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The former president argued that it was important to acknowledge multiple seemingly contradictory truths: Hamas actions were horrific, but the occupation and whats happening to Palestinians were also unbearable.

Obama previously spoke out on the conflict, saying in a statement that any actions by Israel that ignore the human cost of the war against Hamas could ultimately backfire.

In an address to the Democracy Forum in Chicago on Friday, the 44th president said that it is impossible to be dispassionate in the face of this carnage. It is hard to feel hopeful. The images of families mourning, of bodies being pulled from rubble, force a moral reckoning on all of us.

All this is taking place against the backdrop of decades of failure to achieve a durable peace for both Israelis and Palestinians, one that is based on genuine security for Israel, a recognition of its right to exist, and a peace that is based on an end of the occupation and the creation of a viable state and self-determination for the Palestinian people, he added.

As president, Obama had a famously frosty relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including over the nature of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

President Joe Biden has strongly supported Israel in its war against Hamas, providing significant military assistance. However, the administration recently called for humanitarian pauses and warned against inflicting outsized harm on Palestinian civilians.

Former President Donald Trump, whose administration closely aligned with Israel, initially criticized Netanyahu in the wake of Hamas Oct. 7 attack, saying he was not prepared and praising Hezbollah, a regional militant group, as very smart. Trump walked back the comments shortly after.

Former President George W. Bush described himself in a recent video as a hardliner and said: My view is: One side is guilty. And its not Israel. Bush warned that the fighting would be ugly but defended Israels right to retaliate against Hamas.

Former President Bill Clinton posted on social media after Hamas initial attack and condemned the Palestinian militant group, but he has said little since. In the post, Clinton wrote that, Now is a time for the world to rally against terrorism and to support Israeli democracy. I stand with the government of Israel and all Israelis, and urge them to stand together.

South Carolina senator and Republican presidential contender Tim Scott pushed back on Obamas comments in a statement to POLITICO Saturday.

From Obama to Biden, Democrats have a problem: supporting Israel always has an asterisk, Scott said.

Obama is dead wrong and he has a legacy of aiding those who support terrorism, he continued. The truth is simple: Hamas is evil.

The full Obama interview will be released next week, according to Crooked Media, a company founded and staffed by former members of the Obama administration.

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'Nobody's hands are clean': Obama urges reflection amid Israel-Hamas conflict - POLITICO

1. Biden quietly tapped Obama to help shape his AI strategy  NBC News
2. How Obama helped President Biden draft the AI executive order  ABC News
3. Mission Impossible, Biden Deepfakes And Barack Obama Inspired New White House AI Policy  Forbes

Original post:
Biden quietly tapped Obama to help shape his AI strategy - NBC News

Jeffrey A. Bader, one of the countrys leading experts on China and an architect of President Barack Obamas so-called pivot to the Pacific during his first administration, died on Oct. 22 in Los Angeles. He was 78.

His death, at a hospice facility, resulted from complications of pancreatic cancer, said his wife, Rohini Talalla. He lived in the Venice Beach section of Los Angeles.

In a statement, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken called Mr. Bader one of the most knowledgeable and insightful East Asia hands of his generation, adding that his intellect was matched only by his heart and his decency.

Few Americans had as much diplomatic or policymaking experience in China as Mr. Bader did. His engagement with the country went back to 1977, when, as a young Foreign Service officer, he was enlisted to help President Jimmy Carters administration implement formal relations with Beijing.

The work put him deep within the machinery of American diplomacy, training that gave him keen insight into how foreign relations actually work not through grand ideologies and statements, but through the day-to-day grind of person-to-person contact.

In the late 1990s, Mr. Bader led the East Asia portfolio for the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton. He reprised that role a decade later under Mr. Obama.

He really was the quintessential effective diplomat, Susan Shirk, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego, who worked alongside him in the Clinton administration, said in a phone interview. He was the sharpest operations person.

Mr. Bader advised both Mr. Clinton and Mr. Obama to take a pragmatic, cleareyed view of China. He largely rejected both the sentimental view that China was on a path toward greater openness and democracy and the hawkish pessimism that predicted an inevitable clash between the two powers.

U.S. policy toward a rising China could not rely solely on military muscle, economic blandishments and pressure and sanctions on human rights, he wrote in his memoir, Obama and Chinas Rise: An Insiders Account of Americas Asia Strategy (2012). At the same time, a policy of indulgence and accommodation of assertive Chinese conduct, or indifference to its internal evolution, could embolden bad behavior.

After serving as a close adviser to Mr. Obama during his 2008 campaign, Mr. Bader helped oversee what the president called his pivot to Asia a term that Mr. Bader shied from, finding it overly militaristic (though the policy shift did have a strong military component).

He preferred to call it a rebalancing, a term that recognized the growing importance of China to Americas future and the need to dedicate more resources to managing bilateral relations. He recommended a nuanced approach, recognizing that China was an emerging global power that needed to be addressed but not confronted.

He was not nave about China, but he saw the importance of a constructive relationship, said former Gov. Jerry Brown of California, who now serves as chairman of the California-China Climate Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, and who relied on Mr. Bader for advice in recent years. He had a view that was more realistic and optimistic.

Jeffrey Allen Bader was born in New York City on July 1, 1945, to Samuel Bader, a lawyer, and Grace (Rosenbloom) Bader, a lawyer and homemaker.

He graduated with a degree in history from Yale in 1967 and received a doctorate in the same subject from Columbia in 1975, the same year he joined the State Department.

He married Ms. Talalla, a documentary filmmaker and advocate for Indigenous development, in 1995. Along with her, he is survived by his brother, Lawrence.

Mr. Bader did not start his diplomatic career aspiring to be a China hand. He had studied European history, spoke French and spent his first two years at the U.S. embassy in Kinshasa, the capital of the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo.

But in 1977, Richard Holbrooke, the new assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, was on the hunt for smart, young officers to help with the enormous efforts underway around U.S.-China relations. He plucked out Mr. Bader and set him on the task.

There was much to cover: trade, nuclear weapons, human rights and Americas complicated relationship with Taiwan. There wasnt even a U.S. embassy in Beijing.

Mr. Bader lived in Beijing for several years, an experience he often described in detail to explain how far the country had come.

The city itself was a pretty dreary, dismal place, he said in a 2022 podcast interview with The China Project, a news and information website. There were no restaurants, no publicly available restaurants at all. I had every meal essentially in the Peking Hotel for two years, which is a fate I wouldnt wish on anyone.

He left in 1983 but returned four years later to find clear signs of the modern consumer economy the country would become.

He also saw the dangers in Chinas rise. Mr. Bader was central to framing Americas response to the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, and to the sudden tensions that arose after China carried out a series of missile tests near Taiwan in 1996.

He left the China beat in 1999 to serve for two years as the U.S. ambassador to Namibia. But he returned to it in 2001 as an assistant U.S. trade representative, helping to finalize Chinas ascension into the World Trade Organization.

Mr. Bader left government in 2002 to become a senior scholar at the Washington-based Brookings Institution. Then, in 2005, Mr. Obama, at the time a freshman senator from Illinois, asked him for a briefing about China.

The two spent three hours in the senators office, eating takeout Thai food and discussing policy. Mr. Bader left their meeting convinced that if Mr. Obama ran for president, he would win and that he would want to be a part of an Obama administration.

The Obama White House, especially in its first term, was preoccupied with China. The global recession had set America back but had relatively spared China, which began to assert itself internationally.

Mr. Bader stayed with Mr. Obama for more than two years before returning to Brookings, long enough to see the pivot underway and to believe that America was on the right course. And while he later criticized Donald J. Trumps administration for its protectionist approach to China, he was not alarmed. He remained convinced that the ebb and flow of tensions was simply part of great power relations.

Over time, there are interests that overlap to some degree and differ to some degree, he told The New York Times in 2012. The relationship tends to move up and down over time, as if along a sine curve. But the recent story is mostly a positive one.

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Jeffrey A. Bader, Who Helped Steer Obama's 'Pivot' to Asia, Dies at 78 - The New York Times

TGIF, Illinois. How many times can we say Obama in this newsletter?

President-elect Barack Obama and his family walk on stage for his election night party at Grant Park on Nov. 4, 2008. | Morry Gash/AP

REUNITED, FEELS SO GOOD: Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are in town with 2,500 former staffers from their presidential campaigns and administration to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Obamas historic election.

The Obama insiders started flying in Thursday, sending text messages to each other with the iconic Hope picture of Obama. Landed! theyd text Michael Strautmanis, now the executive vice president for external affairs for the Obama Foundation. He worked in Obamas administration.

The gathering went from large to sold out. Former staffers who signed up late were scrambling to find a way to join in the fun. On Thursday evening, various teams and departments that worked under Obama held mini reunions ahead of tonights big event. The Obamas popped in at the Salt Shed, per David Axelrod.

Obamas top bundlers gathered at the Hubbard Inn with Penny Pritzker and Rufus Gifford headlining. Pritzker was Finance Committee chair for Obamas 2008 campaign, and Gifford was finance chair for Obamas 2012 campaign. (Hes now heads the Biden-Harris finance team.)

Also spotted: Corporate lawyer Alan Solow and Andrea Solow, Ariel Investments John Rogers Jr., not-for-profit consultant Kevin Conlon, Legal Services Corp. Board Chair John Levi and Jill Levi, former U.S. Ambassadors to Canada David and Julie Jacobson and Bruce and Vicki Heyman, and Obama loyalist Susan Berghoef.

Other gatherings: The Presidential Correspondence Reunion was held at Michaels Original Pizzeria, the Department of Ag Reunion was at The Dearborn and Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Nevada teams all met around town, too. The wild and crazy Obama Media Team met at 11 p.m. at Chicago Illuminating Company.

Im starting to feel FOMO myself with all of the different parties around town, Strautmanis told Playbook, referring to the staffers fear of missing out.

Altogether tonight: All those groups will come together at McCormick Place today for the Obama Democracy Forum, followed by a reunion party for everyone under one roof.

While in town: President Obama took a tour Wednesday of the Obama Presidential Center, which is now halfway through construction.

Your Playbook host toured the site Tuesday. Check out my photos!

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The Chicago Host Committee and the 2024 Democratic National Convention Committee have released a first of its kind request for proposal for sustainability management and events programming.

The goal: To reduce the environmental impact of the convention as much as possible and create a blueprint for future conventions and large-scale events.

Hot spots: The sustainability manager will focus on United Center, McCormick Place and hotels.

The takeaway: For the first time in convention history, we are releasing an RFP for sustainability services, underscoring our commitment to making this one of the most environmentally friendly conventions ever, Host Committee Executive Director Christy George said in a statement.

Added DNCC Executive Director Alex Hornbrook: We know that big events can have big environmental footprints, and we are committed to reducing ours wherever possible.

If you are Barack Obama, Playbook would like to hear from you. Email [emailprotected]

A message from the Save My Scholarship Coalition:

Over 9,500 students are counting on the Illinois General Assembly to save the Tax Credit Scholarship Program. If they fail to act NOW, then students from low-income families will lose their scholarships, causing many to leave their best-fit schools. Most of these students are Black or Brown, and 100% are from households with demonstrated financial need. Additionally, 26,000 more students from low-income and working-class families sit anxiously on the waitlist. Do the right thing.

No official public events.

At McCormick Place at 10:30 a.m. to give opening remarks at Obamas Democracy Forum. At Union League Club at noon to give remarks at the Latino Policy Forum 15th anniversary celebration.

At McCormick Place at 2 p.m. for Obamas Democracy Forum.

Take a break from you Obama text chain and email me at [emailprotected]

National Association of Realtors CEO Bob Goldberg resigns, replaced by former Sun-Times CEO Nykia Wright: Goldbergs departure follows the resignation of former President Kenny Parcell, who was accused of sexual harassment, earlier this year, by Sun-Times Dorothy Hernandez.

Ellen Alberding, president and CEO of the Joyce Foundation, will step down: After completing a five-year strategy plan, Alberding said it made sense for a new CEO to step in and participate in the development of the organizations next strategic planning process, via Crains Brandon Dupr.

Jersey County in the Metro East area considers joining Missouri. Illinois AG says no: Illinois Attorney Gen. Kwame Raoul said the county does not have the authority to secede from the State of Illinois and join another state, by St. Louis Post-Dispatchs Kurt Erickson.

Springfields city employee residency requirement could be suspended, by Illinois Times Dean Olsen

Former UIC employees retaliation case may reveal gaps in state whistleblower protections, by Tribunes Talia Soglin

CHAOS AT CITY COUNCIL as Ald. Raymond Lopez tries to take over meeting after lights are turned off: The special meeting of the City Council had been called to vote on a resolution that, if approved, would add a nonbinding referendum to the March primary ballot asking Chicago voters if the city should maintain its status as a sanctuary city. The resolution never made it to a vote, and whether it will when the meeting is resumed Tuesday morning remains unclear, by Crains Justin Laurence.

City signs lease for site of potential Brighton Park migrant tent camp, leaving Ad. Julia Ramirez disappointed, by Sun-Times Michael Loria

In D.C.: Mayor Brandon Johnson seeks $1B from federal government to address migrant and other issues, by ABC 7s Craig Wall

Sun-Times Lynn Sweet has the list of everyone Johnson met.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: The De La Cruz family from Darien is donating this years Chicago holiday tree a 45-foot Colorado Blue Spruce that will be placed at Michigan and Washington in Millennium Park. The annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony is on Nov. 17.

Key city panel votes to mandate 10 days of paid leave over opposition from major business groups, by Tribunes A.D. Quig

Ex-Chicago top cop Fred Waller staying on at CPD as a deputy director with combined annual pay and pension reaching $333,323, by WBEZs Chip Mitchell

Six plays written by teens take a hard look at gun violence a year before the elections, by WBEZs Courtney Kueppers

Ex-Ald. Ed Burke used campaign funds to pay six-figure consulting fees to his co-defendant: Lawyers for Peter Andrews Jr., a key player for years in the ex-aldermans 14th Ward Democratic organization, said money from Burkes political funds was used by Andrews to cover his legal fees, by Tribunes Ray Long, Jason Meisner and Megan Crepeau.

Common sense doesnt explain City Council, so judge to allow Chicago civics lesson for Burke jurors: Political science professor Constance Mixon, whos been quoted in POLITICOs Illinois Playbook, will testify about how government works, by Sun-Times Jon Seidel and WBEZs Mariah Woelfel.

What jurors in three recent corruption trials think about serving, by Sun-Times Jon Seidel

In Riverdale: Mayor Lawrence Jackson charged with lying about secret funding for his trucking firm from clout-heavy waste company, by Tribunes Jason Meisner

A message from the Save My Scholarship Coalition:

Calumet City officials ticket Daily Southtown reporter for hampering city employees with questions: Despite all FOIA requests being filled, Hank Sanders continues to contact city departments and city employees via phone and email, states the violation notice mentioning Mayor Thadeeus Jones. Tribunes Gregory Royal Pratt reports.

Sean Tenner, the 46th Ward Democratic committeeperson, is in Nouakchott, Mauritania, with the Abolition Institute, a non-profit that works to fight slavery in that country. Tenner and other supporters are meeting with slavery survivors, the Mauritanian government, anti-slavery groups and U.S. Ambassador to Mauritania Cynthia Kierscht, a Chicago native. On the trip: State Reps. La Shawn Ford and Sonya Harper, Cook County Commissioner Monica Gordon, Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins and Maywood Mayor Nathaniel Booker.

State Rep. Carol Ammons will receive the inaugural RACES Community Builder Award from the Rape Advocacy, Counseling, & Education Services nonprofit during its annual fundraiser Nov. 14. Shes being recognized for supporting legislation to expand services for victims of sexual violence.

Art collectors Marilyn and Larry Fields have donated 79 objects to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago, via the Art Newspaper

DUELING LUNCHES: Businesswoman Desiree Rogers (another Obama alum) headlined Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkles annual Womens Luncheon, a fundraiser for Preckwinkles political operation. In the room: Former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Joy Cunningham, Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough and political consultant Kathy Posner.

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton won the trailblazer award at the annual Women at the Forefront event benefiting City Clerk Anna Valencias political committee. Also honored: Chicago Federation of Labors Izzy Dobbel and political consultant Allison Schraub. In the room: Ald. Ruth Cruz, Committeewoman Lucy Moog, MWRD Commissioners Daniel Pogo Pogorzelski and Precious Brady-Davis, and Jessica Genova from the Illinois Democratic Party.

We asked how youre just like yourself as a kid?

Fritz Kaegi, the Cook County Assessor: As this picture of me from 4th grade shows, Im still a dedicated Sox fan. I dont have enough hair today to pull off the mother-provided haircut, however.

Matthew Beaudet: I still live in the neighborhood I grew up in and go out with friends from kindergarten. It keeps me humble and grounded.

LaTreshia Hamilton: I am still ambitious. I have dreams, career aspirations and goals that I set for myself.

Tammy Hansen: I find it almost impossible to not stomp through puddles, but sometimes the urge wins.

Charles Keller: I still love competition.

Marilynn Miller: Im independent, refusing to kowtow to anyone, no matter who. My theme song is Sinatras My Way.

Gail Morse: Still wearing Vans tennis shoes and still want to be out playing with friends.

Ed Mullen: Ive always pushed the envelope and tilted at windmills.

Andy Shaw: Still the preternaturally enthusiastic, energetic, big mouth know-it-all.

Timothy Thomas Jr. Ive always kept a moral compass, including no smoking, drinking, gambling or drugs.

Patricia Ann Watson: I still see and welcome new kids and fight schoolyard/neighborhood bullies.

Whats the food item you eat almost every day? Email [emailprotected]

House GOP passes Israel aid bill, by POLITICOs Katherine Tully-McManus

Biden weighs border deal altering asylum law for Ukraine aid, by POLITICOs Myah Ward and Ursula Perano

An anti-Trump group produced four ads attacking his legal troubles. They backfired, by POLITICOs Alex Isenstadt

Pelosi launches an all-out attack against No Labels, by POLITICOs Brittany Gibson and your Playbook host

A message from the Save My Scholarship Coalition:

Voters are very clear: They support the Tax Credit Scholarship Program by an overwhelming margin of more than 2:1. Whats at stake is the best-fit education of thousands of low-income students who receive a Tax Credit Scholarship or are waiting for one. Over half of the recipients are Black or Brown, and all the recipients qualify based on financial need. We cannot fail these children and their families. The Illinois General Assembly needs to extend the Invest in Kids Act Tax Credit Scholarship Program during this fall veto session. In addition to the 9,500 students who currently receive the scholarships, 26,000 more students from low-income and working-class families sit anxiously on the waitlist hoping to receive the same opportunities as some of their peers. This commitment is an investment in poverty reduction and economic acceleration, so lawmakers should do the right thing: Extend the Tax Credit Scholarship Program.

THURSDAYs ANSWER: Congrats to Kristin DiCenso for correctly answering that the Cubs 2016 victory celebration drew the biggest crowd at Grant Park. The full parade and rally attendance was estimated at 5 million. FWIW, reports have the popes visit in 1979 at 1.5 million. Soprano Lily Pons drew 300,000 in 1939. And former President Barack Obamas Nov. 4, 2008, victory speech drew 240,000.

TODAYs QUESTION: Whos the Obama administration policing expert who also was honored by Springfield High School with belated valedictorian honors? Email [emailprotected]

Today: Biden campaign Principal Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks, Stomping Ground Strategies partner Isabelle Dienstag, political consultant Kathy Posner, Rabbi emeritus Paul Caplan and Wall Street Journal Senior Publishing Editor Lisa Donovan.

Saturday: Former state Sen. Sam McCann, political consultant Michael Fontneau, Data Reporting Lab founder Darnell Little, National Equity Fund CEO Matthew Reilein, Gemini Builds It CEO Courtney Wright and Tribune investigations editor Kaarin Tisue.

Sunday: Law Bulletin Editor Andrea Hanis, Young Invincibles Midwest Regional Director Lily Rocha, attorney Meryl Holt Silverman and Crains Assistant Managing Editor Cassandra West.

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Link:
Obama team holds 15-year reunion - POLITICO - POLITICO

Former President Obama backed the United Auto Workers strike on Saturday, telling automakers that it’s time to “do right” by workers.

“Fourteen years ago, when the big three automakers were struggling to stay afloat, my administration and the American people stepped in to support them,” Obama said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “So did the auto workers in the UAW who sacrificed pay and benefits to help get the companies back on their feet.” 

“Now that our carmakers are enjoying robust profits, it’s time to do right by those same workers so the industry can emerge more united and competitive than ever,” he added.

UAW began a strike against the “Big Three” automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — early Friday morning, a first in the union’s history, after negotiations failed before reaching the end of the workers’ contracts. The union is demanding increased wages, shorter work weeks and better retirement benefits.

Profits at the Big Three firms increased by 92 percent in the last decade and CEO pay increased by 40 percent in the same period, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute.

“We are committed to winning an agreement with the Big Three that reflects the incredible sacrifice and contributions UAW members have made to these companies,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in an address Thursday.

In late 2008, weeks after Obama’s first election, the Bush administration announced a nearly $18 billion bailout for major automakers wrecked by the recession. Congress later invested about $80 billion of federal funds into Detroit automakers during the Obama administration, losing about $11 billion on its GM investment alone by the time the government sold the shares in 2013.

The Biden administration has also backed the UAW strike and President Biden encouraged automakers to return to the bargaining table with an increased offer on Friday.

“I believe they should go further… Record corporate profits, which they have, should be shared by record contracts for the UAW,” Biden said.

Strikes are limited to a small number of specific plants chosen by union leadership hours before they begin. The pop-up strike tactic is meant to “keep the companies guessing,” Fain said.

The rest is here:
Obama on UAW strike: Time to do right by workers that keep companies on their feet - The Hill