A new biography of Barack Obama, The Bridge, takes its cue from his youthful struggle with identity but, Howard W French writes, race is far from the whole story.
Just who is Barack Obama?
Fifteen months into his presidency, we may have acquired an intuitive sense of the answer to this question, and yet Obama remains elusive, like a fidgety subject posing for a daguerreotype. He nods and bobs forward and back, in and out of focus, never altogether fixed.
By now we have all been sufficiently exposed to the Obama act to suspect real method. The recent passage of major healthcare reform presents one case in point: early in his term, Obama placed healthcare at the centre of his domestic agenda, and yet he long seemed content to avoid defining his own parameters for the reform, or even, for that matter, establishing a bottom line.
Not since the heady summits of the Cold War has an international conclave better reflected an American president’s governing style than this week’s nuclear security summit in Washington, D.C. It’s too early to assess the concrete deliverables — “deliverables” being the usual measures of success.
Whether you support or oppose the president’s policy, the NSS distilled Obama’s brand of diplomacy to its essence. There are several principles, listed below, that President Obama and his team believe are foundational. I’m not assessing whether they’ll work.
The Middle East peace process will get better, or it won’t; Iran will get the bomb, or it won’t. We’ll know soon enough whether Obama’s principles can effectively support his short- and long-term national security goals.
It was just a phrase at the end of President Obama’s news conference on Tuesday, but it was a stark reminder of a far-reaching shift in how the United States views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how aggressively it might push for a peace agreement.
When Mr. Obama declared that resolving the long-running Middle East dispute was a “vital national security interest of the United States,” he was highlighting a change that has resulted from a lengthy debate among his top officials over how best to balance support for Israel against other American interests.
This shift, described by administration officials who did not want to be quoted by name when discussing internal discussions, is driving the White House’s urgency to help broker a Middle East peace deal. It increases the likelihood that Mr. Obama, frustrated by the inability of the Israelis and the Palestinians to come to terms, will offer his own proposed parameters for an eventual Palestinian state.
House Democrats scored a historic victory in the century-long battle to reform the nation’s health-care system late Sunday night, winning final approval of legislation that expands coverage to 32 million people and attempts to contain spiraling costs.
The House voted 219 to 212 to approve the measure, with every Republican voting no. The measure now awaits President Obama‘s signature. In remarks Sunday night, he said that the vote “proved that we are still capable of doing big things. We proved that this government — a government of the people and by the people — still works for the people.”
bama wanted to bridge the divides among Americans that George W. Bush had opened. But now those divides are wider. His attempts to please everyone, so evident in the last few weeks, are likely to mollify no one.
Obama inherited a terrible legacy – recession, financial meltdown, Iraq, Afghanistan. He has not solved all of these problems. But it is difficult to see any really bad mistakes, except perhaps allowing himself to be pushed around by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and giving China the impression that he was prepared for a bilateral relationship entirely on China’s terms.
That seems to be changing now. Obama may have come to understand that when you are the leader of the world’s only superpower, you need to be feared just a little if you are to be respected.
ool poker-players, we are tempted to believe, only raise or fold: they only increase their bet or leave the game. Calling, making the minimum bet to stay, suggests that you can’t calculate the odds or face losing the pot, and that the other players are intimidating you. Calling is for children. Real men and women don’t want to call in Afghanistan: they want to dramatically increase troops and expenditure, defeat the Taliban, and leave. Or they just want to leave. Both sides—the disciples of the surge and the apostles of withdrawal—therefore found some satisfaction in one passage in President Obama’s speech at West Point on December 1:
I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home.
But the rest left them uneasy. This was not, as they might have imagined, because he was lurching between two contradictory doctrines of increase and withdrawal, but because the rest of his speech argued for a radically different strategy—a call strategy—which is about neither surge nor exit but about a much-reduced and longer-term presence in the country. The President did not make this explicit. But this will almost certainly be the long-term strategy of the US and its allies. And he has with remarkable courage and scrupulousness articulated the premises that lead to this conclusion. First, however, it is necessary to summarize the history of our involvement and the conventional policies that have long favored surge and exit.
wo years of climate change negotiations have now ended in a farce in Copenhagen. Rather than grappling with complex issues, President Barack Obama decided instead to declare victory with a vague statement of principles agreed with four other countries. The remaining 187 were handed a fait accompli , which some accepted and others denounced. After the fact, the United Nations has argued that the document was generally accepted, though for most on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.
he “salvation narrative” projected onto Barack Obama created false expectations on the left and invited his demonisation by the right
During a time of economic decline, persistent cultural strife, deepening American involvement in far-off military conflicts, and rapid environmental deterioration, is there any wonder that some have turned to apocalyptic “salvation narratives” promising both a transcendent, everlasting future and violent retribution against perceived evildoers? A CNN poll in 2002 found that 59% of Americans believe that the prophecies in the Book of Revelations will come true. The startling number reflected the still-fresh trauma of the 9/11 attacks, but I suspect that it has held steady, if not risen. Indeed, mainstream American culture is permeated by apocalypticism; the blockbuster-movie hit 2012 is but one recent example.
“ot only scientists and environmental activists call for action on climate change, but also military leaders understand that our common security hangs in the balance,” said President Obama in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.
Giving the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” has been seen as a means of boosting international climate talks.
In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo, President Obama stressed the importance of confronting climate change:
“There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, more famine, more mass displacement – all of which will fuel more conflict for decades,” and then he drew attention to the question of security in the climate problem:
“It is not merely scientists and environmental activists who call for swift and forceful action – it’s military leaders in my own country and others who understand that our common security hangs in the balance.”
he US president endorses scheme proposed by Norway and Brazil that would protect the world’s rainforests with funding from rich countries which cannot cut their emissions at home
The US president, Barack Obama, made his first public intervention in the Copenhagen climate summit today by backing a plan put forward by Norway and Brazil which would protect the world’s rainforests with funding from rich countries that cannot meet their commitments to cut emissions domestically.
Speaking after he accepted the Nobel peace prize in Oslo, Norway, Obama said: “I am very impressed with the model that has been built between Norway and Brazil that allows for effective monitoring and ensures that we are making progress in avoiding deforestation of the Amazon.
ASHINGTON — On the afternoon he held the eighth meeting of his Afghanistan review, President Obama arrived in the White House Situation Room ruminating about war. He had come from Arlington National Cemetery, where he had wandered among the chalky white tombstones of those who had fallen in the rugged mountains of Central Asia.
EW YORK – It is hard for international observers of the United States to grasp the political paralysis that grips the country, and that seriously threatens America’s ability to solve its domestic problems and contribute to international problem solving. America’s governance crisis is the worst in modern history. Moreover, it is likely to worsen in the years ahead.
The difficulties that President Barack Obama is having in passing his basic program, whether in health care, climate change, or financial reform, are hard to understand at first glance. After all, he is personally popular, and his Democratic Party holds commanding majorities in both houses of Congress. Yet his agenda is stalled and the country’s ideological divisions grow deeper.
he NATO defense ministers put pressure on the Dutch government to keep their troops in the Afghan province Uruzgan, despite a clear no from the Dutch parliament.
Read on in the two articles below and the White House debate on TPM media.
n a broadcast by Russia Today it is suggested that the radical change in US policy after Obama took over from George Bush is confronted with opposition from Nato hardliners and that they plot against President Obama.
At least what can be said about this conspiracy theory is that it shows the way Russians are thinking. Allways there is a conspiracy around the corner when they there is a change in policy they can not comprehend.
Fact is that under George Bush, most Nato countries were very unhappy with radical US policies and that they welcomed the change of policies with te comming of president Obama.
“I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
lot of confusion on the FoX Channel after the Wesley Clark comments on John McCains ability to become Commander in Chief.
Clark put on the table a topic that started a debate on left and right about the war experience of John McCain. Read this article in Politico; Some on left target McCain’s war record.
The Vietnam war is never far away in US politics. But there is change coming. This New York Times report (On Campus, Liberal Professors Retire ) shows that on campuses the old left wing baby boom generation is changing guard with a more pragmatic generation of university professors. Lets hope that the old political battles are over and new ones are genuinely addressed in this election of the most powerful job in the world.
enator Lieberman puts the question on the table. Which presidential candidate can be Commander in Chief (CiC) from day one? Lieberman thinks it is important because the United States enemies will test the new president in his first year in office, look at his comments:
General Wesley Clark is asked what qualifications to be CiC are needed, saying about John McCain that; “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president. Obama is running on other strengths, of character, on his communication skills, on the strength of his judgment.” Note: listen carefully to the first question he is asked:
And the reaction of John McCain,… “those comments doesn’t reduce gasoline price with one penny….”
And here is what CNN anchorman Rick Sanchez is making of it….
The Obama campaign manager David Axelrod reacts to the question if Wesley Clark was authorized by the Obama campaign saying what he said about McCain?
And here is Wesley Clark not retracting his words, saying his words were taken out of context, repeating his overall point that serving the armed forces in itself is not a qualification to become president, but political judgment is…
n a campaign rally in Unity, New Hampshire on june 27th, the former two democratic rivals showed a united front against republican presidential candidate John McCain.
peculations on the choice of Vice President by John McCain and Barack Obama starts really rolling. TPM.tv portraits Republican VP nominee Tim Pawlenty.
cCain adviser Charlie Black said in Fortune magazine that a terrorist attack would be a big advantage to the McCain campaign. A Reuters report and the Obama reaction…
ohn McCain recently argued that his policies are not a kind of George W. Bushes third term, that he represents change too. Which McCain is there to believe?
ohn McCain and Barack Obama showed a fundamental different approach to helping the economy yesterday. Obama wants a 50 billion stimulus package, a 10 billion foreclosure fund and middle class tax cuts. McCain on the other hand also wants to repeal the alternative minimum tax, cut tax on corporate profits, make Bush tax cuts permanent, suspend gaz tax for the summer and create a mortgage task force to investigate wrong doings. McCain is “buying in” to the Bush policies and Obama wants a more direct role in shaping the living standards of people.
he John McCain campaign strategist are positive on the outcome of the general election. They analyze the battleground as full of possibilities to win the election, according to this briefing on the McCain website.
illary Clinton endorses Barack Obama fully and acknowledges her defeat. She said in a graceful speech: “I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the race he has run, I endorse him and throw my full support behind him.”
bama and Hillary Clinton met in secret. According to Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs the meeting was “to bring these candidates together and moving forward for the fall campaign.”
ohn McCain chose to attack Barack Obama on his victory night with a “hard” speech. He didn’t convince any political commentators, including Fox news. Watch the TPM tv compilation.
ay 31st, 2008: the survivors will call it Judgment Day, the day that Hillary Clinton hijacks the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee to achieve the full seating of Florida and Michigan’s disputed delegates and effectively wrest the nomination away from Barack Obama. But wait… can this really happen? We take a look at the actual situation behind thehype in today’s episode of TPMtv.
he race is over for Hillary Clinton. Advisers and the media agree. The question is if Clinton sees it herself and when she will step aside gracefully. See the CBS report:
illary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary by surprise, after several polls indicated that Barack Obama led by a 10% margin. He now lost with 36%, with Clinton taking the New Hampshire lead with 39%. A decisive but close finish. A close race is starting right now.
arack Obama victory speech after the Iowa caucus, which he won with 38% support, ahead of 30% of John Edwards and 29% for Hilary Clinton. The next nomination election will be on january 8, 2008 in New Hamshire. An opinion poll taken after the Iowa caucus suggests Obama is leading the race with 37% of the vote, against Clinton with 27% support.
Last night, Barack Obama, Presidential candidate held a major speech on foreign policy and terrorism in the Woodrow Wilson Institution. He opposes the foreign policy of the Bush administration. He promised to turn the page.
“By refusing to end the war in Iraq, President Bush is giving the terrorists what they really want, and what the Congress voted to give them in 2002: a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. It is time to turn the page. When I am President, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan; developing the capabilities and partnerships we need to take out the terrorists and the world’s most deadly weapons; engaging the world to dry up support for terror and extremism; restoring our values; and securing a more resilient homeland.”
ASHINGTON — On the afternoon he held the eighth meeting of his Afghanistan review, President Obama arrived in the White House Situation Room ruminating about war. He had come from Arlington National Cemetery, where he had wandered among the chalky white tombstones of those who had fallen in the rugged mountains of Central Asia.
n a broadcast by Russia Today it is suggested that the radical change in US policy after Obama took over from George Bush is confronted with opposition from Nato hardliners and that they plot against President Obama.
irst visit of Commander in chief at the Pentagon.
resident Obama to the Al-Arabiya tv network on Middle-East policy.
eknown French intellecual on the new American foreign policy. 
video by the french newspaper Liberation analyzing the Obama campaign. (subtitled in french)
enator Lieberman puts the question on the table. Which presidential candidate can be Commander in Chief (CiC) from day one? Lieberman thinks it is important because the United States enemies will test the new president in his first year in office, look at his comments:
cCain adviser Charlie Black said in Fortune magazine that a terrorist attack would be a big advantage to the McCain campaign. A Reuters report and the Obama reaction…
ohn McCain recently argued that his policies are not a kind of George W. Bushes third term, that he represents change too. Which McCain is there to believe? 
arack Obama after winning as nominee speaks to his campaign staff. “Because we won, we have to win.”
illary Clinton endorses Barack Obama fully and acknowledges her defeat. She said in a graceful speech: “I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the race he has run, I endorse him and throw my full support behind him.” 
ictory speech in a loud Minnesota.
