Op-Ed Columnist
Anxious in America
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: June 29, 2008
Just a few months ago, the consensus view was that Barack Obama would need to choose a hard-core national-security type as his vice presidential running mate to compensate for his lack of foreign policy experience and that John McCain would need a running mate who was young and sprightly to compensate for his age. Come August, though, I predict both men will be looking for a financial wizard as their running mates to help them steer America out of what could become a serious economic tailspin.
I do not believe nation-building in Iraq is going to be the issue come November â whether things get better there or worse. If they get better, weâll ignore Iraq more; if they get worse, the next president will be under pressure to get out quicker. I think nation-building in America is going to be the issue.
Itâs the state of America now that is the most gripping source of anxiety for Americans, not Al Qaeda or Iraq. Anyone who thinks they are going to win this election playing the Iraq or the terrorism card â one way or another â is, in my view, seriously deluded. Things have changed.
Up to now, the economic crisis weâve been in has been largely a credit crisis in the capital markets, while consumer spending has kept reasonably steady, as have manufacturing and exports. But with banks still reluctant to lend even to healthy businesses, fuel and food prices soaring and home prices declining, this is starting to affect consumers, shrinking their wallets and crimping spending. Unemployment is already creeping up and manufacturing creeping down.
The straws in the wind are hard to ignore: If you visit any car dealership in America today you will see row after row of unsold S.U.V.âs. And if you own a gas guzzler already, good luck. On Thursday, The Palm Beach Post ran an article on your S.U.V. options: âContinue to spend upward of $100 for a fill-up. Sell or trade in the vehicle for a fraction of the original cost. Or hold out and park the truck in the driveway for occasional use in hopes the market will turn around.â Just be glad you donât own a bus. Montgomery County, Md., where I live, just announced that more children were going to have to walk to school next year to save money on bus fuel.
On top of it all, our bank crisis is not over. Two weeks ago, Goldman Sachs analysts said that U.S. banks may need another $65 billion to cover more write-downs of bad mortgage-related instruments and potential new losses if consumer loans start to buckle. Since President Bush came to office, our national savings have gone from 6 percent of gross domestic product to 1 percent, and consumer debt has climbed from $8 trillion to $14 trillion.
My fellow Americans: We are a country in debt and in decline â not terminal, not irreversible, but in decline. Our political system seems incapable of producing long-range answers to big problems or big opportunities. We are the ones who need a better-functioning democracy â more than the Iraqis and Afghans. We are the ones in need of nation-building. It is our political system that is not working.
I continue to be appalled at the gap between what is clearly going to be the next great global industry â renewable energy and clean power â and the inability of Congress and the administration to put in place the bold policies we need to ensure that America leads that industry.
âAmerica and its political leaders, after two decades of failing to come together to solve big problems, seem to have lost faith in their ability to do so,â Wall Street Journal columnist Gerald Seib noted last week. âA political system that expects failure doesnât try very hard to produce anything else.â
We used to try harder and do better. After Sputnik, we came together as a nation and responded with a technology, infrastructure and education surge, notes Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International. After the 1973 oil crisis, we came together and made dramatic improvements in energy efficiency. After Social Security became imperiled in the early 1980s, we came together and fixed it for that moment. âBut today,â added Hormats, âthe political system seems incapable of producing a critical mass to support any kind of serious long-term reform.â
If the old saying â that âas General Motors goes, so goes Americaâ â is true, then folks, weâre in a lot of trouble. General Motorsâs stock-market value now stands at just $6.47 billion, compared with Toyotaâs $162.6 billion. On top of it, G.M. shares sank to a 34-year low last week.
Thatâs us. Weâre at a 34-year low. And digging out of this hole is what the next election has to be about and is going to be about â even if it is interrupted by a terrorist attack or an outbreak of war or peace in Iraq. We need nation-building at home, and we cannot wait another year to get started. Vote for the candidate who you think will do that best. Nothing else matters.
"Field Marshal Manekshaw provided an example of personal bravery, self-sacrifice, and steadfast devotion to duty that began before India's independence, and will deservedly be remembered far into the future," Obama said, offering "deep condolences to the people of India."
Obama, his supporters say, is of a different mettle and tempered at a different time. He is the first presidential candidate who is not an Europeanist or Atlanticist. His foreign policy experience is not contaminated by the Cold War. His roots, upbringing, and experience, although mostly American, have shades of Asian and African - which in part explains his quick response to something as remote, for Americans, as Manekshaw's death. Obama, in fact, has taken active interest in the political developments in his paternal home Kenya, whose Marxist opposition leader Raila Odinga claims to be his cousin.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/O...how/3185783.cms
<b>Obama vows $500m in faith-based aid</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->If Obama succeeds in breaking the GOP's grip on those voters, it would upend a calculation that Bush and Karl Rove, his top strategist, used to great effect in 2000 and 2004. But some liberal critics suggested that Obama was outdoing the president himself by building on Bush's faith-based initiatives, which some groups have said <b>come close to violating First Amendment protections separating church and state</b>. Others noted that <b>Obama's proposal does not completely ban faith organizations from discriminatory hiring practices based on religion, even while receiving federal funds</b>.
"I find it a tad worrisome, to be perfectly honest," said Randall Balmer, professor of religious history at Columbia University. While it could pass muster under the Constitution, he said, any proposal combining religion and federal money carries "the potential for a lot of mischief."
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Holy guacamole!! <!--emo&:omg--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/omg.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='omg.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I guess $500 million will go building more house and fleet of cars for Black Liberation church and poverty eradication program for priest. <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->ANOTHER REASON FOR HILLARY SUPPORTERS TO VOTE FOR MCCAIN?
By Mande Wilkes
FITSNews - July 2, 2008 - Apparently more interested in form over substance, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama isnât practicing what he preaches with regard to workplace equality.
<b>According to a report by the Secretary of the Senate, men are overrepresented among Obamaâs staff and the average male employee makes $6,000 more than his female counterpart.</b>
This data has been released amid Obamaâs recent support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, a bill which sought to relax time limits for sex discrimination suits. Though the bill eventually failed, Obama voted for it - a fact which he incessantly repeats as part of his effort to court Hillary Clinton supporters.
In fact, Obama spoke just last week in New Mexico about his commitment to workplace equality and his support of the defunct Lilly Ledbetter bill.
New Mexico is a swing state, so itâs no surprise that heâs invoking his support for the Ledbetter legislation as he campaigns for the stateâs female voters.
Of course, Obama isnât mentioning the gender discrepancy among his own staff.
... link
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<b>Report: Christian Conservative Leaders Unite to Support McCain</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"<i>In a seemingly symbolic move, 100 conservative Christian leaders agreed to unite behind the presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain at a meeting Tuesday in Denver, Colo., Time.com reports.
McCain may have become the default choice for some of those leaders, who expressed doubt about presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. One guest present at the meeting said the motivation behind uniting and offering collective support was <b>closely tied to a desire to defeat Obama</b></i>."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> The most blatant forms of sexism directed at Clinton have been well-documented by now: âIron My Shirtsâ placards, the Hillary Nutcracker, in which a leering Clinton doll promises to bust your nuts with her stainless steel thighs; the merry amusement or cold indifference of the media. Television commentary against Clinton plunged to disgraceful testosterone-charged lows: first reprimands for sounding like a âscolding motherâ and a ânagging wifeâ; then âevery manâs first wifeâ and eventually a âshe-devilâ and a âwhite bitchâ. At times, it was a struggle to remember that political punditry did not always sound straight out of menâs locker rooms.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/331059.html
<!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Poll: Pet owners favor McCain
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID â 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AP) â If the presidential election goes to the dogs, John McCain is looking like best in show.
From George Washington's foxhound Drunkard to George W. Bush's terriers Barney and Miss Beazley, pets are a longtime presidential tradition for which the presumed Republican nominee seems well prepared, with more than a dozen.
The apparent Democratic nominee Barack Obama, on the other hand, doesn't have a pet at home.
The pet-owning public seems to have noticed the difference.
Jackson's `Crude' Remarks May Be Boon for Obama Campaign
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> Jackson was appearing on Fox News on July 6 when a microphone picked up his remark suggesting that Obama was ``talking down to black people'' in recent speeches at black churches, according to a tape of the comments played on the Fox News Channel.
He then said, referring to Obama, ``<b>I want to cut his nuts off</b>,'' according to the Fox News Web site.
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McCain breaks with adviser over 'whiners' remark
By CHARLES BABINGTON and LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writers 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
BELLEVILLE, Mich. - John McCain sharply broke from an economic adviser who dubbed the United States "a nation of whiners" in a "mental recession" as the Republican presidential candidate sought to counter criticism that he's weak on the economy.
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Sensing an opening, Democrat Barack Obama turned the remarks against his rival.
"I strongly disagree" with Phil Gramm's remarks, McCain told reporters in what amounted to nothing short of a smackdown against one of his top surrogates and longtime friends. "Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me."
The Republican presidential hopeful said a person who just lost a job or a mother struggling to pay for a child's education "isn't suffering from a mental recession."
"America is in great difficulty. And we are experiencing enormous economic challenges as well as others," McCain said, seeking to stem the fallout from Gramm's comments.
Gramm, a former Texas senator who is a vice chairman of the Swiss bank UBS and has a doctorate in economics, made the remarks in an interview with The Washington Times. Friends and colleagues for years, McCain served as a top surrogate when Gramm ran for president in 1996, and the Texan has returned the favor this year, campaigning frequently on McCain's behalf.
The economy is the top issue for voters and the No. 1 subject in the presidential campaign. McCain and Obama are seeking to portray the other as out of touch with the country's struggles while arguing they are the leader able to pull the nation out of tenuous times.
Gramm's comments gave McCain heartburn and Obama an opportunity.
Campaigning in Fairfax, Va., Obama seized on Gramm's comments as he tried to paint McCain as out of touch: "America already has one Dr. Phil. We don't need another one when it comes to the economy."
He drew cheers and laughter with that comment referencing television psychologist "Dr. Phil" McGraw â and boos and hisses when he read Gramm's quotes to his audience. He contrasted them with rising gas and food prices, home foreclosures and job layoffs.
"It's not just a figment of your imagination," Obama said at a town-hall event focused on helping women advance economically. "Let's be clear. This economic downturn is not in your head."
"It isn't whining to ask government to step in and give families some relief," he said, drawing a standing ovation from the nearly 3,000 people in a high school gymnasium. "And I think it's time we had a president who doesn't deny our problems or blame the American people for them but takes responsibility and provides the leadership to solve them."
McCain, a four-term Arizona senator with decades of experience on national security, has had difficulty making the case that his economic plans can get the country roaring again, especially as Democrats try to tie him to President Bush and the nation's current financial woes.
During the Republican primary, McCain acknowledged that the economy is not his strongest suit, and delivered some tough talk to economically ailing Michigan. He told voters there that lost jobs weren't coming back. He also promised to create new employment opportunities, but that was lost as then-opponent Mitt Romney used McCain's words against him.
Back in Michigan on Thursday, McCain tried to counter the criticism from Obama, arguing that the Democrat opposes offshore drilling and nuclear power to try to solve energy woes. "You talk about Dr. Phil, he is Dr. No on energy," McCain said.
Gramm attracted the attention when he told the Times: "You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession." He noted that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet."
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," Gramm said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.
Later asked if Gramm would have a role in a McCain administration, McCain raised the possibility of what could be seen as a less-than-desirable job. "I think Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus although I'm not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome that."
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Export boom!! Meaning job export boom which pushes the productivity numbers up? Export boom driven by a weak dollar? People like Gramm still dosen't get it; no wonder he had most $ going into '96 election and was first one to bail out.
Audacity of Bull
<b>Obama warns against 'fighting the last war'</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Two goals of his administration would be to secure all loose nuclear material during <b>his first term and to rid the world of nuclear weapons</b>, Obama told an audience before a roundtable discussion at Purdue University. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>bothwaysbarack</b> <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
http://www.bothwaysbarack.com/
I am Hanitized anyway, but now liberal media is in shock, enjoy this link-
<b>Obama Is Hiding From The Press In Iraq </b>
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Obamaâs June reports shows one-day, $25 million haul:</b> report
11:00:41 AM July 21st, 2008
Barack Obamaâs political fundraising during June featured a one-day, $25 million take at the end of the month, more than rival John McCain made for the whole month, according to the web site Politico.com.
Obamaâs big haul came as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee made $54 million during the month, compared with $22 million for his Republican rival. The $25 million haul came on the last day of the month, Politico said.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Lest there be any illusions about the desired target audience for Obamaâs trip, the foreign media, including the BBC, have been left on the Tarmac. Only American reporters are on board âObama Oneâ as his plane heads from one country to the next.
He will have a 45-minute meeting on Saturday morning with Gordon Brown followed by a press conference, which Obama will conduct on his own outside Downing Street in a blatant departure from the usual protocol.
<b>There will be no Brown at his side to spoil the No 10 backdrop for American voters, even though it would be unthinkable for a British prime minister to appear in the White House Rose Garden without the president. </b>
Brown will say a few words later in the day, once Obama has gone.
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US: McCain to meet Jindal, may name him VP candidate
Mccain also has two adopted (ie abducted) indian girls.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mccain also has two adopted (ie abducted) indian girls.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
No Indian girl or girls. He had adopted girl from Bangladesh who was abandoned by her family in Bangladesh because of birth defect. McCain wife's charity was taking care of her by providing treatment, during that process she started liking that girl and later they adopted her.
<!--emo&:blink:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo--> Speaking to an audience of Hispanic military veterans, McCain stepped up his criticism of Obama while the Illinois senator continued his headline-grabbing tour of the Middle East and Europe. The Arizona Republican contended that Obama's policies â he opposed sending more troops to Iraq in the "surge" that McCain supported â would have led to defeat there and in Afghanistan.
"We rejected the audacity of hopelessness, and we were right," McCain said, a play on the title of Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080726/ap_on_el_pr/mccain
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>When Wesley Clark, the Democrats' favorite retired army general, attacked John McCain's "qualifications" for the Presidency, especially his military credentials, our watchdog mainstream media seems not to have thought it relevant to point out that Wesley Clark currently sits on the board of another of Soros' groups: The International Crisis Group. Soros, in addition to heavily funding the group, also sits on the Board with Clark, as do some other Obama "people," Samantha Power and Zbigniew Brzezinski. Richard Armitage, the leaker of Valerie Plame's name, is also a member, as is Kofi Annan.</b>
Barack Obama may be an upstart with a flimsy resume, but he travels in some very fancy circles, especially among those who adore Europe and truly wish America were much more like her. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
link
Watch this
<i>He ventured forth to bring light to the world
The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers</i>
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0drwfnGlF_E
Obama says bad decisions caused US economic woes
By MIKE GLOVER â 50 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) â Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday blamed "irresponsible decisions" by the Bush administration and Wall Street for the country's economic woes as government officials said the budget deficit would soar to record heights next year.
Turning to domestic problems after a week's tour of the Middle East and Europe, Obama met with more than a dozen economic advisers, appearing with them briefly before retreating for a two-hour closed meeting. The new deficit numbers were the latest sign of an economy in decline, with foreclosures rising, home prices falling, soaring energy prices and nearly a half-million job losses since January.
"It was not an accident or a normal part of the business cycle that led us to this situation," Obama said. "There were some irresponsible decisions that were made on Wall Street and in Washington."
Obama said the economy needs both short- and long-term fixes, including another round of "stimulus" measures from Congress to revive the economy and a longer-term focus on renewable energy to curb high gas prices and on universal health care to trim costs. He said he would move "rapidly and vigorously" to respond.
"We are also going to have to provide some short-term relief," Obama said. "People are hurting right now. We need to respond rapidly and vigorously to problems, and to anticipate the problems that may be on the horizon."
Present at the meeting were AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, the former head of Wall street investment firm Goldman Sachs. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett joined via speaker phone.
Republican John McCain said the culprit for the deficit was the administration's wasteful spending.
"There is no more striking reminder of the need to reverse the profligate spending that has characterized this administration's fiscal policy," McCain said in a statement issued Monday.
"As president, I have committed to balancing the budget by the end of my first term," McCain said. "Today's news makes that job harder but should not change our resolve to make the tough decisions and the genuine effort to reach across the aisle that are needed to ensure a lasting solution to the spending problem that threatens the very stability of our economy."
Obama didn't name the Bush administration, but his implication was clear.
"We can't afford, I believe, to keep on doing the same things we've been doing," said Obama. "We have to change course, and we have to take immediate action."
Obama has called for an aggressive course from Washington to stimulate the economy, and while he offered few details about his plans, he said the economy would be the focus of much of his attention in the three months until the election.
"This is an emergency we feel not only when reading the Wall Street Journal, but when we travel across Ohio and Michigan, New Mexico, no matter where you meet people day after day who are one foreclosure, one illness, one pink slip away from economic disaster," he said.
The states Obama mentioned, as he read from prepared text, all are key battleground states in November. He fueled more campaign speculation Monday as he headed to a three-hour closed meeting in Washington; campaign aides would not say who would be there or what the topic would be, but Obama is widely expected to announce his selection of a running mate prior to the Democratic National Convention next month.
He warned his economic advisers that the current crunch was "a direct result of putting off tough decisions for too many years. I believe that more action is going to be necessary. The economic emergency is more and more severe."
The Illinois senator said he would convene his economic advisers routinely through the campaign to get advice. It's also a way of putting the focus on domestic issues, where polls have shown him running strongly against McCain, an Arizona Republican senator.
"I've laid out an economic strategy in this campaign that I think will provide short-term relief and long-term growth," Obama said. He planned to focus on the economy this week. He also was heading to Missouri and Iowa later in the week, and raising money in Texas before heading to Florida.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hEx3tiP...6FZMuwD9275LQO1
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