Right now, the Senate is waffling on their support of President Obama's bold, green economic recovery plan.
Obama and the House of Representatives have already said yes to a green stimulus plan which includes $500 million for the Green Jobs Act! Their recovery plan will create good, green jobs for America - but only if the Senate gets on board now.
I just took action on Green For All's web site. Please do the same: tell your Senators to get on board, and pass Obama's green recovery plan.
And after you send the letter, get on the phone and call your Senators to let them know that you want them to support Obama's economic stimulus plan. Make sure you call your Republican representatives so that they can't bail on Obama like they did in the House.
Van Jones, who heads Green for All, is a leader in connecting Green Jobs and social justice issues.
Last week, Rush Limbaugh actually said that he "hopes" President Obama fails to meet America’s challenges.
Jobs, health care, our place in the world — the stakes for our nation are high and every American needs President Obama to succeed.
Stand strong against Rush Limbaugh’s Attacks — sign our petition, telling Rush what you think of his attacks on President Obama. We’ll send Limbaugh your comments.
But wait...there's more. This is not the most offensive statement that Rush has made this week. He made an appearance on Fox News (natch) with interviewer Sean Hannity and said:
LIMBAUGH: We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles, bend over forward, backward, whichever, because his father was black, because this is the first black president.
Well, looks like some clueless Republicans show their true colors, and resort to sexist personal attacks when their ideas are presented as being bankrupt.
In this clip, Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey tells Joan Walsh what's on his mind after she gave her views on the stimulus package.
"I'm so damn glad you can never be my wife because I surely wouldn't have to listen to that prattle from you every day," Armey told Walsh, editor-in-chief of Salon.com. "That's what I'm talking about -- she's making a political malarkey here."
Watch this clip. The condescension oozes from every pore.
Those House Republicans are a bunch of punks. Obama brings them to the table to work on the stimulus package... makes changes that they suggest, and then NOT ONE of them votes for it.
Can anyone give me one fresh idea the Republicans are BRINGING to the table other than George W. Bush's tax cuts that didn't work?
In his first formal interview since taking office, the president spoke with the Dubai-based station Al Arabiya on topics pertinent to the Arab and Muslim worlds. Much of the interview was spent defining the new approach that the United States would implement in that region: respectfulness over divisiveness, listening over dictating, engagement over militarism. But the president drew the line when it came to terrorist organizations.
"Their ideas are bankrupt," he told host Hisham Melhem, when asked to respond to recent audio clips from al Qaeda leadership calling him various epithets. "There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them."
Anderson Cooper gave highlights of the interview. American Islamic scholar Reza Aslan said that he was "giddy" after watching the interview. Obama is bringing a new, respectful tone to the Middle Eastern dialogue.
Al Qaeda is worried. How will they recruit militants if they don't have the United States as the international boogyman?
Here's the entire interview (What's interesting is to go to the Al Arabiya website and read the comments):
Obama's book of speeches surged to No. 2 in Japan's main best-seller list this week, according to Hiroki Tomatsu, an official of Japan's largest book distributor Tohan Co. that publishes the ranking.
The 95-page book compiles Obama's speeches including the one at the 2004 convention, many from the party primaries, and his victory speech after he beat Hillary Rodham Clinton to secure the Democratic nomination. Each English-language transcript comes with a Japanese translation.
Although the simplicity of campaign speeches makes them an obvious choice as a language-learning tool, other American presidents have rarely been so feted.
"We don't publish every single president's speeches," Asahi Press official Yuzo Yamamoto said. "Would you buy the text of former President George W. Bush's speeches?"
Educators and policy makers, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, have said in recent days that they hope President Obama’s example as a model student could inspire millions of American students, especially blacks, to higher academic performance.
Now researchers have documented what they call an Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administered before Mr. Obama’s nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election.
I must admit. I'm fascinated with Michelle Obama. I'm always wondering what must be going through her mind. What does she really think?
To me, Barack is this sort of otherworldly iconic figure destined to fill the role he's in. The biography is just too big. He's just too "good." His responses are always measured and polite. He is so much better a person than I am.
I know Michelle told us early on in the campaign not to idealize her husband, and that he was just a man who woke up stinky in the morning (TMI Michelle), but to me, Obama is the Thin Black Duke. A space alien brought down to save the planet. The ET from BET!
But Michelle strikes me as someone more down-to-earth. The person who keeps Barack grounded when his rhetoric soars too high.
I remember reading in From Promise to Power, a biography about Barack as a politician written by David Mendell, that Michelle would have preferred that her husband brought home the steady paycheck rather than go into the high-wire world of politics. She made Barack promise that if he didn't win his last Senate race that he would give it up and be happy being a law professor. I believe it was at the 2000 Democratic Convention that Barack's credit card was declined and he had one of those entry passes that don't let you into the most prestigious areas, and keep you out on the perimeter.
And I'm always wondering whether she is in shock that the man she married, the "diamond in the rough," became President of the United States. How did this happen?
Michelle had to learn to not say what was on her mind with the whole "proud of my country" brouhaha. She became much more discreet after that.
I wonder whether it's difficult for her to not be candid about her thoughts. I wonder whether her heels hurt her on Inauguration day, whether that coat was thick enough to keep her warm. Was she comfortable or just feeling like: "Please, God! Let this be over so that I can go home and get some rest?"
I know that Michelle wants to be seen as a woman who puts her family first and foremost, and I applaud her for that. But as another working mother, I don't want Michelle's intellect to be pushed to the background. I don't want for her to only gaze adoringly at her husband, wear the beautiful clothes and arrange sleepovers.
I want her to be the kind of First Lady who will advocate for the rights of those who are victimized. Human trafficking (aka modern-day slavery) would be an excellent cause for her to take up.
Please, Michelle. Don't let them put you in the box. I don't think you'll be happy there.
The Oblogger has recovered from the Purple Ticket Fiasco, the sky is clear and bright. I'm rested. It's a new day.
Despite the few Republican trolls that have posted on this blog, most people have been supportive and sympathetic. That sense of caring is what typifies Obama supporters and the people that I worked side-by-side with on the campaign.
Mean-spirited Republicans... there's a reason you guys lost. But you just don't get it. So keep posting, keep trolling, keep insulting... and Obama will sail into the the next four years as well.
By the way, let no one infer that my not getting to see the Inauguration in any way diminishes the sense of accomplishment I share with everyone who worked to get Barack Obama elected. What a glorious time in history. We should all share in a sense of pride.
Just for fun, click here to watch the Obamas' first dance to Beyonce singing "At Last."
I'm one of those Obamaites some people hate. Since the day he announced his candidacy, I have been working full-bore to get this man elected. I've been a volunteer and a staff member. My family has been brought to the verge of economic collapse due to my dedication toward the campaign and its untold volunteer hours. Life has been put on hold, household repairs have gone undone, there has been tension in my relationship with an extremely supportive and patient spouse, who would have loved to see my passion for Obama put into a proper financial perspective. My two children have sold bumper stickers, buttons, and have put up with Mom blogging for Obama in her "spare time" for almost two years.
And you know what, there are thousands of people throughout the country who have worked as hard as I have, if not harder
And that's why my let-down about the Inauguration is that much greater. Because I was unlucky enough, along with thousands of other Obama volunteers, to have been given one of the "Purple Tickets of Doom."
My understanding is that many of those dedicated volunteers and campaign staff were rewarded for their efforts with purple Inauguration tickets. The true believers came from across the country, put airline tickets on credit cards, slept on people's floors, woke up at 4 a.m. to get to the Inauguration… only to find that we were to be parked in an underground tunnel under DC waiting to be let in, and then were turned away at the gates as the Inauguration began. As one African-American man said on his cell phone to his kids: "I came all the way to DC and didn't see shit but some tunnel."
My 73-year-old father and I made the trek this morning with our purple tickets clutched proudly in hand. As African-Americans, this event had such significance. My father earlier said quietly that he wished his parents could have seen this day come to pass. I flew in from Los Angeles, he drove 6 hours from North Carolina.
We got on the Metro from our Alexandria, Virginia, hotel without incident. The Metro ran smoothly, even though the cars were crowded.
However, once we got to our purple ticket entrance, the day spun out of control. We arrived and there was little information about where to stand. People were packed to the gills. Those closer to the front of the line explained where the back was. The sight was staggering, we walked the length of the 3rd Street tunnel that was packed with people as far as the eye could see. My initial thought was "where are the Porta Potties?" There was not one the entire length of the line of thousands of people.
We waited in line for a couple of hours. We were "lucky" I suppose because we came relatively late at 7:30am. There were people waiting in the purple line since 4am that morning. Some were packed in the tunnel for four hours!
Here is a picture I took of the inside of the tunnel.
(I like the caption: "The Purple Tunnel of Doom - the 395 tunnel under the Mall - 4-5 hours - 50k people, a mile long, no bathrooms, no cops, no food, no light....No Hope!")
There is an element of humor here in that I'm trying to make lemonade from lemons, but on the serious side, this could have been a recipe for disaster.
Washington DC authorities are fortunate that the crowd was of good will and thrilled about the Inauguration. But it could have turned ugly real quick. Minimal to no police presence, people packed for hours like sardines in an underground tunnel, no toilets to relieve oneself, and then at the end a surge of movement forward.
As the Inauguration started, the line moved rapidly toward the gate. Luckily, people were mostly orderly. But as we got closer to the gate, we were told by people pushing in the opposite direction of the crowd that the Purple gate was closed. We had to turn around and push in the opposite direction of the forward moving mass to leave.
One woman on Facebook posted that she was picked up by the moving crowd. Blog post "Purple People Pissed" details the crowd surge.
My father and I desperately looked for a hotel to sit down and watch the proceedings, only to be told that the restaurants were full. The frustrating thing was that there were no Jumbotrons in the area so we were on a frantic search to watch the ceremony. We were pointed to a bar and grill across the street and pushed into a restaurant so crowded that you could barely move.
We watched the Inauguration on the restaurant's big screen TV, and got as far as Aretha's opening song. I felt light-headed and looked back. My father looked faint. He told me he had to sit down. I took him outside and he rested for a moment on a curb. He needed to go back to the hotel to rest. We'd been on our feet for more than 4 hours.
We decided to avoid the crowds leaving the Inauguration and took the train back our Alexandria hotel, missing Obama's getting sworn in and his speech. I guess I'll have to catch it on Youtube.
The most maddening part was coming back and reading DC Police Chief Phillip Morse in the Washington Post addressing the ticket overflow issue: "There's nobody that didn't get to see the inauguration today who had a ticket."
Uh huh.
UPDATE: It wasn't only the purple tickets that were doomed. Check out this video posted on Facebook by Kevin Morris that shows the crowd situation in the blue line. They didn't get in either. From a safety perspective, the size of this crowd and the lack of police presence to control it is completely unacceptable.
Al Gore would have offered us a different road, but we weren't ready. We were collectively alcoholics. We had to bottom out and get so bad, and have the global economy tank before we were ready to open our minds to change.
Part of that change was tackling the racial wound that has plagued this country since its inception.
As an African-American, Barack's victory is a balm to my soul. It's not easy living in a country where you know that your people have gotten the crap end of the stick. Don't you think that if a person could just "get over it" and not be angry about our racial history... don't you think he or she would do so?
No, there is a sense of injustice. And because America is supposed to be the best country in the world...there is also a sense of betrayal that America did not live up to its promise.
The shooting at the Oakland Bart station of an unarmed black man shows us that we still have work to be done. Racism will continue exist under an Obama presidency. But it can become more and more marginalized until it's shoved into a corner of a few nasty Internet sites and then will eventually peter out due to lack of interest.
At the same time, as someone who is the same age of Barack Obama, I also appreciate Barack's not being ushered in by the same old identity politics.
I am black but look to many to be racially "other," maybe Filipina or Hawaiian. My husband is Italian-American. My friends come in all races, religions. Some are gay. Some are straight. I've traveled across the globe.
I don't want to be locked into one racial category.
I've gotten flack from my people for not "being black enough" and when I was a child, I got teased for "listening to white music" or "talking white" because my parents scrimped and saved and sent me on scholarhip to a predominately white, well-to-do private school. I was exposed to a lot of things there that I didn't see in my home neighborhood. But I learned to listen to ALL kinds of music, rock, World, funk, R&B, even learned to love me some Johnny Cash.
On the other hand, I've probably overheard more racism than the average black person because some people don't perceive me as being black and might feel free to spew stereotypes in conversation. Being incog-Negro isn't a walk in the park.
However, despite the challenges. I feel so proud about what we have accomplished in working collectively, against daunting odds in getting Barack Obama elected President of the United States.
I'm going to be wearing my Obama pins and medals with pride and waving my American flag. I hope you will, too.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced interactive features using Internet and text technology to bring neighborhoods from across the country together in celebration during the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, airing live exclusively on ABC on Tuesday, January 20, 8:00-10:00 PM EST. The PIC is asking Americans to host neighborhood ball events in their communities to watch and follow along with the show on ABC and providing party planning toolkits, available here. There will also be live blogging from the Convention Center, so people can follow along online and get behind the scenes scoop. Finally, neighborhood parties across America will be able to participate in the main event via both text message and online video. People will be able to text in photos of their events and send video - both of which could appear in the television program.
"The Neighborhood Inaugural Ball will be the premier event of the evening for those attending here in Washington, D.C. and participating from home," said PIC Executive Director Emmett S. Beliveau. "This is an opportunity to really make this America's inaugural celebration allowing people to join us by watching the ABC special, planning their own inaugural events in their neighborhoods and living rooms, and sending us videos and pictures that may be shown during the event. We really look forward to Americans from all across the country joining us on this very special evening."
In an effort to make this inaugural celebration open and accessible to all Americans, President-elect Barack Obama will host the first-ever Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, the premier event of Inauguration Evening, on January 20th. To help bring this unique event to neighborhoods across the nation, ABC will broadcast "The Neighborhood Ball: An Inauguration Celebration." The event will air live from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C., TUESDAY, JANUARY 20 (8:00-10:00 PM EST).
Washington, D.C. - The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) is pleased to announce the Runway to Change Inaugural Collection, a series of high fashion handbags and T-shirts created by some of America's most renowned designers in celebration of the Inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden.
The collection includes handbags designed by Diane Von Furstenberg and Tory Burch, T-shirts designed by Zac Posen, Narciso Rodriguez, Donna Karan, Beyonce, Derek Lam, Rachel Roy, Juicy Couture and Gerald Matthews, and a scarf designed by Alexander Wang. The entire collection can be viewed here.
"These designers have all offered their unique talents and vision to capture the excitement and anticipation around the Inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama," said PIC spokesperson Brent Colburn. "We are very thankful for their designs and grateful for their contributions."
The collection is available at the Presidential Inaugural Store located at 625 E Street NW in Washington, DC, or at the PIC Online Store.
If your budget tends more toward recessionista than fashionista, check out the Oblogger's Shopping Picks.
President-elect Obama talks about ways for everyone to participate in the Inauguration.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, with record crowds expected in the nation's capital for the 56th Presidential Inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama discussed his plans for open and accessible inaugural events designed to allow the participation of Americans across the country.
"Unprecedented numbers of Americans are planning to join us in Washington," said President-elect Obama. "That will mean long lines, a tough time getting around, and most of all, a lot of walking on what could be a very cold winter day. Fortunately, you don't have to brave the crowds and commotion in order to participate in this celebration, because we've made this Inauguration open and accessible to communities across our nation."
President-elect Obama also announced that anyone can text the word "open" to 56333 to receive official Inauguration news updates, transportation notices, and opportunities to participate, both in Washington and in communities across America.
Remarks of President-elect Barack Obama Weekly Address January 3, 2009
As the holiday season comes to end, we are thankful for family and friends and all the blessings that make life worth living. But as we mark the beginning of a new year, we also know that America faces great and growing challenges -- challenges that threaten our nation’s economy and our dreams for the future. Nearly two million Americans have lost their jobs this past year -- and millions more are working harder in jobs that pay less and come with fewer benefits. For too many families, this new year brings new unease and uncertainty as bills pile up, debts continue to mount and parents worry that their children won’t have the same opportunities they had.
However we got here, the problems we face today are not Democratic problems or Republican problems. The dreams of putting a child through college, or staying in your home, or retiring with dignity and security know no boundaries of party or ideology.
These are America’s problems, and we must come together as Americans to meet them with the urgency this moment demands. Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don’t act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double digit unemployment and the American Dream slipping further and further out of reach.
That’s why we need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long-term. And this plan must be designed in a new way -- we can’t just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing money at the problem. We must make strategic investments that will serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future. We must demand vigorous oversight and strict accountability for achieving results. And we must restore fiscal responsibility and make the tough choices so that as the economy recovers, the deficit starts to come down. That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan -- which is to create three million new jobs, more than eighty percent of them in the private sector.
To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will double renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient. To build a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools. To save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize our health care system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce health care costs by billions of dollars each year. To make America, and our children, a success in this new global economy, we will build 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries. And to put more money into the pockets of hardworking families, we will provide direct tax relief to 95 percent of American workers.
I look forward to meeting next week in Washington with leaders from both parties to discuss this plan. I am optimistic that if we come together to seek solutions that advance not the interests of any party, or the agenda of any one group, but the aspirations of all Americans, then we will meet the challenges of our time just as previous generations have met the challenges of theirs.
There is no reason we can’t do this. We are a people of boundless industry and ingenuity. We are innovators and entrepreneurs and have the most dedicated and productive workers in the world. And we have always triumphed in moments of trial by drawing on that great American spirit -- that perseverance, determination and unyielding commitment to opportunity on which our nation was founded. And in this new year, let us resolve to do so once again. Thank you.
