Excerpts from President Obama's Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery:

To the members of our armed forces and the veterans who are here today: I am deeply honored and humbled to spend Veterans Day with you in this sacred place where generations of heroes have come to rest -- and generations of Americans have come to show their gratitude.

There are many honors and responsibilities that come with this job. But none is more profound than serving as Commander-in-Chief. Yesterday, I visited the troops at Fort Hood. We gathered in remembrance of those we recently lost. We paid tribute to the lives they led. And there was something that I saw in them; something that I see in the eyes of every soldier and sailor, airman, Marine and Coast Guardsman that I have had the privilege to meet in this country and around the world -- and that thing is determination.

In this time of war, we gather here mindful that the generation serving today already deserves a place alongside previous generations for the courage they have shown and the sacrifices that they have made. In an era where so many acted only in pursuit of narrow self-interest, they've chosen the opposite. They chose to serve the cause that is greater than self; many even after they knew they'd be sent into harm's way. And for the better part of a decade, they have endured tour after tour in distant and difficult places; they have protected us from danger; and they have given others the opportunity for a better life.

So to all of them -- to our veterans, to the fallen, and to their families -- there is no tribute, no commemoration, no praise that can truly match the magnitude of your service and your sacrifice. ...

We call this a holiday. But for many veterans, it's another day of memories that drive them to live their lives each day as best as they possibly can. For our troops, it is another day in harm's way. For their families, it is another day to feel the absence of a loved one, and the concern for their safety. For our wounded warriors, it is another day of slow and arduous recovery. And in this national cemetery, it is another day when grief remains fresh. So while it is important and proper that we mark this day, it is far more important we spend all our days determined to keep the promises that we've made to all who answer this country's call.

It looks like there will be a resolution on the floor of the House this afternoon reprimanding Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), he of the "You lie!" outburst during President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress last week.

Wilson's intemperate remark came shortly after Obama stated in his speech that no Democratic health-care proposal would cover illegal immigrants ... a discussion that followed the president denouncing the "lies" some opponents of health-care overhaul were spreading.

Republicans agreed that Wilson's outburst was out of line. Under pressure from party leaders, his office issued an apology that same night, and Wilson himself called the White House to apologize, reaching Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Obama said he accepted the apology.

But Wilson has refused to apologize any further, and that includes on the House floor. And that's why Democrats are offering today's sanction.

Continue reading "Joe Wilson House Resolution Expected This Afternoon" >

Two things you may know about President Obama's speech last night to a joint session of Congress.

One, he spoke about health care.

And two, Joe Wilson called him a liar.

You can read about that health-care/shmealth-care stuff elsewhere. This one is about Joe Wilson.

(Not the Joe Wilson who called President Bush a liar. That was the other Joe Wilson, married to Valerie Plame. This Joe Wilson is married to Roxanne Wilson. Completely different guy.)

Continue reading "Meet Joe Wilson" >

It is impossible to figure out precisely what happened last night.

I mean, there is the easy stuff to explain, of course. We know, for example, that President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on the importance of overhauling the nation's health-care program. We know that in his approximately 45 minute speech, the president laid out the case -- his case -- why the status quo is not acceptable, why the combination of rising costs and millions uninsured is doing great harm to the nation. We know that Democrats liked what they heard, and that Republicans, with some exceptions, did not.

We even heard one GOP member, Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, yell out at one point, "You lie" -- or something to that effect. That came in response to Obama's insistence that illegal immigrants will not be covered by these proposals, which many Republicans frankly doubt. Even after witnessing an August filled with town-hall meeting rancor, the incident was extremely disturbing.

(Wilson later apologized, saying he "let my emotions get the best of me," adding that his comments "were inappropriate and regrettable" that lacked "civility." To say the least.)

And there was, to no surprise, the constant occurrences of Democrats on their feet, Republicans staying put in their seats.

But what actually happened? What minds were changed? What votes shifted? Did the chances for passage change in any pronounced way?

Continue reading "The President Spoke. What Did People Hear? What Will Congress Do?" >

If you forgot to turn off your TV set these past 15 minutes, then it may be too late. Your children may already be indoctrinated. President Barack Obama has spoken.

Obama's speech, given at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., and carried live on all three cable networks, called for students to work hard, be responsible, and not quit on yourself. Develop your talents. Do your homework. You can make your own destiny, your own future.

But with all the controversy that this speech has created, it's clear that the White House is trying to subliminally corrupt the nation's students. Many fear that most threatened are those students who have braces and attend magnet schools. But you should decide for yourselves.

Here are the president's remarks as delivered.

Listening to Nixon on tape since 1974.

I guess it's an arguable point, but in my mind what ultimately took down Richard Nixon was the decision by the 37th president not to destroy "the tapes" -- secret recordings, authorized by Nixon, of his White House conversations.

It was these recordings that revealed the extent of the coverup by which he and his aides were involved in the Watergate conspiracy.

Nixon is long gone, but his voice lives on. Today the Nixon Library -- via the National Archives -- released the latest batch of tapes -- more than 150 hours -- recorded in January of February 1973 ... a time period that includes not only Nixon's second inauguration but the early discussions about Watergate.

Here's where to find some good stuff:

Los Angeles Times: Nixon negotiating an end to the Vietnam War.

NPR's Nina Totenberg: Nixon's views on abortion and the Roe decision.

New York Times: More on Nixon and abortion.

For the record, the best Web site on what's on the Nixon tapes is, appropriately, nixontapes.org. It's run by Luke Nichter, an assistant professor of history at Texas A&M, with help from Richard Moss, a government consultant. It is thorough and invaluable.

President Obama held a midday news conference today in the White House briefing room, and the questions, as expected, dealt with the situation in Iran, prospects for health care legislation, and the state of the economy.

Obama led off with a statement about Iran, where he said the U.S. and the international community

have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.

The president has said in the past that he has deliberately avoided making confrontational comments about what's happening in Iran in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election there because he didn't want his words to be used by the ruling clergy as proof that the U.S. is interfering in Tehran's affairs. He stressed that again today.

I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering in Iran's affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.

Continue reading "Obama Press Conference Tackles Iran, Health Care, Economy" >

A lot of comments, some on the blog and mostly via e-mail, about my earlier posting today regarding yesterday's murder at the Holocaust museum in Washington and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's explanation of why he hasn't spoken with President Obama ... because of the Jews.

This was not -- or at least, my blog posting was not -- about Gaza, or the Israeli settlements, or how AIPAC or for that matter the Learned Elders of Zion control the U.S. government.

And I was not, and am not, saying there is linkage between Wright's remarks to the murder of a security guard at the Holocaust museum yesterday by James von Brunn, a white supremacist and anti-Semite, or the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller last month by anti-abortion extremist Scott Roeder.

All I'm saying -- and this is all I'm saying -- is that hate speech is hate speech, and it should be condemned whenever and wherever possible. When Wright is asked about whether he spoke to the president, and the first words out of his mouth are to blame the Jews, to me, that's hate speech. This has nothing to do with justifying Israeli foreign policy or what's happening to the plight of Palestinians or anything of the sort. The question to Wright wasn't, "What do you think of Israeli foreign policy?" Blaming "the Jews" for keeping him from talking to Obama was not an adult critique of what's going on in the Mideast.

We can argue this all day if we want. All I'm saying is that, to me anyway, if the first response out of someone's mouth to a seemingly innocuous question is that it's the Jews' fault -- or the blacks' fault, or the Muslims', or the Hispanics', or the Palestinians', or the Eskimos' -- then there has to be an element of hate somewhere that provokes such an answer.

Just as the nation was horrified at the recent murder of abortion doctor George Tiller, the same reaction was felt yesterday over the news about a self-styled white supremacist, James von Brunn, who walked into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington armed with a rifle and began shooting.

Von Brunn apparently has spent much of his 88 years filled with hate, mostly against blacks and Jews. A recent e-mail message from von Brunn read, "It's time to kill all the Jews."

One person, a 39-year-old security guard, was killed. Von Brunn was shot and critically wounded by guards.

Now here's another bit of hate that got less play.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Obama's former minister who was attending the Hampton University Ministers' Conference in Virginia, was asked by a reporter from the Hampton Daily Press the last time he spoke with the president. Here was his answer, recorded on tape, which you can watch on the link:

Them Jews ain't going to let him talk to me. ... Ethnic cleansing is going on in Gaza. Ethnic cleansing [by] the Zionist is a sin and a crime against humanity, and they don't want Barack talking like that because that's anti-Israel.

Wright goes on to talk about how "the Jewish vote, the AIPAC vote" is "controlling" Obama.

Is what Wright has to say news? Not sure. I think the bigger issue is that hate and bigotry, no matter where it comes from, should not be ignored. It's a disease, and it spreads.

NPR's Linton Weeks, who knows a thing or two about folks from the South, writes that Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, "has shown himself to be a musician, a writer, a stand-up comedian, a presidential candidate and a shining example of how clean living can lead to miraculous weight loss." Adds Linton: "But who knew he was a poet?"

So when the following political poem about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi popped up recently on Huckabee's Web site, we called up the folks at the Poetry Foundation.

Linton first presents the poem, then he brings in what the poetry specialists said.

Continue reading "Huckabee Rejects Pelosi W/Poem; Poetry Critics Reject Huckabee" >

By Tom Gjelten

In his speech, President Obama said: "To respond to an economic crisis that is global in scope, we are working with the nations of the G-20 to restore confidence in our financial system, avoid the possibility of escalating protectionism, and spur demand for American goods in markets across the globe."

During his run for the presidency, Obama's campaign distributed stickers saying, "Buy American -- Vote for Barack Obama." He criticized John McCain for opposing legislation that mandated "Buy American" policies. An early version of the stimulus bill included a provision requiring that U.S. steel and iron be used for all federal and state transportation projects. Obama, however, signaled his opposition to any provisions that "signal protectionism." The final version of the bill, which Obama signed into law, supported "Buy American" principles but specified that they be "applied in a manner consistent with United States obligations under international agreements." That compromise language was still insufficient to satisfy China, which said the "Buy American" provision in the stimulus package was "poison to the solution" of the global economic crisis.

By Larry Abramson

In his remarks on education, President Obama is careful to place equal emphasis on more spending and on more personal responsibility. By backing a call for community service, the president is clearly answering conservative critics, who feel that government cannot address all the problems contributing to the nation's education woes. He urges parents to "put away the video games" and applauds legislation in Congress that would help pay for public service programs. And he makes a personal appeal to students to go to college, a nod to the idea that money alone cannot solve the dropout problem.

By Richard Harris

President Obama struck hard on themes he has returned to repeatedly through his campaign and his young presidency: Renewable energy creates jobs and helps the environment. In the speech, he pledged to double the nation's supply of renewable energy in the next three years. Renewables currently supply about 7 percent of the nation's energy, so doubling that will still leave the United States largely dependent on fossil fuels. But it's an ambitious agenda even so.

To do that, Obama talked about stringing "thousands of miles of new power lines" to bring renewable solar energy from the sun-soaked Southwest and wind from places like the Dakotas. The problem with renewables is largely that the energy is far from people. And the problem with new power lines is that nobody wants them running through their own yards. So this is a promise easy to make, but challenging to reach.

Wind and solar energy are also more expensive than fossil fuels. So Obama is calling for "legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution." What the president is really asking Congress to do is to increase the cost of cheap coal, oil and natural gas. Stated that way, it's a tough sell. But one idea for reducing the sting is to find a way to return at least some of that money to energy users. The huge challenge there is to make sure that poor people, who are least able to afford higher gasoline and electric prices, can receive some of the money they pay out of one pocket back into another one.

By Tom Gjelten

In his speech, President Obama said: "With our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat al-Qaida and combat extremism. Because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people from safe havens halfway around the world."

For the past three years, al-Qaida has operated from safe havens in Pakistan, along the border with Afghanistan. During his presidential campaign, Obama said he would support strikes against al-Qaida in Pakistan even without the collaboration of the Pakistani government. "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and [Pakistani] President Musharraf will not act," Obama said, "we will."

Shortly after taking office, President Obama authorized missile strikes against al-Qaida targets in Pakistan, using unmanned Reaper aircraft directed by the CIA. That action represented a continuation of the policy of President George W. Bush. The White House has not publicly acknowledged the strikes, but senior U.S. officials say Obama personally authorized them after intelligence officials told him earlier strikes had been effective in destroying al-Qaida leadership.

By Jackie Northam

President Obama said in the battle against extremism, it is important to show the United States upholds the values it is trying to extend throughout the world. To that end, as one of his first moves in office, he signed an executive order to shut the controversial military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In his speech, he said the United States "will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists, because living our values doesn't make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger."

But the decision to close Guantanamo has opened up a whole new set of problems. They include an increasingly public spat between the administration and many communities with military or maximum security prisons that are being considered to hold suspected terrorists who leave Guantanamo. The Obama administration will also have to decide if it wants to continue the policy of "preventive detention" -- holding suspected terrorists who the United States says are too dangerous to release but whom it doesn't have enough evidence to prosecute.

Obama says unequivocally that the United States does not torture. But even though the secret overseas CIA prisons where detainees were once held -- and allegedly tortured -- are now closed, they can be reopened temporarily if the president feels it is warranted.

By Jackie Northam

President Obama says the U.S. is showing the world that a new era of engagement has begun, one that will help with the global economic crisis and tackle serious foreign policy issues. He says, "We know that America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, but the world cannot meet them without America."

Certainly the administration has made clear that it is willing to listen more, rather than just dictate, to its allies and perhaps its enemies. The newly installed secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, quickly named and dispatched representatives to areas with the greatest foreign policy challenges. George Mitchell, as a special envoy to the Middle East, is already on his second visit to the region. And Richard Holbrooke just wrapped up a 10-day visit to Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. Dennis Ross was appointed special adviser on the Gulf states and southwest Asia, which includes Iran.

The administration understands the problems of these regions will not be solved quickly. But Obama is keen to show that his administration will undo the "go it alone" attitude of the past eight years.

By Julie Rovner

President Obama still has no one named to fill the top health care slots in his administration, but that didn't stop him from vowing to press ahead with what he called a "historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform" that will be included in the budget document due out Thursday. And he challenged Congress to move swiftly on the politically perilous issue that has defied solution for more than a century. "Health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year," he said.

As the president acknowledged in his speech, "I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process." That is an understatement. In recent weeks, Obama has lost his leader in the health overhaul effort, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Daschle was to have served as both secretary of health and human services and head of a new White House Office on Health Reform, but he was forced to withdraw in the wake of tax and conflict-of-interest issues. And one of the leaders of the effort in Congress, Edward Kennedy (D-MA)., the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has been slower to return to work than expected following treatment for a malignant brain tumor.

At the same time, House and Senate Republicans are feeling bruised by the way Democrats muscled through Congress both the economic stimulus and children's health insurance bills that the new administration counts as its major legislative achievements. Those measures may, as the president said in this speech, "have done more to advance the cause of health care reform in the last 30 days than we have in the last decade." But they did not help the cause of bipartisanship.

By Yuki Noguchi

President Obama's planned remarks talk a great deal about getting lending restarted. "Credit has stopped flowing the way it should," the president says. "Too many bad loans from the housing crisis have made their way onto the books of too many banks." He advocates a broad set of new regulations to make sure overzealous lending doesn't encourage living beyond one's means.

The president touts his foreclosure-relief program, which he says could help millions of "responsible" families facing mortgage foreclosure. In the prepared remarks, he also says allowing homeowners to refinance at lower rates, even if their property values have declined, could save an average family nearly $2,000 a year on the mortgage.

But experts say that determining who among these homeowners is "responsible" is a difficult task. There are many who borrowed just beyond their means and many who've fallen behind on payments. It's unclear where the government will draw the line on who can be helped by the program. Eligibility details will be released March 4.

By John Ydstie

In remarks prepared for his first appearance before a joint session of Congress, President Obama harshly criticizes the business and political culture that contributed to the nation's current economic woes. The president describes an era where "short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market."

The president says that it is now time "not only to revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity." Obama says that the budget documents he will send to Congress over the next few days won't be just a laundry list of programs but "a vision for America -- a blueprint for our future." With high approval ratings in the polls and a populist backlash against the excesses of the past decade, the president appears to be in a strong position to take on the task of reform.

By Mary Louise Kelly

President Obama wants to show he's making tough choices on the defense budget, even with two wars going on. He does not want to shortchange the troops in Iraq or Afghanistan. Instead, Obama is signaling that he'll slash expensive, high-tech weapons systems. As he puts it in his address to Congress, in excerpts released before the speech, we'll "reform our defense budget so that we're not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don't use."

Obama does not get into the specifics of which Cold War-era weapons programs might be scaled back. But within the Pentagon, the talk is that several big ticket items may be in trouble, among them the F-22 fighter jet, the Army's Future Combat System and the Virginia-class attack submarine. And then there's the new fleet of high-tech presidential helicopters that Obama has called an example of military procurement "gone amok."

Such talk is not popular, of course, with defense contractors. They argue that cutting weapons programs will mean cutting jobs across the country.

By John Ydstie

Saying that "the day of reckoning has arrived" and that it is time for Americans to "take charge" of their future, President Obama is offering more details on his pledge to cut federal deficits in half by the end of his four-year term. In excerpts released before the speech, he says his administration's review of the budget has already identified $2 trillion in savings over the next decade, including ending education programs that don't work and ending direct payments to large agribusinesses. Obama also pledges to eliminate "the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq."

Cutting the deficit in half over the next four years will be a huge challenge, especially with the U.S. economy still sliding downward and prospects for a recovery unlikely until late this year. Many economists, and even the president himself, have suggested the recovery will be slow and happen over several years. That means incomes for workers may take time to recover and tax revenues will lag. Add to that shortfall the political difficulty of ending programs like farm subsidies, and the task of cutting deficits in half is daunting. Some economists are predicting that deficits in the range of the $1 trillion-plus predicted for this year will continue for the next decade.

By Larry Abramson

Throughout the night, NPR reporters will offer analysis of President Obama's speech.

In excerpts made available before President Obama's address to Congress, the president promises: "In this budget, we will end education programs that don't work..."

If the president's stimulus package is any guide, the Obama administration is not rushing to change the way education money is spent. Much of the approximately $115 billion devoted to education will either prevent layoffs or funnel money through existing programs devoted to teaching low-income and disabled students. The stimulus bill does give the education secretary new power to dole out roughly $5 billion in "incentive grants" focused on education reform, but that is a small fraction of the overall budget for education in the U.S. That said, there's much more spending to come. Obama plans to unveil the broad parameters of his first annual budget on Thursday.