Greg Sargent: …. Today Obama will try to go on offense on what Dems hope will be a defining issue of the campaign: Taxes on the rich. He will announce in a Rose Garden speech that he wants Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts for those under $250,000.
Republicans are already bashing the move as a threatened tax hike on “small businesses.” (They said the same thing about proposed tax hikes on those over $1 million; they’ll make this claim no matter what the cutoff is.) But this is a fight the Obama camp wants. It goes directly to the way the Obama team hopes swing voters will perceive this election: As a battle over which side really has the middle class’s interests at heart.
Obama has said the single greatest obstacle to bipartisan compromise on how to move the country forward is the GOP refusal to entertain even a penny more in taxes from the rich, and has called on voters to break that “stalemate.” This move is designed to highlight the cause of this stalemate — to deepen this contrast with Republicans, by putting them in the position of opposing the middle class tax cut extension unless it’s paired with an extension of tax cuts for the rich, revealing whose interests the GOP is protecting.
Paul Krugman: Once upon a time a rich man named Romney ran for president. He could claim, with considerable justice, that his wealth was well-earned, that he had in fact done a lot to create good jobs for American workers. Nonetheless, the public understandably wanted to know both how he had grown so rich and what he had done with his wealth; he obliged by releasing extensive information about his financial history.
But that was 44 years ago. And the contrast between George Romney and his son Mitt — a contrast both in their business careers and in their willingness to come clean about their financial affairs — dramatically illustrates how America has changed.
USA Today: Almost 4 million seniors saved about $2.16 billion through discounts for their prescription medications in 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services plans to announce today. This, administrators say, should help keep costs to the government down in the future.
“Before, many beneficiaries were forced to stop taking the drugs,” said Jonathan Blum, director of the Center for Medicare. “This reduces costs through better management.”
…. The 2010 health care law required a 50% discount on prescription drugs in the so-called doughnut hole, or the gap between traditional and catastrophic coverage in the Medicare drug benefit, also known as Part D. In 2012, the coverage gap is $2,930. The Affordable Care Act eliminates the doughnut hole by 2020.
The previous report, with numbers through the end of October, had shown 2.65 million Medicare recipients saved $1.5 billion on prescriptions. That rose to 3.76 million recipients by the end of December.
The Hill: Senate Democrats raised more than $5.3 million in February, marking the third straight month in which they raised more than the month before.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) ended February with almost $19 million in the bank. That’s about $3.5 million more than it had one month ago, meaning the committee saved most of what it raised.
Democrats have cleared their debt and raised more than $52 million during the cycle. DSCC Executive Director Guy Cecil said it was the most successful February the committee has ever had.
Rachel Maddow made my heart move faster than one of my attacks, so I had to let her go when she got on PBO about the parade thing. She pisses me off when she goes on about it.
I wish Rachel would let it rest and honor the call of the Pentagon and PBO. He shared with Bob Woodruff last evening his feelings when Bob asked the question of him. I respect his decision and the Pentagon’s.
She could really get the viewers that she wants if she had taken her call into another level of how we all could respect our troops’ returning. This could be “A Country Showing Appreciation”. Then when all are home, we can have a parade.
I could see towns and cities all over the country having a “date night” for our troops and their spouses. Invite our local eateries in each state to donate their restaurants, lounges, music halls, theaters, concert halls to open up for one night with everything on the house. Then her viewers could donate a dinner, movie tickets and dinner, basketball game and dinner, broadway show and dinner, Sunday Brunch with family, town picnics with town and city halls sponsoring the food and entertainment for a weekend.
Beauty salon and spa treatments for family, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, cable companies, donating repair service for homes that have been neglected because of spouses were not able to be home to make some much needed repairs. Gutter cleaners service donated. Companies donated shopping sprees for clothing for the families for the spring. Some families may need a new automobile to get around, so have car dealers go in together and give out a limited number of cars for those needed families.
Sat. breakfasts and a gift from their our local hardware stores, local Macy’s to get a gift for the house, bed and bath gift baskets for their homes, furniture stores donating a home furnishing piece, local water companies picking up a two three month water or gas bill, grocery stores donating 250.00 dollars of groceries for a year, a car mechanic repair for a family car of at least 500.00, a retailer donating home appliances for the families, etc. School supplies and bookstores donating books and supplies for a year to each family. Enrollments for students in a sport, a year of piano lessons, dance lessons, healthy cooking classes from famous chefs a duration of time, donating musical instruments and lessons for 1 full year to children who have not been able to do so because mom or dad were away fighting for us.
Anything that would lighten the load for the family readjusting into the family’s home again with new and durable goods and services. Cleaning service for a home for a month. Phone service for at least two months, a computer for the family with internet service for a year. And the list could go on and be generous. These brave men and women were generous with their lives in their commitment to keep us safe. It may sound way out there, but nothing is way out there when you put your life on the line over and over in duties daily for all of us. Really. Yes, really.
Encourage a nation to get involved at this point to help and give back where it really counts. Then we can all step back and have our wonderful parade for all of our servicemen/women when they ALL are finished.
2:20 PM: PBO visits the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
5:15 PM: Delivers remarks at a conservation event.
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President Barack Obama at a dinner honoring Iraq war veterans, White House Photo, Pete Souza, 2/29/12
In this composite image, President Barack Obama boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., (top) and arrives at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, N.H., (bottom) March 1, 2012. The President traveled to Nashua, N.H., to tour Nashua Community College and deliver remarks on his blueprint for an economy built to last with a focus on American energy. (Official White House Photos by Pete Souza)
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Snow falls as people stand in line to see President Barack Obama, March 1, 2012, in Nashua, N.H.
First Lady Michelle Obama is photographed with a guest during the Department of Defense dinner in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 29, 2012. The President and First Lady hosted the dinner to honor members of the Armed Forces who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn, and members of their families. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Foreign Policy: Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie’s recent article in Foreign Policy urges the Republican presidential aspirants to attack President Barack Obama more vigorously on his national security record. It’s a debate that the president and Democrats should welcome.
At the outset, leave aside the source of the counsel — listening to top aides to President George W. Bush proffer advice on foreign policy is a bit like hearing Mrs. O’Leary and her cow lecture about urban planning, after they’ve burned down Chicago.
The real problem with their advice is that it badly misreads both the president’s record and how the public assesses it. Americans may be sharply polarized on many issues, but they are relatively aligned on their confidence in Obama as commander in chief.
Bill Simmons: Welcome to the White House. Very proud to have the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, on the B.S. Report. This is your first podcast?
President Barack Obama: This is — well, I used to have my own podcast.
BS: What?
Obama: When I was U.S. Senator I was way ahead of the curve on the podcast thing.
BS: Really?
Obama: So, yes. I mean, I don’t think it had as many listeners as you.
BS: What was this podcast called?
Obama: I really don’t remember. [Laughter.] “A Podcast with Barack Obama.” Something like that. It was a catchy name.
NYT Editorial: Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum fought each other to nearly a draw in the Michigan primary and may actually have to split its delegates, but together they may have lost Michigan for their party by running campaigns that were completely disconnected from the lives of middle-class voters and pushed ever farther to the right margins of American politics.
…. If they listened to Mr. Obama’s fiery speech to the United Auto Workers on Tuesday, however, they heard a very different set of priorities: using government action to bring an entire industry back to life, raising taxes on the rich to avoid cutting programs for the poor, keeping insurance companies from cutting off the sick.
“Since when are hard-working men and women who are putting in a hard day’s work every day – since when are they special interests?” the president asked, addressing the contempt for labor demonstrated by the candidates and several Republican governors in the Midwest. The answer explains why Mr. Obama was up by 18 points over Mr. Romney in a recent Michigan poll, and why Republican leaders are worried about their presidential field.
USA Today: President Obama has a big advantage over any of his potential Republican rivals when it comes to issues involving health care and Medicare, a new poll shows.
The survey, taken by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, shows that 58% of Americans trust Obama to make the right decisions on the 2010 health care law and on Medicare. By contrast, only 43% trust his closest Republican rivals on those issues.
Dana Milbank: TAMPA, Aug. 30, 2012. Fellow Republicans, as I stand here tonight to accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States, I feel like a million bucks. Actually, I feel as if I am worth between 150 and about 200 some-odd million dollars. It is difficult to say with certainty because some of it is in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Luxembourg and a Swiss bank account.
It is particularly meaningful to accept your nomination in Florida, a state where so many of my friends own so many things. The Miami Dolphins. The Orlando Magic. The Jacksonville Jaguars. The Doral country club. In fact, I have great friends who own some of Florida’s finest hotels, resorts, yachts and most valuable tracts of real estate, from Palm Beach to Naples.
To reach this day, I feel as if I have lived the American Dream. I grew up on the real streets of America, in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. My father, a public servant, scrimped and saved enough of his earnings as CEO of American Motors to send me to the Cranbrook prep school, France and Harvard Business School…..
