The First 100 Days of the Obama Administration

by: Matt Glazer

Wed Apr 29, 2009 at 09:33 AM CDT

Let's be honest, the first 100 days are an arbitrary benchmark, but a benchmark none the less. This is the day polls begin to be announced as trends. Presidential tone is analyzed and critiqued beyond the natural honeymoon of elections.

President Obama has done more than most in his first 100 days.  To name just a few of the highlights, President Obama has passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, closed Guantanamo Bay, set a fixed timetable for withdrawing U.S. combat forces from Iraq, lifted the Bush restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, expanded children's health insurance, signed laws to improve work and gender equality, diminished the role of lobbyists in the White House, and engaged world leaders in Europe, Turkey, Latin America, and the Caribbean to increase America's standing across the globe.

Not to mention, he has brought hope and a new tone to federal government which is personified by Arlen Specter's recent announcement the Republican party has abandoned him and he now intends to run as a Democrat in 2010.

The White House released this Flickr photostream to show the 44th president's first 100 days.

In addition, county parties and democratic groups across the state are throwing events to celebrate the first 100 days of the Obama administration.

In Austin, democrats, elected officials from across the state, and Luke Hayes (the new Texas State Director for Organizing for America) will be at Speakeasy's to honor Democrats locally and nationally.

Celebrate 100 Days of Change

Celebrate the first 100 days of President Obama's
Speakeasy Nightclub in downtown Austin
Tonight, Wednesday April 29, 2009
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Featuring live music from Frank Gomez, Leeann Atherton and DJ Mel.
Speakeasy Nightclub
412 Congress Ave.

Tickets are available online at www.actblue.com/page/100days

Tickets are only $15 online and $20 at the door.

It's a good time to be a Democrat and there are many more days beyond the first 100 to celebrate.

Economist; Dr. James Galbraith Speaking Sun., April 26th, 11:30am. FREE.

by: David Kobierowski

Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 07:49 AM CDT

Dr. James Galbraith, Professor of Government and Economics, UT Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs will be our speaker.  How bad is our economic situation?  Can we pull through this recession?  What caused it?  How effective will President Obama's stimulus and recovery plan be?

Join us Sunday, April 26th, 11:30am.

The Public Affairs Forum is held on the campus of First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4700 Grover Ave., Austin.

This is a FREE event, and lots of free parking available.  All are invited!

Best,
David Kobierowski
Co-Chair: Public Affairs Forum

What We Did

by: Libby Shaw

Tue Apr 21, 2009 at 07:40 PM CDT

The Torturers' Manifesto

A Journey into Depravity.

To read the four newly released memos on prisoner interrogation written by George W. Bush's Justice Department is to take a journey into depravity.

We slammed prisoners against a wall.  We put collars on them so they could not sleep. We locked them in boxes with insects.

75% of Texans Disagree with Rick Perry's Calls to Secede

by: Matt Glazer

Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 00:40 PM CDT

That's the total percent of the vote Rick Perry received in 2006 in his re-election.  Given 4 options, only 39% would go with Governor Perry.

Clearly Rick Perry is more out of touch than the original numbers indicate.

Rasmussen has released a poll that shows Rick Perry's call to secede from the United States of America are hugely unpopular. Only 18% of those polled would vote to secede if the election to secede were held today.

Thirty-one percent (31%) of Texas voters say that their state has the right to secede from the United States and form an independent country.

However, the latest Rasmussen Reports poll in the state finds that if the matter was put to a vote, it wouldn't even be close. Three-fourths (75%) of Lone Star State voters would opt to remain in the United States. Only 18% would vote to secede, and seven percent (7%) are not sure what they'd choose.

At the most basic levels, the Reasmussen poll indicates all of the teabaggers who hollered and shouted for joy during Perry's repeated call for secession represent an extreme minority of the state at 18%.  It further shows just how out of touch the organizers of this Republican press stunt really are.

Not even Republican Senator and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) leader John Cornyn agrees with Rick Perry's assessment that Texas can legally secede from the U.S.

With 31% of Texans saying Texas has a right to seceded and only 18% actually wanting to secede, Perry has clearly hung his re-election hopes squarely on the far right. Will this anti-American sentiment work?  Sadly, it's too early to tell. However, Texans do support our country and I would be interested in seeing some polling numbers to see how people feel about the Federal Recovery and Re-investment Act and how they feel about Barack Obama. It's clear Perry does not have his finger on the pulse of the average Texans, so let's see who does.

Blue Dog Membership List Released

by: Matt Glazer

Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 10:30 AM CDT

I'll take a Blue Dog over a Republican any day in a conservative district. You can't purify what you don't own!

Rural Democrats in Texas are a tough breed.  They are always going to have a tough challenger.  They are always targeted.  They live and vote under a microscope.  They are good, proud Democrats, but they are usually under siege by both sides of the electorate-- Democratic Primary voters and Republicans.

That's one reason I expected to see a few Texans on the list of the Blue Dog Caucus released by Huffington Post 2 days ago.

In the list of 51 members, there is only 1 Democrat.  

The only Texan on the list is Henry Cuellar (TX-28), who is a Democrat who represents a very Democratic district.

In 2008 Cuellar won re-election by an impressive 40 points against Jim Fish. In 2006 Cuellar didn't even have a challenger. Cuellar will never be on the NRCC target list and that is probably even more true now that Pete Sessions is running the show.

The other surprise was not seeing Chet Edwards on the list. Edwards is having a great session already and his influence has only been bolstered by being on the Obama short list for Vice President. Perhaps that is the reason Edwards has left the Blue Dog caucus. In either case, the list is interesting for a number of reasons.

The full membership and it's leaders are below the fold.

Update: From a friend and former staffer to some Blue Dogs.

Chet has never been a blue dog, but there have been some significant blue dogs from Texas. One current congressman, ralph hall was a blue dog before he switched parties. Lampson was a blue dog on both of his runs in congress.

Also Charlie Stenholm and Max Sandlin were both Texans and Blue Dogs early on in the Blue Dog history - in fact, i believe stenholm was a founding blue dog.

To Congressman Edwards, sorry for giving you the label.  The national online folks tend to tag Edwards with the Blue Dog label and I was wrong and passing the title.

President Barack Obama: How He Won & Early Successes

by: Phillip Martin

Sun Mar 29, 2009 at 04:27 PM CDT

Monday marks the 70th day of President Barack Obama's presidency. I thought it would be interesting to look back at how we got here and -- more importantly -- to examine exactly what his administration has achieved over the past seventy days.

By now, most of us can list the reasons how President Obama won the 2008 election. However, it is always a good policy to find solid research and reporting that source those reasons. Chronicling the events of history allows us to remain an informed citizenry -- and gives us data points for understanding how to model future success from best practices of the past.

The following are a selection of readings discussing how President Barack Obama won the 2008 election:

1. "Why Obama Won" (CBS) -- A very short, basic, but good summary of how he did it.
   
   
2. "The Issues Changed: How Obama Won in a Landslide" (Public Policy Polling) -- This is a 5-page memo from a polling group that illustrates how the economy replaced immigration as a key issue in the swing states of Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio, and how that led to Obama's victory.
   
   
3. "Surge in Minority Voting Pushed Obama Over the Top" (McClatchy) -- A news article hosted on the Project Vote website that looks at exit polling data analysis of minority voters.
   
   
4. Newsweek's Secrets of the 2008 Campaign -- A very long, extensive series of articles on the 2008 election. The link will direct you to the first chapter in the series, titled, "How He Did It." There are seven chapters overall -- just above the article headline are links to the other chapters -- which discuss Obama vs. Clinton, McCain emerging from the primary, Sarah Palin, the final days, etc.
   
   
5. "Battle Plans: How Obama Won" (The New Yorker)  -- One of their trademark lengthy pieces.
   
   
6. "The Man Who Made Obama" (Esquire) -- This extensive profile of David Plouffe tellsl the story of the campaign through the eyes of one of the architects that thought it all through and helped make it all happen.
   
   
7. E.Politics Series on Obama & the Internet -- This is an excellent series that breaks down exactly how Obama used the internet to win his election. The series contains a series of hyperlinks; reading it will naturally lead the reader to shorter stories about Obama's campaign and the internet. Within the wide-ranging series, the following are some of the most useful links:
   
   
   • Learning from Obama's Campaign Structure: How to Organize for Success -- Published by E.politics.
     
     
   • "Obama Raised Half a Billion Online" -- From the Washington Post
     
     
   • The Social Pulpit: Barack Obama's Social Media Toolkit -- This one is very detailed about the technology used and contains many interesting graphs and illustrations.

Those are just a small collection of the resources that already exist explaining how President Barack Obama won. If you have other good resources you would like to share, please leave a comment below and share them with the community.

Early Successes of the President Barack Obama Administration

President Obama continues to encourage patience on the single most dominant issue facing the country: the economic crisis. Rarely a day goes by that he does not remind the American public about the challenges ahead over the coming years. Though the stimulus package passed through Congress in mid-February remains the trademark piece of legislation, there are numerous other policies he has signed off on that have clearly demonstrated a departure from the President Bush-era of governance.

The following are a sample of the legislative highlights and early successes of President Obama's administration:

1. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - From the bill's Wikipedia page, which provides the simplest yet most comprehensive information on the legislation (a tribute to Web 2.0 organization):
   

   The Act specifies that 37% of the package is to be devoted to tax cuts equaling $288 billion and $144 billion or 18% is allocated to state and local fiscal relief (more than 90% of the state aid is going to Medicaid and education). 45% or $357 billion is allocated to federal social programs and federal spending programs.
   

2. Expansion of SCHIP - The law, which was vetoed twice by President Bush, expands health care coverage for 4 million children, in addition to the 6 million children already enrolled in the program.
   
   
3. Lifts Ban on Stem Cell Research - President Obama's executive order rescinds the previous policy of the Bush administration and, as it states:
   

   The purpose of this order is to remove these limitations on scientific inquiry, to expand NIH support for the exploration of human stem cell research, and in so doing to enhance the contribution of America's scientists to important new discoveries and new therapies for the benefit of humankind.

4. Ban on Torture - Another executive order from President Obama, this one is an extensive statement encouraging "lawful interrogations" and ending, without questoin, the former practices of torture pursued by President Bush.
   
   
5. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 - The law will make it easier for workers to receive fair pay.
   
   
6. Grants California Authority to Pass Higher CAFE Standards - President Obama's directive allows California to set CAFE standards that go above and beyond the national standards, a policy President Bush instructed the EPA to halt. Though President Obama's new fuel economy rules have sparked a debate, his policies are a clear improvement on those of President Bush.
   
   
7. EPA Review of Mountaintop Mining Permits - Another departure from President Bush, the agency will more aggressively review and potentially limit the practice of mountaintop mining, which has devastated the Appalachia region.
   
   
8. Removal of Abortion-Related Rules for Foreign Aid Groups - The memorandum signed by President Obama will end "prohibition on supplying federal family-planning funds and contraceptives to international aid groups that provide abortions, abortion referrals or abortion counseling."
   
   
9. Establishment of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Contracts - The executive order from President Obama states:
   

   It is the policy of the Federal Government to encourage executive agencies to consider requiring the use of project labor agreements in connection with large-scale construction projects in order to promote economy and efficiency in Federal procurement.

10. Overturns President Bush's Endangered Species Rule - The new rule restores the practice -- which President Bush ended -- that agencies must check with the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine if new projects will affect the livelihood of endangered species.

Those are just some of the new laws, rules, and policies President Obama has ushered through in his first 70 days in office. Though there remains tremendous work to do, I sincerely believe that he has done excellent so far, and have confidence that he will continue to do his best going forward.

Obama to Texas: Here is An Additional $208 Million for Energy Efficiency

by: Phillip Martin

Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 11:02 AM CDT

Um....WOW!

Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced plans to invest $3.2 billion in energy efficiency and conservation projects in U.S. cities, counties, states, territories, and Native American tribes. This includes $208,759,900 for state, county and city efforts in Texas. A detailed breakdown is below.

Today’s announcement builds on an investment of $545,757,732 in Texas weatherization and energy funding announced by the Administration on March 12th and detailed at energy.gov/recovery.

“These investments will save taxpayer dollars and create jobs in communities around the country,” said Vice President Biden. “Local leaders will have the flexibility in how they put these resources to work – but we will hold them accountable for making the investments quickly and wisely to spur the local economy and cut energy use.”

Austin will get $7,492,700. It would take me far too long to recreate the table that was sent in an e-mail -- I'm sure there will be a good source that has done that at some point, and I or someone else will try to update the post when we can.

Awesome.

Six Texas Congressional Democrats Warn Against Obama's Energy Plan

by: David Mauro

Wed Mar 25, 2009 at 10:55 AM CDT

Yes, you read that headline correctly.

Although U.S. Reps. Gene Green, Sheila Jackson Lee, Charlie Gonzales, Al Green, Ciro Rodriguez and Henry Cuellar, all Democrats from Texas, stressed that they "support President Obama's goals to end our addiction to foreign oil, invest in clean, renewable energy and transition to a low-carbon economy," the five congressman warned that the President's proposals could curb domestic energy production.

The group, who were joined by six other House Democratic colleagues, sent a letter yesterday to U.S. Rep. John Spratt, chairman of the House Budget Committee. The committee is expected to begin considering President Obama's budget today.

Personally I was inclined to agree with President Obama's proposals. This is what the Democrats who disagree are worried about, from the San Antonio Express-News article "Texas Dems say energy is at risk":

Obama’s budget would bar deductions for intangible drilling costs, block oil and natural gas companies from claiming domestic manufacturing deductions and repeal the percentage depletion for wells. It also would impose new use-it-or-lose-it style fees on inactive drilling leases on public lands.

Administration officials have argued that the incentives encourage reliance on polluting fossil fuels while draining federal coffers.

... they told Spratt [that] the U.S. needs an all-inclusive energy policy that recognizes the role of natural gas and oil. And they are concerned that some of the proposed tax increases could hurt “domestic energy production and job growth,” while disproportionately affecting small and independent producers.

Do you think these six congressman are right or should they have stood with President Obama on his energy proposals?

Barack Obama Praises Chet Edwards, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

by: Matt Glazer

Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 04:57 PM CDT

Because of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which Congressman Edwards worked so hard to pass we are putting people t work across the country to get our economy back on track.

In Texas, $621 million from this recovery plan will be used to build a new military hospital that will treat soldiers and veterans alike. This is the kind of critical investment we must make to support our brave soldiers and veterans who have sacrificed so much for us, and this is the sort of progress that can happen if we bring Democrats and Republicans together to focus on solving the challenges we face as a nation.

(h/t to Quorum Report)

An Eye on 2012? Look to Texas, Mr. President

by: Michael Hurta

Tue Mar 17, 2009 at 01:41 AM CDT

President Obama has visited seven states since being sworn in: Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.

What do they have in common? Six of the states are where Obama had his smallest margins of victory in the 2008 presidential race, an indication that the White House is planning his public appearances with an eye towards 2012.

If the President has an eye on 2012 while he is simultaneously governing, he should look to more than the 2008 swing states.  If his team truly wants to build a long term progressive majority, as it probably does, then some of the swing states from 2008 will see their colors solidly blue.

I understand that President Obama's visits to these states are probably part of that process to making the "swing states" potential "blue states" (at least if the President's economic plan succeeds).  

But, Mr. President, if your eyes are on 2012, I hope the eyes of Obama are upon us.  The pendulum is swinging our way.  In four years, a Democrat might wield the gavel in the state house.  More importantly for the President, 2012 will provide a Senate race that will either showcase the first incumbent statewide Democrat in decades or a good chance to knock of a 2-year Republican incumbent.