Arrest of Harvard Professor and the ‘wimp factor’

Last few days, the main stream media (MSM) in USA had field day with their analysis and fuss about the arrest of Harvard professor Gates, and President Obama’s remark that the Cambridge Police acted ‘stupidly’ in arresting a person for being loud and ‘tumultuous’ at his own home. Everyone had an opinion about this, and things started to get out of hand with accusations like ‘Obama has insulted the police force’, ‘Democrats are weak on defense’, so on. Finally, the President had to make a surprise appearance before the Press, and had to effectively apologize for his ‘stupid’ remark. While I appreciate the necessity of cooling things down, I feel that President Obama went overboard in praising the arresting officer Sgt. Crawley ('an outstanding officer and a good man'), and inviting him for a beer at the White House. In this country, a person is handcuffed and taken to station only in situations where he or she has caused a physical harm, or is a threat of causing one. Certainly Professor Gates, while loud, did not do any of that. Therefore, Sgt. Crawley was wrong, and should have been reprimanded for his action. Instead, he gets to go to White House to have beer with the President. Only in America!
I am getting concerned about President Obama not having the necessary toughness to be the leader of a country. He so far has been acting like a community organizer who has no power, but has to get things accomplished by placating and uniting diverse parties. While reconciliation may work well in some cases, an effective leader should know how to use the power when the need arises. President Obama appears to be reluctant to wield his enormous power as a well liked President of United States. I just cannot understand the trouble he is having in getting a decent health care bill passed, despite his party having the majority in Congress, and a filibuster proof number of votes (60) in the Senate. How difficult it is to keep the Congressmen from his own party (Blue Dog Democrats) in line? A popular leader, like Obama, has the power to prevent the reelection of any politician if he/she chooses to. Maybe he should take some lessons from Sonia Gandhi of India who demands and gets absolute party loyalty. I hate to say this, but the Republicans under George Bush were disciplined, and, as a result, accomplished what they wanted, however wrong they might have been. President Bush never sweated about reconciliation and getting general census. He and Vice President Dick Cheney knew to use the power of their offices. Soon, the world is going to catch on to the ‘wimp factor’ of our President, and exploit it. A surprise attack on Iran by Israel may be the start!

Cheers for the Williams Sisters!

I was thinking about the Williams sisters (Venus and Serena) who are set to play the 2009 Wimbledon finals tomorrow. It is truly amazing how these two players have dominated the women’s tennis for the last ten plus years. They had very humble beginnings, having brought up in the city of Compton, one of the poorest and high crime areas in Southern California. Both became celebrities in their teens, and were the breadwinners for the family at a very young age. This sounds very similar to the story of singer Michael Jackson, whose woes in later life are attributed to becoming world famous and having to support his family at an early age. Come to think of it, the Williams sisters had a tougher start than Michael Jackson (imagine two poor black girls showing up at a tennis tournament in a country club!). Yet they both are remarkably stable in their private lives. You do not hear them getting drunk at a night club, or tanking a match to party. Despite of having to play each other frequently in grand slam finals (seven times so far), they show no animosity or jealousy towards each other. Their parents deserve a lot of credit for this. Father Richard Williams, whom the news media dislikes, has been careful in shielding the girls from the trappings of being a celebrity, and has instilled in them the value of a good education (both the girls are successful entrepreneurs) Mother, Oracene Williams, accompanies them to every tournament, protecting them from the mischief’s one gets into due to loneliness and boredom.

In short, the theory that all the child stars would end tragically in later years, is pure nonsense. Much depends on how one is brought up by parents, and the values they have instilled in one. The Williams sisters are the best proof of that. Cheers!

Blind ego!

In an eagerly awaited ruling, the US Supreme court recently voted in favor of keeping the Voting Rights Act as it is. In layman’s terms, the Voting Rights Act passed by Congress in 1965, gives authority to the Federal Government to make sure that minorities are not prevented from voting in various states. This was primarily meant for the southern states (like Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia) where racial discrimination was rampant in those days. President Lyndon Johnson championed this law knowing that it is going to cost the Democratic Party the southern states for years to come (as the angry whites switched to the Republican Party). And he was right. Most of the southern states were ‘red’ until the recent Presidential election. Anyway, the enforcement of this Act gave blacks a voice in the government, and was the starting point of their progress towards ‘equality’. The conditions of the blacks voting have improved over the years, with Barrack Obama becoming the US President as the best example. Still the Supreme Court voted 8-1 in favor of keeping this law. Guess who the lone dissenter was? It was Clarence Thomas, the only black in the US Supreme Court! Justice Thomas is openly angry and sensitive about anyone saying that being an Afro-American has got anything to do with his accomplishments. I guess his dissent vote is an expression of his disgust at blacks getting special consideration. Obviously, he thinks that he got nominated to the Supreme Court by President George H. W. Bush, because of his excellent legal mind! (Clarence Thomas is known as silent member of the Supreme Court who never asks a question) The funny thing is that when his nomination appeared to tank due to accusation of sexual harassment by Anita Hill, he cried out about being ‘lynched’ -- which made everyone cautious about voting against him. He had no problem in using his Afro American heritage then!