Clinton

By Barnaby Phillips in Americas on May 19th, 2011
Photo by AFP

We don't know what actually happened in that New York hotel room, and it would not be wise to speculate.

But Dominique Strauss-Kahn's legal difficulties do give us an insight into the wildly varying standards of sexual probity different societies tolerate from their leaders.

Take a look at this article in the London's Independent newspaper by John Lichfield.

Lichfield says that in French media circles, it was common currency that Strauss-Kahn could not be safely left alone with a young woman.

So maybe the the famous Gallic tolerance of sexual indiscretions has gone too far; creating a culture where journalists and politicians turn a blind eye not only to infidelities, but also to harassment and even assault.
 
Things are very different in Britain where no high profile figure could expect the media to ignore a reputa

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 September 17th, 2010
Photo by AFP

In his US presidential victory speech on November 4, 2008, Barack Obama said, "Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long".

It's a familiar message in US politics. When George W Bush was running for president in 2000, he told Americans, "I'm a uniter, not a divider".  But politicians who vow to change Washington are often changed by Washington. Partisanship is entrenched in the system.

However, senate historian Don Ritchie says while the political party divisions have evolved over many decades, members of Congress have always come to Washington with very different visions of what they want to do. 

"Those who love legislation and those who love sausage should never see how either are made. It's not a nice, pretty, efficient, clean, reasonable process.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on May 30th, 2010

File 2729

The new US National Security Strategy (NSS) makes for a boring but important weekend read.

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