April 19, 2010 — The U.S. military may have delivered the biggest blow in the war against Al-Qaeda in Iraq Monday with the killing of two of the Islamist militant group’s top commanders.

In route to White House Monday I received an e-mail saying Vice President Joe Biden would open the daily briefing with an announcement. 

Biden told a packed briefing room in the West Wing, “Iraqi security forces with the support of U.S. forces killed the two most senior leaders of al Qaeda Iraq during a series of joint security operations near Tikrit, Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Umar al-Baghdadi.  The former leaders of AQI are the ones who plotted, planned, and executed terrorist attacks against the Iraqis in recent past, as well as against Americans.”

This announcement comes in the wake of an Iraqi panel investigating looking into the recent claims of fraud in last month’s parliamentary elections.  A manual recount has been ordered in all votes cast in Baghdad. 

But this along with the fact that elections have taken place and the Iraqi people have taken the lead is good news. 

The Obama administration is planning to pull combat troops from Iraq by August, and the  plan is still in place Biden confirmed in his remarks.  “We remain committed to end our combat mission in Iraq this summer, by the end of August 2010, and in accordance with the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that was signed a couple of years ago to remove all U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of 2011.”

Today’s announcement was characterized by the White House as “potentially devastating blows to al Qaeda Iraq.”  The vice president gave credit to the work of the Iraqi security forces. “This action demonstrates the improved security strength and capacity of Iraqi security forces.”

“The Iraqis led this operation, and it was based on intelligence the Iraqi security forces themselves developed following their capture of a senior AQI leader last month,” Biden said.

General Raymond Odiemo, commander of the U.S. forces in Iraq told reporters, “The death of these terrorists is potentially the most significant blow to al-Qaeda in Iraq since the beginning of the insurgency.”

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Analyst

March 21, 2010 – The nail-biting is over and Congress has passed a historic health care bill that will provide health care for more than 30 million Americans.

The floor of the House erupted with applause when the magic number of 216 was reached passing H.R. 3590.  The final tally 219-210 was swiftly followed with a vote on reconciliation H.R. 4872 in a voice vote.

Republicans made a last-ditch effort to kill the bill with an appeal to recommit the bill, which would have sent the bill back to committee; it failed in a voice vote as well as a roll call, 220 -211.  This was followed with a vote on reconciliation which also failed, 232 -199, clearing the way for the bill’s last hurdle – passage in the Senate.   

President Obama addressed the American people from the White House East Room flanked by Vice President Joe Biden calling the vote for comprehensive health care, “the right thing to do.”

“We proved that this government, a government of the people and by the people, still works for the people,” Obama said. As White House advisors looked on, the president thanked all those who worked on getting this bill passed. “I know this wasn’t an easy vote for a lot of people but it was the right vote.”

The president worked feverishly in recent weeks to help get this bill across the finish line.  He postponed and then cancelled a trip abroad to stay close to the negotiations.  “This isn’t radical reform, but it is major reform. This is what change looks like,” Obama added.

“The United States Congress finally declared that America’s workers and America’s families and small businesses deserve the security of knowing that here in this country neither illness nor accident should endanger the dreams they worked a lifetime to achieve,” Obama said.

House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who spent months “whipping” Democrats in line for a night like Sunday, told reporters after the president’s remarks, “This has been a labor of love, and I do mean that.”  Clyburn said, “I consider this to be the Civil Rights Act of the 20^th century.”

How will you benefit from the passage of  health care reform?

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer
Dec. 20, 2009 – It looks like the Democrats in the Senate will muster the 60 votes needed to get the health care reform bill through the Senate, but at what cost?   The key word used during the Sunday talk shows on health care reform was “compromise”; and it appears that’s what gained the support of the last Democratic hold out Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson.

Nelson appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” program, and said, that if he will only support a final bill from House-Senate negotiations that does not include a public option.  The public option has been the litmus test for this reform bill and has been the key issue keeping Republicans from signing on.  So it will be interesting to see if the public option is dropped and if any other moderate Republican’s like Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)and Susan Collins (R-Maine) will support the bill.

The White House will need to defend the health care legislation without the public option to the liberal members of Congress who have vowed not support to bill without it.  Senior presidential adviser David Axelrod maintains the legislation Dems are working toward matches the goals that Obama has set even without the government insurance plan.  Axelrod told “Meet the Press,” it includes affordable choices for people without health insurance and more protections for people who already have coverage.

Compromise is the key to getting any bill passed, and now that the Dems are all on board, as well as two Senate independents, Republicans continue to fight the measure, even though they Senate has the 60 votes to move the legislation forward.

The president may get an additional item under the tree on Christmas Eve.  Health care reform is the president’s top legislative priority, and it’s predicted to win final congressional passage this week.  Vice President Joe Bide wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times, “While it is not perfect, the bill pending in the Senate today is not just good enough — it is very good.”

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Analyst

Dec. 1, 2009 – The long-awaited strategy on how President Obama will address the war in Afghanistan will be unveiled to the American people on Tuesday.

Before the primetime address, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are scheduled to meet with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Congressional leadership to discuss the administration’s direction. 
 
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked what key issues the president will share with the American people. “The President’s speech tomorrow will discuss our relationship with Pakistan and touch on, going back to the very beginning of this administration, in a renewed engagement diplomatically with the Pakistanis,” he said.

“I think our relationship is stronger and our efforts are stronger in dealing with that as a result of that engagement and diplomacy.  The President will build on that and talk about the importance of them in the region tomorrow night.”

The president has authorized as many as 35,000 more troops but is also vowing there isn’t an open-ended commitment.  It’s not clear if he will outline a specific exit strategy, a timeline for troop drawdown, or list benchmarks for Afghanistan and Pakistan.  

Gibbs is confident the president will be direct with the American people on how he plans to move forward.

“I think the President will reiterate tomorrow what I’ve said a number of times, which is that this is not an open-ended commitment; that we are there to partner with the Afghans, to train the Afghan national security forces, the army and the police, so that they can provide the security for their country and wage the battle against an unpopular insurgency in that country.  That’s, I’d say, first and foremost, our primary mission there.”