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Insider Report: Obama 'Reformed Elitist'; Congress Skirts Law Special From NewsMax's Most Informed Sources
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories): 1. Congress Already Skirting New Lobbyist Rules The new Congress has passed rules prohibiting lobbyists from treating lawmakers to meals, trips, and other amenities — but the legislators have already found ways around those rules. Barred from picking up the tab for a lawmaker's outing, the lobbyists are instead paying a political fund-raising committee (PAC) set up by the congressman, and the PAC pays the legislator's way, according to a report by David D. Kirkpatrick in The New York Times. The rules, designed to curb the influence of lobbyists, were passed by both houses in January and have already taken effect in the House. They are expected to take effect in the Senate in several months. But in the past two months, congressmen on both sides of the aisle have invited lobbyists to help pay for a variety of outings, including hunting, and fishing trips — at $5,000 per lobbyist — a California wine-tasting tour, golf tournaments, rock concerts, ski trips, Broadway shows, and parties in Miami's South Beach.
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The trips would be illegal under the new rules if lobbyists or their employers paid for them directly, Kirkpatrick points out. But they are allowed because of several loopholes. First of all, the rules don't restrict political contributions, so paying to attend a fund-raising event is still legal. Plus, restrictions apply to legislators' re-election campaigns but not to their PACs, which can spend money on almost anything. Congressmen have been using their personal PACs to sponsor most outings. Meredith McGehee, policy director of the Campaign Legal Center — which advocates tighter campaign finance regulations — told the Times that organizing a fund-raising event was not the same as accepting a free vacation, but added: "At the end of the day, it is the same thing." Editor's Note:
2. Obama 'Reformed Elitist' Sen. Barack Obama has charmed many in the media as he takes aim at winning the White House, but one reporter who covered him several years back found Obama to be an "elitist Ivy League Democrat." As a correspondent for the Chicago Reader, Edward McClelland covered Obama's 2000 campaign to unseat Rep. Bobby Rush, a Democrat and former Black Panther representing Chicago's South Side. Writing now for the political Web site salon.com, McClelland recalled: "As even one of his admirers put it, 'He was a stiff.' "You think John Kerry looked wooden and condescending on the campaign trail? You should have seen this kid Obama. He was the elitist Ivy League Democrat to top them all . . . "Wherever Obama went, he talked like a poli-sci thesis . . . Obama just couldn't — or wouldn't — loosen up." Obama lost that primary election, capturing just 31 percent of the vote. Flash ahead to 2004, when Obama ran for the U.S. Senate from Illinois. McClelland found him a changed man, less arrogant and more casual and secure.
"Obama charmed me right away. He did it to dozens of reporters that year," McClelland writes in Salon. "I heard him speak at a North Side [of Chicago] organic restaurant known for its liberal politics . . . That wasn't the Obama I'd known. But it was the Obama America came to know." McClelland sums up his impressions of the "new" Obama: "So what do you make of a campaigner whose persona changed so drastically in four years? That he's finally learned to be himself, or that he's putting on an act? "He's doing both. All great politicians are also great performers." Editor's Note:
3. U.S. Pressuring Foreign Oil Companies on Iran Senior American officials have warned several European oil companies that if they invest in new energy projects in Iran, they could face financial sanctions in the U.S. That's the word from a European energy executive who spoke to The New York Times, asking that he not be identified because of his company's relations with Iran. Iran has not signed any firm oil or gas contracts with foreign investors since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president in June 2005. Some Iranian fields are in decline and in desperate need of foreign technical expertise, the Times reports. Due to a decline in oil production and rapidly increasing demand, Iran may have no oil to export by around 2015, energy analyst Robert Murphy told the Times.
Iranian production now stands at about 3.9 million barrels a day, down from more than 6 million barrels in the mid-1970s. And Iran's lagging refining capacity forces the world's fourth-largest oil exporter to import 40 percent of its gasoline. To curb demand for gasoline — which costs just 35 cents a gallon — the Islamic Republic plans to begin rationing gas in March, a measure sure to rile an already restive population. India has resisted American pressure to cut off gasoline exports to Iran and to cancel a planned pipeline project that would take Iranian natural gas through Pakistan to India. "But recent conversations with European energy executives and consultants, who spoke anonymously to protect their relations with Iran, suggest there is a new wave of concern about starting projects in the country," according to the Times. "Even Chinese companies, which Iran is trying to lure with big oil and gas deals, seem to be acting with caution." Editor's Note:
4. Hillary's Support on MySpace Plunges Sen. Hillary Clinton saw about half of her "friends" on MySpace suddenly disappear — but supporters claim it was only a glitch. A new blog called techPresident tracks how many "friends" the leading presidential candidates have on the popular MySpace Web site. As of Feb. 12, Sen. Barack Obama was leading all Democrats with more than 38,000 friends, the San Francisco Chronicle's SFGate.com reported. Hillary's friends topped out at around 22,000, but her number plunged to a little more than 12,000 after Feb. 10. For a time, Clinton's MySpace page ran this message: "Sorry. An unexpected error has occurred." The page later posted this message: "For some reason MySpace deleted us recently. We are working to get back to 24,000 friends. Please . . . send out a bulletin letting your friends know to support Hillary on MySpace." Editor's Note:
5. Brownstein: 'Less Divisive' Candidate Will Win in '08 Los Angeles Times columnist and CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein says voters in 2008 will seek a president who displays "competence and flexibility, someone who is less divisive." Addressing an audience at the Anti-Defamation League's National Executive Committee meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., Brownstein said President Bush declined to seek consensus during his two terms and declared: "Ultimately, we have to punish leadership that divides and reward leadership that unites." He said the challenge for the Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential election is to expand its base so it doesn't rely on victories in Florida or Ohio, where Republicans have traditionally been strong, the Palm Beach Daily News reported.
Among the candidates, he alluded to the media clamor over the youthful Barack Obama by calling him another "Gary Hart, only black." Brownstein said John Edwards' blue-collar appeal makes him "Dick Gephardt with eyebrows." Curiously, even though he predicted voters will reject a divisive candidate in 2008, he said Hillary Clinton is the front-runner among Democrats because she is "a centrist and relatively conservative."
As for Republicans, Brownstein said social conservatives currently have no candidate, with the possible exception of Newt Gingrich. "They don't trust McCain," he said, "Romney is a Mormon who was pro-choice until four years ago, and Giuliani lived with a gay couple after his second divorce."
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6. We Heard . . . THAT talent agent/filmmaker Pat Dollard calls George Clooney a "pompous jackass." Writing in the March issue of Vanity Fair, Dollard — who was wounded while making a documentary in Iraq — writes: "Clooney actually goes around letting people say he was 'brave' for making those movies ['Syriana' and 'Good Night, and Good Luck'] . . . "Is it brave making films that serve the agenda of every liberal in Hollywood when real heroes are spilling their blood in Iraq?" THAT "missing" global warming doomsayer Al Gore has been found — basking in the California sunshine. Last week NewsMax.com noted: "As a blizzard of snow and ice pummels the Northeast after trouncing the Midwest, and waves of Arctic cold fronts drop much of America below freezing, the $64,000 question is, Where is Al Gore?" Shortly after that article appeared, NewsMax received word from a computer company employee in California who reported seeing Gore at the company's headquarters, and said: "Apparently he's decided to flee the ice and snowstorms out here in California. There's the answer to your $64,000 question!" THAT in honor of President's Day, prominent historian John Patrick Diggins has released his new list of America's five best and worst chief executives — and Abraham Lincoln tops the "Greatest" list. George Washington is No. 2 on the list after Lincoln, followed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and Theodore Roosevelt. Richard Nixon does not appear on Diggins' list of the "Worst" presidents, which is topped by Warren Harding. James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant, Chester Arthur, and John Tyler round out the list in that order. Diggins is a distinguished professor of history at the City University of New York Graduate Center and the author of "The Rise and Fall of the American Left." His most recent book is "Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History." Editor's Notes:
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