Name This Administration!

So far the Obama Administration lacks a catchy moniker like "The New Deal" for its agenda. The most memorable presidencies of recent times have all been known by some brief phrase or theme that encapsulated the essence of the White House and its program, for example:

Woodrow Wilson: "The New Freedom"
Warren Harding: "Back to Normalcy"
Franklin Roosevelt: "The New Deal"
Harry Truman: "The Fair Deal"
Dwight Eisenhower: "Peace and Prosperity"
John Kennedy: "The New Frontier" (afterwards, "Camelot" (1))
Lyndon Johnson: "The Great Society"
Ronald Reagan: "Morning in America"
Bill Clinton: "The Bridge to the 21st Century" (2)
George W Bush: "The War on Terror"

Those presidents that did not choose a theme-word or phrase for their administrations are often remembered by themes invented by others, often unfriendly others. For example, the Nixon Administration is forever linked in the public consciousness with the term "Watergate." Jimmy Carter's term is best remembered for the Nightline tag line "America Held Hostage."

If President Obama wants to avoid having his term of office branded by others, he will have to brand it himself. The Glazerbeam offers to help by providing a few sample names below. You can help by endorsing one of these monikers or suggesting another one by e-mail at GSGlazer@sbcglobal.net. The most popular entry will be sent to the White House.

Suggested Theme-Names for the Obama Administration

1. a. Obamania
b. Obamination

2. Barack to the Future

3. The Big Bail-Out

4. Taxes 'R Us

5. The Real Deal

6.a. The Hip Society
b. The Hip Hop Society

7. The Green Machine

8.a. The Blackberry White House
b. The Black Barry White House
c. The Multi-racial House

If the Republican nominee had won, the only name I could think of for his administration is The McCain Mutiny. But maybe you can do better----I'm waiting to hear from you!

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(1) The metaphor "Camelot" for the Kennedy White House was suggested by author Theodore H White in a syndicated essay shortly after the assassination.

(2) His second term might have been known as "Terms of Impeachment." The Lewinsky scandal was dubbed "Bimbroglio" by the New Republic.

Supporting Genocide

"Senior leaders of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah offered ...support Friday (March 6) to Sudan's president after he was charged with war crimes in Darfur..."
Associated Press, March 7, 2009

Omar al-Bashir, ruler of Sudan, was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a UN-affiliated agency based in The Hague, Netherlands, for his role in the brutal suppression of a rebellion in the western region of Sudan known as Darfur. The Sudanese Army and a band of irregular Arab soldiers known as the Janjaweed, have responded to the revolt by members of three tribes in Darfur (1) with a rampage of killing, torture and rape that shocked the UN and African Union (AU), both of which have a high tolerance for human rights violations committed by non-Jews. (2)

The AU has a "peace-keeping force" of about 7,000 men in Darfur, but they have done little or nothing to stop the carnage. Many international aid organizations also have operations in Darfur, but after the ICC warrant for the arrest of al-Bashir was issued, he expelled 13 of the largest aid groups from the country. The indicted leader pledged to oust more aid groups, as well as diplomatic missions and peacekeeping forces that collaborate with the ICC. The groups that remain provide vital supplies and services to at least a million Darfuri refugees.

Al-Bashir appears to have the loyal support of Sudanese armed forces, as well as that of the Arab masses, so he is in no immediate danger of a coup d'etat and arrest. As long as he remains in Sudan (and he would be a fool to travel anywhere else now), the ICC has no way of enforcing its warrant. He will apparently suffer no consequence at all for the deaths of about 300,000 Darfuris (so far) and massive misery of perhaps another million more.

But is the reaction of outside parties that should concern the international community. For example, Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, described the arrest warrant as "an insult directed at Muslims." (3) Delegations from Egypt, Jordan and Syria attended a rally for al-Bashir, as did representatives of Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian terrorist groups.

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to the Darfur oppression as "genocide", but the UN and Amnesty International have avoided that term. One might think that those now preparing for Durban II, the UN-sponsored conference on racism , might utter of a word of criticism about the mass murder and rape of black Africans by Arabs in Darfur, but so far there is no indication of it. About 90% of the proposed agenda consists of resolutions condemning Israel, and there might not be room in the remaining 10% for what a report to the UN Human Rights Council called "gross and systematic violations of human rights" including the murders of hundreds of thousands of non-combatant civilians. (4)

The fact that the world did virtually nothing to stop the Holocaust in Europe during World War II is often attributed to anti-Semitism, but the tragedy of Darfur (along with previous massacres in Cambodia and Rwanda, among other places) shows that world ignores the fate of many ethnic groups besides the Jews. Even the nations of sub-Saharan Africa do not seem overly concerned over the destruction of their African brethren; contrast their indifference to the furor in the Arab and Muslim worlds over the Israeli action in Gaza!

The fact that the Iranians and Arab terrorist groups express solidarity with a notorious war-criminal like al-Bashir tells the world a great deal about their interests in the human rights of people different from themselves. I only wish the world were listening!
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(1) The Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa tribes (Wikipedia)

(2) UN Security Council Resolution 1706, passed August 31, 2006, called for a UN force of 26,000 men to be deployed in Sudan. Sudan has so far block the intervention.

(3) Associated Press

(4) Wikipedia