Washington in 60 Seconds: With Afghanistan Speech, 'The Most Important Day of Obama's Presidency'
Patricia Murphy
It's a momentous day in Washington -- one that Newsweek editor John Meacham calls "the most important day of Obama's presidency."
Here's what's making news in the Capitol today:
* Obama's War Abroad. President Obama will announce his strategy for the war in Afghanistan in a speech to cadets at West Point tonight. Early reports say he's already told commanders he's increasing American troop levels by 34,000, and won't contemplate a draw-down for two years. Watch the speech live at 8 p.m. at C-SPAN.org.
* Obama's War at Home. The president can expect some serious blowback from congressional leaders headed to the White House today to discuss his Afghan strategy ahead of the speech. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already warned there's little support for a surge in her caucus, and Rep. David Obey (D-Ore.) called the troop increase "a fool's errand" because of corruption in the Afghan government.
* From Statesmanship to "Baitsmanship." The Senate starts Day 2 of its health care debate this morning, and the New York Times sums up Harry Reid's strategy for the first day as "baitsmanship" after the majority leader introduced two measures, seemingly with the goal of drawing Republican objections. Look for more of the same today, as well as a 3:30 vote on an amendment from John McCain to prevent reducing payments to Medicare.
* ACORN Still Falling. On the House side, Republican members say they're not done with ACORN yet and will hold a hearing today on "the inner workings" of the housing organization.
* Long-Lost Presidential Aunt. The AP reports that Barack Obama's aunt is "anguished" by the fact that she has had no contact with her nephew since the revelation last year that she is an illegal immigrant living in Boston. "There are people, outsiders, you know, they come in between, they divide a family," she told the AP last week as she cried in her apartment. "It's not easy."
* Urgent Memo to the Salahis: If you must crash parties, try doing it in Orange County, in Atlanta, or in any city that does not have an international press corps looking for a distraction from covering wars and the health care debate. Otherwise, the result will be headlines, and stories, like this: