US Elections 2008 - III

06-08-2008, 08:11 AM

QUOTERegistration requests overwhelm officials 
Saturday, June 07, 2008By Richard Rainey

Using to its advantage the allure of this year's captivating presidential contest, one Democratic organization has culled the names of as many as 50,000 people in four major parishes -- including Jefferson and Orleans -- to be added to Louisiana's voter rolls.

The group, called Voting Is Power and financed by the national Democratic Party, has been canvassing neighborhoods since February, collecting personal information and signatures from as many new potential voters as possible, said Brian Welsh, a spokesman for Louisiana Victory, the umbrella group coordinating local and national Democratic voter drives. Voting Is Power members also have targeted East Baton Rouge and Caddo parishes.

The group, based in Washington, D.C., has fanned out to several states to beef up Democratic voter rolls. The ultimate goal is to register roughly 70,000 new voters in Louisiana before the November election, Welsh said.

[...]

While Voting Is Power has sent in batches of applications for months, registrars have begun to see a disturbing pattern of misinformation on the forms, including duplicates, cards filled out with different colors of ink, or using the names of pets or dead people. In Jefferson, DiMarco sensed something amiss when a new registration card recently crossed his desk.

The card, partially filled out, had his name and listed his office's post office box on Citrus Boulevard as the address. It also listed him as a male, a Democrat and African-American.

"And I can tell you I'm only one of those," said DiMarco, who is white and Republican. There was one bright spot, though. "They flattered me by making me younger -- I did appreciate that."

The mistakes have proved costly for his office, however. DiMarco said he's burned through 65 percent of his $20,000 postal budget by mailing back erroneous registration cards. Still to be determined is how much will be spent on overtime for employees, he said.

The errors also raised suspicions among registrars and the secretary of state's office that Voting Is Power was paying its canvassers by the application. Welsh, however, said the group pays its workers by the hour, no matter how many forms they return.

"The most precious possession any registrar has is the accuracy and integrity of the records," DiMarco said. "You start corrupting that then you're inviting problems at the polls." 
This is called voter fraud, where pet and dead people will vote for Obama.

**acharya** · 06-08-2008, 12:01 PM

view: The first global president? âMuqtedar Khan

Americans have a rare opportunity. They have a chance to elect a president whose vision and leadership are sought not just by many Americans, but most of the world

Barack Obama has made history. He has become the first African American in history to become the nominee of any party in Americaâs presidential elections.

Commentators across the globe cannot wait for Obama to become the next President of the United States. Whether it is friends across the Atlantic or even those whom we consider our enemies, all are hoping that Obama will take residence in the White House come January 2009.

Like a vast majority of Americans, the world too cannot wait to see the back of President George W Bush. His policies have made the world tired of and disillusioned with the United States.

But providentially, we still have an ace in the hole â the âpromise of Obamaâ. It is hovering tantalisingly on the horizon.

At home, he is seen by Americans as a candidate who transcends not just partisanship but also politics. He is poised to bring about change not just in government but also in the manner in which government does its business. He is determined to become a unifying force â reaching out not just to opponents at home but also to enemies abroad. But most importantly he has awakened a political responsibility in millions of American youth who for decades have remained indifferent to politics.

His personality is a composite bridge. He is both white and black. He is native as well as foreign. He is at once young and mature. The black Obama carries within him the echoes of Americaâs disempowered margins. The Harvard Law alum Obama personifies the white elite. The Hussein in his name acknowledges that things which appear to be foreign â like Islam â are also native to America. Even his association with Rev Jeremiah Wright is quintessentially American. It is a bridge to Americaâs dark past from where ghosts still come to haunt the present.

Obama is surreal. He is like a customised bridge designed specifically to bridge every divide threatening to tear America apart today.

Of the two leading contenders, Obama and Republican nominee John McCain, the former has already won the hope of nations abroad. McCain threatens the world with a third Bush term and Obama promises a radical departure.

Most commentators abroad expect McCain to adopt the Bush foreign policy albeit with minor changes. On the positive front, they expect that McCain will be less inclined to adopt tactics like torture and kidnapping that Bush has used. His acknowledgement of global warming is a relief. On the negative side they think he will repeat Bushâs folly in Iraq by starting another nightmare in Iran.

Obama on the other hand is seen as free from the foolhardy hubris of neo-conservatives and not completely enslaved by special interests. If he is elected, it is hoped that he will transform US foreign policy. Experts overseas expect that he will be willing to seek genuine international cooperation; will rekindle the dead spirit of multilateralism, and replace bellicosity and arrogance with diplomacy, tact and understanding.

Barack Obama is not just an ordinary presidential candidate; he is a phenomenon with global reach.

I am convinced that if Obama is elected, the worldwide epidemic of anti-Americanism will deflate instantaneously and the world will reset its perceptions of America. Obama will start with a world eager to work with America to repair the global damage done by the ill-advised and ill-executed policies of George W Bush. Even in Iraq, nations across the region will cooperate improve the regional situation. His consistent opposition to the Iraq War will also help improve relations in the Middle East.

However, Obamaâs victory is not guaranteed. There is a minority of motivated and reckless conservatives who will vote against him purely on ideological grounds. But he might still attract some Republicans hoping for a new direction.

Then there are three types of Democrats who claim that they will not vote for him: ideological feminists; racial bigots; and working class white democrats. Frankly, they have no choice but to ensure an Obama victory. If McCain wins, he will appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade and reverse the gains made by feminists. He will pursue tax cuts for the rich and benefit cuts for the working class (including whites) and he will send their children to fight in what he says is a âhundred years warâ.

For the first time, Americans have a rare opportunity. They have a chance to elect a president whose vision and leadership are sought not just by many Americans, but most of the world. Obama, if elected, could be Americaâs first global president.

Dr Muqtedar Khan is Director of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware and Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding ( www.ijtihad.org)

06-09-2008, 05:00 AM

QUOTE Barack Obama is in favor of nearly doubling the capital-gains tax rate from 15 percent to 28 percent

Not too long ago, Warren Buffet had echoed the same sentiments - i..e capital gains taxes should be raised - as the richest CEOs were paying a lower % of their income than their secretaries (he had challenged the CEOs to prove otherwise). I trust the wisdom of Buffet over two bit columnists posting as experts on ever topic under the sun.

Republicans seem to think that the massive spending increases/budget deficit created by the unnecessary war can disappear if you pray in the church of Rush Limbaugh and Hagee and then proceeded to cut even more taxes for the wealthy

06-09-2008, 05:13 AM

Meanwhile more on John McCain's first wife whom he callously traded for a newer model. This is a real creepy guy

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-...eft-behind.html
QUOTEâMy marriage ended because John McCain didnât want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does'

Some of McCainâs acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centred womaniser who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to âplay the fieldâ. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons

But friends say privately he was âappalledâ by the change in her appearance

. âHe was very generous to her in the divorce but of course he could afford to be, since he was marrying Cindy,â one observed.

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veteransâ rights, said: âI have been following John McCainâs career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is â deceit. 

âWhen he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it.

âThis is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.

But Ross Perot, who paid her medical bills all those years ago, now believes that both Carol McCain and the American people have been taken in by a man who is unusually slick and cruel â even by the standards of modern politics.

âMcCain is the classic opportunist. Heâs always reaching for attention and glory,â he said.

âAfter he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.â

Looks like McCain's father-in-law bought a "trophy husband" for his daughter <!--emo& Big Grin

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

But the US media is adoring this shady character for his alleged "maverickiness'!! I would like to see the US media that is bringing up Obama should start talking about Carol as well as McCain's connections with S&L scandal as well as his involvement in "Keating Five"

Let me add, I think Carol McCain is the real hero compared to this fake "war hero" McCain.

06-09-2008, 05:28 AM

Atleast John McCain is not sleeping with terrorist as your dear candidate.
Ask Obama to reveal his Senate records

06-09-2008, 09:32 AM

QUOTE(Mudy @ Jun 9 2008, 05:28 AM)Atleast John McCain is not sleeping with terrorist as your dear candidate.
Ask Obama to reveal his Senate records
[right][snapback]82536[/snapback][/right]

To me, McCain is the TERRORIST who bombed innocent civilians in Vietnam with napalm. Last time I checked, Vietnamese didn't come to NY or Washington to attack americans

To me, McCain is the TERRORIST who authorized an illegal war against Iraq, causing the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. No Iraqi was involved in 9/11.

McCain is cozy with dictators whether they are from Saudi or Pakistan. When Obama said that he will attack terrorist havens in Pakistan, McCain was so offended because that will hurt the so-called ameican al-lie Musharaff

Terrorism: Theirs and Ours

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7993
QUOTEThis, it seems to me, gets at the essential goal of the invasion and occupation of Iraq: it is a targeted mass slaughter. Its purpose is to terrorize not only the people of Iraq, but the entire region, and Muslims worldwide. Submit â or this will happen to you.

This war has become one prolonged act of state terrorism, and anyone who continues to support it â now that the full horror of American military tactics has been exposed â becomes a pro-terrorist fellow-traveler. I don't know if Dante reserved a special rung of Hell for such people, but if not, it should be fairly close to the bottom of the infernal pit

rhytha · (This post was last modified: 06-09-2008, 11:15 AM by rhytha.)

Apte,
Best place for you is to have company with DailyKilos or Huff or Marxist or JaneFonda or moveon.
Person who calls war hero as terrorist is beyond my disgust level.

06-09-2008, 10:43 PM

Obama seeks Hanuman's blessing for prez raceQUOTEIt's unusual. But, it's a fact.

Barack Obama [Images], the Democratic party's presidential nominee, is seeking the blessings of Hindu God Hanuman [Images] in his battle for the White House.

The 46-year-old senator from Illinois, who defeated his rival Hillary Clinton [Images] in an epic 17-month long electoral battle for Democratic party nomination, carries a 'tiny monkey God' apparently representing Hanuman with him for good luck.

A recent photo posted on Time's White House Photo of the Day collection shows that the first ever Black-American nominee of a major US party for the Presidential elections carries with him a bracelet belonging to an American soldier deployed in Iraq, a gambler's lucky chit, a tiny monkey God and a tiny Madonna [Images] and child.

That 'tiny monkey God,' of course, appears to be a statue of the Hindu monkey God, Hanuman, says the posting but editors and the photographer have not identified it as such.

06-10-2008, 03:36 PM

QUOTE(Mudy @ Jun 9 2008, 01:13 PM)Obama seeks Hanuman's blessing for prez race
[right][snapback]82570[/snapback][/right]


I think it is just indian commies trying to get hindus support in US. They have mostly supported HRC.

06-10-2008, 07:31 PM

Yes, they are looking for donors.

06-10-2008, 08:27 PM

EXCLUSIVE: Obama Campaign will Launch 'Joshua Generation Project'
June 6, 2008QUOTE"The Joshua Generation project will be the Obama campaign's outreach to young people of faith. There's unprecedented energy and excitement for Obama among young evangelicals and Catholics. The Joshua Generation project will tap into that excitement and provide young people of faith opportunities to stand up for their values and move the campaign forward."

Obama Campaign may be Sued for Joshua Generation Project
June 9, 2008QUOTE"Generation Joshua," a division of the Home School Legal Defense Association, has been established since 2003 and is pursuing legal action against the Obama campaign.

"This is an improper invasion of our trademark and we've retained legal counsel to notify the Obama campaign to stop this," HSLDA's co-founder, chairman, and general counsel, Michael Farris, told Roll Call on Monday morning. The conservative group plans to notify the Obama campaign later today.Â

.................
"Generation Joshua is designed for Christian youth between the ages of 11 and 19 who want to become a force in the civic and political arenas," according to the group's Web site. Farris believes the similarity in names is no accident. "It's impossible to miss this, as Web savvy as they are," said Farris, who also wrote a 2005 book called, "The Joshua Generation: Restoring the Heritage of Christian Leadership."

 <!--emo& Big Grin

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

06-11-2008, 05:55 AM

Looks like even McCain campaign is acknowledging that Arizona is going to be a swing state

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/vie...n-campaign
QUOTEizona is now essentially a tri-party state -- Republicans make up 38 percent of registered voters; Democrats, 34 percent, and independents, 27 percent.

In a clear signal that Arizonaâs 10 electoral votes are up for grabs, the McCain campaign has added Arizona to its list of 24 âbattleground statesâ with their 242 electoral votes.

McCain had a 50-39 percent lead over Obama in a Phoenix-based Behavior Research Center poll taken late last month â two weeks before Obama clinched enough delegates to secure the Democratic presidential nomination. McCainâs relatively narrow lead over Obama surprised Behavior Research Center director Earl de Berg. âWhy isnât he getting 63 or 64 percent of the vote?â

McCainâs maverick image and home state advantage has not yet translated into decisive support from Arizona independents. Instead, McCain trailed Obama by a 43 percent to 41 percent margin in the Center for Behavior Research poll conducted between May 12-20, with a 4 percent margin of error.

Capt M Kumar · (This post was last modified: 06-11-2008, 10:07 AM by Capt M Kumar.)

<!--emo&

--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /> new kids on the block:
www.justsaynodeal.com
www.clintons4mccain.com

06-12-2008, 08:04 PM

QUOTE(rhytha @ Jun 9 2008, 01:42 AM)Can you two guys cool it, its easier that way for you both and all of us as well.
[right][snapback]82554[/snapback][/right]

Rhytha: Mudy's track contribution to this board for past 4 years need not be justified to anyone. Apte's contribution in past 30 days or so has been the same number of posts with one track message. I'd like to see Apte's contribution in other threads - tell then this thread is off-limits.

Rest, let's please on.

**acharya** · 06-13-2008, 06:58 AM

The tone of the article, makes it seem that America is pioneer and paving the new path. Far from the truth, actually. Europe already has women prime minister, chancellor, etc. India and other asian countries too have women heads of govt. Minorities in India have had their share of power. Currently India has a Sikh PM, Roman Catholic God Mother, Women President, Muslim Vice-President, India's Lowest Caste as Chief Justice of Supreme Court, etc. So before America can claim any perceived path breaking political upheavals, the rest of the world is far ahead...

Muslim world agog at Obama nomination
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_95...ck_check=1

Quote:
By Thomas L. Friedman

Arab Muslims know that if America were to elect as its president some guy with the middle name "Hussein," it would mark a sea change in America-Muslim relations.

CAIRO, Egypt - This column will probably get Barack Obama in trouble, but that's not my problem. I cannot tell a lie: Many Egyptians and other Arab Muslims really like him and hope that he wins the presidency.

I have had a chance to observe several U.S. elections from abroad, but it has been unusually revealing to be in Egypt as Barack Hussein Obama became the Democrats' nominee for president of the United States.

While Obama, who was raised a Christian, is constantly assuring Americans that he is not a Muslim, Egyptians are amazed, excited and agog that America might elect a black man whose father's family was of Muslim heritage. They don't really understand Obama's family tree, but what they do know is that if America - despite being attacked by Muslim militants on Sept. 11, 2001 - were to elect as its president some guy with the middle name "Hussein," it would mark a sea change in America-Muslim world relations.

'Let him win?'

Every interview seems to end with the person I was interviewing asking me: "Now, can I ask you a question? Obama? Do you think they will let him win?" (It's always "let him win," not just "win.")

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Democrats' nomination of Obama as their candidate for president has done more to improve America's image abroad - an image dented by the Iraq war, President Bush's invocation of a post-Sept. 11 "crusade," Abu Ghurayb, GuantÃ¡namo Bay and the xenophobic opposition to Dubai Ports World managing U.S. harbors - than the entire Bush public diplomacy effort for seven years.

Of course, Egyptians still have their grievances with America, and will in the future, no matter who is president - and we've got a few grievances with them, too. But every once in a while, America does something so radical, so out of the ordinary - something that old, encrusted, traditional societies like those in the Middle East could simply never imagine - that it revives America's revolutionary "brand" overseas in a way that no diplomat could have designed or planned.

I just had dinner at a Nile-side restaurant with two Egyptian officials and a businessman, and one of them quoted one of his children as asking: "Could something like this ever happen in Egypt?" And the answer from everyone at the table was, of course, "no." It couldn't happen anywhere in this region. Could a Copt become president of Egypt? Not a chance. Could a Shiite become the leader of Saudi Arabia? Not in a hundred years. A Bahai president of Iran? In your dreams. Here, the past always buries the future, not the other way around.

These Egyptian officials were particularly excited about Obama's nomination because it might mean that being labeled a "pro-American" reformer is no longer an insult here, as it has been in recent years. As one U.S. diplomat put it to me: Obama's demeanor suggests to foreigners that he would not only listen to what they have to say but might even take it into account. They anticipate that a U.S. president who spent part of his life looking at America from the outside in - as John McCain did while a POW in Vietnam - will be much more attuned to global trends.

My colleague Michael Slackman, The Times' bureau chief in Cairo, told me about a recent encounter he had with a worker at Cairo's famed Blue Mosque: "Gamal Abdul Halem was sitting on a green carpet. When he saw we were Americans, he said: 'Hillary-Obama tied?' in thick, broken English. He told me that he lived in the Nile Delta, traveling two hours one way every day to get to work, and still he found time to keep up with the race. He didn't have anything to say bad about Hillary but felt that Obama would be much better because he is dark-skinned, like him, and because he has Muslim heritage. 'For me and my family and friends, we want Obama,' he said. 'We all like what he is saying."'

Excessive Obama-mania

Yes, all of this Obama-mania is excessive and will inevitably be punctured should he win the presidency and start making tough calls or big mistakes. For now, though, what it reveals is how much many foreigners, after all the acrimony of the Bush years, still hunger for the "idea of America" - this open, optimistic and, indeed, revolutionary place so radically different from their own societies.

In his history of 19th-century America, "What Hath God Wrought," Daniel Walker Howe quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson as telling a meeting of the Mercantile Library Association in 1844 that "America is the country of the future. It is a country of beginnings, of projects, of vast designs and expectations."

That's the America that got swallowed by the war on terrorism. And it's the America that many people want back. I have no idea whether Obama will win in November. Whether he does or doesn't, though, the mere fact of his nomination has done something very important. We've surprised ourselves and surprised the world and, in so doing, reminded everyone that we are still a country of new beginnings.

Shambhu · (This post was last modified: 06-13-2008, 10:44 PM by Shambhu.)

http://www.amazon.com/Political-Mind-Under...y/dp/0670019275

I heard about this book when its author was interviewed on DR show (NPR).
I especially liked what he said about language: Conservatives use a special language which forces you to reason a particular way. Dems have to get this, and soon, or else... ((THe GOP language is full of babble refs.."evil", "with or against"..))

Capt M Kumar · 06-13-2008, 11:58 PM

Heard & seen somewhere:
McCain: Old but not expired(picture of mcCain)
Obama: Use your good judgement(picture of Obama)

**acharya** · 06-14-2008, 10:53 PM

âUS global image improves slightlyâ

* Pew survey says development driven by fact that Bush will soon be leaving office

Daily Times Monitor

PARIS: There is good news and bad news for United States President George W Bush as he pursues his valedictory tour of Europe this week, the New York Times (NYT) quoted a new worldwide study by the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

The image of the US has improved slightly in many countries over the past year, the poll results show. But the new optimism appears to be driven largely by the fact that Bush will soon be leaving office. Meanwhile, the survey showed that many across the globe blamed the US at least in part for slumping economies and global warming.

âThere has been no sea change in worldviews of the US,â Pew Research Centre President Andrew Kohut said of the results, which were released on Thursday. âEuropeans are still much more negative than they were at the beginning of the decade, and highly negative views prevail in the Muslim world. But there are some indications that the world sees the possibility of change with the prospect of a new [US] president.â

The 24-nation survey shows that many people who have been following the presidential race have greater confidence in Senator Barack Obama than Senator John McCain, âto do the right thing regarding world affairsâ. This feeling is strongest in Europe, Australia, Japan and Tanzania, which border Kenya, the homeland of Obamaâs father. Meanwhile, the survey found perceptions that China was ascendant in world affairs. Many people â including 3 out of 10 Americans â think that China will eventually replace the US as the worldâs leading superpower.

06-16-2008, 08:22 AM

The worries about Obama

Swapan Dasgupta

Last week, a survey by the US-based Pew Research Centre helpfully confirmed what has been apparent to every newspaper reader and TV viewer for the past few weeks: That, Obama-mania has gripped the world. We have been informed that the citizens of France, Germany, Italy and even China want Barak Obama to be the next President of the US. As for the 20 something scriptwriters for our English-language TV channels, Obama is the best thing that happened since Rafael Nadal.

Tragically, these "enlightened" Europeans and otherwise non-voting Asians can't vote in America's November elections -- unlike India, Americans insist on citizenship as a pre-condition for inclusion in the electoral register. Those who can vote are inclined towards Obama but not by any significant margin.

Ominously, the polls in Missouri, a State that has an uncanny knack of picking the ultimate winner, Republican candidate John McCain enjoys a narrow lead over Obama. Political buffs insist that Obama's initial advantage is only to be expected after the wave of publicity surrounding his victory in the Democratic primaries over Hillary Clinton. They point out that Michael Dukakis enjoyed a 17-point lead over George Bush (Sr) at the time of the party conventions in 1988. Bush, needless to say, won the presidential election in November convincingly.

Of course, history is under no obligation to repeat itself and it is entirely possible that a combination of youth, euphoria and money will defeat McCain. There is a novelty about Obama that makes him instinctively more appealing than his rival. McCain, a Vietnam War hero with a glorious record of public service and independent thinking, is precisely the type of venerable politician that accord dignity to Capitol Hill.

Unfortunately for him, American presidents since Jimmy Carter have never been elected on account of their stodginess -- the senior Bush was an exception but he won on the reflected glory of Ronald Reagan. In the past three decades, American voters have been swayed by quirkiness and flamboyance. President George W Bush was more interesting and appealing than his rivals Al Gore and John Kerry; Jimmy Carter was more quirky than Gerald Ford; and in the charisma count Bill Clinton was unsurpassable.

In a race where showmanship matters more than substance, Obama has a head-start. His ethnicity endears him to guilt-ridden White liberals who also fear that opposing him could invite charges of racial bias -- exactly the same phenomenon that explains the Indian liberal's remarkable inclination to overlook Mayawati's excesses. His social elitism, as reflected in his Pennsylvania speech explaining the boredom and bitterness of the White left-outs, touches a chord with the better educated who is satisfied that he is one of us. His tax-and-spend economics and talk-to-the-terrorists foreign policy appeals to campus radicals -- a subset that believes clobbering evil multinationals and bloodthirsty Israelis will bring equity and peace to the world. Finally, his poetic oratory endears him to those who see profundity in theatrics from the pulpit. Hillary Clinton mocked a platform built on empty "words". But isn't imagery what political communication is all about?

The real question, we have been told by a high priest of liberalism in New York Times, is not "how will Obama change America?" but "how much has America changed?" to make Obama a very serious contender for the White House. It's a fair observation. A columnist in the Wall Street Journal has posited the contest as a fight between Old America and New America: "In the Old America, love of country was natural. You breathed it in. You either loved it or knew you should. In the New America, love of country is a decision. It's one you make after weighing the pros and cons. What you breathe in is scepticism and a heightened appreciation of the global view."

If the "global view" is confined to appreciating the virtues of the Kyoto Protocol and acknowledging the need to temper farm subsidies to more realistic levels, India has little to worry about a possible Obama Administration. Neither does Obama's apparent partiality for overdoses of welfare and punitive taxation of windfall profits really cast its shadow on India -- in fact, India can take advantage of the further erosion of US competitiveness. Nor should we be unduly concerned at the possible Europeanisation of the US -- dilution of aggressive nationalism in favour of multilateral talking shops. Even McCain seems inclined towards reversing President Bush's unilateral excesses.

What should be of concern to India is the possible dilution of the "imperial" dimensions of US foreign policy. In concrete terms, this boils down to Obama's approach to the war on terror. Obama's core constituency, the one that secured him the Democratic nomination, has reacted to Bush's gung-ho crusade against Islamist "evil" by swinging in the opposite direction. Obama wants to cut American losses in Iraq and bring the boys home. If he does that and leaves Iraq to God and anarchy, it will be interpreted as an unqualified victory by those who have crazy notions of Sharia rule and a global Caliphate. Far from diluting the anger against America, a shamefaced retreat from Iraq will galvanise the soldiers of God to redouble their efforts in Egypt, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The fear of America has bred anger but it has also kept ideologically-driven terrorists on the backfoot. An America preoccupied with itself will create openings for terrorists in both West and South Asia. India has been a target of global terror not because we are an American vassal -- which we are not -- but because of what we are -- a non-denominational democracy. America's retreat will give the forces of terror an additional opening in India and its neighbourhood.

For purely selfish reasons, India has compelling reasons to hope that Obama doesn't win in November.

06-17-2008, 09:49 PM

Fair Enough?
Barack Obama's Rise Has Americans Debating
Whether Affirmative Action Has Run Its CourseQUOTE"The fact that a black man can run for the position of the President of the United States of America only corroborates that there is enough opportunity and equality for great things like that to happen," he says. "And that there is no need to create special advantages for any demographic group."

....
Now, Sen. Obama's rise is prompting some whites to ask -- and some blacks to fear -- the question: Does America still need affirmative action, given that an African-American has made it to the top of American politics?

The question has been asked before, as other blacks have risen to high positions. But Sen. Obama's swift ascent to the verge of the presidency may have created a turning point in the debate.

Affirmative action has stirred controversy for decades, including this 2002 protest.
The issue of affirmative action is likely to dog Sen. Obama on the campaign trail as he seeks to win over white blue-collar voters in battleground states like Michigan. For many of these voters, affirmative action has been divisive since the 1970s. Ward Connerly, a prominent affirmative-action opponent, is seeking to place anti-affirmative action referendums on the ballot in Arizona, Nebraska and Colorado. Voters would be asked to ban "preferential treatment" of women and minorities in state university admissions, the filling of state-funded jobs and awarding of state contracts.

...........

Sen. Obama's success has also stirred an uncomfortable debate within the black community over who has reaped the gains of affirmative action. Some argue the policies skew toward middle-class blacks instead of poor blacks, and have favored too many individuals like Sen. Obama -- people with a biracial background or the children of African and Caribbean immigrants, as opposed to blacks born in the U.S.

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