IS OBAMA'S STAR DECLINING?

According global mass media, it seems to be that Obama is becoming a specially blamed lame duck. ‘Not only is he losing power, but also his well-known charm and charisma,' it is said. War conflicts in the Middle East such as Syria, Iraq and the bloodthirsty Islamic State; the raise of Chinese Economic Power, the lack of imagination to solve domestic social troubles, e.g. Ferguson (Missouri) and so on.

There is not any doubt that Obama will leave thousands of unsettled political problems on his rectangular table in the Oval Office at the White House. If not, he would be a superhero like Captain America.

In my opinion, Obama’s Achilles heel is not his ineffectiveness in both domestic and global issues, but Republican Party. The current US President has had to rule most of the time against clear Republican majorities: first, at the Congress, and from now on at the Senate as well. A wide range of his initiatives would have been successful whether both chambers had been under Democratic control.

God willing, Obama still has two years ahead of him as a US President. No one knows what may happen in these two years. His aura can raise or drop. Anyhow, it is not on our minds to know it; we can simply guess.

Let me tell something. Whatever could materialize within this time, but Obama will be known in the future not only because he was the first Afro-American US President, not only since he was a fabulous orator, and a cultured politician; not only, lastly, for the reason that he really was a very charismatic leader.

My point of view is that he will have achieved to force Americans to realize that they have two big social problems: Public Health and Immigration. Obama has taken two main domestic political initiatives: first, a real Health Public System ('Obamacare'), which covers especially the lowest layers of population; and second, the proposal to regulate the situation for about 6 million of illegal immigrants. He may reach or not these goals, but just for trying to solve these huge social injustices, Barack Obama deserves a place amongst the greatest Presidents in the History of the United States of America.

Because today is Black Friday at least, wouldn’t you agree?

MAY LAW BECOME A BIRDCAGE TO TWITTER?

Some matters of fact permit to see that the limitless liberty of expression may actually be harmful for the general liberty of individuals. Two issues in Spain have recently caught the attention of public opinion upon Twitter.

The first one was some joking comments about a politician’s murder posted by insensitive people. They applaud the crime because ─ they argue ─ all of politicians are corrupt. Of course, I am convinced that encouraging anybody to kill politicians or justifying any sort of violence against them can’t be accepted by civilized people.

In the second case, thousands of tweets against Jews were published because Maccabi of Tel Aviv beat Real Madrid in the final of the European Basketball Champions League. Insults from some few idiots ran through the web because anyone stupid else retweeted them again.

Certainly we could daily find thousands of similar cases in the social networks. Many posts defaming women, gays, elders, pop stars, football players, black people and white or red ones as well; hundreds of tweets spreading mixed lies and half-truths throughout the world. So what does happened in these two concrete circumstances?

In the murder of the woman who held a public charge in the Spanish Autonomic Community of Castilla-León, the establishment reacted in order to avoid their own loss of prestige and also to protect themselves. They can’t permit people to use violence (nor physical neither verbal) to express their annoyance.

In the campaign against Jewish, this issue is too sensitive to be tolerated at all. ‘Final Solution of The Jewish Question’ by Nazism was too terrifying to be forgotten, and we can’t afford that people without any kind of historical memory or moral scruple talk calmly about it. Therefore many Jewish Organisations protested and denounced that awful action.

It seems to me that any type of legal regulation is necessary to avoid similar matters, because social life needs laws and rules to be possible. There is no doubt that social networks are part of the social life as well, aren’t they? Freedom of speech and expression needs guaranties to develop itself rightly in a free and equal society. Can a well-weighted and thoughtful legal regulation really become a jail to the blue bird?