Pittsburgh gasps fumes at G-20: a teary-eye witness report

From the front lines in Pittsburgh:

If you're traveling to Pittsburgh in the next couple of days, don’t forget to pack your goggles.

About the same time as President Obama and wife Michelle were stepping off Air Force One in Pennsylvania, protesters in the city were clashing with the cops.

The protesters weren’t even supposed to be out Thursday. Tomorrow is the day of the official march, and scores of groups have obtained parade permits to take to the streets.

Peacefully, they promise.

Don't hold your breath.

Or wait: Maybe you should, after what happened in Pittsburgh today.

Why? Because there’s been talk for weeks of threats by groups of self-described anarchists ...

... to take action against “corporate” sites such as — wait for it — Trader Joe's.

Why else? Because the march Thursday afternoon started out peacefully. Nearly 2,000 people gathered at Arsenal Park, about two miles from the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, where the....

Obama wows U.N. crowd. Reason? He's not George W. Bush (Update)

(UPDATE: The short Republican reaction to the president's address has been added at the end of this transcript. Hint: They're not that happy.)

President Obama made his first address to the U.N. General Assembly today.

He had them at hello.

Even his opening -- "It is my honor to address you as the 44th president of the United States" -- got a round of applause.

The reason? The latest Pew Global Attitudes Survey of 21 countries found global confidence in Obama’s leadership on foreign affairs at 71% -- far higher than approval ratings at home (in the low 50% range) and even more striking matched against world opinion of George W. Bush last year, which Pew tracked at 17%.

To Nile Gardiner of London's Daily Telegraph, Obama’s popularity at the U.N. "boils down essentially to his willingness to downplay American global power." Said the columnist:

The Obama mantra appears to be – ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do to atone for your country. This is a message that goes down very well in a world that is still seething with anti-Americanism.

For his part, Obama did expunge the cowboy diplomacy of his predecessor, calling on the international crowd to step up on everything from climate change to terrorism. "This cannot be solely America’s endeavor,” he said, adding:

Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world’s problems alone. We have sought — in word and deed — a new era of engagement with the world. Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.

The full text of his remarks is below, provided by the White House.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Remarks of President Barack Obama, as prepared for delivery, Responsibility for our Common Future
Address to the United Nations General Assembly, September 23, 2009
 
Mr. President, Mr. Secretary-General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentleman: it is my honor to address you for the first time as the forty-fourth President of the United States. I come before you humbled by the responsibility that the American people have placed upon me; mindful of the enormous challenges of our moment in history; and determined to act boldly and collectively on behalf of justice and prosperity at home and abroad.
 

I have been in office for just nine months, though some days it seems a lot longer. I am well aware of the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world. These expectations are not about....

Al Gore likens global warming to Nazi threat

Al Gore is now comparing the battle against global warming to the fight against Adolf Hitler in World War II.

In a speech to students at Oxford on Tuesday, the former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate  conceded that there is still work to do to convince political leaders that the threat of climate change is as urgent as that from the Nazis. The Senate is beginning debate on a cap-and-trade bill to curb emissions, predicted to be an even tougher fight than in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to twist arms and trade votes to win a narrow victory. Gore seemed to acknowledge the difficulty of converting grassroots passion into political will.

"The level of awareness and concern among populations has not crossed the threshold where political leaders feel that they must change," he said at the Smith School World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment. "The only way politicians will act is if awareness raises to a level to make them feel that it's a necessity."

Mindful of his British audience, Gore said the fight to cut carbon dioxide emissions will require a leader with the fortitude of Winston Churchill, who steered Britain through four years of hardship, bombings and economic deprivations to victory against the Nazis.

"Winston Churchill aroused this nation in heroic fashion to save civilization in World War II," he said.
"We have everything we need except political will, but political will is a renewable resource."

Not everyone was impressed.  At Fox News, as you can see from the clip above, they're still worried about global cooling.

-- Johanna Neuman

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New Orleans' Mayor Nagin: Free from Chinese quarantine

As Ticket reported the other day, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, along with his wife Seletha and their security guard, were quarantined by Chinese officials on their arrival in Shanghai on Sunday because one of the passengers on their plane -- a French student seated a few rows from them -- had the swine flu.

In China on a trade mission, Nagin was also in danger of missing a global warming conference in Sydney, Australia, where he was to be the keynote speaker. Meanwhile Fox News reported that Chinese officials were screening the mayor's calls, "to keep him safe."

The news that Nagin was waylaid in Shanghai occasioned great mischief on the part of the mayor's political foes. One radio talk show host, Jeff Crouere, suggested that the Chinese keep the controversial Nagin -- who after Hurricane Katrina urged African Americans to rebuild New Orleans as a "chocolate" city -- for the remaining 11 months of his term.

So, in the interest of keeping faith with all those Nagin fans and foes, the Ticket can now report that the Nagins have been released from quarantine and are heading to Australia. Nagin spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett said this morning that the mayor will now complete the second leg of his trip, out of China.

--Johanna Neuman

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Photo: Max Whittaker / Getty Images

Obama on Jon Huntsman and vice versa about 出任美国驻中国大使

With his wife Michelle way, way out in California, giving an eagerly-awaited commencement address in Merced, which The Ticket already wrote about here, President Obama made a meaningful Saturday parental excursion outside the White House today to watch daughter Sasha play soccer.

But before that he made some major international and domestic political news.

As initially reported by The Ticket here late Friday evening (see what you'd already know if you checked back here more often!), President Obama appointed Utah's popular Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. as U.S. ambassador to China. (Not much worry over Senate confirmation either with fellow Mormon Harry Reid of Nevada at the helm of the Democratic majority there.)

We fully examined the political import of this very savvy move a few hours ago here; be sure to check it out. Appointing the national co-chair of Sen John McCain's losing Republican presidential campaign against Obama is not only bipartisan, it is very useful; it gets the potential GOP candidate out of the country and on the Democrat's team with only 42 months until the next presidential election. Beijing's a long ways from those Lincoln Day dinners in Ames and Clear Lake.

Right now, we have the full remarks of both the president and his new bipartisan, bilingual team member -- and one who's not from New Hampshire. (As previously reported here, Vice President Joe Biden had today off in Delaware. Also tomorrow.)

Or as Gov. Huntsman might put it:** 

你好，我叫洪博培，我从犹他州来的

-- Andrew Malcolm

Remarks by President Obama nominating Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah as Ambassador to the People's Republic of China

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. I am here to announce today the distinguished public servant I'm appointing as our nation's new ambassador to the People's Republic of China. I'm making this appointment mindful of its extraordinary significance. 

Given the breadth of issues at stake in our relationship with China, this ambassadorship is as important as any in the world –- because the United States will best be able to deal effectively with....

Ron Paul to pirates: Here come the bounty hunters

Ron Paul, the Texas congressman and darling of Libertarians everywhere, has an idea on how the United States can deal with the Somali pirates plaguing international shipping in the Indian Ocean: hire and train some bounty hunters.

The idea, unlike some of Paul's proposals, is actually gaining traction in Congress. The U.S. Navy is too big for the mission, designed to do battle against the navies of other nations, So hiring and training bounty hunters to go after the pirates is, as Political Machine put it, "a classic case of fighting fire with fire."

The mechanism would be a little-known power written into the Constitution called marque and reprisal. Leave it to a strict constitutionalist like Paul to have read that far into the document.

Anyway, the provision was used often during the Revolution and the War of 1812, and hasn't been used since. Basically, the law allows the United States to hire private citizens to keep international waters safe.

“If we have 100 American wannabe Rambos patrolling the seas, it’s probably a good way of getting the job done,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute's Eli Lehrer.

If Congress does start using the procedure, it might want to consider a few amendments. Under current law, bounty hunters are allowed to keep the ship and any treasure they capture.

Here's the congressman.



-- Johanna Neuman

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Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni Sarkozy: the fashionistas meet in France

President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were kind of wallpaper to their wives' outfits, mere witnesses to a moment of fashion history between two high-profile women who represent modernity with very different styles.

First Lady Michelle Obama is known for mixing up everyday clothes from J. Crew with designer wear. And even at that, her high-end selections often highlight new emerging American designers such as Jason Wu. Today, she wore a dramatic magenta-and-black dress with matching coat and kitten heels.

Carla Bruni Sarkozy, the former fashion model and singer who married Nicolas Sarkozy last year, is known for glamour and for wearing haute couture. A former girlfriend of Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton (maybe that's why POTUS was taking a good look?), Carla Sarkozy today opted for gray silk with a dramatic bow at the neck, with flats.

We will leave it to the fashion police to dissect the encounter. Suffice it to say, as the Daily Beast's Editor Tina Brown breathlessly put it, their meeting was "the most delicious, sartorial fashion moment that we are all going to be deconstructing for next two or three weeks."

So what do you think?

-- Johanna Neuman

Top photo: Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni Sarkozy and their husbands meet. Credit: Jason Reed / Reuters

Middle photo: The two first ladies meet other spouses before an official dinner. Credit: Philippe Wojazer / Reuters

Bottom photo: The first couples take it all in. Credit: Eric Feferberg / AFP/Getty Images

Barack Obama in London: riots in the streets, sweet talk in halls of power

They were rioting in the streets, breaking the windows at the Royal Bank of Scotland, carrying signs that said "Capitalism isn't working."

But while anarchists and other protesters on the streets of London's financial district were jeering at the G-20 agenda to rescue the world's ailing financial system, inside the halls of power, President Obama was his usual cool customer, hitting all the right notes with Europeans who had cringed at the cowboy leadership style of his predecessor.

"I'm here to listen, not to lecture," Obama said at a news conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, urging other major economic powers to take concerted action to right the global economy, saying they should not "miss the opportunity to lead."

You could practically hear the Europeans swoon. Former chancellor of the exchequer (roughly akin to the U.S. Treasury secretary), Brown is blamed by many in the country for lapse regulation of banks in the run-up to the global financial meltdown. But Obama is perhaps the most popular leader on the world stage, so Brown welcomed him to his official residence with enough praise to make a person forget what 10 Downing St. considered Obama's lukewarm reception in Washington. But see for yourself -- full transcript below.

Meanwhile the president, on his first foray abroad, also scored points on the diplomatic front. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whose name Hillary Rodham Clinton muffed during one of those presidential debates last year — agreed after meeting with Obama to reopen talks about nuclear warheads. And Chinese President Hu Jintao — some have called him America's chief banker because of all the U.S. debt China holds — agreed to intensify cooperation on economic issues.

And, both offered Obama invitations to visit. Moscow and Beijing here he comes.

— Johanna Neuman

Photo Credit: Anthony Devlin / AFP/Getty 

Condi Rice loves Led Zeppelin and not being secretary of State

Stop the presses! Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice still reads newspapers! And she said it on TV.

And when she wakes up each morning now back in the Bay Area, Rice tells Jay Leno on tonight's "Tonight Show" on NBC, she's absolutely delighted to know she doesn't need to do anything about anything that's in it. (For our East Coast readers, if you hurry, you can still catch the entire interview.)

Jay expressed surprise. (See the video on the jump.)

"It was an honor to serve," Rice replied. "I love this country. There is nothing like being able to do this. And I know that people talk about America’s not this and America’s not that, but I’ll tell you something. Without America in the world, the most powerful country, but also the most compassionate country, the freest country, the world would be a much, much worse place. So I was grateful to be a part of that."

A former concert pianist, Rice says her favorite music is, what? She listens to it every time she's on the elliptical: "Then I can really be with Led Zeppelin."

But how did she go from music studies to becoming George W. Bush's foreign policy mentor, national security advisor and secretary of State? "I studied piano from age 3. I could read music before I could read, and my grandmother taught me to play the piano.... I went off to school and studied piano as a music major for a couple of years. And then I went off to the Aspen Music Festival, in the summer of my sophomore year.  And I met 12-year-olds who played from sight everything that had taken me all year to learn.

"And I thought, 'OK. You’re gonna end up teaching 13-year-olds ... Beethoven, or maybe you’ll play a piano bar or maybe you’ll play at Nordstrom, but you’re not playing Carnegie Hall. Find another career path.' ”

So she wandered into the international politics class of a man named Joseph Korbel, whose daughter turned out to be Madeline Albright, the first female secretary of State before Rice became No. 2 and Hillary Clinton No. 3.

Rice took the same path as her former boss, Bush, did in a recent speech in Canada, as The Ticket reported, declining to comment on the new Barack Obama administration. "My view is we got to do it our way," Rice says. "We did our best. We did some things well, some things not so well. Now, they get their chance. 

"And I agree with the president [Bush]. We owe them our loyalty and our silence while they do it.  Because I know what it’s like to have people chirping at you when they perhaps don’t know what’s going on inside. These are quality people. I know them.  They love the country. And they won’t make the same decisions, perhaps, that we did.  But I believe they’ll do what they think is best for the country, and I’ll give my advice privately and keep it to myself."

Scroll down or click on the "Read more" line to watch a brief video.

-- Andrew Malcolm

If Condi Rice and Jay Leno were here right now, they'd be reading The Ticket. Register here for Twitter alerts on each new Ticket item.

[Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly spelled Joseph Korbel as Joseph Corbell.]

Photo: Paul Drinkwater / NBC

Surprising poll also shows what's not on Americans' minds

It seems like new polls come out daily, focusing on President Obama (he's very popular, he's average popular, he's slipped a little) and on the economy, which is issue No. 1 these days. Last spring it was rising (gas) prices.

Not surprisingly, given the job losses, the 8.1% unemployment rate, the fear of job losses and the president's recent rhetorical agenda, the economy remains primary on the American mind. This week's CNN/Opinion Research Poll found the economy was by far the top concern of Americans, at 63%.

What gets less news coverage, however, is what Americans are not thinking about. What's not worrying them?

The topics might surprise you. According to the same CNN/ORC Poll of 1,019 adults between March 12 and 15, Americans are currently the most unconcerned about energy -- only 2%. The second least thing on their minds is a tie at 5% between terrorism and education, despite Obama's much-touted recent education reform announcement.

Of course, an unexplained car bomb in Baltimore could radically change that terrorism number in a few hours.

Close by are two other topics that once were Topic One: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with only 6% concerned about them.

The next least important reported concern for Americans is the federal deficit at 8%, followed closely by healthcare, which the president wants to spend hundreds of billions of dollars reforming. Yet it's of concern to only 9% of this survey, barely a fraction of the 63% concerned over the economy. If such numbers endure, they could make the president's legislative sales job more difficult.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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