House Approves Biggest Changes in Financial Regulation Since Great Depression

Obama and fellow Dems eager to change the tide in the financial scheme launched a campaign for transparency in financial regulation. Republicans, lobbyists, and others who have benefited from the cash flow are dismissing these efforts as unneeded . The inter-agency council will serve as a "watchdog agency." Long overdue!

Secret Service B Team

Here's news coverage of the Secret Service's B Team in action like we discussed last class.

Succession, Protection, and Final Thoughts

Presidential succession

Presidential protection:

• Secret Service statute
• Bush
• Cheney

Practice Final

The following should give you an idea of the exam format. As you prepare, also take a look at the air midterm.

I. Identify the meaning and significance of 14 of the 16 following items (4 points each).

• War Powers Resolution
• NSC
• US v. Curtiss-Wright
• Executive agreements
• The Russo-Japanese War
• Front-loading
• Solicitor General
• Policy streams
• Line-item veto
• Election of 1876
• The 25th Amendment
• Rahm Emanuel
• Abe Fortas
• Mandatory spending
• The Little Rock executive order

II. Quotations: for three of the following four statements, explain who made it and why (4 points each).

• But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have been called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all republicans, we are all federalists.
• The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization.We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
• In closing, let me say this: I will do my best, but I will not do it alone. Let your voice be heard. Whenever you have a chance, say something good about our country. With God's help and for the sake of our Nation, it is time for us to join hands in America. Let us commit ourselves together to a rebirth of the American spirit Working together with our common faith we cannot fail.
• Homeland defense and missile defense are part of stronger security; they're essential priorities for America. Yet, the war on terror will not be won on the defensive. We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge. In the world we have entered, the only path to safety is the path of action, and this Nation will act.

III. Answer two of three essay questions (16 points each). Each answer should take 2-3 large bluebook pages or 3-4 small bluebook pages.

• In Federalist 8, Hamilton wrote: “It is of the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority.” Have the past two decades confirmed or disconfirmed this observation? Explain, with examples.
• Could Hillary Clinton have won the 2008 Democratic nomination? If not, why not? If so, how?
• See the excerpt below. Do you agree or disagree? Explain with reference to course materials.

A Democratic president, you'd think, would stick to Franklin D. Roosevelt or Jack Kennedy as role models. Not Barack Obama. As he faces tough times—economically and politically—I am told that he and his advisers are turning to an unusual source for inspiration: Ronald Reagan. Looking back, it shouldn't be a total surprise. On the campaign trail in 2008, Obama said nice things about the Gipper. Reagan, Obama said, "tapped into what people were already feeling, which was: we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to a sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing." (At the time, Obama's ode to Ronald seemed nothing more than a jab at the Clintons (who were infuriated), and a bid for Republican votes. But now I see that it was Obama's tell: the clue to how he views himself, politics, and the presidency. He thinks he is Reagan in reverse—a patient, genial game changer for the ages—and his confidence helped soothe the economic panic of a year ago. But it isn't clear whether the president really understands the causes of the Old Man's successes, or the sobering lessons of his failures.

Bonus questions (one point each)

• Larry Speakes
• Edwin Stanton
• Donna Shalala
• Penelope Smith
• Alexis Simendinger

Obama and the Future

Afghanistan deliberation

Current poll standing




The 2010 midterm in the House and Senate.

Issues:

• Afghanistan
• Health
• Global Warming

Ideological trends

How Secret and Secure is the President?

This article details a confidential 2003 Secret Service report that found numerous breaches in White House Security over the past few decades. While no president has been attacked since the assassination attempt on President Reagan, it is concerning to learn the (relative) ease with which intruders manage to breach security. Of particular concern is the report's disclosure that eight of the ten intruders had announced their intentions, and three were already being monitored by the Secret Service--yet they still managed to break through its defenses to reach the President and other Secret Service protected officials. This is an interesting revelation, particularly in light of our current reading on the Presidency and national security.

Rahm's Inbox

Deja Vu.. Kind of

"Among the ideas expected in his economic speech Tuesday is an expanded program that gives people cash incentives to fix up their homes with energy-saving materials, senior administration officials have told The Associated Press. Obama is leaning toward new incentives for small businesses that hire new workers and new spending on roads, bridges and other public works.."

Obama Scores

Gallup reports that Obama's approach to Afghanistan is off to a good start with the public:

President Obama has managed to thread the needle with his newly announced Afghanistan strategy, with his approach winning the approval of a majority of both Democrats (58%) and Republicans (55%) in a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Wednesday night. At the same time, less than a majority of independents approve (45%). Among Americans overall, 51% approve of the strategy while 40% disapprove.

Afghanistan, Foreign Policy, and National Security

Constitution and Presidency

"And as Commander-in-Chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan."

Federalist 8: "It is of the nature of war to increase the executive at the expense of the legislative authority."

Democracy in America: "If the Union’s existence were constantly menaced, and if its great interests were continually interwoven with those of other powerful nations, one would see the prestige of the executive growing, because of what was expected from it and of what it did."

JFK taped meetings and calls on the Cuban Missile Crisis. In October 1962, JFK discussed the Cuban Missile Crisis on national TV.

As you reflect on JFK's decisionmaking, think about Peter Drucker's dictum: “The first rule in decision-making is that one does not make a decision without disagreement.”

A couple of years later, LBJ dealt with the Gulf of Tonkin. Bad intelligence contributed to the US reaction in the Gulf of Tonkin -- as Robert McNamara later acknowledged:

President Bush the elder launches Desert Storm:

Powell had such influence during the Gulf War because of Goldwater-Nichols.

We went into Afghanistan because of 9/11. Why did the intelligence community fail to foresee or prevent it? From the report of the 9/11 commission:

Commenting on Pearl Harbor,Roberta Wohlstetter found it "much easier after the event to sort the relevant from the irrelevant signals.After the event,of course, a signal is always crystal clear; we can now see what disaster it was signaling since the disaster has occurred. But before the event it is obscure and pregnant with conflicting meanings."...With that caution in mind,we asked ourselves, before we judged others,whether the insights that seem apparent now would really have been meaningful at the time, given the limits of what people then could reasonably
have known or done. We believe the 9/11 attacks revealed four kinds of failures in:

• imagination (see bin Laden memo)
• policy (see NBC report)
• capabilities (see Washington Post on translators)
• and management (see map of intelligence community)

Faulty intelligence also affected Iraq policy, as the WMD Commission concluded.

In the fall of 2007, President Bush responded to the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran (full transcript here):

QUESTION: My question, sir, is are you feeling troubled about your standing here today about perhaps facing a credibility gap with the American people?
PRESIDENT: No. I'm feeling pretty spirited -- pretty good about life. And I made the decision to come before you so I could explain the NIE. And I have said Iran is dangerous. And the NIE doesn't do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world. Quite the contrary. I'm using this NIE as an pportunity to continue to rally our colleagues and allies. The NIE makes it clear that the strategy we have used in the past is effective.

The Courts

"That's why we must promote our values by living them at home -- which is why I have prohibited torture and will close the prison at Guantanamo Bay."

See Hamdan v. Rumsfeld

Chris Matthews, the great constitutional scholar, on Hamdan:

Obama Speech Fact Check

For the record..

Yahoo releases one of many responses to Obama's latest address. Aiming to compare his claims with the reality on the ground, they respond directly to four remarks about the Afghan war.

Obama and China- Saturday Night Live Skit

http://www.hulu.com/watch/110317/saturday-night-live-china-cold-open

Inappropriate SNL skit, but demonstrates the current media's interpretation of Obama's interactions with China.