-President Obama flew to London for what is shaping up as the toughest diplomatic test of his young tenure: a Group of 20 summit seeking ways to end the global economic slump. European leaders, notably Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, have already said they will resist American efforts to increase and coordinate government spending to boost economic growth. They prefer to focus on increasing and coordinating regulation of financial services companies, like those blamed for the current recession. After the G20 summit Thursday, the president will attend two others: a NATO security summit shared among the French city of Strasbourg and the German cities of Kehl and Baden Baden, and a European Union summit in Prague.

-Another day, another website. The Obama administration’s abiding fondness for the World Wide Web found another avenue of expression today with the official debut of FinancialStability.gov. The Treasury Department says the website is designed to provide taxpayers with “information about the Obama Administration’s efforts to stabilize our financial system.” We say today is the “official” debut because Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner actually introduced the site back on February 10, though there wasn’t much on it at the time. In any case, FinancialStability.com is not to be confused with Recovery.gov, which is supposed to tell taxpayers where their bailout money is going, or any of the many other websites — www.makinghomeaffordable.gov or www.healthreform.gov or http://www.whitehouse.gov/strongmiddleclass/– that the administration has fired up in its first three months.

-Before boarding Air Force One for London, the president signed an omnibus public-lands bill that allows for another 2 million acres of federal property to be set aside as wilderness. It will also expand the wild and scenic rivers program by more than 1,000 miles.

Obama: A ‘failure of leadership’ led to GM, Chrysler problems

Blaming a failure of leadership from Washington to Detroit, President Barack Obama delivered ultimatums today for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC to enact deeper cuts or face collapse without government aid.

In a White House speech flanked by 12 of his economic advisers, Obama said today he was committed to the U.S. auto industry and its workers, comparing the industrys decline to a natural disaster that deserved a federal response.

But he also made clear that the limits of federal aid to automakers was within sight, and that deeper cuts among workers, dealers, creditors and suppliers, along with a possible trip through bankruptcy court, would be needed for the automakers survival.

Year after year, decade after decade, we have seen problems papered-over and tough choices kicked down the road, even as foreign competitors outpaced us, Obama said. Well, we have reached the end of that road. And we, as a nation, cannot afford to shirk responsibility any longer.

Now is the time to confront our problems head-on and do whats necessary to solve them.

In its first comments, GM said that it was committed to working with the administration, and raised the chance that it would need to file some type of bankruptcy after weeks of rebutting the idea. Shares of GM fell 20% on the New York Stock Exchange.

Our strong preference is to complete this restructuring out of court, GM said in a statement. However, GM will take whatever steps are necessary to successfully restructure the company, which could include a court-supervised process.

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Livonia, said he wanted more details of what the administration was asking from the automakers and Detroit.

The last viability plans included 50,000 people losing their jobs and sacrifices from retirees, he said. I want to see how many thousands of jobs are lost and what the retirees have to sacrifice under the administration plan.

After finding that GM and Chrysler had failed to craft viable business plans under their $17.4 billion in federal loans, the president outlined different strategies for GM and Chrysler. GM gets 60 days to craft a new viability plan, one Obama said would have to go further than the one GM submitted in February which called for shedding 20,000 workers and closing 14 plants.

As part of its plan, the government demanded the resignation of GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner. Obama said the request was not a judgment on Wagoner, but a recognition that it will take a new vision and new direction to create the GM of the future.

The government has no interest or intention of running GM, he said.

Obama also said Chrysler was no longer viable without a partner, adding that its deal with Fiat was the best option. The two sides have 30 days to craft a deal, which could be supported by up to $6 billion in federal loans that would have to be repaid before Fiat could take a majority stake in Chrysler.

The president said a short-term bankruptcy might be needed to win the debt reductions the government sees as necessary. Neither GM or Chrysler had made any progress in winning concessions from bondholders, and several analysts had noted that without the threat of bankruptcy the government had little leverage to force bondholders into any agreement.

Obama said if the companies filed, bankruptcy would not lead to liquidation, but would be used to quickly clear away old debts that are weighing them down so they can get back on their feet and onto a path to success; a tool that we can use, even as workers are staying on the job building cars that are being sold.

He also said the administration would work to boost demand for vehicles, including considering some kind of “cash for clunkers” program, where owners of old models would get rebates to buy new, more efficient models.

The path I am laying out today is our best chance to make sure the cars of the future are built where theyve always been built in Detroit and across the Midwest, Obama said.

President Obama on Tuesday overturned a last-minute Bush administration regulation that many environmentalists claim weakened the Endangered Species Act.

The regulation, issued a few weeks before George W. Bush left office, made it easier for federal agencies to skip consultations with government scientists before launching projects that could effect endangered wildlife.

By doing overturning the regulation, Obama said during an enthusiastic reception at the Interior Department, he had restored “the scientific process to its rightful place at the heart of the Endangered Species Act, a process undermined by past administrations.”

Under the Bush administration rule, there was no need for a federal agency to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Services if that agency determined that no harm would come to an endangered species as a result of its project.

But the determination of what “no harm” meant rested with agency bureaucrats instead of scientists.

Obama issued a memorandum that effectively suspends the regulation while ordering a review to determine whether it promotes “the purposes of the [Endangered Species Act].”

“The work of scientists and experts in my administration, including right here in the Interior Department, will be respected,” Obama said. “For more than three decades, the Endangered Species Act has successfully protected our nation’s most threatened wildlife, and we should be looking for ways to improve it, not weaken it.”

Environmental groups were quick to praise Obama’s action.

“President Obama’s announcement will allow [the Endangered Species Act] to do what it was intended: protect our nation’s endangered plants and animals,” said Andrew Wetzler, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Endangered Species Program.

“Reversing the Bush administration’s midnight action will restore protections for our last wild places and species.”

Obama also helped celebrate the 160th anniversary of the Interior Department on Tuesday.

“Throughout our history, there’s been a tension between those who’ve sought to conserve our natural resources for the benefit of future generations and those who have sought to profit from these resources,” he told department employees.

“But I’m here to tell you this is a false choice. With smart, sustainable policies, we can grow our economy today and preserve the environment for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.”

Months after rumors started that she would be part of the Obama cabinet, today, its official. President Barack Obama has nominated Governor Kathleen Sebelius as his secretary of health and human services.

If confirmed by the Senate, which is expected, Kathleen Sebelius, who served eight years as the Kansas insurance commissioner, will be working along side Barack Obama on one of his top priorities’ overhauling the nation’s health care system in an effort to provide affordable coverage to all Americans.

Obama and Sebelius shared the stage in the nation’s capitol. It’s been more than a year since they did the same thing in El Dorado when candidate Obama visited his grandfather’s hometown.

On Monday, the president offered a number of explanations as to why Sebelius is his health and human services nominee.

“As a governor, she’s been on the front lines of our health care crisis,” President Obama said. “She has deep knowledge of what the burden of crushing costs does to our families and businesses. That’s why she fought to give Kansans access to quality, affordable health care.”

“Mr. President, I share your passion and commitment to health care reform,” Sebelius said. “During the campaign, you talked about watching your mother spending her final days battling for her insurance benefits; a situation all too familiar to too many Americans.”

Fellow Kansans Pat Roberts and Bob Dole were also there to lend their support to Sebelius.

“People in Kansas, we stick together,” President Obama said. “I’ve got my own Kansas roots here.”

Sebelius said her Kansas roots made accepting the nomination a very difficult decision.

“You, Mr. President, reminded me that it’s possible to help Kansas, and help the United States at the same time,” she said.

It was just about three months ago when Sebelius announced she was removing her name for a possible cabinet position, saying she had too many responsibilities in Kansas.

There is no word yet on when her confirmation hearings might begin. Her biggest opposition at this point appears to be from the pro-life movement.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site can be found by clicking on the following links http’//www.hhs.gov/

Who does the White House think leads the Republican party? It’s not anyone in the House or the Senate. According to Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff, that person is Rush Limbaugh. “He is the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party. And he has been up front about what he views, and hasn’t stepped back from that, which is he hopes for failure. He said it. And I compliment him for his honesty, but that’s their philosophy that is enunciated by Rush Limbaugh. And I think that’s the wrong philosophy for America,” Emanuel said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

-White House Budget Director Peter Orzag defended the administrations plan to boost taxes on high-income Americans to pay for healthcare reform. “I just reject the theory that the only thing that drives economic performance is the marginal tax rate on wealthy Americans, and the only way of being pro-market is to funnel billions and billions of dollars of subsidies to corporations,” Orzag said on ABC’s “This Week.”

-President Obama’s only big holdover from the Bush administration–Defense Secretary Robert Gates–has a unique take on the transition, given he’s served both men. “I think that probably President Obama is somewhat more analytical. And he makes sure he hears from everybody in the room on an issue. And if they don’t speak up, he calls on them.” Gates said on “Meet the Press” on NBC. “President Bush was interested in hearing different points of view but didn’t go out of his way to make sure everybody spoke if they hadn’t spoken up before.”

Saying his administration has done more in the past 30 days to advance “progressive change” than has been done in many years, President Obama touted his early record to a meeting of black leaders in Los Angeles.

In remarks prepared for delivery over a video link to the 2009 “State of the Black Union” conference, Obama said that his administration’s efforts to expand health care, make college more affordable, reduce taxes for lower income Americans, and stimulate the slumping economy would make a big difference among African-Americans.

“You know that tough times for America often mean tougher times for African-Americans,” Obama said. “This recession has been no exception. The unemployment rate among black Americans is a full five points higher than the rate among Americans as a whole.”

As a candidate for president, Obama has run into some criticism for past decisions to skip the annual confabs, which are meetings of black intellectuals and opinion leaders brought together by influential talk show host Tavis Smiley. Obama skipped last year’s meeting in New Orleans, while campaigning in crucial primary states. He also missed the 2007 meeting in Virginia, which fell on the day he officially launched his presidential campaign.

After Obama missed the meetings, some critics accused him of trying to avoid directly addressing African-American concerns, for fear that it would cost him support among whites. But today Obama had only kind words for the meeting in his short remarks. “It represents an incredible opportunity to highlight not only the challenges facing the African-American community–but also the ways in which ordinary men and women are working to meet them,” he said.