Barack Obama has Women Troubles

June 10, 2008
Barack Obama has Women Troubles
By Charlie Wolf
Barrack Obama has women troubles, and Hillary Clinton is far from alone as being a problem. Danger lurks much closer to home.

First there are the 13 million disaffected women who supported Hillary not for her agenda but for her gender. Fifteen times in her concession speech Hillary name-checked Barack Obama and fifteen times there were loud boos in the audience. Yes, many will back Obama, but Democrats, unlike Republicans, don't fall in line. In one poll 40 per cent of Clinton supporters said they will not support Obama; whether that turns into votes for McCain is another matter.

Then there is Hillary herself. In her swan song speech (is it?) she claimed she would "do whatever she could to ensure that Democrats take the White House back and defeat John McCain," In their quiet chat together at Diane Feinstein's house in Washington last week, I can only imagine that Obama said that the best help she can give is to give no help at all. Obama can only hope that the Bill & Hill Show quietly retreats to the shadows only to appear -- briefly -- at the convention in late August. Obama doesn't need the distraction or the constant reminder that she is still about.

Then there is the problem of the vice presidency. Unless Hillary announces unequivocally that she has no intention to stand and will not accept an offer, this will hang like a pall and a question mark over the Obama campaign.

Her brigade of soul sisters will continue to push for her to the Obama camp either with her endorsement and connivance or not. The shards from those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling will start to fall on Obama and his campaign will suffer death from 18 million small cuts.

Obama does not have to wait until the nomination to name his pick for veep and the vetting committee he has set up will buy him some time but that still leaves a glimmer of unrequited hope for Hillary supporters. Yet another distraction from his core message.

Of course, Hillary may not want the post. She could figure that Obama will lose to McCain and this puts her in the position in 2012 to tell the party elders "see I told you so." Why be tainted as part of a losing ticket? Though she will on the surface give the appearance of helping the Obama campaign enough to secure her place in the party, it is in her interest not to help too much. Giving the appearance of being "open to the idea" of the vice-presidency keeps the dance and the guessing going and distracts from the main thrust of selling Obama and his ideas (of which we know not what they are) to the electorate. The distraction continues without her fingerprints on the gun.

And what if Obama should pick Hillary? That brings up a host of problems of their own. First there is the Clinton motivational factor on the GOP base -- if Republican John McCain can't rally his conservative base, the Clintons will.

Then there's the Michelle problem.

In her famous television interview with Martin Bashir, Diana the late Princess of Wales, referring to Camilla (now the Duchess of Cornwall) complained that there were "three of us in this marriage." Not only will Hillary not want to do a job she's in essence already done - the vice presidency may even be a step down for her after being Bill's co-president - but in Michelle Obama's eyes it's now her turn to be vice-president.

If Barrack Obama's throwback ideas to the Carter administration aren't scary enough, the thought of a Michelle Obama as part of the administration should really put the frighteners up.

Think back to Hillary Clinton's time in office dodging those bullets in Bosnia or securing peace in Northern Ireland. Imagine what Michelle can do as FLOTUS. Think about Cherie Blair Britain, where I live, and her time in Downing Street. Mrs. Blair, or Cherie Booth as she is known professionally, was happy enough as a barrister to take her own husband's government to court on human rights charges on a number of cases. The recent publication of her memoirs have been a unneeded distraction to Gordon Brown (notable fact: youngest son, Leo Blair, was conceived while she and Tony Blair were guests of the Queen at Balmoral. She was too embarrassed to take her contraception as Her Majesty's household staff unpack one's bags).

Michelle will take the art of interfering first spouse to a whole new unexplored level. This will be a lot more than just -- as Bill Clinton spoke of Hillary -- "two for the price of one."

Be it her only recently found pride in her country or moans about the price of ballet lessons or complaints about what "it [criticism of the odious preacher, Rev. Wright] is doing to my kids," Michelle is already famous for a strain of affluent victimhood; I can only feel for the White House staff who would have to suffer four years of her employ.

Add to this her leftist view of Barack Obama as Commander-in-Chief, not just of the military but of the whole nation; the nanny state with her as the chief nanny. Think of this famous prediction from Michelle:

"Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed."

Hmm, where in the US Constitution does it give him the power to do that? Michelle is Hillary, Cherie and Oprah on steroids

And yes, she will have the power.

Hell hath no fury... Somewhere in all of this there will be a woman scorned; be it Hillary, Hill's supporters or Michelle. It won't be a pretty sight.

London-based American talk show host, Charlie Wolf comments frequently on the US election on the BBC and Sky News.

The Arabs and Obama (collected from the web: today, on 23 July 2008, there is news that Obama has told that he would support Israel if elected)

The Arabs and Obama (today, on 23 July 2008, there is news that Obama has told that he would support Israel if elected)

Hussein Shobokshi

Various reactions to Obama's nomination have begun appearing across the Arab world. A few days ago, I was discussing the topic with some Arab friends, and the myriad of opinions they expressed were as interesting as they were surprising.

Jalal, an Egyptian engineer in his late forties, asserted that one should not be optimistic about any changes Obama might implement if he is elected President, for they would be largely artificial. As a minority, Jalal argued, Obama has an inferiority complex that renders him too eager to prove himself to the Israeli lobby in the US.

Imad, a Palestinian accountant in his late thirties, had a different opinion. He represents the party of Arabs who support Obama for his well-known objection to the US invasion of Iraq. Nevertheless, Obama has displayed strong support for indefinite military action in Afghanistan and has not objected to the frenzied Israeli policy of building settlements on occupied Palestinian land or to the Israeli aggression toward Lebanon in 2006, making him no different from the others.

Jassim, a Kuwaiti businessperson in his early fifties, concluded that Obama can only follow the agenda of American society and institutions and cannot depart appreciably from the aims and strategies prepared by a seasoned administration in possession of extraordinary capabilities. Consequently, he warned, one cannot expect radical changes should Obama be elected.

Hadi, a Tunisian doctor in his early forties, sees Obama as coming from an oppressed background. Obama, he says, has witnessed first-hand the negative image of the US in many countries around the world. Hadi believes that these experiences will compel Obama to focus on promoting respect for rights and duties and international treaties and covenants. He will work against injustice and oppression around the world by means of international treaties and diplomacy, rather than constraint and the use of humiliating force, argues Hadi.

Hadi expects that under Obama the Arab world will receive its fair share of such developments. Moreover, he anticipates the criminalization of all forms of discrimination and penalization of all forms of moral and material transgressions. Hadi believes Obama will prioritize contesting such offenses, which cause sedition, division and the spread of legalized class systems within societies and between states.

It seems that Arabs are unsure of how to regard Obama if he becomes president. They caution against excessive optimism due to a history of disappointments by US presidents of whom they were initially enthusiastic. At the same time, they cannot overlook the fact that Obama is a historic candidate who may fall closer in line with their values than previous candidates. Obama might better understand Arab grievances and show concern for the causes of the troubled Arab relations with the United States. It seems likely that Obama's arrival at the White House would usher a new chapter in US-Arab relations. The question remains: will he make it to the White House and make history? We are only a few months away from knowing, and the world, too, is waiting.


* Published in the London-based ASHARQ ALAWSAT on June 11, 2008.