Obama Administration Shifts Funding Away From Civil Society

The Project on Middle East Democracy has done an in-depth study of the Obama State Department Budget, and has an interesting, albeit disturbing, find:

The report calculates that civil society groups received $31.75 million in 2008 but will receive only $7 million this year, and that Obama seeks to eliminate $10 million that had been slated for local Egyptian organizations and NGOs such as Freedom House and arms of the National Endowment for Democracy.

In general, Republican Punk praises the (relative) return to the realism of the Nixon/Reagan/Bush 41 administrations. However, part of that realism was uniquely American, including supporting NGOs and local civil society that would eventually lead to liberalism, if not democracy, in areas such as Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

Read the full report here.

Please, Mr. President, don't give up on Hope and Change abroad.

Hillary Clinton: Best Secretary of State Since Baker?

Ok, maybe the title is a little bit of hyperbole 7 months into the new administration, but she has thus far shown that maybe we were wrong to write off "smart power." She seems to have mastered the balance, both rhetorically and in action, between tough talk and diplomacy. This clip is the highlight:



Too bad she wasn't running foreign policy instead of health care during her husband's administration.

For more great highlights from her interview, including comments on North Korea, Russia, and her elbow, check http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25426.html