CNN's GUT CHECK for September 6, 2013

CNN's GUT CHECK | for September 6, 2013 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

OBAMA NON-COMMITTAL ON ACTION WITHOUT CONGRESS:

CNN’S BRIANNA KEILAR AT AN OBAMA PRESS CONFERENCE IN RUSSIA: What if the Senate votes yes and the House votes no - it’s go ahead with the strike?

OBAMA: “Brianna, I think it would be a mistake for me to jump the gun and speculate, because right now I’m working to get as much support as possible out of Congress.” …

ABC’S JONATHAN KARL: “I still haven’t heard a direct response to Brianna’s question - if Congress fails to authorize this, will you go forward with an attack on Syria?

OBAMA: “You’re not getting a direct response. Brianna asked the question very well. Did you think that I was going to give you a different answer? No.”

AT ODDS: PUTIN AND OBAMA MEET, BUT NO PROGRESS MADE ON SYRIA… President Barack Obama described his 20 minute exchange with Russian President Vladimir Putin as “candid, constructive” but noted that they do not agree on Syria. Putin gave reporters a similar account, adding, “He doesn't agree with me. I don't agree with him, but we listened to each other.” – Laura Smith-Spark, Elise Labott and Saad Abedine

LATEST POLLING: Jim Roberts (‏@nycjim) tweets… Latest Reuters-Ipsos tracking poll shows uptick in public opposition to #Syria intervention.

MAKE YOUR CASE, MR. PRESIDENT: OBAMA TO ADDRESS AMERICAN PEOPLE ON TUESDAY… The president wrapped up the G20 summit in Russia by telling reporters he will speak to the nation on Tuesday as Congress prepares to vote on a resolution authorizing limited military strikes against Syria. – Ashley Killough and Tom Cohen

MARKET WATCH: U.S. stocks end choppy day flat, but still finish the week with modest gains. NSADAQ leads way with 2% increase.

TRAIL TRIVIA
(Answer below)
How many sitting presidents have traveled to Russia or the USSR?

DAN (@DanMericaCNN), MARK (@PrestonCNN) & MICHELLE (@mjaconiCNN)
What caught our eye today in politics

An interesting stat caught our eye: Syria produces a mere 180,000 barrels of oil a day. The U.S., by comparison, produces 7.2 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Information Administration.

That doesn't mean, however, that oil – and in particular its price – won't be at all affected by possible military action in Syria.

“As a U.S. military strike against Syria grows increasingly likely, oil prices have slowly crept higher,” CNN Money's Steve Hargreaves writes. “Its neighbors produce a lot of it. The fear is that these neighboring countries could get dragged into the conflict, and oil production and transport may be interrupted.” LINK
http://economy.money.cnn.com/2013/09/05/why-syria-matters-to-oil-markets/?iid=GM

Hargreaves continues: “The possibility of these counties becoming engulfed in the war is remote, which is why U.S. oil prices rose only $5 a barrel following the news of an apparent chemical weapon attack. Call it the Syria risk premium.”

the LEDE
Did you miss it?

Leading CNNPolitics: Biden wants Napolitano on Supreme Court
Vice President Joe Biden made it clear Friday how he feels about departing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "I think Janet Napolitano should be on the Supreme Court of the United States," he said Friday morning at her going away ceremony. – Laura Koran and Bill Means

Leading Drudge: Iran Plots Revenge
The U.S. has intercepted an order from Iran to militants in Iraq to attack the U.S. Embassy and other American interests in Baghdad in the event of a strike on Syria, officials said, amid an expanding array of reprisal threats across the region. – Julian E. Barnes and Adam Entous for the Wall Street Journal

Leading HuffPo: This Means War
Below, 11 photos from prior U.S. military engagements. Can you tell which ones are from actual "wars," which ones are from "not-wars," and which ones are from whatever lies between? – Nick Wing and Melissa Jeltsen

Leading Politico: Obama Stymied in Bid to Rally World Leaders on Syria Strike
President Obama emerged from the Group of 20 meeting with a few international supporters, but no consensus as other leaders urged him not to attack Syria without United Nations backing. – Peter Baker and Steven Lee Myers

Leading The New York Times: Syria poses new economic risks
Automobile sales are hitting fresh highs. Unemployment claims are dropping. The United States appears poised for a period of stronger economic growth. And once again, crisis in Washington could blow it all up. The latest culprit: an increasingly ugly battle over authorizing President Barack Obama to fire missiles at Syria. – Ben White

HOT SOTS
The political bites of the day

- ‘There is something different about chemical warfare’ -
SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS, DURING A SPEECH IN WASHINGTON, D.C.: “In arguing for limited military action in the wake of this mass casualty chemical weapons atrocity we are not arguing that Syrian lives are worth protecting only when they are threatened with poison gas. Rather, we are reaffirming what the world has already made plain in laying down its collective judgment on chemical weapons. There is something different about chemical warfare that raises the stakes for the United States and raises the stakes for the world.”

- Sessions: We can’t be the world’s police -
REPUBLICAN SEN. JEFF SESSIONS OF ALABAMA AT A TOWN HALL MEETING: “We cannot as a nation take it upon ourselves to take military action or declare war any time any dictator in the world violates some U.N., some treaty, some regulation.”

- Punishment, not regime change -
MARIE HARF, DEPUTY STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON, IN A BRIEFING TO REPORTERS: “This action that the president has put on the table for Congress to authorize is not aimed at regime change.”

- Julian Assange – just like any other CEO? -
A WIKILEAKS REPRESENTATIVE IN A RECENT INTERVIEW WITH VANITY FAIR: “He is like any other C.E.O. - plagued by constant meetings.”

TOP TWEETS
What stopped us in 140 characters or less
Victoria Craig (@VictoriaCraig)
U.S. adds 169,000 jobs in August, missing economists' expectations of 180,000. More from @FoxBusiness: http://fxn.ws/17DOmPo

Jim Tankersley (@jimtankersley)
Another drop in labor force participation. This is not the unemployment improvement we want.

Pedro da Costa (@pdacosta)
U.S. labor force participation lowest since 1978

Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN)
My piece on @cnnnewday today about the reasons momentum earlier this week for syria aumf has stalled in congress http://on.cnn.com/154FSQV

Rick Klein (@rickklein)
House's coalition of the unwilling? Ds, Rs, TPers, CBCers, Californians, Hawaiians, New Yorkers... http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/09/obamas-uphill-climb-for-syria-support-the-note/ …

Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert)
based on last wk or so, i'm thinking more and more the answer is Yes.....Could Twitter Have Stopped The Iraq War? http://bit.ly/YLjmIj

Rick Warren (@RickWarren)
Join me in praying and fasting on Saturday to #PrayForPeace in Syria. James 3:5-6

Bill Clinton (@billclinton)
Enjoyed my annual lunch with President and Mrs. Bush in Maine. Envious of his "western cactus"-themed socks.#sockswag pic.twitter.com/nXJV2DGnnj

Sarah Pulliam Bailey (@spulliam)
U.S birth rate falls to record low, marking the 5th year in a row the rate has declined http://ht.ly/oCP91 via @SHoddeMiller

TRIVIA ANSWER from @DanMericaCNN

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt attended the Yalta Conference where he met with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. According to the Office of the Historian at the State Department, Roosevelt's trip was the first presidential visit to Russia or the USSR.

For nearly the next 30 years, no president visited the USSR until, in 1972, Richard Nixon became the first president to visit the communist nation on a state visit.

Including Roosevelt and Nixon, a total of eight presidents have traveled to Russia.

George W. Bush was the most frequent president to visit Russia – with 7 trips. His predecessor, Bill Clinton, was second with 5 trips.

President Barack Obama is currently wrapping up a trip to Russia for the G-20 conference. This is Obama's second trip to Russia – he visited Russia in 2009 where he met with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

GUT CHECK WINNER’S CIRCLE
(why aren’t you in it)

No correct answers to today’s question. Happy Friday.

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