President Barack Obama is off to an impressive start; implementing lobbying rules, attacking the bail out initiative, air strikes on Pakistan, freezing administration pay and the icing of it all, closing Guantanamo Bay. Although Gitmo won't actually occur until the end of the year, Obama made it a top priority. Although his actions make for comforting headlines, how will these early quest to fulfill campaign promises affect President Obama's political leverage? The political results of President Obama's haste are more important than his willingness to earn the public's trust. The new enforcement of a transparent government is also concerning. Ex-president Carter tried this maneuver when it came to policy making as an attempt to regain trust in the executive branch after Nixon's misdemeanors (Ford wasn't in office lonmg enough to establish an executive culture). President Obama may have already thought his first 100 days out (as most prepared presidents do), but now that he has been fully breifed it would be astute to measure his leverage in Congress and abroad.
Tuesday, 06 January 2009
Although Israel is not a national security threat to the US, it is our foreign policy to protect small sovereigns from reckless more powerful neighbors. During the past week Israel has accomplished killing more children than Hamas members. What is Obama's position on the terror committed by the Israeli government? If Sunni extremist groups came to the aid of Palistine would the US then intervene? US defense and security leadership need to demand Israeli cease fire the why the reproacched Russia in the summer. If the Muslim world gets tired of the Israeli power and its US support on terror, the Muslim countries could easily and quickly swallow Israel. The UN and ICC should hold the Israeli leadership legally responsible for the murders of all the young they have killed in the Gaza strip. Jews are not immune to the rule of law, thier holocuast dosen't give them the right to kill other groups of people off. When the Arab world wakes up and Shia and Sunni stop fighting each other and direct thier energy on thier true enemy Israel will finally pay for thier terror and the US won't be able to bail Israel out.