SAIGONBOB

CNN vs. MSNBC on Mumbai Disaster

     I'm a pretty big fan of MSNBC News, but I have to admit, when it came down to live coverage of the first night and day of the Mumbai terrorist attack....MSNBC was out to lunch.
     CNN had live and "hot" coverage of the ongoing tragedy, while MSNBC showed men in prison...in lock-up.
     For some reason, not explained, by Friday, India did not allow CNN to receive satellite coverage.
    I can only assume that the authorities were upset by the coverage.....which usually translates into...they were doing their job.
     The various CNN anchors did a bang-up job in interviewing counter-terrorist experts,  FBI, and specialists from India and the US State Department.
    When it came to "men in the street" interviews, at the scene of the tragedy, we were introduced to the frightening, first hand accounts of the battle.
     One CNN correspondent was laying on the ground, near the Taj hotel, while reporting on the situation.
     There was gunfire in the background.
     Visually, we were introduced to "Google Earth" and given a very accurate sample of where the terrorists were active.
     I have to hand it to CNN---their reporters and anchors did a great job.
    Thanks for reading:
    Bob Kholos
   
   

Does the Obama "Effect" Lay Rest to the "Bradley Effect?"

     Maury Weiner, the former Chief of Staff and Deputy Mayor to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley,
has a few last words to say about the "Bradley Effect."
     Mr. Weiner, is a man with extraordinary campaign organizational abilities, and he first ran the difficult campaign for Mayor in 1969, where everyone was surprised that Councilman Bradley came in first in the primary, but lost in the general election to a bitter, race-baiting incumbent Mayor, by just a couple of points.
     In a majority "white" voting city, and a year after the volatility of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and Senator Robert Kennedy----with riots in the streets......Maury Weiner did the almost impossible....making Bradley a viable Black candidate against a white power structure.
      This lead to the victory by Bradley over the same incumbent, four years later-- during the summer of 1973.
     As we watch President-elect Obama put together his transition team, here is Maury Weiner's take on the "Bradley Effect" and the background of some misinformation about the issue: 

    
The so-called Bradley effect was identified in Bradley's first gubernatorial
campaign against George Deukmejian. As you may recall, Bradley went into that
Election Day
with a lead in the Poll that most politically minded people were following.
However, the most decisive reason that contributed to the coining of the phrase
"the Bradley
Effect" was the publicizing of the results of an Exit Poll taken as people left
their polling place the night of the election. That poll demonstrated that most
people who were
questioned said they had voted for Bradley. And yet, the official tally,
revealed just a few hours later, showed that Deukmejian, the white Republican
candidate,
won the election, not Bradley, the Black Democratic candidate.

Therefore, many people jumped to the conclusion that some white voters felt
guilty about their votes for the candidate they felt was less qualified
(Deukmejian) and lied
to the pollster about their vote.

Subsequent information suggests that while some (relatively small number of
voters may have been embarrassed by their actual vote for the Republican
candidate), there
was not a significant number of lying voters. We learned in subsequent tallies,
that, of those voters who actually voted on Election Day, a majority did vote
for
Bradley. But, the absentee ballots went overwhelmingly for Deukmejian. Also,
there was a Gun Control issue on the same ballot that helped to pull out every
possible Republican vote, thus maximizing their turnout in a close election.

In retrospect, it is possible to reverse the original Bradley Effect
interpretation. Based on the fact that Bradley was elected three times as a
City Council member
in a mostly white Council district, and that Bradley was subsequently elected a
record five consecutive times as Mayor of the mostly white Los Angeles, a record
that is
likely to stand for all time, it seems more accurate to report that the Bradley
Effect is that more and more voters of all and any backgrounds learned, during
the Bradley years to vote for the best qualified candidate regardless of color.
That is the lasting lesson of the Bradley Effect. It is the great lesson of the
Bradley Effect that ultimately gave us the election of Barack Obama as
President of the United States.  (by Maury Weiner)

Thanks for reading:
Bob Kholos
     

President-Elect Obama: Standing On LBJ's Shoulders: Luci Baines Johnson

      

The youngest daughter of President Lyndon Johnson, wrote a wonderful editorial on the CNN website, about her father's influence on electing Barack Obama for President of the US.
       Of course she credits the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr, as having a major impact on civil rights.  But, she correctly points out that LBJ knew that if he pushed the Civil Rights Voting Act, the Democratic Party would lose the "South" for a generation.
       Below, is her commentary:

      

By Luci Baines Johnson
Special to CNN

Editor's Note: Luci Baines Johnson is the younger daughter of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th president of the United States. She is chairman of LBJ Asset Management Partners, Inc. and vice president of BusinessSuites, a nationwide office business service center. She also serves as a trustee of Boston University. She has four grown children, Lyndon, Nicole, Rebekah and Claudia, one stepson, Stuart, and eleven grandchildren.

Luci Baines Johnson says her father's dream was to give everyone the opportunity to achieve.

(CNN) -- Forty-four years ago on November 2, 1964, I returned to Austin, Texas, with my parents and gave my last campaign speech at a rally in front of the Texas Capitol.

After campaigning in 26 states for five months I never got to vote for Daddy on November 3 -- I was just 16 and too young to vote.

My father's dream was to open the doors of opportunity to all Americans regardless of the color of their skin or the quantity of their pocketbook.

On November 4, Barack Obama made good on those dreams. He walked through the doors of opportunity -- flung open by Lyndon Baines Johnson, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the millions of men and women who supported the Great Society -- and succeeded because of the "content of his character, not the color of his skin."

When Daddy signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act into law, he said he feared he was handing his beloved South over to the Republican Party for a generation, but if that was the price he had to pay for social justice he gladly did it. Sadly it's been more than a generation since he said those prophetic words.

I never got the chance to vote for my father. But when I cast my vote for Barack Obama, I was casting a vote to support the same causes of social justice and equal opportunity to quality education, decent health care and a clean environment for all Americans that Daddy and the supporters of the "Great Society" worked so hard on and achieved so much for.

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As I cast my vote, I could hear Daddy's words to the Congress about the Voting Rights Act, recalled in his memoir "The Vantage Point," ringing in my ear.

"Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but it is really all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice, and we shall overcome."

On November 5, I stood in my office with one Jew, one naturalized American, one Catholic, four Protestant women, two white and two black. Among them was a McCain supporter. We joined arms and sang:

"We shall stand together

We shall stand together

We shall stand together now

Deep in my heart I do believe

We shall overcome someday"

Election Night 2008 we overcame.

I am so grateful to have lived to see that night. I just wish Mamma and Daddy and the President-elect's parents and grandparents had that opportunity -- though, their heavenly "Vantage Point" must have given them the best view of all.

I thank God for all who helped Daddy's dreams for social justice become law. I thank the millions of Americans who helped President-elect Obama make those dreams come true.

And I pray that Americans will continue to stand together with our new president as he wrestles with the greatest problems of our time so he can make the dreams of a new generation come true too.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Luci Baines Johnson

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Obama's Treasury Appt.(Tim Geithner) Wakes Up Dow.

nIt was a boring day on Wall Street, with the market staying pretty even, most of the day, on Friday, Nov. 21, 2008----that was until, it was announced that Timothy Geithner, will be appointed by President-Elect Obama, as the Treasury Czar, in his new Cabinet. The Dow Jones Industrials rose over 400 points, after the announcement.  Who says," We only have one President at a time."   Timothy F. Geithner   Timothy F. Geithner became the ninth president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on November 17, 2003. In that capacity, he serves as the vice chairman and a permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the group responsible for formulating the nation's monetary policy. Mr. Geithner joined the Department of Treasury in 1988 and worked in three administrations for five Secretaries of the Treasury in a variety of positions. He served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 1999 to 2001 under Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers. He was director of the Policy Development and Review Department at the International Monetary Fund from 2001 until 2003. Before joining the Treasury, Mr. Geithner worked for Kissinger Associates, Inc. Mr. Geithner graduated from Dartmouth College with a bachelor’s degree in government and Asian studies in 1983 and from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies with a master’s in International Economics and East Asian Studies in 1985. He has studied Japanese and Chinese and has lived in East Africa, India, Thailand, China, and Japan. Mr. Geithner serves as chairman of the G-10’s Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems of the Bank for International Settlements. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Group of Thirty. He and his wife, Carole Sonnenfeld Geithner, have two children. July 2007 Thanks for reading: Bob Kholos

Should Exxon Bail Out GM?

    

Why should we, the taxpayer, bail out the Detroit Auto Makers, when Exxon and other oil companies have pulled down billions of dollars in profits?
     It is in the interest of the oil companies to have General Motors succeed and not go under.....because the fewer cars sold, the fewer gallons of gas will be pumped.
     You may say that, "fewer gallons pumped is a good thing."
     However, considering the Auto industry constitutes 25% of the American economy, it is in all of our interests to make sure they start making a profit again.
     They say that the American auto makers are really just an HMO corporation for their Union employees, and that providing health care is the reason they are going belly-up.
     If, the Obama health care package goes through congress, the reduced costs of employer provided medical insurance, may be a real boom for the Auto industry.
    So, taking the combination of the oil companies bailing out Detroit, and the Obama administration reducing the costs of medical insurance, around the country, could save the American taxpayer the 25 Billion dollars, the Auto companies want from you and I.
   Thanks for reading:
   Bob Kholos
     

Should Madeleine Albright be on Obama's Transition Team?

    

Madeleine Korbel Albright






     Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, will represent President Elect Barack Obama, at this weekend's Global Economic Summit.
     She will be there, along with Republican Jim Leach, as Obama's participants.
     But, should she be apart of the new Democratic regime?
     According to Washington Post editor and terrorism reporter, Karen DeYoung, who wrote a book about Colin Powell, titled "Soldier," Albright may not be Obama's best bet.
     In the book, she discusses Albright's management style as secretive, isolated, and even paranoid (my interpretation)
     It was impossible for lower eschelon staffer's to meet with her, because her door was always closed.
     When General Colin Powell took over as Secretary of State, he had an inclusive management style that shook up the Albright style, and opened the "door" of State, where he would have staff meetings every morning at 8 a.m.
     This was unheard of during the Madeleine Albright regime.
     This is why she may not fit in with the new style of politics, when the Obama forces step into power on Jan. 20, 2009.
      Thanks for reading:
     Bob Kholos
    
    

Obamas Visit President Bush and White House--The Power of Democracy

    

As Transfer of Power Begins, Obamas Visit White House

Doug Mills/The New York Times

President-elect Barack Obama and President Bush walked at the White House on Monday.

     While many countries in the world only change their political leadership by who has the most guns,
 we are so lucky, in America.
     When President George Washington voluntarily gave up the Executive, by serving only two terms, and gave us the new directive of a peaceful transfer of power, his legacy lives on with President George Bush, and Senator Barack Obama.
     President George W. Bush, and First Lady, Laura Bush, continued this classy act by showing no rancor, when greeting the new President-Elect.  In fact Mr. Bush created the proper atmosphere, when he held a public gathering of White House staff, and telling them to cooperate with the transfer of power, about to begin.
   The First Lady gave Mrs. Obama a first class tour of the White House, and showed where the bedrooms were set up for their young daughters.
   Not only has America voted for the first African-American for President of the United States, but now, with the world watching, we are showing our democratic power, by the peaceful transfer of power.
   I never liked George W. Bush's political policies, but he has showed me enough class in the last couple of weeks, to make sure he has left a positive legacy in the transfer of Presidential power.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  Thanks for reading:
  Bob Kholos

Will Rahm Emanuel be Obama's LBJ?

   

  Barack Obama's new Chief of Staff, knows how to count votes, and is a tough guy when it comes to pushing through legislation, like former President Lyndon Johnson.
     When President Obama takes office, just after noon, on January 20, 2009, he will have a "mandated" congress to support him.  Something not witnessed since LBJ in 1964, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933.
   Just look at the results:
    365 Obama electoral votes -- 57(+6) Democratic Senate seats -- 255(+20) Democratic House seats

   Will former Congressman, Emanuel, be able to swing enough votes, when the going gets tough, to push through Congress the new "Stimulus Package" which President Obama Wants?
    The late United States Senator, Frank Church (d-Id), told me one day, that LBJ used to say to him,
   "You don't have the guy's vote, unless you have his pecker in your front pocket."
    That was the attitude that created Medicare and civil rights legislation.
    It appears Rahm Emanuel is a little more polished than LBJ....but he has his dogged attitude when it comes to passing legislation.
    Getting the legislation through congress will take a lot of effort from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid...but much more important will be the "Smarts" by President Obama's new Chief of Staff.
   Thanks for reading:
   Bob Kholos

Is the "Bradley Effect" Dead?

    

I haven't seen the exact analysis of the "undecided" voter in the presidential campaign, but I believe the "Bradley Effect" 26 years after the fact, has finally been put to rest.
    The truth is that the Bradley campaign for Governor in 1982, was a poorly constructed campaign, where they thought they could just buy the TV commercial, not do grass roots, and win the election.
     That is probably the reason that Tom Bradley lost to the GOP nominee, in that contest.
     Of course, there is still bigotry and racism, but when a pollster calls for an opinion, it may be that most voters, are not afraid to say they are voting against the "Black guy" for office.
     The Obama for President vote, may show a new maturity in America, where it is the "Content of Character, not the color of the skin," that matters.
     Now, we can judge President Barack Obama on his performance as Chief Executive, and not based on his bi-racial makeup.
     Thanks for reading:
     Bob Kholos

Eugene Robinson's Parents: Washington Post

     Long-time, and respected Washington Post columnist, Eugene Robinson, has never been short on words or thought, when he appears daily on MSNBC.
     A product of segregated South Carolina schools, he has almost been speechless, just before and after the Obama landslide on Tuesday.
     Robinson is lucky, in that his parents are still living.
     His father is 92 years of age, and fought in a segregated Army unit, during World War II.
     The Post journalist's mother is in her 80's, and is also a product of the ugliness of so called "Southern Hospitality," growing up with "separate, but equal" society.
     Robinson has been struggling today, with a column he is writing tomorrow, based on the impact of the Barack Obama dramatic victory......or the new "line" that has been drawn in the history books, as Mr. Robinson has mentioned.
    I'm just a middle class white kid, who grew up with moderate parents in Los Angeles, in the 40's and 50's.   But, both my father and mother used to tell me stories of how entertainers like Nat King Cole, would sing in one Vegas hotel, but not allowed to stay overnight.  Vegas in the 50's was a segregated town.
   One time in our drive, my parents pointed out a hotel on the Vegas strip, where Cole took a dip in the pool before his act, and the hotel guests made them drain the pool.
  When I was drafted and served in Vietnam with the 4th Infantry Division, I was welcomed into the "Jim Crow" attitude of some soldiers, who harbored the same disgusting attitude about almost anyone different then them.
  When I drove to Ft. Hood, TX, I was amazed to stop at a dairy queen, in early 1966, and see a "Whites Only!" outside window.
  There are plenty of stories.....but for Eugene Robinson, I have one suggestion:
    Interview your parents and give us a feel for growing up prior to the Civil Rights era.
   Barack Obama is going to have to stand on his character during the tough times ahead, as President of the United States....not on the color of his skin. 
  Regardless, it would be a nice reminder, and an honorable thing to do, to let us know first hand the struggle of his parents in South Carolina.
   Thanks for Reading:
   Bob Kholos