17 posts tagged “president”

Barack Obama

Sean shares...

Ted Widmer in the magazine The American Scholar shorthanded the Inaugural Addresses of our U.S. Presidents after examining each. I have linked to the article for further reading here for those interested in reading further.

1. I am not worthy of this great honor.
2. But I congratulate the people that they elected me.
3. Now we must all come together, even those of us who really hate each other.
4. I love the Constitution, the Union, and George Washington.
5. I will work against bad threats.
6. I will work for good things.
7. We must avoid entangling alliances.
8. America’s strength = democracy.
9. Democracy’s strength = America.
10. Thanks, God.

Sean confesses that there is a theme to his reading lately...

I have always been obsessed with learning things about the 43... soon to be 44... Presidents of our great country.

In the spirit of the coming inaugural and a documentary series Stefan and I saw on PBS, I picked up the following books:

Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America

Walter R. Borneman

Mr. Adams’'s Last Crusade: John Quincy Adams’'s Extraordinary Post-Presidential Life in Congress

Joseph Wheelan

Team of Rivals

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Sean comments...

Below is an interesting discussion by NBC/MSNBC journalists and commentators about the Obama transition which suddenly becomes a discussion about the role of journalists in covering the President. Watch and I will comment after the break.

What I find deeply troubling about this discussion is the words of Chris Matthews and I am thrilled that the other members on the panel call him on it. Matthews bluntly says that its his job to help President Obama succeed as a journalist. (Mouth Drops Open) Now, I am as Democrat as the next guy but when we continually hear people like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity walk lock step with George W. Bush and pounce on them for their blinders, we should also jump on those like Matthews and his compadre/frenemy Keith Olbermann for their hypocrisy as well! 

The Press' role - as Mika Brzezinski says in the clip - is to question our leaders and be skeptical to a point in order to make sure our government's initiatives are examined from all sides so that citizens can make up their minds as to whether to support or not support something.  Furthermore, the press' sketicism must not be bias toward the topic and/or the politician and must not appear as to be supporting a side in the political discussion.  We know that is not true today in what seems to be becoming a world where opinion in delivering the news is becoming the norm. 

What troubles me is that we all want a given President to succeed, Chris Matthews, but we don't want a President to go unquestioned in how he/she journeys to that success to ensure the right path is taken with all options considered. If we change that depending on personal opinion about the sitting President no matter what the party, we are just as bad as the opposing side we accused of doing the same thing.

The McFreeds celebrate the election of our next president...

America here is the face of the next four years. Another ceiling has fallen. May we pray that they serve all of us well.

The Next First and Second Families of the USA

The McFreeds share some Election Day video...

Barack and Michelle Obama vote with their daughters Malia Ann and Natasha in Chicago. The first African-American on the presidential ballot has voted. Good news is that Madelyn Dunham - Obama's grandmother who passes away yesterday - was lucky enough to cast an absentee ballot for her grandson before she left us. Hawaii said her ballot was received properly and is legal for processing. So she got to vote for grandson after all!

Joe and Jill Biden vote with his 90-year old mother Jean in Delaware. How proud his mother must be!

Sean asks...

One of the analysts last night made an important observation: What is John McCain for?  These days it seems that all John McCain and Sarah Palin ever talk about these days is why Barack Obama and Joe Biden bad for America while not talking about what they - McCain and Palin - are going to do for America.  There is a lot of talk about "fight," staying the course in Iraq, and not raising your taxes.  There is no talk by McCain/Palin about hope and a "call to arms" to Americans to employ self-sacrifice and do their part in "fixing" what is wrong with America. All McCain talks about lately is what is the definition of rich, who attended what party/board meeting/fund-raiser with Obama 5 years ago, and who someone says sounds like a socialist. Obama is not the perfect candidate on the negatives of campaigning, but at least there is a huge amount of hope and pride in what he see our nation becoming rather than a celebration of what we were and why the other guy sucks. Some will say that this is the mainstream media's fault, but in the end isn't it really McCain's for not getting his message out in the first place even when he is interviewed?

I approve this message.

The McFreeds would like to share some political humor with you... from the candidates themselves!

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama attended the Al Smith Memorial Fund dinner in New York last night and brought out the jokes and the barbs (although some are subtley present). This dinner has a tradition of being like the National Press Club dinner in Washington, DC - a time for politicians to poke fun at themselves. Enjoy this last joke between the two candidates that you will probably see in the next 18 days!

John McCain did a great job here. His Hillary Clinton schtick was great!  The man did host Saturday Night Live once after all!

Barack Obama does an OK job here but his jokes are not as well greeted by the dinner guests because it really goes after Wall Street. But wait until the last minute where he has a hysterical comment about "Who is Barack Obama?"

The McFreeds present...

The third debate between the presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain introduced us all to Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher. Below is the actual interchange between Obama and Joe. Listen and make your own judgements.

Here is a follow up interview with Joe "The Plumber" that captures his personal impressions of the debate and who he will vote for based on what he has heard so far. Again, make your own judgements.

Sean is all a titter...

This interview by CNN's Campbell Brown of John McCain Presidential Campaign Spokesman Tucker Bounds was an excellent one where the interviewer didn't let the answer given get away as acceptable. The McCain campign is apparrantly complaining about this interview now.  The best part is at minute 2:10 where Brown asks about what decisions Governor Sarah Palin made as head of the Alaskan National Guard. Sounds to me that the McCain campaign needs to be better prepared with this answer. This focuses on the facts rather than the tabloid and I applaud Brown on this line of questioning. To show what she is made of I think have Brown interview Palin would be a big gamble the campaign should take since she is a tough questioner.

Sean provides some perspective...

During my years in the political game (I was a paid Democratic political organizer in the field for 4 years and grassroots organizer for 5 years prior to that), I have learned to never underestimate opponents. This week, John McCain shocked the political establishment by selecting Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in the 2008 presidential election. So far criticism of her - without anyone truly knowing anything about her - has been that she is not qualified and lacks experience to be ultimately the President if something happens to McCain. Now I share these concerns with all of you and because of the social choices both McCain and she have linked themselves too The McFreeds will not be pulling the lever for McCain-Palin. However, despite the rhetoric I think Palin will impress us as a fresh face. I warn you all not to put her in a corner. She might not be the Dan Quayle many are putting her out to be.

This woman has run on the idea of "perspective" being her guide. Sure her state is small but its issues are just as great as our own. She has first hand knowledge of what it is to be a woman, a mother, a small business owner, a town mayor, a state commissioner, and a governor. She has the heart of a reformer more than McCain ever did. Anyone remember Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire?  Now she isn't as focused as Proxmire was, but she is one to stand up and point at corruption and attempt to kill it with daylight. She did this in Juneau on many occasions already. Yet she works across the aisle on issues of economic necessity as well. That drive is seen as naive in the Washington world as well as the world of other states for that matter. But she has put it in practice and won on it. Her track record indicates that she is not afraid of defeating Don Quixote's windmill. And that spirit shouldn't be so easily dismissed.

Here are a few clips that show me that Palin may surprise us with not only depth but of approachability. Enjoy!

Recent interview with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC's Closing Bell With Maria Bartiromo concerning energy policy. This shows how this woman thinks as well as showing some maverick nature on how the status quo isn't working. (LONGER INTERVIEW SEGMENT [10 mins] and Transcript):

Here is Governor Palin on being Vice-President and where if she was picked (the interview is from August 25) she would want to be. But listen to her method of talking about her perspective as a mother and an Alaskan in terms of energy independence and the Iraq War.

This clip of Palin on CNBC's Larry Kudlow show really shows her ability to carry a long interview and really answer things well. The sound and mouth movements are off on this but it is well worth your listen to cut through the noise and listen to her before the announcement for an extended period of time.

Finally, here is a clip to show Palin's sense of humor. She is really quick on the stump and someone willing to have jokes made at her expense. Remember with John McCain did Saturday Night Live?  I can really see how he picked her. Funny thing is that the name of this HYSTERICAL clip from Craig Ferguson's CBS late night show and his label of her is what I used to call Stefan when we first started dating! I even sent him this clip in July because I was looking at Craig Ferguson clips on YouTube after seeing him on the PBS 4th of July coverage with the Boston Pops! Ironic! [3:13 mins]

My point in this blog post in the end is do not let the media define a person in 30 second clips. Read up and watch clips of a person via the Internet or other traditional sources so you can either make a decision or strengthen your position on the 2008 Presidential race. This is not a time to just go immediately partisan. Each of the four people in this race believe in America and we shouldn't cheapen that with rhetoric. Let the issues decide and then pull your own lever. Perspective is important.

And in that interest, here is a link to a Washington Post article about Governor Palin and her husband Todd Palin concerning the investigation surrounding her involvement with the dismissal of former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.  She claims his dismissal was due to his lack of action on issues related to the department. Others claim otherwise. This issue involves Monegan's reluctance to fire Palin's former brother-in-law Mike Wooten from his state trooper job. Wooten was suspended from his position independent of the allegations the Palin family provided. Monegan's successor resigned several weeks after being appointed because of previously unknown sexual harrassment charges that were pending against him. This article does a great job of getting the facts straight so you can make your own judgements.  Here is an article from KTVA in Anchorage on the probe by the state legislature and on the dismissal itself for a little local flavor.