January 26, 2008

Obama Pulls Off Decisive S.C. Win, Plus One Heck Of A Speech

UPDATED.

When Barack Obama announced his candidacy for the White House in February last year, he knew he was a mere mortal going up against a dragon. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, comprised the head of the Democratic Party establishment. The race for the nomination was Hillary's for the taking, the chattering classes believed, because the Clinton machine was simply too entrenched, too monied, too formidable.

Tonight, Barack Obama drove a dagger into the heart of that dragon.

In a rousing, to-the-rafters speech reminiscent of a religious revival, the one-term, 46-year-old senator from Illinois delivered a damning indictment of the very thesis of Clinton's candidacy.

"We're looking to fundamentally change the status quo in Washington. We are looking for more than a change in the party in the White House," Obama told a packed auditorium of supporters. "This is a status quo that extends beyond any particular party. We are not going to let them stand in our way any more."

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Posted at 10:36 PM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, John McCain, President Bush, Republicans, WH 2008
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October 30, 2007

Yo, Hillary! Field Hopes For Front-Runner KO Tonight

Seven of the Democratic presidential contenders descend tonight on America's least-attractive metropolis for what promises to be the ugliest debate of the season.

Both Barack Obama and John Edwards are scrambling to slam the brakes on Hillary Rodham Clinton's runaway lead. With the Iowa caucuses about two months away, double-digit spreads are forcing the rest of the pack to be more forceful and, dare we say, meaner than they've been so far.

The M-word might be unfair, but it's inevitable because of Clinton's gender. Everyone wants to avoid a Rick Lazio moment, in which they attempt to treat her as they would a male candidate and end up coming off as ungentlemanly.

On the other hand, Clinton isn't just any woman. She's in the lead because she's been exuding forcefulness and strength throughout her campaign -- a breakdown in most polls shows she scores highest on national security issues, not personality. It also doesn't hurt that a large swath of the Democratic left is waving the white flag as they signal their support for the former first lady. So Obama, Edwards and the rest -- Christopher Dodd, Joseph Biden, Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich -- will take time to remind primary voters of Clinton's many apparent weaknesses.

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Posted at 6:45 PM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Bill Richardson, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Christopher Dodd, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Joseph Biden, Michael Mukasey, Mike Gravel, WH 2008
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October 10, 2007

The Armenian Genocide: When Purity Meets Pragmatism

Let's get this detail out of the way: The United States does not brook genocide. Maybe this country does not always go far enough to stop genocide where it occurs (Rwanda, Sudan), but it has not ignored, let alone denied, the mass extermination of an ethnic group since World War II. What the U.S. always does do in reaction to genocide is condemn the killing wherever it occurs.

So why the opposition to a nonbinding House resolution that compels the U.S. government to formally recognize the 1915-17 mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide -- something George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush did not do as commander in chief?

The answer, of course, is Turkey's resistance to the resolution. Almost anywhere else in the world, official government condemnation of genocide is an easy position for Washington to take. Not so with the Armenian genocide, because Turkey holds many cards, and the U.S. is in no position to strong-arm anyone it might still count as an ally in the war on terror.

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Posted at 3:50 PM
Posted to: Bill Clinton, Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, Congress, EU, Europe, France, George H.W. Bush, House, Iraq, Israel, Kurds, Middle East, President Bush, Robert Gates, Senate, Turkey
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October 02, 2007

Kim, Roh Meet, But To What Effect?

Not far from the demilitarized zone that divides North and South Korea are gigantic signs facing the north, beckoning the oppressed citizenry there to come to the other side, "where life is happy."

If the Bush administration is frustrated at Seoul's seeming dearth of anger toward its northern neighbor, this is why: The north-south divide between the Koreans, one of the world's most homogenous people, is to this day a gaping hole in the national psyche. Some South Koreans are haunted by long-lost relatives who wound up stuck on the wrong side of the 38th parallel. Others, particularly those too young to remember the war, are sick of what they increasingly view as American paternalism and want the Koreas to sort out their affairs for themselves.

That's among the reasons lame-duck South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has embarked on his first-ever visit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, the object of so much scorn and ridicule elsewhere in the world. A little paunchier and with fewer curls in that famous coiffure, Kim was on hand to greet Roh in Pyongyang today, despite previous announcements he wouldn't meet with his visitor until later.

Buoyed by the North's softening on its nuclear program, Roh seems intent on coming away with results, whether it's a step toward officially ending the 1950-1953 war or another guarantee Pyongyang is dropping its nuclear program. But the time for a "sunshine policy" toward the north, a bane of both the Bush and Clinton State Departments, may be coming to an end.

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Posted at 6:43 PM
Posted to: Asia, Bill Clinton, Bush Administration, North Korea, Nuclear Weapons, President Bush, South Korea, Terrorism
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September 27, 2007

Reunited, And It Feels So Not Awkward

In 1992, the young and handsome duo of Bill Clinton and Al Gore achieved something close to rock-star status. Fifteen years later, they're more famous and beloved than ever, thanks to their work on humanitarian and environmental causes.

Yesterday, a grayer Clinton and, uh, more big-boned Gore teamed up for the third annual Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York City (video). The dynamic twosome had parted ways since leaving the White House, thanks to a certain intern and failed presidential bid. It seems both may have put the past behind them.

"I'm very proud that he's continued in this fight," Clinton said, after talking about losing the battle to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

"First of all, I'm proud of what you're doing... and thank you for your leadership on all of these issues," Gore responded, beaming warmly.

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Posted at 10:59 AM
Posted to: Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Bush Administration, Campaigns, Climate Change, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Bush, WH 2008
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September 25, 2007

Bush's Other Legacy On Display At U.N.

President Bush called on the U.N. General Assembly to renew its focus on human rights, as he reminded increasingly distant member nations of America's outsized role in humanitarian work around the globe.

Placing the spotlight on the U.N.'s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Bush told the audience, "The nations in this chamber have our differences. Yet there are some areas where we can all agree."

The president ticked off a laundry list of ills, some of them ancient, still plaguing the globe, from malaria to HIV/AIDS, starvation to closed markets, impositions on the freedom of speech and assembly, and "tyranny and violence."

The Universal Declaration is not being upheld, Bush said, "when innocent people are trapped in a life of murder and fear" or "when millions of children starve to death or die from a mosquito bite."

"Changing these underlying conditions is what the declaration calls the work of underlying freedom," he said.

Bush then turned his attention to the representatives of Myanmar.

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Posted at 12:17 PM
Posted to: Asia, Bill Clinton, Bush Administration, China, Climate Change, HIV/AIDS, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East, President Bush, Russia, Terrorism, U.N.
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May 21, 2007

Commencement Roundup: Two Heads Are Better Than One

While Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush were busy butting heads over the weekend, former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were making nice (again). The two appeared together at the University of New Hampshire's class of 2007 commencement, talking about their "common humanity" and the benefits of "transcending politics." Now if only Jimmy and Dubya could get along so well...

The former presidents at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H.: "All you have to do is care, roll up your sleeves and claim one of society's problems as your own." -- Bush. "Thank you Madam President Newman. I like the sound of that. I've decided that women should run everything, and George and I can play more golf." -- Clinton.

ABC News' Bob Woodruff with his wife, Lee, at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y.: "I wish I could protect all of you from the ups and downs of life, from the bends in the road to come. At your age I think I believed that life traveled pretty much in a straight line. If I was a decent person, and worked hard, I would be rewarded. But life wouldn't be life if it didn't have some curve balls in store."

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Posted at 1:00 PM
Posted to: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Media, Newt Gingrich, Robert Gates
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