President Obama Vows 'Determined' Performance at Second Debate By DEVIN DWYER WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2012 — Watch More News Videos at ABC | 2012 Presidential Election | Entertainment & Celebrity News President Obama at Crossroads of Campaign

Obama Concedes 'Bad Night' at First Debate, Says Race 'Fundamentals' Unchanged 

President Obama on Wednesday said in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer that he plans to more aggressively confront Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in their second debate next week, trying to allay concerns among supporters that a lackluster first debate performance may have cost him the race.

"Governor Romney had a good night. I had a bad night. It's not the first time," Obama said in his first televised interview since the Denver debate on Oct. 3. Despite Romney's post-debate momentum and surge in the polls, the "fundamentals of what this race is about haven't changed," he said.

"This was one event. We've got four weeks to go. Nobody is going to be fighting harder than I am," Obama told Sawyer, aiming to reassure his base. "What they need is to make sure they tune in on Tuesday next week."

"If you have a bad game you just move on, you look forward to the next one, and it makes you that much more determined," he said, comparing the political face-off to a sports game.

Asked by Sawyer whether it's possible that his poor showing had handed Romney the election, Obama replied, "no."

"You're going to win?" she asked. "Yes," Obama said. "You want it more than the first time?" she pressed, noting that some Democrats have questioned whether he remains sufficiently passionate and relentless. "Absolutely," he said.

Polls show Obama's lead against Romney nationally and in several key swing states has significantly narrowed -- and in some cases been eclipsed -- following last week's debate. Obama and Romney are tied with 48 percent each in the latest national Gallup tracking poll, conducted Oct. 3 through Oct. 9. It has a margin of error of two percentage points.

In the interview, Obama was reluctant to analyze the debate preparations that led to this moment, but he acknowledged that he has since studied a split-screen recording of his debate with Romney and talked it over with his wife Michelle Obama.

"Michelle is always my best adviser, my toughest critic," Mr. Obama said. "We've been married 20 years. We've gone through all kinds of ups and downs. And I think that's true of the American people as well. And I think what folks ultimately have focused on is…those lasting principles, those foundational principles that make this moment so important."

 

A Tougher Approach

The president signaled that he is preparing to more aggressively counter Romney's "sales pitch" at their next encounter, a town hall style meeting at Hofstra University in New York on Oct. 16.

"What he spent most of his time doing [in Denver] was hiding the ideas that he's been running on for the last year and that the American people had essentially rejected," Obama said in the interview. "And so they desperately tried to cover up what exactly they've been proposing."

"There's no doubt that it is on me to make sure that the American people understand that – in crystal-clear fashion" that what Romney is proposing is not new, he added. 

Over the past few weeks, Romney has appeared to be trying to moderate his positions on key issues, including taxes, immigration, health care and abortion, forcing Obama to abruptly change his strategy after months of telling voters they should take Romney at his word. 

The president cited Romney's comments on abortion in an interview Tuesday with the Des Moines Register as one example of his challenger trying to "hide" his real views. 

"Four weeks before an election, he is trying to cloud the question" on abortion rights, Obama said, "because he understands that most women think they can make their own health care decisions." 

Romney told the paper that "there's no legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda." The comment appeared to be a marked shift for the GOP candidate who has campaigned as an anti-abortion rights candidate.

"His attempt to try to keep that under wraps until after the election, that's not going to work," Obama said. "Because, you know, the American people need to understand what it is that we stand for."

Romney tried to clarify his abortion stance at an Ohio rally on Thursday, telling supporters there that, "I'm a pro-life candidate and I'll be a pro-life president." 

Obama claimed his "consistency" on the issues, including abortion rights, is one of the top selling points of his campaign. "People will know where I stand, what I believe, what I'm fighting for," he said. "And that's part of leadership."

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Barack Obama participates in an interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC, in the Blue Room of the White House on Oct. 10, 2012.

Advice for Vice President Biden

Before the president again takes a debate stage, his Number Two – Vice President Joe Biden – will square off with Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan on Thursday in Danville, Ky. 

"I think Joe just needs to be Joe," Obama said when asked what advice he'd give his running mate. 

"Congressman Ryan is a smart and effective speaker, but his ideas are the wrong ones," he said. 

"Joe understands what it means to scrap and knows what it's like to see his dad lose a job and understands what it's like to get incredible opportunities because we live in this incredible country of ours," he continued. "And when that heart and that story comes out, he's incredibly effective. "

Libya Investigation

Meanwhile in Washington, lawmakers were opening hearings into the violent terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and the Obama administration's mixed messages about what happened there. Some Republicans have accused the White House of orchestrating a cover-up for political gain, a charge administration officials flatly deny. 

"This has all been well-documented and recorded: As information came in, information was put out," Obama explained of the shifting narrative. 

"The information may not have always been right the first time. And as soon as it turns out that we have a fuller picture of what happened, then that was disclosed," he said. "But the bottom line is that my job is to let everybody know I want to know what happened, I want us to get the folks who did it, and I want us to figure out what are the lessons learned and ask the tough questions to make sure it doesn't happen again." 

The president said he supports a swift, ongoing investigation – "in consultation with Congress" – following the facts, wherever they lead.

"These are people that I know," Obama said of the U.S. diplomatic corps serving at outposts sometimes under hazardous or dangerous conditions. "This is something that everybody in this administration takes completely seriously."

Robin Roberts' Journey: 'Home Sweet Home'

By Robin Roberts | ABC News Blogs – Thu, Oct 11, 2012 8:22 AM EDT

 

Robin Roberts' MDS Treatment Update: Leaving Hospital

Home Sweet Home.  That has never had quite so much meaning before.

After exactly one month in the hospital dreaming of this day, I am finally home. My sisters Sally-Ann and Dorothy were here to help me make the transition.  I’ll be adding that to the long list of things for which I am grateful.  Least of all, my new and improved bone marrow thanks to Sally-Ann. My doctors tell me her cells are making themselves right at home and with the grace of God, I pray that they will continue to do so.

(Credit: Memorial Sloan-Kettering)This doesn’t mean that my journey is over.  Far from it.  I am considered 21 days old. That's how long it has been since my transplant. Remember when you brought your baby home for the first time? Your precious bundle didn't leave the house much and you were careful that anyone who came in contact with your child was healthy. So I will still be resting away from GMAuntil I'm given the all clear, but sleeping in my own bed again feels like a big victory.  My doctors will be monitoring me closely and I will still be at the hospital regularly to make sure we’re on the right track.  I cannot thank my amazing medical team enough. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for how they treat all their patients with such passion and compassion.

(Photo Courtesy: Robin Roberts)Most of all, I know it is your prayers and warm thoughts that have gotten me this far.  I truly feel them each and every day.  I humbly ask that you please continue to send them until you see me back at the GMA anchor desk and I promise to send them right back at ya.

Each day I get stronger and stronger.  I am fond of saying, “This Too Shall Pass.”  And even in some dark moments, of which there are still a few, I now see that light at the end of the tunnel.  This too really shall pass.

Light love power presence… and blessings to you all, XO

CLICK HERE to Follow Robin’s Journey

To find out more about bone marrow donation and sign up for a registration kit from the Be the Match Registry, click HERE.

RELATED LINKS:

• WATCH: Robin Roberts Treatment Update: 'Spirits Are Up'
• WATCH: Robin Roberts Stars in New PSA for Be the Match

Arctic Battle: Oil Drilling Still Faces Environmental Concerns By CECILIA VEGA and ALEX WATERFIELD Oct. 9, 2012—   Watch More News Videos at ABC   |   2012 Presidential Election   |   Entertainment & Celebrity News

Shell Oil Hopes to Strike it Rich, Greenpeace Hopes To Stop Them

The bottom of the Chukchi Sea, off Alaska's north shore, is one of the most hotly contested places under the sea.

It is here that Shell Oil, Co., is looking for oil and Greenpeace is trying to stop them.

The oil giant has spent years and billions of dollars jockeying to be first to strike and the payoff stands to be enormous. The ocean floor inside the Arctic Circle may hold a quarter of the Earth's undiscovered oil, enough to drastically reduce the United States' dependency on foreign supplies.

Shell has promised to drill safely and responsibly, developing new technologies to reduce drilling noise, and dedicating a fleet of vessels ready to respond to a spill in 60 minutes, 24 hours a day.

But that's not how Greenpeace sees it. The environmental activists made famous for chaining themselves to things are now trying a different approach: going after Shell with science. That's where Greenpeace activist and marine biologist John Hocevar and the organization's Arctic floating research hub, a former Russian Army fireship Greenpeace dubbed the Esperanza, came in.

Life on board is what you might expect: tofu for lunch, a very serious recycling program, and an eclectic crew from all over the world who dedicate their lives to the cause.

"Nightline" was given the rare opportunity to go on a research dive with Hocevar in a two-person submarine deep below the Chuckchi Sea, one of the most remote oceans on Earth. It is a dive no one outside of the military had attempted before.

About 200 feet down, the world outside of the submarine is murky, so thick with plankton and sea worms, it's difficult to see. Slowly, Arctic life revealed itself and a sea bed covered in thousands of star fish, the occasional crab and other unworldly creatures appeared.

"We are right in the midst of Shell's proposed drill sites," Hocevar said.

While on the dive, Hocevar discovered a tiny coral, just one of the many examples environmentalists say offer insights into what fragile, new life might be at stake.

"We're rushing ahead to allow drilling in the Arctic and we don't even know what's down here," Hocevar said.

While Greenpeace continues its fight, Shell has found other support in some unlikely corners, such as Bob Reiss, an environmental journalist and the author of the "The Eskimo and the Oil Man," who supports limited exploratory drilling in the Arctic.

"Are Americans going to buy the same amount of oil whether or not it comes from Russia or if it comes from Alaska? Yeah. So what's the downside of not taking out this oil?" he said.

Reiss said that Shell has more than cooperated to find solutions to environmental concerns.

"Shell bent over backwards over the last five years to compromise here," he said. "Their safety system has been called the gold standard by William Reilly of the Deepwater Horizon Commission. So I think if a company does bend over backwards, they ought to be rewarded for it."

That reward came this summer from the Obama administration, which gave Shell the green light to drill 1,400 feet below the surface of the Chuckchi Sea.

Shell declined "Nightline's" request for an interview, but said in a statement: "The debate on whether to evaluate Arctic energy resources is over. We are now focused on safe execution."

But Greenpeace refuses to back down, and the threat of a spill in the Arctic's pristine setting fuels their mission to stop oil drilling.

"In this remote, unforgiving environment, we all know it would be impossible to clean up an oil spill," said Greenpeace activist Jackie Dragon. "We can't risk it."

Reiss admitted than an oil spill in this part of the world, or in any part, could be catastrophic.

"The question is legislating perfection," he said. "Do you stop any kind of development because a spill could occur or do you have systems and back-up systems and other back-up systems to deal with a spill, which Shell does, and then allow it to proceed."

Local Eskimo communities whose culture and livelihood depend on a thriving Arctic are torn because for them, this debate is about survival. Steve Omittuk, the mayor of Point Hope, Alaska, located near the most northern part of the state, said the town has concerns for the animals and the ecosystem.

"If [the animals] are gone, our way of life is gone, the people who have been here for thousands of years is gone," Omittuk said. "The Arctic is so delicate, the system so sensitive."

But at the same time, Omittuk acknowledged that the town also needs jobs and drilling would provide them.

"It's hard for the people," he said. "They need money, they need income, they need our economy to come up, but we need our way of life also. It's a tough battle to choose."

Shell has already begun preliminary drilling and next year looks set to be full steam ahead.

Welcome to E3: Economy, Energy and the Environment

E3 is an initiative designed to help you thrive in a new business era focused on sustainability and, working together, to promote sustainable manufacturing and economic growth throughout the United States.

Published on Sep 21, 2012 by USEPAgov

E3 is a framework through which local communities connect local manufacturers with best technical assistance available. Each community is supported by coalition of federal agencies that have joined forces to form E3. E3 combines the strengths of federal, state, and local resources to promote sustainable manufacturing and economic growth throughout the United States. Communities use E3 to help boost local economies to achieve their unique sustainability goals and priorities. E3 directly helps manufacturers reduce costs, cut wastes, and be more competitive.

For more information about E3, go to http://www.e3.gov
For more about EPA: http://www.epa.gov/
We accept comments according to our comment policy:http://blog.epa.gov/blog/comment-policy/

About E3

The topic of sustainability often centers on the triple bottom line of economic considerations, social responsibility and the environment. In these challenging times, more and more manufacturers are adopting sustainability into their overall business strategies. They understand how sustainable business practices reduce waste, improve the efficiency of their operations and position their firms to be more competitive in the global marketplace.

Small to medium sized manufacturers, however, often lack information to integrate practical, sustainable approaches in their operations. In 2009, the federal government created a framework called E3: Economy, Energy and the Environment to help bridge that gap.

E3 brings together federal agencies, states and local communities for a broad discussion on how to connect respective programs to deliver responsive, coordinated solutions in a manufacturing environment. The E3 Framework facilitates collaboration among groups with common interests and a common agenda. This framework focuses on strengthening small to medium sized American manufacturers, which represent the largest proportion of the manufacturing sector. State and local communities use the E3 framework to help boost local economies to achieve their sustainability goals.

Madonna dedicates song to Malala

By Web Desk

Published: October 12, 2012

Madonna told audience the incident made her cry. PHOTO: AFP / FILE

Pop star Madonna, who has voiced her political and social views through the MDNA tour, most recently took on the Taliban when she dedicated a song to Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old who was targeted by the militant group, reports aol.com.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Madonna told her audience that the incident made her cry.

“The 14-year-old schoolgirl who wrote a blog about going to school. The Taliban stopped her bus and shot her. Do you realize how sick that is?” she said and shouted: “Support education! Support women!”.

Later, Madonna performed an onstage striptease to reveal “Malala” stenciled across her back and saying “this song is for you, Malala”, she began singing Human Nature.

Malala remains on the ventilator with specialists saying the following 36 to 48 hours were critical for her.

Madonna has previously shown her support for US President Barack Obama and Russian punk band Pussy Riot during performances of the MDNA tour.

Uploaded by MadonnaMusicHD on Feb 25, 2011

Human Nature
Madonna
Bedtime Stories [1994]

Lyrics:
Express yourself, don't repress yourself (x4)

And I'm not sorry [I'm not sorry]
It's human nature [it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry [I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me [it's human nature]

You wouldn't let me say the words I longed to say
You didn't want to see life through my eyes
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]
You tried to shove me back inside your narrow room
And silence me with bitterness and lies
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]

Did I say something wrong?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex
[I musta been crazy]
Did I stay too long?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't speak my mind
[What was I thinking]

And I'm not sorry [I'm not sorry]
It's human nature [it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry [I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me [it's human nature]

You punished me for telling you my fantasies
I'm breakin' all the rules I didn't make
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]
You took my words and made a trap for silly fools
You held me down and tried to make me break
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]

Did I say something true?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex
[I musta been crazy]
Did I have a point of view?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about you
[What was I thinking]

And I'm not sorry [I'm not sorry]
It's human nature [it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry [I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me [it's human nature]

Express yourself, don't repress yourself (x4)

Did I say something true?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex
[I musta been crazy]
Did I have a point of view?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about you
[What was I thinking]

And I'm not sorry [I'm not sorry]
It's human nature [it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry [I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me [it's human nature]

(chorus, with the following spoken substitutions)
[I'm not apologizing]
[Would it sound better if I were a man?]
[You're the one with the problem]
[Why don't you just deal with it]

(chorus, with the following spoken substitutions)
[Would you like me better if I was?]
[We all feel the same way]
[I have no regrets]
[Just look in the mirror]

(chorus, with the following spoken substitutions)
[I don't have to justify anything]
[I'm just like you]
[Why should I be?]
[Deal with it]

Produced by Madonna and Dave Hall

State Dept. acknowledges rejecting requests for more security in Benghazi

Video: Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, the former head of a 16-member U.S. military team in Libya says the consulate in Benghazi, where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed, never had the forces it needed to protect itself.
 

By Anne Gearan, Published: October 10

 

The State Department acknowledged Wednesday that it rejected appeals for more security at its diplomatic posts in Libya in the months before a fatal terrorist attack in Benghazi as Republicans suggested that lapses contributed to the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

Republicans also tried to use a congressional hearing to poke holes in the Obama administration’s public explanations for what happened in Benghazi on Sept. 11, accusing the White House of playing down the possibility that the incident was a successful al-Qaeda assault.

The highly charged congressional oversight session, titled “Security Failures of Benghazi,” included sharp accusations from Republicans that the State Department was more interested in presenting a picture of an improving situation in Libya than in ensuring the safety of its staff there.

The session had the feel of a courtroom prosecution as Republicans bored in on inconsistencies and suggested a coverup. The hearing produced few new revelations about the attack, but it underscored the administration’s political vulnerability over the Benghazi episode four weeks before the presidential election.

Security officials on the ground “repeatedly warned Washington officials of the dangerous situation” in Libya, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in his opening statement. “Washington officials seemed preoccupied with the concept of normalization.”

Democrats on the committee defended the administration, saying Republicans had voted to cut some of the very funding for security that they suggest was lacking in Libya. The Democrats also accused the Republicans of running a secretive and overly partisan investigation leading up to the hearing.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), the top Democrat on the committee, called on House GOP leaders to support a supplemental funding bill to restore diplomatic security resources.

Little clarity

Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other government employees were killed when militants attacked two U.S. compounds in the eastern Libyan city. In the days after the assault, administration officials said it appeared to grow out of a protest outside the main compound over an anti-Islamic video. More recently, the administration has described the attack as a premeditated terrorist assault and acknowledged that earlier incidents and warnings about threats had not led to beefed-up security in Benghazi.

President Obama sought to explain the shifting narrative in an interview Wednesday on ABC News. “This has all been well-documented and recorded: As information came in, information was put out,” he said. “The information may not have always been right the first time. And as soon as it turns out that we have a fuller picture of what happened, then that was disclosed. But the bottom line is that my job is to let everybody know I want to know what happened, I want us to get the folks who did it, and I want us to figure out what are the lessons learned and ask the tough questions to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Committee Democrats provided the lead witness at the hearing, Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick F. Kennedy, an opportunity to explain the evolving accounts of the attack. Kennedy provided little clarity, saying that although he had called the attack an act of terrorism the week it happened, multiple and perhaps conflicting “threads” of intelligence complicated efforts to learn what happened.

In a briefing for reporters Tuesday, the State Department said for the first time that it had never concluded that the attack was the result of a protest over the video. But none of the witnesses Wednesday was so definitive.

Kennedy took pains to defend Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, from intense Republican criticism of her initial account of the attack as the outgrowth of a protest in television appearances on Sept. 16.

“The information she had at that point from the intelligence community is the same that I had at that point,” Kennedy said. “As time went on, additional information became available.”

In a heated exchange with Kennedy, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) declared: “This was never about a video. It was never spontaneous. It was terror.”

Although Issa praised Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for the department’s cooperation in the ongoing inquiry, the deaths in Benghazi represent a blemish on her tenure. Clinton did not appear at Wednesday’s hearing, but she is expected to address the issue in a talk Friday at a Washington think tank.

Tense questioning

The committee released a copy of a diplomatic cable written by Stevens on the day he died in which he catalogued concerns about rising violence and Islamist influence in eastern Libya but did not specifically ask for more protection.

The committee also released earlier messages from other diplomatic staff members in Libya that were clear in their requests for more help.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charlene Lamb, who helps oversee diplomatic security, fumbled to explain how the requests were evaluated. But she said there was the right level of protection in Benghazi the night of Sept. 11.

Republicans pounced, saying the deaths of four Americans proved that there was not enough security on hand.

White House spokesman Jay Carney seemed to agree, telling reporters later Wednesday that in hindsight “there is no question that the security was not enough to prevent that tragedy from happening.”

The hearing took an unusual detour over images on large easels set up behind Lamb. As she delivered her prepared remarks, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) objected to the display, which he said contained classified information. Issa at first agreed with State Department officials that the material was unclassified, then directed that it be taken down.

Lamb said she opposed a request to extend the term of a special supplemental security team comprising mostly military personnel that had assisted Stevens and other diplomats from February until August. The team was based in Tripoli and “would not have made any difference in Benghazi,” Lamb said.

Under tense questioning, she acknowledged that she had told the top security officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, not to bother asking for additional help when the military team was sent home.

That officer, Eric A. Nordstrom, was sitting uncomfortably beside her at the hearing. Nordstrom said he interpreted Lamb’s refusal as “there was going to be too much political cost.” But in his written statement, he acknowledged that the “ferocity and intensity of the attack was nothing that we had seen in Libya, or that I had seen in my time in the Diplomatic Security Service. Having an extra foot of wall, or an extra-half dozen guards or agents would not have enabled us to respond to that kind of assault.”

Nordstrom sounded a forlorn note when he said, “The takeaway from that, for me and my staff: It was abundantly clear we were not going to get resources until the aftermath of an incident. And the question that we would ask is, again, ‘How thin does the ice have to get before someone falls through?’ ”

In a sharply worded opening statement, Chaffetz said the attack in Benghazi could have been averted with a small amount of additional resources. He said an earlier bombing at the Benghazi post was a test by terrorists that went unaddressed by authorities.

“I believe we could have and should have saved the life of Ambassador Stevens and the other people who were there,” Chaffetz said.

The investigation of the deaths has moved slowly in Libya. The White House said John O. Brennan, Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, discussed the progress Wednesday with Libya’s president and other officials in Tripoli. Brennan “urged Libya to take full and timely advantage of specific offers of assistance from the United States and other international partners,” National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.