100 days in…900 to go

From Yahoo News:

His first 100 days behind him, President Barack Obama expressed confidence about the next hundred and accelerated his drive toward contentious goals — sweeping health care overhaul, new rules to curb global warming and financial sector reform — even while working to end a recession and two wars.

“I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made, but I’m not satisfied,” Obama said Wednesday in Arnold, Mo., the battleground state he chose to mark the milestone. By evening, he was to hold a news conference from the White House, the third of his presidency aired on prime-time television.

Obama’s intensive schedule for the day demonstrated the degree to which the administration sees both possibility and peril in the symbolic 100-day marker

From The Nation’s Katrina vanden Heuvel:

The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) met with President Obama for one hour in the East Room of the White House yesterday.

CPC Co-Chair, Congressman Raúl Grijalva, said that 50 of the 77 Caucus members attended, and they honed in on two major issues: their commitment to only supporting a healthcare reform bill that includes a public plan option that is “more than a gesture”; and the $83 billion war supplemental.

“It was a serious meeting,” Rep. Grijalva said. “It moved quickly, there was a lot of candor from both sides.”

Presenting the Caucus’ case for healthcare reform were Representatives Yvette Clark, Tammy Baldwin, Jan Schakowsky, and Jim McDermott. Congressman Dennis Kucinich spoke with the President about a single-payer system.

Rep. Grijalva said members made it clear that the Caucus’ support for any healthcare bill hinges on a public plan option that is “robust… [and] competitive with the private sector.” President Obama called himself “an ally”, but said it was up to Congress to deliver him the kind of bill to which the Caucus is committed.

With regard to the $83 billion war supplemental, Rep. Grijalva said the Caucus expressed its concern that “we’re making the same mistake — everything is going into militarization, not institutional reform, human and capital development, healthcare… those kinds of things.” They pointed out to the President that the counterinsurgency strategy calls for 80 percent of the resources to be devoted to non-military/political solutions, and 20 percent to the military. But the supplemental devotes $76 billion for the military and approximately $7 billion for diplomatic efforts and foreign aid.

Leave a Reply