Bill Clinton's in the house...

Former President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama were in Concord, NH this morning.  I would have loved to make the 1.5 hour drive to see them but it looks like I wouldn't have come close to the podium if this photograph is any indication.  

I "borrowed" this photo from The Obama Diary today.  Not sure how President Clinton sounded today.  We saw his live introductory speech for the President last night & he was losing his voice, big time.  They were in Bristow, VA. last night at 10:30pm stumping.  

How to Make the Election Seem Fun

U.S. Operation Kills Bin Laden



Too exciting not to mention in both blogs.  The U.S. has carried out a two year operation to find and kill Osama Bin Laden. 

Awesome news.  For more in-depth links to the news, visit Women of a Certain Age.

"I've never wished a man dead, but I've read some obituaries with great pleasure."  Mark Twain

"Familiarity breeds contempt - and children."   Mark Twain  (FACT:  Osama Bin Laden was #17 out of 51 children)

Thank you NAVY SEALS!!!

The American President: Still Relevant

Sixteen years after its release, "The American President" is still topical.  If it were released today,  it would be reflective of our current political landscape.

As a story, this has it all:  a well paced plot, a problematic love affair, dirty politics, ethical dilemmas, altruism vs practicality, etc.  Written by Aaron Sorkin who went on to adapt this as the great television series, "The West Wing", the movie has legs...good lookin' ones too!    

There are so many "moments" that resonate.  Here are two of the best. 

Scene set-up:  In order to placate his Right Wing opponents, hopefull improve his favorability ratings and smooth the way to re-election, the President decides to sacrifice an environmental bill his lobbyist girlfriend, Sydney Wade, has diligently worked to pass.  This decision comes after a lambasting from his political adviser played by Michael J. Fox.




Who is right?  I don't know but the dialog is great.  Somebody should have run and re-run this movie for the Obama Admin last year when they were taking the "high road" as it were.
 
Sydney learns of the renege on the part of her boyfriend, the President.  She breaks off their affair very succinctly. 

"Mr. President, you have bigger things to worry about than losing me.  You just lost my vote."   

Ouch! 

Scene Set-up:  The Prez delivers the speech we've all waited for; the speech his administrative advisors have begged him to unleash. 


Perhaps someone will suggest to the inner circle at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this film may be streamed any night on Netflix. 

Obama The Musical (thank you Gilbert & Sullivan)

Enjoyed this new post on Ad Broad and she'd posted this under the title, "If only real political ads were this engaging".   Too good not to re-post.  

Health Care Reform Passes House

The vote was 219-212.



Next hurdle? The Senate...

Happy Birthday President Obama!

Another side of the press....too cute not to post.

I'm No Nail!

I am home sick, bored and watching "The View". Normally, I wouldn't comment about the show but Whoopi Goldberg just read a tweet from Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa that sounds like it was written by a 10 year old. Actually, there were two tweets, Whoopi just read them together:

"Pres Obama you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us 'time to deliver' on health care. We still on skedul/even workinWKEND."

"Pres Obama while u sightseeing in Paris u said 'time to delivr on healthcare' When you are a 'hammer' u think everything is NAIL I'm no NAIL."

While my mind screams "No U.S. Senator would write such drivel knowing it will hit the internet within nanoseconds", my common sense tells me to slap myself upside the head and get real. This is America. We admire uneducated political demagogues who speechify.

I quickly googled "Grassley tweet" to see if the quote were intact and accurate and came across this hilarious post from The Political Carnival. I've just added this blog to my list.

Oh, and if you want more bon mots from Senator Grassley, go here.

Lest We Forget

USAF Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers was killed in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan Saturday. He was 30 years old. He was a recipient of the Bronze Star one year ago. He left behind a widow and it was her decision to allow the media to film the return of his body to the United States. Forty journalists and camera crew were on hand to record the moment when this first U.S. soldier's body was to be carried off the plan in a flag draped casket. Why all the interest at this point in our no longer to be referred to War on Terror? Because it is the first time in twenty years the press has been allowed to film a returning soldier's casket to the US. A controversial ban was recently lifted by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates under President Obama.

And what does this say about our country, our leaders, our defense department? Why did they hide these things from us? Why are we just now being allowed to witness the tragedy of war in all its empty glory?

Subscribe in a reader

If

The poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling came to mind yesterday and I wondered if it might not fit into another post I'd written on my other blog. But when I re-read it, I realized I was reading a mantra of determination that could have been written by our new president. This beautiful poem is about believing and doing in spite of all obstacles and the opinions of others...walking the walk, perhaps?


(Official White House portrait by Pete Souza)


If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

One caveat, George Bush may very well have believed this to be his mantra too, in his own mis-guided way.