Democratic Party

By Kamal Hyder in Asia on November 8th, 2010
Photo from AFP

The US president's visit to India has been hailed as a landmark moment, coming amidst much pomp and ceremony.

It could be a defining moment for Barack Obama's future, following the Democrat's humbling experience in midterm elections last week. But one thing is more certain: American foreign policy has the consensus of both the Democrats and the Republicans, no matter who is in power.

India mostly relied on Russian and British military equipment for its forces during the cold war era, something the US was always suspicious of despite its good relations with New Delhi over the years.

But with a new US-Indian strategic partnership, the stage is set for India to make a transition to American military hardware.

Obama may be trying to take credit for the new partnership, but actually it started during the tenure of George W Bush.

By Al Jazeera Staff in Americas on November 2nd, 2010
Tea party supporters rally in Connecticut the day before the election. [AFP]

21:39 GMT: A witty (and vulgar) website - "What the f___ has Obama done so far?" - is going viral on Facebook, with more than 53,000 fans. It presents a long list of various achievements in Obama's two years in office, and seems aimed at refuting Republican arguments that Obama has failed to bring his promised "hope and change".

21:21 GMT: BBC World News interviewed Democratic political consultant Peter Fenn just now. Fenn said that he expects Obama will act pragmatically and extend an "olive branch" to Republicans after the election and noted that Obama's approval rating is higher now than Clinton's in 1994, when Republicans won a huge midterm victory. Clinton was re-elected in 1996. 

By Camille Elhassani in Americas on October 12th, 2010
Photo from EPA

Every two years, all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and around one-third of the senate seats are up for grabs.

In the Midterm elections, which happen in even years between US presidential elections, historically, the party in power loses seats.

By Nick Spicer in Americas on August 22nd, 2010
Photo by Reuters

As he campaigns for members of his beleaguered Democratic party, the US president can no longer fill a stadium with enraptured Americans young and old.

The magic of Barack Obama’s mythopoeic come-from-behind campaign in 2008 has given way to the grim reality of governing a conflicted country, one whose entire economic model has been found wanting by the greatest recession since the 1930s.

And, as Obama stays the course with some of George Bush’s symbolic overseas policies – continuing drone strikes in Pakistan, and largely maintaining status quo on the human rights of “war on terror” detainees - the disenchantment of many American progressives has veered into bitterness.

But as the president loses touch with much of his base, the very man once derided by his presidential rivals as a phony-Jesus, peace-and-love political cream puff is forging a new public persona: Barack Obama, the angry president.

And it's not without good political reason.<

By Zeina Khodr in Middle East on March 4th, 2010

The green flags of the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) and the yellow posters of the KDP - the Kurdish Democratic Party are still ever so present, but its the blue flags and banners that seem to stand out in the city of Sulaymaniyah in northern Iraq. That is the colour of the Goran movement – the relatively new Kurdish opposition party.

Goran means "change" in English, and change it has brought to this region.

The two traditional Kurdish parties – the PUK and the KDP no longer dominate the political landscape. In fact, their grip on the semi-autonomous region has weakened.

Many here have become frustrated at what they consider a corrupt administration – one that has failed to improve basic services and provide jobs.

Goran secured enough seats in the Kurdistan Regional Government's parliament in local elections last year to become a challenge.

By Mohamed Vall in Africa on October 26th, 2009
Photo by Getty Images

Obama's new policy of "carrots along with sticks" towards Sudan has drawn ridicule and derision both on the part of some humanitarian organizations and mainstream US media. "Naive" is the term most widely used by those critics to describe Obama's special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration.

While the Sudanese doubt the possibility of any major change in US policies towards Sudan, western critics of the new policy doubt if there will be any major change in the Sudanese government's behaviour with regard to the conflict in Darfur in particular. They believe the US government has decided to reward the regime in Khartoum with incentives in exchange for empty promises from that regime.

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