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| The Obama Administration |
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| asylumseeker:
Of course, no doubt ... not incidentally, if one applies a politics of proportionality, the Latino vote supportive of Obama also underscores why Bill standing alone should not suffice ... and from a pragmatic political viewpoint, one wants one's to capture that ... |
| Bakes:
--- Quote from: asylumseeker on November 24, 2008, 01:16:36 AM ---Of course, no doubt ... not incidentally, if one applies a politics of proportionality, the Latino vote supportive of Obama also underscores why Bill standing alone should not suffice ... and from a pragmatic political viewpoint, one wants one's to capture that ... --- End quote --- I fully agree... it's a step in the right direction, but shouldn't be where the effort stops, this much we can agree upon. |
| asylumseeker:
Proud mum: He will be a great AG The Nation (Barbados) 11/23/08 "VERY PROUD. As a mother you would know how proud I was." Miriam Holder, a Bajan New Yorker in East Elmhurst, was reflecting in Queens on her feelings when she first received word her 57-year-old son Eric was poised to make history as the first black attorney-general of the United States." "I am sure he is going to do a very good job, once he has been confirmed by the Senate," added the widow, whose Bajan husband Eric Holder Sr died almost a dozen years ago in New York but whose ashes were scattered in his birthplace just last year. "Oh, his father, were he here would have been very proud of him," added the woman now in her 80s. "His sons were the lights of his life. I am sure he would have been extremely happy to see him move into this position, knowing he would do a very good job at it. Our son Eric is a well grounded person, fair in all that he does, will sit and listen and he makes decisions based on fairness. He has always been a person mature beyond his years." That's not simply the assessment of a proud mother. Such sentiments were echoed both by critics and supporters alike in the days immediately after it became known that President Elect Barack Obama intended to nominate the former Washington DC Superior Court judge; a man who was the top federal prosecutor in the nation's capital, who went to become the country's deputy attorney-general and acted for about two weeks in the top job at the turn of the 21st century. For instance, the Washington Post, one of America's most influential papers, in an editorial painted a picture of him as one who would "bring years of experience and top-notch credentials" to the job. "The predominant features of his record are independence, integrity and effectiveness." His mother traces the origins of those characteristics to his upbringing, his life growing up in Queens. "He grew up, I guess you could say, in a West Indian home, and education was quite important," she said. "They knew they had to perform the way we wanted them to. Perhaps, I was a bit harder than I should have been. Education is always important. "As Barbadians, you know that education has always been at the top of the list of their priorities, and that was the same in our home." Religion was another key factor in their sons' moulding, worshipping at the Episcopal Church, a few blocks from their home in Queens. The two sons served as acolytes, attended Sunday School and were active in the church's youth group. "The church was always very important to us," Ms Holder recalled. In the home, the emphasis too was on the family and when it came time to sit around the table for a meal, typical West Indian dishes were on the menu. "I did peas and rice, the typical West Indian dishes," she recalled. "I didn't do too well with cou-cou. I like it very much and my mother used to make it on Fridays and my sister and I weren't too happy with it. "But on my first trip to Barbados, I had cou-cou and I wrote to mother and said, 'Guess what I am having and enjoying it'? An aunt on one of her trips to Barbados brought back a cou-cou stick for me but somehow or the other I just couldn't get it together." Did she follow the Bajan tradition of yesteryear of using the cou-cou stick on children's rear-ends to discipline Eric or his brother, William? "Oh, no I didn't," she said with a hearty laugh. As for Eric's sibling, he is a retired New York Port Authority police lieutenant who is now a successful businessman operating six McDonald's restaurant franchises. "He is very enterprising; plays a lot of golf," she explained. "He lives not far away from where I live and I often spend Fridays at his home." Ms Holder, who with her husband once owned a condominium in St Michael, which they sold two years ago, speaks fondly about Barbados, much like her son, "who is proud of his Barbadian heritage", said his mother. "He really enjoyed the island, especially the Hilton Hotel, whenever he visited the island" in recent years, she said. "In some of his speeches, whenever he talks about the island, he says 'the jewel of the Caribbean' Barbados." As she looks forward to the day when her son is sworn in as the attorney-general, she is confident about two things. "The first is that he will be confirmed" by the Senate and secondly, "he will do an outstanding job as the first black attorney-general." |
| dervaig:
As the heading states ............. the Obama Administration. The two key financial folks have been named, Geithner and Summers. Where is the change Obama was promising? Why was Geithner selected when he has worked very closely with Bush and Paulson over the last 2-3 months? Where is the change? In another thread, the following statement was made .... 'It is incredibly short-sighted of you if you can't see the positives that could come from Obama's election as it pertains to black people.' How is he going to positively affect the black person in Alabama if the same black person doesn't have a job, and industries around him/her aren't hiring? I have to ask myself this, how is Obama going to positively affect my life? He isn't. |
| daryn:
--- Quote from: dervaig on November 24, 2008, 12:53:41 PM ---Why was Geithner selected when he has worked very closely with Bush and Paulson over the last 2-3 months? --- End quote --- 2-3 months working with Bush and Paulson in the face of a crisis is grounds for rejection? What about the fact that the work he did/does with them is largely to reverse a course that has been taken over the long-term? Doing things differently and having aides with experience aren't mutually exclusive. Glenn Greenwald Salon.com Sunday Nov. 23, 2008 08:04 EST Progressive complaints about Obama's appointments I've been genuinely mystified by the disappointment and surprise being expressed by many liberals over the fact that Obama's most significant appointments thus far are composed of pure Beltway establishment figures drawn from the center-right of the Democratic Party and, probably once he names his Defense Secretary and CIA Director, even from the Bush administration -- but not from the Left. In an email yesterday, Digby explained perfectly why this reaction is so mystifying (re-printed with her consent): The villagers and the right made it very clear what they required of Obama --- bipartisanship, technocratic competence and center-right orthodoxy. Liberals took cultural signifiers as a sign of solidarity and didn't ask for anything. So, we have the great symbolic victory of the first black president (and that's not nothing, by the way) who is also a bipartisan, centrist technocrat. Surprise. There are things to applaud about the cabinet picks -- Clinton is a global superstar who, along with Barack himself, signals to the world that the US is no longer being run by incompetent, extremist, political fringe dwellers. Holder seems to be genuinely against torture and hostile to the concept of the imperial presidency. Gaithner is a smart guy who has the trust of the Big Money Boyz, which may end up being useful considering the enormous and risky economic challenges ahead. Emmanuel is someone who is not afraid to wield a knife and if we're lucky he might just wield it from time to time against a Republican or a right wing Democrat. Napolitano seems to have a deft political touch with difficult issues like immigration which is going to be a battleground at DHS. And on and on. None of them are liberals, but then Obama said repeatedly that he wasn't ideological, that he cared about "what works." I don't know why people didn't believe that. entire article here |
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