Montana town hall: Obama seeks out skeptics

President Obama on Friday took his push for a health care overhaul to traditionally conservative Montana, saying a bill to extend coverage to the uninsured while helping those already with coverage will pass this year.

However, an influential Democratic representative said the House would only pass a health care bill in January or later, signaling continuing rifts within Obama's party on his domestic priority for 2009.

"We're taking some time to make sure it's done right," said Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania. "I don't know that we'll get something done before January, and even then we may not get it done. We're going to do it right when it's finally done."

President Obama discusses his health care plans Friday at a meeting in Belgrade, Montana.

Obama told a largely supportive Montana audience at his second of three town hall meetings this week that fixing the health care system requires improving health insurance practices and reducing the costs of treatment. He sought questions from skeptics of his proposed health care overhaul, seeking to confront some misconceptions fueled by opponents Democrats say are undermining the debate.

One man who identified himself as a proud National Rifle Association supporter and believer in the Constitution asked how the government would pay to expand health insurance coverage to 46 million uninsured people.

"You can't tell us how you're going to pay for this," said the questioner, Randy Rathie, a welder from Ekalaka, Montana. "The only way you're going to get the money is to raise our taxes. That's the only way you can do that."

Obama responded with his oft-repeated explanation that two-thirds of the cost of overhauling health care -- estimated at about $900 billion over 10 years -- would come from eliminating waste and improving efficiency in the current system, which includes the government-run Medicare and Medicaid programs for the elderly and impoverished.

The rest would have to come from new revenue, he agreed with the questioner, and he called for reducing the amount of deductions that people making more than $250,000 a year can make on their income taxes.

"If we did that alone, just that change alone ... that would raise enough to pay for health care reform," Obama said, noting that would meet his election campaign pledge to avoid any tax increase on people earning less than $250,000 a year.

However, Obama said some taxes would have to be raised, and the crowd applauded when he said he believes people with more money, like himself, ought to pay a heavier burden.

"We've got to get over this notion that we can have something for nothing," Obama said. "That's how we got into this deficit and this debt in the first place."

In reference to emotional and heated debate at some other town hall meetings across the country in recent weeks, Obama told Rathie, "I appreciate your question, the respectful way you asked it, and by the way, I also believe in the Constitution."

Afterward, Rathie said he was impressed by Obama's performance but remained skeptical.

"I don't think he knows where that money's going to come from," he said. "If he does, he's not saying."

Obama noted there is more work to be done, with Congress seeking to merge at least four bills, along with a possible compromise agreement being negotiated by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus and five other members of his Senate Finance Committee, into a single bill in September.

Another questioner chosen when Obama asked for a skeptic identified himself as an insurance provider who wanted to know why Obama and Democrats are vilifying the insurance industry in the health care debate. Earlier in the meeting, Obama described what he called discriminatory practices by insurance companies that dropped coverage of people who became sick or refused to cover those with pre-existing medical conditions.

Obama noted some insurance companies are contributing to the reform debate, but said others are spending millions of dollars to try to defeat any health care legislation. For a health care overhaul to work for everyone, he said, it has to ensure all Americans are covered so that insurance companies have incentive to participate.

They won't be able to exclude coverage for pre-existing conditions or "cherry pick" healthy people while refusing coverage for sick people, Obama said, so increasing the total numbers covered will be the enticement.

On Saturday, Obama will hold another town hall meeting in Grand Junction, Colorado, before vacationing in some national parks with his family next week. In addition, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama will hold "some events not yet announced" in coming days.

While Obama has said consensus can be reached on health care reform, contentious town hall meetings held by lawmakers around the country have created a different impression.

The White House, and many Democrats in Congress, hope that by building support in the West, the president can start to turn the tide. Though the region is largely Republican, Obama made some inroads in the latest election. He won in Colorado and lost by just a slim margin in Montana.

However, Murtha's comments in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, to CNN affiliate WJPA signaled continuing divisions among House Democrats over the scope and pace of health care legislation.

"We said to the speaker [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi], the leadership, let's not rush this thing," Murtha said. "Let's do it right, so we'll have a uniquely American plan, if the thing passes."

Obama's town hall events are just part of a larger Democratic strategy for winning support in the region.

The Democratic National Committee began a TV ad this week promoting the president's health care plan. A committee spokesman said the ad will run on national cable as well as on local cable in New Hampshire, Montana, Colorado and the District of Columbia.

The group Families USA, which supports the president's plan, also launched a campaign Thursday that includes an ad running in a dozen states -- among them Montana and Colorado.

But groups opposed to the president's plan have their own campaigns.

One voter in Livingston, Montana, not far from where the president spoke in Belgrade, summarized the kinds of concerns that she and many others in the region have.

"I believe that there is a health care crisis, I really do," Sonja McDonald, who voted for Obama in 2008, told Ed Henry on Thursday. "Do I believe that the government needs to be more involved? No!"

Henry met McDonald at a clinic that gets half its funding from taxpayers.

"The government being involved is fine," McDonald said. "It's just ... when they try and overstep, when they try to say, 'No, this is what needs to be done.

Obama doesn’t want to pull plug on grandma

This just in: President Barack Obama opposes pulling the plug on your sick grandmother.

In a sign of how twisted the healthcare debate has become, the president of the United States was forced to stand up in public and say definitively that he did not favor killing off the elderly when their care became too expensive.

The dramatic declaration came in New Hampshire in response to one of the wilder accusations circulated by opponents of his efforts to overhaul healthcare.

“The rumor that’s been circulating a lot lately is this idea that somehow the House of Representatives voted for death panels that will basically pull the plug on grandma because we’ve decided that it’s too expensive to let her live anymore,” Obama said, taking the issue head-on.
It apparently arose from a provision intended to give people more information so they could handle end-of-life issues like setting up living wills and hospice care, he said.

“Somehow it’s gotten spun into this idea of death panels,” Obama said. “I am not in favor of that.”

He did not mention Sarah Palin, former Republican vice presidential candidate and ex-governor of Alaska, who got the ball rolling on ”death panels.”

The fact that the president had to take a public stand on a rumor that at another time might appear absurd (it would be political suicide for anyone to suggest the government promote euthanasia) shows that the opposition is making inroads in stoking fear about healthcare overhaul.

Obama used some scare tactics of his own, saying that unless things change, health insurance premiums would skyrocket and the deficit would grow because of rising costs of government health programs for the poor - Medicaid - and elderly - Medicare.

One thing to watch is Obama’s increased reference to the healthcare plan as “health INSURANCE reform,” perhaps the White House believes that substituting insurance for care somehow makes it more palatable to the public.

Do you think Obama effectively addressed the criticism and put the rumors to rest? Did his comments in any way change your view on the healthcare debate?

Obama strategy will win Afghan war : White House

The White House said on Monday that President Barack Obama has a "winning" strategy in Afghanistan and enough forces on the ground to achieve U.S. goals despite advances by the Taliban.

The assurances came as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan warned that the Taliban were gaining momentum, while gunmen and bombers stormed government buildings near Kabul just 10 days before a presidential election,

White House spokesman Bill Burton said that Obama had authorized 21,000 new troops for Afghanistan since taking office in January and not all of these were on the ground yet.

"The president's strategy hasn't fully been implemented just yet. But we do believe that with the strategy that we have, with assets that we're putting on the ground, that we are going to be able to achieve the goals that we're trying to achieve," Burton told reporters on Obama's Air Force One flight back to Washington from a North American summit in Mexico.

U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, who will soon present an assessment of the Afghan war, said in a newspaper interview published on Monday that the resurgent Taliban have forced a change of tactics on foreign forces and that record casualty figures would remain high for some months.

"It's a very aggressive enemy right now," McChrystal, who is also the NATO commander in Afghanistan, told The Wall Street Journal (online.wsj.com/). "We've got to stop their momentum, stop their initiative. It's hard work."

The White House said McChrystal was preparing a thorough assessment of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan and U.S. officials will see what his review turns up.

"Obviously the president is in close contact with his commanders on the ground, but ... thinks that the strategy that he put in place is a winning one," Burton said.

Violence across Afghanistan this year had already reached its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-led Afghan forces in 2001 and escalated dramatically after major offensives were launched in southern Helmand province in July.

Three Afghan police and two civilians were killed in a strike by Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers on government buildings near Kabul on Monday.

Washington plans to increase the number of its troops to about 68,000 by year's end, more than double the 32,000 it had stationed in Afghanistan at the end of 2008. McChrystal may ask for more after he submits his strategy review in coming weeks.

Obama enters 'The Matrix'

As the president moves forward on his ambitious legislative agenda, it might seem as if he is entering "The Matrix," a surreal world that only has the vaguest connection to real life.

And, indeed, the Congress has its own rules that make quick legislative action, no matter how popular with the American people, hard to achieve.

The Obama agenda is breathtaking in its scope and eye-popping in its cost.

He seeks to completely recast the health care, energy, financial services and automobile sectors of this country, as he seeks to make the tax code more progressive, retirement programs more sustainable, and the immigration system more welcoming to immigrants. And he also wants to stimulate the economy and get us out of what some people are calling the "Great Recession." But can it all get done, and in a form that makes his political base happy?

The president insists that he can get this all done, and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has implied that the financial crisis has actually given the White House more momentum to get it all done. But history tells a different story.

Congress has its own code, and cracking that code usually means taking into account five different factors. These five factors are:

Money: It may seem trite, but the biggest factor in determining the size and scope of a legislative agenda is how much money -- and more importantly, the perception of how much money -- is available for the government to use. Bill Clinton's legislative agenda was necessarily limited because his budget constraints made it difficult to spend money on big things.
George Bush, who inherited a fairly large budget surplus, had money to burn, which allowed him to pass a prescription drug benefit. President Obama has no money, which means that if he wants to pass a big new entitlement like a health care public option, he will have to make the Congress take the painful step of raising a lot of taxes.

Time: The legislative calendar is simply not that long. A new administration has a little less than a year to pass its big-ticket items, mostly because it is very hard to get major initiatives done in an election year. Take away the three months it takes to hire key staff, a couple of months for the various congressional recesses, and you have about six months to really legislate.

Since Congress is supposed to use some time to pass its annual spending bills (there are 12 that need to be passed each year, not counting supplemental spending bills), time for big initiatives is actually very limited. Each day the president takes time to travel overseas or to throw out the first pitch at an All Star game, he is taking time away from making contacts with legislators whose support is crucial for the president's agenda. Time is not a limitless resource on Capitol Hill.

Political capital: A president enters office with the highest popularity ratings he will ever get (barring a war or some other calamity that brings the country together), which is why most presidents try to pass as much as possible as early as possible in their administrations. The most famous example of that was Franklin Roosevelt's Hundred Days. But there are other examples. Ronald Reagan moved his agenda very early in his administration, George Bush passed his tax proposals and the No Child Left Behind law very early in his White House. They understood the principle that it is important to strike while the iron is hot.

President Bush famously misunderstood this principle when he said that he was going to use the "political capital" gained in his re-election to pass Social Security reform. What he failed to understand was that as soon as he won re-election, he was a lame duck in the eyes of the Congress, and he had no political capital.

President Obama believes he has a lot of political capital, and perhaps he does. But each day he is in office, his political capital reserve is declining. And each time he goes to the well to pass things like "cap and trade" makes it more difficult for him to pass his more important priorities like health care.

Focus: Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time. But focus is essential to achieving results. Presidential focus quite often moves off the domestic agenda and into the wider world of diplomacy. But that can spell greater political danger for a president and his party.

George H.W. Bush spent most of his presidency winning a war against Iraq and successfully concluded the Cold War conflict with the Soviet Union. But neither of those foreign policy successes helped him win re-election. His son, George W. Bush, understood that he had to keep a tight focus on the economy and one big domestic policy item (education), and while the war on terror did end up dominating his presidency, Bush never forgot to focus on his domestic achievements.

The biggest danger to President Obama is not just foreign entanglements, it is also competing domestic priorities that threaten to undermine his ability to get big things done. For example, the House vote on cap and trade has made it very hard for conservative and moderate Democrats to join with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a more important health care bill.

After the cap and trade vote, opponents deluged the offices of centrist House Democrats with loud complaints about the costs of the energy bill, and according to media reports, that has made these critical members even more nervous about the budget ramifications of the health care reform package being pushed by the president.

Ego: Probably the most intangible and most unpredictable part of the legislative process is the rather large egos of the legislators. Despite having generally milquetoast reputations, each member of Congress has a variety of factors that impact how and why they vote. Of course, their chief motivation is political survival. But each assesses their political viability differently, and loyalty to the White House is not always top of the list. Some members of Congress, who have been in the trenches for decades, have healthy egos that need love and affection from the Obama administration.

For example, when the White House concluded deals with health care providers, legislative leaders like Charlie Rangel and Henry Waxman, who weren't party to the talks, threw a fit, said the deals didn't apply to them, and sent a strong message that they weren't going to honor those commitments. That of course, threw the larger health care negotiations into disarray. Egos matter on Capitol Hill, and stroking them is an essential part of cracking the congressional code.

In the movie "The Matrix," Keanu Reeves, playing Neo, ends the film with the line, "Anything is possible." In a Hollywood movie, anything is possible. But in Congress, with limited money, limited time and limited patience, the president can't get everything he wants. And after watching his cap and trade proposal fall flat in the Senate, his health care bill lose support in both chambers, his tax proposals meet stiff resistance from the business community and key centrist Democrats, and his financial service reform proposals go nowhere, he risks getting nothing that he wants.

Obama revives Guantanamo tribunals

President Barack Obama on Friday revived the system of military trials for foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo, angering supporters who said he had broken a promise to end the controversial tribunals set up by the Bush administration.

The Democratic president said the commissions would be restarted as an option for trying prisoners at the U.S. military base in Cuba after undergoing several rule changes, including barring statements made under harsh interrogation and making it more difficult to use hearsay evidence.

"These reforms will begin to restore the commissions as a legitimate forum for prosecution, while bringing them in line with the rule of law," said Obama, who opposed the law that created the tribunals during the administration of his Republican predecessor, President George W. Bush.

"He (the president) is determined to reform the military commissions as an available form, along with the federal courts, for prosecution of detainees at Guantanamo," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.

Republicans welcomed the move. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called it an "encouraging development." Obama's presidential rival John McCain said it was a step toward a comprehensive detainee policy that "accords with our values and protects our national security."

RIGHTS GROUPS CRITICAL

Rights groups, which have been long been critical of Washington's treatment of foreign terrorism suspects and the use of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, condemned the decision.

"By resurrecting this failed Bush administration idea, President Obama is backtracking dangerously on his reform agenda," said Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch.

Amnesty International accused Obama, who took office in January, of breaking a major campaign promise.

"These military commissions are inherently illegitimate, unconstitutional and incapable of delivering outcomes that we can trust. Tweaking the rules of these failed tribunals so that they provide 'more due process' is absurd," said Anthony Romero of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The decision was the second in less than a week to anger Obama's liberal supporters. Earlier this week, he reversed a previous decision and announced he would seek to prevent the release of photographs showing alleged abuse of prisoners, saying the images could endanger U.S. troops abroad.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, asked at a briefing if Obama was worried about alienating his most loyal supporters, defended the decisions.

"Look, first and foremost the president of the United States is going to do what he believes is in the best security interests of the people of the United States," he said.

Obama has promised to close Guantanamo Bay prison by 2010. The prison was set up in 2002 at the U.S. base on the southeastern tip of Cuba to house foreign prisoners in the U.S. war on terrorism that Bush declared after the hijacked plane attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.

Gibbs said the decision to proceed with military commissions would not block the closure, but the administration was working to determine where the tribunals could be held once Guantanamo closes. He also indicated some prisoners would be shifted to the U.S. court system.

DEATH SENTENCES POSSIBLE

Among those facing trial at Guantanamo are self-described September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants who could be executed if convicted of nearly 3,000 murder charges stemming from the plane attacks.

When he took office in January, Obama ordered a four-month freeze on Guantanamo court proceedings to give him time to decide whether to move the prosecutions into the regular U.S. civilian or military courts or keep the special tribunals.

The freeze order had been seen as a death knell for the Guantanamo war crimes court, which has completed only two full trials since the detention camp opened.

The administration asked on Friday for a delay in the court proceedings to allow time for the new rules to take effect. The rule changes must be shown to Congress 60 days before they go into force.

"The secretary of defense will be sending to Congress several changes to the rules for military commissions," Whitman said.

He said the rule changes included:

- A ban on using statements obtained during cruel or inhumane interrogation

- A rule making it more difficult to use hearsay evidence

- Greater latitude for the accused to choose a defense counsel

- More protections for a defendant who refuses to testify.

U.S. authorities on Friday also released a Guantanamo Bay detainee who was part of a landmark Supreme Court case that granted inmates at the U.S. military prison the legal right to challenge their confinement, officials said.

The detainee, Algerian national Lakhdar Boumediene, was released from custody and flown from the U.S. Navy base to waiting relatives in France, said officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Pop Vs Obama : Notre Dame Controversy

At the rate things are going, Pope Benedict XVI may find his next trip to the U.S. dogged by airplanes overhead trailing banners with images of aborted fetuses. O.K., that's a bit of hyperbole. But while several prominent conservative Catholics in this country are apoplectic over the University of Notre Dame's invitation of the pro-choice Barack Obama to give the school's commencement address on May 17, the Vatican has stayed completely silent on the matter.

The two very different reactions to the question of whether a Catholic institution should honor anyone who disagrees with the Church's teaching on abortion are just the latest examples of the strikingly divergent responses American Catholic leaders and the Vatican have had to the Obama Administration.

President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI

Three-quarters of Catholics either approve of or offer no opinion on Notre Dame's decision to invite Obama, and the same percentage of U.S. bishops have opted to stay out of the fight. However, for a small but vocal group of conservative Catholics, the episode has become an opportunity to draw lines between those who are genuinely Catholic and those whom they accuse of being Catholic in name only — even the head of the country's premier Catholic university.

"It is clear that Notre Dame didn't understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation," said Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The conservative Cardinal Newman Society organized a petition calling for Notre Dame president Father John Jenkins to disinvite the President. Professional protesters such as Alan Keyes and Randall Terry have descended on the South Bend campus, pushing blood-covered baby dolls in Spongebob strollers and getting themselves arrested. And Cardinal James Francis Stafford, one of the highest-ranking Americans at the Vatican, has declared Obama an unfit honoree because his statements on abortion reflect "an agenda and vision that are aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic."

This isn't the first time Obama has received decidedly mixed reviews from Catholics. A few months ago, he issued an Executive Order lifting restrictions on federal funding for stem-cell research. The move was immediately denounced by the USCCB as "morally wrong," and even moderate Catholics complained about the way the decision was handled. But the Vatican had a different reaction. L'Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper published under the authority of the Vatican's Secretariat of State, ran an article in late April essentially urging the bishops to chill out.

Under the headline "The 100 Days that Did Not Shake the World," the paper gave Obama a tentative thumbs-up for his policy changes concerning the economy and international relations. "On ethical questions, too — which from the time of the electoral campaign have been the subject of strong worries by the Catholic bishops — Obama does not seem to have confirmed the radical innovations that he had discussed," said the article, which noted that Obama's stem-cell guidelines were "less permissive" than expected.

So is this a schism? Have Cardinal George and the other conservative U.S. bishops gone rogue? Or is the Pope letting them play bad cop while he makes nice with the popular new American President?

The Vatican has a tradition of remaining largely above the fray while allowing — sometimes even encouraging — local bishops to be more aggressive in challenging political leaders. In Italy, for instance, both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have given communion to pro-choice politicians while letting Italian church leaders take the role of lecturing those Catholics on their dissent from church teaching. And this is particularly true of the Vatican's relationships with foreign leaders, whom the Pope views as fellow heads of state. Some observers have interpreted Cardinal George's Oval Office meeting with Obama on St. Patrick's Day to talk about abortion as an emissary visit, speculating that the cardinal was sent by Benedict.

But if the Vatican merely wanted to avoid public unpleasantness in its dealing with the U.S. President, it could do that by essentially ignoring the new Administration. Instead, it has displayed a surprising optimism, bordering on enthusiasm, for Obama's presidency. Breaking with protocol that usually prevents the Pope from addressing heads of state before they take office, Benedict sent a congratulatory telegram to Obama the day after the November election. The Pope noted the "historic" nature of the victory and said he would pray that God would "sustain you and the beloved American people in your efforts to build a world of peace, solidarity and justice." The two spoke directly less than a week later, and the Pope sent yet another telegram on Jan. 20 when Obama was inaugurated.

When reporters at Catholic News Service, the official news agency of the USCCB, talked to Vatican officials just prior to the Inauguration, they found the Holy See mostly focused on economic issues and Middle East politics. "Asked about pro-life issues, on which Obama and the Catholic Church have clear differences, Vatican officials took a wait-and-see attitude," the news agency reported.

The starkly different responses of some U.S. bishops and the Vatican could just be a matter of pure politics. As Obama's European tour last month showed, the Pope would hardly be the only head of state eager to start off on the right footing with the new Administration. In addition, Obama is broadly popular among American Catholics, 67% of whom gave him a positive approval rating in a recent Pew poll. At a time when the U.S. Catholic Church is losing members — a separate Pew study found that for every American who joins the Catholic Church, four others leave — Benedict may not be willing to test the costs of opposing Obama.

Of course, the Notre Dame kerfuffle has political roots as well. The protesters aren't accusing the university of violating church teaching but rather of violating a 2004 policy that the USCCB approved in the midst of vigorous debate over John Kerry's presidential candidacy. The statement, titled "Catholics in Political Life," was speedily drafted in response to questions about whether Kerry should be denied communion because of his pro-choice positions. Catholic institutions, it read, "should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles." When the bishops approved the statement, it wasn't clear whether it would carry much weight after the election, much less whether it applied to the case of a non-Catholic like Obama.

Among those most eager to drive a wedge between the President and rank-and-file Catholics are Catholic Republicans, who worry about losing more voters to the Democratic Party. Newt Gingrich wasn't yet a Catholic when the 2004 statement was debated and approved. But the new convert was the first to speak out against Notre Dame's commencement speaker. On March 24, the Republican former House Speaker weighed in on his Twitter account, which appears to have limits on capital letters: "It is sad to see notre dame invite president obama to give the commencement address since his policies are so anti catholic values." There's nothing like the zeal of a convert, but Gingrich may find it's awkward to try to be more Catholic than the Pope.

Senators on SCOTUS pick;Obama calls (hopes for progress by July)

President Barack Obama has begun reaching out to senators who will play a key role in the confirmation of his Supreme Court nominee, who the White House hopes will be seated before the court starts its next session.

The president is aware of a "fairly tight timeline" to nominate a candidate in time for the Senate to hold hearings and vote, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Monday. The next session will begin in
early October.

Obama got his first opportunity to have an impact on the nation's highest court when Justice David Souter announced Friday he will leave the bench after
19 years.

Several factors are being considered in a Supreme Court candidate, White House officials say, including diversity, experience, and age.

The president wants to have a nominee in place and "get something done before Congress gets out of town in August," Gibbs said. That would mean the Senate would vote on the nominee shortly after the August recess ends around Labor Day, if not before, he said. He later clarified his remarks, saying that by late July "this process has to be a decent ways down the field."

But the White House was offering no predictions on when a candidate will be named.

"The process has begun — and began some time ago — to go through prospective and potential candidates, to begin to review the history and the background and their experience," Gibbs said. "But I don't have a specific timeline." No candidates have yet been interviewed by Obama, he said.

Obama called Sens. Orrin Hatch and Arlen Specter of the Judiciary Committee, which will review the nominee's record and hold confirmation hearings. Hatch, a Republican, warned the White House on Sunday about selecting a "judicial activist" to the high court. Specter, a moderate, last week switched to the Democratic Party.

Several factors are being considered in a Supreme Court candidate, White House officials say, including diversity, experience, and age.

"You always assume, rightly so, that whomever you choose is going to have a significant impact on the court for quite some time," said Gibbs. "This is one of nine. And I think you have to assume that whomever you pick is somebody that you believe will have great weight on the court for a long time to come."

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito — President George W. Bush's 2005 picks — are both still in their 50s. Justice Clarence Thomas, named by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, turns 61 in June. The other justices besides Souter are all in their 70s or 80s.

But Gibbs emphasized again the main qualities Obama will be looking for: "Somebody that understands the rule of law, somebody that has a record of excellence and integrity, somebody who also understands how these opinions affect everyday lives, and will exercise some common sense."

Obama says he doesn't have 'rubber-stamp Senate'

President Obama said Wednesday that he's under no illusions that he'll have a "rubber-stamp Senate" now that Sen. Arlen Specter has switched parties to join the Democrats."To my Republican friends, I want them to realize that me reaching out to them has been genuine," Obama said at a prime time news conference capping his 100th day in office.
"I can't sort of define bipartisanship as simply being willing to accept certain theories of theirs that we tried for eight years and didn't work and the American people voted to change."
Specter on Tuesday announced he was changing parties, saying he's found himself increasingly "at odds with the Republican philosophy." He also admitted Wednesday he was worried about the prospects of facing a Republican primary in order to keep his seat next year.
Specter's move puts the Democrats one shy of a filibuster-proof Senate majority of 60 seats.
President Obama speaks on the 100th day of his administration.
Senate Democrats can reach the 60-seat mark if courts uphold Al Franken's disputed recount victory in Minnesota.As if to prove the president's point, Specter voted against Obama's budget plan shortly before the news conference.Asked if the GOP is in desperate straits, Obama said, "Politics in America changes very quick. And I'm a big believer that things are never as good as they seem and never as bad as they seem."
Obama has faced criticism from Republicans that he hasn't been reaching across the aisle. His budget moved through both chambers of Congress on Wednesday with no GOP support, and his economic stimulus plan passed with just three Republican votes from the Senate.
The president said he thinks the administration has taken steps to restore confidence in the American people, noting that "simply opposing our approach on every front is probably not a good political strategy." In his first 100 days, he's been "sobered by the fact that change in Washington comes slow," said Obama. "That there is still a certain quotient of political posturing and bickering that takes place even when we're in the middle of really big crises," he said, adding that he'd like for everyone to say "let's take a time-out on some of the political games."
In a shift from his previous news conferences which were dominated by questions about the economy, Obama fielded multiple queries on the foreign policy front. The president said a recent uptick in violence in Iraq won't affect his plan for a phased military withdrawal.
"Civilian deaths, incidents of bombings ... remain very low relative to what was going on last year," Obama said. "You haven't seen the kinds of huge spikes that you were seeing for a time. The political system is holding and functioning in Iraq." Obama said more details need to be nailed down before U.S. troops leave Iraq -- including how oil revenues will be divided, what the powers of provincial governments there will be and the political relationships between minority Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites -- including the armed Sons of Iraq groups.
On Pakistan, the president said the United States has "huge national security interests in making sure that Pakistan is stable" and doesn't end up a "nuclear-armed militant state."
"I am gravely concerned about the situation in Pakistan, not because I think that they're immediately going to be overrun and the Taliban would take over in Pakistan. I'm more concerned that the civilian government there right now is very fragile and don't seem to have the capacity to deliver basic services," he said. Obama also said Wednesday he is "very comfortable" with his decision to ban interrogation techniques like waterboarding, which he called torture.
The president called the practice a recruiting tool for terrorist groups like al Qaeda, citing World War II-era British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who also rejected such "enhanced interrogation" techniques. "Churchill understood that if you start taking shortcuts, over time that corrodes what's best in a people," Obama said. "It corrodes the character of a country."
Asked about the previous administration, he said, "I think that whatever legal rationale were used, it was a mistake."
On the recent outbreaks of swine flu, Obama insisted his administration is "prepared to do whatever it takes to control the impact of the virus." "I've asked every American to take the same steps you would take to prevent any other flu: Keep your hands washed; cover your mouth when you cough; stay home from work if you're sick; and keep your children home from school if they're sick," he said. Obama downplayed the possibility of closing the border with Mexico as a way to control the virus, also known by its clinical name of H1N1.
"It would be akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out," Obama said
The first cases of the virus were detected in Mexico, where health officials suspect swine flu in more than 150 other deaths and roughly 2,500 illnesses. Only 26 cases have so far been confirmed, including the seven fatal cases. So far, the World Health Organization has reported 148 cases in nine countries. Obama said the $1.5 billion he asked from Congress to help fight the outbreaks will help government health officials monitor and track the virus and replenish the supply of antiviral drugs.
On immigration, Obama said he wants to work with members of Congress, including former Republican presidential rival Sen. John McCain, to revive efforts to reform the system.
Obama said he hopes lawmakers will begin working on such reform legislation and expects the process to be under way within the year. Both Obama and McCain supported an ultimately failed plan backed by then-President Bush that would have fined illegal immigrants living in the United States but provided a pathway to citizenship for some. Obama's news conference came just hours after both chambers of Congress passed his $3.4 trillion budget resolution for fiscal year 2010.
The measure approves most of Obama's key spending priorities and sets the federal government in a new direction with major increases for energy, education and health care programs. Obama said his budget begins to lay a "new foundation" that will strengthen the U.S. economy. "But even as we clear away the wreckage of this recession, I've also said that we can't go back to an economy that is built on a pile of sand -- on inflated home prices and maxed-out credit cards; on overleveraged banks and outdated regulations that allowed the recklessness of a few to threaten the prosperity of all," he said.The United States "will see a better day," but there's still a lot of work to do, he said.
"I want to thank the American people for their support and their patience during these trying times, and I look forward to working with you in the next hundred days, in the hundred days after that, all of the hundreds of days to follow, to make sure that this country is what it can be."

Obama end banks’ role in federal student loans

Just as they’re catching flak for everything from the global financial crisis to high credit card interest rates, along comes the president and adds another grievance. Barack Obama, it seems, thinks using banks to dole out federal college loan funds is a waste of taxpayer money.

So on Friday he discussed his scheme to boost the flow of federal dollars to those looking to get a higher education. To pay for it, he said, “we’re going to eliminate waste, reduce inefficiency and cut what we don’t need to pay for what we do.” Look out banks. Obama said there are two kinds of federal education loans — direct loans and Federal Family Education Loans. Under direct loans, tax dollars go directly to help students pay for tuition, “not to pad the profits of private lenders,” he said. But under the FFEL program, “taxpayers are paying banks a premium to act as middlemen — a premium that costs the American people billions of dollars each year,” he added.
The loans are federally backed, so the banks don’t even have to take on significant risk. Cutting out the middleman, Obama said, could save the government tens of billions of dollars that it could use to help more students. But making that change won’t be easy, he said. “The banks and the lenders who have reaped a windfall from these subsidies have mobilized an army of lobbyists to try to keep things the way they are.” “They are gearing up for battle. So am I,” Obama said. “For those who care about America’s future, this is a battle we can’t afford to lose.

Poll: Americans believe world leaders respect Obama

WASHINGTON -- More than eight out of 10 Americans think Barack Obama will do a good job representing their country to the world, according to a new national poll published as the U.S. president set off on his first overseas trip since taking office.

Obama's itinerary includes Thursday's key G-20 meeting in London, followed by a NATO summit on the French-German border and visits to the Czech Republic and Turkey.
Seven in 10 people questioned in the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, released Tuesday, believe that leaders of other countries respect Obama -- a figure in sharp contrast to predecessor George W. Bush's poll ratings at the equivalent stage of his presidency.
Just 49 percent of Americans believed that foreign leaders respected Bush shortly after he assumed office in 2001.

A poll indicates eight in 10 Americans think President Obama will represent the United States well to the world.
"Except for the period following the 9/11 attacks, that number never got any better for Bush," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Even among Republicans, a majority believes that other world leaders respect Obama."
Obama's popularity in Europe was highlighted last year during a pre-election visit to Germany, France and the UK when hundreds of thousands turned out to hear the then-presidential candidate speak in Berlin. His election success in November was widely celebrated across the continent.
But analysts say Obama is now under pressure to deliver on that popularity -- and will be held to higher standards than previous White House incumbents. Watch how Obama-mania gripped Europe »
"If there is a trade war between America and Europe and, as a result, European jobs are lost, that would make Barack Obama unpopular," British political commentator Peter Kellner told CNN.
"Secondly if there was a sign to return the type of arrogance, as Europeans see it, under George W. Bush and other U.S. presidents that would damage his popularity."

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted March 12-15, with 1,019 adult Americans questioned by telephone.
The survey's sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points. (CNN)

Obama: Safety of world at stake in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON -- President Obama, saying "the terrorists who planned and supported the 9/11 attacks are in Pakistan and Afghanistan," announced a new strategy Friday to confront the growing threat in the two countries.

He said the "situation is increasingly perilous" in the region, and 2008 was the deadliest year for U.S. forces in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan. And he announced plans for 4,000 more troops in Afghanistan, new legislation that would help the economies in Pakistan and Afghanistan, more training to bolster Afghan security forces and an increase in civilian expertise to help develop Afghanistan's economic, social and governmental institutions.
Flanked by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in the Executive Office Building, Obama called the problem in the volatile region an "international security challenge of the highest order." He stressed soberly that "the safety of people around the world is at stake."
"The United States of America did not choose to fight a war in Afghanistan. Nearly 3,000 of our people were killed on September 11, 2001, for doing nothing more than going about their daily lives," said Obama, who has vowed to make Afghanistan the central front in the war on terror.

President Obama on Friday called the situation in Afghanistan "increasingly perilous."
"So let me be clear: Al Qaeda and its allies -- the terrorists who planned and supported the 9/11 attacks -- are in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Multiple intelligence estimates have warned that al Qaeda is actively planning attacks on the U.S. homeland from its safe haven in Pakistan. And if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban -- or allows al Qaeda to go unchallenged -- that country will again be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they possibly can." Watch Obama tell terrorists U.S. will defeat them »
Obama said it is key that Americans understand Pakistan "needs our help" in the fight against al Qaeda.
"Al Qaeda and other violent extremists have killed several thousand Pakistanis since 9/11. They have killed many Pakistani soldiers and police. They assassinated Benazir Bhutto. They have blown up buildings, derailed foreign investment, and threatened the stability of the state. Make no mistake: al Qaeda and its extremist allies are a cancer that risks killing Pakistan from within."

He called on Congress to pass a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Sens. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, and Richard Lugar, R-Indiana, authorizing "$1.5 billion in direct support to the Pakistani people every year over the next five years -- resources that will build schools, roads, and hospitals, and strengthen Pakistan's democracy."
He is also urging Congress to pass a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, and Reps. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, and Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, "that creates opportunity zones in the border region to develop the economy and bring hope to places plagued by violence. And we will ask our friends and allies to do their part -- including at the donors conference in Tokyo next month."
"After years of mixed results, we will not provide a blank check. Pakistan must demonstrate its commitment to rooting out al Qaeda and the violent extremists within its borders. And we will insist that action be taken -- one way or another -- when we have intelligence about high-level terrorist targets. "
Obama said the United States must work with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and others to help Pakistan get through the economic crisis.
"To lessen tensions between two nuclear-armed nations that too often teeter on the edge of escalation and confrontation, we must pursue constructive diplomacy with both India and Pakistan."
As for Afghanistan itself, Obama said the country "has been denied the resources that it demands because of the war in Iraq," and now, a commitment must be made.
Obama said he is sending another 4,000 troops to Afghanistan along with hundreds of civilian specialists. The troops -- which are in addition to the 17,000 the president announced earlier would be sent to Afghanistan -- will be charged with training and building the Afghan army and police force.
Obama said the soldiers and Marines "will take the fight to the Taliban in the south and east" and will work with Afghan troops to fight insurgents along the border. He said such an effort will bolster "security in advance of the important presidential election in August."
"We will shift the emphasis of our mission to training and increasing the size of Afghan security forces, so that they can eventually take the lead in securing their country," he said.
Obama said the coalition will accelerate efforts to "build an Afghan army of 134,000 and a police force of 82,000 so that we can meet these goals by 2011 -- and increases in Afghan forces may very well be needed as our plans to turn over security responsibility to the Afghans go forward."
Obama also stressed that there needs to be a dramatic increase in America's civilian efforts.
He said Afghanistan's government has been "undermined by corruption and has difficulty delivering basic services to its people," and its economy is undercut by a booming narcotics trade that encourages criminality and funds the insurgency." Watch Obama's remarks on the situation in Afghanistan »
"To advance security, opportunity and justice -- not just in Kabul, but from the bottom up, in the provinces -- we need agricultural specialists and educators; engineers and lawyers. That is how we can help the Afghan government serve its people, and develop an economy that isn't dominated by illicit drugs. That is why I am ordering a substantial increase in our civilians on the ground. And that is why we must seek civilian support from our partners and allies, from the United Nations and international aid organizations -- an effort that Secretary Clinton will carry forward next week in The Hague."
Obama said the United States will set clear benchmarks for international assistance and won't ignore attention to corruption.
"As we provide these resources, the days of unaccountable spending, no-bid contracts and wasteful reconstruction must end. So my budget will increase funding for a strong inspector general at both the State Department and USAID, and include robust funding for the special inspector general for Afghan reconstruction. "

The United States is seeking to work with the United Nations to develop "greater progress for its mandate to coordinate international action and assistance, and to strengthen Afghan institutions."
He said the U.S. will develop a new Contact Group for Afghanistan and Pakistan that will include "not only NATO allies and other partners, but also the Central Asian states, the Gulf nations and Iran; Russia, India and China." (CNN)

Obama to meet bank CEOs to discuss economic crisis

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will quiz top U.S. bankers on Friday about developments in the economy and their businesses as his administration seeks broader authority to regulate the financial system.
Obama, who will pitch his plans to combat global recession and reform regulation at next week's G20 meeting of major economies, is set to host leaders of the biggest U.S. financial institutions at the White House around noon EDT (1600 GMT).
The meeting will come just days after the U.S. Treasury Department provided details on a government plan to cleanse banks' balance sheets of up to $1 trillion in distressed loans and securities.
The Obama administration also announced on Thursday its plan to rewrite financial rules, including creating a single regulator to monitor any firm whose failure could threaten the financial system.
Senior White House officials said Friday's meeting would not be a sales job by the president, however, who has walked a fine line with bankers -- chastising them for taking big bonuses while encouraging them to increase lending to help turn the economy around.
"This is a meeting about the broad approach to restoring our economy and our national economic strength," top White House economic adviser Larry Summers told reporters.
"Our future is inextricably linked to these financial institutions and theirs is to ours, and so it makes all the sense in the world that they come together and have this conversation," said Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president.
Officials said about 15 CEOs were expected to attend, including chief executives from JPMorgan Chase & Co, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.
Other invited financial institutions, according to a financial sector source, include: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bank of New York/Mellon, Northern Trust, PNC Financial, State Street, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, USBancorp, Wells Fargo, American Bankers Association and the Financial Services Roundtable.
Summers said the president would have a back-and-forth conversation with the banking leaders. "I think he'll want to understand and I expect they'll want to tell him about things they're doing that are supportive of our economy," he said.
He said those topics could include, "the way they treat highly indebted consumers or the way they're going to think about monitoring the risks better in the future or the steps they're going to take to assure a continuing and strong flow of capital."
Obama flies to Europe next week for a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 leading emerging and industrial economies, which will try to coordinate their strategies to address the global economic crisis. (Reuters)

FACTBOX: Banks, trade groups meeting with Obama on Friday

The following is a list of banks and trade groups that have been invited to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday, according to a source familiar with preparations:
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - Seized by regulators when the cost of failing home loans pushed the mortgage-finance companies toward insolvency. Since being nationalized in September, the companies have been turned into tools to aid the housing market.
JPMorgan Chase - One of three national lenders that hold a large share of consumer deposits and received a $25 billion injection of capital from the Treasury Department in October. Last year, regulators helped JPMorgan buy Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual before they collapsed under the weight of bad housing bets.
Citigroup - One of three national lenders that hold a large share of consumer deposits and received a $25 billion injection of capital from the Treasury Department in October. Since that initial investment, Treasury has pumped another $20 billion into the company, promised to shoulder losses on bad investments and otherwise helped prop-up the global lender.
Wells Fargo - One of three national lenders that hold a large share of consumer deposits and received a $25 billion injection of capital from the Treasury Department in October. That same month, the bank with a strong presence on the West Coast bought North Carolina-based Wachovia before that lender collapsed under the weight of mortgage losses.
Bank of America - The bank received a $15 billion injection of capital in October along with many large financial services companies. In early January, the Treasury Department pumped $20 billion more into the lender and agreed to shoulder some losses in order to preserve its buyout of Merrill Lynch.
Bank of New York/Mellon - In October, the Treasury bought a $3 billion stake in the financial services firm under its Troubled Asset Relief Program meant to buttress banks' balance sheets. The government's investment was one of the smallest under that first phase of the aid program.
State Street - The Treasury bought a $2 billion stake in the Boston-based financial services company in October -- its smallest investment under the initial phase of the TARP. The other eight firms that received an initial capital injection absorbed $123 billion in federal money.
Merrill Lynch - The investment bank received a $15 billion boost from the Treasury Department in October in order to preserve its buyout by Bank of America. Deep losses at the company have continued to weigh on Bank of America's balance sheet.
Goldman Sachs - The investment bank took a $10 billion investment from the Treasury Department in October but has since said it wants to return that government money. Now operating as a traditional bank accepting deposits.
Morgan Stanley - The investment bank received a $10 billion investment from the Treasury Department in October and soon thereafter applied to accept consumer deposits to help stabilize its balance sheet.
PNC Financial Services, USBancorp and Northern Trust - The three financial services companies have accepted $7.7 billion, $6.6 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively, under the TARP program. All three have said that they want to return the money soon. PNC and USBancorp are large, regional lenders.
American Bankers Association and Financial Services Roundtable - Two Washington-based trade groups that represent many of the large lenders and finance companies that have received billions of dollars in federal aid.

Obama to send 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan, officials say

WASHINGTON -- President Obama plans to send another 4,000 troops to Afghanistan along with hundreds of civilian specialists in an effort to confront what he considers "the central challenge facing [that] country," senior administration officials said Thursday.The president also will call on Congress to pass a bill that triples U.S. aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year over five years, the officials said.
Obama is expected to announce new strategies for both countries Friday.
The troops, which are in addition to the 17,000 the president announced earlier would be sent to Afghanistan, will be charged with training and building the Afghan army and police force. The plans include doubling the army's ranks to 135,000 and the police force to 80,000 by 2011, the officials said.
Military officials earlier told CNN that the Afghan government had requested the additional troops.

President Obama is expected to announce new strategies for Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday.
In a background briefing with reporters, one official painted a somber picture of the situation.
"Al Qaeda's central leadership has been moved from Kandahar, Afghanistan, to a location unknown somewhere in Pakistan," he said. "And in that location they're plotting against the United States. They are working with their friends and partners, the Taliban, against American interests."

The plan marks a new strategy, focusing on the growing threat in Afghanistan and now Pakistan, the officials said.
The goal, said one official, is to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and destroy the safe haven that has developed in Pakistan and prevent it from rebuilding in Afghanistan."
Earlier Thursday, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told reporters that the United States needs to improve its level of intelligence support for military operations in Afghanistan. Blair also said a lot more work is needed to get Pakistan on the same page as the United States in fighting terrorists along the border.
The plan does not include an exit strategy. A senior administration official said commanders on the ground would make periodic assessments.
"This is a strategy, not a straitjacket," the official said.
Obama has spoken with the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said, and was "gratified by their reception."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to attend a U.S.-backed international conference on Afghanistan next week at The Hague, State Department officials said. (CNN)

Obama answers handful of 104,000 Web questions

In an appeal to the tech-savvy public, the White House's Web site opened itself to Internet-submitted questions for President Obama's online town hall meeting Thursday morning. The virtual meeting -- which was a new take on President Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats -- reached out to online followers as Obama tries to rally an anxious country in support of his solutions to the economic crisis.
Obama began his address by trying to draw a clear line between what he sees as the political games of Washington and the actual needs of the American people.

Obama began taking your questions in an online town hall meeting at 11:30 a.m. ET.

"What matters to you and your families and what people here in Washington are focused on are not always" the same, he said, criticizing the winner-loser mindset of the politicians in the nation's capitol.

"This isn't about me, it's about you," he said. "It's about the families whose letters I read every single day, and, for the American people, what's going on is not a game."
After the call for questions closed at 9:30 a.m., more than 90,000 people had submitted more than 104,000 questions for the president. The questions largely focused on the economy but spread across several categories. Online users ranked the questions more than 3.6 million times, according to WhiteHouse.gov. Watch how the questions for President Obama were chosen »
Obama had promised to answer popular questions from the site.
The idea that a president would want to talk directly to the American people has been around since the days of FDR, but what was new about Obama's online town hall is that it encouraged members of the public to interact with each other, said Julie Moos, director of Poynter Online, a nonprofit journalism site.

"By allowing [Internet users] not just to submit questions but to see the other questions ... and to rank the questions continues to connect them in the same way that the [Obama] campaign did," Moos said. "And I think that's one of the most innovative things that they're doing."
Flanked by a flat-screen TV and backed by a 100-person audience in the White House's East Room, the president answered text questions and those submitted in video format. Read a CNN blog on the event
Obama answered seven of the most popular online questions, according to a CNN tally. That included a paraphrase of a question asked by several people online: would legalizing marijuana help jumpstart the economy. Watch Obama say no to marijuana »
The president grinned through his answer: "I don't' know what this says about the online audience," he said, adding: "The answer is, 'No,' I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy." iReport.com: Is it time to legalize marijuana?
Other questions -- some of which came from the live audience -- focused primarily on health care, job loss, mortgage payments and energy.
A video question from three bubbly college students was well received by the audience. In it, the young women asked how Obama will make college more affordable and when a national program may start.
Obama said too many college students finish school while drowning in debt. He said a public service program will begin in a matter of weeks.
"If you come out of college with $50,000 worth of debt it's then hard for you to start making a decision about wanting to be a teacher or wanting to go into social work," he said.
In one video question, a woman asked the president if manufacturing jobs that have gone overseas will come back.
No, Obama answered.
America needs to create new jobs "that can't be outsourced," he said. Many of those will be in the renewable energy sector, he said.
During the address, the online community commented on Obama's answers and the format of the town hall. Users could watch streaming video of the question-answer session online at WhiteHouse.gov as well as on CNN.com.
On the social media site Twitter, a user named kfoggy1 wrote: "[I] didn't vote for Obama, but I really like what he is doing with technology. Good for democracy."
A user called BeaconOfLight was less impressed.
"Another chance for Obama to get TV time. Get your glass the 'kool aid' will flow," the user wrote.
A quick survey of the more than 104,000 questions submitted at WhiteHouse.gov revealed an America troubled by the state of the economy and struggling to make ends meet.
The White House asked the public to submit questions only about the economy, but the site divided them into several subcategories.
In education, several popular questions came from people who criticized the state of the nation's educational system, or were having trouble paying off college debt.
"The Founding Fathers believed that there is no difference between a free society and an educated society. Our educational system, however, is woefully inadequate. How do you plan to restore education as a right and core cultural value in America?" asked Takeok, from Boston, Massachusetts.
In the "home ownership" category, several users wrote that they feel they've been making all the right financial moves and still find themselves in turmoil.
"Why aren't you helping the people who want to PREVENT foreclosure?" asked MistyLee, from Providence, Rhode Island.
Some health care submissions questioned why more Americans aren't covered.
Richard from California asked why this nation can't have universal health care like countries in Europe, "where people are treated based on needs, rather than financial resources." Watch Obama call for Health Care reform »
Questions filed under green jobs and energy prodded the president to reconsider ethanol subsidies and asked him to explain how the stimulus plan will affect green jobs and home weatherization.
Larkin, a user from Gaithersburg, Maryland, was one of several people to raise the issue of public transit.
"Will we ever see high-speed passenger rail service in the U.S.?" the user asked.
In the finance category, Web users wanted to know more about why the government couldn't break up large financial institutions into smaller entities.
Adrian, of Collinsville, Illinois, worried about businesses that have survived the economic collapse.
"What rewards are there for those people and businesses that chose to live and operate within their means?" the user asked.
The site began taking questions on Tuesday and stopped on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET. The Web service was hosted by Google, but the White House said it will protect user information in accordance with its own privacy guidelines.

Questions asked on the site were made public immediately, the White House said. Users could flag questions they deemed inappropriate.
Moos, of Poynter, said one of the biggest take-aways from the event is that it connected these audiences to the president and a sense that they're part of a valued online community -- an engaged citizenry. (CNN)

Senators: Obama border initiative good step, but insufficient

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's initiative to deploy additional federal resources in the fight against rising drug-related violence along the Mexican border was criticized as insufficient in a Senate committee hearing Wednesday.

The administration's plan to send hundreds of extra federal agents and new crime-fighting equipment to the border "represents a significant step forward" but is not enough, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, said.

Sens. John McCain, left, and Joe Lieberman attend a committee hearing on Mexico border violence.

Mexican drug cartels, believed to be operating in more than 230 American cities "from Appalachia to Alaska," represent a "clear and present" danger to the United States, Lieberman said at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on border violence.
"I think you're going to need more resources to get this job done," he told Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The United States needs to "make life miserable" for the drug cartels so "life is better for us," he said.
Committee member Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, also praised the Obama administration's plan, but agreed more needs to be done.
The cartels are believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 6,000 Mexicans last year. Some of that violence has spilled over into the United States as traffickers purchase American firearms and fuel a high U.S. demand for illegal narcotics. Watch Napolitano discuss the plan to curb border violence »
Lieberman, who chairs the committee, called for an additional $250 million to be used for the hiring of 1,600 additional customs and border protection officers. He said that another $50 million should be allocated to immigration and customs agents investigating firearms distribution and violence near the border.
He also called on Congress to close "the gun show loophole ... that allows purchasers to circumvent background checks that occur at gun stores."
Finally, he argued that U.S. laws need to be updated to help authorities better track money from American drug sales, "the lifeblood" of the cartels.
Drug sale proceeds, he noted, are "increasingly being smuggled back to Mexico in stored-value cards. A single card can hold thousands of dollars, is far less conspicuous than bundled cash and does not have to be, as a matter of law, declared at the border," he said.
The cards are "not considered legal monetary instruments," he noted, and officials therefore have little authority to police them.
Lieberman said additional funds and legal reforms are necessary to combat cartel violence that has started to resemble tactics used by extremists in the war on terror.
The cartels are "attacking police stations and other government facilities (and) kidnapping and killing family members or associates," he said.
Lieberman's remarks came one day after Napolitano announced the Obama administration's plan to combat drug-related violence along the border. Watch Obama discuss the plan »
The Obama plan calls for doubling the number of border security task force teams, as well as moving a significant number of other federal agents, equipment and resources to the border. It also involves greater intelligence sharing aimed at cracking down on the flow into Mexico of money and weapons that help fuel the drug trade.
The plan commits $700 million to bolster Mexican law-enforcement and crime-prevention efforts. It also calls for tripling the number of Department of Homeland Security intelligence analysts dedicated to stopping Mexican-related violence.

In addition, it calls for increasing the number of U.S. immigration officials working in Mexico, strengthening the presence of border canine units and quadrupling the number of border liaison officers working with Mexican law enforcement agencies.
McCain voiced praise in Wednesday's hearing for Mexican President Felipe Calderon's efforts to combat the cartels. He said Calderon is facing an uphill struggle in part because "corruption penetrates to literally the highest levels of (the Mexican) government."
The drug war "is an existential threat to the government of Mexico," McCain said. "If the Mexican government fails and is taken over by the drug cartels ... it not only has profound consequences for Mexico, it certainly has the most profound consequences for the United States of America."
McCain noted that the city of Phoenix, Arizona, now has the second-highest kidnapping rate in the world, behind only Mexico City. A recent rise in the number of kidnappings in Phoenix has been tied to the drug cartels.
On Tuesday, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon called the administration's initiative "a great first step," but added, "it's a drop in the bucket in terms of what is needed."
Phoenix finds itself at the center of a "perfect storm" of drug runners and human smugglers, he said. While most traditional crimes are down, crimes such as drug-related kidnappings and torturing are overwhelming Gordon's police department.
"Most nights we have over 60 Phoenix police officers (and) some federal agents rushing to rescue those on a reactive basis," Gordon said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry also issued a mixed response on Tuesday to the administration's announcement.
"While we appreciate the additional investigative resources, what we really need are more border patrol agents and officers at the bridges to conduct increased northbound and southbound inspections, as well as additional funding for local law enforcement along the border to deny Mexican drug cartels access to the United States," he said in a statement.
"I have asked the administration for an immediate deployment of 1,000 additional National Guard troops to support civilian law enforcement and border patrol agents and remain hopeful that we will get the resources we need. The state of Texas will continue to fill in the gaps until the federal government provides adequate resources necessary to secure our border and protect our citizens from those seeking to do us harm."
The Homeland Security Committee hearing was held as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a visit to Mexico on Wednesday for two days of meetings with top officials. Watch more on Clinton's mission »
Clinton said the United States takes responsibility for its role in the drug wars and is committed to working with Mexico and helping it come out of the drug war stronger.

"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade," she said en route to Mexico City, Mexico, according to pool reports.
"Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians. So, yes, I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility." (CNN)

Americans say too early to judge Obama performance

CINCINNATI - Americans are furious at Wall Street bonuses and wearied by job losses, but many seem ready to give President Barack Obama more time to deal with the nation's economic crisis.
After his second prime-time news conference to defend the decisions he's made since taking office two months ago, Obama appears to enjoy the confidence -- or at least the patience -- of ordinary Americans anxious about the economy.
"I think he's done a pretty good job so far, and I didn't vote for him," said Jack Sizer, a Connecticut physician and management consultant, as he read the morning paper in a Cincinnati coffee shop. "Doing something, even if it doesn't work out, is probably a good thing. He's taking action versus inaction," said Sizer, 71, a self-described conservative.
Across the country in Phoenix, Arizona, former mortgage banker Sean Klasen said he was not expecting miracles in Obama's first 100 days in office -- the traditional time frame many use to judge new American presidents.
"I think right now people are going to be willing to give him a chance, especially considering what we went through with the last administration," said Klasen, who has returned to college to train as an accountant after the housing meltdown cut short his mortgage career.
Obama has gone on the offensive in recent days to explain his economic goals and decisions, appearing on a popular late-night talk show last week in addition to his high-profile televised news conference.
The communications effort seems to have helped preserve the Democratic president's approval ratings, which two separate polls show are hovering near a healthy 63 percent or 64 percent some 60 days after Obama took over the Oval Office.
Obama won 52 percent of the popular vote in November's presidential election, defeating Republican John McCain.
In San Francisco, paralegal Sean O'Brien said he thought Obama's performance on Tuesday night was "pretty good," especially given the challenges that face the country.
Since the recession began in December 2007, some 4.4 million jobs have been lost. More than half disappeared in the last four months alone.
'A TREMENDOUS JOB'
"I think he is doing a tremendous job under extremely adverse circumstances. Yeah, the AIG thing was kind of a real disaster, but I anticipated there would be a few disasters," said O'Brien, 48. "With time things will get better."
Obama and others have come under fire for allowing employees at failed insurance giant American International Group to give out $165 million in bonuses after the company received a $180 billion government bailout, an example of Wall Street excess that hit a nerve across America.
In Overland Park, Kansas, financial manager Kimberly Tassone said that while she was disappointed Obama made little mention of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Tuesday, she was pleased with his moves so far to address the financial crisis.

"I do think there has been a substantial amount of progress in the short duration of his presidency so far, but to say 'Problem solved' ... I think that will take a long time," said Tassone, 32, a registered independent who voted for Obama.
But even supporters of Obama said it was difficult to know whether the decisions he has taken were doing any good.
Democrat Angela Shogren, out walking her dog Moby near the White House in Washington, said she watched Obama's news conference with her husband and isn't sure whether she is more or less encouraged by the actions of the president.
"It was a lot of the same, a lot of talk here and everywhere on what's getting done and people are anxious to see results and I don't think we are yet," said Shogren, 28, who is looking for a job in public relations, adding that her job hunt was going "slow."
And not everyone was willing to give Obama more time.
"I strongly disapprove of his actions so far," said Boston business executive Randy Waters, arguing that Obama didn't seem to be able to collaborate with lawmakers in Congress.
"He says the Republicans have not provided alternatives. I've heard lots of alternatives from Republicans and even Democrats, but he discounts them as unacceptable," said Waters, who has a son in the Army due to be deployed to Afghanistan.
In a suburb of Dallas, McCain supporter and retired civil servant Robert Schultz said he didn't bother to watch Obama's news conference.
"I had no interest in what he was going to say. To me it doesn't make any difference what he says. The only thing that's constant from his campaign is that he's going to tax some people, somehow, to increase welfare payments in the country," said Schultz, who watched a hockey game instead.
But even Schultz, who worries Obama is a socialist, said Obama needs more time before his presidency can be judged.
"It's way too early." (Reuters)

Obama to beef up Mexico border policy

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration said Tuesday it's sending hundreds of extra federal agents and new crime-fighting equipment to the Mexican border as the U.S. struggles to roll back a tide of drug-related violence sweeping the Southwest.

The renewed push for a stronger law enforcement presence along the border comes as the administration tries to help the Mexican government break up drug cartels believed to be responsible for the killing of roughly 6,500 people last year in Mexico, according to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
"Our role is to assist in this battle because we have our own security interests in its success," Napolitano said at the White House.

A police convoy moves in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, last month, across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas.
In an interview with CNN later Tuesday, she said, "It's all about border safety and security and making sure that spillover violence does not erupt in our own country."
The new federal plan, developed by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, calls for doubling the number of border security task force teams as well as moving a significant number of other federal agents, equipment and resources to the border. It also involves greater intelligence sharing aimed at cracking down on the flow of money and weapons into Mexico that helps fuel the drug trade, senior administration officials said.
The plan commits $700 million to bolster Mexican law enforcement and crime prevention efforts. The funds will provide, among other things, five new helicopters to increase mobility for the Mexican army and air force as well as new surveillance aircraft for the Mexican navy.
The funds also will support enhanced communications technology for Mexican prosecutors, law enforcement and immigration officials.

The $700 million allocation, meant to assist what administration officials described as an "anti-smuggling effort," will complement ongoing U.S. aid to Mexico under the Merida initiative: a three-year, $1.4 billion package aimed at helping Mexico fight the drug cartels with law enforcement training, military equipment and improved intelligence cooperation.
The money was allocated last year, but Tuesday's announcement brought the first details of how some of that money will be spent.
On the U.S. side of the border, greater funding will support "prosecutor-led, intelligence-based task forces that bring together all Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security and other relevant law enforcement agencies to disrupt and dismantle the drug cartels through investigation, prosecution, extradition of their leaders and the seizure and forfeiture of their assets," Deputy Attorney General David Ogden said.
"As we've found with other large criminal groups, if you take their money and lock up their leaders, you can loosen their grip on the vast organizations that are used to carry out their criminal activities."
To help strengthen the U.S. side of the border further, the administration also plans to triple the number of Department of Homeland Security intelligence analysts dedicated to stopping Mexican-related violence.
It also will increase the number of immigration officials working in Mexico, double the number of "violent criminal alien" teams on the border, strengthen the presence of border canine units and quadruple the number of border liaison officers working with Mexican law enforcement.
It also will make an additional $59 million in federal funds available to support state, local and tribal border law enforcement operations.
At the same time, more agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives will be deployed to the border region. The agents will be given updated equipment and surveillance technology to help track the movement of cash, drugs and weapons.
"We are discussing more things we can do to address the very real problem of currency and weapons moving into Mexico and at the same time trying to prevent potential border spillover," one senior administration official said.
At a congressional hearing in Washington on Tuesday, Phoenix, Arizona, Mayor Phil Gordon called the administration's initiative "a great first step," but added, "it's a drop in the bucket in terms of what is needed."
Phoenix finds itself at the center of a "perfect storm" of drug runners and human smugglers, he said. While most traditional crimes are down, crimes associated with the border, in particular drug-related kidnappings and torturing, are overwhelming Gordon's police department.
"Most nights we have over 60 Phoenix police officers (and) some federal agents rushing to rescue those on a reactive basis," Gordon said.
"If you have even one dollar to invest ... I would respectfully request that you put them into these (law enforcement) task forces," he said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has also sought additional help for his state.
During a visit to El Paso last month, Perry said he had asked Napolitano for aviation assistance and "1,000 more troops that we can commit to different parts of the border."
Perry said it didn't matter to him what kind of troops came.
"As long as they are boots on the ground that are properly trained to deal with the border region, I don't care whether they are military troops, or National Guard troops or whether they are customs agents."
Last week, a Perry spokeswoman said that federal border protection had been underfunded for some time and that the 1,000 extra troops Perry requested would fill in gaps that state and local agencies have been covering.
The announcement comes shortly ahead of planned trips by three Cabinet secretaries to Mexico before President Obama visits there next month. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton goes to Mexico City this week, to be followed next week by Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder. Watch as the plan is unveiled ahead of Hillary Clinton's visit to Mexico »
Napolitano and Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg both emphasized the cooperation and "courage" of Mexican President Felipe Calderon during the news conference announcing the policy changes. Calderon has been pushing back against U.S. criticism of drug cartel-related violence lately, arguing that the U.S. needs to take more responsibility for the outbreaks.
In his speeches and other public remarks, Calderon repeatedly has pointed out that much of the demand for drugs and most of the weapons used by narco-traffickers comes from the United States.
A prominent Washington-based gun control advocacy group released a report Tuesday backing Calderon's assertions regarding weapons trafficking.

The report from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence asserts that Mexican drug gangs have exploited weak American gun laws and corrupt gun dealers "to amass arsenals of high-powered guns that have killed thousands and pose an increasingly grave security threat to Mexico and the U.S.," according to a statement from the organization.
"Mexican criminals, and traffickers who supply them, cannot get the guns they need in Mexico because of Mexico's strong gun laws," Brady Center President Paul Helmke said in a news conference. But in border states Texas and Arizona, he argued, weaker gun laws provide easy access to a significant supply of high-powered arms. (CNN)