Taking a deeper look at the massive $1T U.S. market opportunity for AVs
President Obama announced that he believes same-sex couples should be granted the right to marry, reaching this historic conclusion after saying before his position had been evolving over many years.
“I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told ABC News.
Needless to say it is a dramatic move in an election year and it also seems a bit more choreographed than initially believed; as in Obama’s announcement wasn’t necessarily precipitated by Vice President Joe Biden’s comment on the topic last Sunday on “Meet the Press.” [I know the story is Biden apologized later for jumping the gun. I just don’t believe it.]
But regardless of whether it was choreographed or not, the fact is Obama’s announcement will have an impact on key swing states such as North Carolina and Virginia; the former having voted overwhelmingly, 61-39, for a state constitutional amendment the day before the president’s statement to ban same-sex unions.
I also got a kick out of Obama once again dragging his kids into the discussion.
“You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and, frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”
Gay advocates now hope Obama more vocally opposes the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that bans recognition of same-sex marriage at the federal level. The president has called the law discriminatory, but groups want him to play a more prominent role in fighting to repeal it.
The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty points out that “When the question has been put to the voters over the past decade – more than 30 times in state referendums since 1988 – they have come down against gay marriage every time.”
But attitudes have indeed been changing and a Washington Post/ABC News survey found that 52% said gay marriage should be legal, while 43% said it should not. [Independents, incidentally, supported gay marriage by a 54-42 margin in this March survey.]
Editorial / Washington Post
“It was not entirely clear how far Mr. Obama’s support extends. According to an ABC report, the president ‘stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own.’ This suggests that Mr. Obama may not be prepared to go so far as to support the view that the right of gay men and lesbians to marry, like that of interracial couples, is entitled to constitutional protection. He was not asked directly about his views on the constitutional status of same-sex marriage.
“Nonetheless, this development is symbolically important and enormously cheering. The nation has moved swiftly, in historical terms, from cruel and almost unthinking bigotry against gay men and lesbians to recognition that such prejudice is unacceptable….
“That might not seem obvious the day after North Carolina became the 30th state to adopt a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage…In total, 38 states prohibit same-sex marriage either by constitutional amendment, statute or both…
“But polls show a population evenly divided and steadily trending toward support for civil rights for gays, with younger people least conflicted of all.”
Editorial / Wall Street Journal
“Congratulations to President Obama for matching his public policy with what everyone already knew were his private beliefs. His statement Wednesday that he supports same-sex marriage spared the public the ruse of waiting until after the election to state the inevitable….
“One school of political thought holds that gay-rights issues typically hurt the person who raises them first. But perhaps the Obama campaign calculates that in a close election he will need a passionate base and that this will drive liberal and youth turnout in such important and evolving states as Virginia, Colorado, New Hampshire and New Mexico. On the other hand, Mr. Obama looks like he has just solved that problem Mitt Romney supposedly has with rousing cultural conservatives.
“The Obama endorsement also guarantees that the media will not allow Mr. Romney to go anywhere without being interrogated on this subject. The Republican could do worse than to say he supports the Defense of Marriage Act that President Bill Clinton signed less than two months before the 1996 Presidential election, adding that he believes the issue ought to be resolved democratically by the states. That has left New York and five other states plus the District of Columbia to sanction gay marriage, while North Carolina on Tuesday went in the opposite direction….
“American public opinion on unions between same-sex couples – whether civil or matrimonial – is changing, with support growing. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney won’t arrive at a marriage of the minds on this subject, but the issue shouldn’t decide the election and we doubt it will.”
On Wednesday evening, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives moved to reinforce the Defense of Marriage Act by a 245-171 margin.
The CIA and its counterparts in Saudi Arabia and Yemen disrupted a bomb plot, a new underwear device targeting U.S.-bound aircraft, helped in part by the use of a double-agent (a Brit, as we’ve just learned).
Michael A. Walsh / New York Post
“Let’s stipulate that the CIA’s discovery a fortnight ago of yet another underwear-bomber plot, this one originating with al Qaeda in Yemen and aimed at an American airliner, was a splendid feat of intel tradecraft.
“Stipulate, too, that it gets us one step closer to nailing Ibrihim al-Asri, the terrorist behind the earlier Christmas Day underwear-bomber plot in Detroit in 2009, as well as the bombs hidden inside laser printers stashed aboard cargo planes in 2010.
“And let’s agree that foiling the operation by means of a double agent inside al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s operational structure potentially saved many lives.
“But here’s a rude question: Why do we even know about this?
“One of the unsung stories in the War on Terror is the active cooperation of Arab and other Muslim officers working in-country: Saudi intelligence officers, Iraqi cops and local Afghani chiefs. The FBI in particular has done a splendid job of recruiting, training and partnering with locals on the ground, developing invaluable sources and operational assistance.
“Their identities – their very existences – are generally kept secret, not only for their own protection, but for the continuing effectiveness of counterterrorism ops. You generally don’t let the bad guys know you’ve penetrated their inner sanctums. Moles stay underground for a reason.
“Yet here was John Brennan, the White House counterterrorism adviser, showing up on national TV to take a very public victory lap. ‘I think people getting on a plane today should feel confident that their intelligence services are working day in and day out to stop these types of IEDs from getting anywhere near a plane,’ he said.
“Thanks for sharing. Of course, if Brennan and the CIA had quietly broken up the plot, rolled up the network (two of the plotters in Yemen were killed in a drone attack on Sunday; the announcement of the plot was made the next day) and kept their mouths shut, the public wouldn’t be worrying about those IEDs, because they wouldn’t have realized the threat remained….
“With the economy in shambles, the president and his team have been floating a national-security campaign, based largely around the Navy SEALs’ killing of Osama bin Laden a year ago in Pakistan and the ongoing drone attacks on terrorist leaders. Last week, Obama flew all the way to Kabul to pat himself on the back for bin Laden’s death….
“But the politicization of intelligence is no laughing matter. Obama did the right thing in moving Democratic functionary Leon Panetta over to Defense and replacing him at CIA with Gen. David Petraeus, who’s both apolitical and the soul of discretion – you can bet Petraeus didn’t authorize the leak.
“But even the man who led the turning of the tide in Iraq can only do so much to clean up the swamps of Washington and Langley….
“The old adage, ‘Loose lips sink ships’ still applies, and that goes double for airships.”
I could not agree more with Mr. Walsh’s take. Going back to my comments from Paris when I first heard of the strike to take out bin Laden, and before that “Mission Accomplished,” I have always been deeply troubled by triumphalism, in any form.
But Michael Walsh wrote his piece before we learned details of the double-agent, who was recruited in Britain. Imagine, the United States gave up his identity, too.
As reported in the London Times late Friday night, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta condemned the disclosure.
“As a former Director of the CIA, I have to tell you that those kinds of leaks are very harmful to the efforts of the intelligence community.”
Said Shashank Joshi, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank:
“If you’re MI5 and you’re trying to recruit a young British Pakistani or British Arab in the future, how do you persuade them that their actions and their potential identity…[aren’t] going to be splashed across The New York Times the next week?”
Eric Edelman, an under-secretary of defense during the George W. Bush years, said: “Under Obama, intelligence has been systematically politicized for political gain, thus the ‘high fives’ that you saw the other day at the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death. The leaks are so appalling it’s hard to fathom, but this is not the first time it has happened.”
Whitehall officials are furious with the U.S. If I’m Mitt Romney, I’d have this at the top of my debate talking points next fall. I’m getting ticked off just typing this.
I have expressed my admiration for Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar on more than one occasion in this space, almost solely because he’s been an adult on the topic of foreign affairs and presidents of both parties have wisely sought his guidance.
But I have not been privy to his relationship with the citizens of Indiana, some instances of which I honestly just became aware of in his losing primary campaign against Tea Partier Richard Mourdock.
And while I’m sorry to see Lugar go at a time of immense pressure on the diplomatic front, I also have one other thing to say.
You’re 80 freakin’ years old, for crying out loud, Sen. Lugar! Geezuz. My past comments over the years weren’t based on your hanging around until you’re 86.
Enjoy your retirement, and to Indiana Republicans, don’t blow it in November.
An AP-GfK poll of registered voters has Barack Obama with a 50-42 lead over Mitt Romney. Obama is favored on the issue of the economy by a 46-44 margin. Female voters favor Obama by 54-39. Black voters go the president’s way 90-5.
But a Politico/Battleground poll found Romney with a 48-47 lead among likely voters, including 48-38 among independents. Obama led Romney by nine points last February in the same survey.
And a new USA TODAY/Gallup Swing States Poll shows that in 12 battleground states, Obama holds a 47-45 edge. On the likability front, however, 58% say the president is likeable, while just 31% describe Romney that way.
A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Obama and Romney in a virtual tie in critical Ohio and Florida. Obama leads in Pennsylvania 47-39.
Michael Gerson / Washington Post
“ ‘We’re not going back…We’re going forward,’ President Obama said during his formal campaign kickoff in Ohio. This rallying cry was pedestrian, and appropriately so. Obama is no longer a leader on horseback. His campaign – on the evidence of its first day – will be a long, unimaginative, partisan march to the sea.
“Gone are the vast ambitions of national progress and healing. In Ohio on Saturday, Obama made a methodical appeal to various voting blocks – college-educated women, gays, Hispanics. He waded into the culture war on abortion, something he rarely did four years ago. And he accused the GOP of trickle-down hostility to the middle class.
“To every interest group, a sop. On every wedge issue, a swat. To every class enemy, a turn in the tumbrel. Obama has gone ‘forward’ all the way to the strategy of Walter Mondale.
“The president may persuade voters with this message, but he apparently has given up trying to inspire them. And this is not a small thing, since the Obama brand once consisted mainly of inspiration.”
In a story for Newsweek by Peter J. Boyer and Peter Schweizer titled “Why Can’t Obama Bring Wall Street To Justice?” there is this nugget.
“ ‘There hasn’t been any serious investigation of any of the largest financial entities by the Justice Department, which includes the FBI,’ says William Black, an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, who, as a government regulator in the 1980s, helped clean up the S&L mess. Black, who is a Democrat, notes that the feds dealt with the S&L crisis with harsh justice, bringing more than a thousand prosecutions, and securing a 90 percent conviction rate. The difference between the government’s response to the two crises, Black says, is a matter of will, and priorities. ‘You need heads on the pike,’ he says. ‘The first President Bush’s orders were to get the most prominent, nastiest frauds, and put their heads on pikes as a demonstration that there’s a new sheriff in town.’”
Kinda makes you want to move Bush 41 up another notch, doesn’t it?
Fred Barnes / The Weekly Standard
“In running for reelection, Obama has already set records. As of March 6, he’s held more fundraising events (104) than the previous five presidents combined (94).”
Of course it’s only gotten worse since that data point. On Thursday night, in Studio City, President Obama headlined a star-studded fundraiser that brought in nearly $15 million. Held in George Clooney’s backyard, it was hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg and had the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Barbra Streisand and Billy Crystal.
Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson will be the Libertarian Party candidate for president come November. I wouldn’t expect him to get even 3%.
For the archives, polling for the 2016 Iowa caucus has begun. Hillary Clinton leads Joe Biden 62-14, according to a Public Policy Polling survey. Importantly, Hillary has an 88% favorability rating. On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum top the list at 16%, with Gov. Chris Christie at 15%.
A few weeks ago I blasted the U.S. and the military in particular for bad behavior. So last weekend, there was Defense Secretary Leon Panetta addressing troops at Ft. Benning, Ga. Panetta said that episodes involving a few soldiers who “lack judgment, lack professionalism, lack leadership” could have far-reaching consequences.
“The reality is that our enemies are losing on the battlefield, and they will seek any opportunity to damage us,” the secretary said. “In particular, they have sought to take advantage of a series of troubling incidents that involved misconduct.”
Case closed, one hopes.
Trader George passed on a piece from Bloomberg that is rather scary. There’s a new type of superbug “that scientists warn is spreading faster, further and in more alarming ways than any they’ve encountered. Researchers say the epicenter is India, where drugs created to fight disease have taken a perverse turn by making many ailments harder to treat….
“Poor hygiene has spread resistant germs into India’s drains, sewers and drinking water, putting millions at risk of drug-defying infections. Antibiotic residues from drug manufacturing, livestock treatment and medical waste have entered water and sanitation systems, exacerbating the problem.”
Now who’s grossed out?
According to the Centers for Disease Control, by 2030, 42% of American adults will be obese. This is actually less than experts had predicted previously, though it’s still a significant increase from today’s 33%. Severe obesity, however, where adults are nearly 100 pounds overweight, will double to 11% of adults.
Aside from exercise, there is one solution…cut out sugar! The levels of it in our foods is beyond absurd. So, yes, put me in the Food Nanny camp when it comes to this topic.
In my last site traffic check, while the lion’s share of my readers come from the U.S., it is curious to me that Pakistan is second again, followed by India, Canada and the U.K. So a “Hee Haw” saaa-luuute to my Pak audience!
The period January through April was the warmest on record for the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, some five degrees above the long-term average.
Warm air can be tough enough to stomach at the extremes, but thank god we don’t have any large dinosaurs to deal with these days as a new study in Current Biology suggests they made a significant contribution to the greenhouse effect 200 million years ago, as reported by the AP. It’s estimated dinosaurs passed about six times more gas than cows do today.
Yes, it was the long-necked plant eaters, sauropods, who had food fermenting in their guts for long periods of time that were the worst offenders. And back then there was no Beano.
TV Alert…On Monday, PBS’ “American Masters” profiles Johnny Carson. There are many of us who still miss Johnny, like a lot.
Finally, I have these farmer friends in the Oklahoma Panhandle and one of their boys, Thomas, whom I’ve met a few times, is graduating from Laverne High School next week. He’s part of a great family and I loved what was on the graduation notice from the school.
We came to this place together
To learn, to grow, to share…
Time and space may separate,
But distance cannot come
Between us.
And there is the “Class Motto”:
What we are is God’s gift to us.
What we become is our gift to God.
Kind of makes me wish I was there next week.
So allow me to take this moment to congratulate all the high school and college graduates this year. You have some interesting challenges ahead of you. Work hard. And don’t text and drive.
-
Pray for the men and women of our armed forces…and all the fallen.
God bless America.
-
Gold closed at $1579
Oil, $95.65
Returns for the week 5/7-5/11
Dow Jones -1.7% [12820]
S&P 500 -1.1% [1353]
S&P MidCap -0.1%
Russell 2000 -0.2%
Nasdaq -0.8% [2933]
Returns for the period 1/1/12-5/11/12
Dow Jones +4.9%
S&P 500 +7.6%
S&P MidCap +9.7%
Russell 2000 +6.6%
Nasdaq +12.6%
Bulls 38.7
Bears 20.4 [Source: Investors Intelligence…fewest # of bulls since 10/18/11 when S&P was 1225…but after a dip to 1158 on 11/25/11, the S&P ran up to 1419 on 4/2/12…which is how a contrarian indicator often works, Charlie Brown.]
Have a great week. We’re selling some iPad apps…yippee! Not including those family and friends who were forced to download in the past week. Each one I sell is the equivalent of a draft beer at happy hour at a dive bar in Gary, Indiana; not that I’m looking to travel there for said entertainment.
“I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told ABC News.
Needless to say it is a dramatic move in an election year and it also seems a bit more choreographed than initially believed; as in Obama’s announcement wasn’t necessarily precipitated by Vice President Joe Biden’s comment on the topic last Sunday on “Meet the Press.” [I know the story is Biden apologized later for jumping the gun. I just don’t believe it.]
But regardless of whether it was choreographed or not, the fact is Obama’s announcement will have an impact on key swing states such as North Carolina and Virginia; the former having voted overwhelmingly, 61-39, for a state constitutional amendment the day before the president’s statement to ban same-sex unions.
I also got a kick out of Obama once again dragging his kids into the discussion.
“You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and, frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”
Gay advocates now hope Obama more vocally opposes the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that bans recognition of same-sex marriage at the federal level. The president has called the law discriminatory, but groups want him to play a more prominent role in fighting to repeal it.
The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty points out that “When the question has been put to the voters over the past decade – more than 30 times in state referendums since 1988 – they have come down against gay marriage every time.”
But attitudes have indeed been changing and a Washington Post/ABC News survey found that 52% said gay marriage should be legal, while 43% said it should not. [Independents, incidentally, supported gay marriage by a 54-42 margin in this March survey.]
Editorial / Washington Post
“It was not entirely clear how far Mr. Obama’s support extends. According to an ABC report, the president ‘stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own.’ This suggests that Mr. Obama may not be prepared to go so far as to support the view that the right of gay men and lesbians to marry, like that of interracial couples, is entitled to constitutional protection. He was not asked directly about his views on the constitutional status of same-sex marriage.
“Nonetheless, this development is symbolically important and enormously cheering. The nation has moved swiftly, in historical terms, from cruel and almost unthinking bigotry against gay men and lesbians to recognition that such prejudice is unacceptable….
“That might not seem obvious the day after North Carolina became the 30th state to adopt a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage…In total, 38 states prohibit same-sex marriage either by constitutional amendment, statute or both…
“But polls show a population evenly divided and steadily trending toward support for civil rights for gays, with younger people least conflicted of all.”
Editorial / Wall Street Journal
“Congratulations to President Obama for matching his public policy with what everyone already knew were his private beliefs. His statement Wednesday that he supports same-sex marriage spared the public the ruse of waiting until after the election to state the inevitable….
“One school of political thought holds that gay-rights issues typically hurt the person who raises them first. But perhaps the Obama campaign calculates that in a close election he will need a passionate base and that this will drive liberal and youth turnout in such important and evolving states as Virginia, Colorado, New Hampshire and New Mexico. On the other hand, Mr. Obama looks like he has just solved that problem Mitt Romney supposedly has with rousing cultural conservatives.
“The Obama endorsement also guarantees that the media will not allow Mr. Romney to go anywhere without being interrogated on this subject. The Republican could do worse than to say he supports the Defense of Marriage Act that President Bill Clinton signed less than two months before the 1996 Presidential election, adding that he believes the issue ought to be resolved democratically by the states. That has left New York and five other states plus the District of Columbia to sanction gay marriage, while North Carolina on Tuesday went in the opposite direction….
“American public opinion on unions between same-sex couples – whether civil or matrimonial – is changing, with support growing. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney won’t arrive at a marriage of the minds on this subject, but the issue shouldn’t decide the election and we doubt it will.”
On Wednesday evening, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives moved to reinforce the Defense of Marriage Act by a 245-171 margin.
The CIA and its counterparts in Saudi Arabia and Yemen disrupted a bomb plot, a new underwear device targeting U.S.-bound aircraft, helped in part by the use of a double-agent (a Brit, as we’ve just learned).
Michael A. Walsh / New York Post
“Let’s stipulate that the CIA’s discovery a fortnight ago of yet another underwear-bomber plot, this one originating with al Qaeda in Yemen and aimed at an American airliner, was a splendid feat of intel tradecraft.
“Stipulate, too, that it gets us one step closer to nailing Ibrihim al-Asri, the terrorist behind the earlier Christmas Day underwear-bomber plot in Detroit in 2009, as well as the bombs hidden inside laser printers stashed aboard cargo planes in 2010.
“And let’s agree that foiling the operation by means of a double agent inside al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s operational structure potentially saved many lives.
“But here’s a rude question: Why do we even know about this?
“One of the unsung stories in the War on Terror is the active cooperation of Arab and other Muslim officers working in-country: Saudi intelligence officers, Iraqi cops and local Afghani chiefs. The FBI in particular has done a splendid job of recruiting, training and partnering with locals on the ground, developing invaluable sources and operational assistance.
“Their identities – their very existences – are generally kept secret, not only for their own protection, but for the continuing effectiveness of counterterrorism ops. You generally don’t let the bad guys know you’ve penetrated their inner sanctums. Moles stay underground for a reason.
“Yet here was John Brennan, the White House counterterrorism adviser, showing up on national TV to take a very public victory lap. ‘I think people getting on a plane today should feel confident that their intelligence services are working day in and day out to stop these types of IEDs from getting anywhere near a plane,’ he said.
“Thanks for sharing. Of course, if Brennan and the CIA had quietly broken up the plot, rolled up the network (two of the plotters in Yemen were killed in a drone attack on Sunday; the announcement of the plot was made the next day) and kept their mouths shut, the public wouldn’t be worrying about those IEDs, because they wouldn’t have realized the threat remained….
“With the economy in shambles, the president and his team have been floating a national-security campaign, based largely around the Navy SEALs’ killing of Osama bin Laden a year ago in Pakistan and the ongoing drone attacks on terrorist leaders. Last week, Obama flew all the way to Kabul to pat himself on the back for bin Laden’s death….
“But the politicization of intelligence is no laughing matter. Obama did the right thing in moving Democratic functionary Leon Panetta over to Defense and replacing him at CIA with Gen. David Petraeus, who’s both apolitical and the soul of discretion – you can bet Petraeus didn’t authorize the leak.
“But even the man who led the turning of the tide in Iraq can only do so much to clean up the swamps of Washington and Langley….
“The old adage, ‘Loose lips sink ships’ still applies, and that goes double for airships.”
I could not agree more with Mr. Walsh’s take. Going back to my comments from Paris when I first heard of the strike to take out bin Laden, and before that “Mission Accomplished,” I have always been deeply troubled by triumphalism, in any form.
But Michael Walsh wrote his piece before we learned details of the double-agent, who was recruited in Britain. Imagine, the United States gave up his identity, too.
As reported in the London Times late Friday night, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta condemned the disclosure.
“As a former Director of the CIA, I have to tell you that those kinds of leaks are very harmful to the efforts of the intelligence community.”
Said Shashank Joshi, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank:
“If you’re MI5 and you’re trying to recruit a young British Pakistani or British Arab in the future, how do you persuade them that their actions and their potential identity…[aren’t] going to be splashed across The New York Times the next week?”
Eric Edelman, an under-secretary of defense during the George W. Bush years, said: “Under Obama, intelligence has been systematically politicized for political gain, thus the ‘high fives’ that you saw the other day at the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death. The leaks are so appalling it’s hard to fathom, but this is not the first time it has happened.”
Whitehall officials are furious with the U.S. If I’m Mitt Romney, I’d have this at the top of my debate talking points next fall. I’m getting ticked off just typing this.
I have expressed my admiration for Indiana Republican Sen. Richard Lugar on more than one occasion in this space, almost solely because he’s been an adult on the topic of foreign affairs and presidents of both parties have wisely sought his guidance.
But I have not been privy to his relationship with the citizens of Indiana, some instances of which I honestly just became aware of in his losing primary campaign against Tea Partier Richard Mourdock.
And while I’m sorry to see Lugar go at a time of immense pressure on the diplomatic front, I also have one other thing to say.
You’re 80 freakin’ years old, for crying out loud, Sen. Lugar! Geezuz. My past comments over the years weren’t based on your hanging around until you’re 86.
Enjoy your retirement, and to Indiana Republicans, don’t blow it in November.
An AP-GfK poll of registered voters has Barack Obama with a 50-42 lead over Mitt Romney. Obama is favored on the issue of the economy by a 46-44 margin. Female voters favor Obama by 54-39. Black voters go the president’s way 90-5.
But a Politico/Battleground poll found Romney with a 48-47 lead among likely voters, including 48-38 among independents. Obama led Romney by nine points last February in the same survey.
And a new USA TODAY/Gallup Swing States Poll shows that in 12 battleground states, Obama holds a 47-45 edge. On the likability front, however, 58% say the president is likeable, while just 31% describe Romney that way.
A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Obama and Romney in a virtual tie in critical Ohio and Florida. Obama leads in Pennsylvania 47-39.
Michael Gerson / Washington Post
“ ‘We’re not going back…We’re going forward,’ President Obama said during his formal campaign kickoff in Ohio. This rallying cry was pedestrian, and appropriately so. Obama is no longer a leader on horseback. His campaign – on the evidence of its first day – will be a long, unimaginative, partisan march to the sea.
“Gone are the vast ambitions of national progress and healing. In Ohio on Saturday, Obama made a methodical appeal to various voting blocks – college-educated women, gays, Hispanics. He waded into the culture war on abortion, something he rarely did four years ago. And he accused the GOP of trickle-down hostility to the middle class.
“To every interest group, a sop. On every wedge issue, a swat. To every class enemy, a turn in the tumbrel. Obama has gone ‘forward’ all the way to the strategy of Walter Mondale.
“The president may persuade voters with this message, but he apparently has given up trying to inspire them. And this is not a small thing, since the Obama brand once consisted mainly of inspiration.”
In a story for Newsweek by Peter J. Boyer and Peter Schweizer titled “Why Can’t Obama Bring Wall Street To Justice?” there is this nugget.
“ ‘There hasn’t been any serious investigation of any of the largest financial entities by the Justice Department, which includes the FBI,’ says William Black, an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, who, as a government regulator in the 1980s, helped clean up the S&L mess. Black, who is a Democrat, notes that the feds dealt with the S&L crisis with harsh justice, bringing more than a thousand prosecutions, and securing a 90 percent conviction rate. The difference between the government’s response to the two crises, Black says, is a matter of will, and priorities. ‘You need heads on the pike,’ he says. ‘The first President Bush’s orders were to get the most prominent, nastiest frauds, and put their heads on pikes as a demonstration that there’s a new sheriff in town.’”
Kinda makes you want to move Bush 41 up another notch, doesn’t it?
Fred Barnes / The Weekly Standard
“In running for reelection, Obama has already set records. As of March 6, he’s held more fundraising events (104) than the previous five presidents combined (94).”
Of course it’s only gotten worse since that data point. On Thursday night, in Studio City, President Obama headlined a star-studded fundraiser that brought in nearly $15 million. Held in George Clooney’s backyard, it was hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg and had the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Barbra Streisand and Billy Crystal.
Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson will be the Libertarian Party candidate for president come November. I wouldn’t expect him to get even 3%.
For the archives, polling for the 2016 Iowa caucus has begun. Hillary Clinton leads Joe Biden 62-14, according to a Public Policy Polling survey. Importantly, Hillary has an 88% favorability rating. On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum top the list at 16%, with Gov. Chris Christie at 15%.
A few weeks ago I blasted the U.S. and the military in particular for bad behavior. So last weekend, there was Defense Secretary Leon Panetta addressing troops at Ft. Benning, Ga. Panetta said that episodes involving a few soldiers who “lack judgment, lack professionalism, lack leadership” could have far-reaching consequences.
“The reality is that our enemies are losing on the battlefield, and they will seek any opportunity to damage us,” the secretary said. “In particular, they have sought to take advantage of a series of troubling incidents that involved misconduct.”
Case closed, one hopes.
Trader George passed on a piece from Bloomberg that is rather scary. There’s a new type of superbug “that scientists warn is spreading faster, further and in more alarming ways than any they’ve encountered. Researchers say the epicenter is India, where drugs created to fight disease have taken a perverse turn by making many ailments harder to treat….
“Poor hygiene has spread resistant germs into India’s drains, sewers and drinking water, putting millions at risk of drug-defying infections. Antibiotic residues from drug manufacturing, livestock treatment and medical waste have entered water and sanitation systems, exacerbating the problem.”
Now who’s grossed out?
According to the Centers for Disease Control, by 2030, 42% of American adults will be obese. This is actually less than experts had predicted previously, though it’s still a significant increase from today’s 33%. Severe obesity, however, where adults are nearly 100 pounds overweight, will double to 11% of adults.
Aside from exercise, there is one solution…cut out sugar! The levels of it in our foods is beyond absurd. So, yes, put me in the Food Nanny camp when it comes to this topic.
In my last site traffic check, while the lion’s share of my readers come from the U.S., it is curious to me that Pakistan is second again, followed by India, Canada and the U.K. So a “Hee Haw” saaa-luuute to my Pak audience!
The period January through April was the warmest on record for the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, some five degrees above the long-term average.
Warm air can be tough enough to stomach at the extremes, but thank god we don’t have any large dinosaurs to deal with these days as a new study in Current Biology suggests they made a significant contribution to the greenhouse effect 200 million years ago, as reported by the AP. It’s estimated dinosaurs passed about six times more gas than cows do today.
Yes, it was the long-necked plant eaters, sauropods, who had food fermenting in their guts for long periods of time that were the worst offenders. And back then there was no Beano.
TV Alert…On Monday, PBS’ “American Masters” profiles Johnny Carson. There are many of us who still miss Johnny, like a lot.
Finally, I have these farmer friends in the Oklahoma Panhandle and one of their boys, Thomas, whom I’ve met a few times, is graduating from Laverne High School next week. He’s part of a great family and I loved what was on the graduation notice from the school.
We came to this place together
To learn, to grow, to share…
Time and space may separate,
But distance cannot come
Between us.
And there is the “Class Motto”:
What we are is God’s gift to us.
What we become is our gift to God.
Kind of makes me wish I was there next week.
So allow me to take this moment to congratulate all the high school and college graduates this year. You have some interesting challenges ahead of you. Work hard. And don’t text and drive.
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Pray for the men and women of our armed forces…and all the fallen.
God bless America.
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Gold closed at $1579
Oil, $95.65
Returns for the week 5/7-5/11
Dow Jones -1.7% [12820]
S&P 500 -1.1% [1353]
S&P MidCap -0.1%
Russell 2000 -0.2%
Nasdaq -0.8% [2933]
Returns for the period 1/1/12-5/11/12
Dow Jones +4.9%
S&P 500 +7.6%
S&P MidCap +9.7%
Russell 2000 +6.6%
Nasdaq +12.6%
Bulls 38.7
Bears 20.4 [Source: Investors Intelligence…fewest # of bulls since 10/18/11 when S&P was 1225…but after a dip to 1158 on 11/25/11, the S&P ran up to 1419 on 4/2/12…which is how a contrarian indicator often works, Charlie Brown.]
Have a great week. We’re selling some iPad apps…yippee! Not including those family and friends who were forced to download in the past week. Each one I sell is the equivalent of a draft beer at happy hour at a dive bar in Gary, Indiana; not that I’m looking to travel there for said entertainment.