Tag: President Obama
Approaching Insanity
As the Days of Light dwindle down to the Days of Darkness, President Obama’s anger translator, Luther, translates Obama final address. Enjoy this moment to laugh, it might be our last.
Obama Calls Out US Journalists
In President Obama’s press conference, the President called out American journalists to do their job especially in regards to the Trump candidacy. Fat chance.
A State of the Union to Remember
I was essentially beyond words when Christy told me. Braeden’s been to the White House twice before, when he won in 2013 and when he was asked back to speak at the Kids’ State Dinner winners in 2014, and both trips were humbling and amazing, but this one is something else. To be asked to sit in a room with Congress, the Supreme Court justices, most of the president’s cabinet, and listen to one of the most important speeches the president can deliver, to be interviewed and featured by Time Magazine, to have your bio posted on the White House website, I don’t even know what to say. I couldn’t be more proud of Braeden and the ideas he’s come up with, the way he’s implemented them, and how he’s stuck with it for the last 3 years.
The Hateful Ten
Ten governors have decided they don’t want to accept refugees in their states. Not because they are tending to their own needy and are thus unable provide food, clothing, or shelter for them. Or that their states are strained for space for even their own citizens. But because the refugees are Syrian and some of them might be terrorists. You may have already read their remarks explaining why they steadfastly refuse to help victims of war, but if not I want you to read them all now:
Liveblog President Obama Speech on ISIL
The President interrupts your Prime Time at 9PM EDT to tell the nation about his plan to deal with ISIL. The Guardian has a good overview of what to expect from tonight’s speech, because apparently the American outlets are occupied with 1) the optics, 2) the horserace, 3) the appetite of Americans for bloodshed and 4) President Obama’s poll numbers. Sheesh.
President Obama’s Eulogy of Nelson Mandela
Excellent. Courtesy of The Telegraph (approx. 18 minutes long):
President Obama Speaks on Income Inequality and Economic Mobility
This got lost in the other news this week, and once again we ask ourselves, “If the President of the United States gives a policy speech, will anyone listen?” This is a plenty solid statement of progressive principles and if no one labeled them progressive , I’d bet there is alot here most Americans would absolutely agree upon. Because middle and low income people ARE being thrown under the economic bus and have been since the Reagan presidency. The disconnect is, of course, Congress and not one of our Congressional delegation (that I can find, anyway) has chimed in to note that the President has a point and that they are working on (detailed) stuff to help ameliorate this. Getting rid of the thumb on the scale for most of their voters is a clear way to better prosperity all around, but I gather that Third Way cred is going to be more important than you OR your vote. Anyway, here is the President’s speech, about 48 minutes long.
President Obama Speaks at Knox College
President Obama is making a series of speeches on the economy — focusing on an economic vision for supporting and expanding the middle class. There will be other campaign-like speeches advertised to try to change the conversation. What I’m hoping is that these speeches serve as a launching point to start the 2014 effort to remind people that it isn’t “Washington” that is the problem — it is the GOP in Washington who have fought against middle class interests (while they aren’t completely ignoring them) every step of the way. The President rallied with the OFA folks on Monday (and who heard about this? rally that includes Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the President and where is the news coverage?), and this is what gives me (small) hope:
President Obama and the Guantanamo Heckler
Hecklers of speeches — especially major ones — aren’t new. A public disruption of a speaker is meant as an attempt to embarrass the speaker and get attention for the heckler and the heckler’s cause. Yesterday, Medea Benjamin of Code Pink attended the President’s speech at the National Defense University at Ft. McNair yesterday and proceeded to heckle him 3 times during the speech. The video below (approx 8 minutes long and I apologize for the commercial) shows that segment of the President’s speech. I couldn’t hear everything she said, but it seems clear to me that she was calling for the immediate release of some number of the Gitmo prisoners. While the President was proposing a new plan to close Gitmo. What is fascinating to me about this clip is the President’s reaction to Ms. Benjamin’s interruptions. Not only did he appear to be listening to her, but he validated her concerns (or some of them) as important and worth listening to. I can’t imagine GWB managing this kind of respect towards someone yelling at him, and whoever was yelling at him would have been immediately hustled away from the event — not given two more times to disrupt. I haven’t had a chance to see the entire speech to know what exactly the President said, so I’m not here agreeing or disagreeing with what he proposed yesterday. But I am pretty proud of the way he handled this:
How About A Hefty Dose Of Misogyny With Your Violent Rhetoric?
Pete Santilli went on a disgusting rant and caught the attention of the Secret Service who paid him a visit saying…
“We are aware of Mr. Santilli’s comments and will take the appropriate follow up action,” Edwin M. Donovan, a Secret Service spokesperson, told TPM on Monday. “He certainly has a right to free speech, but the Secret Service has a right and an obligation to determine what a person’s intent is when making comments like this.”
And what were those comments?
‘Miss Hillary Clinton needs to be convicted, she needs to be tried, convicted and shot in the vagina,” he said. “I wanna pull the trigger. That ‘C U Next Tuesday’ has killed human beings that are in our ranks of our service. I want to remind you that in Benghazi, Miss Hillary ‘the fricken’ biggest vagina on the face of the planet’ told troops to stand down and to not go in and interfere with the operation that they set up because they’re moving arms; Barack Obama is moving drugs through the CIA out of Afghanistan and Barack Obama needs to be tried, convicted, and shot for crimes against the United States of America.”
An Emerging Working Congressional Coalition?
I think it’s possible, perhaps probable. I also think it’s the most overlooked byproduct of the ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations.
I also think this means that President Obama has more leverage in upcoming fiscal negotiations than many progressives are willing to admit or have yet come to realize.
Allow me to explain.
President Obama’s Press Conference Today
President Obama will be conducting his first Press Conference with the White House Press Corps since March 6, 2012. As every reporter talking about this will remind you. It is scheduled to start today at 1:30 EST. There’s lots to cover — the Fiscal Cliff, new cabinet appointments, an immigration policy that seems to be coming out of mothballs, *compromise* (and *bipartisanship*), 2013 agenda, Joe Biden’s appearance on Parks and Recreation tomorrow night and the ever popular saga of General Petraeus’ mistresses and wannabes. Feel free to use this thread to live blog what you see or hear from the President today.
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