from Global News Journal:
Obama, Susan Rice and the U.N. — The right approach or too cuddly?
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, briefs press at the White House.
When U.S. President Barack Obama came to power, he announced a "new era of engagement" at the United Nations. He appointed his longtime friend and foreign policy adviser Susan Rice to be his ambassador to the world body. He also raised her post to cabinet level, as some previous Democratic presidents have done, and made her a member of the powerful National Security Council.
In an August 2009 speech at New York University, Rice outlined the Obama's administration's new approach to the United Nations, an organization that was often criticized and occasionally ridiculed by members of the administration of former President George W. Bush. She said that from now on Washington would do away with the "condescension and contempt" that she said had crept into U.S. government attitudes toward the international community.
"We have seen the costs of disengagement," Rice told an audience of students, academics, diplomats and policy makers. "We have paid the price of stiff-arming the U.N. and spurning our international partners. The United States will lead in the 21st century -- not with hubris, not by hectoring, but through patient diplomacy."
Relations between the United States and the United Nations have never been easy. For decades there have been the occasional calls from the political right to pull out of the organization or banish its headquarters from U.S. territory. Relations reached a low point in 2003, the year of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan branded the war an illegal act by the Bush administration.
The Obama administration kept its word. It quickly handed over more than $2 billion in new and old contributions owed to the U.N. peacekeeping department. It ended Washington's confrontational approach to the world body, virtually ceasing all public attacks on it. In an interview with Vogue magazine, for which she was photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Rice said she believed she had met all of the other 191 U.N. ambassadors in the space of a single month. Envoys from around the world praised Rice, saying her willingness to listen and not dictate to her colleagues is refreshing. One senior Western diplomat referred to her as "Human Rice." But some in the United States dislike this approach. Security Council diplomats have told Reuters privately that Rice's frequent absences from council meetings -- including votes on resolutions -- have not gone unnoticed. U.N. blogger Matthew Lee of Inner City Press has repeatedly suggested that Rice has dropped the U.S. push to root out U.N. corruption and improve its bureaucracy, an issue that was top priority for former U.S. ambassador and outspoken U.N. critic John Bolton. (U.S. officials reject the suggestion that Washington has dropped its anti-corruption drive.) Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida, criticized the Obama administration for taking a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body Washington had previously shunned for being anti-Israeli. Rice and others defended the decision, saying it was time to change the Human Rights Council from within rather than throwing stones at it from without.
Obamas turn White House into Halloween central
The White House glowed pumpkin orange on Saturday when the Obama family turned 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue into Halloween central, complete with a giant stuffed spider dangling from a web above its front door.
More than 2,000 local area children and their families were invited for the traditional trick-or-treat event.
The Obamas spent about 30 minutes handing out cellophane bagfulls of boxed red, white and blue M&M’s. The boxes bore the presidential seal. Also tucked in was a home-baked orange-glazed cookie and, in a nod to Michelle Obama’s efforts to promote healthy food, dried apricots and cranberries.
The president didn’t wear a costume for his first Halloween in the White House. Michelle Obama went as a cat woman, complete with leopard-print top and furry ears on a headband. Daughters Malia and Sasha were there for the fun, but were not stuck with any candy line duties.
The scene was worthy of a Hollywood extravaganza. Bubble machines blanketed the North Portico, the ceremonial entrance to the White House. Pumpkins, some carved and candle lighted, lined the marble steps. Behind Obama stood a white-helmeted storm trooper character from “Star Wars,” along with the film’s Chewbacca, the hairy, apelike “wookie.”
Entertainers from the Chicago-based Redmoon Theater and other companies wove their own thrills and chills for those in line. A brass band clad in skeleton suits belted out a free jazz-style funeral stomp. Outsized figures on stilts simulated moving trees. Women in butterfly suits maneuvered inflatable, 10-foot (3-meter) snow-globe-like spheres on the White House lawn.
To heighten the Halloween effect, the White House was flood-lit through orange filters. Giant pumpkins weighing as much as 1,000 pounds (450-kg) dotted the 18-acre (7-hectare) grounds. And the big, black spider hung hauntingly between the tall white columns framing the front door.
When someone writes who cares how much did the big Halloween Party cost, then they must have a job and can do things with their children. However many of us do not have the luxury to throw a big bash when you are out of work. If the Obamas were not worried about the cost and what the rest of unemployed tax payers thought then why would they not advertise the fact they were having a big splashy Halloween Party. This is just typical of Obama who says one thing and does the opposite. Like when he said, “We all need to sacrifice.” Just when has he sacrificed anything? Trips to Europe, Hawaii, Martha’s Vineyards, England, Brazil, etc. all paid by the tax payers who have been out of work for years and not a vacation in years, yet the messiah has had plenty of vacations on the tax payers dime. This reminds me that Obama will not show anyone his passport records, kindergarten records, Punahou School records, Occidental College records, Columbia University records, Columbia thesis, Harvard Law School records, Harvard Law Review articles, University of Chicago scholarly articles, Illinois State Bar Association records, Illinois State Senate records/schedules, medical records, Obama/Dunham marriage license, Obama/Dunham divorce documents, Soetoro/Dunham marriage license and adoption records. If he has nothing to hide why keep it all locked up?
She’s a disgrace–clearly embraces Obama’s increasingly unpopular agenda, including his incomprehensible animus toward Israel, the Mideast’s only democracy and the U.S.’ best and only reliable ally there.
Although she recently vetoed the umpteenth Security Council resolution aimed @ bashing courageous and peace-seeking little Israel, after the vote she delivered an incredibly nasty tirade against Israel, its “settlements”, how they’re the biggest impediment to peace, etc.,etc. Never mind the literally thousands of murderous terror attacks there as well as worldwide by Islamic fundamentalist wackos–which somehow don’t seem of much concern to Ms. Rice at all!
She has become very unpopular in the U.S.and is at risk of being removed, which for many can’t be soon enough.