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United States
Fair Observer provides inclusive, insightful and non-partisan analysis of important American issues, events and trends.
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360° Analysis / Ivory Coast / Nigeria / Politics / Somalia / Sudan / Uganda / United States / AfricaBy Matteo FigusBarack Obama’s policy towards Africa has probably not lived up to the expectations that accompanied his election, but instead managed to create an intense debate paving the way for a total change of direction. When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, expressions of joy were seen across the world, especially in Africa. His origins, the first black American president, created among Africans the expectation that finally the continent would be placed at the top of the agenda. The years 2008-2012, instead brought turmoil, disillusionment and even some sort of rancorous reflection on Obama’s African legacy. What is the reality and how to assess Obama’s policy? In June 2012, Obama...
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360° Analysis / Humanitarian / Iraq / Lebanon / Politics / Syria / United States / Middle EastThe recent assassination of Wissam al-Hassan in Beirut, brings us one step closer to more war and chaos in the Middle East. Given the history of widespread violence and the implications for the US, why are the largest of the American charities — many of which have provided billions of dollars worth of US government relief assistance in the region for over 60 years — so silent? I first succumbed to the notion of working in a humanitarian effort overseas in 1981. Before that I had been a soldier and a manager of a small business. Of course, the reasons for this transition were mixed but among them was the ambition to right some wrongs. As a newcomer, I was sent to war —...
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Barack Obama / Debates / Elections 2012 / Mitt Romney / Paul Ryan / Politics / Politics News / United States / Focus Articleby Roberton Williams In the second Presidential debate, Mitt Romney repeated the idea that he could pay for much or all of the 20 percent rate reduction and other tax cuts in his tax plan by capping itemized deductions at $25,000. He had previously suggested a $17,000 cap in an interview and, in the first debate, $25,000 or $50,000 caps—and possibly phasing deductions out entirely for high-income taxpayers. Capping deductions would raise revenue in a highly progressive way but how much revenue and how progressive depend on the cap. Itemized deductions disproportionately benefit high-income taxpayers for three reasons: High-income taxpayers are more likely to itemize...
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Biden / mathematics / obama / Politics / Romney / Ryan / tax plan / United States / Focus ArticleMathematician and teacher Alexander Coward looks at the Mitt Romney tax plan and asks: do the numbers add up? There is a lot of talk this election cycle about the Romney tax plan. Is it a huge unpaid-for tax cut skewed to the wealthy that must either blow up the deficit or necessitate an as-yet unspecified tax increase on the middle class, or is it a revenue neutral simplification of the tax code that will encourage growth and prosperity. Do the numbers simply fail to add up, or is it a well crafted vision for a different type of relationship between the individual and government. One side says one thing, the other side says the other. They both say they have studies to support their views...
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Biden / obama / Politics / Romney / Ryan / United States / US / Vice Presidential Debate / 360° ContextA brief history of vice presidential debates and why they matter. In an incredibly tight race for the Presidency, the debate between the vice-presidential candidates matters more than usual. The debate is famously renowned for being memorable - who can forget Dan Quayle’s retort, ‘Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy’ to Lloyd Bentsen in 1988. Furthermore, it provides a chance for the voters to assess the candidates who could be first in the presidential line of succession. The familiar term, ‘only a heartbeat away from the Presidency’, means this debate is incredibly relevant. The first vice presidential debate first took place in 1976. In this debate,...
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360° Analysis / Biden / obama / Politics / Romney / Ryan / teeth / United States / US / Vice Presidential debatesBy Atul SinghAt a time of crisis, Biden and Ryan make claims and counterclaims, and fail to address the issues facing America honestly. Four years after 2008, the economic crisis persists and candidates running for office keep trying to pin the blame on each other. Biden and Ryan debated against the backdrop of the Chinese renminbi hitting a 19-year high against the dollar. The entire world economy seems to be slowing down. When China reports its third-quarter economic data on 18th of October, it is likely to post a seventh successive quarterly slowdown. The Eurozone is not too healthy and emerging economies such as India and Brazil are wobbling too. For a nervous American electorate, debates are...
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360° Analysis / Arab World / Israel / Palestine / Politics / United States / Middle East / AfricaBy Katie Gonzalez Scholars and experts say his foreign policy would be a "catastrophe" for the Middle East, but also hint that Romney the candidate and Romney the president may not be one and the same. As the United States presidential election nears, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has made headlines seeking to differentiate his political platform from that of President Barack Obama. Romney cited cultural differences as a reason for the economic disparity between Israelis and Palestinians, and more recently, in the unearthed Mother Jones viral video, admitted a futility in Middle East peace efforts, which has led Middle East academics and policy experts to question the...
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Why is the road trip such an appealing American tradition? It was 1933, Hoover was out, Roosevelt was in, and Harry L. Hopkins had sent the irascible Lorena Hickok on the road to report the state of affairs in a ragged and stricken America.“What I want you to do,” instructed Hopkins, “is to go out around the country and look this thing over.” That “thing” was the Great Depression. One third of the nation was subsisting in a waste of soul-grinding poverty, and Hopkins’ job as director of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration was to lend states money for aid programs. But from his desk in Washington, Hopkins could not see into the deep recesses...
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As Round Two beckons, Alexander Coward offers some tips to Barack Obama to beat Mitt Romney. Since my last article, arguing the view that Obama was saving his best arguments for the later debates, it seems, and the latest polls suggest, that I may have been completely wrong. Maybe it was Obama who got rope-a-doped, the incumbent champ riding high in the polls all summer only to be knocked out one month before Election Day. I hope not, but rather than focus on the last debate, I submit the following as an outline for what Obama might say in the next debate, when Romney, as he surely will, repeats his claim that a 5 trillion dollar tax cut, skewed towards the wealthy, is not part...