Perhaps Obama's Greatest Accomplishment: Dramatically Improved Perceptions of Race Relations
Obama's First 100 Days: A Roundup of Links on the Most Productive Three Months Since FDR in 1933
Remarkable Slideshow from White House Photographers on Obama's First 100 Days. This slideshow gives you a strong sense of what it looks like from the inside of the Obama Administration:
Click to see the official White House photostream on FLICKR.
Related: Conservative David Frum explains How Obama Wins
Obama's Prediction for January 2011
"Two years from now, I want the American people to be able to say, "Government's not perfect; there are some things Obama does that get on my nerves. But you know what? I feel like the government's working for me. I feel like it's accountable. I feel like it's transparent. I feel that I am well informed about what government actions are being taken. I feel that this is a President and an Administration that admits when it makes mistakes and adapts itself to new information, that believes in making decisions based on facts and on science as opposed to what is politically expedient." Those are some of the intangibles that I hope people two years from now can claim," - Barack Obama, president-elect.
Obama's Brand of Bipartisanship
Nate Silver defines it:
...bipartisanship, as Obama intended the term, should not necessarily be confused for "compromise". Rather, it implied behaving in good-faith -- hearing out opinions from different sides of the aisle and identifying the best ideas regardless of their partisan origin. Bipartisanship, to Obama, was a process rather than an outcome. He could plausibly have been acting in a bipartisan manner, even if he hadn't gotten many Republicans to go along with his agenda.
Discussion Points
- Is Obama A Socialist?
- Obama Offers Reassurance That 'Pillars Will Be In Place for Recovery' By End of 2009; Krugman Skeptical
- Finally, An End in Sight to the War in Iraq. Eloquent Speech By Obama
- A Time of Reckoning, After An Era of Profound Irresponsibility
- Why Didn't Republicans Support Obama's Huge $282 Billion Tax Cut?
- Black Role Models: Barack Obama v. Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent
- To Stimulate Economic Growth, Obama Movement Must Change the 'What's In It For Me' Culture
- Two Train Trips 40 Years Apart Depict Despair and Hope in Democracy
Obama Faces Overwhelming Challenges, Perhaps Even the Nation's Bankruptcy
Victory Speech: Reaching Out to Those Who Voted for McCain and Are Skeptical, Fearful | Obama Won Without Surge in Voter Turnout Experts Had Predicted: About 130 million Americans voted, up from 122 million in 2004. But with a little more than 61 percent of eligible voters casting ballots, the 2008 results didn’t match the record 63.8 percent turnout rate that helped propel President John F. Kennedy to victory in 1960, Bloomberg reports. But I point out:
There are different ways of analyzing this. In 1960, many people, especially minorities who were eligible to vote weren't registered. But in 2008, in North Carolina for example, it is estimated that 94 percent of eligible African Americans are registered to vote.
Obama's 7 point victory margin was largely accomplished by former Republican voters staying home.
7 Tough Questions for Barack Obama
Obama's Win Signals Dramatic Changes in Perception By Older Whites, African Americans
A post-election USA Today/Gallup poll found that 70% of voters think race relations will improve with his election. Most Americans (67 percent) express pride in this collective accomplishment. Even those who did not vote for Obama indicated their excitement about the advance in race relations that his victory represents, recognizing that he was able to garner support from every region in the country.
Election of Obama Recasts National Conversation on Race
Shelby Steele, a black writer who is a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover institution: "Blacks still have a 70% illegitimacy rate; 50% of those incarcerated are still black. Obama will govern politically. He will address health care and have a tax plan. To look at him culturally is going to lead to expectations that will be disappointed."
William Raspberry: For African Americans, Obama's Election Means A Path Beyond Grievance |
Obama Lifts Ceiling of Dreams for Young Black Men | Black Men Hope Obama Presidency Shatters Racial Stereotypes | How Obama Is Bringing the Races Together |Touching Stories from the Campaign Trail
Andy and Opie Back Barack Obama|James Taylor: Carolina (and Obama) on My Mind|
How Obama Did It
Obama would never have become president without the Internet. He raised half a billion online! | Triple O, Obama's online operation | OPOs -- the online political operatives
Online Campaign 2008
Internet: Key to Obama's Primary...and General Election Victories?
Who Is Barack Obama? '60 Minutes Interview
