The rate of satisfaction has average 25 percent so far this year.

Most Americans surveyed were satisfied at the end of 2004 — 55 percent — but satisfaction has been reserved for a dwindling minority since then.

American satisfaction has averaged 38 percent  since 1979, when Gallup first asked the question.

The highest yearly average of 60 percent was recorded in 1986, two years into President Ronald Reagan’s second term, and in 1998 and 2000, during the economic boom on President Bill Clinton’s watch.

The lowest yearly average of 15 percent was recorded in 2008, as the worst recession since the Great Depression took its toll.

Original post is Americans Can’t Get No Satisfaction by Political Capital.

Photograph by Marcy Nighswander/AP Photo

Newly sworn-in Rep. Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky, D-Pa. along with her family, take part in the opening session of the 103rd Congress on Capital Hill in Washington on Jan. 5, 1993.

Former Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Marjorie Margolies, who lost her seat in Congress two decades ago after backing a deficit-reduction law, is making preparations for a comeback House campaign as she nears a final decision on the race.

“Marjorie 2014“ was organized May 3 with the Internal Revenue Service as a 527 group, a political organization named for that section of the tax code.

The purpose of the organization is to “support candidacy of Marjorie Margolies and other legal purposes,” according to the document filed by Ken Smukler, her senior political adviser.

Margolies would file candidacy papers with the Federal Election Commission if she decides to run, Smukler told Political Capital today.

“If that decision is to go forward, we will have prepared to launch immediately upon her making that decision,” Smukler said. “So this is all just kind of preparatory for her making a decision, which she has said she will make by the end of the month.”

Smukler has also purchased domain names, including www.marjorie2014.com

In August 1993, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, as she was then known, was a deciding vote for a deficit-reduction plan that included some tax increases and was promoted by President Bill Clinton. Her vote became a defining issue in her bid for a second term in 1994. She lost to Republican Jon Fox.

Margolies’ ties to the Clintons extend to the personal. Her son Marc Mezvinsky is married to Chelsea Clinton, the only child of the 42^rd president and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Margolies would seek the open 13th District, which takes in parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County, including sections of the district she represented two decades ago. It’s a Democratic bastion, having backed President Barack Obama with 66 percent of the vote in the 2012 election, so the Democratic primary probably will be the decisive election.

Rep. Allyson Schwartz isn’t seeking re-election in the district as she seeks the Democratic nomination for governor.

Original post is Ex-Rep. Margolies Nears Decision on Pennsylvania Comeback by Political Capital.

Photograph by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks with her husband former president Bill Clinton as they attend the opening ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center on April 25, 2013 in Dallas, Texas.

Bill Clinton says it’s a waste of time to speculate about his wife’s ambitions for 2016.

“That is the worst expenditure of our time,” the former president said today at a 2013 Fiscal Summit sponsored by the Peterson Foundation.

Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, senator from New York and secretary of state, is taking a role at the Clinton Foundation, writing a book and “having a little fun being a private citizen for the first time in 20 years,” he said.

Focusing on presidential politics just six months after President Barack Obama’s reelection “obscures our capacity” to take on the big problems, he said. It also “plays to our national tendency to attention deficit disorder when it comes to politics.” It’s important not to “get off on to politics too early.”

Clinton was joined at the forum today by Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder and co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, who joked that he doesn’t think his wife is running for president. “Hillary hasn’t mentioned it to me either,” Gates said.

Gates, in an interview with Bloomberg Television before the summit in Washington, said his fellow wealthy Americans should pay more as the U.S. grapples with reining in its budget deficit.

“There’s no doubt that as you look at balancing budgets to the degree you need more revenue” that lawmakers will need to look to the wealthy “to get a little bit more from them proportionately than you get from people as a whole,” Gates said. “I think that’s pretty likely.”

Clinton also had this to say about Obama’s 2010 health care law, with major provisions still taking effect this year. “We really need about five years to see if the drivers in the health-care law” work, he said, “to see if that works.”

Original post is Bill Clinton: Hillary 2016 Speculation Waste of Time by Political Capital.

Photograph by Brian Harkin/Getty Images

Bill Gates, co-chair and trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, talks with former President Bill Clinton, right, during the closing plenary session of the annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on September 23, 2010 in New York City.

Former President Bill Clinton and Microsoft’s Bill Gates discuss America’s future at the annual Peterson Foundation Fiscal Summit. They’ll be followed by speakers including Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Gene Sperling.

U.S. regulators face renewed pressure from Congress to ease Dodd-Frank Act derivatives rules amid mounting criticism from Wall Street and overseas that they overreach, Bloomberg News reports. The House Financial Services Committee is scheduled to vote on nine measures that would allow more swaps to be traded in units of banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. that hold government-insured deposits.

President Barack Obama meets with South Korean President Park Geun-Hey at the White House today to discuss issues including security, one day after Park said her country would “make them pay” if North Korea were to mount a similar attack to the 2010 sinking of a warship, Bloomberg News reports. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama gives a lecture on peace at the University of Maryland.

Also today, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter speaks at the National Press Club on the impact of budget uncertainty on the military. Pentagon contracts tumbled 52 percent in April from a month earlier as federal budget cuts took hold, Bloomberg News reported.

A special election being held today for the vacant House seat in South Carolina pits former Republican Gov. Mark Sanford against Democratic nominee Elizabeth Colbert Busch, sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert. Polls close at 7 p.m.

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, appears on Bloomberg TV. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew discusses state of U.S. economy at City Club of Cleveland. A House Appropriations panel hears from Chairman Mary Jo White on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed budget.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, former Sen. Jim DeMint and Forbes CEO Steve Forbes participate in a Heritage Foundation event to honor the late Margaret Thatcher. Later, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and other House Republicans hold a roundtable discussion with private sector employees and working parents followed by a media briefing.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears arguments in Texas challenge over federal takeover of the state’s carbon-emission rules. A House Science, Space and Technology panel holds a hearing on Keystone pipeline. A House Energy and Commerce panel holds a hearing on prospects for exports of U.S. energy including liquefied natural gas.

Secretary of State John Kerry visits Moscow to meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other Russian officials. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee hears from Deborah Kay Jones, nominated to become ambassador to Libya, at her confirmation hearing. UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos participates in discussion of international response to Syria, hosted by Middle East Institute.

And tennis legend Chris Evert discusses her charity work at the National Press Club.

Original post is Washington Daybook: Bill and Bill’s American Adventure by Political Capital.

Source: Twitter Inc. via Bloomberg

The Twitter Inc. page belonging to Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is seen in this screen grab taken on May 2, 2013. Buffett topped 50,000 followers on Twitter as he sent his first message on the social media site.

Updated May 3, 2013, 8:20 am EST

Bill Clinton and Warren Buffett are keeping company. With friends like Stephen Colbert. And “where else can you hear from Bill Gates, John McCain, Ellen Degeneres and Usher in one day?”

The 43nd president only recently signed up for Twitter, and already has more than 560,000 followers. The oracle of Omaha signed up Thursday —  ”Warren is in the House” — with more than 105,000 followers on Day One and 270,000 on Day Two.

Warren is in the house.

— Warren Buffett (@WarrenBuffett) May 2, 2013

.@warrenbuffett Welcome to @twitter. What took you so long?

— Bill Clinton (@billclinton) May 2, 2013

Colbert is really “cool,” Clinton said in his first tweet last month (10 tweets ago.)

Just spent amazing time with Colbert!Is he sane? He is cool! #cgiu

— Bill Clinton (@billclinton) April 6, 2013

And Clinton is proud, he said in another tweet, of Jason Collins, the NBA center who announced that he is gay.

I’m proud to call Jason Collins a friend. wjcf.co/154piCi

— Bill Clinton (@billclinton) April 29, 2013

He noted that he was glad to join his daughter at the social networking site.

Excited to join @chelseaclinton and my good friend @stephenathome on Twitter! — Bill Clinton (@billclinton) April 25, 2013

So far, Clinton said recently, it’s going fairly well.

Enjoying @twitter so far. Where else can you hear from @billgates @paulpierce34 @senjohnmccain @theellenshow @usher in one day? #thisisgreat — Bill Clinton (@billclinton) April 25, 2013.

Warren’s only other tweet so far promoted a column he wrote for CNN Money titled “Warren Buffett is Bullish … on Women.”

Read my new essay on why women are key to America’s prosperity: cnnmon.ie/18eXfik.

— Warren Buffett (@WarrenBuffett) May 2, 2013

Waiting for the next word from Buffett, with about 270,000 others.

Original post is Warren Buffett ‘Is In The House’ — With More than 270,000 Guests by Political Capital.

Photograph by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Former President George W. Bush and Alan Lowe, director of the George W. Bush Presidential Center arrive for a signing ceremony for the joint use agreement between the National Archive and the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the campus of Southern Methodist University on April 24, 2013 in Dallas, Texas.

George W. Bush hasn’t done much talking since leaving the White House.

Tomorrow, with the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Texas, the former governor of the Lone Star state and two-term president is uncapping.

Charlie Rose will be interviewing the 43rd president for CBS News’ “This Morning,” airing on the morning of the dedication at the campus of Southern Methodist University near Dallas, the alma mater of former first lady Laura Bush.

Diane Sawyer’s latest interview of Bush airs tonight on ABC News’ “World News Tonight.” Segments also will air on “Nightline” and on “Good Morning America.”

 Matt Lauer is promoting “the first live interview with the president and his wife during the ceremonial day” at NBC News’ “Today Show.

They will talk about the birth of the Bush’s first granddaughter to “Today’s Own Jenna Bush Hager,” and more.

The former president’s father, the 41st president, will be there for the dedication — his presidential library and museum sits at Texas A&M in College Station. President Barack Obama will be there, as will former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter — all making their first reunion since January 2009.

Even C-SPAN will get in on the interviews.

Original post is George W. Bush Unplugged by Political Capital.

Photograph by Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images

Marriage equality supporters wave flags and signs as they rally in front of the Supreme Court before oral arguments in the United States v. Windsor case, which will test the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act on March 27, 2013.

That’s the percentage of members of Congress in 1996 who voted for the Defense of Marriage Act barring same-sex couples from claiming federal benefits available to other married couples.

President Bill Clinton signed the measure into law after 342 of 411 House members and 85 of 99 senators backed it.

Clinton and many legislators who backed DOMA 17 years ago have since reversed their positions amid increased public support for same-sex unions. The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday on the constitutionality of the law, the second case about same-sex marriage this week.

Original post is Bloomberg by the Numbers: 84 by Political Capital.

Photograph by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images

Marriage equality supporters take part in a march and rally ahead of U.S. Supreme Court arguments on legalizing same-sex marriage in New York on March 24, 2013.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia has a statement today:

“I support marriage equality because it is the fair and right thing to do.”

He said so on Facebook.

“Like many Virginians and Americans, my views on gay marriage have evolved, and this is the inevitable extension of my efforts to promote equality and opportunity for everyone,”’ said Warner, who had signed on to an amicus brief opposing the Defense of Marriage Act being argued in the Supreme Court this week.

“I was proud to be the first Virginia governor to extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBT state workers,” Warner said in his statement today. “In 2010, I supported an end to the military’s `Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, and earlier this month I signed an amicus brief urging the repeal of DOMA. I believe we should continue working to expand equal rights and opportunities for all Americans.”

Former President Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA in the 1990s, also recently called for its repeal.

Original post is Warner: ‘Marriage Equality’ Fair, Right by Political Capital.

Photograph by Kristoffer Tripplaar-Pool/Getty Images

President Barack Obama, Hillary and Bill Clinton in Washington,

Sequestration isn’t all that President Barack Obama ordered on March 1.

He also ordered dinner for Bill Clinton.

And Hillary Clinton, and of course his own first lady.

The Obamas and Clintons dined at the White House the night the president’s order went out for the across-the-board spending cuts required under legislation that gave the president and Congress some time to avert those cuts, which they failed to do.

“A lot of interesting dinners this week, I guess,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest said today — alluding to the dinner that Obama hosted at the Jefferson Hotel on Wednesday for a dozen Senate Republicans.

Did the former president suggest some outreach to the other party?

“Well I can confirm the dinner for you,” Earnest said of the evening at the White House one week ago today. “It was a private dinner that the president and the first lady enjoyed with President Clinton and former Secretary of State Clinton… They enjoyed the meal and they enjoyed the conversation, but I don’t have any more details to read out to you.”

Original post is Obamas-Clintons: Sequestration Dinner by Political Capital.

Photograph by John Moore/Getty Images

President Bill Clinton during a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio, in this file photo.

Bill Clinton always has had an eye for history.

For the most part, he has been a few steps ahead of it.

His forging of a middle-ground in political life propelled him to the White House, where his willingness to embrace measures such as “Workfare” showed Democrats a way to beat Republicans at their own game.

Yet, signing the Defense of Marriage Act?

A big mistake, the former president admitted today in an op-ed in the Washington Post. In his readiness to accept it then, it appears, he underestimated just how swiftly public opinion would evolve on this issue. Just this week, a Quinnipiac University poll of Americans showed that a majority of Catholics support same-sex marriage.

As the Supreme Court prepares for oral arguments challenging the law, as well as an appeal of a ruling striking down the California Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, Clinton spoke out today in print.

As Bloomberg’s  Roger Runningen notes:

Clinton says the U.S. Supreme Court should strike down a law he signed 17 years ago that bans same-sex marriage, calling the measure “incompatible” with the Constitution. Clinton says the justices should overturn the Defense of Marriage Act he signed in 1996 that bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. He said the law is inconsistent with “equality and justice” under the law.

“I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those principles and, in fact, incompatible with our Constitution,” Clinton wrote in an op-ed article in the Washington Post.

“When I signed the bill, I included a statement with the admonition that “enactment of this legislation should not, despite the fierce and at times divisive rhetoric surrounding it, be understood to provide an excuse for discrimination,”’ Clinton wrote in the Post. “Reading those words today, I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory. It should be overturned.”

Richard Socarides explains the admission this way at The New Yorker today:

“It is extremely rare for former Presidents to admit mistakes made in office, and rarer still for one to disavow a major piece of legislation. That’s partly why Bill Clinton’s op-ed in the Washington Post calling the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act—a law that he signed—“incompatible with our Constitution,” and asking the Supreme Court to overturn it, is so important.”

“The essay, a Clinton associate told me, was Clinton’s own idea; he wrote it out himself in longhand on a legal pad. As his former White House adviser on gay-rights, I was not surprised by the message. But Clinton’s willingness, just twenty days before two gay-rights cases go to the Supreme Court, to publicly call DOMA discriminatory is a big step, even if his comments stopped short of the full apology some have asked for.”

“But the op-ed leaves a political mystery intact. Clinton, though clearly unhappy with the law today, does not really explain why he signed it, other than to say “it was a very different time.” Perhaps that is explanation enough. Still, how was it that Bill Clinton, the first President to champion gay rights, put his name on one of the most discriminatory anti-gay statutes in American history?”

Original post is Bill Clinton’s Mea Culpa on DOMA by Political Capital.