Hillary On Cuba And Bush On Tax Cuts

BBC NEWS | Business | Nobel winners attack Bush economics 7 February, 2003 Ten Nobel prize winning economists have attacked President George W Bush's tax cutting policies. ..... the combination of cutting taxes and increasing spending will mean that the US is set to notch up record budget deficits greater than those run-up by his father more than 10 years ago. ...... "Regardless of how one views the specifics of the Bush plan, there is wide agreement that its purpose is a permanent change in the tax structure and not the creation of jobs and growth in the near term," the economists said in a statement published by the Economic Policy Institute. ...... Nobel economic laureates Joseph Stiglitz, Franco Modigliani and Lawrence Klein reserved much of their scorn for the proposal to cut the tax on share dividend payouts. ..... "The permanent dividend tax cut, in particular, is not credible as a short-term stimulus," the statement said. ..... "Moreover, the proposed tax cuts will generate further inequalities in after-tax income," it said. .... The statement, which has been signed by almost 400 economists ..... "To be effective, a stimulus plan should rely on immediate but temporary spending and tax measures to expand demand and it should also rely on immediate but temporary incentives for investment," they said. .... The seven other Nobel winners who signed the statement were George Akerlof, Kenneth Arrow, Daniel McFadden, Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow, Douglass North and William Sharpe.
Stiglitz attacks 'fiscal madness' Bush's plans were "fiscal madness, fiscal irresponsibility". ... Bush could spend less than a sixth of what he is planning to on stimulating the economy .... "So rather than spending $600bn on the tax proposal that Bush has, the kind of proposals I'm talking about would cost under $100bn and deliver enormous amounts, directly and in the short run, without delivering huge long-run deficits." ..... Formerly a senior figure in both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, he stepped down in order to criticise both agencies, and the US too, for their policies towards the developing world. ..... the package Mr Bush is pushing would make things worse by stocking up massive deficits for the future. .... "You should get money out to people who will spend it and spend it quickly," he said.
Obama's Cuba Stand Breaks Rank Washington Post want to see ailing Fidel Castro's communist government fall ..... Clinton, the New York senator and Democratic front-runner, issued a statement reiterating her support for the current policy toward Cuba ...... Joe Biden also supports the status quo. ...... Bill Richardson has also called for an end to the travel and money restrictions for Cuban-Americans .... Chris Dodd has said he would lift all travel restrictions .... Dennis Kucinich supports scrapping the embargo. ..... "We must not weaken our policy on Cuba until the Castro regime is dismantled, all political prisoners are freed and Cuba transitions to free and fair elections," Romney said. ....... Obama's position is in line with what many academics have long tried to tell Washington.

Hillary's unthinking stand on Cuba and reluctance to go beyond the same old, same old is proof she is Bush-Cheney Lite on foreign policy. She walked lockstep with them for the war on Iraq. And she is lockstep with them on Cuba.

The best way to bring about positive change in Cuba is by engaging that little country in all ways possible. There should be a frontal assault of total engagement. At all levels possible. Engage in total trade. Engage in total people to people exchange. Have President Obama hold a summit meeting with Fidel Castro where Obama publicly asks Fidel to release the 75 dissidents in jail.

Cuba will likely evolve into a multiparty democracy of state funded parties that keeps its wonderful education and health policies. Cuba should not have to collapse first and then try and start imitating America and fail, and upon succeeding then realize Americans are trying to have publicly financed elections. The road to becoming a democracy of publicly financed elections for Cuba does not go through America. America does not do it right.

Even if the idea is to bring Fidel down, the policy that has been in place for half a century has clearly not worked. Fidel saw Eisenhower. Fidel saw Kennedy come and go. He saw LBJ. He saw Nixon come and go. Fidel saw Ford, Carter. He saw Reagan, he saw Bush. He saw Clinton. He has seen Bush return. He will see Hillary come and go and he will still be there if the same US policy is followed.

Hillary is so clearly wrong on several levels at once.

Obama is right. And he is not even thinking of the primary election in taking this clear stand. Most Cubans in Florida I hear are Republican. But what is right is right, and it has to be said.

Obama is at work to build a grand majority. He is on his way.

In The News

Obama's Cuba Stand Breaks Rank Washington Post want to see ailing Fidel Castro's communist government fall ..... Clinton, the New York senator and Democratic front-runner, issued a statement reiterating her support for the current policy toward Cuba ...... Joe Biden also supports the status quo. ...... Bill Richardson has also called for an end to the travel and money restrictions for Cuban-Americans .... Chris Dodd has said he would lift all travel restrictions .... Dennis Kucinich supports scrapping the embargo. ..... "We must not weaken our policy on Cuba until the Castro regime is dismantled, all political prisoners are freed and Cuba transitions to free and fair elections," Romney said. ....... Obama's position is in line with what many academics have long tried to tell Washington.

Clinton and Obama: a slight shift in tone on Iraq? Boston Globe "if we put an additional 30,000 of our troops ... into Baghdad, that's going to quell some of the violence short-term. I don't think there's ever been any doubt about that." Yet there is still no military solution to the problems in Iraq, he added.

Obama: No military solution in Iraq Boston Herald "All of our top military commanders recognize that there is no military solution in Iraq ..... I have pushed for a careful and responsible redeployment of troops engaged in combat operations out of Iraq, joined with direct and sustained diplomacy in the region." ...... Fred Thompson said the U.S. must rebuild its military to fight global terrorism because leaders "took a holiday" in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War.

Could Obama Pull Off His 30 Percent Solution? Washington Post, United States he has suggested in the past that African-Americans will strongly back one of their own, much as Clinton's campaign has argued the same about women and Edwards of Southerners.
Bushies Game Obama's Chances CBS News, NY it seems that some of the president's political advisers are catching Obama-mania. ...... one Bush adviser who accurately predicted Bill Clinton would emerge from a crowded 1992 field put the odds at near even that Obama would eke out a victory. ..... Obama has to prove that "he can walk over hot coals, because that's what it's going to take."
Congress's lone Iraq war vet backs Obama Boston Globe, United States
Would Obama Meet With Castro? Atlantic Online "Without preconditions" does not mean without prior assumptions or bargaining positions; it does not mean a tabula rasa.

Google searches are up, data show Los Angeles Times
Google Creates Search Tools for South Asian Languages (Update1) Bloomberg unveiled two tools to help users with English keyboards write in Hindi and search for terms in 14 languages spoken in India and other countries in South Asia. ...... on-screen keyboard ... Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil and other languages ...... The other translates Hindi words spelled phonetically in the English alphabet into Hindi characters. Both programs can be downloaded from the Google Labs Web site. ...... the 21.1 million Internet users in India, the world's fastest-growing group of Internet subscribers ..... The country's subscription numbers jumped 33 percent in 2006, beating Russia's 21 percent increase and China's 20 percent growth. Google Labs, Official Google Blog, Google Indic Transliteration, Nepali Keyboard
Google buys stake in Chinese social-networking website Boston Globe The country is second only to the United States in Internet users, with almost 90 million
Amitabh, Lata discover new friendship Hindustan Times Amitabh makes it a point to attend any function Lata invites him to. ..... Amitabh said: "It can't be helped. When Lataji asked me to inaugurate a new wing in her hospital I instantly agreed. ... No one says no to Lataji. ..... She is far ahead of me in every respect.
Bachchan starrer selected for Toronto Film Festival Hindustan Times
Wal-Mart beats Amazon to music downloads Financial Times

Our Main Goal: Freedom In Cuba by Barack Obama in Miami Herald When my father was a young man living in Kenya, the freedom and opportunity of the United States exerted such a powerful draw that he moved halfway around the world to pursue his dreams here. My father's story is not unique. The same has been true for tens of millions of people, from every continent -- including for the many Cubans who have come and made their lives here since the start of Fidel Castro's dictatorship almost 50 years ago. ....... just 90 miles from our shores ... a government that clings to discredited ideology and authoritarian control. ..... help the Cuban people become less dependent on the Castro regime in fundamental ways ....... seeing Cuba join the roster of stable and economically vibrant democracies in the Western Hemisphere .... the Castro regime's deplorable March 2003 jailing of 75 of Cuba's most prominent and courageous dissidents ....... an unfortunate fact that his departure by no means guarantees the arrival of freedom on the island. ...... I will use aggressive and principled diplomacy to send an important message ...... those ideals will have as transformative effect on Cubans today as they did on my father more than 50 years ago.

New Romney Ad Targets Illegal Migrants Washington Post criticizes "sanctuary cities" for illegal immigrants ..... An estimated half-million illegal immigrants live in New York .... as governor Romney ordered state police to enforce existing immigration laws, opposed driver's licenses for illegal immigrants and insisted children be taught English.
Obama Presidency a 'Stretch' for Voters Washington Post a multistate primary on Feb. 5 that could determine the nomination. ...... Obama has the broadest network of grass-roots activists .... a string of shaky debate appearances, a streak he ended Sunday with a strong performance in Iowa ....... I'm also equipped with the experience and judgment to be the next commander in chief ..... She is a second-term senator who has never run a government or business. Edwards served one term in the Senate. ...... "I've been in public office longer than Hillary Clinton has" .... "I've been in public office longer than John Edwards has." ..... Obama seems to be relying on a calm, comfortable campaign demeanor to a send the signal that he is a man in control. .... wrestle control of the campaign narrative from Clinton .. "If we're able to do that," he said, "then we will win."
2008: Obama Speaks New York Times a lengthy interview and a series of stories out today, a speech planned for this afternoon and an Op-ed in a major newspaper ...... “calling for ‘unrestricted rights’ for Cuban Americans to visit and send money to family in Cuba.” ....... “Michigan is poised to move its presidential primaries to Jan. 15 or earlier, becoming the latest state to leapfrog to the front of the voting calendar in the ongoing battle for relevance in choosing the next White House occupant.”
Obama pushes for 'serious policy,' not 'posturing' on Cuba USA Today Cuban-American connections to family in Cuba are not only a basic right in humanitarian terms, but also our best tool for helping to foster the beginnings of grass-roots democracy on the island. Accordingly, I will grant Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send remittances to the island. ...... If a post-Fidel government begins opening Cuba to democratic change, the United States (the president working with Congress) is prepared to take steps to normalize relations and ease the embargo that has governed relations between our countries for the last five decades. That message coming from my administration in bilateral talks would be the best means of promoting Cuban freedom. ...... Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is "going with the status quo" and that John Edwards has "expressed support" for the economic embargo of that nation. The leading Republicans also support current policy toward Cuba
Obama: Ease travel limits on Cuban-Americans Chicago Tribune making them more dependent on the Castro regime, thus isolating them from the transformative message carried by Cuban-Americans ........ The Cuban-exile vote is considered key to winning Florida. ..... Last week, the Miami-Dade Democratic Party came out against the restrictions. ..... "Sasha asked Mommy about it," Obama said in Salem, N.H. "She said, 'Daddy already has a wife' or something like that." ...... "I guarantee you African-American turnout, if I'm the nominee, goes up 30 percent around the country, minimum," he said in Concord, N.H.
Obama Girl not a hit with Obama's girl Chicago Sun-Times
Obama on ‘Obama Girl’ New York Times
Obama disses his 'girl' Boston Globe
Article:CAMPAIGN 2008 / Clinton volunteer army ramps up in Cali:/c ... San Francisco Chronicle "HillStars" ... "HillCorps" ..... organize trained volunteers - 1,000 strong across the state - ...... the "1,000-20-200" plan ..... will use "the power of the Internet with traditional field methods to create millions of voter contacts ...... a 27-page "HillStar" campaign manual .... secure the votes of potentially millions of absentee voters in California's rich delegate field before Democratic voters in Iowa and New Hampshire ever weigh in ...... in 2008, "the largest number of votes cast at a relatively early stage" will be in California. ..... Beginning Jan. 7 - when voters can begin to cast absentee ballots in the state - "we have a 29-day election" ....... calls for unprecedented organization and innovation in California to get those voters to the polls ..... "the power of networks, the growth of social networks, will be the strength of this campaign." ..... the efforts by the Clinton campaign to build, train and organize a California bank of 20,000 volunteers is a savvy move. ..... regardless of the results in Iowa and New Hampshire. ...... Lee Atwater pursued a similar strategy in 1988 for then-Vice President George H.W. Bush, intended to establish a grassroots network to send a message of overpowering strength - and inevitability - to his rivals. ...... "An organization like this doesn't build her lead. It's designed to protect it ..... "If enough absentees are cast (in California) before Iowa and New Hampshire, she's protected against an upset in one of those states ....... "1,000-20-200" plan .... training 1,000 "HillStar" corps members to then train and manage 20 other "Hillary Corps" campaign volunteers each, who in turn will be "contacting 200 voters in their social networks and convincing those people to vote for Sen. Clinton ....... The most active volunteers will marshal forces with the help of house parties - there were 47 statewide for Clinton last week - as well as one-on-one efforts to meet and talk to voters at schools, homes, coffee shops and, increasingly, by e-mail and in online conversations. ...... "We need to create millions of conversations with voters, and that doesn't cost millions ...... cell phone-wielding volunteers get together and create their own roving phone banks, talking to voters at night and on weekends, when call times are free ....... The Clinton campaign said it is targeting a still largely overlooked factor in the 2008 presidential race: the crucial role of early primary voters in the nation's most populous state. ........ as many as half of the state's 6.7 million registered Democrats could be absentee voters in the 2008 presidential primary. ...... "up to half a million votes will be cast in California in the week before the Iowa caucus ... (so) for the first time, the California campaign will be in the vanguard of the presidential nomination process." ..... in March 2007, there were 4 million permanent absentee voters in California - nearly 60 percent of them women ..... "Hundreds of Californians have attended our 'Camp Obama' training sessions in Los Angeles and San Francisco," LaBolt said, adding that "more than 100,000 Californians have signed up to join our campaign," which has representatives in 40 of the state's 53 congressional districts.
Rove Keeps Up Heat On Clinton Guardian Unlimited ``She enters the general election campaign with the highest negatives of any candidate in the history of the Gallup poll,'' Rove said. ..... Asked whether he was attacking Clinton because the GOP feared Obama, Rove replied: ``I read that in the LA Times this morning. Those, those guys out in LA have got to get clued in. I mean, come on.'' ..... Rove said the GOP's chances in 2008 may be helped by the high negative ratings for Clinton and for the Democratic-led Congress. Congress' approval in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll this month stood at 25 percent, compared with 35 percent for Bush. ..... Rove said he talked to Novak about Plame, but said he did not confirm that she worked for the CIA - only that he, too, had heard that she did. .... ``Is the Republican Party a little bit behind the curve? You bet,'' he said.











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Iowa Debate

Iowa Debate: Obama Clear Winner

Iowa Debate: Obama Clear Winner

In The News

Obama: He Can Turn Out Black Voters Washington Post black voter turnout would swell by at least 30 percent if he wins the presidential nomination, giving Democrats victory in Southern states that have been voting Republican for decades. ....... "I guarantee you African-American turnout, if I'm the nominee, goes up 30 percent around the country, minimum," Obama said. "Young people's percentage of the vote goes up 25-30 percent. So we're in a position to put states in play that haven't been in play since LBJ." ...... "I would include McCain, but John's having trouble right now, so that's not that big of a feat," Obama said of the Republican senator from Arizona, drawing laughter at the packed house party ....... "If we just got African-Americans in Mississippi to vote their percentage of the population, Mississippi is suddenly a Democratic state," Obama said. He said Georgia would also turn Democratic and South Carolina would be in play. ..... "Let me tell you, if I beat the Clintons, folks aren't going to ask whether I'm tough enough," Obama said to laughter from the crowd. ...... there will be attempts to dirty me up

Siddiqui re-elected Bihar RJD president Times of India
Global markets rally as credit crunch eases International Herald Tribune
Karl Rove Directed Government Funds For Political Gain Liberty Papers
Obama and Clinton in close vote The Age Iowans tended to make up their minds late. .... her jibe that he was naive to say he would meet Fidel Castro in his first year in office.
Rove Probably Isn't Afraid Of Barack Obama Atlantic Online
Obama the realist ... or reckless Asia Times Online
Clinton, Obama fend off criticisms in debate CNN
Rove Keeps the Heat on Hillary Clinton Washington Post
Can anyone stop the Clinton bandwagon? INQ7.net Powered by polished debate showings, gaping opinion poll leads, and a pitch-perfect political machine, Hillary Clinton seems to be barnstorming towards the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. ..... Clinton's near blemish-free campaign ..... "If she continues to campaign without making a major mistake, it's hard to see how anybody beats her," said Cary Covington, professor of political science at the University of Iowa. ...... "It is a lot like a chess match, and she has the superior board position." ...... At the equivalent stage of the 2004 race, Senator Joseph Lieberman led national Democratic polls and Howard Dean was top in key states. ...... last week, Clinton led Obama by 36 percent to 21 percent among Democratic voters. .... Clinton's political machine meanwhile functions like a shadow White House, locking horns with the Bush administration on top issues, with master campaigner, former president Bill Clinton just off stage. ........ "She has always been good, she has the best advisor in the business, it is a very smart team and they know what they are doing ...... Obama, hoping for a tsunami of change in 2008, branded Clinton "Bush-Cheney lite" on foreign policy and a voice of the past. ...... plays to huge campaign trail crowds and outraises her in the multi-million dollar fundraising stakes. ....... Karl Rove meanwhile told the Wall Street Journal that Clinton was a "tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate." ..... "If he hits his stride, he could conceivably pull past her," said Geer. "I would not want to bet my house on her being the nominee, quite yet." ..... "Sitting around and waiting for her to screw up is not the wisest strategy," said Panagopoulos.
Can Hillary Clinton capture men's vote? Minneapolis Star Tribune
Clinton will need male approval TheNewsTribune.com

Traffic still slow on I-5 Seattle Post Intelligencer
Clinton backers see Warner -- not Obama -- as best VP choice Chicago Sun-Times
Obama seeks to quiet questions about experience Boston Globe
Clinton, Obama Take Heat in Debate Wall Street Journal
Rove Keeps Up Heat On Clinton Guardian Unlimited
Rove On His Legacy And The GOP's Future CBS News "There's some Democrats who never accepted him as president after 2000," Rove told Bob Schieffer. "And there's some Democrats who said, 'You know, the bright path for their party was to obstruct him no matter what.'" ..... "You cannot be a candidate like President Bush was in 2004 and get 60 million votes for president, more than any other candidate for president in history," he said. "I know the opposition talks about playing to the base, and I want them to keep thinking that's the right strategy. But you win elections like this president won in 2000 and 2002 and 2004 by broadening the coalition, by getting more people to register and to vote and by persuading people who might have been inclined to the other side to come across for you." ...... "She enters the primary season with the highest negatives of any front-runner since the history of polling began," he said. "She has more people who have an unfavorable impression of her than have a favorable impression. And not just in one poll, but in multiple polls." ....... if Republicans want to win, the nominee must have a "positive, forward-looking, optimistic agenda for the future of the country."

TRANSCRIPT: The Democratic Debate ABC News At 27 percent, Illinois Senator Barack Obama. New York Senator Hillary Clinton is at 26 percent, as is former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, also at 26 percent. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is at 11 percent. ..... I've set big goals for my presidency. I want to have universal health care and move toward energy independence and do what we need to do in education and reform our government, and, of course, end the war in Iraq. .... It takes a lot of planning to move an agenda forward, particularly with our adversaries. I think the next president will face some of the most difficult international dangerous threats and challenges that any president has faced in a very long time. ........ you should not telegraph ..... the only person that separates us from a jihadist government in Pakistan with nuclear weapons is President Musharraf ..... Words mean something in campaigns. ..... You're not going to have time in January of '09 to get ready for this job. ....... he's a wonderful guy .... Pakistan is the most dangerous, potentially the most dangerous country in the world. A significant minority of jihadists with nuclear weapons. ........ we have no Pakistan policy; we have a Musharraf policy. That's a bad policy. The policy should be based upon a long-term relationship with Pakistan and stability. ........ We should be encouraging free elections. There is an overwhelming majority of moderates in that country. ...... I've met them already, most of them. ..... Is Senator Obama ready? .... Senator Obama represents change and he's an enormously fresh voice in the political process. ....... Well, you know, to prepare for this debate, I rode in the bumper cars at the state fair ......... I think that strong countries and strong presidents meet and talk with our adversaries. We shouldn't be afraid to do so. We've tried the other way. It didn't work. I think that, if we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and we've exhausted all other options, we should take him out before he plans to kill another 3,000 Americans. I think that's common sense. ...... we should describe for the American people both in presidential debates, as well as president, what our foreign policy is and what we're going to do. We shouldn't have strategic ambiguity with the American people when it comes to describing how we're going to deal with the most serious national security issues that we face. ....... aggressive diplomacy -- preparation, yes, but aggressive diplomacy, the personal diplomacy of the next president -- to transform how the world sees us .......... this administration which has been reckless and provocative ...... we shouldn't use hypotheticals. You know, words do matter. ...... It is not hypothetical that Al Qaida has established base camps in the hills between Afghanistan and Pakistan. ....... No military expert would advise that we use nuclear weapons to deal with them ...... we have gamesmanship and we manufacture issues and controversies instead of talking about the serious problem that we have, a problem that this administration has made worse and that our invasion of Iraq has made worse, but a problem that the next president is going to have to deal with ......... it's not shocking that people who have been in Washington a long time criticize him when he comes along and expresses his view. ...... what America should do and what I would do as president, is to actually lead an international effort over time to eliminate nuclear weapons from the planet. ........ under the last 25 years, this nation has continued to expand its nuclear capability. .... We destroyed their democracy. ..... We should have a treaty on fissionable material, loose nuclear weapons -- that's even more dangerous today than nuclear weapons. ........ the big challenges we face, whether it's health care or a bold energy strategy or schools that aren't producing young people that can compete on the global stage, those are problems that pre-date the Bush administration. ........ a winning strategy is not crafted by a political calculus that divides the country into red states and blue states. ..... building a new majority ...... I had 18 wonderful years in Arkansas. ...... upstate New York, where many of the people who voted for me had never voted for a Democrat before. ...... the idea that you're going to escape the Republican attack machine and not have high negatives by the time they're through with you, I think, is just missing what's been going on in American politics for the last 20 years. ........ we have got to move toward public financing, get the money out of American politics ....... The reason we don't have universal health care in America today is because of the insurance industry, the drug companies and their lobbyists. ........ The Iowa AF of L-CIO, two days ago endorsed H.R. 676, a not-for-profit health care system, a bill that I'm the coauthor of. ...... every other health care plan represented by everyone else here on stage keeps the private insurers in charge. ....... More voters wrote in questions for us on the issue of Iraq than any other single issue. ........ There is no military solution. Everybody agrees with that. ...... I disagree with him. And I disagree with Joe Biden. And I disagree with Hillary. ....... -- I know you're trying to create a fight up here, I understand that, but ...... the Republican candidates, who the best I can tell are George Bush on steroids. ....... that there is any possibility in the lifetime of anyone here of having the Iraqis get together, have a unity government in Baghdad that pulls the country together. That will not happen, George. It will not happen in the lifetime of anyone here. ....... You have to get them out of each other's face, just like we did in the Balkans ....... I think we also can all agree that it's going to be messy, that there are no good options. ..... the thing I wish had happened was that all the people on this stage had asked these questions before they authorized us getting in. ...... Nobody had more experience than Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and many of the people on this stage that authorized this war. ........ Joe's point about partition might be the right one. ...... George Bush drove the bus into the ditch, and there are only so many ways you can pull that bus out of the ditch. ........ We can talk about George Bush driving a bus into a ditch, but let's not forget there was a Democratic Senate in charge that OK'ed the war. And those senators who are up on this stage helped to authorize that war and they have to take responsibility for that. ....... if I had not been a praying person before I got to the White House, after having been there for just a few days I would've become one. ....... I am very dependent on my faith, and prayer is a big part of that. ....... through prayer, not only can we strengthen ourselves in adversity, but that we can also find the empathy and the compassion and the will to deal with the problems that we do control. ....... We may not have the power to prevent a hurricane, but we do have the power to make sure that the levees are properly reinforced and we've got a sound emergency plan. ......... the large companies take over more farms. ..... extend the broadband access to our rural communities. ...... our Congress subsidizes these big megafarms and hurts family farmers oftentimes in the process. ....... Globalization is here, and I don't think Americans are afraid to compete. And we have the goods and the services and the skills and the innovation to compete anywhere in the world. ..... our path to peace, to not-for-profit health care, to education for all .... obviously President Bush had no intention of doing what he said he was going to do ...... I would never have diverted our attention to Iraq, and I never would have pursued this war. ....... maybe one of the worst votes cast in the Congress, maybe in the last 20 years, was last fall, on the Military Commissions Act, in which we allowed the abandonment of habeas corpus, returning to torture, and abandoning the Geneva Convention. .............. I've had a lot of discussions with teachers all throughout Iowa. And they feel betrayed and frustrated by No Child Left Behind. And Chris is right: We shouldn't reauthorize it without changing it fundamentally. ....... I've advocated universal pre-kindergarten. ...... you can walk in a classroom today and it looks very much like the classroom I walked into, you know, 50 years ago. ........ I have proposed a minimum wage for our teachers, $40,000 per year. ..... we are 29th in the world in math and science. We need to have 100,000 new math and science teachers ....... We're 46th in literacy in the world -- in the world. Thirty percent of our children do not graduate from high school. ....... you can't do it when you want to expand, as he wants to expand, 100,000 more troops. Who are we going to nuke, who are we going to fight next? ....... Teachers, across the board, have to be paid more. My sister's a teacher, and I know how hard they work and what they go through. ..... I've sponsored a universal pre-kindergarten bill that will be paid for by a 15 percent cut in that bloated, wasteful Pentagon budget, which will yield $75 billion a year that we will put right into education. ........... Learning theorists know this. Child psychologists understand this. Piaget talked all about this. Let's give our children the chance to grow, but let's put the money there. And I know where to get it. ...... the same salary they start their engineers ...... "Don't tell me what you value; show me your budget." ....... the credit crunch and the crisis in the mortgage markets. ...... people facing foreclosures. .... It has seized up. You can't get a mortgage in America today. ...... This is the Katrina of the mortgage-lending industry. ...... What we need is more transparency between those that are making this business happen. ..... The mortgage industry, they've become -- a lot of them -- a bunch of loan sharks. ....... more transparency, particularly with regard to hedge funds and private equity funds. They are the ones that are causing this thing to go under. And there's no transparency, no accountability. We don't know how deep this problem is. ........... It's almost as deep in terms of dollars, not liability, as the savings and loan crisis. ...... The Fed is actually looking at bailing out the creditors. And what we're looking at is a continuation of the problem and a postponement of the day of reckoning. ...... these hedge funds will try to get a bail-out while millions of Americans lose their homes. Save the American homeowners. ...... when my family was living in a car in the inner city ..... A decisive moment in my life was the transition from high school to college, because I had gone through a difficult time, not knowing my father, and was, at times, an angry young man. ....... the values my mother had instilled in me, those were reawakened in college. ...... the civil rights movement. ... realized that it does make a difference if you're engaged ..... realizing that human governance is extremely complex and that representative government is broken. ....... And he'd never been able to go to college. And he was trying to learn from public television so he could get a better job in the mill. ...... when I was growing up I didn't think I would run for president ..... my mother, who never got a chance to go to college, who had a very difficult childhood, but who gave me a belief that I could do whatever I set my mind

Obama vs. Clinton: Questions of experience Chicago Tribune
Was Obama naive, will Clinton be Bush-Cheney lite? Ha'aretz
Clinton may be a target of Rove's reverse psychologyLos Angeles Times Her healthcare record was "spotty and poor," he declared. Her candidacy was "fatally flawed," he said. And no one with her negative poll numbers, he stated, "has ever won the presidency." ...... The decision to focus on the New York senator to the exclusion of other potentially formidable Democratic standard-bearers such as Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois offered a rare glimpse into a world where things are not always what they seem -- the world of modern-day electioneering, whose denizens often prefer going from A to B by way of Z. ........ In the run-up to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when it was not yet clear who Bush's opponent would be that November, Rove and his aides had begun to fear that their most dangerous foe would be then-Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. ...... But instead of attacking Edwards, Rove's team opened fire at Kerry. ...... Democrats, in a knee-jerk reaction to GOP attacks, would rally around Kerry, whom Rove considered a comparatively weak opponent, and make him the party's nominee. ...... "Whomever we attacked was going to be emboldened in Democratic primary voters' minds. .... Whomever we attacked was going to be helped ..... the campaign "refused" to even respond to Edwards' attacks on Bush, not wanting to make him seem like a threat. ..... Is he trying to stampede Democrats into nominating her, having concluded that Obama, Edwards or someone else would pose a stiffer challenge to the Republican nominee? ..... Rove's visibility suggested he had no intention of fading from the game in 2008. ...... "I haven't known Karl to do many things accidentally or spontaneously ...... many Democrats in 1979 relished the thought of taking on Ronald Reagan the following year. ...... Clinton appeared to welcome the attacks from Rove, widely disliked among Democrats, and her campaign traded blows with the White House last week.
Live-Blogging the Democratic Debate New York Times When his family was living in a car, he decided he would be someone ..... The transition from high school to college. He was at times an angry young man. ...... When he saw his father, who worked in a mill, watching public television to try to get an education. ...... “I could not be standing here without the women’s movement .... his “one-point plan” to “fix” No Child Left Behind by scrapping it. .... Clinton says she “regrets” having given Mr. Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq, but still doesn’t use the word “mistake.” There is no applause from the crowd. ...... 34,000 family farms in New York ..... Obama called for a cap on farm subsidies, not a popular position in Iowa. .... His own plan: Call in the Joint Chiefs and “give them the mission” to begin an orderly phased withdrawal. ..... “Is Mrs. Clinton part of the failed politics in Washington?” ....... “We need someone who can break out of the political patterns we’ve been in in the last 20 years. I would not be running if I did not believe that I would be the best person to do this.” ........ “I find it interesting he’s so obsessed with me.” .... She calls for public financing of elections. ..... “Is Barack Obama ready to be president, experienced enough to be president?” ... “Well, George, I was going to say good morning…and, as soon as I wake up, I’ll answer your question.” .... “I do not think that a president should give away the bargaining chip of a personal meeting with any leader, unless you know what you’re going to get out of that.” ...... Bill Richardson, who praised Mr. Obama, saying he represents change, and praised Mrs. Clinton saying she represents experience. He paused and added: “Change and experience: With me, you get both.” ..... Obama topped it all, after all this criticism of his lack of experience joking that, “To prepare for this debate, I rode in the bumper cars at the state fair.” He went onto say there are substantive differences between himself and Mrs. Clinton. “Strong countries should meet with adversaries ...... Obama’s inability to catch Mrs. Clinton in the polls.
Rove restates views on Clinton negatives MSNBC
Obama Defends Himself Against Rivals Forbes
Clinton backlash? And lobbying MSNBC

One Debate A Month Is Enough: More Town Hall Meetings, Fewer Debates

One Debate A Month Is Enough

Enough said.

Obama is the leader among the candidates. He took the lead on this issue that was bothering all campaigns. Others were only quietly complaining. Who will tie the bell round the cat's neck?

Obama did. Obama tied the bell.

It's called leadership. Either you have it, or you don't.

More Town Hall Meetings, Fewer Debates

TV fancyheads get enough time on the air. Let the people come on in. Locals in many geographical regions should have their time with the candidate.

This election is about the people, not the talk-show hosts.

Got to Move From 30 Seconds To Three Minutes

The 30 second sound bytes don't tell you much. They get candidates into unnecessary fights, unnecessary parsing, unnecessary splitting hair. Instead the citizens should feel like they had enough time to ask what they wanted to ask, noone screened, most certainly not the media bigheads.

Town hall beats YouTube. There just is this thing about getting locals to gather as a crowd and let the questions fall where they may.

I like the C-Span thing. Let the top candidates do their many town meetings, and let all the top TV stations show up. CNN, Fox, whoever wants to show up.

All Candidates Are Not Equal

Mike Gravel is a nice guy, but there is no point in pretending he is in the same league as Barack.

When the TV stations go cover the town hall meetings, they make it more possible for the people everywhere to better know the top candidates.

Town hall meetings are also more jazzy because you never know who will ask what. These are citizens with genuine concerns on their minds. They are more real than those screened to ask questions at debates. Debates necessarily invite drama.

Debates Have Their Place

Once a month is good. Any less could be a problem. More than once a month is a huge problem.

In The News

Obama to cut back on debates, forums Los Angeles Times the unceasing schedule of presidential debates and candidate forums was proving a distraction .... The campaign will say no to new debate requests until mid-December..... he is committed to six more debates in coming months. ..... "We simply cannot continue to hopscotch from forum to forum and run a campaign true to the bottom-up movement for change that propelled Barack into this race .... the Obama has attended since entering the presidential race in February, according to the campaign. He has also taken part in eighth debate19 forums ...... "We have just been through a period of three debates/forums in six days, and the outlook for the future holds more of the same ...... "Hillary is considered to be doing very well with these debates. Edwards seems increasingly angry. Obama sounds inexperienced." ..... In Obama's Iowa swing, he takes questions from the public in town hall-type settings. .... "Here's a guy who, by the way, didn't have much experience in Washington," the Illinois senator said of Lincoln. "Everybody thought he was kind of a yokel from, um, Illinois."
Obama Says Energy Policy A Moral Issue Guardian Unlimited needs a president willing to defy special interests in Washington that dictate energy policy. .... he is voters' best bet to shake up the status quo. .... the only candidate experienced enough to make a change in Washington. ..... ``We've got an energy policy that doesn't just seem like it's written by industry lobbyists,'' he said. ``It was written by energy lobbyists.'' ..... Obama was committee to five remaining debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, two Iowa debates in December and one in Florida on Sept. 9. .... Many of Obama's rivals also have complained about the overwhelming number of multicandidate gatherings and could follow suit. .... ``We can free ourselves from the tyranny of oil.''
Understanding Obama Chicago Tribune In the year 2000, he almost didn't attend the Democratic National Convention because he didn't have enough money for the airfare. Four years later he delivered the keynote speech at the Democratic convention in Boston. Next year he may claim the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Denver. .... There may be no precedent for a rise like this, though the last two Illinois presidents claim quite stunning ascents: Abraham Lincoln served but a single term in the House and had been defeated in a bruising Senate race before becoming president in 1861, and Ronald Reagan had been an actor before serving two terms in Sacramento as governor of his adopted state of California and moving into the White House in 1981. But by any measure Obama is one part politician, one part phenomenon. ...... the Tribune reporter who covered Obama since the early days of his U.S. Senate campaign, and he has written "Obama," a biography ...... in a small New Hampshire town that had voted decisively for Barry Goldwater in 1964, and, there in the high school gym in a community that is probably 99 percent white, were hundreds upon hundreds of people -- transfixed, inspired, passionate, swept away by this black man who spoke to their heads and won their hearts. ....... there is immense interest in Obama ..... the public knows Clinton better than Obama ..... the notion that Obama has a hidden side that is "imperious, mercurial, self-righteous and sometime prickly." ...... "He is an exceptionally gifted politician who, throughout his life, has been able to make people of wildly divergent vantage points see in him exactly what they want to see." ...... Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not possess that gift, though for a time Bill Clinton did....... "He is an extraordinarily ambitious, competitive man with persuasive charm and a career reach that seems to have no bounds ...... lonely and difficult decisions of statecraft and unimaginable and incomparable tests of leadership, where precedent matters little and creativity and character matter above all. ..... If the senator is elected to the White House, every presidential biography of the man will cite Mendell.
Clinton May Not Be Pressured To Take Obama As Running Mate TransWorldNews The possibility that Senator Obama will become the running mate of Senator Clinton is also something that is unlikely to happen. Growing tension between Clinton and Obama had been observed in the past few weeks after Clinton called Obama's stand on foreign policies as irresponsible and naïve. .... the probability that Clinton and Obama will end up as running mates in the coming election is rather dim. .... if she does not like working with Obama, then she can simply say so and get away with it.
Obama Will Skip Debates. Will Anyone Else? Washington Post Obama has already attended seven debates and 19 forums, including a just-finished run of three forums in six days ... The prospect of fewer debates makes Sunday's, moderated by George Stephanopoulos in Des Moines, that much more important to the campaigns. It also comes at a time when the candidates are all ratcheting up their focus on Iowa heading into Labor Day. ..... Stephanopoulos said today that he hopes his questions will encourage interaction between the candidates, where they "really mix it up and engage," rather than the standard, one-at-a-time format.

Nepal King's kin dupes many Indian students Times of India
Giuliani: I'll Discuss My Family My Way Washington Post Giuliani was asked by a voter in Derry, N.H., why he should expect loyalty from GOP voters when his children aren't backing him ...... "How is it that we have the best higher education in the world and a weaker K-through-12 system?" Giuliani said. "What's the difference? Why does one operate so well and the other not nearly as well? American higher education is based on a quintessential American principle _ choice." ...... stressed his desire to have private forces shape the country's economy in education as well as in health care and Social Security
Hastert Officially Announces Retirement New York Times
First daughter Jenna gets engaged Indianapolis Star
CBS Poll: Edwards Trailing Clinton, Obama CBS News
Obama campaign working to introduce candidate Washington Post How many children does Barack Obama have? In what foreign country did he live as a boy ..... I don't think people know who he is, which surprises me." ...... He's young, he's African-American, he's new. .... "People are frustrated and people are angry."
Edwards Blasts Obama Lobbyist Plan as 'Fantasy' ABC News I think the only way we're going to bring about change is to take them on head-on, and to defeat them ...... I mean, Sen. Clinton has been part of Washington for a very long time. ..... "Obama has done more to curb lobbyists' influence than anyone else in this race and has the furthest reaching plan to fundamentally reform government and shut the revolving door between the White House and K Street ....... 34 New Orleans homes have had their owners face foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress Investment Group, the hedge fund Edwards worked for in 2005 and 2006 -- and that he still had $16 million invested in. ...... John Kerry, D-Mass., edged him out in the state with the first-in-the-nation caucuses and never looked back en route to the Democratic nomination ..... This week, he's making 31 stops in Iowa cities and towns during a six-day bus tour, putting his tally of Iowa events so far this year well above 100. ..... strongly suggesting that he is the only major candidate who can help down-ballot Democrats in next year's elections.
Obama Focuses On Rural Policy Guardian Unlimited
Obama: He's having 'adventure' of his life running for president WQAD
To Warren Buffett, Obama and Clinton Are Both Presidential New York Times In the Warren Buffett primary, there is nothing but neutrality .... in the Clinton-Obama contest, he has no intention of taking sides until the race is over ...... In recent elections, Mr. Obama said, Democrats have employed a strategy of the “50 plus 1 model,” hoping to eke out a slim victory. He argued that his candidacy could change that. ....... “by drawing in new people in the process and by getting young people excited in this campaign.” ..... the day I’m inaugurated, I think the country looks at itself differently and the world looks at America differently ...... “I’ve got a conviction about him that I don’t get very often," Mr. Buffett told me in 2005. ......“Hillary Clinton is a wonderful candidate and a wonderful woman, but if she runs, she will really hurt our local races out here,” Mr. Achelpohl told me. “She will bring every crazy Republican out of the woodwork.”