OBAMA

=see BO rag and 2 for newercapt 3/18cu bossie brown attacks:
2008<a href="http://www.constantinereport.com/on-floyd-brown-and-david-bossie-deconstructing-the-obama-smear-machine-2/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">http://www.constantinereport.com/on-floyd-brown-and-david-bossie-deconstructing-the-obama-smear-machine-2/</a><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a data-taxonomy="person" data-termid="9976" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/bill-berkowitz/" data-title="Bill Berkowitz" title="Bill Berkowitz" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;"> Berkowitz</a> www.mediatransparency.org May 5, 2008 Floyd Brown and David Bossie: Back in the Swift Boat captain's chairs Two longtime practitioners of negative campaigning are mainstreaming attacks on Clinton and Obama<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">Floyd Brown and David Bossie have spent a good part of their political careers making life miserable for Bill and Hillary Clinton. Unlike <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Richard Mellon" data-termid="7663" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/richard-mellon/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Richard Mellon</a> Scaife, the billionaire financier who was unremitting in his efforts to take the Clintons down during the latter part of the twentieth century and whose newspaper endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton prior to the Pennsylvania primary, neither Brown nor Bossie have had a pro-Hillary conversion.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">These days, however, Brown's new organization, The National Campaign Fund -- which launched a new website "ExposeObama.com" -- and Bossie's Citizens United have added Sen. Barack Obama to the mix.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">Brown recently told Time magazine that "he had established several other front groups to fund a long-range effort to erode Obama's support, including a second PAC, called The Legacy Committee, a 527 organization called Citizens for a Safe and Prosperous America and a so-called "social welfare" 501(c)4 nonprofit called the Policy Issues Institute."<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bossie told Newsweek that he was "assembling material for TV spots about Obama's ties with [Bill] Ayers, a Chicago professor and unrepentant former member of the Weather Underground, a group that bombed several government buildings to protest the Vietnam War."<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Best known for his infamous <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Willie Horton" data-termid="16569" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/willie-horton/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Willie Horton</a> television advertisement that helped put the kybosh on Democratic Massachusetts Governor <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Michael Dukakis" data-termid="16570" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/michael-dukakis/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Michael Dukakis</a>' presidential aspirations in 1988, Brown's National Campaign Fund has prepared a new TV attack ad called "Victims," which lambastes Obama for being too easy on gang murderers.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">"The campaign by Hillary Clinton has not been able to raise Obama's negatives," Brown told Time. "It is absolutely critical that Obama's negatives go up with Republicans." Time reported that copies of the ad were "e-mailed to between 3 and 7 million conservatives this week, with a plea for more funding to further spread the message."<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While declining to comment on how much money he was hoping to raise, Brown pointed out that "All of the efforts I have ever done in my life have been significantly funded. This is going to be the most Internet-intensive effort for an ad debut ever."<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">"The ad draws a parallel between Obama's weakness on gang violence and the war on terror," said Brown. According to the conservative news site, NewsMax.com, the ad "tells of a woman leaving church choir practice who was killed by gang gunfire while shielding her 6-year-old daughter, a 15-year-old boy beaten with bricks after a gang member crashed into his car, and a 14-year-old boy shot five times in the back for refusing to flash a gang hand sign."<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">"That same year, Barack Obama -- then an Illinois state senator -- voted against expanding the death penalty for gang-related murders, the ad points out," NewsMax reported. The ad ends: "When the time came to get tough, Obama chose to be weak. So the question is: Can a man so weak in the war on gangs be trusted in the war on terror?"<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">According to Time, "Brown's new ad focuses on a 2001 vote by Obama in the Illinois Senate to oppose a bill that would have expanded the use of the death penalty if the perpetrator of a crime belonged to a gang. The links between Obama's vote on that issue and the deaths of three Chicago resident's are indirect and tenuous, as is the further connection the ad draws between the issue of Obama's position on the death penalty and the issue of international terrorism."<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The ExposeObama team consists of Brown, who is also president of Excellentia Inc., which according to his bio, is "a consulting company specializing in non-profit organizational strategy, development and the marketing of ideas"; executive director Bruce E. Hawkins, "a highly skilled political strategist" who has worked for such conservative as <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Pat Roberts" data-termid="10171" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/pat-roberts/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Pat Roberts</a>on, <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Pat Buchanan" data-termid="7643" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/pat-buchanan/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Pat Buchanan</a> and <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Mike Huckabee" data-termid="14521" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/mike-huckabee/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Mike Huckabee</a>; treasurer and general counsel James V. Lacy, the co-founder and managing partner of Wewer & Lacy, LLP and the cofounder in 1978, along with the late anti-tax crusader Howard Jarvis, of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">On another front, a group called Citizens for a Safe and Prosperous America, headed by California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, teamed with Brown to attack both Obama and Hillary Clinton for wanting to raise taxes on the American people. According to DeVore, both senators "want to raise taxes. Americans should have this information and be aware of the other extremely liberal positions Obama and Clinton hold."<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"The ad draws a parallel between Obama and Clinton's records on taxes," said Brown. "The bottom line is that they can't deal with our economic problems by raising taxes. International competition cannot be addressed by raising taxes and raising the costs of business in America."<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In the early 1990's Brown penned "Slick Willie: Why America Cannot Trust Bill Clinton," and he took credit for creating a 1-900 line for callers to listen to edited excerpts of telephone conversations between Bill Clinton and Arkansas lounge singer Gennifer Flowers who, during Bill Clinton's run for the presidency in 1992, claimed that she had had a twelve-year relationship with him.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">He is also the author of a spate of books attacking Democrats including "Prince Albert: The Life and Lies of <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Al Gore" data-termid="8051" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/al-gore/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Al Gore</a> (2000), "Intelligence Failure: How Clinton's National Security Policy Set the Stage for 9/11" (2004), and "The Many Faces of John Kerry: Why This Massachusetts Liberal Is Wrong For America" (2004).<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ramping up the rage and ranting up the rhetoric about Obama's relationship with <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Bill Ayers" data-termid="16591" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/bill-ayers/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Bill Ayers</a><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">According to Newsweek, David Bossie has placed Obama in his sights. The magazine reported that Bossie maintained that he was "assembling material for TV spots about Obama's ties with [Bill] Ayers, a Chicago professor and unrepentant former member of the Weather Underground, a group that bombed several government buildings to protest the Vietnam War."<p style="margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">Shortly after Obama's victory in the Wisconsin primary, longtime conservative columnist Cliff Kincaid, accused the Illinois Senator of having "controversial socialist connections." Kincaid, the editor of Accuracy in Media, a right wing media watchdog group, and a contributing editor to FamilySecurityMatters.org, charged Obama with being "an associate of a Chicago-based Marxist group with access to millions of labor union dollars and connections to expert political consultants, including a convicted swindler."<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Questions about Obama's relationship with Ayers were subsequently raised by conservative radio and Fox News Channel talk show host <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Sean Hannity" data-termid="10899" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/sean-hannity/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Sean Hannity</a>. <a data-taxonomy="post_tag" title="ABC" data-termid="265" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/tag/abc/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">ABC</a> News' <a data-taxonomy="person" title="George Stephanopoulos" data-termid="16250" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/george-stephanopoulos/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">George Stephanopoulos</a> asked Obama about Ayers during the Obama-Clinton debate prior to the Pennsylvania primary.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Recent columns by <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Charles Krauthammer" data-termid="9593" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/charles-krauthammer/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Charles Krauthammer</a> and Ann Coulter also raised the specter of Ayers.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">According to Krauthammer, Ayers, along with <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Tony Rezko" data-termid="12532" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/tony-rezko/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Tony Rezko</a>, "the indicted fixer," and <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Jeremiah Wright" data-termid="15738" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/jeremiah-wright/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Jeremiah Wright</a>, "the racist reverend," make up Obama's "Three Amigos":<blockquote style="font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; border-color: rgb(61, 209, 236) rgb(61, 209, 236) rgb(61, 209, 236) rgb(221, 221, 221); margin: 60px 0px 60px 20px; padding: 20px 0px 40px 60px; border-left-width: 3px; border-left-style: solid; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Obama makes it sound as if the relationship consists of having run into each other at the DMV. In fact, Obama's political career was launched in a 1995 meeting at Ayers' home. Obama's own campaign says that they maintain 'friendly' relations.</blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Obama's defense is that he was 8 when Ayers and his Weather Underground comrades were planting bombs at the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol and other buildings. True. But Obama was 40 when Ayers said publicly that he doesn't regret setting bombs. Indeed, he said, 'I feel we didn't do enough.'<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Would you maintain friendly relations with an unrepentant terrorist? Would you even shake his hand? To ask why Obama does is perfectly legitimate and perfectly relevant to understanding what manner of man he is.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Newsweek reported that "Obama, who lives near Ayers in Chicago's Hyde Park, attended an event at Ayers's house when Obama ran for the state Senate in 1995 -- and served on the board of a nonprofit with him for several years. Obama is aware of the acts Ayers committed when he was 8 years old and has called them 'detestable,'" says spokesman Ben LaBolt, adding that Obama occasionally bumps into Ayers in his neighborhood 'but has not seen him for months.' At a recent dinner party, according to one guest who asked not to be identified discussing a private gathering, Ayers 'ridiculed' the notion that Obama shared his left-wing views: 'He thought the idea that there was a political connection between them was absurd.'"<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">In early March, John Ponder of the Pensito Review wrote that Obama biographer, John K. Wilson, author of "Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest," who said that Ayers was "not affiliated with the Obama campaign," described the Ayers relationship: "In 1995, State Sen. Alice Palmer held an event for supporters at the home of Ayers, where she announced her plans to run for Congress and introduced Obama as her chosen successor. Obama also served on the board of directors for a progressive foundation, the Woods Fund, from 1999-2001, when Ayers was also on the board. In 2001, Ayers gave $200 to Obama's state senate campaign fund. And Obama and Ayers appeared together on a 1997 panel at the University of Chicago dealing with juvenile justice (Obama also praised Ayers' approach on the subject in an op-ed he wrote that year), and on a 2002 panel on public intellectuals at the University of Illinois at Chicago.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Just as Obama's explanations about his relationship with the Rev. <a data-taxonomy="person" title="Jeremiah Wright" data-termid="15738" class="termlink" href="http://www.constantinereport.com/person/jeremiah-wright/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(77, 150, 212); outline: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; border: 0px; touch-action: manipulation; transition: color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, background-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s, border-color 200ms cubic-bezier(0.785, 0.135, 0.15, 0.86) 0s;">Jeremiah Wright</a> -- and Wright's increased public presence -- has not put that saga to rest, there is no doubt that right wing columnists, talk show hosts, partisan advertising and public relations specialists, pundits and two longtime practitioners of negative campaigning, Floyd Brown and David Bossie, will squeeze every last drop out of the Ayers controversy.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); --baseline-multiplier: 0.17; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=236=lakoff on trump:Political CorrectnessThere are at least tens of millions of conservatives in America who share strict father morality and its moral hierarchy. Many of them are poor or middle class and many are white men who see themselves as superior to immigrants, nonwhites, women, non-Christians, gays, and people who rely on public assistance. In other words, they are what liberals would call bigots. For many years, such bigotry has not been publicly acceptable, especially as more immigrants have arrived, as the country has become less white, as more women have become educated and moved into the workplace, and as gays have become more visible and gay marriage acceptable.As liberal anti-bigotry organizations have loudly pointed out and made a public issue of the un-American nature of such bigotry, those conservatives have felt more and more oppressed by what they call “political correctness” — public pressure against their views and against what they see as “free speech.” This has become exaggerated since 9/11, when anti-Muslim feelings became strong. The election of President Barack Obama created outrage among those conservatives, and they refused to see him as a legitimate American (as in the birther movement), much less as a legitimate authority, especially as his liberal views contradicted almost everything else they believe as conservatives.Donald Trump expresses out loud everything they feel, with force, aggression, anger, and no shame. All they have to do is support and vote for Trump and they don’t even have to express their "politically incorrect:" views, since he does it for them and his victories make those views respectable. He is their champion. He gives them a sense of self-respect, authority and the possibility of power.
Whenever you hear the words “political correctness” remember this.===

400 students arrested at WH ~ XL

<h1 style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; color: rgb(35, 31, 32); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Obama Urged Not to Abandon 'Social Cost of Carbon' Tool</h1>

<h3 style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">The tool helps lawmakers decide how much economic sense it makes to impose carbon emissions controls and has been used in more than 40 regulatory actions.</h3>

<div id="authoredBy" style=" width: 343.96875px; float: left;"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/author/john-h.-cushman-jr." style=" color: rgb(0, 100, 0); text-decoration: none; outline: none;">By John H. Cushman Jr., InsideClimate News</a></div>

Feb 27, 201

</div>

http://insideclimatenews.org/content/obama-urged-not-abandon-social-cost-carbon-tool

==

President Barack Obama visited California's Central Valley farming region on Friday to announce disaster relief for the <a href="http://grist.org/news/california-is-now-really-truly-officially-screwed-by-drought/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">drought</a>-<a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/beyond-a-reasonable-drought-californias-dry-spell-could-be-the-worst-in-500-years/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">ravaged</a><a href="http://grist.org/list/californias-drought-is-kind-of-staggering-when-seen-from-space/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">state</a>. And, while he was there, he announced his vision for $1 billion in climate-adaptation spending.

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<div class="right-arrow-link-text" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%; color: rgb(237, 95, 0); float: left; text-transform: uppercase;">THIS STORY CONTINUES</div>

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<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/todaysnews/20140214/obama-propose-1-billion-climate-resilience-fund" target="_blank" style="color: black; text-decoration: none; outline: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Obama to Propose $1 Billion Climate Resilience Fund (Politico)</a>

<a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/todaysnews/20140214/obama-propose-1-billion-climate-resilience-fund">http://insideclimatenews.org/todaysnews/20140214/obama-propose-1-billion-climate-resilience-fund</a>

===

huffpo : But changes have been brewing at Ex-Im. During his big climate speech in June, President Barack Obama promised that the U.S. would stop funding coal projects abroad. A few weeks later, Ex-Im <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/07/export-import-bank-coal-plant-vietnam" target="hplink" style="line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(57, 152, 0); list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">declined to fund</a> a massive coal-fired power plant in Vietnam. And in October, the Treasury Department announced that <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/12/south-africa-coal-kusile-durban-climate" target="hplink" style=" color: rgb(57, 152, 0); list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">it would no longer fund most coal plants</a> though multilateral development banks.

Other major investment banks around the world have followed suit. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced earlier this week that it too<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-10/ebrd-scraps-most-financing-for-coal-power-plants.html" target="_hplink" style=" list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: rgb(57, 152, 0); outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">will no longer fund coal</a>.

==

Remember the war over czars? No, that’s not an obscure episode in Russian history. It was the outrage manufactured by conservative media figures in 2009 over the proliferation of policy “czars” in the Obama administration. Never mind, of course, that President George W. Bush <a href="http://www.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Czars.pdf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); max-width: 100%;">had 35 czars</a> compared to Obama’s 32.

One of the new czarships Obama actually did create was the “climate czar,” a post to which he appointed former EPA Administrator Carol Browner. (Her formal title was director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy.) Glenn Beck, chief propagandist for the czar meme, was especially <a href="http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/20024/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">concerned</a> by the creation of a “socialist” climate czar post.

Browner’s deputy, Heather Zichal, took over her responsibilities after Browner stepped down in 2011. But, as part of the April 2011 deal to avert a government shutdown, funding for the climate czar position was eliminated, so Zichal got no titular promotion. After almost five years in the White House, Zichal announced in October that she was leaving the administration. She’s been replaced by her White House colleague <a href="http://grist.org/news/enviros-give-a-thumbs-up-to-obamas-new-climate-chief/" style="color: rgb(157, 157, 157); font-weight: inherit; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Dan Utech</a>.

The Obama administration has often delighted, and often disappointed, environmentalists. So how did Zichal herself perform?

According to the nation’s top environmental lobbyists, she did an exemplary job. She worked as an internal advocate, convincing President Obama to move forward on climate change, over the objections of more cautious, corporatist advisors such as former chiefs of staff Rahm Emanuel and Bill Daley. She helped bring the administration’s attention back to climate after it turned to other matters following failure of cap-and-trade in Congress. “From what I could tell, Heather had developed a close working relationship with the president,” says David Goldston, director of government affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Environmentalists credit Zichal with playing an instrumental role in the administration’s following four achievements:

<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">The <a href="http://grist.org/politics/obamas-stimulus-package-was-a-ginormous-clean-energy-bill-says-michael-grunwald/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">heavy investments in renewable energy</a> in the 2009 stimulus package. “Wind and solar doubled in their deployment in Obama’s first term,” says Sierra Club lobbyist Melinda Pierce, crediting the billions of dollars in the Recovery Act for making that possible.</li>

</ul>

<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">Raising auto fuel-economy standards. Under Browner, Zichal worked to craft the higher average fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks that the Obama administration introduced in 2009. Says Pierce, “Heather was literally burning the midnight oil” when working on this issue, “which is part of why she’s probably ready to go.”</li>

</ul>

<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">EPA <a href="http://grist.org/fossil-fuels/2011-12-21-the-mercury-rules-announced-today-are-a-bona-fide-big-deal/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">limits on mercury</a> from new power plants. Zichal worked with then-EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to promulgate the regulations that will both limit a dangerous toxin and make it that much harder to open a new coal-burning plant and force the social costs onto the rest of society.</li>

</ul>

<li style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%;">The Obama administration’s June <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/obama-we-dont-have-time-for-a-meeting-of-the-flat-earth-society/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">release</a> of its <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Climate Action Plan</a>. “The greatest achievement was her work getting the administration and president to release a definitive climate plan,” says Goldston. “Our sense is that she was an advocate for that. There were other high-level people who were very reluctant to see the administration move on climate policy. She was willing to continue to push in the face of that.”</li>

</ul>

The most important component of that plan is the EPA’s forthcoming<a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/epa-chief-tells-grist-what-coal-will-have-to-do-to-survive-in-a-carbon-constrained-future/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">regulations</a> on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Zichal is credited with advocating for those internally. Activists say she was also the central player in crafting the various lower-profile components of the inter-agency plan to reduce emissions. “No one really talks about other pieces of plan,” says Pierce. “There are new standards from HUD for new federally funded buildings, the Department of Defense is making sure it’s a leader in efficiency and renewable fuels. It was [Zichal] in the White House sort of at the center of negotiations across government. Obama says, ‘Everybody bring me your best ideas,’ and it’s Heather and her team who had to bring that to fruition.”

There are, of course, disappointments in Obama’s record on climate change. Most significantly, the Senate failed to pass the House’s cap-and-trade bill. That isn’t under the president’s control, but according to a deeply reported New Yorker <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/11/101011fa_fact_lizza" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">piece</a> by Ryan Lizza, Obama undermined the Senate negotiations by using an executive order to give away the treat — increased offshore oil drilling permitting — that was supposed to wash down the emissions cap for wavering senators. Cap-and-trade might also have had a better chance of passing if it had been pursued before health-care reform and financial reform. And Obama has generally been overly fond of oil and gas drilling. During the 2012 campaign, he boasted of having increased U.S. oil and gas output and <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/10/19/energy-independence-is-a-farce/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">pledged</a> to “continue to open up new areas for drilling.”

But those decisions were made above Zichal’s pay grade.

Going forward, Utech will have his work cut out for him if he hopes to persuade Obama to scale back the dirty energy production. There are enormous open questions as to what the administration will decide on the Keystone XL pipeline, the strength of EPA regulations on power plants, and the strength of Bureau of Land Management rules for fracking on federal land.

Environmentalists say they are impressed with Utech, but there were no shortcomings in Zichal’s performance they are looking to improve upon. Says Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, “We’re big fans of hers and are going to miss her a lot.”

</a><section class="author-bio clear margin-bottom-x4" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 1.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a id="grist-end-of-article" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(237, 95, 0); max-width: 100%;">

</a><a id="grist-end-of-article" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(237, 95, 0); max-width: 100%;" /><a id="grist-end-of-article" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(237, 95, 0); max-width: 100%;">Ben Adler covers climate change policy for Grist. When he isn't contemplating the world's end, he writes about cities, politics, architecture, and media. You can </a><a href="https://twitter.com/badler" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none;">follow him on Twitter</a>.

</section>

==

<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0px; clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/new-executive-order-will-help-communities-prepare-extreme-weather" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;">New Executive Order Will Help Communities Prepare for Extreme Weather</a></h2>

<h3 style="font-style: oblique; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(77, 77, 77); margin: 0px 0px 12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By <a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/katie-valentine" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;">Katie Valentine</a> /Climate Progress</h3>

<div>

</div>

<div>

<div class="story-date">November 1, 2013  |  </div>

President Obama signed an executive order this morning aimed at making it easier for states and communities to prepare for climate change and the droughts, floods and extreme storms that are likely to come with it.

The <a href="http://www.officialwire.com/pr/executive-order-preparing-the-united-states-for-the-impacts-of-climate-change/" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">order</a> [3], which is part of the president’s <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">climate action plan</a> [4], will encourage local planners to take the future effects of climate change into account when spending federal money to build infrastructure. The order will also <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/188970-obama-order-seeks-to-bolster-climate-change-defenses" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">set up</a> [5] the Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, a task force of city and state leaders that will advise the federal government on how they can better support climate resiliency. Eight governors have joined the task force, along with 16 mayors and commissioners and two tribal leaders. Most of the task force are Democrats, but the Republican governor of Guam and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/science/earth/white-house-will-focus-on-climate-shifts-while-trying-to-cut-greenhouse-gases.html" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">three Republican mayors</a> [6] have also signed on.

“We really do need to hear directly from the communities and from those who are sort of on the front lines of dealing with the impacts of climate change,” Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/science/earth/white-house-will-focus-on-climate-shifts-while-trying-to-cut-greenhouse-gases.html" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">told the New York Times</a> [6].

The order plans to: identify and remove barriers to climate resilience, such as policies that encourage states and communities to rebuild to previous standards after a disaster, instead of adopting stronger standards; evaluate how to better use and protect natural storm barriers such as wetlands and dunes; make scientific data and tools for climate preparedness readily available to states and cities; and build on the climate adaptation plans for federal agencies that were released earlier this year.

This month, the Center for American Progress released a report with <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2013/10/21/76253/5-assignments-for-the-task-force-on-climate-preparedness/" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">five recommendations</a> [7] for the climate resilience task force, including determining the annual cost of federal disaster relief by state and finding sources of funding for federal investments in resilience. The report notes that, according to<a href="http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nibs.org/resource/resmgr/MMC/hms_vol2_ch1-7.pdf" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">research</a> [8] prepared for FEMA, every $1 spent on community resilience reduces disaster costs by $4. From fiscal year 2011 to 2013, American taxpayers spent nearly $6 in disaster cleanup and recovery for every $1 spent in community resilience.

Cities and states have been ramping up climate preparation efforts in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and other extreme weather events. Boston is <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/31/2862001/boston-climate-resilience/" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">considering</a> [9]making it mandatory for developers to fill out a climate resilience checklist before they construct large new buildings, and New York City, Houston and Los Angeles are <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/23/2819541/5-cities-climate-resilient/" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">also implementing</a> [10] climate resiliency plans. With the president’s new executive order, the hope is that more cities and states will begin taking climate preparation seriously.

</div>

</div>

<div class="tags">See more stories tagged with:

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/climate-change" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">climate change</a> [11],</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/extreme-weather" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">extreme weather</a> [12]</div>

</div>

<div class="print-source_url" style="text-align: left;">Source URL: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/new-executive-order-will-help-communities-prepare-extreme-weather" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">http://www.alternet.org/environment/new-executive-order-will-help-communities-prepare-extreme-weather</a></div>

<div style="text-align: left;">Links:</div><div style="text-align: left;">[1] http://climateprogress.org/</div><div style="text-align: left;">[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/katie-valentine</div><div style="text-align: left;">[3] http://www.officialwire.com/pr/executive-order-preparing-the-united-states-for-the-impacts-of-climate-change/</div><div style="text-align: left;">[4] http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/image/president27sclimateactionplan.pdf</div><div style="text-align: left;">[5] http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/188970-obama-order-seeks-to-bolster-climate-change-defenses</div><div style="text-align: left;">[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/science/earth/white-house-will-focus-on-climate-shifts-while-trying-to-cut-greenhouse-gases.html</div><div style="text-align: left;">[7] http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2013/10/21/76253/5-assignments-for-the-task-force-on-climate-preparedness/</div><div style="text-align: left;">[8] http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nibs.org/resource/resmgr/MMC/hms_vol2_ch1-7.pdf</div><div style="text-align: left;">[9] http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/31/2862001/boston-climate-resilience/</div><div style="text-align: left;">[10] http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/23/2819541/5-cities-climate-resilient/</div><div style="text-align: left;">[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/climate-change</div><div style="text-align: left;">[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/extreme-weather</div><div style="text-align: left;">[13] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B</div>

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==

You might never have heard the name Heather Zichal (then again, being a Grist reader, you <a href="http://grist.org/article/shes-got-obamas-ear/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">might very well have</a>).

Zichal is the White House official who has done much of the president’s heavy lifting on climate policy. Which, despite promises made by Obama during the 2008 election campaign, had not been a particularly admirable amount. But then June 2013 rolled around, and Obama <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/obamas-climate-plan-in-3-easy-bullet-points-and-a-few-sub-bullet-points/" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">unveiled a far-reaching climate plan</a> that had been crafted by Zichal — who by then had risen to become his senior climate and energy adviser. Zichal was also instrumental in developing <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/08/28/obama-administration-finalizes-historic-545-mpg-fuel-efficiency-standard" target="blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">new federal standards for the fuel efficiency of cars</a>.

Sounds like preeminent, high-profile work, right? Wrong. Despite the headiness of the role, Zichal was never given the authority, profile, or resources that such important work deserves. <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/al-gore-climate-change-president-obama-92587.html" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Al Gore made a veiled reference to her post</a> in June, complaining that Obama had just “one person” working on climate change “who hasn’t been given that much authority.”

And now, after five years, it’s splitsville for Zichal and the president. It’s not quite clear just yet what gig Zichal has lined up — but<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/07/us-usa-climate-zichal-idUSBRE9960Q220131007" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Reuters is reporting</a> that it will be “non-government” work.

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-climate-adviser-plans-to-step-down/2013/10/07/de01c88e-2f87-11e3-8906-3daa2bcde110_story.html" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">The Washington Post</a> reports that the White House wanted Zichal to stay, but that it didn’t do enough to convince her to stick around:

In an effort to keep Zichal on board, White House officials raised the possibility of her chairing the Council on Environmental Quality in the event that its chair, Nancy Sutley, would leave, according to people familiar with the decision who demanded anonymity in order to discuss sensitive personnel issues.

Sutley’s departure has not been announced, but the people familiar with the situation said she would step down before the end the year.

In a statement, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough praised Zichal’s work.

“Heather is one of the president’s most trusted policy advisers,” McDonough said.

Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy said Zichal was “tremendously influential,” but that her departure will not affect how the administration’s climate action plan moves forward.

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Obama has become <a href="http://grist.org/politics/who-will-serve-on-obamas-second-term-green-team/" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(157, 157, 157); text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">adept at losing top environmental officials</a>. Zichal joins former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in parting ways with Obama during his second term.

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<table class="datadisplay" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1em; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236); width: 630px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><tbody><tr style=" background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style=" padding: 5px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Microsoft Corp</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">$254,000</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">10</td></tr><tr style=" background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style=" padding: 5px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Soros Fund Management</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">$250,000</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">5</td></tr><tr style=" background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style=" padding: 5px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Baron & Budd</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">$235,324</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">10</td></tr><tr style=" background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style=" padding: 5px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Small Ventures USA</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">$200,000</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">3</td></tr><tr style=" background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style=" padding: 5px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Fletcher Asset Management</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">$165,000</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">4</td></tr><tr style=" background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style=" padding: 5px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Capital Group Companies</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">$151,000</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">4</td></tr><tr style=" background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style=" padding: 5px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Henry Crown & Co</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">$135,000</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">4</td></tr><tr style=" background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style=" padding: 5px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Skadden, Arps et al</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">$132,852</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">18</td></tr><tr style=" background-color: rgb(224, 230, 236);"><td style=" padding: 5px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Google Inc</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">$128,517</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">9</td></tr><tr style=" background-color: rgb(240, 243, 246);"><td style=" padding: 5px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;">Sidley Austin LLP</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">$126,585</td><td class="number" style=" padding: 5px; text-align: right; vertical-align: top;">1</td></tr></tbody></table>

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