Showing posts with label President Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President Barack Obama. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
American Voters unaffected by President's bin Laden Victory
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, in this May 1, 2011 handout photo. Pete Souza/The White House
3 May 2011 20:02 Africa/Lagos
Newsweek / Daily Beast Poll Reveals American Voters Unaffected by President's bin Laden Victory
PR Newswire
NEW YORK, May 3, 2011
NEW YORK, May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- An exclusive Newsweek / Daily Beast poll using exclusive data conducted immediately before the president's Sunday announcement about the death of the FBI's most wanted terrorist - and immediately after - indicates that President Obama's approval ratings have remained static despite media rhetoric to the contrary.
Polling 1200 voters – 600 on Saturday April 30th and Sunday May 1st, and a further 600 on Monday May 2nd and Tuesday May 3rd - Newsweek and The Daily Beast discovered that in the aftermath of bin Laden's death;
There was no change to President Obama's overall approval rating
BEFORE: 48% APPROVE, 49% DISAPPROVE
AFTER: 48% APPROVE, 49% DISAPPROVE
There was a 10% increase in those who now feel the country is headed in the right direction
BEFORE: Right, 20%, Wrong, 65%
AFTER: Right, 30%, Wrong 55%
27 % feel the economy is headed in the right direction
BEFORE: Right, 31%, Wrong, 56%
AFTER: Right, 27%, Wrong 60%
Further research revealed;
- 55% think President Obama is a strong leader overall
- 63% think President Obama is a strong leader in the war on terrorism
- 38% feel President Obama has made the world more safe
- 45% of American's say President Bush has done a better job at prosecuting the war on terror than President Obama
- 26% of American's feel safer following the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed
- Only 5% of Americans say news that Osama bin Laden has been killed has changed the way they will vote in the 2012 presidential election
Looking ahead to the 2012 election;
In an Obama / Romney 2012 race, 42% would vote for Obama / 36% for Romney
In an Obama / Huckabee 2012 race, 42% would vote for Obama / 38% Huckabee
In an Obama / Palin 2012 race, 50% would vote for Obama / 29% Palin
In an Obama / Trump 2012 race, 53% would vote for Obama / 25% Trump
To review the comprehensive poll findings and full methodology, please visit www.thedailybeast.com
The poll was conducted by Douglas E. Schoen, LLC on behalf of Newsweek/The Daily Beast, and has a margin of sampling error of +/-3 percent.
SOURCE The Daily Beast
CONTACT: Andrew Kirk, +1-212-524-8856
Web Site: http://www.thedailybeast.com
Monday, May 2, 2011
The end of Osama Bin Laden
Nobody expected the breaking news of the death of the most dreaded Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden announced by U.S. President Barack Obama after American Navy Seals shot and killed him in a compound in Abbotabad, a town of about 60 miles from the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Sunday.
Osama bin Laden
But the end of Osama bin Laden does not mean the end of the Al Qaeda or the end of Islamic terrorism.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Obama Reshuffles his national security team
President Barack Obama named CIA Director Leon Panetta as his nominee to succeed Robert Gates at the Pentagon, with Gen. David Petraeus chosen to succeed Panetta at the CIA. Jon Decker reports.
© 2011 Reuters
President Barack Obama and his security chiefs.
The San Francisco Chronicle provoked the White House after the paper posted an unauthorized video of a protest at a San Francisco fundraiser for President Obama last week. This could be connected to reshuffling of the security team since coverage of events at the White House is within the purview of national security. In such matters, the White House cannot be queried if national security is at risk. And posting an unauthorized video of such an event could be inappropriate. No reporter should be allowed to compromise or violate the security procedures of the White House as stated by Office of the Press Secretary on August 18, 2010.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Congratulations President Goodluck Jonathan, but tackle National Security Fast
President Goodluck Jonathan
Mr. President, Congratulation for Winning the Presidency, but we must now win the National Security Battle and here is how to do it in Nigeria.
Mr. President, let Security Revolution becomes a top agenda for the new Presidency and here is how to we can aggressively execute it in Nigeria. Sir, we must do this with full boldness or chutzpah and we must leave no stone unturned irrespective of sentiments. Sir, remember time is short as there is so much to do. Just ask your friend, President Obama he will tell you the term runs fast!
The Nigerian society will soon see the promises of the new Presidency. The new president and the in-coming administration should aggressively pursue strategies and methodologies that could put a real control to problems of national security and anti-democracy as they relate to assassinations, armed robberies, bombing, arson, corruption, unemployment, poor infrastructure, financial waste, institutional slothfulness, and ethnic/religious divide.
If this type of executive route is taken the road to a security revolution would have begun! The new President should aggressively bring in new perspectives and ideas through non-old hands which should include proven business/entrepreneurial/professional Nigerians both in the country and from the diaspora.
Nigeria remains heavily depended on governmental democracy and public styled management systems with the heavy weight of continuously using the same used-up ideas known throughout the nation’s ministries and para-public agencies.
Surely, this is not the way or mode of growing economic democracy.
By the nature, spirit and tradition of our nation, Nigeria is a pro-ecological, entrepreneurial and industrial nation; as such achieving our economic potential will only occur when the people are free to uncover their capabilities under a much more improved secured environment.
National security also involves labor stability. The Nigerian working atmosphere is much more damaged as many private and public workers only put in a quality time of 3 to 4 hours daily into their works due to electricity shortage and fear of darkness which continues to looms in everyone’s mind.
A good security revolution also involves the national leader and his administration providing an environment where a few cannot continue to personalize the elements and processes of governance. This quandary or problem could be worked on by seeing that family ties, friendship links and personal loyalties does not represent the mount piece through which appointments, policies and agendas are made.
Nigeria is an executive democracy where the nation’s President should be able to give maximum attention to issues in the mode of strategic growth in all areas of public and private economies.
Nigeria’s problem is not mainly about godfatherism /godmotherism or political manipulators as all societies are ingrained with this type of emotional sponsorships.
What we ought to be preoccupied with is seeking out workable ideas and proven concepts from any one irrespective of its source as long as such probable solutions are very realistic to our nation’s growth and prosperity.
To better bring in a secured economic and political environment the right people with successful outcomes across various areas of business or occupation should overwhelm the next administration. These people will be the ones to help the country work out solutions to security problems like unemployment among youths as well as finding ways to provide temporal monetary help to give them seek applied training and jobs.
National security could quickly be ensured with the erection of privatized educational, vocational and professional systems, and State-based universities (public and private). These entities should be made to come under regional accreditation or non-governmental agencies that are basically professional associations that could grant recognition to a higher institution for its demonstrated capacity to meet predetermined criteria for recognized standards. This type of private or non-governmental agency should also be put in place to give accreditation to Hospitals and every other Health care organization. This idea is highly essential for the sole purpose of ensuring a more timely supervision and efficient monitoring of these vital systems.
The new president should have in place contracted procurement specialists working on behalf of the federal government for the purpose of supervising grants and providing contracts as they relate to federal tasks(e.g. super-road works, health care system,water/electric supply).
National security will come in a more healthy way by putting systems in place to move our disabled or physically/mentally challenged populations into work training, job counseling as well as assisting them with temporary disability insurance. These acts could give them pride to contribute to the national development as we just saw with the participation of many of them in polling places casting their vote on election days.
In a society where police personnel, prison workers and court officials are not well paid and given adequate living remuneration, insecurity tends to climb up and as a result local businesses and international investments suffer.Also, the national interest in the area of law and order could be served much better with the establishment of State police systems as different state governments are more likely to abundantly take interest in protecting its people and properties.
It is time to develop a new curriculum at all levels of schooling;exclusively designed to place fresh emphasis on the ethical aspect of the institutional health of the nation as it could help build anti-corruption attitude and mindset at an earlier stage of life.
With less Federal/State owned organizations running services there could be is less room for national security insults like wastage, corruption, neglect, greed, violence, pain, apprehension and suffering.A new and newer Nigeria is possible and let us hope it comes sooner with this new-fangled presidency!
~ By Dr. John Oshodi
John EgbeazienOshodi, Ph.D., DABPS; FACFE; is a Licensed Clinical/Forensic Psychologist; Diplomate of American Board of Psychological Specialties; Fellow of American College of Forensic Examiners (For Psy); Former Interim Associate Dean and an Assistant Professor of Psychology, Broward College - North Campus, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Americans Give President Obama Negative Job Rating
President Barack Obama
28 Feb 2011 15:53 Africa/Lagos
Almost Six in Ten Americans Give President Obama Negative Job Rating
Almost nine in ten give Congress negative ratings
PR Newswire
NEW YORK, Feb. 28, 2011
NEW YORK, Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Looking ahead, President Obama most likely sees many battles forthcoming. There's the current budget showdown which has the potential to lead to a government shutdown. There is the labor issue and all eyes are watching to see how the White House responds to what is happening in Wisconsin. And then there is his own electoral battle, albeit 20 months from now, but still on the horizon.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100517/NY06256LOGO)
Going into these battles, almost three in five Americans (58%) have a negative opinion of the job the President is doing while 42% have a positive opinion of it. This is slightly down from last month when 44% of U.S. adults gave the job the President was doing positive marks and 56% gave it negative ratings.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 3,171 adults surveyed online between February 14 and 21, 2011 by Harris Interactive.
Partisanship definitely exists in looking at President Obama's job approval ratings. Nine in ten Republicans (90%) give the President poor ratings while almost three-quarters (73%) of Democrats give him positive marks and Independents are more negative than positive with 60% giving the President negative marks and 40% positive. What is interesting is the depth of support among Republicans and Democrats. Almost six in ten Republicans (57%) give President Obama a rating of poor, the worst on the scale. Among Democrats, just one in five (22%) give the President a rating of excellent, while half (50%) say he is doing a pretty good job.
There is also a large regional divide. Just three in ten Southerners (31%) give President Obama positive ratings as do 42% of Midwesterners. Westerners are very split as 49% give the President positive ratings while 51% give him negative marks. The President's strongest ratings come from the East where over half (54%) give him positive ratings on the job he is doing.
It is almost two months into the new Congress and yet they are not faring much better than the previous Congress did in terms of their ratings. Over four in five Americans (86%) rate the overall job Congress is doing negatively while just 14% give Congress positive ratings. Last month, 84% of U.S. adults gave them negative marks while 16% positive ratings.
It's not just Congress and the President who are mired in negative ratings, the direction of the country is as well. Almost two-thirds of Americans (64%) say things in the country are going off on the wrong track, almost the same as last month (63%). Over one-third of U.S. adults (36%) say things are going in the right direction; 37% said this last month.
So What?
Americans may be hearing that things are getting better and they can see the stock market has had a nice run, but this hasn't translated into better job ratings for President Obama or for Congress. And, if turmoil in the Middle East continues and impacts gas prices for the summer driving season, expect these numbers to move down, not up. That's something the White House definitely does not want to see one year before the presidential election.
Click here for more details
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Why we collect brown envelopes- Nigerian Journalist
Why we collect brown envelopes- Nigerian Journalist
We met one afternoon in the first week of February in a small restaurant on the third floor of the E- Centre in Yaba, a suburb of Lagos. He seemed like a happy go lucky young man as he sat over his plate of jollof rice and chicken whilst I regarded him amusingly. He was sitting beside a popular celebrity blogger and award winning style entrepreneur whom I have known since she was 17 when I was the Editor of an offbeat news magazine in the late 1990s.
“I will not collect anything less than N25, 000, to report and get a story published in our magazine, “he said matter-of-factly in-between mouthfuls of his food.
“I am against journalists collecting brown envelopes,” I said emphatically.
He shrugged at my uncompromising attitude whilst I smirked at his unethical decision.
“We collect brown envelopes, because we are not well paid,” he explained.
“Not all journalists in Nigeria collect brown envelopes,” I said.
He looked up at me and laughed.
“Look, even those who were not collecting brown envelopes before now do so,” he said.
He mentioned that one of the brown envelope rookies was a journalist from the new daily newspaper published by a seasoned Nigerian journalist who became famous after winning the highly coveted Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in America.
“Their reporters were acting holier than others before, but one of them later succumbed and collected a brown envelope through a proxy,” he revealed giving details how money exchanged hands. He said the reporter was financially constrained and had to collect the money to make ends meet.
To find a Nigerian journalist who has never collected a brown envelope would be like searching for a matchstick in a haystack. Collecting brown envelopes to report news stories is now an informal income to augment their salaries, from the green horns to the seasoned professionals in the newsroom.
Well known members of staff of the most popular private TV and fm radio stations are actively engaged in corrupt practices of asking artistes and other personalities lump sums of money before they interview or feature them on air.
The DJs and VJs in Nigeria extort and exploit Nigerian artistes and others to give them financial inducements to “promote” them. But they do not make returns of their so called “promotional fees” to the management of their employers.
One celebrated DJ at a Pidgin English fm radio station on Victoria Island demanded about N250000 from a Nigerian born hip-hop artiste from the US, but he was queried when his employer found out through a whistle blower in the entertainment industry. He was so scared that he called the artiste and begged for negotiation. His female colleague quickly played the song of the artiste without asking for any brown envelope. But others still collected over N125, 000. One of them boasted that a popular record label paid as much as N2 million for the constant rotation of their hip-hop artistes on radio and TV. And that is the secret of their success and not the noisy songs of their artistes who cannot even get a record deal in the US or the UK where the music recording companies have not collapsed.
These DJs and VJs do not care about the quality of the songs and will hype and play the songs constantly as long as the artistes give them fat brown envelopes. But once you fail to pamper them with cash and gifts they will drop your songs in the drawers until further notice. These corrupt Nigerians simply play whatever you give to them once you have bribed them generously.
In the US and most other places, radio stations do not pay performers for airplay, but they do not extort them in a mutual rapport. Presently, the administration of President Barack Obama is already supporting legislation to make radio stations pay royalties to performers when they play their music just like satellite radio, Internet radio and cable TV music channels pay fees to performers and songwriters.
Cash-for-news coverage is very common all over the world, but permitting the corrupt practice has compromised standards of professional journalism, because a reporter or news channel can be bribed to report even falsehood as I have noted in one of the largest circulating dailies in Nigeria where one of the entertainment editors is fond of cash-for-news coverage to report exaggerated stories or falsehood to promote artistes and their works.
There was a particular case of "cash-for-news coverage" that really shocked me.
Some news reporters asked for brown envelopes to report the 2010 World Malaria Day hosted by the Media Forum of the African Media & Malaria Research Network, AMMREN, in Lagos, Nigeria. An important event for the benefit of the public to save millions of lives was exploited by unscrupulous Nigerian journalists to extort money from the non-profit NGO. The coordinator gave each reporter more than N5,000. But they even failed to give a good report of the event.
"But everybody missed it because it's badly cobbled together. For example, names are badly mixed-up, etc. That's worse than no report, " the coordinator complained to me.
“Cash-for-news coverage is more common in regional and local media than in national media, particularly among district and local media correspondents in small towns. It goes by various street names depending on location, including: red envelope, brown envelope, soli, marmalade, tips, and sitting allowance, among others. Bribery acceptance is linked here to low pay for journalists. It is exemplified as a means of government control of media, undermining democratization. Media control includes the use of false accusation of taking bribes to suppress independent journalists,” said Bill Ristow in Cash for Coverage: Bribery of Journalists Around the World published on September 28, 2010.
You should also read "The Shame of Brown Envelope Journalism" by Peter G. Mwesige
published on Friday, 17 September 2010, by the African Centre for Media Excellence.
The following recommendations have been made to stop the corrupt practices of cash-for-news coverage by the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) - National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
1. "International journalism organizations should:
o Take the initiative to support a summit on the topic of cash for news coverage, to include representatives of the public-relations industry and experts on how corporations deal with bribery.
o Issue regular reports documenting... this 'dark side' of the profession.
o Take the lead in documenting - and publicizing - the pay levels of journalists around the world...
2. Media-development organizations should:
o Sharpen their focus on ethics training...
o Support the creation and nurture of media accountability systems such as ombudsmen and other mechanisms to heighten transparency in how journalists do their work.
3. News media owners, managers, and editors should:
o Adopt, publicize, and then stick to a firm policy of zero tolerance...
o Review pay policies...
o Take the initiative in creating accountability systems on their own, such as appointing an ombudsman...
4. Public relations professionals and their organizations should:
o Not wait for the journalists to suggest a summit. They can suggest it themselves...
o Encourage their members to practice zero tolerance...
5. NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and corporations should:
o Just say no.... adopt a firm rule against paying, put it in writing and make it public, and stick to it in all cases."
~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Egypt will never be the same, says Barack Obama
February 11, 2011
Obama: Egypt has spoken
U.S. President Barack Obama offers his support for Egypt following the end of Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
© 2011 Reuters
11 Feb 2011 15:40 Africa/Lagos
Statement of President Barack Obama on Egypt
WASHINGTON, February 11, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Egyptian people have been told that there was a transition of authority, but it is not yet clear that this transition is immediate, meaningful or sufficient. Too many Egyptians remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy, and it is the responsibility of the government to speak clearly to the Egyptian people and the world. The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity.
As we have said from the beginning of this unrest, the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people. But the United States has also been clear that we stand for a set of core principles. We believe that the universal rights of the Egyptian people must be respected, and their aspirations must be met. We believe that this transition must immediately demonstrate irreversible political change, and a negotiated path to democracy. To that end, we believe that the emergency law should be lifted. We believe that meaningful negotiations with the broad opposition and Egyptian civil society should address the key questions confronting Egypt's future: protecting the fundamental rights of all citizens; revising the Constitution and other laws to demonstrate irreversible change; and jointly developing a clear roadmap to elections that are free and fair.
We therefore urge the Egyptian government to move swiftly to explain the changes that have been made, and to spell out in clear and unambiguous language the step by step process that will lead to democracy and the representative government that the Egyptian people seek. Going forward, it will be essential that the universal rights of the Egyptian people be respected. There must be restraint by all parties. Violence must be forsaken. It is imperative that the government not respond to the aspirations of their people with repression or brutality. The voices of the Egyptian people must be heard.
The Egyptian people have made it clear that there is no going back to the way things were: Egypt has changed, and its future is in the hands of the people. Those who have exercised their right to peaceful assembly represent the greatness of the Egyptian people, and are broadly representative of Egyptian society. We have seen young and old, rich and poor, Muslim and Christian join together, and earn the respect of the world through their non-violent calls for change. In that effort, young people have been at the forefront, and a new generation has emerged. They have made it clear that Egypt must reflect their hopes, fulfill their highest aspirations, and tap their boundless potential. In these difficult times, I know that the Egyptian people will persevere, and they must know that they will continue to have a friend in the United States of America.
Source: The White House
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