One year in, what has President Obama accomplished in US foreign assistance? So far, we’ve seen a lot of delays and a handful of promises. They’re good promises, but it’s going to take at least another year before we see how well those promises are kept.
The Delays
As President Obama heads to Capitol Hill tonight to deliver the State of the Union address, one thing is clear: in both rhetoric and deed, President Obama has fundamentally shifted the direction of American foreign policy. He has summoned bedrock progressive principals to re-calibrate America’s role in the world. Through a policy of engagement with international institutions and cooperation abroad, the administration has racked up an impressive set of foreign policy achievements after just one year.
Frankly, I'm sick of hearing "it's the economy, stupid," both the medium and the message. Yes, it was a catchy Carville phrase 18 years ago, but, in the meantime, it's lost its luster being uttered by every talking head and tucked into every blog post each time any elected official shows any sign of being politically confused. I get it. It's no longer a fresh idea; it's a crutch used to embody a stale philosophy when one's got nothing new to say.
Members of the U.S.
Senator Chris Dodd announced today that he will not be running for re-election as U.S. Senator from Connecticut. Dodd was first elected to the Senate in 1980, and in during his 30 year career on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he emerged as one of the more thoughtful voices of constructive U.S.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is mandating that airline passengers from a few countries will be selected for special screening. From the Washington Post:
Five Republican members of Congress penned a letter to Ugandan President Yoweri Mouseveni urging him to do everything within his constitutional authority to stop legislation that would criminalize homosexuality, sometimes under the penalty of death, from being enacted in Uganda. The signatories, Representatives Chris Smith, Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts, Trent Franks and Anh "Joseph" Cao are conservative, members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and self-proclaimed "men of faith."
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding its nomination hearing on USAID Administrator-designate Rajiv Shah today. You can watch it live, online, on the newly redesigned website of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (welcome out of the 1990s, guys!) In all seriousness, this is the first opportunity for an in-depth query of someone who is a relatively unknown entity.
Yesterday afternoon the Senate defeated an amendment to the Veterans Affairs funding bill that would have taken money U.S. contributions to UN peacekeeping and other UN programs to offset costs for extended benefits to U.S. Veterans. The amendment, which was sponsored by Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn, was defeated by a 66-32 vote. Nine Republicans voted to defeat the amendment, and one Democrat (Evan Bayh of Indiana), voted in favor.
