Most of us know Samantha Power as the Barack Obama staffer who called Hillary Clinton a "monster," then asked that the remark be considered off-record.It was not.
Samantha Power was Obama's chief foreign policy advisor, or at least one among several, depending who you talk to.
Power was a frequent guest on the Charlie Rose program,which is how we got to know her as the Genocide Lady, for her writing and reportage on the global genocide beat.
Here is Power most recently on 02/21/2008:
Here is Power on 09/19/2002 (There's that year again...):
Elsewhere on YouTube is footage of Ms. Power, apparently stopped on the street by a reporter, apologizing profusely for her comments about Sen. Clinton. She describes herself as a "political rookie" who is very sorry.
We really enjoyed a blog post by Time Magazine's Joe Klein on Time's blog, Swampland.
Now, here is the meat of the post. Here is Samantha Power in earlier, happier times, rooting and roaring for Barack Hussein Obama at a rally on Feb. 2nd 2008:
She gets better as she goes. By the end, she is making the strongest case for Barack Obama, and one that should strike fear into the hearts of neoconservative swine everywhere -- a working legislative majority.
Bram, thank you for posting that youtube video. It's a shame Powers had to step down for calling Hillary a monster. I mean, she F'd up by trusting a foreign journalist not to say anything but still, she is not a candidate or even a politician so she didn't know any better. Anyways, her influence will be missed so hopefully she can rejoin the campaign team following the primaries.
ReplyDeleteI read her book “A Problem From Hell” a year or two ago. I think she has keen insights about foreign policy. That said, I think her grasp of domestic policy, of how things work inside this country, are a bit naïve and simplistic. But I hope Obama brings her back into his cabinet, in some foreign policy position. She is, as they say, smart as shit and she would be a valuable resource.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I don’t think that Barack will build a “working legislative majority”, at least not a permanent one (though he may well create several temporary ones). He is talented and smart, but he is too young to have the sort of connections to facilitate that sort of thing. But I think Barack is likely to be the best President of the three current choices. I think he would work well with foreign leaders, restoring some of our relations with the rest of the world. And I think the people would trust him, for a while. He may even be able to find some legislation, perhaps related to education, to help African Americans.
It's odd what you say about her foreign policy, and her domestic policy framework. Deep within another YouTubage, in which she was addressing a room of some kind, Power went on to list another potential strength of Obaman foreign policy: Obama.
ReplyDeleteHow many other American presidents could just go out there, to so many countries, and just work the people of the country directly? Take the American case directly to the people? I think he does much much better in that than either Clinton or McCain would ... and it could potentially have realpolitik implications.