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{{Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images
President Obama smiles alongside Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during his first cabinet meeting at the White House.
View related photos
Slideshow}}

First 100 days

{{In his 13th week as president, Barack Obama attended the Summit of the Americas, held his first cabinet meeting, and was greeted with cheers at the CIA.
more photos}}

{{Video: White House
Obama wants stepped-up credit protections
April 23: After meeting with the heads of credit card companies, President Obama says he's looking for the industry to help eliminate abuses, while adding new levels of accountability and consumer protections.}}

---------------------------

{{Goolsbee talks credit cards, student loans
Cantor previews meeting with Obama
Who holds the cards?}}

INTERACTIVE

100 days timeline interactive
A president's first days in office can be defined by landmark victories ~{!*~} or memorable failures. Explore our timeline gauging hits and misses from Roosevelt to Obama.
NBC News
By Andrea Mitchell
Chief foreign affairs correspondent
NBC News
updated 2 hours, 39 minutes ago
Andrea Mitchell
Chief foreign affairs correspondent

----------------------------

• Profile

***** WASHINGTON - If there is an Obama foreign policy doctrine that has emerged in the first one hundred days, it is a modest one, rooted in listening, not just talking.

This is not the era of grand gestures. President Barack Obama and his foreign policy team are not setting out to reshape the world for democracy.

To better understand "Obamaism," look at the President's own words:

Story continues below ~{!}~}
------------------------------

***** In his inaugural address, he said: "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

When NBC'S Chuck Todd asked the commander in chief to define his world view at the end of the Summit of the Americas earlier this month, he said: "That the United States remains the most powerful, wealthiest nation on earth, but we're only one nation, and that the problems that we confront, whether it's drug cartels, climate change, terrorism, you name it, can't be solved just by one country."
And during his trip to London, the president said: "I came here to put forward our ideas, but I also came here to listen, and not to lecture."
Obama has not been sitting back and waiting for the world to come to him. The president and his secretary of state have launched overtures in every direction.

From videos to handshakes
In just under 100 days, the president sent a video message to Iran commemorating the Persian New Year, signaling respect for the regime. He lifted travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans wanting to visit their homeland, while waiting for Havana to reciprocate before further easing of the travel and trade barriers. In Mexico City, he acknowledged U.S. responsibility for the American illegal drug market and smuggled weapons that are fueling the violence that has erupted south of the border. And he accepted a handshake and a gift ~{!*~} an anti-U.S. polemic ~{!*~} from Venezuela's showboating leader, Hugo Chavez.

Newsvine
Vote: Is Obama's diplomatic approach working?

Dismissing criticism from the right, Obama said, "It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States."

He's bonded with his Russian and Chinese counterparts. And his secretary of state presented a symbolic "reset button" ~{!*~} although spelled incorrectly ~{!*~} to the Russian foreign minister.

Video

Obama and Clinton~{!/~}s backyard meeting
April 10: President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, took their meeting outside to a picnic table near the Obama girls' new swing set at the White House.
Nightly News

Perhaps most surprising to early critics of the ~{!0~}team of rivals~{!1~} approach to foreign policy, Hillary Clinton has transformed herself into an Obama subordinate: sitting comfortably behind the president in a ~{!0~}staff~{!1~} position at the Summit of the Americas; greeting each new country she visits with some formulation of how happy she is to be representing President Obama~{!/~}s policy; and perching on a picnic bench for a photogenic tete-a-tete outside the Oval Office with her new boss.

So far, the president~{!/~}s confidence in her ability to elevate his agenda has been rewarded: from Beijing to The Hague, she is accorded the respect ~{!*~} and attention ~{!*~} of a visiting head of state.

The intractable challenges
Less clear is the viability of their ~{!0~}envoy~{!1~} approach to policymaking. They have assembled a dazzling team of powerbrokers, most notably Richard Holbrooke for Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and George Mitchell for the Middle East. But the challenges are still intractable.

In Afghanistan, Holbrooke must contend with a weak, corrupt central government ~{!*~} and an open-ended U.S. military commitment that could end up spelling ~{!0~}quagmire.~{!1~} The power vacuum in Pakistan is, if anything, even more dangerous because of the presence of nuclear weapons.

In the Middle East, Israel~{!/~}s new government says it won~{!/~}t address the Palestinian issue unless the United States helps it counter Iran~{!/~}s potential nuclear threat.

In North Korea, the struggle over who will succeed the ailing Kim Jong Il is likely already underway, as the regime reneges on its commitments to denuclearize, and tests a long-range ballistic missile. The prospects for meaningful negotiations with Pyongyang are so remote that the Obama team has designated only a part-time envoy to the stalemated six-party regional talks: Steven Bosworth is still holding down his day job as Dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

Video

U.S. reaches out to Iran, Russia
March 31: Secretary of State Clinton made good on the Obama administration's promise to engage Iran and took steps toward repairing the U.S. relationship with Russia during an international conference on Afghanistan. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports from The Hague.
Nightly News

And in Iran, upcoming elections have frozen any clear path toward a dialogue. It will be months before the administration knows who holds the reins of power ~{!*~} other than the Ayatollah.

At home, an uneasy rivalry has emerged among the president~{!/~}s top intelligence advisors. White House aides are often frustrated with the Rube Goldberg intelligence bureaucracy engineered too hastily after the 9/11 Commission.

A minimum of infighting
But to the surprise of many, between the White House and the State Department, there is a striking collegiality. Much of the real work is accomplished at the deputy level, during lengthy daily meetings between two old friends ~{!*~} Deputy National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg.

Still, even good planning and a minimum of infighting can accomplish only so much. As Hillary Clinton learned on her first trip to China, international relations get a lot more complicated during a global recession. As countries lose economic power, and see weakness in the United States financial system, many are increasingly resentful of the U.S.

And this is where Obama~{!/~}s personal diplomacy can be most effective.

Click for related content
Interactive: Compare 13 presidents first 100 days
Slideshow: A look at Obama's 13th week in office
Obama's cabinet: Who are in the key roles?

From his first trip overseas last summer to his tour de force during the G-20, Obama has projected a rare combination of charisma and humility, in contrast to the stereotype of a domineering U.S. president trying to dictate by fiat to the rest of the world.

Facing potential ~{!0~}three a.m. crises~{!1~} in every corner of the world in the next one hundred days and beyond, he will need all the star power he can muster.

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© 2009 msnbc.com Reprints

--------------------------------------------
********************************************

[[ For a series of search and research studies through reference. ]]

For the references to reading and research studies (possibly but not necessarily), all credits go to the original reporters, editors, and publishers [ Sina, Sina.com.cn, Chinatimes.com, Sina, YouTube search, Reviewjournal.com, Associated Press, AP, AP.com, Reviewjournal.com again, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Chinatimes.com again, Google, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News (tw), New York Times, WashingtonPost.com, Baidu, YouTube, Sina, Search, AP, LVRJ/WBTI, Ask lvrj/wbti, and among others); its writers; its Editors; and its Publishers; etc.} [Just for Community Service on the basis of non-profit, non-partisan, and non-religious. Not for printing, copying, or publishing plesase! Thank you very much.]

[[ For a series of search and research studies through reference. ]]

For the references to reading and research studies (possibly but not necessarily), all credits go to the original reporters, editors, and publishers [ Associated Press, AP, AP.com, Reviewjournal.com, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Google, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News (tw), New York Times, WashingtonPost.com, Baidu, YouTube, Sina, Search, AP, LVRJ/WBTI, Ask lvrj/wbti, and among others); its writers; its Editors; and its Publishers; etc.} [Just for Community Service on the basis of non-profit, non-partisan, and non-religious. Not for printing, copying, or publishing plesase! Thank you very much.]

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to visit Las Vegas, tour work sites
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Hilda Solis
Labor Secretary will visit sites in Las Vegas today

***** WASHINGTON -- Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is scheduled to make her first trip to Las Vegas as a Cabinet member today where she will address a labor gathering and visit two or three work sites, officials said.

<<<<< ... *6. Bill Maupin, Mark Denton, Michael Douglas, Steward Bell, Valorie Vega, John Ponticello, Cheryl Moss, Robert "Bobby G" Gronauer, and Tiffany Chang. 'President John Ponticello of PDCLV and President Dr. Tony Lei of WBTI: U. S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, U. S. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, and Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid are Co-chairs of a Champagne Reception and Event Party honoring Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto,' "A search of 'President John Ponticello of PDCLV and President Dr. Tony Lei of WBTI: U. S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, U. S. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley wbti' by the world's leading search engines on Internet," (July 17, 2007), Mountain View, California: Google.com.
*7. Ibid. >>> *737

(*737. ... by the world's leading search engines on Internet ....... >>>>> *4477777

The potential work sites were being scouted Wednesday by an advance team, and the Labor Department could not say late Wednesday which ones Solis might visit. Spokeswoman Sonia Melendez said she did not know whether one may be the CityCenter project on the Strip, one of the highest profile job sites in the country.

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***** Solis is scheduled to speak at a Power for America Conference sponsored by the Utility Workers Union of America, Melendez said. The three-day event opened Wednesday at Bally's.

Planners also were putting together a tour of Nevada Partners, the nonprofit job training site in North Las Vegas that will soon expand its offerings to prepare participants for employment in renewable-energy industries.

A statement from the Labor Department said Solis would also visit the Culinary Training Academy, a joint labor and management training trust fund between the Culinary Union Local 226, Bartenders Local 165 and major Strip casinos.

She also is expected to meet with local officials, including Hispanic leaders.

Solis took office in February. While the visit marks her first trip to Las Vegas as a Cabinet member, she had been to the city numerous times previously as a member of Congress from California.

Solis was not expected to use Las Vegas as a backdrop to discuss the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as the card check bill, that would make it easier for workers to organize into unions.

Still, Sen. John Ensign and Rep. Dean Heller, both Nevada Republicans, issued a statement Wednesday noting her support for the bill that they contended "would be disastrous to an already struggling economy."

[[ For a series of search and research studies through reference. ]]

For the references to reading and research studies (possibly but not necessarily), all credits go to the original reporters, editors, and publishers [ Associated Press, AP, AP.com, Reviewjournal.com, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Google, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News (tw), New York Times, WashingtonPost.com, Baidu, YouTube, Sina, Search, AP, LVRJ/WBTI, Ask lvrj/wbti, and among others); its writers; its Editors; and its Publishers; etc.} [Just for Community Service on the basis of non-profit, non-partisan, and non-religious. Not for printing, copying, or publishing plesase! Thank you very much.]

Apr. 22, 2009
Copyright � Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevadan criticizes talk of impeaching judge
Ensign backs Bybee's reasoning on interrogations
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU Torture memo

WASHINGTON -- As the spotlight grew more intense on federal Judge Jay Bybee, at least one senator stepped forward Tuesday to defend the Las Vegan and the opinion he signed that provided a legal green light for rough interrogations of terrorism suspects.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said calls for Bybee to be removed from his seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals were "outrageous."

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"To call for him to be impeached when he was trying to give the proper legal advice is just ridiculous," Ensign said. "You impeach people for ethical violations, for criminal violations. It would be like impeaching a member of Congress because they voted the wrong way."

As a sitting federal judge, Bybee has become a lightning rod for critics of harsh interrogation methods that have been described as torture.

In an August 2002 legal memo made public Thursday, Bybee as a senior Justice Department attorney wrote that a series of tactics the CIA wished to use on a recalcitrant detainee did not rise to the legal definition of torture.

They included slams against a wall, face slaps, sleep deprivation, cramped confinement in boxes and waterboarding to simulate drowning. Believing that the detainee, Abu Zubaida, was afraid of stinging insects the CIA asked about placing an insect in his box.

Ensign said he agreed with Bybee's reasoning contained in the 18-page memo.

"This was not torture," Ensign said. "This is the thing we have to get away from, that this is somehow accepted that it was torture. The United States does not engage in torture. This was 'advanced interrogation techniques.'"

"If you catch Osama bin Laden, would you not want to use these techniques on him to maybe save American lives in the future?" Ensign said.

Democrats have led the way in calling for Bybee to resign or to be impeached and for formation of a "truth commission" that would investigate the activities of Bush administration officials.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday left open the door that some might be prosecuted.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., was taking a wait-and-see approach, a spokesman said.

"Judge Bybee has a good professional reputation in Nevada," Reid spokesman Jon Summers said in an e-mail. "While the memos that have been released are disturbing to Sen. Reid, at this point in time, he doesn't think we should be making a rush to judgment.

"The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing this matter and he will wait to see what they have to say before making a decision," Summers said.

Reid and Ensign sponsored Bybee to become a federal judge.

The former law professor at the Boyd School of Law at UNLV was confirmed 74-19 in March 2003, two years before the initial disclosures tying him to "torture memos" produced by the Justice Department, where he was head of the Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 until he became a judge.

Bybee "has been unfairly characterized by the media," Ensign said. "I think he wrote a good legal opinion. He did not authorize torture. I have such a tremendous amount of respect for him. I think he is a brilliant mind."

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.

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