The Note, 4/2/09: Lucky Charm — Obamas are stars abroad — but will the world follow?

By RICK KLEIN It’s President Obama’s trip, but that doesn’t mean we can’t all learn a few things: Time zones can be useful tools for controlling news cycles. Having a Republican budget alternative is not quite the same as having Republicans supporting a budget alternative.  There is no series of tubes to channel Ted Stevens back to where he really wants to be.  What President Obama is doing abroad is both harder than it looks and easier than it might have been. Maybe it took some foreign travel and some pageantry and gift-giving to drive it all home. But as the G-20 starts formally on Thursday, if Obama wanted to reinforce the change message, at home and broad, well, mission accomplished. These are no small differences being hashed out. America’s reputation may be on the upswing, but it’s still near historic (dangerous) lows. The president may well go home empty-handed on his top goals, despite having spent a few favors. (Yet we’re talking about . . . iPods and picture frames and pencil skirts and presidential head colds. While we’re not talking about . . . stimulus money and auto bailouts and deficits and debts.)  The storylines converge to make Thursday perhaps the critical day of the president’s first major foreign trip. This is the meat of the conference, and also the source of tasty soundbites: Obama has a news conference at 12:45 pm ET, after what will have been a full day of negotiations with his counterparts. Charmed, we’re sure: “It was an eventful first day on the world stage for President Barack Obama, launching new arms control talks, placing China ties on fresh footing and calming fears about the ailing U.S. economy — seemingly everywhere, relaxed and smiling all the while,” the AP’s Jennifer Loven writes. “While wife Michelle attracted breathless attention with every stop, fashionable outfit and sip of tea.” “On a day of dizzying diplomacy with three world powers, Obama made one thing clear: The Bush era of foreign policy is over,” Politico’s Jonathan Martin writes. “In strokes of symbolism and on issues of substance, the president’s international debut was starkly different from the approach America’s allies and adversaries grew to know — and often bitterly complain about — over the past eight years.” Even beyond what we see: “While the stakes are remarkably high for the Group of 20 summit meeting, where he will meet his new contemporaries from around the globe, this is essentially the trip Mr. Obama has been waiting for since the moment he began his presidential campaign,” Jeff Zeleny writes for The New York Times. “One of reasons he made the improbable decision to run, he told voters again and again over the last two years, was to try and renew America’s image around the world.” Washington Times headline: “Obama seizes agenda on world stage.” Not that there’s any pressure . . . Subhead in The Guardian: “Presidents, prime ministers and heads of state have just a few hours to finalise agreement to revive global economy.” “Diplomacy was the order of the day, as Obama announced a partnership on nuclear proliferation with Russia and a new dialogue on human rights with China,” ABC’s Jake Tapper and Karen Travers report. “Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met for the first time this morning, after years of what both leaders described as a drift between the two countries.” The Washington Post’s Anthony Faiola sees a warning in Obama’s “unusual message”: “The ‘voracious’ U.S. economy can no longer be the sole engine of global growth.” He continues: “The statement signaled a recognition of a new economic era with a less dominant U.S. role. . . . His message also amounted to a challenge to world leaders that highlights the core differences expected at Thursday’s summit.” Up next: “Nations will produce a communique Thursday with a list of carefully worded prescriptions, including the regulation of hedge funds and more rigorous standards for banks, a move to shed light on the secrecy of tax havens, new ways for regulators in different countries to coordinate their oversight and dramatically increased funding for the International Monetary Fund, according to a draft of the agreement,” Faiola writes. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, to ABC’s Charlie Gibson: “I think the world is with the president on this. I think there is very broad support for it. I think the differences you’ve seen are dramatically exaggerated.” What the president is looking for: “We are obviously here to listen, not to lecture, but the president believes he’s taken the right steps to get our economy moving again,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told Diane Sawyer on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday. What’s not to like? “This White House is speaking an economic language that Europe and Asia understand — more regulation, more government intervention, a more generous safety net — without abandoning America’s commitment to free markets,” David Ignatius writes in his Washington Post column. More diplomacy: “It was a fitting opening to the Group of 20 economic summit that formally begins here today: Everyone was polite and civil, even as disagreement among them simmers,” Christi Parsons and Henry Chu report in the Los Angeles Times. “But analysts pointed out that the philosophical differences exposed by the financial crisis are real.” (You know the message is going Obama’s way when “analysts” have to point out the splits.) Even France is behaving — sort of: “While President Nicolas Sarkozy of France did not repeat an earlier threat to walk out of the conference — ‘I just got here,’ he joked — he made it clear he would reject an agreement that puts off stringent new regulations on banks, tax havens, and hedge funds,” David E. Sanger and Mark Landler write in The New York Times. A pair of persistent rivals: “The French and German leaders seemed resolute that divisions among the players would not be papered over. Both — like Mr. Obama and Mr. Brown — also are seeking roles as international leaders to help their political status in presiding over troubled economies at home,” Jonathan Weisman, Alistair MacDonald, and Carrick Mollenkamp report in The Wall Street Journal. Time to move past a sticking point? “The Obama administration is pushing a fiscal policy that will raise the U.S. deficit and debt to unprecedented levels. Other countries, from China to Germany, are raising serious doubts about the U.S. approach, either because it risks the value of their dollar investments or because similar policies will not stimulate their economies,” former Treasury undersecretary John B. Taylor writes, at NYTimes.com. “A natural show of unity, therefore, would be for President Obama to move toward the position of the others, perhaps in exchange for their dropping proposals for a new world financial stability authority or a new world currency. If this is a step too far, then a second best compromise would simply be for all countries to lay out concrete plans now to control their fiscal and monetary excesses after the crisis is over.” The story in much of the rest of the world is what won’t be happening: “The pilots of France’s presidential Airbus may want to keep their engines idling. For despite the enduring crisis and darkening recession, few participants or observers of the summit believe the gathering will accomplish anything beyond initiating a very long and still murky effort to address some of the factors that led to the rot and implosion of U.S. financial markets and its contamination abroad,” Time’s Bruce Crumley writes. If this is the biggest critique so far: “Back in the U.S., Republicans roundly criticized the Obamas’ decision to present Queen Elizabeth II with an iPod after he gave Brown a collection of DVDs during his Washington visit. British press noted she already has one,” The Hill’s Sam Youngman reports. The Hill’s A.B. Stoddard: “In the battle to return to relevancy, this was another rough week for the Republican Party. Blunders and bickering have made things awfully tense in the wilderness, and as they try clawing their way out, Republicans find themselves heading back to a future they wanted to forget — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in yet another standoff with GOP leaders, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) in a starring role.” Meanwhile, the budget marches on — it’s Senate voterama day! From the House GOP: “After getting blasted last week for presenting a budget plan light on details, House Republicans yesterday unveiled a more complete proposal that would cut taxes for businesses and the wealthy, freeze most government spending for five years, halt spending approved in the economic stimulus package and slash federal health programs for the poor and elderly,” Lori Montgomery writes in The Washington Post. “After goading Republicans into coming up with a budget, Democrats immediately described it as badly flawed, saying it contained draconian cuts that Americans — and even some Republican lawmakers — would not support,” Carl Hulse writes in The New York Times. “They said it marked a return to the same style of tax-cutting economics that contributed to the current financial crisis and noted wryly that it was unveiled on April 1.” “If this is an April Fool’s joke, it is not very funny,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is having his own version of the budget voted on in the Senate Thursday — and while most Republicans will support it, don’t call it THE Republican alternative. “The move is being made despite Senate leaders’ stated desire that there not be a complete Senate Republican budget alternative; instead, they support making line-by-line changes to the Democrats’ proposal,” per ABC News. “The McCain budget, which comes on the same day GOP House leaders introduced their own version of the budget, would spend $229 billion less than President Obama’s budget over five years, primarily by freezing all discretionary spending with the exception of defense and veterans’ services. It would reduce deficits by an estimated $977 billion more than Obama’s proposal over five years, and would contribute some $2 trillion less to the national debt, according to a fact sheet describing the proposal provided to ABC News.” The DCCC brings some new noise. New radio ads are targeting six Republican House members in the run-up to tax day. Says the accountant: “Oh yeah, it’s the biggest tax cut in American history! It gives families like yours a huge tax break. (papers shuffle) You qualify for an $800 tax credit . . . That’s money in your pocket, right now. . . . Yeah, but no thanks to our local Congressman Mike Castle.” And party officials wouldn’t mind being the only noise: “What I’ve been reminding people very clearly is (to) beware of forming a circular firing squad,” DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told reporters Wednesday, per ABC’s Tahman Bradley. “We believe people should focus their efforts on expanding a Democratic majority and that should be their singular focus.” Did someone say taxes? “One of President Barack Obama’s campaign pledges on taxes went up in puffs of smoke Wednesday,” the AP’s Calvin Woodward writes. “The largest increase in tobacco taxes took effect despite Obama’s promise not to raise taxes of any kind on families earning under $250,000 or individuals under $200,000. This is one tax that disproportionately affects the poor, who are more likely to smoke than the rich.” (Flashback to the campaign: “Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”) Making the NRSC’s day (and maybe year): “Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd trails former U.S.  Rep. Rob Simmons, a possible Republican challenger, 50 – 34 percent in the 2010 Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today, as voters disapprove 58 – 33 percent of the job the Democratic incumbent is doing, his lowest approval rating ever.” Karl Rove takes on the Obama army: “Organizing for America’s first effort has not been terribly effective. It emailed 13 million Obama election workers, recruited 1,200 neighborhood canvassers, and, after a couple of weeks and more email pleas to the Obama list, produced 642,000 signatures,” he writes in his Wall Street Journal column. “Having less than 5% of your own activists sign a petition is unimpressive and perhaps evidence that adding $9.3 trillion to the deficit alarms even some of Mr. Obama’s most fervent supporters.” David Broder draws a lesson out of Rick Wagoner’s ouster: “Until he zapped the head of that iconic American institution, GM, the impression was growing that this was a guy you could roll. As Reagan showed, you’re a lot better off if you kill that notion early,” Broder writes. Don’t miss Mitt: “He used the crisis of our economy as cover to do a lot of other things that would strengthen the scale and the power of government,” former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., said at an NRSC dinner Wednesday night, Hotline’s Jennifer Skalka reports. We’re in overtime in NY-20: “The too-close-to-call race in the 20th Congressional District between Republican Jim Tedisco and Democrat Scott Murphy just got considerably closer,” per the Albany Times Union’s Leigh Hornbeck and Irene Jay Liu. “Following a review of votes in Columbia County, Murphy still leads Tedisco — but only by 25 votes, 77,217 to 77,192.” “As of Wednesday afternoon, 6,381 absentee ballots have been returned out of more than 10,000 sent, the state Board of Election said. Of those, 170 are military and 875 are overseas ballots,” the paper reports. Van Hollen’s message: “Whatever the outcome, the only explanation for closing that gap . . . was people listened to Scott Murphy’s message, which was: We have to move forward with the economic recovery plan,” he said at a Politico forum Wednesday night. Catching George Stephanopoulos’ eye . . . The Kicker: “They let me sit in Winston Churchill’s reading chair!” — President Obama, during his first visit to No. 10 Downing Street, as recalled by The New York Times’ Jeff Zeleny. “Levi! That’s par for the course. That means you’re stuck. That’s symbolic or something.”
– Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, to Levi Johnston, the ex-fiancee of daughter Bristol Palin, in the May issue of Esquire, which hits newsstands on April 15. Gov. Palin made the comment after Johnston’s prospective wedding ring got stuck on his thumb. Watch Esquire’s video preview of the interview HERE.    Don’t miss “Top Line,” ABCNews.com’s new daily political Webcast, hosted by Rick Klein and David Chalian. Thursday’s guests: Arianna Huffington, and GOP strategist Kevin Madden. http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6105692 Follow The Note on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thenote For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note’s blog . . . all day every day:

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