links for 2010-09-19

President Obama’s political advisers, looking for ways to help Democrats and alter the course of the midterm elections in the final weeks, are considering a national advertising campaign that would cast the Republican Party as all but taken over by Tea Party extremists, people involved in the discussion said.
That is among a range of options and plans under consideration at the White House for energizing dispirited Democratic voters over the coming six weeks, in hopes of limiting the party’s losses and keeping control of the House and Senate. Democratic strategists are seeing new openings to exploit after a string of Tea Party successes split Republicans and culminated last week with developments that scrambled Senate races in Delaware and Alaska.

“We need to get out the message that it’s now really dangerous to re-empower the Republican Party because the people who have taken over the party are radical"…..
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Good Luck with that…..

Former president Bill Clinton, a champion of healthcare reform, admitted on Sunday that he made the wrong prediction about the popularity of President Obama’s healthcare bill.

Initially, Clinton had predicted that the polls in favor of Democrats would be boosted as soon as the legislation was signed into law. Instead, Clinton said on NBC’s "Meet the Press," his prediction was wrong for two reasons.

"First of all, the benefits of the bill are spread out of three or four years. It takes a long time to implement. And secondly, there has been an enormous and highly effective attack on it,” he said.

Several leading Republicans have vowed to repeal the healthcare reform bill next year.
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And, he is saying that Obama is getting his groove back but will be happy for him to stumble so that Hillary can run against him in 2012.

On CBS' "Face the Nation," Clinton said Republicans deserve "their fair share of credit" for Obama's stumbles, including a sinking approval rating.

Colin Powell, once the nation's highest-ranking military officer and later a secretary of state, said Sunday he doesn't know whether the United States is winning in Afghanistan.

Mr. Powell said that although generals in the Afghan campaign claim progress as they move into new territory, it's hard to tell if the Taliban really is being defeated or merely is moving from one place to another.

Mr. Powell endorsed President Obama's strategy to triple the number of U.S. forces, but he called the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai a weak base for the military campaign.

Mr. Powell said that the generals are asking for more time but that it's not clear whether Mr. Obama will give it to them. Mr. Obama has said he will begin withdrawing U.S. forces next summer.
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Powell supported Obama so maybe he can offer some advice?

Or, will Colin just throw the inexperienced Obama under the bus for Hillary or a Republican?