GEORGE ARCHIBALD

OBAMA-CLINTON OR OBAMA-BLOOMBERG?

Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for breakfast at an upper east side Manhattan coffee shop last November and subsequently agreed to help arrange Obama’s speech today at the Cooper Union about the national economy, ongoing housing slump and the advancement of science and art. Bloomberg, a former Democrat, has not yet formally endorsed Obama for president, but in his brief introduction referred to him as a man from “the land of Lincoln,” and symbolically both Bloomberg and Obama spoke at the same lecturn that Lincoln used for his famous Cooper Union speech on February 27, 1860, that, together with the famous elegant photograph of  ungainly Lincoln by Matthew Brady, certainly propelled him to the presidency. According to Obama aides, as reported by New York City media, the senator called Bloomberg on the afternoon of March 26, the day before his speech to offer him a sneak peek at his draft speech and to suggest any modifications. The aides did not reveal whether Bloomberg suggested any revisions, but the previous independent presidential hopeful did make a point of reminding the audience and Obama  that he hadn't yet chosen a candidate. "As you know, I have not yet endorsed a candidate for president but I've been very clear in my hope that all the candidates will explain in detail how they will address the great challenges facing our country," Bloomberg told the audience. Obama, in his remarks, joked about the November breakfast with Bloomberg, saying he paid for the meal. "The reason I bought breakfast is because I expect payback for something more expensive," Obama said. "I'm no dummy” – an apparent reference to getting Bloomberg to contribute and raise funds for his campaign through Noivember. He had four fundraisers in New York City before heading to Pennsylvania for a six-day bus tour. There no way Obama would have Senator Hillary Clinton as his vice-presidential running-mate or vice versa, depending who wins enough delegates in the next ten primary contest to be nominated at the Democratic National Convention in August. Obama and Clinton and their staffs have grown to despise each other because of the nasty, bitter nature of their campaign against each other. Also, both Obama and Clinton have so many negatives –- Obama’s lack of nany government executive experience asnd Clinton’s being caught in so many untruths and exaggerations over the years that much of the electorate does not trust her and want to return her and husband Bill Clinton back to the White House. But Bloomberg would bring extraordinary business executive experience and his success running New York City as mayor to bolster Obama’s complete lack of any knowledge of running complex government agencies, programs, personnel, and tackling difficult problems. There’s no doubt Obama is attractive and speaks very well, but he’s basically an empty shirt when it comes to governance. Like Vice President Dick Cheney in what he has brought to President Bush’s administration, Bloomberg would bring years of success, maturity, and assurance to the American people that at least one mature person would know how to take the reins of government in the White House and as president of the United States Senate in order to steer the country confidently and properly. On policy, in his Cooper Union speech, Obama also called for the usual litany of tighter government regulation of mortgage lenders, banks and other financial institutions,  even as he talked of pumping $30 billion more into the economy to stimulate the economy and shield homeowners and local governments from foreclosures and insolvency resulting from the ongoing burst of the housing bubble. Obama and his campaign handouts at his speech blamed the impending difficulties, which some are already calling a recession, on the successful $300-million campaign by industry banking and insurance lobbyists in 1999 to get Congress to dismantle much of the regulatory framework overseeing energy, telecommunications and financial services by repealing the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act. President Clinton, who Obama did not name, signed the repeal legislation. The implied criticism of Hillary Clinton, who handled a lot of policy decisions in the Clinton White House, was very clear. As vice-president, Bloomberg’s background as a successful world-class businessman who knows the real detrimental effects of government over-regulation, would enable him to caution and temper Obama and his Cabinet, if elected, and rein-in their probable liberal-left excesses as indicated in Obama’s Cooper Union economic speech.

McCAIN-LIEBERMAN OR McCAIN-ROMNEY?

“Senator John McCain and his independent fellow-traveler -- formerly a Democrat -- Senator Joe Lieberman wound up their most recent Mideast foray in Israel, where the Republican candidate for the presidency got a little help from the man widely tipped to be his choice for vice president in adjusting his yarmulke,” wrote Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor-at large for the United Press International wire service and The Washington Times in his March 26 column. Most politically-savvy people like de Borchgrave, who for a quarter-century was chief foreign correspondent for Newsweek magazine before becoming editor-in-chief of The Washington Times in March 1985, believe McCain’s recent widely-publicized Middle East and European trip with Lieberman, Connectict independent, signaled that a possible McCain-Lieberman ticket is shaping up. On the other hand, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s endorsement of McCain and nationally televised press conference, after the two GOP presidential hopefuls went at it hammer-and-tong in the Republican presidential primary campaign, may change the dynamics by bringing a younger, conservative proven government executive of a liberal state into the picture. Tongues are already wagging that Romney, a multi-billionaire business executive raised in Michigan, might make a better VP running-mate to shore up McCain’s lack of government or business executive experience. Romney, a Mormon, is loved by conservative Republicans, more glamorous and articulate than Lieberman, a terrific campaigner, and Romney unquestionably would fire up the Republican political base. Lieberman, on the other hand, has been a moderating voice in the United States Senate since he left the Democratic Party and was-re-elected to the as an independent –- although he still caucuses with Senate Democrats.  Lieberman is Jewish and very popular with that important segment of the electorate and business community. Lieberman is more seasoned on national and global policy issues than eith McCain or Romney. than McCain, but would have to move further right to energize the Republican base during the general election. However, that be dangerous politically, because that would turn off moderate independent and Democratic voters who McCain as GOP presidential candidate must have to win the White House in November for the next four years starting next January, and maybe another four years thereafter. De Borchgrave, one of the finest world-class journalists, saw Lieberman’s global trip with McCain, where he was shown right at the Arizona senator’s shoulder in every camera shot, as highly revealing.  He wrote that the “yarmulke gesture” sent an important signal or many Mideast bloggers and “was proof McCain would be even less inclined than President Bush to coax/cajole/pressure Israel into the kind of concessions that would make a Palestinian state possible. “To understand the chasm between mainstream media and the blogosphere,” de Borchgrave noted. “Lewis Carroll's ‘Through the Looking Glass’ is a helpful guide. Tweedledum and Tweedledee, they are not. But they are frequently fact and factoid (an invented fact that is taken to be true because of its appearance in print). And many blogs have achieved the status of print by virtue of the fact that countless millions get their news online. The average age of a newspaper reader is 55. Onliners? Try 30…. “McCain also fueled the speculation [of Lieberman as his possible choice as VP running-mate] when he said Jerusalem was to remain the indivisible capital of the Jewish state and that Israel must not be asked for anything that might jeopardize its security. Without a Palestinian capital in Arab East Jerusalem, no Palestinian leader could sign a peace agreement -- and expect to stay alive. “Anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic epithets flooded the blogs, a lethal blend of extremist outbursts from the far right to the far left, e.g., ‘Hitler saw the tremendous danger posed to Germany by communism’ and ‘although Jews formed less than 5 percent of Russia 's population, they formed more than 50 percent of its revolutionaries.’ Or, ‘the major role Jewish leaders played in the November (Russian) revolution was probably more important than any other factor in confirming (Hitler's) anti-Semitic beliefs.’ Holocaust deniers, along with those who say the six million Jewish victims of Hitler's death camps were wildly exaggerated, get a free ride in the blogosphere. “Another free-fire zone among the millions of blogs is the notion that Bush will have one last throw of the geopolitical dice by bombing Iran 's nuclear facilities. Vice President Dick Cheney, on his most recent trip to the Middle East, left little doubt he believes the Iranian mullahs have resumed their nuclear quest after a brief interruption following the U.S. invasion of Iraq . "Tehran ran scared in the spring of 2003 and concluded Iran might be next on Bush's hit list. That fear subsided quickly as the insurgency, stoked in part by Iranian Revolutionary Guard agents, spread all over Iraq . Cheney indicated clandestine lethal aid from Iran was still continuing. “General David Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq, went one better when he said the Easter Sunday rocket-and-mortar barrage against Baghdad 's Green Zone was made possible by Iran providing the rockets -- in complete violation of promises made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other most senior Iranian leaders to their Iraqi counterparts. “And if Bush doesn't order the bombing of Iran , bloggers write matter-of-factly, McCain, as president, will not hesitate. Both McCain and Lieberman have said on separate occasions that there is only one thing worse than bombing Iran -- and that's Iran with nuclear weapons. Bombing thus becomes the lesser of two evils. “Blogs also speculate on whether one Iranian nuclear weapon against Tel Aviv would knock out the state of Israel . Blog opinion is evenly divided between those who say Israel could not survive such a blow and those who say Iran would be pulverized by nuclear retaliation from Israel and the United States , and the Western world would coalesce around an Israeli reconstruction effort. “Important pieces of the Mideast jigsaw fail to make it into mainstream media but can be found online. The United Arab Emirates-based newspaper Gulf News said last week that with Bush in office Washington is effectively maintaining low-intensity warfare with Iran and the potential exists to ratchet it up to more open hostilities. Recurring visits by Cheney and McCain to Iraq and Israel, added Gulf News, are 'surely not "coincidences" but a means to ensure Israel remains fully in the picture for any plans the U.S. could have against Iran.' “The latest iterations about Iran's nuclear ambitions are seen by Arab blogs as a pretext for fresh adventurism in the region, bearing in mind that Iraq has now suddenly taken a turn for the worst and Afghanistan isn't faring well either. Arab media speculate the Bush administration may feel engaging the United States militarily in Iran is its only option for seeing a Republican president elected in November. “Blogs -- factoid or fact? -- quote an aide to Cheney saying the United States will need the cooperation of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey to mount air attacks on Iran. Blogs, newspapers, radio, television, all in fierce competition, al-Jazeera's forced competition in the Iraqi war zone, imams double-shifting as spies, thousands of volunteer Pakistani spooks for temporary duty in Afghanistan , and it soon becomes multi-dimensional chess. “Reporting these days requires speed reading -- and what Hemingway called a bullfeathers detector.” As always, Arnaud de Borchgrave understands the dynamics of the unfolding politics in the U.S. presidential campaign, and the volatile global scene that requires a very strong next administration to protect and advance U.S. interests on both economic and national security fronts.