SanLuisObispo.com: Politics

Homeland security nominee is tough on immigration

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:11 PST

By By GREG GORDON -- Few people have been closer to the center of the debate over illegal immigration than Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, the top Democrat in a conservative state with little sympathy for illegal immigrants.

While taking a law-and-order posture on immigration enforcement, Napolitano has opposed the construction of a 700-mile wall along the Mexican border and stressed that policing immigration is a federal responsibility.

Now as President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, she won't be able to pass that buck anymore. It will be her task to enforce the nation's immigration laws, and her selection might be a signal that Obama wants to chart a moderate course on a volatile issue.

Attorney general nominee inherits damaged department

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:01 PST

By By MARISA TAYLOR -- Attorney general nominee Eric Holder will face daunting challenges as the new head of the Justice Department, but those who know him say he's well-suited in temperament and experience to tackle the assignment.

Holder, who'd be the first black attorney general if confirmed by the Senate, would be taking the helm of a department still recovering from charges of cronyism and partisan politicking, as well as debatable opinions about harsh interrogation techniques, electronic eavesdropping, habeas corpus and the laws of war.

Holder has made it clear that he plans to steer the department away from the Bush administration's most controversial policies on terrorism, such as detaining terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Yet he hasn't signaled how he'd go about making those ambitious changes.

Obama's national security team centrist but not visionary

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:26 PST

By By NANCY A. YOUSSEF -- The members of the national security team that President-elect Barack Obama named Monday are all strong-willed public servants who at times have vehemently disagreed with changes he proposes to U.S. national security policy.

His future national security adviser quite possibly voted for his opponent in the presidential election. His future secretary of state warned Iran of retaliatory attacks, where Obama has advocated talks without preconditions. His future defense secretary directed the military's surge of additional U.S. forces into Iraq, which Obama opposed.

Despite those past differences, what matters is how their views might change now that they're part of an administration led by Obama and insulated from domestic politics.

U.S. tamps down claims of Pakistan role in Mumbai attack

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:01 PST

By By JONATHAN S. LANDAY -- The Bush administration, anxious to defuse dangerous tensions after India charged that there was a Pakistani link to the Mumbai terrorist attacks, said Monday that it had no indication of Pakistani government involvement.

At the same time, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. expects Islamabad to pursue any leads that point to a Pakistani connection to the assault on the Indian financial capital that ended Saturday.

"What we are emphasizing to the Pakistani government is the need to follow the evidence wherever it leads," Rice said at a news conference in London. "I don't want to jump to any conclusions myself on this, but I do think that this is a time for complete, absolute, total transparency and cooperation, and that's what we expect."

Carmakers will return to Congress to try again for bailout

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:56 PST

By By DAVID LIGHTMAN AND KEVIN G. HALL -- American auto executives, stung by declining sales and unprecedented turmoil in credit markets, are braced for a tense showdown this week with still-skeptical lawmakers over whether the federal government will give them a $25 billion lifeline.

Detroit's Big Three, expected to detail Tuesday how they'd use the money, face two challenges: They must overcome a perception that they're insensitive and greedy, and they must persuade Congress that they can change their companies radically and quickly.

"This is an important week, because it will enable them to show what they weren't ready to show a couple of weeks ago," Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said in an interview with McClatchy Newspapers.

Ex-courts chief alleges judge downloaded pornography, demands his removal

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:56 PST

By By MICHAEL DOYLE -- WASHINGTON - A former federal courts chief is demanding the impeachment or resignation of a prominent California-based appellate judge who is already facing scrutiny over raunchy Internet imagery.

In a heated, 38-page complaint that resurrects an old feud, the former courts administrator alleges that 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski committed "felonies and other crimes" by temporarily turning off the courts' Internet security system in May 2001.

"He robbed judges of both their Internet privacy and security ... solely to ensure that he and some judges and some court staff could continue to download pornography illegally in their chambers while not being detected," former Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts chief Leonidas Ralph Mecham declared.

Clinton's India ties may complicate Obama policy

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:36 PST

By By MATTHEW LEE and PETE YOST -- The close ties with India that Secretary of State-nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton forged during her years as a U.S. senator and presidential candidate could complicate diplomatic perceptions of her ability to serve as a neutral broker between India and its nuclear neighbor, Pakistan.

With tensions rising between India and Pakistan after last week's deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Hillary Clinton faces an early test of her influence in South Asia, where President-elect Barack Obama on Monday said that instability and the rise of militants pose "the single most important threat against the American people."

Both Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have maintained warm relations for years with India and the Indian-American community. As New York's senator for eight years and as a 2008 presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton toured India and visited with Indian officials and entrepreneurs, and her campaigns profited from the largesse of Indian-American fundraisers. Bill Clinton's charitable foundation has been funded by some of the same well-heeled Indian businessmen who backed his wife's campaigns.

Obama from change agent to pragmatist

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:36 PST

By By ROBERT BURNS -- The selection of experienced centrists - Hillary Rodham Clinton, Robert Gates and James L. Jones - to head President-elect Barack Obama's national security team points to the possibility that on Iraq, the incoming commander-in-chief may take a more measured path to ending American military involvement than he described during the presidential campaign.

Obama's choices signal a more pragmatic, less ideological approach to asserting American leadership in the world. In announcing on Monday that Clinton is his choice for secretary of state and that Gates has agreed to remain as defense secretary - with Jones as national security adviser in the White House - Obama said he has intentionally surrounded himself with "strong personalities and strong opinions." And he made clear that when push comes to shove, he will be the one to make the tough calls.

Gates in particular has opposed setting a hard deadline for removing U.S. forces from Iraq, but he also has emphasized the need to transition the U.S. military mission from combat to support for Iraqi forces. And Gates shares Obama's view that some resources now in Iraq should be shifted to Afghanistan.

Panel warns biological attack likely by 2013

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:16 PST

By By PAMELA HESS -- The United States can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed Tuesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden. It suggests the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists.

"Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing," states the report, obtained by The Associated Press. It is scheduled to be publicly released Wednesday.

The commission is also encouraging the new White House to appoint one official on the National Security Council to exclusively coordinate U.S. intelligence and foreign policy on combating the spread of nuclear and biological weapons.

States press Congress, Obama for economic stimulus package

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:21 PST

By By LISA ZAGAROLI -- Facing financial woes at home, state officials continued to press Congress to boost the economy by giving federal money to folks they know will spend it: the unemployed, the poor and road builders, among others.

The pitch to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., came from governors and legislators who want Congress to move quickly on an economic stimulus package.

At least 43 states are facing deficits that could total more than $140 billion over the next two years, said Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat who held a Washington news conference with Vermont Republican Gov. Jim Douglas and North Carolina House Speaker Joe Hackney.

National security adviser seeks to forge consensus

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:16 PST

By By ROBERT BURNS -- In an Associated Press telephone interview shortly after President-elect Barack Obama announced that James L. Jones will be his national security adviser, Jones discussed his new role.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

Q: How will you fit with Hillary Rodham Clinton, Robert Gates and other members of the Obama national security team?

Obama's cabinet picks shake up NY, AZ politics

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:56 PST

By By DEVLIN BARRETT and PAUL DAVENPORT -- President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet picks Monday are sweet political gifts for the Republican who'll become governor of Arizona and the yet-to-be-named Democrat who'll assume Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate seat.

Under Arizona state law, the ascension of Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano to Homeland Security Secretary will mean Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer will assume the reins there. In New York, Clinton's planned departure means Gov. David Paterson will have a month or more to choose a successor for her.

Rep. Nita Lowey, one of the more prominent potential Clinton replacements, told The Associated Press that she will remain in the House and not take Clinton's job.

Bush uses final 50 days in office to tout legacy

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:41 PST

By By BEN FELLER -- President George W. Bush says history will judge him, but he is getting his own crack first. Bush is using his final 50 days in office to tout his legacy, hoping to leave a lasting impression of overshadowed progress. On Monday, World AIDS Day, Bush was heralded for his leadership in fighting the disease, a point that even his Democratic critics readily concede.

The anti-AIDS program Bush championed in 2003 has delivered lifesaving medicine to more than 2 million people in five years, up from 50,000 people before it began. Many of those helped live in impoverished sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS is the leading killer.

"I would hope that when it's all said and done, people say, 'This is a guy who showed up to solve problems,'" Bush said at a global health forum. "And when you have somebody say there's a pandemic that you can help, and you do nothing about it, then you have frankly disgraced the office."

Hillary Clinton joins Obama's team of rivals

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:06 PST

By By LISA TOLIN -- The woman who wanted to be president stepped up to a podium too tall, turned the microphones down and began by addressing the man who defeated her: "Mr. President-elect."

With her words on Monday, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who in the Senate emerged from the long shadow of her husband, stepped into a supporting role for another man, this one her former rival.

And while it's hard to see the position of secretary of state as anything but the highest honor, Clinton appeared somber as Obama introduced her and the rest of his foreign policy team.

Trusted Obama adviser Susan Rice to be UN envoy

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:06 PST

By By EDITH M. LEDERER -- Susan Rice, the first African-American woman named as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, brings to the job a lifetime's work on international issues, an insider's knowledge of the White House and State Department, and close ties to President-elect Barack Obama.

When Obama announced the appointment of his "close and trusted" senior foreign policy adviser to the U.N. post on Monday, he said Susan Rice would be a member of his Cabinet like some of her U.N. predecessors "and an integral member of my team."

That could give Susan Rice - if she is confirmed by the Senate - a top spot in shaping U.S. foreign policy, a role she has prepared for since she was a Rhodes scholar studying international relations in the late 1980s.