WITH MALAYSIAKINI: Corruption, when did Obama know it.

To ask a person what is corruption to her/him is going to be interesting. Lets share with Malaysiakini what is corruption to Obama as he plans to hit the ground on economic recovery.

• Obama's ambitious plan to boost economic recovery from Malaysiakini
• Dec 22, 08 11:11am
• He plans to hit the ground running when he takes office on Jan 20, with his economic team already drawing up a huge stimulus package to bring before Congress.

The soon to be release of a report on the contacts that President-elect Barack Obama or any of his staff members may have had with scandal-plagued Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will likely quiet the rumors and gossip about Obama and the governor. That's because Obama will release the report and it would defy credulity to think that he would release a report that showed anything inappropriate or worse in whatever dealings he had with the governor.

This is probably not a case of a politician circling the wagon and sanitizing a report to avoid scandal. The FBI wiretap transcripts at least the ones that have been reported don't show that the president-elect did anything that could even be remotely construed as an attempt to cut any deals or influence peddle with the governor over his senate seat.

Yet, there are still some nagging questions that the report will attempt to answer. And those answers may not be the right answers. The one obvious question is the known and acknowledged contact that Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had with Blago. There's only the faintest hint that Emanuel may have lobbied Blago to appoint a key Obama staffer to the senate seat. An informant claims the motive in making the contact supposedly was to eliminate her as a potential rival for Obama's ear in the White House. We only have the informant's word for that and since this person is unnamed and given that Blago's credibility is zilch the hint of an impropriety in the contact isn't likely to go much further than that. The report will likely say that.

However, the fact is that Emanuel did talk with Blago about the appointment, innocent or not, and this raises this question," Was this his idea, or did he do it with a wink and a nod from Obama? That raises yet another question. That is whether Obama knew or didn't know about his talk with Blago. Even if he didn't, why did Emanuel talk with Blago about it or any other matter that even remotely could have dredged up questions about Obama's involvement in a matter that presumably had nothing to do with him.

That's not all. When the allegation first broke that Blago demanded a payment for the seat from Jesse Jackson, Jr. Obama issued a categorical denial that no one on his staff had anything to do with the Jackson flap, or had any dealings at all with Blago about the seat. This obviously was not exactly the case, or was it? It's another loose end question dangling. The FBI wiretap transcripts when fully made public can and probably will shed much more light on the Emanuel-Blago tie.

The Blago-Emanuel and by extension Obama connect in itself would normally be little more than a pinprick distraction except for the long history of corrupt Chicago style wheeling and dealing. During the campaign Obama took occasional hits for his alleged dubious dealings with convicted financier Tony Rezko. There was no proof of any wrongdoing in those dealings. But it did toss an ugly glare on corruption in Chicago politics and how some Chicago politicians aren't averse to trading favors, legal or otherwise, for gain. However, trading favors may be fine for some in Chicago since it's widely assumed that that's the way business is done in some political circles there anyway. But that style would and should have no place in an Obama White House.

Now that raises yet another question. Can Emanuel assure that he and other Obama staff members will play it by the book when it comes to doing business in the White House? That's not a small question. Obama's major election appeal was that he promised to be a politician of a different sort. Millions who backed him took that to mean that transparency will be the watchword in an Obama White House and that the back room conniving, special interest influence peddling, deal making MO of his predecessors will be a thing of the past. Obama needs to reassure that indeed that will be the case. This makes the question what did he know and when did he know it more than a passing academic question.

What Did Obama Know, And When Did He Know it?
Huffington Post, NY

Hillary Clinton close to taking top US diplomat's role

Likely ... Hillary Clinton at a memorial service for Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker of Pennsylvania. Clinton is expected to be announced as secretary of state this week.
Photo: AP

Stephen Collinson Washington
November 23, 2008

A REMARKABLE political union between two once bitter rivals looks set to be cemented after Hillary Clinton appeared ready to accept Barack Obama's offer to be secretary of state.

The former first lady sent clear signals yesterday that she had decided to give up her Senate seat to become the face of US diplomacy abroad, The New York Times reported.

"She's ready," the newspaper quoted an unnamed Clinton confidant as saying, adding that she had made her decision after follow-up consultations with Mr Obama on his vision for foreign policy.

Obama aides said there were no plans for a formal announcement until after the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Senator Clinton would be the third female secretary of state, after Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice.

Senator Clinton's aides would not confirm the New York Times report, but pointedly did not deny it.

"We're still in discussions, which are very much on track," senior adviser Philippe Reines said. "Any reports beyond that are premature."

The nomination moved on after financial disclosures were worked out with Senator Clinton's husband, the former president Bill Clinton.

Some analysts had expressed fears that the former US leader's myriad business interests abroad and donor lists to his charitable foundation could pose a conflict of interest if his wife became secretary of state.

Mr Clinton reportedly offered to submit names of donors to his global charity to an ethical review.

NBC News has reported that Mr Obama is set to appoint New York Federal Reserve chief Timothy Geithner as his treasury secretary amid the deepening economic crisis. The news caused share prices to rise on Wall Street.

Mr Geithner, 47, has been on the front lines of the US central bank's battle to shore up the markets.

Mr Obama's transition office did not comment on the NBC report.

More speculation about the president-elect's emerging cabinet on Friday surrounded James Jones, a former four-star general and NATO's former supreme commander in Europe.

ABC News said he was a top candidate to become the national security adviser. General Jones may be sought by Mr Obama for his expertise on the war in Afghanistan.

The prospect of Senator Clinton as secretary of state has been welcomed across the political spectrum. But some commentators have wondered whether uniting two such bold political egos could be destructive and foster political infighting.

Clinton close to taking top US diplomat's role
Sydney Morning Herald

World celebrates Obama's victory

Leaders electrified. Echoing the message of change and hope which were his campaign theme, an electrified world yesterday regaled in Barack Obama’s victory in the United States’ presidential election with President Umaru Yar’Adua joining other world leaders in hailing the historic election that saw the Democratic flag bearer emerge the first African American president-elect of the world’s most powerful country.

Great Expectations: “We know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our life time – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century,” said Barack Obama, US president- elect in his acceptance speech, yesterday.

Obama’s election unleashed a renewed love for the United States after years of dwindling goodwill, and many said yesterday that U.S. voters had blazed a trail that minorities elsewhere could follow.

People across Africa stayed up all night or woke before dawn to watch U.S. history being made, while the President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya — where Obama’s father was born — declared today a public holiday.
In Indonesia, where Obama lived as child, hundreds of students at his former elementary school erupted in cheers when he was declared winner and poured into the courtyard where they hugged each other, danced in the rain and chanted “Obama! Obama!”

“Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place,” South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela, said in a letter of congratulations to Obama.
President Yar’Adua yesterday said the election of Obama, the first African-American to be elected President of the United States, is a victory over all human prejudices.

Speaking during the inauguration of 11 permanent secretaries at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Yar’Adua said “the election of Barack Obama as President-elect has finally broken the greatest barrier of prejudice in human history.”

“And I believe for us here in Nigeria, we have lessons to draw from this historic event. Prejudices arise from various differences in tribe, zones and regions. Actually, we should examine ourselves in the light of this experience and conduct ourselves purely as Nigerians to serve Nigeria and to serve humanity,” he stated further.

Yar’Adua said “when we find ourselves in a position of responsibility, when we take decisions we should take decisions as Nigerians in the best interest of the country and not try to bring about issues of where I come from or which area I come from or which tribe I come from. That is the old world, that is the old era. Its coffin has been nailed throughout the world and we have entered a new era.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Obama’s victory “has raised enormous hope” in Europe while UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed Mr Obama’s “vision for the future”.
On her part, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the result was “historic”, while the European Commission president called for “a new deal for a new world”.

Moscow said it was expecting a “fresh approach” in US relations with Russia.
“France and Europe... will find a new energy to work with America to preserve peace and world prosperity,” the French leader acted.

In London, Brown said: “The relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom is vital to our prosperity and security.

“Barack Obama ran an inspirational campaign, energising politics with his progressive values and his vision for the future.”

Merkel said that the German government was “fully aware of the importance and of the worth of our transatlantic partnership”.

Similarly, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the world now needed the EU and US to forge “a new deal” to tackle the continuing global financial crisis and other major issues.

“We need to change the current crisis into a new opportunity. We need a new deal for a new world,” Barroso said.

In Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said “everyone has the right to expect a fresh approach from the United States to all the most important problems, including... relations with Russia”.

Leaders across the Middle East have congratulated Obama and given him a cautious welcome on his election as the next US president.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said her country had been impressed by Mr Obama’s “commitment to the peace and security of Israel”, while outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the US-Israeli “special relationship” would be “strengthened” under Obama.

Israeli President Shimon Peres wrote to Obama saying: “Dear Mr President, The world needs a great leader. It is in your making. It is in our prayers. God bless you.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas expressed hope that Obama would help “speed up efforts to achieve peace”, while one of his advisers called on him to “stay the course” on current US-brokered peace talks.

A spokesman for the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, said Obama “must learn from the mistakes of the previous administrations” and improve global ties rather than “wave the big American stick”.

In Iraq, a senior political adviser to the Iraqi prime minister described Obama’s rise to become the first African-American US president as “an unprecedented example of democracy”.
In Iran, Gholamali Haddad Adel, a senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the US needed to change its policies “to get rid of the quagmire made by President Bush”.
Another aide to Ayatollah Khamenei said there was “capacity for the improvement” of US-Iranian ties, “if Obama pursues his campaign promises”.

Governments in South Asia have given a warm reaction to Obama’s victory in the US presidential election.

Indian PM Manmohan Singh congratulated the US president-elect on his “extraordinary” triumph and said that ties would grow even stronger.

Pakistan’s PM also congratulated Obama, saying he hoped the Democrat would promote “peace and stability”.

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai applauded the American people “for their great decision”.

Singh said Barack Obama’s extraordinary journey to the White House would inspire people around the world.

He asked him to visit India at the earliest opportunity.

The main opposition BJP also welcomed Mr Obama’s victory, as did separatist leaders in Indian-administered Kashmir. They said they hoped that he would live up to a pre-election pledge to resolve the long-running regional dispute.

Afghan President Karzai appealed to Obama to prevent civilian casualties, after it emerged that a number of villagers had been killed in a US air strike in the southern province of Kandahar.
But he added: “I hope that this new administration in the United States of America, and the fact of the massive show of concern for human beings and lack of interest in race and colour while electing the president, will go a long way in bringing the same values to the rest of world sooner or later.”

World celebrates Obama's victory
BusinessDay, Nigeria

Uncovering the truth about rumours; Obama, Anwar and Najib

Uncovering The Truth About Rumours

2008-07-12 00:00

Anwar, Najib and Obama have one thing in common –all three are victims of virulent and malicious rumours. The reason why there’s so much venom against them is because all three share another thing – aspirants of high office.

By definition, a rumour is a story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts. A rumour is, therefore, unverified information incapable of being true or false.

The rumours about Obama is that he’s a secret Muslim began surfacing viciously as soon as Barack Obama began looking like a credible candidate to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. Presidency.

If the rumour is not nipped in the bud, then Obama might as well kiss goodbye to his ambition to be the first black man to occupy the White House in 200 years.

Matt Stearns of McClatchy Newspapers says all of these slurs on Obama are categorically untrue. “In the ugly new world of online political rumor-mongering, aggressive Googling and e-mailing allow anyone to join the cacophonous misinformation campaign against a politician — in this case, Obama,” he said.

“Dirty tricks have been a part of politics for as long as there's been politics. But the Internet has taken "the old-fashioned slanderous whispering campaign to a completely new level," said Brooks Jackson, the director of the Annenberg Political Fact Check, a nonpartisan organization that monitors the truthfulness of political discussion. "They are more dangerous and more insidious."

Obama set up a crack team of cybernauts - a rapid response internet “war room”- to track and respond aggressively to online rumours that Barack Obama is unpatriotic and a Muslim.

He and his advisers are aware of the danger of such rumours, amid polling data showing that a significant number of Americans believe he is a Muslim or are suspicious about his background.

Obama’s campaign said that the cyber team would respond immediately to any inaccurate information about him.

He has been so successful, that the Internet campaign set up to fight the rumours has also doubled as a massive fund raising machinery unmatched by any other in the history of the American presidential elections campaign.

When Fox News aired a report in January claiming that Sen. Barack Obama had been educated at a radical Muslim madrassa, his campaign beat the story back with the candidate himself going on television to call it “ludicrous” and a “smear.”

"People believe things they hear from a trusted source," said Julie Germany, director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet at George Washington University. "If you get an e-mail from a close friend or a work colleague or your parents, you're more likely to believe it. That's how word-of-mouth marketing works."

The first clear appearance of the theme on the Web came in a Dec. 18, 2006, column by Debbie Schlussel, a Detroit-based writer, according to an Internet report.

“I had a lot of readers ask me about Barack Obama and his background, and a lot of them had heard he was a Muslim or thought he was a Muslim,” Schlussel said. “I looked into it, I found out his middle name was Hussein.” The result: a column titled “Barack Hussein Obama: Once a Muslim, Always a Muslim.”

Anwar has incredulously survived a round of rumours started a decade ago now he is subject to another new round of rumours which is the same as the first one.

Anwar was on the verge of toppling party strongman Dr Mahathir Mohamad as Umno president and prime minister as well just before the Asian financial meltdown a decade ago.

Khalid Jafri came up with a dossier on Anwar: “50 Dalil Mengapa Anwar Tidak Boleh Jadi PM” or “50 Reasons Why Anwar Shouldn't Be Prime Minister.” The book accused Anwar to have involved in sexual scandal and treason. The books mysteriously made their way into the hands of delegates attending the Umno general assembly in June 1998.

The choice of the word “dalil” is interesting as it means more than just “reasons.” Dalil are arguments based on verses in the Holy Qur’an as proof of its validity. As it turned out, Anwar was sacked by Mahathir four months later on 2 Sept 1998 arising from these dalils, the main one being sodomy.

Anwar sued Khalid for defamation and won but Khalid later passed away. Anwar lost the sodomy allegation and was thrown into the slammer for six years and was beaten to pulp along the way. He finally appealed against the conviction and won.

Anwar has declared himself as prime minister-in-waiting after the 8 March general elections and has set 16 Sept as his date with destiny. Suddenly a 23-year university dropout made a police report that he was sodomised or raped by Anwar. Is this for real? Or just another rumour? As in the previous allegations, Anwar sued for defamation.

As for Najib Razak, the deputy prime minister, rumours about him and his wife, Rosmah Mansor abound linking them to the mysterious murder of a Mongolian woman. Out of the blue, P.I. Bala made a statutory declaration linking both Najib and Rosmah to the murder. The SD was read out by Anwar. Within 24 hours Bala went missing or into hiding, triggering off another round of rumours. Both Najib and his wife are not seen to be taking any vigorous measures to counter the rumours except to deny them and relying on the police to take action.

Shouldn’t both Anwar and Najib learn from Obama’s strategy in dealing with rumours? They are not being tried in a court of law but in the court of public opinion. The cyber jury is still out.

Addressing the Internet rumours at a January debate, Obama said: "Fortunately, the American people are, I think, smarter than folks give them credit for." Malaysians may be just as smart. (By BOB TEOH/ MySinchew)

( The opinions expressed by the writer do not necessarily reflect those of MySinchew ) MySinchew 2008.07.12

full here: Uncovering The Truth About Rumours
Sin Chew Jit Poh, Malaysia