John Liebhardt

I am a freelance journalist living in Suva, Fiji.

Email John Liebhardt

Latest posts by John Liebhardt

Global: Looking inside the world of Michelle Obama

  August 26, 2008

Before yesterday, here’s a list of things most of us knew about Michelle Obama. But on the first night of Democratic Convention, she spoke to a packed Pepsi Center and helped fill us in on her world and her thinking. One may ask: Why should we focus so much on a candidate’s wife? The answer to that question, in some minds, is easy.

Global: The dust settles on the Biden pick

  August 25, 2008

It’s morning in America. After the initial shock, the dust seems to have settled. The United States -- and the rest of the world -- has come to terms with the fact that presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama has named Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate. The Obama-Biden ticket will now face presumptive Republican nominee John McCain and his as-yet-unnamed sidekick to see who will become the next President of the United States. Bloggers of all stripes have moved passed their initial gut reactions on the freshly minted Democratic ticket and have started to formulate more solid opinions based on fact. That’s what covering politics is all about, isn’t it?

John Edwards: Scummy, fake, manipulative and pretty?

  August 19, 2008

Since the former Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards admitted to having an extra-marital affair, bloggers from around the world following the story have largely focused on two major issues: First, the sad irony of a politician having an affair while his wife, Elizabeth, fights breast cancer; Secondly, the role the mainstream press played in keeping the story silent.

Who can ignore Bill Clinton?

  August 15, 2008

It’s difficult to keep Bill Clinton out of the spotlight. Whether it was helping his wife, Hillary, campaign for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency of the United States or, most recently, his decision to get back to work on the Clinton Foundation, which works around the world to diminish greenhouse gasses, pushing low-cost drugs for those suffering from HIV/AIDS and battling childhood obesity. He most recently made news for a recent six-day trip to Africa took him to Ethiopia, Rwanda, Liberia and Senegal.

American companies assist in Chinese Totalitarianism

  August 4, 2008

Everybody probably knows about the Chinese human rights violations that are being committed on a regular basis by Chinese authorities on its own people. Except for those living under rocks, I guess! Did you know that American companies are helping the Chinese government in their totalitarian expansion among its citizens,...

Flap continues over ‘Obama is my slave’ t-shirt

  July 29, 2008

Lost in the hubbub of last week’s New Yorker cartoon flap was another image controversy regarding Democratic nominee for President Barack Obama. The second deals with a self-proclaimed provocateur going by the name Apollo Braun, a designer of a line of t-shirts stating “Obama Is My Slave”, “Who Killed Obama?”,“Jews Against Obama” and “Obama=Hitler.” John Liebhardt brings us the latest buzz from the blogosphere.

Did New Yorker Obama cartoon cross the line?

  July 22, 2008

A cartoon on the cover of the U.S.-based publication the New Yorker stirred passions throughout the blogosphere. The cartoon, displayed on the front of the July 21, 2008 edition of the weekly news and culture magazine, depicted Obama in traditional African muslim dress and head wrap giving a “knuckle tap”...

What Barack Obama means to South African politics

  July 17, 2008

In South Africa, a country with its own difficult history regarding racism, an interesting debate has broken out in the blogosphere regarding what a Barack Obama candidacy -- and a possible presidency -- would mean to politics, and politicians, everywhere, writes John Liebhardt.

Africa: “Obama We Believe in You!”

Reactions are continuing to pour in from bloggers around the world on Barack Obama's success in clinching the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in the race to the White House. John Liebhardt sums up some of the reactions from Africa.