Tag: President Obama

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Politics

So Far, No “NO” Votes Counted For Chuck Hagel Among Democrats

The Hagel saga continues, and like expected, Republicans are not happy with President Obama’s pick for Secretary of Defense. Democrats on the other hand, are okay with President Obama’s nominee according to a recent count and they will vote to approve Chuck Hagel for the cabinet position in the President’s administration.

Hagel, whose nomination has drawn fire from his fellow Republicans, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday for his hearing. Though the session with the panel is expected to be testy, Hagel will likely clear that hurdle before facing a 60-vote threshold in the full Senate. But even Republican aides are quietly conceding he is likely to get the three-fifths majority he needs to prevent a filibuster.

“We did whip it. And the numbers were very positive on the Democratic side,” Durbin said of a preliminary vote count his office did last week of the Senate Democratic Conference’s 55 members.

“I didn’t whip the Republican side so I can’t say,” Durbin continued when asked whether he thought he could pick off at least five Republican votes to get to 60. “I need to do it again this week, but as of last week, we were doing very, very well among Democrats. There were no ‘no’ votes. There were some who wanted to wait until after his testimony.”

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Sports

LaBron James – “Hey Mama, I Made It,” While Visiting White House

In order to officially acknowledge their NBA championship win in 2012, LaBron James and the Miami Heats took a trip to the White House and met their host, President Barack Obama. The starstruck James, who couldn’t contain himself at the fact that he was in the White House with the President standing a few feet away, even made a mistake, calling the President “coach” while making a brief statement.

“I mean, on behalf of myself and my teammates we just want to thank you for the hospitality, for allowing us to be in the White House,” James said. “I mean, we’re in the White House!

“I mean, Coach said — Prez said — it’s real casual, so, we’re kids from Chicago, Dallas, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, South Dakota, Miami, we’re in the White House right now! This is like, ‘Hey, mama, I made it!’ “

Coach Obama? James and the Heats will have to wait at least four more years before something like that could happen.

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Politics

The Liberal Ascendancy

Yes, I know, it’s only been a week and already I’m full of prophecies and predictions about a liberal (say it with me: Lib-er-al) era that’s just beginning. Others have argued with me that it’s too soon or that the conservatives aren’t going away or that I live in good old liberal (say it again: Lib-er-al. Doesn’t it sound all smooth and creamy?) New Jersey and that I have no idea what’s happening in redder areas of the country.

Possibly true, and you might not lose money betting against me, but not only do I believe it to be true, there is some solid evidence to back it up. The conservative era is coming to a close and the implosion of the right wing is decidedly under way. Don’t get me wrong; the conservatives and the Republican Party can and will do a lot more damage to the country and to Barack Obama‘s second term (look what they’ve done to reproductive rights and collective bargaining), but their ability to set the agenda is pretty much over.

Consider:

The GOP gave in on taxes in the fiscal cliff negotiations, and then they postponed the debt ceiling fight for three months under the utterly mistaken belief that they will have the upper hand when it comes to negotiations over the debt. I have news for them: they’re going to lose again. The debt is actually slowing and the nation’s fiscal trajectory is towards recovery, more employment, higher housing prices and improved tax collection. Add in the fact that most Americans do not support the massive cuts that the Republicans are proposing and you have the recipe for disaster for the right’s agenda.

Opposition to all forms of gun control, an area where the GOP still has some strength, will take its toll on Republican popularity. I think we’ll get a background checks bill and perhaps a limit on ammunition, but there probably won’t be a national assault weapons ban. Still, the right is on the defensive about not wanting to do anything on guns, when it’s likely that some Republicans will vote for some limits.

We will get an immigration bill this year and the GOP will have to come along or face increasing political marginality. Even so, the Republicans might not get any political advantage from a bill that allows more children of illegals to obtain citizenship. Why? because many Hispanics are already liberals (a third time: Lib-er-als) who are in favor of the government programs that serve the nation and their communities. On this, the right wing is correct: voting like Democrats will not help the GOP. It will only help the president and the left. But they really have little political choice.

Opposition to Chuck Hagel will not block his nomination, and no evidence of Israel-bashing will be found. True, many on the left are uneasy with his anti-gay comments, but he’ll get enough votes to be confirmed.

Marriage equality will become legal in more states over the next few years, even if the Supreme Court rules against a national right, which I would say is a 50-50 proposition at this point. Remember that the Court will be ruling on economic and social rights, and not the moral correctness of whether all adults should be able to marry the person they love. The right wing is moving backwards on this issue. Even gay Republicans know that.

Storms have raised the possibility that maybe, just maybe, there’s something to this climate change thing that conservatives have been denying for years. Oil will rule the day for a while, but more severe weather will finally un-jam the logs and we can truly move towards energy independence based on fuels other than fossil.

There are many more issues, but I’ve made my point. The Democrats and President Obama have the wind of public opinion at their backs and as long as they both run a smart campaign to win support for specific legislation, we should see the first fruits of the liberal (in Texas, lib-ruhl) movement this year. We won’t get everything we want, but more progress will come in later administrations and Congresses. One more presidential election win will also result in some conservative Supreme Court justices retiring, and all it will take is one switch to get a liberal (one more time for FDR: Lib-er-al) majority.

Can you dig that? I knew that you could.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and on Twitter @rigrundfest

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Barack Obama Democratic Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Rick Santorum White House

So, You Say You Wanna Be President

Word is out that VP Joe Biden is looking to throw his hat into the ring for president in 2016. Not for nothing, but if I were to go with the present mood of the country, I’d have to say that Hillary Rodham Clinton (Stop! We all know she’s running lol!) stands a better chance of becoming the Democratic nominee than the beloved Joe. And it won’t be because Mrs. Clinton is the better politician, or the more experienced legislator or even better liked than Biden. It’s what she isn’t that’s more likely than not going to give her a clearer shot as successor of the Obama Administration.

I don’t think the country has experienced this much diversity since John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the first Irish Catholic American to hold court in the Oval Office. That major feat seems like small potatoes compared to the election of a Barack Hussein Obama to the White house.

Thirteen years into the 21st century and America is slowly showing signs of embracing its diversity, the main reason why its so attractive to others born outside its perceived borders. Whichever way you may wish to see it, for better or for worse, President Obama and his Administration have successfully ushered in The New Vanguard in American politics.

THE ERA OF THE ‘NEW VANGUARD’ IN AMERICAN POLITICS

In the 2009 appointment of his Cabinet members, Obama’s choice of seven women (including Hillary as his Secretary of State), nine racial and ethnic minorities and only eight white men among its 21 members–whose overall age averaged 54 years–made his the most diverse Cabinet in history according to political analysts. It’s predicted that his new Cabinet selections, once completed, will also reflect more accurately what America looks like today.

As it should.

It doesn’t help the resistance to this change, that Americans–particularly the young voters who came of voting age within the last ten years or so–have witnessed the slow, embarrassing decay and deterioration of an antiquated Republican Party. It offers such a clear juxtaposition of how we no longer want our politics to look and act as opposed to what we do want.

Virtually unknown, seemingly untainted and un-corrupted by Big Money lobbyists, grass-rooted, youthful, innovative, broad-minded, humanist, energized and unafraid…these are the adjectives being applied to NewPolitician_5.0!

And just to be fair, Clinton and her people should not consider her a shoe-in for the candidacy in four years (remember how that worked out in ’08? Not so good.) There are quite a few politically aspirant stars out there who have cut their teeth on this new political vibe and are looking to go supernova in the American political galaxy. Gays and Lesbians, Latinos, Asians, young white and black men and women, the secular, the handicapped, Little People and even Mormons!…anyone can step up to the plate at any inning and upset her whole game, hoping for the opportunity to represent America, as seen through their eyes. Whether they’ll be the political trailblazers that these difficult times call for, well–only time will tell.

As it should.

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Michelle Obama Politics

The First Couple’s First Dance Of The Inaugural Celebrations

President Obama stood in the first of his two inauguration events tonight and introduced his better half. In his introduction, the President repeated something he had said earlier in the day, that “some may dispute the quality of the president, but nobody disputes the quality of our First Lady.”

The crowd went wild. Then the President introduced the First Lady, who walked on stage looking stunning in a Jason Wu dress.

Singing Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together was Jennifer Hudson.

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Politics

The Second Term Begins

Barack Hussein Obama took the oath of office for the fourth time today, and then let the country know what it voted for and what it could look forward to in a second Obama administration. The speech hit all the right notes. The implementation, though, will take longer than the four years remaining in Obama’s term.

His calls for marriage equality and for legislation on climate change, while preserving entitlements, is a clarion call for progressives and proof that the country has turned a corner and moved away from the stultifying conservatism of the last 30 years. The United States will not be looking to become more religious, nor will it be demonizing gays and lesbians or attempting to make reproductive choices a matter of whimsy for the government instead of a collective decision made by people and their doctors. We will be paying attention to the world, but not trying to run it according to a naïve ideology that says we can bring our form of democracy to everyone. And for the first time in our history we will have a health care system where all citizens not only can have care, but must have care because it’s the right thing to do.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would never make a speech like this, and thank heaven they won’t have the opportunity to do so. They would take us backwards. We are now moving forwards.

Obama called out the conservatives by fighting back against labeling people who use government services as “takers,” a word the GOP used to little effect in the 2012 campaign. We need programs to help the poor and to try to educate every child. We need programs to make sure that the elderly get care when their resources have dwindled or disappeared. We need adjustments to the tax code and to close the dreaded loopholes in the code, and to use the revenue from those actions to strengthen the United States, not to reward the wealthy or corporations with more tax cuts or advantages.

During Obama’s first term, the right was fond of saying that the great liberal realignment never occurred and that the only reason Obama was elected was because of the recession or the weakness of the Republican candidates. The Tea Party revolt of 2010 was supposedly the end of the “mistake.”

Wrong.

What 2008 uncovered was cemented in 2012. The country’s experiment with smaller government, massive income and resource inequality and a sense that large corporations and institutions were going to swamp the middle class is over. Yes, big money does support Democrats and Republicans alike, but that will be remedied, as will all the issues that the GOP ignored for decades. We will have climate legislation, more revenue, marriage equality and immigration reform. It will take more than four years to accomplish these. The pace will ebb and flow. But they will be done.

And it all starts with today.

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Climate change Politics

Climate Change At Center Stage In Obama’s Inaugural Address

WASHINGTON — President Obama made addressing climate change the most prominent policy vow of his second Inaugural Address, setting in motion what Democrats say will be a deliberately paced but aggressive campaign built around the use of his executive powers to sidestep Congressional opposition.

“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” Mr. Obama said on Monday at the start of eight sentences on the subject, more than he devoted to any other specific area. “Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.”

The central place he gave to the subject seemed to answer the question of whether he considered it a realistic second-term priority. He devoted scant attention to it in the campaign and has delivered a mixed message about its importance since the election.

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Mitt Romney Politics

Best Tweet Of The Obama Inauguration So Far

And I was wondering what Romney was doing, until I saw this tweet.

 

Now that’s right. 🙂

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Politics weekly address

President Obama To Congress – Now Is The Time To Act on Gun Violence

The President used his weekly address to double down on some of the measures he spoke about on Tuesday. Proposals that “grew out of meetings Vice President Biden and his task force held over the last month with more than 200 different groups – from parents and teachers; to law enforcement and sportsmen; to religious leaders and mental health professionals.”

He spoke about the limited steps he can do on his own and called on Congress to do their part to help cut down on gun violence.

My administration is taking a series of actions right away – from strengthening our background check system, to helping schools hire more resource officers if they want them, to directing the Centers for Disease Control to study the best ways to reduce gun violence.

But the truth is, making a real and lasting difference also requires Congress to act – and act soon

And he again called on the American people to get involved, making sure that their member of Congress is in favor of sensible laws to curb gun violence.

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Barack Obama Democratic Politics presidential Republican United States

I WAS HERE

 

I was here
I lived, I loved
I was here
I did, I’ve done, everything that I wanted
And it was more than I thought it would be
I will leave my mark so everyone will know
I was here

1 / 60

 

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Barack Obama Democratic Politics presidential washington

ON THE ROAD TO INAUGURATION 2013!

Stayed tuned to Ezkool.com for exclusive photos, videos and commentary from my road trip to the nation’s capital to witness the swearing in ceremonies of our President, Barack Obama!

…no doubt, with the Official President’s Inauguration Jams in tow!

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Tid Bits

Today’s Quote: “Obama Has A Bigger…”

What were you thinking?

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