Barack Obama

Obama child statue unveils in Indonesia

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 07:30:00 +0000

As the president of the United States prepared to receive his Nobel Peace Prize Thursday, Indonesia remembered "Little Barry" Obama with the presentation of a bronze statue of him as a 10-year-old boy.

The statue of a young Barack Obama, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, were erected in the Jakarta neighborhood where he used to play as a child.

The 100 million rupiah (10,600 dollar) statue, which was based on a picture of Obama taken during his childhood, depicted the future world leader wearing a large necklace with a butterfly perched on his outstretched hand.

Ron Mullers, chairman of the group Friends of Obama, which paid for the statue, said there was nothing important about the timing of the unveiling.

President Obama announces proposals to put Americans back to work

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:24:00 +0000

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced a sequence of measures to put American back to work and help companies hire people, which he said would lay the foundation for robust economic growth in the country.

These measures are part of the overall policy designed to not just make jobs in the short run but also shift America away from consumption-driven growth to a focus on enhancing the competitiveness of America's businesses, encouraging investment, and promoting exports, Obama said.

Obama also called for the removal of fees and an increase in guarantees for loans through the Small Business Administration, a measure that extends provisions in the Recovery Act through the end of 2010. In addition, he called for continued Treasury efforts to use the TARP to maintain small business lending.

EPA Move As Copenhagen Begins

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:39:00 +0000

Today was a great day in environmental news.

First, former Vice President Al Gore met with President Obama about climate change this afternoon in a personal meeting in the Oval Office. Gore is one of the most famous Americans and thought leaders in favor of U.S. action on climate change.

Second, today the greatly anticipated U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen got underway. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the White House was announced that President Obama would join the U.S. delegation to Copenhagen (last weekend, officials said the President would be in Copenhagen on December 18, instead of December 9). President Obama is expected to commit the United States to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

And third, today the Environmental Protection Agency finalized its “endangerment finding” on greenhouse gas emissions, officially declaring that carbon and other greenhouse gases are harmful to the public’s health and welfare.

Barack Obama vows to tackle jobs challenge head-on

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:12:00 +0000

President Barack Obama on Thursday called on corporate America to help tackle the nation's highest unemployment in 26 years and dismissed skeptics who have doubt his efforts to boost employment.

"We cannot hang back and hope for the best when we've see the kinds of job wounded that we've seen over the last year," Obama told business and labor leaders invited to the White House to suggest how to lift employment creation.

"Despite the progress we've made, many businesses are still playful about hiring," he said, acknowledging that although the economy is growing again, the labor market is lagging behind.
Obama is hosting a jobs forum after US unemployment hit a 26-year high of 10.2% in October, sap his popularity and potentially shaping his political future.

Critics dismiss the effort as mainly a public relations exercise. Obama already has said he wants measures that will not add to the country's record budget deficit, efficiently ruling out significantly more public spending on top of a USD 787 billion stimulus package that he signed in February.

President Obama calls PM Manmohan singh of afghan surge

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:18:00 +0000

US President Barack Obama gave PM Manmohan Singh a sample of his Afghan strategy before he announces it on Wednesday morning. While the phone call was one of several that Obama made - he spoke to Hamid Karzai, Nicholas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, Dmitry Medvedev, Kevin Rudd and Hu Jintao - officials said India's satisfaction was derived from the high level of Obama's commitment to stay the course in Afghanistan despite growing clamor in the US for an early pullout.

The US president is set to announce an raise of around 35,000 troops in Afghanistan, putting an end to a tortuous exercise of a review of his Afghan strategy that has taken the better part of the past four months.

The Obama-Singh conversation had one more important component for India: India's own presence and activity in Afghanistan. The Indian takeaway here is that the Pakistan "line" which, in a few ways was reflected in the report prepared by the top US commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal, that Indian activities in Afghanistan could be counter-productive, was comprehensively discarded. Obama reportedly told the PM that Indian activities are not only appreciated but they should continue. India has committed almost $1.2 billion in civilian and infrastructure project in Afghanistan, in the teeth of repeated Pakistani complaints.

Obama telephones thanks to 10 service members

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 07:05:00 +0000

Barack Obama enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving at the White House, telephoning U.S. servicemen and women stationed around the world and spending time in the company of his family and friends.

Obama placed calls from the Oval Office to 10 U.S. servicemen and women - two each in the Army, Air Force, Navy, the Marines and the Coast Guard - stationed in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as in the Persian Gulf.

The commander in chief, who spent the past several weeks conduct an intensive review of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, called to wish them Happy Thanksgiving and to let them know that he and first lady Michelle Obama are "truly thankful for their service and sacrifice on behalf of the nation," according to a statement Thursday from the White House.

Obama attends Copenhagen climate talks

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:45:00 +0000

The White House announced that President Obama will travel to Copenhagen on Dec. 9 to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in order to work with the international community to drive progress towards a comprehensive and operational Copenhagen accord. The White House also announced that President Obama is ready to put on the table a U.S. emissions reduction target in the range of 17% below 2005 levels by 2020.

President Obama’s commitment to American leadership on fresh energy and combating climate change, the White House also announced that a host of Cabinet secretaries and other top officials from across the Administration will travel to Copenhagen for the conference. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson are all planned to attend, along with Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, and Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Carol Browner.

Barack Obama entertains India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:45:00 +0000

Looking glamorous in a stylish strapless gown by Indian-American designer Naeem Khan, Michelle Obama welcomed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Mrs. Gursharan Kaur to the White House Tuesday night and ushered in the Obama administration's first official state dinner.

With Mr Obama and India's Manmohan Singh touting advances in support on trade, investment and technology reached during meetings earlier in the day, the Indian businessman Ratan Tata of Tata Motors led numerous captains on Indian industry at the occasion.

During an effusive welcome at the White House for Mr Singh, the president said the state visit was verification of India's "rightful place as a global leader".

"Our generation has an opportunity given to few remakes the new global equilibrium after the irreversible changes" of the crisis, Mr Singh said.

"The India-US partnership can contribute to an arranged transition to the new order and be a main factor for global peace and stability."

Saying Asia was the focal point for major change, Mr Singh said: "India and the United States can work together with other countries in the region to make an open and inclusive regional architecture."

India welcomes barrack Obama's engagement efforts with Iran

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:19:00 +0000

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has welcomed US President Barack Obama's efforts to engage with Iran without preconditions, hopeful this will end the stand-off between Tehran and western countries over the issue of nuclear enrichment.

Singh stated that Iran as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty had the right to make use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes but could not develop a weapon.

"As far as Iran's nuclear weapon ambitions are concerned I have stated unambiguously on many occasions that we do not support the nuclear weapon ambitions of Iran," he said during an interaction at the Council on Foreign Relations, a prominent think tank, on the next day of his four-day visit here.

He also indicated that India would abide by any UNSC resolution on the issue when asked if New Delhi could support sanctions against Iran.

Point out that Obama had "open a new pathway of engagement without preconditions" with Iran, he expressed hope that it will "yield results." Unlike his predecessor George W Bush's violent stand,

President Obama has decided to engage diplomatically with Tehran but the exchange has not yielded actual results.

Recently, Western powers revealed the existence of a secret underground plant but Tehran maintains that its nuclear enrichment program is for quiet purposes.

PM's state visit to showcase powerful Indo-US ties

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:03:00 +0000

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to US as Barack Obama's first state guest is expected to showcase the significance the US President attaches to Indo-US relationship, with universal issues including climate and Afghanistan to feature prominently along with bilateral ties.

Obama will welcome Singh at the White House on Tuesday morning as the first State Guest of his presidency, in what senior administration officials have said is no co-incidence but a aware decision to send a strong signal on how critical the relationship is to the United States.
Obama has recognized India as a natural ally of the US and wants to take the Indo-US relationship to a new level.

The US now sees India as an "emerging power" and needs to work with it on the global front. They are expected to discuss a range of regional and global issues including Af-Pak, climate, and are also possible to discuss Obama's recent trip to Asia, particularly China, besides identifying ways to deepen strategic relationship. Given where the US position with regard to Af-Pak strategic review, it is expected that Obama and Singh would discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan and talk about constancy and security in the region.

US President Barack Obama talks between China, Dalai Lama

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:41:00 +0000

US President Barack Obama ended his state visit to China with a call for new talks between Beijing and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The US and China was also agreed to disagree on Iran, the world economy and the nature of political freedom.

However, the common theme of the joint statement and the Obama visit was US recognition of the rising influence and importance of China.

"The Sino-US relationship has never been more important in our collective future," Obama said after his summit with Hu. He urge a ‘strong and prosperous’ China plays a bigger global role. Hu began his declaration by referring to complex global challenges and the need for interdependence of nations.

Obama has made his first visit to China under the shadow of a failing US economy dependent on Beijing as its main foreign creditor.

Outrage in US over obama’a bow to japan emperor

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:44:00 +0000

There is a great outrage in the US over President Barack Obama's bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito. The critics in Washington said that Obama has disgraced the nation by taking a deep bow at the waist while meeting with Japan's Emperor Akihito. They slammed Obama in strong words and said that US leader should stand tall when representing America overseas.

Barack Obama, who is presently touring Asia, has already completed his Japan tour and is now in China. He met Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing and pledges a "positive, cooperative and comprehensive" relationship with China.

Obama acknowledged China's cooperation in fighting the worst-ever universal recession. He also talked about a revised economic approach to raise US exports and create jobs in China. Obama and Jintao both clarified that the US and China are never rivals.

Obama Says U.S. - China Trade spur Prosperity for Both

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:24:00 +0000

President Barack Obama said a deeper relationship between the U.S. and China is critical to the economic prosperity of both countries and necessary to confronting global issues such as climate change.

The U.S. president, addressing students at a forum in Shanghai, also brought up the issue of human rights, saying political and religious freedoms must be “universal” and available to all people and group “whether they are in the United States, China or any other nation.”

In China for his first-ever visit, Obama arrived in Shanghai last night from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore where few leaders expressed concern about his commitment to free trade. He meet earlier today with Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng and Communist Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng.

The president is planned to have dinner tonight in Beijing with Chinese President Hu Jintao. In response to a question at the forum with the students, Obama said he is in China to look for “a meeting of the minds” with Hu.

First lady Michelle Obama 'in Awe' of Military families

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:57:00 +0000

First Lady Michelle Obama saw close-up the pain and suffering of military families when she visited Fort Hood with President Obama on Tuesday, paying tribute to the 13 people kill in a shooting spree, allegedly by an Army psychiatrist. Mrs. Obama, who has embrace helping military families as one of her causes, on Wednesday - Veterans Day - said she was in awe of what the families of soldiers endure.

Mrs. Obama and her husband joined Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill, at Arlington National Cemetery for Veterans Day ceremonies, where the president laid a garland at the Tomb of the unknowns. Then the first couple made a surprise visit to a part of the cemetery, Section 60, where military soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan is buried. They were walked between tombstones for about 10 minutes; the president greets mourners at grave sites. (Mrs. Obama wore a teal outfit, a difference to the dark colors the president, the Bidens and others at the ceremony wore.)

Obama place to launch debut Asia mission

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:56:00 +0000

Barack Obama leaves on his debut presidential trip of Asia Thursday seeking to revive America's prestige as a regional power, on a trip much heavier on symbolism than diplomatic substance.

Obama will take a precious week out of his bid to enact an ambitious domestic schedule to show the region, and a rising China, that Washington is no longer distracted by crises elsewhere.

He will travel first to Japan for discussion Friday with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, then attend the weekend's APEC summit in Singapore and become the first US president to sit down with all 10 leaders of ASEAN, including Myanmar.

Obama will next visit Shanghai, and fly on to Beijing for a state dinner and meeting with President Hu Jintao, then wrap up his tour in South Korea.

US president travels to asia

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:19:00 +0000

President Obama leaves Thursday on his first official trip to Asia. USA TODAY looks at Obama's policy plan for the week, as he visits Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea.

The main purpose of his journey is to attend this weekend's summit of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group. The Apec meeting is in Singapore, and would be the US leader's only stop in the Asian region.

Mr Obama's promises about restoring US interest in Asia in general and Asian in particular, have proved so far to be more talk than substance. His Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pointedly made her first foreign visit to Asia soon after Mr Obama took office in January. She returned in July for the annual Asian Regional Forum in Thailand.

More seriously, Mr Obama and advisers will find it tricky to keep a straight face in Singapore while they support free trade. The US president took office owing favors to trade unions and political groups who oppose free trade. His administration has already delivered some free-trade restrictions. Since January, the White House has trumpet "Buy American" campaigns including new laws restricting foreign textile and clothing makers. The US has begun a so-called "tyre war" with China, and of course has delivered hundreds of billions in bailout subsidies for the US auto industry and its unionized workers.

U.S. healthcare face the tough path in Senate

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:46:00 +0000

After a landmark win in the U.S. House of Representatives, President Barack Obama's push for healthcare reform faces a complex path in the Senate amid divisions in his own Democratic Party on how to proceed.

On a 220-215 vote, including the support of one Republican and opposition from 39 Democrats, the House backed a bill late on Saturday that would enlarge coverage to nearly all Americans and bar insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.

The battle now shift to the Senate, where work on Obama's top domestic priority has been stalled for weeks as Democratic leader Harry Reid searches for an approach that can win the 60 votes he wants to overcome Republican procedural hurdles.

Democrats have no margin for error - they control accurately 60 seats in the 100-member chamber. Some reasonable Democrats have rebelled at Reid's plan to include a new government-run insurance program, known as the "public option," in the bill.

A year after the win: Obama, the realist

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:46:00 +0000

Forty-seven-year-old African-American Barack Hussain Obama was chosen President of the United States of America on November 4, 2008.

A year after his election, US President Barack Obama still wants time to turn the myriad campaign promises into policy. Democrats defeated at the hands of Republicans in the race for Governorship in Virginia and New Jersey might just be a backlash of Obama's unfulfilled promises.

The question that was being asked on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation was: Has Barack Obama failed to be the change? On the panel of experts to discuss the issues were: Chairman of the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) Sanjay Puri; senior journalist Saeed Naqvi; and the former diplomat, K C Singh.

At the beginning of the debate, 70 percent agreed that Barack Obama has failed to be the change while 30 per cent disagreed.

Health care delays would frustrate Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:54:00 +0000

Delay is rarely good for politicians trying to go by legislation. The possibility that Congress might not whole action on a major health care bill this year is another frustration for President Barack Obama and his allies.

Even if it doesn't sink the health care effort, a delay could raise new uncertainties and push other domestic priorities further back. It also would give opponents a chance to pick off nervous Democratic lawmakers eyeing their November 2010 re-election campaigns.

Even some House Democrats with safe seats don't like the plan of voting on a contentious bill until it's clear that the Senate will follow suit.

Obama has swallow one disappointing postponement already this year, when the House and Senate failed to move separate bills before the August recess. Opponents used that calm to rip into the proposed health care changes in raucous public forums.

Democrats are improbable to be caught off guard again if the legislative battle goes past the Christmas-New Year's break. But any delay gives opponents extra time to organize and campaign.

President Obama Signs Inclusive Hate Crimes Legislation

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:19:00 +0000

Today President Obama sign into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, legislation that will extend new federal protections to people who are victims of violent crime because of their sex or sexual orientation. It is an update to the federal hate crimes act that Congress first passed in 1968. For the first time, the law that before it protected people from attacks motivated by race, religion or ethnicity will also protects gay, lesbian, transgender and disabled people.

The President will host a reception commemorating the performance of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in the East Room of the White House this evening.

PRESIDENT OBAMA is planned to sign Wednesday what is being described as the nation's first significant pro-gay rights legislation. Attached to the defense authorization act, the measure could add sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability to the list of protected classes under the 1969 federal hate-crimes law…

The law does not outlaw bigotry or "thought crimes." It applies only to "violent acts motivated by" the characteristics of the victim - act, not thoughts or speech. But crimes that target someone because of race or sexual orientation are extra offenses against that individual. They can terrorize complete communities.

President Obama Daughters Get Swine Flu Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:35:00 +0000

The Obama daughters have gotten their swine flu shots.

The White House has been weighing how to address public interest in whether the first family has been vaccinated against swine flu.

President Obama and his wife, Michelle, will “wait until the needs of the priority groups” - including young people under 24, pregnant women and people with causal illnesses - have been met. But daughters Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, fall within the priority groups, and they received their injections last week from the White House doctor, who apply for the vaccine through the District of Columbia Department of Health “using the same process as every other vaccination site in the District.”

The vaccinations could raise questions about whether the Obama girls were given special treatment, as the administration grapples with concern that the vaccine is not more readily available. (Officials say the holdup is with manufacturers, whose production procedure has been slower than anticipated.) While there are lines at vaccination clinics in the capital, a spokesperson for the Health Department said no one who fell into a priority group had been turned away.

Obama declared swine-flu emergency

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:43:00 +0000

Responding to a dramatic surge in the number of U.S. swine flu cases, President Barack Obama has sign a proclamation declaring H1N1 influenza a national emergency.

The order by Mr. Obama, announced on the weekend, will speed the ability of hospitals and health establishment to take measures to fight the pandemic through such steps as setting up tents in hospital parking lots to establish extra emergency room care and creating health clinics in school gymnasiums or community centres.

"The rates of illness continue to increase rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some locations," Mr. Obama said in the declaration.

The White House said in a statement that the declaration will allow medical centers to deal with a surge in H1N1 patients by allowing, as needed, the waiver of certain federal health requirements.

President Obama and the flying circus

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:33:00 +0000

Barack Obama and the Flying Circus is a perfect term to explain current President of the United States and his prominent cabinet.

For the past year and a partly every single day was and still is about Barack Obama and his extravaganza. Days just doesn’t go by without hearing about Obama.

What did Obama say? What did Obama do? In addition, we have witnessed media madness for Obama's dog, Obama's citizenship, Obama's family, Obama's religion, Obama's cabinet, Obama's associates, among others.

However, this ongoing entertainment and late night shows by Obama and his sidekicks are not charming anymore.

And, in return for his surprising global entertainment, Barack Obama got a present from his circus-men: his first Nobel Peace Prize.

Instead of an Oscar or Emmy, he gets, yes, the Nobel Prize.

The award came as a surprised even to the President Obama himself, he said: "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures".

It is not so important that Barack Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize, since the Nobel Prize lost its original meaning long moment ago. But, most frightening is that people who support this prize and speak about peace forget the meaning of the word "Peace".

Clinton to outline steps for Barack obama's nuke-free world

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:14:00 +0000

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set Wednesday to outline key steps Washington will take to fulfill President Barack Obama's vision of a world free of nuclear weapons.

In a speech in Washington, Clinton will show how the world will be safer through a new US-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty as well as broader ratification of a treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, officials said.

"It's going to be an important opportunity for the secretary to lay out our priorities to implement the president's vision at Prague," Clinton's spokesman Ian Kelly said Tuesday.

In a speech in the Czech capital on April 5, Obama pledged to lead a quest for a world purged of atomic weapons when he unveiled a plan to cut stockpiles, curtail testing, choke fissile production and secure loose nuclear material.

A new review conference for the NPT is planned for next year.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said these also include approval of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the start of work on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.

Barack Obama earned that peace prize

noreply@blogger.com (Barack Obama) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:09:00 +0000

Why then is so much controversy, even scorn, being pour on the heads of the members of Nobel Committee, who selected United States President Barack Obama as this year's winner of the Peace Prize? How come so many Americans find themselves disagreeing with the option and even ridiculing their president, instead of hailing the chief for joining such a select band of individuals? Answers abound.

For first thing, the award came out of the proverbial blue. Few people at house or abroad expected that Obama, in office for less than a year, would have been selected. But surprise isn't a best reason for spewing vitriol.

For another, the president's bitter opponents, particularly the powerful extreme right wing, can't find a single thing to accept with grace when it comes to Obama.

Thirdly, it was an implicit shot by the Nobel Committee to the standard-bearer of the Republican right, previous President George W Bush. Obama's selection was asking to rubbing salt into an open wound.

Clearly, the president was an excellent option. His trips to Europe, Central America, Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East and other regions of the world have brightened the prospects of global peace.