Political personalities in the world sometimes publish their memoirs about the times when they were in office and had political responsibilities. This issue is common in most countries in the world and if I want to enumerate the number of written memoirs of these personalities in numbers and figures, I may point to the number in size of 100,000 volumes of books.

IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK

Recently Crown Publishing Group, the publisher of the book “A Promised Land”, which is a part of British Penguin Books, in the first day of release of the book on memoirs of former U.S. President Barack Obama, ‘A Promised Land’”, set a record of sales of 887,000 copies of the book for the first day sales. It is interesting to know that the previous record for the first day sales of book by a resident of the White House belonged to the book “Becoming”, written by the U.S. First Lady, Obama’s wife Michelle Obama, as the book sold 725,000 copies in its first day of release. But the significance of this number of sales is, of the secondary importance, well-reception of the book that one can definitely call it business of memoirs. And in my opinion, the first significance of the book for the world community enthusiasm for obtaining a printed copy of it in the era of digitalism is because of its contents that it has been written by a president mostly on the untold events during his presence and administering in the White House. Of course, the contents have been passed through the filtering of the intelligence bodies and experts of international laws, and it gives a hint of implicit information with adding a little bit of disclosure for creating excitement and attraction to read.

The book “A Promised Land” has been published in English, and in the upcoming weeks experts and publishers for the sake of their own profits will publish it in different languages as well as in Persian and it will be available for the public.

What is important for Iranians is those parts of the book regarding the crimes that the leaders of the White House have committed in the West Asia region and especially in Iraq. Of course, Obama might have written some of his open policies regarding Iran nuclear deal, the JCPOA. Although I have not received the book yet, some excerpts of the book have been released on the websites which paint Obama, as our Supreme Leader has said, with velvet gloves on steel claws to us, Iranians.

As all know well, Obama was the U.S. President between 2009 and 2017. He has compiled his memoirs in a two-volume collection whose first volume with the title of “A Promised Land” in 768 pages was released on November 17, 2020 by Crown Publishing Group, affiliated to Penguin Books publishing company. After amazing sale of the book in the opening day of its release, Obama acknowledged that this amazing sale of the book was indebted to Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election against Donald Trump. His remark indicates that the contents have nothing to do with attractive items for its sales which led to such a volume of sales in Canada and the U.S.

Obama in the very beginning of his book points to the current abnormal condition in the U.S. and writes, “What I never predicted, besides difficulty in putting the words on the paper, has been the trend of events in almost three and a half years since my last flight with Air Force One. Now that I am seating here (and writing the book), the country is still challenging with a global pandemic and its consequent economic crisis; over 178,000 people (currently the number has exceeded 262,000) have lost their lives, businesses have collapsed and millions of people have lost their jobs. People nationwide from all walks of life poured into streets to protest the deaths of black men and women at the hands of police. Maybe the most worrisome issue is that it seems our democracy is tottering on the edge of precipice of crisis; a crisis rooted in a fundamental conflict between two opposite approaches about this point that what is the U.S. and what it must be; a crisis which has caused division, anger and distrust in the political body of the U.S. and caused continuous violations of structural norms, process measures and commitment to the primary truths that once both Republicans and Democrats took it for granted.”

Of course I will not be content with this part of Obama’s remarks and as soon as I get the book, I will quote more interesting parts of it in my articles, but isn’t describing the current condition of the U.S. in just two sentences by a former president whose political party has won the election an evidence to what the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution has said that the U.S. like the Titanic ship will ultimately sink?

  By: Hamid Reza Naghashian

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According To Iran News, The Democratic presidential primary is down to two major candidates, and it shows. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are spending their first weekend as their party’s last top White House contenders increasingly taking aim at one another.

Each wants to show he’s the best choice before six more states – Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota and Washington – vote Tuesday.

It reflects the new contours of a race that once featured 20-plus Democrats. An increasingly bitter matchup could endure for months as Biden and Sanders compete for the right to face President Donald Trump in November.

“We have a two-person race,” Sanders said Saturday in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb with one of the nation’s largest Arab American populations. “And all over this country, people are asking themselves which candidate can best defeat Trump. I have zero doubt in my mind that, together, we are the campaign that can beat Trump.”

Campaigning in St. Louis, Biden took a number of veiled swipes at Sanders, even as he called on Democrats to rise above Trump’s division.

He told the crowd that if they wanted to nominate a “lifelong” and “proud” Democrat, they should pick him. Sanders has run for office as in Independent and identifies himself as a democratic socialist.

“If you want a nominee who’ll bring the party together, who will run on a positive progressive vision for the future, not turn this primary into a campaign of negative attacks – because that will only reelect Donald Trump if we go that route – if you want that, join us,‘’ Biden said , AP reported.

Winning, he added, “means uniting America, not sowing more division and anger.”

The former vice president also gently knocked Sanders’ weeks of suggestions that he is the candidate who can prompt record voter turnout in November and defeat Trump, saying that actually “we’re the campaign that’s going to do that.”

Sanders is clearer in drawing contrasts, arguing that no Democrat will win the presidency “with the same-old, same-old politics of yesteryear.”

And in a sign of how biting the contest may become, Sanders supporters – including his campaign manager – raised questions about Biden’s stamina after he gave a seven minute speech in St. Louis. At his second stop, in Kansas City, he again gave a truncated version of his stump speech, speaking for a little over 15 minutes.

Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir issued a tweet noting Biden’s short speaking time and highlighting the fact that Sanders had three campaign events on his schedule, “each speaking engagement extending for close to an hour.”

But the focus on Biden’s age is somewhat ironic given that the 78-year-old Sanders is actually a year older than Biden. Sanders, who has served in Congress since 1991, says he’s bucked the establishment of both parties with decades with unpopular stands that now give him the credibility to lead a political revolution “from the bottom up.”

Campaigning in St. Louis, Biden said he was the one to unite the party and the country, and he would do that by promoting an upbeat message.

Sanders is pledging to increase Democratic turnout by drawing younger voters, minorities and working class people to the polls even though they tend to vote in lower concentrations than many other Americans. Strong support among Hispanics lifted Sanders to victories in Nevada and California, but Biden trounced him in South Carolina and throughout much of the Deep South that voted during last week’s Super Tuesday. Biden especially ran up the score with African Americans.

Some activists are disappointed that a once diverse field of women and minorities has dwindled to two white men in their late 70s. But in Dearborn, Sanders, who is Jewish, said he was inspired by so many Arab Americans backing him. “I see people coming together from so many different backgrounds. It is beautiful,” he said. He also joked about his age, saying, “Sometimes people say, ‘Bernie, you’re 33 years of age. How do you keep going?’”

Top advisers expect Sanders to finish strong in Washington. Still, he canceled a trip to Mississippi to focus on Michigan, Tuesday’s largest prize. He made a stop in Chicago’s Grant Park Saturday afternoon, and declared that he has a different vision than Biden, “And the American people are going to hear about it.” Sanders will spend the rest of the weekend in Michigan, while Biden is in Missouri and Mississippi.

Sanders said repeatedly that he and Biden are friends and that, if he’s not the nominee, he will support Biden against Trump. But, he added, “In the remaining months, I intend to make it clear what my views are and what Joe Biden’s are.”

Sanders has used many of his Michigan events to hammer Biden’s past support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, arguing that it moved high-paying US jobs to Mexico and China while devastating manufacturing in a state dominated by the auto industry. He’s focused on Biden’s years in the Senate, when Biden backed not only trade agreements and the US-led war in Iraq, but also a ban on using federal funds to pay for abortions. Biden announced this summer that he was reversing his position on that, but Sanders said that wasn’t enough.

“I think we need a candidate that can be trusted on this issue. I am proud to tell you that I am 100 percent pro choice,” Sanders said Friday night in Detroit.

The pair are also circling each other on the airwaves.

Biden saw a surge of donor support after South Carolina and Super Tuesday, and his campaign announced that it was spending $12 million on a six-state ad buy in places voting Tuesday and the following week. It was his largest single advertising effort of the 2020 campaign.

He is using two television and digital ads, one promoting his relationship with President Barack Obama, the other a new effort to counter a Sanders attack on Biden’s past record on Social Security. It’s a criticism Sanders has used for months. And though he hasn’t mentioned it as frequently while campaigning in Michigan, he has released his own ad airing in states voting Tuesday and the following week dinging Biden on Social Security.

It features a past clip of the former vice president saying, “When I argued if we should freeze federal spending, I meant Social Security.” Biden’s counter spot has a narrator saying, “Biden will increase Social Security benefits and protect it for generations to come.”

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