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President Of The World

Staff Reporter |

After two months of tackling the economic crisis at home, President Barack Obama heads to Europe today for his first overseas trip since his inauguration.

Last summer, candidate Obama traveled overseas and spoke to a huge crowd of more than 200,000 people in Germany, prompting his opponent, Senator John McCain, to complain that Obama was "the biggest celebrity in the world."

Today Obama returns to Europe as president to participate in this week's G20 meeting and to meet other heads of state at a time when the U.S. is attempting to lead the world through a difficult global economic crisis.

The U.S. has launched several new initiatives in the past two months that will affect the G20 members, including the new troop buildup in Afghanistan, a massive domestic stimulus plan with a limited "buy American" provision, and a reversal of Bush administration policies on climate change, torture, and the detention of enemy combatants.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had originally planned to use the summit as an opportunity to launch a new economic world order, but since that time expectations have dampened for the one-day event.

The world will also be looking at Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States, representing a bold new image after 8 years of President George W. Bush. Bush was widely unpopular internationally, in part because of the war in Iraq. Obama, on the other hand, is extremely popular in Europe and elsewhere, according to public opinion surveys.

The president will be traveling with First Lady Michelle Obama, marking the first time the world will get to see an African American first lady up close, and many cultural observers will be watching her style and fashion as she graces the international stage for the first time in her new capacity.

Articles written by a Staff Reporter are unsigned reports from a member of the staff.

GM, Chrysler face bailout ultimatum

The automakers must make drastic changes or be forced into bankruptcy, Obama says.

By Jim Puzzanghera

Reporting from Washington -- Declaring that the country had reached the end of the road with Detroit's automakers, President Obama on Monday mapped a new course for bailed-out General Motors Corp. and Chrysler in a series of moves designed to force the hands of workers, creditors and others with a stake in the companies.

Obama, using the threat of bankruptcy as a weapon, vowed to transform the U.S. auto industry by pushing GM and Chrysler to make major changes in exchange for billions in additional taxpayer money they need to survive.

 

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The tactic, including the administration's ousting over the weekend of GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, puts the government in the extraordinary position of dictating the ongoing policies of major, largely unregulated firms.

Administration officials said a quick, government-led bankruptcy would be a last resort. But if it comes to that, they said, the court process could be used to separate the companies' good assets from the bad. The good assets would form stand-alone companies to survive or be sold; the bad assets would be purged.

Obama also said he would seek ways to encourage consumers to buy new cars, sounding like a TV pitchman by promising that the government would guarantee the warranties of GM and Chrysler vehicles even as the companies teeter on the edge of bankruptcy.

"Your warranty will be safe," Obama said in televised remarks. "In fact, it will be safer than it's ever been, because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warranty."

He also said he was exploring ways to provide tax credits or vouchers for people who trade in older gas guzzlers for new cars, a "cash for clunkers" program that has been used in California and abroad.

And the Internal Revenue Service on Monday began touting a tax break introduced last month that allows some car buyers to deduct from their income taxes the sales and excise taxes on purchases made by the end of the year.

All the moves were designed to save the industry by forcing major changes on two of Detroit's Big Three. Ford Motor Co. has not sought federal aid.

"Year after year, decade after decade, we've seen problems papered over and tough choices kicked down the road, even as foreign competitors outpaced us," Obama said. "Well, we've reached the end of that road."

News of the government's actions helped send the stock market tumbling Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 254 points, or 3.2%.

Is this ad racist?

Staff Reporter |

A Russian ice cream company is taking heat for an advertisement featuring U.S. President Barack Obama as the "flavor of the week."

The ad features a cartoon image of a smiling Obama as it describes the ice cream as "black in white" and "chocolate in vanilla," an apparent reference to Obama's mixed-race parents.

The ad was used for an ice cream called "Duet" and the designer, Voskhod Company (Sunrise), insists that the image was not meant to carry any racist meaning in it, according to the Russian news agency Pravda. "This is not racism for Russia. It's just fun," the creative director of the advertising agency told Pravda.

The incident was not the first time when Russian advertisers have used the image of Barack Obama for questionable purposes. An ad featuring a black president has also been used in Moscow to advertise tanning salons, Pravda reports. But the news agency compares the ad campaign to a potentially more questionable advertisement in the United States last year for Obama condoms, which appear to be sold on some sort of joke Web site.

One reader who saw the Russian ice cream ad said it was "in very poor taste" and complained that it was "not funny" and "not witty," although the reader acknowledged that it was "art directed beautifully."

Other readers complained that the ad was "tasteless," racist" and "stupid," while others argued that it was funny and not to be taken too seriously.

Articles written by a Staff Reporter are unsigned reports from a member of the staff.

Was Ann Compton's Question on Race to Barack Obama the Epitome of Stupidity, or What?

by Shawnatarium 

Racial Issues in America Are an Obvious Problem. But It's a TRIFLING Problem That's Overshadowed by MORE SERIOUS PROBLEMS that I Think the President Has Been Doing a Great Job of Working On!

Ann Compton's question to President Barack Obama during last night's press conference, has the last 64 days been a relatively color-blind time, seemed ridiculously inappropriate to me. Yes, racial issues in America are an obvious problem. But it's a trifling problem that's overshadowed by more serious problems that I think the president has been doing a great job of working on As President Obama stated, the last 64 days has been dominated by his trying to figure out how to fix the economy. I have to applaud him for that because ignoring those issues simply to focus more on the trifling racist hate that so many people poison the atmosphere with would, in my opinion, be like serving nothing more than some selfish personal agenda. From what I can see thus far, the president's agenda seems quite sincere and in the best efforts of the country as a whole.

Trifling racists will probably always leave their ugly stain upon any carpets they tread upon. But President Obama's answer regarding the hype of his being the first American President with African ancestry was absolutely beautiful!

" ...that lasted about a day"

I really must respect that because, as already stated, there really are more important and far more serious issues for an American President to focus on.

But wait a second,,,,, what about this trifling problem of racism in America? Do we really need the president and his administration to fix racism for us? Granted, I prefer that an American President serve as a good example of a variety of things. But come on now, folks, isn't the silliness of racism something that we as ADULTS can fix for ourselves?

Wishing everyone a beautiful day!

Peace, Love and Harmony,,,

Obama's Second Presser Keeps Progressive Pressure On

By Dayo Olopade

Barack Obama’s second news conference as president, held in the East Room of the White House tonight just six weeks after the first, did not provide new, meaty policy prescriptions, or one-liners that make for good primetime television—but it did further the sense that, in America, there is a man in charge, and he—to paraphrase a zinger he let rip on one nagging reporter—“knows what he’s talking about.”

Those who have questioned Obama’s “overexposure” should by now have realized that the president is in the business of leapfrogging inner-Beltway logics and addressing the American people directly. This time around, the president even allowed followup questions from the press corps—another nod to transparency that provided for a bit more clash. On more than one occasion, Obama stood up for himself in the face of confrontational rebuttals, and proved to be as thoughtful and expansive a thinker as we've come to expect—especially in the wake of the intellectually flat-footed President George W. Bush.

Reporters focused primarily on the state of the economy and the president’s budget, which faces a vote in Congress by month’s end. At the end of his remarks—trying to soothe both markets and worried families—he compared the United States, with its complex, often frustrating impediments to legislative action and political reform, to a lumbering ocean liner: “It’s not a speedboat,” he said. “It doesn’t just turn around right away.” That much could also be said of the president's speaking style (lugubrious at times and repetitive at others).

Still, Obama managed to squeeze in the list of his budgetary priorities no less than six times: Health care reform, energy action, investments and reforms in education and an attempt to crack down on long-term government expenditures anchored his “expectations” for the Democratic-led Congress. The real question in weeks ahead is whether the vote on the budget will be framed as a part of the reconciliation process, which bypasses a potential filibuster, or standard procedure, which would require the same, stubborn 60 votes in the Senate (Ezra Klein has a good rundown here).

Congressional arcana aside, that calmly progressive agenda is practically a revolution given the political climate in which America found itself just a year ago. Here was Obama’s key message: "At the end of the day, the best way to bring our deficit down in the long run is not with a budget that continues the very same policies that have led to a narrow prosperity and massive debt. It’s with a budget that leads to broad economic growth by moving from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest."

In a climate where the Dow swings and frantic mattress-stuffing continue apace, it is strange to hear a president speak so confidently about investment. But, while America's fiscal house may be in poor order presently, four or six or eight years down the road, the mess could be even more catastrophic if the US isn't put on the path toward economic strength. Obama claims that includes better educating our children for the 21st century, removing the crushing cost of health care from middle class families and small businesses, and freeing the nation from dirty and dangerous energy consumption. That sentiment—explained repeatedly and well—is driving the White House's actions, and is proof that elections have consequences. At one point, the president tweaked his opponents for not presenting an alternative to his budget because "they know that the biggest driver of long term deficits are the huge health care costs out there that we’re going to have to tackle." That’s right—the notion that health care is a major crisis is, in Obama’s Washington, now the point of departure for political debate.

With that, Obama signaled that the American ocean liner may be just as big, and have just as many rusting parts as it used to, but that the ocean itself is entirely different.

From the fluency with economic policy to the unusual selection of reporters called upon, it may be that the once unthinkable has become routine at the White House. Obama said as much in response to a question about the role race has played in the 60-some days of his presidency. “Right now, the American people are judging me exactly the way I should be judged,” he responded. Just as we've come to accept, without much fanfare, the walking and talking and yes, lecturing of a black president, we may come to expect a measured, adult presence on American television screens, boldly explaining that the government is ready and right for action, and that a little patience—or, to borrow Obama's diction, "persistence"—goes a long way.

—DAYO OLOPADE

Obama hits back at Cheney in '60 Minutes' interview (Video Included)

Staff Reporter | Posted March 23, 2009 11:39 AM

President Barack Obama struck back at criticism from former Vice President Dick Cheney this weekend in an interview broadcast on CBS's "60 Minutes."

Cheney had argued that the closing of the Guantanamo detention center in Cuba would make America more vulnerable to attack, but Obama dismissed that criticism in an interview with CBS's Steve Kroft.

"I fundamentally disagree with Dick Cheney," Obama said. "Not surprisingly. You know, I think that Vice President Cheney has been at the head of a movement whose notion is somehow that we can't reconcile our core values, our Constitution, our belief that we don't torture, with our national security interests. I think he's drawing the wrong lesson from history."

Obama also challenged the Bush administration's argument that its extra-judicial detention policies were necessary to protect America. "The facts don't bear him out," the president said, adding that Cheney's philosophy "has done incredible damage to our image and position in the world."

After all these years how many convictions actually came out of Guantanamo?" Obama asked Kroft rhetorically. "How many terrorists have actually been brought to justice under the philosophy that is being promoted by Vice President Cheney?"

President Obama flatly argued that the Bush approach "hasn't made us safer" and has instead become "a great advertisement for anti-American sentiment. Which means that there is constant effective recruitment of Arab fighters and Muslim fighters against U.S. interests all around the world."

See interview below.

Washington’s New Black Pack

Ten to watch in Mr. Obama’s Washington.

By: Dayo Olopade |

Barack Obama’s historic presidential victory has marked a significant expansion of responsibilities and visibility for people of color working in politics. From the Justice Department to the United Nations to the new Office of Urban Policy, Obama has empowered black Americans at the highest levels of government. The most diverse Cabinet in U.S. history—one that brings diversity of all sorts—is remarkable in part because the equitable mix seems truly to be an afterthought; the new crew will bring decades of expertise to their marquee positions.

Alongside the high-level Cabinet appointees, a junior class of dynamic African-American political leadership—call them “the black pack”—has arrived in Washington. They went through a baptism of fire during the grueling two-year campaign, counting delegates, crunching polls, spinning the press, working doors and phones, managing armies of volunteers, reaping millions of new voter registrations and logging thousands of hours working for change.

In 2009, Washington is ground zero for that change, and a great migration of black talent is under way. The savvy, ambitious class of 2008 shares its candidate’s progressivism—as well as deep bonds that will be essential to carrying out Obama’s agenda. These young guns (average age: 27) are already doing some heavy lifting. As Michael Strautmanis, a key White House manager and chief of staff to senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, told The Root: “They do all the work, get no attention and very soon will run the world.”

Here they are—watch out!

Joshua DuBois—Executive Director, Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Elizabeth Wilkins—Policy Assistant, Domestic Policy Counsel

Michael Blake—Deputy Associate Director for Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of Public Liaison

Addisu Demissie—National Political Director, Organizing for America

Samantha Tubman—Assistant Social Secretary

Yohannes Abraham—Assistant to the Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs

Myesha Ward—Coordinator for Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

Jason Green—Deputy Associate Counsel to the President

Alexander Lofton—Regional Director, Organizing for America

Marlon Marshall—Deputy White House Liaison to the State Department

View a slideshow of our Talented Ten, on the trail and at the White House.

Senate confirms Ron Kirk as Obama's third black cabinet member

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk as U.S. Trade Representative, making him the third African American to serve in a cabinet-level position in the Obama administration.

Kirk was confirmed by a vote of 92 to 5 in the Senate. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia was the only Democrat to vote against him. 

Kirk previously served as mayor of Dallas, Texas from 1995 to 2002 and ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 2002. Ambassador Kirk, 54, graduated from Austin College with a degree in political science and sociology and graduated from the University of Texas School of Law in 1979.

Kirk joins attorney general Eric Holder and United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, the other two African American members of Obama's cabinet.

Armed and Not Dangerous

How Michelle Obama’s “Sleevegate” should help retire dated racial stereotypes.

Michelle Obama’s arms have been getting an inordinate amount of attention lately. It’s not unsolicited; the most modern first lady has appeared sleeveless on the covers of Vogue and People, at 10 inaugural balls, at a party for Stevie Wonder, at her husband’s address to Congress, and most recently, in her official White House portrait, unveiled at the end of last month.

The media saturation has prompted many questions: Is Michelle Obama too sexy? Is her celebrity diluting her image as the distinguished “mom in chief”? Sleevegate, to hear some tell it, has become an issue of sexuality—but it’s always more complicated than that. Obama, the first black FLOTUS, has become the unwitting bystander in an ageless drama of defining the black female form.

Mrs. Obama, writes Erin Aubry Kaplan, is “cruising the coattails of history to present us with a brand-new beauty norm.” True enough. But this new paradigm is particularly complicated in Obama’s case. Her commanding presence, disciplined fitness regimen and rock-hard bod make her seem out of step with the traditional sidekick role of the first lady. And she is also ill-suited to the traditional cultural archetypes circumscribed for black women. She is neither Jezebel, the soft-witted, oversexed temptress, nor Mammy, the asexual nurturer.

What’s a pundit to do?

In the New York Times on Sunday, Maureen Dowd sounded off on the question of whether Obama ought to “cover up” her long, toned arms, whether in print or in person. The fashion-forwardness of going sleeveless in February was not lost on me. But David Brooks, Dowd’s colleague on the Times’ op-ed page, said in passing, “She’s made her point…. Now she should put away Thunder and Lightning.”

Ah, so if neither Jezebel nor Mammy, then dominatrix.

Brooks hides his criticism behind the skirts of “Washington culture,” which he says is “sensually avoidant.” But the Thunder and Lightning comment suggests little about inappropriate or overt sexuality. It’s about, in Brooks’ words, “physical presence”—and even today, the conventions of black female physicality fit Obama like a straitjacket.

Because the first lady is neither siren nor savior, the culture seems at a loss for where to situate her confident black femininity. One only needs to look at the aggressive “Michelle the Riveter” tees being sold with her image, the New Yorker’s July portrayal of Obama as an Angela Davis manquée and the National Review’s campaign-era depiction of Obama as a scowling “Miss Grievance” to see what such categorical confusion has wrought.

The talented and athletic Williams sisters have also been on the receiving end of jeers about their obvious physical strength. One mean-spirited commenter at the Detroit Free Press concludes, of Obama, “I bet she wears a 'husband beater' T-shirt around the White House.” “She looks as if she could kick Barack’s ass,” said another. Florida senior citizens have called Obama a “horse” with a big “tuchus” (read: booty). And Brooks’ “Thunder and Lightning” comment does treat Obama as though she were a thoroughbred, to be discussed as an assemblage of parts.

John McCain made the same mistake before debating Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign. He prepped the American public for a fire-breathing radical, a terrorist who damns America (add one more trope to the pile). The genteel, almost boring professor who showed up at the three debates left McCain looking mighty silly. Now, the pretty girl with the modern style has also thrown the nation for a loop.

Despite the unfortunate playbook on race and gender she’s been given, Obama has walked her own path all along. East Wing aides have, I’m told, been chastised for wearing overly tight pants (though pantyhose, which the first lady herself has said she dislikes, is not mandatory). Yet as she made the rounds of federal agencies in February, she grinned and waved (with no sign of tricep jiggle) while subtly nudging forward her husband’s recovery bill. Traditional and contemporary at once, the fabulous FLOTUS will appear Wednesdy with her Democratic predecessor, Hillary Clinton, to present the Secretary of State’s Award for International Women of Courage. And if the net effect of Obama’s big guns is to encourage women of all colors to shape it up, she ought to be added to that list.

Dayo Olopade is a Washington reporter for The Root.

Obama tightens reins on capital

By MANU RAJU & MIKE ALLEN |

Marking a new season in his young presidency, President Barack Obama and his allies around Washington are about to give the capital a bracing lesson in one-party rule.

Democratic dominance, of course, has been a numerical reality since last Nov. 4 — but not always a political reality. The early days of the Obama presidency showed a president who trod gingerly in his dealings with Congress, showed deference to Democratic leaders and sometimes lost control of the daily message war against Republicans as a result.

No more. On a variety of fronts in recent days, the Obama White House and some of its closest special-interest and think tank partners have embarked on a campaign to promote the president’s budget and the far-reaching ideological objectives embedded in it.

The campaign features daily and, in some cases, hourly coordination between the West Wing and Capitol Hill; mobilization of Obama’s campaign database of 10 million supporters; and a sharply political message disseminated by Obama surrogates at the Democratic National Committee and other groups sympathetic to his agenda. A labor-backed group is buying ads whacking Republicans as reflexively partisan.

All told, it’s an operation that Karl Rove — previously hailed and condemned as The Architect of centralized political strategy in the Bush White House — would find familiar.

Just ask him. “This is a coordinated effort, where the White House is clearly calling the shots,” Rove told POLITICO.
Paul Begala said the Democratic efforts — which came into public view over the weekend in stories about the White House message and the efforts of liberal allies — reflect a growing maturity of the progressive movement.

“One of the things that progressives did when we were in the wilderness,” Democratic guru Paul Begala said, “was build up a new infrastructure — think tanks, activist groups, PR machines — all of which are tuned up and ready to run. ... Add to that this dominant, remarkable new president, and you’ve got a force that progressives have not had since LBJ or maybe FDR.”

But Begala warned against attributing every move on the Democratic side of the chessboard as evidence of a White House grand design. “We’re now like a team that’s been playing basketball for a number of years: We can do no-look passes,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that people ascribe to careful planning that are actually not.”