The next US President

[Dua]

Obama Clinches Nomination
News Brief – June 4, 2008

Forget the media's waffle about Barack Obama’s nomination for presidency being a “mile stone” in U.S. politics. He’s like all the other players in U.S. politics and it showed in his first foreign policy speech since winning the nomination.

All the media talk of him being the “first black” U.S. presidential contender is just a ruse. In fact he’s not even “black” but like this writer mixed race. There is a difference. The idea that Obama is America’s first “black presidential contender” is no more than a selling point. A sales pitch used to ignite the interest of a disenchanted U.S. electorate who have grown increasingly cynical about those in the running for the White House.

In essence Obama is no different from any of the other front-runners in U.S. politics recently. When it comes to the crunch he will do what all the others would do. He will put Israel’s interests first and foremost: alongside the wishes of America's hidden rulers.

This was evident in his speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) Thursday. Israel’s security he told them was “sacrosanct” and “non-negotiable”. Moreover, he assured members of the powerful Jewish lobby group that he would do “everything” in his power to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons. This must have sounded like music to their ears as Israel has grown increasingly agitated over the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran.

He criticised the Bush administration over its conduct of the war in Iraq, which he said had emboldened Iran. So much so, he said, that it posed a real danger. “My goal will be to eliminate this threat”, he told listeners.

However, he didn’t say exactly how he would achieve this. Unlike McCain, who has spoken belligerently about dealing with the threat posed by Iran, Obama is thought to favour diplomacy and negotiations to persuade Iran to relinquish what Israel maintains is a nuclear weapons program. If diplomacy and negotiations fail however, Obama has not said how he would respond. He has not spoken of a military option but given that he considers Israel’s security “sacrosanct” and “non-negotiable” it’s not something that can be entirely ruled out either.

In his speech Obama also paid tribute to his rival, Hilary Clinton, and hinted that she could play a role in his administration. For her part, Hilary Clinton has said she would be “open” to being Obama’s vice presidential running mate.

And that, as far as this writer is concerned, would be a presidential combination made in hell. Little better indeed than if McCain wins the presidency. In essence American voters have no real alternative. The notion that they have any “democratic choice” is an illusion:the candidates themselves are no more than puppets, lackeys for all-powerful interest groups who really call the shots.

Where ......

Does not know who to attack ............​

 

[Dua]

A Look Back at Clinton's Campaign

Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to end her crusade to be the nation's first female president, according to a campaign official. The New York senator will hold a rally on Saturday to express support for rival Barack Obama and call for unity among Democrats, her communications director said.

After Sen. Barack Obama clinched the nomination Tuesday, Clinton said she was not backing down. "I want the nearly 18 million people who voted for me to be respected and heard," she told supporters in New York on Tuesday.

Clinton said earlier that she would be willing to become Obama's running mate if that would help the Democrats take the White House. "I am open to it," she said on a conference call with New York lawmakers.

Clinton announced her long-awaited bid for the Democratic nomination in a video posted on her Web site on Jan. 20, 2007. "I'm in and I'm in to win," she said. Here she speaks about her bid on Jan. 21, 2007.

For several months, the former first lady was the front-runner in a large field of contenders for the Democratic nomination. Here they stand together at the start of a debate in South Carolina in July 2007.

Although national polls put Clinton in the lead for several months before primary season, she placed third in the kickoff Iowa caucus on Jan. 3, behind Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.

Many pundits were quick to write off her campaign even at that early stage, but Clinton surprised them with a win in New Hampshire on Jan. 8. The day before the primary there, Clinton choked back tears in a rare show of emotion when a voter at an event asked her how she was doing.

On Jan. 26, Clinton lost the South Carolina primary to Obama by a large margin. The outcome began to make it clear that the Democratic primary season would not come to a quick end.

Clinton and Obama both claimed victories on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, when more than 20 states held their nominating contests. Clinton won several big states including California and New York, while Obama won in a larger number of smaller states. Obama then went on a monthlong winning streak.

Just before Super Tuesday, Edwards dropped out of the race, leaving Clinton and Obama to vie for the nomination. Here the two take the stage for a debate in Ohio on Feb. 26. They were involved in more than 20 debates throughout the campaign, some of them bitterly contentious and others friendly.

Clinton, here in Kentucky on May 20, ended Obama's winning streak with important victories in Texas and Ohio on March 4, keeping her in the running. She went on to win in Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky, but wasn't able to regain momentum.

Days before the Texas and Ohio primaries, Clinton appeared on 'Saturday Night Live' with comedian Amy Poehler, left, who impersonates her on the show.

During a six-week hiatus between contests, Clinton made headlines when she said that as first lady she landed in Bosnia under sniper fire. When news video showed that wasn't what happened, she said, "I misspoke ... I am a human being like everybody else."

Former President Bill Clinton campaigned tirelessly for his wife, but sometimes landed himself in hot water. In January he stirred controversy when he said Obama's claims about his stance on the Iraq war were a "fairy tale."

The Clintons' daughter, Chelsea, who had long been kept out of the media spotlight, took to the trail with her parents after her mother's defeat in Iowa. Here she reacts to applause after speaking at an event in South Dakota on June 2.

Clinton, here campaigning in Florida on May 21, pushed for the disputed delegates of that state and Michigan to be seated. She led the voting in both states, which had held their primaries in defiance of party rules. On May 31, Democratic Party officials agreed to give the delegates only half a vote each, a blow to Clinton's campaign.

Clinton's most recent win came in Puerto Rico on June 1, but Obama effectively clinched the nomination by gaining the needed number of delegates on June 3. Sources: AP, cnn.com, nytimes.com, Reuters, washingtonpost.com



Clinton Prepares for Campaign's End

AP
Posted: 2008-06-05 13:47:02
Filed Under: Elections News, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton
WASHINGTON (June 5) -- Some of Hillary Rodham Clinton's biggest backers from New York rallied around Barack Obama Thursday as she signaled her candidacy was ending. The likely Democratic nominee said he won't be hurried into a decision on whether to make her his running mate. Clinton, in an e-mail to supporters, said she "will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise."

The e-mail was a shift in tone by the former first lady, who announced 17 months ago that she was "in it to win it." Many of her supporters now are pushing for her to be included as the vice presidential candidate, in their minds a "dream ticket" that would bring Obama her enthusiastic legions and broaden his appeal to white and working-class voters. But Obama indicated he intends to take his time making a decision. "We're not going to be rushed into it. I don't think Senator Clinton expects a quick decision and I don't even know that she's necessarily interested in that," Obama told NBC in an interview.

Clinton's move to formally declare that she is backing the Illinois senator came after Democratic congressional colleagues made clear they had no stomach for a protracted intraparty battle. Now that Obama has secured the 2,118 delegates necessary to clinch the nomination, Clinton had little choice but to end her quest, and sooner rather than later. Some of Clinton's most stolid congressional boosters — other New York lawmakers — were preparing a group endorsement Thursday afternoon of Obama.

A few didn't wait that long. Reps. Gregory Meeks, Edolphus Towns and Yvette Clarke announced late Wednesday they were backing the Illinois senator and calling for party unity. "We stand firmly in his corner and are ready to help him continue to make history on behalf of the American people," the trio said in a statement. The move to end her campaign came Tuesday, when Clinton told House Democrats during a private conference call that she would get behind Obama's candidacy and congratulate him for gathering the necessary delegates to be the party's nominee. Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said Clinton will express her support for Obama at an event she is hosting Saturday in Washington, D.C., to thank her supporters.

Also in the speech, Clinton will urge once-warring Democrats to focus on the general election and defeating Republican presidential candidate John McCain. The only degree of uncertainty was how. Clinton is exploring options to retain her delegates and promote her issues, including a signature call for universal health care. The announcement closed an epic five-month nominating battle pitting the first serious female candidate against the most viable black contender ever. Obama on Tuesday night secured the delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination. But Clinton stopped short of acknowledging that milestone, defiantly insisting she was better positioned to defeat McCain in November.

"What does Hillary want? What does she want?" Clinton asked, hours after telling supporters she'd be open to joining Obama as his vice presidential running mate. But by Wednesday, other Democrats made it abundantly clear they wanted something too: a swift end to the often bitter nominating contest. Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean and the Democratic congressional leadership released a statement urging the party to rally behind Obama, and several lawmakers, including Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar and Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, all endorsed their Illinois colleague.

Obama also announced he had named a three-person vice presidential vetting team that included Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President Kennedy. On the telephone call with impatient congressional supporters that included New York Rep. Charles Rangel, a longtime political patron, Clinton was urged to draw a close to the contentious campaign, or at least express support for Obama.

New York lawmakers wanted to campaign for Obama this weekend, but many weren't comfortable doing that if she hadn't formally endorsed her rival, Rangel said. "The quicker we proved that we were committed to Senator Obama, then the better for all of us," Rangel said Thursday on CBS' "Early Show."

Rangel said Obama and Clinton need each other — it would help him pick up her supporters if she were on the Democratic ticket, and she "needs to maintain momentum" as a national and international leader. Her decision to acquiesce caught many in the campaign by surprise and left the campaign scrambling to finalize the logistics and specifics behind her campaign departure. It was an inauspicious end for a candidacy that appeared all but indestructible when it began Jan. 20, 2007. Armed with celebrity, a prodigious fundraising network, a battle-tested campaign team and husband who also was a popular two-term former president, Clinton was believed by many observers to be unbeatable.

But in Obama, the New York senator faced an opponent who appeared perfectly suited to the time — a charismatic newcomer who had opposed the Iraq war from the beginning — in contrast to her — and who offered voters a compelling message of change. Clinton voted for the legislation that authorized military force against Iraq, a decision that hampered her campaign from the beginning.

One week in politics is a very long time … …. …… ALL CHANGE ALL CHANGE......

 

[Dua]

Clinton ends historic bid, endorses Obama

In major speech, Clinton throws her 'full support behind him'

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., with her daughter, Chelsea, her mother, Dorothy Rodham, and husband, former President Bill Clinton, at the National Building Museum in Washington on Saturday.


updated 4:17 p.m. ET June 7, 2008

WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton ended her historic campaign for the presidency on Saturday and told supporters to unite behind rival Barack Obama, closing out a race that was as grueling as it was groundbreaking.

The former first lady, who as recently as Tuesday declared herself the strongest candidate, gave Obama an unqualified endorsement and pivoted from her role as determined foe to absolute ally. "The way to continue our fight now to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passion, our energy and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next president of the United States," she said. Her passionate speech was delivered before cheering supporters packed into the ornate National Building Museum.

"Today as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary campaign he has won. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him and I ask of you to join me in working as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me," the New York senator said. With that and 13 other mentions of his name, Clinton placed herself solidly behind her Senate colleague from Illinois, a political sensation and the first black candidate to secure a major party presidential nomination in the U.S.

Obama, in a statement, declared himself "thrilled and honored" to have Clinton's support. "I honor her today for the valiant and historic campaign she has run," he said. "She shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters and women everywhere, who now know that there are no limits to their dreams. And she inspired millions with her strength, courage and unyielding commitment to the cause of working Americans."

Poignant moment

For Clinton and her supporters, it was a poignant moment, the end of an extraordinary run that began with an air of inevitability and certain victory. About 18 million people voted for her; it was the closest a woman has come to capturing a nomination. "Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it has about 18 million cracks in it and the light is shining through like never before," she said. Indeed, her speech repeatedly returned to the milestone her candidacy represented for women. In primary after primary, her support among women was a solid bloc of her voting coalition. She noted that she had received the support of women who were 80 and 90 years old, born before women could even vote. She acknowledged the unprecedented success of Obama's candidacy, as well.

"Children today will grow up taking for granted that an African-American or a woman can, yes, become the president of the United States," she said.
Obama secured the 2,118 delegates needed to clinch the nomination Tuesday after primaries in South Dakota and Montana. He planned to spend the weekend at home in Chicago. Joining Clinton on stage were her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, to loud cheers from the crowd. When she spoke, they stepped away.

Keeping her options open

In deciding to suspend her campaign, Clinton kept some options open. She gets to retain her delegates to the nominating convention this summer and she can continue to raise money. It also means she could reopen her campaign if circumstances change before the Denver convention in late August, but she gave no indication that was her intention. Clinton supporters began lining up at dawn to attend the farewell address. A smattering of Obama backers showed up as well, saying they did so as a gesture of party unity.

Supporters and press jammed the museum's vast ground floor, with the second and third floor balconies quickly filling up as well. The stage was draped with American flags, and a sound system blared upbeat music.
As they awaited her arrival, campaign staffers milled the room, exchanging hugs and saying goodbye. Clinton seemed almost buoyant in her address, feeding off the energy of a loud and appreciative crowd. "Well, this isn't exactly the party I planned but I sure like the company," she said as she opened her speech.

'A somber day'

Clinton backers described themselves as sad and resigned. "This is a somber day," said Jon Cardinal, one of the first in line. Cardinal said he planned, reluctantly, to support the Illinois senator in the general election. "It's going to be tough after being against Obama for so long," he said. Obama and Clinton had a face-to-face meeting Thursday evening at the Washington home of a Senate colleague, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein. Clinton was expected to campaign for Obama and to help with fundraising, while seeking his assistance in retiring her $30 million campaign debt. The New York senator has told colleagues she would be interested in joining Obama as his vice presidential running mate.

The undisputed front-runner when she announced her candidacy in January 2007, Clinton saw her march to the nomination derailed a year later after being swamped by Obama in Iowa's leadoff caucuses. She stayed alive after a narrow victory in New Hampshire five days later. But her campaign never fully regained its footing despite strong showings in several big-state primaries beginning in March.

Sen Clinton has kept her options open ... ... Is it a poker game now?
ALL CHANGE ALL CHANGE......

 

[Dua]

Bilderberg boys will decide who’s Obama’s “chosen” Veep

Canadian Free Press June 6, 2008

Although coming on like a freight train as the Messiah For Change, Barack Obama’s just another poodle of the powerbrokers when it comes to who will be his Veep. Visit to Mrs. Clinton notwithstanding, Obama’s in no position to play favours in the vice president department, the big boys will decide who fills that slot.

“It has been announced that Bilderberg luminary and top corporate elitist James A. Johnson will select Democratic candidate Barack Obama’s running mate for the 2008 election and in turn potentially act as a kingmaker for America’s future president.” (Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet, May 23, 2008).

For the Bilderberg uninitiated, Johnson also selected John Kerry’s running mate John Edwards in 2004 after Edwards had impressed Bilderberg elitists Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller with a speech he gave at the globalist conflab in Italy that year, says Prison Planet. For all of their power, Bilderberg Pooh-bahs are just as vulnerable to political speeches as are their lessers known as John & Josephine Q. Public.

Bilderbergers pull the puppet strings of contemporary politicians. While the media tends to present Bilderberger luminaries as bigwigs in pinstripe suits attending endless secret meetings, they’re the global elitists pushing the envelope on one-world government. “In reality, the group is shaping some of the primary developments in the domestic and geopolitical arena today, particularly in the context of oil prices which continue to accelerate towards Bilderberg’s target of $200 dollars a barrel.” (Prison Planet).

Some say it is the Bilderbergers behind all market trends. Having to march along to the tunes of Bilderberg Blues Band makes Obama’s promise for change something of a mirage. In the opinion of Prison Planet, “It also ridicules once again any notion that an Obama presidency would bring “change” to the status quo of America being ruled by an unelected corporate and military-industrial complex elite.” “Former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson has been asked by Senator Barack Obama on Thursday to start the search for a viable Vice Presidential candidate,” reports Trans World News.

“Johnson and Obama are starting the top-secret search as Obama edges closer to the Democratic nomination. Johnson did the same job for Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984.” “The report lists Johnson as a member of “American Friends of Bilderberg,” which is an offshoot Bilderberg front group that has accepted donations from the Ford Foundation to fund Bilderberg meetings where lavish hotels are entirely booked up for three days, by no means an inexpensive feat. The organization is basically a steering committee for the Bilderberg Group—a secretarial outpost through which Bilderberg conferences are organized.

“Johnson has also directly attended Bilderberg meetings, therefore he can be classed as a Bilderberg luminary. He attended last years’s meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. “Johnson is also “A vice chairman of the private banking firm Perseus LLC, a position he has held since 2001. He is also a board member at Goldman Sachs, Gannett Company Inc., a media holding group, KB Home, a home construction firm, Target Corporation, Temple-Inland and UnitedHealth Group.

“Predictably, he is also a member of the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2004 it was reported that John Edwards’ Goody Two Shoes performance in front of the Bilderberg big boys in Italy was a factor in his selection as John Kerry’s Number Two. Edwards was so in sync with the brass that attendees even dispensed with house rules to applaud him at the end of the speech he gave about American politics. That time, Johnson himself selected Edwards in a last-minute change decision after it appeared as though Dick Gephardt was going to secure the position. The New York Post even reported that Gephardt had been chosen and “Kerry-Gephardt” stickers were being placed on campaign vehicles before being removed when Edwards was announced as Kerry’s handmaiden.

Kerry, of course went on to lose to what Prison Planet calls “his fellow Skull and Bones member George W. Bush. “But with Obama enjoying an 8-point lead over Republican candidate John McCain, this year’s running mate decision is all the more important, with the individual selected likely to have a shot at becoming President in 2012. “Bilderberg has a proven history of acting in a kingmaker capacity. Both Bill Clinton and Tony Blair attended Bilderberg meetings in the early 90’s before becoming President and Prime Minister respectively.”

History may record the Democrats bringing both the first black and first female president and vice president to the White House. Barack Obama may look like the Messiah For Change when in reality he’s just another Bildeberg Boy.

Barack Obama ........... as anybody who has stayed in the USA or europe knows for sure that it will take a huge step similar to a man living in mars for our beloved son of Africa to concur ....................

 

[Dua]

Now they’ve started to attack Barack Obama


Man Claims He Is Barack Obama's Homosexual Ex-Lover

 

[Dua]

Global Obamania

BBC News, Washington


"There is nothing that is wrong with America that can't be fixed by what is right with America." The words were once uttered by a man who is now busy licking his own and his wife's wounds. Bill Clinton is not used to failure. But ironically his words turned out to be prophetic in a way that neither he nor any of us would have imagined. After an electoral process that makes a round of Harry Potter's favourite game Quidditch look simple, the Democratic Party has eventually chosen a man whose name - some Americans can't help noticing - rhymes with Osama, and whose middle name is Hussein; who was brought up in Hawaii and Indonesia, and whose father was a Kenyan economist.

And all this in the middle of a war against foreign extremists. If you had tried to sell the Obama story to the fiction editor of a major publishing company they would have laughed at you and ushered you to the door. Good fiction needs to be plausible, they would have bleated. Great reality can be as implausible as it wants, America has now replied.

Miserable

Back on the campaign trail, Barack Obama and John McCain are knuckling down to the nuts and bolts of their diverging economic policies. Obama knows that he needs to stop sounding vague and hopeful and start sounding precise and resourceful. If he fails to do this he will never win over those voters who are having a truly miserable time these days. They need him to feel their pain and reduce it with sound policies. Much of the rest of the world has the luxury of electoral irrelevance. They are free to continue basking in Obamamania.

The last thing they want to hear about is the senator's proposals for tax reform and transport regulation. So, in Berlin they are wearing Obama t-shirts. Karsten Voigt, a former government minister, has been able to declare that Germany is Obamaland. In Rome, one restaurant is apparently selling Obama pizzas, with olives and pineapple chunks - surely this is doing the man from a Chicago a culinary disservice? On Bondi Beach in Sydney, they are drawing battleground states in the sand and debating whether a black man can win in Kentucky or Tennessee.

Enlightenment ideas

Obama's nomination has achieved in one night what hand-wringing Bush diplomacy has failed to deliver in four years: a powerful signal that America still has the power to surprise and inspire. It proves that the revolutionary heart of this nation founded on ideas borrowed from the European Enlightenment still beats despite Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. The world peddles in symbols which never convey the complete picture and ride roughshod over nuance. But America desperately needed a symbol which everyone at home and abroad could feel good about. Legions of Republicans or Hillary Democrats may not like what they hear from Obama, they will probably never vote for him, but they cannot dislike what they see in him at first glance.

His very improbability gives Americans a reason to feel good about themselves and he gives the rest of the world a reason to feel good about America. And that, of course, is where it may end. His campaign could turn out to be a minefield of unexpected hiccups. His presidency, if he ever gets there, could be haunted by mistakes and misjudgements. He may lose on 4 November.

Fifty-Fifty nation

After another four and a half months of campaigning, America will be ready for any legal outcome delivered at the polls, assuming, of course, the votes can actually be counted. The world needs to come down to reality and experience the cold turkey of American electoral politics. Despite the lofty dreams ringing in campaign ears this remains the 50-50 nation.

American elections tend to be decided by a whisker-thin majority in the swing county of one swing state. Obama may be a global citizen but to voters in West Virginia or parts of Ohio that sounds as pretentious as a double decaf Venti latte. But before the German politician who wrote that Obama was a cross between John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King gets too sniffy about those hillbillies in America, just remember this: Germany has a minority of four million Turks, but has elected only a handful of ethnic Turks to the Bundestag.

An ethnic Pakistani Prime Minister taking up residence at Number 10 Downing Street is even less likely than England winning the World Cup. In Beijing, the overt racism shown to African students brought over under the bygone days of international Communism is truly shocking. Even if America is not ready to elect a black president, the rest of the world has no right to point the finger. And there is always the possibility that Obama failed not because he was black, not because he was too global, but simply because his vision of America's future did not add up.

Wow what the heck!

 

[Dua]

Obama's Mother: Fascinating and Revealing!!

June 2, 2008
Stanley Ann Dunham Obana Soetoro (November 29, 1942 - November 7, 1995), known as Ann Dunham and/or Stanley Ann Dunham, was an American anthropologist, left-wing social activist, and the mother of Senator Barack Obama. She was born in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Stanley and Madelyn Dunham. Her father was a furniture salesman in downtown Seattle, Washington, and her mother worked for a bank. After a year living in Seattle, her family moved to Mercer Island, Washington, in 1956 so that 13-year old Ann could attend the Mercer Island High School that had just opened. At the school she was on the debate team and graduated in 1960.

Her family moved to Hawaii and Ann attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where she studied anthropology. When Ann Dunham arrived in Hawaii, she was a full-fledged radical leftist and practitioner of critical theory. She also began to engage in miscegenation (inter-racial relationships) as part of her attack on society. Susan Blake, one of her friends, has stated she never dated 'the crew-cut white boys'. She had a world view, even as a young girl. It was embracing the different, rather than that ethnocentric thing of shunning the different. That was where her mind took her. In Hawaii she met Barack Obama, Sr. from Kenya in her Russian language class. Barack Obama, Jr. was born August 4, 1961, but was called 'Barry.'

Barack Obama, Sr. left Ann and their son in 1963 to attend Harvard in Boston. Press reports claim Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr. were divorced around this time; however, no evidence has yet been discovered to show they were ever married. The senior Obama obtained a masters degree in economics at Harvard and returned to Kenya in 1965 where he obtained a position in the Kenyan government. He was killed in an automobile accident in 1982.

Two years later, when her son was five, Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian oil manager and practicing Muslim whom she met at the university. In 1967 they moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. While in Indonesia Ann got a job at the American embassy teaching English.

Barack's half-sister, Maya Soetoro was born in Indonesia. Ann, Barry, and his sister Maya moved back to Hawaii. Ann Dunham soon returned to Indonesia with Maya but divorced Soetoro in the late 1970s.

Dunham traveled around the world, pursuing a career in rural development that took her to Ghana, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Nepal and Bangladesh. In 1986 Ann Dunham worked on a developmental project in Pakistan. Later that year Ann and her daughter traveled the Silk Road in China. In 1992 she earned a Ph.D in anthropology from the University of Hawaii. Her dissertation, 'Peasant Blacksmithing in Indonesia: Surviving and Thriving Against All Odds,' was 1067 pages long. She worked for the Ford Foundation and promoted Microlending. During this time, while his mother was roaming around the world, Barack Hussein Obama Jr 'Barry' was being raised by his grandmother....the same woman he would later describe as a 'typical white person'. His affectionate nickname, used by grandparents, was 'Bar.'

In 1980, Barry announced to everyone that he would no longer be called Barry, but would only answer to his formal name, also the name of his father, as Barack. He explained that he wanted his identity to mirror that of his paternal lineage.

During Obama's campaign for the 2008 presidential election he has portrayed his mother as just an ordinary conservative girl from Kansas; however in reality she was a radical leftist and cultural Marxist. She lived in the Seattle area, spending her teenage years in Seattle coffee shops with other young radical leftists. Obama claims his mother's family were conservative Methodists or Baptists from Kansas. Not true in any way. His mother's parents were members of a left-wing Unitarian church near Seattle. The church located in Bellevue, Washington was knicknamed 'the little red church,' because of its leftist leanings.

The school Ann attended, Mercer Island High School, was a hotbed of pro-Marxist radical teachers. John Stenhouse, board member, told the House Un-American Activities Subcommittee that he had been a member of staff. Two teachers at this school, Val Foubert and Jim Wichterman, both Frankfurt School style Marxists, taught a critical theory curriculum to students which included; rejection of societal norms, attacks on Christianity, the traditional family, and assigned readings by Karl Marx. The hallway between Foubert's and Wichterman classrooms was sometimes called 'anarchy ally.'

Dunham has been described by her friends as 'a fellow traveler... meaning a communist/socialist sympathizer.

In an interview, Barack Obama referred to his mother as 'the dominant figure in my formative years... The values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics.'

Before she died Ann Dunham wanted to adopt a mixed-race Korean baby fathered by a Black American stationed in South Korea. Ann Dunham died in Hawaii in 1995 of ovarian cancer and uterine cancer.

On his campaign trail, practically none of Obama's descriptions of his family history, environment, his developmental years, schooling and/or his parents are anywhere near truth or historical, verifiable fact.

All change... all change.

 

[Dua]

Obama, Clinton Make Show of Unity

Posted: 2008-06-27 19:23:52
Filed Under: Elections News, Barack Obama
UNITY, N.H. (June 27) - Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Friday to turn the page on their bitter, history-making fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, declaring the next chapter is about beating Republican John McCain.

Rivalry, what rivalry? Former foes Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama campaigned together Friday in a show of Democratic unity. It was their first public appearance together since their often-bitter primary battle ended.

Appropriately, the joint appearance was held in the town of Unity, N.H. "Unity is not only a beautiful place we can see, it's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?" Clinton told the crowd. Obama spoke of his admiration for the New York senator. "She rocks," he declared.

Clinton encouraged her disappointed supporters to back Obama. As for any of her former backers who are considering voting for Republican John McCain, "I strongly urge you to reconsider," she said. "In the end, Senator McCain and President Bush are like two sides of the same coin, and it doesn't amount to a whole lot of change."

Earlier, Clinton and Obama were the picture of unity as they set off for their first public appearance together since the hotly contested Democratic primary race ended.

Clinton and Obama greet each other with a handshake and a kiss on the tarmac at Washington's Reagan National Airport before boarding a plane for a flight to New Hampshire.

Obama's tie even matched Clinton's power-blue pantsuit as the two former foes headed out to Unity, N.H., a town laden with symbolism. In addition to its apt name, Unity was chosen because it awarded exactly 107 votes to each candidate in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary in January.

The two senators sat together and appeared to be chatting amiably on their flight from Washington to New Hampshire.

Source: AP

Choosing a small New Hampshire community aptly named Unity for their first joint appearance since the campaign ended, Obama and Clinton stood on a platform before thousands of cheering, shouting supporters and took turns praising each other and urging party solidarity. She called the nominee-in-waiting a standup guy and he declared: "She rocks. She rocks."

They came together in this hamlet where each won 107 votes in January's primary. Body language rivaled campaign rhetoric as attention-getter of the day. And a pair rendered distant by a marathon campaign acted like teammates, alternately exhorting the rank-and-file to put any recriminations behind them. Clinton noted that they had stood "toe to toe" against each other in a primary season fight that began almost two years ago and declared the time has come to "stand shoulder to shoulder" against the GOP. They seemed equally determined to regain a White House that their party hasn't seen since her husband, President Clinton, left at the start of 2001.

"To anyone who voted for me and is now considering not voting or voting for Sen. (John) McCain, I strongly urge you to reconsider," said Clinton, beseeching her supporters to join with Obama's "to create an unstoppable force for change we can all believe in." In turn, Obama praised both Clinton and her husband as allies and pillars of the Democratic Party.

"We need them. We need them badly," Obama said. "Not just my campaign, but the American people need their service and their vision and their wisdom in the months and years to come because that's how we're going to bring about unity in the Democratic Party. And that's how we're going to bring about unity in America." Moments earlier, the two snaked their way through some 6,000 people who gathered in a wide-open field and overflowed some bleacher seats in this town of 1,700. Obama is seeking to become the country's first black president; Clinton had sought to become the first woman to win the White House.

The reunification of these campaign rivals wasn't without its awkward moments. Despite the praise and smiles between the two, some in the crowd still sensed a space between them. Their embraces were slightly awkward, and Clinton stood with her hands clasped formally in front of her as Obama spoke. Eileen Quill, a 64-year-old retired teacher from nearby Sunapee who had supported Clinton, said: "I think she's usually a wonderful public speaker, and so is he, but she looked a little stiff and the whole thing wasn't entirely comfortable." Aides said the atmosphere on the bus from the airport to the rally was "festive," but said the two avoided talking about the campaign for the 90-minute ride. As they and their staffs ate a lunch of sandwiches and salads, Obama and Clinton made small talk, at one point commiserating and comparing stories about how difficult it is to live life under a microscope, as public figures do.

Friday's joint appearance capped a turbulent Democratic primary season and tense post-race transition as the two went from foes to friends - at least publicly. This was the most visible event in a series of gestures the two senators have made over the past week to heal the hard feelings - between themselves as well as among their backers. "Unity is not only a beautiful place as we can see, it's a wonderful feeling, isn't it? And I know when we start here in this field in Unity, we'll end on the steps of the Capitol when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as our next president," Clinton said from a podium as Obama sat next to her on a stool, coatless with his white shirt sleeves rolled up. She wore a powder blue pantsuit; he wore a light blue tie.

Wasting little time pressing Obama's case, Clinton noted that McCain and the GOP probably hoped she wouldn't join forces with Obama. "But I've got news for them: We are one party; we are one America, and we are not going to rest until we take back our country and put it once again on the path to peace, prosperity and progress in the 21st century," Clinton said to cheers. Echoing Obama's pitch, Clinton said McCain offered nothing more than a continuation of President Bush's policies.

"In the end, Sen. McCain and President Bush are like two sides of the same coin, and it doesn't amount to a whole lot of change," Clinton said. "If you think we need a new course, a new agenda, then vote for Barack Obama and you will get the change that you need and deserve." "I've admired her as a leader, I've learned from her as a candidate. She rocks. She rocks. That's the point I'm trying to make," Obama added, responding to cheers from the crowd. "I know firsthand how good she is, how tough she is, how passionate she is, how committed she is the causes that brought all of us here today."

Each needs the other now.

All Change ... ...all change....

 

[Dua]

Washington diary: Political humour

The row over the New Yorker's cover
showed the limits of political humour​

BBC News, Washington

In America these days, political humour is a field of egg shells interspersed with a few safe stepping stones. Jokes about Hillary, although less compelling now than when she was still running for President, are one such stone. So are jokes about Bill, although his once famously errant libido seems to have become distinctly off-off Broadway. President Bush continues to provide a rich reservoir of humour. He is the open strip-mine of satire: cheap, easy access and in no immediate danger of running dry - no offshore drilling required. Jibes about Senator McCain's age practically fill the nocturnal airtime of the comedy shows.

Self-deprecating

What all the above politicians - with the possible exception of Bill Clinton - have in common is that they relish (or pretend to relish) making fun of themselves. Towards the end of her campaign, Hillary was practically doing stand-up. President Bush partially built his re-election strategy on sending up his mangling of the English language, becoming the first successful candidate in US history to turn inarticulacy and poor grades into an electoral asset. Even the glowering Dick Cheney likes to crack a joke at his own expense. He tells a hilarious one about holding his hand on his heart during the National Anthem only to find every doctor in the audience rushing towards him with a defibrillator.

Mr McCain likes to say that he is "older than dirt and has more scars than Frankenstein". If politics is a minefield, then satire, self-deprecating jokes and irony are its minesweepers and detonation teams.

Talk show hosts like Jay Leno
"have treated Mr Obama like a Faberge egg"​

The extraordinary fuss over the front cover of this week's New Yorker magazine, which shows Barack Obama dressed in traditional Muslim garb, his wife Michelle looking like a cross between a Colombian Farc guerrilla and Jimi Hendrix, and an American flag burning in the Oval Office fireplace, illustrates the perils of Obama humour for the hallowed guild of comedians and for the candidate. Firstly, if you have to explain a joke ad nauseam, as the editor of The New Yorker David Remnick and his supporters have been forced to do, then it probably was not very funny in the first place. In fact, most people seemed to have missed the joke.

The magazine was not making fun of Senator Obama; it was ridiculing the people who think he might be a Muslim, who believe that a fist bump is the terrorists' version of a high-five and who are convinced that if Mr Obama refuses to willingly wear a flag pin he might as well put a match to the Stars and Stripes. In other words, the New Yorker was making fun of those "bitter", poor white people who "cling" to guns and religion that Mr Obama referred to in a speech in April. And as we now know, that fragile, thin-skinned group of voters is off limits. "He's a Red Neck. Don't hurt his feelings!"

Crass and tasteless

In fact the only safe rule is to stick to telling jokes about your own ethnic, religious, gender, salary, allergy group. Don't go off-piste. Ever.
Although The New Yorker cover did not touch overtly on Mr Obama's African-American origins, any hint of racial stereotyping is, of course, an absolute no-go area. Can you imagine if last week's comments about Obama's "nuts" had been made by a white man? There would have been demands for his scalp.
He would have been forced to resign, go into hiding, while being compared to the lynch mobs of the darkest days of racial hatred.

As it happened, Jesse Jackson was merely ridiculed for being crass and tasteless. I believe his comments were so absurd that they actually cried out for a quick-witted, perhaps even gently crude response from Mr Obama himself. Yes - forgive me, readers - but this was an opportunity missed for a candidate who needs to remind voters that he is more than just the rhetorical embodiment of nouns like Hope and Change.

Pincer movement

Barack Obama used to be funny. Who can forget his comment about smoking and inhaling dope: "Of course I inhaled. I thought that was the point!"
When he introduced himself to the American public he used to start most of his speeches with a quip about how his wife was really the boss and would not let him run for office unless he quit smoking. This was funny because it jelled with Michelle's feisty image. Nowadays Barack Obama is boxed in by a pincer movement of political correctness: his race on one flank, his squeaky-clean image as the torch-bearer of hope and change on the other.

The guardians of Mr Obama's saintly image do not tolerate satire of any sort and the New Yorker cover has merely reinforced those limits. Joke about Barack Hussein Obama at your peril! This is bad news for late night comedians, who treat Obama as if he was a fragile Faberge egg. But it is even worse news for the candidate himself. If he is no longer making fun of himself, because he is too busy proving to the nation that he is a serious commander-in-chief-in-waiting and if his followers regard humour as apostasy, then the man is in danger of becoming an icon on a pedestal.
And we know what happens to them.

Voters, especially in this country, like to imagine that they can have a beer with their President, even though any attempts to do so will probably result in a half nelson from the secret service. Al Gore failed to pass that test.
So did John Kerry.

And although Obama is really quite down to earth and millions of Americans would love to sit down with him for a drink and a chat, they might be too awestruck and hamstrung to think of anything to say, for fear of sounding crass, offensive or stupid. Policies apart, therein lies a danger. If unchecked it breeds a resentment that could express itself in the privacy of the ballot booth with a vote for the grumpy old maverick who looks as if he would be happy to down vodka shots with you, even if his doctors did not allow it.

The jaluo who master minded Hillary fall?


All Change ... ...all change....

 

[Dua]

Barack Obama, right, the Democratic presidential candidate, walks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai outside the presidential palace Sunday in Kabul. The two met during Obama's tour of war zones and foreign capitals. Obama has criticized Karzai for not doing enough to rebuild Afghanistan.

Obama greets a U.S. soldier Sunday in Kabul. In an interview with CBS News, he called the situation in Afghanistan "precarious" and "urgent" and said the U.S. needs to send more troops.

Obama, second from left, attends a meeting Saturday with officials in Afghanistan. He also met with top leaders at Bagram Air Base. He made the trip with two other senators: Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., second from right, and Jack Reed, D-R.I., right.

Obama arrived in Afghanistan under tight security. Here, an Afghan police officer searches a vehicle for hidden explosives at a check point in Kabul.

Obama is also expected to stop in Iraq, which would be his first visit to that country. "I want to, obviously, talk to the commanders and get a sense both in Afghanistan and in Baghdad of ... what ... their biggest concerns are," he said as he left the U.S. Here, U.S. soldiers patrol a neighborhood in Baghdad.

Obama's Republican rival, John McCain, has criticized him for not spending enough time in Iraq and Afghanistan. ​

Credit: AP

All Change ..................All Change...

 

[Dua]

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, left, flies over Baghdad, Iraq, with top the U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus. Obama, who's visiting Iraq for the first time since announcing his candidacy, has long opposed the war there.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, left, meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, right, in Baghdad Monday. The Iraqi government signaled it apparently shares Obama's goal of withdrawing U.S. combat forces by 2010. ​

BAGHDAD (July 21) - Face to face with Iraq's leaders, Barack Obama gained fresh support Monday for the idea of pulling all U.S. combat forces out of the war zone by 2010. But the Iraqis stopped short of actual timetables or endorsement of Obama's pledge to withdraw American troops within 16 months if he wins the presidency.

The Democratic presidential contender also got a military briefing - and a helicopter tour - from the top U.S. commander in the region, Gen. David Petraeus, and he met with a few of the nearly 150,000 U.S. troops now well into the war's sixth year. Back in the U.S., Republican rival John McCain said he hoped Obama's visit would open his eyes to the danger of withdrawal timetables. Said the Arizona senator, who was meeting with President Bush's father, the former president, in Maine: "When you win wars, troops come home." He said of Obama: "He's been completely wrong on the issue."
In Washington, the White House expressed displeasure with recent public comments by Iraqi leaders on the withdrawal question and suggested they might have the U.S. election on their minds.

As Obama visited Iraq for the first time in more than two years, comments Monday by the nation's government spokesman roughly mirrored the Illinois senator's withdrawal schedule and offered a glimpse of Iraq's growing confidence as violence drops and Iraqi security forces expand their roles.
"We are hoping that in 2010 that combat troops will withdraw from Iraq," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said after Obama met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - who has struggled for days to clarify Iraq's position on a possible timetable for a U.S. troop pullout.

Iraq's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, said after meeting Obama that Iraqi leaders share "a common interest ... to schedule the withdrawal of American troops." "I'd be happy if we reach an agreement to say, for instance, the 31st of December 2010" would mark the departure of the last U.S. combat unit, he said - then noted that any such goal could be revised depending on threats and the pace of training for Iraqi security forces. That date would be some seven months later than Obama's 16-month timeline.
Obama said almost nothing to reporters as he walked to and from his meetings.

"Excellent conversation," he said as he left talks with al-Hashemi in his gold-hued reception room. "Very constructive," he said after leaving a meeting with al-Maliki. Obama promised to give fuller impressions after his stop in Iraq wraps up Tuesday and he heads to Jordan and then Israel. In Washington, the White House expressed unhappiness about Iraqi leaders' apparent public backing for Obama's troop withdrawal plans and suggested the Iraqis may be trying to use the U.S. presidential election as leverage for negotiations on America's presence and future obligations in the country.
.............................................................................................................

The Republicans are back-footed (absolutely rattled) and complainning about the coverage Obama is getting................


All Change ..................All Change...

 

[Dua]

Flip-flop guide


US candidates practise their U-turns

BBC News, Washington
In order to pass their political driving test, successful politicians need to be masters of one tricky manoeuvre in particular - the U-turn. The contenders in this year's US presidential election are no exceptions - both John McCain and Barack Obama have engaged in some nifty repositioning. Mr McCain's U-turns have mostly increased his appeal to the Republican Party's base, placing him on a rightward trajectory.

Barack Obama has been performing a more traditional manoeuvre: running to the left during the primaries, when party activists need to be wooed, then shifting to the centre once the nomination is clinched. Flip-flopping politicians will always attract charges of hypocrisy and opportunism: it may be worth it if it helps them win over undecided voters in the middle, but when the goal is to shore up their political base, the benefits are much less clear.

Here are some examples.

John McCain

Having long been a member of his party's more moderate wing on a number of issues, Mr McCain began adopting more right-wing positions during the primary campaign.

Immigration

Last year, Mr McCain was one of the key backers of President Bush's plan for "comprehensive immigration reform", which would have created "paths to citizenship" for illegal immigrants, while investing more money in border security. The plan was very unpopular with the Republican rank-and-file, and Senate Republicans succeeded in blocking the scheme. During the primaries, Mr McCain announced that his immigration focus would be on securing America's borders, rather than on giving illegal immigrants the chance to become US citizens.

"I understand why you would call it a, quote, shift," McCain told reporters in November 2007. "I say it is a lesson learned about what the American people's priorities are. And their priority is to secure the borders."

Christian right

Another McCain, quote, shift was in his relationship with the religious right of his party. During his 2000 bid for the Republican nomination, relations between Mr McCain and Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell were notoriously fractious. The Arizona senator memorably described Mr Falwell and fellow members of the religious right as "agents of intolerance". But in 2006, ahead of his second presidential run, Mr McCain delivered the commencement address at Mr Falwell's Liberty University, after which he attended a small private party hosted by his former political adversary.

Interrogation rules

More recently, Mr McCain angered his former allies in the political centre by supporting a bill exempting the CIA from following the same rules on interrogation as the US Army.

Guantanamo

Mr McCain was one of the most prominent Republican voices opposed to the Bush administration's detention policy in Guantanamo Bay. But when the Supreme Court recently ruled that Guantanamo detainees should have access to US courts, Mr McCain described it as "one of the worst decisions in the history of the country".

Oil drilling

Since sewing up the Republican nomination in March, Mr McCain - one of only a few prominent Republicans to accept the argument that human activity is causing climate change - has dropped his previous objection to lifting the ban on oil exploration off the coast of the US.

Barack Obama

Since clinching the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama has also been making headlines for his policy shifts.

Campaign finance

Last month he announced that he would be rejecting public financing for his campaign, and would instead rely on private donations. The McCain camp accused Mr Obama of "going back on his word", although Mr Obama insisted that he had never made a promise to stay in the public finance system.

Surveillance programme

Mr Obama also raised eyebrows when he announced that he would not be opposing a bill going through Congress giving immunity to telephone companies involved in the Bush administration's controversial warrantless wiretap programme. His decision angered many of his supporters on the left, who accused him of going back on his 2007 pledge "to support a filibuster of any bill that includes retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies".

Gun control

When the Supreme Court decided to overturn Washington DC's handgun ban, Mr Obama declared that the ruling "provide[d] much-needed guidance", despite having previously argued (in a written answer that he says was drafted by an aide and which he had not approved) that the ban was constitutional.

Iraq

Withdrawing troops from Iraq has long been one of the central planks of Mr Obama's campaign, and was something that set him apart from other Democratic candidates running for the party's presidential nomination. Since his campaign began, however, conditions in Iraq have changed, violence has reduced, and some commentators have suggested that Mr Obama's position is out of date.

Mr Obama himself has announced that he plans to visit Iraq, where he will make "a thorough assessment" which could lead him to "refine" his policy. Some critics have seized on this as an indication that Mr Obama is laying the groundwork for a change in position.

Free trade

Mr Obama recently hinted to Fortune magazine that his strong anti-free trade rhetoric during the primaries may not be reflected in his actual trade policy should he become president. His remarks are a neat summation of the pressures and temptations that lead politicians to shift their positions during the process of running for office. "Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified," he said. "Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don't exempt myself."

Meanwhile Barack .... ... .... ...

Addressing a crowd of thousands on Thursday at the site where the Berlin Wall once stood, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said he speaks before them only as a "citizen," and urged Europeans and Americans to work together in fighting terrorism.

Obama's speech, which was delivered at the base of the Victory Column in Berlin's Tiergarten Park, was designed as the centerpiece of his fast-paced European tour. Although still a presidential candidate, his speech and the pomp surrounding it invited comparisons to addresses delivered at same site by Presidents Reagan and Kennedy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, welcomes Obama in Berlin. Germany is Obama's first stop in the European leg of his trip abroad. His world tour so far has taken him to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Supporters take pictures as Obama arrives at his hotel on Thursday. One American teen visiting Germany said the support for Obama surprised him. "There are more people to see him here in Berlin than in my hometown," said the teen, who said he had seen Obama in Omaha.

The European tour comes in the wake of Obama's visit to parts of the Mideast and combat zones. On Wednesday, Obama was in Israel where he the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. "May we remember those who perished," Obama wrote in a guestbook.

In Israel, Obama plunged into the intricacies of the Mideast conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Here, Obama meets in Jerusalem with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who warmly greeted Obama.

Obama later met with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Some people in Israel say they're worried that Obama would push the Jewish state too hard in negotiations with the Palestinians.

Obama flew to Israel after a stop in Jordan where he held a news conference Tuesday, and called for a "political solution" for Iraq, and pushed for more attention to be paid to the "deteriorating situation" in Afghanistan. ​

'Citizen' Obama Makes Debut in Europe

AP
BERLIN (July 24) - Cheered by an enormous international crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to "defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it" as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.

Obama said he was speaking as a citizen, not as a president, but the evening was awash in politics as the first-term U.S. senator sought to burnish his international credentials for the fall campaign at home. His remarks before a crowd estimated at more than 200,000 inevitably invited comparison to historic speeches in the same city by Presidents Kennedy and Reagan. …………………………

Will the trip work for Obama?


All Change ..................All Change...

 

[Dua]

Economic Models Predict Obama Win

WASHINGTON (Aug. 1) - It really is the economy, stupid! Economic models that have correctly predicted the winner of almost all post-war U.S. presidential elections say recession fears will secure a victory for Barack Obama in November. Three separate studies showed the Democratic presidential hopeful winning between 52 and 55 percent of the popular vote on November 4, based on current gloomy economic estimates.

Any further darkening in the economic outlook -- many analysts think things will get worse between now and November -- would reinforce that election outcome. "The economy is certainly not going to be a positive for the Republicans," said Ray Fair, an economics professor at Yale university who built the earliest of the models in 1978. His model, which assumed tepid U.S. economic growth of 1.5 percent and a 3 percent rate of inflation, predicted the Republican candidate John McCain's share of the vote would be 47.8 percent, handing Obama 52.2 percent.

"It is a decent margin but it is not a landslide," said Fair, who ran the numbers in April. "It would have been much larger if there had been a recession in 2008." U.S. economic activity doubled in the second quarter to a 1.9 percent annualized pace. But previous data was revised lower to show output contracted 0.2 percent in the final three months of last year, the weakest performance since 2001, and expanded only slightly at the start of 2008. "It's the economy, stupid!" was a phrase extensively used during Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign against George H.W. Bush to remind voters that a recession occurred during Bush's administration.
Fair's model, and a version built by St. Louis-based forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, blend political factors with economics to scientifically nail down the view that voters care first and foremost about their own wallets.

Indeed, opinion polls consistently find that the economy is the most important issue for U.S. voters. Headwinds Macroeconomic Advisers' model incorporates whether the candidate is from the incumbent party, approval ratings and the length of time the incumbent party has held the White House to capture the extent voters may have tired of them. Adding in its own estimates for U.S. economic growth, the unemployment rate and the change in energy prices, it finds that McCain will get just 45 percent of the vote.
"This model has correctly predicted the winning party 12 out of 14 times," Macroeconomic Advisers said.

"The weak current state of the economy, and the sharp rise in energy prices pose a significant headwind to the McCain campaign, if voters weigh these factors similarly to how they have in the past," they said in a note to clients.
The third work is a "Bread and Peace" model devised by Douglas Hibbs, a retired economics professor from the University of Goteborg in Sweden, who remains a senior fellow at the Center for Public Sector Research there. He finds that U.S. presidential elections are well-predicted by just two fundamental forces: the weighted average per capita growth of real disposable income and the number of U.S. military deaths in foreign combat.

"Average per capita real income growth probably will be only around 0.75 percent at Election Day. Moreover, cumulative U.S. military fatalities in Iraq will reach 4,300 or more," he said in a June update of his model. "Given those fundamental conditions, the Bread and Peace model predicts a Republican two-party vote share centered on 48.2 percent."

Kampeni ndio zinapamba moto taratibu tusubiri running mates wakitangazwa.

 

[Dua]

The billion dollar election

The United States is due to have the first billion-dollar election in its history.
The BBC's Steve Evans presents this two-part investigation into election spending done in collaboration with the Centre for Public Integrity in Washington DC.

Part Two - Ambassadors

Prestigious job, exotic location, stately home, fine food and wine, and many other perks thrown in. Yours for only $200,000 (US), the position of US ambassador. Around one third of all US ambassadors are not career diplomats; they're political appointees and almost all of them are major donors, wealthy businessmen. There are fund raisers working for McCain and Obama right now who have their eyes on a juicy posting in a European capital or a sun-kissed island.

These businessmen say they bring something to US foreign policy that career diplomats lack. They have outside experience, they're high achievers. They care about doing a good job, not climbing the greasy poll. But critics say they're often ignorant about the local language and culture, and naïve about diplomacy. Is this system really the best way for the mightiest country in the world to run its foreign policy? .

Who pays the bill?





Michelle: Barack's bitter or better half?

It is less than a month into the general election and Michelle Obama is already in the midst of a makeover. A tough primary campaign put some dents in her image. She weathered a storm of criticism following a comment she made about her husband's candidacy, saying that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country, and not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change".

Immediately, Republicans and her Democratic rivals piled in, including Republican presidential hopeful John McCain's wife Cindy McCain, who has alluded to Mrs Obama's comment on more than one occasion. The conservative magazine National Review dubbed her "Mrs Grievance." Conservative commentators have called her Barack Obama's "bitter half." Fox News was rebuked for referring to her with the racial slander "Baby Mama," and talk among political pundits escalated about her "angry" side.

The politically motivated rumour mills that have plagued Mr Obama have not spared Mrs Obama either. Whisper campaigns on the internet have alluded to racist comments in her past that she says she has never made (and the evidence is solidly in her court, as so far no one has produced any evidence of the comments). True to herself Still, the Obama campaign is actively trying to refresh Mrs Obama's image. Appearing on ABC's The View last week, Mrs Obama used the opportunity to address her critics, but also to present a picture that those close to her say is more true to herself than the caricature her critics are painting.

During the course of the show she was able to talk about her background, growing up in humble circumstances on the South Side of Chicago, attending Princeton for college, and Harvard law school, becoming a wife and a mother.
She addressed her "proud" gaffe directly, saying "I think when I talked about it during my speech, what I was talking about was having a part in the political process. People are just engaged in this election in a way that I haven't seen in a long time and I think everybody has agreed with that, that people are focused, they're coming out."

She also appeared this week on the cover of US Weekly Magazine above the title Why Barack Loves Her. The article pointed out that she shops at the US store Target, loved the television show Sex and the City, and included a quote from Mr Obama, who told the magazine, "Nothing is more important to Michelle than being a good mother." It is no surprise that the Obama campaign chose The View and US Weekly for their re-introduction of Mrs Obama; those outlets are extremely popular among women, who are up for grabs in this election.

Hillary Clinton's loss in the Democratic primary, combined with Republican competition for important female demographics including married and Hispanic women, makes winning women all the more important for Mr Obama.

Modest roots

Mrs Obama could be quite an asset when appealing to these voters. Her background is another electoral asset. Her roots on Chicago's historically black South Side and the fact that she is a descendant of American slaves served as an important counter-point to early questions among African American voters over whether Mr Obama is "black enough." Her conversations with African Americans about her background and the fact that she has family from South Carolina were a key piece of the Obama primary strategy in the state, and contributed to Mr Obama's win there.

She is also well-positioned as a bold counterpoint to the GOP's favourite charge when it comes to Mr Obama: "elitism". Her modest roots in a one-bedroom apartment, with a shift-working father, are anything but "elite".
Further, as she said herself on last week's The View, she "wears her heart on her sleeve," a potentially powerful contrast to Mr Obama, who, at times, has come across as more guarded. She is able to speak for the candidate in a way that no one else can. Mrs Obama has talked about what her husband was like as a younger man, the qualities that she loves about him and the reasons she thinks he should be president.

All this is in the hope that voters can connect to her stories, and increase their trust in him. If she can do that, she will be enormously successful in her role.
The downside to all of this, as the Obama campaign is all too aware, is that she runs the risk of being an enormous liability. If rumours about Mrs Obama being anti-white or unpatriotic persist, they could have a very negative impact on Mr Obama's chance to win the White House. Not only do these stories steal the spotlight from the message that the campaign is trying to convey, but they contribute to voters' doubts about Mr Obama.

Whether true or completely unfounded, as many of these rumours are, they have a danger of becoming a distraction, and chipping away at Mr Obama's trustworthiness rating, which would, in turn, diminish his ability to win the White House. At the end of the day, voters vote for the candidate they most want to be president of the United States, and not for his wife. But in the months between now and election day, Michelle Obama can have a huge impact on how voters feel on 4 November.

Molly Levinson is a political analyst and former CBS News Political Director.

 

[Kevo]

One Of The Most Anticipated Events In The US Is The Veep Announcements That Are About To Be Made This Month By The Two Presidential Rivals Being Barack Obama and John McCain.

In Brief Lets Check What The Two May At The Long Run Produce As Their No. 2 Aides To Help Them Just For One Of The Hardest Jobs That Has Taken Countless TV Interviews,Campaigns and Lots of Money Just To Get Into The Oval Office.

Barack Obama Democratic Nominee Was Believed To Have Narrowed His list to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. While It Seemed Increasingly Unlikely That He Would Choose His Vanquished Rival, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Some Democrats Speculated Monday That He Could Pull A Surprise and Pick Her.
Other Names Mentioned Have Included Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, a National Security Expert Who Traveled With Obama To Iraq and Afghanistan; Former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, Another Foreign Policy Authority; and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, A Prominent Hispanic With Vast International Experience.
Only Obama, his wife, Michelle, a handful of his most senior advisers and his two-member search committee know for certain who was on the initial list, who made the cuts, whose backgrounds were researched, whose names were floated to divert the media — and who Obama ultimately will choose.

Campaign manager David Plouffe e-mailed supporters last week telling them they would receive first word of Obama's decision through a mass text message.
My Pick For Obama Is Bill Richardson.

Republican rival John McCain is expected to name his No.2 on his birthday.His Top Contenders Are Said To Include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less Traditional Choices Include Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an Abortion-Rights Supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic Vice Presidential Pick in 2000 Who Now Is An Independent.
My Pick For Mccain is Mitt Romney.

 

[Kevo]

Campaign Manager David Plouffe:

Barack Obama is about to make one of the most important decisions of this campaign -- choosing a running mate.

You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be the first to know his choice.

You can text VP to 62262 to receive a text message on your mobile phone.

You can sign up here http://my.barackobama.com/vp

Once you've signed up, please forward this message to your friends, family, and coworkers to let them know about this special opportunity.

No other campaign has done this before. You can be part of this important moment.

Be the first to know who Barack selects as his running mate.

Thanks,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

 

[NaimaOmari]

As for Obama ... Hillary Rodham Clinton is my pick

 

[Kevo]

As for Obama ... Hillary Rodham Clinton is my pick

Feminist!
Wont work!She couldnt make it before dont think she will make it again.But I wont underestimate Obama he could choose her just to boost up everything and regain the favor of the Women,Hispanics and the so many other groups who favored her!

 

[BAK]

Wanaodhaniwa kuwa VP wa OB ni Al Gore, Hillary, Senator Biden, Governor Bill Richardson lakini kwenye siasa chochote kinaweza kutokea.

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

Obama picks Tim Kaine McCain picks Eric Cantor and set up a a VA showdown we put VA in the red column once again....

Obama picks Sam Nunn McCain picks Sonny Perdue and we set up a GA showdown and keep the Peach in the red column...

Biden is a gaffe machine and a loose canon...