Republicans may not like the type of questioning that the American media is subjecting McCain’s shock VP pick to, but it isn’t only American journalists asking ‘personal questions’ about Governor Sarah Palin, who could soon be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
“Even if she tries to smile it away and to make it look pretty: The pregnancy of her daughter - in contrast to other pregnant U.S. teenagers in a financially comfortable situation - can be directly attributed to the twisted sex education policies of Sarah Palin and other conservative Christians, which still assert (despite clear statistics to the contrary) that vows of celibacy keep teenagers from having sex.”
Alexandre Nunes Jacinto, aka/Alexandre Barack Obama, who is a first-time candidate for the city council of the Brazilian municipality of Sertao.
A few days ago, readers of the Moderate Voice might recall I posted this article from the French, which appeared to be a tongue-in-cheek look at how politicians around the world are changing their names to Barack Obama in order win public office.
Following up on this, as it turns out, - this wasn’t as tongue-in-cheek as it appeared.
“PETROLINA: What does an American senator who could become the president of the most powerful country in the world, have in common with a country man from Serrote do Urubu, about 9 miles from downtown Petrolina? You might assume that there’s no correlation whatsoever, but for Alexandre Nunes Jacinto (PSDB Brazilian Social Democracy Party ), a first-time candidate for the city council of the municipality of Sertão, there are many points in common. The candidate - who signs his campaign-name as Alexandre Barack Obama - emphasizes his determination for more equitable politics as one of them.
“He (the real Obama) draws crowds when he preaches politics. He does everything with great transparency and simplicity. He is a Black man who beat out discrimination and is a step away from the White House,” comments Alexandre. “But we have differences too. He’s rich and elegant, and I’m not,” he laughs, cheerfully.”
“Long divided between Obamistas and Clintonites, the Pepsi Center arena in Denver definitively shook Wednesday night, in one of those theatrical political coups the Americans are so fond of. … Barack Obama leaves the convention in Denver with the keys to the Democratic Party. He has 67 days to convince Americans to give him the keys to the country.”
Among the many perceptions emerging across the Atlantic since the end of the Democratic National Convention is that Joe Biden has helped U.S. Democrats get over their traditional hesitance to fight as hard and nastily as they need to, in order to beat the Republicans.
“On Wednesday Biden was cutting, aggressive and assertive. … Biden has a reputation as a specialist in foreign policy and he used this authority to mount a frontal attack on McCain - and the value of his oft-quoted experience on the issue. Up to that moment, the Democrats had appeared to be suffering from their classic disease of election-campaign uncertainty and reluctance to meet Republican attacks head-on … It looks as though the Democrats have finally grown some teeth. It remains to be seen if they can be relied upon to take a good bite out of their opponents.”
“Yes, he did show his teeth and he bit … but only in such a way that it would still be possible for McCain to lead a respectful campaign. Because above all, Obama merely defined what kind of change he wants and said that McCain was a symbol stagnation that the nation could no longer afford. Obama spoke about the big issues - and it’ll be interesting to see whether McCain will do that as well or continue with the personal attacks.”
Etschmayer also discusses the effectiveness of McCain’s attacks on Obama’s experience. One wonders after the selection of inexperienced Alaska Governor Sarah Palin how credible such attacks will be from hereon out.
The BBC interviewed me last night and, not surprisingly, their concerns focused on Clinton holdouts and the tight race for Obama. But I got cheeky with these concerns because I’ve been spending hours interacting with the individual bloggers in Denver - via Twitter, direct messages and the bloggers’ own posts of video, audio and writing.
For example, read any of the threads at BlogHer and you will find a spectrum as broad as the colors of the rainbow in terms of love and dislike for Obama, for Hillary Clinton and for the democratic process. There are also many interviews, like this one with women of color bloggers who are at the convention.
And what did I see in these communications that convinces me that voters are now, like they’ve been since the start of this country, working to make up their mind and make the best choice they feel they can? This post - and the place from which I grafted the title of this blog entry - from dear friend and DNC official state blogger, Jeff Coryell of Ohio Daily Blog, says it all. I’ve met the woman he’s speaking with and can assure you that she is a bona fide HillRaiser-type supporter. I can also assure you that she means every word Jeff attributes to her:
After the celebration had died down I went over to Lana Moresky, an Ohio delegate who was Ohio Finance Co-Chair for Hillary Clinton. I asked her what she thought of what happened with the roll call and the nomination of Obama by acclamation.
“It was great,” she said, beaming. “It was done perfectly. It allowed Hillary Clinton people to cast their votes, and it allowed Hillary Clinton to be officially recorded in history.”
“That was done,” she continued, “and now we move on. Now we are going to work hard and elect Barack Obama president.”
It’s partly hidden under the collar of her jacket in the photograph, but Ms. Moresky is wearing a pin that says “Hillary Supports OBAMA So Do I!!”
God bless you, Lana. I cried as I watched Clinton partake in this historic moment, moving the convention toward nomination of Barack Obama. Could have been because the BBC interview was so late last night and I have to get up so early with my kids. But more likely, it’s because of how proud I felt, in that moment, about Hillary Clinton, about Barack Obama, about being a Democrat and about the democratic process.
Yes we can - make this system work and make it work better. Even, and maybe especially, one person at a time, like Lana.
*Warning: if you are about to write a cynical and/or snarky comment, be prepared - I’m still feeling very cheeky after my exchange with the BBC!
“Despite the disclosure of some of the contents of the Convention, there is much that remains unknown to the Iraqi public. Since no harm would result if Iraq’s government made the contents of the draft-Convention public before it is finalized, that is exactly what it should do. That would be in the interest of creating a national consensus and would show the Iraqi people how the agreement is compatible with their own aspirations. It would also allay the fears of those who oppose the deal, even though many of these people were opposed to the agreement even before its first letters were written.”
He also writes that an agreement on a U.S. withdrawal remains elusive, that the Iraqi government has too many officials confusing the public by offering differing views of the agreement.
Whether they knew it or not, the PUMAs who had congregated next to the MSNBC stage were making the night of the man who has done everything in his power to destroy their purported heroine. They held aloft Clinton signs and hand-markered cards reading “Stop Delegate Intimidation!” and “South Jersey PUMA.” At one point, three women and three men holding “McCain” signs started a melodic chorus of “Clintons for McCain, sweetie, Clintons for McCain, sweetie,” in reference to Barack Obama’s bad habit of referring to women by that diminutive. Next to them, a man in an Obama hat shouted, “You’re all irrelevant! Jesus!”
But irrelevant is not how the protesters will be portrayed by a media that has been salivating over the possible disruption of the Democratic convention — by angry, broom-riding succubi! — for weeks. Never mind that there were probably no more than 50 shouting PUMAs. Never mind that every national political convention in modern history becomes a locus for vocal agitators. Never mind that over the weekend, antiwar protests had been larger. Never mind that in three days in Denver I had not spotted a single PUMA or Hillary protester until I found where Chris Matthews was broadcasting. Never mind the guy in the toilet outfit. To hear Matthews, and the talking heads at CNN tell it, these demonstrators were “ground zero” in a rift that could potentially destroy the Democratic Party and ruin its national convention.
“There is such a fear of women coming into power, that when they protest, they are given more weight,” said Marie Wilson, head of the White House Project, before speaking as part of the Unconventional Women’s programming, acknowledging the likelihood of protest. “Just the fact of women saying they support their candidate and want to make their voices heard sounds more scary than it would be if it were guys. That’s just part of backlash. But come on. When women gather around a water fountain, men get scared. People oughta just chill.”
Wilson acknowledges that there will be residual tension at the convention. But she sees the discord as a positive thing, a perhaps painful step in the right direction. “Putting issues on the table” — as opposed to keeping political frustrations pent up — “is what is going to bring people together.” Wilson believes that in the wake of Hillary’s run, “we are in the middle of a revolution. Women are stepping up and taking power.” She said her organization, which encourages women to seek elected office, has seen a 61 percent increase in participation in the past year. [emphasis mine]
Why would historian Alexandre Adler, who is often characterized as France’s foremost neo-con and who greatly admires John McCain, want to see Barack Obama elected president of the United States?
“If I was an American voter, I would campaign enthusiastically for the election of Ms. Rice to enter the White House. The nature of things means that unfortunately it won’t be her, but Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who is likely to become the first Black president of the United States. … Read the rest of this entry »
To read the swing state of Ohio, listen to its delegates in Denver on the choice of Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate (h/t Ohio Daily Blog,):
Attorney Jan Roller of Cleveland, a Clinton delegate, said Biden “adds great strength for the experience he brings to the ticket, especially in foreign policy.” Justin Zollars, a college instructor from Bowling Green, said he’s happy with what he called “a smart pick” because Biden is experienced with foreign policy.
Sonny Nardi, a Teamsters leader and a superdelegate pledged to Obama, is also happy with Biden but more due to his appeal to workers and the middle class. Biden has middle class Irish Catholic roots in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Nardi believes Biden’s story and personality are a good fit in Ohio.
Lesley Huff, a probate attorney in East Cleveland pledged to Clinton, had an interesting philosophical take on the Obama-Biden pairing. “It’s very clear that the American public is asking for two things - change, the kind of change that supports and protects, and they are also asking for stability,” she said. She illustrated the desire for stability by pointing out that Americans “don’t want strange and odd debacles like Hurricane Katrina, where people certainly needed support and assistance and didn’t get it.” Given that the party’s platform calls for constructive change and the party has a “change agent” as a presidential candidate, “it was wise to make sure there was a complementary force for stability, a force based on tremendous knowledge and experience. The seasoned quality of Joe Biden I think is something that nobody can question.”
Steve Lieber of University Heights, also a Clinton delegate, was a shade more qualified in his praise:
Well, out of all the selections he had, Biden is probably a good pick. I think he has a lot of experience, he balances Obama well, he was a good choice out of all the people Obama had out there to pick. I’m a Hillary delegate, I like Hillary, but Biden was probably the best one he could pick. My personal feeling is Hillary probably wouldn’t have wanted to run for vice president.
Some of the delegates are public officials who issued public statements about Biden today. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an unpledged superdelegate, said:
Joe Biden is a dedicated public servant and a devoted family man. He has spent his career working to protect American families and will be invaluable in helping Senator Obama fight for the middle class. It has been my pleasure to call Joe a friend and colleague. I look forward to working with him as part of an Obama White House in charting a new course for middle class families and for our nation.
UPDATE: Here’s the statement from Gov. Ted Strickland:
Joe Biden is an outstanding choice for vice president. His foreign policy knowledge is unparalleled, and his humble Pennsylvania roots give him a deep understanding of the challenges facing Ohio families. Ohioans will have a clear choice this Fall —- four more years of failed Bush economic policies under John McCain, or a new direction that will bring the the real change we need to Washington with an Obama-Biden ticket.
Lesley Huff’s analysis nails what I’ve been writing at places like BlogHer (which has a fantastic back and forth with debate and opinion and analysis from all perspectives) and The Point and in person - I was at three different social events yesterday and, at all three, people wanted to talk about the Joe Biden pick.
“There was no mistaking the power and symbolism of the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympic Games on August 8. That multimedia spectacular did far more than trace China’s 5,000-year history; it was a statement that China is a major civilization that demands and deserves its rightful place in the global hierarchy.
There was also no mistaking the symbolism of seeing President George W. Bush, waving cheerfully from his spot in the bleachers while Chinese President Hu Jintao sat behind what looked like a throne. It’s hard to imagine that China’s government, which obsesses over every minute issue of diplomatic protocol, had not orchestrated this stark image of America’s decline relative to the country to which it owes $1.4 trillion. It would be hard to imagine Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan accepting a similar relative position.”
“The world is not ready for the post-American era … until it is, the world needs a new kind of American leader - a leader able to inspire Americans to fix their problems at home and work with partners across the globe in promoting a common agenda as bold and progressive as the order built from the ashes of World War II 60 years ago.”
August 21st, 2008 By SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist
Nepal and Pakistan provide good lessons in foreign policy to both Barack Obama and John McCain. The democratically-elected new Prime Minister of Nepal, Prachanda (photo above) who led a 10-year guerrilla war, now professes that his country’s era of “capitalist democracy” has begun. He was sworn in by Nepal’s first president, Ram Baran Yadav.
Lesson No. 1: The president or prime minister of any country must not be sponsored/pushed by the USA to remain friendly. Good diplomacy is making friends out of enemies.
Lesson No. 2: If the USA looks for, and sponsors, loyal and subservient leaders in the world, the public in that country would rise against their own subservient/sponsored leaders and the USA.
Lesson No. 3: It is a dangerous foreign policy to bribe foreign leaders/dictators and tempt them to follow the US policy. Only myopic policy needs to find supporters abroad with the help of bribery. Corruption would ultimately corrode the democratic functioning in the USA itself. Unaccounted billions of dollars went to the Musharraf regime from the US administration. In the end the USA has become a staunch enemy of both militants and the Pakistan public.
Lesson No. 4: To turn an enemy into a friend needs patience and sincere efforts. In other words SINCERITY and PERSEVERANCE. The BUSH and MUSHARRAF strategy of BLUFF and BLUSTER ultimately boomerangs. It also empowers/strengthens terrorism.
Lesson No. 5: NEVER take foreign policy decisions/actions unilaterally. There is the United Nations. Only dictators act unilaterally. The USA has lost much credibility with its actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even in Afghanistan there should be UN troops, if at all. The US will never be able to justify (or get results) by only taking NATO forces. The Musharraf tangle was solved when the US involved Britain, Saudi Arabia and other countries for parleys.
Lesson No. 6: If my neighbour has begun to treat his family violently, I can only call the police. I can’t force my way into my neighbour’s house and then tell him that I am going to stay there for years to prevent violence (as in Iraq).
Let’s come back to Nepal. After months of bickering among the political parties, a huge majority of the assembly has elected a former rebel as prime minister. The Economist notes many firsts. “(Prime Minister Prachanda) wore Western clothes (another first) but made a gesture to national custom by donning a traditional Nepali cap.
“It has been an astonishing transformation. For over a year the Maoists have been part of Nepal’s transitional government, heading ministries and becoming ambassadors. Many poor Nepalis will wonder whether, after ten years of war costing 13,000 lives, the Maoists will now sink into the comforts of power and prestige and forget them.
“The Maoists will have to prove them wrong. Their election manifesto called this the era of capitalist democracy in Nepal and stressed that the private sector is intrinsic to their plans. More immediately Prachanda must reassert the authority of the state, which has been badly eroded over the past two years as crime has spiralled and ethnic groups clamoured for their rights.”
“The disproportion of the military force used by Russia against Georgia belongs then, to the deep history that remains common to both peoples. The other certainty, no less historical, is the bankruptcy of the hegemonic role of the United States: driven by a resentment as irrational as it is mean-spirited, the American republic has continued to practice the delusional encirclement of post-Soviet Russia. Without a doubt, the twisted minds at the inept CIA’s Langley headquarters or the brains at the Pentagon have dreamed of having their own Cuba [reference to the Cuban missile crisis]. They thought they had found it in Georgia with their agent of influence, the current president Saakachvili.”
“And just like that retard Fidel Castro who, in 1962, wanted to launch atom bombs against Washington before the terrified eyes of his reckless allies in Moscow, here we have “Frankenstein-Saakachvili” wanting to involve his American patrons in the extreme and absurd logic that governs those who exalt in the narrow nationalism of Georgia. Indeed in Washington today, the climate is not indignation over the childishness of our news commentary, but about mutual accusations of irresponsibility, just as it was in Moscow the day after the Kennedy-Khrushchev duel over Cuba.”
So what’s the solution? Adler suggests:
“In the first place, put a permanent end to the logic of force to which Russia has tendency to give in to. Then, definitely inhibit the use of force by giving Russia the decent and necessary place that it must occupy in the construction of Europe. In addition, we must not push Ukraine toward confrontation with Russia. But also for Russia, do everything possible to ensure its historic reconciliation with our Polish and Turkish allies. This is a very tough, but indispensable road.”
“To those who weren’t in Moscow in the moments that followed the implosion of the Soviet Empire, it’s difficult to convey the depth of humiliation that Russians felt. A good part of the public reaction to the political reordering of the country is tied to the fact that the expansion of the Empire wasn’t just a victory for the Bolsheviks [seized power in the 1917 Revolution ] - and here I directly address the tendency toward strong-arm politicians like Vladimir Putin. Historians generally agree that this was a continuation.
“But It isn’t because of the communist era - or Stalinist paranoia - that Russians think they’re being surrounded by the West or dismissed by Western capitals - or both. … I’m taking care here not to fall into the rather simplistic argument that Russia’s stance on the separatist provinces and Georgia itself is a ‘justified’ reaction by Moscow to the way the West has treated it … And the way the United States went to war in the Middle East; or the way that the major Western countries have recognized the independence of Kosovo from Serbia, a former client of Moscow. After all, to explain a behavior (in this case, of the Russians) is not to support it.”
August 19th, 2008 By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
This is another Guest Voice by Joel S. Hirschhorn, who is highly critical of both major political parties and who advocates a constitutional convention. Should we save this post for use on election day? Guest Voice posts do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TMV or its writers.
Bye Bye Barry
by Joel S. Hirschhorn
The final results are in on this historic November day.
Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars he raised, Barack Obama has lost the 2008 presidential election. American voters have boldly spoken truth to arrogance. Turned out that all those pre-election opinion polls that showed Obama’s inability to get over 50 percent support were prescient. Much of the public was never comfortable with Obama, though he clearly was so comfortable acting like he already was president.
Hillary and Bill Clinton are probably drinking champagne and having the sweetest time since Bill won his first presidential election. Hillary must now bite her lip repeatedly and resist saying publicly that “I told you so!” Hillary in 2012 will reveal that she learned her lessons well.
All that Obama audacity of arrogance from the smiling, glib politician finally died the death it so richly deserved. Too many pundits will blame his loss on his blackness and racist voters.
“The absurdity of this entire affair was best illustrated when John McCain called for coastal oil-drilling and was cheered for it by his Christian-conservative audience. For the most part, this is an audience which believes that the earth is 6,000 years old, yet it applauded plans to look for resources that exist due to the organic remnants of prehistoric organisms that took millions of years to accrue … The fact that a future U.S. President has to suck up at this kind of a forum really gives global politics a surrealistic undertone.”
“For a long while as they ranted about democracy, Iraqi politicians were also laughing to themselves. And they have been backed up by the greatest laughers of them all, the Americans - and the might of the U.S. Army. In fact, since the Americans created the racist, sectarian Governing Council on the first day of their occupation, everyone has been laughing to themselves over the ‘democracy; that Iraqis have been practicing.”
After venting a bit on Iraq’s political class and foreign interference, Abdusalam adresses what Iraqi leaders need to do to make things right:
“Now all of Iraq must show the courage necessary to stop this democracy game that has been exposed, and for which we Iraqis have paid so heavily with our priceless blood. The question is: what’s the solution?What’s the alternative to the false democracy with which all Iraqis ‘comfort’ themselves today? For if the new Iraq is to rise up, Iraqis must take hold of the only choice - real democracy - which doesn’t submit to racial or sectarian influence, regardless of which side it comes from.”
Fedyashin reflects the Kremlin’s disdain for the Georgia president, and highlights the machinations that Russians believe are behind Georgia’s attempt to regain control of South Ossetia - particularly during the Olympic Games.
“It took the United States exactly a week to understand the damage that Mikheil Saakashvili’s ‘Ossetian blitzkrieg’ has caused him and his ‘Rose Democracy.’ Finally it seems, Washington has launched operation ‘Saakashvili’s Salvation’ in earnest.
