Atty. Gen. Eric Holder on hot seat about sending 9/11 trials to NYC: 'We need not cower in the face of this enemy'

It was a hearing in which both sides gave as good as they got.

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Alabama's Jeff Sessions, criticized Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. for deciding to hold the trials of alleged 9/11 plotters in New York City, calling the move "dangerous, misguided and unnecessary" because it would put the city at greater risk and give Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the attacks, a platform.

But Holder, noting the long and successful record of New York prosecutors in managing terrorism trials, scoffed at that, insisting that the defendants' "hateful ideologies" will be no louder in civilian court than before a military commission. Noting that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Chief Ray Kelly think the city can be protected during the trial, Holder said:

I have every confidence that the presiding judge will ensure appropriate decorum. And if Khalid Shaikh Mohammed makes the same statements he made in his military commission proceedings, I have every confidence the nation and the world will see him for the coward he is. I'm not scared of what Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will have to say at trial, and no one else needs to be either. 

The attorney general also took a swipe at the George W. Bush administration, saying, "For eight years justice has been delayed for the 9/11 attacks. No more delay. It is time; it is past time to finally act." 

In short, said the attorney general, "we need not cower in the face of this enemy."

 -- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Credit: Alex Wong / Getty Images

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Eric Holder defends decision to try 9/11 terrorists in federal court

A first! President Obama actually golfs with a woman!

Another crack in the gender glass ceiling. And just nine months into his first term.

Despite the H1N1 swine flu national emergency he declared Saturday, President Barack Obama went golfing Sunday. And for the first time in the White House, he took a female along on his golf outing. She's Melody Barnes, his chief domestic policy adviser.

Because of Obama's sensitivity to privacy and his athletic skills off the basketball floor (think bumbling bowling in Pennsylvania), there will be no video or photos of the coed sports outing on the course at Washington's Fort Belvoir this afternoon.

But the tireless Lynn Sweet, today's print pool reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times who knows the competitive president well from his Illinois days, confirmed the golfing firstness.

At first she was told by a White House aide that Barnes was not the first female to swing a golf club with the rookie president.

When Sweet asked for the names of the others, the aide corrected himself and confirmed Barnes was the first, though he said Obama had golfed with unidentified women during the campaign.

The sensitivity in the Democrat White House arises from growing grumbling about recent evening basketball contests there with congressmen that were literally with congressmen. No females allowed. And then there was the all-male beer summit.

Golfing like this has historically been a guy thing. In business too. The import of the absence of women is not so much the guys' worry that they'll get thumped by a woman in front of others (although come to think of it.....)

It's the bonding that goes on through the shared competition and stories, some of them suitable for mixed company. And the lead in familiarity that shared social experience gives guys when promotion times come around.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press (Barnes with Obama). Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty Images (Barnes enroute to the golf course).

What if Obama really wants a fight over gay pajamas?

A little something to think about:

Have you too noticed that very few accidents seem to happen around Barack Obama?

Sure, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright association blew up in his face; that was just a matter of time and came not from Republicans but from fellow Democrats. One day the Harvard-educated, freshman senator from Illinois thought there were 57 states. He didn't know Canada had a prime minister, not a president. And it took some doing for the man to grudgingly give in to that stupid lapel flag pin thing.

The Geithner-Daschle-Solis back-tax deals were also messy.

But those gaffes happened early in the presidential campaign or the administration. He and his team have been touching every conceivable base at every opportunity, from tonight's Latin music fiesta at the White House to marking Leif Erikson Day to earn the Viking vote.

In fact, Obama's devoted so much time cultivating and nurturing these political niches that critics credibly suggest he might profitably invest less effort in the perpetual campaign mode -- flying off to Copenhagen to take an embarrassingly blunt public hit for the Chicago machine and chatting up that serial philanderer on the CBS late show -- and put in a lot more shirt-sleeve time in the Oval Office being the new president at the old desk.

On Saturday night before he was asked about "don't ask-don't tell" Obama told the banqueting but impatient Human Rights Campaign crowd (full text right here) all the Democratically correct things it wanted to hear before the big march for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) equality the next day.

So it was very surprising -- even jarring -- when on Sunday CNBC's John Harwood, long a respected political journalist, reported a conversation with an anonymous White....

Obama White House breaks another promise to reject Bush secrecy

Well, at least it's bipartisan.

The still sort-of-new Barack Obama Democratic administration has again adopted another policy straight out of the administration of his much-criticized Republican predecessor, George W. Bush.

Obama administration officials have rejected a watchdog group's request for a list of healthcare industry executives who've been meeting secretly in the White House with Obama staffers to discuss healthcare changes being drafted there and in Congress.

According to the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is suspicious of the influence of health industry lobbyists and company officers, it received a letter from the Secret Service citing an Obama Justice Department directive and denying access to visitor logs under the "presidential communications privilege."

Sound familiar?

Remember the holy hullabaloo in the early Bush years when Vice President Dick Cheney met in the White House compound with energy industry officials and refused to release a list of those executives and the frequency of their visits? That controversy was propelled by critical Democrats and was before Obama's brief Senate tenure.

But wait! Here are a few promises straight off the Obama Organizing for America website early this morning:

The Problem
Lobbyists Write National Policies: For example, Vice President Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force of oil and gas lobbyists met secretly to develop national energy policy.

Secrecy Dominates Government Actions: The Bush administration has ignored public disclosure rules and has invoked a legal tool known as the "state secrets" privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court.

Oh, and this:

Release Presidential Records: Obama and Biden will nullify the Bush attempts to . . .

Weekly remarks: Obama still clearing wreckage; Cantor asks, where are the jobs?

This week's weekly remarks open with President Obama in Africa opening on foreign affairs. But by the second paragraph out of 20, he gets to what he really wants -- needs -- to talk about: domestic business in general and the economy specifically.

His polls numbers have slipped, especially among seniors and even independents. People still like him a lot (though they now like his wife better).

But they're increasingly worried about some of his programs and these numbers with more digits than civilian calculators can display -- all the spending and unemployment still growing, reform of healthcare that some 70% of Americans are satisfied with now.

You can tell what White House polling has told them by the subjects ticked off in Obama's remarks: We inherited this mess, the economic stimulus bill so urgently pushed in February wasn't really designed to fix the economy, and the switching of terms about jobs. It used to be about creating and/or preserving jobs. Now, preserving jobs comes first, which, like murders not committed, is difficult to prove or disprove without numbers. Which is the point.

Be patient, Obama urges, more spending will kick in this summer. I promise healthcare reforms won't add to the deficit. We're cutting waste. We need clean energy. Etc.

The Republican remarks, provided this week by Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, are in many ways the mirror image.

They see their own poll numbers. It's been six months; the economy belongs to Obama now. Where are the promised jobs? Unemployment at 9.5% is already higher than the 8.5% the administration promised as max. The stimulus bill was larded with pork. We can't afford all this spending and borrowing. The federal government this year alone has borrowed $10Gs for economic stimulus from every American family. Do you feel better knowing that?

This is an argument we will all hear in varying forms from now until next year's midterm elections, when the White House party historically takes a hit in Congress.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Weekly remarks of President Obama, July 11, 2009

This week, we’ve made important progress toward the goal of bringing about change abroad and change at home. During my visit to Russia, we began the process of resetting relations so that we can address key national priorities like the threat of nuclear weapons and extremism. At the G-8 summit, leaders from nearly 30 nations met to discuss how we will collectively confront the urgent challenges of our time, from managing the global recession to fighting global warming to addressing global hunger and poverty. And in Ghana [see arrival photo below], I laid out my agenda for supporting democracy and development in Africa and around the world.

But even as we make progress on these challenges abroad, my thoughts are on the state of our economy at home. And that’s what I want to talk to you about today. 

We came into office facing the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. At the time, we were losing, on average, 700,000 jobs a month. And many feared that our financial system was on the verge of collapse. 

As a result of the swift and aggressive action we took in the first few months of this year, we’ve been able to pull our financial system and our economy back from the brink. We took steps to restart . . .

What's in your wallet? Not likely as much as Obama's top staff

True to his coming-into-office promise, President Barack Obama has held his top staff salaries at the same level as his predecessor.

Which ain't too shabby.

$172,200.

True, according to an initial analysis by The Hotline, Obama has more folks making that top salary (20) than George W. Bush did (18). The hours are long. And they could probably make more dough back in Illinois politics, if you know what we mean. And D.C. house prices always get jacked when a new administration comes to town because there's not a lot of time to negotiate.

But they get free parking for their foreign brand cars in downtown Washington. And access to the White House Mess.

Here are some of the newly-minted bigshots making the big bucks: David Axelrod, Robert Gibbs, Valerie Jarrett, Carol Browner, Larry Summers, James Jones, Susan Sher (Michelle's chief of staff), Rahm Emanuel and Jon Favreau, the paper Hillary-groping speechwriter (photo here).

(The president, btw, gets $400G's plus $50G's tax-free for expenses. Vice President Joe Biden gets $208,100, less than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's $223.5G's.)

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Wallet by Gucci.

Late Joe Biden update: Private meetings, a speech, private meetings

Vice President Joe Biden kicks off another hectic Thursday with a series of morning private meetings.

And he'll end it in the afternoon with, surprisingly, another series of private meetings.

In between, Biden, who spent nearly four decades in the U.S. Senate from little old Delaware preparing to handle the duties of the vice presidency, will meet pretty privately with the deputy prime minister of Australia, Julia Gillard. Photos will be allowed briefly.

Biden will also witness President Obama's meeting with the administration's special Mideast envoy for peace, George Mitchell. Closed to the press.

And the Democratic vice president will speak at a lunchtime Democratic fundraiser. Just to ensure no videotapes emerge of any impromptu Biden remarks, the lunch may be covered only by a few print media with pens (or pencils).

Oh, and yet another afternoon oath-giving, this one for Ray Maybus, the new secretary of the Navy. But because this is such a uniquely transparent administration, that historic event will be closed to the press altogether.

Other than that, more private meetings. Also closed. Hence the term "private."

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Getty Images

Obama, his approval rate sliding on stimulus spending, vows to create 600,000 new jobs. Is friction in his economic team to blame?

Economics guru Larry Summers, who was shown the door as Harvard University's president after he alienated much of the faculty there, has since returning to Washington managed to clash with almost every other member of the Obama economic team.

According to the New York Times, Summers "forcefully debated" Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner over what to do with troubled banks, clashed with Budget Director Peter R. Orszag and Council of Economic Advisers Chairwoman Christina Romer over health issues, and collided with economist Austan Goolsbee over whether to rescue Chrysler.

Team Obama is downplaying the story, arguing that President Obama is a great navigator who never lets dissension delay decision but welcomes rigorous debate.

“You can’t assemble a group of really brilliant people, and deal with some of the most complex problems in our lifetimes and not have disagreements,” said senior political guru David Axelrod.

And frankly, the White House has bigger problems now. Unemployment just hit 9.4%. Republican critics like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are arguing that the president's massive $787 billion stimulus package is just not working. And the latest Gallup Poll shows that only 45% of Americans now approve of Obama's handling of federal spending, and 46% approve of his handling of the federal budget deficit.

So, ever sensitive to shifts in public opinion, the White House is moving into action.

This morning, Obama and Vice President Biden announced that money from the stimulus package -- so far trickling out of Washington in a sluggish way -- would be speeded up to create 600,000 new jobs over the next 100 days on everything from improvements in national parks to youth summer jobs.

"We have a long way to go on our road to recovery but we are going the right way," Obama said in a statement, just before meeting with his Cabinet. "Our measure of progress is the progress the American people see in their own lives. And until that progress is steady and solid; we're going to keep moving forward. We will not grow complacent or rest. Surely and steadily, we will turn this economy around."

Under the plans detailed today, 1,129 health centers would expand their services, the Interior Department would begin work on 107 national parks, the Labor Department would create 125,000 summer youth jobs and improvements would be undertaken at 90 veterans medical centers.

Plus 5,000 law enforcement officers would be hired, while the Department of Agriculture would start 200 new waste and water systems in rural areas and the Environmental Protection Agency would begin or accelerate cleanup at 20 hazardous waste sites.

As he repeated for the cameras his line that, "We have a long way to go," Obama pounded on the desk.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Photo credit:  Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images, of Obama's first Cabinet meeting April 20.

One final official Obama warning about D-Day Friday, as in Digital TV

Many things are absolutely essential to American civilization -- cars, cellphones, microwaves, laptops, drive-thrus, iPods, politics blogs, fourth-grade band concerts, double-cheeseburgers, electricity, voicemail, tooth whiteners, refrigerator magnets and "No. 1 Grandpa" license plate holders. Also toilet paper.

But right up there somewhere on that list would also be television, that amazing contraption that some people can well remember a pretty good life without back when movies and radio were essential.

Which is why it's so understandable that Gary Locke (below), President Obama's second choice for Commerce secretary, who didn't have problems with income taxes or a federal grand jury, would issue another urgent warning to "Unprepared Consumers" about this Friday's looming deadline.

The Obama White House issued its own alert last week, even while the boss with the suddenly prominent middle name was busy nudging Israel while appealing to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.

June 12 is the new D-Day, Digital Day, the absolute shut-off, no-sound, blank-screen deadline for conversion to digital TV, already postponed once from last winter.

Let us be very clear: Obama has been very clear he will grant no extensions. Not even if the NBA Finals go that long.

But, then, he's probably got satellite.

Not that the makers of digital conversion boxes had any influence over Congress requiring this change from rabbit-ear antennas that worked pretty well if you touched them just right for, oh, about three generations.

The public reason given is that firefighters and police need the old frequencies to order pizzas and donuts. Also the fake grass will look sharper during NFL games.

Whatever.

In an actual news release direct from his department, Locke said: "I urge consumers who use an older television not on cable or satellite to take the necessary steps to ensure that they can continue receiving the news and information they rely on after June 12."

A clear slam against commercial entertainment programming.

It turns out that in addition to controlling giant banks and insurance companies and taking majority ownership in GM, the federal government is now in the consumer coupon business, offering $40 coupons for people to convert their older TVs.

Analog TV households (or coupon speculators) can acquire a maximum of ...

Poll: Obama's team doesn't help his popularity at all -- and Pelosi hurts

A new Harris Poll reveals that no one in President Obama's Cabinet and administration is helping his strong popularity ratings at all.

In fact, instead of Obama's 60+% popularity being bolstered by colleagues, the Great Change Agent is carrying most of the favorability factor on his own shoulders.

If his figures ever slip, there's not much below to support him. On the other hand, for now there's no competition for publicity.

And while Vice President Joe "To Be Safe Don't Go Anywhere Near Anyone Who's Breathing" Biden isn't any help, House Speaker Nancy "Maybe I Wasn't Really Listening When They Lied to Me" Pelosi of California is the most unpopular of all.

The new online poll of 2,681 American adults taken last month shows that after eight years of the well-known Evil Crowd, many on Obama's team are not only not well-known, they're little-known. Almost unknown.

(Psst. This may be how The Boss wants it.)

Only Pelosi (66%), Biden (69%) and Secretary of State Hillary "Shame on You, Barack Obama" Clinton (83%) are known to most Americans.

While Treasury Secretary Timothy "Not Paying Taxes to One of the Departments I Now Run Was an Inadvertent Mistake" Geithner enjoys 16% positive opinions, fully 26% feel negatively about him. And 59% don't really have an opinion about the guy.

Pelosi has by far the worst ratings, more than 2 to 1 against -- 21% positive to 45% negative.

In Biden's case, 32% positive feelings, but 36% negative.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has nearly 2-to-1 positive ratings -- 28% positive to 15% negative. But despite being an Evil Crowd holdover, 57% have never heard of him.

Only 17% have not heard of Clinton, but those who have break 50%-33% positive-negative.

"None of his colleagues do much to help him politically," the Harris commentary notes. "Some commentators have written about the supposed strength of his team and his cabinet members. The public does not share this enthusiasm. And Nancy Pelosi is a political liability."

Other than that, it's seen as a very strong Obama administration team.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos, from top: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images; Associated Press.