Tuesday's Starting Lineup
Good Tuesday morning. With a prime-time address this evening, is it any wonder who's leading our Starting Lineup?
The people who have a lot at stake today:
PRES. OBAMA: We don't know if there's a way to overstate this: This may be the most important week of Obama's first term. His health care legislation is being debated in the Senate, he holds a major jobs summit Thursday and he presents his new strategy for Afghanistan in a prime-time address from West Point at 8 p.m. ET.
Obama will commit 34,000 troops to the warzone, according to several reports, close to the highest-level commitment option presented by Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The plan would raise U.S. troop levels to more than 100,000, but it will also present an exit strategy hinged on a stronger Afghan government.
But the strategy is likely to make few people happy. Important Dems like Rep. David Obey (D-WI) have already voiced opposition to expanding troop levels, and the liberal base is clearly unhappy; even candidates for office, who should be spending their Dem primaries embracing the popular Obama, are running away from the plan.
CONGRESSIONAL GOPERS: On the GOP side, Obama's new stratey means it's his war, not Pres. Bush's. But in requesting 34,000 troops and asking NATO to contribute an additional 5,000, Obama is coming pretty close to McChrystal's original request for a 40,000-person increase.
The war is unpopular, but GOPers are more inclined to side with the generals than with those who want to bring troops home. And the admin is bringing the house to, well, the House, telling McChrystal and Amb. Karl Eikenberry to prepare to testify before Congress while scheduling more testimony from Sec/State Hillary Clinton, Def. Sec. Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs chair Mike Mullen.
Can GOPers find a wedge to differentiate themselves on Afghanistan? Or does this become the issue where much of the party stands by the WH and both sides get to claim a veneer of bipartisanship?
EX-VP DICK CHENEY: What to make of the Cheney-for-Pres. boomlet? The ex-veep left office with Nixon-like approval ratings, but he has gotten more buzz as a possible WH contender this week than he did during his entire 8 year tenure in the WH.
Newsweek's Meacham thinks he should run (while everyone else thinks Meacham wants Drudge hits), whilt The Atlantic's Max Fisher lays out 7 reasons he should stay on the sidelines. And amidst the buzz, Cheney himself sits for a 90-minute interview with Politico's VandeHei and Allen.
Let's be clear: The chances of Cheney running are slim, and with approval ratings that once sat below 20%, the chances of him winning are slimmer. But the buzz demonstrates that the GOP has few credible voices on foreign affairs. Until a new GOPer steps up and takes the mantle, Cheney will be the face and voice of the hawkish side of the party.
CONSERVATIVE BLOGGERS: This may be the first time conservative bloggers have gotten a chance to end a presidential campaign, and they appear to be relishing the opportunity to do so.
Ex-AR Gov. Mike Huckabee has come under considerable pressure for his decision to grant clemency for the alleged murderer of 4 Pierce Co., WA police officers. Huckabee's critics include Rush Limbaugh, WorldNetDaily, The American Spectator, National Review and other right-leaning publications, along with virtually every major blog on the GOP side, as Washington Independent's Dave Weigel and The Hotline's Ian Faerstein write.
The lefty blogosphere has always been a step ahead of the right, in terms of organizing, raising money and influencing which candidates get a leg up on their Dem rivals. But after Assemb. Dede Scozzafava and now Huckabee, the right is showing they're on the rise.
