Barack Obama
President Barack Obama must start every day wondering what could go wrong next.
His list of priorities includes two wars, a fierce battle over heath care, a struggling economy, a grim forecast for the midterm elections and questions about security — his during White House parties and the nation’s with regard to terrorists who manage to slip through all levels of protection with bomb-filled britches.
The political soap opera involving impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich caused a ripple effect in the U.S. Senate.
Blagojevich was governor when it was time to replace President Barack Obama in the Senate. Despite advice, warnings and political threats to not make an appointment to Obama’s vacated Senate seat, Blagojevich did.
Throughout the 2008 election campaign and ever since the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama, I have heard politicians, pundits and prognosticators talk about the need for a “bipartisan” government approach to solve the problems facing the U.S.
Now I just need to know what that means, if it ever existed and whether it really represents a good thing.
Putting a period, somewhat after the fact, to one of the silliest rumor campaigns in the history of American presidential politics, a federal judge in Washington concluded March 5 that it was beneath the dignity of his bench to hear a lawsuit challenging Barack Obama’s by-birth right of eligibility for the Oval Office.
An editorial in the Jan. 15 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times focused on the paper’s hopes for the coming administration with regard to closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
But tying together the writer’s thoughts on “Gitmo” and what caught my eye about the editorial was this statement: “Our hope is that by conducting a national civics lesson, President Obama will bring the nation closer together.”
Nobody likes a good party better than I do.
But I intend to accept the invitation I received to attend events related to the presidential inauguration.
I understand the historical significance of this inauguration. And I think as historical events go in the U.S., inaugurations probably sit near the top of the list. The thing is that I cannot afford to attend.
Every time I read or hear someone talk about the great leaps forward made in race relations, I scratch my head.
It doesn’t take long for me to get a reminder that most folks still instinctively judge others by the color of their skin or the sound of their voice.
What makes this most frustrating is that many times the people displaying the ignorance and insensitivity have been cast as intelligent, upstanding, decent people, and they often achieve high levels of authority.
The political deck of cards can shuffle pretty quickly in America, and no one knows that better right now than President-elect Barack Obama.
He better enjoy his deli-bought corned beef sandwiches while he can. Despite the Republican leadership’s vow to cooperate in these troubled times, methinks nothing would make the GOP rank-and-file happier than for the Democrats and their standard-bearer to have to eat some crow.
The votes are counted and the Barack Obama is president-elect. What are your thoughts about the historic 2008 election? Start a dialogue here about the changes that Americans, and the world, now face.
