President Obama – Fighting Words!

“I think it’s fair to say that I have gone out of my way in every instance — sometimes at my own political peril and to the frustration of Democrats — to work with Republicans to find common ground to move this country forward. Each time, what we’ve seen in games-playing, a preference to try to score political points rather than actually get something done.” – President Obama

The New Obama Model… With a Backbone

If they are wearing that uniform - they deserve a little love and respect from the rest of us.

President Obama siad something last night that the so-called commentators in the MSM should have been shouting from the rafters -

“We don’t believe in the kind of smallness that says it’s okay for a stage full of political leaders — one of whom could end up being the president of the United States — being silent when an American soldier is booed. We don’t believe in that,” said Obama to loud cheers and a standing ovation.

“We don’t believe in standing silent when that happens. We don’t believe in them being silent since. You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it’s not politically convenient. We don’t believe in a small America. We believe in a big America — a tolerant America, a just America, an equal America — that values the service of every patriot.”

Obama needs to include this in every speech. The inaction by the 8 people standing on that stage at the Republican Debate is despicable, and shows just how little of their opposition to President Obama, and their morality is based on any legitimate desire for change in policies. The 8 Republican dwarfs are nothing more than a pack of cheap political whores who would sell our service members down the river at a moments notice. Further – the Tea Party isn’t about America…It’s about racism, divisiveness, and hate.

Tavis Smiley and Sheila Jackson Lee on Obama’s CBC Speech

No surprise here with Tavis having heartburn with the speech President Obama made before the Congressional Black Caucus. What is interesting is Sheila Jackson Lee’s response…

With 40 members in the House – seems to me the CBC could be quite effective at taking out some of the trash, in terms of tying the Tea Party Rethugs in knots. Why won’t they do that?

Morgan Freeman on Piers Morgan on Tea Party/Republicans Opposition to Obama – “It IS a Racist Thing”

I think Morgan Freeman says what a lot of black folks think, and white folks know…

Cornel West Interview By Martin Bashir – “Wall Street Greed”

I am coming to feel that Martin Bashir is by far, MSNBC’s best interviewer. Bashir is on point, is aware of the facts, and is willing to confront bull.

In this clip, Cornel West discusses Obama’s recent discovery of a spine (the verdict is still out on that one), the vast wealth and income disparity that is a legacy of Raygun, and the need for Civil Disobedience to fight back …

An Angry Black Man as President

Giant Negro Alert! An Angry Black Man – an image President Obama has tried desperately to escape by “Milquetoasting” himself into near electoral and Presidential oblivion…

Has finally peeked through.

John McWhorter made his chops by criticizing the black community and black students as anti-education. He was instantly lauded as a darling of the right, quoted in virtually every right-wing publication in the country. Probably one of the most “literate” writers in America, his writing can vary from the sublime to the utterly literally obtuse. McWhorter isn’t exactly a card carrying member of the Project 21 Lawn Jockey Squad – he’s a guy akin to Juan Williams who is, somewhere in what was, before our politics became so polarized – that middle to moderate. Which means to this Blogger – sometimes he’ll piss you off, and sometimes he’ll say something that you feel is dead right. It’s what our political spectrum used to be about before Karl Rove.

The great lie in this country is that “politics has become polarized” as both sides have moved to the extremes. It is a lie because the Left really hasn’t gone anywhere. The right in this country has made a leap out into the world of the tin foil hats – which just makes traditional left positions seem further away. What can you say of a group which has so polarized itself that any Republican wandering from the orthodoxy is labelled as a RINO and targeted for electoral elimination by his own party – and even staunch Republicans like Lamar Alexander are willing to leave their Senate Leadership positions because of the polarization his party forces upon him?

The Tea Party in this country is a rabid dog. Proof of that? Here and here and here. The only solution to dealing with a proverbial “rabid dog”…

Is the proverbial “2 x 4 between the eyes”. To paraphrase a quote by Ben Franklin – “No amount of reason can get a person out a position reason didn’t get them in in the first place.”

One of those times McWhorter gets it right.

It’s Time We Had an Angry Black President

The president has been talking some new talk. He should keep it up, and even step it up.

Obama rode in on his vaunted oratorical abilities, but the kind of ability we fell in love with him for is no longer of any use. The calls for unity, the echoes of Martin Luther King Jr., the rising above it all — it was great then, and maybe there will be a time for more of it in some years. But only after some new things have happened. And if they’re going to, Obama needs to retool his oratorical chops for a new style. I highly suspect that he’s up to it.

The present-day Republican establishment, with its know-nothing ideology and blithe absence of concern for most American human beings, has become tragically similar to the famously inert, heartless Senate of the Gilded Age, which for decades killed almost all progressive legislation even when it had been carefully hammered out in the House. The problem continued into the 1960s, before which the Senate was run by old-style Southern Democrat committee chairmen who for generations resisted, among other things, serious race-based legislation.

The president had no way of knowing that he would be up against as hollow-hearted and anti-intellectual a contingent as the Tea Partiers. But as of the debt-ceiling negotiations, it has become clear to all of us — Obama included — that we’re not going to be rising above much of anything anytime soon.

It’s time for the president to fight fire with fire, and he can accomplish much of it with a new way of talking. Obama needs to take a cue from the way even top-level politicians communicate in Parliament debates in the United Kingdom: a feisty, often almost heckling style of debate and address in which words and phraseology are wielded as weapons.

We saw hints in his jobs speech two weeks ago that the president is finally understanding this. “I know that some of you have sworn oaths to never raise any taxes on anyone for as long as you live,” he addressed to a particular stripe of Republican, with a quiet smirk.

Good line. Many of them must have felt a touch silly having that fact pinned overtly upon them. Many people going along to get along would be shocked to have someone follow them all day for a week with a mirror so that they could watch themselves acting as they do.

Students working in a classroom with a large mirror on the wall have been shown to perform better. This kind of rhetoric can help change people, change minds and thus foster change.

Mr. President, along these lines, please start calling some names. This week’s callout to Speaker of the House John Boehner was a good start, when you proclaimed about his intransigence: “That’s not smart. It’s not right.” The Republicans have had no compunction about lobbing dirt at you; at this point you must do some of the same to avoid seeming — and thus, in many ways, being — weak.. (Catch the rest over at The Root)

President Obama – “Bootlegging At the White House!”

Oh My! When the Tea Bagged set finds out the Chefs at the White House have been brewing their own special homebrew beer for the President and his guests, the Rethugs in Congress will undoubtedly want a full Congressional investigation of the “Al Capone” President! Undoubtedly, the White House recently had to purchase the Presidential Buses because the normal Presidential Limo, nicknamed “The Beast” is just too small to deliver the goods across the DC line to Maryland and Virginia…

Next, Michelle bachman and Hermain Cain will be accusing President Obama of turning the White House into a Speakeasy! Cantor and the House Tea Baggers have promised to  set in motion a bill to bring back Prohibition to be introduced on the floor of the House any day now.

Medal of Honor Awardee, Dakota Meyer Has a Beer With President Obama

White House brewing its own beer

Former Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer, who was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Thursday, had a simple but unusual request when White House staffers talked to him a few days ago, reports CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante.

Meyer said he would like to have a beer with the president.

Great idea- right? And how could the president refuse?

So it happened. Mr. Obama and the war hero hung out together on the patio outside the Oval Office.

Wondering what brand they were drinking? Are you ready?

It was — the White House’s own brew, made with equipment the Obamas bought with their own money — the first beer ever made at the White House, according to historians.

It is White House Honey Ale.

It was the first beer served at the Super Bowl party. A very small batch — 90-100 bottles — all consumed that day.

The White House chefs have been brewing since, a little at a time. There was some for St. Patrick’s Day, another batch in June, and the beer served to Sgt. Meyer.

And just for the record: Home-brewing is legal in Washington, D.C.

World Stocks Fall On Fears Tea Baggers Will Kill Jobs Bill

Now looking to do for the world what they have done for the US in damaging US creditworthiness…

Foreign Investors join their American counterparts in  no longer believing Tea Party majority US Congress will do the right things for the US or World economy.

The Tea Baggers are idealoges, clinging to a thoroughly discredited mantra bent on destroying the Governemnt – and who are doing, and have done more damage to the United States…

Than Al Quaeda.

That “credible terrorist threat” reported by Law Enforcement on the 10th anniversay of 9-11 isn’t radicalized Muslims…

It’s radicalized Republicans.

World Stocks Fall On Fears That U.S. Jobs Plan Will Stall In Congress

World stocks fell Friday on investor worries that a U.S. plan to stimulate jobs and growth will be held up in Congress and may not be followed fast enough by action from the Federal Reserve.

The euro hit six-month lows against the dollar and the yen with more falls likely after the European Central Bank shifted away from further rises in interest rates, a key driver in the single currency’s rally this year.

U.S. shares were poised for a weaker open, extending Thursday’s falls after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke left the door open for new stimulus measures but stopped short of signaling the central bank would take the plunge.

Markets are concerned that President Barack Obama’s proposed $447 billion package of tax cuts and spending plans aimed at boosting growth and job creation could be hamstrung by political wrangling.

“Investors are holding back…There isn’t any reason to commit until you can see credible policies,” Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management, said.

“Bernanke was never going to say anything. He made it clear at Jackson Hole he was pushing it back to the politicians. Obama has come up with this stimulus package. We now have to digest what effect this will have, assuming it is passed.”

European shares fell as much as 1.1 percent, pulling down the MSCI world equity index 0.7 percent. S&P index futures were last down 0.6 percent, pointing to a lower start on Wall Street.

Market confidence has been fragile this week due to growing concerns over the global economy and Europe’s debt crisis, with Friday’s deadline for bond holders to decide on Greece’s swap offer adding to the nervousness.

Martin Bashir Obliterates Tea Bagger Joe Walsh

Martin takes a while – but eventually gets to the nub of the issue…

Maxine Waters on President Obama – “We’re Gettin’ Tired Y’all”

I think Maxine is speaking to a fast growing segment of the black community who are tired of a black President who can’t stand up, and won’t address the issues…

So What’s the Gas Mileage on this Bad Boy, Again?

The President Obama buses are causing quite a stir. Tricked out with special paint, and some serious high-tech gadgets the Secret Service will barely even allude to, these bad boys are apparently able to get on down the road if necessary.

Drawing from what is known about “the Beast” – the Presidential Limousine, we can deduce that the Bus has some pretty serious armament, possibly including 8″ thick armor plate, to go along with the “bulletproof  glass” windows. The interesting thing is that it is designed not to show much on the outside.

One of the interesting things about the two vehicles (there is a red one and a black one) is that no markings or stickers are allowed on the vehicles.

They are now saying they are going to let the Republican Presidential candidate ride in one of these?

I hope the interior is designed to be hosed out.

$1.1 million bus used by Obama has high-tech defenses – but what are they?

The Secret Service refuses to give away many details on the design, but has said it has similar features to Obama’s regular ride, The Beast. The tricked-out Cadillac known as The Beast looks like a regular limousine, but is built more like a tank.

If the Obama Bus is similar to The Beast, it will have tank-like armor and cutting edge technology. For example, The Beast has 8-inch thick armor-plated sides, special bulletproof glass, and Kevlar-reinforced tires. The tires are mounted on specially designed rims that can continue to drive even if the tires are missing.

Like The Beast, the bus is probably airtight, and likely has an advanced fire suppression system, oxygen tanks, and is built to withstand a chemical attack.

In case of a medical emergency, bags of Obama’s blood are likely carried onboard just as they are in The Beast.

With more room than The Beast, the bus will probably have more defensive tricks up its sleeves than The Beast’s night vision cameras, shotguns, and tear-gas cannons.

The electronics and communications are no doubt state of the art, and are sure to replicate The Beast’s direct satellite phone line to the Vice President and the Pentagon.

The Secret Service used a fund for transportation and armored vehicles to buy two of these buses from the Hemphill Brothers Coach Company for a total of $2,191,960. No word on whether the company will make more, but Cadillac said they would not make The Beast for any private customers or foreign country saying the design is “very private and secretive.” Chances are these buses are two of a kind and will remain so.

While $2.2 million may sound expensive, it is expected to be cheaper than the normal leased buses over a ten year span, and a Secret Service official implied leased buses aren’t safe enough, saying, “we have not been satisfied with the level of protection offered by leased buses.”

And they aren’t just for the President. The second bus is expected to be used by the Republican presidential candidate and both will eventually be used for visiting dignitaries and future officeholders and candidates.

But until the Secret Service releases more details, the real technology inside the Obama bus will remain a mystery.

Is Obama Another Jimmy Carter?

The base is getting restless – and frustrated by repeat failures by President Obama to grab the Bull by the Horns – folding up his tent and running away at the first sign of Republican resistance…

The real key to Obama’s election chances are in his support by minority groups. Among Hispanics, his approval rating is falling rapidly. While Hispanics are unlikely to vote in the republican Lynch Mob – that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t embrace a Democrat Primary challenger or a Third Party.

Black folks also are growing weary of President Obama’s “punking out” on issue after issue.  The Republican talking point is that it is the economy and jobs. Black folks know full well who is going to be last in line for those jobs should Republicans gain control. So – even though President Obama isn’t seen as making much progress, there is a big difference in being goverened by the well meaning but weak willed and ineffective…

And the strong willed who are out to kill you.

Democrats doubt Barack Obama’s reelection chances

President Barack Obama is facing mounting doubts within his own party about his re-election prospects, with fellow Democrats beginning to ask if Hillary Clinton would have made a better president.

Mr Obama’s capitulation to Republicans in the recent tussle over deficit reduction is being seen as the lowest point of his presidency and the latest in a series of blows to the liberal agenda.

Faced with the staunch opposition of the Tea Party contingent of the Republican Party, he agreed to widespread cuts in government spending without winning any revenue increases in exchange.

Finding it hard to defend his often listless and repetitive performances, Democratic strategists and commentators are privately agreeing with Republicans and comparing Mr Obama to Jimmy Carter, another Democrat who remains the post-war benchmark for a failed president.

“He is a do-gooder at heart,” said Morris Reid, a Washington consultant and former Clinton official. “He thinks everyone has the same agenda to do the right thing, but other people don’t have the same agenda. Their agenda is to score points and get their party re-elected.

“This is the downside of him not being terribly political like Bill Clinton was. Bill Clinton woke up every day relishing this kind of fight, and Hillary is just a tougher person. The Clintons are much more combative, they are always ready to go to Defcon 1 (‘war is imminent’ state).”

Mr Reid added that the president remained a formidable campaigner and fund-raiser and should not be ruled out of the fight in 2012. But he said some Democrats were feeling “buyer’s remorse” for selecting the president in his epic battle with Mrs Clinton for the 2008 Democratic nomination.

“The notion everyone is talking about is ‘is he Jimmy Carter or will he be a one-term president’,” he said.

Gary Pearce, a Democratic strategist in North Carolina, a swing state Mr Obama is likely to struggle to retain in 2012, said: “Democrats are worried. He looks weak, he doesn’t say anything that grabs you, and people are looking for some kind of magic.”

He said some activists were asking “do we need someone tougher to fight the tea party?” “You see a yearning for a Bill Clinton-type approach and Hillary would reflect that. Obama is just a different political animal, he is a low-key guy,” he added.

Mr Obama’s approval rating has fallen dramatically since the killing of Osama bin Laden in early May, and he has failed to outline a vision for how he will improve chronic unemployment and a housing market in which one if five mortgage holders are in negative equity.

A 2012 primary challenge by Mrs Clinton is currently regarded as unlikely, but growing number of party activists and old hands are hoping that she changes her mind.

On his nightly television show, liberal host Bill Maher dismissed Mr Obama as a Republican, and asked his panel if Mrs Clinton would have made a better president.

“Yes,” replied astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, an African American astrophysicist and broadcaster, adding that the Secretary of State would have been “a more effective negotiator in the halls of Congress”.

Steve Harvey Hammers Cornel West and Tavis Smiley

Things are truly getting hot in here! I was also a former fan of Cornel West, until he turned into a sanctimonious boob. Not quite ready to go as far as Harvey – because some of the criticism leveled at President Obama certainly is legitimate in my view. Plus, there are plenty of Jockey Suited Lawn Ornament types much, much, more deserving of the approbation “Tom”.

Steve Harvey: Cornel West, Tavis Smiley are ‘Uncle Toms’

During his syndicated radio show, comedian Steve Harvey called out Cornel West and Tavis Smiley for their poverty bus tour, while defending President Barack Obama.
After a listener sent an email about the duo’s tour being a hustle, Harvey didn’t shy away for offering his own opinion — accusing West and Smiley for using personal vendettas to damage the Obama’s name.

“I was a huge fan of Cornel West,” he said. “[But] Tavis, I seen him coming a mile away. His anger started when he had a town hall meeting, President Obama couldn’t come because of the campaign trail and he sent Mrs. Obama. He has held that grudge every since.”
The writer and comedian also mocked West for not getting extra tickets to Obama’s inauguration. Harvey said, “Have you ever been invited to the damn inauguration? Did Bush send for you? Did Clinton send for you? Did Reagan send for you?”
Harvey continued his rant by referring to Smiley and West as being affiliated with UTLO.org (which stands out for “Uncle Tom Look Out”).
Harvey mocked the tour by saying, “Make sure you don’t get on the poverty bus… because if you ain’t po’, when you ride the bus, you become po’.”

Pat Buchanan Calls President Obama…”Boy”

Conservatives really have to quit trying to be cool by using slang either developed in the black community, or colloquialisms which have racial undertones.

I mean – why go there, when so obviously ill equipped? Obviously this was a shot by Buchanan to try and get under Sharpton’s skin…

But…Damn.

Here’s “Punchdrunk Pat” Buchanan…

Pat Buchanan Calls Obama ‘Your Boy’ To Al Sharpton, Clarifies Remark 

Pat Buchanan was forced to clarify some potentially controversial remarks he made on MSNBC Tuesday night.

Buchanan was on Al Sharpton’s 6 PM show, having a very boisterous discussion with the Rev. about President Obama’s debt deal. Sharpton was defending Obama’s handling of the situation, and Buchanan was challenging his interpretation of events. He brought up the issue of the Bush tax cuts.

“And let me tell you, your boy, Barack Obama, caved in on it in 2010 and he’ll cave in on it again,” he said. Sharpton looked shocked.

“My what? My president Barack Obama? What did you say?” he asked. “He’s your boy in the ring, he’s your fighter,” Buchanan responded.

“He’s nobody’s boy,” Sharpton thundered back. “He’s your president and he’s our president. And that’s what y’all have got to get through your head.”

On Wednesday’s “Morning Joe,” Buchanan sought to clarify his remarks.

“I was asked who was the big losers in these battles and the big winners, and I said one of the big losers, using boxing terminology, was ‘your boy,’ and I meant the president of the United States,” he said. “Rev. Sharpton said my boy is the president of the United States and he’s doing a rope-a-dope in the Ali fashion and he’s going to finish off your crowd. Now this was taken, some folks took what I said as some kind of slur. None was meant, none was intended, none was delivered, for the record.”

 

Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn Calls President Obama…A Tar Baby

Republican Tea Bagger types really can’t get their wee weenies out of their mouths.

The problem here isn’t the use of the term “Tar Baby” to describe a particularly intractable problem or messy issue that sucks you into a morass… Ala “the debt ceiling debate has become a real political tar baby for anyone who jumps in with an opinion.”

It’s personalizing it and calling the President himself a “Tar Baby”, which converts it into a racially derogatory term.

This guy is a right wingdizzie Republican, and a Tea Party favorite – so we already know there is a 99% chance he is a bigot. However – even right wing whackjobs like Mr. Lamborn have become pretty sensitive to the political implications of “bigot speak”. But an intelligent right wing whack job…

Is a bit of an oxymoron in the first place.

So here we have yet another example of Republican racist foot in mouth disease.

Doug Lamborn, Colorado Congressman, Refers To Obama Dealings As Being Stuck To A ‘Tar Baby’

Congressman Doug Lamborn, U.S. Representative for Colorado, was recently on the 630 KHOW Capils and Silverman radio show discussing President Obama, the President’s economic policies, and the debt ceiling deals being debated. Lamborn used a controversial phrase to describe working with the President:

Even if some people say, ‘Well the Republicans should have done this or they should have done that,’ they will hold the President responsible. Now, I don’t even want to have to be associated with him. It’s like touching a tar baby and you get it, you’re stuck, and you’re a part of the problem now and you can’t get away. I don’t want that to happen to us, but if it does or not, he’ll still get, properly so, the blame because his policies for four years will have failed the American people.