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1.) Duping the grassroots? — Can Obamacare really be defunded? TheDC’s Patrick Howley reports:
“The conservative activist organization FreedomWorks cheered conservative Sens. Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio for their effort to defund Obamacare by political and legislative means. The junior senators are urging Mitch McConnell to block all continuing-resolution budget bills until they can pass the Defund Obamacare Act, which Cruz is spearheading with a full public relations campaign. As The Daily Caller reported, Georgia Republican Rep. Tom Graves introduced the bill in the House, marking the fourth time that Graves has introduced the Defund Obamacare Act. Graves’ first three attempts to pass the bill, the most recent of which came in March, all failed. With a Democratic-controlled Senate, this fourth and most visible effort will meet a similar fate. Republican Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Richard Burr of North Carolina strongly criticized the effort of the three junior senators, while Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn suggested that the plan’s political backlash could jeopardize Republican efforts to hold the House of Representatives in the 2014 midterms.”
It is hard to imagine a scenario where the GOP can actually defund Obamacare with the Democrats in control of the Senate and a president in the White House who will never sign a bill that kills his signature domestic achievement. Coburn is right. This political stunt can only hurt the GOP going into 2014.
2.) Wake me up when spring ends — Terrorism expert Seth Jones tells TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein that the Arab Spring has not been a net positive for American interests:
“Overall, the Arab Spring has been a slight net negative. It has weakened regimes in North Africa and the Levant, and provided al-Qaida an opportunity to establish a sanctuary. Although al-Qaida has been weakened along the Afghan-Pakistan border, it has attempted to compensate by expanding its influence elsewhere and establishing relationships with local Sunni groups. In Yemen, for example, the local al-Qaida affiliate has exploited the weakness of the government and established a foothold in several provinces along the Gulf of Aden, triggering alarm in Saudi Arabia. With U.S. troops gone, al-Qaida in Iraq increased its attacks. Militants from Iraq have also crept across the border into Syria, where they have orchestrated dozens of car bomb and suicide attacks against the Assad regime. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has dispatched fighters into Mali, Tunisia, and other countries, hoping to take advantage of the political vacuums in North Africa. And al-Qaida has fostered ties with other groups in the region, including Boko Haram in Nigeria, Ansar al-Sharia in Libya, and Muhammad Jamal’s network in Egypt.”
By the look of things, the Arab Spring hasn’t been a net positive for countries like Egypt either.
3.) The answer giver — Chris Christie wants you to know one thing: He gives answers. TheDC’s Alexis Levinson reports:
“New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie launched another attack in his ongoing battle with Republican Sen. Rand Paul, dismissing him as a ‘Washington politician’ and criticizing him for taking pork for his home state of Kentucky. Speaking on a panel in Colorado last week, Christie described the libertarian approach to foreign policy as ‘dangerous,’ and acknowledged that Paul was one of the people engaging in that approach. Since then, the two likely 2016 Republican presidential contenders have lobbed insults back and forth at each other. ‘I was asked a question at a forum in Aspen and I gave an answer,’ Christie said Tuesday. ‘Now, I know that for politicians in Washington, DC this a completely foreign concept. They think that there has to be some, like, master plan behind every utterance you make. You’ve covered me long enough to know that there often is not. If you ask me a question, I give an answer. That’s what people expect from people in public life and that’s what I did.'”
If President George W. Bush was “the decider,” Chris Christie is “the answerer.”
4.) How low can Obama go? — Could one woman’s big smile be a country’s heart attack? TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas is playing coy about whether she wants President Obama to nominate her to serve as the next Secretary of Homeland Security. Asked by The Daily Caller on Tuesday about the Congressional Black Caucus’ lobbying on her behalf for the appointment, Jackson Lee declined to say whether she’s interested in the post, saying, ‘I don’t have any comment.’ But asked about the Black Caucus’ letter recommending her, Jackson Lee couldn’t resist expressing her joy.”
President Obama has made a lot of really, really bad decisions while in office. If he actually nominated Jackson Lee to head the Homeland Security, this would rank among his worst. TheDC Morning suspects that even President Obama wouldn’t make a decision this awful. And for those who don’t know much about Jackson Lee, TheDC Morning urges you to read about her.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Jose Canseco: Starting to block the really disrespectful people I get tweets from. Watch out!
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Ugandan Delegation Leaves”