Morning Must Reads: April 23

April 23, 2014 8:33 AM EDT

Obama visits Washington town devastated by mudslide [TIME]

From CNN: “”I just wanted to let you know that the country is thinking about all of you, and have throughout this tragedy,” the President said. “We’re not going anywhere. We’ll be here as long as it takes.”

The President landed in Japan this morning, kicking off his tour of the region. From Reuters: “Obama, who is making the first full state visit to Japan by a U.S. President since 1996, must assuage worries by Tokyo and other allies that his commitment to their defense in the face of an increasingly assertive China is weak, without hurting vital U.S. ties with Asia’s biggest economy.”

On your mark, get set, lie: the Supreme Court weighs in about truth in politics [TIME]

U.S. Supreme Court upholds Michigan ban on affirmative action [WSJ]

From Bloomberg: “The ruling has both symbolic and substantive significance. A decade ago, the University of Michigan won a Supreme Court decision that let institutions across the country continue to use race as an admissions factor. The survival of the voter-approved initiative means that ruling is nullified for the university that secured it.”

Another bad day for affirmative action…another good day for the conservative backlash [The New Yorker]

How Lindsey Graham outmaneuvered the tea party [Politico]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to debate New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo [Dallas Morning News]

In case you forgot….. [Youtube]

From Washington Post: “Perry famously stumbled badly in a debate among Republican presidential candidates in 2011 when he failed to remember the final of the three federak agencies he said he would cut if elected. ‘If anybody’s looking for the slickest politician or the smoothest debater, I readily admit I’m not that person,’ Perry said on ‘Fox & Friends’ after that debate.”

“Four Senate races in the South that will most likely determine control of Congress appear very close, with Republicans benefiting from more partisan intensity but a Democratic incumbent, once seen as highly vulnerable, holding a surprising edge, according to a New York Times Upshot/Kaiser Family Foundation poll.” [NYT]

GOP Newtown bill hits impasse [The Hill]

American reporter held by Ukraine separatists [NYT]

Reuters reports: “General Motors Co filed a motion in a U.S. bankruptcy court to enforce a bar on lawsuitsrelated to ignition defects in carssold before its 2009 bankruptcy as it fights a class action lawsuit that seeks to set aside the restriction. The plaintiffs also filed a class action lawsuit on Monday, seeking an order declaring that GM cannot use the bankruptcy protection to absolve itself from liabilities.”

Another from TIME’s interactive master : Obama thinks he can rank colleges. Can you do better?

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