Bill Clinton to the Rescue, because it is so obvious that Obama hasn’t a clue

I hope I’m wrong. I hope Larry is pissed off by my title, and writes a retort. Come on, Larry. Show me how wrong I am. I had no idea about all of this news until just a few moments ago when I heard the report about Bill Clinton being a “peace envoy” between Pakistan and India. Then I stumbled upon the following. Lordy.

(1) From INDIAWEST, November 13, 2008:

In an interview with Time magazine last month, Obama indicated his intention of appointing former President Bill Clinton as a special envoy to Kashmir and said he had spoken to Clinton about the matter over lunch in Harlem. Clinton successfully intervened in the 1999 Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan.

(2) From “India reels over Obama’s silence, Asia Times, November 12, 2008:

Diplomatic predicaments can at times be almost laughable. Indian officials were scurrying around like headless chickens because 120 anxious hours had passed and United States president-elect Barack Obama had not yet put a phone call through to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh – as he has done to at least nine other heads of state.

The Indians could learn a thing or two from the Kremlin. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev found himself exactly in Manmohan’s predicament when by November 8 his Kremlin telephone still had not rung. But 43-year-old Medvedev did a smart thing.

He put a call through to Chicago to the 47-year old president-elect. The Kremlin thereupon went ahead and publicized the conversation in an upbeat account. A budding controversy was nipped before it could blossom. …

I’m left speechless. Utterly speechless. Okay, so the Indians, from this particular reporter’s POV, overreacted, but honest to god. Obama wasn’t calling these world leaders? We know he didn’t know the man’s name during the primaries — and had to turn his head to Hillary during the debate in the desperate hope she’d know the Russian leader’s name — but he didn’t even call Medvedev after the election? My goodness.

(3) From the “Test of Barack Obama’s mettle as president-elect forms emergency team,” The Australian, November 28, 2008, the key sentence, to which MSNBC referred earlier today:

Mr Obama has also said previously he had spoken to former US president Bill Clinton about playing the role of peace envoy in the flashpoint border region between India and Pakistan in Kashmir.

Full story:

US president-elect Barack Obama’s stance on national security and terrorism is sharply back in focus following the terror attacks in Mumbai, just days before he announces the leading members of his national security team.

Mr Obama set up an emergency advisory team yesterday to co-ordinate with the diplomatic and intelligence arms of the Bush administration.

Mr Obama, as a president-elect, has access to Washington’s classified intelligence reports and is receiving the President’s daily brief from the security and intelligence apparatus. But intelligence officials in Washington were scrambling to ascertain the nature of the attacks, which did not include the al-Qa’ida hallmark of suicide bombers. …

The intelligence community had been expecting a spectacular terrorist act during the transition phase of power in Washington and attacks on one of the US’s most important allies in the subcontinent adds a layer of complexity to a transition so far dominated by the economic crisis.

A suicide car bomb in the Afghan capital of Kabul, which killed at least four yesterday, was also seen as a test of the incoming leader’s authority.

Mr Obama is expected to reveal his national security, defence and diplomatic appointments next Monday.

The Bush administration’s Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, will stay on for at least a year.

Mr Obama is inheriting a complex set of challenges.

In late October, just a few weeks before the election, Mr Obama’s vice-presidential running mate, Joe Biden, said Mr Obama would be tested.

“It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama, like they did John Kennedy,” Mr Biden said.

“The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

Security analysts fear yesterday’s attacks could be a harbinger of more destabilising acts on the subcontinent as Islamic extremist leaders eye shifting world opinion following Mr Obama’s election.

Moderate Muslims around the world have been intrigued by Mr Obama’s victory in the US and analysts say this has been unsettling Muslim fundamentalists who fear they could be on the losing end of the public relations battle if Washington is seen in a better light following eight years of the Bush administration.

Mr Obama has also said previously he had spoken to former US president Bill Clinton about playing the role of peace envoy in the flashpoint border region between India and Pakistan in Kashmir.

In a statement from Mr Obama’s transition headquarters in Chicago, the incoming president – he will be sworn in to office on January 20 – condemned the terrorist attacks. “These co-ordinated attacks on innocent civilians demonstrate the grave and urgent threat of terrorism,” said Brooke Anderson, Mr Obama’s chief national security spokeswoman.

“The United States must continue to strengthen our partnerships with India and nations around the world to root out and destroy terrorist networks.

“We stand with the people of India, whose democracy will prove far more resilient than thehateful ideology that led to these attacks.”

The confusion over who was responsible added to the fear thata new Islamic extremist group was opening up a new front on Western targets in India, a critical ally to the West with a Muslim population of more than 150 million.