You’ll hear plenty about it this week… just wanted to ensure that you knew you payed for Obama’s date this weekend.
If you’d like to pay for mine and Chelsea’s date this weekend, let me know and I’ll tell you how to send it to my PayPal.
Wall Street Journal hits the nail on the head:
In making Sonia Sotomayor his first nominee for the Supreme Court yesterday, President Obama appears to have found the ideal match for his view that personal experience and cultural identity are the better part of judicial wisdom.
The Obama’s are just like you and me… and Elle Woods.
Michelle Obama has taken casual to a haute new level.
While volunteering Wednesday at a D.C. food bank, the First Lady sported her usual J.Crew cardigan, a pair of utilitarian capri pants and, on her feet, a sneaky splurge: trainers that go for $540.
Yeah… it’s old news by now… but just like a Missisippi State loss, I have to bring it up on the blog.
That’s one savior you got there.
For all that I loathe about President Obama, the high-speed rail proposal has me pretty excited. Consider it the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System of our generation.
Anyone who has ever taken the Eurostar or TGV out of or into London or Paris
Can you imagine Birmingham to Atlanta in 1 hour 45 minutes? Seattle to Portland in 2 hours 45 minutes?
No traffic.
No airport-like security checkpoint.
Wireless Internet.
Food carriage with snacks, meals, and drinks.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.
Obama might be proposing crazy things, but this is one crazy thing I hope succeeds.
Georgetown University says it covered over the monogram “IHS‖symbolizing the name of Jesus Christ—because it was inscribed on a pediment on the stage where President Obama spoke at the university on Tuesday and the White House had asked Georgetown to cover up all signs and symbols there.
Sure hope God doesn’t cover up Obama’s name in the Book of Life.
I’ve got symbol I’d like to cover up for eternity.
Stimulus? U.S. to buy Chinese condoms, ending 300 Alabama jobs. Barack rhymes with something… but this is a family blog, and, well I just can’t type that.
That’s the dilemma for the folks at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has distributed an estimated 10 billion U.S.-made AIDS-preventing condoms in poor countries around the world.
But not anymore.
In a move expected to cost 300 American jobs, the government is switching to cheaper off-shore condoms, including some made in China.
President Barack Obama called Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver to apologize Thursday night over his remarks comparing his bowling to Special Olympics.
Obama called before the remarks aired on the Tonight Show and invited some Special Olympics athletes to the White House for basketball or bowling.
Speeches don’t equal solutions. Poor fella can’t talk his way out of this…
The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization says he is “deeply disappointed and concerned” after a meeting with President Obama…
A wonderful short piece by The Weekly Standard about Obama acting un-Obama-ish… all the time:
2. Doing the opposite. Obama insists he’s not in favor of big government, then proposes a 10-year budget with vast amounts of new spending and a vastly expanded role for government. He denounces distractions that keep everyone from focusing on significant issues, but his White House aides cause a huge controversy by calling Rush Limbaugh the leader of the Republican party. He promises bipartisanship but doesn’t practice it. He’s against earmarks but refuses to call on Congress to strip them from the “omnibus” spending bill. He’s the enemy of “business as usual” in Washington, but the way he conducts his presidency is business as usual. He’s for making “tough choices,” but doesn’t make many. He’s for “fiscal responsibility” but . . . well, you get the drift.
What’s the difference between Obama and Jesus? Jesus knew how to build a cabinet.
At least Bush provided a consistent, sound message.
Confronting misgivings, even in his own party, President Barack Obama mounted a stout defense of his blueprint to overhaul the economy Thursday, declaring the national crisis is “not as bad as we think” and his plans will speed recovery.
Obama’s safety net: the TelePrompter
But be it extra precaution, style or a mental crutch, Obama has shown in the past that he needs the teleprompter. And while he still has his prepared remarks placed on the podium in a leather folder, the White House has shown no sign of trying to wean him off of it.
Before Obama entered a room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Wednesday to announce his crackdown on defense contracts, a CNN reporter asked an Obama aide if the teleprompter could be moved further away from the podium or lowered. The answer was an unequivocal ‘no.’
“He uses them to death,†a television crewmember who also covered the White House under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush said of the teleprompter. “The problem is, he never looks at you. He’s looking left, right, left, right — not at the camera. It’s almost like he’s not making eye contact with the American people.â€
Love this.
Via McSweeney’s: In January 2009, McSweeney’s and 826 National published Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids’ Letters to President Obama, edited by Jory John. Since the publication of the book, Mr. John has continued to collect kids’ letters to Obama…
Dear President Obama,
I hope you will enjoy your four years as president. I’m sure you are going to try your best to help us out of this situation. I wrote to ask you a few personal questions outside of being president. Trust me, it helps to get your mind off work once in a while.
I’m only in sixth grade and sometimes thinking about school drives me over the deep end. Anyway, I think it’s tough to be president because of the fact that no one sees you as a real person anymore. If you can take a minute, please read the following questions and comments so maybe your mind can drift a little bit.
First, I’d like to ask you what candy you like. My favorite are those gummy bears that come in a whole variety of flavors. Orange flavor is my favorite. I bet you like grape. Then again, you may not even like gummies.
Something unique about me is that I’m an honor-roll student with a grade average of 4.0. For fun, I like to climb high into my willow tree and then find a firm branch and sit on it. It is peaceful. Will you have a peaceful place to sit in the White House?
Lastly, I’ll tell you about the big city of Ann Arbor and how things flow there. Two thousand eight was a large year for doing such things as going to the symphony and eating out for dinner. The museums are packed and everyone is complaining about the Wolverines’ season. I guess that’s Ann Arbor for you.
I thank you for taking the time to read and hope you have a marvelous 2009!
Thank you,
Alex Maranville, age 11
Ann Arbor
Via Reuters:
Bill Clinton declared more than a decade ago “the era of big government is over.” With his new budget, President Barack Obama has brought it back.
Article: Lawyer says Guantanamo abuse worse since Obama
Abuses began to pick up in December after Obama was elected, human rights lawyer Ahmed Ghappour told Reuters. He cited beatings, the dislocation of limbs, spraying of pepper spray into closed cells, applying pepper spray to toilet paper and over-forcefeeding detainees who are on hunger strike.
