Posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 by campaign2008
In an interview with the Military Times published Monday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) laid out his defense agenda and said he would take advice from military commanders on the ground into consideration when planning the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
The Chicago Tribune details Obama’s trip abroad later this month.
Both presidential candidates will speak (Daily Kenoshan) to the League of United Latin American Citizens convention Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
Posted in General Election, Latin America, Military, Morning Update | 0 Comments »
Posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 by campaign2008
Both presidential candidates congratulated Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on the rescue of hostages held by the FARC. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) pledged to do everything he can “to assure the success of future efforts to free the FARC’s hostages and to defeat this terrorist organization.” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who was visiting Colombia at the time, called for a renewed effort “to free all of the other innocent people held hostage.” McCain also said Uribe and the defense minister briefed him Tuesday night on the planned rescue operation.
Several of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) former foreign policy and national security advisers have begun consulting Obama (New York Observer).
Posted in General Election, Latin America, Morning Update | 0 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 by campaign2008
In an interview with the Financial Times, Anthony Lake, foreign policy adviser to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), said Obama will likely pressure European allies to implement tougher sanctions on Iran. Lake also discussed Obama’s plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, the U.S.-India nuclear deal, and U.S. policy toward Pakistan.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) released his “crime fighting strategy” on Tuesday. That strategy includes the expansion of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency’s Criminal Alien Program, so that state and local officials will have access to identifying information regarding “criminal aliens.” McCain “believes that state and local governments should not be saddled with the cost of fixing a problem created by the federal government’s failure to secure the border,” a campaign press release said.
Speaking from Colombia Tuesday, McCain said pressed President Alvaro Uribe on human rights in that country. He also praised Uribe’s “significant progress” (WashPost) fighting the FARC.
Posted in General Election, Immigration, Iran, Latin America, Morning Update | 0 Comments »
Posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) leaves today on his trip to Colombia, where he says he will work to promote free trade. Upon arriving in Cartagena this evening, McCain will meet with President Alvaro Uribe and several other leaders.
From Colombia, McCain will travel to Mexico. Speaking to reporters Monday, McCain said he would urge Mexican leaders to implement economic reforms (TIME) and curb the flow of illegal immigrants to the United States.
The New York Times looks at the reasoning behind candidates’ trips abroad during the campaign season.
Obama foreign policy advisers Bruce Riedel and Susan Rice held a conference call on Monday in response to reports of al-Qaeda’s proliferation in Pakistan. Full audio of the conference call is available here.
Posted in General Election, Immigration, Latin America, Morning Update, Pakistan | 0 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) both gave speeches on energy policy on Tuesday. McCain promoted his plan to implement a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, which he said will “give American businesses new incentives and rewards to seek, instead of just giving new taxes to pay and new orders to follow.” Obama again called for higher fuel standards and criticized proposals for domestic oil exploration and a gas tax holiday.
LATIN AMERICA: McCain will travel with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to Mexico and Colombia (ChiTrib) during the July 4 congressional recess to meet with the presidents and other leaders of those countries.
ISRAEL: Both candidates signed letters (Politico) to President Bush in defense of Israel ’s right to defend itself on Tuesday.
ZIMBABWE: Obama on Tuesday released a statement condemning the recent actions of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and calling for “fresh elections” in that country.
Posted in Africa, Energy Policy, General Election, Latin America, Morning Update, Palestinian-Israeli | 0 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) responded to news of the U.S. trade deficit on Tuesday, criticizing “special interest-driven economic policies” that he said will increase the deficit but “won’t help American automakers secure fair treatment in South Korea, and won’t ensure that China stops devaluing its currency and tilting the playing field against American workers.”
In a speech on economic policy on Tuesday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he would not renegotiate NAFTA, and repeated his promise that if he is elected, the United States will “honor its international agreements, including NAFTA, and we will expect the same of others.”
Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported Tuesday that McCain is planning a trip to Colombia (Politico) in July to meet with President Alvaro Uribe about the U.S.-Columbia free trade agreement, among other topics.
Posted in Latin America, Morning Update, Trade | 0 Comments »
Posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 by campaign2008
On the eve of the Indiana and North Caroline primaries, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) had strong words against the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC “can no longer be a cartel, a monopoly that get together once every couple of months in some conference room in some plush place in the world, they decide how much oil they’re going to produce and what price they’re going to put it at,” Clinton said (Politico).
The Wall Street Journal reports the Democratic candidates’ have revamped their trade messages while on campaign in Indiana and North Carolina, states that have benefited more than a number of others because of free trade.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) launched a Spanish-language campaign website on Monday. In a statement in honor of Cinco de Mayo, he praised the “important friendship that exists between our country and Mexico,” and the “many contributions Mexican-Americans have made to our society, culture, security and economy.”
Posted in Energy Policy, General Election, Latin America, Morning Update, Trade | 0 Comments »
Posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 by campaign2008
Sen. Hillary Clinton told reporters Tuesday the Bush administration should be “much more forceful” in pressuring China to ease its crackdown on Tibetan activists. She said U.S. officials should not wait (Reuters) until the Olympics this summer to make their views known.
In a statement Tuesday on Greek Independence Day, Clinton said she remains “concerned over Cyprus’ continued division” and urged a “new impetus for a negotiated settlement with the goal of the island’s reunification.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an antagonist of the Bush administration in Latin America, said U.S.-Venezuelan relations might worsen under a presidency of Republican John McCain. “Sometimes one says, ‘worse than Bush is impossible,’ but we don’t know. McCain also seems to be a man of war,” Chavez told foreign correspondents Tuesday. McCain has called for countering Chavez’s “nefarious” influence in part by rebuilding ties with democracies there and strengthening trade with the region.
Posted in China, General Election, Latin America, Quote of the Day | 0 Comments »
Posted on Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 by campaign2008
The Clinton and Obama campaigns continued to put forth conflicting rhetoric on the subject of trade just ahead of today’s Democratic nominating contests in Ohio and Texas. In a press conference Monday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) defended himself against allegations that Austin Goolsbee, an economic adviser to his campaign, privately assured Canadian officials that he does not really intend to alter NAFTA. Goolsbee did meet with the Canadian consulate, Obama said, but the Canadian embassy “has confirmed that he said exactly what I have been saying on the campaign trail.” Obama has said he would renegotiate NAFTA to include enforceable labor and environmental standards. The Clinton campaign claimed Obama was making “false denials” about Goolsbee’s meeting.
Obama and Clinton also commented Monday on the situation in Colombia. The recent killing of a senior leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) “must not be used as a pretense to ratchet up tensions or to threaten the stability of the region,” Obama said.
Clinton called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s order to send troops to the Colombian border “unwarranted and dangerous.”
Sen. John McCain (R-TX), who could lock up the Republican nomination in today’s contests, commented Monday on the results of the Russian elections, which he called “yet another step away from democracy in Russia” and a “tragedy of history.”
Posted in General Election, Latin America, Morning Update, Trade | 0 Comments »
Posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 by campaign2008
The Democratic candidates participated in a CNN/Univision debate in Austin, Texas Wednesday night, where Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) tried to stop the Obama campaign’s seeming momentum after his eleven straight victories (NYT) in the recent weeks of the primary season. In their first debate in three weeks, Clinton said she would not meet with Cuban leader Raul Castro unless there is evidence that he is freeing political prisoners, ending “some of the oppressive practices on the press,” and “opening up the economy.”
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), on the other hand, said he would be willing to meet with the new Castro government “without preconditions” to push a human rights agenda. He also said he would loosen restrictions on remittances to Cuba from family members in the United States as a “show of good faith” that the United States is “interested in pursuing potentially a new relationship.”
Immigration: Clinton said she would “consider” stopping ICE raids “except in egregious situations.” She also said she would introduce legislation containing a path to legalization for illegal immigrants in the first hundred days of her presidency.
Clinton and Obama seemed to agree that a border fence may be appropriate in some areas, but that, as Obama said, “the key is to consult with local communities, whether it’s on the commercial interests or the environmental stakes of creating any kind of barrier.”
Experience: Citing instability in the Balkans, Pakistan and Cuba, Clinton again stressed that she is “ready on day one to be commander in chief,” implying that Obama is unprepared to face international challenges.
Obama responded, saying Clinton was “wrong in her judgments” on Iraq. He also said it was a “mistake” to “put all our eggs in the Musharraf basket” in Pakistan. “We should be going after al Qaeda and making sure that Pakistan is serious about hunting down terrorists as well as expanding democracy, and I was right about that,” he said.
Surge: Clinton said the troop surge has not achieved its purported goal of political progress in Iraq. The Iraqi government “has slowly inched toward making a few of the decisions in a less than complete way, but it hasn’t taken advantage of the sacrifice and the losses of life and billions of dollars that have occurred since the surge began,” she said.Obama called the surge a “tactical victory imposed upon a huge strategic blunder,” and said it is “indisputable that we’ve seen violence reduced in Iraq.” He said in the general election versus a Republican candidate, “it is going to be much easier for the candidate who was opposed to the concept of invading Iraq in the first place to have a debate about the wisdom of that decision.”Obama also said the war in Iraq has diverted the United States from focusing on policy toward Latin America and China. U.S. neglect has caused Venezuela and China to “move into the void,” Obama said.
Posted in Cuba, General Election, Iraq, Latin America, Morning Update, Pakistan | 0 Comments »
