Barack Obama wants to expand the U.S. Foreign Service and employ immigrants in diplomatic efforts, seeking utilize their linguistic fluencies and cultural ties, according to a position paper released today by his campaign.
The paper, sent to reporters via email, outlined Obama' policies on Latin America as John McCain travels to Colombia and Mexico for a three-day trip.
Obama would expand the U.S. Foreign Service--a corps of roughly 12,000 State Dept. diplomats primarily serving abroad--by 25 percent, adding more language specialists, economists, and experts on agriculture, health, and economic development, the paper said. The Foreign Service makes up about one fifth of the State Dept.
The Illinois Democrat would also employ U.S. immigrants in diplomacy, seeking to harness their "familial, cultural, economic, and language ties" abroad.
Read more...
The Iraq war is to blame for high gas prices as its cost has weakened the dollar and driven oil speculation, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a national co-chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, said today.
"We cannot economically afford to keep borrowing two to three billion dollars a week from China," McCaskill said on MSNBC. "That's why gas prices are so high. People are speculating in commodities because nobody wants to go near our dollar. We cannot--it is unsustainable to continue to prop up, in the middle of a civil war, an Iraqi government that will not step up and do what they need to do."
McCaskill appeared on MSNBC this afternoon to discuss Obama's planned trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. McCaskill is a national co-chair of Obama's campaign. When host Monica Novotny pressed McCaskill on Obama's plan to withdraw from Iraq despite recent security gains, McCaskill pushed back by saying the war's cost is unsustainable.
"If you can't leave Iraq when it's stable and you can't leave Iraq when it's not stable, that means that we're stuck with George Bush and John McCain--we can never leave Iraq," McCaskill said. See the video below.
Barack Obama condemned the actions of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and said he shares the concerns of Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who ended his presidential bid amid pressure from the government.
Tsvangirai had won more votes in the first round of voting in the presidential election in March. But on Monday he withdrew from a run-off against Mugabe scheduled for Friday, citing violent attacks against his supporters.
"I am deeply disturbed by the recent events in Zimbabwe and condemn the actions of President Robert Mugabe in the strongest possible terms," Obama said in a statement. "The United States and the international community must be united, clear and unequivocal:
Read more...
Barack Obama applauded the 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision Thursday establishing that prisoners in Guantanamo Bay have the right to challenge their detention in civilian courts.
Obama attacked John McCain for supporting the "failed policy" of creating a "legal black hole" enacted by the Bush Administration.
"This is an important step toward reestablishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law, and rejecting a false choice between fighting terrorism and respecting habeas corpus," Obama said.
"The fact is, this Administration's position is not tough on terrorism, and it undermines the very values that we are fighting to defend. Bringing these detainees to justice is too important for us to rely on a flawed system that has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since the 9-11 attacks, and compromised our core values."
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) has signed a one-year deal with Fox News.
Huckabee will appear multiple times throughout each day on Fox to offer his insight on political developments, The Trail reports.
After a failed run at the GOP presidential nomination, Huckabee had been doing commentary on primary election nights for MSNBC during the long Democratic primary fight. On MSNBC, Huckabee was teamed with former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) the head of the Democratic Leadership Council.
Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) and his staff got involved in a physical altercation with a blogger asking the Congressman to clarify a statement made in August 2007 that Democrats during the 2006 midterm election "stretched the facts" in claiming they could end the war in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that from what he has seen, both John McCain and Barack Obama would take a "sensible approach" to Iraq once in office.
"Based on what I read in the newspapers, I think either person who is elected president is going to come in and take a close look at it," Gates said during an interview with CNN.
Despite the wide distance between Obama and McCain on Iraq, Gates said both will heavily weigh the options when approaching the "endgame" in Iraq.
"I've said repeatedly we can't get the endgame wrong. The next president would suffer the greatest consequences if we do get the endgame wrong, so I think whoever's elected is likely to take a fairly sensible approach to it," Gates said.
He received a hearty standing ovation from most of the crowd, though many remained seating.
He opened his remarks by praising Hillary Clinton.
"After my speech, you are going to have the great pleasure of hearing from an extraordinary candidate and an extraordinary public servant," he said. "She is true friend of Israel, a great senator from New York and an extraordinary leader of the Democratic party. And she has made history alongside me for the past 16 months."
He briefly addressed the e-mails circulating that have portrayed Obama, a Christian, as a radical Muslim.
"If anybody has been confused by these e-mails, I want you to know today I am speaking from my heart and as a true friend of Israel," he said.
Obama then tried to connect his well-traveled past to Israel's.
He noted that his father was from Kenya, his mom was from Kansas and that he has lived in Hawaii, Indonesia and elsewhere.
Obama said that he understood that "You can sustain a spiritual, emotional and cultural identity. I understood the Zionist idea, that there is always a homeland at the center of our story."
Americans think victory in Iraq is more likely with John McCain as president, while they believe Barack Obama will withdraw troops during his first term, according to a new Rasmussen poll.
According to Rasmussen, 49 percent of those polled said the U.S. is "at least somewhat likely" to win the war in Iraq if McCain is elected president. 20 percent said victory is somewhat likely if Obama is elected.
In the same poll, 59 percent say it is at least somewhat likely "virtually all combat troops" will come home during Obama's first term as president. 43 percent say combat troops will come home in McCain's first term.
When asked to contrast the two goals, voters narrowly chose withdrawal: 52 percent said withdrawing troops in the next four years is more important than winning the war.
Obama says he will withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within the first 16 months of his presidency. McCain says he would not rush to withdraw troops, and that the so-called troop "surge," which McCain supported in early 2007, is working.
Rasmussen surveyed 1,200 people via phone for the poll.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
