Obama the Messiah?!...

"... a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany ... and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama" - Barack Obama Lebanon, New Hampshire.
January 7, 2008.

I follow politics pretty closely, and with the Republican race all over but the shouting, I have my eye on the Democratic side. If you visit the left-leaning {I am being diplomatic when I say that] web sites like The Huffington Post and Democratic Underground you can see the real war that is going on between the supporters of Hillary and Obama. It's getting to the point where it looks like which ever of them wins the other side will stay home rather than vote for the winning candidate.

The Hillary campaign started with the sense of inevitability, which is something that the candidate and the campaign fostered. If potential opponents saw the futility in going up against Hillary, they wouldn't even bother to enter the race. Of course, you need some token competition to give the appearance of a real choice, so we had the vanity candidacies of Biden, Dodd and to some extent Edwards. I think Richardson was always just running for VP anyway (and I think he has a good chance of getting it regardless of whether Hillary or Obama wins the nomination).

The problem with Hillary's campaign was that she was supposed to have everything locked up by now, so she didn't plan on needing an organization in Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas and the later primaries. She is nearly out of money, needing to loan her campaign $5M of her own money.

The cause of her current misfortune is Barak Obama, a first term senator making a surprising run for the presidency. He is young, just 46 years old. Conventional wisdom would have suggested that he run for governor of Illinois after a term in the US Senate to give him some executive experience, and then in 8 years to run for president. Instead, he has cast the die to take on the tag team combo of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Obama is running on "change". Like "justice", "change" is something that is difficult to be against. There is always something that needs fixing in our lives and in our country, so change is necessary and change is inevitable. The only thing we can do is impact the rate of change. And Obama, apparently, wants to be elected in order to act as a change agent.

If change is inevitiable then the natural question is what kind of changes would occur under an Obama presidency. That's where things get pretty murky. There are few specifics about exactly what would be changed. According to voting records, Obama is the most liberal senator, beating out the likes of Reid, Kennedy and Dodd. That should cause some of those independent voters in the center to take pause. Many are expecting quite a lot from the young Mr. Obama. His wife said in a speech this week that he would fix our souls. Hmmm, I'm not sure that mine is broken, or if it was that Obama is the one I would want to "fix" it. It does seem that in watching the Obama campaign there is more than just a wiff of "Amway" feel about it.

Speaking of that, check out this blog that collects stories on how his supporters are treating him as more than just a political candidate. It took me a few minutes of reading to determine if this blog is very pro-Obama, or if its purpose is to try to make these more avid supporters to look silly (it's the latter).

Will anything happen in Annapolis?...

I lived in Saudi Arabia for three years, and I have had the pleasure of visiting several other countries in the area - Jordan, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Turkey. I also spend a week in Israel back in 1999. I loved Israel, and hope to return some day with Kathy and Noah. There is obviously much history, with much of it straight out of the Bible. I also admire the Israelis because I think their national spirit most closely approximates our own.

People of good will can debate the wisdom and fairness of the establishment of Israel but the fact of the matter is that it does, indeed, exist.

Bernard Lewis had interesting observations in an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal that I completely agree with.

Herewith some thoughts about tomorrow’s Annapolis peace conference, and the larger problem of how to approach the Israel-Palestine conflict. The first question (one might think it is obvious but apparently not) is, “What is the conflict about?” There are basically two possibilities: that it is about the size of Israel, or about its existence.

If the issue is about the size of Israel, then we have a straightforward border problem, like Alsace-Lorraine or Texas. That is to say, not easy, but possible to solve in the long run, and to live with in the meantime.

If, on the other hand, the issue is the existence of Israel, then clearly it is insoluble by negotiation. There is no compromise position between existing and not existing, and no conceivable government of Israel is going to negotiate on whether that country should or should not exist.

In a related item, the Associated Press reports that "Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said when asked whether he would shake the hand of Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, 'We're not ready to be part of a theatrical performance... We're not going there to shake anyone's hand or to demonstrate feelings we don't have'."

Somehow I don't smell a breakthrough in the Palestinian/Israeli stalemate.

The situation in Iraq IS improving II...

Michael Yon has been reporting from Iraq for quite some time. He raises his own money to stay there and, unlike nearly all mainstream media (MSM) reporters, he reports from outside the safe "green zone".

I became aware of his work originally back in 2005 when he took a picture that captured well the huge human toll that Iraqi civilians were paying due to the war and the insurgency. The picture, below, was eventually selected by Time magazine readers as the top photo of 2005.


(From Wikipedia): On May 2, 2005, Yon took a picture of U.S. Army Major Mark Bieger cradling an Iraqi girl wounded by shrapnel from a car bomb. Major Bieger tried to bring the girl to an American hospital to receive treatment but she died on the helicopter ride.







This week Yon posted a new photo, taken just earlier this week that again captures the prevailing sentiment in Iraq.


(Yon's Caption): Thanks and Praise: I photographed men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad. They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome.


Yon gives further background on his web site: A Muslim man had invited the American soldiers from “Chosen” Company 2-12 Infantry to the church, where I videotaped as Muslims and Christians worked and rejoiced at the reopening of St John’s, an occasion all viewed as a sign of hope.

The Iraqis asked me to convey a message of thanks to the American people. ” Thank you, thank you,” the people were saying. One man said, “Thank you for peace.” Another man, a Muslim, said “All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.” The men and women were holding bells, and for the first time in memory freedom rang over the ravaged land between two rivers.

The photograph reminds me of the Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima. As I said in my last post on Iraq, I am cautiously optimistic that the corner has been turned in Iraq.

One more interesting tidbit abut Michael Yon. He was interviewed on the Hugh Hewitt radio show on Wednesday and was asked by Hugh about the Iraqis and Iran. Yon's answer is not terribly surprising given their history over the last 30 years.

HH: And what about Iran? What does the average Iraqi tell you about Iran?

MY: Well, now that’s not only a good question, but an increasingly kind of semi-humorous question, because every day now, including yesterday again, a retired army colonel, an Iraqi army colonel, told me hey, we will support you in your war against Iran. And he keeps saying this in front of Americans…oh yeah. Every day I’m hearing that.

New and Improved - Now with captions!...

OK, here are some of the captions offered by Debbie Schlussel at her blog (debbieschlussel.com):


Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil

Future Bush Family Photo. Those Are The Twins.

Future New York Runway During Fashion Week

Islamic Diversity: Eye-Slit, No Eye-Slit. "As I've Always Told George, Muslim Women Have a Lot of Choices."

"Honor Killings, Schmonor Killings. As We Say in Texas, Breast Cancer is Definitely the Biggest Crisis Facing Muslim Women in the Mid-East."

SEXY: Mrs. Bush Poses With the Muslim World's Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton

Woman on Our Right, Bush's Left: After the Photo, She Was Sentenced to Stoning for Immodest Decoration

All Three of These Women Can Ask for a Divorce From Their Husbands. Only One Can Get It.

New Al-Jazeera Comedy: "My Three Wives," Starring George Al-Bush.

Only One of These Women Can Drive in Saudi Arabia. Oh, Wait, None of These Women Can Drive in Saudi Arabia.

National Organization for Women, Jihad Caucus

So, Three Chicks Walk Into a Bar, er . . . Mosque. No Punchline. Just Beheading.

America's First Lady Moderates Debate of Our Time: "Niqab vs. Burqa"

Fred Thompson on Radio Free Europe...

He hasn't announced that he is running for president (yet) but he has been utilizing the internet to generate quite a bit of buzz. This is a shrewd move, since it gets his name out, he can control the message, and the cost is just about zero. A couple of weeks ago he posted a short video on YouTube responding to criticism from Michael Moore, and it was one of the most watched videos for days. Now, he has posted an article at townhall.com that praises "the Radios" - Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty - and asks why we don't have something similar broadcasting into Venezuela. It's an interesting question and an interesting read.

Well, he's done it. Hugo Chavez was already systematically silencing criticism of his autocratic rule through threats and intimidation. Journalists have been threatened, beaten and even killed. Now he's shut down the last opposition television networks in Venezuela and arrested nearly 200 protesters – mostly students. It’s a monumental tragedy and the Venezuelan people will pay the price for decades to come. Americans are also at risk as he funds anti-American candidates and radicals all over Latin America.

It’s equally tragic that the U.S. is in no position to provide the victims of this emerging dictator with the truth. There was a time, though, when Americans were on the front lines of pro-freedom movements all over the world. I'm talking about the “surrogate” broadcast network that included Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, often called "the Radios."

When Ronald Reagan was elected, he greatly empowered the private, congressionally funded effort and handpicked the Radios’ top staff to bring freedom to the Soviet Union. Steve Forbes led the group.

Cynics still say that the USSR fell of its own weight, and that President Reagan’s efforts to bring it down were irrelevant, but Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev say differently. Both have said that, without the Radios, the USSR wouldn't have fallen. The Radios were not some bland public relations effort, attracting audiences only with American pop music. They engaged the intellectual and influential populations behind the Iron Curtain with accurate news and smart programming about freedom and democracy. They had sources and networks within those countries that sometimes outperformed the CIA. When Soviet hardliners and reformers were facing off, and crowds and tanks were on the streets of Moscow and Bucharest, the radios were sending real-time information to the people, including the military, and reminding them of what was at stake.

Then we won the Cold War. The USSR collapsed in 1991, and America relaxed. Military downsizing began and the Radios began to reduce broadcast air time to target countries.

Now, of course, we know that the Islamofascists, many trained by the old Soviets, were making plans and plots of their own. Unfortunately, the plans to broadcast a pro-freedom message into Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Kurdistan and Ukraine were shelved or diluted. Reagan's ideological audacity was replaced with a more "diplomatic" tone.

And see where it's got us? Not only has Islamic totalitarianism spread without a true ideological challenge, many of the freed Soviet bloc countries are slipping back into repression. Russia is making the same old threats and even protecting Iran's efforts to build nukes.

We'll never know if Afghanistan might have rejected al Qaeda if America had actively engaged that country as we did those Eastern Europeans. We can't know if Venezuelans would have chosen liberty over the false security of authoritarianism if they had been challenged to face the issues. I do know, though, that it's time for a new generation of Americans to stand up for freedom -- like others before us. And this time, we’ll have a whole new set of media technologies.


Since President Bush isn't visiting us, maybe we should invite Fred Thompson.

The President is coming...

I just left our daily editorial meeting where it was announced that President George W. Bush will be visiting Radio Free Europe during his upcoming visit to the Czech Republic. He will be here in the afternoon on Tuesday, June 5th, and will give a speech to our staff in our Hall of the People - where the former Czechoslovak parliament used to convene (our building is the former Czechoslovak parliament building). Also in attendance here will be members of an international dissdent conference being held in Prague from 4-6 June. Information on that conference is below. While I imagine that the security for this visit will be horrendous, it is very exciting news. I'm glad I came to work here.

From the web site abcprague.com:

Prague will host an international conference on “Democracy and Security: Core Values and Sound Policies” attended by leading dissidents, human rights activists, academics and world leaders. Its aim is to discuss the importance of democracy and to find the ways how to promote it in totalitarian regimes.

The conference is an initiative of three people concentrating on human rights and democracy – human right activist and political leader Natan Sharansky, former president of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel and former Prime Minister of Spain Jose Maria Aznar.

The conference, scheduled for 4th – 6th June 2007 in Prague, is hosted by the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Jerusalem-based Shalem Center, the Prague Security Studies Institute and the Foundation for Social Analysis and Studies in Madrid. One of the speakers at the conference will be the U.S. President George W. Bush.

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

With everything that is wrong with the world we live in, the visit to Berlin has made me reflect on some of the big and wonderful things that have happened in the not too distant past. Nazism was crushed in 1945 only to be replaced by Communism as the primary threat to mankind.
It was 20 years ago - June 12, 1987, to be exact - that President Ronald Reagan in a speech at the Brandenburg Gate, in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, challenged Soviet General Secretery Gorbachev to "tear down this wall". I went to YouTube and pulled up that part of Reagan's speech just to remember what a geat moment it was. Here it is.



Within two and half years, in October of 1989, the Berlin Wall was effectively down. Here is a part of a report from the late Peter Jennings of ABC News covering those events.



Despite all of our current problems there have been some huge successes against tyranny. I hope that 20 years from now we can say the same thing.