Washington News

Surrounded By Wealthy Supporters, Obama Says Reagan Would Back Buffett Rule President Obama's White House appearance along with four wealthy Americans, and an employee of each of the four, who support the Buffett Rule was the subject of segments on ABC World News and the CBS Evening News, and gets extensive coverage in this morning's papers. However, the White House event, and the tax fairness debate in general, received relatively little attention from the cable news channels last night due to the late-breaking news of the arrest of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin shooting.
Much of the coverage focuses on the President's claim that President Reagan would have supported the Buffett Rule. John Dickerson, on the CBS Evening News said the President "was in full campaign mode today, and he even adopted a Republican idol as his own." According Dickerson, "By using that Republican icon, he's trying to paint Romney and his Republican colleagues as so unfair even Ronald Reagan wouldn't agree with them."
Echoing the Obama campaign's narrative, the Washington Post reports that the "basic argument" of the nascent general election campaign is: "Who's not paying their fair share?" According to the Post, Democrats "have pointed the finger at millionaires," while Republicans "have turned to people who use Medicare and Medicaid."
While much of the coverage is positive in regards to the President, in that his pleas for tax fairness receive a great deal more attention than do opponents of the Buffett Rule, many outlets noted that the legislation based on the Buffett Rule will almost certainly be rejected by Republicans in Congress. This is said to indicate the political nature of the President's appearance. For instance, on ABC World News David Muir reported, "With little chance that the Buffett Rule will pass Congress, many saw this more as a political stunt than policy."
ABC World News reported that in "round one of the duel between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama," the President "appeared in a picture surrounded by secretaries who pay a higher tax rate than their millionaire bosses who were there by their sides, a direct challenge to Romney, his wealth and his tax rate."
The AP reports, "For all the turmoil of the long primary season," Obama is "right where he expected to be: taking on Mitt Romney and targeting him as a wishy-washy protector of the rich." According to the AP, "Every time Obama talks about millionaires paying a fairer share in taxes to help all of America, as he did again Wednesday, it is meant as a contrast to Romney and his vision. Vice President Joe Biden has been out giving a battery of campaign speeches that take on Romney, including another one on Thursday in New Hampshire."
The Washington Post reported that the President "is intensifying his campaign for higher taxes on top US earners by casting the issue against Republican opposition as one of fairness and support for the middle class. Obama enlisted what the administration described as a group of four millionaires and their assistants, all of whom support the so-called Buffett rule." According to the Post, "All are affiliated with a group called Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, which in 2010 began urging Obama and congressional leaders to allow Bush-era tax cuts to expire on those earning annual incomes of $1 million or more."
Eamon Javers, reporting for CNBC, noted that the President "has talked about the Buffett Rule now twice in two days. Yesterday...it was in Florida with backdrop of college students, and today, it was a very different setting in the White House...with" a "carefully selected group of millionaires and their secretaries."
According to the AP , the President "says his call for raising taxes on millionaires is not a redistribution of wealth, but a way to free up money for crucial investments in the US economy," and "is necessary in order to tackle the country's massive deficits." The AP adds, "The Senate will vote on the plan next week, though it has little chance of passing Congress."
The Los Angeles Times says the Buffett Rule "has become a favorite political theme for the president. ... Democratic strategists believe the idea has a strong political punch -- particularly now, when many Americans are filing their taxes -- and taps into the widely held belief that the US economy and political system tilt in favor of the wealthy. Repeatedly raising the Buffett rule also serves to remind voters that Mitt Romney...paid 14% of his income in taxes last year."
Obama Contends Reagan Would Have Supported The Buffett Rule The CBS Evening News showed the President saying: "What Ronald Reagan was calling for then is the same thing we're calling for now: A return to basic fairness and responsibility...and if it will help convince folks in Congress to make the right choice, we could call it the 'Reagan Rule' instead of the Buffett rule." According to CBS News Political Director John Dickerson, Republicans "point out that when Reagan called for fairness it was part of a much larger tax cut and tax reform program that Barack Obama would probably not support."
Fox News' Special Report reported that the President claims GOP opposition to the Buffett Rule is "another sign that the party has moved to the right," and noted that former president Reagan "called it 'crazy' that tax loopholes allowed multimillionaires to pay a lower rate than bus drivers."
According to Eamon Javers of CNBC, the White House is "really enthusiastic about this video unearthed by Think Progress of President Reagan making the case, the Obama White House says, in essence, for the Buffett Rule, but back in 1985." Reagan was shown saying, "He wrote me in support of the tax plan because he said I am legally able to take advantage of the present tax code, nothing dishonest, doing what the law prescribes, and wind up...paying a smaller tax than my secretary pays."
Politico reported that the President "continued his push...to build support for the Buffett rule by suggesting that Ronald Reagan would've backed the plan. ... Though 'that position might disqualify him from the Republican primaries these days,' Obama said, repeating a line he's used in recent weeks to underscore the rightward shift he sees in the GOP."
Romney: Obama Is Intent On Distracting From His Record The CBS Evening News reported, "Freed from talking about his GOP rivals, Romney went after the President today." Romney: "This President will do in his campaign anything he can to deflect from his record. What I'm going to have do every day is bring him back to his record." CBS News Political Director John Dickerson said Romney "wants this is election to be about President Obama's record," while the President "wants the election to be about which candidate is going to give people the fairest shake in the future."
The Hill reports, "Obama and Democrats have put most of their muscle this week into a public relations push for the Buffett Rule, just as...Romney has become the presumptive GOP nominee," and "Romney's campaign...argued Obama is trying to distract voters from his failed economic policies. ... Romney surrogates...have accused the president of playing class warfare, and have argued Obama's politics are raising the deficit."

US Preparing "Blunt Response" To "Imminent" North Korea Rocket Launch Media attention is increasingly turning to North Korea with all indications that it will defy international calls against the launch of a long-range rocket. After the secretive regime issued an open invitation to global media outlets for observance of the upcoming launch, ABC and NBC have crews on the ground in North Korea. On Wednesday evening, they combined for about three minutes of coverage.
Bob Woodruff, making his fourth visit to North Korea for ABC World News reported en route from Beijing. He said US officials believe the first launch window for the "90 ton rocket" is "24 to 48 hours away." US officials still view the launch as a means for advancing an intercontinental missile problem and "expect a long trajectory heading south, crossing over the Philippines and splashing down in waters not far from Australia. Traveling at least 1,600 miles. Nations in that zone say they are ready to shoot it down if it strays over land. Now that the rocket has been fueled, experts believe they will launch as soon as possible."
NBC Nightly News has Richard Engel reporting from Pyongyang where he received a tour of the "main missile control room" which he found to be a "primitive facility." Experts believe the rocket might not make it into orbit, and could become "an enormous embarrassment for North Korea because one of the main motivations for the rocket launch is to establish the credentials of the new leader, Kim Jong-Un," who on Wednesday "was appointed the most senior position in the Communist party." The AP notes the title ascension of King Jong-un in becoming "first secretary of the ruling Workers' Party." The open invitation to international journalists is "designed" to "demonstrate unity as Kim Jong Un takes power."

Campaign News

Romney Confronts Challenges In Winning Women's Support With the race for the Republican presidential nomination essentially over, Mitt Romney began an effort to win over women voters, as polls show President Obama with a lead of as much as 20% among them. USA Today reports Romney, appearing at "a woman-owned business" in Hartford, Connecticut, "railed against the Obama administration's record on women's employment." Of Obama, Romney said, "When he says there is a war on women, let's bring him back to the fact that it is the real war on women that has been waged by his economic policies. Let's hammer day in and day out what has happened under his policies." Romney "reiterated his claim that 92.3% of jobs lost since Obama took office were held by women."
Bloomberg News says Romney "spent his first full day as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee making a direct appeal to women voters." The CBS Evening News reported, "Freed from talking about his GOP rivals, Romney went after the President today." Romney: "This President will do in his campaign anything he can to deflect from his record. What I'm going to have to do every day is bring him back to his record."
ABC World News reported that "while the President was pushing the Buffett Rule, it was Mitt Romney pushing something else: this number aimed squarely at women." Romney: "92.3% of the people who have lost jobs have been women. His failures have hurt women." According to ABC's David Muir, "The nonpartisan group PolitiFact saying that number right there is 'mostly false,' arguing 'the President can't be held responsible for the job picture the day he took office.' But team Romney fighting back hard...saying, no matter how you slice it, the majority of jobs lost have been from to women."
The AP says that Romney "repeated his assertion that women account for 92 percent of those who have lost jobs during Obama's presidency. While that statistic is accurate, it overlooks the fact that more men than women lost jobs early in the Great Recession. The record downturn began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, covering approximately President George W. Bush's last year in office and Obama's first half-year."
In a front-page report, however, the New York Times says that as Romney tries "to confront one of his most vexing general election problems," his campaign "immediately found itself squeezed between its intensifying efforts to appeal to women and its need to avoid alienating conservatives." While polls indicate women "may have been put off by the nominating contest's focus on social issues like Planned Parenthood, immigration and contraception," a sharp pivot on these issues could hurt Romney with conservatives who are still skeptical of him.

Evangelicals Cautiously Rally Behind Romney In the wake of Rick Santorum's exit from the Republican presidential race, evangelical leaders "have begun to rally behind" Mitt Romney, according to the New York Times . The leaders say "their shared hostility toward President Obama will be a powerful force for uniting the party in November." However, some leaders cautioned that "the whole-hearted support of evangelicals" will not come "without conditions." Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said that if Romney "is to generate more excitement and sacrifice from Christian conservatives, he must 'demonstrate a genuine and solid commitment to the core values issues.'"
The Washington Times reports that social conservatives say Romney "still has a lot more to do if he wants those activists to man phone banks and knock on doors in the drive to win in November." Romney "faces the tricky political task of winning over a broader electorate while wooing those same social conservatives and evangelical voters attracted by Mr. Santorum's strong support of traditional marriage and pro-life legislation."

Lugar, Mourdock Face Off In Fireworks-Free Debate The Indianapolis Star reports, "For Hoosier Republicans trying to decide whether to stick with" Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar (R) "or reject the 36-year veteran" in favor of his primary foe, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R), yesterday's "debate provided no definitive answer. During the one-hour debate," Lugar "showed that at 80 he is a sharp lawmaker with broad experience of the world and national issues." Mourdock, meantime, "showed that he could hold his own against Lugar's expertise and challenge him without ever appearing disrespectful of his fellow Republican."
The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports, "Unlike the almost daily accusations and rebuttals between their campaigns, Mourdock and Lugar were mostly on the same page during their only debate in advance of the May 8 Republican primary election." The Journal Gazette adds, "About the only time either candidate got testy was after Mourdock claimed Lugar voted to give Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants, an apparent reference to the DREAM Act, legislation that would have provided a route to citizenship to children of illegal immigrants," which Lugar denied.
The AP reports, "The debate was a stark contrast to a nasty Republican primary battle that has been dominated by questions over Lugar's residency and his support for Obama's Supreme Court nominees."