SAIGONBOB

The Case of Robert Gibbs

 Robert Gibbs, who is the current Press Secretary to President Barack Obama, has been criticized, particularly on cable news, for his caustic comments about dealing with the new left within the democratic party. 

  As a former Press Secretary to Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley (his first--1973) i have been very impressed on how Gibbs handled himself on the campaign trail, as well as, in front of the White House press corps. 

There is a problem, however: The spokesperson for the President of the United States, must not get involved in controversy, which may overshadow the issues that, in this case, Mr. Obama is trying to get out to the public.  These distractions are bad for the Executive Branch.

It is not unusual, behind the scenes for politicians to be caustic and critical at their base.   I remember when California Speaker of the Assembly, Jesse Unruh, would regularly refer to the powerful l unions, who were a major basis of his support, as "labor fakers."  It was never for public consumption....but it was a way of releasing frustration for impossible demands by them.

It is therefore, probably a benefit to the Obama administration, for Mr. Gibbs to take another job within the administration.
---Bob Kholos

Democrats: Beware of the Humphrey-Nixon Syndrome

  As a democrat, are you thinking of sitting on your hands during this November mid term election? 

  During the 1968 general election, VP Hubert Humphrey lost to Nixon by a few votes, because liberals were upset with how close Humphrey was to LBJ and the Vietnam war.Nixon said he had a secret plan to end the war, but years later the war was still raging.

Most analysts knew that HHH would get us out of Vietnam, but liberals stayed home during that election and threw the Presidency to Nixon, for six years.

President Obama has done everything possible to get us out of Iraq, and will start withdrawing troops from the corrupt country, known as Afghanistan, next year.

He has also come to bat for health care, and funding schools and teachers, among other issues.Yet, polling shows that democratic voters are less enthusiastic when it comes to voting this fall, than their republican counterparts.

If we (democrats) lose the House and US Senate to the GOP.....the front burner of politics will be abortion, not allowing citizens to get Social Security until age 70, and investing your Social Security money into the stock Market(privatization).

I'm enthused about Obama and speaker Pelosi, now.Please don't hand over the power of the legislative branch to the conservative, BP types during this year's fall election.

---Bob Kholos

LOVING PELOSI

House approves $26.1 billion in aid to states

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi has done to every student and every teacher something the GOP couldn't do:   She brought congress back in August for a vote on aiding schools and got it passed.

I've been challenging the speaker to become more direct in her public communications.  She has yet to develop that special technique---but she did the most important and dramatic thing possible... Helping states maintain their firefighters and police force, while we are having such a bad economic downturn.

I don't know what is going to happen in November's election, but I hope we will bring back a majority Democratic congress, so Mrs. Pelosi can continue to work her magic.

----Bob Kholos

ANOTHER ISRAELI-LEBANON WAR?

Four armies on alert, Khamenei takes charge of Lebanese crisis

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 9, 2010, 9:29 AM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  Iran   Lebanon   Nasrallah   Syria 

An Iranian no to Lebanese FM Ali Al-Shami's SOS

Tehranthrew all its weight behind Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah ahead of his contentious speech Monday, Aug. 9, by declaring that "Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan are Iran's security belt," and sending its National Security Council Director Saeed Jalili, who is also lead nuclear negotiator, to Beirut Sunday to strengthen his hand. This is reported by debkafile's Iranian sources.
Upon arrival, the NSC head went into conference with Nasrallah and the spiritual leader's special aide Ali Akbar Velayati, who arrived in Beirut last Thursday, Aug. 5 after the Lebanese-Israeli border clash, and is still there.
Jalilee then took off for Damascus to give Syrian president Bashar Assad a piece of his mind. According to our sources, in a conversation that went on till early Monday, the Iranian official made it clear that Tehran would not tolerate the deal Assad concluded with Saudi king Abdullah to pull away from - or even reduce - Syrian relations with Hizballah.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has clearly taken charge of the Lebanese situation. He is maintaining control through two top officials kept standing by in Beirut and Damascus as Nasrallah prepares to accuse Israel of assassinating Rafiq Hariri, four-time prime minister of Lebanon, in February 2005.
This is the gambit Nasrallah is using to blackmail the Hariri government by a threat of civil war and/or a military confrontation with Israel into disbanding the UN special tribunal and so avoid surrendering indicted Hizballah leaders to the court.
 With Tehran ranged solidly behind him at the highest level, the Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian war planners have put their armies, along with Hzballah, on the ready for trouble.
Iran made sure border tensions remained high after Lebanese army snipers killed an Israeli officer in a clash last Tuesday, Aug. 5.  As debkafile reported at the time, a group of Iranian intelligence and commando officers Friday openly toured the South Lebanese-Israeli borders and studied Israeli positions, making sure they were seen on the Israeli side.
They are still present at Hizballah's forward positions.
Sunday, Lebanese foreign minister Ali Al-Shami flew to Tehran to appeal for help in toning down the ultimatum posed by Nasrallah for Prime Minister Saad Hariri to disband the special tribunal established by the UN and Lebanon to probe his father's murder and instead accuse Israel before the UN Security Council. Al-Shami maintained that this move would break up Lebanon's unity government and open the gates to a recurrence of civil warfare and fighting with Israel.
His appeal to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fell on deaf ears. Instead, Jalilee was put on a special plane to Beirut to strengthen the Hizballah leader's hand. This was clear from his remark: "The power of resistance and unity of the Lebanese Army does not let the Zionist regime to even cut a tree. Earlier, the Zionist regime could advance to the borders of Beirut fearlessly. Today the Zionist army gets a strong response from Islamic Resistance…"
His words meant that, for Tehran, the Lebanese Army's 9th Battalion is no longer a separate, autonomous entity but integral to Hizballah and a partner in its radical mission.  

Some Republicans are on the endangered list - latimes.com

Some Republicans are on the endangered list - latimes.com.

Terrific analysis of 3rd CA. district and other congressional races by Mark Z. Barabak.

---Bob Kholos

Elena Kagan

From Politico.com

LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT? – President Obama celebrated the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court on Friday by saying her achievement is “exhilarating.”

“While she may be feeling a twinge of sadness about giving up the title of general — a cool title — I think we can all agree that ‘Justice Elena Kagan’ has a pretty nice ring to it,” Obama said at the beginning of a reception for her.

Obama praised Kagan’s judicial philosophy and “commitment to the rule of law” and said she is held in “high esteem” by diverse crowds.

Kagan, in turn, thanked the Senate Judiciary Committee for giving her a “serious” and “courteous” hearing – and she noted that she had met privately with 83 senators. “But really, who’s counting?” she said.

The new justice vowed to uphold the notion of “equal justice under law” as she imagined what her parents would think if they could witness her accomplishment. “What I can almost hear them saying — and I think I can hear Justice Marshall saying this to me right now as well — is that this appointment is not just an honor,” she said. “Much more importantly, it is an obligation, an obligation to protect and preserve the rule of law in this country.”

PISSED OFF AT PELOSI

 PISSED OFF AT PELOSI

It's a tough job:  As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Pelosi, the daughter of the former Mayor of Baltimore, has to mollify the conservative, as well as the liberal factions of the Democratic majority.

As a result, she looks tentative and confused, when she speaks.

When the Press Secretary to President Obama, Mr. Gibbs, thought there was a chance the Democrats could lose the house, during the 2010 election, she was demeaning in response.

Instead of saying that, "we have a plan to control the house, in the fall election," she claimed, falsely, that he was unknown to her.

When the leader of the Republican minority in the house, John Bohnner, said that the age of eligibility for Social Security should be 70 years of age---there was hardly a response from the Democratic majority.

Nancy Pelosi should take a lesson from former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and be a lot more direct in her response to these crazy GOP proposals.

I had a very small role in Mrs. Pelosi's election to Congress, from San Francisco, when she first ran successfully for that office---and I'm still glad I did help.

The atmosphere against the Democratic leadership is toxic.  Consider that the former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, has a favorability rating of 77%, among Republican's in Iowa and New Hampshire-key states in the 2012 primary.

As a loyal Democrat ( I first voted for LBJ against Barry Goldwater in 1964) I am disappointed with our national leadership, at this point.

-----Bob Kholos