Bravo President Obama on your Appointment of Susan Rice and Samantha Power

Bravo President Obama on your Appointment of Susan Rice and Samantha Power

Seyoum Tesfaye- Atlanta-Georgia

My president was at the top of his game today.

I had supported his first term priority and policy 75% of the time. I am not happy that he did not deliver on his promise to close the Guantanamo prison. I still hope he will deliver before the end of his second term and close Guantanamo a regrettable scare on the principles of American democracy and a ready-made excuse and rationalization for brutal tyrants like Isaias to imprison their own people.

I was amazed and captivated by the brilliancy of his campaign strategy for his second term election.  He produced the definitive text book on how to organize and execute a campaign: A fusion of block by block organizing anchored by interactive digital technology. Generations will refer and learn from his text book.

He also clearly understood the shifting diversity of the American society and strategically leveraged it as a critical factor in American politics. The 47 percent camp did not grasp significance of the evolving diversity nor did it seem to care about it. President Obama understood that the browning of America is here to stay. A sentimental journey to the early 20th century was not going to arrest this formidable trend. He was the man for the time and the time was waiting for a man like him. A different kind of supply and demand merging in real time.

The Democratic Party was unified and focused under his leadership avoiding the usual infighting. From my perspective this was the, 44 years after the 1968 Democratic Convention, the best the Democratic Party has ever been. The democrats were in apposition to reverse the national shift to ultra-conservatism and anti-immigrant sentiment. Obama struggled hard to bring America moving back to the center.

He got elected with the economy still crawling, domestically and internationally, with the Arab world exploding in revolutionary fervor with undefined future and with a one and half war still going on. To be reelected under this kind of environment was a stellar achievement.

I voted for him. Glad he became my president. Glad he is America’s president. He is a principled level headed intellectual head of state with flair for straight talk (still with his coolness intact) when adversaries misunderstand his polished tactfulness for lack of desire to fight back.

Since the second term is basically about constructing a formidable legacy I was not sure what priorities he will be focusing in order to serve the people and assure his place in American history. I have been wondering how his second term was shaping up. All in all I am satisfied with his progress.

Today I got one more reason to support President Obama.

Mr. Obama repudiates tyranny in the strongest term. He has used his pulpit to resoundingly rebuff the remaining few dictators scattered in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. He has advocated human rights across the board. He takes a very pragmatic approach to the projection and deployment of the immensely potent US military power. He has fashioned a foreign policy that protects America’s vital interest while taking into account the interest of emerging powers. He does this by clearly defining the overall outline of US foreign policy and by appointing highly skilled experts to manage the national security related institutions.

His decision today to reorganize his national security team strongly reaffirms my faith in him and his policy.

He appointed Susan Rice to be his chief National Security advisor and solidified the reorganization by appointing Samantha Power to replace Susan Rice at the UN Security Council. Thanks Mr. President. US will be served very well by these appointments. The strength of the National Security team is extremely formidable when we know the most experienced elder statesman John Carry is running The Department of States; the Defense Department is managed by Chuck Hegel and CIA is headed by John Brennan. A mere review of their biography will underscore the reason why President Obama opted for these high caliber citizens to be members of his top team.

Who should be shaking in his boot when faced with this kind of National Security Team?

Dictators who have no grasp of the ways the American democratic system or are still stuck in the 1970 Marxist ideology of total control of the people’s life, terrorists and fanatics that do not value life and are willing to wage war against civilization, those who fill their jails with thousands of citizens, human traffickers etc.

One man will not fall asleep in Asmara today. Susan Rice and Samantha Power know Iasias and his atrocities, affinity for terrorists, tendency to harbor regional insurrectionist, wage war against his neighbors, torture his people, benefit from human trafficking etc. Today’s appointment will exasperate his frustration, accelerate his anti- US diatribe and blood pressure. So be it.

Thanks for your wise decision Mr. President and congratulation our National Security advisor Susan Rice and our UNSC representative Samantha Power. America is in a good hand.   


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