Pakorakorner

A year has gone by since President Obama took the oath of office. After the extremes of the George Bush years and the unimpressive McCain-Sarah Palin campaign, Obama seemed like a breath of much-needed fresh air.  With a clever Internet savvy campaign, Obama positioned himself as the right transformational candidate to repair the  endless damage caused by Bush and his team. Despite being relatively unknown, he ran a truly inspirational campaign that captured the imagination of many, especially the young. ...

Life is about to come a full circle for former Indian cricket captain, Mohammed Azharuddin, as efforts are underway to revoke the lifetime ban imposed on him by the BCCI. After attempting for years to get his ban revoked, Azhar seems to have found the route to redemption in politics. In the caste ridden politics of Uttar Pradesh, Azhar turned out to be at "the right place at the right time". Joining the Congress was a master stroke far better than ...

10. She had banned so many books the Wasilla library was running out of books. 09. A 400+ page book sounded like the right size to hit Levi on the head. 08. Writing a book is the only way she could get on Oprah 07. The book advance was her personal bailout package and a stimulus rolled into one, and it was not from the Federal Govt. 06. She thought she could be the first to tap into the Russian market given that she ...

President Obama stormed the major networks over the weekend appearing on as many as five of them. Critics promptly termed it as over exposure.  There has been way too much "over the board rhetoric", fear mongering and false propaganda ("Obama lies, grandma dies" among other outrageously false campaigns) on the right. President Obama and his team have done their best to go in for a campaign style run around the country to try and minimize the negative effects of their ...

The healthcare debate across America seems to be reaching a crescendo. Angry town hall meetings and brilliant, pithy sound bites from the opposition ("Death panels", "Kill Grandma" etc.) appears to have cornered President Obama. He could very well have refrained from stirring a public debate and stream rolled his plans relatively drama-free through the largely Democratic Congress (with some serious challenges in the Senate). But an inherent community organizer that he is, he chose to seek  bi-partisanship. His team did ...

A stable opposition is critical to the functioning of any democracy.  Like it or not, the BJP is the face of India's opposition today. The left is in complete disarray and what remains of it appears to be self-destructing (as in the case of Kerala). The regional parties for the most part have all been cut down to size in the recent election. In short, as of today, India has no credible opposition to speak off. So the sooner the ...

The recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team was final confirmation that Pakistan is in a complete mess. The civilian government that has no clue about how and where to take the country.  (It does appear that Pakistan under Musharraf was more stable or at least seemed so from the outside?) Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan has been virtually run over by terrorists. The opposition is desperate to destroy the Zaradari government given the recent court ruling against the ...

If you are wondering why Bush will be missed, check out David Letterman's compilation of the best of his "Great Moments..." series.

Gotta feel for President Zardari. He lost his wife to a terrorist attack. He inherited a messy, bankrupt country packed with terrorists, and an unstable Afghanistan and a thriving arch-enemy India as its neighbors. And now following the despicable act of violence by Pakistani nationals who travelled to Mumbai Zardari now has to face the wrath of India. Under pressure from the US government Zardari seems to have relented and cracked down on the LeT. Now India wants the terrorists handed ...

9/11, Iraq War, Katrina, the Financial meltdown....the list goes on. In the final days of his Presidency, Mr. Bush and his team are desperately attempting to shape public opinion with regards to his obviously awful legacy. The latest spin seems to be "At least Bush kept us safe". Conservative columnist, Peggy Noonan of the WSJ went one step ahead and took a pre-emptive strike at the Obama presidency by saying "Democrats will not want tacked onto the end of that ...