He's Barack Obama!

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It's only okay if some people talk about this, but not others, apparently.

He’s done it while talking about abortion and the Middle East, even the economy. The references serve at once as an affirmation of his faith and a rebuke against a rumor that persists for some to this day.

As president, Barack Obama has mentioned Jesus Christ in a number of high-profile public speeches — something his predecessor George W. Bush rarely did in such settings, even though Bush’s Christian faith was at the core of his political identity.

In his speech Thursday in Cairo, Obama told the crowd that he is a Christian and mentioned the Islamic story of Isra, in which Moses, Jesus and Mohammed joined in prayer.

At the University of Notre Dame on May 17, Obama talked about the good works he’d seen done by Christian community groups in Chicago. “I found myself drawn — not just to work with the church but to be in the church,” Obama said. “It was through this service that I was brought to Christ.”

And a month before that, Obama mentioned Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount at Georgetown University to make the case for his economic policies. Obama retold the story of two men, one who built his house on a pile of sand and the other who built his on a rock: “We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand,” Obama said. “We must build our house upon a rock.”

More than four months into the Obama presidency, a picture is emerging of a chief executive who is comfortable with public displays of his religion — although he has also paid tribute to other faiths and those he called “nonbelievers” during his inaugural address.

Politico: Obama invokes Jesus more than Bush

Flip-flops we can believe in

President Obama said on Wednesday that he is seeking to block the release of photographs that depict American military personnel abusing captives in Iraq and Afghanistan, worrying that the images could “further inflame anti-American opinion.” As he left the White House to fly to Arizona for an evening commencement address, Mr. Obama briefly explained his abrupt reversal on releasing the photographs. He said the pictures, which he has reviewed, “are not particularly sensational, but the conduct did not conform with the Army manual.”

He did not take questions from reporters, but said disclosing the photos would have “a chilling effect” on future attempts to investigate detainee abuse.

Obama Tries to Block Release of Detainee Photos (New York Times, 13 May 2009)

As I noted in a comment to a post over at Buck's place:

Obama will take heat from some quarters for this decision, and may come in for some general abuse as a flip-flopper.

For my part, I find it refreshing that we have a President who listens to reasoned criticism and is prepared to change his mind when presented with a compelling argument. I agree that this was the right call to make under the circumstances.

First Fan

Call him the First Fan.

President Barack Obama today welcomed the University of North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team to the White House to congratulate them on their recent national championship—which the president correctly predicted they would win.

Obama Welcomes UNC's National Champs to White House (WSJ Blogs - 11 May 2009)

...and God bless the United States of America

...you don’t want to speak like Barack Obama. You want to speak like you. Nevertheless, as a student of the art of public speaking, you can — and should — observe Obama’s oratorical skills. The greats all learn from other greats, so don’t hesitate. Study Obama’s repertoire, take what you like, and use what you can to improve your own public speaking.

BNET (Harvard Business School Blogs): Five ways to speak like Obama

As should be intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer of the blogosphere, not everyone is an Obama fan. Yet even his most serious critics would, I think, cede the point that he's a better-than-average public speaker.

And even the most devout George W. Bush partisan would have to admit that the likelihood of someone writing a "speak like Dubya" article is kinda slim.

Meet the BarackBerry

Obama to get spy-proof smartphone (CNN):

Self-confessed BlackBerry addict Barack Obama may not have to kick the thumbing habit after all, despite the concerns of a notoriously technophobic White House.

[...]

...[A]ccording to reports Thursday, Obama could now be in line to receive a spy-proof alternative to his favorite toy.

Writing on his blog for the Atlantic magazine, Marc Ambinder reports that the National Security Agency has approved a $3,350 smartphone -- inevitably dubbed the "BarackBerry" -- for Obama's use.

The exclusive Sectera Edge, made by General Dynamics, is reportedly capable of encrypting top secret voice conversations and handling classified documents.

I know just how he feels. I've been using smartphones for a few years now - first Blackberries, now an iPhone - and I'd put up a hell of a fight if you tried to take mine away too.

One problem, though - this looks like it's a Windows Mobile device:



(The little LCD display at the bottom exhorts "Think OPSEC!")

Related:

• Obama will get his BlackBerry (Marc Ambinder)
• Sectera Edge product page @ General Dynamics

Scenes from a pre-inauguration party

The prospect of Christopher Hitchens getting down to Biz Markie, is only slightly less improbable than the prospect of a black president.

From the annals of post-racialism (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 19 Jan 2009)

Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson

Sasha and Malia's maternal grandmother is going to spoil them rotten:

[Mrs. Marian Robinson] has often teased her daughter, Michelle Obama, and the president-elect about their household rules for her granddaughters.

Bedtime at 8:30 p.m.? “That’s ridiculous,” Mrs. Robinson told The Boston Globe last year, suggesting that was too early.

Television for only an hour? “That’s just not enough time,” she said.

As for the healthy, organic foods the Obamas favor? “That’s not my thing,” said Mrs. Robinson, who said she enjoyed salty fried foods and dismissed efforts to make such dishes healthier.

“If you’re going to have fried chicken,” she said, “have fried chicken.”

Now that's a grandma.

We iz ready 2 b stimulated

LOLeconz.

In praise of thoughtful speaking

James Fallows, present-day journalist and once-upon-a-time Presidential speechwriter, deplores the rhetorically lazy habit of ending speeches with the phrase "...and God Bless the United States of America" (or its shorter variant, "God Bless America")...and takes the President-Elect to task for same:

I love the Irving Berlin song. I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment. But a little chunk is hacked away from the national brain each time a president gets out of a speech not with a thought or original phrase but with this mindless pablum. This has become the political equivalent of "Have a nice day!"

Isn't this how presidents have always talked? God, no. You didn't get it from George Washington. You didn't get it from Abraham Lincoln, either in the hands-down winner as Greatest Inaugural Address Ever, his second or in that work of political haiku, Gettysburg Address. You didn't hear it from FDR.

Many of these titans spoke of God -- but when they did so, it was with some actual thought-content. For instance, from the close of Lincoln's Second Inaugural:

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in...

Sorry to hear Obama talking this way (James Fallows)

Speaking of intelligent speechifying invoking God, you really should read Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address if you haven't recently (or ever--as was my case.)

It's a corker.

A little more Lincoln:

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.

Green ham-and-eggers

The scent of fast money in Washington has all manner of corporate interests scrambling to show they can create jobs, especially green ones. The prize is a slice of the Obama Administration's stimulus package, expected to range from $675 billion to $775 billion in scale. But the President-elect's transition team is warning interest groups that they won't see any of the money unless their pet projects meet strict criteria.

High Hurdles for Obama's Green Stimulus (BusinessWeek, 29 Dec 2008)

Why no news scan is complete without Wikipedia

So there's a minor flap (that might break bigger) about a parody song, "Barack the Magic Negro," that was written in 2007 but gained popularity after being aired on Rush Limbaugh's show, and how it was later used by a candidate for RNC chairmanship.

OK, now here's why I love reading the news with Wikipedia open in one window.

None of the mainstream media coverage I've seen (so far) has mentioned the concept of the literary stock character of "the magic negro." I was an English Lit major; I noticed this right away. Others must have too.

Anyway, others did. Wikipedia links to the relevant article in the second sentence of coverage.

Examples of magical negroes as published by social commentators include:

• Uncle Remus (James Baskett) in the film Song of the South (1946) ^[10]
• Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier) in the film The Defiant Ones (1958)^[2]
• The magical negro is a recurring archetype Stephen King's novels as well as some adaptations of his work:
  
  
  
  • Dick Hallorann in The Shining (1977), and in both the 1980 film adaptation (Scatman Crothers) and the 1997 TV miniseries (Melvin Van Peebles)^[2]
  • Mother Abagail in The Stand (1978), and the 1994 TV adaptation (Ruby Dee)^[2]
  • John Coffey in The Green Mile (1996), and the 1999 film adaptation (Michael Clarke Duncan)^[2][5]
• Moses the Clock Man (Bill Cobbs) in the film The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) ^[11]
• Cash (Don Cheadle) in the film The Family Man (2000)^[3][5]
• Bagger Vance (Will Smith) in the film The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)^{[2][3][5][12]}
• Gloria Dump (Cicely Tyson) in the film Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)^[13]
• God (Morgan Freeman) in the film Bruce Almighty/Evan Almighty.^[14]
• Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman) in Million Dollar Baby^[15]
• Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) in The Matrix.^[5]
• Oracle (Gloria Foster) in The Matrix.^[5]
• Lamont (Guy Torry) in the film American History X.^[16]

And then, in a list of examples of real-world people who commentators have referred to as "magic negros",

• Barack Obama-- Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party and winner of the 2008 general election.^[17] Usage of the title,"Obama the Magic Negro" for a Los Angeles Times piece later inspired the satirical song "Barack the Magic Negro", written by parodist Paul Shanklin and popularized through Rush Limbaugh's radio show.^[18]

I'm telling you, Wikipedia is a great place to follow breaking news stories.

Not for the facts of the matter, but for the connections and analysis of the hive mind.

(We're back from holiday travels. Happy [&Winter Holiday. where Winter Holiday="Eid al-Adha"; "Hanukkah"; "Christmas"; "Kwanzaa"; "Solstice"; "Festivus" and season as appropriate]... and a happy and prosperous 2009 to all.)

Toilet humor

Winning the US presidency has also made Barack Obama the star of a centuries-old Christmas tradition in the Catalonia region of northeastern Spain -- but it's a dubious honour he might prefer not to have.

The US president-elect is the top seller among this year's "caganers", ceramic figurines which show affectionate disrespect for famous personalities from home and abroad.

They have been sold in Catalonia around Christmas since the 18th century, when they were placed in nativity scenes in the hope of bringing good luck and a rich harvest.

But the statuettes show the personalities with their trousers down in the act of defecating.

"Cheeky" Spanish tradition brings toilet humor at Christmas - AFP via Yahoo Philippines News

The picture is... priceless. "Yes we can."

Another "how he did it" article

Clive Crook, blogging at the Financial Times:

The best, most thorough, and most straightforward account of how Obama did it appears, aptly enough, on the website of Reader’s Digest, written by my friend and former colleague Carl Cannon.

Ten Reasons Why Obama Won -- Carl Cannon @ ReadersDigest.com

This is so meta, and I've always wanted to do this...

The Reader's Digest version of a story on Reader's Digest:

I. John McCain’s age: It turned out that this factor trumped race.

II. The shrinking Republican brand

III: Candidate Obama really was ‘The One’: Charisma comparable to JFK or a young Reagan.

IV: Young voters fell for Obama early—and stayed with him

V: Democrats closed the “technology gap”—and then some: Politics 2.0, and it was owned by young people, Democrats, and the Obama campaign.

VI: Money talks: This is a campaign that raised in excess of $600 million—more than it needed, more than it could spend...

VII: Intangible reason Number 1 (international opinion):In the Netherlands, 92 percent for Obama, 8 percent McCain. In Germany, 85 percent to 7 percent. This phenomenon wasn’t only present in western Europe. It existed in Asia (Taiwan’s preference was 81 percent for Obama to 6 percent for McCain.) It was true in South America, as Brazil's numbers were 78 percent to 11. It was found in Australia, a predominately white nation and member of President Bush’s “coalition of the willing”—where Obama was favored over McCain 76 percent to 10 percent.

VIII: Intangible reason Number 2; the "Bradley Backlash"

IX: The sour mood of the electorate.

X: The global economic crisis.

Unreasonably great expectations

With such a great victory come unreasonably great expectations. Many of Mr Obama’s more ardent supporters will be let down—and in some cases they deserve to be. For those who voted for him with their eyes wide open to his limitations, everything now depends on how he governs. Abroad, this 21st-century president will have to grapple with the sort of great-power rivalries last seen in the 19th century (see article). At home, he must try to unite his country, tackling its economic ills while avoiding the pitfalls of one-party rule. Rhetoric and symbolism will still be useful in this; but now is the turn of detail and dedication.

Mr Obama begins with several advantages. At 47, he is too young to have been involved in the bitter cultural wars about Vietnam. And by winning support from a big majority of independents, and even from a fair few Republicans, he makes it possible to imagine a return to a more reflective time when political opponents were not regarded as traitors and collaboration was something to be admired.

Oddly, he may be helped by the fact that, in the end, his victory was slightly disappointing. He won around 52% of the popular vote, more than Mr Bush in 2000 and 2004, but not a remarkable number; this was no Roosevelt or Reagan landslide. And though Mr Obama helped his party cement its grip on Congress, gaining around 20 seats in the House of Representatives and five in the Senate, the haul in the latter chamber falls four short of the 60 needed to break filibusters and pass controversial legislation without Republican support (though recounts may add another seat, or even two). Given how much more money Mr Obama raised, the destruction of the Republican brand under Mr Bush and the effects of the worst financial crisis for 70 years, the fact that 46% of people voted against the Democrat is a reminder of just what a conservative place America still is. Mr Obama is the first northern liberal to be elected president since John Kennedy; he must not forget how far from the political centre of the country that puts him.

Great Expectations of Barack Obama (lead story to The Economist cover package, 6 November 2008)

North Carolina (unofficially) in the Obama column

It looks like Obama will hold on to his slim margin of victory in North Carolina, the state I was born in (and grew up in.)

This is absolutely incredible to me.

As the article excerpted below notes, North Carolina has long had a well-deserved reputation as "one of the more moderate states in the South on race issues," but let's face it, that's a pretty weak statement; major elections were turning on the exploitation of racial issues in North Carolina well into the 1980s and 1990s.

It's about like saying that apartheid South Africa, back in its day, had one of the better human rights records compared to other countries in Africa; it's absolutely true, but it's true only because things were so unimaginably awful elsewhere.

At any rate... check out how far we've come in 50 years.

As part of the Old Confederacy, North Carolina had a legacy of slavery and segregation. But it has been regarded since the 1940s as one of the most moderate states in the South on race issues. And it is a state that has undergone rapid Sunbelt growth in recent decades, with millions of new residents moving here from around the country.

In the unofficial returns, Obama led Republican John McCain by 13,746 votes. Gary Bartlett, the state elections director, said Obama should be considered the unofficial victor. Bartlett said an estimated 40,000 provisional ballots still must be counted, but based on experience, the outcome is not likely to change when the State Board of Elections certifies the results on Nov. 25.

[...]

Henry Frye, a 76-year-old Greensboro lawyer, was the first black elected to North Carolina's state legislature in the 20th century and later became chief justice of the state Supreme Court.

In 1956, as an Air Force captain who had been admitted to UNC's law school, Frye tried to register to vote in his home, Richmond County. He was required to name five signers of the Declaration of Independence and the 12th president of the United States. When he failed, he was not allowed to register. Like Chambers, he did not expect to see a black president in his lifetime.

He said Obama's strength in North Carolina was the result of the nation's problems.

"The right circumstances have to come together," Frye said. "The thing that may have pushed it over the top is the terrible economic news we've had over the last month or so.

"But beyond that, the most significant thing is that North Carolina can vote and will vote for a minority."

By Wednesday afternoon, Obama had won 2,123,332 votes in North Carolina to McCain's 2,109,586.

Obama Turns Tide in NC (News and Observer, 6 November 2008)

Update: AP "officially" calls NC for Obama.

The really right answer is: "What if he is?"

Troubled by conservative whispers that Obama is a Muslim, Powell gave a passionate defense of Obama and Muslim Americans.

"The correct answer. He is not a Muslim," Powell said. "He's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is: 'What if he is?' Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That's not America."

He cited a story about a Muslim American solider who died serving in Iraq to argue that Muslim Americans also love and defend America.

Powell cited the economy as the most important issue the next president will have to deal with, and said that he's convinced Obama would better lead the country out of the economic crisis.

"In the case of Mr. McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as to how to deal with the economic problems we're having," he said.

Obama 'Beyond Humbled' as GOP's Powell Says He'd Be 'an Exceptional President' (ABC News)

Related:

• Arlington National Cemetary: Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan
  
• Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan @ FindAGrave.com