The Indian Panorama

Tag: Hillary Clinton

  • US presidential race: Hillary Clinton Vs the rest

    US presidential race: Hillary Clinton Vs the rest

    Washington: In her second bid to break the glass ceiling and return to the White House, the former first lady chose a low key video message on social media to announce her run before heading to Iowa, the state which traditionally kicks off the primaries.

    The first official event of her 2016 presidential campaign was a roundtable discussion with four students and three educators in an automotive technology classroom at a community college. There she declared her desire to “begin a conversation” with Americans on how she could “be the champion who goes to bat for Americans.”

    Low key or not, Clinton’s entry has electrified the somewhat somnolent presidential race and generated media attention far and wide, including India, with which she has a long history going back to her first visit as first lady in 1995, unlike any other candidate.

    As Alyssa Ayres, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations wrote in a recent blog post “First and foremost, she sees India as a crucial part of US strategy in a world increasingly centred on Asia, where, in her words, ‘the future of politics will be decided.’”

    “As secretary of state her focus on rebalancing US foreign policy toward Asia contained a strong emphasis on expanding ties with India, ” she noted.

    Within her own Democratic Party, Clinton is miles ahead of her likely rivals – none of whom have officially declared their intention to run.

    According to Time magazine former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is polling at 1 percent and liberal Senator Bernie Sanders is at 4 percent compared with Clinton’s 66 percent.

    “Though both are still long shots, they could force her to compete for support from the liberal base, potentially hurting her chances in the general election,” it said.

    Among the Republicans, she leads former Florida governor Jeb Bush 54 percent to 40 percent in a matchup and with even larger margins over Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Time said.

    Louisiana’s Indian-American governor Bobby Jindal is still toying with the idea of a presidential run. But potential Republican candidates lost no time attacking Clinton leaving criticism of likely primary rivals within the party for another day. Rubio, 43, the youngest contender in the race so far, took a swipe at Clinton Monday.

    “Just yesterday, a leader from yesterday,” he said as cited by CNN, as the crowd erupted in boos, “began a campaign for President by promising to take us back to yesterday. But yesterday is over, and we are never going back.”

    Kentucky Senator Rand Paul released a video ad critical of Clinton hours before she officially declared her candidacy Sunday saying she “represents the worst of the Washington machine, the arrogance of power, corruption and cover-up”.

    Cruz, another official 2016 GOP candidate, questioned her success as secretary of state saying “Hillary Clinton represents the failed policies of the past”.

    Bush turned the Clinton debut into a fundraising opportunity telling his supporters in an email that “Hillary plans to raise $1.7 billion to win the White House … which is why I’m asking you to give $5 right now” to “stop her.”

    With hardly any opposition worth the name, Clinton may easily win the Democratic primary, but “she’ll face a battle-tested Republican opponent who will be in tip-top shape to take on the Democrats,” Time suggested.  However, her “supporters argue that even without a major primary fight, she’ll be ready too,” it said.

     
  • Indian-American Maya Harris gets key role in Hillary’s presidential race

    Indian-American Maya Harris gets key role in Hillary’s presidential race

    Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has named Indian-American Maya Harris to head a team of senior policy advisers to put together her presidential campaign’s agenda.

    Harris, 46, has a background in human rights, having served as vice-president of Democracy, Rights and Justice at the Ford Foundation. She is the younger sister of Kamala Harris, the California attorney general who is now running for senate. Their mother is of Indian descent and father is from Jamaica.

    Harris went to Berkeley and then Stanford law school. She considers her mother Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a cancer researcher who came to the US from Chennai in 1960, as a major influence, and her elder sister.

    Harris will work with Ann O’Leary, a former legislative director to Clinton when she was in the Senate, and Jake Sullivan, a top aide to Clinton while she was secretary of state.

    Neera Tanden, who heads liberal-leaning think tank Centre for American Progress, is the other Indian American who is likely to be around Clinton as a trusted, long-time adviser.

    Clinton, who announced her second run for the White House on Sunday, is still putting together her team, her strategy and her message.

    Politico, the news publication that first reported Harris’s appointment, said the composition of her team was an early indicator of issues Clinton will press during the campaign.

    Harris brings experience in pursuing human rights issues around the world, Sullivan will do the heavy-lifting on foreign policy and O’Leary on children and family.

    Harris is married to Tony West, who left the Obama administration last September after five years as associate attorney general in the department of justice. West was an early supporter of Obama and landed a senior position in the administration upon his election. Harris is sure to land a senior position herself if Clinton wins.

  • Hillary to announce 2016 run for president on Sunday

    Hillary to announce 2016 run for president on Sunday

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The answer to the ”Run, Hillary, Run” exhortation from the Clintonistas will be available this weekend. To no one’s great surprise, Hillary Clinton is expected to formally announce that she will run for President in 2016, aiming to return to the White House where she was the First Lady 24 years ago.

    The announcement is expected to come in the form of a video message that will be posted Sunday on social media, bypassing the traditional legacy media, according to Clinton supporters. She will then head out to the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire to make her case to voters who rejected her bid for the Democratic nomination eight years ago when they chose a young, little-known first-term senator named Barack Obama.

    Among the several challenges Hillary Clinton will face, aside from her age (69) in what will be a grueling 18 months of campaigning before election day in November 2016, is a complex dynamic with the electorate, including with the Democratic party base. She is at once America’s best known and least known politicians, her aides are saying (”most unknown famous person in the world” in their terminology) as they seek to re-introduce her to US voters. They want to go beyond her record as First Lady, New York Senator, and Secretary of State to portray her a woman of substance and an effective Presidential candidate.

    Hillary Clinton has hired key staff in recent days for her campaign, and is also said to have finalized space for campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, said in a recent interview that his role ”should primarily be as a backstage adviser to her until we get much, much closer to the election” – in other words, he will take a backseat for now till she really needs him later.

  • Thousands of Hillary Clinton emails deleted without identifying if they were personal

    Thousands of Hillary Clinton emails deleted without identifying if they were personal

    NEW YORK (TIP): Neither Hillary Clinton nor anyone working for her read tens of thousands of emails she stored on a private server to identify personal emails before she deleted 31,830 of them, says a report in Daily News.

    Lawyers for the former Secretary of State instead used a simple series of keyword searches to review the emails, Time Magazine reported. The attorneys used the search results to divide Clinton’s 62,320 messages between official emails, which she handed over to the State Department last year after they requested them, and those Clinton deemed “personal and private.” Clinton said on Tuesday, March 10, she deleted all those personal messages she “had no reason to save them.”

    The news is sure to raise doubts among critics who suspect Clinton’s aim in maintaining a personal server and deleting material was to keep important official communications she made as Secretary of State, and potentially damaging information, out of the public eye as she prepares for a 2016 presidential campaign. She is expected to officially launch her bid next month.

    Clinton did not mention the rudimentary search process during a news conference she held Tuesday on the email scandal.

    The former New York senator claimed the review was “thorough” and went “above and beyond” what requirements she faced before releasing them.

    “We went through a thorough process to identify all of my work-related emails and deliver them to the State Department,” Clinton said.

    She insisted all other emails were personal and related matters like “yoga routines,” “family vacations,” and planning her daughter Chelsea’s wedding.

    According to Time, which cited Clinton aides, her emails were searched through a four-step process.

    First, lawyers searched emails Clinton received from a .gov or state.gov account from 2007 to 2013, while she served as secretary of state.

    Then they searched remaining emails for names of 100 State Department and other U.S. government officials Clinton may have corresponded with during her tenure.

    Next, the emails were reviewed by sender and recipient to “account for non-obvious or non-recognizable email addresses or misspellings or other idiosyncrasies.”

    Lawyers searched the emails still left over for a “number of terms” including “Benghazi” and “Libya.”

    The results of the searching were that Clinton’s attorneys found 30,490 work-related emails and 31,830 emails that were deemed “private and personal.”

  • Hillary’s private email account opens up political virus

    Hillary’s private email account opens up political virus

    WASHINGTON (TIP): A March 5 CNN report says Hillary Clinton broke her 48-hour silence over the use of her personal email account while she served as secretary of state with a late-night tweet Wednesday, March 4, saying she wants “the public to see my email.” But her response is unlikely to tamp down the pressure for answers as she faces the deepest scrutiny she’s been under since leaving the government. “I asked State to release them,” Clinton tweeted at 11:35 p.m. ET
    “They said they will review them for release as soon as possible.” The developments have escalated since the personal email account was first revealed Monday night, turning into both a political tug-of-war between Republicans and Democrats. The account raises questions — even from within her party — about transparency, security in the government and her future.

    While the Clintons have plenty of allies, some on the left are using this opportunity as a sign to flag that the Democrats’ front-runner in the 2016 campaign might still face some of the same organizational challenges and public relations gaffes her campaign had eight years ago.

    New York Times says Mrs. Clinton’s aides on Tuesday sought to play down the significance of her exclusive use of a personal email account for State Department business. But an examination of records requests sent to the department reveals how the practice protected a significant amount of her correspondence from the eyes of investigators and the public.

    Mrs. Clinton’s exclusive use of personal email for her government business is unusual for a high-level official, archive experts have said. Federal regulations, since 2009, have required that all emails be preserved as part of an agency’s record-keeping system. In Mrs. Clinton’s case, her emails were kept on her personal account and her staff took no steps to have them preserved as part of State Department record.

    In response to a State Department request, Mrs. Clinton’s advisers, late last year, reviewed her account and decided which emails to turn over to the State Department.

    The State Department says it will now search the 50,000 emails Mrs. Clinton provided in response to Freedom of Information and congressional requests.

  • Indian-American Raj Shah appointed for a top party post at Republican National Committee (RNC).

    Indian-American Raj Shah appointed for a top party post at Republican National Committee (RNC).

    Raj Shah, who most recently served as co-founding partner and Managing Director of America Rising LLC, where he developed the organization’s Hillary Clinton opposition research book, has been appointed as new Research Director and Deputy Communications Director of the Republican National Committee (RNC).

    A graduate of Cornell, Raj worked on Senate and presidential campaigns and served in the Office of residential Personnel during the administration of former President George W Bush.

    “Raj will take the helm of a top-notch Research Department as we prepare to defeat Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in 2016 and to hold them accountable for their records. Raj is the expert on the subject of all things Clinton, and his expertise will be an asset to our party,” RNC chairman Reince Priebus said.

    “Americans cannot afford a third term of the Obama administration, but that’s exactly what we’ll get if another Democrat wins the White House in 2016,” said Shah.

    “RNC Research will ensure that the American people will be informed of the facts, the failures of Democrat leadership, and the Clintons’ long history of lies, shady dealings and distortions,” Shah said.

    Appointment of Shah to a key RNC position is seen as an effort by the Republicans to rope in Indian-Americans, who of late have emerged as a major political donor and highly influential ethnic community in the US.

  • HILLARY, JEB UNDER FINANCIAL LENS AHEAD OF ’16 PREZ RACE

    HILLARY, JEB UNDER FINANCIAL LENS AHEAD OF ’16 PREZ RACE

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Former first lady Hillary Clinton’s presumptive bid for the White House in 2016 has run into rough weather amid allegations that the Clinton Foundation established by her husband and former president Bill Clinton received millions of dollars from foreign governments, some of which may have violated ethics agreement the foundation signed with the Obama administration when she was nominated secretary of state.

    The organization, now called the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, is said to have raised nearly $2 billion since its creation in 2001 from “a vast global network that includes corporate titans, political donors, foreign governments and other wealthy interests”.

    According to a Washington Post investigation, some of those donations, including a $500,000 contribution from an Algerian government that was simultaneously lobbying the state department on human rights issue, do not the meet high standards the foundation set for itself. Other countries with “complicated diplomatic, military and financial relationships with the US government”, that donated to the fund include Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman.

    Contributions to the foundation have also come from the NRI steel baron Laxmi Mittal, the politician Amar Singh (both more than $1 million each) and the Confederation of Indian Industries (over
    $500,000) but they were not cited as being controversial.

    The paper’s review of the foundation data found substantial overlap between the Clinton political machinery and the foundation. Nearly half of the major donors who are backing Ready for Hillary, a group promoting her 2016 presidential bid, as well as nearly half of the bundlers from her 2008 campaign, have given at least $10,000 to the foundation, the paper said.

    The conclusion: Foreign donors and countries that are likely to have interests before a potential Clinton administration —and yet are ineligible to give to US political campaigns — have bought their way in ahead of the curve. Clinton Foundation officials strenuously challenged the conclusion saying their work was purely philanthropic.

    Also under the scrutiny in course of his candidature for the White House in 2016 is former Florida governor Jeb Bush, whose wife’s jewellery buying binge from more than a decade ago has attracted media attention now. Colombo Bush, who is Mexican-American, is said to have taken a loan of more than $40,000 in 2000 (when her husband was the Florida governor) to buy among other items, a pair of platinum diamond studs worth more than $25,000 and a Bulgari gold and diamond bracelet worth$10,500.

    Some months before that she was stopped at the Atlanta airport when she was found carrying nearly $20,000 worth of clothing and jewelry after declaring only $500 worth of merchandize. She was allowed to go after paying a $4,100 fine.

  • Hillary Clinton Campaign may be delayed

    Hillary Clinton Campaign may be delayed

    NEW YORK (TIP): Hillary Clinton, expecting no major challenge for the Democratic nomination, is strongly considering delaying the formal launch of her presidential campaign until July, three months later than originally planned, says a Politico report quoting “top democrats”. The delay from the original April target will give her more time to develop her message, policy and organization, without the chaos and spotlight of a public campaign.

     

    A Democrat familiar with Clinton’s thinking said: “She doesn’t feel under any pressure, and they see no primary challenge on the horizon. If you have the luxury of time, you take it.”

     

    Advisers said the biggest reason for the delay is simple: She feels no rush.

     

    “She doesn’t want to feel pressured by the press to do something before she’s ready,” one adviser said. “She’s better off as a non-candidate. Why not wait?”

     

    A huge advantage to waiting is that Clinton postpones the time when she goes before the public as a politician rather than as a former secretary of state. Polling by both Democrats and Republicans shows that one of her biggest vulnerabilities is looking political.

     

    One option being considered would be to announce an exploratory committee earlier -perhaps in April, at the beginning of a new fundraising quarter, in the timeframe when insiders originally expected her to launch her campaign.

     

    Then the actual kickoff would be in July, near the start of the next quarter. By launching at the beginning of a quarter, supporters have the maximum amount of time to generate a blockbuster total for their first report.

     

    The delay would pose complications for the infrastructure that has been built in anticipation of her candidacy. Ready for Hillary, a super PAC that expects to go out of business once the campaign begins, now may have to fund its data-gathering and grassroots activities longer than expected.

     

    The danger – and a reason the plan could be scrapped – is that the comparatively leisurely rollout could fuel complaints that Clinton sees the nomination fight as a coronation. Already, her allies are contemplating the possibility that she might not have to debate before the general election.

  • Republicans elect Mitch McConnell as US Senate leader

    Republicans elect Mitch McConnell as US Senate leader

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Republican lawmakers re-elected Mitch McConnell as their leader in the US Senate on November 12, ensuring him the powerful role of majority leader in the new Congress that begins in January. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama’s Democrats, who lost control of the Senate with their crushing defeat in this month’s mid-term elections, re-elected their own leader in the chamber.

    McConnell, the 72-year-old senior senator from Kentucky, will take over from current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the start of the new congressional session on January 3. “We are eager to work towards bipartisan agreements and to implement real legislative accomplishments,” McConnell said. But shortly afterwards he blasted Obama for several unilateral steps the president has taken since the midterms. “I had maybe naively hoped the president would look at the results of the election and decide to come to the political center and do some business with us,” McConnell told reporters.

    “I still hope he does at some point, but the early signs are not good.” McConnell has coveted the majority leader role for decades. The position will put him in control of the legislative agenda of the 100-member Senate and require close coordination with the top Republican in Congress’s lower chamber, House Speaker John Boehner, who was also re-elected Thursday to lead his caucus. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, re-elected Reid as their leader, although not without some opposition. At least two Democrats, Senators Claire McCaskill and Joe Manchin, voted against Reid, saying they wanted to chart a new course of bipartisan cooperation.

    “There’s a lot of us who feel that it’s time for us to not mimic what the Republicans did, but rise above that and try to work together,” McCaskill told reporters. , 74, has been majority leader since his party won the Senate eight years ago, but must now trade places with McConnell. He insisted he was not going to stall Republican legislative action, following a particularly partisan and bitter two years. “This is not get-even time. I do not intend to run the Democratic caucus like the Republican caucus has been running the minority,” he said, referring to the heightened number of blocking procedures known as filibusters used while McConnell has been minority leader.

    Reid signalled a potential shift by announcing he was creating a special leadership post in the Democratic caucus for first-term Senator Elizabeth Warren. The former Harvard professor, a populist progressive, will be a strategic Democratic policy adviser, helping to shape the party’s policy positions and priorities. Warren will also serve as a liaison to progressive groups to ensure they have a voice in leadership meetings and discussions, according to a source familiar with the role. “Wall Street is doing very well, CEOs are bringing in millions more, and families all across this country are struggling. We have to make this government work for the American people,” she said.

    Progressives see Warren as posing a credible challenge from the left against Hillary Clinton should the former secretary of state choose to seek the White House in 2016. Republicans re-elected John Cornyn as Senate Republican whip and John Thune as Senate Republican Conference chairman. In a secret ballot, they also chose Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi to helm the National Republican Senatorial Committee. As head of the party’s campaign arm, Wicker will oversee campaigns in the run up to the 2016 polls, when Republicans will be defending 24 of the 34 Senate seats up for election.

  • Hillary Clinton called to party duty ahead of 2016 presidential elections

    Hillary Clinton called to party duty ahead of 2016 presidential elections

    DENVER (TIP): Hillary Clinton is used to being introduced as the “next” US president. But lacking any pre- 2016 announcement, the Democratic icon is busy putting her popularity to work for others in the party. For the second time in eight days, the “Hillary Tour” has come to embattled Colorado Senator Mark Udall’s patch. Last week, the pair publicly sat down for coffee in Denver.

    She will visit three more states by the end of the week. It is part of a double-barrelled effort by Clinton and her husband and former president Bill Clinton, two of the most popular Democrats in America, to ride to the rescue of several incumbents facing particularly tough reelections in battleground states like Colorado, Louisiana, North Carolina and Bill’s home state of Arkansas. On Tuesday, Hillary stood before several hundred supporters at a suburban Denver hotel where she lauded fellow Democrats and launched an offensive against Republicans.

    The candidates — for Senate, House of Representatives and governor — kept their stump speeches short, all too aware they were not the night’s featured attraction. “Are you ready to hear from the next president of the United States?” Democratic House candidate Andrew Romanoff called out by way of introducing Clinton. “I guess she just can’t stay away from Colorado, and we hope she’s going to come back a few more times in the next couple of years,” added Udall in an unveiled suggestion of another Clinton presidential run, which would no doubt bring her back to this strategic western state.

    Clinton criticized Republicans for downplaying Democratic accomplishments and leadership. “It appears to me that the campaigns being run against (Democrats) are depending on the voters of Colorado having a mass case of amnesia,” she sniped, urging voters to support candidates who unite Americans. “Don’t vote for people who proudly tell you they will never compromise, don’t vote for people whose image of the future sounds awfully like the past,” she added.

    Clinton’s sharpest arrows against Republicans addressed women’s rights. At her Clinton Foundation and as chief US diplomat she made humanitarian progress on rights an economic priority and point of common ground. But in the home stretch of a brutal election campaign, the tone was more partisan as she denigrated a Republican Party whose countless elected officials nationwide have pushed to restrict abortion rights and access to contraception. “Women’s rights here at home and around the world are clearly at risk unless people of good will, both women and men, regardless of political ideology, understand that women’s rights are like the canaries in the mine,” she said. “If women’s rights are denied or rolled back anywhere, it is a threat to everyone’s rights.” Hammering home the point, Clinton invoked her baby grand-daughter Charlotte, who was born last month.

    Hillary has said she wanted to wait a few months after the birth to make a decision about her political aspirations — an announcement that is widely expected in early 2015. “You look at an infant, at this precious little baby, and you can’t help to think about our future, her future,” she said. Described as “intelligent” and “strong,” Clinton is likely to enjoy a historic presidential run, said activists who gathered in the hotel ballroom.

    Most appeared unfazed about an extended wait for a candidacy they see as inevitable, but they hope an announcement comes sooner rather than later. “She needs to tell all of us what she’s going to do so we can then do what we need to do,” said Judy Taylor, a retired teacher eager to join a “Hillary” campaign. But Clinton, at least officially, remains focused on helping Democrats win on November 4 — even as each trip garners her political support that will be useful in any future presidential bid.

  • US GURDWARAS ENDORSE THE CAMPAIGN TO CHANGE PERCEPTION OF SIKHS AND PLEDGE FINANCIAL BACKING

    US GURDWARAS ENDORSE THE CAMPAIGN TO CHANGE PERCEPTION OF SIKHS AND PLEDGE FINANCIAL BACKING

    WASHINGTON (TIP):
    Gurdwaras across the country convened in Washington D.C. August 16-17for an unprecedented grassroots meeting called by the newly formed National Sikh Campaign (NSC) to shape the Sikh image in America. Over 100 Representatives from Gurdwaras from all over the United States pledged their support to the National Sikh Campaign’s plan to engage top US political operatives and media firms for presenting the community positively.

    During the strategy session, Geoff Garin of Hart Research, who served as Hillary Clinton’s former top political strategist and Isaac Baker of AKPD Message and Media, President Obama’s media firm, outlined a roadmap of how Sikhs can change perceptions in the United States and how crucial the campaign will be to the future of Sikhs. Mr. Garin, also gave the meeting’s participants an exclusive update on the National Sikh Campaign’s groundbreaking messaging research that will underpin the effort and inform the community how it can effectively communicate to the American public.

    Gurwin Ahuja, Executive Director of the National Sikh Campaign, while welcoming the Sikh leaders, said, “The Sikh community in US has never been more educated, more wealthy, and more successful than today and we’ve also never had this many Gurdwara leaders together in a room. We have never been more primed to do something big. This is perhaps the first time a thorough scientific data will be made available to the community within and without to set the next path of our campaign.”

    After hearing from the strategists, the meeting held a closed door strategy session, which lasted several hours and focused on specific action steps to make lasting change in the United States. Sikh Leaders worked together to create a realistic region by region breakdown of US Gurdwaras and fundraising strategies were also discussed and approved to reach an overall target of $5 Million USD.

    Dr. Rajwant Singh, President of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education and Senior Advisor to NSC, who facilitated the discussion among the Gurdwara leaders, said, “The consensus was that there is a critical need for this kind of media strategy for the Sikh community. Secondly, all possible efforts need to be made to include as many Gurdwaras as possible in the network as partners.

    Thirdly, our goal is to keep the focus on introducing Sikhism and the Sikh identity while showing the positive contribution of the community in the media.” He added, “Almost every person said that this type of campaign should have been launched long time ago and would have prevented many hardships that many members of the community have had to face since 9/11.” Dr. Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, President of the Oak Creek Gurdwara from Wisconsin, said, “As I understood the aim of the campaign is to counteract the negative image and perceptions Americans have about Sikhs and Sikhism and create a positive image of Sikhs and our faith.

    We are 100% behind this campaign. It is well conceived and planned and I am sure it will also be well executed by the team. This is about taking a proactive approach, or as in medicine we would say, a preventative approach– ‘Prevention is better than a cure’ approach. Hopefully that will prevent future tragedies for our people.” Sikh representatives came from the following states: Illinois, Connecticut, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, California, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Indiana, Delaware, and over 70 people joined from others states over the phone.

    In addition, 30 youth from high school and college age held their separate meeting as part of the organizing for this campaign. Gagan Kaur, an active leader at Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, who attended the meeting said, “I think what stuck with me the most about this conference was watching the transformation in people’s perceptions and attitudes by the end of the conference.

    It was obvious that the organizers had done their homework as everyone left feeling excited and ready to do their part for the campaign in their respective states and organizations.” She continued, “We have waited long enough- now is the time to stop the victim mentality and become proactive in how we are perceived. I urge all Sikhs to take this campaign seriously and make sure that our voice is heard.”

    Another attendee from the Sikh Religious Society in Chicago, Jasvir Kaur Singh, said “I was honored to be a part of the strategy session. It’s long overdue that Sikh organizations and Gurdwaras work together to take a proactive approach to the challenges Sikhs face in America. This was the first time I’ve attended a Sikh event where we hoped to check our egos at the door and have a candid conversation about the lack of progress we’ve made despite our attempts and personal, professional successes.”

    Dr. Inderpal Singh, President of the Gurdwara in Atlanta, GA said: “This Campaign will provide research-based solutions to the awareness crisis facing the Sikh community in America and all over the world. We have a story to share about the Sikh values, which are American values. The National Sikh Campaign is our hope and aspiration for a better world through awareness and collaboration.”

    Swaranjit Singh Khalsa of the Sikh Sewak Society International based in Connecticut stated “The National Sikh Campaign will not only educate our fellow Americans about Sikhism but I think this will also provide a common platform to all Sikhs institutes to work together and show their unity.” Surinder Singh, treasurer of NSC, said, “Each moment in which something happens is the right moment. It is relevant to our current effort, no matter how belated. There is unity of purpose and now we have to create harmony of actions. This will be relevant to our collaborative effort and participation by the entire community.”

    Jivan Singh Achreja, the National Strategy Director who facilitated the fundraising strategy, said, ” Although the task of raising 5 million dollars seems difficult, looking at the overwhelming response we have seen since this campaign was launched in March 2014, this task seems surmountable. A large section of the community will be tapped through Gurdwaras and online sources in a creative fundraising strategy that will involve all levels of the community.”

    Dr. Manjeet Kaur of North Carolina said “I am so pleased to see that Gurdwaras and representatives from throughout the world showed that they are willing to come together and work on this project with full enthusiasm for the future. Only by working together can we achieve lasting change in this country. This cause is too vast to be done alone, only through the combined effort of the US sangat (community) can we make this a reality.” Charandeep Singh from Sikh Channel in the UK left the meeting saying, “The National Sikh Campaign has marked a historically important first step in changing the American perception of the Sikh identity.

    A clear, transparent and achievable funding structure has been developed requiring support from the global Sikh Diaspora. This endeavor is imperative for the future of the American and ultimately global Sikh community.” The meeting also heard presentations from Gurwin Singh Ahuja, the Executive Director, Dr. Rajwant Singh, Senior Adviser, Jivan Achreja, National Strategy Director, and Surinder Singh, Treasurer. The event was organized by Misha Kaur, Nuri Kaur, Sehejneet Kaur, Hana Kaur, Jagjot Kaur, Jasraj Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Maninder Singh, and Harpreet Singh.

  • DR. SUBHADRA NORI happiness in service of humanity and God

    DR. SUBHADRA NORI happiness in service of humanity and God

    The South Asian and American Women’s Alliance (SAAWA), a Long Island based organization, recently recognized a few ladies at their 2014 annual gala. One of the honorees who drew my attention, in particular, was Dr. Subhadra Nori who was recognized for her “contribution to medicine”.

    I felt impelled to speak with her after the formal part of the function was over to know more about her, primarily to satisfy my curiosity as to how a busy physician could train herself in to a motivational speaker and, also because I felt the readers of The Indian Panorama will get to know what made Dr. Subhadra Nori “a successful woman”. Such success stories prove to be very educative and serve as source of inspiration to others.

    So, here we go. Dr. Subhadra Nori is a physician in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Working as the Regional Director of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Queens health network composed of Elmhurst and Queens Hospitals in New York, she is responsible for 4o Therapists, 10 attending physicians, 28 rotating residents through Mount Sinai School of medicine and hospital. What better way to understand a persona than to know what ideals are dear to him or her.

    What vision does he or she have of the variegated life? So, in order to unravel Dr. Nori’s personality, I asked her a couple of questions which she readily answered. Here they are. The first question I asked her related to the most important institution in the life of a personfamily. Asked about her views on family, she said, “Family is the most important part of your life. You need the support and love of your spouse for achieving anything in career, life and happiness. It’s not how many gifts, jewelry or clothes are given but simple things as taking care of you, making sure you are comfortable, is the most important thing.


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    Judy Bosworth, North Hempstead Town Supervisor gives away the award to Dr. Subhadra Nori for her “contribution to Medicine”. Also seen in the picture, to the left of Bosworth, is Anila Midha, MD, Founder and President of South Asian American Women’s Alliance.


    I am lucky and proud to say I have that 100%. To achieve the pinnacle of happiness you need the children’s acceptance and love. The last comment of hers brought me to the subject of children. I asked her what she thought about the upbringing of children, particularly, in a country which has a lot different set of values than Indians normally subscribe to. Dr. Nori said, “I was just like my mother.


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    Noris at their daughter’s wedding, with son, daughter in law, daughter, son in law and their parents


    I didn’t think twice before providing, nurturing or pushing them when needed, to achieve many different aspects as culture, dance, music etc. However, their education was the primary goal for me”. She recalled how her parents also laid a great emphasis on education. “Our family’s emphasis was on education. without any discrimination between a boy or a girl. My parents were hard working, goal oriented, paying close attention to budget. Yet, they never hesitated when needed on education, for example, my medical college”.


    29
    Noris have always had political connections though they are not politically involved. Seen here with Hillary Clinton, then a Senator


    Asked about the values she cherished most, she counted on her fingers, family, friendship and religious values. Dr. Subhadra Nori said she was proud of her heritage. “I am proud to say that both my parents came from solid families with many teachers and again, with emphasis on education. My paternal grandparents lived in Burma and spoke Burmese”.


    28
    Dr. Subhadra Nori with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (right).


    Asked to give her views on religion, Dr. Nori said, “I believe in one Supreme God, and recently started reading on meanings of Vishnu Sahasranamamas, Aditya Hrudayam etc. I have great respect for the speaker of the pravachans Brahmsree SamavedamShanmukha Sharma. I have great faith in our Guruji Sree Vishwayogi Vishvamji. I believe he is always with me”. Asked if it gave her strength, she was emphatic in her affirmation. I thought it was time to bring her down from the high perch of philosophical reflections to other mundane affairs.

    Knowing that most people in America are fitness conscious and Dr. Nori herself looked physical extremely fit, I asked her what she thought of health and fitness. “I am a big fan of exercise and use every possible available time to exercise. I have been a regular attendee of the gym for over 15 years. I do 2 days of circuit training with a personal trainer and attend 2 days of aerobics classes at the gym.

    Zumba and kick boxing are my favorites. A little swimming in the summer as well. I am also careful with my diet and still read quite a few books and magazines on health and fitness, using audiobooks while doing dishes or commuting or gardening”. Asked to comment on her attitude to work, she said,” I believe in honesty and dedication towards work and ethics. I am a straight shooter and avoid cunning people.

    I despise those who try to take advantage of the weak and the system. ” Dr. Subhadra Nori is a recipient of a number of awards and honors. These include the Best Teacher Award by Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore and Jacobi Medical Centers, and award for outstanding contribution to the residency program in PM &R 2003- 2005. And then, the SAAWA 2014 Award for her contribution to Medicine.

    Asked what she thinks is the satisfying thing for her to do, she said, if human beings could help each other it would be the best thing to do. And she added she and her husband, the renowned Radiation Oncologist, Dr. Dattatreya Nori find real happiness in serving humanity and divinity. She said, “I was the secretary of Indo American Cancer Association which, in association with the Basavatarakam Foundation in Hyderabad was responsible for building a cancer hospital in Hyderabad. “The hospital is exclusively treating cancer patients from all over India, and is well known for its association with world renowned Sloan Kettering cancer center in New York.

    10% to 15% patients get free service. We are very proud to be one of the founding members of this hospital. This hospital now has a nursing school, a wellness center and a chowltry for the needy.” Coming to the other source of happiness, the divine, Mrs. Nori said,” Along with my husband, Dr. Dattatreya Nori, myself and my family is fortunate to have established two Shirdi Sai Baba temples and cultural centers in New York and New Jersey. We conduct not only religious services but also run health camps, dance classes, tabla classes, SAT instructional classes and many others”.

    It is a large canvass of life, of which any person could be legitimately proud. Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh born Subhadra, in her own words, is “successfully and happily married to Dr. Dattatreya Nori”. The Noris have two childrena son, Sateesh who is a lawyer and a daughter, Priya who is an infectious diseases physician. To the satisfaction of Noris both are successful in their professions and life. A life lived well in the service of humanity and God: that’s the source of happiness and success for Dr. Subhadra Nori and her illustrious husband Dr. Dattatreya Nori.

  • Indian-American felicitated for strengthening Indo-US ties

    Indian-American felicitated for strengthening Indo-US ties

    TEXAS (TIP): A K Mago, an eminent Indian- American has been felicitated by top American lawmakers for his contribution to strengthening Indo-US ties. A K Mago, the chairman of a Dallas-based business and investment consulting company, was felicitated at an event organized by the US India Chamber of Commerce in Dallas. “If it weren’t for A K Mago, I would have not had the occasion to visit India,” top Republican Senator John Cornyn. Cornyn, who is co-Chair of the Senate Indian Caucus, and co-founded it with then Senator Hillary Clinton attributed the formation of this only country-specific Caucus to Mago.

    “AK more than anybody I know, has nourished and encouraged people like me and acknowledge the contribution that the Indian American community has made in the United States,” he said. Praising the contribution of Mago in India-US ties, Congressman Pete Sessions said he played a key role in Texan understanding the people from this part of the world. “There are days and nights when AK would travel and talk and be proud of the country that he knows and loves well,” he said. The Indian Ambassador to the US, S Jaishankar, in a video message said, “He is a success story in the United States, a wonderful example of equality of opportunity that this society symbolizes.”

  • What if Hillary Clinton doesn’t run?

    What if Hillary Clinton doesn’t run?

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Hillary Clinton’s book launch looks undeniably like the prelude to a presidential campaign, but despite growing buzz, Democrats are scraping together Plans B, C and D in case she doesn’t run. The former secretary of state has criss-crossed the country on a speaking tour. Political action committees have raised millions for her. And she has now written a risk-free memoir that does little to jostle the narrative that she circled the globe wielding a brand of firm but flexible US power.

    Clinton, 66, towers over Democratic and Republican prospective challengers in poll after poll. And if she balks? “If Hillary doesn’t run, it’s an open free-for-all,” former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who ran for president 10 years ago and headed the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009, told AFP in a telephone interview. “I truly don’t believe she’s made up her mind.

    There’s a good chance she won’t run,” he added. Clinton, who narrowly lost the 2008 Democratic nomination to Barack Obama, has said she will likely decide after November’s mid-term elections. But she stands accused of freezing the field until her decision is announced, a charge Clinton herself appeared to bristle at. “No. People can do whatever they choose to do on whatever timetable they decide,” Clinton told ABC News on the eve of the Tuesday book rollout. A handful of Democratic alternatives are already being floated, including Vice President Joe Biden, who has acknowledged mulling another White House campaign.

    Some Republicans openly mock that scenario. “When you’re talking about Joe Biden as your next best option, that’s a problem,” said political strategist Kevin Madden, who served as spokesman for 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Biden “has run before a number of times and never really garnered much enthusiasm for his own candidacy,” Madden said. Biden is 71, five years older than Clinton and 19 years older than Obama. Turning back the generational clock rarely works with American voters.

    “Joe would have a tough time convincing 25-year-olds to go back another generation,” Dean said. One of the rising Democrats is Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, who is perhaps most vocal about a 2016 run. In February, he said he was “preparing in terms of the tough work, the policy work, the ground work necessary to offer a better direction for our country.” Trouble is, O’Malley barely registers nationally. Sunday’s ABC News- Washington Post poll showed Clinton lapping the field at 69 percent, Biden with 12 percent and O’Malley at two percent. Brian Schweitzer, Montana’s straighttalking former governor who recently told Time magazine that “of course” he would be a better president than Clinton, is down at one percent.

    New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is also discussed as a contender, but he too is a radar blip. Faring better at seven percent is Senator Elizabeth Warren, the anti-Wall Street crusader whose populist message and commitment to rein in corporate abuse has struck a cord with many working-class Americans. But Warren has said she is not running — in 2016, anyway. Should she reverse course, her demonstrated fundraising prowess would position her well, although Republican analysts peg her as too leftist to win. Still, “everybody’s got to wait for Hillary. She’s got the lead on the money train,” said University of Minnesota Professor Larry Jacobs, who has tracked political races for years.

    Amid the willshe- or-won’t-she lull, Republicans are not idle. They have attacked Clinton over her handling of the Benghazi crisis, launched websites aimed at derailing her potential candidacy and published an anti-Hillary e-book, “Failed Choices.” Many Republicans simply assume Clinton is the one to beat in 2016. “All the signals are go” for a Clinton run, observed Senate Republican Dan Coats, citing her book and her whirlwind speaking schedule. “I’m just assuming she’s going to run until she says otherwise.

    ” Even if Clinton pulls out, there is no wellfinanced Republican front-runner to put Democrats at a disadvantage, noted strategist Madden. “Republicans still have to get our own house in order on who our nominee will be, and it is as wide open as it has been in a number of cycles,” he said.

  • Hillary Clinton recalls foreign policy disagreements with Obama in book: Report

    Hillary Clinton recalls foreign policy disagreements with Obama in book: Report

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Potential presidential candidate Hillary Clinton writes in her new book that she raised concerns about a swap of Taliban prisoners when she was President Barack Obama’s secretary of state and disagreed with his decision not to arm Syrian rebels, CBS News reported. CBS News said it obtained a copy of her forthcoming memoir, “Hard Choices,” on Thursday, before its planned publication next Tuesday.

    Clinton is widely considered the Democratic front-runner if she enters the 2016 White House race. With controversy swirling over Obama’s move to swap five Taliban militants held at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for captive US army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the book discloses that a much earlier discussion about him took place among top foreign policy advisers, including Clinton.

    “I acknowledged, as I had many times before, that opening the door to negotiations with the Taliban would be hard to swallow for many Americans after so many years of war,” she wrote. The excerpts published by CBS News also reveal Clinton’s disagreement with Obama over his decision not to arm Syrian rebels fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “The President’s inclination was to stay the present course and not take the significant further step of arming rebels.

    No one likes to lose a debate, including me,” Clinton wrote. In a speech last week, Obama said he would increase support for the Syrian opposition, but he did not provide details. Clinton’s book, a memoir of her tenure at the State Department, is being published by Simon and Schuster, a unit of CBS’ parent company, CBS Corp. She will then launch a high-profile book tour across the country. Russia reset? As the top US diplomat from 2009 to 2013, Clinton also acknowledged making a linguistic misstep in declaring a “reset” in American relations with Russia. Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March has raised questions about the so-called reset.

    In the book, Clinton calls Russian President Vladimir Putin “thin-skinned and autocratic, resenting criticism and eventually cracking down on dissent and debate.” In March, she drew parallels at a closed-door fundraiser between Putin’s actions and those of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler before World War Two. She later backtracked from those comments. Asked in an interview on Wednesday about Clinton’s comments comparing him with Hitler, Putin said: “It’s better not to argue with women.

    “When people push boundaries too far, it’s not because they are strong but because they are weak. But maybe weakness is not the worst quality for a woman,” he added. Clinton also addressed her experiences surrounding the 2012 attacks on the US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, saying: “There will never be perfect clarity on everything that happened.” Republican critics have condemned her handling of the incident, in which four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.

    The book also details Clinton’s meeting with Obama after she lost the Democratic presidential nomination to him in 2008. “We stared at each other like two teenagers on an awkward first date, taking a few sips of Chardonnay,” she writes.

  • What to expect when a Clinton is expecting

    What to expect when a Clinton is expecting

    In some alternate universe, a distant political galaxy unlike our own, Chelsea Clinton might be able to have her first child quietly. No one would care about the size of her baby bump. If and when Hillary Rodham Clinton announces a presidential run, her status as a grandparent would receive exactly the same scrutiny as her male predecessors who were grandfathers. That is not the country we live in.

    Here is what to expect now that Chelsea Clinton is expecting: Her child, due in the fall, will arrive just months before Hillary Clinton may announce her next run for president. Even nonfamous women find that when they are pregnant, “your body becomes a public object,” as Julia Cheiffetz, a book editor and new mother in Brooklyn, put it. So imagine what could happen to Ms. Clinton, whose entry into motherhood could coincide with her family’s kickoff of a billion-dollar campaign in which biography and family are central strategic assets. Most pregnant women make a birth plan for when they go into labor: what to pack, how to get to the hospital.

    Chelsea Clinton’s arrangements might involve disguises, private security consultants and public relations strategy. Ms. Clinton has been in the public eye for so long that she may be prepared for this kind of pregnancy. In 1992, at age 12, Ms. Clinton was featured in the “Man from Hope” video broadcast at the Democratic convention, assuring voters about her father’s character in the face of accusations of marital misconduct. Her graduation party at Stanford included two receiving lines, one for those who wanted to meet her father, another for meeting her mother, a fellow student recalled. Her 2010 wedding drew so much attention that her parents had to turn it into a covert operation, barring cameras and keeping the location secret.

  • Hillary Clinton dodges shoe during Las Vegas speech

    Hillary Clinton dodges shoe during Las Vegas speech

    LAS VEGAS (TIP): A woman hurled a shoe at Hillary Clinton on April 10 as the former secretary of state was delivering a speech at a Las Vegas hotel, but Clinton dodged it and continued with her remarks, a US Secret Service spokesman said.

    Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie said the protester was not a ticketed guest for Clinton’s speech at the Mandalay Bay hotel and had been spotted by Secret Service agents and hotel security guards before the incident. “As agents and hotel security approached her she threw a shoe and was immediately taken into custody by the Secret Service and hotel security,” Ogilvie said.

    Footage of the incident broadcast by KTNV-TV showed Clinton, 66, crouching to dodge an object as she stood on stage. The Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper reported that the former first lady joked about the incident as she continued her speech to some 1,000 people attending a metal recycling conference “Is that somebody throwing something at me?” Clinton asked, according to the Review- Journal.

    “Is that part of Cirque du Soleil?” The newspaper quoted Clinton as saying, “My goodness, I didn’t know that solid waste management was so controversial.” Mark Carpenter, a spokesman for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, which hosted the speech, said that the woman was not affiliated with the event. “Our staff denied her access before she later rushed past security. An ISRI staffer then stopped her as she approached the stage.

    She was then handed over to law enforcement,” Carpenter said. The throwing of shoes at political figures is a form of protest in many parts of the world. In 2008 a shoe was hurled at then- President George W Bush when he appeared at a Baghdad press conference with the Iraqi prime minister.

    Clinton, who lost the Democratic presidential nomination to then-Senator Barack Obama, said at a marketing conference in San Francisco earlier this week that she was thinking about running for president again in 2016. She has been giving speeches across the country since leaving the State Department last year. A hotel spokeswoman told Reuters she had no information on the episode, and a spokesman for Clinton did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

  • Library releasing documents from Clinton years

    Library releasing documents from Clinton years

    The Clinton Presidential Library is making available about 5,000 pages of previously unreleased documents involving former President Bill Clinton’s administration

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The documents being made public Friday, February 28, part of a larger set of records being prepared for release by the National Archives, are expected to include confidential communications between the former president and his advisers along with records related to Clinton’s federal appointments.

    The records could also include communications involving former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is considering a 2016 presidential campaign, an AP report says. The former secretary of state’s potential White House campaign has renewed interest in documents from her husband’s administration during the 1990s and her decades in public service. Clinton, a former New York senator, is the leading Democratic contender to succeed President Barack Obama should she seek the presidency again.

    While the specific content remains unclear, the records could offer an unvarnished look at Clinton’s decisionmaking during his two terms in the White House. The records also could offer insight into the advice Clinton received from top aides and how the White House made appointments during his administration. In total, about 33,000 pages of previously confidential records from Clinton’s administration could be made public in the coming weeks.

    The expected release of the documents was first reported by Politico. Miriam Kleiman, a spokeswoman for the National Archives, said the federal agency has cleared for release about 25,000 pages of previously confidential documents during the next two weeks. The initial release Friday will be about 4,000 to 5,000 pages of records, she said. The documents will be posted online by the National Archives while paper copies will be made available at the former president’s library in Little Rock, Ark. An additional 7,000 to 8,000 pages of records are under review until March 26 and could be opened to the public sometime after that date.

    The records were previously withheld by the National Archives because they were exempt from disclosure under restrictions related to appointments to federal office and confidential advice among the president and his advisers. Under a law involving the handling and release of presidential records since the Reagan White House, presidential records can be withheld from the public for 12 years after the end of an administration if they fall under certain restricted categories. Once the restrictions expired in January 2013, the National Archives notified Obama’s and Clinton’s offices that they intended to release the records so both offices could conduct a review of the records. Both offices recently signed off on the documents.

  • ‘Will Watch Jan 26th Parade in Delhi’: Mangano

    ‘Will Watch Jan 26th Parade in Delhi’: Mangano

    MINEOLA, NY (TIP): Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano joined ITV reporter Riti Bhalla and watched the Republic Day festivities telecast from New Delhi and marveled at the great national celebration in India with “wonderful parade, the beautiful floats and a great expression of democracy.”

    Last week, joining the teen host of Riti Bhalla Special, Mangano said, “I hope that someday I will watch the parade in New Delhi in person.” Appearing fifth time since 2011 on the special India Day shows hosted by Bhalla, Mangano, representing a county larger in population than seven states of America, greeted Indian Americans across the US with “Happy Republic Day, Jai Hind”. Mangano also commended Indian Americans at large and especially those “who are part of my administration in Nassau County and contribute to our successes each and every day.”

    Bhalla, currently a student of New York University, started hosting her biannual celebrations of the Republic Day and the Independence Day of India in 2008, when she was 14 years old. Over the years, ten governors, 22 senators and congressional leaders, as well as four presidential candidates – Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John McCain and Joe Lieberman – have also appeared on Bhalla’s shows.

    Bollywood celebrities, Shah Rukh Khan, Yash Chopra, Sanjay Dutt and Anushka Sharma as well as the former President of India Dr. Abdul Kalam have appeared as Riti’s guests. In 2012, history of sorts was made on Riti Bhalla Special when Indian American Astronaut Sunita Williams connected with Bhalla all the way from the International Space Station and greeted Indians around the world on Independence Day. The program was telecast in over 100 countries and covered by the print media worldwide.

  • Joe Biden says Hillary Clinton will not impact his 2016 choice

    Joe Biden says Hillary Clinton will not impact his 2016 choice

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Joe Biden said on Wednesday he was not yet sure if he would run for president but that his decision would not be directly influenced by prohibitive Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton.

    The US vice-president was asked about his intentions for 2016 during a round of interviews to push the themes of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. “I haven’t made the decision what I’m going to do. I haven’t decided to run or not run,” Biden told broadcaster ABC.

    Many analysts believe that Biden, who has unsuccessfully run for president twice before, would not get into the field if Clinton — already the dominant potential candidate for the Democrats, gets into the race. “If I run, it won’t be because of who’s in the field. It’ll be whether or not I honestly believe I have a chance to be able to really move this country in a direction that is different than those who are running and that I can get that done,” Biden said.

    On CBS television, Biden said Clinton’s decision about her own potential race would “not directly” impact his own intentions. “The only reason a man or woman should run for president — I’m sure Hillary views it the exact same way — is if they think they’re better positioned to be able to do what the nation needs at the moment.” Biden is put on the spot by such questions because they leave him balancing a desire not to overshadow Obama’s current agenda and an imperative to keep his political options open.

    Biden, though fit and sprightly, would face questions over his age should he decide to run for president. He would be 74 in January 2017 and would become the oldest president inaugurated for a first term. Clinton, the former secretary of state, has said she will make a decision this year on whether to take aim at the White House again, after her 2008 primary loss to Obama. Her allies have already started assuming control of key parts of the Democratic Party infrastructure to prepare the way for a race, should she decide to go for it.

  • Hillary Clinton has a Massive Lead in Early Primary Polling

    Hillary Clinton has a Massive Lead in Early Primary Polling

    NEW YORK (TIP): The Washington Post and ABC News, January 30 morning, bring an early look at the leader board for the 2016 presidential nominations. The fact that Hillary Clinton is the front-runner for the Democrats will surprise absolutely no one-but the sheer size of her lead is something to behold: 61 points.

    If the 2016 Democratic primary were today, 73 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents would vote for Clinton, according to a new Washington Post/ ABC poll. Just 12 percent said they would vote for Vice President Biden, while 8 percent said they’d vote for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. While Warren is a favorite among liberals, she is among the several lawmakers who have said they’d support Clinton if she were to run.

    Clinton’s lead in the survey, conducted Jan. 20-23 among a national sample of 1,003 adults, is the largest lead in an early primary match up that the Post/ABC poll has recorded in 30 years. The overall margin of error for the poll is 3.5 points. Over on the GOP side of things, meanwhile, we find a much more crowded field.

    Here’s the full breakdown of the Republican field: Paul Ryan, 20 percent; Jeb Bush, 18 percent; Chris Christie, 13 percent; Ted Cruz, 12 percent; Marco Rubio, 10 percent; and Rand Paul, 11 percent. 9 per cent had no opinion. 4 per cent said none of these. 2 per cent said favored other and 1 per cent would not vote. Meanwhile, reports are coming in that the major super PAC that supported President Obama’s re-election now will begin raising money to help elect Hillary Clinton to the White House if she chooses to run. CNN said the group confirmed its support for Hillary.

    Priorities USA Action is reaching out to major Democratic donors as it starts to build support for her potential run and plans to raise tens of millions of dollars to begin to lay the groundwork for a potential candidacy. But the big question is:Will Hillary agree to run? She has yet to say whether she’ll run for President in 2016.Vice President Joe Biden, who harbors ambition to be the President, says Hillary Clinton’s decision on whether she will or won’t run for president in 2016 will not directly impact his own decision on whether to launch another bid for the White House. And Biden, making the rounds on the morning network newscasts, said he thinks he’d “make a good president.”

  • The tenure of Hillary Clinton

    The tenure of Hillary Clinton

    The tenure of Hillary Clinton, wife of former US President Bill Clinton, as the US Secretary of State came to an end on February 1. She was succeeded by John Kerry. Clinton, sources said, is likely to be on the race for the US Presidency in 2016.

  • Mohammed Jaffer Renowned Photo Editor of SnapsIndia USA

    Mohammed Jaffer Renowned Photo Editor of SnapsIndia USA

    Mohammed Jaffer Renowned Photo Editor of SnapsIndia USA was with Hillary Clinton when she greeted the newly elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blassio and his wife Chirlane McCray

  • US China envoy who oversaw embassy drama to resign

    US China envoy who oversaw embassy drama to resign

    BEIJING (TIP): The US ambassador to China, who oversaw diplomatic dramas and gave refuge to a Chinese activist who escape from house arrest, is to resign, he said in a statement on November 20. Gary Locke, the first Chinese-American to hold the post, will step down early next year to “rejoin my family” in his hometown of Seattle, after two-and-a-half years of “immense and rewarding challenge”. Locke, whose grandfather immigrated to America from the southern province of Guangdong, arrived in Beijing in August 2011, standing out among the Western diplomatic corps because of his ethnicity. He quickly gained a reputation in China as a humble dignitary — in stark contrast to many Chinese officials — after being seen carrying his own luggage and travelling in a regular car.

    In February 2012 a diplomatic drama erupted when senior Chinese official Wang Lijun fled to the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu from his powerful boss Bo Xilai, then head of the nearby metropolis of Chongqing. Wang soon left the premises to be dealt with by Chinese authorities and was last year sentenced to 15 years in prison. A few months later, Locke handled a tougher diplomatic standoff when blind rights activist Chen Guangcheng escaped house arrest in the eastern province of Shandong and sought refuge at the US embassy in Beijing. After days of tense negotiations involving then US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Chen and his family were allowed to go to the US.

    The US ambassador garnered attention again in June 2013 by visiting Tibet, where rights groups complain of Chinese suppression of the ethnic minority, claims that Beijing denies. Authorities closed off the area in 2008 after deadly riots and Locke arrived amid a string of Tibetan self-immolations that have gathered pace since 2009 in the region and nearby provinces. In his brief statement, Locke mentioned visiting Tibet and meeting human rights lawyers as measures that “advanced American values”.

    A former commerce secretary, he also touted his promotion of American businesses in China and Chinese investment in the US. China’s foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that Locke had “made positive efforts to promote exchanges and cooperation between China and the US”. “We appreciate that,” he added. State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki praised Locke’s “successful tenure” and said he had “devoted enormous personal energy to opening Chinese markets to American companies, promoting Chinese tourism and business travel to the United States and advocating greater respect for human rights.”

    She denied that his departure after only two and a half years in the job “reflects anything” about US-China ties, adding that the process would begin to find a “qualified and talented replacement.” Locke had replaced former envoy Jon Huntsman, a fluent Mandarin speaker, who spent less than two years in the post before leaving to launch an unsuccessful bid to be the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. On China’s popular microblog networks, which followed Locke’s tenure keenly, users expressed mixed views on his departure. “Farewell and don’t come again” said one poster, while another said: “He’s a good man.” Several cited Beijing’s notorious pollution as a possible reason for his departure, with one declaring: “Trust me, he’s leaving for the sake of his family’s health.”

  • Obama, Bill Clinton unite at JF Kennedy’s grave

    Obama, Bill Clinton unite at JF Kennedy’s grave

    WASHINGTON (TIP): A pair of Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton silently honored John F. Kennedy at the former US leader’s grave November 19, marking the 50th anniversary of his assassination. Obama and Clinton, along with First Lady Michelle Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, laid a large blue and white wreath on the sun-dappled grave of JFK, who was gunned down in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

    They then stood together, with hands on hearts, as a bugler played the US military lament “Taps” before observing a moment of silence. Extended members of the Kennedy clan looked on at the tableau of presidential power — past, present, and possibly future. The observance came after Obama awarded Bill Clinton and 15 other luminaries of the arts, sport, science and innovation the highest honor for US civilians, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was first minted by Kennedy. Later Wednesday, Obama will pay tribute to Kennedy’s legacy at a speech at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington honoring medal awardees.


    6

    Kennedy grave and eternal flame is in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington on a hillside with a paved area fashioned from Cape Cod granite quarried from near the Kennedy clan’s home base in Massachusetts. The eternal flame was lit by Kennedy’s wife Jacqueline Kennedy during his funeral in 1963 and she was buried beside her husband after her own death in 1994. The poignant moment of remembrance came two days before the official half-century anniversary of the death of Kennedy, who was gunned down in an open-top limousine in Dallas, Texas, in a crime which traumatized the world.

    The ceremonies have sparked a prolonged period of national and media reflection on the unfinished legacy of Kennedy, his tragedy-crossed family and of the evocative period in the early 1960s when his political star illuminated the world. Kennedy’s closest living relative, his daughter Caroline, however, was not at Wednesday’s ceremony. An early supporter of Obama’s presidential ambitions, she has just set off on a new chapter of her life as the US ambassador to Tokyo.

    The joint Obama-Clinton appearance at the grave site represented the latest show of unity between two political power families who waged a bitter 2008 Democratic presidential nominating duel. Hillary Clinton is now the red-hot favorite to land the Democratic nomination for the 2016 election — but has not said whether she will make another run for the White House. Presidents Clinton and Obama, two-term leaders both, laid claim to the legacy of John F. Kennedy in their own White House runs. Clinton was famously pictured meeting Kennedy at an event in the White House Rose Garden in July 1963, and has reminisced about how he set eyes on the presidency himself after shaking JFK’s hand.

    Obama, who was two years old when the 35th US president was killed, accepted Kennedy’s torch of Democratic Party idealism in a key moment in the 2008 campaign — which irked the Clintons — when president Kennedy’s late brother, senator Edward Kennedy endorsed Obama at American University in Washington. The two presidents stood together at a painful political moment for Obama, when he may be looking for political inspiration, after being brought low by the botched implementation of his signature health care law.

    A CBS News poll published Wednesday found that the president’s approval rating was down to 37% — his lowest ever. In the Medal of Freedom ceremony, Obama said that Clinton’s presidency proved that it was possible to grow the economy, cut the deficit and invest in science, technology and education — remarks which mirrored his own core political argument to American voters. Kennedy’s killing was blamed on a gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was said to be acting alone. But the 50 years since have been replete with conspiracy theories centering on whether Oswald was the true culprit and if he was acting on his own initiative or was part of a wider plot.