Voter Political Blog

Vice President-elect Joe Biden is worried about the “exceedingly high expectations” the world community has for Barack Obama’s presidency.

He believes he and Obama must follow through with action to show how they’re different than George W. Bush, Biden told CNN’s Larry King Monday.

“I have been contacted by so many world leaders. Their expectation for Barack’s presidency is overwhelming,” Biden said. “They are so hungry to have an American leader who they think has a policy that reflects our stated values as well as one they can talk to.”

At the same time, Biden expressed sympathy for Bush over the Baghdad shoe-throwing incident — a day after Biden and Vice President Dick Cheney traded shots on the Sunday shows. “I feel somewhat badly for him,” Biden said. “I think the incident in Iraq was — was unfortunate, that guy throwing the shoes. It was just uncalled for … and I think that President Bush and, unlike Vice President Cheney, is, upon reflection, beginning to acknowledge some of the serious, if not mistakes, misjudgments that he made.”

Still, Biden made clear Obama must make a clean break with Bush polices past, starting with shutting down the U.S. camp at Guantanamo Bay, Biden said. He said Greg Craig, Obama’s incoming White House counsel, and other members of Obama’s team are working on a strategy for closing Gitmo.

“We’re in the process of drawing up plans right now,” Biden said. “It’s going to be complicated to do it. It’s going to take more than a few months. But close it we must.”

But Biden also signaled that there might be some flexibility in another key Obama campaign promise that world leaders are watching closely: bringing home troops from Iraq. Biden said troops would be out “within the next two years” — longer than President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign promise of within 16 months but “in the same ballpark,” Biden said.

He said Obama would have troops out more quickly than the Bush administration’s agreement with the Iraqi government, which calls for troop withdrawal by 2011.

WASHINGTON — A month before his inauguration, Americans choose Barack Obama as the man they admire most in the world, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. It’s the first time a president-elect has topped the annual survey in more than a half-century.
President Bush falls to a distant second after seven years as the most-admired man.

Hillary Rodham Clinton leads the list of most-admired woman, a spot she’s held for 13 of the past 16 years — as first lady, then New York senator and now Obama’s designate for secretary of State. A newcomer is second: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who wasn’t well-known nationally until Republican presidential candidate John McCain chose her as his running mate in August.

The findings, a snapshot of public opinion at the end of a tumultuous year, reflect soaring expectations for an incoming president who will take over daunting economic challenges on Jan. 20.

“Things are down so much at the end of 2008 and the end of Bush’s administration … and Obama represents a new beginning and some hope and anticipation that things can get better,” says James McPherson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and editor of ‘To the Best of My Ability:’ The American Presidents.

That could be a “two-edged sword,” McPherson adds. “High hopes are bound to be disappointed in some degree,” he says, “but it also gives him a honeymoon period which is one of real opportunity for him to try to get things done because he’ll have a lot of support and a lot of good will.”

One-third of Americans call Obama their first or second choice for most-admired man. The only higher support for a man in the history of the survey was Bush’s 39% rating in 2001, months after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

The survey of 1,008 adults, taken by landline and cellphone Dec. 12-14, has an error margin of +/—3 percentage points.

Among women, Michelle Obama is rated fifth, following talk-show host Oprah Winfrey at third and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at fourth.

Among men, McCain is ranked third and three others tie for fourth: Pope Benedict XVI, the Rev. Billy Graham and former president Bill Clinton.

Obama’s rise is matched by Bush’s decline. The president’s support has ebbed nearly every year since 2001, falling to 5% this year.

That matches the presidential low point reached by Harry Truman in 1952. Dwight Eisenhower scored first that year, the only other time a president-elect has led the list since Gallup began asking the question in 1948.

Source: http://www.modernghana.com/news/196505/1/obama-is-man-americans-admire-most.html

President-elect Barack Obama spent a private Christmas Day with family and close friends, continuing a vacation that has been remarkable for how low-key he and aides have kept it.

Obama, wife Michelle and their two young daughters opened presents at their rented vacation home and planned a dinner of turkey and ham, according to aides. He planned no public events, and aides said they did not expect to release any further details.

The Obamas arrived in Honolulu on Saturday with four aides, his Secret Service detail and a small group of journalists. Since then, he has been largely sequestered at the beachfront estate.

With less a month before Obama takes office on Jan. 20, he is taking every step possible to make sure this holiday is as private as possible — something he bemoaned while walking to a driving range last Sunday.

“OK, guys,” Obama said, recognizing the photographers snapping pictures. “Come on. … How many shots do you need?”

It was one of only a handful of trips Obama and his motorcade have taken. He and Michelle Obama have visited Marine Corps Base Hawaii for daily morning workouts. Twice, he and friends have played a round of golf. He attended a private memorial service for his grandmother on Tuesday and scattered her ashes into the Pacific Ocean.

And that’s been it.

While the Democratic president-elect vacations in his native Hawaii through the New Year, he and his aides have taken careful steps to minimize his profile. He has no public schedule while vacationing, although he remains involved in transition plans and has received intelligence briefings.

While Obama’s aides have taken steps to keep the vacation low-profile, he hasn’t been entirely successful. Photographers captured images of him scattering his grandmother’s ashes from a rock ledge on Tuesday while the press corps waited in a bus. Another photographer captured the future first family — including a shirtless Obama — in the backyard.

The Secret Service has blocked the street where he is staying, citing security concerns. A few cars a day have rolled into the dead-end street, but they did not get past the checkpoint. And a few neighbors who tried to walk past the house on Christmas Day were rebuffed by agents.

One man left with an aide a Christmas card addressed to the Obama family. It featured a palm tree with the word “peace” written on it.

Source: http://latestobamanews.com/2008/12/25/obamas-keep-low-profile-on-christmas-in-hawaii/

So far, four out of five Americans support President-Elect Barack Obama and his transition team, meaning the scandal in Illinois is having little to no effect on Obama’s popularity. Eighty-two percent of those questioned in a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday morning approve of the way the Obama is handling his presidential transition. That’s up 3 points from when we asked this question at the beginning of December. Fifteen percent of those surveyed disapprove of the way Obama’s handling his transition, down 3 points from our last poll.

Source: http://www.nicksloan.com/2008/12/82.html