What is a Secretary of State
Dec 2, 2008 Rantings
Over the past couple of weeks, there has been a lot of focus on the position of Secretary of State in US President-elect Barack Obama’s new Government. Yesterday, he confirmed that Democratic presidential nominee rival Hillary Clinton would take over that role.
Of course, there has been a lot of talk - some people are not happy about it, some people are and some people just don’t get it.
Whatever their reasons however, I found myself wondering what exactly is the role of Secretary of State.
In simple terms, the US Secretary of State deals with foreign affairs. So she (considering that both Hillary, and current Secretary of State Condozella Rice are both women) is basically the Foreign Minister.
The position, according to Wikipedia, has existed since the days of George Washington, back in 1789. The page also reads:
In accordance with the United States Constitution, the Secretary performs such duties as the President requires. These include negotiating with foreign representatives and instructing U.S. embassies or consulates abroad. The Secretary also serves as a principal adviser to the President in the determination of U.S. foreign policy and, in recent decades, has become responsible for overall direction, coordination, and supervision of interdepartmental activities of the US Government overseas, excepting certain military activities.
One of the most interesting things I discovered, though, was that the Secretary of State is the highest ranking cabinet position. This makes him/her the fourth in the line of succession to Presidency. There’s the President and in the case of incapacity, death, resignation, or removal from office, next in line is the Vice President, then the Speaker of the House of Representative, the President pro tempore of the Senate and then the Secretary of State.
Also, two of the last three (and soon to be three of the last four) Secretaries of States have been women. Madeliene Albright was the first (1997 - 2001) followed by Colin Powell (2001 - 2005). Here is a list of all the former Secretary of States.
And just to end this, I thought this is a good article - on why Hillary Clinton would want to be Secretary of State.
5.09pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: Barack Obama, foreign affairs, Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, united states government
Two letters to America
Nov 16, 2008 Rantings
In the days following the win of US Presidential-elect Barack Obama, I waited for the euphoria to die down so that I could get to the analysis stories. Being a news junkie, I am interested to listen to different takes on the historical event.
Now, I don’t know if it’s from lack of time due to my extremely busy past couple of weeks (and therefore, not being able to find many stories), but I was quite dissapointed. Most of the ones I read were the same old, same old - they could have been rehashed stories from his Democratic nomination win, for all I know.
Today, however, I came by two interesting articles related to the US Presidential elections - both on the same page in The Star - Page 3 of StarMag. Both were by StarMag’s regular columnists - Wide Angle by Huzir Sulaiman and Stray Thought by A Asohan.
Huzir wrote an open letter to Americans, congratulating them on a good choice of President-to-come - especially after the disaster that was the past eight years under the ‘W’ administration. He talks about how, although we’re not Americans, that our lives are so much influenced by them. He invokes the names of Pollock, Warhol, Miles Davis. B. B. King, David Sedaris, House of Pain - all such a global force.
Huzir wrote about Obama’s 2004 Democratic Convention keynote speech, and the latter’s talk about small miracles.
We looked around our own part of the world, and we wanted those small miracles for our own countries.
We wanted them so badly for ourselves, America, that it hurt all the more that you could enjoy them at home and yet behave in the way that you did abroad.
Then there is Asohan’s piece, a reality check of sorts. Yes, his was similar to others I have read which talks about numbers - Obama got 43% of the white vote as compared to John McCain’s 55%. And McCain’s 5% compared to Obama’s 95% of black votes (according to BBC exit polls).
But it was the last two paragraphs that resonates the most.
But the world’s declaration that America has looked beyond race in electing Obama is naive.
It is an important first step, sure, but America will only have transcended race when a white man votes for a black man, and a black man votes for a white man, without giving a damn what his skin colour is.
I don’t know if many people would agree with the two of them - if Americans will give us that wee bit of ownership of their talent, or if people still think that we’ve got a long way to go in terms of “looking beyond race”.
But for me - a Malaysian who believes in the ideals of the United States, who grew up with a lot of American influences and who followed painstakingly, the election just past (and the couple of elections before that) - it is certainly food for thought.
And that is why I love the post-europhia/buzz articles.
11.20am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: A Asohan, america, Barack Obama, Elections, huzir sulaiman, John McCain, politics, Presidential Elections, United States
Obama family: Behind the scenes
Nov 9, 2008 Sounds Like Pop
Ever since I jumped for joy celebrating Barack Obama’s win at the US Presidential Elections last week, I meant to jot down my thoughts on here. Work, and other commitments, as always, stood in the way. I also wanted to share some pictures of the Obama campaign’s promo material that my good friend, Kee Thai, so painstakingly stole got.
Today, as I started thinking about what else I wanted to write here, I realised that there is little that hasn’t been said. And besides, Mr. President-elect has already moved on and started working and I thought - it’s it time I moved on too?
Still, I can’t help but want to share this article with you, taken from the CNN 360 blog kinda of summing up what the week’s been like. In a way (different of course, considering I am not American, and neither do I live there), it pretty much speaks my thoughts. The headline, What a long, strange week it’s been, says everything.
This morning I found myself thinking back to the events that transpired on Tuesday, and nostalgically waxing about that historic day three years…wait a second…that was three DAYS ago. Tuesday itself could have been a lifetime. My mind is still stuck in overdrive frantically trying to sort and compute retrograded incoming data like those coin machines in which you can dump a mass amount of change and after a period of clanking a dollar amount mysteriously appears.
Having shared that link, I don’t think I have much left to say. I did want to share some pictures - none belonging to me, mind you - from Barack Obama’s official Flickr page. The pictures were taken by Obama’s official campaign photographer David Katz (including the one right at the top of this blog post). Amazing how relaxed Obama and the family look while waiting for the results to be announced. Confidence?
These are a few of my favourites (more here).
12.25pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: Barack Obama, Elections, Joe Biden, photographs, politics, President-elect
Barack Obama, President-elect
Nov 5, 2008 News Breaks
I have just finished watching John McCain’s speech on CNN, conceeding defeat to Democratic nominee - and now, President-elect, Barack Obama.
Thank goodness I managed to make it back in time for Cyberjaya to witness this monumental occasion. I have to say that I am very happy that McCain was gracious and magnanimous in his defeat, giving Obama a lot of credit.
Can’t say the same for the Republican crowd, however, who boo-ed several times when McCain mentioned that Obama was the clear winner - and obvious choice of the majority of Americans. Shame, I say.
I am now waiting for Obama to address the crowd. Oprah Winfrey was there too!
CONGRATULATIONS to Obama, who on January 20, will be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States - the first African-American to hold that position.
12.37pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, US elections, US President
Who will be the next US President?
Nov 5, 2008 News Breaks
I woke up early this morning because I wanted to check the news. My senses are heightened and I’m a bit overwhelmed by all the news reports, Twitter messages and blogs going US elections crazy. And I haven’t even turned on CNN yet!
Got a few errands to run in the morning but I should be in the office in time to watch the results roll in, and hopefully celebrate an Obama win later in the day (not sure if the do vote counting through the night in the US).
I did find some very interesting sites which I want to share to kick off the day.
But first, CNN is already reporting some results - with McCain leading with 8 electoral votes to Obama’s 5. Still early though, but click here to see the up-to-date results. New York Times still has it at 0-0 at the moment, though.
Many newspapers are already gearing for an Obama win, and cartoonist have even completed their drawings. There are a couple of nice ones here.
We might not know the results to late, but networks are getting ready to call the election if the early results on the east coast indicate that one particular candidate has won more than 270 electoral votes, Reuters reports.
“There’s no way to get around it,” CBS News senior vp Paul Friedman said. “If one man gets 270 electoral votes before the West Coast polls are closed, we’re not going to pretend (he doesn’t).”
One social commentator eavesdrop while voting. Quite troubling.
Voters are Twittering like crazy at Twitter Vote Report. LA Times reported how the site is giving an indication of how California is voting.
8.09am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: Barack Obama, general elections, John McCain, Presidential Elections, results, US elections
