Obama Wants To Keep BlackBerry: I Dont Want to Lose Touch

President-elect Barack Obama and the love of his life, a BlackBerry.

US President-elect Barack Obama says that he is attempting to find a way of keeping access to his BlackBerry device after he was told he could not use the popular wireless emailing device due to a legal requirment for all transactions to be put stored for later use on the public record.

In an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters, Obama talked about the importance of breaking through the isolation faced by the president, reports said.

"Well, I'm, I'm negotiating to figure out how can I get information from outside of the 10 or 12 people who surround my office in the White House," Obama says in the interview. "Because, one of the worst things I think that could happen to a president is losing touch with what people are going through day to day."

Obama's personal BlackBerry has been his constant companion for years and especially on the campaign trail in 2007 and 2008, that kept him "plugged in" to the world outside just his inner circle.

President Bush was apparently very upset when he discovered he could no longer email when he gained office in January 2001. Some arguments have been made that the use of devices where Presidents can talk to others on the outside may help in the decision making process and make for good leadership.

There is also the argument that Obama's BlackBerry could be hacked by foreign intelligence agencies or other undesirables that could be a national security threat.

Then again, aruges the Chicago Tribune, why doesn't he just use an iPhone instead....

As of September 2008, there were some 19 million subscribers to the BlackBerry brand.

Obama's Half Trillion Dollar 2-Year Economic Plan

US $500 billion seems to be the ball park figure being thrown around for President-elect Barack Obama's economic plan that he wants enacted by the end of January, sources say.

The 2 year plan aims at creating or saving around 2.5 million US jobs, and looks to invest in technologies, transport and energy saving seems that will "pay for themselves" in the long term.

Some Democratic lawmakers put the figure as high as $700 billion, but others say that's unlikely.

"We have to make sure that the stimulus is significant enough that it really gives a jolt to the economy, that it is putting people back to work, that it is making investments, that it is restoring some confidence in the business community that, in fact, their products and services are going to have customers," Obama said Monday as he announced his economic team.

Declining repeatedly to estimate the cost of the plan, Obama said, "It's going to be costly."

Via: AP

Christina D. Romer: Obama White House Council of Economic Advisers Head

Christina D. Romer, seen in 1994. President-elect Barack Obama chief economic advisor.

Barack Obama has chosen Christina Romer, an economics professor at University of Califonia, Berkele to be his chief of the all important White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Christina Romer seems to be an excellent choice for the post. Her biography says that she is an expert in "the effects of fiscal policy; identification of monetary shocks; the determinants of American macroeconomic policy; changes in short-run fluctuations over the 20th century; causes of the Great Depression."

Romer seems ideally suited to the challanged the US economy and global economic system faces in the midst of one of the worst financial and economic challenges of the modern era.

Christina Romner UCLA, Berkely Curriculum Vitae :

Christina Romer is the Class of 1957-Garff B. Wilson Professor of Economics. She joined the Berkeley faculty in 1988 and was promoted to full professor in 1993. Professor Romer is co-director of the Program in Monetary Economics at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and is a member of the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee.

She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award at the University of California, Berkeley. She has received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship.

She has served as vice president and a member of the executive committee of the American Economic Association. Prior to her appointment at Berkeley, she was an assistant professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University from 1985-1988. She received her Ph.D. from M.I.T. in 1985.

Romer's most recent economics paper at UCLA focuses on governments tax policies and their macroeconomic effects in fiscal shocks. She will no doubt be vital in creating the new Obama tax plan that will see tax increases for the top 5% of earners and tax cuts for the majority of US workers.

Change.Gov : Barack Obama First Internet Address to US.

President-elect Barack Obama first ever weekly internet-radio address to the American people.

US President-elect Barack Obama has outlined his plans for America in an unprecedented address using YouTube, outside of the traditional use of the radio waves for a weekly Democratic party address to the nation.

In the video uploaded to YouTube late on Friday the 22nd of November, Obama outlined his plans for the creation of 2.5 million jobs by January 2011, exactly two years after he is expected to take office as President.

We'll be working out the details in the weeks ahead, but it will be a two-year, nationwide effort to jump start job creation in America and lay the foundation for a strong and growing economy," Obama said in his weekly Internet/radio address.

His announcement came two days after government data showed that new jobless claims had surged to a 16-year high, in a new sign that the world's largest economy appeared to be sliding into a deep recession, press reported.

Obama is also expected to officially announce his entire cabinet within the week. Obama is set to introduce Senator Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State, and as we predicted Timothy Geithner as Secretary of Treasury.

Obama has also launched a website set to keep Americans up to speed with the President-elects administration, Change.gov.

Full 'weekly' Barack Obama Internet and radio address:

US Jobs Market Worst Since Bush 1.0

The jobs market in the United States is at its worst point since when George H.W Bush was leaving power.

Reuters Business News: The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose by a larger than expected 27,000 last week to their highest level in 16 years, Labor Department data showed on Thursday, as a harsh economic environment forces employers to cut back on hiring.
Continuing claims were 4.012 million in the week ended November 8, the latest data available, up from 3.903 million the prior week and the highest since December 1982.

What a mess Barack Obama has left to clean up.....What a mess!

New York Senator Bill Clinton

Could Slick Will become Senator Bill Clinton of New York?

New York Senator Bill Clinton?

If Hillary Clinton is eventually announced as Barack Obama's Secretary of State as most now presume will happen, who will fill Clinton's Senate seat for the State of New York?

Some media are insinuating that former President Bill Clinton may be interested in heading to the US Capitol.

Slick Will was seen yesterday massaging the shoulders of the New York Governor Paterson at a ceremony in the state.

Says one observer in the New York Post, "The Clinton's acted as if they were entitled to the White House. Maybe they feel the same way toward that Senate seat."

New York Senator Bill Clinton?

Barack Obama-Kim Jong Il Meeting Could Be On Cards

During his Predisential campaign Barack Obama said he would sit down without preconditions during the first year of his administration with leaders of several nations whose governments have been at odds with the United States, including North Korea.

The South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, said in an interview at the G20 financial crisis Summit in Washington DC that he would welcome such a move by the US President-elect.

"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will not take any options off the table, but they will emphasize first and foremost the power of American diplomacy and make clear the substantial benefits to Iran and North Korea of abandoning their dangerous nuclear programs while simultaneously conveying the enormous costs to them should they fail to do so," according to the Web site.

Via:CNN

Obama Will Shut Down Gitmo

Barack Obama has vowed to close down the notorious prison at Guintanamo Bay, Cuba.

President-elect Obama says he will shut down the "war on terror" internment camp at Guantanamo Bay and rebuild "America's moral stature in the world" during a major interview aired on Sunday.

"I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that," the Democrat, who takes office on January 20, told 60 Minutes.
"I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm going to make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world,"

Bush Asks Clinton How to Handle Obama

Outgoing President George W. Bush has revealed that he reached out to former President Bill Clinton for advise on how to handle his meeting with incoming US President Barack Obama.

In an interview with CNN, Bush said that he rang Bill Clinton the day before Obama and his wife arrived at the White house for ideas on guidance on handling the new kid on the block.

"'Bill, I'm getting ready to meet with the new president and I remember how gracious you were to me. And I hope I can be as gracious to president-elect Obama as you were to me,"' Bush told CNN today in a description of the call.

"To the extent that he asked my advice and he may want to ask it again, and the best way to make sure he feels comfortable asking it again is for me not to tell you in the first place what I advised him," he said.

Bush also said one of his biggest regrets as President was the infamous "mission accomplished" banner

"I regret saying some thing I shouldn't have said, like dead of alive....I was trying to convey a message and I probably should have conveyed it more artfully"

"I regret that that sign (Mission Accomplished) was there," Bush said.

Obama Presidency Will Do More to Get Bin Laden

Barack Obama will take aggressive steps in Afghanistan sure to please US military commanders, the Washington Post says.

The strategies speculated to be a strong part of any Obama foreign policy will be of a wider scope that the current Bush Administration attitude toward Afghanistan, with a greater emphasis of killing and capturing Osama bin Laden.

An Obama administration is set to dramatically increase US troop numbers in the war torn nation, employ new strategies that will target talks with elements of the Taliban, other groups, and countries like Iran, with a less ideological approach as seen by the Bush Administration.

From the Washington Post:

Obama advisers and a number of senior military strategists both before and since last Tuesday's election reveal a shared sense that the Afghan effort under the Bush administration has been hampered by ideological and diplomatic constraints and an unrealistic commitment to the goal of building a modern democracy -- rather than a stable nation that rejects al-Qaeda and Islamist extremism and does not threaten U.S. interests. None of those who discussed the subject would speak on the record, citing sensitivities surrounding the presidential transition and the war itself.

"Renegade" (Barack), "Renaissance" (Michelle), "Radiance" (Malia) and "Rosebud" (Sasha).

"Renegade" (Barack), "Renaissance" (Michelle), "Radiance" (Malia) and "Rosebud" (Sasha).

These are the United States secret service code names for the all important members of the First Family.

The Obama family code names will be used by the Secret Service at all times to identify Barack, Michelle, Malia and Sasha whenever communicting. The names were drawn up by the White House Communications Agency.

Barack Obama Behind the Scenes on Election Night 2008

Some intimate and revealing photos have just been released of Barack Obama and his family on election night 2008. 85 pictures from official Obama 2008 campaign photographer David Katz have been released of Flikr.

The historical photos show Obama with his family at his Chicago hotel room watching the voter returns on NBC television. Katz follows Obama as the the night goes on, capturing his running mate Senator Joe Biden and wife Jill talk walking into the room, presumably just after he is announced winner at 11pmET US. The also show moments at Grant Park behind the scenes, the speech itself, and just after it.

Obama Winning Former Bush Counties in Indiana, Breaking!

BREAKING NEWS!

AT THIS early stage in the US Presidential election, Barack Obama is winning Floyd country Indiana by about 60-40 CNN reports.

A 2004 check of the vote in this county in south east Indiana has Bush 49% to Kerry 41%.....as of writing Obama is pulling in 59% of the vote to McCain's 40%.....

Is this the canary in the colemine???????

The Economist Endorses Obama

From The Economist:

For all the shortcomings of the campaign, both John McCain and Barack Obama offer hope of national redemption. Now America has to choose between them. The Economist does not have a vote, but if it did, it would cast it for Mr Obama. We do so wholeheartedly: the Democratic candidate has clearly shown that he offers the better chance of restoring America’s self-confidence.

The Mystery of the Undecided Voter

The Undecided Voter in the 2008 election.
....think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?” - David Sedaris in the New Yorker Magazine.

The Barack Obama 30 minute commercial airing on 5 major US TV netoworks was clearly aimed at bringing in those fikle last hour undecided voters, less than a week away from the November 4 Presidential election.

But after vertially years of campaigns, debates, endless news time, endless tv ads and peopel to people discussion....why are there still an estimated 5-10% of the voting public yet to make up their minds.

Turns out, most undecided voters are not very smart, uninformed and tend to be female.

"Undecided voters are less educated, less affluent, and somewhat more likely to be female than the average voter," a Pew research poll on undecided voters found.

But one scientist who studies decision making thinks the oppsoite, that undecided voters are the smartest of the bunch.

"People tend to think of them as dolts, because how could they not have gathered enough evidence by now?" Neuroscientists Joshua Gold told Reuters.

"But from a purely rational standpoint, it makes perfect sense not to commit until you go into the voting booth because you can collect as much information as possible."

But another scientist belives that undecided votes may have alreaddy made up their minds, but dont actually know it yet, from New Scientist:

Bertram Gawronski, a social psychologist at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, and his colleagues asked 129 residents of Vicenza, Italy, whether they would support a controversial proposal to enlarge the city's US military base.

To measure subconscious biases, the team used an "implicit association" test to record, for example, whether volunteers associated pictures of the base with positive words such as "joy" or negative ones such as "pain".

When polled a week later, many who were undecided about the base in the first poll had resolved to support or oppose it - and the team found that their decision could be predicted by their responses on the association test (Science, vol 321, p 1100).

Another agrees, political sceintist Harwood McClerking.

He believes a good portion of those who say they are undecided have made an unconscious decision already -- and will "come home" and vote according to their demographic group.
That is, a white church-going man from the U.S. South will tend to vote Republican, while an urban educated woman in the Northeast will tend to vote Democrat.

But McClerking also believes there's an added racial element to the undecided voters this year: that many of them have already ruled out Obama but are afraid of saying so for fear the interviewer will think they are racist.

"My personal rule of thumb, when I look at a poll, is I take roughly half of (the undecided portion) and add it to the white candidate, to give me a sense of what is really going on," said McClerking, a professor at Ohio State University.

The Obama Show Preivew: Details of Wednesday Prime Time Obama Half Hour Commercial

Barack Obama's Presidential campaign, awash with cash from donations by millions of Americans, is set to air a 30 minute Prime Time commercial on 3 major broadcast TV newtorks (NBC, CBS, FOX) plus cable news channel MSNBC.

Details of the Barack Obama half hour show have just been leaked by the Obama campaign to the New York Times:

As the screen flashes scenes of suburban lawns, a freight train and Mr. Obama seated at a kitchen table with a group of white, apparently working-class voters, Mr. Obama says: “We’ve seen over the last eight years how decisions by a president can have a profound effect on the course of history and on American lives; much that’s wrong with our country goes back even farther than that.”

Then, while standing before a stately desk and an American flag, Mr. Obama, in a suit, says: “We’ve been talking about the same problems for decades and nothing is ever done to solve them. For the past 20 months, I’ve traveled the length of this country, and Micelle and I have met so many Americans who are looking for real and lasting change that makes a difference in their lives.”

Mr. Obama would also share the story of his mother, “who struggled through her bout with breast cancer and the difficulty she had with her insurance company, to help viewers understand why his health care reform program is what it is.”
It will also have a live component, featuring Mr. Obama at a rally in Florida.

Epic Fail? John McCain Could Lose Arizona.

It would be one of the most Epic Fails in the modern history of US Politics. John McCain is only just hanging on to his home state of Arizona, despite representing the western state for many years as Congressman and Senator.

If Obama is this close to beating McCain in Arizona....Well, you draw the conclusions on "That One."

Rasmussen Polling:
Election 2008: Arizona Presidential Election
McCain 51%, Obama 46% in Arizona

John McCain’s lead over Barack Obama is down to just five points in his home state of Arizona. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds the Senator leading 51% to 46%.
McCain is viewed favorably by 59% of voters in Arizona and unfavorably by 40%. Obama’s ratings are 49% favorable, 50% unfavorable.
Voters in Arizona trust their state’s Senator more than Obama on the top issue of the economy by a 52% to 44% margin. However, voters not affiliated with either party trust Obama more, 52% to 39%.

Obama Republicans: Obamacons

Reagan Democrats. This was the term given to the normally reliable Democratic Party voters who turned to modern Republicanism' favorite son in the the massive electoral victories in the 1980's.

A generation later, Barack Hussein Obama rides a tsunami of change created in the aftermath of the historically low popularity of the George Walker Bush Presidency and one of the most successful grass roots political campaigns in living history.

The term Obama Republicans, or the Obamacon, may be become an often used meme in the years ahead.

If Obama wins in a landslide next Tuesday as many are beginning to predict, he would have done it with the help of many voters who chose to side with the Republican party in both 2000 and 2004.

In the last few weeks a number of conservatives and Republicans have chosen to vote for or openly endorse Barack Hussein Obama, many will vote Democrat for the first time ever. Here are some of the thoughts of newly found Obama Republicans, the Obamacons.



Former Republcian Senator Larry Pressler from the Conservative state of South Dakota.

"I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin and [former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul] Volcker better," he said. By contrast, John McCain's "handling of the financial crisis made me feel nervous."

Former Reagan Solicitor General, conservative thinker and former McCain supporter, Charles Fried wrote in a letter that the selection of Sarah Palin as Vice Presidential candidate by McCain tipped the scales.

He said that chief among the reasons for his decision "is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."

Former Bush Whitehouse Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

"From the very beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done and I will be voting for Barack Obama and clapping," McClellan told new CNN Host D.L. Hughley.

Former Republican Governor of Massachusetts William Weld

"It's not often you get a guy with his combination of qualities, chief among which I would say is the deep sense of calm he displays, and I think that's a product of his equally deep intelligence," he said in a phone interview.

Former George w. Bush Secretary of State, George H.W Bush Chairman of Joint Chiefs, Reagan National Security Advisor, General Colin Powell.

"I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama."

- Former Republican governor in Minnesota, Arne Carlson

"Regardless of our party, regardless of our partisan inclinations, there is no interest more compelling than the interest in the well-being of the United States," Carlson said at a gathering of Obama supporters at the state Capitol.
Carlson added, "He has laid out for this nation a vision for a national purpose."

Former President Ford, Ronald Reagan official, lifelong Conservative Republican, Ken Adelman

"When the economic crisis broke, I found John McCain bouncing all over the place. In those first few crisis days, he was impetuous, inconsistent, and imprudent; ending up just plain weird. Having worked with Ronald Reagan for seven years, and been with him in his critical three summits with Gorbachev, I’ve concluded that that’s no way a president can act under pressure.
Second is judgment.
That decision showed appalling lack of judgment. Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office—I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency. But that selection contradicted McCain’s main two, and best two, themes for his campaign—Country First, and experience counts. Neither can he credibly claim, post-Palin pick."

Son of the Godfather of modern day Republican conservatism, Christopher Buckley.

"Obama has in him—I think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy “We are the people we have been waiting for” silly rhetoric—the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for.
So, I wish him all the best. We are all in this together. Necessity is the mother of bipartisanship. And so, for the first time in my life, I’ll be pulling the Democratic lever in November. As the saying goes, God save the United States of America."

8 Days to Go: Obama Up In Normally Republican Virginia, North Carolina, Surging in Ohio

A Reuters/Zogby poll ( slightly slanted Republican due to an allocation of party affiliation the same as 2004 when George Bush and the Republcan party were far more popular) has Barack Obama looking strong in the normally reliable red states of Virginia and North Carolina. They also show him surging in Ohio, but Flordia is likely going to come down to the wire.

Reuters/Zogby telephone surveys of eight battleground states show Democrat Barack Obama ahead in six. While his lead over Republican John McCain is less than three points in Florida, Missouri and North Carolina, these results still point out the daunting task McCain faces to reach the 270 Electoral College votes needed for election

With Barack Obama only needing to hold onto the states John Kerry won in 2004, plus the now strongly blue stats of New Mexico and Iowa (states that only went to Bush in '04 by a few thousand), a win in either Colorado, Virginia, Florida or Ohio would see Obama become next President.

Ohio
Reuters/Zogby
Obama 50, McCain 45
Obama +5

Florida
Reuters/Zogby
Obama 47, McCain 47
Tie

North Carolina
Reuters/Zogby
Obama 50, McCain 46
Obama +4

Virginia
Reuters/Zogby
Obama 52, McCain 45
Obama +7

Missouri
Reuters/Zogby
Obama 48, McCain 46
Obama +2

Nevada
Reuters/Zogby
Obama 48, McCain 44
Obama +4
Indiana

Reuters/Zogby
McCain 50, Obama 44
McCain +6

West Virginia
Reuters/Zogby
McCain 50, Obama 40
McCain +10

Virginia
ABC News/Wash Post
Obama 52, McCain 44
Obama +8

Bush's John McCain October Suprise? US Attacks Targets Inside Syria

Could this be George Bush's gift to John McCain just one week before Americans go to the polls in one of the most important elections in the history of the world?

From Reuters:

Syria accused the United States on Monday of committing a "terrible crime" in killing eight civilians during a helicopter attack on a Syrian farm near the border with Iraq.

Syria has said four U.S. helicopters attacked the al-Sukkari farm in the Albou Kamal area in eastern Syria on Sunday and that U.S. soldiers stormed a building in the area.

The United States, which accuses Syria of failing to stem the flow of al Qaeda fighters and other insurgents into Iraq to attack U.S. forces, has neither confirmed nor denied the incident.

"This is an outrageous raid which is against international law. It is a terrible crime. I don't know the political meaning of it. We are expecting clarifications from the Americans," Syrian Ambassador to London Sami al-Khiyami told Reuters.

The US has complained for many years that the Damascus Government had not done enough to prevent foreign fighters who heavily traffic the border are between Iraq and Syria.

But why would the Pentagon act now? No doubt the operation involving US helicopters and American special forces soldiers, would have been given the go ahead by President Bush, given the sensitive nature of crossing into a sovereign nation proper.

Why send shock waves across the middle east and around the world with an operation that clearly violates Syrian territory to go after what appears to be a small band of either traffickers of foreigners into Iraq, or as some Arab media says was civilian targets?

Why did something like this not happen much earlier, when it was clear that fighters have been using this area to pour into Iraq for many, many years?

Either way this smells fishy. Given that many people consider Republican Presidential candidate John McCain the more capable candidate on issues of national security and foreign policy, the operation in Syria, though low key would no doubt shore up doubts in voters minds over the ability of the relatively less experienced Barack Obama to deal with such a crisis.

The McCain camp has even released a plethora of TV ads in an attempt to throw up these doubts in voters minds as they head for the ballot box November 4.