Barack Obama’s inauguration is expected to draw crowds that will exceeed Washington’s ability to protect the public. President Bush has declared an emergency, asking for more money to add to the $15 million that’s already allotted just for the event. $15 million is not going to be enough to cover the costs of preventing disaster with all those people descending on the capital.
Sheila Dixon, the Mayor of Baltimore, was indicted Friday and charged with accepting illegal gifts of travel, fur coats, and department store gift cards. She is also being charged with perjury and theft. Dixon says she is being unfairly accused and that time will prove her innocence. More from CBS News
I just read an article from back in June 08 when Michelle Obama was still the wife of the presidential hopeful. In the article the author suggests that American women look to the first lady to represent womanhood in America. She writes:
“American women have often only had one person to turn to to represent womanhood in America, the First Lady. Some say she is the key to winning women voters….
As an American woman I have always looked to the First Lady of the United States as a role model….”
I’m not sure exactly what the writer could possibly mean. Maybe she means the first lady represents American women to the rest of the world? Unless she’s older than 65 she certainly cannot mean that American women look to the first lady for guidance in how to be an American woman.
Since when have American women only had the first lady to turn to “to represent womanhood in America”? Maybe back when Jacqueline Kennedy was the first lady; but certainly not since then, and arguably not even then.
I get the feeling that the author of the article only wanted to stir up controversy by trying to question whether Michelle Obama could possibly represent “all” women being a Black woman.
The last time I checked, American women turn to Glamour and Cosmopolitan magazine to look for role models. They pick up “O” magazinge off the newsstand. They tune into lifetime and other women centered television networks. They pop in a Sex and City DVD. They grab a copy of US Magazine at the grocery store checkout. They log on to the Internet and check Instyle, People, TMZ, Star, Entertainment weekly, E Online and all the popular celebrity centered websites.
No one cares about the first lady unless there’s something about her that makes for good gossip fodder.
As for whether or not Michelle Obama can represent all American women while being Black, of course she can. If the first lady represents all American women then Laura Bush is presently representing all American women while being White. Hilary Clinton represented all American women while being white. Barbara Bush represented all American women while being White. Nancy Reagan represented all American women while being White. You get the gist. No one questioned whether any previous first lady would represent all American women. Why question Michelle Obama?
The article: Will Michelle Obama Represent All American Women as First Lady?
Roland Burris showed up at the Capitol today and walked into the office of the secretary of the Senate expecting to be allowed up to the senate floor to take his oath. Much to his disappointment he was denied entry to the Senate chambers.
In the words of Burris’ lawyer Timothy W. Wright III:
“Our credentials were rejected by the secretary of the Senate. We were not allowed to be placed in the record books. We were not allowed to proceed to the floor for purposes of taking oath, all of which we think was improperly done and it is against the law of this land.”
How did a politician out of Chicago manage to get all the way to the White House?
Secretary of the U.S. Senate, Nancy Erickson has reportedly rejected Roland Burris’ appointment to the Illinois senate seat recently vacated by president-elect Barack Obama. The stated reason for the rejection is that Burris’ certificate of appointment was missing the signature of the Illinois secretary of state.
There’s apparently a rule that states that the certificate of election has to be co-signed by the secretary of State; but current Illinois secretary of State Jesse White has not signed the document and is refusing to sign it in light of the Blagojevich scandal.
Blagojevich is apparently set to appoint Roland Burris to Replace Obama as the Illinois senator. Give credit where credit is due. Most others who get caught in a scandal run and resign and cry how they’re sorry and beg forgiveness when the camera is rolling. Blagojevich? He turns and sticks his ass out and tells his critics to kiss it. That’s balls for you.
Well, he didn’t “exactly” say he wouldn’t back Sarah Palin for president in 2012; but John McCain did make comments that would seem to indicate he doesn’t believe Sarah Palin would be the best candidate for the job. What doesn’t make sense here is, if McCain believed, as he said, “We’ve got some great other young governors”, who are better suited than Sarah Palin [only logical conclusion to draw from his full statement], then why didn’t he select one of those great young governors to be his vice-presidential running mate? Had he gone with one of these great young governors instead of Sarah Palin he might be heading for the White House in January.
Asked by ABC’s ‘This Week’ if Palin could count on his support in 2012 McCain replied:
“I can’t say something like that. We’ve got some great other young governors. I think you’re going to see the governors assume a greater leadership role in our Republican Party.”
“Have no doubt of my admiration and respect for her [Palin] and my view of her viability, but at this stage, again … my corpse is still warm, you know?”
President Bush found himself under attack in Iraq today when an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at him one after the other, just as he was getting ready to speak at a conference. Bush was quick to react, ducking to avoid being hit. The journalist, Muntadhar al-Zaidi tossed both of his shoes while yelling in Arabic, “This is a farewell…you dog!”
After order was restored Bush tried to explain that the incident was a good sign, indicating that Iraq was on the path to knowing the kind of freedom that allows citizens to give the middle finger if they so choose, or as he put it “not gesturing with all five fingers”.
Bush - “So what if a guy threw a shoe at me? [shrugs shoulders] I consider it an important step on the road to an Iraq that can sustain itself, govern itself and defend itself; but let me talk about the guy showing the shoe. It is one way to gain attention. It’s like going to a political rally and having people yell at you. It’s like driving down the street and having people not gesturing with all five fingers.
Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.cnn.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.cnn.com/video”>CNN Video</a>
In an interview with host Fared Zakaria for CNN’s Sunday “GPS” program, former Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke out about what caused the Republican party to lose their bid for the presidential election and what needs to happen for them to regain their lost credibility.
Fared Zakaria: What do you think is going to happen to the Republican Party? You sounded concerned then [during the 08' presidential elections], and you always have been concerned about certain aspects of your party. Do you think it’s moving in the right direction?
Colin Powell: We don’t know yet. I don’t know yet. I think that in the latter months of the campaign the party moved further to the right. Governor Palin to some extent pushed the party more to the right, and I think she had something of a polarizing effect when she talked about small town values are good. Well most of us don’t live in small towns. I was raised in the South Bronx and there’s nothing wrong with my value system from the South Bronx.
And when they came to Virginia and said, you know, that the Southern part of Virginia is good but the Northern part of Virginia is bad…the only problem is that is there are more votes in the Northern part of Virginia than there are in the Southern part of Virginia, so that doesn’t work; but it was that attempt on the part of the party to use polarization for political advantage that I think backfired, and I think the party has to take a hard look at itself.
There’s nothing wrong with being conservative. There’s nothing wrong with having socially conservative views. I don’t object to that; but if the party wants to have a future in this country it has to face some realities. In another twenty years the majority in this country will be the minority.
There was an article recently in the New York Times saying that most of our urban cities now have a minority majority as its population; and the Republican party has to begin appealing to Hispanics, to Blacks, to Asians because that’s who we have lost to a large extent in recent elections. And you can’t appeal to them just by saying “Horatio Alger pull up yourself, pull up by your bootstraps. No more welfare.” These sorts of loaded statements - the Republican Party has to now start listening to the African American community, and the Hispanic and Asian and other minority communities and see what’s in their hearts and minds and not just try to influence them by Republican principles and dogma.
And so I think the party has to stop shouting at the world, at the country. I think the party has to take a hard look at itself; and I’ve talked to a number of leaders in recent weeks and they understand that. I was impressed by an article that Morton Kondracke wrote recently that said, “Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh? Is this really the kind of party that we want to be when these kinds of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?”