Obama to Break Silence on World Affairs

Barack Obama had little to say about the war in Gaza, and not much to add to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, either, instead choosing to defer to President Bush on all matters abroad since the election. That's all going to change now, and the world is readying itself for a jolting set of new foreign policy initiatives after eight years in which the country's standing around the globe has plummeted. According to The Washington Post, Obama will appoint former Senator George Mitchell as his Middle East envoy as one of his first actions as president, making the Arab-Israeli conflict that he has kept silent about for so long a top priority. Obama began his primary campaign largely as the anti-Iraq War candidate and tomorrow the new president will meet with top military officials to give them new orders to begin implementing the 16-month withdrawal plan he argued for during the election.