Beltway insider: Obama Fights Low Ratings, Affordable Care Act Failures; SNAP Benefits Face Cuts; Iranian Nuke Deal; Thanksgiving Traditions Strong

President Barack Obama, fighting the Affordable Care Act failures and freefalling ratings, traveled to sunny California, this week, visiting DreamWorks Studio, the home of his largest campaign donor Jeffrey Katzenberg, meeting industry executives and embracing Hollywood.

According to Gallup, President Obama’s job approval, over the past week rose three percentage points, to 42% of those polled that approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as President dropped one percentage point to 52%.

President Obama Fights Low Ratings, Affordable Care Act Failures

President Barack Obama, fighting the Affordable Care Act failures and freefalling ratings, over the past month has seen his once commanding approval ratings plummet to the lowest level of his presidency as his numbers fell to 39%.

With a faint glimmer of hope, in the past week, as his overall approval ratings rose three percentage points, taking him to 42%, President Obama addressed the slump as with his usual optimism and belief that “we have nowhere to go but up.”

The roll out of the Affordable Care Act has proven to be more a thorn in the President’s side than a jewel in his crown of accomplishments.  With repeated fix it deadlines passing, the President has continued to accept responsibility for the “dismal failure” of the Marketplace.

Many Americans have lost faith, which is evident by the numbers drop, in the President and believe that he intentionally lied to the public when he explained that insured Americans could keep their current plan. Knowing the cancellation of the policies would drive the numbers up on the Marketplace as Americans had no option.

Senior White House officials including HHS Kathleen Sebelius and Henry Chao, an Obama appointed HealthCare representative, both testified before Congress the healthcare.gov website was clearly not ready to go live, was marked with functional errors, failed to provide essential shopping tools and couldn’t hold the anticipated traffic.

The American people are also concerned about Benghazi as the President has repeatedly stated admissions false, inaccurate and misleading, statements, meant to pacify the public or in some way influence voters.

President Obama doesn’t have the luxury of continued poor judgment and bad decisions. With the 2015 primary season, in theory one year away, the realities are the republicans are watching every move and will begin the hunting season by September 2014.

House Republicans Fight to Cut SNAP Benefits

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, is poised once again to take a major hit as House Republicans have presented a bill that will slash the benefits levels in the food program that just recently suffered, deep, across the board, cuts.

One month ago, November 1, 2013, SNAP benefits were slashed, as the Obama Administration, in 2010, signed two bills which accelerated the demise of the supplemental increase benefits SNAP recipients received due to the America Recovery and Re-investment Act of 2009, resulting in major household reduction of up to $80.00 per month for a family of four.

House Republicans have currently created a bill that would again slash benefits across the board again.

SNAP benefits recipients don’t fall along party lines. Recipients are not primarily a single race. Those disenfranchised within our society, the poor, returning veterans facing reentry difficulties, and children will primarily be affected should the bill pass.

“If the Republican bill, if the bill is passed with party-line Republican support in the House, were to pass, 4 million Americans would lose access to SNAP benefits,” Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary said during a recent press briefing.

The safety nets created in 2009 to ensure that those in need received SNAP benefits throughout the worst economic recession since the great depression were limited. In theory the economy is improving and unemployment is slowly coming down, the poverty levels and those who qualify for the benefits to purchase nutritious food is still very much a need.

SNAP benefits are economically effective according to the White House, “The SNAP program, also known as food stamps, is incredibly efficient.  Ninety-five percent of the money spent on the SNAP program goes directly to assist in the purchase of food stamps for people who quality for the program.  In part because of the efficiency of the program and in part because of the way that the money is used, the CBO has calculated that SNAP benefits are one of the two most cost-effective programs to boost jobs and economic growth -- that for every dollar spent on SNAP benefits, it generates $1.80 in economic activity.”

The savings associated with each of those bills signed by the Obama White House were used to fund state fiscal relief, federal funding for school districts to maintain teachers’ jobs and maintaining a higher federal match for Medicaid costs.

The mathematical equation doesn’t factor in price index per state. Some SNAP participants may need to travel some distance in order to purchase food at a lower cost, they spend additional monies in transportation, others may be fortunate to have neighborhood groceries that sell at a low cost maximizing the benefit without subtracting from the household budget.

Sequester cuts are not the reasons behind the cuts in SNAP benefits.  Programs directly effecting families are not subject to sequester cuts. SNAP, Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Programs, Food Stamps as well as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Welfare other programs directly effecting families are not subject to sequester cuts.

Thanksgiving Day Traditions Still Strong Despite Washington Woes

Americans, despite the rocky economy, the government shutdown, ObamaCare and the general seething mistrust that has grown over the past year, remain true to the traditions that mark the annual gathering punctuated with family, food and football.

President Obama offered thanks in his weekly address stating, “We are a people who are greater together than we are on our own.  That’s what today is about.  That’s what every day should be about.” 

“No matter our differences, we’re all part of one American family.  We are each other’s keeper.  We are one nation, under God.  That core tenet of our American experience has guided us from the earliest days of our founding – and it will guide us to a future that’s even brighter than today. Thank you, God bless you, and from my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving,” he added.

For those 47,000 American troops still on active duty in Afghanistan Thanksgiving dinner was served by Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, in one of his last duties before retirement. Soldiers enjoyed a traditional dinner of Turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings and offered thanks, for the opportunity to offer thanks.

In communities across the country Americans moved by the large numbers of those in need, came together on this traditional day of Thanksgiving to give back ensuring every member of the community who wanted could enjoy a deliciously prepared Holiday meal.

The 87th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade didn’t disappoint as an estimated crowd of 3.5million lined the parade route and another 50million watched, what is known as the official start to the Christmas Holiday season, from home.

Although officials ordered the 16 giant balloons lowered due to high winds, having them closer to crowd level only made the experience more incredible for the millions who arrived in the early morning hours and braved the cold weather for the opportunity to live the experience.

As the first day of Hanukkah 2013 fell on Thanksgiving Day, an event so rare it won’t happen for another 70,000 years, American of all faiths enjoyed the day of rest, of peace and hope. Shalom to all.

Iranian Nuke Deal Not A Slam Dunk

President Barack Obama along with Vice President Joseph Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry announced this week the first step agreement to end the advancement of Iran’s nuclear program, a long term goal within his administration.

“For many years, Iran has been unwilling to meet its obligations to the international community.  So my administration worked with Congress, the United Nations Security Council and countries around the world to impose unprecedented sanctions on the Iranian government. These sanctions have had a substantial impact on the Iranian economy, and with the election of a new Iranian President earlier this year, an opening for diplomacy emerged,“ the President said in a released statement.

Members of the P5 + 1 (permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and China and the European Union), worked with the Secretary of State Kerry and his team to create a substantive checklist that Iran must adhere to over the next six months or face harsher and more extreme sanctions.

“In return, as part of this initial step, the P5+1 will provide limited, temporary, targeted, and reversible relief to Iran,” the President said.

A cooling off period of six months is in place during which all parties will meet the outlined agreements. Should those agreements, in their entirety, not be met Iran will face the reversal of all relief.

The election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was birthed out of the Arab Spring uprising. While democracy did not topple the existing government, Rouhani, a moderate and highly educated cleric, ran on Iran’s Green Movement and Centrist platform, which called for evolution not revolution.

Rouhani, a legal and religious scholar, was able to garner more than the 50% of the vote in the primary process and over 18million votes in the General Election.

With goals to gently modernize his country, Rouhani is widely respected in his country and cautiously accepted internationally. His election was greeted by world leaders as a fresh change for the troubled nation plagued for decades by extremists and oppression.

President Obama, the United Nations Security Council, as well as other nations felt that Rouhani’s moderate beliefs may provide the window to end the Iranian pursuit of nuclear capability and dominance in the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his recent visit to the White House, made his views on the Iranians clear: they are enemies of the state of Israel. Netanyahu has ordered Mossad to expose the duplicity of the Iranians in the nuclear deal.

Israel remains the closest ally to the United States and the safety of the statehood is preeminent in all regional concerns.

The Iranian deal, which, while touted as a major achievement and it is, may still fall apart if the Iranians are using the continued meetings to advance the nuclear program while negotiating terms and conditions.

“The American people prefer a peaceful and enduring resolution that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and strengthens the global non-proliferation regime.  This solution has the potential to achieve that.  Through strong and principled diplomacy, the United States of America will do its part for greater peace, security, and cooperation among nations,” the President said.

 

For more information on President Obama: www.whitehouse.gov   

For more information on the Affordable Care Act: https://www.healthcare.gov/

Sources: Gallup, Wikipedia, Whitehouse.gov,

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