#SWAG

The 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, takes the Oath of Office on January 21, 2013.

My President is Black, y’all. #damnyouautocorrect

My President is Back, y’all.

Re-elected with a mandate; riding an electoral tsunami to his highest popularity ratings since 2009; delivering policy speeches writ like poetry and spoken like jazz, “from Seneca Falls to Selma to Stonewall,”; beating his political opponents into impotent saber-rattling even as they parrot his ideas to their masters; and moving to fulfilling promises from his first term in the opening month of his second; Barack 2 promises to be a sequel worthy of the Godfather II, or, dare I say it, The Empire Strikes Back.

But his re-election, and the sweeping vision he’s been liberated to express for the nation by our votes and support, is in danger. In the joyous, languorous afterglow of securing President Obama’s job for four more years, let us not ignore the assault which continues unabated by hyper-conservative Republican legislators and legislatures across the nation on the state level: the attempts to disenfranchise people of color and poor voters; the legislative circumlocution which is creating “safe” districts for congressional Republicans even as they garner fewer and fewer votes; the outlawing of women’s reproductive health centers; and the manufactured obstinance against responsible gun ownership which continues to hide behind an ignorant and purposeful misreading of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, even as our babies are dying in the streets, malls and schools of America.

Yes, just like I told you in 2009 when I got back from listening to President Obama’s First Inaugural on the National Mall, his Second Inaugural was fantastic. But we must continue to work (including #OperationBlueSweep2014) to make sure that his second term is, too.

Yes, We Can.

Round Two

I wrote, shortly after returning from the National Mall with Barack, Michelle and two million of my fellow Americans, about my reaction to President Obama’s First Inaugural. In a few months, while I may be doing so from the comforts of my living room or office, I will be writing about my reactions to his second.
Despite attempts by self-interested peddlers of white skin privilege and Machiavellian manipulators of language and truth, President Barack Obama will be re-elected and will serve out a second term more successful than his first. And the next four years, sure to be filled as were the first four by Republican legislative intransigence and delegitimizing attempts by merchants of economic self-hate parading as sympathetic and sycophantic reporters of the nation’s demise, will see his agenda entrenched, his accomplishments enshrined, and his vision of an America stronger than the one he was given codified.
It has been a privilege working to re-elect President Barack Obama. Tomorrow night, as he gives his acceptance speech, listen close.
Underneath the soaring rhetoric and political acumen, you’ll hear the bell ringing for Round Two.

The Art of (What Is) Possible

President Obama was correct two years ago, in his State of the Union address to Congress, to state that “the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign companies — to spend without limit in our elections,” Obama said. “Well, I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, and worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.”

They’re being criticized, though, because he and the Democratic Party are working with the Democratic SuperPAC Priorities USA Action. Another specious argument that doesn’t deal with the reality of politics in the modern age.  Just as when then-Senator Obama opted out of public financing of his presidential campaign, his political opponents and detractors want him to compete without the same resources that they are entitled to. In today’s post, the Latino Rebels attempt to say that the President’s use of fundraising (that has proven so effective for the GOP candidates as they bash each other in the primaries) through SuperPACS “just confirms what is still wrong with Washington”.

As long as it is legal to raise money, whether through individual donors or SuperPACs, the President should use every means at his disposal to win reelection. He is still working, at the same time, to have the Citizens United decision negated legally, even if that means a Constitutional amendment.

It is important to recognize that the President doesn’t magically appear on ballots, and votes don’t magically appear for him. Just as he asks his supporters (in emails, lots and lots of emails!) to work each day, so is and should he for his reelection. It is fantasy to think that he should not take part in the politics of politics.

He is the President of the United States. And he’s working to get a second term. Fundraise away!

Why I Unfollowed Bill Maher and Cornel West

There are many people who are unhappy with the President of the United States. There are also many people who are unhappy. When the groaners are standing behind you, it’s hard to tell that the expression on their faces doesn’t change, regardless of what they’re saying. When Bill Maher was howling about President Bush, I was right on his team, tuning in every Friday Night to hear his latest screed. And while I knew his politics were a little more libertarian than mine, it didn’t occur to me that his basic career premise for twenty-plus years has been to gripe at whomsoever is in power.

Then President Obama, after a brief honeymoon, began receiving the same treatment. There was no real acknowledgement of a difference. No space for Obama to begin to fix or address the problems and issues left by the last administration. It was “gimme my pot” and “pull out of Iraq yesterday” and “why aren’t you listening to me?” More crying, whining and demanding without recognition of anything done well. It got boring. If I wanted to listen to that, there’s Fox News.

And Brother West. His “critical friendship” leaves no room for opposition. While I’ve been trying to read Race Matters with the made up words he uses in it (and yes, I know, he’s smart enough to actually make up words when he’s got an idea that hasn’t been languaged yet), his constant drumbeat of “what Brother Barack’s not doing” gives me a headache. It’s unfortunate that these two talented individuals find no space to appreciate what has been accomplished, and instead rely on collecting funds and paychecks by harping on what isn’t happening.

But that’s why I unfollowed (in all senses of the word) both of them. They are a little disingenuous and they made my head hurt.

OBAMA 2012

The President of the United States is only running against one person next year – himself.  And while his leadership has been questioned, by Democrats, Republicans, people in between and people on the extremes, it is ultimately his own record which will determine whether or not he gets reelected in 2012.

Of late, there have been a good number of progressives disappointed in him for not being as progressive as they are: Lt. Dan Choi was irritated with the lack of movement on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; Representative Kucinich is raising the question of impeachment over the United States’ bombardment of Libya; in these very pages, I myself have been disappointed at some of his administration’s actions over the past two years.

And of course, the birthers, the Teahadists, political opponents and haters-at-large who have been calling for his brown head, or his “most liberal” head, or his “fascist communist” head, have been calling for his removal, impeachment, assassination, etc. since before his election.  Unfortunately for them, their most likely candidate is a serial philanderer whose most recent political experience is resigning from Congress to yell from the sidelines instead of doing the work of the nation.

President Barack Obama hasn’t done all the things I wanted him to do when he was elected.  But he has done a lot of them. And he is guiding the country on the best path back from the brink President Bush abandoned us on.  That’s why the campaign begins now.

OBAMA 2012!

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My Daughter Doesn’t Like Shots, Either

My daughter doesn’t like to get immunizations.  God bless her, she starts tearing up at the mention of going to the doctor’s office, for fear and anticipation of what is to come.  The unfortunate reality, though, is that the immunizations are for her own good, and her mother and I have decided that she is going to get those shots, whether she likes it or not.  The closer we get to the office, the louder and more dramatic the wales become.  The door opens to the office, and she is in full-blown tantrum mode, tears, screams, and screeches.  Yet, we are still moving her toward the office and the needles she so despises and fears.

The Republican Party has taken the lessons my daughter teaches to heart.  “From the mouths of babes,” as the saying goes.  They are crying and screaming, lying and digging in their heels on the ground, saying that Executive Orders “aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on” and attempting to devalue any and every aspect of the current legislation before the House of Representatives which will a) make health coverage accessible to 32,000,000 more American citizens, b) prohibits health plans from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions, c) prohibits health insurance companies from dropping people who get sick, and d) is the first step in a great direction to living up to the purposes stated in the preamble to the Constitution.

Just as my child screams and cries and says whatever she can to avoid the shots she must get, I’m watching Mike Pence and Michelle Bachmann right now, eyes big and lips quavering with demonic and grandiose statements against the health care bill, against Congressman Stupak, against the Congressional Budge Office, against the President’s encroachment on the legislative purview to make law – just a bunch of noise to show their displeasure.  I wonder if the Tea Party protestors who’ve gathered in Washington, D.C., and have decided the best way to protest is to hurl racial epithets (at two black and one latino legislators), to attack a gay congressman for his sexual orientation, and who spit on a member of Congress are taking their lessons from Rep. Bachmann’s language, or Chairman Michael Steele’s language.  Maybe a better quote is something about “the blind leading the blind.”

I’m not worried, though.  After five generations, a President (this one) has gotten Congress to enact health care reform legislation.  So, just like my child, who’s immunizations are covered by my health insurance, by the way, the Republicans are going to get their shots, and they country will be covered.

Even if they don’t like to get the shots they need.

Influencing Iran – Democracy Grows Up

Norm Coleman and Roland Burris have given the United States lessons in civics and procedure, if not in decorum and ethics.  Both these men have pursued through the courts the legal processes which exemplify the rule of law in a democratic State.  President Ahmedinijad has, in recent weeks, been rattling his saber about the interference of “Western Powers” in the internal politics of Iran.  His bluster is as ridiculous as his trademark smirk.  He should be more concerned, though, about the influence of our process on the population that voted Mir Hossein Moussavi as the next President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Though Coleman and Burris disputed their election/appointment to office, their protests wound their way through the courts, and were not forced or enforced at the end of bayonets.  There is a time in every democracy’s growth where the transition from enforcement to the rule of law becomes a necessity to retain the name, and engender the populace with the power of the ballot.  It is watching these processes in the United States, and their absolute dismissal in Iran, that has given Iranians both in their homeland and here, the courage to speak up, to speak out, to stand up and have their voices heard.

The Quick Fix

“President” Barack Obama is not a United States citizen. In a dual press conference with Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday at the G-20 in London, England, the usually eloquent leader of the free world let slip that he was, in fact, born in Kenya, and adopted by Ann Dunham when she married his father in Hawaii. Though the slip of the tongue was brief (he answered, “Yes . . . “ when asked by a British reporter if his birth certificate was indeed a forgery), Mr. Obama later acknowledged in an email sent to his Opportunity for America group that he is, indeed, merely a resident alien who’s application for citizenship was denied by the INS in 2003 due to his vocal opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) moved quickly to address the situation, in a hastily coordinated press conference this morning at 9am (ET). Both men, though, took waiting reporters by surprise. Building on his maverick reputation, Senator McCain announced a new bi-partisan bill to amend the “natural born clause” of the Constitution to allow for Mr. Obama’s continued service to the nation.
“I didn’t really like him, at first, but since we now agree that the fundamentals of the economy are strong, he’s been growing on me. And he’s trying a surge in Afghanistan like I called for in Iraq, so . . . it seems only right to support his presidency in a bi-partisan fashion.”
When asked why he was supporting the bill, Senator McConnell said, “Reid was going to do it, and John was going along, so . . . I’m just getting out there ahead of the curve.” With the numerical superiority enjoyed by the Democrats in both houses of Congress, the bill, nicknamed The Quick Fix, is expected to be voted on later in the afternoon on April 1, 2009.

Following the press conference, Vice-President Biden took the oath of office on the South Lawn of the White House, administered by Chief Justice Roberts. Both men used tele-prompters in order to avoid any constitutional questions. When asked for his comment, the forty-fifth president simply responded, “Mr. Obama will be back in the Oval Office by this time tomorrow, given how quickly my friend John has seen fit to move on The Quick Fix in the Senate. But I’m going to use Air Force One today, just because I can.”

President Biden and Dr. Biden will be moving into the White House after they return from stone cutting celebrations on Easter Island in South America. Mr. and Mrs. Obama, meanwhile, are trying to find a coach seat to return to the United States as soon as possible. There is no word, yet, on whether the couple and their two girls will remain in the Washington area until The Quick Fix is voted on, or whether they’ll retire to Chicago to wait out the storm.

As an ardent supporter of President Obama (yes, I’m still going to call him that because I know The Quick Fix will pass), I’m a little bothered by the fact that he lied about his birth. Just like I’m sure you’re a little bothered by the fact that today is April Fools:)

Following Thomas Jefferson

Hillary Clinton has been accused in recent years of riding coattails and following big men through the doors of power.  For her historic candidacy for the Democratic Nomination, she was eschewed and derided, told to “iron shirts” and mocked for choking up.  On these very pages, she was told to step aside once the nomination was secured, rather than hold her personal ambition up over the good of the Party and the Nation.  And while the path she trods now is not the one she’d have chosen had she been able to write the script, it seems that she, like President Obama, can look to the past perhaps to see her future.

Thomas Jefferson was a young man when he was tasked with writing the Declaration of Independence.  Thirteen years later, when George Washington was elected unanimously to lead our infant nation, Jefferson was tapped to serve as the first Ambassador of the United States to the world.  Much like Secretary Clinton is at this very moment traversing Asia, signing accords to draw down US military presence in Japan while “extending the hand” to North Korea, visiting the President’s childhood home in Indonesia and navigating the United States’ role in South Korea, Jefferson was sent abroad soon after his swearing in to make plain the intentions of the United States to those corners of the world concerned with our intent and prescient enough to understand that we had achieved “that separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Nature’s God entitle[d]” us.  Jefferson’s service then moved closer to home, as he served the second president, John Adams as Vice President, and being elected as the nation’s third president.

Watching Secretary Clinton step off the plane on her first sojourn as the nation’s ambassador gave me a sense of quiet relief.  The ridiculous nattering about whether she’d be able to subsume her ego to the task, whether she’d chafe working for President Obama, whether there were too many egos on the national security team all fell into white noise.  I do notice, by the way, that none of the skepticism or criticism had to do with her capabilities or dedication to service, which should be the criteria.

Secretary Clinton is, as did Jefferson, representing the United States abroad and assisting the President with foreign policy by applying her acumen to the tasks at hand: Japan, China, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Cuba, Israel and Gaza.  In the next eight years, she will prove as she did in the Senate that she is capable, courageous, personable, intelligent, and successful.

Jefferson moved from State to the White House over the course of twelve years.  I don’t think it will take her that long.  Clinton 2016.  You heard it here first.

Clinton discusses her trip to Asia

Clinton warns against N. Korean missile launch

President Obama approves troop buildup in Afghanistan

Clinton in South Korea

The New Business of Politics

President Obama’s Inaugural Address codified his desire to set the tone in and for the United States of respect, discussion and action.  Both domestically and internationally, his actions have followed his words to the letter.  Despite the continued recalcitrance of individuals like John Boehner and Hamid Karazi who actually have some participatory relevance, and Rush Limbaugh who doesn’t, President Obama has reached not only across the aisle to listen to and engage Republicans with different ideas about how to stimulate the economy, but he’s gone all the way across the street.

It’s sad and funny at the same time, watching the GOP “leaders” deal with this new way of doing business.  I’m sure that across the nation and across the globe, part of the HOPE that was held tight like baited breath was that CHANGE would actually come to the White House.  It has.

Whether beginning his administration by ordering the closing of Guantanamo Bay, the forbiddance of torture, calling bumbling CEOs to account, stimulating the economy despite Republican obstacles, going to listen to the Republican obstacles, speaking for the American people directly to the Muslim and Arab and Middle Eastern populations around the world, speaking to the American people about our national attitudes toward Muslims and others around the world, President Obama is proving that he can do what Senator McCain couldn’t – walk and chew gum concurrently, I mean, do more than one thing at the same time.

And while I am loathe to frame President Obama with negatives, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that he is not what President Bush was: arrogant, ignorant, insulated, perjorative, aggressive or engaging in perfidy.

“There’s a new sheriff in town, and his name is Barack Obama.”

Obama: ‘We don’t have a moment to spare’

How Al-Arabiya got the Obama interview

Obama envoy arrives for talks with Israelis

The GOP grapples with Obama’s charm offensive

Obama tells GOP no compromise on tax rebates