BS: Popular Views: the Obama Administration

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 03:13 PM

SO far, Obama has done nothing indicating he deserves the kind of calumny that Bush's secretive, ill-conceived powerplays deserved.

A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 03:01 PM

Amos,

"It isn't even story. It's just flapdoodle noisemaking. Especially since apparently no attempt was made to find out what the whole story may have been."

As opposed to many of the anti-Bush diatribes that you have posted before??? Please!

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 02:53 PM

What a storm of empty nonsense.

First of all, after 195 posts, the fact remains that the Obama administration does not begin operating for real for another 6 days!!

Second of all, journalists with hurt feelings spouting miscellaneous whingery and calling things "bizarre" is not news. It isn't even story. It's just flapdoodle noisemaking. Especially since apparently no attempt was made to find out what the whole story may have been.

Third of all, when the Obama administration DOES swing into operation, the issues will be a bit more important than noise about noisemakers making noise. We'll be able to debate or argue on the merits of the case, to whatever degree we can learn what those are.

A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 10:51 AM

"One has a sinking suspicion that the press is allowing itself to become Obama's lapdog extraordinaire."


          I don't know; they managed to uncover the illegal alien that his appointee to treasury department hired...

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 10:00 AM

Sun-Times: Journalists Being Shut Out by Obama
By Warner Todd Huston (Bio | Archive)
January 12, 2009 - 21:43 ET

According to Sun-Times columnist and long-time Chicago journalist, Carol Marin, journalists at Barack Obama news conferences have come to realize that Obama has pre-picked those journalists whom he will allow to ask him questions at the conference and many of them now "don't even bother raising" their hands to be called upon.

One wonders why journalists are allowing this corralling of the press? Would they have allowed George W. Bush to pre-pick journalists like that? Would they meekly sit by and allow themselves to be systematically ignored, their freedom to ask questions silenced by any Republican? Would journalists so eagerly vie with one another for the favor of Bush like they are Obama's?

For her part, it seems that Carol Marin is starting to wonder at the "bizarro world" that is being invented by the pliant and smitten Obama loving press corps.

As ferociously as we march like villagers with torches against Blagojevich, we have been, in the true spirit of the Bizarro universe, the polar opposite with the president-elect. Deferential, eager to please, prepared to keep a careful distance.

The Obama news conferences tell that story, making one yearn for the return of the always-irritating Sam Donaldson to awaken the slumbering press to the notion that decorum isn't all it's cracked up to be.

The press corps, most of us, don't even bother raising our hands any more to ask questions because Obama always has before him a list of correspondents who've been advised they will be called upon that day.


Will the rest of the press retake their manhood and again become the tough guys they have always claimed to be or are they going to stay so smitten by Obama and their love for The One that they will allow themselves to continue being forced into a subservient role?

One has a sinking suspicion that the press is allowing itself to become Obama's lapdog extraordinaire.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 07:40 AM

Jan. 14, 2009 | Dear Camille,


I wish to present an observation, of sorts, from an evil conservative view.

I am not in the least bit surprised that the Obama crew is shaping up to look like a Clinton retread crew because it seems to me that the Clinton years are the only real benchmark of accomplishment that Democrats today can look to. Sure, they wiped up the Republicans in '06 and '08, but they haven't done much of anything of substance except torpedo Congress's already historically abysmal approval ratings and piss off their own Capitol Hill staffers. If anyone ought to be allowed (or encouraged) to smoke, it would be these D.C. staffers, and are you really willing to screw with that?

It is going to be interesting to see how the Democrat Party is able to hold up in this first year or so internally. In my humble opinion, Obama is not the leader of this party -- Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are -- and to see how Obama grabs hold of Dem leadership responsibilities, if at all, will be interesting. I think that the party is at a crossroads, with political posturing at the top (Obama's rapidly backpedaling policy plans), power and ego struggles (Hillary, Harry, Nancy, etc.) and a voter base that is starting to look and sound more like British Labour and that grows less tolerant of electoral posturing and only more restless in its pursuit of what I can only describe as radical change.

Obama will certainly have his hands full with his band of bozos, and because they control Congress and the White House, whichever way they pull themselves, so go the rest of us. Oh well, in God I trust, and in his faithful servant, John Browning.

Daine Zaccheo
469th FMC Info Sys Support Spc
Palm Bay, Fla., by way of Balad, Iraq



Thank you for your tart perspective on the travails of my party! In invoking God's "faithful servant" John Browning, I assume you are referring to the innovative Mormon gunsmith (1855-1926) who invented a staggering number of weapons and who is considered the godfather of today's automatic and semiautomatic firearms.

Surely both parties should be rooting for Congress to dig in its heels and assert its constitutional authority vis-à-vis the White House. The U.S. was meant to have a vigorous tripartite government, which has been weakened by the post-Nixon slide toward an ad hoc imperial presidency. The legislative branch shouldn't roll over and play dead like a cutesy pound puppy.

On the other hand, I agree with you that Congress has come across lately like a clumsy, flea-bitten bunch of "bozos." Its poll ratings are lower than stinking swamp mud. I have a soft spot for the nimble Nancy Pelosi, a master of the ladylike stiletto thrust, but Harry Reid is a cadaverous horse's ass of mammoth proportions. How in the world did that whiny, sniveling incompetent end up as Senate majority leader? Give him the hook! As for the "radical change" that you fear, it's hard to imagine (short of a crisis-driven imposition of martial law) how that will ever happen in our sluggish, consensus-driven political system.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 07:32 AM

Jan. 14, 2009 | Dear Camille,

When Obama is reading off a teleprompter or in a scripted environment like a debate (where the game is to plug in your prepared sound bites regardless of the question), he comes across as a magnificent and inspiring speaker. But there were several times during the campaign where he appeared to trip all over himself when off script.

Now in his comments about the Blagojevich mess, he comes across badly and makes it look like we are in for another four (or eight) years of people having to carefully parse every word. Do you get that same impression to any extent, and if so, does it cause you concern?

Blake Krass
Pflugerville, Texas

Because my support for Obama was based on his steady, tempered performance in the debates rather than on his soaring but rather vague speeches, I have never been troubled by any gap between his mundane and rhetorical selves. The widespread notion that Obama is inarticulate came from stunt tapes broadcast on conservative talk radio where his occasional hesitations on the road were stitched together to make him sound like a stuttering Bugs Bunny.

Who wouldn't misspeak from fatigue on the long, brutal national campaign trail? Only candidates popping pep pills or relying on a Versailles-like staff of flunkies to feed them talking points and buzzwords. Considering what a relative newcomer he is, Obama endured that punishing trial by fire amazingly well. Since the election, he has also projected a cordial dignity and thoughtful reserve that seem to have impressed and reassured observers across the political spectrum.

However, you are quite right to call the controversy over the indictment of buffoonishly sly Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich a "mess." That the normally deft Obama team mishandled its rapid response to it was obvious from the get-go. Obama's first statements about his and his staff's communications with Blagojevich were inadequate at best and misleading at worst. Then there was a second stage of needless blunders when Obama opposed the tarnished Blagojevich's perfectly legal appointment of Roland Burris to fill Obama's vacated Senate seat -- a foolishly hard line that the president-elect inevitably had to reverse.

The usual tranquil transition period between an election and inauguration has certainly been overshadowed by the murky Blagojevich scandal, but I think most reasonable people would give Obama a pass on it. Any new president must learn crisis management the hard way. No evidence to date directly implicates Obama in Blagojevich's follies. But Obama's future chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, the arrogant Chicago scrapper who was reportedly a conduit to the governor, already seems like an albatross who should be thrown overboard as soon as possible. Nobody wants a dawning presidency addicted so soon to stonewalling, casuistry and the Nixonian dark arts of the modified limited hangout.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 12 Jan 09 - 04:10 PM

Poland hopes Obama will back missile shield
Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:24am EST

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Monday he hoped the administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will press ahead with plans to install elements of a missile shield on Polish soil.

Warsaw agreed last August to station 10 ground missile interceptors as part of the global missile defense system Washington says will protect the United States and its allies from attacks by what it calls 'rogue states', notably Iran.

"I hope the new administration of President-elect Barack Obama, led by strategic security considerations, will continue the installation of missile defenses," Sikorski told a ceremony to commemorate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Washington and Warsaw.

Obama, who is to be sworn in as president on January 20, has said he wants to be sure any missile defense system has been proven to work before it is deployed.

The plan, which also envisages a radar facility in the Czech Republic, faces stiff opposition from Russia, Poland's Soviet-era overlord. Moscow regards the plan as a direct threat to its own security.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 01:21 PM

He sure did a quick about-face on Burris.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 11:41 AM

Ex-Presidents Popular; But Dubya? Nyet
January 7, 2009
Want to be a popular President? Make sure you're emeritus and not the guy who actually has the job at the time.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll released today shows that the three ex-Presidents meeting with President Bush and President-elect Obama all have positive job approval ratings that tower over the incumbent commander-in-chief.

Some 64% of the poll's respondents approve of Jimmy Carter's performance as President; 60% say the same for George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton tops the charts at 69%.

The same CNN poll taken last month put the current President Bush's job approval rating at 27%. And Obama? His pre-presidential approval rating is a whopping 82%.

- Ken Bazinet

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 11:40 AM

Bruce:

Your continuous use of my posts as mockeries are always unwelcome, juvenile, unthinking and usually without merit. Especially since you have been told repeatedly that they are non-productive and puerile. IF you do not have the personal resources to write a complete sentence of your own, just refrain from posting.   

A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 06:56 AM

Gee whiz, Amos! You promulgate hate speech from NYT and other Bush-haters?

That's pretty spiteful, too.

bb

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 09:46 PM

Al zawah whatever is an asshole and public enemy #2, nevertheless he has a view that will likely influence other views.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 07:57 PM

CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday will
announce his selection for the role of "chief performance officer," a
newly created position that will work to scrub the federal budget and
reform government, a Democratic official told CNN.

The person will "help put us on a path to fiscal discipline," the
official said.


http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/>
http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 05:45 PM

Gee whiz, Sawz! You promulgate hate speech from Al Queda?

That's pretty sp[iteful.

A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 05:37 PM

Al Qaeda Plays the Malcolm Card
By Salim Muwakkil

When media reports emerged that al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, disparaged President-elect Barack Hussein Obama as a "house negro," it angered many in the black community. However, it also struck a chord.

Al Qaeda Plays the Malcolm Card
By Salim Muwakkil

When media reports emerged that al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, disparaged President-elect Barack Hussein Obama as a "house negro," it angered many in the black community. However, it also struck a chord.

The Egyptian physician — who is reportedly Osama bin Laden's confidant — actually used the phrase "house slave," but it was later translated as "house negro."

Al-Zawahiri said, "You [Obama] represent the direct opposite of honorable black Americans like Malik al-Shabazz or Malcolm X," who "condemned the crimes of the Crusader West against the weak and oppressed, and he declared his support for peoples resisting American occupation."

The al Qaeda leader said Obama, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice "confirmed" Malcolm X's definition of a "house slave." He was referring to Malcolm X's distinction between slave-era "house Negroes," who lived comfortably in the big house abetting white supremacy, and "field negroes," who toiled in the fields under the whip, plotting resistance.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 05:27 PM

Report: Al-Qaida No. 2 blames Obama for Gaza fight

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI – 21 hours ago

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader lashed out at President-elect Barack Obama in a new audio message Tuesday, accusing him of not doing anything to stop Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, according to an intelligence monitoring center.

The recording purportedly by Ayman al-Zawahiri was al-Qaida's first comments on the Gaza crisis since Israel launched its offensive against the Islamic militants of Hamas on Dec. 27.

In the comments, which were posted on a militant Web site and obtained by the SITE Monitoring Service, al-Zawahiri described Israel's actions in Gaza as a "crusade against Islam and Muslims" and called it "Obama's gift to Israel" before he takes office later this month.

"This is Obama whom the American machine of lies tried to portray as the rescuer who will change the policy of America," al-Zawahiri said, according to SITE. "He kills your brothers and sisters in Gaza mercilessly and without affection."...

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 07:51 AM

(CNN) -- An audio message reportedly from al Qaeda's deputy chief vows revenge for Israel's air and ground assault on Gaza and calls the Jewish state's actions against Hamas militants "a gift" from U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

The speaker, identified as Ayman al-Zawahiri, addresses Muslims in Gaza. He said the violence "is one part of a series of a crusade war against Islam and these air strikes are a gift from Obama before he takes office, and (Egyptian President) Hosni Mubarak, that traitor, is the main partner in your siege and killing."

The message, posted Tuesday on various Islamist Web sites with a picture of al-Zawahiri next to an image of a wounded child, urges militants to rally against Israel.

"My Muslim brothers and mujahedeens in Gaza and all over Palestine, with the help of God we are with you in the battle, we will direct our strikes against the crusader Jewish coalition wherever we can."

The 10-minute message also address Muslims worldwide, claiming that Obama was portrayed as "the savior who will come and change American policy" during the U.S. election but is now "killing your brothers and sisters in Gaza without mercy or even pity."

Obama's transition team did not immediately respond to the message. Earlier Tuesday, the president-elect said he was "deeply concerned" about the loss of life in Gaza and Israel, and he promised to make the issue a top priority in his administration.

It was Obama's first public reaction to the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, which began with Israeli air strikes 11 days ago. He reiterated that only one president can speak for the United States at a time.

"Starting at the beginning of our administration, we are going to engage effectively and consistently to try to resolve the conflicts that exist in the Middle East," Obama said.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson said the al Qaeda message speaks to al-Zawahiri's cause in two ways: It bashes the new U.S. president before he takes office and it criticizes Mubarak, who has drawn al-Zawahiri's ire for not allowing goods and aid through Egypt's border with Gaza.

Al-Zawahiri is a native of Egypt who has served jail time there.

Robertson, who is reporting from the Israeli-Gaza border, noted on CNN's "Situation Room" that al-Zawahiri got the message out quickly -- "within 12 days, that's very fast." He said that indicated "there's many issues there that are dear to him."

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Ebbie
Date: 31 Dec 08 - 12:41 PM

From the link: "One of Rush's colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.), told the Associated Press last night that he had been offered the appointment last week but that he turned it down because "I thought the environment had been poisoned."

Wise and moral man. The environment, of course, has been poisoned and no one knows it better than Blago. Chicago's Lieutenant Governor and the US Senate have both said they would not certify or seat anyone that the Governor names; Blago is doing nothing but trying to force the issue.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 31 Dec 08 - 06:10 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/30/AR2008123002972.html?hpid=topnews

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 31 Dec 08 - 01:17 AM

Well, I am not expecting my highest hopes to be realized, but I will not be disappointed in solid improvement, which I expect.


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: DougR
Date: 31 Dec 08 - 01:07 AM

Akenaton: It's been many, many, years since I had to relieve the growling in my bowels in a, as you call it, "shit house." To me, that means visiting my grandmother and grandfather on their farm where the only means for such relief was done in the "outhouse". After the dirty deed was did, the only clean-up available was a previous year's Sears & Roebuck catalog. Political writings were not included.

Anyway, Amos, you are betting very heavily on your Obama to bring about the changes you feel are necessary to correct all the ills of the world. I hope you are not disappointed.

DougR

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 30 Dec 08 - 11:24 AM

"Obama's commitments

In the context of American values, Obama is both symbolically and substantively significant: He represents a gigantic step in this country's long attempt to narrow its racial divisions, and his political views offer the potential for progress on many fronts. He has pledged to restore basic American legal principles by closing the detention center at Guantanamo. The nation should hold him to his word. He has promised to reverse the Bush administration's devastatingenvironmental record and commit his government to addressing climate change. Now he must deliver. And, having opposed the war in Iraq, he vowed to end it. In our view, the sooner the better.

As a teacher of constitutional law, Obama is fluent in the language of American history and rights, as he amply demonstrated during the campaign. In just a few weeks, he will occupy an office in which he can do more than just embody or appreciate those values, but advance them. In building his administration and laying out its early goals, Obama has pledged to draw on conservatives as well as liberals, Republicans as well as Democrats. We commend him for it.

But Obama's commitment to governing with bipartisan support inevitably challenges the depth of his ideological convictions. To cite just one issue on which Obama could show resolve at the risk of offending some of his more conservative backers: A man whose own life is the result of an interracial union must end his dithering on same-sex marriage. It is all well and good to respect the views of those who do not accept such unions as the next step on our historic path toward true equality for all, but Obama must not be swayed by them. He owes it to gays and lesbians to abandon his hedged support of their civil rights and offer an unequivocal endorsement of gay marriage. He already has waited too long.

Meanwhile, circumstances have bestowed on Obama a far more difficult nation to govern than the one he set out to lead. In the space of just a few months, one venerable institution after another has teetered toward collapse. Banks, insurance companies, automakers -- all have fallen in rapid succession, prompting a staggering set of economic calculations by Washington. The costs of bailing out the economy have skyrocketed, to the point that the incoming Obama administration is seriously considering a stimulus package that could exceed $700 billion -- on top of what the Bush administration already has committed to that process. Without it, members of Obama's team say, the economy could shed 4 million jobs in the next two years; the current situation, by common and bipartisan agreement, is worse than any faced by this nation in half a century.

The road to recovery

The result has been a radical shift in the national debate over economic recovery, with deficit spending now accepted indefinitely and the stakes for social programs uncertain as cascading catastrophes defy the imagination.

Take one sobering example: A year ago, Obama campaigned on a healthcare plan to extend insurance to nearly all Americans; in the presidential debates and through the rest of the campaign, critics worried over its extravagant cost, estimated by some to be more than $60 billion. Just this month, Bernard Madoff was arrested on allegations that he ran a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of roughly $50 billion. That figure could well prove inflated, but it is shocking to imagine that one man is accused of squandering a sum large enough to represent a substantial down payment toward the repair of the country's inequitable healthcare system. Madoff's alleged scheme and its far-flung victims painfully remind us how the collapse of meaningful government regulation and enforcement has contributed to the perils of our economy.

Greed, arrogance, intolerance -- as much as we wish they were not a part of the American fabric, they are. And they have been much in evidence in recent months. They represent the prime challenge to Obama, just as the brighter virtues of our heritage provide him with a bulwark of principle. We are the nation that produced George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. But we also inhabit the land of George Wallace, Joe McCarthy, the robber barons, the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan.

It is incumbent on our new president, then, to govern with humility but also with strength, to welcome others to his coalition but not to surrender his principles -- or to compromise the nation's -- for expediency or convenience. We have lived through eight grim, violent and disheartening years. Intellectual prowess has been ridiculed, achievement belittled and virtue sacrificed for gain. It's time to begin again.

With that hope, we end this entreaty as we did our series, bidding farewell to what has inhibited this nation's promise and offering a plea that our leaders restore its status as a leading light of liberty. As we said a year ago:

"One characteristic of the Bush administration has been its wearying appeal to the weak, to those who are threatened by energetic political expression and instead take refuge in the slow forfeit of their rights; to those too timid to trust that hateful speech is best rebutted by more speech, not by squelching dissent; to those so unnerved by terrorism that they would condone torture. We live in a nation that once had the confidence to defend the speech and association rights of American communists even as it fought their sponsors and supporters abroad. Yet that same nation now flinches at the threat posed by a high school student who displays a banner that reads, nonsensically, 'BONG HiTS 4 JESUS.'

"That is a depressing relinquishment of what has given the United States its place in history. We hope, with fervent optimism, for a president who will embrace our defining love of liberty and who will relish, not disdain, its many blessings." ..." LA Times Editorial 12-24-08

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 06:19 PM

"He could appoint a panel in an hour, who could dig for months in relative obscurity, and take up little Executive time..."


                   If he did it that way, I'm all for it. I don't object to looking into the Bush stuff. It's just down on the list of priorities right now.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: akenaton
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 05:28 PM

I read it too!

I think it must be Christmas time again

I'd rather join Bruce , Doug, and Teribus in the shithouse than subscribe to such twaddle!

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:45 PM

A good article. Amos. I do hope that you and many others here actually read it. I did.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:24 PM

ANother "elevated" viewpoint on the inaugural speech shtick.


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:21 PM

PArt of the man's strength is he doesn't mind sitting in front of contradictory perspectives for a while in an effort to find some higher, common ground. ANd bear in mind that inviting someone to speak is not a legislative act, it is simply an honorary courtesy.

A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 03:15 PM

Obama defends choice of evangelical pastor

Dec 18 02:00 PM US/Eastern
WASHINGTON (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday defended his choice of a popular evangelical minister to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, rejecting criticism that it slights gays.
The selection of Pastor Rick Warren brought objections from gay rights advocates, who strongly supported Obama during the election campaign. The advocates are angry over Warren's backing of a California ballot initiative banning gay marriage. That measure was approved by voters last month.

But Obama told reporters in Chicago that America needs to "come together," even when there's disagreement on social issues. "That dialogue is part of what my campaign is all about," he said.

Obama also said he's known to be a "fierce advocate for equality" for gays and lesbians, and will remain so.

Warren, a best-selling author and leader of a Southern California megachurch, is one of a new breed of evangelicals who stress the need for action on social issues such as reducing poverty and protecting the environment, alongside traditional theological themes.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization, said Warren's opposition to gay marriage is a sign of intolerance.

"We feel a deep level of disrespect when one of the architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination," the group said in a letter to Obama, asking him to reconsider.

Obama's selection of Warren is seen as a signal to religious conservatives that the president-elect will listen to their views. During the campaign, Warren interviewed Obama and Republican John McCain in a widely watched television program that focused on religious concerns.

Gay rights advocates say they are troubled that Obama would give Warren such a visible role at his swearing-in. "By inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table," the letter said.

Obama, however, pointed out that a couple of years ago, he was invited to speak at Warren's church, despite their disagreements on a number of issues.

The president-elect said a "wide range of viewpoints" will be presented during the inaugural ceremonies.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 01:51 PM

He could appoint a panel in an hour, who could dig for months in relative obscurity, and take up little Executive time, well worth it if compared to the possible benefits to the national psyche.


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 01:21 PM

While it wouldn't hurt to have somebody look into some of the Bush problems, I think Obama is right when he says he needs to look forward if he's going to correct the problems facing the nation now. I don't think it would be time well spent to have Congress form a committee to do the probing, however.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 11:54 AM

I think it would be quite healthy for a panel to start digging for truth in the mangled immoral prevarications of the Bush years.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 11:22 AM

Hopefully Obam will pay little attention to the New York Times, and will get about the business of dealing with the most important problems facing the country.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 09:25 AM

"Mr. Obama should consider proposals from groups like Human Rights Watch and the Brennan Center for Justice to appoint an independent panel to look into these and other egregious violations of the law. Like the 9/11 commission, it would examine in depth the decisions on prisoner treatment, as well as warrantless wiretapping, that eroded the rule of law and violated Americans' most basic rights. Unless the nation and its leaders know precisely what went wrong in the last seven years, it will be impossible to fix it and make sure those terrible mistakes are not repeated.

We expect Mr. Obama to keep the promise he made over and over in the campaign — to cheering crowds at campaign rallies and in other places, including our office in New York. He said one of his first acts as president would be to order a review of all of Mr. Bush's executive orders and reverse those that eroded civil liberties and the rule of law.

That job will fall to Eric Holder, a veteran prosecutor who has been chosen as attorney general, and Gregory Craig, a lawyer with extensive national security experience who has been selected as Mr. Obama's White House counsel.

A good place for them to start would be to reverse Mr. Bush's disastrous order of Feb. 7, 2002, declaring that the United States was no longer legally committed to comply with the Geneva Conventions.

..." NYT

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 18 Dec 08 - 06:59 AM

Frankly, it always looked to me like the Bush Administration was only going ahead with this in order to piss off the Russians. It didn't make sense not to try to accommodate the Russians in the first place, to my way of thinking.

          Obama's pick for Secretary of Education looks like another winner. I continue to be impressed.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 17 Dec 08 - 05:45 PM

US official: Russians intend to test Obama on arms

Dec 17 03:35 PM US/Eastern
By ROBERT BURNS
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Russian government is likely to "test the mettle" of Barack Obama and his administration by taking a tougher stance against U.S. missile defenses, a senior State Department official said Wednesday.
John Rood, the department's top arms control official, told reporters he believes the Russians are waiting to size up the Obama administration before Moscow advances its position on disputed arms issues.

In discussing the state of Russian opposition to U.S. missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, Rood said it appears that Moscow has "paused" in anticipation of a new national security approach in Washington.

"My assessment is that the Russians intend to test the mettle of the new administration and the new president," he said. "The future will show how the new administration chooses to answer that challenge."

Asked to elaborate, he said, "I think missile defense and other subjects will be among those that the Russians intend to determine what the new administration's posture will be." He said he reached this conclusion on the basis of an impression gained during talks in Moscow on Monday rather than from explicit Russian statements.

He also said the Russians have been less flexible lately in talks on missile defense. In particular he cited their stance on U.S. proposals to give the Russians more assurance that a missile interceptor site in Poland and a missile-tracking radar in the Czech Republic would pose no security threat to Russia.

The U.S., with the support of the Polish and Czech governments, has proposed that Russian officials be given regular access to the interceptor and radar sites and that they be allowed to monitor activity at both sites through undisclosed technical means. Rood did not elaborate on the details in dispute.

"I don't want to spell out all the details because I think this is a high-priority dialogue for us in the United States, and I don't think that putting all the details out will facilitate a resolution to it," he said.

Rood led a U.S. government delegation in talks with senior Russian officials on a range of subjects, including efforts by both governments to negotiate a treaty to replace the 1991 START nuclear arms deal, which expires in December 2009. Rood said the talks were useful but did not achieve any breakthroughs.

In Moscow on Tuesday, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying Moscow hopes the Obama administration will agree that the weapons limitations under START "should be preserved and strengthened, rather than weakened."

Rood said the Russians want to expand the scope of a follow-on to the START treaty to include limitations on non-nuclear strategic weapons such as long-range conventional bombers and possibly submarines. The Bush administration has resisted that, saying the restrictions should be on nuclear warheads only.

The missile defense issue has been one of the most divisive over the past few years. The Bush administration has argued that extending its U.S.-based defense system to Europe is important in defending Europe and the United States from a possible long-range missile strike from Iran, while the Russians dispute the immediacy of an Iranian threat and worry about U.S. military expansion near Russian borders.

On Nov. 5, the day after Obama's election, President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia would move short-range missiles to NATO's borders to "neutralize" any U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe if necessary.

Medvedev has since backed off slightly. He stressed on Nov. 15 that Russia would not act unless the United States took the first step and expressed hope that the new U.S. administration will be open to negotiations.

Obama has not been explicit, at least in public, about whether he would proceed with the missile defense plan in Poland and the Czech Republic. More broadly he has said he supports missile defense but wants to ensure that it is proven to be a reliable system that does not detract from other security priorities.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 13 Dec 08 - 02:54 PM

Well, I'm probably never going to read his books.

          I guess I was working off the direction of his own education. Unlike Carter's, his was not science.

          However, his cabinet selections have given me some encouragement to pay attention to what he says, which is more that I will do for most politicians.

          Before Reagan I wasn't so cynical.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 11:31 PM

You still haven't read his platform OR his books, have you, Rig? How do you form any opinion without at least looking into these things? Here's a page on the AAAS web site for starters.


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 11:27 PM

I've seen no evidence that Obama has any dedication to science. On the other hand, straightening out the deficit has become laughable.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 06:39 PM

It will be interesting to see whether his dedication to science or his efforts to straighten out the deficit overrule. It is debatable whether going back to the Moon would be a highly meaningful stage, but if it meant the beginnings of a Moon station it would be wonderful indeed.



A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 03:21 PM

Does Obama Want to Ground NASA's Next Moon Mission?
By Jeffrey Kluger Thursday, Dec. 11,

Getting into a shouting match with the HR rep is not exactly the best way to land a job. But according to the Orlando Sentinel, that's just what happened last week between NASA administrator Mike Griffin and Lori Garver, a member of Barack Obama's transition team who will help decide if Griffin keeps his post once the President-elect takes office. If the contretemps did occur, it could help doom not only the NASA chief's chances, but the space agency's ambitious plans to get Americans back to the moon.

The mere fact that the story is making the rounds reflects the very real friction between NASA and the transition team — which has sparked a groundswell of support among space agency employees to keep the boss. Within NASA, there is a real concern that while the Obama campaign rode the call for change to a thumping victory in November, change is precisely what the space agency does not need. (See photos of different countries' space programs here.)

The stagnant NASA of the past 20 years has been poised to become a very new NASA — thanks, in many respects, to the outgoing Bush Administration. In 2004, the President announced a new push to return astronauts to the moon and eventually get them to Mars. Many skeptics saw the hand of political whiz Karl Rove in that, suspecting that the whole idea was just a bag of election year goodies for space-happy states like Florida and Texas, as well as for voters nostalgic for the glory days of Apollo. But Bush, NASA and Congress did mean business, and eventually came up with a plan under which the space station would be completed and the shuttle would be retired by 2010. That would free up about $4 billion per year, which would be used to pay for a new generation of expendable boosters as well as a 21st century version of the Apollo orbiter and lunar lander for those rockets to carry. (Read about the space moon race here.)

"At the time, the shuttle had flown 290 people, and out of those 14 were dead — nearly one in 20," says Scott Horowitz, a four-time shuttle veteran who designed the Ares 1, one of the new boosters. "We needed something that was an order of magnitude safer."

NASA has moved with uncharacteristic nimbleness in the last five years and is already cutting metal on the new machines in the hope of having crews in Earth orbit by 2015 and on the moon by 2020. Schedules have slipped some — the original plan was to launch the orbital missions in 2014 — and costs have swollen, though so far not dramatically. (See the Top 50 space moments since Sputnik.)

"We've been moving in the right direction since the Columbia accident [in 2003]," says Chris Shank, NASA's chief of strategic communications. "The concern is that we'll lose that." Lately, that concern appears well-placed.

The Obama team picked Garver to run the NASA transition, in part because of her deep pedigree and long history at the space agency, which saw her climb to the rank of associate administrator. But Garver started as a PAO — NASA-speak for a public affairs officer — and never got involved in the nuts and bolts of building rockets. She is best known by most people as the person who in 2002 competed with boy-band singer Lance Bass for the chance to fly to the International Space Station aboard a Russian rocket. Neither of them ever left the ground.

Garver's lack of engineering cred is especially surprising in light of the eggheads with whom Obama has been surrounding himself — most recently, Nobel prize winning physicist Steven Chu, who has reportedly been tapped to be Secretary of Energy. Garver is also not thought to be much of a fan of Griffin — who is an engineer — nor to be sold on the plans for the new moon program. What she and others are said to be considering is to scrap the plans for the Ares 1 — which is designed exclusively to carry humans — and replace it with Atlas V and Delta IV boosters, which are currently used to launch satellites but could be redesigned, or "requalified," for humans. Griffin hates that idea, and firmly believes the Atlas and Delta are unsafe for people. One well-placed NASA source who asked not to be named reports that as much as Griffin wants to keep his job, he'll walk away from it if he's made to put his astronauts on top of those rockets.

NASA is right to be uneasy about just what Obama has planned for the agency since his position on space travel shifted — a lot — during the campaign. A year before the election he touted an $18 billion education program and explicitly targeted the new moon program as one he'd cut to pay for it. In January of 2008, he lined up much closer to the Bush moon plan — perhaps because Republicans were already on board and earning swing-state support as a result. Three months before the election, Obama fully endorsed the 2020 target for putting people on the moon. But that was a candidate talking and now he's president-elect, and his choice of Garver as his transition adviser may say more than his past campaign rhetoric.

The dust-up between Griffin and Garver is said to have occurred last week at a book launch party in Washington when, according to the Sentinel, a red-faced Griffin told Garver she was "not qualified" to make engineering decisions. Horowitz, who was not at the party but knows the NASA boss well, says he doubts that Griffin raised his voice.

"I think that's bulls---," he says. "I believe that anything he was asked he was very honest in answering because he's a systems engineer. And Lori Garver is not equipped to make technical judgments on the architecture of a space exploration system." The unnamed NASA source concedes that Griffin can be brutally honest and occasionally tactless, but insists that his shouting is simply improbable. The Obama transition office did not return an e-mail seeking comment from Garver.

For now, says the NASA source, both present and former astronauts as well as some NASA contractors are quietly — and sometimes not so quietly — lobbying for Griffin to stay. But the incoming administration is not saying anything so far. It was President John F. Kennedy who famously committed Americans to reaching the moon. Now it is Obama — who so often invokes the themes and style of JFK — who may decide if we go back.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 11 Dec 08 - 04:40 PM

Obama enjoys strong public support as president-elect
Nearly three-quarters of Americans polled are pleased with his election, even as many express doubts about how much he can accomplish in office.

By Mark Z. Barabak
December 10, 2008

Barack Obama approaches the White House with a deep well of public support, even though many doubt the president-elect can fulfill some key promises, according to a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll.

Less than six weeks before Obama's history-making ascent to the Oval Office, the country is torn between hope for the future and concern about the present. Nine in 10 of those surveyed say the economy is in poor shape, with a substantial majority believing things are very bad. That finding matches the assessment in an October poll, which was the gloomiest since a Times survey taken during the 1991 recession.

There are, however, signs of budding optimism.

Although nearly two-thirds of those surveyed believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, the figure represents an improvement from October, when 84% said the country was on the wrong track. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed feel positive about Obama's election as president, a figure that includes not just an overwhelming majority of his fellow Democrats but a substantial majority of independents and nearly a third of Republicans.

Overall, nearly 8 in 10 approve of the way Obama has handled his transition to the White House and nearly three-quarters approve of his Cabinet picks. Strong majorities endorsed two of Obama's most prominent choices: Democratic New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of State and Republican Robert M. Gates, a holdover from the Bush administration, as secretary of Defense.


"I think he's intelligent and competent, and he's picking intelligent, competent people," said Ronald Griffey, 74, a retired meteorologist and political independent who lives in suburban Dallas.
..."

LA Times

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 11 Dec 08 - 03:17 PM

Last update - 11:50 08/12/2008   


Iran rejects Barack Obama's 'failed' carrot and stick policy

By News Agencies

Iran rejected on Monday a suggestion by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama that a carrot and stick policy of economic incentives and additional sanctions might persuade the Iranian government to halt its nuclear program.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hasan Qashqavi, said Monday that Obama's proposed policy was unacceptable and had failed in the past.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said on Sunday he was prepared to offer Iran economic incentives to stop its nuclear program, which Washington says is aimed at making bombs. But he warned that sanctions could be toughened if it refused.
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"When they stick to their past view regarding suspending uranium enrichment, our answer will be: Iran will never suspend uranium enrichment," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told reporters.

Washington, which cut ties with Tehran after the 1979 revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed shah, has been pushing hard to isolate Iran over its nuclear plans.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, insists it wants to master nuclear technology to generate electricity so it can save more of its oil and gas reserves for exports.

Enrichment is the part of Iran's program that most worries the West because, if uranium is enriched much more, it can make warhead material as well as being used to make fuel for power plants.

"If their [Washington's] new stance is to remove concerns about Iran's nuclear activities, we are ready for that. But our new expectation is ... that they should recognize our right to nuclear technology," Qashqavi said.

"The old policy was carrot and stick. This needs to change and transform into an interactive policy," he said.

During a presidential debate with Republican rival John McCain in October, Obama said his administration would work to restrict gasoline imports to Iran, which cannot make enough refined fuel to meet all domestic needs and has to import some.

Speaking on Sunday, Obama told a U.S. broadcaster: "We are willing to talk to them directly and give them a clear choice and ultimately let them make a determination in terms of whether they want to do this the hard way or the easy way."

Obama takes office on Jan. 20.

"When they talk about change, everyone expects a changed policy to entail something very different to what President [George W.] Bush was following," Qashqavi said, adding everyone should "wait and see" what approach Obama would take in office.

Iran said last week it did not believe U.S. policy would change under Obama. Its refusal to stop enrichment, has drawn three rounds of U.N. sanctions since 2006, as well as separate U.S. measures.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: GUEST,beardedbruce
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 05:08 PM

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/12/10/hillary_mumbai/

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 10:03 AM

I am amazed a wild-eyed Guesty posty was let stand.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 04:51 AM

That's mine, Ake. I trust that is an acceptable source.


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: akenaton
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 04:10 AM

Sources please?

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 02:25 AM

Amos, your record as a prognostigator is much better than da otter guy's.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 10:11 PM

Prediction:

On January 21 or 22, the Obama Administration will unroll an economic plan that will gain traction over the following 12 months and reverse the trend of the present decline gradually but certainly.


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 03 Dec 08 - 10:09 PM

Wonderful!