Posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 by Joanna Klonsky
Before a cheering crowd of millions (WashPost) at his inauguration on Tuesday, President Barack Obama called for a “new era of responsibility ” in the face of serious challenges confronting the United States.
Obama said the United States would “begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.” He also promised to work “tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.”
Obama characterized his administration’s approach to relations with the Muslim world. “[W]e seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect,” he said.
He also promised to work to relieve poverty around the world. “To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds,” Obama said. “And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect.”
Posted in Afghanistan, Climate Change, Energy Policy, Iraq | 0 Comments »
Posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 by campaign2008
Anticipating policy changes once President-elect Barack Obama takes office, military commanders are preparing a new plan (IHT) for a faster U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.
BIN LADEN: Obama described his approach to dealing with the threat posed by Osama bin Laden in an interview with CBS News on Wednesday. The United States must “so weaken [bin Laden's] infrastructure that, whether he is technically alive or not, he is so pinned down that he cannot function,” Obama said.
Posted in Iraq, Military, Morning Update, Terrorism | 0 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 by campaign2008
The Wall Street Journal looks at new questions surrounding Barack Obama’s nominee to head the U.S. Treasury, Timothy Geithner.
IRAQ: Vice President-elect Joe Biden met (Reuters) with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday in Baghdad. Biden “asserted the importance of cooperation … to implement the foreign troop withdrawal agreement signed by the two countries,” according to Maliki’s office.
TERROR: Transition and White House officials conducted a joint disaster drill (WashPost), laying out a hypothetical terrorist attack on transportation and other targets in multiple U.S. cities, at the White House on Tuesday morning.
Posted in Economy, Homeland Security, Iraq, Morning Update, Terrorism, Transition | 0 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 by campaign2008
After meeting with his top economic advisers on Tuesday, President-elect Barack Obama warned of the potential of “trillion-dollar deficits for years to come” (NYT). He promised to enforce tighter fiscal discipline in his government.
BIDEN: Vice President-elect Joe Biden will visit Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan during his trip beginning at the end of the week, he told reporters Tuesday (Politico).
Posted in Afghanistan, Economy, Iraq, Morning Update, Pakistan | 0 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 by campaign2008
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that military commanders are already looking at “the potential for accelerating the drawdown” from Iraq, per President-elect Barack Obama’s plan for ending the war.
TORTURE: A group of retired military generals plan to press the Obama administration at a meeting Wednesday to implement a list of anti-torture principles (Reuters).
Posted in Iraq, Military, Morning Update, Transition | 0 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 by campaign2008
News reports indicate the Obama-Biden transition team will likely select Eric H. Holder Jr. as its attorney general (NYT). Holder was the deputy attorney general under the Clinton administration.
MILITARY: Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the U.S. military is crafting a plan to redeploy troops (AP) from Iraq to Afghanistan, per President-elect Barack Obama’s plan. Mullen said troops may exit Iraq through Turkey and Jordan. A new CFR.org Backgrounder looks at how the financial crisis might affect Pentagon spending.
Posted in Iraq, Military, Morning Update, Transition | 0 Comments »
Posted on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 by Joanna Klonsky
Middle East expert Juan Cole reviewed President-elect Barack Obama’s positions to date on Iraq and Afghanistan in a lecture at the University of Chicago on Wednesday evening. Cole, who tracks 
events in the Middle East on his Informed Comment blog, said many of Obama’s campaign positions on the Iraq war have recently become “more plausible” as a result of developments there.
Here are some of Cole’s main points:
BASES: Cole praised Obama’s opposition to building long-term military bases in Iraq. He argued that Iraq “is not actually very much like Japan, and even less like South Korea,” where the United States continues to maintain a military presence decades after the end of conflict. Cole said Obama recognizes “the lack of feasibility with regard to trying to keep bases in Iraq,” and said such bases would likely be an “irritant.”
AQI: Cole also said Obama “rightly dismisses” the argument that a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq will allow al-Qaeda to take over the country. Because Iraq is a majority Shiite country with a largely Shiite army, the idea that Iraq could be taken overtaken by al-Qaeda is “bizarre,” Cole said. “There are no Shiite al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda is all about killing Shiites wherever you find them.”
AFGHANISTAN: Cole said Obama’s plan to provide Afghanistan with $1 billion in civilian aid is “very necessary, but a drop in the bucket compared to the real needs.” He noted Obama’s plan to send more troops to Afghanistan is not popular among NATO allies whose publics do not necessarily support the war effort.
PAKISTAN: Obama has said he would authorize U.S. air strikes inside Pakistan with “actionable intelligence” and if the Pakistani government refused to act. Cole said this position is “not really that controversial,” and that it gradually has become the policy of the Bush administration. Still, Cole said, “you don’t ordinarily in diplomatic relations pronounce that you will bomb your allies.”
Cole urged Obama to act as “diplomat-in-chief” in Iraq and Afghanistan, and emphasized the importance of strong leadership in the Obama administration’s approach to the Middle East.
Posted in Afghanistan, Iraq, Military, Terrorism, Transition | 0 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) won a resounding victory over Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Tuesday, leading an electoral surge (Politico) that gave Democrats the White House and strong majorities in both chambers of Congress. Obama finished his nearly two-year run by making history as the first African-American to become president, riding a message of change and reform that resonated with a country on the brink of recession and engaged in two wars. The election drew huge turnouts and exit polls showed the economy was the top issue (WSJ) for nearly two-thirds of voters. Iraq and terrorism trailed far behind the economy as concerns, each chosen by 10 percent of voters as the top issue. In 2004, U.S. voters rated both terrorism and the economy equally as their leading concerns.
In his victory speech, Obama said the American people have convincingly called for change and must now demonstrate patience and reconciliation as they prepare to tackle problems including “two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.” McCain, in conceding defeat, urged Americans to pull together to support Obama in confronting their economic challenges and defending “our security in a dangerous world.”
Analysts said Obama will face a raft of tough choices in the period ahead, including likely pressures from some constituents for more government activism and intervention (WashPost). In the immediate future, the president-elect now enters a critical transition period in which some past administrations have struggled to establish a solid foreign policy framework, as this new Backgrounder explains. CFR Issue Guides on the global financial crisis, Iraq, and Pakistan explore the challenging policy terrain ahead for Obama’s administration.
A pivotal front for initiating new spending and policy initiatives is Congress. In addition to boosting their House majority (TheHill), Democrats gained at least five Senate seats, which would bring them to control fifty-six of the one-hundred total seats. That’s four short of the number that would help Democrats stop opposition Republicans from blocking their agenda but still strengthens their hand (NPR). CQ Politics profiles the new members of Congress.
There were a number of energy measures on state ballots and results on this legislation were mixed (AP). A ballot measure requiring Missouri to produce 15 percent of its electricity from clean sources by 2021 was approved while an initiative that would have obliged California state utilities to generate 50 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025 failed. A second failed California proposition would have granted $5 billion in rebates (LAT) for buyers of alternative-fuel vehicles. Amendment 58 in Colorado also failed (Denver Post). That measure would have ended a tax credit for the oil industry and redirected that money toward college funding.
Posted in Economy, Energy Policy, General Election, Iraq, Morning Update | 0 Comments »
Posted on Monday, October 20th, 2008 by campaign2008
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) for president on Sunday’s Meet the Press, saying the Democratic candidate represents “a new generation coming onto the world stage.” Powell, who helped justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003, said he anticipates a “continued drawdown” of troops from Iraq regardless of who wins the November election.
In an interview with the Today show Monday morning, Obama said Powell will serve as an adviser in his administration, and said he was already serving in that function before the endorsement announcement.
CLIMATE CHANGE: The New York Times compares the candidates’ approaches to climate change, noting that they agree that the Bush administration’s policies on the issues were “far too weak.”
Posted in Climate Change, General Election, Iraq | 0 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 by campaign2008
In their second debate, U.S. presidential candidates Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL) sparred over the limping U.S. economy and energy policy; both tied the country’s recovery to the latter. Obama faulted McCain for a record of deregulation that he said has contributed to the current crisis; McCain, for his part, presented a new economic proposal under which the U.S. Treasury would buy up problem mortgages, in effect refinancing them (NYT) at prices homeowners can afford. The Wall Street Journal cites McCain’s campaign as saying the plan would cost roughly $300 billion. Opinion surveys have shown respondents more confident in Obama’s ability to handle an economic crisis.
Here are some foreign policy highlights from the debate:
ENERGY: Both candidates stressed the need for energy independence, with Obama citing it as a national security concern (WashPost). Obama also said developing new sources of energy would serve as a major boost for the U.S. economy, creating jobs the way the technology boom did in the 1990s. McCain said he would increase use of nuclear power, which he said is a clean and safe source of energy. “I know that we can reprocess the spent nuclear fuel,” McCain said. “The Japanese, the British, the French do it.” Obama said he also favors nuclear power “as one component of our overall energy mix.”
DEFENSE: McCain touted his opposition to invading Lebanon and his support for U.S. military efforts in Kosovo and Bosnia as evidence that he has strong judgment in deciding when the United States should get involved militarily in a crisis. “[T]he challenge is to know when the United States of American can beneficially effect the outcome of a crisis, when to go in and when not, when American military power is worth the expenditure of our most precious treasure,” he said.
Obama noted Iraq’s “enormous strain” on the U.S. budget. “We’re spending $10 billion a month in Iraq at a time when the Iraqis have a $79 billion surplus,” he said. “[W]e need that $10 billion a month here in the United States.”
IRAN: Both candidates again said they would not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons. “If Iran acquires nuclear weapons, all the other countries [in the Middle East] will acquire them, too,” McCain warned.
Obama said he would “never take military options off the table” with regard to Iran and said it is “important that we don’t provide veto power to the United Nations or anyone else in acting in our interests.”
Posted in Economy, Energy Policy, General Election, Iran, Iraq, Military, Morning Update | 0 Comments »
