Sen Obama and Smantha Powers
I called Senator Obama's Office today to see if Samantha Powers still worked for him.
They said yes.
Senator Obama's hiring of Powers was pretty noteworthy and I'm not sure what she's really produced for him.
The Chicago Defender wrote back in July 2005 after an interview with the Senator Obama,
Obama said he is troubled that the situation in the Sudan has been moved “off the radar screen” by other stories such as the bombings in London the last two weeks.Anyone know what she's up too, please comment.
"The fact of the matter is we still have a major humanitarian crisis there, though the wholesale slaughter that had been taking place has diminished," he said.
Obama said he met with Anne Patterson, acting U.S. representative to the United Nations, as well as the ambassadors to Sudan and China. "I told them the killing, which started in 2003, has to stop," he said.
Obama is a co-sponsor of a Senate bill to make sure the United States allocates "the millions of dollars needed to help these African union countries, like Rwanda and South Africa, airlift and supply the troops they've sent in to provide help to assistance to the people in Darfur camps.”
This week, he has also hired Samantha Power to advise him on foreign policy, especially as it pertains to genocide. In 2003, she won the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for the book, “A Problem from Hell: American in the Age of Genocide.”
Cross Posted at Bill Baar's West Side
5 comments:
My guess is she's screaming at the top of her lungs. And that Obama would end the genocide tomorrow if it were as simple as his saying it must end.
The Senate, like the rest of the federal government, isn't famous for its early, forceful response to civil wars.
Again, I think she's doing her job, thankless though it is, and I'm glad she at least has Obama's ear. If she had the Secretary of State's ear, and maybe the Vice-President's, then that would help more than a freshman senator could.
But it's a start.
Sam is an extraordinary foreign policy scholar. My understanding is that her position in his office is similar to many others on the Hill where an experienced academic takes a fellowship for a year or so to get their hands dirty in the world of policy and politics. Don't expect any fireworks from these types of positions -- she'll download her weltanschauung, and enhance Obama's profile a bit on genocide issues, and then she'll have a stellar line on her resume and an excuse to become a talking head next time there's a new crisis that gets cable news' attention.
I think about 5' 7" ... 5' 9" in heels
Sen Obama would have to take time off from campaigning in favor of the Bridge to Nowhere and sugar tariffs if he were to take an active stance against genocide.
Please do not distract the Senator with calls for him to act like a leader rather than a political hack.
JBP
She probably had a hand in this:
Policy Adrift on Darfur - By Barack Obama and Sam Brownback
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/26/AR2005122600547.html
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