Subject: Correct The Record Tuesday November 25, 2014 Afternoon Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 16:25:30 -0500
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*​**Correct The Record Tuesday November 25, 2014 Afternoon Roundup:*

*Tweets:*

*Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: Watch the new @CorrectRecord
<https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord> video, “The American Dream: Hillary
Clinton Writing A New Chapter”http://youtu.be/Nezan76vwhc
<http://t.co/5PBKtbra3c>[11/24/14, 4:16 p.m. EST
<https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/536991677940895744>]

*Correct The Record* @CorrectRecord: .@HillaryClinton
<https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton> pushed for equality in education for
girls & boys #HRC365 <https://twitter.com/hashtag/HRC365?src=hash>
http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/HILLARY_Bio.html …
<http://t.co/nM4DfPuUE2> [11/24/14, 1:31 p.m. EST
<https://twitter.com/CorrectRecord/status/536950162304671744>]

*Headlines:*

*Bloomberg Businessweek: “Scene Last Night: Clinton, Schwarzman, Corzine,
Neidich, Diamond”
<http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-11-25/scene-last-night-clinton-schwarzman-corzine-neidich-diamond>*

“Clinton was honored and sat with Brooke Garber Neidich, a friend and
co-founder of the Child Mind Institute, who’s eager to become a grandmother
herself.”

*CNN: “Schumer on 2016: 'Democrats must embrace government'”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/25/politics/schumer-democrats-press-club-plan/>*

“Schumer's argument was that Democrats must regain the mantle as the party
for the middle class by focusing laser-like on populist legislation the
benefits a large number of voters and sticks to a coherent, simple message.
This ‘strategy must become our blueprint. Indeed it should unite Democrats
from Elizabeth Warren to Hillary Clinton to Joe Manchin,’ Schumer argued,
noting politicians across the Democratic spectrum.”

*ABC News: “The Note: Ferguson Under Fire”
<http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/11/the-note-ferguson-under-fire/>*

*ABC’S LIZ KREUTZ:* “Speaking at the Child Mind Institute’s 5th anniversary
gala, Hillary Clinton last night told a seated crowd at the Cipriani
restaurant in midtown Manhattan that there is still too much of a stigma
around the care and treatment for mental health patients and that while it
has ‘never really been a priority on a national agenda’ – it needs to be.”

*National Journal: “When Will Hillary Clinton Stake Out Her Policy
Positions?”
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/when-will-hillary-clinton-stake-out-her-policy-positions-20141125>*

[Subtitle:] “Whenever she wants to—for better or for worse.”

*Articles:*

*Bloomberg Businessweek: “Scene Last Night: Clinton, Schwarzman, Corzine,
Neidich, Diamond”
<http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-11-25/scene-last-night-clinton-schwarzman-corzine-neidich-diamond>*

By Amanda Gordon

November 25, 2014

Steve Schwarzman had a granddaughter yesterday morning. Last night he sat
one table away from new grandmother Hillary Clinton. On the joys of
grandparenting, they can agree.

“You almost only get the good times,” said Schwarzman, the chairman and
chief executive of Blackstone Group LP, who supported Mitt Romney for
president in 2012.

“She really is remarkable,” Clinton, a probable Democratic presidential
candidate in 2016, said of eight-week-old Charlotte.

The occasion was the fifth anniversary gala of the New York-based Child
Mind Institute, which treats children with mental illness and researches
the developing brain.

Clinton was honored and sat with Brooke Garber Neidich, a friend and
co-founder of the Child Mind Institute, who’s eager to become a grandmother
herself.

“I’m dying for it,” Neidich said.

Until then, Neidich gets to live vicariously through Clinton.

“She is so psyched, you have no idea,” Neidich said. “You can tell, there
is nothing that matters more, period. World peace, OK, grandmother, let’s
go for it.”

Jon Corzine noticed a change in Clinton last night. “She is beaming way
more than anything that I normally see out of her,” the former governor of
New Jersey and former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said. “Since
I have five grandchildren and it’s the happiest part of my life, I know it
resonates with her.”

*Clinton’s Prospects*

Being a grandmother “should help” her candidacy, Corzine said. Asked about
Wall Street getting behind her, Corzine said, “I’m sort of removed.”

Goldman partner Ram Sundaram, David Shapiro of KPS Capital Partners,
Carlyle Group’s Olivier Sarkozy and Thomas H. Lee of Lee Equity Partners
were among the Wall Streeters at the event, which was held at Cipriani 42nd
Street and raised $6.6 million.

Clinton was also honored on Nov. 21, by the New-York Historical Society
Museum & Library, an event that raised $2.5 million and drew its share of
finance types, including Robert Diamond, chief executive of Atlas Merchant
Capital and former CEO of Barclays Plc; Richard Gilder, co-creator of
Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co.; hedge-fund manager Joseph DiMenna and Paul
Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve.

*Isaacson Interview*

For this crowd at the Mandarin Oriental, Aspen Institute head and author
Walter Isaacson interviewed Clinton, getting her talking a lot about the
Roosevelts and a little about her granddaughter.

Six days after Charlotte was born, Clinton said, she had lunch with Bernard
Schwartz at the Four Seasons. “I didn’t realize I spent almost the whole
time talking about her,” she said.

Later her brush broadened to consider Charlotte’s future.

“I’m excited about whatever she’ll wind up doing -- of course she’s
brilliant, advanced, wonderful and all of that -- but I think talent is
universal but opportunity is not,” Clinton said. “I think there were babies
born in this country on the same day that Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky was
born who are just as smart and will never have the opportunities to go just
as far, and that bothers me.”

Clinton left Charlotte out of her remarks at the Child Mind Institute
benefit, instead focusing on children’s mental health needs as “every bit
as important as their physical health.”

*Prison Care*

She expressed disappointment that this notion “is not yet firmly enough
embedded in our national understanding,” giving as an extreme example that
prisons have become primary providers of mental-health care.

And she traced her interest in child development to her days at Yale Law
School, when she said she took a year to study at the Yale Child Study
Center, observing clinical sessions. More recently, Clinton Foundation
research alerted her to the number of connections in a newborn’s brain.

“These early years are a period of great opportunity and vulnerability,”
Clinton said.

No wonder grandparents are good to have around at this stage, or as the
other honoree, Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental
Health, put it:

“For millennia, we grew up as tribes where multiple generations were
together,” Insel said from his dinner seat. “The idea that you’d have three
generations that would be separated in time and space, that was not the way
we evolved as a species.”

Next to him, novelist Erica Jong set the record straight: “Grandmothers
should be ruling the world,” she said.

*‘Busy Lady’*

Harold Koplewicz, founding president of the Child Mind Institute, said
raising a healthy child is “all time and attention. That means sometimes
it’s not about quality, it’s about quantity. Hillary is a busy lady, but
Charlotte needs to be one of the priorities. With someone as organized as
Hillary, Charlotte’s going to get that. I know Hillary and I assure you,
there will be a playpen in the Oval Office because Hillary knows what’s
important.”

And if Clinton doesn’t run for president? “Charlotte’s got the genes,”
Koplewicz said.

As for Steve Schwarzman: the latest addition to his family arrived at 6:30
a.m. and her name is Mary, daughter of his son Teddy, he said. And she’s
just the start of the family’s excitement these days, as Mary’s smiling
grandmother, Ellen Katz, Schwarzman’s ex-wife, noted from her table across
the room. “The Imitation Game” starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which Teddy
produced, comes out on Nov. 28 in the U.S. “and it’s going to be a
blockbuster,” Katz said. Teddy’s sister Zibby is due to have a baby next
month.

What might be the perfect baby gift? The Child Mind Institute had an
answer: an $18, special-edition Bloomingdale’s teddy bear, a bigger example
of which shared the red carpet with guests. Two dollars of every sale will
go the Institute.

*CNN: “Schumer on 2016: 'Democrats must embrace government'”
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/25/politics/schumer-democrats-press-club-plan/>*

By Dan Merica

November 25, 2014, 12:50 p.m. EST

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said Tuesday that in order for his party to
win in 2016, his party will have to run on big government, "not run away
from it."

During a long, scripted speech at the National Press Club in Washington,
the boisterous New Yorker heralded government -- and its programs to aid
the middle class -- as what "unites" the party.

"Together, Democrats must embrace government," Schumer said. "In order to
win in 2016, Democrats must embrace government, not run away from it."

Schumer's argument was that Democrats must regain the mantle as the party
for the middle class by focusing laser-like on populist legislation the
benefits a large number of voters and sticks to a coherent, simple message.

This "strategy must become our blueprint. Indeed it should unite Democrats
from Elizabeth Warren to Hillary Clinton to Joe Manchin," Schumer argued,
noting politicians across the Democratic spectrum.

During a speech that was as much a history lesson as it was guiding vision,
Schumer faulted Democrats for, in his opinion, fumbling the mandate they
won in 2008 by focusing on the Affordable Care Act -- also known as
Obamacare -- at the outset of the Obama administration.

"After passing the stimulus, Democrats should have continued to propose
middle class-oriented programs and built on the partial success of the
stimulus, but unfortunately Democrats blew the opportunity the American
people gave them," Schumer said. "We took their mandate and put all our
focus on the wrong problem - health care reform."

He added, "The focus on Obamacare gave anti-government forces and the
Republican Party new vigor and new life, at least temporarily" and led to
their wins in 2010.

Schumer told the assembled reporters that the Affordable Care Act was "a
good bill" that "should have come later." Instead, Schumer said the reason
he opposed pushing health care early in 2009 was that he law did not affect
enough of the electorate to be worth the political capital it cost.

"To aim a huge change in mandate at such a small percentage of the
electorate made no political sense," Schumer said. "So when Democrats
focused on health care, the average middle class person thought, 'the
Democrats are not paying enough attention to me.'"

Schumer's remarks come at a turbulent time for Democrats. The 2014 election
saw massive Republican wins across the country. Democrats fell deeper into
the minority in the House and Republicans took back the Senate.

Republicans, who have argued the nation wants smaller, less involved
government -- and point to their 2014 election win -- seized on the
senator's speech.

"Schumer's message has an old car stank to it," said Brad Dayspring,
strategist with the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Embracing a
dysfunctional government that is 17 trillion in debt is a thumb in the eye
to middle class voters and young Americans, but reflects how out of touch
Democrats are heading into 2016."

*ABC News: “The Note: Ferguson Under Fire”
<http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/11/the-note-ferguson-under-fire/>*

By Shushannah Walshe

November 25, 2014, 8:53 a.m. EST

*NOTABLES*

   - *FERGUSON LATEST:  *Live Updates as Ferguson reacts to grand jury’s
   decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson: http://abcn.ws/11rIqK6 And
   more from the unrest overnight, which St. Louis County Police Chief Jon
   Belmar said was “worse than the worst night we ever had in August”
   http://abcn.ws/11sl5rv And details from the evidence the grand jury
   heard: http://abcn.ws/1piuZqQ

   - *OBAMA URGES CALM:* *President Obama*
   <http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/whitehouse/barack-obama.htm> last
   night urged the public to accept the *grand jury’s decision*
   <http://abcnews.go.com/US/ferguson-grand-jury-indict-officer-darren-wilson-death/story?id=27146400>
not
   to indict the Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who fatally shot an
   unarmed teenager this past summer, saying that “it’s an outcome that,
   either way, was going to be subject to intense disagreement,” *ABC’S
   DEVIN DWYER* and *MEGHAN KENEALLY *report. “We are a nation built on the
   rule of law, so we need to accept that this decision was the grand jury’s
   to make,” he said…”Hurting others or destroying property is not the
   answer,” he said. At the same time, the president also appealed to law
   enforcement officials in Ferguson to “show care and restraint.” “The
   situation in Ferguson speaks to the broader challenges we still face as a
   nation,” Obama said, noting that “a deep distrust exists between law
   enforcement and communities of color.http://abcn.ws/1xwlFNQ

   - *WILL HE GO?* *ABC’S MARY BRUCE *reports the president is still
   considering a visit to Ferguson, but it won’t be today, according to the
   White House. Reminder, the president will be nearby in Chicago this
   afternoon highlighting his executive action on immigration. Last night, the
   president was asked if he will pay a visit to Ferguson. “Well, let’s take a
   look and see how things are going.  Eric Holder has been there.  We’ve had
   a whole team from the Justice Department there, and I think that they have
   done some very good work.  As I said, the vast majority of the community
   has been working very hard to try to make sure that this becomes an
   opportunity for us to seize the moment and turn this into a positive
   situation,” the president answered. “But I think that we have to make sure
   that we focus at least as much attention on all those positive activities
   that are taking place as we do on a handful of folks who end up using this
   as an excuse to misbehave or to break the law or to engage in violence.”

   - *DOJ INVESTIGATION CONTINUES:* Attorney General Eric Holder released a
   statement, according to *ABC’s MIKE LEVINE* saying in part: ”While the
   grand jury proceeding in St. Louis County has concluded, the Justice
   Department’s investigation into the shooting of Michael Brown remains
   ongoing…the federal inquiry has been independent of the local one from the
   start, and remains so now.  Even at this mature stage of the investigation,
   we have avoided prejudging any of the evidence.  And although federal civil
   rights law imposes a high legal bar in these types of cases, we have
   resisted forming premature conclusions…In addition, the Department
   continues to investigate allegations of unconstitutional policing patterns
   or practices by the Ferguson Police Department…Those who decide to
   participate in demonstrations should remember the wishes of Michael Brown’s
   parents, who have asked that remembrances of their son be conducted
   peacefully.  It does not honor his memory to engage in violence or
   looting.” *WATCH ABC’s PIERRE THOMAS’* reporting on*GOOD MORNING AMERICA* on
   this investigation: http://abcn.ws/15ml6Qj

   - *MISSOURI SENATORS REACT: ABC’s ARLETTE SAENZ* notes both Sen. Claire
   McCaskill and Sen. Roy Blunt released statements after the grand jury’s
   decision. *McCaskill:* “There will be many people who are disappointed
   in today’s decision, even though it is a result of a deliberate legal
   process that’s being independently checked by Attorney General Eric Holder
   and the U.S. Justice Department. While we await the conclusion of that
   independent investigation—and continue working together for solutions to
   systemic issues highlighted by this tragedy—I’m praying that the good
   people of St. Louis and local law enforcement will remain peaceful and
   respectful of one another.”*Blunt:* “Michael Brown’s death was a tragic
   loss for his family and for the community…We must balance the rights of
   Americans to exercise their free speech alongside the rights of people to
   live peacefully and safely in their communities. …Law enforcement officials
   have been candid in identifying ways officers could have handled the
   situation in Ferguson better, and I trust those recommendations will be
   helpful as we continue to count on them to protect us.”

   - *IN OTHER (BIG) NEWS: *Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s resignation
   Monday morning sparked speculation about President Obama’s next potential
   nominee, who will have to lead the Defense Department in its fight against
   ISIS. *ABC’s VERONICA STRACQUALURSI *and *KIRSTEN APPLETON*take a look
   at some potential nominees. http://abcn.ws/1uSqVyx  *ABC’S LUIS
MARTINEZ* reports
   it will take a while before the potential nominee  gets into the job
   because the choice will likely have to go to the new Congress.  The
   expectation in the building is it could be as late as February before the
   new Defense Secretary takes over.

   - *THE WHITE HOUSE TODAY:* In Chicago, the president is expected to
   highlight the economic impact of his executive actions, *ABC’S MARY
   BRUCE *reports. An administration official notes that immigrants and
   their children start one-third of all new businesses in the US. The
   president will also likely hit on the fact that immigrants give the U.S. a
   strong entrepreneurial advantage. And once again, he will call on Congress
   to “finish this job” and pass a bill.

   - *DNC NARROWS TO THREE:*  Democratic National Committee Chair Rep.
   Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced the finalist cities under consideration
   to host the 2016 Democratic National Convention: Columbus, Philadelphia,
   and New York—specifically Brooklyn. From the statement: “The announcement
   comes after a round of site visits by the DNC’s Technical Advisory Group to
   five cities…In addition, the DNC announced the potential weeks for the 2016
   convention that will be under consideration: Weeks of July 18, July 25, and
   August 22. The DNC will announce a final city and date early next year.”

*THE ROUNDTABLE*

*ABC’s RICK KLEIN:* President Obama appealed to the nation for calm. Calm
the nation was not, at least if its cable television images are any guide.
The looting and the fires and the clashes had already begun by the time the
president advised the American people that “there are ways of channeling
your concerns constructively and there are ways of channeling your concerns
destructively.” Racially charged incidents have had a way of bringing out
the president’s own competing urges. His brief statement Monday night
featured the word “but” nine times, as if he was arguing cases against
himself. The next choice for the president: Does he visit Ferguson? He’ll
be in the Midwest, in Chicago, on Tuesday…

*ABC’S TOM SHINE:* One solution to insane generic drug price increases—”let
some competition in from over the border,” says Sen.  Amy Klobuchar.  The
New York Times says Klobuchar and John McCain will soon “revive stalled
legislation to allow some prescription imports from Canada.”  The article
also says Maine is testing a new law that permits its residents to buy
drugs from Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.  In fact according
to the Times, “companies have been set up in Canada and Britain
specifically to sell prescription drugs to Mainers,” part of an effort to
counter what one economist calls, “The wild, wild, west of drug pricing.”
http://nyti.ms/1vjra5p  <http://nyti.ms/1vjra5p>

*ABC’S LIZ KREUTZ:* Speaking at the Child Mind Institute’s 5th anniversary
gala, Hillary Clinton last night told a seated crowd at the Cipriani
restaurant in midtown Manhattan that there is still too much of a stigma
around the care and treatment for mental health patients and that while it
has “never really been a priority on a national agenda” – it needs to be.
“Sadly it is not yet firmly embedded in our national understanding… so that
we all recognize the work that must be done and the fact that we still face
stigmas around the treatment and care of children who have these mental
health challenges,” Clinton, who was honored with the group’s Child
Advocacy Award, said. “We have to fight to remove the stigmas,” she
continued, “And ask ourselves what more we, the cities, states and our
nation needs to do to.” These remarks came the same night the grand jury
in Ferguson announced they would not indict officer Darren Wilson for the
shooting and killing of teenager, Michael Brown. Clinton, who was seen
seated during the dinner at the same table as the Olsen twins, did not
comment on the situation and slipped out of the restaurant before the
decision was announced.

*WHAT WE’RE WATCHING *

*THE FORGOTTEN FIRST PRESIDENT:* Who was the first president of the United
States? According to some, it wasn’t George Washington.  Pass the gravy and
get ready for a history lesson. It was actually John Hanson, a founding
father whose name is largely forgotten in the pages of American history –
until now. *ABC’S RICK KLEIN *traveled to Frederick, Maryland – home to
Hanson, who was the first elected president of the Continental Congress in
1781 – and he also helped establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
* WATCH *this episode of Top Line: http://yhoo.it/1FmVLlX

*WHAT WE’RE READING*

*IN FERGUSON: BUSINESSES BURN, POLICE CARS TORCHED AS VIOLENCE ‘MUCH WORSE’
THAN AUGUST by THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: *At least 61 people were
arrested, said St. Louis County Police Sgt. Brian Schellman. Charges ranged
from burglary to trespassing to receiving stolen property…(Belmar) said he
was grateful nobody was killed but disappointed at the amount of damage in
the Ferguson area…He said that there was basically “nothing left” along
West Florissant between Solway Avenue and Chambers Road. “Frankly, I’m
heartbroken about that,” he said. Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron
Johnson said, “We talked about peaceful protest, and that did not happen
tonight. We definitely have done something here that’s going to impact our
community for a long time…that’s not how we create change.”
http://bit.ly/1zpdWDC

*HOW OBAMA DUMPED HAGEL by Glenn Thrush of Politico:* When President Obama
first summoned Chuck Hagel to the Oval Office in October, he wanted to know
how his Pentagon chief planned to cope with the dangerous new threat posed
by the Islamic State that had drawn the reluctant president back into war
in the Middle East, not to mention getting a sense of Hagel’s other plans
for the final two years of Obama’s presidency. But after several
lackluster, low-energy sessions, Obama was so unimpressed by the
performance of his laconic, self-effacing defense secretary that he decided
Hagel “just wasn’t the man for the job,” according to a senior
administration official. That set in motion the decision that led to
Hagel’s decorous dumping on Monday by a president who almost never fires
anybody—and never admits it when he does. http://politi.co/1rnD8G0

*THE BUZZ*

*with ABC’s KIRSTEN APPLETON*

*DEFENSE SECRETARY CHUCK HAGEL TO STEP DOWN. *Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
is stepping down, *ABC’s LUIS MARTINEZ, JEFF ZELENY, *and *MARTHA
RADDATZ *report.
Flanked by Hagel and Vice President Biden, President Obama announced the
Secretary’s departure Monday morning from the White House’s State Dining
Room. According to a senior administration official, “Secretary Hagel began
speaking with the President about departing the Administration given the
natural post-midterms transition time” in October. It didn’t come as a big
surprise, one longtime associate of Hagel tells ABC News. “He took the job
to end the war–not start another one,” this associate of Hagel’s told ABC.
The senior administration official indicated that a successor “will be
named in short order.” Hagel will remain on until the successor has been
confirmed. http://abcn.ws/1C54VVW

*HOW CHUCK HAGEL’S RESIGNATION MIGHT AFFECT ISIS FIGHT. *Chuck Hagel’s
departure as Defense Secretary will probably have a minimal impact on the
administration’s three part strategy to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria that
is expected to take years. Hagel had raised questions about the strategy’s
lack of focus on the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad, but not about the
president’s decision that American troops sent to Iraq will not serve as
combat troops. Online supporters of the Islamic terror group ISIS have
taken to Twitter to cheer the resignation of Chuck Hagel, claiming it was
ISIS that forced him out. Regardless of how ISIS supporters may want to
interpret Hagel’s resignation, it does not mean the administration’s
strategy to combat ISIS is about to change, *ABC’s LUIS MARTINEZ *reports.
http://abcn.ws/1AI1KC0

*HAGEL DEPARTURE LEAVES OBAMA CABINET LESS COLORFUL. *With the resignation
of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s cabinet just got a lot
less colorful, *ABC’s DEVIN DWYER* notes. The former senator from Nebraska
and Vietnam war veteran has long won the fascination of the blogosphere and
social media users for his patterned socks, bright sweaters, colorful polo
shirts and casual shoes, all worn while on the job. He famously wore a
bright pink button down beneath a beige blazer for a meeting with the
president in the Situation Room. http://abcn.ws/1tf3Dya

*JOHN MCCAIN ‘STRONGLY ENCOURAGING’ LINDSEY GRAHAM TO CONSIDER 2016
RUN.* *ABC’s
ARLETTE SAENZ *and *JEFF ZELENY *report Sen. John McCain is prodding one of
his closest allies in the Senate to consider a run for the White House –
Sen. Lindsey Graham. “I think he is looking at it, and I am strongly
encouraging him to take a look at it,” McCain, R-Ariz., told ABC News. “I
know of no one who is better versed and more important on national security
policy and defense than Lindsey Graham, and I don’t think these challenges
to our security are going away.” In an interview with The Weekly Standard
last month, Graham, R-S.C., said he might consider a presidential bid after
this year’s midterm elections if other candidates aren’t promoting an
aggressive foreign policy agenda. http://abcn.ws/1vFoD7V

*REP.-ELECT DEBBIE DINGELL ON WHAT HER HUSBAND JOHN IS NOT TELLING
HER. *Rep.-Elect
Debbie Dingell, D-Michigan, is no stranger to the halls of the Congress.
Her husband, the 88-year-old dean of the House, Rep. John Dingell, has
served on the Hill since 1955. But now, Rep.-Elect Dingell, 61, is set to
take on the U.S. Congress herself — representing her retiring husband’s old
district in the 114th Congress. *ABC’s ERIN DOOLEY *reports that on the
campaign trail, the two were careful to maintain a “concrete wall.”
http://abcn.ws/11rj13h

*COLUMN: HOW TO FIX AMERICA’S STILL-EXISTING SEXISM DYNAMIC.* For how far
men and women have come through the years, we are still a culture where
many are trapped in old models and ways. The tragic circumstances
surrounding cultural icon Bill Cosby and those who have come forward to
accuse Cosby of sexual abuse puts such a highlight on the sexism dynamic
which still is rooted in our culture, says *ABC’s MATTHEW DOWD. *
http://abcn.ws/1pgVZXI

*IN CASE YOU MISSED IT*

*TOP 5 THINGS WE LEARNED FROM THIS YEAR’S MEDAL OF FREEDOM CEREMONY.* President
Obama honored 19 impressive individuals with the nation’s highest civilian
honor. According to *ABC’s MARY BRUCE,* the president heaped praise on the
recipients, highlighting their distinguished and varied accomplishments. He
also revealed some interesting anecdotes about the trailblazers.
http://abcn.ws/1yOnSX8

*IN THE NOTE’S INBOX*

*New Quinnipiac University poll out this morning:*  American voters are
divided on whether President Barack Obama should take action to address the
immigration issue if Congress fails to act, as 45 percent say the president
should issue an executive order while 48 percent say he should not…American
voters give Obama a negative 39 – 54 percent approval rating, close to his
lowest-ever 38 – 57 percent score in a December 10, 2013, Quinnipiac
University poll…Offered three choices on what to do about illegal
immigrants 48 percent of American voters say they should be allowed to
stay, with a path to citizenship, down from 57 percent November 13, 2013,
and the lowest this number ever has been, 11 percent say immigrants should
be allowed to stay, but not be allowed to apply for citizenship, consistent
with previous surveys, 35 percent say illegal immigrants should be required
to leave the U.S., up from 26 percent 12 months ago and higher than this
number ever has been. http://bit.ly/1yQYuzZ

*Americans United for Change out with a new Immigration Web Video: “Pass A
Bill”* “It’s a montage of Congressional Republicans on cable news excitedly
weighing their options for responding to the Executive Immigration Action
including censuring the President, suing the President, launching an
investigation, and blocking nominees. But for some reason the most simple
and responsible option keeps slipping their minds: passing the bipartisan
Senate bill, or any immigration bill for that matter.” It’s backed by paid
ads on Facebook and Twitter. http://bit.ly/1C9TV9R

*WHO’S TWEETING?*

@GStephanopoulos <https://twitter.com/GStephanopoulos>  In St. Louis this
morn for @GMA <https://twitter.com/GMA> after grand jury decision in
#Ferguson <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ferguson?src=hash>-violent night
here. Shots fired, buildings burned, Natl Guard here.

@RealClearScott <https://twitter.com/RealClearScott> · Often overlooked
amid the GOP’s rebranding effort, Christian conservatives aim to find their
horse in 2016:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/11/25/christian_conservatives_plot_2016_revival__124747.html
…

@CahnEmily  <https://twitter.com/CahnEmily> The Anti-Cantor: @DaveBratVA7th
<https://twitter.com/DaveBratVA7th> On Bringing Rationality to Washington
http://bit.ly/1xyUVMN  <http://t.co/spczztT8hE>

@MattFriedmanSL  <https://twitter.com/MattFriedmanSL>Christie
administration gave key @govchristie <https://twitter.com/GovChristie> ally’s
son a job, apparently without giving others a chance to apply
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/11/nj_state_job_won_by_essex_county_executive_joe_divincenzos_son_was_never_publicly_advertised.html
…
<http://t.co/pUohWMDS9m>

@TheStalwart <https://twitter.com/TheStalwart> BEEEAAAT. GDP rises 3.9%

*National Journal: “When Will Hillary Clinton Stake Out Her Policy
Positions?”
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/when-will-hillary-clinton-stake-out-her-policy-positions-20141125>*

By Emma Roller

November 25, 2014

[Subtitle:] Whenever she wants to—for better or for worse.

Hillary Clinton barely has to lift a finger to command an astonishing lead
in a presidential primary that's still 405 days away. A recent Bloomberg
Politics poll found that 62 percent of likely Democratic voters in New
Hampshire said they'd support Clinton for president in 2016.

In many ways, Clinton is a very well-known quantity—after all, she's been a
public figure for more than 30 years. But on many specific policies,
Clinton has remained coy, often opting to speak out about women's equality
in the workplace rather than tackling the political debates of the day.
Should she run for president a second time, she's given little indication
as to what that her campaign would look like, or what policy platform would
form its framework.

Even Democratic loyalists seem to be confused about what Clinton's
philosophy going into 2016 would look like. As Ryan Lizza recently wrote,
"everyone in the party seems to be supporting her, and yet nobody can
articulate exactly why."

We got perhaps the first real policy position from Clinton on Thursday,
when she voiced her support for President Obama's executive action on
immigration. So, when can progressive policy wonks (and reporters) expect
more fleshed-out policies from Clinton?

Don't hold your breath.

An educated guess would be shortly after she announces her candidacy—if she
does, in fact, decide to run—in "early 2015." Joe Trippi, a veteran
Democratic operative, said that Clinton would be ill-advised to start
laying out her platform until she and other serious Democratic opponents
have announced their candidacy.

"There's no imminent reason for her to have to start doing that," Trippi
said. "The clock's not ticking on any of that for her, because of all the
advantages she already has."

That may be a fine strategy for the many solid-blue Democrats who have
already mentally cast their vote for Clinton in 2016, but some progressive
activists are wary about her record. The progressive wing of the party
right now is particularly focused on two areas—blocking the Keystone
Pipeline and reforming the National Security Agency's mass-surveillance
programs. Clinton's near silence on both isn't going over well.

*NSA reform*

It's been more than a year since NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked a
trove of top-secret documents exposing the U.S. government's mass
surveillance apparatus. Last week, Senate Republicans blocked legislation
that would rein in the NSA's spy programs. Clinton could have easily penned
an op-ed about the stalled bill in the Times or the Post, or even issue a
statement as she did after Obama's immigration announcement. Instead, she
chose to say nothing.

Neema Singh Guliani, a legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties
Union, said Clinton will need to break her silence on NSA reform soon.

"You've seen prominent political figures stake out a position and express
their concern. You see, for example, Jim Sensenbrenner—who was one of the
drafters of the PATRIOT Act—say, 'Look, this isn't what I intended,'"
Guliani told National Journal. "If she is a presidential candidate, I don't
think this is an issue that she's going to be able to avoid, and I don't
think it's an issue that really any candidate is going to be able to avoid."

On privacy, Clinton's legislative record is somewhat of a mixed bag. After
9/11, she voted for the PATRIOT Act—along with 96 of her fellow senators.
In 2008, she voted against an amended version of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act, which paved the way for the surveillance systems, along
with the wide berth given to the government to monitor American civilians.

Since her time in the Senate, Clinton has largely stuck to platitudes about
balancing privacy with national security interests. On the campaign trail
she praised Sen. Mark Udall for calling for NSA reform. But back in April,
she told a crowd of college students that the Snowden leaks "gave all kinds
of information, not only to big countries, but to networks and terrorist
groups and the like."

Privacy activists are perplexed by Clinton's apparent cognitive dissonance.

"I think it's really hard to tell what her position is," Guliani said.
"When we look at her prior voting history, that was before the disclosures,
and I think before the public and before members of Congress frankly knew
what was happening. And so whether that changes things, I think it really
remains to be seen."

*Keystone Pipeline*

Aside from immigration, government funding and the ongoing battle against
the Islamic State group, the Keystone Pipeline may be the biggest
legislative topic facing Congress. Yet, despite campaigning for
pipeline-advocate Sen. Mary Landrieu, Clinton has maintained radio silence
on the crude oil pipeline, which would stretch from Alberta, Canada, to the
Gulf of Mexico.

Environmental activists have found her response to the fossil fuel debate
in general, and Keystone specifically, to be lacking, to say the least.
Bill Snape, a senior counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity, told
National Journal that while Keystone may seem like a niche concern, it
represents a far larger ideological rift.

"The fundamental issue with Keystone for Hillary is that it's a microcosm
of her position on fossil fuels in general," Snape said. "She's trying to
straddle a number of worlds right now...at some point, you're going to have
to make a decision."

Jerry Austin, an Ohio Democratic strategist and Jesse Jackson's former
campaign manager, pointed out that if Clinton were still secretary of
state, the Keystone Pipeline would be "under her aegis." As it stands,
Clinton is still a quasi-private citizen, and she's said next to nothing on
the topic.

"Because she is a presumptive candidate, everybody wants to know where she
stands on these issues," Austin said. "I don't think she can get away with
waiting a long period of time to answer them."

But while it may irk activists, some Democratic strategists say silence can
be a virtue.

"It's better to really formulate the policies that she wants to implement
and govern with, and only when she's ready to articulate those would I
advise her to go out and talk about them," Trippi said. "Understanding
where you want to take the country before you enter the race is a much
better formula, a much better way to get to the presidency than
focus-grouping, polling or reacting to interest groups in either party."

*It's The Economy, Etc.*

Al From, another veteran Democratic strategist who served as Bill Clinton's
domestic policy advisor in 1992, told National Journal that the general
state of the economy will weigh more heavily in voters' minds than Keystone
or NSA reform.

"The most challenging issue for any candidate for president is on questions
of economic growth and economic equality. It looks like she's feeling some
pressure to take a more populist line on these issues than she has in the
past. But she's also been very careful not to get nailed down on
specifics," From said.

While the Clintons have often praised From's work, progressives are not as
big fans of his governing philosophy. Jesse Jackson once said From's
organization, the Democratic Leadership Council (or DLC), stood for
"Democrats for the leisure class."

From says the top-of-mind progressive issues of 2014 matter just as much—or
little—as they did back then.

"It's more than likely that Keystone will have long since been decided by
the time the 2016 Iowa Caucuses happen. But this longer-term economic
debate, and how she approaches it, is a challenge that's not going away,"
From said.

*Keeping It Under Wraps*

Clinton's silence may frustrate special interest groups on the left—and the
donors who are trying to figure out who to support—but it's a
tried-and-true political strategy. Why show your cards when you haven't
even been dealt in yet?

"Anybody who's been through this—and she has—knows you take your time, you
think things through, you develop your policies, and then you decide to go
or not," Trippi said. "There are a lot of people who haven't done this
before who think you just announce an exploratory committee and go. Those
candidates tend to end up on the side of the road."

Daniel Schnur, who served as Sen. John McCain's spokesman during McCain's
2000 presidential campaign and is now director of the Jesse M. Unruh
Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, seems
bigger questions ahead. Schnur said that, while wearing the badge of
Inevitability can have its perks, Clinton will eventually need to lay out
an argument for her candidacy, beyond the fact that she's the most
well-known candidate.

"Because she's the frontrunner, she can afford to wait as she wants to,"
Schnur said. "But the longer she waits, the more likely it is that
potential supporters start asking what's motivating her to run, and even
simply, 'Do you want to be president?'"