Pirate Situation is going to be stand-off until the US Marine Designated Marksmen arrive on the scene... the reason they are on navel ships

First Read: The day in politics by NBC News

.*** The Salesman-In-Chief: So who else is stressed out? At 11:00 am ET, President Obama meets with Treasury Secretary Geithner, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, and FDIC Chair Sheila Bair to receive a status report on how the nation's biggest banks are faring in their "stress tests." This meeting comes after the Obama administration engaged yesterday in some optimistic talk about the economy -- and as the Dow jumped up some 240 points. Obama was bullish on housing and low interest rates (so bullish that the New York Times and Washington Post compared him to a mortgage broker or a salesman for LendingTree.com). Also, top White House economic adviser Larry Summers said the economic "free fall" was coming to an end. No doubt that confidence and optimism are musts for this young administration.

But is Obama setting himself up for problems down the road? If this summer and fall ends up being bad again, then what happens to the credibility of the Obama economic team? As the New York Times front-pages today, "skeptics are warning that the economy may face another leg down. Companies continue to shed jobs and consumers are hunkering down in anticipation of a halting recovery.

Most of the nation's retailers on Thursday signaled that they expected to see a continued steep decline in sales as they waited for consumers to come out of hiding.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/business/10markets.html?_r=1&hp


*** Pirate Update: Here's the latest regarding the standoff with those Somali pirates: NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reported on TODAY that Captain Richard Phillips managed to jump off the lifeboat and try to swim away from his captors. The pirates recaptured him, however, and he is back in their custody. The lifeboat has run out of fuel and has nowhere to go. Reuters also reports that the Somali pirates say they will fight if they are attacked. And AFP reports that the Somali pirates have demanded a ransom.

*** Ideology vs. Reality: So how have the three conservative GOP governors who are potential 2012 candidates -- Jindal, Palin, and Sanford -- fared in their campaign against Obama's economic stimulus?

Not too well so far, it seems. Sanford has had to go up with a TV ad to defend his opposition to the stimulus, which is just a huge concession. And Politico's Ben Smith adds, "All three of those governors have been forced to scale back their expectations, to varying degree, as the push of conservative philosophy gave way to the pull of political reality. All three found that praise from the conservative movement in Washington meant nothing to furious state legislators of both parties.

And in the end, along with other conservative Republican governors, the three submitted letters in recent days asking to be eligible for federal funds, a spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed." http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21086.html
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