Blogging on Meds

Obama, Get Out of Florida ASAP

Yesterday afternoon Kevin Spacey, the actor, was on MSNNC to promote his new HBO film, Recount, about the 2000 election. Of course, this being America, Andrea Mitchell asked an actor what he thinks about the current situation in Florida, where 2.4 million primary votes were deemed “unofficial” by the Democratic National Committee for “rule violations.” Spacey said “voters should not be disenfranchised” and that Recount—a Hollywood movie—would show them why. Just what we need, Kevin Spacey stirring the Dems’ pot.

Meannwhile, both Dems are down in the Sunshsine State:

Sen. Barack Obama sought on Wednesday to win over general-election voters in the critical swing state of Florida, as rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed to remain in the race until the state’s invalidated primary results are counted, even if that means taking the fight to the Democratic National Convention in August.

“The lesson of 2000 here in Florida is crystal clear: If any votes are not counted, the will of the people isn’t realized and our democracy is diminished,” Clinton said in Boca Raton.

Obama spent Wednesday along the Interstate 4 corridor, a heavily populated swath in central Florida, as part of an effort to introduce him to Democratic voting blocs that may not know him well. Obama largely ignored the question of whether Florida’s results should be counted, assuring supporters in Kissimmee that the state will be represented in Denver.

Obama, Obama, what are you doing? Get the hell out of Florida. As you said Tuesday, you have the “majority of delegates” and the nomination is “within reach.” So why go to Battleground Florida in a week when you could be destroying Senator McCain on foreign policy? Matt Bai writing in the NYT Magazine gets the story of the year on McCain. Here’s one snippet:

As we spoke in Tampa, I asked McCain if it was true, as his friend Joe Lieberman and others suggested to me, that he had been brought to a more idealist way of thinking partly by the genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica. “I think so, I think so,” he said, nodding. “And Darfur today. I feel strongly about Darfur, and yet, and this is where the realist side comes in, how do we effectively stop the genocide in Darfur?” He seemed to be genuinely wrestling with the question. “You know the complications with a place that’s bigger, I guess, than the size of Texas, and it’s hard to know who the Janjaweed is, who are the killers, who are the victims. It’s all jumbled up.

“So I’ve always tried to make a case for the realist side,” he continued. “And I think it was pretty clear that in Kosovo, we could probably benefit the situation fairly effectively and fairly quickly. And yet I look at Darfur, and I still look at Rwanda, to some degree, and think, How could we have gone in there and stopped that slaughter?”

Um, there’s been several plans for stopping Darfur tossed about, most recently this 8-pt plan by Nick Kristof. One crucial step should resonate with McCain, a member of one of the Air Force’s first families:

The U.S. should impose a no-fly zone over Darfur from the air base in Abeche, Chad (or even from our existing base in Djibouti). We wouldn’t keep planes in the air or shoot down Sudanese aircraft. Rather, the next time Sudan breaches the U.N. ban on offensive military flights, we would wait a day or two and then destroy a Sudanese Antonov bomber on the ground.

Aid groups mostly oppose this approach for fear that Sudan would respond by cutting off humanitarian access, and that’s a legitimate concern. We should warn Sudan that any such behavior would lead it to lose other aircraft. Sudan’s leaders are practical and covet their planes.

Bai’s piece is 8,000 words of harvestable McCain foreign policy flip-flops and wrong stances. If Obama’s not going to address FL’s delegate problem, he needs to move on to New York of DC for a foreign policy speech. There, he could address the fact that Israel, Syria, and Lebanon all have used diplomacy this week in the name of peace, despite Bush last week comparing negotiating with “terrorists” (ie Syria, Hezzbollah, Hamas, Iran) to WWII-era appeasement—a jab directed at Obama, who favors expanded diplomatic engagement in the Mid East. The Times quotes a “another Bush official characterized the Israeli announcement as ‘a slap in the face.’”

So the entire Middle East slaps Bush and McCain in the face and Obama goes to Florida? Bad choice.

On a lighter note, the Times runs a funny story datelined “Boynton Beach, FL” about Obama’s supposed “Jewish probelem.” The Matzo Coast of Florida is one of my favorite places in America. The Thunderbird Swap Meet is maybe the most Jewish place on earth—it makes Jerusalem look secular. This Delray Beach stuff is priceless:

Toting a chaise lounge to Delray Beach on Sunday, Samantha Poznak, 21, said that, like her friends, she would vote for Mr. Obama. As for Jewish leaders, “I never really follow any of those people anyway,” she said from behind dark sunglasses.

“Aunt Claudie will kill you!” hissed her mother, Linda Poznak, 47, who said she would vote for Mr. McCain.

There are unlimited reasons why Seinfield was so funny, but one of them is Jerry and Larry David’s embrace of Jews in Florida. That stretch of America (see map above) rules!

Anyway, I’m not going to indulge Hillary Clinton’s use of the gender card (she’s way too late on that) or her posturing on bringing the fight to Denver. She remains a sideshow until the end of the month, when the Party’s rules committee meets. Until then, let’s follow what she says but not take her too seriously.

TAGS: Barack Obama, election, HBO, Hillary, Hillary Clinton, Iran, kosovo, mccain, Movie, NATO, New York, obama, Politics, Race, Texas, war

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Before she called Hillary a “monster” and said that Obama’s Iraq withdrawal plan was a “best case scenario,” Samantha Power was a rising foreign policy superstar. Power—Harvard professor, Pulitzer-winner—was forced to resign as an Obama campaign advisor after her comments, which were made on the UK leg of a book tour. Hopefully she will offer insight on the campaign and Iraq tonight.

7PM. Barnes and Noble Tribeca, at Warren and Greenwhich St.

Since I’m only page 70 (it’s great so far), here’s Penguin Press’ copy:

From Pulitzer Prize winner Samantha Power, an epic tale-part thriller, part tragedy-for our age, the political career and tragic death of the incomparable humanitarian Sergio Vieira de Mello.

If there is a single individual who can be said to have been at center stage through all of the most significant humanitarian and geopolitical crises of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, it was Sergio Vieira de Mello. Vieira de Mello was born in 1948 just as the post-World War II order was taking shape. He died in a terrorist attack on UN Headquarters in Iraq in 2003 as the battle lines in the twenty-first-century’s first great power struggle were being drawn. In nearly four decades of work for the United Nations, Sergio distinguished himself as the consummate humanitarian, able to negotiate with-and often charm-cold war military dictators, Marxist jungle radicals, reckless warlords, and nationalist and sectarian militia leaders. By taking the measure of this remarkable man’s life and career, Power offers a fascinating answer to the question: Who possesses the moral authority, the political sense, and the military and economic heft to protect human life and bring peace to the unruly new world order?

Chasing the Flame brings us deep into the thorniest, least well-understood episodes of recent world history-the conflagration in the Middle East, through Vieira de Mello’s troubleshooting in Lebanon in the aftermath of Israel’s 1982invasion; the clean-up of the cold war’s residue, through Vieira de Mello’s taming of the Khmer Rouge and his repatriation of four-hundred-thousand Cambodian refugees in the early nineties; the explosion of sectarian and ethnic militancy, through his efforts to negotiate an end to the slaughter in Bosnia; the struggle to nation-build in war-torn societies, through his quasi-colonial governorships of Kosovo and East Timor; and the engulfing of Iraq in civil war and terror, through his tragic final posting as the UN representative in Baghdad, where he became the victim of the country’s first-ever suicide bomb.

Readers of Chasing the Flame will recognize the particular mixture of deep reporting and incisive analysis that Power uses to imbue Sergio’s life with significance, and lessons, for our own. In this exquisitely reasoned and imagined book, Samantha Power reveals Sergio Vieira de Mello’s powerful legacy of humanity and ideological strength in an age sorely in need of both.

TAGS: attack, Hillary, Iraq, kosovo, obama, political, united nations, war

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Sorry this is a bit late, but…

BBC reported yesterday that “United Nations police in Kosovo have been forced to withdraw from Serb areas in the divided city of Mitrovica after clashes with Serb demonstrators” while Al Jazeera reported that “at least three UN vehicles were attacked and one set on fire as protesters broke doors and freed about 10 Serbs detained in the court raid.”

One international soldier is reported to have been shot, while the explosion from a hand grenade injured dozens others. Reuters reports that NATO troops claim to have come under “automatic gunfire”, which is a far cry from rock-throwing and may be an indication demonstrators are being supplied with more sophisticated weapons. Serbia’s B92 media reports up to 70 civilians were injured, and UN troops were forced to withdraw.

The clashes began on Friday when hundreds of Serb demonstrators seized the UN-run court in Mitrovica, the scene of a number of incidents of ethnic violence over the past few years, and occupied it over the weekend. A dawn raid yesterday by UN forces re-took the courthouse, only to spark the subsequent riots which signify the worst violence yet since Kosovo declared its independence on February 17.

While it’s no surprise the UN bailed or, according to some reports, was “asked to leave”, allowing NATO to patrol the flashpoint area might be an even more dangerous prospect. The Western military alliance bombed heavily both Kosovo and Serbia less than 10 years ago, and resentment remains high. Case in point: the unrest also falls on the anniversary of violence four years ago that left up to 19 people dead.

Adding to the fun, last week the Serbian government dissolved; rifts among the governing coalition prompted Serb prime minister Vojislav Kostunica (a hardliner) to call snap elections on May 11. If clashes continue, the elections may become a de-facto referendum on Kosovo and the West’s recognition of it, ushering in an ultra-nationalist government willing to take a more aggressive stance on what many Serbs consider to be the “cradle” of the Serb nation.

Either way, it’s going to be interesting…

TAGS: balkans, kosovo, mitrovica, NATO, serbia, united nations

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The international media is giving little play to Kosovo this week (a skim through BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera International sites turned up virtually nothing), and maybe rightly so. The declaration has been made, no embassies have been torched since Thursday, and without Milosevic at the helm, who is going to march in the ultra-nationalists in the name of a greater Serbia?

Hopefully the days of the so-called Balkan powder keg are dying — where wars are fought under the pretense of religion, territory, and ethnic purity — and Kosovo’s “ethnic cleansing” of the 1990s will be the last we’ll hear of the region in turmoil.

But a far more interesting story is playing out in Kosovo right now, one that the media is largely missing and that could have major implications for how things play out in the Balkans.

The international newswires, for their part, have been fairly consistent in reporting from the ground, and several decent pieces have been picked up by the International Herald Tribune. In this case, it’s not so much the writing, but simply the documentation of events.

It’s the “creeping” partition of northern Kosovo by ethnic Serbs. It’s true, Serb tanks aren’t rolling into Mitrovica (yet), but this division is a grassroots one — one that makes it all the more genuine and all the more likely to spark violence later on down the line.

I hate being alarmist and writing unending predictions of bloodshed. We shouldn’t assume they’ll start killing each other just because it’s the Balkans. But the groundwork is being laid for another territorial-cum-ethnic conflict in Kosovo and southern Serbia, whether it comes in several months or 50 years.

Per the Reuters story on Zupce, makeshift border posts are being set up by ethnic Serbs. Robinson writes:

“In Zupce, Serb cars without registration plates drove slowly up to the ‘checkpoint’ every 20 minutes, turning and driving back below Serbian flags flying from trees. A policeman waved through a Serb car, and stopped an Albanian to check his papers.”

This certainly isn’t the most frightening piece of news, but I think it’s an indication of what’s to come: an ethnic-based division.

Danish soldiers set up camp in the northern Albanian village of Cabra — complete with armored vehicles — that, if Kosovo were partitioned, would be severed from the rest of Kosovo by majority Serb areas.

Ethnic Albanian police forces have yet to return to man the border posts burned by Kosovo Serbs last week, and Serb policeman, who make-up part of Kosovo’s “multiethnic” police force, coordinate their movements through the United Nations mission rather than Pristina.

Hardline Serb leaders in the north are pledging more violence if Thaci’s government exercises jurisdiction, and even Pristina hasn’t been forthcoming about how it intends to assert control over Serb-dominated areas.

AP reports:

“Milan Ivanovic, a Serb leader from the northern Kosovo town of Kosovska Mitrovica, said Kosovo’s new leaders were wrong to assume that they might assert the authority of the new state in the predominantly Serb area. About 50,000 Serbs in the north have pledged not to recognize the new state and to continue to consider themselves part of Serbia.”

While talk is cheap, as they say, and an all-out conflict in an internationally-supervised nation seems unlikely, we should continue to watch as the Serbs set up checkpoints — albeit flimsy ones — drive out Albanian bureaucrats and policeman, and slowly establish their defacto Serb Kosovar entity in the north.

Not only will it thwart the construction of a viable Kosovo — if such a thing existed — but is likely to become a major factor in the establishment of a pro-Western, energy-rich satellite in the Balkans, and might explode as part of the Euro/US-Russian resource wars expected to play out in the region in the coming decades.

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Erin Cunningham was recently in the Balkans for Kosovo’s independence. I asked her take on the situation in the Balkans. She says this is about nationalism for the Serbs and resources for the West and Russia, and believes the violence will continue for some time. This is her first Medicine piece.

Hey look a US soldier caught in the middle of anti-US/West protest! AP

While the response coming from Serbia (and ethnic Serbs in surrounding nations) is at present minimal — burning embassies is quite a stretch from sending in troops — it certainly has the potential to spread, and could very well de-stabilize the entire region, as well as be a part of a larger Belgrade-sponsored plan to partition northern Kosovo. As I write, Montenegro’s shops are closing and the US embassy is beefing up security in preparation for a massive demonstration in support of the Serbs.

This is all speculation, of course—regarding partition—but Kosovo won’t go easy. Serbia’s president, Boris Tadic, knows what’s at stake for Serbia with the European Union if the violence escalates, and has appealed for calm. What is important, however, is the so-called “radical” elements (literally members of the Serb Radical Party, remnants of the Milosevic vanguard) that hold prominent positions in the Serb government. Serbia’s Prime Minister, Vojislav Kostunica, is a case in point.

I spoke with a Serb several weeks prior to the declaration who said while the Serb army certainly wouldn’t engage (at least initially), he predicted that nationalists in power would mobilize ex-Yugoslav army officers and would-be guerrillas to carry out actions in northern Kosovo to provoke a split.

The “demonstrators” who attacked and subsequently torched the border posts at Banja and Jarinje were 1,000-strong. But nobody is worried about a substantial military threat, or even a veritable insurgency.

The violence will likely go in two directions. One will be vandalism directed at Western institutions — embassies and UN and EU offices — in northern Kosovo, Belgrade, and perhaps other areas in the region with large Serb populations (i.e. Montenegro).

The other, which is more dangerous and has far greater implications, is violence among Serbs and ethnic Albanians in the north — in Mitrovica and other flashpoint towns. Serbs have already chased ethnic Albanian policeman, who were patrolling with fellow Serbs as part of Kosovo’s multi-ethnic police force, out of a key village, as well as shown they are ready to demonstrate, if violently, against the loss of their southernmost province. While this seems minor compared to the ethnic-based violence of the 1998 - 1999 conflict, it could certainly be an indication of further clashes and outright war between the two sides, resulting in a Northern Ireland-type division of Europe’s newest state. Serbia’s Minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, announced that these actions, however small, are “in line” with Belgrade’s policies, who seeks to extend its jurisdiction over the north.
(more…)

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By Carsten Kaoll.

Looks like a lot of people. Why the low estimates of 150,000? Why call the rioters “soccer hooligans” when that’s the average Belgrade working class kid? And the NYT reports Serbia’s intentions: legitimate state policy to disrupt border.

Indicating that the violence could be a prelude to an effort to force a partition of northern Kosovo, the Serbian minister for Kosovo, Metohija Slobodan Samardzic, said the destruction of the United Nations checkpoints was in line with Serbia’s policies. “It might not be pleasant, but it is legitimate,” he said, adding that Serbia would be seeking to enlarge its operations in northern Kosovo, where it provides education, culture and health services to the ethnic Serb population.

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By Chip Somodevilla, Getty

Democratic debate tonight at 8pm, CNN: Obama and Clinton in Austin, TX. Hillary’s performed well in the debates, especially in New Hampshire. Obama, now so clearly the front runner, has less at stake. How they address Kosovo, Pakistan, Iraq, and the economy are what to watch for. Compared to ABC in New Hampshire, CNN did a horrible job in Hollywood. Let’s hope Wolf doesn’t get pixie footed again. Ask wonky questions. This a wonky time. Today alone Serbs burnt the US Embassy, the Pakistanis agreed to a government, and Sadr said he will announce truce status tomorrow. 

The numbers below confirm Hillary needs to win Texas, a state of 22 million, or nearly 8% of America; the largest state in the lower 50. Obama needs to be right on the economy. Hillary needs to be better or as good on everything. She’s the underdog.

Latest polls:
Gallup nationally:
Clinton 45% (+3)
Obama 44% (-3)
Tied.
Texas:

Constituent Dynamics gives Hillary 46% to Barack Obama’s 45%. Texas-based IVR has Hillary at 50% to Obama’s 45%

Not counting Florida and Michigan:
Obama 10,234,964 52.3%
Clinton 9,324,418 47.7%
Obama’s margin: 910,550
With Florida:
Obama 10,811,178 51.5 %
Clinton 10,195,404 48.5 %
Obama’s margin: 615,770
With Florida and Michigan:
Obama 10,811,178 50.7%
Clinton 10,523,713 49.3%
Obama’s margin: 287,46

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By pure coincidence, I was reading journalist Jeanine Di Giovanni’s Madness Visible: A Memoir of War when Kosovo made its recent bid for independence.

A first-hand account of the breakup of Yugoslavia, Madness Visible offers insight into the complex situation in the Balkans in the late 1990s, and also reflections from several years later. At one point, Di Giovanni considers the impact the atrocities in Bosnia will have on its future:

Milosevic is in The Hague, the first head of state to be tried by an international court, and Karadzic will eventually be hunted down. But is it too late? During those dark years, no one came to save Bosnia. Neither God, nor the Orthodox saints, nor the angels – despite all the candles the old ladies lit in the cemeteries and the prayers they said – certainly not the UN or the Western leaders, had tried to save it until it was too late.

In return, a whole generation will spend their lives trying to process the horror of what they saw. The stench of the place, the slow smell of death, will erode everything. Thousands of peacekeeping soldiers can’t cover it up, and all the World Bank money and Danish and Austrian economic aid can’t fix it.

[A friend] had said to me, in that field in Kozarac, when he showed me the Orthodox cross burnt into his scalp: “Evil things happened here.”

When contemplating the fate of Bosnia, Di Giovanni later asks:

What happened to this country? Who lit the fuse? How far had people gotten this time from past wars, past hatreds, past desires, past petty grievances? Would someone send someone to a concentration camp again in eight or ten years?…Would they inherit the same sense of humiliation and bitterness and the quest for retribution passed on from generation to generation?

People are clever. They know that unless they learn from the past they will continue to repeat the same mistakes, over and over. The same web of violence, terror and destruction. I just don’t know if they will, or can, get past it.

Given that the US Embassy in Belgrade is currently in flames, Madness Visible seems an eerie foreshadow. But I hope I’m wrong.

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(AP)

This just in on Dow Jones wire c/o Hassan Chop, under header of Uh oh…Not Good:

DVCM)H13:05 *DJ Belgrade Protesters Break Into US Embassy, Set Facade Ablaze

Protest and unrest grow in Balkans after Kosovo declares independence on Sunday. US troops are lead in 16k NATO force stabalizing (occupying?) Kosovo.

As Embassy burns, US issues statement: “Serbian government must deal with this now,” says State Dept spokesman McCormick on CNN now. “We strongly urge them to deal with the assets needed to stop this.”

More from CNN’s live correspondent: “Largest protest in Serbian history. Numbers way off. Not 150k, more like 1-2 million. The troublemakers are soccer hooligans. There’s a lot of them here in Serbia.” Basically the equivilant of Brooklyn or Queens “fuggadaboutit” dude or Boston Sully but more nationalist. “Croatian Embassy attacked too.”

US Embassy’s American flag being ripped down and burned live on CNN.

Burn:

c/o EPA

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Today’s Reads
1. Unbeatable
He’s just that good. Obama won Wisconsin by a whopping 17 points last night, giving him 10 straight victories. Hillary’s “road to victory is now a cliff walk,” says the NYT.

Obama walks the catwalk like its Milan (nice suit, big man!) in front of 19,000 in Houston before giving speech to celebrate victory. Dan Einsel, Getty.

Not only is Obama slamming nation’s primaries, he’s also injecting policy into his rhetoric. Jonathan Cohn in TNR thinks O may have even gone too wonky:

Tonight — and he’s not quite done talking as I write this, so I reserve the right to revise my remarks — I think he may be getting a little too wonky, even by my standards. For the first time I can remember, his victory speech has included lengthy policy explanations. He went into great detail about his health care plan — the kind of coverage it would provide, how much it would cost, the way it would improve medical care. He did the same for college tuition assistance, trade policy, and national security….this felt a lot more like those old Bill Clinton State of the Union speeches. Packed with policy ideas, they seemed to go on forever — and lacked the thematics or sheer lyricism we’ve come to expect from Obama.

I wonder — and, for the record, this is sheer speculation — whether Obama and his advisors are trying to preempt the charge that he’s not sufficiently substantive. It’s a ridiculous charge: While he may not be as fluent in policy as Hillary Clinton is, that’s an awfully high standard. Nobody in Washington may be as fluent in policy as her. Compared to the rest of Washington, though, Obama is still very serious and, as even a cursory look at his website would confirm, he’s got plenty of detailed plans for the country should he become the president.

Of course it’s a response. Obama’s said nothing that wonks like us have found interesting. I hated the sports atmosphere of Team Obama events, like he is your guy like the Red Sox are your team. Politics aren’t pointless games. I need to know how quick Bam is on his feet, what he thinks on fluid issues. Over the past few months this blog has covered many a Barry speech, and we’ve examined his policies. There just wasn’t enough there. Now, as pressure builds, maybe he’ll tell us more.

Michelle Obama may have twice said Monday that this is the first time she’s proud to an American. Now, that’s a strange comment, but if she explains herself as a black woman, she’ll be fine. Being a black woman in America, even an Ivy Leaguer, is to be part of a historically oppressed minority. With her husband rocketing towards the nomination, it makes sense she finally felt American pride.

So let’s picture it.

January 9th, 2009, Washington, DC, an unseasonably 60 degrees: Two million—the largest Inauguration crowd in recent history—have packed the Mall and surrounding areas. The Obamas ride in along a parade route, choosing to be buffered by New Orleans Krewes ala Mardi Gras. Brass clang Jazz energy announces: The Black Man is coming. It’s a trail of tears along the route—hope is the air. People bounce with joy, waving and hugging, in ecstasy as if at a Christian revival. Flags wave next to signs reading “Thank You” and “You’ve Saved US.”

The Obamas walk the steps of the Capitol to the earth ripping roar of millions. Obama’s speech, which he’d admitted to a journalist of having written himself over the course of two decades, is broadcast worldwide. BBC shows Kenyans huddled around TV screens in dirt floor bars, celebrating their blood brother with beer and song. Obama’s speech is blacker, both more manly and emotional, tougher, less safe than anything said during the campaign. Change now has an angrier edge, a more distinguished face.

Later at the Inaugural Ball, 20,000 pack the Verizon Center. Performances by Kayne and Mary J are interspersed by readings from ZZ Packer and Toni Morrison. The day’s cost: $50 million. But worth it. For one day a nation’s history of racial enslavement is forgotten.

Oh, it would be nice. But there’s still TX and OH on March 4th. And a debate Thursday. Clinton is down, but if she wins in two weeks, it’s not over.

2. Kosovo and Serbs Up Ante, NATO (US led force) Ready to Fight?
The Russians challenged NATO yesterday by backing the Serbs, who torched Kosovo’s UN run borders. Belgrade wants full control of customs. About 1,000 Serbian militants crossed in to Northern Kosovo, too. This could be yet another test for a US occupation force.

Serbs burning UN border, “In accordance withe general governemnt policy,” says Slobodan Samardzic, Serbian minister for Kosovo affairs. By Marko Djurica, Reuters

US Troops—yup, we’re still the lead nation of NATO’s 16,000 troops in Kososvo—guarding burnt borders. By Marko Djurica, Reuters.

3. Our boy Joe Biden issues statement from Islamabad
As the race for Secretary of State tightens, Joe gives us his word from Pakistan, and I like what he says:

February 19, 2008
Press Release
BIDEN Issues Statement from Islamabad on Pakistan’s Elections

Islamabad, Pakistan – Following Monday’s elections in Pakistan, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement from Islamabad, Pakistan today:

“Pakistan has taken a very important step on the road back to democracy. Was this election fully free and fair? No. Election Day itself went much better than many expected. But the process leading up to Election Day was seriously flawed: a climate of violence and intimidation almost certainly depressed turnout; there were real problems with the voter rolls; we still have to make sure all the votes are fairly tabulated; in a truly free election, the opposition parties might have done even better. Despite these serious handicaps, it appears that the will of the moderate majority is becoming reality. The most important test for the election is whether the Pakistani people see its results as basically fair. Right now, that appears to be the case.

“Most important, of course, are the people of Pakistan. They are responsible for what has the potential to be a peaceful and historic transfer of power from one government to another. This election represents a tremendous opportunity for Pakistan and for the United States.

“The moderate majority has regained it voice. Now, it is the responsibility of all Pakistan’s leaders to focus on the future and restore constitutional order, including a free press, an independent judiciary and decision making power for the parliament and government.

“If they do, the United States should do much, much more to help them. This is an opportunity for us to move from a policy focused on a personality to one based on an entire people – to move from a Musharraf policy to a Pakistan policy.

“I believe we should triple non-military assistance, sustain it for ten years and focus it on schools, roads and health care. (ED NOTE: Nice Joe!) We should give the new government a democracy dividend above our annual assistance to jump start progress. And we should demand real accountability for the military aid we continue to provide.

“In short, we should demonstrate to the people of Pakistan that we are not simply partners when it matters to us – that we care about their needs and progress, not just our own interests. That happens to be the best way to secure their active support for the things we care about, including taking the fight to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.”

TAGS: beer, Bill Clinton, debate, election, free, Hillary, Hillary Clinton, Islam, Jr., kosovo, NATO, obama, Politics, Race, Red Sox, russia, Schools, serbia, Slam, Sports, Taliban, Trade, war

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