MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2013 ANALYSIS THE LEADING INDEPENDENT DAILY IN THE ARABIAN GULF ESTABLISHED 1961 Founder and Publisher YOUSUF S. AL-ALYAN Editor-in-Chief ABD AL-RAHMAN AL-ALYAN EDITORIAL : 24833199-24833358-24833432 ADVERTISING : 24835616/7 FAX : 24835620/1 CIRCULATION : 24833199 Extn. 163 ACCOUNTS : 24835619 COMMERCIAL : 24835618 P.O.Box 1301 Safat,13014 Kuwait. E MAIL :[email protected] Website: www.kuwaittimes.net Washington Watch Dog of year in US Congress whimpers to end By David Espo arring uncharacteristically swift work by Congress, more than a million victims of the recession will lose long-term Bunemployment benefits over the holidays, the price of milk could shoot up in late winter and government payments might fall sharply for doctors who treat Medicare patients. There’s more - much more - as lawmakers grasp the tail end of a dog of a year. Federal payments to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands will begin shrinking, at least temporarily, on Jan 1. Tax breaks will expire temporarily for millions of people in states without an income tax, and also for the relatively few Americans who own racehorses. Family, politicians battle over ‘Brand Mandela’ These routine deadlines are going unmet in a year more likely to be remembered for a partial government shutdown inspired By Peroshni Govender, million rand ($1.2 million), he added. the South African government that use the brand “Long Walk to Freedom”, borrowed by the hardcore conservative tea party movement, the stalling of Jon Herskovitz and David Dolan Such demands fuel the notion, widely Mandela name. The companies appear to from the title of his autobiography, while President Barack Obama’s agenda, repeated failed Republican held in South Africa, that some of Mandela’s have no link to either Nelson Mandela, any of two of his US-based granddaughters starred attempts to eviscerate the health care law and a successful move rom political posters to bottles of wine children have exploited their father. his relatives or any geographic area that has in a reality television show called “Being by Senate Democrats to limit opposition to White House judicial and kitchen aprons, the face and name Makaziwe, Mandela’s eldest daughter, bris- the Mandela name. The list includes the Mandela”. nominees. of Nelson Mandela are a potent com- tles at that. “This is what we are, in a sense, Gandhi-Mandela Nursing Academy, Mandela The other group keen to use Mandela’s The blame game transcends all. Republicans have “made F mercial and political brand in South Africa. entitled to, that my father worked for, and he Truck Shuttle Services, Mama Mandela image is the ruling African National good faith, serious efforts to Senate Democrats” to resolve differ- Little wonder it’s so sought after - and the did it with his own hands to create some- Marketing Company, Thanks Mandela Congress. After Mandela was imprisoned in ences on year-end issues, House Speaker John Boehner said recently. “When will they learn to say ‘yes’ to common ground?” source of occasional squabbles. Following thing for the welfare and upkeep of himself Toiletries and Mandela’s Shed, a restaurant. 1964, the ANC made a conscious decision The House Democratic leader, Rep Nancy Pelosi of California, his death on Thursday at the age of 95, the and his children,” she told the Financial Times The “Madiba” name has been used by to use him and his young wife Winnie as attacked Republicans for opposing an increase in the minimum scramble for control of the Mandela legacy - in April. “If everybody wants a little bit of the more than 140 registered companies, includ- symbols of the struggle against the racist wage, voting to cut $40 billion out of food stamps, and seeking both financial and moral - will involve his Madiba magic, why is it so sacrilegious for ing Madiba Truck Stop, Madiba Wines, government - the first time the party had reductions in school money and college aid for low-income fami- family, the ruling African National Congress the rightful owners ... to use the Madiba Madiba’s Driving School, Madiba Chickens, chosen to elevate the individual above the lies. “I mean, how unconscionable can that be?” she asked at a (ANC), and the Nelson Mandela Foundation magic?” she said, referring to her father by Madiba Cash and Madiba Bottle Store. The collective. When Mandela walked out of meeting scripted to build support for extending unemployment he set up to protect his broader message. his clan name. Foundation may own the website “nelson- prison in 1990, he became a figure of recon- benefits. At stake is the inheritance that will go to The Nelson Mandela Foundation, which mandela.org”, but “mandela.org” belongs to a ciliation, calming the white minority who A much-ballyhooed year-end stab at bipartisanship is Mandela’s more than 30 children, grandchil- runs the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory Brazilian, who told Reuters he is using it for a had been told for years he was the terrorist designed chiefly to ease the impact of across-the-board spending dren and great grandchildren, some of in Johannesburg, was set up as the official personal project, which is a tool for comput- face of the “swart gevaar”, or “black danger”. cuts that resulted from an earlier episode of gridlock. Even a com- whom already use the Mandela name and custodian of Brand Mandela. It owns more ers. There are also regularly scams where Today the ANC needs that magic more promise probably would face strong opposition from tea party- image to market everything from clothing to than a dozen copyrights and trademarks for fake charities use Mandela’s name to raise than ever. “The ANC made the brand and aligned conservatives in the House of Representatives whose tac- reality TV. There are also the Mandela brands Mandela, which it uses for fundraising and funds. The South African government in mid- the brand became bigger than the ANC,” tics have opened a deep divide within Republican ranks. Whatever and trademarks that help fund the charitable works. As well as the “46664” num- 2013 issued a statement warning people not author and political analyst William Gumede the deal might be, Milton Wolf, a tea party-backed primary chal- Foundation. And for the ANC, Mandela’s rep- ber, its copyrights include the “Nelson to be duped by such groups. said. “Unfortunately, a lot of rank-and-file lenger to Republican Sen Pat Roberts in Kansas, is against it. It will utation as an anti-apartheid hero is worth Mandela” name, the clan name “Madiba” by Against all this, the Mandela Foundation ANC leaders right now see Mandela as their “raise spending levels by billions of dollars and continue to provide votes for years to come. There are no avail- which he is widely known, and “Rolihlahla”, picks its battles with care, only rarely suing own, rather than as belonging to the whole funding for Obamacare,” he said in a statement. able public figures of Mandela’s wealth, mak- which was Mandela’s given name. firms that use his name of image. “The brand of South Africa and the broader world.” He’s right that the health care law would survive because most ing it difficult to put an exact value on his Republicans have no interest in reprising a partial government estate, which includes an upscale house in shutdown that sent the party’s approval ratings plummeting this Johannesburg, a modest dwelling in his rural fall. But there is no deal yet, and officials in both parties say Rep Eastern Cape home province, and royalties Paul Ryan, the chief Republican negotiator, is insisting that any from book sales including his autobiography eventual agreement push deficits lower than they would be if “Long Walk to Freedom”. across-the-board cuts were left untouched. Several South African branding experts With the House on track to adjourn for the year at the end of have declined to estimate the annual value this coming week and the Senate hoping to file out a week later, of Mandela’s trademark and brands. much attention is focused on the talks between Ryan and Maintaining control over the copyrights is Democratic Sen Patty Murray. But what might emerge from those already a difficult business; protecting the discussions isn’t expected to address a stack of routine unfinished Mandela brand may be even harder now business, some of which probably will carry over into 2014. that he is gone. “The beauty of the Nelson Lawmakers are at work drafting a three-month measure to pre- Mandela brand is that it has been lived by vent a 24 percent drop in Medicare payments to doctors, the him exactly as it has been presented by him. residue of an ambitious plan for a permanent overhaul of the His behaviour is his brand,” said Jeremy entire system. The cost is estimated at about $8 billion. Sampson, the executive chairman of A similar extension, perhaps for as little as one month, is the Interbrand Sampson de Villiers. “In the rush alternative to a milk price fiasco. The issue is hostage to a far broad- to commercialize it, we run the risk of water- er disagreement about legislation to set spending levels for farm ing down or destroying the good that the and feeding programs. A House measure that passed on a party- brand stood for purely with the crassness of line vote calls for food stamp cuts totaling $40 billion over a finance,” he added. decade. A Senate version, passed with bipartisan support, envi- Mandela divided the management of his sions reductions of $4 billion. Failure to resolve the broader issues legacy between a series of trusts to handle would return the nation to a Depression-era dairy law and set in his finances and the Nelson Mandela motion a chain of events that would potentially quadruple the Foundation, which serves as custodian of his price of a gallon of milk.