Hurricanes, Politicians and Elections..by Jamil Shawwa

With the lack of preparations and unpredictability of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina still in mind, Hurricane Sandy could not have chosen a “better” time than now to land; at the height  and final days of the presidential elections.

The country for days has been talking and getting ready and preparing for the huge landfall, that it put the best “reception” possible to face an adversary that the US cannot defend or marginalize or prevent. But it could minimize its damage, both human and physical.

Picture Credits: Reuters

President Obama and his challenger former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney put on their best behavior, Romney disappeared, cancelled all campaigning and the president did the same but also made a statement and a TV briefing and asked the country to obey evacuation orders where warranted and needed. He stressed the coordination with states governors and local authorities and appeared comforting and presidential to a population that is in panic- Indirectly Obama showed America the much needed federal government in times of distress, a federal government that Romney wants to minimize and cut.

They both stopped being the attack dogs, for now, for couple of days until Sandy moves on and takes off again or just heads to ocean and disappear. So the worst hurricane in over 80 years is bringing the best of America and the country is facing it with humility that it did not face Katrina and with a bow to nature that the superpower is not used to have when dealing with an adversary.

Also on http://www.wespeaknews.com/politics/hurricanes-politicians-and-elections-108064.html

*Hamas: Enemy Number One...by Jamil Shawwa

Away from the name calling that probably best describes Hamas and its “wars”; and in depth analysis in its today’s actions could sound a little more focused.

Why would Hamas all of sudden and in the verge of the biggest holiday following the pilgrimage season, fire rockets at the neighboring Israeli towns and cities.

What triggered this out of the blues, yet not an unusual action by Hamas. The Emir of Qatar just visited , and started projects worth around 250 million dollars As news reported that will enhance the much historically depressed Gaza Strip , the Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt showed willingness to open the borders, people started to hope for some peaceful time to work and build, so again why.

There is no other than the usual political maneuvers that for decades sat back the Palestinians away from their dream state in Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas though while terrorizing its people in Gaza; it’s terrorizing the people of the neighboring Israel and in the same time helping the Israeli military to test its new Missile defence interception system called the Iron Dome- the Israelis have to defend their people, unlike Hamas that kills its people.

So according to Hamas actions and rockets, it is waging two wars, a war against the Palestinian  people in Gaza and simultaneously another war against the people of the State of Israel . By bombing Israeli towns, Hamas triggers a response which is the right of countries to defend their citizens which is what Israel doing. Again, based on its actions, Hamas is an enemy state not only to Israel but also to the Palestinians in Gaza. The time is now for the people of Gaza to revolt and throw out their enemies; Hamas.

Picture is courtesy of BBC

Also on: http://www.wespeaknews.com/politics/hamas-enemy-number-one-106606.html

Mitt Romney; A dangerous Choice For America...by Jamil Shawwa

The more Mitt Romney gets exposed, and it takes guts to get him where he has no choice but to show the real him, and where he stands on policies and plans, the more we know more about who he is , and how he thinks, and how he looks at other people and other cultures. And the more we know, the more we get to realize how dangerous he is to America and Americans. Mitt Romney's style throughout the two debates with president Obama indirectly has focused on one thing , not a plan for America, not a clear choice policy to show how he can turn things around for America, but on "I'm the opposite of Obama, I'm the all American, I'm the blue blooded American and Obama is the “foreigner”. Romney's style and words have been so vague as to what he intends to do and how he is going to do it except for one thing he was clear in showing; he is the opposite of Obama not on policy but on heritages and looks. Romney rallied a base that consists of course of good Americans but also it consists of hateful Americans, those Americans that still look and call Obama a Muslim- as if it is a curse- they call  him a foreigner, they say that he was not born in America, and as someone who looks like him that should not be in the White House. The Romney campaign has been running ads and commercials warning employees that if Obama is elected,that they will lose their jobs. That campaign that is still running cannot be called anything but a smear and fear campaign that could mount to blackmailing the voters and if it was done by regular individuals, those perpetrators could be convicted in a court of law. During the whole campaign Romney never talked clearly on policy-I do not think any major newspaper could freely endorse Romney for the simple reason the *Ohio paper mentioned ; we do not know which Romney to endorse Unless you are a Republican voting along party lines, endorsing Romney is risky- but on who is in the White House now and who really should be there. During the  debate with Obama, Romney pointed at the president few times to make the above case, that Obama is “not one of us”, indirectly of course, he sounded like the death doctor Kevorkian who killed people claiming that he was curing them from chronic pain. Romney pointed at the president and said Foreign to describe his plan, the president’s plan, to move the economy forward, and pointed at the president while talking  about his “Welsh heritage”- he did not mention his African or Asian heritage, I looked at it as if he was trying to kill two birds with one stone, patronizing the president and showing his “un american” ,from his views, heritage, and then instead of using the politically acceptable terms of Middle Eastern and South American oil , he said " Arabs and Venezuelan oil”. Now, I'm not reading too much into this because I'm an  Arab American , I'm reading into this because I'm an all American and see how dangerous and ethnically divisive the Republican party campaign has been this elections. The strategists at the Republican party knew that if they have any chance to win this one, it would be by playing on the distinction, ethnically , between the two. Some among them still blame the McCain 2008 campaign for not “smartly playing” the race card.


* Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial board endorsing causioulsy Mitt Romney
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/10/on_the_basis_of_sound_leadersh.html

Egypt’s Friday Morning Movement Party..by Jamil Shawwa

I cannot help but to see a birth of a new political party in the Middle East, in Egypt, that should be called the “Friday Morning Movement party”.

It is a party that ended thousands of years of dictatorship and now is trying to make the case and put the pressure on the winning party in the last elections, the Muslim Brotherhood, not to turn Egypt, in the name of Islam , into another dictatorship but this time a religious and not as it has been, a military dictatorship.

In the Name of Islam, a sentiment that is so high and deep in the Egyptian mind but in the same time, not a sentiment that the Egyptians, many of them, are willing to condone or have it employed politically.

The Friday party does not have leaders , does not have a central committee, it’s a mixture of Egypt’s society, all religions and political affiliations, social and economic classes. The back to back Friday demonstrations -they have become a way of life in Cairo-could result in the birth of a political movement if leaders are found to lead and inspire and provide programs, on target programs, that can reach the average Egyptian and relate to them.  

I understand that many Egyptians are complaining and even frustrated of these Friday protests, but to me, they are starting to look like a significant political movement, and not only a one time historic event,  that want to put  pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood and become parallel to it- even when some of the protesters actually voted for the Brotherhood in the last parliamentary and presidential elections.

The Egyptians by nature are moderates in their beliefs , in general, a peaceful people and they have proved it when they led the Arab countries in the Middle East towards peace with Israel and moving towards establishing a state for the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Unlike the savagery of the Syrian, the Lebanese , and  the Iraqi political systems, Egypt stands out historically as a civil country with civility in transitioning powers , even from dictatorship to democracy.

*picture is via Ahram online.

The Comeback Kid; Obama Fights Back..by Jamil Shawwa

Here is a breaking story; Obama won this one, not exactly a knockout, but he won it. He sounded a leader, confident and on target with style and performance. Romney lost big, and if Obama attacked his record more, Romney would have collapsed completely. The details are as follow:
President Obama was on target tonight during the debate with Mitt Romney, Not only did he defend his record as president but he went after Mitt Romney’s record during the Republican party primaries and after winning the nomination of the Republican party and discredited his change of words and positions to fit the different moments.

He put Romney on the defensive and forced the big one; making Romney talk about the specifics of his plan to recover the economy, on taxes and jobs creation which Romney still could not defend nor was he able or willing to go into details.

On Libya, president Obama discredited what Romney claimed that Obama did not call the attack on Benghazi as a terror act, it turned to be that Obama did call it a terror attack the following morning and the moderator of the debate tonight, Candy Crowley, backed Obama on that score.

Mr. Romney kept saying that we need to elect him because he can do a better job, but refused to talk details. I conclude with the words of John Kerry, the Senator from Massachusetts, when he said that tonight president Obama overwhelmed Mitt Romney.

Also on WSN: http://www.wespeaknews.com/politics/the-comeback-kid-obama-fights-back-104399.html?fb_action_ids=502204016465577&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Hillary’s Confession..by Jamil Shawwa

Hillary Clinton’s statement which was a confession more than an answer to a question about the circumstances surrounding the attack and the murder of the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, showed a rise in the seriousness and the tension of the debate going on in the US now about how the US failed to provide any serious protection to a place that everyone who knows anything about Libya and Benghazi knew it was so unpredictable. Hillary Clinton in an interview today while visiting Peru took full responsibility for the attack, she said that she is the top person at the State Department and takes responsibility  for what happened to the ambassador. Hillary’s confession came 24 hours before the second debate of president Obama with the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney which will take place today. The ambassador's murder has been touted among Republicans and the Republican nominee and was expected that Mitt Romney would bring it up in the debate today although the murdered ambassador's father pled to the candidates not to make the murder of his son a campaign issue.. The confession also took place while Darrell Issa, the House Oversight Committee is preparing to initiate an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killings. So Hillary needed to step in for the boss, Obama, and the least to do was to say; I Confess....

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and the peace with the State of Israel by Jamil Shawwa

The Muslim Brotherhood leader in Egypt, Mohamed Badie. equivalent-more or less- to Iran’s Supreme leader, declared today with no provocation or reason, That Israel only knows the language of force and attacked verbally Israel and the Jewish people. The Egyptian president, Morsi, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, whose leader technically is the president’s boss, has been facing multiple domestic issues pertaining to what many Egyptians believe, his broken promises that in the first 100 days of his tenure, he would move Egypt forward on all levels. But instead, the Egyptian president and the group he belongs to, the Muslim Brotherhood, have been moving Egypt backward.

First, couple of days ago, he fired the Attorney general, then later he found out that under the current Egyptian constitution he cannot do the firing and retracted today after demonstration in El Tahrir square, and now his boss at the Muslim Brotherhood, to divert attention, came to the rescue, and of course could not find any issue to tackle and solve inside Egypt, that he directed his attention, the wrong direction as usual, towards Israel, hoping that the simple people, that he believes, the majority of the Egyptians belong to, would give him some “credibility”.

Now, it is obvious that he is using a language that only brought disastrous consequences on Egypt. Egypt should move beyond Nasser’s 1950s and the 1960s demagoguery slogans that made Egypt lose its dignity before losing its assets, to the 2012, to today. Meaning, Egyptian politicians and so called religious/political leaders, who inject maliciously and intentionally the peace with the State of Israel which is the way of now and in the future, in any campaign and domestic problems, should be exposed and dropped, it is as easy as dropping an empty plastic cup, in the recycle bin, I do not want to say the trash can.

The path to building Sinai and keeping it clean from terrorists and infiltrators and smugglers, does not pass through Israel, it passes through a democratic, transparent and credible government in Cairo. In the same token, a Palestinian State in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is now the responsibility of the Israelis and the Palestinians and no one else.

Egypt’s grand movement towards peace is a not a campaign slogan, but it is the normal and the only way for every and any country in the Middle East. The New Middle East will witness a Palestinian State in The West Bank and Gaza and will witness a Jerusalem, the city of peace, as an open city for all and a capital for both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine, in the West Bank and Gaza.

Biden’s Bite

Biden’s style has always helped him, and he proved to be the best Obama could have gotten as a running mate and as number two. This is Biden’s territory to support number one and in doing so, he is bringing some zest to an Obama that all of a sudden got stale, timid and scared.

During the debate with Paul Ryan yesterday, Biden attacked and attacked and attacked while keeping his cool, his smiles, and his occasional laughs and smirks; and this is what the pros in politics do. In just three weeks to the big day of elections day, the debates proved detrimental to the Obama campaign because Obama did not deliver on 10/03/2012 debate while having the agenda to deliver. Paul Ryan yesterday from the first moment appeared scared and frightened by Biden’s demeanor and personality and reputation, he finished his glass of water by the end of the debate while Biden kept going with no sips of water or rests- as if he were on a mission from higher powers or something.

During the debate, Ryan talked about themes, but no details, and even when he was pressed on details of his and Romney’s across the board 20% tax cut, he could not explain it. While talking about Afghanistan, Ryan could not tell us how and when he intends to manage the war or the withdrawal.

So far we did not hear specifics from the Romney Ryan ticket, we only heard appeals to the American people to give them a chance and they will do something better, They both are looking for a blank check, a check written to bearer, with the amount but with no address. The media after the debate by large went smoothly on Ryan’s style, talked about that he did not collapse before Biden, and some pundits even considered it as a triumph, others, very few, said it as it was, a clear win for Biden on substance and performance.

On the other hand, during the Obama Romney debate everyone talked performance and how Obama got his behind kicked, and now for the Biden Ryan debate, everyone all of sudden is talking substance, no performance, and how Ryan held his grounds. Regardless, it is now or never for Obama to deliver on the 10/16/2012 debate with Mitt Romney, otherwise, probably, he will either have a tremendous hard ballot box day on 11/06/2012 or lose altogether, and if he lost, it would be because he lost, and not that Romney won.

In the picture, Vice President Joe Biden and Republican vice presidential nominee Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin shake hands after the vice presidential debate at Centre College, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, in Danville, Kentucky. (AP Photo/Pool-Michael Reynolds)

Mitt Romney; Performance Vs. Policy and Record by Jamil Shawwa

During a speech today that intended to outline his foreign policy and provides some credibility and credentials to his foreign affairs stature , Mitt Romney, the Republican  candidate for president of the United States, accused president Obama of “not doing enough” to keep America strong and said that “hope” is not an effective policy. Romney also said that Obama tried but that it was not enough and the time is now for change.  The whole Romney campaign right at this moment  is built not on  the previous theme " are you better off " because America on record is actually better off now than it was in 2008, but on a new theme that his team created just before and during and after his Performance with president Obama on the 10/03/2012 debate, which revolves  around a more attractive concept to certain sectors of America and especially undecided voters; " president Obama tried but failed, Obama tried but it was not enough and now it's time for change " . Romney is energized, as he should be, by his performance on that  October 3 debate against president Obama that his team is building a last minute, final hour , high noon, you name it, campaign that is so clever and so fluid and so misleading that is so dangerous for Obama  because its hard to attack or target or discredit-because it does not exist. With Romney’s, everything is changeable, his positions on anything is like fast food chains and disposable diapers. Quick and fast and ready as needed to use and throw and replace. I do not recall a debate in recent history not since the famous Kennedy Nixon debate in 1960 that had such effect on voters as the one Romney had with Obama on October third. Romney wants to be president and it shows and this is important in politics even if you are not very likable as most polls show Romney. And if you are likable and ahead in polls and has the right policies and the economy on your side like Obama , but you are not persistent and vigor in wanting the job and showing it and bragging about it, then probably the job will slip away. I mean I'm amazed, everything on record shows that Obama should have smooth sailing towards the shores  of 11/06/2012; job market that is best in 44 months according to the September Labor department report, housing, auto , financial on the rebound , outside the US, few setbacks but overall steady and strong policies and achievements  with one major setback and exception , the killing of the ambassador in Libya. So if Romney wins this upcoming November elections,  it would be because Obama failed in the debates and the performance and not because he failed on policy or record.

Obama Lost and Drifted; Could He be Found by Jamil Shawwa

Yesterday's debate between Obama and Romney revealed on purpose or not an Obama that showed  itself before; scared, timid, and not himself or maybe his true self.

Instead of taking the fight to Romney and making a case to the American people that is already clear to them; Romney took the fight to him, as  the Washington Post headline articulated it this morning.


There are three explanations to Obama's performance yesterday:


1- he was overloaded by tips and advices from his staff, that he looked as he was on some sort of drugs.


2-His debates mate rehearsal spelled a curse on him, a joke somehow, but John Kerry, the former presidential nominee that lost to George w. Bush in 2004, is not like Mitt Romney , and if we go by this reason, obviously missed the trend that almost every American knows except for Obama and staff camp, it seems, which is that Romney's vagueness on numbers and other issues all along the campaign, was his style so he can be fluid and waffle and switch, which exactly what he did yesterday. Nothing should have come new to the Obama's campaign, Romney, based on record, is an open book, and he proved it yesterday.

*In a 1994's debate with the late Senator Ted Kennedy, Romney with Kennedy was like Obama to Romney last night; shaky, tired, timid, and disoriented and waffling and changing positions to fit the moment. Kennedy said then what Obama should have said yesterday, It is the same style and it was a Romney’s stamp.  Kennedy told Romney then that the problem is not that he has one choice but that he has  multiple choices, that he keeps changing positions and sarcastically told the American people that even he, Romney, could vote for him, Kennedy, if the election to last longer. Kennedy went after that and won the race and kept his family long kept and held Massachusetts  senate seat.


3- it was Obama that likes to lose the first round, likes to have his opponent appears the victor on the first round, like to look temporarily as the underdog, the underachiever. It happened with McCain  in the 2008 first debate, after that Biden did well against Sarah Palin in the vice presidential  debates and then Obama had a comeback against McCain and won the elections.

The second debate with Romney will for sure tell us  which Obama, among the above Three Obamas, Obama will be...




*http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/politics/2012/09/04/dnc-1994-romney-kennedy-debate.cnn.html
The Kennedy -Romney debate of 1994.