Difference between revisions of "Barack Obama"

Revision as of 12:52, 8 November 2008

Overview

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.

Sub-pages

topics

There are some fears Obama might be assassinated.
/campaign
- Obama's /birth certificate was demanded by Republicans trying to build a case that Obama is not legally qualified to be president, during the closing days of the race
- The /Muslim smear is false but was nonetheless widely believed right through the election (it remains to be seen whether this rumor will persist)
Racist fears intensified dramatically as Obama's victory became likely and then actual
/writings: pieces written (or spoken from prepared notes) by Obama

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

Related Pages

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

Links

Reference

Official

Projects

Obama 2.0: ostensibly a site which "digs a little deeper" into Obama, it smells suspiciously like an astroturf operation; the whois registration is stealthed, for one thing

Filed Links

News

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 06:51 UTC [L..T] headline::Barack Obama storms out of meeting
2011/07/13 20:08 UTC [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.”

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

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ==Overview==
-[[category:people]]Senator [[Barack Obama]] is the [[US Democratic Party|Democratic]] nominee for [[President of the United States]] in [[2008 US presidential race|2008]].{{seedling}}
+[[category:people]]Senator [[Barack Obama]] was [[2008 US presidential election|elected]] [[President of the United States]] in [[2008 US presidential race|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.
 ===Sub-pages===
 ====topics====
 * There are some fears Obama might be [[/assassination|assassinated]].
 * [[/campaign]]
-** Obama's [[/birth certificate]] was being demanded by Republicans trying to build a case that Obama is not legally qualified to be president
+** Obama's [[/birth certificate]] was demanded by Republicans trying to build a case that Obama is not legally qualified to be president, during the closing days of the race
-** The [[/Muslim smear]] is false but nonetheless widely believed
+** The [[/Muslim smear]] is false but was nonetheless widely believed right through the election (it remains to be seen whether this rumor will persist)
 * [[/racism|Racist fears]] intensified dramatically as Obama's [[/victory|victory]] became likely and then actual
 * [[/writings]]: pieces written (or spoken from prepared notes) by Obama
@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 * [[/campaign]] for the presidency
 * [[/victory]]: reactions to the historic event
-* [[/transition]]: transitioning from Bush to Obama
+* [[/transition]]: transitioning from [[George W. Bush|Bush]] to Obama
 ===Related Pages===
 * [[McCain vs. Obama]]: comparison of the two major [[2008 US presidential race|2008]] candidates
-==Objections==
-The only serious objections to Obama as president apply far more intensely to his major opponent, [[John McCain]]; see [[McCain vs. Obama]] for details.
-==Early Career==
-Some opponents see ominous signs in Obama's early career; here is one interpretation:
-{{excerpt|1=tacitus2 [http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2008/09/some-things-palin-comparison.html?showComment=1221337020000#c7779671268118016328 posted] in [[Contrary Brin]] on 2008-09-13:}}
-, Obama's first campaign, for [[Illinois State Senate|IL State Senate]]. Of a field of five Dem primary candidates, only Obama ends up on the ballot. Why? his operatives went over the filing papers for the other four systematically, challenging signatures for technical reasons.
-All four ended up having insufficient signatures that passed muster. This is legal. And is how things are done in Chicago. Many of those sigs were bogus. But a tad hypocritical for a man running to "empower the disenfranchised". And his subsequent writing that the people of his district must have liked what they saw is a crock. In a massively Dem district he ran against token opposition. At that point anyone able to maintain sphincter control in public is a lock. Effort to win the General Election-nil.
-He did run for House of Rep along the way. Lost.
-Once you are in the IL State Senate from a safe district, you would have a hard time not being re-elected. Effort to win Gen Elections-modest.
-US Senate in [[2006 US elections|2006]]. His Dem primary opponent is [[Blair Hull]]. Hull's campaign collapses when allegations that he beat his wife are disclosed. True, btw. Involvement of several campaigns in said disclosure is asserted.
-US Senate General Election 2006. Republican [[Jack Ryan]] was married to the delicious Geri Ryan. Local news outlets want access to divorce and custody hearings. Murky back and forth on this, ultimately nasty stuff is unsealed alleging Ryan's encouraging Geri to perform in sex clubs. Again, newspapers at the time (who may indeed have wished Obama ill) suggest Obama operatives involved in this effort. Ryan campaign collapses, replaced by the witless carpetbagger [[Allen Keyes]]. Effort to win Gen Election-nil.
-{{-excerpt}}
-There are also a number of objections which are far less substantial and yet seem to keep coming up in casual conversation, where they are less likely to be scrutinized.
-===The Race Card===
-'''Claim''': Obama "played the [[race card]]" in a speech where he described himself as "different" because of the color of his skin.
-The speech in question was a thoughtful response to repeated covert attacks by his opponents, and was not a plea for special treatment or sympathy due to oppression.
-===The Race Counter-Card===
-'''Claim''': The [[US Democratic Party|democrats]] only picked Obama because nobody could say "no" to a black man. (This was alleged by [[Rush Limbaugh]].)
-This is nonsense; Obama got a thorough reaming in the [[liberal blogosphere]] for supporting [[FISA]], and has also received liberal criticism for his pandering to religion.
-===Arrogance===
-'''Claim''': Obama is "arrogant".
-''This claim came, in one case, from a disgruntled [[Hillary Clinton]] supporter. I don't see how it can possibly be justified, especially for someone who agreed with Hillary's platform; both Hillary and McCain are far more arrogant and presumptuous than Obama. The only explanation I can think of is a subtle, probably unconscious, [[racism]]: Obama speaks firmly and authoritatively, while the claimant prefers a submissive, soft-spoken, "safe" black man (like [[Colin Powell]]) and feels threatened by Obama's failure to conform to that role. However, the claim came via a third party, so I have no idea if racism is a reasonable accusation. --[[User:Woozle|Woozle]] 13:25, 30 August 2008 (EDT)''
-===Empty===
-'''Claim''': Obama is an empty suit, an insubstantial figure with no clear agenda. (This claim has been popular in the [[right blogosphere]]; see [[Jon Ham]]'s ''Right Angles'' blog early in 2008 for some examples.)
-This claim is also absurd; compare [http://barackobama.com his official web site] with [http://johnmccain.com McCain's]: which one has the most in-depth and up-to-date discussion of the issues?
 ==Links==
 ===Reference===
@@ Line 66: / Line 30: @@
 ===Projects===
 * [http://obama2.com/ Obama 2.0]: ostensibly a site which "digs a little deeper" into Obama, it smells suspiciously like an astroturf operation; the whois registration is stealthed, for one thing
 ===Filed Links===
-<!-- {{links.tagged}} -->''currently dealing with transitional bugs''
+{{links/news}}
 ===News & Views===
 * '''2007-11-14''' [http://lessig.org/blog/2007/11/4barack.html 4Barack] by [[Lawrence Lessig]]