PRESIDENTIAL TWO-LINE ACTIVITY

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
MR. SCHEEL

Article 1

Obama: Latin America on equal footing with U.S.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Barack Obama on Thursday embarks on a trip to Latin America, where
the leader of the world's lone superpower said he seeks to engage in talks with the region's leaders as
equals.

"Times have changed," Obama told CNN en Español on Wednesday.

Referring to his planned meeting in Trinidad and Tobago with Brazil's president, he said, "My relationship
with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is one of two leaders who both have big countries, that we are trying
to solve problems and create opportunities for our people, and we should be partners.

"There's no senior partner or junior partner."

Obama and Lula da Silva are among the leaders scheduled to attend the Summit of the Americas this week.

Obama lauded Mexican President Felipe Calderon, with whom he will meet Thursday in Mexico City, as
having done "an outstanding and heroic job in dealing with what is a big problem right now along the borders
with the drug cartels."

Asked if the United States is partly to blame for the violence along the border, Homeland Security Secretary
Janet Napolitano said, "There certainly is a relationship. You can't deny it."

In Mexico City on Thursday, she said, "What we're working to do is to work to stop the flow of guns and cash
into Mexico that are helping fuel these cartels, but also we're working at the border to make sure that the
spillover violence doesn't occur in our own cities and communities

Obama vowed Wednesday that the United States can be counted on to help.

"We are going to be dealing not only with drug interdiction coming north but also working on helping to curb
the flow of cash and guns going south," he said.

The president also described himself as "a strong proponent of comprehensive immigration reform," saying
he has met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus "to try to shape an agenda that can move through
Congress."
Napolitano said the U.S. must ensure it is enforcing immigration laws on employers who "consistently go
into that illegal labor market in order to exploit it."

E-verify, an electronic employment eligibility verification system, must be an integral part of immigration
enforcement, she said.

Obama is to travel later in the week to the summit in Trinidad and Tobago for meetings with Latin American
leaders.

He refused to criticize the leaders of Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, who have taken measures to change
their constitutions to extend their holds on power.

"I think it's important for the United States not to tell other countries how to structure their democratic
practices and what should be contained in their constitutions," he said. "It's up to the people of those
countries to make a decision about how they want to structure their affairs."

Obama offered no criticism when asked how he plans to interact with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a
fierce U.S. critic who once described President Bush as the "devil." "Look, he's the leader of his country, and
he'll be one of many people that I will have an opportunity to meet," Obama said.

He said he believes the United States has a leadership role to play in the region, but he qualified that role
this way: "We also recognize that other countries have important contributions and insights."

He added, "We want to listen and learn as well as talk, and that approach, I think, of mutual respect and
finding common interests, is one that ultimately will serve everybody."

On Cuba, Obama -- who this week eased restrictions on travel and sending money to the island -- offered a
prod and a carrot to Havana.

"What we're looking for is some signal that there are going to be changes in how Cuba operates that
assures that political prisoners are released, that people can speak their minds freely, that they can travel,
that they can write and attend church and do the things that people throughout the hemisphere can do and
take for granted," he said.

"And if there is some sense of movement on those fronts in Cuba, then I think we can see a further thawing
of relations and further changes."

Obama sought to distance his administration from his predecessor's, noting he plans to close the detention
center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where "some of the practices of 'enhanced interrogation' techniques, I
think, ran counter to American values and American traditions."

He said his team has spoken with the Spanish government about a Spanish judge's call for an investigation
into the role of Bush officials in the detention of five Spaniards at Guantanamo.
But he did not dwell on his Bush's legacy. "I'm a strong believer that it is important to look forward and not
backward and to remind ourselves that we do have very real security threats out there," he said.

Though the U.S. image abroad may have suffered in recent years, Obama said, "There's a reason why there
are consistently so many immigrants to our country from Latin America."

Article 2

New role for president: Fundraiser in chief

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama takes his first stab Wednesday night at the role of fundraiser in
chief.

The president is the main attraction at two events in the nation's capital for the Democratic National
Committee, making for the first fundraising test for Obama since he took over the presidency two months
ago.

As a candidate for the White House, Obama, who was then a senator from Illinois, had little trouble raising
money: He broke all fundraising records, raking in nearly $750 million during his two-year campaign for the
presidency.

The money raised at Wednesday night's two events -- at the National Women in the Arts Museum and the
Warner Theater, where singer Tony Bennett is scheduled to perform -- will come in handy as the Democratic
National Committee struggles to keep pace with its Republican counterpart.

Democrats won back the White House and increased their majorities in Congress in November's elections,
but when it comes to campaign cash, the national party is not having the same kind of success. The DNC
raised about $3.3 million last month, while the Republican National Committee raked in more than $5 million.

Thanks to a larger transfer of campaign cash left over from Obama's presidential run, the DNC was able to
report $5.4 million in total contributions last month, slightly edging out the RNC. But when it comes to cash
on hand -- the amount of money the parties have in the bank -- the DNC's $8.5 million trails the RNC's $24
million.

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine on Tuesday dismissed the committee's disappointing February cash haul, saying
that his fundraising efforts were handicapped by a Virginia law that prohibits officials from raising money
during the state's legislative session.

"Fundraising stories don't interest me that much," Kaine said, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "I
was unable to raise any money in February, by law."
Kaine, who is DNC chairman while finishing out his term as Virginia's governor, wrapped up work with the
state's General Assembly on February 28.

"That is the reason that the numbers aren't going to be what they're going to be in future months," said
Kaine, who became DNC chairman in late January.

Kaine said that observers should "stay tuned" now that he's free to solicit donations.

"Historically, the Republican Party has almost always out-raised the Democratic Party, regardless of who sat
in the Oval Office. It wasn't until the 2004 cycle that the DNC was able to barely out-raise the RNC. So the
fact that Democrats haven't brought in as much this year as the GOP isn't necessarily a huge surprise," said
Robert Yoon, the CNN Political Unit's research director.

The president's appearances at the fundraisers come on the same day he spent some political capital, for
the first time since taking over the White House, in an effort to get another Democrat elected.

Obama e-mailed New York Democrats endorsing Scott Murphy, the venture capitalist who is running in the
special election to fill the seat in New York's 20th Congressional District that was vacated by Kirsten
Gillibrand when she was appointed to the U.S. Senate in January.

Murphy's Republican opponent in next Tuesday's election is is New York assemblyman Jim Tedisco. Though
the Democratic and Republican campaign committees in the House of Representatives have pumped
resources into the race, the president had so far kept his distance.

In fact, the president has largely avoided overtly political events since his inauguration two months ago. Last
week, that began to change: He sent a video to millions of his supporters through the e-mail distribution list
of Organizing for America, the remnant of his presidential campaign that is now under the umbrella of the
DNC.

With Democrats hoping to defend two governorships this November, the party hopes that the president will
be able to bring in the big bucks.

"Controlling the White House is still a big plus when it comes to fundraising. In the last midterms, President
Bush raised at least $170 million on behalf of Republican candidates and party committees, even while his
personal approval ratings were relatively low," Yoon said. "So there's no doubt that President Obama can
give the party a huge fundraising boost if he hits the campaign trail and stumps for other Democrats."
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