Morning Update: Obama Backs ‘Moderate’ Palestinians
Barack Obama expressed support for the U.S. position backing Fatah control of the Palestinian Authority and said the U.S. should take a leadership role in the continued efforts to isolate Hamas.
Barack Obama expressed support for the U.S. position backing Fatah control of the Palestinian Authority and said the U.S. should take a leadership role in the continued efforts to isolate Hamas.
At this stage of the presidential campaign, it is understandable that candidates would go after the relatively low-hanging fruit in foreign policy issues. Top Democratic aspirants, buoyed by negative opinion surveys, have seized on a troop pullout from Iraq. Leading Republicans insist on an end to Cuba’s dictatorship. Most sound tough on blocking Iran from developing a nuclear weapons program.
In his support for liquefied coal initiatives, Sen. Barack Obama is having trouble appeasing both environmentalists and his constituents in southern Illinois, the Washington Post says.
The New York Times’ Caucus blog writes about Rudy Giuliani’s law firm representing Citgo, a Venezuelan oil company.
The U.S. military surge in Iraq is at full strength, an estimated 10,000 troops are involved in a sweep of al-Qaeda elements north of Baghdad, and other troops are pressing an offensive against rogue Shiite militia in the south. But among Democrats on the U.S. presidential campaign trail, the Iraq war seems all but over. In their most recent spate of appearances, Democratic candidates sought to one-up each other on their commitment to a pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq. Gov. Bill Richardson, polling about fourth place among Democrats, told the Take Back America conference in Washington that aside from Marines guarding the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, “I would leave zero troops behind — not a single one” in Iraq.
John Edwards released a statement criticizing Gen. David Petraeus’ comments that the United States may not be able to leave Iraq for a decade. Edwards called the statements “just the latest example of the Bush Administration’s disconnect from the reality on the ground” and called for troop pullouts to begin to show Iraq “that we are serious about leaving.”
It is fifteen years since the last wealthy magnate mounted an independent presidential campaign. Ross Perot promised to do something about that “giant sucking sound” that meant U.S. jobs flocking toward Mexico. Perot didn’t capture a single electoral vote in 1992 but his roughly 20 percent of the popular vote is credited with helping tip the election to Bill Clinton over President Bush 41. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg insists he’s not running, has no interest in leaving his job, etc., but the coincidence of his swing through California this week and his departure from the Republican Party was lost on no one. His speech in Los Angeles painted the country in a troubled light and amounted to a long attack on Washington, which he called a “swamp of dysfunction.” He offered his example of leadership on everything from health care to global warming and said the current partisan gridlock was deferring problems like immigration to future generations.
John McCain speaks in Florida today and is expected to take a tough line (NYT) on Cuba and Venezuela, saying he won’t “passively await the long-overdue demise of the Castro dictatorship.”
Back in 1998, when India and then Pakistan tested nuclear warheads in rapid succession, one of the many stories I assigned to my staff (I was international editor of MSNBC.com at the time) was a look at the political activism of Indian-American groups. The reporter in question – a good, solid journalist – came back virtually empty handed. So it goes in journalism: Sometimes, you go looking for something only to discover that its absence is the real story.
Benjamen Wittes, a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, writes in the latest Policy Review on the Bush administration and military tribunals, arguing civil liberties and human rights violations have yet to pick up traction as a campaign issue. Obama-Clinton: Barack Obama apologized for a memo his campaign circulated last week criticizing Hillary Clinton’s investments and ties in India. That memo, which referred to Clinton as “Clinton (D-Punjab),” sparked anger among some Asian-American voters.
When CFR.org started blogging on the U.S. presidential campaign back in May 2007, the foreign policy terrain appeared relatively uncomplicated….
Before a cheering crowd of millions (WashPost) at his inauguration on Tuesday, President Barack Obama called for a “new era…
“We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who…
With Barack Obama set to become the forty-fourth president of the United States today, analysts of international affairs are looking…
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