2008 U.S.A Presidential Election

[Wendi]

The abortion issue was discussed in GREAT detail in another

thread!! I think keepng this for Barack/Biden v McCain/Palin

is the way to go!!

[A. Clay]

The abortion issue was discussed in GREAT detail in another

thread!! I think keepng this for Barack/Biden v McCain/Palin

is the way to go!!

THANK YOU, WENDI . . .

NEW FIRST FAMILY . . .

AS OF JANUARY 20, 2009 . . .

http://inaugural.senate.gov/history/factsandfirsts/index.cfm?utm_source=Inaugural+Email+List&utm_campaign=4deb3e6adf-update-111008&utm_medium=email

[A. Clay]

http://www.change.gov/

 

WATCH: "YOUR WEEKLY ADDRESS"--NOV. 15, 2008

http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/your_weekly_address_from_the_president_elect/

Edited November 15, 2008 by A. Clay

[A. Clay]

m i c h e l l e . . .

 

 

- - - - view

- - - - - - -

 

Edited November 17, 2008 by A. Clay

[BonjourMika1990]

I guess it's hard to tell the tone of online postings - I'm not offended or uncomfortable or angered, I just think the abortion discussion might belong better in the dedicated politics thread instead of hijacking this one.

 

lol I never thought of hijacking my own thread but yeah, it was discussed first in the other thread I made about politics... I wasn't planning on discussing it here at all...just the perez post about not being able to recieve communion because you voted for obama. My intention was neeeeeever to talk about it all over again in here. That's just how it spiraled.

 

I said my peace about it in the politics thread a long time ago:naughty: I don't have the energy to do it again anyway:blush-anim-cl:

 

 

so yeah, how about barack:naughty:

 

I hear he gave his staff raises that's pretty cool

[Lee-Ann]

I think you may know this vid:

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY&feature=related

I love it!!!

And maaaaaaany pics:http://www.flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom

the pics from the election night and the ones where he's playing basketball are cool:mf_rosetinted:

[A. Clay]

Smiles nailed on as Cheneys and Bidens get cosy

Anne Davies, Washington

November 15, 2008

 

US Vice-President Dick Cheney (second right) and his wife Lynne (second left) greet vice-president-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill at the US Naval Observatory in Washington. Photo: Reuters

LUCKILY Joe Biden, the vice-president-elect, is never short of a word, for surely there was an awkward moment when he came calling yesterday on Vice-President Dick Cheney, whom he had earlier called "the most dangerous man alive".

 

But if Senator Biden fears Vice-President Cheney, known to his friends as Darth Vader, it certainly was not obvious.

 

As Vice-President Cheney and his wife Lynne and Jill and Joe Biden assembled for the obligatory photo opportunity at the door of the vice-presidential residence, it was all smiles.

 

"Have you been here before?" asked the stout Mrs Cheney as her guests towered over her. Husband Dick, stood back smiling, as she ushered them through the door of their soon-to-be new home.

 

In some ways the Naval Observatory is even nicer than the White House. First of all, it is private. Set on a couple of acres atop a hill near Massachusetts Avenue, the Naval Observatory allows its residents to go unobserved.

 

Not so the White House, which is at the focal point of central Washington and on a relatively tight city block, so that tourists can look from the street and observe those coming and going.

 

The early steps in the transition are progressing. Vice-president-elect Biden announced his chief-of-staff yesterday, appointing Ronald Klain, former chief-of-staff and counsellor to vice-president Al Gore.

 

The position will put Klain, a seasoned political hand, at the heart of West Wing activity and will help bring continuity to the new administration by adding a depth of experience.

 

Klain was part of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign policy and debate preparation staff, was Gore's chief-of-staff during the 1996 re-election; and led debate preparation for Senator John Kerry's 2004 presidential bid.

 

Meanwhile, Barack Obama announced he would resign from the Senate, which means he will not have to attend the lame-duck session of Congress due to be held next week.

 

The decision on his replacement will fall to Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a fellow Democrat, who, under state law, has the sole responsibility for naming a successor.

 

Senator Obama was the only African American in the Senate. Senator Obama's close friend and co-chair of his transition committee, Valerie Jarrett, had been mooted for the job, but on Wednesday told the Chicago Tribune she was not interested. Other high-profile candidates include Jesse Jackson jnr and a host of Illinois state politicians.

 

"It has been one of the highest honours and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate," Senator Obama said in a statement.

Edited November 17, 2008 by A. Clay

[A. Clay]

A Moving Experience for Obama's Mother-in-Law

Cue the mother-in-law jokes!

The newly dubbed

"First Granny"

is coming to the White House.

 

Marian Robinson

By all accounts, Marian Robinson gets on splendidly with her son-in-law -- so well that Michelle Obama has persuaded her mother, 71, to leave Chicago and move to Washington. The former secretary -- widowed in 1991, retired last year -- was the primary caregiver for Malia and Sasha when their parents were on the campaign trail and will help the family make the transition to a new school, new friends and presidential spotlight.

 

"It's a very wise decision" said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, historian of the National First Ladies' Library in Ohio. "It will provide continuity and intimacy to these two girls who are being uprooted. It will be good not only for the children, but for the new first lady."

 

No word on whether Robinson will live with the family or get her own place nearby, but she won't be the first presidential mother-in-law to spend lots of time at 1600 Penn: Mamie Eisenhower's mother, Elvira Doud, wintered there; Bess Truman's mom, Madge Wallace, moved in and relentlessly bullied poor Harry.

 

Jean Finnegan Biden

 

Will Jean Finnegan Biden, 91, move to the

Naval Observatory grounds

in January?

 

Joe Biden's mother lives with the family in Delaware, but there's a pool house behind the veep's official residence (Tipper Gore's mom lived there in the '90s) that's perfect for one.

Edited November 19, 2008 by A. Clay

[A. Clay]

Barack Obama appoints 'First Granny' as he

asks mother-in-law to move into the White House

By David Gardner

Last updated at 11:33 PM on 09th November 2008

 

'First Granny': Marian Robinson could move into the White House to look after the Obama's two daughters. Barack Obama has become the first American president to appoint a First Granny.

 

Michelle Obama’s mother has reluctantly agreed to move from Chicago to Washington to take care of her granddaughters as they adjust to their new home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

 

Marian Robinson, 71, was an indispensable part of the Obama campaign as babysitter for Malia, ten, and seven-year-old Sasha.

 

The move could signal the first time in living memory that three generations of a family have moved into the White House.

 

But the fiercely independent Mrs Robinson has suggested she could take a flat nearby because she doesn’t want to ‘intrude.’

 

Michelle, 44, has insisted that with 132 rooms, there will be no shortage of space.

 

She said she ‘begged’ her mother to leave her long-time home in Chicago’s tough South Side.

 

‘The girls are going to need her as part of their sense of stability,’ she told Newsweek magazine.

 

‘And what is true for my mum is that she does anything for us and her grandkids.

All they have to do is look at her with sad eyes and she is done for.’

 

Michelle Obama will get a private tour of the residence from Laura Bush, while U.S. President George W. Bush sits down with president-elect Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

 

The Obama girls won’t be tagging along. But with the return of an attractive young couple with children to the White House, there is talk of a return to the Camelot feeling of the Kennedy years.

 

Jacqueline Kennedy’s former social secretary says it will be harder for Mrs Obama to juggle the jobs of wife, mother and first lady than it was for Mrs. Kennedy.

 

Letitia Baldridge says 'it’s a very tough job,' and unlike JFK’s wife, Obama’s won’t be able to find some quiet time by hiding upstairs at the White House.

 

But Baldridge says being first lady is worth it, saying the good parts of the job 'compensate for all the trouble.'

Edited November 17, 2008 by A. Clay

[SuperTwat]

[A. Clay]

why so sewious?

[A. Clay]

Obamarama:

Today in Future First Family News (Nov. 17, 2008)

 

Michelle Obama on "60 Minutes" setting a

timetable for First Canine procurement:

"After we're settled . . . late winter, early spring."

 

In the same clip, above, the president-elect on the issue of whether Marian Robinson will move into the White House: "I don't tell my mother in law what to do... but she sure can if she wants." He notes, however, that "she likes her own space." . . . More on Mrs. Robinson, from the Chicago Sun-Times.

 

Meanwhile, J. Crew is marketing the heck out of the fact that Michelle wears their clothes so well. And feminist scholar Germaine Greer takes on that Election Night dress, calling it a "butcher's apron" and "a travesty."

 

By The Reliable Source | November 17, 2008; 3:35 PM ET

[A. Clay]

In to B-BALL . . .

 

[A. Clay]

JUST FOR FUN . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbw4o5dROc&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b

 

[A. Clay]

WHAT HAPPENS ON INAUGURATION DAY?

http://inaugural.senate.gov/2009/slideshow-platformconstruction.cfm?utm_source=Inaugural+Email+List&utm_campaign=ce67eb8a53-update-112508-platform&utm_medium=email

[A. Clay]

Local farm sending turkeys to D.C. for pardon

Hamilton County’s Circle Hill Farm takes two toms to the White House

By LARRY KERSHNER, Messenger staff writer

 

ELLSWORTH - Each Thanksgiving, the U.S. president ceremonially pardons a turkey in the Rose Garden, at the White House in Washington, D.C.

 

This year, the subject bird will come from Iowa, and particularly a bird that has been raised in Hamilton County.

 

A pair of turkeys has been carefully selected from Circle Hill Farms, one of several turkey producers in the county, all growing birds for West Liberty Foods, which supplies most of the turkey needs for Subway restaurants.

 

Two birds are chosen in event something happens to one of them in transit. The pardon is actually a real one, not just ceremonial, said Nathan Hill, one of the primary interest holders of Circle Hill Farms, along with his father, Paul Hill and brother-in-law Noel Thompson.

 

This is the 61st year that the official Thanksgiving Day bird has been provided by the National Turkey Federation. It's also the 60th anniversary that the Hill family has been in turkey production.

 

"While (the birds) are in Washington, on the same day and at the same time, their contemporaries will be at West Liberty's processing plant," Hill said.

 

The Iowa birds were chosen because Paul Hill serves as chairman of the National Turkey Federation's executive board. "It's a perk of the chairman to send the turkey to the president," Paul Hill said.

 

The actual candidate birds were grown on Nathan Hill's farm. A total of 13 birds were selected, all of them Hybrids, although Circle Hill Farms also raised Nicholas turkeys as well. Over the past several weeks, the 13 birds have been separated to their own pens and Nathan Hill started working with them, to get them accustomed to being around people, handled and to sit quietly on a table.

 

Disney sent music tapes to be played for the birds in their enclosures to get the birds accustomed to a lot of sounds.

 

The Hills explained that after the presidential pardoning ceremony, the birds and the family would fly first class, at Disney's expense, to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., where the birds will be grand marshals of the Thanksgiving Day parade. Following the parade, the birds will be taken to FontierLand's Big Thunder Mountain in the Magic Kingdom, where they will be retired and live out a natural life.

 

The birds currently are 20 weeks old and weigh 42 pounds.

 

Paul Hill said it is a privilege to send the official Thanksgiving Day bird to the president.

 

"This is designed to showcase the turkey and to highlight the turkey federation and its animal welfare practices. There's also a focus on the health in turkey meat."

 

Although there are several large corporations who vie for their share of the turkey industry market, Hill said, that for this event, "It's important that we keep our individual brands deep within ourselves and show off the industry."

 

Traditionally, the birds are named by the president. The Hill families have sent in possible names such as Sub and Way, Cy and Hurkey, Food and Freedom. The family also joked of sending in Bail and Out, but thought better of it. The president will make the official name. Last year's birds, from Indiana, were called May and Flower.

 

Paul Hill is the sixth Iowan to be selected to send the presidential bird, in the 61 years that presidents have pardoned birds, dating back to Harry Truman. It's been 20 years since the last bird came from Iowa.

 

The Hill family members will fly to Washington, D.C. next week and be housed at the luxury Willard Hotel, across the street from the White House. The two turkeys will be transported in the back of a minivan in free-range style and will also stay at the Willard Hotel.

Circle Hill Farms is a 1,600-acre family corporation. They market 700,000 turkeys annually, all were sold to West Liberty Foods. All of the turkeys are owned by Circle Hill Farms.

 

The family operation got its start in 1948. Paul Hill's father, Hubert, raised 1,000 birds that first year "and didn't make any money," Paul Hill said. But the next year he raised another 1,000 turkeys and made $10 on each. "But that's the way the turkey business has always been," Paul Hill said.

 

Mary and Paul Hill took over the operation in 1967, which has gradually grown into the three-farm family corporate entity it is today.

 

Contact Larry Kershner at editor@messengernews.net

Edited November 26, 2008 by A. Clay

[A. Clay]

Edited November 28, 2008 by A. Clay

[A. Clay]

Right about now . . .

 

Edited December 23, 2008 by A. Clay

[A. Clay]

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvpf9MjA-CA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1

Edited December 24, 2008 by A. Clay

[A. Clay]

Obama says goodbye to late grandmother in Hawaii

Wed Dec 24, 9:21 am ET

 

HONOLULU (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama paid his last respects on Tuesday to the woman he called the rock of his family, the grandmother who helped to raise him, before scattering her ashes from a Hawaiian shoreline.

Madelyn Dunham, known to Obama as Toot, short for Tutu, the Hawaiian word for grandmother, took him in when his mother went to work in Indonesia and put him through private school.

Dunham was one of the main formative influences on Obama's life but she did not live to see him win office. She died of cancer at 86 just two days before he won the November 4 election.

The demands of the presidential campaign meant Obama was unable to fly to Hawaii for her funeral. But on Tuesday, he finally bade her farewell at a memorial service attended by friends and family, including his wife Michelle, daughters Malia and Sasha, and half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng.

Obama is in Hawaii for a two-week Christmas holiday before he resumes his preparations to take office as president on January 20.

Media were kept away from the First Unitarian Church in Honolulu on the island of Oahu. After the service, Obama and about a dozen others traveled to Lanai Lookout on the southeast corner of Oahu, scrambling over a wall and down to the rocky shoreline to scatter his grandmother's ashes.

It was the same place where Obama had scattered his mother's ashes after her death more than a decade ago.

Obama's sister said in a statement earlier that the memorial service would allow him to "grieve and emotionally process" the loss of the woman he called the rock of his family and whose name he frequently invoked on the campaign trail.

"She proved to be a trailblazer of sorts," Obama wrote in "Dreams from My Father," his best-selling memoir, saying his grandmother was "the first woman vice-president of a local bank" after starting out as a secretary to help pay the costs of his unexpected birth.

Obama last saw her in October, when he abruptly left the campaign trail and flew to her bedside, saying he did not want to repeat the mistake he made with his mother, who died of cancer in 1995 before he was able to see her.

In interviews and speeches, Obama has attributed many character attributes to his grandmother, who raised him in the absence of his traveling mother and his father, who lived in Kenya.

"She's the one who taught me about hard work," Obama told a packed stadium in Denver in August when he accepted the Democratic presidential nomination.

"She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life."

At an election rally on November 3, the day after her death and the day before his election as president, Obama gave his grandmother a poignant epitaph.

"She was one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America," he said.

"They're not famous. Their names are not in the newspapers, but each and every day they work hard. They aren't seeking the limelight. All they try to do is just do the right thing."

(Reporting by Mike Gordon, writing by Ross Colvin, editing by Anthony Boadle)

Edited December 24, 2008 by A. Clay

[A. Clay]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G2tzoE474w&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1

[A. Clay]

First Grandma Moving to White House

by Mike Krumboltz

January 9, 2009 01:53:36 PM

 

Rumored for months, and now official: Barack Obama's mother-in-law is moving in to the White House.

 

Marian Robinson, mom to Michelle Obama, will join the future First Family at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue later this month. As the New York Times reports, Mrs. Robinson's decision to move is, in many ways, "no real surprise." During the many months of campaigning, she helped to take care of Malia and Sasha and acted as a "family mainstay."

 

The first granny hasn't made up her mind as to whether or not she'll stay on permanently at the Obama's new household. She plans to figure all that out over the next few months. Mrs. Robinson has never lived outside of Chicago, so the move could be just as big an adjustment for her as it will be for the rest of the family.

 

So, all told, that makes five full-time residents at the world's most famous address. The only one we're still not sure about: that darn puppy.

[A. Clay]

View of the Yosemite Valley featured painting at the

2009 Inaugural Luncheon for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

 

New York, NY — When Congress formally welcomes the newly installed Chief Executive at its Inaugural Luncheon on January 20, 2009, President Barack Obama will take his seat before a painting on loan from the New-York Historical Society: the panoramic View of the Yosemite Valley

(1865, 54 x 72 inches) by Thomas Hill.

 

http://www.canvaz.com/gallery/21395.htm

View of the Yosemite Valley, 1865

 

The Inaugural Luncheon was first held at the U.S. Capitol in 1897 and has been a regularly observed tradition since 1953. The event has been held in the National Statuary Hall since 1981. Since 1985, Congress has selected a painting to reflect the theme of the Inaugural ceremony and to serve as the backdrop for the head table . . .

 

Senator Dianne Feinstein requested the loan of the painting in her capacity as Chair of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. In a letter to Linda Ferber, Museum Director of the New-York Historical Society, Senator Feinstein wrote: "The theme for our 2009 Inaugural will be 'A New Birth of Freedom.' We will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, and the ideals of reuniting a nation and Westward expansion that were exemplified during Lincoln's presidency. View of the Yosemite Valley, from your collection, represents this theme through the monumental vista of the valley, celebrating a new land that was open for exploration."

 

"We are very proud that a painting from our museum collection has been selected to play such a visible role in the celebration of our new President's inauguration," stated Louise Mirrer, President and CEO of the New-York Historical Society. "For those who understand the role of art in the narrative of this nation's history, our institution has long been known as a rich and valuable resource. We thank the Joint Congressional Committee for calling on us to provide this highly significant painting, which so meaningfully unites the Inauguration with the Lincoln bicentennial."

 

"The painting reflects the majestic landscape of the American West and the dawn of a new era. Yosemite Valley represents an important but often overlooked event from Lincoln's Presidency--his signing of the 1864 Yosemite Grant, which set aside Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias as a public reserve." . . .

 

The public is invited to visit the Historical Society's website at http://www.nyhistory.org.

Edited January 10, 2009 by A. Clay

[A. Clay]

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is pictured in scenes from a special edition of Marvel Comics' weekly Spider-Man comic, in this handout released January 8, 2009. The special edition of the weekly Spider-Man comic features a six-page story about the superhero saving the day when an imposter tries to take Obama's place as president.

Edited January 15, 2009 by A. Clay

[A. Clay]

BEN'S CHILI BOWL-PHOTO GALLERY--

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Obama_Makes_1st_Trip_to_Bens_Chili_Bowl.html

 

Obama takes a break for some chili and sausage

Buzz UpSendSharePrint

By CHRISTINE SIMMONS, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jan 10, 10:17 pm ET

 

WASHINGTON – What does the president-elect order on his first Saturday afternoon since moving into town? A chili dog and cheese fries.

Barack Obama dropped in Saturday afternoon for a bite to eat with Washington's mayor, Adrian Fenty, at Ben's Chili Bowl, the venerable diner in Washington's U Street district.

Obama said it was his first time visiting Ben's Chili Bowl and "it was terrific." The expectation is that Obama — already at ease in big cities from his time in Chicago — will venture into town more than President George W. Bush, who rarely made forays into unofficial Washington.

After Obama's motorcade wandered through the U street district, passing the African-American Civil War Memorial and a flea market selling shirts that bear his face, he and Fenty surprised the restaurant around lunchtime. Patrons shrieked with delight and surprise as they saw his face. A mother blushed as Obama held her baby in his arms. The president-elect and the mayor moved slowly through the restaurant's crowded rooms, shaking hands and getting pictures taken with patrons.

Still, they came there to eat. "Where the food at?" he finally asked the counter staff, drawing laughs from them and nearby patrons.

He and Fenty ordered a house specialty, a Chili Half-Smoke — a quarter-pound half pork and beef smoked sausage on a steamed bun with mustard, onions and chili sauce — along with a big helping of some cheese fries.

They found a small table. They had the popular food. They even chatted it up with nearby customers at their tables. But something was still missing: the shredded cheese. Obama yelled for some — "not the Velveeta" kind, he said — and it was quickly delivered.

Word must have gotten out he was in the area: After Obama and Fenty had their meal and left the building, dozens of people who had lined up before security barriers cheered him on as walked toward his motorcade.

PS: Obama did pay for the lunches!

Edited January 11, 2009 by A. Clay