ELECTION
Cracking The Ceiling

On Saturday, thousands of people joined Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) as she ended her historic run for president. "Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it," Clinton told her supporters. "And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time." Her campaign may be over, but the effects of her candidacy will continue to pave the way for progressives. "She shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters and women everywhere, who now know that there are no limits to their dreams," said Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). Even First Lady Laura Bush said she "admired Hillary's grit and strength." Because of Clinton's candidacy, women analysts were featured by the media more frequently, women's issues rose prominently in the national debate, and the need for more women office-holders entered the national consciousness. Even while facing intense displays of misogyny, as the New York Times's Paul Krugman noted, Clinton continued to stay focused and put forth policy proposals that were "surprisingly bold and progressive."

'NO MORE FREE RIDERS': In 2005, the Center for American Progress released a comprehensive plan to provide universal health care. The CAP plan would leverage existing institutions, giving all Americans coverage through at least one of the following choices: "employer-sponsored insurance; Medicaid; or private health coverage offered through a new group insurance pool, like the system used by federal employees and members of Congress." It also emphasizes "wellness over illness" by making prevention a priority, thus "raising health care quality and lowering health care costs." By creating a "small value-added tax exclusively dedicated to health system improvement," this plan would be financed by all Americans and benefit all Americans. Clinton's health care platform adopted similar progressive principles; Krugman concluded that it offered the best chance for the country to "get universal health care in the next administration." One of her boldest proposals was insisting on the essential individual mandate to achieve universal coverage. With this component, health care experts such as Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that Clinton's plan would insure more people at lower costs. "If we're going to build on these employer-based system[s], no more free riders," Clinton said at a health care forum sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the SEIU in March 2007. A February poll by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health found that 59 percent of the public supports mandates requiring all Americans to get health insurance. "[T]he health plan that she presented deserves to outlive her campaign," wrote American Prospect co-founder Paul Starr.

THE 'DREAM BOSS': Clinton had a remarkable ability to reach out to working class Americans and address their economic concerns. The New York Times called her the "Dream Boss": "the one who will give you a job and provide health insurance, but also understand just how hard you work and the mundane details of what you do." Clinton aggressively criticized President Bush's economic policies, stating that "the Bush economy is like a trap door: Too many people are one pink slip away, one missed mortgage payment away, one medical diagnosis away from falling through and losing everything." As the housing crisis began to grip the nation, Clinton proposed a $70 billion economic stimulus package, which included tax rebates, help to families struggling to pay their energy bills, unemployment support, and investment in "green jobs." Clinton proposed a "modern version of the Home Owners' Loan Corporation," which, during the New Deal, "acquired the mortgages of people whose homes were worth less than their debts, then reduced payments to a level the homeowners could afford." Even though her campaign has ended, many of her female supporters have promised to keep "the needs of low income women" at the center of the progressive agenda.

INVESTMENT IN GREEN JOBS: When Clinton put forth her energy plan in November 2007, David Roberts of Grist magazine graded it an "A." He called it "fine, fine work, moving the ball forward rather than hiding safely in the middle." Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Joe Romm called it "excellent." Not only did Clinton's plan call for a cap-and-trade system with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, but also a progressive rebuilding of the nation's infrastructure. She planned to "catalyze a thriving green building industry by investing in green collar jobs and helping to modernize and retrofit 20 million low-income homes to make them more energy efficient." She also proposed a "Connie Mae" program to "make it easier for low and middle-income Americans to buy green homes and invest in green home improvements." Last November, Mike Carberry of Iowa Global Warming concluded, "If everything she talks about...gets implemented with her as president -- or if anyone as president enacts those policies -- it would go very, very far into helping us find those global warming solutions that we need."

'THE RIGHT END' TO THE WAR: Despite originally voting in support of the Iraq war, Clinton embraced "a position favoring a fixed withdrawal timetable, voted for a cutoff of Iraq War appropriations, and made a speedy end to combat operations a key campaign pledge," noted Ed Kilgore, managing editor of The Democratic Strategist. Clinton understood the importance of establishing -- on "day one" --  the need to withdraw, promising that one of her first acts in office would be to draw up a plan to bring U.S. troops home within 60 days. She also continued to keep the heat on Bush, stressing that the "mistake" was the President's and her job was to figure out "the right end" to the war. While in the Senate, Clinton challenged the Bush administration to "prepare plans for the phased redeployment of U.S. forces." When officials told her that "public discussion" of withdrawal was inappropriate, Clinton swiftly replied that they had their "priorities backward." She and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) also introduced legislation requiring the Bush administration to brief Congress on its redeployment plans.

Under the Radar

ECONOMY -- POLLING SHOWS AMERICANS' BLEAK ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: Two new polls indicate that Americans are increasingly feeling the pinch of the nation's economic downturn. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released today, 78 percent rated economic conditions as poor. "That's up from 75 percent in March. Only 22 percent rate the economic conditions in the country as good," CNN notes. A USA Today poll today found that 54 percent "of those surveyed say their standard of living is no better today than five years ago," while a recent Pew Research Center report concluded that "[f]ewer Americans now than at any time in the last half-century believe they're moving forward in life." At the same time, Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com, said the government's new jobs report that saw the nation's unemployment rate jump 0.5 percent "has recession written all over it." The unemployment rate was the "biggest monthly rise since 1986." In fact, "[f]or five consecutive months, there has been a steady loss of jobs, mostly in construction and manufacturing. Now, the job losses are spreading to restaurants, retailers, airlines, and even professions such as accounting. Teens are having an especially tough time finding work this summer." The Christian Science Monitor has thus concluded that the U.S. "is now in a jobs recession." 

JUSTICE -- GITMO INTERROGATORS ORDERED TO DESTROY INTERROGATION NOTES: U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were ordered to destroy any handwritten notes about the interrogations of detainees, according to a military defense lawyer for one of the detainees. Navy Lt. Commander Bill Kuebler, the lead attorney for Canadian detainee Omar Khadr, told reporters that, while reviewing documents held by the prosecution office, he read a Department of Defense directive instructing U.S. personnel to destroy notes, in case investigations about harsh interrogation tactics led to "interrogators being called to testify." The directive advised that "keeping the number of documents with interrogation information to a minimum can minimize certain legal issues." Kuebler said that "if handwritten notes were destroyed in accordance with the [standard operating procedure], the government intentionally deprived Omar's lawyers of key evidence with which to challenge the reliability" of confessions made to interrogators. Kuebler is seeking a dismissal of the charges against Khadr. U.S. guards have called Khadr, who was arrested when he was 15 years old, "a 'good kid' who is not only 'salvageable' but actually runs the risk of becoming a radical if he stays in Guantanamo Bay."

ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH MAKES FAREWELL TOUR OF EUROPE TO MOOD OF 'GOOD RIDDANCE': Today, President Bush leaves for his farewell tour of Europe, where he will visit Slovenia, Germnay, Italy, France, England, and Northern Ireland. "While the leaders will be generous and polite towards a US president who has plumbed unprecedented depths of unpopularity in Europe as well as in America, there is no doubt that the overall mood will be one of good riddance," the Guardian writes.  Europe's social democrats declared last week they were anticipating "life after Bush." Bush is expected to "push Europe to step up financial sanctions on Iran," but it is unlikely European leaders will acquiesce to his demands, since he remains so unpopular with European citizens. A recent Daily Telegraph poll found, "More people in France, Germany and Britain view the United States as a 'force for evil' than good in the world." Bush's rejection of the G8 climate change plans, calling for 20-25 percent cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, has further strained relations. Last week, Bush's climate negotiator called the G8 plan "not do-able for us."

Think Fast

President Bush "is increasingly drawing on selected events of the past to argue that history will vindicate him." Unfortunately for the president, "many historians have already reached a conclusion. In an informal survey of scholars this spring, just two out of 109 historians said Bush would be judged a success; a majority deemed him the 'worst president ever.'"

The Washington Post's Walter Pincus points out that the Senate Intelligence Committee report on prewar intelligence released last week contained no review of the White House Iraq Group, a 2002 pre-war operation that included Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, and Condoleezza Rice. Former press secretary Scott McClellan writes this group was used to "pursue a political propaganda campaign to sell the war to the American people."

Most Americans feel the American Dream has unraveled and "that their once steady march toward affluence has derailed." A new USA Today poll finds that 54 percent of those surveyed say "their standard of living is no better today than five years ago."

"World military spending grew 45 percent in the past decade, with the United States accounting for nearly half of all expenditures," according to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. With $547 billion spent last year, the U.S. accounts for 45 percent of global expenditures. The next biggest spenders account "for just four to five percent of world military costs each."

In a trip to Iran yesterday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that he "will not allow Iraq to become a platform for harming the security of Iran and its neighbors." Maliki was seeking to "soothe Iranian opposition to a long-term American military presence in Iraq."

A new report by UCLA's Williams Institute says that "[m]ore than 12,000 same-sex couples from New York are expected to marry in California within the next three years." Because of Gov. David Paterson’s (D) recent decision that state agencies recognize gay marriages performed legally, gay couples in New York "expect to have legal standing on matters such as inheritance and taxes."

And finally: Rather than exchange a traditional handshake, Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) bumped fists at the conclusion of their joint appearance on CNN's Late Edition yesterday. The move appeared to be "a reference to Barack and Michelle Obama's celebratory fist bump on Tuesday."

Good News

This weekend, energy ministers from the G8 countries, joined by China, India and South Korea, pledged "greater investment in energy efficiency and green technologies to curtail petroleum use."

State Watch

MINNESOTA: Crowds gather to see the reconstruction of the I-35 bridge that collapsed last August.

ECONOMY: Rural states are taking the "worst hit" as gas prices top $4 per gallon.

IMMIGRATION: States are hardening their tactics on undocumented immigration.

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: NBC's Richard Engel: Permanent bases would technically be Iraqi-owned with U.S. "tenants" as "a face saving device."

WONK ROOM: The politics of Wired: Saucy, ignorant contrarianism.

THE NOTION: Political commentary in the media is overwhelmingly dominated by white males.

MEDIA MATTERS: "Gullible" Fox & Friends escape lawsuit for repeating yet another false news story.

Daily Grill

"I saw no evidence that the president or his team tried to deceive the Congress or the public [before the Iraq war]."
-- Iraq war architect Doug Feith, 6/9/08

VERSUS

"[T]he Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed."
-- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), 6/5/08, on a Senate report on pre-war intelligence