BlackMan Time

Posts Tagged ‘barack obama’

You don’t get many “good boy!” points saying the unpopular thing: you just tend to get crucified, unless you’re someone who has earned the right and respect to say things others are too afraid to say.

Former US President Jimmy Carter dared to speak the name of the thing he thinks is plaguing current president Barack Obama: racism. Carter told a public meeting at the Carter Center in Atlanta yesterday there was “an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president”.

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Jimmy Carter: racism working against ObamaNow, if this feeling is really inherent why would a White House spokesman later deny that claim? Maybe diplomacy is the best way to be when you’re trying to push through the most ambitious health care plan in America’s history. Maybe you do have to kiss arse before you can kick it. If this is so Obama and his White House staff are doing some major sucking up!

On the one hand they don’t want to be seen agreeing with the racism crowd: after all they didn’t come to power campaigning on a colour ticket. On the other, to pretend racism is not a factor opposing their every move is like burying your head in the sand and pretending you’ve got a full view of the wider picture.

Perhaps at a later time Obama and his White House spokesman will acknowledge what Carter has so boldly stated. Or perhaps they have just decided to chart a more strategically diplomatic course to get the job done. Either way they will have to pull their head out of the sand sometime.

And that’s when it should get really interesting.

They say a week is a long time politics, so how about the first 100 days, 14.25 weeks or 3.57 months?! That must seem like an eternity and that’s precisely how long US President Barack Obama has been in office today.

Every medium, from the good to the bad and even the downright ugly, have been assessing how he has performed in that time.

Predictably, the right-wing ones have been highlighting his perceived faux paus, headed by his shaking of hands with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, a bitter foe of the former Washington administration, apologising for America’s bad record in one foreign arena or other.

Other right perceived mistakes include appointing a public official with a bad or unsatisfactory tax record to even allowing the presidential plane Air Force One to fly low over New York, scene of the 911 crashes.

Mountains and Molehills

The left have been treading carefully highlighting the enormity of the task, contrasting how Obama has the sternerst of tests compared to his presidential predecessors while praising his re-positioning of America on the world stage.

Among Obama’s left notables are announcing the closure of Guantanamo Bay, publishing of the CIA’s torture techniques and fulfilling promise to withdraw troops from Iraq.

Many ordinary people actually believe that by now he would have solved all America’s crisis – after all that is what they understood change meant. But their mountain of expectations has had to be tempered with the molehill of reality that Rome was not built in a day. Nor even in 100 days!

Indeed, Obama’s popularity ratings have dipped a little but the general consensus is that he is doing a good job so far. If only he could just speed things up a little.

Politics is such an ungrateful task!

What are the chances of you meeting US President Obama when he makes a rare visit to your part of town? One in a thousand? One in a million? A trillion? Whatever it is the odds are probably pretty high.

Now, imagine you just doing your job when the said president comes along and not only notices you but also shake your hand, a moment which an alert photographer was on hand to capture? Your face would probably look a bit like this policeman outside Downing Street!

For while everyone was focussing on Michelle Obama breaching royal protocol by hugging the Queen, her husband was breaching diplomatic protocol by showing respect to this humble policeman and creating this precious moment.

Those Obamas, they sure know how to create a stir!

US President Barack Obama gave me a massive surprise this morning! He emailed me to confirm that we were in fact related.

When I clicked onto the “see how you are related” link in my Facebook application I saw confirmation of this in a carefully presented family tree which told me I was the fourth cousin, once removed, of Barack Hussein Obama. I must admit it came as news to me but it was good to see it!

At the top of the tree, headlined Barack Hussein Obama II, were Falmouth Fearnley (1830-1878) and Charlotte Holloway (1833-1877), with two columns of families, the McGoverns on the left and the Dunhams on the right. My family and name was the last under the McGovern list.

I marvelled how switched on “cousin” Barack must be to have done this while news of his visit to London as part of the G-20 was being covered on the radio. Then I clicked another link to get more information. The link unveiled the mystery.

“April Fool! You are not really related to Barack Obama!” it said before continuing… “But then you already knew that…”

What a great pity: I was really looking forward to meeting uncle Barack too!

It’s been 46 days since Barack Obama and his family made their home in the White House and it is particularly pleasing to see the excellent quality of the family photos being released.

The Obamas, consisting of Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha, are the first family of African American descent in the United States and the youngest to enter the White House since the Kennedys.

While they represent a symbol of hope for many people across the race and culture divide, their presence within the White House has particular resonance. They are a proud beacon and testament of what daring to dream can actually help to realise impossible goals.

But when Barack won the US Presidential election on November 20, 2008 the family also became something else. The most prominent in the universe!

1. He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics
2. He was known as “O’Bomber” at high school for his skill at basketball
3. His name means “one who is blessed” in Swahili
4. His favourite meal is wife Michelle’s shrimp linguini
5. He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father
6. He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed
7. He has read every Harry Potter book
8. He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali
9. He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can’t stand ice cream
10. His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars
11. He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia
12. He can speak Spanish
13. While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead
14. His favorite drink is black forest berry iced tea
15. He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn’t
16. He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia
17. He can bench press an impressive 200lbs
18. He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name
19. His favorite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
20. He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister’s fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived
21. His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy
22. He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books
23. His favorite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
24. He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck
25. He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee
26. His favorite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugues
27. He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date
28. He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker
29. He doesn’t drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol
30. He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician
31. As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine
32. His daughters’ ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malian, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)
33. He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside
34. He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal
35. His house in Chicago has four fire places
36. Daughter Malian’s godmother is Jesse Jackson’s daughter Cantata
37. He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry
38. He uses an Apple Mac laptop
39. He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300
40. He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffer Marx suits
41. He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes
42. He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Tariff, who charges $21 (£13)
43. His favorite fictional television programmers are Mash and The Wire
44. He was given the code name “Renegade” by his Secret Service handlers
45. He was nicknamed “Bar” by his late grandmother
46. He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds
47. His favorite artist is Pablo Picasso
48. His specialty as a cook is chili
49. He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were “street urchins”
50. He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life
51. His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government

Ha ha ha!

I’m laughing at those people who seriously think US President Barack Obama is the anti-Christ. It’s funny because the share ridiculousness of the idea relegates those who really believe the sleight, to minus level intelligence.

The subject itself is so mind-numbingly crass, but that hasn’t stopped supposedly respected media like CNN¹ to indulge in a feature on the subject.

Defeated US presidential hopeful John McCain even accused Obama of being the anti-Christ in one of his campaign ads last year. But even he couldn’t persuade many people of the authenticity of this rash claim.

I suspect the real reason why anyone would want to taint Obama with this brush is to try and ruin his good reputation. And, even though Obama is now sitting on the US Presidential seat, some still refuse to let this claim go.

1. Video shows CNN news feature asking the crass question: “Is Barak Obama the anti-Christ?” [↩]

I managed to watch a bit of the Barack Obama inauguration ceremony on TV the other day and the bit which fascinated me the most was when the BBC cameras went onto the streets outside Washington to ask people what they hope or expect from the new US president.

Their answers varied from achieving world peace to finding a solution to the financial crisis, closing the Guantanamo Bay “concentration camp” to building relationships with previously hostile countries. Even finding a cure for AIDS!

In other words most people saw Obama as Superman and their expectation of him is far greater than what he may actually be able to deliver. Coupled to the fact that America is in the worst financial state for quite some time, makes his job even more difficult.

There is also a sense that America is at such a low point that the only way forward is up! Even if Obama can make modest progress this will be received as a result. If he achieves anything more than this then he would be classed as a success.

History is filled with such opportunities and if Obama can somehow find a way to deliver on the expectations of some people, he would indeed be a super man!