Hotline After Dark -- It's Cold In Here, There Must Be An Obama In The Atmosphere

"World News," "Evening News" and "Nightly News" each led with the conclusion of the G-20 summit.

The reviews of Pres. Obama's performance in London are in:

PBS' Warner, asked if Obama can leave the G-20 summit with a set of accomplishments to talk about: "He certainly thinks so. He was modest and said, 'I'll leave it to others to judge.' But they are certainly pleased with the fact that they got a global response to this crisis. And President Obama did clearly play a role here in bringing people who were already at the table to an agreement" ("NewsHour," 4/2).

DailyBeast.com's Brown, on Obama appearing "humble" while overseas: "He has to be humble right now, actually. When you think of what he arrives in England on the waves of, it's unbelievable what he's carrying in terms of sort of toxic vibes towards America with this financial meltdown happening. ... [George W.] Bush used to call himself 'the decider.' But I have to say that in the case of Obama, you'd have to call him the diffuser. He is really brilliant at lowering the temperature" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 4/3).

European Parliament member Daniel Hannan: "All of the coverage has been how wonderful, we've saved everything because we've ... pumped a trillion dollars into the world economy. Yes. From where? ... All we've done is taken money that would have been spent by individuals and given it to great international global institutions to spend for us" ("Hannity," FNC, 4/2).

More after the jump, including the indictment of ex-IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) and interviews with Treas. Sec. Tim Geithner and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

(KATHERINE LEHR)

GOP strategist Kevin Madden: "The president rightly and to his credit seized on the opportunity to flourish on the world stage. ... Many Americans are affected not as much by the substance of what happens at the G-20, but they're affected by the images of seeing their president as leader of the free world over there trying to solve their economic problems. So, I'm ready to give him a good solid B" ("No Bias, No Bull," CNN, 4/2).

Washington Times' Birnbaum: "I think there's a major change in the United States' positioning on the international economic scene. President Obama wants to be the anti-Bush. He wants to be not a bully, as a lot of Europeans considered Bush, but quite the opposite, to be a team player. And, more importantly, he wants the United States not to be the dominant economic player in the world, but he believes that the U.S. should, and he used the word 'should' in his news conference, should be just one of 20 major players" ("Special Report," FNC, 4/2).

CNBC's Harwood, on the agreement world leaders made on the economy: "If growth is restored to the world economy, that's going to benefit everybody. And look at the reaction of the American stock markets this afternoon. ... The administration has to look at that as a sign that perhaps this agreement, though it fell short in some ways on specific pledges of stimulus, did provide ... what Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, called the oxygen of confidence for the world system. That's positive in itself. And I think the administration and the other 19 world leaders moved the ball, to some degree, down the field today" ("1600," MSNBC, 4/3).

CNN's Henry: "The president got a good chunk of what he wanted, but he learned very quickly that during negotiations in these global summits, it's very rare you get the whole loaf" ("Situation Room," 4/2).

THE FIRING SQUAD

Meanwhile, CNN's Cooper caught up with Geithner in London.

Cooper: "You said yesterday that you were open to firing CEOs in the future."

Geithner: "If you look at what we have done in the financial sector already, what the government's done, so, where we have had to do exceptional things, in AIG or in Fannie and Freddie, we have changed management, made sure there's a stronger board in place and there were other conditions in place, so that these guys again can restructure and emerge stronger. Now, that's a necessary thing to do, because we want to make sure the taxpayers' money we're putting at risk in this context creates a stronger financial system."

Geithner, asked what the U.S. actually accomplished at the G-20 summit: "The most important thing, again, is to get the leaders of the world ... to stand together and say, we're going to act together to do what's necessary to bring this recovery back on track, and we're going to act now to start to lay the foundation for a stronger financial system in the future, a more stable system that does a better job of protecting out economies."

Geithner, asked if the U.S. has anything to apologize for in terms of creating this financial crisis: "No, I believe the U.S. bears some responsibility for this. But responsibility goes around. And I think all countries were sort of overwhelmed by the force of global capital flows. Our challenge now, though, is to make sure we're moving with the rest of the world to pull the world towards higher standards. We want us to see a race to the top, rather than a race to the bottom."

Geithner, on French Pres. Nicolas Sarkozy's idea of a global regulator: "That's not going to happen. And there was really no support around the room for that" ("AC 360," 4/2).

FANTASY ISLAND

There was also a fair amount of reaction to the 19-count federal indictment of Blagojevich.

CNN's Toobin, on his recent interview with Blagojevich: "He was so confident. I mean, he was just the same as ever. And he said not only is he going to be acquitted, but he's going to resume his political career and be as big as ever, when this trial is over. I mean, he may be crazy. In fact, there's a good argument for that, but he's certainly confident."

Toobin, on the charges: "Well, they're enormously serious, especially that racketeering count, because that really elevates the case to a new level. Put it this way: if he's convicted of most of these charges, he is looking at at least ten years in prison, realistically. So it's a very serious white-collar case. And remember, it's not just Blagojevich, it's his brother. It's two former chiefs of staff. It's two other associates. It's basically the entire top of Illinois state government for the past, almost eight years" ("AC 360," 4/2).

Dem strategist Chris Kofinis: "I think it's telling that he was at Disneyland or Disney World, wherever he was today, because this thing has taken on its own kind of comical, cartoonish character, this whole escapade. ... These are incredibly serious charges. And I do say that it now puts in the bright light how smart it was for the legislature to impeach him, because this would have been just another terrible event for the state of Illinois to deal with" ("1600," MSNBC, 4/3).

Chicago Sun-Times' Pallasch, on Patti Blagojevich: "Although she is not ... one of the indicted people here, she is named in some of the new information the indictment relates to the already convicted Tony Rezko. ... So she plays an even bigger role in this indictment than she did in the criminal complaint a couple of months ago. ... It's very clear the U.S. attorney's office is just bringing whatever pressure they can to bear" ("On the Record," FNC, 4/2).

SPEAKERS' CORNER

And PBS' Woodruff sat down with Pelosi prior to the House passing the budget.

Pelosi, asked how many GOP votes the budget will get: "We'll have a good strong vote today for the president's budget. I'm not anticipating any Republican votes, but that is par for the course. Usually, a budget is a party-line vote. And we'll have a good, strong vote. It's a great budget. It's really transformational. It represents a change, a switch, a new direction."

Pelosi, on the GOP alternative: "Their budget is one that I think is noted for three things: One, it gives bigger tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America. It repeals the recovery act and the investments in the future. And it assaults Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. It is, by and large, a hollow shell when it comes time to make investments to take us into the future."

Pelosi, asked if she expects to use reconciliation: "It's a last resort. I would hope that we'll be able to build bipartisan support for health care reform that produces a healthier America with accessibility, quality, et cetera. But if need be, at the end of the day, we must have health care reform. ... It's really an issue more for the United States Senate."

Woodruff: "Back when the Democrats were in the minority in the House, you and others argued against this reconciliation procedure. ... Now that the shoe's on the other foot, do you have any reservations about potentially using something that would disarm the opposition on such an important issue?"

Pelosi: "Well, the rules became what they are. And so we're saying let's play by the rules. And that is that reconciliation is one of the options that the Republicans insisted on using then and that now our way. ... By one process or another, we are going to get [Americans] what they want, and that is quality health care that is affordable and accessible to them."

Woodruff: "[Obama] talks about bipartisanship. Would this square with that if reconciliation were used on health care?"

Pelosi: "It is an accepted practice in the United States Senate. ... I would like to have had it on there on some other issues, but just to show some sign of cooperation, we just put it in for health care and education, two issues that should not be controversial and I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to reach bipartisan consensus on."

Pelosi, asked if Dems will get GOP support for other major legislation this year: "Well, I certainly hope so."

Pelosi was also asked if she'd support the Obama admin. pushing surgical bankruptcy for GM.

Pelosi: "Yes, I think that the president is giving another chance to Detroit, and I think that should be viewed as good news there. He has been clear about what his standard is. ... I hope it wouldn't be bankruptcy, but if that's what it needs to be, then I support the president on that."

Pelosi, asked if the WH should also force out bank CEOs since they forced out GM CEO Rick Wagnoner: "The survival of General Motors is, again, very important to our industrial manufacturing base, to our economy, and has systemic implications. And I think the president was very right in what he did there."

More Pelosi: "All of these are a case-by-case basis. And it's up to the boards of directors of these companies to make a judgment about how their leadership is performing. But I would not be averse to the government being more aggressive to the extent that we have the leverage. But, you know, in our free market system, we want to proceed cautiously in that respect, but definitely, if it is necessary" ("NewsHour," 4/2).