Barack Obama

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

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.

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)
/criticism of Obama
Racist fears intensified dramatically as Obama's victory became likely and then actual
/writings: pieces written (or spoken from prepared notes) by Obama
/impeachment: conservatives want to impeach Obama for doing stuff that George W. Bush did but only Obama is 100% worse, spending more money than all presidents, COMBINED.

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.

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
2011/07/13 [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."

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)

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)