Obama endorses Biden for president to 'heal' America

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mathes, April 14, 2020

Former US president Barack Obama endorsed his vice president Joe Biden's
2020 White House bid (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Washington (AFP) - Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden's White House bid on Tuesday, saying his longtime vice president can unify and "heal" a nation struggling through some of its darkest moments.

The formal backing by perhaps the most popular politician in America is the latest boost for Biden's surging candidacy, and a further sign that Democratic leaders are rallying around the party flagbearer more than six months before November's election.

"Joe has the character and the experience to guide us through one of our darkest times and heal us through a long recovery," Obama said in a 12-minute video.

"I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a president right now."

The cherished endorsement comes at a time of deep national anxiety, with the vast majority of Americans under stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 25,000 people in the United States.

With President Donald Trump's handling of the outbreak under the spotlight, Obama signalled he believed Biden -- with four decades of government experience -- would be a far more capable manager of the US response.

"Joe helped me manage H1N1 (influenza) and prevent the Ebola epidemic from becoming the type of pandemic we're seeing now," Obama said.

Biden, 77, promptly expressed his thanks in a tweet.

"Barack -- This endorsement means the world to Jill and me," the Democratic stalwart said.

"We're going to build on the progress we made together, and there's no one I'd rather have standing by my side."

Biden is the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee to challenge Trump, after his lone remaining opponent Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race last week.

The leftist US senator from Vermont endorsed his ex-rival Monday, saying it was time for Americans to "come together" behind Biden.

Two-term president Obama also praised Sanders as a progressive champion whose energy and enthusiasm inspired young voters by the millions.

And he said it was time for those progressive supporters to help defeat the Republican incumbent.

"Right now, we need Americans of goodwill to unite in a great awakening against a politics that too often has been characterized by corruption, carelessness, self-dealing, disinformation, ignorance, and just plain meanness," Obama said.

"To change that, we need Americans of all political stripes to get involved in our politics and our public life like never before."

Special bond

Obama's endorsement comes as the coronavirus has frozen traditional campaigning.

Typically, such high-profile support would be followed by Obama's appearance at a major Biden rally, generating substantial national coverage and prompting a deluge of campaign donations.

But it remains unclear when, if at all, on-the-ground campaigning will resume.

Obama forged a special bond with Biden during the eight years the former Delaware senator served as his wingman, awarding him the presidential medal of freedom in January 2017.

But thus far in the 2020 race the nation's first African-American leader had largely flown under the political radar.

Despite his silence he was given a starring role in campaign advertisements by Biden, Sanders and other candidates as they scrambled for advantage ahead of key primaries, such as those on Super Tuesday on March 3.

At campaign events and debates Biden made sure to show he is running as Obama's heir, routinely highlighting the partnership with his former boss.

But Biden, after sitting out 2016 to mourn the loss of his son Beau to cancer, had made clear from the start he would run on his terms.

"I asked president Obama not to endorse," Biden said last April 25, the day he launched his candidacy. "Whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits."

Obama's endorsement comes relatively early in the race compared to 2016.

That year he waited until June 8 to endorse Hillary Clinton, who had clinched the Democratic nomination against Sanders two days earlier.

David Axelrod, chief strategist of Obama's 2008 campaign, said Obama had committed to all 2020 Democratic candidates to not put his finger on the scale until the nomination was decided.

"He wanted to be a unifying figure for the Democratic Party, and he didn't feel he could do that if he intervened too soon," Axelrod told CNN Tuesday.

"Now that the outcome is determined, he is clearly going to plunge into this."

Use crisis to make post corona society fairer and sustainable, say scientists

DutchNews, April 13, 2020

Photo: D Nicholls-Lee

Dutch scientists are calling on politicians to use the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to make society fairer and ‘radically sustainable’. 

In a manifesto published in Trouw, a group of 170 sociologists and environmental scientists from eight Dutch universities said that the disruption of economic certainties caused by the pandemic offers a chance for radical reforms. These could include the introduction of a universal basic income and debt cancellation for poor countries, the scientists state. 

‘The neo-liberal economic system demands an ever-growing circulation of people and goods, despite the innumerable ecological problems and increasing inequality it is causing. The last few weeks have laid bare the great weaknesses of this machine for growth,’ the manifesto said. 

It is ironic that big businesses are now having to ask for financial support while sectors like healthcare and care for the elderly, which had to fight for sufficient finance not so long ago  are now labelled ‘crucial’, the manifesto continued. 

Political action 

Although the manifesto calls on politicians to act, citizens too would have to make different choices post coronavirus, the scientists say. ‘Luxurious and wasteful consumption and  travel would have to be cut back radically and replaced by necessary, sustainable and meaningful forms of consumption and travel,’ the scientists stated. 

A new economic policy geared towards a fairer division of prosperity would include a basic income, a higher tax on income, profit and capital, plus shorter working weeks and job sharing. 

Food  production, too, must be made more sustainable by promoting circular agriculture, they said. 

Developing countries, small businesses and freelancers have been particularly hard hit by the crisis and should be exempt from paying back their debts, the group argues, calling on the IMF, the World Bank and more affluent countries to come up with a plan to make this happen. 

These measures will contribute to a sustainable and fairer society which will be better equipped to fight future pandemics and protect groups that are now suffering disproportionately from the effects of the crisis, the scientists said.

Related Aricle:

IT IS NOW TIME FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO BE THE WAY OF LIFE

G20 vows to fight coronavirus impact on poor nations

Yahoo - AFP, March 31, 2020

Saudi Arabia's King Salman chaired last week's emergency G20 videoconference which
pledged a 'united front' in the fight against the coronavirus (AFP Photo/Bandar AL-JALOUD)

G20 finance ministers and central bankers pledged Tuesday to address the debt burden of low-income countries and deliver aid to emerging markets as part of a plan to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement followed a second round of virtual talks after G20 leaders pledged a "united front" last week and said they were injecting $5 trillion into the global economy to head off a feared deep recession.

The ministers and bankers from major industrialised and emerging economies also welcomed a $160 billion World Bank relief package to be deployed over the next 15 months to support its member countries, the Saudi hosts said in a statement.

They agreed to press ahead with a plan to address "the risk of debt vulnerabilities in low-income countries" and work to "swiftly deliver... financial assistance to emerging markets and developing countries", the statement said.

The announcement comes a day after the UN called for a $2.5 trillion aid package to help developing countries weather the pandemic, including debt cancellation and a health recovery "Marshall Plan".

A report from the United Nations Conference on Trade, Investment and Development (UNCTAD) said two-thirds of the global population based in developing countries -- excluding China -- face "unprecedented economic damage" from the crisis.

The ministers and bankers tasked G20 working groups to outline details of the plan by the group's next meeting on April 15.

G20 countries will work with the Financial Stability Board -- an international body set up after the 2008 financial crisis -- to coordinate regulatory measures in response to the pandemic, the statement added.

'Decisive actions'

The talks follow criticism that the G20 has been slow to address the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left more than 40,000 people dead worldwide and triggered financial shock waves as some two-fifths of the globe's population is put under lockdown.

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin joined last week's emergency summit chaired by Saudi Arabia's King Salman, who called for coordinated action while facing pressure to end an oil price war between Riyadh and Moscow that has roiled energy markets.

As concerns mount for poorer countries without access to capital markets or adequate health facilities, G20 leaders pledged to work with bodies such as the International Monetary Fund to deploy a robust financial package to support developing nations.

"We welcome the decisive actions many of you have taken to shield people and the economy from COVID-19, that led to a decline in volatility in major financial markets in recent days," IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said at Tuesday's meeting.

"Nonetheless we remain very concerned about the negative outlook for global growth in 2020 and in particular about the strain a downturn would have on emerging markets and low-income countries."

G20 trade and investment ministers also held an extraordinary meeting on Monday, as they assess the impact of the crisis on global trade.

They said they were working to ensure the flow across borders of medical supplies and equipment -- which are in short supply in some hard-hit nations -- as well as critical agricultural products, and other essential goods and services.

"We will guard against profiteering and unjustified price increases," they said in a statement, while also warning against trade barriers and disruption to global supply chains.