The Khmer Rouge Trial (KRT) and the Destiny of the Cambodian People.

Cambodian-Americans as Political Activists in America

Introduction

This page mainly intends to show how a small group of Cambodian-Americans, in order to thank America and its people for their generosity to give hospitality to so many Cambodian refugees, and immigrants to come into this generous and hospitable country, had decided to be immersed themselves in American politics by fully being involved in President Obama's presidential elections campaign, in 2008.

Now as Presdident Obama, not only had not fullfilled his promise to solve those enormous economic, and financial crises created  by the political ineptness and his pro "too-big-to-fail"  business  corporations policy of former president G.W.Bush,  in 2007, but, by being so cautious and not daring to challenge the Republicans, especially the racist Tea Party members, Obama is making the economic and financial crisis much worse, and not better.

By deciding to be totally involved in the American political process, we, Cambodian-Americans, are hoping to contribute to be able to allow this great country to continue to be a great nation, by doing whatever we can, and not just living as a by-stander, and at the margin of the society.

As all concerned American citizens, we, Cambodian-Americans, have the right and the duty to openly express our opinion on various economic, financial, political and social issues, to best of our ability, judgement, and knowledge, wihtout fear, but, with objectivity, responsibility, and fairness.

We hope our political activities would contribute to make America a better place for all Americans and for the rest of the world, as America is now going through a deep, complex, and protacted, economic, financial, judicial, political and social crisis.

Naranhkiri Tith Ph.D. Washington DC. August 4, 2011)

Obama's False Pretense.

He is not fit to be president of any functional and decent country, such as America 

Obama had fooled me and my friends during the 2008 presidential election, but, he will never fool me again, It was a big mistake for me and my Asian-American friends to have organized a supporting group of voters for Obama in 2008.

As it turns out, the Slogan "Change; Yes We Can" is an extravagant but empty message. despite the overwhelming mandate that he recieved from the American people in 2008, he dismally failed to translate that trust and that grand-standing message into action. He does not have the minimum mecessary moral quality and political courage to even be a leader in a respectable developing country such as Indenesia, or Singapore, and certainly not a leader of a great country like the America.

The last straw for me from Obama was well captured by two articles posted below, titled "Obama will fold again," by the Huffington Post  ,and " The Diminsihed President," by Ross Douthat, The New York times.

Obama's lack of leadersip is overwhelming and pervasive. Granted that Obama had no choice but to act more calmly than what most Afro-American leaders, such as the Reverend Al. Sharpston and others, who are so bitter that they tend to overreact, in their public debates and discussions with other white politicians, instead of calmly acting in public.

Hiding behind this over shy and overcautious behavior, he often misuses the word "compromise" not to mean "flexibility", but, to mean "surrender", in order to hide his shyness and aloofness to concede, instead of politely but resdolutely confronting the Republicans irrational aggressiveness, especially the racist Tea Party members.

But, his real failure as president of the USA is the fact that he practically failed in all his his major reform attempts in the economic, financial, political, social sectors; such as the health care reform that led to increase in insurance premium for those who are not covered by the health care program (Please, see  an article titled "Obama Unhealthy Reform" by R. Samuelson, and  "Obama Administration Cuts Major Part of Health Care Reform Law " by Huffington Post); Obama's biggest ,mistake is his inability to grasp the depth of the economic and financial crisis begun and oringinated by G.W. Bush,, which is more like a double-dipping depression ; and to have appointed those who were the originators of this very huge and devastating economic and financial crisis, such as Ben Bernanke, Tim Gheithner, and Larry Summer. In addition, the current financial reform failed to eliminate the mentality of "Too Big to fail" had led to more concentration of wealth and income to the rich, (See an articvle posted below titled "Obama's Biggest Mistake: Selling Out to the Bankers"; the Middle East  problem had led to nowhere. He lost total control of the situation due to his submission to Israel's lobby (EIPAC) in Washington DC.; the irrational confrontation with China led by Hillary Clinton using Vietnam as an ally, while China has been a good and important partner to America, in both military and economic cooperation, to make the world safer and better; (See an article titled " America’s Nuclear Vietnam," by Henry Sokolski, and  another article from the New York Times by Edward Wong, titled "U.S. Economic Woes Loom Over Biden Visit to China ,") have not met their intended objectives, but, even making things worse than before the introduction of these reforms.

On the Palestinian issue, Obama made  180 degres turn from his Cairo speech to stop Israel from colonizing the West Bank and to make Jerusalem the capital city of Israel, and not to keep it as an international city as has been agreed in the UN agreement in the late 1940's by surrending to the arch conservative Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu's threat using the powerful pro-Israel lobby group known as AIPAC as a means to block any chance for peace agreement with the Palestinians (Please, see an articvle titled "Politics Throws Palestine Under the Bus."

This weakness of President Obama's leadership was well captured by professor Drew Westen, the author of the article titled "What Happened to Obama," (and also a companion article titled "Obama Incorporated" by D. Bromwich), posted below, when he wrote that:

"A real president like John Kennedy would have told the Republican Tea party to take a hike, but the wimp in chief and cowardly and or dishonest Barack Obama, who doesn’t have the backbone of even his young daughter, is pathologically weak. "

Obama is not only a disaster for America, but, for the whole world. He did so much damage to this great country that it will take a long time for America to recover from his tragic and weak personality and aloofness. Most of all, he will prevent all minorites in this country to have any chance to become an american president, in the future. 

Perhaps a food summary of the main reasons why Obama has failed miserably was given by Professor Westen in an article published by the New York Times titled; "What Happned to Obama ," when he summarized Obama's dramatic and total failure in the following concluding sentence:

"But the arc of history does not bend toward justice through capitulation cast as compromise. It does not bend when 400 people control more of the wealth than 150 million of their fellow Americans. It does not bend when the average middle-class family has seen its income stagnate over the last 30 years while the richest 1 percent has seen its income rise astronomically. It does not bend when we cut the fixed incomes of our parents and grandparents so hedge fund managers can keep their 15 percent tax rates. It does not bend when only one side in negotiations between workers and their bosses is allowed representation. And it does not bend when, as political scientists have shown, it is not public opinion but the opinions of the wealthy that predict the votes of the Senate. The arc of history can bend only so far before it breaks.

"In clear conscience, I cannot and will never vote for any Republican to be president of the USA. But, I will never vote for Obama again. I am still supporting all democratic candidates, except Obama.

To review all Obama's policy issues, Domestic and international, please, go to this article titled "Barack Obama: Main Domestic and international Policy Issues," pasted just below

The only alternative to Obama's dismal presidency is to challenge him at the 2012 primary for the nomination  of a presidential candidate in 2012, as Senator Bernie Sanders has suggested in an article titled "Bernie Sanders Talks Up Primary Challenge to Obama as 'a Good Idea for Our Democracy and for the Democratic Party' " posted below. Naranhkiri Tith Ph.D. Washington DC. August, 1, 2011)

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Annex: Ros-Lehtinen promises to stop Obama's civilian nuclear deals

Foreign Affair Magazine (FP): Posted By Josh Rogin Friday, January 14, 2011 - 10:07 AM

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/category/topic/development?page=1

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The Obama administration is negotiating civilian nuclear cooperation agreements with a host of countries around the world. But Congress will intervene to try to stop some of those deals, if House Foreign Relations Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen but has anything to say about it.

Ros-Lehtinen, the Cuban-American firebrand who took over the committee last week, has promised to fight the administration's foreign policy agenda on a wide range of fronts. On her first day, she pledged to take an axe to the State Department's budget, and last month she single-handedly killed the bill to make opposition to forced child marriages an element of U.S. foreign policy. Her next target is the Atomic Energy Act (AEA), the law that governs civilian nuclear agreements -- commonly known as "123" agreements for the section of the AEA governing them.

Ros-Lehtinen is angry that the U.S. entered into a 123 agreement with Russia this month. The administration submitted the agreement to Congress last May. Ros-Lehtinen introduced a resolution to stop it during the previous congressional session, but the resolution never came up for a vote in the Democratic-led House. The deal consequently went through after the 90-day waiting period expired.

"The U.S.-Russia nuclear cooperation agreement that went into effect this week never got a vote in Congress," Ros-Lehtinen said Thursday. "The Atomic Energy Act must be reformed so that these far-reaching and potentially dangerous agreements are required to receive an up-or-down vote in Congress before going into effect."

She also promised that her bill would require the administration to certify that a country has met a number or requirements before signing a nuclear deal with the United States, and to verify that the deal would advance U.S. interests.

Ros-Lehtinen said that Russia did not deserve that "concession" due to what she calls its ongoing support of Iran's nuclear program. She specifically mentioned its assistance in building and fueling the Bushehr nuclear plant, even though George W. Bush's administration actually supported that project.

She also criticized Russia for continuing "to shield Iran from U.S. and international sanctions and taking other actions that undermine U.S. interests around the world, such as selling weapons to Syria and signing a nuclear cooperation agreement with the Burmese regime, which is a North Korea nuclear partner."

In Ros-Lehtinen's view, the administration has given several "concessions" to Russia already, including the New START nuclear reductions pact, changes in European missile defense plans, and exempting Russian companies from Iranian sanctions.

Others in Congress opposed the Russia 123 agreement, including Ed Markey (D-MA), chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee. That loose coalition could create problems for the administration if and when it completes new 123 agreements.

The next countries in line for 123 agreements are Vietnam and Jordan, and their deals promise to face a different criticism than the agreement with Russia. Critics in both parties on Capitol Hill are set to press the administration to include bans on plutonium reprocessing and uranium enrichment in the deals, and those countries aren't likely to agree.

The administration painted itself into a corner on this issue when it hailed the 2009 123 agreement with the UAE as the "gold standard," because it included the provisions banning enrichment. But team Obama then hit a wall when Vietnam refused to agree to the same prohibitions. Jordan as well has indicated it wants to preserve what it views as its right to produce nuclear fuel sometime in the future.

If the administration insists on the prohibitions now, it risks causing the pending deals with Vietnam and Jordan to unravel in the short term, and perhaps losing out on other potential deals in the longer term. If the administration backs down and signs agreements without nuclear fuel production restrictions, it will cause a bipartisan uproar on Capitol Hill.

Inside the administration, Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman has been arguing for months that the administration should just get rid of the enrichment provisions. On the other side of the debate, Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg has taken the position that the provisions are important.

In addition to Vietnam and Jordan, the administration is also considering beginning negotiations on a 123 agreement with Saudi Arabia. Ros-Lehtinen has already come out as a critic of the administration's plan to sell $60 billion worth of weapons to the kingdom.

Last August, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote to Obama to demand that the UAE standard be applied to all future civilian nuclear deals. The lawmakers threw Obama's own words from his 2009 speech in Prague back at him, when the president said, "We need a new paradigm for civil nuclear cooperation that allows all countries to enjoy the benefits of nuclear power, while avoiding the spread of nuclear weapons and technologies."

"That new paradigm exists," the lawmakers wrote, referring to the UAE standard.

In November, a group of 16 non-proliferation experts wrote to the administration to demand that the standard in the UAE 123 agreement be extended to U.S. federal energy loan guarantees, federal contracts, or other subsidies or assistance to help foreign government-backed nuclear firms expand their nuclear business in the United States.

The letter was signed by right-leaning experts such as Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, as well as left-leaning experts such as Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.

"All of us believe that it makes no sense for our government to help foreign firms expand their nuclear business in the U.S. with federal loan guarantees, government contracts, or Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses unless they are willing to support the very toughest nuclear nonproliferation standards our own government has developed in the U.S.-UAE deal," the experts wrote.

privacy

• Barack Obama: Main Domestic and international Policy Agenda and Issues

• Council on foreign Relations

• November 21, 2011

http://www.cfr.org/experts/world/barack-obama/b11603

President Barack Obama burst into the national spotlight with his acclaimed speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He has remained a prominent figure since, elected to the Senate at the end of 2004, gaining a seat on the high-profile Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and becoming an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. Obama's opponents faulted him for his lack of experience in Washington, however. Prior to his election to the Senate, Obama served as an Illinois state senator for eight years and a community organizer in Chicago before that. Obama says the United States needs to renew its global leadership position through skillful diplomacy, a revitalized military, and by confronting nuclear proliferation, which he calls "the most urgent threat to the security of America and the world." In June 2008, Obama claimed the Democratic nomination after clinching the number of delegates needed to win. In August 2008, he officially accepted that nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He won the general election in November 2008, and was inaugurated in January 2009. Obama, whose father was Kenyan, is the first African-American president of the United States.

Campaign Issues

• U.S. Policy toward Africa

• U.S. Policy toward India

• Military Tribunals and Guantanamo Bay

• Domestic Intelligence

• Afghanistan

• Democracy Promotion in the Arab World

• Energy Policy

• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

• North Korea Policy

• Cuba Policy

• U.S. Policy toward China

• Defense Policy

• Iraq

• Trade

• Homeland Security

• Iran

• U.S. Policy toward Russia

• Climate Change

• Immigration

• United Nations

• U.S. Policy toward Pakistan

• Nuclear Nonproliferation

• Financial Policy

U.S. Policy toward Africa

President Obama, whose father was Kenyan, was particularly vocal in the Senate on U.S. Africa policy. He has been especially outspoken regarding policy toward Darfur, traveling to the region with Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) in 2006. In May 2008, Obama cosigned a statement with fellow presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain condemning the Sudanese government as "chiefly responsible" for the violence in Darfur, and demanding that the Khartoum regime adhere to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Obama has called for a no-fly zone over Darfur. In 2005, Obama cosponsored the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. He says he has divested (AP) about $180,000 of his personal financial holdings from Sudan-related stock.

Obama has also been outspoken regarding U.S. policy toward Zimbabwe, saying in June 2008 the government of Robert Mugabe is "illegitimate and lacks any credibility." He said the United States should tighten sanctions on Zimbabwe. Obama also urged South Africa's ruling African National Congress party to call for diplomatic action to stop the repression in Zimbabwe.

With Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Obama cosponsored the March 2007 bill to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to bolster public health efforts in sub-Saharan Africa. That bill has not yet been voted on. Obama told Vanity Fair that as president, he plans to expand PEPFAR "by providing at least $1 billion a year in new money."

In February 2008, Obama called the power-sharing agreement reached between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga "a vital step forward," but urged coalition members to "make an enduring commitment to democracy, cooperation and national unity."

Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, CEO of Millennium Villages, a project aimed at fighting poverty in Africa, was a national security adviser to Obama's campaign.

U.S. Policy toward India

Obama has said he will build "a close strategic partnership" with India. Because India and the United States have both experienced major terrorist attacks, "we have a shared interest in succeeding in the fight against al-Qaeda and its operational and ideological affiliates," Obama wrote in a February 2008 article in India Abroad, a newspaper on Indian affairs published in New York.

Obama voted to approve the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement in October 2008. He voted in favor of the United States-India Energy Security Cooperation Act of 2006. In September 2008, Obama praised the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for deciding to allow its members to cooperate with India on nuclear issues.

South Asians for Obama published this list (PDF) of Obama’s stances on issues of interest to the South Asian community in the United States.

Military Tribunals and Guantanamo Bay

President Obama says Guantanamo should be closed and habeas corpus (AP) should be restored for the detainees. He says the United States should have “developed a real military system of justice that would sort out the suspected terrorists from the accidentally accused.”

In June 2008, Obama praised (NYT) a Supreme Court decision allowing Guantanamo prisoners to challenge their detention in civilian courts. He called the ruling "an important step toward re-establishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law, and rejecting a false choice between fighting terrorism and respecting habeas corpus."

In February 2008, Obama criticized the prosecution of six Guantanamo detainees charged with involvement in the 9/11 attacks. He said the trials are "too important to be held in a flawed military commission system that has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since the 9/11 attacks and that has been embroiled in legal challenges" (SFChron). Instead, Obama said, the men should be tried in a U.S. criminal court or by a military court-martial.

Obama voted against the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (PDF).

Domestic Intelligence

President Obama's response to the NSA spying controversy was mixed. On one hand, he opposed the nomination of former NSA chief Michael Hayden to the position of CIA director because of his role in the warrantless wiretapping program and said that he disapproved of Bush’s avoidance of FISA oversight in the NSA eavesdropping efforts. On the other hand, Obama did not join in Sen. Feingold’s efforts to censure Bush over the warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens.

Obama long opposed retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that cooperated in warrantless wiretapping of Americans. "No one should get a free pass to violate the basic civil liberties of the American people," he said in January 2008. Still, in June 2008, Obama supported legislation (WashPost) providing telecommunications companies with legal immunity. "Given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay," Obama said, explaining his support for the bill. Still, Obama pledged to "carefully monitor the program" as president.

Obama has said he will make the Director of National Intelligence into a position with a fixed term limit "to foster consistency and integrity." (WashPost)

Afghanistan

President Obama has argued the troop surge in Iraq has caused the situation in Afghanistan to deteriorate. He says the United States should redeploy troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. He has said he would send at least two more combat brigades to Afghanistan and will "use this commitment to seek greater contributions—with fewer restrictions—from NATO allies." He has also proposed an additional billion dollars in nonmilitary assistance per year, "with meaningful safeguards to prevent corruption and to make sure investments are made—not just in Kabul—but out in Afghanistan's provinces." Obama said in an October 2008 interview with TIME magazine that opportunities to negotiate with the Taliban should be "explored."

In general, Obama has been critical of the Bush administration's policies relating to the war on terror. In a July 2007 Foreign Affairs article, Obama called the Bush administration's response to 9/11 "conventional thinking of the past, largely viewing problems as state-based and principally amenable to military solutions." As a result of the actions taken under the auspices of the war on terror, Obama says, "the world has lost trust in our purposes and our principles." Obama says Iraq is not and "never was" the main front of the war on terror. Obama has called for a greater counterterrorism focus on Afghanistan and the tribal region of Pakistan.

Democracy Promotion in the Arab World

President Obama has said the United States benefits from "the expansion of democracy," and said democratic countries are "our best trading partners, our most valuable allies and the nations with which we share our deepest values." In a March 2008 Washington Post interview, Obama said the United States should work to advance democracy by setting an example and banning torture, extraordinary rendition and by closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

Obama has said he will "significantly increase" funding for the National Endowment for Democracy "and other nongovernmental organizations to support civic activists in repressive societies." He also said he plans to start a "Rapid Response Fund for young democracies and post-conflict societies that will provide foreign aid, debt relief, technical assistance and investment packages that show the people of newly hopeful countries that democracy and peace deliver, and the United States stands by them."

Obama favors democracy promotion as a principle of foreign policy (he introduced the DRC Relief, Security and Democracy Promotion Act in 2005). Still, he has generally not framed his rhetoric about the Middle East in terms of democracy promotion.

Obama cosponsored the ADVANCE Democracy Act of 2005, which sought to reinforce the U.S. commitment to promoting democracy around the world. That bill would have established “Regional Democracy Hubs” around the world meant to develop and implement strategies to help bring about democratic transitions in non-democratic countries. The bill never passed.

In the summer 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs, Obama said democratic states are better equipped to fight terrorism, stop the spread of weapons, and deal with public health crises. To this end, Obama said as president he would increase foreign aid funding to $50 billion by 2012 and demand reform of corrupt governments. He also said he would “capitalize a $2 billion Global Education Fund” to ensure educated citizens that can contribute to the solidifying of democracy around the world.

Energy Policy

Obama has been critical (AP) of President Bush's energy policy. “Saying that America is addicted to oil without following a real plan for energy independence is like admitting alcoholism and then skipping out on the twelve-step program,” Obama said in 2006. In August 2008, Obama unveiled his "New Energy for America" plan, which includes measures to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and to provide "short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump" due to high gas prices. According to the plan, Obama would impose a windfall profits tax on oil companies and use the proceeds to provide a $1,000 tax rebate for married couples and a $500 tax rebate for individuals. Those rebates would "offset the entire increase in gas prices for a working family over the next four months; or pay for the entire increase in winter heating bills for a typical family in a cold‐weather state," Obama said.

Obama also said in August 2008 that he supports the sale of 70 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "for less expensive crude, which in the past has lowered gas prices within two weeks." This statement signaled a shift of position for Obama, who in July 2008 said he did not believe the United States should use that reserve supply.

Obama says he will attempt to reduce oil consumption by 7.64 million barrels a day by 2025 from current levels. He also says he would invest $150 billion over 10 years (PDF) toward new alternative energy technology, and to "accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, invest in low emissions coal plants, and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid."

Obama has said Americans will have to change their behavior (AFP) to reduce energy consumption. "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times...and then just expect that other countries are going to say okay," Obama said at a May 2008 campaign rally in Oregon.

Obama has also said that he supports tax breaks and loan guarantees for users of clean energy sources like ethanol and blended fuel E85. More controversially, Obama, whose home state of Illinois has a large coal-mining industry, supported coal- | to-liquid (CTL) fuel legislation under consideration in Congress, even though some experts say CTLs might cause even more carbon dioxide pollution than gasoline. He explained his support for CTLs, saying they “will create jobs and lessen our dependence on foreign oil.” Obama broke ranks from many of his fellow Democratic senators voting for the 2005 Energy Policy Act. He believes that a “strong carbon cap” (Grist) is better than a freeze on development on a particular type of energy.

At a debate in January 2008, Obama said he would support more nuclear power if it could be made cost-efficient and safe, and the waste stored effectively. He noted, if that can be done, "then we should pursue it because what we don't want is to produce more greenhouse gases."

In June 2008, Obama said he would close the "Enron loophole," a legislative provision pushed through Congress by Enron lobbyists in 2002 that Obama says allows oil speculators to escape federal regulation and gouge fuel prices. Obama said that loophole prevents the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from effectively overseeing the oil futures market and investigating "cases where excessive speculation may be driving up oil prices."

Obama has also said he would implement a windfall profits tax on oil companies. Revenue from that tax would be invested in "mechanisms to reduce the burden of rising prices, such as expanding resources for the federal Weatherization Assistance Program, increasing federal support for state and local-level efforts to relieve the burden of rising energy prices on low and moderate-income families, and helping permanently expand the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps families pay their heating and cooling bills," the Obama campaign said in June 2008.

Obama has criticized proposals for a gas-tax holiday, which he says would "take $3 billion a month out of the Highway Trust Fund and hand it over effectively to our oil companies." Obama also opposes domestic oil exploration (CNN), arguing that it will not immediately lower gas prices for American consumers. Still, in August 2008, Obama said he might be willing to support some offshore drilling as part of a broader compromise on energy policy. "My interest is in making sure we've got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices," Obama said (AP). "If, in order to get that passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done."

Obama co-authored the Fuel Economy Reform Act with Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), among other senators. The act, which did not reach a vote, would have made all automobiles manufactured for 2012 meet the fuel economy standard of 27.5 miles per gallon. He did not attend the vote on the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007. That bill passed.

Obama's energy plan can be viewed here.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

President Obama has taken a strongly pro-Israel tone in addressing the conflict. In a May 2008 interview with the Atlantic, Obama said the concept of a Jewish state is "fundamentally just," and his commitment to Israeli security is "non-negotiable." In a speech before AIPAC in March 2007, Obama said the United States must "strengthen the hands of Palestinian moderates" and isolate Hamas. Haaretz U.S. correspondent Shmuel Rosner said that before AIPAC, Obama "sounded as strong as [Hillary] Clinton, as supportive as [President George] Bush, as friendly as [Rudy] Giuliani."

In April 2008, Barack Obama's campaign said he disapproved (ABC News) of former President Jimmy Carter's decision to meet with Hamas officials. Obama "does not support negotiations with Hamas until they renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist and abide by past agreements," Obama's campaign said. Despite his pledge to hold diplomatic talks with U.S. adversaries without preconditions, Obama called Carter's meeting with Hamas leaders "a bad idea." (Reuters) He has said his position on Hamas is "indistinguishable from the position of Hillary Clinton or John McCain." In May 2008, Obama also said he would not negotiate with Hezbollah (ChiTrib). His campaign has indicated that Obama would negotiate directly with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Obama has criticized Carter's characterization of Israel as an apartheid state. "There's no doubt that Israel and the Palestinians have tough issues to work out to get to the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security, but injecting a term like apartheid into the discussion doesn't advance that goal. It's emotionally loaded, historically inaccurate, and it's not what I believe," said Obama.

Obama has said Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories are "not helpful."

In May 2008, Obama Middle East adviser Daniel Kurtzer said the issue of Jerusalem must be included in any "serious" peace talks. (Haaretz)

Obama cosponsored the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006 and has called on the Palestinian leadership to "recognize Israel, to renounce violence, and to get serious about negotiating peace and security for the region."

Obama says he will "insist on fully funding military assistance to Israel" (JPost) and continue to cooperate with Israel on the development of the Arrow missile defense system.

North Korea Policy

President Obama advocates for developing an “international coalition” to handle nuclear North Korea, calls the Six-Party Talks “ad hoc,” and says he supports “sustained, direct, and aggressive diplomacy.” In a September 2008 presidential debate, Obama said a lack of diplomatic engagement with North Korea led the country to significantly increase its nuclear capacity, and said the Bush administration's eventual reengagement with the regime led to "some progress."

Within weeks of Pyongyang’s October 2006 nuclear test, Obama appeared on Meet the Press and said the United States had no leverage over North Korea because of Washington’s refusal to hold bilateral negotiations. He also clarified a passage from his book Audacity of Hope (in which he posed the question “Why invade Iraq and not North Korea or Burma?”) and said he did not consider invading the communist country an option to resolving the nuclear issue.

In May 2005, Obama named North Korea as one of the "biggest proliferation challenges we currently face." Obama has called for the strengthening of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so that countries like North Korea "that break the rules will automatically face strong international sanctions."

Obama said in September 2008 he believes the United States needs a missile defense system in part because of the nuclear threat North Korea poses.

Cuba Policy

President Obama has broken with the status quo on U.S. policy toward Cuba, calling for travel and remittance restrictions on Cuban-Americans to be lifted. "There are no better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans,"Obama said in a May 2008 speech in Miami, explaining why he would "immediately allow unlimited family travel and remittances to the island."

In February 2008, Obama called Fidel Castro's resignation "the end of a dark era in Cuba's history," and called for a democratic transition there. He urged the "prompt release of all political prisoners" in Cuba, and said the United States should prepare to "begin taking steps to normalize relations and to ease the embargo of the last five decades." Still, in May 2008 Obama said he would not lift the embargo until the Cuban government takes steps to "democratize the island."

In an August 2007 op-ed in the Miami Herald, Obama also said he will engage in bilateral talks with Cuba to send the message that the United States is willing to normalize relations with Cuba upon evidence of a democratic opening. Obama has also said under his administration, the United States would hold a "series of meetings with low-level diplomats," (McClatchy) and that over time Obama himself would be "willing to meet and talk very directly about what we expect from the Cuban regime."

He has voted twice to cut off TV Marti funding (WashPost).

U.S. Policy toward China

President Obama has expressed interest in cooperation with China, although he sees the country as a major competitor to the United States. At the April 2007 debate among Democratic candidates, Obama said China is “neither our enemy nor our friend. They're competitors. But we have to make sure that we have enough military-to-military contact and forge enough of a relationship with them that we can stabilize the region.”

In an April 2007 speech before the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Obama said he will “forge a more effective regional framework in Asia,” building on “our strong bilateral relations and informal arrangements like the Six-Party Talks” on North Korea.

Obama has noted the problems with China’s revaluation of the yuan. He has said that although the United States should maintain a cooperative relationship with China, it should “never hesitate to be clear and consistent with China where we disagree—whether on protection of intellectual property rights, the manipulation of its currency, human rights, or the right stance on Sudan and Iran.”

In March 2008, Obama condemned China's crackdown on protests by Tibetan Buddhist monks. He called on China to respect Tibet's religion and culture, and said China should grant Tibet "genuine and meaningful autonomy." Obama also said the Dalai Lama should be invited to visit China, "as part of a process leading to his return." Obama sent a letter in March 2008 calling on President Bush to urge China to "make significant progress in resolving the Tibet issue." Obama said Bush should press Chinese President Hu Jintao to negotiate with the Dalai Lama about his return to Tibet, to guarantee religious freedom for Tibetans, and to grant Tibet "genuine autonomy." In April 2008, Obama said President Bush should keep the option of boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympics "firmly on the table." He said President Bush should decide to attend based on whether China takes "steps to help stop the genocide in Darfur and to respect the dignity, security, and human rights of the Tibetan people."

Obama has expressed support for the "one China" policy. In March 2008, Obama congratulated Taiwanese President-elect Ma Ying-jeou on his electoral victory, and said the government of China should respond to the election "in a positive, constructive, and forward-leaning way." He also said China should "demonstrate to the people of Taiwan that the practical and non-confrontational approach that President-elect Ma promises to take toward the Mainland will be met with good faith and progress." He called on China to build confidence with Taiwan by reducing its military deployment in southeast China, and to "allow Taiwan greater international space" in the World Health Organization.

Former Ambassador Jeffrey Bader, the Clinton administration's National Security Council Asia specialist, is a national security adviser to Obama's campaign. Bader is now the head of Brookings's John L. Thornton China center.

Defense Policy

Obama has called for U.S. military expansion and restructuring. In an April 2007 speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Obama advocated the expansion of the military to include an additional sixty-five thousand army soldiers and twenty-seven thousand marines. He also called for an increase in the number of Arabic speakers in the military.

In Obama’s 2006 book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, he wrote, “It's time we acknowledge that a defense budget and force structure built principally around the prospect of World War III makes little strategic sense.”

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama introduced the Cooperative Proliferation Detection, Interdiction Assistance, and Conventional Threat Reduction Act of 2006. That act, which was incorporated into the Department of State Authorities Act of 2006 and signed into law, allows for the destruction of surplus and unsecured weapons, which Obama said “make attractive targets for terrorists.”

In October 2007, Obama said private security contractors like Blackwater USA should not be "rogue militia, roaming the country shooting without justification and without consequences." He called for increased accountability for contractors and wrote in an Chicago Sun-Times op-ed. that U.S. "national interests are threatened when these companies act on the country's behalf without having to answer to Americans. Instead of winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis, we've made them angry and possibly fueled support for the counterinsurgency that is keeping us stuck in Iraq."

In May 2008, Obama voted in favor of an amendment to expand the veterans' benefits program (WashPost). That bill, which will increase education benefits for soldiers who served in Iraq, passed. Obama has also called for the expansion of military health coverage to include "proven treatment" for soldiers suffering from a traumatic brain injury (TBI). In an August 2008 letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Obama expressed concern that "one of the most widely accepted and critical rehabilitative treatments for this injury, known as cognitive rehabilitation therapy, is excluded by the military's TRICARE health insurance program." Obama praised the Senate in September 2008 for passing the Defense Authorization Bill, which he said would ensure that U.S. “service members and veterans have access to the health care and support they need whether in combat or at home.” But Obama criticized Republicans for blocking a measure he cosponsored to provide suicide prevention programs throughout the military.

As Obama was elected to the Senate in 2004, he does not have a voting record on military operations in the Gulf War, Kosovo, or in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. He has been critical of the war in Iraq, but was not yet in office at the time that the 2002 Iraq War resolution was passed.

Iraq

President Obama believes the United States needs to move beyond Iraq and "refocus our attention on the broader Middle East," he wrote in an essay in Foreign Affairs. One of the few presidential candidates who opposed the war (PDF) from the start, he says there is "no military solution" to the situation in Iraq. He says ending the war in Iraq will also help assuage the U.S. financial crisis. "We are currently spending $10 billion a month in Iraq when they have a $79 billion surplus. It seems to me that if we're going to be strong at home as well as strong abroad, that we have to look at bringing that war to a close," he said in a September 2008 presidential debate.

In September 2007, Obama released his plan (PDF) to "responsibly end the war in Iraq," calling for a complete redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2009, starting immediately. He also advocates a UN-led Iraqi constitutional convention in order to forge national reconciliation and to reach compromises on federalism, oil revenue sharing, and "de-Ba'athification." Obama says he will establish an "international working group" to solve the Iraqi refugee crisis.

In January 2007, Obama proposed the Iraq War De-Escalation Act, which would have reversed the troop surge and redeployed U.S. troops to Afghanistan and other locations in phases. He favors more funds for U.S. military equipment like night-vision goggles and reinforced Humvees, though his recent refusal to sign a war funding bill came under criticism from presidential aspirant John McCain (R-AZ), who, among other things, accused the senator of misspelling "flak jacket." Under Obama's plan, there may be a residual troop presence (NYT) in Iraq for security and training purposes. His bill has not yet reached a vote.

Obama opposed Defense Secretary Robert Gates' plan to "pause" U.S. troop withdrawal (CNN) from Iraq in July 2008. In February 2008, Obama said he "strongly" disagreed with Gates' proposal, and warned against waging "war without end in Iraq while ignoring mounting costs to our troops and their families, our security and our economy."

Obama opposes the establishment of permanent U.S. military bases (USA Today) in Iraq.

Trade

President Obama generally supports free trade policies, though he has expressed concern about free trade agreements that do not include labor and environmental protections. In a February 2008 speech at the General Motors plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, Obama said he "will not sign another trade agreement unless it has protections for our environment and protections for American workers." In June 2008, Obama blamed a jump in the U.S. trade deficit on "policies that reflect unprecedented fiscal irresponsibility and borrowing from abroad" and promised to adopt a trade policy that "serves the interests not just of multinational corporations but of America's hardworking families."

Obama has called NAFTA a "bad" trade deal. In an August 2007 Democratic debate, Obama said he would meet with the Canadian and Mexican heads of state to “try to amend NAFTA,” saying the agreement “should reflect the principle that our trade should not just be good for Wall Street, but should also be good for Main Street” (see video).

In a February 2008 Democratic debate, Obama said he would "make sure that we renegotiate" NAFTA and use "the hammer of a potential opt-out" of NAFTA as leverage to ensure enforceable labor and environmental protections. Still, in February 2008, Obama said he does not think "it's realistic for us to repeal NAFTA," because that could lead to "more job loss ... than job gains." (ABC)

Obama voted to approve the 2006 FTA with Oman. He opposed CAFTA, however, explaining in 2005, “It does less to protect labor than previous trade agreements, and does little to address enforcement of basic environmental standards in the Central American countries and the Dominican Republic.” Obama did not vote on the 2007 Peru FTA, but expressed support for the deal (AP).

In a March 2008 speech, Obama said he would oppose a free trade agreement with Columbia, because "the violence against unions in Colombia would make a mockery of the very labor protections that we have insisted be included in these kinds of agreements." Obama has also criticized the U.S.-South Korea FTA, which he said is "bad for American workers." The deal "would give Korean exports essentially unfettered access to the U.S. market and would eliminate our best opportunity for obtaining genuinely reciprocal market access in one of the world's largest economies,'' Obama wrote in May 2008.

Obama has criticized China for manipulating its currency, and in June 2007 urged Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to take action against China. "At least partially as a result of the Administration’s failure to address Chinese currency manipulation, the U.S. imported more than $232 billion in goods from China than we sold to it last year," he wrote.

In March 2008, Obama praised the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Reform Act, which requires that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examine the CPSC's monitoring of goods imported to the United States, and make recommendations to improve safety and regulation. "We must ensure that the CPSC has every tool available to effectively regulate imported products in today's global marketplace and protect our most vulnerable citizens from dangerous products," Obama said.

Homeland Security

President Obama says the United States is "safer in many ways" since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. "Obviously, we've poured billions of dollars into airport security. We have done some work in terms of securing potential targets, but we still have a long way to go," Obama said in a September 2008 presidential debate. He said the United States still needs to tighten security on the transportation system, at ports and at chemical sites. Obama, who sits on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, has been a critic of how federal homeland security funding has been handled. He has also been critical of the Patriot Act, but he voted to adopt a conference report to reauthorize it in 2006.

Obama was critical of the government's "passive indifference" toward the crisis Hurricane Katrina caused in 2005. Obama says he will ensure that FEMA funding and resources "reach the communities that need it." He says he will boost the federal rebuilding coordinator to report directly to him "so that rebuilding remains a national priority." He plans to restore the Gulf Coast region's wetlands (PDF) and says he will "immediately" close the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet" to prevent floodwater from funneling into New Orleans.

Obama cosponsored the SAFE Act of 2005, which never reached a vote.

In February 2007, Obama cosponsored the Risk-Based Homeland Security Grants Act.

Iran

President Obama has expressed support for "opening dialogue" with Iran, in part to ask for its assistance in "playing a more constructive role in Iraq." He says the war in Iraq has strengthened Iran's influence in the region. He has also said Iran's nuclear ambitions represent a "serious threat to the United States, to our ally Israel and to international security." A nuclear Iran would be "a game changer," he said in a September 2008 presidential debate. "Not only would it threaten Israel, a country that is our stalwart ally, but it would also create an environment in which you could set off an arms race in this Middle East."

Obama said in a March 2007 speech before AIPAC that he supports "tough sanctions" on Iran to compel it to stop its uranium enrichment program. In the same speech, he said that he "does not believe that the use of military force towards Iran should be ruled out (Chicago Sun-Times). Still, in an April 2007 presidential debate, Obama said, "I think it would be a profound mistake (NYT) for us to initiate a war with Iran." Obama hardened his position on this point following the NIE release. During a debate in Iowa in December 2007, Obama accused President Bush of not letting "facts get in the way of his ideology" in dealing with Iran, and said the Bush administration's saber-rattling and threats of war "should have never started" (NPR).

Obama has repeatedly said he will engage Iran in "tough, direct presidential diplomacy" without preconditions. "I reserve the right, as president of the United States to meet with anybody at a time and place of my choosing if I think it's going to keep America safe," he said in September 2008. In a February 2008 Democratic debate, Obama said it is "important for the United States not just to talk to its friends but also to talk to its enemies," including Iran. This would not necessarily mean direct talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who Obama says "is not the most powerful person in Iran" and therefore "may not be the right person to talk to." Obama has also said the United States should consider offering the incentive of World Trade Organization membership for Iran if it abandons its nuclear program.

In March 2008, Obama praised the UN Security Council's resolution to up pressure on Iran for its nuclear program. Still, Obama said, the resolution "represents a lowest common denominator because Russia and China did not agree to tougher sanctions."

In May 2007, Obama sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act, which would authorize state and local governments to divest from Iran's petroleum sector, protecting fund managers who divest from lawsuits. That bill has not reached a vote.

Obama did not vote on the September 2007 legislation labeling the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, but he criticized the bill and said he would have voted against it. Still, in a September 2008 presidential debate, Obama said he does believe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is a terrorist organization.

U.S. Policy toward Russia

President Obama said in April 2007 that Russia is "neither our enemy nor close ally," and said the United States "shouldn't shy away from pushing for more democracy, transparency, and accountability" there. In a September 2008 presidential debate, Obama said, "our entire Russian approach has to be evaluated, because a resurgent and very aggressive Russia is a threat to the peace and stability of the region." He called Russia's August 2008 actions toward Georgia "unacceptable" and "unwarranted."

Obama called Russia's April 2008 move to seek closer ties with Georgian the secessionist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia "deeply troubling and contrary to Russia's obligations as a permanent member of the UN Security Council." He condemned Russian attacks on Georgia in August 2008, calling them a "violation of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity." He called for an immediate cease-fire and urged both sides to allow humanitarian assistance to reach civilians. Obama said diplomats from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations should "become directly involved in mediating this military conflict and beginning a process to resolve the political disputes over the territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia." He also called for an international peacekeeping force in those territories.

In September 2008, Obama praised the Bush administration for pledging $1 billion in humanitarian and economic aid for Georgia. The same week, Obama said he welcomed news that the European Union would postpone talks on a new EU-Russia partnership, and applauded the EU's decision to send civilians to Georgia to monitor the ceasefire agreement.

If Russia does not abide by the ceasefire agreement between Russia and Georgia, Obama warned, "[t]hey will imperil the Civil Nuclear Agreement, and Russia's standing in the international community - including the NATO-Russia Council, and Russia's desire to participate in organizations like the WTO and the OECD."

Obama has focused much of his discussion of Russia on diminishing the possibility of nuclear weapons use. In a July 2007 Foreign Affairs article, Obama said the United States and Russia should collaborate to "update and scale back our dangerously outdated Cold War nuclear postures and de-emphasize the role of nuclear weapons." In an October 2007 speech in Chicago, Obama said if elected he would work to "take U.S. and Russian ballistic missiles off hair-trigger alert, and to dramatically reduce the stockpiles of our nuclear weapons and material." He said he would seek a "global ban on the production of fissile material for weapons" and an expansion of "the U.S.-Russian ban on intermediate-range missiles."

In 2005, Obama traveled with Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) to nuclear and biological weapons destruction sites in Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan. Obama and Lugar then introduced legislation to eliminate nuclear stockpiles throughout the former Soviet Union. That law was enacted in 2007.

Obama has said he supports a U.S. missile defense system in Europe, but has some reservations. His campaign website says he supports national missile defense, but he will "ensure that it is developed in a way that is pragmatic and cost-effective; and, most importantly, does not divert resources from other national security priorities until we are positive the technology will protect the American public." Still, he expressed hesitancy about the Bush plan. "We need to make sure any missile defense system would be effective before deployment," he said in a July 2007 statement. Obama criticized the Bush administration for having "exaggerated missile defense capabilities and rushed deployments for political purposes," and for doing "a poor job of consulting its NATO allies about the deployment of a missile defense system that has major implications for all of them."

In a September 2008 presidential debate, Obama said the United States needs missile defense, "because of Iran and North Korea and the potential for them to obtain or to launch nuclear weapons," but stressed the need to also increase spending on nuclear nonproliferation.

Climate Change

Obama views climate change as an "epochal, man-made threat to the planet" (Foreign Affairs) and vows to lead an international coalition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Obama has said he will try to ensure (PDF) "that our nation's environmental laws and policies balance America's need for a healthy, sustainable environment with economic growth."

Obama has called for a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions. He has said that if he is elected he would invest $150 billion over ten years to advance clean energy technology. He has also said he would doubly increase fuel economy standards within 18 years by providing tax credits and loan guarantees for U.S. auto plants and parts manufacturers for building more fuel efficient cars.

Obama cosponsored the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007, which would establish a “Climate Change Credit Corporation” to manage tradeable allowances and stimulate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. That bill has not yet been voted on. With Hillary Clinton, Obama also signed on as a cosponsor of the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act in 2007. Obama missed the June 2008 vote on the Climate Security Act of 2008, but called the legislation "critical and long overdue." Still, he said, the bill could be improved. "We must ensure that more middle-class families reap more of the financial benefits created by this bill," he said in a statement. " And we must direct greater resources to the regions of the country that will bear the brunt of this critical transition to a clean energy economy."

Obama's proposals for climate change can be viewed here.

Immigration

President Obama, the son of a Kenyan immigrant, favors an immigration reform plan that allows illegal immigrants "who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, not violate the law, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens," according to his campaign's immigration fact sheet (PDF). He also says the United States should increase the number of Customs and Border Protection personnel, although he has not indicated how many he would add.

Obama, whose Illinois constituents include a high percentage of Mexican immigrants, voted against the English as a National Language Amendment in 2006. Obama proposed three amendments that were included in the Senate Immigration Reform Bill last year, including one that mandates that jobs be offered to American workers at a “prevailing wage” before they are offered to guest workers. Another of these amendments makes it a requirement that employers are able to prove that their workers are all legally permitted to work in the United States. His third amendment grants the FBI $3 million a year to improve efficiency for background checks on immigrants applying for citizenship. Obama has also called for sweeping amnesty for illegal immigrants. However, he voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006.

Obama opposed an amendment to the Senate immigration reform bill of June 2007 that would prevent immigrants with a criminal record from gaining legal status (AP).

Obama supports granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and has called it a "public safety concern."

United Nations

President Obama has repeatedly said that the United Nations should play a key role in managing crises like Darfur. Obama has also said he wants the United Nations to help bring about peace in Iraq, and says as president he will call on the United Nations to convene a constitutional convention (PDF) “which would not adjourn until Iraq’s leaders reach a new accord on reconciliation.” He says he may work with the United Nations to create an independent war crimes commission or special investigator to investigate war crimes in Iraq.

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama voted against the 2005 nomination of John Bolton as UN ambassador. His comments during those hearings provide a sense of his stance on the United Nations, including the need for reform: “Countries such as Zimbabwe and Burma, and others that do not want to see reform take place at the UN, are going to be able to dismiss our efforts at reform by saying: Mr. Bolton is a UN basher, someone who is ideologically opposed to the existence of the UN—thereby using Mr. Bolton's own words and lack of credibility as a shield to prevent the very reforms that need to take place.”

Obama introduced the Global Poverty Act of 2007, which would require the president to put the United States on a path toward meeting the Millennium Development Goal of cutting in half the number of people worldwide living on less than one dollar per day. That bill has not reached a vote in Senate.

U.S. Policy toward Pakistan

Pakistan first achieved notoriety in the presidential campaign in summer 2007 when Obama said he believed the United States should hunt al-Qaeda forces in Pakistan. “If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President [Pervez] Musharraf will not act, we will,” he said at the time. Obama says the "growing sanctuary" for al-Qaeda in Pakistan is a result of failed military strategy in Iraq.

The United States needs a policy that "compels Pakistani action against terrorists who threaten our common security and are using the FATA and the Northwest Territories of Pakistan as a safe haven," Obama said in a July 2008 speech. The same week, in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press, Obama said too much U.S. financial assistance to Pakistan has been military aid, and "not enough of it has been in the form of building schools and building infrastructure in the country to help develop and give opportunity to the Pakistani people."

Obama congratulated Asif Ali Zardari on his election to Pakistan’s presidency in September 2008, and praised Zardari for pledging to “return this office to its traditional stature, and return to Parliament the powers unconstitutionally appropriated to the presidency.” He also said he was pleased with the reinstatement of several deposed judges, a move which he called “an important step towards the restoration of a truly independent judiciary.”

In November 2007, Obama cosponsored a resolution condemning Musharraf’s imposition of a state of emergency, and calling for an investigation into a prior assassination attempt on opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Nuclear Nonproliferation

President Obama has said the United States should seek “a world in which there are no nuclear weapons.” But he said in an October 2007 speech he does not believe the United States should pursue unilateral nuclear disarmament. “As long as nuclear weapons exist, we’ll retain a strong nuclear deterrent,” he said. If elected, he says he will seek “a global ban on the production of fissile material for weapons,” as well as an expansion of the U.S.-Russian intermediate-range missile ban. He also says he will “strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty so that nations that don't comply will automatically face strong international sanctions.”

Obama says if elected he will make ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty a priority. Though he says the United States should “lead the international effort to deemphasize the role of nuclear weapons around the world,” he has stopped short of opposing the building of a new Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW). Instead, he said he is against (PDF) a “premature” decision to build an RRW .

In August 2005, Obama traveled with Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) to nuclear and biological weapons destruction facilities in the former Soviet Union, where they urged the destruction of conventional weapons stockpiles. With Lugar, Obama introduced the Cooperative Proliferation Detection, Interdiction Assistance, and Conventional Threat Reduction Act, which passed as part of the Department of State Authorities Act of 2006.

Financial Policy

President Obama voted in favor of the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act in October 2008, but, he said, "The fact that we are even here voting on a plan to rescue our economy from the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street and Washington is an outrage."

Upon the House bill's initial failure, Obama urged a return to the negotiating table, and suggested the addition to the bill of a measure that increased the limit on federal deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 (Reuters).

Obama says he supports the Treasury Department's plan to inject money directly into struggling banks, but in October 2008 said the plan must be "implemented in a way that helps homeowners and does not enrich Wall Street CEOs at the taxpayers' expense." He has called for a ninety-day moratorium on home foreclosures.

Following the collapse of Bear Stearns in late March, Obama introduced a six-point plan (PDF) to improve government regulation of financial institutions. The Obama plan would provide the Federal Reserve with authority over "any financial institution to which it may make credit available as a lender of last resort." At a minimum, Obama says, that oversight should apply to the liquidity and capital requirements of those institutions. Obama also advocates tighter capital, liquidity and disclosure requirements for all financial institutions, and says U.S. regulatory agencies should be streamlined to end competition and overlap. Obama proposes altering the financial oversight structure to regulate all institutions in the same way, saying a fragmented oversight framework "has failed to protect homeowners, and it is now clear that it made no sense for our financial system." He has also said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should "crack down" on market manipulation. Finally, Obama's plan includes the creation of a financial market oversight commission which would "meet regularly and report to the president, the president's Financial Working Group and Congress on the state of our financial markets and the systemic risks that face them." Obama's plan does not mention any alterations to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (PDF), legislation designed to improve accountability in the financial industry.

Obama called the September 2008 government bailout of AIG "the final verdict on the failed economic philosophy" of the Bush administration, and called on the Federal Reserve to "ensure that the plan protects the families that count on insurance." He urged the Federal Reserve not to bail out AIG's shareholders or management. Top Obama campaign economic adviser Jason Furman told NPR that Obama would not be "second-guessing the Federal Reserve at a time like this." Furman said economic stimulus has a role to play in ending these major bailouts. The government needs to "prop up our economy as a whole with a fiscal stimulus," he said. "We need far more ambitious measures to deal with the root of this problem, which is in the housing sector."

Obama also sent a letter urging Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson not to allow outgoing CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to receive "inappropriate windfall payments." Days later, he praised Paulson for blocking those "golden parachutes."

Obama released an "Emergency Economic Plan" in August 2008 to cut taxes for 95 percent of working families, grant $25 billion in a "State Growth Fund" to prevent local cuts in health, education and housing assistance spending, and grant $25 billion in a "Jobs and Growth Fund" for infrastructure jobs.

Asian-Americans Support for Obama Before We Discovered His False Pretense

Barack Obama (center) with our hosts, Suzie and Arnie Nachmanoff (Left-hand side) and Bob Ruenits and his girl friend Dorothy (right-hand side), in Pearl Harbour, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1961

An article from the University of Hawaii newspaper, (KA LEO), on the opinion by Barack Obama, I. Ojha, and N. Tith in a Meeting on "Nuclear Arms Stalemate" at the University of Hawaii, Manoa valley Campus, Honolulu, Hawaii, November 1961

Barack Obama (Right-hand side), with friends, (I am on the left hand-side) at the Nachmanoff's house in Pearl Harbour, in 1961

Our Asian-Americans Friends in Philadelphia and Supporters of Obama, 2008

Our Cambodian-American team (Kal Man - extreme front left ide - and his wife Senghoun - extreme front right side, working with the rest of the members of supporters of Barak Obama during the 2008 presidential elections, in Portland Oregon

Celebration night for Obama's victory, in 2008, presidential elections, at our Apartment in Washington DC. with friends and supporters of President Obama. I am on the right hand side, and next to my left is my wife Patricia 

But will this work with the sort of blue-col­lar union peo­ple and in­de­pen­dents who voted for Ronald Rea­gan in 1980 be­cause they thought Carter was a wimp who couldn't han­dle the econ­omy?"

Naranhkiri Tith Ph.D. Washington DC. August 28, 2011)

Obama Administration Cuts Major Part of Health Care Reform Law: CLASS Long-Term Insurance Program Canceled

Huffington Politics: October 15, 2011

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration Friday pulled the plug on a major program in the president's signature health overhaul law – a long-term care insurance plan dogged from the beginning by doubts over its financial solvency.

Targeted by congressional Republicans for repeal, the program became the first casualty in the political and policy wars over the health care law. It had been expected to launch in 2013.

"This is a victory for the American taxpayer and future generations," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., spearheading opposition in the Senate. "The administration is finally admitting (the long-term care plan) is unsustainable and cannot be implemented."

Proponents, including many groups that fought to pass the health care law, have vowed a vigorous effort to rescue the program, insisting that Congress gave the administration broad authority to make changes. Long-term care includes not only nursing homes, but such services as home health aides for disabled people.

Known as CLASS, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports program was a long-standing priority of the late Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Although sponsored by the government, it was supposed to function as a self-sustaining voluntary insurance plan, open to working adults regardless of age or health. Workers would pay an affordable monthly premium during their careers and could collect a modest daily cash benefit of at least $50 if they became disabled later in life. The money could go for services at home or to help with nursing home bills.

But a central design flaw dogged CLASS. Unless large numbers of healthy people willingly sign up during their working years, soaring premiums driven by the needs of disabled beneficiaries would destabilize it, eventually requiring a taxpayer bailout.

After months insisting that could be fixed, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finally acknowledged Friday she doesn't see how.

"Despite our best analytical efforts, I do not see a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time," Sebelius said in a letter to congressional leaders.

The law required the administration to certify that CLASS would remain financially solvent for 75 years before it could be put into place.

But officials said they discovered they could not make CLASS both affordable and financially solvent while keeping it a voluntary program open to virtually all workers, as the law also required.

Monthly premiums would have ranged from $235 to $391, even as high as $3,000 under some scenarios, the administration said. At those prices, healthy people were unlikely to sign up. Suggested changes aimed at discouraging enrollment by people in poor health could have opened the program to court challenges, officials said.

"If healthy purchasers are not attracted ... then premiums will increase, which will make it even more unattractive to purchasers who could also obtain policies in the private market," Kathy Greenlee, the lead official on CLASS, said in a memo to Sebelius. That "would cause the program to quickly collapse."

That's the same conclusion a top government expert reached in 2009. Nearly a year before the health care law passed, Richard Foster, head of long-range economic forecasts for Medicare warned administration and congressional officials that CLASS would be unworkable. His warnings were disregarded, as Obama declared his support for adding the long-term care plan to his health care bill.

The demise of CLASS immediately touched off speculation about its impact on the federal budget. Although no premiums are likely to be collected, the program still counts as reducing the federal deficit by about $80 billion over the next 10 years. That's because of a rule that would have required workers to pay in for at least five years before they could collect any benefits.

"The CLASS Act was a budget gimmick that might enhance the numbers on a Washington bureaucrat's spreadsheet but was destined to fail in the real world," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Administration officials said Obama's next budget would reflect the decision not to go forward. Even without CLASS premiums, they said the health care law will still reduce the deficit by more than $120 billion over 10 years.

Kennedy's original idea was to give families some financial breathing room. Most families cannot afford to hire a home health aide for a frail elder, let alone pay nursing home bills. Care is usually provided by family members, often a spouse who may also have health problems.

"We're disappointed that (Sebelius) has prematurely stated she does not see a path forward," AARP, the seniors lobby, said in a statement. "The need for long-term care will only continue to grow."

Sebelius said the administration wants to work with Congress and supporters of the program to find a solution. But in a polarized political climate, it appears unlikely that CLASS can be salvaged. Congressional Republicans remain committed to its repeal.

Obama the loner

The Washington Post: 10/10/2011

by Chris Cillizza

The Post’s Scott Wilson penned a provocative piece over the weekend that cast President Obama’s current political problems through the lens of his loner tendencies.

(Comments: this article says it all about Obama that he is no leader of the American people, and he is cold like the North Pole. This proves my point when I characterized his behavior as “False Pretense.” I have been fooled by him along with my many Asian-American friends. But, we will never allow him to fool us again.

The sad part of this story is the fact that this country and the r3est of the world is in such a predicament, politically and economically that the damage done by him will take a long time to recover.

It is not too late to do something about it. Senator Bernie Sanders has the good idea of starting to challenge Obama at the forthcoming primary later this year. The sooner we start the better it will be for all of us and the rest of the world. Naranhkiri Tith Ph.D. Washington DC. October 11, 2011)

Is President Obama a loner? REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Wrote Wilson:

This president endures with little joy the small talk and back-slapping of retail politics, rarely spends more than a few minutes on a rope line, refuses to coddle even his biggest donors. His relationship with Democrats on Capitol Hill is frosty, to be generous. Personal lobbying on behalf of legislation? He prefers to leave that to Vice President Biden, an old-school political charmer.

Time and again in our reporting over the last few months, this strain of thinking has come up — and the deeper President Obama’s political troubles grow, the more often we hear it.

In the wake of President Obama’s press conference last Thursday, there was considerable skepticism — bordering on contempt — for his assertion that now was the time for the Senate to pass his jobs bill.

And, this morning the New York Times’ John Harwood wrote that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) views White House chief of staff Bill Daley as “ham handed” and that leading Democrats believe that “Team Obama’s zeal for secrets creates more problems than it solves.” Message. Sent.

One veteran Democratic campaign operative put it more bluntly when asked to assess Obama’s approach: “He just hates politics and politicians.”

At the heart of that ill will is a belief that Obama has been a fair-weather friend to congressional Democrats (and most of the party’s elected officials), using them when necessary (like now) and ignoring them the rest of the time.

Of course, testy relationships between a President and congressional leaders within his own party isn’t terribly new. Remember that then President Bill Clinton built his 1996 re-election strategy on triangulation — the idea of running against his own party to cast himself as a centrist problem solver.

(Not surprisingly, some Democrats are now worried that the same is happening to them heading into 2012; Obama’s “attempts to triangulate aren’t working and senators resent it,” said one senior party strategist with close ties to the Senate.)

But, unlike Clinton who spent much of the ‘80s in the political minor leagues, doing favors for and building relationships with the major establishment figures within his party, Obama has, from the start, been a lone wolf — and proud of it.

When he ran for the Senate in 2004, he was not the party’s pick — well-connected state Comptroller Dan Hynes and wealthy businessman Blair Hull split that distinction — but managed to win when Hull imploded.

In 2008, Obama, again, found himself running against the establishment — in the form of then New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. (Yes, Obama did have some support from the party establishment but it was nowhere near the backing Clinton enjoyed and largely silent until it became clear he was going to be the nominee.)

The lesson Obama and his campaign team learned? That courting the establishment was of marginal value since they were the sort of bend-like-a-reed-in-wind sorts that would be with him if he won big policy fights anyway.

The Obama go-it-alone approach to politics paid huge dividends during the 2008 campaign as it allowed him to paint himself as the consummate outsider in an election where people were craving just that.

But, Obama’s loner tendencies have served him far less well as president and now, as he turns to his bid for a second term, threaten to leave him isolated with little political cover from his own side.

Obama is doing what he can to remedy that problem with a base-intensive strategy of late designed to remind Democratic voters — and elected officials — why they like him.

The question for Obama is whether the problem is fixable. The level of distrust is significant and long-held. And the timing couldn’t be worse.

Obama needs the Senate to pass some semblance of the American Jobs Act in order to put pressure on House Republicans to act. But, the combination of the distrust directed at him and the reality — in the words of one senior Democrat — that Senators are “turning to their own races” makes it a tough sell.

Obama’s “ a man apart” image played a major role in his 2008 victory. It may well play an equally large role — in a bad way — in his 2012 re-election campaign.

Politics Throws Palestine Under the Bus

Jim Lobe

Inter Press Service / News Analysis Published: Sunday 25 September 2011

http://www.nationofchange.org/politics-throws-palestine-under-bus-1316963696

“Not once did he refer to Jewish ‘settlements’ on Palestinian lands; nor did he even use the word ‘occupied’ to describe those lands and their people in an address that was devoted to celebrating this year's Arab struggles to end autocratic rule in their region.”

The right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu could not be more pleased.

Not only did the allegedly most “anti-Israel” president ever repeat, for the nth time, that “America’s commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable,” but also made crystal clear that Washington will veto any Palestinian application to the U.N. Security Council for statehood in his speech this week to the U.N. General Assembly.

Not once did he refer to Jewish “settlements” on Palestinian lands; nor did he even use the word “occupied” - or any declension of that word - to describe those lands and their people in an address that was largely, if ironically, de­voted to celebrating this year’s Arab struggles to end au­to­cratic rule in their region.

Nor was there a word about the plight of the still-be­sieged population of Gaza, or about the “1967 borders” as being the basis for any even­tual two-state so­lu­tion, a for­mula to which Netanyahu and his U.S. allies vehemently objected much to the consternation and exasperation of the White House only four months ago.

Indeed, President Barack Hussein Obama, as his right-wing and Islamophobic critics like to call him, said noth­ing to which even the most right-wing fac­tion of Netanyahu’s government could object.

“I congratulate President Obama, and I am ready to sign on this speech with both hands,” enthused Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the far right - some say proto-fascist - Yisrael Beiteinu party, while Netanyahu himself called Obama’s address to the U.N. General Assembly “a badge of honor”.

“Listening to him, you would think it was the Palestinians who occupy Israel,” Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran Palestinian stateswoman, told Is­rael’s Haaretz news­pa­per, noting what even the New York Times suggested seemed to be the “hypocritical” na­ture of Obama’s enthusiasm for Arab democracy movements.

“He presented a dou­ble standard when he disassociated the Arabs’ fight for their freedom in the region from the Palestinian freedom fighters, who deal with the occupation for 63 years,” she said.

“What we heard is precisely why we are going to the U.N.,” she added, sounding a theme that has been taken up all week by many Middle East specialists: By siding so ostentatiously with Netanyahu and against the Palestinian bid for statehood, Obama has forfeited Washington’s 20-year exclusivity as broker of the clearly broken “peace process” between the two parties - a point made implicitly by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s call for the General Assembly to upgrade Palestine’s status to a non-member state.

“Witnessing Ne­tanyahu’s stubborn rejectionism and President Obama’s inability to move the ball forward, President Sarkozy appears to be acting on Obama’s prediction last May at AIPAC (the annual meeting of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee) - that … if there is no credible peace process, then others, including Europeans, will lose patience, and pursue alternatives to direct negotiations, including at the U.N.,” according to Daniel Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator now based at the New America Foundation here.

Such alternatives will likely become more urgent, he noted, as a result of the “post-Arab Awakening era, one in which Arab democracy will be less tolerant of Palestinian disenfranchisement than Arab autocracy ever was.”

So why did Obama, who, speaking at the same podium exactly one year ago, set a deadline of this week for an agreement on Palestinian statehood, capitulate so abjectly to Netanyahu and the Israeli right?

While his administration’s defenders claim it has everything to do with keeping the “peace process” alive and minimizing the chances of a new round of violence between Palestinians and Israelis, the answer is politics, or, more precisely, the perceived power of the AIPAC-led “Israel Lobby” in an election year.

“Once again, the transformational Obama has been sold out by the political Obama,” wrote David Rothkopf, a national security expert at the Carnegie Endowment, on his foreignpolicy.​com blog early in the week.

Given his fading approval ratings and an economy that shows no signs of substantial improvement any time soon, the White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill appear increasingly panicked over their reelection prospects in Novem­ber 2012.

They will do nothing that risks alienating key constituencies, particularly Jewish voters in a couple of key “swing states”, but most especially Jewish donors who account for an estimated between 40 and 50 per­cent of all contributions to national Democratic campaigns.

Since the beginning of this year, but particularly since Netanyahu’s May visit where he was rapturously received at the AIPAC conference, his Republican – and some Democratic – allies have deliberately and repeatedly promoted the notion that Obama’s alleged pressure on Israel to freeze settlements and take other steps to advance the “peace process” was souring Jews, nearly 80 per­cent of whom voted for Obama in 2008, on the president and his party.

When, on the eve of this week’s U.N. meeting, a Tea Party Republican, who was endorsed by former Democratic Mayor Edward Koch to protest Obama’s al­legedly anti-Israel policies, defeated a Jewish Democrat in a heavily Jewish New York City Congressional district that Democrats had held for nearly 90 years, that meme was transformed into conventional wis­dom, thus setting the stage for Obama’s speech – or surrender - this week before the General Assembly.

In fact, however, only seven percent of the mostly Orthodox Jewish voters in that election said Obama’s policies toward Israel affected their vote, according to exit polls.

And, while there has indeed been a substantial erosion in Jewish approval of Obama’s performance, it has not been disproportionate to the loss of confidence in his leadership by the public at large, according to a recent Gallup poll.

That survey, un­der­taken from Aug. 1 to Sep. 15, found that a 54- percent major­ity of Jewish respondents still approve of Obama, 13 per­cent­age points higher than his over­all 41 percent ap­proval rating, and similar to the average 14-point gap between Jews and the general public seen throughout his term in office.

“It’s really about donors, not about votes, except perhaps in Florida (where Jews make up about five percent of the electorate),” according to M.J. Rosenberg, a veteran Israel analyst at Media Mat­ters who worked for years at AIPAC and on Capitol Hill where AIPAC wields its greatest influence.

“The surrender we’ve been watching lately is all about the money,” he said.

“What AIPAC and other key groups like the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee do successfully is to convince both the White House and Congress that every dollar that comes from someone Jewish is about Israel, when, in fact, most Jewish donors are contributing because of a host of liberal causes they believe in – from social security and gay marriage to the environment,” he told IPS.

“But I’m sure that President Obama believes that his financial support from the Jewish community is heavily contingent on his backing for Netanyahu,” according to Rosenberg. “And right now, everything he does is motivated by his desire for a second term.”

Thursday, August 4, 2011 - Ad Lib by Catherine Po

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/

Ask Catherine a Question

EASTON, Md, August 4, 2011 — When Democrats, Liberals and Independents swarmed to the polls in 2008, they were riding high on the politics of the possible. Candidate Barack Obama was offering “Change We Can Believe In.”

Three years later, we are asking ourselves: Is this the Change we thought we were voting for? With each deal the President seals with the Republicans, he moves the country further Right. Where is the Liberal idealism that he sold us with his message of Hope?

Is this what the Great Conciliator has wrought? Yes, the debt ceiling is raised and financial chaos is averted, but getting there is only the latest in a long line of bad bargains.

I don’t live in Washington’s Beltway. I live where real America lives. And I no longer hear the question, “What the heck is the President doing?”

Now it’s, “What would Hillary have done?” Talk about buyers’ remorse.

These same folks answer their own question: “She would have called the Republicans’ bluff.” And she would have done it from Day One, they proclaim. No way for us to know now.

But after watching President Obama in action this past month, I saw my fears realized once more. The less faint-hearted had tried to reassure me that this time the President wouldn’t let Lucy pull the football out from under him again, landing him flat on his back. This time he would kick the field goal.

I seriously doubted it.

I started having those doubts back as far as the spring of 2009 when the Stimulus package was diminished, thanks to tax cuts to satisfy the GOP (who else?). That meant there was not enough money to grow jobs and jump start the economy, turning things around. A weak Stimulus package was the result, better than nothing, but look where we are today with unemployment at 9.2%.

True, we’re not as bad as Spain (21%), Greece (15%) and Ireland (14.3%), but that’s scant comfort to those scouring the want ads.

Hearing from his Democratic base? (Image: Associated Press)

By early summer of 2009, I was horrified, as were most of us on the Left when the President in negotiating Health Care Reform did not start with universal health care or Medicare For All, much less the public option but with the individual mandate. So we were already negotiating from the middle and had nowhere to go but Right.

The result is we now have a watered down, expensive Health Care plan, which the Republicans have branded ObamaCare, as though it were something devised by Nurse Ratched. Again, it's better than nothing, but it doesn’t solve the problem.

Then last December, President Obama could have fought to end the Bush tax cuts, but he didn’t, worried that the Republicans would end unemployment insurance.

“Go ahead,” I would have said. “Make my day. Try selling that little package to the American people: the rich over the unemployed.”

But the President folded. And now we are stuck with Bush’s tax cuts, at least until the end of 2012, and they continue to devour our economy.

And guess what? Despite the caterwauling by the Right, the job situation didn’t get better; it got worse.

An Emboldened GOP

This past spring, the Republicans, emboldened by their election victories and knowing just how to make the President surrender to their demands, threatened to shut down the government unless they won fiscal concessions from Obama and his fellow Democrats. And it worked.

Finally, when the debt-ceiling crisis, manufactured by the Tea Party and its Right Wing friends, was ginned up, the handwriting was on the wall. Even though President Obama had a WMD in his arsenal, the 14^th Amendment, Section 4, to raise the ceiling without GOP help, he rejected it. Yet the threat of it could have brought about better negotiating terms than we got.

Perhaps even enhanced revenues, better known as tax hikes, would have been on the table for real discussion. But the President ruled out that option early in the discussion, and so once again he played a weak hand.

Hate to admit it, but it's true: President Obama has too often been “leading from behind,” many times from behind the 8 ball.

Pity the poor Democrats who find themselves there with him no matter how they may differ. While 95 Congressional Democrats refused to vote for the brinkmanship of the GOP game plan, it didn’t matter. The debt ceiling was raised and we are now faced with months more of economic agony as Congress fiddles with our lives.

Even now, yet another Congressional Gang is being formed, six Democrats and six Republicans from each body of Congress. They’re to come up with more ways to trim the deficit. Already the GOP Congressional leadership has sworn not to appoint one Republican to the Gang of 12 who would vote for taxes in any way, shape or form. Where does that leave the Left?Rep. Eric Cantor and House Speaker John

Boehner,

(Photo: AP/Alex Brandon)

If nothing is accomplished by Thanksgiving, then slash and burn begins on two sacred cows of both parties: Medicare and defense. Wonder who will compromise once again, moving this country even further Right?

I know I sound like Cassandra at the walls of Troy, wailing of its impending destruction, but the Republican Trojan horse has time and again been able to trick the President into believing he is dealing with rational negotiators and not the zealots who are the core of the GOP.

A Small Glimmer of Hope

However, in the midst of all this doom and gloom, there is a bit of hope as the Right Wing, strutting its stuff, drives its agenda even further Right.

Republicans are going to fan out across the country this August recess to sell the Ryan Plan. Yep, you read right. They plan to resurrect it, peddling the snake oil they call Medicare reform, better explained as privatizing Medicare and putting seniors at the mercy of insurance companies.

This proposal met with jeers and sneers this past spring, but the Tea Partiers and their cohorts are feeling their oats and believe they can sell it to America.

Last time around, this strategy bit them on the fanny and they retreated. But each win makes them more audacious. Will these Town Hall meetings generate support as they believe they will or are the zealots captives of their own inner voices?

Saving Medicare is a natural for Democrats and the Left. As are jobs. As is raising taxes on the Billionaires Club. All the polling shows Americans firmly with the Democrats on these issues. But can Democrats do it or will they find themselves once again playing defense on Republican turf?

President Obama is about to head out on a bus tour of America, talking to the people directly. And he is a good talker, no doubt about that. His words are pretty and they lift us to emotional heights, but that is not enough.

His actions must match his words. If they don’t, the Obama grassroots will not be as green as the dollars he has raised at his fundraisers.

Without boots on the ground, without a turnout of the base, and without faith in the head of the Party, President Obama may find his soaring rhetoric is not enough to mend the bridges he burnt in this last round with the Right Wing.

To contact Catherine Poe, see above. Her work appears in Ad Lib in the Communities at the Washington Times. She can also be heard on the Democrats for America's Future.

Sanders: I Don't Know Who Would Challenge Obama

By Michael O'Brien,

The Hill

RSN: 13 August 11

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/7021-sanders-i-dont-know-who-would-challenge-obama

----------------------------------------------------------

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said this weekend he still expects President Obama to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2012, and doesn't know of anyone who might step forward to challenge Obama.

Sanders said he still supports the concept of a primary challenge for Obama, because, Sanders said, even Republicans have done a better job of keeping their campaign promises than Obama.

"I don't know of anybody in mind, but I am sure there are serious and smart people out there who can do it," Sanders said of the prospect of a primary challenge during C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program, airing on the network this weekend.

"Here's the point: If you're asking me, do I think that, at the end of the day, Barack Obama is going to be the Democratic candidate for president in 2012? I do," Sanders said. "But do I believe that it is a good idea for our democracy and for the Democratic Party … that people start asking the president some hard questions about why said one thing during his previous campaign, and is doing another thing today on Social Security, on Medicare."

Some liberals have expressed frustration toward Obama for compromising on campaign promises and party principles, especially in his negotiations with House Republicans since they retook control of the House. The recent debt-ceiling deal, and the compromise extension of President George W. Bush's tax cuts last December angered liberals who were already deeply frustrated with the president.Consumer activist Ralph Nader has said he's recruiting candidates to run against Obama, but there appears to be little other appetite in other quarters of the Democratic Party for waging a primary challenge to Obama.Sanders said Republicans had done an even better job of living up to their campaign promises than Obama."They said that we will not support one nickel of new taxes for millionaires and billionaires and for large corporations. And you know what? They've kept their word," he charged. "I think it's a disaster for the country, but they have to be complimented. And I contrast that to some Democrats, including the president, who said, 'Well, when I run for office, this is what I'm telling you, but now, guess what, I've changed my mind.'"

Embellished Memory

U.S. Politics

Content Section

From Newsweek

From Newsweek; Embellished Memory

By Suzanne Smalley

Mar 24, 2008 8:00 PM EDT

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Comments: this article shows how Hillary Clinton is not known for her good judgment and honesty. During the 2008 presidential campaign, when she was a candidate for the president of the United States of America, by wanting to make herself look more courageous than Obama, she lies that she was in danger when she was in Bosnia in 1996 she said that she was a target of an assassination by being a target of a sniper’s attack. In reality, it was not the case. After being confronted by reporters, she confessed that she lied. The Hillary Clinton who decided, last year to use Vietnam as an ally to confront China’s rising power in Asia. In order to recruit Vietnam in her strategy, she decided to transfer nuclear to Vietnam without the clause that forbids any country receiving this technology to turn it into a nuclear bomb.

This decision by Hillary Clinton once again shows that she is not fit to be president, or even Secretary of State. That is why she is so close to Hun Sen, knowing full well that the Cambodian dictator is a stooge of Vietnam.

It is sad for Cambodia to be caught in this intrigue and major blunder from the Obama’s Secretary of State. Naranhkiri Tith Ph.D. Washington DC. August 8, 2011)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Had Hillary come to believe her increasingly dramatic tale of facing sniper fire in Bosnia?

Mar 24, 2008 8:00 PM EDT

Is it possible that Hillary Clinton really thought she risked her life disembarking from a plane and running for cover "under sniper fire" at the heavily fortified U.S. Air Force base at Tuzla? Clinton has been telling the story of her visit to Bosnia in 1996 for many years, gradually adding embellishment and changing details. Perhaps she may have actually come to believe it.

The Tuzla story, which has been buzzing under the radar for some time, now threatens to cause real problems for the New York senator. YouTube mashups juxtaposing Clinton's recounting of the dangers she faced with newsreels of her kissing a Bosnian child during a photo-op have become hits. The Washington Post reported that one such video had received more than 100,000 views. After weeks of keeping Sen. Barack Obama on the defensive over his association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Clinton now finds herself at the center of a growing firestorm.

On a conference call yesterday with reporters, Clinton aides Howard Wolfson and Phil Singer tried to steer the conversation to controversial comments made by two Obama surrogates, Gordon Fischer and retired Gen. Merrill McPeak. Reporters showed relatively little interest in this topic and instead homed in on Clinton's Tuzla mythmaking. Andrea Mitchell of NBC News asked Wolfson to explain the discrepancy between Clinton's recollections of her Bosnia visit and the video clips and photographs showing no sniper fire, no running and no apparent tension (though some news stories from the time mentioned security precautions taken). Wolfson, after blaming the Obama campaign for hyping the controversy, finally allowed that "it is possible in the most recent instance in which she discussed this that she misspoke in regard to the exit from the plane." The candidate herself, in a meeting with editors of the Philadelphia Daily News, offered a less dramatic description of the event and said, "So I misspoke."

Clinton did more than misspeak; she told a richly detailed anecdote as part of a major address on foreign policy. And it was not the first time she has mentioned the snipers. In fact, the seeds of the Bosnian peril myth may have been planted years ago.

At the time, Clinton emphasized that her trip was the first time a First Lady had ventured into hostile territory to visit U.S. troops since Eleanor Roosevelt had done so during World War II. "To be here on the ground is something I wanted to do so that maybe people back home would see it—not through the eyes of the secretary of the army or someone in a position in the military—but like Eleanor Roosevelt … to visit the troops to say thank you," she told U.S. troops in Bosnia. As the London Times reported, the trip was seen as an effort by Clinton to "improve her tarnished image" and deflect attention from the persistent inquiry into Whitewater, the Clintons' land deal. But while the White House noted the historic nature of a First Lady venturing into a country beset by warfare, there are no contemporaneous reports of Hillary Clinton recounting sniper fire, truncated ceremonies, or running for cover.

The snipers appear in Clinton's 2003 biography "Living History," but they hardly seem to present much danger: "Due to reports of snipers in the hills around the airstrip, we were forced to cut short an event on tothe tarmac with the local children, though we did have time to meet them and their teachers … One eight-year-old girl gave me a copy of a poem she had written entitled 'Peace.' Chelsea and I presented the school supplies we had brought, along with letters from seventh-grade children … whose parents and teachers had initiated a pen pal program." The biography also emphasizes that her plane made a "near perpendicular" landing to avoid possible enemy fire.

On the campaign trail the Bosnian tarmac anecdote has grown more dramatic. In Dubuque, Iowa, in December, Clinton reportedly asserted that the area was considered too dangerous for her husband to visit. "I was the first high-profile American to go," Clinton told Iowan voters, according to a Wall Street Journal account. Clinton added even more oomph during a late-February foreign policy address in Waco, Texas. Attempting to draw a contrast with Senator Obama's inexperience with foreign policy matters, the New York senator boasted of having traveled to more than 80 countries and recounted the trip to Bosnia, recalling that a welcoming ceremony "had to be moved inside because of sniper fire."

This account started to raise eyebrows. On March 11, Sinbad (who was along for the trip) questioned Clinton's memory. The comedian was quoted in the Washington Post cracking that "the only red phone moment was, 'Do we eat here or the next place?'"

Six days later, on March 17, Clinton made what the campaign billed as a major foreign policy address at George Washington University. She opened her speech by saying, "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." Afterward she dismissed Sinbad's comments in a press conference with reporters, saying he "is a comedian" and recalled "flying over the countryside with bulletproof everything on, like we do in Iraq." She elaborated, according to news accounts of the press conference, by saying, "Part of the reason we were in the C-17 is because part of it is armored … I was moved up into the cockpit. Everyone else was told to sit on their bulletproof vests. There was no greeting ceremony, and we were basically told to run to our cars. Now, that is what happened."

That clearly is not what happened, but it raises the question of whether Clinton actually remembers it that way. Clinton's conjured combat memories recall the imaginings of actor-turned-president Ronald Reagan, who spent World War II making war movies on Hollywood lots but decades later spoke as if the roles he had played were real. On separate occasions, according to biographers, Reagan gave others the impression that he had been at Normandy and at the liberation of the Nazi death camps. Reagan reportedly later told an associate, "Maybe I had seen too many war movies, the heroics of which I sometimes confused with real life."

Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.

Suzanne Smalley returned to Newsweek as a national correspondent in July 2007 after spending three years covering police and crime for the Boston Globe. At the Globe she broke several major stories, including news of the federal indictment of three Boston police officers and a feature story documenting how police and clergy arranged a secret truce between two of Boston's most violent street gangs. She also won awards for her expose on excessive state trooper salaries and for a series of articles about the fatal police shooting of a college student celebrating outside Fenway Park in the wake of the Red Sox American League Championship victory over the Yankees.

Prior to her three-year stint at the Globe from 2004 to 2007, Smalley worked at Newsweek as a reporter covering the 2004 presidential campaign as part of Newsweek's Campaign Special Project Team. In that position, she followed the campaigns of several Democratic candidates across the country, filing behind the scenes reporting for a Newsweek special issue published immediately after the election. The National Magazine Awards recognized the project, awarding Newsweek the prestigious best single-topic issue honor. The reporting was later used in a book titled "Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future."

Before her election coverage, Smalley covered several major breaking news stories for Newsweek, including the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, the disappearance of Chandra Levy, and the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping.

A native of Coral Gables, Florida, Smalley graduated from Georgetown University magna cum laude and received a masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School.

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com

Is it possible that Hillary Clinton really thought she risked her life disembarking from a plane and running for cover "under sniper fire" at the heavily fortified U.S. Air Force base at Tuzla? Clinton has been telling the story of her visit to Bosnia in 1996 for many years, gradually adding embellishment and changing details. Perhaps she may have actually come to believe it.

The Tuzla story, which has been buzzing under the radar for some time, now threatens to cause real problems for the New York senator. YouTube mashups juxtaposing Clinton's recounting of the dangers she faced with newsreels of her kissing a Bosnian child during a photo-op have become hits. The Washington Post reported that one such video had received more than 100,000 views. After weeks of keeping Sen. Barack Obama on the defensive over his association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Clinton now finds herself at the center of a growing firestorm.

On a conference call yesterday with reporters, Clinton aides Howard Wolfson and Phil Singer tried to steer the conversation to controversial comments made by two Obama surrogates, Gordon Fischer and retired Gen. Merrill McPeak. Reporters showed relatively little interest in this topic and instead homed in on Clinton's Tuzla mythmaking. Andrea Mitchell of NBC News asked Wolfson to explain the discrepancy between Clinton's recollections of her Bosnia visit and the video clips and photographs showing no sniper fire, no running and no apparent tension (though some news stories from the time mentioned security precautions taken). Wolfson, after blaming the Obama campaign for hyping the controversy, finally allowed that "it is possible in the most recent instance in which she discussed this that she misspoke in regard to the exit from the plane." The candidate herself, in a meeting with editors of the Philadelphia Daily News, offered a less dramatic description of the event and said, "So I misspoke."

Clinton did more than misspeak; she told a richly detailed anecdote as part of a major address on foreign policy. And it was not the first time she has mentioned the snipers. In fact, the seeds of the Bosnian peril myth may have been planted years ago.

At the time, Clinton emphasized that her trip was the first time a First Lady had ventured into hostile territory to visit U.S. troops since Eleanor Roosevelt had done so during World War II. "To be here on the ground is something I wanted to do so that maybe people back home would see it—not through the eyes of the secretary of the army or someone in a position in the military—but like Eleanor Roosevelt … to visit the troops to say thank you," she told U.S. troops in Bosnia. As the London Times reported, the trip was seen as an effort by Clinton to "improve her tarnished image" and deflect attention from the persistent inquiry into Whitewater, the Clintons' land deal. But while the White House noted the historic nature of a First Lady venturing into a country beset by warfare, there are no contemporaneous reports of Hillary Clinton recounting sniper fire, truncated ceremonies, or running for cover.

The snipers appear in Clinton's 2003 biography "Living History," but they hardly seem to present much danger: "Due to reports of snipers in the hills around the airstrip, we were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac with the local children, though we did have time to meet them and their teachers … One eight-year-old girl gave me a copy of a poem she had written entitled 'Peace.' Chelsea and I presented the school supplies we had brought, along with letters from seventh-grade children … whose parents and teachers had initiated a pen pal program." The biography also emphasizes that her plane made a "near perpendicular" landing to avoid possible enemy fire.

On the campaign trail the Bosnian tarmac anecdote has grown more dramatic. In Dubuque, Iowa, in December, Clinton reportedly asserted that the area was considered too dangerous for her husband to visit. "I was the first high-profile American to go," Clinton told Iowan voters, according to a Wall Street Journal account. Clinton added even more oomph during a late-February foreign policy address in Waco, Texas. Attempting to draw a contrast with Senator Obama's inexperience with foreign policy matters, the New York senator boasted of having traveled to more than 80 countries and recounted the trip to Bosnia, recalling that a welcoming ceremony "had to be moved inside because of sniper fire."

This account started to raise eyebrows. On March 11, Sinbad (who was along for the trip) questioned Clinton's memory. The comedian was quoted in the Washington Post cracking that "the only red phone moment was, 'Do we eat here or the next place?'"

Six days later, on March 17, Clinton made what the campaign billed as a major foreign policy address at George Washington University. She opened her speech by saying, "I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." Afterward she dismissed Sinbad's comments in a press conference with reporters, saying he "is a comedian" and recalled "flying over the countryside with bulletproof everything on, like we do in Iraq." She elaborated, according to news accounts of the press conference, by saying, "Part of the reason we were in the C-17 is because part of it is armored … I was moved up into the cockpit. Everyone else was told to sit on their bulletproof vests. There was no greeting ceremony, and we were basically told to run to our cars. Now, that is what happened."

That clearly is not what happened, but it raises the question of whether Clinton actually remembers it that way. Clinton's conjured combat memories recall the imaginings of actor-turned-president Ronald Reagan, who spent World War II making war movies on Hollywood lots but decades later spoke as if the roles he had played were real. On separate occasions, according to biographers, Reagan gave others the impression that he had been at Normandy and at the liberation of the Nazi death camps. Reagan reportedly later told an associate, "Maybe I had seen too many war movies, the heroics of which I sometimes confused with real life."

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Suzanne Smalley returned to Newsweek as a national correspondent in July 2007 after spending three years covering police and crime for the Boston Globe. At the Globe she broke several major stories, including news of the federal indictment of three Boston police officers and a feature story documenting how police and clergy arranged a secret truce between two of Boston's most violent street gangs. She also won awards for her expose on excessive state trooper salaries and for a series of articles about the fatal police shooting of a college student celebrating outside Fenway Park in the wake of the Red Sox American League Championship victory over the Yankees.

Prior to her three-year stint at the Globe from 2004 to 2007, Smalley worked at Newsweek as a reporter covering the 2004 presidential campaign as part of Newsweek's Campaign Special Project Team. In that position, she followed the campaigns of several Democratic candidates across the country, filing behind the scenes reporting for a Newsweek special issue published immediately after the election. The National Magazine Awards recognized the project, awarding Newsweek the prestigious best single-topic issue honor. The reporting was later used in a book titled "Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future."

Before her election coverage, Smalley covered several major breaking news stories for Newsweek, including the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, the disappearance of Chandra Levy, and the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping.

A native of Coral Gables, Florida, Smalley graduated from Georgetown University magna cum laude and received a masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School.

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Keith Olbermann Lowers Boom on Obama & Incumbents: Only Goals are Re-nomination, Re-Election, and the Pursuit of Hypocrisy

Posted by TAYLOR MARSH, Guest Voice Columnist in At TMV.
Aug 3rd, 2011 | 20 responses