Many claim that there would be a Clinton vs Obama 2. I would not go that far, but Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is clearly venting her frustration at the length of the vetting process of nominees appointed by President Obama. She feels that President Obama is not pushing them fast enough through Congress.

First, lets put ourselves in Secretary Clinton’s shoes. Who would not be angry when six months through the Presidency, you have got to tell other countries that a lot of the nominations like the Surgeon General of America or the head of USAID positions are not filled up? Especially so when there are other democracies that can do it within weeks or even days.

However, as I said in a few articles ago, the United States has one of the best systems of government in the world, or even the best one, because of all the check and balances in place. One of the best things about the American form of governance is that every nominee that is nominated by an elected President goes through 2 separate chambers of government that are all elected by the people. In this way, there is assurance that the President does not have too much power in his hands.

In some cases, the Republicans requested some time. E.g. They requested that they be given 3 months for the nomination of Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. This is on the grounds that when President Bush was around, he gave Democrats that amount of time for vetting his nominee. I believe that that is a very fair.

Also, in this era, there is a good amount of openness when it comes to non-classified information. We can easily follow what Congress is doing with CSPAN or in sites such as www.thomas.loc.gov or www.opencongress.org. The very notion that an American can see and know what is going on, is a sign of a very great country that United States is to me.

I think that on this case, Secretary Hillary Clinton is very wrong on this issue. I also wonder what kind of President she would have made, if she is already impatient and bothered with decisions that has nothing to do with her appointment. In my opinion, I think she would have been an iron lady, someone that is of similar mold as the late UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the late Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

President Obama should be careful though of not tick off Secretary Clinton. He still needs her to win another term. Make her more mad and he would pay the price, as I do not think he is able to sideline her politically.

That being said, I hope that President Obama does not take Secretary Clinton’s advice at all. I think that that would be a big mistake and a stepping on of democracy in America.

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There are some people who, when angry about certain things, just they blow up saying some things that, we hope, they do not mean. In the past few days on MSNBC, Pat Buchanan has a whole load of accusations about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and Affirmative Action.

Pat Buchanan is a person that I feel is right on certain things at times when many people are wrong. For example, I think that he was right to say that the Georgians were at fault for starting the Russian Georgian conflict last year. That was when most of America seemed to think that the Georgians were merely victims.

However, we are not on his side this time. On HardBall with Chris Matthews he went about saying that Sonia Sotomayor was a militant Latina! Whoa! Is she a new national Security threat now? What kind of guns is she going to have? M-16? AK-47? Does Pat Buchanan even know what a militant is?

Next was a more legitimate point he made during the show Hard Ball with Chris Matthews and later on the Rachael Maddow Show. He went away blasting at the fact that she was a “Affirmative Action baby”. He felt that she was only in contention due to the fact that she is not White.

I feel that Affirmative Action has always been a wrong way to approach inequality and lack of diversity. Even if we have President Obama suggestion, to change it from a race based system to a needs based system (where poorer Americans would be favored over richer Americans), I think that it would not work as it is intended to.

I think that rather than giving fish away, I feel that minorities that are affected should be taught to fish instead. I think that the problems do not lie in the system being against Black and Hispanic people, but it lies in the grassroots. Money should be pumped into school and drug prevention. To be more equal, the environment that minorities live in should be as safe as they are for White and other forms of minorities like Asian Americans and Jewish Americans.

However, that would not be a right thing to say that a person who went to college via affirmative action is one that is of a lower ability than another that entered so. This is not only a slap to the face of institutions like Harvard and Yale as it questions their standards but also the standards of Blacks and Hispanics that studied there.

This is especially so in the case of Sonia Sotomayor. She has an amazing record and the very fact that Pat Buchanan refuses to take that into account just because she benefited from affirmative action. She is a person that has aced it all the way. When it comes to qualifications, I think that there is no doubt that Sonia Sotomayor is qualified.

Is she the most qualified person around to become a Supreme Court nominee, I really do not know. That is why we at ST have officially taken the position of neutrality when it comes down on this issue.

However what Pat Buchanan said is very wrong and to some, it might be offensive. I hope that he admits his mistake and never makes it again. It is not a kind of mistake that you can tolerate for very long.

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Reuters reported that President Obama is trying to find new ways to delay foreclosure of homes for unemployed Americans. Slashing Tongue support hims whole heartedly on this issue and hope that he takes it up with more urgency.

The single major factor that had brought to the world’s economy to her knees is the collapse of the housing sector in America. So I find it regrettable that the US has made headway in getting fat-cat banks back up to health (especially Goldman Sacs), but jobs are not created and foreclosure rates are still high. You have to wonder where the priority of governments really lies : In the people that voted them into power, or the supporters that contributed millions to their election campaigns.

Why is President Obama and company mulling over this? This could be too costly? The US government has already spent trillions trying to get the economy back and the deficit has passed the 1 trillion mark for the first time; And you are telling me that we cannot help people stay in their homes?

Could this not have support from the other side? I dare the Republicans to vote against this! Try telling their own constituents that you cannot keep your home because of big government. It would be a great political point to score for the Democrats if this happens. There is no way in hell that the Republicans would not back helping people stay in their homes.

Could there be a feeling amongst some people, with homes that they can afford, that this is making them pay for the homes of others who do not deserve it? Yes, there would always be some people feeling that way. But do you think that these people would like to have more homeless people in their neighborhood? What do you think would happen? You think crime rates would not go up in their neighborhood? You think the value of their house would not drop in a neighborhood that has become unsafe?

Having a home is not a luxury, it is a need. Be it a hut or a mansion, a roof over one’s head is essential to one’s life. It is on the basis that lives are made and lived. After food, water and jobs, homes are critical. And saving homes is a must to get this economy back to her feet.

President Obama would fundamentally fail as a President if he chooses to ignore this. Health care is not the biggest priority, this is. We have stated in earlier articles that the economy would roar back if three sectors are tackled. One is jobs, the other is the stability of the banks and lastly, it is housing. Failure to address any one of these three components would not lead to an economic recovery and ultimately, a failed Presidency.

It is amazing that no media really gives a damn about this, with the exception of Reuters. Why?! Isn’t this the news that is important and affects the lives of millions of Americans? Why does the words of the Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, have more coverage than this? Why is it that people know more about rumors of Michael Jackson being gay than about the homes that they live in? It is one thing that people not care to read an important article, it is another for news agencies not to report it at all!

I hope that people take note about this and call their leaders. Pressure them to ensure that people can stay in their homes!

Please visit www.reuters.com for more information on this.

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