Sunday shows: Security after 9/11

Top White House officials will defend the administration’s
economic record Sunday as Democrats seek to avert huge midterm election
losses, while the imam behind the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero will
call the project a peaceful initiative.

The talking heads lineup will also feature plenty of
discussion about security a day after the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11
attacks, while top House Republican John Boehner (R-Ohio) – who has been
trading blows with President Barack Obama – will argue that voters should hand
the GOP power on Capitol Hill.

{mosads}Here’s what’s on tap:

The White House is sending two top officials into the fray.
Austan Goolsbee, who Obama has just named chair the White House Council of
Economic Advisers, will appear on “Fox News Sunday” and ABC’s “This Week.”
NBC’s “Meet the Press” will feature an interview with senior White House
adviser David Axelrod.

Their appearances come as poll after poll show the
struggling economy dominating voters’ concerns in the run-up to the midterm
elections. They will likely promote Obama’s proposal Wednesday to expand
infrastructure spending, extend and expand R&D tax credits, and allow
businesses to fully deduct capital investments.

The White House is struggling to make the case that its
policies – notably the big 2009 stimulus – have boosted hiring and prevented
even deeper economic woes. The Labor Department reported early this month that
private businesses added 67,000 jobs in August, more than forecast. Overall,
the nation lost 54,000 jobs in August and the unemployment rate ticked up to
9.6 percent.

But the economy will be just one area of battle on TV
Sunday.

ABC also has Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who heads the Cordoba
Initiative that’s proposing to build an Islamic community center and mosque
blocks from the Ground Zero site in New York City.

“This is a house with multi-faith stakeholders, multi-faith
partners, intended to work together towards building peace,” he said, according
to a snippet the network posted.

The proposal has reached the top of national politics in
recent weeks, and the group is under pressure from Republicans such as Sarah
Palin to abandon the effort.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) will lend both
a New York and GOP perspective when he appears on “Meet the Press.”

CBS’s “Face the Nation” has Boehner, who is poised to become Speaker if Republicans take back the
House. On Friday he bashed Goolsbee’s appointment, calling it a “commitment to
more of the same failed ‘stimulus’ policies.” Boehner is pitching his own plan
to cut non-security spending to fiscal year 2008 levels and keep tax rates
frozen, while Obama wants to roll back Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

The CBS program also has Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the
first Muslim elected to Congress, and former New Jersey Gov. Tom Keane (R), who
was co-chairman of the 9-11 Commission.

CNN’s “State of the Union” will feature a heavy dose of
election-season politics from the right with appearances by former House
Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), who is active in the Tea Party movement,
and former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.). Current House Majority
Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will represent Democrats.

The show will also feature a group of current and former
security officials to take stock of domestic safeguards almost a decade after
the 9-11 attacks. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is slated to
appear, and so is Michael Chertoff, who was homeland security chief under
former President George W. Bush, and Bush-era security adviser Fran Townsend.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) will also appear on “Fox
News Sunday.”