20 posts tagged “obama”
Could this be the most controversial choice so far in the Obama transition? Or are reporters barking up the wrong tree? It could be a story that comes back to bite them later. It's certain to breed controversy, no matter how fetching the nominee may be in that fur coat. From the report linked above:
The speculation about Rex - will he or won't he? - has been the major topic in the media and across the blogosphere. Michelle Malkin of Hot Air called it "an affirmative action appointment" and questioned whether Rex is in fact a US citizen or a Golden Labrador. ‘If they allow a Canadian puppy onto US soil illegally, next thing you know Obama will be negotiating with terriers, and without preconditions," she told Fox News. "Furthermore, Rex should be required to learn English first." And Dick Morris told the Sean Hannity that passing up the black Labrador in the next kennel will definitively end the honeymoon between Obama and civil rights leaders.
We can be certain that Blue Dog's won't just roll over and play dead on the heels of this announcement. But of course, with the pack mentality in Congress, it's clear that the scenery never changes unless you're the lead dog. And there'll only be one alpha male in the White House, but he'll be outnumbered by the ... females. (I'm not going to go there!) So I guess there's nothing to do but put aside our pet peeves and wait for someone to let the cat out of the bag.
I've been crazy busy every since the election, so I haven't written a post in a while. It seems like we really are in a different world. It's amazing the optimism I've seen on so many smiling faces of all colors in the last week. It's even more amazing considering that we're still in a terrible crisis, but we can deal with crises if we have hope that we will eventually prevail. That's something very powerful that Barack Obama's election has given us. As Frank Rich said in Sunday's New York Times, It Still Feels Good...
I'll have more to say in the future, but for right now, I just have to let the music and images do the talking. Here's a cool one via Crooks and Liars:
Growing up in the 1960s, I was one of many who came to believe that music was a powerful force that could be used, like any other powerful force, for good or evil. This is, in my opinion, an example of that power used for good. Let's play it again.
[Updated below]
Former U.S. Ambassador Peter Bridges writing at The Huffington Post says:
A friend and former colleague of mine in the Foreign Service, Kevin McGuire, some time ago drafted a short statement of support for Obama and began to ask retired Foreign Service officers if they would sign it. So far 334 of us have done so, including by my count 66 former American ambassadors.
If you would like to know why we have done so and who we are, you can find our reasons and our signatures at Foreign Policy for Obama.Com: Declaration of Support by Over 280 Former Diplomats.
You can go to ForeignPolicyforObama.com and click on the link in the left hand column.
I will remind you that the Foreign Service of the United States is our country's career diplomatic and consular service. We staff both the State Department in Washington and our embassies and consulates abroad. Usually two-thirds or more of our ambassadors are Foreign Service officers, although both Democratic and Republican administrations have made a number of ambassadorial appointments for political reasons. Some of these Republican appointees and, by my count, two former career officers, have come out for McCain.
As Ambassador Bridges points out, these are people who understand America's role in the world better than most politicians and pundits. Their support for Obama adds considerable substance to the idea that Barack is the best candidate to deal with America's international issues and restore our reputation as the "Good Guys" that has been severely damaged by Bush-Cheney.
UPDATE: Also see this by Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia.
Via Andrew Sullivan, this is who Barack really looks like:
Go in peace Madelyn Dunham.... I was looking at this picture of Obama's grandparents and thinking how much he looks like his grandfather. And suddenly, for whatever reason, I was struck by the fact that they had made the decision to love their daughter, no matter what, and love their grandson, no matter what. I'd bet money that they never even thought of themselves as courageous, that they didn't give much thought to the broader struggles in the the world at the time. They were just doing what right, honorable people do. But the fact is that, in the 60s, you could be disowned for falling in love with a black woman or black man. There is a reason why we have a long history of publicly biracial black people, but not so much of publicly biracial white people.
We often give a pass to racists by noting that they were "of their times." Fair enough, and I know Hawaii was a different beast, but still, today, let us speak of people who were ahead of their times, who were outside of their times. Let us remember that Barack Obama learned the great lessons of life from courageous white people. Let us speak of those who do what normal, right people should always do when faced with a child--commit an act love. Here's to doing the right thing.
One point made by General Colin Powell in his endorsement of Barack Obama for president deserves more discussion (hat tip to Glenn Greenwald):
I'm also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said such things as: "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is: he is not a Muslim. He's a Christian. He's always been a Christian.
But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is: No, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she can be President?
Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion: he's a Muslim, and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
Powell related a story about a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. His name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, a Muslim-American. Greenwald points out:
There has been much condemnation over the "Obama-is-a-Muslim" line of GOP attack, but almost all of it has been on the ground that the attack is factually false as applied to the Christian Obama, not on the ground that it is a reprehensible and dangerous line of attack even if it were factually true.
"Arab" and "Muslim" have become so synonymous with "terrorist" in much of the discourse in America that it's hard for some to believe that their are many, many American Muslims, and they are just as American as the Christians, Jews, Mormons, et al. Again, from Glenn Greenwald:
When John McCain, at that rally in Minnesota last week, sought to chide his supporter for asserting that Obama is an "Arab," McCain did so by pointing out that, in fact, Obama is a "decent family man" -- as though that proves that he's not "an Arab because "decent family man" is the opposite of "Arab"
For those who may have forgotten, the founders of of the United States of America wanted it to be absolutely clear and unambiguous that there was NO state religion here. For example, Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states:
...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
And there is the "Establishment Clause" of the first amendment of the Bill of Rights, which states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. [emphasis added]
So if you claim to be a patriotic American, especially a "strict constructionist," you must acknowledge that people of every faith — or no faith — have equal status under the laws of our country. This is what makes freedom of religion possible.
The endorsement of candidates by newspapers doesn't particularly sway people, but it's worth noting for other reasons. For one thing, it's an opportunity for people whose ability to put thoughts into words is very well developed — much better than mine. This is from the LA Times:
We may one day look back on this presidential campaign in wonder. We may marvel that Obama's critics called him an elitist, as if an Ivy League education were a source of embarrassment, and belittled his eloquence, as if a gift with words were suddenly a defect. In fact, Obama is educated and eloquent, sober and exciting, steady and mature. He represents the nation as it is, and as it aspires to be.
Lest you think that the endorsements Obama is receiving are primarily from left-leaning publications, consider this from the Chicago Tribune:
This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party's nominee for president.
That's the first Democratic endorsement from them in 161 years! Here's a link to an AP summary of several of the endorsements. Editor and Publisher (via DailyKos) says:
The Obama-Biden ticket maintains its strong lead in the race for newspaper endorsements, picking up 17 more papers in the past day, including the giant Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune on Friday afternoon (see separate story), and the Denver Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Salt Lake Tribune, Kansas City Star, Southwest News-Herald (Ill.) and Chicago Sun-Times tonight.
This brings his lead over McCain-Palin by this measure to well over 3-1, at 58-16, including most of the major papers that have decided so far. In contrast, John Kerry barely edged George W. Bush in endorsements in 2004, by about 220 to 205.
UPDATE: Add Colin Powell to the list of Republicans endorsing Obama.
Legendary Bluegrass musician, Ralph Stanley, has recorded a radio ad for the Obama campaign. Give it a listen. Maybe that has something to do with Obama's surging poll numbers in Virginia.
We've been warned: the presidential race between now and election day is going to be attack, Attack, ATTACK! Many Democrats have criticized Obama for not taking the fight more aggressively to John McCain. It may be a good sign that Barack, seems not to have let the advice of nervous supporters sway him from his overall strategy, because in retrospect, it seems that what he has done was the right thing at the time. Obama said the following in Asheville, North Carolina, today in reference to the McCain campaign's desire to turn the page from focusing on the dismal economy:
Think about that for a second. Turn the page on the economy? We’re facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and John McCain wants us to "turn the page?" Well, I know the policies he’s supported these past eight years and wants to continue are pretty hard to defend. I can understand why Senator McCain would want to "turn the page" and ignore this economy.
But I also know this:
You’re trying to pay your bills every week and stay above the water – you can’t ignore it.
You’re worrying about whether your job will be there a month from now – you can’t ignore it.
You’re worrying about whether you can pay your mortgage and stay in your house – you can’t turn the page.
[...]
Senator McCain and his operatives are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance ... It’s what you do when you’re out of touch, out of ideas, and running out of time.
Sarah Palin wasted no time going into attack mode (via DailyKos):
"Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country," Palin told a rally of about 10,000 gathered at a tennis stadium in Carson, a suburb of Los Angeles.
And the basis for Palin's attack? Besides desperation and falling poll numbers, I mean? A New York Times article about William Ayers and Obama that concluded the two men "do not appear to have been close." In other words, living in the same neighborhood and serving on the same charitable boards does not mean you're "palling around" with someone, nor does it mean you endorse their actions from 40 years ago.
And if Sarah Palin wants to talking about palling around with people who find America less than perfect, then it's time to talk about her association with the Alaska Independence Party (AIP), the secessionist group whose founder, Joe Vogler once said:
The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government...and I won't be buried under their damn flag...
I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions.
Palin's complete dealings with the group isn't entirely clear, and unfortunately we can't ask Mr. Vogler about it since he was murdered in a plastic explosives sale gone bad," but we do know this: Sarah Palin probably attended the AIP convention 1994, the McCain campaign admits she attended in 2000, and as governor, Palin taped a welcoming message to them in 2006.
Via CNN:
The Statement: Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin said Saturday, October 4, that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is "someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."
Verdict: False. There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now "palling around," or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are.
And then there's the Al Franken approach to responding to personal attacks:
