Strategy Memo: 19 Months
Good morning, Washington. Today, President Obama will announce his way forward on Iraq. Multiple reports indicate he'll announce that most U.S. forces will be out of Iraq in 19 months, by August 2010. Some Democrats are concerned about the number of forces that will remain, as many as 50,000 perhaps. After his trip to North Carolina for the speech, the president returns to Washington, where he'll watch the Bulls play the Wizards tonight.
Today the Vice President holds his first public meeting of the Middle Class and Working Families Task force. He'll be joined by a number of Cabinet officials for the event, being held in Philadelphia.
Capitol Hill will be relatively quiet today, with no scheduled committee hearings or roll call votes in either chamber of Congress. Most of the action in Washington will instead be at CPAC, where today's speakers include Rep. John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Mark Sanford.
Here's what's happening today:
**President Obama
*The president will announce the withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces by August 2010 during a speech at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. "The 19-month timetable marks a historic juncture in an unpopular war that has proven enormously costly to America and defined the presidency of George W. Bush, Reuters reports. A senior admin official: "The president will announce that the current combat mission in Iraq will end on August 31, 2010. At that point, the remaining forces in Iraq will undertake a new mission, a more limited mission."
*New York Times reports that he'll make the announcement with the blessing of John McCain. The former presidential candidate joined other Republicans at the White House last night, and left "reassured that the president's withdrawal plan is responsible and reasonable."
*On the heels of the budget rollout, the Treasury Department reached a deal late last night to take a 30-40 percent stake in Citigroup, the third bailout of that bank.
*The Obama administration today "will move to rescind a controversial rule that allows healthcare workers to deny abortion counseling or other family planning services if doing so would violate their moral beliefs." The move "seems certain to stoke ideological battles between supporters and opponents of abortion rights," the Tribune reports.
*Vice President Biden has an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer ahead of today's meeting, focusing on the potential for green jobs. Tonight he also speaks to Delaware educators. "We've always looked at the Bidens as part of the DSEA family," DSEA President Diane Donohue said.
*The Chicago Bulls presented President Obama a Bulls jersey with "Obama" and No. 44 on the back during their White House visit. From the Sun-Times: "The President chatted with the players and said he was converting the tennis court out back here into a basketball court and invited them to come and play pick up with him," said David Axelrod, the senior adviser to Obama.
**Congress
*National Journal unveils the most liberal and conservative members of the House and Senate today. Liberal Senators: Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) Conservative Senators: A four way tie between John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Ensign (R-Nev.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). On the House side, there was a 12-way tie for most liberal. The most conservative: Paul Broun (R-Ga.), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas).
NJ made big news last year when Barack Obama ranked as the most liberal senator, as well as in 2004 when John Kerry got the same rank. As two former NJ-ers, we know how much hard work goes into compiling these ratings.
*The Senate passed the D.C. voting rights bill yesterday with 61 affirmative votes. Check out Kyle's story on it here.
*Politico looks at the rifts between the Obama administration and Speaker Pelosi. "Pelosi's aides say the speaker was comfortable playing the role of Obama's shield during the stimulus fight ... and that she remains strongly supportive of the administration on health care, energy and education reform. But on Iraq and other high-profile issues that matter to her, aides say Pelosi has no intention of holding her tongue when she thinks Obama is wrong."
**Republicans
*CNN's Peter Hamby reports on RNC chair Michael Steele's CPAC speech, where he said the party is alive and well. "Tonight, we tell America that Republican values, conservative values, are right for America," he said. "Tonight, we tell America: we know the past, we know we did wrong. My bad. But we go forward in appreciation of the values that brought us to this point."
*Sarah Palin isn't at CPAC, but may be sending them a message from Alaska. She announced Thursday her support for "a controversial bill that would generally require parental consent before girls under age 17 could get an abortion."
*ABC spoke with former First Lady Laura Bush, who describes life after the White House. "The only thing we don't have are the newspapers. It has been slow to get The Dallas Morning News delivered," she said. "People bring the newspaper to us later in the day. It's just not being delivered yet." She said it has been a "slow adjustment," especially when it comes to not feeling stressed all of the time.
**Sports Alert
*According to the Washington Post, the Redskins have signed the biggest free agent on the market, former Tennessee Titans DT Albert Haynesworth. And once again, we've won the offseason SuperBowl!
--Mike Memoli and Kyle Trygstad