April D. Ryan

Source: AP / The Huffington PostWashington - The income gap between the richest and poorest Americans grew last year to its widest amount on record as young adults and children in particular struggled to stay afloat in the recession.

The top-earning 20 percent of Americans - those making more than $100,000 each year - received 49.4 percent of all income generated in the U.S., compared with the 3.4 percent earned by those below the poverty line, according to newly released census figures. That ratio of 14.5-to-1 was an increase from 13.6 in 2008 and nearly double a low of 7.69 in 1968.

A different measure, the international Gini index, found U.S. income inequality at its highest level since the Census Bureau began tracking household income in 1967. The U.S. also has the greatest disparity among Western industrialized nations.

 
“Income inequality is rising, and if we took into account tax data, it would be even more,” said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in poverty. “More than other countries, we have a very unequal income distribution where compensation goes to the top in a winner-takes-all economy.”

Congresswoman Barbra Lee, the head of the Congressional Black Caucus responds to the report saying, “Today’s release of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey is another painful reminder that too many Americans are suffering while the economy remains sluggish. According to the report, the wealthiest 20 percent of Americans received 49.4 percent of all income, compared to 3.4 percent combined for all Americans living in poverty, marking the greatest level of disparity since the U.S. Census Bureau began tracking household income in 1967.”

  
“These figures underscore the argument that members of the Congressional Black Caucus have made for more than two years, that the economic downturn has hit some communities much harder than others.” 

 
“The sluggish pace of the recovery has left too many Americans behind. It is disheartening to see that while the incomes of those making more than $180,000 annually actually rose during the recession, working families earning near the median income of $50,000, watched their incomes slide.” 

 
“Prosperity and opportunity are hallmarks of the American Dream, which unfortunately are fast becoming the exclusive province of those with wealth and means. There are some in Congress who are more concerned with giving tax cuts to the wealthy and protecting tax loopholes for corporations and oil companies as they continue to ignore the pressing needs of unemployed and underemployed Americans at the margins of our economy.”

Rahm Emanuel Poised to Run for Chicago Mayor; Peter Rouse to Take Reins on Interim Basis?

Politics Daily
Lynn Sweet
Correspondent

Asked if he would endorse Emanuel, the president said, “I’m not going to be making decisions about how I’m going to approach it.”

Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, is all but certain to run for mayor of Chicago and could be exiting the White House as soon as Friday. White House Senior Adviser Peter Rouse is likely to be tapped as interim chief of staff, but no final decisions have been made.

A source close to Emanuel told Politics Daily: “Rahm is nearing a decision on whether to leave the White House and explore a run for mayor of Chicago; an announcement could come as early as Friday. Because of family considerations, no final decision has been made.”

When Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley made his surprise announcement on Sept. 7 that he would not seek a seventh term, Emanuel immediately began mapping out a run while trying to stay out of the White House spotlight until he was ready to depart the West Wing. In the meantime, the White House started to plan for replacing the chief of staff. The betting now is on Rouse to serve in an interim role. Rouse is the opposite of the colorful, often profane Emanuel. Rouse is rarely quoted and almost never seen: He has not functioned as a public spokesman for the administration.

But Rouse’s role in the Obama sprint from the Senate to the White House was central. Obama hired Rouse to be his Senate chief of staff in 2004, eager to have him lead his team because he had been chief of staff to former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) for 19 years — and served a year in 1984-1985 as a chief of staff when Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) was a House member. Rouse was a member of Obama’s Senate inner circle that planned his presidential run, writing a step-by-step timetable — known as “The Plan” — to map out Obama’s assumed ascent.

President Obama had at first said that Emanuel would stay on as chief of staff until the midterm elections. On Monday, Obama revised that timetable, clearing the path for Emanuel to leave right away.

The president told Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today” show that Emanuel needs to make up his mind soon.

“Well, I think that Rahm will have to make a decision quickly, because running for mayor of Chicago is a serious enterprise,” Obama said. “And I know this is something he’s thinking about.”
Asked if he would endorse Emanuel, the president said, “I’m not going to be making decisions about how I’m going to approach it.”

While the mayoral primary is not until Feb. 22, the timetable to launch a serious bid needs to begin much sooner, and Emanuel has become increasingly aware of the impending time crunch. Emanuel has to build a political organization from scratch. The first task: A candidate needs 12,500 valid signatures on nominating petitions from registered voters to get on the ballot. The petitions are due Nov. 22. Other contenders have been circulating petitions for weeks as at least a dozen mayoral campaigns are being launched. Voters may not sign more than one nominating petition. In Chicago, a routine political move is to challenge the validity of signatures on petitions. That’s how a young Barack Obama got his start in elected politics. When he ran for state senator, Obama’s allies scrubbed the petitions of his biggest competitor, found problems and got state Sen. Alice Palmer (D-Chicago) thrown off the ballot.

Since Daley said he would not run again, Emanuel has yet to speak in public or on the record about his mayoral ambitions. But he commissioned a poll in mid-September — he used Stanley Greenberg, his longtime pollster — to test his positives, his career in the House, his work in the Obama White House-, and his negatives. According to a woman interviewed by the Chicago Sun-Times who had been polled, there was a question about Emanuel’s past friendship with former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, convicted by a federal jury in August of lying to the FBI. The jury deadlocked on 23 other charges and a retrial is tentatively scheduled to begin in January — during the mayoral campaign. Blagojevich had subpoenaed Emanuel to be a defense witness in his first trial.

Emanuel has not been back to Chicago since Daley’s announcement. He’s been busy working the phones calling potential supporters in the city. He’s also had meetings in Washington about running for mayor with three members of Congress from Chicago: Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Danny K. Davis and Mike Quigley, who was elected to the House seat Emanuel vacated when he became chief of staff.

Last Tuesday night in Washington (Sept. 21) Emanuel met with Davis, who is also mulling a mayoral bid and already has petitions out. They got together at the Caucus Room, a restaurant near the White House.

“We drank water so our minds could be as clear as possible,” Davis told the Chicago Sun-Times. “We had a conversation about the possibility of both of us running for mayor.”

Davis said the two discussed how to avoid a divisive contest; their campaigns should “not to be designed to fracture the city, not to polarize the city but to have it be as harmonious as it could be.”

On Wednesday afternoon, Emanuel met Quigley — who is also considering a mayoral bid — at the rooftop bar at the W Hotel. Quigley drank lemonade. Emanuel downed iced tea.

If Emanuel jumps into the mayoral contest, as expected, he will have a running start with a $1.2 million war chest — but competitors are expected to be numerous and aggressive. While Emanuel, a former House member from Chicago, has a money advantage, he has political and personal hurdles to clear:

- Emanuel has not lived in the city for two years. Last year, he moved his family to Northwest Washington; his North Side Chicago residence has been rented and he will need to find a place to live in the city.

- Emanuel does not have a strong electoral base.

- Emanuel has frayed relations with unions and Chicago is a union town.

- Emanuel first won election to his House seat with the help of Mayor Daley’s patronage army — which no longer exists.

- As famous as Emanuel is in Washington, many city ward power brokers — who will have sway in a mayoral contest — barely know him.

- Emanuel goes into the contest with few political chits. He has never been a local political force — helping aldermen and state candidates win elections. No one really owes him anything. Emanuel has mainly played national politics since he joined Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992. Emanuel has always been a staunch Daley loyalist — one of his first political jobs was as a fundraiser for the mayor — but several people running have also been close to Daley and so far, it looks like Daley is not going to try to grease the way for a successor.

Daley’s decision not to seek a seventh term is creating a political free-for-all; the Feb. 22 primary is nonpartisan. If no contender gets more than 50 percent, there will be a run-off on April 5. The political math calls for a strategy to build a coalition to get to the run-off and reformulate the coalition for the general election.

Besides Davis and Quigley, Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle has already announced a mayoral bid and has produced the first video commercial of the 2011 mayor’s race; former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (D-Ill.) launched an exploratory bid; attorney Gery Chico, the City Colleges chief (who ran against Obama in the 2004 Senate Democratic primary) is in. Other political figures considering a run are state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago); Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart; Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, who also ran against Obama in the 2004 Senate primary; and Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.)

The estimation for the 10 2 10 rally is hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to push for jobs, justice and equality in education.    At the most recent Presidential Press Conference in the East Room, President Obama was asked about the unemployment rate that is dragging some in the middle class into a lower economic status as economists say the recession ended in 2009.   President Obama believes education is the ladder to climb out of poverty’s grips. 

April Ryan.

Q Thank you, Mr. President. I want to ask a couple questions. On the economy, could you discuss your efforts at reviewing history as it relates to the poverty agenda, meaning LBJ and Dr. King?

THE PRESIDENT:

Now, I think the history of anti-poverty efforts is, is that the most important anti-poverty effort is growing the economy and making sure there are enough jobs out there — single most important thing we can do. It’s more important than any program we could set up. It’s more important than any transfer payment that we could have. If we can grow the economy faster and create more jobs, then everybody is swept up into that virtuous cycle. And if the economy is shrinking and things are going badly, then the folks who are most vulnerable are going to be those poorest communities.

So what we want to focus on right now is broad-based job growth and broad-based economic expansion. And we’re doing so against some tough headwinds, because, as I said, we are coming out of a very difficult — very difficult time. We’ve started to turn the corner but we’re not there yet.

And so that is going to be my central focus: How do I grow the economy? How do I make sure that there’s more job growth?

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t some targeted things we can do to help communities that are especially in need. And probably the most important thing we can do after growing the economy generally is how can we improve school systems in low-income communities. And I am very proud of the efforts that we’ve made on education reform — which have received praise from Democrats and Republicans. This is one area where actually we’ve seen some good bipartisan cooperation.

 
And the idea is very simple. If we can make sure that we have the very best teachers in the classroom, if we can reward excellence instead of mediocrity and the status quo, if we can make sure that we’re tracking progress in real, serious ways and we’re willing to make investments in what goes on in the classroom and not the school bureaucracy, and reward innovation, then schools can improve. There are models out there of schools in the toughest inner-city neighborhood that are now graduating kids, 90 percent of whom are going to college. And the key is how do we duplicate those?

 
And so what our Race to the Top program has done is it’s said to every state around the country, instead of just getting money based on a formula, we want you to compete. Show us how you are reforming your school systems to promote excellence, based on proven ideas out there. And if you do that, we’re going to reward you with some extra money. And just the competition alone has actually spurred 46 states so far to initiate legislation designed to reform the school system.

 
So we’re very proud of that, and that I think is going to be one of the most important things we can do. It’s not just, by the way, K-12. It’s also — it’s also higher education. And as a consequence of a battle that we had — and it was a contentious battle — in Congress, we’ve been able to take tens of billions of dollars that were going to banks and financial intermediaries in the student loan program and said we’re going to give that money directly to students so that they get more help going to college. And obviously poor kids are the ones who are going to benefit most from those programs.

A majority of Americans (51 percent) disapprove of President Obama’s job performance and 44 percent would vote to replace him as president, the latest bipartisan POLITICO-George Washington University Battleground Poll found. However, those same voters don’t have a clear alternative in mind. In a head to head match-up, Obama would beat Sarah Palin and Mitch Daniels and a majority of those polled indicated they would not consider Michael Bloomberg for the office if he ran as an Independent. 

When it comes to name recognition of potential 2012 Republican Presidential candidates, Mike Huckabee comes out on top, followed closely by Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich. Though, Sarah Palin’s unfavorable name recognition outweighs her favorable (49 percent to 44 percent). Forty-three percent of those polled view the Tea Party Movement as favorable.

Forty-nine percent of those polled believe Republicans could turn the economy around compared to 41 percent who believe Obama could do the job. On the issue of creating jobs, 51 percent of those polled believe Republicans can do the job compared to 40 percent who believe Obama can. Health care may be one reason President Obama is facing an uphill battle on his favorability ratings. A majority of those polled (54 percent) have an unfavorable opinion of the health reform bill. Of the 54 percent, 41 percent indicated a very unfavorable opinion.

However, these latest results show more Americans favor Congressional Democrats over Republicans on the top issues facing the country: the economy and jobs. Forty-six percent of Americans believe Democrats in Congress will better handle the issue of turning the economy around, compared to 44 percent who favor Republicans. The Democrats also are back on top of the Republicans by the slimmest of margins on the issue of creating jobs. The last poll had them tied.

The last poll, released almost two weeks ago, showed the Democrats and Republicans in a dead heat in a generic Congressional match-up. The latest poll shows Republicans have a 5 point advantage over Democrats (47 percent to 42 percent). Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed disapprove of the job performance of Congress as a whole, a three point increase since the last poll. Additionally, 53 percent of those polled believe that if the Republicans become the majority in houses of Congress, the GOP would successfully repeal laws that have been passed during the past two years of the Obama Administration and a Democratically controlled Congress. The poll also found that 63 percent of Americans believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction.

When asked how they get their news about the upcoming elections, more than 80 percent rely on cable television, followed closely by conversations with friends and family. Additionally, when asked what cable television news source they mainly get election information from, 42 percent mainly watch FOX news.

“After a short-lived post Labor Day surge of Democratic voter support, Republicans now hold a five-point lead on the generic Congressional ballot,” said Ed Goeas, president and CEO of The Tarrance Group. “In addition, Republicans hold advantages over the Democrats on vote intensity (+13), and on interest in the election (+15), both indicators of higher voter participation and running over double the advantage seen by Republican voters in the 1994 election.”

“The wind at Republicans’ backs is more of a breeze than a gale,” said Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners. “Their lead on the generic Congressional ballot is within the margin of error, they narrowly trail Democrats on who will best handle the economy and the leaders of their party are unpopular. To be successful, the President and the Democrats must establish a narrative that shows they are the party best equipped to get the economy back on track, contribute to broad-based prosperity and build economic security for our families.”

“This poll shows the difficult decisions ahead for Obama - and how Democrats utilize him in the final five weeks,” said Jim VandeHei, executive editor and co-founder of POLITICO. “On the one hand, the base loves him - and this poll shows Democrats must excite their base and quick. On the other, Obama’s policies are unpopular with voters, most notably among independents. It’s unusual for Obama to do worse than Congressional Democrats when matched up against the GOP on jobs and the economy. But that’s the case in this poll.”

“The pronounced change in voter sentiment from two short years ago should give pause to any victorious politician in 2010,” said Chris Arterton, professor of political management at GW. “The public is hyper-anxious and their support is ephemeral.”

This POLITICO-George Washington University Battleground Poll surveyed 1,000 registered likely voters nationwide September 19-22, 2010, and yields a margin of error of + 3.1 percent. It is a nationally recognized, bipartisan series of surveys conducted by Republican pollster Ed Goeas of The Tarrance Group and Democratic pollster Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners. It distinguishes itself from other surveys by presenting separate analyses from these top pollsters representing both sides of the aisle. The George Washington University became a sponsor of the Battleground Poll in 2004. POLITICO became a joint partner in Sept. 2010. The GW Global Media Institute, affiliated with both the Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) and the School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA), serves as the university’s administrative home for the partnership and GW’s Gelman Library houses the data archive of the survey results dating back more than two decades.

Senate Republicans, led by John McCain (R-Ariz.), have blocked the Senate from considering the defense authorization bill Tuesday afternoon. By blocking the bill from moving to the Senate floor, Republicans accomplish the objective of stalling the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and blocking the Senate from considering the DREAM Act, which would give young, undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship if they enlist in the military or enroll in college.

Republicans objected that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was limiting the number of amendments that could be offered. But Reid had pledged to work with Republicans to allow amendments. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) took to the Senate floor following the defeat to condemn the GOP’s “procedural ruse.”

McCain, highest-ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, visited the Senate press gallery to celebrate blocking the bill’s consideration, calling it a “blatant and cynical attempt to galvanize the Hispanic vote.”

Multi-platinum artist Lady Gaga continued her onslaught against the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy Monday, with a self-written political speech delivered in Maine on the eve of a Senate vote to overturn the anti-gay policy.

The bespectacled singer stood before the crowd wearing a star-spangled tie and suggested, among other things, that the military exchange “don’t ask, don’t tell” for an “if you don’t like it, go home” policy that would allow for the discharge of homophobic troops unable to cooperate with their gay and lesbian comrades.

“Doesn’t it seem to be that “don’t ask, don’t tell” is backwards?” said Lady Gaga. “Doesn’t it seem to be based on the Constitution of the United States that we’re penalizing the wrong soldier? Doesn’t it seem to you that we should send home the straight soldier who hates the gay soldier? The straight soldier whose performance in the military is affected because he is homophobic. The straight soldier who has prejudice in his heart in the space where the military asks him to hold our core American values.” 

Lady Gaga also described equality as the “prime rib of America” that was being denied to gay soldiers around the nation. 

“I don’t get to enjoy the greatest cut of meat my country has to offer. Are you listening?” she screamed, directing her question at Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, as well as Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who may well decide the fate of a potential “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal as currently drawn up.

The present provision to repeal DADT has been attached to the annual defense authorization bill and will require the vote of at least one of the 41 Republican Senators in order to be passed.

Monday, Lady Gaga had not reach out to the White House on the passionate issue.  Watch Lady Gaga speak out against “don’t ask, don’t tell” in Maine:

President Obama spoke to a cross-section of Main Street, Wall Street and Washington with the economy at a crossroads and the nation’s precarious political structure hanging in the balance.

The 40th Annual Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference has concluded. Conferees came from all over the world to hear speakers to include, First Lady Michelle Obama, Donna Brazile, Reverand Jesse Jackson and others discuss issues of concern in the black community.

Although the recession as been deemed officially over since 2009, black pocketbooks are still hurting with unemployment numbers almost double the national average. Former United State Civil Rights Commission Chair Mary Francis Berry discusses what people should take away from the conference during this time of economic instability.

President Obama rounded out the CBC conference Saturday night with a speech on the economy and getting out to vote during the November General Elections.

Voter turnout in recent weeks for Primary Elections have been very low. This is a concern to democrats as they are trying to keep from loosing seats. Some are blaming the recent voter apathy on the policies of the Obama Administration.

John Boyd, Head of the National Black Farmers Association drove his tractor called Justice from his Virginia farm to the White House.  He is protesting for black farmers who have been waiting for Congress to fund a 1.25 billion dollar award over USDA discrimination in the Farm Loan program.  Boyd says the black agrarians have been pushing for justice for 26 years and  waiting for their financial restitution for 15 years.

Last week, on the issues of the black farmers, President Obama said at his latest press conference,  ”It is a fair settlement. It is a just settlement. We think it’s important for Con gress to fund that settlement. We’re going to continue to make it a priority.” 

Friday, Boyd made at least two stops.  The first destination was the White House. The tractor also took a low speed journey to the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference blocks away at the convention center.

This week President Obama rallies support for Democratic friends and political allies facing General Election challenges in November.  Last week Washington Mayor, Adian Fenty angered White House staff when he put the president on blast during a live radio interview on WTOP saying he requested the President to campaign with him and did not get a response.   President Obama was at the very least a political friend.  Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary answers a question at the daily press briefing.

Q    To what extent was the friendship between President Obama and Adrian Fenty?  Was it a political friendship, or was it a genuine friendship that encompassed politics? 

MR. GIBBS:  I’d have to ask the President more specifically. I think the President believes — I believe there was both a personal and a political relationship obviously that each of those shared.  And I know that at some point he’ll get an opportunity, if he hasn’t already, to call Mayor Fenty and wish him well.

Fenty lost to Democratic challenger, Vince gray over issues to include reforms some felt were swift and too harsh.  Others said Fenty seemed to be against the everyday Washingtonian with new fines including massive penalties for speeding tickets in the district.   Some Obama administration officials fear Fenty’s political demise on reform issues could be a foreshadowing of things to come for Obama in 2012.

Updated ALC 2010 Session Schedule Link

President Obama delivers a speech Saturday night at the annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation dinner.  First Lady Michelle Obama will be in attendance as well for the annual gala.  President Obama delivered a first in a series of minority speechs this week to the Hispanic Caucus Annual dinner.

This CBC legislative conference marks the 40th anniversary of the event. On day one, the sessions drew crowds on issues of preventing Childhood Obesity with First Lady Michelle Obama.

Confereees had a host of other panel discussions to choose from to include, issues trying to close the health and education disparities gaps, bone marrow donation in the African American community, and New Orleans moving forward after Katrina and BP.

Donna Brazil, Democratic Strategist and former Presidential Campaign Manager for Al Gore, sat on a Katrina panel.  Brazil a New Orleans native says there is progress but more needs to be done as the community is still in need of grocery stores and a hospital.