Obama: ‘We’re Not Lavishly Spending on a Whole Bunch of Social Programs’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP/ Evan Vucci)President Obama told a gathering of business executives on Tuesday that the federal government was not “lavishly spending” on social programs.

“What we know is, is that our — our fiscal problems are not short-term deficits. Our discretionary budget, that portion of the federal budget that isn’t defense or Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid, the entitlement programs, is at its smallest level in my lifetime, probably since Dwight Eisenhower.

“We are not lavishly spending on a whole bunch of social programs out there,” Obama continued. “And in many ways, a lot of these programs have become more efficient and pretty effective,” he added.

The U.S. Treasury Department records the following expenditures on a few of the many social safety-net programs for Fiscal 2013 and Fiscal 2012. In most cases, the amounts increased year-to-year:

–Medicaid: $265.392 billion ($250.534B in FY 2012)

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White House Email Chain Shows Launch Fears

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Photo Credit: ReutersTop White House and health officials feared that HealthCare.gov would not work correctly and would set off a wave of bad publicity, according to emails shortly before the disastrous rollout of the Obamacare enrollment website.

The emails, released Wednesday evening by House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, included a picture of an error message that has become emblematic of the launch debacle. They were dated Sept. 25 — less than a week before the enrollment portal opened and immediately created a crisis for the White House.

A White House spokesman said the emails — which use technical terms — focused on problems that could arise if there was high traffic to the site, not to a fear that the site wouldn’t work at all.

In the emails Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Deputy Chief Information Officer Henry Chao summed up concerns that he said White House Chief Technology Officer Todd Park had expressed.

“When Todd Park and Marilyn [Tavenner] was here yesterday one of the things Todd conveyed was this fear the WH has about hc.gov being unavailable,” Chao said, referring to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.

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Obama: ‘We’re Going to Have to…Re-market and Re-brand’ the Affordable Care Act (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP/ Evan VucciPresident Barack Obama told a gathering of corporate executives Tuesday he’s confident that his model of health care will work in the end, but he said he’s going to have to “re-brand” it to sell it to a skeptical public.

He didn’t use the word “Obamacare” once on Tuesday in talking about his health care law, but he mentioned the “Affordable Care Act” seven times.

“So, look, I am confident that the model that we built, which works off of the existing private insurance system, is one that will succeed,” Obama told the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

“We are going to have to, (a) fix the website so everybody feels confident about that. We’re going to have to, obviously, re-market and re-brand, and that will be challenging in this political environment.”

During a campaign stop in Colorado last year, the president embraced the name that Republicans had given to his health insurance law: “The Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare,” Obama said in August 2012. “I actually like the name,” he added. “Because I do care — that’s why we fought so hard to make it happen.”

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CBS Poll: 43 Percent Want Obamacare Repealed, Obama Approval Plunges

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Photo Credit: Getty Images Forty-three percent of Americans believe the Affordable Care Act needs to be repealed, and opposition to the new healthcare law has driven President Barack Obama’s job approval rating to an all-time low, a new poll has found.

According to a CBS News Poll conducted Nov. 15-18, approval of the law has dropped to 31 percent, the lowest number ever recorded by the poll, a decline of 12 points since last month. Sixty-one percent of respondents disapprove of Obamacare, including 46 percent who say they disapprove strongly.

The survey of 1,010 adults also found that Republicans are nearly unanimous in their disapproval of the president’s signature healthcare law, and two-thirds of independents agree. Democrats continue to back the law, but their support has dropped by 16 points since last month, from 74 percent in October to 58 percent today.

Just 7 percent of Americans think the Affordable Care Act is working well and should be kept in place as it is.

The problems plaguing the launch of Obamacare are taking a toll on the president’s job approval rating. Just 37 percent now approve of the job Obama is doing, according to the poll, and disapproval is at an all-time high of 57 percent.

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Levin: ‘You Can’t Get Along with Harry Reid and Barack Obama – They’re Insane’ (+video)

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On his program Tuesday night, Mark Levin called Harry Reid and Barack Obama ‘insane’ for the way they’re trying to pack the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals with left-leaning justices, namely Patricia Millett, Nina Pillard, and Robert Wilkins.

Referring to an article from Politico, Levin said:

“And I love the way, people like the delusional Chris Matthews, the misogynist among others talk about how Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan got along. You can’t get along with Harry Reid and Barack Obama, they’re insane. They’re political radicals. They don’t wanna get along.

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Rand Paul: ‘We Want Our Freedoms Back’; the Fourth Amendment Still Applies (+video)

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Photo Credit; APOn Wednesday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) released a video to Breitbart News exclusively in which he argued that the surveillance state under President Obama had grown beyond any reasonable proportions. “We were once outraged and dismayed and spurred to resist when British soldiers came knocking at our door with illegitimate warrants seeking taxes on our papers. Today,” Paul continued, “your government responds that there is no expectation of privacy once you consign your records to a third party. Your government applies that the Fourth Amendment applies not at all to your bank records, your Visa bill, your internet searches or purchases or emails. If not resistance, shouldn’t there at least be outrage?”

Paul said, “Imagine for a moment what information could be gathered from your Visa bill,” mentioning health information, political information, and personal information. “Are we so afraid of terrorists that we are willing to give up the very freedoms that separate us from them?” Paul asked.

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Obama Gushes Over Bill Clinton at Awards Ceremony

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesPresident Obama heaped praise on President Bill Clinton at the White House Wednesday — after reports of lingering friction between the two men.

“Lifting up families like his own became the story of Bill Clinton’s life,” Obama said, lauding Clinton before eventually placing a Medal of Freedom around his neck. “He made life better and easier for so many people across the country.”

“Thank you so much, President Clinton,” Obama gushed – expressing appreciation for advice Clinton gave him “on and off the golf course” and for putting up with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s travel schedule.

The homage to Bubba and his record in office came just weeks after a new book, “Double Down,” described a 2011 golf game between the two men, where Obama reportedly told an aide, in reference to Clinton: “I like him … in doses.”

Clinton, according to the same book, referred to Obama as “luckier than a dog with two d—-” during his reelection campaign.

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Ryan: No Need to Worry About Another Shutdown (+video)

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreHouse Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday that the country doesn’t need to worry about another government shutdown in January when the current stopgap spending bill runs out.

The government shutdown lasted for 16 days in October, after Republicans demanded that President Obama defund his signature healthcare law.

To avoid another shutdown, Ryan said either he and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) would strike a budget deal or Congress would pass a stopgap keeping existing spending levels.

“Either of those two scenarios will prevail, and we will not have a government shutdown,” he said at the Wall Street Journal annual CEO Council. “We will keep the government funding at the current level if need be.”

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Afghanistan, U.S. Reach Draft Security Agreement

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/OMAR SOBHANIThe United States and Afghanistan reached a draft agreement on Wednesday laying out the terms under which U.S. troops may stay beyond 2014, one day before Afghan elders are to debate the issue.

A draft accord released by the Afghan government appears to meet U.S. demands on such controversial issues as whether U.S. troops would unilaterally conduct counterterrorism operations, enter Afghan homes or protect the country from outside attack.

Without the accord, Washington has warned it could withdraw its troops by the end of next year and leave Afghan forces to fight a Taliban-led insurgency without their help.

Thousands of Afghan dignitaries and elders are due to convene in a giant tent in the capital Kabul on Thursday to debate the fate of U.S. forces after a 2014 drawdown of a multinational NATO force.

“We have reached an agreement as to the final language of the bilateral security agreement that will be placed before the Loya Jirga tomorrow,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in the U.S. capital, referring to the gathering.

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Senator Takes Aim at Sick Video Game Based on Sandy Hook Massacre

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Photo Credit: FOXNEWS.COMA sick online video game that has players re-enacting last year’s horrific murders of school children in Sandy Hook, Conn., has an outraged Sen. Richard Blumenthal calling for a ban.

“The Slaying of Sandy Hook Elementary,” allows a player to simulate the massacre that left 20 first-graders and seven adults dead. Purportedly created by Ryan Jake Lambournan, an American-born gaming geek who lives in Australia, the crude game allows a player to collect a loaded gun and shoot his mother before going on a rampage at a school. Several websites have taken the game down, but Blumenthal, the Democratic senator who was previously Connecticut’s attorney general, wants it off the web altogether.

“This abhorrent video game should be taken down from all websites immediately. This vile video game shocks our conscience and mocks common decency,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “Shamefully, as we approach the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting, some still exploit this horrific tragedy. It’s appalling and salacious, and it must stop.”

Incredibly, a “message from the creator” embedded in the video tries to rationalize the game as a commentary on American gun culture.

“Back in 2007 I created a game called ‘Vtech Rampage’ about the Virginia Tech shootings. In the years since, I’ve been routinely asked by fans of ‘Vtech’ to make more games of just about every mass shooting that’s gotten media coverage,” a voice says.

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