America goes on...

International politics will always be my passion, but sometimes it is better to focus on other topics while politics will continue their 'business as usual' rhyme. But, even though I was able to avoid as much as possible to enter into the details of the US elections, trying to see instead how social media is used, today it is a good day to: 1. update my blog after a long absence  2. to share my thoughts about the issue.

I was not sure that Obama has all the cards to be a winner, but was not sure either that Romney could be a winner after all. For years, I got so disappointed with the Republican party and their choice of candidates that could convince more people to vote. I had so many concerns about Romney, his attitude and his background because I cared about what kind of candidate will oppose Obama. 

As usual, America is the country of all possibilities. It is hard to believe all the stories about irregularities in the world's biggest democracy. But it is even harder to understand how natural disasters as Katrina or the latest Sandy whipped out in only a couple of seconds entire areas. In some NY areas, people are still without gas and electricity. People are getting poorer and fighting more social problems than before, but they will rather like a 'middle class' hippie than someone with money. Who knows what a 'Occupy White House'-type of president will be elected in the next four years?

Because I do not live in the States, my concern is about the US foreign policy. I am curious - and very interested - who the new foreign secretary will be, hoping that the American diplomacy will - finally - got what it deserves. Maybe it did not matter too much for the average Ohio and Virginia voters, but when one of the diplomats of your country is killed something might be wrong in the kingdom. Maybe Hillary Clinton will be more than ever interested to be the next candidate, as the failure in Libya will be forgotten. But the diplomats will always remain the quiet army of a strong country.

Facts are facts and the reality shows that Pres. Obama will continue to stay at the White House for another four years. Changes are needed and surprises are expected. As it will be his last mandate, he will care less about the diplomacy games of the reelection and thus, no wonder if there will be more mistakes. Maybe the Middle East will suffer a bit more, and the president will pay back some bills from the first mandate. What is important is to take care of the US national interest and one of them is to do not forget the democratic values that country always believed in. When democracy suffers, it is also against the American interests. For now, it is more wishful thinking. Will continue to watch the reality. 

Good luck, America!

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Cheney Says He Favors Limbaugh Over Powell as Model Republican

Elliot Blair Smith

Bloomberg

May 10

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Republicans are better served by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh than by former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

“My take on it was Colin had already left the party,” Cheney said on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” noting that Republican Powell endorsed President Barack Obama, a Democrat, during the 2008 presidential campaign. “I assumed that that is some indication of his loyalty.”

Cheney, 68, clashed with Powell, 72, a retired four-star general, over tactics in the war on terrorism during former President George W. Bush’s administration.

Asked if he would “take Rush Limbaugh over Colin Powell,” Cheney said, “I would.”

Limbaugh, whose radio talk show is heard on more than 600 radio stations, has been targeting Republicans in addition to his traditional Democratic opponents since conservatives suffered reverses national polls last November.

Limbaugh suggested in March that Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele commit suicide for presiding over Republican losses. He also criticized Powell’s endorsement of Obama, suggesting during his May 6 program that considerations of race had trumped politics. Obama and Powell are black.

“What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat, instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican Party. He’s not. He’s a full-fledged Democrat,” Limbaugh said, according to a partial transcript of the program on Limbaugh’s official Web site.

“The only reason to endorse Obama is race,” he said.

Sometimes Backfire

Limbaugh’s criticisms occasionally backfire. In 2006, he accused actor Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, of “exaggerating the effects” of the illness.

Limbaugh, 58, resigned from ESPN TV’s Sunday NFL Countdown pre-game show in 2003 after suggesting that Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb, named to five Pro Bowl teams, “got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve,” at least in part because “the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.”

During the “Face the Nation” interview, Cheney renewed his attack on the Obama administration’s terrorism policies, including its decision to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center and to release Bush-era Central Intelligence Agency memos on interrogations.

“I’m convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of lives,” Cheney said. “I think if you look at this intelligence program, that when things are quieter, 20 or 30 years from now, you’ll be able to look back on this and say this is one of the great success stories of American intelligence.”

Terrorist Mission

While saying he had petitioned the CIA to declassify two intelligence memos supporting his argument, Cheney declined to specify any terrorist mission that had been thwarted. He also declined to commit to testifying under oath about it.

“I’d have to see what the circumstances are and what kind of precedent we were setting,” Cheney said about providing sworn testimony. “But certainly I wouldn’t be out here if I didn’t feel comfortable talking about what we’re doing publicly.”

“I think it’s very, very important that we have a clear understanding that what happened here was an honorable approach to defending the nation, that there was nothing devious or deceitful or dishonest or illegal about what was done,” he said.

Cheney added that “there is room for moderates in the Republican party,” citing former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Virginia Representative Eric Cantor.

“But the suggestion our Democratic friends always make is somehow, you know, if you Republicans were just more like Democrats, you’d win elections. Well, I don’t buy that,” he said. “I think we win elections when we have good solid conservative principles to run upon and base our policies on those principles.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Elliot Blair Smith in Washington, D.C., at esmith29@bloomberg.net

Why Republicans Don't Get the Internet

by Meghan McCain, the daughter of the Republican Presidential candidate. Indeed, the Republican voice on the web wasn't heard at all. The grass-root of the party was rather reluctant to such new techniques and the initiatives created by and for youngsters, weren't merchandized. Meghan McCain's blog - http://mccainblogette.com - or the Conservative Punk - http://conservativepunk.com/ - could be a good starting platform. Now, the Republicans started little by little to adopt e-politics techniques. But, first of all they need to reorganize the whole political basis, in order to get support from the younger electorate. Otherwise, they will simply try to copy the successful campaign of Obama and they will get nothing more than a copy.

The Republican Party, the crisis of ideas

First, it was the move to designate Sarah Palin as vice-president candidate, mirroring the success of Hilary Clinton. Now, an African-American for the GOP Chairmanship. Anything original still kept in the box with surprises?

US Elections - The need for a new beginning. But not any kind of beginning

The US elections are over now, and Barack Hussein Obama will be the next 44 president of the United States of America. According to last estimations, his administration - to sworn in at the end of January 2009 - could count too on a secure majority of Democrats in both Senate and the House .

The lessons of the last two years of campaigning are still to be learned, with many interesting conclusions regarding the new style of politics in the era of global communications, in a world of permanent and unexpected changes (as was the case of the recent economic crisis, predictable, but impossible to estimate the very moment of bursting out). Obama created a huge mobilization of voters, putting at work the unknown power by now of social networks, as Facebook or Twitter or whatever any mean useful to reach the most isolated voter. The effects, advantages and disadvantages of the new trends of personalized politics are not fully evaluated, but, for sure, the overwhelming success of Obama it's a matter of preoccupation and analysis for many countries over the world confronted with coming elections .

In the discourses held shortly after the announcement of the first results, both Obama and McCain stressed the need to get over partisan lines and tackle together the long, long list of issues on the domestic and external agenda.

Former secretary of state in Clinton administration, Madeleine Albright, published today a letter to the new elected president stressing the emergency to the Obama administration to offer a comprehensive approach to the challenges facing nowadays America. The final paragraph of her opinion is extremely inspiring and doesn't concern exclusively the successful Democrats, but the whole spectrum of politicians in Washington D.C., with lessons to be drawn by the Republicans as well:

"To justify our confidence in you, you must show confidence in us. End the politics of fear. Treat us like adults. Help us to understand people from distant lands and cultures. Challenge us to work together. Remind us that America’s finest hours have come not from dominating others but from inspiring people everywhere to seek the best in themselves".

In today's NY Times, Thomas L. Friedman is writing a very good opinion stressing the historical moment in US contemporary history and the hard tasks ahead.

Indeed, it is a new beginning and the pressure of the huge expectations impose very much details and focus in projecting the future, not only for America, but for the fate of democracy as well.

Finishing Our Work

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

And so it came to pass that on Nov. 4, 2008, shortly after 11 p.m. Eastern time, the American Civil War ended, as a black man — Barack Hussein Obama — won enough electoral votes to become president of the United States.
A civil war that, in many ways, began at Bull Run, Virginia, on July 21, 1861, ended 147 years later via a ballot box in the very same state. For nothing more symbolically illustrated the final chapter of America’s Civil War than the fact that the Commonwealth of Virginia — the state that once exalted slavery and whose secession from the Union in 1861 gave the Confederacy both strategic weight and its commanding general — voted Democratic, thus assuring that Barack Obama would become the 44th president of the United States.
This moment was necessary, for despite a century of civil rights legislation, judicial interventions and social activism — despite Brown v. Board of Education, Martin Luther King’s I-have-a-dream crusade and the 1964 Civil Rights Act — the Civil War could never truly be said to have ended until America’s white majority actually elected an African-American as president.
That is what happened Tuesday night and that is why we awake this morning to a different country. The struggle for equal rights is far from over, but we start afresh now from a whole new baseline. Let every child and every citizen and every new immigrant know that from this day forward everything really is possible in America.
How did Obama pull it off? To be sure, it probably took a once-in-a-century economic crisis to get enough white people to vote for a black man. And to be sure, Obama’s better organization, calm manner, mellifluous speaking style and unthreatening message of “change” all served him well.
But there also may have been something of a “Buffett effect” that countered the supposed “Bradley effect” — white voters telling pollsters they’d vote for Obama but then voting for the white guy. The Buffett effect was just the opposite. It was white conservatives telling the guys in the men’s grill at the country club that they were voting for John McCain, but then quietly going into the booth and voting for Obama, even though they knew it would mean higher taxes.
Why? Some did it because they sensed how inspired and hopeful their kids were about an Obama presidency, and they not only didn’t want to dash those hopes, they secretly wanted to share them. Others intuitively embraced Warren Buffett’s view that if you are rich and successful today, it is first and foremost because you were lucky enough to be born in America at this time — and never forget that. So, we need to get back to fixing our country — we need a president who can unify us for nation-building at home.
And somewhere they also knew that after the abysmal performance of the Bush team, there had to be consequences for the Republican Party. Electing McCain now would have, in some way, meant rewarding incompetence. It would have made a mockery of accountability in government and unleashed a wave of cynicism in America that would have been deeply corrosive.
Obama will always be our first black president. But can he be one of our few great presidents? He is going to have his chance because our greatest presidents are those who assumed the office at some of our darkest hours and at the bottom of some of our deepest holes.
“Taking office at a time of crisis doesn’t guarantee greatness, but it can be an occasion for it,” argued the Harvard University political philosopher Michael Sandel. “That was certainly the case with Lincoln, F.D.R. and Truman.” Part of F.D.R.’s greatness, though, “was that he gradually wove a new governing political philosophy — the New Deal — out of the rubble and political disarray of the economic depression he inherited.” Obama will need to do the same, but these things take time.
“F.D.R. did not run on the New Deal in 1932,” said Sandel. “He ran on balancing the budget. Like Obama, he did not take office with a clearly articulated governing philosophy. He arrived with a confident, activist spirit and experimented. Not until 1936 did we have a presidential campaign about the New Deal. What Obama’s equivalent will be, even he doesn’t know. It will emerge as he grapples with the economy, energy and America’s role in the world. These challenges are so great that he will only succeed if he is able to articulate a new politics of the common good.”
Bush & Co. did not believe that government could be an instrument of the common good. They neutered their cabinet secretaries and appointed hacks to big jobs. For them, pursuit of the common good was all about pursuit of individual self-interest. Voters rebelled against that. But there was also a rebellion against a traditional Democratic version of the common good — that it is simply the sum of all interest groups clamoring for their share.
“In this election, the American public rejected these narrow notions of the common good,” argued Sandel. “Most people now accept that unfettered markets don’t serve the public good. Markets generate abundance, but they can also breed excessive insecurity and risk. Even before the financial meltdown, we’ve seen a massive shift of risk from corporations to the individual. Obama will have to reinvent government as an instrument of the common good — to regulate markets, to protect citizens against the risks of unemployment and ill health, to invest in energy independence.”
But a new politics of the common good can’t be only about government and markets. “It must also be about a new patriotism — about what it means to be a citizen,” said Sandel. “This is the deepest chord Obama’s campaign evoked. The biggest applause line in his stump speech was the one that said every American will have a chance to go to college provided he or she performs a period of national service — in the military, in the Peace Corps or in the community. Obama’s campaign tapped a dormant civic idealism, a hunger among Americans to serve a cause greater than themselves, a yearning to be citizens again.”
None of this will be easy. But my gut tells me that of all the changes that will be ushered in by an Obama presidency, breaking with our racial past may turn out to be the least of them. There is just so much work to be done. The Civil War is over. Let reconstruction begin.