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SATURDAY, JANUARY 14 , 2012

washingtonpost.com 75

S&P cuts rating of France, eight others in Europe

GERMANY SPARED FROM DOWNGRADE

Moves could further weaken regions finances

BY H OWARD S CHNEIDER AND E DWARD C ODY

NIKKI KAHN/THE WASHINGTON POST

A paraphrased quote on the statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has been criticized by some who say it doesnt reflect Kings character.

For King Memorial, a fix etched in stone

Interior secretary orders a correction for paraphrased inscription
BY C AROL M ORELLO AND E D O K EEFE

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has ordered a correction to a badly mangled quotation from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. inscribed in granite on the Tidal Basin memorial to the slain civil rights leader. Salazar said Friday that he has

told the National Park Service to consult with the memorial foundation and the King family and to report back to him within 30 days with a plan to fix the carved excerpt that turned a modest and mellifluous phrase into a prideful boast. This is important because Dr. King and his presence on the Mall is a forever presence for the United States of America, and we have to make sure that we get it right, Salazar told The Washington Posts Rachel Manteuffel, whose opinion piece last summer first drew attention to the inartful truncation and sparked demands

that it should be changed. Edward Jackson Jr., the memorials lead architect, said the foundation responsible for building it has come up with a proposal for alternative wording that expands the excerpt. But he said its impossible to carve the quotation in its entirety in the yardthick granite without destroying the entire monument. Salazars direction to the National Park Service comes just days before the nation commemorates King on what would have been his 83rd birthday. Salazar said he asked for a plan by this time next month because things

only happen when you put a deadline on it. The paraphrase on the north face of the 30-foot-tall granite statue comes from a powerful and poignant 1968 sermon King delivered two months before his assassination. King spoke of the drum major instinct as the epitome of egotism, a self-centered view of the world that he denounced. Imagining his eulogy, King used the conditional tense: If you want mlk continued on A11
Rachel Manteuffel: At last, Dr. King will get the final word. A17

Standard & Poors downgraded the credit ratings of France and eight other European nations Friday, further weakening the regions finances and potentially raising costs for governments at time when they already face a debt crisis. The downgrade robs France of its prized AAA rating, despite vows by the French government to defend its pristine standing through recent measures to cut spending and raise taxes. President Nicolas Sarkozys failure to win that battle could bode ill for the entire 17-nation euro zone as well as for his own chances in an upcoming election. The downgrades will likely increase borrowing costs for the affected governments as they try to raise hundreds of billions of dollars on international bond markets this year. France alone needs to borrow about $240 billion to finance its existing debts and annual deficit. Italy and Spain, two large nations that are facing escalating debt problems, were also among the countries downgraded. The S&P actions could also undermine the effectiveness of the regions bailout fund, which European leaders have been counting on to help ailing countries such as Greece and stem the crisis from spreading onward to Italy and Spain. The bailout funds AAA rating, and its ability to raise

money cheaply, depends in part on the credit standing of France, the euro zones second-largest economy. S&P did not mention the fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, in Fridays ratings note, but said an evaluation of other European institutions, including banks and government-related entities, would be issued in due course. The S&P action left intact the AAA rating of Germany, which is the regions largest economy, as well as those of Finland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Another top-rated country, Austria, lost its AAA rating. The ratings of Portugal, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia also were downgraded. The ratings agency said its actions were based on concerns about weak economic conditions in the euro zone, coupled with what it judged as the insufficient steps taken by European leaders to address the situation. Despite a plethora of summits, declarations and bailout deals, Europe has not produced a breakthrough of sufficient size and scope to fully address the euro zones financial problems, the ratings agency concluded. Political leaders, the agency contended, did not even fully appreciate the scope of a crisis that extends far beyond overspending in small countries like Greece to encompass the competitiveness of europe continued on A13

Iran lashes out at West, but hints at diplomacy

BY T HOMAS E RDBRINK AND J OBY W ARRICK

A call out to the grass roots

From living rooms, phone banks try to rekindle the 2008 spirit
BY

S TEPHANIE M C C RUMMEN

Obama seeks power to streamline government

Proposal would merge related agencies under Commerce Department
BY D AVID N AKAMURA AND E D O K EEFE

tehran Iran on Friday hurled

new threats of retaliation against the West for the assassination of one of its nuclear scientists but also signaled a readiness to negotiate on at least one of the nuclear disputes behind the countrys worsening feud with the United States. Even as angry throngs swarmed the memorial services for slain scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, state-run news media confirmed a visit to the country later this month by a special U.N. delegation to discuss alleged secret research by Iran on designing a nuclear warhead. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which will dispatch its delegation to Tehran on Jan. 28, has been pressing Iranian leaders for years to come clean about experiments. Irans invitation to the IAEA was the first conciliatory gesture since the countrys leaders threatened last month to block the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for economic sanctions. But Western diplomats and nuclear experts on Friday expressed iran continued on A10

n a suburban Virginia living room, Earline Coe, solid Democrat and Obama loyalist, dials again. Hello, may I speak with Ellen? she says, tapping a pen on a long list of names. It is supposed to be a good list, one generated by the Obama campaigns data wonks in Chicago, who have sorted their files of millions of voters and identified these as likely recruits in a renewed version of the vaunted grass-roots operation that propelled Obamas 2008 victory. All thats needed now are yeses, which is what five women are trying to get at a phone bank on this Wednesday evening, especially Coe, who now has Ellen on the line. Hi, Ellen, she says. My name is Earline, and Im calling from Obama for America? Were calling strong Obama supporters like yourself, and Oh. I understand that. Yes. Would you be interested in doing any volunteer work? Because were holding voter registration this weekend, and Pause. Okay. I understand that. Right. . . . And I hope your

MATT MCCLAIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

From left, Earline Coe, Alice Clark and Marilyn Karp try to confirm volunteers to support President Obamas reelection.

mother gets better. Under the column labeled Im in! Coe circles maybe and dials again. As the Republican nominating contests churn on, President Obamas campaign is more quietly unfolding in living rooms such as this one in Prince William, a swing county in a swing state where reactivating old volunteers and finding new ones will be crucial to his reelection chances. While the campaign is putting together one of the most expensive and technically sophisticated operations in the history of American politics, it

is also relying again on oldfashioned, grass-roots organizing to make the whole thing fly. In particular, the campaign is staking success on the snowflake theory, in which volunteers become empowered team leaders who are supposed to recruit more volunteers, who are supposed to become empowered team leaders themselves, and so on, expanding exponentially into a phonebank canvassing machine as Election Day approaches. While the campaign deployed the model in some states campaign continued on A7

After a year of interminable feuds with congressional Republicans who made smaller, cheaper federal government a political crusade, President Obama on Friday signaled his intention to do some sail-trimming of his own. Obama asked Congress for the authority to consolidate the roles of several federal agencies which he said would lead to streamlined services and a smaller government workforce. The proposal comes at a politically opportune moment for the president, who has faced sustained Republican criticism that his administration has failed to tame a bloated federal bureaucracy. With an eye squarely on his reelection campaign, Obama announced that he would initially focus on merging sprawling entities that deal with small businesses in a bid to save $3 billion by eliminating more than 1,000 jobs over the next decade. Almost a year ago, Obama promised in his State of the Union address to create a leaner, more

efficient federal bureaucracy. Since then, Republicans both on Capitol Hill and in the presidential campaign have charged that the administrations healthcare, environmental and financial reforms have added layers of red tape and costs at the worse possible time. For a president who has spent months pushing his $447 billion jobs bills, the proposal sought to establish that he is also committed to reducing spending over the long term. His announcement came a day after he notified Congress of his intent to raise the national debt ceiling by $1.2 trillion to cover increased U.S. spending commitments. Obama noted before an audience of small-business owners at the White House that the federal bureaucracy includes five different entities involved in housing and more than a dozen that regulate food safety. No business or nonprofit leader would allow this kind of duplication or unnecessary complexity in their operations, Obama said. So why is it okay in our government? Its not. It has to change. obama continued on A4

Commerce revamp raises trade-policy questions

Obamas plan to streamline agencies could raise major issues involving trade-policy negotiations. A4

IN SUNDAYS POST
Paterno on the record Read Sally Jenkinss exclusive interview, the coachs first extensive comments on the Penn State scandal. A Section Rio the redeemed In preparation for hosting the Olympics and World Cup, the epicenter of Carnival is cleaner and largely free of petty crimes. Travel Famous face goes behind the camera Angelina Jolie puts her star power behind a subtitled film about a forgotten war. Sunday Style Helping one another In a survey, ChildFund International finds that children really can lead the way. Take a look at some thoughtful answers. KidsPost

INSIDE
THE WORLD POLITICS

U.S. relations with Burma are slowly thawing

The Obama administration says it will soon send a U.S. ambassador to the Southeast Asian country for the first time in 24 years. A11
CLASSIFIEDS.....................................................D8 COMICS ............................................................. C5 EDITORIALS/LETTERS ..................................... A15 LOTTERIES.........................................................B3 OBITUARIES.......................................................B5 STOCKS ........................................................... A14 TELEVISION ....................................................... C2 WEATHER.......................................................... B8

A tale of two campaigns in South Carolina

GOP presidential contender Mitt Romneys well-oiled machine rolls along, while rival Newt Gingrichs seems to be running on fumes. A6

DAILY CODE (DETAILS, B2) 6 1 5 3

CONTENT 2012 The Washington Post / Year 135, No. 40

JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST

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