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пятница, 7 января 2011 г.

Obama reshuffles inner circle to take on Republicans

Barack Obama has begun a major overhaul of his inner circle, lending the White House a more business-friendly face with the appointment of an outsider banker, William Daley, as his chief of staff.

Daley continues the heavy Chicago bent of Obama's White House. He is the son of the late Richard Daley, who was mayor of Chicago for two decades, and brother of the even longer-serving outgoing current mayor of Chicago, also Richard.

But Daley marks a change of tack after Obama's first two years in office because of his considerable Wall Street experience.

He will form the crux of Obama's reformed operation, or Obama 2.0 as it has been dubbed, which now faces an angry and resurgent Republican party.

Announcing the appointment today , Obama described Daley as "an experienced public servant, a patriot, my friend and fellow Chicagoan". Daley repaid the compliment by promising the president that "this team will not let you down or the nation".

The new chief of staff has for the past seven years been a senior executive at JP Morgan Chase, and before that worked for a hedge fund and in telecoms. He straddles the business-politics divide, having been Bill Clinton's commerce secretary for three years from 1997 and managing Al Gore's failed bid for the presidency in 2000.

Daley's appointment was being seen as a signal of Obama's intention to change political direction following the drubbing he received in the mid-term elections last November. Daley comes from the moderate centre of the Democratic party and has criticised the leftward swing of the party for losing the confidence of many Americans.

"Either we plot a more moderate, centrist course, or risk electoral disaster," he wrote in the Washington Post a year ago.

Daley also indicates a new willingness on the president's part to step outside his comfort zone in terms of top advisers. There has been mounting criticism that Obama's team is too inward looking.

Earlier this week the former Democratic national committee chairman Howard Dean complained of a "mindset" among the administration's senior advisers that "they knew everything and we knew nothing".

Unlike many in the previous inner circle, Daley is not close to the president personally. "Obama was never a Daley person in Chicago, so this alliance is something new," said Sidney Blumenthal, who worked with Daley in the Clinton administration.

Former Clinton aides make up another important theme of Obama 2.0. In addition to Daley, Gene Sperling is expected to be announced as head of the National Economic Council tomorrow today, a job he did for Clinton between 1996 and 2000.

The choice of Clinton people may not be coincidental, as Obama is facing the same challenges that his Democratic predecessor in the White House did in working with a hostile Republican congress.

The chief of staff is the most high profile of a number of posts to be filled by Obama as he works his way through a post mid-term election round of musical chairs.

Pete Rouse, who has been standing in as acting chief of staff for the past few months following the departure of Rahm Emanuel, will become a senior adviser to Obama. Underlying the circularity of Obama's Washington, Emanuel quit the White House to run for Daley's brother's job as mayor of Chicago.

David Plouffe, who was a leading figure in Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, will join the White House on Monday to take over from David Axelrod, who is returning to Chicago to spearhead Obama's re-election bid in 2012.

The other sensitive post remaining to be filled is that of White House press secretary. Robert Gibbs this week announced he would leave the post next month.

понедельник, 13 декабря 2010 г.

UPDATE 5-Obama announces tax deal with Republicans

* Obama announces compromise deal

* All Bush tax cuts to be extended for 2 years

* Could face resistance from liberal Democrats (Adds congressional reaction)

By Matt Spetalnick and Patricia Zengerle
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WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday unveiled a compromise deal to extend all Bush-era tax cuts for two years, giving ground to emboldened Republicans who won big in last month's congressional elections.

After meeting Democratic leaders at the White House, Obama announced a "framework" agreement with Republicans that would renew tax cuts not just for the middle class -- as he and fellow Democrats had sought -- but also for wealthier Americans, as Republicans wanted.

The tentative plan is expected to draw resistance from some liberal Democrats, who have expressed disappointment that the president was bending to Republican demands while not gaining enough in return. Obama might need Republican help to pass the package if enough of his fellow Democrats revolt.

The tentative tax-cut deal, which is expected to extend breaks on dividends and capital gains as well, also calls for a 2 percent employee payroll tax cut and a 13-month extension of unemployment benefits, which could placate some Democrats.

But Obama acceded to Republican demands on the federal estate tax, by agreeing to a maximum 35 percent tax with a $5 million individual exemption level, which he admitted was more generous than he felt was "wise or warranted."

"We cannot play politics at a time when the American people are looking for us to solve problems," Obama told reporters. "I am confident ultimately that Congress is going to do the right thing."

Obama said he had made some concessions because of the urgent need to reach a deal before Congress adjourns this month to avoid allowing the middle class to face higher taxes when all of the Bush-era cuts expire on Dec. 31.

"I have no doubt that everyone will find something in this compromise that they don't like," Obama said. " In fact, there are things in here that I don't like -- namely the extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and the wealthiest estates. But these tax cuts will expire in two years."

Extending all the tax cuts for two years would cost $501 billion, according to the congressional budget office, at a time when Obama is under pressure to cut the $1.3 trillion budget deficit. The CBO said renewing the rates will boost the economy in the short term but be harmful in the long term.

"FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE"

Obama's concessions reflected a new political reality. Republicans gained the upper hand in the tax fight after scoring big gains in the Nov. 2 congressional elections, which were seen as a verdict on Obama's handling of a stumbling economy and persistently high unemployment.

Obama's tax proposal was still likely to meet some resistance from Democrats in Congress but analysts believe it faces a good chance of ultimately being approved before the end of the legislative session.

Obama calls WikiLeaks' "deplorable": White House

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama told Turkish and Mexican leaders on Saturday that WikiLeaks' actions were "deplorable" as the U.S. administration kept up damage control efforts over the website's embarrassing release of masses of secret U.S. cables.

In Obama's separate calls with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, the leaders all agreed that WikiLeaks' campaign would not harm their countries' ties with Washington, the White House said.

The leaks touching on U.S. relations in virtually every part of the world have threatened to increase tensions with allies, spurring U.S. officials to seek to prevent foreign friends from reducing engagement on sensitive matters.

Documents relating to Turkey showed U.S. diplomats casting doubt on the reliability of their NATO ally and portraying its leadership as divided.

In Obama's call to Erdogan on Saturday, the two discussed "the enduring importance of the U.S.-Turkish partnership and affirmed their commitment to work together on a broad range of issues," the White House said.

"The president expressed his regrets for the deplorable action by WikiLeaks and the two leaders agreed that it will not influence or disrupt the close cooperation between the United States and Turkey," it said.

Obama made similar comments to Calderon, which the U.S. leader used to praise his Mexican counterpart for the outcome of an international climate change conference in Cancun.
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"The presidents also underscored the importance of the U.S.-Mexico partnership across a broad range of issues," the White House said. "The presidents discussed the deplorable actions by WikiLeaks and agreed its irresponsible acts should not distract our two countries from our important cooperation."
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According to State Department documents made public by WikiLeaks, a top Mexican official said the government was in danger of losing control of parts of the country to powerful drug cartels.

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