US President Barack Obama does not think racism is “the overriding issue” in the fierce debate on healthcare, but that tempers are rising over the proper role of government, he said in interviews to be broadcast today.
“Are there people out there who don’t like me because of race? I’m sure there are. That’s not the overriding issue here,” Obama said in an excerpt of an interview to be broadcast on the CNN show State of the Union.
The US leader, in a media blitz to shore up popular support for healthcare reform, is taking to all five major US news shows today after commandeering prime-time television earlier this month with a major address to Congress on the issue.
Obama has been pushed to weigh in on the controversial issue of race after former president Jimmy Carter claimed racism was driving demonstrations and rhetoric on the president’s healthcare reform plans and spending policy.
“The overwhelming part of the American population” is much more concerned with how healthcare changes will affect them, Obama said, according to an interview excerpt released by ABC News.
The “biggest driver” for the more intense opposition to his administration’s proposals, Obama told the network’s This Week program, is more likely to be from people who are “passionate about the idea of whether government can do anything right.”
The president similarly told NBC’s Meet the Press program that it is an argument “that’s gone on for the history of this republic — and that is, what’s the right role of government? How do we balance freedom with our need to look after one another?”
There has been a long-standing debate in the US on big power plays from the White House, Obama told CNN, which is “usually that much more fierce during times of transition or when presidents are trying to bring about big changes.”
The vitriolic attacks of the 1930s on US president Franklin Roosevelt “are pretty similar to the things that are said about me — he was a communist, he was a socialist,” Obama said in an excerpt released on Friday by CNN. “Things that were said about [former US president] Ronald Reagan when he was trying to reverse some of the New Deal programs were pretty vicious as well.”
Obama’s spokesman Robert Gibbs moved this week to calm temperatures after Carter said much of the criticism leveled at Obama, the first black US president, was the result of racism.
“The president does not believe that the criticism comes based on the color of his skin,” Gibbs said.
In an interview with NBC on Tuesday, 84-year-old Carter had said he thought that “an overwhelming proportion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, he’s African-American.”
The debate exploded after Republican Representative Joe Wilson shouted “you lie” at the president during a speech to Congress last week and thousands protested against Obama administration policies in Washington.
Since then, a succession of Democratic lawmakers and political columnists have warned that the heckling and other overt signs of public disapproval not only foster a dangerous climate, but also reflect underlying racial bias.
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
RSS