Obama Fundraisers Postponed Amid Debt Limit Talks
July 26, 2011 by admin
Filed under News Stories
July 26th, 2011
ABC12.com
By: Ken Thomas
President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign has canceled or postponed a series of fundraisers as negotiations continue over the nation’s debt limit.
Obama postponed fundraisers in California and Washington state in recent weeks, along with an event at the New York home of film mogul Harvey Weinstein. On Monday, Obama skipped two Washington fundraisers to continue discussions over the Aug. 2 deadline to raise the government’s borrowing limit. Vice President Joe Biden was attending one of the Democratic National Committee events. The other event was canceled.
The debt ceiling debate may affect Obama’s 50th birthday on Aug. 4. Obama could miss a high-profile Aug. 3 fundraiser in Chicago to celebrate his birthday if a resolution to the debt debate isn’t reached. The birthday event is scheduled to include performances by singer Jennifer Hudson, jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock and rock band OK Go.
All presidents running for re-election are forced to juggle governing with campaigning. As the debt talks have dragged on for weeks, Obama has limited his travel and remained in Washington.
“It comes with the territory to some degree. In this instance, certainly this has become so consuming,” said Democratic strategist Karen Finney. “If you believe we may be close to a deal, obviously the president wants to remain here in town and be ready to do whatever needs to be done.”
The debate over the nation’s debt has become a dominant issue as his campaign builds its foundation for 2012. Obama’s campaign and the DNC raised $86 million during the spring fundraising quarter. A field of Republican presidential candidates has been hard at work in early primary states, vying to challenge Obama next year.
Republicans have criticized Obama’s handling of the debt issue, arguing that it has been shaped with 2012 in mind.
“I know the president’s worried about the next elections,” Boehner said. “But my God, shouldn’t we be worried about the country?”
Most of the canceled fundraisers are expected to be rescheduled. Weinstein’s event is expected to be held in August, while the postponed events on the West Coast have not yet been rescheduled. Biden canceled events in Atlanta, Nashville and Dallas in recent weeks but is expected to attend fundraisers in those cities this fall.
Others are pitching in for the president. First lady Michelle Obama will attend fundraisers in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Aspen, Colo., on Tuesday, while a team of campaign surrogates, including strategist David Axelrod and former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, are expected to attend events in several U.S. cities meant to coincide with Obama’s birthday.
The fundraising postponements were first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Click here for the full report from ABC12.com
New Space Policy Calls For Global Cooperation
June 28, 2010 by admin
Filed under News Stories
June 28, 2010
The Wall Street Journal
By Andy Pasztor
The Obama administration as early as Monday is expected to call for significantly greater international cooperation than ever before in outer space, covering a wide range of civilian and national-security programs.
The new policy, according to industry and government officials familiar with the details, also endorses the pursuit of verifiable arms-control proposals for space. And it envisions stepped-up U.S. government efforts to bolster domestic rocket and satellite manufacturers, making them more economically viable and competitive overseas.
The principles, according to these officials, reflect President Barack Obama’s desire to have Washington and various foreign governments increasingly share funding and expertise on major projects, while negotiating conflicts if possible and exchanging more data about orbiting debris and other hazards in space.
The policy paper’s call for more international cooperation was reported by Space News, an industry publication.
The policy paper doesn’t specifically spell out which countries would be invited to take part, but the intent is to open participation to allies and other established space powers, such as China and Russia, and emerging powers including India and Brazil, according to the officials.
Breaking sharply from earlier White House policies that relied largely on all-U.S. solutions, the latest document foresees international ventures spanning everything from environmental and other types of earth-observation satellites to critical space-based navigation systems that were previously considered off-limits to foreign partnerships.
Some national-security officials and outside experts, worried about potential threats posed by China and other countries developing anti-satellite weapons, are likely to balk at elements of the revised strategy.
