Obama: 'We have a window of opportunity' with Iran

(CNN) - "We have a window of opportunity" in which Iran's nuclear situation can be resolved diplomatically, President Barack Obama said Tuesday in his first formal news conference since last year.

"It is deeply in everybody's interest - the U.S., Israel and the world - to see if (the Iranian nuclear situation) can be resolved in a peaceful fashion," Obama added.

Asked to elaborate on his Monday statement that the United States "will always have Israel's back," Obama said, "historically, we have always cooperated with Israel with respect to the defense of Israel, just like we do with a whole range of other allies ... It was not a military doctrine that we were laying out for any particular military action."
As for the ongoing unrest in Syria, the U.S. taking unilateral military action in response to the situation, "or to think that somehow, there is some simple solution, I think is a mistake," the president said.
The inadvertent burning of Qurans at Afghanistan's Bagram Air Field, and the violent protests that followed, "concern me," Obama said. "I think that it is an indication of the challenges in that environment, and it's an indication that now is the time for us to transition (power to the Afghans)."

Reported by cnn.com

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Sandra Fluke Receives Call From Obama After Rush Limbaugh 'Slut' Comments

President Obama on Friday placed a call to Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law school student at the heart of the debate over the contraception law, thanking her for speaking out on the issue.
The call came a day after conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh demanded that Fluke release tapes of her having sex in exchange for the contraception that she argued should be covered by employers. Fluke was set to go on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports when the president rang her on her phone. She took the call while waiting in the green room.
"He encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women," she told Mitchell, who received permission from the White House to discuss the exchange between Fluke and Obama. "What was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents that they should be proud. And that meant a lot because Rush Limbaugh questioned whether or not my family would be proud of me. So I just appreciated that very much."
Fluke appeared to be choking up a bit while recalling the conversation. But she composed herself and went to discuss how surreal her experience has been. After being declined the opportunity to speak on a congressional panel to debate the president's contraception rule, she was subsequently invited to address Democrats on the topic. For that, she was vilified by Limbaugh, who also compared her to a prostitute. On Friday, several leading Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), condemned the remarks. The call from the president put a capstone on the week.
"He did express his concern for me and wanted to make sure that I was OK, which I am," she said. "I'm OK."
UPDATE: 1:29 p.m. -- At the White House press briefing shortly after the news broke, Press Secretary Jay Carney outlined the reasoning behind the president's decision to call Fluke.
Obama, said Carney, felt that, "the kinds of personal attacks that have been directed her way have been inappropriate."

"The fact that our political discourse has been debased in many ways is bad enough," he added. "It's even worse when it is directed at a private citizen who is simply expressing her views about public policy."
The call was placed by Obama from the Oval Office, Carney relayed. It was also the reason why Friday's press briefing was delayed more than an hour.

UPDATE: As reported by Huffpost Media, Limbaugh responded to Obama's call during his program on Friday.

Limbaugh also reacted to President Obama's call to Fluke. Obama told Fluke that her parents should be "proud" of her. Limbaugh had a different message for them. "I'd be embarrassed," he said. "I'd disconnect the phone. I'd go into hiding."

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Zakaria: Time to get real on Afghanistan

By Fareed Zakaria, CNN
The controversy over the desecration of copies of the Quran in Afghanistan and the murders of Americans that have followed is, on one level, one moment in a long, complicated war. But it also highlights the difficult and ultimately unsustainable aspect of America's Afghan policy. President Obama wants to draw down troops, but his strategy remains to transition power and authority to an Afghan national army and police force as well as to the government in Kabul, which would run the country and its economy. This is a fantasy. We must recognize that and pursue a more realistic alternative.
The United States tends to enter wars in developing countries with a simple idea - modernize the country, and you will solve the national security problem. An articulation of that approach came from none other than Newt Gingrich during a 2010 speech:

"The fact that we have been in this country for seven, eight years, and that we have not flooded the country with highways, we haven't guaranteed that every Afghan has a cell phone, we haven't undertaken the logical steps towards fundamentally modernizing their society."

Now, assuming that every Afghan got a cell phone and could travel on great highways, here is what would not change: The Afghan national government does not have the support of a large segment of its population, the Pashtuns. The national army is regarded as an army of Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras - the old Northern Alliance that battled the Pashtuns throughout the 1990s. And, simply put, Afghanistan's economy cannot support a large national government with a huge army. (The budget for Afghan security forces today is around $12 billion paid for by the US of course. That is eight times the amount of the government's annual revenue.)
As America has discovered in countless places over the past five decades, there are problems with this nation-building approach. First, it is extremely difficult to modernize a country in a few years. Second, even if this were possible, the fundamental characteristics of that society - its ethnicity, religion, and national and geopolitical orientation - persist despite modernization.
Accepting reality in Afghanistan would not leave America without options. We could have a smaller troop presence; we can pursue robust counterterrorism operations.
The United States could, of course, maintain its current approach, which is to bet on the success of not one but two large nation-building projects. We have to create an effective national government in Kabul that is loved and respected by all Afghans, whatever their ethnicity, and expand the Afghan economy so that a large national army and police force are sustainable for the long run.
To succeed, we would also have to alter Pakistan's basic character, create a civilian-dominated state that could shift the strategic orientation of the Islamabad government so that it shuts down the Taliban sanctuaries and starts fighting the very groups it has created and supported for at least three decades. Does anyone really think this is going to happen?
For more of my thoughts throughout the week, I invite you to follow me on Facebook and Twitter and to visit the Global Public Square every day. Be sure to catch GPS every Sunday at 10a.m. and 1p.m. EST. If you miss it, you can buy the show on iTunes.
Reported by cnn.com

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Obama chides governors for education cuts

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama told U.S. governors attending a luncheon Monday that they are cutting too much funding for education and need to make reforms while continuing to invest in the future of America's students.
While acknowledging the tough economic climate for state governments, Obama cited the need to prioritize the long-range significance of a strong education system.
"We've all faced some stark choices over the past several years, but that is no excuse to lose sight of what matters most, and the fact is that too many states are making cuts to education that I believe are simply too big," Obama told a White House gathering with the National Governors Association that included some of his harshest Republican critics.
"Nothing more clearly signals what you value as a state than the decisions you make about where to invest," Obama said. "Budgets are about choices, so today I'm calling on all of you: Invest more in education, invest more in our children and in our future."
The luncheon is an annual affair that highlights the constant tension over funding issues between the federal government and states. One table included Republican governors and constant Obama foes Chris Christie of New Jersey, Jan Brewer of Arizona, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina.
Obama noted the economic outlook is improving from the early days of his administration, saying, "our recovery is gaining speed."
However, he warned that a failure to maintain significant government investment in education now would cause economic harm in the future by leaving U.S. workers unable to compete in a global marketplace.
"I realize everybody is dealing with limited resources. Trust me, I know something about dealing with tight budgets," Obama said before citing statistics on decreasing numbers of teachers and higher university costs.
"No issue will have a bigger impact on the future performance of our economy than education," Obama said, adding that the unemployment rate for Americans with a college degree is roughly half the national average.
"Their incomes are about twice as high as those who only have a high school diploma," he added. "So this is what we should be focused on as a nation. It is what we should be talking about and debating. The countries who out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow. That's a simple fact."
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum called Obama a "snob" last week because the president advocates that American students to go to college.
Santorum framed the issue as Obama seeking to indoctrinate young Americans in what Santorum called the liberal leanings of a majority of U.S. colleges and universities over a four-year college career.
Obama, however, made clear Monday he was talking about all kinds of higher education, including community colleges and specialized training programs to help young people prepare to enter the modern workforce.
"When I speak about higher education, we're not just talking about a four-year degree," Obama said.
The first step is creating a national expectation that all students graduate high school, "at a minimum," the president said. At the same time, federal and state governments need to do what they can to make college affordable, he added.
"Americans now owe more in student loan debt than they do in credit card debt," Obama said, adding that "state budget cuts have been a major factor in rising tuition costs at state universities."
Insisting that "all of us have to do more," Obama said, "We can't allow higher education to be a luxury in this country.
"It's an economic imperative that every family in America has to be able to afford and, and frankly I don't think any of this should be a partisan issue," he continued to applause. "All of us should be about giving every American who wants to succeed that chance."

Reported by www.cnn.com

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Obama Payroll Tax Cut: President Finally Scores Coveted Win

WASHINGTON -- The $143 billion payroll tax cut won by President Barack Obama may be the last significant measure he receives from a deeply divided Congress that promises to only get more polarized as Election Day approaches.
Obama's coveted renewal of the payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for millions more caps a five-month campaign-style drive against reluctant Republicans.
Under the bill Congress approved Friday, workers would continue to receive a 2 percentage point increase in their paychecks, and people out of work for more than six months would keep jobless benefits averaging about $300 a week, steps that Obama says will help support a fragile recovery from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
It would also head off a steep cut in reimbursements for physicians who treat Medicare patients.
The tax cuts, jobless coverage and higher doctors' payments would all continue through 2012.
Passage of the legislation hands Obama a victory over objections from many GOP lawmakers who oppose it but were eager to wipe the issue from the election-year agenda.
It also clears away a political headache for House Republicans, who blocked a two-month extension of the tax cut and jobless coverage in late December, only to retreat quickly under a buzz saw of opposition from conservative and GOP leaders from around the country.
With that history, Republicans seemed ready to get the fight behind them and change the subject for the rest of this election year.
"We're dumb, but we're not stupid," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told reporters after he voted. "We did not want to repeat the debacle of last December. It's not that complicated."

Republicans said the final deal, significantly changed from a tea party-backed measure that passed in December, was the best Republicans could get.
"We don't control Washington. Democrats still control Washington – they control the Senate, and they control the White House," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., the top House negotiator on the measure. "A divided government must still govern." Camp cited stricter job search requirements for people receiving unemployment benefits and other changes in the program as wins for conservatives.
Extending the 2 percentage point cut in the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax would save around $80 monthly for someone earning $50,000 a year and give a maximum cut of $2,200 to high-end earners.
The reduction in the Social Security payroll tax, which is deducted from workers' paychecks, would cost $93 billion through 2022. In a sudden concession this week that made bipartisan agreement possible, House Republicans dropped their demand that the tax cut be paid for with spending reductions.
In a GOP win, coverage for the long-term unemployed would be cut from the current maximum of 99 weeks to a ceiling of 73 weeks by this fall in states with the worst job markets, with most topping out at 63 weeks.
Of the $30 billion cost of the extended unemployment benefits, half would be paid for by government sales of parts of the nation's broadcast airwaves, half by requiring federal workers hired after this year to contribute an additional 2.3 percent of their pay for their pensions, up from the current 0.8

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Obama Administration asks for delay in legal fight over contraception coverage

Washington (CNN) -- An ongoing political dispute over the Obama administration's new mandate on contraceptive coverage has reached the federal courts, with the Justice Department on Friday urging judges to stay out of the controversy until a compromise can be worked out.
At issue is whether religious institutions should be exempt from mandated employee coverage for birth control and other reproductive care. A North Carolina college has sued, saying it should not be obligated to provide such services in violation of its religious beliefs.
But the Justice Department told a federal judge in Washington on Friday that any coverage requirements won't be enforced until next January, essentially buying time to settle any differences between the parties out of court.
"Students may receive health coverage either by contracting directly with an insurance issuer (in which case plaintiff [college] does not itself provide the insurance), or from plaintiff through a self insured plan," said the filing. "In either event, plaintiff is under no federal obligation to provide its own plan that covers contraception or other recommended preventive services, and thus lacks standing" to sue.
The president announced a compromise last week in the dispute. Under the new plan, religiously affiliated universities and hospitals would not be forced to offer contraception coverage to their employees. Insurers will be required, however, to offer complete coverage free of charge to women who work at such institutions. Female employees at churches themselves will have no guarantee of any contraception coverage-- a continuation of current law.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced Obama's compromise last week soon after the president's announcement, saying the proposal raises "serious moral concerns," according to a statement posted on its website.
Half of all Americans polled say they oppose the Obama administration's new policy, according to a new CNN/ORC national survey.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has filed a series of lawsuits, arguing that even the revised polices on contraception access would constitute a violation of their clients' faith.
Belmont Abbey College is a Catholic-affiliated liberal arts institution near Charlotte, North Carolina. The school claims that under current law, they are not free from the "religious exemption" and would be forced to provide contraception to its employees and students. They say the law, even with the compromise offered by the White House, does not address their First Amendment concerns.
The final version of the contraception requirement goes into effect next January. The administration argues Belmont and other institutions may be "grandfathered" out of current compliance, and that the school lacks "standing" or authority to press its claims now in federal court.
The administration said that under a safe harbor provision, no group can be forced to provide birth control at least until year's end. Federal officials said they are confident they could work out legal and philosophical differences to ensure broad compliance.
The case is Belmont Abbey College v. Sebelius (1:11-cv-1989).

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President Obama unveils $3.8 trillion budget

Washington (CNN) -- President Obama unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget request Monday that hikes taxes on the rich, spends new money on infrastructure and education, but does little to reform the entitlement programs that pose the biggest long-term threat to the federal budget.
"We built this budget around the idea that our country has always done best when everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules," Obama said in his budget message.
But the budget forecasts a deficit for fiscal year 2012 that will top $1.3 trillion, before falling in 2013 to $901 billion, or 5.5% of gross domestic product.
The deficit projections, which have hovered near $1 trillion for each year of the Obama presidency, mean that Obama will not satisfy his 2009 promise cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term.
The White House has billed the document as a "blueprint for how we can rebuild an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded."

While the White House and Democrats are advocating a balanced approach to economic growth -- including spending cuts, increased tax revenue and investments in rebuilding infrastructure such as highways and bridges, Republicans will argue for deeper spending cuts and lower tax rates.
Both sides contend that their positions will bring the economic growth needed to stimulate significant reductions in the federal deficit and rising national debt.
Senior administration officials who discussed details of the budget with reporters said it reflects policy themes Obama presented in a major speech last year in Kansas and in his recent State of of the Union address.
In the Kansas speech, Obama presented Americans with a choice: a "fair shot" with him, or a return to "you're on your own economics" of the previous Republican administration under President George W. Bush.
Obama's 2013 budget proposal had to fit discretionary spending below the limits set in the Budget Control Act approved by Congress last summer.
Over a decade, the cuts enshrined in the Budget Control Act total in the neighborhood of $1 trillion in discretionary spending.
Under the White House plan, discretionary spending -- which generally means day-to-day government funding not including entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- is projected to fall from 8.7% of GDP in 2011 to 5.0% in 2022. However, details on specific program cuts were not immediately available.
A few areas of reduction are known: The Pentagon plans to spend $487 billion less over 10 years, a course that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has already laid out in some detail.
For example, Panetta has said the Army will save money by pulling two of its four brigades out of permanent bases in Europe to bases in the United States. Meanwhile, the Navy will be getting rid of older ships that don't have the latest ballistic missile defense.
The budget also raises taxes by $1.5 trillion, including a provision to allow the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts on families earning more than $250,000 a year, as well as incorporating the so-called Buffett Rule that requires households earning more than $1 million to pay a 30% tax rate.
Later this month, the president will unveil a plan to reform corporate taxes, including lowering rates, administration officials said.
The administration is also proposing a series of investments focused on infrastructure, education and domestic manufacturing, including $30 billion to modernize schools and an additional $30 billion to retain and hire teachers and first responders.
In addition, the budget will also offer details on what the White House calls a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee. The tax will raise $61 billion over 10 years from large financial institutions to help offset the cost of the TARP bailout and Obama's mortgage-refinance programs.
With a presidential and congressional elections coming in November, the hostile political environment in Washington is expected to prevent the president's budget plan from advancing in Congress.
Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell, delivering the Republican weekly address Saturday, said he expected Obama's budget proposal to "increase taxes, ignore entitlement reform and fail to address the federal debt."
"In short, we can expect that this will not be a proactive budget built to promote fiscal responsibility and future prosperity," McDonnell said. "Rather it appears we'll see a bloated budget that doubles down on the failed policies of the past."
In other budget matters, Obama's new chief of staff stopped short on Sunday of predicting Congress would agree to extend the payroll tax cut for the rest of 2012.
The issue, a top priority of the Obama administration and the focus of congressional negotiations in recent weeks, reflects the sharp partisan divide permeating Washington as Obama prepares to his budget proposal.
Jack Lew, the former White House budget director who just took over as chief of staff, told CNN's "State of the Union" that Congress should resolve the dispute over extending the lower payroll tax rate from 2011.
When pressed about whether a deal would get done, Lew refused to predict success.
"I believe it should get solved, and I know there are people working hard even this weekend trying to solve it," said Lew, who appeared on CNN and four other network and cable talk shows Sunday.
Both the budget proposal and the payroll tax issue continue a political debate over government spending that has dominated Washington since the 2010 congressional elections in which Republicans took control of the House and reduced the Democratic majority in the Senate.
A protracted political fight in December brought a two-month extension of the lower payroll tax rate from last year, giving Congress more time to work out a longer-term deal.
However, the same political arguments from December continue to stymie talks being held by House and Senate negotiators.
Obama and Democrats are pushing for an extension with no strings attached, while Republicans seek to tie more spending cuts and other priorities to the plan.
A 20-member House-Senate conference committee is working to extend the payroll tax cut for 10 months before the short-term extension runs out February 29.
The tax break is estimated to affect about 160 million Americans, saving the average family about $1,000 a year

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