Tibetans hail Dalai Lama, Obama meet

Dharamsala: Tibetan exiles are upbeat that US president ignored Chinese warnings and met their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama -- for a second time since February 2010.

"The meeting was an outcome of the initiatives taken by the White House as His Holiness was on an 11-day Buddhist ritual in the US," Thubten Samphel, a spokesperson for the government-in-exile, said.

A senior functionary in the Dalai Lama's office said the spiritual leader conveyed to Obama his concerns over "atrocities" by the Chinese against the Tibetan people.

"The Dalai Lama and the cause of Tibet have a special place in the heart of Americans," Samphel said. After the Dalai Lama met Obama on Saturday, the White House said the US "encourages direct dialogue to resolve long-standing differences and that a dialogue that produces positive results for China and Tibetans".

According to a Tibetan official, Obama showed concern about basic human values, human rights and freedom in Tibet. "Naturally, he showed genuine concern about suffering in Tibet and also other places. It was wonderful," he said.

Since 1991, he said, all US presidents have extended a special welcome to the 76-year-old Buddhist monk. The Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland in 1959, lives in India.

Source: www.starnews.in

Obama fundraising report signals juggernaut campaign

Nearly 250 bundlers have raised $50,000 or more for President Obama just three months into the 2012 campaign, including more than two dozen who have each raised $500,000 or more.

The bundler list and other data released Friday provide further evidence of an astonishingly successful fundraising effort by Obama even amid a struggling economy and mediocre approval ratings.

Obama’s official campaign raised $46.3 million and spent $11 million from April to June of this year, according to new documents filed with the Federal Election Commission. That left it with a whopping $37 million in case, including money left over from the first quarter. Obama also brought in $39.3 million in a joint fundraising effort with the Democratic National Committee, filings show.

The numbers put Obama far ahead of his GOP rivals, who are led by former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney with about $18 million raised. The rest of the Republican field lags well behind with $5 million or less raised by each of them in the second quarter.

Obama’s biggest fundraisers include longtime supporters such as Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine and fashion editor Anna Wintour, all of whom have raised more than $500,000 for Obama’s re-election effort, according to the campaign’s bundlers data. But there are new names on the list as well, such as Marc Benioff, a tech CEO who runs salesforce.com.

Hollywood super-agent Ari Emanuel, the brother of former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, helped raise between $50,000 and $100,000, the campaign said.

The sheer number of bundlers--and the volume of donations they represent--signals another potential juggernaut campaign for Obama, who shattered all records in 2008 by raising $745 million. Obama had 47 bundlers during the entire 2008 campaign who raised $500,000 or more--a number he is already more than halfway to matching.

Obama’s joint fundraising operation with the DNC raised more than $39 million, mainly through a group of fundraising events held by the party that were attended by Obama. Nearly 600 contributors gave the maximum to the committee, donating $35,800, according to the reports filed Friday. The first $5,000 of that goes to Obama’s campaign, and the rest to the national party.

Campaign officials said previously that more than 550,000 individual donors had contributed to Obama’s re-election effort in the second quarter--including 260,000 new donors--with an average contribution amount less than $70.

Campaign aides have emphasized those numbers in arguing that Obama is planning to rely heavily on grassroots supporters for re-election.

But the data released Friday also show that wealthier contributors will be a crucial part of his fundraising operation. Obama raised more than $20 million, or nearly a quarter of his total fundraising, from people who gave the maximum possible contribution.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Angry Obama: Enough Is Enough

Budget negotiators will return to the White House once more Thursday after the president declared "enough is enough" on debt talks Wednesday, demanding that congressional leaders find common ground by week's end. (The president seems to have had enough)

President Obama walked out of the high-level negotiations, saying according to a Republican aide, "I've reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I won't yield on this." (He sounds angry. doesn’t he?)

Obama "stormed out of the room" but promised to resume talks Thursday, the GOP aide said.

"He became very agitated, said 'Ronald Reagan wouldn't sit here. You either have to compromise on the dollar figure or the grand bargain,'" Cantor said. "He said, 'Don't call my bluff. I'm going to the American people on this.'"

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called the president’s exit from the talks “abrupt,” and added that the two sides are “very far apart right now.”

But one House Democrat called Cantor's account "completely overblown," while a Democratic aide called the meeting "tense but constructive."

Leading credit rating agency Moody's said Wednesday that the U.S. government's impeccable credit rating was under review for a potential downgrade as tensions boil over in Washington with time running out to raise the nation's borrowing limit.

Leaders from each side cited the announcement from Moody's a calling on the other side to give ground. The credit rating agency said the ongoing stalemate increased the risk of a first-ever default on the government's debt.

"The review of the U.S. government's bond rating is prompted by the possibility that the debt limit will not be raised in time to prevent a missed payment of interest or principal on outstanding bonds and notes. As such, there is a small but rising risk of a short-lived default," Moody's said.

"An actual default, regardless of duration, would fundamentally alter Moody's assessment of the timeliness of future payments, and a Aaa rating would likely no longer be appropriate," the agency added.

A downgrade means the Treasury likely would have to pay higher interest rates to borrow -- higher rates that could ripple over into interest rates for mortgages, car loans and business loans -- and damage the fragile economic recovery. 

The Treasury Department, which has set Aug. 2 as the deadline for raising the nation's $14.3 debt ceiling to avoid a possible default, said, "Moody's assessment is a timely reminder of the need for Congress to move quickly to avoid defaulting on the country's obligations and agree upon a substantial deficit-reduction package."

A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said, "As Speaker Boehner has warned for months, if the White House does not take action soon to address our nation's debt crisis by reining in spending, the markets may do it for us. This action by Moody's today reinforces the speaker's warning."

Despite several weeks of negotiations, the White House and Republicans leaders have not been able to strike a deal to rein in government spending while increasing the nation's borrowing limit. Democrats have insisted on raising new revenues in any deal that would include deep spending cuts. But Republicans are adamantly opposed to any tax increases, even if it is limited to closing tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans.

Republicans are now debating whether to get behind Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's backup plan that would empower Obama to raise the debt ceiling by simply making the request along with proposed spending cuts to Congress, which would vote on whether to disapprove. Even then, Obama could veto the vote, forcing Congress to muster a two-thirds majority to override the veto and prevent the increase.   

The warning from Moody's has added fresh urgency to the debt negotiations.

"The fact that Moody's put the United States on its watch list and may downgrade our AAA bond rating underscores the danger for those who would hold our economy and jobs hostage to a rigid ideological agenda -- instead of acting in the best interests of our country," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee. 

"Playing Russian roulette with full faith and credit of the United States is reckless and irresponsible," he said.

Source: Foxnews.com

Obama Re-Election Campaign Says More Than $86 Million Raised

President Barack Obama’s re-election effort raised more than $86 million in the quarter that ended June 30, his campaign said in an e-mail to supporters today.

The total is a combined number collected by Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, including money received by the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising body run by the two entities. The release also highlighted the 552,462 individuals who donated money, saying it shows the president can recapture the grassroots support that added momentum to his 2008 campaign.

“We have reason to be proud of what we have built so far, but it’s going to get tougher from here,” Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager and a former deputy White House chief of staff, said in a video to supporters. “Our job is to bring more people into this campaign.”

Obama’s fundraising contrasts with that of the Republican field seeking to challenge him. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who polls show is the leading contender for the 2012 Republican nomination, said he raised $18.3 million during the second quarter. That figure doesn’t include the money raised by the Republican National Committee.

Messina said Obama for America raised more than $47 million, while the DNC had raised more than $38 million. The president’s campaign had set a second-quarter goal of raising a joint $60 million for the DNC and the Obama bid.

Source: www.bloomberg.com