Is Obama More of a Clinton Than Hillary?

When it comes to Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, there are superficial similarities--the absent father, the humble roots combined with the Ivy League pedigree. Leave aside who would be the first black president, a term many used to refer to Bill Clinton because of his strong support in the black community--both represent generational change, Clinton as the first baby-boomer president, Obama as the first would-be president of the post-baby boom. Like Clinton before him, Obama presents himself as a new kind of politician who can rise above and bridge partisan differences. Like Clinton, Obama has a homing instinct for the middle--maybe too much of one. To read his book The Audacity of Hope is to be struck by his constant desire to understand--even more, to respect--conflicting views on whatever issue he happens to be discussing. This is impressive until it becomes, finally, exasperating in its seemingly compulsive even-handedness. Read more.

Obama Sets His Date for Troop Withdrawal

In other Obama news, he proposed legislation on the Senate floor last night that would remove all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008, as part of a broader plan aimed at bolstering his foreign-policy credentials. The date falls within the parameters offered by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which recommended the removal of combat troops by the first quarter of next year. Obama's withdrawal timetable puts him at odds with other leading rivals for the Democratic nomination. Sen. Hillary Clinton supports capping the number of troops at their levels of Jan. 1. Read more.

'Racist' Student Party 'Will Not Be Tolerated'

Tension is high at Clemson University following a party during which white students dressed up as black gangbangers, drank 40-ounce malt liquor and wore fake Afros. One student covered himself with black paint while another covered her teeth with fake silver. About 50 students and local residents gathered approximately 20 miles from campus at a library where students said they would plan a demonstration at the school and suggested apologies were needed from the party's planners and university officials. School officials said they became aware of the party over the weekend and have met with some of the offended students. The party, which students said had a "gangsta" theme, was held the day before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Read more.

Why It Takes Latinos So Long to Graduate From College

Luis Fernandez, who will graduate in May from Cal State Fullerton, put himself through college and has a stack of receipts to prove it. He paid for his education, all $12,800 of it, in cash. "My parents have always said, 'If you don't have the money to pay for it, then work for it,'" Fernandez said. Although the pay-as-you-go method worked for Fernandez, one of his teachers, Chicano-studies professor Alexandro Gradilla, has seen many Latinos drop out or take extra years to graduate because they won't finance their education the way most college students do: with a combination of work, grants and loans. Educators and financial aid experts said the cultural aversion to loans--considered a sign of a strong work ethic--is common among Latino immigrants and their children. And it creates an odd dilemma in academia, reports The LATimes.

Congressional Black Caucus Requests Katrina Committee

The Congressional Black Caucus has asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to form a new committee on Hurricane Katrina to focus more urgently on rebuilding the Gulf Coast, particularly New Orleans. "The Bush administration has turned its back on our fellow Americans, the victims of the greatest disaster on American soil in our generation," caucus Chairwoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., wrote in a letter to Pelosi. "How can we talk about reconstruction abroad when we cannot help our fellow Americans at home?" Kilpatrick criticized President Bush for not mentioning Katrina in his State of the Union address last week and said that forming a select House committee on the issue "offers the best hope for development." A Pelosi spokesperson said Tuesday the Democratic leader would look closely at the request. But he noted that several congressional committees are overseeing the recovery and that Democrats already have a Katrina task force. In an interview with NPR on Monday, Bush defended the administration's handling of the rebuilding, saying the federal government has sent some $110 billion to Mississippi and Louisiana, some of it still waiting to be spent, according to The Associated Press.

Immigration-Application Fees to Increase

The Bush administration will announce an increase today in immigration-application fees of more than 80 percent, federal officials said yesterday. The cost of applying for naturalization, for example, would rise from $330 to $595, and a required fingerprint check would go from $70 to $80. The increases, which have been under consideration for months, would raise nearly $1 billion for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The troubled $2-billion-a-year agency has antiquated paper systems that have fed years-long delays for applicants and fears that terrorists might slip through the cracks. Union, civil-rights and immigrant-advocacy groups called the changes discriminatory, warning that they will keep lower-income and less-educated people from becoming citizens. Critics also said the changes would create an incentive for the agency to drag out processing, thereby extracting more fees, or to expedite cases for people who can afford premium services. Read more.

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