Subject: Correct The Record Monday January 20, 2015 Morning Roundup
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 08:14:51 -0500
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

*​**Correct The Record Monday January 20, 2015 Morning Roundup:*

*Headlines:*

*Washington Post: “Supporters say Clinton developing smarter, more relevant
campaign for 2016”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supporters-say-clinton-developing-smarter-more-relevant-campaign-for-2016/2015/01/19/503f910e-9a9b-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html>*

"Clinton’s 2014 speeches were frequently direct in their appeal to
working-class and middle-class women struggling to balance household
budgets and coping with unequal pay and professional opportunities. She
sprinkled in personal anecdotes from her working life and spoke about the
brighter, fairer future she hopes her new granddaughter can inherit."

*Politico blog: Josh Gerstein: “Huge trove of Hillary Clinton White House
files set for release”
<http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2015/01/huge-trove-of-hillary-clinton-files-set-for-release-201259.html>*

“While many Clinton Library records have been released in response to
Freedom of Information Act requests, the massive new batch was reviewed on
the initiative of the library's professional archivists as part of what the
National Archives calls ‘systematic processing.’”

*Politico: “Poll: Run Hillary. Run Mitt.”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/hillary-clinton-mitt-romney-2016-elections-114369.html>*

“Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are the would-be candidates that Americans
most want to run for president in 2016, while solid pluralities would
prefer that Chris Christie and Rick Perry sit this election out, according
to a new CBS News Poll released Sunday.”

*CNN: “Clinton critics jab at Obama camp hiring”
<http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/20/politics/clinton-obama-sotu/index.html>*

“Hillary Clinton's most vocal critics have long tried to tie the former
secretary of state to President Barack Obama, hoping that her 2016 run
would be dragged down by the somewhat unpopular president. But ahead of
Tuesday's State of the Union address, critics say Clinton is making their
job easy."

*NBC News: “NBC/WSJ Poll: No Bump for Romney, Jeb Bush After '16 Hints”
<http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/nbc-wsj-poll-no-bump-romney-jeb-bush-after-16-n289056>*

“While both Republican candidates post a net-negative rating, likely
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton currently enjoys an overall positive
assessment from the American public.”

*National Journal: “The State of the Union Is All About 2016”
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/the-state-of-the-union-is-all-about-2016-20150119>*

“Most important, the economy has finally shown signs of real, lasting
improvement, allowing Obama to tout his work more aggressively, with fewer
caveats and half-hearted moments. Because of that, it isn't as outlandish
now to think of Hillary Clinton, or whoever is the Democratic nominee next
year, talking up continuity on the campaign trail.”

*Associated Press: “Decision looms for Democrats on 2016 convention site”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5404449a21314d24b62ba0d1d7049c36/decision-looms-democrats-2016-convention-site>*

“Democrats are closing in on a final decision on where to hold their 2016
convention, a site that could serve as a passing of the baton from
President Barack Obama to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the leading contender for
the Democratic nomination should she run for president again.”

*The Daily Beast: "Bill Clinton Gushes Over 'Selma' : ‘I Stood Up and
Started Cheering All By Myself’"*
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/19/bill-clinton-gushes-over-selma-i-stood-up-and-started-cheering-all-by-myself.html>

Subtitle: "Former President Clinton sang the praises of the Oscar-snubbed
Selma at the King Center’s Annual Salute to Greatness Awards Dinner in
Atlanta, Georgia."

*CNN: “Looking for Jim Webb's 2016 vision? Check Twitter”
<http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/19/politics/webb-twitter-2016/index.html>*

“Jim Webb has skipped the usual full Washington media tour since launching
a presidential exploratory committee late last year. He has done fewer than
a handful of interviews, given one high-profile speech and has shied away
from attacking other Democrats who are considering a run in 2016.”

*MSNBC: “Draft Warren campaign connects senator to MLK”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/draft-warren-campaign-connects-senator-mlk>*

“The ‘Run Warren Run’ campaign includes MoveOn and Democracy for America,
two grassroots liberal groups that are trying to push the Massachusetts
Democrat to run for the Democratic nomination against likely candidate
Hillary Clinton. Warren has repeatedly said she’s not running. “

*Articles:*

*Washington Post: “Supporters say Clinton developing smarter, more relevant
campaign for 2016”
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supporters-say-clinton-developing-smarter-more-relevant-campaign-for-2016/2015/01/19/503f910e-9a9b-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html>*

By Anne Gearan

January 19, 2015, 10:01 p.m. EST

In the last weeks before her expected entry into the 2016 presidential
contest, Hillary Rodham Clinton is assembling a heavily research-driven
campaign designed to prevent a repeat of her poor performance in 2008.

Clinton still faces many of the same challenges she had seven years ago,
when she went from being a juggernaut and most likely the first female
president in American history to a perceived stumblebum out of touch with
the political moment. A campaign that seemed invincible became known for
strategic blunders, an off-putting air of entitlement and infighting among
an insular and sometimes inexperienced group of aides.

But backers say this time Clinton is developing a smarter, more relevant
campaign message focused on economic opportunity and her lifelong work to
better women’s lives. The former secretary of state is also trying to play
down any sense of inevitability and aims to adopt many of the same
data-focused strategies that Barack Obama used to snatch the race from her
in 2008.

Several of Obama’s prominent strategists are now supporting Clinton, and
she is incorporating his model of using several pollsters and strategy
advisers to diversify information coming into the campaign.

Many supporters point to Clinton’s final weeks as a candidate in 2008 as a
good starting point for 2016. She was widely hailed for refusing to give up
the fight, showing a feistiness missing from her earlier, anodyne campaign
appearances.

“I’ve seen her as a less-than-great candidate in 2007, and I thought she
was a very compelling candidate in 2008 after she lost the Iowa caucuses
and her fate was very much on the line,” said Obama senior political
strategist David Axelrod. “If she’s that candidate, she can do very well.”

Even some strong supporters, however, are unsure whether Clinton can fix
some of her biggest problems, including a tendency toward awkwardness in
her public appearances and too much reliance on a small band of longtime
aides.

“She’s still Hillary Clinton, and last time Hillary Clinton wasn’t a great
candidate. You don’t become somebody else” in between campaigns, said one
prominent Democrat who is backing a Clinton candidacy.

Many people interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of
anonymity to avoid getting ahead of the unannounced campaign.

Holed up mostly out of sight in her Chappaqua, N.Y., home, Clinton is
presiding over daily strategy sessions aimed at understanding voter
dynamics and the changes wrought by the rise of super PACs and ubiquitous
social media, people familiar with her efforts said.

She is also holding policy discussions focused on the economic setbacks
facing the middle class and working women and on how to shape solutions
that are digestible in a campaign speech.

Clinton appears to be embracing what some Democrats call the “glass-ceiling
moment” from 2008, when she poignantly addressed her own failure to break
through the gender barrier in her concession speech to Obama.

“She lost a lot of the opportunity for what could have been a lot of energy
and passion,” said one Democrat who worked closely with Clinton’s
presidential and Senate campaigns. “It’s something people can rally on —
it’s a message people can relate to. It’s not a message in itself, but it’s
important.”

Clinton may never fully shed all the baggage from her crushing loss, this
strategist and others said, but she seems to understand what went wrong.

Democratic strategist Chris Lehane said Clinton’s gender “provides her
candidacy with both a sword and a shield.”

“It is a sword in that, as a mom and grandmom from middle-class, Midwestern
roots, she is uniquely positioned to talk with voters [about] being on the
side of America’s families,” Lehane said. “It is a shield to deflect the
predictable attacks from the opposition about the need for change in 2016.”

She began road-testing those themes while campaigning — mostly in vain —
for Democrats during the 2014 midterm elections. Since then, she has been
seeking advice on issues and concerns from a wide assortment of business,
political and philanthropic leaders while scrutinizing opinion polling and
other research.

“If she runs, of course this time will be different,” Clinton spokesman
Nick Merrill said. “As she decides, she wants to cast a wide net and hear
from a variety of people on a range of specific topics, from policy ideas
to what a successful campaign would look like.”

Clinton’s 2014 speeches were frequently direct in their appeal to
working-class and middle-class women struggling to balance household
budgets and coping with unequal pay and professional opportunities. She
sprinkled in personal anecdotes from her working life and spoke about the
brighter, fairer future she hopes her new granddaughter can inherit.

That sets Clinton up for a populist-tinged campaign message of fair play
and reward for hard work that is aimed at voters who feel left out of the
economic recovery, numerous strategists said.

“I honestly believe that whoever runs for president is going to have to
have a vision of how to grow this economy in a way that’s more shared than
it has been,” said Neera Tanden, a longtime Clinton intimate who heads the
Center for American Progress.

Should Clinton decide to run, her economic message will echo her own
experience fighting for economic justice, Tanden said.

Clinton will probably announce her candidacy in early April, several
strategists said, seeing no reason to start campaigning in January, as she
did in 2007.

In 2008, the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses revealed the mismatch
between her message of experience and competence and Obama’s insurgent
appeal, as well as the depth of problems inside the Clinton camp. She
eventually shook up her campaign, firing manager and longtime aide Patti
Solis Doyle and sidelining pollster and strategist Mark Penn.

“She’s giving much more thought to what her rationale will be,” said
another strategist. “It is a rationale that is not all about her, which I
think was part of the problem in ’07,” when the emphasis on Clinton’s
readiness for the job obscured the question of why she wanted it.

She has brought in young Democratic operative Robby Mook as her unannounced
campaign manager. Clinton has also enlisted Obama pollster Joel Benenson
and others who were not part of her circle last time. Longtime Democratic
strategist John Podesta has made clear he will be the campaign’s elder
statesman and ride herd on any squabbling.

Super PACs run by people outside Clinton’s immediate circle also carry her
unofficial blessing.

But much of the old guard also remains, and there has been friction between
some of the super PACs and the inner Clinton ring. Some outsiders grumble
that longtime personal aide and confidante Huma Abedin exerts too much
control.

Other Democrats see a potential red flag in the secrecy that already
surrounds Clinton’s decision-making and say they hope she has learned that
caution and cloistering did not serve her well last time.

Her willingness to take fat paychecks for speaking appearances and a cozy
relationship with Wall Street titans cause unease for strategists
predicting a general-election contest focused on middle-class economic
striving.

“Tone-deaf,” said one strategist who supported Obama in 2008 and now
supports Clinton.

Clinton’s lackluster performance in speeches and interviews last year to
promote her State Department memoir, “Hard Choices,” also fanned worries
that she has not rebooted her clumsy campaign style.

Republicans pounced — and Democrats cringed — when she told an interviewer
that she and former president Bill Clinton were “dead broke” after his two
terms in the White House. Her defensive initial response to criticism for
that remark fed doubts that her famously thin skin had grown any thicker.

“There was a lot of rust on that bike, and she wasn’t ready,” said one
strong Clinton backer, who blames her close advisers for sending her out
unprepared.

Republicans argue she still carries the flaws of 2008. Reince Priebus,
chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview last
week that Clinton is “just not very good at politics. She stumbles all the
time. . . . It’s just surprising how many mistakes she makes for someone
that’s supposed to be as good as she is.”

Backers concede that Clinton can come across as wooden and cheerless in
public, and she has often struggled to show what friends say is genuine
warmth and passion for helping people. A few stiff performances on the
stump this time could feed a media narrative that Clinton is remote and
distant from the needs of ordinary people.

Part of the frustration among Democrats on this point is that even strong
Clinton backers recognize she is more comfortable with policy than with
politicking, and there is only so much she can do to change the way she
comes off in public. But many supporters say she is more at ease as a
political figure now.

“Based on the green shoots we are seeing from her to date, the Hillary
Clinton we saw in the second half of the 2008 campaign — when she ran the
table despite being mathematically eliminated — is the Hillary Clinton we
are going to see in 2016,” Lehane said.

*Politico blog: Josh Gerstein: “Huge trove of Hillary Clinton White House
files set for release”
<http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2015/01/huge-trove-of-hillary-clinton-files-set-for-release-201259.html>*

By Josh Gerstein

January 19, 2015, 12:28 p.m. EST

A massive collection of documents related to Hillary Clinton's policy work
as first lady is set to go public this spring, just as her expected
campaign to return to the White House could be ramping up.

The more than 150,000 pages of records come largely from the files of
Clinton's policy advisers in her husband's White House and cover topics
such as welfare, equal pay, family leave, civil rights, race, poverty and
health care reform.

While many Clinton Library records have been released in response to
Freedom of Information Act requests, the massive new batch was reviewed on
the initiative of the library's professional archivists as part of what the
National Archives calls "systematic processing."

The Archives formally notified President Barack Obama's White House and
President Bill Clinton's representative Bruce Lindsey on Jan. 8. about  the
planned release. Under a federal law passed last year and signed by Obama,
the current and former president have 60 business days to assert executive
privilege in an effort to block the release of some or all of the records.
That review period can be extended once, for 30 business days, but no
further extensions are permitted.

No assertions of executive privilege over historical records are known to
have taken place during Obama's tenure, though the White House repeatedly
extended its review of some files, resulting in lengthy delays.

The process dictated by the new law could result in the Hillary Clinton
policy records becoming public sometime between April and June, depending
on how long it takes the Archives to prepare the files for release. Even
under the new proposed release, several thousand pages will still be closed
to research, often due to privacy or national security concerns.

In addition to the first lady-related records, the Clinton Library is
planning to release records on several other topics, including the
sensitive issue of President Clinton's signing in 1996 of a law banning
federal recognition of same-sex marriages, the Defense of Marriage Act.
Almost 5,000 pages of Clinton White House records on DOMA are set to go
public, likely on a similar schedule to the Hillary Clinton records.

"The records...describe correspondence regarding same-sex marriage between
gay rights advocates, government officials, religious leaders, and White
House staff and internal White House discussions on how these issues should
be handled. Additional materials relate to Department of Justice comments
on portions of DOMA," the Archives said in a Jan. 9 letter to White House
Counsel Neil Eggleston.

In addition to imposing deadlines for reviews by current and former
presidents, the new law exposes more of the mechanics of the disclosure
process, requiring the Archives to make public its notices of proposed
releases. The notice regarding Hillary Clinton's first lady files can be
viewed here and that for the DOMA documents can be viewed here.

Spokespeople for the Obama White House, for Hillary Clinton and President
Clinton did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the proposed
releases.

*Politico: “Poll: Run Hillary. Run Mitt.”
<http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/hillary-clinton-mitt-romney-2016-elections-114369.html>*

By David Cohen

January 18, 2015, 6:48 p.m. EST

[Subtitle:] They fare much better than Christie and Perry in a survey of
would-be contenders.

Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are the would-be candidates that Americans
most want to run for president in 2016, while solid pluralities would
prefer that Chris Christie and Rick Perry sit this election out, according
to a new CBS News Poll released Sunday.

The poll also indicates that a number of potential 2016 contenders remain
largely unknown to the general public, or, at least, are being met with a
smattering of indifference.

Leading the way is former Secretary of State Clinton, with 85 percent of
the surveyed Democrats expressing approval for a potential candidacy by
her, against only 11 percent who opposed that idea. Also, 51 percent of
independents liked the idea of her running. She was the only would-be
contender supported by a majority of independents; the survey did not
question members of the opposite party.

Next up was 2012 Republican contender Mitt Romney, whose would-be candidacy
drew a positive reaction from 59 percent of Republicans vs. 26 percent who
didn’t like the idea. However, 49 percent of the independents surveyed were
not pleased with the idea.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had slightly lower approval ratings — 50
percent of Republicans — but a comparable negative rating to Romney’s — 27
percent. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who ran in 2008, also drew
significant support, with 40 percent of Republicans saying they’d be happy
to see him try again (with 29 percent saying no).

No Democrat was anywhere near Clinton, with the closest being Vice
President Joe Biden, whose split (40 percent supporting a candidacy, 38
percent opposed) at least demonstrated name recognition for the person who
has been a heartbeat away from the presidency for the past six years.

Most of the other would-be contenders would seem to have a ton of work to
do if they have any hope of hearing “Hail to the Chief” played in their
honor in January 2017.

The highest net disapproval ratings all belonged to Republicans: former
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (30 percent yes, 59 percent no), New Jersey Gov.
Christie (29 percent yes, 44 percent no) and longtime Texas Gov. Perry (21
percent yes, 32 percent no). Those numbers were just their numbers among
Republicans; among independents, they were all, without exception, worse.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (27 percent yes, 34 percent no) was also
underwater, though his numbers with independents (26 percent, 32 percent)
were basically the same.

The poll also showed a number of would-be candidates have yet to make any
dent nationally.

The key figure for Maryland’s Martin O’Malley, for instance, was 82, the
percentage of Democrats who said they “don’t know enough to say” whether
they’d like him to puruse the presidency. Only 3 percent voiced support for
the idea of an O’Malley candidacy.

Others were also largely met with shrugs.

Among Democrats, those were former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb (78 percent with
no opinion), Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (71 percent), New York Gov. Andrew
Cuomo (65 percent) and first-term Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (57
percent). That’s true even though the number of would-be candidates appears
to be appreciably lower on the Democratic side.

Republicans who have as yet not made a huge dent: Louisiana Gov. Bobby
Jindal (65 percent with no opinion), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (64
percent) and conservative activist Ben Carson (61 percent). Faring only
slightly better were two highly visible tea-party figures from the Senate’s
class of 2010 — Marco Rubio (54 percent with no opinion) of Florida and Ted
Cruz (53 percent) of Texas — and another 2012 contender, Rick Santorum (51
percent).

The CBS News “Campaign 2016: Who Should Run?” survey of 1,001 adults was
conducted by telephone Jan. 9-12.

*CNN: “Clinton critics jab at Obama camp hiring”
<http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/20/politics/clinton-obama-sotu/index.html>*

By Dan Merica

January 20, 2015

Hillary Clinton's most vocal critics have long tried to tie the former
secretary of state to President Barack Obama, hoping that her 2016 run
would be dragged down by the somewhat unpopular president.

But ahead of Tuesday's State of the Union address, critics say Clinton is
making their job easy.

Tim Miller, the executive director of America Rising, an anti-Clinton
communications and research super PAC, argues in talking points to other
Republicans that Clinton is tying herself to Obama by working with and
hiring many of his staffers ahead of her all-but-certain 2016 run.

"By hiring his key political and policy staff and making no public moves to
place clear distance between herself and the President on issues likely to
be front and center in the coming Congress, Clinton is signaling that she's
not just from the same party as the President, but that she's an Obama
Democrat, who will back his policies, pursue his agenda, and represent a
Third Term of the Obama Administration," Miller argues in a memo to the
group's supporters.

Since last year, Clinton has been meeting with a broad array of Democratic
operatives and possible campaign staffers ahead of a possible 2016 run. But
in the last month, Clinton has reportedly began to tap certain Democratic
operatives -- many with ties to Obama's two successful presidential runs --
for certain jobs on her nascent campaign.

John Podesta, a top aide on the Obama White House, has said a number of
times that he plans to leave the White House in early February and would
happily work for Clinton is she runs.

"If she runs, as I hope she will, I will do whatever she asks me to do,"
Podesta, who previously worked as chief of staff to former President Bill
Clinton, said on the Charlie Rose Show in November. "Right now she hasn't
made a decision to run, so I am expecting to return to what I was doing
before."

Democrats widely expect -- and other outlets have reported -- that Podesta
will serve as Clinton's campaign chairman, should she run.

In the memo, Miller argues that Podesta's inclusion on team Clinton is the
biggest sign of her joining with Obama. "He [Podesta] will bring that same
policy agenda, willingness to subvert Congress and rhetoric to Team
Clinton," he writes.

What's more, Clinton has reportedly selected pollsters Joel Benenson, John
Anzalone, David Binder and media adviser Jim Margolis for top roles in the
campaign. All have worked in similar capacities for either the President's
2008 or 2012 campaigns.

Republicans have been closely watching for Clinton to break with Obama on
certain issues, while at the same time labeling her 2016 run as "Obama's
Third Term."

"Beyond Clinton's issues agenda, her campaign's political leadership is
shaping up to be staffed not by her own former campaign advisers, but rely
heavily on President Obama's 2012 campaign leadership," Miller writes. "Put
bluntly: the state of the Obama-Clinton 2016 Union is strong."

*NBC News: “NBC/WSJ Poll: No Bump for Romney, Jeb Bush After '16 Hints”
<http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/nbc-wsj-poll-no-bump-romney-jeb-bush-after-16-n289056>*

By Carrie Dann

January 20, 2015, 12:00 a.m. EST

Potential 2016 candidates Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney have earned plenty of
headlines after publicly acknowledging that they're revving up likely
presidential campaigns, but, so far, they haven't gained positive marks
from the public, according to the newest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

In fact, both candidates have lost ground since pollsters last measured
Americans' feelings towards them - including a dip in approval from members
of their own party.

Just 27 percent of Americans now offer a positive rating for Romney, the
Republican party's nominee in 2012, compared to 40 percent who give him
negative marks. And just over half of Republicans - 52 percent - give him a
thumbs up, while 15 percent disagree.

In September of last year, when Romney was widely expected NOT to seek the
presidency again, his ratings stood at 32 percent positive/ 39 percent
negative. With Republicans, that split was 60 percent positive/ 13 percent
negative.

While former Florida governor Jeb Bush is not quite as well-known as
Romney, with 13 percent of respondents saying they don't know the name,
he's also seen a drop in approval since announcing that he's "actively
exploring" a 2016 run.

Just 19 percent of Americans now give Bush a positive rating, while 32
percent assess him negatively. His fans include just 37 percent of
Republicans, while 15 percent offer a poor assessment of him.

That's compared to an overall rating last November of 26 percent positive
and 33 percent negative. Among Republicans at that time, Bush's rating
stood at 44 percent positive to 12 percent negative.

While Romney's overall negative rating is higher than Bush's, the former
GOP nominee enjoys more favor with conservatives than Bush, whose backing
for comprehensive immigration reform and the Common Core education
curriculum have made him a lightning rod for Tea Party ire.

Forty-five percent of self-described conservatives and 52 percent of Tea
Party supporters view Romney positively in the latest survey.

But just 30 percent of conservatives and 29 percent of Tea Party backers
say the same of Bush.

While both Republican candidates post a net-negative rating, likely
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton currently enjoys an overall positive
assessment from the American public.

Forty-five percent of Americans rate her positively, while 37 percent rate
her negatively.

Among Democrats, three-quarters give Clinton a thumbs up, with just 7
percent disagreeing.

*National Journal: “The State of the Union Is All About 2016”
<http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/the-state-of-the-union-is-all-about-2016-20150119>*

By James Oliphant

January 19, 2015

[Subtitle:] Obama's new policy proposals will create a campaign-style
conflict with Republicans over basic values.

As President Obama details his latest policy proposals and trumpets his
accomplishments Tuesday night in the State of the Union address, he'll also
be doing something else: building a bridge to a possible Democratic
successor.

It wasn't that long ago that such an idea might have sounded somewhat
ridiculous, with a series of crises throwing this White House continually
off balance and the president struggling to find a coherent message. But
since his party was sandblasted in last year's midterms, Obama has
rebounded, both in the polls and in terms of finding his voice.

Most important, the economy has finally shown signs of real, lasting
improvement, allowing Obama to tout his work more aggressively, with fewer
caveats and half-hearted moments. Because of that, it isn't as outlandish
now to think of Hillary Clinton, or whoever is the Democratic nominee next
year, talking up continuity on the campaign trail.

That's the context in which Tuesday evening makes the most sense.
Certainly, it's not in terms of finding legislative common ground with the
Republican-controlled Congress. Many of the policy proposals Obama has
rolled out this month in advance of the speech amount to little more than a
Democratic wish list, more likely to serve as planks of the party's
platform at next year's convention than to be taken seriously by John
Boehner or Mitch McConnell.

Chief among those is Obama's proposal to provide the middle class with tax
relief by raising the capital gains rate, closing the "trust fund" loophole
that provides a tax break on inheritances, and imposing a fee on financial
firms that borrow heavily to finance their transactions. Republicans, not
surprisingly, are cool to Obama's plan. "This is not a serious proposal,"
said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Ways and Means Committee Chairman
Paul Ryan. "We lift families up and grow the economy with a simpler,
flatter tax code, not big tax increases to pay for more Washington
spending."

But that seems to be the point as far as the White House is concerned. "I
think we should have a debate in this country between middle-class
economics and trickle-down economics, and see if we can come to an
agreement on the things we do agree on," Dan Pfeiffer, a top adviser to
Obama, said on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday.

In teasing out new proposals over the last several weeks, Obama and his
aides have stood in sharp contrast to the new GOP Congress that, for the
moment, seems to be stuck on holdover issues such as the Keystone XL
pipeline, Obama's executive actions on immigration, and the Affordable Care
Act, without providing its own, forward-looking agenda. It's what Obama
meant when he told Democrats last week at a meeting in Baltimore that he
would be staying on "offense."

This month has seen Obama propose making two years of community college
free for certain students, increasing access to paid sick leave for working
families, widening access to low-cost broadband, requiring companies to
notify consumers of private data breaches, and shaving hundreds of dollars
off the cost of some mortgages for homeowners.

As part of his tax plan, the president wants to revamp the child care tax
credit for middle-class families, provide a second tax credit for families
with two working parents, and expand availability of tax credits for
college students. Boosting the capital-gains tax and imposing the fee on
financial firms would raise an estimated $320 billion over 10 years to
cover the estimated $235 billion cost of the tax credits and the
community-college plan.

Those are details the president will outline Tuesday night, but of more
importance, White House aides say, is that Obama finally can tell his
story, in full voice, about the economic recovery. "We consider the last
two and half weeks to all be part of the process of the president
presenting how the country has come back from the brink of economic
collapse, and what we need to do to prepare the middle class to succeed in
the future," a senior administration official said.

On firmer ground politically, Obama can now, with more credibility, style
himself as a champion of the middle class, perhaps in a way he couldn't
fully pull off during the 2012 campaign—while again implying that
Republicans stand with the wealthy. Yes, it's a tattered page from the
playbook, but Obama has given it a fresh Elizabeth Warren spin, one that
will likely help frame the economic debate in the upcoming presidential
race.

And make no mistake: This is the White House still locked in campaign mode,
seeking to set up a conflict with the GOP on basic values. In the seventh
year of Obama's presidency, it seems there is as much for him to campaign
for as ever, whether it's to cement his legacy or make sure that a Democrat
succeeds him and safeguards his accomplishments. And the White House is
likely to maintain that mindset, even with the end now in sight.

*Associated Press: “Decision looms for Democrats on 2016 convention site”
<http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5404449a21314d24b62ba0d1d7049c36/decision-looms-democrats-2016-convention-site>*

By Ken Thomas and Jonathan Lemire

January 19, 2015, 1:57 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — For Democrats, New York would offer a diverse tableau in
liberal Brooklyn and a touch of Clinton nostalgia. Philadelphia would give
the party a patriotic backdrop while Columbus would raise the curtain on
another campaign showdown in Ohio.

Democrats are closing in on a final decision on where to hold their 2016
convention, a site that could serve as a passing of the baton from
President Barack Obama to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the leading contender for
the Democratic nomination should she run for president again.

With a price tag of at least $65 million, the choice will come down to
whether to set the stage for Obama's Democratic successor in a big city or
in the confines of another battleground state. Obama was formally nominated
in Denver in 2008 and in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2012, allowing his
campaign to use the events to register new voters and recruit volunteers in
states crucial to his political map. The three cities in the hunt for the
2016 host venue have been negotiating with the Democratic National
Committee and a final decision is expected in late January or early
February.

New York, the nation's largest city, has been a popular choice in the past,
holding Democratic conventions in 1976, 1980 and 1992, when former
President Bill Clinton was first nominated at Madison Square Garden. The
city has played up its diversity as the home to a large Latino population
and organizers are confident that Brooklyn's bid — the first time New York
has pitched a political convention outside Manhattan — wouldn't have
trouble raising money.

Hillary Clinton represented New York in the Senate and the Clintons live in
nearby Westchester County, where the former secretary of state's
presidential campaign is expected to be headquartered should she seek the
nomination, as widely expected.

Philadelphia's organizers point to the city's heritage as the home of the
Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence
and U.S. Constitution were adopted, along with its convenient East Coast
location and compact, easy-to-navigate community.

Columbus, meanwhile, would bring the convention to one of the nation's top
presidential battleground states and offer a convenient rebuttal to
Republicans, who are holding their July 2016 convention in Cleveland.

Downplaying symbolism, party leaders say their choice will be based on
practical matters such as finances, transportation, security and available
hotel rooms. Organizers of the 2012 convention in Charlotte struggled with
fundraising and some delegates at past conventions have complained of long
commutes from far-flung hotels.

"This decision will primarily center around logistics, financing and
security, but we have three excellent options and are looking forward to a
diverse and inclusive 2016 convention that displays our party's values,"
said Lily Adams, a DNC spokeswoman.

Democrats also need to pick a date, which could factor into the party's
2016 strategy. Republicans will hold their Cleveland convention from July
18-21. Democrats are considering either the week of July 25, immediately
after the Republican event, or the week of Aug. 22, following the Summer
Olympics.

Here's a look at the three cities vying for the convention:

___

BROOKLYN

PROS: Brooklyn has become its own brand, a comeback story that is a symbol
of youthful energy and urban cool. The convention would be held at the
gleaming Barclays Center, arguably the nation's most state-of-the-art
arena, while delegates would split their time between Brooklyn and
Manhattan just a few subway stops away. Along with its fundraising ability,
New York's Brooklyn has become a symbol of liberalism, embodied by Mayor
Bill de Blasio, who will still be in office in 2016.

CONS: The ongoing rift between de Blasio and rank-and-file members of the
New York Police Department threatens to overshadow the bid in the aftermath
of the fatal shooting of two police officers and protests over police
conduct in the Eric Garner case. The city's tense relationship with the
NYPD unions — who are working on an expired contract — could be a problem
at Barclays, which will rely heavily on the department to provide security.
A New York location could also put a spotlight on Clinton's ties to Wall
Street at a time when some liberals vilify the financial industry.

QUOTE: "Brooklyn matters, because Brooklyn has shown the way — this amazing
renaissance over the last few decades, a place that was often the underdog
is now the envy of the world." — de Blasio.

___

COLUMBUS, OHIO

PROS: Columbus, Ohio's capital city, sits at the heart of a coveted
political swing state. The last Democrat to win the White House without
carrying Ohio was John F. Kennedy in 1960 and no Republican ever has. One
study found 147.5 million people, or 48 percent of the U.S. population,
live within a day's drive of Columbus. The convention would be held at
Nationwide Arena, home of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, and the
neighborhood includes a convention center and an array of restaurants, bars
and hotels. Republicans' choice of Cleveland might give Democrats an
incentive to make a quick counterpoint before the state's coveted voter
base.

CONS: Columbus does not have the national reputation of its two rivals and
has never staged a national convention for either party. The city lacks a
robust subway system and its bus system doesn't effectively serve some of
the hotel clusters around Columbus' outskirts, where delegates may be
staying. The decision by local police to pepper spray crowds of fans
celebrating Ohio State University's national football championship could
also be considered.

QUOTE: "There are few events that provide us the opportunity to showcase
our city on a national stage, and we are ready to put forth our best effort
and show the DNC and the entire nation just what Columbus is all about." —
Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman.

___

PHILADELPHIA

PROS: A highly walkable and historic city, Philadelphia has been the home
to a variety of large events and played host to the Republican National
Convention in 2000. The Vatican chose Philadelphia as the site for the
World Meeting of Families, which Pope Francis will attend in September.
Philadelphia has a booming millennial population, a demographic that
Democrats want to capture in next year's election. Clinton also has ties to
Pennsylvania — her father was born in Scranton and she has longtime allies
in the state such as former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, an ex-chairman of
the DNC. Democrats have carried Pennsylvania in every presidential election
since 1992 but Republicans hope for a breakthrough there.

CONS: Though the main political gathering would take place at the Wells
Fargo Center sports arena, some smaller events would be held at a downtown
convention center involved in a major dispute with the carpenters union.
During the Republican convention in 2000, police were criticized for their
heavy-handed dealings with protesters.

QUOTE: "The road to the White House leads right through the city of
Philadelphia." — Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.

*The Daily Beast: "Bill Clinton Gushes Over 'Selma' : ‘I Stood Up and
Started Cheering All By Myself’"*
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/19/bill-clinton-gushes-over-selma-i-stood-up-and-started-cheering-all-by-myself.html>

Subtitle: Former President Clinton sang the praises of the Oscar-snubbed
Selma at the King Center’s Annual Salute to Greatness Awards Dinner in
Atlanta, Georgia.

By Ronda Racha Penrice
January 19, 2015

Outrage over the Oscar snubbing of Selma, especially in its failure to
recognize David Oyelowo and Ava DuVernay in the key Best Actor and Best
Director categories, has been loud. Twitter pushed back with the trending
hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, Spike Lee said, “F*ck ‘em,” and Saturday Night Live
led its recent Kevin Hart-hosted telecast off with a Martin Luther King,
Jr. skit addressing the disappointing reality. Not since 1998 has the
Oscars failed to nominate a single person of color in any acting category.
That this all went down just prior to the MLK holiday weekend made the
knife cut even deeper.

And while Selma’s box office numbers are still creeping towards $30
million, its cultural impact is indeed much greater. This past Friday,
President Obama hosted a special White House screening of the film with key
Selma cast and crew in attendance. And during the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Center for Nonviolent Social Change’s Annual Salute to Greatness Awards
Dinner, held January 17, former president Bill Clinton, one of the esteemed
2015 honorees, had both Dr. King and Selma on his mind.

Good-naturedly referencing his friend Andrew Young—who marched with King
and is prominent in the film—early in his speech, Clinton told the sold-out
crowd, “I saw Andy earlier today and I said, ‘Andy, I just watched Selma.
Were you ever that thin?’ (eliciting thunderous laughter) and he said yes,
he was, that they were dodging so many bullets in droves they all used to
be thin.”

As he continued to speak, he got decidedly more serious. “If you haven’t
yet, go see the movie Selma,” he insisted, “and you will see the enormous
pressures imposed on the King family and friends.” Clinton made it clear,
however, that it was King’s philosophy of a “beloved community” that Selma
most affirmed for him. “I was reminded all over again when I was sitting
through Selma,” he shared.

“You know it wasn’t like I didn’t live through it,” the 68-year-old Clinton
confided, “and I swear [it was] just like it was the first time. And, when
they went across the bridge the second time, I stood up and started
cheering all by myself and I roared like it was a surprise. But I was just
evidence to the fact that we all want to live in a beloved community. We
all want to think that we can have a home. We all want to think we can do
great things because we have a launching pad,” he preached.

“Fifty years ago a lot of people took a lot of chances walking across the
Edmund Pettus Bridge, just showing up at the church one Sunday in
Birmingham, driving people back home after they had been a part of some
group or activity,” he later emphasized. “To get up and walk through the
day and breathe was a chance.”

Not losing sight of Dr. King’s dedication beyond 1965 and Selma, Clinton
said, “It is very important to remember that, at the end of his life, Dr.
King was in Memphis, across the river from my native state, helping the
sanitation workers on his way to kick-off the Poor People’s Campaign in
Washington D.C. because the beloved community is about the inclusive
economics of giving everybody a chance to work and be rewarded for it and
to rise as high as they can.”

And perhaps this is what most angers people about this year’s Oscar
nominations. Ultimately the makeup of the Academy, which is 93 percent
white, 76 percent male, and an average age of 63, mirrors those old, white
men in Selma and throughout the South who used their power to silence the
voices—artistic, or otherwise—of those unlike themselves. DuVernay and
Oyelowo have brought the pages of history so thrillingly alive that they’ve
captured the attention of two of our nation’s most esteemed leaders. And if
one of those leaders—very much an old white guy like most of the
Academy—can get it right, why can’t they?

*CNN: “Looking for Jim Webb's 2016 vision? Check Twitter”
<http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/19/politics/webb-twitter-2016/index.html>*

By Dan Merica

January 19, 2015

Washington (CNN)Jim Webb has skipped the usual full Washington media tour
since launching a presidential exploratory committee late last year. He has
done fewer than a handful of interviews, given one high-profile speech and
has shied away from attacking other Democrats who are considering a run in
2016.

But that doesn't mean Webb has been silent on issues. Far from it. Webb, a
68-year-old former senator and secretary of the Navy, has been quietly
outlining a 2016 platform -- on Twitter.

For the last two-months, Webb has been tweeting about criminal justice
reform, mental health issues and efforts to increase middle class incomes.
He has urged the United States to reshape its drug policies and outlined
his views on leadership.

What's more, Webb has commented on news-of-the-day issues, like President
Barack Obama's decision to normalize relations with Cuba, former New York
Mario Cuomo's death and the release of Congress' report on torture.

Webb plans to continue this Twitter-first strategy when he live tweets
President Barack Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, adding his
observations and disagreements with the president in real time.

While most of this has gone largely unscrutinized -- and Webb and his
advisers are aware Twitter can't be the only way a presidential candidate
outlines a message -- advisers said Webb's Twitter account is a fair
representation of the platform Webb would run on if he chooses to jump into
the race.

"We can un-paralyze the environment and re-establish a transparent,
functioning governmental system," he said in December, linking to a number
of policy positions on combating climate change. "Why are so many Americans
currently in prison compared with other countries and our own history," he
asked this month.

Webb's tweets are noticeably very different than most politician's tightly
edited, concise messages. Some, frankly, don't make sense.

But Webb's spokesman said the former senator writes all his own tweets and
takes it "very seriously."

"It is not a bunch of propeller heads around him saying you should do that
or this," said Craig Crawford, Webb's new communication's director whose
hiring was announced on Twitter. "He likes to get his own message out and
doesn't do interviews just for the heck of it. He is his own guy."

Crawford said Webb enjoys Twitter more than giving speeches. "It is more a
dialogue than a one way speech," he said, adding that the former senator
feeds off the responses he gets and reads all of them.

"He approaches Twitter as a conversation," Crawford said. "He did these
prison reform tweets and it is an opportunity to build a conversation with
followers that is a little different than a speech or an interview that is
driven by whatever the questions are. I think he enjoys it."

So will Webb bypass the media and only try and reach voters through Twitter
in the coming months?

No, says Crawford, who notes that Webb has received a list of media
requests that "most politicians would dream about."

"He recognizes that interviews are part of the gig," Crawford said. "He is
going to open up the doors before too long."

*MSNBC: “Draft Warren campaign connects senator to MLK”
<http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/draft-warren-campaign-connects-senator-mlk>*

By Alex Seitz-Wald

January 19, 2015, 4:46 p.m. EST

Fresh off the launch of their campaign in New Hampshire, progressives
hoping to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 presidential race are
using the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to tout the liberal senator as an
heir to the civil rights leader’s legacy.

“We are inspired by legends like Dr. King, and by today’s champions for
opportunity and equality who follow in his incomparable footsteps – people
like Senator Elizabeth Warren,” MoveOn.org officals wrote in an email to
supporters Monday under the group’s “Run Warren Run” draft campaign banner.

The “Run Warren Run” campaign includes MoveOn and Democracy for America,
two grassroots liberal groups that are trying to push the Massachusetts
Democrat to run for the Democratic nomination against likely candidate
Hillary Clinton. Warren has repeatedly said she’s not running.

The group noted that Warren was recently presented with a civil rights
leadership award named after King at the Twelfth Baptist Church in Boston.

“Sen. Warren then went on to issue a call to action—and today we’re
spreading her call. Will you take a moment to remind the world that we can
live up to Dr. King’s dreams?” the email continues.

The message does not include a fundraising request, but does ask supporters
to share the message and an image on social media or email.

*Calendar:*

*Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official
schedule.*

·  January 21 – Saskatchewan, Canada: Sec. Clinton keynotes the Canadian
Imperial Bank of Commerce’s “Global Perspectives” series (MarketWired
<http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/former-us-secretary-state-hillary-rodham-clinton-deliver-keynote-address-saskatoon-1972651.htm>
)

·  January 21 – Winnipeg, Canada: Sec. Clinton keynotes the Global
Perspectives series (Winnipeg Free Press
<http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Clinton-coming-to-Winnipeg--284282491.html>
)

·  February 24 – Santa Clara, CA: Sec. Clinton to Keynote Address at
Inaugural Watermark Conference for Women (PR Newswire
<http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hillary-rodham-clinton-to-deliver-keynote-address-at-inaugural-watermark-conference-for-women-283200361.html>
)

·  March 4 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton to fundraise for the Clinton
Foundation (WSJ
<http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/01/15/carole-king-hillary-clinton-live-top-tickets-100000/>
)

·  March 19 – Atlantic City, NJ: Sec. Clinton keynotes  American Camp
Association conference (PR Newswire <http://www.sys-con.com/node/3254649>)