Obamalog: A Brief History of the

Obama Administration

WEEK SIXTY-EIGHT

May 2, 2010 

1.              President Obama visited Louisiana for a first-time look at the response effort to an oil spill he called a “potentially unprecedented environmental disaster,” and BP officials, the company responsible for the cleanup, described in detail, for the first time, their desperate efforts to kill the gushing well:

·                  Over the next few days, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that the spill appeared likely to move toward the Mississippi and Alabama coasts and engulf the Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana’s southeast tip, and while the president did not criticize BP in his public remarks, Obama’s comments reflected increased frustration with BP’s inability to plug the oil leak.

2.              Police investigation of a terror attack that could have set off a deadly fireball in Times Square focused on finding a man who was videotaped shedding his shirt near the SUV where the bomb was found:

a.              Police said that the gasoline-and-propane bomb was crude but could have sprayed shrapnel and metal parts with enough force to kill pedestrians and knock out windows on one of America’s busiest streets, full of theaters and restaurants on a Saturday night;

b.              Police had already identified the registered owner of the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder, which did not have an easily visible vehicle identification number and had license plates from another car, and they were looking for him so they could interview him.

May 3, 2010 

1.              Investigators spoke to the registered owner of the SUV used as a homemade car bomb in a failed terror attack in the heart of Times Square, but police said that the person was not considered a suspect:

·                  Attorney General Eric Holder said that investigators have some good leads and that it is too early to tell whether the incident was of foreign or domestic origin or to designate it as terrorism.

2.              BP PLC said that it would pay for all the cleanup costs from a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that could continue spewing crude for at least another week:

·                  BP chief executive Tony Hayward said that chemical dispersants seem to be having a significant impact, keeping oil from flowing to the surface, though he would not elaborate, and the update on the dispersants came as BP was preparing a system never tried before to siphon away the geyser of crude from the well, but it will take at least another six to eight days before crews can lower 74-ton, concrete-and-metal boxes being built to capture the oil and siphon it to a barge waiting at the surface.

3.              United Airlines has agreed to buy Continental in a $3 billion-plus deal that would create the world’s largest carrier with a commanding position in several U.S. cities:

·                  The new United would surpass Delta Air Lines in size, which should help it attract more high-fare “business” travelers—it will fly to 370 destinations in 59 countries.

4.              U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, accusing Iran of “flouting the rules,” called for a strong international response to Tehran’s alleged development of a nuclear weapons program, proposing that the non-proliferation treaty be strengthened by introducing “automatic penalties” for noncompliance, rather than depend on drawn-out council diplomacy”

·                  Earlier in the day, Iran’s President Mahmoud Admadinejad denounced the Obama administration’s refusal to rule out the use of U.S. nuclear weapons and invited President Obama to join a “humane movement” that would set a timetable for abolishing all atomic arms.

5.              Factories are churning out more goods; consumers are spending; and government aid is fueling construction activities; but stagnant pay and weak hiring are likely to restrain the economic rebound in coming months:

·                  Manufacturing in April grew at the fastest pace in six years, according to the Institute for Supply Management, as companies began to rebuild their inventories and consumer spending propelled more production in retail goods, but Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. said that while “household are spending again,” their incomes are not keeping up, and “household spending can only be supported if we get better income growth.”

May 4, 2010 

1.              Authorities said that a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen was hauled off a plane about to fly to the Middle East and arrested in the failed attempt to explode a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square, and one official said that he claimed to have acted alone:

a.              Faisal Shahzad was on board a Dubai-bound flight that was taxiing away from the gate at Kennedy airport when the plane was stopped, and FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives took him into custody;

b.              Officials said that federal authorities charged Shahzad with terrorism-related crimes, and Shahzad admitted his role in the attempted attack, and said that he had received explosives training in Waziristan, a lawless region of Pakistan;

c.              Shahzad’s arrest was followed within hours by reports of arrests in Pakistan of seven or eight people—U.S. intelligence officials said that while Shahzad’s ties to international terrorist groups remained murky, evidence was mounting that the Pakistan Taliban played a role in the attempted attack.

2.              BP officials told congressional representatives that, in a worst-case scenario, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could grow at a rate more than ten times current estimates—officials have estimated that the leak is gushing oil at a rate of 5,000 barrels a day:

·                  Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the administration wants to work with Congress to change a law that caps at $75 million BP’s liability for economic damages such as lost wages or dwindling tourist dollars for, while BP PLC is responsible for all cleanup costs under the Oil Pollution Act, other costs could easily top $75 million.

3.              Stocks plunged around the world as fears spread that Europe’s attempt to contain Greece’s debt crisis would fail, and the euro fell to its lowest point against the dollar in a year:

·                  The Dow Jones industrial average lost 225 points, its biggest drop in three months, erasing a 143-point gain from the day before—the Dow and broader indices each fell more than two percent, while Treasury prices rose on increased demand for safe investments.

May 5, 2010 

1.              The Coast Guard says that after 16 days, BP PLC has managed to cap one of three leaks at the deepwater oil well, and while that is not expected to reduce the overall flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, it does make it possible to drop a single containment on the breach spewing the vast majority of oil:

·                  Two satellite images indicate that oil has reached the Mississippi Delta and the Chandeleur Islands off the coast of Louisiana, and Hans Graber, an imaging expert and director of the University of Miami’s satellite sensing facility, said that the images also show oil drifting to the south, toward the Loop Current, which could carry oil toward Florida and the Florida Keys.

2.              The Senate voted 93-5 to revamp how regulators can dissolve large financial firms that are dubbed “too big to fail,” a rare bipartisan agreement that replaced a controversial proposed $50 billion bank-financed fund to help break up ailing companies:

·                  The Senate also voted 96-1 to guarantee that no taxpayer money will be used to bail out financial institutions, a stand of political cosmetics since no bailouts are contained in the legislation, and those tallies kicked off Senate voting on the historic bill that would overhaul how the government regulates and oversees the nation’s financial institutions.

May 6, 2010 

1.              In a burst of volatility that recalled the 2008 financial crisis, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged almost 1,000 points before recovering most of its losses to close down 347.8 points, a swing triggered by fears that debt problems in Greece and elsewhere in Europe will infect other high-debt economies around the world:

·                  The market slide is occurring even as most economic indicators point to a U.S. recovery gaining steam, and most analysts expect growth to average 3-3.5% this year—the economy has expanded for three consecutive quarters.

2.              Homeowners could collect thousands of dollars in Cash for Caulkers rebates for renovating their homes with better insulation and energy-saving windows and doors under a new economic stimulus bill—the Home Star bill passed the House 246-161 (Oregon’s Blumenauer did not vote, the other Oregon Democrats voted “yes”, while Oregon’s sole Republican voted “no”)—the bill would authorize $5.7 billion over two years for a program that supporters—mostly Democrats—said would have the added benefit of invigorating the slumping construction industry and making the planet a little cleaner:

·                  Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the bill, and they were able to attach a condition that it would be terminated if Democrats do not come up with a way to pay for it.

3.              A fixture since President Harry S. Truman signed a bill proclaiming a National Day of Prayer 58 years ago, 2010 could be the last time the event is observed if the White House fails in an appeal against a court ruling that it violates the ban on government-backed religion:

·                  Wisconsin-based U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb ruled April 15^th in favor of the Freedom from Religion Foundation in a suit brought against President Obama—she ruled that the federal law that designates a National Day of Prayer and requires an annual presidential proclamation violates the establishment clause of the Constitution’s First Amendment.

4.              In separate defeats for Republicans and liberal Democrats, the Senate rejected two contentious regulatory measures—one to dilute consumer provisions and the other to breakup large banks:

a.              A 61-38 vote cleared away a GOP proposal that Democrats and the president said would have “gutted” consumer protections—only two Republicans, Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Charles Grassley of Iowa, joined Democrats to defeat the GOP measure;

b.              Democrats and Republicans joined to reject a proposal to limit the size of the nation’s largest banks as a means of reining in the financial sector—that vote was 61-33, with 33 Republicans, 27 Democrats, and one Independent voting to kill the measure.

May 7, 2010

1.              A 100-ton concrete-and-steel box plunged toward a blown-out well at the bottom of the sea in a first-of-its-kind attempt to stop most of the gushing crude fouling the Gulf of Mexico:

·                  Once the contraption gets to the sea floor, underwater robots will secure it over the main leak at the bottom—a process that will take hours—and if the delicate procedure works, the device could be collecting as much as 85% of the oil spewing into the Gulf and funneling it to a tanker by May 9^th—it’s never been tried so far below the surface where the water pressure is enough crush a submarine.

2.              The leading sponsors of a long-delayed energy and climate change bill, Senators. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT), said that they would press ahead despite losing the support of a crucial Republican partner, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC):

·                  Graham has been negotiating with Kerry and Lieberman for months, but he said that while he believes there will be 60 votes for this bipartisan concept in the future, he does not see 60 votes now while “we deal with the uncertainty of the immigration debate and the consequences of the oil spill”—Kerry and Lieberman said that they plan to introduce the bill May 12^th.

3.              The economy got what it needed in April: a burst of hiring that added a net 290,000 jobs—the biggest monthly total in four years—and the improved picture caused so many more people to pour into the labor force in search of employment that the jobless rate rose from 9.7 to 9.9%:

·                  The new jobs—the most since March 2006, according to the Labor Department—were generated by sectors across the economy, and they are the first sign that the recovery is adding significant numbers of new jobs—the encouraging message in this report is that employers are finally hiring again.

May 8, 2010

1.              Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that he is ordering a top-to-bottom paring of the military bureaucracy in search of at least $10 billion needed to prevent an erosion of U.S. combat power:

·                  He took aim at what he called a bloated bureaucracy, wasteful business practices, and too many generals and admirals, and he outlined an ambitious plan for reform that is almost certain to stir opposition in the corridors of Congress and the Pentagon.

2.              Ice- in a worst-case scenario like crystals encrusting a 100-ton steel-and-concrete box meant to contain oil gushing from a broken well deep in the Gulf of Mexico forced crews to back off the long-shot plan, while more than 100 miles away, blobs of tar washed up at an Alabama beach full of swimmers:

·                  More than three million gallons of crude have spewed into the Gulf since a rig exploded April 20^th, killing 11, and officials said it would be at least May 10^th before a different solution is found.