Barack Obama!

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Barack promised transparency if he won POTUS.

He began this yesterday by posting his first weekly radio address on You Tube:



Will Hillary have to sign up for transparency if she is appointed as Secretary of State?
An announcement could come as early as this week as he forms his White House team.

Then comes more than 300 Cabinet secretaries, deputies and under-secretaries, and 2,500 political appointees.

Barack's propensity to make intelligent, informed decisions is the basic pre-requisite of a good leader.
His philosophy of choosing the best person for the job reflects bipartisan government.
- his role model is, of course, Lincoln in 1860.

Barack meets with McCain tomorrow to focus on how he can help on issues where there is common ground, including reforming government, tackling global warming, banning torture by US personnel, and closing Guantanamo Bay.

How I would love to be a fly on that wall!

 

[2020hindsight]

Re: Obama's Team

Clinton Is Said to Accept Offer of Secretary of State Position

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/us/politics/22obama.html?_r=1&hp

As sam 76 posted elsewhere... still unofficial but ...

Mrs. Clinton came to her decision after additional discussion with President-elect Barack Obama about the nature of her role and his plans for foreign policy, said one of the confidants, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the situation.

Mr. Obama’s office told reporters on Thursday that the nomination is “on track” but this is the first word from the Clinton camp that she has decided.

...
Senior Obama advisers said Friday morning that the offer had not been formally accepted and no announcement would be made until after Thanksgiving. [fourth Thursday of Nov = 27 Nov this year]

Mrs. Clinton’s spokesman, Philippe Reines, issued a statement Friday afternoon cautioning that the nomination was not final. “We’re still in discussions, which are very much on track,” Mr. Reines said. “Any reports beyond that are premature.”

Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton fought the most competitive Democratic nomination battle in modern times, one that polarized their party for months and left bitterness in both camps. .. etc

No formal announcement until maybe this time next week. (> 27 Nov)

Seem to recall hearing that the effect (if not the intent ) of George W Bush appointing Colin Powell to Secretary of State was to neutralise him as a potential threat at the next election.

So Hillary would presumably have a lot on her mind in deciding whether to take it or not

Mrs. Clinton would bring a distinctive background to the State Department. As first lady, she traveled the world for eight years, visiting more than 80 countries, not only meeting with foreign leaders but also villages, clinics and other remote areas that rarely get on a president’s itinerary. Mr. Obama during the primaries belittled that experience as little more than having tea and pointed to schedules showing many ceremonial events on those trips.

But more than any first lady before her, Mrs. Clinton delved deep into particular policy issues in the international arena, from women’s rights to microlending to alleviate poverty. As a senator for the last eight years, she served on the Armed Services Committee and continued her interest in foreign affairs.

She and Mr. Obama agree on the broad outlines of a new foreign policy for the post-Bush era, but they disagreed sharply in several crucial areas, particularly over how to deal with Iran and Pakistan. She characterized Mr. Obama as naïve in his view of those two countries, while he criticized her judgment for going along with Mr. Bush on the war in Iraq at first.

 

[Calliope]

Re: Obama's Team

Seem to recall hearing that the effect (if not the intent ) of George W Bush appointing Colin Powell to Secretary of State was to neutralise him as a potential threat at the next election.

Its the old story. It's better to have your opponent inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.

 

[2020hindsight]

Re: Obama's Team

Its the old story. It's better to have your opponent inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.

yep lol..

http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/11/14/atantaros_1114/comment-page-1/

Hillary at State? Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer
By Andrea Tantaros
Republican Political Commentator/Foxnews.com Contributor

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton? That’s what reports are saying. According to officials, Obama has narrowed the possibilities for Secretary of State, and Senator Hillary Clinton is among those being strongly considered. Some officials even call her the favorite.

President-elect Barack Obama offering Sen. Clinton the position of Secretary of State exemplifies the notion of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. The last thing Barack Obama wants is a supercharged Hillary Clinton potentially causing trouble in the Senate.

If she accepts the job, she’s shackled to his administration, which is smart if he wants to fend off attacks from the Clintons in 2012 ”” a win for Obama and Democratic Party unity. If she doesn’t accept the job she looks like a sore loser, and could be perceived as unwilling to cooperate.

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Well I haven't heard any whispers about what role McCain could have in the new year. Thankfully!

The critics are out on limbs complaining that Obama promised change and he's recycling Clinton's people.

But hey... There were good people in the rank and file of the DEMOCRATS eight years ago.
Just because they have held positions with Clinton does not mean there is no change.
Appointees will have new roles and must conduct themselves according to Obama's 'change'.
Out with old tactics not talented people!

Barack's second youtube weekly radio address: re jobs for now and the future:

 

[noirua]

Re: Barack 2008!

Well I haven't heard any whispers about what role McCain could have in the new year. Thankfully!

The critics are out on limbs complaining that Obama promised change and he's recycling Clinton's people.

But hey... There were good people in the rank and file of the DEMOCRATS eight years ago.
Just because they have held positions with Clinton does not mean there is no change.
Appointees will have new roles and must conduct themselves according to Obama's 'change'.
Out with old tactics not talented people!

Interesting to see if America and many other countries see a sufficient rebound by the end of 2009 to make it possible for countries to claw back all these loans given to banks.

Danger is, that all the effort ends up with a back to square one situation and carrying even greater debt in the then near worthless companies.

Upside is they have sufficient success that they can then float off the assets that recover in value.

Upside risk is better but downside is worse.

Don't think it really matters now as Obama looks to be going for recovery or bust. Good luck to him - & Doris, 2020, Julia and co.

 

[Green08]

Re: Barack 2008!

Don't think it really matters now as Obama looks to be going for recovery or bust. Good luck to him - & Doris, 2020, Julia and co.

Hey you left me out!!

Been on extended holiday!

He has a long road ahead but will do the BEST HE CAN. Any president coming into this economical crisis would probably wish they had never put themselves up for crucifixion.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer - his Cabinet will work - maybe a few weekend BBQ's socialising, amazing what humans are capable of in disaster.

Give the Guy a break and see what happens over the next year/s. Sure there will be questionable decisions. His intellect, contact and diplomacy will be tested. He is President and also a human.

You may go on about his past - if your's was on public display would you even consider running? My hope is improving the crisis to some degree however more so (fingers crossed) that a degree of racism and bigotry will be eased.

I've been watching the Doha Debates from the Middle East. They are in favor of him. However they are now pushing for alot of liberalization.

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Barack has sought "leaders who could offer both sound judgment and fresh thinking;
both a depth of experience and a wealth of bold fresh new ideas".

Barack's summary of each of the four who will lead the economic team sounds brilliant.

Watch the video of Barack's announcement yesterday and learn more about the economic team:

If your internet connection is slow, press pause, let it stream - then watch uninterrupted.




Note how 'the campaign' didn't dump supporters after they'd won the election
- but continues to make them feel a continuing part of the process:

________________________________________
From: David Plouffe, BarackObama.com [mailto:info@barackobama.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 26 November 2008 7:49 AM
To: Doris *******
Subject: Major announcement from Barack

Doris --

Today and yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama announced key members of an economic team tasked with creating jobs, stabilizing the economy, and getting our country back on track.

Barack is bringing together some of the best minds in the country to make swift progress on the economic challenges we face.

Timothy F. Geithner, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, will serve as Secretary of the Treasury. Lawrence H. Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton, will serve as Director of the National Economic Council.

Christina D. Romer will serve as Director of the Council of Economic Advisers, Melody C. Barnes will serve as Director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Heather A. Higginbottom will serve as Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council.

Peter Orszag, currently Director of the Congressional Budget Office, will serve as Office of Management and Budget Director, and Rob Nabors will serve as Deputy Director.

Barack's economic team has already begun work on a recovery plan, and he'll provide progress updates in the coming weeks. He'll also provide their initial recommendations to the incoming Congress.

You'll be instrumental in generating support to pass legislation that puts America on the road to recovery.

While we can't underestimate the challenge we face, we also can't underestimate the opportunity we have to bring the change our country needs.

Thanks,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

 

[basilio]

Re: Barack 2008!

Ever wondered why Obamas speeches sounded so good? Turns out much of the quality of his speech writing comes from the ancient Romans. There is an excellent story examining the way Obama constructs his speeches and comparisons with the styles developed in ancient Rome.

The new Cicero
Barack Obama's speeches are much admired and endlessly analysed, but, says Charlotte Higgins, one of their most interesting aspects is the enormous debt they owe to the oratory of the Romans

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/26/barack-obama-usa1

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Ever wondered why Obamas speeches sounded so good? Turns out much of the quality of his speech writing comes from the ancient Romans. There is an excellent story examining the way Obama constructs his speeches and comparisons with the styles developed in ancient Rome.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/26/barack-obama-usa1

Brilliant justification of a brilliant scholar, Basilio!

Thanks! Your article elucidates and validates the wonder of Barack's wisdom conveyed by words.

I especially like:

During the Roman republic (and in ancient Athens) politics was oratory. In Athens, questions such as whether or not to declare war on an enemy state were decided by the entire electorate (or however many bothered to turn up) in open debate. Oratory was the supreme political skill, on whose mastery power depended. Unsurprisingly, then, oratory was highly organised and rigorously analysed. The Greeks and Romans, in short, knew all the rhetorical tricks, and they put a name to most of them.

It turns out that Obama knows them, too. One of the best known of Cicero's techniques is his use of series of three to emphasise points: the tricolon. (The most enduring example of a Latin tricolon is not Cicero's, but Caesar's "Veni, vidi, vici" - I came, I saw, I conquered.) Obama uses tricola freely. Here's an example: "Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation, not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy ..." In this passage, from the 2004 Democratic convention speech, Obama is also using the technique of "praeteritio" - drawing attention to a subject by not discussing it. (He is discounting the height of America's skyscrapers etc, but in so doing reminds us of their importance.)

One of my favourites among Obama's tricks was his use of the phrase "a young preacher from Georgia", when accepting the Democratic nomination this August; he did not name Martin Luther King. The term for the technique is "antonomasia". One example from Cicero is the way he refers to Phoenix, Achilles' mentor in the Iliad, as "senior magister" - "the aged teacher". In both cases, it sets up an intimacy between speaker and audience, the flattering idea that we all know what we are talking about without need for further exposition. It humanises the character - King was just an ordinary young man, once. Referring to Georgia by name localises the reference - Obama likes to use the specifics to American place to ground the winged sweep of his rhetoric - just as in his November 4 speech: "Our campaign ... began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston", which, of course, is also another tricolon.

Obama entered politics without family backing (compare Clinton) or a military record (compare John McCain). Roman tradition dictated you had both. The compensatory talent Obama shares with Cicero... is a skill at "setting up a genealogy of forebears - not biological forebears but intellectual forebears. For Cicero it was Licinius Crassus, Scipio Aemilianus and Cato the Elder. For Obama it is Lincoln, Roosevelt and King."

Obama's oratory conforms to the tripartite ideal laid down by Aristotle, who stated that good rhetoric should consist of pathos, logos and ethos - emotion, argument and character. It is in the projection of ethos that Obama particularly excels. Take this resounding passage: "I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations." He manages to convey the sense that not only can he revive the American dream, but that he personally embodies - actually, in some sense, is - the American dream.

Obama's favourite tricks of the trade, it appears, are the related anaphora and epiphora. Anaphora is the repetition of a phrase at the start of a sentence. Again, from November 4: "It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools ... It's the answer spoken by young and old ... It's the answer ..." Epiphora does the same, but at the end of a sentence. From the same speech (yet another tricolon): "She lives to see them stand out and speak up and reach for the ballot. Yes we can." The phrase "Yes we can" completes the next five paragraphs.

 

[gav]

Re: Barack 2008!

Ever wondered why Obamas speeches sounded so good? Turns out much of the quality of his speech writing comes from the ancient Romans. There is an excellent story examining the way Obama constructs his speeches and comparisons with the styles developed in ancient Rome.

Did the ancient Romans write speeches like this? :

 

[2020hindsight]

Re: Barack 2008!

Did the ancient Romans write speeches like this? :

As I've said before Gav, (you are proving pretty obstinate and/or intolerant of slips of the tongue on this one) ... but if you are talking contiguous states, then he had been to 47 ( not 57). Now that's hardly a hanging offence, lol.

Hey , if you are so clever as to never make a slip of the tongue whilst making an "aside" comment - of absolutely no significance - and wish to attract great wit and wisdom to yourself by pointing this out .. .then maybe we can expect to see you running for President in 2012

Alternatively we can treat your post as (also) having no significance

Back to thread - and the wisdom of Latin speeches / quotes .. (and arguably more applicable than ever to the market for instance ) ..

"Fortes fortuna adiuvat"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_favours_the_bold

Fortune favours the bold, Fortune favours the brave, Fortune helps the brave , and Fortune favours the strong are common translations of the famous and often-quoted ancient Latin proverb "Fortes fortuna adiuvat".

The phrase means that Fortuna, the Goddess of luck, is more likely to help those that take risks, take action, and develop their skills proactively. It was first written by Terence, who lived in the second century BC, in his play "Phormio" [1], but it has been quoted many times since. The phrase is often associated with Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid, appearing in book 10 line 284, in the slightly different form "audentis fortuna iuvat." [2]

The Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla was said to believe in the influence of the goddess Fortune in his life. He was a consummate risk-taker, achieving martial distinction by taking risks on the battlefield such as wearing disguises and living among the enemy. He was also the first of the great Republican Romans to march upon Rome- a great taboo, but one which cemented his power and influence.

Julius Caesar also transformed his fortunes when he marched on Rome, with the famous words alea jacta est (the die is cast) as he crossed the Rubicon river. The utterance was a commitment of his fate to Fortune. While Caesar was a thorough and professional soldier, many of his greatest victories were achieved by taking bold risks which often exposed him and his troops to great danger, but often resulted in memorable victories.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Re: Barack 2008!

Obama has a crowd of old dry hasbeens like Clinton and Biden on his team.

Thank g he's got a blackberry to keep him in touch with reality in 2009.

gg

 

[Green08]

Re: Barack 2008!

Ever wondered why Obamas speeches sounded so good? ........the styles developed in ancient Rome.

Inspiration is a great thing. We all fall under the guise at some point. Plagiarism is not. My Year 10 child just had to 'legally; complete an understanding on plagiarism and copy write to pass the HSC ahead of her, as if she hasn’t adhered to the standard now!

He is far too bright to write or allow others to write recited speeches for him.

 

[2020hindsight]

Re: Barack 2008!

Obama has a crowd of old dry hasbeens like Clinton and Biden on his team.

better hasbeens than a never-will-be's like Palin

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

Thank g he's got a blackberry to keep him in touch with reality in 2009.

gg

Barack, even as president-elect, is not permitted a Blackberry!
It's a high security risk! Meh!

 

[Doris]

Re: Barack 2008!

As I've said before Gav, (you are proving pretty obstinate and/or intolerant of slips of the tongue on this one) ... but if you are talking contiguous states, then he had been to 47 ( not 57). Now that's hardly a hanging offence, lol.

Hey , if you are so clever as to never make a slip of the tongue whilst making an "aside" comment - of absolutely no significance - and wish to attract great wit and wisdom to yourself by pointing this out .. .then maybe we can expect to see you running for President in 2012

Alternatively we can treat your post as (also) having no significance.

Hear hear!

If he'd listened to the words of the man who'd had three hours sleep a night for the previous few weeks - with his punishing schedule... and knew that there were 50 states - 'one to go' - he would have subtracted the two that Barack exempted and realized and respected his intention.

But when a mere male is as perfect as BHO it behoves a mere bully to find fault.

This is the see-saw syndrome:
The other person is up so you try to put him down hoping you will rise in stature.
Get a life. Find a slippery slide, of your own, to play with.

Better still, look at Barack as a role model for his genius in having lived his life to be the man he is today.

 

[wayneL]

Re: Barack 2008!

Hear hear!

If he'd listened to the words of the man who'd had three hours sleep a night for the previous few weeks - with his punishing schedule... and knew that there were 50 states - 'one to go' - he would have subtracted the two that Barack exempted and realized and respected his intention.

But when a mere male is as perfect as BHO it behoves a mere bully to find fault.

This is the see-saw syndrome:
The other person is up so you try to put him down hoping you will rise in stature.
Get a life. Find a slippery slide, of your own, to play with.

Better still, look at Barack as a role model for his genius in having lived his life to be the man he is today.

I still think Man U can win the premiership next year.... Oh! Sorry, wrong forum.

It must have been all the slagging off and cheerleading in this thread.

Look, it's time to stop all the tribalistic team play. It's now time, whether a supporter of Obama or not, to sit back and watch what this man does with his opportunity and gauge the results. He is now President of the US (a foreign country by the way ) and we should all hope that he can:

• Improve US foreign policy in how it affects every one of us
  
• Improve America's reputation (I think we all "want" to like the US, something that was not possible under the previous cabal of clowns and criminals)
  
• Correct the financial mal-model currently wreaking havoc on the world economy
  
• Prevent an almost inevitable economic war of some description
  
• Extract the west from the ludicrous military incursions currently embroiled in

...and more.

It's a tall order with certain failures. But we'll only see if he is, on balance, a force for good by giving him some room and some time.

Finally, may I suggest some study of human psychology on the part of the Obamaphiles. You will never win support from the other side with the extreme idolatry of the man. Balance would be good.

 

[2020hindsight]

Re: Barack 2008!

... Look, it's time to stop all the tribalistic team play. It's now time, whether a supporter of Obama or not, to sit back and watch what this man does ...

Wayne we were just looking at his words and the way he constructs his speeches thassall

Similarities with Romans, Shakespeare , ... GW Bush etc

PS By comparison, here's GW Bush in one of his more expansive speeches (maybe not as powerful as the index finger of God, but US president is still the most powerful bloke around this planet anyway ) :-

 

[basilio]

Re: Barack 2008!

Is this too off topic?

I visited 2020 hindsight signature tune out of interest. Absolutely brilliant. Highlights the potential power of the people. It is the Song from Angry men Les Miserables.

Looks great as part of a musical. Think it might get close to the bone politically as economies crash and people get hungry. I suppose I am relating it to what Obama et al may face in the coming months. Really worth a look

Civilization is 3 meals deep.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=x6-5g78Nr6Q&feature=related