Administration

The Justice Department has given the go-ahead for Oracle's $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Oracle had announced its intention of taking over Sun in April and Sun's stockholders approved the deal last month.

While U.S. antitrust regulators have approved the deal, Oracle must still wait for clearance by the European Commission.

Approval of the deal was expected earlier this summer, but the department said in June that it would also examine Oracle's acquisition of Java, which is one of Sun's key assets.

Oracle's acquisition of Sun was announced after talks between Sun and IBM fell through. Oracle's purchase of software maker Siebel Systems was also reviewed by the agency in 2005 before it was cleared.

-Kim Hart

It would be in the GOP's interest to see President Obama suffer politically by defeating the healthcare reform bill the president has pushed, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) acknowledged Thursday.

Shelby, during an appearance of Fox News Radio, concurred with host Brian Kilmeade's suggestion that it would open up opportunities for Republicans on issues to let Obama "go down with the healthcare ship."

"I think it's always in our interest to let anybody go down when we think they're philosophically wrong, and I believe he's totally wrong on this healthcare," Shelby said.

Democrats had pounced on suggestions by Republican lawmakers that defeating the bill would be to their political benefit. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) was most notably castigated for saying that defeating healthcare would be Obama's "Waterloo."

The president suggested himself that Republicans are consciously looking to oppose any legislation he puts forth on healthcare.

"I think early on a decision was made by the Republican leadership that said, 'Look, let's not give them a victory. Maybe we can have a replay of 1993-'94 when Clinton came in,'" Obama said during an appearance on the Michael Smerconish radio show this afternoon. "And I think there are some folks who are taking a page out of that playbook."

Shelby said "it would be wise" for Republicans to make an aggressive push on healthcare when the Senate reconvenes in September.

"I believe that things are running our way -- that is, against the government takeover of healthcare -- at the moment, but things could shift," Shelby stated. "We cannot let that happen."

President Obama is betting on a more successful September than August, when it comes to his bid for healthcare reform.

At an online forum on healthcare held Thursday at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Obama drew on his own political experience to predict better fortunes next month.

"There's something about August going into September where everyone in Washington gets all 'wee-weed' up," the president said.

He pointed to last August's selection of then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) to join the Republican ticket as the GOP's vice presidential nominee.

"'Obama's lost his mojo,'" the president said the media were saying after Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) campaign received a short-lived bump from palin.

"You remember all that?" Obama added.

The White House is in "chaos" over its management of healthcare reform legislation before Congress, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) charged late Wednesday.

Cantor, during a short interview on Fox News, said that the Obama administration's recent management of the bill has been in disarray in recent days.

"What I really see right now is a White House in chaos over healthcare," said the second-ranking House Republican.

The White House has had to battle both liberal Democrats and Republicans this week over whether or not final healthcare legislation would include a public (or "government-run") option, versus having cooperatives for consumers.

The Obama administration has also had to respond to charges that Democrats in Congress are mulling "going it alone" on healthcare.

Cantor said that Democrats have sought to go it alone from the outset when crafting a healthcare reform bill.

"They have, from the very beginning, tried to go it alone on this, much to the disappointment to we Republicans in the House, and certainly to the American people," he said.

The Obama administration expressed disappointment Thursday over the release of the man convicted of bombing Pan Am Fight 103 from a Scottish prison on "compassionate" grounds.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration "deeply regrets" the release of Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the 1988 bombing over Scotland, which killed hundreds of travelers, including Americans.

"The United States deeply regrets the decision by the Scottish Executive to release Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi," Gibbs said in a statement.

A Scottish judge ordered al-Megrahi released on compassionate grounds. He is suffering from terminal prostate cancer.

The White House has continually urged against the native Libyan's release, Gibbs said.

"As we have expressed repeatedly to officials of the government of the United Kingdom and to Scottish authorities, we continue to believe that Megrahi should serve out his sentence in Scotland," Gibbs said.

U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder, along with White House officials, had been in extensive contact with counterparts in Scotland and the United Kingdom to communicate strong opposition to the release, the White House said.

"The United States is deeply disappointed by the decision of the Scottish Executive to release Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.

"We have continued to communicate our long-standing position to UK government officials and Scottish authorities that Megrahi should serve out the entirety of his sentence in Scotland," she added. "Today, we remember those whose lives were lost on December 21, 1988 and we extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live each day with the loss of their loved ones due to this heinous crime."

Seven senators had also asked Scotland to keep the convicted bomber in prison. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.Y.) said yesterday that al-Megrahi's release would heighten the risk for terrorist attacks in the U.S.

The White House, meanwhile, expressed sympathy for family members of the victims.

"On this day, we extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live every day with the loss of their loved ones," Gibbs said. "We recognize the effects of such a loss weigh upon a family forever."

A Scottish judge's order to release Pan Am Flight 103 bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi will only endanger the U.S., one of the lawmakers working to keep the convict in jail said Wednesday.

Al-Megrahri was convicted in the bombing the flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, and was ordered released on Wednesday on "compassionate" grounds; he is suffering from terminal cancer.

"Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was convicted of killing 270 innocent people after a fair trial and was given ample opportunities to appeal his case," Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.Y.) said in reaction. "The man who committed these awful crimes should not be allowed to walk free."

Lautenberg was one of seven senators to write the Scottish judge who released al-Megrahri demanding he be left to die in prison.

Lautenberg said that the former Libyan agent's release increases the risk of attacks on the U.S.

"Releasing Mr. al-Megrahi also sends the wrong message about the consequences of international terrorism and increases the threat of terror in the United States, the United Kingdom and around the world," he said.

Centrist Blue Dog Democrats are "making a big mistake" by not backing President Obama's healthcare reforms, Teamsters President James P. Hoffa threatened Wednesday.

"They're a whole new phenomenon," Hoffa said of the centrist Democrats who have been reluctant to back a healthcare bill containing certain taxes and a public (or "government-run") option for consumers.

"A lot of these people we supported, and I think they're making a big mistake by not supporting the president," Hoffa added during an appearance on the liberal Bill Press radio show.

Hoffa's words come after the likely incoming president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, told the Huffington Post that his union may sit out campaigns in which lawmakers broke from the organization.

Hoffa said that the Blue Dogs certainly weren't aiding Obama's efforts to pass health reform.

"The president needs every Democratic vote, whether it's in the House or the Senate," he said. "The fact that they're basically chopping up the bill certainly doesn't help him."

The son of the legendary union leader Jimmy Hoffa also said that the bruising healthcare battle might have taught the president a lesson or two.

"I think he's really learning a lesson about how divided this town is," he said. "I think he came here he had the idea that he could charm everybody."

Related links:

• Congressman: Public option just like the post office


• Harry Reid's ready to use 'any legislative means necessary' on health bill


• Waters: Obama has 'seen very clearly' he must back public option


• White House messaging on public option confusing Grassley


• Blue Dog: Votes aren't there to go it alone on public option

The Obama administration has "seen very clearly" that it must back a healthcare bill containing a public option for consumers after suffering the backlash of liberal members of Congress.

"What happened was that there was a great pushback from the progressives in this party, from the leadership of this party," Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said during an appearance on MSNBC. "And I think they have seen very clearly that they must have a public option to get this bill passed."

The White House has backtracked from statements from some administration officials earlier this week that it could support a bill without a public option after liberal lawmakers made clear they wouldn't support such a bill.

The White House has also had to alternately manage relations with Congress after the New York Times reported Wednesday that they were set to abandon compromise efforts with Republicans in order to "go it alone" on healthcare.

Waters said she would "absolutely not" support a bill without a public (or "government-run") option, and insisted that lawmakers and President Obama needed to do a better job of explaining the controversial provision to Americans.

Democrats will pay a price at the polls if they decide to "go it alone" on healthcare reform legislation, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) vowed Wednesday.

DeMint said that if Democrats choose to abandon talks with Republicans, or even use procedural maneuvers to pass a healthcare bill containing a public option with only a simple majority in the Senate, they would suffer losses in the next election cycle.

"I think the American people are already outraged," DeMint said in an interview on CNBC. "If we get into this kind of backroom shenanigans, I think the American people are going to throw them out of office -- and they should."

The conservative South Carolinian asserted that it would harm everyone from President Obama to Democrats downballot.

"If he passes this without any Republican support -- or really, any American support -- I think it's going to hurt his presidency, I think it's going to hurt the Democrats in the next election," he said.

The Obama administration's messages to lawmakers about whether or not it supports a public option have only resulted in confusion for one key healthcare negotiator, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

Grassley told Iowa reporters Wednedsay that he'd suggested to President Obama in a meeting in early August that he needed to make clear whether or not he could support a bill without a public (or "government-run") option.

"I thought a statement from him would be very helpful," explained Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, the lead group negotiating a bipartisan health bill in the Senate.

But while Grassley said that statements this past weekend about Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about the necessity of the public option seemed like a trial balloon, White House backtracking has only resulted in confusion about the president's stance.

"When Sebelius said what she did -- I thought maybe it was a trial balloon," Grassley said. "But then I saw so much backtracking by White House personnel."

"I don't know, but I can tell you that we've had these trial balloons before," the Iowa Republican added. "So you just don't know is the best answer to your question."