Obama Gives Free Pass on Ethics, Makes No Comment on Pakistan Bombing

President Obama has waived the ethics order he signed to prevent people from working for the federal government if they have been a federal lobbyist for the previous two years. Last Friday Obama approved a waiver for William J. Lynn to become the undersecretary for defense, who is essentially the manager of the Pentagon. Lynn's former employer Ratheon had US$18.3 billion in contracts with the federal government in 2007. Lynn still owes stock in the company, and will have to sell it. Lynn also will not be prohibited from making decisions about Ratheon, but will be subject to an ethics review for one year.

Obama was also briefed on a CIA bombing in Pakistan from two drone airplanes. He has not commented on the mission, but more than one Pakistani media outlet has reported that the commander-in-chief ordered the strike, citing the Guardian of the UK. The Pakistani government and citizens protested the bombing in Waziristan that killed more than 20 people.

Two Indistinguishable Candidates

I was surprised to see the headline, "Obama and McCain Display Stark Contrasts" on the website of the New York Times today. After watching most of the debate, I disagree with that statement.
McCain and Obama frequently agreed with the other's perspective before explaining how he would approach the topic at hand differently. (Obama appeared to do this more than McCain, but I didn't keep a count)
The Times headline probably reflects a view that a candidate with different approach to a problem– is different than his opponent.
Yet while each candidate used the expression "fundamentally different," they are fundamentally the same because they agree on the issues themselves.
If two generals in an army disagree on a target during war, they still agree on the war itself.

Admittedly, Obama did try to explain how he was different because he opposed the Iraq invasion and Bush's tax cuts, but did not significantly distinguish himself in matters of foreign policy (he said Russia's rise is bad) and economics (more ethics and responsibility are needed).
This type of debate will benefit McCain most because if he appears similar to Obama, voters could go with the candidate that has more experience.

If a winner could come out of the debate (if that is the purpose of debate), then McCain came out as the more seasoned politician, as his answers were more polished than Obama, who seems to still be formulating his arguments. Maybe this is from internal conflict in the Obama camp or from the senator's lack of experience on complicated matters where there is no obvious course.
If Obama truly does have different opinions, however, his strategy could be that he's holding his cards until later in the campaign to prevent Republicans from coming up with attack material. This could backlash if he waits too long. Republicans are well-organized in campaigns, and could deliver blows to Obama before he has time to recover. The democrats would do well to present compelling and distinguishable arguments and prepare answers to an expected Republican response.

On another note: Jim Lehrer was a distinguished gentleman in the debate as usual, but his reasks were meandering and he didn't hold the debaters to task on directly answering his questions

Raining on Obama's parade

The photoshopped picture here was taken by Roberto Schmidt of Agence France-Presse through Getty Images and with a story by Jeffery Gettleman of the New York Times. It's an amazing photo of a boy running down the street carrying a bucket with burning shacks behind him.

I have been to this part of Kenya. I was there two years ago, almost to the day. In the rift valley, at Lake Naivasha, looking at pink flamingoes and hippos. It is a beautiful part of the world. Naivasha is where the peace agreement between North and South Sudan was signed after two decades of civil war. Its Hell's Gate National Park was the inspiration for the drawing's of the Lion King.

Up the road yesterday, at a larger lake famous for flamingos, it was just hell.

"Hundreds of men prowled a section of the city with six-foot iron bars, poisoned swords, clubs, knives and crude circumcision tools. Boys carried gladiator-style shields and women strutted around with sharpened sticks," Gettleman wrote.

It's an ironic day for such a tragedy. Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary. I posted the video of his speech below. The New York Observer posted the entire speech, as prepared.

"This is a battle in our own hearts and minds about what kind of country we want and how hard we’re willing to work for it," Obama said.

I believe Obama thinks he can fight the politicians in Washington. But before he knows it, he will not just have slander from the lips of Hillary Clinton, but the dirty tricks of every interest group, lobbyist, politician and anyone else who are protecting someone's interests. Obama will wake up, and have to face that not only is America crumbling, but the world is in shambles.

At this lake where thugs stroll with poisoned swords, men from the same tribe as Obama's father, the Luo, are fleeing West, and have been accused of helping slaughter a rival tribe that is of the ruling president. Kenya is a country at the brink of collapse. Most people who were in America on this same night, most of the people who attended Obama's speech, have no idea that across the world, nightmares are reality.

So I wonder if Mr. Obama is truly happy in his heart for this victory. I wonder if as he turns on the television to watch the news of his victory speech, that he also watches what is happening to his people who never got the chance to go to America, to feel that anything is possible. We believe as Americans, that by the nature of being born in a place, that we are all destined for great things. Maybe Obama is what we all hope for inside, that anyone can run for president. But few of us know what it is like with no hope.

I hope that in some way Obama is linked to this day, that when he is asked many years from now if he dreams of January 27 as the day that he won South Carolina, or the day that his father's country was in shambles.

Division vs Unity

Either John Edwards wants to be the next vice president or even he actually believes in Obama. In any case, in a few months, Barack Obama will have his endorsement. And Obama will be the next American president. I realize the timing of this statement is dubious. Obama has only won Iowa. Clinton came back and took New Hampshire.
If Barack Obama is who he says he is, however, if he actually can and will bring about change, then I believe that electing him will be the most significant election since Abraham Lincoln was voted into office. Our country, our world, is facing a most critical period. Since the turn of the millennium, our country has been divided. And Hillary Clinton is one of the most divisive figures in America.
We have been embroiled in partisan politics and media spin as our soldiers are fighting at war, as our economy has followed the course of failed states that favored corporate interest above those of the ordinary citizen, and as our environment is deteriorating to a point that my grandchildren might not get the chance to live on this Earth. Obama hopes to unify our country on several causes; he believes that hope will inspire us to make these changes.
"There is a moment in the life of every generation when, if we are to make our mark on history, this spirit must break through," he said. "This is the moment. This is our time."
"We will change the course of history, and the real journey to heal the nation and repair the world – will have truly begun."

My mother and my sister's boyfriend Hernan believe that Obama will never get to make changes. They believe an idealistic black man will be assassinated before he gets that chance. My fear is that they are right. He talks about facing powerful interests, about facing lobbyists and stripping away their power, but unfortunately these interests just might be more powerful than even the American president. If these interests take Obama seriously, he might never be sworn into office. Still, he talks about hope in a way that makes me want to shed my fear. It makes me want to hope that we can change the course of history.
"Hope is not blind optimism," Obama said in Iowa on December 27. "It's not ignoring the enormity of the task before us. Or the roadblocks that stand in our path. Yes, the lobbyists will fight us....Yes the problems of poverty and climate change and failing schools will resist easy repair."
Is Obama idealistic? He certainly portrays himself as someone who dreams of the change the American founders laid out in the 18th century. In Obama's autobiographies, particularly his second book, The Audacity of Hope, he shows a tremendous love for American history and respect for the tradition of law. As I read this book on an airplane to Egypt from France, I was nearly in tears. I could not believe that a politician could actually believe what Obama was saying. Yet if he is an idealist, then he is also a realist.
"I've been on the streets," he said during the same speech in Iowa, named "Our Moment is Now" posted on Youtube.
"I’ve watched legislation die because the powerful held sway and good intentions weren’t fortified by political will. I’ve watched a nation get mislead into war because no one had the judgment or the courage to ask the hard questions before we sent our troops to fight. I know this will be hard. I know it. But I also know this: I know that hope has been the guiding force behind the most improbable changes this country has ever made. I know that in the face of tyranny, it’s what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire. In the face of slavery, it’s what fueled the resistance of the slave and the abolitionist, and what allowed a president to chart a treacherous course."
Some people compare Obama to JFK. In some ways it's fair. For many years, Irish Catholics were worth little more in America than slaves. And just as Kennedy was the first to break this barrier, Obama could be the next to break another.
"That’s the power of hope – to imagine, and then work for, what had seemed impossible before."
"That’s what hope is – that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting for us around the corner. But only if we’re willing to work for it and fight for it. To shed our fears and our doubts and our cynicism."
My mother and her family once believed in Kennedy, and their hope was crushed when he was killed. I never had the chance to believe in a politician. I've never seen a great leader in my lifetime that inspires me. I have only been able to look to the past.

I have hoped for too long that someone will come along to change our country and our world. I have fallen in the hands of pessimism and doubt. I do believe we are at a point in history when we have run out of time. When our very existence is in question. I wish someone might be our hope.