Impossible for Obama to Keep Richardson

January 04, 2009 6:29 PM

That the Obama transition team didn't know about these allegations against Gov. Bill Richardson is shocking.

A Google search would have shown that this investigation has been going on for some time. This has been an issue in New Mexico for a while with the Albuquerque Journal reporting on it for several months. 

It would be very surprising if this is something that was missed by the Obama team.

But what I think happened is the fact that the FBI investigation into pay-to-play allegations isn't closed out, combined with all of the focus on the Gov. Rod Blagojevich's corruption scandal makes it more difficult for Richardson to survive politically. And that made it impossible for President-elect Obama to keep him right now.

But this isn't likely to distract Obama for long. He faces so many other challenges of such magnitude. Obama is coming to Capitol Hill tomorrow to talk about his economic plan.

That, combined with the Israeli ground war in Gaza, and the panoply of national security challenges he'll face when he takes office.

This Richardson hiccup is likely to be a small blip -- especially if they are able to come in with a easy-to-confirm replacement for Gov. Richardson in the next week or so.

--George Stephanopoulos

January 4, 2009 in Barack Obama | Permalink | User Comments (26) | TrackBack (0)

McConnell Proposes State Loans, Middle Class Tax Cut

January 04, 2009 11:00 AM

The top Republican in the Senate proposed for the first time on "This Week" that the government pass an immediate middle-class tax cut.

"A possibility would be to take a look at 25 percent [tax] rate currently applied to the middle class and lower it to 15 percent," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told me on "This Week."

McConnell also proposed that an economic stimulus money designated for states be a loan, not a grant.

"We want to be a part of the process, and it might make sense to lend the money to the states that will make them spend it more wisely," he said, "Nobody thinks that we ought to be spending this money on mob museums and waterslides and if the money were lent rather than just granted, states would, I think, spend it wisely and the states that didn't need it at all wouldn't take any."

President-Elect Barack Obama has said he wants to sign an economic stimulus package on Jan. 20th when he is sworn in.

However, McConnell said Republicans are pushing for bipartisan hearings on Obama's economic stimulus plan.

"We want to make sure that it's not just a trillion dollar spending bill," McConnell told me. "What I worry about here, George, is the haste with which this may be done. This is an enormous bill, it could be a trillion dollar spending spend. Do we want to do it with essentially no hearings and no input for example in the senate from Republican senators who represent half the American population. I don't think that's a good idea."

McConnell also suggested the Senate look at nine appropriations bills that would spend $400-billion in economic spending.

"It's already been vetted, been looked at by both Democrats and Republicans which could pass on a largely bipartisan basis," McConnell said. "Much of that spending is related to the kinds of items that could end up in the trillion dollar spending package so that's a place to start."

McConnell also questioned Obama's proposal to create 20 percent of the jobs in the public sector.

"That would be 600, 000 new government jobs," he said. "That's about the size of the post office workforce. Is that a good idea? That's something that strikes us that we ought to look at."

In our interview on "This Week" Sen. Dick Durbin told me on that senators need to put aside bipartisan squabbling.

"We can't pass the economic recovery plan that this nation desperately needs without bipartisan cooperation," Durbin said, "We've got to put aside a lot of the squabbling of the past and come together under this administration and new leadership to get the American economy back on line."

--George Stephanopoulos

January 4, 2009 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (16) | TrackBack (0)

Durbin: Burris Rejection 'Not About Race'

January 04, 2009 10:12 AM

I asked Democratic whip Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois this morning what happens when Roland Burris comes to Washington, DC this week to claim the Senate seat he thinks is his?

"I've know Roland Burris for over 30 years," Durbin told me on "This Week.'  "No one's raised any questions about his integrity or his personal background. It's a question about the process."

Durbin said while disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has the state constitutional authority to fill President-Elect Barack Obama's senate seat vacancy, the U.S. Senate has the U.S. constitutional responsibility to decide if Burris was chosen in a responsible way.

"Rod Blagojevich has brought questions, raised questions on how this process unfolded," Durbin said, "not reflecting personally on Roland Burris but to make sure that in the end, the person representing the state of Illinois, serving with me in the United States Senate was brought to that position responsibly."

Durbin said unlike Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, Burris won't be seated provisionally.

"In her case it was a matter of counting the votes," Durbin said, "In Illinois, sadly, because of the allegations against Gov. Blagojevich, there's a question of corruption."

Durbin defended Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid against reports in the Chicago Sun-Times that Reid advised Blagojevich not to pick African American members of Congress.

"It is an outrage that the Blagojevich people in the last days of their administration facing impeachment in Springfield are now flailing in every direction," Durbin said. "Harry Reid did what anyone would have done as majority leader in the Senate. He called the governor to discuss filling the vacancy."

"The bottom line is this: this is not about race," Durbin said. "We have a proud record in the land of Lincoln of electing African American candidates to statewide office. There is no question about race. When we said at the beginning, Democratic senators said that we are not going to seat an appointment from Gov. Blagojevich it was before he had chosen anyone, black white or brown. So it has nothing to do with race."

--George Stephanopoulos

January 4, 2009 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (33) | TrackBack (0)

Israeli President: No Ceasefire

January 04, 2009 9:56 AM

In an exclusive interview on "This Week" Israeli President Shimon Peres rejected international calls for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israeli forces which have launched an assault on Gaza.

"The idea that Hamas will continue to fire and we will declare a ceasefire..it does not make any sense," Peres told me on "This Week."

Heavy fighting continues today after thousands of Israeli ground troops moved into Gaza last night.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded since airstrikes began last week. But that has not stopped Hamas from firing rockets into Israel killing four and injuring other Israelis.

Hamas vowed today to make Gaza a "graveyard" for Israeli forces.

"They did things that are unreasonable," he said of Hamas. "They are shooting endlessly without reason or purpose."

Peres added, "They are now beginning to feel the weight of their mistakes."  But the Israeli president said the government of Israel has no intention of occupying Gaza.

"We don’t intend to occupy Gaza or crush Hamas but crush terror," Peres said, "Hamas needs a real and serious lesson. They are now getting it."

Peres argued that Hamas began an assault on Israelis on orders from Iran. "When they stop shooting we will leave," he said.

"We have by law and by reason to defend our people and nobody else has suggested to do it otherwise."

--George Stephanopoulos

January 4, 2009 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (22) | TrackBack (0)

Coming Up on 'This Week'

January 04, 2009 7:08 AM

We will begin in Israel this morning where heavy fighting continues today after thousands of Israeli ground troops moved into Gaza last night.

Join us as we get the latest from Israeli President Shimon Peres from Jerusalem.

And, President-Elect Barack Obama begins lobbying Congress tomorrow to pass his massive jobs plan just as a full-scale ground war in the middle east threatens to present his first diplomatic test.

We will dig into both those challenges with our guests this morning: the Senate's Democratic whip, Dick Durbin of Illinois and the most powerful Republican in Washington, GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell.

Plus, we'll discuss the controversy over the Obama's now vacant Senate seat with our This Week Roundtable: George Will, Cokie Roberts, Katrina Vanden Heuvel and Jonathan Karl.

See you then.

--George Stephanopoulos

January 4, 2009 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Exclusive: Obama's Blago Report: Only One Rahm Call to Governor

December 21, 2008 9:26 AM

Sources tell me that the Obama team's review of contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will show that Rahm Emanuel had only one phone conversation with Blagojevich.

The contact, described as a "pro-forma" courtesy call, came as Emanuel was named Chief of Staff for Obama.  Most of the discussion concerned Emanuel's Congressional seat (which had previously been held by Blagojevich), with only a "passing reference" to the Senate vacancy, according to these sources.  No deal for the Senate vacancy was discussed.

Speculation in Washington and Chicago has been swirling for a week now over what the Obama team’s report would find.  Until now, the contents of that report have been kept sealed, at the request of the U.S. Attorney’s office.  Last Wednesday, Obama said he found it “a little bit frustrating” that the report had not yet been released.

The sources add that the report will show Emanuel also had four phone calls with Blagojevich Chief of Staff John Harris.  During those conversations, the Senate seat was discussed.  The pros and cons of various candidates were reviewed, and the sources say that Emanuel repeatedly reminded Harris that Blagojevich should focus on the message the pick would send about the governor and his administration.

Sources also confirm that Emanuel made the case for picking Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett during at least one of the conversations.  In the course of that conversation, Harris asked if in return for picking Jarrett, "all we get is appreciation, right?"  "Right," Emanuel responded.

Bottom line: these sources say that Obama's report, which is expected to be released this week, will confirm what Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and President-Elect Obama have said -- and what Governor Blagojevich clearly believed: that Obama officials were not open to any kind of deal for the Obama Senate seat.

--George Stephanopoulos

December 21, 2008 in Barack Obama | Permalink | User Comments (1064) | TrackBack (0)

Biden Not Ruling Out Prosecuting Bush Officials For Prisoner Abuse

December 21, 2008 9:19 AM

The Senate Armed Services Committee last week released a unanimous report that said that the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib, at Guantanamo, at prisons around the world, is a direct and indirect result of decisions made by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other high-level Bush administration officials.

So I asked the future vice president: Should they be prosecuted for that?

"That's a judgment, remember, four years ago on your program I made, so I haven't changed my mind. And this confirms," Biden told me.

"But the questions of whether or not a criminal act has been committed or a very, very, very bad judgment has been engaged in is -- is something the Justice Department decides.Barack Obama and I are -- President-elect Obama and I are not sitting thinking about the past. We're focusing on the future," he said.

Biden argued it's up to the Justice Department, under Attorney General-designate Eric Holder, to determine whether the case should be reviewed.

"I'm not ruling it in and not ruling it out. I just think we should look forward. I think we should be looking forward, not backwards," Biden said.

--George Stephanopoulos

December 21, 2008 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (50) | TrackBack (0)

Biden Counseled Hillary, Bill on State Dept. Job

December 21, 2008 9:11 AM

Sources tell me Vice President-Elect Joe Biden played a key role in convincing Sen. Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton that the secretary of state job was a good idea for her.

So I asked Biden during our exclusive interview -- did he have to convince her?

"Well, I don’t know whether I played a key role or not but I have had a longstanding relationship with Senator Clinton. She’s one of my close friends and when this came forward I did talk to her, she sought me out, I sought her out as well to assure her that this was real," Biden told me.

"There was a lot swirling around before she actually got asked and so she is an old friend, I talked with her all the time. I have continued. There hasn’t been a time since she’s been in office I haven’t – not many days go by I don’t talk to her. So it wasn’t so much convincing but they wanted to know my perspective and I gave my perspective," he said.

--George Stephanopoulos

December 21, 2008 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)

Biden: 'I'll Get to Be In the Room' on Every Critical Decision

December 21, 2008 9:08 AM

Vice President-Elect Joe Biden, in his first interview since winning the 2008 election, lifted the veil on his role in the transition, and what kinds of vice president he wants to be.

"I think we should restore the balance here," Biden told me. "The role of the vice president of the United States as I see it is to give the president of the United States the best, sagest, most accurate, most insightful advice and recommendations he or she can make to a president to help them make some of the very, very important decisions that have to be made"

Biden said he got a commitment from Barack Obama that he'll be "in the room" on every major economic, political, and foreign policy decision.

"When Barack Obama, Senator Barack Obama then talked to me about being his vice president I said we have to – let’s talk and we spent three and a half hours talking and one of the things I asked was, I said I don’t want to be picked unless you’re picking me for my judgment. I don’t want to be the guy that goes out and has a specific assignment – an important assignment to reinvent government, which Al Gore did a great job of. Dealing with some specific discrete item. I said I want a commitment from you that in every important decision you’ll make, every critical decision, economic and political as well as foreign policy, I’ll get to be in the room," Biden said.

Has Obama kept his promise? I asked Biden.

"He’s kept it. Every single solitary appointment he has made thus far I have been in the room, the recommendations I have made in most cases coincidentally have been the recommendations that he’s picked. Not because I made them but because we think a lot alike. I have been there for every one of those meetings," he said.

Biden will chair a middle class task force that will include other Cabinet members, including Labor, Health and Human Services, Office of Management and Budget, Education, etc.

"The one thing we use as a yardstick of economic success of our administration, is the middle class growing? Is the middle class getting better? Is the middle class no longer being left behind?And we’ll look at everything from college affordability to after school programs. The things that affect people’s daily lives. I will be the guy honchoing that policy," he said.

Biden said he's also been meeting separately and collectively with the foreign policy team: Obama's nominees' for national security advisor, secretary of state, and secretary of defense.

"One of my tasked responsibilities is to work with that group to come up with a baseline for the president as to what we view the circumstance we’re inheriting in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan so that we don’t accept, we may or may not accept, all these reports are being done," he said.

"It’s ultimately the national security adviser’s job," Biden said. "I’m just the guy that’s honchoing this baseline study. And so that requires coordination and look, as you well know, the secretary of state, the secretary of defense and the national security advisor have their hands full on a whole range of issues. So there are going to be things that have cross-jurisdiction a lot of the time."

--George Stephanopoulos

December 21, 2008 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

Biden: 'We're Going to Inherit $1-Trillion Deficit'

December 21, 2008 9:04 AM

How much will the nation's bloated deficit be once President-Elect Barack Obama is sworn into office?

Vice President-Elect Joe Biden told me in an exclusive "This Week" interview it could be as much as $1-trillion.

"We're going to inherit a deficit that's probably going to exceed a Trillion dollars to begin with if we don't do anything, nothing at all.

If nothing happens between now and the time we take office on January the 20th, we're going to inherit the largest deficit in the history of the country," Biden said.

The future vice president argued the nation needs a "big" and "bold" second stimulus package in the range of $600-$700-billion.

"We want to spend a fair amount of money investing in a new smart grid," Biden said.

"The ability to transmit across high-tension wires in the minds of most people in the public, or underground in these wires, wind and solar energy. You can't do that now. That would create tens of thousands of new jobs, high-paying jobs. It  needs to be done and it will have a long-range payoff not just for next year and the following year, keeping the economy from nose-diving,  begin to turn the nose of that aircraft up, but it will also change our energy picture. It will deal with global warming," he said. .

Biden said the focus will also be on cutting spending in addition to infrastructure spending.

"The end result, though, the money we're spending, we're going to get back three- and four-fold," Biden said.

But, he said, the Obama administration can't focus initially on the ballooning deficit.
 
"As President-elect Obama said, we can't worry about the deficit in the short run. We can't worry about it right now," Biden told me.

"The whole idea here is the single most important thing we have to do as a new administration, to have -- to be able to have impact on all of the other things we want to do, from foreign policy to domestic policy, is we've got to begin to stem this bleeding here and begin to stop the loss of jobs in the creation of jobs," he said.

--George Stephanopoulos

December 21, 2008 in This Week with George Stephanopoulos | Permalink | User Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)