Will Clinton and Obama work well as a team?

Most people agree that President Elect Obama and Hillary Clinton are strong, capable leaders, especially when it comes to foreign policy. But can they work well together? Technically, The President and his Secretary of State should work very very closely and have very similar goals and plans. Clinton and Obama do not have the same strategies when it comes to foreign policy, but it seems that they are going to be working together despite all this. Can it work? Would it be a good choice?

Bush Supports India

Bush says he “pledges full support of the United States as India” recovers from recent terrorist attacks. He seemed to encourage the people of the US that this conflict will be resolved, stating “The people of India are strong. They have built a vibrant, multi ethnic democracy. They can withstand this trial”. How India's democracy will enable them to beat terrorism went over my head, but at least their government is united enough to begin conducting investigations and to begin seeking some sort of recovery/resolution. Either way, they have our help, as FBI agents have been sent to India and others are monitoring the situation. Speculation reveals that the group responsible is “a previously unknown Muslim group with a name suggesting origins inside India”. Although, the sole surviving member of the terrorist group is Pakistani. Therefore, India has jumped to blame Pakistan for the attacks while Pakistan “vehemently defended itself against allegations that it was involved in the attacks”. In addition, Pakistan seems hurt by the charges, as Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Husain Haggani was quoted stating that “it is unfair to blame Pakistan or Pakistanis for these acts of terrorism even before an investigation is undertaken”. So now the US is concerned about the tension between India and Pakistan, since the finger pointing has begun. Nonetheless, even American counter terrorism officials have found clues that are consistent with the style of Pakistani militant groups. These groups have been known to fight with Indian troops in the disputed region of Kashmir on the outskirts of the Himalayas. It seems to me the America's involvement can't be helping the tension between India and Pakistan. Furthermore if India has such a swell democracy they should be able to resolve the conflict themselves without our involvement. What do you say?

"Obama wants blackberry and kids who do chores"

Hmmmm. I am taking the time to post this because I happen to find it amusing. Apparently, Obama has been arguing with his staff, insisting on finding a way to keep his Blackberry as the President because it is essential to his ability to conduct business...rather like teenagers an thier cell phones....does this mean our President to be is organized and careful, or overdependent on technology like the rest of us. In addition, he has claimed that his two daughters are going to be raised without special treatment and are going to be "Special only to their parents." On her last visit to the White House, Michelle Obama reportedly asked the White House staff to nix the maid service on the girls, who will be responsible for making their beds and cleaning up after themselves. There is no information as to if she requested the same lack of sevice for herself and her husband. Do you think she did? Just a little light-hearted blogging in the spirit of the holiday weekend. Gobble Gobble.

Obama Begins Choosing War Cabinet

Names are beginning to be floated for President Elect Obama's security team. His choices appear to reveal general bias for competent, experienced, Military-based individuals.....surprise, surprise. But the names currently in the airwaves include retired Marine general James Jones as National Security Advisor, and Robert Gates is to be maintained as Secretary of Defense. The best aspect of these choices would be that the continutity should help is strategize in Iraq. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure exactly what this would mean for our country in terms of security and defense. Any thoughts?

Schwarzenegger Ends Gerrymandering!

Schwarzenegger's Prop 11, the redistricting plan taking control away from elected representatives and putting it into the hands of a bipartisan panel, is celebrating a victory with a 200 000-vote lead. The governor, frustrated by partisan divide in the capital has encouraged more competition in legislative elections, in hopes of bringing moderates from both ends of the spectrum into legislation. His philosophy is that this “will make it easier to reach agreements on budget reform and other state issues”. The passage is good for the governor because such legislation is something he's “been talking about since day 1 and it will be an important part of his legacy”.

Currently, Legislature draws the districts its members represent, which leads to efforts to “marginalize the minority party and to draw districts that favor incumbents of both parties. Schwarzenegger explains that when this happens “you have politicians picking votes rather than voters picking politicians”. The changes could bring increased competition for legislative seats across the state. The new rules of redistricting, which will start with the 2010 census, require a 14-member committee composed of multi-partisan individuals who will draw the congressional boundaries for the Assembly, the State Senate and Board of Equalization. The new rules do not allow space for “considering incumbent politicians or party registration numbers”. Instead they will create “communities of interest” and the districts will be composed of neighborhoods.

Prop 11, however will lead to changes not favorable to Democrats. The Democrats believe “as long as they control the redistricting gerrymander, they'll never loose control of the Legislature”. But, the reason why Prop 11 passed, in contrast to similar reform measures, such as Prop 77 in 2005, is that the Democrats did not fund the opposition team as strongly as they had in the past. Instead, Schwarzenegger put in his own $3million to support the measure, and good government groups, such as the AARP, Common Cause and League of Women Voters, raised $15million to support the bill, overshadowing the opposition's $10million. In addition, all the other important measures on the ballot allowed redistricting initiatives to “[fall] by the wayside in this month's election, overshadowed by the presidential race and Proposition 8. So because of the Democrats “other priorities”, their Congressional seats may not be as stable as they once were. Yet we all know the power of the incumbency and so I don't foresee massive changes in our legislature. But nonetheless, congratulations to the governor for his long sought victory, and may be have a more effective legislature in the future!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Don't Put Your Shirts Away Yet...

In spite of a cease fire, there is evidence that Sudan is still conducting military activity in Darfur. The UN/African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force investigated reports of air strikes, initiated by the Sudanese government, between November 21 to 22. There are visible effects of the air strikes, in the form of craters which would have been created by bombing and "the presence of unexploded ordnance on the ground".

This evidence of military activity is particularly upsetting due to the government's call for an immediate ceasefire on November 12, just one week ago. In addition, Sudan is heightening efforts to protect President Omar Hassan al-Bashir from charges of involvement in war crimes in Darfur (which include "10 counts of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity"). The Darfur conflict is 5 years old and has killed 200 000 while driving 2.5 million people from their homes.

And so, unfortunately, its still politically correct to sport our "stop genocide in Sudan" t's.


I've found other speculation that this ceasefire was initiated in hopes of persuading the UN to cease its indictment of the Sudanese president, Mr. Bashir. In addition, the call for a ceasefire was created by the Qatari-backed initiative, which the rebel groups did not join. Without the involvement of the rebel groups, Sudan is unlikely to achieve a state of peace.
Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1113/p99s01-duts.html

Shop and Be Optimistic!

Today, during Obama's third news briefing of the week, he encouraged the nation to remain optimistic about the economy. He pledges to have an economic plan ready by day one, although the details of this plan remain unknown. They will surely be formulated by Obama's economic advisors and other members of his cabinet, which appear to include NY Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner and Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag. Geithner, along with a few others, were members of Clinton's cabinet. In response to criticism about his choices coming from the Clinton administration, he stressed the importance of recycling employees saying "...I don't want to....somehow suggest that because you served in the last Democratic administration, that you're somehow barred from serving again." As to how these leaders and advisors will deal with his promises for change he plans to use them in order to "combine experience with fresh thinking". These plans and developments for the future of legislation justified Obama's message to the nation in lieu of the upcoming shopping season. He told the nation in his briefing that "People should understand that help is on the way" and that "as they think about the Christmas season that is coming up, [he] hopes that everybody understands that we are going to be able to get through these difficult times". Whether or not these words have a legitimate backing or not, they are an encouraging thing to hear. And there is some evidence of recovery, as the Dow Jones industrials climbed 247 points, which is significant because it will be the first time since the spring that for four consecutive sessions the average rose. So amid all the numbers, Obama insists that "we've gone through recessions before, we've gone through difficult times before, that [his] administration intends to get this economy back on track". It does sound nice, at least.

Holiday Uh Oh! At the White House

Our president and his wife, the first lady sent out the invitation inviting the leaders of America's Jewish community to the Hanukkah reception at the white house without paying close enough attention. The card they sent out had a picture of a Christmas Tree being pulled to the white house by a horse-drawn cart that had the words "White House Christmas Tree 2008" on it as well as Christmas wreaths in all the windows.

"Jewish community leader Isaac Abraham of Brooklyn had a simpler explanation.

"It's obvious what's going on here: The Christmas tree is being taken out of the White House and the menorah is being brought in the back," he quipped."


Note, both picture and article are in the link

Zimbabwe refuses Carter

Former US President Jimmy Carter, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Graca Machel (Nelson Mandela's wife) attempted to visit Zimbabwe (in Southern Africa) for a humanitarian effort—to speak with Zimbabweans and assess their situation—they are victims of hyperinflation and are facing immediate starvation in addition to an outbreak of cholera. Zimbabwe's crisis is due to internal leadership issues, which began in the spring and have deteriorated since. President Robert Mugabe has refused to step down after an inconclusive March election which caused a runoff with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The two have not be able to reach a power sharing agreement, despite pressure from other African nations that Mugabe should yield power after his 28 years in office. Mugabe has refused to issue these humanitarians a visa and the local newspaper stated that the prospective visitors were hostile to Zimbabwe. Carter, Machel and Annan were hoping to get a first hand sense of the crisis facing Zimbabwe and asses the nations needs, while ensuring the people of Zimbabwe that they are not alone. Despite not being able to enter the country, Carter said he believes the situation in Zimbabwe is much worse than expected. Most do not have an optimistic view of the problems Zimbabwe faces—South African President Kgalema Motlanthe stated that “Zimbabwe may implode and collapse” if the “root cause of this political absence of a legitimate government” is not resolved. With humanitarian efforts blocked, it appears the only hope for Zimbabwe lies in pressuring the country to take initiative to help its people and itself. South Africa has begun withholding $3.3 million in agricultural aide to the nation until the government and the opposition forces of Tsvangirai have reached an agreement. Other African nations have been encouraged to do the same. This appears to be a conflict only Africa herself can solve, since no others seem capable of penetrating the forces of Mugabe.

Race, Religion, Eight

Prop 8, the now infamous gay marriage ban, continues to cause controversy. Speculation reveals the role of Catholic Bishops and African Americans in contributing to passage of the bill, as reported by The Chronicle. While San Francisco houses many gay Catholics, and Catholic churches are friendly to gays, bishops continued to maintain traditional views on marriage, and were not afraid to share them with their congregations. Clearly San Francisco churches are not in accord with the times—while willing to accept gays in their congregations, they do not appear to accept their lifestyles. This would force many who have gay friends, whom they support, to choose between them and their church. A tough decision. Which leads to tension—the “teaching church and teaching bishops” and “faithful people with very strong personal opinions”; and leaves us with the question: “How do all those come together in a way that is fruitful and authentic?” It appears until there is a resolution to this, progress will remain stalled.

Although, Prop 8. started another form of progress. At a No on 8 forum, participants agreed that they will not allow Prop. 8 to create divisions among the African American community and the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community. This is a good sign, when some feel that the result of a poll justifies blaming the African American community for the passage of Prop 8. This exit poll, produced by CNN said that 70 percent of African Americans had voted yes on 8. A No on 8 campaign worker noted that “In less than 24 hours, you had rampant reporting that African Americans voted yes on 8. You couldn't get away from it”. Despite such reports, most find that this “viewpoint [of voting yes on 8] wasn't reflected among...friends and associates”. In spite of this, others are willing to blame internal issues within the No on Prop 8 campaign itself for the defeat. Some said that the campaign was not culturally competent and that it should have extended into areas in San Fransisco and the greater Bay Area where there is a less friendly attitude toward gays. Despite all this, gay marriage supporters appear to be attempting to reexamine their strategies and work together—instead of pointing fingers—which can only be good news.

Internet Activists Aren't Done With Involvement

During his campaign, Obama managed to obtain a huge support base through the Internet. People self organized to support him on social networking sites. Now that the campaign is over, these individuals have not returned to their normal lifestyles. They want more. And Obama and his team are willing to give it to them. Obama has continued to post videos about the activities of his transition groups, while including speeches and other useful information. This is helpful because it counters the news media's 30 second sound bytes from his speeches and other addresses—Americans now have the opportunity to get the full story. And the involvement doesn't end there. Obama and his staff hope to direct this positive and hyperactive electorate energy in a positive direction. They have begun by conducting polls asking what type of involvement these activists are hoping for, along with what they feel are the most important goals for the “movement”. The general feeling about this public activism is that their energy will come from government meeting them “in the middle”. Mostly their goal for channeling this energy is to advance policy. If the electorate's Internet activism was so influential in Obama's election, hopefully their energy and influence will help his policy initiates. The hope is that there will be “a new campaign to help Barack win big changes—like health care and clean energy”. But ultimately, Obama's main purpose in his continued use of the Internet to connect with the electorate is in hopes of making government more transparent.

Has Obama already initiated the change he promised?—never before has the electorate been this excited and passionate about the possibility for reform and the capabilities of government.

Finally!! Some money thrown to the consumers instead of the banks!

The Federal Reserve introduced two new programs to help out the consumers in this crisis.

The first program details how the Federal government will buy up to 100,000,000,000 ( or 100 billion) dollars with of debt issued by govt.-sponsored morages enterprises (Fannie, Freddie, and Federal Home Loan Banks) and up to 500,000,000,000 dollars of mortgage securities backed by Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie Mae.

Program number two lauches a 200,000,000,000 dollar facility to "support consumer finance, including student (woot!), auto, and credit card loans and loans backed by federal Small Business Administration" which will lend to investors who hold securities backed by this debt. There is a safety net as well! (gasp!) $20 billion will come from the $40 billion in allocated funds from the $700 billion rescue fund that will help cover any losses the Fed might face.
Hopefully by detracting from the massive amounts of debt plaguing American citizens people will begin to invest again and American will find itself moving back onto the track to economic prosperity. I can only hope the government has found someway to pay for this and/or will be making cuts accordingly otherwise we may rescue the populus only to have to dig the government out and there will be inflation like nobody's business but with any and all luck we won't be using it to fuel our fires or as toys any time soon.

Cross your fingers and hope we make it out of this with both economy and global reputation/status intact.

Bush Pardons 14 and Commuted the Prison Sentences of Two

Bush takes some time out of the remaining two months he has left in office to pardon 14 individuals, whose crimes vary, and commute the sentences of two others. This may seem like a lot of pardons all at once, but he has been remarkably stingy and has only given out 171 pardons and 8 commutes including these, which, believe it or not, is less than half of the number given out by both Clinton and Reagon, both of whom were two-term presidents!
Whether or not Bush will be able to handle the sudden influx of people asking for pardons is another question, but more importantly, whether or not he will pardon those involved with the violent interrogations of individuals thought to have been involved with the 9/11 attack.

The debate lies in this,should the fact they were just trying to protect their county or were just following orders keep them from being charged for war crimes or other criminal charges?

Obama Names His Economic Team

For those of you who don't know, today Obama named key members of the economic team for his administration including New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner as his Treasury Secretary nominee and former Harvard President Lawrence Summers as the director of the National Economic Council. Their first job during these next few weeks will be to define the details of a two-year recovery plan that will eventually create 2.5 million jobs. The team will also be charged with overseeing the dispersal of the funds from the ginormous wad of cash our government has decided to throw at the economy in response to the recent crisis.
Obama's choices have given the stock market a brief rise although it seems to fluctuates at the drop of a hat these days. Hopefully the people President Elect Barak Obama has picked the right people to lead us through this crisis and their effect will not be limited to a brief rise in the stock market.

gobble, gobble, gobble

With thanksgiving coming and this week having been such a bleak news week, I thought I would end my blogging week with a bit of comedy...unless of course you are a turkey. As Sarah Palin was giving an interview after the traditional governor's turkey pardon, she talked about the state of Alaska, her agenda and energy, oblivious to the fact that turkeys were being slaughtered behind her. While I am not sure whether this was her fault or an aids fault, it certainly wasn't a pretty picture. Anytime the news commentator has to come on and tell viewers that they might want to turn off the TV because of carnage, I definitely don't think you want to be the oblivious governor in the front of that screen shot.

Better safe than sorry

As planning for the inauguration of Barack Obama continues at full speed, many security measure have been taken into account. Washington is bracing for the largest crowds in inaugural history, an estimated FOUR MILLION people will watch President-elect Barack Obama be sworn in to office.

Despite the fact that there has never been an assassination attempt at a persidental inauguration, threats against Obama have been higher than any other president-elect in American history so some precautions are being take. They range from thousands of video cameras, sharpshooters, air patrols, searches by machines and security personnel, undercover officers, and bomb sniffing dogs to countersnipers who are trained to hit a target the size of a teacup saucer from 1,000 yards away.

So for those who are going on the Washington trip watch out for suspicious activity and remember...you can run but you can't hide.

Obama's Communications Team

Downsizing...? Downsizing?

The stock market's crash and the shakiness of the economy continues to affect working Americans. Companies are still trying to cut down on spending by laying off employees left and right. Although this seems like a necessary move on the business's part, it definitely causes concern for most Americans. Citizens throughout the country are losing their jobs, losing their homes, and are worrying about what tomorrow will bring and how their bills will ge paid. It is very depressing to see America in this state and the country needs to take action right now. Since people have lost their jobs, spending has gone down and it seems like a never ending downward cycle...Hopefully Obama's economic plan (which we blogged about earlier) will be just what this country needs.

If you want information on which companies are downsizing (in the words of Dwight Schrute) go to the following site!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27840008/

Obama's economic plan

In what could have been a speech by FDR, president-elect Barack Obama promoted his economic plan today. His plan will supposedly create 2.5 million jobs by rebuilding roads and bridges and modernizing schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars. Obama explains that it will take support from Democrats and Republicans to pass the economic plan, Obama said. "I'll be welcome to ideas and suggestions from both sides of the aisle," he said. "But what is not negotiable is the need for immediate action." This is huge proactive change from the current administration, which has done almost nothing to try to create jobs and make effective changes. Will the plan work? I guess we will just have to wait and see.

It's down, it's down, no wait it's up?

Wall Streets incredible volatility continued today with the Dow rising 494 points. Why? It didn't rise because of better unemployment numbers, better economic indicators, an improvement in the housing market, or even a change in the value of the dollar. So what was it? Obama announced today that he will nominate New York Federal Bank President Timothy Geithner as his new Treasury secretary. It was this announcement that seemed to prompt the rally. Investor confidence has lessened to the point that any glimmer of hope seems to bring about short term gain. This just goes to show how little confidence people really have in our current administration. Even this small hint of intelligent change brought about positive result on Wall Street. When investigators wake up on Monday and realize that the Bush administration hasn't changed, who knows what’s going to happen. I wish I could be more optimistic.

For more info:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/21/markets/markets_newyork/index.htm?postversion=2008112118