Obama and the CIA Part Two

Guardian: Reports on the Obama nominee for the Director of the CIA, former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff, Mr Leon Panetta. The nomination has not gone down well with the Senate Committee that does the confirmation, it is argued that Mr Panetta has no experience of Intelligence work. As stated in previous post on this issue Bush 41 had no intelligence experience but did a good job, they named a building after him at the CIA. It should be noted that President George H.W. Bush when he become Vice - President to President Reagan argued that the Director of the CIA should have an Intelligence background (1), Reagan took a different view of the role of the CIA Director (2) . Lets see how Mr Panetta does as Director of the CIA.

Notes

1. George Bush, Chapter 9, A Heartbeat Away. My Life in Letters and other Writings.Scribner, 1999. P. 305.

2. Christopher Andrew, Chapter 12, Ronald Reagan ( 1981 - 1989 ). For the President's Eyes Only, Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush. HarperCollins, 1995. P 459.

Obama on Gaza Part Two

It seems from the news wires that President - Elect Obama has been pushed by the Elite Media coverage of the invasion of Gaza to say something, that he is " deeply concerned " about civilian deaths in Gaza and Israel. All people are concerned that is not the point, Obama has to think of the political consequences of getting to out in front of the US voter. If the Republicans see him as weak over Israel they will give him a hard time over all policy areas, Obama does not want to be another Jimmy Carter, seen by the end of his Presidency as weak, Obama does not want that impression even before the Inauguration.

Obama and the Economy 11

The New York Times: Reports that the Obama Economic Plan has no Tax Hikes for the rich. The Liberal New York Times will not be happy, they breath tax hikes for the rich. President - Elect Obama should be saluted for not pandering to the Liberal Left wing of his Party. It is the rich that invest in the economy through spending and investing in the economy. Obama should consider making the Bush Tax Cuts permanent, if there still a recession in 2010 when the Bush Tax cuts end the last thing you do is raise taxes, Obama and the Democrats will face mid term elections in 2010, the one thing you don't want is to be known as a tax hiker during a recession.

Obama and the CIA

Fox News: Reports that Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta has been asked by the President Elect to be next head of the CIA. This could be a good choice, Panetta knows how the systems works, he has been a White House Chief Staff thus should know how to get things going when it is an issue of National Security. The one downside is that the Republicans will ask a lot of searching questions of Mr Panetta about the role of the Clinton Administration before 9/11. Did the Clinton Administration see the threat and how did they react, the confirmation hearings should be fun to watch, should be an easy pass for Mr Panetta but there will be tough questions. It should be noted that President George H.W. Bush was also a Director of the CIA and he came from being UN Ambassador and Chair of the RNC. It is considered that Mr Bush did well as Director of the CIA, lets hope Mr Panetta is that successful in the post.

Obama and the Economy

BBC News: Reports on the Obama economic plan to pump eight hundred billion dollars in to the economy. It has been called the New Deal of the 21st Century, one problem, it was the not the New Deal that bought the USA out of the Great Depression of the 1930s, it was World War Two that made the USA a economic power house, the UK went bankrupt in the process and thus the end of Empire. The Obama Economic Plan will soften the fall of the USA economy but then what, all this money on public works will take time to get going, if the economy is in recession in two years time the Democrats could lose their majority in Congress. It could be argued that there is a need for capital spending on roads, schools etc, but also deep tax cuts for individuals and business and deep cuts in government spending, areas that pander to the Democratic base, thus we shall see if the Obama Plan works, out of ten it could be argued that it has 5/10 of working, if does not work Obama could lose in 2012.

Bill Richardson - OUT

MSNBC: Reports that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has pulled out as the Nominee for Commerce Secretary due to a Federal Investigation in his state. This is a great surprise, was aware of the investigation but Richardson is such a straight arrow, are the Obama Team looking for no waves at all during the confirmations hearings, well what about Bill Clinton and his business dealings, that will raise a few questions. The Clintons will be smiling, Richardson was seen as a Judas by some in the Clinton Camp for his support of President - Elect Obama. Richardson will be back, he has a future in the Democratic Party.

Obama and Gaza

Guardian: Has an article on the negative perception that President - Elect Obama is having in the Middle East, the issue his lack of comment on the Gaza Crisis, the article states the following, " The danger is that when he finally peers over the parapet on January 21, the battle of perceptions may already be half-lost. " The article misses a simple point about American politics, as the late Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O' Neill pointed out in his excellent Memoir both Presidents Carter and Reagan asked about the power of the Jewish Lobby in American Politics, as O' Neill pointed out there are many more Jewish Americans in the USA than of other religions from the Middle East. Thus USA policy towards Israel has many aspects, political, culture, economic, an American President if he wants to get re - elected will always at the end of the day support Israel, thus Obama's change message might not be what the Arabs of the Middle East thought it would be, Obama might be tougher with Israel but at the end of the day he will support Israel.