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Even though semi-professional historian Karl Rove has left the White House, they are still paying attention to past administrations at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They're especially paying attention to how Bill Clinton revived his fortunes in the 1990s by fighting with the GOP Congress over spending.
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When Erin Burnett's show "Street Signs" called me to talk trade this afternoon, the question was "Is Trade Dead?" I thought, for this Congress, it was--until I did a little reporting. As it happens, Republican and Democratic leadership sources both expect SOME progress on trade before the 2008 elections.
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I was waiting to see who did it first. I figured it was between California and Florida, and I was right. California wins. Last Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote a letter to Congressional leaders asking for a state exception to the GSE conforming loan limit ($417,000).
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The battle between the White House and Congress over S-Chip--the acronym for a state-federal children's health program--is a fascinating showdown that is playing out on multiple levels. It's partly about ideology and partly about political strategy. It's partly about health care and partly about spending.
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Here are notes of interest from the political front. The first one on Newt Gingrich is from a breakfast meeting I attended this week with other journalists. The former Speaker sees a bleak Republican outlook but keeps a potential 2008 candidacy alive.
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Paulson, in a letter to congressional leaders, urged quick Senate approval of a bill that would increase U.S. borrowing authority by $850 billion and reduce chances uncertainty over federal funding would exacerbate financial market turmoil.
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I noted earlier that the questions rivals had raised about Hillary Clinton's health plan indicated she may have hit the political sweet spot. Republican Mitt Romney slammed her for a "big government" plan whose signal feature matched one he backed as Massachusetts governor.
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Alan Greenspan may call himself a libertarian Republican, but his new book provides a major credibility boost for Democrats on economic policy. The first, and less surprising, blow came in his criticism of the Bush-era spending excesses. Many conservative Republicans have long offered that critique.
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Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said his successors at the U.S. central bank should act cautiously in lowering interest rates because of inflation risks, according to an interview published on Sunday.
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President Bush has settled on Michael B. Mukasey, a retired federal judge from New York, to replace Alberto Gonzales as attorney general and will announce his selection Monday, a source familiar with the president's decision said Sunday evening.
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Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan sharply criticizes President George W. Bush's administration and Republican congressional leaders in his memoir for putting political imperatives ahead of sound economic policies, several newspapers reported on Friday.
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Here are some more highlights from our NBC/WSJ poll, which tells a lot about the state of the race for the White House. Though rivals question Hillary Clinton's "electability," she outpaces all of them in the public's assessment of qualifications for the presidency. 46% of Americans express confidence in her “skills and ability necessary to be president”...
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President George W. Bush on Thursday ordered gradual troop reductions in Iraq but defied calls for a dramatic change of course, telling skeptical Americans the U.S. military role there will stretch beyond his presidency.
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Public discontent with the Iraq war has slightly eased, increasing President Bush’s political maneuvering room at a critical point in debates over war costs and troop levels. Those shifts in public opinion remain modest. Yet only one in four Americans say troops should leave now regardless of conditions on the ground...
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Americans are relatively unconcerned about the subprime mortgage troubles, and they say President Bush is doing a better job, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
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The sharp and sudden moves we have seen this morning are indicative of the volatility we will see as we go into the Fed meeting and the quadruple witching expiration next week. Much of the Street is short the market, and the sudden short covering moves indicate that shorts are indeed very nervous. Bulls say they have reason to be nervous. They point to the following factors...
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Mattel Chief Executive Robert Eckert apologized Wednesday for three huge recalls this summer of lead-paint tainted toys made in China and said the company supports strengthening the U.S. government's consumer safety agency.
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Facing intense pressures from the 2008 campaign, Senate Republican leaders are planning to ignore White House talking points about the strength of the economy under President Bush and press a more forward looking agenda.
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The decision by Hillary Clinton's campaign to return $850,000 in donations tied to scandal-plagued donor Norman Hsu represents an attempt to stop a damaging story line--and raise the stakes on rivals seeking to capitalize. The refunds, among the largest in political history, set a precedent that will create pressure in future situations involved tainted donors.
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Presidential politics and the health of ground zero workers loom over the former World Trade Center site this Sept. 11 perhaps more than at any other anniversary of the attacks.