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| Ike spins in grave - Susan Eisenhower stumps for Obama | |
| 2008-10-23 | |
| NAPLES -- America was amidst change during the Eisenhower years. The United States had survived the Depression and World War II, guided by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Yes, there was the start of the Cold War with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, as well as the Sen. Joseph McCarthy witch hunts and intervention in Korea, but the Vietnam era was not yet upon us. So, generally speaking, many tend to view Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidential years -- 1953 to 1961 -- with fairly pleasant memories: World War II veterans were moving their families to the suburbs on G.I. loans, there were cookouts in backyards during the summer, we drank Kool-Aid, ate Jell-O and watched "I Love Lucy." Now, the formerly-Republican granddaughter of President Eisenhower is stumping for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, because it is time, again, for real change, Susan Eisenhower said Sunday afternoon. Local reaction to Eisenhower's endorsement was disappointment. Naples GOP Chairwoman Carla Dean, who was en route to a Republican meeting in Orlando, called it "unfortunate." "How in the world could any Republican support a Democratic candidate, (who opposes) everything we hold dear," she said. Dean wondered how the granddaughter of one of the nation's great Republican presidents could take this position. An expert on international security and the relationship between the U.S. and Russia, Susan Eisenhower is the president of the Eisenhower Group. In Southwest Florida on Sunday for a whirlwind meeting with Obamacans -- Republicans who have chosen to endorse Obama -- Eisenhower, 56, said the nation is at a critical juncture. "I think he has the capacity to be a great American president," Eisenhower said. She was especially joyous that Gen. Colin Powell had just announced his support for Obama. "I'd like to associate myself with all the points he made," she said of Powell. Her first personal experience with Obama was 1-1/2 years ago when he called her to chat. While impressed that he contacted her, Eisenhower told him she is a devoted Republican. "He said, 'I understand that. I'm just calling you for your ideas.' I was immensely flattered. ... This was an exceptional approach... extraordinary," Eisenhower said, adding that she never had a candidate from another party call her. He asked her to brief his staff. "I really believed Obama has some extraordinary qualities, an extraordinary temperament. People who work for Barack Obama love this man," Eisenhower said. He is inspired and inspiring, but also reminds her of her grandfather, she said. "He has run his campaign the way an Eisenhower would have run government ... 100 percent control," she said. Obama's campaign "doesn't have debt," she said, noting that she's a fiscal conservative. "Obama's run his campaign the way I hope our government will be governed."
We are now in a critical period of history, she said. How did FDR bring us out of the depression, she asked. "He said, 'There is nothing to fear but fear itself,'" she said. | |
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| NYC mayor Bloomberg to call for Gov't of National Unity | |||
| 2007-12-30 | |||
Others who will be at the Jan. 7 session at the University of Oklahoma said that if the likely nominees of the two parties do not pledge to "go beyond tokenism" in building an administration that seeks national consensus, they will be prepared to back Bloomberg or someone else in a third-party campaign for president. The list of attendees suggests the group could muster the financial and political firepower to make the threat of such a candidacy real. Conveners of the meeting include such prominent Democrats as former senators Sam Nunn of Georgia, Charles Robb of Virginia and David Boren of Oklahoma, and former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Republican attendees are to include Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, former party chairman Bill Brock, former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.
Others who have indicated they plan to attend the one-day session include William Cohen, former Republican senator from Maine and defense secretary in the second Clinton administration; Alan Dixon, former Democratic senator from Illinois; Bob Graham, former Democratic senator from Florida; Jim Leach, former Republican congressman from Iowa; Susan Eisenhower, a political consultant and granddaughter of former President Eisenhower; David Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency; and Edward Perkins, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Bloomberg, a former Democrat who was elected mayor of New York as a Republican, left the GOP over the summer to become an independent. While disclaiming any plan to run for president in 2008, he has continued to fuel speculation by traveling widely and speaking out on domestic and international issues. The mayor, a billionaire many times over, presumably could self-finance even a late-starting candidacy. "As mayor, he has seen far too often how hyperpartisanship in Washington has gotten in the way of making progress on a host of issues," said Bloomberg's press secretary, Stu Loeser. "He looks forward to sitting down and discussing this with other leaders." Until plans for the meeting were disclosed, the most concrete public move toward any kind of independent candidacy was by Unity08, a group planning an online nominating convention to pick either an independent candidate or a ticket combining a Republican and a Democrat. The sponsors, an eclectic mix of consultants who have worked for candidates ranging from Democrat Jimmy Carter to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., have not aligned with a specific prospect. Some people with high-level political and governmental credentials are moving to put muscle behind the new effort. A letter from Nunn and Boren sent to those who plan to attend the Jan. 7 session said "our political system is, at the least, badly bent and many are concluding that it is broken at a time ... America must lead boldly at home and abroad. Partisan polarization is preventing us from uniting to meet the challenges that we must face if we are to prevent further erosion in America's power of leadership and example." At the session, Boren said, participants will try to draft a statement on such issues as the need to "rebuild and reconfigure our military forces" and restoring U.S. credibility in the world. "Today, we are a house divided," the letter said. "We believe that the next president must be able to call for a unity of effort by choosing the best talent available without regard to political party to help lead our nation."
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