The Office of the Vice President is not worth a warm bucket of piss

November 22, 2008
Another Triumph for Clinton, Many Women Agree
By JODI KANTOR

Hillary Rodham Clinton, a first lady turned senator turned almost-president, is now transforming herself again, this time into the nation’s top diplomat. But she is also back to a role she cannot seem to shake: a canvas for women’s highest hopes and deepest fears about the workplace.

As she pondered this week whether to trade her hard-won independence and elected office for a job working for a more powerful man, mothers and schoolteachers and law partners mulled in tandem with her. After eight years of building her own constituency, how could Mrs. Clinton surrender it? they asked. Is secretary of state a promotion or an acknowledgment that her political prospects are now limited? And ultimately, how well will her male boss treat her?

As news spread on Friday evening that Mrs. Clinton had decided to accept the job, so did a basic consensus: the assignment was probably a triumph for Mrs. Clinton, if a costly one.

Gloria Steinem said in an interview, “Secretary of state is far superior to vice president, because it’s involved in continuously solving problems and making policy and not being on standby.”

Liz Kuoppala, a City Council member in Eveleth, Minn., said, “As a senator, you’re just 1 of 100, and she’s had to play quiet and polite.”

“I think this will allow her to blossom,” Ms. Kuoppala added. “It’s good for women everywhere.”

On pro-Clinton e-mail lists, supporters were already calling their heroine the next George Marshall, a figure who would reshape the world while President-elect Barack Obama becomes entangled in the sinking economy.

Their case for Mrs. Clinton’s decision as feminist triumph has gone something like this: Ten years ago, she was still a first lady whose hairstyles were the subject of late-night jokes; now she will be the world’s top diplomat. She may still be in a more powerful man’s shadow, but being married to a president and working for one are worlds apart. And Mrs. Clinton is such an esteemed figure, no one will see her as a mere emissary.

“If she mishandles a negotiation between two disputing nations, she can’t blame that on somebody else,” said Christine C. Quinn, the first female speaker of the New York City Council and a longtime political friend of Ms. Clinton. “She will be the one on the line, just as she is as a senator.”

And in terms of sheer impact, the imprint she leaves on the world and on history, the State Department would offer a more global platform than the Senate. “I always come back to what Hillary wants, which is to do the most important work she can do, the biggest work,” said Susie Tompkins Buell, a longtime supporter and friend of Mrs. Clinton from San Francisco.

But there are corresponding worries: that Mrs. Clinton will have to compete with Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. for influence, that Mr. Obama, just months ago her mortal rival, will not trust her fully with assignments.

Some are sad to see Mrs. Clinton, who recently made a bid to lead health care reform in the Senate but walked away empty-handed, part from her core issue.

Nancy B. White, a retired school administrator in Bloomington, Ind., who cheered Mrs. Clinton on in primary rallies last spring, wishes Ms. Clinton would have stayed on Capitol Hill.

“I would have told her to hang tough in Congress and work on health care,” Ms. White said.

Like many others interviewed, Marie C. Wilson, president of the White House Project, a women’s leadership organization, said she would like to have seen Mrs. Clinton as Senate majority leader, a situation she now knows will never happen.

“I feel real mixed about this. I think it’s better for women to be their own boss,” Ms. Wilson said, pointing out that more governors than senators had become president in recent times.

The fledgling Obama administration is a mostly male club, with figures like Rahm Emanuel, Eric H. Holder Jr. and Timothy F. Geithner filling or expected to fill top positions, and in recent days, some speculated that Mrs. Clinton was selected, at least in some small part, because she was a woman.

Throughout Mrs. Clinton’s presidential run, women across the country saw in her a mirror of their own career fortunes: when she teared up just before the New Hampshire primary that she was expected to lose, they remembered their own workplace humiliations, and when she lost the Democratic nomination, many saw it as an accumulation of all-too-familiar sexist slights. Now several of those interviewed said her selection as secretary of state — the third woman to hold the position — said nothing much about gender at all.

“The question of whether one has one’s own political power or goes to work for someone else is not only a feminist question,” Ms. Steinem pointed out.

Ms. Quinn agreed, “If she was a guy going to work for a guy, nobody would ask if it was a diminution of her voice.”

“Our country has been shunned by our allies, been rejected off of the world stage,” she continued. “The president, who has a job that you have the deepest respect for, says ‘You are our gal, put our country back on the world stage.’ Unless you are blind with ambition, how can you walk away from it? It’s a calling too great for somebody who has a deep sense of patriotism and duty.”

Reporting was contributed by Michael Barbaro, Lisa Belkin, Winter Miller, Conrad Mulcahy and Scott Shane.

Could she? Would she?

The Underminer?
Could Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama disagree without creating a Washington melodrama?
By John Dickerson
Posted Friday, Nov. 21, 2008, at 4:58 PM ET

The New York Times reports that Hillary Clinton has said yes. She will be President Barack Obama's secretary of state. The Clinton selection will occasion another 10 rounds of discussion about the wisdom of no-drama Obama bringing all the Clinton troubles into his house. Will Hillary Clinton undermine him to keep her political options open? What about Bill's flair for controversy? And how's that first meeting going to go between Hillary Clinton and Obama's White House Counsel Greg Craig, who claimed during the campaign that Clinton exaggerated her foreign-policy experience?

By picking Clinton, Obama may be making some kind of special political play, removing one of his rivals to protect himself from political harm, but I think he's more serious than that. There's been no evidence over the last two years that he engages in this kind of overly clever bank shot. It's more likely he's picked Clinton because she's smart and because he wants to surround himself with people who will challenge him.

During the presidential campaign, he regularly attacked President Bush for surrounding himself with people who only told him what he wanted to hear. He promised that he wouldn't do that. Every president says he's going to foster this spirit of candor (George W. Bush often said it), and we'll see if Obama really wants the kind of free-flowing dialogue he claims to. But the Clinton pick suggests that at least Obama is trying to make good on the promise. Obama is, in a way, courting drama.

What Obama wants from Clinton is the candor that can only be delivered by someone of her stature. It's what he said he wanted from Joe Biden, too. The problem for Clinton is that when the time comes for her to deliver her opinions to Obama directly and candidly and to fight for those opinions, it's going to look to those on the outside as if she's undermining her boss. The heated conversations might stay in the Oval Office, but it's hard to keep secrets in Washington, as Obama is learning. When a Cabinet secretary really believes in something, she tends to translate that passion to her staffers, who often talk to the press.

As long as Obama knows that Clinton is loyal, it may not matter how the chattering classes interpret any disagreement between them. Then again, it may. Secretary of state is an unusual position. Diplomats in Washington and foreign capitals believe a secretary of State based on how much weight they think the secretary carries with the president. If Clinton is viewed as operating on her own—even when she's being the kind of candid diplomat Obama wants her to be—it might send confusing signals.

The perception of conflict may, of course, be avoided if Clinton and Obama see things the same way for the duration of his presidency. Though this appointment may seem like the fulfillment of Obama's promise to name a team of rivals, as President Lincoln did, Clinton was merely a political rival, not an ideological one. During the campaign her views—particularly on foreign policy—were nearly identical to Obama's. Yes, they had that spat about how and when to meet with rogue leaders, but by the time they had both tweaked their positions, they were pretty similar. Maybe she'll completely agree all the time. But if she does, she probably won't be doing her job.
John Dickerson is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of On Her Trail. He can be reached at slatepolitics@gmail.com.

Hillary Clinton for State

Commentary by Margaret Carlson
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Washington is the most hierarchical city. Regardless of which private school the Obamas choose for their children, they will soon learn that any fifth-grader can discern the difference between a deputy secretary versus an assistant secretary of defense, of the gulf between those who have portal-to-portal limos and those officials limited to the at-work pool of subcompacts without cup holders.

So why would Senator Hillary Clinton put out word yesterday that she’s perfectly happy to remain 68th in seniority in the 111th Congress, junior to Charles Schumer, in the greatest yet slowest deliberative body in the world?

It will be a long time, if ever, before she becomes majority leader. Health-care reform, even in partnership with Senator Ted Kennedy, is less likely to be carried out than is progress in talking Iran down from a nuclear bomb.

Sure, Iran’s president is almost as tough as the insurance industry, but in the current financial crisis, the likely domestic agenda over the next few years is to save the economy.

As for Clinton holding onto her presidential ambitions, in 2016, whether she’s a senator or Cabinet secretary, she will be approaching 70. I hate to be the one to say this, but in politics and TV, women age in dog years. She will be seven times as old as John McCain, and he was considered too old.

In contrast to being senator, to be secretary of State is to be one of one, not one of 100. You whisper in the president’s ear and he in yours. You are royalty abroad, meeting, with or without conditions, with heads of state around the globe. You fly on an Air Force Boeing jet configured to your specifications. Trumpets herald your entrance, governments hang on dispatches from your “full and frank” discussions.

Dicey Process

One wonders if Hillary’s avowed happiness on Capitol Hill has anything to do with conditions that Barack Obama imposed before making a hard offer of the job. Bill Clinton mightily resisted revealing information about his many enterprises during his wife’s presidential run. Would he do it now to secure his wife a Cabinet job?

It’s a dicey process, and lawyers for Clinton are working hard on it. The Clintons, who file taxes jointly, have made truckloads of money since leaving the White House, when they were so strapped for cash they took furniture that wasn’t theirs.

The minimum disclosure Obama wants would have Bill clear all paid speeches with the White House, and make public major past contributors and all donors of any sort going forward. He would also have to disclose any business ventures. This means his complicated dealings with billionaire superbachelor Ron Burkle will remain secret, but that any future ventures will not.

Escape Hatch

Hillary might want an escape hatch if Bill balks for other reasons. He’s used his former presidency to recreate himself not just as a man of financial mystery but as a shadow secretary of State with his Clinton Global Initiative, his foundation and his presidential library. He reports to no one, much less to Obama, who still rankles him.

It’s one thing to have Obama become the real first black president after comparing Clinton’s legacy unfavorably to Ronald Reagan’s. It’s salt on an open wound to have his wife working for the usurper. Bill is still hurt, if not petulant about the whole thing.

Hillary brings baggage other than her husband. She’s not a good manager, as her campaign’s turnover and cash shortfall revealed. While she will have people to actually run the department and its thousands of employees, it won’t go smoothly if she chooses people like Mark Penn and the since-forgotten Ira Magaziner, who shepherded her health-care initiative to its death in 1994.

Nobody Rolls Hillary

Still, Bill Curry, former counsel to President Clinton and candidate for governor of Connecticut, points out how useful it is to have someone in the job who is a peer of other foreign leaders as well as White House staff.

“Secretaries of State can be rolled by national security advisers playing palace politics inside the White House, as Warren Christopher and Cyrus Vance were. Nobody’s going to roll Hillary.” Curry adds that with Hillary at his side, Obama won’t need Defense Secretary Robert Gates “to back him up on drawing down forces in Iraq. In the future, he could send in Hillary in lieu of an actual invasion.”

Despite the no-drama-Obama ethic, the president-elect has the best of both worlds by proposing Hillary for the job: Offering it to a rival pleases independents and burnishes his reputation for self-confidence; not having to give it to her, pleases the base and netroots who can’t forgive her for the war or her claim that she was under sniper fire in Bosnia.

Too Big to Fire?

To the difficulty of firing someone so prominent, if George W. Bush could quickly accept the pro-forma resignation of Colin Powell, one of the most highly regarded people in America at the time, Obama could do the same with Clinton.

For Hillary, I don’t see a downside. One of the criticisms that stung her most since leaving the White House was that her power was merely derivative of Bill’s. She couldn’t have become senator from a state she’d only visited as a tourist had she not been a first lady whose favorability rating climbed to 60 percent from the very low-40s only after Monicagate. It’s hard to imagine anyone who has gained more from sexual favors she didn’t dispense than Hillary Clinton.

After a grueling, tenacious campaign that came close to making her the first female presidential nominee, Hillary became her own woman. Leaving the Senate for a world stage would confirm it.

(Margaret Carlson, author of “Anyone Can Grow Up: How George Bush and I Made It to the White House” and former White House correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

Republican Governor's Association

At Miami conference, GOP governors vow to right the ship
BY PATRICIA MAZZEI
Two roads diverged in the GOP's path toward the future in a meeting of Republican governors in Miami this week -- and Gov. Charlie Crist took the one for a more moderate party.

Still struggling with its party's election defeat, the Republican Governors Association tried to represent a unified front, led by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She gave her first national news conference Thursday as she tried to capitalize on her celebrity to become the party's next leader as the former vice-presidential nominee and head of an energy-rich state.

But governors were split on how to attract more voters to the GOP at the national level.

Party traditionalists called for the GOP to turn to its origins of small government and low taxes to restore faith in conservative principles. Moderate reformers like Crist tried to pull their peers to the ideological center to appeal to the working class and minorities.

''This party can no longer hope to reach Hispanics, African Americans and other minority groups -- we need to just do it,'' Crist said. ``Embracing cultures and lifestyles will make us a better party and better leaders.''

Crist was not alone. Forcefully backing his view were governors like Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, perhaps the loudest advocate urging the party to bring pocketbook issues into its discourse and technology into its campaigns.

''We weren't even in the same universe in this campaign when it came to structure,'' said Pawlenty, once mentioned as a possible running mate for John McCain. ``The Republicans are 15 years behind in terms of the technology applied to the campaign.''

Still, those sweeping statements might prove difficult to act on and could risk alienating sectors of the party. Governors at the two-day meeting at the Hotel InterContinental cast Republicans in Washington as hand-tied now that the GOP does not control the White House or Congress for the first time in 14 years.

And more traditional members of the party could frown on a largely nonpartisan message rather than being the voice of opposition.

'John Deere has great engineering capacity, but when they get into trouble they don't say, `Let's build airplanes,' '' said South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. ``They go back to the core.''

Despite the somewhat gloomy mood that lingered over the two-day meeting, GOP leaders patted themselves on the back for not losing any gubernatorial seats and picking up one in Puerto Rico.

The party traditionalists blamed the election loss on an unpopular war and an economic crisis. The presidential race was closer than they expected under the circumstances, they argued.

''I have seen it a lot worse, folks,'' Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said.

In the middle of the discussion was Palin, who on Thursday took four questions from reporters clamoring to know why she was speaking to them now and not before Election Day.

''The campaign is over,'' she said, adding that she did not want to dissect past strategy. ``We're focused on the future, and the future for us is not that 2012 presidential race. It's next year and our next budgets and the next reforms in our states.

''We are now the minority party, but let us resolve to not become the negative party,'' Palin said. ``Losing an election does not have to mean losing our way.''

Governors weren't looking to agree with one of the two sides so soon after the election, focusing instead on solving state problems, promoting the party's principles and showcasing stars like Crist, Palin, Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. But the debate on whether the party should take more dramatic steps is likely to linger, and if one of the camps persuades the other, that could mark the future for the party -- and for leaders like Crist.

''People mostly want to follow positive leaders,'' Pawlenty said. ``They don't want to follow grumps.''

That said, he added: ``There is a lot that has happened in terms of our country since Ronald Reagan was president. . . . We're going to need more than just a political comb-over. We're going to need a more dramatic approach to things.''

Begging for Money $$

Big Three beg for aid as auto-industry bailout bill stalls

WASHINGTON -- Detroit's Big Three auto makers are begging Congress for a $25 billion government rescue, while the legislation clings to life support on Capitol Hill and top lawmakers and the White House suffer from bailout fatigue.

Democratic congressional leaders want to tap the $700 billion Wall Street rescue package for new loans to U.S. auto manufacturers and suppliers, but the White House and GOP lawmakers say the beleaguered industry shouldn't get any new funds.

President George W. Bush and GOP lawmakers instead propose diverting $25 billion in loans approved by Congress in September -- designed to help auto manufacturers retool their factories so they can make more fuel-efficient vehicles -- to cover the firms' immediate financial woes.

But auto executives, backed by leading Democrats, insist they need another $25 billion in emergency loans to avert a collapse of one or more of their companies before year's end. That would bring the total federal help for the industry to $50 billion this year.

The executives, along with the head of the United Auto Workers union, were making their case Tuesday at a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee as auto bailout backers hunted the votes necessary to pass the plan in a postelection session. Aides in both parties and lobbyists tracking the plan privately acknowledge they are far short.

The debate comes as the financial situation for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC grows more precarious. GM has said it could run out of cash by year's end without government aid.

"They're going to need to address what is the perception among some of our colleagues here that there's still some quality issues with the Big Three, and they haven't begun to do the necessary restructuring -- because they have," said Sen. Carl M. Levin, D-Mich., an architect of the bailout.

GM had a winner, Wha? -happened?

Performance - 2001 data
0-60 mph acceleration in less than 9 seconds

Electronically regulated top speed of 80 mph (129 km/h)

0.19 aerodynamic drag coefficient (25% lower than any other production car)

Estimated Range*:
Standard: High-capacity lead-acid battery pack - 55 to 95 miles per charge*
Optional: Nickel-metal hydride battery pack - 75 to 130 miles per charge*

Estimated Energy Consumption Information (kW/hr per 100 miles):
Standard: High-capacity lead-acid battery pack - 26 city/26 highway
Optional: Nickel-metal hydride battery pack - 34 city/30 highway

Estimated Time from Zero to Complete State of Charge at 70 degrees with normal humidity:
Standard: High-capacity lead-acid battery pack - 5.5 to
6 hours using the 220-volt (6.6kW) charger;
22 to 24 hours using the 110-volt (1.2kW)
convenience charger
Optional: Nickel-metal hydride battery pack - 6 to 8 hours using the 220-volt (6.6kW) charger

60-0 mph braking distance of 160 feet (49 m)

*Actual mileage and range will vary as a result of driving style, terrain, temperature and accessory usage, particularly as affected by ambient temperature and the use of heating and air conditioning.

Power Rating: 102 kilowatts (137 horsepower) @ 7,000 rpm
Motor Torque: 150 Nm (110 lb-ft) @ 0-7,000 rpm

Transaxle Type: Single-speed with dual reduction gears
Drive Ratio: 10:946:1

Power Management System: Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power inverter

Battery Packs:
Standard: 26 valve-regulated high-capacity lead-acid modules
Optional: 26 valve-regulated nickel-metal hydride modules
1 underhood accessory module

Rated Maximum Battery Pack Storage Capacity:
Standard: High-capacity lead-acid battery pack - 18.7 kW hours/60 amp hours (312 volts)
Optional: Nickel-metal hydride battery pack - 26.4 kW hours/77 amp hours (343 volts)

Battery Pack Weight:
Standard: High-capacity lead-acid battery pack - 1310 pounds
Optional: Nickel-metal hydride battery pack - 1147 pounds

Safety Features

Anti-lock braking system (ABS)
Traction control
Check tire pressure system
Air bags* and three-point shoulder/lap seatbelts
Projector lowbeam/reflector optic highbeam headlights
Daytime running lamps (DRL)
Electronic keypad entry/vehicle activation system with programmable personal identification number
Electric windshield defogger/deicer
Electric rear window defogger with automatic shutof

Comfort/Convenience Features
Power windows, door locks and dual outside mirrors
Cruise control with downgrade and upgrade speed regulation
Premium AM/FM stereo with cassette and CD player, four speakers and digital clock
Computer-controlled "heat pump" climate control system with preconditioning feature and CFC-free air conditioning refrigerant; new electric heater
Center-mounted vacuum fluorescent instrumentation
Interior courtesy lights with delayed shutoff feature
Solar reflective/absorptive glass
Intermittent windshield wipers with washer system
Remote hood and trunklid releases
Four-way adjustable bucket seats with lightweight alloy frames
Carpeted floor mats
Carpeted cargo area with cargo net

bad news for citigroup

Another Ax Swings At Citi
Maurna Desmond, 11.17.08

Citigroup is cutting more fat than expected to get through the credit crunch.

At a so-called town hall meeting in New York on Monday morning, Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit told employees that 53,000 jobs would be cut by the end of the first quarter of 2009. The number of layoffs was a jump from earlier estimates being tossed around as late as Friday when Pandit tried to ease employee anxiety while calling for greater efficiency during tight times. (See "At Citi, Pandit Calls For Calm”)

Investors weren't assured by the payroll contraction. New York-based Citigroup fell 3.8%, or 33 cents, to $9.19 during morning trading, leaving its shares at a 73.1% discount from their year ago price.

Citi has been under pressure to perform after posting four consecutive quarterly losses with a combined deficit of more than $20.0 billion and losing a high-profile struggle with Wells Fargo to acquire Wachovia.

Its rivals, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, have managed to stay out of the red and strategically expand by swallowing weaker financial outfits. (See "Watching Wall Street's Shotgun Weddings")

Citi said its total headcount would be reduced by 20.0% from its peak of 375,000 at the end of 2007. In October, Citigroup announced that 22,000 jobs were being cut from those levels. Investors and analysts had speculated that 10.0%, or 35,000 jobs, would be cut leading up to Monday’s announcement.

Shrinking Citi might make it easier for the firm to acquire a deposit-rich regional bank that would give it the capital base it needs to get through the global credit crisis. Likely candidates inlcude SunTrust Banks, Regions Financial, and BB&T. (See "Citi's Shrinking Target List")

uber rich may see penalties

US determined to unlock Switzerland's banking secrets
Prosecutors have accused UBS, the country's biggest bank, of cloak-and-dagger activities

* Andrew Clark
* guardian.co.uk, Friday November 14 2008 11.11 GMT

The Zurich headquarters of the Swiss banking giant UBS. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

Switzerland -- It is a world of encrypted laptops, unmarked mail and the briefest stops in multiple hotels. Accusations by US prosecutors this week shed a fascinating light on the allegedly cloak-and-dagger world of UBS, Switzerland's biggest bank.

A grand jury in Florida has charged one of UBS's top executives, Raoul Weil, with helping 17,000 Americans to avoid tax by safeguarding their money in secret Swiss bank accounts.

Weil, who is based in Zurich, is the head of UBS's wealth management division, and his prosecution is likely to cause deep alarm at the highest levels of Switzerland's banking establishment.

"There's enough in this indictment, if you read between the lines, to suggest that UBS has a serious problem here," says Bradley Simon, a former federal prosecutor at law firm Simon & Partners.

"They're making some really serious allegations that go to the heart of UBS."

The US department of justice has been gunning for UBS for many months. It alleges that the bank aggressively pushed its services to US citizens through none-too-subtle nudges about tax-avoidance benefits.

Between 2002 and 2007, some 20,000 American clients had private accounts at UBS with a hefty $20bn in total assets.

Florida's federal prosecutor, Alexander Acosta, who is leading the charge against UBS, says 17,000 of these clients concealed their accounts from the Internal Revenue Service.

Secret off-shore bank accounts are nothing new. But what appears to have enraged the US authorities are UBS's tactics.

According to the indictment, UBS at one stage had customers signing a form which said: "I would like to avoid disclosure of my identity to the US IRS."

Letters to clients assured them that since 1939, the bank had been successful in concealing the identity of account holders from the US authorities. There was even a training course for staff in September 2006 on how to conduct business discreetly – by using mail without UBS insignia, by using encrypted computers and "by changing hotels while travelling".

It all sounds a bit James Bond – and it gets worse. A former UBS staffer, Bradley Birkenfeld, who is cooperating with the authorities, claims he once used a toothpaste tube to smuggle diamonds across an international border for a bank client.

The charges against Weil carry a potential sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, so the 49-year-old is unlikely to be keen to hop on a transatlantic flight from Zurich. But if the bank ignores the indictment, UBS could face severe consequences – perhaps an indictment against the institution or a threat to its US banking licence.

"The justice department will be putting enormous pressure on UBS and possibly threatening an indictment against the bank," says Simon, who believes such a move could be shattering for the reputation of a large financial institution.

"Remember Arthur Andersen? When they were indicted, it spelt the end for them."

Switzerland rarely allows its citizens to be extradited to face charges abroad – and its national laws require banks to respect clients' privacy strictly. But there is a loophole: if there is evidence of criminal activity, Swiss banks can provide information to cooperate with law enforcement authorities.

UBS provided a bland statement saying Weil was relinquishing his duties until the matter was resolved. It added: "UBS is fully committed to continuing its efforts to cooperate with the investigation of its US cross-border business in a responsible manner with all relevant authorities towards a satisfactory resolution of this matter."

The drama is the last thing UBS needs. In common with rival banks across Europe and the US, it has been scorched by the global financial crisis, writing off more than $40bn of losses on toxic assets. Its longstanding chairman, Marcel Ospel, quit in April, admitting to "mistakes" amid shareholder unrest.

America's assault on Switzerland's banking secrecy is causing ructions in Zurich. A report in one paper, the Tages-Anzeiger, this week accused the US treasury of covertly tracking transactions between 100 Swiss institutions through international computer systems used for transaction clearance. The paper named a system called Remotegate and claimed that the Americans were using tools designed to tackle international terrorism.

The Swiss government is being tight-lipped. A spokesman at Switzerland's embassy in Washington would only say: "The embassy was informed by the department of justice of the charges brought against Mr Weil."

The US authorities want the names of UBS's 17,000 wealthy American clients. If it hands them over, the Swiss bank will set a highly significant precedent not only for its rivals in Switzerland but for banks in tax havens around the world which operate in the US.

If all 17,000 customers are forced to stump up tax, it could be a decent earner for the US treasury. Perhaps the money could even end up back in the banking system, helping to fund Henry Paulson's $700bn bail-out of America's own teetering financial institutions.

Last Member Of Jimi Hendrix Experience Dies

PORTLAND, Oregon — Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience of the 1960s and the group's last surviving member, was found dead in his hotel room early Wednesday. He was 61.

Mitchell was a powerful force on the Hendrix band's 1967 debut album "Are You Experienced?" as well as the trio's albums "Electric Ladyland" and "Axis: Bold As Love." He had an explosive drumming style that can be heard in hard-charging songs such as "Fire" and "Manic Depression."


The Englishman had been drumming for the Experience Hendrix Tour, which performed Friday in Portland. It was the last stop on the West Coast part of the tour.


Hendrix died in 1970. Bass player Noel Redding died in 2003.


An employee at Portland's Benson Hotel called police after discovering Mitchell's body.


Erin Patrick, a deputy medical examiner, said Mitchell apparently died of natural causes. An autopsy was planned.


"He was a wonderful man, a brilliant musician and a true friend," said Janie Hendrix, chief executive of the Experience Hendrix Tour and Jimi Hendrix' stepsister. "His role in shaping the sound of the Jimi Hendrix Experience cannot be underestimated."


Bob Merlis, a spokesman for the tour, said Mitchell had stayed in Portland for a four-day vacation and planned to leave Wednesday.


"It was a devastating surprise," Merlis said. "Nobody drummed like he did."


He said he saw Mitchell perform two weeks ago in Los Angeles, and the drummer appeared to be healthy and upbeat.


Merlis said the tour was designed to bring together veteran musicians who had known Hendrix _ like Mitchell _ and younger artists, such as Grammy-nominated winner Jonny Lang, who have been influenced by him.


Blues-rock guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who is 31 and was part of the tour, said Mitchell was to the drums what Hendrix was to the guitar.


"Today many of us have lost a dear friend, and the world has lost a rock n' roll hero," he said.


Mitchell was a one-of-a-kind drummer whose "jazz-tinged" style was influenced by Max Roach and Elvin Jones, Merlis said. The work was a vital part of both the Jimi Hendrix Experience in the 1960s and the Experience Hendrix Tour that ended last week, he said.


"If Jimi Hendrix were still alive," Merlis said, "he would have acknowledged that."


During his career Mitchell played with the best in the business _ not just Hendrix, but also Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Keith Richards, Jack Bruce, Jeff Beck, Muddy Waters and others.


Mitchell performed with Hendrix and Redding at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, the U.S. debut of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. He also was member of a later version of the band that performed the closing set of the Woodstock Festival in August 1969 _ where Hendrix played a psychedelic version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the band launched into "Purple Haze."


The Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1992. According to the Hall of Fame, Mitchell was born July 9, 1947, in Ealing, England.


Terry Stewart, chief executive of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, said Mitchell transformed his instrument from a "strictly percussive element to a lead instrument."


"His interplay with Jimi Hendrix's guitar on songs like 'Fire' is truly amazing," Stewart said Wednesday. "Mitch Mitchell had a massive influence on rock 'n' roll drumming and took it to new heights."


Hendrix, Redding and Mitchell held their first rehearsal in October 1966, according to the Hall of Fame's Web site.


In an interview last month with the Boston Herald, Mitchell said he met Hendrix "in this sleazy little club."


"We did some Chuck Berry and took it from there," Mitchell told the newspaper. "I suppose it worked."

Climate change

Obama's message to the world: we will act quickly on climate change

• It's going to be busy 2009, says president-elect's aide
• Judges reject ban on navy exercises to protect sealife

Barack Obama is sending Madeleine Albright to the G20 summit in Washington. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP

Barack Obama, who has spent much of the time since his election closeted with his advisers in Chicago, sent a strong signal yesterday that he plans a decisive break with George Bush on environmental policy once he moves into the White House.

The move was part of a carefully coded series of messages from Obama meant to reassure America and the world about the shape of his administration, which does not assume power until January 20.

Also yesterday, Obama appointed Madeleine Albright, who served as Bill Clinton's secretary of state, and Jim Leach, a former Republican member of Congress from Iowa who endorsed his campaign, to meet international delegations visiting Washington for the G20 summit at the weekend. Obama will not attend the summit, and aides have repeatedly noted that Bush remains president until January 20.

But while Obama and Joe Biden, the vice president-elect, have been elusive since the election, the Democrat has delivered a number of messages intended to heighten anticipation of changes to come.

In one such signal the president-elect sent Jason Grumet, a policy adviser mentioned for a possible energy post, to an environmental conference in Washington to offer reassurances that there would be swift movement on climate change legislation. "The whole transition team felt it important to be here," Grumet said. "I think it is going to be a very very busy 2009, and I think we are going to need all of you to be on top of your game."

However, Grumet did not offer policy specifics, and his optimism was not shared by others at the conference, organised by the consulting group Point Carbon and the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change.

Jeff Bingaman, the New Mexico senator who chairs the Senate's energy and national resources committee and another possibility for a post in the administration, said it was highly unlikely that Obama could sign into law cap and trade legislation next year. "I think the reality is that it may take more than a year to get it all done," he said, pointing to 2010.

Grumet's brief appearance was widely seen as a signal that Obama, who for nearly two years of campaigning warned of a "planet in peril", was serious about following through on a 30-point environmental agenda that called for creating green jobs, cutting US oil consumption, and moving to renewable sources of energy,

It was the second time in 24 hours that Obama had tried to reassure the world that he wanted a radical departure from Bush's policy on the environment. Obama has said repeatedly that the global economic crisis remains his top priority, but John Podesta, part of the troika overseeing the transition, said on Tuesday that the environment was at the top of the Democrats' agenda. "I anticipate him moving very aggressively and very rapidly on the whole question of transforming the energy platform in the United States from high carbon energy to low carbon energy," he said.

For campaigners, change cannot come soon enough. Yesterday the supreme court rejected environmental protections for whales, dolphins and other marine mammals imposed on US navy sonar training exercises off southern California. Environmental groups had argued that intense sound waves could hurt or even kill some 37 species including sea lions and endangered blue whales by interfering with their ability to communicate and navigate. At one stage Bush intervened by citing the national security necessity of the training.

The hiatus between election and inauguration has led to intense speculation about cabinet appointments and policy breaks with the Bush White House.

Yesterday the Washington Post reported that Obama intended to replace the two top intelligence officials early in his administration. Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, and General Michael Hayden, the CIA chief, are associated with the Bush administration's most controversial policies, including monitoring the email and phone calls of US citizens without court oversight.

Some of the Obama camp's efforts to stoke anticipation have been countered with caution - and at times frustration. Yesterday Bingaman warned that Obama urgently needed to appoint his cabinet secretaries. "The idea that the transition team develops policies and then gets new people in place ... that is not the way I have seen it in Washington," he said.