Katie Connolly
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Jul 8, 2009 07:29 PM
Governor Sarah Palin's shock resignation last week prompted yet another
round of colorful punditry on the woeful state of the Republican Party.
If Palin does seek the GOP nomination in 2012, not only will she have
an exceedingly short political resume, but she won't have a public
office from which it launch her campaign. Interestingly, she's not
alone. Two other candidates high on most politics watchers' lists - Tim
Pawlenty and Mitt Romney - won't be in elected office either. (Pawlenty
recently announced that he would not seek a third term as Minnesota
Governor in 2010.) Here at the Gaggle we started wondering: Does it
really matter if a candidate doesn't hold public office when he or she
takes a stab at the presidency?
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Daniel Stone
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Jul 8, 2009 01:21 PM
Mount Rushmore is the kind of monument reserved for only the best U.S. presidents. The likenesses of only four—Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Lincoln, and Jefferson—appear on the South Dakota rock structure. But environmental-activist group Greenpeace, both famous and notorious (depends who's asking) for its bold environmental protests, figured Barack Obama deserved to be there. Yet not quite for the reason you might think. Right next to the Lincoln sculpture, Greenpeace climbers unveiled a face-sized banner (65 by 35 feet) of Obama's face with the words "America Honors Leaders, Not Politicians: Stop Global Warming." The message was crafted to call out Obama for dragging his feet on global climate policy as he heads into the G8 policy conference this week in Italy. “While President Obama’s speeches on global warming have been inspiring, we’ve seen a growing gap between the president’s words and his actions,” Carroll Muffett, who heads Greenpeace campaigns, said from the scene.
The move was an impressive feat of daring. Newsweek has learned that a team of 12 experienced climbers prepped conspicuously for months planning for different scenarios to ensure that the action could be completed safely. The group also promised there would be no damage to the actual monument, which is solid granite. And all involved planned to spend several weeks behind bars.
Of course, the protest was aimed to get the attention of Obama and other world leaders, currently on the other side of the world. Asked whether the president or top advisers were aware of the protest and accompanying message, the White House had no immediate comment.
Holly Bailey
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Jul 8, 2009 06:06 AM
With so many world leaders in town, it goes without saying that there is massive security at the G-8 here in Italy. But there are some threats officials here simply can’t control, and that’s Mother Nature. The summit is being held in L’Aquila, a city that is rebuilding from a deadly earthquake this past April that killed nearly 300 people and left at least 50,000 homeless. Described as Italy's worst quake in 30 years, it measured 6.3 on the Richter scale, but the shaking hasn’t stopped. The city has been experiencing frequent aftershocks, including one over the weekend that measured a 4.1. That may not be a big deal to folks on the West Coast, but in L’Aquila, a city full of super old buildings, that’s a pretty hefty shake.
The summit is being organized by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who originally had wanted to host President Obama and other leaders on a cruise ship off the coast of Sardinia. But after the earthquake, Berlusconi moved the meetings to L’Aquila to help showcase the city’s continued troubles. Leaders will sleep in Army barracks and meet in old police headquarters there. But the frequent aftershocks now have the Italians looking at a contingency plan to airlift Obama and other leaders to Rome if something bad happens. Briefing this morning, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged the Secret Service has a plan, too. And what, pray tell, happens to the White House press corps? Fingers crossed, we’ll be driving to Rome, which is about a 90-minute drive away.
Holly Bailey
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Jul 8, 2009 05:22 AM
President Obama just arrived in Italy, where he’ll spend two days meeting with foreign leaders at the Group of Eight meeting in L’Aquila before heading to Rome where he’ll sit down with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Friday. What’s on the agenda this week? Everything—though talks are expected to focus on Iran, financial markets, non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the on-going war in Afghanistan, and world hunger. On Thursday, Obama will chair a meeting expected to focus primarily on climate change. And then there’s the random issues that might come up. Not unlike the G-20 meetings in London in April, there are rumblings here that China might be reviving that touchy subject of setting up a currency to compete with the U.S. dollar—though that might have lost some steam as Chinese President Hu Jintao abruptly headed back home today to deal with the violent rioting that has left more than 150 people dead in Western China. That has left a hole in President Obama’s schedule, as he was scheduled to have talks with President Hu on the sidelines of the G-8.
It’s a packed itinerary, but what is actually going to be accomplished? Major summits have long been criticized as primarily a glorified photo-op where foreign leaders announce goals rather than set in motion efforts to achieve them. Take climate change, for instance.
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