Washington Extra – Obama’s China cloud
A bright spot of Barack Obama’s presidency – foreign policy – all of a sudden was taking some hits as the White House struggled to deal with a crisis involving a Chinese dissident.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney blasted away at Obama, talking of a “day of shame for the Obama administration.” Charges – vigorously denied by the White House – swirled that Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng may have been persuaded to leave his protective shelter at the U.S. embassy in Beijing so that high-level U.S.-China talks could go more smoothly. Another scenario being floated was that Obama’s team naively accepted Chinese assurances that Chen would not face government harassment if he rejoined his family at home.
The drama only escalated when Chen himself made an appeal, by telephone to a congressional panel, to come to the U.S.
Obama’s bid for re-election on Nov. 6 is thought to hinge on matters far from China: mainly whether he can convince voters that he is best suited to improve a U.S. economy that has been slow to add jobs in the aftermath of a deep recession. And that’s where Romney and his fellow Republicans are sure to keep most of their focus between now and November.
But today, Obama might have seen Romney’s attacks coming, as well as Chinese officials’ complaints of meddling in the Chen affair. He just may not have expected the stinging criticisms that emerged from some human rights groups.
Here are our top stories from Washington…
New Obama ad suggests Romney wouldn’t have gone after bin Laden
In advance of the May Day anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s assassination, the Obama reelection campaign is out with a new web ad, this one narrated by Bill Clinton who, echoing the words of another former president, praises Obama as “decider in chief.” The bin Laden operation was risky for Obama, Clinton says — if the intelligence was wrong or if the Navy Seals were captured or killed, “the downside would have been horrible” — but “that’s what you hire a president to do. You hire a president to make the calls when no one else can do it.”
The ad contrasts Obama’s action with speculation about whether Romney would have done the same, citing comments he made during the ’08 campaign suggesting it wouldn’t be worth it to spend “billions of dollars, just trying to catch one person.”
Watch the ad, via barackobama.com:
Photo credit: Screenshot/barackobama.com
The downside for Obama if the operation failed? What about the Navy Seals that would lose their lives if the operation failed. All that Obama thinks about is himself and his success. If it had failed, that photo with him sitting near the back of the crowd in the situation room would never have ever been shown to the public. This dude is a pure Narcissist no ifs, ands, or buts.
Obama to middle class: Who loves you?
The middle class is back.
Amid the din of Republican cries of class warfare, the Occupy Wall Street movement and a fresh economic report that America’s rich are getting much, much richer, one phrase punctuated weekend remarks from President Barack Obama and his campaign strategists: the middle class.
As the Democratic president struggles to reconnect with his base — liberals, black Americans and younger voters — he is taking up the middle class mantra to target the crucial voting bloc.
This weekend there was no escaping who the Obama team’s message was aimed at.
Obama used “middle class” five times in his radio broadcast on Saturday that cited a new report on U.S. income inequality from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
In acknowledging the country’s growing income gap: “In fact, the average income for the top 1 percent of Americans has risen almost seven times faster than the income of the average middle-class family.”
Democrats have always, will always love the middle class. Democrats know what decisions are best for us, always have our best interests at heart, always protect us, always give us what we need, and know best how we should manage our money and lives.
Americans are finally, finally, realizing that we only need the Democrats in office. Voting for anyone else is pretty much treason and a disservice to yourself and country.
Vote Democrat…or don’t bother voting at all.
Obama defends Libya policy during hectic New York day
President Barack Obama followed up his speech to the nation defending his Libya policy on Monday night with a whirlwind visit to New York City. He explained the policy in three network news interviews (ABC, NBC, CBS) — at the city’s famed Museum of Natural History.
Then he made a quick visit to a kids’ science fair, joking to the high school students that they are smarter than he is, before dedicating the new Ronald H. Brown U.S. Mission to the United Nations building.
There his Libya strategy was applauded by a roomful of diplomats and endorsed by a Democratic predecessor, ex-President Bill Clinton, the husband of his secretary of state.
“I had to apologize to President Clinton before we walked out because he never sees his wife,” Obama joked as he began his remarks. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was flying back from her latest overseas mission — a quick trip to London for an international conference on Libya.
Bill Clinton got big applause at the dedication of the new U.S. Mission to the UN when he said Brown, who was his commerce secretary and died in a plane crash while traveling to the Balkans, would have approved of the action in Libya.
“He would be very proud that Barack Obama became president of the United States, and very proud of you, Mr. President, for what you are doing in Libya, with the international community.”
Mohammed Albdel-Rahman Shalgam, who was Libya’s UN ambassador until he spoke out against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and all of the ambassadors from UN Security Council member countries were in the audience.
Former presidents Bush, Clinton team up for civility
Former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush are joining forces again — this time for civil discourse.
Democrat Clinton and Republican Bush have agreed to serve as honorary chairmen of The National Institute for Civil Discourse which opens Monday in Tucson, The Washington Post reports.
The privately-funded, nonpartisan facility at the University of Arizona will be a center for debate, research, education and policy about civility in public discourse, the Post says.
The shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and constituents at a political gathering in Tucson led to debate about the sometimes nasty tone of political discourse in the United States and calls for more civility.
Arizona University Provost Meredith Hay said that although the shootings were not linked to public discourse the incident “created a space for us to think about civil discourse.”
The Post says former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor and former Senate majority leader Thomas Daschle will serve as honorary co-chairmen of the center created in the aftermath of the shootings.
Six bystanders were killed, and 13 others were wounded when a gunman opened fire on the gathering outside a supermarket in January. Authorities said Giffords, who’s recovering at a Houston rehabilitation center, was the principal target.
White House podium turns time machine for Bill Clinton redux
Bill Clinton took the White House press corps on an unexpected journey back in time on Friday afternoon with an impromptu trip to the briefing room podium, where he held forth for half an hour, obviously loving every minute.
The former president didn’t rise to the bait when he was asked whether he enjoyed coming in and offering advice more than running the country. Clinton, like his fellow Democratic President Barack Obama, grappled with crushing losses to Republicans in mid-term congressional elections two years into his presidency.
The two Democratic presidents called the surprise news conference after an Oval Office meeting to discuss Obama’s deal with Republicans, which extends tax cuts for middle-income earners and the wealthiest Americans and includes an extension of unemployment benefits and a cut in payroll taxes. Obama has been lambasted by some congressional Democrats for reaching an agreement that they say concedes far too much to the rival party.
“I had a quite a good time governing,” Clinton said, but then allowed: “I am happy to be here, I suppose, when the bullets that are fired are unlikely to hit me, unless they are just ricocheting.”
Clinton, who famously “triangulated” toward the center after the Democrats’ 1994 congressional election losses, gave a ringing endorsement to Obama’s compromise tax deal. While he was at it, he also shouted out for several of the current Democratic president’s achievements, including financial regulatory overhaul, student loan changes and the healthcare reform plan — although Clinton said he could think of “four or five” ways to improve it.
The tax deal is the best Obama could do for the country right now, Clinton said repeatedly during his stint at the podium. Obama bowed out after 10 minutes, saying the first lady was waiting to co-host one of the White House’s annual Christmas parties.
Bill, please tell them spending must be cut dramatically and very soon! Tell them $4 Billion per day in deficit spending won’t be corrected by a $5 billion/YEAR fed pay freeze! Tell them nearly every state in the union is operating in the red big time with no sign of change! Tell them 20% of us now work in government, 10% are retired from government and another 20% live off government for a grand total of 50% +/- of us!! Tell them “ask what your country can do for you” should not be our motto! Tell em not to ganble on some sort of Madoff model or growth bubble to bail us out at the 12th hour! Tell what sort of violent civil unrest is waiting for us if we don’t get in right in a hurry! Tell em Bill, you owe us that much!!!
Washington Extra – Natural allies, but not always comfortable ones
The United States and India are, to borrow the phrase of a recent paper by the Center for a New American Security, “natural allies.” The world’s two biggest democracies, with proud traditions of free speech, separation of religion and state, and racial and ethnic diversity, have much in common, and Indians tend to have more favorable views of the United States than most Europeans.
Ties had deepened first under President Bill Clinton and then improved significantly under President George W. Bush, but progress seemed to have stalled in the first two years of the Obama administration. So it was heartening for Indiaphiles to see President Barack Obama finally putting some weight behind the relationship on his trip there, with an array of business deals and an endorsement of India’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Obama is right in seeing relations between the two countries as one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century, and there will be real power in their alliance where they can find common ground. But the relationship will not always be an easy one. Not only do they see countries like Iran, Myanmar and Pakistan in very different ways, they have often found themselves in opposite corners on trade and climate change. India also has a long tradition of non-interference, a byproduct of its anathema to internationalizing its own conflict in Kashmir. The CNAS paper also noted that in the past year, Indian and U.S. votes matched in the U.N. General Assembly just 30 percent of the time.
Read our coverage of Obama’s trip here.
Here are our top stories from Washington today…
BP, firms did not cut safety over money-panel
I beg to differ from the premise of India having a democracy and separation of religion and state.
Indian laws are classified as HINDU laes and have to be accepted by the non hindu citizens.
India practices a thousands of years old caste systems and low caste people are discriminated in education and employment.
India has retained a colonial structured military to suppress any unrest or public demonstrations .
The use of the military is not compatable with democracy.
Has the author not witnessed the massacre of Sikhs in India, forcing hundreds of thusands to flee and seek asylum in the west.
Has the author not witnessed the violent and shabby suppression of Kashmiris, forcing them to flee the West, and those who have remained are experiencing a military rule in their country.
India is in violation of the UN security council ruling on Kashmir.
Now just because the current Obama administration has brought the USA economy to ruins, with no solution for unemployment in the USA, India is being identified as natural allies. Why not call China as blood brothers and Cuba first cousins.
Whereas Hisponic people have been pouring into the USA to support the service industry, India is directly responsible for transfer of jobs moving from the USA, simply because of their low salaries.
Let us not fool ourselves, India is the natural ally?
Rex Minor
Washington Extra – T minus 4
There’s something about the number four.
It’s FOUR days to the midterm elections which still leaves plenty of room for last-minute commotion.
For example, in the Florida (yes, Florida) three-way Senate race, former President Bill Clinton ended up having to issue this statement today: “I didn’t ask Kendrick to leave the race, nor did Kendrick say that he would.”
Comedian Jon Stewart caps off his weeklong visit to Washington, which included the interview with President Barack Obama on “The Daily Show,” with his Rally4Sanity (there’s that FOUR) on Saturday.
And then on Sunday, the two former Presidents Bush will throw out the ceremonial first pitch in Game FOUR of the World Series.
Since the younger Bush was part-owner of the Texas Rangers, there’s little doubt which team he’s rooting for – hint, it’s probably not the San Francisco Giants. Of course, Sunday is also Halloween so beware of the FOUR pounds of leftover candy…
Here are our top stories from Washington today…
Meek stays in Florida Senate race despite Clinton overtures
This much is clear. Democrat Kendrick Meek is not dropping out of Florida’s three-way Senate race.
What’s not so clear is what happened before Meek summoned reporters to his campaign headquarters for a late evening news conference Thursday to deny reports former President Bill Clinton had asked him to quit the race.
Singling out a report by Politico.com, the Florida congressman said, “Any rumor or any statement by anyone that says that I made a decision to get out of the race is inaccurate, at best.”
Politico.com reported that Clinton nearly succeeded in talking Meek out of the race before the candidate changed his mind.
According to Politico, Meek would have agreed to drop out and endorse Governor Charlie Crist, who might then have a better shot at winning in a two-way contest with former state House speaker Marc Rubio, a Tea Party favorite.
“His (Meek’s) withdrawal, polls suggest, would throw core Democratic voters to the moderate governor, rocking a complicated three-way contest and likely throwing the election to Crist,” Politico said.
Crist is running as an independent, after losing the Republican primary to Rubio.
I’m not forcing Bill to eat tofu and I don’t want to be VP- Hillary
Is she forcing her husband to eat tofu? No.
Did Bill cry at the wedding? Not really.
Does she want to be vice president? Absolutely not.
On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton graciously handled softball questions about her husband’s diet and her daughter’s wedding at Fortune magazine’s “Most Powerful Women” conference — before moving on to quash persistent rumors that she might be interested in the vice presidential slot in a second-term Obama administration.
Ann Moore, the chairman of Time Inc., launched a Q+A session at the summit of 400 leading women in politics, business and the arts with an assessment of Bill Clinton’s successful drive to slim down ahead of his daughter Chelsea’s wedding in July.
“He looked so trim, and he said that’s because you and Chelsea were forcing him to eat tofu!” Moore said.
Clinton denied this, but did say that the former president — who has a history of heart problems — had sworn off red meat as part of an effort to get healthy.
WHAT?!? Woman have a MUCH MUCH HIGHER THRESHOLD THAN MEN, however I agree with you on Hillary… she has testosterone in her, I meant that as a compliment, she’d kick ass and take names AND THATS WHY SHE, NOT THAT LYING PANSEY, SHOULD BE OUR PRESIDENT TODAY.HRC 2012
