Arizona Immigration Law Protestors in front of White House
Israel Protest outside White House
POTUS covers a protest of Israel in Lafayette Park today, just outside the White House. International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, was one of several groups who protested against Israel’s raid on a flotilla of aid ships heading to the Gaza Strip.
Pres. Obama Press Conference, POTUS takes a seat
POTUS was in the East Room today for President Obama’s firt Press Conference since July of last year. He opened up the press conference detailing his Adminstration’s response to the oil spill and touched on future measures to prevent another ecological disaster such as this from happening again.
POTUS takes a seat inside the White House Briefing
POTUS was in the Briefing Room with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Director of the White House office of Energy and Climate Change Policy- Carol Browner, and Admiral Thad Allen, US Commandant of the Coast Guard. Admiral Allen stressed:
There are a number of solutions and they’re doing them in sequence based on risk. The ultimate solution is going to be to drill a relief well, take the pressure off that well and cap it. That will be sometime in August. We don’t want to wait that long. So we’re trying a series of interventions, starting with the insertion tube to evacuate the oil that we can, the top kill shot that will be scheduled for I believe early Wednesday now to try and force mud down the blowout preventer into the well to stop the pressure so it can be sealed.
POTUS Takes you Inside the White House Breifing
POTUS reporter Patrick Ferrise took you inside the White House Briefing today. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs focused largely on questions about:
- The BP Oil Spill and the Administration’s response to the environmental disaster. Gibbs was questioned repeatedly about the exact amount of oil spilling into the gulf. He said the goal right now is to stop the spill.
- Questions regarding this week’s primary, including allegations that the White House offered Rep. Joe Sestak (R-PA) a post with the administration in lieu of not running for Senate against Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA). Gibbs said he had nothing further to add to his comments that he’d already offered in March on the subject.
- Gibbs condemned North Korea’s actions in bombing a South Korean naval ship. He asserted that the U.S. is a firm ally of South Korea.
- On a somewhat lighter note, when asked about the White House crashing couple ( the Salahis) making another attempt to attend a state dinner, this time with Mexican President Calderon, Gibbs noted that he heard the news he shook his head and thought some people don’t know how to take a hint.
You can hear full White House Briefings, when they happen, on POTUS.
Pops Honor Kennedys
The Kennedys were honored by the Boston Pops this week. More below from Ted Johnson at Wilshire and Washington:
The Boston Pops debuted the first musical tribute to John, Robert and Edward Kennedy tonight, in a stirring performance that combined music and video with Robert DeNiro, Cherry Jones, Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris reciting excerpts from their famous speeches. “The Dream Lives On,” written by composer Peter Boyer and lyricist Lynn Ahrens, will be repeated at Symphony Hall on Wednesday night. The work was commissioned by Keith Lockhart and the Pops.
POTUS announces SCOTUS pick
Monday morning, President Obama announced his intention to nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. POTUS was LIVE at the White House for the announcement.
SCOTUS – A Trending Topic This Morning
(cross-posted at The Readout)
We’re expecting to hear from the President later this morning as he makes his decision on a SCOTUS nomination. The buzz has been around Elena Kagan and this morning its evident that a lot of people have been trying to get as much info about the Solicitor General as possible. Already, search terms “Elena Kagan” and “Kagan” is trending on Twitter here in Washington and nationwide. She’s also a trending topic on Google too. Search terms for her name, “Solicitor General,” “Elana Kagan personal life,” and “Elena Kagan husband” are top Google searches.
SCOTUS on POTUS
Politico’s Mike Allen is reporting that President Obama will name Soliciter General Elena Kagan as his Supreme Court pick to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on Monday. Although it appears as if Kagan’s a shoe in for the job, Allen also notes that White House aides aren’t one hundred percent sure what the President will do.
Swapping Justice Stevens, a self-professed liberal, for Kagan seems like an even exchange, however if the President does indeed nominate Kagan, expect to see some blowback on the liberal side:
Salon’s Glen Grenwald says, “[Kagan] could easily end up as the Democrats’ version of the Bush-41-appointed David Souter, i.e., someone about whom little is known and ends up for decades embracing a judicial philosophy that is the exact opposite of the one the President’s party supports.”"
HuffPo’s Sam Stein writes, “[she] is far more conservative than Stevens and could shift the political dynamic of the high court.” They add, “praise from conservatives may sound damning to those who worry that the court is too close to corporate interests and too willing to accommodate the radical expansion of executive power.”
And Michael Tomasky from the UK’s Guardian wrote, “a possible Kagan nomination is already being read in part as capitulation to moderates and a blown chance to get a real fire-breather on the court. Obama is obviously not going to nominate a fire-breather. That’s not who he is.”
In any event, there will be blowback no matter whom the President selects. But if the President does go with Kagan as the SCOTUS nominee, she’ll have some ‘splaining to do re: her book in which she wrote that the confirmation process is a “vapid and hollow charade.”
Required Reading for Today
Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown has a great piece this morning chronicling the health care reform process which ended Thursday evening with a final vote in the House.
Health bill clears Congress
By: Carrie Budoff Brown
March 25, 2010 09:07 PM EDT
Congress completed its work Thursday night on the broadest social legislation in almost a half-century, as the House capped the year-long legislative saga over health reform by signing off on a package of fixes to the newly minted law.
In the end, the titanic battle over remaking the American health care system drew to a close on a pair of votes drained of suspense – after the Senate approved the clean-up bill earlier Thursday. The House approved the same bill, 220 to 207. Read the rest of this entry »
