White House Gaggle

Notes from the White House Gaggle with Robert Gibbs
By Paul Brandus

With the Sotomayor vote scheduled for later today, it’s expected that the President will speak after the vote – perhaps on his way to tonight’s fundraiser/rally for Democratic Virginia Gov. candidate Deeds. 

Today’s meeting between the President and members of the Senate Finance Committee will be to get a “status report and update on their negotiations.” Asked what Obama’s message to the Senators would be, Gibbs said, “Keep working.” 

Gibbs said there is no firm date for the Finance Committee to act; and didn’t answer a question on the public option (various media reports indicate that that could go by the wayside). 

Bill Clinton/North Korea: Clinton had a debrief last night with a NSC staffe; a more full, official debrief has yet to occur. Obama has no plans to meet with Laura Ling and Euna Lee, but is trying to schedule a meeting with Clinton. What does this mean going forward? Gibbs reinforced the message that the release of Ling/Lee is not linked to other issues. “They walked away from their commitment” to stop nuclear testing.

Gibbs fired back against “birthers,” calling their ideas “totally crazy…you couldn’t sell a script like this in Hollywood…you couldn’t sell it to the WB” he said. (Whatever that means)

This weekend’s Canada/Mexico/U.S. summit in Guadalajara: look for a briefing “at some point” with NSC advisor Jones.