Day: September 14, 2012

The Growing Bond Between Barack Obama And Bill And Hillary Clinton

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It is hard to believe that in 2007-2008, Barack Obama was involved in a heated “war” with Hillary and Bill Clinton, as Hillary sought the Democratic Presidential nomination, her husband became intimately involved, and bad words and thoughts and accusations reigned on a regular basis between the rivals.

But then, Barack Obama made the smartest move of his Presidency, selecting Hillary to be his Secretary of State, taking a page from Abraham Lincoln, who picked his leading rival in 1860, Senator William Seward of New York, to be his Secretary of State.

So a political leader from Illinois selected a political rival from New York in both circumstances, and now we can say that in both cases, it made a dramatic difference in the success of the Lincoln and Obama Presidencies!

Seward was massively important to Lincoln in the trials of the Civil War, in conducting diplomacy with Great Britain and France to keep them out of the Civil War.

Hillary Clinton has been very important as an equally loyal supporter of Barack Obama, sharing the burdens of foreign policy with the President, and becoming closer to him as a result.

And then last week, Bill Clinton, who seemed to hate Barack Obama in 2007-2008, made the most effective speech possible to help Barack Obama, at the Democratic National Convention, and now Obama has gained in every public opinion poll imaginable, and just as that occurs, the crisis in the Middle East has joined the President and Hillary together emotionally and physically as they have dealt with the crisis, and presided today over the return of the four victims to the United States in a dignified way.

Obama and Hillary Clinton are dealing together with the issues involved in the Middle East, as well as the irresponsible Republican Party opposition, in a very dignified and sophisticated manner.

The performance of Hillary Clinton makes her more than ever someone who must be considered for President in 2016, even though she professes weariness, and desire to retire from politics completely next year.

But if she changes her mind about running to succeed Obama, one has to wonder how Obama would deal with the obvious conflict that might result. That is, should Obama be loyal to her candidacy, or instead be loyal to his honorable, committed team mate, Vice President Joe Biden?

This may be the ultimate quandary for President Obama in 2015 and 2016, depending on events!

Theodore Roosevelt Became President On This Day In 1901: Transformation Of The American Presidency!

Ronald 1 Comment

On this day in 1901, the first year of the 20th century, Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States upon the death of President William McKinley, who died of gunshot wounds suffered eight days earlier in Buffalo, New York, perpetrated by the assassin, Leon Czolgosz!

TR becoming President turned out to be transformational, as he became an advocate of an activist Presidency, and became a model for both Republican Presidents and Democratic Presidents of the future!

TR helped to make America a world power, and would be shocked at the thought of many today who would advocate withdrawing from the world.

TR would be proud of President Barack Obama in his handling of the Middle East crisis that emerged this week with the death of Christopher Stevens, the US Ambassador to Libya, and would be shocked at the reaction of his fellow Republican, Presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Also, TR would be proud of Barack Obama for accomplishing what he first brought up as an issue a century ago–national health care for all—and would be disappointed that his party has set out to repeal “ObamaCare”!

It is clear that TR, were he alive today, would be a Democrat, not a Republican, as TR’s Progressive beliefs have been repudiated by right wing conservatives, and TR would be furious at social conservatives trying to control the American people’s private lives, and promoting religion in government, rather than the tradition of the Founding Fathers, to have separation of church and state!

And TR, were he here now, would love to punch Glenn Beck and other right wing extremists who have attacked him because he was a Progressive, who believed that government was designed to make life better for the people, not for the corporations and the wealthy!

Yes, TR had his faults, as we all do, but he stands out as one of our greatest Presidents, who might never have ascended to that job, but for the evil deed of one man, who murdered William McKinley.

Just the same, Barack Obama will not let a small band of terrorists and thugs in Libya to upend our foreign policy, and he will show resolve and principle in dealing with the issue, just as TR always did in the Presidency!

Barack Obama is a worthy successor to the heritage of Theodore Roosevelt!

Jon Huntsman: A Rare, Sane Voice Among Today’s Republicans In Foreign Policy!

Ronald 3 Comments

Sane Republicans, the small number that seem to exist these days, should mourn that Jon Huntsman, the former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China, who was the only legitimate GOP candidate for President this year, before his withdrawal in January, was one of the few of that party to express the proper thoughts on the Middle East situation that blew up this week, with the death of the US Ambassador to Libya.

Huntsman said this is not the time for someone to be impetuous, to be reacting without all of the facts, or to suggest that foreign aid should be cut, or that we should withdraw from the region of the Middle East altogether!

This was Huntsman’s reaction to Mitt Romney’s impetuosity; to Bill Bennett’s justifying that impetuosity; and to Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s call for a cut in foreign aid and withdrawal from involvement in the controversial area of the Middle East—all signs of just how nuts much of the Republican Party has become!

There are Republicans who are silently, and quietly, whispering privately how crazy the Romney campaign has become, and all that they hear is that Romney and Paul Ryan are accusing the Barack Obama Administration of sympathizing with terrorists and the thugs that attacked the Libyan Consulate and killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others!

The incompetence and recklessness of both Romney and Ryan is literally terrifying, politicizing a national tragedy! And when the former Secretary of Education under George H. W. Bush (Bill Bennett) can double down on what Romney said after the first reports of the attack, and Rand Paul and other crazies can talk about losing all influence in the Middle East by punishing nations for the actions of a few, and even advocate total withdrawal and isolating ourselves, it makes one quiver at the thought of a Republican in the White House!

And when aides to Romney say that if he was in the White House, what happened this week in the Middle East would not have happened, one has to shake his head in disbelief, as if a President or anyone can control what goes on in other nations and prevent mobs or hoodlums from taking action, simply by the image of his presence! How egotistical and arrogant can someone get in the pursuit of becoming President, that his aides have the gall to state such an imbecilic assertion!

This is not the sanity of George H. W. Bush and his foreign policy advisers, or even the statesmanship of Condoleezza Rice or Colin Powell!

This is the insanity of people who have no respect for foreign countries, no knowledge of the world, and no understanding of what the use of language can do in relations among nations!

How far the Republican Party has fallen, from an image of being expert in foreign policy, to one of total irresponsibility and looniness, and in so doing, giving the Democratic Party and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton the distinction of being the grown ups in the room!

Mitt Romney has dug a hole for himself that he will be unable to dig himself out of at the last Presidential debate on October 22, devoted solely to foreign policy. We will see the final disintegration of his candidacy on that evening, just 15 days before the election!

Tax Returns: 10 For Vice Presidential Possibilities, Only 2 For Mitt Romney! Is This Not Arrogance?

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Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has refused to give out more than two tax returns–2010, and in October, 2011–as he says that is all that is legally required.

At the same time, it is now revealed that he demanded TEN years of tax returns from Paul Ryan and other Vice Presidential possibilities on his short list.

And other Presidential nominees and Vice Presidential possibilities in the past have regularly given out multiple years of tax returns.

So what Mitt Romney is continuing to say is that he is ENTITLED to set his own rules, and to refuse to provide information that is normally expected, and also to refuse to give specifics on any area of public policy for the future, and that we should trust him!

The answer and will be in November: Sorry, Mr. Romney, but you have shown you are unwilling to be forthright, honest, and transparent! You have taken the attitude of a prima donna, who does not have to follow the rules, and still seems to expect that we, the American people, should entrust you with power and authority and believe in you! However, we are sorry to inform you that you have not met the tests of leadership, and you are, therefore, fired!