Barack Obama on a trike in 1965

---o0o---

President Obama not so sure the Republicans could stand up to Vlad Putin

By Mona Goldwater, GOP Primary Ed.

On Monday, BHO mocked the Republican presidential candidates for promising they could stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. . .when they couldn't handle last week's debate moderators.

---o0o---

no no no no - President Obama's 15th public statement on mass killings

By Jack Brummet

This was probably BHO's best post mass-murder statement yet.  It hurts to say that.  It's pretty long, but worth watching. I've seen so so many he's made. It's a quirky speech, layered in stunned sadness, with odd cadences and full of hesitations, and grappling pauses.  

We have to fix the sickness and get the guns out of the hands of the 1% who are doing us wrong.  Over and over and over.  Don't flame me...this isn't about politics; it's about our soul and our safety.
---o0o---

Barack Obama caption contest

Caption contest - BHO: "I know exactly how she feels."

---o0o---

President Barack Obama interviews The Wire's creator David Simon (and reveals his favorite character is Omar)

President Obama interviewed HBO's "The Wire" creator David Simon about the show and Simon's view on how drugs impact cities like Baltimore.  The interview was published by the White House this morning.

"I’m a huge fan of ‘The Wire.’ I think it’s one of the greatest, not just television shows, but pieces of art in the last couple of decades," said The President.  

BHO  also reveals that Omar was his favorite character on "The Wire."  Watch the 12 minute interview below:

---o0o---

Four Presidents elected twice by a majority vote: FDR, DDE, RWR, and BHO

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

Question #1: 232 scholars think the President is rocking the Presidency.  What about the other 188, or 523 scholars who don't?

It's true only these four Presidents we're elected twice with majorities.  And it's awesome BHO is on the list.  Yes, he has taken a substantial political and PR shellacking while racking up some great accomplishments.  But so did the other three on this list (the shellackings anyhow).

RWR in particular was run through the mill--rightfully--his last two years in office, in addition to being portrayed as lazy and at times bizarre (e.g., consulting an astrologist regularly, seeing a UFO in 1974), on top of using drug money to arm the Anti-Sandinista Rebels, and the other clandestine acts  of the Ollie North era.   

Plenty of people called FDR treasonous after the Yalta meetings, and before.

Ike was often considered out of touch.  He was pretty bland. He was smart, but too blind to race.  He could have jump started the discussion.  But he did not.  He said a lot of smart things about the military and the munitions and war machine.

If BHO could communicate as passionately as he did when he was.a first term candidate, I think he would be on a lot steadier footing.  That's never been my problem with him.  Mine has been the hesitation, not waffling really, but kind of a Hamlet-like or Prufrockian pondering instead of acting.

Via Occupy Democrats - "OBAMA RATED BEST PRESIDENT IN PAST 50 YEARS, but you wouldn't know it. — Presidential scholars rank President Obama as the best president in the past 50 years, and Bush as the worst. Obama even bests the GOPper's sacrosanct cowboy, President Reagan. In fact, in the past 100 years only four presidents have been ranked better than Obama. Why then, do people question his achievements, ESPECIALLY in light of GOP obstruction bordering on sedition, and unprecedented voter suppression and extreme gerrymandering, along with Citizens United dollars? Eventually his rank will move higher on this list as Bush's moves toward the bottom of the barrel. But back to the premise of this image I created. Can there be any reason other than race that causes such widespread denial of presidential accomplishment and success? I conclude it can ONLY be about race. Millions of Americans will not give President Obama the respect he deserves not only as president but as a human being. The corporate owned media are among the worst sources for spreading these lies about the president's citizenship, academic accomplishment, presidential success, etc. These same deep rooted feelings of racial animus fuel the fear and hate that contributed to the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Racism has been institutionalized into our corporate hierarchies, into our prison and court systems and even into our police forces which are seven times as likely to kill black men as white men. Hopefully this image and the questions it raises, help put into perspective the deeply rooted racial undertones that guide our daily paths like the roads on which we drive, paths that dictate our sense of direction and our decisions, many of which are subliminal, yet have far reaching consequences, like police officer Darren Wilson wondering, "Can I legally kill this man?" Americans need to increase the intensity of this dialogue, to question their own conscious and unconscious decisions regarding race and its role in our lives. The future of our nation depends on this introspection, reflection and national conversation. Please share this image. Thank you. {Allow me to answer those of you who wonder about President Clinton's victories. You'll recall that H. Ross Perot mucked things up a bit, with Clinton winning but getting only 43% and 49% of the popular vote in 1992 and 1996 respectively." - Tracy Knauss

 ---o0o---

Presidents Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho and Barack Hussein Obama

click to enlarge

---o0o---

Early Barack Obama Halloween Costume

---o0o---

POTUS x 4: Four Presidents yuk it up at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, April 2013

click to enlarge

---o0o---

President Obama's favorite television shows, according to the New York Times

By Jack Brummet, Entertainment Ed. and Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

Over the years, we've had tantalizing hints about BHO's downtime entertainment.  We know he loves Al Green, and even sang a few bars of a tune by the Reverend.  He told the press at one point that his favorite Bob Dylan song was "I ain't going to work on Maggie's farm no more."  He's mentioned other songs, performers, and movies he likes.  Recently, his television viewing was chronicled in these excerpts from Michael D. Shear's article in the New York Times:

Obama’s TV Picks: Anything Edgy, With Hints of Reality

"Mr. Obama is … a devotee of Showtime’s 'Homeland,' which offers an eerily familiar mirror to the president’s own foreign policy adventures: terrorism, Iranian nuclear negotiations, drone strikes, and an intelligence agency struggling for legitimacy with Congress and the American people.

"It may be a fool’s errand to psychoanalyze anyone — let alone a sitting president — based only on the books he reads or the music he listens to, or the television shows he watches." - Michael D. Shear

"And the list of heavies continues. Mr. Obama has told people he is a big fan of 'Game of Thrones,' a brutal imagining of the wars in medieval Europe. He has raved about 'Boardwalk Empire' and the BBC’s 'Downton Abbey,' two period dramas that document the angst and difficulties that people faced during those times. And he has worked his way through the DVDs of AMC’s smoldering 'Mad Men' series, telling friends that the character of Peggy Olson has given him insight into what it must have been like for his strong-willed grandmother in a world dominated by men.

"These days, when Mr. Obama retreats to the White House residence after a long day on the other end of the colonnade, he is working his way through the DVD box set of AMC’s 'Breaking Bad,' the award-winning TV drama about a drug-dealing high school teacher. The show just ended after five seasons, but the president is way behind and frequently reminds those around him not to give anything away."

---o0o---

Presidents with Presidents.

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.
& Mona Goldwater, Global News Ed.

ATIT loves The Presidents; some, sure, more than others. We like the photos, and particularly multi-Presidents shots. Here are some good shots of three Presidents, three first ladies, and one likely/potential new Prez at the Nelson Mandela funeral in South Africa. We also include the now notorious image of President Obama taking an iPhone selfie with the Prime Ministers of Denmark and England. . .

These images come from White House photographer Pete Souza.

Jack told us today that "the further George Bush recedes in the mirror" the more he likes him. He has written a couple of controversial posts about he affection for the retired President, with people sniping about him slipping into a hexegenerian, right bent/redneck space. He said "who cares about the politics? He had me once all the paintings came out. I love this guy!"

"I've written him twice now, offering to sponsor a gallery show, do an interview strictly focused on his art, and display better, high def photographs of his work rather than the fuzzy ones we all published (because there was nothing else). It was like....Dude....you gotta get this stuff out there. People want to see it. Maybe buy it. Let me know. Mr. President. And give my love to your dad and mom."

Jack is a sick biscuit, but these photos (maybe not the editorial comment) are worth seeing. Especially Dubyah showing pictures of his paintings to Hillary and Michelle.

The following two images are from http://instagram.com/georgewbush (George W. Bush's Instagram site):

---o0o---

President Obama on the NSA

[source: unknown]

---o0o---

President Obama heads back to the Jersey shore

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

BHO returns to Jersey to relive his FEMA success during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  And maybe pick up some Q ratings from his propinquity to the diminishing Governor.

"For Obama, the tour helps him continue redirecting the political conversation after two weeks of dealing with the fallout over the administration's response to terror attacks last September in Benghazi, Libya, the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department's review of journalist phone records as part of a leak investigation." - CBS News

                                        ---o0o---

Another rough day at The White House

By Jack Brummet 

They're having a lot of them of late.

 ---o0o---

President Obama again denies role in White House press orgy

By Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Ed.

Figure 1 — photographic proof The President was involved in the briefing room outrage

The White House yesterday denied, on three separate occasions (ala Saint Peter), that President Obama led a degenerate, Caligula-style orgy in the West Wing press briefing room.  This is Meet The Press taken to the next level.

The story has been widely quoted in social media, including several blogs and websites that appear to believe the story from The Onion, is true. . .these sites, naturally, call for a bloodletting at the Very Highest Levels. 

"Eyewitness accounts confirmed that as the reporters continued ravenously copulating on top of one another, Obama ripped off his shirt, leaned back in a large golden chair, and was attended to by a bevy of 23-year-old political bloggers who eagerly satisfied his every sensual whim." - The Onion, May 22

The Onion, May 22 article quotes BHO: “This is a day of excess! So now, release yourselves from your attire and surrender your body and mind to the pleasures of thevita carnalis, and to the sheer majesty of the human flesh.” 

“Do not resist,” the president continued. “Avail yourself of every journalist and cameraman in this room!”

  ---o0o---

President Obama talks about "going Bulworth"

By Jack Brummet

Thanks to Jeff Clinton for passing this along. We can dream can't we? Bulworth refers to Warren Beatty's great movie about a Senator who goes completely off the rails. 

From the Politico playbook newsletter: "In private, [Obama] has talked longingly of 'going Bulworth ,' a reference to a little-remembered 1998 Warren Beatty movie ['Bulworth'] about a senator who risked it all to say what he really thought. While Mr. Beatty's character had neither the power nor the platform of a president, the metaphor highlights Mr. Obama's desire to be liberated from what he sees as the hindrances on him. 'Probably every president says that from time to time,' said David Axelrod ... 'It's probably cathartic just to say it. But the reality is that while you want to be truthful, you want to be straightforward, you also want to be practical about whatever you're saying.' The cinematic allusion seems striking given Mr. Obama's rejection of Hollywood's version of the White House, what one former aide calls 'the Harry Potter theory of the presidency,' which suggests that he could wave a wand and make things happen."

A Bulworth rap from the film:

"Obscenity? The rich is getting richer and richer and richer
While the middle class is getting more poor
Making billions and billions and billions of bucks
Well my friend if you weren't already rich at the start
Well that situation just sucks
Cause the richest motherf****r in five of us
Is getting ninety f***in' eight percent of it
And every other motherf****r in the world is left to wonder
Where the f*** we went with it
Obscenity? I'm a Senator
I gotta raise $10,000 a day every day I'm in Washington
I ain't getting it in South Central
I'm gettin it in Beverly Hills
So I'm votin for them in the Senate the way they want me too
And-and-and I'm sending them my bills
But we got babies in South Central dying as young as they do in Peru
We got public schools that are nightmares
We got a Congress that ain't got a clue
We got kids with submachine guns
We got militias throwing bombs
We got Bill just gettin all weepy
We got Newt blaming teenage moms
We got factories closing down
Where the hell did all the good jobs go?
Well, I'll tell you where they went
My contributors make more profits makin, makin, makin,
Hirin' kids in Mexico
And a brother can work in fast food
If he can't invent computer games
But what we used to call America
That's going down the drains
How's a young man gonna meet his financial responsibilities
Workin for motherf****n' Burger King?
He ain't! And please don't even start with that school s**t
There aint no education going on up in that motherfucker
Obscenity? We got a million brothers in prison
I mean, the walls are really rockin'
But you can bet your ass they'd all be out
If they could pay for Johnny Cochran
The constitution is supposed to give them an equal chance
Well, that ain't gonna happen for sure
Ain't it time to take a little from the rich motherf****r
And give a little to the poor?
I mean, those boys over there on the monitor
They want a government smaller and weak
But they be speakin for the richest 20 percent
When they pretend they're defendin' the meek
Now, sh*t, f**k, c***sucker, that's the real obscenity
Black folks livin with every day
Trying to believe a mothe****in' word Democrats and Republicans say
Obscenity? I'm Jay Billington Bulworth And I've come to say
The Democratic party's got some s**t to pay."

---o0o---

The Salt Lake City Tribune's stunning endorsement of President Barack Obama

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

"Obama has earned another term"

Is this a mindf***er of all mindf***ers, or what?  On October 19th, The Salt Lake City Tribune came out and endorsed Barack Obama for President.  Why?  They lead into their endorsement with a couple of paragraphs praising his earl good works, in particular for the state of Utah.  

"The Republican nominee’s political and religious pedigrees, his adeptly bipartisan governorship of a Democratic state, and his head for business and the bottom line all inspire admiration and hope in our largely Mormon, Republican, business-friendly state."

And, then, they get down to business:    

"In short, this is the Mitt Romney we knew, or thought we knew, as one of us." 

"Sadly, it is not the only Romney, as his campaign for the White House has made abundantly clear, first in his servile courtship of the tea party in order to win the nomination, and now as the party’s shape-shifting nominee. From his embrace of the party’s radical right wing, to subsequent portrayals of himself as a moderate champion of the middle class, Romney has raised the most frequently asked question of the campaign: "Who is this guy, really, and what in the world does he truly believe?"

They go on to praise The President's domestic and foreign agendas, lavishing praise on his foreign accomplishments, as well as his shepherding of stimulus money and the courage it took, as well as his masterpiece, The Affordable Care Act (and the political capital he expended to make it the law of the land).

The Tribune damns Romney's promises and statements as both pandering, and unrealistic.  The President would do well to study this editorial and quote from it liberally in next week's debate. Hats off to the Tribune for their honest and courageous editorial.  Read the entire piece here. 

The editorial is a worthwhile read because this is a 'paper from a state inclined to support Mitt Romney both because of his religion and conservatism, and his stewardship of their beloved Olympic Games.  And now, nearly two weeks before the election, The President should quote liberally from the Tribune in his debate with the Ex-Governor next week. 

Copyright (C) 2012 by All This Is That. All This Is That contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make these materials available to advance the understanding of political, economic, literary, artistic, and social issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of copyrighted material as provided for by section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit for research, educational, and entertainment purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', please read and follow our Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license and attribute the work to All This Is That, along with our URL 

---o0o---

Moments and photos from Tuesday's Presidential debate

By Pablo Fanque and Mona Goldwater

Both Governor Romney and President Obama couldn't seem to get Lorraine Osario's name straight.  “Lorraina?" "Lorraine?” "Laurie?" “Lorena?”  Come on guys, is it that hard?

President Obama: "The day after the [Libya] attack, Governor, I stood in the Rose Garden, and I told the American people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what happened, that this was an act of terror. ... And the suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the secretary of state, our U.N. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, Governor, is offensive. That's not what we do. That's not what I do as president. That's not what I do as commander in chief."

Mitt Romney: "I think it's interesting the president just said something which is that on the day after the attack, he went in the Rose Garden and said that this was an act of terror. You said in the Rose Garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. It was not a spontaneous demonstration. ... I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror."

President Obama: "Get the transcript."

CNN'S Candy Crowley, the moderator: "He did, in fact, sir."

President Obama: "Can you say that a little louder, Candy?" (Laughter, applause.)

Candy Crowley: "He did call it an act of terror. ... It did, as well, take two weeks or so for the whole idea of there being a riot out there about this tape to come out. You are correct about that."

A compilation of the interactions between the candidates and the moderator:

President Obama:  ”When I hear Governor Romney say he’s a big coal guy — and keep in mind when — Governor, when you were governor of Massachusetts, you stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, ‘This plant kills,’ and took great pride in shutting it down. And now suddenly you’re a big champion of coal.”

Mitt Romney:   "[An] important topic and one which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as governor of my state, because I had the chance to pull together a Cabinet ... I went to my staff, and I said, 'How come all the [candidates] for these jobs ... are all men?' They said, 'Well, these are the people that have the qualifications.' And I said, 'Well, gosh, can't ... we find ... some women that are also qualified?' ... I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks?' And I brought us whole binders full of women."

President Obama:  “Look, the cost of lowering rates for everybody across the board by 20 percent, along with what he also wants with eliminating the estate tax, along with what he wants to do with corporate changes in the tax code, it costs about $5 trillion. Governor Romney then also wants to spend about $2 trillion on additional military programs even though the military is not asking for them. That is $7 trillion. He also wants to continue the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest Americans; that’s another trillion dollars. That’s $8 trillion. Now, what he says is that he is going to make sure this doesn’t add to the deficit and he’s going to cut middle class taxes but when he is asked, ‘How are you going to do it? Which deductions, which loopholes are you going to close?’ He can’t tell you."

Mitt Romney: "Your rate comes down, and the burden also comes down on you for one more reason, and that is every middle-income taxpayer no longer will pay any tax on interest, dividends or capital gains. No tax on your savings. That makes life a lot easier."

President Obama:  "The suggestion that anybody in my team, whether the Secretary of State, our U.N. Ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we’ve lost four of our own, governor, is offensive. That’s not what we do. That’s not what I do as president, that’s not what I do as Commander in Chief."

Mitt Romney:  [To President Obama] "You'll get your chance in a moment."  Disrespecting the office?  

President Obama:  "When folks mess with Americans, we go after them."

President Obama:  "We haven’t heard from the governor any specifics, beyond Big Bird and eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood, in terms of how he pays for that.”

---o0o---

President Obama and Governor Romney fail to show up for first Presidential Debate

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

The two guys I really wanted to see show up for the debate tonight. Unfortunately, neither of them was able to make it.

One of the few things I liked about BHO's performance tonight was that he consistently took the high road, even when Gov. Romney left himself open for a hook. No zingers, but unfortunately no pyrotechnics.

A friend wrote tonight—and I'm crossing my fingers it's true—"My money is on Obama playing chess. He's sacrificing his pawn now, because it's Checkmate in two more moves."

I thought BHO was seriously off his game, but scored over and over on Mitt's lack of specificity. I thought Mitt was the most on his game he's been in a long time. He was peppy, smiling, and irritating.  All that debate prep obviously helped, but he relied far too much on "trust me."

Governor Romney on the other hand, rolled out his transformation to a centrist, almost Democratic position on the economy and taxes.  Now that the tea party wing of the GOP is only focused on getting BHO out of office, they don't seem to much care what he says.

Post-debate,  the team at MSNBC ranged from disappointed to livid. For my part, the one thing BHO most pointedly did not do was take a leaf from WJC's masterful speech at the Democratic convention:  folksy, passionate, fairly wonky, but real clear, and really forceful without being overbearing or lecturing. 

Next week we'll see crazy Joe mix it up with the slippery Paul Ryan. VP Biden is a great debater. BHO has two weeks to get his act together. I also believe that the decideds are softer than is commonly believed...at last a small percentage of them. And a small percentage in the right battleground state is all it takes to upset the applecart. I'm pretty sure BHO will come alive. But, hey, POTUS, there's no time like the present. People are voting. I vote in two weeks. 

---o0o---

Mitt Romney's tax problem leads Jeb Bush to clear his calendar for the next four years

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

Mitt Romney's mounting tax return problem have led to many calls to Jeb Bush this week.  "Jeb? Do you have any plans for the next four years?  We think we may need to go with a designated hitter. . ."

---o0o---