I haven’t been on much at all the past few days because of finals, so I haven’t seen anything going around about Obama today more than just inklings of general support from way earlier

And I’m sure this has been said, but

Even though I am, of course, thrilled with his support, the political science scholar in me is wincing inside. This was just so obviously and so baldly an enormous strategic ploy involving Obama riding the coattails of the outrage of North Carolina, at the absolutely perfect emotional moment in an election year. And all the media outlets are publishing stuff that insinuates Obama has been thinking about this for a long time, and the decision now was hastily, and bladidy blah. Bullshit. He and all his advisers planned on NC passing so they could rise up out of its ashes. Coming out like this is no hasty decision, not in the least.

Does it matter? I don’t know. It’s one of those moments that really makes me notice how much I teeter on a knife’s blade between my love and hate of U.S. Politics, because regardless of whatever Obama has ever actually believed, this was a power play. 

obamarama:

The First Lady insisted on healthy treats, but the President advised, “Let the wookie have candy.”

May the Fourth be with you.

"For the first eight years of our marriage, [Michelle and I] were paying more in student loans than what we were paying for our mortgage. So we know what this is about.

And we were lucky to land good jobs with a steady income. But we only finished paying off our student loans—check this out, all right, I’m the President of the United States—we only finished paying off our student loans about eight years ago."

—

—President Obama in North Carolina today on why Congress has to act to prevent interest rates on student loans from doubling (via barackobama)

When Obama was nominated, he got a lot of criticism for not having military experience. I think it’s more pertinent that he had the experience of not growing up wealthy and privileged in America. How can someone who’s never had to worry about money or loans create a fair policy about them? -Jess

(via stfuconservatives)

mohandasgandhi:

musafeer:

readyokaygo:

readyokaygo:

Fox News hired a doctor to confirm that President Obama’s son would look nothing like Trayvon Martin. That’s fucking investigative journalism and science at its finest.

I found a video for those who can bare to watch.

I couldn’t even watch a full minute. 

Fox News, you are so pathetic. 

Lou Dobbs, you’re such a sweaty blubbery white embarrassment. How many networks have you been fired from?

A “psychiatrist” says that Obama is marginalizing white people.

This is disgusting. 

greengrey:

butterflynet:

“Vote for me because Santorum is a dweeb and I’m fly as hell.”

prolongedeyecontact:

Over 650 physicians and medical students, including 70 self-identifying Catholics, from 49 states signed an open letter to President Obama and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urging them to maintain a recent HHS contraception rule providing women access to cost-free contraception through their insurers. The petition, which was drafted by grassroots organization Doctors for America, argues that “Women and their doctors should be allowed to make contracpetive decisions based on medical reasons and personal beliefs — not based on someone else’s religious doctrine.” An infographic posted on the website points out that 11.2 million American women ages 15-44 use oral contraceptives, and 58 percent of them use contraception for reasons other than family planning.

[Not just women use the forms of contraception in question and not just women will be affected if the HHS decision is rescinded.]

I’m almost positive Obama’s going to get out of this somehow, or else it will seriously damage his campaign. We talked about this in Constitutional Law today and frustratingly it’s not black and white, since it mandates that religiously affiliated groups like hospitals (about 1/3 of which in the entire country are Catholic, I believe) and schools to provide this kind of insurance. It’s actually a fascinating constitutional argument because Catholics aren’t being forced to use contraception / get abortions, but they are being forced to offer funding for them, so is that abridging their freedom of religious practice? Do the potentially insured have any freedoms that are superior than that institutional freedom - according to the constitution? (obvs I personally care about people more than the fucking Catholic church.)

I bet the administration will bungle out of it somehow, but I would love to see this go to the supreme court.

notreallykira:

thedailywhat:

Logical Conclusion of the Day: Also, as noted by Redditor Hank_Scorpio_77, Batman Begins was released the year Obama was sworn in as Senator (2005).

Election over.

[4chan / reddit.]

the logical conclusion is that Obama is Batman now. 

note-a-bear:

rosa—sparks:

desertmar:

glossylalia:

blackfashion:

During an interview with VH1 News at the Sundance Film Festival, Aubrey “Drake” Graham admits to a dream role that he is secretly studying for.

“I hope somebody makes a movie about Obama’s life soon because I could play him, that’s the goal. I watch all the addresses. Anytime I see him on TV, I don’t change the channel, I definitely pay attention and listen to the inflections of his voice. If you ask anyone who knows me, I’m pretty good at impressions.” Drake stated. 

“I want to do something great,” he said. “I want to do something for my culture: the younger people who are still in tune with everything going on. I’m actually writing with my friends right now,” he continued.

You think wheelchair Jimmy can take on the role of one of the most dignified Black man in the history of the United States?

Please never let this happen.

Oh gawd. Drizzy needs to take a time out and get a juice box. And have a healthy snack of GET THE FUCK OUT.

I can’t stop laughing.

It is the ugliest laughing and I am sooooo happy no one can hear me.

girlargueswithtree:

float-on-okay:

#the obama’s are basically just those cool dorky neighbors that live next door to you #only in charge of an entire country

FLAWLESS FIRST FAMILY

theworldisnotenough1:

conservativebrew:

However, this “christian” president failed to release a statement or a proclamation recognizing the national observance of Easter Sunday, Christianity’s most sacred holiday.

By comparison, the White House has released statements recognizing the observance of major Muslim holidays and released statements in 2010 on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha.

The White House also failed to release a statement marking Good Friday. However, they did release an eight-paragraph statement heralding Earth Day.

What do you expect? According to Obama, America is no longer a Christian nation, the 95% of the religious population that calls itself Christian be damned. But the 0.00002% depraved enough to celebrate Kwanzaa has a friend in a high place.

Have a Happy Hate the White Man Week!

This is a thing. That people care about.

I…I don’t even…what?

……………………………………………………………………..

minoritythreat:

rebelsmindet:

“Eradicate The Slander That Says A Black Youth With A Book Is Acting White.”- Barack Obama, 2004 

Truth.

stfuconservatives:

radioinactivity:

kiddblink:

le-me-in-a-hat:

Real

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/12/31/396018/breaking-obama-signs-defense-authorization-bill/

TL;DR The President’s opponents played the electorate like a fiddle and will get away with it because people don’t seem to realize they’ve been tricked into being angry at the wrong person.

He signed it because if he didn’t, defense spending including benefits to veterans and their families would not have been authorized. The sections of NDAA that many people here seem to have a problem with are sections that were added into the document by primarily Republican legislators and which the President adamantly opposes but was powerless to stop. I’ll repeat that: the parts of this bill that many people here hate were included against the President’s wishes and in a way that he is powerless to stop. The only way he could have stopped these sections from being included would have been to try to veto the bill in its entirety, a move that would have been both political suicide as well as being futile, as Congress would simply have overridden him. He is explicit in his opposition to exactly the parts of the bill everyone here hates, going so far as to detail exactly which sections he opposes and why.

You’ll notice that the bill also restricts his ability to close Guantanamo Bay; this isn’t coincidence. These sections are openly hostile to the President’s stated mandate - they are effectively a giant ‘fuck you’ to the President, as well as a nasty way of eroding the President’s support with his own base. Observe:

1. Draft legislation that is almost guaranteed to piss of the President but more importantly piss of his base.

2. Attach said legislation to another piece of larger, more important legislation like, say, the Defense Spending budget for the entire year so that any attempt to dislodge the offensive legislation will result in a political shitstorm, as well as place the larger legislation in jeopardy.

3. Once attached, begin a PR campaign that highlights the offending legislation and brings it to the attention of as many media outlets as possible - not just the traditional media, but alternative media outlets as well (Fox news, MSNBC, Media Matters, Huff-Po, Infowars, etc.)

4. Here’s where it gets tricky: Simultaneously, speak to both your party’s base and the opposition’s. To your base, argue that the legislation is necessary to ‘Keep America safe’ and that the President, by opposing it, is clearly soft of terrorism and endangering the military by trying to strip the legislation out. At the same time, sit back and watch your opponent’s liberal supporters tear into the offending legislation as being dangerous, anti-democratic, and a threat to civil liberties. You know they will; that’s what they care about most. You’ve designed legislation that will make them froth at the mouth. You don’t even have to keep flogging the message; one look at the legislation will be enough to convince most people that it is anathema to everything they hold dear. Because it is.

5. Pass the ‘parent’ legislation. Doing so forces the President to sign it or attempt to veto it. Since the legislation in question just so happens to be the military’s operating budget, a veto is out of the question. The President must sign the bill, you get the legislation you wanted, but you also practically guarantee that your opponent’s base will be furious at him for passing a bill they see as evil. Even if he tries to explain in detail why he had to sign it and what he hates about it, it won’t matter; ignorance of the American political process, coupled with an almost militant indifference to subtle explanations will almost ensure that most people will only remember that the President passed a bill they hate.

6. Profit. you get the legislation you want, while the President has to contend with a furious base that feels he betrayed them - even though he agrees with their position but simply lacked the legislative tools to stop this from happening. It’s a classic piece of misdirection that needs only two things to work: A lack of principles (or a partisan ideology that is willing to say anything - do anything - to win), and an electorate that is easy to fool.

This is pretty basic political maneuvering and the biggest problem is that it almost always works because most people either don’t know or don’t care how their political system actually functions. The President was saddled with a lose-lose situation where he either seriously harmed American defense policy (political suicide), or passed offensive legislation knowing that it would cost him political capital. To all of you here lamenting that you ever voted for this ‘corporate shill’, congratulations: you are the result the Republicans were hoping for. They get the law they want, they get the weakened Presidential candidate they want. And many of you just don’t seem to see that. You don’t have to like your country’s two-party system, but it pays to be able to understand it so that you can recognize when it’s being used like this.

EDIT: thanks to Reddit user Mauve_Cubedweller for this post

Agreed, that’s the thing with this whole bill, it’s way more complicated than what the alarmists are making it out to be. The NDAA is not a singular “indefinite detainment” bill, that single article is a huge thing that the Republicans got in to put the President’s back against the wall and ensure that he could never close Guantanamo (which is its own fuck off lose-lose situation).

It’s just one of those shitty things where you ask yourself what you would do? No answer you give is free from fucking over lots and lots of people.

-Joe

Reblogging for commentary, though it is a tiny bit one-sided.

2011 was the year I began to have a true love/hate relationship with the complexities of American politics.

collectormaniac:

shaelephant:

octopodesinlove:

sheercalculatedsilliness:

We interrupt this crap for a cute picture of a president and his dog.

NO INCONVENIENCES WERE HAD.

IT’S BOBAMA.

GOOD SIR.

stfusexists:

pantslessprogressive:

“In August, the administration announced new rules requiring all new insurance plans to cover birth control and emergency contraception by 2013. At an early October fundraiser in St. Louis, President Obama himself hailed the rule. And when President Obama appeared before the U.N. in September, the administration touted the contraception rule as an example of America’s commitment to women. So when Carney says “this decision has not yet been made,” he’s wrong. It has been made—and by reopening it, President Obama is succumbing to pressure from anti-choice groups.

Even worse, Carney says President Obama is trying to “strike the right balance between expanding coverage of preventive services and respecting religious beliefs” without acknowledging the fact that the rules announced in August already included an exemption for churches.”

White House says Obama considering rolling back mandatory insurance coverage of contraception

This was a HUGE thing for this to pass, and there’s no reason that it shouldn’t stand. Why should health insurance that people are already paying for NOT include contraception? The vast majority of major health insurance plans cover Viagra, why not birth control?

FYI, if this happens, I’m going on a rampage. This blog won’t exist because this PLANET won’t exist.