The Administration

Upon inauguration, President Obama promised an ethical government free of conflicts of interest. But the administration has absurdly stretched this laudable goal to effectively put all government decision makers in a bubble isolated from the reality of business and job creation. This is harmful to business, especially small businesses seeking to export through trade shows, and it will hurt new job creation.

As directed by the White House, the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) has proposed extending the lobbyist gift ban for political appointees to all government employees. The gift ban was put in place to ward against the “backroom deals” that characterized the practices of criminals like Jack Abramoff. What it was not meant to do was to put a wall between business and government, which are equal partners in the role of job creation.

Yet however well-meaning they may be, these rules have the effect of criminalizing efforts by government officials to learn about business trends by attending trade shows. In particular, the OGE proposes to eliminate the “widely attended gathering” exception that allows civil servants to attend trade shows, conferences and similar events. Not only do these rules fail to show how government employee attendance at these events constitutes corruption, but the OGE now makes the illogical leap of labeling any interaction between government and business as criminally suspect.  

On March 16, 2011, the four co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Task Force on Peace and Security and 76 other Members of Congress sent a letter to the President asking him to move swiftly to end America’s longest war, the war in Afghanistan.

Since then, the co-chairs have continued to call on the administration to move towards a significant, swift and sizeable reduction in our troops in Afghanistan, meeting or exceeding the number of troops on the ground before the escalation. Similarly, the Democratic National Committee called for a “sizeable and significant” drawdown beginning in July. This week, the U.S. Conference of Mayors called for an end to the Afghanistan war. In poll after poll, the majority of Americans are consistently calling for an end to this war.

Last week the media focused on President Obama's basic eligibility to be president while ignoring the unconstitutional manner in which he governs. For example, his recent use of a signing statement to affect a line-item veto on a bill he signed into law as president. 

The recent continuing resolution to fund the government through September had an amendment that defunded four of his czar positions as a cost-cutting measure. These "czars" are administration appointees who exercise influence on policy matters, yet because they are classified as "advisors" and not cabinet officials, the President is able to avoid the Senate confirmation process.

President Obama agreed to defund the czar positions before passage as part of some very tough negotiations, and then afterwards "clarified" his position with a signing statement saying that he would ignore that portion of the law. Many battles have been fought in the past over whether or not the president should have line-item veto power. That debate is essentially settled.  

The Hill sat down with Education Secretary Arne Duncan to discuss President Obama's education objectives.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave these remarks Friday on the protests unfolding in Egypt. 

I would like to say something about the unfolding events in Egypt. We continue to monitor the situation closely. We are deeply concerned about the use of violence by Egyptian police and security forces against protesters and we call on the Egyptian government to do everything in its power to restrain the security forces. At the same time, protesters should also refrain from violence and express themselves peacefully.

As we have repeatedly said, we support the universal human rights of the Egyptian people, including the right to freedom of expression, of association and of assembly. We urge the Egyptian authorities to allow peaceful protests and to reverse the unprecedented steps it has taken to cut off communications. 

We are today less than a week away from an important State visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
 
More than two decades ago, on my first trip to mainland China, I could not imagine that the U.S.-China relationship would eventually become so consequential.  
 
Nor could I have imagined a scene like we witnessed a few days ago: Defense Secretary Gates joining together with his Chinese counterpart to stress the need for stronger military ties between China and the United States.
 
In 1989, I came in from Shanghai’s airport on a rickety, Russian-made bus, and stepped into that city’s dimly lit streets into a world very different than the one I left in the U.S.
 
There were swarms of bicycles – young men with their dates balanced on handlebars, grandparents pedaling to the market, boys and girls with white-knuckle grips on their parents’ shoulders. Bikes everywhere.  
 
Shanghai then was a gritty, industrial city filled with low-rise buildings. 
 
There were no skyscrapers. Few cars.
 
There was little sign of what was to come.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.):

Ambassador Holbrooke dedicated his life to keeping America safe through tough, sensible diplomacy. I will miss Ambassador Holbrooke’s friendship and counsel, and our nation will miss his tireless leadership and steady guidance of our foreign policy.

The world bears the imprint of Ambassador Holbrooke’s efforts to bring peace and security to places torn by violence and conflict. From his early days in the foreign service to his leadership negotiating the Dayton Accords to his latest efforts at stabilizing Afghanistan and Pakistan, Ambassador Holbrooke was always at the center of the toughest security challenges of a given era.

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Now that midterm elections are over, the Obama Administration is turning its attention to foreign policy, where President Obama is less constrained by Congress. He won’t have a free hand – already, Republicans are opposing the New START treaty and are likely to push back on troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and the foreign ops budget. On Sudan, which is experiencing one of the most perilous moments in its history, Republicans and Democrats have an opportunity to work together to re-balance and bolster President Obama’s carrots-and-sticks strategy.

I served for four years with Barack Obama in the Illinois Senate. We had many debates, but were also able to work together on substantive issues. We came from different parties with different priorities, but were able to achieve legislative success for the people of Illinois. Read more...

Some of the nation's top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals offer insight into the biggest questions burning up the blogosphere today.

Today's question:

Was President Obama right to appoint Warren to set up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau instead of nominating her to head it?