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"It's too bad Sen. Mitch McConnell and some of the elected officials on your side of the aisle do not have the backbone or your sense of decency."

— Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), quoting a constituent from Louisville on the Senate floor, mult., 3/2.

National Briefing

OBAMA

1. No Peace, No Peace I Find

Pres. Obama will announce today a $6B proposal to help retrofit homes to save energy.

Sr. admin. officials said Obama will unveil the initiative during his visit to Savannah Technical College in GA. Homeowners would receive rebates of up to $3K to upgrade windows, doors heating, air conditioning, roofing and other household features. "The aim at the upper end of the rebates: Reduce energy usage by at least" 20%.

The officials said the admin. hopes 2-3M homes will be retrofitted under the proposal. "They compared it to" the admin.'s Cash for Clunkers program, which officials hoped would similarly attract participants because they get the money "up front" and easily (Peterson, Savannah Morning News, 3/2).

Obama also plans "to lead a day of meetings aimed at highlighting his economic policies and shoring up support for his ambitious but endangered domestic agenda. Success could ultimately turn on his ability to reshape perceptions of a stimulus plan" that the WH says has pumped more than $130M into the local economy, but many in Savannah "grumble about what they see as its lack of effectiveness." In Savannah, "as elsewhere, that view is feeding a broader distrust" of gov't that "threatens to undermine" Obama's ambitions and political support. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA): "I think that people don't see the impact because it is not there."

Even some supporters of Obama's policies "complain that the stimulus money is not flowing fast enough." Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson (D): "The speed in which the applications have been approved has really been a little frustrating." He "nonetheless praised the plan for saving teaching and other public service jobs while providing funding for long-overdue projects." Johnson: "We are at the end of the first year of the stimulus, and we would think that more of the money would be out now."

"Such criticism frustrates" the admin. "It calls the stimulus plan an unqualified success," bringing $21M in infrastructure money, $38.5M in educ. funds, $4M in trans. aid and $20M in small-business loans to Savannah alone. WH spokesperson Amy Brundage: "The Recovery Act put 63,000 people back to work in Georgia, provided tax cuts to nearly 3.5 million Georgia families and made it possible for more than 1,200 small businesses to grow and hire" (Fletcher, Washington Post, 3/2).

The Pain And The Yearning

When VP Biden spoke to the nation's labor leaders in Orlando on 3/1, "he seemed to be speaking not so much to them but to millions of disaffected Americans. And he pushed a straightforward message: We get it. We hear your pain, and we're trying to do something about it."

Speaking at the AFL-CIO's exec. council meeting, Biden "once again played champion of the beleaguered middle class, talking of jobless fathers, laid-off single mothers and their struggles maintaining their dignity and paying for their kids to go to college." Biden: "Right now there are tens of millions of people who are sitting down at their kitchen table and they don't think we get it. ... They know they're not getting a fair shot, and they don't think we understand the nature of their problems."

Biden's "subtext was that even though many" Americans don't appreciate many of the admin.'s policies, the admin. is doing the right thing. Biden: "They're turning around watching the Cable News Network and other news networks, they're constantly hearing about this thing called TARP, where hundreds of billions were committed to bail out the banks that got us in trouble. ... And now they're hearing that these bankers are giving themselves tens of millions of dollars, if you add it up in the aggregate, billions of dollars in bonuses." Showing sympathy for the public's anger toward the big banks, he said that folks "don't want people to get to get down and say, 'Thank you. Thank you.' But they sure in God's name resent people not showing any gratitude."

Recognizing that the bank bailout and the auto bailouts were deeply unpopular, Biden "took pains to explain them and defend them." He said that had there not been a bailout of the banks, "had they shuttered their doors, we would have been in a flat-out depression and millions more would be out of jobs." And he acknowledged that people were angry about the Detroit bailout. Biden: "Even if we did help GM and Chrysler stay afloat, they thought, with some justification, that management didn't know what they were doing, that they were short-sighted, that they were out of touch, that they were building cars that nobody wanted." Biden, on what would have happened without the bailout: "We would have lost 300,000 high-paying jobs immediately, and 700,000 more as their suppliers went under."

Biden: "Had we not done these unpopular things to stabilize the banking industry, the auto industry, the housing sector, if we didn't have growth of nearly 6 percent, we wouldn't have any shot at all. ... They're necessary preconditions to create genuine, renewed economic growth" (Greenhouse, "The Caucus," New York Times, 3/1).

It's The Good Advice That You Just Didn't Take

Washington Post's Horowitz profiles WH Cos Rahm Emanuel's role inside the admin.

Emanuel "is officially a Washington caricature. He's the town's resident leviathan, a bullying, bruising" WH CoS "who is a prime target for the failings of" the Obama admin. "But a contrarian narrative is emerging: Emanuel is a force of political reason within the" WH "and could have helped" the admin. "avoid its current bind if" Obama "had heeded his advice on some of the most sensitive subjects of the year: health-care reform, jobs and trying alleged terrorists in civilian courts."

"It is a view propounded by lawmakers and early supporters" of Obama "who are frustrated because they think" the admin. "has gone for the perfect at the expense of the plausible. They believe Emanuel" was "not aggressive enough in trying to persuade a singularly self-assured" POTUS "and a coterie of true-believer advisers that 'change you can believe in' is best pursued through accomplishments you can pass." Listening to Emanuel would serve "all our overall goals," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), who added: "I think that Rahm's considerable legislative experience translates into advice that the president should heed."

Instead, Obama "went for the historically far-reaching, but more legislatively difficult, achievements that he and his campaign-forged inner circle believe they were sent to" DC to deliver.

In Dec. '08, Obama, Emanuel and Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) met in Obama's transition HQ to discuss detainee policy. According to Graham, Obama turned to him at one point and said: "I'm going to need your help closing Guantanamo Bay. ... I want you and Rahm to start talking." They did, "and as the discussions progressed, Emanuel grew wary that closing" Gitmo was possible without opening a slew of other politically sensitive nat'l security problems. Graham said Emanuel was well aware that his and any other GOP support for closing Gitmo hinged on keeping KSM out of civilian court.

According to a person familiar with the conversations, Emanuel "made his case to Obama, articulating the political dangers of a civilian trial" to cong. Dems. AG Eric Holder "presented a counterargument rooted in principle, for civilian trials." WH sr. adviser David Axelrod "supported Holder, the source said." Obama agreed that letting the DoJ take the lead was the right thing to do. An early Obama supporter who is close to him: "Axelrod has a strong view of the historic character Obama is supposed to be." The source "blamed Obama's charmed political life for creating a self-confidence and trust in principle that led to an 'indifference to doing the small, marginal things a White House could do to mitigate the problems on the Hill. Rahm knows the geography better.'" Emanuel and Axelrod "declined to comment for this article."

With the DoJ in charge, Emanuel "tried to keep tabs on the process through Graham." Graham: "He'd say: 'How's it going? Did you tell them they were going to lose you?' And in terms a sailor could understand." One admin. official close to Emanuel "did not dispute that Obama had overruled Emanuel on some key policy issues." The official, on Emanuel: "It's not germane what the discussion was beforehand, what his idea was, because once a decision is made, he puts himself whole-hog behind it. ... It would be difficult for people to discern what his [original] position was."

Emanuel's "weighing in on a mind-boggling swath of governmental and political activity adds to his outsize image as" CoS "of everything. As a result, he can be blamed for almost everything, especially as health-care legislation became stuck," Obama's approval ratings "dipped and widespread angst about the economy fueled a GOP resurgence." Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME): "When the going gets rough, the chiefs of staff are always on the firing line." Emanuel's "aversion to distractions from" Obama's "agenda has caused conflict, and disappointment, on the Hill." Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), who wrote Obama a letter of support for Emanuel's appointment, now says it was "a mistake." Gutierrez: "For Rahm, power and preservation of power is always the number one priority." He "said Emanuel corroded Obama's commitment to immigration reform, and he gleefully compared the renewed scrutiny on Emanuel" to "vultures circling."

"What makes Emanuel's position so difficult is that his job requires him to bridge the competing interests of" the WH and Congress. DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen: "All our members are up for election this year, and the president is not up for election until 2012. ... Sometimes there are tensions because of the different timetables. ... There has been some frustration with the administration, [especially in the slow pace of tackling unemployment]. ... From my discussions with Rahm, he has been an ally in the effort to get these things moving quickly and understands it's important that there be progress." Asked about that tension, House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer said: "I'm sure there were discussions back and forth, and Rahm, being the operational guy in the room, said, 'Look, this is what we can get, let's get this now, we can pare it down, et cetera.' And I'm sure there were those in the room who said, 'Look, we said during the campaign we were going to do this; we need to get the whole ball of wax.'"

Another sr. member of the House Dem Caucus put it more bluntly. The Dem: "I don't think the White House has listened to him enough. ... There is this growing sense in the House that this White House is tone-deaf and doesn't care about 2010, that it is sacrificing members for 2012 and that the president thinks he doesn't need to get engaged, or that he thinks politics don't matter and that he could care less about what is happening on the streets of our districts. That's not Rahm" (3/2).

The Departed

Meanwhile, despite the recent departure of WH social sec. Desiree Rogers, Dem strategists "think most top West Wing officials will wait until after the midterm elections to leave" the WH.

While the bitter health care debate could still result in admin. casualties "from either fatigue or failure, the political personnel in place are the right people needed for a challenging electoral environment, strategists say." Emanuel "made clear from the beginning that he does not want to stay in" the admin. for the entire term. But Emanuel knows the cong. map better than anyone in the WH, one strategist noted. The strategist: "Why would you take him off the field when you need him most?" (Youngman/Young, The Hill, 3/1).

If Things Go Well, I Might Be Showing Her My CEO Face

"Five times since last summer," Obama "has invited a small group of corporate CEOs in for a private lunch" at the WH.

The "business titans gather with Obama in his private dining room just off the Oval Office, or elsewhere" in the WH, "to talk over global economic policy, corporate bonuses, climate change, high school dropout rates and more. There's no set agenda as" Obama "picks the brains of some of the brightest minds in the corporate world. But Obama said the sessions have helped him think through ways to create a 'smarter economy.'"

Early on, "when the economy was reeling, his conversations with corporate leaders had a 'solving-the-problem-right-in-front-of-you flavor,' Obama said. But now that the situation has stabilized, he's able to think through 'bigger, strategic questions' with them, Obama told Business Week last month." The CEOs, for their part, "get to offer perspectives from the corporate suite, and size up" Obama "in an unrivaled setting."

The lunches are part of a broader admin. effort "to reach out to big business at a time when even Obama has acknowledged there's a perception that his" admin. has been anti-business. WH sr. adviser Valerie Jarrett: "There's perception, and there's reality. ... These sessions are designed to provide some reality" (Benac, AP, 3/2).

The $50,000 Pyramid

The cost to "stand in the room with" Obama for a fundraiser: $25. "The cost for premier" seating: $50K.

Obama will be appearing before at least two groups of people 3/10 when he attends a Dem fundraiser at a St. Louis hotel. "Online invitations show people can stand at a 'grass-roots reception' for a $25 donation. Priority rope-line seating comes with a $500 gift." Tickets for a cocktail reception and dinner start at $2,400/guest. For the maximum individual contribution of $35,200, donors get a photo reception with Obama and the title of an "event vice chair." But the title of "event chair" -- with premier seating -- is reserved for those who can raise at least $50K as a couple.

The fundraiser is being hosted by MO's Show Me State Victory Fund, a special cmte created for the event. The first $4,800 of each donation will go to the camp of Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who is up for election in '12, said event organizer Matt Teter. The rest of the money will go to the DSCC, Teter said. The '10 MO SEN race, featuring Sec/State Robin Carnahan (D), "is expected to be one of the most competitive nationally and is likely to receive support from the" DSCC.

Teter said more than 1K people are expected for the fundraiser featuring Obama (AP, 3/2).

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