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Obama: Vacation's End
Mr. Obama goes to Washington.
With brand new, and extremely positive, signs from the Gallup Poll that his transition is more than weathering criticism from the left and the right, President-elect Barack Obama's Hawaiian sojourn is at its end.
It's that bittersweet time for Obama, a time that we all know, in between the end of the vacation and the renewal of work.
Obama had what appears to have been a lovely working vacation in his native Hawaii, our Pacific paradise which is a source of calming solace for the 44th president. With the mess Obama has to contend with, I suspect more than a few of us, in his position, might elect to stay there.
Here's the place Obama left yesterday, Kailua, on the windward side of Oahu, the Hawaiian island on which the president-elect was born.
I hope he's recharged his batteries from a rough though ultimately commanding election campaign in 2007 and 2008. The current president, after intermittent shows of competence, is leaving him with an historic, multi-layered, mess.
The stock exchange lost nearly a third of its value last year, the worst showing since 1931.
That's not a haircut. That's Skinhead Nation.
When did Bush or his allies raise the alarms? That would be, never. In fact, they insisted until the bitter end that all was well.
The environment got worse, too, with the Bush/Cheney regime not only going out of its way to block progress on fuel efficiency and greenhouse gases, as the North Pole melted, but also making late moves to eviscerate the Endangered Species Act. Which environmental groups and former California Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown have just sued to prevent.
Then there was geopolitics. A failing war in Afghanistan, which incoming Obama National Security Advisor Jim Jones, the former commandant of the US Marine Corps and commander of NATO, warned about two years ago. Pakistan on the verge of becoming a failed state, despite billions in aid from Bush for a war against Islamic jihadists that wasn't dare pursued. A serious crisis following the Thanksgiving terrorist siege of India's commercial capital of Mumbai. And Iraq, where Iran supports the US withdrawal deal agreed to by the outgoing administration, which spent so much time saber rattling against the "mad mullahs" of Tehran. That's actually a plus for Obama, as the notion of a timetable for withdrawal, his idea which was so controversial at the beginning of 2008, was mooted by the realities of Baghdad politics.
One very good sign for Obama in our polarized hyper-politics is that his core support amongst liberals remains higher than sky-high, while conservatives -- many of whom have imagined the most outlandish things about him -- are warming to his competence.
According to a brand new Gallup Poll, liberal confidence in President-elect Barack Obama is beyond sky-high, at an amazing 93%. And confidence in him amongst conservative Republicans is up to nearly a third. This comes despite a lot of carping on the left about some of Obama's Cabinet picks, from the centrist range, and especially around his selection of Orange County pastor Rick Warren -- an opponent of same-sex marriage -- to deliver the invocation at his inaugural.
More than 9 in 10 liberal Democrats have expressed confidence that Obama will make a good president since Gallup began tracking these opinions after the election last November. Moderate and conservative Democrats show nearly as high levels of confidence, perhaps because his choices may signal a more moderate approach to governing than they expected, after all the errant propaganda to the contrary, conservative, moderate, and liberal Republicans have become more confident in Obama's potential in recent weeks.
Now, a slim majority of moderate and liberal Republicans, 51%, say they are confident Obama will be a good president, up from 44% in November. Conservative Republicans remain largely skeptical of Obama's abilities, but in recent weeks his stock has risen slightly among this group, from 23% to 29%.
So the president-elect and First Lady-to be Michelle Obama are back in Chicago today, following their working vacation in Hawaii. They're packing this weekend and heading on Sunday to Washington, where they'll take up residence at the historic Hay Adams Hotel prior to Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of the United States on January 20th.
Why the move? Their daughters, Malia and Sasha, start school on Monday. And dad has a few meetings. He'll meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada to go over his big economic stimulus program and other matters. Then the three will meet with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner.
Anyone who's spent time in Hawaii knows that it's a special place, where the obviously needed cosmopolitan view of the world's future can readily be summoned up, where pressing concerns can more readily be met with a Zen-like composure.
But the White House is not moving from Washington to Honolulu, at least not any time soon, even though decisions can be taken anywhere in the world in this new age of the global net. So it's back to the usual dens of politics for America's first non-white president.
After celebrating New Year's Eve in at a party with friends in Kailua, President-elect Obama is back in frozen Chicago. Despite percolating world crises and a terrible economic downturn, Obama managed to get some rest and relaxation before formally inheriting the mess from the Bush/Cheney Administration.
Obama inherits Bush's miscalculation in Gaza.
Israel has rejected a temporary ceasefire, instead launching fresh air attacks in the Gaza Strip in a bid to destroy tunnels through which arms and other materiel are smuggled to Hamas terrorists. Israel appears to be prepping for a ground offensive, judging that days of air attacks have failed to take out the Hamas offensive rocket capability.
And Blagogate, which hasn't touched Obama in the polls or in any direct way in the storyline of events, has another twist. Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is going to ask for a few more months to put together his indictment of the the Illinois governor.
Another Blago headache.
This comes on top of Governor Blagojevich's surprise appointment of former state Attorney General Roland Burris to take Obama's vacated Senate seat. With Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush, the ex-Black Panther leader who easily defeated Obama in a 2000 Democratic primary, on hand to insist that Burris be seated to ensure that the Senate continues to have a black member. Many legal experts think that Burris will ultimately be seated, despite the wishes of Senate and other state leaders.
But, despite a lingering media fever, Blagogate is nothing more than a sideshow for Obama, except insofar as it affects the number of Democrats in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid might consider simply seating Burris, who seems otherwise untainted by Blagogate. This is especially so since Republicans seem likely to try to block the likely winner of the nail-biting Minnesota Senate race, comedian Al Franken, for as long as they can.
Then there's the question of Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton's appointed successor in the Senate. I think Caroline Kennedy, a good and smart person -- notwithstanding a few dozen nervous "you knows" -- will catch on very quickly.
Obama's vacation ends like many of ours have over the years. With pleasant memories behind and significant problems ahead.
The difference, of course, is that Obama is inheriting a historical, multi-layered disaster from the outgoing administration. Let's hope he's renewed his energy for the tasks ahead.
You can check things out during the day on my site, New West Notes ... www.newwestnotes.com
Linda Bergthold: Obama in Hawaii
The Obamas are in Hawaii for a brief period of respite before the president-elect takes on the problems of the world. Most everyone here understands that, but the intense curiosity persists.
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See William Bradley's Profile
... And further, it is rather quaint that some of you imagine that someone who won the presidency of the United States not once, but twice, is the stupidest, most incompetent person imaginable.
It's fairly that that misbegotten attitude is one of the reasons why that happened ...
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... That should read: It's fairly OBVIOUS that that misbegotten attitude is one of the reasons why that happened ...
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BTW, with regard to my noting that President Bush evidenced "intermittent shows of competence," it seems that more than few folks are unfamiliar with the idea of "damning with faint praise."
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Good Lord!
NO, I'm not criticizing Hawaii.
In fact, if you'd read my column just prior to this ...
"The current president, after intermittent shows of competence, is leaving him with an historic, multi-layered, mess."
...after careful analysis, I've concluded that Wm. Bradley innocently commited nothing more than a spelling error. Instead of "competence", he actually meant to use the term "continence". Now the sentence would read correcrly. An honest mistake, Bill...
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Oh, that is just so cute ... :)
I think that people are excited about Obama because he is engage and has never stopped being engaged. He could easily have stepped back out of the limelight until Jan 20, but he hasn't. He's been putting together an administration, talking to the people, soliciting opinion from the public on various issues. Effectively, he's been leading, something we haven't seen in a long, long time.
It occurs to me that the Warren selection is also an instance of Obama's leadership. During the debates he was chided for saying that he would sit down with enemy leaders without an agenda. His selection of Warren and Lowry to open and close the ceremony is an instance of walking the talk. More important, he is challenging the rest of us to meet with those we disagree with. We can gripe all we want, but nothing is going to be solved until we sit down with the other side.
When people are stripping away your consitutional right to marry, have a family, be employed, have housing, protect the health of your spouse or honor their last wishes, this is not a disagreement - this is an attack on my family.
It is also an assault on the U.S. Consitution which guarantees - (after Bush does it guarantee anything anymore?) the right to pursue happiness. How can I pursue happiness if I can't marry my partner of twenty two years?
The way I did it is to move to Canada, where we've been married for three years now. This country, at least, is not governed by hatred, and protects the rights of its minorities.
The pursuit of happiness isn't in the Constitution, it's in the Declaration of Independence.
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Well, there is a solution of sorts, assuming you do live in Canada now after leaving the US ...
I am hoping that the President-elect will shift the national thinking from 'bi-partisan' to 'non-partisan'. This phrase is truly inclusive of all of us, those registered with political parties, and those not. This is a country formed by 'We, the People', not 'We, the two leading parties today'.
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Actually, Obama's preferred term is "post-partisan."
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It's all very obvious if you're not a hyperpartisan. As Obama said all along, he's not a hyperpartisan.
And Warren is giving a prayer ...
Gee, the voters of California just decided to invalidate my marriage which really upset me, but it's nice to know that my objections to Rick Warren were just "carping." I thought I had a serious issue but it's nice to know that I can be so easily be dismissed.
Who's going to be dismissed next?
Huh?
Nobody who got married in California had their marriage invalidated by Prop 8.
See William Bradley's Profile
That's right.
See William Bradley's Profile
No, you're wrong.
Ken Starr is trying to sue now to invalidate your marriage, assuming you are a Californian.
As AG Brown pointed out from the beginning, Prop 8 is no retroactive.
I can't think of one single, solitary thing that GWB did or touched that he didn't break, besmirch, or make worse. There's not enough room to list them all here. The one thing was after 911, the "bullhorn moment". And then he cut funding for the firefighters! He started the war on falsehoods, and then didn't provide our bravest and best w/ proper equipment, and then he cut funding for our returning troops and vets and their families. He initiated the no child shall be left behind Act, which is embarrassingly futile at best, and then cut funding for that program. Overcompensating for his lack of attention to Katrina devastation, GWB threw money foolishly at it w/o ensuring that the money was appropriately designated, and w/o built in accountability, but Brownie did a "heckava job". A total waste of resources, the unoccupied, mouldy FEMA trailers couldn't be put to use... they work off of electricity and need to be hooked up to a sewer.... And the billions of dollars wasted in Iraq because there was no accountability and oversight. PE Obama has been left w/ not only a full plate, but a smorgasbord which would choke a horse. Let's don't expect him to walk on water... let's do our best to support him in these enormous endeavors. Happy New Year to us one and all!!!
Bush is a terrible president but all this ragging on the guy is boring.
its called history ...
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Oh, please. That's not a serious statement.
Any idiot in the White House will do SOMETHING right.
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With due respect, you aren't thinking very hard.
In my entire life all I have ever seen Re pubes do is leave behind a mess for the next guy to clean up. O has his work cut out for him.
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Such a balanced view ...
Weathering criticism? When did criticism of a politician become something bad that must be weathered? Legitimate criticism should be part of any debate. Accolades are not enlightening- neither is hero worship. President Elect obama says he's open to different points of view- that should include voices from the left.
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Well, if I criticize you, I suspect you might be able to "weather" it ...
Get it now?
Mr. Bradley, you call it a "Hawaiian Sojourn", I call it going home for the holidays. Barack Obama was born and raised in Hawaii. It's not an indulgent vacation. Thanks for insulting the people of Hawaii yet again. Yes, Hawaii is a "special place" but it's also a normal place, where people go to work everyday and raise families. If you would venture beyond Waikiki and all the normal tourist spots, you would know that.
I love Obama but he sure didn't grow up in that resort beach house he vacationed in.
lol
Your point? You wanted him to go his old apartment where he would have been vulnerable!
For all we know the guy who owns the beach house didn't grow up in a house like that. That's the point. Isn't America great!
See William Bradley's Profile
Right. He was on a luxurious vacation.
As any of us would be given the opportunity.
"The current president, after intermittent shows of competence, is leaving him with an historic, multi-layered, mess."
Mr. Bradley, I challenge you to cite these alleged "shows of competence"! Seriously!
I think he signed a bill making it ok for people to take their pets with them when they have to evacuate for an emergency. That's about the only good thing i can think of that he did in 8 years!
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Seriously?!
Interesting how you dismiss legitimate concerns about some of Obama's choices as "carping". I thought critique of the government by the people was called democracy.
See William Bradley's Profile
Well, out of phase criticism is carping.
If you want PC, find another writer.
"The current president, after intermittent shows of competence..."
I recognize the complete fool by the print of his paw.
The definitiion of "carping" is "persistent petty and unjustified criticism." The expression of my profound disappointment in Mr. Obama's cabinet and invocation choices is neither petty nor unjustified (I do intend to be persistent however). As you started out your post with a backhanded insult to all of us who have grave concerns about where the President-Elect's decisions are leading us, I stopped there.
"Intermittent shows of competence"? Bush? I guess he was competent enough at drunkenly groping a women's beach volleyball team at the Beijing Olympics....
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