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Maureen Miller
AC360° Writer
Tonight, don't miss Anderson's interview with Pres. Barack Obama. The one-on-one Q & A session covering the economy and more took place in the Oval Office. All of us here in the AC360° newsroom especially liked the lightning round. Read Anderson's blog on his White House visit HERE.
The President had a tough day. Two of his appointees withdrew their nominations over tax troubles. Former Sen. Tom Daschle dropped his bid to head the Department of Health and Human Services and hours earlier Nancy Killefer cancelled her appointment as Pres. Obama's chief performance officer.
Do you think these are bad setbacks for the Obama administration?
It took some second-grades to brighten Pres. Obama's day. He and the First Lady visited a Charter school in Washington today. As Erica Hill will report tonight, the message from the President is clear: I care about education. We'll have the raw politics.
Join us for all this and more tonight at 10pm ET.
See you then!
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Jonathan Cohn
The New Republic
Can health care reform go ahead, this year, even without Tom Daschle? Yes.
Does this episode–and Daschle's absence–make the task of enacting health care reform harder? Yes, although how much harder is difficult to say right now.
Daschle had a combination of talents not easy to find in one person–poiltical savvy, connections in Washington, and a thorough knowledge of health care policy. But that doesn't mean you can't replace those skills, particularly if you're willing to find several people instead of one.
Remember that Daschle was actually up for two posts. He was going to run the White House office of health care reform. And he was going to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Program Note: Tune in to hear more from Ed Rollins tonight on AC360 at 10pm ET.
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Ed Rollins
CNN Contributor
Sports fans argue that the National Football League is the toughest game outside of war. I would argue Washington politics is also a pretty rough arena.
You may not get your nose broken or your shoulder dislocated, but you can sure get your reputation bloodied, and the bruises don't go away by the next game.
The latest casualties of D.C. politics are former Senate Majority Leader and, until his withdrawal, Secretary of Health and Human Services designee Tom Daschle; and Nancy Killefer, who resigned as the president's chief performance officer (without the same notoriety).
Mr. Daschle is the second nominated member of President Obama's Cabinet, following New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, to step down after having his reputation tarnished. He did the honorable thing. He could have survived. The president would have stood by him, and his former Democratic "club members" in the Senate would have confirmed him.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/02/02/art.holderpt0202.gi.jpg]Terry Frieden
CNN Justice Producer
Only minutes into his reign at the Justice Department the new Attorney General displayed the casual, affable style for which he was known—and widely appreciated—by career employees from legal scholars to rookie secretaries during his stint as Deputy Attorney General during President Clinton’s second term. So, the huge ovation he received upon his arrival was not surprising. Holder was a popular choice within the Justice Department community when he was nominated, including the important backing of both former FBI Director Louis Freeh and current FBI Director Robert Mueller.
Holder took lots of time to shake every hand, take every picture, greet every employee who attended the swearing in. Then without hesitation he waded into the bevy of Justice-based journalists and comfortably began to chat and joke. He provided no important news, but the accessibility was a remarkable change from eight years during which Attorneys General John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, and Michael Mukasey had largely kept the press at arm’s length.
As if to accentuate the difference in style, hours later Holder wandered unannounced into the Justice Department press room and plopped down for more give and take. As we watched the CNN monitors with the news that Tom Daschle had resigned, the Attorney General said he’d been too busy to watch any TV news on his first day and he wasn’t quite up to speed on the day’s events. Holder wasn’t sure whether he liked the formal full-length picture of himself which a reporter had torn from a magazine and posted in the press room. But he was at ease with the journalists—both newcomers to the beat, as well as a couple of us old-timers who had been here during his first go-around. This time he’s the boss, and he won’t have to worry that Janet Reno is on the fifth floor wondering why her deputy was chatting with the press.
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Dave Schechter
CNN Senior National Editor
President Obama's makes his first foreign trip today to Canada.
Americans, can you name the capital of Canada or its Prime Minister? Name three major news stories in Canada. Hockey doesn't count.
Okay, I'll help you out: automobiles, Afghanistan and energy.
Those are important issues in the United States, too, but we'll get back to that in a moment.
Canada is a lot like the United States; except when it's not, and Canadians are a lot like Americans, except when they're not.
For example, take the results of a poll of approximately 1,000 Canadians and 1,000 Americans taken in November by Angus Reid Strategies.
How Canadians see Americans
Patriotic 86%
Opinionated 64%
Materialistic 63%
Enterprising 35%
Courageous 17%
How Americans see Canadians
Polite 50%
Educated 46%
Happy 38%
Patriotic 37%
Thoughtful 33%
Thirty-three percent of Canadians say Americans would be most willing to rescue them if they were stranded on a remote island; 30 percent of Americans say likewise about Canadians if their situations were reversed (Americans and Canadians both thought the next most likely to come to their aid would be citizens of Great Britain or Australia).