Barack Obama's Inauguration

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I'm somewhat amused at some of the things my friends wrote on their myspaces:

 

...

 

Looks like you should get some new friends. Unless they were all using sarcasm.

 

Naw dude. Don't you know that every time somebody is elected President of the United States that it is always the end of the world and we become a socialist state/totalitarian nation? That shit is for real, yo... No sour grapes or overreacting whatsoever.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Sarah Palin called Glenn Beck directly like 3 times to try and get an interview done (which was eventually done) and he played the recordings today and I kinda felt sorry for her because it was clear that no one in the campaign was doing anything for her at the time and she was forced into doing it herself, which at the same time is pretty amazing. Glenn explained that when interviews are done like that its usually through a handler that pretty much does all the work up to the point where he would introduce her, including all of the calls to set up the interview and the like.

 

I would love to see what she could do in 4 years with more foreign policy experience (The Washington Post suggests she could run in a special election for Ted Stevens Senate seat should he win, which would mean she'd have about the same amount of Senate Experience than Obama had) and running her own campaign instead of being tied to McCain's.

 

Palin/Jindal right now is my dream ticket in 2012, even moreso than having Romney run, unless of course Obama cant keep the economy from completely tanking and then..its Romney due to the Economy.

[Guest]

We will regain seats by 2012. Maybe our majority by 2014. And then the Presidency in 2016. There is too much rebuilding to be done within the party to be thinking about the 2012 ticket right now.

 

I'm waiting to see what happens with this economy. It will not turn out well, not through faults of his own, but because the house of cards will collapse and it is not able to be repaired in short order. Fortunately for our chances in later years, it did not fall apart yet.

 

Those in office will take the blame. All of it. And those with the huge majority are Democrats. They can't pull their usual excuses. "We had no cooperation!"

[naiwf 0]

I would love to see what she could do in 4 years with more foreign policy experience.

 

Me too, since Obama would beat her like a drum.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I would love to see what she could do in 4 years with more foreign policy experience.

 

Me too, since Obama would beat her like a drum.

 

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Well...one would assume that she has now learned that Africa is a continent...

 

So the process has begun!!!!

 

In 4 years she'll be in...what? 5th grade?

[CBright7831 0]

I'm somewhat amused at some of the things my friends wrote on their myspaces:

 

...

 

Looks like you should get some new friends. Unless they were all using sarcasm.

I live in TN...go figure.

[Maztinho 0]

One of Utah's Senators pointed out an interesting fact that rarely does a party in power of the Presidency keep power after an 8 year run, so it historically flip-flops, the notable exception being George Bush Sr. whose run was mainly seen as Reagan's third term.

 

I'm too lazy to fact check that, but it's kinda neat.

 

Fake Edit: I think he said since the first World War onwards that's been the case.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Sarah Palin called Glenn Beck directly like 3 times to try and get an interview done (which was eventually done) and he played the recordings today and I kinda felt sorry for her because it was clear that no one in the campaign was doing anything for her at the time and she was forced into doing it herself, which at the same time is pretty amazing. Glenn explained that when interviews are done like that its usually through a handler that pretty much does all the work up to the point where he would introduce her, including all of the calls to set up the interview and the like.

 

Thx for the update, bro. Really interesting story.

[Jingus 0]

Kinda, it's since the second world war. Except for Bush Sr, from Truman onward neither party has had the oval office for more than eight years in a row.

[panthermatt7 0]

I wonder how many people voted for Obama based on his skin color vs. how he stands on the issues?

Obama had a stand on the issues?

 

Seriously, I know someone who said they were voting for Obama, and I asked "So you approve of that refundable tax credit he wants for health care" and got an immediate "Absolutely, great idea." I didn't have the heart to tell them that was part of McCain's proposed health care plan.

 

HA!

 

Question: Does this mean we'll be repealing affirmative action?

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

JHawk pwns noobs.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Well...one would assume that she has now learned that Africa is a continent...

 

So the process has begun!!!!

 

In 4 years she'll be in...what? 5th grade?

 

I would have to think that if she can get in the Senate through Stevens vacated seat, that 3+ years experience in the Senate, which was enough for Obama, would be enough for her to be taken seriously.

 

As far as conceding the Presidency til 2016, they can't do that, and the GOP can't wait til 2012 to start trying to get seats in Congress back. They had to start yesterday for preparations in 2010 midterm elections. I dont see how the Dems can gain more seats for a 3rd straight election with Congress' approval rating actually being worse than it was in 2006 and no real indication that things will be any different than they were for the last 2 years. It will have to have a similar result to Clinton's first two years as president with the Dems in Majority and the GOP took control in 94, which was coincidently the beginning of his better years as President.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Palin is a joke. There's no way around that. A joke with 3 years of Senate experience is still a joke. Perhaps instead of padding her resume...she should work on 2nd grade geography and go from there.

 

I don't see how you can't see that the experience isn't the thing that matters. Voters just told you overwhelmingly that it does not.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I would have to think that if she can get in the Senate through Stevens vacated seat, that 3+ years experience in the Senate, which was enough for Obama, would be enough for her to be taken seriously.

 

Experience in the senate is hardly the difference maker. This woman is an utter embarrassment to her own party.

[haws bah gawd 0]

Fun times with talk radio this morning. A local woman, who sounded "black" called in. The host asked her how she felt about Obama becoming with next president. She then said "Oh, I think it's great! It's great that I don't have to pay taxes or my mortgage anymore!". Seeing how obviously uninformed this woman was, the host then asked her how she felt about Sarah Palin becoming the first female Vice President. She responded with "I think it's great! Obama made a great decision in selecting her!". Sigh.........

 

 

[At Home 0]

Fun times with talk radio this morning. A local woman, who sounded "black" called in. The host asked her how she felt about Obama becoming with next president. She then said "Oh, I think it's great! It's great that I don't have to pay taxes or my mortgage anymore!". Seeing how obviously uninformed this woman was, the host then asked her how she felt about Sarah Palin becoming the first female Vice President. She responded with "I think it's great! Obama made a great decision in selecting her!". Sigh.........

 

 

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Palin is a joke. There's no way around that. A joke with 3 years of Senate experience is still a joke. Perhaps instead of padding her resume...she should work on 2nd grade geography and go from there.

 

I don't see how you can't see that the experience isn't the thing that matters. Voters just told you overwhelmingly that it does not.

 

I dont see how Obama could have won the Dems nomination if he wasn't a US Senator.

[haws bah gawd 0]

I'm sorry, I don't understand the Goldfinger reference.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

And he's the first Senator since Kennedy to win. And his record was his biggest liability. What he's done had virtually nothing to do with the country selecting him the next President.

 

If you don't belong to the conservative right, Palin is an absolute joke. And you can't win over the voters when that's the case. Women came out for...Obama... So any hope of getting those Hillary voters didn't work out.

 

I mean...Palin's great. If they could run a Presidential election where she doesn't open her mouth...yeah...she might have a shot at finishing 3rd.

[cheercomp 0]

I just like that a man, whom is half black half white, and was raised by his white relatives, after his father walked out of his life is still considered "Black" no one ever refers to him as anything else.

 

The same goes for the Asian-American Tiger Woods (except, both his parents raised him)

 

and Halle Berry who was also only raised by her white relatives but still is considered "black"

 

How about we just call Barack the 44th president and not focus on his race, since he is also Caucasian anyway.

 

IDK about this one. Look to the One Drop Rule for explanation. For far too long has a single drop of black blood made a person Black, however once they achieve a level of accomplishment, that historical measure is thrown out and every other ethnicity is highlighted by folks. If he's walking down the street, he's your avg black guy.

He gives praise to his white mother and grandparents, yet in America and to the world, he is defined as a Black man. Nothing wrong with that.

[Skywarp! 0]

blah blah blah you live in America, Obama will be president, he IS your president! GET OVER IT!

 

 

And I just think its amazing a black man did win because lets face it there is a ton of horribly racist people EVERYWHERE. I can wait to see it all just eat away at those people.

 

 

Hear, hear. I'm grinning ear to ear thinking about how the Bushies get to feel for at least four years the same hopelessness and frustration I felt for the better part of a decade. I still remember how utterly flabbergasted I was in the aftermath of Election Day '04, so yeah, I want to see them squirm.

 

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/natio...hitty_enough_to

 

Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress

 

WASHINGTON—After emerging victorious from one of the most pivotal elections in history, president-elect Barack Obama will assume the role of commander in chief on Jan. 20, shattering a racial barrier the United States is, at long last, shitty enough to overcome.

 

Faced with losing everything, Americans took a long overdue step forward and elected Barack Obama.

 

Although polls going into the final weeks of October showed Sen. Obama in the lead, it remained unclear whether the failing economy, dilapidated housing market, crumbling national infrastructure, health care crisis, energy crisis, and five-year-long disastrous war in Iraq had made the nation crappy enough to rise above 300 years of racial prejudice and make lasting change.

 

"Today the American people have made their voices heard, and they have said, 'Things are finally as terrible as we're willing to tolerate," said Obama, addressing a crowd of unemployed, uninsured, and debt-ridden supporters. "To elect a black man, in this country, and at this time—these last eight years must have really broken you."

 

Added Obama, "It's a great day for our nation."

 

Carrying a majority of the popular vote, Obama did especially well among women and young voters, who polls showed were particularly sensitive to the current climate of everything being fucked. Another contributing factor to Obama's victory, political experts said, may have been the growing number of Americans who, faced with the complete collapse of their country, were at last able to abandon their preconceptions and cast their vote for a progressive African-American.

 

After enduring eight years of near constant trauma, the United States is, at long last, ready for equality.

 

Citizens with eyes, ears, and the ability to wake up and realize what truly matters in the end are also believed to have played a crucial role in Tuesday's election.

 

According to a CNN exit poll, 42 percent of voters said that the nation's financial woes had finally become frightening enough to eclipse such concerns as gay marriage, while 30 percent said that the relentless body count in Iraq was at last harrowing enough to outweigh long ideological debates over abortion. In addition, 28 percent of voters were reportedly too busy paying off medical bills, desperately trying not to lose their homes, or watching their futures disappear to dismiss Obama any longer.

 

"The election of our first African-American president truly shows how far we've come as a nation," said NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. "Just eight years ago, this moment would have been unthinkable. But finally we, as a country, have joined together, realized we've reached rock bottom, and for the first time voted for a candidate based on his policies rather than the color of his skin."

 

"Today Americans have grudgingly taken a giant leap forward," Williams continued. "And all it took was severe economic downturn, a bloody and unjust war in Iraq, terrorist attacks on lower Manhattan, nearly 2,000 deaths in New Orleans, and more than three centuries of frequently violent racial turmoil."

 

Said Williams, "The American people should be commended for their long-overdue courage."

 

Obama's victory is being called the most significant change in politics since the 1992 election, when a full-scale economic recession led voters to momentarily ignore the fact that candidate Bill Clinton had once smoked marijuana. While many believed things had once again reached an all-time low in 2004, the successful reelection of President George W. Bush—despite historically low approval ratings nationwide—proved that things were not quite shitty enough to challenge the already pretty shitty status quo.

 

"If Obama learned one thing from his predecessors, it's that timing means everything," said Dr. James Pung, a professor of political science at Princeton University. "Less than a decade ago, Al Gore made the crucial mistake of suggesting we should care about preserving the environment before it became unavoidably clear that global warming would kill us all, and in 2004, John Kerry cost himself the presidency by criticizing Bush's disastrous Iraq policy before everyone realized our invasion had become a complete and total quagmire."

 

"Obama had the foresight to run for president at a time when being an African-American was not as important to Americans as, say, the ability to clothe and feed their children," Pung continued. "An election like this only comes once, maybe twice, in a lifetime."

 

As we enter a new era of equality for all people, the election of Barack Obama will decidedly be a milestone in U.S. history, undeniable proof that Americans, when pushed to the very brink, are willing to look past outward appearances and judge a person by the quality of his character and strength of his record. So as long as that person is not a woman.

 

[At Home 0]

I'm sorry, I don't understand the Goldfinger reference.

 

It's more for the facial expression.

[haws bah gawd 0]

Ah, I see.

[SuperJerk 0]

 

This is absolutely surreal.

 

I don't think Fox News, of all places, would be reporting on this if there weren't some damn good sources. It is absolutely FRIGHTENING how close this woman got to being president of the United States.

 

I want to say that McCain staffers were just spreading these stories so they wouldn't have to take the blame for the botched interviews, but doesn't this just make them look worse?

[Just John 0]

The O'Reilly segment is better. It's like a director's cut.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtxDs3Rk_vE

[SuperJerk 0]

O'Reilly's excuses for Palin are pretty sad, especially the one about Palin not wanting to be prepped for the Couric interview and the way he words things to make it sound like it was just supposed to be a friendly chat instead of a nationally televised news interview.

 

I can understand not needing to know that stuff if you are, say, working the midnight shift at 7-11, but for the chief executive of a state to be this ignorant of social studies in what is essentially a SOCIAL STUDIES JOB is like trying excuse a physicist for not eing able to solve a long division problem.

 

_______________________

 

Here are links to the absolutely appalling stuff Newsweek is reporting:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581/page/1

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167581/page/2

 

(Apalling because it might be true, not because Newsweek is reporting it.)

 

Especially disturbing:

• At the Obama headquarters in midsummer, technology experts detected what they initially thought was a computer virus—a case of "phishing," a form of hacking often employed to steal passwords or credit-card numbers. But by the next day, both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised. A top McCain official confirmed to NEWSWEEK that the campaign's computer system had been hacked and that the FBI had become involved.
• The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle asked a top campaign aide.
• The Obama campaign's New Media experts created a computer program that would allow a "flusher"—the term for a volunteer who rounds up nonvoters on Election Day—to know exactly who had, and had not, voted in real time. They dubbed it Project Houdini, because of the way names disappear off the list instantly once people are identified as they wait in line at their local polling station.

 

This is also bothersome...

• McCain was dumbfounded when Congressman John Lewis, a civil-rights hero, issued a press release comparing the GOP nominee with former Alabama governor George Wallace, a segregationist infamous for stirring racial fears. McCain had devoted a chapter to Lewis in one of his books, "Why Courage Matters," and had so admired Lewis that he had once taken his children to meet him.
• McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.
• On the Sunday night before the last debate, McCain's core group of advisers—Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, adman Fred Davis, strategist Greg Strimple, pollster Bill McInturff and strategy director Sarah Simmons—met to decide whether to tell McCain that the race was effectively over, that he no longer had a chance to win. The consensus in the room was no, not yet, not while he still had "a pulse."

I actually have a little more respect for McCain now, because apparently his team was keeping him in the dark about a lot of this. Still, that's no way to let a campaign be run and I'm glad these people won't be allowed to run the executive branch.

 

 

On McCain and Hillary...

• Obama was never inclined to choose Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate, not so much because she had been his sometime bitter rival on the campaign trail, but because of her husband. Still, as Hillary's name came up in veep discussions, and Obama's advisers gave all the reasons why she should be kept off the ticket, Obama would stop and ask, "Are we sure?" He needed to be convinced one more time that the Clintons would do more harm than good. McCain, on the other hand, was relieved to face Sen. Joe Biden as the veep choice, and not Hillary Clinton, whom the McCain camp had truly feared.
• On the night she officially lost the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton enjoyed a long and friendly phone conversation with McCain. Clinton was actually on better terms with McCain than she was with Obama. Clinton and McCain had downed shots together on Senate junkets; they regarded each other as grizzled veterans of the political wars and shared a certain disdain for Obama as flashy and callow.

 

Some of the stuff they did use wasn't nearly as bad as what they almost did...

• Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain's advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.
• McCain also was reluctant to use Obama's incendiary pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as a campaign issue. The Republican had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism. Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting that Obama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons). And before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a "celebrity" ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).

 

Last but not least...

 

At the GOP convention in St. Paul, Palin was completely unfazed by the boys' club fraternity she had just joined. One night, Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her. After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. "I'll be just a minute," she said.

Edited November 6, 2008 by RobotJerk

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

MSNBC has interviewed a stream of black people as expert talking heads. And a major story has Obama picking a man with a very ethnic sounding name as a member of his staff. I don't see this ending anyone's uneasiness about Obama's background.

 

I am not one of those people BTW.

[Celtic Jobber 0]

I'm disappointed Obama won, but with American Idol as the #1 show in the country, its not a shock that so many people would fall for his empty promises of change without looking into his record as senator, or the fact that David Axelrod came up with Obama's whole gimmick (and thats just what it is).

 

I'm not going to rant, but aside from his "Hussein" rhetoric, this guy pretty much sums up alot of my feelings about the outcome of this election (turn down your volume):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa2Zl4Utndg

[Guest C*Z*E*C*H]

MSNBC has interviewed a stream of black people as expert talking heads. And a major story has Obama picking a man with a very ethnic sounding name as a member of his staff. I don't see this ending anyone's uneasiness about Obama's background.

I like Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff. Now there's a pleasant little man who brings hope and dreams to girls and boys. I think his brother is the basis for Jeremy Piven's character on that stupid HBO show everyone likes, the one with all the hot young men. Real Time with Bill Maher or something?

 

Not sure I totally understand the causal relationship between American Idol and Barack Obama, but of course it's all Axelrod gimmickry. It's frightening to see people I know who are otherwise bright and critical thinkers just falling right in line with the whole shtick, but that's what I've been saying for the last ten months, so whatev. What a well-designed set in Y2Jerk's newest signature, by the way.