Tag: Obama

Obama’s approval rating is at its highest point in years, and that could be a big problem for Donald Trump

Ajay GhoshPolitics 0

Barack Obama strode to the stage at last month’s Democratic National Convention in an unusual speaking slot. He spoke in the primetime hour Wednesday night, a spot typically reserved for a vice-presidential nominee.

In 2000, for instance, former President Bill Clinton spoke on Monday night of then-Democratic nominee Al Gore’s convention. Former President George W. Bush, deeply unpopular in his second term, didn’t show up for then-Republican nominee John McCain’s party in 2008.

Obama’s speaking slot was by design. It previewed an outsize role in his final campaign: Electing Hillary Clinton to be his successor in the White House.

“President Obama gives Hillary Clinton a hat trick: He can help unite the party by bringing out Bernie Sanders supporters into her camp, deliver an aggressive contrast about the threat posed by Donald Trump, and ensure that all the supporters of the Obama coalition show up in November,” Ben LaBolt, a former spokesman for Obama’s presidential campaigns, told Business Insider earlier this year.

Obama is prepared to campaign for his party’s presidential nominee more than any sitting president in recent history. That could be a big problem for the GOP and its nominee, Donald Trump. And a huge boon for Clinton.

The president’s approval rating got its own convention bump: In a CNN/ORC poll conducted after the convention, 54% of Americans said they approved of Obama’s job performance. It was his highest mark since right before his second inauguration in 2013. Just 45% disapproved.

That number is significant. Earlier this year, an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that President Barack Obama’s approval rating had jumped to 51% — its highest point since his second inauguration.  NBC’s team of political analysts called it the “most important number” out of the poll.

“Why is it important? Because it means that Obama will be an asset to Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail unlike he was in the 2014 midterms, when his approval rating was in the low 40s,” NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Carrie Dann wrote. The threshold might seem arbitrary. But historical precedent suggests it could bode well for Clinton, Obama’s former secretary of state.

Early this year, Obama’s approval rating hit 50% in the weekly average from Gallup’s daily survey. As of Friday, it stands at 51%. For Obama, whose approval ratings have been stuck in the mid- to low-40% range for much of his second term, it was a notable bump.

“While it’s hard to pinpoint precisely why Obama’s approval rating has risen among Democrats recently, there are a number of plausible explanations,” wrote Andrew Dugan, a Gallup analyst, and Frank Newport, the organization’s editor-in-chief, in a post earlier this year.

One of the explanations, the pair concurred, was that “the unusual status of the Republican primary race — exemplified in particular by frontrunner Donald Trump’s campaign style and rhetoric — may serve to make Obama look statesmanlike in comparison.”

rump has come into Obama’s crosshairs repeatedly as he has hit the trail for Clinton. And with good reason: More so than at any other presidential hand-off in recent history, so many elements of the current administration’s legacy are at stake.

The Republican nominee has pledged to undo signature achievements on healthcare (the Affordable Care Act), the environment (historic new regulations aimed at curbing climate change), and foreign policy (the Iran nuclear deal).

Those themes will become evident as the president launches into what will be his final campaign: Preventing a Trump presidency.

“Not only does he have strong standing among Democrats and independents, but he has a unique ability to mobilize the young voters and diverse communities she’ll need to win,” LaBolt said.

Obama’s approval ratings at this point are far better than those of Bush, his predecessor, off whose unpopularity Obama thrived during his 2008 run. His level is most directly comparable to former President Ronald Reagan, who in March 1988 held a 51% approval rating, according to Gallup.

That same year, voters selected George H.W. Bush — Reagan’s vice president — to succeed him. “Yes,” said Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush’s former press secretary, when asked earlier this year if Obama’s apparent rising popularity poses a problem for the Republican Party.

“Certainly, going into an election spring and summer, it’s better to have an incumbent president increasingly popular rather than less popular if you’re the incumbent party,” he told Business Insider.

The numbers present a striking contrast to some data points associated with the current Republican presidential frontrunner. A recent Gallup survey revealed that 42% of voters view Trump in a “highly unfavorable” light, compared with 16% who see him highly favorably. That’s the highest negative percentage for any major presidential candidate since at least 1956, according to Gallup.

“I’ve been doing this [since] 1964, which is the Goldwater years,” NBC/WSJ co-pollster Peter Hart told NBC of the relative unpopularity of many of the candidates earlier in the year. “To me, this is the low point. I’ve seen the disgust and the polarization. Never, never seen anything like this. They’re not going up; they’re going down.”

It helps explain why Clinton is attaching herself to much of Obama’s legacy. And Obama remains favorable to wide swaths of constituencies that Clinton needs to turn out to vote in November. The president holds high approval ratings among African-Americans (90%), Democrats (82%), Latinos (73%), and voters aged 18 to 34 (64%), according to Gallup.

And despite the strong primary challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders, in many ways, Clinton has run an incumbent-style campaign, and she has had much of the party’s establishment rallying behind her candidacy.

As Gallup’s Dugan and Newport wrote earlier this year: “In comparison, the two most recent candidates running to succeed a two-term president of the same party — John McCain running to follow the unpopular Bush, and Al Gore trying to succeed the popular but scandal-prone Bill Clinton — went to greater pains to ensure they were not associated with the outgoing president.” They concluded: “Prior to that, George H.W. Bush in 1988 presented himself as a natural heir to the Reagan legacy and was able to win his own term.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Meets With President Obama in Paris

Ajay GhoshEnvironment, Politics 0

President Obama met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India to discuss their efforts to put in place a lasting framework to address global climate change.  The two leaders discussed the urgent threat posed by climate change and reaffirmed their commitment to a successful agreement in Paris.

According to a White House Press Release, the two leaders agreed that the Paris agreement must drive serious and ambitious action by all nations to curb carbon pollution, while at the same time protecting the ability of countries such as India to pursue their priorities of development, growth, and poverty eradication.

The President and Prime Minister committed their teams to work closely to achieve these objectives.  Additionally, the President welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s initiatives to increase renewable energy deployment in India, his leadership to form a solar alliance, and our partnership to launch Mission Innovation, a ground-breaking new initiative that will accelerate the pace at which we can develop and deploy affordable clean energy technology to populations around the world.

In addition to the climate agenda, the two leaders discussed additional steps to deepen their countries’ strategic partnership on bilateral, regional, and global issues.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Meets With President Obama in Paris
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President Obama

Meanwhile, the White House heaped high praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he has a clear understanding of the India-U.S. relationship and a clear vision for where he wants to take his country. President Barack Obama “certainly does respect Prime Minister Modi and has appreciation for his skills and abilities as a politician,” the White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters here Wednesday when asked about the relationship between the two leaders.

“He also is somebody who is given the very difficult challenge of sitting atop the world’s largest democracy — that’s not easy work, and the President of the United States has special insight into how difficult it is.”

Obama has found “Modi to be somebody who is honest and direct,” he said. He is “somebody who has good command of the facts; somebody who has a clear understanding of the issues that confront his country and our relationship,” Earnest said. “He is also somebody that has a clear vision for where he wants to take his country. And that makes him not just an effective politician but an effective Prime Minister.”

Earnest noted that Obama “has had the opportunity to consult with Prime Minister Modi on a number of occasions. And I think that isn’t just a testament to their good working relationship — it actually is a testament to the important issues that are at stake between our two countries.”

“And the ability of the leaders of our two countries to work through those issues and to advance our shared interests is a good thing — it’s a good thing for the world, it’s also a good thing for the citizens of our two countries,” Earnest said.

Asked if Obama had invited Modi for a seventh meeting early next year at the White House, the spokesman said he was not “aware of any meetings that are on the agenda at this point, but I certainly wouldn’t rule out another visit by Prime Minister Modi before the end of next year.”

India Today Holds Key To Its Own Future

Ajay GhoshFinance/Economy 0

“Because of the economic, national security, and global policy potential India presents, a rising India offers one of the most significant opportunities to advance American national interests over the next two decades,” in a report complied by Alyssa Ayres, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia, Charles R. Kaye, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Warburg Pincus, and Joseph S. Nye Jr., of the Council On Foreign Relations, stated. “India today holds the key to its own future: if it can maintain its current growth rate, currently hovering around 7%, let alone attain sustained double digit growth, it will have the potential over the next 20 to 30 years to follow China on the path to becoming another ten trillion dollar economy.”

According to the authors, India is at a unique moment in which the right choices could make it a more significant contributor to global gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the decades ahead, and give it the wherewithal to become a stronger strategic partner to Washington. This new report identifies sustained high rates of growth as the most important factor for India’s global rise and calls on the U.S. government to more actively support the growth of the Indian economy.

The analysts are of the view that India’s economic growth created opportunities within India, for Indian citizens and Indian companies, and for American corporations and investors as well. In the process, India’s growth created new American constituents invested in India’s success. The U.S.-India Business Council, for example, grew from an anaemic 60-some members in the late 1990s to more than 200 by 2008, and around 330 today. U.S.-India bilateral trade has crossed $100 billion in goods and services—a five-fold increase from $19 billion in 2000. But to put it in a global context, that $100 billion is only around one-sixth of U.S.-China trade. This contrast, though potentially disheartening, points to the opportunity ahead.

“India has long been a country of tremendous promise, but it has not yet been able to translate that potential into the global power that its leaders—across parties—hope it will someday become,” they say. Recalling the economic reform, begun in 1991, they credit the growth of the Indian economy, which is now among the world’s ten largest, but it is only one-fifth the size of China’s. India has lifted more than 130 million people out of abject poverty over the past decade, but is still home to the world’s largest number of poor due to sheer scale. “India has become South Asia’s regional power, but has some distance to go before it can play a more ambitious role on the global stage.”

The authors of the report are of the view that deepening ties will necessitate placing a higher priority on transforming the prickly economic dialogue between Washington and New Delhi—just as the civil nuclear deal transformed strategic ties over the past decade. Washington will need to shift gears in the way it approaches trade and other economic matters with India.

They recommend that the United States should be much more ambitious in its trade and investment ties with India. India remains outside the major Asian trade initiative—the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—led by the United States. “Instead of waiting for India to meet a threshold determined by the United States, Washington and New Delhi should craft a roadmap together toward some larger trade commitment. That goal might be a free trade agreement or membership in a future expanded TPP; with a commitment to reach the goal at a future date, the roadmap should then specify steps both can take along the way.”

They suggest that the US offers active support for Indian membership in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, a nonbinding organization India seeks to join, would be a good start, as would discussions about sectoral agreements such as in services. And Washington possesses important technical expertise in matters that could be helpful to India’s reforms, like bank restructuring, infrastructure financing, or vocational skills training.

While expressing concerns about the ambivalence by India about opening its economy further, India risks being left behind by the strengthening networks of commerce growing up around it. “To that end, Indian politicians—in government as well as in opposition—should build domestic constituencies across parties for a more open, market-oriented approach, all geared toward helping the Indian economy grow,” they say. “A more open India will be able to draw upon the external resources needed to develop a larger manufacturing sector, create jobs, build infrastructure, and raise more people out of poverty—all top priorities for successive Indian governments, and central to the Modi agenda. In a world in which authoritarianism poses new threats to the interests of the United States and its allies, a stronger India—the world’s largest democracy—will be of even greater importance to U.S. interests.”

President Obama Announces Key Appointees To Faith Advisory Body

Ajay GhoshCommunity 0

President Barack Obama announced Sept. 24, he plans to appoint several Indian-Americans to his third Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a body entrusted with bringing together religious and secular leaders as well as scholars and experts in fields related to the work of faith-based and neighborhood organizations.

Among those to be appointed are former New York State Solicitor General and Obama adviser Preeta Bansal, Nipun Mehta, founder of non-profit ServiceSpace; and Jasjit Singh, executive director of the Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund.

The Council has a broad mandate to focus on steps the government should take to reduce poverty and inequality and create opportunity for all, including changes in policies, programs, and practices that affect the delivery of services by faith-based and community organizations and the needs of low-income and other underserved persons.

“I am confident that these outstanding men and women will serve the American people well, and I look forward to working with them,”the President is quoted saying in a press release from the White House.

Preeta Bansal
Preeta Bansal

Bansal, an early Obama supporter who also served as general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget from 2009 to 2011, is currently a lecturer at MIT’s Media Lab and a Senior Advisor at MIT’s Laboratory for Social Machines, positions she has held since 2014.

She is also President of Social Emergence Corporation, a newly-formed non-profit founded in May, which aims to empower human networks and community relationships. From 2012 to 2013, Bansal served as a Global General Counsel for HSBC Holdings. Before joining the Obama administration, Bansal was Partner and head of the appellate litigation practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP from 2003 to 2009.

During the George W. Bush administration she served as a member of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2003 to 2009, and as Chair of that commission from 2004 to 2005. She was Solicitor General of the State of New York from 1999 to 2001. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Bansal clerked with United States Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. She is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Nipun Mehta
Nipun Mehta

Mehta is the founder of ServiceSpace, a non-profit organization established in 1999. From 1998 to 2001, he was a software engineer at Sun Microsystems. He is a member of the Advisory Circle of the Seva Foundation, the International Advisory Council of the Dalai Lama Foundation, and the Advisory Board of the Greater Good Science Center.

He has received numerous awards for his community work, including the Jefferson Award for Public Service, the President’s Volunteer Service Award and Wavy Gravy’s Humanitarian Award. He earned his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jasjit Singh
Jasjit Singh

Singh’s appointment comes in the wake of a seeming rise in the number of hate crimes against Sikhs and the higher visibility SALDEF and other organizations have tried to muster to raise awareness about the Sikh faith and hate crimes against its members. Singh has served as executive director of SALDEF since 2012, and earlier as the organization’s associate executive director in 2009. Prior to joining SALDEF, Singh worked at Deloitte & Touche as a Senior Consultant from 2007 to 2009 and as a Consultant from 2004 to 2007. He has a B.S. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Singh founded the Sikh Students Association at the University of Illinois, and served as its president from 2000 to 2002. According to the SALDEF website Singh has been a “leading voice” for the Sikh American community.

He is credited with building strong relationships with the national leadership since 2009, giving testimony to Congress and providing presentations on racial profiling, employment discrimination and community challenges to audiences including the US Assistant Attorney General, FBI Director, TSA Administrator, metro police, and EEOC Chairman, the website says.

Singh was instrumental in organizing national media attention for both the Oak Creek, Wisconsin gurdwara shootings in 2012, when 6 devotees were massacred by a white supremacist, and in other instances of hate crime. Singh has been on the Secretary of Homeland Security’s Faith-Based Initiative and the Executive Committee of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans.

Climate Change & UNSC Reform On Modi-Obama Agenda In New York

Ajay GhoshPolitics 0

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Summit on Monday, September 28th, 2015 with the U.S. President Barack Obama focused on climate change and India’s appeal for reform of the U.N. Security Council. Modi’s America visit saw him travel to the West Coast, visiting San Jose, Calif., where he interacted with the tech giants. In a message before leaving for home, Modi said his U.S. visit demonstrates the “extraordinary depth and diversity” of the bilateral relationship and that a lot of ground had been covered in his five days in the U.S.

Modi said, “As terrorism threats grow, we have resolved to deepen our cooperation.” He also thanked Obama for the U.S.’ support to India for a permanent seat in a reformed U.N. Security Council and appreciated its support for India’s membership of the international export control regimes within a targeted time frame.

This was the third meeting between the leaders of the world’s oldest and the largest democracy in about a year. They met last year during Modi’s US visit and then in January earlier this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met US President Barack Obama in New York and discussed a host of issues. Obama warmly received Modi by hugging him before their meeting, the third between them since May last year. “I am encouraged by India’s commitment to clean energy. Its leadership on climate change will set tone for decades,” President Obama said after the meeting.  We appreciate our friendship and partnership with India,” the US president said.

As per reports, Modi flew down from San Jose, holding bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister David Cameron and later with French President Francois Hollande. In his address at the Leaders’ Summit on U.N. Peacekeeping, hosted by the U.S., Modi said India is ready to contribute monetarily to a memorial for slain U.N. Peacekeepers. He announced new contributions to the U.N. Peacekeeping Operations including additional battalion of up to 850 troops.

The peak of the 5 day visit was the India-U.S. summit meeting, lasting an hour, saw Modi and Obama exchange warm hugs in greeting, in a reiteration of the personal chemistry between the two leaders. Obama in his media statement, said his talks with Modi focused on climate change and the upcoming climate change talks in Paris. He said both sides agreed that it is a crucial issue and all countries have responsibility for fighting climate change. Obama said he was “encouraged by the impressive nature of Modi’s commitment to clean energy. And I really think the Indian leadership in the upcoming Paris conference will set the tone not just today but in the decades to come (on climate change).”

India and the US discussed trade, investment, defense and education. Modi, in his statement, said the U.S. president and he “share an uncompromising commitment on climate change, without affecting our ability to meet the development aspirations of humanity. We have both set ambitious national agendas.”

Talking about his visit to the West Coast, the PM said, “I was in Silicon Valley over the weekend and experienced the strength of American innovation and enterprise. Youth, technology and innovation are the driving forces for the natural partnerships of Indians and Americans in advancing human progress,” the PM said. The meeting gave the two leaders an opportunity to build on the discussions they had in New Delhi in January when Obama travelled to India to attend the Republic Day Parade as its chief guest.

In the dialogue, India and the US on Monday agreed to deepen cooperation in fighting terrorism and asked Pakistan to bring to justice the 2008 Mumbai attack perpetrators. The Modi-Obama meeting comes close on the heels of the conclusion of the inaugural strategic and commercial dialogue between the US and India.

Obama, Modi Likely to Meet in New York on September 28th

Ajay GhoshIndia, Politics, U.S. 0

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to meet in New York later this month. Both are coming to the United Nations to address the General Assembly. Obama along with Vice President Joe Biden and several of his cabinet ministers, is set for a high-level engagement with the Indian leadership in a series of meetings later this month. This would be the highest level of engagement between the two countries since Obama’s trip to New Delhi in January to attend the Republic Day parade as the chief guest of Prime Minister  Modi.

Officials had a hard time setting up the meeting on one of the busiest days for the American president, given his address to the U.N. General Assembly earlier that day. Modi, on the other hand, would be flying in from Silicon Valley on Sept. 27 after addressing Indian Americans at the SAP Center in San Jose.

While no official announcement has been made yet, the proposed meeting is a reflection of the seriousness and commitment of the two leaders to this bilateral relationship. Notably, in the January joint statement, the two leaders committed themselves for more regular meetings. The Modi-Obama meeting in New York would cap more than a week of high-level India-U.S. engagement, most of it in Washington.

It is believed that Biden is keen to be part of this engagement. It was Biden who, during a visit to India a few years ago, who set the ambitious goal of increasing bilateral trade from the current $100 billion to $500 billion per annum.

Therefore, it might not be surprising to learn that Biden is taking the lead once again when it comes to economic ties. Several cabinet-ranking officials, along with corporate leaders from both countries, are expected to be present at the 40th anniversary Leadership Summit of the US-India Business Council on Sept. 21.

Energy Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzeker are among those confirmed to attend the event. The next day TERI North America is to host the 6th India-U.S. Energy Partnership Summit. However, the first ever India-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, to be hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry at Foggy Bottom, is likely to be the center of attraction. While the dates of this dialogue have not been announced, it is expected to be held on September 22.

The decision to expand the India-U.S. Strategic Dialogue to a commercial one was taken during Obama’s January visit to India. Kerry, along with Pritzeker, would lead the U.S. delegation, while the Indian delegation would be led by Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Sitharaman.

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar will be part of the Indian delegation. Indian Ambassador Arun K. Singh and his American counterpart Richard Verma are expected to be present.

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