Barack Obama Latest: Stimulus May Affect Obama’s Agenda

It is a quick, sweet victory for the new president, and potentially a historic one. The question now is whether the $789 billion economic stimulus plan agreed to by Congressional leaders on Wednesday is the opening act for a more ambitious domestic agenda from President Obama or a harbinger of reduced expectations.

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Deal Reached in Congress on $789 Billion Stimulus Plan(February 12, 2009)

President Obama and Gov. Tim Kaine on Wednesday at a parkway project in Springfield, Va., that could get stimulus money.Both the substance of his first big legislative accomplishment and the way he achieved it underscored the scale of the challenges facing the nation and how different a political climate this is from the early stages of recent administrations.

While it hammered home the reality of bigger, more activist government, the economic package was not the culmination of a hard-fought ideological drive, like Lyndon B. Johnson’s civil rights and Great Society programs, orRonald Reagan’s tax cuts, but rather a necessary and hastily patched-together response to an immediate and increasingly dire situation. On the domestic issues Mr. Obama ran and won on — health care, education, climate change, rebalancing the distribution of wealth — the legislation does little more than promise there will be more to come.

In cobbling together a plan that could get through both the House and the Senate, Mr. Obama prevailed, but not in the way he had hoped. His inability to win over more than a handful of Republicans amounted to a loss of innocence, a reminder that his high-minded calls for change in the practice of governance had been ground up in a matter of weeks by entrenched forces of partisanship and deep, principled differences between left and right.

In the end, Congress did not come together to address what Mr. Obama has regularly suggested is a crisis that could rival the Great Depression. What consensus has been forged so far is likely to be tested in the months to come as he faces scrutiny over the effectiveness of the stimulus package and the likelihood that he will have to ask Congress for substantially more money to heal the fractures in the financial system.

So this was hardly a moment for cigars.

If this is the 21st-century version of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 100 Days, Mr. Obama seems to be pursuing it more as an urgent but imposed necessity than as a self-selected mission.

While he has deployed his political capital freely to win approval of the package and to begin pushing his version of a financial-system rescue, he has left little doubt that he is eager to move on to the rest of his domestic agenda. At his news conference on Monday night, Mr. Obama said with a hint of exasperation that a costly economic rescue package “wasn’t how I envisioned my presidency beginning.” Regardless of the government’s budgetary straits, Mr. Obama has signaled that he sees his other signature initiatives not just as salvageable but as more urgent than ever.

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CNN’s Roland Martin Checks Obama on Diversity

Roland S. Martin, CNN

A lot of media outlets made a big deal out of the mostly white White House press corps covering the first black president, and those stories were worth pursuing.

All of us in the business know full well that those are considered plum jobs and are steppingstones to greater things.
But while we hold the media accountable for the need to diversify their ranks, it’s quite telling to see the lack of diversity in the White House’s press office.

I got an e-mail Tuesday listing all of the various press folks and contact information, and hardly any African-Americans or Hispanics were listed. Granted, the deputy press secretary is African-American, and the director of broadcast media is Hispanic. But that’s not sufficient.

Unfortunately, this shouldn’t come as a shock because the campaign press staff of then-Sen. Barack Obama was just as weak on diversity.

Just because there is a black president doesn’t mean that diversity should be cast aside. President Obama should be held to the same standard when it comes to this issue as any other occupier of that office. I am a former national board member of the National Association of Black Journalists, and my support for diversity never wavers, no matter who is running the show.

One of the reasons this is important is ��” just like in the media, where there are bigger and better things awaiting White House correspondents ��” a position in the White House press office positions someone for the next level.

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President Barack Obama Worried about Stimulus Passing in the House

President Barack Obama faces a barrage of questions on his plans to reinvigorate the economy with a massive stimulus bill and additional billions in bailout money for the financial markets.

Trips Monday and Tuesday to cities hurting under the economic meltdown and a prime-time news conference Monday night show that Obama and his advisers are worried about a looming Senate vote on the stimulus bill, which failed to gather meaningful Republican support during rare weekend debate. The question-and-answer sessions with citizens and later with news reporters will allow Obama to appeal directly for grass-roots backing of his plans.

Both trips were added to Obama's schedule as difficulties with the legislation on Capitol Hill increased. Originally, aides had insisted his time would be better spent in Washington to shepherd the bill rather than traveling the more traditional presidential route around the country, pressuring lawmakers from his bully pulpit.

The $827 billion Senate version of the plan was expected to pass the Senate on Tuesday. However, it must be reconciled with the House version, which totaled $820 billion in spending and tax cuts. With Senate and House negotiators preparing to deal, Obama is likely to push for a bill on his desk for his signature by mid-month.

 

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Your Black News: Dr Boyce and Madeline Talk Politics – Click to Watch

African American Scholar Boyce Watkins and Madeline Talk Black Politics

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Your Black News: Black Surgeon Ben Carson Gets a Movie

TNT's "Gifted Hands" is one of those longform projects that has Emmy written all over it.

It boasts near-flawless direction from Thomas Carter, a vivid teleplay adaptation by John Pielmeier and uniformly magnificent performances, particularly from star Cuba Gooding Jr., who puts himself back onto the Hollywood map here in a way he hasn't since his Oscar-winning turn in 1996's "Jerry Maguire."

Gooding portrays the real-life world-renowned brain surgeon Benjamin Carson, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and author of a best-selling 1990 autobiography.

It's taken nearly two decades to get Carson's inspiring story to the screen, but Gooding does him more than proud with a portrayal at once sensitively wrought and quietly moving.

In lesser hands (if you'll pardon the pun), this biopic could easily have drifted off into maudlin sap, but Gooding keeps the character of Carson centered and human and the film honoring him wise and surprisingly graphic. (The surgical procedures are showcased in all of their bloody glory, but not so much as to cross the line to gratuitousness.)

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YourBlackLife: Black Reporter Kicked Out Of McCain Event

Tallahassee Democrat senior writer Stephen Price on Friday was singled out and asked to leave a media area at the Panama City rally of presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.

Price was among at least three other reporters, and the only black reporter, surrounding McCain's campaign bus — Gov. Charlie Crist and his fiancee, Carole Rome, were already aboard — when a member of the Arizona senator's security detail asked the reporter to identify himself. Price had shown his media credentials to enter the area.

Price showed his employee identification as well as his credentials for the Friday event.

"I explained I was with the state press, but the Secret Service man said that didn't matter and that I would have to go," Price said.

When another reporter asked why Price was being removed, she too was led out of the area. Other state reporters remained.

Jonathan Block does advance work for McCain's campaign. He was in Panama City on Friday but was not present when reporter Stephen Price was asked to move from a restricted area.

"Access to the senator is tightly controlled," Block said. "I would first express regret that your reporter was moved, and I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that race had nothing to do with it."

Tallahassee Democrat Executive Editor Bob Gabordi said the incident was unwarranted.

"We're deeply concerned and disturbed that our reporter — of all of those in that area — was asked to move," Gabordi said. "My understanding is that Stephen was the only reporter approached and asked to leave the area, and the only reporter in that area who is black. Another reporter who stood up for Stephen was then asked to leave."

A Panama City police officer approached while Price was speaking to the security member. Panama City police were unavailable for comment Friday night...

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The Real Story Behind Obama's and Jesse Jackson's Nuts - Biko Baker

Written by Biko Baker 

So first off, let me say that I first thought Jesse Jackson's comments were a product of Willie Lynchism. I mean, you can't get a better example of black on black self hate. Jesse basically said he wanted to castrate Obama. Word to David Duke, Willie Lynch (by the way most historians argue that Willy Lynch didn't really exist, but fuck it its still a great metaphor) is prolly celebrating in his grave right now!!! 
 
But after thinking about it a little longer I am starting to think that Jackson's bone head comments were intentional. I know it's hard to believe, especially because the "nuts" comment came from the often controversial Jesse Jackson, but I personally think that Jackson made these comments to distance himself from Obama., albeit in a friendly way. After all Obama has been getting smashed by right wing nuts who have been wrongly and racistly saying that Jackson will be pulling Obama's puppet stings once he gets into office.


Here is the evidence to back up my hypothesis:

Fact #1

Jackson's "nuts" comments took place before he was going on air on fricking Faux News. Come on, if there is any channel that wants to light Jackson on fire it's Fox. And it's not like he didn't know that his mic was on. I mean, every time I've gone on television or had to wear a lapel mic I've been warned that the mic is "live"and I should prolly watch what I say. Plus Jesse's been around the block enough to know that everything he says on and off mic is fair game…especially on fricking Fox News.

Fact #2

The funny thing about last night's new cycle is that every white person on TV, including every right wing talking head, was basically defending Obama. I mean, it doesn't get any better for Team Hope. All night, white experts were saying that Obama is a new type of leader who isn't trapped by the typical racial boundaries that have hurt Jackson's career. TOUCH DOWN!!! I mean, I'm sure Jesse Jackson has long given up trying to win over his haters. He prolly figured "what the heck" if they are gonna hate me , I might as will use their hate to help Obama.

Fact #3

The "nuts" story was leaked to CNN by nationally syndicated talk radio host Warren Ballentine. Ballentine focuses on political issues from a civil rights and hip-hop perspective. There is no way that he would try to smash Jackson intentionally. I've been on his show a couple of times, he is a righteous dude who has the best intentions for the black community in mind. He has nothing to gain by leaking the story, unless of course he was in on it.

Fact #4

Jesse Jackson Jr. threw his pops under the bus faster than Lil Weezy slurps down sizzurp. I mean, I don't care how controversial his statements were, I would never disavow myself from father, and especially not that quickly, unless of course I was in on the game plan.

Fact #5

I can't find it on YouTube, but there was actually a whole West Wing episode (yes I watched the West Wing) dedicated to this very same scenario. In season three, President Bartlett (Martin Sheen) actually gave a short TV interview and accidentally made some off handed comments about his opponents after he thought the official questions stopped. At least that's what you think happened for the first 45 mins of the show. But by the end of the episode you find out that he made the statement intentionally to control the news cycle. I mean, I am sure that someone from Jackson's or Obama's camp saw that episode and was like f*ck it, it's worth a shot.

There is my evidence and I am sticking to it. Of course, you don't have to agree with me, because either way both Jackson and Obama benefited from all the free press.

Rob "Biko" Baker is a nationally recognized hip-hop organizer, journalist, activist and scholar. In his home community of Milwaukee, he has organized hip-hop town hall meetings and mobilized young people to participate in civic life. Baker has served as the deputy publicity coordinator and young voter organizer for the Brown and Black Presidential Forum. He was also lead organizer for Slam Bush, a nationwide voter mobilization project using rap and poetry. In 2006, Baker developed the League of Young Voters training program, which prepares the next generation of activists to make long-term commitments to local organizing. Baker is a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA, a frequent contributor to The Source, and serves on WireTap's editorial board.

Sketches of Our Culture: Apathetic, Going On Pathetic

“Be your brother/sister’s keeper”

“Love thy neighbor as thy self”

“Do unto others as you would love to be done unto”

“You see/hear something, you better say something, ‘cause saving something ain’t worth saying nothing”

(Just a few of those virtues naturally expected of bonafide human beings. Unfortunately, with the emergence of commercial rap, “NO SNITCHING” has taken precedence over those set standards of humanity.)

The black community has always had the weighty challenge of dealing with a minority within its populace which functioned in a way that was antithetical to its unity and progress. The only difference between then and now is that now, the vast majority of blacks have become regrettably numb and immune to the pain of their own fellow-brothers and sisters. Having endured the brutal dilemma of American enslavement, coupled with the history of neglect by 911 operators and police officers, it is understandable for a generation to be consciously tone deaf, but such an excuse is only valid for a limited amount of time. Apathy within the black community is like cancer in the system of a new born baby – before long, reality will set in. We have allowed the incessant travails of black life to silence our moral responsibility for taking of each other. Malcolm X would be displeased, Du Bois would weep, and Dr. King would lament this misfortune. The history of indifference within the black community is one which must be visited in order to decipher the severity of the dialogue which must be conducted within our circles.

One of the earliest recollections of “coldness” within our community is the tragedy of Kitty Genovese. She was a New York City Woman who was stabbed numerous times and sexually-assaulted over the time span of half an hour. An additional blow was dealt when the public realized that her screams of “Oh my God, he stabbed me! Help me!” were largely ignored by the immediate neighbors and passers-by. Sadly, this incident would not close the curtain on apathy from within the Black and Brown communities.

On August 24, 2007, CBS News reported the rape and pillage of a 26-year-old woman without any intervention from the well-aware neighbors. The local prosecutors spoke of a security video which showed how “at least 10 witnesses ignored a woman’s cries for help for more than an hour as a man beat and sexually assaulted her.” The Police spokesman elaborated on it saying, “The surveillance video clearly showed men and women looking out their apartment doors or starting to walk down the hallway before retreating as the woman was assaulted for nearly 90 minutes… The video shows one person looking out of her door probably three times. It shows another person walking up, observing what’s going on, then turning and putting up the hood of his sweatshirt.”

Sadly, again, the ball doesn’t stop rolling. A Milwaukee newspaper, JSOnline, published a story – on September 11 2006 - of the brutal assault and rape of an 11-year-old girl. The story spoke of the young lady being assaulted by up to 19 males – with a 16-year-old female friend who gleefully watched, encouraged the men and did nothing to stop the assault.

Unfortunately, a couple more examples await our dissection. Within the last year, the controversy of “Dunbar Village” has garnered some wind, leaving us no option, but to deal with the horrendous happening in a public fashion. On July 14th, 2007, the Associated Press reported a disturbing incident in which a 35-year-old Haitian mother and her 10-year-old son, were subjected to the satanic antics of teenagers - who we’re most likely gang members. The report states how the mother and son, who lived in the thin-walled projects of West Pam Beach, were “huddled together, battered and beaten, in the bathroom - sobbing, wondering why no one came to help.” A graphic and heart breaking description of the episode was rendered: “For three hours, the two say, the 35-year-old Haitian immigrant was raped and sodomized by up to 10 masked teenagers as her 12-year-old son was beaten in another room. Then, mother and son were reunited to endure the unspeakable: At gunpoint, the woman was forced to perform oral sex on the boy... Afterward, they were doused with household cleansers, perhaps in a haphazard attempt to scrub the crime scene. The solutions burned the boy’s eyes. The thugs then fled with a couple hundred dollars’ worth of cash, jewelry and cell phones.” Deeply saddening, was the response of a certain resident, Paticiea Matlock, who was quick to point out the conventionality of the affair – in that area code. She said, “So a lady was raped; big deal, there’s too much other crime happening here...”

More recently is the story out of Philadelphia of a 20-year old woman having to comprehend the unremorseful insouciance of a neighbor who told reporters of hearing cries and screams but did absolutely nothing. On June 25, 2008, 6abc.com reported an incident in which a young woman was raped overnight and robbed by three men, much to the awareness of at least one neighbor. Next door “neighbor” of the victim, Benite Sangare recalled the occurrence: “She got in the hallway, slammed her door shut and screamed. I didn’t pay any attention to it. I thought she fell over something, and that was it. I went to bed... I heard her scream ‘Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my God.’ Then I didn’t pay attention and laid back down.”

How one can express satisfaction over an unmitigated act of lassitude, is beyond the human mind’s ability to comprehend. The victim eventually took a mile-long walk to the closest police station to report the incident.

Assault of Black females accounts for 18.8-28% of reported sexual assault cases. Given the understanding that African American females make up only 7% of the U.S. population, and the reality that most of the rape charges are filed against black males, the future is at best bleak, if we don’t act now to “right our wrongs.” We are dying a slow-death, and the burden is upon us to remember the covenant we took under God, to protect the sanctity and innocence of our people. It is a “Now or Never” moment for the black community. What we do within the next one year - vis-à-vis repairing the fractured tentacles and structures of our brotherhood/sisterhood - will determine how far we go, in matters of progress and true “promised-landing.” In the words of the eloquent and prophetic leader, “We’ve got some difficult days ahead…”

http://blackcommentator.com/285/285_culture_apathetic_pathetic_olorunda_student_guest.html

Jesse Jackson Apologizes For Obama Comment

(CNN) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson issued an apology to Barack Obama Wednesday for criticizing the Illinois senator's recent comments directed toward some members of the black community.

According to Jackson, a Fox News microphone picked up comments he meant to deliver privately that seemed to disparage the presumptive Democratic nominee for appearing to lecture the black community on morality.

Jackson didn't elaborate on the context of his remarks, except to say he was trying to explain that Obama was hurting his relationship with black voters by recently conducting "moral" lectures at African-American churches.

"For any harm or hurt that this hot mic private conversation may have caused, I apologize," Jackson said in a statement issued to CNN. "My support for Senator Obama’s campaign is wide, deep and unequivocal. I cherish this redemptive and historical moment."


"My appeal was for the moral content of his message to not only deal with the personal and moral responsibility of black males, but to deal with the collective moral responsibility of government and the public policy which would be a corrective action for the lack of good choices that often led to their irresponsibility," Jackson also said.

"That was the context of my private conversation and it does not reflect any disparagement on my part for the historic event in which we are involved or my pride in Senator Barack Obama, who is leading it, whom I have supported by crisscrossing this nation in every level of media and audience from the beginning in absolute terms."

Over the course of the campaign season, Obama has at times directed criticism directly to the black community, most sharply in a Chicago speech on Father's Day that criticized some men for failing in their duties as parents.

"They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it," Obama said then.

"You and I know how true this is in the African-American community. We know that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households, a number that has doubled — doubled — since we were children. We know the statistics: that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of schools and twenty times more likely to end up in prison," he also said.

The Obama campaign had no immediate comment.

It’s Not the Man, It’s the Movement - Amy Goodman

I was on a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado this week when Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter asked me, “Is Obama a sellout?” The question isn’t whether he is a sellout or not—it’s about what demands are made by grass-roots social movements of those who would represent them. The question is, who are these candidates responding to, answering to? 

Richard Nixon’s campaign strategy was to run in the primaries to the right, then move to the center in the general election. Bill Clinton’s strategy was called “triangulation,” navigating to a political “Third Way” to please moderates and undecided voters. This past week, Barack Obama has made some signal policy changes that suggest he might be doing something similar. Will it work for him? 

Take the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, for example. A Dec. 17, 2007, press release from Obama’s Senate office read: “Senator Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies and has cosponsored Senator Dodd’s efforts to remove that provision from the FISA bill. Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. Senator Obama supports a filibuster of this bill, and strongly urges others to do the same.” Six months later, he supports immunity for the companies that spied on Americans. 

I asked Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., about Obama’s position on the FISA bill. He told me: “Wrong vote. Regrettable. Many Democrats will do this. We should be standing up for the Constitution. When Sen. Obama is president, he will, I’m sure, work to fix some of this, but it’s going to be a lot easier to prevent it now than to try to fix it later.” 

Feingold and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., are planning on filibustering the bill. It will take 60 senators to overcome their filibuster. It looks like Obama will be one of them. Disappointment with Obama’s FISA position is not limited to his senatorial colleagues. On Obama’s own campaign Web site, bloggers are voicing strident opposition to his FISA position. At the time of this writing, an online group on Obama’s site had more than 10,000 members and was growing fast. The group’s profile reads: “Senator Obama—we are a proud group of your supporters who believe in your call for hope and a new kind of politics. Please reject the politics of fear on national security, vote against this bill and lead other Democrats to do the same!” 

Then there were the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on gun control and the death penalty. Obama supported the court in overturning the 32-year-old ban on handguns in the nation’s violence-ridden capital. It’s the court’s most significant ruling on the Second Amendment in nearly 70 years. And in a blow to death-penalty opponents, Obama disagreed with the high court’s prohibiting execution of those who were found guilty of raping children. 

In a Jan. 21, 2008, primary debate, Obama called the North American Free Trade Agreement “a mistake” and “an enormous problem.” He recently told Fortune magazine, “Sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified ... my core position has never changed ... I’ve always been a proponent of free trade.” This, after the primary-campaign scandal of the alleged meeting between Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee and a member of the Canadian consulate. A Canadian memo describing the meeting suggested Obama was generally satisfied with NAFTA. Goolsbee described the accounts as inaccurate. Now people are beginning to question Obama’s genuine opposition to NAFTA and “free trade.” 

Then there is the floating of potential vice presidential candidates. Jonathan Capehart of The Washington Post was on the Aspen panel and noted that he has been receiving e-mails from gay men who angrily oppose former Sen. Sam Nunn as an Obama running mate. They can’t forget Nunn’s key role in shaping “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which prohibited gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. The e-mails trickled up, prompting the writing of an influential Capehart column, “Don’t Ask Nunn.” 

It may be the strategy of the Obama campaign to run to the middle, to attract the independents, the undecided. But he should look carefully at the lessons of the 2004 Kerry campaign. John Kerry made similar calculations, not wanting to appear weak on the war in Iraq. Uninspired, people stayed home. There are millions who care about the issues from which Obama is distancing himself, from FISA to gun control to gay rights to free trade to the death penalty. Rather than staying home, they should recall the words of Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand.”

Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 700 stations in North America.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080702_its_not_the_man_its_the_movement/