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Glen - Breakfast Presenter: …

It’s not been a particularly happy anniversary for Barack Obama.

The White House has downplayed Democratic defeats in two key state elections, saying the polls were fought on local issues unrelated to President Obama.

Democrats have been quick to say the defeats were not a reflection of a loss of support for Obama, who was elected exactly a year ago.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs admitted the losses to the Republicans in gubernatorial (my word of the week) races in New Jersey and Virginia are disappointing, but are not a reflection of the level of support for Obama.

“The data from the gubernatorial races demonstrates that voters went to the polls in those two contests and talked about, and worked through very local issues that didn’t involve the president,” he said.

“If you look at the exit polling, which is pretty clear on this, people went to the polls and voted on local issues not to even register support for or opposition to the president.”

Gibbs said Obama had got updates from the elections, but did not watch the returns.

Republicans have been bouyed by the victories of Chris Christie in New Jersey and Virginia’s Bob McDonnell, as the party struggles to regroup after Obama’s historic White House victory on November 4 last year.

Exit polls conducted by television networks backed the White House argument, with 55 percent of Virginia voters and 60 percent of New Jersey voters saying Obama did not factor into their decision.

But how is the first year of the Administration regarded ?

The most recent Newsweek magazine cover accompanied a photo of Obama with the line ‘Yes he can ( but he sure hasn’t yet)’.

It’s sign that one year on, the Administration isn’t travelling as well it could and is being viewed by many as not delivering on its promise.

Two views I picked up on my visit last week:

The black cab driver in Washington who didn’t like Obama, saying he was a skinny socialist who doesn’t get that Americans are special and don’t want health or welfare systems that other countries have. ( He was curious whether Australia’s universal healthcare system meant that we ‘pulled the plug on grandma’ to make sure the money stretched far enough ).

Another view from a man who ran a stockbroking firm in New York City :

‘This Government is the same as its predecessor - nothing’s changed; there’s still a Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay is still operating, the US is still in Afghanistan, the economy is still crippled, it is still the same hopeless Congress.’

I can’t help thinking Obama didn’t spend his early political capital well. He left health care to Congress and effectively gave the Republican opposition a platform when he should’ve been out there taking his strong poll ratings out for a walk and challenging people to obstruct his mandate.

The feeling in the US was very much one of too little, too slow.

Mid-term elections are next and incumbent governments usually lose ground.

Yes he can? Now would be a good time.

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Marius - Politics: …

The Prime Minister’s appointment of Peter Costello to the board of the Future Fund seemed to generate the splenetic response Kevin Rudd must have anticipated.

He seemed as pleased with Paul Keating’s disapproval of the move as he was Malcolm Turnbull’s.

And why wouldn’t he be happy?

The move is simultaneously a demonstration of his confidence as leader, evidence of his non-partisan pursuit of skills and another dispiriting moment for the coalition which had hoped their own future might be forged under a Costello leadership.

And he has the gratifying sensation of having an old enemy and rival as his notional employee.

It is also confirmation of the nature of our democracy and the essence of modern politics. Politics is now the domain of the professionals whose skills are applied to the issues of management regardless of party allegiance.

Only at the margins does the label matter.

That’s an obvious point, but it’s one worth remembering, particularly as we move into an election year. In the months ahead the Prime Minister, the opposition leader, ministers and shadow ministers will wind up the rhetoric.

Someone, at some stage, will certainly say this is the most important election in some implausible length of time.

Labor will say the planet will burn under the Libs and flourish into a verdant, post-carbon paradise under them. The coalition will paint an apocalyptic vision of a jobless nation where the masses will be peering enviously at the few who can afford the $100 roast.

Labor will promise equity, the Coalition small government and opportunity. In reality the gap between rich and poor widened under Hawke and Keating and the size of government did not shrink under 12 years of John Howard.

It’s all theatre with the performers delivering lines they don’t believe.

Change the government and you do change the nation.

But not that much.

There is some real logic in the more definite voting patterns. Union officials will always vote Labor and the richest suburbs will always vote Liberal. That’s a reasonable reflection of real political differences.

The parties are not the same, but the difference is not chalk and cheese.

It’s Pepsi and Coke.

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Helen - racing editor …

Despite his three runners finishing mid-race (and worse) in the 2009 Melbourne Cup, now is not the time to be giving up on JB Cummings.
In fact, his record in the VRC Oaks Day is pretty daunting - and this year, the word is that Bart has unearthed another filly he might well be moulding into a terrific staying mare.
Remember little LIGHT FINGERS, his very first Cup winner?
The Oaks was part of the path she took, early on in her illustrious career.

So let’s watch and learn again this afternoon, when FAINT PERFUME goes round on Ladies Day at Flemington.

And know the master trainer’s mind is already focused on Spring 2010!
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Mark - Breakfast E-P: …

$5.2 BILLION a year.

It’s a staggering amount of money.

But that apparently is the value of the food Australians throw out each year.

Glen spoke this morning to David Baker from The Australia Institute who totted up the numbers:

* $1.1 Billion of fruit & veg - chucked away

* Almost as much in restaurant and take-away food - ordered but not eaten

* Almost a billion dollars in fresh meat and fish - discarded

The figures were released to put some meat on the bones (sorry, bad pun) of “Foodwise”, a campaign by the Institute and the environment group Do Something to reduce the amout of wasted food.

Do Something’s founder Jon Dee says that as well as the unecessary expense of all that wasted food, “the millions of tonnes of food waste left rotting in landfill give off methane - a greenhouse gas 22 times more potent than the CO2 that comes out of car exhausts.”

I must confess that while I do attempt to be as dilligent as possible about using up all those bits and pieces in the fridge, there are times when I have lapsed and have put food - past its prime - into the bin.

And the reason?

I’m just absolutely hopeless at estimating how much people will or won’t eat.

I suspect many of you are the same.

Classic example the other week:

Decided to make fried rice, using up all the bits of veggies, ham & bacon (probably a lot of it well past its prime) and the cold rice from two nights before in the fridge.

After all, the kids like it, it’s quick … and hey, I’m saving the planet by not throwing out that manky spring onion at the bottom of the crisper!

Cooked up the veggies and was about to add the rice……when I had a crisis of confidence.

“Not enough rice”.

So get out rice cooker, overestimate amount of rice needed as usual, and plow on.

Realise I have now cooked too much plain rice. Damn!

Add only two spoonfuls of freshly cooked rice to the cold stuff I already had.

Make fried rice. Yum!

Put remaining rice in a container in the fridge…where of course it gets forgotten about for several weeks.

Throw it out on garbage night.

My extra cooked rice goes into a landfill site where it gives off the killer gram of methane that will trigger the so-called climate tipping point.

Planet doomed.

Now you know who to blame.