* Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize; how proud we are of our President

Full Speech: Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize

Speech Transcript: President Barack Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway

Dec. 10, 2009

Full transcript of speech ‘A Just and Lasting Peace’ as delivered — President Barack Obama’s acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, in Oslo, Norway.

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, distinguished members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:

I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations — that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.

And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who’ve received this prize — Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela — my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women — some known, some obscure to all but those they help — to be far more deserving of this honor than I.

But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by 42 other countries — including Norway — in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.

Still, we are at war, and I’m responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land. Some will kill, and some will be killed. And so I come here with an acute sense of the costs of armed conflict — filled with difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace, and our effort to replace one with the other.

Now these questions are not new. War, in one form or another, appeared with the first man. At the dawn of history, its morality was not questioned; it was simply a fact, like drought or disease — the manner in which tribes and then civilizations sought power and settled their differences.

And over time, as codes of law sought to control violence within groups, so did philosophers and clerics and statesmen seek to regulate the destructive power of war. The concept of a “just war” emerged, suggesting that war is justified only when certain conditions were met: if it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the force used is proportional; and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence.

Of course, we know that for most of history, this concept of “just war” was rarely observed. The capacity of human beings to think up new ways to kill one another proved inexhaustible, as did our capacity to exempt from mercy those who look different or pray to a different God. Wars between armies gave way to wars between nations — total wars in which the distinction between combatant and civilian became blurred. In the span of 30 years, such carnage would twice engulf this continent. And while it’s hard to conceive of a cause more just than the defeat of the Third Reich and the Axis powers, World War II was a conflict in which the total number of civilians who died exceeded the number of soldiers who perished.

In the wake of such destruction, and with the advent of the nuclear age, it became clear to victor and vanquished alike that the world needed institutions to prevent another world war. And so, a quarter century after the United States Senate rejected the League of Nations — an idea for which Woodrow Wilson received this prize — America led the world in constructing an architecture to keep the peace: a Marshall Plan and a United Nations, mechanisms to govern the waging of war, treaties to protect human rights, prevent genocide, restrict the most dangerous weapons.

In many ways, these efforts succeeded. Yes, terrible wars have been fought, and atrocities committed. But there has been no Third World War. The Cold War ended with jubilant crowds dismantling a wall. Commerce has stitched much of the world together. Billions have been lifted from poverty. The ideals of liberty and self-determination, equality and the rule of law have haltingly advanced. We are the heirs of the fortitude and foresight of generations past, and it is a legacy for which my own country is rightfully proud.

And yet, a decade into a new century, this old architecture is buckling under the weight of new threats. The world may no longer shudder at the prospect of war between two nuclear superpowers, but proliferation may increase the risk of catastrophe. Terrorism has long been a tactic, but modern technology allows a few small men with outsized rage to murder innocents on a horrific scale.

Moreover, wars between nations have increasingly given way to wars within nations. The resurgence of ethnic or sectarian conflicts; the growth of secessionist movements, insurgencies, and failed states — all these things have increasingly trapped civilians in unending chaos. In today’s wars, many more civilians are killed than soldiers; the seeds of future conflict are sown, economies are wrecked, civil societies torn asunder, refugees amassed, children scarred.

I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war. What I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work, and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. And it will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace.

We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations — acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.

I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King Jr. said in this same ceremony years ago: “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there’s nothing weak — nothing passive — nothing nave — in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.

But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism — it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.

I raise this point, I begin with this point because in many countries there is a deep ambivalence about military action today, no matter what the cause. And at times, this is joined by a reflexive suspicion of America, the world’s sole military superpower.

But the world must remember that it was not simply international institutions — not just treaties and declarations — that brought stability to a post-World War II world. Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms. The service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform has promoted peace and prosperity from Germany to Korea, and enabled democracy to take hold in places like the Balkans. We have borne this burden not because we seek to impose our will. We have done so out of enlightened self-interest — because we seek a better future for our children and grandchildren, and we believe that their lives will be better if others’ children and grandchildren can live in freedom and prosperity.

So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace. And yet this truth must coexist with another — that no matter how justified, war promises human tragedy. The soldier’s courage and sacrifice is full of glory, expressing devotion to country, to cause, to comrades in arms. But war itself is never glorious, and we must never trumpet it as such.

So part of our challenge is reconciling these two seemingly inreconcilable truths — that war is sometimes necessary, and war at some level is an expression of human folly. Concretely, we must direct our effort to the task that President Kennedy called for long ago. “Let us focus,” he said, “on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions.” A gradual evolution of human institutions.

What might this evolution look like? What might these practical steps be?

To begin with, I believe that all nations — strong and weak alike — must adhere to standards that govern the use of force. I — like any head of state — reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation. Nevertheless, I am convinced that adhering to standards, international standards, strengthens those who do, and isolates and weakens those who don’t.

The world rallied around America after the 9/11 attacks, and continues to support our efforts in Afghanistan, because of the horror of those senseless attacks and the recognized principle of self-defense. Likewise, the world recognized the need to confront Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait — a consensus that sent a clear message to all about the cost of aggression.

Furthermore, America — in fact, no nation — can insist that others follow the rules of the road if we refuse to follow them ourselves. For when we don’t, our actions appear arbitrary and undercut the legitimacy of future interventions, no matter how justified.

And this becomes particularly important when the purpose of military action extends beyond self-defense or the defense of one nation against an aggressor. More and more, we all confront difficult questions about how to prevent the slaughter of civilians by their own government, or to stop a civil war whose violence and suffering can engulf an entire region.

I believe that force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans, or in other places that have been scarred by war. Inaction tears at our conscience and can lead to more costly intervention later. That’s why all responsible nations must embrace the role that militaries with a clear mandate can play to keep the peace.

America’s commitment to global security will never waver. But in a world in which threats are more diffuse, and missions more complex, America cannot act alone. America alone cannot secure the peace. This is true in Afghanistan. This is true in failed states like Somalia, where terrorism and piracy is joined by famine and human suffering. And sadly, it will continue to be true in unstable regions for years to come.

The leaders and soldiers of NATO countries, and other friends and allies, demonstrate this truth through the capacity and courage they’ve shown in Afghanistan. But in many countries, there is a disconnect between the efforts of those who serve and the ambivalence of the broader public. I understand why war is not popular, but I also know this: The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it. Peace requires responsibility. Peace entails sacrifice. That’s why NATO continues to be indispensable. That’s why we must strengthen U.N. and regional peacekeeping, and not leave the task to a few countries. That’s why we honor those who return home from peacekeeping and training abroad to Oslo and Rome; to Ottawa and Sydney; to Dhaka and Kigali — we honor them not as makers of war, but of wagers — but as wagers of peace.

Let me make one final point about the use of force. Even as we make difficult decisions about going to war, we must also think clearly about how we fight it. The Nobel Committee recognized this truth in awarding its first prize for peace to Henry Dunant — the founder of the Red Cross, and a driving force behind the Geneva Conventions.

Where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct. And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America’s commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. (Applause.) And we honor — we honor those ideals by upholding them not when it’s easy, but when it is hard.

I have spoken at some length to the question that must weigh on our minds and our hearts as we choose to wage war. But let me now turn to our effort to avoid such tragic choices, and speak of three ways that we can build a just and lasting peace.

First, in dealing with those nations that break rules and laws, I believe that we must develop alternatives to violence that are tough enough to actually change behavior — for if we want a lasting peace, then the words of the international community must mean something. Those regimes that break the rules must be held accountable. Sanctions must exact a real price. Intransigence must be met with increased pressure — and such pressure exists only when the world stands together as one.

One urgent example is the effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and to seek a world without them. In the middle of the last century, nations agreed to be bound by a treaty whose bargain is clear: All will have access to peaceful nuclear power; those without nuclear weapons will forsake them; and those with nuclear weapons will work towards disarmament. I am committed to upholding this treaty. It is a centerpiece of my foreign policy. And I’m working with President Medvedev to reduce America and Russia’s nuclear stockpiles.

But it is also incumbent upon all of us to insist that nations like Iran and North Korea do not game the system. Those who claim to respect international law cannot avert their eyes when those laws are flouted. Those who care for their own security cannot ignore the danger of an arms race in the Middle East or East Asia. Those who seek peace cannot stand idly by as nations arm themselves for nuclear war.

The same principle applies to those who violate international laws by brutalizing their own people. When there is genocide in Darfur, systematic rape in Congo, repression in Burma — there must be consequences. Yes, there will be engagement; yes, there will be diplomacy — but there must be consequences when those things fail. And the closer we stand together, the less likely we will be faced with the choice between armed intervention and complicity in oppression.

This brings me to a second point — the nature of the peace that we seek. For peace is not merely the absence of visible conflict. Only a just peace based on the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting.

It was this insight that drove drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after the Second World War. In the wake of devastation, they recognized that if human rights are not protected, peace is a hollow promise.

And yet too often, these words are ignored. For some countries, the failure to uphold human rights is excused by the false suggestion that these are somehow Western principles, foreign to local cultures or stages of a nation’s development. And within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists — a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values around the world.

I reject these choices. I believe that peace is unstable where citizens are denied the right to speak freely or worship as they please; choose their own leaders or assemble without fear. Pent-up grievances fester, and the suppression of tribal and religious identity can lead to violence. We also know that the opposite is true. Only when Europe became free did it finally find peace. America has never fought a war against a democracy, and our closest friends are governments that protect the rights of their citizens. No matter how callously defined, neither America’s interests — nor the world’s — are served by the denial of human aspirations.

So even as we respect the unique culture and traditions of different countries, America will always be a voice for those aspirations that are universal. We will bear witness to the quiet dignity of reformers like Aung Sang Suu Kyi; to the bravery of Zimbabweans who cast their ballots in the face of beatings; to the hundreds of thousands who have marched silently through the streets of Iran. It is telling that the leaders of these governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation. And it is the responsibility of all free people and free nations to make clear that these movements — these movements of hope and history — they have us on their side.

Let me also say this: The promotion of human rights cannot be about exhortation alone. At times, it must be coupled with painstaking diplomacy. I know that engagement with repressive regimes lacks the satisfying purity of indignation. But I also know that sanctions without outreach — condemnation without discussion — can carry forward only a crippling status quo. No repressive regime can move down a new path unless it has the choice of an open door.

In light of the Cultural Revolution’s horrors, Nixon’s meeting with Mao appeared inexcusable — and yet it surely helped set China on a path where millions of its citizens have been lifted from poverty and connected to open societies. Pope John Paul’s engagement with Poland created space not just for the Catholic Church, but for labor leaders like Lech Walesa. Ronald Reagan’s efforts on arms control and embrace of perestroika not only improved relations with the Soviet Union, but empowered dissidents throughout Eastern Europe. There’s no simple formula here. But we must try as best we can to balance isolation and engagement, pressure and incentives, so that human rights and dignity are advanced over time.

Third, a just peace includes not only civil and political rights — it must encompass economic security and opportunity. For true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want.

It is undoubtedly true that development rarely takes root without security; it is also true that security does not exist where human beings do not have access to enough food, or clean water, or the medicine and shelter they need to survive. It does not exist where children can’t aspire to a decent education or a job that supports a family. The absence of hope can rot a society from within.

And that’s why helping farmers feed their own people — or nations educate their children and care for the sick — is not mere charity. It’s also why the world must come together to confront climate change. There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, more famine, more mass displacement — all of which will fuel more conflict for decades. For this reason, it is not merely scientists and environmental activists who call for swift and forceful action — it’s military leaders in my own country and others who understand our common security hangs in the balance.

Agreements among nations. Strong institutions. Support for human rights. Investments in development. All these are vital ingredients in bringing about the evolution that President Kennedy spoke about. And yet, I do not believe that we will have the will, the determination, the staying power, to complete this work without something more — and that’s the continued expansion of our moral imagination; an insistence that there’s something irreducible that we all share.

As the world grows smaller, you might think it would be easier for human beings to recognize how similar we are; to understand that we’re all basically seeking the same things; that we all hope for the chance to live out our lives with some measure of happiness and fulfillment for ourselves and our families.

And yet somehow, given the dizzying pace of globalization, the cultural leveling of modernity, it perhaps comes as no surprise that people fear the loss of what they cherish in their particular identities — their race, their tribe, and perhaps most powerfully their religion. In some places, this fear has led to conflict. At times, it even feels like we’re moving backwards. We see it in the Middle East, as the conflict between Arabs and Jews seems to harden. We see it in nations that are torn asunder by tribal lines.

And most dangerously, we see it in the way that religion is used to justify the murder of innocents by those who have distorted and defiled the great religion of Islam, and who attacked my country from Afghanistan. These extremists are not the first to kill in the name of God; the cruelties of the Crusades are amply recorded. But they remind us that no Holy War can ever be a just war. For if you truly believe that you are carrying out divine will, then there is no need for restraint — no need to spare the pregnant mother, or the medic, or the Red Cross worker, or even a person of one’s own faith. Such a warped view of religion is not just incompatible with the concept of peace, but I believe it’s incompatible with the very purpose of faith — for the one rule that lies at the heart of every major religion is that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

Adhering to this law of love has always been the core struggle of human nature. For we are fallible. We make mistakes, and fall victim to the temptations of pride, and power, and sometimes evil. Even those of us with the best of intentions will at times fail to right the wrongs before us.

But we do not have to think that human nature is perfect for us to still believe that the human condition can be perfected. We do not have to live in an idealized world to still reach for those ideals that will make it a better place. The non-violence practiced by men like Gandhi and King may not have been practical or possible in every circumstance, but the love that they preached — their fundamental faith in human progress — that must always be the North Star that guides us on our journey.

For if we lose that faith — if we dismiss it as silly or nave; if we divorce it from the decisions that we make on issues of war and peace — then we lose what’s best about humanity. We lose our sense of possibility. We lose our moral compass.

Like generations have before us, we must reject that future. As Dr. King said at this occasion so many years ago, “I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the ‘isness’ of man’s present condition makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ‘oughtness’ that forever confronts him.”

Let us reach for the world that ought to be — that spark of the divine that still stirs within each of our souls.

Somewhere today, in the here and now, in the world as it is, a soldier sees he’s outgunned, but stands firm to keep the peace. Somewhere today, in this world, a young protestor awaits the brutality of her government, but has the courage to march on. Somewhere today, a mother facing punishing poverty still takes the time to teach her child, scrapes together what few coins she has to send that child to school — because she believes that a cruel world still has a place for that child’s dreams.

Let us live by their example. We can acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. Clear-eyed, we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that — for that is the story of human progress; that’s the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.

Thank you very much.

Copyright © 2009 ABC News Internet Ventures

* I support President Obama’s decision in Afghanistan

Peter Baker and Adam Nagourney write in the NYT (12-2-09) …

• President Obama went before the nation on Tuesday night to announce that he would escalate the war in Afghanistan.
• And Mr. Obama went before the nation to announce that he had a plan to end the war in Afghanistan.
• If the contrasting messages seemed jarring at first, they reflect the obstacles Mr. Obama faces in rallying an increasingly polarized country that itself is of two minds about what to do in Afghanistan.
• For those who still support the war, he is sending more troops. For those against it, he is offering the assurance of the exit ramp.
• Yet his answer to perhaps the most vexing decision to confront him yet in his presidency is one that may frustrate both sides more than it satisfies them

read the entire article at … http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/world/asia/02assess.html?hp

LMW COMMENT …

President Obama has made an excruciatingly difficult decision in a measured, intelligent manner. He has listened and he has decided. All of us, including those politicians and media who gratuitously criticize aspects of the decision, know less about the facts and consequences than does the President, and I for one am more than willing to support Mr. Obama as he struggles to deal with one war which should have been over long ago (Afghanistan) and another which should never have been started (Iraq).

* terror trial in NYC … another step in cleaning up the disgraceful legacy of the Bush/Cheney years

CASE CLOSED is a novel which answers the question “Why did the FBI fail to solve the 2001 anthrax case?” … Here’s an excerpt from the CASE CLOSED story; the (fictional) DIA team reviews the connection between the anthrax attack and the subsequent invasion of Iraq …

“After the nationwide panic caused by the anthrax mailings settled down, pretty much nothing happens in the FBI’s anthrax investigation. The next we hear about anthrax is in February 2003, when Secretary of State Abner Grant goes to the United Nations and holds up a vial of something – it wasn’t actually anthrax – claiming that Saddam can deliver biological weapons of mass destruction to the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Of course, we learn later that Saddam had neither WMD nor any way to reach our shores. U.N. arms inspector Blix said something much like that a few days beforewe invaded Iraq.”

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terror trial in NYC

… another step in cleaning up the disgraceful legacy

of the  Bush/Cheney years

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NYT editorial (11/14/09) …

Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. took a bold and principled step on Friday toward repairing the damage wrought by former President George W. Bush with his decision to discard the nation’s well-established systems of civilian and military justice in the treatment of detainees captured in antiterrorist operations.

• On Friday, Attorney General Holder announced that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and four others accused in the plot will be tried in a fashion that will not further erode American justice or shame Americans.
• It promises to finally provide justice for the victims of 9/11.
• Mr. Holder said those prisoners would be prosecuted in federal court in Manhattan.
• It was an enormous victory for the rule of law, a major milestone in Mr. Obama’s efforts to close the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and an important departure from Mr. Bush’s disregard for American courts and their proven ability to competently handle high-profile terror cases.

The Obama administration has yet to completely figure out how to rectify the disgraceful Bush detention policies, but it is getting there.

Read the entire editorial at … http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/opinion/14sat1.html?ref=opinion

LMW COMMENT …

Another Bush/Cheney mess that President Obama must clean up, all of which have severely impeded accomplishing the positive agenda which Obama would, I am sure, much rather be addressing.

Once healthcare is accomplished, however, I think we will see faster progress on other issues raised during the campaign.

For those of us who support our President, we must remember to be patient as he works his way through the disgraceful Bush/Cheney legacy.

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* it’s time for Obama to act like a winner; he should forget about Republicans who will never be bi-partisan and get on with the agenda that elected him

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Paul Krugman writes in the NYT (8/21/09) …

• A backlash in the progressive base — which pushed President Obama over the top in the Democratic primary and played a major role in his general election victory — has been building for months.
• The fight over the public option involves real policy substance, but it’s also a proxy for broader questions about the president’s priorities and overall approach.
• on such fraught questions as torture and indefinite detention, the president has dismayed progressives with his reluctance to challenge or change Bush administration policy.
• I’ve had many conversations with people who voted for Mr. Obama, yet dismiss the stimulus as a total waste of money. When I press them, it turns out that they’re really angry about the bailouts rather than the stimulus — but that’s a distinction lost on most voters.
• Now, politics is the art of the possible. Mr. Obama was never going to get everything his supporters wanted.
• But there’s a point at which realism shades over into weakness, and progressives increasingly feel that the administration is on the wrong side of that line.
• It seems as if there is nothing Republicans can do that will draw an administration rebuke

Read the entire article at … http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/opinion/21krugman.html?ref=opinion

LMW COMMENT …

I very much want Barack Obama to succeed. Our country needs him to succeed. But I am increasingly concerned that he seems unable or unwilling to fight for what he says he wants. Obama’s principles are sound, but will he fight for them? A good place to start would be with the Republicans, by forgetting about them, on healthcare and other issues. They are not going to help. Continued bi-partisan efforts are simply naïve. It’s time to label Senator Grassley and others as the hypocrites they are. They lost. Obama won. Act like a winner.

* healthcare reform … this is the moment for liberals and President Obama

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CHARLES BABINGTON and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, AP 8-19-09 …

• Frustrated liberals have a question for President Barack Obama and Democratic lawmakers:
  • Isn’t it time the other guys gave a little ground on health care?
  • What’s the point of a bipartisan bill, they ask, if we’re making all the concessions?
  • It’s time to move on without Republicans, they say.
• On Tuesday, liberals were fuming over Obama’s recent remarks suggesting he might also yield on the federally run insurance option he’s been promoting.
• Liberal activists say there’s no point in the Democrats winning the House, Senate and White House unless they use their clout to enact the major measures that Obama campaigned for — with or without some Republican support.
• This week, more than 50 House Democrats issued a letter saying: “Any bill that does not provide, at a minimum, for a public option with reimbursement rates based on Medicare rates — not negotiated rates — is unacceptable.”
• Some of them told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a conference call Tuesday that discussions with Republicans are pointless.

LMW COMMENT …

I am among the disappointed.

This is President Obama’s biggest leadership test to date, and so far the results are not as good as I would have hoped.

Bob Herbert’s column today is disturbing …

See related post … * the public option … gone? not so fast!

Compromise may be needed, but too much compromise is destructive. The Republicans need to be forgotten; there is no good to come from trying to placate them in any way. Nor can the insurance industry or the drug companies be considered allies.

Sibellius has been less than useful. It is truly a shame that Obama does not have Tom Daschle to help lead this effort, but that is a fact he must overcome.

We need bold leadership from our President; failing to provide it on healthcare insurance reform may well doom his presidency.

Read the entire article at …http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090819/ap_on_an/us_health_care_overhaul_analysis_8

* the public option … gone? not so fast!

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Bob Herbert writes in the NYT (8/18/09) …

• The hope of a government-run insurance option is all but gone.
• Insurance companies are delighted with the way “reform” is unfolding.
• While it is undoubtedly important to bring as many people as possible under the umbrella of health coverage, the way it is being done now does not address what President Obama and so many other advocates have said is a crucial component of reform — bringing the ever-spiraling costs of health care under control.
• Those costs, we’re told, are hamstringing the U.S. economy, making us less competitive globally and driving up the budget deficit.
• Giving consumers the choice of an efficient, nonprofit, government-run insurance plan would have moved us toward real cost control, but that option has gone a-glimmering.
• The public deserves better.
• The drug companies, the insurance industry and the rest of the corporate high-rollers have their tentacles all over this so-called reform effort, squeezing it for all it’s worth.

Read the entire column at … http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/opinion/18herbert.html?_r=1

LMW COMMENT …

Maybe not all is lost. See related article and more LMW COMMENT at …

* healthcare reform … this is the moment for liberals and President Obama

* Krugman … the actions of the Obama government saved us from the economic abyss; the Republicans are wrong, as was Ronald Reagan in a different era

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Paul Krugman writes in the NYT (8-10-09) …

• A few months ago the possibility of falling into the abyss seemed all too real.
• So what saved us from a full replay of the Great Depression? The answer, almost surely, lies in the very different role played by government.
• All in all, then, the government has played a crucial stabilizing role in this economic crisis.
• Ronald Reagan was wrong: sometimes the private sector is the problem, and government is the solution.
• And aren’t you glad that right now the government is being run by people who don’t hate government?
• Back in March, John Boehner, the House minority leader, declared that since families were suffering, “it’s time for government to tighten their belts and show the American people that we ‘get’ it.”
• Fortunately, Boehner’s advice was ignored.

Read the entire column at … http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/opinion/10krugman.html

LMW COMMENT (posted as a comment on NYT site) …

Good for you, Paul. You are a big enough man to admit that, despite disagreements in some of the details, the Obama stimulus package was and is exactly the right thing to do. You are also to be commended for correctly identifying the ignorance of the Republican proposals. Republicans are so bereft of productive ideas that their best shot is to call for anti-democratic thuggery as the way to deal with complicated healthcare issues. Palin calls Obama’s healthcare proposal “evil,” another indication that she is truly more stupid than George Bush, a very high bar indeed.

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Are you curious about the FBI’s failure to solve the 2001 anthrax case?

I invite you to read my fictional (but realistic) scenario.

* What does a novel have to do with the real anthrax case?

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* a plea to President Obama … make the FBI come clean about its failed anthrax investigation

WHY did the FBI fail to solve the 2001 anthrax case?

WHO had the power to divert the FBI from the truth?

CASE CLOSED offers a fictional scenario that answers those questions

* buy CASE CLOSED at amazon

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a plea to President Obama

… make the FBI come clean about its failed anthrax investigation

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This post is a carryover from my CASE CLOSED blog (www.caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com) where DXer, in his latest comment, raises serious and pertinent questions concerning the integrity of anthrax samples which are critical to the FBI’s conclusion that Dr. Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the attacks. DXer asks …

• Was there adequate security?
• Did unauthorized personnel have access to the samples?
• Was there adequate accountability (i.e., chain-of-custody, evidence storage, evidence in-processing).
• Who tested the sample that is claimed to have been a false sample submitted by Dr. Ivins?
• Who chose to destroy the sample submitted using a different protocol.

DXer adds that FBI Counterterrorism Chief Ben Furman wrote to him to say that Amerithrax was a mess but that he thought most information should be kept from the public.

DXer disagrees … so do I.

LMW COMMENT …

DXer’s questions, which are related to a recent interchange on the CASE CLOSED blog between Bugmaster and Ed Lake, go to the core of what appears to be the FBI’s clumsy cover-up of its failed anthrax investigation.

• The FBI’s case against Dr. Ivins is, on its face, inadequate.
• Senator Arlen Specter, among many others, has given his opinion as a former prosecutor that the FBI could never get a conviction on the basis of the evidence they have so far made public.

There must be something that makes the FBI delay and hide and continue to make itself look foolish …

• The FBI is not incompetent; they must know that the case they have presented makes no sense.
• It is not unreasonable to conclude that the FBI purposely accused a dead man in a press conference in order to avoid the necessity of a trial where evidence would be presented under oath and judged by a jury.
• It is obvious that the FBI is refusing to tell the Congress and the American people what it knows about this case of mass murder and terrorism.
• This may be the reason why it has still not “closed the case,” which would make its evidence (or lack thereof) subject to FOIA requests.

In my opinion, the FBI’s behavior, which is the core of the problem, is not rational UNLESS they are under orders to keep Congress and the public from knowing what really happened.

Which comes back to the two questions I raise in my novel CASE CLOSED …

Who benefitted from keeping the anthrax case unsolved?

Who had the power to divert the FBI from the truth?

In CASE CLOSED, I develop a fictional scenario to answer those questions, and the corruption of the FBI investigation in my story goes to the highest levels of the American government.

• Do I think the story I portrayed in CASE CLOSED is what really happened?
• I don’t make that claim. I have no way to know. I made up the story presented in CASE CLOSED, with no access to secret witnesses or documents.
• But I do believe that something like what I portrayed did happen. It’s the only reason I can think of to explain the FBI’s otherwise bizarre behavior.
• And many of the readers of CASE CLOSED find my story disturbingly plausible.

It seems to me, and to many others, that the FBI is hiding some terrible dark secrets.

We need Rush Holt’s Anthrax Investigation Commission to get out of the House Judiciary Committee and into action.

But I think we need more.

Who has the power to make the FBI tell the truth?

• We need our new President, who I worked hard for and continue to support, and who I believe to be intelligent, thoughtful, courageous and well motivated, to step away from his reluctance to hold the Bush administration accountable for its many heinous misdeeds.
• So I call upon President Obama, among his many daunting challenges, to demand that the FBI come clean about its anthrax investigation.
• The integrity of the American government has been challenged by the FBI’s failed investigation and cover-up of the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Mr. President, please do what is needed to restore the integrity and pride in America which has been so wrongly debased by your predecessor.

Our country needs to know.

* Obama’s path of compromise … there’s no other way

THE ECONOMIST reports (7/4/09) …

• Having campaigned in poetry, Barack Obama doubtless expected to govern in prose. But it is arithmetic that threatens to cramp his ambitions.
• Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its long-term budget outlook. If current policies are continued, federal debt held by the public will rise from 41% of GDP at the end of 2008 to 87% by 2020, and (theoretically) to a staggering 716% by 2080.
• A president who refused to put off unpleasant decisions, as Mr Obama promised during his inauguration, would be honest about all this.
• Instead of straight talk, however, Mr Obama has mostly been offering happy talk.
• … rather than shaping public opinion, he is running scared of it. And so, even more, is Congress.
• The House’s climate bill is a masterpiece of obfuscation.
• Mr Obama wanted the (carbon emission) permits to be auctioned, which would raise large sums (which were meant to help finance health-care reform) and allocate the permits to the firms that value them most. Instead, the House decided to give away 85% of them free to politically-favoured entities.
• Some say this was necessary—the bill only passed by a whisker, 219 votes to 212, and would probably have failed without the giveaways.
• Mr Obama needs to find at least $1 trillion to overhaul health care, and those plans now face an uphill battle of their own in the Senate, which looks set for a long hard summer.
• Mr Obama promised, on the campaign trail, not to tax private health benefits. He also promised to cut taxes for all but the rich. Arithmetic suggests he will have to break his word on something.

Read the entire article at … http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13952934

LMW COMMENT …

The Economist has framed Obama’s dilemma well, although I would not be so critical. It’s one thing to sit on the side and compare what is actually accomplished with some theoretical possible achievement.

But where is the proper balance between sticking with what you wanted to do, indeed promised to do, and the necessary compromise to get anything done in the real political world? Is Barack Obama doing everything he could do, or is he giving up too much to accomplish what is possible?

How we answer those questions is likely to depend on which issues are important to us, and what is happening with those particular issues at the moment. But the President does not have the luxury of dealing with each issue in isolation. I am confident that Obama’s objectives have not changed. I also believe he is not surprised by the need to accommodate the wishes and needs of other powerful people.

Obama has a powerful team of his own, but I bet there are some days when Rahm Emanuel tells the President how much he can get on a particular issue while keeping alive progress on the full range of an ambitious agenda where many items are critical to the future of our country and the world.

I’m confident that Barack Obama is making the best decisions he can, and I believe his record at the end of the day will be superb. He’s not perfect, but in my view, no one else could do it better.

* the crisis in Iran: after 8 years of unproductive Bush/Cheney bluster and wars of choice, Republicans still don’t get it; President Obama does

CASE CLOSED: the FBI’s failed investigation of the 2001 anthrax case

* see CASE CLOSED VIDEO on YouTube

* purchase CASE CLOSED (paperback)

read more at http://caseclosedbylewweinstein.wordpress.com/

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the crisis in Iran: after 8 years of unproductive

Bush/Cheney bluster and wars of choice,

Republicans still don’t get it;

President Obama does

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Anne Gearan writes for AP (6-21-09) …

• Republicans intensified their criticism of President Barack Obama’s handling of his first major test of
  

  Iran protester

  international leadership, saying Sunday that he has been too cautious in response to Iran’s postelection upheaval.

  • Both the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly last week to condemn an official crackdown on the mostly peaceful demonstrations, a stronger action than the White House has yet taken.
  • Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC … “The president of the United States is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham. “He’s been timid and passive more than I would like.”
  • Sen. John McCain, R-AR, and others noted that Western leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have demanded a recount or more forcefully condemned the government crackdown. “I’d like to see the president be stronger than he has been, although I appreciate the comments that he made yesterday,” McCain said. “I think we ought to have America lead.”
  • Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IO, said a slow or muted U.S. response risks undermining the aspirations of Iranian voters to change or question their government. “If America stands for democracy and all of these demonstrations are going on in Tehran and other cities over there, and people don’t think that we really care, then obviously they’re going to question, ‘do we really believe in our principles?’” Grassley said.
• But in an interview released Sunday, President Obama argued: “The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States. We shouldn’t be playing into that.”
  • Obama has tried to hold a middle ground as the crisis unfolds, and found the ground shifting by the day. His advisers say any thunderous denunciation of Iran’s rulers would invite them to cry interference and might worsen the violence instead of end it.
  • Obama on Saturday challenged Iran’s government to halt a “violent and unjust” crackdown on dissenters, and he quoted Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
  • “Right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian people’s belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear
    

    Sen. Lugar

    witness,” Obama said.

• Sen. Richard Lugar R-IN, a moderate Republican who holds the party’s top position on the Senate ForeignRelations Committee, seemed to echo Obama’s caution. “The challenge continues, which is going to come to a conclusion one way or another,” Lugar said. “Either the protesters bring about change or they’re suppressed, and it’s a potentially very brutal outcome at the end of the day.”

read the entire article at … http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090622/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_iran_11

LMW COMMENT …

True leadership is far more than the bullying bluster of the Bush/Cheney years which set America’s position in the world to its lowest depths in memory.

President Obama, in his intelligent thoughtful approach and his willingness to listen, epitomized in his Cairo speech, has set a far different tone which has the possibility of a far different and better result. Does anyone think what’s going on in Iran is unrelated to the call for democracy and freedom in Cairo, and the implicit understanding that efforts in that direction would be welcome.

But to follow that caring outreach with blustering threats would, as President Obama has said, change the debate and permit the dictators in Iraq to demonize America instead of forcing them to respond to the calls for freedom from their own people.

How fortunate we are to have the president we do. And kudos to Dick Lugar for understanding and having the courage to say so.