"I'm a little concerned," former Secretary of State Colin Powell says. "I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them."

Powell also seems to sound a note of warning to the young president.

"I think one of the cautions that has to be given to the president — and I've talked to some of his people about this — is that you can't have so many things on the table that you can't absorb it all. And we can't pay for it all."

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"He was a great entertainer and he crossed so many lines with his skill and the skill of his brothers," Powell says, "I always remember him most vividly as a young boy with his brothers — the Jackson 5. These fresh, exciting kids with the 'fro's in the early '70s and singing those wonderful songs."

"But that is what I remember about Michael. During the heyday when he was doing 'Thriller' and the other things I was either in Vietnam or Korea or somewhere. So he's not quite of my generation, but his art spanned three generations and is worthy of all the tribute that he is receiving for his art.

"Yes, there were some challenges in his life. Yes, there was a great deal of controversy about him. But he's now passed on. Let's celebrate his art."

"July 4th still represents a remarkable date for us to stall or stop and reflect on what our founding fathers achieved on July 4 of 1776," says the former general, "And the noble sentiment they gave to the rest of the world that all men are created equal and that governments serve the people. And the people serve the nation."

"So, on July 4th, let's as we were told by our founding fathers, shoot rockets and celebrate and let the bombs go off and celebrate and praise our flag," he says. "But let's not forget that the freedom we enjoy, the freedom that we declared that we would have in 1776, still has to be won every single day and it's won by all of us, but especially by these young men and women in uniform."

Rep. Michele Bachmann has said she will not provide much of the more detailed information called for in the 2010 Census form.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - A trio of Republican congressmen are calling on a GOP colleague to completely fill out her 2010 Census form, following her vow to provide only basic information about her family.

In a statement released Wednesday, Republican Reps. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia, and John Mica of Florida said that "boycotting the constitutionally-mandated census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country."

Bachmann expressed concerns last week about the level of detail demanded in the census form and questioned the federal government's ability to protect her family's personal data.
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The Obama administration has premiered a new online tool that allows users to track the federal government's IT investments.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Obama administration is launching an "IT Dashboard" that increases access to information about the federal government's information technology spending and investment.

Using charts and graphs, the new dashboard displays IT information by federal agency or department. Users can also share or embed the charts on their own Web sites or blogs or on social sites including Facebook, Twitter, and delicious.

The dashboard also allows users to compile their own datasets based on the information available on the site. Once compiled, users can export their custom datasets as spreadsheets or receive the same information as an RSS feed.

The new site also plays host to a number of graphics that visualize for users detailed information about the federal government's IT portfolio.

The new dashboard is located at http://it.usaspending.gov/ and is part of USASpending.gov, a Web site that allows the public to access information about federal spending.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – One of Washington’s most prominent political couples weighed in Sunday on the latest sexual scandal to dominate political headlines.

James Carville, a Democratic strategist, and Mary Matalin, a Republican strategist, gave their unique takes on the situation of South Carolina’s embattled Republican Gov. Mark Sanford.

After days when his whereabouts were unknown and during which he was apparently unreachable by both his staff and his wife, Sanford held an emotioal and sometimes rambling press conference last week. Before local and national media, the governor admitted to carrying on an affair with a woman in Argentina, where Sanford had been AWOL for several days prior to the presser.

“I actually thought that his press conference was very, sort of compelling television,” Carville said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. The Democrat also told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King that he hoped Sanford would not have to resign because of the scandal.

The Democratic strategist added that Democrats should not view the scandal as an opportunity to attack Sanford or the GOP.

“I have no idea, but, if I had to guess, there’s going to be some Democrats that are going to get entangled in this kind of stuff because there always is people,” Carville, a longtime ally of former President Bill Clinton, said.

That said, Carville threw down the gauntlet with Republicans in anticipation of the 2010 and 2012 elections.

“If they go back to this what-do-we-tell-the-children, family values stuff, I’ll lead the attack on them,” the Democrat said. “If they just leave it alone, and say, ‘you know, we’re all human beings, we’re all capable of falling, let’s concentrate on policy,’ then that’s fine. Let’s move on to the next thing.”

Carville’s wife said Gov. Sanford should be focused on the personal rather than the political aspects of his situation – particularly the potential impact on the Sanfords’ four young sons.

“He has to make those four boys understand that this God awful betrayal has nothing to do with them,” Matalin said. “That he loves them and he needs to pray that they will forgive him. That’s his number one job.”
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Asked on CNN’s State of the Union how much damage the recent admissions of marital infidelity by Nevada Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford have done to the Republican Party’s already struggling brand, Pawlenty said “it’s hard to quantify that."

“But clearly there’s been damage,” Pawlenty quickly added.

“Anytime you have leading figures who are engaged in behavior that is sad and troubling and hypocritical, other people are going to look at that and say, ‘They don’t walk the walk,’” Pawlenty CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. “And so the words and the actions don’t ring true.”

Pawlenty called the situation between Gov. Sanford and his wife, Jenny – the couple is currently separated because of the governor’s extramarital affair – “a sad and troubling situation.”

“I’m proud of Jenny for her strength . . . and, frankly, I was glad to see her not standing at the press conference [where Sanford admitted the affair last week] like many others have and kind of charting her own path.”

And Pawlenty had harsh words for his embattled counterpart in South Carolina.

Sanford “should not have left the state and not allowed people to know how to contact him in case something happened,” Pawlenty told King. “Your staff has to be able to reach you and reach you quickly for all the obvious reasons – natural disaster, terrorism, or other events,” Pawlenty also said.

Asked about the GOP’s relationship with its socially and fiscally conservative base, Pawlenty said Republicans need to return to their values.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) – Minnesota’s Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty took aim Sunday at the high price tag for President Obama’s ambitious plans to reform the nation’s health care system.

“The president said not long ago in an interview, quote-unquote, we are out of money,” Pawlenty told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King when asked whether the country could afford health care reform right now. “With all due respect Mr. President, if we’re out of money, quit spending it,” Pawlenty added.

“And, so no, we can’t afford it. This is a nation that has got a debt load and a deficit load that is unsustainable. We’re going to have, in my view, the federal government debt crisis equivalent of the mortgage crisis within 20 years.”

Pawlenty also said that he didn’t think the new administration was serious about addressing federal spending, notwithstanding the president’s recent emphasis on cleaning up the federal government’s fiscal situation.

The Republican also slammed a proposal favored by some Democrats for a public health insurance option as part of health care reform legislation.
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The Dodd campaign is out with a new ad that features Sen. Ted Kennedy.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, once again has some high-powered help in his 2010 re-election bid.

Dodd began airing a new television ad Sunday that features his long time friend, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts.

"Quality health care as a fundamental right has been the cause of my life," Kennedy says in the 30-second TV spot. "And Chris Dodd has been my closest ally in this fight."

Kennedy adds that "I believe that with Chris Dodd's leadership, our families will finally have accessible, affordable health care."

The Connecticut Democrat has already aired an ad featuring President Obama praising his work on credit card reform legislation.

The Kennedy ad is running state-wide on broadcast and cable outlets Dodd campaign manager Jay Howser told CNN. Howser said the campaign is spending at least $100,000 for the ad that is scheduled to run for at least a week.

Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer, is the chairman of one of the congressional committees charged with crafting the Democrats' health care reform bill. Dodd has taken a leading role in championing the legislation in Kennedy's absence.

Public polling now indicates that Dodd faces a difficult re-election in 2010.

Related: 'The world is watching,' Obama tells Iran

Obama “needs to condemn what the government is doing,” conservative radio talk show host and CNN political contributor Bill Bennett said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

“He needs to say it in no uncertain terms. This is very disappointing, as far as I’m concerned. This was the president to whom the whole world was looking. . . . This is a president about hope, he’s about the future. This is a guy who was a community organizer. He missed it. He missed the opportunity.”

“We are last best hope on Earth,” Bennett also said. “He is the President of the United States. If he will not side with these young people against a religious autocracy that is beating the hell out of people, what is the point of being the moral leader of the free world?”

Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist and CNN political contributor, sees the situation differently.

“I think the president has struck the right balance,” Brazile said Sunday.

“If the United States is seen as showing its so-called fist at a moment when the people themselves are speaking out, it could have the adverse effect of rallying those individuals against the United States and not against their government,” the Democrat said.

Related: Obama gives exclusive interview to Pakistani media outlet

Indiana Republican Richard Lugar said Sunday that changing the nation’s health care might have to wait a while.

“What I would suggest is that we hang on now for a period of study so that we find, literally, what the alternatives are,” Lugar told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King Sunday on State of the Union.

Lugar said health care reform might not happen in 2009.

“Not this year, because the president is trying to solve the economic crisis in our country and the world. We already have a $1.8 trillion deficit projected quite apart from all of this,” Lugar said.

“To be candid with you,” California Democrat Dianne Feinstein told King, “I don’t know that [Obama] has the votes right now. I think there’s a lot of concern in the Democratic caucus.”

Last week on State of the Union, a bipartisan group of moderate senators also expressed reservations about the health care reform proposals favored by the White House and more liberal Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Updated: 3:13 p.m.

“To the best of my knowledge, there has been no interference with the election. There has been no manipulation of people following the election,” Feinstein, the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.

“These questions have been asked as late as this past week of people in the clandestine operations who would know this – in a formal setting – and that’s the answers we were given,” the California Democrat added.

Asked about past American intelligence failures in Iraq, Feinstein expressed some misgivings about U.S. intelligence on Iran.

“I don’t think our intelligence – candidly — is that good. I think it’s a very difficult country in which to collect intelligence right now. I think our ability to get in there and change the course of human events is very low . . .”

After saying she thought President Obama was handling the situation appropriately, Feinstein also said it was important that the U.S. not be perceived as interfering in Iran’s political situation.
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Sen. Richard Lugar said Sunday that the Obama administration should sit down with Iran in hopes of eliminating Iran's nuclear program.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – After a week of political protests by Iranians calling into question the legitimacy of the country's leadership, a leading U.S. Republican said Sunday that the United States should still engage in diplomatic dialogue with the Middle Eastern nation.

"We would sit down because our objective is to eliminate the nuclear program that is in Iran," Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana said Sunday on CNN's State of the Union.

But Lugar, ranking Republican on the foreign relations committee, also said he believes Iranian interest in high-level talks with the U.S. is "totally improbable."

"The reason is: This regime now is under fire," Lugar told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King. "This is not a stable regime in which two people suddenly sit down with the United States. They may not be able to impose their will."

Lugar also said the unrest may open a door for the United States.

"We really have to get into the nuclear weapons. We have to get into terrorism of Iran in other areas of the Middle East. Now we have new opportunity in which we might very well say, 'We want communication with Iran. We want openness of the press. We don't want to have to use Twitter. We want the press on the ground.'"

"In order to have any kind of a relationship, we need to be able to talk to people, hear from people, argue with people," Lugar added.

Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

The White House responded Thursday to recent comments by former President George W. Bush.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – A day after former President George W. Bush seemed to criticize the Obama administration for departing from a number of his anti-terrorism policies, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fired back.

Asked about Bush's remarks during Thursday's press briefing Gibbs had a simple response. "We won," Gibbs told reporters.

In a vigorous defense of his own national security policies during a speech in Pennsylvania Wednesday, Bush appeared to take issue with the new administration's early decision to close the detention center in Guantanamo Bay and ban the use of aggressive interrogation techniques.

"I told you I'm not going to criticize my successor," Bush said, according to a report by the Washington Times. "I'll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat and I don't believe that persuasion isn't going to work. Therapy isn't going to cause terrorists to change their mind."

Gibbs said Thursday that the American people had made their own decision about battling terror.

"I think we've had a debate about individual policies. We had that debate in particular – we kept score last November and we won," Gibbs said.
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In an online video released Wednesday, President Obama called on all Americans to volunteer in their communities.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Obama unveiled a new community service initiative Wednesday with a focus on his administration's domestic policy priorities: education, health care, energy, and turning around the nation's struggling economy.

"[W]e cannot do this alone here in Washington," the president said in an online video announcing the launch of "United We Serve."

"We can rebuild our schools, but we need people to be mentors and tutors . . . we need volunteers in our hospitals and communities . . .we need people to use energy-efficient products in their homes and train for the green jobs in the future," he said. "…[W]e need to build a new foundation for economic growth in America."

The campaign will begin on June 22 and run through September 11, which became "The National Day of Service and Remembrance" when Obama signed legislation promoting community service soon after taking office.

As part of the new campaign, the administration also launched serve.gov Wednesday. The Web site allows users to register their community service projects and connect with others interested in volunteering.

"United We Serve" will be overseen by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency charged with fostering community service and volunteerism.

(CNN) – After days of being criticized for an off-color joke about the daughter of Alaska's Republican Gov. Sarah Palin, late night TV talk show David Letterman got a vote of support from a fellow comedian.

Bill Maher, host of HBO's "Real Time," called the apology that Letterman issued Monday "a real shame."

Related: Letterman apologizes to Palins over 'coarse joke'

"David Letterman should not have had to apologize," Maher told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room. "I've known David Letterman a long time."

"He's a very fundamentally decent Midwesterner. It's just not in his DNA to have said something that they're accusing him of saying," Maher added.

"It was an easy and obvious joke to make. It was funny. It was not offensive in any way," the HBO host said after detailing his take on the circumstances leading up to Letterman's controversial joke. "And they made it sound like he said something completely different. So he's apologizing for something he never meant, never thought, and never said."

Related: Palin accepts Letterman's apology

"I've been through this," Maher told Blitzer. "It stinks."

Maher's show appears on HBO, a sister network of CNN that also is owned by Time Warner.