Speculation or Change?

Transition news from The States:

CHICAGO - PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama plans to tape a weekly address to the country not just for radio listeners, as US presidents have done so for years, but for YouTube viewers as well.

It is the first visible result of a major transition-team effort to make Mr Obama's conversations with the electorate more direct, reported the Miami Herald.

In addition, members and supporters of the White House media upgrade want more input opportunities for the public.

Many of the changes, if adopted, would curb the power of a traditional but often unpopular middleman between presidents and the populace: the mainstream media.

Connecting the White House hearth to the American home, the late president Franklin D. Roosevelt talked to people through the radio in the 1930s, with crackling broadcasts delivered near a crackling fire. John F. Kennedy in the 1960s and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s mastered television.

For President-elect Obama, who built a big part of his campaign on the Internet, it is YouTube.

also

Barack Obama is to pursue an ambitious peace plan in the Middle East involving the recognition of Israel by the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, according to sources close to America’s president-elect.

and from the Republicans, getting in on the act too:

" 'Drill, baby, drill,' is not, by itself, an energy policy," Pawlenty said.

..

MORE SPECULATION

from the Taliban (cheers to Mr Camel)

...The ground realities in Afghanistan and the expectations of the people of America expressed through their votes demand that Obama should shun all policies followed by Bush once and for all. He should respect the rights of the people to independence and observe the norms of human rights. In short, he should set out on a policy that will have a message of peace for the war-stricken world which has been victimized by the arrogance and tyranny of USA.

SPECULATION...

...Obama was silent and out of sight in Chicago, one day after quietly meeting with Clinton at his headquarters there. She addressed a transit conference in New York and said emphatically, "I'm not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration, and I'm going to respect his process."

Obama is also reaching out to Republican Sen. John McCain, hoping to make an ally of the man he defeated for the presidency only last week. Obama meets with McCain on Monday.

Obama has not made his choice for secretary of state and is considering other candidates, said Democratic officials, speaking on a condition of anonymity about deliberations they weren't authorized to discuss...

LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE...

...Barack Obama is nothing more than a kaafir, who is vehement in violating the rights of Almighty Allah (SWT) in terms of His legislation and hence should be treated with much hostility calibrated according to the Qur'an and Sunnah.

As for those so-called Muslims who view his election as a ‘victory' for Islam and Muslims, it seems as if they have forgotten the very foundations of this Deen which stipulate the necessity of dissociating oneself (Muslim) from the camp of the disbelievers as well as rejecting taghout both of which are central components of Barack Obama and his evil administration....

Anjum Choudhary's full US Election address

CHANGE?

"I think the answer is going to be, they can be as securely guarded on U.S. soil as anywhere else," Tribe said. "We can't put people in a dungeon forever without processing whether they deserve to be there."

VISUALIZATION

Newsweek in the States has some great stuff from journalists on the campain trail of all the candidates who promised not to print until after the elections. From chapter 2 about John McCain:

...McCain lost Michigan to Romney on Jan. 15, largely because Romney pandered to his boyhood home state by promising to bring back jobs long gone. In South Carolina on Jan. 19, McCain was on edge and his wife, Cindy, even more so. This was the place where the dirty tricksters had slimed the McCains in 2000, and Cindy could not shake off a sense of dread. The weather in Charleston was awful—sleeting rain—and McCain seemed caged, cooped up with his friend Lindsey Graham, who was annoying him by trying to "visualize" victory. By 7 p.m., Cindy and Graham were ready to "jump out the window," Graham later recalled...

cheers to Rachel for spotting this

OBAMAVISION

I don't post a lot of thoughts here any more do I.

I enjoyed the elections very much. Viewing the whole of the run offs between Hillary and Obama, Romney, McCain etc through the eyes of my Republican buddies must have given me a cock-eyed view of Obamas chances. I spent my whole time telling them it wouldn't make any difference anyway if Obama did win- but I never expected him to actually do it.

I spent as long as I could stay awake election night in Republicanland which was really good fun. I wasn't too nervous of a McCain win. Its obvious to me McCain isn't Bush. The BBC site kept crashing and I don't have a TV so I kept asking them "Are we winning?" and shouting "Down with the Liberals!" until it looked pretty safe for Obama and I could stay awake no more.

So I had a great day Nov 5th. I had a few people try and spoil it, telling me what I was telling my Repub buddies online for so many months, but I ended the day in a squatted pub with my band improvising around the American National Anthem loud enough to shut them all up.

Obviously we've had Blairs "A New day has dawned has it not" over here, so we probably can't help being a bit cautious but I like hope. Its not even hope for Obama or politics. For me it is hope for the huge amounts of people who have been energised by the process. The "We the people" who are picking up flags for the first time.

It was great to see the first post Obama session of the BBCs Question time just how incensed people are with all our politicians over here. The first person to come with a genuine vision for this country could make a lot of headway very quickly, but I have been saying that since 2003 eh. It was great also to see Dizzie Rascal on Newsnight.





I'd certainly like to see a few more Politicians going rogue eh. Personally I'd like to see McCain involved in some way in the future of America. I think his concession speech was one of the best I have ever seen in US Politics. A real highlight of the whole grimy buisness.

Its been fun. The landscape looks different now. I wish all Amerians best of luck with their country.

YES WE CAN

HOW TO FIND YOUR WAY TO THE POLLING BOOTH

HAD ENOUGH HOT AIR YET