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1、1NEWS ANALYSIS1.Successes Overseas Are Unlikely to Help Obama at HomeWASHINGTON President Obamas announcement that the last American soldiers will leave Iraq by the end of this year capped a momentous week in which he could also take credit for helping dispatch one of the worlds great villains, Col.

2、 Muammar el-Qaddafi. Enlarge This ImageDoug Mills/The New York TimesAfter a decade of war, were turning the page and moving forward, the president told supporters in an e-mail on Saturday. Conventional wisdom holds that none of this will matter to Mr. Obamas frayed political fortunes, which will be

3、determined by the economy rather than the notches he is piling up on his statesmans belt. Yet Mr. Obamas withdrawal from Iraq a campaign pledge kept and the successful NATO air campaign in Libya with no American casualties, and at a tiny fraction of the cost of Iraq allowed him to thread a political

4、 needle: reaffirming his credentials as a wartime leader while reassuring his Democratic base that he is making good on the promises that got him elected. This one-two punch may also strengthen the presidents hand against his eventual Republican opponent, according to Mr. Obamas supporters, by depri

5、ving Republicans of a cudgel typically used on Democratic presidents, that they are weak on national security. The swift and fierce criticism of his Iraq decision by the Republican candidates shows how reluctant they are to cede this advantage to him. “There is an aggregate effect to all the preside

6、nts foreign policy successes,” said Bill Burton, a former White House aide who is a senior strategist at Priorities USA Action, a political action committee backing the Obama campaign. “The notion of who is a stronger leader will be deeply influenced by the promises the president kept.” Mr. Burton s

7、aid he could foresee television advertisements playing up Mr. Obamas foreign successes, including the deaths of both Osama bin Laden and Colonel Qaddafi, though he did not say whether his group had made such plans. On Saturday, Mr. Burton circulated a memo to producers of the Sunday talk shows drawi

8、ng a contrast between the cost of the Iraq war and the lower-cost Libya operation. Still, there is little doubt the election will be dominated by the economy and the weak job market, where the president is dealing with a steady drip of bad news and scant hope of improvement before Election Day. A di

9、scussion of foreign policy has been largely absent from the debates among the Republican presidential contenders, a striking fact given that the nation is enmeshed in three major military conflicts and that Republicans have historically claimed an edge in national security. “Foreign affairs is impor

10、tant, but when placed against the scale of the problem with jobs and the economy, its dwarfed,” said David Winston, a Republican strategist. “Its the equivalent of a house on fire: hes fixing the window while the rest of the house is burning down.” Karl Rove, a former strategist to President Bush, s

11、aid, “To the degree Obama tries to suggest he should be re-elected because of foreign policy strength, he looks like hes dodging the main issue.” 2Mr. Obamas poll numbers also show he is getting little credit for his successes. His approval rating shot up 11 points, to 57 percent, in a New York Time

12、s/CBS News survey after he ordered the commando raid in Pakistan that killed Bin Laden in May, but fell back below 50 percent a month later as fears about the economy punctured the euphoria. Last weeks successes could fade too if sectarian violence in Iraq flares up after the American troops leave,

13、if Libya becomes another Somalia or if a terrorist group manages to stage an attack on American soil. “If things go off track in the next year or two, its not going to matter what the military successes were,” said David Rothkopf, a foreign policy expert who has written a history of the National Sec

14、urity Council. Even as former Bush administration officials praised Mr. Obama for the victory in Libya, the Republican presidential candidates were trying to draw attention to the failed talks between the United States and Iraq over legal immunity for a small force of trainers that the Pentagon had

15、wanted to remain. Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Jon M. Huntsman Jr. and Herman Cain all criticized the presidents decision, with Mr. Romney issuing the most strident condemnationTHE NEXT WAR2.Panettas Pentagon, Without the Blank CheckWASHINGTON Tan and ruddy-faced, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta

16、 took his seat in a hearing room one morning this month ready for battle. The enemy, he warned lawmakers ominously, was “a blind, mindless” one that could “badly damage our capabilities” and “truly devastate our national defense.” Jonathan Ernst/ReutersDefense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warns against

17、 a hollowing out of the military. Pete Souza/The White House, via Associated PressPresident Obama speaking to Mr. Panetta, left of center, and members of the national security team at a meeting about the mission against Osama bin Laden, in the Situation Room in May. Mr. Panetta meant not Al Qaeda, t

18、he Taliban or Iraqi insurgents, but a creation of Congress poised to inflict what he deemed unacceptable budget cuts on a Pentagon that, he admitted, had “a blank check” in the decade after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “After every major conflict World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the fall

19、 of the Soviet Union what happened was that we ultimately hollowed out the force, largely by doing deep, across-the-board cuts that impacted on equipment, impacted on training, impacted on capability,” he said. “Whatever we do in confronting the challenges we face now on the fiscal side, we must not

20、 make that mistake.” As President Obamas C.I.A. director, Mr. 3Panetta oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last spring. Now as the presidents new defense secretary, he is charged with closing the books on multiple fronts just last week, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was killed in Libya and the la

21、st American troops were ordered home from Iraq by the end of the year. But the biggest challenges ahead may be retrofitting the military for a new era of austerity and guarding Mr. Obamas national security flank heading into a turbulent election year. “It is one of these watershed points,” said form

22、er Senator David Boren, co-chairman of the Presidents Intelligence Advisory Board. “Its just like the end of the cold war when youre about to shift gears and were going to have to reprioritize what we have to do.” The daunting task has fallen on Mr. Panetta, a 73-year-old former civil rights chief,

23、congressman, budget director and White House chief of staff whose career dates to the days of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Returning to Washington from his California walnut farm in 2009, Mr. Panetta knew little of fighting wars. What he did know was Washington institutions, a trait that made him a

24、throwback to the so-called wise men commanding respect across party lines. Who else these days is confirmed 100 to 0 by the Senate? But you dont get to 100 to 0 without compromise or evolution. The cold war dove who opposed Ronald Reagans contra war in Nicaragua in the 1980s and George Bushs Persian

25、 Gulf war of 1991 has become a war on terror hawk, authorizing more drone strikes in Pakistan than George W. Bush. The critic who denounced torture during Mr. Bushs tenure took office and argued against investigating whether it happened. The co-author of the Iraq Study Group report calling for withd

26、rawing troops recently pressed to keep more troops there. The careful positioning has made Mr. Panetta one subject on which Mr. Obama and many Republicans agree. “Im a Leon Panetta fan,” said former Representative Pete Hoekstra, who is no Obama fan. “Hes fairly hawkish and aggressive on national sec

27、urity issues,” agreed Representative Mike Rogers, the House intelligence chairman. Representative Peter King, the homeland security chairman, said Mr. Panetta could have served “the toughest Republican president, not just a Democratic president.” How long that lasts, of course, remains uncertain. He

28、 is treading into dangerous territory as he searches for $450 billion in defense cuts over 10 years. If a new Congressional debt committee cannot forge a deficit-reduction agreement by Thanksgiving, Mr. Panetta faces what he calls a “doomsday mechanism” mandating an additional $500 billion in cuts.

29、The issues on the table are enormous the financial health of a debt-ridden country, military readiness to confront a still-dangerous world and many thousands of jobs and contractor businesses in Congressional districts around the country. The political crosscurrents are treacherous for a party so se

30、nsitive to its public standing on security that Mr. Panetta is the first Democrat to serve as defense secretary since 1997. 3.3.Jobs Plan Stalled, Obama to Try New Economic DriveWASHINGTON With his jobs plan stymied in Congress by Republican opposition, President Obama on Monday will begin a series

31、of executive-branch actions to confront housing, education and other economic problems over the coming months, heralded by a new mantra: “We cant wait” for lawmakers to act. 4Enlarge This ImageAccording to an administration official, Mr. Obama will kick off his new offensive in Las Vegas, ground zer

32、o of the housing bust, by promoting new rules for federally guaranteed mortgages so that more homeowners, those with little or no equity in their homes, can refinance and avert foreclosure. And Wednesday in Denver, the official said, Mr. Obama will announce policy changes to ease college graduates r

33、epayment of federal loans, seeking to alleviate the financial concerns of students considering college at a time when states are raising tuition. The presidents announcements will bookend a three-day Western trip during which he also will hold fund-raising events in the two cities both Nevada and Co

34、lorado are election battlegrounds as well as in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The “We cant wait” campaign is a new phase in Mr. Obamas so-far unsuccessful effort punctuated until now by his cries of “Pass this bill!” on the stump to pressure Republicans to support the job creation package he propos

35、ed after Labor Day. It comes after unanimous votes by Senate Republicans in the past week to block the plan; House Republican leaders have refused to put the measure to a vote. Polls show overwhelming support for pieces of the $447 billion package, which includes expanded tax cuts for workers and em

36、ployers, and spending for infrastructure projects and for state aid to keep teachers and emergency responders at work. But Republicans oppose provisions in Mr. Obamas plan that would offset the costs with higher taxes on the wealthy. Should the bill ultimately fail, Democrats believe they at least h

37、ave the better political argument, and they vow to exploit what they call the Republicans obstruction in the 2012 campaign. Yet any political benefit would be small consolation for the White House, given the forecasts of nonpartisan economists that without such a stimulus plan, the economy is likely

38、 to relapse into recession next year just as the president faces re-election. “The only way we can truly attack our economic challenges is with bold, bipartisan action in Congress,” said Dan Pfeiffer, Mr. Obamas communications director. “The president will continue to pressure Congressional Republic

39、ans to put country before party and pass the American Jobs Act, but he believes we cannot wait, so he will act where they wont.” Privately, some Republicans worry that they could suffer from that line of attack. On Sunday the Senate Republican minority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, offered an

40、 alternate narrative, saying that Mr. Obama, for all his complaints about Republican opposition, had given little prominence to his signing of three free-trade agreements that won bipartisan approval this month. “Theyre ashamed to mention any of the things that they do with Republicans because it st

41、eps on their story line,” Mr. McConnell said on the CNN program “State of the Union.” “Their story line is that there must be some villain out there whos keeping this administration from succeeding.” By resorting to executive actions, using his wide-ranging authority to oversee federal laws and agen

42、cies, Mr. Obama seems intent on showing that he is not powerless in the face of Republican opposition but is trying to strengthen the economy and help Americans in trouble. Aides said Mr. Obama would announce at least one initiative each week through the rest of the year, including steps to help ret

43、urning veterans 5and small businesses. Yet the officials acknowledge that the coming policy changes, executive orders and agency actions are generally less far-reaching than the legislative proposals now before Congress. Recent executive actions provide examples of what is to come. This month the ad

44、ministration expedited approval of payments to small businesses with government contracts. It announced waivers for states with schools falling short of the proficiency standards of the 2002 No Child Left Behind education law a move that prompted some senators to compromise on an alternative rewrite

45、 of the law. And last week the administration eased regulations stemming from the 2010 health insurance law to encourage hospitals and doctors to coordinate on Medicare patients care for better results at lower cost. The housing proposal that Mr. Obama will announce in Las Vegas is rooted in the ind

46、ependent Federal Housing Finance Agency, the office created to oversee the government-sponsored housing finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after they were forced into conservatorship at the outset of the financial crisis in 2008. Though the collapse of housing values is considered a major

47、factor holding back economic growth, because of its effect on consumer spending, government programs to stem foreclosures have fallen short of initial promises. For that reason, officials have tried not to raise expectations that the latest plan can help more than a small fraction of the millions in

48、 danger of foreclosure. While details remain sketchy, the initiative is expected to change eligibility standards for the three-year-old Home Affordable Refinance Program to encourage new, lower-cost loans to more homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth. Typically,

49、refinancing is unavailable to those who do not have equity in their houses; the Home Affordable Refinance Program sought to encourage refinancing for up to 125 percent of a homes value for mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. This month the acting director of the Federal Housi

50、ng Finance Agency, Edward J. DeMarco, told lawmakers his agency was considering raising that threshold. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in a CNN appearance on Sunday, said the administration would continue to work with federal agencies “to loosen restrictions on the ability to refinance” and als

51、o press the banks, “so they can get in the business of actually doing what we think they should have been doing much more of, and that is sitting down and renegotiating with people who are about to go under.” 4.New Poll Finds a Deep Distrust of GovernmentJim Wilson/The New York TimesPresident Obama

52、has a disapproval rating of 46 percent, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News With Election Day just over a year away, a deep sense of economic anxiety and doubt about the future hangs over the nation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, with Americans distrust of governm

53、ent at its highest level ever. Multimedia6Graphic Americans Approval of Congress Drops to Single DigitsInteractive Feature New York Times Poll on the Republican Primary and EconomyThe combustible climate helps explain the volatility of the presidential race and has provided an opening for protest mo

54、vements like Occupy Wall Street, to highlight grievances about banks, income inequality and a sense that the poor and middle class have been disenfranchised. Almost half of the public thinks the sentiment at the root of the Occupy movement generally reflects the views of most Americans. With nearly

55、all Americans remaining fearful that the economy is stagnating or deteriorating further, two-thirds of the public said that wealth should be distributed more evenly in the country. Seven in 10 Americans think the policies of Congressional Republicans favor the rich. Two-thirds object to tax cuts for

56、 corporations and a similar number prefer increasing income taxes on millionaires. On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office released a new study concluding that income distribution had become much more uneven in the last three decades, a report that could figure prominently in the battle over how

57、 to revive the economy and rein in the federal debt. The poll findings underscore a dissatisfaction and restlessness heading into the election season that has been highlighted through competing voices from the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements, a broad anti-Washington sentiment and the cros

58、scurrents inside both parties about the best way forward. Not only do 89 percent of Americans say they distrust government to do the right thing, but 74 percent say the country is on the wrong track and 84 percent disapprove of Congress warnings for Democrats and Republicans alike. Republican voters

59、 remain unenthused about their options to challenge President Obama next year, as the competition intensifies among Mitt Romney, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and other contenders. The uncertainty has provided an opening for Herman Cain, who was viewed more enthusiastically by Republican primary voters t

60、han were other Republican candidates. The approval rating for Mr. Obama, 46 percent, appears to be elevated by positions he has taken on foreign affairs. Sixty percent of those questioned said they approve of his handling of Iraq, a question added to the poll after his announcement last Friday that