Partying At The White House Posing Problems for President

If it were any other time in America's history, headlines such as: "Obama kicks up White House entertaining"... "President Hosts Super Bowl Party At White House"... "White House Party's ROCK!" would not be so offensive. But with President Obama constantly reminding the American people how dire the economic forecast is and will be for the next several years, and the stock market falling like a rock... and with people losing homes and jobs in record numbers each month–– and quite angry about it to boot... this may 'NOT' be the best time for hosting weekly parties at the White House.

While over 60% of Americans want this president to succeed... HE has to want to succeed as well. People believed President Obama when he asked John-Q-Public to rethink the gas-guzzling SUVs they drive, and to turn the thermostats in their homes down to 70 degrees as part of a unified national sacrifice. Many Americans jumped on Obama's bandwagon when he lambasted President Bush as "clueless" for his answer to the financial crises by telling people to "go shopping".

Where is that Obama––the one who pledged to sacrifice his presidential perks along with the rest of us for purpose of country?

Across bloggersville, persons who supported Obama and those who did not, are voicing strong dislike and distrust because President Obama appears to be "fiddling while Rome is burning". These are difficult times and, unless the Obamas are paying for these parties out of his monthly salary or his 'own' money... the American people want the President to stop with these parties already! He looks hypocritical. The message he is telegraphing to voters is: 'do as I say... not as I do'.

When the economy gets better and money is flowing back in breadbasket America so that tax payers can also party like it's 1999...then Obama too can party with Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind and Fire all night long if he wants. But until then...continuing to party at the White House will pose real problems for the President!

The Obamas Open the Way For African Americans

by Princella Smith - Guest blogger; Washington, DC

Bill Cosby portrayed it: an upper middle-class, successfully educated African-American family. Dr. King dreamed of it, spoke of it, and gave his life for it. Slaves and then civil rights activists were jailed, beaten, and died for it: for the day when not only would a person of color be allowed into the White House but would run the White House.

It’s been a long time coming, but the American minority has officially reached the highest American ceiling, and that’s a testament to the maturity of this country.

I say this as someone who disagrees with Obama ideologically. I believe in the notion that less is more when it comes to government. I believe in individual responsibility and ownership. I believe that more funding to schools will not replace the need for school reform and teacher accountability. I believe that people should be allowed to invest in their own individual social security accounts and that any extra money in the account can be left to family members at death. I believe in a comprehensive energy plan that includes drilling for American resources while developing alternative forms of energy. My official trek into politics was jumpstarted by Republicans. I have held true to most of party’s ideals, BUT I AM American enough to see the patriotism in celebrating the history of this moment.

An Obama Presidency doesn’t mean that bigotry is over. For as long as there is diversity in America, there will be prejudice, racism, and ignorance. No longer do we have to wonder: “Is it really true that I can be anything I want to be?” My grandmother says that her first reaction to seeing “President-Elect Barack Obama” on the screen was to remember about 37 years ago when my father was 11 years old. She was waiting with him for my grandfather to arrive from work, and as my grandfather approached them, he had to stop, stoop over, and wipe the dirt from a white man’s shoes before he got into his car. My grandmother took her hand, and turned my then 11 year-old father’s head away so that he would not see his father have to wipe dirt from the white man’s shoes. “That’s what I thought about when I saw ‘President-Elect Barack Obama’ on my television screen,” she said.

The difference today is that African Americans, now more than ever, must follow through on King’s dream. Before Obama’s election, to many, those words were empty because there had been no evidence that America would take a step as huge as electing a person of color to the most powerful position in the entire world, but they did.

And so, my dear African-American brothers and sisters: for each one of you who live in poverty; for each one of you who are surrounded on a vast island of depraved neighborhoods and less than adequate school systems; for each one of you who look for miles but cannot see an example of an educated successful African-American couple with a stable family, just turn on your television, pick up a book, read a magazine, check a newspaper or click on the internet, and realize that THERE IS AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENT with an African-American wife... occupying the White House.

You don’t have to pattern your life after President-elect and Michelle Obama’s, but Obama’s election is an example of what you can have in life if you work hard, discover your personal abilities, and capitalize on them. Men... pull your pants up, tuck your shirts in, and walk upright. Exercise restraint and sexual responsibility. Do not support entertainment that degrades you, your culture, or black women. Cease use of the “N” word. Saying that it “empowers” you is ignorant and shows your lack of knowledge on the origin of the word’s usage.

No doubt, you will face discrimination in your lives. When people say the phrase: “Well now, they have no excuses”, I want to ask them: “So, you thought this entire time that when minorities—particularly African-Americans—have expressed frustration with discrimination that it was just whining??” Clearly, those people just don’t get it. However, Obama’s election should always serve as a testament to ALL Americans that no matter how much discrimination presents itself as a hurdle in the race of life, you can still get to the finish line in America. We live in a great country.

So, aim. Make your own waves, and aim at the highest goals. Surely one of them, you will achieve.

Princella Smith is a political activist. During the day, she is the Chief Advocate at American Solutions, a non-partisan political organization founded by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

Road to White House: Beware The Tortoise McCain

Presidential nominee John McCain has more lives than the proverbial cat! Just under a week remains in this year's 2008 Presidential race. And... the pundits, pollsters, and political prognosticators once again in unison declared his race for the White House all but dead. But the American people seem to be defiantly saying "not so soon".

The Arizona Senator must be one of the luckiest men on the planet, or he has a finger in God's eye. From the day McCain's plane was shot down in Viet Nam and he was miraculously 'saved' to live another day, to his many bouts with skin cancer where he keeps bouncing back stronger... until the recent discovery of Joe "the plumber", who has rescued his flailing message and has allowed McCain to live a while longer... McCain seems to defy death--politically and naturally.

With no concise message, no real money, no Mitt Romney as Veep, and a media bent on destroying his chances to become the Commander-in-chief, arm-chair analysts are confounded that McCain is merely 4-12% down (depending on whichever poll) with four days remaining to V-day.

Who can forget back in August 2007, when McCain's campaign was first announced "Dead On Arrival". Underfunded and boasting of sleeping at the Holiday Inn Express to conserve needed cash, the sly-old-war-hero McCain, used pure grit and bested all of the Republican competitors in the primary to secure the title and nomination.

Facing an uncommitted and leery Republican base, who viewed McCain's allegiance to core GOP values and platforms as counterfeit–– to say the least, he was able to survive yet again. Pulling out of his "nine-lives-bag" once again, McCain picked an unlikely Vice Presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin who... regardless of what the main stream media says... has galvanized an uncommitted GOP base and rural, small town White Americans to his ticket.

Another test of his tenacity and sheer will-to-live was shown during the first debate in Mississippi. On the heels of suspending his campaign to go back to Washington and do his real 'day job' as Senator, naysayers scoffed at this move... all pronouncing him dead again. By the 2nd debate in Tennessee, the talk show critics had embalmed him and were proceeding to bury him once and for all. But "Mr.-I-Won't-Die-Til-I'm- Ready-McCain", escaped the political graveyard once more... and is making a credible last-ditch fight for the Oval Office.

Senator Obama and his camp have demonstrated they 'know' how to play on the field with the big boys. But by and large, the Democratic presidential hopeful has had pretty smooth sailing since clinching his party's nomination. He has the media advantage, more money than the recent bail-out package dollars given to Wall Street, and committed ground troops and Truth Squads with direct orders by Obama to "get in folks' faces" to get his message out. Obama better beware. This determined-to-be-President McCain just won't go away!

Four days is quite a long time in politics. Obama need not take the old-boy McCain for granted, as he has amassed a quiet ground game of seething PUMAs, and email-forwarding grassroot supporters who are disseminating the information on Obama that the media woefully failed to report. These millions of Independents, Evangelicals, Catholics, Reagan Democrats and surprisingly, some Black voters, are purposefully lying to pollsters that they will vote Obama.

McCain maybe old, but he didn't survive the Hanoi Hilton being a fool. Those same tactics he employed back then which allowed him to live another day, are being used by him and his silent majority today, to usher the tortoise McCain straight down Pennsylvania Avenue.

McCain, Obama! You Call Yourselves World Leaders?

The road to the White House is increasingly being littered with carcases of what we Americans once held sacred in this country: women, children and disabled people. Where did civil decency in this country go? What happened to America's value system which included a respect and a safe-zone for the innocent and those who can't fight back for themselves?

This 2008 Presidential election cycle will indeed go down in history as the nastiest, most vile and negative in American history. And... if we don't pull it back NOW, and left unchecked, this negative, acerbic, acidulous climate––which is being fueled on the Internet and by biased main stream media pundits–– will result in a volatile environment which could rent this country in two at the conclusion of this race.

Just recently, in what some on the right are calling a 'direct' swipe at pitbull lipstick-wearing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin... Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama verbalized this crass, less-than-presidential remark during a stop in Virginia:

"You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig".

Name calling... insulting, degradative remarks... and crude public attacks are beneath the dignity of both of these national campaigners. And hurling attacks, especially on the wives and children of candidates has really gone too far, and has no place in decent, civil public discourse. Regardless of what one thinks about the views and positions of Obama or McCain or Palin or Biden... what public good does it serve to refer to Michelle Obama as the "N" word, Cindy McCain as the "B" word... or the most contemptible of all: circulating the most dastardly jokes about 5-month old Trig Palin, the Downs Syndrome baby of Governor Sarah Palin? What kind of nation are we becoming where ridicule of women, babies and children is acceptable and promoted?

It is the responsibility of the candidates to keep out of the gutter, and stay above the fray. Likewise, the voting public must exercise respect for themselves and this country, and stop circulating–– via emails––those unsubstantiated, uncorroborated and blantly false tales from unprofessional individuals on both sides.

Presidential candidates McCain and Obama need to remember that one of them will eventually have to govern and lead all Americans after this election is over. And trying to lead angry folks will make for a steep hill to climb. McCain, Obama... act like the world leaders you hope to be, and get back to debating issues!

Obama Draws First Blood On McCain

Officially accepting the mantle as standard bearer of the Democratic party, Senator Barack Obama made history on the final night of the 2008 Democratic Convention. As the first man-of-color to ever lead a major party in this country, Obama took great pains to lay out his definition of "change" before a crowd estimated at 75,000.

Throughout that audience at Invesco Stadium in Denver, grown men were seen with tears welling in their eyes and women openly demonstrated unashamed emotion as he spoke to them. And Obama... in classic Obama style, delivered the speech of his life on the anniversary of the famous "I Have A Dream" speech, which was given 45 years to the day, by the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Setting aside the lofty rhetoric of his days running against Hillary Clinton in the primaries, the 47-year old junior senator from Illinois outlined his plan for this country. He struck all the right chords and hit all the key points: education, health care, national security, the economy. Obama's acceptance speech not only served to answer his critics that he has a vision for America, but he drew first blood on his GOP opponent, John McCain, with this sure to be remembered in-your-face statement:

"The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America, they have served the United States of America.

So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first".

Indeed, Obama's carefully framed speech has taken the fight for the White House to a new level... saying to Senator McCain that he is ready to get down and dirty during this final leg of what is sure to be a major slug-fest for the highest office in the land... and where the last man standing gets the spoils!

First round goes to Obama.

[Note: vberryhill-soulvoice.blogspot.com will also post a daily blog of key events of the Republican National Convention throughout next week]

Did Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki Deliver Fatal Blow to McCain's Campaign?

Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, unequivocally interjected himself into the 2008 U.S. Presidential debate... causing a political upheaval of tsunami proportions to the teetering McCain campaign. In an obvious disagreement with the Republican presidential candidate's Iraq policy, Prime Minister Maliki has not only discounted the Arizona Senator's main talking point–– the "surge" is making Iraq more secure–– but, by all intense and purposes, publicly backed Senator Obama's Iraq troop withdrawal plan.

According to Maliki:

“Obama is right when he talks about 16 months. Assuming that positive developments continue, this is about the same time period that corresponds to our wishes.”

This game-changing statement officially neuters any further conversation from McCain regarding Obama's naïveté... and squelches any future challenges to the Democratic nominees' judgment relative to the war in Iraq. The number one problem for McCain lies in the fact that his entire presidential bid for the most part, has been built upon his being the person America can most trust to execute the Iraq war sensibly as its Commander-in-Chief. However, Maliki's recent comment has literally yanked the "war authority" rug right from under him... and gives credence to Obama's 'wisdom and judgment' argument.

That back-hand slap to McCain via Maliki was especially embarrassing as the White House mistakenly distributed these comments across the width of the media, and knowing all eyes across the globe are fixed on Obama as he makes his McCain-prodded-Mideast-and-European world tour! Can you say 'Check Mate'?

In addition to these combined missteps, the McCain's camp's biggest error in this Maliki/Obama-drama was how slow they were to respond to the Maliki statement. By the time McCain finally got around to issuing a statement to bat-down or counter what amounts to Maliki's quasi-endorsement of Obama as President of the United States, it was already too late as the delay gave bloggers a several hour 'spin advantage'. Just enough time to hail Senator Obama as the "man-with-the-plan-that-world-understands"... and McCain as "a man without plan, much less a clue".

Being slow-on-the-draw... as Senator McCain was in this instance, was a "colossal" mistake... particularly in a 24-hour news, 'You-tube', 'blog post', instant text messaging society. The irreparable damage to his campaign can be witnessed by surfing the weekend postings in bloggersville.

Indeed, the statement by Maliki, which is being echoed around the world... coupled with the lethargic, delayed response by McCain, who by his own admission is not computer literate or internet savvy, may just be (when we look back) that defining moment in history, which was the fatal blow which sidelined his presidential bid.

We welcome your comments.