The president gets a 48%/45% approval in a Quinnipiac poll. Obama gets just a 41%/53% rating on handling the economy, 47%/43% on foreign policy, 40%/50% on immigration, 41%/52% on guns, 37%/35% on Syria, 55%/38% on terrorism. Republicans in Congress get at 24%/67% rating. Democrats get a 31%/60% rating.

AP: “President Barack Obama on Thursday will nominate a longtime fundraiser to run the Commerce Department and a top economic adviser as the next U.S. Trade Representative, a White House official said.”

Pritzker was key to Obama’s rise. He was struggling in 2004 trying to figure out how he was going to raise enough money for a Senate run and alleviate Michelle Obama’s financial fears given that he’d maxed out his credit cards running for office. Obama was able to win over Pritzker, the first of big fundraisers for his Senate bid.

As David Mendell wrote in his book, “From Promise to Power,” “With Penny Pritzker on board, other influential Chicago-based Democrats and philanthropists soon followed suit.” In fact, Obama’s Senate victory party was held at the Chicago Hyatt Regency, owned by the Pritzker family.

More from AP: “If confirmed, Pritzker would become the fourth woman serving as secretary in Obama’s current Cabinet. She also would be the wealthiest in the Cabinet by far, with Forbes estimating her net worth at $1.85 billion and ranking her as the 277th richest American. Pritzker is a lifelong Chicagoan who has known Obama since the 1990s and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for both his presidential campaigns. She was his finance chairwoman in 2008, served as co-chair of Obama for America 2012 and gave $250,000 to help put on his inaugural festivities in January.”

“Making official what many Democrats have expected for weeks, President Obama plans to nominate Chicago business executive Penny Pritzker, a longtime political supporter and heavyweight fundraiser, as his new Commerce secretary on Thursday morning,” the Chicago Tribune writes. “Pritzker's nomination could prove controversial. She is on the board of Hyatt Hotels Corp., which was founded by her family and has had rocky relations with labor unions, and she could face questions about the failure of a bank partly owned by her family. With a personal fortune estimated at $1.85 billion, Pritzker is listed by Forbes magazine among the 300 wealthiest Americans.”

AP on Froman: “USTR nominee Michael Froman is one of Obama’s senior economic advisers and a former Citigroup executive. … He has been Obama’s main representative at international economic summits such as the meetings of the Group of Eight and Group of 20. He is responsible for coordinating White House policy on international trade, investments, energy, climate and development. Froman served during President Bill Clinton’s administration as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin. He also worked as deputy assistant secretary for Eurasia and the Middle East and did a White House stint similar to his current job under Obama.”

“President Barack Obama’s administration on Wednesday angered allies in women’s groups by appealing a judge’s ruling that the morning-after pill must be available over the counter to girls of all ages,” Politico writes. “The administration has argued that the pill should not be readily available to young teens, so the appeal is consistent with that position.”

Implementation of ObamaCare… “Six insurance carriers submitted 165 separate health insurance plans to be offered on the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace, the online exchange where individuals and small businesses in October can begin buying coverage that begins next year, state officials said Wednesday,” the Chicago Tribune reports, adding, “Almost a million Illinois residents will be eligible for a new federal income tax credit to help offset the cost of buying health insurance, a key component of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul that requires individuals to carry health insurance or pay a penalty. To receive the point-of-sale credits, consumers must buy health insurance through the exchange.”

Finally, Stephanie Cutter, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Teddy Goff, and others have become the latest Obama campaign alums to form a new strategy/communications firm -- called Precision. 

For the second time in the past two weeks, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has knocked President Obama for failing to pass his agenda through Congress. 

"The job of the former community organizer and self-styled uniter is to somehow get this dunderheaded Congress, which is mind-bendingly awful, to do the stuff he wants them to do. It’s called leadership," she wrote. 

Dowd isn't alone. At the president's news conference on Tuesday, ABC's Jonathan Karl asked, "Do you still have the juice to get the rest of your agenda through this Congress?"

And in First Thoughts yesterday, we wrote about how the president's priorities -- outside of immigration reform -- have stalled.

But here's the simple truth for all political writers and armchair pundits to understand: This is what happens when you have divided government.

Indeed, the greatest legislative achievements in American history have come when one party controls the White House and Congress -- usually by overwhelming numbers.

In the 1930s, as Congress was passing Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Democrats held between 69 and 75 Senate seats, as well as 300-plus House seats.

In 1965, during Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, Democrats controlled 68 Senate and 290-plus House seats.

Talk about supermajorities.

Even the top legislative accomplishments under Obama -- the stimulus, the health-care law, financial reform, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal -- came when Democrats held 60 Senate seats (or close to it) and a majority in the House.

But when there's divided government? That's typically a recipe for gridlock.

The exceptions have come when at least one party has had an incentive to compromise -- think Bill Clinton signing welfare reform into law before his re-election, or the tax cuts under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush (who doesn't like tax cuts?), or immigration reform (so far) under Obama. 

They've also come when it's an absolute necessity to compromise -- think the Social Security fix during the 1980s, the debt-ceiling deal in 2011, and the fiscal-cliff deal at the end of 2012.

But that's about it under divided government. And Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) suggested why in a recent talk explaining the defeat of the gun-control compromise he co-authored. “In the end it didn’t pass because we’re so politicized. There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it."

So why is there this misperception about a president's powers on domestic policy when there's divided government?

Much of it comes from the president's dual roles -- as both head of state (think a king or queen) and head of government (think prime minister or chancellor). As head of state, the president rallies the nation during times of adversity, consoles it during times of tragedy, and tries to shape public opinion when he can.

But as head of government, the president's powers are limited, especially when it comes to domestic policy. As the late academic Richard Neustadt put it, the president has the power to persuade, cajole, and bargain; outside of that, his powers in domestic affairs are surprisingly weak. 

And that's particularly true when a president's party doesn't control all the branches of government.

As Maureen Dowd said about a current Oval Office occupant: "The ... Presidency that began with such grandiose designs has become so becalmed, so shrunken, so defeated, so aimless, so anomic, so technical that George Bush now looms as a giant who bestrode the earth."

She wrote that about Bill Clinton in 1997 -- at another time of divided government just after a president's re-election.

“President Obama did not start the Syrian crisis, and the blood-soaked civil war has never lent itself to easy choices. In fact, the choices have always been among the hardest any U.S. president has faced in the region,” Major Garrett writes in National Journal.

National Journal’s Sanger-Katz: “President Obama acknowledged reality when he said Tuesday that the rollout of the health reform law next year is going to be interrupted by ‘glitches and bumps.’ But if the past is any indication, an initial spate of difficulties or bad headlines won't alone spell failure.”

As one of us wrote yesterday, “A new poll indicates many Americans are still unclear about the details of the new law and, in some cases, unaware it’s actually law of the land. A whopping 42 percent of Americans do not know that the Affordable Care Act is, in fact, law. Included in that 42 percent -- 12 percent believe it has been repealed by Congress, 7 percent think the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it, and 23 percent are unsure of its status, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation health tracking poll.”

“President Obama said Tuesday that the administration is investigating how counterterrorism authorities handled intelligence about Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his mother to determine if American can do a better job of preventing future terrorist attacks by self-radicalized individuals,” the Boston Globe reports.

“President Barack Obama’s prospects for a sweeping legislative victory this year now rest almost solely on the immigration overhaul working its way through Congress. But immigration’s tricky politics have created a dilemma for a president fighting for an issue he considers central to his legacy,” the AP writes. “If Obama is too closely aligned with the legislation, it could scare away Republicans wary of appearing to hand the president a win. But if he stays on the sidelines and the overhaul runs into trouble on Capitol Hill, Obama likely will be criticized for not using his presidential powers to fight for votes, as he was following the recent failure of gun control measures he championed. In the coming weeks the White House will test whether Obama can take on a more public role in the immigration debate after largely ceding the issue to Congress for much of the year. The president will ramp up his immigration-related travel this spring and summer, including a trip this week to Mexico and Costa Rica. The White House also is planning to use Spanish-language media to bolster public support for a comprehensive bill.”

A Tea Party member reaches for a pamphlet titled "The Impact of Obamacare", at a "Food for Free Minds Tea Party Rally" in Littleton, New Hampshire October 27, 2012. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

As the Obama administration girds for “glitches and bumps” along the path to full implementation of the health-care law, a new poll indicates many Americans are still unclear about the details of the new law and, in some cases, unaware it’s actually law of the land.

A whopping 42 percent of Americans do not know that the Affordable Care Act is, in fact, law. Included in that 42 percent -- 12 percent believe it has been repealed by Congress, 7 percent think the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it, and 23 percent are unsure of its status, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation health tracking poll.

For the record, no portion of the law has been repealed; and the Supreme Court upheld it last summer in a 5-4 decision. The law continues to be viewed more negatively than positively, with just 35 percent saying they have a favorable view and 40 percent saying they have an unfavorable one. But the prolonged implementation, complexity of the law, and messaging by opponents has aided in the confusion. The administration is starting to push back, beginning with the president.

“It’s still a big undertaking,” President Barack Obama acknowledged Tuesday in a press conference at the White House. "And what we’re doing is making sure that every single day we are constantly trying to hit our marks so that it will be in place. ... Even if we do everything perfectly, there will still be glitches and bumps. ... And that’s pretty much true of every government program that’s ever been set up."

The poll comes as the administration Tuesday took one step to streamline the application process for health insurance for the uninsured, unveiling a shorter, three-page application form rather than the earlier, 21-page version that was criticized. Enrollment begins Oct. 1 for insurance that would take effect Jan. 1.

Nearly half of all Americans – 49 percent – say they still do not have enough information about the law and how it will impact their families. There are plenty of people happy to try and fill in the gaps.

Republicans, for example, have begun mounting a messaging campaign against the law’s implementation, hoping it can help them in the 2014 midterms and potentially hand over control of the Senate to the GOP, which needs to net six seats to accomplish that goal. 

They have seized, in particular, on retiring Democratic Sen. Max Baucus’ comment at a hearing earlier this month that implementation of the law will not just see “glitches and bumps,” but said it will be a “train wreck.”

“I urge my friends on the other side to join with Republicans and stop this ‘train wreck’ before things get even worse,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, up for re-election in 2014, said on the floor of the upper chamber.

Views of the law have gotten worse since the presidential election, sliding from 43 percent favorable to 35 percent. Democrats are mostly responsible for the drop, as pre-election partisanship begins to fade and details of implementation begin to come into focus. 

But on Tuesday, President Obama –  in his most extensive defense of the implementation of the law so far –  said, “Despite all the hue and cry and ‘sky is falling’ predictions about this stuff, if you’ve already got health insurance, then that part of ‘Obamacare’ that affects you, it's pretty much already in place.”

What remains, he added, is getting the 10 percent to 15 percent of Americans who do not have health insurance, and who will face a penalty next year if they choose not to purchase it, to enroll in state or federal exchanges. The federal government’s job is also made more difficult, the president said, because big states like Florida and Texas, both states with Republican governors, have opted against setting up exchanges.

The “only impact” on people who already have insurance “is that their insurance is stronger, better, more secure than it was before,” Obama contended. “Full stop. They don’t have to worry about anything else. The implementation issues come up for those who don’t have health insurance.”

He added, "What we’re doing is we’re setting up a pool, so that they can all pool together and get a better deal from insurance companies. And those who can’t afford it, we’re going to provide them with some subsidies. That’s it." 

But the uninsured, those who will be most affected by the changes in the next year, are undereducated about the law, the Kaiser poll found. Fifty-eight percent of the uninsured said they did not have enough information to know how the law would impact their families.

By a 40 percent to 32 percent margin, more of the uninsured had a favorable view of the law. Nearly three-in-10 did not know or have an opinion on it.

“My assumption is that number starts shrinking,” said Molly Ann Brodie, senior vice president and director for public opinion and survey research for the Kaiser Family Foundation, noting that with more information on what the law actually does and how to sign up for it, the uninsured will begin to look more favorably on the health-care law.

“It’s going to be a difficult and confusing time,” Brodie said, noting the “tight time frame for enrollment.” She added, “Certainly, it’s going to be a messaging challenge and a framing challenge, but all the folks involved in implementation and expansion know that. The key is to focus on the folks who will be affected. … Let the political fight happen in the background.”

While opponents of the law will continue to message against it, Brodie noted that there will also be arguments from proponents highlighting positive stories.

“This will be a case where there are plenty of bumps and challenges to focus on,” she said, “but also some success stories – where people are getting care where they weren’t before. The question is which one wins from a political standpoint.”

Despite those “bumps,” “challenges,” and “glitches,” Obama tried to keep the focus on the big picture, sounding a note from his campaign.

"In a country as wealthy as ours, nobody should go bankrupt if they get sick," he said, adding, "We would rather have people getting regular checkups than going to the emergency room because they don’t have health care — if we keep that in mind, then we’re going to be able to drive down costs; we’re going to be able to improve efficiencies in the system; we’re going to be able to see people benefit from better health care. And that will save the country money as a whole over the long term."

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:42 PM EDT

President Barack Obama – again – vowed Tuesday to follow through with a 2008 campaign pledge to close the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Amid a hunger strike being waged by terror suspects at the prison to protest their detainment and living conditions, Obama reiterated his belief that the prison should be shuttered.

"I continue to believe that we've got to close Guantanamo," Obama said at the White House. "I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe. It is expensive. It is inefficient. It hurts us, in terms of our international standing. It lessens cooperation with our allies on counter-terrorism efforts. It is a recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed." 

The president’s sentiment is familiar to anyone who’s followed his statements on foreign policy for the last eight years. He campaigned for the Democratic nomination in part on closing the prison. He signed an order seeking to close the facility shortly after being inaugurated for his first term in office. Obama also repeatedly voiced support for closing the prison during his time in office. He has also supported trying most terror suspects in U.S. civilian court.

The issue reared itself again less than two months ago, when the government brought the son of Osama bin Laden to New York City to stand trial on terror charges.

But, as the president noted Tuesday, lawmakers – mostly Republicans – have worked to block any effort to close Guantanamo. And the president said Tuesday he would redouble his efforts to achieve this goal.

“I'm going to, as I said before, examine every option that we have administratively to try to deal with this issue, but ultimately we're also going to need some help from Congress,” he said.

Related Stories:

• Obama cautions against rush to action in Syria
• Obama reiterates chemical weapons would be 'game-changer'

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:04 PM EDT

President Barack Obama used his bully pulpit on Tuesday to repeatedly criticize Congress – and Republicans in particular – for inaction that would threaten to scuttle parts of his second-term agenda.

On issues ranging from federal spending to health care, immigration, and even closing the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Obama was eager to place the blame for inaction with lawmakers, who are absent from Washington on a scheduled recess this week.

“You seem to suggest that somehow these folks over there have no responsibilities, and that my job is to somehow get them to behave,” Obama said in response to one question at Tuesday’s White House press conference. “That’s their job.”

Obama’s appearance before the press corps coincided with the anniversary of the first 100 days of the president’s second term, which has included some setbacks for his agenda, but also some green shoots of promise. Still, much of the gridlock that characterized the latter half of Obama’s first term has extended to the beginning of his second, and the president hasn’t been able to overcome dogged Republican opposition.

“We understand that we’re in divided government right now,” Obama said. “Republicans control the House of Representatives; in the Senate, this habit of requiring 60 votes for even the most modest piece of legislation has gummed up the works there.”

That could be read as a thinly-veiled reference to one of the cornerstones of Obama’s second-term agenda – a package of stricter gun laws that expand background checks. Democrats were forced to shelve even a scaled-back, bipartisan proposal after Republicans insisted that the proposal not only muster a simple majority of senators, but also the 60 or more votes needed to dispel a filibuster.

The defeat (advocates of gun control characterize it as only a temporary setback) reflects a familiar pattern during Obama’s dealings with Republicans in Congress.

And the president used his first press conference in nearly two months to go after the GOP, accusing them, for instance, of political expediency in bemoaning the negative consequences of the sequester, the automatic series of spending cuts that began on March 1.

“Despite the fact that a lot of members of Congress were suggesting this was a victory for them and this wouldn't hurt the economy, what we know now is that what I was warned earlier ... is happening,” he said. “It slowed our growth, it's resulting in people being thrown out of work, and it's hurting folks all across the country.”

The president has made some overtures to Republicans, though, in hopes of breaking through the legislative logjam. Most notably, Obama’s hosted a series of dinners with senators, some consisting solely of Republicans, in hopes of cajoling GOP leaders into reaching compromises on some issues.

On matters like tax reform, such a bipartisan accord might be elusive. But on immigration, an achievement might be within reach.

Obama lauded a bipartisan group of eight senators’ work to craft a comprehensive immigration reform proposal which includes a pathway to citizenship.

“I feel confident that the bipartisan work that's been done on immigration reform will result in a bill that passes the Senate, passes the House, and gets on my desk,” he said.

But even that effort must overcome the objections of some Senate conservatives, and make its way through a Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Obama was careful not to wave off a GOP-led effort to create an alternative immigration proposal, but warned that it must meet his criteria (one of which is a pathway to citizenship) to win his support.

“If it doesn't meet those criteria, then I will not support such a bill,” the president declared.

Even still, Obama vowed to push forward with key elements of his agenda – like implementing the signature health care overhaul law he won during his first term – over the opposition of Republicans.

The president defended the implementation of the law as mostly complete, and goal-oriented for the elements that aren’t, in face of some Democratic griping over the way “Obamacare” has been enacted. And he acknowledged that some Republican governors’ refusal to enact health insurance exchanges had made implementation more difficult.

“I think it's harder, there's no doubt about it,” Obama said of those governors’ opposition.

But, he added: “We will implement it. We have a backup federal exchange. If states aren't cooperating, we set up a federal exchange so that people can access that federal exchange. But yes, it puts more of a burden on us.”

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:01 PM EDT

President Barack Obama cautioned Tuesday against rushing headlong to take action against Syria’s ruling regime, cautioning that his administration must gather more evidence before involving itself in that country’s civil war.

The president said that while evidence suggested that chemical weapons were used in Syria – thereby crossing the “red line” Obama had established in the Syrian conflict – more details were needed, namely about who used those weapons, and when.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

President Barack Obama arrives to answers questions during his new conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Tuesday, April 30, 2013.

“When I am making decisions about America’s national security and the potential for taking additional action in response to chemical weapons use, I’ve got to make sure I’ve got the facts,” Obama said at his first press conference in two months.

"And if we end up rushing to judgment without hard, effective evidence, then we can find ourselves in a position where we can't mobilize the international community to support what we do."

The situation in Syria and other issues of national security – a hunger strike at the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the government's response to the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon earlier this month – have dominated much of the president's agenda over the past month. 

The hunger strike – the military said on Monday that 100 of 166 detainees had participated in the strike protesting conditions at Guantanamo Bay – prompted the president to renew his call for closing the prison. While the president signed an order early in his first term to shutter the facility, lawmakers in both parties have stymied Obama's efforts to achieve that goal. 

"I continue to believe that we’ve got to close Guantanamo. I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe," Obama said. "It is expensive, it is inefficient, it hurts us in terms of our international standing, it lessens cooperation in terms of our allies in counterterrorism efforts, it is a recruitment tool for extremists. It needs to be closed."

Moreover, the president pledged to "go back at" the issue, adding that his administration was reviewing ways to achieve its goal of closing the prison, perhaps by returning to Congress for permission. 

The theme of international cooperation, though, recurred throughout Obama's remarks about these tricky foreign policy issues.

The president, for instance, stressed the need for the United States to act in concert with international allies in response to the situation in Syria, and said the U.S. and its partners were already “deeply invested” in trying to find a solution to the situation in Syria.

But Obama was reluctant to specify what actions his administration might take. “By ‘game-changer’ I mean that we would have to rethink the range of options that are available to us,” he said.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has expressed reluctance to making a U.S. military incursion into Syria, though more hawkish Republicans have called for targeted strikes to help cripple parts of the Syrian military and assist rebels against the Assad regime.

Obama also said he'd worked with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the situation in Syria, but also the intelligence response to the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Amid questions about whether the government failed to heed Russian intelligence warnings about the radicalization of the suspects in the bombing, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper ordered a review on Tuesday into the U.S. government's handling of intelligence in the case. 

"When an event like this happens, we want to go back and review every step that was taken," the president explained. "We want to leave no stone unturned. We want to see if, in fact, there's additional protocols and procedures that could be put in place that would further improve and enhance our ability to detect a potential attack."

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Khalil Ashawi / Reuters

A look back at the conflict that has overtaken the country.

Launch slideshow

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 30, 2013 10:54 AM EDT

Measuring the first 100 days of Obama’s second term… The president held a news conference at 10:15 am ET… An extraordinary last 12 months when it comes to gay rights… It’s Primary Day in Massachusetts’ special Senate race; polls close at 8:00 pm ET…  Sanford and Colbert Busch took off their gloves in last night’s debate… Jessica Taylor on new Dem ad hitting Sanford over his affair… NYT/CBS poll: 62% oppose intervention in Syria… And FBI examining Bob McDonnell’s relationship with donor?

Jacquelyn Martin / AP

President Barack Obama gestures as he announces he will nominate Charlotte, N.C. Mayor Anthony Foxx to succeed Ray LaHood as Transportation Secretary, Monday, April 29, 2013, in the East Room of the White House.

*** Measuring the first 100 days of Obama’s second term: You might not have been keeping track, but we’ve now reached the 100-day mark in President Obama’s second term. And possibly to mark the occasion, the president held a news conference at 10:15 am ET. Bloomberg’s Al Hunt makes a smart point about how the first 100 days of the second have fared. “The 100-day mark is a measure for first-term presidents, not re-elected ones. Yet the end of April is a propitious moment for an early evaluation of how President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans are meeting the aspirations set out in January. The answer: Both are falling short.” Indeed, outside of immigration -- and make no mistake, that’s a pretty big exception -- politics seems about as divided as it did in 2011-2012.The budget talks are back to square one (and the sequester fight only seemed to exacerbate things). Passing gun control failed in the Senate. Achieving tax reform seems like a considerable reach. And to top it off, some Republicans are beginning to flex their muscles -- again -- when it comes to raising the debt ceiling. So the idea of the “fever” breaking that the president promised during the campaign has yet to come to fruition. Of course, presidencies (and especially second terms) aren’t defined by the first 100 days. But remember, unlike first terms, second terms (at least domestically) have a shorter shelf life.

*** An extraordinary last 12 months for gay rights: What’s remarkable -- politically -- about NBA basketball player Jason Collins’ announcement that he is gay is that caps an extraordinary 12 months when it comes to the gay rights movement and gay marriage specifically. As NBC’s Chris Donovan has pointed out, just think of what’s happened in the past year:

-- On “Meet the Press,” Vice President Biden announces he’s “comfortable” with gay marriage (May 6, 2012)
-- President Obama then comes out in support of it (May 9, 2012)
-- Obama’s second inaugural address contains this line: “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated
like anyone else under the law” (Jan. 20, 2013)
-- Numerous other politicians announce their support before and after the Supreme Court oral arguments on Prop. 8 and DOMA
-- Supreme Court hears the oral arguments in Prop. 8 and DOMA (March 26-27, 2013)
-- Rhode Island is on track to become 10th state approving gay marriage (April 2013)
-- Jason Collins becomes the first male athlete in a major sport to announce he’s gay (April 29, 2013)

*** Three other points on Collins: We have three other points to make regarding the Jason Collins news. First, in the 20^th Century, sports often led the way on integration (think Jackie Robinson in baseball, African-American professional football players like Jim Brown in the 1950s and 1960s). But in this case, in the 21^st Century, sports was a lagging indicator. Indeed, 53% of the country in our most recent NBC/WSJ poll said they supported gay marriage before the first male athlete in a major sport announced he was gay. Second, don’t underestimate the impact that Obama’s support for gay marriage had on an African-American athlete coming out. (The president called Collins yesterday.) And third, given that Collins is now a 34-year-old journeyman center, there was a chance – before yesterday – that another team might NOT have signed him to play NBA basketball next year. Now? There will be a tremendous amount of pressure (applied by David Stern personally?) for NBA teams to sign him.

*** Primary Day in Massachusetts: If it’s a Tuesday, it means that some folks are out there casting ballots. And today, those folks are the voters in Massachusetts who are choosing party nominees to fill the U.S. Senate seat that John Kerry vacated to become secretary of state. In the special Democratic primary, Congressmen Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch are battling it out, and Markey remains the favorite. (The only question is how big a favorite is he.) Meanwhile, the Republican side features three candidates: Navy SEAL-turned-businessman Gabriel Gomez, former U.S. Attorney (and former acting ATF director) Mike Sullivan, and state Rep. Dan Winslow. Given his deep pockets, Gomez might give Republicans their best chance to compete in the June 25 general election. But also don’t forget that Gomez was the spokesman for the organization that accused Obama of politicizing the killing of Osama bin Laden. Polls close at 8:00 pm ET.

*** Sanford and Colbert Busch take off their gloves: Speaking of special elections, Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch certainly made their only debate count last night in Charleston, SC. Colbert Busch whacked her GOP opponent for misusing taxpayer dollars, especially when traveling to Argentina. “When we’re looking at fiscal responsibility, it doesn’t mean you take the money we saved and leave the country for a personal purpose,” she said, per MSNBC’s Jessica Taylor. Sanford fought back by tying her to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and national Democrats. “It’s not believable to me that someone gives you a million dollars and not expect something in return,” he said. But Colbert Busch later responded, "No one tells me what to do, except the people of South Carolina's 1st Congressional District." Politico has more on the debate, which it said “laid bare their ideological differences on a range of issues. Sanford said he opposed the gun control bill that failed in the Senate recently calling for expanded background checks; Colbert said she backed it despite her belief in 2nd Amendment rights. Sanford said he would vote against the comprehensive immigration reform plan being pushed by the ‘Gang of Eight’; Colbert Busch favors it.”

*** New Dem ad explicitly hits Sanford over affair: Also in the Sanford-vs.-Colbert Busch race, Jessica Taylor reports on a new Democratic Super PAC TV ad hitting Sanford. The advertisement features a female GOP voter from the district slamming the former governor for his disappearance from the state while in office and the disclosure that he was having an affair with an Argentinian woman. “I used to be for Mark Sanford -- but not anymore,” says Jennifer Stark of Mount Pleasant, S.C. “He skipped town to be with his mistress on Father’s Day. Sanford even asked his wife for permission to have the affair, and wasted our taxpayer dollars on himself.” “I’m a Republican. But Mark Sanford just doesn’t share our values,” says Stark.

*** Six in 10 oppose U.S. intervention in Syria: Want another reason why the Obama administration is walking very carefully when it comes to Syria? According to a brand-new New York Times/CBS poll, 62% of Americans say the United States DOES NOT have a responsibility to do something about the fighting in Syria.

*** FBI examining Bob McDonnell’s relationship with donor? Finally, this isn’t good news for the current GOP governor of Virginia, who just happens to be a 2016 presidential possibility.  “The FBI has begun examining the relationship between Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen and the chief executive of a nutritional supplements manufacturer that is the subject of a federal investigation, two people with knowledge of the review said Monday,” the AP writes. “Federal authorities began questioning people close to the McDonnells as an outgrowth of a securities probe of Virginia-based Star Scientific Inc., said the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because their roles in the case preclude them from speaking publicly. They said FBI agents have asked questions about gifts the McDonnells have received from company CEO Jonnie Williams and whether the Republican governor or his administration aided the company in return.”

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“The first draft was as mind-numbing and complex as tax forms. Now the Obama administration is unveiling a simplified application for health insurance benefits under the federal health care overhaul,” the AP reports. “Details to be released Tuesday include a three-page short form that single people can fill out, administration officials said. Medicare chief Marilyn Tavenner, also overseeing the rollout of the health care law, called it ‘significantly shorter than industry standards.’”

But: “Although the new forms may be shorter, it's unclear whether the administration can get rid of all the complexity. That's because applicants will have to provide detailed snapshots of their incomes to see whether they qualify for government assistance. Individuals will have to gather tax returns, pay stubs and other financial records before filling out the application.”

AP: “President Barack Obama has met with Latino leaders ahead of an upcoming trip to Mexico and Costa Rica. Obama met Monday at the White House with leaders from National Council of La Raza, the National Hispanic Council on Aging and the League of United Latin American Citizens, plus seven other groups. The White House says they discussed economic interests the U.S. shares with Latin American nations, plus progress on poverty and inequality. Obama also assured the leaders that he'll make immigration legislation a top priority.”

“In connection with President Barack Obama's visit to the Middle East last month, the Palestinian Authority agreed to halt its drive to obtain further recognition from United Nations agencies, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Malki said Monday,” Politico writes.

“For seven-year-old Jack Hoffman, meeting President Obama in the Oval Office may have been just the second biggest day of his month,” the New York Daily News writes. “Hoffman, who is battling brain cancer, became a football hero when he took the field at an April 6 Nebraska Cornhuskers spring scrimmage to score a 69-yard touchdown.”

“Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is taking fire from the left in his quest to reform the country’s immigration system,” Politico writes. “Progressives and environmental activists are fuming over recent television ads from the subsidiaries of Zuckerberg’s FWD.us umbrella group that tout lawmakers’ pro-Keystone XL pipeline and oil drilling positions.”

More: CREDO Action, the activist arm of cell phone company CREDO Mobile, is hoping to hit Zuckerberg where it hurts — on Facebook. The group is planning a Facebook advertising campaign that takes aim at the FWD.us ads. … The Sierra Club is taking a similar approach. The environmental group encouraged its members Monday to share a note that says, ‘Zuckerberg promoting dirty fuels? DISLIKE.’”

Calling him "one of the most effective mayors" in his city's history, President Barack Obama formally nominated Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, D, as his next secretary of transportation.

Obama named Foxx, a 41-year-old first-term mayor, as his successor to outgoing Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman who joined the administration in 2009. Foxx joins Attorney General Eric Holder as one of two African-American members of the president's second-term status.

Obama cited Foxx's experience in spearheading various transportation projects — including a streetcar initiative and airport expansion — as a chief reason for nominating the Charlotte mayor. (Foxx was mayor during the Democratic National Convention last August in downtown Charlotte.)

"All of that has not only create new jobs, it's helped Charlotte become more attractive to business," the president said in introducing Foxx.

For his part, Foxx pledged to work with lawmakers in both parties during his confirmation process, and said there's "no such thing as a Democratic or Republican" transportation project.

Obama also paid tribute to LaHood in Monday's short ceremony, calling him maybe "the best secretary of transportation the nation's ever had."

And LaHood returned the favor, saying to the president: "If you're not the best person I've ever worked for, you're at the top of the list."

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 29, 2013 2:27 PM EDT

Washington taps the brakes on Syria… On implementing Obamacare… The FAA sequester fix -- Washington at its worst… Obama to nominate Anthony Foxx to be Transportation secretary… Sanford and Colbert Busch to debate tonight at 7:00 pm ET in South Carolina… And MA SEN primaries take place tomorrow.

George Ourfalian / Reuters

A general view shows damaged buildings in the old city of Aleppo April 29, 2013.

*** Tapping the brakes on Syria: Days after the Obama administration confirmed that Syria might have crossed President Obama’s red line -- using chemical weapons against its own people -- there’s collective agreement that something needs to be done. But there also seems to be collective agreement that the something needs to be small and limited, at least for now. On “Meet the Press” yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), one of Washington’s biggest hawks, called for arming the rebels in Syria, helping refugees, and securing the stockpiles of chemical weapons. But it also was notable what he DIDN’T CALL FOR. “[T]he worst thing the United States could do right now is put boots on the ground on Syria. That would turn the people against us,” he said. So as Obama seems to be trying to buy time, Washington appears to be giving him that. And here’s one of the reasons why: The rebels, as the New York Times wrote on Sunday, have ties to Al Qaeda. It’s a very tricky situation…

*** Implementing Obamacare: When it comes to implementing the new federal health-care law, Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus called it a “train wreck.” New York Times columnist David Brooks, citing supporters of the law, said that “things are going worse than expected.” And we have spoken with Democrats who are worried, too. But as Jon Cohn writes in the New Republic, none of this should be surprising: This is a complex process -- for the government, the states, and consumers. Yet among the Obama administration’s top concerns is ensuring that enough young men and women obtain insurance. (If the healthy uninsured 18 to 35 year olds don't sign up, the numbers don't work for anyone, for the government, for health insurance companies and for those of us who pay premiums.) And that was largely the pitch the president made at Planned Parenthood’s conference in DC last Friday. “So I’m here to also ask for your help, because we need to get the word out,” he said. “We need you to tell your patients, your friends, your neighbors, your family members what the health care law means for them. Make sure they know that if they don’t have health insurance, they’ll be able to sign up for quality, affordable insurance starting this fall in an online marketplace where private insurers will compete for their business. Make sure that they know that there are plans out there right now that cover the cost of contraceptive and preventive care free of charge.”

*** Washington at its worst: Also on Friday, Congress passed its legislative fix to prevent the air-traffic-controller furloughs under the so-called sequester. And in one single episode, it highlighted all of Washington’s problems. You had a divided and often-dysfunctional Congress -- which originally passed the sequester -- take extraordinary action ONLY after the airlines and business travelers complained about the flight delays. But the Congress didn’t do anything about the other budget cuts (to things like Head Start or the Meals on Wheels programs). Then you had a White House -- which signed the sequester into law -- give up its greatest piece of leverage in this debate and cave in its demand for a complete fix that includes additional tax revenue. Bottom line: This was Washington at its worst. And what’s an even bigger takeaway from the whole FAA fix? We are a long way away from a real budget fix. The idea of a grand bargain is as elusive today as it's ever been.

*** Obama nominates Foxx to head Transportation Department: As NBC has reported, President Obama today will nominate Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx to be his second-term Transportation secretary, replacing Ray LaHood. The White House event will take place at 2:10 pm ET. Meanwhile, the New York Times adds that the president “also appeared close to nominating Penny Pritzker, a hotel magnate, longtime friend and fund-raiser, as the next commerce secretary, and Michael Froman, his international economics adviser, as the United States trade representative, although neither nomination was scheduled to be announced on Monday.” So here is our updated look at Obama’s second-term cabinet:

John Kerry at State (replaced Hillary Clinton)
Chuck Hagel at Defense (replaced Leon Panetta)
Jack Lew at Treasury (replaced Tim Geithner)
Sally Jewell at Interior (replaced Ken Salazar)
Sylvia Burwell at OMB (replaced acting director Jeffrey Zients)
Lisa Jackson at EPA (Gina McCarthy nominated)
Steven Chu at Energy (Ernest Moniz nominated)
Hilda Solis at Labor (Tom Perez nominated)
Ray LaHood at Transportation (Anthony Fox nominated)
Commerce (N/A) (Pritzker appears to be the leading candidate)
U.S. Trade Representative (Froman appears to be the leading candidate)

And here are the cabinet secretaries who are remaining:

Janet Napolitano (DHS)
Arne Duncan (Education)
Tom Vilsack (Agriculture)
Eric Holder (Justice)
Kathleen Sebelius (HHS)
Eric Shinseki (Veterans Affairs)

*** Let’s get ready to rumble -- South Carolina style: A week before their general-election contest, Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch will participate in their first debate. The AP: “The two meet Monday evening at The Citadel in a debate sponsored by the Patch news service, the South Carolina Radio Network and Charleston television station WCBD. The debate is being cablecast by C-SPAN. It's their first joint appearance in the campaign that started earlier when incumbent congressman Tim Scott was appointed to the state's vacant U.S. Senate seat.” The debate takes place at 7:00 pm ET.

*** Let’s get ready to rumble -- New England style: And the special Senate primaries take place tomorrow in Massachusetts. MSNBC’s Jessica Taylor recently examined the Democratic contest between Reps. Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch, especially in wake of the Boston Marathon bombing. And MSNBC’s Sarah B. Boxer looked at the Republican race featuring former U.S. Attorney Mike Sullivan, state Rep. Dan Winslow, and Navy SEAL-turned-businessman Gabriel Gomez.

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