Barack Obama

Excellent detailed piece on Sarah Palin by journalist Michael Joseph Gross in the October 2010 issue of Vanity Fair …
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Happy Friday the Thirteenth, everyone. It’s actually a fitting day for this column, which I’ll explain in a bit. Because before we get to that, we simply must begin our column the way we do every week here, which is to call for the abolition of the Pentagon. Yes, as we’ve done consistently for the past 133 weeks, we demand that the Defense Department’s budget be zeroed out entirely. Oh, and also that we immediately adopt a Canadian-style health care system.

What is the mindset inside the Obama White House these days? I’ve been wondering about this ever since Robert Gibbs went off on what he calls “the professional left” the other day. Not only did Michael Moore wind up talking with Keith Olberman n about this, but P aul Krugman (who I consider “professionally economically brilliant” as contrasted with “professionally left”) wrote about it as well. Now Robert Gibbs is no idiot. He may have said something he didn’t mean to say, but his frustration can’t be his alone.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday forcefully endorsed building a mosque near ground zero, saying the country’s founding principles demanded no less. “As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country,” Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York City and the nation.

That "professional left" is what some might call "your base", Mr. President, and they think you should legalize marijuana. Washington political news outlet The Hill reports on the recent “professional left” remarks made by the Obama White House’s press secretary Robert Gibbs.  Gibbs was expressing frustration at progressive activists who are complaining that the president hasn’t lived up to campaign promises on a number of issues.

Conservatives routinely paint Barack Obama as a socialist looking to redistribute wealth in the United States. (Or worse, as Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) reported that tea party leaders, during a meeting, espoused paranoid delusions of a totalitarian takeover of the U.S. by Obama.) This charge is cynical and outrageous, not just because it is false and a naked attempt to use fear mongering to drum up votes, but because there is actually a group of Americans actively engaged in wealth redistribution, and they have been for quite some time.

I must admit that only two shows into Season 8, I’m hooked all over again. I already have my favorites, I already know who’s going home sooner than later, and I think Season 8 has the makings of a really strong season. That being said, I’m kind of not sure how some of the 17 contestants on the premiere made the final cut. But Reality TV has its own modus operandi and this show is just as formulaic as the rest; in other words, some folks are picked because they will obviously make for good television.

Republicans have dug a deep hole for themselves on matters related to the Middle East and Islam reflecting the extent to which the Party has become captive of the neo-conservative “clash of civilization” crowd and their partners on the evangelical Christian right. This drift becomes clear listening to statements by Republican leaders and surveying the attitudes of the party’s base.

These numbers (from a Pew Research poll conducted July 29 - August 1) shouldn’t surprise anybody, but given what passes for conventional wisdom these days, they could very well be a shock: If you look at the net impact of each hypothetical on a liklihood of support (in other words, subtracting the less likely number from the more likely number), you get, in order: Government projects: +39% Barack Obama: -1% Candidate is neither Dem nor GOP: -6% Tea party: -9% Sarah Palin: -20% So it turns out that the tea party’s austerity message is a lead balloon for the GOP.

Why did President Obama choose to appear on The View ? The answer is simple. The View’s audience is 79% female and Obama has a women problem. Obama’s approval among women voters has plunged from 59% to 45% during his term in office. Here’s a shocker: just one-third of white women approve of the president. In fairness to President Obama, his policies and lackadaisical focus on women’s issues only partially explain this nosedive with women.