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The Obama-Biden worldview with Eric Margolis, Phyllis Bennis and Paul Heinbecker. Part 2
Phyllis Bennis is a Senior Analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC. She is the author of Before and After: US Foreign Policy and the September 11 Crisis and Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power. Her newest book Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer will be available in September 2008.
Eric Margolis is a journalist born in New York City and holding degrees from Georgetown the University of Geneva, and New York University. During the Vietnam War he served as a US Army infantryman. Margolis is the author of War at the Top of the World –- The Struggle for Afghanistan and Asia is a syndicated columnist and broadcaster whose articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, Mainichi Shimbun and US Naval Institute Proceedings.
Paul Heinbecker joined the [[Department of External Affairs (Canada)|Department of External Affairs]] immediately after graduation, and received postings abroad in [[Ankara]], [[Stockholm]], and [[Paris]]. From 1989 to 1992, Heinbecker served as Chief Foreign Policy Advisor and speechwriter for [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Brian Mulroney]], and as Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet for Foreign and Defence Policy. In 1992, he was appointed ambassador to [[Germany]]. In the late 1990s, he organized the task force on the Kosovo conflict, and served as head of the Canadian delegation to the Climate Change Convention in [[Kyoto]]. In 2000, Heinbecker was appointed as Ambassador to the United Nations. There he was a strong proponent of the [[International Criminal Court]] and argued for compromise in the lead-in to the [[2003 Invasion of Iraq|2003 attack on Iraq]].
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89245887_the_obama_biden_worldview
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89259573_obama_biden_and_iran
See Part 4 at: http://current.com/items/89262719_obama_biden_and_iraqThe Obama-Biden worldview with Eric Margolis, Phyllis Bennis and Paul Heinbecker.... more
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August 4, 2008, Fairbanks, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today responded to the energy plan put forward by the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Illinois Senator Barack Obama.
“I am pleased to see Senator Obama acknowledge the huge potential Alaska’s natural gas reserves represent in terms of clean energy and sound jobs,” Governor Palin said. “The steps taken by the Alaska State Legislature this past week demonstrate that we are ready, willing and able to supply the energy our nation needs.”
In a speech given in Lansing, Michigan, Senator Obama called for the completion of the Alaska natural gas pipeline, stating, “Over the next five years, we should also lease more of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil and gas production. And we should also tap more of our substantial natural gas reserves and work with the Canadian government to finally build the Alaska natural gas pipeline, delivering clean natural gas and creating good jobs in the process.”
Governor Palin also acknowledged the Senator’s proposal to offer $1,000 rebates to those struggling with the high cost of energy.
“We in Alaska feel that crunch and are taking steps to address it right here at home,” Governor Palin said. “This is a tool that must be on the table to buy us time until our long-term energy plans can be put into place. We have already enjoyed the support of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, and it is gratifying to see Senator Obama get on board.”August 4, 2008, Fairbanks, Alaska - Governor Sarah Palin today responded to the energy... more
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Authenticity is the one word threat to the Obama-Biden ticket.
There is something going on this weekend which traditional pundits, traditional consultants and traditional politicians are simply missing. All of the normal biography-oriented and issue-oriented analysis misses an emotional gestalt event comparable to when Ronald Reagan in 1980 crystalized his leadership in New Hampshire when he seized control of the GOP debate.
In one sudden moment Friday, John McCain fundamentally changed American politics in a manner that transcends issues and details.
The great threat to the Obama-Biden ticket can be captured in one word: authenticity.
There is something unaffected and "unsophisticated" (in the Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and University of Chicago meanings of the word) about Governor Palin. She really was point guard of a state championship basketball team. She really is a competent hunter. She is a hockey mom. She has one son about to go to Iraq.
She has 13 years in elected office
By any practical standard she has done far more in the real world with much more spontaneity and practicality than Barack Obama. And there is something deeply real and courageous about John McCain ignoring most of his advisers and all of the "insider wisdom" to reach out to a younger woman whose greatest characteristic is undaunted courage and a willingness to clean out the corruption in her own party.
This is a moment of stunning authenticity versus a sad collapse on the part of the Obama campaign from " change you can count on" to politics as usual, as marked by Obama's choice of a senator first elected when Palin was 9 years old.
As I wandered around from a family restaurant to the dry cleaners to a variety of other non-political places, people kept walking up to me and talking with energy and enthusiasm about their reaction to McCain’s choice of Governor Palin. As I sifted through their emotions and the intensity of their reaction it hit me that they were responding to "the real thing." The power of Palin is that she is so out of the establishment, and so out of the talking-heads, inside-the –Beltway-elite mindset, that the 80 per cent of Americans who believe we are on the wrong track suddenly can identify with someone who isn’t part of what got us on that track.
Palin will make mistakes. The news media and the Obama researchers will find things to attack. But if she stays relaxed and continues to be authentically who she has been for 44 years, the country is going to love her, and they are very rapidly going to get disgusted with the cynical negative nastiness of politics as usual.
Finally 2008 really has given us "change we can count on." Ironically, it is the McCain-Palin ticket.
Newt Gingrich
Authenticity is the one word threat to the Obama-Biden ticket.
There is something... more
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Obama tells 60 Minutes Biden "Can Step In And Become President," Calls McCain's VP Pick An "Up-And-Coming Public Servant" Obama tells 60 Minutes Biden "Can Step In And Become President," Calls... more
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The State of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin said Wednesday.
She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state's northern and northwestern coasts.
Palin argued there is not enough evidence to support a listing. Polar bears are well-managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation, she said.
Climate models that predict continued loss of sea ice, the main habitat of polar bears, during summers are unreliable, Palin said.
The announcement drew a strong response from the primary author of the listing petition.
"She's either grossly misinformed or intentionally misleading, and both are unbecoming," said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Alaska deserves better."
Siegel said it was unconscionable for Palin to ignore overwhelming evidence of global warming's threat to sea ice, the polar bear's habitat.
"Even the Bush administration can't deny the reality of global warming," she said. "The governor is aligning herself and the state of Alaska with the most discredited, fringe, extreme viewpoints by denying this."
As marine mammals, polar bears are regulated by the federal government, not the state. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne last week made the listing decision and said it was based on three findings.
"First, sea ice is vital to polar bear survival. Second, the polar bear's sea-ice habitat has dramatically melted in recent decades. Third, computer models suggest sea ice is likely to further recede in the future," he said.The State of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a... more
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Obama's running mate presents the strategic plan for the next administration
by Umberto Pascali
On Aug 27 2008 at the Democratic Convention in Denver, Vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden presented the plan for the real war, the war against China, Russia. He repeated the key points pushed by Zbigniew Brzezinski in his obsessive determination to go to the final clash with Russia and Asia.
For Biden, The greates mistake of the Bush administration was its failure "to face the biggest forces shaping this century. The emergence of Russia, China and India's great powers".
"What was the "consequence of this neglect"? "Russia challenging… Georgia's freedom." The Obama-Biden administration will repair those criminal mistakes... Barack and I will end that neglect. We will hold Russia accountable."
"The wars of the Bush administration were, so to speak the wrong ones.
"The new administration will unchain the real war. The war to confront the emergence of Russia, China, India.
"The war, the real war will have to be waged in Afghanistan/Pakistan - exactly the area where it will be more disruptive for the feared Russia, China India challenge.
"The previous administration was not warmonger enough, according to Biden. The new Democratic administration will increase the number of troops sent in central Asia.
"Then "the real war" against America's enemies will start. "al-Qaida and the Taliban - the people who have actually attacked us on 9/11 - they've regrouped in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan and are plotting new attacks."
"McCain is bad as President because he did not understand the need for the "real war."
"McCain believes that the war in Afghanistan is over. But Obama is the real champion of the US National Security. "One year ago he said 'We need to send two more combat battalions to Afghanistan'…"
"The military establishment is with Obama, in this real war, Biden said. "the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has echoed Barack's call for more troops and John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama was right."
"Bush foreign policy has dug us into a very deep hole, with very few friends to help us climb out. And for the last seven years, the administration has failed to face the biggest the biggest forces shaping this century. The emergence of Russia, China and India's great powers, the spread of lethal weapons, the shortage of secure supplies of energy, food and water. The challenge of climate change and the resurgence of fundamentalism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the real central front in the war on terror.
"Ladies and gentlemen, in recent years and in recent days we once again see the consequences of the neglect, of this neglect, of Russia challenging the very freedom of a new democratic country of Georgia. Barack and I will end that neglect. We will hold Russia accountable for its action and we will help Georgia rebuild. I have been on the ground in Georgia, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and I can tell you in no uncertain terms, this administration's policy has been an abysmal failure. America cannot afford four more years of this failure.And now, now, despite being complacent in the catastrophic foreign policy, John McCain says Barack Obama, Barrack Obama is not ready to protect our national security. Now let me ask you this. Whose judgment do you trust? Should you trust the judgment of John McCain when he said only 3 years ago, "Afghanistan - we don't read about it anymore in the papers, because it succeeded"? Or do you believe Barack Obama, who said a year ago, "We need to send two more combat battalions to Afghanistan"?
"The fact of the matter is, al-Qaida and the Taliban - the people who have actually attacked us on 9/11 - they've regrouped in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan and are plotting new attacks. And the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has echoed Barack's call for more troops and John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama was right."
Obama's running mate presents the strategic plan for the next administration... more
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Panel discussion with Gareth Porter and Lawrence Korb.
Gareth Porter is a historian and investigative journalist on US foreign and military policy analyst. He writes regularly for Inter Press Service on US policy towards Iraq and Iran. Author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam.
Lawrence J. Korb is the Director of National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a Senior Adviser to the Center for Defense Information. Korb served an advisor to the Reagan-Bush election committee in 1980 and was then appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations and Logistics) from 1981 to 1985. In that position, he administered about seventy percent of the Defense budget. For his service he was awarded the Department of Defense’s medal for Distinguished Public Service.Panel discussion with Gareth Porter and Lawrence Korb.
Gareth Porter is a historian... more
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Tom Hayden: Biden will not be a progressive pressure on Obama.
With the Democratic National Convention in full swing, Tom Hayden believes that Senator Joe Biden "will not be a progressive element on Senator Barrack Obama" and that his selection as Obama's running mate is not "a step in any direction." Hayden goes on to state that, "the democrats are in danger of decoupling the war from the recession and high oil prices."
Tom Hayden is an American social and political activist and politician, most famous for his involvement in the antiwar and civil rights movements of the 1960s. Hayden served in the California State Assembly and the State Senate. His books include Rebel: A Personal History of the 1960s; Ending the War in Iraq.Tom Hayden: Biden will not be a progressive pressure on Obama.
With the Democratic... more
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Obama-Biden and US foreign policy with Eric Margolis, Phyllis Bennis and Paul Heinbecker. Part 1
Phyllis Bennis is a Senior Analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC. She is the author of Before and After: US Foreign Policy and the September 11 Crisis and Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power. Her newest book Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer will be available in September 2008.
Eric Margolis is a journalist born in New York City and holding degrees from Georgetown the University of Geneva, and New York University. During the Vietnam War he served as a US Army infantryman. Margolis is the author of War at the Top of the World –- The Struggle for Afghanistan and Asia is a syndicated columnist and broadcaster whose articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, Mainichi Shimbun and US Naval Institute Proceedings.
Paul Heinbecker joined the [[Department of External Affairs (Canada)|Department of External Affairs]] immediately after graduation, and received postings abroad in [[Ankara]], [[Stockholm]], and [[Paris]]. From 1989 to 1992, Heinbecker served as Chief Foreign Policy Advisor and speechwriter for [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Brian Mulroney]], and as Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet for Foreign and Defence Policy. In 1992, he was appointed ambassador to [[Germany]]. In the late 1990s, he organized the task force on the Kosovo conflict, and served as head of the Canadian delegation to the Climate Change Convention in [[Kyoto]]. In 2000, Heinbecker was appointed as Ambassador to the United Nations. There he was a strong proponent of the [[International Criminal Court]] and argued for compromise in the lead-in to the [[2003 Invasion of Iraq|2003 attack on Iraq]].
See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89255141_will_obama_binden_question_military_dominance
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89259573_obama_biden_and_iran
See Part 4 at: http://current.com/items/89262719_obama_biden_and_iraqObama-Biden and US foreign policy with Eric Margolis, Phyllis Bennis and Paul... more
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Clinton rallies most Democrats behind Obama . . . but some Clinton supporters are not so sure.
Pepe Escobar, born in Brazil is the roving correspondent for Asia Times and an analyst for The Real News Network. He's been a foreign correspondent since 1985, based in London, Milan, Los Angeles, Paris, Singapore, and Bangkok. Since the late 1990s, he has specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central Asia, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has made frequent visits to Iran and is the author of Globalistan and also Red Zone Blues: A Snapshot of Baghdad During the Surge both published by Nimble Books in 2007.Clinton rallies most Democrats behind Obama . . . but some Clinton supporters are not... more
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Joe Biden accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination Wednesday night and declared that the challenges America faces require ``more than a good soldier'' in the White House, hailing Barack Obama as a wise leader who can deliver the change the nation needs.Joe Biden accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination Wednesday night and... more
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ENVER - Sen. Barack Obama dropped in on his own party at the Democratic convention a day early Wednesday to praise his wife, his former rival, and former President Bill Clinton for going to bat for him.
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"I think Michelle Obama kicked it off pretty well, don't you think?" Obama said, as delegates at the Pepsi Center roared.
As his wife clapped and smiled and mouthed, "I love you," Obama joined his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, on the platform.
"If I'm not mistaken, Hillary Clinton rocked the house down last night!" Obama said.
He also praised former President Bill Clinton, who spoke earlier Wednesday night, as someone who reminds us about "what it's like when you've got a president who actually puts people first. Thank you President Clinton."
Obama told the crowd he was proud to have "the whole Biden family on this journey with me to take America back."ENVER - Sen. Barack Obama dropped in on his own party at the Democratic convention a... more
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Sen. Barack Obama has traveled to the Democratic National Convention arena, making an unscheduled and unscripted appearance to join the party in celebrating his historic presidential nomination.
Obama joined the newly-nominated vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden on the platform and they hugged and applauded each other and the convention delegates.
Obama told the roaring crowd that he wants people to understand why he is proud to have "the whole Biden family on this journey with me to take America back."
He deadpanned at one point that he thought the convention had "gone pretty well so far."
More to come...
Sen. Barack Obama has traveled to the Democratic National Convention arena, making... more
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DENVER - Joe Biden was nominated for vice president Wednesday night and declared that the challenges America faces require "more than a good soldier" in the White House, hailing Barack Obama as a wise leader who can deliver the change the nation needs.
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In a single sentence, Obama's new running mate complimented John McCain's years of military service and slapped his claim on the presidency.
The Democratic National Convention approved Obama's chosen running mate by acclamation. Biden accepted with a summons to voters to elect Obama, formally nominated for president earlier in the day, as the nation's 44th president.
The Delaware senator told the convention he'd learned a lot about Obama by campaigning against him for the party's presidential nomination. Biden was an early dropout in that campaign, quitting after he managed only 1 percent of the vote in Iowa's opening caucuses.
Biden said that in debating Obama, watching him react under pressure, he learned about the strength of the Democratic presidential candidate's mind and his ability to touch and inspire people. DENVER - Joe Biden was nominated for vice president Wednesday night and declared that... more
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Watch Joe Biden's speech live using the CNN player below: click on the player below and choose the appropriate channel from the larger channel that pops up. Scroll down for excerpts of Biden's speech.
Below are excerpts of Joe Biden's speech at the Democratic Convention, as prepared for delivery.
Barack Obama and I took very different journeys to this destination, but we share a common story.
Mine began in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and then Wilmington, Delaware, with a dad who fell on hard economic times, but who always told me: "Champ, when you get knocked down, get up... get up."
My mother's creed is the American creed: no one is better than you. You are everyone's equal, and everyone is equal to you.
Story continues below
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My parents taught us to live our faith and treasure our family. We learned the dignity of work, and we were told that anyone can make it if they try.
That was America's promise.
For those of us who grew up in middle class neighborhoods like Scranton and Wilmington, that was the American dream - and we knew it.
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You can learn an awful lot about a man campaigning with him, debating him, and seeing how he reacts under pressure. You learn about the strength of his mind. But even more importantly, you learn about the quality of his heart.
I watched how he touched people, how he inspired them, and I realized he has tapped into the oldest American belief of all: we don't have to accept a situation we cannot bear. We have the power to change it.
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The choice in this election is clear. These times require more than a good soldier - they require a wise leader. A leader who can deliver change. The change everybody knows we need.
Barack Obama will deliver that change.
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As we gather here tonight, our country is less secure and more isolated than at any time in recent history. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has dug us into a very deep hole, with very few friends to help us climb out.
Should we trust John McCain's judgment when he says there can be no timelines to drawdown our troops from Iraq - that we must stay indefinitely?
Or should we listen to Barack Obama, who says shift responsibility to the Iraqis - and set a time to bring our combat troops home?
Now, after six long years, the Bush administration and the Iraqi government are on the verge of setting a date to bring our troops home.
John McCain was wrong. Barack Obama was right.
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Now, it's our responsibility to meet that challenge. Millions of Americans have been knocked down. And this is the time as Americans, together, we get back up.
Watch Joe Biden's speech live using the CNN player below: click on the player... more
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Stephen Zunes: Obama's anti-Iraq war stance wiped out by choosing hawk Biden.
Stephen Zunes is a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus ( http://www.fpif.org ). From 1996 to 1999, he served as chair of the Board of Peaceworkers, a US-based group supporting the non-violent struggle of the Kosovar Albanians and other non-violent movements and peacemakers in areas of conflict.Stephen Zunes: Obama's anti-Iraq war stance wiped out by choosing hawk Biden.... more
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On CNN this evening, Clintonista James Carville voiced his displeasure with tonight's proceedings as having no theme, no message.
"James Carville seems the least satisfied Democrat in here right now," noted CNN's Anderson Cooper. "What's going on James?"
"Well if this party has a message it has done a hell of a job of hiding it tonight I promise you that," Carville said.
"How do you mean?" asked the anchor. "You haven't heard about Iraq? You haven't heard about John McCain?"
"...George W. Bush, you haven't heard any of this," said Carville. "I mean we are a country that's borderline recession, 85% 80% wrong track country, people, health care, energy, I haven't heard anything about gas prices, I mean maybe we are going to look better Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but right now like I say we are playing hide the message pretty good."
"David Gergen said this a short time ago, that in the first two hours what is the message?" said Cooper.
"And you know what? David didn't get to where he was in life because he's stupid He was exactly right. I look at this and I am about to jump out of my chair...There's no message coming out of here, there is no sense that the party has a sense of urgency, and we've only got four nights this is 25% of the whole thing."On CNN this evening, Clintonista James Carville voiced his displeasure with... more
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"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."
Does this not ring alarm bells for America?"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and... more
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