Evening News Roundup

Good read over at Politico Magazine, which just launched, in a peel back the curtain sort of way about how Obama has handled his cabinet. It's not pretty. They're calling it the worst job in Obama's Washington.

I got a kick out of this story:

In April 2009, Chu joined Obama’s entourage for one of the administration’s first overseas trips, to Trinidad and Tobago for a Summit of the Americas focused on economic development. Chu was not scheduled to address the media, but reporters kept bugging Josh Earnest, a young staffer, who sheepishly approached his boss, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, with the ask. “No way,” Gibbs told him.

“Come on,” Earnest said. “The guy came all the way down here. Why don’t we just have him talk about all the stuff he’s doing?”

Gibbs reluctantly assented. Then Chu took the podium to tell the tiny island nation that it might soon, sorry to say, be underwater—which not only insulted the good people of Trinidad and Tobago but also raised the climate issue at a time when the White House wanted the economy, and the economy only, on the front burner. “I think the Caribbean countries face rising oceans, and they face increase in the severity of hurricanes,” Chu said. “This is something that is very, very scary to all of us. … The island states … some of them will disappear.”

Another interesting thing I've noticed in recent days, is just how freely much of the press is calling Obama on his bullshit right in the headlines. They're not burying it in paragraph 15 anymore.

The Hill: Obama's fix: Canceled plans may be offered until after midterms

HuffPo: Obama's Health Care Press Conference Gets Trashed In The Media

USA Today: For Obama, his presidency is at stake

WaPo: For Obama, loss of trust over health-care law poses major problems for his agenda, legacy

Meanwhile, much has been made of the Democrat defection from the White House regarding Obamacare "fixes". But it's not just Obamacare, the president is starting to see his party split with him on Iran too.

A bipartisan group of 63 House lawmakers are calling on the Senate to “act swiftly” in the passage of a new round of Iran sanctions that have been heavily opposed by the White House.

The letter, addressed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), maintains that despite ongoing negotiations with the West, “the objective of the Iranian regime remains the same: the pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability,” according to a copy of the letter and list of co-signers obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

...

“As this letter proves, even House Democrats are fed up with the administration’s weak approach on Iran,” the aide said.

Revealed: Obamacare plans will cost MORE 'in many cases' even with government subsidies, officials admit for the first time

The Obama administration has directly conceded for the first time that 'in many cases,' health insurance plans offered through government exchanges are more expensive than plans consumers bought before the Affordable Care Act became law – even when government subsidies are figured in.

In a letter to state insurance commissioners, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight director Gary Cohen wrote on Thursday that one reason for the new Obamacare measures the president announced Thursday is that millions of consumers receiving cancellation letters from their insurers are learning the Affordable Care Act options are in fact less affordable.

posted by JohnE. at 07:25 PM

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