Did ASU snub President Obama, or just blow an obvious opportunity?

After a day of digging and talking to ASU staff and faculty, it seems this may have been more of a bureaucratic snafu than a political snub. Many have questioned whether such a decision not to award Obama an honorary degree could be racially motivated. ASU is intent to say - after the gaffe - that they will "honor Obama in every way possible."

Dawn Teo kept at this story, which was one of the hottest items yesterday at the Huffington Post, and she discovered a university administration about as jittery as cats in a room full of rocking chairs by the look of it.

Faculty and staff at ASU have taken a lot of heat over this issue. Laurie Chassin co-chairs of the ASU Honorary Degree Committee along with Christine Wilkinson, but she is on sabbatical this year and is not involved in this year's evaluations. She reportedly received death threats, though, after this story hit national news on Thursday. An ASU spokesperson said they started receiving hate-email within minutes after the story was published on Huffington Post. Crow's office was barraged with so many calls that many went straight to voice mail.

Dawn's discovered that when the President accepted the invitation to speak at the ASU commencement, the news was top secret, because Obama's press team wanted to announce the story together with the other commencements at the President would appear - but stopping leaks inside the beltway is difficult to say the least. It seems likely the right hand at ASU didn't know what the left hand was up to...

...but they sure did bungle the opportunity, and the coverage, and end up with a lot of egg on a lot of ASU faces.

Meanwhile, as you'd likely expect, the White House seems utterly unconcerned over the snafu in Arizona. There's been no mention of it I can discover via the White House blog or briefings. Today's message was largely about hope that the anecdotal signs of an economic turn-around might signal the start of broader progress reversing the downward spiral, though it's clear the recovery will not be quick.

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Obama's visit to Mesa brings hope to fearful AZ home owners

President Obama has people paying attention and engaged -- and Dawn Teo's covering both sides of the story for Huffington Post:

Dueling groups of anti- and countering pro-Obama protesters were setup in several "free speech zones" near the high school, smaller groups were scattered across sidewalks and street corners for several blocks, where former Governor Janet Napolitano's departure to take over as the new United States Secretary of Homeland Security gave Republicans full control of Arizona's state government.

Ms. Teo wrote:
"According to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, who spoke to the press before the event, about 6 percent of Arizona mortgages either are in foreclosure or are more than 90 days behind today. Across the country, nearly 10 percent of mortgages are behind, and in December, close to half of home sales across the country were "distressed" sales. Donovan says he expects about 6 million more foreclosures over the next 3 years."

The Obama administration is supporting legislation that, if passed, would allow judges to write down the principle and/or interest of mortgages when mortgage holders file for bankruptcy, and will be releasing new mortgage guidelines, which go into effect in 2 weeks that will standardize the mortgage loan process, including the appraisal process.

"Eyes brimmed with tears, attendees described the bleak outlook of being uprooted from their homes, a common fate in the Valley of the Sun. Besides the obvious transition from pre-election rallies to stately policy talks, today's topic -- the foreclosure crisis -- was sobering for the Mesa crowd."

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TN Dems Blame Reps & Fox network over Obama perceptions

Dawn Teo:
Fred Hobbs set off a flurry of sound-bites and interest when he was asked why Representative Lincoln Davis was delaying his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama as the party's nominee for President. Clearly part of the problem is that they just plain haven't gotten to know Senator Obama in Tennessee yet, but the fact is, they handed the extremists among their opponents something to run with in a week when most of the truly bad coverage was about McCain (unless you count the backlash against Megyn and Malkin and the "baby mama" debacle, but they aren't running for office.) Going into the weekend the commentators on the right were anxious for any story to chase the Supreme Court Gitmo decision -- and the crisis of faith it represented -- off the headlines, and Hobbs played Lincoln Davis right into their hands.

The Tennessee Democratic Party issued a statement on Friday that the Tennessee Democratic Party is united behind Obama. On Monday, they published the statement on the front page of their website. The statement also blamed Republicans for the outrageous comments coming from its own party leaders... This is some great reporting from Dawn Teo that gets beyond the sound-bites from last week.

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