Barackface: White House

Showing posts with label White House. Show all posts

Friday, May 16, 2014

Modi's Opposition Can Hope To Sharpen Their Skills In The States

English: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee attends a news conference in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata September 7, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It has been seen in American politics that when one party holds the White House, the other party ends up with most of the governorships. People are fair overall.

I think Modi just took over for 10 years. That does not mean his opponent parties and politicians have hit a dead end. Ask Jayalalita, Mamata and Patnaik. They are feeling pretty good right now.

The Congress and others have that option. They can hope to do well at the state level before they regain power at the center, which is a very hypothetical scenario by now. Modi was not known to make policy mistakes in Gujrat. I think he will be equally thorough at the center.

I think that puts Nitish in a curious position in Bihar. He has much to prove.

But right now it is looking like the BJP has a strong claim to the state government in Uttar Pradesh. And it is an open secret they would also like to run Bihar. But I am not counting out Nitish just yet.

Friday, August 30, 2013

The British Parliament Was Also Wrong About Hitler

Stamp of the Greater German Reich, depicting Adolf Hitler as the Führer of the Reich. The stamp's value is 42 Pfennig. Deutsch: Die Briefmarke des Grossdeutschen Reiches. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For a decade the British parliament stayed in denial on Hitler. As long he does not directly attack Britain, he is fine, that was the thinking. Churchill was the lone voice who saw Hitler for who he was. It took some major catastrophes for the British parliament to finally start making sense on Hitler.

If the British parliament had woken up to Hitler years before it did, the world might have been able to skip a world war.

The car is the modern day horse carriage. Assad is a modern day Hitler. The guy has already slaughtered over 100,000 of his own people in less than a year.

The White House has to make a call on this one.

Wars are always ugly. You never have the best intelligence and the best resources. The timing is never right. You make mistakes along the way. Wars are expensive. They are almost always hard to get out of. But there are times when a war is the only just option and a just nation just has to make the plunge. Gandhi was alive at the time Hitler was alive. But I doubt Gandhi had a solution for Hitler.

There is the British parliament and then there is this thing called leadership.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Syria: The Wait Has Been Too Long

English: President Bashar al-Assad of Syria . Original background. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Granted the politics in the region is the most complicated on earth, but I never understood the logic behind the wait. But I am glad the White House finally is about to make the move. The tragedy has been horrendous. The magnitude of it all has been mind boggling. The death figures are huge. This has been a slow motion Rwanda, if you ask me. If America does not take military action now, it is not going to take military action when Iran finally acquires nuclear weapons.

I am for building an international coalition. The effort will weaken undemocratic forces in countries like Russia.

But the response can not be a slap on the hand. It has to have regime change as its goal. The rebels are eager and able to be the ground forces. The world just needs to secure the air space and strike from the air to take down the regime's strength locations.

A Shift in Tone on Syria From the White House

there was “very little doubt” that President Bashar al-Assad’s military forces had used chemical weapons against civilians last week.... The president, who warned a year ago that the use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces would be a “red line,” has faced criticism from Congressional Republicans and others for failing to respond more forcefully to evidence of earlier, smaller-scale chemical attacks. Mr. Obama, who inherited two costly wars — in Iraq and Afghanistan — has been extremely reluctant to commit American military forces, even in the form of missile strikes, to another tangled conflict in the Middle East. ..... a strike on Syrian targets would come soon, perhaps using cruise missiles fired from ships off shore ..... Early Sunday, the White House said Syrian officials had refused to let the inspectors see the site of the attack. .... “The evidence available has been significantly corrupted as a result of the regime’s persistent shelling and other intentional actions over the last five days” ...... Russia, an ally of the Syrian government, accused the rebels of using the weapons, but few analysts believe they have the supplies or ability to do so. ..... Syria warned that any American military action would “create a ball of fire that will inflame the Middle East” ........ Iranian state news media quoted the Tehran government as saying that any intervention by Washington would have severe consequences. .... Syria is now a test of how the world might respond to Iran as it approaches the capability of making a nuclear weapon ..... “Assad’s regime has become a full Iranian client, and Syria has become Iran’s testing ground,” Mr. Netanyahu added. “Now the whole world is watching. Iran is watching, and it wants to see what would be the reaction on the use of chemical weapons.” ..... Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and a member of the Armed Services Committee, said any military option should be carefully circumscribed. “We can’t let ourselves get into a situation where this becomes a springboard for general military operations in Syria to try to change the dynamic” of the hostilities there ..... the Navy had increased its presence in the eastern Mediterranean Sea to four destroyers, each carrying long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles similar to those launched in past American attacks on Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

Analysis: Western intervention in Syria would be a decisive attempt to mould the future of the Middle East

Different reasons have been suggested to explain why the Assad regime might have launched a major chemical weapons attack, risking Western intervention, just as conventional wisdom had it he was starting to win the war. ...... sees the attack as retaliation for a close-run assassination attempt on the Syrian leader on August 8 ..... The war is now a running sore imperilling Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and more. ...... Already, reports talk of hundreds of tons of arms pouring into northern Syria, to be distributed among "favourable" – in other words, non-jihadist – rebel groups. The US navy is moving in and Britain is readying its forces.

Friday, July 19, 2013

The First Black President And The Age Old Issue Of Race

With his family by his side, Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States by Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr. in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2009. More than 5,000 men and women in uniform are providing military ceremonial support to the presidential inauguration, a tradition dating back to George Washington's 1789 inauguration. VIRIN: 090120-F-3961R-919 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You can put a black man in the White House and that is quite a statement to 500 years of world history, but race is too deep and complicated an issue to be resolved by one black man's elevation to high office. And Barack Obama just admitted as much. Gutsy for the guy to talk about it in such plain language.

“I think it’s important to recognize that the African-American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that — that doesn’t go away,” Mr. Obama said in the briefing room. “There are very few African-American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me.” ..... “You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son,” he said. “Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.” ..... “I don’t want to exaggerate this, but those sets of experiences inform how the African-American community interprets what happened one night in Florida. And it’s inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear.” ..... “I think it would be useful for us to examine some state and local laws to see if it — if they are designed in such a way that they may encourage the kinds of altercations and confrontations and tragedies that we saw in the Florida case, rather than diffuse potential altercations,” the president said.

In Wake of Zimmerman Verdict, Obama Makes Extensive Statement on Race in America

Friday, February 01, 2013

Clinton: To Run Or Not To Run

2016 Talk
Is Hillary Running?

Hillary Clinton is an extremely talented person who is extremely hard working. That is quite a combo. And she is not going to feel like a first woman president, just like Barack Obama did not feel like the first black president to me. My point being, that is not how I see him.

I have a suggestion for her book's title: Ambassador To The World.

After you have been to 112 countries, you deserve to end up in the White House. What preparation! I was in my 20s when I showed up in America. I like the White House occupant to have some deep global perspectives. Barack Obama having partly grown up in Indonesia was a huge plus in my book.

I want Hillary in the White House, and Kirsten Gillibrand there with her, and Susan Rice for Secretary of State, and I want Ashley Judd to kick Mitch McConnell out of Kentucky.

Not knowing if you will run is a great political decision. It keeps the mystery going. I think her inner clock says she will not announce before October 2015. A two year campaign is not her style. But announcing in January 2015 would be best. Learn from Barack. An early announcement would make the primary super easy.

I think her elevation to the White House might bring about an new era in international politics where a female head of state is no longer big news in any part of the world by the time she is done with her two terms. I think I would like that. Or maybe I am being too optimistic.

She would do well to hire all the techno whiz kids of Obama 2008 and 2012, and the grassroots organizing maestros. There is no going back to the old ways that was Hillary 2008 or Bill Clinton 1992.

There is a part of me that does think she is to the Clinton brand name what Ted Kennedy was to the Kennedy brand name. Only one Kennedy became president. And Ted Kennedy was an excellent Senator. He was no slouch. So she can't take things for granted.

Cover of Ashley Judd

Hillary Clinton: 20 years in the spotlight
POLITICAL SCENE: EVALUATING HILLARY CLINTON
What I Learned Covering Hillary Clinton

her immense talent and ambition. Will she seek the presidency in 2016? Clinton doesn’t know. Friends expect her to rest a year or so before taking a final measure of her health and her prospects .... if you don’t think she wants to be president, you don’t know her. ..... In late 1998 or early 1999, people close to Clinton told me she was mulling a U.S. Senate campaign. I was stunned: No sitting first lady had ever contemplated such a move, much less one whose husband had been impeached for lying about an affair....... It took me several days to overcome my doubts. When I finally reported that she was seeking the vacant U.S. Senate seat in New York, another news organization quoted several authoritative sources insisting that she was not. The competition didn’t know what I did: Never bet against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Why Ashley Judd's Breakup Is Bad News for Mitch McConnell
Interview: Axelrod on Hillary Clinton’s Political Prospects

‘We were friends before we were opponents. She’s tough and skilled and I need someone who will be taken very seriously when they land on foreign soil, because I’m going to be dealing with a financial crisis. I need an A-team.’ ...... “The big question for her is simply whether at this point she wants to do this.” .... “She was the odds-on favorite in 2008 and she didn’t” win, Mr. Fratto said. “It’s not really clear that people who lose their party’s nomination come back and be successful. It’s rare for that to happen. She has been the ‘inevitable’ candidate already. So she has something to prove.”

Clinton's Exit: Either Epilogue or Prelude

Mrs. Clinton would enter the 2016 race for the White House as a solid front-runner. Her presence would likely scare off some other presidential hopefuls ..... For now, she says she wants to sleep, relax and deliver speeches. ..... catching up on about 20 years of sleep deprivation ...... Some of her supporters never warmed to Mr. Obama and would like to see her draw distinctions with the White House in one respect at least: representation of women in government. ..... "It's shameful that a man who got elected by women and people of color and people of different sexual orientation goes and chooses a bunch of white men" for top government roles. ..... she said she was taking medication, adding "that's what people do when you have blood clots."

Iran stepping up support for Syria, Hillary Clinton warns
Barack Obama signs sweeping US defence spending bill
Hillary Clinton's Legacy: Ambassador to the World?

Secretary Clinton achieved more as an ambassador than as secretary of state. Cassidy writes: "The post she really had was that of U.S. Ambassador to the world, and she made a pretty good fist of it." ..... Since 1992, Hillary Rodham Clinton has maintained a consistent level of power in Washington, from first lady to senator to secretary of state. .... Clinton has always had her detractors

Hillary Was a Great Ambassador, Not a Great Secretary of State

Having stopped off in a hundred and twelve countries during her four years as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in her last week in office, seems intent on visiting almost as many televisions studios. At the weekend, she did “60 Minutes” on CBS. Today, she will be on ABC, NBC, CNN, and Fox. Tomorrow, it’s the BBC. If you are a news producer at CNBC, Bloomberg, New York 1, or the Weather Channel, give the State Department a call. As far as I know, Thursday and Friday are still open. ....... In foreign-policy circles, the knock on Hillary is that, unlike some of her storied predecessors—John Quincy Adams, George C. Marshall, Dean Acheson, Henry Kissinger—she failed to carve out a historically significant role for herself. ...... Marshall gave his name to an economic-recovery plan for war-torn Europe. Acheson laid down the Cold War policy of containment and helped create NATO. Adams helped conceive the Monroe Doctrine, which defined Central and South America as part of the U.S. sphere of influence. Kissinger pioneered détente with the Soviets, instigated a rapprochement with the Chinese, and did much else besides (by no means all of it estimable). By contrast, Hillary’s signature achievements look like small beer. She was the public face of the U.S. response to the Arab Spring, which involved persuading Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian President, to step aside peaceably ..... In carrying out the task she was allotted, she was a big success. It’s just that the nature of her job was very different from the ones that Acheson and Kissinger held. In reality, she wasn’t directing American foreign policy, or anything close. At times, she wasn’t even the Administration’s chief troubleshooter—a niche occupied by a series of special envoys: Richard Holbrooke, George Mitchell, and Dennis Ross. The post she really had was that of U.S. Ambassador to the world, and she made a pretty good fist of it...... In total, she was traveling for four hundred and one days—more than thirteen months—enduring hundreds of long flights and sitting through countless boring meetings

'Hillary Clinton 2016' Hype To Be Further Fueled By Eye-Popping PPP Poll

the former FLOTUS/New York senator/presidential aspirant/secretary of state could put Texas in play..... PPP's newest Texas poll finds that, at least for now, Hillary Clinton could win the state in 2016. This follows on the heels of a survey last month where we found she would have a decent chance of winning Kentucky if she makes another White House bid. .... The going theory is that Texas' growing Hispanic population could be the seed bed for a new generation of majority-tipping Democratic voters

Name Hillary Clinton's book
The new Hillary Clinton

still afflicted by the same problem that hampered her during the up-and-down 2008 campaign: an inability to clearly define her leadership or governing philosophy..... Few modern American politicians have enjoyed quite as dramatic a political rebirth as Clinton has experienced in her four years at the State Department ..... the past week’s farewell tour seems to augur the arrival of The New Hillary..... The leap from State to the White House used to be commonplace in the early days of the Republic. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren did it. But the last secretary to make the jump was James Buchanan, one of the worst presidents ever, a weakling who ceded the stage to Abraham Lincoln 152 years ago..... Vice President Joe Biden, a Clinton admirer who own gaze is firmly fixed on 2016 ..... once elected Obama adopted Clinton’s “smart power” strategy, an unromantic foreign policy strategy of limited intervention, dictated by circumstance, availability of resources and likelihood of success. It may be a defensible approach, but it’s not one geared at capturing the public imagination....... in an age of ambiguous alliances, asymmetric threats and a diminishing U.S. footprint overseas ...... Clinton’s diffuse achievements — which range from wrangling international support for sanctions against Iran, organizing goodwill missions to off-map countries like Togo and fighting for the rights of oppressed women and girls around the globe

The Obsessive Guide to Hillary Clinton’s Not-Quite-Shermanesque 2016 Denials
Rest Up, Hillary Clinton: 2016 Will Be Different

I surmise that there has never been a national political figure so watched and so examined as has Hillary Clinton..... She is an incredibly smart and talented politician; and as important as her gender is, it is not the primary thing that defines her. Things are different now, and consequently, I think the U.S. is ready to see her as President

How The South Will Rise To Power Again

this year the four best states for business, according to CEO Magazine, were Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee .... Last year Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and North Carolina were four of the six leading destinations for new corporate facilities .... Houston and Dallas are already immigrant hotbeds; Nashville. Charlotte, Atlanta, Raleigh and Orlando all have among the nation’s fastest-growing foreign populations.

Clinton says she doesn't see "getting back into politics"

"...I am really looking forward to stepping off the fast track that I've been on. I've been out of politics as Secretary of State. I don't see myself getting back into politics" ...... in a separate NBC interview she said that she was healthy enough to wage a campaign.

Reinventing Rahul Gandhi
Nitish Kumar best prime ministerial candidate: JD-U leader
Rove: About That 'Permanent Democratic Majority'

Obama has forged a new majority coalition of women, minorities, young people and upscale cultural liberals so large and durable that he can do what no president has done before—pursue a very liberal agenda without serious opposition or defections from his own party. Demography is destiny ..... Demography isn't destiny because nothing is permanent in politics—and Democrats' insistence to the contrary will likely lead them to overreach, ignoring issues such as jobs, anemic growth and deficits in order to tackle gun control and climate change. That would be good for Republicans. Governing from the hard left sunk Democrats in 2010 and would cost them again in 2014.