Showing posts with label President-Elect Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President-Elect Obama. Show all posts
Thursday, January 8, 2009
It's Official!
Barack Obama was officially elected the 44th President of the United States today. The official electoral vote count was 365 votes for Barack Obama and 173 votes for John McCain.
Monday, January 5, 2009
From The New York Times:
Obama to Attend ‘Neighborhood Ball’
By Katharine Q. Seelye
On inauguration night, Barack and Michelle Obama will dance their first dance as the First Family with their new neighbors, including members of the public and residents of Washington.
“In keeping with his commitment to make this inaugural celebration open and accessible to all Americans, President-elect Barack Obama will host the first-ever ‘Neighborhood Inaugural Ball’ during this year’s inaugural celebration,” says a statement from the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
“It is the first official inaugural ball of its kind to be held during a presidential inauguration,” the statement adds.
There have been rumors for weeks that Mr. Obama would hold a so-called people’s ball; the announcement confirms that it will be the first event of inauguration evening on Jan. 20 and will take place at the Washington Convention Center, where several balls are being held.
Tickets will be free or at “an affordable price,” and some of the tickets will be set aside for residents of the District of Columbia.
“This is an inauguration for all Americans,” Mr. Obama said in the statement. “I wanted to make sure that we had an event that would be open to our new neighborhood here in Washington, D.C., and also neighborhoods across the country. Michelle and I look forward to joining our fellow Americans across the country during this very special event.”
In a symbol of the importance of the Web, both to Mr. Obama’s election and presumably to how he will run the government, this ball will be interactive, with webcasting and text messaging, “to link neighborhoods across the country with the new president and this premier event.”
Details coming soon, both on the distribution of tickets and on how people at neighborhood balls across the country can link up, virtually, of course, to this one.
This is just one of the 10 official balls that the Obamas will be attending that night. Five others are at the convention center (cutting down on the need for a motorcade). The other four are at the National Building Museum, the Hilton Hotel, Union Station and the D.C. Armory.
-Wow, and I thought he was an elitist.
Obama to Attend ‘Neighborhood Ball’
By Katharine Q. Seelye
On inauguration night, Barack and Michelle Obama will dance their first dance as the First Family with their new neighbors, including members of the public and residents of Washington.
“In keeping with his commitment to make this inaugural celebration open and accessible to all Americans, President-elect Barack Obama will host the first-ever ‘Neighborhood Inaugural Ball’ during this year’s inaugural celebration,” says a statement from the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
“It is the first official inaugural ball of its kind to be held during a presidential inauguration,” the statement adds.
There have been rumors for weeks that Mr. Obama would hold a so-called people’s ball; the announcement confirms that it will be the first event of inauguration evening on Jan. 20 and will take place at the Washington Convention Center, where several balls are being held.
Tickets will be free or at “an affordable price,” and some of the tickets will be set aside for residents of the District of Columbia.
“This is an inauguration for all Americans,” Mr. Obama said in the statement. “I wanted to make sure that we had an event that would be open to our new neighborhood here in Washington, D.C., and also neighborhoods across the country. Michelle and I look forward to joining our fellow Americans across the country during this very special event.”
In a symbol of the importance of the Web, both to Mr. Obama’s election and presumably to how he will run the government, this ball will be interactive, with webcasting and text messaging, “to link neighborhoods across the country with the new president and this premier event.”
Details coming soon, both on the distribution of tickets and on how people at neighborhood balls across the country can link up, virtually, of course, to this one.
This is just one of the 10 official balls that the Obamas will be attending that night. Five others are at the convention center (cutting down on the need for a motorcade). The other four are at the National Building Museum, the Hilton Hotel, Union Station and the D.C. Armory.
-Wow, and I thought he was an elitist.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
I Love Paul Krugman
From The New York Times:
January 2, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Bigger Than Bush
By PAUL KRUGMAN
As the new Democratic majority prepares to take power, Republicans have become, as Phil Gramm might put it, a party of whiners.
Some of the whining almost defies belief. Did Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general, really say, “I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror”? Did Rush Limbaugh really suggest that the financial crisis was the result of a conspiracy, masterminded by that evil genius Chuck Schumer?
But most of the whining takes the form of claims that the Bush administration’s failure was simply a matter of bad luck — either the bad luck of President Bush himself, who just happened to have disasters happen on his watch, or the bad luck of the G.O.P., which just happened to send the wrong man to the White House.
The fault, however, lies not in Republicans’ stars but in themselves. Forty years ago the G.O.P. decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as the party’s champion, to the Bush administration’s pervasive incompetence, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision.
If the Bush administration became a byword for policy bungles, for government by the unqualified, well, it was just following the advice of leading conservative think tanks: after the 2000 election the Heritage Foundation specifically urged the new team to “make appointments based on loyalty first and expertise second.”
Contempt for expertise, in turn, rested on contempt for government in general. “Government is not the solution to our problem,” declared Ronald Reagan. “Government is the problem.” So why worry about governing well?
Where did this hostility to government come from? In 1981 Lee Atwater, the famed Republican political consultant, explained the evolution of the G.O.P.’s “Southern strategy,” which originally focused on opposition to the Voting Rights Act but eventually took a more coded form: “You’re getting so abstract now you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites.” In other words, government is the problem because it takes your money and gives it to Those People.
Oh, and the racial element isn’t all that abstract, even now: Chip Saltsman, currently a candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, sent committee members a CD including a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” — and according to some reports, the controversy over his action has actually helped his chances.
So the reign of George W. Bush, the first true Southern Republican president since Reconstruction, was the culmination of a long process. And despite the claims of some on the right that Mr. Bush betrayed conservatism, the truth is that he faithfully carried out both his party’s divisive tactics — long before Sarah Palin, Mr. Bush declared that he visited his ranch to “stay in touch with real Americans” — and its governing philosophy.
That’s why the soon-to-be-gone administration’s failure is bigger than Mr. Bush himself: it represents the end of the line for a political strategy that dominated the scene for more than a generation.
The reality of this strategy’s collapse has not, I believe, fully sunk in with some observers. Thus, some commentators warning President-elect Barack Obama against bold action have held up Bill Clinton’s political failures in his first two years as a cautionary tale.
But America in 1993 was a very different country — not just a country that had yet to see what happens when conservatives control all three branches of government, but also a country in which Democratic control of Congress depended on the votes of Southern conservatives. Today, Republicans have taken away almost all those Southern votes — and lost the rest of the country. It was a grand ride for a while, but in the end the Southern strategy led the G.O.P. into a cul-de-sac.
Mr. Obama therefore has room to be bold. If Republicans try a 1993-style strategy of attacking him for promoting big government, they’ll learn two things: not only has the financial crisis discredited their economic theories, the racial subtext of anti-government rhetoric doesn’t play the way it used to.
Will the Republicans eventually stage a comeback? Yes, of course. But barring some huge missteps by Mr. Obama, that will not happen until they stop whining and look at what really went wrong. And when they do, they will discover that they need to get in touch with the real “real America,” a country that is more diverse, more tolerant, and more demanding of effective government than is dreamt of in their political philosophy.
January 2, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Bigger Than Bush
By PAUL KRUGMAN
As the new Democratic majority prepares to take power, Republicans have become, as Phil Gramm might put it, a party of whiners.
Some of the whining almost defies belief. Did Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general, really say, “I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror”? Did Rush Limbaugh really suggest that the financial crisis was the result of a conspiracy, masterminded by that evil genius Chuck Schumer?
But most of the whining takes the form of claims that the Bush administration’s failure was simply a matter of bad luck — either the bad luck of President Bush himself, who just happened to have disasters happen on his watch, or the bad luck of the G.O.P., which just happened to send the wrong man to the White House.
The fault, however, lies not in Republicans’ stars but in themselves. Forty years ago the G.O.P. decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as the party’s champion, to the Bush administration’s pervasive incompetence, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision.
If the Bush administration became a byword for policy bungles, for government by the unqualified, well, it was just following the advice of leading conservative think tanks: after the 2000 election the Heritage Foundation specifically urged the new team to “make appointments based on loyalty first and expertise second.”
Contempt for expertise, in turn, rested on contempt for government in general. “Government is not the solution to our problem,” declared Ronald Reagan. “Government is the problem.” So why worry about governing well?
Where did this hostility to government come from? In 1981 Lee Atwater, the famed Republican political consultant, explained the evolution of the G.O.P.’s “Southern strategy,” which originally focused on opposition to the Voting Rights Act but eventually took a more coded form: “You’re getting so abstract now you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites.” In other words, government is the problem because it takes your money and gives it to Those People.
Oh, and the racial element isn’t all that abstract, even now: Chip Saltsman, currently a candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, sent committee members a CD including a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” — and according to some reports, the controversy over his action has actually helped his chances.
So the reign of George W. Bush, the first true Southern Republican president since Reconstruction, was the culmination of a long process. And despite the claims of some on the right that Mr. Bush betrayed conservatism, the truth is that he faithfully carried out both his party’s divisive tactics — long before Sarah Palin, Mr. Bush declared that he visited his ranch to “stay in touch with real Americans” — and its governing philosophy.
That’s why the soon-to-be-gone administration’s failure is bigger than Mr. Bush himself: it represents the end of the line for a political strategy that dominated the scene for more than a generation.
The reality of this strategy’s collapse has not, I believe, fully sunk in with some observers. Thus, some commentators warning President-elect Barack Obama against bold action have held up Bill Clinton’s political failures in his first two years as a cautionary tale.
But America in 1993 was a very different country — not just a country that had yet to see what happens when conservatives control all three branches of government, but also a country in which Democratic control of Congress depended on the votes of Southern conservatives. Today, Republicans have taken away almost all those Southern votes — and lost the rest of the country. It was a grand ride for a while, but in the end the Southern strategy led the G.O.P. into a cul-de-sac.
Mr. Obama therefore has room to be bold. If Republicans try a 1993-style strategy of attacking him for promoting big government, they’ll learn two things: not only has the financial crisis discredited their economic theories, the racial subtext of anti-government rhetoric doesn’t play the way it used to.
Will the Republicans eventually stage a comeback? Yes, of course. But barring some huge missteps by Mr. Obama, that will not happen until they stop whining and look at what really went wrong. And when they do, they will discover that they need to get in touch with the real “real America,” a country that is more diverse, more tolerant, and more demanding of effective government than is dreamt of in their political philosophy.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Daily Quote
"Let's just say it's likely the president-elect will be occupied with many other activities"
-From ABC News: Lynda Douglass, Spokeswoman for President-Elect Obama, responding to whether the President-Elect will attend any of the functions surrounding Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend, prior to his inauguration.
-From ABC News: Lynda Douglass, Spokeswoman for President-Elect Obama, responding to whether the President-Elect will attend any of the functions surrounding Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend, prior to his inauguration.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Two-Face
From Think Progress:
Apparently, GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnel doesn't believe in the $800 billion stimulus plan that President-Elect Obama wants to pass upon his swearing in is not worth it. In fact, he is leading the GOP's fight against it.
So, $700 billion for Wall Street is great, but when it comes to the American people, he says, "Screw you!"
Is there any wonder why the GOP lost in November?
Apparently, GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnel doesn't believe in the $800 billion stimulus plan that President-Elect Obama wants to pass upon his swearing in is not worth it. In fact, he is leading the GOP's fight against it.
So, $700 billion for Wall Street is great, but when it comes to the American people, he says, "Screw you!"
Is there any wonder why the GOP lost in November?
Thursday, December 18, 2008
One Step Forward...
Sorry everyone, I had to take some time off from posting. There were some personal things I was going through and just didn't have any bright ideas to write about. I am not going to get into all my issues here, as this is not the forum for that. But, needless to say, I am back.
And back I am...My first story today has to deal with President-Elect Obama's choice of Rick Warren to lead the invocation at his inauguration on January 20, 2009. There is currently a lot of anger amongst the LGBT Community and women's rights groups about his selection. The thing is, and maybe I am the only who feels this way, but I don't have a problem with this. I know that Mr. Warren is a fierce opponent of gay marriage and gay rights and a woman's right to choose. Yet, I believe that selecting him for the invocation shows that Mr. Obama is willing to take chances and reach across idealistic divides to find a common ground. Unlike his soon to be predecessor, Mr. Obama wants to work with people of different beliefs as opposed to working against them. So yes, the choice does not make me happy, but I don't believe it is one that should be igniting the same kind of outrage as some of Mr. Bush's decisions.
Secondly, the sorry case of Illinois Governor Rod Blogojevich. What a mess. What an idiot. Need I say more? Actually, I am going to. The Governor of Illinois needs to step down immediately. He needs to leave office and let the state he works for get back to business. Next, the news media needs to stop following the red herring of a story of it being a "Scandal for President-Elect Obama." It isn't. Obama had nothing to do with it. Why now, after nearly eight years of not questioning authority is the media getting a back bone? Was the media so infatuated with George W. Bush that they never had to question a single decision he made? Where were these hard questions after 9/11? Where were these hard questions before invading Iraq? Where the fuck were these hard questions when Mr. Bush decided that he was more of an Emperor than a President?
It is really sickening to me to see the media circling like vultures over President-Elect Obama, praying that there is a scandal and they can bring him down. What do I make of this? Well, here it is...The country elected the first black man as president. Yet, we (as a nation) are not convinced he is as "clean" as he says he is. There is a racial prejudice in the media's reporting. There are complaints that he only takes three or four questions in a press conference. Yet, when was President Bush's last press conference? For all the talk of a forward thinking press, they are still stuck with stereotypes of people and believe that a black man is hiding something. I believe that should President-Elect Obama sneeze in the wrong direction some right-wing goon is going to want to impeach him. If the Republicans gain back control of the House and Senate in 2010, we need to be warned that they will start impeachment proceedings against this man.
Yes, we elected a black man to lead our nation. But, we have not left our prejudices aside. If the media had been just as hard on President Bush, than fine, but they were not. I can only draw the conclusion that the mainstream media is just as bigotted as the KKK or Neo-Nazi's. The thing is, they just don't know it.
That's all for now. Have a great day.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Trend or Flash-in-the-Pants
Much has been written over the past month about the Presidential election on November 4th and whether it was a trend or a one time thing. Many pundits have said that it spells doom and gloom for the Republican Party. Others have suggested that it was a fluke Obama won. Here is my analysis of the election and what it all means.1. The Republican Party is not dead. It is far from dead. They will come back meaner and more ferocious in two and four years. However, the Republican brand is not being looked upon in a favorable light. They have a lot of soul searching to do over the next several years. What direction do party leaders want to take the party? Do they swing hard right and make themselves a Christian party? If that is direction they go in, that spells doom for the brand. If party leaders focus on core conservative values; fiscal responsibility, national defense, smaller government, then there is a future for the party. The republicans need to get away from being the morality police for the nation. It is my belief that is one of the reasons they lost so horribly in November. No one likes having others beliefs pushed upon them. After eight years of a President who has consistently told us what we should believe and how we should believe it, the American people are tired. They want to be left alone in their own bedrooms and free to make their own choices in regards to their bodies.
2. The elections in 2000 and 2004 were two of the closest elections in American History. Those elections told us that this country wasn't so much divided evenly, but the citizens of this country were not sure what direction they wanted this nation to move. The fact that President Bush won in 2004 by 3 million votes on a national level and 150,000 votes in Ohio, shows that this nation wasn't sure what it wanted. If this country was truly a "center right" nation as many pundits have suggested, then Barack Obama would never have been able to win election by the widest margin of a non-incumbent in history. The United States Senate would not have come two seats away from being filibuster proof and Democrats would have picked up 20 plus seats in the House of Representatives. We are not a center right nation. We are nation which believes in the best of what people have to offer, whether that is right or left, is inconsequential.
3. If we look back to the elections of 1992 and 1996 you can see the beginnings of a trend toward a more blue America. It is my belief that the 2000 and 2004 elections were just a bump in that road. The southwestern United States were trending blue in 1992 and 1996. Bill Clinton won Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada in 1992. He won Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada in 1996. Also, Bill Clinton won Montana in 1992. As much as the media wants to make those states out to be red states, they truly are not. They are not the biggest battlegrounds either. The new battlegrounds are Virginia, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Missouri, Georgia and West Virginia. George Bush won Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada by very slim margins. Obama just picked up where Bill Clinton left off. In order for the Republican Party to win the Presidency in 2012, they are going to need to figure out how to win back Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana.
4. This is election showed the American people are tired of the divisive policies of the past 8 years. Remember, President Bush ran on a platform of bipartisanship. What we got was 8 years of the most divisive politics and policies this country has since The Civil War. When Americans voted for President Bush they believed in his assertion of "compassionate conservatism" and not letting politics run policy. Instead, politics was the policy of this country and President Bush ran a White House that had a "take no prisoners" attitude. If you did not agree with the President, you were an enemy. There was not room for a middle ground.
Finally, the biggest question is this: What does President-Elect Obama have to do to keep the Democratic majorities and get re-elected in four years? He needs to run this country like he ran his campaign. He must surround himself with the best people in their fields, regardless of their political affiliation. He must listen to both Democrats and Republicans and create policy that is good for the entire country, not just one portion of the population. President-Elect Obama must deliver on his promises during the campaign. If nothing else, enacting Universal Health care, creating green jobs and alternative energy sources, relinquishing our dependence on foreign oil and foreign financial markets is essential. However, to achieve these things, he will need to work closely with Republicans. If he is able to achieve these things, I believe he will easily win re-election in 2012 and by a wider margin than he won this year.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Georgia Senate Runoff
Today, the citizens of the State of Georgia went back to the polls to decide whether Saxby Chambliss should be returned to the U.S. Senate. As of this writing, Chambliss is ahead 61% to 39%. Unless there is a major upset, Chambliss will be returned to the Senate. It is unfortunate, but not unexpected.
In other news today, Florida Republican Senator, Mel Martinez announced that he would be retiring from the U.S. Senate in 2010. This is unexpected and a great chance for the democrats to pick up a vacant Senate seat. It is very possible that Gov. Charlie Christ will make a run for this seat. As of right now, there is a very long list of possible democratic challengers.
Yesterday, President-Elect Obama announced his national security team. Leading the new diplomatic corps is New York Senator Hillary Clinton. While she and Obama ran a fierce a primary battle, it is believed that she will be more able than anyone else to help President-Elect Obama restore America's status in the world.
In other news today, Florida Republican Senator, Mel Martinez announced that he would be retiring from the U.S. Senate in 2010. This is unexpected and a great chance for the democrats to pick up a vacant Senate seat. It is very possible that Gov. Charlie Christ will make a run for this seat. As of right now, there is a very long list of possible democratic challengers.
Yesterday, President-Elect Obama announced his national security team. Leading the new diplomatic corps is New York Senator Hillary Clinton. While she and Obama ran a fierce a primary battle, it is believed that she will be more able than anyone else to help President-Elect Obama restore America's status in the world.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
The New New Deal?
Tomorrow morning, President-Elect Obama will be introducing his economic team to the country in his second press conference since being elected the 44th President of the United States. He gave a hint at what the new team is going to be working on this weekend during the weekly Democratic Radio Address.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
HHS, DHS, AG, OMB, Oh My!
It has been a pretty good day for news surrounding President-Elect Obama's future cabinet appointments.
From Teagan Goddard's Political Wire:
CNN reports that Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker is President-elect Obama's choice to become Secretary of Commerce.
CNN reports that President-elect Obama has chosen Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) to be Secretary of Homeland Security pending further vetting by the transition team.
Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) has been offered the job of Health and Human Services secretary by President-elect Obama and has accepted the job, according to Roll Call."Daschle, who served in the Senate until he lost his re-election bid in 2004, also is set to take on the position of 'health care czar' in the Obama White House, ensuring that he does not get big footed on matters relating to health care policy."Earlier this year, Daschle released a book called Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.
President-elect Obama "is preparing to tap Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag, once a veteran economic adviser in the Clinton White House, to become his budget director," according to the National Journal. "The Office of Management and Budget job -- seen as a key post to help Obama deliver on his domestic policy agenda amidst the gloom of a $700 billion federal financial rescue, a recession and the prospects of a $1 trillion deficit next year -- carries Cabinet rank. An announcement is expected soon, but could come with other personnel decisions Obama is making to lead the Treasury Department and National Economic Council in his White House."
President-elect Obama has decided to pick Eric Holder as his attorney general, "putting the veteran Washington lawyer in place to become the first African-American to head the Justice Department," Newsweek reports."Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration, still has to undergo a formal 'vetting' review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final and is publicly announced, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified talking about the transition process. But in the discussions over the past few days, Obama offered Holder the job and he accepted." "The announcement is not likely until after Obama announces his choices to lead the Treasury and State departments."
Now, I am not sure about you, but I think these are some very good appointments. It looks as though he is putting some very competent people in place to help change the country for the better.
I will have some thoughts on these appointments later on.
TTFN.
From Teagan Goddard's Political Wire:
CNN reports that Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker is President-elect Obama's choice to become Secretary of Commerce.
CNN reports that President-elect Obama has chosen Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) to be Secretary of Homeland Security pending further vetting by the transition team.
Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) has been offered the job of Health and Human Services secretary by President-elect Obama and has accepted the job, according to Roll Call."Daschle, who served in the Senate until he lost his re-election bid in 2004, also is set to take on the position of 'health care czar' in the Obama White House, ensuring that he does not get big footed on matters relating to health care policy."Earlier this year, Daschle released a book called Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.
President-elect Obama "is preparing to tap Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag, once a veteran economic adviser in the Clinton White House, to become his budget director," according to the National Journal. "The Office of Management and Budget job -- seen as a key post to help Obama deliver on his domestic policy agenda amidst the gloom of a $700 billion federal financial rescue, a recession and the prospects of a $1 trillion deficit next year -- carries Cabinet rank. An announcement is expected soon, but could come with other personnel decisions Obama is making to lead the Treasury Department and National Economic Council in his White House."
President-elect Obama has decided to pick Eric Holder as his attorney general, "putting the veteran Washington lawyer in place to become the first African-American to head the Justice Department," Newsweek reports."Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration, still has to undergo a formal 'vetting' review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final and is publicly announced, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified talking about the transition process. But in the discussions over the past few days, Obama offered Holder the job and he accepted." "The announcement is not likely until after Obama announces his choices to lead the Treasury and State departments."
Now, I am not sure about you, but I think these are some very good appointments. It looks as though he is putting some very competent people in place to help change the country for the better.
I will have some thoughts on these appointments later on.
TTFN.
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