Political India: Engaging America

Even as the sweltering summer of Obama-bashing wore thin in the ongoing Republican nomination debates, Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney slugged it out in the latest debate in Las Vegas this week and it descended into an ugly brawl.

The softer, Obama-targeting tone of the debate all but disappeared when the two frontrunners confronted each other on the core issue of illegal immigration. The exchange of barbs became personal at one point when Mr. Perry accused Mr. Romney of hiring illegal aliens to work in his yard.

In a sharp attack Mr. Perry said, “Mitt, you lose all of your standing from my perspective because you hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year.” He added that the idea of Mr. Romney standing here and claiming that he was strong on immigration is “the height of hypocrisy”.

Though Mr. Romney initially tried to remain calm about the accusation, he lost his cool after further remarks from his critic and said, “This has been a tough couple of debates for Rick, and I understand that, and so you're going to get testy.”

Apart from the two sparring Governors, another potential candidate who was forced onto the back foot was Herman Cain, former CEO of the Godfather Pizza Company. He was roundly slammed for his so-called 9-9-9 plan proposing nine per cent income, corporate and sales taxes as a means to circumvent the complexities of the tax code.

Starting with Rick Santorum, former Senator from Pennsylvania, who was followed by Mr. Perry and others, virtually every candidate decried Mr. Cain's plan as one that would ultimately result in higher taxes for ordinary Americans and businesses.

While previous rounds of debate at Iowa, Florida, New Hampshire and South Carolina had the net effect of putting Mr. Romney near the top of the polls Mr. Perry's ratings had recently flagged after what was described as a poor showing in several debates.

The latest round in Nevada however was a visceral attack on Mr. Romney by all the candidates, who possibly view his lead in the polls as dangerous to their individual prospects.

The caucuses and primaries, through which the Republican nominee will finally be selected, will kick off in either December 2011 or in early January 2012, and New Hampshire will likely be the first venue. The Presidential election is on November 6 2012.

Labels: Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, U.S. politics

Labels: Barack Obama, Herman Caine, John Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, U.S. politics

From The Hindu

With the mercury rising all around the United States as the November Congressional elections approach, it is the political drama of states that will dominate the attention of voters, pundits and the contestants themselves.

Yet even within the states, November will be about much more than just the fight for the House of Representatives and Senate — it will also be about battles for 38 state and territorial governorships, four territorial legislatures and numerous state legislature and local races.

While every one of these races will be decided by different local communities, in the state of Maryland it may well be a community of professionals and industrialists that turns the tide — Indian-Americans.

Maryland as a state has been staunchly Democratic for most of its history, even dating back to the Civil War years. Within the state, politics has been dominated by three main areas — Baltimore and the suburbs of Washington, DC; Montgomery County; and Prince George's County — all three mostly voting Democrat. Other parts of Maryland, such as Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore, have usually sided with Republicans.

Yet the Indian-Americans, and their gubernatorial candidate Robert Ehrlich, are betting on red over blue. And it may well be a strong bet given the deep disenchantment with the economy and unemployment. While Maryland is not haemorrhaging jobs like some other states — in fact there was a net addition to jobs between March and June — the situation is still bleak for many.

Ehrlich's Indian connection

But for Mr. Ehrlich his connection to the Indian-American community is about more than economics and elections. “It is personal,” he says, and he's not exaggerating. As the first Republican Governor of Maryland in four decades Mr. Ehrlich hired Indian-American Dilip Paliath as Chief Counsel for his Office of Crime Control and Prevention.

While he lost the 2006 gubernatorial race to Democrat and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley by a margin of 53 per cent to 46 per cent he has since built more bonds with the community and now firmly believes that the entrepreneurial nature of the Indian Americans and the success they have had in their ventures is a “natural marriage with my philosophical orientation.” He added that the community consisted of a lot of professionals and a lot of business people, “people that have lived the American dream.”

There is more to the relationship than abstract values, however, and Mr. Ehrlich was also a key force behind the creation of a trade office in Bangalore, which was later closed under the Democratic state administration. Not missing the irony in the fact that Washington Democrats and the White House have actually been pressing to stop jobs getting “Bangalored,” Mr. Ehrlich said that he had every intention to reopen the office and it would facilitate “getting mutual trade agreements.”

“Mutual,” is the key word, and Mr. Ehrlich said that it was India's with its thriving markets, democracy and growing wealth that were the main reasons for his ambition to build and take advantage of ties with the country. He argued, “If we can bring jobs to Maryland through a trade office, then why not?”

‘A tough state for Republicans'

But given that Maryland has been a virtual bastion of Democratic heavyweights, such as House Majority leader Steny Hoyer, the success of Mr. Ehrlich and his Indian-American support base is by no means guaranteed.

Mr. Ehrlich admitted, “It is a tough state for Republicans,” adding however that his party was well positioned and expected to win. If the dream comes true in November then the priority again will be jobs. Mr. Ehrlich said, “A couple of big business deals, corporate headquarters — maybe even of an Indian company. With the Indian corporate sector fuming over a bill passed in Congress — which hiked visa fees for Indian firms with U.S. operations by $2,000 or more — the strategy of gubernatorial hopefuls such as Mr. Ehrlich may be heartily welcomed by Indian industry.

Mr. Ehrlich however would take it a step further. According to him one reason behind the “impetus from the Indian-American community towards the Republican Party” was that the rhetoric and voting record of the Senate, combined with the platform and policies of the Obama government, suggested that the current federal administration was protectionist.

Mr. Ehrlich said that Democrats in the U.S. today believed in the heavy hand of government as exemplified repeatedly by their regulatory policies. Indian-Americans, contrarily, were “capitalists and free-traders” and so they were being driven towards the Republican Party, he added.

The other deep concern for the former Governor is deficits, in particular Maryland's projected “$1.6bn deficit over next fiscal year.” Lamenting the spending binge in Washington and in Annapolis, Maryland's capital, Mr. Ehrlich is a strong votary for “getting Maryland off its stimulus addiction.”

In the context of the federal stimulus plan he said that if the Obama government had offered Maryland money for a bridge or a tunnel to be built that would help get some people back to work based on a one-time expenditure. “But when they say they are going to cover your bandage this year and next year and then they are going to stop but we can keep increasing our spending you are just asking for long-term trouble,” he said.

Strength lies in technology

And Maryland will bounce back, Mr. Ehrlich insisted, highlighting in particular its inherent strength in higher technology sectors such as nanotechnology and biotechnology, and also an IT presence and traditional manufacturing for higher technology.

It is after all home to a host of agencies involved in cutting edge research and development including the Johns Hopkins University, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Institute of Mental Health, the federal Food and Drug Administration, the Celera Genomics company and, rather famously, the J. Craig Venter Institute.

However Mr. Ehrlich cautioned, “We have this undergirding of federal expenditures that does help prime our pump but it makes Annapolis lazy and we tend to do anti-business things as a result of federal spending being here.”

Labels: midterm elections, Robert Ehrlich, U.S. politics

From The Hindu

Setting the stage for a major overhaul of financial regulation in the coming weeks, U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday said Wall Street banks and other financial institutions had been “reckless” and “irresponsible” and they, along with their “special interest” representatives in Washington, were to blame for the crisis that has “ripped through our economy”. He added that his administration would hold them accountable and protect and empower consumers going forward.

Quoting investment guru Warren Buffet during his weekly address to the nation Mr. Obama put derivatives trading in the regulatory spotlight arguing that “derivatives bought and sold with little oversight [are] financial weapons of mass destruction”. He noted that the crisis was in part caused by firms such as AIG making “huge and risky bets — using things like derivatives — without accountability”.

In the context of the financial regulation legislation awaiting a Senate debate and vote over the coming weeks and months, Mr. Obama also sharply criticised the Republicans for siding with the special interests of Wall Street and waging “a relentless campaign to thwart even basic, common-sense rules — rules to prevent abuse and protect consumers”.

In a direct attack on the Republican leadership including Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn, he said they had recently met two dozen top Wall Street executives to talk about how to block progress on this issue.

“Lo and behold, when he returned to Washington, the Senate Republican leader came out against the common-sense reforms we've proposed. In doing so, he made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts — when he knows that it would do just the opposite,” said Mr. Obama.

In addition to tighter controls over derivatives trading, he outlined a range of key areas of regulatory reform, including consumer financial protections, closing loopholes that allowed executives in institutions that were “too big to fail” to take risks that endangered the entire economy, and giving shareholders “new power” in the financial system, such as a vote on the salaries and bonuses awarded to top executives.

Underscoring his determination to get the legislation passed, Mr. Obama said: “This is certain: one way or another, we will move forward. This issue is too important. The costs of inaction are too great.”

Labels: Barack Obama, financial crisis, U.S. politics, Wall Street