President-elect Barack Obama is continuing with his technology-driven administration and will record his weekly Democratic address on YouTube. The address will be published Saturday after it airs on the radio. Officials at the transition office have also stated that the White House under Obama will conduct online question and answer periods as well as video interviews. These will all be posted on Obama's administrative website, Change.gov.In actions that are reminiscent of the "fireside conversations" of Franklin Roosevelt, some say they welcome the change and the attempt to make the government more accessible, whereas some wish that Obama would just �shut up and govern'. Barack Obama has also stated that once he has acquired office he will create an official White House YouTube channel, thus furthering his goal of making government accessible. It would also appear that current President George Bush has followed suit as Whitehouse.gov has been updated with RSS feeds, podcasts and videos of press events.
What remains to be seen is the true impact conducting a presidency in this manner will have, it remains too early to state whether or not these actions are a step in the right direction but the overwhelming support and eagerness speaks volumes in regards to community acceptance.
War never changes.
But for now, please stop. Making up complete garbage as if the election is still happening isn't going to change the fact that he won.
But for now, please stop. Making up complete garbage as if the election is still happening isn't going to change the fact that he won.
I'm an Obama supporter. I'm questioning Brzezinski's role in the Obama administration. None of this is "garbage." Nothing here is made up.
Why did you assume I supported McCain?
But for now, please stop. Making up complete garbage as if the election is still happening isn't going to change the fact that he won.
It does seem that some people are extra critical on an administration that hasn't even begun yet. Obama always has the authority to change his adviser team.
Once Obama has taken office...it will be open season for mud slinging. Fox News has already taken the lead on this.
Remember the mantra "dissent is the highest form of patriotism" spewed endlessly by the left during the past 8 years? I wonder if the left will maintain that same thought process once criticism starts to pour in by the truckloads or will it be dubbed as "mudslinging", time will tell.
I think you're a little confused.
When you disagree with something, you are allowed to say so. That's what freedom is. You imply that disagreeing with those in power is somehow unpatriotic. What's with this focus on "patriotism" in the US, anyway?
Disagreeing is all good & well and our God given right but the left's constant berating of Bush's decisions for the past 8 years was often regarded to the right as "you just hate GWB and mad Gore/Kerry lost" and the left's retort was "dissent .....". My point is, now that the shoe is on the other foot, what will the left say when there's criticism of BHO (which we all know will come in time, deserving or not)? We the people pay Obama, we are his boss and he and everyone in government need to be under heavy scrutiny.
$10 says Michael Moore won't make a single movie about Obama.
Otherwise the Secrete service will probably have their hands full lol
If people are afraid to speak their minds publicly we have thrown away the results of 200+ years of fighting to protect that right.
All I have to say is - whatever gods you people pray to, you better pray that Obama starts picking a little better. So far he has pretty much tossed out his promises for a cooperative and non-partisan administration. I am still hopeful he will gather some people with actual skills to help him make the right decisions because his abilities and choices for his inner circle will certainly be tested soon after he takes office.
Here's the first one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd8f9Zqap6U for those of you interested.
As for the people he's picking, think about this: What Democratically leaning people have experience in the top office of the US? The only Democratic president in the last 28 years was Clinton. That was also the only time of real economic prosperity in the last 28 years. Why would he NOT pick those people to at least get the ball rolling? Seems like a no-brainer to me: surround yourself with the most qualified and experienced people that made Good choices when they held similar positions in the past.
The Obama phenomenon, reflects the alienation of the population that you found in the polls: 80% say the country is run by a few big interests. While Obama says we are going to change that, there's no real indication of what the change is going to be. In fact, the financial institutions, which are his major contributors, think he's fine, so there's no indication of any change. But if you say "change," people will grasp at it; you say "change" and "hope," and people will grasp at this and say, OK, maybe this is the savior who will bring about what we want, even though there is no evidence for it. The Obama phenomenon and people's alienation go hand in hand.
McCain is another example of very effective propaganda-creation imagery. Ssuppose there was a Russian pilot who was bombing civilian targets in Afghanistan and was shot down and tortured by the American-run Islamic fanatic terrorists (I'm exaggerating here, referring to the mujaheddin in the Russian-Afghan war.) Would we say he's a war hero? Would we say he's an expert in strategic and security issues, because he was a bomber of civilian targets? We wouldn't. But this is the image that's been created of McCain. His heroism and his expertise and strategy are based on the fact that he was bombing people from 30,000 feet and he was shot down. It's not nice that he was tortured, it shouldn't have happened, it was a crime, and so on. But that doesn't make him a war hero or a specialist in foreign policy. That's all a public relations creation.
The bottom line is that Obama is no more remarkable than any other professional or semi-professional who has yet to begin their term as President. This "hope" and "change" line is nothing more than rhetoric to set the mood. It's par for the course. But Obama is particularly good at parroting it. Obama isn't amazing. The notion that a black man has reached the highest office in the country is amazing. It's historic. It's meaningful in terms of symbolism. But Obama as President-elect is not amazing. He's a good speaker and his handlers and campaign specialists helped him run an effective campaign.
This YouTube effort is mere window-dressing. I'm content to sit and wait to see what he actually does. Or is able to do. He didn't get to the White House by himself. He owes people and organizations, some of them very big business interests. Just like any other President-elect for the past 40 years and more. All I know thus far is that one of his top advisers is Zbigniew Brzezinski, which indicates that there is still room in the administration for scholarly sell-outs of the kind that make even the most rabid hawks of the administration look harmless. He's been involved for over 30 years, and has played a key role in some of the worst atrocities committed or sponsored by various US administrations abroad. He and Carter created Al-Qaeda, by using the mujaheddin fighters in Afghanistan as tools in their power game with the Soviets, and then giving them the finger when they walked away, leaving them and their country in ruins.
So, really, all of this is meant to say that we need to be as vigilant as ever, and hold our elected officials to the highest scrutiny. Curb your enthusiasm for the players just a bit, but keep it as high as possible in terms of understanding the issues and the process.
Last edited by LTD on 16 Nov 2008 - 21:27
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