By electing Scott Brown to be Ted Kennedy’s replacement as U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, the voters have given President Obama a wake up call on the one year anniversary of his inauguration. Pundits may write their perception of what is going on in the political sphere, and pollsters may help us to understand […]
Posts under ‘Post election’
A Tarnished Image and Reputation
The recent Swiss vote on banning minarets has caused more consternation outside of Switzerland than most Swiss would care to admit. While there have been endless debates about the role of direct democracy and the limits of popular sovereignty, not enough attention has focused on the perception of Switzerland from outside except for crass calculations […]
The President’s Asian Trip and Sarah Palin
President Obama has just finished his first trip as President to Asia. While meetings in Japan and Korea were important on issues such as army bases and North Korean nuclear proliferation, most attention was focused on his visit to China. Would he be able to convince the Chinese to revalue their currency? Would there be […]
The Undecider
President George W. Bush considered himself The Decider. In the famous press conference of April 2006, he declared “I am the decider and I decide what’s best,” referring to his support of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense as well his role in decision-making for the government. President Bush made it clear that he was […]
The President’s Asian Trip and Sarah Palin
President Obama has just finished his first trip as President to Asia. While meetings in Japan and Korea were important on issues such as army bases and North Korean nuclear proliferation, most attention was focused on his visit to China. Would he be able to convince the Chinese to revalue their currency? Would there be […]
The Transformation Presidency
Candidate Obama often talked of the potential for transformation, for radical change. The slogan “Yes we can” had all levels of positive implications. What was missing in the campaign was a clear strategy to lay out what that transformation and radical change would be, let alone what we could do. Certainly the personality of Barack […]
Obama as the Modern President
President Obama is the first truly modern President, or is he? By modern President, I mean he seems to be the first President sensitive to his wife of comparable intellectual abilities and actively involved in raising his two daughters. President Obama is extremely popular among female voters because he appears to understand the shifting relation […]
Dangerous Elitism
Now that the Dow Jones has climbed back to over 10,000, one would expect a huge sigh of relief if not celebrations. Banners should be flying; Democrats should be crowing that the stimulus package worked; President Obama should be announcing mission accomplished. Surprisingly, none of this is taking place. For, rather than focusing on the […]
WoW
Much to a general surprise, President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Immediately, two questions were posed: Did he deserve the award? Was it premature to give it to him? The Nobel Committee specifically spoke of his efforts to improve the international atmosphere by re-invigorating multilateral diplomacy as well as the United Nations. […]
What Next ?
International Geneva and Switzerland were the focus of three important diplomatic events last week, but the results are not yet easily determined. Far from the press frenzy of the Roman Polanski case, some serious news events were taking place with potentially noteworthy consequences.
First, and in no particular order, Richard Goldstone presented his findings on the […]
