A Grown-up At The Helm

Posted on February 10, 2009 by Mash

President Barack Obama held his first press conference tonight. The press conference mostly focused on the economy and the proposed stimulus package. After eight years of bumbling buffoonery at the White House it was a shock and a relief to see an intelligent President deliver articulate well-thought out responses to reporters’ questions. Obama made the case, during his prepared remarks and the Q&A, for his economic stimulus plan. Agree with the President or not, it was clear that he had command of the subject matter.

I happen to believe that Obama is taking the right approach in his stimulus plan. His plan is a good mix of quick acting government spending and more slower acting tax cuts targetted at the middle class. It seems to me that the shouting between those on the Left who demand a stimulus plan that contains nothing but government spending and those on the Right who demand a stimulus plan that contains nothing but tax cuts ignores reality. Both government spending and tax cuts stimulate the economy, and the one-two punch of stimulus provided by these two approaches is far more preferable to dying at the alter of ideological purity by passing no stimulus bill.

Tonight the President did his job by talking directly to the American people about what needs to be done. Tomorrow the bickering Senators need to do their job and pass the Stimulus Plan. Whether the bill the Congress finally passes will be enough to slow and reverse our economic slide cannot be known now. But, one thing is certain. Congress has wasted precious time as more Americans have lost their jobs and their homes. Enough already.

[Watch the President’s press conference here.]

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Amateur Hour

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Mash

If the President of the United States calls you and congratulates you on being offered an ambassadorship, it is reasonable for you to start packing your bags for a long trip overseas. Or so you would think. Unless you are General Anthony Zinni.

This is not a good sign:

“Jones had called me before the inauguration and asked if I would be willing to serve as ambassador to Iraq or in one of the envoy jobs, on the Middle East peace process,” Zinni told Foreign Policy. “I said yes.”

“Then two weeks ago, Jones called,” Zinni continued, “and said, ‘We talked to the secretary of state, and everybody would like to offer you the Iraq job.’ I said yes.

“The president called and congratulated me,” Zinni said.

Then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked for a meeting last Monday night, Zinni said. He said he went to the meeting in her office at the State Department, where Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Williams Burns were also in attendance.

“She thanks me, asked me my views on Iraq,” Zinni recalled. “She said to Burns and Steinberg, ‘We’ve got to move quickly, Crocker is leaving, we’ve got to get someone in there and get the paperwork done and hearings… Lots to do to get ready to go.”

Zinni said he expected a call from Burns the next day. Not hearing from him, he called him.

“To make a long story short, I kept getting blown off all week,” Zinni said. “Meantime, I was rushing to put my personal things in order,” to get ready to go.

“Finally, nobody was telling me anything,” Zinni said. “I called Jones Monday several times. I finally got through late in evening. I asked Jones, ‘What’s going on?’ And Jones said, ‘We decided on Chris Hill.'”

“I said, ‘Really,'” Zinni recalled. “That was news to me.”

Jones asked him if he would like to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Zinni said. “I said, ‘You can stick that with whatever other offers,'” Zinni recalled, saying he had used more colorful language with Jones. Asked Jones’s response and if he was apologetic, Zinni said, “Jones was not too concerned. He laughed about it.”

It is unclear who pulled the plug on the Zinni appointment, but I am sure it is an interesting story. One wonders if the White House and the State Department are reading from the same script. I of course would not be surprised if they were not.

This is amateur hour. If you want to bring about Middle East peace, this is not the way to start.

Posted in Foreign Policy, Iraq | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

President Obama On Al Arabiya Television

Posted on January 26, 2009 by Mash

[The two videos above are of poor quality, but they are the only ones I could find of the interview. I will update when there is a better version on YouTube.]

President Barack Obama gave his first formal television interview to Al Arabiya Television. It was a remarkable interview, both in tone and in content. With this interview and with the pick of George Mitchell as special envoy to the Middle East, Barack Obama is clearly reaching out to the Muslim world.

I think this interview will be very well received in the Muslim world. If this interview signals a reengagement of the American government with the Muslim world that goes beyond dropping bombs, there is much room for optimism.

Posted in Foreign Policy, Islam, Israel-Palestine, Middle East Conflict | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Bush’s Exit

Posted on January 21, 2009 by Mash

My friend AG forwarded me two pictures I wish I had taken yesterday. As I was leaving the Mall yesterday afternoon Marine One passed overhead then banked left over the Potomac and headed east. At the time I thought it was just flying empty. What I didn’t realize was former President George W Bush was on board and was being taken to Andrews Air Force base for his flight back to Texas. Apparently much of the crowd was singing "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye" as a final send-off to the former president.

While Marine One was passing overhead, on the approach to the Memorial Bridge we noticed a giant inflatable George W Bush being pulled down by a group of enthusiastic citizens. It reminded me of the toppling of Saddam’s statue. I was fiddling with my new camera’s settings and was unable to take the picture. But, thanks to AG, here it is:

[Note: I know that Marine One is not called Marine One when the president is not on board. But I couldn’t think of another good way to describe the helicopter. "The helicoptor formerly known as Marine One" seemed to me to be too long.]

Posted in Humor, Politics | 2 Comments

President Barack Obama

Posted on January 20, 2009 by Mash

Today was a beautiful day in Washington, DC. To be sure, it was bone chillingly cold, but it did not matter.

My day began at 5:15am. I made sure to put on multiple layers of clothing underneath my heavy jacket before I headed toward Washington on Interstate 66 at 5:45. There was heavy traffic on I-66 outside the Washington Beltway, where I had to exit. I-66 inside the beltway was shut down for security reasons. I made my way to a friend’s house in Arlington, about 3 miles from the Mall. From there we walked into DC.

It was a beautiful walk past Arlington National Cemetery and toward the Potomac river. We crossed the river over Memorial Bridge along with thousands headed toward the Inauguration. Coming over Memorial Bridge and sighting the Lincoln Memorial on a clear morning in Washington is a breathtaking experience. It was fitting to be welcomed into Washington by the Lincoln Memorial on such an historic day.

We made it into the Mall, past the Reflecting Pool and just east of the Washington Monument. That is as far as we got. The crowd was immense and we could go no further. We had an obscured view of the Capitol because of a few trees, but it did not matter. We were on the Mall with about 2 million others to witness President Barack Obama take the oath of office. We had a Jumbotron to view the ceremony up close, and we had the energy of the crowd to fight the bitter cold. We had a few hours to wait before we would see history. While we waited, we met a couple that came up from Barbados to be here. We also met a woman from Trinidad & Tobago who was full of sage advice.

We watched the former presidents walk into the Capitol one at a time. And then they announced the presence of former president George W. Bush. The crowd at first booed, and then cheered knowing that it was only minutes before he would be a private citizen. We watched Dick Cheney get wheeled into the Capitol on a wheelchair – karma has struck on his last day in office. We joked that at any moment he may rise out of the wheelchair in Dr. Strangelove fashion – right arm extended. We speculated that he may have pulled a muscle while trying to haul away the man-sized safe in his office. Curiously, we did not hear the announcer introduce Dick Cheney like he had the other former vice presidents.

I remarked that I detested Cheney. The woman from Trinidad & Tobago told me that I shouldn’t hate Dick Cheney – that everyone has something valuable to contribute. I responded that I agreed with her in principle that everyone has something to add, but I thought that in Cheney’s case the proposition was debatable.

Then we saw Barack Obama enter. It occurred to me then that this day, this moment, this unbelievable moment, was actually happening. The rest of what happened in the interim is kind of a blur for me. There was some speeches and some music. And then Barack Obama took the oath of office amid loud cheers from the crowd. Not knowing what to do, I high fived the person next to me, and the woman from Trinidad & Tobago gave me a hug. Barack Obama was now our president.

After Obama’s speech, we made our way across the river for the long walk back, knowing that something special had just taken place.

——————-

Click on the image below for a slideshow of my trip to the Mall to watch President Obama’s inauguration.

Posted in Constitution, Personal, Politics | 13 Comments