Maverickety
September 27, 2008 | Filed Under Election 2008, Opinion and Commentary | Leave a Comment
While the pundits dissect last night’s debate and the fact-checkers serve up an all you can eat buffet, I’m thinking about something else. I think the debate will land on the public in a pretty much zero-sum way–the already committed will be more committed, the undecideds will think it’s a tossup. Like all the other Campaign 2008 watchers, I’ll be curious to see how the next few days shake out poll-wise.
For the moment, however, I’m more curious about the contempt that John McCain has for Barack Obama. It reminds me of the contempt the Clintons had for Senator Obama in the primaries. What’s this about? Well, in both camps, the McCain Rich Old White Guy camp and the Clinton Democratic Royalty camp, the guy is an interloper. He’s in line for the throne that both camps thought was rightfully theirs. (Bill Clinton is still harboring a grudge bigger than a Krispy Kreme franchise.)
What’s more, Senator Obama looks at what is at the heart of America’s ills and addresses fundamental change, not just tactical change, he has a scandal-free marriage, and he is graceful under pressure. He is managing one of the best campaigns in modern American political history. In short, he is cool, clean, and he respects the US Constitution, all factors that make him enviably appealing to the grief-stricken voter who thinks and cares about this country. Did I mention that he is smart? Something that John McCain is proving that he is not.
I get the feeling that McCain has wanted payback ever since he returned from those 5 years of pure hell in a Hanoi prison camp. His repetitive adultery, and subsequent divorce from a swimwear model who’d become disfigured in an accident while he was away, looks like the behavior of a guy who was entitled to be reckless and self-absorbed to make up for lost time. His first wife offered a more charitable view– “John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens. . .it just does.” And who am I to say what happened between the two of them in private. I’m just noticing a trend toward having it all, his way. Next up, just a month after the divorce? Marrying a significantly younger beauty with gazillions of dollars, and using her family’s influence and money to fast track a bid for political office. Hanging out with the likes of Charles Keating. It’s pretty tough not to view McCain as someone whose chief motivation was McCain First, not Country First. And now there is this pesky Obama guy, pretender to the throne.
McCain likes the appellation, “maverick,” a term that enjoys multiple meanings. It could be “someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action,” or “an unbranded range animal (especially a stray calf) that belongs to the first person who puts a brand on it.” There was a time, indeed, when we all thought McCain was a good guy, and a tough one in the mold of the first definition. But there is a current shared view–among evangelical leaders (think Richard Cizik) and lefties alike, conservatives (think George Will) and liberals–that McCain has been dishonorable in how he has conducted his campaign, with his cynical selection of Sarah Palin a prime example and his massively debunked campaign ad lies, slanders, and downright smears the smarmy followup. So now he is the “unbranded range animal” with less independence and more brand changes than Coca Cola. It would be nice to have the “Classic McCain” back, but we’re stuck instead with the Slime-flavored McCain, and we get the sense he’ll change that brand in a moment to further that aforementioned payback that he thinks is his due.
Following that first of three debates, all commentators noted McCain’s dislike of or contempt for Senator Obama. It is hard not to think that race plays a part in McCain’s emotions about Obama, not to mention the public’s as displayed in the relative evenness of the polls–ask yourself whether a white guy with Obama’s appeal and growing presidential credibility would be 20 points ahead in the polls after the long string of McCampaign disasters instead of just to 3 to 9 points. But even if we rule out race, I don’t think that McCain’s vitriol is a case of a conservative hating “the most liberal man in Congress” (something that Obama is most definitely not). I don’t think McCain cares enough for ideology, or even thinks in terms that large.
“Maverick” also happens to be the name of a pinball machine based on the Gibson-Foster movie of the same name. As McCain goes careening about, hitting the flipper, being the flipper, changing his brand and trying some very odd maneuvers to achieve his rightful destiny as President, this Obama guy is blocking the shots. This upstart! This young guy who was never a POW! This fellow who has not suffered enough! This community organizer! First it was McCain’s own party, with Rove and Bush II smearing him out of the running in 2000. He has waited impatiently over eight recent years for his due, and even embraced his Republican Chief Torturer, Karl Rove. And now this? No wonder the man is full of outrage and contempt.
This video explains everything we need to know about Sarah Palin
September 25, 2008 | Filed Under Election 2008, Uh-oh | Leave a Comment
Okay, we have answers to two big questions about Sarah Palin: How being close to Russia equips the Alaska Governor to handle foreign policy. Why the McCampaign will do anything to force an ultimate cancellation of the VP debates.
Joe Biden: real meetings with foreign leaders, real leadership
September 23, 2008 | Filed Under Election 2008 | Leave a Comment
As of September 23, 2008
Senator Biden/Meetings with World Leaders
This is a partial list of world leaders that Senator Biden has met with at least once over his nearly 36 year career as a United States Senator. As mentioned, this list is not exhaustive. As chairman of the subcommittees on Europe and Africa earlier in his career, the list is certainly much longer. ****The dates listed indicate when the foreign leader was in office.
Iraq
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (May 2004 - April 2005)
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari (April 2005 - May 2006)
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (April 2006 - Present)
President Jalal Talabani (June 2005 - Present)
Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani (June 2005 - Present)
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (March 2006 - Present)
Israel
Prime Minister Golda Meir (March 1969 - June 1974)
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (July 1992 - November 1995)
Prime Minister Shimon Peres (November 1995 - June 1996)
Prime Minister Menachem Begin (June 1977 - October 1983)
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir (October 1986 - July 1992)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (June 1996 - July 1999)
Prime Minister Ehud Barak (June 1996 - July 1999)
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (March 2001 - April 2006)
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (April 2006 - Present)
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (January 2006 - present)
Palestinian Territories
Chairman Yasser Arafat (September 1993 - November 2004)
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (November 2004 - Present)
Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad (June 2007 - Present)
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (October 2003 - March 2006)
Jordan
King Hussein (August 1952 - February 1999)
King Abdullah (August 2005-Present)
Egypt
President Hosni Mubarak (October 1981 - Present)
President Anwar Sadat (October1970 - October 1981)
Libya
Prime Minister Col. Muammar Qaddafi (March 1977 - March 1979)
Lebanon
Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri (October 1992 - December 1998)
Prime Minister Najib Mikati (April 2005 - July 2005)
Bahrain
Crown Prince Shaikh Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (March 1999 - Present)
Syria
President Bashar al-Assad (July 2000 - Present)
Turkey
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (March 2003 - Present)
President Ahmet Sezer (May 2000 - August 2007)
Prime Minister/President* Abdullah Gul (November 2002 - March 2003, Current President)
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit (January 1999 - May 1999)
Prime Minister Demirel (November 1991 - June 1993)
Greece
President Kostis Stephanopoulos (March 1995 - March 2005)
Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis (March 2004 - Present)
Prime Minister Kostantinos Mitsotakis (April 1990 - October 1993)
Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou (October 1981 - July 1989)
(October 1993 - January 1996)
Cyprus
President George Vassiliou (February 1988 - February 1993)
President Glafcos Clerides (February 1993 - February 2003)
Afghanistan
President Hamid Karzai (December 2001 - Present)
Pakistan
President Asif Ali Zardari (September 2008 - Present)*
Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani (March 2008 - Present)
President Pervez Musharraf (June 2001 - August 2008)
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (December 1988 - August 1990, October 1993 - November 1996)
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (November 1990 - July 1993, February 1997 - October 1999)
India
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (May 2004 - Present)
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (May 1996 - June 1996)
(March 1998 - May 2004)
Sri Lanka
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe (May 1993 - August 1994)
(December 2001 - April 2004)
Russia
President Vladimir Putin (May 2000 - May 2008; current Prime Minister)
President Boris Yeltsin (July 1991 - December 1999)
Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev (March 1990 - December 1991)
Soviet Union President Andrei Gromyko (July 1985 - October 1988)
Premier of the Soviet Union Alexey Kosygin (October 1964 - October 1980)
Premier of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev (May 1960 - July 1964)
France
President Jacques Chirac (May 1995 - May 2007)
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (May 2005 - May 2007)
President Francois Mitterrand (May 1981 - May 1995)
U.K.
Queen Elizabeth (February 1952 - Present)
Prime Minister Tony Blair (May 1997 - June 2007)
Prime Minister John Major (November 1990 - May 1997)
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (May 1979 - November 1990)
Ireland
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (June 1997 - Present)
Prime Minister John Bruton (December 1994 - June 1997)
Prime Minister Albert Reynolds (February 1992 - December 1994)
Prime Minister Charles Haughey (December 1979 - June 1981)
(March 1982 - December 1982)
(March 1987 - February 1992)
Germany
Chancellor Angela Merkel (November 2005 - Present)
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (October 1998 - November 2005)
Chancellor Helmut Kohl (October 1982 - October 1998)
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (May 1974 - October 1982)
Italy
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (June 2001 - May 2006)
(May 2008 - Present)
Prime Minister Romano Prodi (May 2006 - May 2008)
Prime Minister Cossiga (July 1989 - April 1992)
Serbia
President of Serbia Boris Tadic (July 2004 - Present)
Prime Minister of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica (March 2004 - Present)
Prime Minister of Serbia Zoran Djindjic (January 2001 - March 2003)
President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic (May 1989 - July 1997)
Yugoslavia
Premier of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito (January 1953 - May 1980)
Croatia
President of Croatia Franjo Tudjman (May 1990 - December 1999)
Slovenia
Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Drnovsek (December 2002 - Present)
President of Kosovo Ibrahim Rugova (March 2002 - January 2006)
President of Slovenia Milan Kucan (October 1991 - December 2002)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
President of Bosnia Haris Silajdzic (November 2006 - Present)
President of Bosnia Sulejman Tihi? (October 2002 - November 2006)
President of Bosnia Alija Izetbegovic (March 1992 - October 2000)
Kosovo (as an independent nation)
President Fatmir Sejdiu (January 2008 - Present)
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci (January 2008 - Present)
Poland
President Lech Walesa (December 1990 - December 1995)
Prime Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz (October 1993 - March 1995)
Czech Republic
President Vaclav Havel (February 1993 - February 2003)
Hungary
Prime Minister Gyula Horn (July 1994 - July 1998)
President Arpad Goncz (August 1990 - August 2000)
Prime Minister Viktor Orban (July 1998 - May 2002)
Finland
Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen (April 1995 - April 2003)
Romania
President Ion Iliescu (December 1989 - November 1996)
Georgia
President Mikheil Saakashvili (January 2004 - Present)
President Eduard Shevardnadze (October 1995 - November 2003)
Kazakhstan
President Nursultan Nazarbayev (December 1991 - Present)
Ukraine
President Viktor Yushchenko (January 2005 - Present)
Canada
Prime Minister Paul Martin (December 2003 - February 2006)
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (September 1984 - June 1993)
NATO
Secretary General Lord George Robertson (October 1999 - January 2004)
Secretary General Javier Solana (December 1995 - October 1999)
Secretary General Manfred Woerner (July 1988 - August 1994)
Secretary General Lord Peter Carrington (June 1984 - July 1988)
China
President Jiang Zemin (March 1993 - March 2003)
Premier Zhu Rongji (March 1998 - March 2003)
Hong Kong
Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa (July 1997 - March 2005)
Taiwan
President Chen Shui-Bian (May 2000 - Present)
Korea
President Kim Dae Jung (February 1998 - February 2003)
Singapore
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (June 1959 - November 1990)
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong (November 1990 - August 2004)
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (August 2004 - Present)
Indonesia
President Megawati Sukarnoputri (July 2001 - October 2004)
President Bambang Yudhoyono (October 2004 - Present)
Australia
Prime Minister John Howard (March 1996 - December 2007)
Prime Minister Paul Keating (December 1991 - March 1996)
Philippines
President Gloria Arroyo (January 2001 - Present)
President Fidel Ramos (June 1992 - June 1998)
Vietnam
Prime Minister Phan Van Kai (September 1997 - June 2006)
East Timor
President Ramos Horta (May 2007 - Present)
Tibet
The Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso (1950 - Present)
Colombia
President Alvaro Uribe (August 2002 - Present)
President Andres Pastrana (August 1998 - August 2002)
President Cesar Gaviria (August 1990 - August 1994)
Mexico
President Vincente Fox (December 2000 - December 2006)
President Ernesto Zedillo (December 1994 - November 2000)
Bolivia
President Jaime Paz Zamora (August 1989 - August 1993)
South Africa
President Thabo Mbeki (June 1999 - September 2008)
President Nelson Mandela (April 1994 - June 1999)
Liberia
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (January 2006 - Present)
Lesotho
Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan (July 1965 - January 1986)
United Nations
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (January 2007 - Present)
Secretary General Kofi Annan (January 1997 - January 2007)
Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali (January 1992 - January 1997)
Vatican City
Pope John Paul II (October 1978 - April 2005)
Slovakia
President Rudolf Schuster (June 1999 - June 2004)
Turkmenistan
President Saparmurat Niyazov (October 1990 - December 2006)
*Senator Biden met with leader before he or she became head of state.