World News Today, Current News, Breaking News, Business News
World News Today, Current News, Breaking News, Business News, Moon and Mars, Shopping Tips, Beauty Tips and Fashion news

Obama Faces Tricky Task in Building 2012 Campaign Platform

Category: By News Updater

Imagine, it's 2012. Unemployment is above 8 percent. The deficit is once again above $1 trillion. Troops are still in Afghanistan. And the post-debate over the health care law drags on, only its most popular provisions have not yet gone into effect.

For President Obama, it's a tough room to play. But that could easily be the environment he runs in to seek a second term. There's a reason so many top advisers are fleeing the White House for Chicago to start brainstorming their 2012 strategy -- they have to figure out a way, and soon, to make his controversial accomplishments palatable and re-establish trust with both moderates and the Democratic base.

Coming off his State of the Union address, the president has plenty of themes and achievements on which to run. But they all have strings attached.

"Right now I think he's in survival mode," said Brad Blakeman, a past adviser to former President George W. Bush.

Strategists say the president started to delicately craft his message Tuesday night, using his address to the nation to accentuate the positives, make a few gestures to the center and offer an upbeat vision for the future. They say he'll make the economy an inevitable cornerstone of his 2012 campaign. But how he does it, and how effective that will be, much depends on the course of the next two years -- especially since the "stimulus" of the last two years has become somewhat of a dirty word among Democrats.

"I think it's going to be contingent probably on the state of the economy," said David Lewis, political science professor at Vanderbilt University. "If the economy turns around, then his record looks a lot different, and it'll be easier to pin his re-election on his stewardship."

Otherwise, Lewis said, the president harkens back to talking about infrastructure and energy investments, while highlighting broadly popular items like government reform and, if he gets to it, the kind of tax code simplification he addressed in the State of the Union.

That could be a less compelling sell, but one his team may already be contemplating.

Congressional Budget Office projections released this week showed unemployment hovering above 8 percent on Election Day. White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley argued with aides before the State of the Union that Obama can't do much to significantly change that rate, a Democratic source told Fox News. Rather, Daley said, according to the source, that the president should adopt a more business-friendly, forward-looking tone, focusing on the value of innovation in the private sector with a helping hand from the government.

Obama may try to preserve that tone in honing his campaign's economic message.

"It's not going to be the full-out hope of 2008," said Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, an assistant political science professor at Northwestern University. But she said the message will probably be focused on "light at the end of the tunnel." She said if the economy improves, Obama will be "riding that wave hard and fast." If it doesn't, he's back to talking about how he kept things from getting worse than they are, "which is a tough one."

However, the economic component that drove Tea Party voters to the polls in November -- concern about the national debt -- has proved tough for the president to tackle. CBO pegged this year's deficit at $1.5 trillion, thanks in part to the tax-cut package pushed by Republicans and agreed-to by Obama, and warned that national debt could reach 100 percent of GDP by the end of the decade. Obama this week called for freezing some discretionary spending for five years, a proposal projected to save $400 billion over 10 years. But Republicans want to see savings in the trillions, noting that $400 billion doesn't begin to whittle away at the $14 trillion national debt.

Though Obama's fiscal commission was unable to force a floor vote last year on its recommendations to Congress, Democratic strategist Peter Fenn said Obama will probably build his fiscal message in the months ahead by picking and choosing some of those recommendations to promote -- sending a message that he's serious about the deficit.

Fenn also argued that Obama already has more economic accomplishments under his belt than some give him credit for.

"The economy isn't in freefall, it's coming back," he said, adding: "All the talk about how horrendous it was to put money into the car companies -- we saved America's manufacturing base. They're turning a profit."

And then there's health care. As Obama quipped Tuesday night, "I have heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about our new health care law."

As a campaign issue, it will be unavoidable. Many Republicans want to repeal it, stirring a largely symbolic debate on Capitol Hill that's poised to fuel the political debate during the GOP primaries.

"This isn't going away," said Blakeman, noting that state attorneys general across the country continue to litigate it while Congress debates it.

Blakeman said Obama can try to get the upper hand in the debate by warning that, despite the flaws in the law, a Republican president in 2013 would help Republicans in Congress realize their dream of nullifying it. That jeopardizes provisions like guaranteed insurance coverage and a ban on benefits caps.

But as the town hall frenzy of late 2009 demonstrated, the health care law can be a doozy to defend and to explain. A Fox News poll released last week showed 56 percent of voters want the law repealed, compared with 39 percent who want it kept in place.

As with any campaign, several other issues are bound to creep in. Obama signaled in his State of the Union address that a push for government investment in clean-energy technology will be a priority in the second half of this term. And with public uprisings against entrenched regimes fueling a tenser-than-usual environment in the Middle East, foreign policy could emerge as a wild-card factor next year.

Plus there's the threat of $5-a-gallon gas.

If nothing else, Obama will have the option of going negative, running against the GOP nominee and warning about the monopoly Republicans could once again have on Washington if his opponent prevails.

DeFrancesco Soto said he'll surely play off the divisions that emerge during the primary, a process he'll be spared from barring an insurgent challenge from within.

But Obama's not an outsider anymore. Blakeman warned that any incumbent president has to defend his record.

"He's not going to have the luxury of having anybody to blame in 2012," Blakeman said.
 

2011 Oscar Nominations List

Category: By News Updater
Here are the list of nominees for the 2011 Academy Awards:

Best motion picture of the year
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
James Franco in “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Jeremy Renner in “The Town” (Warner Bros.)
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features)
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate)
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions)
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit” (Paramount)
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom” (Sony Pictures Classics)

Best animated feature film of the year
How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
The Illusionist (Sony Pictures Classics) Sylvain Chomet
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich

Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney), Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.), Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
Inception (Warner Bros.), Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)
The King’s Speech (Paramount), Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
True Grit (Paramount), Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)

Achievement in Cinematography
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Matthew Libatique
Inception (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Danny Cohen
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit (Paramount) Roger Deakins

Achievement in costume design
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Colleen Atwood
I Am Love (Magnolia Pictures) Antonella Cannarozzi
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Jenny Beavan
The Tempest (Miramax) Sandy Powell
True Grit (Paramount) Mary Zophres

Achievement in directing
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight), Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter (Paramount), David O. Russell
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), David Fincher
True Grit (Paramount), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Best Documentary Feature
Exit through the Gift Shop (Producers Distribution Agency) Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz A Paranoid Pictures Production
Gasland Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic A Gasland Production
Inside Job (Sony Pictures Classics) Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs A Representational Pictures Production
Restrepo (National Geographic Entertainment) Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger An Outpost Films Production
Waste Land Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley (Arthouse Films) An Almega Projects Production

Best documentary short subject
Killing in the Name Nominees to be determined A Moxie Firecracker Films Production
Poster Girl Nominees to be determined A Portrayal Films Production
Strangers No More Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production
Sun Come Up Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger A Sun Come Up Production
The Warriors of Qiugang Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon A Thomas Lennon Films Production

Achievement in film editing
Black Swan (Fox Searchlight) Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter Paramount Pamela Martin
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Tariq Anwar
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Jon Harris
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Best foreign language film of the year
Biutiful Mexico
Dogtooth Greece
In a Better World Denmark
Incendies Canada
Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi) Algeria

Achievement in makeup
Achievement in makeup (Sony Pictures Classics) Adrien Morot
The Way Back (Newmarket Films in association with Wrekin Hill Entertainment and Image Entertainment) Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman (Universal) Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
How to Train Your Dragon (Paramount) John Powell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) A.R. Rahman
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
Coming Home from Country Strong (Sony Pictures Releasing (Screen Gems)) Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
I See the Light from Tangled (Walt Disney) Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
If I Rise from 127 Hours (Fox Searchlight) Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best animated short film
Day & Night (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo A Magic Light Pictures Production Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let’s Pollute A Geefwee Boedoe Production Geefwee Boedoe
The Lost Thing (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment) A Passion Pictures Australia Production Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) A Sacrebleu Production Bastien Dubois

Best live action short film
The Confession (National Film and Television School) A National Film and Television School Production Tanel Toom
The Crush (Network Ireland Television) A Purdy Pictures Production Michael Creagh
God of Love A Luke Matheny Production Luke Matheny
Na Wewe (Premium Films) A CUT! Production Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 A Swing and Shift Films/Union Pictures Production Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Achievement in sound editing
Inception (Warner Bros.) Richard King
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney) Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy (Walt Disney) Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable (20th Century Fox) Mark P. Stoeckinger

Achievement in sound mixing
Inception (Warner Bros.) Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company) Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt (Sony Pictures Releasing) Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit (Paramount) Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Achievement in visual effects
Alice in Wonderland (Walt Disney) Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros.) Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter (Warner Bros.) Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception (Warner Bros.) Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2 (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment, Distributed by Paramount) Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Adapted screenplay
127 Hours (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit (Paramount), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone (Roadside Attractions), Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Original screenplay
Another Year (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter (Paramount), Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception (Warner Bros.), Written by Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right (Focus Features), Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler

 

Snowfall in Jammu Hills

Category: By Seetha
Snowfall in Mata Vaishno Devi strike

witnessed the first snowfall at the world famous Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine on the Trikuta hills near Katra, even as the entire region continued to reel under intense cold wave.
"There were heavy rains at the Shrine last evening before it started snowing on the upper reaches. Bhairon Ghati is covered with snow", said a police official at the Bhawan.
While the upper reaches experienced snowfall, the lower areas of the region witnessed heavy rains since yesterday, thereby bringing the day temperature down to 17.2 degrees Celsius, 6.1 degrees below normal, according to the Met sources.
Although people here preferred to stay indoors, there was, however, not much difference in the number of pilgrims reaching the holy cave Shrine to pay obeisance, they added.
Reports said, famous hill resort of Patnitop also witnessed season's first snowfall.

From the daily KASHMIR TIMES
 

Another Winter Storm Wallops the Northeast

Category: By Echo

NEW YORK – A storm that had been predicted for days caught much of the East Coast off guard with its ferocity, tearing through with lightning, thunder and mounds of wet snow, leaving nearly 300,000 customers around the nation's capital without power Thursday and forcing people to shovel out their cars and doorsteps all over again.

The forecast had called for up to a foot of snow in parts of the region but the storm brought far more in spots. New York got 19 inches, Philadelphia 17. Public schools closed for a second day Thursday, including the nation's largest system in New York City, and motorists were warned to stay off slick roads.

Snow totals in the Washington area ranged from about 3 inches to nearly 7.

"What a mess," said Andy Kolstad, a 65-year-old federal statistician from Silver Spring, Md., who had to walk half an hour uphill to his local Metro subway station to travel to Washington because there was no bus service. "There was no point in staying home because I couldn't have breakfast in the dark," he said.

Tens of thousands of residents in other parts of the region also lost power.

The region has already been pummeled by winter not even halfway into the season. Nineteen inches of snow fell on New York City atop the 36 inches it had already seen so far this winter; the city typically sees just 21 inches for the whole season.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was the snowiest January since the city started keeping records, besting 27.4 inches set in 1925. The accumulation was about twice the amount that had been predicted, he said.

Virginia Sforza, 61, shoveling her sidewalk in Pelham, in New York's northern suburb said, "My biggest fear is if it continues like this all winter, we won't have a place to put it and we'll never get our cars out and we won't even be able to go to the stores."

"The prospect of this continuing is disgusting," she added.

At his home in Gap, Pa., 45-year-old Chuck DeSeantis lamented what lay ahead of him after a treacherous commute Thursday: shoveling cars out of snow at the Nissan dealership where he's a sales manager.

"Normally it is a 15-minute commute; now it will probably take an hour to hour and a half to get there," he said. "I'll dig out my three cars here, and then I'll dig out 350 cars at the dealership."

In Massachusetts, travel was made trickier with high winds. Gusts of 46 mph were reported in Hyannis, 45 mph in Rockport and 49 mph on Nantucket early Thursday. In Lynn, Mass., heavy snow collapsed a garage roof and briefly trapped two men inside before they were rescued safely. Some other workers escaped.

New York declared a weather emergency for the second time since the Dec. 26 storm, which trapped hundreds of buses and ambulances and caused a political crisis for the mayor. An emergency declaration means any car blocking roads or impeding snowplows can be towed at the owner's expense.

The city shuttered schools and some government offices, and federal courts in Manhattan and the United Nations headquarters closed. Even the Statue of Liberty shut down for snow removal. New York's Long Island Rail Road, the nation's largest commuter rail line, operated on a reduced schedule. Amtrak restored normal service between Boston and New York late Thursday morning after cancellations, delays and schedule changes caused by the storm.

Two major New York-area airports, Newark and Kennedy, closed for snow removal but began taking flights at 10 a.m. Hundreds of flights were canceled at both airports. LaGuardia Airport had 168 cancellations. About 1,500 passengers were stranded overnight at Philadelphia International Airport, according to spokeswoman Victoria Lupica.

Flights also resumed at airports in the Washington region after overnight runway closures and flight cancelations that left hundreds of travelers stranded.

Northeast of New York in New Canaan, Conn., a Metro-North commuter train ran off the tracks, suspending service. Its two passengers and crew members were not injured.

A New York Waterway commuter ferry carrying 20 passengers across the Hudson was shut down briefly when ice jammed a water intake.

Residents hunkered down as the storm brought snow, sleet, and then more snow, accompanied by lightning and thunder in a phenomenon called "thundersnow."

But others found the weather provided a creative outlet.

In Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, the winter scene was so picture-postcard beautiful Thursday morning that the sidewalks were full of amateur shutterbugs taking photos of snow-laden trees.

"It's so pretty," said Chris Baptiste, pointing his Olympus at a 20-foot evergreen before he turned his attention to the birches across the street. "It's shaped like a Christmas tree."

The Philadelphia area's transit agency, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, suspended nearly all bus service, and road crews worked through the night to gets tons of snow off major arteries.

Nine passengers spent the night on board a bus that got stranded in the city's West Oak Lane neighborhood, spokeswoman Heather Redfern said.

"I imagine they thought they were better off staying on the warm bus rather than getting off, since they didn't have a place to stay," Redfern said. The passengers had all disembarked by 7:30 a.m.

More than 15,000 people lost power in the Philadelphia area, with thousands more in the dark in New Jersey and the New York area. Over 80,000 were without power in parts of Maryland.

Crashed, spun-out or disabled cars littered highways. More than 250 cars were disabled on New Jersey highways since Wednesday. Officials in the mid-Atlantic region worked to remove dozens of cars and tractor-trailers abandoned by motorists at the height of the storm.

Maryland State Highway Administration spokeswoman Kim Frum said crews plowed around abandoned vehicles and got tow trucks to move them. Firefighters in the Washington area warned that the heavy snow was bringing down power lines.

After arriving in Washington from Manitowoc, Wis., President Barack Obama couldn't fly on the helicopter that normally takes him home to the White House from a nearby military base. Instead, a motorcade had to snake through Wednesday evening rush hour traffic already slowed by snow and ice.

One person died after a tree fell on a pickup truck in Washington. Several others in the truck were injured. On New York's Long Island, there were two weather-related fatalities. One woman was killed when a plow truck backed into her in a parking lot. In the other incident, a motorist slid into oncoming lanes of traffic, slamming into two vehicles before hitting a snowbank. The other two drivers were treated for injuries.

In Delaware, state police were investigating the death of a woman who was struck and killed Thursday by a state Department of Transportation snowplow.

In Somers, Conn., a horse had to be euthanized after part of a barn collapsed under the weight of snow. Two other horses that got trapped were freed.

Since Dec. 14, snow has fallen eight times on the New York region -- or an average of about once every five days. Much of the Northeast is in a similar boat, resigned to repeated storms as a weather phenomenon off the coast called the North Atlantic Oscillation creates older air and drops more snow than usual.

"I just want the snow to stop. I want the sun again. I want to feel just a little bit of warmth," commuter Elliott Self said after leaving an elevated train in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

He might have to wait, though. Forecasts called for more snow in the region -- although supposedly just a few inches -- later in the week.
 

First Thoughts: External affairs

By Echo
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg *** External affairs:
Just when the Obama White House feels it can focus on selling its State of the Union message -- just note how many times Obama talked about “winning the future” in Wisconsin (on top of the 10 references in the SOTU itself) -- comes another reminder that external events always have the potential of interrupting those plans. That reminder: the political unrest in the Middle East. “The Egyptian government intensified efforts to crush a fresh wave of protests on Wednesday, banning public gatherings, detaining hundreds of people and sending police officers to scatter protesters who defied the ban and demanded an end to the government of President Hosni Mubarak,” the New York Times writes. Egypt has yet to become an all-consuming story (the way the BP spill was, for example), but it easily could. There might not be a more important Arab ally to the U.S. and to Israel. And of course, if Mubarak falls, then who's next? The King of Jordan? The King of Saudi Arabia? Bottom line: This is a reminder how events always have the potential to change the story, and knock the White House off its planned focus on the economy. 

*** Obama’s actual YouTube moment

Two days after his State of the Union address, President Obama will surely try to advance his winning-the-future message when he participates in a YouTube interview at 2:30 pm ET. And with the Dow flirting with 12,000, it should give him something to use to sell the idea that we're in a more stable position for Phase 2 of the recovery. Vice President Biden will be participating in a similar interview with Yahoo that will air tomorrow. Earlier in the day, at 11:00 am, Obama and Biden will hold their monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan. By the way, we could have a new White House press secretary (along with a handful of final senior staff announcements) announced today, though due to the weather issues in D.C., that announcement could be delayed until tomorrow.

*** The Reagan role model

It’s always been clear that Barack Obama has admired Ronald Reagan’s presidency -- though not necessarily his policies -- whether it was during his primary battle against Hillary Clinton, with him reading a Reagan biography over Christmas, or even Tuesday’s “shining city on a hill”-like State of the Union. And the latest issue of Time magazine picks up on this theme. “At a glance, it's hard to imagine a President who had less in common with Reagan than the Ivy League lawyer from Hawaii who seeks larger federal investments, a bigger social safety net and new regulations for Wall Street and Big Oil. But under the surface, there is no mistaking Obama's increasing reliance on his predecessor's career as a helpful template for his own.”

*** Changing the trajectory in American politics

Beyond wanting to follow Reagan’s political script -- the president, during high unemployment, takes a beating in the midterm but then wins re-election as the economy improves -- Obama has been interested in the way in which Reagan’s presidency changed American politics. "I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not," Obama said during his primary campaign. Writes Time: “No one was unclear about Reagan's guiding philosophy: ‘Government is the problem,’ he declared on his Inauguration Day, and by then he had been saying it for nearly 20 years. Obama's is more complex. He wants to reset the public's attitude toward government, reverse 30 years of skepticism and mistrust and usher in a new era in which government solutions are again seen as part of the answer to the nation's ills.” So far, though, that push hasn’t been successful.

*** Bachmann’s near “You lie” moment at the State of the Union? Bloomberg News: 

"It wasn’t exactly a 'you lie' moment, though on a night designed to showcase bipartisan civility Representative Michele Bachmann had a few choice words for President Barack Obama. 'He’s absolutely shameless,' the Minnesota Republican could be seen saying to her seatmate, Representative Jean Schmidt, an Ohio Republican, according to a video taken in the U.S. House chamber during Obama’s State of the Union address two nights ago. Bachmann, 54, who later gave a televised response to the president on behalf of the Tea Party Express, turned back to face Obama and repeated, 'Absolutely shameless!' She spoke as the president was saying the government should balance its budget more like average American families."

*** Romney blasts Obama on FOX:

Turning to the emerging 2012 presidential race, Mitt Romney last night took a shot at Obama on FOX. “He’s trying awfully hard,” Romney said of the president, per the Boston Globe. “The problem is, he just doesn’t know what to do.” Romney also said “it was important for the field to have a businessman,’ the Globe continues. “’I don’t know who all is going to get in the race, but I do believe that it would be helpful if at least one of the people who’s running in the Republican field had extensive experience in the private sector – in small business, in big business,’ he said.”


*** Daniels picks college hoops over the State of the Union:

As we’ve written before, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has given many mixed signals about his White House intentions. On the one hand, he’s made it clear that his family isn’t interested with the scrutiny that comes with a presidential campaign. On the other hand, Daniels has worked to increase his national profile. Well, file this under the he-probably-won’t-run column: While touring a middle school yesterday, Daniels admitted to a reporter that he hadn’t watched President Obama give the State of the Union address, opting rather to watch the Purdue-Ohio State basketball game. “You caught me. I didn’t watch it. I was watching the Purdue game as long as it was watchable,” he said.

Countdown Chicago’s mayoral election: 26 days
Countdown to Election Day 2011: 285 days
Countdown to the Iowa caucuses: 375 days