Obama Drops Reagan's Name in Push for START

With the tax bill under his belt, Obama is moving on, with a fresh push for congressional approval of the new START treaty. In this morning's weekly radio address, the president did a little name-dropping while calling for bipartisan support of the nuclear arms treaty with Russia, which would replace an old START treaty that expired a year ago: "Without a new one, we won't be able to verify Russia's nuclear arsenal, which would undercut President Reagan's call to trust, but verify, when it comes to nuclear weapons," Obama said.

Obama has delayed his departure to Hawaii for his annual holiday in hopes of pushing START and other legislation through, and plans to work the phones to drum up support for START next week, says Robert Gibbs. It may not be an easy road: Republicans senators yesterday said that the treaty would negatively limit the development of our country's missile systems, and cast doubt on the benefit of continuing to cut nuclear weapons, reports Reuters. (Click to read Sarah Palin's argument against START.)