Turkey-Obama ties hurt by four obstacles
ANKARA – Turkey fears issues about Cyprus, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Armenian genocide allegations will cause rifts between the new U.S. administration and the Turkish government. Despite recent progress in many of these areas, Obama and Biden’s links to certain interest groups could endanger an already rocky relationship"
Change.gov is going through some changes
Mike Webb of ProPublica says, "I thought you guys might be curious about the changes to Obama’s Change.gov website which was supposed to describe how the president-elect would use technology to involve more people in government. They shut it down over the weekend, so we flagged it in a post (since then they responded that they’re “retooling” the site)."
Snip from the ProPublica post:
We noted Friday that President-elect Barack Obama’s transition Web site, Change.gov, included pages describing how he will use technology to increase public participation in government and provide more information to the public.
But sometime over the weekend, those pages went away. All that remains on the Agenda portion of the transition team’s site is a two-paragraph overview of what the agenda will include:
Time to rebuild
Obama dazzles Europe – but will fascination fade?
Racism Rears Its Head in European Remarks on Obama
BERLIN, Nov. 10 — Europe erupted in cheers to celebrate Barack Obama’s election as president, but the continent is seeing its share of insensitive racial blunders, too.
What ‘Obama effect’ for transatlantic relations?
by Tomas Valasek
Europe got the president it wanted on November 4th. Obama will have Europe’s goodwill and with it, a window of opportunity to restore transatlantic co-operation on key security issues. The list of common challenges includes, but is not limited to, Afghanistan, Iran and Russia.
Obama is good for the US, the world and Turkey, too
In a column that appeared at the beginning of this year, in reference to debates in Turkey about the nature of the US, I mainly argued as follows: America is a great democracy with a capacity to learn from its mistakes and correct itself.
Religious Right Power In Washington Is Greatly Diminished, Says Americans United
Source: Americans United for Separation of Church and State
The Religious Right’s access to power in Washington, D.C., has been seriously diminished, but its divisive influence at the state and local level remains deeply problematic, according to an election analysis (PDF; 59 KB) by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
A public theologian
Americans have elected the most theologically astute president since Jimmy Carter.
An internationalist president
In the Muslim world, as in Europe and much of the world, Obama is welcomed as an internationalist president.
Inside Obama’s Sweeping Victory
Source: Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
Barack Obama captured the White House on the strength of a substantial electoral shift toward the Democratic Party and by winning a number of key groups in the middle of the electorate. Overall, 39% of voters were Democrats while 32% were Republicans — a dramatic shift from 2004 when the electorate was evenly divided. The Democratic advantage in Election Day party identification was significantly larger than in either of Bill Clinton’s victories.
Obama and Turkey
A couple of days ago while I was watching a televised debate over the newly-elected president of the United States, Barrack Obama, I heard the following conversation; ‘Question: Is the election of Obama a part of a project? Answer: No doubt about it.’ Yes, we saw a unique reaction in Turkey when he won.İlter Türkmen – English"
Obama’s victory: a change the world should believe in
His promise of engagement speaks to an understanding that America needs to gather its friends to defeat it enemies; and that the rules of the international system can be enforced on the weakest only if they are observed by the strongest, writes Philip Stephens
Muslims in America
Source: Contexts Magazine/American Sociological Association
Obama team unveils ‘far-reaching’ lobbying ethics rules
Barack Obama has pledged "to curb the influence of lobbyists" on Washington policymaking, co-chair of the US President-elect’s transition team John Podesta announced on 11 November, mirroring a similar transparency drive currently underway in the EU institutions.
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