Nov
8
Hurricane Paloma, a Category 3 storm, eyes Cuba
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GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands - Late-season Hurricane Paloma strengthened into a Category 3 storm as it lashed the Cayman Islands with wind and rain Friday, knocking down trees and signs.
The storm was expected to lose some strength overnight before punching Cuba’s midsection on Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Cuba already is suffering from billions of dollars in damage from two previous hurricanes this season.
“It’s not like it’s new to them, unfortunately,” said Dave Roberts, a U.S. Navy hurricane specialist. “If I were living on the island, I would at least prepare for a Category 2.”
Cuban official newspaper Granma, recalling past late-season hurricanes such as a 1932 storm that killed about 3,000 people, said Paloma poses “a potential danger for the island.”
The Cayman Islands government asked all hotels to remove guests from the ground and first floors. Nearly 40 people were already staying in the islands’ seven shelters.
Water service across Grand Cayman was turned off, and power likely will be cut as the storm nears, hazard management director Barbara Carby said.
“We have asked everybody to come off the streets and to be home and safe right now,” she said.
Stranded tourists watched dark clouds gather and saw the storm whip up 10-foot (3-meter) waves from their hotels or beachfront restaurants.
“It was a real surprise,” said Rick Douglas, 50, of Toronto, who checked weather Web sites before flying to the Caribbean. “It just said there was a tropical depression starting, but I didn’t think it would turn into anything serious.”
His wife, Susan Douglas, was confident they would be safe as long as they follow orders.
“Grand Cayman has been there and done that, so they are prepared,” she said.
Paloma’s top winds Friday night were near 115 mph, and it was centered about 25 miles south of Grand Cayman, heading northeast at 7 mph.
Havana’s communist government activated the early stages of its highly organized civil defense system. In central and eastern Cuba, people were advised to stay tuned to state media for news of Paloma’s progress and be ready to evacuate.
Paloma was aiming toward the central-eastern city of Camaguey, which was particularly hard-hit by Hurricane Ike in early September.
Ike and Hurricane Gustav, which struck the island in late August, together caused an estimated $9.4 billion in damage. Nearly a third of Cuba’s crops were destroyed, causing widespread shortages of fresh produce and prompting authorities to order the planting of vegetable greens and other short-term vegetables.
Forecasters expect Paloma to weaken into a tropical storm over Cuba and then steer south of Florida through the Bahamas and into the Atlantic.
Cayman Islands Gov. Stuart Jack said Friday that a British Royal Navy ship was on the way and would be available to provide humanitarian assistance if needed.
The airport closed Friday morning after extra flights were added to fly out some people late Thursday.
Muniran Charran, a construction worker from Guyana, said he first heard about the storm Thursday night over the radio.
“We didn’t really have any time to prepare because the banks and the stores all closed so early today,” he said.
He was drinking beers with friends in the downstairs lobby of their beachfront apartment complex.
“What we’ve been seeing all day is just a lot of rain and strong winds,” Guyana native Shik Khan said. “We hope that when we wake up, everything is fine.”
Nov
8
Obama apologizes to Nancy Reagan for seance remark
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WASHINGTON - President-elect Obama called Nancy Reagan on Friday to apologize for joking that she held seances in the White House.
At a news conference in Chicago, Obama said he had spoken with all the living presidents as he prepares to take office in January. Then he smiled and said, “I didn’t want to get into a Nancy Reagan thing about doing any seances.”
The 87-year-old former first lady had consulted with astrologers during her husband’s presidency. But she did not hold conversations with the dead.
Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the president-elect later called Mrs. Reagan “to apologize for the careless and offhanded remark.” She said Obama “expressed his admiration and affection for Mrs. Reagan that so many Americans share, and they had a warm conversation.”
It actually wasn’t Nancy Reagan who was linked to conversations with the dead; it was Obama’s top Democratic challenger for the presidency, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
In either case, use of the word “seance” might be overstated.
Nancy Reagan consulted an astrologer to help set her husband’s schedule, wrote former White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan. The revelation created a furor and President Reagan even broke with his policy of not commenting on books by former White House staffers.
“No policy or decision in my mind has ever been influenced by astrology,” Reagan said.
In his book “The Choice,” Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward described how Clinton consulted with a spiritual adviser who led her through imaginary conversations with her personal hero, Eleanor Roosevelt. Newsweek magazine, which was promoting the book, characterized the visits as “seances,” a term that White House officials quickly tried to squelch.
“These were people who were helping her laugh, helping her think,” said Neel Lattimore, Clinton’s spokeswoman. “These were not seances.”
Nov
8
Obama to center stage, promises action on economy
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CHICAGO - Inheriting an economy in peril, President-elect Obama warned on Friday that the nation faces the challenge of a lifetime and pledged he would act urgently to help Americans devastated by lost jobs, disappearing savings and homes seized in foreclosure. But the man who promised change cautioned against hopes of quick solutions.
“It is not going to be easy for us to dig ourselves out of the hole that we are in,” Obama said at his first news conference since winning the presidency on Tuesday.
The No. 1 priority, Obama said, is to get Congress to approve an economic stimulus plan that would extend jobless benefits, send food aid to the poor, dispatch Medicaid funds to states and spend tens of billions of dollars on public works projects. If the plan is not approved this month, in a special session of Congress, Obama said that “it will be the first thing I get done as president of the United States.”
In his first appearance since a jubilant election-night celebration, Obama sought to project an air of calm and reassurance to a deeply worried nation. He stood in a presidential-like setting with an array of eight American flags and a lectern showing a presidential seal above the words “The Office of the President Elect.” The stage behind him was lined with advisers he had summoned, his economic brain trust.
Almost 20 minutes late to his first meeting with reporters, Obama spoke for just 20 minutes and broke no ground with new policy announcements or disclosures of who would be in his Cabinet. In lighthearted moments, he joked about seances with dead presidents and the appeal of animal shelter dogs that are “mutts like me.”
Constrained by the fact he will not take office until Jan. 20, Obama deferred to President Bush and his economic team on major decisions. “The United States has only one government and one president at a time,” he said.
Declaring he would not respond to issues “in a knee-jerk fashion,” Obama declined to say how he would deal with Iran, whose president sent a letter of congratulations to Obama. “I want to be very careful that we are sending the right signals to the world as a whole that I am not the president and I won’t be until January 20th,” he said.
A new jobless report offered no comfort. The unemployment rate climbed to a 14-year high in October,and 10.1 million people were out of work. In Detroit, General Motors reported a huge third-quarter loss and said it may run out of cash next year. Ford planned more job cuts after burning through billions of dollars of its own.
While standing back as long as Bush is president, Obama said his advisers would keep close watch on the administration’s efforts to unlock frozen credit and stabilize financial markets. Obama said he wanted to make sure the Bush administration was “protecting taxpayers, helping homeowners and not unduly rewarding the management of financial firms that are receiving government assistance.”
Obama spoke after he and Vice President-elect Joe Biden met privately with economic advisers to discuss ways to stabilize the economy.
“We are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime, and we’re going to have to act swiftly to resolve it,” Obama said.
He said he was confident that “a new president can have an enormous impact,” but he tempered that optimism by adding, “I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead.”
“Immediately after I become president, I will confront this economic challenge head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity,” Obama said.
“Some of the choices that we’re going to make are going to be difficult,” he said. “It is not going to be quick. It’s not going to be easy for us to dig ourselves out of the hole that we are in.” But he said he was confident the country could do it.
Obama left the door open to the possibility that economic conditions might prompt him to change his tax plan that would give a break to most families but raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 annually.
“I think that the plan that we’ve put forward is the right one, but obviously over the next several weeks and months, we’re going to be continuing to take a look at the data and see what’s taking place in the economy as a whole,” Obama said.
Democratic congressional leaders want to pass a broad economic aid package in a postelection session later this month, but prospects appear dim because of Bush’s opposition.
Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., the majority leader, said the House wouldn’t reconvene for a postelection session unless Bush did an about-face and drops his opposition. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., isn’t sure such a package could get through the Senate either, he added.
“Clearly there’s no point in us doing something if the administration’s going to take a position that they’re not going to sign something,” Hoyer said.
If Congress and Bush can’t come to terms on a stimulus bill this fall, lawmakers have spoken with Obama’s team about a Plan B: The new Congress could quickly pass an economic aid package when it reconvenes in early January, readying it for Obama’s signature as his first official act after being inaugurated, Democratic leadership aides said.
That measure would probably be just the first installment of a broader package, including a middle class tax cut, that Congress could pass separately after Obama is in the White House.
Nov
7
Villagers found dead in rebel-controlled town
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KIWANJA, Congo - Villagers who fled fighting in this rebel-held town trickled home Thursday to find the bodies of more than a dozen men in civilian clothes in and around mud huts - and accused rebel leader Laurent Nkunda’s forces of the slayings.
But New York-based Human Rights Watch accused a pro-government militia called the Mai Mai as well as the rebels of deliberately killing civilians in Kiwanja and said U.N. peacekeepers nearby had been unable to protect them.
Nkunda’s men wrested control of Kiwanja Wednesday following heavy fighting with the Mai Mai, one of many signs that the conflict is spreading in eastern Congo and a fragile cease-fire is close to unraveling.
The villagers said rebels had killed unarmed civilians suspected of supporting the Mai Mai, but the rebels said the dead were militia fighters who had been armed.
A U.N. official said Kiwanja was in fact subjected to two rounds of terror: First the Mai Mai arrived and killed those they accused of supporting Nkunda’s rebels, then Nkunda’s rebels stormed in, killing men they charged were loyal to the Mai Mai.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.
Human Rights Watch said at least 20 people were killed and another 33 wounded during the battle for the town.
“The U.N. should not leave these defenseless people to be slaughtered by fighters on both sides,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, a senior Africa researcher for the rights group.
North of Kiwanja, rebels captured an army base in Nyanzale Thursday after fighting with the army, the U.N. said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate cease-fire and urged the armed groups involved to find a political solution.
Ban was flying to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to attend an African Union summit Friday aimed at bringing peace to the region. Congo President Joseph Kabila is expected, along with Rwanda President Paul Kagame, who wields strong influence Nkunda’s rebels.
Dozens of militia groups operate in the remote terraced valleys and hills of eastern Congo, a lawless region that the government and a 17,000-strong peacekeeping mission have struggled to bring under control for years.
Among the armed groups are the Mai Mai and ethnic Hutu insurgents from Rwanda who fled to Congo after helping carry out Rwanda’s 1994 bloody genocide.
In Kiwanja Thursday, an AP reporter was led by frightened, whispering residents to huts where she counted the bodies of 16 people - covered with blankets or sheets - in one small part of Kiwanja. All but two were men, the residents said. None appeared armed.
Chorade Muhimdo, 38, said residents who stayed in Kiwanja despite rebel orders to leave were inside their homes when rebels “came and shot them.”
“There’s no reason,” he said. “Once they think you are Mai Mai, they have to kill you.”
One woman, 47-year-old Ajeni Niragasigwa, said rebels killed her 17-year-old son while he was trying to cross a rebel checkpoint.
“They came to kill the people,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “They did not come to protect.”
She held her cheeks in her hands, looked to the skies and wailed: “Congo!”
Rebel Capt. John Imani said about 60 people had been killed in the fighting, mostly Mai Mai. “Whoever is moving with a gun, he’s an enemy,” Imani said.
Nkunda’s spokesman, Bertrand Bisimwa, said armed government troops and allied Mai Mai militia had infiltrated Kiwanja in civilian clothes and began killing villagers who supported the rebels.
Nkunda defected from the army in 2004, saying he needed to protect his tiny Tutsi minority from Rwandan Hutu militias. He has since expanded his mission to “liberating” Congo from an allegedly corrupt government.
Nkunda told The Associated Press on Thursday that his mission justifies the suffering of some 250,000 forced from their homes since he launched an offensive Aug. 28. He also suggested that Congo’s army was being bolstered by foreign militias from Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.
Congo’s government has charged Nkunda with involvement in war crimes, and Human Rights Watch says it has documented summary executions, torture, and rape committed by soldiers under Nkunda’s command in 2002 and 2004. The rights group said at least 100 civilians have been killed and more than 150 injured since fighting resumed in August.
On Thursday, the director of Community Radio of Kiwanja said rebels killed one of his reporters, accusing him of broadcasting anti-rebel statements.
Jean-Baptiste Kiana said he was at the home of the reporter, Alfred Ndjondjo Victwahiki Munyamariza, when the rebels barged in, forced him out of the house, and shot him in the head in his garden. Kiana said Munyamariza, 25, was killed in plain sight of his wife and toddler daughter.
Fresh fighting between army forces and rebels erupted Thursday north of Kiwanja around the town of Nyanzale, said U.N. peacekeeping spokesman Madnoje Mounoubai. The Congolese army abandoned its positions there and thousands of refugees also fled, seeking shelter near a U.N. base, he said.
Nkunda told The Associated Press that army forces backed by Mai Mai attacked rebel positions miles from Nyanzale before dawn.
“We were attacked three times this morning,” he said, speaking from one of his bases in the Mushaki mountains, some 40 miles north of the provincial capital of Goma. “My soldiers have a right to defend themselves. And the best defense is offense.”
Later Thursday, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo confirmed that Nkunda’s fighters captured the villages of Nyanzale and Kikuku.
Nyanzale is one of three operational army bases in North Kivu provinces. The rebels seized the biggest army base in eastern Congo on Oct. 20.
The army could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
The latest violence dealt another blow to a fragile unilateral cease-fire Nkunda declared Oct. 29 as his fighters reached the outskirts of Goma, suddenly halting a lightning advance that forced Congo’s army into retreat.
The conflict in eastern Congo is fueled by festering ethnic hatred left over from the 1994 slaughter of a half-million Tutsis in Rwanda, and Congo’s civil wars from 1996-2002, which drew neighboring countries in a rush to plunder Congo’s mineral wealth.
Nov
6
A string of morning rush hour bombings in central Baghdad killed at least five people and wounded 17 in the latest wave of violence.
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Four people were killed, and four others injured when two roadside bombs targetting a checkpoint in central Baghdad went off in quick succession. Another roadside bomb detonated near the Al-Gailani mosque in Baghdad’s central Baba Alsheikh neighbourhood, killing one person and injuring four others. A roadside bomb targetting a government pick-up truck in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr city injured nine people including five city employees.
Nov
6
Barack Obama has started forming his administration by asking Rahm Emanuel, a former adviser to President Clinton, to be his chief-of-staff.
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Rahm Emanuel is an Illinois congressman and tough Washington insider who has been strongly Criticised by some republicans for being too partisan. U.S. president-elect Obama is expected to appoint a new treasury secretary soon. He has until his inauguration on 20 January to select his senior officials. President Bush has pledged his complete co-operation during the transition. With the business of preparing for government under way, Obama will start receiving the president’s daily CIA briefings, from today which will include updates on covert operations. Obama was elected the first black U.S. President on Tuesday with a resounding win over republican rival John Mccain. Projected results from Tuesday’s election have yet to be announced for the states of north Carolina and Missouri, which are believed to be too close to call. But with most precincts tallied, Obama’s share of the popular vote stands at 52.3%, compared with Mr Mccain’s 46.4%. Turnout was reported to be extremely high - in some places “unprecedented” in what many Americans said they felt was a historic election. The entire us house of representatives and a third of us senate seats were also contested in Tuesday’s elections. The democrats increased their senate majority by five seats, but fell short of the 60 needed to stop blocking tactics by republicans. They also increased their majority in the house of representatives, gaining 20 seats to give a total 252, leaving the republicans with 173. Meanwhile Alaska governor Sarah Palin said she’s happy to be back in her home after she and John Mccain lost the U.S. presidential election. A crowd of well-wishers were on hand to greet Palin. Palin remains a popular governor in her home state and said she’s looking forward to work on a pipeline that will help America become less dependent on foreign oil.
Nov
6
Rice: Mideast peace by year-end no longer possible
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TEL AVIV, Israel - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday all but conceded that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by a year-end deadline is no longer possible.
But she also said upon arriving here that it is important to maintain momentum and support for the negotiations so that new governments in both Israel and the United States have “a firm foundation” to continue to the talks next year.
En route to the Middle East for her eighth trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories since the parties set the deadline for reaching an agreement at last November’s summit at Annapolis, Md., Rice said political uncertainty in Israel is the main complication to the goal.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is being forced from office by a corruption scandal, and the country is set to hold new elections in February. Rice noted that the situation “is a constraint on the ability of any government to conclude” a deal.
“I’ve learned never to predict in this business,” she said, “but it is clear we’re in a different situation now because Israel is going to elections.”
“It is our expectation that the Annapolis process has laid groundwork which should make possible the establishment of a Palestinian state when the political circumstances permit,” Rice added. “I think that whatever happens by the end of the year, you’ve got a firm foundation for quickly moving this forward to conclusion.”
The two sides for months have been backing away from the timeline pushed in Annapolis.
Although Rice refused to absolutely rule out the chance of an agreement by year’s end, her remarks reflect the first time that a Bush administration official has publicly not held out hope that the deadline could be met.
Israeli and Palestinian officials have long said they believe the year-end deadline is unrealistic.
“We’ll see where they are at the end of the year,” said Rice, vowing to “work on this with the parties until the day that we leave.”
With her time in office rapidly waning, Rice is hoping to shore up the fragile Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and leave a viable process for the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama.
She will also visit Egypt and Jordan to shore up Arab support for the talks. At some point before Obama moves into the White House on Jan. 20, Rice said she would like to see the sides memorialize the progress they have made but not stretch to conclude a partial deal.
“It will be important to wrap up all of that work one way or another,” she said.
Rice has been making the same twin challenges to Israel and the Palestinians on more than 20 largely fruitless journeys to the region during her tenure as secretary of state: Israel should loosen its grip on the West Bank and the Palestinians should tighten theirs on militants.
The talks that began in Annapolis, Md., have produced few tangible results and are expected to be placed on hold for at least several months during the U.S. transition from Bush to Obama. In addition, Israel will hold elections on Feb. 10 and there are questions about the tenure of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose opponents claim his term expires in January.
Rice will see Abbas and Olmert, along with the chief negotiators from both sides, on Thursday and Friday before visiting Jenin, the West Bank town where Palestinians retook security control early this year on Saturday.
She then heads to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik in Egypt where top officials from the international diplomatic “quartet” on the Middle East will be briefed on the status of the talks on Sunday.
Any results officially reported to the quartet - the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations - from Palestinian-Israeli talks so far could become a basis for future negotiations, even after the Israeli election.
The quartet envoys will get from Israeli and Palestinian negotiators a progress report that could prevent backpedaling during the Israeli and U.S. leadership changes.
The idea is to “listen and to record and to know where we are heading,” EU envoy Marc Otte said after meeting with the chief Palestinian negotiator in Jerusalem on Thursday.
Israel and the Palestinians have agreed on key principles, such as a land swap, but gaps remain wide on core issues, including the partition of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.
Nov
6
Bomb kills 9 anti-militant tribesmen in Pakistan
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KHAR, Pakistan - A suicide bomber attacked a gathering of anti-militant Pakistani tribesmen Thursday, killing nine and wounding 45 in a northwestern region where the military has clashed with insurgents for months, officials said.
The attack in the Batmalai area of the Bajur tribal region was the latest to target tribal militias that have sprung up - with government backing - to take on al-Qaida and Taliban fighters nested along the Afghan border.
Pakistan launched an offensive in Bajur three months ago to dismantle what it said was a virtual Taliban mini-state that is a source of militants flowing into Afghanistan.
The Salarzai tribesmen were preparing to stage an assault on local militant hide-outs when the blast occurred, said Iqbal Khattak, a government official. Malik Rahimullah, a tribal elder, said the bomb exploded as soon as armed contingents began to move.
He and officials initially said it appeared that a remote-controlled bomb was used, but later Khattak said mutilated body parts of an apparent suicide bomber were found, and that witnesses said they saw a young man rushing into the crowd before the explosion.
Amir Khan, a tribesman, said the scene was littered with severed limbs and that several tribal elders were among the dead.
Khattak said nine people were killed. Mohammad Kareem, a hospital official in Bajur’s main city of Khar, said two dozen of the wounded were in serious condition.
The army claims to have killed some 1,500 insurgents in its offensive. At least 73 troops and 95 civilians have also died, it says. Lack of security and government restrictions make verifying accounts of the fighting impossible.
U.S. officials praise the operation in Bajur, saying it has reduced violence on the other side of the border. The U.S. has long been concerned that pockets of Pakistan’s northwest are sanctuaries for militants involved in attacks on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Militants have responded to the military offensives - as well as stepped-up U.S. missile strikes in parts Pakistan’s border zone - with a wave of suicide attacks that are adding to concern about the U.S.-allied country’s stability.
The militants also have gone after the tribal militias, including beheading some of the elders involved. A suicide attack in October in the nearby Orakzai tribal region against another such militia left dozens dead.
On Wednesday, an airstrike killed 15 suspected militants in Airab village in Bajur, according to Jamil Khan, a senior government official. He said the 15 dead included a Pakistani militant commander named Wali Rehman. Khan said Rehman was known to shelter foreign militants linked to al-Qaida.
Nov
6
Great presidents born from bad times
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If greatness is bestowed upon our presidents by the seriousness of the problems they face, then the coming months are likely to produce Mount Rushmore-like moments. Not since 1932, when Franklin D. Roosevelt prepared to take office amid the depths of the Great Depression, or perhaps since 1860, when little-known prairie lawyer Abraham Lincoln watched powerlessly as a swath of Southern states seceded from the Union, has an incoming president faced such a daunting set of challenges.
With the world’s climate heating, its financial system freezing, two wars, expanding markets in nuclear weapons and nonstate terrorism, and a general loss of confidence in our government to make wise choices and deliver on them, the coming transition is fraught with opportunities. Additional surprises will almost certainly arise, from natural disasters to the collapse of allied governments to spreading conflict.
What is the best way to deal with this cluster of problems, bring forward desired change and maintain a reassuring continuity? The great challenge of the transition and beyond is to capture the energy of a vast majority of Americans and convert it into a problem-solving force. President-elect Barack Obama must immediately build on the pent-up demand for change and deal with the fear of the unknown in three ways.
First, much can be done by espousing unifying values and adhering to them. An emphasis on mutual respect, inclusiveness and transparency could generate an immensely more productive environment in Washington and renewed standing around the world.
After the 1940 campaign, President Roosevelt invited his defeated Republican opponent, Wendell Willkie, to undertake a global listening tour on the nation’s behalf. Willkie had impressed FDR by championing the Lend Lease Act, which allowed the U.S. to send raw materials to the United Kingdom and other allies opposed to the Axis powers. Willkie’s was a consequential assignment at a time of growing global unrest - and it helped FDR as he prepared the nation for war.
Continuity is often disrupted by routine dismissals of one’s predecessor. Recognition of the positive accomplishments of President Bush and his team would speak to a greater maturity and broaden the acceptance of many fine initiatives, from health care in Africa to Secretary Robert Gates’ articulation of a renewed civilian role in national security issues.
An early signal to Congress that a new partnership is needed will also matter. A whole-of-government review of spending, which would bring together new and old Cabinet officers with authorizers and appropriators, could help to clarify the costs of legacy programs and new proposals in a tight budget environment.
The sincerity of the new president’s commitment will be most directly confirmed through the selection of top officials who share the value of open participation.
Second, there must be a call to action on an issue of singular importance. Building a national consensus around a central challenge and articulating roles for individuals, communities, private institutions and the government will inspire the body politic.
The logical issue to focus on is energy use and climate change. A national drive to apply new technologies to domestic production and reduce the United States’ carbon footprint could excite calls for action at every level of our society, would require significant infrastructure investments and could serve as a model for international leadership.
The leadership moment is now. Both campaigns articulated the dangers of our current energy patterns and embraced a dramatic new direction. No longer is energy use solely the concern of Al Gore, T. Boone Pickens and others; even the Washington Metro is featuring billboard advertising by Chevron that shows commuters vowing, “I will use less energy.”
Third, early decisions must be pragmatic and consistent with campaign promises. Almost every president in recent decades has overstated his mandate or made choices in the first days that deflated the sense of momentum.
A new national security crisis management team should be formed to reflect the more complex realities of today’s world. The secretary of Treasury and the president’s new appointees at Public Diplomacy and the United States Agency for International Development should join the familiar mix of the secretaries of state and defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the head of intelligence, and the national security adviser in all “principals meetings.”
Considering the fragility of the world economic system, Obama should attend the Group of 20 economic summit that Bush is convening in Washington on Nov. 15, both as an observer and for the opportunity to initiate relationships with the world’s key leaders.
Finally, during these financially and internationally perilous times, Obama should make clear certain matters will receive priority attention by:
• Addressing the disengagement from Iraq, a new regional security approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Israel-Palestine peace talks through the appointment of three White House-based leaders with clear authority and responsibility.
• Rejoining the global mainstream by signing a couple of long-pending United Nations agreements, such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities and those for the disappeared and cluster munitions.
Nov
4
Americans are voting in their historic election with front-running democrat Barack Obama seeking to become the first black president and his republican rival John Mccain hoping for a poll-defying comeback.
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After an epic campaign, voters could also spark a political realignment in Washington, with democrats targeting big gains in the senate and house of representatives after eight turbulent years under President George W. Bush. History’s longest, most costly white house campaign ended with Obama the hot favorite, enjoying wide leads in national polls and the edge in a string of battleground states which could swing the election either way. In the eye of the worst financial storm since the 1930s and with us troops embroiled in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, both Obama and Mccain have vowed to restore the frayed self-confidence of the world’s lone superpower. Obama and Mccain were chasing the 270 electoral votes needed to take the white house. More than 100 million people are expected to go to the polls today, to add to 30 million advance votes already cast. First results were not expected until 7:00 pm eastern time. Mccain scheduled an 11th-hour campaign in New Mexico and Colorado, two traditionally republican states which are under threat from Obama. Senator Obama, would become the first African American president, after a stunning rise to the pinnacle of us politics - he was not even a us senator four years ago. But in a sad turn of events , Obama learned that Madelyn Dunham, the grandmother who brought him up, had died in his native Hawaii from cancer, aged 86. With polls showing 90 percent of voters believe the United States is on the wrong track, Obama should be on the way to victory — but whether his race or perceived lack of experience could make voters change their mind will be determined after results come in. Mccain aides dispute poll numbers favoring Obama, and argue he can still win. The democrat has an easier path to the 270 electoral votes and has a small but solid lead in many of the battleground states needed to win the white house. He may have built an advantage as millions of Americans voted early. And while polls opened in the northeastern state of Vermont at 5:00 am, the tiny New Hampshire towns of Dixville notch and hart’s location played their traditional role of hosting the first election day, voting just after midnight. Obama won a majority of votes in both places. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s foreign minister Rais Yatim backed us presidential candidate Barack Obama saying a victory for the democrat would improve America’s relations with the world.