Day: March 23, 2011

Obama Health Care Plan Reaches One Year Old: Will It Reach Its Second Birthday?

President Obama’s Health Care Reform reached one year of age today, and is under assault in many states controlled by Republicans and conservatives, who are hoping to see the Supreme Court ultimately declare it unconstitutional.

Despite the fact that the Health Care Reform helps millions of people in the long run, and many of them already, with its various provisions, all we seem to get is constant criticism and attacks, as if the goal that all Americans should have health care is, somehow, an evil intention.

The nastiness and mean spirit of the critics shows clearly a lack of concern for the welfare of millions of children, poor, sick, and those with chronic medical conditions. Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona can have no compassion or conscience in failing to find a way to assist 96 very sick Arizonans who need all kinds of transplants to avoid ultimate death.

And the anger over requiring citizens to insure themselves against illness is mind boggling, as failure to do so puts the burden on everyone else, really a welfare concept, when people should be responsible for their own health care, to the extent that they all have an insurance policy, as part of the responsibility of being an adult!

The Supreme Court could indeed declare the Health Care Reform unconstitutional, which would create a constitutional crisis on the level of FDR and the Supreme Court in the 1930s when they declared large portions of the New Deal unconstitutional, but soon led to rapid turnover on the Court and the acceptance of the New Deal.

Hopefully, Justice Anthony Kennedy will surprise, as he often does, and make a 5-4 vote on the Health Care Reform sometime next year, before the Presidential election, or else it will be the major domestic issue for 2012!

The Middle East Headaches Of Barack Obama

Now in its fifth day of intervention in the Libyan Civil War, the Obama Administration faces a whole series of headaches in the Middle East, many more problematical than Moammar Gaddafi!

The biggest problem of all is the Afghanistan War and the instability in next door Pakistan, which could blow up any time and affect the security of next door India, with the growing threat of Al Qaeda and Islamic terrorism in the region.

Iran is also a problem that will NOT go away, with the growing dangers presented by the radical theocracy of that nation, and the movement ahead on development of nuclear weapons capability.

Third issue is Iraq, where the last 50,000 troops are supposed to be withdrawn by the end of this year, but Iran is gaining more influence by the week in a country which once fought an eight year conflict against Iran from 1980-1988.

Bahrain, where the US naval fleet is housed, and Yemen, which has an active Al Qaeda cell, both are undergoing revolutionary activities against then established governments, endangering American security interests.

Egypt and Tunisia have to adapt to their revolutions and evolve toward democracy, something they have never experienced before.

The Israeli-Palestinian struggle continues, and new violence has now erupted, leading to new possibilities of widespread bloodshed and turmoil.

Libya is less significant comparatively, but it is a reality that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates and others involved in the execution of foreign policy must be having sleepless, or at the least, restless nights!

The Rise of Women “Hawks” In American Foreign Policy

With the intervention in the Libyan Civil War, a new trend has emerged: women “hawks”!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice were the members of the President’s cabinet most involved in convincing President Obama to choose to intervene in Libya, while Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff head, Admiral Mike Mullen, were more cautious.

This comes after National Security Adviser and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice under President George W. Bush was also a “hawk” and supported intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The fact that women are now becoming frontline “hawks” is certainly a new concept that will bring about much analysis by scholars and journalists, since the role of women was never as significant before as it has now become in the formulation of American foreign policy!