Everyone who knows me knows I am a huge President Obama fan. I have read his books and I enjoy his speeches. I think he is the best President of my lifetime so far: progressive, intelligent, compassionate, witty, moral and articulate. Obama will be sorely missed and his speech at his final White House Correspondents’ dinner did not help. From the mic drop to the jokes, it was perfection. Goodbye Obama, I will miss you.
At Frost we almost cried at this amazing video of 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin dancing with joy when she met the Obamas at The White House. Her happiness at a black President being in the White House is so touching and says a lot about how far we have come. The First Lady is graceful and tells McLaurin, ‘I want to be like you when I grow up’. The White House shared the touching video of McLaurin fulfilling her dream of visiting the White House and meeting President Obama for Black History Month. She said she was ‘so happy’ to have lived to see a black president of the United States.
A lot has been said about the video of Bowe Bergdahl’s father praising Allah at the White House. Frankly, most of it is wrong. Obama was not smiling. Anyone who knows body language and looks at the video will see that, actually, that was a grimace. President was also obviously angry, he knew how much political damage had just been done to him. I don’t know who is advising Obama at the moment, or why he let five terrorists go for one man but whoever is advising him needs to either be fired or given the worst job in politics somewhere far away from the President to make a strong point. American Ambassador of Outer Mongolia or Siberia sounds good.
I don’t know if Obama knew what the Arabic meant at the time, but he knew it was enough to damage him in the eyes of his enemies, most of whom constantly try to make the President out as not a true American.
Robert Bergdahl said at the press conference of his son’s release, “Bism allah alrahman alraheem,” which translates from Arabic to English as “in the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate.” It is said before every chapter in the Koran except the 9th (the chapter of the sword). The level of stupidity in quoting the Koran at the White House, even more than ten years after 9/11 is insurmountable. Not to mention insensitive. He may have meant it in a well-meaning way, but it was not that he spoke in Arabic, it was the praise of Allah, the same Allah whose name the pilots flew into the World Trade Centre for. The beard didn’t help. Robert Bergdahl grew it out of ‘solidarity’ for his captured son but we live in a visual world. How things look matter, and it looks bad.
Bowe Bergdahl allegedly left a note saying he wanted to renounce his citizenship before he went AWOL. Then six American soldiers lost their lives trying to rescue him from the Taliban. This is the biggest crisis of Obama’s career and the shades of Homeland (incidentally one of the President’s favourite shows) does not help. The President did not know what Robert Bergdahl was going to say, and he clearly didn’t like what he did say. No man left behind is very American. Even if the man is controversial and not liked within the armed forces because of his desertion.
To rub salt into the wound, the Taliban have released a video of the release of Bowe Bergdahl. Despite all of this, I believe the President can still recover. He just needs to surround himself with the right people.
What do you think?
In New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, thousands of Americans have gathered to pay their respects to the nearly 3,000 people killed eleven years ago on the September 11th Al-Qaida terrorist attacks.
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, joined other dignitaries at the White House and bowed their heads in a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. EDT, the time on September 11, 2001 which is when the first of two jetliners struck the World Trade Center in New York.
Afterward the president led a ceremony at the Pentagon memorial, which was struck by a plane during the attacks. The Pentagon is the headquarters of the U.S. military.
The President stood in front of an American flag and told the families of the victims that their loved ones would never be forgotten.
Families of those killed on 9/11 took part in a ritual reading of all of the victim’s names at Ground Zero, where the World Trade center towers that fell after being struck by planes. Some of the bereaved held up photos of their loved ones.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said: “My concern is that too often, we do not express our concern and our attention for those that are fighting and dying for this country. We’re continuing to lose good men and women in battle in Afghanistan. They are putting their lives on the line every day. And, every day, they are fighting to make sure that this country is protected. We cannot forget that sacrifice.”
The names of everyone who died on 9/11 can be found here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2929305/posts
One of the world’s three leading credit agencies has downgraded US debt. Standard and Poors cut the US credit rating one notch to AA+ with a negative outlook.
The agency argues that the deficit reduction plan passed by congress didn’t go far enough in addressing the US deficit. Whilst the US debt to GDP ratio is already high at 65.2% of GDP, total government liability is actually far greater when including government agencies such as Medicare and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The two main other credit agencies said last night that they had no plans to downgrade US debt in the near future.
Officials in Washington were furious with the decision and claimed to have uncovered a two trillion dollar error in the agencies analysis. The impact on the markets remains to be seen. Given the panic of the last week investors have been piling into US government bonds pushing yields to record lows despite the US government debt problems. This latest downgrade couldn’t have come at a worse time but we will have to wait until Monday to see the impact it has on the markets.
Investors will be worried that the downgrade may impact the wider economy, president Obama has already warned of the impact a downgrade would have. The downgrade threatens the dollars status as the world’s reserve currency. The instability could have severe consequences for the world as a whole.
Debt talks in Washington reached a crisis point today as negotiations collapsed ahead of the August 2nd deadline. House speaker Republican John Boehner walked out of negotiations accusing president Obama of moving the goal posts by demanding bigger tax increases.
An angry Obama has said he and other Republicans are puzzled as to why a deal couldn’t get done. The president was offering to slash a $1 trillion in discretionary spending as well as cutting $650bn from Medicare and other entitlements.
People will be disappointed to hear Boehner just walked away at this time of crisis. Walking out at this stage cannot be constructive. It’s also extremely irresponsible with the spectre of a potentially disastrous US debt downgrade looming, to say nothing of a possible default. Republicans generally are starting to look increasingly rash as they unrealistically refuse to except tax increases.
If US debt were to be downgraded, even slightly, this in itself could have huge consequences. Many pension funds worldwide are required to only hold AAA securities and many currently hold large amounts of US government debt. In the event of a downgrade they would all have to sell this debt which could have a huge impact on the US dollar and the price of US debt, possibly causing a downward spiral, as yields rise and the US has to pay more interest on its debt in the future. The effects on the global economy and jobs could be huge.
A default is of course unthinkable and would lead to a worldwide financial meltdown.
It’s time for the politicians to stop thinking about themselves for once and to start thinking about the man in the street. It’s time to get this thing sorted. Each US taxpayer now owes almost $130,000
Democratic political consultant Lena Kennedy announced today that First Lady Michelle Obama is attending a fundraising luncheon at the private home of Ann and Robert Hamilton in Pasadena on Monday, June 13. The fundraiser is being organized by Southern California Women For Obama, a local grassroots initiative headed by Kennedy to help women get engaged in the political process and ensure their voice is heard.
“We expect about 500 attendees, a turnout similar to earlier Obama fundraisers we’ve hosted in Pasadena during the presidential campaign,” adds Kennedy.
“We are honored to be one of only two fundraisers the First Lady will attend during her visit to Southern California,” explains Los Angeles business executive and Presidential Partner Teena Hostovich, who is co-chairing the event with Kennedy. “Attendees at our luncheon will be a good cross-section of President Obama’s constituents in Los Angeles, one that is diverse culturally, socially, and economically.”
More than 450 women attended a reception rally hosted at the home of Lesley and Rob Levy on May 15 to kick off President Obama’s re-election campaign and offer women meaning ways to get involved in the political process. Hostovich, who served as the evening’s emcee, introduced various speakers including Congresswoman Judy Chu, John Emerson & Ken Solomon, California Co-Chairs, President Obama National Finance Committee, Eric Bauman, Vice Chair California Democratic Party, Honorable Wendy Greuel, Los Angeles City Controller, and Los Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry.
The luncheon will begin at 11 a.m. Individual tickets are $1,000. Special $10,000-a-couple tickets are also available, allowing a photo opportunity and private time with the First Lady. For more information, contact Lena Kennedy at 626-765-6206 or email at Lkennedy@LLKAssociates.com.
U.S. President Barack Obama will receive the warmest of Irish welcomes when he visits the Emerald Isle this week. Hundreds of thousands of well wishers will line the streets as the President makes his first visit to Ireland – home to some of his ancestors. Mr. Obama’s heritage has been traced to the village of Monegall in Co, Offaly. There is a great sense of pride in this tiny picturesque village located at the very center of the island, where preparations are in full swing.
Canon Stephen Neill, Local Church of Ireland Vicar, “Since St. Patrick’s Day when the announcement was made that he was actually coming to Moneygall, since then it has literally been a media storm. My phone never stops ringing. But it is a good story, we are happy to share a good news story with the world. This is something very positive and it’s positive for Ireland too. I think it’s very good that the president has indicated his confidence and interest in Ireland by coming to visit us here and I think it is the kind of boost we need.”
President Obama will become one of eight hundred thousand Americans expected to travel to Ireland this year and his visit is being seen as a great opportunity to encourage more U.S. vacationers to make the trip in 2011.
Niall Gibbons, CEO Tourism Ireland, “We have huge connections with America and we look forward to deepening those in years to come and giving a warm Irish welcome to all the Americans that come here. There are 40 million people of Irish decent in America and we think they are going to be thrilled that President Obama is coming here and the genealogical connection is an indelible one and we are delighted that president Obama is coming here to discover his roots with us in Ireland.”
Fiona Fitzsimons, Genealogist, Eneclann, “Well, we traced back nine generations from the president, so we took Megan Smolenyak’s work and we took it back another four generations again, tracing it back to the late 1600s and that’s a real achievement in Irish Genealogy because so many of the records have been destroyed over the previous 300 years. The thing to remember as well, is that the president’s family, they weren’t rich, they weren’t anglo Irish, they were simply a regular family and to be able to trace them back was really quite something.”
President’s Obama direct descendents are looking forward to welcoming home their famous family member.
Henry Healy, distant relative of the president, “We hope he will come and visit the school house behind me where his ancestors were educated. The ancestral home still stands in the village, that’s another important site, also Templeharry church. So there are three important sites within the area for anyone to come and visit, and of course it wouldn’t be a presidential visit to Ireland without a traditional stop off in the local pub for a pint of Guinness.”
During his stay President Obama will also visit the capital city of Dublin where a huge celebration rally is planned.
For more info on visiting the island of Ireland check out – www.discoverireland.com