From Bill Clinton to Joe Biden Alexander Springer

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

From Bill Clinton to Joe Biden Alexander Springer C.IAS Lectures Series: Inter-American History and Culture U.S. LATIN AMERICA POLICY: From Bill Clinton to Joe Biden Alexander Springer Bill Clinton (1993-2001), George W. Bush (2001-2009), Barack Obama (2009-2017), Donald Trump (2017-2021) and Joe Biden (2021- ) Bill Clinton was the first President elected after the end of the Cold War. US power was at its zenith. The first Summit of the Americas in Miami (1994) with its commitment to democracy and development embodied optimism. Nevertheless, the less unequal part- nership many had hoped for never quite materialized, as new topics (“War on Terror” under G. W. Bush; “Pivot to Asia” under B. Obama) replaced Latin America on Washing- ton’s agenda. A low point was probably reached with D. Trump, who not only used the fear of illegal migration and Latino gangs as an opportunity for negative campaigning. J. Biden has only been president for 100 days, but at least the tone seems to have become less confrontational. However, the migration issue still seems to drive most U.S. interest in its Southern neighborhood. Alexander Springer is a diplomat, who currently serves as Deputy Director of the Ameri- cas Department at the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was previously posted to the Austrian embassies in Brussels, Madrid, Brasilia, and Bogota. He taught international relations at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota (Colombia) and at the University of Vienna. He has lectured at several universities and at the Diplomatic Academy Vienna. Wednesday 5 May 2021 18.45h Willi-Gaisch-Saal (06.01), Universitätsplatz 6, EG https://unimeet.uni-graz.at/b/cwi-7e3-klh-qdk In Kooperation mit dem Forschungs- und Kulturverein für Kontinentalamerika und die Karibik (KonaK) .
Recommended publications
  • Picking the Vice President
    Picking the Vice President Elaine C. Kamarck Brookings Institution Press Washington, D.C. Contents Introduction 4 1 The Balancing Model 6 The Vice Presidency as an “Arranged Marriage” 2 Breaking the Mold 14 From Arranged Marriages to Love Matches 3 The Partnership Model in Action 20 Al Gore Dick Cheney Joe Biden 4 Conclusion 33 Copyright 36 Introduction Throughout history, the vice president has been a pretty forlorn character, not unlike the fictional vice president Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays in the HBO seriesVEEP . In the first episode, Vice President Selina Meyer keeps asking her secretary whether the president has called. He hasn’t. She then walks into a U.S. senator’s office and asks of her old colleague, “What have I been missing here?” Without looking up from her computer, the senator responds, “Power.” Until recently, vice presidents were not very interesting nor was the relationship between presidents and their vice presidents very consequential—and for good reason. Historically, vice presidents have been understudies, have often been disliked or even despised by the president they served, and have been used by political parties, derided by journalists, and ridiculed by the public. The job of vice president has been so peripheral that VPs themselves have even made fun of the office. That’s because from the beginning of the nineteenth century until the last decade of the twentieth century, most vice presidents were chosen to “balance” the ticket. The balance in question could be geographic—a northern presidential candidate like John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts picked a southerner like Lyndon B.
    [Show full text]
  • What's Next for the United States?
    February 2021 Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Office USA, Washington, D.C. What's next for the United States? Part 2: Climate Change and Energy Supply By Sabine Murphy How is the Biden administration changing the direction of the U.S.? The KAS Office USA takes a first look, in a series of five country reports. This report deals with climate and energy challenges. The White House website promises “swift action to tackle the climate emergency” and a “clean energy revolution”. Key Policy Goals The Biden-Harris administration doesn’t make it a secret that the fight against climate change is on top of the to-do-list. Climate is prominently listed on the White House website as one of seven top policy priorities. It states: “President Biden will take swift action to tackle the climate emergency. The Biden administration will ensure we meet the demands of science, while empowering American workers and businesses to lead a clean energy revolution.”1 The Biden administration takes a decidedly different approach to energy use and the impact of rising temperatures on the environment than its predecessor. After four years of the Trump administration denying scientific findings about climate change, Biden has pledged to follow science and involve the entire federal government in the fight against climate change. By creating inter-agency working groups and a National Climate Task Force, Biden wants to ensure that his policies for the production of clean energy and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, are not limited to single agencies but will be implemented throughout the federal government. During his campaign, Biden promised to reach a goal of net-zero emissions across the economy before 2050, and to eliminate pollution caused by fossil fuel in electricity production by 2035.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Berkeley IGS Poll
    UC Berkeley IGS Poll Title Release #2021-09: Californians’ Early Assessments of the Performance of President Biden and Vice President Harris are Highly Positive Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4088n2j0 Author Di Camillo, Mark Publication Date 2021-05-12 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Institute of Governmental Studies 126 Moses Hall University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 Tel: 510-642-6835 Email: [email protected] Release #2021-09 Wednesday, May 12, 2021 Californians’ Early Assessments of the Performance of President Biden and Vice President Harris are Highly Positive. by Mark DiCamillo, Director, Berkeley IGS Poll (c) 415-602-5594 Californians generally offer highly positive assessments of the job performances of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as the nation’s Vice President. In its examinations of how voters here view the nation’s new political leaders, the Berkeley IGS Poll finds 62% approving of the job Biden is doing as President, while just 34% disapprove. Vice President Harris also is rated favorably, with 53% approving and 33% disapproving. In addition, most of the voters who approve of Biden’s and Harris’s performance do so strongly. Biden’s initial ratings place him in the mid-range of the job marks given by California voters to other recent presidents at the beginning of their first year in office. All told, four of Biden’s nine immediate predecessors – Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and John F. Kennedy – received higher initial job performance scores than Biden, while four others – Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Gerald Ford, and Bill Clinton – were given lower marks.
    [Show full text]
  • Biden's 100 Days
    BIDEN’S 100 DAYS 1 Biden's 100 Days Carr Center for Human Rights Policy Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University April 29, 2021 The views expressed in the Carr Center Discussion Paper Series are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the John F. Kennedy School of Government or of Harvard University. Faculty Research Working Papers have not undergone formal review and approval. Such papers are included in this series to elicit feedback and to encourage debate on important public policy challenges. Copyright belongs to the author(s). Papers may be downloaded for personal use only. Cover photograph by Gage Skidmore. Copyright 2021, President and Fellows of Harvard College Printed in the United States of America 2 A LOOK AT BIDEN’S FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE We asked faculty and fellows at the Carr Center to share their insight on the Biden Administration’s first 100 days in office. Here’s what they had to say. JACQUELINE BHABHA Immigrants’ rights advocates can celebrate a glass half full 100 days after Biden’s inauguration. The new administration has quickly reversed some of the most Professor of the Practice of egregious measures instituted by its predecessor. Over 1,000 asylum applicants Health & Human Rights, HSPH; who have been forced to wait in Mexico for their hearings have now been allowed Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer into the US; local governments engaged in shielding undocumented migrants in Law, HLS from deportation no longer risk the loss of their federal funding; construction of the infamous border wall has been halted; and a bill to restore pathways to U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Harry Truman' by David Blanchflower
    Harry Truman 12 April 1945 – 20 January 1953 Democrat By David Blanchflower Full name: Harry S Truman Date of birth: 8 May 1884 Place of birth: Lamar, Missouri Date of death: 26 December 1972 Site of grave: Harry S Truman Presidential Library & Museum, Independence, Missouri Education: Spalding’s Commercial College, Kansas City Married to: Bess Wallace. m. 1919. (1885-1982) Children: 1 d. Margaret "You know, it's easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done, after the game is over. But when the decision is up before you - - and on my desk I have a motto which says The Buck Stops Here" Harry Truman, National War College, December 19th, 1952 'Give 'em hell' Harry S. Truman was the 33rd president of the United States and also the 33rd tallest. He was born on May 8th, 1884 and died at age 88 on December 22nd, 1972. Of note also is that V- E Day occurred on Truman's birthday on May 8th, 1945. He had no middle name. His parents gave him the middle initial, 'S', to honor his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. He married his wife Elizabeth 'Bess' Wallace on June 28, 1919; he had previously proposed in 1911 and she turned him down; but they finally got engaged in 1913. She had been in his class at school when he was six and she was five, and she sat in the desk immediately behind him. The couple had one child, Mary Margaret Truman. Harry was a little man who did a lot, standing just 5 feet 9 inches tall which is short for a president.
    [Show full text]
  • Opposition to Packing the United States Supreme Court Chairman
    Opposition to Packing the United States Supreme Court Chairman Hillyer, Vice Chair Grendell, Ranking Member Galonski and honorable members of the House Civil Justice Committee, I thank you for the opportunity to give testimony today on House Resolution 57, to urge the protection of the integrity and independence of the United States Supreme Court. “It was a bonehead idea. It was a terrible, terrible mistake to make. And it put in question, for an entire decade, the independence of the most significant body… in this country, the Supreme Court of the United States of America.” In 1983, then-Senator Joe Biden used these words to describe Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “court packing” plan. Roosevelt endeavored to appoint up to six new justices to the Supreme Court. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, when asked about court packing in 2019, described it as “a bad idea when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to pack the court…Nine seems to be a good number, and it’s been that way for a long time.” Ginsburg explained that this process would politicize the high court and erode its independence, stating that "If anything would make the court appear partisan it would be that. One side saying when we’re in power we’re going to enlarge the number of judges so we’ll have more people who will vote the way we want them to. So I am not at all in favor of that solution.” As a brief historical background, the number of Supreme Court justices, which can be altered by legislation, has varied from six to ten at various points during the 18th and 19th centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Faces on the Wall We Have All Seen Photos of “Dad” Land's Office, and S
    Centennial Celebration Moments # 48 (May 31, 2019) Faces on the Wall We have all seen photos of “Dad” Land’s office, and some of us have been privileged to visit the recreated office that originally came from the doctor’s home on Armour Boulevard, and rebuilt into the new office building at that same location, and ultimately moved to the Service and Leadership Center where it is now located. At one time, two walls were covered with photos—36 pictures to the right of “Dad” Land’s desk, and 24 pictures to the left. At the Service and Leadership Center, the fourth wall was not installed, to leave it open for display. What can be visited now is smaller than the original office, and only 27 of the silver-framed photos are on the wall now. In 1980, C. C. “Buddy” Faulkner, from Indiana, then Grand Master of the Order of DeMolay, took the time to provide Staff Member Tom Labagh, then Director of Membership and Public Relations, with personal notes describing each of the people he could identify from their photos. Faulkner had worked at the International Supreme Council, for “Dad” Land, and he had personal knowledge of “Dad” Land’s friendship with a number of these men. None of the photos are labeled—they just have signatures and personal messages to “Dad” Land written on them. Here is a list made when all the photos were on the wall. There is no significance to the order listed here… it doesn’t relate to prominence or to position on the wall, then, or now.
    [Show full text]
  • ABSTRACT POLITICAL (IN)DISCRETION: HILLARY CLINTON's RESPONSE to the LEWINSKY SCANDAL by Kelsey Snyder Through an Examination
    ABSTRACT POLITICAL (IN)DISCRETION: HILLARY CLINTON’S RESPONSE TO THE LEWINSKY SCANDAL by Kelsey Snyder Through an examination of gender, politics, and media during the time of the Lewinsky scandal, this project shows that conversations about the first lady shifted throughout 1998. Just after the allegations were made public, the press and American people fought against the forthright position that Hillary took; the expectations of traditional first ladies they had known before were not met. After facing backlash via the press, the first lady receded to more acceptably defined notions of her actions, based largely in late 20th century conservative definitions of appropriate gender roles. By the end of 1998, consideration of a run for the Senate and increased public support for her more traditional image provided a compromise for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s public image. Having finally met the expectations of the nation, the press spoke less of the first lady in comparison to family values and almost exclusively by means of her political abilities. POLITICAL (IN)DISCRETION: HILLARY CLINTON’S RESPONSE TO THE LEWINSKY SCANDAL A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Department of History by Kelsey Snyder Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2015 Advisor __________________________________________ Kimberly Hamlin Reader ___________________________________________ Marguerite Shaffer Reader ___________________________________________ Monica Schneider TABLE OF CONTENTS
    [Show full text]
  • There Are Signs That As President, Joe Biden Could Adopt a Proactive Human Rights Approach Similar to Jimmy Page 1 of 3 Carter’S
    USApp – American Politics and Policy Blog: There are signs that as president, Joe Biden could adopt a proactive human rights approach similar to Jimmy Page 1 of 3 Carter’s There are signs that as president, Joe Biden could adopt a proactive human rights approach similar to Jimmy Carter’s During the 2018-2019 academic year, Joss Harrison was an undergraduate research assistant with the US Centre. As part of his work, he investigated the human rights-orientated foreign policy of the Jimmy Carter administration. Building on this work, he writes that the foreign policy rhetoric of the Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, has shown some close parallels with the human rights policies of the Carter administration. In recent months, Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has begun to lay out his foreign policy vision. In a New York Times interview, he declared, “When I am president, human rights will be at the core of US foreign policy.” There are some promising parallels between the ideas Biden has set out and the policies pursued by the 1976-80 Democratic administration of Jimmy Carter. This is a welcome development, for no president since Carter has centred their foreign policy strategy on human rights in quite the same way. Carter’s commitment to promoting human rights In his inaugural address in January 1977 Carter set out a new approach to American foreign policy-making, breaking with years of Cold War orthodoxy to state that “Our commitment to human rights must be absolute”. This made for a stark contrast with the previous eight years of Nixon-Kissinger-Ford-style diplomacy, which bore an undisguised contempt for the notion that anything beyond the ‘national interest’, least of all human rights, should guide the US’ interactions with other states.
    [Show full text]
  • President William J. Clinton
    President William J. Clinton RECIPIENT OF THE 2005 JIMMY AND ROSALYNN CARTER AWARD FOR HUMANITARIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HEALTH OF HUMANKIND ill Clinton has been committed to story. HIV infects forty million people worldwide. battling the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Twenty-five million have died. In many places even before he was elected the epidemic is undermining social, economic, President. As a candidate in 1991, he and political stability. Many countries lack both repeatedly called for all-out efforts funds and the public health infrastructure Bto “turn back the tide of AIDS.” needed to implement effective prevention, care, Since leaving the White House, President and treatment to turn the tide. In response to this Clinton has continued his efforts to combat aids, challenge, President Clinton has made the focusing on bringing large-scale care and HIV/AIDS Initiative a focal point of the William treatment programs to developing countries. The Jefferson Clinton Foundation: “Science has Clinton Foundation HIV/ AIDS Initiative, established in 2002, has become a major player in the global effort to expand access to care and treatment in the developing world. In acknowledgement of this work, Bill Clinton has been named this year’s recipient of The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Award for provided us with the knowledge and tools we Humanitarian Contributions to the Health of need to turn the tide of this pandemic. It is time Humankind. for us as political leaders and citizens to put During his administration, President Clinton them to use. Lives that could be spared will be pushed for increased funding for AIDS research lost and it will be impossible for these countries and speedier Food and Drug Administration to achieve their goals for social and economic approval of AIDS drugs.
    [Show full text]
  • The Prez Quiz Answers
    PREZ TRIVIAL QUIZ AND ANSWERS Below is a Presidential Trivia Quiz and Answers. GRADING CRITERIA: 33 questions, 3 points each, and 1 free point. If the answer is a list which has L elements and you get x correct, you get x=L points. If any are wrong you get 0 points. You can take the quiz one of three ways. 1) Take it WITHOUT using the web and see how many you can get right. Take 3 hours. 2) Take it and use the web and try to do it fast. Stop when you want, but your score will be determined as follows: If R is the number of points and T 180R is the number of minutes then your score is T + 1: If you get all 33 right in 60 minutes then you get a 100. You could get more than 100 if you do it faster. 3) The answer key has more information and is interesting. Do not bother to take the quiz and just read the answer key when I post it. Much of this material is from the books Hail to the chiefs: Political mis- chief, Morals, and Malarky from George W to George W by Barbara Holland and Bland Ambition: From Adams to Quayle- the Cranks, Criminals, Tax Cheats, and Golfers who made it to Vice President by Steve Tally. I also use Wikipedia. There is a table at the end of this document that has lots of information about presidents. THE QUIZ BEGINS! 1. How many people have been president without having ever held prior elected office? Name each one and, if they had former experience in government, what it was.
    [Show full text]
  • Barack Obama and Joe Biden on Defense Issues
    BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN ON DEFENSE ISSUES Before the 2000 election, George Bush and Dick Cheney famously told our military “Help is on the way.” Today, the active Army is short 3,000 captains and majors, and 58 percent of recent West Point graduates are choosing to leave the force – double the historic average. We do not have a single combat brigade at home in reserve, ready for an unexpected crisis. Our National Guard and Reserves have only half the equipment levels they need, hampering their ability to respond to crises, foreign and domestic. Ending the war in Iraq will be the beginning, but not the end, of addressing our defense challenges. Terrorist networks with a global reach and aspirations to weapons of mass destruction threaten our security. Failing states half a world away can provide safe harbor for terrorists and destabilize entire regions. Extreme regimes, like Iran and North Korea, threaten their neighbors, proliferate nuclear technology, and support terrorists while rising powers like China hold the potential to be either partners or adversaries. And most importantly, nations around the globe are reluctant to join with America in taking on mutual threats because they question our own commitment to democracy, justice, peace, and opportunity. The defense policies detailed here represent one aspect of Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s comprehensive, rigorous approach to advancing American national security and foreign policy. Their initiatives on diplomacy and development (detailed in separate fact sheet available on barackobama.com) combined with his defense policies will create a stronger America and a safer world.
    [Show full text]