President Obama’s weekly YouTube address

Add comment November 21st, 2009

Two-thirds of Americans have no problem with Obama bowing to Japanese emperor

4 comments November 21st, 2009

 I wasn’t going to write anything about this silly controversy, but now I can’t resist.

 On his recent trip to Asia, President Obama politely bowed (above) to the emperor of Japan — a gesture that immediately rendered American right-wingers downright apoplectic.

 The wingnut blogosphere went ballistic over the shame of it all. The rabble-rousers on Fox News showed photos and video of the disgraceful gesture over and over and over again. They were all quite sure that this would be the last straw. This would finally seal Obama’s reputation among patriotic Americans as a groveling toady on the international stage.

 Yes, the delight (masked by mock shame) among the loonies was palpable. Fox News quickly commissioned a poll to measure the domestic political damage incurred by Obama from such self-humiliation.

 But, wonder of wonders! The poll SHOWS that 67 percent of Americans consider it entirely appropriate for their president ”to bow to a foreign leader if that is the country’s custom,” and only 26 percent feel that it’s ”never appropriate for the president to bow to another leader.”

 So, I guess we won’t be hearing much more about this matter from our wingnut friends. Oh well, they can always fall back on their birtherism theories.

 For your edification, here’s a gallery of photos of various Republican presidents offering courteous gestures to dignitaries from abroad:

 AFTERTHOUGHT: This episode reminds me of the one last spring when right-wingers expressed great outrage over Obama having smiled when he shook hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

 The controversy prompted me to post this gallery of photos of various Republican presidents smiling with communist leaders:

Uh-oh! NFL joins in Obama plot to indoctrinate kids! Alert Glenn Beck!

6 comments November 20th, 2009

Gallup defends itself against Limbaugh slur

7 comments November 20th, 2009

 With no evidence to support his charge, radio blabber Rush Limbaugh says the Gallup polling organization is cooking its numbers to keep President Obama’s approval ratings above 50 percent.

 Gallup’s Frank Newport (above) SAYS that’s bunk.

 Indeed, three of six recent polls, each conducted by an independent firm, have Obama’s rating higher than Gallup has it, as we see HERE. Notice, too, that each of those three polls measures opinions of American adults in general, while the others cover only registered voters or so-called likely voters.

 UPDATE: A Gallup Daily Tracking Poll released today SHOWS Obama’s approval rating slipping below 5o percent for the first time.

President Obama’s weekly YouTube address

Add comment November 14th, 2009

A triumph looming for Obama and Dems?

4 comments November 13th, 2009

 Ben Goddard, who created the legendary Harry & Louise TV ad that helped kill Bill Clinton’s push for health-care reform in the 1990s, SAYS Barack Obama is likely to succeed where Clinton failed.

 A few excerpts:

 Even after all the August town halls, the marches in Washington and the campaigns being waged against the Obama proposal, Americans still want healthcare reform. A majority still support some form of a public option to provide greater competition in the insurance marketplace. Yes, there are swing districts where support for any government-run plan could cost Democrats votes. But if history provides any glimpse of the future, and it usually does, that pain will likely be mitigated once there is actually a law on the books. Runaway costs and fears of a government takeover were raised against Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Those programs are now virtually untouchable — the third rails of American politics…

 [I]t looks like Obama actually has momentum. It now appears likely that some kind of healthcare reform will land on his desk early next year. If it does, he will sign the most important and sweeping domestic legislation in half a century.

 That will, eventually, be the message America’s voters get out of this battle. They wanted reform 15 years ago — two-thirds said then that they wanted “radical reform.” Now they will happily settle for something a little less. And when the bill actually becomes law, President Obama and most of the Democrats in Congress will get the credit for it.

Obama insists on a U.S. exit strategy in Afghanistan

34 comments November 12th, 2009

 President Obama  is refusing to bow to pressure from hawks to commit more troops to the war in Afghanistan and is demanding that his advisers come up with a plan to eventually extricate the U.S. military from the potential quagmire.

 What a welcome contrast to the practices of Obama’s immediate predecessor.

 As we see HERE, the president is heeding the advice of a diplomat who has impressive military credentials:

 [Obama’s] stance comes in the midst of forceful reservations about a possible troop buildup from the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, according to a second top administration official.

 In strongly worded classified cables to Washington, Eikenberry said he had misgivings about sending in new troops while there are still so many questions about the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai…

 Eikenberry, the top U.S. envoy to Kabul, is a prominent voice among those advising Obama, and his sharp dissent is sure to affect the equation. He retired from the Army this year to become one of the few generals in American history to switch directly from soldier to diplomat, and he himself is a recent, former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

 Eikenberry’s cables raise deep concern about the viability of the Karzai government, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with them who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the classified documents. Other administration officials raised the same misgivings in describing Obama’s hesitancy to accept any of the options before him in their current form.

 UPDATE: Most Americans OPPOSE sending more troops to Afghanistan.

 UPDATE II: Veterans speak out against escalation in Afghanistan:

This guy thinks Obama’s speech at Ft. Hood was perhaps his best ever

3 comments November 11th, 2009

 To say that Marc Ambinder was FAVORABLY IMPRESSED by President Obama’s speech at the Ft. Hood memorial services is to put it mildly.

 Here’s the speech in three parts:

Obama’s weekly address is about Ft. Hood

Add comment November 7th, 2009

WorldNutDaily tries to tie Ft. Hood shooter to Obama

7 comments November 6th, 2009

THIS KIND OF THING was inevitable, I suppose.