Obama marks anniversary of Haiti earthquake

President Barack Obama is honoring the memory of those who died in the Haiti earthquake as the one year anniversary of the disaster approaches.

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON —

President Barack Obama is honoring the memory of those who died in the Haiti earthquake as the one year anniversary of the disaster approaches.

In a statement released ahead of Wednesday's anniversary, Obama says he continues to be inspired by the Haitian people, who he says faced unimaginable loss with extraordinary faith and courage. The earthquake devastated Haiti's capital and is estimated to have killed more than 230,000 people.

Obama says there has not been enough progress made to help Haiti recover from the earthquake and there are still too many people living in tents and too much rubble on the streets.

The president says that while the people of Haiti must lead the way forward as they rebuild their country, they will have an "enduring partner" in the U.S.

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Obama Praises Senate Tax Cut Vote (Video)

Category Economy, U.S. | Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

President Obama praises the bipartisan vote in the Senate for the Tax Cut bill that he proposed. He said members of both parties are not happy with all of it, but it does give middle class taxpayers a tax cut. He has been talking with members of the house and hopes they will approve the bill too.

Democratic opposition to President Barack Obama’s plan to avert an across-the-board income-tax increase Jan. 1 crumbled in the Senate on Monday, as a large bipartisan majority backed the legislation.

The 83-15 procedural vote to advance the bill eases the way to final approval. It also marks a watershed for Mr. Obama, who unveiled the deal he had cut with Republican lawmakers only a week ago.

Thirty-seven Republicans joined 45 Democrats and one independent in backing the legislation, a bipartisan alliance that stood in contrast to the largely party-line votes for Mr. Obama’s health-care bill, economic stimulus and other pillars of his first two years in the White House.

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Obama to troops in Afghanistan: 'You will succeed in your mission'

President Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Friday where he thanked U.S. troops and praised their efforts in the country.

With the war in its ninth year and Obama's year-end review of the war strategy he put in place just days away, the president flew through the night to say thank you to the troops during the holiday season.

The trip steered Obama's message to foreign policy as Friday's disappointing jobs report cast a cloud over the president's domestic agenda.

"I wanted to make sure that I could spend a little time this holiday with the men and women of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known," Obama said to raucous applause.

The president told the more than 3,000 troops gathered at Bagram Air Base that the additional troops he ordered to the country are now in place, "and thanks to your service, we are making important progress."

"You will succeed in your mission," Obama said.

Obama ordered an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in a speech at West Point about one year ago.

"We said we were going to break the Taliban's momentum, and that's what you're doing," Obama said. "Going on offense. Tired of being on defense."

The president noted that he met with wounded soldiers before addressing the troops, and he awarded some purple hearts at the Bagram hospital.

"This is a tough business," Obama said, wiping at his eye. "Progress comes slow, and there are going to be difficult days ahead."

Still, the president said, the troops are protecting the U.S. by ensuring that Afghanistan will not be used as a safe haven for terrorists as it was before 9/11.

"That's why your mission matters so much," Obama said. "That's why you must succeed."

He added: "We remain the land of the free only because we are also the home of the brave."

In advance of the December review of the strategy, White House officials traveling with the president said the trip was less about Obama getting a view of what's happening on the ground and more about visiting the troops.

The president did, however, talk to Afghan President Hamid Karzai by phone for about 15 minutes Friday. The original plan called for Obama to travel by helicopter to Kabul to meet with Karzai in person, but bad weather changed that.

Obama's strategy calls for U.S. and coalition troops to begin transferring security responsibilities to Afghan troops next year.

Obama and NATO recently agreed that 2014 is the target date for the complete transfer of security responsibilities with NATO forces continuing in a support role.

The president is expected back at the White House on Saturday.

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Sarah Palin Tells Barbara Walters She Can Beat Obama in 2012

Sarah Palin says she can successfully take on President Obama in 2012. In a preview of an upcoming interview with Barbara Walters scheduled to air Dec. 9, Palin was asked the forthright question, "If you ran for president, could you beat Barack Obama?"

Palin said, "I believe so."

In the meantime it is evident Palin is trying to remain fresh and relevant in the public eye regardless of the venue. Leading up to the midterm elections, Palin stumped for many Tea Party candidates in both House and Senate races.

Palin has also rather adeptly used mass media to her strategic advantage. Between her eldest daughter Bristol's less-than-graceful appearance on the hit TV reality show, "Dancing with the Stars," to the launch of her own program on TLC, it's clear Palin wants her face and name embedded firmly in the public consciousness.

Remaining Relevant

Palin's attempt set up permanent camp on the nation's center stage, despite the fact she has not held a position in public office in over a year, is, to say the least, telling. CBS News reports after Palin resigned as Alaska's governor in July 2009, she began a book tour in earnest. "Going Rogue" reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

Speaking engagements are common for the former governor. Palin earns upwards of $75,000 per speech, according to Business Insider. Her daughter Bristol recently netted a plump $14,000 for a speech she gave in support of a center for single mothers in Louisville, Kentucky.

Stumping for Tea Party candidates during the midterm elections also helped solidify Palin's feigned importance. The Tea Party Express helped fund her endorsements. Many candidates have Palin's speeches and Tea Party backing to thank for their midterm election victories.

Television Appearances

The Palin family is also using regular appearances on television to further Sarah's future political career. Keeping American households in touch with the Palins may serve to endear them more to television audiences.

"Sarah Palin's Alaska" struck ratings gold with its premiere on TLC. Entertainment Weekly reports the number of viewers for the first showing eclipsed the best-ever ratings for a pilot on TLC. Nearly five million viewers tuned in to see the beginning of Sarah's Alaskan adventures Nov. 14.

"Dancing with the Stars" has felt the touch of Sarah's influence as well. Daughter Bristol has survived to advance to the finals despite receiving consistently poor scores from the judges. The ABC staple has reaped the benefits of Sarah and Bristol's popularity with higher than average ratings as it saw an estimated 17.2 million viewers tune in recently, as reported by Entertainment Weekly.

The Future

Regardless of the outcome of the primary election of 2012, Palin has made it clear she intends to remain in the hearts and minds of American viewers by any means necessary.

With books, television shows, public speaking engagements and political endorsements, the Palin name is not going away any time soon. Her Barbara Walters special in December will add ratings thanks to her personable character and folksy attitude which many American voters appear to enjoy.

Palin has two years to create the opportune political waves for a realistic bid to run for President of the United States. After many unprecedented Tea Party victories during the midterm elections, it's unwise to count this Alaskan self-described political heavy-weight out of the running.

Obama Pressed To Send Guard To Border

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, says he wants President Barack Obama to send more National Guard troops to the Mexican border.

Burgess sent the president a letter demanding he accept Texas Gov. Rick Perry's request for 1,000 federally funded National Guard troops to bolster border security, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Burgess, a member of the Joint Economic Committee, told Obama the forces should be "kept in place until the violence along the border can be safely managed."

"There is no greater role for the federal government than to protect the citizens of the United States from threats abroad," he wrote.

Obama has promised additional National Guard troops along the whole Mexican border, but border-state governors call his commitment inadequate.

The administration says the governors can order their own state National Guard units to the border but the governors want the federal government to pay for the deployments.

Obama aide Steven Rattner pays out $6.2m over scam

President Obama’s Car Czar has been charged with paying kickbacks to obtain investments for his former firm from New York’s biggest pension fund.

Steven Rattner, who advised the White House on the General Motors bailout and is now promoting his book on the subject, was also hit with two lawsuits from the New York Attorney General over sham deals.

Mr Rattner agreed to pay $6.2 million and refrain from associating with investment advisers and broker dealers for at least two years in order to settle the Securities and Exchange Commission’s charges. But he plans to fight the charges brought by Andrew Cuomo, the Attorney-General who is also New York’s Governor-elect. Mr Cuomo wants Mr Rattner to pay $26 million and accept a lifetime ban from the securities industry.

But Mr Rattner said yesterday the charges — brought on the day GM returned to the market — were politically motivated and that he would defend himself vigorously.

The SEC accused Mr Rattner of using a corrupt middle man, Henry Morris, in 2005 and 2006 to secure investments for his Quadrangle private equity firm from New York’s $132 billion state pension fund. At the time, Mr Morris was an adviser and chief fundraiser for Alan Hevesi, then the State Comptroller, who was in charge of investing the fund.

The regulator alleged that Mr Rattner arranged for Quadrangle to pay more than $1 million to Mr Morris for his services as a “placement agent” of the pension fund. Around the same time, Quadrangle contributed $50,000 to Mr Hevesi’s re-election campaign.

Mr Rattner also arranged for a Quadrangle affiliate called GT Brands to offer a film distribution deal to the brother of the fund’s chief investment officer. The film — a comedy called Chooch — was a flop.

In return, the state pension fund increased its investment with Quadrangle from $100 million to $150 million. The SEC says this increased investment was worth $3 million to Mr Rattner personally.

David Rosenfeld, associate director at the SEC, said: “Rattner delivered special favours and conducted sham transactions that corrupted the fund’s investment process.”

In April, Quadrangle disgorged $7 million and paid $5 million to settle charges against the firm over the kickback scheme, which it blamed on Mr Rattner. The firm “wholly disavowed the conduct” of its co-founder, which it called “inappropriate, wrong and unethical”.

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Obama stimulus saves 3.5 mn jobs

The multi-billion dollar fiscal stimulus pumped into the US economy by President Barack Obama at the height of the global economic crisis has exceeded the original goal of creating or saving 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010, a White House report said on Thursday.

The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), in its latest quarterly report on the economic impact of the fiscal stimulus launched under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, said it played a key role in changing the trajectory of the economy.

"Specifically, the Recovery Act added 2.7 per cent to third quarter GDP growth and by some measures has exceeded the original goal of creating or saving 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010," said the report.

The report also shows that the third quarter was the biggest yet for public investment spending, with more than USD 33 billion spent on clean energy, transportation and other infrastructure projects.

According to the CEA's analysis, public investment spending supported over 1 million jobs nationwide through the third quarter of 2010.

"Public investment spending was responsible for more than 1 million jobs in the third quarter. Clean energy investments were responsible for nearly a quarter of the 1 million public investment jobs -- or 224,500 clean energy jobs," it said.

"Less than USD 20 billion of discretionary programme funding remains 'unobligated'  and the majority of those funds have already been awarded," the report said. It shows that the GDP began to grow in the third quarter of 2009 and has now grown for five quarters in a row, including continued growth in the third quarter of 2010.

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Obama Administration vindicated by Ghailani verdict

The successfully conducted trial of the first of the Guantanamo detainees in federal court demonstrates the viability of civilian trials for alleged terrorists.

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PETER'S NEW YORK, Thursday, November 18, 2010--The jury verdict in the Ahmed Ghailani "terrorism" case yesterday signals a broad victory for the Administration of President Barack Obama, which has consistently championed the use of civilian courts to try the alleged crimes of Guantanamo detainees. Many, if not most or even all of the detainees rounded up in the wake of September 11, 2001 and accused of various offenses have been subjected to torture during their long confinements.

The trial in a downtown Manhattan federal courtroom of Ghailani, in which the innocence of the alleged terrorist was established against all but one of hundreds of charges leveled against him by the government, did not attract the kind of dangerous incidents predicted by some opponents of civilian trials. Now these opponents are moving the goal posts, and saying that the more sensational trials are yet to come--those that will garner the attention of Muslim insurgents who are supposed to be hiding behind every hotdog stand or donut kiosk in the city, ready to brandish a lethal weapon at people from some other religious group. Yet we know that New York has been traditionally devoid of such incidents--we, that is, who have actually lived in New York and who deeply appreciate its diversity, and have, on numerous occasions, had our rolls buttered and coffee prepared by a Palestinian, a Pakistani, a Syrian, or any number of nationals from Muslim/Christian/Jewish/Hindu countries. So, sans some sensational but bogus incident created by the FBI, CIA, or other discredited U.S. investigatory or intelligence body, it is now likely that trials will be able to be conducted unimpeded by the loudly anticipated acts of violence.

The Obama administration, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in particular, put their reputations on the line by supporting civilian trials for the Guantanamo detainees. A trial is held because the guilt or innocence of the accused must be established, according to American law, beyond a resonable doubt. Although most mainstream media outlets have presented the individuals accused as certainly guilty, a very vocal and substantial minority have, in the alternative press, pointed to the torture of the individuals as tainting testimony and evidence against them, and have indicated that the government may have merely made up the charges. A trial, in this view, may uncover government malfeasance as much as any crimes of the accused. Thus, a civilian trial is absolutely necessary in order to make sure the government has not strayed from its role as servant of the people.

In other words, although the government and the mainstream media have attempted to present these cases as ones of open and shut guilt, the people demand proof, not just to safeguard the rights of the accused, but to ensure that government power is not abused, the way it was, say, by the British government before the American Revolution. This all makes sense, but seems to be lost on many people today. The opposition to civilian trials is far more likely to be rooted in an attempt to cover up government and media corruption or to promote a particular domestic or foreign policy agenda than in actual security concerns.

An attorney for Ghailani has said he will attempt to overturn the one count for which his client was found guilty. Athough the press has routinely described the sentence he must endure as the result of his alleged crime as twenty years to life, surely time served under rather unhappy circumstances must bear on any sentence delivered.

However spotted the Obama Administration has become because of its continuation of the many truly horrendous policies of the previous presidential administration, it has taken a different tack with respect to the trials of the Guantanamo detainees. One of these detainees, the now famous Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is accused of being the mastermind of "9-11." Yet there are many incongruities in the government's investigation of the events of that day, and it would be of great public interest to see state's evidence made public in any trial of KSM. Now that it has been shown that a civilian trial in New York failed to create the chaos and violence predicted by its critics, there seem to be no obstacles in the way of public, civilian trials for the accused. Holder and Obama deserve credit for taking the seemingly unpopular position of supporting civilian trials for the Guantanamo detainees. There is now a track record for these trials being conducted safely and successfully according to the highest standards of American justice. Scrutiny must now shift from the falsely accused to the accusers.

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Obama would be in good shape against Palin - Biden

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday that President Barack Obama would fare well in a potential 2012 race against Republican Sarah Palin for the White House.

Cutouts of U.S. President Barack Obama (L) and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin wear T-shirts in a shop window display in Edgartown, Massachusetts August 23, 2010. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder/Files)

During an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," Biden said he liked Palin personally and thought she had a good chance of winning the Republican presidential nomination.

"Were I a Republican senator or a Republican political leader, I would look and say, 'Wait, she's got a good chance of getting the nomination,'" Biden said.

Palin, a former Alaska governor and vice presidential running mate in 2008 for Republican John McCain, is a popular figure among the Tea Party conservative political movement.

Biden, a Democrat, said he and Palin had a fundamentally different outlook on the world. Asked about a potential Obama/Palin matchup in 2012, Biden said: "I never underestimate anyone. But I think, in that race, it would be a clear, clear choice for the country to make, and I believe President Obama would be in very good shape."

Palin said in an interview released this week with ABC television that she believed she could beat Obama.

Biden shot down speculation that Obama would replace him with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a running mate in the next presidential contest.

"Hillary's made it clear right from the first time I came out, 'Joe, I don't want to be vice president.' The president's made it clear, 'Joe, I expect you to be on the ticket. I want you on the ticket.' So it was really, kind of, you know, sort of a Washington parlor game," Biden said.

The vice president also had praise for Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, who will become minority leader when Republicans take over the majority next year after winning the House in Nov. 2 elections.

When interviewer King described Pelosi as someone people either liked or did not like, Biden replied: "I think that's the case with almost all great leaders. People either liked Ronald Reagan or didn't like him. They liked George Bush or didn't. They liked Bill Clinton or didn't."

ECONOMY, TAXES

Biden rejected criticism the Obama administration had not been working hard enough on boosting the economy while advancing healthcare reform. He signaled White House's message in the coming years would have a consistent economic focus.

"For the next two years, all we're about is American competitiveness, American -- made in America and American jobs," he said.

Biden reiterated the White House's position it wants to extend tax cuts for middle-class Americans but could not support making Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy Americans permanent.

Republicans want tax cuts extended for all income levels. The issue is likely to dominate the congressional agenda in the coming weeks and, more specifically, a meeting between Obama, Biden and Republican leaders scheduled for Nov. 30.

"We're not looking for confrontation," Biden said. "We know if we don't extend the tax cuts for the middle class, not only is it not -- is it unfair, but it will have just an incredible drag on the economy."

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

Copyright © 2010 Reuters

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Obama says new START imperative for national security

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 — U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday that it was a "national security imperative" for the Senate to ratify a new nuclear reduction treaty with Russia this year.

Obama made the remarks at a meeting at the White House on why the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) he signed in April with Russian President Dmitry Medevedev is in U.S. national security interest.

"It is a national security imperative that the United States ratify the new START treaty this year," Obama stressed at the meeting chaired by Vice President Joe Biden, joined by current and former high-ranking officials who support the treaty, including former secretaries of state Madeleine Albright, James Baker and Henry Kissinger and former defense secretaries William Cohen and William Perry.

Obama added: "This is not about politics, it's about national security. This is not a matter that can be delayed."

The new START treaty is seen as a major achievement of the Obama administration in foreign relations and part of its efforts to reset relations with Russia.

Obama reiterated to Medevedev on Sunday that it is a "top priority" of his administration to get the U.S. Senate to ratify the new START pact, which stipulates that the number of nuclear warheads be reduced to 1,550 on each side over seven years, while the number of delivery vehicles, both deployed and non-deployed, must not exceed 800.

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved in September the new START treaty, clearing the way for a vote on the Senate floor. The U.S. and Russian presidents had agreed that the ratification process should be simultaneous at U.S. Senate and Russia's Duma.

Some Republicans have been blocking the treaty, saying it would prevent the U.S. from maintaining and modernizing its nuclear stockpiles, among other things. To assuage their concerns, Obama has promised an extra 4.1 billion dollars in addition to an existing 80 billion dollar over 10 years for the modernization of the country's nuclear weapons complex.

However, Republican Senator Jon Kyl, who is seen as key to winning enough support to ratify the treaty, said Tuesday that a deal did not seem possible in the lame-duck session.

Obama's Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives to the opposition Republicans in the Nov. 2 mid-term elections but retained control of the Senate. On Monday, a lame-duck session of Congress begins until the start of the new Congress in January next year, where lawmakers who have been voted out of office attend the session while those newly-elected do not.

In the United States, the lame-duck session is a time for the governing party to try to act on stalled bills. This period is sometimes productive as those outgoing lawmakers oftentimes vote with a free hand.

"There is no higher national security priority for the lame- duck session of Congress," Obama said at the Thursday meeting. " The stakes for American national security are clear, and they are high. The new START treaty responsibly reduces the number of nuclear weapons and launchers that the United States and Russia deploy, while fully maintaining America's nuclear deterrent."

He added: "If we ratify this treaty, we're going to have a verification regime in place to track Russia's strategic nuclear weapons, including U.S. inspectors on the ground."

"I'm confident that we should be able to get the votes," the president said.

For the passage of the treaty in the Senate now, the Democrats need nine Republican votes for support. If delayed until next year when the new Congress opens, 14 votes are needed.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who represented New York State in the Senate before she quit the post to join the 2008 presidential race, is expected to use her relations in the Senate to get the treaty to pass. (PNA/Xinhua)

/ebp

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Obama answers some 'tough questions', swings through Mumbai

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Bombay News.Net
Sunday 7th November, 2010 (IANS)

Fielding questions from students on issues ranging from Pakistan to jehad, establishing an e-connect with farmers and breaking into an impromptu jig, US President Barack Obama got into the groove in more ways than one as he ended the first leg of his India visit here before heading for New Delhi Sunday afternoon.

The morning, devoted to meeting farmers and students, was expected to throw up colour and some non-political content. But it also turned out to be one for important policy statements on global issues as Obama took on a host of sharp questions from eager students at the St Xavier's College here.

The focus on Saturday was the sombre anti-terror statement from the Taj hotel, ground zero of the 26/11 attack, and the visit to the Gandhi museum. The mood was quite different Sunday when the Obamas visited a school to celebrate Diwali and met up with students at St Xavier's.

Exhorted by the first lady Michelle Obama to ask 'tough questions', the students drawn from six Mumbai colleges did just that as they asked the US president his views on jehad, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the road ahead after the electoral rout.

India has 'the biggest stake' in a successful and stable Pakistan, Obama said from the packed forecourt of the college with its Indo-Gothic architecture as he answered a question on the prickly issue of Pakistan.

He asserted that it was in India's interest to remove the 'distraction' of insecurity in the region when it was moving ahead on the global economic stage.

'Obviously the history between India and Pakistan is incredibly complex and born out of much tragedy and violence. It may be surprising, but I am absolutely convinced that the country which has the biggest stake in Pakistan's success is India,' Obama, who was criticised by some in India for not mentioning Pakistan's terror link in his opening address at the Taj Hotel, said.

He also spoke of the need to 'give space and time for Afghan security forces to develop' and reiterated that the US would begin reducing troop levels starting July 2011. 'But we will not be removing all our troops.'

On Islam and jehad, he said: 'Well, the phrase jehad has a lot of meanings within Islam. It is subject to lot of different interpretations. But I will say that first Islam is one of the world's great religions and over a billion people practice Islam.'

The president, who also reiterated how Mahatma Gandhi continues to inspire him in his s day to day life, said he did not consider India a rising power but one that had already 'risen'.

'The common thread that runs is my determination to take partnership (between the two countries) to an entirely new level. We believe that India has already risen.'

In remarks that may be seen as a subtle critique of India's policy towards Myanmar, Obama also said: 'There are elections that are being held right now in Burma, that will be anything but free and fair.'

Wife Michelle Obama had earlier candidly spoken to the students about her growing up years and how her family didn't 'have a lot of money'.

'My parents worked hard... My parents couldn't give us material things,' she said eloquently. But 'they taught us that our circumstances didn't define us', the wife of the US' first African American president said.

Before addressing the students, the president interacted with farmers from Ajmer through a video-conference link to understand how India was seeking to bridge the digital divide by reaching technology and services to the grassroots level.

Stating that he wanted to have a glimpse of the IT revolution in rural India, Obama said: 'Many of these innovations are because of public and private collaborations between the US and India.'

If the statements struck the right notes, the first couple did so too on a day that had gotten off to a swinging start with the Obamas shaking a leg with children at the Holy Name School.

The couple - the president in shirtsleeves and the first lady in a black and white dress with a hot pink shrug that was replaced by a more formal jacket at St Xavier's - moved around, shaking hands with the children and stopping to exchange some words.

The dance performances over, Michelle Obama joined the children on the floor, swinging to the beat of a traditional Koli fisherfolk song, quickly catching on as the steps were taught to her. The president was not too far behind and happily got up to join the fun, waving his arms and swinging along with the rest.

It was the Kodak moment for the two-day Mumbai trip, the first leg of the India visit that ends Tuesday when the Obamas leave for Indonesia.

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Obama: US poll results not to affect ties with India

Mumbai Given the "strong bipartisan" support for India in the US, President Barack Obama on Sunday said the results of the Congressional polls in which his Democrats got a drubbing was not going to affect ties with this country.

Noting that his country has enormous "fondness" for India, Obama said the United States does not just see India as a rising power, saying "we believe India is already risen."

Showering praise on India's dynamic economy and its strategic role in Asia and beyond, Obama said there is a strong bipartisan belief in the US that this country is going to be a critical partner for it in the 21st century.

Obama made these remarks when asked by a student at an interaction at St. Xavier's college how the changes he hopes to make in the wake of the drubbing by Democrats in the US Congressional elections would affect India.

The president in his response had also spoken of the "course corrections" required in his presidency.

Obama said the partnership between India and the US has "limitless potential" to improve the lives of people of the two countries.

"Indo-US relations will be indispensable in shaping the 21st century...The US has enormous fondness for India. India is going to be a critical partner for the US in 21st century," he said.

"There is a strong bipartisan belief in the US that India is going to be a critical partner. It has been true always whether it is George W Bush presidency or Bill Clinton's, Democrats or Republicans. I don't think that fundamental belief is not going to be altered anyway," he said.

"US does not just see India as a rising power. India is already risen, we wish India's emergence as good for the US and the world," Obama said against the backdrop of oft-repeated assertions by US officials that India is a rising power.

"Its (India)economy has risen at a breathtaking rate... we look forward to a greater role for India at the world stage," he added.

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Michelle Obama urges the youth of India to dream big

New Delhi: US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle on Sunday had a glimpse of India's rich cultural and historic heritage as they visited the 450-year-old Mughal marvel Humayun's Tomb here.

Obama, who kicked off his engagements in Delhi with the visit to the 16th century marvel, went around with his wife intently getting the feel of the monument, which is said to have inspired the creation of Taj Mahal.

Obama, 49, and Michelle drove to the monument soon after their arrival from Mumbai at the airport here, where the US' first couple was personally received by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur.

Obama became the first American President to visit Humayun's Tomb, the resting place of Mughal emperor Humayun, which is an artistic precursor to the 17th century monument of love Taj Mahal.

"Wonderful. Let's take a look," Obama said as he entered the main building. Then, ASI Superintendent Archaeologist, Delhi, K K Mohammad, took the First Couple around the monument explaining its history.

Then, Mohammad explained to the First Couple about the history of the monument while he took them around the plush green gardens that surround a central structure.

The beautiful red-stone monument in Nizamuddin in south Delhi, built over 450 years ago, now sports a new look after a major renovation exercise thanks to the efforts of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and Archaeological Survey of India.

At the entrance of the monument, Obama was received by ASI Director-General Gautam Sengupta and other officials.

Obama, dressed in white shirt with a tie and black trousers, and Michelle listened intently and were seen enquiring about the various elements of the 450-year-old structure.

Then, Obama and Michelle met 14 kids, children of workers at the monument, and even shook hands with them. The kids, aged from 4 to 10 years of age, were accompanied by their parents.

Obama was seen striking a chord with the kids as he chatted with them and distributed along with his wife gave them gifts.

The first garden tomb in the Indian subcontinent, the mausoleum was commissioned in 1562 by Humayun's widow Hamida Banu and designed by Mirak Mirza Ghiyath, a Persian architect, a decade after the death of the Emperor.

The monument now sports a new look, thanks to the conservation work being carried out by Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the ASI. The work, which began in 1999, six years after Humayun's Tomb was declared a World Heritage Site, was being done in phases.

The ASI and AKTC have finished reviving the five-century old water channels of the garden surrounding the tomb.

While announcing Obama's visit, the White House said Obama "felt it was important, given the rich civilisation that India has, to pay tribute to that through" his stop at Humayun's Tomb.

"Spectacular" was how Obama described the tomb.

"It is spectacular. If our guys have to build it in seven years, it would be pretty tough. Good contractor," Obama said after visiting the monument.

About the national capital, he said "Delhi is such modern city yet rooted in civilisational heritage."

More on: Barack Obama, India visit, Humayan's Tomb

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Michelle Obama to be treated to Zari, Phulkari

New Delhi Traditional cane and bamboo art from Assam, pata chitra from West Bengal, zari work from Delhi -- all these would be on the platter when US first lady Michelle Obama visits National Crafts Museum here on Monday.

The exhibition galleries, usually closed on Mondays, would be specially opened for her.

According to museum officials, artisans are enthusiastically preparing for the visit, picking their best works for display.

Michelle will be treated to cane and bamboo crafts from Assam, pata chitra from West Bengal, crochet lace from Andhra Pradesh, zari-bid work from Delhi, Lajwanti Phulkari from Punjab and Madhubani paintings from Bihar.

Baul singers from Birbhum in West Bengal are also likely to welcome her with their music.

Soon after independence, various projects and schemes for preservation and development of handicrafts were envisaged in the first and second five year plans. The establishment of a crafts museum was an integral part of this policy.

The core collection of the crafts museum was put together in the 1950s and 60s to serve as reference material for the craftsmen whose hereditary traditions were fading on the face of industrialisation.

The low-lying museum building for displaying India's rural and tribal arts is designed by the renowned architect Charles Correa as a metaphor for an Indian village street -- affable, accommodative and active.

A walk across the crafts museum building would be through open and semi open passages covered with sloping, tiled roofs and lined with old carved wooden jharokhas, doors, windows, utensils and storage jars and perforated iron screens; through courtyards having domed pigeon houses adorned with arches and lattice work panels, terracotta shrines dedicated to basil plants and massive temple chariots.

The scales and proportions of the building are based on those of the traditional Indian village where objects of everyday life are hand made and used.

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