USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Obama Continues With His No Afrikans In His Nartional Security Team

Hagel is not everybody's cup of tea - not by a long shot - in fact
I've been made to understand that he is not good for Israel.

But, if I may politely enquire - and I wouldn't mind getting a sane
reply : Why should the colour of a man's skin be such an important
qualification for securing a place in the national security team -
or any team for that matter.?

In one of the last interviews that F. W. de Klerk granted just before
the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994, he was asked
how he felt about being the last last white man ever to be president
of South Africa, to which question he replied optimistically,that
since colour was now of no importance in South Africa it shouldn't be
ruled out that a White man or woman could be elected president some
time in the future, in post-Apartheid South Africa.

So could somebody please answer my question.

http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/

On Jan 5, 9:36 pm, Abdul Karim Bangura <th...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Thank you, George W. Bush!  You did more for Afrikans than any other POTUS before you and definitely more so after you!PoliticsJanuary 04, 2013Obama may round out natl. security team next week
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> Photo: APThen Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., speaks on foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington. President Barack Obama may round out his new national security leadership team next week, with a nomination for defense secretary expected and a pick to lead the CIA possible. Hagel is the front-runner for the top Pentagon post.
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> WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama may round out his new national security leadership team next week, with a nomination for defense secretary expected and a pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency possible.
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> Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is the front-runner for the top Pentagon post. Acting CIA director Michael Morell and Obama counterterrorism adviser John Brennan are leading contenders to head the spy agency.
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> White House aides said the president has not made a final decision on either post and won't until he returns from Hawaii, where he is vacationing with his family. Obama is due back in Washington Sunday morning.
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> Obama nominated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as his next secretary of state in December, his first step in filling out his second term Cabinet and national security team. Kerry, as well as the nominees for the Pentagon and CIA, must be confirmed by the Senate.
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> Hagel, the former senator from Nebraska, is a contrarian Republican moderate and decorated Vietnam combat veteran who is likely to support a more rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. If confirmed, Hagel would give Obama a whiff of bipartisanship in his Cabinet if confirmed.
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> Even before his nomination, Hagel's consideration for the top Pentagon job raised concerns among some of his former Senate colleagues, who questioned his pronouncements on Iraq, Israel and the Middle East. Troubling for some lawmakers are Hagel's comments and actions on Israel, including his reference to the "Jewish lobby" in the United States.
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> Hagel has also been criticized for comments he made in 1998 about an openly gay nominee for an ambassadorship. In an interview with the Omaha World-Herald in 1998, Hagel said he believed that for a U.S. ambassador, "it is an inhibiting factor to be gay" and referred to James C. Hormel as "openly, aggressively gay". He has since apologized for those comments.
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> If nominated and confirmed, Hagel would replace current Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Morell has served as the CIA's acting director since early November, after David Petraeus resigned after admitting to an affair with his biographer.
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> Brennan, Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, worked at the CIA for 25 years, including a stint as station chief in Saudi Arabia. He also served as chief of staff to then CIA Director George Tenet from 1999 to 2001, when he was named the agency's deputy executive director.
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> Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

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