White House Fires Back at Accounts Made in 'Confidence Men' Book

HarperCollins Publishers/Amazon [dot] com(WASHINGTON) -- For a White House seeking to regain footing on the economy, this book hurts.

Journalist Ron Suskind, granted extraordinary access to President Obama and his inner circle, has delivered a vicious take on the Obama White House’s economic team in the new book Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President.

Suskind depicts rivalries that led to dysfunction and even insubordination in the young months of a new presidency.  At the middle of all of it, by Suskind’s account, was a president whose top aides were feuding and bitter as they sought to cope with the worst financial crisis in generations.

“We’re home alone,” Larry Summers, who was director of the White House National Economic Council until last year, is quoted as griping to a colleague, Peter Orszag.  “There’s no adult in charge.  Clinton would never have made these mistakes.”

The White House is fiercely disputing the accounts of the Suskind book, calling it a combination of half-truths and old news, dramatized for effect.  Several of those quoted in the book are already claiming they were misquoted, or had their words taken out of context by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

“It doesn’t sound at all accurate to me,” Jared Bernstein, who served as Vice President Joe Biden’s chief economist until earlier this year, told ABC News.  Bernstein was in many of the meetings referenced in the book, and was among the White House aides interviewed by Suskind for the project.

“You put a bunch of economists in a room, you are going to argue and squabble,” Bernstein added.  “We have disagreements.  But the team worked well together and actually came up with unified decisions at the end of most of those arguments.”

Yet Summers’ comparison to former President Bill Clinton -- coming from someone who worked closely with both men -- is a particular slight to a Democratic president whose reelection hopes hinge on the ability to sell an economic plan to a skeptical public.

Obama’s standing with the public is at or near low points in several measurements, from general approval rating to specific faith in his ability to revive the economy.  His support among independents and core Democrats is eroding, just as the Republican presidential field begins to take shape.

Warning signs for the president abound after last week’s special-election losses, including the loss of a New York City House race in a district that hasn’t sent a Republican to Congress in nearly 90 years.

Also last week, former Clinton hand James Carville made headlines by calling on the president to “panic.”  His recipe included firing “a lot of people,” so the president is no longer relying on the “same political and economic advisers that got us into this mess.”

As for those advisers, many have moved out of formal roles in the White House.  But their memories will linger on in Suskind’s book.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Republicans Blast Obama’s ‘Buffett Rule’

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama has yet to release details of the so-called “Buffett Rule” he plans to introduce Monday, but Republicans already say they aren’t buying it, calling it “class warfare.”

Obama will try to make billionaire Warren Buffett’s name part of the United States tax law.  The White House confirms to ABC News that as part of a speech on long-term deficit reduction, the president will propose a “millionaire’s tax.”

“The Buffett Rule” would require any American making more than a million dollars a year to pay at least the middle class tax rate.  Buffett, one of the richest men in the world who is known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” has for years declared that the rich need to pay more in taxes.

“I think that people at the high end -- people like myself -- should be paying a lot more in taxes,”  he told ABC News in November 2010.  Recently, Buffett wrote in an opinion piece that the country “should stop coddling billionaires.”

The president has been seizing on that position to bolster his argument that the rich need to pay more.

“Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary -- an outrage he has asked us to fix,” the president told a joint session of Congress earlier this month when he revealed his American Jobs Act.

Here is how the president’s plan might work using Buffett as an example:  A few years ago, Buffett said his secretary made $60,000 and paid 29 percent in taxes.  The billionaire made $46 million but only paid 17 percent in taxes, about $8 million.  Under the millionaire tax, if Buffett paid that middle class rate of 29 percent, he would owe another $5.5 million in taxes.

Republicans rejected and mocked Buffet’s argument.

“If he’s feeling guilty about it I think he should send in a check … But we don’t want to stagnate this economy by raising taxes,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“The Buffet Rule” will be just part of long-term deficit reduction and tax reform plan the president will propose in a speech Monday, the White House said.  Obama has long contended that the rich need to contribute more.  It is a populist plan and polls have found it has general support among Americans.

Republicans, however, call it divisive.

“Class warfare will simply divide this country more.  It will attack job creators, divide people and it doesn’t grow the economy,” Rep. Paul Ryan said on FOX News Sunday.  “Class warfare may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics.”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Obama to Pitch Higher Taxes, Means-Testing Medicare

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama on Monday will outline more than $2 trillion in new deficit reductions over the next decade, senior administration officials tell ABC News, including $1.5 trillion in new taxes and means-testing Medicare for wealthy recipients -- both in higher fees and benefit cuts for top income brackets.

Combined with savings from the debt deal and drawing down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the proposal will guarantee that the size of the debt -- as a share of the economy and percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) -- will fall, with more than $4 trillion in deficit reduction total.

The president’s purpose in laying out this detailed plan is to avoid the criticisms that have dogged him throughout this year for not putting out a more assertive deficit reduction plan, and to further illustrate his “balanced approach,” requiring “shared sacrifice.”

A senior administration official described the president’s proposal as having “very tough policies in it, and we know that that’s going to be something that our friends and our opponents alike are going to notice.  But there is no way to get this job done without making tough decisions, and this is putting forward a plan that does it in a fair and a balanced way.”

The president will propose roughly $580 billion in cuts to mandatory spending programs, including $248 billion from Medicare and $72 billion from Medicaid and other health programs.  Part of this will include asking wealthier seniors who receive Medicare to pay higher premiums and accept fewer benefits -- means-testing the program.

But that said, the president will not accept any cuts to Medicare if tax increases on wealthier income brackets and corporations are not part of the final package.

“He will say that he will veto any bill that takes one dime from the Medicare benefits seniors rely on without asking the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share,” a senior administration official said.

Obama’s remarks will push the so-called “super-committee” charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction by November to undertake comprehensive tax reform guided by five principles: lowering tax rates; eliminating wasteful loopholes and tax breaks; reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion; boosting job creation and growth; and being consistent with the “Buffett Rule.”

The Buffet Rule, named in honor of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, will state that those who make more $1 million a year “should not pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay,” a senior administration official said.

Other ways to raise taxes that the president will propose are now familiar: $800 billion from letting expire the lower Bush tax rates for the top two tax brackets; and $700 billion from other revenue -- capping income tax deductions for wealthier Americans; eliminating subsidies for petroleum companies; eliminating tax loopholes for corporate jets; and requiring hedge fund managers to pay a higher tax rate than the 15 percent carried interest rate they pay now.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

President Clinton Says Gridlock in Washington Hurting the Economy

ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- On the eve of the annual meeting of his Clinton Global Initiative, Former President Bill Clinton says that partisanship in Washington is hampering any ability to reach economic solutions for the country.

"We live in a time where there's this huge disconnect between the way the political system works and the way the economic system works," President Clinton told "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour. "If you want to put people to work, we've got to focus on what works, and what works is not all this back and forth fighting in Washington."

"Conflict has proved to be remarkably good politics," Clinton added. "It's very hard for the people in Washington, who got there based on pure conflict, pure attack, pure ideology, to take it seriously when their same constituents are saying please do something positive. That's not how they got elected."

Most recent polls have shown dissatisfaction with both President Obama's and Congressional leadership on the economy, but Clinton believes the jobs plan that President Obama has outlined can help improve the economic outlook.

"There's a lot of upheaval now," Clinton said. "People are feeling disjointed because they're hurting economically and they don't see the country going forward."

Clinton says he supports investments outlined in President Obama's jobs plan, believing they can work together with private sector investments to spur growth and reduce unemployment.

"I think that it's a very good program that he outlined," Clinton said, praising payroll tax cuts and incentives to hire the long-term unemployed that President Obama has called for. "I think if the Congress seriously takes him up on it and they start trying to work through it and get anything approaching the amount of activity that was recommended, they could put about two percent more on the GDP growth of the coming year… It will put a million or two million people to work, and we'll be on the way back."

The lead topic for the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting this year will be "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Generating Employment for the 21st Century," with world leaders and CEOs convening over the next week to tackle solutions to the global unemployment crisis, with additional focus on green energy investments worldwide, and empowering girls and women.

"I believe that we, those of us who aren't in government, can think of ways to create jobs which will reinforce what I believe are the positive suggestions coming out of Washington," Clinton said. "So what we should do is focus on possible areas of job creation that will free up some of the corporate money that's in treasuries now, that could be invested in America, and make bank loans more attractive to create jobs."

"I will ask them to put aside for the moment whatever their recommendations are to Washington … and just think about where we are now and what we can do now with the resources we now have," Clinton added.

Clinton said there are cities around the country such as San Diego and Pittsburgh that are experiencing growth and innovation, despite gridlock in Washington.

"There are places all over America, believe it or not, that have low unemployment, high growth, strong home prices, jobs being created, a shortage of skilled workers," Clinton said. "Every place the American economy is booming, cooperation is the order of the day… We need some signal out of Washington that they understand that cooperation is good economics, even if conflict is good politics."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Press Missed ‘Mission Accomplished’ Meaning, Says Bush Staffer

SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The man responsible for the visual production of the 2003 “mission accomplished” speech given by President George W. Bush aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln says the media mischaracterized the president’s message that day.

It’s one of the most iconic and controversial moments of the Bush presidency.

On May 1, 2003, President Bush landed a fixed-wing aircraft aboard the Abraham Lincoln and then addressed Navy personnel returning from combat operations in the Persian Gulf.

The president delivered his televised remarks in front of a giant sign that said “mission accomplished.”

In an interview on the Sirius XM program “PoliOptics”, deputy assistant to President Bush for communications Scott Sforza said that people who were not aboard the ship do not understand the meaning of “mission accomplished,” but those who were there do.

“I think that the press really mischaracterized the entire event,” Sforza told host Adam Belmar. “And I say this because we personally met with those on the ship, and the intent of the message that was put on the ship ‘mission accomplished’ was really aimed at the families on the shore.”

The men and women aboard the Abraham Lincoln were returning home after being deployed for 11 months, much longer than the typical 5-6 months, Sforza said.

No one aboard the Naval vessel voiced any concern to Bush administration staffers that day about the “mission accomplished” banner because everyone understood the context of the message.

“If you ever play back the tape, roll back the audio of what the president said at no time did he ever say that that was the end of military action,” said Storza.

But President Bush did announce an end to major combat operations in Iraq.

He said, “In the battle of Iraq, the United States and are allies have prevailed.”

It was that declaration that Bush critics and critics of war used against the president for rest of his time in office.

The Iraqi insurgency would pick up in the months and years following the speech costing the lives of thousands of Americans.

In fact, the last U.S. combat troops would not leave Iraq until 2010 under Bush’s successor, President Barack Obama.

Sforza is not the first Bush staffer to argue the “mission accomplished” message got mangled. In April 2008, Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino told reporters the banner should have been more specific.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Candidate Jon Huntsman Views South Carolina Football Match

Richard Ellis/Getty Images(COLUMBIA, S.C.) -- With football season in full swing, former Utah governor and GOP presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman took the opportunity to mingle with first-in-the-south voters at three different tailgate events in South Carolina today. Huntsman and his wife Mary Kaye weaved through grills and coolers to greet fans of the Clemson Tigers and the South Carolina Gamecocks.

“I’m running for president of the United States and South Carolina is mighty important in that process,” Huntsman told CBS affiliate WSPA-TV before the Clemson-Auburn game. “And where are you going to meet some of the great local people? You’re going to meet them at the football game. So we’re here, cheering for the Orange.”

Huntsman faced a slight conflict of interest at the University of South Carolina game later in the day. The Gamecocks hosted the Naval Academy, where Huntsman’s son, Jon III, is a sophomore.

“The people of this state have a huge say in who the next President of he United States will be,” Huntsman told WSPA. “I know they take that responsibility seriously. And we look forward to getting to know a whole lot more of them.”

Huntsman’s South Carolina campaign director Joel Sawyer told ABC News: “College football is more than a tradition here, it’s an institution. Clemson and Carolina games are an opportunity for retail politics in its purest form. The governor not only got to meet dozens of fans, supporters, and potential backers, but he also got to enjoy some darn good football.”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

President Obama to Introduce 'Buffett Rule' Millionaire's Tax

William Thomas Cain/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Obama on Monday will propose a special “millionaire’s tax” that he will call the “Buffett Rule,” Obama administration officials told ABC News.

The president’s pitch will come in the context of his remarks about deficit reduction. He will not be specific in terms of rates, but officials said such a tax would affect fewer than 450,000 taxpayers, or 0.3 percent. The proposal was first reported by Jackie Calmes of the New York Times earlier Saturday. The proposal is to make sure that millionaires pay at least the same tax rate as those in lower brackets, officials said, an issue billionaire investor Warren Buffett recently raised by noting he pays a lower tax rate — 17.4% — than his employees, whp average a 36% rate.

Faced with a Congress that opposes many of the suggestions he has made for job growth and deficit reduction, the president is increasingly making proposals that seem designed to garner popular, even populist, support — Republicans call it “class warfare” — so as to draw contrasts with Republicans for election 2012. But the public’s lack of confidence in his handling of the economy could undermine his ability to push his measures, however well they poll, through Congress.

The president’s proposal will generally be based on the notion put forward in an August New York Times op-ed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett called “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich,” officials said.

Buffett specifically suggested that the so-called “Super-committee” required to come up with $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction should “leave rates for 99.7 percent of taxpayers unchanged… But for those making more than $1 million — there were 236,883 such households in 2009 — I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. And for those who make $10 million or more — there were 8,274 in 2009 — I would suggest an additional increase in rate. My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.”

The president in his tour of the Midwest last month embraced Buffett’s call as his own.

“Warren Buffett had an op-ed that he wrote today, where he said, ‘We’ve got to stop coddling billionaires like me,’” the president said in Cannon Falls, Minn. “The point is, is that if we’re willing to do something in a balanced way — making some tough choices in terms of spending cuts, but also raising some revenue from folks who’ve done very well, even in a tough economy — then we can get control of our debt and deficit and we can start still investing in things like education and basic research and infrastructure that are going to make sure that our future is bright. It’s not that complicated, but it does require everybody being willing to make some compromises.”

Republicans have said they are not willing to raise taxes at this time of economic instability, particularly on the wealthy, since they say it would hinder job creation and investment.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Mitt Romney Next Up to Meet Donald Trump

James Devaney/WireImage(WASHINGTON) -- Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has requested—and been granted—a meeting with Donald Trump on Sept. 26 in New York City, sources close to Trump confirm to ABC News.

Romney’s meeting with Trump, first reported by the Washington Post, will come about two weeks after Texas Gov. Rick Perry met with the real estate mogul at his Manhattan apartment.

According to one of Trump’s top aides, it was Romney who asked for the meeting “several weeks ago”—before Perry’s meeting happened, but after it became known that the Texas Governor was speaking with Trump.

Trump has yet to endorse a candidate because his aides say he has not actually decided whether he will pursue a bid for the White House. He is waiting to meet all the candidates who wish to speak with him before making that decision, according to the source.

While Perry was taken to Jean Georges restaurant and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to a pizza parlor in Times Square by Trump, there is no word yet on where Romney will be taken, just that a dinner offer will certainly be extended.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Obama’s Weekly Address: Another Plea to Pass the Jobs Bill

Pete Souza/The White House(WASHINGTON) -- Capping off a week of campaigning for his $447 billion jobs plan, President Obama used his weekly address to once again urge Congress to pass the American Jobs Act.

“The time for action is now. No more games or gridlock. No more division or delay. It’s time for the people you sent to Washington to put country before party—to stop worrying so much about their jobs and start worrying more about yours,” he said.

The President’s plan intends to create jobs and boost economic growth through new spending and temporary tax cuts. “It’s a jobs bill that does two simple things: put more people back to work, and more money back in the pockets of people who are working,” he said.

Next week President Obama will outline his ideas to reduce the deficit and offer his recommendations for the new congressional super-committee, tasked with identifying $1.5 trillion in cuts.

“On Monday, I’ll lay out my plan for how we’ll do that—how we’ll pay for this plan and pay down our debt by following some basic principles: making sure we live within our means and asking everyone to pay their fair share,” Obama says.

“But right now, we’ve got to get Congress to pass this jobs bill. I know some of them would rather wait another year to wage another election than work together right now. But most Americans don’t have the luxury of waiting,” he says. “It’s time to get to work and show the world once again why the United States of America remains the greatest nation on Earth.”

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

DHS Task Force Criticizes Immigration Fingerprint Program

Digital Vision/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- A draft report by a Department of Homeland Security task force has found serious concerns with a deportation program run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because of confusion about the program and tensions the effort has created for state and local police.

Police have traditionally run fingerprints through an FBI database to search for an arrestee’s criminal history and any outstanding warrants. Established in 2008, “Secure Communities,” the deportation program, allows the fingerprints to also be searched in ICE’s databases for possible immigration violations.

The program is designed to find criminal aliens and serious violent offenders. But it has generated growing criticism from those who think it turns up low-level criminals or people with no previous record.

“Mixing individuals who have no criminal convictions or who have only low-level convictions with serious offenders is having the unintended consequence of undercutting the credibility of the entire Secure Communities program,” said the report.

The task force was created earlier this year by ICE director John Morton and DHS after criticism from some cities, police groups and immigrant rights groups.  Almost 50 percent of state and local police jurisdictions have begun using the program. DHS intends it to be nationwide by 2013.

The report notes, “Although Secure Communities has resulted in the identification and removal of many individuals posing a risk to public safety, serious concerns have been raised about the program, including its design, activation, implementation and unintended negative impact on local communities.”

The task force findings and recommendations will be reviewed by the Homeland Security Advisory Council, a group that advises DHS leadership. The report recommended that ICE reach out to and work with state and local law enforcement agencies to develop trust in the program.

“To the extent that Secure Communities may damage community policing, the result can be greater levels of crime. If residents do not trust their local police, they are less willing to step forward as witnesses to or victims of crime,” the report noted.

The task force recommended that ICE should focus on criminal aliens who pose substantial public and national security risks.

Under the program ICE has identified more than 77,000 who have been convicted of crimes, including over 28,000 felons linked to violent crimes such as rape and murder. Last year ICE deported 392,000 individuals as part of immigration removal operations, up from 291,000 in fiscal year 2007.

Some members of the Task Force decided to resign from the board rather than agree with all of the findings, including representatives from the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents ICE officials. 

In response to the report, DHS spokesman Matthew Chandler said, “We thank the members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s Task Force on Secure Communities for their service. The task force’s draft report has been transmitted to the Homeland Security Advisory Council membership who will review and finalize the task force’s recommendations prior to submission to ICE Director Morton.”

“In order to ensure that all input is received, Director Morton has invited the AFL-CIO, AFGE and others who chose not to include their names on the draft report to meet with him and discuss their concerns as he reviews the final recommendations,” Chandler said.
 
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio