In a message that appeared Wednesday on Islamist web sites, al Qaeda’s second-in-command warns President-elect Barack Obama about the “heavy legacy of failure and crimes that await him.” He also urged Muslims to keep up the attacks on the U.S. Perhaps in an attempt to anger and insult America’s next president, the terrorist leader, Al Zawahiri, also called Obama, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell, the “direct opposite of honorable black Americans” like Malcolm X. Zawahiri even went as far as to call them “house slaves” or the racial slur of “house Negroes.” The buzz is surrounding Obama’s current picks for several key members of his cabinet. Sources tell CNN that Sen. Tom Daschle is being considered for the Secretary of Health and Human Services job. Daschle, the former Senate Majority Leader, is expected to take the position if offered. And for the Attorney General job, Eric Holder, who was Clinton’s Deputy Attorney General, is the top choice for Obama. Holder, who co-chaired Obama’s vice president selection process, is also expected to accept the position. History could be made again because “if confirmed, Holder would be the first African-American to lead the Justice Department.” And Bill Clinton is trying to help his wife get the Secretary of State position in Obama’s cabinet. Clinton has offered to allow ethical reviews of his philanthropic and business work to ensure there isn’t a conflict of interest. Unlike Holder and Daschle, Clinton is reportedly unsure whether she will take the position. She will have to choose between remaining in the Senate or accepting the new position. “The question is where she can be of best service,” said a Clinton adviser. More dismal news on the economic front. The U.S. cost of living fell by the most since the records began in 1947. The fewest number of homes (known as housing starts) were constructed last month. And the consumer price index (CPI) has slide backwards, which means deflation. Yes, this recession is the worst once for at least a quarter of a century. And Xbox 360 gamers may be rejoicing worldwide. On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled a revamped Xbox gaming console. The new internet-connected setup includes an updated dashboard, the ability to purchase movies and games from Xbox.com and streaming HD Netflix movies with membership. The “New Xbox Experience” (NXE) is available to Xbox Live members.
Colin Powell
Remembering the “Old McCain”
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
A funny thing happened after Barack Obama got elected. Everyone suddenly liked John McCain. His concession speech, they said, was a return to the “old McCain,” the one everyone applauded when he bucked the system way back in 2000 and challenged Republican front-runner George W. Bush during the GOP primaries. Everyone liked that McCain, and said he had disappeared during the course of his 2008 campaign. The narrative went that his campaign had been hijacked, the candidate himself had been muzzled, and another ‘they’—Schmidt etc. al—were controlling the “real McCain” and twisting his beloved maverick image.
The lovefest for the “old McCain,” began with the Alfred E. Smith dinner, and continued with the Saturday Night Live appearance the weekend before the election, where it seemed he was willfully poking fun at his attention-starved, power-hungry Vice Presidential pick, Sarah Palin. He seemed to be saying to the lefty American public, we’re on the same side, you and me. The McCain image overhaul culminated with this week’s all-in-good fun appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he joshed and joked: “I’m sleeping like a baby. I sleep two hours, wake up and cry.”
Perhaps his reversal to the “Old McCain” was calculated. But i think we’re just as complacent. We want to remember the “old McCain,” not the one who dominated the campaign, throwing out invectives about socialism and Bill Ayers and all the other wag the dog tales of woe. I call this pre-emptive revisionist nostalgia—that is, nostalgia for an event that didn’t happen at all and for a time that isn’t even over yet.
Sarah Palin, just a few days ago, remember, was a dangerous pick, a terrible hatemonger, a fraud dressed in a $150,000 wardrobe. Faster than you can say “community organizer,” Sarah Palin was tarred and feathered by her own camp, derided for supposed ignorance about world affairs—not knowing Africa was a continent, or which countries signed the North American Free Trade Agreement—making all those arguments about sexism in the media suddenly valid. Faster still, she retreated to her home state and gave interviews with the local reporters, speaking competently about energy reform in complete sentences, properly using the English language. Her look suddenly lost the slick polish we had gotten used to—her hair was a little frizzier, less done, her clothes a little more frumpy, and Sarah Palin, suddenly stopped seeming like Cruella Deville, and was almost….sympathetic.
Did someone spike my drink?
It’s happening with the rest of the Republican guard, too. Bush’s open arm embrace of Obama’s transitional period is being viewed as supremely kind—”generous”— as if he has any other choice, given the state he’s brought our country into. Never forget, these are the final days of his presidency, and Bush wants to be remembered better than he is certain to be remembered—as a total, utter, failure.
Bush’s cooperation with the man who will be President is being hailed as a monumental achievement; likewise, the rest of his administration’s images are being getting softened with this post-electoral nostalgic glow. Condi Rice, once considered by the left to be as evil and as fiercely right wing as her boss, held a press conference, in which she essentially praised Obama’s win as an awesome achievement that made her very proud. You could hear the collective liberal swoon. Awwwww. How soon we forget, it was she who helped pushed the Iraq War to the American public. After she appeared at the Glamour magazine awards with a new, fresh updo, Huff Post readers gushed, “I’ve always admired her for what she has accomplished. I don’t care for her politics, but she’s a great role model.”
They say time heals all wounds, but the didn’t mention that it can happen in seconds.
Colin Powell, too, gets a pass. After four years out of the administration, he’s forgiven for his unfortunate WMD at the UN moment, and we look askance at what those actions helped bring, because he endorsed the right man.
Pre-emptive revisionist nostalgia might be a way to feel less hateful toward our current administration and help cleanse ourselves of our dark thoughts over the past eight years, but we should never forget.
Colin Powell’s Endorsement: What It Means to a Young Black Repub
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
While former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama last week in a fairly straightforward (and diplomatic) manner, the reactions from the media and blogosphere have been not so subtle.
From Rush Limbaugh’s radio rant saying that Powell’s support was based on race, to political experts suggesting that his decision will undoubtedly sway the independent voters, it seems like the Republican’s mavericky endorsement means different things for different people.
For Charles Claudio Simpkins, a 23-year-old black Republican who supports John McCain, Powell’s support for Obama was a “very calculated move.” To the Harvard law student, it wasn’t just about the decision itself, it was about where and when he made it. Here’s what he had to say.
Powell brings Credibility to Obama, Donors Supply the Cash
Monday, October 20th, 2008
Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama on Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” calling him “a transformational figure.” The support from the former Secretary of State under Buash and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff does much to allay undecided voters’ concerns about Obama’s lack of experience.
But it is the Obama campaign’s announcement on Sunday that it had raised $150 million in September that should really be worrying the McCain campaign. Obama is already airing four times as many advertisements as McCain, and has broken the advertising spending record George W. Bush set in 2004 election with more than two weeks to go.
On Monday’s “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said Obama’s fundraising total was impressive. “That is a ‘wow’ moment. No question about that. It’s an enormous amount of money.”
In contrast to Obama’s massive war chest, McCain’s filing with the Federal Election Commission said he has $47 million to spend in October after spending $37 million in September.
McCain is relying on $84.1 million in federal financing, which limits him from directly raising additional money. And the support he expected from state GOP offices may be drying up. The Florida GOP is saving at least $2 million to spend on the 2010 election cycle.
Bloomberg estimates Obama will have $200 million more total to spend over the last two weeks of the campaign than McCain.
And what will the Obama campaign be spending that extra money on? How about advertisements touting the candidate’s most significant endorsement? Even former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich predicted as much on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday.
“What this just did in one sound bite—and I assume that sound bite will end up in an ad—is it eliminated the experience argument,” Gingrich said.
There’s no question Powell’s endorsement is devastating to McCain, both personally and politically. Mike Murphy, McCain’s senior strategist for his 2000 campaign, said as much on his blog at Time.
“I am not normally of the view that endorsements mean much in Presidential politics. But Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama today is a real sledgehammer blow to the already staggering McCain campaign. Not just because a Powell endorsement shores up Obama’s shaky foreign policy bonafides, but even more because of the content of Powell’s remarks on “Meet the Press.” The General showed he still knows how to launch a brutal offense.”
We know how important momentum, or the appearance of momentum in the eye of the media, is over the last stretch of the campaign, and Obama is clearly surging now. Time magazine’s Mark Halperin predicts the real benefit of the Powell endorsement is it keeps the spotlight on Obama. He writes:
“However, the indisputable benefit that Powell brings Obama is that the former Secretary of State and general is sure to block out any chance McCain has of winning the next two or three days of news coverage, as the media swoons over the implications of the choice. It is simple political math: McCain has 15 days to close a substantial gap, and he will now lose at least one fifth of his total remaining time.”
Colin Powell brings new credibility to Obama’s bid for the presidency, and with his enormous fundraising totals, Obama can ensure voters are hearing his message, not McCain’s. Talk about a tough one-two punch.