Tag Archives: President Obama

blog, news, politics

Our government’s covert mission in Libya: Is the U.S. creating a new Hmong? What we can learn from the Hmong experience

At his Tuesday speech on Libya, the president used the phrase “To be blunt…”  The implication was that he was about to deliver a kind of crushing truth.

But instead of being blunt on Libya, he was really being blunt about the path the Bush administration took in starting a war in Iraq, putting troops on the ground, taking eight years and thousands of lives, and nearly a trillion dollars. “That is not something we can afford to repeat in Libya,” the president said.

So what can we afford? 

A covert action!

NBC is reporting the U.S. is involved in a “covert” action in Libya, which could lead to arming the rebels who appear to be in grave need of at “military advisors.”

Hmmm. Sound like Vietnam yet?

The covert part should at least bring back the image of the Hmong who were involved in the so-called “Secret War” in 1961. Armed by the U.S., tens of thousands of Hmong were trained by the CIA  to help beat back Communist troops threatening Laos.

In the long war, over 100,000 Hmong lost their lives, as Laos ultimately fell. The U.S. began resettling them to America in 1975. Today the Hmong population approaches 300,000 in the U.S., their new homeland.

Is that the fate of the Libyan rebels?  Many of them have travelled from places like the U.S. and Canada to join the fight for their land. One said to NBC’s Richard Engel, that they don’t care about the rockets, and that he wants to die.  “It’s freedom,” he said.

Makes the rebels sound like they are on a suicide mission. Unlike the Hmong, the Libyan rebels have no jungles to hide in to wage a rebel fight. They’re in the open desert, staying near the public roads where they are  sitting ducks.

But does that make our greater  humanitarian effort aiding in the war?  Or is the real humanitarianism in the bringing back survivors to the U.S. when the fighting ends?

Obama can learn a thing or two from the Hmong experience.

Read my other comments on Libya at www.aaldef.org/blog

blog, news, politics

Obama’s “War”: As NATO takes over in Libya, rebels find they can’t move without U.S. enablers

Reports out today that the Libyan rebels are finding that the ease of movement last week is no longer. Last week, the U.S.’ rebel partners had airstrikes and were traversing more friendly territory. Now NBC News is reporting the rag-tag rebels are having a tough time advancing  on and confronting the Gadhafi loyalists.  The rebs want more sophisticated weapons. Rocks won’t cut it. Now does NATO and the U.S. arm them?  

We’re getting sucked into a real war here, folks. No matter what the president says, the U.S. is the war enabler.

Now, how humanitarian is that? 

Check out my blog at www.aaldef.org/blog  to read my reaction to the president’s Libya speech.

blog, diversity, news, politics

POTUS’ SOTUS: I wish he’d said….

For more my other observations on the speech, check out www.aaldef.org/blog

Obama’s speech wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t great.  A 7  out of 10. A gentleman’s C.

Great would have been better. But what do you expect for a man going for the great middle?

When you’re going for the center to begin with, then the “vision” thing isn’t quite relevant. You’re limited from the start. So I’m not too disappointed there was nothing really bold.

But this is our Sputnik moment?  Yes, we’re coming out of a recession and the markets are up. Bbut we’ve gone into tremendous debt and we’re  printing dollars to keep up with all the raises the CEOs are getting. 

 We can’t expect anything too bold.  We can afford Bold Lite.

Considering Sputnik, I’d settle for the second coming of Tang.

I also would have liked to have heard more for the people who are really in trouble in this country.  Nice story about the 55-year old biotechnology person reinventing herself. But I didn’t think that was enough rah-rah fro the people who are unemployed and desperately trying to stay above water.  He mentioned jobs in deals with S.Korea, China, India, but somehow I don’t think that was enough to keep people inspired about the American dream.

For example,I wish there was more for people who have been trying hard to get loan modifications but have been shut out and denied by bureaucratic hurdles. 

I wish there were more for people who really did need a lift.

For all those folks, the jobless and the overmortgaged,  there wasn’t enough meat on the bone. 

They know the real state of the union. And it’s not as happy or as bright as it seems to politicos.

The real people are hurting. The speech seemed to sidestep the pain. 

To that end, credit the president for standing some ground versus the budget hawks.

“I’m willing to eliminate whatever we can honestly afford to do without,” Obama said. “But let’s make sure that we’re not doing it on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens.”

That’s the closest  he got to saying  variations of the terms “working class,”  “middle class,
” working poor.”

But it was a wink that this president still gets it.

Even when he has to play it so close to the middle.

I suppose SOTUS  isn’t really for the people.The speech is a political speech that has to be given.

He’s got to say the “state of our union is strong.”  He’s not going to say the ugly truth.  He’s there to give hope to try to say convincingly,  and repeatedly “We do big things.”

Sort of felt like he was trying to make the speech fly at the end there. But to me it just fell flat.

My truth bell rang when I heard him say  these words: “We should have no illusions about the work ahead of us. Reforming our schools, changing the way we use energy, reducing our deficits—none of this will be easy. All of it will take time. And it will be harder because WE WILL ARGUE ABOUT EVERYTHING. THE COSTS. THE DETAILS. THE LETTER OF EVERY LAW.”

But as the president continued: “As contentious and frustrating and messy as our democrcy can sometimes be, I know there isn’t a person here who would trade places with any other nation on Earth.”

No argument there.

So here we are stuck in America trying to get to the great middle.

That’s the real state of the union.

Check out more observations on the speech my blog at www.aaldef.org/blog

blog, diversity, news, politics, race

President Obama fails us again: Reaganomics passes, but Dream Act doesn’t?

Does President Obama have any credibility now with the legions of people who believed in his mission of hope and change?

The Tax-cut bill was not just an extension of Bushonomics, it was a revival of Reaganomics. We already know trickle down theories are ineffective and yet that was worth compromise?

That was bad enough. But today, considering all the arm-twisting that goes on, couldn’t  he get a few more Republicans to trade  their  tax cut vote  for the Dream Act?

The Dream Act at least reduces the deficit.

Could it be that the racial component of immigration was too much for logic to triumph?

Sad, sad commentary that the majority refuses to recognize the talented innocents who came to this country with their undocumented parents.  These are the ones worth keeping, not deporting.  

This was President Obama’s very hollow statement on the failure of the Senate to pass the Dream Act (from a White House e-mail:

In an incredibly disappointing vote today, a minority of Senators prevented the Senate from doing what most Americans understand is best for the country. As I said last week, when the House passed the DREAM Act, it is not only the right thing to do for talented young people who seek to serve a country they know as their own, it is the right thing for the United States of America. Our nation is enriched by their talents and would benefit from the success of their efforts. The DREAM Act is important to our economic competitiveness, military readiness, and law enforcement efforts. And as the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reported, the DREAM Act would cut the deficit by $2.2 billion over the next 10 years. There was simply no reason not to pass this important legislation. It is disappointing that common sense did not prevail today.  But my administration will not give up on the DREAM Act, or on the important business of fixing our broken immigration system.   The American people deserve a serious debate on immigration, and it’s time to take the polarizing rhetoric off our national stage.  I thank Senators Durbin, Reid, and Menendez for their tireless efforts. Moving forward, my administration will continue to do everything we can to fix our nation’s broken immigration system so that we can provide lasting and dedicated resources for our border security while at the same time restoring responsibility and accountability to the system at every level.