January 26, 2009
The New York Times
By JIM RUTENBERG
and ADAM NAGOURNEY
WASHINGTON — Lyle McIntosh gave everything he could to Barack Obama’s Iowa
campaign. He helped oversee an army that knocked on doors, distributed fliers
and held neighborhood meetings to rally support for Mr. Obama, all the while
juggling the demands of his soybean and corn farm.
Asked last week if he and others like him were ready to go all-out again, this
time to help President Obama push his White House agenda, Mr. McIntosh paused.
“It’s almost like a football season or a basketball season — you go as hard as
you can and then you’ve got to take a breather between the seasons,” he said,
noting he found it hard to go full-bore during the general election.
Mr. McIntosh’s uncertainty suggests just one of the many obstacles the White
House faces as it tries to accomplish what aides say is one of their most
important goals: transforming the YouTubing-Facebooking-texting-Twittering
grass-roots organization that put Mr. Obama in the White House into an
instrument of government. That is something that Mr. Obama, who began his career
as a community organizer, told aides was a top priority, even before he was
elected.
His aides — including his campaign manager — have created a group, Organizing
for America, to redirect the campaign machinery in the service of broad changes
in health care and environmental and fiscal policy. They envision an army of
supporters talking, sending e-mail and texting to friends and neighbors as they
try to mold public opinion.
The organization will be housed in the Democratic National Committee, rather
than at the White House. But the idea behind it — that the traditional ways of
communicating with and motivating voters are giving way to new channels built
around social networking — is also very evident in the White House’s media
strategy.
Like George W. Bush before him, Mr. Obama is trying to bypass the mainstream
news media and take messages straight to the public.
The most prominent example of the new strategy is his weekly address to the
nation — what under previous presidents was a speech recorded for and released
to radio stations on Saturday mornings. Mr. Obama instead records a video, which
on Saturday he posted on the White House Web site and on YouTube; in it, he
explained what he wanted to accomplish with the $825 billion economic stimulus
plan working its way through Congress. By late Sunday afternoon, it had been
viewed more than 600,000 times on YouTube.
The White House also faces legal limitations in terms of what it can do. Perhaps
most notably, it cannot use a 13-million-person e-mail list that Mr. Obama’s
team developed because it was compiled for political purposes. That is an
important reason Mr. Obama has decided to build a new organization within the
Democratic Party, which does not have similar restrictions.
Still, after months of discussion, aides said the whole approach remained a work
in progress, even after Friday, when the organizers e-mailed a link to a video
to those 13 million people announcing the creation of Organizing for America.
Mr. Obama’s aides know they have a huge resource to harness, but fundamental
questions remain about how it will run and precisely what organizers are hoping
to accomplish.
“This has obviously never been undertaken before,” David Plouffe, Mr. Obama’s
campaign manager and one of the organizers of this effort, said in the video
sent to supporters. “So it’s going to be a little trial and error.”
Even with that video, in addition to one sent earlier in the president’s name,
the organization does not have a fully developed Web site, evidence, some of Mr.
Obama’s advisers said, of just how murky the mission is.
Mr. Plouffe said the group had not settled on a budget or begun serious
fund-raising. The goal is to have a relatively small staff, with representatives
in most, if not every, state, and to make up any shortfall in personnel with the
use of technology.
There is a clear interest in keeping the Internet-based political machinery that
made Mr. Obama’s brand so iconic and that helped him raise record amounts. The
new group’s initials, O.F.A., conveniently also apply to his Obama for America
campaign. And the desire for the Obama organization to live on was voiced in a
meeting of organizers in Chicago after Election Day, and echoed at 4,800 house
meetings in December and in a survey completed by 500,000 Obama supporters.
Still, sensitive to ruffling feathers even among fellow Democrats wary of Mr.
Obama’s huge political support, Mr. Obama’s aides emphasized that the effort was
not created to lobby directly or pressure members of Congress to support Mr.
Obama’s programs.
“This is not a political campaign,” Mr. Plouffe said. “This is not a ‘call or
e-mail your member of Congress’ organization.”
Instead, Mr. Plouffe said the aim was to work through influential people in
various communities as a way of building public opinion.
“So it’s: ‘Here’s the president’s speech today on the economy. Here are some
talking points,’ ” he said. “This was a very under-appreciated part of our
campaign. If someone who has never been involved in politics before — or is an
independent or a Republican — makes this case with their circle of people, that
has more impact.”
The operation is being run from borrowed desks on the third floor of the D.N.C.
headquarters on Capitol Hill, led by organizers chosen, Mr. Plouffe said,
because of skills they demonstrated during the campaign. The head of the group
is Mitch Stewart, a low-key operative who helped run Mr. Obama’s effort in three
critical states — Iowa and Indiana in the primary season and Virginia in the
general election. Another important person in the operation is Jennifer O’Malley
Dillon, the new executive director of the Democratic National Committee, who was
the battleground states director for Mr. Obama in his campaign.
And there will be clear coordination between this independent operation at the
Democratic National Committee and a communications arm being set up at the White
House, under Macon Phillips, the “new media” director for Mr. Obama’s
administration.
Mr. Phillips was an Internet strategist with Blue State Digital, a private firm
closely tied to Mr. Obama’s campaign. His team signaled the new direction Mr.
Obama is bringing with a redesigned White House Web site that was introduced
shortly after Mr. Obama was sworn in and is modeled after his campaign site. It
will be continually updated to add presidential orders and blog postings that
make the case for administration policy, often echoed by talking points that
Organizing for America is sending to supporters.
In an interview, Mr. Phillips, 30, said the site would give the White House
another way to reach the public without having to rely on the mainstream news
media.
“Historically the media has been able to draw out a lot of information and
characterize it for people,” he said. “And there’s a growing appetite from
people to do it themselves.”
The approach is causing some concern among news media advocates, who express
discomfort with what effectively could become an informational network reaching
13 million people, or more, with an unchallenged, governmental point of view.
“They’re beginning to create their own journalism, their own description of
events of the day, but it’s not an independent voice making that description,”
said Bill Kovach, the chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists. “It’s
troublesome until we know how it’s going to be used and the degree to which it
can be used on behalf of the people, and not on behalf of only one point of
view.”
The undertaking will require Mr. Obama’s aides to wedge technology that worked
for them in the campaign into the infrastructure of the White House, with its
relatively older technology and security restrictions. Where Mr. Obama’s
campaign was free to use Facebook, instant messaging and Twitter, among other
forms of communication, the White House faces more constraints. With every note
part of the historical record, and new scrutiny on every communication, staff
members are unable to access public instant messaging accounts and social
networking sites from their desks.
The administration’s Web team has a YouTube channel, but it is already
exhibiting the dangers for a White House in the Wild West of the Internet: a
page showing Mr. Obama’s inauguration address is littered with offensive
commentary from users.
In campaigns, candidates control multimillion-dollar advertising budgets and
organizations in 50 states. When they take office, they have had to put their
own stamp on existing party organizations, and to rely largely on the news media
to communicate with the public. Though he comes to the task with the advantage
of a team that proved innovative in using technology and communications advances
to reshape electoral politics, Mr. Obama’s challenge is not totally different
from the one that faced his predecessors.
“The problem that you have is, you come off a campaign — where there is an
infrastructure and a director in every state — and then you have nothing,” said
Sara Taylor, a White House political director for Mr. Bush. “You have allied
organizations, but they don’t report to you, so you’re relying on allies to be
supportive when you don’t have control of those organizations.”
Mr. Obama’s aides acknowledged that after two long years there were also some
concerns about “list fatigue.” Mr. Obama, the party and the inaugural committee
have reached out to his supporters on the e-mail list so frequently — for money,
for input, for help in persuading their neighbors to vote — that some want to
give it a rest before cranking it up again.
Even some of Mr. Obama’s most enthusiastic foot soldiers understand the
sentiment.
“It’s kind of like we’re spent right now,” said Dr. Robert Gitchell, who
campaigned for Mr. Obama in Ames, Iowa. But, “once that fire is lit” in
supporters, he said, “it’s easy to trigger them all again.”
January 25, 2009
Filed at 8:47 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's pledge of bipartisan cooperation
with Congress will be tested as he tries to fulfill a campaign promise to close
Guantanamo Bay and establish a new system for prosecuting suspected terrorists.
The undertaking is an ambitious one. Fraught with legal complexities, it gives
Republicans ample opportunity to score political points if he doesn't get it
right. There's also the liklihood of a run-in with his former rival, Sen. John
McCain, a former prisoner of war who before running for president staked his
career on overhauling the nation's detainee policies.
''We look forward to working with the president and his administration on these
issues, keeping in mind that the first priority of the U.S. government is to
guarantee the security of the American people,'' McCain, R-Ariz., said in a
joint statement with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
The statement seemed aimed at putting Obama on notice that he must deal with
Congress on the matter.
In his first week in office, Obama ordered Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba to be
closed within a year, CIA secret prisons shuttered and abusive interrogations
ended.
So far, Obama's team has given every indication it will engage lawmakers,
including Republicans, on the issue. Graham and McCain were among several
Republicans briefed last week by White House counsel Greg Craig and handed
drafts of the executive orders.
But once the two sides begin delving into details, there will be ample room for
dispute.
Among the unknowns is how many of the 245 detainees now at Guantanamo Bay will
be prosecuted.
Administration officials said that, pending an internal review, federal and
military courts may be used. But, the officials added, a version of the
secretive military tribunals, as established under President George W. Bush with
the help of McCain, remains an option, too.
Officials say the tribunals may be needed to prosecute suspected terrorists who
are too dangerous to release but whose cases would otherwise fail, either
because evidence was coerced or trying them in a less secretive court would
expose classified information.
Obama could take a page from the Bush administration and try to revamp the
system on his own, through executive order. But that approach failed for Bush,
who angered members of his own party and wound up seeking congressional approval
anyway after the Supreme Court in June 2006 ruled his tribunal system was
unconstitutional.
Obama's other option is to seek legislation on the issue, potentially exposing
his administration to a bruising fight with Republicans on how to handle the
most dangerous of terrorism suspects.
A narrow majority of Americans supports shutting down Guantanamo Bay on a
priority basis. But people are likely to become much less sympathetic to
detainee rights if there is another terrorism attack inside the United States or
if the new system is portrayed as too lenient on suspected al-Qaida members.
Republicans already are trying to portray Obama's review of detainee rights as
soft on terrorism. House Republicans on Friday mobilized a ''rapid response
team'' of lawmakers to speak out against the president's plans.
''The Guantanamo Bay prison is filled with the worst of the worst -- terrorists
and killers bent on murdering Americans and other friends of freedom around the
world,'' said House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio. ''If it is closed, where
will they go, will they be brought to the United States and how will they be
secured?''
Democrats have suggested they expect to be important players in the debate.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who heads the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence, said the panel planned to hold back on legislation ''for a time''
to allow the administration to complete its own assessment. Sen. Carl Levin,
D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he would like
''to at least have an advisory role'' on the final plan.
In 2006, the question of detainee trials and interrogations enveloped Congress
and exposed Republican infighting. McCain, Graham and now retired Sen. John
Warner, R-Va., sharply challenged Bush's handling of detainees. In the end, the
two sides emerged with complex legislation that outlined the inner workings of
military tribunals and defined what constitutes a war crime, effectively banning
specific interrogation techniques seen as too harsh.
Human rights groups and Democrats said the system still gave too much power to
the president. But now, Republicans are worried Obama will swing too far in the
other direction.
Graham, a colonel in the Air Force Reserves assigned to the service's Judge
Advocate General School, said he is concerned that Obama will wind up giving
civilian courts too heavy a hand in dealing with terrorists handled by the
military and CIA.
''Federal judges in my opinion should not be making battlefield decisions. ... I
don't want to lose sight of the fact that we are at war,'' he said.
January 25, 2009
The New York Times
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON — President Obama showed up for his first full day at work on
Wednesday determined, as he later told the nation, to make “a clean break from
business as usual.” But it did not take long for the new president to discover
that there were limits to his power to turn his campaign rhetoric into reality.
Mr. Obama spent his first few days in office rolling out an orchestrated series
of executive orders intended to signal that he would take the nation in a very
different direction from his predecessor, George W. Bush. Yet he wrestled with
fresh challenges at every turn, found some principles hard to consistently apply
and showed himself willing to be pragmatic — at the risk of irking some
supporters who had their hearts set on idealism.
When Mr. Obama wandered into the White House briefing room Thursday afternoon
hoping to make small talk with reporters, he was instantly confronted by an
unwelcome question: Why was he waiving his tough restrictions on lobbying for a
Pentagon nominee? The president brushed it off, saying he would not return “if
I’m going to get grilled every time I come.”
His plan to build bipartisan consensus around an economic package ran smack into
discontented House Republicans. When he ordered the prison at Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba, to be shut down, Mr. Obama put off the tough decision of what to do with
the terrorism suspects there, a delay that his senior adviser, David Axelrod,
attributed to the complexity of the issue — the same argument Mr. Bush used to
keep the prison open.
“That is an enormously complicated situation,” Mr. Axelrod said Friday afternoon
in an interview in his West Wing office, adding: “Obviously, you can’t solve
problems overnight. But what you can do is signal a sense of motion, a sense of
ferment and activity and direction. And I think that he is doing that.”
All around Mr. Axelrod, there were signs of a new White House coming to life.
The senior adviser’s name was tacked onto his door on an 8-by-10 inch computer
printout — Obama aides are still learning where to find one another in the West
Wing — and Mr. Axelrod was waiting in vain for the White House Mess to send over
the salad he had ordered for lunch.
In the Oval Office next door, Mr. Obama was receiving a briefing from his chief
economics adviser, Lawrence H. Summers. When the meeting was over, the vice
president, Joseph R. Biden Jr., wandered by, happily chatting up people in the
hall. There was an obvious buzz in the place, yet Mr. Axelrod insisted Mr. Obama
had experienced no flush of presidential newness.
“There has not been a kind of ‘Oh my God’ moment where he said, ‘Now I’m the
president,’ ” Mr. Axelrod said.
Throughout the campaign, Mr. Obama was something of a political Rorschach test;
he was not required to make tough executive decisions, and so people could see
in him what they wanted. His first few days as president, though, have given the
first hints of how he will run his administration.
“I think you will see a presidency that’s less about hard-core ideology, and
more about setting bold strategic objectives and setting out how we are going to
get there,” said John D. Podesta, who ran Mr. Obama’s transition.
Already, that has given rise to some contradictions.
On his first full day in office, Mr. Obama declared that his administration
would place a high priority on openness and transparency. Yet the first official
White House briefing was given by two senior aides who, in the time-honored way
of Washington, demanded anonymity.
At the same time, the Obama team made no apologies for the president’s
willingness to make an exception to his tough anti-lobbying rules for William J.
Lynn III, a military industry lobbyist who is the president’s pick for deputy
secretary of defense. That exception drew sharp questions late Friday from
Senator John McCain, Mr. Obama’s opponent in the general election and someone
the president has sought to make an ally.
Senator Richard J. Durbin, an Illinois Democrat and a close friend of Mr.
Obama’s, said the move suggested the president was willing to take a few lumps
if he thought he was right.
“He obviously needed and wanted this man,” Mr. Durbin said, “because he knew the
critics would say, ‘What are you doing here? You established a rule and you
changed it.’ ”
And while as a candidate Mr. Obama had tough criticism for the Bush
administration’s use of harsh interrogation tactics, President Obama left
himself some wiggle room in overturning that policy, by deferring a decision on
whether some techniques should remain secret to keep Al Qaeda from training to
resist them.
“I think it emphasizes a realist, a pragmatist, someone who is not on a strictly
political or ideological exercise,” said Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode
Island, who is close to the president. “It underscores what I think is part of
his leadership style, which is that there has to be some flexibility — a firm
principle but a flexible application.”
Yet one man’s flexibility is another man’s wishy-washiness, and Mr. Obama’s
willingness to adapt carries the risk that he will either alienate his liberal
base or fail to convert Republicans whose support he hopes to win. During his
transition, Mr. Obama managed to charm conservatives; he wooed them at one
dinner honoring Mr. McCain, and at another at the home of the columnist George
F. Will.
But just days into the Obama presidency, some conservatives sound wary.
“I thought he did very well during the transition on things like the dinner with
George Will, and all the words sounded good,” said Newt Gingrich, the Republican
former speaker of the House. “But I think they are right at the cusp of either
sliding down into a world where their words have no meaning or having to follow
up their words with real behavior.”
Mr. Obama came into office with a clear set of objectives for his first week,
advisers said. He wanted to convey a sense that he was moving quickly to make
good on campaign pledges, while at the same time establishing realistic
expectations for what he could achieve. “He wanted to show that an activist
president could get the ball rolling right away,” Mr. Podesta said.
Many Democrats, and even some Republicans, say he succeeded. “He is creating an
image that he is making something happen,” said Scott Reed, a Republican
strategist.
But in the coming weeks, Mr. Obama will have to do more than create an image; he
will in fact have to make something happen — most immediately, an economic
stimulus package with bipartisan support, as promised. His ability to bring
Democrats and Republicans together will be the first major test of his
presidency.
That test began Friday, in the White House Roosevelt Room, where Mr. Obama tried
to bring House Republicans on board, despite their fundamental differences on
tax policy for low-wage workers.
“I said to him straight up, ‘I think your electoral success was largely based on
the hope that you could deliver change to the way Washington works,’ ” said
Representative Eric Cantor, the Republican whip. He said he had told Mr. Obama
pointedly that he would lose Republican support unless House Democrats were
willing to make some changes in the bill.
The president listened intently, Mr. Cantor said, giving little hint of how he
planned to square that circle.
January 25, 2009
The New York Times
By PETER BAKER
WASHINGTON — President Obama, seeking to broaden the appeal of his signature
initiative, said Saturday that a proposed $825 billion package of spending
programs and tax breaks was crucial not only to turn around the economy but also
to rebuild the nation for a new era.
In his first weekly video address as president, Mr. Obama made the case that the
package would help students go to college, protect workers from losing health
care, lower energy bills and modernize schools, roads and utilities.
“This is not just a short-term program to boost employment,” Mr. Obama said.
“It’s one that will invest in our most important priorities like energy and
education, health care and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us
strong and competitive in the 21st century.”
The speech was part of a developing campaign by the White House to build
momentum behind the plan and propel it to passage by mid-February. The White
House released a report Saturday revealing details about the package, which
would pay for a variety of projects, like laying 3,000 miles of transmission
lines for a national electric grid, securing 90 major ports and guaranteeing
health insurance for 8.5 million Americans in danger of losing coverage.
The administration plans to press the lobbying effort in coming days. Vice
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will appear Sunday on “Face the Nation” on CBS,
and Mr. Obama’s chief economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, will appear on
“Meet the Press” on NBC. Mr. Obama, who hosted Congressional leaders from both
parties on Friday and met with his economic team on Saturday, will visit Capitol
Hill in the coming week to talk with Republican lawmakers on their home turf.
But House Republicans are stiffening their resistance to the magnitude of
spending in the plan developed by House Democrats on Mr. Obama’s behalf to
create or save more than three million jobs. About two-thirds of the $825
billion is reserved for spending and the rest for tax breaks. In the Republican
response to the president’s address, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the
House minority leader, called for deeper tax cuts instead.
Mr. Boehner, who will also be on “Meet the Press,” pushed a Republican plan to
lower federal income tax rates in the two lowest brackets rather than provide a
$500 per worker tax credit, as Mr. Obama wants to do. The Republican plan would
also give tax breaks to small businesses, home buyers and the unemployed.
“Our plan is rooted in the philosophy that we cannot borrow and spend our way
back to prosperity,” Mr. Boehner said. “Unfortunately, the trillion-dollar
spending plan authored by Congressional Democrats is chock-full of government
programs and projects, most of which won’t provide immediate relief to our
ailing economy.”
Mr. Boehner cited numbers to counter Mr. Obama’s, saying the House Democratic
plan included $600 million for the federal government to buy new cars, $650
million for digital television coupons and $50 million for the National
Endowment for the Arts. “All told,” he said, “the plan would spend a whopping
$275,000 in taxpayer dollars for every new job it aims to create.”
The White House report offered more detail about how Mr. Obama intended the
money to be spent and was released to “put meat on the bones,” as one White
House National Economic Council official put it. The targets are consistent with
the House Democratic legislation, the official said.
According to the report, the Obama plan would double the generating capacity of
renewable energy over three years, enough to power six million American homes.
It would retrofit two million homes and 75 percent of all federal buildings to
better protect against the weather, saving low-income homeowners an average of
$350 a year in utility costs and the government $2 billion a year.
The White House also envisions using loan guarantees and other financial support
to leverage $100 billion in private sector investment in so-called clean energy
projects over three years. The plan would lay 3,000 miles of new or upgraded
transmission wires for a new electric grid.
The plan would help 8.5 million Americans keep health care coverage by providing
workers who lose insurance with tax credits to pay for continuing coverage under
the federal law known as Cobra, and by expanding Medicaid coverage for
low-income Americans who lack access to Cobra. The Medicaid formula would be
adjusted to protect 20 million Americans whose coverage might be in jeopardy
because of state budget shortfalls.
The plan would modernize 10,000 schools, improve security at 90 ports and build
1,300 wastewater projects. It would bolster Pell Grants to help seven million
students and offer a new tax credit for four million college students. And it
would increase food stamp benefits for 30 million Americans and increase Social
Security benefits $450 for 7.5 million disabled and elderly people.
In his speech, Mr. Obama said he knew that some worried about the size of his
plan. “I understand that skepticism,” he said, “which is why this recovery plan
must and will include unprecedented measures that will allow the American people
to hold my administration accountable for these results.
“We won’t just throw money at our problems; we’ll invest in what works.”
David M. Herszenhorn, Michael Falcone and Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed
reporting.
January 25, 2009
The New York Times
By MARK LEIBOVICH
WASHINGTON — Early this month, Barack Obama was meeting with the House
speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and other lawmakers when Rahm Emanuel, his chief of
staff, began nervously cracking a knuckle.
Mr. Obama then turned to complain to Mr. Emanuel about his noisy habit.
At which point, Mr. Emanuel held the offending knuckle up to Mr. Obama’s left
ear and, like an annoying little brother, snapped off a few special cracks.
The episode, confirmed by Mr. Emanuel’s office, underscores some essential
truths about Mr. Emanuel: He is brash, has a deep comfort level with his new
boss, and has been ever-present at Mr. Obama’s side of late, in meetings, on
podiums and in photographs.
There he was, standing at President Obama’s desk in one of the first Oval Office
pictures; and again, playfully thumbing his nose at his former House colleagues
during the inauguration; there he was, accompanying the president to a meeting
with Congressional leaders on Friday.
Mr. Emanuel is arguably the second most powerful man in the country and, just a
few days into his tenure, already one of the highest-profile chiefs of staff in
recent memory. He starred in his own Mad magazine cartoon, won the “Your New
Obama Hottie” contest on Gawker.com and has become something of a paparazzi icon
around Washington.
In recent months, he has played a crucial role in the selection and courtship of
nearly every cabinet member and key White House staff member.
Renowned as a fierce partisan, he has been an ardent ambassador to Republicans,
including Mr. Obama’s defeated rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona. He has
exerted influence on countless decisions; in meetings, administration officials
say, Mr. Obama often allows him to speak first and last.
“You can see how he listens and reacts to Rahm,” said Ron Klain, the chief of
staff to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. “You can see that his opinion is
being shaped.”
A reason Mr. Emanuel, 49, has drawn so much attention is that he seems to be in
a kind of recalibration mode.
How will the feisty, bombastic and at times impulsive former congressman blend
with the cool, collegial and deliberate culture of Obama World? And one that is
trying to foster bipartisanship? This is someone who once wrote in Campaign and
Elections magazine that “the untainted Republican has not yet been invented” and
who two years ago — according to a book about Mr. Emanuel (“The Thumpin’ ” by
Naftali Bendavid) — announced to his staff that Republicans are “bad people who
deserve a two-by-four upside their heads.”
Efforts at a New Aura
It is clear to friends and colleagues that Mr. Emanuel is trying to rein himself
in, lower his voice, even cut down on his use of profanity.
“As chief of staff, you take on the aura and image and, in some instance, the
political values of the person you work for,” said former Representative Ray
LaHood, an Illinois Republican who is now transportation secretary. “I think
he’s beginning to morph himself into the Obama image.”
Mr. Emanuel acknowledged in an interview Friday that a stereotype of him as a
relentless hothead has some factual basis. But it is an exaggerated or outdated
picture, he said.
“I’m not yelling at people; I’m not jumping on tables,” he said. “That’s a
campaign. Being the chief of staff of a government is different. You have
different tools in your toolbox.”
Still, his high profile and temperament are at odds with that of some past White
House chiefs of staff: they were often low-key types who put the “staff” part of
their job titles before “chief” — as Andrew H. Card Jr., the longtime chief of
staff to former President George W. Bush, suggested to Mr. Emanuel last month.
Mr. Emanuel, who had hopes of becoming House speaker, has stepped into a job
characterized by short tenures — just under two and a half years, on average —
high burnout rates and the need to subjugate personal ambitions to the service
of the president.
He is not accustomed to fading discreetly into the background. As a staff member
in the Clinton White House, a three-term House member from Chicago and the
chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he was viewed by
many as a consummate purveyor of a crass, kneecapping brand of politics.
Mr. Obama acknowledged as much at a 2005 roast for Mr. Emanuel, who is a former
ballet dancer, during which Mr. Obama credited him with being “the first to
adopt Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ for dance” (a number that included “a lot of
kicks below the waist”). When Mr. Emanuel lost part of his middle finger while
cutting meat at an Arby’s as a teenager, Mr. Obama joked, the accident “rendered
him practically mute.”
The video of that roast has become a recent sensation on the Internet and
buttressed a view among some Republicans that Mr. Emanuel’s appointment was, in
the words of the House minority leader, Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio,
“an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington,
make politics more civil.”
While acknowledging that he can be something of a showman, friends say Mr.
Emanuel has calmed considerably.
“He’s more temperate now,” said David Axelrod, a senior White House adviser and
longtime Emanuel friend who dismissed much of his flamboyant reputation as “pure
myth.” Mr. Axelrod added, “A lot of it is a reputation he earned as a younger
guy.”
On the Go Before Sunrise
Late Friday afternoon, at the end of his first week in the White House, Mr.
Emanuel was sitting in his corner office, sick with a cold, baggy-eyed and
looking tired. “Everyone keeps saying, ‘Are you having fun?’ ” he said. “Fun is
not the first adjective that comes to mind.”
He woke as usual at 5 a.m., swam a mile at the Y, read papers and was in the
office at 7 for the senior staff meeting at 7:30. There was a meeting in the
Situation Room about Afghanistan; a leadership meeting; a conversation with the
Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada; a meeting with Senator
Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah; budget meetings; several conversations with
the president.
Mr. Emanuel, in the interview, rejected any notion that he was reinventing
himself for his new job. But he is mindful, he said, that he must fit into a
culture that was forged over two years on a campaign, “a group that was part of
a journey together.”
Mr. Obama had settled on his fellow Chicagoan to be his chief of staff well
before he was elected. He was drawn to Mr. Emanuel’s experience in both the
White House and Congress and called him “the whole package” of political acumen,
policy chops and pragmatism. He is also a skilled compromiser. “He knows there
is a time in this business to drop the switchblades and make a deal,” said
Representative Adam H. Putnam, Republican of Florida.
Mr. Emanuel initially resisted taking the job. He came around after Mr. Obama
insisted, saying these were momentous times and that the awesome tasks he faced
required Mr. Emanuel’s help. The president-elect also assured Mr. Emanuel that
the position would be the functional equivalent of “a No. 2” or “right-hand
man,” according to a person familiar with their exchanges.
After taking the job, Mr. Emanuel spent endless hours reaching out to lawmakers.
Mr. Reid gave out Mr. Emanuel’s personal cellphone number, with Mr. Emanuel’s
blessing, at a caucus meeting of about 40 Senate Democrats this month. (“He
seems to speak to every senator every day,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer,
Democrat of New York.)
Mr. Emanuel has been equally solicitous of Republicans in Congress (who also
have been given access to Mr. Emanuel’s private contact information). On days he
does not swim, he works out, and conducts business, at the House gym: 25 minutes
on the bike, 20 minutes on the elliptical, 120 situps, 55 push-ups and many
sweaty conversations with his former colleagues. In a recent encounter there,
for instance, with Representative Peter Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, Mr.
Emanuel secured his support for Leon E. Panetta to head the Central Intelligence
Agency.
Mr. Emanuel has endured, or caused, some early distractions — his conversations
with Gov. Rod R. Blogojevich of Illinois about Mr. Obama’s then-vacant Senate
seat; his failure to alert Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who
is chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to Mr. Panetta’s
appointment.
So far, Mr. Emanuel has been more chief than staff in performing his job,
according to several officials. He advocated fiercely for posts for fellow
Clinton administration alums like Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mr. Panetta; not so
much for the outgoing Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean, with
whom he had clashed while at the Congressional Campaign Committee. (“He was
never negative about Dean,” said the Obama transition head, John D. Podesta, who
added, “I wouldn’t characterize it as the other way, either.”)
Mr. Emanuel has also served as the administration’s chief headhunter. When the
Office of Management and Budget director, Peter R. Orszag, had doubts about
taking the job, Mr. Emanuel went into his default mode — jackhammering away at
him, tracking him down in Hong Kong. “You can’t sit on the sidelines; you’ve got
to come inside,” Mr. Emanuel told him.
Asked if “relentless” would be a fair characterization of Mr. Emanuel’s
recruitment method, Mr. Orszag said, simply: “He’s Rahm. Come on.”
The selection of Mr. LaHood demonstrates Mr. Emanuel’s sway with Mr. Obama.
After Mr. Emanuel sounded out Mr. LaHood about his interest in joining the
administration, he was summoned to a meeting in Chicago with the
president-elect.
The interview lasted 30 minutes, just Mr. Obama and Mr. LaHood.
“Look, Rahm Emanuel loves you,” Mr. Obama told Mr. LaHood as he prepared to
leave. “He is really pressing me and pushing me. And it’s not that I don’t want
to do it, but. ...”
A few days later, Mr. LaHood was selected to be transportation secretary.
Banter With the Boss
At a White House gathering with Mr. Obama and a bipartisan team of lawmakers on
Friday, the House majority leader, Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, joked
that Mr. Emanuel was too busy to talk to him, so he called the president
instead. Mr. Obama said he was always happy to take calls for his chief of staff
— a reference to an incident a few weeks ago when Mr. Hoyer called Mr. Emanuel,
who was in the back of a car and claimed he was too busy to talk, so he handed
the phone to Mr. Obama.
In meetings, it is not uncommon for Mr. Obama and Mr. Emanuel to engage in
teasing banter. One White House official recalls an exchange last week in which
Mr. Obama said something to the effect of, “Well, I was going to do that, but I
didn’t want Rahm to mope for a half-hour.”
But it will not always be so pleasant for Mr. Emanuel. “He’s going to be blamed
for a lot of things,” Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma, said of
his former colleague.
Saying no is a big part of being chief of staff. Infighting is inevitable; so
are enemies and rivalries.
In addition to cabinet officials — and the vice president — a cadre of “senior
advisers” who have long and varied histories with Mr. Obama will be seeking his
attention. They include Pete Rouse (Mr. Obama’s chief of staff in the Senate),
Valerie Jarrett (a close Obama family friend) and Mr. Axelrod, whose office is a
few feet closer to the Oval Office than is Mr. Emanuel’s. The White House
spokesman, Robert Gibbs, one of the Mr. Obama’s closest Senate and campaign
aides, will also enjoy walk-in access to the president.
Mr. Emanuel has been in the job four days — and, by day’s end Friday, it looked
more like four years.
He is slumped deep in his couch, periodically swatting at a giant fly that keeps
orbiting his office. He is hoping to get out of the office to meet some friends
for the Jewish Sabbath dinner. He has a physical therapy appointment for a
pinched nerve in his neck. He missed his children — 8, 10 and 11 — who are
visiting this week but are soon headed back to Chicago, where they are remaining
for now. “For me to be the parent I want to be, I think it’s very hard,” he
said, referring to the demands of his current job.
Just then, Mr. Orszag arrived at his door.
“Orz, what’s wrong?” Mr. Emanuel said. “Can you give me a minute, or do you need
something?”
He needed something.
Mr. Emanuel left, returned and started talking about how his staffs tended to be
loyal. “I drive people as hard as I drive myself,” he said.
Then Mr. Obama came to his door.
“Mr. President!” Mr. Emanuel said, jumping from his couch to his feet in
something that resembled a dance move, and they walked out together.
January 25, 2009
The New York Times
By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to move quickly to tighten the
nation’s financial regulatory system.
Officials say they will make wide-ranging changes, including stricter federal
rules for hedge funds, credit rating agencies and mortgage brokers, and greater
oversight of the complex financial instruments that contributed to the economic
crisis.
Broad new outlines of the administration’s agenda have begun to emerge in recent
interviews with officials, in confirmation proceedings of senior appointees and
in a recent report by an international committee led by Paul A. Volcker, a
senior member of President Obama’s economic team.
A theme of that report, that many major companies and financial instruments now
mostly unsupervised must be swept back under a larger regulatory umbrella, has
been embraced as a guiding principle by the administration, officials said.
Some of these actions will require legislation, while others should be
achievable through regulations adopted by several federal agencies.
Officials said they want rules to eliminate conflicts of interest at credit
rating agencies that gave top investment grades to the exotic and ultimately
shaky financial instruments that have been a source of market turmoil. The core
problem, they said, is that the agencies are paid by companies to help them
structure financial instruments, which the agencies then grade.
“Until we deal with the compensation model, we’re not going to deal with the
conflict of interest, and people are not going to have confidence that the
ratings are worth relying on, worth the paper they’re printed on,” Mary L.
Schapiro said in testimony earlier this month before being confirmed by the
Senate to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Timothy F. Geithner, the nominee for Treasury secretary, made similar comments
in written and oral testimony before the Senate Finance Committee.
Aides said they would propose new federal standards for mortgage brokers who
issued many unsuitable loans and are largely regulated by state officials. They
are considering proposals to have the S.E.C. become more involved in supervising
the underwriting standards of securities that are backed by mortgages.
The administration is also preparing to require that derivatives like credit
default swaps, a type of insurance against loan defaults that were at the center
of the financial meltdown last year, be traded through a central clearinghouse
and possibly on one or more exchanges. That would make it significantly easier
for regulators to supervise their use.
Officials said that the proposals were aimed at the core regulatory problems and
gaps that have been highlighted by the market crisis. They include lax
government oversight of financial institutions and lenders, poor risk management
efforts by banks and other financial companies, the creation of exotic financial
instruments that were not adequately supported by their issuing companies, and
risky and ill-considered borrowing habits of many homeowners whose homes are now
worth significantly less than their mortgages.
“I believe that our regulatory system failed to adapt to the emergence of new
risks,” Mr. Geithner said in a written response to questions that was made
public on Friday by Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan. “The current
financial crisis has exposed a number of serious deficiencies in our federal
regulatory system.”
The regulatory changes are a major piece of a broader package being prepared by
the new administration to address the market crisis. Another piece to be issued
soon will provide the strategy for how the government will go about repairing
the declining banking industry. Congress recently approved the second $350
billion in spending from the Troubled Assets Relief Program.
The White House has come under increasing political and market pressure to
disclose how it intends to manage the program, and there is nervous expectation
on Capitol Hill that the administration will need to spend more than $350
billion. That plan is expected to focus on reducing foreclosures, revising the
bank bailout program, and buying or issuing guarantees for the rapidly
deteriorating assets that have been discouraging more private investment in the
banks.
Senior aides have vowed to move quickly on the administration’s financial
regulatory agenda. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, approved last fall,
requires the White House to make regulatory recommendations to Congress by April
30, although the administration is preparing to make legislative and regulatory
proposals sooner.
Mr. Obama is expected to make one of his first foreign trips to a summit of the
leaders of the Group of 20 nations in London on April 2, and officials said the
administration will have outlined the details of its proposed regulatory
overhaul by then.
Officials have been grappling for nearly a year to figure out how to better
oversee the financial system, particularly as a number of large and inadequately
supervised companies have encountered problems. In a sweeping regulatory
blueprint unveiled last March, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. proposed
a broad consolidation of banking and financial agencies, including merging the
Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
That proposal is not included in the current plans.
Other elements of the regulatory overhaul, such as the requirement that hedge
funds register with and be more closely supervised by the S.E.C., would mark a
sharp departure from the policies of the Bush administration. Many hedge funds
now voluntarily register and subject themselves to some regulation, but the Bush
administration opposed attempts to make registration and tighter oversight
mandatory, even though that was proposed by William H. Donaldson, a chairman of
the commission appointed by President George W. Bush.
But other proposals the Obama administration is preparing to make, like tighter
federal regulation of mortgage brokers, had been recommended in Mr. Paulson’s
blueprint.
Officials said some credit default swaps with unique characteristics negotiated
between companies might not be able to trade on exchanges or through
clearinghouses. But standardized or uniform ones could.
“We want to make sure that the standardized part of those markets move into a
central clearinghouse and onto exchanges as quickly as possible,” Mr. Geithner
testified. “I think that’s really important for the system. It will help reduce
risk and the system as a whole.”
The new trading procedures for derivatives could also enable regulators to
impose capital and collateral requirements on companies that issue credit
default swaps that would make them safer investments. American International
Group, one of the largest issuer of such swaps, never had to post collateral and
nearly collapsed as a result of issuing a huge volume of such instruments that
it was unable to support.
Officials said the plan may include a broader role for the Federal Reserve in
protecting the economy from companies whose troubles pose systemwide risks, as
the report issued under the leadership of Mr. Volcker, a former Fed chairman,
has proposed. The report was issued this month by a subcommittee of the Group of
30, a not-for-profit body of senior representatives from various governments and
the private sector. The group’s members include Mr. Geithner and Lawrence H.
Summers, the director of the White House National Economic Council.
Administration officials have begun to study ways to control executive
compensation.
For example, they are preparing proposals to limit executive pay at companies
that receive money under the bank bailout program. In response to written
questions by Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, Mr. Geithner said
that in such circumstances the administration was planning to set a limit and
that any compensation over that amount would “be paid in restricted stock or
similar form that cannot be liquidated or sold until government assistance has
been repaid.”
“Excessive executive compensation that provides inappropriate incentives,” Mr.
Geithner said, “has played a role in exacerbating the financial crisis.”
January 25, 2009
The New York Times
By MARK LEIBOVICH
WASHINGTON — The company that makes Beanie Babies has introduced two new
dolls, named Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia.
Hey, wait a minute, aren’t Sasha and Malia the names of the Obama daughters?
Yes.
Coincidence? Ty Inc., the company in Oak Brook, Ill., that makes the dolls, said
yes and no.
“They are beautiful names,” Tania Lundeen, a spokeswoman for Ty, said in an
interview with The Associated Press. But, “there’s nothing on the girls that
refers to the Obama girls,” she said.
But what about the fact that in addition to sharing unusual names, Sweet Sasha
and Marvelous Malia are slender brown-skinned and brown-eyed dolls that bear a
resemblance to the 7- and 10-year-old darlings who just moved into the White
House?
“It would not be fair to say they are exact replications of these girls,” Ms.
Lundeen told The A.P.
But the first lady, Michelle Obama, who has publicly described her role as “mom
in chief,” apparently was not amused. “We feel it is inappropriate to use young,
private citizens for marketing purposes,” Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Mrs. Obama’s
press secretary, said in a statement on Saturday.
The first lady’s office declined to comment further. A representative for Ty
could not be reached late Saturday.
Ty released the foot-tall dolls as part of its TyGirlz Collection, and they are
featured prominently on the company’s Web site. Sweet Sasha’s dark brown doll
hair is twisted in braids, while Marvelous Malia’s is of similar length but
pulled into a long ponytail over one shoulder.
Other dolls in the TyGirlz Collection include Jammin’ Jenna, Happy Hillary,
Precious Paris and Bubbly Britney.
Obama Acts Fast on Mideast, But Substance Familiar
January 23, 2009
Filed at 8:06 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By REUTERS
CAIRO (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has taken the Middle East by
surprise with the speed of his diplomacy but his first statement on the conflict
between Arabs and Israelis was strikingly similar to old U.S. policies.
Arab leaders in the meantime are jumping in with their own proposals in the hope
of helping to shape U.S. policy before the new administration sets it in stone.
Arab governments and commentators had expected Obama to take his time before
turning his attention to the Middle East, concentrating instead on the U.S.
economy and domestic concerns.
But the new president, only two days into office, appointed on Thursday a
special envoy for the region, veteran mediator and former Senator George
Mitchell, and said Mitchell would go to the Middle East as soon as possible.
Mitchell will try to ensure that an informal ceasefire between Israel and the
Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip becomes durable and sustainable, Obama
added.
One day earlier, Obama made telephone calls to Washington's long-standing allies
in the Middle East - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan.
The conservative Arab governments saw the calls as an affirmation of their
privileged status -- another sign that Obama is sticking to traditional
approaches.
"It took two longs days before Obama dispelled any notions of a change in U.S.
Middle East policy," said As'ad Abu Khalil, Lebanese-born and pro-Palestinian
professor of political science at California State University.
"Obama's speech was quite something. It was like sprinkling sulphuric acid on
the wounds of the children in Gaza," he added.
But Obama's diplomatic activism and promises of engagement on Arab-Israeli
conflicts does at least address one of the conservatives' main grievances about
former President George W. Bush -- that he ignored the conflict for too long and
never put his full weight behind any Middle East peace plan.
A senior member of the Saudi ruling family, Prince Turki al-Faisal, said Bush
had left "a sickening legacy" in the Middle East and had contributed through
arrogance to Israel's slaughter of innocent people in Gaza over the past month.
"If the United States wants to continue playing a leadership role in the Middle
East and keep its strategic alliances intact ... it will have to revise
drastically its policies vis a vis Israel and Palestine," he added.
Jamal Khashoggi, editor of the Saudi newspaper al-Watan, said the Saudi
government was still optimistic about Obama, whom it sees as a possible friend
to the Muslim world.
"Even the few Saudi officials who liked Bush were disappointed with him in the
last two years," he added.
Maverick Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi took the opportunity of Obama's advent to
refloat his own pet proposal -- that Israelis and Palestinians live together in
one state.
"CONSTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS"
Prince Turki, a nephew of King Abdullah and a former ambassador to Washington,
said Washington should back the Arab peace initiative of 2002, which offers
Israel peace and normal relations in return for withdrawal to its 1967 borders.
In his policy statement on Thursday, Obama said the Arab peace offer contained
what he called constructive elements.
But he then called on Arab governments to carry out their half of the bargain --
"taking steps toward normalizing relations with Israel" -- without suggesting
that Israel should meet the parallel Arab demand for territorial withdrawal.
Obama gave full backing to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his
Western-backed prime minister, ignoring the political weight of Hamas and other
groups opposed to Abbas.
He repeated the controversial conditions which the Quartet of external powers in
2006 for dealing with Hamas -- recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and
accepting previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
Some analysts had speculated that Obama might bring a new approach to dealings
with Hamas and other Middle East forces which retain the right to armed struggle
against Israel.
Obama even linked ending the Israeli and Egyptian blockade of Gaza -- one of the
roots of the recent fighting -- to restoring Abbas's control of Gaza's borders.
That could perpetuate the present blockade for months or years to come.
U.S. reconstruction aid for Gaza will also be channeled exclusively through
Abbas, who has no control over Gaza.
The new president followed the traditional U.S. approach of relying on Egypt to
mediate between Israel and Hamas and to stop Hamas in Gaza receiving weapons
through smuggling.
But Egypt failed to bring Hamas and Israel together on an agreed ceasefire and
Israel says that Cairo's anti-smuggling efforts along the Gaza-Egypt border fall
far short.
Hamas dismissed Obama's first venture into Middle East policy making as more of
the same failed U.S. strategy.
"It seems Obama is trying to repeat the same mistakes that George Bush made
without taking into consideration Bush's experience that resulted in the
explosion of the region," the Hamas representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan,
told Al Jazeera.
The pro-Syrian Lebanese newspaper As-Safir added: "The new American President
inspired by Bush's positions ... Obama continues the Israeli war on the
Palestinian people."
"(Obama) disappointed many hopes set on his balance and moderate views toward
the Arab-Israeli conflict, since his positions allows Israel to continue what it
began in its last war on Gaza," the newspaper added.
(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Beirut and Riyadh newsroom; Editing by
Samia Nakhoul)
The Frigid Fingers Were Live, but the Music Wasn’t
January 23, 2009
The New York Times
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
It was not precisely lip-synching, but pretty close.
The somber, elegiac tones before President Obama’s oath of office at the
inauguration on Tuesday came from the instruments of Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman
and two colleagues. But what the millions on the Mall and watching on television
heard was in fact a recording, made two days earlier by the quartet and matched
tone for tone by the musicians playing along.
The players and the inauguration organizing committee said the arrangement was
necessary because of the extreme cold and wind during Tuesday’s ceremony. The
conditions raised the possibility of broken piano strings, cracked instruments
and wacky intonation minutes before the president’s swearing in (which had
problems of its own).
“Truly, weather just made it impossible,” Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for the
Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said on Thursday. “No
one’s trying to fool anybody. This isn’t a matter of Milli Vanilli,” Ms. Florman
added, referring to the pop band that was stripped of a 1989 Grammy because the
duo did not sing on their album and lip-synched in concerts.
Ms. Florman said that the use of a recording was not disclosed beforehand but
that the NBC producers handling the television pool were told of its likelihood
the day before.
The network said it sent a note to pool members saying that the use of
recordings in the musical numbers was possible. Inaugural musical performances
are routinely recorded ahead of time for just such an eventuality, Ms. Florman
said. The Marine Band and choruses, which performed throughout the ceremony, did
not use a recording, she said.
“It’s not something we would announce, but it’s not something we would try to
hide,” Ms. Florman said. “Frankly, it would never have occurred to me to
announce it. The fact they were forced to perform to tape because of the weather
did not seem relevant, nor would we want to draw attention away from what we
believed the news is, that we were having a peaceful transition of power from
one administration to the next.”
Anthony McGill, a principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera, and the
pianist Gabriela Montero joined Mr. Ma and Mr. Perlman in “Air and Simple
Gifts,” a piece written for the occasion by John Williams. While not all music
critics agreed about the quality of the piece, some took note of the frigid
circumstances for the performers. And the classical music world was heartened by
the prominent place given to its field.
Mr. Perlman said the recording, which was made Sunday at the Marine Barracks in
Washington, was used as a last resort.
“It would have been a disaster if we had done it any other way,” he said
Thursday in a telephone interview. “This occasion’s got to be perfect. You can’t
have any slip-ups.”
The musicians wore earpieces to hear the playback.
Performing along to recordings of oneself is a venerable practice, and it is
usually accompanied by a whiff of critical disapproval. Famous practitioners
since the Milli Vanilli affair include Ashlee Simpson, caught doing it on
“Saturday Night Live,” and Luciano Pavarotti, discovered lip-synching during a
concert in Modena, Italy. More recently, Chinese organizers superimposed the
voice of a sweeter-singing little girl on that of a 9-year-old performer
featured at the opening ceremony of last summer’s Olympic Games.
In the case of the inauguration, the musicians argued that the magnitude of the
occasion and the harsh weather made the dubbing necessary and that there was no
shame in it.
“I really wanted to do something that was absolutely physically and emotionally
and, timing-wise, genuine,” Mr. Ma said. “We also knew we couldn’t have any
technical or instrumental malfunction on that occasion. A broken string was not
an option. It was wicked cold.”
Along with admiration for the musicians’ yeoman work in the cold, questions had
swirled in the classical music world about whether Mr. Ma and Mr. Perlman would
use their valuable cello and violin in the subfreezing weather. Both used modern
instruments. Mr. Ma said he had considered using a hardy carbon-fiber cello, but
rejected the idea to avoid distracting viewers with its unorthodox appearance.
“What we were there for,” he said, “was to really serve the moment.”
January 22, 2009
The New York Times
By MARK MAZZETTI and WILLIAM GLABERSON
WASHINGTON — President Obama signed executive orders Thursday directing the
Central Intelligence Agency to shut what remains of its network of secret
prisons and ordering the closing of the Guantánamo detention camp within a year,
government officials said.
The orders, which are the first steps in undoing detention policies of former
President George W. Bush, rewrite American rules for the detention of terrorism
suspects. They require an immediate review of the 245 detainees still held at
the naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to determine if they should be
transferred, released or prosecuted.
And the orders bring to an end a Central Intelligence Agency program that kept
terrorism suspects in secret custody for months or years, a practice that has
brought fierce criticism from foreign governments and human rights activists.
They will also prohibit the C.I.A. from using coercive interrogation methods,
requiring the agency to follow the same rules used by the military in
interrogating terrorism suspects, government officials said.
But the orders leave unresolved complex questions surrounding the closing of the
Guantánamo prison, including whether, where and how many of the detainees are to
be prosecuted. They could also allow Mr. Obama to reinstate the C.I.A.’s
detention and interrogation operations in the future, by presidential order, as
some have argued would be appropriate if Osama bin Laden or another top-level
leader of Al Qaeda were captured.
The new White House counsel, Gregory B. Craig, briefed lawmakers about some
elements of the orders on Wednesday evening. A Congressional official who
attended the session said Mr. Craig acknowledged concerns from intelligence
officials that new restrictions on C.I.A. methods might be unwise and indicated
that the White House might be open to allowing the use of methods other than the
19 techniques allowed for the military.
Details of the directive involving the C.I.A. were described by government
officials who insisted on anonymity so they could not be blamed for pre-empting
a White House announcement. Copies of the draft order on Guantánamo were
provided by people who have consulted with Mr. Obama’s transition team and
requested anonymity for the same reason.
In remarks prepared for delivery at his confirmation hearings to become director
of national intelligence in the Obama administration, Dennis C. Blair, a retired
admiral with a long background in intelligence, endorsed the new approach and
promised to enforce it rigorously. “It is not enough to set a standard and
announce it,” he said.
“I believe strongly that torture is not moral, legal or effective,” he told the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “Any program of detention and
interrogation must comply with the Geneva Conventions, the Conventions on
Torture, and the Constitution. There must be clear standards for humane
treatment that apply to all agencies of U.S. Government, including the
Intelligence Community,” his written statement said.
As for closing Guantanamo, he said that would take time but must be done because
it has become “a damaging symbol to the world.”
“It is a rallyingcry for terrorist recruitment and harmful to our national
security, so closing it is important for our national security,” Admiral Blair’s
statement said.
“The guiding principles for closing the center should beprotecting our national
security, respecting the Geneva Conventions and the rule of law, and respecting
the existing institutions of justice in this country. I also believe we should
revitalize efforts to transfer detainees to their countries of origin or other
countries whenever that would be consistent with these principles. Closing this
center and satisfying these principles will take time, and is the work of many
departments and agencies.”
The executive order on interrogations is certain to be received with some
skepticism at the C.I.A., which for years has maintained that the military’s
interrogation rules are insufficient to get information from senior Qaeda
figures like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The Bush administration asserted that the
harsh interrogation methods were instrumental in gaining valuable intelligence
on Qaeda operations.
The intelligence agency built a network of secret prisons in 2002 to house and
interrogate senior Qaeda figures captured overseas. The exact number of suspects
to have moved through the prisons is unknown, although Michael V. Hayden, the
departing director of the agency, has in the past put the number at “fewer than
100.”
The secret detentions brought international condemnation, and in September 2006,
President Bush ordered that the remaining 14 detainees in C.I.A. custody be
transferred to Guantánamo Bay and tried by military tribunals.
But Mr. Bush made clear then that he was not shutting down the C.I.A. detention
system, and in the last two years, two Qaeda operatives are believed to have
been detained in agency prisons for several months each before being sent to
Guantánamo.
A government official said Mr. Obama’s order on the C.I.A. would still allow its
officers abroad to temporarily detain terrorism suspects and transfer them to
other agencies, but would no longer allow the agency to carry out long-term
detentions.
Since the early days after the 2001 attacks, the intelligence agency’s role in
detaining terrorism suspects has been significantly scaled back, as has the
severity of interrogation methods the agency is permitted to use. The most
controversial practice, the simulated drowning technique known as
water-boarding, was used on three suspects but has not been used since 2003,
C.I.A. officials said.
But at the urging of the Bush administration, Congress in 2006 authorized the
agency to continue using harsher interrogation methods than those permitted for
use by other agencies, including the military. Those exact methods remain
classified. The order on Guantánamo says that the camp, which received its first
hooded and chained detainees seven years ago this month, “shall be closed as
soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order.”
The order calls for a cabinet-level panel to grapple with issues including where
in the United States prisoners might be moved and what courts they could be
tried in. It also provides for a new diplomatic effort to transfer some of the
remaining men, including more than 60 that the Bush administration had cleared
for release.
The order also directs an immediate assessment of the prison itself to ensure
that the men are held in conditions that meet the humanitarian requirements of
the Geneva Convention. That provision appeared to be a pointed embrace of the
international treaties that the Bush administration often argued did not apply
to detainees captured in the war against terrorism.
The seven years of the detention camp have included four suicides, hunger
strikes by scores of detainees, and accusations of extensive use of solitary
confinement and abusive interrogations, which the Department of Defense has long
denied. Last week a senior Pentagon official said she had concluded that
interrogators at Guantánamo had tortured one detainee, who officials have said
was a would-be “20th hijacker” in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The report of Thursday’s announcement came after the new administration late
Tuesday night ordered an immediate halt to the military commission proceedings
for prosecuting detainees at Guantánamo and filed a request in Federal District
Court in Washington to stay habeas corpus proceedings there. Government lawyers
described both delays as necessary for the administration to make a broad
assessment of detention policy.
The cases immediately affected include those of five detainees charged as the
coordinators of the 2001 attacks, including the case against Mr. Mohammed, the
self-described mastermind.
The decision to stop the commissions was described by the military prosecutors
as a pause in the war-crimes system “to permit the newly inaugurated president
and his administration time to review the military commission process generally
and the cases currently pending before the military commissions, specifically.”
More than 200 detainees’ habeas corpus cases have been filed in federal court,
and lawyers said they expected that all of the cases would be stayed.
Mr. Obama had suggested in the campaign that, in place of military commissions,
he would prefer prosecutions in federal courts or, perhaps, in the existing
military justice system, which provides legal guarantees similar to those of
American civilian courts.
Some human rights groups and lawyers for detainees said they were concerned
about the one-year timetable. “It only took days to put these men in Guantánamo;
it shouldn’t take a year to get them out,” said Vincent Warren, the executive
director of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, which has
coordinated detainees’ lawyers.
But several groups that had criticized the Bush administration’s policies
applauded the rapid moves by the new administration. Mr. Obama’s actions
“reaffirmed American values and are a ray of light after eight long, dark
years,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil
Liberties Union.
Mark Mazzetti reported from Washington, and William Glaberson from New York.
Carl Hulse contributed reporting from Washington.
After a Day of Crowds and Celebration, Obama Turns to Sober
List of Challenges
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By PETER BAKER
WASHINGTON — Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the
United States on Tuesday and promised to “begin again the work of remaking
America” on a day of celebration that climaxed a once-inconceivable journey for
the man and his country.
Mr. Obama, the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas,
inherited a White House built partly by slaves and a nation in crisis at home
and abroad. The moment captured the imagination of much of the world as more
than a million flag-waving people bore witness while Mr. Obama recited the oath
with his hand on the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration
148 years ago.
Beyond the politics of the occasion, the sight of a black man climbing the
highest peak electrified people across racial, generational and partisan lines.
Mr. Obama largely left it to others to mark the history explicitly, making only
passing reference to his own barrier-breaking role in his 18-minute Inaugural
Address, noting how improbable it might seem that “a man whose father less than
60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand
before you to take a most sacred oath.”
But confronted by the worst economic situation in decades, two overseas wars and
the continuing threat of Islamic terrorism, Mr. Obama sobered the celebration
with a grim assessment of the state of a nation rocked by home foreclosures,
shuttered businesses, lost jobs, costly health care, failing schools, energy
dependence and the threat of climate change. Signaling a sharp and immediate
break with the presidency of George W. Bush, he vowed to usher in a “new era of
responsibility” and restore tarnished American ideals.
“Today, I say to you that the challenges we face are real,” Mr. Obama said in
the address, delivered from the west front of the Capitol. “They are serious and
they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know
this, America, they will be met.”
The vast crowd that thronged the Mall on a frigid but bright winter day was the
largest to attend an inauguration in decades, if not ever. Many then lined
Pennsylvania Avenue for a parade that continued well past nightfall on a day
that was not expected to end for Mr. Obama until late in the night with the last
of 10 inaugural balls.
Mr. Bush left the national stage quietly, doing nothing to upstage his
successor. After hosting the Obamas for coffee at the White House and attending
the ceremony at the Capitol, Mr. Bush hugged Mr. Obama, then left through the
Rotunda to head back to Texas. “Come on, Laura, we’re going home,” he was
overheard telling Mrs. Bush.
The inauguration coincided with more bad news from Wall Street, with the Dow
Jones industrial average down more than 300 points on indications of further
trouble for banks.
The spirit of the day was also marred by the hospitalization of Senator Edward
M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, whose endorsement helped propel Mr. Obama
to the Democratic nomination last year. Mr. Kennedy, who has been fighting a
malignant brain tumor, suffered a seizure at a Capitol luncheon after the
ceremony and was wheeled out on a stretcher.
The pageantry included some serious business. Shortly after he and Vice
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. were sworn in, Mr. Obama ordered all pending Bush
regulations frozen for a legal and policy review. He also signed formal
nomination papers for his cabinet, and the Senate quickly confirmed seven
nominees: the secretaries of homeland security, energy, agriculture, interior,
education and veterans’ affairs and the director of the Office of Management and
Budget.
When he arrives in the Oval Office on Wednesday, aides said, Mr. Obama will get
to work on some of his priorities. He plans to convene his national security
team and senior military commanders to discuss his plans to pull combat troops
out of Iraq and bolster those in Afghanistan. He also plans to sign executive
orders to start closing the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and could
reverse Mr. Bush’s restrictions on financing for groups that promote or provide
information about abortion.
Delays in the confirmation process have left both the State Department and the
Treasury Department in the hands of caretakers. But Hillary Rodham Clinton was
expected to win Senate confirmation as secretary of state on Wednesday, and the
Pentagon remains under the control of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who was
kept on from the Bush administration and did not attend the inauguration so
someone in the line of succession would survive in case of terrorist attack.
In his address, Mr. Obama praised Mr. Bush “for his service to our nation as
well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.”
But he also offered implicit criticism, condemning what he called “our
collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.”
He went on to assure the rest of the world that change had come. “To all other
peoples and governments who are watching today,” Mr. Obama said, “from the
grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born, know that
America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a
future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.”
Some of Mr. Obama’s supporters booed and taunted Mr. Bush when he emerged from
the Capitol to take his place on stage, at one point singing, “Nah, nah, nah,
nah, hey, hey, hey, goodbye.” By day’s end, Mr. Bush had landed in Texas, where
he defended his presidency and declared that he was “coming home with my head
held high.”
The departing vice president, Dick Cheney, appeared at the ceremony in a
wheelchair after suffering a back injury moving the day before and was also
booed.
The nation’s 56th inauguration drew waves of people from all corners and filled
the expanse between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. For the first
transition in power since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, much of the capital was
under exceptionally tight security, with a two-square-mile swath under the
strictest control. Bridges from Virginia were closed to regular traffic and more
than 35,000 civilian and military personnel were on duty.
Mr. Obama secured at least part of his legacy the moment he walked into the
White House on Tuesday, 146 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, 108 years
after the first black man dined in the mansion with a president and 46 years
after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared his dream of equality.
Mr. Obama, just 47 years old and four years out of the Illinois State Senate,
arrived at this moment on the unlikeliest of paths, vaulted to the forefront of
national politics on the strength of stirring speeches, early opposition to the
Iraq war and public disenchantment with the Bush era. His scant record of
achievement at the national level proved less important to voters than his
embodiment of change.
His foreign-sounding name, his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia and his skin
color made him a unique figure in the annals of presidential campaigns, yet he
toppled two of the best brand names in American politics — Mrs. Clinton in the
primaries and Senator John McCain in the general election.
Mr. Obama himself is descended on his mother’s side from ancestors who owned
slaves and he can trace his family tree to Jefferson Davis, the president of the
Confederacy. The power of the moment was lost on no one as the Rev. Joseph E.
Lowery, one of the towering figures of the civil rights movement, gave the
benediction and called for “inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not
intolerance.”
The Rev. Rick Warren, a conservative minister selected by Mr. Obama to give the
invocation despite protests from liberals, told the crowd, “We know today that
Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.”
For all that, Mr. Obama used the occasion to address “this winter of our
hardship” and promote his plan for vast federal spending accompanied by tax cuts
to stimulate the economy and begin addressing energy, environmental and
infrastructure needs.
“Now there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that
our system cannot tolerate too many big plans,” he said. “Their memories are
short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men
and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity
to courage.”
He also essentially renounced the curtailment of liberties in the name of
security, saying he would “reject as false the choice between our safety and our
ideals.” He struck a stiff note on terrorism, saying Americans “will not
apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense.”
“For those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering
innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken,”
he said. “You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”
But Mr. Obama also added a message to Islamic nations, a first from the
inaugural lectern. “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on
mutual interest and mutual respect,” Mr. Obama said. “To those who cling to
power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you
are on the wrong side of history — but that we will extend a hand if you are
willing to unclench your fist.”
Mr. Obama’s public day started at 8:45 a.m. when he and his wife, Michelle, left
Blair House for a service at St. John’s Church, then joined the Bushes, Cheneys
and Bidens for coffee at the White House.
The Obamas’ daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, joined them at the Capitol, as
did Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain, as well as former Presidents Bill Clinton,
Jimmy Carter and the elder George Bush.
While emotional for many, the ceremony did not go entirely according to plan.
Mr. Biden was sworn in by Justice John Paul Stevens behind schedule at 11:57
a.m., and Mr. Obama did not take the oath until 12:05 p.m., five minutes past
the constitutionally prescribed transfer of power.
Moreover, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. stumbled over the 35-word oath,
causing Mr. Obama to repeat it out of the constitutional order. Instead of
swearing that he “will faithfully execute the office of president of the United
States,” Mr. Obama swore that he “will execute the office of president of the
United States faithfully.”
Following time-honored rituals, the Obamas attended lunch with lawmakers in
Statuary Hall at the Capitol, then rode and walked to the White House, where
they watched the parade from a bulletproof reviewing stand. They planned to
attend all 10 official inaugural balls before spending their first night in the
White House.
In his Inaugural Address, Mr. Obama seemed at times to be having a virtual
dialogue with his predecessors. “What is required of us now is a new era of
responsibility,” he said, “a recognition on the part of every American that we
have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not
grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly.” Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton likewise
called for responsibility at their inaugurations, but Mr. Obama offered little
sense of what exactly he wanted Americans to do.
Mr. Obama also seemed to take issue with Ronald Reagan, who declared when he
took office in 1981 that “government is not the solution to our problem;
government is the problem.” Mr. Clinton rebutted that in 1997, saying,
“government is not the problem and government is not the solution.”
Mr. Obama offered a new formulation: “The question we ask today is not whether
our government is too big or too small but whether it works, whether it helps
families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is
dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer
is no, programs will end.”
Mr. Clinton, at least, applauded the message. In a brief interview afterward, he
said Mr. Obama’s installation could change the way America was viewed.
“It’s obviously historic because President Obama is the first African-American
president, but it’s more than that,” Mr. Clinton said. “This is a time when
we’re clearly making a new beginning. It’s a country of repeated second-chances
and new beginnings.”
January 21, 2009
Filed at 7:37 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By REUTERS
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Hours after taking office on
Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama ordered military prosecutors in the
Guantanamo war crimes tribunals to ask for a 120-day halt in all pending cases.
Military judges were expected to rule on the request on Wednesday at the U.S.
naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an official involved in the trials said.
The request would halt proceedings in 21 pending cases, including the death
penalty case against five Guantanamo prisoners accused of plotting the September
11 hijacked plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Prosecutors said in their written request that the halt was "in the interests of
justice."
Obama has pledged to shut down the Guantanamo prison camp that was widely seen
as a stain on the United States' human rights record and a symbol of detainee
abuse and detention without charge under the administration of his predecessor,
former President George W. Bush.
Human rights activists and military defense lawyers had urged him to halt the
special tribunals that are formally known as military commissions and urged him
to move the prosecutions into the regular U.S. courts for trial under
long-established rules.
"In order to permit the newly inaugurated president and his administration time
to review the military commission process, generally, and the cases currently
pending before the military commissions, specifically, the secretary of defense
has, by order of the president directed the chief prosecutor to seek
continuances of 120 days in all pending case," prosecutor Clay Trivett said in
the written request to the judges.
The request said freezing the trials until May 20 would give the new
administration time to evaluate the cases and decide what forum best suits any
future prosecution.
About 245 foreign captives are still held at the detention center that opened in
January 2002. The Bush administration had said it planned to try 80 prisoners on
war crimes charges, but only three cases have been completed.
Defense lawyers expected and supported a freeze of the tribunals, which have
moved in fits and spurts amid numerous legal challenges. They had complained
that the tribunals allowed hearsay evidence and coerced testimony and were
subject of so much political interference that fairness was impossible.
Obama's order was widely anticipated. Jamil Dakwar, who is monitoring the
tribunals for the American Civil Liberties Union, had said earlier Tuesday that
waiting for the order was comparable to a death watch for a patient whose demise
was certain.
"We're just waiting for the reading of the will," Dakwar said.
January 21, 2009
Filed at 7:34 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is turning from the star-studded,
crowd-pleasing pomp of his inauguration to the workaday task of governing a
hurting nation of 304 million and meeting the soaring expectations that he and
others have put on his shoulders.
Twin crises of the economy and Iraq figured to take center stage Wednesday, Day
One for the new administration.
''Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, the work begins,'' Obama declared Tuesday
night at the Commander in Chief Ball, one of 10 official black-tie celebrations
that kept him up late into the night.
The first full day of the Obama presidency promised to be packed, at the White
House and on Capitol Hill. It also promised to reveal much about how Obama
intends to govern for the next four years, in style and substance.
Both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue now are controlled by Democrats, providing a
chance for the Obama administration to succeed if he and fellow lawmakers of the
same party can work in concert effectively and if divergent Democratic interest
groups don't pull the new president in too many directions.
The capstone to four days of inaugural festivities takes place at the Washington
National Cathedral on Wednesday morning, with a national prayer service that is
a tradition dating to George Washington's time. Obama and his wife, Michelle,
were to welcome hundreds of members of the public to a White House open house,
part of his pledge to make government and those who govern more accessible.
A meeting with his economic team was planned to assess his approach and plot the
way forward. Taking over the White House with 11 million Americans out of work
and trillions of dollars in stock market savings lost, Obama said turning around
the limping economy is his first and greatest priority.
Congress already has given him a second installment of financial-industry
bailout money, worth $350 billion, and is fast-tracking a massive economic
stimulus bill of $825 billion or more. Even those bold measures, on top of
hundreds of billions in other federal spending over recent months, may not be
enough to prevent the recession from growing deeper.
''Fortunately, we've seen Congress immediately start working on the economic
recovery package, getting that passed and putting people back to work,'' Obama
said in an ABC News interview. ''That's going to be the thing we'll be most
focused on.''
The war in Iraq that he has promised to end was featuring prominently in Obama's
first day as well.
He was convening senior commanders and top national security aides -- including
holdover Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen -- to begin to make good on his pledge to, as he put it
in his inaugural address, ''responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a
hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.''
The two unfinished wars are twinned for Obama. He has promised to bring U.S.
combat troops home from Iraq within 16 months of taking office, as long as doing
so wouldn't endanger either the Americans left behind for training and
terrorism-fighting nor the security gains in Iraq. And he has said he would use
that drawdown to bolster the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, where U.S.-backed
fighters are losing ground against a resurgent Taliban.
While Obama gets to work in earnest at the White House, Congress planned to do
its part.
A Senate committee was going over a huge portion of Obama's economic revival
package. On the other side of the Capitol, the House planned a vote on
legislation setting conditions on Obama's use of the new infusion of financial
bailout money.
Work on getting the Obama administration fully staffed was also proceeding.
Within hours of Obama assuming the presidency, the Senate approved six members
of his Cabinet. His choice of Hillary Rodham Clinton to be secretary of state
awaited Senate action Wednesday, her confirmation held up for a day by
Republican concern over the foundation fundraising of her husband, the former
president.
Also left unconfirmed was Timothy Geithner, the nominee to head the Treasury
Department. He faces the Senate Finance Committee, also Wednesday, where he will
have to explain his initial failure to pay payroll taxes he owed while working
for the International Monetary Fund.
The Senate Judiciary Committee could take up the question of Eric Holder for
Obama's attorney general.
The new president signaled that a flurry of executive actions, studied and
prepared during his two-month-plus transition, will come quickly too.
Among the possibilities for the first day was the naming of a Middle East envoy,
critical at a time of renewed hostilities between Israelis and the Palestinians;
an order closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a move that
will take considerable time to execute and comes on the heels of a suspension of
war crimes trials there pending a review; prohibiting -- in most cases -- the
harsh interrogation techniques for suspected terrorists that have damaged the
U.S. image around the globe; overturning the so-called Mexico City policy that
forbids U.S. funding for family planning programs that offer abortion; and
lifting President George W. Bush's limit on federal funding of embryonic stem
cell research.
Preventative action was taken Tuesday already. New White House chief of staff
Rahm Emanuel ordered all federal agencies to put the brakes on any pending
regulations that the Bush administration tried to push through in its waning
days.
On the slightly more distant horizon, but part of the immediate workload, were
the early February due date for sending the outlines of Obama's first budget
request to Capitol Hill and plans for a State of the Union-like speech within
weeks to a joint session of Congress.
January 21, 2009
Filed at 7:23 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By REUTERS
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's nominee for U.S. Treasury
secretary, Timothy Geithner, though tarnished by disclosures of his failure to
pay taxes, is likely too uniquely qualified for Congress to reject amid hopes to
contain the worst economic downturn in decades.
A red-faced Geithner will undoubtedly be grilled at his Senate confirmation
hearing on Wednesday about his failure as an International Monetary Fund
official to pay tens of thousands of dollars in U.S. taxes, and how that squares
with taking the job that includes responsibility for U.S. tax collection.
But barring a glaring slip at the hearing, Geithner, the president of the New
York Federal Reserve Bank and a key participant in government efforts to prop up
financial markets, looks on track to be confirmed as Treasury secretary.
The White House said on Tuesday it expected the Senate Finance Committee to vote
on Thursday on Geithner's nomination.
"As I understand it, the committee, the Finance Committee votes Thursday on
Geithner," new White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters shortly
after Obama's inauguration.
While large crowds cheered Obama's transition to the presidency on Wednesday,
financial markets provided a stark reminder of the bleak economic climate the
new president and his economic team inherit. The Dow Jones industrial average
tumbled 332 points, or more than 4 percent, on worries about bank losses.
In 2008, the Dow fell 33.8 percent, its weakest performance since 1931.
Geithner's confirmation at one point seemed assured. As president of the New
York Fed, he was central to decisions to organize an orderly sale of failing
investment bank Bear Stearns with Fed backing and to shield insurer American
International Group from collapse. Geithner, a protege of former Treasury
Secretaries Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, had earned trouble-shooting
credentials dealing with international debt crises in 1990s.
He might have expected that his main confirmation challenge would be to explain
thinking behind the decision to let Lehman fail, a choice that some critics say
aggravated market turmoil toward the end of the year.
He is seen by many as an effective intermediary between the U.S. central bank
and Wall Street. His nomination reassured markets that there would be continuity
in efforts to revive the economy and protect the banking system from collapsing
under shaky credits.
But revelation that he had to pay $42,702 in back taxes and interest to settle
omissions put his nomination in doubt and drew criticism and ridicule. Members
of the Senate Finance Committee, which has control over his confirmation, have
persistently urged Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to be more
aggressive in collecting unpaid taxes.
"The new Treasury secretary nominee, Timothy Geithner, has come up with a plan
to lower taxes. Don't pay them!" joked comic Jay Leno on NBC television's
popular "The Tonight Show."
Obama has stood by his nominee, and several senators have expressed their
support.
But Geithner's nomination is not a done deal and his support is no longer
universal.
"The Geithner affair has become an embarrassment to the Federal Reserve," wrote
David Kotok, chairman of Cumberland Advisors, in a note to clients.
(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Washington and Kristina Cooke in
New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
January 21, 2009
Filed at 7:46 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Michelle Obama mixed her wardrobe choices on her first day
as first lady, showing that she is indeed that modern style icon who embraces
new designers as well as retail standbys, high fashion and mass market.
The white, one-shouldered gown, covered in fabric petals and dotted with beads,
that she wore to the rounds of balls Tuesday night was by 26-year-old Jason Wu,
a rising star in the fashion world but otherwise not well known.
''Her support means so much to designers who can't afford to advertise,'' said
Nicole Phelps, executive editor at Style.com.
The fitted-bodice, gathered-skirt gown was a departure for Obama, who has made a
sleek sheath her signature silhouette. She also has shown a fondness for jewel
tones. The Isabel Toledo lemongrass-yellow ensemble she wore to the inaugural
ceremony and parade was much more what the public has come to expect from Obama.
But the ball gown, worn with red-carpet-worthy dangling diamond earrings by
Loree Rodkin, still felt fresh and different.
''It's soft, feminine, but powerful; I wanted to convey all that in a dress,''
Wu said. ''I wanted it to look like a sign of hope.''
Hamish Bowles, Vogue magazine's European editor-at-large, who curated the
Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute exhibit on Jackie Kennedy in 2001, called
the gown ''supreme modern elegance. A pitch-perfect choice: appropriately formal
but romantic and imaginative.''
Clearly President Barack Obama approved. ''First of all, how good-looking is my
wife?'' he asked a cheering crowd just before their first dance at the
Neighborhood Ball at Washington's Convention Center.
He wore a single-vent, notch-collar tuxedo with a white bow tie and an American
flag pinned to its lapel.
The gown's slight train swirled pleasingly and the new first lady's
shoulder-sweeping earrings picked up the gown's sparkle.
It caused a stir on the Web, as devoted fans debated whether it best suited
Obama's figure -- and their high expectations.
Regardless, the gown will be donated to the Smithsonian, according to tradition,
the first lady's spokeswoman said. Surely it will be noted that fellow first
ladies Jackie Kennedy and Nancy Reagan also wore white inaugural gowns.
The fashion industry has anxiously looked to the election of Obama for months,
embracing his wife as an ambassador, along the lines of Kennedy.
Long loved for her willingness to confidently mix high and mass fashion,
Michelle Obama didn't disappoint in accessorizing her day look: green gloves by
J. Crew and green patent leather pumps by Jimmy Choo.
''What's so powerful about Michelle Obama is we all see ourselves in her,'' said
red-carpet and magazine stylist Mary Alice Stephenson. ''She's a modern woman
who is fashionable and even flamboyant in her style and she is still taken
seriously.''
Toledo, too, said she wanted her outfit to convey optimism.
''I didn't want a traditional blue or red,'' Toledo said. ''That color has
sunshine in it. I fell in love with it. So did she.''
Whether or not everyone loved the looks, that message clearly came through.
''What I recognized more than anything from our new first lady and Hillary
(Rodham Clinton) and everyone else is that everyone was fresh,'' said fashion
designer Kai Milla, wife of Stevie Wonder and an invited guest to the
swearing-in ceremony.
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By JIM RUTENBERG
MIDLAND, Tex. — Taking the stage in front of a sea of red, white and blue “W”
signs and more than 20,000 supporters, George W. Bush traded a cold and
uninviting Washington on Tuesday for the warm embrace of this West Texas oil
town.
There was no talk here about historically low poll ratings, disappointment,
regret or change — just a hero’s return to the place where it all began for Mr.
Bush and the opportunity for him to offer a mild rebuttal to his critics.
“I never took an opinion poll to tell me what to think,” Mr. Bush said to
roaring cheers in Centennial Plaza, where he began his first inaugural journey
in 2001.
“When I walked out of the Oval Office this morning, I left with the same values
that I took to Washington eight years ago; when I go home tonight and I look
into the mirror, I’m not going to regret what I see.”
If the wild celebration of President Barack Obama’s swearing-in contained an
implicit rebuke of Mr. Bush’s presidency, there was no acknowledgment of it here
— and no bitterness about it, either.
“Today was a great day for America and a good man took the oath of office, and
we all offer our prayers for his success,” Mr. Bush said, receiving
more-than-polite applause.
Nearly 1,700 miles from Washington, Mr. Bush’s reception could be taken as a
trip to another time in his presidency, when his style of politics, and his
Republican Party, were in the ascendance. In that vein, there were signs of
concern among his admirers about what his leaving office might mean for the
causes he promoted.
Following a night in which local talk radio focused on Mr. Obama’s support for
abortion rights, for example, Larry Gatlin, the country singer, said of Mr.
Bush, “He believes it’s O.K. to kill terrorists, not unborn children.” (He went
on to tell the crowd, “We’re not warmongers” and that the ultimate goal has
always been to bring the troops home safely.)
For Mr. Bush, it was a return to the place where his immediate family’s
political dynasty got its start.
It was here that a young George Bush, a Connecticut native drawn by the allure
of oil money nearly 50 years ago, had his first taste for politics. It was here
where his son George W. returned to try his own hand at oil and politics, losing
a bid for Congress, but finding God, his wife, Laura, and a new sense of
purpose.
And it was here that Mr. Bush began his own inaugural journey eight years ago,
telling a crowd of 15,000, “I leave here really upbeat about getting some things
done for the people,” and promising to do so “by putting aside all the partisan
bickering and name calling and anger.”
He got less done than he and his aides had hoped. And the boos that met his
appearance on the Jumbotrons spread along the Mall in Washington on Tuesday
served as evidence of the hot partisan anger that marked much of his term.
Still, Mr. Bush told the ardent supporters here that he was proud of his record,
declaring, “We’ve removed threatening regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq and
liberated 50 million people from tyranny.”
Mr. Bush’s trip home was the mirror image of his trip to Washington in January
2001, when he started out from his vacation home in Crawford, Tex., then stopped
here on his way to the Capitol. Watching a specially made highlight video with
Mr. Bush aboard the 747 he once knew as Air Force One — after Mr. Bush
relinquished the presidency it was designated Special Air Mission 28000 — were
many of the aides who helped place him in office to begin with: among them Karen
Hughes, Karl Rove and Dan Bartlett.
This year, the crowd was even larger than it was on that much-colder day eight
years ago and just as enthusiastic.
As the blue and white 747 streaked overhead to wild cheers, a local man
reminisced about how Mr. Bush could regularly be seen about town when he was
here as a young adult pursuing riches in oil, showing a level of comfort that he
never did in Washington.
Remaining true to an eight-year pattern of staying mostly within the gates of
the White House whenever in the capital, Mr. Bush made no last rounds there this
week; he spent his last night having a quiet family dinner at home with his
daughters and parents.
Mr. Bush began the last day at the White House waking early and visiting the
Oval Office shortly before 7 a.m., when he began calling some of his closest
aides, among them the outgoing secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and the
outgoing national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley. (He had already left a
friendly note for Mr. Obama in the top drawer of his desk on Monday, a
presidential tradition.)
Before the new occupants of the White House arrived for a traditional coffee,
Mr. Bush took a solitary stroll around the South Lawn, where he had frequently
walked to clear his head during the toughest moments of the Iraq war.
Mr. Bush’s face betrayed neither sorrow nor chagrin when he buoyantly greeted
his successor. When Michelle Obama bounded out of the motorcade in the White
House driveway, she handed Laura Bush a white package with a red ribbon that
aides later said was a journal and pen for use in the writing of Mrs. Bush’s
planned memoir. As the incoming and outgoing first couples walked into the
presidential manse Mr. Bush patted his successor on the back.
Mr. Bush’s aides said the outgoing president shared the bipartisan buoyancy at
the sight of an African-American for the first time arriving at the White House
to call it home. At a goodbye ceremony in a vast hangar at Andrews Air Force
Base, Mr. Bush told a gathering of 2,000 former administration officials and
supporters that he was proud to have had a “front-row seat to history” for Mr.
Obama’s swearing-in, according to an aide who was there.
Mr. Bush showed little sentimentality in public, though his press secretary,
Dana Perino, told reporters he had gently kissed her on the forehead by way of
goodbye, and he was spotted blowing a kiss back to the White House as he left
for the Capitol in the presidential limousine with Mr. Obama.
And as Mr. and Mrs. Obama shepherded the Bushes to their awaiting Marine
helicopter at the Capitol, the four continued to smile and exchange pleasantries
before Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama gave a final embrace.
Toward the end of his remarks here, Mr. Bush, who flew to Crawford, relayed that
a fellow former president recently told him, “It’s bittersweet to leave
Washington.”
“For me, there’s nothing to be bitter about,” he said. “Today is some kind of
sweet; we are glad to be home.”
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By SCOTT SHANE
WASHINGTON — In a frightening moment on a day of celebration, Senator Edward
M. Kennedy suffered a seizure Tuesday at a Congressional luncheon honoring
President Barack Obama after his inauguration.
Mr. Kennedy, 76, Democrat of Massachusetts, who had surgery for a brain tumor in
June, was taken by ambulance to Washington Hospital Center, where he was
reported to be recovering well. Medical experts said a seizure in a brain cancer
patient was not unusual and ordinarily had no serious consequences.
“He’s awake and answering questions,” said So Young Pak, a spokeswoman for the
hospital. She said Mr. Kennedy was with his wife, Victoria, and son Patrick, a
Democratic congressman from Rhode Island.
Dr. Edward F. Aulisi, the hospital’s chairman of neurosurgery, later confirmed
in a statement that Mr. Kennedy had had a seizure, which he said had probably
been brought on by “simple fatigue” after a long morning in the cold at the
inaugural ceremony.
Dr. Aulisi said Mr. Kennedy was “feeling well” and would rest in the hospital
overnight before being discharged in the morning.
Mr. Kennedy’s sudden convulsions near the end of the luncheon, held in the
Statuary Hall of the Capitol, alarmed his colleagues and many who followed the
news on television. Mr. Kennedy’s hands started shaking, witnesses said, and
then his body rocked back and forth uncontrollably. Doctors rushed to his side,
and he was removed from the room in a wheelchair lowered to a reclining
position.
His collapse drew somber remarks from Mr. Obama, whose presidential campaign
benefited from Mr. Kennedy’s timely endorsement a year ago.
Speaking with emotion, Mr. Obama called Mr. Kennedy a “warrior for justice,”
adding, “I’d be lying to you if I did not say, right now a part of me is with
him, and I think that’s true for all of us.”
One of Mr. Kennedy’s closest friends in the Senate, Christopher J. Dodd,
Democrat of Connecticut, said Mr. Kennedy was speaking and lucid before he was
wheeled out.
Mr. Dodd said Mr. Kennedy had had other seizures since his surgery. He added
that he had spoken with doctors and that “the good news is he is going to be
fine.”
The only current senator to have served longer than Mr. Kennedy, Robert C. Byrd,
91, who was seated in a wheelchair next to him, grew emotional and left the room
after his colleague was wheeled out, aides said. That led to rumors that Mr.
Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, might have suffered some kind of health
problem, but staff members said he was fine.
Mr. Kennedy, who began serving in the Senate in 1962, disclosed last May 20 that
he was suffering from a brain tumor, later identified as a glioblastoma, the
deadliest form of brain cancer. Less than two weeks later, he flew to Duke
University, where he underwent surgery.
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON —Even before they have settled into their new jobs, President
Obama’s economic team faces an acute crisis in the nation’s banking system that
has no easy answers and that they are not yet prepared to address.
The president’s advisers watched most banking shares fall sharply on Tuesday,
reinforcing what Obama officials have known for weeks: that their most urgent
financial problem is an immense new wave of losses at banks and other lending
institutions that threatens to further cripple their ability to resume normal
lending.
But when Timothy F. Geithner, the president’s nominee to be the Treasury
secretary, appears before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday for his
confirmation hearing, he is not expected to have a detailed plan ready.
While Mr. Obama’s top advisers view the black hole in bank balance sheets as one
of their most pressing problems, they cautioned that they would not be pressured
into announcing a plan before they had carefully thought through all the
options. Instead, they are scrutinizing an array of solutions, each of which has
pitfalls and poses its own risks and dangers.
Obama officials are almost certain to intertwine help to the banks with Mr.
Obama’s goal of providing up to $100 billion for reducing home foreclosures. The
two goals are not necessarily in conflict. Subsidizing loan modifications so
that people can keep their homes could relieve banks of the steep losses
associated with foreclosures and also prevent further erosions in bank asset
values by putting a floor under home prices. “Mortgages are still the underlying
problem, and I really think we need to address that problem head-on,” said
Christopher Mayer, vice dean at the Columbia University School of Business. “The
foreclosure stuff is just trying not to have even bigger losses in mortgages
than we have so far.”
Administration officials said they were determined not to repeat the mistakes of
former President George W. Bush’s Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., who
sold Congress on an elaborate strategy for shoring up banks and then shifted to
an entirely different approach before he even got started.
Industry analysts said the Obama administration’s challenge would be to help
banks get rid of severely devalued mortgage assets on their balance sheets —
from nonperforming subprime mortgages to pools of mortgages and derivatives —
without wasting taxpayer money or rewarding banks for bad practices.
If policy makers were even remotely honest, analysts said, they would force
banks to take huge write-downs and insist on a high price in return for taking
bailout money. For practical purposes, that could mean nationalization or
partial nationalization for many banks.
One main difference between the options under consideration is how transparent
the government would be about the ultimate costs to taxpayers and whether banks
would be required to reveal the true magnitude of their likely losses.
The ultimate taxpayer cost could be very high. A new analysis from the
Congressional Budget Office suggests that the taxpayer costs are highest when
the government’s asset purchases involve opaque transactions that are difficult
to understand.
When Mr. Paulson first pleaded with Congress to approve the $700 billion bailout
program, known officially as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, he argued that
the government might eventually recoup its entire investment because it would be
able to resell its holdings when financial markets recovered.
But the Congressional Budget Office, analyzing the program’s $247 billion in
bailout payments through December, estimated that taxpayers would end up
absorbing $64 billion or 26 percent of that bill.
The nonpartisan Congressional agency estimated that taxpayers had already lost
53 percent of the government’s $40 billion investment in American International
Group, the giant insurance company that had been insuring tens of billions of
dollars in junk mortgage-backed securities against default. As part of the
rescue, the government helped A.I.G. buy back billions in mortgage securities
that it had insured.
As the new Obama economic team pondered a new approach, one alternative, though
an unlikely one, would be to revive Mr. Paulson’s original idea of buying
troubled assets through an auction process. The potential virtue of auctions is
that they could get closer to establishing a true market value for the assets.
But the drawback is that many of the securities are so arcane and complex that
they are unlikely to generate the volume of bidding needed to establish a real
market price.
A second approach, which Mr. Paulson had already used in a second round of
bailouts for Citigroup and Bank of America, is to “ring-fence” the bad assets by
providing federal guarantees against losses, and separating the assets from the
rest of a bank’s balance sheet.
The virtue of that approach is that it costs relatively little money up front,
because the government is essentially providing insurance coverage.
The danger is that the potential cost to taxpayers of federal guarantees can be
even less transparent than other approaches. As a result, the final costs to
taxpayers could be huge. Indeed, the guarantees would put the government in the
same business that led to immense losses from mortgage-backed securities:
credit-default swaps.
In its recent report, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the $20 billion
that the Treasury spent in November to guarantee $306 billion of toxic assets by
Citigroup will cost taxpayers $5 billion — a 26 percent subsidy.
William Seidman, a former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
who was closely involved with the bailout of savings-and-loan institutions in
the 1990s, said the government should simply take control of the banks it tries
to rescue. “When we did things like this, we took the banks over,” Mr. Seidman.
“This is a huge, undeserved gift to the present shareholders.”
One big difference between today and the 1990s is that the government back then
was seizing entire failed institutions. On paper, at least, the banks in trouble
today are still viable.
That leaves the third and increasingly talked-about approach — have the
government buy up the toxic assets and put them into a government-financed “bad
bank” or an “aggregator bank.”
The immediate virtue of the bad bank is that the remaining “good bank” would
have a clean balance sheet, unburdened by the uncertainty of future losses from
bad loans and securities.
Richard Berner, chief economist at Morgan Stanley, described the “bad bank”
strategy as the “least bad” of available options. The main advantage, Mr. Berner
said, was that the government would have to decide how much it was willing to
pay for the toxic assets. In turn, that would make it easier for the public to
figure out whether the government was overpaying.
Banks may not want that kind of openness, because accurately valuing the toxic
assets could force many to book big losses, admit their insolvency and shut
down.
On Tuesday, Barack Obama became the 44th president of the United States. That he
is the first African-American president of a country that only a handful of
generations ago fought a bloody civil war that abolished slavery, and only 50
years ago struggled in the streets to bring civil rights to all citizens
whatever their color, is a testament to something very good going on in America.
The grip of fear, cultural tyranny and bigotry itself has weakened and loosened
to a point where, truly, the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. take
on a new and powerful meaning, “Let freedom ring.”
These are hard times for people and our country. War, economic faltering and
collapse in some areas, the threat of terrorism — these and more can bring fear
and uncertainty to every citizen of this country.
There is much to be learned, much to be improved, there is hardship ahead as
there was years ago and always will be. And in this struggle the Lord continues
to work to bring us opportunities to strive for Him and do the right thing, to
grow, to reach for a better life not just without, but a spiritual life within,
which honors God, one another and strives to bring good will, respect and honor
to all human beings, because they are human beings.
Take a moment this week to reflect on this historic inauguration of our 44th
president. Perhaps this is a moment in history, within a time of uncertainty, to
see a light shine, brighter than before, reflecting in the faces of all people,
of all backgrounds and colors, bringing just a little more hope and faith and
genuine charity to this world.
Grant Schnarr
Bryn Athyn, Pa., Jan. 20, 2009
The writer is an author and a minister.
•
To the Editor:
To the world — President Obama promised a return to the power of our values from
this unseemly focus on the value of our power. To us at home — President Obama
said the celebration is over and we must get down to “the work of remaking
America.” He expects all of us to sacrifice, sweat and serve.
For when he said, “All this we can do. All this we will do,” he was really
commanding us, “All of this we must do!”
Jack Nargundkar
Germantown, Md., Jan.
20, 2009
•
To the Editor:
I was a strong supporter of John McCain. I believed that his record of service
to the nation and willingness to pursue bipartisan solutions to our problems
made him uniquely suited to be president. Naturally, I was disappointed with the
election results. But I can honestly say I was not depressed.
While I might not agree with him on every issue, Barack Obama is honest,
extremely intelligent and very capable. He has inspired a groundswell of
enthusiasm and optimism greater than any I can recall in my lifetime.
In these times of financial meltdown and international turmoil, all Americans of
good will — Republicans, Democrats, independents, blacks, whites, Asians,
Latinos, Jews, Christians, Muslims — share a common wish for President Obama and
our nation to succeed.
Godspeed, Barack Obama.
Joel M. Zinberg
New York, Jan.
20, 2009
•
To the Editor:
My entire office just watched the inauguration ceremony in our boardroom here in
Ottawa, and there were very few dry eyes in the room.
Sincerest congratulations on the occasion of the inauguration of your new
president, Barack Obama.
Welcome back, dear America! We have missed you!
Sharon Griffin
Ottawa, Jan. 20, 2009
•
To the Editor:
Re “From Books, New President Found Voice” (front page, Jan. 19): Forget Oprah’s
Book Club — let’s make President Obama’s reading list part of the national
curriculum. Can you imagine? Shakespeare, Melville, Lincoln and Gandhi harbored
at the core of America’s consciousness.
Their writings are sitting and waiting, right now, in public libraries, public
schools and online. They are available to everyone. This could be an opportunity
to build America’s intellectual and spiritual infrastructure. And it doesn’t
have to cost a dime.
Ainslie Jones Uhl
San Diego, Jan. 19, 2009
•
To the Editor:
Re “I Wish You Were Here” (column, Jan. 20):
Three cheers for Bob Herbert’s recognition of Lyndon B. Johnson’s “herculean
effort” in leading the way to passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965
Voting Rights Act, which opened the way for Barack Obama to become the nation’s
first African-American president.
Moreover, L.B.J.’s food stamp program helped Mr. Obama’s mother during some
difficult times, and the extension of his 1965 college grant and loan programs
helped both Barack and Michelle Obama get their first-class education.
It’s refreshing to have at least one member of the news media point out how
“shamefully” the Democratic Party and nation (including the rest of the media)
have neglected L.B.J.’s “monumental” achievements for social justice.
Joseph A. Califano Jr.
New York, Jan.
20, 2009
The writer, the chairman and president of the National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University, was President Johnson’s White House
assistant for domestic affairs.
•
To the Editor:
Re “Obama Reaches Out for McCain’s Counsel” (news article, Jan. 19):
There is, in fact, a precedent for President Obama’s seeking Senator John
McCain’s counsel.
After Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1940 election, he invited his opponent, the
Republican Wendell L. Willkie, to meet with him in the White House. “You know,
he is a very good fellow,” F.D.R. said afterward to his secretary of labor,
Frances Perkins. “He has lots of talent. I want to use him somehow.”
When Roosevelt learned that Willkie was going to England in January 1941, he
asked him to be his personal representative, giving him a letter for Prime
Minister Winston Churchill. After his return, Willkie testified in Congress as a
strong proponent of the Lend-Lease Act and more aid to Britain.
F.D.R. and Willkie continued to meet, and in the late summer of 1942, with
F.D.R.’s approval and cooperation, Willkie again embarked on a fact-finding
mission around the world. The two men even began talks on joining hands to
realign the two political parties, a project cut short by Willkie’s death in
1944.
“You know, Willkie would have made a good Democrat,” F.D.R. once said to
Perkins. “Too bad we lost him.”
Susan Dunn
Williamstown, Mass., Jan.
20, 2009
The writer teaches leadership studies at Williams College and is co-author, with
James MacGregor Burns, of “The Three Roosevelts.”
•
To the Editor:
The Jan. 20 front-page photo of the Obamas and the baby is iconic and should
take its place in the history of the glorious day of Jan. 20, 2009. It
expresses, beyond what words can convey, the joy, hope and love felt by so many
in the United States and throughout the world.
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
For one day, for one hour, let us take a bow as a country. Nearly
233 years after our founding, 144 years after the close of our Civil War and 46
years after Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, this crazy quilt of
immigrants called Americans finally elected a black man, Barack Hussein Obama,
as president. Walking back from the inauguration, I saw an African-American
street vendor wearing a home-stenciled T-shirt that pretty well captured the
moment — and then some. It said: “Mission Accomplished.”
But we cannot let this be the last mold we break, let alone the last big mission
we accomplish. Now that we have overcome biography, we need to write some new
history — one that will reboot, revive and reinvigorate America. That, for me,
was the essence of Obama’s inaugural speech and I hope we — and he — are really
up to it.
Indeed, dare I say, I hope Obama really has been palling around all these years
with that old Chicago radical Bill Ayers. I hope Obama really is a closet
radical.
Not radical left or right, just a radical, because this is a radical moment. It
is a moment for radical departures from business as usual in so many areas. We
can’t thrive as a country any longer by coasting on our reputation, by
postponing solutions to every big problem that might involve some pain and by
telling ourselves that dramatic new initiatives — like a gasoline tax, national
health care or banking reform — are too hard or “off the table.” So my most
fervent hope about President Obama is that he will be as radical as this moment
— that he will put everything on the table.
Opportunities for bold initiatives and truly new beginnings are rare in our
system — in part because of the sheer inertia and stalemate designed into our
Constitution, with its deliberate separation of powers, and in part because of
the way lobbying money, a 24-hour news cycle and a permanent presidential
campaign all conspire to paralyze big changes.
“The system is built for stalemate,” said Michael J. Sandel, the Harvard
University political theorist. “In ordinary times, the energy and dynamism of
American life reside in the economy and society, and people view government with
suspicion or indifference. But in times of national crisis, Americans look to
government to solve fundamental problems that affect them directly. These are
the times when presidents can do big things. These moments are rare. But they
offer the occasion for the kind of leadership that can recast the political
landscape, and redefine the terms of political argument for a generation.”
In the 1930s, the Great Depression enabled Franklin Roosevelt to launch the New
Deal and redefine the role of the federal government, he added, while in the
1960s, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and “the moral ferment of the civil
rights movement” enabled Lyndon Johnson to enact his Great Society agenda,
including Medicare, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
“These presidencies did more than enact new laws and programs,” concluded
Sandel. “They rewrote the social contract, and redefined what it means to be a
citizen. Obama’s moment, and his presidency, could be that consequential.”
George W. Bush completely squandered his post-9/11 moment to summon the country
to a dramatic new rebuilding at home. This has left us in some very deep holes.
These holes — and the broad awareness that we are at the bottom of them — is
what makes this a radical moment, calling for radical departures from business
as usual, led by Washington.
That is why this voter is hoping Obama will swing for the fences. But he also
has to remember to run the bases. George Bush swung for some fences, but he
often failed at the most basic element of leadership — competent management and
follow-through.
President Obama will have to decide just how many fences he can swing for at one
time: grand bargains on entitlement and immigration reform? A national health
care system? A new clean-energy infrastructure? The nationalization and repair
of our banking system? Will it be all or one? Some now and some later? It is too
soon to say.
But I do know this: while a crisis is a terrible thing to waste, so too is a
great politician, with a natural gift for oratory, a rare knack for bringing
people together, and a nation, particularly its youth, ready to be summoned and
to serve.
So, in sum, while it is impossible to exaggerate what a radical departure it is
from our past that we have inaugurated a black man as president, it is equally
impossible to exaggerate how much our future depends on a radical departure from
our present. As Obama himself declared from the Capitol steps: “Our time of
standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant
decisions — that time has surely passed.”
We need to get back to work on our country and our planet in wholly new ways.
The hour is late, the project couldn’t be harder, the stakes couldn’t be higher,
the payoff couldn’t be greater.
There was no shortage of powerful imagery on Barack Obama’s Inauguration Day,
starting with the confident man who defied all political conventions — that he
was too young, too inexperienced, too black or not black enough — to stand on
the steps of the Capitol and take the oath of office in a city and a country
that are still racially divided in many shameful ways.
And there was the crowd that for a day, and we hope much longer, defied those
divisions. By the hundreds of thousands they came from every part of a nation
that has rarely been in such peril and yet is so optimistic about its new
leader.
In his Inaugural Address, President Obama gave them the clarity and the respect
for which all Americans have hungered. In about 20 minutes, he swept away eight
years of President George Bush’s false choices and failed policies and promised
to recommit to America’s most cherished ideals.
With Mr. Bush looking on (and we’d like to think feeling some remorse),
President Obama declared: “On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope
over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord. On this day, we come to
proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations
and worn- out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.”
The speech was not programmatic, nor was it filled with as much soaring language
as F.D.R.’s first Inaugural Address or John Kennedy’s only one. But it left no
doubt how Mr. Obama sees the nation’s problems and how he intends to fix them
and, unlike Mr. Bush, the necessary sacrifices he will ask of all Americans.
The American story “has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who
prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame,” he
said.
Just as he reshaped the Democratic Party to win its nomination, and the American
electorate to defeat John McCain, Mr. Obama said he intended to reshape
government so it will truly serve its citizens.
“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too
small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent
wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified,” he said.
Mr. Obama was unsparing in condemning the failed ideology of uncontrolled
markets. He said the current economic crisis showed how “without a watchful eye,
the market can spin out of control” and that the nation has to extend the reach
of prosperity to “every willing heart, not out of charity, but because it is the
surest route to our common good.”
Mr. Obama also did not shrink from the early criticism of his ambitious economic
recovery plan. Rather, he said the “state of our economy calls for action, bold
and swift,” to build roads and bridges and electrical power and digital
networks, to transform schools, and “harness the sun and the winds and the soil
to fuel our cars and run our factories.”
After more than seven years of Mr. Bush’s using fear and xenophobia to justify a
disastrous and unnecessary war, and undermine the most fundamental American
rights, it was exhilarating to hear Mr. Obama reject “as false the choice
between our safety and our ideals.”
Instead of Mr. Bush’s unilateralism, Mr. Obama said the United States is “ready
to lead once more,” by making itself a “friend of each nation and every man,
woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity.” He said “our power
alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please.” Mr. Obama
told the Muslim world that he wants “a new way forward, based on mutual interest
and mutual respect.”
Mr. Obama was steely toward those “who seek to advance their aims by inducing
terror and slaughtering innocents.” He warned them that “our spirit is stronger
and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.” But where
Mr. Bush painted this as an epochal, almost biblical battle between America and
those who hate us and “who hate freedom,” Mr. Obama also offered to “extend a
hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
As the day continued with a parade and parties and balls, the image that stayed
with us was the way the 44th president managed to embrace the symbolism and rise
above it. It filled us with hope that with Mr. Obama’s help, this battered
nation will be able to draw together and mend itself.
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By DAVID E. SANGER
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address on Tuesday was a stark
repudiation of the era of George W. Bush and the ideological certainties that
surrounded it, wrapped in his pledge to drive the United States into “a new age”
by reclaiming the values of an older one.
It was a delicate task, with Mr. Bush and Dick Cheney sitting feet from him as
Mr. Obama, only minutes into his term as president, described the false turns
and the roads not taken.
To read his words literally, Mr. Obama blamed no one other than the country
itself, critiquing “our collective failure to make hard choices” and a
willingness to suspend national ideals “for expedience’s sake” — a clear
reference to the cascade of decisions ranging from interrogation policies to
wiretapping to the invasion of Iraq.
Yet not since 1933, when Franklin D. Roosevelt called for a “restoration” of
American ethics and “action, and action now” as Herbert Hoover sat and seethed,
has a new president so publicly rejected the essence of his predecessor’s path.
When Mr. Obama looked forward, however, he was far less specific about how he
would combine his lofty vision and his passion for pragmatism into urgently
needed solutions.
Mr. Obama spoke eloquently of the need to “restore science to its rightful
place” and to “harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and
run our factories.” But he never acknowledged that his agenda would eventually
have to be reconciled with towering budget deficits or spelled out what
“unpleasant decisions” he would be willing to make in the service of a renewed
America.
At times, Mr. Obama seemed to chastise the nation, quoting Scripture to caution
that “the time has come to set aside childish things.” It seemed a call to end
an age of overconsumption and the presumption that America had a right to lead
the world, a right that he reminded “must be earned.”
The chiding, if most resonant of the last eight years, also harked back to an
argument he advanced early in his run for the White House: that the nation had
been ill-served by the social, cultural and political divisions of the
generation that included Bill Clinton as well as Mr. Bush.
Every time Mr. Obama urged Americans to “choose our better history,” to reject a
“false choice” between safety and American ideals and to recognize that American
military power does not “entitle us to do as we please,” he was clearly
signaling a commitment to remake America’s approach to the world and to embrace
pragmatism, not just as a governing strategy but also as a basic value.
It was, in many ways, exactly what one might have expected from a man who
propelled himself to the highest office in the land by denouncing how an excess
of ideological zeal had taken the nation on a disastrous detour. But what was
surprising about the speech was how much he dwelled on the choices America
faces, rather than the momentousness of his ascension to the presidency.
Following the course Mr. Obama set during his campaign, he barely mentioned his
race. He did not need to. The surroundings said it all as he stood on the steps
of a Capitol built by the hands of slaves, and as he placed his own hand on the
Bible last used by Abraham Lincoln.
Mr. Obama talked, with echoes of Churchill, of the challenges of taking command
of a nation beset by what he called “gathering clouds and raging storms.” As a
student of past Inaugural Addresses, he knew what he needed to accomplish. He
had to evoke the clarion call for national unity that Lincoln made the
centerpiece of his second Inaugural Address, in 1865, married with Franklin
Roosevelt’s warning that the market had been allowed to go haywire thanks to the
“stubbornness” and “incompetence” of business leaders. And he needed to recall
the combination of national inspiration and resoluteness against new enemies
that John F. Kennedy delivered in his Inaugural Address, just over six months
before Mr. Obama was born.
As his voice and image resonated down the Mall, Mr. Obama spoke across many
generations stretching to the Washington Monument and beyond.
Mixed in the crowd were the last remnants of the World War II generation, led by
the all-black Tuskegee Airmen for whom Jim Crow was such a daily presence that
the arrival of this day seemed unimaginable.
There were middle-aged veterans of the civil rights movement for whom this
seemed the crowning achievement of a lifetime of struggles. And there were young
Americans — and an overwhelming number of young African-Americans — with no
memory of the civil rights movement or of the cold war, for whom Mr. Obama was a
symbol of an age of instant messaging, constant networking and integration in
every new meaning of the word.
For those three generations, for the veterans who arrived in wheelchairs and the
teenagers wearing earphones and tapping on their iPhones, Mr. Obama’s speech was
far less important than the moment itself. Many of those who braved the 17
degree chill to swarm onto the Mall at daybreak had said they would not believe
America would install a black president until they witnessed him taking the oath
of office, even if they had to see it on a Jumbotron a mile from the event.
By the time Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administered that oath (and
stumbling on a few of the words, leading the new president to do the same), Mr.
Obama’s ascendance was so historic that the address became larger than its own
language, more imbued with meaning than anything he could say.
And yet what he did say must have come as a bit of a shock to Mr. Bush. No
stranger to criticism, over the past eight years he had rarely been forced to
sit in silence listening to a speech about how America had gone off the rails on
his watch.
Mr. Obama’s recitation of how much had gone wrong was particularly striking to
anyone who had followed Mr. Bush around the country, especially during the
re-election campaign of 2004, when he said it was his job “to confront problems,
not to pass them on to future presidents and future generations.”
Yet Mr. Obama blamed America’s economic peril on an era “of greed and
irresponsibility on the part of some,” and talked of how “the ways we use energy
strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.” It was an explicit critique
of an administration that went to war in the Middle East but rejected the shared
sacrifice of conservation, and reluctantly embraced the scientific evidence
around global warming.
When Mr. Obama turned to foreign policy, he had a more difficult task: to signal
to the world that America’s approach would change without appearing to
acknowledge that America’s military was dangerously overstretched or that its
will for victory would wane after Mr. Bush departed for Texas.
Mr. Obama never rose to the heights of Kennedy’s “pay any price, bear any
burden.” Instead, he harked back to the concept that gave birth to the Peace
Corps, noting that the cold war was won “not just with missiles and tanks,” but
by leaders who understood “that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it
entitle us to do as we please.”
The new president skirted past the questions of how he would remake American
detention policy, how he would set the rules for interrogation and how he would
engage Iran and North Korea, beyond promising to “extend a hand” to those
willing “to unclench your fist.” He simply promised to strike the balance
differently, as America tries to hew to its ideals while pursuing a strategy of
silent strength.
Whether he can execute that change is a test that begins Wednesday morning.
January 21, 2009
Filed at 1:03 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Joe Biden wants to make one thing clear: He can't dance.
Biden joked about his two left feet at multiple balls Tuesday night.
''The thing that frightens me the most (is) I'm going to have to stand in that
circle and dance in a minute,'' he said at the Commander in chief Ball. At that,
he laughed and did a quick sign of the cross.
At the Western Ball, he said, ''Now you are going to see I can't dance.'' And at
the Neighborhood Ball, he joked about killing time to avoid dancing.
''The last thing you need is to have a vice president sandwiched between a brand
new president and all his star power up there. I learned a long time ago when to
hush up. If you turn around and look at that screen, they've got me down to 22
seconds. The reason I want to keep talking is because I can't dance,'' he said.
But dance he did, stiffly, with wife Jill to ''Have I Told You Lately.''
''I may not be able to dance, but i sure like holding her,'' he said.
------
Tabloid speculation has focused on the status of Marc Anthony's relationship
with Jennifer Lopez, but there was no sign of trouble at the Western Ball
Tuesday night.
For his last number, Anthony thrilled the crowd by inviting ''my wife'' to sing
with him.
Lopez appeared on stage in a white draped gown with flashes of gold and one
shoulder bare.
They kissed on the lips before launching into an upbeat love ballad in Spanish,
occasionally gazing into each other's eyes and caressing one another.
Earlier in the night he talked about her before singing a song for her.
''I wrote this next song about Jennifer. I must have been psychic,'' Anthony
said. He said he wrote the song, ''You Sang to Me,'' about 10 years ago.
''She didn't get the point,'' Anthony said, ''but eventually it worked.''
At the end of the couple's duet, they kissed again.
''Man, she's cute,'' Anthony said after Lopez walked offstage. He then bid the
crowd goodnight.
-- Erica Werner
------
After a morning of shivering in long lines, many Obama supporters braved an
evening of more of the same.
At the Eastern States Ball, people were still waiting in line outside in the
cold at 9:30 p.m. for the ball that started at 8 p.m.
''I think we have line fatigue from today,'' said Joshua Shiffrin, 30, of
Washington, who was at the front of the line and waited about a half-hour to get
in. ''We're here now, so we're happy.''
Justin Mendelsohn, 26, from New York City, said, ''We would not have been
braving these lines for many candidates.''
And once inside, there was more standing, with few places to sit. At the
Midwestern ball, groups of people gave up and sat on the floor.
''There's no chairs. There's nowhere to sit. And we've all got heels on,'' Kate
McCarthy, 37, said as she sat on the floor with her legs outstretched. But she
wasn't complaining. ''People joined us. It's actually quite fun.''
-- Marcy Gordon and Ann Sanner
------
So where's all this openness that Obama promised?
Certainly not at the Youth Inaugural Ball, where the media were welcome to cover
the event -- sort of.
Reporters were penned in the back of the room, prohibited from mingling among
the guests, and could only approach people for interviews with an escort, a
practice also followed at the Obama Home States ball.
What's more, reporters were not even allowed to use the main bathrooms at the
Washington Hilton; one media minder explained that organizers did not want
reporters to interrogate the young-adult guests in the bathroom.
(The media could use a small bathroom near the back-hall entrance where they
came into the event, again with an escort.)
-- Ben Feller
------
Members of the military and their families who were being celebrated at the
Heroes Red White & Blue Ball, with performances by country artist Keni Thomas
and Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary.
Though the ball's guests were plunging into the night's celebration, the reality
that the country remains at war hung over the festivities.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reminded the crowd
that while attendees celebrated ''dressed to the nines'' there are more than
280,000 troops on duty ''so we can enjoy this day.''
Cody Miranda, a Marine Corps veteran, beamed with excitement over the evening's
activities. He said he wrestled with post-traumatic stress disorder and
alcoholism and landed several times in military prison after returning from
Iraq.
''It's great to be here to know I'm here after how I was in the military. I was
downfallen,'' he said, adding that he is now in school. He is expecting much
from President Barack Obama.
''I want my friends out of Iraq,'' Miranda said.
-- Suzanne Gamboa
------
The Southern Ball was held at an armory on the outskirts of Washington, and some
of the ballgoers thought they knew why: Nine of the 11 states represented went
to John McCain.
Adding to the feeling of second-rate status, the Obamas made it one of their
last scheduled stops of the night.
''This is one of the times I wish when I made my donation I had used one of my
friends' addresses,'' said Donna Vaughn of Nashville, a Democratic and inaugural
donor who works as a district manager for a biotech company.
''I kept thinking because we're on the outskirts, we'll be one of the first
ones,'' said one of Vaughn's companions, Cassandra Branch, a pharmaceutical
sales representative from Nashville.
Tennessee and fellow Southern Ball states Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas all went to McCain. Only North
Carolina and Florida went to Obama.
Still, there was a happy ending. The Obamas sped up their schedule and swept
through the ball about two hours earlier than expected.
''Oh man. That's beautiful!'' Branch exclaimed as she and Vaughn feverishly took
pictures of the Obamas dancing closely.
''To see them, they're so much in love,'' Branch said. ''It was very much worth
it. Especially when you have a zoom lens.''
-- Sharon Theimer
------
At the Purple Ball at the Fairmont Hotel, a purple carpet replaced the Hollywood
red version, but the scene brought a shot of glamour and fashion to otherwise
staid Washington.
Actress Ashley Judd traded the mocha-colored Reem Acra chiffon gown she had worn
the night before to the Kentucky Bluegrass Ball for a pearl gray Monique
Lhullier frock on Tuesday.
The delicate gowns were a far cry from her ensemble a few hours earlier in the
chilly stands below the podium where President Barack Obama took his oath, she
said. Her secrets: Long underwear and a blanket wrapped around her.
''I did layer,'' Judd said. ''And I did get cold, but I expected that. It was
all part of the experience.''
''I was wearing long underwear and sweats!'' reported ''Private Practice''
actress Amy Brenneman, who traded that look for a sleek metallic beige gown for
the purple carpet.
Best ensemble of the night award goes to a purple 1960s jump suit, for
thematics, practicality and glamour. Seriously.
The wearer: Kate Roberts, founder of YouthAIDS.
-- Laurie Kellman
------
Barricaded streets? Police detours? They can't stop singer Ashanti when she lays
on the charm.
''We've been getting around pretty good. Sometimes we have to roll the window
down and I have to bat my eyes a little bit, but it works,'' she said at the BET
Inaugural Ball.
She's been getting away with it for years and it's nearly infallible. ''About 95
percent of the time'' it works, she said.
Ashanti didn't brave the cold to watch the inauguration. ''My mom, my dad, my
sister, we were all inside glued to the television, watching this monumental
moment,'' she said. ''The cold was too cold for me.''
But temperatures around freezing were no match for former Secretary of State
Colin Powell's special inauguration coat.
''I had a nice heavy coat on that I bought almost 40 years ago for a trip to
Siberia,'' Powell said at the ball, which promoted his group, America's Promise
Alliance, which helps young people. ''It comes in handy at an inauguration,
which is the only time I wear it.
Besides, Powell said, he can handle colder weather than that. ''Remember, I'm an
infantry officer, so I'm used to cold.''
Watching Barack Obama sworn in as president was a ''deeply emotional''
experience for Powell. But, he said, Obama is ''a man, he's not Superman, so
tomorrow, we all got to help him.''
-- Michael Weinfeld
------
Stars aren't immune from being star-struck. Many of them were awed by Obama's
inauguration and the promise of a new direction for the country.
''This is not an American election,'' said boxing promoter Don King at the
Huffington Post Preinaugural Party Monday. ''This is a global inauguration
because people are looking for that beacon of hope and light called freedom from
this country as their leadership.''
M.C. Hammer, also participating in the weekend's whirl of parties and events,
said Obama's election was an important moment in the nation's history that all
American's could share.
''It's not a moment for any individual group, but an American moment,'' said
Hammer. ''And it can only happen with the participation of many ethnicities
throughout America saying this is what we want. I understood the progress that
has been made as a people. It brought tears to my face.''
But the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in the
1960s, put Obama's inauguration the day after the King holiday in perspective.
''The work of the prophet made the president possible,'' Jackson said, referring
to King and Obama. ''We've overcome a very sordid and often ugly past. And yet
here we are, making a statement to the world. It's really a night of boundless
joy, you know?''
January 21, 2009
The New York Ties
By JULIE BOSMAN
WASHINGTON — Moments before the first dance at the first inaugural ball,
President Obama emerged onstage Tuesday hand in hand with his wife, Michelle,
who glittered in a floor-length ivory one-shoulder gown.
“How good-looking is my wife?” Mr. Obama asked the crowd at the Neighborhood
Ball. During the Beyoncé rendition of “At Last,” Mr. Obama accidentally stepped
on Mrs. Obama’s hem, revealing that the new president might be better on the
basketball court than on the dance floor.
So began a nearly seven-hour marathon of ball-going for the first couple that
was not scheduled to end until 3 a.m.
The balls capped off a seemingly endless day of photographs, speeches, parades
and handshakes for the new president and first lady.
Both the Obamas and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill, vowed
to attend all 10 official balls, and they began just after 8:30 on a frigid
Washington evening. The parties were scattered across the city, at the Walter E.
Washington Convention Center downtown, the Washington Hilton in Dupont Circle,
the National Building Museum, the National Guard Armory and Union Station. The
Obamas’ daughters, Malia and Sasha, did not show up at any of the balls, but
their mother told ABC News that they would not go back to school until Thursday.
After the Neighborhood Ball, a $25-a-head party that was meant to make the
evening accessible to just about anyone, the Obamas walked upstairs at the
convention center to the Obama Home States Ball, a party for residents of
Illinois and Hawaii.
Hours before the Obamas appeared, the Don Cagen Orchestra, a band from Chicago,
began warming up with songs from the 1950s and ’60s, including “A Change Is
Gonna Come.”
But most of the partygoers ignored the music and clustered in front of the
center stage, waiting for the stars of the evening.
“The ultimate is seeing the president and the first lady,” said Susan Peevy, 45,
a postal worker from Rockville, Md. “I don’t know who’s performing, and I don’t
care. Just so they show up.”
They finally did, just after 9 p.m., emerging from backstage hand in hand.
“Aloha!” Mr. Obama hollered into the microphone. “What’s going on?”
“This is a special ball,” he continued. “Because it represents our roots:
Hawaii, Illinois. And together you’ve given us so much.”
The Obamas walked onstage after a dramatic introduction by eight uniformed
officers, and began dancing while the crowd cheered them on, clapping.
“Step, Barack!” one 50ish woman in the audience shouted helpfully.
Men wore black tie, and women wore beaded dresses, swishy chiffon and the
occasional fur. In honor of Lincoln, a few black top hats peeked out above the
crowd.
Of course, the glamour days of the Reagan inaugural balls are long gone, and the
crowds Tuesday did not come for the music, the pasta buffet or the $12 glasses
of Champagne. (Accordingly, the cost of a ticket has inched up only to $150 from
$100 in 1981.)
“I figured it would be like the black-tie opening of an auto show,” said Carolyn
Grisko of Chicago, who declared herself an authority on political soirees.
Yet tens of thousands of the Democratic Party faithful gathered throughout the
city in cavernous, drafty ballrooms that held more than 5,000 people.
At the Biden Home States Ball, Delaware’s elected officials basked in the glow
of the new vice president, Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has instantly elevated their
small state — know more for its status as a corporate tax haven than its
political might — to national prominence.
“I won’t say this is what we have always waited for, but we are sure glad it
finally happened,” said Senator Thomas R. Carper, who arrived wearing a red bow
tie with his wife, Martha, who wore a lavender gown.
For much of the evening, guests mingled uneasily across a ballroom the length of
a football field, vast expanses of which remained empty two hours into the
evening. An unknown band played “We Are Family” and exhorted guests to dance. By
8 p.m., about 20 people obliged.
Many groused about the food: tortellini, stuffed baked chicken and raw
vegetables. “Cafeteria food,” one guest sniffed.
At the Mid-Atlantic Ball, attended by Gov. David A. Paterson of New York and
Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the crowd moved from the bar and the food tables and
approached the stage, waving their arms and cheering when Wyclef Jean played the
national anthem on his guitar.
Across town in Dupont Circle, thousands of young volunteers to the Obama
campaign lined up for two hours to get inside the Youth Ball, a $75-a-head event
intended for partygoers ages 18 to 35.
Security was tight, and even some invited MTV guests, which included Leonardo
DiCaprio, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, were asked to endure some of the cold
outside before gaining admission.
Tickets were highly prized, but friends of Obama volunteers sometimes got lucky.
Cameron Coffey, 25, said a “friend of a friend” who was a volunteer called her
three hours before the ball with an offer of a ticket.
“I had a dress, so I just came on down,” Ms. Coffey said.
Kanye West, the rapper, said he was privileged to be performing at the ball.
“And I’m really glad I’m not singing outdoors,” he added.
Michael Barbaro, Bill Carter and Fernanda Santos contributed reporting.
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By CATHY HORYN
No one gets the fascination with Michelle Obama, fashion plate, more than her
husband.
Invoking another president with a glamorous wife—that would be, maybe, John F.
Kennedy? — President Obama told military guests at the Commander in Chief Ball
last night, “I have the special honor of being the guy who accompanied Michelle
Obama to the ball.”
That got a big laugh, but it would be a few minutes before the first lady made
her entrance, in an ivory chiffon dress. But when she did, oh, what a roar.
It was an amazing day for Mrs. Obama — chic and bone-chilling, and maybe at
times her feet hurt. For Tuesday night’s round of balls, she chose a fluffy,
many-layered gown by a 26-year-old designer named Jason Wu. The dress had a
one-shoulder strap and was flecked with organza flowers and crystals.
If Mrs. Obama is a different and more stylish first lady than the country has
seen in a while, she proved it Tuesday with some striking fashion choices. The
Wu gown was perhaps not as sophisticated as the coat-and-dress ensemble she wore
for the swearing-in, but it still made a statement.
As for her vivid yellow inaugural outfit, it seemed designed to stand out
against the traditional red and somber black coats on the Capitol steps.
Here is a bolder woman, a serious woman from Chicago and Harvard who is not
afraid to express herself with fashion, and it is the kind of confidence that
many women will recognize in themselves. Her clothes tell us that she has an
adventurous spirit, as well as a sense of humor, and if some of these garments
have almost an old-fashioned womanly quality, then they tell us that she is
indeed not your average fashionista.
Her inaugural outfit, designed by Isabel Toledo, was made of Swiss wool lace,
backed with netting for warmth, and lined in French silk. Mrs. Obama also wore a
cardigan over the sleeveless dress, as a buffer to the cold. She had on pale
green leather gloves and a flat, latticelike necklace with clear stones.
Long considered a designer’s designer because of her attention to craft and her
sensitivity to unusual detail, Ms. Toledo said she made the yellow outfit
especially for Mrs. Obama. But until she saw the new first lady on television
leaving Blair House for the trip to the Capitol with her husband, she did not
know positively whether Mrs. Obama would wear the clothes or something from
another designer. There has been a fair amount of secrecy around Mrs. Obama’s
inaugural wardrobe, and even the designers who were asked to make clothes for
her said they were not told in advance which outfits she would choose.
“I wanted to pick a very optimistic color, that had sunshine,” Ms. Toledo said
in a telephone interview from her studio in New York. “I wanted her to feel
charmed, and in that way would charm everybody else.”
Ms. Toledo, a native of Cuba who has been making clothes for 25 years, often
without attracting the attention of big-name designers, seemed overwhelmed.
“This is so wonderful,” she said.
Another distinguishing aspect of the Toledo outfit was that Mrs. Obama’s dress
and the small details, like the necklace, were plainly visible. The other women
on the steps were bundled up, with scarves and raised collars. The only other
woman on the steps who might have outshone Mrs. Obama was Aretha Franklin, who
wore a spectacular gray felt hat studded with crystals.
There was a huge element of stage value in their clothes, but also a kind of
graciousness. Both women were dressing to please the crowd. By contrast, Jill
Biden seemed to have chosen something — a red Fleurette coat and a belted glen
plaid dress by Milly — that she might have worn any day.
The Obamas’ daughters, Malia and Sasha, wore royal blue and pink coats,
respectively, from J. Crew. Their mother’s green gloves were also a J. Crew
item.
In one sense, Mrs. Obama’s inaugural wardrobe was not a real departure for her.
She has worn Ms. Toledo’s designs before. And on Sunday, she wore a plum silk
and wool dress in the morning and a camel suit with a metal-studded black shell
for the “We Are One” concert. Both outfits were designed by Narciso Rodriguez,
who made the black and red dress she wore on election night to the rally in
Grant Park in Chicago.
Maria Cornejo, another favorite, designed the purple jacket she wore on
Saturday.
On Monday, Women’s Wear Daily speculated that Mrs. Obama might have chosen Mr.
Rodriguez because of President Obama’s desire to improve relations with Cuba;
the designer has Cuban roots. A more likely connecting thread is Ikram Goldman,
the owner of a boutique in Chicago called Ikram, where Mrs. Obama has shopped.
Ikram carries those labels and Mr. Wu’s, and Ms. Goldman, according to people in
the industry, played a key role in helping Mrs. Obama coordinate her wardrobe.
“She’s been a very big part of this,” Ms. Toledo said.
Certainly Mrs. Obama picked designers who are not only skillful but also
independent. With the economy putting many designers under pressure, the
excitement generated by her will help.
As Ms. Cornejo said, “I don’t know if it will be reflected in sales, but there’s
an amazing amount of energy around.”
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — While the notable and celebrated sat in the bright cold of
Washington to hear President Obama pay homage to the “men and women obscure in
their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and
freedom,” many of those very men and women were sitting here on folding chairs
in an enormous, darkened concert hall.
A trip to Washington had been the plan for Robbie Revis Smith, 73, twice jailed
in the 1960s for her part in the civil rights struggle. But she can barely stand
up now because of a bad back. So she took the bus at 7 on an atypically frigid
morning to get a front row seat at the inauguration-watching event at the
Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham.
The Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, the 86-year-old survivor of bombing, beatings
and multiple imprisonments, is as much a part of civil rights royalty as anyone.
But he had only recently gotten out of the hospital. He sat upright in his
wheelchair a few feet from the stage.
And there was Colonel Stone Johnson, 90, sitting quietly in his brown pinstriped
suit, his hat on his knee. He said he had done Washington anyway, many times.
“I been so much,” Mr. Johnson said. “All the marches, I didn’t miss none.”
Across the country, at half-filled lunch counters and in Las Vegas showrooms, in
break rooms and backrooms, Americans gathered to watch the rare sight of a dusty
old cliché — that anyone, even a little black child, could some day be president
— actually squaring up to reality. For many who continued to doubt up to the
last minute that this was truly going to happen, the sight of a black man taking
the oath of office seemed to be breaking news even if, technically, it was not.
And nobody, even Mr. Shuttlesworth, who was wheeled out as soon as Mr. Obama’s
speech was concluded, wanted to be alone as they watched this moment — which in
large part began in the churches and living rooms of Birmingham.
“I started to stay at home and watch this and drink a cold beer or some
champagne,” said Willie Clements Sr., a burly 53-year-old former postal worker
who grew up in a world of separate drinking fountains and Jim Crow. “But I got
to thinking: this may not happen in my lifetime.”
At that moment, Mr. Obama was preparing to be sworn in. “Excuse me, I got to
make a call,” Mr. Clements said. “My twin brother’s watching this in Vegas.”
Everywhere, people gathered. Store owners in the Bronx stole glances at
television sets in backrooms in between helping customers. About a dozen Latinos
stood in the lobby of a Los Angeles Y.M.C.A. watching the event.
The cars had been moved outside at the Uptown Body and Fender shop in Oakland,
Calif., to make room for a projector, helium balloons, a life-size cutout of Mr.
Obama and a crowd of about a hundred.
Among them was Leon Cross, a black carpet cleaner and janitor from nearby
Hayward, Calif., who a couple of months ago had cast a vote for president for
the first time in his 52 years. Now his Crosstown Carpet Care is offering a 44th
president carpet-cleaning sale: forty-four dollars per room, which, he said, was
practically giving it away.
“I’m happy to do what I can,” said Mr. Cross, whose face was lined with tears by
the end of Mr. Obama’s speech.
All the swivel chairs at the Silver Star Barber Shop in Atlanta were turned to
the television mounted high on a wall and all of the normal barbershop
conversation — football, whiskey, unrealized diets — yielded to quiet at the
start of the invocation.
“How you going to ask if I’m watching?” Dione McCalla, a 33-year-old bookstore
owner barked into his cellphone. “Of course I’m watching.”
The haircuts and trims continued throughout the ceremony, but at 12:06 pm, when
Mr. Obama was introduced as “the 44th president of the United States of
America,” the shop fell into an even deeper hush.
Willie Edwards, sitting in the corner eating a hot dog and wearing an Obama
shirt, shook his head.
“Ain’t that something,” he said.
But the moment did not belong to only one group, as personal as it may have
felt.
“Maybe this means that someday we might see another historic day — a Hispanic
president,” said 27-year-old forklift driver Alex Gonzalez, one of several men
gathered around a rabbit-eared television in a meeting room at a fire
extinguisher plant in Elk Grove Village, Ill.
At a crowded viewing party of Inauguration Day hooky-players at the Royale, a
popular bar on St. Louis’s south side, Will Roth, a 61-year-old retired
department manager at a grocery store, remarked on the day’s meaning for gay men
and lesbians “We’ll finally have an ally in the White House instead of an
adversary.”
Even those who did not feel a personal stake in the inauguration or who opposed
Mr. Obama on policy grounds remained in the company of others to watch one of
the country’s occasional concessions to the pomp and circumstance of royalty.
At the sparsely populated Cross Keys Diner in Republican-heavy Adams County,
Pa., 83-year-old Leo Lunger, who works for his son-in-law’s carwash and concrete
businesses, expressed disgust for Mr. Obama’s bailout plan and what he sees as a
continuation of Clinton-era policies.
“You can’t buy your way out of this,” Mr. Lunger said. “I knew he was going to
spin us blind.”
But he stayed at the counter and watched the swearing-in, as the restaurant
owner’s wife, Vickie Saltos, an ecstatic Obama supporter, sent text messages to
her daughter in Washington.
Whatever the feeling was about Mr. Obama’s politics, most agreed that this
one-hour ceremony marked a kind of new phase in the country’s 233-year history.
Few would know about that better than Florence Beatrice Stevens Smith, 104, who
lives at the Heartland Health Care Center in Kendall, Fla.
The community room was already packed, with residents peeking behind walkers,
when Ms. Smith entered, with a red, white and blue lei around her neck. The
ceremony had begun. Although several in the room dozed peacefully, the
television was turned up loud enough for people down the hall to hear it from
their beds.
Ms. Smith did not say much. But an employee at the home confirmed what stories
in the newspaper had said: Ms. Smith had been a typing teacher at Tuskegee
University in Alabama, and her father, a former slave, had served in the Union
Army.
When Mr. Obama appeared on screen and began his oath, she moved forward in her
wheelchair and adjusted her glasses.
“He is really president,” Ms. Smith whispered, as others in the room applauded.
“That’s nice.”
Reporting was contributed by Yolanne Almanzar in Kendall, Fla.; Robbie Brown in
Atlanta; Ana Facio Contreras in Los Angeles; Karen Ann Cullotta in Elk Grove
Village, Ill.; Doug Donovan in Adams County, Pa.; Malcolm Gay in St. Louis; and
Malia Wollan in Oakland, Calif.
Shortly before lunchtime on Tuesday, a strange quiet settled over Junction City
Middle School. Strange because quiet does not come naturally to a collection of
875 students in the full throes of adolescence. But this clearly was a moment, a
time to set aside childish things.
The sixth and eighth graders had shuffled into the auditorium of the year-old
school, past the signs saying no gum, drinks or food, while the seventh graders
took seats in the adjacent cafeteria, redolent of chicken patties frying. All
were silent, and not only because the expressions of the adults hovering about
signaled the need for communal reverence.
They gazed up at large screens to watch the presidential inauguration in
Washington, nearly 1,100 miles away, though the distance sometimes seemed even
farther. While the audio feed remained steady, the video stream stopped and
stuttered, like old NASA images from space, so much so that Aretha Franklin
seemed to start singing “My Country ’Tis of Thee” before opening her mouth.
But this glitch only added to the moment’s import, as if to echo other firsts —
sending a man to the moon, say — along the American continuum. And these
YouTube-era students never snickered; they only watched, some wide-eyed, some
sleepy-eyed, the flickering images of power’s formal transfer.
Also watching, also looking up, was Ronald P. Walker, 55, the schools
superintendent, from a cafeteria table he was sharing with six seventh-grade
girls. He wore a dark suit, a white shirt and a red tie — the same attire as the
president-elect now striding across the screen above.
Mr. Walker grew up in an all-black town in Oklahoma, worked his way through the
ranks of education, and is now the only black schools superintendent in Kansas.
He worries about budget cutbacks as a result of the economic crisis throttling
his state and his country, but he saw in the man appearing above him a thinker,
a statesman, the embodiment of hope.
“And his emphasis on education is critical for all of us,” Mr. Walker said.
One could argue that many of the students in Mr. Walker’s charge have more at
stake in this far-off Washington ceremony than most. Junction City may be a
place of about 20,000 in the flat plains of Kansas, but it is as diverse as any
place in the country, mostly because in many ways it serves at the pleasure of
Fort Riley, a major military base a few miles away.
Slightly fewer than half the students are white, more than half receive free or
discounted lunches — and a full third have some connection to Fort Riley, which
adds both a cultural richness and an uncommon kind of stress.
School officials say the students worry less about grades and friends than about
when a parent will be deployed, when a parent will return, whether a parent will
survive combat.
These are not daydream worries, what with 3,400 soldiers from Fort Riley now in
Iraq, and the knowledge that 159 soldiers and airmen from the base had been
killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of last year.
Not too long ago, there was a report of graffiti in the bathroom at the high
school. The culprit was a girl, and what she had written, over and over, was: I
Miss My Dad.
So here they were, the children of a place called Junction City — a community
proud of its distinctive Kansas limestone buildings, struggling still with its
honky-tonk, “Junk Town” reputation of long ago — looking up at screens, waiting
for a new and different show. Gazing up, too, were many adults, most of whom had
thought they would never see the day.
Here was Ferrell Miller, 63, the school’s principal, whose father used to say
the “N” word as if it were just any other word. Dr. Miller came to Junction City
more than 40 years ago as a soldier, met and married a young woman from the
Philippines, return to his Ohio hometown — and then moved back to Junction City
because that place in Ohio “didn’t have the diversity we were looking for.” But
Junction City did.
And here were the cafeteria workers, white, Hispanic, black, most of them
wearing hairnets, taking a break from food prep to share in the moment. Margaret
Langley, 73, a German woman who married a G.I. in the mid-1950s, is proud to be
a naturalized citizen; Nellie Vargas, 29, from Houston, married to a soldier
stationed at Fort Riley; Phyllis Edwards, 46, of North Carolina, married to a
retired soldier and with a son in the eighth grade here.
“I’m just so nervous,” said Ms. Edwards, failing to find the words to match her
emotions.
Finally, the moment. The announcer asked people in Washington to please stand;
the students of Junction City remained seated. The chief justice of the United
States said, “Congratulations, Mr. President”; those students burst into
applause.
As President Obama began his Inaugural Address, the seventh-grade students began
their lunch. They filed into the kitchen to collect their trays of chicken-patty
sandwiches, fries and chocolate milk. Few opted for the peas.
Kimberlee Muñoz set down her tray and rendered her review of the Inaugural
Address — “It was the bomb!” — while at a table nearby, Reggie Campbell ate his
lunch in forced exile, having gotten into it with another student who was making
fun of him. He said he lived with an uncle who was in Iraq at the moment, and he
said he enjoyed watching the inauguration.
“I think it’s nice to have a black president for once,” he said.
Meanwhile, the adults at the middle school began the orderly transition from
historic to mundane. Ms. Edwards took her place behind the buffet table, wishing
all the while that she was in Washington. Ms. Vargas left her cafeteria work
early to drive her husband to the airport; an emergency leave had ended, and he
was returning to Iraq.
And Mr. Walker, in his dark suit, white shirt and red tie, set off for another
meeting in another building in Junction City, leaving in his wake one word: Wow.
In His Moment, Many Feel Echoes Of Their Own Stories
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
A01
Washington Post
By David Maraniss
Staff Writer
In taking the oath of office as the first African American president in the
nation's nearly 233 years, one man reached a singular achievement. But at four
minutes after noon yesterday, Barack Hussein Obama was inevitably transformed --
no matter what happens during his administration -- from an individual, a
politician, to an icon and a symbol. Here was history at its most sweeping and
yet intimate.
An essential theme of his presidential campaign was that his candidacy was less
about him than it was about the coming together of the people of the United
States of America, as Obama ritually called it in his rolling cadence. We are
the change we have been waiting for, he would proclaim, repeating the mantra so
often that he left himself open to sardonic mocking. Yet that idea, more than
anything he said or did, became the dominant sensibility of an extraordinary
day.
With the inauguration witnessed by perhaps the largest audience ever to assemble
in Washington, and with the fit young leader and his wife striding confidently
down part of the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route, the day, of course, was about
him.
But more than that, it was about everyone out there in the crowds that stretched
from the west side of the Capitol all the way to the Lincoln Memorial: every
person with an individual story, a set of meanings and reference points for a
moment that many thought would never happen in their lifetimes.
In his inaugural address, Obama concentrated mostly on the difficult trials to
come. Drawing more on the metaphors of George Washington than of Abraham
Lincoln, he evoked a figurative winter of hardship that the nation must and will
endure, harking back to the uncertain revolutionary winter of 1776. The crowds,
meanwhile, seemed ready and willing to stand for as many hours as it took in the
literal winter, in the whipping cold of a January day, to celebrate the meaning
of the moment rather than focus explicitly on the tasks ahead.
Obama's message was somber, serious and forceful, with several graceful
rhetorical riffs but no attempt at lyrical exaltation. It was as though he
understood that the crowd would have enough hope and joy on its own, without
need of more from him. "We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin
again," he said at one point, but his celebrators already seemed picked up about
as straight and high as they could get.
On a weekend train down from New Jersey, an older black man wearing presidential
cuff links, stooped with arthritis but in good voice, kept saying to the people
in his car: There are all these stories. Everyone has a story. We all have
stories.
And so they did yesterday. The stories were not about Obama and his own unlikely
saga as the 47-year-old son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father
from Kenya, no more than his speech was. What preoccupied people, on this day,
was the connection of his reality to their own.
Patricia Lother and her childhood friend Naomi McDowell Bryant said they started
crying, eyes closed, rocking in prayer, as soon as Obama opened his mouth. They
are in their 70s now, one living in New York City, the other in suburban
Virginia, but they grew up together in Aiken, S.C., during the era of Jim Crow
segregation.
Lother carried underneath her winter bundling a folded piece of paper that held
copied photos of her great-grandmother, her grandfather and her mother. From
slavery through segregation to this moment on a lone page, which she clutched
close, whispering to their memories as if she could tell her ancestors about
what to them might have seemed like an unimaginable event.
Lillian Winrow, after taking a cross-country trip to Washington with her husband
and two children from Sacramento, was overwhelmed by thoughts of her late
father, Obed Rhodes, who grew up in Alabama, in Tuskegee and Mobile, and kept a
single artifact of his early life as a reminder to his children of what used to
be.
It was another piece of paper, crammed with small, almost illegible writing,
inscrutable phrases, that represented the poll tax imposed on voters as a means
of discouraging African Americans from participating in American democracy.
Winrow, 42, had never dreamed of coming to an inauguration before, had never
felt connected to the official history of her country, yet here she stood,
looking up at a giant screen showing Obama becoming president in his black suit
and red tie, that scrap of paper in her pocket linking past to present in a way
that nothing else could.
The first thought that flitted through the mind of Julie Springwater when Obama
became president was also of her father, she said, though for a far different
reason, and from the other side of America's difficult racial history.
Springwater, 52, a white civic activist from Providence, R.I., thought of the
long-ago day in her Pittsburgh childhood when, after playing in the nearby woods
with a band of young boys, she walked into her house and called her father, the
social worker Harry Foreman, a "nigger." She was too young to realize what she
was saying, Springwater recalled, but not too young to feel her father's wrath:
Never, ever, ever say that word again, he told her.
That memory did not reflect the sheer exhilaration Springwater felt because of
Obama's inauguration, but it was nonetheless her first unbidden thought. "That
moment made an impression on me that I've talked about ever since," she said,
framed by her young daughters, Mia and Sachie, adopted Cambodians who had helped
form a BOG -- Barack Obama Group -- at the Gordon School in East Providence.
The very mention of that racial slur seemed somewhat incongruous in this
setting, but Springwater was not the only white American willing to confront an
ugly legacy as if this were an opportunity for cleansing. Ed Baxter, who runs a
center for homeless children in San Antonio with his wife, Lenna, said the
reality of President Obama made him think back to a moment when he was 10,
living at the Whitaker State Orphanage in Pryor, Okla., and traveled with the
orphanage's boxing team to fight an all-black squad from a nearby city.
Baxter was accustomed to boxing Native Americans; he had seen people with red
skin, but not black. When he asked his coach what tribe they were, the answer
was that one awful word. Baxter, now 64, never forgot it, and it came back to
him again yesterday. "There was a lot of prejudice then," Baxter said. "We were
taught prejudice."
Mark Smith, 46, a black tractor-trailer driver who organized a busload of postal
workers to come down from northern New Jersey, was another in the crowd who
thought of his father as Obama took the oath of office. His dad, Russell Smith,
a retired Army sergeant major who fought in Korea and Vietnam, lied about his
age back in the late 1940s and enlisted at 16 so he could "escape from the
oppressive racism of Mississippi," his son said.
Russell Smith, mostly confined to the Armed Forces Retirement Home off North
Capitol Street, could not make the inauguration, so Mark planned to skip the
parade and visit briefly with his father before heading back north.
Smith's bus had rolled into the capital in the pre-dawn darkness, joining the
masses congregating in the vicinity of the Mall. "Let us in!" a crowd started
chanting outside one of the gates to the parade route shortly after 7 yesterday
morning, expressing a can't-wait mood that began long before sunrise. Metro
trains overflowed at 4, parking lots at many outer stations were filled by 5.
Thousands upon thousands of early arrivers moved as friendly tribes toward their
places of witness, the way illuminated by the slivered moon, the high-tech
glistening of huge screens stationed along the vastness of the Mall and, there
in the far distance, the bright white lighting of the Capitol, facing west.
Hours before the action, in a sense, and yet the assemblage was its own piece of
history, not just perhaps the largest but the most diverse as well. In the
morning chill around 8, an hour before the standing-room sections for the
swearing-in were opened, thick lines stretched three blocks from the security
gates and grew by the minute. At the same time, the no-ticket-required grass and
dirt fields at the western end of the Mall filled like a humongous sea of
full-color humanity. Parkas, sleeping bags, blankets, American flags, Obama
hats, Obama sweat shirts.
The crowds kept coming as the president-to-be went through his traditional
inaugural-morning stations of the cross. Hours flitted past, and then Obama was
president.
Betsy Tomlinson, 59, a lawyer from Doylestown, Pa., had been wrapped in a
sleeping bag since 7, stationed with friends directly in front of a screen near
the Washington Monument. Everything had been festive, "cold but happy" for more
than five hours. And then Obama appeared, Tomlinson said, and the mood began to
change. She thought he looked "so royal, so presidential, in charge" and
serious. And as he started to speak, she sensed a shift in disposition coming
over her and the crowd around her.
"It was like, time to get serious," Tomlinson said. "The mood change was
noticeable, though not in a bad way. Just, there is a lot of work to do. Let's
get to work. It was sort of a reality check."
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
10:14 PM
Washington Post
By Laura Blumenfeld
Staff Writer
Left hand resting on an ancient, sacred text, right hand raised to write a new
chapter of the American story, Barack Obama stood on a platform at the Capitol,
poised to recite the presidential oath of office. He turned his face toward the
slanting, winter sun.
It was 12:04 p.m., the moment of Obama's promise. The promise that people saw in
him mingled with the promise he would make to the people. Over the next 31
seconds, swearing on Abraham Lincoln's Bible before Chief Justice John G.
Roberts Jr., Obama would transform himself from potential to president.
He took an icy breath. He warmed it into words that rushed, eager, tumbling over
Roberts's slightly off-script prompts, his declaration echoing off the monuments
on the Mall, reverberating across the country and the world. From Los Angeles to
Mathare, a group of slums in Nairobi, people witnessed the ceremony as it was
broadcast live, and they reflected on Obama's words.
'I, Barack Hussein Obama . . .'
In Chicago, Nancy MacLean, an American history professor, passed out tissues for
the tears that would come. She sat in a roomful of progressives in Rogers Park
who had knocked on doors for Obama and worked so hard for this moment.
The big screen stood in the living room where Barack Obama once sat, years ago,
a Chicago pol raising money for a quixotic U.S. Senate run. Now, as Obama began
to recite the oath, the room fell silent.
"do solemnly swear . . ."
In New York's Times Square, Susan Jacks covered her face with a red-mittened
hand and wept. A stranger standing beside her, Nils Folke Anderson, put a large
arm around her.
"I'm a mess in a dress," Jacks said.
Jacks and Anderson were among the estimated 3,000 who could have stayed indoors,
to watch the events in warm homes or offices, but didn't. Giant screens in Times
Square that show underwear and Coke advertisements tuned in to history.
Uptown, in the Harlem Armory on 142nd Street, about 3,000 schoolchildren and
residents watched on three large screens. Mbayang Kasse and Amina Niass, both 11
and in sixth grade, rose, staring at Obama's face. As other kids screamed and
waved flags, they were solemn. Both little girls placed their right hands over
their hearts and repeated the oath along with Obama.
"that I will execute the office . . ."
In Los Angeles, at Pizza Italia in a tough section of the city's downtown,
Khatchik Tachtchian stood at the stove, chopping green peppers wearing clear
plastic gloves, beneath a television picture of Obama raising his right hand.
A customer, Jerry Guzman, set his coffee on the counter, watching the little TV
above the cash register. Guzman's nephew, Carlos, who has less seniority than
his uncle in a company that laid off 20 people last week, sent him a text
message:
"I'M TRYING TO KEEP MY JOB. I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WATCH TV."
"of president of the United States faithfully . . ."
In Anjuna, India, standing in front of a television set up in an elegant,
seaside restaurant especially for Obama's inauguration, Diogo Pinto, a waiter,
said he had heard of Obama but wasn't especially interested in politics until
this moment. Then customers asked him to pour shots of vodka, whiskey and
Bailey's. He heard a cheer go up when Obama's face flashed on the screen.
"Wow," Pinto said, watching the television in between serving exuberant diners.
"Let's see what he does for India. We need some help fighting terrorism. We need
peace with Pakistan."
"and will to the best of my ability . . ."
In Nairobi, it was a clear night full of stars when the moment came. In a
sprawling slum, people gathered wherever there was a TV -- inside tiny butcher
shops and hair salons and ramshackle cinemas such as the battered, iron-sheet
shed called the Alabama.
A hand-chalked plywood sign outside the Alabama advertised the day's attraction:
"Con Air" at 6 and 7 p.m. "History in the Making -- Obama Swearing In." At least
60 young men, tailors, plumbers, electricians and street mechanics among them,
paid the special 7 cent entry fee, and settled inside on dirt floors and wooden
benches facing a 20-inch TV.
As Obama spoke, men who had been slouching straightened their postures.
"Preserve, protect and defend . . ."
In Paris, in City Hall's Party Room beneath a vaulted ceiling, glittering
chandeliers and fleshy women in Greco-Roman frescoes, everybody looked straight
ahead, unsmiling and solemn, at the giant television screen showing a live CNN
broadcast.
They listened as the words spoken in Washington bounced around the cavernous
room. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, who had invited Americans to celebrate the
inauguration, hosted the reception as part of a wave of enthusiasm in France for
the new leader.
"This evening I say: Long live American democracy," the mayor said. "Long live
Barack Obama."
"the Constitution of the United States . . ."
In Baghdad, the streets were dark, save for the eerie glow of a refinery across
the Tigris.
The family of Ayad Abdel-Sittar huddled around a space heater, near the
television. Concrete from the roof had fallen, revealing rusted iron. A car bomb
in 2006 -- no one could remember the month, there were too many blasts back then
-- had chiseled it away. Electricity, provided by the state, cut off five
minutes before Obama was sworn in. The family had an alternative; they'd run a
wire from a military intelligence headquarters across the street.
By the time the lights blinked on again, Obama was halfway through his oath. No
one paid attention. Fifteen-year-old Nour stared at the ground. Seif looked
blankly at the screen. Ayad spoke to his wife about the upcoming provincial
elections: Which party was bribing its followers to vote? Which party would try
to kill its opponents? Ali played with the neighbor's baby, 8-month-old Noura.
Animated, only Noura seemed to watch.
The baby let out cries that were not yet words, then pointed to the screen.
"So help me God."
Staff writers Peter Slevin in Chicago, Keith B. Richburg and Robin Shulman in
New York, Karl Vick in Los Angeles, Emily Wax in India, Stephanie McCrummen in
Kenya, Edward Cody in Paris, Anthony Shadid in Baghdad and Valerie Strauss in
Washington contributed to this report.
Obama Takes Oath, and Nation in Crisis Embraces the Moment
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By PETER BAKER
WASHINGTON — Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the
United States on Tuesday and promised to “begin again the work of remaking
America” on a day of celebration that climaxed a once-inconceivable journey for
the man and his country.
Mr. Obama, the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas,
inherited a White House built partly by slaves and a nation in crisis at home
and abroad. The moment captured the imagination of much of the world as more
than a million flag-waving people bore witness while Mr. Obama recited the oath
with his hand on the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration
148 years ago.
Beyond the politics of the occasion, the sight of a black man climbing the
highest peak electrified people across racial, generational and partisan lines.
Mr. Obama largely left it to others to mark the history explicitly, making only
passing reference to his own barrier-breaking role in his 18-minute Inaugural
Address, noting how improbable it might seem that “a man whose father less than
60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand
before you to take a most sacred oath.”
But confronted by the worst economic situation in decades, two overseas wars and
the continuing threat of Islamic terrorism, Mr. Obama sobered the celebration
with a grim assessment of the state of a nation rocked by home foreclosures,
shuttered businesses, lost jobs, costly health care, failing schools, energy
dependence and the threat of climate change. Signaling a sharp and immediate
break with the presidency of George W. Bush, he vowed to usher in a “new era of
responsibility” and restore tarnished American ideals.
“Today, I say to you that the challenges we face are real,” Mr. Obama said in
the address, delivered from the west front of the Capitol. “They are serious and
they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know
this, America, they will be met.”
The vast crowd that thronged the Mall on a frigid but bright winter day was the
largest to attend an inauguration in decades, if not ever. Many then lined
Pennsylvania Avenue for a parade that continued well past nightfall on a day
that was not expected to end for Mr. Obama until late in the night with the last
of 10 inaugural balls.
Mr. Bush left the national stage quietly, doing nothing to upstage his
successor. After hosting the Obamas for coffee at the White House and attending
the ceremony at the Capitol, Mr. Bush hugged Mr. Obama, then left through the
Rotunda to head back to Texas. “Come on, Laura, we’re going home,” he was
overheard telling Mrs. Bush.
The inauguration coincided with more bad news from Wall Street, with the Dow
Jones industrial average down more than 300 points on indications of further
trouble for banks.
The spirit of the day was also marred by the hospitalization of Senator Edward
M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, whose endorsement helped propel Mr. Obama
to the Democratic nomination last year. Mr. Kennedy, who has been fighting a
malignant brain tumor, suffered a seizure at a Capitol luncheon after the
ceremony and was wheeled out on a stretcher.
The pageantry included some serious business. Shortly after he and Vice
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. were sworn in, Mr. Obama ordered all pending Bush
regulations frozen for a legal and policy review. He also signed formal
nomination papers for his cabinet, and the Senate quickly confirmed seven
nominees: the secretaries of homeland security, energy, agriculture, interior,
education and veterans’ affairs and the director of the Office of Management and
Budget.
When he arrives in the Oval Office on Wednesday, aides said, Mr. Obama will get
to work on some of his priorities. He plans to convene his national security
team and senior military commanders to discuss his plans to pull combat troops
out of Iraq and bolster those in Afghanistan. He also plans to sign executive
orders to start closing the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and could
reverse Mr. Bush’s restrictions on financing for groups that promote or provide
information about abortion.
Delays in the confirmation process have left both the State Department and the
Treasury Department in the hands of caretakers. But Hillary Rodham Clinton was
expected to win Senate confirmation as secretary of state on Wednesday, and the
Pentagon remains under the control of Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who was
kept on from the Bush administration and did not attend the inauguration so
someone in the line of succession would survive in case of terrorist attack.
In his address, Mr. Obama praised Mr. Bush “for his service to our nation as
well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.”
But he also offered implicit criticism, condemning what he called “our
collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.”
He went on to assure the rest of the world that change had come. “To all other
peoples and governments who are watching today,” Mr. Obama said, “from the
grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born, know that
America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a
future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.”
Some of Mr. Obama’s supporters booed and taunted Mr. Bush when he emerged from
the Capitol to take his place on stage, at one point singing, “Nah, nah, nah,
nah, hey, hey, hey, goodbye.” By day’s end, Mr. Bush had landed in Texas, where
he defended his presidency and declared that he was “coming home with my head
held high.”
The departing vice president, Dick Cheney, appeared at the ceremony in a
wheelchair after suffering a back injury moving the day before and was also
booed.
The nation’s 56th inauguration drew waves of people from all corners and filled
the expanse between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. For the first
transition in power since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, much of the capital was
under exceptionally tight security, with a two-square-mile swath under the
strictest control. Bridges from Virginia were closed to regular traffic and more
than 35,000 civilian and military personnel were on duty.
Mr. Obama secured at least part of his legacy the moment he walked into the
White House on Tuesday, 146 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, 108 years
after the first black man dined in the mansion with a president and 46 years
after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared his dream of equality.
Mr. Obama, just 47 years old and four years out of the Illinois State Senate,
arrived at this moment on the unlikeliest of paths, vaulted to the forefront of
national politics on the strength of stirring speeches, early opposition to the
Iraq war and public disenchantment with the Bush era. His scant record of
achievement at the national level proved less important to voters than his
embodiment of change.
His foreign-sounding name, his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia and his skin
color made him a unique figure in the annals of presidential campaigns, yet he
toppled two of the best brand names in American politics — Mrs. Clinton in the
primaries and Senator John McCain in the general election.
Mr. Obama himself is descended on his mother’s side from ancestors who owned
slaves and he can trace his family tree to Jefferson Davis, the president of the
Confederacy. The power of the moment was lost on no one as the Rev. Joseph E.
Lowery, one of the towering figures of the civil rights movement, gave the
benediction and called for “inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not
intolerance.”
The Rev. Rick Warren, a conservative minister selected by Mr. Obama to give the
invocation despite protests from liberals, told the crowd, “We know today that
Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.”
For all that, Mr. Obama used the occasion to address “this winter of our
hardship” and promote his plan for vast federal spending accompanied by tax cuts
to stimulate the economy and begin addressing energy, environmental and
infrastructure needs.
“Now there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that
our system cannot tolerate too many big plans,” he said. “Their memories are
short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men
and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity
to courage.”
He also essentially renounced the curtailment of liberties in the name of
security, saying he would “reject as false the choice between our safety and our
ideals.” He struck a stiff note on terrorism, saying Americans “will not
apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense.”
“For those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering
innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken,”
he said. “You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”
But Mr. Obama also added a message to Islamic nations, a first from the
inaugural lectern. “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on
mutual interest and mutual respect,” Mr. Obama said. “To those who cling to
power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you
are on the wrong side of history — but that we will extend a hand if you are
willing to unclench your fist.”
Mr. Obama’s public day started at 8:45 a.m. when he and his wife, Michelle, left
Blair House for a service at St. John’s Church, then joined the Bushes, Cheneys
and Bidens for coffee at the White House.
The Obamas’ daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, joined them at the Capitol, as
did Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain, as well as former Presidents Bill Clinton,
Jimmy Carter and the elder George Bush.
While emotional for many, the ceremony did not go entirely according to plan.
Mr. Biden was sworn in by Justice John Paul Stevens behind schedule at 11:57
a.m., and Mr. Obama did not take the oath until 12:05 p.m., five minutes past
the constitutionally proscribed transfer of power.
Moreover, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. stumbled over the 35-word oath,
causing Mr. Obama to repeat it out of the constitutional order. Instead of
swearing that he “will faithfully execute the office of president of the United
States,” Mr. Obama swore that he “will execute the office of president of the
United States faithfully.”
Following time-honored rituals, the Obamas attended lunch with lawmakers in
Statuary Hall at the Capitol, then rode and walked to the White House, where
they watched the parade from a bulletproof reviewing stand. They planned to
attend all 10 official inaugural balls before spending their first night in the
White House.
In his Inaugural Address, Mr. Obama seemed at times to be having a virtual
dialogue with his predecessors. “What is required of us now is a new era of
responsibility,” he said, “a recognition on the part of every American that we
have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not
grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly.” Mr. Bush and Mr. Clinton likewise
called for responsibility at their inaugurations, but Mr. Obama offered little
sense of what exactly he wanted Americans to do.
Mr. Obama also seemed to take issue with Ronald Reagan, who declared when he
took office in 1981 that “government is not the solution to our problem;
government is the problem.” Mr. Clinton rebutted that in 1997, saying,
“government is not the problem and government is not the solution.”
Mr. Obama offered a new formulation: “The question we ask today is not whether
our government is too big or too small but whether it works, whether it helps
families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is
dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer
is no, programs will end.”
Mr. Clinton, at least, applauded the message. In a brief interview afterward, he
said Mr. Obama’s installation could change the way America was viewed.
“It’s obviously historic because President Obama is the first African-American
president, but it’s more than that,” Mr. Clinton said. “This is a time when
we’re clearly making a new beginning. It’s a country of repeated second-chances
and new beginnings.”
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By JOHN F. BURNS
LONDON — President Obama used his Inaugural Address to promise the
regeneration of an America many in recent years had feared lost.
Speaking directly to the millions who crowded around televisions across the
world as much as to Americans, Mr. Obama said the United States was “ready to
lead once more” despite the ravages of protracted wars and a depleted economy.
But he coupled that with a vision of an America that exercises its power with a
sense of justice, humility and restraint, and an America that, while believing
its values still light the world, pledges to promote them through cooperation
and understanding as much as military might.
With a steel never so pronounced in his campaign, he challenged America’s
adversaries — and, recently, some of its oldest friends — who have spied an
America diminished by economic distress and war, and heralded a new world order
in which America would give up much of its power.
That hesitant, regretful America was nowhere to be seen in Mr. Obama’s address,
which called on Americans to rally against “a nagging fear” that decline is
inevitable. While offering a “new way forward to the Muslim world,” and warning
dictators that they are “on the wrong side of history,” he sounded not unlike
George W. Bush in his challenges to those who spread terror and destruction.
“You cannot outlast us; we will defeat you,” he said.
Some abroad bridled and some were reassured by the recurring foreign policy
motif of Mr. Obama’s address — his resolve that the United States, as it
rebuilds at home, will not give up its long-established role as the leader of
the free world. And while many hailed the change of tone, others were uncertain
that real change was coming, given the realities of American politics and the
world that has not altered with the transition in Washington.
In Cairo and Lebanon, while some hailed Mr. Obama’s outreach to the Muslim
world, most remained skeptical about his ability to change the basic direction
of American policy and what many Arabs regard as a strong bias toward Israel.
For many, the war in Gaza, which caused tremendous anger throughout the Arab
world, overshadowed the inauguration; Mr. Obama did not refer to it in his
address.
“Why should I be optimistic about what he said?” said Hassan Abdel Rahman, 25, a
salesman in a flower shop in Cairo. “If there was reason to be optimistic, then
we would have felt it during the war on Gaza, and if he was just, then he would
have said something then — but he said nothing!”
Some old adversaries suggested that they would keep an open mind. “We salute the
people of the United States,” said Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez,
emphasizing that he hoped that Mr. Obama’s presidency would “mark a change in
the relations of the United States with the countries of the third world.”
In some capitals, Mr. Obama’s renewed claim to foreign leadership and the
prospect of an American president with the kind of aura not seen since John F.
Kennedy have provoked stirrings of jealousy, even animosity. In Russia and
France, notably, there have been high-level calls that Mr. Obama accept that
America’s days as the dominant superpower are over, especially in the face of
the retreat from the free-market capitalism the United States has championed.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei V. Lavrov, published an essay last month
saying, in language that was almost pitying, that Russia had “returned to the
world stage” and would not accept the United States any longer as an imperial
power. “America has to recognize the reality of a ‘post-American’ world,” he
said.
More surprising, perhaps, has been the changed tone of France’s president,
Nicolas Sarkozy, who took office in 2007 with a reputation as France’s most
pro-American president in memory but has tempered that as he has sought to
establish himself as Europe’s most powerful voice. “I have always been in favor
of a very close alliance with the United States of America,” Mr. Sarkozy said
two weeks ago. “But let us make things clear: in the 21st century, there is no
longer one nation that can tell what must be done or what one must think.”
The tone of Mr. Obama’s address, especially his emphasis on greater cooperation,
and his vow to combat poverty, climate change and nuclear threats, scarcely
presaged a new era of American bullying. But even with a radical new tone, he
may find the partners he seeks may be reluctant to share burdens that have until
now been America’s main responsibility to bear.
“We have entered a period of historical transition in which the United States
will become first among equals, rather than simply top dog, hyperpower and
unquestioned hegemon,” said Timothy Garton Ash, a professor of European studies
at Oxford. “But for Europeans, it may be a case of being careful what you wish
for, because the Obama administration is likely to say, ‘Good, then put your
money where your mouth is, and in the first place, put more troops in
Afghanistan.’ ”
In the days leading up to the inauguration, many politicians, academics, opinion
leaders and others spoke to correspondents of The New York Times around the
world about Mr. Obama in terms verging on euphoria. But they also sounded
warnings that the expectations were too high and that the world might discover
that Mr. Obama is hemmed in by some of the unyielding realities that had
frustrated his predecessor, compounded now by the worldwide recession and what
it has done to diminish America’s reputation as a model of free-market
prosperity.
“Obviously, there is a risk that we will expect too much of this president —
that we will learn that however hugely talented he is, he isn’t a global miracle
worker,” said Christopher Patten, a former European commissioner for foreign
affairs who is now chancellor of Oxford.
Moves that Mr. Obama has signaled, like a plan to close the detention camp at
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and to align the United States with international law on
the use of torture, are certain to be greeted with relief and celebration around
the world. But on Iran’s suspected bid to acquire nuclear weapons, on his pledge
to step up the allied military commitment in Afghanistan, on climate change and
a host of other issues, he may find personal popularity one thing, achieving his
goals through partnership and negotiation quite another.
As he prepared to leave office, Mr. Bush admonished Mr. Obama to remember that a
president’s first priority is to keep America safe, a challenge the new
president addressed.
But his pledges to “leave Iraq to its people” and push for a “hard-earned peace”
in Afghanistan may yet jar with reality, military analysts have warned. His plan
to increase American and allied troop strength in Afghanistan has met with a
chilling riposte from Osama bin Laden, who, by eluding capture since 9/11, has
embodied the limits of Mr. Bush’s “great war on terror.”
Last week, Mr. bin Laden, Al Qaeda’s leader, challenged Mr. Obama in an audio
message. Referring to Afghanistan and Iraq, he said Mr. Obama was “like one who
swallows a double-edged dagger — whichever way he moves it, it will wound him.”
Iraq could be just as tricky, confronting Mr. Obama, should trends toward less
violence there reverse, with a challenge to his campaign commitment to a
16-month troop withdrawal timetable.
Jorge Montaño, a former Mexican ambassador to the United States, said that Mr.
Bush had been too focused on Afghanistan and Iraq to notice that Latin America
was drifting away from the United States, and that Mr. Obama might prove little
different. “Right now, the people of the United States are worried about their
credit cards, their mortgages,” he said. “These will be Obama’s priorities, and
this region will have to wait.”
But as Mr. Obama took office, practical calculations were largely set aside.
Commentaries praising him found much more to admire than the fact that he is the
first African-American president, significant though that is in a world whose
population of 6.5 billion is overwhelmingly nonwhite.
Even before his solemn and measured address, Mr. Obama had drawn widespread
plaudits for his character and judgment. “Obama acts like a kind of antacid to
the American stomach,” Andrew Sullivan, a columnist for The Sunday Times of
London, wrote last weekend, one of a raft of adulatory articles in Europe’s
major newspapers. Rather than seeing the world in black and white terms, he
wrote, Mr. Obama “sees it as a series of interconnected conflicts that can be
managed by pragmatic solutions, combined with a little rhetorical fairy dust and
willingness to offer respect where Bush provided merely contempt.”
“This is not a panacea,” he added. “But it is not nothing either.”
Reporting was contributed by Simon Romero from Caracas, Venezuela; Mona
el-Naggar from Cairo; Ellen Barry from Moscow; Marc Lacey from Mexico City; and
Daphné Anglès from Paris.
On a morning of countless firsts in U.S. history, add this: Barack Obama's
inaugural speech is the first time a president has ever explicitly acknowledged
not only "Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus" but non-believers as well.
"This inclusiveness is a signature moment in American inaugural history," says
David Domke, professor of communications at the University of Washington in
Seattle, who has analyzed religious language in seven decades of inaugural and
State of the Union addresses.
Obama's speech was "right in the middle" of recent presidents in the number of
references to God — more than Reagan, fewer than George W. Bush — according to
Domke's tally.
Even so, "You could hear beneath it all references to God-given promise,
God's calls on us, God's grace on us, and the frequent use of 'shall' in that
King James-ian English of the Bible and early translations of Jewish prayer
books," adds Marvin Kranz, an American history expert at the Library of Congress
before his retirement.
Yet in its rhetoric and references, and in Obama's "almost musical delivery," it
was thoroughly expressive of a black and Christian man, even as it stretched
wide to cover all Americans, says Eddie Glaude, professor of religion and
African-American studies at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J.
Obama stood on Scripture, paraphrasing Paul's words in I Corinthians 13:11 that
the time has come to "put away childish things."
"He spoke in the grandest of the black church tradition when he talked about
how, in the darkest of hours, you have to find the strength to see past the
opacity of your condition, to have vision when there's no light. I was moved by
his facial expressions, too: the biting of the lip, the furrow of the brow, the
momentary pauses so you have a sense of the gravitas of the situation," says
Glaude.
Glaude also notes that Obama's "refutation of the Bush era, right in front of
Bush," was firm but gracefully done, serving as "a wonderful model of civil
disagreement. (He was saying) we are all in need of the grace and the love of
God because these are some difficult days ahead indeed."
Obama also selected two powerful pastors to open and close Tuesday's ceremony,
and 19 clergy and religious leaders will speak at the National Prayer Service at
the National Cathedral.
California mega-church pastor Rick Warren, under fire from gay rights activists
for his stand against same-sex marriage, gave an inaugural invocation that began
with the Hebrew Shema, ("Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One,")
and concluded with the Lord's Prayer. While Warren dedicated his own words to
Jesus, he didn't ask the millions of viewers to signify to evangelical faith
with an "amen."
Following is the transcript of President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address, as
transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:
PRESIDENT BARACK Thank you. Thank you.
CROWD: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!
My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful
for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our
ancestors.
I thank President Bush for his service to our nation...
(APPLAUSE)
... as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this
transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.
The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still
waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds
and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because
of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have
remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding
documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war
against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly
weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but
also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a
new age.
Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too
costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the
ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less
measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a
nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must
lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and
they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know
this America: They will be met.
(APPLAUSE)
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose
over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false
promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have
strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to
set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to
choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea,
passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are
equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of
happiness.
(APPLAUSE)
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is
never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or
settling for less.
It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure
over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.
Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some
celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have
carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans
in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West,
endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died in places Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe
Sahn.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till
their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as
bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the
differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful
nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began.
Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they
were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished.
But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off
unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed.
Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again
the work of remaking America.
(APPLAUSE)
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.
The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not
only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.
We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that
feed our commerce and bind us together.
We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to
raise health care's quality...
(APPLAUSE)
... and lower its costs.
We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our
factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to
meet the demands of a new age.
All this we can do. All this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that
our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for
they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women
can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to
courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them,
that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer
apply.
MR. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too
small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent
wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.
Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no,
programs will end.
And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to
spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day,
because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their
government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its
power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.
But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin
out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the
prosperous.
The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross
domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend
opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the
surest route to our common good.
(APPLAUSE)
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and
our ideals.
Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a
charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by
the blood of generations.
Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for
expedience's sake.
And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the
grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that
America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a
future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.
(APPLAUSE)
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with
missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.
They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us
to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent
use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our
example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy, guided by these principles once more, we can
meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation
and understanding between nations. We'll begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its
people and forge a hard- earned peace in Afghanistan.
With old friends and former foes, we'll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear
threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet.
We will not apologize for our way of life nor will we waver in its defense.
And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering
innocents, we say to you now that, "Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken.
You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."
(APPLAUSE)
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We
are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.
And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and
emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but
believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall
soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal
itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and
mutual respect.
To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their
society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can
build, not what you destroy.
To those...
(APPLAUSE)
To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of
dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend
a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
(APPLAUSE)
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your
farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed
hungry minds.
And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no
longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we
consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has
changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble
gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts
and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes
who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.
We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because
they embody the spirit of service: a willingness to find meaning in something
greater than themselves.
And yet, at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely
this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and
determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.
It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness
of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job
which sees us through our darkest hours.
It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also
a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new,
but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage
and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things
are old.
These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our
history.
What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is
a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American,
that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do
not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there
is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving
our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence: the knowledge that God calls on us to
shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children
of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent
mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been
served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred
oath.
(APPLAUSE)
So let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we have
traveled.
In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of
patriots huddled by nine campfires on the shores of an icy river.
The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with
blood.
At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of
our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing
but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one
common danger, came forth to meet it."
America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let
us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more
the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our
children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end,
that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon
and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and
delivered it safely to future generations.
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By JEFF ZELENY
WASHINGTON — As President Obama stood on the east steps of the Capitol,
waiting to review the troops in his new role as commander in chief, he
discreetly moved the American flag pin from the lapel of his suit to his black
wool overcoat and proceeded onto one of his first ceremonial acts of office.
He listened to “Stars and Stripes Forever.” He watched stoically as
representatives from each branch of the armed services passed before him. And
before he climbed into his limousine to set off for the parade, he turned to the
military officer in charge of the festivities and offered a handshake of
gratitude.
The two-star Army general traded the handshake for a sharp salute.
When Mr. Obama returned it, as protocol demanded, he delivered his first salute
of his presidency with a crisp precision that looked as though he had been
practicing. (Yes, one friend said, in fact he has.) By nightfall, Mr. Obama had
gotten considerably more practice, offering salutes to soldiers every few
minutes from his spot on the reviewing stand at the parade and on the stage at a
military ball. For Mr. Obama, Inauguration Day on Tuesday kept going and going.
His schedule was so crowded, aides said, he didn’t even peek into the Oval
Office.
A day that began with a solitary workout in his temporary quarters at the Blair
House, followed by a quiet breakfast with his family, ended with far greater
fanfare. He delivered brief speeches, followed by quick dances, at a series of
balls across Washington, with his schedule not calling for a return to the White
House until the small hours of the morning on Wednesday.
“Hit it, band!” Mr. Obama said, acting as though he was playing the role of
maestro at the Youth Inaugural Ball, the fourth on his tour of 10.
The day was steeped in emotion, history and a dash of disbelief — all three of
which, friends said, Mr. Obama experienced himself as he formally became the
nation’s 44th president.
At a morning prayer service, he heard a lesson from the book of Daniel, 3:19,
“In the time of crisis, good men must stand up.” He placed his hand on the
burgundy Bible used by Abraham Lincoln in 1861 as he swore his oath of office.
And he left his armored limousine not once, but twice, on a frigid day, as he
and his wife, Michelle, walked along a heavily fortified Pennsylvania Avenue. He
overruled advisers who suggested that he should stay in his car during the
parade, which lasted until well after sundown. After arriving at the end of the
route, Mr. Obama sat in the stands for nearly two hours as he watched bands and
other entries that featured 10,000 marchers from all 50 states.
It was one of the first moments of the day for President Obama and Vice
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to catch up as they chatted from their seats in
the glass-enclosed reviewing stand across from the White House. At one point,
Mr. Obama flashed a pinkie and thumb salute, known as a shaka sign, to the band
from the Punahou School in Hawaii, his alma mater.
Mr. Obama, the first president since John F. Kennedy who came directly from the
Senate to the White House, first savored his inauguration over a lunch inside
the Capitol. A hearty seafood stew, served topped with puff pastry, helped to
counter the day’s chill.
The president had only a few spoonfuls before he left the table to greet his 237
guests, but he turned to a waiter and said, “Don’t let them take my soup.”
The celebratory mood inside Statuary Hall, which sits between the House and
Senate chambers, quickly turned as Senator Edward M. Kennedy suffered a seizure
just as the apple cinnamon sponge cake was being served for dessert. Mr. Obama
was among those who rushed over to lend aid and comfort to Mr. Kennedy as
paramedics arrived. The luncheon continued and the president called for prayers.
“I would be lying to you if I did not say that right now, a part of me is with
him,” said Mr. Obama to the other guests; he has grown close to Mr. Kennedy
after he endorsed his presidential candidacy one year ago. “This is a joyous
time, but it’s also a sobering time.”
The passing of the torch was marked in myriad ways and venues on Tuesday,
including when “Hail to the Chief” was played for Mr. Obama as he walked into
the Congressional luncheon. Only a few moments earlier, he and his wife waved
goodbye to George W. Bush and Laura Bush outside the Capitol, with the 43rd and
the 44th presidents hugging one another for several seconds, followed by another
handshake, before the helicopter carried them away.
In the Old Senate Chamber, where Mr. Obama stood only four years ago at a far
less formal ceremony for his arrival as the junior senator from Illinois, Mr.
Obama signed the documents that formally nominated the members of his cabinet.
(By day’s end, seven of his nominees were confirmed.) Senator Dianne Feinstein,
a California Democrat who presided over the inaugural proceedings, smiled as she
noted that the new president was left-handed. He joked, wondering whether he had
to give back the pen.
While Mr. Obama was the center of attention throughout the day, his daughters,
Malia and Sasha, were seldom far from his side, with the television cameras
trained closely on their movements. Whispers could be heard, including Sasha’s
commentary on her father’s 18-minute Inaugural Address.
“That was a pretty good speech, Dad,” she could be seen telling her father.
Mr. Obama, who grew accustomed to seeing unusually large crowds during his
presidential campaign, had never seen anything like the scene before him as he
walked to the podium shortly after noon on Tuesday. A rippling sea of waving
flags stretched for nearly a mile, from the Capitol to the Washington Monument
and beyond.
Presidents may have slogans, but perhaps none have had a chant as universally
known as the “Obama! Obama! Obama!” that echoed back from the crowd, many of
whom were dressed in some sort of apparel bearing his name. He thanked the crowd
before quieting them to deliver a sobering message of challenge and
responsibility, his voice quavering at the beginning of the address, but soon
returning to a fuller boom.
His breath could be seen like puffs of smoke in the chilly afternoon air.
Everywhere that Mr. Obama went on Tuesday, crowds soon seemed to follow. Just
across from the White House at St. John’s Church, where Mr. Obama went before
being sworn into office, crowds lined up in the afternoon to take photographs in
front of the sign that says: “Every president of the United States since
President James Madison has attended occasional services here.”
While a handful of senior advisers spent the afternoon in the West Wing, the
Obamas popped into the White House once to freshen up and did not return to
their new home from the parade until shortly after 7 p.m., giving them time to
do little more than change into their formal attire. He traded his red necktie
for a white bow tie — and a new tuxedo — and they headed off to make appearances
at 10 balls across the city.
“First of all, how good-looking is my wife?” the president asked the crowd at
one of their stops, as they danced to “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours).”
His next date — the one with the Oval Office — would arrive in a few hours.
Obamas Take a Walking Tour, Electrifying Parade Crowd
Onlookers Who'd Lined Up on Route Starting at 4:30 A.M. Finally Get Their
Picture-Perfect Moment to Remember
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
A15
Washington Post
By Nikita Stewart
Staff Writer
Shivering parade spectators squealed their delight when President Obama
hopped out of his bulletproof limousine on Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday despite
security concerns and walked six blocks on the way to the White House.
In an intimate touch along the 1 1/2 -mile route, the new president and first
lady Michelle Obama exited the black limousine with the blue USA1 license plate
at Seventh Street NW. They walked five blocks to 12th Street and then thrilled
the throngs when they emerged at 15th and G streets. They were accompanied by
Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill. The Bidens sauntered for another block
before returning to the vehicle on the home stretch toward the presidential
review stand.
The crowd erupted rapturously each time.
"Oh, my God!" a woman shrieked at Seventh Street. "Obama is getting out of his
car!"
At 12th Street, people shouted, "He's walking! He's walking!"
Up to that moment, the parade spectators had seemed like they were on the losing
end of the inauguration sweepstakes. Hours after people on the Mall had already
decamped for someplace warmer, parade spectators were still waiting for the
first military bands to shove off. The parade was delayed because Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy (D-Mass.) collapsed at a congressional luncheon Obama attended.
But seeing the Obamas stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue, he with a jaunty red
scarf around his neck and she waving her green-gloved hands, made the locale
seem far preferable to viewing events on a Jumbotron.
"We got what we came for," said Kenneth Armstrong, who drove with his family
from Birmingham, Ala., and had arrived at a parade security checkpoint at 4:30
a.m. to get their prime spot on the route.
"We were right up front when he walked by. What more could you ask for?"
The first inaugural parade honored the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. But
security and safety have loomed large as a concern in the decades since
President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963.
Since then, only Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, have walked the entire
route, during his 1977 inauguration. Ronald Reagan rode in an open car, while
George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all walked short distances. In
2005, the first inauguration after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
George W. Bush walked only the last block.
Yesterday, hundreds of people tried to keep up with the Obamas by running along
the sidewalk at the same pace, but they were stopped by a barricade at 10th
Street.
Excitement rose as the presidential motorcade approached.
At the bleachers across from the White House, an announcer informed spectators:
"Ladies and gentlemen, it appears the president is getting a ride as far as 15th
and Pennsylvania. That means he's walking the rest of the way to here."
"Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!" said a woman in a leopard-skin coat, her
breath a stream of vapor in the air. "This makes it all worthwhile."
Even those who did not see his stride were happy to see the car. "He waved to
me!" 9-year-old Margaret Gocha screamed.
Although authorities had threatened to turn people away from the parade if the
crowd grew too large, Malcolm Wiley, a Secret Service spokesman, said that the
parade route never filled to capacity and was never shut down. He said that one
of the 13 checkpoints closed because the crowd had filled that area but that the
rest remained open all day.
The crowd had already started to thin by the time the parade started, and most
of the remaining spectators rushed away in search of warmth and a Metro station
within seconds of the Obamas' passing them. Few lingered to watch the 10,000
marchers who made up the bands, Boy Scout troops and drill teams that had
competed to be in the parade.
"I don't care about seeing those other people," said Ryan Simms, 23, of New
Jersey, disposable camera in hand at Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street. "I
only wanted to get Barack's picture so I can go back to the hotel. I have to get
back so I can get to work in the morning."
By the time Biden got to 12th and Pennsylvania, the masses had dwindled to half
of what was there when the Obamas passed. Two minutes later, as House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) were announced, only
a few stragglers lingered.
"I almost feel sorry for him," muttered one eager escapee of Fenty.
Chanting had broken out at 11th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue when word carried
that Obama was out of his car several blocks away. As the Obamas strode past the
intersection hand in hand, spectators jumped up and down, waving and yelling
with a fervor.
And then, he was gone. For a few minutes after he stepped back into the limo,
the crowd was still giddy.
"Did you see it?"
"Did you get it?"
"I just saw Obama with my own eyes!"
But they had seen what they had waited for.
"It was so worth it!" shouted one woman in the front. "Seven seconds, and it was
so worth it!"
That he had walked for several bocks in such cold weather, where many people had
been waiting since before dawn, was a big point in his favor for Deborah Payne
and Bettye Mack, who both took trains to town.
"It was so impressive," said Payne, 53, of Miami. "While we're freezing and he's
freezing, to see him take that opportunity and show the people . . ."
She paused, and Mack, 55, of Rocky Hill, Conn., finished the thought:
A Day of New Beginnings for Michelle Obama and Her Daughters
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
WASHINGTON — On Inauguration Day, President Obama, his wife, Michelle, and
their daughters, Malia and Sasha, became the first black family to move into the
White House.
As the television cameras rolled, Americans caught their first glimpses of the
Obamas as the new first family. In intimate moments and evocative scenes, they
laughed and celebrated in a day full of history and larger-than-life imagery.
There was Sasha, the bright-eyed 7-year-old daughter of the newly minted
president, smiling into her father’s face and giving him an emphatic,
orange-gloved thumbs up.
There was Mrs. Obama, in a lemongrass-yellow dress and matching jacket designed
by Isabel Toledo, smiling and holding hands with her husband as they started
their day at a prayer service at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
And there were both Obama girls, grinning and clapping and fidgeting as they sat
in the shadow of the Capitol, waiting for their father to take the oath of
office.
Malia, 10, wearing a blue coat and black scarf, snapped photos for posterity.
Sasha, in a pink coat and orange scarf, stuffed her hands into her pockets. The
girls sat between their mother and grandmother, Marian Robinson, as history
unfolded before their eyes. And what resonated for many people watching was the
sheer ordinariness of a happy family in extraordinary times.
“A part of what this family is going to do is to show that families of color are
not so different,” said Nikki Brown, an assistant professor of history at the
University of New Orleans.
“That’s what I see, when I see them on TV: a working father, a working mother, a
grandmother that cares for the babies, children that are doing well in school,”
Ms. Brown said. “That’s a narrative that the country is still trying to create a
language for, normal families of color.”
These days, of course, the Obamas are far from ordinary.
Movers carried their belongings into the Executive Mansion on Tuesday — mostly
toys, clothing and mementos from Chicago. Friends and relatives came from across
the country to celebrate.
Senators, former presidents and other dignitaries greeted the family with
kisses, hugs and tears. A cheering, flag-waving crowd of more than a million
offered a rapturous reception.
And high school bands marched through the streets in their honor, drums
pounding, trumpets blaring as the Obama family clapped and danced.
“She’s on top of the world, my goodness, ecstatic,” said Valerie Jarrett, a
close friend, who described the incoming first lady’s emotions in the days
before the inauguration.
“Of course, there’s a certain nervous anticipation,” Ms. Jarrett said. “The
first lady is one of the most watched women in the world. It’s an awesome
responsibility.
“But Michelle is Michelle,” she said. “She’s comfortable in her own skin. She’s
as grounded as ever.”
The Obama girls, for instance, were dressed in outfits from J. Crew, a
moderately priced retailer favored by Mrs. Obama, her aides said. Mrs. Obama’s
olive green gloves also came from J. Crew.
On Monday, the girls sang and danced with their mother to live performances by
Miley Cyrus and other performers, including the Jonas Brothers, at an inaugural
concert for military families and their children.
Patrons at a local bar, who watched the inaugural festivities on television
Tuesday, said they were pleased to see the Obamas trying to instill a sense of
normality in the girls’ lives.
“Michelle said the kids are still going to make their beds,” a woman working in
the kitchen said, referring to Mrs. Obama’s comments in a recent television
interview. “She wants them to grow up normal.”
Yet the Obamas also seemed comfortable in their powerful new roles.
Mrs. Obama, who consulted with Mrs. Bush about raising children in the White
House, presented Mrs. Bush with a parting gift and the two shared a limousine to
the Capitol.
Mrs. Bush is planning to write her memoirs, and Mrs. Obama gave her a pen
engraved with Tuesday’s date and a leather-bound journal inscribed with a
quotation that read: “There will come a time when you believe everything is
finished. Yet that will be the beginning.”
For the Obama family, of course, Tuesday was all about new beginnings.
January 21, 2009
The New York Times
By JODI KANTOR
WASHINGTON — The president’s elderly stepgrandmother brought him an oxtail
fly whisk, a mark of power at home in Kenya. Cousins journeyed from the South
Carolina town where the first lady’s great-great-grandfather was born into
slavery, while the rabbi in the family came from the synagogue where he had been
commemorating Martin Luther King’s Birthday. The president and first lady’s
siblings were there, too, of course: his Indonesian-American half-sister, who
brought her Chinese-Canadian husband, and her brother, a black man with a white
wife.
When President Barack Obama was sworn in on Tuesday, he was surrounded by an
extended clan that would have shocked past generations of Americans and
instantly redrew the image of a first family for future ones.
As they convened to take their family’s final step in its journey from Africa
and into the White House, the group seemed as if it had stepped out of the pages
of Mr. Obama’s memoir — no longer the disparate kin of a young man wondering how
he fit in, but the embodiment of a new president’s promise of change.
For well over two centuries, the United States has been vastly more diverse than
its ruling families. Now the Obama family has flipped that around, with a
Technicolor cast that looks almost nothing like their overwhelmingly white,
overwhelmingly Protestant predecessors in the role. The family that produced
Barack and Michelle Obama is black and white and Asian, Christian, Muslim and
Jewish. They speak English; Indonesian; French; Cantonese; German; Hebrew;
African languages including Swahili, Luo and Igbo; and even a few phrases of
Gullah, the Creole dialect of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Very few are
wealthy, and some — like Sarah Obama, the stepgrandmother who only recently got
electricity and running water in her metal-roofed shack — are quite poor.
“Our family is new in terms of the White House, but I don’t think it’s new in
terms of the country,” Maya Soetoro-Ng, the president’s younger half-sister,
said last week. “I don’t think the White House has always reflected the textures
and flavors of this country.”
Though the world is recognizing the inauguration of the first African-American
president, the story is a more complex narrative, about immigration, social
mobility and the desegregation of one of the last divided institutions in
American life: the family. It is a tale of self-determination, full of refusals
to follow the tracks laid by history or religion or parentage.
Mr. Obama follows the second President Bush, who had a presidential son’s
self-assured grip on power. Aside from a top-quality education, the new
president came to politics with none of his predecessor’s advantages: no famous
last name, no deep-pocketed parents to finance early forays into politics and,
in fact, not much of a father at all. So Mr. Obama built his political career
from scratch, with best-selling books and long-shot runs for office, leaving his
relatives astonished at where he has brought them.
“It is so mind-boggling that there is a black president,” Craig Robinson, Mrs.
Obama’s brother, said in an interview. “Then you layer on top of it that I am
related to him? And then you layer on top of that that it’s my brother-in-law?
That is so overwhelming, I can’t hardly think about it.”
Though Mr. Obama is the son of a black Kenyan, he has some conventionally
presidential roots on his white mother’s side: abolitionists who, according to
family legend, were chased out of Missouri, a slave state; Midwesterners who
weathered the Depression; even a handful of distant ancestors who fought in the
Revolutionary War. (Ever since he became a United States senator, the Sons of
the American Revolution has tried to recruit him. )
But far less has been known about Mrs. Obama’s roots — even by the first lady
herself. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, “it was sort of passed-down
folklore that so-and-so was related to so-and-so and their mother and father was
a slave,” Mr. Robinson said.
Drawing on old census data, family records and interviews, it is clear that Mrs.
Obama is indeed the descendant of slaves and a daughter of the Great Migration,
the mass movement of African-Americans northward in the first half of the 20th
century in search of opportunity. Mrs. Obama’s family found it, but not without
outsize measures of adversity and disappointment along the way.
Tracing Family Roots
Only five generations ago, the first lady’s great-great-grandfather, Jim
Robinson, was born a slave on Friendfield Plantation in Georgetown, S.C., where
he almost certainly drained swamps, harvested rice and was buried in an unmarked
grave. As a child, Mrs. Obama used to visit her Georgetown relatives, but she
only learned during the campaign that her forebears had been enslaved in the
same town where she and her cousins had played.
According to Megan Smolenyak, a genealogist who has uncovered the roots of many
political figures, Mrs. Obama has ancestors with similar backgrounds across the
South. The public records they left behind give only the briefest glimpses of
their lives: Fanny Laws Humphrey, one of Mrs. Obama’s great-great-grandmothers,
was a cook in Birmingham, Ala., born before the end of the Civil War. Another
set of great-great-grandparents, Mary and Nelson Moten, seem to have left
Kentucky for Chicago in the early 1860s, a hint they might have been free before
the end of the Civil War. And in 1910, some of Mrs. Obama’s ancestors are listed
in a census as mulatto, adding some support to family whispers of a white
ancestor.
The jobs that her relatives held in the early 20th century — domestic servant,
coal sorter, dressmaker — suggest an escape from sharecropping, the system that
trapped many former slaves and their children in penury for generations.
Still, the family’s progress has a two steps forward, one step back quality. Jim
Robinson was born into slavery, but his son, Fraser, ran a lunch truck in
Georgetown. In turn, his son, Fraser Jr., struck out for Chicago in search of
something better. But he was unable to find work, and left his wife and children
for 14 years, according to his son Nomenee Robinson. As a result, Mrs. Obama’s
father was on welfare as a boy and started working on a milk truck at 11.
After serving in the Army in World War II and finally securing a job as a postal
clerk, Fraser Robinson Jr. rejoined his family. He was so thrifty that he would
bring home chemicals to do the family dry cleaning in the bathtub. But his son —
Mrs. Obama’s father, Fraser Robinson III — became overwhelmed with debt and
dropped out of college after a year. He worked in a city boiler room for the
rest of his life, helping to send his four younger siblings to college, then his
two children, Mrs. Obama and her brother, to Princeton.
Classroom Values
For all of the vast differences in the Obama and Robinson histories, a few
common threads run through. Education is one of them. As a young man, Mr.
Obama’s father herded goats, then won a scholarship to study in the Kenyan
capital. When Mr. Obama lived in Indonesia as a child, his mother woke him up
for at 4 a.m. for English lessons; meanwhile, in Chicago, Mrs. Obama’s mother
was bringing home math and reading workbooks so her children would always be a
few lessons ahead in school.
Only through education, generations of Robinsons taught their children, would
they ever succeed in a racist society, relatives said. “My mother would say,
‘When you acquire knowledge, you acquire something no one could take away from
you,’ ” Craig Robinson said.
The families also share a kind of adventurous self-determination. In the
standard telling, the Obama side is the one that bent the rules of geography and
ethnicity. Yet the first lady’s family, the supposed South Side traditionalists,
includes several members who literally or figuratively ventured far from home.
Nomenee Robinson was an early participant in the Peace Corps, serving in India
for two years; later, he moved to Nigeria, where he met his wife; the couple now
live in Chicago. Capers Funnye Jr., a cousin of Mrs. Obama’s and a rabbi, was
brought up in the black church, he said, but as a young man, he felt a calling
to Judaism he could not ignore.
In daring cross-cultural leaps, no figure quite matches Stanley Ann Dunham
Soetoro, Mr. Obama’s mother. As a university student in Honolulu, she hung out
at the East-West Center, a cultural exchange organization, meeting two
successive husbands there: Barack Obama, an economics student from Kenya, and
later, Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian. Decades later, her daughter Maya Soetoro was
picking up fliers at the same East-West Center when she noticed Konrad Ng, a
Chinese-Canadian student, now her husband.
Now the Obama-Robinson family’s move to the White House seems like a symbolic
end point for the once-firm idea that people of different backgrounds should not
date, marry or bear children. In Mr. Obama’s lifetime, racial intermarriage not
only became legal everywhere in the United States, but has started to flourish.
As many as a quarter of white Americans and nearly half of black Americans
belong to a multiracial family, estimates Joshua R. Goldstein of the Max Planck
Institute for Demographic Research.
Diversity inside families, said Michael J. Rosenfeld, a sociologist at Stanford
University, is “the most interesting kind of diversity there is, because it
brings people together cheek by jowl in a way that they never were before.”
“There’s nothing as powerful as family relationships,” Mr. Rosenfeld said, “and
that’s why interracial marriage was illegal for so long in the U.S.”
Initially, some of the unions in the Obama family caused consternation. “What
can you say when your son announces he’s going to marry a Mzungu?” said Sarah
Obama in an interview, using the Swahili term for “white person.” But it was too
late, she said, because the couple was deeply in love.
Now, the relatives say, their family feels natural and right to them, that they
think of each other as individuals, not as members of groups. Ms. Soetoro-Ng
said she was not “the Indonesian sister,” but just Maya.
A Special Reunion
On Monday, some of Mr. Obama’s Kenyan relatives milled around the lobby of the
Mayflower Hotel here, their colorful headscarves earning them more curious
glances than even the sports and pop music stars in the room. Zeituni Onyango,
the president’s aunt, explained that their family had always been able to absorb
newcomers.
Pointing out that her male relatives used to take on multiple wives, she said,
“My daddy said anyone coming into my family is my family.” (Ms. Onyango, who
lives in Boston, recently faced deportation charges, but those orders have been
stayed and she is pursuing a green card.)
At holidays and celebrations, “you get a whole lot of people who are happy to be
around family,” Craig Robinson said. “They happen to be from different cultures,
but the common thing is that they are all family.”
“Like the inauguration, those celebrations draw on a happy mishmash of
traditions and histories. Take the Obamas’ 1992 wedding, which included Kenyan
family in traditional dress, a cloth-binding ceremony in which the bride and
groom’s hands were symbolically tied, and blues, jazz and classical music at the
reception (held at a cultural center that was once a country club where black
and Jewish Chicagoans were denied admission).
White House events may now take on some of the same feel. Four years ago, when
the family descended on Washington for Mr. Obama’s Senate swearing-in, Mr. Ng
strolled over to the White House gates and took a picture of his then-infant
daughter, Suhaila — “gentle” in Swahili — sleeping in her stroller.
Days before leaving Hawaii for the inauguration, Mr. Ng stared at the picture
and wondered how much had changed since it was taken. After Tuesday’s ceremony,
he said, “folks like me will have a chance to be on the other side.”
Jeffrey Gettleman contributed reporting from Kenya. Kitty Bennett contributed
research.
January 20, 2009
The New York Times
By BOB HERBERT
And so it has happened, this very strange convergence. The
holiday celebrating the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became, in
the midnight hour, the day that America inaugurates its first black president.
It’s a day on which smiles will give way to tears and then return quickly to
smiles again, a day of celebration and reflection.
Dr. King would have been 80 years old now. He came to national prominence not
trying to elect an African-American president, but just trying to get us past
the depraved practice of blacks being forced to endure the humiliation of
standing up and giving their seat on a bus to a white person, some man or woman
or child.
Get up, girl. Get up, boy.
Dr. King was just 26 at the time, a national treasure in a stylish,
broad-brimmed hat. He was only 39 when he was killed, eight years younger than
Mr. Obama is now.
There are so many, like Dr. King, who I wish could have stayed around to see
this day. Some were famous. Most were not.
I remember talking several years ago with James Farmer, one of the big four
civil rights leaders of the mid-20th century. (The others were Dr. King, Roy
Wilkins and Whitney Young.) Farmer enraged authorities in Plaquemine, La., in
1963 by organizing demonstrations demanding that blacks be allowed to vote.
Tired of this affront, a mob of state troopers began hunting Farmer door to
door.
The southern night trembled once again with the cries of abused blacks. As
Farmer described it: “I was meant to die that night. They were kicking open
doors, beating up blacks in the streets, interrogating them with electric cattle
prods.”
A funeral director saved Farmer by having him “play dead” in the back of a
hearse, which carried him along back roads and out of town.
Farmer died in 1999. Imagine if he could somehow be seated in a place of honor
at the inauguration alongside Dr. King and Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Young. Imagine
the stories and the mutual teasing and the laughter, and the deep emotion that
would accompany their attempts to rise above their collective disbelief at the
astonishing changes they did so much to bring about.
And then imagine a tall white man being ushered into their presence, and the
warm smiles of recognition from the big four — and probably tears — for someone
who has been shamefully neglected by his nation and his party, Lyndon Johnson.
Johnson’s contributions to the betterment of American life were nothing short of
monumental. For blacks, he opened the door to the American mainstream with a
herculean effort that resulted in the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
He followed up that bit of mastery with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“Once the black man’s voice could be translated into ballots,” Johnson would
say, “many other breakthroughs would follow.”
Without Lyndon Johnson, Barack Obama and so many others would have traveled a
much more circumscribed path.
I wish Johnson could be there, his commitment to civil rights so publicly
vindicated, his eyes no doubt misting as the oath of office is administered.
It’s so easy, now that the moronic face of racism is so seldom openly displayed,
to forget how far we’ve really come. When Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream
Speech” at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, it was illegal, just a stone’s throw
away in Virginia, for whites and blacks to marry. Illegal! Just as it is illegal
now for gays to marry.
Less than a month after the speech, members of the Ku Klux Klan bombed a black
church in Birmingham, Ala., where children had gathered for a prayer service.
Four girls were killed. Three were 14 years old, and one was 11.
My sister, Sandy, and I, growing up in Montclair, N.J., a suburb of New York
City, were protected from the harshest rays of racism by a family that would let
nothing, least of all some crazy notion of genetic superiority, soil our view of
the world or ourselves.
My grandparents, who struggled through the Depression and World War II, and my
parents, who worked tirelessly to give Sandy and me a wonderful upbringing in
the postwar decades, seemed always to have believed that all good things were
possible.
Even if the doors of opportunity were closed, they didn’t believe they were
locked. Hard work, in their eyes, was always the key.
Still, the idea of a black president of the United States never came up. Perhaps
even for them that was too much to imagine. I wish they could have stayed around
long enough to see it.
When he accepted his party’s nomination last year, Barack Obama repudiated
the “you’re on your own” ethos that had come to define the government’s
relationship to the people. He said government cannot do everything, but he
promised one that would do what individuals cannot do for themselves: “protect
us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean
and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and
technology.”
Today he takes the oath of office before a nation that has placed an
extraordinary amount of trust — and an extraordinary amount of hope — on the
idea that this promise will be kept by a 47-year-old from Illinois who defied
all conventional wisdom to become the first African-American president of the
United States.
The country’s 44th chief executive already is on track to fulfill his pledge.
The House last week unveiled an $825 billion economic recovery plan — developed
in partnership with Mr. Obama — that includes money for education,
infrastructure, energy investments and basic research, as well as emergency
spending for unemployment benefits, health care and food aid.
The details are likely to change as the package moves through Congress;
lawmakers and Mr. Obama would be wise, for instance, to settle on less money for
low-yielding tax cuts and more for high-return public spending. But to the
credit of Mr. Obama and House leaders, the overall package is well timed and
well aimed.
There is, however, one serious omission that falls squarely into the area that
Mr. Obama defined, where government must help the individual. There is nothing
in the plan, as yet, to stop foreclosures on Americans’ homes.
Such an omission was understandable when the package was conceived mainly as
stimulus, which implies short-term action to jolt the economy. But it has
clearly become more than that — and correctly so, given the dire economic
outlook. To be credible and successful as an economic recovery plan, foreclosure
relief is essential. Without it, the housing bust, the financial crisis and the
recession will only continue to feed on each other.
The first step toward providing the relief is to include in the package a
measure to allow hard-pressed homeowners to have the terms of the mortgages
modified under bankruptcy court protection, an avenue currently denied them by
an outdated and anti-consumer bent to the law. Mr. Obama supported such a
bankruptcy amendment during his campaign. Committees in both the House and
Senate each passed a bankruptcy amendment last year. Now Senate leaders have
vowed to pursue a change in the bankruptcy code in their version of the recovery
package, which is expected this week. In a push forward for the solution,
Citigroup recently endorsed the Senate’s proposed amendment — recognition, at
last, that the financial crisis will not end until defaults and foreclosures
abate.
The fear is that including the bankruptcy provision in the recovery package will
cost votes among Republican senators who oppose the measure, largely out of
solidarity with the lending industry. But given the importance of the package,
Senate leaders are confident it will safely pass, even with a bankruptcy
measure.
Mr. Obama can build support for the measure, too, by explaining to the American
people that it is a way to begin to solve the foreclosure problem that costs
taxpayers nothing. In fact, it would be unconscionable to move forward with
taxpayer-financed solutions before putting in place a measure that could help to
achieve the desired result without involving taxpayers.
The bankruptcy amendment cannot stop all foreclosures. But it is the starting
point. And it would be a prime example of government doing for individuals what
they cannot do for themselves — opening a courthouse door that is closed to them
by law.
On First Full Day, Obama Will Dive Into Foreign Policy
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A12
Washington Post
Staff Writers
By Michael D. Shear and Karen DeYoung
President-elect Barack Obama will plunge into foreign policy on his first
full day in office tomorrow, finally freed from the constraints of tradition
that has forced him and his staff to remain muzzled about world affairs during
the 78-day transition.
As one of his first actions, Obama plans to name former senator George J.
Mitchell (D-Maine) as his Middle East envoy, aides said, sending a signal that
the new administration intends to move quickly to engage warring Israelis and
Palestinians in efforts to secure the peace.
Mitchell's appointment will follow this afternoon's expected Senate vote to
confirm Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state. And tomorrow afternoon,
aides said, Obama will convene a meeting of his National Security Council to
launch a reassessment of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By the end of the week, Obama plans to issue an executive order to eventually
shut down the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and to lay
out a new process for dealing with about 250 detainees remaining at the prison.
The actions -- to be taken before the entire White House staff has found their
desks -- reflect the frenetic activity among Obama's national security advisers
that has been taking place behind the scenes since Election Day.
Following his noon inauguration, Obama will spend a brief time at the White
House before heading to a series of dinners and inaugural balls. Aides said the
work of being president will begin in earnest tomorrow morning.
That work has already been in full view with regard to the economic crisis and
other domestic issues. Obama has not been bashful, giving speeches and
dispatching aides to work with Congress on an $825 billion stimulus package. He
will meet with economic advisers tomorrow and is expected to quickly issue an
executive order demanding a new level of transparency and ethics in government.
But the new president will for the first time assume the responsibility for an
Iraq war that he opposed from its inception and a series of international crises
that will quickly test his mettle as commander in chief.
Publicly, the president-elect has deferred to President Bush and has declined to
comment on the recent fighting in the Gaza Strip and the terrorist attacks in
Mumbai. But privately, he and his aides have been preparing to dramatically
reshape the country's foreign policy, starting with the broad conflict zone from
Israel to Pakistan.
Last Thursday, in an interview with Washington Post editors and reporters, Obama
criticized Bush for treating Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as "discrete"
problems. Under his watch, Obama said, policy in that region will be treated as
a single, unified one.
"One of the principles that we'll be operating under is that these things are
very much related and that if we have got an integrated approach, we're going to
be more effective," he said.
Incoming officials were still debating yesterday how involvement in the
Israeli-Palestinian crisis should proceed during the first week. With a fragile
Gaza cease-fire in place, the new administration plans to tread gingerly,
working behind the scenes while allowing Egyptian and European initiatives to
play out before taking a highly visible role.
Obama transition officials are acutely aware that the world -- and especially
the Israelis and Palestinians -- will be watching to see what tone the new
president takes. Sources said the initial emphasis will likely be on stepped-up
presidential engagement rather than the specifics of a U.S. role, and empathy
and aid toward humanitarian suffering.
The first concrete evidence of a new foreign policy approach will begin with the
meeting tomorrow. Obama will instruct the Pentagon to prepare for a stepped-up
withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq, to be completed within 16 months, and
will hear proposals for turning around the deteriorating war in Afghanistan.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Adm. Michael Mullen, will attend, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of Central
Command, and Gen. Raymond Odierno, U.S. commander in Iraq, will weigh in via
live video connection.
Senior officers began late last year to prepare options for withdrawing from
Iraq. Obama has said he will listen carefully to their recommendations before
approving a plan that meets his specifications. He has said he expects to
maintain a "residual force" in Iraq but has not indicated how many troops will
remain over what period.
He has also indicated he will move ahead with existing plans for deployment of
as many as 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year.
After returning to the White House following his swearing-in today, Obama is
expected to visit the Oval Office, aides said.
A handful of senior staff members will ride in Obama's motorcade to the White
House today and enter their offices for the first time as they brace to confront
the economy, the Middle East, overseas wars and a raft of domestic policy
controversies.
Aides said only about 15 White House staffers were pre-screened to enter the
West Wing today. The rest will arrive tomorrow morning, after partying at
inaugural balls.
Gates will not attend inaugural festivities, having been designated to stay away
from the president and other national leaders in case of a catastrophic event.
Mitchell, who led a Middle East peace commission in 2000, is highly regarded as
a negotiator for his work in the successful Northern Ireland peace process. An
Obama adviser said the exact timing of Mitchell's appointment will depend on
Clinton's confirmation vote, which is scheduled to take place by "unanimous
consent" and so cannot be stopped by filibuster.
But a Republican senator could demand a voice vote, thus delaying Clinton's
confirmation by another day. "If any Republican holds her over, they are
stalling the entire administration from hitting this problem," the adviser said.
The Guantanamo order is being crafted by Obama White House Counsel Gregory B.
Craig. Its timing is expected to preempt a Guantanamo trial scheduled to begin
Monday under the current "military commission" proceedings.
Staff writer Anne E. Kornblut contributed to this report.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A01
Washington Post
Staff Writers
By Eli Saslow and Philip Rucker
To help him celebrate his imminent move into the White House, Barack Obama
invited more than 100 of his closest friends and relatives to gather here over
the weekend. Everywhere he turned the past few days, he has been surrounded by
high school classmates from Hawaii and former college professors, basketball
buddies and political mentors -- a tableau of the people, places and moments
that delivered him to the presidency.
They were drawn here to commemorate what Obama will become. But, like all good
reunions, they spent more time talking about the past.
Members of his class at Honolulu's Punahou School met in Arlington to reminisce
about their chubby, basketball-obsessed peer. Relatives from Chicago relaxed at
Blair House on furniture donated by Dwight D. Eisenhower and recalled the humble
second-story apartment where Michelle Obama was raised. Political allies from
the Illinois Senate told stories about the rookie politician who sought
incessant advice.
Obama himself paused yesterday to consider the magnitude of assuming office as
the nation's 44th president. He spoke about his connection to the legacy of the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the holiday that celebrates his birth and, while
taking part in community service, fondly remembered his summer job as a
17-year-old painter working for $4 an hour. Then, in the middle of his day,
Obama took a two-hour break to visit with his guests at Blair House.
"There's a comfort that comes from having all of us around and experiencing this
with them," said Kaye Wilson, a close friend from Chicago and godmother to
Obama's two daughters. "They are the kind of people who know how to step back
and enjoy a moment like this, and we're enjoying it right along with them."
Obama invited about 10 friends to ride the train with his family from
Philadelphia into Washington on Saturday, and they threw a 45th-birthday party
for Michelle while en route from Baltimore to Union Station. On Sunday, the
Obama family hosted about 100 friends at Blair House for a casual
buffet-and-cocktails party. The couple specifically requested that nobody make a
formal speech, friends said. Instead, they gave tours of the house and mingled
with an eclectic group of relatives, some of whom they had not seen since the
Democratic National Convention in August.
"You could tell they just wanted to see everybody and relax," said Steve
Shields, Michelle Obama's uncle, who traveled from Chicago.
Several of Obama's friends, a few of whom had never been to Washington until
this weekend, described their inaugural visits as surreal. About a dozen family
members are staying with the Obamas at Blair House, including one guest who is
assigned to a room where Abraham Lincoln liked to take naps. More friends are
stationed in a block of rooms at the Mayflower Hotel on Connecticut Avenue NW.
Yesterday, a bus filled with friends Obama made while working as a community
organizer departed the South Side of Chicago for the drive to Washington. The
group will arrive early this morning, watch the inauguration and then turn
around.
A small army of Obama's staffers tends to his guests, providing security, daily
itineraries and transportation around the city in three private buses. The
members of Obama's entourage have VIP passes to the swearing-in ceremony today
and tickets to the Obama Home States Inaugural Ball at the Walter E. Washington
Convention Center tonight. Most of them plan to leave Thursday, but Obama has
said he hopes to rendezvous again before then.
For many of the visitors, the mere experience of traveling here reinforced
Obama's transition into a different realm. Gerald Kellman, Obama's boss as a
community organizer, had to purchase a new black suit. The in-laws from Chicago
-- many of whom still live near Michelle Obama's childhood home on the South
Side -- joked that they would feel uncomfortable being treated like honored
guests. "We're usually more like do-it-yourself people," Shields said.
"The staff is really doing everything for us. It's wonderful," said Wilson, who
is staying with her husband in a room at Blair House where fresh flowers are
placed on her table each morning. "You have to pinch yourself. It might be hard
to go home."
The Obama family, meanwhile, continues to adjust to the idea that they are home,
friends said. Yesterday, Obama took his most extensive tour of Washington since
moving here, departing Blair House in a new Cadillac limousine early in the
morning to start his day of service. The motorcade sped by portraits of Obama
and Ronald Reagan draped over the Corcoran Gallery of Art, then twisted along a
quiet Rock Creek Parkway as snow flurries started to fall.
Obama visited 14 wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and then
whisked to the Sasha Bruce Youthwork shelter for homeless teenagers near Capitol
Hill. Wearing a casual shirt and jeans, he rolled up his sleeves and started
painting a wall "laguna blue."
"This is practice," Obama said, "because I'm moving into a new house, and I may
have to do a few touch-ups here and there."
Later, Obama visited Calvin Coolidge Senior High School in Northwest, where the
school's Colts cheerleading squad erupted into an impromptu cheer. Obama and
Michelle clapped and danced to the beat of the cheer. Then Obama delivered a
brief speech to 300 volunteers from local service organizations over lunch
before heading back to Blair House. At various points during the drive,
thousands of spectators lined the route to wave signs and take pictures.
Last night, Obama attended a dinner honoring Sen. John McCain of Arizona, his
Republican opponent in the November election, and then planned to proceed to
dinners for retired Gen. Colin L. Powell and Vice President-elect Joseph R.
Biden Jr. At the McCain event, at the Washington Hilton, Obama embraced his
former rival, hailing him as "an American hero" with a willingness to cross the
political aisle.
"We may not always agree on everything in the months to come," Obama said. "We
will have our share of arguments and debates. John is not known to bite his
tongue, and if I'm screwing up, he's going to let me know. And that's how it
should be, because the presidency is just one branch of a broader government by
and for the people."
Obama appeared to be having fun, and friends who spent time with him yesterday
said he seemed at ease on the eve of his inauguration. He long ago helped write
the speech he will give today and then edited it for an hour each of the past
several nights with Jon Favreau, his chief speechwriter. Obama is satisfied with
it, friends said, but he continued to tinker yesterday.
After he delivers the speech and formally takes office, the Obama family will
move into the White House.
And, for a night, some of their visitors plan to move with them.
"They said for anybody staying in the Blair House, they'll just move our stuff
over into the White House," Wilson said. "We get to keep them company in there.
. . . It's really unbelievable."
Despite Snarled Traffic and Cold, City Is Already Celebrating
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A01
Washington Post
Staff Writers
By Paul Duggan and Lena H. Sun
Tens of thousands of festive visitors crowded the Mall and the city yesterday,
counting down the hours to today's historic inauguration, while authorities
prepared to welcome -- and control -- what could be the largest crowd in
Washington's history.
Today's the day. The swearing-in of Barack Obama as the nation's 44th president
on the west steps of the Capitol at noon is expected to draw between 1 million
and 3 million spectators. They'll bundle themselves against below-freezing
temperatures, ride crowded Metro trains and buses, and wait at security
checkpoints for a chance to witness the inauguration of the nation's first
African American chief executive.
After the oath, they will crane for views of the new president and his family as
he rides in an inaugural parade along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House
between 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. They will then celebrate into the night at 10
official inaugural balls.
As final preparations went forward yesterday, temperatures hovered in the low
30s and a light snow swirled from time to time, yet the atmosphere on the Mall
felt warm. Thousands upon thousands of people, smiling and snapping photos, were
aglow in the moment in their heavy coats and gloves, thrilled to be in
Washington for the big event.
They wore Obama hats and Obama scarves and Obama buttons.
Meanwhile, hundreds of three-ton concrete barriers were lowered into place at
intersections throughout downtown, blocking traffic, as camouflage-clad soldiers
and an army of police officers geared up for the biggest security operation ever
seen in the nation's capital. Even 600 Boy Scouts have been enlisted in the
effort to help visitors find their way around.
More than 4,000 police officers from across the country were sworn in as
temporary deputies to help with crowd control. Officials prepared to close
scores of roads and for the first time planned to shut the four Potomac River
bridges from Virginia to the District to private vehicles to help control
traffic.
By 10 p.m. yesterday, some downtown streets were shut down as police began
installing barricades, causing traffic to barely inch along the clogged
thoroughfares that remained open.
Authorities urged the public to walk or use public transportation to reach
today's events.
"We're as ready as we're going to be in terms of our preparations," Metro
spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said. "What concerns us are the unknowns: Will our
buses be able to run on the [special] corridors due to traffic? Will people be
understanding of the long waits to get into our stations both before and after
the events?"
There were large-scale preparations: Washington Dulles International Airport
transformed a 9,400-foot runway into a parking lot for visitors with their own
aircraft. By 1:30 p.m. yesterday, 119 private planes were lined up, said
Courtney Mickalonis, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports
Authority. That number could reach 500 today.
There were smaller preparations, too: Late yesterday afternoon, Marsha Folsom,
wife of Alabama Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. (D), emerged from Filene's Basement at
14th and F streets NW.
"Tell Jim that Filene's was sold out," she said on a cellphone.
The lieutenant governor had left his thermal underwear at home. Outside the
store, his wife turned to a bystander and asked for suggestions on where to go.
"He's a big guy," she said. "2X."
As day turned to evening, out-of-town visitors prepared their final plans. Carol
and Irene Smith, sisters from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., were in Lafayette Square
just after 9 p.m. scouting out the route they would take today with their
mother, who uses a wheelchair: from their Foggy Bottom hotel, to Metro, to
parade route. Attending an inauguration "is on my bucket list," Carol Smith
said.
Security officials' dry runs are completed and "we're ready for game day," said
Joseph Persichini Jr., special agent in charge of the FBI's Washington field
office.
The FBI has stationed 500 to 700 agents, many in plainclothes, across the region
at strategic locations, he said. The bureau's tactical operations command post
went "live" late Friday and will remain on guard until as late as 4 a.m.
tomorrow, when the new president returns to the White House after visiting
inauguration parties.
As security needs evolved, sometimes hour by hour, inaugural planners were
forced to adjust yesterday.
For instance, with little notice, the Secret Service ordered Metro to close one
of two entrances at the Judiciary Square Station at 4 p.m. because of an event
at the nearby National Building Museum. That was three hours earlier than
planned.
"This is an example of something we cannot control that could impact us on
Tuesday -- when streets or stations are closed [or] blocked for security that we
were not able to share in advance with our customers," Farbstein said.
The National Guard had to scramble for new housing arrangements for 1,000 troops
after a contractor failed to pitch a tent in time for the soldiers to settle on
a patch of grass between the Lincoln Memorial and Constitution Avenue. They
moved bunks into the basement of the red sandstone Smithsonian Castle on the
Mall.
Yesterday, unarmed Guardsmen from many of the 25 states that volunteered troops
walked the Mall, snapping pictures and acting more like tourists than special
police with arrest powers.
Maryland State Police, meanwhile, conducted safety stops of trucks heading into
the District, said spokeswoman Elena Russo. State troopers checked rigs to make
sure they were not carrying hazardous cargo, she said.
Metro officials said the bus and rail system was ready for record crowds. Trains
will be running an unprecedented 17 straight hours of rush-hour service, from 4
a.m. to 9 p.m., and then offer off-peak service until 2 a.m. Metro is also
adding rapid-bus service on 23 special corridors to help people get to and from
the Mall.
Gridlock crippled much of downtown last night as traffic grew steadily. Outside
the vehicles, at least, the mood remained upbeat.
Near the White House at 8 p.m., Kyndall Freer, 20, a student at Texas Tech, and
Gary Trubl, 20, a University of Arizona student, were checking out the reviewing
stand. It was growing colder, but they planned to spend the night wandering
around the monuments until the Mall opened this morning. Trubl had hand warmers,
and Freer said the temperatures were bearable given the occasion. "It is a
historical moment for everybody, and we want to be part of it," she said.
Across town on U Street NW, people poured into such landmarks as the Lincoln
Theatre and the African-American Civil War Memorial. But the real mob was at
Ben's Chili Bowl, where the line wrapped around the block and the wait was 90
minutes. Once inside, tourists tasted the half-smokes, chili cheese fries and
brusque counter service that have made Ben's legendary.
"NEXT!" the woman at the register shouted over James Brown and the hiss of the
grill.
A security guard at the door blessed passage to a few at a time.
"Where you from, dog?" he asked a tourist.
"Indiana," the man said.
"Okay, it's gonna be a while," the guard answered playfully.
The crossroads of 14th and U streets burned in the riots after the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968. But now the multiracial and multiethnic
society preached about by Obama was on full display: black PhD students in
Malcolm X glasses next to white suburban kids taking photos of Angela Davis afro
graffiti.
Jamechia Hoyle, a graduate student at Georgetown University, said she came to U
Street to "be in the midst of all this history." Her father had called from
their home in rural East Texas to tell her to mind the weight of the moment.
"My dad actually sent me a photo of Obama and told me to look at it anytime I
was discouraged about something," she said.
Staff writers Ruben Castaneda, Aaron C. Davis, Annie Gowen, Hamil R. Harris,
Anne Hull, Carrie Johnson, Jenna Johnson, Ian Shapira and Bill Turque
contributed to this report.
Native American Family To See Adopted Son Sworn In
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
B01
Washington Post
Staff Writer
By Michael Laris
Back home in Lodge Grass, Mont., they keep talking about Hartford Black Eagle's
luck.
"People around here, even the white people, say, 'You're the luckiest the person
in the world. You adopted the president of the United States!' " he said.
"Thank you," is his usual response.
But Black Eagle doesn't see his role in today's inauguration in terms of good
fortune. He sees something sacred. He and Mary, his wife of 57 years, were set
to be whisked to the Capitol by inauguration organizers early today for the
swearing-in, where they will be seated near the center of American power.
The couple adopted Barack Obama in a traditional Native American ceremony in
May, when the candidate made a campaign stop at the vast Crow reservation.
The adoption marked an unusually intimate intertwining of politics, history and
family -- but one that perhaps seems less jarring in the case of a president who
reached today's swearing-in, at least in part, on the power of his personal
story and its broader appeal.
Obama's outreach to Native Americans was part of a political strategy during
critical primary battles in Western states. Native American leaders, too, want
more power to control their lands and lives, seeking policy influence on such
issues as coal mining, the environment, and the economic stimulus package.
But an adoption is no slapdash honorary degree or campaign prop. It's a revered
compact that has linked the first family with five generations of First
Americans. Obama's daughters, Sasha and Malia, beamed as they met their adoptive
grandparents over the summer.
Four of those generations of Black Eagles came to Washington to witness their
new relative's elevation. Hartford and Mary will have prime viewing seats for
the ceremony. She will wear a traditional elk tooth coat, made of deep-pink
wool. (The teeth and sinews have gone plastic.) Hartford will don a buckskin
vest he's saving for the occasion, with six elegant rows of blue and red beads.
Yesterday, they took a moment to see the sights.
"That's where your son lives," Mary, 74, told her husband yesterday as they
glimpsed the White House on their first trip to Washington.
"There are a lot of ghosts in there," Hartford, 75, responded.
Mary first learned that her family was about to grow as she was on a long drive
to Arizona. Her son, Cedric, vice chairman of the tribe, was on the cellphone.
"I was already around Wyoming someplace. He called me and said we're going to
have to rush right back," Mary said. "He said, 'You're going to have to adopt
Barack Obama.' "
They were tentative about taking on the sudden responsibility. "I couldn't
comprehend it for a while," Mary said.
On the day Obama arrived at the reservation, she froze.
"When my alarm came on, I didn't want to go through with it. 'I would like to go
sleep another eight hours,' I said. 'Not me. I don't want to go,' " she recalled
telling Hartford. But, "my husband got after me."
She couldn't eat. Waiting for Obama in the Secret Service's security area, "we
were so nervous my mouth dried up," she said. No purses were allowed. "I needed
ChapStick so bad."
Then Obama walked in and greeted the dignitaries, before the room was mostly
cleared out.
"He started walking toward me. Oh man, I was kind of tongue-tied, and he said,
'Are you my new mother, Mary?' And I said 'Yes.' He just gave me a hug."
At the private adoption, Hartford waved smoke from burning cedar needles over
Obama, twice in the front and twice in the back, with a bald eagle fan.
Afterward, Obama told reporters he was deeply moved by the ceremony, and he
vowed that if he won, he would have his new parents come to the White House.
Hartford is a spiritual healer and had been given the crucial, sacred
responsibility of christening Obama with a Crow name.
The act of naming is supposed to reflect the past of the person bestowing the
name and the future of the person receiving it, Hartford said.
The request for Obama's name came with an added sensitivity: the possibility of
a pre-presidential veto. Obama's people were on the lookout for potential
embarrassment, said Aubrey Black Eagle, Mary and Hartford's grandson.
As it happened, "Awe Kooda Bilaxpak Kuxshish" was the name Hartford chose. It
reflected Hartford's own travels as a healer, and translates as: "One Who Helps
People Throughout This Land."
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A01
Washington Post
Staff Writer
By Robert E. Pierre
The charter bus rolled all night, through the cities of Montgomery, Atlanta and
Richmond, stopping only for bathroom breaks and an IHOP breakfast. A few riders
watched movies and listened to music. Most slept the entire way.
But yesterday afternoon, as the weary travelers rolled onto 14th Street, past
the Holocaust Museum, the Washington Monument and the Mall, 18-year-old Darianne
Allen began to cry.
She stared at all the buses, cars and people in the streets as her classmates
pulled out cameras and pressed their faces to the glass.
"The moment just hit me," Allen said, looking at her mother and wiping away
tears. "It's really real."
It was the culmination of a 16-hour journey, a grinding two-year campaign and at
least four decades of struggle to turn the voting rights earned 44 years ago
into something few thought imaginable. Fittingly, the journey for the students,
parents and educators began with this simple prayer: "Jesus, we thank you for
having the 44th president of the United States as a black African American."
Theirs was one of thousands of buses that have converged on Washington from
across the nation to mark the start of Barack Obama's presidency. They all came
for their own reasons, bringing their stories and their hopes to the nation's
capital.
Selma, Ala., sent at least three buses. The city's name is seared in the
American psyche because of what happened when peaceful marchers were brutally
attacked on Bloody Sunday in 1965. The head wounds of John Lewis, now a
Democratic congressman from Georgia, are still visible today.
It was Lewis who led more than 600 protesters across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in
Selma on March 7, 1965. The marchers were headed to Montgomery, the state
capital, in their campaign for voting rights. Footage of Alabama state troopers
attacking the peaceful march helped quicken the passage of the Voting Rights Act
of 1965.
Today in Selma, the inauguration of Obama stands as a testament to what's
possible when little people stand up. Locals contend that without the struggle
for voting rights centered in their small city, there would be no Barack Obama.
The 40 students, parents and educators who left Selma High on the bus Sunday
night carried with them the soaring hopes from Obama's election and the hard
realities of their lives. Selma still wrestles with issues of equality,
education and jobs. So much unfinished business remains from the civil rights
years.
Denise Roy, who works at Alabama State University in Montgomery, says progress
at home has been stalled by a lack of unity of purpose among black residents,
who make up 70 percent of Selma's population.
"We are too easy to get complacent with the little bit we have," said Roy, 43,
who is planning an anti-violence campaign in Selma.
Selma High's bookkeeper, Nadine Sturdivant, understands Roy's frustration. She
was 2 years old on Bloody Sunday when mounted police stormed into her parents'
back yard chasing protesters. But now her concerns are black-on-black violence
in her home town. A school dance last weekend ended in a brawl, and six students
were suspended. Some of the kids on the bus had felt the sting of pepper spray
when police were subduing the other students.
She and her daughter, the homecoming queen, got on the bus to be a part of this
historical moment.
It's not just violence locally that concerns her; it's what's going on in Iraq.
"People want to see us come out of this war," she said. "What are we fighting
for? Why are all these people getting killed? We need change."
A friend of hers, Lesia James, a Selma High administrator, planned the
Washington trip. Last summer, the two were on different sides in the city's
mayoral race -- itself a symbol of progress: Both candidates were black.
Sturdivant's pick came out on top, defeating James Perkins Jr., who became the
city's first black mayor in 2000.
"I beat her," Sturdivant said, playfully.
"She got me this time," James said, brushing off the loss.
It's good to be able to fight about electoral politics and not have to worry --
as their parents did -- about just having the right to vote, the women
acknowledge.
Whatever political differences they have, the women are dedicated to the
students. Both want them to have a sense of history and a foundation for
success. But the challenges are significant.
Selma High has until recently struggled to meet statewide academic standards,
and the school is nearly as segregated now as it was 50 years ago.
"I don't really have white friends," said 11th-grader Roneika Deloach. "I do
have one white friend at Selma High. I think she is the only" white student.
"It's two at the school," a classmate chimed in.
Deloach is a member of the National Honor Society and student government. She's
looking for a way out of Selma.
"Selma is a good place to live if you are retired, but for the children, it's
not a lot to do," said Deloach, who plans to move to Huntsville.
Maya Rudolph, 16, agreed.
"It's not a good city for youth. It's a good city for the old people."
The chaperons, most in their 40s, cringed at being thought of as old but did not
protest her basic point.
The sour economy is shuttering Selma's businesses and forcing furloughs, and
African Americans make up the majority of those who live in entrenched poverty.
Obama's populist message, however, trumped Selma's problems for mothers such as
Donna Allen, 39, who trekked to Washington with her daughter, Darianne.
Donna Allen has two younger sons, ages 12 and 7, and works for a youth
development program. She often meets students with serious problems inflicted by
adults: bad marriages, situations of abuse.
But hers is a journey of hope.
"He gave us something different to look forward to," she said of Obama. "I want
my daughter to have a sense of feeling that even though people struggle, there
is always a chance that you could be someone great."
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A01
Washington Post
Staff Writer
By Barton Gellman
Barack Obama takes office today with a realistic prospect of joining the ranks
of history's most powerful presidents.
The more familiar observation, that he confronts daunting trials, enhances that
prospect. Emergencies have always brought commensurate new authority for the
presidents who faced them, not only because the public demanded action but also
because rival branches of government went along.
Obama arrives with a rare convergence of additional strengths, some of them
inherited and some of his own making. Predicting a presidency, to be sure, is
hazardous business, and much will depend on Obama's choices and fortune. But
historians, recent White House officials and senior members of the incoming team
expressed broad agreement that Obama begins his term in command of an office
that is at or near its historic zenith.
"The opportunity is there for Obama to recast the very nature of the
presidency," said Sean Wilentz, a presidential historian at Princeton. "Not
since Reagan have we had as capable a persuader as Obama, and not since FDR has
a president come in with quite the configuration of foreign and domestic crises
that open up such a possibility for the reconstruction of the executive."
No president has begun his term with so broad a wave of public confidence -- 78
percent approval in the most recent Gallup poll. There are precedents for
single-party control of the White House and Congress, but the early signs
suggest that House and Senate Democrats will be far more united in loyalty to
Obama than their counterparts were to President Jimmy Carter. The Republican
opposition, by contrast, appears to be as fractured as at any time since Barry
Goldwater's landslide defeat in 1964. If Obama keeps the loyalty of the online
social networks he used to win election, with unprecedented success in
fundraising and recruiting, his White House could be the first to harness a
meaningful grass-roots movement as an ongoing tool of governance.
The federal government itself is a far more potent instrument, in its breadth
and depth of command over national life, than it has ever been before. Largely
in response to the threat of terrorism, the Bush years and President Bill
Clinton's two terms saw "an incredible period of state-building that's unrivaled
in American history except by the creation of the national security state in the
1940s and '50s," said Jack Balkin, a professor of constitutional law at Yale
whose blog, Balkinization, is often cited by members of the Obama team.
By necessity or design, and most often by passive acquiescence, Congress and the
courts have let presidents do most of the steering of the new and expanded
institutions that govern finance, commerce, communications, travel, energy
production and especially intelligence gathering. When there were struggles for
dominance among the three branches, most of them ended with lopsided victories
for the executive.
The legislative power to declare war and ratify treaties, for example, has been
deeply eroded by the practice of presidents to launch military operations on
their own and to make major international commitments -- such as December's
"status of forces" pact with Iraq -- by "executive agreement" rather than by
treaty requiring a two-thirds Senate vote. After lengthy controversy over
warrantless domestic surveillance in the Bush administration, Congress
authorized the program without obtaining any details about what, exactly, is
collected and how it is used.
"Really, in the last 80 years we've seen a gradual, and at times not gradual,
concentration of power in the executive office," said William P. Marshall, who
served as deputy White House counsel under Clinton.
Obama's style of governance will not be President George W. Bush's, but it may
not differ quite as much as some supporters expect.
Bush defined his power as supremacy over Congress and courts, adopting Vice
President Cheney's doctrine of unbounded freedom of action for the commander in
chief and chief law enforcement officer. Eight years of legal and political
combat have dealt setbacks to those claims, primarily regarding the detention
and treatment of suspected terrorists.
Some Bush administration lawyers now maintain that the president's power has
suffered because of it.
"The president's executive authority has been diminished as a result of the
national security legal controversies over the last eight years," State
Department legal adviser John B. Bellinger III said in an interview. "I don't
think the courts and Congress are just going to back off completely because the
Obama administration is in office."
Jack L. Goldsmith, who held a senior post in the Justice Department, said White
House overreaching brought a backlash in which "judicial power has increased at
the expense of presidential war power."
Even so, Bellinger and Goldsmith acknowledged that the president usually emerged
the victor in practice.
The Supreme Court and Congress insisted, for example, that Bush comply with the
Geneva Conventions' ban on "cruel" and "inhuman" interrogations, but thus far
they have left it up to the president to interpret those terms. No case or
statute impaired the Bush administration's assertion that waterboarding -- a
form of controlled suffocation that mimics drowning -- is lawful even now.
Geoffrey Stone, a scholar of executive authority at the University of Chicago
Law School, said of Bush: "By overstating something, sometimes you may lose 90
percent of what you overstate, but you wind up moving the residual center line.
. . . The limits that have been placed have not come close to the powers that
have been concentrated."
Obama disagrees with Bush on waterboarding, and he has pledged to take greater
heed of Congress, but he has not disowned the broader assertion that a president
may disregard a statute or judge's ruling. Dawn E. Johnsen, Obama's nominee to
lead the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, is best known for
vigorous critiques of overreaching by Bush and Cheney. But her popular
commentaries in Slate and elsewhere have diverted attention from scholarly
writings that make a subtler point. Just last year, in the Boston Law Review,
she affirmed that "in many circumstances, Presidents may develop, declare, and
act upon distinctive, principled constitutional views that do not track those of
the Supreme Court or Congress." The trouble with Bush was not that he asserted
the power, she wrote, but that he used it wrongly.
A parallel point of view applies to legislation, and to the division of labor
between statutes and executive orders.
John D. Podesta, a former White House chief of staff who led the new
administration's transition team, was careful to distinguish between Obama's
promise to "keep the dialogue with Congress" and his willingness to compromise
on core objectives.
"He certainly comes into office with a very powerful set of executive
authorities, and I suspect that he will use those authorities in order to get
the key policy goals accomplished that he's set for the people," Podesta said in
an interview Sunday, referring explicitly to inherent constitutional powers as
well as legislation. "Political power gives him the capacity, I suppose, to kind
of roll over his opposition, but what he's shown is a keen understanding that
lots of change comes when you have dialogue, reach out to Congress and take
account of it. That's not to say he'll adjust the goals that he laid before the
public in the election."
At the same time, the Obama team is keenly aware, as one top-ranking member of
the incoming White House staff said, that "how he chooses to lead, and the kind
of choices he makes, will dictate how it all comes out." He added: "Presidential
leadership is an ephemeral thing if it's not exercised well or not focused on
the right objectives."
Information technology, and the executive's control of its fruits, are widely
cited in explaining presidential dominance over Congress. Every recent president
has regarded himself as the primary judge of what information to share and what
to withhold on grounds of executive privilege or national security.
Here Obama inherits a battle from Bush and Cheney. The Bush administration
resisted demands from the House Judiciary Committee, under chairman John Conyers
Jr. (D-Mich.), for testimony and records that might expose improper political
motives for firing U.S. attorneys. When the committee subpoenaed former White
House counsel Harriet E. Miers and Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten, the
administration asserted a startling new claim that "the president and his
advisers are absolutely immune from testimonial compulsion by a Congressional
committee," meaning that Miers and Bolten not only could decline to answer
specific questions but need not even show up.
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ruled last July that the argument was "without
any support in the case law," and he ordered Miers to testify. But her
successor, Fred Fielding, restated on Friday, in a letter made available to The
Washington Post, that "the president directs her . . . not to appear."
Briefs in the Bush administration's appeal are due on Feb. 18, and it will be up
to Obama to choose the next step. In a July campaign appearance, Obama called
the Bush position "completely misguided," but now he faces the prospect that a
future committee might subpoena his own staff.
"It's in everybody's interest to have a negotiated settlement," said Perry
Apelbaum, the House committee's chief of staff, and sources close to the
incoming Justice team predicted that Obama would find a way to finesse the
conflict.
The very ambition of Obama's program, which has grown in proportion to the scale
of the global economic collapse, augurs a potentially transformative term in
office. Bush's agenda was aggressively expansionist when it came to national
security and to his own autonomy as president, but in many spheres he aimed to
diminish government's role. There were exceptions, with the No Child Left Behind
Act and the Medicare drug benefit, but the central plank of Bush's domestic
program called for reducing the government's share of national income and its
role as regulator of the environment, free markets and civil rights.
Now there is broad acceptance of a rescue package that comes close to
nationalizing large swaths of the private economy. Even in its first iteration,
the government's $700 billion expenditure to shore up U.S. financial systems
will rival the roughly $1 trillion a year in "discretionary" federal spending --
the portion of the budget, not including interest on loans and mandatory
benefits such as Social Security, that is negotiated each year between the White
House and Congress. Obama, who told The Post last week that he must "go big" in
response to "the biggest emergency since World War II," has spoken elliptically
of the prospect that the cost could double.
Congress, the principal power of which is thought to be control of the national
purse, has made little pretense of managing these vast expenditures. It will
fall to Obama and his subordinates to decide winners and losers in the banking,
financial services, automobile and other major industries, a span of control
that dwarfs President Harry S. Truman's attempt to seize control of steel
production.
The scale of the rescue package undoubtedly means far less money available for
other spending priorities, which at first glance may seem to spell doom for
expensive campaign promises such as universal health insurance. But the incoming
president and his staff appear to be sidestepping that obstacle with a very
broad definition of economic rescue.
Obama is arguing, in public and private, that a stable recovery will require
fundamental changes in the nation's health-care system and energy
infrastructure. Aides said he is signaling that he will try to pay for those
changes, in part, with the vast sums authorized for economic recovery.
Beyond even that, Obama is citing the crisis as a moment of opportunity -- in
fact, of obligation -- to address the structural imbalance between the defined
benefits of Medicare and Social Security and the resources available to meet
them. That imbalance has been well known for many years, but several presidents,
including Bush, have broken their swords on the strong political resistance to
anything that smacks of increased taxes or reduced benefits. Obama told The Post
that he will seek a new "bargain" with Americans that would bring the costs of
those programs under control.
Obama advisers are aware of the risks of taking on too many tasks at once or of
provoking a backlash with too muscular a claim of authority.
"Obviously you want to avoid squandering power, and you want to avoid any sense
that you're abusing power," said a top-ranking member of the new White House
staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He and others cited Obama's
promises to include Republicans in consultations and to increase the
transparency of White House deliberations.
But the greatest risk, as the new team sees it, is not in tackling too much.
Said Podesta: "The danger is in undershooting rather than overreaching, given
the problems the country is facing."
Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
On Moving Day for 2 First Families, a Bit of Magic by 93 Pairs
of Hands
January 20, 2009
The New York Times
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON — The peaceful transfer of power that will take place at the
Capitol on Inauguration Day is, to many, a miracle of American democracy. But
down at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, another sort of miracle will
occur: Moving Day.
President Bush and his wife, Laura, will wake up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on
Tuesday morning, just as they have the last eight years. But by the time the new
president, Barack Obama, returns from the inaugural parade with his family in
late afternoon, there will be nary a box of theirs left to unpack. Clothes will
be neatly folded in drawers, pictures will rest on dresser tops and walls,
stuffed animals will lie on beds, as if the Obamas had always lived there.
The highly orchestrated quick-change operation, conducted by the 93-member White
House residence staff, has no parallel in the outside world. The entire affair
is over and done with in a matter of hours, without a single moving man setting
foot inside the Executive Mansion.
“It’s controlled chaos,” said Ann Stock, who was social secretary in the Clinton
White House. “They have about four to five hours to completely unpack, put
everything away in the closets, put the family pictures up and to really make
the house the Obamas’ home by the time they come in from the parade. It’s really
quite an extraordinary switchover.”
And a poignant one for the White House staff, said Gary Walters, who retired in
2007 as the White House chief usher, the official responsible for overseeing the
executive residence. Mr. Walters served seven presidents, and moving day, he
said, is invariably a wistful time.
“In the morning, the president and first lady are saying their goodbyes to the
White House and to the residence staff; there’s a very emotional meeting and a
goodbye,” he said. “Then the staff has to turn right around and become the staff
of the Obamas by the afternoon. It’s not an easy task.”
True to form, the Bushes, who prided themselves on running an efficient White
House, have not left their packing until the last minute. Preparations have been
going on for weeks, both on the business side of the mansion, the West Wing, and
in the residence.
In the West Wing, boxes of documents are already being shipped to a storage
center in Lewisville, Tex., outside Dallas. The National Archives, responsible
for maintaining Mr. Bush’s records until they go to his library at Southern
Methodist University, has set up the 60,000-square-foot warehouse.
In the residence, Mr. and Mrs. Bush have already packed and moved many of their
books, as well as out-of-season clothing and Mrs. Bush’s collection of ball
gowns, back to Texas, said Sally McDonough, Mrs. Bush’s press secretary.
Ms. McDonogh said the first lady had been packing boxes herself, adding, “She
knows she’s going to unpack them on the other end.”
If the past is any guide, Tuesday’s move will begin about 10:45 a.m., right
after the Bushes, who will have hosted the Obamas for the traditional
Inauguration Day coffee, leave for the swearing-in at the Capitol. Veterans of
previous White House moves say that typically, a moving van arrives to deliver
the new first family’s belongings to the waiting residence staff. Each member of
the staff will have a task, assigned well in advance. If all goes well, the
exercise will unfold with the precision of an orchestral piece.
It helps, of course, that there is little, if any, furniture to move; the White
House maintains a warehouse of antiques and furnishings for presidents to choose
from. When the Bushes arrived in 2001, they brought with them just one piece, “a
special chest of drawers” that had belonged to the president’s grandmother, Ms.
McDonough said.
The Obamas are leaving all their furniture at their house in Chicago.
“That is their home base — their Crawford, if you will,” said Katie McCormick
Lelyveld, press secretary to Michelle Obama. “They are bringing their clothes,
pictures, creature comforts for their 10- and 7-year-olds, stuffed animals and
games, those little touches that make a new house feel like home.”
While the move may look seamless from the outside, there have been glitches over
the years.
In 1989, when George H. W. Bush was inaugurated, some of his grandchildren,
including Barbara and Jenna, the now-grown daughters of the current President
Bush, grew cold and tired at the parade and arrived at the White House hours
ahead of schedule. A quick-thinking Mr. Walters, the chief usher, sent the girls
to the White House floral shop for a fast lesson in flower arranging and then
showed them the White House bowling alley.
And when Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal
assistant decided to hand-carry Mrs. Clinton’s inaugural ball gown from Blair
House to the Executive Mansion for safekeeping. Mrs. Clinton’s mother, Dorothy
Rodham, put it away — unbeknownst to the residence staff. When Mrs. Clinton went
to get dressed, the gown was nowhere to be found.
“It was found in a matter of 15 minutes,” Mr. Walters said, “but it was 15
minutes of sheer panic.”
January 20, 2009
The New York Times
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday commuted the sentences of two former
Border Patrol agents imprisoned for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler, but he was
preparing to leave office without granting clemency to any better-known figures
or government officials who could face liability over administration policies.
The former agents, Jose A. Compean and Ignacio Ramos, will be freed from federal
prison in less than two months as a result of Mr. Bush’s commutation, cutting
short prison terms that were due to run at least eight more years.
The two men, both of El Paso, were convicted on assault charges for shooting the
unarmed, fleeing drug smuggler in the buttocks in 2005 and then trying to cover
up the episode.
The case energized debate on border policies, and appeals for leniency for the
two men had become a cause célèbre among some politicians, law enforcement
officials and anti-immigration advocates.
The decision to commute their sentences appeared to represent a relatively safe
yet high-impact action for Mr. Bush, who has been especially sparing in his use
of his constitutional pardon power.
Still, the decision came as something of a surprise not only to the agents’
supporters, who had believed their chances for clemency were fading, but also
for lawyers in other criminal cases who had been lobbying hard at the White
House and the Justice Department on behalf of dozens of people seeking clemency.
A senior White House official said that the commutations announced on Monday
would be Mr. Bush’s last acts of clemency before he leaves office.
There had been speculation that Mr. Bush might act in a number of high-profile
cases, including those of I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice
President Dick Cheney, and the financier Michael R. Milken, both of whom were
convicted on felony charges.
Mr. Bush was also said to have been considering pre-emptive action that could
have shielded Alberto R. Gonzales, the former attorney general, and other
government officials or intelligence officers who could face legal liability
over their roles in interrogations, surveillance or other Bush administration
policies.
Hundreds of other defendants convicted of garden-variety crimes have petitioned
for leniency, seeking to shorten prison sentences their advocates see as
excessive. But in the end, Mr. Bush used his clemency power to aid only Mr.
Ramos and Mr. Compean. He leaves office having granted 200 pardons and
commutations, the fewest of any two-term president in modern times.
“I was shocked when I heard this was the only one,” said Margaret Colgate Love,
a former Justice Department pardon lawyer who represents about 20 imprisoned
clients who were seeking clemency. “There are a lot of disappointed lawyers in
this town today.”
In the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Mr. Bush issued 33 clemency
orders, an unusually fast clip for him. But he withdrew one pardon in December,
for Isaac Toussie, a Brooklyn developer, after it was disclosed that Mr. Toussie
was at the center of a Long Island real estate fraud case and that his family
had given substantial donations to Republicans.
“The whole Toussie thing may very well have shot down any thoughts that Bush had
of granting many routine pardons,” said P. S. Ruckman Jr., a political scientist
who has studied presidential pardons.
In the case of the Border Patrol agents, Mr. Bush granted clemency without a
formal recommendation from the Justice Department, which had not yet completed
its review, officials said. It was the latest in a string of clemency decisions
in which the White House did not rely on the formal process at the Justice
Department for weighing the merits of clemency petitions.
Mr. Bush, who rarely speaks out on pardon issues, had voiced personal interest
in the case two years ago, telling a television station in Texas that he planned
to review all the facts to see if a pardon was warranted.
“I just want people to take a sober look at the case,” Mr. Bush said at the
time. He noted that the case had generated “a lot of emotions” and added that
“Border Patrol and law enforcement have no stronger supporter than me.”
Mr. Bush made no comment Monday as the Justice Department announced the
commutations. A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
said that the president “thinks they were fairly tried and received a just
verdict” but that the punishment was “excessive, especially given the harsh
conditions in which they have to serve their sentences.” Both men had been held
in solitary confinement for their own protection since they were imprisoned
about two and a half years ago.
Mr. Ramos, 39, received an 11-year sentence, while Mr. Compean, 32, got 12
years. The sentences were driven by a mandatory 10-year prison sentence for the
use of a firearm in the assault, a condition that irked supporters who said the
men were required to carry a gun in their border duties.
Federal prosecutors in Texas mounted a vigorous and unusual defense of the
convictions, saying that they could not “look the other way” after the agents
shot an unarmed man and then lied to their supervisors about it.
But the agents’ defenders criticized the prosecution as overzealous, rallying
support around the country and in Washington. Many supporters of clemency were
anti-immigration advocates who had lined up against Mr. Bush over his failed
proposal for a temporary guest worker program.
“This is great news,” Representative Brian P. Bilbray, a California Republican
who met with Mr. Bush several months ago to lobby for clemency, said in an
interview. Mr. Bilbray said he had become so concerned that Mr. Bush would not
grant the petition that he was working Monday on a plan to take the petition to
President-elect Barack Obama.
“This never should have been the criminal case that it was,” he said. “This
thing was blown out of proportion because, frankly, I think these men were
crucified on the altar of people who were anti-Border Patrol” and advocates of
immigration reform.
For supporters of the two men, the president’s decision was blunted by the fact
that they were not given a full pardon, which would have cleared their records
and restored some legal rights.
“This is something that we’d been hoping for and praying for a long time,” said
T. J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents
about 15,000 agents. “But it’s kind of a bittersweet victory, and we’re
wondering what took so long. The sad thing is he waited until the last minute.”
Jim Rutenberg and David Stout contributed reporting.
January 20, 2009
The New York Times
By PETER BAKER
WASHINGTON — On the day before moving into the nation’s most storied house,
Barack Obama visited a shelter for teenagers with no home. With sleeves rolled
up, he spent a few minutes painting for the benefit of the cameras that trail
him everywhere now.
Cara Fuller, a shelter worker, asked if he was sweating.
“Nah, I don’t sweat,” he told her. “You ever see me sweat?”
Not yet. But then again, it is still early.
Mr. Obama arrives at the presidency Tuesday after a transition that betrayed
little if any perspiration and no hint of nervousness. Throughout the 77 days
since his election, he has been a font of cool confidence, never too hot, never
too cold, seemingly undaunted by the magnitude of troubles awaiting him and
unbothered by the few setbacks that have tripped him up.
He remains hard to read or label — centrist in his appointments and bipartisan
in his style, yet also pushing the broadest expansion of government in
generations. He has reached across old boundaries to build the foundation of an
administration that will be charged with hauling the country out of crisis, but
for all the outreach he has made it clear he is centralizing policy making in
the White House.
He will eventually have to choose between competing advice and priorities,
risking the disappointment or anger of constituencies that for the moment can
still see in him what they hope to see.
What the country has seen of his leadership style so far evokes the discipline
of George W. Bush and the curiosity of Bill Clinton. Mr. Obama is not shy about
making decisions and making them expeditiously — he assembled his team in record
time — but he has also sought to tap into the nation’s intellectual dialogue at
a time of great ferment.
He has set out ideas for governance even before taking office, but he has also
adapted the details as conditions changed.
More than any president since he was an infant, Mr. Obama has taken a place in
society that extends beyond political leadership. He is as much symbol as
substance, an icon for the young and a sign of deliverance for an older
generation that never believed a man with his skin color would ascend those
steps to vow to preserve, protect and defend a Constitution that originally
counted a black man as three-fifths of a person.
He is a celebrity president in a celebrity culture, cooed over for his shirtless
physique on the beach and splashed on the cover of every magazine from Foreign
Policy to People. What his political opponents sought to portray in the campaign
as arrogance is now presented by his aides as comfort with power and the
responsibilities that go along with it.
“He sort of lives in a grudge-free zone,” said John D. Podesta, a co-chairman of
his transition team. “He’s capable of taking on board a lot of information and
making good decisions. He knows he’s going to make mistakes. But he also knows
that you’ve got to do the best you can, make tough decisions and move on.”
Some of those mistakes may owe in part to that signature confidence. Mr. Obama
knew and liked Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, initially overlooking an
investigation into state contracts that later sank his nomination for commerce
secretary. Likewise, Mr. Obama forged a personal connection with Timothy F.
Geithner and picked him for Treasury secretary, choosing to disregard Mr.
Geithner’s past failure to pay some of his taxes.
Little has emerged about the process behind those episodes, but aides described
Mr. Obama’s decision making as crisp and efficient. When he sits down for
meetings, they said, he starts by framing questions he wants answered, then
gives each person a chance to talk, while also engaging them. At the end, he
typically sums up what he has learned and where he is leaning. A late-night
person, he often follows up with calls to aides at 10 p.m. or later, after he
has put his daughters to bed.
Mr. Podesta would not describe how the decision had been made to pull Mr.
Richardson’s nomination but said it had played out over just nine hours rather
than days, which limited the damage. “We saw the problem, understood it, Bill
understood it wasn’t viable, and we stopped it,” Mr. Podesta said.
That contrasts with Mr. Clinton, who liked free-ranging discussion and took time
making decisions. Mr. Podesta, Mr. Clinton’s last White House chief of staff,
described the former president as brilliant at “thinking laterally” across
subject areas. “One thing that seemed not to have taken on Bill Clinton is law
school,” he said. “I tend to think of the president-elect as approaching a
problem in a more logical, more drill-down sort of way.”
Mr. Obama opted not to play it safe during the transition. He brought his
Democratic rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, into the cabinet, and angered gay and
liberal supporters by inviting the Rev. Rick Warren, an opponent of abortion and
same-sex marriage, to give the inaugural invocation. Although Mr. Obama deferred
foreign affairs with his “one president at a time” rule, that did not apply to
domestic policy, where he lobbied Congress to release $350 billion in financial
bailout money and set about negotiating roughly $800 billion in spending
programs and tax breaks.
“He’s got the political courage to look at things and be bold,” said Gov. Edward
G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, a supporter of Mrs. Clinton’s who has spent time
with Mr. Obama since the election. “The political wisdom is go slow, take the
easy way first and build up some victories.”
Mr. Rendell said Mr. Obama did not mind taking risks. “He’s goal-oriented, not
process-oriented,” he said. “If he does some things that are unorthodox or tick
off his friends to achieve a goal, he’ll do that.”
But Mr. Obama made a point of engaging adversaries, dining with conservative
columnists and talking with Republican congressmen. “He and his transition team
have reached out to the Hill more than any transition team I’ve seen,” said
Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader. “So far, so
good. But running a campaign and running a transition are going to be different
than governing, because governing is about making choices.”
Mr. Boehner noted that Mr. Obama had originally reserved 40 percent of his
economic package for tax cuts but now seemed to be heeding Democrats pushing for
more spending. “At some point he’s going to have to tell people what he’s for,”
Mr. Boehner said, “and then we’ll see whether he really wants to govern from the
middle or cave into the liberals in his party.”
Mr. Obama’s outreach to Republicans has paid dividends. He wooed enough
Republican senators to release the bailout money. Even some he did not convince
muted their opposition. For instance, he called Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma
Republican, who opposed more bailout money without a commitment that it be used
only for the financial sector, not other industries.
“They didn’t want to shut the door, and if I were them maybe I wouldn’t either,”
Mr. Coburn said. “But I wanted the door shut.” After Mr. Obama’s call, he said,
“I was quiet as I voted against it.”
Mr. Obama has built a broader base of public support than many incoming
presidents. Representative Artur Davis, Democrat of Alabama, said 53 percent of
white voters in his conservative state now had favorable views of Mr. Obama,
compared with 17 percent before the election. “He has been pragmatic,” Mr. Davis
said, “and even many voters who voted against him see him as prepared to govern
in a pragmatic, nonideological way.”
But Mr. Obama has been harder to peg than that, and the next few months should
flesh out his governing philosophy.
“I don’t think it maps into traditional right-left, but nor is it Bill
Clinton-like triangulation,” said Robert B. Reich, Mr. Clinton’s labor secretary
and an economic adviser to Mr. Obama. “My sense is he genuinely believes that
people can come to a rough consensus about big problems and work together
effectively. I don’t really get a sense of ideological position. He’s obviously
a man of strong convictions, but they don’t fall into the standard boxes.”
January 20, 2009
The New York Times
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
WASHINGTON — She celebrated her 45th birthday in a vintage train car, amid
balloons and crepe-paper streamers, and cheering crowds serenaded her by name.
She danced in front of the Lincoln Memorial to Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground”
with her husband and daughters clapping by her side. She assembled care packages
for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, in this long, whirlwind weekend,
marveled that she would soon be the public face of America’s first family.
On Inauguration Day, Michelle Obama will become the first African-American to
assume the role of first lady, a woman with the power to influence the nation’s
sense of identity, its fashion trends, its charitable causes and its perceptions
of black women and their families. Already, the outlines of her style and public
agenda have begun to emerge.
She has hired a politically seasoned team of advisers and an interior decorator
committed to creating a family-friendly feel in her elegant new home. She has
sketched out a vision of a White House brimming with children and ordinary
Americans while suggesting she may delegate some traditional first lady duties
to her staff: food tastings, china selection and the like.
She has decided to shape her public program with the help of a policy director
who has raised concerns about instances of systemic employment bias against
minorities and called for tougher enforcement of antidiscrimination laws,
contentious issues in the workplace.
And she has highlighted the warm, informal tone that she hopes will characterize
her time in the executive mansion by signing e-mail messages to supporters
simply as “Michelle.”
Mrs. Obama, a Harvard-educated lawyer and a former hospital executive, has made
it clear that her two young daughters will be her biggest priority. The causes
she has promised to promote — expanding volunteerism and supporting military
families and working parents — fall squarely into the realm of platforms
traditionally championed by first ladies. But the staff she has assembled is
also clearly prepared to tackle a tougher issues-oriented program.
“Her experience will guide the kinds of things she does, and her personal
experience is unique for a first lady,” said Paul Schmitz, a longtime friend.
“She understands the needs of low-income communities. She understands the needs
of women. She has balanced raising a family with a career.”
“She’ll think deeply about how to use her own bully pulpit,” said Mr. Schmitz,
who heads Public Allies, a nonprofit leadership-training network for young
adults. “And I think that’s the challenge. You are now the most prominent woman
in America. What does that mean? What do you do?”
It is a difficult question, particularly since Mrs. Obama is still grappling
with how life in the grand house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will transform her
family’s existence.
She has grown accustomed to being in the spotlight — with Secret Service agents
accompanying her to private lunches with her girlfriends — and has consulted
with Laura Bush and former first ladies Hillary Rodham Clinton, Nancy Reagan and
Rosalynn Carter. But she has no experience with the day-to-day details of life
in the White House.
President Bush and his wife were old hands at White House living because they
had visited often when Mr. Bush’s father, George Bush, was running the country.
Mrs. Obama visited the private residence in the White House for the first time
in November after the election. She grew up in a tiny apartment and marveled
recently when she and her close friend Valerie Jarrett pored over photographs of
the 15 bedrooms in the presidential mansion.
“You have to pinch yourself to think that that’s home,” said Ms. Jarrett, who is
also one of President-elect Barack Obama’s closest advisers.
Craig Robinson, Mrs. Obama’s brother, described the Obamas’ new reality as
“mind-boggling.”
“Every time I talk to her, I’m like, ‘What are you doing now?’ ” said Mr.
Robinson, who has delighted in his sister’s accounts of her days in Washington
before the move to the White House. “We are such novices at this. I’m just
trying to find out, How many bathrooms are in there?”
(The answer is 34, according to William Seale, a historian who has written about
the White House.)
Mrs. Obama has the highest favorability ratings of any incoming first lady since
1980, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll completed Thursday. Forty-six
percent of those surveyed had a favorable opinion of her. Seven percent had an
unfavorable view.
Gossip magazines, cable networks and major newspapers vie for tiny details about
her and her daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7. The designer of Mrs. Obama’s
inaugural gown? (Sorry, no word yet.) Her favorite musician of all time? (Yes,
Stevie Wonder.) Where in the White House is Malia likely to gather her thoughts
when she has a tough school assignment? (At Lincoln’s desk where he penned the
Gettysburg Address.)
Mrs. Obama, who declined to be interviewed for this article, has reached out
directly to supporters via e-mail and YouTube. And she has taken care in recent
months to strike the right notes, emphasizing a preference for American fashion
designers and announcing plans to use “affordable brands and products” as she
redecorates the White House during this recession.
She knows that life under the microscope carries its perils.
After some rhetorical stumbles during the presidential campaign, Mrs. Obama was
criticized by conservative columnists who accused her of being unpatriotic and
bitter toward whites. Her approval ratings have soared since she refocused her
image on her role as a wife and mother, but she still comes under periodic
attack from conservative bloggers and others.
“There will be some people trying to pick holes,” Mr. Robinson said. “We’re used
to that.”
Mrs. Obama’s diverse team, which includes former Congressional staff members and
strategists from Democratic presidential campaigns, seems equally prepared to
hone her message or deflect attack.
Jackie Norris, her chief of staff, served as a senior adviser in Iowa for the
presidential campaigns of Mr. Obama and former Vice President Al Gore. Melissa
Winter, her deputy chief of staff, spent 18 years on Capitol Hill.
Jocelyn Frye, her policy director, is general counsel for at the National
Partnership for Women and Families in Washington, a nonprofit that advocates for
workplace equity. Camille Johnston, her communications director, worked on Bill
Clinton’s presidential campaigns and served as press secretary for two cabinet
officials. And her press secretary, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, worked for Mrs.
Clinton when she was first lady and was deputy communications director for
Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign.
By contrast, Laura Bush’s first chief of staff came straight from the Governor’s
Mansion in Texas and knew little about national or Washington politics, and her
press aides have typically lacked national media experience, according to a
former Bush administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
While many of Mrs. Obama’s advisers do not have White House experience and may
have initial difficulties navigating its bureaucracy, the official said the
staff was far more politically seasoned than Mrs. Bush’s team. “She’s trying to
get the best people, pulling in the cream of the crop,” the official said of
Mrs. Obama.
The new first lady will also have clear channels to the West Wing, counting
close friends among the president-elect’s advisers, including Ms. Jarrett and
Susan Sher, who is associate counsel. They could be key allies should she choose
to weigh in on policy issues she cares about. (She has said that she plans to
leave the business of governing to her husband.)
Mrs. Obama has focused publicly in recent months on her self-described role of
“mom in chief,” settling her daughters at Sidwell Friends School and persuading
her mother to move into the White House. She has made a point of hiring a chief
of staff and a chef who regularly wrestle with the challenges faced by working
mothers.
But the disciplined, no-nonsense executive also comes through.
While Mrs. Bush often hand-picked the silver, china and tablecloths for White
House dinners, Mrs. Obama is more likely to focus on the broad themes of such
events, delegating the details, Ms. Jarrett said. (Mr. Robinson said that while
his sister typically cooked for her girls, she might be happy to delegate that
for a while, too.)
She wants a home that is gracious, with 20th-century art amid the antiques, but
comfortable for children. As a former community organizer, she also wants the
White House to be more accessible to ordinary Americans, envisioning picnics
that might include local children as well as state dinners.
“She wants it to be fun and to bring a sense of youth and style,” said Ms. Sher,
Mrs. Obama’s friend.
Mrs. Obama also wants the White House to feel like home. She has spent her
entire life in Chicago, aside from her years in college and law school. And when
her closest friends prepared to hold a goodbye lunch in her honor, she asked
only for keepsakes and personal mementos.
So her friends brought snapshots in small frames, photographs of Mrs. Obama with
her family, colleagues and friends in Chicago.
Ms. Sher, who attended the lunch, said she did not know if Mrs. Obama had
settled on a place for the photos in her new house. But she is not worried.
Monday, January 19, 2009
6:27 PM
Washington Post
Staff Writer
By Paul Schwartzman
He could have chosen Frederick Douglass, whose fevered oratory he praised to
his law school students. He could have evoked Martin Luther King Jr., whose
dream of racial equality presaged his own historic election. Or Franklin D.
Roosevelt, who inherited an economic crisis even more crippling than the one he
will confront when he is sworn in Tuesday.
Instead, President-elect Barack Obama's inspiration is a brooding rail of a man
whose election 148 years ago triggered scorn, ridicule and threats, one so
severe he had to sneak into Washington to his own inauguration.
Abraham Lincoln's capacity to hurdle the many obstacles in his path, to journey
from the unruly frontier to the apex of power, to conquer the greatest moral
challenge of his time is evidence of "a fundamental element of the American
character," Obama has said. "A belief that we can constantly remake ourselves to
fit our larger dreams."
Obama's inauguration is America's moment to commemorate the election of its
first African American president. Yet it is also the opportunity to indulge in
an enduring American passion: honoring the 16th president, who salvaged a
divided Union, liberated millions of slaves and, seven generations later, made
Obama's rise possible.
Even before Obama's victory, Lincoln's symbolic presence at the inauguration was
ensured because it is the 200th anniversary of his birth. But in any year,
Lincoln remains a ubiquitous muse, inspiring more written words, by many
estimates, than any historical figure except for Jesus Christ. Nearly 20,000
books have been written about him, according to one count.
His abiding influence is rooted in the folklore that attends his name. The
Railsplitter. Honest Abe. The Great Emancipator. His prose is an indelible part
of the American song: "Four score and seven years ago" . . . ''The mystic chords
of memory" . . . "With malice toward none; with charity for all" . . .
But the allure of Lincoln also emanates from what is unknown: the inner Lincoln,
the inscrutable Lincoln, the barest of clues suggested in those old
black-and-white photos, the hooded eyes that convey torment, the tired,
enigmatic smile.
"He's like the cliffhanger that never gets resolved," said Allen Guelzo, a
Gettysburg College professor and a Lincoln biographer. "Here's the man who saved
the Union, and we think, 'Boy, if we get into another crisis, we want to know
the formula.' We want to discern another Lincoln. But they are elusive, which
means we invent them. So we impute to Lincoln the qualities we hope will lead us
through the wilderness. It's called myth. It's called legend."
The genesis of Obama's passion for Lincoln is a puzzle to his longtime friends
and associates. They've seen the Lincoln photo in his Senate office, and they've
seen him toting this or that Lincoln biography. But they struggle to explain how
and when he adopted him as a spiritual guide. "A lot of stuff he thinks about,
he keeps to himself," said Marty Nesbitt, a close friend who vacationed with
Obama in Hawaii over the Christmas holiday. "He doesn't think out loud."
An essential part of Obama's immersion in Lincoln occurred when he was a state
senator in Springfield, Ill., where the only house Lincoln ever owned still
stands, where his desk and campaign poster are displayed in the Old State
Capitol, the place he waited for election results on Nov. 6, 1860. On any given
day, legions of visitors migrate to the president's tomb on the edge of town,
rubbing the nose on the bronze Lincoln bust for luck.
"When you get to Springfield, there's almost a mystique about Lincoln," said
former congressman Abner Mikva, an Obama mentor who served in the Illinois
legislature for 10 years. "He sat there as a lowly state legislator, and you
start to feel overwhelmed by it. His presence is there."
Dan Shomon, Obama's chief aide in Springfield, spent many days driving with his
boss to appointments across the state, the two of them in Obama's Jeep.
Inevitably, their path intersected with Lincoln's, whether in Vandalia, site of
Illinois's first state capital, which Lincoln helped move to Springfield, or in
towns that hosted the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
"Barack saw in Lincoln a figure who could be emulated," Shomon said. "He saw
where Lincoln had lived, where he had walked, and was amazed that he had done
such great things on a worldwide level."
A decade after Obama arrived in Springfield, he returned to declare his
candidacy for president. He incorporated Lincoln into his vision for his
inauguration: to retrace part of Lincoln's trip to his first swearing-in by
riding a train from Philadelphia to Washington, to recite the oath of office
while laying his hand on the red velvet-bound Bible that Lincoln used when he
took power.
Inevitably, Obama's stagecraft has provoked a measure of snickering. After he
drew parallels between his own struggles and Lincoln's in a 2005 Time magazine
essay, conservative columnist Peggy Noonan envisioned the dead president asking,
"Barack, why are you such an egomaniac?"
Historians question the wisdom of inviting comparisons to a legend, of raising
hopes at a time of unprecedented global challenges. "I'd calm down if I were
him," said Eric Foner, a Lincoln scholar who teaches at Columbia University.
"The danger is you don't live up to it. Lincoln is the highest standard."
David Axelrod, Obama's adviser, acknowledged that "you can overdo" the
associations to Lincoln, but he said their goal is "not to emulate but to
honor."
"Every president has his own legacy, you can't appropriate someone else's,"
Axelrod said. "It's also the foolish president who doesn't read history and
learn from the mistakes of others."
Latching on to Lincoln's frock coat is an American political tradition that
dates back to his assassination. Herbert Hoover invoked Lincoln when he declared
war on the Great Depression. Adlai Stevenson communed with Lincoln's rocking
chair after sealing the Democratic nomination in 1952. At the height of the
Watergate scandal, President Richard M. Nixon quoted Lincoln during an address
from the Oval Office: "If the end brings me out all right, what is said against
me won't amount to anything."
Perhaps the most dramatic expression of the country's devotion to Lincoln is the
memorial on the Mall. A century ago, as civic leaders debated the proper way to
salute Lincoln, one faction espoused a utilitarian gesture in keeping with the
president as champion of the common man. But their idea of a Lincoln memorial
highway from Washington to Gettysburg was dismissed as a way to enrich
speculators buying property along the route.
Instead, Henry Bacon's Greek-style temple was chosen, its Doric columns and
nearly 20-foot-tall sculpture of a seated Lincoln conveying a timeless majesty.
Lincoln's only surviving son, Robert, then 82, attended the memorial's opening
in 1922, a ceremony that drew more than 35,000 spectators, at that point the
largest crowd ever assembled in Washington.
Like Lincoln, the memorial has acquired layers of meaning. The symbol of the
preserved Union became an icon of civil rights in 1939 when Marian Anderson
performed on the steps after she was barred from Constitution Hall because she
was black. King's "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 was another defining moment,
infusing the memorial and the martyred president with a still-deeper relevance.
"Lincoln is our contemporary in a way that George Washington is not," Foner
said. "We respect George Washington, but the issues of Washington seem remote.
The issues of Lincoln are up there on the front page, whether it's race or civil
liberties in war time."
For Obama, Lincoln's American roots are a way to establish his own, especially
useful for a politician born in Hawaii, the farthest reaches of the United
States, and raised for four years in Indonesia. "More than any other president,
Obama has no long American lineage," said David Herbert Donald, a Harvard
University professor emeritus whose "Lincoln" is among the preeminent
biographies of the president. "He's a newcomer into our ranks; he needs to
connect himself to a powerful tradition, probably more so than other
politicians."
When he arrived in Washington, Lincoln was regarded as a political novice who
rose on the power of his oratory, among the qualities that he and Obama share, a
list that includes law backgrounds, slim physiques and pre-presidential résumés
light on national experience.
Lincoln's intellect, aloofness and humor masked his emotions, just as Obama's
professorial explanations and ironic asides suggest an almost impenetrable cool.
Yet their greatest similarity might be that their easy dispositions conceal the
raw ambition and cunning that made them the golden politicians of their time.
Their contrasts are equally striking, the most noteworthy perhaps being that
Lincoln's stature is rooted in the results of his presidency, while Obama's is
based largely on potential. Upon his election, Lincoln was derided as a
"huckster" and a "first-rate second-rate man," wholly unprepared to save the
Union. The expectations greeting Obama seem only to grow with each public
appearance.
Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the Lincoln history "Team of Rivals," recalls
answering her phone in 2007 -- and there was Obama, inviting her to Washington
to discuss her book. During their meeting, she recalled, Obama said he hoped
that if he won the presidency, "at the end he would find that he was the same
person, that the office had not fundamentally changed him."
His aspiration, Goodwin said, led her all the way back to Lincoln's wish that
"if he lost all else, he would still retain the friend deep within."
Obama takes power amid daunting challenges, high expectations
19 January 2009
USA Today
By Richard Wolf
WASHINGTON — Barack Hussein Obama takes the oath of office as 44th president
of the United States today facing twin challenges of war and recession and an
electorate that believes he's up to the task.
The nation's first African-American president also will face something more
immediately imposing: a crowd that could exceed the record 1.2 million from
Lyndon Johnson's inauguration in 1965, dotting the National Mall and lining the
Pennsylvania Avenue parade route to the White House.
Then there will be the ghosts of presidents and preachers past: Abraham
Lincoln, whose Bible will be used for the first time since his presidency.
Franklin Roosevelt, the last incoming president to face an economy in such
disarray. John Kennedy, whose youth and relative inexperience Obama shares. And
Martin Luther King Jr., whose 80th birthday was celebrated Monday; he was
assassinated when Obama was 6.
Center stage will be Obama, the son of a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas,
who rose from the obscurity of the Illinois state Senate in 2004 to the most
powerful job in the world.
"What an incredible testimony this is to both him and to the possibilities of
America," says Yale political science professor Stephen Skowronek. "There is no
historical parallel."
Obama, 47, will take the oath of office at noon from Chief Justice John Roberts,
who at 53 also represents a new generation of American leadership. Vice
President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in by Justice John Paul Stevens, the
court's senior member.
The inauguration simultaneously marks the end of George W. Bush's eight-year
tenure at the White House and Obama's nearly two-year quest to take his place —
one that moved from quixotic to complete as the man who came to be known as
"No-drama Obama" methodically bested Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and
Republican John McCain.
Since winning about 67 million votes on Election Day for a 53% mandate, Obama
has chosen a centrist Cabinet, paused briefly for a Hawaiian vacation and jumped
with both feet into the two biggest economic issues facing the nation. Last
week, he won congressional authority to use the second half of a $700 billion
financial-industry rescue plan. Next month, he hopes to win $825 billion or more
in spending increases and tax cuts.
Americans have high expectations. A majority of those surveyed in a USA
TODAY/Gallup survey last week predicted that Obama will be able to achieve every
one of 10 major campaign promises, from reducing health care costs and
increasing coverage to withdrawing most U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16
months.
On Monday, Obama spent his last day as president-elect visiting injured troops,
performing community service projects and hosting three bipartisan dinners to
honor Biden, McCain and former secretary of State Colin Powell. He switched from
dark gray jeans, shirtsleeves and a paintbrush to a black tuxedo and long black
tie.
"After the season of campaigning has ended, each of us in public life has a
responsibility to usher in a new season of cooperation built on those things we
hold in common — not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans," he
said at the McCain event. "Let us strive always to find that common ground, and
to defend together those common ideals, for it is the only way we can meet the
very big and very serious challenges that we face right now."
Obama's relatively brief inauguration speech was ready for delivery. Today it
goes into the history books, and the man known for being an eloquent speaker
turns to governing.
"I am making a commitment to you as the next president that we are going to make
government work," he said Monday. "But I can't do it by myself. ... We're going
to have to take responsibility, all of us."
January 19, 2009
Filed at 12:03 p.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- On the eve of his inauguration, President-elect Barack
Obama talked with wounded troops at a military hospital and then visited an
emergency shelter for homeless teens. Grabbing a paint roller to help give the
walls a fresh coat of blue, Obama said there can't be any ''idle hands'' at a
time of national hardship.
Obama appealed to the nation he will soon lead to honor the Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr. through service to others. ''It's not a day just to pause and reflect
-- it's a day to act,'' Obama said on King's national holiday. ''I ask the
American people to turn today's efforts into an ongoing commitment to enriching
the lives of others in their communities, their cities, and their country.''
Ever-growing crowds thronged to the capital city on the eve of Obama's elevation
to the presidency. ''Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same
Mall where Dr. King's dream echoes still,'' Obama said.
A day away from becoming the nation's 44th president, Obama visited 14 injured
vets from Iraq and Afghanistan at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Then he visited Sasha Bruce House, a shelter for homeless teens in the District
of Columbia, chatting with volunteers who were helping to repaint rooms and then
pitching in himself.
''We can't allow any idle hands. Everybody's got to be involved,'' Obama said.
''I think the American people are ready to do that.''
Obama, whose presidential campaign made extensive use of the Internet to rally
support and gather contributions, said, ''The Internet is an amazing tool for us
to be able to organize people together. We saw that in our campaign. But we
don't just want to use if for winning elections; we want to use it for
rebuilding America.''
''Don't underestimate the power for people to join together to accomplish
amazing things,'' Obama said.
As to his own painting efforts, Obama said: ''I think I've got this wall
covered.'' He once was immersed in such work as a community organizer in
Chicago.
Michelle Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden's wife, Jill, were visiting
RFK Stadium where people were at work wrapping care packages and writing letters
to troops overseas.
On the National Mall, a party atmosphere was already evident by midday even
though it had started snowing. Several of the large-screen televisions had begun
rebroadcasting Sunday afternoon's concert, while in a corner near the
Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Boy's Choir of Kenya performed an
impromptu selection for the crowd.
At the Capitol, hundreds of people pressed up against the blocked-off seating
area in hopes of getting as close to the inaugural stage as possible.
''Everybody's excited,'' said Donald Butler, 20, a student at the University of
Washington. ''There are smiling faces everywhere, and it's a nice, diverse
crowd. It's history. I didn't think I would see a black president in my
generation. I just had to be here.''
President George W. Bush, with just a day left in his term, made phone calls
from the White House to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and a dozen other
world leaders to thank them for their work with him over the last eight years.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, meanwhile, was designated by the Bush
administration to stay away from Tuesday's inaugural festivities ''in order to
ensure continuity of government,'' said Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino.
One official traditionally stays away when others in the line of presidential
succession are gathered together, in case of a calamitous attack.
On the streets, live news broadcasts displayed on large-screen televisions
attracted swarms of onlookers, and behind the scenes people made final
preparations for a slew of parties, balls and other celebrations that will
follow Obama's oath-taking and the inaugural parade.
Obama and Biden, fresh off a rollicking concert at the Lincoln Memorial on
Sunday, were spending their final day before the inauguration with activities
keyed to the celebration of King's life, cut short by an assassin's bullet in
1968.
''Today, we celebrate the life of a preacher who, more than 45 years ago, stood
on our National Mall in the shadow of Lincoln and shared his dream for our
nation. His was a vision that all Americans might share the freedom to make of
our lives what we will; that our children might climb higher than we would,''
Obama said in a statement.
Obama said King's ''was a life lived in loving service to others.''
Meanwhile, two wreaths were erected at the future site of the Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. Memorial on the Tidal Basin between the Jefferson Memorial and the
Lincoln Memorial. Groups of school children gathered around retired teacher Kirk
Moses as he talked about King's legacy of nonviolence and the civil rights
leader's connection to Obama.
''The cadence and syntax of Obama, it comes directly from Dr. King,'' said
Moses, 60, as his group took pictures of the bronze plaque that sits where the
memorial will be built.
The run-up to Obama's inauguration, like his election itself, has been defined
by enormous public enthusiasm, carefully choreographed events and a lofty spirit
of unity. What awaits, as Obama often reminds the nation, is many months, if not
years, of tough work.
The weekend celebrations began Saturday with Obama's whistle-stop tour, from
Philadelphia to Washington, along the path Abraham Lincoln took in 1861. Then
came the roaring celebrity-filled concert where several hundred thousand people
flanked the Reflecting Pool, hearing actors, singers and then Obama himself
rally for national renewal.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has launched a Web site, USAService.org, to
help people find volunteer opportunities close to their homes.
The president-elect scheduled a busy Monday evening, too.
He was to attend three private dinners to honor former Secretary of State Colin
Powell; Biden, a longtime senator from Delaware, and Sen. John McCain, the 2008
Republican presidential nominee.
Michelle Obama, the future first lady, was hosting a children's evening concert.
Runner Kim Person stopped in front of the Capitol to snap a few quick pictures
of the reviewing stand during a break in her marathon training. Person doesn't
have a ticket to the festivities, so she used the early morning lull to get
close to the building.
''That's why I'm looking at it today, because I won't be able to see it
tomorrow,'' said Person, 43, who plans to be near the Washington Monument on
Tuesday.
------
Associated Press Writers Jesse Holland and Charles Babington contributed to this
report.
January 19, 2009
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:02 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A schedule of some official and unofficial activities
surrounding Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20:
------
MONDAY, JAN. 19
-- National Day of Community Service event: To honor Dr. King's legacy, Obama,
Biden and their families, joined by Americans across the country, participate in
activities dedicated to serving others in communities across the Washington,
D.C. area.
-- Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball, sponsored by the Texas State Society, at
the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center.
-- Green Inaugural Ball at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and
Portraiture. Ball hosted by former Vice President Al Gore.
-- Huffington Post preinaugural ball at the Newseum.
-- Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball at the Harman Center for the Arts. Hosted by the
Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Russell Simmons, LL Cool J, among others.
-- A children's evening concert at the Verizon Center honoring military
families. Event hosted by Michelle Obama, who will attend. Miley Cyrus, the
Jonas Brothers are among the entertainers.
-- Obama to attend three private dinners to honor former secretary of State
Colin Powell, Biden and Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential
nominee, for their public service. Dinners at the Hilton Washington, National
Building Museum and Union Station.
------
TUESDAY, JAN. 20 (INAUGURATION DAY)
Gates to the Inaugural Ceremony open at 8 a.m. EST. The inaugural festivities
are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. They
will include:
-- Musical selections of The United States Marine Band, followed by the San
Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus.
-- Sen. Dianne Feinstein provides call to order and welcoming remarks.
-- Invocation by the Rev. Rick Warren.
-- Musical selection of Aretha Franklin.
-- Biden will be sworn into office by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
-- Musical selection of John Williams, composer/arranger with Itzhak Perlman,
(violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Gabriela Montero (piano) and Anthony McGill
(clarinet).
-- Obama will take the Oath of Office, using President Lincoln's Inaugural
Bible, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. Scheduled around noon.
-- Obama gives the inaugural address.
-- Poem by Elizabeth Alexander.
-- Benediction by Rev. Joseph E. Lowery.
-- The National Anthem by The United States Navy Band ''Sea Chanters.''
After Obama gives inaugural address, he will escort outgoing President George W.
Bush to a departure ceremony before attending a luncheon in the Capitol's
Statuary Hall.
The 56th Inaugural Parade will then make its way down Pennsylvania Avenue from
the Capitol to the White House.
Later that day, the Presidential Inaugural Committee will host 10 official
inaugural balls:
-- Neighborhood Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center.
-- Obama Home States (Illinois and Hawaii) Inaugural Ball at the Washington
Convention Center.
-- Biden Home States (Pennsylvania and Delaware) Inaugural Ball at the
Washington Convention Center.
-- Midwest Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center.
-- Mid-Atlantic Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center.
-- Western Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center.
-- Commander in Chief's Ball at the National Building Museum.
-- Southern Inaugural Ball at the National Guard Armory.
-- Eastern Inaugural Ball at Union Station.
-- Youth Inaugural Ball at the Washington Hilton.
Unofficial balls include:
-- Congressional Black Caucus Inaugural Ball at the Capitol Hilton.
-- Creative Coalition Inaugural Ball at the Harman Center for the Arts.
-- Recording Industry Association of America's ball for Feeding America.
-- BET's Inaugural Ball at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
-- Africa on the Potomac inaugural celebration at Crystal Gateway Marriott in
Arlington, Va.
-- American Music Inaugural Ball at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.
-- Inaugural Purple Ball at the Fairmont Hotel.
-- Human Rights Campaign's Equality Ball at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel.
-- Inaugural Peace Ball at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.
-- Impact Film Fund ball.
------
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21
-- The president, vice president and their families will participate in a prayer
service at the Washington National Cathedral.
January 19, 2009
The New York Times
By SUSAN SAULNY
CHICAGO — From a dismal parking lot on this city’s South Side, a bus is
scheduled to pull out on Monday headed east, packed with people from the
neighborhoods where President-elect Barack Obama first cut his teeth as an
organizer hoping to make a difference in the world.
The riders on the Fellowship Bus, as they are calling it, are making a
bare-bones 1,200-mile round trip to Washington to be present as Mr. Obama takes
the oath of office. They are leaving without hotel reservations, an agenda of
any kind or even much of a chance that they will get close enough to the Capitol
to see the main event. Nor will they get much sleep, as the bus will turn around
as soon as the inauguration is over.
But none of that matters much.
“We just had to be there for him,” said the Rev. David Bigsby, a Baptist
preacher who has a seat on the bus. “He was such a blessing to our community and
churches.”
The Rev. Len Dubi, a Roman Catholic priest who will also be on board, is already
reminiscing about how he watched over Mr. Obama as a young community organizer
trainee in the mid-1980s.
Yvonne Brookens, a retired phone company coin counter, is thinking about taking
the cap Mr. Obama gave her while shaking hands on her block in his first
campaign for state office.
And the Rev. Archie Graham, a former civil rights activist, said he was
preparing to be overcome by the timing of it all, setting off to see the
inauguration of the first black person to be elected president on nothing less
than Martin Luther King’s Birthday.
Mr. Bigsby, whose memories of Mr. Obama include an appearance at his church in
Mr. Obama’s first campaign for office, said: “It’s spine-chilling. Words cannot
describe this feeling. To think what Dr. King would say.”
Of the millions of political pilgrims traveling from all corners of the country
and, no doubt, the world, aching to get a glimpse of Mr. Obama’s inauguration,
the people on the Fellowship Bus may be singular in the humble nature of their
roots and the richness of their decades-old connection to the new president.
They are social justice advocates, members of the clergy, retired government
workers, former civil rights leaders from the 1960s and younger idealists. They
never left their neighborhoods. These days, they glow with something near
paternal pride.
“We’re feeling that it’s our victory,” Mr. Dubi said. “It’s a very emotional
experience.”
The bus riders are making the journey on a shoestring budget of $150 per person,
as some of their simple lifestyles have not changed much since a young Mr. Obama
pounded the pavement.
It was on their streets and in their churches where Mr. Obama, according to his
memoir, said he took his first “awkward steps toward manhood.”
Mr. Obama arrived in Chicago in his 20s after growing up in Hawaii and
Indonesia. He worked as a community organizer on the South Side for three years,
roughly from 1983 to 1986, then left to attend Harvard Law School.
“Change won’t come from the top, I would say,” Mr. Obama wrote in the memoir
“Dreams From My Father.” “Change will come from a mobilized grass roots.”
On the streets, Mr. Dubi, 66, and others said they remembered that “he proved
himself.”
“One of the remarkable things I’ve learned from him, just observing him,” Mr.
Dubi said, “is that you can’t move forward in a democracy without bringing in
people who are opposed to you. I saw that in him. I just liked his friendliness,
his approachability.”
After receiving a law degree, Mr. Obama returned to Chicago. He ran a voter
registration drive, joined a law firm, taught constitutional law and was elected
to the State Senate in 1996.
While he remained on the South Side, his world moved to Hyde Park — and to
Trinity United Church of Christ — and was more rarefied than what he knew during
his organizing days farther south. Hyde Park also became his base for a
successful run for the United States Senate in 2004, and it remained his local
stomping ground until he moved to Washington just days ago.
But the people in the more humble communities and smaller churches where he
organized never forgot him, and they say he never forgot them either, in that
many of their goals remain his, too — better education, housing and jobs for
everyone.
“We’re all just community activists,” said Mr. Bigsby, 63. “We don’t need to
engage him for a little trip or something of a selfish nature. What we’d rather
is for him to focus on the collective needs of our community. And he’s said he
believes in that, that change comes up from the people.”
The 55-seat Fellowship Bus will roll overnight to cut out the cost of
accommodations, and passengers are packing food to save money. They will
entertain themselves with hymns and stories about their old friend, “that lovely
young man,” as Ms. Brookens put it, referring to Mr. Obama.
Even the $150 fare was a stretch for some. Ms. Brookens, 62, paid in
installments.
“Anything that is a sacrifice is also a blessing,” she said. “I took the money
out of my little funds, what I have. I hope to have a little change on me —
emergency or souvenir money. It’s worth it. We want to show our support, to
prayerfully give him a good ‘God Bless.’ ”
Some of the passengers are friends, members of a loosely bound interfaith
association of churches on the South Side and the southern suburbs. Mr. Bigsby
is the president of the group and is accompanying 11 members from his church, In
the Upper Room Ministries.
Ms. Brookens is an assistant pastor at God’s Word Christian Center to Mr.
Graham, 65, who is a friend of Mr. Bigsby. Mr. Dubi and Mr. Bigsby have worked
on social justice causes for decades.
Once Mr. Obama began campaigning after his organizing days, the range of
churches he knew, Mr. Bigsby said, “gave him great exposure, but he also blessed
our parishioners to understand the real need to come out of the four walls of
the church and really engage.”
“A cliché in the church is that we’d rather see a sermon than hear one,” Mr.
Bigsby said. “He epitomized a living sermon.”
The group does not have much of a plan upon arrival in Washington, other than to
park the bus and try to get as close as possible to the festivities by walking
or using public transportation.
“We might not even get to the Capitol, but that’s O.K.,” said Vickie Perkins,
the district manager of a coffee company and a member of Mr. Graham’s church who
has become the unofficial trip coordinator. “I just want to be on the street,
even if I can’t see the action. I want to be able to say I was there when Barack
Obama became president.”
Mr. Graham said he felt the same way, that the journey was actually the
destination itself.
“Dr. King said in one of his more famous speeches that he had been to the
mountaintop and seen the promised land, and that he might not get there with
us,” Mr. Graham said. “He said we’d get there as a people. I see our trip, very
visibly, as exactly what he was saying.”
January 19, 2009
The New York Times
By JACKIE CALMES
WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama is well on his way to finding the
silver lining in the economic storm he is inheriting.
The two-year, $825 billion economic recovery plan taking shape in Congress
includes billions of dollars for renewable energy and a national electricity
grid to distribute it, lower taxes for all Americans but the affluent,
computerized medical records and modernized schools. These are all down payments
on Mr. Obama’s ambitious campaign promises, affording him an opportunity few new
presidents have had. Not since Franklin D. Roosevelt at the depths of the Great
Depression has a president entered office with a bipartisan green light to spend
and cut taxes so much.
The House and Senate are putting their stamp on the product — shaving the cost
on some proposals like the power grid and rejecting a few, notably Mr. Obama’s
call to give businesses a $3,000 tax credit for every new hire. But to a
remarkable degree, the package reads like an Obama campaign checklist, though he
never put a comprehensive stimulus blueprint on paper but instead publicly and
privately promoted his priorities.
While intended for two years, the recovery plan, at $825 billion, is nearly the
size of the federal government’s annual discretionary budget for almost
everything other than Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
By comparison, Bill Clinton came into office in 1993 seeking just $16 billion
for an economic stimulus. A Congress controlled by deficit-conscious Democrats
refused to give it to him.
Mr. Obama is moving on other fronts to make good on promises quickly, aware that
any president’s first year is typically the most productive, and that his
popularity at his inaugural could well be at its peak.
Working with a Congress controlled by his party, he expects soon after taking
office on Tuesday to sign laws expanding a program of health care for low-income
children and taking aim at pay discrimination against women. Mr. Obama is also
expected to use his executive authority to quickly revive federal financing for
embryonic stem-cell research.
With new authority from Congress to spend the second half of a $700 billion
bailout program, Mr. Obama plans to do more than the Bush administration to
press financial institutions to help struggling homeowners avert foreclosure and
rekindle credit to individuals and businesses.
“He is going to have a strong message for the bankers,” his senior adviser David
Axelrod said Sunday on “This Week” on ABC. “We want to see credit flowing again.
We don’t want them to sit on any money that they get from taxpayers.”
Democrats expect the stimulus package to be on Mr. Obama’s desk by Feb. 13.
“First, it’s going to play a significant role in turning the economy around,”
said Rahm Emanuel, who will be White House chief of staff and has been lobbying
his former colleagues in Congress for the Obama agenda.
But beyond its stimulating effect, Mr. Emanuel said, the package will advance
“every one of the policy goals” Mr. Obama laid out in his domestic agenda for
change in the campaign: energy independence, reducing health care costs,
improving education and helping low-wage and middle-income workers.
For example, he cited Mr. Obama’s promise to spur hospitals’ and doctors’ use of
information technology to improve care and cut costs. The Obama team is
expecting more than $20 billion in the final legislation toward the estimated
$50 billion cost of wiring providers nationwide. “We’re halfway toward a goal
that’s been debated for 10 to 15 years,” Mr. Emanuel said.
Yet challenges across the board threaten the big expectations Mr. Obama has
stoked.
Money has not been the only hurdle for many of his priorities. The medical
technology initiative, for instance, must overcome significant privacy concerns
that civil libertarians, patients’ groups and others have.
Also, for all the attention to Mr. Obama’s initiatives, more than half of the
roughly $550 billion in two-year spending — roughly $275 billion more is for tax
cuts — would simply preserve the jobs of teachers, firefighters, public health
workers and other local government employees by sending relief to the states,
said Scott Lilly, a former senior Congressional aide who is now at the Center
for American Progress, a liberal research group.
As big as the package will be, some liberals and conservative economists fear it
is not enough, which would endanger what is now Mr. Obama’s foremost promise: to
get the economy moving again. “One of the big problems is that the overall
economy is weaker than a package of this size can adequately address,” Mr. Lilly
said.
Once the economy does start to recover, long-term financing will be in question
for Mr. Obama’s energy, education and health initiatives as he and Congress turn
to reducing budget deficits.
Antipoverty groups are concerned about the future of proposals to expand tax
breaks to workers who pay payroll taxes but are too poor to owe income taxes,
and to extend Medicaid to workers without health care coverage who lose their
jobs. Advocates worry that some of the proposals least likely to be made
permanent are those that are most beneficial to low-income families.
Still, advocates say they are pleased that Mr. Obama is keeping a promise to
help change Depression-era rules on unemployment compensation to provide aid to
more low-wage and part-time workers who lose jobs. The relief to states gives
them incentives to make the changes.
Environmental groups say they are thrilled by the initial subsidies for clean
energy development and for jobs to weatherize homes and public buildings. “We’re
looking at this as something to build on, instead of looking at it as we’ve had
to do in the past as, What bad things do we have to stop?” said David Willett,
national spokesman for the Sierra Club. “And that’s a good change.”
Dan Weiss, an environmentalist at the Center for American Progress predicted
that the recovery plan “will turbocharge energy efficiency and renewable energy
technologies.”
Assuming that the projected jobs are created, said Melinda Pierce, chief
lobbyist for the Sierra Club, “there will be continued commitment” by private
and public entities.
Even the more traditional stimulus spending, like that for job-providing road
construction, has a twist reflecting the Obama agenda. The roughly $30 billion
for road and bridge building will favor repairs over new construction, Democrats
say. Repairs can be addressed faster, getting money into the economy quickly.
But they are also the choice of environmentalists and the National Association
of Realtors, which together oppose new roadways that promote urban sprawl and
fuel consumption.
Education from preschool through college is also shaping up as a big winner,
with $141.6 billion in the House bill. Supporters promote the job-creating
potential of education spending not just for the short-term, insofar as it is a
down payment on Mr. Obama’s promise to stem “the dropout crisis” and help young
Americans become productive taxpayers.
“The down payment actually builds a lot of the proposed ‘education house,’ ”
said Bob Wise, the former West Virginia governor who is now president of the
Alliance for Excellent Education. “This economic stimulus package shows that as
we shift from an industrial to an information economy, education is the new
currency.”
Mr. Wise cited a recent study that said that cutting dropout rates in half, for
about $5 billion a year, would produce $45 billion in new tax revenues and
savings on expenses like welfare and incarcerations.
Similarly, Democrats are trumpeting the economic impact of other provisions that
depart from standard stimulus spending on things like road construction and
jobless aid.
For example, Mr. Obama is likely to get at least $6 billion of the $10 billion
he sought toward his campaign promise of universal broadband service to extend
Internet access to rural areas and other regions lacking high-speed service.
Each $1 investment, Democrats say, returns $10 to the economy through increased
productivity.
January 19, 2009
The New York Times
By JESSE L. JACKSON Sr.
FORTY-ONE years ago, I was blessed to spend the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr.’s last birthday with him, along with Allard Lowenstein and staff members
like Andy Young, Hosea Williams, Dorothy Cotton, James Bevel, James Orange and
others. I recall vividly how he spent that day — and I mention it now because
it’s instructive to all of us if we are to follow Dr. King’s example and not
just admire him.
When Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation’s first African-American president,
many will view that moment as the culmination of the modern civil rights
movement, a struggle most often identified with Dr. King.
It is fitting that Mr. Obama will assume the nation’s highest office one day
after we celebrate Dr. King’s birthday. What would Dr. King, who spent much of
his life changing conditions so that African-Americans could vote without fear
of death or intimidation, think of the rise of the nation’s 44th president?
I can say without reservation that he would be beaming. I am equally confident
that he would not let the euphoria of the moment blind us to the unfinished
business that lies ahead. And he would spell out those challenges in biblical
terms: feed the hungry, clothe the naked and study war no more.
Dr. King spent his 39th birthday working. I remember him coming to the basement
of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He walked in that day around 9 a.m.,
after breakfast with his family, wearing blue jeans and a windbreaker. (I recall
a bright, sunny day.) He convened the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
staff and a rainbow coalition — blacks from the Deep South, whites from
Appalachia, Jewish allies from New York, Latino farm worker organizers — to plan
what would be his last campaign, the Poor People’s March to the nation’s
capital. Though Dr. King had met with increasing hostility from the press and
government, his mood was upbeat because we were energized by the vision of a new
initiative to advance our movement.
Around noon Xernona Clayton, a friend of the King family, walked in with a
birthday cake. She teased Dr. King, saying that he was “so busy you forgot to
celebrate your own birthday.” Slightly embarrassed, Dr. King blew out the
candles. We must have eaten the cake in record time because it seemed that
within moments the plates were cleared and we were back in our meeting — with Al
Lowenstein conducting a workshop about the march and how to step up pressure to
end the Vietnam War.
That’s the model we should follow this week — and beyond. We should celebrate
the election of our new president. And then we should get back to work to
complete the unfinished business of making America a more perfect union.
Jesse L. Jackson Sr., a former aide to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is
the president and founder of the RainbowPUSH Coalition.
January 19, 2009
The New York Times
By HENRY LOUIS GATES Jr. and JOHN STAUFFER
UNTIL a martyred John F. Kennedy replaced him, Abraham Lincoln was one of the
two white men whose image most frequently graced even the most modest black
home, second in popularity only to Jesus. Perhaps none of his heirs in the Oval
Office has been as directly compared to Lincoln as will Barack Obama, in part
because Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation began freeing the slaves descended
from the continent on which Mr. Obama’s father was born, and in part because of
Mr. Obama’s own fascination with Lincoln himself.
Much has been written about what Mr. Obama thinks about Lincoln; but not much
has been said about what Lincoln would think of Barack Hussein Obama. If his
marble statue at the Lincoln Memorial could become flesh and speak, like
Galatea, what would the man who is remembered for freeing the slaves say about
his first black successor?
It is difficult to say for sure, of course, but one thing we can be fairly
certain about is that Lincoln would have been, um, surprised. Lincoln was
thoroughly a man of his times, and while he staunchly opposed slavery — on moral
grounds and because it made competition in the marketplace unfair for poor white
men — for most of his life he harbored fixed and unfortunate ideas about race.
Lincoln had a very complex relationship with blacks. Abolition was a fundamental
part of Lincoln’s moral compass, but equality was not. While he was an early,
consistent and formidable foe of slavery, Lincoln had much more ambivalent
feelings about blacks themselves, especially about whether they were, or could
ever be, truly equal with whites.
For example, on Aug. 14, 1862, he invited five black men to the White House to
convince them to become the founders of a new nation in Panama consisting of
those slaves he was about to free. A month before emancipation became law, he
proposed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing financing for blacks who wished
to emigrate to Liberia or Haiti.
Degrading words, deplored by most white abolitionists, like “Sambo” and
“Cuffee,” found their way into Lincoln’s descriptions of blacks; he even used
“nigger” several times in speeches. He also liked to tell “darkie” jokes and had
a penchant for black-faced minstrel shows. The Lincoln of pre-White House days
was a long way from the Great Emancipator; “recovering racist” would be closer
to the truth.
Except for his barber, William Florville, and William Johnson, a servant from
Springfield, Ill., Lincoln didn’t know many of what he referred to as “very
intelligent” black people before he moved to the White House. (In 1840, only 116
blacks lived in Springfield, and they were domestics, laborers or slaves.) In
fact, if we add up the amount of time he spent with black people who were not
servants even after he became president, it probably would not amount to 24
hours.
The truth is that successful blacks were almost total strangers to Lincoln, born
as he was on the frontier and raised in a state settled by white Southerners.
From this perspective, then, Lincoln most probably would have been shocked,
perhaps horrified, by Mr. Obama’s election. Like the majority of Northern
whites, Lincoln had a vision of America that was largely a white one.
Once in office, though, he met with more black leaders than any president before
him, including Sojourner Truth (whom he unfortunately addressed as “Aunty”),
Henry Highland Garnet and Martin R. Delany, even if he never invited one to a
formal meal. But we also know that Lincoln could recognize exceptional people,
regardless of race.
As president, he became quite taken with one black man, Frederick Douglass, who
initially seems to bear much in common with Barack Obama. Both Mr. Obama and
Douglass had one black and one white parent; both rose from humble origins to
become famous before age 45; both are among the greatest writers and orators of
their generations; and both learned early to use words as powerful weapons.
Lincoln, seeing this masterly orator of mixed-race ancestry, would most likely
first have been reminded of his exceptional friend, Douglass.
Lincoln’s respect for Douglass — the first, and perhaps only, black man he
treated as an intellectual equal — was total. He met with him at the White House
three times and once told a colleague that he considered Douglass among the
nation’s “most meritorious men.” And just after delivering his second inaugural
address, Lincoln asked Douglass what he thought of the speech, adding that
“there is no man in the country whose opinion I value more than yours.”
The fact that Lincoln was no natural friend of the Negroes arguably makes his
actions on their behalf all the more impressive, even if they were motivated by
the urgent pragmatism of war. He and Douglass were unlikely allies: Douglass was
a firebrand in the prophetic tradition, whereas Lincoln — like Barack Obama —
spoke of pragmatism and post-partisanship. While Mr. Obama’s election may mark
the triumph of Douglass’s grand historical project for American race relations,
it doesn’t mark the ascent of another Douglass.
Lincoln’s great achievement, in the eyes of posterity, was really the outcome of
his ingrained pragmatism. The Emancipation Proclamation was born of a certain
opportunism (to win the war, Lincoln said, he needed freed slaves to defeat
their former masters), and is not a lesser thing for it. Perhaps there is a
lesson for Mr. Obama here: those who invoke high ideas and scorn compromise
often bring themselves into disrepute. Those whose actions are conditioned by an
exquisite sense of frailty, by an understanding that it’s more important to
avoid the worst than to attain the best, may better serve those ideals in the
end.
Is Barack Obama another Abraham Lincoln? Let’s hope not. Greatness — witness the
presidencies of Lincoln, say, and Franklin D. Roosevelt — is forged in the
crucible of disaster. It comes when character is equal to cataclysm. A peacetime
Lincoln would have been no Lincoln at all. Let’s hope that Mr. Obama, for all of
his considerable gifts, doesn’t get this particular chance to be great.
Barack Obama has written that Lincoln’s “humble beginnings ... often speak to
our own.” Once Lincoln had recovered from his shock that a descendant of
“amalgamation” (about which he once expressed reservations) had ascended to the
presidency, one suspects their mutual embrace of economic independence and
natural rights, their love and mastery of the English language, their shared
desire to leave their mark on history, and their astonishing gift for pragmatic
improvisation, would have drawn him to a man so fundamentally similar to
himself.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the editor of “Lincoln on Race and Slavery” and the
producer of the forthcoming PBS documentary “Looking for Lincoln.” John Stauffer
is the author, most recently, of “Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick
Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.”
January 19, 2009
The New York Times
By MICHIKO KAKUTANI
WASHINGTON — In college, as he was getting involved in protests against the
apartheid government in South Africa, Barack Obama noticed, he has written,
“that people had begun to listen to my opinions.” Words, the young Mr. Obama
realized, had the power “to transform”: “with the right words everything could
change -— South Africa, the lives of ghetto kids just a few miles away, my own
tenuous place in the world.”
Much has been made of Mr. Obama’s eloquence — his ability to use words in his
speeches to persuade and uplift and inspire. But his appreciation of the magic
of language and his ardent love of reading have not only endowed him with a rare
ability to communicate his ideas to millions of Americans while contextualizing
complex ideas about race and religion, they have also shaped his sense of who he
is and his apprehension of the world.
Mr. Obama’s first book, “Dreams From My Father” (which surely stands as the most
evocative, lyrical and candid autobiography written by a future president),
suggests that throughout his life he has turned to books as a way of acquiring
insights and information from others — as a means of breaking out of the bubble
of self-hood and, more recently, the bubble of power and fame. He recalls that
he read James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright and W. E.
B. Du Bois when he was an adolescent in an effort to come to terms with his
racial identity and that later, during an ascetic phase in college, he immersed
himself in the works of thinkers like Nietzsche and St. Augustine in a
spiritual-intellectual search to figure out what he truly believed.
As a boy growing up in Indonesia, Mr. Obama learned about the American civil
rights movement through books his mother gave him. Later, as a fledgling
community organizer in Chicago, he found inspiration in “Parting the Waters,”
the first installment of Taylor Branch’s multivolume biography of the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
More recently, books have supplied Mr. Obama with some concrete ideas about
governance: it’s been widely reported that “Team of Rivals,” Doris Kearns
Goodwin’s book about Abraham Lincoln’s decision to include former opponents in
his cabinet, informed Mr. Obama’s decision to name his chief Democratic rival,
Hillary Rodham Clinton, as Secretary of State. In other cases, books about F. D.
R.’s first hundred days in office and Steve Coll’s “Ghost Wars,“ about
Afghanistan and the C.I.A., have provided useful background material on some of
the myriad challenges Mr. Obama will face upon taking office.
Mr. Obama tends to take a magpie approach to reading — ruminating upon writers’
ideas and picking and choosing those that flesh out his vision of the world or
open promising new avenues of inquiry.
His predecessor, George W. Bush, in contrast, tended to race through books in
competitions with Karl Rove (who recently boasted that he beat the president by
reading 110 books to Mr. Bush’s 95 in 2006), or passionately embrace an author’s
thesis as an idée fixe. Mr. Bush and many of his aides favored prescriptive
books — Natan Sharansky’s “Case for Democracy,” which pressed the case for
promoting democracy around the world, say, or Eliot A. Cohen’s “Supreme
Command,” which argued that political strategy should drive military strategy.
Mr. Obama, on the other hand, has tended to look to non-ideological histories
and philosophical works that address complex problems without any easy
solutions, like Reinhold Niebuhr’s writings, which emphasize the ambivalent
nature of human beings and the dangers of willful innocence and infallibility.
What’s more, Mr. Obama’s love of fiction and poetry — Shakespeare’s plays,
Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick” and Marilynne Robinson‘s “Gilead” are mentioned on
his Facebook page, along with the Bible, Lincoln’s collected writings and
Emerson’s “Self Reliance“ — has not only given him a heightened awareness of
language. It has also imbued him with a tragic sense of history and a sense of
the ambiguities of the human condition quite unlike the Manichean view of the
world so often invoked by Mr. Bush.
Mr. Obama has said that he wrote “very bad poetry” in college and his biographer
David Mendell suggests that he once “harbored some thoughts of writing fiction
as an avocation.” For that matter, “Dreams From My Father” evinces an
instinctive storytelling talent (which would later serve the author well on the
campaign trail) and that odd combination of empathy and detachment gifted
novelists possess. In that memoir, Mr. Obama seamlessly managed to convey points
of view different from his own (a harbinger, perhaps, of his promises to bridge
partisan divides and his ability to channel voters’ hopes and dreams) while
conjuring the many places he lived during his peripatetic childhood. He is at
once the solitary outsider who learns to stop pressing his nose to the glass and
the coolly omniscient observer providing us with a choral view of his past.
As Baldwin once observed, language is both “a political instrument, means, and
proof of power,” and “the most vivid and crucial key to identity: it reveals the
private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger,
public, or communal identity.”
For Mr. Obama, whose improbable life story many voters regard as the embodiment
of the American Dream, identity and the relationship between the personal and
the public remain crucial issues. Indeed, “Dreams From My Father,” written
before he entered politics, was both a searching bildungsroman and an
autobiographical quest to understand his roots — a quest in which he cast
himself as both a Telemachus in search of his father and an Odysseus in search
of a home.
Like “Dreams From My Father,” many of the novels Mr. Obama reportedly admires
deal with the question of identity: Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” concerns a
man’s efforts to discover his origins and come to terms with his roots; Doris
Lessing’s “Golden Notebook” recounts a woman’s struggles to articulate her own
sense of self; and Ellison’s “Invisible Man” grapples with the difficulty of
self-definition in a race-conscious America and the possibility of
transcendence. The poems of Elizabeth Alexander, whom Mr. Obama chose as his
inaugural poet, probe the intersection between the private and the political,
time present and time past, while the verse of Derek Walcott (a copy of whose
collected poems was recently glimpsed in Mr. Obama’s hands) explores what it
means to be a “divided child,” caught on the margins of different cultures,
dislocated and rootless perhaps, but free to invent a new self.
This notion of self-creation is a deeply American one — a founding principle of
this country, and a trope addressed by such classic works as “The Great Gatsby”
— and it seems to exert a strong hold on Mr. Obama’s imagination.
In a 2005 essay in Time magazine, he wrote of the humble beginnings that he and
Lincoln shared, adding that the 16th president reminded him of “a larger,
fundamental element of American life — the enduring belief that we can
constantly remake ourselves to fit our larger dreams.”
Though some critics have taken Mr. Obama to task for self-consciously
italicizing parallels between himself and Lincoln, there are in fact a host of
uncanny correspondences between these two former Illinois state legislators who
had short stints in Congress under their belts before coming to national
prominence with speeches showcasing their eloquence: two cool, self-contained
men, who managed to stay calm and graceful under pressure; two stoics embracing
the virtues of moderation and balance; two relatively new politicians who were
initially criticized for their lack of experience and for questioning an
invasion of a country that, in Lincoln’s words, was “in no way molesting, or
menacing the U.S.”
As Fred Kaplan’s illuminating new biography (“Lincoln: The Biography of a
Writer”) makes clear, Lincoln, like Mr. Obama, was a lifelong lover of books,
indelibly shaped by his reading — most notably, in his case, the Bible and
Shakespeare — which honed his poetic sense of language and his philosophical
view of the world. Both men employ a densely allusive prose, richly embedded
with the fruit of their reading, and both use language as a tool by which to
explore and define themselves. Eventually in Lincoln’s case, Mr. Kaplan notes,
“the tool, the toolmaker, and the tool user became inseparably one. He became
what his language made him.”
The incandescent power of Lincoln’s language, its resonance and rhythmic
cadences, as well as his ability to shift gears between the magisterial and the
down-to-earth, has been a model for Mr. Obama — who has said he frequently
rereads Lincoln for inspiration — and so, too, have been the uses to which
Lincoln put his superior language skills: to goad Americans to complete the
unfinished work of the founders, and to galvanize a nation reeling from hard
times with a new vision of reconciliation and hope.
January 19, 2009
The New York Times
Filed at 9:16 a.m. ET
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President-elect Barack Obama is visiting wounded troops at
Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
A day after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National
Cemetery, Obama began Tuesday with an unscheduled stop at Walter Reed, where he
is meeting with those wounded during their military service.
Monday is the federal holiday commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King
Jr., and Obama is leading a day of community service Tuesday, asking the nation
to honor King's legacy by making a renewed commitment to service.
January 19, 2009
The New York Times
By HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON — On Sunday, President-elect Barack Obama got Elizabeth Ross, a
57-year-old African-American woman from Lorman, Miss., to see Bruce Springsteen
in concert. Clad in a floor-length black mink coat, matching hat and stunningly
manicured nails, Mrs. Ross — and hundreds of thousands of others, their faces
bright with both chill and expectation — converged on the Lincoln Memorial to
kick off America’s three-day inauguration party.
Crammed together as far as the eye could see — from the seated statue of Abraham
Lincoln all the way past the reflecting pool and up the hill to the Washington
Monument — they danced, sang, shivered, cheered, hooted and hollered for the
black man who will be America’s next president, in what seemed a cross between
the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington and Woodstock.
Mr. Obama, looking into the mass of faces raised to him, seemed to feed off the
crowd. The text of his speech was somber, noting the economic crisis and the two
wars, and calling for a new spirit of sacrifice to overcome them. But his voice
was upbeat.
“I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will
endure,” the president-elect said. “What gives me that hope is what I see when I
look out across this mall.”
Looking back at him from across the Mall was an ocean of expectations, as people
from Napa, Calif., to Detroit to Orlando, Fla., clad in Obama T-shirts, hats,
jewelry and even face paint, hugged one another and swayed to the music from the
array of heavy hitters from the entertainment world who were performing. “My
father would have loved to have seen this,” Mrs. Ross said, gazing raptly at the
stage.
In front of her, Mr. Springsteen was singing “The Rising,” the song he wrote
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that pays homage to the firefighters who lost
their lives as they climbed the stairs of the burning Twin Towers.
Mrs. Ross had never seen Mr. Springsteen in concert. In fact, the last concert
she went to was by the Manhattans in Atlanta in 2001.
And yet, there she was, along with three girlfriends — all in floor-length minks
— huddled in the cold, tapping their feet to the beat. Four middle-age,
African-American women, talking about the Selma-to-Montgomery march in 1965,
about Dr. King, about the civil rights movement — and listening to Bruce.
“I’m so out of my comfort zone out here in the cold,” said Delphine
Straughn-Tupper, one of Mrs. Ross’s friends. “But there was no way I was going
to miss this.”
For Mr. Obama and his aides, finding a way to temper and manage all that emotion
and optimism may be their biggest challenge in the next three days. The incoming
White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, was on “Fox News Sunday” trying to
remind everyone that the country will still be in a recession on Jan. 21.
“We did not get into the situation overnight,” Mr. Gibbs said. “The problems and
the challenges that our country face didn’t happen all last week. It’s going to
take us some time.”
Aides said that Mr. Obama’s inauguration speech would touch on individual
responsibility, and would urge Americans to prepare for hard times ahead. Rahm
Emanuel, his chief of staff, told NBC that the speech would declare an end to
“the culture of anything goes” and demand a new era of responsibility from
government, corporations and Americans in general.
Once he takes office, Mr. Obama will call in his top military commanders and ask
them to figure out a withdrawal plan for Iraq, and will pledge more American
troops to Afghanistan, his aides said. In Iraq, “we’re in an area where everyone
agrees that we should be on a path to withdrawing those troops,” his senior
adviser, David Axelrod, told “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on ABC.
Mr. Obama may also issue executive orders in his first week that call for the
closing of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, though the process may
take time, Mr. Gibbs said.
But on the Mall on Sunday, few people were talking about Iraq, Afghanistan,
Guantánamo or responsibility. Instead, they were talking about history.
“We’ve been up since 6 a.m.,” said Sarah Scheffer, 18, of Rumson, N.J., who
showed up before the gates opened with a dozen other freshmen from American
University to secure a spot close to the stage. “It’s going to be a long day,
but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
People perched in the trees around the Lincoln Memorial and even sat on top of
the portable toilets to get glimpses of the stage. Fire trucks parked on
closed-off 17th Street in front of the World War II monument, but firefighters
were not engaged in fire control. Instead, they stood on top of their trucks as
people crowded around them, handing up digital cameras and begging them to take
photographs of them in front of the crowds. The firefighters obliged, although
one could be heard, grumbling, “O.K., we’ve got to wrap this up now.”
The temperature was 28 degrees, but wave after wave of people kept coming,
cramming closer to Lincoln’s seated statue.
For his part, Mr. Obama, who started his day by laying a wreath at the Tomb of
the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery and trying out a potential new
church for his family, the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in northwest
Washington, appeared to enjoy the concert. When Mr. Springsteen and the folk
singer Pete Seeger led a raucous foot-stomping version of “This Land Is Your
Land,” Mr. Obama sang along with everyone else.
From the stage, Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx appeared, almost in a
competition for the role of Mr. Obama when Hollywood tries its first take on the
44th president.
Mr. Washington went first, striding confidently on stage — to the attendant
shrieks from women in the audience — and delivering a speech that sounded like
one of Mr. Obama’s, complete with references to the legacies of Lincoln and
other forefathers.
But then came Mr. Foxx, who did Mr. Washington one better. “Change has come,”
Mr. Foxx intoned, in a drop-dead impersonation of Mr. Obama’s speech election
night in Grant Park in Chicago. In front of him, a delighted-looking Mr. Obama
was grinning.
January 18, 2009
The New York Times
By JEFF ZELENY
BALTIMORE — President-elect Barack Obama stepped onto a vintage train car,
built at a time when a black man’s ascendancy to the presidency was impossible
in America, and traveled Saturday to Washington in a three-day prelude to his
inauguration as the nation’s 44th president.
As he did throughout his campaign, Mr. Obama evoked imagery of Abraham Lincoln,
in word and deed, as he took an abridged version of Lincoln’s journey by rail to
the capital before his own inaugural festivities in 1861. The trip offered Mr.
Obama one more opportunity to savor his victory before he inherits the
challenges that await him.
“While our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not,” Mr.
Obama said before the train ride began. “What is required is the same
perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed.
“What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation,
but in our own lives — from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry —
an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.”
The trip picked up momentum as it drew closer to Washington, with larger crowds
gathering to wave, cheer and merely catch a glimpse of Mr. Obama, who on Tuesday
will be the first African-American sworn in as president.
Mr. Obama opened his inauguration celebration at 30th Street Station in
Philadelphia, where a few hundred supporters gathered to send him off. He was
joined on stage by his wife, Michelle; their two daughters, Malia and Sasha; and
a contingent of friends from Chicago and beyond who have been by the family’s
side on their two-year odyssey to the White House.
The train sounded its whistle and pulled from the station about 11:30 a.m., with
the conductor booming, “Welcome aboard the 2009 inaugural train to D.C.”
Hundreds of people gathered alongside the track, at train crossings, in
backyards and on rooftops, waving homemade signs and small American flags at the
train. Those who came to witness the moment, even to catch only a peek of the
train, stood in single-digit temperatures, with the wind chill below zero.
At one point, Mr. Obama stood on the outdoor platform of his private car, which
was draped in red, white and blue bunting. He waved and smiled as he sounded the
train’s whistle three times. (“You’re never too old to toot the horn,” he said
later, talking to some of his guests on board.)
When Mr. Obama arrived at the first stop in Wilmington, Del., the crowd spilled
from an outdoor plaza at the train station as Vice President-elect Joseph R.
Biden Jr. and his family climbed aboard after a rally. They held a rally in
Baltimore before arriving by nightfall at Union Station in Washington, where a
large crowd gathered along Pennsylvania Avenue to see Mr. Obama as he was taken
to Blair House, the family’s temporary residence.
“Sometimes it’s hard to believe that we’ll see the spring again,” Mr. Biden said
to shivering supporters in Delaware, his home state, who had been waiting for
hours at the rally. “But I’ll tell you: spring is on the way with this new
administration.”
As the train entered Maryland, about a dozen pickups and cars parked haphazardly
in a harvested corn field. People stood outside their vehicles, capturing the
moment with their cell phones or hand-held video cameras.
“We are praying for you,” said one sign, written with a shaky hand, which was
held by a woman standing at Edgewood Station, not far from Baltimore.
The route was scripted with echoes of history in mind, with the trip beginning
in Philadelphia, where the Constitution was written, and continuing to Delaware,
where the Constitution was first ratified. At each stop, the 10-minute speeches
from Mr. Obama were imbued with a sense of history, particularly as he called on
Americans “to reach for the promise of a better day, and to do the hard work of
perfecting our union once more.”
For all the pomp and celebration surrounding the slow-motion trek to Washington,
a two-hour journey that stretched into more than seven, the underlying mood was
a far more serious one than on most days of the presidential campaign. He has
often delivered similar speeches with lofty tones, but the moment took on more
gravity with the presidency less than three days from being his.
“We recognize that such enormous challenges will not be solved quickly,” Mr.
Obama said to a crowd of about 40,000 people in a downtown Baltimore square.
“There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments. I
will make some mistakes, and we will be called to show patience even as we act
with fierce urgency.”
While the day was choreographed with a Lincoln-era nostalgia in mind, the train
ride was very much a modern-day affair, with cable television networks
broadcasting live from a dining car and from satellite trucks parked along the
route. It was an opportunity for Mr. Obama to turn the conversation, at least
for now, away from the criticism of his economic stimulus plan and other
stumbles in his transition, back to his victory in November.
Jacqueline Tinsley, 56, was among those who turned out to see Mr. Obama as he
began his journey to Washington. She volunteered throughout the course of his
campaign, well before even she believed that his quest would be a success, and
said she could not miss this moment, which she believes will be etched in the
nation’s history.
“In all my life, I never thought that there would be a black president,” Ms.
Tinsley said, taking her seat in the hall of the train station in downtown
Philadelphia. “When he first started, I didn’t know how much of a chance he had,
but over time, you could see it within him. I know he can’t live up to every
expectation, but he has something that we need at this time.”
Mr. Obama and his family were riding a private rail car called the Georgia 300,
built in 1939, which has carried former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton.
At the time the car first went into service, getting a job as a railroad porter
was among the highest aspirations for a black man in America.
It was the same blue vintage rail car that carried Mr. Obama on a tour through
Pennsylvania during his primary campaign, a few days before losing that state to
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“It was actually one of my favorite times on the campaign,” Mr. Obama told his
guests aboard the train on Saturday.
Although Lincoln provided the inspiration for the train trip to Washington, Mr.
Obama did not mention him by name in his remarks, though he has referred to him
again and again as a historical beacon for his own candidacy. But Mr. Obama
filled his addresses with phrases associated with Lincoln, including the “better
angels” call to action.
“We should never forget,” Mr. Obama said, “that we are the heirs of that first
band of patriots, ordinary men and women who refused to give up when it all
seemed so improbable; and who somehow believed that they had the power to make
the world anew. That is the spirit that we must reclaim today.”
Mr. Obama invited a few dozen guests, most of whom he had met during the course
of his presidential campaign, to join him on the symbolic last leg of his
journey to the nation’s capital.
There was the Fischer family from Beech Grove, Ind., whose home Mr. Obama
stopped by for lunch one day last spring as he sought to show his connection to
working families. There were the Girardeaus, a family from Kansas City, Mo.,
whose living room he sat in to watch his wife deliver her speech at the
Democratic convention. And there was Lilly Ledbetter, a woman for whom the Fair
Pay Act was named, after her long struggle with Goodyear to receive equal wages
with men.
“Theirs are the voices I will carry with me every day in the White House,” Mr.
Obama said. “Theirs are the stories I will be thinking of when we deliver the
changes you elected me to make.”
Jen A. Miller contributed reporting from Claymont, Del.
January 18, 2009
The New York Times
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
WASHINGTON — Joseph Burrucker, 82, was an air traffic controller with the
Tuskegee Airmen in the 1940s. For the last few weeks, he has been working out at
a gym near his home in Shaker Heights, Ohio, trying to get in shape so that when
he comes to Barack Obama’s inauguration, he will be able to walk, albeit with a
cane, to his seat.
The Tuskegee Airmen, the elite and segregated corps of black pilots and support
crew from World War II, are among the few with inaugural tickets and seats.
Their bravery during the war, on behalf of a country that actively discriminated
against them, helped persuade President Harry S. Truman to desegregate the
military; today, after being ignored for more than half a century, they are
considered civil rights pioneers.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama sparingly addressed matters of race.
But as he prepares for his swearing-in on Tuesday, his inaugural is shaping up
as a watershed event in the nation’s racial history — the culmination of the
long struggle for civil rights.
Just over a generation ago, blacks in the South could not vote without
restrictions. On Tuesday, more than 1.5 million people — among them about 200
former Tuskegee Airmen — are expected to pack the capital in honor of the
nation’s first black president.
“It is a huge civil rights moment,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson. “Barack Obama
has run the last lap of a 54-year race for civil rights.”
The inaugural program and surrounding events will feature some of the nation’s
most prominent black artists and public figures, including Tiger Woods, Colin L.
Powell, Aretha Franklin, Denzel Washington and Beyoncé Knowles.
Adding to the inauguration’s significance is that it comes just one day after
the celebration of the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., when Mr.
Obama will participate in a day of community service in the District of
Columbia, a largely black city often ignored by official Washington. Mr. Obama
has already signaled his interest in the community.
The Tuskegee Airmen make up just a piece of the inaugural tapestry. Seats were
also offered to the Little Rock Nine, who faced violent mobs when they tried to
enter an all-white school in 1957 after schools were supposed to be integrated.
“People have a sense of ownership,” said Representative John Lewis, Democrat of
Georgia, a civil rights veteran. Mr. Lewis’s office received 14,000 requests for
tickets, though he, like other members of the House, had just 193 to distribute.
“People in the rural Deep South, in Greenwood, Miss., in Selma, they feel they
helped bring this about, that they should be there.”
One of Mr. Obama’s guests, Dorothy Height, 96, will have a place of honor on the
platform — in her wheelchair. Ms. Height, a longtime social activist, was
accepted at Barnard College in 1929 but was turned away when she arrived because
the school had met its quota of two black women.
“I never thought I would live to see this,” she said of the inauguration of a
black president. “This is real recognition that civil rights was not just what
Dr. King dreamed. But it took a lot of people a lot of work to make this happen,
and they feel part of it.”
The inaugural itself will be at the Capitol, which was built by slaves who baked
the bricks, sawed the timber and laid the stone for its foundation. When Mr.
Obama delivers his Inaugural Address, he will be looking out across the National
Mall, which was once a slave market, beyond the White House, also built by
slaves, to the Lincoln Memorial, honoring the president who freed the slaves.
The outpouring is for a man who was rarely explicit about race in nearly two
years on the campaign trail. He started out quoting Dr. King by name, but as his
candidacy rolled toward the nomination, the words and cadences still reflected
Dr. King, but the name vanished.
Mr. Obama made implicit references to race, as when he won the Iowa caucuses.
“They said this day would never come,” he said in his victory speech.
It was only when confronted with controversy over his former pastor that Mr.
Obama addressed the subject directly, with a well-received speech.
Ronald Walters, a professor of government and politics at the University of
Maryland, said that many people, not just the Obama team, wanted to mute the
issue of race during the campaign.
“There was this silent understanding on the part of a lot of blacks that you
couldn’t surface things in this campaign because they would redound to the
enemies of Barack Obama and be used against him,” Mr. Walters said.
But now, he said, with Mr. Obama’s election, many African-Americans feel safer
expressing their pride. “Some African-Americans feel we can put forward our
claim on the campaign and it’s not going to hurt Barack,” he said. “The campaign
is bowing to this because this is part of what made his election possible.”
Roger Wilkins, a former journalist and history professor, said that during the
campaign, Mr. Obama “had the task of presenting himself to a country in which
it’s clear that being black was not, at least initially, a terrific asset, and
being a niche candidate, as Jackson and Sharpton were, wasn’t going to work.”
David Axelrod, a senior Obama adviser, said of the emerging civil rights aura at
the inauguration: “We have not stressed the historic nature of this, but it is
hard to miss. However people voted, whatever their background, I think there is
a pervasive sense of pride among Americans about another barrier broken. It’s an
affirmation that we live our ideals.”
Representative James E. Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who grew up under Jim
Crow laws, said he had more than 11,000 requests for his 193 tickets and he gave
most of them to people who had fought for civil rights.
Mr. Clyburn reserved tickets for a constituent, Lillian Martin, 73, who was
determined to go despite having terminal cancer and regardless of whether she
had a ticket.
Mrs. Martin died a few days ago. But her husband plans to go in her honor. In an
interview shortly before she died, Mrs. Martin said her cancer was “growing by
leaps and bounds but it can’t overtake me — there’s too much I’m looking forward
to with the inauguration of a black president.”
January 18, 2009
Filed at 10:52 p.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DANVILLE, Calif. (AP) -- US Airways (NYSE:LCC) pilot Chesley B. "Sully"
Sullenberger and his family are going to the presidential inauguration, the
mayor of his California hometown said Sunday.
Mayor Newell Arnerich said the town of Danville is also planning a welcome home
for the pilot who landed his crippled aircraft safely in the Hudson River last
Thursday.
An aide to President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday evening that all five
members of the Flight 1549 crew have been invited to the inauguration Tuesday.
The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because details were still being worked
out.
The Danville mayor said Lorraine Sullenberger told city officials that the
family would leave for the East Coast on Sunday. The pilot's wife and daughters
haven't seen Sullenberger since he's been hailed as a hero for saving the lives
of all 155 on board.
Danville has scheduled a celebration Saturday for Sullenberger. Arnerich said
the event is tentative because he is not sure when the pilot will return home.
The mayor said a U.S. Air Force Color Guard and flyover are expected.
Sullenberger was named best aviator in his class at the Air Force Academy.
------
Associated Press Writers Lou Kesten in Washington and Jason Dearen in San
Francisco contributed to this report.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
1:20 PM
Washington Post
Staff Writer
By Henry Allen
Now we get to hear Barack Obama give an inaugural address: seen from the
Mall, from bleachers, from a distant seat in a winter tree (weather permitting),
he will be another in a long history of tiny humans up there, bustling around
against the shoulder-y bulk of the Capitol.
Jumbo screens will relay images to the crowd, the way loudspeakers have relayed
sound. Images rule now, wisdom has it, and Obama has a smooth, cool, minimalist
image. But people are coming, in a way they haven't come in a while, not just to
see him but to hear him, to listen to his words. Before he's halfway through
those words, they'll be comparing his inaugural address with his victory speech
in Iowa, his acceptance speech in Denver, on and on.
Supporters talk about Barack Obama's speeches as if they were rock concerts.
Blew me away . . . I realized I was crying . . . They brag about having been in
the hall to hear them the way they might brag about having been at Woodstock
when Jimi Hendrix played "The Star-Spangled Banner" by the dawn's early light.
As much as anything else, Obama won the presidency with words.
Obama is an orator, a rare thing in a time when educated people, a lot of them
Obama supporters, have been taught to distrust old-fashioned eloquence. They
want text they can deconstruct, the verbal equivalent of spreadsheets; they say
they want candidates who talk about "the issues."
That's not what they got from Obama. As the presidential race shaped up, Sen.
John McCain saw what was happening. He warned Americans against being "deceived
by an eloquent but empty call for change." Sen. Hillary Clinton, too: In the
process of losing the nomination to Obama, she warned of "talk versus action."
As it happens, Obama can deliver deconstructible text, but in Denver, when he
did it, accepting the Democratic nomination with a speech stacked with programs,
policies, issues and specifics, he mildly disappointed those who hoped to be
enthralled yet again. They didn't want to move into a rational, deliberate
future; they wanted to stay with the ancient mojo of one human being talking to
a crowd of other human beings.
This is an age of media hipness, when we're virtuosos of data bounced off
satellites, when we get weird as wizards, talking on cellphones to electronic
ghosts constructed of bandwidths and wavelengths. But Obama has reminded us that
none of this modern science has the power of the human animal standing up on two
feet and talking -- a sort of ritual shouting, actually, even chanting: oratory,
probably not much different than the way it was done by the Old Ones in the
forest primeval. We're not used to this. People call it "preternatural."
"The crowd was quiet now, watching me," Barack Obama has written of discovering
this power in college. "Somebody started to clap. 'Go on with it, Barack,'
somebody else shouted. 'Tell it like it is.' Then the others started in,
clapping, cheering, and I knew that I had them, that the connection had been
made."
Connect. Yes, we can.
Connect with repetition, cadences, attitude, rises and falls of tone. Yes, we
can.
Obama's speech on Super Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2008: "We are the ones we've been
waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
This is poetry.
WE are the ONES we've been WAITing for.
It's ancient English metrics: WE are the CHANGE that we SEEK, a chant of
dactyls, DA-da-da, DA-da-da, as in Longfellow's "THIS is the FORest primEVal."
Rock it, Obama.
This stuff works. Franklin Roosevelt used iambs (da-DA, da-DA) that could have
been lifted from Shakespeare ("To BE or NOT to BE") at the opening of his 1933
inaugural address: "The ONly THING we HAVE to FEAR is FEAR itSELF." (Though the
crowd that day ignored the line -- later, newspapers made it the motto of the
New Deal.)
Martin Luther King: "I HAVE a DREAM that ONE day DOWN in ALaBAMa . . . "
Analysts of Obama's oratory cite the influence of African American preaching
tradition, but the influence is older, rooted like a mangrove in the swamp of
the nervous system.
"It's about the tune, not the lyrics, with Obama," says Philip Collins, who
wrote speeches for Tony Blair, the former British prime minister. In a BBC
report, Collins cites "the way he slides down some words and hits others -- the
intonation, the emphasis, the pauses and the silences."
Winston Churchill rocked it in a chant of anapests (da-da-DA): "We shall FIGHT
on the BEACHes . . . we shall FIGHT in the FIELDS . . . we shall FIGHT in the
HILLS . . . we shall NEVer surRENDer."
He knew about the ancient Greeks controlling and defending against the power of
oratory by codifying it with labels you heard once in college and forgot:
asyndeton, litotes, epistrophe. For instance, here Churchill is using the
technique of anaphora, repeating phrases at the beginning of clauses. Note, too,
that in defense of England he uses nothing but Old English words except for
"surrender," which comes from the French.
Plato defined rhetoric as "winning the soul through discourse."
Ted Sorensen, who wrote John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, said that great
oratory required "speaking from the heart, to the heart, directly, not too
complicated, relatively brief sentences, words that are clear to everyone."
Winning souls -- speaking to the heart, not the mind. It is a technology of
sorts, a tool that can be used for good or evil, but has no morality in itself.
Hitler was eloquent -- strange, though, almost no one can remember anything he
said. Eloquence should be listened to with a cool head.
Aristotle said good rhetoric should consist of pathos, logos and ethos --
emotion, argument, and character or credibility. Obama has won souls mostly with
pathos and ethos. He hasn't needed logos much because he's usually preaching to
the choir, all those shining faces full of hope. In an ugly and dangerous moment
in his campaign, however, he used logos to justify the complicated position he
had taken on the incendiary racial remarks made by his former, longtime
minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It worked for him.
Usually, he is not trying to convince people who disagree with him -- he'll face
that chore in the Oval Office. (As former New York governor Mario Cuomo has
said: "You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose.")
Here's an ethos riff from the Wright speech: "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."
In his review of "The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential
Rhetoric From George Washington to George W. Bush," John McWhorter quotes author
Elvin T. Lim: "Presidential rhetoric should articulate programs to citizens in a
manner that solicits their support only if its wisdom passes muster."
Wonderful, but America is a democracy. Legend has it that during one of Adlai
Stevenson's campaigns against Dwight Eisenhower, a supporter told him that he
was sure to "get the vote of every thinking man." Stevenson replied, "Thank you,
but I need a majority to win." Hillary Clinton went Lim's route, and lost to
Obama, who, McWhorter says, got the majority by electrifying "the electorate
with touching autobiography and comfort-food proclamations about hope and unity
-- that is, with ethos and pathos."
And there's the charisma factor in his oratory, the quality that powered
Kennedy's stunning inaugural speech in the wild winter sunlight that day in
1961: "Pay any price, bear any burden" (alliteration: "pay"/"price,"
"bear"/"burden"); "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can
do for your country" (the Greeks called this chiasmus, meaning a reversal of
terms -- "country"/"you," "you"/"country").
About a century ago, Max Weber, the sociologist, said charisma defined its
bearers as "set apart from ordinary people and treated as endowed with
supernatural, superhuman or at least specifically exceptional powers." Obama has
it now. It's impossible to believe it could fade, but it could. After 9/11,
George W. Bush seemed to have something like it for a while, speaking from a
pile of rubble in New York, striding past troops -- a moment we've mostly
forgotten.
With Obama's oratory there is also the factor of cool, which could be a
subcategory of charisma. Cool has a history of its own. Renaissance Italians
called it "sprezzatura," meaning nonchalance and effortless ease. The Yoruba
word for it is "itutu," which literally means cool -- a calm and collected
affect. It has universal appeal.
Hence Obama's demeanor at the lectern -- the face lifted as if with a casual
curiosity; utterly unneedy, like an aristocrat or a minor god; eyes narrowed
with knowing that you know he knows you know. He smothers the last syllables of
a word sometimes, casual as a teenager. He drops g's in the rustic manner to be
heard in both England and America, though he doesn't drop them as much as Sarah
Palin did in her celebrated good ol' girl run for the vice presidency. He shifts
accents -- an African American audience will bring a hint of street talk into
his voice. It's all hints, nuances, sprezzatura.
He seems at ease with power. Recent presidents have hidden their personal power,
their force, during their speeches. Maybe they were afraid of seeming like
bullies, of offending political correctness by seeming macho. George H.W. Bush
and Lyndon Johnson felt obliged to hide their aggressiveness behind forced
smiles. They were men who acted like boys in futile hopes of reassuring their
listeners. Obama has the charm of a boy acting like a man -- the magic of the
boy king. His smile -- a big one -- is easy.
There is not much to say about Obama's gestures, because gesture has largely
vanished from oratory. Aristotle said that only the words should matter, but
because of the weakness of men, the tricks of voice and gesture were necessary.
A 19th-century speech manual listed rhetorical gestures: four positions for the
feet, nine ways for the hands to show defiance, discrimination and adoration,
and so on. Old film footage shows Teddy Roosevelt storming around and waving his
fists. Huey "The Kingfish" Long would pound his fist into his hand, then circle
his hands over his shoulders as if he were making a speech about helicopters.
Gesture of this sort began to die with film and radio, which brought politicians
so close that they didn't need semaphore to reach the back of the crowd.
Franklin Roosevelt kept his hands on the lectern during his inaugural address
for another reason -- crippled by polio, he used them to hold himself up. At the
same time, huge gesticulation came to be linked with such dictatorial
crowd-rousers as Hitler and Mussolini.
Inaugural watchers are not apt to see Obama wave his hands much, except to
point. He speaks more in the style of television anchormen, with their rituals
of modesty and sincerity -- the raising of hands above the shoulders is almost
unthinkable on the nightly news.
Speeches still have gestures, but they're more subtle. Ronald Reagan knew that
in televised speeches he needed no more than a savvy eyebrow lift to make a
point. Bill Clinton had a concerned frown that claimed he was, well, concerned.
Obama has his smile, his thoughtful stare into the distance and his cool grace.
Radio, amplification and film also introduced a conversational tone into
speeches. Roosevelt used it in his fireside chats on radio. Cuomo used it to
fascinate the 1984 Democratic convention. It seems so sincere, so authentic. But
the conversational tone is a trick in itself. Obama uses it to gain intimacy and
trust, and to set off, by contrast, his higher-volume calls for belief and
support. The sound and sight of a human being calling loudly to us still has
force, maybe as much as it ever did.
Now Obama is working the magic that we thought was part of the past. How
enthralling. Feels so good. We might do well to study the architecture of Greek
rhetoric, so we know what's happening to us. Just because eloquence feels good
doesn't mean it is good. In any case, we'll hear more of it. And cameras panning
the crowd on the Mall will show shining faces. If all goes as expected,
listeners waiting for hours in the winter weather, waiting for words from that
tiny figure at the lectern, will be enthralled.
January 17, 2009
The New York Times
By MEGAN THEE-BRENAN
President Bush prepares to leave office with no evidence that public opinion
toward him is softening during his final days in power, according to the latest
New York Times/CBS News poll.
When asked about Mr. Bush’s performance over the last eight years, 22 percent of
respondents said they approved. That matched Mr. Bush’s job-approval rating for
much of last fall, the lowest of his presidency. In the current poll, 73 percent
disapproved of his performance over the course of his two terms.
Disapproval cut across party lines, with Democrats, independents and even 34
percent of Republicans critical of Mr. Bush’s performance.
In contrast, Mr. Bush’s most recent predecessors left office with approval
ratings ranging from 68 percent, for both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, to 44
percent, for Jimmy Carter. Mr. Bush’s father left with 54 percent.
When asked to assess Mr. Bush’s presidency more precisely, just 17 percent of
those surveyed rated it very good or good, while 83 percent said it had been
average or poor. Fifty-nine percent of Americans regarded Mr. Clinton’s
presidency as very good or good when he left office, and 40 percent viewed the
presidency of the elder Mr. Bush the same way.
The public’s assessment of the president’s handling of both the economy and the
war in Iraq was markedly negative. Seventy-seven percent disapproved of Mr.
Bush’s management of the economy, and 71 percent faulted his handling of the
war.
In surveys that began with Gallup polling in the administration of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Mr. Bush has the distinction of being the president with both the
highest and lowest approval ratings. The highest, 90 percent, was recorded
shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The campaign against terrorism is one area in which he continues to win a
measure of support from the public, with 47 percent approving of his handling of
the issue and 48 percent disapproving. Republicans were particularly supportive
of him on the subject of terrorism: 87 percent approved of his administration’s
actions to fight it.
Still, not only do Americans disapprove of the overall job Mr. Bush has done,
but record numbers also have an unfavorable opinion of him personally. Six in 10
of those surveyed said they viewed him negatively, while about one-quarter
viewed him favorably.
Americans’ historically negative assessment of the administration is not limited
to the president. Vice President Dick Cheney’s favorability rating in the new
poll is 13 percent, the lowest of his time in office.
The nationwide telephone poll was conducted from Sunday through Thursday with
1,112 adults, and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three
percentage points. Complete results and methodology are at nytimes.com/polls.
January 16, 2009
Filed at 12:52 p.m. ET
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President George W. Bush said Friday that while the
current economic crisis has sent shock waves around the world, he believes steps
taken by his administration have ''laid the groundwork for a return to economic
growth and job creation'' early in the administration of President-elect Barack
Obama.
''The American economy has consistently proven its strength and resilience''
Bush wrote in his final economic report to the nation.
He said this resilience has continued despite multiple blows to the economy.
Bush's statement came at the beginning of the annual report of the White House
Council of Economic Advisers.
Those advisers predicted ''a strong economic recovery early in the term of the
next administration.''
Bush said that a combination of factors rose to ''threaten the entire financial
system and generated a shock so large that its effects have been felt throughout
the global economy.''
''Under ordinary circumstances, it would be preferable to allow the free market
to take its course and correct over time,'' he said. But, Bush added, the
potential financial damage to households and businesses was so severe that
''unprecedented government response was the only responsible policy option.''
''A measure of stability has returned to the financial system,'' Bush said.
He warned that ''temporary government programs'' established to deal with the
crisis ''must remain temporary and be unwound in an orderly manner as soon as
conditions warrant.''
In the underlying economic report, Bush's economic advisers said that while the
economy had in fact proven itself '' remarkably resilient'' over Bush's two-term
presidency, there is a ''risk that recent events may overshadow the many
positive developments of the past eight years.''
The advisers suggested that the economic downturn, reflected in the
half-percentage-point contraction in the gross domestic product in the final
quarter of 2008, will likely continue in the first half of 2009. The White House
panel noted that ''most market forecasts'' suggested a recovery beginning in the
second half of 2009 ''that will gain momentum in 2010 and beyond.''
Looking ahead, the president's economic advisers said the global financial
crisis presents several remaining challenges for the U.S. government: the need
to modernize financial regulation, unwind temporary programs, and develop a
long-term solution for dealing with mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,
now essentially under control of the government.
And Bush's advisers didn't miss an opportunity to put in a final political plug
for the president's unfinished agenda, just five days before he leaves office.
''There remains considerable opportunity to strengthen our economic position by
eliminating the uncertainty surrounding tax relief that is scheduled to
expire.''
It was a pitch to make permanent the Bush tax cuts that expire at the end of
next year.
January 16, 2009
The New York Times
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he
would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration. “I
don’t believe that anybody is above the law,” he responded, but “we need to look
forward as opposed to looking backwards.”
I’m sorry, but if we don’t have an inquest into what happened during the Bush
years — and nearly everyone has taken Mr. Obama’s remarks to mean that we won’t
— this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they
don’t face any consequences if they abuse their power.
Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here. It’s not just torture and illegal
wiretapping, whose perpetrators claim, however implausibly, that they were
patriots acting to defend the nation’s security. The fact is that the Bush
administration’s abuses extended from environmental policy to voting rights. And
most of the abuses involved using the power of government to reward political
friends and punish political enemies.
At the Justice Department, for example, political appointees illegally reserved
nonpolitical positions for “right-thinking Americans” — their term, not mine —
and there’s strong evidence that officials used their positions both to
undermine the protection of minority voting rights and to persecute Democratic
politicians.
The hiring process at Justice echoed the hiring process during the occupation of
Iraq — an occupation whose success was supposedly essential to national security
— in which applicants were judged by their politics, their personal loyalty to
President Bush and, according to some reports, by their views on Roe v. Wade,
rather than by their ability to do the job.
Speaking of Iraq, let’s also not forget that country’s failed reconstruction:
the Bush administration handed billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to
politically connected companies, companies that then failed to deliver. And why
should they have bothered to do their jobs? Any government official who tried to
enforce accountability on, say, Halliburton quickly found his or her career
derailed.
There’s much, much more. By my count, at least six important government agencies
experienced major scandals over the past eight years — in most cases, scandals
that were never properly investigated. And then there was the biggest scandal of
all: Does anyone seriously doubt that the Bush administration deliberately
misled the nation into invading Iraq?
Why, then, shouldn’t we have an official inquiry into abuses during the Bush
years?
One answer you hear is that pursuing the truth would be divisive, that it would
exacerbate partisanship. But if partisanship is so terrible, shouldn’t there be
some penalty for the Bush administration’s politicization of every aspect of
government?
Alternatively, we’re told that we don’t have to dwell on past abuses, because we
won’t repeat them. But no important figure in the Bush administration, or among
that administration’s political allies, has expressed remorse for breaking the
law. What makes anyone think that they or their political heirs won’t do it all
over again, given the chance?
In fact, we’ve already seen this movie. During the Reagan years, the Iran-contra
conspirators violated the Constitution in the name of national security. But the
first President Bush pardoned the major malefactors, and when the White House
finally changed hands the political and media establishment gave Bill Clinton
the same advice it’s giving Mr. Obama: let sleeping scandals lie. Sure enough,
the second Bush administration picked up right where the Iran-contra
conspirators left off — which isn’t too surprising when you bear in mind that
Mr. Bush actually hired some of those conspirators.
Now, it’s true that a serious investigation of Bush-era abuses would make
Washington an uncomfortable place, both for those who abused power and those who
acted as their enablers or apologists. And these people have a lot of friends.
But the price of protecting their comfort would be high: If we whitewash the
abuses of the past eight years, we’ll guarantee that they will happen again.
Meanwhile, about Mr. Obama: while it’s probably in his short-term political
interests to forgive and forget, next week he’s going to swear to “preserve,
protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s not a
conditional oath to be honored only when it’s convenient.
And to protect and defend the Constitution, a president must do more than obey
the Constitution himself; he must hold those who violate the Constitution
accountable. So Mr. Obama should reconsider his apparent decision to let the
previous administration get away with crime. Consequences aside, that’s not a
decision he has the right to make.
Every day after school about 65 children come to our center to get help with
their homework. The place is always vibrant, but on Nov. 5, 2008, the 20 tutors
in the room essentially played zone defense to keep things in order. For the
students, the election of Barack Obama had overturned their world.
The children had been interested in the election all year but few of them, truth
be told, really thought Mr. Obama would be elected. When he won, their talk
quickly and excitedly turned to what would happen next.
We decided to channel this energy into a writing assignment. We asked our
students — not just those in San Francisco, but ones in Ann Arbor, Mich.;
Boston; Chicago; Los Angeles; New York; and Seattle — to offer their thoughts,
hopes and advice to Mr. Obama in handwritten letters (many of which came with
drawings). Here is the result of their work; some letters have been edited for
space.
•
Dear Sir Obama,
These are the first 10 things you should do as president:
1. Make everyone read books.
2. Don’t let teachers give kids hard homework.
3. Make a law where kids only get one page of homework per week.
4. Kids can go visit you whenever they want.
5. Make volunteer tutors get paid.
6. Let the tutors do all the thinking.
7. Make universities free.
8. Make students get extra credit for everything.
9. Give teachers raises.
10. If No. 4 is approved, let kids visit the Oval Office, but don’t make it
boring.
— Mireya Perez, age 8, San Francisco
•
Dear Obama,
If I were president I would have fun, because I could run fast.
— Kenja Zelaya, age 6, Los Angeles
•
Dear President/Mr. Obama,
The best thing about living in the White House would be running around like a
maniac. The thing I would like least is the work.
— Holly Wong, age 9, San Francisco
•
Dear President Obama,
I am small, quiet, smart. I love to swim and play basketball. My mom and dad are
from the Dominican Republic. I am going to the Dominican Republic next year. I
think you should try to change the world by building shelters for the people who
live in the streets. It’s the beginning of January, and it’s cold. Good luck
being the president.
— Pamela Mejia, age 11, Boston
•
Dear President Obama,
Here is a list of the first 10 things you should do as president:
1. Fly to the White House in a helicopter.
2. Walk in.
3. Wipe feet.
4. Walk to the Oval Office.
5. Sit down in a chair.
6. Put hand-sanitizer on hands.
7. Enjoy moment.
8. Get up.
9. Get in car.
10. Go to the dog pound.
— Chandler Browne, age 12, Chicago
•
Dear President Obama,
If I were president, I would tell people to not talk too much. It wastes time.
I’d also say to war: no more, no more, no more!
— Catherine Galvan, age 6, Chicago
•
Dear Obama,
I have grown up with a very liberal mom and a very conservative dad. Thank you
for bringing my parents somewhat closer together. :) You are my idol Mr. Barack
— I am partly African-American and I am very happy to see an African-American
leading this country.
— Olivia Roper-Caldbeck, age 12, Seattle
•
Dear Pres. Obama,
Good job on winning. I heard about Area 51. I wanted to ask you if there are any
U.F.O.’s there. I think that you should tell people in public the truth about
Area 51. You would just maybe say, “That we will take care of it.” And do it.
— Edwin Jara, age 9, New York
Dear President Obama,
Could you help my family to get housecleaning jobs? I hope you will be a great
president. If I were president, I would help all nations, even Hawaii. President
Obama, I think you could help the world.
— Chad Timsing, age 9, Los Angeles
Jory John, program director at 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring
center, is the editor of the forthcoming “Thanks and Have Fun Running the
Country: A Collection of Kids’ Letters to President Obama,” from which some of
these letters are drawn.
13 January 2009
USA Today
By Richard Wolf and Susan Page
WASHINGTON — President Bush has three words for Barack Obama to describe the
biggest challenge facing America as they prepare to transfer power: "an enemy
attack."
Bush, who plans to deliver an earnest yet optimistic farewell address
Thursday night from the White House, told USA TODAY that Americans' ability to
resume normal lives in the seven years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
"does not diminish the threat that we face."
In one of his last interviews before leaving office, Bush cited as necessary all
the tools used by his administration to fight terrorism, such as tough CIA
interrogation techniques and the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for terror
suspects. Obama has vowed to end torture and close the prison in Cuba.
"The biggest challenge is to protect the American people. And he'll find that
that's a big challenge," Bush said Tuesday. "When you walk in this office as the
newly sworn-in president … a responsibility just kind of envelops you."
Bush will cite the challenges that lie ahead in Thursday's address. He outlined
several foreign and domestic challenges in the interview:
• Iran's nuclear program, the need for a Palestinian state in the Middle East,
terrorism in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, and drug wars in Mexico.
Bush wouldn't comment on details in The New York Times that he denied Israel
bunker-busting bombs to attack Iran's main nuclear complex. "It just amazes me
that people feel comfortable talking to the media about covert operations and/or
presumed conversations," he said.
• The soaring costs of Medicare and Social Security. He called congressional
proposals for a commission that would force up-or-down votes on solutions in
Congress "an interesting idea."
• Stopping Congress from blocking Treasury Department access to the second $350
billion in financial industry rescue funds. Bush would not second-guess Obama's
plan to spread the money to homeowners facing foreclosure. "He's going to have
to decide how best to use resources to solve problems," the president said.
Obama’s Plan to Close Prison at Guantánamo May Take Year
January 13, 2009
The New York Times
By WILLIAM GLABERSON and HELENE COOPER
President-elect Barack Obama plans to issue an executive order on his first
full day in office directing the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in
Cuba, people briefed by Obama transition officials said Monday.
But experts say it is likely to take many months, perhaps as long as a year, to
empty the prison that has drawn international criticism since it received its
first prisoners seven years ago this week. One transition official said the new
administration expected that it would take several months to transfer some of
the remaining 248 prisoners to other countries, decide how to try suspects and
deal with the many other legal challenges posed by closing the camp.
People who have discussed the issues with transition officials in recent weeks
said it appeared that the broad outlines of plans for the detention camp were
taking shape. They said transition officials appeared committed to ordering an
immediate suspension of the Bush administration’s military commissions system
for trying detainees.
In addition, people who have conferred with transition officials said the
incoming administration appeared to have rejected a proposal to seek a new law
authorizing indefinite detention inside the United States. The Bush
administration has insisted that such a measure is necessary to close the
Guantánamo camp and bring some detainees to the United States.
Mr. Obama has repeatedly said he wants to close the camp. But in an interview on
Sunday on ABC, he indicated that the process could take time, saying, “It is
more difficult than I think a lot of people realize.” Closing it within the
first 100 days of his administration, he said, would be “a challenge.”
The president-elect drew criticism from some human rights groups Monday who said
his remarks suggested that closing Guantánamo was not among the new
administration’s highest priorities. But even if the detention camp remains open
for months, the decision to address Guantánamo on the day after his inauguration
seemed intended to make a symbolic break with some of the most controversial
policies of the Bush administration.
Several national security and legal analysts have argued in recent weeks that
Mr. Obama is in a delicate political position after having committed himself to
closing the prison. Sarah Mendelson, the author of a report for the Center for
Strategic and International Studies on how to close the prison, said Mr. Obama’s
remarks on Sunday appeared intended to indicate the difficulty of the task,
which she said it could take a year to complete.
“I thought he was trying to manage expectations of how quickly those detainees
who remain can be sorted into two categories: those who will be released and
those who will be prosecuted,” Ms. Mendelson said.
Aside from analyzing intelligence and legal filings on each of the remaining
detainees, diplomats and legal experts have said the new administration will
need to begin an extensive new international effort to resettle as many as 150
or more of the remaining men. Portugal and other European countries have
recently broken a long diplomatic standoff, saying they would work with the new
administration and might accept some detainees who cannot be sent to their home
countries because of concerns about their potential treatment.
The transition official, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized
to discuss the plans, said the administration expected to announce its
Guantánamo plans next Wednesday.
Brooke Anderson, a transition spokeswoman, declined to comment on any plans,
saying only, “President-elect Obama has repeatedly said that he believes that
the legal framework at Guantánamo has failed to successfully and swiftly
prosecute terrorists, and he shares the broad bipartisan belief that Guantánamo
should be closed.”
In formulating their policy in recent weeks, Obama transition officials have
consulted with a variety of authorities on legal and human rights and with
military experts. Several of those experts said the officials had expressed
great interest in alternatives to the military commission system, like trying
detainees in federal courts, and appeared to have grown hostile to proposals
like an indefinite detention law.
They also said the transition officials were intensely focused on new
international efforts to transfer many of the detainees to other countries.
Several said the officials appeared concerned that a proposal for a new law
authorizing indefinite detention would bring the new administration much of the
criticism that has been directed at the Bush administration over Guantánamo. A
former military official who was part of a series of briefings at the transition
headquarters in Washington said the officials had spoken about the indefinite
detention proposal as a way of creating a “new Guantanámo someplace else.”
“That is very much not the desire of the Obama team,” said the former military
official, who insisted on anonymity because of his concerns about how the
transition officials would react to public discussion of their comments.
Catherine Powell, an associate professor of law at Fordham, said transition
officials appeared most interested at a meeting last month in showing
international critics that they were returning to what they see as traditional
American legal values.
“They are really looking for tools that we have in our existing system short of
creating an indefinite detention system,” Ms. Powell said.
Mark P. Denbeaux, a Seton Hall law professor who has been a prominent lawyer for
Guantánamo detainees, said that at a briefing he attended with senior officials
of the transition last month the officials seemed to have decided to suspend the
military commissions immediately.
“Their position is they’re a complete and utter failure,” Mr. Denbeaux said.
The Pentagon has been pressing ahead with plans to begin a trial on Jan. 26 of
one of its high-profile suspects, a Canadian detainee named Omar Khadr. Mr.
Khadr’s case has drawn wide attention, partly because he was 15 when he was
first detained on charges of killing an American soldier in a firefight in
Afghanistan in 2002.
Some human rights groups said Monday that they were alarmed by Mr. Obama’s vague
timetable and lack of specifics in his remarks Sunday. They said they worried
that the administration might yield to pressure to display its toughness in
dealing with terrorism in its detention policies.
“The devil is in the details,” said Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of
the American Civil Liberties Union, who has been pressing the new administration
to publicly commit to immediately close Guantánamo.
Mr. Romero said he had grown concerned because transition officials had provided
details of their plans for dealing with the economic crisis, but had yet to
provide details for how they will close Guantánamo, which has brought worldwide
criticism.
“Just like we need specifics on an economic recovery package,” Mr. Romero said,
“we need specifics on a ‘justice recovery package.’ ”
At Obama’s Urging, Bush to Seek Rest of Bailout Funds
January 13, 2009
The New York Times
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday said that President Bush, at the
urging of President-elect Barack Obama, would formally ask a reluctant Congress
to release the second half of the Treasury’s $700 billion financial system
bailout fund, setting the stage for a potentially messy legislative battle
straddling the incoming and outgoing administrations.
“This morning, President-elect Obama asked President Bush to formally notify
Congress, on his behalf, of his intent to exercise the authority under the
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to access the last tranche of $350 billion
in funding for Treasury programs addressing the financial crisis,” Dana Perino,
the White House press secretary, said in a statement. “President Bush agree to
the president-elect’s request.”
The decision to request the money now reflects the calculation by Mr. Obama and
his aides that it would be better to have both the incoming and outgoing
presidents urging lawmakers to release the money, given the high level of anger
and frustration on Capitol Hill over how the Bush administration has managed the
bailout program.
In addition, Lawrence H. Summers, who will be Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser
at the White House, released a three-page letter on Monday addressed to the top
Congressional leaders of both parties, asking for the authority to release the
rest of the rescue plan. “With the first half of the rescue plan now committed,”
Mr. Summers wrote, “President-elect Obama believes the need is imminent and
urgent. We cannot afford to wait.”
Mr. Bush’s request is certain to spark furious debate in Congress and could lead
to an unpredictable series of events. Under the bailout law approved in October,
the House and Senate could vote to block the money. If they do so, the president
could veto that disapproval, setting up a potential override vote.
But if Congress disapproves, it is not clear who will be president and in a
position to issue the veto. And even if Mr. Bush vetoed the disapproval, it
would almost certainly fall to Mr. Obama to fight against a veto override.
Congressional leaders said they expect the Senate, which seems more likely to
approve the money, to vote by the end of this week. If either chamber in
Congress approves the funds, the money will flow.
Even lawmakers who say they could be convinced to release the money are
demanding written assurances from Mr. Obama that his administration will impose
new oversight and controls on how the money is spent.
Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts and chairman of the House
Financial Services Committee, has drafted legislation that would impose those
controls and would also require at least $40 billion of the new money to be used
for home foreclosure prevention efforts. The House is expected to vote to
approve the bill this week.
Aides to Mr. Obama have already begun lobbying lawmakers to release the money.
But some, including the House minority leader, Representative John A. Boehner of
Ohio, have already said that will try to block more money for the bailout.
Mr. Bush’s request comes as Mr. Obama and his team are also moving aggressively
to hash out the details of a nearly $800 billion economic recovery plan.
Securing the remaining $350 billion now would put the money in place for use by
the new administration shortly after Mr. Obama is inaugurated, and it would
spare him a potentially messy legislative fight that could interfere with his
agenda.
The first $350 billion in bailout money has been fully allocated and the
Treasury says there is no urgent need for more, though officials have warned
that further steps are likely to be needed to stabilize the financial system.
It remains unclear if there is a need to rush to release the money, or if the
Obama transition team is just seeking to avoid what could become a major
headache.
Mr. Boehner of Ohio, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he
would oppose disbursing the money because there was no justification for doing
so now.
“I think until there is a demonstrated need in our economy and a plan to address
that need, I think it would be irresponsible of Congress to release the
additional money,” Mr. Boehner said.
Mr. Bush’s request is expected to be accompanied by a forceful effort by Mr.
Obama’s team to persuade lawmakers that the new administration will make better
use of the bailout money, including new home foreclosure prevention efforts and
restrictions on banks that get aid.
Mr. Summers made the case for the bailout funds on Sunday in a meeting with
Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill. Though the meeting focused primarily on tax
provisions of the economic recovery plan, Mr. Summers also argued that the new
administration should have the bailout money on hand.
“They need it,” Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said after the
meeting. “Larry Summers made a very strong argument for why it’s important and
critical to the overall recovery, and that’s an argument most of us understand.”
But Mr. Kerry said lawmakers were awaiting assurances from Mr. Obama and his
aides on how the money would be used. “How about a legitimate accountability
structure for what’s going to happen going forward?” he said. “And also there is
a lot of interest up here in finding out what happened to the 350 that has
already been spent.”
Officials said Mr. Bush was also willing to help try to persuade Congress to
approve the money, but it was unclear what influence he would have with just
days remaining in his term.
Many lawmakers who say they may be willing to release the money are still
demanding tough new conditions on its use. Mr. Frank’s bill would require the
new administration to develop a plan by March 15 to use at least $40 billion of
the $350 billion to prevent home foreclosures.
The bill also seeks to require greater transparency and accountability,
including quarterly reports from financial institutions that receive help to
document how the bailout money is being used. It would also impose tougher
limits on executive pay.
Some Congressional leaders said there did not seem to be enough time to approve
new legislation if the bailout money is to be in place by the time Mr. Obama
takes office. Others said Congress bore some responsibility for rushing the
bailout legislation in the fall and not including sufficient safeguards.
Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, said there had been
discussion of a formal letter, to be written by Mr. Obama or his aides, to
Congress describing their plan for the additional $350 billion and promising
safeguards. But he acknowledged that without new legislation there would be
nothing to guarantee that those plans would be followed.
Lawmakers are angry about many aspects of the bailout, which they intended for
the government purchase of troubled assets, particularly mortgage-backed
securities, but instead has been used to recapitalize banks and even prop up
failing Detroit automakers.
An oversight board recently issued a scathing report saying the Treasury had
failed to track the money adequately.
Timothy F. Geithner, Mr. Obama’s nominee for Treasury secretary, has been
working to restructure the bailout program. Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of
North Dakota, said lawmakers would need assurances of the new administration’s
plans.
“It has got to be in writing,” Mr. Conrad said.
Mr. Dodd said, “The Obama administration wants to rebrand this process; they
realize it has been terribly mismanaged.” He added, “But they also make the
strong point that they need these resources to do that.”
Senate Democrats met with Mr. Summers, primarily about the larger economic
recovery package, after a rare Sunday session, in which they voted to take up
consideration of a package of public lands bills.
It was the first weekend of the new Congress, and Senate Democratic leaders
insisted on a Sunday vote to signal that with their expanded majority they had
less patience for efforts by Republicans to block their agenda.
Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, had sought to stall the public lands
package because he said it included billions of dollars in wasteful spending. In
the end, the Senate voted 66 to 12 to take up the bill.
The meeting with Mr. Summers was the second between Senate Democrats and the
Obama team about the details of the recovery package. At a meeting on Thursday,
several senators criticized some of the tax provisions in the plan and said they
wanted a greater focus on job creation.
After the meeting, several senators praised Mr. Summers and said their concerns
were being addressed.
At Final News Conference, Bush Strikes Elegiac Tone
January 13, 2009
The New York Times
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
WASHINGTON — In the final official news conference of his tenure, a
sentimental and sometimes defiant President Bush indicated on Monday that he
would ask Congress for the second half of the $700 billion financial bailout
only if asked to do so by his successor, and he declined to say whether he was
planning preemptive pardons for some members of his administration.
He suggested that the new Congress and the new president would most likely be
dealing with the bailout question. “I don’t intend to make the request unless he
specifically asks me to make it,” Mr. Bush said, speaking of President-elect
Barack Obama.
When asked about speculation that, before stepping down on Jan. 20, he might
move to protect officials in his administration who might be vulnerable to
criminal charges for their roles in detainee treatment, dismissal of U.S.
attorneys, or other matters by giving them presidential pardons, he simply
declined to say.
The tone of the 45-minute session in the White House Briefing Room, which was
often emotional, was in some ways just as striking as any news made by a
president who, after eight years in office, after terror attacks and two wars,
after devastating hurricanes and tough legislative battles, had reached his
final 200 hours in office and was mulling the lessons he had learned, and that
history would be drawing.
Mr. Bush opened by thanking the press corps for what he said were its
professional efforts, even if they did not always please him — and engaged in
the usual teasing interplay with reporters. But he also responded more candidly
than before in acknwoledging errors during his two terms.
He mentioned the “Mission Accomplished” banner displayed on the aircraft carrier
Abraham Lincoln where he spoke, prematurely as it turned out, when the Iraq war
seemed won. “It sent the wrong message,” he said. “Obviously some of my rhetoric
has been a mistake.”
“Abu Ghraib was a huge disappointment,” Mr. Bush said, referring to the detainee
abuse scandal in Iraq that proved deeply damaging to the American image there
and around the world. “Not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant
disappointment.”
He did not say he had agonized, but did say he had thought and rethought over
whether he should have touched flown in New Orleans or Baton Rouge in the days
immediately after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf coast, rather than
viewing the area only from the air. But he said he was concerned that a
presidential visit on the ground would distract from the rescue and relief
efforts, which he said were successful by many standards, such as by rescuing
30,000 people stranded on rooftops.
In what some have called his “legacy tour,” the president has been increasingly
available in recent weeks to talk about his record, clearly seeking to soften
the edges of history’s interpretation. But he insisted on Monday that he felt
comfortable about its eventual verdict.
“I think historians will look back and they’ll be able to have a better look at
mistakes after time has passed,” Mr. Bush said. “There is no such thing as
short-term history.”
He became prickly at times, notably when he was asked whether the new president
would have work to do in restoring damaged American moral standing in the world.
“I strongly disagree with the assessment that our moral standing has been
damaged,” he said, though he allowed that that might be the case among some
elites, particularly in Europe. People he had met in Africa, India and China did
not share that judgment, he said.
While it might have increased his own popularity had he accepted the Kyoto
treaty on global warming, or supported American membership in the International
Criminal Court, he said that in each case he was looking for practical ways to
protect American interests and Americans’ safety. “All these debates will matter
not if there’s another attack on the homeland,” he said.
He was warm and supportive in his comments about the next president, and said it
would be “an amazing moment” when Mr. Obama was sworn in as the first African
American president.
The president was also asked about his own future.
He said he would not be sitting on his hands, but did intend to stay out of Mr.
Obama’s way.
“I can’t envision myself in a big straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt sitting on a
beach somewhere,” he joked, “particularly since I quit drinking.”
January 12, 2009
Filed at 1:03 p.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- By turns wistful, aggressive and joking in the final news
conference of his presidency, President George W. Bush vigorously defended his
record Monday but also offered an extraordinary listing of his mistakes --
including his optimistic Iraq speech before a giant ''Mission Accomplished''
banner in 2003.
After starting what he called ''the ultimate exit interview'' with a lengthy and
personalized thank-you to the reporters in the room who have covered him over
the eight years of his presidency, Bush showed anger at times when presented
with some of the main criticisms of his time in office.
''I think it's a good, strong record,'' he said. ''You know, presidents can try
to avoid hard decisions and therefore avoid controversy. That's just not my
nature.''
He particularly became indignant when asked about America's bruised image
overseas.
''I disagree with this assessment that, you know, that people view America in a
dim light,'' he said. ''It may be damaged amongst some of the elite. But people
still understand America stands for freedom.''
Bush said he realizes that some issues such as the prison for suspected
terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have created controversy at home and around
the world. But he defended his actions after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, including approving tough interrogation methods for suspected
terrorists and information-gathering efforts at home in the name of protecting
the country.
With the Iraq war in its sixth year, he most aggressively defended his decisions
on that issue, which will define his presidency like no other. There have been
over 4,000 U.S. deaths since the invasion and toppling of Saddam Hussein in
2003.
But it was in that area that he also acknowledged mistakes. He said that ''not
finding weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment.'' The
accusation that Saddam had and was pursuing weapons of mass destruction was
Bush's main initial justification for going to war.
He also cited the abuses found to have been committed by members of the U.S.
military at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq as ''a huge disappointment.''
''I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not, but they were --
things didn't go according to plan, let's put it that way,'' Bush said.
And he admitted another miscalculation: Eager to report quick progress after
U.S. troops ousted Saddam's government, he declared less than two months after
the war started that ''in the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies
have prevailed,'' a claim made under a ''Mission Accomplished'' banner that
turned out to be wildly optimistic. ''Clearly, putting `Mission Accomplished' on
an aircraft carrier was a mistake,'' he said Monday. ''It sent the wrong
message.''
He also defended his decision in 2007 to send an additional 30,000 American
troops to Iraq to knock down violence levels and stabilize life there.
''The question is, in the long run, will this democracy survive, and that's
going to be a question for future presidents,'' he said.
On another issue destined to figure prominently in his legacy, Bush said he has
''thought long and hard about Katrina -- you know could I have done something
differently, like land Air Force One either in New Orleans or Baton Rouge.''
Bush was criticized for flying over the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina
in 2005, and waiting until four days after it hit to visit the scene.
But he also said he disagrees with those who say the federal response to the
storm was slow.
''Don't tell me the federal response was slow when there were 30,000 people
pulled off roofs right after the storm passed. ... Could things been done
better? Absolutely. But when I hear people say the federal response was slow,
what are they going to say to those chopper drivers or the 30,000 who got pulled
off the roof?'' he said.
He also defended his record on Mideast peace.
A bruising offensive by Israel in the Gaza Strip has dashed any slight hopes for
an accord soon that produces a Palestinian state. But Bush, asked why peace
hasn't been achieved, said his administration had made progress. He said he had
laid out the vision for ''what peace would look like'' and got all sides to
agree on a two-state solution to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
''It's been a long time since they've had peace in the Middle East,'' he said.
''The challenge, of course, has been to lay out the conditions so that a
peaceful state can emerge. ... Will this ever happen? I think it will. And I
know we've advanced the process.''
He called President-elect Barack Obama ''a very smart, engaging person'' and
said he wishes his successor all the best. He hinted at the enormous
responsibility Obama is about to assume, describing what it might feel like on
Jan. 20 when, after taking the oath of office, he enters the Oval Office for the
first time as president.
''There'll be a moment when the responsibility of the president lands squarely
on his shoulders,'' Bush said.
He gave his view of the most urgent threat facing the incoming president: an
attack on the United States. He chose that risk over the dire economic problems
now facing the nation.
''I wish that I could report that's not the case, but there's still an enemy out
there that would like to inflict damage on America -- on Americans.''
He said he would ask Congress to release the remaining $350 billion in Wall
Street bailout money if Obama so desires. But, he said, Obama hadn't made that
request of him yet.
That soon changed. Shortly after the news conference, the White House said Obama
had asked for the request and Bush had agreed to make it.
That will take at least one burden off Obama's shoulders involving a program
that is extraordinarily unpopular with many lawmakers and much of the public.
The last news conference of Bush's presidency lasted 46 minutes, and he took
questions from more than a dozen reporters.
The last previous time the president had taken questions in a public setting was
Dec. 14 in Baghdad, a session that hurtled to the top of the news when Iraqi
journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi threw his shoes at Bush during a
question-and-answer session with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Bush's last previous full-blown news conference was July 15. He refused to hold
another during the final months of last year's presidential campaign, concerned
that the questions would be mostly related to political events and determined to
stay out of GOP nominee John McCain's spotlight as much as possible. But even
though aides had suggested that would change after the election, Bush still
declined to participate in a wide-ranging question-and-answer session until now,
just eight days before leaving office.
He has been granting a flurry of legacy-focused interviews as he seeks to shape
the view of his presidency on his way out the door.
He gave advice to both his Republican Party and his Democratic successor.
To the GOP, he said it must be ''compassionate and broad-minded'' to come back
from the drubbing it received in last year's elections, in which Republicans
lost the White House and sank deeper into the minority in Congress. He said the
immigration debate of two years ago was harmful, because conservative opposition
to broad reform made it appear that ''Republicans don't like immigrants.''
''This party will come back. But the party's message has got to be that
different points of view are included in the party,'' he said.
Bush cautioned Obama not to listen to too much criticism -- including from
''your so-called friends'' -- and to focus on doing what he thinks is right. He
also said to ignore talk of the isolation of the office.
''I have never felt isolated, and I don't think he will,'' Bush said. ''One
reason he won't feel isolated is that he's got a fabulous family and he cares a
lot about his family.''
He went on to mock the way some describe the job.
''I believe the phrase 'burdens of the office' is overstated,'' he said. ''You
know, it's kind of like, `Why me? Oh, the burdens, you know. Why did the
financial collapse have to happen on my watch?' It's just pathetic, isn't it,
self-pity? And I don't believe that President-elect Obama will be full of
self-pity.''
Bush seemed to struggle to envision himself on Jan. 21, his first day back at
home and without a job.
''I'm a Type A personality. I just can't envision myself, you know, the big
straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt sitting on some beach,'' he said. But, he added,
it would probably be a pretty low-key day with him and his wife, Laura, at his
ranch in Texas. ''I wake up in Crawford on Tuesday morning -- I mean, Wednesday
morning, and I suspect I'll make Laura coffee and, you know, go get it for
her.''
Try this on a globe sometime, or Google Earth: Looking head-on at the planet,
spin it until Hawaii is a little north and east of center. What you’ll see —
besides the barest fringes of America and Asia up there, New Guinea and New
Zealand down there, and lots of island dots — is all blue.
This is the vast stage on which President Bush is trying to salvage his
environmental legacy.
It’s strange but true. Mr. Bush, who has been monumentally indifferent to the
health of continents and the atmosphere, is going down in history as a protector
of the oceans.
On Tuesday, he designated three huge areas of the western Pacific as national
monuments, declaring that their fish, birds, reefs and other marine life were
more important than commercial fishing, drilling and mineral extraction. The
protected waters encircle the Northern Mariana Islands (including the Mariana
Trench, the deepest canyon on Earth) and parts of a sprawling collection of
reefs and atolls known as the Line Islands.
They are a dazzling world of undersea volcanoes, pristine reefs, endangered
seals, turtles and whales and intact food chains ruled by sharks.
In protecting nearly 200,000 square miles of ocean, an area far bigger than
California, Mr. Bush has outdone his decision in 2006 to set aside 140,000
square miles in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.
That created a single monument larger than all the country’s national parks
combined. If you judge the actions of presidential conservationists solely by
the sheer size of planetary surface they protected during their time in office,
Mr. Bush would outdo even Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt.
This record, though, has enormous asterisks:
*The new monuments are not nearly as big as they could have been. Mr. Bush could
have set their boundaries anywhere from 3 miles from the shores of the
territories they encircle to the full 200 miles under United States
jurisdiction. He chose 50 miles, excluding huge expanses of deep ocean.
*The protections could have been more stringent. They don’t rule out
recreational fishing, for example, and do not include waters above the Mariana
Trench.
*Big as they are, the monuments are not nearly enough to offset eight years of
Mr. Bush’s bad environmental policies, marked by inaction on climate change, the
sacrifice of millions of acres of public lands to oil and gas exploration, and
indifference bordering on hostility to endangered species and fragile
ecosystems.
Given that record, why did he create these new ocean monuments over the reported
objections of Vice President Dick Cheney and the Western Pacific Regional
Fishery Management Council, a notorious enabler of reckless overfishing by
commercial fleets?
We can take him at his word that it was the right thing to do, but we have to
note as well that the areas protected are staggeringly far away and not notably
prized by the corporate interests whose priorities the Bush administration has
for so long made its own.
There was no fight involved. All it took was Mr. Bush’s signature under the
Antiquities Act of 1906, which allows presidents to protect public lands by
executive order. An environmental trophy was lying on the ground, and Mr. Bush,
with just days left in his presidency, simply picked it up.
It will be up to President-elect Barack Obama to take it from here. He should
expand the monuments to the 200-mile limit and give them full protection against
fishing and other exploitation. His administration should also work to create
and expand marine protected areas closer to our shores.
But those are just the easy lifts in a huge list of environmental tasks ahead,
starting with the long-neglected fight against global warming. Melting ice caps
and ocean acidification are an urgent threat to the very fish, reefs and islands
that Mr. Bush lately has seen fit to protect.
Obama’s View on Power Over Detainees Will Be Tested Early
January 3, 2009
The New York Times
By ADAM LIPTAK
WASHINGTON — Just a month after President-elect Barack Obama takes office, he
must tell the Supreme Court where he stands on one of the most aggressive legal
claims made by the Bush administration — that the president may order the
military to seize legal residents of the United States and hold them
indefinitely without charging them with a crime.
The new administration’s brief, which is due Feb. 20, has the potential to
hearten or infuriate Mr. Obama’s supporters, many of whom are looking to him for
stark disavowals of the Bush administration’s legal positions on the detention
and interrogation of so-called enemy combatants held at Navy facilities on the
American mainland or at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
During the campaign, Mr. Obama made broad statements criticizing the Bush
administration’s assertions of executive power. But now he must address a
specific case, that of Ali al-Marri, a Qatari student who was arrested in
Peoria, Ill., in December 2001. The Bush administration says Mr. Marri is a
sleeper agent for Al Qaeda, and it is holding him without charges at the Navy
brig in Charleston, S.C. He is the only person currently held as an enemy
combatant on the mainland, but the legal principles established in his case are
likely to affect the roughly 250 prisoners at Guantánamo.
Many legal experts say that all of the new administration’s options in Mr.
Marri’s case are perilous. Intelligence officials say he is exceptionally
dangerous, making deportation problematic.
Trying him on criminal charges could be difficult, too, in part because some of
the evidence against him may have been obtained through torture and would not be
admissible.
And staying the course in the Marri case would outrage civil libertarians.
“If they adopt the Bush administration position, or some version of it,” said
Brandt Goldstein, a professor at New York Law School, “it is going to be a
moment of profound disappointment for everyone in the legal community and
Americans generally who believe that the Bush administration has tried to turn
the presidency into a monarchy.”
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Mr. Obama, Brooke Anderson, said he “will make
decisions about how to handle detainees as president when his full national
security and legal teams are in place.”
There are other significant cases on the Supreme Court’s docket — including ones
concerning indecency on the airwaves, religious displays, voting rights and the
possible pre-emption of state injury suits by federal law — but specialists say
a midcourse correction is most likely in the enemy combatant case, Al-Marri v.
Pucciarelli, No. 08-368.
Charles Fried, who was solicitor general in the Reagan administration, said such
changes should be undertaken “reluctantly and rarely” and only “for sufficient
reason in a sufficiently urgent case.”
From the new administration’s perspective, Mr. Marri’s case may meet that
standard.
A year ago, Mr. Obama answered a detailed questionnaire concerning his views on
presidential power from The Boston Globe. “I reject the Bush administration’s
claim,” Mr. Obama said, “that the president has plenary authority under the
Constitution to detain U.S. citizens without charges as unlawful enemy
combatants.”
That sounds vigorous and categorical. But applying this view to Mr. Marri’s case
is not that simple. Although he was in the United States legally, he was not an
American citizen. In addition, a 2001 Congressional authorization to use
military force arguably gave the president the authority that Mr. Obama has said
is not conferred by the Constitution alone.
Still, Andrew C. McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor who has generally
supported the Bush administration’s approach to fighting terrorism, said Mr.
Obama’s hands are tied. He cannot, Mr. McCarthy said, continue to maintain that
Mr. Marri’s detention is lawful.
“I don’t think politically for him that’s a viable option,” Mr. McCarthy said.
“Legally, it’s perfectly viable.”
There is precedent for reversing course between campaign and courthouse. When
Bill Clinton was running for president in 1992, he was vehement in his
opposition to the first Bush administration’s policy of intercepting Haitian
refugees at sea and returning them without asylum hearings.
By the time he took office, though, Mr. Clinton had changed his mind,
instructing the Justice Department to defend the policy in the Supreme Court,
which upheld it in 1993.
Mr. Obama’s supporters are hoping for a different approach, one that will ensure
that the precedents set during the Bush administration do not take root.
“The agenda for the Obama administration in dealing with the Bush
administration’s assault on the rule of law,” said Eric M. Freedman, a law
professor at Hofstra University and a member of the Marri legal team, “should be
to plow the site with both intellectual and political salt.”
In 1993, Mr. Clinton said that practical reality trumped legal theory. In the
Marri case, too, the practical alternatives to military detention may strike the
Obama administration as unpalatable.
One possibility is to deport Mr. Marri to Qatar, but Bush administration
officials say that would be an enormous mistake.
“Al-Marri must be detained,” Jeffrey N. Rapp, a defense intelligence official
wrote in a court filing in 2004, “to prevent him from aiding Al Qaeda in its
efforts to attack the United States, its armed forces, other governmental
personnel, or citizens.”
Mr. Marri’s lawyers would be delighted to see their client freed, but they are
also eager to vacate a decision of the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va.,
in July upholding the president’s authority to detain Mr. Marri subject to a
court hearing on whether he was properly designated an enemy combatant.
Jonathan Hafetz, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who represents
Mr. Marri, emphasized both points.
“If, as President-elect Obama has pledged, the rule of law in America is to be
restored,” Mr. Hafetz said, “then Mr. al-Marri’s military detention must cease
and the lower court’s ruling upholding the president’s power to order the
military to seize legal residents and American citizens from their homes and
imprison them without charge, must be overturned.”
Another alternative for the new administration is to prosecute Mr. Marri as a
criminal. But it is not clear that there is admissible evidence against him.
When Mr. Marri was arrested, in December 2001, he was charged with
garden-variety crimes: credit card fraud and, later, lying to federal agents and
financial institutions, and identity theft. But when Mr. Bush moved Mr. Marri
from the criminal system to military detention in June 2003, the government
agreed to dismiss those charges with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled.
The more serious accusations recounted in Mr. Rapp’s statement are attributed
partly to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is believed to be the chief architect of
the Sept. 11 attacks and who was captured in early 2003. The Central
Intelligence Agency has said Mr. Mohammed was subjected to waterboarding, and
information obtained from him may therefore not be admissible in court. Mr.
McCarthy, the former prosecutor, said he hoped the new administration is sifting
through its options with exceptional care.
“If they can’t try him in federal court and assuming he poses the severe risk
the Bush administration suggests he poses, is there some room to detain him
under the immigration system?” Mr. McCarthy asked. “If there is not a Plan B, we
have a disaster that transcends al-Marri,” he added, referring to the larger
question of what to do with the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay.
A second case concerning detainees is moving even faster than Mr. Marri’s. Last
month, the Supreme Court ordered a federal appeals court to take a fresh look at
a case brought by four former prisoners at Guantánamo Bay who say they were
tortured. Acting fast, the appeals court initially ordered briefing to be
completed by the Friday before Inauguration Day.
Depending on how you look at it, the appeals court was being exceptionally
efficient, uninterested in the new administration’s views or doing it a favor by
not forcing it to take an immediate position on whether provisions of the Bill
of Rights and a federal law guaranteeing religious freedom apply to detainees
held at Guantánamo Bay.
Eric L. Lewis, a lawyer for the former prisoners, asked the court to slow things
down, a request the Bush Justice Department opposed. But the appeals court
granted Mr. Lewis’s request on Friday, and the first filings are now due on Jan.
26 — the Monday after Inauguration Day.
This page has criticized the Bush administration’s weak performance on many
important health care matters: its failure to address the problem of millions of
uninsured Americans or stem the rising costs of health care, its refusal to
expand eligibility for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, its
devious maneuvers to cut Medicaid spending, its support of unjustified subsidies
for private health plans, to name a few.
It is only fair to note that President Bush can also lay claim to some signal
achievements in health care — achievements that we urge President-elect Barack
Obama to continue and develop further.
As we have argued in the past, Mr. Bush deserves high praise for significantly
increasing American support for the global effort to control AIDS. We were
pleased that Congress has now authorized even more money than Mr. Bush proposed:
almost $50 billion to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world over
the next five years. But there is little doubt that the president has played a
key role in providing drug treatments or supportive care to millions of patients
who would otherwise have gone untended.
It is a remarkable record for the leader of a party that had been reluctant in
the Reagan era to deal with a disease whose victims at the time in this country
were primarily gay men and injection drug users.
Equally remarkable was Mr. Bush’s decision to push through a costly new
prescription drug benefit under the Medicare program for older Americans despite
stout opposition in his party to government-run health care. It was the largest
expansion of Medicare in decades and it dragged the program, at long last, into
the modern medical era, in which drugs are a cornerstone of treatment.
We have objected to many features of the program — the refusal to allow the
government to negotiate with manufacturers for lower prices, shortfalls in
providing subsidies to low-income Americans, a failure to protect many patients
from high out-of-pocket costs. Still, it has achieved its main goal by reducing
the percentage of older Americans who lack drug coverage, from 33 percent before
the program started to only 8 percent in 2006.
Less heralded was the Bush administration’s willingness to grant Massachusetts a
Medicaid waiver to redeploy federal funds to help start a universal health
insurance program. The program took the controversial step of requiring all
citizens to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, precisely the sort of
government mandate that drives many conservatives wild. By many measures it is
off to a promising start and could become a model for other states or the
federal government.
Another substantial health achievement came in the form of bricks and mortar,
through the president’s vigorous support of community health clinics. As Kevin
Sack reported in The Times last week, Mr. Bush has doubled direct federal
financing for community health centers, enabling the expansion or creation of
almost 1,300 clinics in areas short of other medical resources. For many
residents of poor urban neighborhoods and isolated rural areas, this is the only
source of care other than possibly a costly hospital emergency room.
The program has its blemishes. It still falls far short of its goal of doubling
the number of patients served. Almost half of the country’s medically
underserved areas still lack a health center site. Many clinics are short of
staff members and do poorly at managing chronic diseases. And they typically
find it difficult or impossible to refer uninsured patients, a large part of
their clientele, to other health care providers for diagnostic tests like
mammograms and colonoscopies or visits to cardiologists and other specialists.
And Mr. Bush has done almost nothing to shore up the public insurance programs,
notably Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, that provide
the bulk of the clinics’ funding through the patients they cover.
That is another reminder that despite these solid achievements, the country
needs to do a lot more. It needs full-fledged health care reform that will
improve the quality of medical care, reduce its overall cost and provide
insurance for everyone, at affordable prices.
Bush Stance on Cease-Fire Shows Support for Israel
January 1, 2009
Filed at 4:24 a.m. ET
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- By insisting that Hamas go first in any cease-fire with
Israel, the Bush administration is sticking to its support for the Jewish
state's right of self-defense while stopping short of encouraging an Israeli
ground assault aimed at fully reoccupying the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
The Bush administration on Wednesday asserted its desire for a halt to the
fighting but also made clear its view that the first step in any cease-fire will
require Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rejects Israel's right to exist,
to agree to stop firing rockets from Gaza into Israel now and in the future.
From his ranch in Crawford, Texas, President George W. Bush telephoned Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for the first time since the conflict escalated last
weekend. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice worked the phones with other
leaders in the region.
''I think President Bush thinks that Hamas needs to stop firing rockets and that
is what will be the first step in a cease-fire,'' White House deputy press
secretary Gordon Johndroe told reporters. He said Hamas also needs to stop
smuggling weapons into Gaza -- a move that would show they don't intend to
continue to target Israel.
''So I think they're certainly on the same page on that,'' Johndroe said of Bush
and Olmert, briefing reporters on their phone call.
Israel so far has resisted mounting international pressure to suspend its
devastating air offensive in Gaza, which has enraged the Arab world. It sent
more troops and tanks to the border as signs of an impending ground invasion
multiplied.
The U.N. Security Council met Wednesday night to consider an Arab request for a
legally binding resolution that would condemn Israel and halt the attacks. But
the U.S. called a draft resolution ''unacceptable'' because it made no mention
of halting the Hamas rockets. A vote on a resolution was not expected before
Monday, Sudan's U.N. ambassador said.
Although the Bush administration has only three weeks left in office, the Gaza
crisis could look considerably different by the time President-elect Barack
Obama and his designated secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, take
office. And it is only one element of the broader challenges in the Middle East.
Two prominent Mideast analysts, Martin Indyk and Richard N. Haass, argued in an
essay published this week by the Council on Foreign Affairs and the Brookings
Institution that the Obama administration should push for a peace deal between
Israel and Syria as a way of diminishing Iran's influence in the Palestinian
territories and Lebanon.
The Israeli air offensive is a response to rockets fired by Hamas militants. At
least four Israelis have been killed, including three civilians. Gaza officials
put the death toll from the Israeli retaliatory strikes at more than 390 dead
and 1,600 wounded.
France has urged Israel to halt its operation for 48 hours, but that proposal
seemed to be overcome by events. Olmert discussed the idea with his defense and
foreign ministers, but the trio decided to pursue the aerial bombing campaign.
Calls for an immediate cease-fire that would be fully respected by Hamas and by
Israel have also come from the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations and
Russia, the group known as the Quartet.
Asked if the president was disappointed that Israel hadn't accepted or responded
to the international calls for a cease-fire, Johndroe put the onus squarely on
Hamas.
''President Bush is disappointed that Hamas continues to fire rockets onto the
innocent people of Israel,'' he said.
''I think, probably, from the prime minister's perspective, an end to the
violence first means that Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel. And then
Israel won't need to go after the rocket launchers.''
Johndroe blamed Iran and Syria for supplying weapons to Hamas and Hezbollah.
''I'm not going to get into any specifics on supplies from Iran and Syria that
we've seen over the last few days,'' he said. ''But there is no doubt that Iran
and Syria are the ones who have assisted Hamas with their weapons acquisition,
and that's a problem.''
Rice, meanwhile, continued her telephone diplomacy with officials in the region,
pressing them on the need for a ''durable and sustainable'' cease-fire.
Rice has said she plans a final diplomatic trip early next week to Beijing to
celebrate the 30th anniversary of U.S-Chinese relations. U.S. officials say
there will be other stops but have not disclosed them.
Rice spoke Wednesday with Jordanian Foreign Minister Salaheddine Al-Bashir,
their third conversation since Tuesday, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid
said. Rice spoke three times on Tuesday with the foreign minister of the United
Arab Emirates and once each with Olmert, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
and Ahmed Aboul Gheith, the foreign minister of Egypt, he said.
------
Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann in Crawford, Texas, Ibrahim Barzak and
Matti Friedman in Gaza City, Gaza, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and
Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
January 1, 2009
The New York Times
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
WASHINGTON — In December 2007, the names of about 700 federal prisoners
seeking commutations reached President Bush’s desk. He rejected all but one.
Among the disappointed petitioners was Reed R. Prior, an Iowa man serving a life
sentence for a drug conviction whose application had been pending for nearly
five years.
Last month, Mr. Prior filed a new application with the Justice Department. Not
much had changed. But this time, with help from the Iowa governor, Mr. Prior’s
lawyer secured a face-to-face meeting with the White House counsel, Fred F.
Fielding. A week later, Mr. Bush commuted Mr. Prior’s sentence.
Of the 20 felony offenders to whom Mr. Bush granted clemency on Dec. 23, most of
the attention has focused on Isaac R. Toussie, the New York real estate swindler
who had hired a lawyer with political connections and bypassed the normal review
process. A day later, the White House took the unusual step of saying it was
stopping his pardon.
But Mr. Toussie, who was represented by a former associate counsel to Mr. Bush,
was just one of at least four people who gained special access. Two others were
also represented by former associate counsels to Mr. Bush. And a White House
meeting was devoted to Mr. Prior’s case in part because his lawyer knew the wife
of Gov. Chet Culver of Iowa.
People with the wherewithal to do so have always tried to use special access to
power to win clemency. And none of Mr. Bush’s decisions have been as
controversial as President Bill Clinton’s last-minute pardon of the
fugitive-financier Marc Rich.
But over the last few presidencies, the incentive to try to go around the normal
process has increased, said P. S. Ruckman Jr., a political scientist who
specializes in clemency.
A huge backlog at the Justice Department’s pardon review office combined with
the relatively small number of clemency grants by recent presidents, Professor
Ruckman said, “encourages people to try to end-run the process — to try to
cheat, for lack of a better word, to gain access to the White House directly.”
Although the Bush administration has repeatedly said clemency-seekers should go
through the Justice Department review, a White House spokesman, Tony Fratto,
said anyone was free to send a petition directly to the White House, which “at a
minimum requires the cost of a stamp.” Mr. Fratto added that “it is immaterial
to us who delivers a petition for a pardon” because the president makes such
decisions “on the merits.”
But Professor Ruckman said that people without connections could not walk into
the White House, and that under ordinary circumstances, any letter would be
forwarded to the Justice Department, where about half a dozen lawyers had 2,172
pending cases as of Dec. 4.
Going through the Justice Department did not work for Mr. Prior, despite
widespread support. His judge said in an interview that he “fully supported” a
commutation for the 1996 conviction for methamphetamine possession with intent
to distribute. He said the sentence, required by mandatory guidelines, was
unjust in that case. The prosecutor and prominent Iowa politicians supported Mr.
Prior, too.
That was not enough the first time. So last month, when his volunteer lawyer,
Robert M. Holliday of Des Moines, filed a new application, he decided to try to
take Mr. Prior’s case directly to the White House.
Mr. Holliday happened to know Mari Culver, the wife of Iowa’s Democratic
governor. So he asked if her husband would call Mr. Fielding and request a
meeting. Mr. Culver, who supported Mr. Prior’s case, did so.
Mr. Holliday and other supporters of Mr. Prior met with Mr. Fielding on Dec. 17.
They persuaded him to recommend granting the commutation.
Mr. Fratto declined to make Mr. Fielding available. But he said Mr. Fielding had
met with other clemency advocates, and did not always agree with them.
There were signs that the three offenders represented by former White House
lawyers might have received special treatment.
The applications for all three were filed less than a year before the pardons
were granted. Margaret Colgate Love, who was the United States pardon attorney
from 1990 to 1997, said it usually took significantly longer than that to
undergo a complete review, which includes an F.B.I. background check.
Alan S. Maiss, once president of Bally Gaming Inc., was convicted in 1995 in a
case related to a video-poker scandal in Louisiana. In seeking a pardon, Mr.
Maiss was represented by H. Christopher Bartolomucci, an associate White House
counsel from 2001 to 2003.
Mr. Maiss applied on Dec. 26, 2007, far later than most of the other pardon
recipients. A Justice Department spokeswoman, Laura Sweeney, said Mr. Maiss did
not get through quickly because of special treatment. Ms. Sweeney noted that two
others who were granted pardons in December had applied recently — in August
2007 and February 2008.
But Douglas A. Berman, a criminal law professor at Ohio State University, and a
clemency consultant, said “there’s no doubt” that Mr. Maiss had received
fast-track treatment.
Mr. Bartolomucci, who has several other clemency clients, said he visited the
White House in August 2008, “hand-delivered the materials that had already gone
to the Justice Department,” and “took a few minutes” to talk with the associate
counsel who handles pardons, Kenneth Lee, about Mr. Maiss’s case.
“His application was granted because of its considerable merits,” Mr.
Bartolomucci said.
The applications for the other two represented by former White House lawyers
were filed in June and July of 2008, respectively. For different reasons, each
was ineligible for a positive Justice Department recommendation.
One case was that of the late Charles T. Winters, to whom Mr. Bush granted a
posthumous pardon for a conviction stemming from illegally sending arms to
Israel in 1948. The department normally does not process applications for
deceased people.
Mr. Winters was represented by Reginald Brown, an associate White House counsel
from 2001 to 2003. Mr. Brown said the volunteer team also included Frank
Jimenez, the Navy general counsel and a friend of Mr. Winters’s son, and Noam
Neusner, a former White House aide to Mr. Bush.
Mr. Brown said he sent e-mail messages and documents to Mr. Fielding and Mr.
Lee, and answered their questions. He also argued that his client’s case was in
a different category because it was symbolic and that there was no need for a
background check.
“We certainly didn’t seek any special treatment for Charlie Winters,” said Mr.
Brown, who declined to discuss any other clemency clients he or his firm might
have.
The other case that was ineligible for a pardon under normal circumstances was
that of Mr. Toussie. The Justice Department requires five years to have passed
since the end of a sentence before it will consider a pardon application, and
that time period was not yet up.
Mr. Toussie hired Bradford Berenson, an associate White House counsel from 2001
to 2003. Mr. Berenson declined to comment, but Mr. Fratto said that Mr. Berenson
had visited the White House to discuss the case.
The announcement of a pardon for Mr. Toussie prompted furor, in part because it
emerged that his father had recently donated $28,500 to the Republican National
Committee. The White House said it was halting the pardon and sending the case
to the Justice Department for review.
But several legal specialists said that it was not clear the pardon was
nullified, and that the case might end up in court.
Justice Department officials say clemency should be rare. They say the review
process is fair, but Karen Orehowsky, a volunteer clemency consultant who
advised Mr. Prior’s commutation team, said that ordinary people going through
the department process have virtually no chance.
“It takes a ‘Hail Mary’ from people who have a lot of connections and who are
willing to put their neck out for people they care about, and it’s unfair to
people who don’t have those connections,” Ms. Orehowsky said.
