Posts Tagged ‘Obama’
Obama and the Creation of Meaning
Check out this Wordle graphic of President Obama’s “not the state of the union” speech to Congress last night.
American, economy, health, every, people, plan, new, energy, education, Americans, America, recovery, also. These were the top words used. We didn’t hear as many specifics as we might have yearned for–or as the markets this morning indicate they were looking for–but the memes were as comforting as a warm bath after a 10 mile hike in the snow.
Obama’a speech was rhetorically excellent, his energetic delivery infectious, his vision sufficiently elevating to loosen up a worried and somewhat paralyzed nation and persuade us to consider new solutions.
“It’s not about helping banks but about helping people” was a great applause line, striking exactly the right note even though we know in our hearts that we are helping banks too. I perked up when he said, “The cost of health care keeps going up. Yet we keep delaying reform.” Has he taken on Clinton’s position that we need a universal health care plan? I dared to hope so, for incremental change won’t work and Obama has in the past tended toward the incremental fixes on this important issue.
Read MoreGoodyear, You Can Spare $360K for Lilly Ledbetter?
You know how I like to ask “so what are you going to do about it?” Well, here’s a great example, courtesy of blogger Joanne Cronrath Bamberger, aka PunditMom. She has graciously allowed me to crosspost her commentary from Huffington Post. For those of us who feel justice requires that Lilly Ledbetter receive compensation for her heroic efforts on behalf of all women’s paycheck equality, Joanne provides an easy way to communicate to Lilly’s former employer, Goodyear Rubber and Tire, and urge them to make good on the pay they in effect robbed her of over the years. Here you go, and don’t forget to drop your note to Goodyear:
As so many women have been basking in the glow of the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the news reports reminded us that even though Lilly has become a standard bearer for the fight for fair pay for women, Lilly herself will never see a nickel of the money that she sued Goodyear Rubber and Tire for.
Read MoreIncremental v Transformational Leadership Exemplified in the Stimulus Package
President Obama’s 787 billion dollar economic stimulus package is an important step forward. It shores up, pumps us, cheers up. It’s going to give relief to many low-and moderate-income families and help states avert drastic shortfalls in their budgets while saving major institutions. These are not small matters.
But courageous leadership isn’t just incremental. The New Deal was transformational. It changed government structure while building national infrastructure. Barack Obama was swept into office in large part because voters saw him as a visionary who could transform and take the nation to qualitatively greater heights. Read more thoughts on why good enough is on for now, but not transformational leadership.
Read MoreIs a Good Enough Stimulus Good Enough?
Seems like the 787 billion dollar American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stimulus package Congress has passed and sent to the President’s desk is just good enough. Though notable for its size, it doesn’t advance bold initiatives that could define Obama’s presidency, nor does it grapple with big, confounding issues like universal health care. It’s incremental rather than transformational. But it’s good enough to mind-shift us into a more optimistic view of the short term economy and to offer real help to many hurt by the downturn.
(If you want a quick look at how we’re going to spend 787 billion, see this chart. That sounds like “real money“, but it’s amazing how quickly it goes when you break it down–well, incrementally. For a more detailed summary, the Center for Law and Social Policy provides descriptions and tables with estimated state-by-state impacts of key provisions. Read that full report here.)
Though many economists say the package isn’t big enough, and feminists wonder whether it does enough to build the human infrastructure, Republicans are predictably squealing it’s too big and too diffuse. This despite all the effort Obama went to to engage and appease his Republican colleagues. I thought by now he would have learned the hooker principle (get paid first) and not have expended so much political capital trying to win over those who want only to create campaign issues with which to wrest back Congressional seats in 2010 and take the White House away from him in 2012. (Remember Newt and the Contract on America in 1994?)
Read MoreHeartfeldt Talks with PunditMom on Blogtalk Radio
I had the pleasure of talking today with political blogger PunditMom, aka Joanne Conrath Bamberger, on her BlogTalk Radio program. We covered the waterfront from Obama’s policies on reproductive rights, rescinding the global gag rule (hooray!), universal healthcare, NY Gov. Patterson’s appointment of Rep. Kisten Gillibrand to fill Hillary Clinton’s seat, and more. You can listen to the podcast of the show above. And be sure and checkout PunditMom–it’s one of my faves.
Read MoreObama’s Tunnel at the End of the Light
I had a bet with myself about how long it would take for the top Washington pundits to go from slathering adulation like butter on Barack Obama’s every move to finding a snarky way to spin the exact same actions.
By bright and early January 6, after Bill Richardson had withdrawn from nomination as Commerce secretary due to financial scandal back home in New Mexico and some folks had objected to CIA director-nominee Leon Panetta, NBC’s Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd told the awakening nation on the Today Show, “The 2008 transition was smooth; the 2009 transition is already rocky.” Shortly, the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz beat the “Obama has had a bad week” drum, adding that the flap over putting Roland Burrris into Obama’s senate seat was getting in the way of Obama’s desire to move his economic package swiftly—and (oh, they love this) the Republicans stood Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid down on Burris, hoping to taint the president-elect with Blagojevich slime.
I mean really, the guy hasn’t even been sworn in yet. I thought they’d give him till at least January 15.
Still, I know from my experience as a movement leader that it doesn’t take long in Washington for those who were singing your praises to start chewing you up. Sometimes simultaneously. Beltway culture is fueled by conflict, and the voracious media has nothing to chew about if there’s no political pugilism. But a leader can’t be deterred by this; in fact, he or she is beter off to embrace it as a fact of life.
Read MoreWhat Are You Looking Forward to in 2009?
Heartland and host of NPR station KALW talk show “Your Call”, to a diverse (except for shared relief that George W. Bush’s disastrous presidency is almost over) panel of guests, with global to local expertise ranging from bugs to books, health to wealth, the arts to politics, war, peace, and everything in between. I was privileged to be among the large lineup that included Marian Wright Edelman, Founder & President of the Children’s Defense Fund, Antonia Juhasz, Author of “The Tyranny of Oil” & “The Bush Agenda”, David Kipen, Director, National Reading Initiatives, National Endowment of the Art, and David Cay Johnston, former NY Times tax reporter and author of Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill).
You can listen to the program in full.
Then tell how you’d answer the question, “What Are You Looking Forward to in 2009?” by posting your comments here.
Here’s what I’m looking forward to
Read MoreWhat Will Michelle Do?
The Obama girls, Malia and Sasha, are so adorable. They make America smile every time they skip onto the stage with their father, and we’re communally delighted to know their good behavior during the campaign will be duly rewarded with a puppy. And just imagine what a kick it is for girls in their 7…
Read MoreDoes Palin Trump Biden?
I had intended to blog throughout the Democratic Convention. But there came a moment when I just wanted to be a spectator. Partly this was motivated by the fact that my husband Alex and I were simultaneously shopping for (and finally picking) a new apartment, an endeavor that diverts one’s attention considerably.
So I took a couple of days off from writing just to soak up the historic events. I especially enjoy lavishing myself with the rich sounds and sights of major speakers’ rhetoric, turning every nuance of what was said or not said around in my mind and analyzing their delivery. 
Last night, Alex and I went to watch Obama’s speech with a group of friends who were all charged up and ready to go out and work for him. Dawn, a young woman who’d attended the first few days of the convention, had brought hats and placards, and the flags we frequently waved to signal our approval of some speaker’s point, were provided by the host, Loretta, along with all-American Chinese food and ice cream sandwiches for sustenance.
That afternoon, a wave of sadness had washed over me unexpectedly. Yep, I thought I’d gotten over the fact that the Democratic nominee wouldn’t be a woman, and that not even the vice presidential candidate would be a woman. For so long, I thought sure….
Read MoreOBAMA DIDN’T CHOOSE KAINE…SO WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT BIDEN?
What time did you get the text message?
Whatever time it was, by then, many people had guessed Sen. Joe Biden would be Barack Obama’s runnning mate. Did he make the right call? Why? Tell us what you think of the choice by posting your comment below.
