11
Nov
President-Elect Barack Obama has stated that the economy is his first priority and until he is faced with a crisis from Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba or some other military matter, right now he’s focusing on the economy. In fact, not more than three days after the election he is already meeting in high-powered talks to help figure out a solution to get the economy rolling again.
He and his economic advisory team have met with all the other people working on the US economic crisis to figure out a solution. Since he is the President-Elect it is very important that he help in restoring the consumer and investor confidence in the United States. After all, one third of our economy is solely based on the consumer confidence and the investor confidence in our stock market.
After these high-powered talks, President-Elect Barack Obama gave a 10-minute talk to the media; along with a question and answer period on the economy, which was unscripted. This time he did not have the benefit of reading an eloquent speech written in advance during media questions.
This was the first test of President-Elect Obama’s leadership; did he pass or fail? Well let’s discuss this for a moment and let’s put politics aside. Let’s look at what happened in the Q&A.
President Elect Obama must have said “uh” and “um” some 40-50 times in less than ten minutes, which was a very poor showing and was met with a stock market drop of over 100 points while he was talking.
If Obama is going to lead us out of the economic recession and restore consumer and investor confidence, he will have to learn this stuff better so he can talk off the cuff without a pre-rehearsed speech otherwise he will lose much of his political capital and thus, not be taken seriously.
The talk he gave prior to the Q and A had him looking down and reading from a piece of paper, not l Continue Reading »
10
Nov
With now the next elected President of the United States, many are breathing a sigh of relief, knowing life can continue–maybe not as we have known it, whether for good or bad, but we can begin to live again. The collective sigh of relief in the air is palpable as we look forward to a future without Sarah Palin. I overhear random conversations in coffee shops and bars, where people are talking about how well communicates. It reminds me of the first day after a long, hard New Eve, where people reminisce about the past, and, collectively are hopeful of the future.
With Barack Obama now the next President Elect of the United States, many are breathing a sigh of relief, knowing life can continue–maybe not as we have known it, whether for good or bad, but we can begin to live again. We look forward to a future without Sarah Palin. I overhear random conversations in coffee shops and bars, where people are talking about how well Barack Obama communicates. It reminds me of the first day after a long, hard New Year’s Eve, where people reminisce about the past, and, collectively are hopeful of the future.
I was born in 1965, a few short years after the death of JFK, and in my forty-three years I can remember those times in my life when I felt a significant change happing in the world; Watergate and Nixon’s tearful apology (too little too late), the Cold War, Ronald Regan’s Presidency (they said it would lead to nuclear war…), Regan’s attempted assassination (… and this for Josie Foster - WTF?), the assassination of John Lennon (no moe Beatle’s reunion), Lech Walesa ’s Solidarity — the fall of communism or more succinctly, the ‘fall of the wall,’ Bob Geldof and his band of merry men hold a Live Aid concert to end hunger in Ethiopia (the first of many concerts to come for world causes) and more recently, the attack on the World Trade C Continue Reading »
09
Nov
From the scene of his acceptance speech in Grant Park, Chicago and his grandmother’s village of Kogelo, western Kenya, to current pupils at his former school in Indonesia and the hula dancing locals of the town of Obama, Japan, the delight expressed by ordinary people around the world at the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the next president of the United States of America, has proven unprecedented in this nascent century in which politics and politicians have once again become bywords for cynicism, corruption and brazen self-interest. But without wanting to play the killjoy by aiming this flame-dampening stream of verbiage towards Obama’s celebratory bonfire before the euphoria of victory has been given sufficient chance to subside, it should be noted that from this viewpoint, cautious optimism has remained the overriding response to the scenes of jubilation flickering from various TV screens over the few days.
The emotion of the night’s denouement was easy to get caught up in. The joy of the Grant Park crowds; the dancing Kenyan villagers; the history of an entire race’s struggle welling in the eyes of the Reverend Jesse Jackson. This was no ordinary election. Not simply the outcome of months of political posturing and scrabbling for votes. But the ushering in of a new era of American history which all those that cheered his stepping out onto that Chicago stage knew they had played their part in bringing about by electing to the most powerful office in the land Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, ‘the son of black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas.’
But such declarations of significance are exactly those things we should be wary of amid the very genuine displays of emotion however accurate they may be. For these events, we must remember, took place only hours ago. There are many years of hard work ahead in which Obama must Continue Reading »
