The moment was groundbreaking in so many ways, however, being a Pakeha I think it's hard for me to grasp just how groundbreaking it is for black Americans to have a president who reflects their race and heritage, or even to have a president who is not a priveleged white man. So what I'm most excited about is to have an American leader who is vaguely competent.
We all know Obama is not a Messiah who will solve all the world's problems with one wave of his hand, however today I had a quick read of his agenda on whitehouse.gov and I was pleased to see fairly progressive stances on, among others: civil rights (including rights for both POC and LGBTs), energy & the environment and women's rights.
Here are some items on the agenda that immediately popped out at me :
- The repealing of Don't Ask Don't Tell
- Plans to invest in renewable energy resources and cut greenhouse gas emissions
- The closure of Guantanamo Bay
- Continued support for Roe V. Wade and increased funding for family planning and safe sex education (though unfortunately no mention of ending the Global Gag Rule)
These are a few items out of over a hundred, I strongly urge you to go check it out yourselves and report back on anything you think is worth mentioning, positive or negative.
It would be ridiculous to suggest Obama will carry out all these promises, however even if he does a few things like prevent a global depression, end prison torture, end the war on Iraq and tighten up environmental regulations, and improve the health care system even slightly he'll have made a huge, huge improvement on the Bush presidency. And it is a relief to see that he does have a plan, not just a vague notion of "hope".
However, one section in the foreign policy agenda really disappointed me.
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden strongly support the U.S.-Israel relationship, and believe that our first and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America's strongest ally in the region. They support this closeness, and have stated that the United States will never distance itself from Israel.
During the July 2006 Lebanon war, Barack Obama stood up strongly for Israel's right to defend itself from Hezbollah raids and rocket attacks, cosponsoring a Senate resolution against Iran and Syria's involvement in the war, and insisting that Israel should not be pressured into a ceasefire that did not deal with the threat of Hezbollah missiles. He and Joe Biden believe strongly in Israel's right to protect its citizens.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden have consistently supported foreign assistance to Israel. They defend and support the annual foreign aid package that involves both military and economic assistance to Israel and have advocated increased foreign aid budgets to ensure that these funding priorities are met. They have called for continuing U.S. cooperation with Israel in the development of missile defense systems."
Judging by the Democratic Party's general stance on the Israeli government (They just love it! In fact, it's the main subject they wholeheartedly agree on with the GOP), I hadn't had high hopes that Obama would come out to condemn the attacks in Gaza. Still, it's a major disappointment.
I just can't see supporting (and sending billions of dollars in military aid to) a government that has just killed over 1000 Palestinians in an extremely disproportional response to attacks from a government that was democratically elected by a people who were slowly being pushed out of their own country and suppressed by the Israeli government in question. This is despite evidence that the majority of Democrats (the people who elected you Obama, duh) did not support the offensive on Gaza. Not to mention, uh, most other countries in the world (apart from New Zealand. Nice one, McCully).
I'm sure it was a big relief to Obama that a ceasefire arrived in Gaza before his inaugaration, so he can pursue the much more apolitical issue of the global economic crisis. But he'll have to address Israeli-Palestinian relations sometime in the near future, let's just hope he comes to his senses before then.On a lighter note, did anyone get up to watch the inaugaration ceremony? It was pretty awesome. I watched it on CNN of course, so I could get my required daily dose of Anderson Cooper. Any thoughts on the occasion?
I'll see you all at school very soon!
6 comments:
Anderson Cooper makes my life.
Also, on Israel. While they were seriously f--ked up in deciding to bomb the sh-t out of Gaza, like most of the USA, I have recently discovered that Iran scares the sh-t out of me*. And, from an American point of view, supporting the only country trying to destroy regimes supported by Iran, makes at least a little sense. Even if Hamas was kind of justified in shooting those rockets.
*Don't believe that Iran is scary? Look up what Ayatollah Khomeini did to Salman Rushdie 20 years ago. Imagine if those dudes had nuclear weapons!
If you love Anderson C (AC! He can be our mascot), you must watch this video: http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=213382&title=Road-to-the-Doghouse---Puppedential-Debate
Onto the more serious subject, yep, Iran seemed absolutely terrifying from what I read in Persepolis. And the whole fatwah thing was pretty scary (even if he is pretty annoying).
The whole Israel segment turned out to be a bit more prominent in this post than I'd intended. I was going to post something on it while the govt was attacking Gaza, however after considering I decided I probably wasn't informed enough to write intelligently about it (not for lack of trying! But there's a whooole lot of history folks).
But you make a good point about Iran, and that's the tricky thing about Israeli/Palestinian relations is that there is so much history and it so complex that it's really difficult to analyse. So while I am certainly anti-Gaza attacks and to an extent anti-Israeli government (especially after seeing 'The Iron Wall'), I do realise that it's not black-and-white issue and both sides have stories to tell.
I'd love to have a really in-depth discussion with the AC about it, there's a lot of interesting politics in there.
I hate c4 so much for depriving me of Anderson making out with a Labrador while Jon pervs...I mean, watches.
I think Obama has made some very savvy moves straight away - signalling that he is far from the Bush regime and that we are moving into 'hope' instead of 'fear'.
See you at school! And I have one word for you - EFTPOS! Exciting times.
EFTPOS??!!
Now THAT is change we can believe in.
I follow your link on the global gag rule (which sounds terrible) and found that Obama has now rescinded it. But I don't know. That might be old news now.
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