Feinstein: ‘I would love’ Clinton to run in 2016

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) left no wiggle room over who she wanted to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2016.

Feinstein said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that she would “love it” if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton decides to run for president.

“I am a fan,” Feinstein said. “I would love it if she would run.”

Clinton appeared in a joint interview with President Obama on “60 Minutes” that will air Sunday, which sparked new speculation she has an eye toward 2016.

Feinstein touted Clinton’s accomplishments as secretary of State and said she has “unbridled popularity.”

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Chicago Suburb Oak Park Joins International Solar-Powered Smart Grid Test

Oak Park and Korea Smart Grid Institute sign agreement

The village of Oak Park, a suburb west of Chicago, was recently selected from a list of competing volunteer neighborhoods to be the test site for smart grid technology.

The project is a joint venture between the Korean Smart Grid Institute and the Institute for Sustainable Energy Development, and will involve placing a set of twelve or thirteen 3-kilowatt solar panels, along with a battery system, on the roofs of 100 residential and 100 multifamily buildings. They’ll also all be linked up to an electrical grid boasting smart meters, and once the test run of the system is over the building owners will get to keep the installations, worth $20,000 to $30,000 a pop.

Oak Park’s sustainability manager, K.C. Poulos, sat down with Grist for an interview about the project that ran on Friday. The hope, as she put it, is to demonstrate new ways to generate, transmit, and use electricity — providing greater efficiencies, lower costs to consumers, and hopefully the seed bed for a more sustainable energy economy:

[The Korean Smart Grid Institute] did the demonstration on an island in South Korea called Jeju Island. It’s kind of like their Hawaii — it’s a resort area. They were able to put up a demonstration that showed how distributed generation like solar can be connected to a network operations center. All of these houses got battery storage so when you weren’t using your solar power in the house, you could store it in a battery system. When the grid on that island became overloaded with demand, the network operating system could send messages to those households saying, “You need to use to your battery. We’re going to take all of the energy from your solar panels for the next four hours and put them right on the grid. And then we will send you a check next month. Thank you very much for letting us buy your power for four hours.” [...]

The [scenario for Oak Park homeowners] we talk about the most is this idea of collecting the solar energy during the day and storing it in the battery and then having the house run on the battery at night so you’re completely offline at night and the battery provides a phantom load — your clocks, TV. Your energy load is pretty low at night but that means you’re not taking anything off the grid. So you’re reducing your bill right there.

Then let’s say there’s an outage in your neighborhood. What we want these systems to be able to do is operate off the battery so these houses can stay somewhat energized. It’s only a three kilowatt system on the house so it’s not like you could have every appliance running at the same time. You’ll have enough for lights, fans, and the refrigerator or A/C. But at least you’re online still and you’re not losing an entire freezer of meat. [...]

The [average number of outages] for Oak Park is 45 minutes per year. What the number doesn’t tell you about is the stories I hear when [residents] call up on day three of still not having power. Then I get calls from restaurants. You’re talking about an entire week’s or month’s inventory gone.

The total bill for the project will be $5 to $6 million, though Oak Park itself will not have to pay the tab. Half the cost will be covered by the South Korean research institute, and the other by the ISED’s efforts to secure government funding. Oak Park’s residents are instead agreeing to participate in the project, to allow workers to set up the installations on their homes, and to allow data about their power usage to be gathered and transmitted digitally for further study and development of the technology. The information will be collected as an aggregate in order to help protect individuals’ privacy, and to keep the experiment consumer-oriented.

As with other smart grid systems, the Oak Park project will allow for two way communication between consumers and the grid hub, which will lessen the chances of outages and help improve efficiency of energy use.

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Former Top Military Officials Back Hagel’s Defense Secretary Bid

Chuck Hagel received two new high profile endorsements on Sunday for his bid to be the next Secretary of Defense. Retired Air Force General Michael Hayden and retired Army General Stanley McChrystal said on CNN’s State of the Union that Hagel is a good choice to take over for outgoing Pentagon chief Leon Panetta.

Hayden, former National Security Agency head during the Bush administration and CIA Director in both the Bush and Obama administrations, said Hagel is someone “you could talk to” and “have an honest dialogue” with. When host Candy Crowley asked the former generals if they see “any red flags” that would disqualify Hagel, McChrystal, most recently the top allied commander in Afghanistan, said “no” while Hayden said, “not at all.”

CROWLEY: From what you know of Chuck Hagel…what sort of reception would he get from the military.

HAYDEN: I think he will be fine. I know Senator Hagel. He was on my oversight committee when I was in the intelligence community. He was a member, and this is not a universal condition, he was a member that you could talk to, have an honest dialogue, not necessarily disagree but on a personal basis, have a candid exchange of views. You could always speak with him and frankly given my time in uniform, that’s a tremendous attribute. So I actually think this will work out well.

Watch the clip:

The “neocon smear machine” and other well-financed right-wing groups are trying to derail Hagel’s Defense Secretary bid but the former Republican senator from Nebraska has received widespread, bipartisan support from former top foreign affairs and defense officials in recent weeks and key senators have said they would vote to confirm Hagel.

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Less Than Half Of Wall Street Reform Rules Are Finalized

President Obama yesterday nominated prosecutor Mary Jo White to become the next head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. An important part of her task will be implementing the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, which is slowly grinding through the rule-making process.

According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, there is still quite a bit of work to do, as 52 percent of the law is not yet in place, and no rulemaking at all has occurred for nearly one-quarter of its provisions:

Overall, GAO identified 236 provisions of the act that require regulators to issue rulemakings across nine key areas. As of December 2012, regulators had issued final rules for about 48 percent of these provisions; however, in some cases the dates by which affected entities had to comply with the rules had yet to be reached. Of the remaining provisions, regulators had proposed rules for about 29 percent, and rulemakings had not occurred for about 23 percent.

Banks have already managed to win delays on key regulations, and successfully convinced international regulators to water down other new rules. Further delay on the part of regulators will just extend the amount of time that taxpayers are on the hook for the financial system’s failures.

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Fox News Isn’t Renewing Sarah Palin’s Contract

At the New York Times, cable news chronicler Brian Stelter has the story that Sarah Palin’s original contract with Fox News will not be renewed:

Yes, Ms. Palin’s contract with Fox News has ended, and no, it is not being renewed. A Fox spokeswoman confirmed Friday that Fox had parted ways with the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee, effectively reducing her exposure to the channel’s millions of loyal viewers.

It was unclear whether the parting was Ms. Palin’s choice. Bill Shine, an executive vice president at Fox, said in a statement, “We have thoroughly enjoyed our association with Governor Palin. We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”

As of last week, Ms. Palin remained in negotiations with Fox News about a new contract. Her original contract with the network started in January 2010 and ended this month.

This makes a lot of sense. As I’ve written before, Fox News’ schtick has always been to hire intensely polarizing figures, from Dr. Keith Ablow, who spends most of his time making outrageous statements about gay and transgender people, to former Los Angeles detective Mark Fuhrman who, tragically and hilariously, comments on criminal justice issues, despite having plead no contest to charges he perjured himself in the O.J. Simpson case. Palin would seem to be in that tradition: since she stepped on the national stage at the Republican National Convention in 2008, Palin’s primary talent has been for incendiary rhetoric.

But Palin’s not rooted in any particular extreme viewpoint. Her policy perspectives have always been too squishy for her to represent much in the way of an particular constituency or any cause other than herself and her own fans. She was never particularly a ratings hit on Fox—a special planned around her turned out not to be the sort of draw the network hoped for. And unlike Ablow and his ilk, Palin was never even particularly successful at tweaking liberals in her appearance on the network, ginning up the kind of publicity that could have made her a worthwhile investment even if she wasn’t particularly popular with the network’s core audience.

The Palin family as a whole seems to hope for careers in show business, but this is only the latest in a string of failures for them. The TLC show Sarah Palin’s Alaska saw declining ratings and wasn’t renewed for a second season. Bristol Palin’s Lifetime show was yanked from the network for lower viewership, but not before landing $354,348 in tax subsidies from the state of Alaska. Todd Palin was reduced to appearing as one of many celebrities on NBC’s military reality show Stars Earned Stripes.

Maybe now that Fox News has cut ties with Palin, the rest of the television industry will follow suit. Sarah Palin long ago proved she had no real aptitude for governance when she quit her job as governor as Alaska. Her time on Fox proved she didn’t have much spark as a source of news or opinion. And the rest of her family’s efforts suggest that as entertainment, the Palins have nothing to offer us but diminishing returns.

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Remarks by the President at a Personnel Announcement

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

East Room

12:13 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the announcement of one of the worst kept secrets in Washington.  (Laughter.)  

As President, I rely on an extraordinary team of men and women here at the White House every single day.  And I rely on my Chief of Staff to keep up with them -- and our entire government -- making sure that we're all moving in the same direction, making sure that my priorities are being carried out and that our policies are consistent with the commitments that I've made to the American people, and that we're delivering progress to the American people.

As I said earlier this month, I could not be more grateful to Jack Lew for his amazing service, first as our OMB Director, then at the State Department, and ultimately as my Chief of Staff. 

As he prepares for his confirmation hearings and the challenge of leading our Treasury Department, I am pleased to announce my next Chief of Staff, and a great friend to me and everybody who works here at the White House -- Mr. Denis McDonough.  (Applause.) 

I have been counting on Denis for nearly a decade -- since I first came to Washington, when he helped set up my Senate office. Along with Pete Rouse, he was able to show me where the restrooms were and -- (laughter) -- how you passed a bill.  I should point out that even then Denis had gray hair.  (Laughter.)  I've been trying to catch up to him.  But at that time, I relied on his intellect and his good judgment, and that has continued ever since.  He’s been one of my closest and most trusted advisors -- on my presidential campaign, on my transition team.

He has been an indispensable member of my national security team as well.  Denis has played a key role in every major national security decision of my presidency -- from ending the war in Iraq to winding down the war in Afghanistan; from our response to natural disasters around the world like Haiti and the tsunami in Japan to the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," to countless crises in between, day and night -- and that includes many nights.  I’ve actually begun to think that Denis likes pulling all-nighters.  (Laughter.)  The truth is nobody out-works Denis McDonough.

And part of the reason you saw such warmth of applause is that, in addition to being an incredible talent and such a hard worker, Denis is also a pretty humble guy.  To so many of his friends and admirers, he’s still just the “dude” from Stillwater, Minnesota.  (Laughter.)  And given his humility, I don't think people always appreciate the breadth of his experience and the range of his talents.  And it’s precisely because of that intellect, that experience, his dedication, his determination, that I wanted Denis in this job.

As a veteran of Capitol Hill, where he was mentored by the likes of Lee Hamilton and Tom Daschle, Denis understands the importance of reaching across the aisle to deliver results for the American people -- whether it’s on jobs and the economy, health care or education, reducing the deficit or addressing climate change. 

Denis is respected by leaders across our government.  Add it all up, and I think he’s spent most of the past four years leading interagency meetings -- hearing people out, listening to them, forging consensus, and then making sure that our policies are implemented and that everybody is held accountable.  And he always holds himself accountable first and foremost.  And it’s no easy task, but through it all, Denis does it with class and integrity and thoughtfulness for other people's point of views.  He is the consummate public servant.  He plays it straight.  And that’s the kind of teamwork that I want in the White House.

Time and again, I’ve relied on Denis to help in our outreach to the American people as well, including immigrant and minority communities and faith communities.  Denis is a man of deep faith, and he understands that in the end, our policies and our programs are measured in the concrete differences that they make in the lives of our fellow human beings and in the values that we advance as Americans. 

Denis insists on knowing, for himself, the real-world impact of the decisions that we make.  So, away from the cameras, without a lot of fanfare, he’s visited our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan repeatedly, hearing their concerns, finding out what they need and then making sure to follow up.  He travels to Walter Reed, again, without fanfare, to spend time with our wounded warriors, getting to know them and what we as a nation can do to take care of them and their families.  And then he comes back here to the White House and he gets it done.  And that’s the focus but also the kind of heart that I want in this White House.   

Now, don’t get me wrong, Denis can be tough.  It probably comes from being one of 11 children -- you've got to be tough.  (Laughter.)  Two of his sisters are here today, by the way -- Mary and Anna.  And I know they could -- they're just beaming.  (Laughter.)  They could not be more proud of their brother.  Maybe it comes from his college football days as a defensive back under the legendary John Gagliardi.  I always tease Denis that he made up for modest talents with extraordinary dedication and a high threshold for pain.  (Laughter.)  This does remind me of perhaps the one topic on which Denis and I will never agree, and that is Vikings vs. Bears.

There’s another reason we all love Denis so much, and that’s his decency; his respect for those around him.  Ask any of the staff who are here today and they’ll tell you that despite the unbelievable pressures of service at this level, Denis is still the first to think about a colleague, or to write a handwritten note saying thank you, or to ask about your family.  That’s the spirit that I want in this White House. 

And this, of course, is reflected in his incredible love for his own family.  Kari, Addie, Liam, Teddy -- I know that Dad has been at work a lot during the week and on weekends, but -- and I guarantee he’d much rather be with you than with me -- (laughter) -- the next job that he’s going to have is going to be demanding, too, but the one reason he does this is because he wants to make sure that this world is a better place for all of you.  Dad will probably have to stop riding his bike to work.  (Laughter.)  As Chief of Staff I don’t think that’s allowed.  (Laughter.)  But he does what he does because he cares and loves you guys so much and he wants to make sure that the next generation is inheriting the kind of America that we all want.  So I’m grateful to the entire McDonough family for putting up with us.  

Denis, you’re not just one of my closest friends, but you’re also one of my closest advisors, and like everybody here I cannot imagine the White House without you.  Thank you for signing up for this very, very difficult job, as Jack Lew will testify.  (Laughter.)  I know you’ll always give it to me straight, as only a friend can -- telling me not only what I want to hear, but more importantly what I need to hear to make the best possible decisions on behalf of the American people. 

So for me, for Michelle, for all your friends and colleagues who are here today, thank you for taking this assignment.  Congratulations.  (Applause.)

I just have one other thing to add.  We made a number of personnel announcements today.  There is going to be an incredible team that Denis will help lead.  But I thought I’d take the occasion to just embarrass somebody.  Some of you may know that today is David Plouffe’s last day in the White House.  (Laughter.)  I had to hide this in the end of my remarks because I knew he wouldn’t want me to bring it up.  So we had some secret squirrel stuff going on here to -- (laughter) -- avoid him thinking that we were going to talk about him. 

But as many of you know, David has been with me from the very start of this enterprise running for President.  I can’t tell you how lucky I have been to have him manage our campaign back in 2008, then join the White House during these very challenging last two years.  He’s built a well-deserved reputation as being a numbers genius and a pretty tough combatant when it comes to politics.  But what people don’t always realize -- because he doesn’t like to show it -- is the reason he does this stuff is because he cares deeply about people.  And he cares about justice, and he cares about making sure that everybody gets a shot in life.  And those values have motivated him to do incredible things, and were it not for him, we would not have been as effective a White House and I probably wouldn’t be here.

So I thought it was worthwhile for us just to say -- even if he doesn’t want us to say it -- thank you to David Plouffe.  (Applause.)

Thank you, everybody.

END
12:24 P.M. EST

President Obama discusses his nomination of Mary Jo White to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission and Richard Cordray to continue as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Here’s a quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

President Obama taps Denis McDonough to serve as his chief of staff and lead the team at the White House.

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For The Sixth Time In One Week, Man Shot At Gun Show

Gun activists designated last Saturday “Gun Appreciation Day” in an attempt to highlight their opposition to gun safety laws. The PR stunt proved to be more of an embarrassment, however, when 5 people were shot at 3 different gun shows on Gun Appreciation Day. On Friday afternoon, an Iowa gun dealer closed out the week by becoming the sixth person shot at a gun show. The man claims he was “showing off a .25 caliber pistol he thought was unloaded when he slid the action of the gun.” The gun was not unloaded, and a bullet went through his left palm.

After this incident, police found a second loaded weapon on the wounded gun dealer’s table.

[HT: David Waldman]

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Market Winners & Losers: Travel, Health Care & More

 Highlight transcript below to create clipTranscript:  Print  |  Email Go  Click text to jump within videoFri 25 Jan 13 | 04:05 PM ET CNBC's Seema Mody reports on some of the week's biggest winning and losing stocks, saying health care was one of the better performing sectors for the week.

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