Politablog

Lawmakers moved closer to passing sweeping reform of the financial system as a Senate panel approved new regulations for the complex derivatives market with the backing of GOP Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa. Jeffrey Brown talks to experts about derivatives rules and the overall reform effort.

CBS News RAW: In a Tea Party rally in Boston, Mass. Sarah Palin decried the current policies of President Obama and called them “un-American.”

Here is video of President Obama today in Prague where he dismissed criticism by Sarah Palin on his decision to guarantee that the U.S. will not respond with Nuclear Weapons even if attacked with Chemical or Biological Weapons. When asked for a response, Obama said, ” “I really have no response. Because last I checked, Sarah Palin’s not much of an expert on nuclear issues.”

The AP reviewed tea party operations in almost every state, interviewing dozens of local organizers to produce a portrait of the movement to date _ and its prospects for tilting this November’s elections. (April 5)

Meet Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA). While questioning the Navy’s Pacific Fleet commander, Adm. Robert Willard, at a March 25 Armed Services Committee hearing, Johnson worried that the island of Guam might capsize if we put a few thousand more people on it – because it’s only 7 miles across at its “least widest” point. Johnson later explained that he was speaking metaphorically. Watch the video and judge for yourself.

Johnson represents Georgia’s Fourth district, which previously sent the red menace Cynthia McKinney to Washington. Needless to say, around 150% of his district voted for Obama in the last election.

Johnson is a member of the House Democratic leadership, serving as Regional Whip for the Eighth Region (GA, FL, MS, AL, U.S. Virgin Islands). He sits on the Armed Services Committee and the Judiciary Committee. A frequent and harsh critic of President Bush, he thinks criticism of Obama is secretly racist, and has called for the censure of an Obama critic in Congress..

The 55-year-old Johnson is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University and the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. So far, Johnson is the leading contender for this year’s Sheila Jackson Lee Martian Flag Award.

Suicide blasts killed at least a dozen in southern Russia Wednesday, as a Chechen rebel leader claimed responsibility for the deadly subway blasts in Moscow. Russia’s president promised to continue to fight against terrorist activity. (March 31)

In the wake of the passage of health care reform, Jim Lehrer talks to historians Ellen Fitzpatrick and Richard Norton Smith and columnists Michael Gerson and Clarence Page about what the victory means for the Obama presidency.

President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev finalized the first major nuclear arms control treaty in nearly two decades on Friday, agreeing to slash their warheads by 30 percent. (March 26)

Raw Video: Vice President Joe Biden whispers to President Obama at healthcare reform signing and says, “This is a big f-ing deal.”

President Obama delivers his closing argument for health reform before the vote in the House of Representatives. George Mason University in Virginia, March 19, 2010

Freshmen and sophomore Democratic Senators today went to the Senate floor as a group to highlight the Republican obstructionism on nominations. As of this morning, there are 88 nominees on the Senate calendar, including posts at the National Labor Relations Board, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Treasury and the Army. “This is a perversion of the filibuster and a perversion of the role of the Senate,” said Sen. Al Franken. “It used to be that the filibuster was reserved for matters of great principle. Today it has become a way to play out the clock.”

POLITICO Senior Editor David Mark discusses President Obama’s visit to Ohio as he continues to push for health care reform.

The White House struck back at comments made by Chief Justice John Roberts criticizing the president for using his State of the Union pulpit to voice disapproval of the high court’s ruling on campaign finance regulations. Judy Woodruff gets two views on strains in the relationship between the institutions.

A pair of 911 calls spanning 23 minutes recounted the harrowing experience Jim Sikes went through as his Toyota Prius couldn’t slow down. In the audio released, Sikes sounds panicked at times as he tells a dispatcher about a stuck accelerator. (March 10)

Syria has accused Israel of dropping uranium particles on its soil during a 2007 bombing raid, in an attempt to make it look like a nuclear weapons plant was the target. The UN’s atomic watchdog wants to to re-examine the site in question. But Syria strongly denies any allegations it’s been attemting to aquire a nuclear bomb. Let’s get more with political analyst Thabet Salem.