ThinkFast: February 24, 2009

President Obama will appoint “a full-time, high-level envoy” to Sudan to deal with the Darfur genocide, actor George Clooney said, after meeting with Obama and Vice President Biden at the White House last night. “The administration has assured me that Darfur is one of a small handful of foreign policy reviews being undertaken at the [most senior] level,” Clooney said, adding that “they assured me this is high on their agenda.”

According to a new Department of Health and Human Services report, “health care costs will top $8,000 per person this year…an increase of $356 per person from last year.” The Medicare trust fund “is running out of cash more rapidly, and could become insolvent as early as 2016.” HHS estimates that health costs “will reach $13,100 per person in 2018, accounting for $1 out of every $5 spent in the economy.”

“Publicly funded family planning prevents nearly 2 million unintended pregnancies and more than 800,000 abortions in the United States each year,” according to a new report by the Guttmacher Institute. The report also found that every dollar spent on family planning “saves taxpayers $4 in costs associated with unintended births to mothers eligible for Medicaid-funded natal care.”

The government is facing “mounting pressure” to invest billions more in “some of the nation’s biggest banks, two of the biggest automakers and the biggest insurance company.” AIG “indicated on Monday it was now negotiating for tens of billions of dollars in additional assistance,” while Citigroup “could raise the government’s stake…to as much as 40 percent”. Additionally, Ford and Chrysler are seeking $22 billion.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has tapped veteran diplomat Dennis Ross as her special adviser on the Persian Gulf region. Ross, who worked on the Middle East peace process for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, “will be asked to provide Clinton with assessments, strategic advice and perspective.”

Obama is expected to announce former Democratic Washington governor Gary Locke as his choice to lead the Commerce Department. Locke was the first — and only — Chinese-American to ever be elected governor of a state, serving from 1997-2005. In 2003, Locke gave the Democratic response to President Bush’s State of the Union address.

Obama also tapped Harvard physicist Ashton Carter yesterday to be the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer. Due to his scientific background, Carter is expected to “be a whiz at the technical aspects of his new job.” The choice of Carter is drawing criticism, however, from “defense insiders” who say “he lacks experience dealing with the industry he’ll work closely with.”

Former CNN and MSNBC conservative anchor Tucker Carlson is joining the libertarian CATO Institute as a senior fellow. “I’ve admired the Cato Institute since I first read its publications,” he said. Carlson will write a book on the state of the American political system.

58 percent: Americans who favor voting rights in the House for D.C. residents, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll. The bill passed a Senate committee on Feb. 11, and is up for a procedural vote in the full chamber today. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who led opposition to the bill in 2007, now says he expects the measure to pass.

And finally: Some lawmakers are already planning to stake out prime spots in the chamber tonight for President Obama’s address. The Hill writes that there will likely be a “wave of members of the Congressional Black Caucus” in key spots, including Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL). In the past, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) “became annoyed when a colleague stole her seat” and cursed about it, according to a cameraman within earshot. However, don’t expect Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to be angling for a kiss from the President this year.

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