Why Nobama

[gagged_Louise]

Well, concerning Obama's college gap year round-the-world tour, it's not that difficult to raise money to get out on a long trek abroad. I have buddies who have been to China, India and South America, all staying for months (not on student grants). One friend did a summer round trip to Greece,Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Turkmenistan before flying home over Russia, being out about seven weeks. It wasn't that expensive and he didn't work in any of those countries to raise money on the way, nor smuggle drugs, nor did he have a string of pre-set up arrangements for hospitality; he mostly stayed in low-range hotels. I have no idea how much of a backpacker Obama was but it's been possible ever since WW2 to travel cheap for young people. I don't think those costs need to have been prohibitive. And he obviously had free accomodation much of the time.

The idea that Obama is a "cloaked muslim" is laughable I think, but it's true that both Obama and McCain are unlike most earlier US presidents (and recent presidential/VP nominees I think) in that their growing-up and background directly mirrors that the USA is still an immigrant country (Obama) and that some people growing up in the US spend a sizable part of those years abroad (both of them). John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone.and followed his dad to a number of naval posts around the US and the Pacific; Obama stayed in Indonesia, age 6 to 10.

On May 10, 2008 The Times reported, Robert Malley advisor to Obama was "sacked" after the press found out he was having regular contacts with "Hamas", which controls Gaza and is connected with Iran. This past week, buried in the back part of the papers, Iraqi newspapers reported that during Obama's visit to Iraq, he asked their leaders to do nothing about the war until after he is elected, and he will "Take care of things".

Hamas is more than merely a league of bomb-throwers and a terrorist organization though in US news it's often portrayed only as such. They won the election in January 2006 on the Palestinian areas, and they have thorough support from ordinary people on the ground; long before 2006 they would promote many local social activities (sports, schooling, food support to the poor) in Gaza where the Israelis would do nothing of the kind. It's true they don't recognize Israel and that they probably support acts of terrorism even now, but I think you have to weigh in that they are at war anyway and represent a people who have been embroiled in a running conflict over their own existence for sixty years. After Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated in 1995, the Israelis have not been a very fruitful counterpart in this conflict either, in my opinion they have been downright abrasive much of the time and acting with gross disregard for human life and dignity, and of the need for giving any kind of options to the leadership on the Palestinian side.

National Public Radio, a non-commercial broadcaster in the U.S summed it up in these words: "Israel and many Western powers have struggled with how best to interact with a group that is at once labeled terrorist and, at the same time, is the legitimately elected leadership of the Palestinian National Authority.". I would pretty much exclude "Israel" from that statement as the latest Israeli governments would like nothing better than to see Hamas crash and burn pure and simple, but it's true that they are the legit representatives of the Palestinian people under free and fair.elections. Have to remember though that they don't really have the kind of power and bureaucratic control that you can count on in a normal government, because Palestine isn't really a full state, rather a semi-state, a kind of troubled "home rule" arrangement.

There's nothing strange about Mr. Malley having had meetings with people from Hamas, and some government ministers, many local political people and university teachers in Europe have done the same..For the record, I do support Israel's right to exist securely in peace but they need to get down out of their tree, you know. Their attitude that "we can do anything and you can't get us cause we have the US behind us, ta-ta" is getting disastrous. I hope an Obama White House could help engineer a more reasonable positioning here, both with the Israelis and the Palestinians.