The New York Times: “Starting a second day of talks on the Syria crisis, Secretary of State John Kerry had a three-way meeting Friday morning at the Palais de Nations here with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, and Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy on the Syria issue.”
AP: “With a military strike against Syria on hold, President Barack Obama tried Thursday to reignite momentum for his second-term domestic agenda. But his progress could hinge on the strength of his standing on Capitol Hill after what even allies acknowledge were missteps in the latest foreign crisis.”
Five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers (which will be Sunday), Americans continue to overwhelmingly dislike Wall Street, according to the latest NBC/WSJ poll. Wall St. has a 14/42 fav/unfav, lower than any other group or person polled. President Obama gets a 45% fav, the Tea Party 23%. Obama’s disapproval on the economy is the highest it’s been in a year, with 52% disapproving, and just 27% think the economy will get better in 12 months. Part of Obama’s disapproval is likely because of the disconnect between Wall Street and the job market. Recovery in the job market has happened at a much slower pace than the gains on Wall Street. Perhaps because of that, the GOP has seen a bounce in their economic numbers with people saying they prefer Republicans on the economy and the federal deficit. But Democrats still dominate on who is standing up for the middle class. Fewer people are saying they are a part of the middle class, and there’s also evidence of widening income inequality with more people saying they make less than $30,000 a year, while many more say they’re making more than $75,000.
Americans overwhelmingly do not think Congress should raise the nation’s debt limit as President Barack Obama and Congress prepare once again to wage battle over the issue, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. By a 44-22 percent margin, Americans oppose raising the debt ceiling, which again puts the president in the difficult position of needing to make the case for an unpopular policy with a deadline quickly approaching.
Speaking of the economy, “Obama is expected to announce that former White House official Jeffrey Zients will be the next director of the National Economic Council; Zients will replace Gene Sperling, who will depart at the start of next year,” USA Today reports.
“Taliban militants staged a suicide car bombing outside the United States consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat early Friday, killing two Afghan police and a security guard,” USA Today reports.
Japanese newspaper Nikkei: “President Barack Obama is set to name former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers as the next chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, sources told The Nikkei on Thursday.”
Politico: “Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday slammed the Republicans who slowed the passage of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act as ‘this sort of Neanderthal crowd’ in the House as he touted what he considers to be his unique understanding of how Congress works.”
“A Pennsylvania grand jury has charged a Clarks Summit man with threatening to kill President Barack Obama,” AP writes, adding, “Clarks Summit is about 10 miles outside Scranton. Obama visited Scranton and the region Aug. 23, a week after the alleged threatening email. That same day, local police seized ammunition and weapons at a Clarks Summit home on behalf of the Secret Service.”
Time’s Rick Stengel may be leaving the magazine for a job at the State Department as “Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.”