Barack Obama

Official portrait of Barack Obama, released 2009-01-14

About

Senator Barack Obama was elected President of the United States in 2008, in a major landslide victory. He is the first African-American to be elected to this office or even nominated for it by a major political party.

Pages

topics

There were fears Obama might be assassinated during his candidacy or presidency.
Obama's /birth certificate was repeatedly demanded by Republicans trying to build a case that Obama is not legally qualified to be president, beginning during the closing days of the race; these arguments continued throughout his presidency.
/criticism of Obama
/impeachment: Conservoids chronically wanted to impeach Obama for supposedly doing stuff that George W. Bush actually did but which they apparently believe Bush couldn't possibly have done because he was moral.
- anonymous user 173.216.197.177 replaced much of this sentence with the text "only Obama is 100% worse, spending more money than all presidents, COMBINED." This is not a true statement.
Obamamisia, i.e. hatred directed against Obama, has been a problem ever since he rose to national prominence by running for president
/writings: pieces written or spoken by Obama
see also cwre:Myths/Obama: myths about Barack Obama and the Obama-Biden administration

phases

/academia: Obama's academic career
/senate: Obama's career as the senator from Illinois
/campaign for the presidency
/victory: reactions to the historic event
/transition: transitioning from Bush to Obama
Obama-Biden administration: presidential administration

Related Pages

McCain vs. Obama: comparison of the two major 2008 candidates

Links

Reference

Official

Projects

Eyes on Obama: seems generally pro-Obama (domain registered to Imran Media, a company in Menlo Park, California)
Obama 2.0: ostensibly a site which "digs a little deeper" into Obama, by which they apparently mean criticism. Seems generally conservative and pro-big-business.

Filed Links

2020/09/19 [L..T] Obama calls for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor to be appointed by the election winner Barack Obama: “A basic principle of the law – and of everyday fairness – is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what's convenient or advantageous in the moment. The rule of law, the legitimacy of our courts, the fundamental workings of our democracy all depend on that basic principle.”
2014/06/08 [L..T] Obama on Obama on Climate
2014/03/04 [L..T] Obama to Republicans: You're Right, Let's Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit
2014/02/20 [L..T] Is Obama Trying to Control the News with FCC Monitoring?
2013/08/15 [L..T] Ender's Game Author Orson Scott Card Goes Off on Another Insane Rant «"Obama is, by character and preference, a dictator," Card wrote before comparing the President of the United States to Adolf Hitler. "Obama will claim we need a national police force in order to fight terrorism and crime. The Boston bombing is a useful start, especially when combined with random shootings by crazy people."» «And then he added that Obama will reassert his power through puppet dictators.»
2013/03/24 [L..T] Debunking Almost Every Republican Lie Against President Obama
2011/07/14 [L..T] headline::Barack Obama storms out of meeting
2011/07/13 [L..T] headline::Cantor Says Obama Stormed Out Of Debt Ceiling Meeting, As All Progress In Talks "Erased" House Majority Leader Eric Cantor told reporters that President Obama walked out "angrily" from a meeting on the debt ceiling; Democratic aides say that Cantor was rude and Obama merely ended the meeting for the day.
2011/07/13 [L..T] What Happened to the $2.6 Trillion Social Security Trust Fund? "I cannot guarantee that those checks [he included veterans and the disabled, in addition to Social Security] go out on August 3rd if we haven't resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it." "...either Obama and Geithner are lying to us now, or they and all defenders of the Social Security status quo have been lying to us for decades. It must be one or the other."
2008/05/16 [L..T] Senate Votes to Reverse FCC Decision Allowing Media Consolidation “Thursday night, the Senate cast a near-unanimous vote to reverse the Federal Communication Commission's December 2007 decision to let media companies own both a major TV or radio station and a major daily newspaper in the same city.”

Writings by

2015/09/10 [L..T] Message -- Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Certain Terrorist Attacks “The terrorist threat that led to the declaration on September 14, 2001, of a national emergency continues. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue in effect after September 14, 2015, the national emergency with respect to the terrorist threat.”

News & Views

2007-11-14 4Barack by Lawrence Lessig
2007-08-10 How the Democrats Blew It in Only Eight Months by Alexander Cockburn, The Nation: 'Then Obama drew even fiercer fire by saying he would take nukes off the table in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "I think it would be a profound mistake for us to use nuclear weapons in any circumstance," Obama told the AP on August 2, adding, after a pause, "involving civilians." Then he quickly said, "Let me scratch that. There's been no discussion of nuclear weapons. That's not on the table."' Well, at least he's flip-flopping in the right direction.
2007-05-07 Racism lurks in the shadows for Obama by Leonard Pitts, Jr.: more about racism in the US than about Obama; cross-posted.
2007-04-22 Obama: Blacks as guilty as Imus (cross-posted to racism in the US)

Quotes By

2007-06-03
- Wolf Blitzer: "I want you to raise your hand if you believe English should be the official language of the United States."
- Barack Obama: "This is the kind of question that is designed precisely to divide us. You know, you're right. Everybody is going to learn to speak English if they live in this country. The issue is not whether or not future generations of immigrants are going to learn English. The question is: How can we come up with both a legal, sensible immigration policy? And when we get distracted by those kinds of questions, I think we do a disservice to the American people." [1]
2007-02-11 In response to 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft's question: "Would you advocate the use of military force to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?": "I think we should keep all options on the table..." (sources; related: potential US invasion of Iran)

Humor

2008-03-19 Black Guy Asks Nation For Change: Obama framed as a panhandler