₦airaland Forum

@poster:
The same statement was made 28 years ago.

The problem we have in Nigeria is Hausa, this people deuped the Government and redered the economy useless, Obansanjo even try to pay all those dept, the Igbo and Yorubas are just playing the main fraustars and from the North

Are you sure about this statement?
You mean the Yorubas and Igbos are that stupid to allow this from the Northerners?

Please, let us stop fooling ourselves, we are all responsible for the trouble facing Nigeria today.
Instead of wasting time pointing fingers and promoting division, let's join hands and fight to restore our great image and elevate our nation back to the top.

Yes, we can CHANGE things, but only by getting involved positively and stop whining.
You can not sit in front of your 70" TV in UK or US and expect things to change. We must come together and fight for making things right in Nigeria.
For Example; just this past weekend, OBJ and the other clowns successfully placed a new PDP chairman without any hesitation.
Why?
Because there is no sincere entity at home to challenge them. Everybody (especially Yorubas and Igbos) left the country many years ago, now busy typing rubbish on Nairaland forum from 1000s of miles away from home expecting (miracle to discharge) things to change.
It doesn't work this way.
Come back home to witness the craziness, understand the craziness, do something about the craziness and please stop crying.

Obama: Don't assume I'll take VP slot

COLUMBUS, Miss. - Democrat Barack Obama ridiculed the idea of being Hillary Rodham Clinton's running mate Monday, saying voters must choose between the two for the top spot on the fall ticket.

The Illinois senator used his first public appearance of the week to knock down the notion that he might accept the party's vice presidential nomination. He noted that he has won more states, votes and delegates than Clinton so far.

"I don't know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is first place," Obama said, drawing cheers and a long standing ovation from about 1,700 people in Columbus, Miss.

Saying he wanted to be "absolutely clear," he added: "I don't want anybody here thinking that somehow, 'Well, you know, maybe I can get both.' Don't think that way. You have to make a choice in this election."

"I am not running for vice president," Obama said. "I am running for president of the United States of America."

Obama aides said Clinton's recent hints that she might welcome him as her vice presidential candidate appeared meant to diminish him and to attract undecided voters in the remaining primary states by suggesting they can have a "dream ticket."

Obama had never suggested he might accept a second spot on the ticket. But until Monday he had not ridiculed the notion so directly, even if he did completely rule it out in Shermanesque terms.

He told the audience that it made no sense for Clinton to suggest he is not ready to be president and then hint that she might hand him the job that could make him president at a moment's notice

"If I'm not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president?" he said, as the crowd laughed and cheered loudly.

Mississippi holds it primary Tuesday, the last contest before the Pennsylvania primary six weeks from now.

Clinton and her husband, the former president, had suggested recently that a Clinton-Obama ticket would be popular and formidable against Republican Sen. John McCain in November.

Many political activists discounted the notion all along. They noted that the two senators lack a warm relationship and, more important, that Obama would be ill-served by hinting he might accept the vice presidential slot when he holds the lead in delegates and hopes to win the presidential nomination.

In the latest Associated Press count, Obama leads Clinton, 1,578-1,472. He has won 28 contests to her 17.

Moreover, many insiders feel the ambitious and fast-rising Obama would chafe in the vice president's job, especially in a White House where Bill Clinton would almost surely play a huge advisory role.

Still, the notion of a Clinton-Obama ticket has received ample discussion in recent days on cable TV news shows and newspapers such as New York City's tabloids.

In an interview Friday in Wyoming with KTVQ-TV, a CBS affiliate based in Billings, Mont., Obama's comments were somewhat mixed.

"Well, you know, I think it's premature," he said of accepting the second spot on the ticket. "You won't see me as a vice presidential candidate."

His Monday remarks were more detailed, pointed and humorous.

Of course, they will not completely end the speculation. Presidential candidates routinely disavow any interest in the vice presidential spot. But some, including John Edwards and Al Gore, change their minds when they fall short of their top goal.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080310/ap_on_el_pr/obama_ticket

Thanks for your great response:

"OFF THE RECORD" in United States and Ajegunle means "between you (interviewer) and myself, I did not say what I'm getting ready to say"
This agreement between both parties is also based on the interviewer's integrity and trust.
But I guess in UK, integrity means absolutely nothing (original Nigerian style).

I could also remember another jackass interviewer (Martin Bashir) from UK, that almost ended Michael Jackson's life few years ago; all because this idiot wanted to be known (as the champion).

These fame hungry individuals should remain on the other side of the sea.

or maybe the same protocols don't apply in the UK? have you thot of that?

OK, good point!
Why don't you then go ahead and bless us with the protocol UK interviewers go by?

All the black folks around here in Ajegunle are pulling for Obama; and still think he will be the next United States president.
For now, I will chill and hope for the best.

No need to waste anymore time writing another chapter. Let's just wait and see, time will tell.
It is for sure that if Obama fails to win the primary election, Hillary will not get my vote and many other black votes.

@vowiski

This is not the only topic on this forum, why can't you do yourself a favor and go straight to hell?

I am not really a clinton fan but considering she has a strong plan on her side, the backing of the name CLINTON to run with and being female, she will have a better chance than the other dude will.

Firstly, Hillary and Obama's Plans or policies are 98% similar, this has been stated over and over by both parties; therefore the assumption that Hillary has a better chance against Sen McCain because her plan is stronger, is absolutely baseless.

Secondly,  again the assumption that Hillary has a better chance against Sen McCain because she has the backing of the name CLINTON to run with, is another baseless information.
Infact the only major enemy Hillary has as a presidential candidate is that same name "CLINTON". The name has so much bagage and several shady businesses attached to it. Many insiders (big fish) would rather see OSAMA as the next president before witnessing Hillary (the Clintons) as the president of United States. This is also one of the reasons why Bill Clinton has distanced himself from Hillary lately on the campaign trail.
(Please, keep in mind that the name "Clinton" is incredible only to the outsiders who do not know much about the dark side of the Clintons) Furthermore, there is a reason why Hillary is the only candidate who hasn't released her tax return. If these folks are so clean, why is it taking this long to release this tax return?

Thirdly, there is no way Hillary (a female) will pull through against an old American soldier (McCain), a former prisoner of war; it just wouldn't happen.
Trust me, they will not allow it to happen, McCain will find his way to the white house the same way Bush did for 2 terms.

Finally, there is speculation that McCain might be selecting Colin Powell as his running mate; if this is true, Iraq war will be brought back as the main idea or main issue of this presidential election. The war will be linked to all crisis facing United States; and who could solve these issues better than 2 former US Army.

So far, it looks like another 4 years of republican if Democrats do not immediately get themselves together.

As a Proposed Republican Nominee, John McCain is holding out from selecting his running mate.
Sen McCain is waiting for the Proposed Democratic Nominee to be elected before picking a running mate.
To balance things, if Obama wins, McCain will be picking Colin Powell as his VP; but if Hillary wins, he will pick one of the Republican Female governors as his running mate.
It seems to me that it's all about winning the presidential election and absolutely not about saving weak American economic anymore.
It is also obvious that John McCain is an extension of George Bush; hence, United States will be the New Republic of Congo if this man wins.

I hope Democrats get themselves together before it's too late!

Your Tėvas!

Kobojunkie or skyblue or whatever you call yourself:
I'm too busy to entertain you today, but will definitely catch you later.

Just simmer down and enjoy the rest of the weekend; it's not that serious!

Skyblue:
From your statements, it is clear to me that you truly do not understand much about the problems facing Nigeria.

Talk is cheap, my friend.

@Hollandis:

FYI: Hillary's tax return will expose her and will allow you and others to realize that she can not relate to an average American.
This is why she is waiting to release her tax return when it's too late (when it wouldn't matter and wouldn't affect her votes).

Everything the Clintons do is shady and strategic.
Only a fool will think Hillary is a saint.

I'm not going to waste my time proving to you that the Clintons are dirty; at the right time you will discover the dirtiness by yourself.

Yes, Obama is not a fighter; in fact that is the whole idea behind his campaign and political strategy.
This is also why it is almost impossible for him to start throwing punches at this point in time.

@Hollandis:

But my question for you is, what have you (the fighters) accomplished lately with fighting?
Don't you think it's time for something different, something dynamic/stimulating, and something sincere that could positively amalgamate all?
If fighting is the answer, why don't you just go ahead and make OSAMA the Secretary-General of the United Nations?

Wake up, there are better ways to make good things happen effectively and efficiently through out the world.

Hillary is not a fighter.
You must recognize the difference between a fighter and a monster who cares about nothing but her desperate desires.

You should also ask her to release her tax return just like the other candidates.

Ms Samantha Power, Barack Obama's top advisers had to step down yesterday over calling Hillary Clinton "A Monster"

I'm not sure whether her stepping down would affect Obama's campaign negatively or positively; but so far it's not looking good.
This is also one of the reasons why Obama and his people have to be very careful fighting back.
It is obvious that fighting back doesn't fit right with his campaign or style of politics; and they must quickly realize the importance of going back to the drawing table to figure out how to effectively fight back without turning off their supporters.

One the other hand, fighting becomes very easy for Hillary; the Clintons are known to be dirty and love to hit below the belt. Everything they do is extremely strategic. Hence, expect more heavy hitting below the belt from her campaign team.
Again, Hillary wants Obama to fight back more than anything; she understands how this strategy could easily break down Obama's camp.

Gerri Peev needs to remain at the other side of the sea.

In United States during an interview, when statement is labelled as "OFF THE RECORD", it means that the statement is not attributable and it is usually taken out from the discussion before the interview is printed or made available to the public.

But this A hole UK interviewer doesn't understand this protocol. It is unbelievable what fools would do to get their names out there at any cost.
It's absurd how people are trying very hard to use this Obama thing to promote their impassible careers.

Gerri Peev was given an opportunity to explain the intention of Ms Power when she made an OFF THE RECORD statement, but the fool (Gerri Peev) couldn't answer the question.
She was also informed again, that in United States, reporters do not release stories that they don't understand or can not clearly explain.

Gerri Peev is a loser and should be ashame of herself!
I hope her 2 minutes fame serves her well for the rest of her life.

Hillary Clinton's a monster': Obama aide blurts out attack in Scotsman interview

HILLARY Clinton has been branded a "monster" by one of Barack Obama's top advisers, as the gloves come off in the race to win the Democrat nomination.

In recent TV appearances Mrs Clinton had looked desperate and on the back foot.
In an unguarded moment during an interview with The Scotsman in London, Samantha Power, Mr Obama's key foreign policy aide, let slip the camp's true feelings about the former first lady.

Her comments came as Mr Obama, whose defeats in Texas and Ohio on Tuesday were largely attributed to a series of negative attacks on him, vowed to turn up the heat on Mrs Clinton over her claims to be the more experienced candidate.

Yesterday, the Obama camp went on the offensive, pointing out that Mrs Clinton has still not released her tax return and casting doubt on her experience.

In response, a Clinton adviser said the attack reminded him of the witch-hunt led by special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, which led to the impeachment of her husband, Bill, when he was president.

Earlier, clearly rattled by the Ohio defeat, Ms Power told The Scotsman Mrs Clinton was stopping at nothing to try to seize the lead from her candidate.

"We f***** up in Ohio," she admitted. "In Ohio, they are obsessed and Hillary is going to town on it, because she knows Ohio's the only place they can win.

"She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything," Ms Power said, hastily trying to withdraw her remark.

Ms Power said of the Clinton campaign: "Here, it looks like desperation. I hope it looks like desperation there, too.

"You just look at her and think, 'Ergh'. But if you are poor and she is telling you some story about how Obama is going to take your job away, maybe it will be more effective. The amount of deceit she has put forward is really unattractive."

Ms Power's comments reveal how the inexperienced Obama campaign is coming under increasing pressure from a battle-hardened Clinton camp that saw Ohio as its last chance to save its candidate.

Before Tuesday's vote in Ohio, the press and the Clinton camp seized on remarks by Austan Goolsbee, Ms Power's colleague, on the North America Free Trade Agreement (Nafta). His comments are widely believed to have cost Mr Obama the Ohio Democratic presidential primary.

Mr Goolsbee, Mr Obama's top economic policy adviser, had told Canadian officials a public pledge to force a renegotiation of Nafta with tougher labour and environmental rules was "more about political positioning".

But the Clinton camp said Mr Obama could not tell the public of Ohio, where many manufacturing jobs have been lost, one thing and then tell a foreign government something else behind closed doors.

Yesterday, Mr Obama blamed fierce attacks by Mrs Clinton for his defeats in this week's big primaries, and quickly made good on a promise to sharpen his criticism of her, in what promises to become an all-out brawl in the race for the White House.

The Illinois senator took the offensive against Mrs Clinton, targeting her claims she is more experienced in handling foreign policy. "Was she negotiating treaties? Was she handling crises? The answer is no," he said. "She made a series of arguments on why she should be a superior candidate. It's important to examine that argument."

In recent days, the former first lady argued that Mr Obama was getting a free ride with the media and had hinted he was not ready to be commander-in-chief in a crisis.

Mrs Clinton, asked about her national security qualifications, highlighted a series of events in which she played a role, including peace talks in Northern Ireland, the Kosovo refugee crisis and standing up for women's rights in China.

Mr Obama's aides went on the offensive yesterday, holding a conference call to ask why Mrs Clinton had not released her tax returns. Her campaign team responded with a statement e-mailed to reporters while they were on the call that said the Clintons' returns since they left the White House would be made public around 15 April.

"There's no doubt Senator Clinton went very negative over the last week," Mr Obama said, adding that the Clinton campaign's attacks "had some impact" on the poll results, "particularly in the context where many of you in the press had been persuaded you had been too hard on her and too soft on me".

After this latest row, Howard Dean, head of the Democratic Party, warned that the tone of the campaign "may get nastier" and said discussions would take place to try to prevent that.

After Mr Obama's camp had raised the issue of Mrs Clinton's failure to release her tax returns, Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Mrs Clinton, described the statement as being reminiscent of the attacks the Clintons endured during investigations by prosecutor Kenneth Starr in the 1990s, which many saw as politically motivated.

Mr Wolfson's introduction of Mr Starr's name again portrays Mrs Clinton as a victim, while her attacks on Mr Obama's "preparedness to be commander in chief and steward of the economy" continue.

Mr Wolfson said: "I, for one, do not believe imitating Ken Starr is the way to win a Democratic primary election for president."

The Clinton campaign has also attacked Mr Obama's inexperience on foreign matters, but Ms Power insisted he was not afraid to take tough decisions on this front.

She added: "Hillary Clinton always portrays his position on meeting with dictators as naive."

Ms Power also described working for Mr Obama as a pleasure, and said that people who knew him "adore him".

She added: "When we started this, we were all backing the guy who was supposed to lose.

"He was 25 points down going in to Iowa in January.

"If people were in this for the job or the political reward they would have gone somewhere else. They would not have gone to Barack."

Ms Power also said she believed Gordon Brown and Mr Obama would get on "like a house on fire".

Ms Power was in the UK to promote her book on Sergio Vieira de Mello, the extraordinary UN representative who died in a Baghdad bomb attack.

PUBLISH AND BE DAMNED

WHEN is off the record actually off the record? When the rules are established in advance.

Journalists are always looking for knowledge and want the information they receive to be available for publication.

But occasionally an interviewer will accept an exchange is "off the record" and that the conversation is not attributable. Remarks can be used as background to inform a journalist's article.

If a conversation is to be off the record, that agreement is usually thrashed out before the interview begins. Sometimes, public figures say something and then attempt to retract it by insisting it was "off the record" after the event.

But by then it is too late, particularly if it is in the public interest that the story be published.

In this instance, Samantha Power was promoting her book and it was established in advance that the interview was on the record.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/Inside-US-poll-battle-as.3854371.jp

The Florida and Michigan delegates must not count.

We need to calm down and be sensible just for once.

Nigeria is a twisted country with enormously twisted problems. We should stop crying and recognise that it isn't an easy task to lead this country. Yar'Adua as our president is doing very well compare to the previous regimes.

You do not tackle problems effectively by rushing or seeking for short cuts (Nigerian style).
FYI: Rushing into solution and retarded mentality of our people is the main reason why our power supply is still very poor today (after spending billions by OBJ's regime).
When we rush into solving twisted problems, as many of us have recommended, the end result is always a disaster (from frying pan to fire). Hence, for a change, it is very important for our leader to be prudent before taking any action.
A true leader needs time to study the problems, evaluate several solutions, select the best solution and execute at the right time.
The only reason why this process is taking too long is the fact that Nigeria as a country has several invisible (intangible) problems, some of these problems were intentionally created by OBJ, who also happens to still be in the mix, making things more difficult to extricate.
And please keep in mind that just because we have plenty of money doesn't mean these problems will automatically disappear.
It just doesn't work this way.

We just need to simmer down and give this man all the support he needs to elevate our nation back to the top.
I honestly think that President Yar'Adua is handling things appropriately and with time all of us together will be able to clearly witness and appreciate his honesty, sincerity, effectiveness and efficiency.

Chill out and stop whining!

I can not believe that I could despise the Clintons this much!

@McKren:

I see your point; Obama must remain strong and show all that he can withstand the negative pressure coming from his opponent. He must fight back, but he must also be very prudent doing it.
Hillary has been craving for this (Obama fighting back) for many months; but if Obama could point out the defectiveness of the Clintons calmly and professionally, I think he has a better chance.

The Clintons have so much shady businesses and I think it is now the time to reveal their dark side.

It is also confirmed that this is what the republicans have been wishing for; by the time democrats finish (killing themselves) with the primary election, the elected candidate will be too tired mentally, physically and financially to put up a good fight for the real presidential election against Sen McCain.

Therefore, Democrats might already be indirectly giving away this crown to the republicans; and this is sad.
This is also why I do not care too much for Hillary; her do or die political tactics is spilling and degrading the priceless value of her party (Democratic party).

It is a total turn off!