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Obama Uses Teleprompter in Sixth Grade Classroom

Obama Speaks to a Sixth-Grade Classroom

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A Blue Collar Approach Pays Off for GOP

By: Susan Ferrechio

BOSTON - Republican Scott Brown shocked the nation and turned Massachusetts politics on its head.

But how did he do it?

A Suffolk University poll taken Nov. 8 showed Democratic candidate Martha Coakley leading by 31 points -- a staggering advantage most political observers believed could not be surmounted by Brown, one of just five Republicans in the Massachusetts state Senate.

But a series of factors conspired to allow Brown to do what seemed impossible in November, and his luck began to change right after the state's Democratic primary that month, when Coakley made what many now view as an unwise decision to take a break from campaigning.

Brown, on the other hand, hit the ground running, going door to door in working-class neighborhoods across the commonwealth in his old pickup truck, delivering a populist message that resonated with people suffering under the state's sour economy. Brown talked about job creation, the deficit and overspending in Washington. And he pledged to put the brakes on the unpopular Democratic plan to reform health care.

"He's been going door to door, town to town," said Brown backer Shawn Littlehale, of Norwell. "Martha Coakley has been hiding."

Brown also put out a series of well-received ads, including one in which he seemed to appear in a campaign ad produced by John F. Kennedy when he ran for the same seat in the 1950s and promised a tax cut. Brown also used social media like Facebook, Twitter and text messages to supporters to get voters to the polls and for a massive rally to counter a Sunday appearance by President Obama.

While Brown capitalized on Coakley blunders that became almost too numerous to count, it was his substance and style that eventually won over voters, even in the face of an onslaught of negative campaign ads put forward by the Democratic National Committee.

"Brown focused the discussion on the issues that really matter in Massachusetts," Ron Kaufman, former adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, told The Examiner. "And it connected with the voters in a big way."

Voters said that aside from his political stance, they liked Brown's low-key, authentic style, which contrasted to what many perceived to be an aloof and out-of-touch Coakley.

His appeal was so great, even Coakley volunteers were swayed by him, including phone bank worker Carol Caryl, 70.

"He has a certain amount of charisma, driving that truck," Caryl said.

Video: Massachusetts Miracle

1st Tea Party Senator?

Gregoire looking for way out?

From the blog of Liz Mair

Over the last 48 hours, I've had a number of discussions with political operatives in Washington State regarding Gov. Christine Gregoire. Word on the street in the Evergreen State is that she is actively seeking a new job, specifically in the Obama administration, which would enable her to resign her office and move on to better and brighter things.

As previously discussed at this blog, Gregoire would have good reason to be looking to ditch the governorship. Washington is facing a fairly sizeable budget shortfall, and polling from late November showed that Gregoire's approval rating had fallen to an astonishingly low 33%. However, some savvy onlookers convinced that she's job-hunting view her actions as an indicator of her refusal to take responsibility for a difficult fiscal situation that she is, at least in part, responsible for. In addition, the prospect of her resigning has Republicans chomping at the bit. Not only is Gregoire a reviled figure among many of them because of her handling of fiscal matters and because she is suspected to be more than a closet fan of introducing a state income tax; a lot of Republicans (and, frankly, non-Republicans) in the state still consider that she "won" the governorship in 2004 off the back of electoral hijinks, and that the "result" was fraudulent. Of course, she beat Dino Rossi, her opponent in both 2004 and 2008, fair and square the second time around-- but now, multiple sources are indicating that she's ready to give up office anyway if she gets a better offer, potentially setting up a hard-fought special election that would inspire fresh optimism in more than a few Republicans.

Yesterday and today, speculation centered on Gregoire potentially getting ready to step into Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's shoes, were he to return to Colorado to run to succeed Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, who announced he would not seek a second term of office on Tuesday. Democrats were throwing around several names, with Rep. Jay Inslee front and center (a prospect that heartened more than one Republican with a background in Washington State politics given certain perceived negatives commonly associated with him). Other names in the mix included those of Aaron Reardon and Lisa Brown. On the Republican side of the ledger, the main name being thrown out was that of Rob McKenna, the state's Republican Attorney General-- though the possibility of a third-time-lucky Rossi run also seems to have generated a bit of chatter. As it turns out, while Salazar was reported to have been given White House clearance to return home and run for governor, The Hill indicated this afternoon that Salazar would not run and that he was endorsing John Hickenlooper, Denver's mayor (who has apparently not yet declared his candidacy). That will have put any possible immediate plans to exit stage left on Gregoire's part on ice, at least for now, though it's worth keeping an eye on potential openings in the administration, at least so long as Gregoire's approval numbers remain low.

Obama gives Interpol free hand in U.S.

Examiner Editorial
December 30, 2009

No presidential statement or White House press briefing was held on it. In fact, all that can be found about it on the official White House Web site is the Dec. 17 announcement and one-paragraph text of President Obama's Executive Order 12425, with this innocuous headline: "Amending Executive Order 12425 Designating Interpol as a public international organization entitled to enjoy certain privileges, exemptions, and immunities."In fact, this new directive from Obama may be the most destructive blow ever struck against American constitutional civil liberties. No wonder the White House said as little as possible about it.

There are multiple reasons why this Obama decision is so deeply disturbing. First, the Obama order reverses a 1983 Reagan administration decision in order to grant Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, two key privileges. First, Obama has granted Interpol the ability to operate within the territorial limits of the United States without being subject to the same constitutional restraints that apply to all domestic law enforcement agencies such as the FBI. Second, Obama has exempted Interpol's domestic facilities -- including its office within the U.S. Department of Justice -- from search and seizure by U.S. authorities and from disclosure of archived documents in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by U.S. citizens. Think very carefully about what you just read: Obama has given an international law enforcement organization that is accountable to no other national authority the ability to operate as it pleases within our own borders, and he has freed it from the most basic measure of official transparency and accountability, the FOIA.

The Examiner has asked for but not yet received from the White House press office an explanation of why the president signed this executive order and who among his advisers was involved in the process leading to his doing so. Unless the White House can provide credible reasons to think otherwise, it seems clear that Executive Order 12425's consequences could be far-reaching and disastrous. To cite only the most obvious example, giving Interpol free rein to act within this country could subject U.S. military, diplomatic, and intelligence personnel to the prospect of being taken into custody and hauled before the International Criminal Court as "war criminals."

As National Review Online's Andy McCarthy put it, the White House must answer these questions: Why should we elevate an international police force above American law? Why would we immunize an international police force from the limitations that constrain the FBI and other American law-enforcement agencies? Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files that will be beyond the scrutiny of Congress, American law enforcement, the media, and the American people?