Showing posts for "Iraq"
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.
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.
The Wall Street Journal looks at new questions surrounding Barack Obama’s nominee to head the U.S. Treasury, Timothy Geithner.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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