Posts tagged "Obama"

Change, yes, but not the change Americans wanted

by Abdullah on Jan 27, 2010 Obama, Politics • Comments Closed • America, Obama, Politics

Obama's shaky first term is perhaps not surprising, given the turbulent tectonics of his country's politics

First Haiti quaked, then Massachusetts. Konrad Yakabuski said it here last Wednesday: One year into his first term, Barack Obama risks becoming a lame-duck President. Fresh out of his supporters’ enthusiasm, he must struggle to reinvent his presidency in tonight’s State of the Union address.

There are many reasons for Mr. Obama’s near-death experience. The biggest, however, is that he misread the national mood. Having gained the presidency by defeating the lacklustre candidate of a discredited party, Mr. Obama mistook this for a mandate. American voters no longer confer mandates. They merely express their disgruntlement. They were fed up with Republicans, yes, but so were they with Democrats, especially congressional ones. They were fed up with politics as usual. Mr. Obama swept to victory by posing as the candidate of change.

Which he was, unfortunately for him. Mr. Obama had set his sights on the transformation of American society. For most Americans, however, change was a matter of how, not what. Social revolution was the last thing on their minds. They ascribed the failed policies of the Bush years to the glaring defects of a political process dominated by special interests and partisan bickering.

So what did Mr. Obama do? He poured kerosene on both. He rashly decided to pursue health-care reform as the entering wedge of an ambitious agenda. There’s no more complex issue in American politics, none that engages so many contending vested interests, and none so certain to fuel partisan animosity. It’s one hornet’s nest after another. Since most Americans are quite satisfied with the quality of their health care and for that matter their health insurance, they feared to lose more from big changes than they hoped to gain from them. They never warmed to a 2,000-page bill that no one understood but few believed addressed the real problem – medical costs that are out of control. (more…)

Cop protecting Obama accidentally shoots self

by Abdullah on Nov 7, 2010 India, Obama, Security, US • Comments Closed • India, Obama, Security, USA

An assistant police inspector from Mumbai’s police crime branch, which was ordered to protect US President Barack Obama during his visit to India, accidentally shot himself in the leg near the hotel where the president is staying.

The Hindustan Times reports that Suhas Chaudhary’s .38 was not locked, which led to the accidental firing on Saturday. Police report that Chaudhary had just finished his shift of guarding the Taj Mahal Hotel. When he was getting into his vehicle, he removed his gun and accidentally pulled the trigger.

No one else was reported to be injured and neither President Obama nor Michelle Obama were at the hotel when it happened. The bullet grazed Chaudhary’s leg before hitting the ground. He was taken to hospital.

Mumbai police’s crime branch is part of the outer security ring of the president’s three-day visit to the country, which concludes Monday. Obama’s 10-day trip to Asia will then move on to Jakarta, Seoul and Yokohama before he returns to Washington.

Google Shows Backbone In Michelle Obama Controversy

by Asad on Nov 25, 2009 North America, US • Comments Closed • America, Obama, USA

LOS ANGELES (YBH.ME) – If you type in the word “Michelle Obama” on Google and choose “images” instead of web results, you get the following photo in position number one for Michelle Obama:

Offensive image used to attract web visitors

Google is running an ad above the image that says “Sometimes our search results can be offensive. We agree. Read more.” The ad clicks through to a page where Google clarifies its image and search policy:

Search engines are a reflection of the content and information that is available on the Internet. A site’s ranking in Google’s search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page’s relevance to a given query.

We at YBH! think the image is ridiculous. However, we don’t call for its removal because it is offensive. The page that hosts it uses the photo to draw in visitors; it’s a sales gimmick and attention-getter, it’s working. There was an ad for Obama fave J. Crew on the page when we clicked through. It is not a right wing anti-Obama website, just a page full of ads looking for traffic. (more…)

Loose in Obamalandia

by Abdurrahman on Dec 10, 2009 Army, North America, Politics, Terrorism, World News • Comments Closed • Afghanistan, Army, Christianity, North America, Obama, Politics, Terrorism, world

Barack Obama

Each Friday afternoon since Bush’s illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq in March 2003, my old friend Janine V. has been standing with Woman In Black here near the 101 off-ramp as a silent reminder of the on-going Bush-Obama genocide in the Middle East.

In the early days of this heroic now-nearly eight year-old vigil, patriotic motorists, often on their way to the local Tsuri Indian Casino to swill at the Firewater Lounge, would hurl invectives and sometimes loaded beer cans at the women. But as the war settled into a daily grind and the U.S. body count climbed incrementally towards 5000, the insults and the beer cans diminished and a few locals now even honk their horns in support.

In the seven years that Trinidad Women In Black have held their ground by the off-ramp, the participants, never spring chickens to begin with, have grown older and one now suffers from dementia. Now when the women stand, she turns to Janine and often asks if the war is over yet?

Barack Obama’s nationally televised December 1st declaration of renewed jihad against Al Qaeda’s estimated 100 Afghan warriors that will elevate

U.S. troop deployment to nearly a quarter of a million in Afghanistan and Iraq (plus another quarter million mercenary contractors) will keep Trinidad Women In Black in business for at least another decade.

The President’s goal of “disrupting, dismantling, and destroying” the Taliban-Qaeda Axis of Evil is calculated to tickle America’s terrorist nerve. As his grip on the wheel of state grows slack, Obama’s presidency increasingly depends on harpooning “America’s white whale” as Robert Wright recently dubbed Bin Laden in a New York Times op-ed piece. Al Qaeda’s spiritual leader, a Frankenstein fabricated by Reagan’s CIA, probably died years ago dragging his dialysis machine over the Khyber Pass.

Robert Fisk notes that Obama-man’s West Point kowtow to the generals parallels a similar Soviet troop build-up way back in 1980 that was designed to train Afghan security forces to confront the CIA-financed Muhajadeen. We all know how successfully that plan backfired.

With Blackwater loading up the drones in Pakistan, it’s only a matter of months before General McCrystal marches into Pakistan to wipe out the Taliban’s safe havens and the Commander-in-Chief puts another 50,000 boots on the ground to secure that nuclear-empowered nation against “international terrorism.” (more…)

New US envoy to deepen, broaden ties with Muslims

by Abdullah on Sep 15, 2009 Islam, Muslims, North America, World News • Comments Closed • Islam, Muslims, North America, Obama, Women, world

This undated US Consulate photo out of Leipzig, Germany shows Farah Pandith

Clinton “has asked me to find ways to build strong partnerships and create new connections and join together with grass roots organizations to effect positive change,” she said after swearing on the Koran to carry out her duties.

“Under the leadership of Secretary Clinton, the Department of State is recalibrating the way in which we work with Muslim communities around the world,” Pandith said.

“Though this office, we will engage Muslim communities to solve collaboratively the most pressing problems facing these communities around the world,” Pandith said.

Clinton said Pandith’s office, which will both advise the secretary and the State Department, will focus on a broad array of issues.

“This is a dialogue that is not going to focus solely on terrorism or radicalization, but instead, focus on what all of us have in common, what we all hope for our children,” Clinton said at the ceremony.

It will also deal with broader problems like poverty, hunger, climate change and corruption which are “not unique to any part of the world,” Clinton said.

“In addition to these broad challenges, w (more…)

Obama regrets distortion of Islam to justify violence

by Abdullah on Nov 7, 2010 India, Islam, Muslims, Obama, Politics, Terrorism, US • Comments Closed • India, Islam, Muslims, Obama, Politics, Terrorism, USA

U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday regretted that the “great religion” of Islam has been distorted by a few extremists to justify violence towards innocent people and called for isolating these elements.

Mr. Obama also said that people will have to fundamentally reject the notion that violence is the way to mediate differences among them.

“I think all of us have to fundamentally reject the notion that violence is the way to mediate our differences,” he added.

The US president expressed these views when a Muslim student A. Ansari lobbed a question asking for his views on ‘jihad” during his interaction with students of St Xavier’s college here.

“I think all of us recognise that this great religion (Islam) in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted to justify violence towards innocent people that is never justified,” he said.

“So, one of the challenges the world faces is how to “isolate” those who have these distorted notions of religious war…and reaffirm those who see faces of all sorts whether you are a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian and a Jew or any other religion that we can all treat each other with respect and mutual dignity,” he added.

Mr. Obama said the phrase ‘Jihad’ has different interpretations. Islam is one of the great religions and majority of its one billion practices believe in peace, justice and tolerance, he added.

The President also said the existence of diverse religious beliefs was a “major challenge” not only in India but also around the world.

He said the youth of the world can make a huge impact in re-affirming that one can be a strong observer of one’s faith without putting somebody else down or visiting violence on somebody else.

Religious tolerance is necessary in a world that is getting smaller and smaller where more and more people of different backgrounds, different races, and different ethnicities are interacting and working and learning from each other, Mr. Obama added.

Obama Versus Osama

by Asad on Jan 27, 2010 Obama, Osama, Terrorism • Comments Closed • Al-Qaeda, Obama, Osama, Terrorism, USA

There is little need any more to offer consistent opposition to Barack Obama, since he himself is already running hard against the many previous incarnations of Barack Obama.

The first one we met was Barack the radical progressive, in his primary campaign against Hillary. Then in the general election we were introduced to the centrist Obama, who promised to invade Pakistan if need be, called for an end to partisanship, and lectured about fiscal sobriety.

Then with congressional majorities, soaring public support, and obsequious media attention came the leftist ideologue President Obama, who tried to ram through a statist health-care regime, gobbled up private enterprises, and gave us Anita Dunn and Van Jones.

Now we are back to sorta centrist Obama, who is going to fight terror, not apologize any more to the Muslim world, and freeze spending rather than give us another $2 trillion in debt.

These serial reset Obamas are quite astonishing even for a politician.

Take the examples of public advocate Obama’s once idealistic promotion of C-SPAN broadcasts of the health-care debate, and Obama’s current fiery lamentations over the Supreme Court decision overturning elements of the McCain-Feingold limitations on corporate campaign donations.

But Obama, the current reformer, seems to be railing at Obama, the cynical backroom organizer, who would never dare televise anything about his thousand-page health-care mess. Yet Obama II not only nixed Obama I’s repeated promises of C-SPAN debates, but outsourced his health-care bill to congressional insiders, who did more backroom-dealing, vote-buying, and quid-pro-quoing than at any other time in recent memory.

So there is no consistency even in the flip-flopping. Obama III as the sudden guardian of campaign-financing curbs is antithetical to Obama I, the rejectionist of any government interference. In 2008 Obama I destroyed the idea of public campaign financing of presidential elections. Indeed, in his efforts to raise a billion dollars of private money, Obama became the first presidential candidate in the general election in over 30 years to back out of public financing, an idea which is now more or less kaput. (more…)

Pakistanis Continue to Reject U.S. Partnership

by Abdurrahman on Sep 30, 2009 Muslims, North America, Pakistan, Politics, World News • Comments Closed • North America, Obama, Pakistan, Politics, world

Even with the arrival of the Obama administration and the prospect of substantially increased aid, more Pakistanis — an overwhelming majority — continued to reject the United States as a partner to fight militancy in their country, a new poll finds.

The survey, conducted by the Washington-based International Republican Institute, underscored the difficulties the Obama administration faced in its efforts to tamp down Islamic militancy in this strategically vital nation.

The I.R.I. is a nonprofit pro-democracy group affiliated with the Republican Party and financed by the American government.

President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and a relatively inexperienced politician, scored a 25 percent approval rating how he’s handling his job, 6 points more than in March.

His chief opponent, Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, garnered a 67 percent favorable rating, down from 75 percent in March.The findings come as Washington is poised to spend $1.5 billion in assistance for Pakistan in the coming year, a big jump in American funds intended to help strengthen the civilian government rather than the military.

The poll confirms the persistent strand of anti-American discourse in Pakistan in the last few years, and its release coincides with particularly strong attacks in the Pakistani media about the American Embassy’s hiring private security firms to protect American diplomats.

Even as the Obama administration takes pride in the new funds for Pakistan, the increased aid has been criticized in the Pakistani news media and among politicians as too little, one calling it “peanuts.” (more…)

President Obama’s Omission of ‘Pakistan’ From 26/11 Remarks Draws Criticism

by Abdullah on Nov 7, 2010 India, Obama, Pakistan, Terrorism, US, World News • Comments Closed • America, Obama, Pakistan, Protest, Terrorism, USA, world

In his remarks Saturday commemorating the victims of the November 26, 2008, terrorist attack on Mumbai, President Obama did not mention Pakistan — an omission causing some debate in India.

Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a spokesman for the opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP, said President Obama “missed the first opportunity of striking a chord with the 100 crore people of India.”
Rudy said that the BJP expected a “sharp, categorical statement against Pakistan.”

“It was the first address by the US President at a place which saw the biggest terror attack on India,” Rudy said. “It was a complete disappointment as the world and United States had proof that the attack was planned on Pakistani soil by its intelligence agencies. He had words which were not backed with action and intent,”

But within hours BJP backed off Rudy’s statement. The Times of India described Rudy’s comments as “ill-considered and hasty” and having “left top party leaders red-faced.”

A White House official says that “the President knew that he would have multiple opportunities on this trip to talk about Pakistan. His remarks at the Taj were about honoring those who were lost and showing our solidarity with India in combating terrorism.”

Others clearly disagreed with Rudy. Farang Jehani — who owns the Leopold Café and Bar, where 10 people were killed — was quoted in the Hindustan Times saying “I was not disappointed that the President did not mention Pakistan in his speech. There are diplomatic ways of putting things, and everyone knew who he was talking about. He didn’t need to mention who was behind the attack.”

“He acknowledged every Indian who helped others during the siege, by saying we weren’t held back by caste, creed or religion, that we held together when we as a nation were attacked,” said Jehani. “I think his speech was extremely positive and signaled a growing friendship between India and the United States.”

Still, Rudy’s reaction was not in a vacuum.

India Today quotes stock broker Dilip Samant saying that “To visit a 26/ 11 memorial and not mention Pakistan as a perpetrator of the worst terror act in India is not only ridiculous, it is humiliating to the memory of those who died that day. … Had Obama mentioned Pakistan in his speech even obliquely, it could had assuaged some anger that we Mumbaikars feel.”

Former Maharashtra bureaucrat Avinash Hazare told the newspaper that he doesn’t think the president nor “his policymakers appreciate Mumbaikars’ anger over 26/ 11 or the fact that the anger has not been doused.” Obama had warms words for the city, though, and the role its citizens played during the siege.

Right or Wrong?

by Abdurrahman on Oct 20, 2009 Islam, North America, Politics, World News • Comments Closed • Islam, North America, Obama, Politics, world

Barack Obama

The US President Barack Hussein Obama was recently selected for the Nobel Peace Prize 2009 by the Prize Committee in Oslo. This biggest peace prize would be presented to Obama in Norway on 10th December later this year. This prize contains an amount of $1.5 million besides the medal. This award is given to Obama for his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said that President Obama is imagining of a nuclear weapons free world. The way he has given importance to diplomacy over war is also commendable. The Committee felt that the world is impressed by these humanist and peaceful initiatives of Obama and has got a hope for a bright future. These unprecedented initiatives of Obama within his short tenure of nine months have really contributed towards changing the global image of USA to some extent.

Just after the announcement of Obama’s name for prize, the debate started in the entire world. While the people imagining a peaceful world are calling it a good decision, there is no dearth of people criticising the decision. Critics are saying that just to talk about peace is not enough. There should be substantial, creative and consequential steps in this direction. Critics are of the view if Obama is talking about a nuclear free world, then what is the need to increase the aid of a country like Pakistan which is the centre of terrorism. If this is an attempt to improve his image among the Muslim nations, then why Obama’s stand is not clear on the most disputed issue of Palestine-Israel conflict. Critics feel that though Obama is a good orator and gives attractive speeches about establishing peace, but no result has yet come out of his initiatives. (more…)

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