Obama Honors Nation's First Popularly Elected Black Senator

By Travis Martinez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

President Barack Obama along with congressional leaders awarded former Senator Edward William Brooke with the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday. Brooke was recognized for the years of work he did on civil rights issues, and for being the first popularly elected African-American senator in U.S. history.

"It is a great privilege to be here today as we confer the Congressional Gold Medal on a man who's spent his life breaking barriers and bridging divides across this country," said the President.

Brooke served in the Senate from 1967 until 1979. During this time, he became known as a leading advocate for affordable housing, and against discrimination in housing. A 25-year military veteran, Brooke also served as the Attorney General of Massachusetts prior to his career in Congress.

The ceremony also included a tribute to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, who lost his battle with cancer two short months ago. Kennedy served side by side with Brooke in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate delegation. Members of Kennedy's family, including his wife Victoria, and son, current Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D), attended the ceremony.

Bill Richardson "Utterly Surprised" Over Obama's Nobel Prize

Travis Martinez, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Governor Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), today said that he was, “utterly and positively surprised that President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace prize.” Richardson's remarks came during an event hosted by the New Democrat Network.

Richardson, who spent a week in Cuba talking to leaders from various Latin speaking nations, said that he would like to see “our new Nobel Peace Prize winning president...pay more attention to Latin America."

Richardson, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination against Obama before dropping out in early 2008, called for a new alliance of progress with Latin American countries to focus on micro-lending, education, health care, new aid efforts and capitalization.

The Governor of New Mexico also commented on the recent selection of Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

“This is our hemisphere, where we have shared generations of culture, and brotherhood...somehow, we’re ignoring the fact that one of the most dynamic countries in the world, Brazil, just overwhelmed us with the Olympic site,” he said.

Richardson closed by asking to see more U.S. free trade agreements with Cuba. "We need to get rid of the travel ban... the embargo has not worked."

Obama Urges Physicians To Speak Out For Health Reform

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Today, President Barack Obama invited 150 physicians from each U.S. state to the White House in an attempt to showcase the medical community’s support for his health care reform proposals. Obama said the physicians have experienced first-hand the problems with the U.S. health care system.

“These men and women here would not be supporting health insurance reform if they really believed that it would lead to government bureaucrats making decisions that are best left to doctors,” said Obama. “They wouldn't be here today if they believed that reform in any way would damage the very critical and sacred doctor-patient relationship.”

One doctor in attendance is an official from the American Medical Association, Obama said. The AMA is "the nation’s largest organization representing physicians from every state and nearly every medical specialty... [and is] committed to achieving health system reform," according to its website.

Obama said that nurses and physicians know the system best and urged them to “speak out strongly” on why heath care reform is needed. With their help, the President said he is confident that some form of health reform will pass through Congress this year.

U.S-Russia Summit Low On Substance, Say Analysts

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

According to experts from the Woodrow Wilson Center, the July 6th-8th U.S-Russia Summit did not produce decisive agreements, but paved the way for the pursuit of further cooperation between the two former Cold War nations.

Blair Ruble, Director of WWC's Kennan Institute, said “Before everybody forgets about this summit, I think its important to say that the meeting accomplished certain modest goals and in the best case has provided a platform for the relationship between the United States and Russia to develop a little bit further.”

William Pomeranz, Deputy Director of WWC's Kennan Institute, added that the two countries had hoped to work on bilateral commissions and moving forward with START, but that “If the goal was initially to reset the tone, there was some success in resetting the tone.”

Experts had anticipated that the renewal of START on non-proliferation, and the U.S.'s plan to install a missile defense shield in Poland would create discord between President Barack Obama and Moscow.

Although the Poland issue was not part of the talks, Ruble said that “The granting of over-flight rights to the Americans who are moving military goods and personnel to Afghanistan is a positive step.”

Despite the fact that the two nations were able to come to any major agreements, Ruble suggested that the context in which the Summit took place may justify the lack of symbolism of the meeting.

“It already up to a certain extent, is a non event, certainly in comparison with other events in the past, and this has something to do with the G8 meting following immediately thereafter. It has to do with the coincidence of the Michael Jackson funeral really pushing the summit aside,” said Ruble.

Boehner Accuses White House Of Lying About Stimulus

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

During a press conference Wednesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio.) said President Obama and Vice President Biden have been telling lies about why the Stimulus package hasn't reversed the nation's spiraling unemployment rate.

“I found it interesting in the last couple of days, the Vice President and the President mentioned the fact they didn't realize how difficult an economic circumstance we were in. Now this is the biggest fabrication I’ve seen since I’ve been in Congress. I’ve sat through those meetings at the White House with the President, the Vice President, trust me there’s not one person that sat in those rooms that didn't know how serious our economic crisis was,” Boehner said.

Reps. John Boehner (R-Ohio.), Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-Wa) cautioned that the recent legislation put forth by the Democrats will do nothing but increase taxes which, in the long term, will hinder consumer spending.

“Republicans know and the American people know that what we need is fiscal discipline in Washington D.C and we need to give the American people a tax relief, working families, small businesses and family
farms need more of their hard earned money to put this economy back on its feet,” said Pence.

As for health care, McMorris-Rodgers explained that “We cannot forget that doctors are the experts, we must guard that relationship between the doctor and his patient; it is one of the most valued relationships
that we have,” adding that “We can reform health care, and we can give options to the uninsured without the federal government setting up shop as a big health insurance company or the health care gate keeper.”