Dr. Brzezinski's endorsement of Senator Obama is significant

Dr. Brzezinski's endorsement of Senator Obama is significant
Posted by Olga Teresa Sarbinowska February 08, 2008 01:30AM
Categories: Breaking News
Place the following link to your browser and listnen to endorsement: http://wordofthepeople.blogspot.com/2007/09/obama-picks-up-brzezinski-endorsement.html
By Judge Diane Karpinski News Release



Dr. Brzezinski TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images
Sen.Barack Obama
Tony Lake Talks to Cleveland 's Polish Leaders About Obama

On January 30, Tony Lake , a Senior National Security Advisor for Senator
Barack Obama, met with
members of the Polish American leadership of Cleveland . The meeting was
arranged by Mark Brzezinski ,
son of Zbigniew Brzezinski , President Carter's national security advisor,
and the Washington D.C.
Office of the Polish American Congress.

John Borkowski, President of the Ohio Division of the Polish American
Congress, introduced Tony
Lake . Borkowski started to list Lake 's many accomplishments in his
30-year career in foreign policy
and his positions in both Washington and prestigious universities, but
Lake , showing his sense of
humor, interrupted saying, "I've had a hard time keeping a job."

Demonstrating not only his knowledge of, but also his respect for, Poland
's history, he noted that
he has often removed the snow from the head of Jan Karski's statue in D.C.

Lake answered a number of
questions from the Polish community.

Visa Waiver Program
He was asked about Obama's views on visa waiver, especially the high
number of Poles rejected. Lake
said that the rejection rate of 25% is a very high number. He reported
that Obama had disagreed with
the exclusion of Poland from the waiver program the Senate passed. In a
speech on the senate floor
last July, Obama said, "We should work to include countries like Poland
that are members of both the
EU and NATO into the Visa Waiver Program. Today's visa regime reflects
neither the current strategic
relationship nor the close historic bonds between our peoples, and is out
of date."

Defense Missile Shield
Responding to a question about the Defense Missile Shield, Lake noted that
the Iranian threat is
real and we need to promote a shield, but we are "pushing faster than
technology allows. And we have
not consulted NATO properly. ... We need to talk to the Russians, but we
can't give them a veto over
it." Lake characterized current diplomacy as "lousy." "We need to talk to
enemies," he emphasized;
"Reagan and Kennedy did."

Iraq
Turning to Iraq , Lake said Obama supported the war in Afghanistan , but
Iraq has "created more
terrorists" and distracted us from Afghanistan . He noted the presence of
1400 Polish soldiers there.
He explained that the question is what the outcome will be if we
disengage. "Our troops were not
defeated militarily. The problem is political." He noted that the war in
Iraq is taking longer than
WWII. " Iraq is not coming together politically. " Recent Iraqi law
probably makes it worse for
Sunnis. Obama's plan is to take out one brigade a month over 16 months. He
quoted Obama: "We need to
be as careful going out as we were careless coming in." He added that it
was a "damn disgrace" the
way the veterans are being treated. He reported that Obama had introduced
legislation to help
veterans, especially regarding head injuries.

Campaign Finance Reform
Asked about campaign finance reform, he explained Obama was a co-sponsor
of the McCain-Feingold bill
reforming campaigns. He added that Obama has proposed to McCain that they
both limit the amount each
will spend on the general election. He added that Obama had accepted no
contributions from health
industry lobbyists or pharmaceuticals.

Health Insurance
Lake was asked about Obama's views on single payer health insurance. He
said Obama was originally
for it, but decided it was not pragmatic-that it would never get through
Congress. Lake noted that
Clinton 's health plan was based on "universal" coverage, but the question
is what is meant by
"universal." It is a mandate to buy it, and there is an unspecified
penalty if one does not. The
problem, however, is that "many can't afford health insurance." The real
problem is "how to reduce
the cost and make various plans affordable."

His Reasons for Supporting Obama
Anthony Lake , who was a foreign policy advisor in President Clinton's
1992 campaign and later his
National Security Advisor and White House Special Envoy who mediated the
drafting of the Algiers
Agreement, ending the Eritrean-Ethiopian War, began his remarks by
explaining he was "not opposed to
Hillary." He said he started working with Obama in Illinois and was "more
and more impressed with
him."

Lake explained, "He's authentic: he wrote his own books.... He doesn't
pander ... ; for example, he
went to Detroit and said, reduce emissions... . "Obama has not reinvented
himself," Lake emphasized.

Another reason Lake gave was that Obama is for change. As an example, he
reported that Obama takes
no contributions from corporate lobbyists. "We are in terrible trouble in
the world," Lake said. "We
need a new face to the world," he said, quoting a congressman friend,
adding, "I can't think of a
better face to present to the world."

Anticipating the question whether Obama is "ready," he said Obama is one
year older than Clinton was
when he ran and has more foreign policy background than Reagan or Carter
had. Lake noted that Obama
serves on the Senate Foreign Policy Committee, lived in Indonesia , and
drove through Kenya . "He
understands the world better than the other candidates," Lake explained.
He added that Obama will be
good in a crisis.

Moreover, he has built an effective campaign structure. Lake quoted
Obama's statement -there are no
red states, no blue states; there is only the United States- to illustrate
Obama wants to heal
divisions and reaches to Republicans.

Anthony Lake is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at
the Foreign Service School
of Georgetown University . Currently, he is preparing to teach a course on
Vietnam , where he served
as U.S. Vice Consul in Saigon and Hue . Author of many books, he helped
found the influential journal
Foreign Policy.