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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zeta1961 who wrote (46331)	12/5/2008 9:50:20 PM
From: LLCF	Respond to of 149317

I think he used to be on the board of CSFP, derivative house... maybe there is skeletons in the closet? DAK

To: zeta1961 who wrote (46331)	12/7/2008 1:21:35 AM
From: stockman_scott	1 Recommendation Respond to of 149317

The Deluder in Chief _____________________________________________________________ Editorial The New York Times December 7, 2008 We long ago gave up hope that President Bush would acknowledge his many mistakes, or show he had learned anything from them. Even then we were unprepared for the epic denial that Mr. Bush displayed in his interview with ABC News’s Charles Gibson the other day, which he presumably considered an important valedictory chat with the American public as well. It was bad enough when Mr. Bush piously declared that he hopes Americans believe he is a guy who “didn’t sell his soul for politics.” (We suppose we should not bother remembering how his team drove Senator John McCain out of the 2000 primaries with racist attacks or falsified Senator John Kerry’s war record in 2004.) It was skin crawling to hear him tell Mr. Gibson that the thing he will really miss when he leaves office is no longer going to see the families of slain soldiers, because they make him feel better about the war. But Mr. Bush’s comments about his decision to invade Iraq were a “mistakes were made” rewriting of history and a refusal to accept responsibility to rival that of Richard Nixon. At one point, Mr. Bush was asked if he wanted any do-overs. “The biggest regret of the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq,” he said. “A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction” were cause for war. After everything the American public and the world have learned about how Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney manipulated Congress, public opinion and anyone else they could bully or lie to, Mr. Bush is still acting as though he decided to invade Iraq after suddenly being handed life and death information on Saddam Hussein’s arsenal. The truth is that Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had been chafing to attack Iraq before Sept. 11, 2001. They justified that unnecessary war using intelligence reports that they knew or should have known to be faulty. And it was pressure from the White House and a highly politicized Pentagon that compelled people like Secretary of State Colin Powell and George Tenet, the Central Intelligence director, to ignore the counter-evidence and squander their good names on hyped claims of weapons of mass destruction. Despite it all, Mr. Bush said he will “leave the presidency with my head held high.” And, presumably, with his eyes closed to all the disasters he is dumping on the American people and his successor. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

To: zeta1961 who wrote (46331)	12/7/2008 3:31:18 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 149317

Obama Says Nation Owes Veterans a ‘Sacred Trust’ (Update1) By Julianna Goldman Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- President-elect Barack Obama said the nation owes its military veterans “a sacred trust” and named retired four-star General Eric Shinseki to make the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs “a 21st century” system. “No one will ever doubt that this former Army chief of staff has the courage to stand up for our troops and our veterans,” Obama said at a press conference in Chicago, held on the anniversary of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. “No one will ever question whether he will fight hard enough to make sure that they have the support that they need.” Shortly before the 2003 U.S. invasion to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Shinseki told Congress it would take several hundred thousand troops to stabilize postwar Iraq, more than then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had estimated. Rumsfeld roundly rejected Shinseki’s assessment, insisting the effort could be accomplished with a U.S. commitment of no more than 150,000 troops. He also cut short Shinseki’s tenure as chief of staff, which critics of the Bush administration said was punishment for Shinseki’s testimony. Rumsfeld himself later resigned his post, his reputation damaged by the failure of U.S. planning for the invasion’s aftermath and the subsequent violence. As of Dec. 4, a total of 3,395 U.S. troops had been killed in action in Iraq and 30,852 had been wounded. Bipartisan Praise Shinseki’s appointment won bipartisan praise from lawmakers, with Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama pledging his support and saying the former general was correct in his 2003 assessment. “He’s a great soldier, he’s a great leader,” Shelby said today on the “Fox News Sunday” program. “We should have listened to him,” Shelby said. “We didn’t and look where we are today.” Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan said on the Fox program that “it was wrong for the Bush administration to mistreat him the way they did.” Levin added that Obama’s choice of Shinseki shows that the president-elect “will welcome people who disagree with him to express those views to him.” Obama announced Shinseki’s appointment on the 67th anniversary on the attack on Pearl Harbor. On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, leaving more than 2,400 servicemen dead. The surprise strike drew the U.S. into World War II. 38-Year Veteran Shinseki, 66, who served in the Army for 38 years, became the highest-ranking Asian-American in U.S. military history when he was named chief of staff in 1999. Obama noted that both he and Shinseki, who comes from a Japanese American family, were born and raised in Hawaii. The retired general graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, served in Vietnam and was Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization peace Stabilization Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He received the Purple Heart. Cabinet secretaries are subject to Senate confirmation once they are formally nominated after Obama takes office on Jan. 20. If confirmed, Shinseki will run a department that employs 244,000 federal workers and provides housing, education and disability benefits, health care and burial services for the more than 24 million U.S. veterans and their families. Smoother Transition Members of the military “deserve a smooth, error-free, no- fail, benefits-assured transition into our ranks as veterans and that is our responsibility, not theirs,” Shinseki said. He promised veterans to “work each and every day to ensure that we are serving you as well as you have served us. We will pursue a 21st century VA that serves your needs.” Throughout his presidential campaign, Obama said veterans’ care would be a priority for his administration and incoming first lady Michelle Obama has said she plans to take an active role as an advocate for military families. The White House issued a fact sheet today reviewing what the administration of President George W. Bush has done for veterans. Increased funding, expanded education benefits, and efforts to improve veterans’ health care and reduce homelessness were among the accomplishments listed. “President Bush has remained committed to ensuring all veterans receive the care and support they need from the Federal government,” the statement said. To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Chicago at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net Last Updated: December 7, 2008 14:53 EST