New start in US – unBush’ing of America
March 15, 2009
If ever the world would have forgiven a man for not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time, it would have been now. No one would blame Barack Obama if he focused exclusively on the economic crisis, pushing the foreign policy in-tray to the back of his desk. After all, there’s only so much even a Messiah can handle.
For all that, the new US President has crammed a slew of foreign policy moves into his first six weeks, any one of which would have made big news in normal times.
Obama Wiki fiddler caught red-handed
March 10, 2009
A right-wing pundit has been caught red-handed manufacturing controversy after claiming US President Barack Obama’s Wikipedia page was being whitewashed, in a scandal that fooled big news outlets including Fox News.
Aaron Klein, the Jerusalem bureau chief at online news publication WorldNetDaily (WND), reported that Obama’s Wikipedia entry was far too positive and did not mention his claimed links with controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright and “Weatherman terrorist” Bill Ayers.
Talkback king Rush Limbaugh leads backlash to Obama
March 2, 2009
THE radio talkback host Rush Limbaugh has said he wants to see President Barack Obama fail, warning that the core free enterprise values of the nation are “under assault” and its very survival is at stake.
US stimulus package gets green light
February 7, 2009
US senators reached agreement on a financial stimulus plan totaling about $US780 billion, Democratic lawmakers said.
Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, emerging from a meeting of Senate Democrats at the Capitol tonight, called the agreement an important step and said senators hope to vote on it tonight.
Wall Street has to adopt a bitter buzzword: restraint
February 6, 2009
Last week Barack Obama chided Wall Street for its “shameful” greed.
This week he did something about executive pay packets, beginning with the banks seeking large amounts of taxpayer assistance.
Under new restrictions, a company seeking government help must cap executive salaries at $US500,000 a year.
Help for Gaza and CIA Torture Outlawed
January 23, 2009
On his third day in office, President Barack Obama has focused on the Middle East, calling on Israel to open its borders with Gaza to allow humanitarian aid and commerce.
And he has appointed one of America’s most talented negotiators to broker lasting peace in the troubled region.
Mr Obama also announced plans to close the contentious detention centre at Guantanamo Bay within 12 months and to ban “enhanced interrogation” used by the CIA in the past, branding it torture and contrary to American values.
President Barack Obama at inauguration: ‘We are in the midst of crisis’
January 20, 2009
Before a vast crowd of two million, President Barack Hussein Obama has been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America, fulfilling the dream of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King that African Americans would one day be able to aspire to the highest office in the land.
Amid scenes of jubilation, in which many Americans wept openly with joy, Mr Obama, aged 47, the son of a Kenyan man and a white woman from Kansas, became the first black president of the world’s most powerful nation.
President Barack Obama’s pulling power at inauguration
January 20, 2009
Obama has made Washington a destination city for countless Americans for the first time.
Washington, however, was barely coping with the event.
Count among the first achievements of Barack Obama’s term in office that he attracted unprecedented numbers of Americans to a presidential inauguration.
America didn’t jump off the cliff – it was Bushed
January 5, 2009
We like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean, or at least large enough to inspire Oscar-worthy performances from magnificent tragedians. So here, too, George Bush has let us down. He is not a memorable villain so much as a sometimes affable second banana whom Will Ferrell can nail without breaking a sweat. He is smaller than life.
Hillary Clinton confirmed as Barack Obama’s Secretary of State
December 1, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama says he will welcome strong opinions and differing viewpoints from his national security team, saying he appointed his “team of rivals” because they shared his broad vision, but would not necessarily agree on tactics or strategies to deal with world issues.
Announcing his team in Chicago, Mr Obama confirmed the worst held secret in America: that his former rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, would be his secretary of state.
