ahead of the GOP's 2012 campaign strategy. In other words, they have no case.

President Obama to Fox's Ed Henry: 'I didn't know you were the spokesperson for Mitt Romney'

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:13:56 GMT

Presenting the latest installment of Ed Henry Fails To Stump The President:

ED HENRY (FOX): President Obama, I wanted to get your first reaction to the Iranian terror plot. Your Secretary of State called it a dangerous escalation. What specific steps will you take to hold Iran accountable, especially when Mitt Romney charged last week, "If you do not want America to be the strongest nation on Earth, I am not your president. You have that president today."
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I didn’t know you were the spokesperson for Mitt Romney.

President Obama went on to address the terror plot at length, but immediately after the press conference, Ed Henry and Fox anchor Megyn Kelly launched into a lengthy discussion about why Obama didn't respond to the Romney quote. They seemed to be completely at a loss to understand why President Obama mocked Henry's idiotic question instead of getting into a tit-for-tat with Roger Ailes' favorite candidate.

Well, in case they still haven't figured it out, here's the answer: Barack Obama is President of the United States of America. Mitt Romney is the second-place candidate for the Republican nomination. And especially when he's standing next to the President of South Korea, President Obama has better things to do than deal with gnats like that.

TIME: Obama leads top potential Republican opponents, Democrats have edge on trust

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:24:23 GMT

(White House photo)

ABT SRBI for TIME. 10/9-10. Likely voters. ±3.1%. (No trendlines.)

Obama: 48
Romney: 44
Obama: 50
Cain: 38

Obama: 51
Perry: 40

Although you might not expect to see an incumbent president leading his rivals when the unemployment rate is at 9.1%, the TIME numbers are nearly identical with those in the new WSJ/NBC poll. Part of the explanation is likely that people trust Democrats over Republicans (this question asked to all adults, not just likely voters):

Regardless of how you usually vote, overall, which party do you trust to do a better job in dealing with the main problems of the nation over the next few years?
Democrats: 42
Republicans: 31

Democrats aren't resoundingly popular, but they clearly have an edge over Republicans. And as you can see with Cain's and Perry's numbers, the further right the Republicans go, the bigger their electoral disadvantage.

Fortunately for President Obama's reelection campaign, Republican voters don't seem to care that Romney starts out in a better position than his nuttier rivals. According to the NBC/WSJ poll, just 20% of Republicans say electability is their top concern. Nearly half want a candidate they agree with and nearly one-third just want a strong leader, whatever that is.

So even though Mitt Romney appears to be the GOP's best candidate, roughly 70% of the GOP electorate has consistently said they'd prefer somebody else. Of course, the thing Mitt Romney has going for him is that Republican voters can't make up their mind who that somebody else should be, and they are running out of time.

Obama raises $70 million for reelection, nears one million individual donors

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:54:41 GMT

'Mr. President, this is clearly GREAT news for John McCain!' (White House photo)

Rick Perry wowed the Republican field with a $17 million haul last quarter, tops among the 2012ers. President Obama's reelection campaign today announced that he had bested that figure by $53 million, taking in a total of $70 million, and that nearly one million Americans had contributed to his reelection campaign. AP:

The fundraising total announced Thursday exceeds a goal set by the campaign of $55 million combined for the July-September fundraising period but is about $16 million less than Obama raised during the April-June quarter. [...]
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in an e-mail to supporters that more than 600,000 people donated to the campaign in the most recent quarter, more than the previous three months. He said more than 980,000 people have given money to the campaign, and in the most recent quarter, 98 percent of the donors gave $250 or less, with an average donation of $56.

"Getting to a million grassroots donors isn't just a huge accomplishment this early in the campaign. It's our answer to our opponents, the press, and anyone who wants to know whether the President's supporters have his back," Messina said.

The numbers include $42.8 million for Obama's campaign and $27.3 million for the Democratic National Committee, which will help Obama's re-election effort next year.

Sam Graham-Felsen points out the most notable number: "Most notable stat from Obama's Q3 fundraising totals: over 600k individual donors. That's more than Q2."

October 12 roundup

editor@overlawyered.com (Walter Olson) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 05:13:02 GMT

After President Obama’s Orlando photo-op with construction workers came the high-ticket fundraiser at the home of med-mal titan John Morgan [Orlando Sentinel] “Lawyer Sues Facebook, Says Tracking Cookie Violates Wiretap Laws” [ABA Journal] The bone-marrow bounty that could save a life — and the law that gets in the way [Virginia Postrel] New coalition [...]

After President Obama’s Orlando photo-op with construction workers came the high-ticket fundraiser at the home of med-mal titan John Morgan [Orlando Sentinel]
“Lawyer Sues Facebook, Says Tracking Cookie Violates Wiretap Laws” [ABA Journal]
The bone-marrow bounty that could save a life — and the law that gets in the way [Virginia Postrel]
New coalition to repeal New York’s unfair Scaffold Law;
“How the FDA Could Cost You Your Life” [Scott Gottlieb on medical device lags, WSJ]
Mississippi: new release of sealed Scruggs-scandal documents [YallPolitics, Freeland]
What I learned (about false accusation) at Dartmouth [Gonzalo Lira]

Tags: Barack Obama, colleges and universities, Dickie Scruggs, Facebook, FDA, New York, politics

White House embraces sabotage theory of Republican behavior

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:49:38 GMT

The White House is straight up taking on Republicans for their economic sabotage in the lead-up to tonight's jobs bill vote. Consider these very direct tweets from press secretary Jay Carney, directed at Mitch McConnell:

(Riiiiiiight. A charade. Unlike all their "defund Planned Parenthood" bills.)

But even more encouraging is the email sent by the Obama/Biden 2012 campaign today, as reported by Steve Benen.

The message reads, in part:
"The U.S. Senate is supposed to vote on the American Jobs Act as early as tonight.
"It's a bill that will put people to work immediately, and it contains proposals that members of both parties have said in the past that they'd support.

"But Senate Republicans want to block it. Not because they have a plan that creates jobs right now—not one Republican, in Congress or in the presidential race, does. They only have a political plan.

"Their strategy is to suffocate the economy for the sake of what they think will be a political victory. They think that the more folks see Washington taking no action to create jobs, the better their chances in the next election. So they’re doing everything in their power to make sure nothing gets done." [emphasis added]

The message goes on from there to talk about the merits of the White House jobs bill, urging recipients to call Capitol Hill. Regardless, this is, as near as I can tell, the first time anyone associated with the president has broached the sabotage question at all.

Benen then goes through the litany of people, a few Democratic politicians and plenty of pundits, who have been saying just that for months: Sabotaging the economy is a deliberate political strategy on the part of the Republicans. Many of us have been saying this since McConnell's admission that the "single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

This is the White House many of us having been waiting for: the one that recognizes and calls out the Republican opposition for what it is, a gang of nihilists who will destroy anything standing in their path, if they think they can win. That's the reality that President Obama and his team absolutely have to internalize and act upon moving forward toward 2012. It's not going to help on policy-making, but since the Republicans were never going to meet Democrats halfway on anything in policy, that's no loss.

Cain: Obama has 'never been a part of the black experience in America'

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:39:40 GMT

Herman Cain knows what conservatives want to hear (Phelan Ebenehack/Reuters)

Herman Cain earlier today on right-wing radio host Neal Boortz's show:

Boortz, at the tail end of the interview, asks Cain how he’d do in a debate against Obama:
“It would almost be no contest.”

Ticking off ways he could compete with Obama, Boortz says that Cain would be able to talk about the black experience in America.

Cain’s response: “[Obama's] never been a part of the black experience in America.”

So according to Herman Cain, our nation's first African-American president isn't part of the black experience. As absurd a statement as that is, it's not a shock that it came from Cain. This is, after all, same guy who also said that two-thirds of blacks have been brainwashed into voting for Democrats and that most of them can't even think for themselves.

But as ridiculous as Cain's statement was, it's also worth pointing out that it was Boortz who raised the issue. Like Herman Cain, Neal Boortz clearly understands what conservatives want to hear from Herman Cain. And based on the polls, Cain is doing a good job of giving it to them.

Daily Kos/SEIU State of the Nation Poll: Obama's numbers unexpectedly jump upward

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:30:03 GMT

Public Policy Polling for Daily Kos & SEIU. 10/6-9 . Registered voters. MoE ±3.1% (Obama trendlines 9/2-25, all others 9/15-18):

After weeks of being mired at or near record lows, Barack Obama's job approvals abruptly—and unexpectedly—bounced six points this week, while his favorability shot up by almost twice that. While there have been plenty of newsworthy events recently (not least Occupy Wall Street), the president himself hasn't been making many headlines lately and there hasn't been much good economic news (unless you take a very optimistic view of the September jobs report, which in any event was released after this poll went into the field). So none of the usual drivers of poll numbers have been in evidence recently.

This means I can tell you what changed in our cross-tabs, but I can't tell you why things changed. In particular, Obama's job approvals with Democrats moved up 13 net points—and his standing with independents jumped even further, 21 points. If I were a very lazy Beltway journalist, I'd look at those numbers, declare that the president was recovering with those oh-so-important swing voters, invent a few reasons as to why this was happening, and call it a day.

That would, of course, be the height of sophistry. Instead, I'll just say that "blip happens." No other pollster has recorded a jump like this, so there's a good chance this poll is simply an outlier, especially given the size of the bump. And if we do start seeing an upward trend over the next few weeks and months, then maybe we can start drawing some tentative conclusions about what this all means. Until some time passes, though, I'm in my usual mode of national poll analysis: wait-and-see.

Romney advisers helped Obama administration craft health reform law

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:17:20 GMT

In the 2008 campaign, Mitt Romney called the individual mandate a 'terrific
idea' and predicted it would be adopted throughout the nation

Mitt Romney says President Obama should have called him about health care reform:

“He does me the great favor of saying that I was the inspiration of his plan,” Romney said of Obama. “If that’s the case, why didn’t you call me? …Why didn’t you ask what was wrong? Why didn’t you ask if this was an experiment, what worked and what didn’t. … I would have told him, ‘What you’re doing, Mr. President, is going to bankrupt us.’”

Michael Isikoff assembles the paper trail proving that for all intents and purposes, that's exactly what he did, albeit at the staff level:

Newly obtained White House records provide fresh details on how senior Obama administration officials used Mitt Romney’s landmark health-care law in Massachusetts as a model for the new federal law, including recruiting some of Romney’s own health care advisers and experts to help craft the act now derided by Republicans as “Obamacare.”
The records, gleaned from White House visitor logs reviewed by NBC News, show that senior White House officials had a dozen meetings in 2009 with three health-care advisers and experts who helped shape the health care reform law signed by Romney in 2006, when the Republican presidential candidate was governor of Massachusetts. One of those meetings, on July 20, 2009, was in the Oval Office and presided over by President Barack Obama, the records show.

And far from Mitt Romney's statement, what Romney's advisers told President Obama was that Massachusetts was the model the nation should use. Of course, that shouldn't surprise anyone. As the video at the top of the post reminds us, Mitt Romney has felt that way since the beginning—at least until the 2012 election rolled along, that is.

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Reid working with White House to push $35 billion jobs bill this week

Obama, Uganda & the ICC

Weekly address: Obama challenges Republicans to answer to Americans for upcoming jobs votes

Obama dispatches troops to central Africa to hunt down leader of the Lord's Resistance Army

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says Republicans would rather defeat Obama than create jobs

President Obama to Fox's Ed Henry: 'I didn't know you were the spokesperson for Mitt Romney'

TIME: Obama leads top potential Republican opponents, Democrats have edge on trust

Obama raises $70 million for reelection, nears one million individual donors

October 12 roundup

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