The President

Obama's speech to stress responsibility

2009-01-18T08:19:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON – A top aide says Barack Obama's inauguration address will call on Americans to embrace a new era of responsible behavior — in government and in business.

Rahm Emanuel, Obama's choice for chief of staff, says Obama's speech Tuesday will ask the nation to reject the "culture of anything goes."

Emanuel says Obama will ask Americans to restore a national value system that honors responsibility and accountability. It harkens back to John F. Kennedy's call for personal sacrifice in his 1960 inauguration address.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs says the president-elect wrote out the bulk of the speech as it is now.

Emanuel appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" and Gibbs appeared on "Fox News Sunday

Obama aide: banks need to get credit moving

2009-01-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will have a "strong message" for bankers once he becomes president, his senior adviser David Axelrod said on Sunday on ABC's "This Week" news program.

"I think he is going to have a strong message for the bankers. We want to see credit flowing again. We don't want them to sit on any money that they get from taxpayers," Axelrod said.

He said Obama's team will be discussing administration of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in the days after Tuesday's inauguration of Obama.

"First of all, the point is to get credit flowing to businesses and to families across the country. That hasn't happened with the expenditure of the first $350 billion," of the TARP financial bailout fund, Axelrod said.

In addition, the administration of the program needs to be changed to make sure the use of the money is more transparent. "No one can really tell you where the money went how it was spent. ... We have to deal with that."

"We have to make sure the money doesn't go to excessive CEO pay and dividends when it should be going to lending," Axelrod told ABC.

The incoming Obama administration is considering setting up a government-run bank to acquire bad assets clogging the financial system, a person familiar with the Obama team's thinking said on Saturday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve, Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp have been in talks about ways to ease a banking crisis that is once again deepening -- and a government-run "aggregator bank" is among the options.

In outlining the idea of an aggregator bank on Friday, outgoing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said the government could use money from the Treasury-administered $700 billion financial rescue fund to capitalize a new institution that would be able to absorb toxic assets now weighing down bank balance sheets.

The hope would be that taking these bad assets off the hands of banks would allow the banks to attract badly needed private capital and renew lending, the original intention of

TARP.

A surge in U.S. mortgage defaults led to a global credit crisis that has raged since the summer of 2007. Last week, Goldman Sachs estimated that losses worldwide could mount to $2 trillion, about double what has been realized so far.

In addition to steps to bolster banks, Obama officials want to aggressively attack the underlying causes of the credit crisis: the sharp downturn in the U.S. housing market and the related deterioration in mortgage-related assets.

"There are a range of things we're going to have to do to stabilize the financial community and part of it is going to involve housing, and part of it is going to involve how we approach this issue generally," Axelrod told Reuters on Saturday.

On Thursday, the Senate voted to give Obama authority to spend the $350 billion remaining in the $700 billion TARP fund created in October.

Poll: Obama's popularity grows as inauguration nears

2009-01-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A national poll suggests that President-elect Barack Obama is more popular than ever despite recent speed bumps on the road to his inauguration.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Sunday also indicates that most Americans see Obama's inauguration as a chance for the nation to come together.

Eighty-four percent of those surveyed say they approve of how Obama is handling the presidential transition. That's up 2 points from the middle of December and up 5 points from the beginning of December.

The rise in approval also comes after a series of missteps in the Obama transition over the past few weeks: the announcement by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that he was withdrawing from his nomination as commerce secretary after news of a federal grand jury investigation in his home state; the disclosure of Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner's failure to pay $34,000 in taxes; and pushback by Republicans and even some Democrats to Leon Panetta's nomination as CIA director.

"If the public is blaming Obama for those missteps, it isn't registering in his approval rating," CNN polling director Keating Holland said. "You know the country is in the middle of a honeymoon when six in 10 Republicans have a positive view of Obama."

The poll also indicates that six in 10 Americans think Obama's inauguration will be a celebration in democracy. Only four in 10 felt that way when George W. Bush was inaugurated as president eight years ago.

The poll also suggests that those surveyed see Obama's inauguration as a chance for the country to come together, rather than a political celebration, Holland said.

Thirty-nine percent of those questioned feel that Obama's Inauguration is a celebration by supporters of the winning candidate, 33 percentage points lower than those who felt the same way about Bush's 2001 inauguration.

"The public saw both of Bush's inaugurations as celebrations just for his supporters," Holland said.

The poll also suggests that 68 percent of those questioned are personally "thrilled or happy" that Obama will soon be inaugurated as president, 18 points higher than the way people felt in the days before President Bush's second inauguration four years ago.

Expectations for Obama's speech Tuesday appear to be quite high, with 85 percent predicting that his speech will be excellent or good. That's 24 points higher than the 61 percent who felt the same way about Bush's first inauguration speech in 2001.

Nine out of 10 African-Americans questioned in the poll say Obama's election is a dream come true. Six in 10 also say they're thrilled by Obama's impending inauguration. Only a quarter of white respondents feel the same way.

Virtually every African-American in the survey says it is likely he or she will watch Tuesday's ceremonies on TV. Fifty-seven percent of whites say they are likely to do the same. Virtually every African-American interviewed approves of how Obama has handled the transition.

"But there is a note of caution that tempers blacks' enthusiasm about an Obama presidency," Holland said. "Most of them say the American public will hold Obama to a higher standard than past presidents because he is black. Most whites say that Obama's race will not matter in how he will be judged as president."

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll was conducted from January 12 to 15 with 1,245 adult Americans, including 798 whites and 332 African-Americans, questioned by telephone. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the overall responses and plus or minus 5.5 percentage points for the questions broken down by race.

Washington gears for dawning of Obama era

2009-01-18T08:10:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Excitement is swelling across the United States and the world as Barack Obama prepares to be sworn in Tuesday as the nation's first black president witnessed by the largest inauguration crowd in history.

Obama is "a man whose history reflects the enduring promise of our land," outgoing President George W. Bush said Thursday as he bade farewell to the nation in a televised address.

"This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole nation. And I join all Americans in offering best wishes to president-elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls."

Washington is proudly gearing up to host the inauguration of the 44th president, which draws the curtain on Bush's controversial eight-year reign.

But with some two million people expected to attend the event along with a veritable "who's who" of Hollywood stars, sporting heros and political heavyweights, the tightest security operation ever mounted in the nation's capital swung into action at the weekend.

Nothing on this scale has been seen since the 1965 inauguration of John F. Kennedy's successor Lyndon Johnson, attended by 1.2 million people.

And anxious security officials have been poring over plans for months. More than 12,500 active troops and military reservists and thousands of police are being drafted in as a security blanket descends on the city.

"I think we all have to be concerned about a chemical, biological, radiological potential attack," Major General Richard Rowe, head of the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, said last week.

Some nine square kilometers, a huge swathe of the downtown area encompassing the White House, the National Mall and the Washington Monument, is being locked down from Monday afternoon until just after dawn on Wednesday, with traffic restrictions in place already from Saturday.

There will only be 13 entry points into the giant pedestrian area, with officials expecting long queues. And visitors are banned from bringing any backpacks, strollers, water bottles, or fold-up seats.

Despite the fervor to be among those witnessing history, officials and even Obama's transition team are warning would-be spectators to think seriously about attending, with the young, old and infirm urged to stay away.

"Unprecedented numbers of Americans are planning to join us in Washington," said Obama said in a statement.

"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."

A wave of Arctic cold which has swept over Washington is set to stay in place, possibly bringing some snow on Sunday and Monday, and with temperatures only reaching 30 degrees Fahrenheit (one degree Celsius) on Tuesday.

Obama has encouraged people to take part via the Internet, or by watching television, or by joining one of several events leading up to the inauguration which kicked off Saturday with his train ride from Pennsylvania to Washington.

On Sunday, tens of thousands are due to surround the Lincoln memorial for a free concert with such stars as Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Beyonce and Mary J. Blige, with the incoming president to take a starring role.

But the spotlight will be on Tuesday when Obama and vice president Joe Biden will take the oath of office towards midday on the steps of Capitol Hill. Obama will swear on the bible which once belonged to his hero, assassinated president Abraham Lincoln.

There will be a song from Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, as well as performances by Yo-Yo Ma, after the incantation to be given by controversial pastor Rick Warren.

Ten huge video screens and 100 loud speakers are being erected for the crowds. Afterwards Bush will depart for his ranch in Texas, and Obama will host a luncheon in the Capitol building.

Then a parade will march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House where Obama and his family will take up residence.

The festivities will continue long into the night as Washington rocks around the clock with a flurry of inaugural balls. Obama is hosting 10 official balls, but some of the unofficial balls may well be the place to be seen.

The first ball Obama and the new first lady will attend has been dubbed "The Neighborhood Ball" offering free tickets to residents in a break with past parties which have usually only catered to a powerful, wealthy elite.

Fashionistas are also eagerly waiting to see what Michelle Obama will wear.

"I'm sure she won't have an over-the-top gown studded with diamonds and rubies," said etiquette expert Letitia Baldrige, former social secretary to first lady Jackie Kennedy. "It will be something suitably quiet for the times."

And in another break with tradition on Wednesday, after a prayer service at the Washington Cathedral, the Obamas will throw open the doors of their new residence inviting people to take part in an Open House on Obama's first full day at work.

Once slow-moving threat, global warming speeds up, leaving little time for Obama to act

2008-12-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, global warming was a slow-moving environmental problem that was easy to ignore. Now it is a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid.

Since Clinton's inauguration, summer Arctic sea ice has lost the equivalent of Alaska, California and Texas. The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since Clinton's second inauguration. Global warming is accelerating. Time is close to running out, and Obama knows it.

"The time for delay is over; the time for denial is over," he said on Tuesday after meeting with former Vice President Al Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming. "We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now that this is a matter of urgency and national security and it has to be dealt with in a serious way."

But there are powerful political and economic realities that must be quickly overcome for Obama to succeed. Despite the urgency he expresses, it's not at all clear that he and Congress will agree on an approach during a worldwide financial crisis in time to meet some of the more crucial deadlines.

Obama is pushing changes in the way Americans use energy, and produce greenhouse gases, as part of what will be a massive economic stimulus. He called it an opportunity "to re-power America."

After years of inaction on global warming, 2009 might be different. Obama replaces a president who opposed mandatory cuts of greenhouse gas pollution and it appears he will have a willing Congress. Also, next year, diplomats will try to agree on a major new international treaty to curb the gases that promote global warming.

"We need to start in January making significant changes," Gore said in a recent telephone interview with The Associated Press. "This year coming up is the most important opportunity the world has ever had to make progress in really solving the climate crisis."

Scientists are increasingly anxious, talking more often and more urgently about exceeding "tipping points."

"We're out of time," Stanford University biologist Terry Root said. "Things are going extinct."

U.S. emissions have increased by 20 percent since 1992. China has more than doubled its carbon dioxide pollution in that time. World carbon dioxide emissions have grown faster than scientists' worst-case scenarios. Methane, the next most potent greenhouse gas, suddenly is on the rise again and scientists fear that vast amounts of the trapped gas will escape from thawing Arctic permafrost.

The amount of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere has already pushed past what some scientists say is the safe level.

In the early 1990s, many scientists figured that the world was about a century away from a truly dangerous amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, said Mike MacCracken, who was a top climate scientist in the Clinton administration. But as they studied the greenhouse effect further, scientists realized that harmful changes kick in at far lower levels of carbon dioxide than they thought. Now some scientists, but not all, say the safe carbon dioxide level for Earth is about 10 percent below what it is now.

Gore called the situation "the equivalent of a five-alarm fire that has to be addressed immediately."

Scientists fear that what's happening with Arctic ice melt will be amplified so that ominous sea level rise will occur sooner than they expected. They predict Arctic waters could be ice-free in summers, perhaps by 2013, decades earlier than they thought only a few years ago.

In December 2009, diplomats are charged with forging a new treaty replacing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which set limits on greenhouse gases, and which the United States didn't ratify. This time European officials have high expectations for the U.S. to take the lead. But many experts don't see Congress passing a climate bill in time because of pressing economic and war issues.

"The reality is, it may take more than the first year to get it all done," Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said recently.

Complicating everything is the worldwide financial meltdown. Frank Maisano, a Washington energy specialist and spokesman who represents coal-fired utilities and refineries, sees the poor economy as "a huge factor" that could stop everything. That's because global warming efforts are aimed at restricting coal power, which is cheap. That would likely mean higher utility bills and more damage to ailing economies that depend on coal production, he said.

Obama is stacking his Cabinet and inner circle with advocates who have pushed for deep mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas pollution and even with government officials who have achieved results at the local level.

The President-elect has said that one of the first things he will do when he gets to Washington is grant California and other states permission to control car tailpipe emissions, something the Bush administration denied.

And though congressional action may take time, the incoming Congress will be more inclined to act on global warming. In the House, liberal California Democrat Henry Waxman's unseating of Michigan Rep. John Dingell — a staunch defender of Detroit automakers — as head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was a sign that global warming will be on the fast track.

Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., vowed to push two global warming bills starting in January: one to promote energy efficiency as an economic stimulus and the other to create a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from utilities. "The time is now," she wrote in a Dec. 8 letter to Obama.

Mother Nature, of course, is oblivious to the federal government's machinations. Ironically, 2008 is on pace to be a slightly cooler year in a steadily rising temperature trend line. Experts say it's thanks to a La Nina weather variation. While skeptics are already using it as evidence of some kind of cooling trend, it actually illustrates how fast the world is warming.

The average global temperature in 2008 is likely to wind up slightly under 57.9 degrees Fahrenheit, about a tenth of a degree cooler than last year. When Clinton was inaugurated, 57.9 easily would have been the warmest year on record. Now, that temperature would qualify as the ninth warmest year.

The Obama effect

2008-12-20T06:53:00.000-08:00

The 2008 presidential election has been historic and exciting on many fronts. We have elected our first African-American President of the United States of America.

Whether one agrees with the politics or not, the meteorial rise of President-elect Obama is an interesting story in itself. This article is not about the man’s politics; it is about his story and ability to rise above some pretty difficult situations to achieve perhaps for many that unreachable goal – the President of the United States.

The story is clear about Obama’s meager beginnings: Raised by a single mother, from a poor family; on food stamps; experiencing divorce and remarriage of his mother; experiencing relocation from state to state and from country to country; new environments, new classmates, new cultures—all uncertainties of a child. The President-elect’s profile of his past is an awe-inspiring story, one that lends some source of hope and inspiration to many young people today.

The road that Obama chose to take to help make his dream come true is one of education and service to others.

He chose to stay in school, perfected his work, completed assignments and showed respect to all of his teachers and his parents. He graduated from high school with a scholarship to Columbia University in New York City. He was able to secure the scholarship because of his determination to do good work in class.

He did not settle for lesser classes or challenges. This approach followed him at Columbia University and then on to Harvard University, where he not only excelled in academics, but also became the editor of the Law Review at Harvard, an exceptional accomplishment. I, too realize that a good education is the way to achieve a better lifestyle. I would like to draw upon some of the tools that were used by Obama in his journey from poor boy to President.

Obama’s Tools for Success

Respect. Students must respect themselves and others.

Obedience. Students must obey parents and guardians, teachers and elders.

Study. Students must commit themselves to rigorous study in all subjects.

Discipline. Students must always use self-discipline, speak nice to others, curb bad language and actions and never follow the crowd.

Patience. Students must realize that things do not happen instantly. Be patient and be kind while waiting for your opportunity.

Prepare. Students must study to be prepared for life’s challenges.

Mannerly. Students must always speak well of and be willing to help others.

Persistence. Students must always finish a job or activity. Do not be a quitter.

Serve others. Students should seek opportunities to serve others, and engage in programs and activities that serve others.

We could marvel at the fact that we have a President-elect who has committed a portion of his life to community service. Community service allows one to become involved in issues of today’s society as volunteers. It is in the service to others that sometimes we find our own purpose in life.

As our students look at Obama’s rise to the presidency, they should also use the tools he used for success and apply them to their daily life.

Obama's chief of staff had contact with Illinois governor over seat

2008-12-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, had direct contact with Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois about possible candidates for Obama's Senate seat, according to two Obama associates briefed on the matter.

Emanuel has not been accused of wrongdoing by federal prosecutors. The Obama associates said Emanuel and the governor spoke

about several people who might fill Obama's seat. It was not clear whether the communications were by direct telephone calls between the two men.

Obama aides have said privately that Emanuel had not engaged in any deal-making with Blagojevich, who was charged last week by federal prosecutors with conspiring to turn a profit from the appointment. The inquiry is looking into the exact nature of Emanuel's contacts with the governor's office.

Obama has said that he has never spoken with the governor about the seat. But Obama's aides have declined for five days to publicly answer questions about what discussions they had about the seat and what contacts intermediaries may have had with Blagojevich's advisers.

Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said when announcing the charges against Blagojevich that Obama was not implicated in the case.

The Illinois governor alone has the power to fill such vacancies. The criminal complaint against him alleges that he sought to benefit personally from the appointment by securing high-paying jobs for himself and his wife, or campaign contributions, in return for his selection.

Obama said Thursday that his aides were looking through all of their possible contacts with the governor and would release more information in the coming days. Republicans, meanwhile, have raised questions about Obama's refusal to say more and about his past ties with the main characters in the story.

Emanuel's list of possible candidates included a senior adviser to Obama, Valerie Jarrett; the Illinois attorney general, Lisa Madigan; Representative Jan Schakowsky; and Dan Hynes, the state comptroller.

The complaint quotes Blagojevich as saying at one point that Obama's aides were not willing to give him anything more than "appreciation" in return for appointing a candidate they favored.

Schakowsky told The New York Times last week that she called Emanuel last month when she was exploring whether she might fill Obama's seat. She and Emanuel had served in the House together as part of the Illinois delegation.

Schakowsky said Emanuel had declined to tell her whether Obama had a favorite choice to fill the seat. She said he seemed wary about Blagojevich.

Emanuel's spokeswoman declined to comment Saturday. Transition aides would not comment publicly, saying federal prosecutors had asked them not to speak about the matter.

Emanuel was the No. 4 Democrat in the House before Obama chose him as his chief of staff. In the House, he represented a slice of the North Side of Chicago and adjoining suburbs, and he has long been close to the city's political players, including Mayor Richard Daley.

One of the schemes Blagojevich is accused of involves Emanuel's House seat, for which Illinois law requires a special election.

McCain scolds GOP for whacking Obama

2008-12-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

In a surprising rebuke to the warriors who fought for him through tough times, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday sided with President-elect Obama and scolded the Republican National Committee for fanning the Illinois corruption scandal.

On ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos asked: “The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mike Duncan, has been highly critical of the way President- elect Obama has dealt with this.

He's had a statement every single day, saying that the Obama team should reveal all contacts they've had with Governor [Rod] Blagojevich. He says that Obama's promise of transparency to the American people is now being tested. Do you agree with that?”

McCain replied: “I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary. You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody — right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary. And so, I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me.”

Just this morning, the Republican National Committee released a Web video called “Questions Remain.”

“The video highlights the evolving explanations delivered by President-elect Obama and his advisors concerning their contact with the embattled and scandal-plagued Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich despite Obama’s promises to instill greater transparency and confidence in government,” the party’s announcement said.

Iran accuses Barack Obama of 'cowboy talk'

2008-12-12T05:54:00.000-08:00

Iran's conservative parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani has branded US President-Elect Barack Obama's comments on Tehran's nuclear activities as "cowboy" talk, the ISNA news agency reported.

"These comments resemble those of old American cowboys. If you have something to say about (Iran's) nuclear issue, just say so. Why wave a stick," asked Mr Larijani, in a speech in Qazvin province.

"The new US president has said he wants to pressure Iran since it seeks to produce atomic weapons and because it supports the terrorists like Hamas and Hizbollah," he added.

"We are proud of supporting Hizbollah since they are defending their homeland and you are wrong in calling them terrorists."

Iran is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian Hamas and Lebanese militant group Hizbollah.

In an interview broadcast on Sunday, Mr Obama vowed "tough but direct diplomacy" with Iran, offering incentives along with the threat of tougher sanctions over its atomic programme.

As president from January 20, Mr Obama said he would make clear to Tehran that the nuclear program was "unacceptable," along with support of Hamas and Hizbollah and its "threats against Israel."

Mr Obama, whose offer of direct talks with Iran represents a break with three decades of US foreign policy, promised a "set of carrots and sticks in changing their calculus about how they want to operate."

Three days ago, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said "the carrot and stick approach has proven to be useless."

Obama says disgraced gov cannot serve any longer

2008-12-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday he didn't discuss his vacant Senate seat with disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich and said he's confident nobody on his staff did either.

Calling bluntly for the Illinois Democrat to resign, Obama told a news conference: "I was as appalled and disappointed as anyone."

Blagojevich was arrested this week in connection with an alleged corruption scheme, dealing in large part with dealmaking schemes regarding the Senate vacancy.

"I have never spoken to the governor on this subject," Obama told reporters at a news conference called to announce new appointments for his coming administration.

He also said that he was "confident that no representative of mine" would have taken part in any such discussions.

Obama said he thought the "public trust has been violated" and also said he didn't think that Blagojevich "at this point can effectively serve" the state.

He also said he wants to make sure the process for choosing his successor isn't tainted.

Obama said that neither he nor his staff has been contacted by federal officials in connection with the probe.

He said he worries about the public perception of political leaders as a result of scandals such as the one now surrounding Blagojevich.

He said scandals like the one in his state does a disservice to "many of us on both sides of the aisle who have upheld the highest standards."

Asked if he or anyone on his transition staff has been contacted by federal authorities in connection with the case, Obama replied: "I have not been contacted by any federal officials and we have not been interviewed by them, as is reflected in the U.S. attorneys report."

He said the public deserves to know that "any vacancy will be filled in an appropriate way."

Obama says his office had no role in Illinois governor scandal

2008-12-11T09:32:00.000-08:00

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama Thursday said no one in his office engaged in dealmaking with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich over who would succeed him in the Senate.

FBI agents arrested Blagojevich on Tuesday on federal corruption charges related in part to the selection of Obama's successor as a U.S. senator. Federal officials said Blagojevich was looking to sell or trade the position.

Obama said the vacant Senate seat is not for "any politician to trade," and he said he had never spoken to the governor on the subject.

He said he was confident that "no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat." The Senate seat "belongs to the people of Illinois and they deserve the best possible representation," he said.

Obama said he's asked his staff to gather facts of any contacts made with the governor's office.

He also touched on how the Senate vacancy should be filled.

"This Senate seat does not belong to any politician to trade. It belongs to the people of Illinois. They deserve the best possible representation," he said. "I hope and expect the leaders of the Legislature will take these steps to ensure this is so."

Earlier Thursday, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she is prepared to "take action" against Blagojevich if he does not resign.

"Obviously, the easiest way for us to move on in the state of Illinois is for Gov. Blagojevich to do the right thing for the people and to resign," Madigan told CNN's "American Morning."

"If he fails to, the two other options are obviously the Legislature moving forward on impeachment, or I have the opportunity to actually go to our Illinois Supreme Court and ask them to declare basically that our governor is unable to serve," she said.

In that case, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn would become acting governor, Madigan said.

Meanwhile, Quinn said if the governor did not resign, he would likely be impeached. "Hopefully, upon reflection, the governor will decide that the interest of the common good and the people of Illinois require that he step aside and resign from office," Quinn told NBC.

"If the governor doesn't act, he will be impeached," he said, adding that he believed the impeachment process would be unhealthy for Illinoisans.

The lieutenant governor said if he becomes acting governor, he may appoint someone to the vacant U.S. Senate seat, rather than hold a special election.

"In general, I'm for the voters deciding who the next senator would be, or any other public official," he said. However, "we may have extraordinary circumstances," he added.

"Illinois does not want to go to Washington in this time of economic crisis without having two senators, so if I am governor, I'm going to evaluate everything at that moment and decide what's best for the people."

Obama on Wednesday joined other top politicians and called for the Illinois governor to resign.

"The president-elect agrees with Lt. Gov. Quinn and many others that under the current circumstances it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Obama's former partner in the Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, also has called on Blagojevich to step down immediately.

"Beyond guilt or innocence, the charges against you raise serious questions about your ability to carry out your duties as chief executive of our state," Durbin wrote in a letter sent to Blagojevich.

Durbin also asked Blagojevich not to name a successor to Obama.

"Because of the nature of the charges against you, no matter whom you were to select, that individual would be under a cloud of suspicion. That would not serve our state, our nation, or the United States Senate," Durbin wrote.

Even if Blagojevich named a replacement for Obama, it is unclear whether the Senate would seat the governor's choice. The Constitution gives the Senate the sole authority to decide who is qualified to serve as a senator.
Gibbs said Obama also supported legislation that Illinois lawmakers will consider next week to authorize a special election to choose his successor.

Obama believes the lawmakers should "put in place a process to select a new senator that will have the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois," Gibbs said.

The Illinois Legislature will begin a special session Monday to consider legislation that would authorize a special election to choose Obama's successor.

Cindy Davidsmeyer, a spokeswoman for Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, said a House committee was scheduled to consider the bill Monday afternoon and then the full House would vote afterward. iReport.com: Do you trust your leaders?

The Senate could consider the legislation as soon as the next day, Davidsmeyer said.

Obama on Tuesday declined to comment on the arrest, saying, "Like the rest of the people of Illinois I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the U.S. attorney's office."

Obama also said he had not contacted Blagojevich about his possible successor, adding, "I was not aware of what was happening."

But Obama adviser David Axelrod told a Chicago television station in November that Obama had spoken to the governor about his successor.

Axelrod corrected himself Tuesday, saying, that the president-elect and Blagojevich "did not then or at any time discuss the subject."

Obama taps Daschle as 'lead architect' of health care plan

2008-12-11T09:22:00.000-08:00

(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama announced Thursday that he has chosen former Sen. Tom Daschle to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Obama said Daschle would also serve as the director of the White House office of health reform.

The president-elect said he has selected Jeanne Lambrew to be the deputy director of that office.

"[Daschle] will be responsible not just for implementing our health care plan. He will also be the lead architect of that plan," Obama said, calling Daschle "one of America's foremost health care experts."

"If we want to overcome our economic challenges, we must also finally address our health care challenge," Obama said.

Daschle said he looked forward to that dual role of both generating and implementing reform.

"At a time that there is so much at stake, there is no question that fixing health care is and has been for many years our largest domestic policy challenge," Daschle said. "Addressing our health care challenges will not only mean healthier and longer lives for millions -- it will also make American companies more competitive, address the cause of half of all of our personal bankruptcies and foreclosures, and help pull our economy out of its current tailspin."

CNN has previously reported that the 61-year-old former Senate majority leader from South Dakota would be Obama's choice, but the announcement date was unknown.

In November, Daschle said he was excited about the possibility of serving as point person in Obama's effort to change the nation's health care system.

Daschle is on the health care advisory group of Obama's transition team and said he plans to write the health care plan that Obama will submit to Congress next year.

"I hope to have the plan enacted by next year, and then it will take several years to implement," Daschle said last month.

Daschle said reforming health care in the United States must be a priority in the current economic climate.

"We can't afford not to do it," he said. "If we do nothing, we'll be paying twice as much on health care in 10 years as we do today."

Daschle served as Democratic leader in the Senate from 1995 until he lost a re-election bid in 2004.

Representing South Dakota, he was first elected as a congressman in 1978 and served in the House until he was elected to the Senate in 1986.

He recently wrote a book on health care titled "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis."

In the book, he pushed for universal health care coverage to reach 46 million uninsured Americans by expanding the federal employee health benefits program to include private employer plans together with Medicaid and Medicare.

Most Republicans oppose any such plan, saying it would give too much power to the government. They've also questioned Daschle's recent work for a Washington lobbying firm. iReport.com: What do you think of Obama's cabinet picks?

His wife, Linda Daschle, is a registered lobbyist for a firm that includes health care clients. But a source close to Daschle told CNN that Linda Daschle would be leaving the firm at the end of the year to set up her own company focusing on transportation lobbying in order to clear any potential conflicts of interest.

As Obama continues to fill out his Cabinet, three Democratic sources say the president-elect is likely to name Steven Chu, a physicist who runs the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as his energy secretary.

The three officials said the announcement is expected next week in Chicago, Illinois, and that Obama will also name Carol Browner, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Clinton administration, as the newly created "climate czar" inside the White House.

The Early Word: Obama Faces Liberal Angst

2008-12-09T08:43:00.000-08:00

As he carefully picks the members of his cabinet and White House inner circle, President-elect Barack Obama faces an additional challenge: pleasing the ranks of the more liberal members of the Democratic Party. And there are indications that he has not been entirely successful.

As The Times’s Peter Baker reports today, his choices have “deeply frustrated” some liberals though many are taking a wait-and-see approach:

But so far, they are mainly muting their protest, clinging to the belief that Mr. Obama still means what he said on the campaign trail and remaining wary of undermining what they see as the most liberal president sent to the White House in a generation. They are quietly lobbying for more liberals in the next round of appointments, seeking at least some like-minded voices at the table. And they are banking on the idea that no matter whom he installs under him, Mr. Obama will be the driving force for the change they seek.

As Mr. Baker notes, Obama aide Steve Hildebrand answered some of the criticism coming from liberal quarters in an article on the Huffington Post over the weekend in which he urged the “left wing of our party” not to be too hasty in drawing conclusions about the president-elect’s cabinet appointments to date.

On Mr. Obama’s schedule today: a meeting with former Vice President Al Gore to discuss climate change and other issues. As the Politico’s Jonathan Martin notes, Mr. Gore aides say he isn’t visiting the president-elect for a job interview:

Gore intends on continuing his work on the environment and energy from the outside rather than accepting a post.

“This meeting is a continuation of their conversations about climate and energy and how policies to address them can help the economy and jobs,” said Kalee Kreider, a Gore spokeswoman. “Former Vice President Gore still believes his calling at this time is to help educate the public about the issues through his roles at the Alliance at Climate Protection and other work.”

Mr. Obama and his advisers are also likely to be keeping a close eye on the pending agreement between the White House and Congressional Democrats on bailing out the automobile industry.

The Inauguration Besides cabinet appointments, no topic has been getting more buzz in Washington recently than the plans for Mr. Obama’s Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony and the accompanying parades and parties. But as The Times’s Katharine Q. Seelye notes, striking the proper tone for a celebration in tough economic times can be tricky:

“There’s no question that people are in tough times,” said Linda Douglass, a spokeswoman for Mr. Obama’s inaugural committee. “But we hope that this will be an event in which we celebrate our common values and shared aspirations.” She added, “What we are looking to achieve is a tone that is hopeful.”

The Washington Post lays out some of the logistical challenges inauguration week, including the issue of transporting hordes of people in and out of the city on buses:

The sheer size of the charter bus contingent, carrying as many as a half-million people, has an enormous cascading effect on the rest of transportation planning. Widespread street closures downtown will prevent charter buses from dropping passengers off at events, so officials need to figure out where buses will park. The parking locations, in turn, will affect where and how many people squeeze on to packed Metro trains.
ad_icon

City officials say the number of buses could exceed 10,000. More than 5,000 passenger carrier companies with more than 23,000 vehicles have interstate operating authority within 1,000 miles of Washington, from Maine to east of the Mississippi to Miami, according to City Administrator Dan Tangherlini. The city’s call center staff began contacting hundreds of bus companies over the weekend to ask about bookings, he said.

N.Y. Senate With Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton headed for the State Department, rumors have been swirling about who will serve out the remainder of her term in the Senate. Much of the talk is focused on Caroline Kennedy. And, according to The Times’s David M. Halbfinger, “her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, has been working behind the scenes on her behalf, according to Democratic aides.”

Obama, Gore to meet in Chicago

2008-12-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden planned to meet privately with former Vice President Al Gore in Chicago Tuesday, Obama's transition office said.

In a statement, Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro said the three men would "discuss energy and climate change and how policies in this area can stimulate the economy and create jobs."

Democrats familiar with the meeting said

it was not intended to be a discussion of whether Gore might take a position in the Obama administration.

Gore served two terms under President Clinton and ran for president in 2000. He lost to Republican George W. Bush in a disputed election that was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Since then, Gore become a leader in the movement to draw attention to the issue of climate change and global warming. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in 2007. His documentary film on climate change, "An Inconvenient Truth," won an academy award the same year.

Gore has also become very wealthy thanks to lucrative partnerships with Google and Apple.

The former vice president endorsed Obama in June, shortly after he clinched the nomination after a long primary battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama has counted Gore as an adviser on climate change and has pledged to use part of his proposed economic stimulus package to develop alternative energies and "green" technologies aimed at creating jobs making the U.S. more energy efficient.

Picking Obama successor puts spotlight on governor

2008-12-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

This article was first published Nov.12

The task of filling President-elect Barack Obama's seat in the Senate offers Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois a rare chance to wield influence in Washington.

It also offers Blagojevich, a Democrat in his second term, the rare chance to focus public attention on something other than his litany of problems — a federal investigation into his administration, his icy standoffs with the Democratic-controlled State Legislature and his dismal approval rating (which, according to a Chicago Tribune survey last month, has sunk to 13 percent, worse even than some approval marks for President George W. Bush).

"Compared to everything else, this is good publicity," said Kent Redfield, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "Now it's a matter of doing something on it that helps him politically. He needs to."

Since Election Day, Blagojevich's decision, assigned to him under Illinois law, has become this state's political parlor game, one buried in layers deeper than just which Democrat will best guard the seat until the 2010 election.

Among the many political concerns: Should another African-American finish the term of Obama? Should the replacement be a caretaker with no expectations of re-election, or someone who dreams of staying on? And how might Blagojevich navigate the choice in such a way that might shore up some specks of support for his own political future?

Under state law, the governor has wide discretion in coming up with a successor. He need only pick someone who is a resident of the state, is at least 30 years old and has been a United States citizen for at least nine years.

The list of those rumored to be under consideration (including some, it seems, who have blatantly offered themselves up to the governor) grows longer each day. Blagojevich, who is turning to a group of close advisers for guidance, is expected to make a decision around Christmas.

Meanwhile, the calls keep coming.

"It's unbelievable what this has become; he is hearing it from all sides," said Lucio Guerrero, Blagojevich's spokesman, who described some of the inquiries to the governor as amounting to people essentially dreaming aloud, "Boy, I'd be a good senator."

Most often, political analysts here mention names like Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., long a Democratic congressman from Chicago's South Side and the city's southern suburbs and son of the civil rights activist; Tammy Duckworth, a veteran of the war in Iraq who lost her legs when her helicopter came under fire and who is now director of the state's Department of Veterans Affairs; Valerie Jarrett, a close adviser to Obama and longtime ally of Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago (she told The Chicago Tribune on Wednesday that she was not interested in the appointment); and several other members of Congress from in and near Chicago, including Melissa Bean, Danny Davis, Luis Gutierrez and Jan Schakowsky.

Many of the most-discussed names on the list are loathe to discuss the possibility publicly, instead staying silent or issuing brief, generic statements.

"Now that Senator Obama has won the presidency, I would be honored and humbled to be appointed to succeed him in the U.S. Senate," Jackson said in a statement. "But, in the end, the decision rests with Governor Blagojevich, and I'm confident that he'll make an appointment in the best interest of the state as well as the nation."

That said, Jackson's camp also commissioned and made public a poll that looked at what likely voters in Illinois thought about possible replacements for Obama. It showed Jackson, who has one of the most recognized names in Illinois politics, topping the list.

Duckworth, who was appointed to the veterans' affairs job by Blagojevich after she lost a bid for Congress in 2006, said in an interview that she had not spoken to him about the Senate opening.

"If I were to be considered, I'd be deeply honored," said Duckworth, who added that she would also be perfectly happy to stay put, "taking care of Illinois veterans."

Duckworth, who remains a major in the Illinois National Guard, has also been mentioned as someone who might be offered a role in the Obama administration. She and Obama have not discussed such a possibility, she said, but she noted that whenever a commander in chief had summoned her, "I have grabbed my boots and headed over."

While influential Democrats might usually weigh in as the governor makes such a decision, Obama has suggested that he will stay out of the matter. Blagojevich is also something of a loner in the political world here, having clashed over the years with Democratic leaders and wrestling with his public image.

Though Blagojevich came into office portraying himself as a reformer, his administration has come under federal scrutiny; by last month, 13 people had been indicted in a corruption probe into influence peddling. Blagojevich, who has left open the possibility of running for a third term in 2010, has not been charged with wrongdoing.

Blagojevich has indicated that he does not intend to appoint himself to the Senate seat, a seemingly far-fetched option, but one some of his severest critics seemed to think was possible. Some analysts still suggest he might consider appointing one of his potential rivals to remove them from a governor's race — for example, Lisa Madigan, the state attorney general and daughter of Michael Madigan, the longtime speaker of the Illinois House; or Daniel Hynes, the state comptroller and son of Thomas Hynes, another powerful Illinois Democrat.

Some critics, only half jokingly, suggest that Blagojevich might want to consider Patrick Fitzgerald, the United States attorney here for the past seven years who has overseen investigations into the administrations of Blagojevich and his predecessor, City Hall, the county jail and former Chicago police officers, among others.

Guerrero, his spokesman, said Blagojevich was focused on finding someone who would be a strong advocate for the residents of Illinois on matters like health care and jobs.

"The other stuff I don't think is weighing on him as much as people make it out to be," Guerrero said, chalking up Blagojevich's low approval ratings to the bleak economic times. "When your name is on the door, you're the one people are going to be talking about."

Obama warns economy will get even worse

2008-12-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

U.S. ‘fragility’ tied to worldwide financial crisis, president-elect says

CHICAGO - The economic recession will get significantly worse before it starts to improve, President-elect Barack Obama said, seeking in an interview broadcast Sunday to tamp down expectations as he prepares to assume the presidency in 44 days.

“If you look at the unemployment numbers ... the fragility of the financial system and the fact that it’s an international system,” the recession “ is a big problem, and it’s going to get worse,” Obama told NBC News’ Tom Brokaw on Saturday. The interview aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Acknowledging that his agenda had changed sharply just in the month since he was elected, Obama said passing a short-term economic

stimulus package was now his top priority.

“We’ve got to provide a blood infusion right now, make sure that the patient is stabilized,” he said, adding that the budget deficit, by some estimates more than $1 trillion, would have to be put on the back burner “for now.”

“We’ve got to get the economy moving,” he said.

Roads, highways, state projects first targets

The president elect said the new White House economic team would put forth an economic recovery package featuring a short-term stimulus element paired with “a strong set of financial regulations” under which “banks, ratings agencies, mortgage brokers, a whole bunch of folks [would] start having to be much more accountable and behave much more responsibly.”

In the near term, Obama said, the government will speed ahead with “shovel-ready projects,” saying it would get “the most bang for the buck” by “investing in the largest infrastructure programs,” such as roads and bridges already in the pipeline at the state level.

Such spending not only would be “an immediate stimulus,” he said, “because I think we can get a lot of work done fast,” but the projects would be “down payments on the kind of long-term sustainable growth that we need.”

In his weekly radio address Saturday, Obama said his plan would put millions of people to work by “making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s.”

The president-elect also singled out the auto industry Sunday as the target of special concern, saying the government should be prepared to provide major assistance, but only if it was “conditioned on them making significant adjustments.”

The White House and Congress were trading proposals throughout the weekend on a plan to extend up to about $15 billion in emergency loans for the so-called Big Three U.S. automakers — General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. — whose fortunes have plummeted.

Obama endorsed the negations, saying “the auto industry is the backbone of American manufacturing.”

“It is a huge employer across many states,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an option to allow it simply to collapse.”

At the same time, he said, “they do not have a sustainable business model right now,” insisting that the industry needed an overhaul involving “labor, management, shareholders, investors.”

“If the want to survive, then they better start building a fuel-efficient car,” Obama said, and accept that the future will never again be as “rosy as they project.”

Shinseki to be tapped for VA

Obama was interviewed in his hometown by Brokaw, who is stepping down as host of “Meet the Press,” an assignment he assumed in June on the sudden death of longtime moderator Tim Russert. NBC’s chief White House correspondent, David Gregory, will become permanent moderator next Sunday.

Obama announced during the interview that at a news conference later Sunday, he would nominate retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, who clashed with the Bush administration as Army chief of staff, .

“I think that General Shinseki is exactly the right person who is going to be able to make sure that we honor our troops when they come home,” Obama said.

Shinseki’s clashed repeatedly with President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during Bush’s first term, when he contradicted their contention that the war in Iraq could be won with a relatively small number of troops.

In a direct slap at his bosses, Shinseki testified before Congress that the United States would need several hundred thousand more troops than Rumsfeld predicted, prompting Rumsfeld to publicly rebuke his Army chief. Shinseki retired shortly thereafter.

Obama said history had shown that Shinseki “was right” and said the general had demonstrated special concern for the plight of veterans injured during the war.

“When I reflect on the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans and I think about how so many veterans around the country are struggling even more than those who have not served — higher unemployment rates, higher homeless rates, higher substance abuse rates, medical care that is inadequate — it breaks my heart,” Obama said.

As head of of the government’s second largest agency, Shinseki, 66, would be the first Asian American in Obama’s cabinet.

Obama, Ideas and Solutions

2008-12-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

As I'm sure that you have noticed, Hillary Clinton is trying to sell us this lie that Obama doesn't have any ideas or solutions and yet in the same breath claims he has stolen her ideas. She can't have it both ways. Which one is it Mrs. Clinton? And if they both has similar ideas, which they do then what is the difference between the two?

He represents true change, a fresh face, an inspirational orator, a more electable candidate who has cross-over appeal into the Independent voting block as well as some Republicans. He seeks to run a mostly positive campaign while she has been and continues to try and drag him into fights and mud-slinging. It looks desperate and nothing turns off an electorate more than playing dirty and negative attacks.

Is it really a good idea on her part to criticize a record turn-out and support of a Democratic candidate by an inspired youth? Does she really want to disillusion them and risk them turning away from her if she wins the nomination and campaign in the general election? I don't think it's smart of her to slam every other demographic that supports Obama (the more educated, the African American community, the youth) and basically say that the blue collar Democrats

tend to favor her are the only real, true Democrats. She is hitting everyone hard that doesn't support her and in doing so keeps painting herself further and further into a corner. Obama is doing the opposite, appealing to everyone and building a diverse and strong coalition. He wants to include and she mostly wants to isolate, divide and conquer. She seems to be willing to destroy the party just so long as she wins the nomination.

Other than her similar ideas as Obama's she has nothing else to bring to the table other than pessimism, the same old politics, a less chance of being elected in the general and a controversial figure who carries a lot of negative baggage that would unite a factored, less popular Republican party. Do we liberal and Democrats want to win in November and move the country forward in a new direction or do we want to get mired again in the mud of the controversial, divisive Clinton years?

As for solutions, every presidential candidate has a reservoir of ideas and solutions or else they would've been discovered as one dimensional, not serious candidates from day one of their entrance in the race. She also is throwing this desperate net out there that Obama is all talk and that talk is cheap. Well then doesn't that cut both ways? It's obvious that he has ideas and solutions so then who is the one talking cheap and in an insincere manner? They say we project onto others our own weaknesses. So if that is the case then we can't help but come to the conclusion that this accusation of Obama is nothing but cheap talk and empty rhetoric on her part.

Then there is this still stale claim that she is a better manager than Obama and that because of that she is better capable to lead on day one. Well I think that we can get a good idea of each candidates management style by the way that they are running their campaigns. Obama has run a well oiled machine from the beginning whereas the Clinton campaign has made miscalculation after miscalculation. She blew off the caucuses from the start and then whined that they were disadvantaged by the caucus system but only after they started to get spanked by Obama in them. As if we are supposed to feel sorry for her and give her another chance. She was beat by Obama's superior ground strategy and knows it.

In addition, she hasn't been able to keep track of her funds and manage a budget within her own campaign so what does that say about how she'll handle the particulars of a federal budget? It also shows that she isn't as capable of running a well balanced and smooth operating administration. To that end she can't keep control of her advisers and we keep hearing of reports of infighting and resignations. Is this the kind of chaos that we should expect from a Clinton administration from "day one"? I think it shows a lack of judgment on her part in being able to put together a well balanced, competent and professional team.

That all being said, however, I'd like to return to the idea that Obama has no solutions. Take the FDR like National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to rebuild America's crumbling bridges, cracking highways and aging dams. Is that not a solution? It will create new jobs and invest back in America rather than investing in China's infrastructure and economy. I guess that isn't a solution to a vital problem facing us.

This is just one idea and solution that is easily found through one search with Google to find Barack's website that easily lists his ideas and solutions to vital problems in America.

Can Obama Change Government Policy and Convince Us to Change Ourselves?

2008-12-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

Obama has not only been calm in the face of adversity, but also centered in the face of triumph.

''On or about December 1910," Virginia Woolf wrote, "human character changed.'' We can be much more specific: "On November 4, 2008, just after 11 pm Eastern, America changed" (human character remains rather intransigent).

The change was driven by two things: our country's remarkable capacity for regeneration, and Barack Obama's remarkable ability to tap into the better angels of our nature.

You know something extraordinary is happening when even Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and Joe Lieberman trip over themselves -- and their hastily discarded invective -- to say nice things about Obama and the "tremendous signal" sent by his election

Sure, it's easy to see their encomiums as purely tactical attempts not to be on the wrong side of history, but they are more than that. They also demonstrate how certain moments and certain individuals are able to bring the best out in people -- even people who have shown us some of the worst aspects of human character. Because, hard though it may be to accept, the best and the worst reside in each of us, side-by-side.

As Alexander Solzhenitsyn put it: "The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart." And the greatest leaders are those who inspire us to reside on the good side of Solzhenitsyn's line.

Obama does more. As David Brooks wrote recently, Obama's fractured childhood "is supposed to produce a politician with gaping personal needs and hidden wounds. But over the past two years, Obama has never shown evidence of that."

Here is someone whose childhood could have easily led to a life in shambles. But Obama has somehow -- and without, as far as we know, thousands of hours of therapy --succeeded in not letting circumstances dictate his life and reactions.

During the campaign, Obama was an object lesson in equanimity. Insinuate he's Muslim or sympathizes with terrorists, and he brushes off the mud. Hammer him with trumped up charges -- "sexist," "socialist," un-American" -- and he rolls with the punches. He simply doesn't let it in. He demonstrates that we have the ability to master whether we allow setbacks and attacks to throw us off course.

A lot has been written about Obama's calm in the face of adversity over the course of the last 21 months. Less noted has been how he displays that same centeredness in the face of triumph.

On Tuesday night, he could have waxed transcendent, he could have wrung every last tear and every last cheer out of the adoring crowd at Grant Park. But he chose not to. Instead, his speech gracefully touched the clouds a few times then soberly came back to earth, focused, as always with Obama, on moving forward.

To their great credit, the American people have responded to Obama's example by remaining remarkably focused as well. Despite the seemingly endless parade of meaningless sideshows trotted out during both the primaries and the general campaign, the public refused to be distracted. These kinds of tactics had worked well in 2004 -- but not in 2008. Obama's focus, his sense of purpose cleared a path through the carnival of clownish attacks and chamber of horror scares. And voters followed.

After eight years in which it has felt like the very foundation of our country was under assault, it is a testament to our democracy's inherent capacity for regeneration -- our ability to course-correct -- that Americans responded the way they did to a campaign so premised on an appeal to our greater selves.

A country can change only to the extent that the individuals within it change (and some changes come slower than others, as evidenced by Prop 8 and the other gay marriage bans that passed on Tuesday).

So it's back to Solzhenitsyn: "If you wanted to change the world, who should you begin with: yourself or others?"

Our president-elect is obsessed with Lincoln, who changed the country both by changing government policy and by using the bully pulpit to help us change ourselves. And our president-elect is endlessly being compared to FDR, who gave us both the New Deal and one of the most famous life lessons in history: "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself."

Now it's Obama's turn to pull off this rare presidential double play.

Obama for President ... of Indonesia

2008-12-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

The Oct. 23 issue of TIME featured Barack Obama, the new star of the Democratic Party. He embodies much that is good about the U.S. Inclusive and seeking to stand above race, religion, class and party politics, he preaches a message of unity, speaking for almost everyone -- black, white, liberal, conservative, immigrant, native-born, women and men. He cultivates this image of being a politician above party ideology and is admired and respected by Democrats and Republicans alike.

Obama's rise to (political) prominence has been meteoric, from virtually unknown Illinois legislator to "a phenomenon that we've never seen before", likened to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Bill Clinton. He's currently the sole African-American in the U.S. Senate and only the third in the past 100 years. He's expected to run for the presidency in 2008, and if he wins, he would become the first black American president. Wow.

So what is the appeal of this is this young, 45 year-old, charismatic wunderkind, a cross between pastor, professor and rock star? Fundamentally, Obama seems to address a long-held need among Americans for integrity, faith, authenticity, a sense of purpose, meaning and someone who sees the bigger picture -- a feeling that someone out there cares and is listening to them.

I read about Obama's life and read his speeches, with a whole gamut of emotions: Fascination, wonder, admiration, but also much sadness, love and longing. You see, Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, was one of my closest friends. I say "was" because she died of ovarian cancer in 1995, aged only 52. As I write this column today on her birthday, Nov. 27, she would have turned 63.

Ann was an anthropologist. Her doctorate research was on cottage industries in Java and she had a deep love for this country. I had been friends with her since 1981, when I was guest-editor of Prisma, a social-science journal, and had asked her to write an essay about village women in Indonesia. She ended up not writing it, but we became very close friends. There were very few details of each other's lives we did not know and we consulted each other on so many things. More than five years after she died, I still had imaginary conversations with her.

Ann was one of the kindest, most warm-hearted, sensitive, generous people I have known. She was also funny, intelligent, knowledgeable, well-read and had a sunny, engaging personality. When I remember her, it's always her big smile that appears in my mind.

I knew Maya, her daughter with Sutoro, Ann's Indonesian husband, since Maya was 6, and I had met Berry (as Ann called Barack) at Ann's South Jakarta home when he came visiting. He was then a Harvard law student and even skinnier than he is now. I remember her intense pride when she told me in 1990 that Berry had been elected president of the Harvard Law Review, the first ever African-American in that position.

Berry's father was a Kenyan politician, a Muslim (although later an atheist) who died in a car accident in 1982. I didn't know Berry's father, but Ann's stories indicated that Berry had inherited the best of both his parents' qualities and skills. Perhaps Berry got the political acumen and rhetorical skills for which he is now famous from his father, but I certainly see his mother in his compassion, warmth and concern for others, qualities that set him apart from other politicians.

As I sit here writing today, I wish more than ever that Ann were still alive. I cannot imagine her excitement and pride to see her son named as the possible next president of the United States. And I think she would also see Berry as a great inspiration for Indonesia, her adopted home. The dilemma Obama faces, a choice between communal-sectarian and policy-based politics is one that Indonesians also face.

Obama has identified the U.S. as a country that has divided sharply along racial and religious lines which politicians exploit for their narrow power interests. His "Call to Renewal" speech about faith and politics, delivered on June 28 this year, could have been about Indonesia.

He says, "given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers".

Acknowledging the need for faith in politics, Obama also exhorts people to reconcile faith with a modern, pluralistic democracy. "Democracy demands that the religiously-motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason ... Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves the compromise, the art of what's possible".

Solving the myriad problems facing pluralist nations such as the U.S. and Indonesia will requires changes to government policy, but it also needs committed political will. Obama, while running for higher office, acknowledges that government has its limitations, and that the basis for real change is within ourselves.

Even if I had no connection to Obama, I would be moved by his rhetoric and hopeful, as so many people are, that he make true his words if he is elected. So I wish him the best of luck for the presidential race in 2008, especially if he runs with Hillary Clinton. But if Obama fails, perhaps he might consider running for president of Indonesia? After all, he spent four years of his life here in the country that his mother loved so much.

Berry, we need someone like you!

Hillary's team has questions about Obama's Muslim background

2008-12-03T08:39:00.000-08:00

Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa as a young boy and has not been forthcoming about his Muslim heritage?

This is the question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s camp is asking about Sen. Barack Obama.

An investigation of Mr. Obama by political opponents within the Democratic Party has discovered that Mr. Obama was raised as a Muslim by his stepfather in Indonesia. Sources close to the background check, which has not yet been released, said Mr. Obama, 45, spent at least four years in a so-called Madrassa, or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia.

"He was a Muslim, but he concealed it," the source said. "His opponents within the Democrats hope this will become a major issue in the campaign."

Sen. Barack Obama approached the media after a meeting with
President Bush at the White House on Jan. 5.
(AFP/File/Mannie Garcia)

When contacted by Insight, Mr. Obama’s press secretary said he would consult with “his boss” and call back. He did not.

Sources said the background check, conducted by researchers connected to Senator Clinton, disclosed details of Mr. Obama's Muslim past. The sources said the Clinton camp concluded the Illinois Democrat concealed his prior Muslim faith and education.

"The background investigation will provide major ammunition to his opponents," the source said. "The idea is to show Obama as deceptive."

In two best-selling autobiographies—"The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance"—Mr. Obama, born in Honolulu where his parents met, mentions but does not expand on his Muslim background, alluding only to his attendance at a "predominantly Muslim school."

The sources said the young Obama was given the name Hussein by his Muslim father, which the Illinois Democrat rarely uses in public.
His father was black and came from Kenya. Mr. Obama’s mother, the daughter of a farmer, came from Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Obama's parents divorced when he was two years old. His father returned to Kenya.

Later, Mr. Obama's mother married an Indonesian student and the family moved to Jakarta. Mr. Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents.

The sources said the background check concerned Mr. Obama's years in Jakarta. In Indonesia, the young Obama was enrolled in a Madrassa and was raised and educated as a Muslim. Although Indonesia is regarded as a moderate Muslim state, the U.S. intelligence community has determined that today most of these schools are financed by the Saudi Arabian government and they teach a Wahhabi doctrine that denies the rights of non-Muslims.

Although the background check has not confirmed that the specific Madrassa Mr. Obama attended was espousing Wahhabism, the sources said his Democratic opponents believe this to be the case—and are seeking to prove it. The sources said the opponents are searching for evidence that Mr. Obama is still a Muslim or has ties to Islam.

Mr. Obama attends services at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago’s South Side. However, he is not known to be a regular parishioner.

"Obama's education began a life-long relationship with Islam as a faith and Muslims as a community," the source said. "This has been a relationship that contains numerous question marks."

The sources said Mr. Obama spent at least four years in a Muslim school in Indonesia. They said when Mr. Obama was 10, his mother and her second husband separated. She and her son returned to Hawaii.

"Then the official biography begins," the source said. "Obama never returned to Kenya to see relatives or family until it became politically expedient."

In both of his autobiographies, Mr. Obama characterizes himself as a Christian—although he describes his upbringing as mostly secular.

In “The Audacity of Hope,” Mr. Obama says, "I was not raised in a religious household." He describes his mother as secular, but says she had copies of the Bible, the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita in their home.

Mr. Obama says his father was "raised a Muslim, but by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist...." Mr. Obama also describes his father as largely absent from his life. He says his Indonesian stepfather was "skeptical" about religion and "saw religion as not particularly useful in the practical business of making one's way in the world ...."

In the book, Mr. Obama briefly addresses his education in Indonesia. "During the five years that we would live with my stepfather in Indonesia, I was sent first to a neighborhood Catholic school and then to a predominantly Muslim school; in both cases, my mother was less concerned with me learning the catechism or puzzling out the meaning of the muezzin's call to evening prayer than she was with whether I was properly learning my multiplication tables."

Mr. Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School; he became the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review. He later settled in Chicago, joined a law firm and began attending and helping local churches.

Mr. Obama is married to Michelle Robinson and they have two daughters, Malia and Sasha. In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois state Senate. Eight years later, he became a U.S. senator from Illinois.

The sources said Ms. Clinton regards Mr. Obama as her most formidable opponent and the biggest obstacle to the Democratic Party’s 2008 presidential nomination. They said Ms. Clinton has been angered by Mr. Obama's efforts to tap her supporters for donations.

In late 2006, when the Illinois senator demonstrated his intention to run for president, the Clinton campaign ordered a background check on Mr. Obama, the sources said. Earlier this week, Mr. Obama established an exploratory committee, the first step toward a formal race.

Barack Obama Biography

2008-12-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

August 4, 1961. • Honolulu, Hawaii
Politician

Illinois voters sent a Democratic newcomer, Barack Obama, to one of the state's two seats in the U.S. Senate in 2004. Obama's landslide victory in Illinois was significant on several fronts. Firstly, he became the Senate's only African American lawmaker when he was sworn into office in January 2005, and just the third black U.S. senator to serve there since the 1880s. Moreover, Obama's political supporters came from a diverse range of racial and economic backgrounds, which is still relatively rare in American electoral politics—traditionally, black candidates have not done very well in voting precincts where predominantly non-minority voters go to the polls. Even before his Election Day victory, Obama emerged as the new star of the Democratic Party after delivering the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts that summer.

Born in Hawaii

Obama is actually of mixed heritage. He was born in 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, where his parents had met at the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus. His father, Barack Sr., was from Kenya and entered the University of Hawaii as its first-ever student from an African country. He was a member of Kenya's Luo ethnic group, many of whom played a key role in that country's struggle for independence in the 1950s. Obama's mother, Ann Durham, was originally from Kansas, where some of her ancestors had been anti-slavery activists in the 1800s.

The marriage between Obama's parents was a short-lived one, however. In the early 1960s, interracial relationships were still quite rare in many parts of America, and even technically illegal in some states. The Durhams were accepting of Barack Sr., but his family in Kenya had a harder time with the idea of his marryinga white American woman. When Obama was two years old they divorced, and his father left Hawaii to enter Harvard University to earn a Ph.D. in economics. The two Baracks met again only once, when Obama was ten, though they did write occasionally. Barack Sr. eventually returned to Kenya and died in a car accident there in the early 1980s.

Obama's mother remarried a man from Indonesia who worked in the oil industry, and when Obama was six they moved there. The family lived near the capital of Jakarta, where his half-sister Maya was born. At the age of ten, Obama returned to Hawaii and lived with his maternal grandparents; later his mother and sister returned as well. Called "Barry" by his family and friends, he was sent to a prestigious private academy in Honolulu, the Punahou School, where he was one of just a handful of black students. Obama recalled feeling conflicted

"In no other country on earth is my story even possible."

about his mixed heritage in his teen years. Outside the house, he was considered African American, but the only family he knew was his white one at home. For a time, he loafed and let his grades slip; instead of studying, he spent hours on the basketball court with his friends, and has admitted that there was a time when he experimented with drugs, namely marijuana and cocaine. "I was affected by the problems that I think a lot of young African American teens have," he reflected in an interview with Kenneth Meeks for Black Enterprise. "They feel that they need to rebel against society as a way of proving their blackness. And often, this results in self-destructive behavior."

Excels at Harvard Law School

Obama graduated from Punahou and went on to Occidental College in Los Angeles, where he decided to get serious about his studies. Midway through, he transferred to the prestigious Columbia University in New York City. He also began to explore his African roots and not long after his father's death traveled to meet his relatives in Kenya for the first time. After he earned his undergraduate degree in political science, he became a community organizer in Harlem—but quickly realized he could not afford to live in the city with a job that paid so little. Instead, he moved to Chicago to work for a church-based social-services organization there. The group was active on the city's South Side, one of America's most impoverished urban communities.

Feeling it was time to move on, Obama applied to and was accepted at Harvard Law School, one of the top three law schools in the United States. In 1990, he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review journal. He was the first African American to serve in the post, which virtually assured him of any career path he chose after graduation. But Obama declined the job offers from top Manhattan law firms, with their starting salaries that neared the $100,000-a-year range, in order to return to Chicago and work for a small firm that specialized in civil-rights law. This was an especially unglamorous and modest-paying field of law, for it involved defending the poor and the marginalized members of society in housing and employment discrimination cases.

Obama also had another reason for returning to Chicago: During his Harvard Law School years, he took a job as a summer associate at a Chicago firm, and the attorney assigned to mentor him was also a Harvard Law graduate, Michelle Robinson. The two began dating and were married in 1992. Robinson came from a working-class black family and grew up on the South Side; her brother had excelled at basketball and went to Princeton University, and she followed him there for her undergraduate degree. Obama also considered Chicago a place from which he could launch a political career, and he became active in a number of projects in addition to his legal cases at work and another job he held teaching classes at the University of Chicago Law School. He worked on a local voter-registration drive, for example, that registered thousands of black voters in Chicago; the effort was said to have helped Bill Clinton (1946–) win the state in his successful bid for the White House in 1992.

Writes autobiography

Obama's time at the Law Review had netted him an offer to write a book. The result was Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, published by Times Books in 1995. The work merited some brief but mostly complimentary reviews in the press. Obama, however, was not hoping for a career as an author: he decided to run for a seat in the Illinois state senate. He ran from his home district of Hyde Park, the neighborhood surrounding the elite University of Chicago on the South Side. Though Hyde Park is similar to many American college towns, with well-kept homes and upscale businesses, the surrounding neighborhood is a more traditionally urban one, with higher levels of both crime and unemployment.

Obama won that 1996 election and went on to an impressive career in the Senate chambers in Springfield, the state capital. He championed a bill that gave tax breaks to low-income families, worked to expand a state health-insurance program for uninsured children, and wrote a bill that required law enforcement officials in every community to begin keeping track of their traffic stops and noting the race of the driver. This controversial bill, which passed thanks to Obama's determined effort to find support from both political parties in the state Senate, was aimed at reducing incidents of alleged racial profiling, or undue suspicion turned upon certain minority or ethnic groups by police officers on patrol. He also won passage of another important piece of legislation that required police to videotape homicide confessions.

Obama made his first bid for U.S. Congress in 2000, when he challenged a well-known black politician and former Chicago City Council member, Bobby Rush (1946–), for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Rush was a former

Black Senators in U.S. History

Barack Obama became the fifth African American senator in U.S. history in 2005. He was only the third elected since the end of the Reconstruction, the period immediately following the end of the American Civil War (1861–65; a war between the Union [the North], who were opposed to slavery, and the Confederacy [the South], who were in favor of slavery). During the Reconstruction Era, federal troops occupied the defeated Southern states and, along with transplanted government officials, one of their duties was to make sure that newly freed slaves were allowed to vote fairly and freely in elections.

Before 1913 and the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, members of the U.S. Senate were not directly elected by voters in most states, however. Instead they were elected by legislators in the state assemblies, or appointed by the governor. Still, because of the Reconstruction Era reforms, many blacks were elected to the state legislatures that sent senators to Washington. In 1870, the Mississippi state legislature made Hiram Rhoades Revels (1827–1901) the state's newest senator and the first black ever to serve in the U.S. Senate. Revels was a free-born black from North Carolina and a distinguished minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church who had raised two black regiments that fought on the Union side during the Civil War. He served in the Senate for one year.

In 1875, Mississippi lawmakers sent Blanche K. Bruce (1841–1898) to the U.S. Senate. A former slave from Virginia, Bruce was a teacher and founder of the first school for blacks in the state of Missouri. After the end of the Civil War, he headed south to take part in the Reconstruction Era. He won election to local office as a Republican, and in 1875 lawmakers sent him to the U.S. Senate. He served the full six-year term. In 1881, he was appointed a U.S. Treasury official, and his signature was the first from an African American to appear on U.S. currency.

Nearly a hundred years passed before another African American was elected to the Senate, and this came by statewide vote. Edward William Brooke III (1919–), a Republican from Massachusetts, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1966 and served two terms. In 1992 another Illinois Democrat, Carol Moseley Braun (1947–), became the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Barack Obama won his bid for the Senate by a large margin, taking 70 percent of the Illinois vote, thus becoming one of the youngest members of the U.S. Senate when he was sworn into office in January 2005.

1960s radical who had founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, a revolutionary black nationalist party of the era. Rush's campaign stressed his experience and questioned Obama's support base among wealthier white voters in the city, and Obama was solidly defeated in the primary, winning just 30 percent of the vote.

Enters Senate race

A few years later, Obama decided to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate when Illinois Republican Peter G. Fitzgerald (1960–) announced he would retire. Some of Obama's supporters thought he was aiming too high, but this time he beat out six other Democratic challengers in the primary with 53 percent of the vote. Suddenly, state and even national Democratic Party leaders began taking him and his Senate campaign seriously. In the primary, he had managed to do what few African American politicians had ever done: record an impressive number of votes from precincts that had a predominantly white population.

In his 2004 Senate race, Obama faced a tough Republican challenger, however: a former investment banker turned parochial-school (school supported by a church parish) teacher named Jack Ryan (1960–). Ryan was blessed with television-actor good looks and had even once been married to Boston Public star Jeri Ryan (1968–). But Jack Ryan was, like one of Obama's earlier primary opponents, derailed by allegations about his personal life. Chicago news outlets publicized Ryan's divorce documents from 1999, which revealed one or two incidents that seemed distinctly at odds with a Republican "family values" platform. Ryan dropped out of the race, but the Republican National Party quickly brought in talk-show host Alan Keyes (1950–), who changed his home address from Maryland to Illinois to run against Obama. Keyes was a conservative black Republican who twice had made a bid for the White House, but he worried some voters with his strong statements against homosexuality.

Obama, by contrast, was winning public-opinion polls among every demographic group that pollsters asked. He was even greeted with rock-star type cheers in rural Illinois farm towns. Many of these small-town voters recognized that the manufacturing operations of many U.S. industries were rapidly being moved overseas thanks to free-trade agreements that eliminated tariffs (taxes) and trade barriers between the United States and Mexico; another free-trade agreement was in the works for Central America. The result was a dramatic decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs. Obama's campaign pledged to stop the outsourcing of such jobs to overseas facilities. But Obama suddenly found himself in the national spotlight, when John Kerry (1943–), expected to win the Democratic Party's nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004, asked Obama to deliver the convention's keynote address. The keynote speech is expected to set the tone of the political campaign, and those chosen to give face tremendous expectations.

"That makes my life poorer"

Obama did not disappoint that evening. His speech, which he wrote himself and titled "The Audacity of Hope," was stirring and eloquent, and quickly dubbed by political analysts to be one of the best convention keynote addresses of the modern era. He earned several standing ovations during it, and Obama's confident, assured tone was broadcast to the rest of the nation. Cameras occasionally scanned the crowd to show tears on the faces of delegates. Obama praised Kerry's values and experience, and he reminded delegates and the national television audience that the country's strength came from unity, not division—that Americans had created a thriving nation out of many diverse ethnic groups and ideologies in its 228-year history. Economic policies aimed at providing a better life for everyone, not just a privileged few, was the American way, he said. "If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother," he told the crowd. "If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief—I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper—that makes this country work."

Obama's speech, analysts said almost immediately, struck a hopeful, healing tone for a drastically divided nation and what had become a bitter, insult-heavy presidential contest. Obama, asserted Time 's Amanda Ripley, "described a country that America wants very badly to be: a country not pockmarked by racism and fear or led by politicians born into privilege and coached into automatons [robotic behavior]." Others called it one of the best political speeches of the century. Some newspaper and magazine editorial writers predicted that the rising star from Illinois would emerge a strong leader in the Democratic Party over the next few years, and could even run for president in 2012 or 2016.

Obama won his bid for the Senate a few months later by a large margin, taking 70 percent of the Illinois vote against just 27 percent for Keyes. At just forty-three years old, he became one of the youngest members of the U.S. Senate when he was sworn into office in January 2005. The first major piece of legislation he introduced came two months later with the Higher Education Opportunity through Pell Grant Expansion Act of 2005 (HOPE Act). Its goal was increase the maximum amount that the federal government provides each student who receives need-based financial aid for college. In the 1970s and 1980s, Pell grants often covered nearly the entire tuition cost— excluding room, board, and books—at some state universities. But because they had failed to keep pace with risingtuition costs by 2005 they covered, on average, just 23 percent of the tuition at state schools.

Obama and his wife have two young daughters, Malia and Sasha. Instead of moving to Washington, Michelle Robinson Obama remained in Chicago indefinitely with the children and kept her job as a hospital executive. Television personality Oprah Winfrey (1954–) interviewed Obama not long after the Democratic National Convention and asked him how he became such an eloquent public speaker. He replied that he knew from an early age that he had a career in the persuasive arts—be they legal or political—ahead of him. "I always knew I could express myself," he said in O, The Oprah Magazine. "I knew I could win some arguments. I knew I could get my grandparents and mom frustrated!"

For More Information

Books

Obama, Barack. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004.

Periodicals

Alter, Jonathan. "'The Audacity of Hope.'" Newsweek (December 27, 2004): p. 74.

Finnegan, William. "The Candidate." New Yorker (May 31, 2004).

Meeks, Kenneth. "Favorite Son." Black Enterprise (October 2004): p. 88.

"Oprah Talks to Barack Obama." O, The Oprah Magazine (November 2004): p. 248.

Ripley, Amanda. "Obama's Ascent." Time (November 15, 2004): p. 74.

Obama hits McCain on economy in FL

2008-12-02T07:37:00.000-08:00

The audience at Barack Obama's rally at the Jacksonville Veterans
Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, today.
( Chicago Tribune photo by Zbigniew Bzdak )

by John McCormick, updated

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Seeking to keep Democrats motivated, Barack Obama kept his focus on John McCain today as he made the first of three campaign stops in Atlantic Coast states that went Republican in 2004.

In the final critical hours before Tuesday's election, Obama hammered McCain for saying in September that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong" during a campaign stop in the same building.

"John McCain just doesn't get it. Remember what he said when he was here in Jacksonville on September 15th?" the Illinois Democrat asked a less-than-capacity audience of about 9,000 inside Veterans Memorial Arena.

"That day, more than 5,000 jobs were lost. More than 7,000 homes were foreclosed on. The day before, former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said we were in a 'once in a century' crisis," he said. "And yet, despite our economic crisis, John McCain actually came here ... and repeated something he's said at least sixteen times on this campaign. He said - and I quote - 'the fundamentals of our economy are strong.'"

As the crowd booed, Obama used a line he consistently has in recent days: "You don't need to boo. You just need to vote."

(Photos by the Chicago Tribune's Zbigniew Bzdak)

Obama's campaign has been criticized for not providing the full context of what McCain said: "Our economy, I think, is still -- the fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times."

Later that day, McCain altered his message, saying his earlier remarks were meant to praise U.S. workers for their resilience and he described the financial meltdown as a "crisis."

McCain's campaign responded with a statement that mocked Obama for a comment he made to MTV.

"Barack Obama said one thing at his rally, but earlier in the day he used more telling language saying that his plan for higher taxes will only amount to 'chump change' for millions of hardworking families," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. "Of course, Americans aren't 'chumps' and they're looking for a leader with a record of making change, not taking it."

Obama, meanwhile, stressed the importance of Florida's 27 electoral votes, saying he needed to win the state. He also tamped down some of the expressions of confidence he offered a day earlier, fearing supporters could become complacent.

"This is going to be close here in Florida. This is going to be close all across the country," he said. "We're going to have to work like our futures depend on it for the next 24 hours because it does. Understand, at this point, I've made the arguments. Now it's all about who wants it more. Who believes in it more."

After arriving here around 1 a.m. today, Obama seemed a little confused about what state he was in at one point.

"The Republicans are spending a lot of money on ads here in Ohio, but if you watch those ads, you don't know - Florida," he said, correcting himself. "I've been traveling too much."

Obama also continued to link McCain to an unpopular president.

"George Bush dug us a deep hole," he said. "Now he's trying to hand off the shovel to John McCain."

As he has in recent days, Obama recounted the 21-month journey he has been on during his quest for the presidency.

"After decades of broken politics in Washington, eight years of failed policies from George Bush, and 21 months of a campaign that has taken us from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California, we are one day away from changing the United States of America," he said.

"Tomorrow, you can choose policies that invest in our middle-class, create new jobs, and grow this economy so that everybody has a chance to succeed; the CEO and the secretary," he said. "Tomorrow, you can put an end to the politics that would divide a nation just to win an election; that tries to pit region against region, city against town, Republican against Democrat; that asks us to fear at a time when we need hope."

Obama has stops scheduled for later today in North Carolina and Virginia, before flying home to Chicago around midnight.

DEBATE REALITY CHECK: PALIN WRONG ON CLIMATE CHANGE SUB-CABINET POSITION

2008-11-30T23:44:00.000-08:00

PALIN TONIGHT: “We have got to encourage other nations to come along with us with the impacts of climate change, what we can do about that. As governor I was the first governor to form a climate change subcabinet to start dealing with the impacts.”

FACTS: PALIN WAS NOT THE FIRST GOVERNOR TO ACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE OR REORGANIZE HER CABINET TO DEAL WITH IT

In JANUARY 2007, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick Began Sweeping Cabinet Reorganization to Integrate Energy and Environment to Deal With Climate Change. "The challenge of climate change illustrates vividly the need to integrate energy and environmental policy," added Governor Patrick, who has begun a sweeping Cabinet reorganization that combines energy and environmental affairs agencies into a single secretariat." [Gov. Patrick Press Release, 1/8/07 ]

· Nevada Created Climate Committee in April, 2007. On April 10, 2007, “Governor Jim Gibbons today signed an executive order creating the Nevada Climate Change Advisory Committee and named its 13 members. The Committee is tasked with making recommendations to the Governor on reducing Nevada's greenhouse gas emissions." [State of Nevada Press Release , 4/10/07]

· By May of 2007, 29 States had Taken Action On Climate Change. "Among the 29 states that have taken steps to curb their contributions to global warming, some have been more active than others. Massachusetts sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its refusal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and won a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court last month. California, at the urging of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, passed the nation's most stringent emissions control legislation. California also worked with several New England states to set up the carbon registry." [St. Petersburg Times, 5/10/97 ]

Palin Created Subcabinet on Climate Change In SEPTEMBER 2007. According to a press release, “Governor Sarah Palin today signed Administrative Order 238 establishing a sub-cabinet to prepare a climate change strategy. ‘Many scientists note that Alaska’s climate is changing,’ Governor Palin said. ‘We are already seeing the effects. Coastal erosion, thawing permafrost, retreating sea ice and record forest fires affect our communities and our infrastructure. Some scientists tell us to expect more changes in the future. We must begin to prepare for those changes now.’” She also said that the sub-cabinet would look at ways to develop the state’s renewable energy sources. [Palin press release, 9/14/07]

DEBATE REALITY CHECK: BUSH AND MCCAIN BUDGETS

2008-11-30T23:43:00.000-08:00

Tonight, Joe Biden said: “[McCain] voted 4 out of 5 times on George Bush's budget.” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/2/08]

FACT: MCCAIN SUPPORTED 4 OF 5 BUSH BUDGETS

· McCain Voted for 4 of 5 Bush Budgets Adding Up To $9.8 Trillion In Spending. McCain supported four of the five Bush budgets that the Senate voted on from 2001-2006. McCain voted for the FY 2002 budget, the FY 2005 budget, the FY 2006 budget and the FY 2007 budget. The budgets added up to $9.8 Trillion in spending. [2001 Senate Vote #98; 2004 Senate Vote #58; 2005 Senate Vote #114; 2006 Senate Vote #74]

FACT: MCCAIN’S SPENDING PROPOSALS DON’T ADD UP AND ARE FAR MORE COSTLY THEN OBAMA’S PLANS

· McCain Offers Four More Years Of Soaring Deficits. Just like George Bush, McCain budget plan offers four more years of soaring deficits. The non-partisan Tax Policy Center said McCain’s tax plan would add $3.4 trillion to the debt over the next decade, and cuts for the wealthy instead of middle class families. [Tax Policy Center, 7/23/08, p. 42]

· New York Times: McCain’s Budget Will Add $200 Or $300 Billion To The Deficit Per Year. “The Obama campaign claims it can pay for all this, and even reduce the deficit, through tax increases and spending cuts. I think a more skeptical look at its budget leaves you worried it may add something like $50 billion a year to the deficit. But applying the same arched brow to Mr. McCain’s stated plans leaves you worried that he will add $200 billion or $300 billion or, depending on his voluntary tax system, even more.” [New York Times, 6/18/08 ]

· McCain Has No Plan To Pay For His Tax Cuts For The Wealthy And Corporations. McCain’s promise to continue George Bush’s tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and give big corporate interests a tax cut would cost $340 billion a year, according to the Tax Policy Center. The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and New York Times have all raised questions about whether McCain can pay for these tax breaks. In fact, a Washington Post editorial even said that his budget plan is “not credible” [Editorial, Washington Post, 7/14/08 ; Editorial, New York Times, 7/12/08 ; Wall Street Journal, 4/16/08]

· Washington Post: McCain’s Approach To Taxes Is Far More Costly Than Obama’s. “There is a serious debate to be had in this presidential campaign about the fundamentally different tax policies of Barack Obama and John McCain. Then there is the phony, misleading and at times outright dishonest debate that the McCain campaign has been waging -- most recently with a television ad. The two candidates have very different positions on taxes. Mr. Obama wants to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and cut them substantially for low- and middle-income taxpayers. He would cut taxes for more households, and by a larger amount, than Mr. McCain, who would give the greatest benefits to wealthy households and corporations. … The McCain campaign insists on completely misrepresenting Mr. Obama's plan. … The country can't afford the tax cuts either man is promising, although Mr. McCain's approach is by far the more costly. We don't expect either side to admit that. But neither side should get to outright lie about its opponent's positions, either.” [Editorial, Washington Post, 8/31/08 ]

· Washington Post: McCain’s Plan To Balance The Budget By 2013 “Is Not Credible.” “McCain says that President McCain would balance the federal budget by 2013. The plan is not credible. … Mr. McCain sells American voters short -- and he does himself a disservice -- with his implausible claim.” [Editorial, Washington Post, 7/14/08 ]

· New York Times: McCain Cannot Balance The Budget On A Crusade Against Pork And A One-Year Sliver Of Federal Spending And He Either Has A “Secret Plan To Balance The Budget Or He’s Blowing Smoke.” “Mr. McCain’s main campaign promises, if fulfilled, would lead to huge budget deficits. Extending the Bush tax cuts, enacting more tax cuts of his own and staying the course in Iraq would cost hundreds of billions of dollars more, every year, than the small bore spending cuts he has specified. Mr. McCain cannot balance the budget on a crusade against pork and a one-year freeze in a sliver of federal spending. Either he has a secret plan to balance the budget or he’s blowing smoke.” [Editorial, New York Times, 7/12/08 ]

DEBATE REALITY CHECK: APPOINTEES

2008-11-30T23:42:00.000-08:00

Tonight, Sarah Palin said: “You do what I did as governor. And you appoint people regardless of party affiliation. Democrats, independents, Republicans, you walk the walk, don't just talk the talk.” [Vice Presidential Debate, 10/2/08]

FACT: PALIN HIRED HER FRIENDS TO KEY ADMINISTRATION POSITIONS

· Palin Hired Friends for Key Administration Positions. “Other friends and allies have gotten good jobs. Palin appointed close friend and political fund-raiser Deborah Richter as director of the Permanent Fund Dividend Division—the state agency that hands out yearly oil-dividend checks to Alaskans. As her attorney general, Palin chose Talis Colberg, a friend who specializes in insurance law. Some legal experts warned that Palin would do better to select someone with more experience in the oil and gas field—a big part of the Alaska attorney general's caseload—but ‘she chose someone she trusted,’ says Dave Dittmer, her pollster.” [Newsweek, 9/6/08 ]

· Palin Hired a High School Friend With No Experience to Head the State Division of Agriculture – a $95,000 Per Year Job. “So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as one of her qualifications for running the roughly $2 million agency.” [New York Times, 9/14/08 ]

· Palin Hired a High School Friend Who Had Established an Alaska Franchise of Mailboxes Etc. to Head the Economic Development Office, Paying Him $83,000 Per Year. “The Wasilla High School yearbook archive now doubles as a veritable directory of state government. Ms. Palin appointed Mr. Bitney, her former junior high school band-mate, as her legislative director and chose another classmate, Joe Austerman, to manage the economic development office for $82,908 a year. Mr. Austerman had established an Alaska franchise for Mailboxes Etc.” [New York Times, 9/14/08 ]

· Palin Hired One of Todd Palin’s Fellow Bristol Bay Setnetters to Serve on the State Fisheries Board. “Gov. Palin also appointed one of her husband's fellow Bristol Bay setnetters to the state Fisheries Board.” [Washington Post, 9/22/08 ]

· Palin Hired Childhood Friend John Bitney, a Registered Lobbyist, to Work on Her Gubernatorial Campaign – Later Became Her Legislative Director. In 2006, according to the Associated Press, "Bitney terminated his lobbying contracts when he joined the [Palin] campaign" and wrote "position papers, speeches, talking points, letters and messages for the campaign." The AP reported, however, that Bitney remained registered as a lobbyist while working with Palin, though "state law prohibits a registered lobbyist from serving as a campaign's director or treasurer, participate in fundraising or exercise any decision making authority or control over the campaign." [Associated Press, 9/21/06, Anchorage Daily News, 7/10/07]

o Bitney Served as Palin’s Legislative Director Once She Took Office. According to the Anchorage Daily News in 2007, John Bitney served as “Gov. Palin’s legislative director.” [Anchorage Daily News, 7/10/2007]

Hernadi , Irvan,& Andi

2008-11-30T23:06:00.000-08:00