They may be loving you overseas, but here at home, we’re still waiting for all that hope and change (there’s more!).
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Archive for the 'obama' Category
This edition goes back a ways, as it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these link roundups…
• A progressive’s response to Democratic campaign donation requests
• Times Free Press: Climate change and fat Tennesseans
• Speaking of fat, follow the link at would you like 1,000 calories with that? and there’s this:
How sloppy is that triple Whopper with cheese? It has 1,250 calories, or 62.5% of the recommended 2,000-calories-per-day diet. The Fried Macaroni and Cheese from the Cheesecake Factory? Try 1,570 calories — according to health experts, you’re better off eating a stick of butter.
Sorry. I hope you weren’t enjoying some fast food crap while you were reading this. But you know, there are healthy alternatives. Maybe if menu labeling laws pass, you might find out about them…
• Blind man sees with tooth eye!
• When’s the last time Mary Landrieu had to take up a collection to pay her medical bills?
• Plane crash survivor’s story
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The White House correspondents’ broke bread together with the President and First Lady on Saturday night. Obama spoke, and was brilliant, but I think he may have actually been upstaged by Wanda Sykes, who took no prisoners! See what you think:
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Oh, happy day! The Obama girls finally have their puppy!
Bo, though he was raised elsewhere, already has a keen sense of who’s in charge inside the Beltway. When the president walked across the room during the visit, Bo followed obediently.
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One of the things I’ve enjoyed so much about this new administration is catching the stray clips of our President on the TV. I don’t even have to know the context to appreciate these moments — I catch them on the evening news or in passing while in waiting rooms. He’s articulate. He can think and talk at the same time. He can speak extemporaneously. He can discuss complicated subjects with reporters and doesn’t need to try and distract them with silly nicknames. He has a command of the details. Intellect is no longer a dirty word.
I was reminded of the contrast between the Obama Oval Office and the previous one when I read this little tidbit, about Bush and the fact that he’s planning to write (heh!) a book:
“I’m going to put people in my place, so when the history of this administration is written at least there’s an authoritarian voice saying exactly what happened,” Bush said.
Reading things like that give me so much pleasure, but only in that they remind me what a tremendous relief it is to no longer have to listen to that man’s tortured attempts at communication every day. We’re only fifty-something days into Obama’s White House tenure — too soon to evaluate this administration’s performance — but we do know that we are no longer dealing with a petulant, bottom-of-his-class, back-of-the-room-wise-cracker with a frat-boy sense of humor and a ham-fisted approach to diplomacy. And that is a terrific relief and an early triumph for us all.
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As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
The complete text is here (with the cool NYTimes treatment!).
Other tidbits: First, this has been a fine way to spend my grandmother’s birthday (woman #4 in photo #2 in this post) She was a groundbreaking woman. Also, check out this wonderful contrast! And here’s Emmie’s take on the day’s events. Here is a good collection of the day’s links, including this cool photo of the crowd.
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I got back from a weekend in the woods (and — gasp! — away from the internet!) early this afternoon. I’ve been unpacking and trying to get caught up in all the various forms of communication since then and all the while, in the background, I’ve been enjoying the coverage from DC. This really is an extraordinary moment in history and I’m often left breathless as I take it all in. Barack Obama represents so many levels of change — not just a huge step toward becoming a post-racial country and a dramatic generational shift, but also, if Obama lives up to his promise, a whole post-partisan, post-petty paradigm that could really, truly make Washington a different place. We have a lot of badness to get through, there’s no getting around that, but after so many years of divisiveness and cynicism (how can people who don’t believe in government do a good job at running a government?), we can, hopefully, at least feel good about the process again.
I am thrilled at the thought that we have elected our first African-American president. That is a huge thing — a breathtaking accomplishment, which takes us a long way toward becoming a true melting pot as a nation. But Barack Obama was not elected because he is a black man — and that is the real transcendent matter here. A hundred years ago, many Americans would never have even considered the possibility that a black person might be superior to all other candidates for a job. But last November, millions of Americans of all shades chose the best person, not the black person, to fill the highest office in our land. It may be a fine distinction, but an important one nonetheless. We’ve finally reached that point described to us by Martin Luther King, Jr. — we live in a nation where we have shown that people can be judged by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin.
The really cool thing, though, is that this moment in time is about far more than inaugurating our first African-American president. It is about change and hope; thoughtful sacrifice and healing; innovation and progress. Barack Obama is many things — one of which is the son of a Kenyan man — but his accomplishments and failures as he governs will be about what he brings to the job, and not about what his parents brought to his conception. He has the potential to join that small number of exceptionally great presidents, bringing much-needed long-term change to the world. This is a point in time that might well end up being one of those major shifts in history that is only really visible from a distance. And we will have been here to see it.
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This week’s Friday Creature post comes courtesy of Nonnie and obamiconme. We’re all pretty excited about the inauguration around here (and happy to hear that my cousin and his son will be there!). Tuesday will be a very good day.
Have a great weekend, everyone! Stay where it’s warm and be safe! More creatures await on the Modulator’s Ark!
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