Obama's Strange Foreign Policy

               President Obama’s foreign policy must receive greater scrutiny.  Overall, his decisions have been puzzling, and directly in conflict with the course this nation has followed under every prior president.

              Starting closest to home, Obama sided against the pro-American legislature of Honduras and supported the deposed former president of that nation, a Marxist who sought to violate its democratic constitution.  That trend continued with the President’s kid-gloves treatment of the stridently anti-U.S. leader of Venezuela, who has signed military treaties with Iran.  He has also moved to enhance America’s relations with Cuba.

            In Europe, Obama has devalued our relations with America’s closest ally, The United Kingdom. No explanation has ever been given for his diplomatic slights of London.  He also betrayed Poland, a government which has consistently been pro-US since its liberation from the Soviet Union, in his eagerness to sign a START treaty with Russia that critics call far too favorable to Moscow. 

            In Asia, he has turned a blind eye towards the unprecedented buildup of China’s vast armed forces, and that nation’s persistent drive to knock the dollar off of its pedestal as the world’s reserve currency.

            It is, however, in the Middle East where the President has focused most of his attention.  Despite over America’s half-century of common interest and common cause, Obama has been the most severe critic Israel has ever faced in the White House. 

The warning signs of the President’s tilt towards Muslim states and leaders that are anti-US came early, when, inexplicably, he toured the Middle East “apologizing” for America—for offenses few outside his White House can even imagine.  America’s history towards Muslims and the Arab world has been one of good will.  In the 1950’s, Washington sided with Egypt against the British-French attempt to control the Suez Canal.  In the 1980’s, Reagan aided Afghan freedom fighters in their battle against the invading USSR.  In the 1990’s, Clinton moved to defend Muslims in Eastern Europe. Despite the cost in lives and treasure to defend Kuwait against Saddam, not one drop of oil was taken as repayment from that nation.

The President has not, however, befriended all sectors of the Middle East; his favor seems to rest on those, like the Venezuelans and Cubans, who are most anti-American.  He has sided with the Palestinians against pro-US Israel.  He turned a blind eye towards freedom-seeking Iranian dissidents against their vehemently anti-American government, but sided with protestors in Egypt against the admittedly dictatorial but relatively pro-American Mubarak. He has ignored Iranian meddling in Lebanon, but endorsed military action in Libya, which has been relatively quiet on the anti-US bandwagon of late.  And he has been silent on the heroic men and women in Syria who seek to reform their viciously anti-U.S. government.  

Reform Public Authorities Now!

A vast portion of New York State governmental decision-making has been taken out of the hands of elected government and relegated to unelected and largely unaccountable agencies.  Despite recent legislative reforms, by and large these authorities operate with relatively little oversight and operate beyond the influence of the voters.  Many of these organizations, such as the Port Authority, the MTA, the New York Power Authority, the Urban Development Authority, the Thruway Authority, and the Housing Finance Agency, have significant daily impact on the lives of all who reside in this state.  Residents, however, are denied any real input into their operations or policy creation.

Elected officials have willingly surrendered their responsibilities to these organizations for several reasons.  First, it takes a significant workload off their shoulders.  Second, hard and potentially unpopular decision making can be accomplished without any connection to the governor, assembly member, or state senator.  Third, it creates an easily hidden budget gimmick to increase or mask debt.  One example came during the Cuomo administration.  The (elected) state government engaged in a sham transaction and “sold” Attica Prison and a part of Interstate 287 to the UDC for $200 million, which, on paper, helped balanced the state budget.  Unfortunately, to pay for this charade, taxpayers were stuck with a $600 million long-term commitment to pay for UDC bonds. 

The track record of these agencies has been dubious, at best. The Urban Development Corporation was the first major issuer of municipal bonds since the Great Depression to default.  Indeed, a huge portion of the state debt can be traced back to irresponsible, unaccountable agencies.  The list of outrages is considerable.  The MTA repeatedly issues contradictory statements about its budget, changing published facts and figures seemingly at whim, in whatever manner serves their purposes of the moment. 

A 2004 Comptrollers report, Public Authority Reform:  Reining in New York’s Secret Government, concluded that “Although the appearance of review exists for some of New York’s public authorities, the rules are diverse and the degree of scrutiny varies. The time for meaningful reform to increase accountability, deter misconduct and reduce waste and inefficiency at the more than 640 public authorities and subsidiary corporations has come.”

In response to the public outcry over blatant acts of abuse by these authorities, Governor Paterson signed a Public Authorities Reform bill into law last December. The legislation, while enacting some beneficial provisions, remains little more than a fig leaf on the problem and fails to address the central issue of allowing elected officials to evade responsibility for hard decision making by passing the buck to unaccountable, unresponsive, and unelected organizations.  The legislation:

·       establishes an Independent Authorities Budget Office to oversee agencies;

·       provides for review by the Comptroller of noncompetitive contracts over $1 million;

·       mandates enhanced financial reporting, mission statements, and measurement reports;

·       addresses some lobbying issues;

·       regulates subsidiary corporations;

·       requires good faith performance by board members;

·       creates a whistle blower program.

Of course, all of the above does little to address the key question of allowing elected government to evade its responsibilities.  The reasons for this evasiveness were accurately diagnosed in a Manhattan Institute study issued over a decade ago. The study noted that a number of vested interests—“prominent consulting, accounting, public-relations and law firms, all of whom take in millions of dollars in revenue from the various debt-financed projects of the authorities,” have far too much to lose.

Until the responsibilities inappropriately relegated to these unaccountable organizations are returned to the sunlight of elected government, our state cannot achieve the numerous structural reforms so vital to its future.

Dishonest Officials

      The startling statistic that more than one out of every eleven New York State elected officials leaves office under a cloud of either indictment or ethical charges hardly begins to scratch the surface.  (The latest political scandals apparently involve State Senate Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn),  Assemblyman William Boyland, Jr. (D-Brooklyn) and State Senator Shirley Huntley (D-Queens.) 

The battle for the soul of New York is not found only during election years, and is not between Democrats and Republicans; it is between those who are competent and honest vs. those who are incompetent and dishonest. 

While the press does cover corruption involving misappropriation of funds or sexual misconduct, it frequently ignores more sophisticated methods of stealing the public’s dollars, such as the misuse of taxpayer money to pay for thinly veiled re-election literature such as “constituent newsletters” mailed during election cycles.  Nor as there been sufficient attention paid to blatant incompetence.

New York City appears to be the epicenter for both incompetent and corrupt incumbents. In January of 2009, COMACTA, long before the major media focused on the problem, pointed out the highly disturbing incompetence of Mayor Bloomberg in dealing with transportation issues.

Since then, as we have continuously pointed out, traffic and mass transit problems have gone from bad to worse.  Those traveling the Cross Bronx Expressway and the Bruckner have seen their commuting times increase.  Subway riders have endured serious safety issues.  The nightmare that occurred following the December 26 snowstorm remains fresh, even as the calendar marches towards spring.

 We again call for an investigation of why Janette Sadik-Khan was first appointed to her position as transportation commissioner, and, why, after numerous incidents of terrible lapses in judgment and vision, she continues to have the Mayor’s support to remain in that role. Similar questions are beginning to arise concerning the Mayor’s appointment of Catherine Black to head the City’s Department of Education.   Would the mayor have tolerated such incompetence in his private company?

The time has also come to demand accountability on the part of elected officials on both the local and national levels who prosper in office while their constituents languish in poverty and unemployment. Unfortunately, the number of Americans that fit into this category continues to escalate, and their plight is growing worse by the day as inflation begins to grow.  On the national level, the White House’s incompetent policies of have turned a recession into a near depression. Indeed, as gasoline prices soar, we are reminded of candidate Obama’s assertion that high gas prices would be good for the nation, since they would force Americans to adopt “green” practices—and he was apparently never honest enough to discuss the economic pain that it would cause.

The battle of the dishonest and incompetent vs. the honest and competent is being waged now.  It remains to be seen which side will ultimately prevail. Listen to our next radio broadcast on Saturday, March 19, at 10 am at WVOX 1460 am, or online at wvox.com.  Send comments to nycommunityaction@gmail.com.