As if the challenge facing President-elect Barack Obama of stabilising Afghanistan was not difficult enough, it may have just got much, much harder after the Mumbai attacks soured relations between India and Pakistan -- undermining hopes of finding a regional solution to the Afghan war.

As discussed in an earlier post, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has blamed a group outside India for the attacks which killed at least 121 people. The coordinated attacks bore the hallmarks of Pakistani-based Kashmiri militant groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India says was set up by Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI.

Pakistan has condemned the attacks and an Indian government spokesman said the head of the ISI had agreed to visit India to share information -- an extraordinary agreement given that the two countries have fought three wars and came to the brink of a fourth in 2001/2002. But it's hard to believe that would be enough to appease India after the brazen attack on its commercial capital exposed its vulnerability.

So where does that leave Obama's plans for Afghanistan, given that a major element of this was to persuade India and Pakistan to make peace over Kashmir?

As discussed in posts here, here and here, the argument is that the cause of instability in Afghanistan is in Pakistan, and that Pakistan in turn will never fully turn against Islamist militants as long as it believes it might need them to counter India.  Since Pakistan is nervous both about the growing power of India on its eastern border, and about rising Indian influence in Afghanistan on its western border, the best way to calm the situation down, so the argument goes, would be to persuade the two rivals to make peace.

It was always an ambitious plan -- getting India and Pakistan to put behind them 60 years of bitter struggle over Kashmir as part of a regional solution to many complex problems in Afghanistan.  Have the Mumbai attacks pushed it out of reach? And if so, what is the fall-back plan?

(Reuters photo of smoke and flames billowing out of Taj Mahal hotel/Jayanta Shaw)

President George W. Bush, nearing the end of his final term in office, says he most wants to be remembered as someone who came to Washington and didn’t lose his values.
 
Someone who didn’t sell his soul to the political process.
 
Somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace.
 
So he told his sister, Dorothy Bush Koch, in an interview for StoryCorps, the national oral history initiative. An excerpt of the interview aired on National Public Radio on Thanksgiving Day and the White House released excerpts on Friday. The entire interview will be archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

“I would like to be a person remembered as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process,” Bush said in the interview. “I came to Washington with a set of values, and I’m leaving with the same set of values.  And I darn sure wasn’t going to sacrifice those values.”
 
“I’d like to be a president (known) as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace; that focused on individuals rather than process; that rallied people to serve their neighbor,” the president added.
 
He mentions his HIV/AIDS and malaria initiatives in Africa, and the Medicare prescription drug benefit as two programs he is proud of.
 
Asked about his “No Child Left Behind” education law, Bush called it one of the “significant achievements of my administration.”
 
“We said loud and clear to educators, parents, and children that we expect the best for every child, that we believe every child can learn, and that in return for federal money we expect there to be an accountability system in place to determine whether every child is learning to read, write and add and subtract,” Bush said.

Bush hands over power to President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 20, 2009.
 
As he heads into the final weeks of his presidency, Bush’s job approval ratings remain low. Only about 26 percent approve of his performance, while some 70 percent disapprove.
 
Bush’s decision to take the United States to war in Iraq is widely unpopular. A Quinnipiac University poll in early November found that 58 percent disagreed with decision.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Ho New (Bush talks by phone to troops in remote locations on Thanksgiving); Reuters/Jason Reed (Bush pardons national Thanksgiving turkey, Pumpkin)

If Thanksgiving is over, it must be time for “Black Friday”. The big question this year is — will the traditional start to the holiday shopping season be a good one given the bleak economic picture? 
 
Retailers sure hope so, and they have slashed prices and offered incentives to lure shoppers to their store.
 
Terry Lundgren, chief executive of Macy’s said about 5,000 people had lined up outside the flagship Herald Square store which he called “encouraging” though he admitted in an interview on “Good Morning America” it’s been a “challenging period” for retailers like Macy’s.
 
“For retailers, this is the playoffs,” he said. “Starting now through the week after Christmas … We have much more aggressive pricing than we have in previous years.”
 
The state of the U.S. economy is on the minds of many — even al Qaeda.
 
Al Qaeda’s second-in-command published an Internet video saying the U.S. financial crisis was caused by Washington’s military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
In India, commandos took control of Mumbai’s Trident-Oberoi hotel but battles raged on with militants who were still holed up in another luxury hote, the Taj Mahal, and a Jewish center with about half a dozen foreign hostages.
 

After two days, the siege at two hotels and a Jewish center neared its end amid gunfire and more deaths. Police said so far at least 121 people have been killed.

It is the season to spend, spend, spend. But with new figures out on Wednesday showing U.S. consumers cutting spending in October at the steepest rate in more than seven years, retailers are worried.
 
The day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, is the traditional kickoff to the U.S. holiday shopping season and one of the biggest buying days of the year for consumers, whose spending sprees in past years have fueled the economy.
 
At his third news conference in three days on the economy, President-Elect Barack Obama, who has been seeking to present himself as a man with a plan to fix the economy, was asked by a reporter whether he planned to lead by example and hit the malls himself.
 
“Well, we are going to do some Christmas shopping. And Malia and Sasha have already put their list together,” he said, referring to his two young daughters. “It’s mostly for Santa. They send their letter every year.  But — but we may do some extra shopping as well.”
 
Noting that Thursday was the Thanksgiving holiday, he also joked that the latest appointments to his economic team, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and Austan Goolsbee, one of his policy advisers, could cook a mean turkey dinner.
 
“I want you to know that both Paul and Austan have special turkey-cooking recipes, if anybody out here needs some advice on how to make the ideal turkey,” he said to laughter as Goolsbee and Volcker looked on.
 
Obama will spend Thanksgiving at home in Chicago, where he said he and his wife Michelle were hosting a “whole bunch of people”. The guests will likely first have to go through strict physical checks by the Secret Service agents now protecting Obama before being allowed to enter the family home.
 
The agents kept their distance though on Wednesday when the president-elect and his family went to St Columbanus, a Roman Catholic church in Chicago’s South Side, to help hand out chickens to hungry families.
 
Bundled up against the cold in in a brown suede jacket and scarf, Obama smiled broadly and shouted “Happy Thanksgiving” as he handed out dozens of frozen chickens piled on a table to those waiting in line in the church’s carpark.
 
Many people were delighted to see him — several women even hugged him, while others were so overcome by emotion that they forgot to take their chicken — but some were clearly more concerned about getting their food.
 
The church’s pastor, Reverend Matt Eyerman, said people had been lining up since 5 a.m. in the bitter cold to make sure they got their weekly food rations, which include bread, oranges, canned goods and 10 lbs (5 kg) of potatoes.
 
“Every Wednesday we hand out food. We are feeding 350 to 400 households. A year ago we were serving 270 households,” he said, adding that it was one very visible sign of the deteriorating economy.
 
Obama, who has helped distribute food to the needy on Thanksgiving eve for the past three years, later acknowledged this, saying: “These folks were often times having a tough time. They are having a tougher time now.”

REUTERS/John Gess (Obama and family at Chicago food bank)

The Obama girls had other ideas during their first visit to the White House since their father was elected the next president of the United States. Aided and abetted by President George W. Bush’s daughters, Barbara and Jenna, Malia and Sasha Obama did a little bed jumping during their visit.

First Lady Laura Bush told the story ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday.

“It wasn’t the Lincoln Bedroom,” she explained. “It was another bedroom with a very tall bed that we usually put a step out for people to step into when they stay in that room. But instead the little girls did the running jump, and Barbara and Jenna of course aided and abetted that jumping.”

There are other ways for Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, to have fun after they move into the White House.

Bush said that a ramp in the solarium is really good for sliding on your bottom.

In a separate interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters to air Wednesday night, Michelle Obama had some other ideas for her daughters after they move into the White House on January 20.

She has a few White House chores in mind.

“We’re going to have to set up some boundaries because they’re going to need to be able to make their beds, they do that now, that’s going to be one of my goals,” she said.

The White House staff will be free to make mom and dad’s bed, but they will be told to “skip the kids. Let them make their own beds. They have to learn these things.”

Photo credit: Reuters/Ho New (Michelle Obama  meets Laura Bush at White House)

The economic crisis clearly has some folks feeling a little Grinch-like as the holiday season approaches.
 
President-elect Barack Obama, for one.
 
He told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that bankers should forego their bonuses this year.
 
“That’s an example of taking responsibility,” he said.
 
Not only that, daughters Malia and Sasha are going to have to make their beds and do other chores when they move into the White House.
 
“They have to learn these things,” Michelle Obama said.
 
Harsh.
 
The networks also report Barbara Bush, the 83-year-old former first lady, spent the night in the hospital after suffering from stomach pains.
 
The hospital stay was precautionary, officials say. Bush, the mother of President George W. Bush, is expected to be released sometime Wednesday.
 
President Bush will pardon the National Thanksgiving Turkey at the White House before heading off to Camp David for the holiday.
 
Upstaging the president and the turkey, Obama will make an economic announcment at 10:45 a.m.
 
He will name former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to chair a panel to advise him on measures to stabilize financial markets and maneuver the country out of a recession, aides say.
 
Obama also is reportedly close to asking Roberts Gates to stay on as defense secretary. Many of Gates’ deputies would be replaced under the deal, The Washington Post said.
 
Newspapers mainly led with the government’s plan for $800 billion in new lending programs to ease the lending crisis and make it easier for consumers to get loans for homes, cars and education.
 
Despite new moves by Washington, China and Europe to stimulate the economy, markets overseas were struggling Wednesday and U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower opening on Wall Street.
 
For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Obama and Volcker at a Florida event Oct. 21)

The U.S. Democratic Party has gained a larger following over the past two decades but America's ideological landscape has remained largely unchanged over the past two decades, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. You can see the analysis here.

What is of interest for readers of this blog may be the implications of this "cultural trench warfare" -- with neither side gaining much ground from the other -- for red-hot social issues such as abortion rights and the future prospects for both the Republicans and the Democrats.

"The Democratic Party's advantage in party identification has widened over the past two decades, but the share of Americans who describe their political views as liberal, conservative or moderate has remained stable during the same period. Only about one-in-five Americans currently call themselves liberal (21 percent), while 38 percent say they are conservative and 36 percent describe themselves as moderate. This is virtually unchanged from recent years; when George W. Bush was first elected president, 18 percent of Americans said they were liberal, 36 percent were conservative and 38 percent considered themselves moderate," the report, released late on Tuesday, says.

On the divisive issue of abortion rights, the report, using survey data from October, said 57 percent of Americans believed it should be legal. Breaking opinion up by ideology, it found that 43 percent of conservatives were in favour of it being legal while 77 percent of self-described liberals held that view.

This is not surprising -- there are many Americans who regard themselves as economic or "tough on crime" or national security conservatives who still support abortion rights. What may surprise some is that 19 percent of liberals feel it should be illegal. These could be people influenced by Catholic social teaching or other trends who regard themselves as liberal on most issues but not this one.

For all the talk of an emerging evangelical center, the report says that: "White evangelical Protestants are the most conservative Republicans: 79 percent describe their political views as conservative, compared with 17 percent who say they are moderate and just two percent who call themselves liberal."

This suggests that they will remain a key Republican Party base -- but in an age of cultural trench warfare, can the party rely on this base to propel itself back into power? On the other hand, the survey's findings certainly reinforce the wide perception that America is a "center right" country. Maybe that helps to explain the Democratic Party's subtle shift on abortion rights to an emphasis on reducing the number of abortions and talk of it being a "tragic choice?" If you can't win them outright, do you need to find common ground in the no-man's land between the trenches?

Does it also mean both sides are "dug in" for the long haul as they are winning few ideological converts from the other ? What do you think?

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday ended a call with reporters about curbs on executive salary and bonus payments at insurer American International Group and other Wall Street firms with a parting shot at a tabloid reporter who asked if  he planned to take up similar issues as a U.S. Senator.

"No maybe as a Daily News journalist…," Cuomo quipped.

Joking aside, in a Nov. 18 poll of New Yorker opinion,  Cuomo was favored as a replacement for U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is expected to become Secretary of State once president-elect Barack Obama takes office.  Voters preferred Cuomo 43 percent, more than any other candidate.

The New York survey of 613 voters had a 4 percent margin rate,  and was conducted by Poughkeepsie-based Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert Menendez has a tough if not impossible act to follow as successor to Sen. Charles Schumer as chairman of the Senate Democratic campaign committee.

Using such words as “aggressive,” “focused,” “committed” and “widely respected,” Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday named Menendez as committee chair.

Menendez of New Jersey will need all of those qualities — and probably more — to achieve anywhere near the success that Schumer of New York has enjoyed the past two elections.

The committee chairman routinely travels the country raising money, recruiting candidates and helping map out strategy. It’s a time-consuming job that traditionally rotates among Democratic party members, and  Schumer faces re-election himself in 2010.

With Schumer at the helm, Democrats pulled off one of the biggest political surprises of the 2006 campaign season when they gained six Senate seats to take control of the chamber, 51-49.

In this month’s election, with Schumer again calling the shots, Democrats gained at least sevens seats to expand their majority to 58.

With two races yet to be decided — in Minnesota and Georgia — Democrats still have a shot for the first time in three decades to reach 60 — a majority big enough to pass legislation over Republican procedural hurdles.

In the 2010 election, with Menendez leading his party’s charge, 35 Senate seats will be up for grabs — 19 of them held by Republicans, the other 16 by Democrats.

“I am humbled by this opportunity,” Menendez said.

“Under the masterful stewardship of Senator Schumer, we have made major gains toward bringing change to our country,” he said.

“We face historic challenges and must continue to move in that new direction,” Menendez said.

One of the challenges he and his fellow Democrats will face is the traditional difficulty of gaining seats during the mid-term election when their party controls the White House. Normally, the party that occupies the White House loses seats in Congress.

Schumer chalked up his successes during the final years of an increasingly unpopular Republican, President George W. Bush.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Schumer, left, and Menendez with Sen. Hillary Clinton at a news conference in 2006)

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will announce a new program to increase the availability of student loans, credit cards, auto loans and other forms of consumer credit, according to the Wall Street Journal. It will cost between $25 billion and $100 billion, using the $700 billion already allocated through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Paulson speaks at 10 a.m. EST.

President-elect Obama holds another press conference today. Yesterday, he said he’d push for a massive increase in government spending to jolt the country out of a recession; today he’s expected to talk about what cuts he’ll make in the federal budget when he takes office on Jan. 20. 
    
He’ll speak at noon EST.

Other than that, things look pretty quiet as many begin their Thanksgiving holiday early.