Obama’s African Hubris
By Larry Johnson on January 31, 2008 at 10:57 AM in Barack Obama, Current Affairs
I suppose it is too much to ask of Obama supporters to read the following material and appreciate the arrogance and ignorance displayed by Senator Barack Obama, but folks, it appears he is going to do for Africa what George Bush has done for Iraq. Only worse. He is taking sides in a tribal war in Kenya that is on the verge of becoming a Rwanda-like genocide.
Really? Let’s start with this uncomfortable fact. The leader of the Kenyan Orange Democratic Movement opposition leader, Raila Odinga, is Barack Obama’s cousin. Barack may not put much stock in the relationship, but tribal allegiances are still strong in Kenya and Barack is clearly viewed as a Luo by his fellow tribesmen. Robert Ethan reported recently that:
Barack Obama has had a major impact on the recent disputed Kenyan election. He spoke in support of Orange Democratic Movement opposition leader Raila Odinga when in Kenya in 2006. The two men met last fall when Odinga visited America as each was preparing an “insurgency” campaign in their respective countries. In a recent BBC interview, Raila Odinga, averred that he and Obama were “old friends who spoke often on the telephone”. Odinga also said that he and Obama were cousins, a claim that the Obama campaign was unwilling to acknowledge, (given Odinga’s current difficulties) but did not deny.
Great. Obama’s cousin wants to be president. Is there a familial gene? If you are like most Americans you are blissfully unaware that two of Kenya’s tribes–the Luo and Kikuyu–are killing each other over a disputed election that Odinga, Obama’s cousin, claims was stolen from him. This dispute has been accompanied by violence:
A mob torched a church where hundreds had sought refuge Tuesday, and witnesses said dozens of people — including children — were burned alive or hacked to death with machetes in ethnic violence that followed Kenya’s disputed election.
The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret brought the death toll from four days of rioting to more than 275, raising fears of further unrest in what has been one of Africa’s most stable democracies. . . .
President Mwai Kibaki, who was swiftly inaugurated for a second term Sunday after a vote that critics said was rigged, called for a meeting with his political opponents — a significant softening of tone for a man who rarely speaks to the press and who vowed to crack down on rioters.
But opposition candidate Raila Odinga refused, saying he would meet Kibaki only “if he announces that he was not elected.” Odinga accused the government of stoking the chaos, telling The Associated Press in an interview that Kibaki’s administration “is guilty, directly, of genocide.”
Obama is not responsible for the killings in Kenya. But he has shown shocking naivete in supporting his cousin, who in turn has been quite eager to exploit the familial/tribal tie with Obama. Worse, members of Obama’s foreign policy team have helped fan the flames of this mess. How? Are you sitting down? They got Dick Morris involved in the election.
Former
Clinton aides currently working for Obama were the “mutual acquaintances” who directed Dick Morris toKenya to advise the Odinga campaign in November of 2007, shortly after Odinga visited with Obama inAmerica . Morris was an extremely divisive factor in the Kenyan elections, as a foreigner, a white man, and the creator of an antagonistic “have vs. have nots” campaign platform for Odinga’s ODM. He also suggested the current campaign of civil disobedience to protest the election result, including a “Million Person March”, a la Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.When things got out of hand following the election, Obama called Odinga repeatedly, but Mwai Kibaki, the leader of the Government would not return his calls as he perceives Obama to be biased toward his Luo relative Odinga in the conflict. Obama is featured prominently in ODM campaign posters, slogans, and songs in
Kenya , and the plaintive phrase “A Luo will become President inAmerica before a Luo will become President inKenya ” is often heard.
Obama also is providing the Republicans with the equivalent of an ammunition dump for destroying his candidacy should he become the nominee. The following articles are a preview of shit storm that will be unleashed on Obama.
But even in this atmosphere Obama stands out - for not only does he theoretically support appeasement, he is actively advancing the interests of Islamists seeking to take control over a state allied with the
US .
Kenya currently teeters at the edge of political chaos and civil war in the wake of the disputed Dec. 27 presidential elections. Those elections pitted incumbent President Mwai Kibaki against Raila Odinga who leads the Orange Democratic Movement. While the polls showed the public favoring Odinga, Kibaki was declared the winner. Odinga rejected the results and his supporters have gone on rampages throughout the country that have killed some 700 people so far. Fifty people were murdered when a pro-Odinga mob set ablaze a church in which they were hiding.Kibaki is close ally of the
US in the war against Islamic terror. In stark contrast, Odinga is an ally of Islamic extremists. On August 29 Odinga wrote a letter toKenya ’s pro-jihadist National Muslim Leaders Forum. There he pledged that if elected he would establish Sharia courts throughout the country; enact Islamic dress codes for women; ban alcohol and pork; indoctrinate schoolchildren in the tenets of Islam; ban Christian missionary activities, and dismiss the police commissioner, “Who has allowed himself to be used by heathens and Zionists.”
Who is behind these massacres? The opposition leader, Raila Odinga, has had a good press in the West, after he accused the president, Mwai Kibaki, of rigging the election. But the victims of the recent violence have mostly been members of Mr. Kibaki’s tribe, the Kikuyu, while those who have gone berserk are supporters of Mr. Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement, which is dominated by the rival Luo tribe.
Whether Mr. Odinga has ordered his men to commit murder and arson is unclear. But his own background does not exactly suggest enthusiasm for democracy and the rule of law. Mr. Odinga’s father, Oginga Odinga, led the Communist opposition during the Cold War and Raila Odinga was educated in Communist East Germany.
I can see the headline now, Obama’s Commie Uncle. Democrats banking on Obama to bring a new Camelot to Washington need to pause and ask some tough questions. Their refusal to ask Obama about his familial ties in Kenya, about his foreign policy inexperience, and about his meddling in the Kenyan election, will eventually come up.
There may be an innocent explanation for all of this. But sticking one’s head in the sand and hoping these uncomfortable issues go away is not a strategy for victory in November.
But what about Darfur?
Aren’t US citizens supposed to help the Africans?
Can’t the concerned citizens here just form the 21st century equivalent of Lincoln Brigades and go fight on whichever side they like?
Oh I see, it is buried deep in the Jerusalem post story, OBAMA SUPPORTS ISLAMOFASCIST COUSIN TERRORIST BADGUY.
Oh the terra of it, someone in Africa wrote a panderletter to a large constituency in his own country.
This letter ( which we have not seen but of course that the newspaper is reporting with exactitude ) has upset a newspaper in the tail that wags the US dog. This is almost as good as the Harreetz article the other day that rated the US presidential candidates on one issue: “Would the election of this candidate be good for Israel?” Obama came in next to last, last being the candidate whose name must never be mentioned so he was omitted from the list.
Loved the GOP debate last night, expecially their cogent and well reasoned suggestions for a policy toward Gazah and Palestine and the Israeli experiment with reproducting the Warsaw ghetto.
( Last sentence was sarcasm, Palestine is one of those “foreign policy” questions that somehow never is allowed to surface in either party’s debates.
You’re missing the point. Obama may have an innocent explanation for all of this. Problem is, he has declined to offer one so far and has not faced any tough questioning on the matter. When do you want Obama to field these questions: 1) During the Democratic primary, or 2) During the debate with the Republicans after the convention?
Even though I still think Obama is not qualified, I’d rather he get this trash on the table while folks still have a chance to think.
Strategically, it is a critical mistake to declare fixed position, diplomatically, at this early stage.
A main reason the US lost leverage, and position, in the Middle East was due to Bush arrogance in declaring Israel the “justified aggressor,” something no other President had done, and for good reason.
Obviously, the best policy should be arrived at, one beneficial to the world stage, and that takes a significant amount of information, and analysis, done by the most competent. It’s a subjective call, a Yale degree is not necessarily indicative of expertise, look at John Yoo.
Life is scary, there are no absolutes, not even a Harvard law degree.
Again, this points to WHY a president should have a thorough intellectual command of the complex, geopolitical intricacies he, or she will face. That, and an ability to resolve those issues, while maintaining US security.
You just have to look at the disaster that is Bush, and the neocons, to know not all Ivie educations are created equal.
This comment shows another distinct, frightening lack of judgement on Obama’s part, world politics is not as simple as quarterbacking a football team. The suggestion to bomb Pakistan, simply to harpoon Moby Osama, the great Saudi white whale, was breathtaking in it’s naivety, the complete ignorance of consequence, and diplomatic intent.
Another significant point involves Africa as a developing oil reserve for the major powers.
(Obviously, it’s a sovereign continent, but when oil comes into play…)
As it stands now, China has created economic and reinforced political conditions which will lead to problems much like those in the Middle East.
Since Africa is still somewhat developmental, perhaps this could be averted with proper policy.
But Obama has already taken sides.
“Mr. Unity,” creating enemies wherever he goes, is either stupid, (and at 46, an intelligent man should have figured it out) or disingenuous.
It seems as if Obama gets the Clinton administration rejects, or failures, as advisers, everyone from Susan Rice, to Morris.
Bill Clinton is sure that if Obama is the dems nomminee the rebublicans will bring his african meddling to light and lose the election to the republicans.. That is why they want him to be their opponant. Hillary can not bring this up now but someone HAS to
Is the Kenyan situation (and it is a TRAGEDY) in anyway related to Nadhmi Auchi?
So you want Obama to lock himself into a position before all the facts are available. Superb.
Innocent explanation? Obama did not write the letter that troubled the Israeli government newspaper. Face it Obama is not required to present a position for your pleasure or the pleasure of others who wish to trip him up as a flip-flopper should the situation change.
Shall we just fix the intelligence to fit the desired outcome again? Worked to defeat Iraq maybe it will work to defeat Obama.
He does if he wants my vote
LARRY JOHNSON WRITES: “Even though I still think Obama is not qualified, I’d rather he get this trash on the table while folks still have a chance to think”.
totally agreee. imagine what the karl rove/republican machine would do to obama with this information.
hilary is a polarizing figure and the gop hates her. if she is the nominee, they could mobilize to vote against here, regardless of who the gop nominee is, under a “anyone but hillary” scenario, much like democrats back in 04 with bush. having said that, the social conservative faction of the gop doesn’t trust mccain, if he is the nominee.
my question is: if hillary is the nominee, can she actually win? there could be a possible mccain presidency (though not in stone). this election is still up for grabs. whoever wins, i hope its in the best interests of our country.
even though i’m still undecided, i’ll take this information in the article into account. thanks larry. this blog remains one of my favorite stops.
oops! my name is misspelled above in the previous post.
LARRY JOHNSON WRITES: “Even though I still think Obama is not qualified, I’d rather he get this trash on the table while folks still have a chance to think”.
totally agreee. imagine what the karl rove/republican machine would do to obama with this information.
hilary is a polarizing figure and the gop hates her. if she is the nominee, they could mobilize to vote against here, regardless of who the gop nominee is, under a “anyone but hillary” scenario, much like democrats back in 04 with bush. having said that, the social conservative faction of the gop doesn’t trust mccain, if he is the nominee.
my question is: if hillary is the nominee, can she actually win? there could be a possible mccain presidency (though not in stone). this election is still up for grabs. whoever wins, i hope its in the best interests of our country.
even though i’m still undecided, i’ll take this information in the article into account. thanks larry. this blog remains one of my favorite stops.
Hillary can definitely win. Obama’s numbers are falling all over the place.
Yes, Obama’s numbers are not reliable at all and it looks as if this African connection and meddlings by Obama on behalf of his cousin Luo Odinga (who had a few churches burned and dozens raped inside) are not going to be glossed over by McCain. It’s really naive or stupid or intellectually dishonest of Obamyopics to insist that Hillary get out of the race now. Obama’s Judgment has been disastrous and the foreign policy department should never fall in his hands given his historical bias in favour of islamist-marxist theology to which he has subscribed the last 20 years with Uncle Jeremiah’s unorthodox gospel. Maybe he should drop out now and listen to what McCain had to say back in 2005:
“I am sure…I have no doubt that Sen. Hillary Clinton will be a good president” in response to Tim russert of Meet the Press in an interview in Baghdad.
BO was lucky the Wright controversy appeared prematurely - unscheduled almost….His Sharia-law-friendly Kenyan cousin story, tho, will be going to the question of Judgment and he’ll ultimately fail, if the Dems are stupid enough not to see this….
MSAKEL..
I Agree with your Comments..
The Problem is..The Public is not being Informed about the REAL Background Issues..
they Tsk tsk over pastor Wrights Comments..
Crazy Old Uncle Jeremiah..got alittle carried away one day..went on a silly rant…good thing He’s retired..
Obama got to Smooth it over with some Frosting on the PR PIE..
Hey..How could a nice..Sweet..Happy..Positive guy like Obama
ever think like that..??
Its suilly to even believe that Obama could agree or think like that..All SMOOTHED OVER NOW…..SLICK WILLY.
Besides..the Public doesnt know anything the MSM doesnt tell them..Ya think they want to do research..come to NO QUARTER..Read all the BACKGROOUND info on the Internet..Work all day..maybe two jobs..come home..mow the lawn..pay the bills..call bill collectors..order a Pizza if i can afford it..or have something Cheap..turn on 5: 00 o”Clock News..list to 1/2 news..Check weather and sports..read the paper…
Nope..Obama ahead in all the Polls..The Clintons did something stupid again..Nothing about Black power..Marxism..
Wonder if Bush is gonna bomb Iran or McCain..hey..bettr vote for Obama..Hillary doesnt have a chance..!!
Behind in the Polls..They just make fun of her anyhow,..
Look,..theres Obama on TV..Smiling..confident..change channel..Same..Click..same..Click..same..
Welcome to My WEB..said the SPIDER to the Fly….
All of the RED..and BLACK..and WHITE..and BROWN Spiders…Licking thier Lips..Wringing all thier Hands..Reaching..
My Precious..Its almost Mine..!!
MARXISM..?? Snicker..you got to be kidding..
Radicals..Revolutionarys..Gangsters..Bagmen..Syria..Iraq…
Why hasn’t this gone public yet.
Where is the outrage at this extremist, racist, bigot, lying candidate.
I want him out of the race AND out of the Senate.
SHAME on this man and any politician that supports him. All you have to do is read his books to see what he stands for.
Obama’s special interest
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/us/politics/30do
nate.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
We know Hillary is beholden to special interest.
This is where Edwards had it over both candidates
New York Times Obama special interest article
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/us/politics/30donate.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Larry you will like this clip of Bernstein talking about Hllary’s stand on Nafta
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/01/31/carl-bernstein-says-hillary-clinton-fought-against-nafta-when-bill-implemented-it/
Larry: Thanks for the preview.
Your post raises several questions for me.
1) Why would anybody from Obama’s camp use Dick Morris, especially since that turned out so well for Bill Clinton and he is a direct conduit to Rebug’s?
2) How much of the foreign press gets any air time in the US media market? Americans have very narrow domestic reading lists.
3) Is this “going after al qaeda” as Barak Obama mentioned?
Seems Obama is the defacto Republican in this race. Because God Forbid we allowed the Democratic Party to pick its own candidate. The media has circled the wagons to protect Obama and his agenda. What is the agenda the media has to protect? I don’t like his taking sides in an election in Kenya with one of the candidates being his cousin. This cousin wants Sharia Law in Kenya. What is Dick Morris doing advising Obama’s cousin on his election? We are condemned to live in interesting times. Perhaps the truth will come from the Right Wing cause it sure ain’t coming from the left.
Dick Morris was mentioned on t.v. as helping the Obama campaign
Quacks like a duck doesn’t it?
The Robert Ethan link doesn’t work.
Dick Morris? My god in heaven.
Dick Morris=Pinhead
I fear that Barack Obama has the potential to do for the Democratic Party what George Bush has done for the Republican Party. Why can’t we have a competent Democratic president?
We had Edwards, and we have Clinton.
What do you think the problem is?
We can’t get a competent candidate until we have a decent media. When only 5 corporations own almost the entire media its no surprise when they all take one side. I have ignored them all and read only Taylor Marsh and No Quarter. The media sells a candidate with an unknown agenda by using names of icons to compare him to. This is disgusting. When Obama was in Nevada he compared himself to Moses. He has also been compared to MLK and JFK. I think however, RFK’s kids don’t see Obama as being another RFK so they are supporting Hillary. To me Obama is just a charlaton who has found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and all he has to do is click his heals and the money pours in. Course what he has to do for all that money. I hope we never have to find out.
I have been saying the same thing. He has the media behind him so he is able to escape the harsh comments nessecary to make him a true candidate. It is unfortunate the they hate Sen. Clinton because of her husband. It is insulting as a working person (teacher) ,that is having a difficult time paying her bills, to hear raising 32 million dollars in a month. I understand politics, but that kind of money can be useful to so many hurting families in this country as we are forced deeper and deeper into this financial crisis.
So do you think Clinton is the best pick for president or should I ask is Bill the best pick? The fact that Hillary served as first lady does not make her the better person. It seems to me regardless what Obama does or does not do people are going to find fault - the Clinton’s are not without fault either keep that in mind.
I wouldn’t vote for the First Lady either.
I would vote for a two term Senator that handed Giuliani his ass in a sling and is about to Goodnight Obama with a church key.
What the hell is Bill Clinton doing in the race now? I distinctly saw a Hillary in my voter’s phamphlet. Did my Secretary of State fuck up or did you?
One fault Hillary Clinton has is that she has a lizard stare that stops your heart. I want that across the table from Putin’s KGB torturer’s stare.
hmm, i am really tired of clinton haters.
You know, we (the US) haven’t mucked about in Africa for awhile. I’m sure Dick Morris’ polls show that the majority of us are pretty tired with the Iraq thing and, according to cable TV, about the only thing that most Iranians are really working at is their nose job (which is a few cases could probably conceal a nuclear enrichment facility or two). But sending “a few good men” to stomp the shit out of Kibaki’s boys and install Odinga in the chair (after all, his party does have “democratic” in its name, although “orange” might piss off the Kennedys and their IRA supporters) could be amusing. Particularly since the Commandant of Marine Corps recently asked that his Marines deploying out of Camp Pendleton be sent to Afghanistan instead of Iraq because there is a real war in Afghanistan and lying around Iraq kicking in the occasional residential door is apparently bad for morale.
For those who wonder why Obama’s ex-Clintonista advisors would call on Dick Morris to handle Kenyan elections for cousin Odinga, all I can say is: some whores are choosy about their clients and some whores aren’t. Apparently Morris and his friends fall into the latter category. For that matter, the whores that Morris is know to have patronized weren’t particularly discriminating in their clientele, either. Of course, when you’ve just banged a guy and he asks, “How would you like to speak to the President of the United States on the phone?”, it could turn any courtesan’s head. The question is, did Bill schedule an appointment?
James “the ragin cajun “Carville and Stan Greenburg showed how to effectively muck about in foreign elections with their work in the last Mexican presidential election, and with similar results. A narco terrorist state and a state in civil war.
The USA needs MORE LICOLN BRIGADES, if only to improve the future state of American literature.
Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Somalia, East Timor, Pakistan,
Columbia, Venezuela, Mexico, Phillipines, Afghanistan, Georgia, Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan, Chad, Equatorial Guinea; to list a few places where the USA’s involvement has been less than positive.
Whatever did become of all those CIA sponsored and supported “colour” revolutions?
Wherever is AFRICOM going to be based? Just what the USA needs, another military command on another continent. Coming soon to a budget near you Antarticom because terrorist penguins might use their magic scuba skills just like the afghani navy planned to.
Since nobody else wants the Africom corp perhaps he’ll be whipped into shape to accept them.
I expect AFRICOM to be headquartered in Niger. It has a certain poetic justice to it.
Auchi Polytech
Cee,
I cannot access the email you sent me as it has an attachement and I have dial up. Please resend the email without the attachement and I wil send you another email address.
Thanks,
You send troops to Africa, say, you open the door for increased asymmetrical warfare, possibly financed by China, for instance, which now has huge economic interests in the area, via oil investments, which it needs to protect.
That, and they don’t like us.
Secondly, we can’t unilaterally barge into someone else’s house, simply because we want to, it is NOT our right, despite the neocon delusions.
I think, in this day and age, the Powell Doctrine is correct, a defined mission with a strict time limitation, after all diplomatic options have been exhausted.
When did the use of the army become a first line of defense? These neocon idiots don’t even consider diplomacy, and they can’t fight, this is what has bogged us down in Iraq, in part. It’s sort of drip drip drip, bait and switch, take the money, blow something up, and then start all over again, and the current administration has no idea how to handle it.
So how do you handle it? You observe the factors that motivate this behavior, beyond greed, and you address those factors, staying ahead of your enemy, seeing them, when they can’t see themselves. Who else thinks murder, or aggression, is a way to negotiate life, other than a moron, or a nut?
Guns alone will not solve the problem, a strong US diplomatic effort is needed, led by an administration that is non partisan.
Other countries, in effect, use the Republican strategy against the neocons, say, and the neocons can’t counter it, don’t even recognize it, they’re so simplistic in their thinking.
Sorry, I know I should refine this a bit more, you never really have the full picture, and it is not my intent to offend.
The ONLY reason the USA can continue to fight in Iraq and the dozen other countries the USA is nibshitting in is that the Chinese have lent us the money to do it. Without China sopping up the trillion plus in debt this war has cost, the Bush administration would have had to print even MORE dollars than they already have and given the USA runaway inflation at home and an already dead dollar overseas, or the Bush administration would have had to raise taxes. The USA is approx a 12 trillion a year economy ( and shrinking ) so that would approx a tax increase of 1/2 trillion dollars a year since 2002. How quickly the neocons would have been relegated to the dusty backpages of history if the USA government had raised taxes across the board the amount necessary to promulgate these foolish wars.
The neocon delusion is a very old one: Might makes right. The neocon and American comeuppance will be the oldest of the golden rules, He who has the gold makes the rules. The Americans could learn alot just by watching Hu and Wen work, hell the Americans could learn a lot by watching Putin work. America being short bus special doesn’t watch and doesn’t learn, but it sure does spend a whale on “intelligence.”
Nothing, though, is black and white, it’s a thin line between love and hate.
How do I fight my enemy, what do I want from him? How can I fight him without guns, if I am not properly armed?
What was the underlying motive for so much Chinese investment, other than Bush’s fantasy of a supply side economy?
Sometimes I think we underestimate the skills of other governments, other generals, it’s a very dangerous method of doing business. The Bush administration has the most advanced military hardware, but simply no brains to run it, no smart people. And without a winning strategy, those weapons alone will not win your war.
Sometimes, I think when it became apparent there would be no empire, they could not control Iraq, they decided to “chaos” the middle east, as means of gaining control, keeping others distracted, a sort of reverse Vietnam, as done by drooling idiots, who never understood the dynamic of Vietnam in the first place. It didn’t work out for them.
They understand chaos in the same manner they understand Straussian economic and social theory, Asian asymmetric war.
They don’t.
Illegal weapons and drug trade are also an issue, many times.
This is really, really scary! What in the hell was one of Obama’s people doing meddling in another country stoking the fires? Did he think it would make him look good in this election, polish his foreign policy credentials?
This is really a disaster, particularly the fact that the Republicans will absolutely bury him with the Islamic fundamentalist ties, even if they are flimsy. They’ve already been spreading the madrassa and Hussein memes. This could push it over the edge and have half the country believing he is a Moslem.
I really hope this story gets out and everything is THOROUGHLY discussed and out in the open BEFORE the democratic party voters makes the huge mistake of choosing this guy. Knowing the MSM, they won’t do it until it’s too late, just as with Rezko. This is a disaster in the making.
Everyone wondered what was the rush about getting a nominee within a month of the first Caucus. Now I see why. The media knew they couldn’t keep the Obama story quiet for say 6 months. This way if they can push Obama in he is the nominee when they tear him down and its too late for Democrats to change their minds. This has Rove’s graffiti all over it. Its shocking how many people have no knowledge of any of these Obama scandals. However, many people who know nothing about him except the media’s heavy handed push feel very queasy about him.
I lay this at the hands of Howard Dean, who the bloggers deified. This is the same person who decided not to count Florida and Michigan for holding their primaries early. Even though Republicans have not done the same. Now the same bloggers have deified Obama. All nice and neat and only the American people get screwed.
e-mail this article to Sean Hannity at Fox News. He just loves to bash Obama for us. He truly is a great muckraker!
Larry, I am sure you have already done so, but PLEASE get this emailed to every major network/newspaper in the country. This is serious and points to how incredibly naive Obama is when it comes to foreign policy. Giving a speech in 2002 against the Iraq war DOES NOT mean he is immune from criticism of his foreign policy…if there is meat to this, it could be big…and this isn’t about who wins and who loses, this is about whether this man is prepared to be commander-in-chief…if it isn’t true, it needs to be debunked NOW before the republicans get control…
Oh pshaw, one can pick one’s friends, one’s relatives are not of one’s choosing.
hmmmm
In most of the world, the basic rules are: me against my brother; my brother and I against our cousins; me and my family against everyone else.
me and every other human against the alien invaders from venus. ( Except for the Clinton’s who would try to triangulate the situation vis a vis the Venusians for their own marginal advantage ).
Here we go again. The subject isn’t the Clintons.
Really, it’s about Obama’s screw up in judgement and reveals a side of him that doesn’t mean foreign policy expertise.
This issue involves mature judgement about a very important issue that Obama either favors out of bad advice or a need to look presidential. Unfortun ately his cousin is on the wrong side.
Since I am convinced the american people cannot understand foreign policy issues or can invest the
time it would take to do so, this will remain a non issue except for the thinking few.
No, I’m not an elitist. I’m just observing the frenzy around Obama and since he isn’t meaningfully challenged, it appears to be unstoppable faith based euphoria.
On whose wrong side is his cousin? His cousin is a Kenyan patriot doing his best for his Kenya against other Kenyans who are not doing their best in his view.
So far I see no screw up in judgement by Mr Obama, Kenya is not a large part of America. What Kenya decides is best for Kenya is pretty much Kenya’s decision. A really mature judgement would be Kenya for the Kenyans. Hope it works out for you, what do you have to trade and what is the price of the goods you wish to sell to the American Market. Really Norris I do think you are a bit of an elitist on this one. Have to make sure the benighted black folks in Kenya don’t kick out the buy who says nice things about America and Israel while selling the Kenyans further down the river. It’s ok. Africa has that effect on folks. Why Africa is almost like 18th and 19th century america: all that land, all those resources and all those pesky natives waiting to be enlightened and properly cared for on reservations.
Right.
Which is why Obama should have kept his mouth shut, a president, a future president cannot be seen as taking sides, reviewing all information scrupulously, trying to reconcile the differing parties.
The Uniter, right?
Did you forget, or is Obama blowing smoke out his ass?
Obama doesn’t know how to unite, now, does he?
I think sometimes we as Americans fail to understand how the world sees us. We are despised for our ignorance, and arrogance, and rightly so, but most people, pre Bush, anyway, admired us, too, wanted the cache, the glamour of an American connection. For a country like Kenya, and Obama’s cousin, America means protection, like landing wealth.
You know how most men feel about a Lamborghini, say?
It’s like that — no one can touch me if I have America on my side, I am cool…
That doesn’t necessarily apply to the indigenous population, though, certainly no one wants to appear self righteous, missionary men are obtuse.
Except that there are elements among his supporters who have links to the Taliban; and Odinga is promulgating Sharia Law. We don’t know he he sent those elements to burn a church and kill 50 people inside, among other incidents which are now being deemd “ethnic cleansing” in the press (for example, interveiwees on the BBC World Service, just this morning.) But there are a lot of questions being raised about Odinga. He’s no saint, either. Obama should be careful about the phone calls he makes (as he did from NH, to Odinga.)
ck — when you stop drinking the Kool-aid you will see that Obama has no business making Foreign Policy while he is running for President. Especially since the man he sides with is his Kenyan cousin. Our government supports the current government in Kenya — Obama should not be an independent contractor. This looks really bad. Is it naivety or is it an agenda? 700 people are already dead in this violence — Obama needs to stand up and say he had no business sending Dick Morris down to advise his cousin and that he wants this violence to end. But Obama like his mentor Bush never apologizes and never explains.
Obama is running for President of the United States not Kenya. He has no business advising the other side when our Foreign Policy says otherwise. Now Kenya has had an election and Obama’s cousin buoyed by the fact that he is related to a man running for President has unleashed all kinds of violence — 700 people are dead. Either Obama is an idiot or a power mad lunatic.
Well, to be fair, he has the other cousin on his mother’s side, Dick Cheney. Maybe the six degrees of separation aren’t with Kevin Bacon. Maybe they are with Barack Obama.
“The official said al-Libi is “not far below the importance of the top two al Qaeda leaders” — Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.”
-cnn
Another number three got killed.
If they’d actually make a list of the names, I could win the bet pool.
Double up on no.3 every time.
They killed an alibi. In other words, no more excuses?
Didn’t they kill an Al-libi before as well?
Why yes, they did. He burned the CIA for false positives for information going into a 2003 Colin powell speech. Tenet discusses the man in his book. He was transferred to Libya on a swap, according to stenographer Isikoff in a 2007 Newsweek.(wiki)
Abu faraj Al-libi, Abu Yahia al-libi, Ibn al-Shayk al-libi.
Each was AQ’s no.3 of the month.
…faraj, captured by Pakistan, has one problem, that isn’t his real name, according to a former operations interview, Melissa Mahle.
http://www.here-now.org/shows/2005/05/20050506_9.asp
Other note that surnames are often more common as well. Is this a case of simply re-using names, assigning them for cofnessions induced by torture, as a way of gaining media traction? Known knowns, as it were…
I hate to say this, but I don’t believe anyone cares about Obama’s transgressions.
There is frenetic approval based on faith and I don’t know that reason or judgement can prevail in the face of this kind of whipped up hysterical approval.
The media have shut Clinton out for the most part, and Obama is on a roll. Not surprisingly none of his supporters are willing to question him and are actually angry at minimal challenges about his past dealings and present positions.
This is not a whine for Hillary. I just see what’s happening.
Based on the spin “hope and change”
Who would of thunk it, the Democrats were so apt to cast votes for “faith based” initiatives?
As the indignant radio heads and infomercial kings and queens take the slightest offense at being told the world is round and not a flat screen TV, who will pay for the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria to travel to the “New World”?
But for a Lack of money,information and judgement we be told to take leave of the facts. Poor Wooden Ships. The rudder gone from the Santa Maria and the others traveling on into the unknown waters. What fate awaits their crews?
http://www.statesman.com/travel/content/travel/stories/05/1COLUMBUS.html
1) No transgressions to care about to begin with, so no one cares about what isn’t there.
2) Reason and judgement kept the USA out of Iraq in 2002 against whipped up hysteria.
3) It is noticeable that Mrs. Clinton gets almost as much airtime as Dr. Ron Paul. Damn shame she is shut out, so unfair, and her an ex-first lady and all that.
4) It is also noticeable that there is no rancor or anger in the Clinton campaign about Obama nor about how shut out Mrs Clinton is from the media.
5) No not a whinge but a very close fascimile, almost exactly a whinge but without the audacity to call itself one.
But yet so ephemeral, and confusing to those
without narcissistic pretensions and delusions in regard to their truely limited talents, you know?
If we could only be what others tell us we are, instead of what we really are, you know?
you want some cheese with your whine.
Bwha!
Wait until the right wing gets a hold of him.
“Light as air rhetoric?”
You haven’t even considered Rush, and Fox, and how they’ll attack.
Why do you make that judgement, so prematurely?
You know Rove, he’s an old troll…
I totally agree - Any ideas on how to get REALITY back into the picture?
norris — You say people don’t care. I say people have no idea whats going on. Because the media for the most part has ignored all this. Only Taylor Marsh and Larry Johnson have seen fit to print this.
Mr. Murder: We are making missile strikes into Pakistan the ticker said. George and Barak will have something in common I guess. We get the top LTs.; but someone thinks we need the Bogeymen alive to make us “fear”.
Right — Someone showed me a copy of a Bush speech from 2000. He used the word HOPE alot too. Only 9 months into his presidency it was terra terra terra. Sounds like the Obama game too. After all when you have hot wars you don’t have the time to talk about Healthcare For All Americans or in Obama’s case Healthcare For Bll But 15 million Americans.
And water cables for several south cetral asian internet providers were cut?
Some boat anchor. The re-routing of traffic had no effect on other links. Where did it go if as they report it was rerouted thru the uk and Us backbone.
http://www.internettrafficreport.com/details.htm
Florida is down as well.
router.vortechhosting.com
Is there a cable from Florida to Columbia?
Jerusalem Post:
But even in this atmosphere Obama stands out - for not only does he theoretically support appeasement, he is actively advancing the interests of Islamists seeking to take control over a state allied with the US.
Lessee…now I’m going to have to wonder who really started this.
Ah, no I don’t.
Scary isn’t it–Seems like every time you scratch an Obama story you get the word muslim.
Obama received some time on PBS the other night with a sound bite asking all of the factions in Keyna to “just get along”. I thought it slightly less helpful that John Edwards’ phone call to Musharraf. I’m sure all those people running for their lives stopped to watch. (extreme snark alert)
STOP THE PRESSES, STOP THE PRESSES, Paul Volcker ( ex chairman of the Fed Reserve, the MAN who killed inflation and saved the dollar back when bad bad Leroy Nixon was president ) has given his platinum plated, 24karat endorsement to : BARACK OBAMA.
God what to do? With that monumental endorsement millions could be swayed now! We’re in for a very rough ride!
It’s big, it’s huge, it’s hugely big. Next thing you know Greenspan will endorse someone, then Bernanke will, then Nixon will, then Harold Stassen will endorse, the lou down at the corner bar will hold free beer nights for Adlai Stevenson ( but the peanuts will cost 3 euros a bowl ).
If it were any bigger it would be Giant Economy Size big, but if it is economy size I will wait for Hu and Wen’s endorsement. Now that will be really really big; even bigger than Olmert’s endorsement of Hillary.