Week in Review 01/23/10

After Rocky First Year, Geithner Faces Another Test in AIG Bailout Hearing

The Treasury secretary is back in the hot seat, for bailout decisions he made about AIG while he was head of the New York Federal Reserve — and it has created a firestorm that some critics hope will mark the end of his tenure. Timothy Geithner’s tenure as Treasury secretary got off to a rocky start, to say the least. There was the revelation during his Senate confirmation last year that he once failed to pay taxes. There were the questions surrounding his role at Freddie Mac during an accounting scandal. And later, there were the calls from some lawmakers for his resignation for what they deemed as a poor response to the U.S. economic crisis. Read more.

House Democrats don’t like Plan B

House Democrats privately worry that the rank-and-file would reject a doomsday strategy that requires them to approve the Senate health care bill if Republican Scott Brown wins in Massachusetts on Tuesday. “Progressives and conservatives in the caucus won’t go for it,” one aide predicted on Monday. But they may not have another choice if the party loses its critical 60th vote in the Senate. If Brown beats Democrat Martha Coakley in the special election to fill the seat recently occupied by the late-Ted Kennedy, one alternative has the House passing the bill the Senate approved just before Christmas last year, with a promise to make additional changes through the upcoming budget process. Read more.

Hunt urged Obama to put Wright behind him

A new documentary about Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in North Carolina discloses that former Gov. Jim Hunt urged Obama to distance himself from his controversial pastor.

In April 2008, at the height of the controversy over Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Hunt called Obama’s North Carolina campaign. He advised Obama to publicly profess his Christianity, love of country and denounce his pastor if he were to have any chance of winning the state’s May 6 primary.

“I made it very clear … you can either win this campaign, or you can lose it,” Hunt told the film’s producer, journalist Cash Michaels. Read more.

Estimates shore up Marco Rubio’s claim about illegal immigrants with visas

The statement “Close to half of the folks in this country illegally, entered legally (but) overstayed (their ) visas.” Marco Rubio on Thursday, in interview with Glenn Beck The ruling Florida U.S. Senate hopeful Marco Rubio has hit the big time — Glenn Beck’s radio program. During a wide-ranging interview Thursday, Rubio said that he thinks Republicans need to be the party that supports and promotes legal immigration. Then, he added: “Close to half of the folks in this country illegally, entered legally (but) overstayed (their) visas,” Rubio said. Read more.

Under Obama, U.S. has taken a step back in war on terror

Why is the Obama administration providing a despicable Nigerian Muslim terrorist named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab with sacred American constitutional rights? Why is Obama going to prosecute him in an American civilian court? Why did Team Obama read this scoundrel his Miranda rights? On Christmas Day 2009, nearly 300 people escaped death solely because the terrorist’s detonator failed to ignite his underwear bomb. In just one year the Obama administration has made America significantly less safe. I stated before Obama’s election that he would weaken America. It was my theory then. But it is certainly no longer in doubt. Obama is so busy trying to socialize America that he has completely taken his eye off of his most important duty: to keep America safe. Read more.

Scott Brown roars to Senate upset win

State Sen. Scott Brown has pulled a Bay State bombshell by upsetting his Democratic rival to capture the open U.S. Senate seat by a 5-point margin. Brown, 50, of Wrentham, will roll into Washington as the nation struggles with health-care reform. But Brown has vowed to be “the 41st Senator” that will defeat the measure. Democrat Martha Coakley, the state’s attorney general, has gone down in a stunning defeat. Brown has won 52-47 percent, with 89 percent of the precincts reporting. Independent Joseph L. Kennedy finished way back with 1 precent of the vote. Read more.

Senate Democrats Propose $1.9T Increase to U.S. Debt Limit

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats on Wednesday proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion to pay its bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion. The unpopular legislation is needed to allow the federal government to issue bonds to fund programs and prevent a first-time default on obligations. It promises to be a challenging debate for Democrats who, as the party in power, hold the responsibility for passing the legislation. The record increase in the so-called debt limit is required because the budget deficit has spiraled out of control in the wake of a recession that cut tax revenues, the Wall Street bailout, and increased spending by the Democratic-controlled Congress. Last year’s deficit hit a phenomenal $1.4 trillion, and the current year’s deficit promises to be as high or higher. Read more.

John Edwards admits paternity

John Edwards admitted this morning to being the father of Frances Quinn Hunter, the two-year-old daughter of his former mistress Rielle Hunter.

The admission comes after more than two years of rumors and tabloid hounding and an investigation into campaign money federal authorities suspect circulated around Edwards’ mistress. Edwards, former North Carolina senator and failed presidential candidate, has repeatedly denied being Frances Quinn Hunter’s father since August 2008.

“It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter, and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me,” Edwards said in a statement. That statement was released to NBC’s Today show and The News & Observer. Read more.

House Democrats reluctant to take up Senate health-care reform bill

Determined to enact a health-care reform bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi struggled Wednesday to sell the Senate version of the legislation to reluctant Democrats, even as party moderates raised doubts about forging ahead without bipartisan support. Republican Scott Brown’s victory Tuesday in a Senate special election in Massachusetts blindsided President Obama and Democratic leaders, who had nearly reached the finish line on an ambitious overhaul of the nation’s health-care system and were beginning to turn their attention to other challenges, namely creating jobs and lowering the deficit. Read more.

Obama Seen as Anti-Business by 77% of U.S. Investors

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — U.S. investors overwhelmingly see President Barack Obama as anti-business and question his ability to manage afinancial crisis, according to a Bloomberg survey.

The global quarterly poll of investors and analysts who are Bloomberg subscribers finds that 77 percent of U.S. respondents believe Obama is too anti-business and four-out-of-five are only somewhat confident or not confident of his ability to handle a financial emergency.

The poll also finds a decline in Obama’s overall favorability rating one year after taking office. He is viewed favorably by 27 percent of U.S. investors. In an October poll, 32 percent in the U.S. held a positive impression. Read more.

51 charges for former Easley aide

Ruffin Poole, a longtime senior aide to former Gov. Mike Easley, corrupted his office by taking trips, liquor, money and other gifts from people he helped with state government action, a federal grand jury charged Thursday.

In a wide-ranging indictment, Poole was charged with 51 counts that include extortion, bribery, racketeering, fraud, money laundering and engaging in transactions in “criminally derived” property. Many of the charges in the indictment from the grand jury flow from Poole’s interference in environmental permits, in some cases for projects in which he had invested. Read more.

Obama concedes health overhaul hit ‘buzz saw’

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama, two days after signaling retreat on a massive health care overhaul, discounted the small-bore approach Friday and pledged to press for ambitious changes despite running into a “bit of a buzz saw” of opposition.

Even as the president sought to bring the public and nervous Democrats back on board, a leading member of his party suggested Congress slow it down on health care, a sign of eroding political will in the wake of Tuesday’s Republican election upset in Massachusetts.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who ushered the overhaul legislation through the Senate’s health committee last year after the death of his friend, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, said Obama and lawmakers could “maybe take a breather for a month, six weeks.” Read more.