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| Obama declares himself candidate for re-election Posted: 04 Apr 2011 06:50 PM PDT  US President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign rally in Minneapolis, Minnesota in this October 23, 2010 file photograph. — Reuters pic Obama's announcement, made through an email and video sent to supporters, set in motion a plan to tap donors and raise as much as US$1 billion (RM3.02 billion), which would shatter the US$750 million campaign finance record he set in 2008. Five months after his Democrats were routed by Republicans in November congressional elections, Obama looks in fairly good shape for re-election when paired against any of a group of potential Republican challengers. It is early yet. The economic recovery has picked up pace in recent weeks but could be slowed by rising gasoline prices or any number of unpredictable events in the next 18 months, such as an unexpected expansion of the Libya conflict. The stubbornly high jobless rate was the leading factor in Republican victories last November and Americans weigh the state of their pocketbooks far more than anything else when they vote. The jobless rate has dropped a full percentage point to 8.8 per cent in the last five months. "If the economy does chug along the way it is now a lot of people may be more comfortable going with Obama," said Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri. Obama urged supporters in a phone call yesterday evening to work to preserve his administration's policy initiatives, and he promised to work on issues such as energy and immigration reform over the next year. "We can't go backwards," he said. "We have to preserve the progress that we've made and take it to the next level, and that means that we're going to have to mobilise." Obama became the first black US president in 2009, and scored big legislative victories when Congress approved reforms of healthcare and financial regulation laws last year. But the economy has been slow to recover from recession despite a stimulus package of more than US$800 billion. Obama's path to re-election will depend greatly on how he fares with independent voters, who were crucial to his 2008 victory but who abandoned Democrats last November. The president has adopted a more centrist tone in recent months in response to that midterm election loss, emphasizing his desire to work with both Democrats and Republicans. While the president is publicly trying to distance himself from politicking, his every move now will be viewed through a re-election prism, such as two trips he is taking this week to states that he won in 2008 and will need in 2012: Pennsylvania and Indiana. Obama said in an email to supporters that he was filing papers to start his re-election bid in a formal way. "So even though I'm focussed on the job you elected me to do, and the race may not reach full speed for a year or more, the work of laying the foundation for our campaign must start today," he said in the email. "We aren't finished" He has been sounding the themes of his campaign in fund-raising speeches, telling Democratic loyalists, "the promise that we made to the American people has been kept. But we aren't finished. We've got more work to do." Republicans acknowledge it will be a difficult task to defeat an incumbent Democratic president. Only two incumbents have been defeated in the last 30 years — Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1980 and Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992. "Obama's the favourite, but 18 months in advance, you'd be foolish to call anybody a lock," said Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia. Several Republicans are willing to try, including former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, both of whom are planning campaigns. Reacting to Obama's announcement, Pawlenty released a 35-second video of his own highlighting high unemployment, weakness in the housing market and surging federal debt. "How can America win the future, when we're losing the present?" Pawlenty asks in the video. "In order for America to take a new direction, it's going to take a new president." The Republican field is off to a slow start as potential candidates work quietly to build networks of donors and supporters and visit early voting states. By holding off on campaign announcements, they are saving money that will be needed in the months ahead. Early polls show Obama leading potential Republican rivals. The first scheduled debate of the Republican nominating race was postponed last week from May until September because of a lack of candidates. Events taking place now in Washington may play a role in the campaign battle to come. Republicans elected on pledges to cut government spending are attempting significant reductions that Democrats oppose. If the two parties cannot find common ground, it could force a government shutdown that the White House says could hurt the nascent economic recovery. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Japan seeks Russian help to end nuclear crisis Posted: 04 Apr 2011 06:02 PM PDT TOKYO, April 5 — Japan has asked nuclear superpower Russia to send a special radiation treatment ship used to decommission nuclear submarines to help in its fight to contain the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl, Japanese media said late yesterday. Japanese engineers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have been forced to release radioactive waste water into the sea. At the same time they are resorting to desperate measures to contain the damage, such as using bath salts to try to locate the source of leaks at the crippled complex 240km north of Tokyo. Three weeks after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami hit northeast Japan, sending some of Daiichi's reactors into partial meltdown, engineers are no closer to regaining control of the power plant or stopping radioactive leaks. The quake and tsunami left nearly 28,000 people dead or missing and Japan's northeast coast a wreck. The world's costliest natural disaster has caused power blackouts and cuts to supply chains and business hours. It is threatening economic growth and the yen, while a recent opinion poll suggested voters want embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan to form a coalition in order to steer Japan through its worst crisis since World War Two. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) was forced yesterday to release low-level radioactive seawater that had been used to cool overheated fuel rods after it ran out of storage capacity for more highly contaminated water. A TEPCO official was in tears as he told a news conference: "We are very sorry for this region and those involved." TEPCO said it would release more than 10,000 tonnes of water about 100 times more radioactive than legal limits in order to free storage capacity for more highly contaminated water. "We have instructed strict monitoring of the ocean to firmly grasp the impact on the environment," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. Engineers planned to build two giant "silt curtains" made of polyester fabric in the sea to hinder the spread of more contamination from the plant. Japan has also asked Russia for radiation treatment ship, the "Suzuran", which treats radioactive liquids, Kyodo and Jiji news agencies said. The ship, a joint venture between Japan and Russia, was designed to help decommission nuclear submarines in Russia's Pacific fleet in Vladivostock, ensuring radioactive waste was not dumped into the Sea of Japan, Kyodo said. But it could take months to stem the leaks and even longer to regain control of the power station, damaged by last month's quake and tsunami. Disaster may see yen weaken Japan, the world's third largest economy but also one of its most indebted nations, has estimated the damages bill may top US$300 billion (RM906 billion). "The damage from the nuclear crisis and the subsequent power shortage will last for several years," said Eiji Hirano, former assistant governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ). "There's a strong chance Japan's economy will contract in the current fiscal year," he told Reuters in an interview. A former senior BOJ official, Eisuke Sakakibara, said the yen would weaken in the coming months, possibly beyond 90 to the dollar, underlining expectations a near four-year rally in the currency may be over. The yen traded at 84.05 per dollar yesterday. The disaster initially saw the yen soar on speculation Japanese would repatriate funds for reconstruction, prompting the G7 intervention to knock it back. "This atomic power issue is an incident which would result in depreciation of the exchange rate," Sakakibara told reporters in Tokyo. Unpopular and under pressure to quit or call a snap poll before the disaster, Prime Minister Kan has been criticised for his management of the disaster. One newspaper poll said nearly two-thirds of voters wanted the government to form a coalition with the major opposition party and work together to recover from the disaster. Japan's two biggest parties may join forces, but partisan bickering could delay funding for massive reconstruction. Bath salts, sea curtain In their desperation to stop radioactive leaks, TEPCO engineers have used anything at hand. They have mixed sawdust and newspapers with polymers and cement in an unsuccessful attempt to seal a crack in a concrete pit at reactor No.2. Yesterday, they resorted to powdered bath salts to produce a milky colour in water to help trace the source of the leak. TEPCO said it was also planning to drape a curtain into the sea off the nuclear plant to try to prevent radioactive silt drifting out into the ocean. The silt-blocking fence will take several days to prepare, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). The exact source of the radiation leaks remains unknown. NISA is investigating a damaged embankment near a sluice gate at the No.2 reactor and the possibility it may be seeping through a layer of small stones below a concrete pipe. TEPCO said it would build tanks to hold contaminated seawater, was towing a floating tank which will arrive next week, and was negotiating the purchase of three more. "If the current situation continues for a long time, accumulating more radioactive substances, it will have a huge impact on the ocean," Edano said. Small levels of radiation from the plant have been detected as far away as Europe and the United States and several countries have banned milk and produce from the vicinity. Singapore extended a ban on Japanese food imports yesterday after detecting radiation in more fruit and vegetable imports. While Kan asked the European Union yesterday for a calm response to Japanese imports. The EU has urged radiation testing of Japanese food and feed imports. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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