Quick Links (Obama Edition)

by hilzoy

Some interesting pieces:

(1) Spencer Ackerman has a very good piece on Obama's foreign policy team:

"They also share a formative experience with each other and with Obama. Each opposed the Iraq War at a time when doing so was derided by their colleagues, by journalists, and by the foreign-policy establishment. Each did so because they understood that the invasion and occupation ran counter to the goal of destroying al-Qaeda. And each bore the frustration of endless lectures on their lack of so-called seriousness from those who suffered from strategic myopia.

"There is a popular notion that Democrats have to try to appear like Republicans to pass some test on national security. The fact that that's still the case after Iraq is absurd," says one of Obama's closest advisers. "So you break from that orthodoxy and say 'I don't care if the Republicans attack me because I'm willing to meet with the leadership in Iran. We haven't for 25 years, and it's not gotten us anywhere.'" (...)

The Obama foreign-policy team describes it as "the politics of fear," a phrase most advisers used unprompted in our conversations. "For a long time we've not seen much creative thinking from Dems on national security, because, out of fear, we want to be a little different from the Republicans but not too different, out of fear of being labeled weak or indecisive," another top adviser says. Identifying that fear as the accelerant of the Iraq War mind-set is the first step to a new and innovative foreign policy. John Kerry was not able to argue for fundamental change in foreign policy because he was consumed by that very political fear. Obama's admonition to Democrats is much like Pope John Paul II's to the Gdansk shipyard strikers -- first, be not afraid."

(2) Barron YoungSmith has written a piece about Obama's proposals for intelligence reform. I'm not competent to address those proposals, but they are interesting:

"One of Obama's most important attempts to roll back the Bush administration's foreign policy is also among the least understood. It is his proposal for intelligence reform. Obama's rebuke to conservative orthodoxy on this issue can be found buried in a Q&A and complementary article published earlier this month in the Washington Post: "Obama repeated his pledge to end the Bush administration's 'politicization of intelligence' and said he would give the director of national intelligence--who currently serves at the pleasure of the president--a fixed term, similar to that of the Federal Reserve chairman."

It's common for Democrats to promise an end to Bush-style politicization of intelligence. But the way that Obama frames the issue--likening the DNI to the independent, technocratic Chairman of the Federal Reserve--indicates that his view of the intelligence process is ontologically opposed to the way conservatives see it. (...) In saying the DNI should be like the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, (rather than, say, the Secretary of Defense, who always serves at the pleasure of the President), the candidate is throwing his weight behind the idea that the intelligence community (IC) should be an independent assessor of empirically-verifiable facts; that intelligence assessment is a non-ideological exercise in finding out what's true and what's not."

(3) Every so often I criticize various media outlets for not doing their job. I am thrilled, for once, to be able to say: thank you, Roland Martin of CNN, for posting audio of Rev. Wright's 9/11 sermon and the sermon in which he said "God Damn America," along with extensive excerpts and summaries. (I have listened to the second of the two, and the summary is accurate, though it does give short shrift to the beginning, which is completely non-political. Brief version: you all remember the verse, 'Jesus Wept'. In that verse, he was weeping because Lazarus had died. This is a purely personal pain. By contrast, in the verse under discussion (Luke 19:37-44), he is weeping because His people are blind to "the things that make for peace." -- The CNN summary more or less starts with the discussion of this blindness, omitting the part about Jesus and Lazarus. I assume this is because this part has no conceivable political importance. The rest is accurate and detailed.)

It's worth reading the summaries, whatever your view on the sermons, just to get a sense of what, exactly, is under discussion. Good for CNN for making them available.

Comments

[felix culpa]

Throwing in another recommendation; Robert Wright and Robert Reich (Clinton’s Sec. of Labor), “The Bobs Show”. Fiscal crisis, campaign conduct. Reich delightfully unassuming. Recommended. Here.">http://">Here.

[KCinDC]

Discussion of Wright by certain other people, on the other hand, has veered in unbelievable directions.

[Jake]

Sullivan has a quote from Hillary Clinton's pastor on Reverend Wright:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/03/quote-for-th-33.html

I doubt it's something the Clinton campaign would like to see broadcast.

[Jake]

Let's try that link again:

[KCinDC]

Here's the link, Jake. I don't think it's correct to call Snyder "Hillary Clinton's pastor". The Clintons attended Foundry United Methodist Church fairly often while Bill was president (I know because I was attending during that time), but the pastor at that time was J. Philip Wogaman. I don't think the Clintons have been there much, if at all, since then. From what I know of Wogaman, though, I imagine he'd have similar thoughts on Wright.

[Jake]

Thanks KC. I know the html so I'm not sure what happened.

Indeed Sully indicated as much with respect to Hill's attendance at the church.

There's also a letter written into the Chicago Trib recently by a white member of Trinity:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0326trinitymar26,0,2414760.story

link

[KCinDC]

Denise Clapsaddle, a pastor, draws a parallel between the Wright situation and the controversy about Wogaman as Bob Dole's pastor in 1996. Bizarrely, she doesn't mention that the Clintons were also going to the church at the time.

[farmgirl]

as a pure exercise in phonetics, "Clapsaddle" is a very satisfying word.

[felix culpa]

Great links, KC and Jake.

[Chris]

Excellent post!!! For those who could hear...it was heard loud and clear and was a call to action. For those who could see..it forced us to look within. For those who could still feel...it touched our hearts. To the others...well... my pastor use to say "ain't nobody mad but the devil."
Thanks

[felix culpa]

Thank you so much hilzoy for this post and these links.
I’m glad for all the stupid fuss and bumbling outrage, because many more people will hear these recordings.
—Not that that will end the stupidity. I noted that some of the first comments on the site were still pushing bull-headed bullcrap.
Anyway, I needed it. Familiar personal darkness descending, and these were words of encouragement and consolation for me.
Bless you.

[hilzoy]

felix: I hope the darkness is brief, and not too dark. Thanks.