Nick Clegg Is (Not) the British Obama New York Times (blog)
On Sunday, in an interview with The BBC , Mr. Clegg himself mentioned one of them, when he suggested that the support for his party was related to what he called “an almost suppressed desire amongst many, many people in Britain for more choice in politics. In so many other walks of life we have a lot of choice, from the mobile phones that we use, the holidays we go on, the food we buy, and only uniquely in politics are people being told you can only choose between two old — two old products, if you like.” It is not hard to see that something similar was at work in the United States in the 2008 campaign as Mr. Obama defeated two well-known candidates, first Hillary Rodham Clinton and then Senator John McCain.
Here then is a list of five ways that Mr. Clegg’s run for the office of prime minister actually does seem to echo Mr. Obama’s campaign for the presidency.
1. Opposition to the War in Iraq . Mr. Obama’s campaign was initially boosted by a speech he gave at an antiwar rally in Chicago in 2002, the same day a resolution authorizing the use of force was introduced in Congress, in which he said, “I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.” Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Clegg is able to remind voters that he is the only one of the major candidates vying to lead his country who agrees with the popular position that the war in Iraq was a mistake. In last Thursday’s debate on foreign policy questions, Mr. Clegg said in his opening statement, “We shouldn’t have invaded Iraq.” He added later that he supported the decision to take military action in Afghanistan, “unlike the illegal invasion in Iraq.”
New York TimesLive-Blogging Obama's News ConferenceHe notes that the health care system has many inefficiencies. Reform is “the right policy and the right thing to do.” 12:57: Follow-up on driving insurance companies out of business? “That's not logical,” Obama says. “I think there's going to be some Obama assails Iran for violent response to protests Politics Today: GOP Attacks Obama Over Iran CQ Transcript: Sen. McCain on CBS's 'Face the Nation'
ABC NewsSince then, Obama has jawboned doctors to back a public health-insurance option, Congress has begun work on writing bills and number-crunchers have started wading deep into the issue of how to pay for an historic re-ordering of American medicine. Greens call for new GAO, Congressional Budget Office studies on
