EU-DIGEST

Labels: Republicans, US elections

By seizing gubernatorial seats in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans on Tuesday dispelled any notion of President Obama's electoral invincibility, giving the GOP a lift and offering warning signs to Democrats ahead of the 2010 midterm elections. Republican leaders were quick to cast Tuesday's outcome as a rebuke of Obama, nearly a year after his election. "It sends a clear signal that voters have had enough of the president's liberal agenda," Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele said after Robert F. McDonnell emerged as the winner in Virginia. Still, Democrats could take some solace in Tuesday's results, as the party swiped a traditionally Republican House seat in the far north of New York.

Labels: US elections

Democrat Bill Owens won the 23rd Congressional District seat despite a strong push by Conservatives to take the post in the heavily Republican North Country area.Trailing Owens by over 6,000 votes, Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman conceded the race just after midnight Wednesday.

Labels: US elections

The Challenge - For Obama, No Time for Laurels; Now the Hard Part - by Peter Baker

No president since before Barack Obama was born has ascended to the Oval Office confronted by the accumulation of seismic challenges awaiting him. Historians grasping for parallels point to Abraham Lincoln taking office as the nation was collapsing into Civil War, or Franklin D. Roosevelt arriving in Washington in the throes of the Great Depression.Given the depth of these issues, Mr. Obama has little choice but to “put your arm around chaos,” in the words of Leon E. Panetta, the former White House chief of staff who has been advising his transition team. “You better damn well do the tough stuff up front, because if you think you can delay the tough decisions and tiptoe past the graveyard, you’re in for a lot of trouble,” Mr. Panetta said. “Make the decisions that involve pain and sacrifice up front.”

What kind of decision maker and leader Mr. Obama will be remains unclear even to many of his supporters. Will he be willing to use his political capital and act boldly, or will he move cautiously and risk being paralyzed by competing demands from within his own party? His performance under the harsh lights of the campaign trail suggests a figure with remarkable coolness and confidence under enormous pressure, yet also one who rarely veers off the methodical path he lays out.

Labels: Barack Obama, US elections

World reaction to Obama victory: From jubilation to trepidation

Reaction to Obama's win ranged from jubilation to trepidation on the streets of the world's capital cities as official congratulations from heads of state began to flow shortly after Republican candidate John McCain conceded the election. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki called Obama's victory in the US presidential election a "momentous" day for Kenya, where Obama's father was born. French and EU President Nicolas Sarkozy called Obama's U.S. presidential election win "brilliant victory." "I give you my warmest congratulations and, through me, those of all French people," Sarkozy told Obama in a letter made public by the French presidency. "Your brilliant victory rewards a tireless commitment to serve the American people." In Cuba, Obama's campaign vow to ease the 46-year-old U.S. trade embargo and his willingness to consider dialogue with the Cuban government were a breath of fresh air after almost eight years of tough talk and hard-line policies from the Bush administration, Cubans said. China also welcomed Obama and the excitement of his victory filtered down to the streets of Beijing, where ordinary Chinese citizens who have never voted themselves and some who could not even name the candidates embraced Obama's message of change.

Labels: Barack Obama, US elections

For the complete report from the Los Angeles Times click on this link

The Complete Text of President-elect Barack Hussein Obama's Acceptance Speech - An Historic Moment for America and the World.

"This is our moment. This is our time –- to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth –- that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people. Yes, we can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America". From the acceptance speech by the 44th President Elect of the United States of America - Mr. Barack Obama.

Editors Note: To EU-Digest's American subscribers and readers: "This was truly an historic and watershed Presidential election. All Americans, including every Republican and Democrat, should take great pride that they live in a country which still has the best functioning and self correcting democratic system of Government in the world. Who could have ever imagined in 1968, when segregation was abolished in America, that only 40 years later the US would have the son of a black African immigrant win the presidential election by a landslide and become its 44th designate - President. Congratulations America - Yes you did ! Rick Morren"

Labels: Barack Obama, US elections

What Africa expects from the US elections

"The world watches as America sets to elect its 44th president today. The election battle is between Democratic contender Barack Obama and his Republican rival John McCain.Over a period of time, it has been stated by various African intellectuals on several occasions that they would wish to be able to vote in an American election precisely because if ``they pipe in America, they dance in Africa.``

The establishment of democratic institutions and the building of multi-party political culture in Africa have been dogged by poverty, ignorance and even armed uprisings, while many of the internal crises in the still infant African countries had a foreign hand in them. The power that the United States wields in the United Nations and global affairs is sufficient for adoption of UN reform, which should lead to Africa having a greater say; and one of its nations occupying a seat in the United Nations Security Council as permanent member with veto power. This is not too much to ask the winner of today's US presidential election."

Labels: Barack Obama, US elections

The Impending Defeat of John McCain - by George Shadroui

"With one day to go, barring a miracle, the United States is about to elect the most left-wing government since 1964 — perhaps in its history. But even worse, there are signs that Obama's team will combine with his big government tendencies, an authoritarian mindset that in recent days has become disturbing even for those of us who were once willing to concede that the Senator was a talented, decent man. Friends, when we lose this year — if we lose — it will be largely because we failed to articulate in a compelling way the great enterprise for which we labor and struggle. It is not an enterprise on behalf of the mighty, the rich, the famous, or the collective. It is an enterprise on behalf of each individual striving to find dignity, self-respect and self-worth. To paraphrase one writer: striving as thoughtful individuals, we will reach our goals together; forced to strive for it collectively, we will perish alone."

Note EU-Digest: what a bunch of "crock" from US Conservatives, who only have themselves to blame for eight years of mismanagement, deceit and underachievement.

Labels: Republicans, US elections

US elections: Will US voters face poll chaos? - by Laura Smith-Park

In 2000 it was the problem of hanging chads, recounts and court decisions in Florida. In 2004, some voters endured an eight-hour wait to vote in Ohio. Four years on, a study by the Pew Research Center has warned of a possible "perfect storm" creating chaos at the polls - fueled by record numbers of voters, new voters, and shortage of polling station staff.Another report on 10 swing states, by The Century Foundation and Common Cause, found that "significant problems in the basic functions of American election administration system persist, and in a few cases have worsened".

For the latest poll updates click on this link

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, Polls, US elections, Vote

George Monbiot

The Triumph of Ignorance - by George Monbiot

How was it allowed to happen? How did politics in the US come to be dominated by people who make a virtue out of ignorance? Was it charity that has permitted mankind’s closest living relative to spend two terms as president? How did Sarah Palin, Dan Quayle and other such gibbering numbskulls get to where they are? How could Republican rallies in 2008 be drowned out by screaming ignoramuses insisting that Barack Obama is a Muslim and a terrorist?Besides fundamentalist religion, perhaps the most potent reason why intellectuals struggle in elections is that intellectualism has been equated with subversion. The brief flirtation of some thinkers with communism a long time ago has been used to create an impression in the public mind that all intellectuals are communists. Almost every day men like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly rage against the “liberal elites” destroying America.The spectre of pointy-headed alien subversives was crucial to the election of Reagan and Bush. A genuine intellectual elite - like the neocons (some of them former communists) surrounding Bush - has managed to pitch the political conflict as a battle between ordinary Americans and an over-educated pinko establishment. Any attempt to challenge the ideas of the rightwing elite has been successfully branded as elitism.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, US elections

Obama's fans in Europe are in for a big surprise - by John Vinocur

If Barack Obama is elected president of the United States next week, he'll bring into office with him the advantage of not being pre-cast as a villain in Europe. As pluses go, it may be an impermanent one. The realities of American interests, American responsibilities and the American presidency mean that all the soft power instincts and readiness for multilateral mosh-pit politicking attributed to Obama by Europeans can quickly look imaginary. Obama is not Michael Moore transmogrified. He will fulfill no one's dreams of a capitulating, apologetic United States. On Iran, there is little indication that European public opinion is listening closely either when Obama says, "We'll never take the military option off the table." Or on Georgia and Ukraine, when Obama insists that they must be given plans for NATO membership "immediately." Or on Afghanistan when he complains that some NATO countries, like Germany, are present there but not sharing the missions with the most murderous risks.

David Sturtevant Ruder, a former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission, America's market regulator, who has endorsed Obama, sees American capitalism eventually coming out of this "horrible situation" with a better version that's "a little tamer" and "a little more regulated." He added: "But the US is built on an appetite for risk. We don't want to be France."Almost surely, a newly elected President Obama would be too slick to tell the truth that way.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, US elections

Political Insiders Poll US Presidential Elections - by James A. Barnes and Peter Bell

This report contains the latest US polling information and predictions by National Journal Insiders.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, US elections

US Elections : Could Barack Obama really be a president for Europe? - by Clive Leviev-Sawyer

With five days to go to the elections, polls including those by RealClearPolitics give Barack Obama a comfortable chance of becoming the next president of the United States. It is well-known that were Europe able to vote, polls would be barely worth a glance because an Obama landslide would be a certainty. But for all the current flush of romance, a president Obama’s long-term relationship with Europe may not live up to expectations.Probably the most inspiring exposition of Europe’s expectations was expressed in a scintillating speech at Harvard in September 2008 by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. He told his audience that he had in his pocket a letter to the next president of the US, whoever that may be. The letter, which runs to about five pages, spells out a vision of hope for a new-era relationship between the EU and the US.Barroso underlines that the EU is a global player and a natural ally of the US. He explains their joint weight in the world economy, in trade and world finance, international organizations, the management of world security and in development aid. “But in these times of uncertainty, the EU needs the US and – yes – the US needs the EU more than ever.”

There is one consolation, though. Unlike Palin, McCain or that Action Man doll of contemporary Republican politics, Joe the Plumber, no one in Europe is ever likely to call president Obama a European Socialist.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, US elections

Europeans watch American elections as if they have a stake - because they do - by Steve Kettman

Through much of this year, the big story out of Europe was that people all over the continent were paying an unprecedented amount of attention to the long, intense and forever shifting U.S. presidential campaign.This rapt interest had in part to do with a palpable yearning to turn the page on the Bush years, and in part with excitement over what was widely seen as the likelihood of a boundary-busting candidate taking the White House, whether Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama. Yet there were voices in the United States who tried to paint this European interest in our presidential succession as somehow prurient, or based only on the celebrity factor, as if European interests were not very much at stake. When Obama brought his campaign here in late July and addressed me and 200,000 others gathered in Berlin's Tiergarten, he made a point of introducing himself as "a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world." He thus made clear that he saw the destiny and future of Europe and the United States as closely intertwined.

Many in Europe assume that in the aftermath of the economic crisis, the era of unquestioned U.S. economic leadership in the world will have passed. They see the turmoil now roiling the markets as an indication of the untrustworthiness of a U.S. model based so openly on encouraging what we call the profit motive and what others might simply refer to as greed.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, US elections

Barack Obama lead slipping per newest national polls - by Joe Dwinell

It’s scary times for Democrats as the latest polls show Barack Obama’s lead slipping to a frightening three points over John McCain. The Gallup daily poll has Obama up 49-46 percent over McCain, as the race “tightens.” The Rasmussen daily poll also shows a 3-point lead for Obama, the first time McCain has been this close in more than a month.

Labels: Barack Obama, US elections

"New Europe' fears losing privileged status with US

No matter who becomes the next US president, Eastern European countries are afraid that the privileged relations they have enjoyed under the Bush administration could be lost. EurActiv's network in Central Europe and Turkey contributed to this report. The sentiment in Eastern European capitals is that the next US President will prioritzse repairing relations with Western European capitals, which have suffered under neo-conservative US rule, and that Eastern European countries – despite being America's strongest allies under Bush – could find themselves somewhat neglected. "

Labels: EU, New Europe, US elections

US elections - The Republican shipwreck

The modern conservative movement is dying in front of our eyes, and its death throes aren't pretty. As John McCain heads for likely defeat, the GOP is eating itself. Right-wing politicians and pundits who never criticized Bush in eight years are suddenly jumping ship like rats, while bitter-end loyalists angrily accuse them of being "pathetically opportunistic." After months of veering from one tactic to the next, McCain has finally settled on one message for his campaign, but it's absurd: claiming that the party whose signature is tax cuts for the rich is really on the side of Joe the Plumber. Meanwhile, 3.1 million real Joe the Plumbers across America are sending Barack Obama hundreds of millions of dollars, a torrent of cash that is helping to flush the GOP down the national toilet. Right-wing hacks like Palin and Minn. Rep. Michele Bachman respond by doing the only thing they know how to do -- attack, demonize and divide.

Labels: John McCain, Republicans, US elections

The Vote Grab: How the Republicans stole the 2004 election - by Peter Tatchell

Will next week's US presidential vote be free and fair? Based on the conduct of the last election, possibly not. The 2004 election was marred by vote-fixing that would disgrace a banana republic. Four years later, few new safeguards have been implemented to prevent a re-run of the voter exclusion and ballot tampering of 2004.This is the conclusion of Robert F Kennedy Jr, civil rights lawyer and nephew of JFK. In one of the most important pieces of investigative journalism in recent years, published in Rolling Stone magazine in 2006, he revealed how voting irregularities in 2004 were enough to steal the presidency for the Republicans.

Labels: Fraud, John McCain, Republicans, US elections

US - Politics in the Age of George the Great - by Eddie J.Girdner

It has been eight years since the putsch in Florida by the neoconservative Storm Troopers stole the presidential election and installed George W. Bush on the White House Throne. The dark days had begun and these dark days have not yet ended.Indeed, it is difficult to think of any quarter, domestic or international, left untouched by the havoc brought to fruition in the Age of George the Great. Who would have thought, who could have imagined that such inordinate talent dwelt ensconced inside the scull of the former Governor of Texas? It is the great ineffable mystery of the Age of George the Great, who we have observed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. How do we unravel this inscrutable mystery?

Indeed, the trillion dollars for the two wars had been funded mostly by dollars the US did not have in supplementary off-budget funding. The national debt ceiling was raised to $ 11.3 trillion as the banks began to give up the ghost. George the Great had not got the Hogs out of the Dollar Creek. The Dollar Creek was so crowded that the dollars dried up, the banks collapsed and then the stock markets began to crash. As an experiment in neo-liberalism in the real world it was instructive. ‘One capitalist kills many.” Marx was certainly right about that. A herd of them can easily collapse the entire global financial system.

Labels: John McCain, Republican Party, US elections

McCain's Position on US International Policy by Category on :
* Position on Global Development and Health
* Position on Diplomacy
* Position on Aid Effectiveness
* Position on Other Foreign Policy Topics

Labels: John McCain, US elections, US Foreign Policy

Barack Obama's Position on International Policy

Obama Position on US International Policy by Category:
* Position on Global Development and Health
* Position on Diplomacy
* Position on Aid Effectiveness
* Position on Other Foreign Policy Topics

Labels: Barack Obama, US elections, US Foreign Policy

The Lame Duckling - by JAMAAL YOUNG

"As the United States focuses their attention on the next would-be president, it’s not quite time to forget the one that’s screwed everything up.There once was a governor who, despite all the odds (including losing the popular vote), was elected President of the United States. He was never described as intelligent—or wise, or thoughtful, or even moderately clever—but, boy was he ever charming. He had a way of making everyone around him—including some of the nation’s most experienced public servants—feel all warm inside about policies and practices that were directly in opposition to their own beliefs and self-interests. He convinced millions of middle-class Americans that a tax cut that provided them only $300 in extra dough was enough to jumpstart the American economy—those taxpayers all went out and bought new televisions made in Asia. He bribed Senator Kennedy with the promise of copious amounts of money for public education in return for Uncle Teddy’s support of the No Child Left Behind Bill. That bill became law, but the promised cash never appeared, creating a national school system that focused on math and reading to the exclusion of art, music, physical education and even recess. The result: Cuba still had a higher literacy rate than the United States.

Yes, George W. Bush’s faux-Texan charm served him well as a first-term President; and if he would have called it quits in 2004, history might have remembered him as one of the nation’s more effectively persuasive politicians. Unfortunately for him, he stuck around for a second term, during which every new initiative he pursued ended in defeat.And that brings us to today, with less than two weeks until Election Day and our national attention squarely focused on Barack Hussein Obama and John Sidney McCain. But through all the talk of pigs and plumbers, terrorists and Tina Fey, let us not forget about the US current commander-in-chief who still pursues policies that will continue to contravene the interests of this nation long after he leaves.

Look, it’s not like the US expected a fairytale ending to eight years of Bush rule; but at least the US population expected the president of the United States to act with an awareness of the situation the country finds itself in and with an eye on the consequences his decisions would have on the world as we move forward."

Labels: George Bush, US elections

The damage to Brand USA needs urgent repair - by Francis Fukuyama

"The implosion of America's investment banks... the vanishing of more than a trillion dollars in stock- market wealth in a day: the scale of the Wall Street crack-up could scarcely be more gargantuan. Yet even as Americans ask why they have to pay a mind-bending $700 billion to prevent the economy from imploding, few are discussing a potentially much greater cost to the United States - the damage to America's “brand”.

The biggest change that America must make is in its politics. The Reagan revolution broke the 50-year dominance of liberals and Democrats in US politics but what were once fresh ideas have hardened into dogmas. The ultimate test for the US model will be its capacity to reinvent itself. Good branding is not a matter of putting lipstick on a pig. It's about having the right product to sell in the first place. American democracy has its work cut out."

Labels: Image, US elections, USA

A Quick Fix: The Candidates and Energy Independence - by John Becket

To get the recent $700 billion bailout passed, some "sweeteners" were added to the package by the Senate to attract votes from certain constituencies. Among them were $18 billion in tax breaks for businesses and individuals who want to make their homes and businesses more energy efficient and/or invest in green technology. Lacking an overall strategy and insufficient funds for the job, the "sugar high" will have little lasting impact. So goes the quest for "energy independence" touted by Congress and the presidential candidates. While Congress steadfastly declines to increase taxes on an oil industry making record profits — taxes which could be used to develop alternative energy — Europe and other nations, including China, forge far ahead in weaning themselves from dependence on petroleum. While the government stumbles all over itself to hand hundreds of billions to reckless speculators, only grudgingly does it support alternative energy. And although Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is likely to be more supportive of alternative energy than Republican John McCain, neither party's platform includes the sort of aggressive plan that America really needs.

The U.S., meanwhile, has nothing like a Minister for Sustainable Development. What passes as energy policy in America is a piecemeal, stops-and-starts approach that is often ill-conceived and just as often more rhetoric than action. In late 2007, Congress called for the nation to pursue 25 percent renewable energy by 2025. But Dan Arvizu, director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Colorado-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory, told a Harvard University audience such a goal is laughable to Germany, where 25 percent is a business-as-usual mark. One hundred percent renewable by 2025, Arvizu said, is cited by the Germans as their "stretch goal." In fact, Arvizu said, U.S. public investment in renewable energy research has fallen 78 percent since 1978. To put things into proper perspective, the $150 billion total cost of alternative energy Obama's proposal is only about one-fifth of what Congress recently approved for the Wall Street bailout and one-quarter of this year's defense budget. What Obama is pledging to spend each year is slightly more than what the US is currently spending each month for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, Political, US elections

Obama blasts McCain's health care plan as 'out of touch' - "Obama's plan similar to Dutch insurance program says EU-Digest"

Obama, speaking at a rally in Newport News, Virginia, said it's not that McCain "doesn't care" about what people are going through, "I just think he doesn't know."

Obama's plan, meanwhile, would create a national health insurance program for individuals who do not have employer-provided health care and who do not qualify for other existing federal programs. The plan does not mandate individual coverage for all Americans but requires coverage for all children and allows individuals younger than 25 to be covered through their parents' plans. The plan also allows individuals to choose between the new public insurance program and private insurance plans that meet certain coverage standards. The Obama campaign Web site says the coverage would have benefits similar to those offered to Congress through the Federal Employees Benefits Program. The plan would expand eligibility for Medicaid and State's Children's Health Insurance Program. Obama estimates the cost at between $50 billion and $65 billion, to be paid for by eliminating President Bush's tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000. Obama said that the solution is to "take on drug and insurance companies, modernize our health care system for the 21st century, reduce costs for families and businesses and finally provide affordable, accessible health care for every American."

Note EU-Digest the plan proposed by Senator Obama is similar to the Netherlands insurance program which has been in effect for two years and is a joint venture between the private insurance industry and the government.

Labels: Insurance Industry, Obama, The Netherlands, US elections

Obama's Chicago Boys : by Naomi Klein

Barack Obama waited just three days after Hillary Clinton pulled out of the race to declare, on CNBC, "Look. I am a pro-growth, free-market guy. I love the market." Demonstrating that this is no mere spring fling, he has appointed 37-year-old Jason Furman to head his economic policy team. Furman is one of Wal-Mart's most prominent defenders, anointing the company a "progressive success story." On the campaign trail, Obama blasted Clinton for sitting on the Wal-Mart board and pledged, "I won't shop there." Obama's love of markets and his desire for "change" are not inherently incompatible. "The market has gotten out of balance," he says, and it most certainly has. Many trace this profound imbalance back to the ideas of Milton Friedman, who launched a counterrevolution against the New Deal from his perch at the University of Chicago economics department. Now is the time to worry about Obama's Chicago Boys and their commitment to fending off serious attempts at regulation. It was in the two and a half months between winning the 1992 election and being sworn into office that Bill Clinton also did a U-turn on the economy. He had campaigned promising to revise NAFTA, adding labor and environmental provisions and to invest in social programs. But two weeks before his inauguration, he met with then-Goldman Sachs chief Robert Rubin, who convinced him of the urgency of embracing austerity and more liberalization. Another of Obama's Chicago fans is 39-year-old billionaire Kenneth Griffin, CEO of the hedge fund Citadel Investment Group. Griffin, who gave the maximum allowable donation to Obama, is something of a poster boy for an unbalanced economy. He got married at Versailles and had the after-party at Marie Antoinette's vacation spot (Cirque du Soleil performed)--and he is one of the staunchest opponents of closing the hedge-fund tax loophole. While Obama talks about toughening trade rules with China, Griffin has been bending the few barriers that do exist.

Our "current economic crisis," Obama recently said, did not come from nowhere. It is "the logical conclusion of a tired and misguided philosophy that has dominated Washington for far too long." True enough. But before Obama can purge Washington of the scourge of Friedmanism, he has some ideological housecleaning of his own to do.

Note EU-Digest:Naomi was born May 8, 1970, in Montreal, Quebec. She is a Canadian Journalist by profession, author and activist well known for her political analyses of corporate globalization. In 2005 she was ranked 11th among the top global intellectuals and the highest ranked woman on the list of a world-wide internet poll, in conjunction with Foreign Policy Magazine. Watch her views on capitalism and the free market by clicking on this link

Labels: Obama, US elections

Foreign policy was the scheduled to be the topic of debate during the first televised tussle between Barack Obama, the Democrat's candidate, and John McCain, his Republican rival. But with the global financial crisis dominating the headlines in the United States, much of the debate focused on the economy pushing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the row over Iran's nuclear ambitions, down the agenda. Al Jazeera asked analysts and experts from across the world whether they got the answers to the big questions in their regions. Reactions were very interesting. For details click on the link above.

Labels: US Economic Meltdown, US elections

US Presidential elections - Cunning stunts by Obama are rattling Obama - by Anne Summers

According to the men charged with supervising the US economy, the country (and, hence, the world) faces financial armageddon unless the US taxpayer bails out Wall Street's beleaguered banks. For a sum that exceeds what the US spent on World War II, the future of the country is to be mortgaged to cushion the economy from the follies (if not crimes) of financial cowboys who rewarded themselves handsomely for their creativity in turning bad debt into tradeable product.

It is against this background that the performance of the two presidential candidates, Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama, needs to be assessed. McCain's political stocks had plunged along with the market after his comments last week that the fundamentals of the economy were sound. He sought to remedy this by recasting himself as a fiscal lone ranger, dramatically suspending his campaign, rushing off to Washington and attempting to cancel the foreign policy presidential debate which was scheduled for Friday night.

These are dangerous times for Obama. He risks being once again outmanoeuvred by a rival who has no qualms about dumbing down the political process (a la Palin) or disregarding established conventions. Sen. Barack Obama sharply criticized Sen. John McCain's judgment on the war in Iraq, repeatedly telling his presidential rival ''you were wrong'' to rush the nation into battle, directly challenging the Republican nominee on foreign policy as the two met in their first debate of the general-election season. McCain aggressively pushed back, accusing Obama of failing to understand that a new approach employed by Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq would lead to victory and mocking him as naive for his willingness to meet with some of the world's most brutal leaders. With 40 days remaining before Election Day and the U.S. economy teetering, the two clashed on taxes, energy policy, and the threat posed by Iran. Neither made a serious mistake in an encounter that capped one of the most chaotic weeks of the campaign, nor was either able to claim a decisive victory.

Labels: US elections

US Economic meltdown - President's latest panic scheme is not what's best for America - by Kelly Jamiso

We have seen panic throughout the Bush administration and it has never led to a good end. The military attack on Iraq was caused by a drum beat of war that included a massive misinformation campaign. The Patriot Act, which has severely undermined civil liberties, was passed without most members of Congress even reading it. Now, this bailout is being pushed in the midst of a Wall Street panic. Is it really needed? Is this the right remedy? Will this prevent irresponsible investment in the future?

There is no question that the U.S. economy needs revitalization. But, a mass bailout of the financial community will not create the new economy we need. Indeed, if hundreds of billions are spent on bad investments it will result in there being no funding available for what is needed to create an economy for the 21st century where we can all prosper. It's time we Americans took back the America that was once compassionate, caring, free and represented.

Labels: US Economic Meltdown, US elections

US Elections - the dubious role of the Clarion Fund - The secret cell helping McCain - by Randy Schultz

Last week, an ad for John McCain came with The Post. But it wasn't labeled as an ad for John McCain. The stealth ad is a DVD titled Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West. The film's premise - and this will shock you - is that groups such as Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah and their copycats are worth worrying about. Why, though, is this an ad for John McCain? To sound like one of the speakers in the film, it's a matter of connecting the dots.Distribution of the DVD, whose producers say it will "change the way you look at the world," was timed with the post-Labor Day start of presidential election season. About 95 percent of the papers that contained the DVD are in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and New Hampshire. Notice a pattern? Right, those are the swing states that most analysts believe will determine the election. The issue on which polls consistently show John McCain ahead of Barack Obama is national security. One way to make voters worry less about the economy and more about national security would be to send out a DVD that opens with clips of 9/11 and includes scenes of Muslims chanting "Death to America!" Oh, and there's that lie recirculating on the Internet that Barack Obama is a Muslim. So, for good measure, the DVD went in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and a suburban paper north of New York. All have many Jewish readers. The DVD went in the World Jewish Digest. The clear intent is to plant the idea that electing Barack Obama would be like putting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Oval Office.The sponsoring group for Obsession is The Clarion Fund, based in New York. I left two messages for the media contact. Neither was returned. I e-mailed a request for an interview to a related Web site, radicalislam.org. I got no response.

The Clarion Fund was organized in 2006 as a 501(c)3, which grants it tax-exempt status as an educational nonprofit. But The Clarion Fund is not listed with Charity Navigator, which rates nonprofits based on efficient use of donors' money. You can find Planned Parenthood of South Florida and the Treasure Coast and United Way of Palm Beach County with the maximum four stars.

I called NSA Media in suburban Chicago. NSA placed the DVD with The Post, which - like the other publications - approved it after the usual review by the Advertising Department. NSA Media referred specific questions to The Clarion Fund. "It's all on their Web site." In fact, the Web site contains little information about The Clarion Fund. No names of directors. No sources of money. Just the mission statement, which includes this line: "Clarion Fund is helping Americans understand that the mainstream media is not adequately conveying the reality of radical Islam."

Labels: John McCain, US elections

US Elections - Economy plays havoc with McCain candidacy - After all he voted 90% of time for Bush's disastrous proposals

The American economic free fall has played havoc with Republican John McCain's presidential campaign, as he tries to distance himself from the unpopular Bush administration and walk away from his own history as a champion of government deregulation. McCain found himself in a particularly difficult spot Wednesday as the bellwether Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 450 points — slightly more than 4 percent and the second huge loss this week — after an $85 billion government bailout of one of the world's largest insurance companies, American International Group Inc. McCain had vigorously opposed the measure just hours before it was announced.

McCain said during the primary campaign — and likely to his everlasting regret — that he was not as well versed on economic issues as he would like. Compounding that, the 72-year-old former Vietnam prisoner of war has been closely tied to President George W. Bush, whose popularity is at near record lows and most likely falling further under the weight of the economic slide this week — a meltdown not seen going back nearly 80 years. Obama, who appears to have regained his focus in the White House contest, was hitting McCain hard as a product of a Republican drive over recent decades to deregulate the financial markets, moves that the first-term Illinois senator blamed for the mounting damage to the U.S. economy.

Labels: John McCain, US elections

US Elections - Amid a Painful Economic Meltdown, Will Obama Be Bold Enough to Win? | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace - by Josshua Holland

Americans are ready for deep and substantive change -- will Obama deliver what they seek? The Bush years have been bad. In fact, as economist Jared Bernstein noted, when one compares the economic peak of the past cycle, in 2000, with the high point of the business cycle that just ended in 2007, households in the middle actually lost ground, earning $300, adjusted for inflation, less than they did in 2000. The worst this group had done in previous business cycles occurred during the 1970s, when median income "only" increased by about $2,000. In comparison, the income for a family in the middle rose by almost four grand during the 1990s. It's the first time since they started keeping records of family income after World War II that the economy has gone into a recession before the middle class, those iconic "American families" that dominate our political discourse, had rebounded fully from the previous downturn. That represents an immensely painful double-dip for those in the middle and at the bottom -- only those in the top fifth of the economic ladder have seen any gains whatsoever since the last recession (officially) ended in 2001. (The wages of the bottom fifth fell by 6 percent, while those in the top 1 percent saw their incomes rise by about 50 percent during what some conservative pundits have called the "Bush Boom").

But it's important to understand that Bushenomics only represents an extreme iteration of the ideology that's prevailed since the 1973 energy crisis and the dawn of the "Reagan Revolution." The pain that working America feels today is the culmination of a far longer trend. An analysis by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez offers perhaps the most compelling indictment of neoliberal economics. They sliced and diced the American economy, going back to the beginning of the last century, and they found that between 1973 and 2003, despite several periods of healthy growth, the average real income of all but the top 10 percent of the economic ladder -- 9 out of 10 American families -- actually fell by about 4 percent over those 30-plus years. Meanwhile, the incomes of the top 10 percent of American households increased by around two-thirds.

Labels: US Economic Meltdown, US elections

What Europeans are Saying about Sarah Palin - by Soeren Kern

Europeans have greeted the news of Sarah Palin's nomination for Vice President of the United States with a predictable mixture of anger, frustration, resentment and resignation. After more than a year of uncritically praising Barack Obama as a supernatural figure destined by fate to solve all of the world's problems, European elites are suddenly coming to terms with the unwelcome possibility that the junior senator from Illinois might just be another human being after all. European commentary on Sarah Palin has ranged from ridicule, to ridicule, to more ridicule, to reluctant acknowledgment that Barack Obama may have met his match. In any case, many European elites are sensing that the Democratic presidential candidate, by failing to pick US Senator Hillary Clinton as his running mate, may have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Note EU-Digest: If the American electorate falls for this clever new strategy of the Republican Party to change the momentum from Obama to McCain and votes in favor of a Republican ticket, which includes a "polished Bush makeover" and an attractive but unexperienced female VP candidate, then we can also better understand America's fascination with the TV show "Dancing with the stars".

Labels: Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin, US elections

Labels: EU, John McCain, Obama, US elections

US elections: McCain says "change is coming" to America - by Steve Holland

Republican John McCain cast himself as an independent-minded reformer on Thursday and said he had the scars to prove it in a speech that promised Americans "change is coming" if they elect him on November 4. McCain accepted his party's presidential nomination in a packed convention hall, insisting he can pull off the kind of change that Democratic candidate Barack Obama talks about in a year Americans are hungry for new leadership. "Let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second Washington crowd: change is coming," said McCain, himself a U.S. senator since 1986.

Labels: John McCain, US elections

US Elections - McCain can win only as a war president - by Robert Scheer

"Just great! Nuclear-armed Pakistan is falling apart, Iran’s nuclear program is unchecked, and congressional legislation on cooperation with the Russians on controlling nuclear proliferation is now dead in the water. Horrid news except for Sen. John McCain, who thrills to a repeat of the danger lines of the Cold War, and now stands a good chance of being our next president. A very good chance, if the Russian recognition of the independence of two breakaway Georgia provinces can be elevated to the status of a major challenge to the security of the United States. It is an absurd claim: How can one justify uncritical support for the independence of Kosovo from Serbia earlier this year while denouncing a similar claim by a Georgian ethnic minority? It is also difficult to ignore that it was Georgia’s president and close McCain friend, Mikheil Saakashvili, who upset the status quo by invading first.McCain can win only as a war president. He neither knows, nor cares, much about the economic meltdown, which is the consequence of the deregulation mania that he has supported at every turn during his career in the Senate.

If McCain had to run on his economic policy record in the Senate, he might be a loser even in his home state of Arizona, whose residents are suffering mightily from economic disarray presided over by the Republicans. Better to dwell on the dubious success of the surge in Iraq than on the surge in home mortgage foreclosures and the price of gasoline that has crippled Arizona’s and the nation’s economy."

Labels: John McCain, Sarah Palin, US elections

Russia: A useful enemy in US polls for Republicans - by Andrei Tsygankov

The United States presidential candidates increasingly present Russia as a threat in their campaigns. Republican Senator John McCain is clearly thriving on the recent Georgia-Russia war. Escalation in the Caucasus has been lobbied by McCain since at least 2003, and he is now exploiting the conflict to his full advantage. McCain worked to bring President Mikheil Saakashvili to power in Georgia, and the McCain-led International Republican Institute, an international wing of the National Endowment for Democracy, was involved in training and financing the revolutionary opposition to Saakashvili's political rival Eduard Shevardnadze.

After helping to bring Saakashvili to power, McCain became a leading voice in advocating Georgia's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Along with other anti-Russian politicians, McCain saw the alliance's purpose as containing Russia and promoting American domination in the Eurasian region, which has vast resources and geopolitical importance.

Labels: Russia, US elections

Bush Has a Good Economic Record - Keith Marsden

Successive speakers at the Democratic National Convention poured scorn on President Bush's economic record. The clear aim was to justify the party's call for "change," and to undermine support for Republican presidential nominee John McCain. His election would mean a "third Bush term," delegates groaned.Yet Democrats cited no good evidence for their claims that the administration has produced a stagnant economy, widening disparities of income and wealth, high unemployment, and a heavy burden of government debt (supposedly resulting from an unwise military intervention in Iraq).

Note EU-Digest: "Mr. Keith Marsden one-sided report can unequivocally be classified as "propaganda" for the Republican Party."

Labels: US elections

US elections - Sarah Palin Is Just Full of Surprises

While most of America was not laboring yesterday, the Internet was struggling mightily to keep up with a flurry of revelations about Sarah Palin. First, but perhaps least politically relevant, Palin's 17-year-old daughter, Bristol Palin, is five months pregnant, will have the child, and plans to marry the baby's daddy (who is, by the way, sex on skates). More important, Palin has announced she has hired a lawyer as part of the ongoing investigation against her firing of a state employee, who perhaps caught her ire for not firing her ex-brother-in-law. Meanwhile, Palin's reformist image is taking a hit, with reports showing that she apparently backed the epitome of pork, the Bridge to Nowhere, before she was against it, and hired a lobbying firm to reap $27 million in federal earmarks for her town of 6,700 while she was mayor. At the same time, links have been unearthed between Palin and a group that wants Alaska to secede from the union. The avalanche of disclosures has led to questions regarding the seriousness with which John McCain vetted his running mate before potentially placing her "a heartbeat away from the presidency," as the Democrats are fond of saying these days.

Labels: Sarah Palin, US elections

Barack Obama made it across the tightrope of the Democratic National Convention, gaining solid endorsements from Bill and Hillary Clinton and giving a rousing speech before some 80,000 supporters at Invesco Field in Denver. But now comes the time when the Republicans win elections.

Labels: US elections

US election : Democrats Do Denver: Who Would Want to Elect Such a Bunch of Sour Pusses? - by Dan Calabrese

Three nights of listening to Democrats will either serve as an intense form of amusement or leave you thoroughly depressed. It all depends how seriously you take the message. But if you really listen to the message, it´s both inescapable and painstakingly familiar – which might be the reason Democrats running for president usually lead in the polls at some point, only to typically fall short in November. Keep the number to your therapist handy. Prepare for tale after woebegone tale of struggling Americans, worried and apprehensive about the future and desperately seeking a big, benevolent hand to keep them from falling into the abyss.

It´s about kitchen tables, where families pore over bills and despair that all is lost. It´s about the "global economy", which we are warned darkly that America will "lose" (Democrats always think economics is a zero-sum game) unless every single American is prosperous, which of course is not going to happen, which means we are going to lose.

Labels: US elections

US Elections - John McCain picks Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin as his VP

US Elections: McCain picks Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin as his VP

The rumor is true. As The Ticket reported just before dawn this morning, minutes ago, McCain confirmed that his vice presidential running mate is Sarah Alaska Governor Sarah Palin mother of five and lifetime National Rifle Association member and Republican presidential nominee senator John mcCain's pick as his vice presidential running mate . Palin, the first female governor of Alaska and the first woman on a national GOP ticket.

The 44-year-old Palin, a former city councilwoman, Alaskan mayor, star high school basketball player and beauty queen, is a Republican political maverick (does this sound familiar on a McCain ticket?). She overthrew her own state party's corrupt establishment in 2005-06 to run without its support and win on a reform ticket against a Democratic former governor, Tony Knowles.

Labels: US elections

Proper Treatment from Obama or McCain: Europe 'Can Always Dream'- by Jean-Claude Kiefer

If Europeans could vote on November 4th, Barack Obama would certainly be the next president of the United States. It's a question of charisma, no doubt, and the attraction of novelty, too, as the Senator from Illinois stands out from the "standard" America political class. But it's his whole being, not just because of his Afro-American origins.From Europe, an "Obama-Clinton" ticket would have had more sparkle. Did the Senator from New York even want such a tandem? Curiously - and contrary to custom - the convention in Denver will grant a major place to Hillary Clinton, who will be surrounded by her delegates. After tough negotiations with the party, she even won the privilege of hosting a "one-woman show" to present her ideas. It's as though Hillary Clinton is already preparing for the 2012 election, just in case Obama isn't elected.

There remains, however, some hope … or at least, wishes. For example, that the America of a John McCain or a Barack Obama changes its tone; that she stops constantly pushing for vain confrontations in the name of defending democracy, which is always trotted out whenever its economic interests - mainly oil - need preservation; and that it treats its European allies as partners.

Labels: John McCain, Obama, US elections

The Europeanization of the Democratic Party - by William Molony

To understand this hostile takeover of the Democratic Party it must be seen in the context of what happened to all “parties of the left” in Europe in the second half of the 20th century. Traumatized by the shocks and dislocations of world wars and Cold War the entire European political spectrum moved decisively leftward. While the socialist parties led this progression, the parties of the center and right - shaken by their own crises of confidence - succumbed as well. European capitalism and nationalism was decisively weakened and the door opened to a continent-wide shift to collectivism and the transnationalism represented by the United Nations, and the European Union. Today the elitists who dominate the Democratic Party have embraced the “New Europe” and its worldview. On virtually every issue - Iraq, taxes, abortion, global warming, energy, hostility to religion, suspicion of Israel, regulation, U.N. worship etc. etc. - differences are only of degree, not kind. The fawning reception of Barack Obama in Europe illustrated this perverse harmony. Clearly Obama’s view of the future fits with Europe’s. They see him as the anti-Bush, their best bet ever to lash “rambunctious” America to the collectivist chariot of Europe’s “Brave New World.”

Note EU-Digest: "The Neocons seem to be getting very desperate".

Labels: Democratic Party, US elections

US elections - Obama might not beat McCain without Clinton and her supporters - by Geoff Elliot

While many have written off Senator Clinton as a possible running mate -- the odds were firming in the political betting markets yesterday that Senator Obama would pick veteran senator Joe Biden -- polls yesterday indicated about half of Senator Clinton's supporters were still refusing to back Senator Obama. Despite renewed campaigning from Senator Clinton to convince her supporters to back the man who narrowly beat her in the drawn-out battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, many of her supporters remain upset by her loss and want to at least see her on the Obama ticket. Senator Obama has repeatedly said Senator Clinton would be on his short list, though speculation over the past few days has centred on Senator Biden, Indiana senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.

Labels: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, US elections

The United Nations - John McCain and his secretive plot to 'kill the UN' - by Johann Hari

Does John McCain have a "hidden agenda" to "kill the UN"? That's what the man who devised McCain's big set-piece foreign policy proposal says – and he's delighted it is sailing silently through the presidential election campaign towards success. This story begins with a Republican presidential candidate who, despite the hype, doesn't seem to know much about foreign affairs. McCain recently talked at length about problems on the "Iraq/Pakistan border" – the countries are a thousand miles apart. Asked how to deal with Darfur, he mused about "bringing pressure on the government of Somalia". Uh – it's Sudan, Senator McCain. And he keeps expressing his desire to build up US relations with Czechoslovakia, a country that hasn't existed for 15 years.

But McCain does know one thing: he doesn't like the United Nations. He championed George Bush's appointment of John Bolton as US ambassador to the UN – precisely because Bolton scorns the UN as "irrelevant" and "a twilight zone". He even announced "there is no such thing as the United Nations". It was like appointing Marilyn Manson as ambassador to the Vatican.

This is part of a long seam of thinking on the American right: they opposed Franklin D Roosevelt's spearheading of the United Nations as a fetter on American power, and have never been properly reconciled to it.

Labels: John McCain, Obama, US elections

Obama goes on the offensive as McCain surges into lead at polls - by Leonard Doyle

Barack Obama has launched a sustained and sharply negative advertising campaign against his Republican opponent John McCain, who has vaulted into the lead, according to an opinion poll released yesterday. Mr McCain now leads Mr Obama among likely voters by 46 per cent to 41 per cent. The poll found that voters believe Mr McCain would be a stronger manager of America's declining economy, even though he admits to knowing little about economic issues.

Mr Obama's tone reflects growing anxieties within the Democratic Party that their candidate has been damaged by a fusillade of attacks by Mr McCain in recent weeks while he has been holidaying in Hawaii. The political spotlight abruptly turned to Mr McCain, who used Russia's invasion of Georgia to bolster his foreign policy credentials.

Labels: John McCain, Obama, US elections

Georgia War: A Neocon Election Ploy? - by Robert Scheer

Is it possible that this time the October surprise was tried in August, and that the garbage issue of brave little Georgia struggling for its survival from the grasp of the Russian bear was stoked to influence the US presidential election?

Before you dismiss that possibility, consider the role of one Randy Scheunemann, for four years a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government, ending his official lobbying connection only in March, months after he became Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain's senior foreign policy adviser. Previously, Scheunemann was best known as one of the neoconservatives who engineered the war in Iraq when he was a director of the Project for a New American Century. It was Scheunemann who, after working on the McCain 2000 presidential campaign, headed the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which championed the US Iraq invasion.

Labels: EU, Georgia, Russia, US, US elections

"I’m sure that everyone has heard the same argument put forward by the Democrats at least a hundred times or more; “A vote for a third-party candidate does nothing but insure a McCain win” (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). If I hear this ridiculous argument one more time I will probably need stitches in my tongue from biting it.

First of all, the premise behind the argument is irrational. The worst thing about advancing this kind of black/white, either/or argument is that the argument becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. When people advance the idea that only a Democrat or a Republican can win a Presidential election, it helps to reinforce that idea in people’s minds. The more this argument is echoed throughout America, the more people believe it. There are a number of reasons why the next president doesn’t have to belong to the duopoly that has taken this nation to the brink of disaster.

Labels: John McCain, Obama, Two Party System, US elections

That smell on the nation's highways isn't just car exhaust. It's also the rank odor of political populism, as John McCain and Barack Obama both try to score points with dubious energy ideas. Obama has now reversed an earlier stance and declared that the U.S. government should sell 70 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help ease the sting of $4 gas. That comes less than a week after Obama changed his mind about offshore drilling, deciding that some drilling in sensitive waters would be OK with him after all, given good environmental safeguards.

McCain has had his own inspired moments, including his call to suspend the 18.4-cent-per-gallon federal tax on gasoline, and a $300 million prize for anybody who develops a miracle battery able to cheaply power a car. Hey, how about a prize for building a seven-passenger bicycle? Or a highway with no traffic?

Labels: John McCain, Obama, US elections

West Wing : Obama's Romantic Revolution - by Gabor Steingart

Barack Obama's promises to heal the world were lapped up in Berlin on Thursday. His speech was a masterpiece in the art of political magic -- and it was all coolly calculated.Barack Obama is often compared with a pop star these days. That makes the job of being a politician all the more difficult for him. In show business the performance is the finished product, where reality and appearance come together as one. What you see is what you get, as the Americans say. There is no morning after. "If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us; if we're a humble nation, but strong, they'll welcome us," said George W. Bush during the 2000 election campaign. The worthlessness of this statement is now well known. Back then he was believed. In reality there are just two types of voters: the romantic democrats and the common-sense democrats.

Labels: Obama, US elections

US elections: Obama wows Berlin crowd with historic speech - by Jonathan Freedland

For the man who has brought rock-star charisma to electoral politics, today saw the campaign rally as pop festival, a summer gathering of peace, love — and loathing of George Bush. Taking what he calls his "improbable journey" to the heart of Europe, Barack Obama succeeded in closing down one of Berlin's main thoroughfares tonight, luring the city's young in their tens of thousands to stand in the evening sunshine and hear him spin his dreams of hope, not for America this time, but for the whole world.

The young and the pierced, some with guitars slung over their shoulders, others barefoot, jammed up against each other to cheer on a man who in less than a year has become the world's most popular serving politician, even
if, as yet, he has been elected to no office grander than the junior Senate seat for Illinois.By common consent, tonight and the entire Obama week has been a huge success, generating priceless images for TV consumption back home and helping Obama cross the credibility gap — making it easier for Americans to imagine him as a player on the world stage.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, Germany, US elections

Obama's Plans Must Be Louder Than Europe's Cheers - by Matthew Lynn

The Brandenburg Gate would have been the perfect backdrop for Barack Obama to give his first major speech on trans-Atlantic relations tomorrow. Not surprisingly, German Chancellor Angela Merkel killed the idea when it was first mooted by the U.S. presidential candidate's team. Allowing him to appear at such a symbolic place during an election campaign risked allegations of favoritism that would have been foolish to ignore.

What Obama needs to do now is start seizing that chance. He must flesh out a program that can allow Europe and the U.S. to work together again. And Europeans need to do more than just cheer the rhetoric and star quality: They have to ask some tough questions about what Obama intends to do.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, US elections

OBAMA in Europe: Deja vu again - by Helle Dale

Mr. Obama said in an interview that the purpose of his trip was to get acquainted with foreign leaders that he fully expected to deal with in the next 8-10 years.Of course in Europe, no one will mind very much if Mr. Obama was elected king by the Americans and threw the entire Constitution out the window. The level of adulation exceeds even that which attended the candidacy of Sen. John Kerry. A recent British poll suggested that 53 percent of Europeans favor Mr. Obama for president while only 11 percent would like to see Mr. McCain in the White House. With stops in Germany, France and Britain, he will be soaking up the adulation. In Europe, Mr. Obama is not just viewed as the potential first black American president, but also as the anti-George Bush, the man who will slay the U.S. president that Europeans have despised most in human memory and whose policies they expect Mr. Obama will reverse.

Interestingly, no European country has ever allowed an ethnic minority to hold a position so powerful, and is hardly likely to do so in the foreseeable future.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, US elections

US Election Fraud - GOP cyber-security expert suggests Diebold tampered with 2002 election - by Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane

A leading cyber-security expert and former adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has fresh evidence regarding election fraud on Diebold electronic voting machines during the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial and senatorial elections. Some critics of electronic voting raised questions about the 2002 Georgia race even at the time. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Max Cleland, who was five percentage points ahead of Republican challenger Saxby Chambliss in polls taken a week before the vote, lost 53% to 46%. Incumbent Democratic Governor Roy Barnes, who led challenger Sonny Perdue in the polls by eleven points, lost 51% to 46%. However, because the Diebold machines used throughout the state provided no paper trail, it was impossible to ask for a recount in either case.

Labels: US, US elections

Barack Obama fears the Blair effect: hero abroad, liability at home - by Sarah Baxter

As Obama embarks on his first foreign tour as the Democratic presidential nominee, the world is inclined to agree. If Britain and Europe could vote, he would win the White House in a landslide. A poll in The Guardian last week showed that Obama would trounce John McCain, his Republican rival, in Britain by a margin of five votes to one. France and Germany are even more ardent members of Obamaland.

Once Obama arrives home, he should stop focusing on foreign affairs, seasoned advisers warn. In 1992, one of the few occasions when a Democrat was elected president in the past 40 years, Bill Clinton’s slogan was: “It’s the economy, stupid.” The world may love Obama, but Americans love a president who focuses like a laser on their greatest concerns.

Labels: Barack Obama, US, US elections

Europe prepares for Obamania

US presidential front-runner Barack Obama will tour Europe and the Middle East next week, making much anticipated stops in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, Berlin, Paris and London. His exact itinerary has been kept a secret for security reasons, but his campaign says he will be in Amman, Jordan on Monday; Tuesday and Wednesday in Israel and the West Bank; Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Europe; and somewhere in all this, fact-finding missions to Iraq and Afghanistan. He will be accompanied to the war zones by two US Senate colleagues, Democrat Jack Reed and Republican Chuck Hagel, an outspoken critic of president George W Bush and the Iraq War.

Quinnipiac University Poll, conducted from July 8 to July13, 2008, showed Obama leading McCain by 9% points – 50% to 41% among the registered voters nationally. Reuters/Zogby Poll, conducted from July 9 to July13, 2008, showed Obama leading McCain by 7% points – 47% to 40% among the registered voters nationally.

Labels: Barack Obama, Europe, US elections

US elections - Will Martial Law Prevent US elections in November?

Will we even see an election this fall in the USA? - by Rachael Bliss

Conversely, will we be forced to endure more time under the influence of the Bush Administration, during which time new judges will be possibly appointed to federal judgeships, including the Supreme Court itself? Nah, will never happen, we say. But don't be so sure about the so-called "impossibility." Have you ever heard of martial law, whereby because of an emergency, the current president gets new powers, one being the ability to delay elections, such as the General Election scheduled for the first Tuesday in November of 2008.

What kind of emergency could happen that would put the US into a situation calling for the proclamation of martial law?

Labels: Marshall Law, US elections

US elections - Barack Obama details foreign policy plan ahead of European and other international visits

by Ewen MacAskill

Barack Obama laid the foundations for a new US foreign policy today ahead of his trips to Europe and the Middle East, promising to work with allies to tackle the threats of the 21st century with a push comparable to the Marshall Plan, a policy enacted after the second world war. In his biggest speech on foreign policy since he entered the presidential race in February last year, he said the US has "paid a price for foreign policy that lectures without listening".

Ranging over the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Africa and the United Nations, he set out five goals for his presidency: ending the war in Iraq; finishing the war with al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan; ending US oil dependency; securing all nuclear weapons and materials from terrorists and rogue states; and rebuilding US alliances.

Labels: Barack Obama, US, US elections

BARACK OBAMA A FRIENDLIER FRONT MAN FOR IMPERIALISM

Obama represents a section of the ruling elite that has concluded the invasion and conquest of Iraq was a strategic debacle and that a significant change in posture and personnel is required to salvage the interests of US imperialism in the Mideast. With Obama’s nomination secured, the American media has now gone into overdrive to peddle such illusions.

The television networks have devoted endless hours to glorifying the great achievement of American democracy in nominating an African-American to lead the presidential ticket of one of the two major bourgeois parties for the first time in US history. There is no doubt that such illusions are currently widespread, and not only among minority workers and young people of all racial backgrounds, who are genuinely appalled by the outgoing Bush-Cheney administration’s eight-year record of war, reaction and social decay. But the significance of Obama’s nomination, as well as his election on November 4, should that occur, cannot be judged on the basis of such superficial considerations as skin color.

Despite the incessant claims of the media and of their Democratic Party supporters and apologists, Obama no more represents the interests of black and minority people than Hillary Clinton represents the interests of all women. Both Obama and Clinton are political representatives of the American ruling elite, the small financial aristocracy which controls all the economic and political levers within US society, including the two officially recognized “major” parties and the mass media. Obama is a fervent defender of the profit system and has the backing of some of the wealthiest individuals—including billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who this year became the single richest man in America, surpassing Bill Gates of Microsoft.

Like Senator Obama, Mr. Buffett is an intelligent man, and he is not backing the Illinois Democrat because he seeks a radical transformation in American society.

Labels: Barack Obama, Capitalism, EU, US elections

US Presidential Elections - CNN Poll Shows Barack Obama Losing Support From Registered Democrats

A recently released CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll shows that the number of Hillary Clinton supporters planning to vote for John McCain is down. The bad news for Obama is that the number of Clinton supports planning to vote for Barack Obama is also down

Labels: Obama, US elections

Obama to visit Europe, Middle East

Barack Obama will visit Europe and the Middle East ahead of August's Democratic nomination convention, his campaign has said. The trip to France, Germany, Great Britain, Jordan and Israel will focus on issues such as terrorism and nuclear proliferation.In a statement, Mr Obama said: "This trip will be an important opportunity for me to assess the situation in countries that are critical to American national security, and to consult with some of our closest friends and allies about the common challenges we face.

Labels: Barack Obama, EU, Europe, US elections

US Presidential elections 2008 - Obama and McCain: Different -- and Evolving -- Visions for the U.S. Economy

For the most part, the positions of the presumptive nominees, Republican McCain and Democrat Obama, fall along traditional party lines: Obama leans more toward government involvement in the economy, while McCain's proposals rely on private sector solutions. Both plans, however, would certainly add to already troubling deficits, according to Wharton faculty and economic policy analysts who point to worrisome elements of both candidates' plans.

In the Indian business magazine Business Today, V.K. Kaul, professor of business economics at Delhi University, said that rating the most favorable candidate from India's perspective is a futile exercise. "Any U.S. president will look to promote only that country's interests. Who comes to power is, therefore, immaterial."

A fragmented form of integration is emerging in the region, in which Central America and the Caribbean are strengthening their ties with the U.S. whereas South America -- except for Colombia -- is coming together and strengthening its relationships with Europe more than with the U.S. In this context, "Colombia will continue to be a strategic ally of the U.S., even under a Democratic-controlled government and Congress."

Labels: John McCain, Obama, US elections

US Presidential election - the Obamacons - Dismayed Republicans emerge as Barack Obama supporters - by Sara Baxter

What do the daughter of Richard Nixon, a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and the son of Milton Friedman, the monetarist economist, have in common? They are all Obamacons: conservatives, Republicans and free market champions who support Barack Obama, the Democratic party nominee, for president.

The Obama campaign has a sharp-eyed political operations team tasked with seeking out prominent endorsers “on both sides of the aisle”, according to a campaign official. It came tantalisingly close to securing one of the biggest names in politics when Colin Powell, secretary of state during President George W Bush’s first term in office, said last week that he might vote for Obama. Brink Lindsey of the Cato Institute, a libertarian free market think tank in Washington, said he was “seriously thinking of pulling the lever” for Obama in November. Although he is lukewarm about some of his policies - particularly on free trade and tax and spending - he believes that “the post-partisan, postcultural war rhetoric of Barack Obama is deeply appealing”. There is also the question of pay-back for eight years of Republican mismanagement. “There is a good chunk of people, like myself, who believe the Republicans ought to go down in flames,” he said. “They have made a complete hash of things and they deserve to pay.”

Labels: Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Obamacon, US elections

US Elections - The 2008 US presidential election will not be close - by Billy I.Ahmed

"In early December 2007, when Hillary Clinton was 20-plus points ahead of the Democratic field in national polls, she was a basic weak candidate, a beatable candidate, and polls indicated that Barack Obama would be a stronger match against Republicans. She had the highest "unfavorable" rating of anyone who had ever run for the presidency, and she was the only Democratic candidate who could unite and energise the Republican base, as she was running 10 to 15 points behind in generic Democrat vs. Republican presidential polls. But Barack Obama is a different story. The November presidential election is not going to be close. Barack Obama is going to beat John McCain by 8 to 10 points in the national popular vote and win 300 to 350 electoral votes. Obama is going to wipe out McCain."

Labels: US elections

US elections - Obama scolds credit card companies, McCain - by Johanna Neuman

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama took aim today at credit card companies that charge exorbitant -- and sometimes hidden -- fees to economically scrapped consumers, saying the companies "have been crossing the line to boost their bottom line." Charging that his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, "has been part of the problem" by opposing legislation to protect consumers from deceptive practices, Obama said: "We cannot let the rules of the game continue to be rigged against ordinary Americans."

Obama noted that credit card companies have spent millions of dollars to finance political campaigns -- including one industry group that spent nearly $800,000 on lobbying -- "to get laws written to their liking." He vowed that as president, he would "look out for the interests of hard-working families, not just their big campaign donors and corporate allies." Obama, saying he wants to ensure that credit card debt doesn't become "the next sub prime crisis," proposed a five-star rating system of companies. While urging Americans to "pay what we owe," he said he would push for a credit card bill of rights to ban interest on late fees and unilateral changes to card agreements so consumers "pay the rate you signed up for."

Labels: Barack Obama, Credit Card Industry, US Economy, US elections

US elections - No, He Can't Because Yes, They Will - by Larry C. Johnson

Obama's mantra, "Yes, We Can" is inspiring and heartwarming, but in the end is an empty phrase that will founder once the Republican political attack machine spins up. I realize that most Obamatons are so wedded to his vision of hope that any effort to point out the cracks in the foundation of the new Democratic Savior are met with fury and disdain. If you think for a minute that the Republican party -- who used Willie Horton on Michael Dukakis to devastating effect, who portrayed triple amputee and veteran Max Cleland as a bosom buddy of Osama Bin Laden, and convinced many voters that decorated combat veteran John Kerry was a fraud -- will give Obama a pass come the fall then you are in serious denial.

But, unlike the attacks on Dukakis, Cleland, and Kerry, the ammunition that Obama has provided to his political foes is significant and deadly. But try telling that to Obama disciples. You get name calling and character assassination (just read the reaction to this piece). At the same time, Obama is treated with a reverence and fawning that I have never seen in my life for a political figure.

Labels: Barack Obama, US elections

Europe shows love for Barack Obama - unfortunately it has no vote -

If Barack Obama was taking on John McCain in a global election he would already be on his way to the White House. A recent worldwide poll showed him beating the Republican by more than three to one. In Europe, his margin of victory would be even greater: Mr McCain would get only 6 per cent of the vote in Germany, where a government spokesman has waxed publicly about the attraction of Mr Obama's “mixture of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy”. Just about the whole of France is backing Mr Obama. He is, in the words of Jack Lang, the former Socialist Culture Minister, “the America we love ... the youth and racial mix of an America under transformation and in movement”.

Labels: Barack Obama, Europe, US elections

For the complete report from TIME/CNN click on this link

US Elections: Majority of Dems Want VP Clinton - by Blake Dvorak

A new CNN/Opinion Research poll out today finds that a majority of Democrats think Obama should pick Hillary as his running mate, 54-43. The poll also finds that 60% of Democratic women think Hillary should be VP, but only 46% of men. What to make of this? First, Obama shouldn't be making any decisions about his running mate any time soon. By which I mean for at least a few weeks. The passions from the primary are still too hot to really get a clear sense of just what kind of candidate Obama needs. Better to let the fact of Obama's nomination sink with the general public before making any huge decisions.

Labels: Hillary Clinton, US elections

Can a black candidate be elected US president?- by Charlotte Raab

Primary season polls however clearly show that race remains a huge factor in the electoral landscape, says University of Washington psychologist and political analyst Anthony Greenwald. Obama's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton defeated him by more than eight percentage points in nine out of 18 primaries, Greenwald said in a study published by the Pew Research Center. "It is evident ... not only that race is still strongly operative as a factor in America's state elections, but also that its impact depends in substantial part on the racial mixture of the state in question," he said.

Schaller, who wrote a book arguing that Democrats can win the general election without the southern states, says this "will be the first election in American history where 25 percent of votes will be cast by non-whites."

Labels: Obama, US elections

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Labels: Hillary Clinton, US elections

For the complete report from the National Post click on this link

US Elections - Worrying signs for Obama in Clinton win

Hillary Clinton won a commanding victory yesterday in West Virginia's Democratic primary, prolonging the party's presidential race and underscoring front-runner Barack Obama's weakness among blue-collar voters important to capturing the White House in November. Ms. Clinton's aides said the West Virginia results showed once again she would be the stronger candidate against Republican John McCain, citing her consistent support among lower-income Americans in swing states that will decide the November election. "The bottom line is this: The White House is won in the swing states and I am winning the swing states," Ms. Clinton said.

Labels: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, US elections

US Elections 2008 - As the US Press continues to swoon over Obama, Hillary beats him in Indiana - neighbor state to his home state of Illinois

The US Press said that Hillary Clinton had to win with double digit figures in Pennsylvania to make a dent in Obama's political fortunes. When she did the Press said the double digit numbers should have been higher. On Indiana they said that Hillary could not win, because after all it was the neighboring state of Illinois, Obama's home State. When she won last night, they said she barely squeaked by, while Obama's win in Nort Carolina was labeled a decisive, big win, even though he did not win as expected with double digit numbers.

The editor-in-chief of the liberal online magazine Salon, Joan Walsh, says her colleagues in the media simply “hate” Hillary Clinton — while they’re “swooning” over her Democratic presidential rival Barack Obama. Appearing on CNN on Sunday, Walsh said: "I was struck when I got to Iowa and New Hampshire in January by how our media colleagues were just swooning over Barack Obama. That is not too strong a word. They were swooning and they hate, hate Hillary Clinton, most of them.” Walsh added: “Hate is also not too strong a word. There is such a double standard.”

Independent political experts say that the real issue that dogs Obama now and probably also will if he manages to get the nomination, certainly not a given, regardless if he is the "favorite" of the US Press, is race. That in any season is most important for a politician, especially a black politician like Obama who has worked tirelessly to sell white voters on his non-racial message of unity, harmony, and hope. Obama is no different than other inexperienced politicians who get blind-sided by damaging and hurtful allegations and associations, like Obama with his own pastor Jeremiah Wright. They panic, do their public mea culpas, and hope and pray that it all blows over. It never does. Obama does not have the nomination all sown up, regardless of how deeply the US corporate Press loves him.

Democratic party leaders can read statistics like anyone else. Polls are showing that Hillary can beat McCain 47-41 while Obama loses by 5 percentage points. Three new Quinnipiac University polls out of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania show Clinton matching up stronger against McCain than Obama. In Florida and Ohio specifically, Clinton beats McCain handedly while Obama ties the Arizona senator. In Florida, Clinton beats McCain by 8 points (49 to 41 percent) while Obama trails by 1 point (44 to 43 percent) In Ohio, Clinton is up 10 points over McCain (48-38 percent) while Obama is again down 1 point. (43 to 42 percent). Clinton and Obama both beat McCain in Pennsylvania, though Clinton does so by a wider margin. (Clinton bests McCain by 14 points there, Obama beats McCain by 9 points.)McCain trailed 45-46 percent when placed by pollsters against Clinton, but led 46-45 percent when against Obama.

One can only feel disgust for the corporate media, who make millions of dollars manipulating public opinion for reasons which have nothing to do with democracy or the free press. On the other hand we tip our hats to the many small, independent, local, and regional newspapers editors in the US from Cutler, Maine to Paia, Hawaii, who still consider the main purpose of the Press is to be an innovator, a school and an objective reviewer and reporter of facts and figures.

Labels: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, US elections, US Press