Obama's Broken Deficit Promise

Article republished from Yahoo! News. Originally written by Jake Tapper.

"This is big," wrote White House director of new media Macon Phillips in a February 23, 2009 blog post , "the President today promised that by the end of his first term, he will cut in half the massive federal deficit we've inherited. And we'll do it in a new way: honestly and candidly."

Indeed, President Obama did make that promise that day, saying , "today I'm pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we've long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay - and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control."

The 2013 budget the president submitted today does not come close to meeting this promise of being reduced to $650 billion for fiscal year 2013.

The president noted in that 2009 speech the Obama administration inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit.

The deficit was similarly $1.3 trillion in 2011, is projected to be $1.15 trillion in 2012, and the president's budget claims it will be $901 billion in 2013.

George Stephanopoulos asked White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew about this yesterday:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Now, tomorrow's budget's going to make it clear that that promise will not be kept, not even close, really. The deficit will be well over $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row. Why?

LEW: You know, George, as I think you know, when we took office, the economy was falling so fast that the first thing we had to do was put a bottom in. That cost money in the Recovery Act. It cost money in terms of lost revenue and slower economic growth. We're on track now. We've seen several months of sustained economic growth and job creation, but we're not out of the woods yet. That's one of the reasons that we still need even this month for Congress to take action and pass the extension of the payroll tax cut. The president's budget is a plan for 10 years, and over the 10 years, what it would do is bring the deficit down to below 3 percent of the economy, which means that we won't be adding to the deficit based on current spending. Secondly, it'll bring the debt as a percentage of the economy down to a point that all international financial organizations look at and say is what you need to do to have stability.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But not even as quickly as you were projecting several months ago.

LEW: Well, look, the economic projections in a time of - of recovery from the deepest recession in a generation are going to fluctuate. Frankly, in the last three months, we've had better news than we expected in terms of job growth. That's a good thing. I think that what we have to do is focus on the long term and the short term at the same time. In the short term, we need to keep the economy growing. In the long term, we need to get the deficit under control in a way that builds the economy that can last for the future, where we build a manufacturing base, we have Americans with the skills to do the work for the future, we have energy so that we can provide for more of our energy needs, and we do it in a way that's consistent with American values so that everyone pays a fair share.

-Jake Tapper

Huntsman 2012: New Hampshire Update

"A new poll found Jon Huntsman with 13 percent support from likely Republican and independent voters surveyed in New Hampshire.

The 7News/Suffolk University poll released late Wednesday found Huntsman in third place among likely Republican and New Hampshire voters, trailing Mitt Romney (with 38 percent) and Newt Gingrich (with 20 percent). The survey's findings are the best yet for Huntsman in the Granite State. Previously, his best poll in New Hampshire showed him in fourth place at 11 percent, behind Romney, Gingrich and Ron Paul.

The poll also found that most New Hampshire voters hold a favorable view of the former Utah governor. Thirty-nine percent said in the poll that they have a favorable impression of Huntsman while 32 percent have either never heard of or are undecided on him and 29 percent hold an unfavorable view." (Article Source: Huntsman Team)

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New Polls Show Huntsman Surging!

Note: Original article posted by Matt David, December 15, 2011 @ 10:30 AM

We have exciting news to share.

A newly released Suffolk University poll shows Governor Huntsman surging in New Hampshire, jumping into third place with 13 percent of the vote.

This poll confirms that Governor Huntsman’s message of restoring trust in Washington, ending bailouts for too-big-to-fail Wall Street banks, and eliminating crony capitalism is resonating with voters who are fed up with politics-as-usual in Washington.

This comes on the heels of a new Wall Street Journal poll that shows Governor Huntsman’s support steadily rising across the nation. The American people are desperately searching for a principled leader who can unite Republicans and Independents to defeat Barack Obama next November. As the L.A. Times noted earlier today, people are now beginning to recognize Jon Huntsman as that leader.

Now we need the resources to defeat Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

We are launching a new fundraising push and asking all of our supporters to make an immediate donation of $10, $25, $50 or more to help our campaign reach our goal.

Your immediate donation will help us take advantage of our rising poll numbers and give us the resources we need to set up phone banks, contact voters and distribute campaign literature across New Hampshire. Please click here to help make a difference at this critical moment.

Thank you for your continued support of Governor Huntsman!

Standing proudly with Jon Huntsman,

Matt David
Campaign Manager

Article Source: http://www.jon2012.com/index.php/hblog/post/new_polls_show_huntsman_surging
Republished from: http://www.jon2012.com/index.php/hblog/post/new_polls_show_huntsman_surging
Written By: Matt David

Pakistan gave Chinese peek at U.S. ‘copter remains: reported U.S. intel assessment

American intelligence officials believe that Pakistan's spy agency permitted Chinese military engineers to examine the wreckage of the Black Hawk stealth helicopter destroyed in the wake of the May raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the New York Times reported Monday.

The reported U.S. intelligence assessment is based on "intercepted conversations in which Pakistani officials discussed inviting the Chinese to the crash site," the Times' Mark Mazzetti reported.

Mazzetti notes that U.S. officials acknowledge they don't have "definitive proof" the Chinese obtained access to the helicopter--but he cited one source knowledgeable about the incident who was "certain" that Chinese engineers had taken photos and samples of the wreckage.

Pakistani officials denied the accusation when U.S. counterparts raised it, Mazzetti reported. The remains of the Black Hawk helicopter have been returned to the United States.

News of a U.S. intelligence assessment comes after the Financial Times first reported Sunday that Pakistan's ISI spy agency allowed Chinese military engineers to photograph and take samples of the destroyed U.S. stealth helicopter. The Financial Times report also cited an unidentified person in U.S. intelligence circles.

This latest round of intelligence leaks highlights the sensitive state of U.S.-Pakistani relations in the aftermath of the May 2 raid. Since the Navy SEAL team entered the country without any advance consultation with Palestinian security personnel, the successful raid was a considerable embarrassment to Pakistan's military and intelligence officials.

However, while the U.S. intelligence assessment may be new, American officials have long suspected that the Chinese might gain access to the downed helicopter via Pakistan's intercession. The week following the bin Laden raid ABC News reported on just that scenario, as Marcy Wheeler noted in her blog Empty Wheel Monday.

"The whole scoop seems, at best, the effort of someone trying to force the administration to admit" that Pakistan's military chief is not dealing in good faith, Wheeler wrote. "At worst, it's another case of discovering gambling going on in the casino."

There's another possible subtext in the latest round of leaks: As one former U.S. official suggested in an interview with The Envoy, the leaked information could well reflect intra-agency squabbling over the merits of a plan to share sophisticated technology with the Pakistanis.

Article From: Yahoo! News
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Satellite Appears To Show North Korean Nuclear Facility

SEOUL, South Korea – New satellite images show construction under way at North Korea's main atomic complex, apparent proof that Pyongyang is making good on its pledge to build a nuclear power reactor, according to a private American security institute.

North Korea vowed in March to build a light-water reactor using its own nuclear fuel, and two American experts who recently visited the North have reportedly said that construction has begun.

Light-water reactors are ostensibly for civilian energy purposes, but the power plant would give the North a reason to enrich uranium. At low levels, uranium can be used in power reactors, but at higher levels it can be used in nuclear bombs. While light-water reactors are considered less prone to misuse than heavy-water reactors, once the process of uranium enrichment is mastered, it is relatively easy to enrich further to weapons-grade levels.

North Korea is pursuing an arsenal of atomic weapons, so all its nuclear projects are of intense interest to its neighbors and to the United States. It carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, drawing international condemnation and U.N. sanctions.

The Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security on Thursday released commercial satellite images from Nov. 4 that show a rectangular structure being built, with at least two cranes visible at the complex. It estimated North Korea was constructing a 25 to 30 megawatt light-water reactor.

The institute based its estimate on information from the recent trip to Yongbyon by Siegfried Hecker, former director of the U.S. Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, and Jack Pritchard, a former U.S. envoy for negotiations with North Korea.

It said Hecker told the institute "that the new construction seen in the satellite imagery is indeed the construction of the experimental light-water reactor."

The institute said the amount of low-enriched uranium needed for a 25 to 30 megawatt reactor could vary "depending on the design of the reactor and whether it will be optimized for electricity production or weapon-grade plutonium production."

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Young-sun said the construction has yet to be verified and that Seoul was monitoring developments at the site and talking with other countries. Kim said any move to build a light-water reactor would violate U.N. resolutions on North Korea aimed at reining in its nuclear programs.

The new satellite imagery comes as North Korea presses for the resumption of international nuclear disarmament talks it quit last year. South Korea and the United States have said North Korea must show its sincerity before those talks can continue.

Washington promised the energy-starved North two light-water reactors under a 1994 deal meant to freeze North Korea's plutonium program. The deal, however, collapsed in 2002 when the United States accused North Korea of running a secret uranium enrichment program — a process that would give it a second way to build nuclear bombs in addition to the plutonium program.

After seven years of adamant denials, North Korea said last year that it was in the final stages of uranium enrichment.
The Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan, reported Thursday that Pyongyang was building a light-water reactor as part of its plan to revive its economy ahead of 2012, the 100th anniversary of the birth of the country's founder, Kim Il Sung, father of current leader Kim Jong Il.

Article Source - Yahoo! News

Books come to life at Lake Magdalene

(The picture above is of Connie LaVoy, Chairman of the Read-A-Thon Fundraiser at Lake Magdalene Elementary)

LAKE MAGDALENE - Darth Vader sat in the back row, mask on, stoic, a "Star Wars" book in his lap.

A tiny leopard with fuzzy ears perched with her "big cat" book. A boy whose wizard robe hung down to his sneakers held "Harry Potter." Several Junie B. Joneses, a Fancy Nancy, Thomas the Tank Engine and Skippyjon Jones joined with their corresponding books.

Children at Lake Magdalene Elementary dressed like literary characters for a Halloween-themed assembly recently to celebrate the school's reading success. The school collected $13,000 in donations, pledged to students based on how many books or chapters they read.

Teachers get half of what their students raise for their classrooms, and the Parent-Teacher Association will use the other half for a schoolwide project, said organizer Connie LaVoy. One year, the money helped the PTA pay for a patio and tables outside the cafeteria, so children could eat with their parents or teachers could hold class there. This year, the money may go toward technology, LaVoy said.

All of the 900-plus children at the school participated, reading more than 21,000 books. One or two chapters of longer books counted as separate books, depending on the child's age.

Lake Magdalene students also brought in 1,500 books to donate to a needy school.

LaVoy, whose youngest daughter is in fifth grade, started the read-a-thon four years ago. Since then, the effort has raised $50,000, said Principal Dodi Davenport.

"It's amazing," Davenport said. "Especially in this economy."

The school honored the children who read the most and the ones who raised the most money at an assembly featuring Mrs. Florida America, Kellie Lightbourn. Lightbourn, who represented the state in the Mrs. America pageant, read "Cinderella Skeleton" to students.

Teacher Lauren Price accepted a trophy on behalf of her class for raising the most money. The second-graders collected nearly $800. Price enticed them to read by helping them set goals for their reading and offering incentives, including a pizza party for everyone who read 20 books or more.

They never expected to bring in more than the rest of the school, though, she said. The class will get its name engraved on the trophy and keep it until next year, when the trophy will go to the new top fundraisers.

"I know they're absolutely so, so happy, because they had no idea," Price said.

Rachel Howard, 7, raised $400 by herself -- more than any single student. She immediately thought of her parents when her name was called.

"I was thanking my mom and dad for helping me," she said.

Another second-grader won the honor of being Lake Magdalene's top reader. Abbie Gay-Strickland, 7, and her sister Merita, a fifth-grader, set up stacks of books every night and read through them. Their father, Kevin Strickland, said he also loves to read but was shocked at how many books Abbie finished: 273 books.

"She literally has a book in her hands at all times," Strickland said.

Source - Tampa Bay Online
Author Info - cpastor@tampatrib.com, (727) 815-1072

Poll: Those craving for change now look to the GOP

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's winning coalition from 2008 has crumbled and his core backers are dispirited. It's now Republicans who stand to benefit from an electorate that's again craving change.

Nearly two years after putting Obama in the White House, one-quarter of those who voted for the Democrat are defecting to the GOP or considering voting against the party in power this fall. Just half of them say they definitely will show up Nov. 2, according to an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll released two weeks before Obama's first midterm elections.

Yet in a reflection of broad dissatisfaction with politics, just as many people who backed Republican presidential nominee John McCain are either supporting Democrats now or still considering how to vote.

Still, McCain voters — to borrow Obama's campaign rallying cry — are far more "fired up, ready to go." Two-thirds say they are certain to vote next month.

It's a wide enthusiasm gap that's buoying Republicans, who are poised for big electoral gains, and worrying Democrats, who are seeking to hang onto majorities in Congress as well among governors. Obama's party hopes its superior get-out-the-vote operation, updated from his groundbreaking campaign, can overcome Republicans' energized supporters to mitigate expected losses across the board.

While no president can be expected to fully rally his supporters when he's not on the ballot, the survey illustrates the wide scope of Obama voters' disappointment with the president and his policies almost halfway through his first term — and two years before he's likely to seek their backing again.

"He's not listening to the majority of the people who elected him. It's like he's ignoring his base," said SaraSue Crawford of Jacksonville, Fla., who points to Obama's health care overhaul law. She's deciding whether to support Republicans in the hopes of "shaking up the status quo" and restoring a balance of power in Washington. She says she may back Obama in 2012 — if he changes course by listening more.

To find out how the electorate's political views have changed since the 2008 election, the AP and Knowledge Networks re-interviewed the same 1,254 people who were part of a random sample of Americans surveyed up to 11 times throughout the 2008 campaign by the two organizations and Yahoo News. The recent interviews occurred Sept. 17 to Oct. 7.

Disillusionment with Obama was evident.

In a reversal from 2008, the survey found that Obama backers who expected change in Washington — 63 percent — now think nothing ever will happen. Just 36 percent still think Obama can do it, while a majority of McCain supporters now say things can change if the right person is elected.

"I was hoping we'd get some more civility up in government. That was implicit in his promise, along with some change. It turns out that he was driving more toward the changes rather than civility," said Gerry D. Kramer, 70, of Georgetown, Texas. He's among the Obama voters who are likely to vote Republican. Still, he's not hot on the GOP either or politics.

Such pessimism among Obama's supporters is deep elsewhere.

On the dominant issue of the 2010 campaign, just 40 percent of Obama backers who are fleeing Democrats say he'll be able to improve the economy over the next two years. Those who are sticking with Democrats are more optimistic: 70 percent say Obama's policies will help the nation recover from the recession.

Like many others, Aaron Bonnaure doesn't blame Obama for the nation's woes. But he wants Congress to keep the president in check. That's why this 23-year-old moderate from Pittsburgh who voted for Obama now is looking at Republican candidates.
"He ran as a centrist. I don't think he's a centrist at all. ... His whole economic platform is the more government spends, the better things are," Bonnaure said. "We have a far-left government. The answers are in the middle."

Among the survey's key findings:

-73 percent of Obama voters now approve of how he's doing his job, 13 percent don't approve and 13 percent have mixed feelings. Nearly half have a very favorable impression of the president, down from two years ago, when two-thirds felt that way.

-40 percent say they're frustrated by his presidency, 20 percent say they're excited, and 26 percent say they are proud — a marked turnaround from Election Day 2008. Still, 59 percent say they remain hopeful — a reason for optimism as Obama gets ready for his likely re-election campaign.

-30 percent of Obama voters say he is living up to his promises to change Washington, while 19 percent say he's breaking those promises. Half think it's too soon to tell.

-76 percent of Obama voters say they will support the Democrat in their House district, while 8 percent plan to back the Republican and the rest are undecided.

-71 percent of McCain voters say they will vote for the Republican in their House district, while 9 percent plan to get behind Democrats and 20 percent haven't chosen a candidate.

To a certain degree, Obama's woes are a consequence of his 2008 campaign, when he was a blank slate and many people attached their hopes to him. Now, two years in, liberals, moderates and conservatives alike who supported him are disappointed for various reasons.

His challenge in the next two years is to figure out how to pull the disillusioned back into the fold — with a record of governing that critics alternatively call too liberal or not liberal enough.

Obama voters who are voting for Republicans or are undecided are especially doubtful about the Democratic Party's ability to handle the economy. That said, only 11 percent trust Republicans to do better. Nearly half say that neither party has the answer.

They also doubt the ability of Republicans and Democrats alike on the deficit, taxes, the environment, health care, immigration, energy policy, gay marriage and more.

The interviews were conducted online by Knowledge Networks of Menlo Park, Calif. Respondents for the study were first selected using traditional telephone polling methods and were followed with online interviews. Participants without computers or Internet access were provided with the means to take online surveys at no cost to them.

The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

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