Former President Bush Wants Son Jeb To Continue Family Legacy of Becoming a President

President George H.W. Bush has lost his mind if he really thinks that voters, including myself, would vote for another Bush to grace the White House. This job is pretty much closed to another in the Bush political dynasty. If you ask me, Jeb Bush probably should have been the president and not his brother, who will go down in history as one of the worst presidents to be elected.

Jeb Bush is the current president’s younger brother and a former popular governor of Florida. He is mulling a run for Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.

Asked in a broadcast interview about Jeb Bush’s consideration of the Senate seat, Bush 41 said: “I’d like to see him run. I’d like to see him be president someday.”

When asked if he was serious, he said: “Or maybe senator. Whatever. Yes, I would. I mean, right now is probably a bad time, because we’ve had enough Bushes in there. But no, I would. And I think he’s as qualified and able as anyone I know on the political scene. Now, you’ve got to discount that. He’s my son.” The former president spoke on “Fox News Sunday” in an interview that was taped Friday in Houston. He will be at the White House on Wednesday for a lunch with President George W. Bush, President-elect Barack Obama and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

The senior Bush said he does not plan to offer advice to Obama and mainly wants to wish him well. “I talked to him right after the election and did that then, assured him that he was my president,” Bush said. Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution.

It seems that Bush has not taken into to consideration the economic collapse that happened under his son’s watch. It seems that there is a sense of entitlement in the political arena these days, a dynastic mindset, if you will. Suddenly Caroline Kennedy wants to become a senator, though she spent most of her life ducking the cameras.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Caroline Kennedy, Jeb Bush, NY Senator, Political Dynasties, President George H.W. Bush, President George W. Bush

Barack Obama Flies on Presidential Plane, Lands in Washington D.C.

Seeing Barack Obama alighting from one of the presidential planes was profound. I actually choked up for a moment. This was the culmination of years of struggle for African Americans to be treated fairly and given a chance. It must be an awesome feeling for his family have made history. There are no words to describe how they must be feeling. Barack Obama has landed in Washington D.C. to begin the next chapter in his life–as the next president of the United States of America. This isn’t just about race, but about hope and a deep desire for change. Barack Obama will bear the weight of us all and it is my fervent belief that he will do just fine, despite all the odds that are stacked up against him.

As he boarded plane in Chicago, Obama waved to press and said he would see them in D.C. He went to the back of plane and said, “Well guys, I am looking forward to seeing you guys in Washington … I gotta say I choked up a little bit leaving my house today. Obama said a friend of his daughter Malia “had dropped off an album of the two of them together. They had been friends since pre-school and I just looked through the pages and the house was empty and it was a little tough, it got me.”
Obama ordered a cheeseburger on the plane, which is a Boeing 757 with big leather seats. He met Col. Scott Turner, who will be his Air Force One pilot.

Obama said he had taken a government plane before. He said his wife Michelle and their daughters were “having fun” and that he was looking forward to going to Washington. “Although living in a hotel for two weeks, we kind of did that for two years,” Obama said. Source: Chicago Tribune

I am reminded of the poem Maya Angelou recited at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration. I was moved by the words then and they capture the essence of Barack Obama’s historic win. It is indeed time to say “good morning!”

‘On The Pulse Of Morning:’ An Inaugural Poem by Maya Angelou

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon,
The dinosaur, who left dried tokens
Of Their sojourn here

On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.
But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly,
forcefully,

Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow,
I will give you no hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness
Have lain too long

Facedown in ignorance,
Your mouths spilling words
Armed for slaughter.
The Rock cries out to us today,

You may stand upon me;
But do not hide your face.
Across the wall of the world,
A River sings a beautiful song. It says,
Come, rest here by my side.

Each of you, a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.

Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.
Yet today I call you to my riverside,

If you will study war no more.
Come, clad in peace,
And I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the Rock were one.

Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your brow
And when you yet knew you still knew nothing.
The River sang and sings on.
There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing River and the wise Rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew
The African, the Native American, the Sioux
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek,
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheik,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
They hear. They all hear

The speaking of the Tree.
They hear the first and last of every Tree
Speak to humankind today.
Come to me,
Here beside the River.
Plant yourself beside the River.

Each of you, descendant of some passed-
On traveler, has been paid for.
You, who gave me my first name, you,
Pawnee, Apache, Seneca, you
Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then
Forced on bloody feet,

Left me to the employment of
Other seekers — desperate for gain,
Starving for gold.

You, the Turk, the Arab, the Swede,
The German, the Eskimo, the Scot,
The Italian, the Hungarian, the Pole,
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought
Sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.

Here, root yourselves beside me.
I am that Tree planted by the River,
Which will not be moved.
I, the Rock, I, the River, I, the Tree
I am yours — your passages have been paid.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.
History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, but if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes
Upon this day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands,
Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts

Each new hour holds new chances
For a new beginning.
Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space

To place new steps of change
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out and upon me,
The Rock, the River, the Tree, you country.
No less to Midas than the mendicant.
No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes,
And into your brother’s face,
Your country,
And say simply
Very simply
With hope —
Good morning.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Inauguration, Maya Angelou, Presidential Plane

Northeastern University Study Reveals Murders Among Black Youths Have Risen Sharply Since 2000

I have always been very vocal and critical of the high crime rate within pockets of the black community in cities across the United States. I was not surprised to see the results of a study by criminologists at Northeastern University in Boston. The study, to be released Monday, found that the number of young black men and teenagers who either killed or were killed in shootings has risen at an alarming rate since 2000.

The study found dramatic increases in shooting deaths among black teenagers. Last year, for example, 426 black males between the ages of 14 and 17 were killed in gun crimes, the study shows. That marked a 40 percent increase from 2000. Similarly, an estimated 964 in the same age group committed fatal shootings in 2007 — a 38 percent increase from seven years earlier. The number of offenders is estimated because not all crimes are reported, said Northeastern criminologist James Alan Fox, who co-authored the study.

“Although the overall rate of homicide in the United States remains relatively low, the landscape is quite different for countless Americans living, and some dying, in violence-infested neighborhoods,” Fox said. Seizing on President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming administration as an opportunity for more funding, Fox added: “There is an urgency for reinvestment in children and families. In essence, we need a bailout for kids at risk.”

The study partly blamed Bush administration grant cuts to local police and juvenile crime prevention programs for the surge in crimes by young black men and teens. Incoming Vice President Joe Biden has promised funding to put 50,000 new police officers on the street to help bring violent crime rates back to a decade-long annual decline that began in the mid-1990s, after then-President Bill Clinton provided local officials with money to hire 100,000 new cops.

Nationwide, the number of murders and violent crimes overall dropped last year after increasing in 2005 and 2006, according to annual data compiled by the FBI. Overall, however, murders have risen by about 8 percent between 2000 and 2007. The FBI reported 10,067 arrests in murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases in 2007. Half of the people arrested – 5,078 – were black. Almost 10 percent of black people arrested for murder were under age 18, the FBI data show. Source: The Huffington Post

This is alarming and we must take back our communities from the thugs that roam the inner city streets. We must also not give up on the young people. Something drastic must be done to get them off the streets. There should be stricter gun laws. It is unconscionable that the thugs on the streets have more sophisticated firearms than the police officers. There must be zero tolerance for criminal behavior. You can’t let a repeat offender back out on the street with just a slap on the wrist. The recidivism rate is often high. There is no justification for this alarming pattern of behavior and something drastic must be done and quickly. The politicians need to start visiting these high crime areas more frequently and not just when they are up for re-election.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Black Males, Black on Black Crime, Murder Rates, Northeastern University Study

Barack Obama Picks Eric Holder as Attorney General in his Incoming Administration

Yep, I can see it now, the critics will have a field day with President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Eric Holder as the next attorney general. But we can be rest assured that the names of John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales ,(who was indicted, along with VP Dick Cheney by a South Texas grand jury on state charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County’s federal detention centers), will be thrown in the faces of all the Republicans who beg to differ. According to Newsweek Magazine, which broke the story, Mr. Holder is a veteran Washington lawyer and his appointment will be a historic one. He will be the first African-American to head the Justice Department. Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration, still has to undergo a formal “vetting” review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final.

According to the Huffington Post, Holder, 57, has been on Obama’s “short list” for attorney general from the outset. A partner at the D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling, Holder served as co-chief (along with Caroline Kennedy) of Obama’s vice-presidential selection process. He also actively campaigned for Obama throughout the year and grew personally close to the president-elect.

According to the Huffington Post, more details about Holder:

Holder and Obama have been friends since they hit it off at a dinner party in 2004. He is the consummate Washington insider — a familiar fixture in the Clinton administration, but well-known to Republican administrations as well. Best known as a prosecutor, Holder was fresh out of law school when he was assigned to the newly formed public integrity section of the Justice Department. There, he helped prosecute several high-profile defendants, including a judge, a diplomat, an assistant U.S. attorney and a leading organized crime figure.

President Reagan nominated him to a D.C. judgeship and he was later tapped by President Clinton to serve as D.C.’s U.S. attorney. In 1997, Clinton elevated him to the No. 2 job in the Justice Department, and he briefly served as acting attorney general in the Bush administration while nominee John Ashcroft was being confirmed. In 1999, Holder helped convince Republicans to scrap independent counsel investigations, successfully arguing before Congress that wrongdoing by public
officials can, and should, be handled by the Justice Department. And should he be tapped as the nation’s chief law enforcement official, Republicans may ask him to revisit that.

According to the Washington Post, some basic facts about Holder:

Credentials: Former judge, D.C. Superior Court; former deputy attorney general in the Justice Department; former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

What he offers: Holder has extensive experience in the criminal justice system and with civil court disputes. He staunchly backed community policing programs to reduce violent crime and raised morale within the Justice Department during his tenure. Holder served as a co-chairman of the Obama presidential campaign.

Vetting: Holder took flak in 2001 for failing to object to a last-minute pardon request for fugitive Marc Rich, whose ex-wife is a prolific Democratic Party donor, when others in the Clinton administration pushed through the petition during its last hours in office.

The only beef I have with this alleged selection is that we have another person connected to the Clintons. It seems that no matter what, their names keeps popping up. So before the Republicans get up in arms about this, they should remember that Mr. Holder was nominated to judgeship by Ronald Reagan. As far as seemingly questionable transactions go, just recall the shenanigans of Alberto Gonzales, a Bush appointee.

Filed under: African American, Alberto Gonzalez, Attorney General, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Eric Holder, John Ashcroft

Bill Clinton Says McCain’s Request to Delay First Presidential Debate in Good Faith

Yep, former President Bill Clinton is at it again. Bill, which side are you on dude? He defended John McCain’s request to delay the first presidential debate was done in “good faith” and pushed organizers to reserve time for economy talk during the debate if the Friday plans move forward.
Appearing on Good Morning America Thursday, Clinton told ABC News’ Chris Cuomo that McCain’s push to postpone the debate would only be a good political move if both candidates agreed. McCain announced on Wednesday that he would “suspend” his presidential campaign to come to Washington to help negotiate a financial bailout bill. Right. That was a political strategy he hopes will stem the bleeding at the polls. I think people have come to the conclusion that John McCain’s erratic behavior during the campaigns will be much of the same during his presidency, if he wins, that is.

“We know he didn’t do it because he’s afraid because Sen. McCain wanted more debates,” Clinton said, adding that he was “encouraged” by the joint statement from McCain and Sen. Barack Obama.”You can put it off a few days the problem is it’s hard to reschedule those things,” Clinton said, “I presume he did that in good faith since I know he wanted — I remember he asked for more debates to go all around the country and so I don’t think we ought to overly parse that.”If the debate moves forward as planned for Friday night, Clinton says “they should be able to talk about this some of the debate because it is a security issue.”

Bill Clinton isn’t done with his drama yet. During his appearance on the “Larry King Show,” he said that he would be hitting the campaign trail for Barack Obama in Florida, to Ohio, to northeast Pennsylvania, and Nevada “at a minimum” in October, “after the Jewish holidays” are over.

Larry King then asked him “Are you kind of feeling Jewish that you’re waiting until after the Jewish holidays?” asked King.”No. But I think it would be — if we’re trying to win in Florida, it may be that — you know, they think that because of who I am and where my political base has traditionally been, they may want me to go sort of hustle up what Lawton Chiles used to call the ‘cracker vote’ there. “But Senator Obama also has a big stake in doing well in the Jewish community in Florida, where Hillary did very well and where I did very well. And I just think respecting the holidays is a good thing to do,” he said. Right Bill, right. You won’t beat up on John McCain, but you had no problem doing that to Barack Obama. What a trooper!

Filed under: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Larry King

Bill Clinton Can’t Bring Himself to Say Barack Obama Ready to be President

Well, at least Bill Clinton is not a hypocrite, but even after his wife dropped out of the presidential race, he cannot bring himself to say Barack Obama is ready to be the next president. I guess Clinton wouldn’t be the best person on the campaign stump for Obama at this point. Bill Clinton said that he regrets some things he said – and didn’t say – on the campaign trail. But there’s one thing he still can’t utter loud and clear: Barack Obama is ready to be President.

“You can argue that nobody is ready to be President,” the former President told ABC. “You can argue that even if you’ve been vice president for eight years, that no one can be fully ready for the pressures of the office,” Clinton said Monday during a visit to Rwanda. That’s probably not what Team Obama wanted to hear from the former commander in chief, whose role in Obama’s election push and at the Democratic National Convention remains in flux.

Team Obama has said Clinton will be an asset, but so far he and the Illinois senator have spoken only once, by phone, since the primaries ended – a fact that has peeved some Obama supporters. People should be mindful that Hillary Clinton supporters have a problem with Barack Obama as well.

I think his unwillingness to say his party’s nominee is ready to sit in the Oval Office is a faux pas. I am sure there were many people who were turned off by Bill Clinton’s indiscretions when he ran for the presidency, but they saw past that and voted for him anyway. I guess as a former president he has some perspective on what it takes to be the president, quite unlike the train wreck we have in the White House now. I think he is still smarting over Hillary Clinton’s bitter defeat, which can be attributed to him in some small way.

Clinton did praise some of the very same traits he ripped in the primaries – including Obama’s ability to lead through inspiring words, which he trashed as empty rhetoric on the campaign trail. “He clearly can inspire and motivate people and energize them, which is a very important part of being President,” Clinton said. “And he’s smart as a whip so there’s nothing he can’t learn.”

Yes, though he is very calculating and exact in his actions, nonetheless, he is not a racist–at least in my opinion. Bill Clinton just needs to get over it and deal with the fact that either we put John McCain in the White House for another Bush term, or we elect someone who is new to the scene and has some new ideas. I say we pick the lesser of two evils.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Is Bill Clinton Up to His ‘Tricks’ on the Campaign Trail, While Hillary Fights for Nomination?

It seems that there is some buzz on the campaign trail that former President Bill Clinton is up to his usual “tricks” on the campaign trail. If true, this is the last thing that Hillary Clinton needs thrown back in the face of Americans. We certainly do not need to revisit Monica Lewinsky, Jennifer Flowers and that rough-on-the-eyes Paula Jones.

Vanity Fair has come out with an article on this. Some sources are unnamed, which is always suspect to me, but who knows? Bill Clinton made his bed, literally, so when information of this nature arises, people tend to believe there is some truth to it.

Bubba Trouble, The Comeback Id: Politics and Power written by Todd Purdum. Check it out and see for yourself if it amounts to anything. I cannot believe that we are talking about such matters again on the campaign trail when so much is at stake for the Democratic Party. We have to win this election or another term under the Republican Party will signify Bush as usual because John McCain doesn’t seem to have the backbone, comprehension or where withal to do any better. To be honest with you, this sounds like a hatchet job becasue the article is unfair because it is filled with allegations by people who are unnamed. That’s bad journalism to me and I don’t blame him for fighting back. The timing of this article is hugely unfortunate and unfair. Just my thoughts, you be the judge…

Filed under: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Indiscretions

Bill Clinton Says the Campaign Process is a Cover-Up

Bill Clinton is at it again. He said that he has “never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running,” his wife that is. He unleashed this barrage in South Dakota today detailing how his wife has been treated during her presidential bid, telling the crowd that “she will win the general election if you nominate her. They’re just trying to make sure you don’t.”Media reports said that Clinton spent more than six minutes calmly discussing what he called a “frantic effort to push her out” of this race, saying that no one asked Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson or Gary Hart to end their presidential campaigns early.

Clinton also spoke against bullying superdelegates to make up their minds, saying, “I can’t believe it. It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out. ‘Oh, this is so terrible: The people they want her. Oh, this is so terrible: She is winning the general election, and he is not. Oh my goodness, we have to cover this up.” Yes, he finally said it, what we have here blocking Hillary Clinton’s path to the White House is a “cover-up.” Bill Clinton is out of his mind!

“If you vote for her and she does well in Montana and she does well in Puerto Rico, when this is over she will be ahead in the popular vote,” Clinton said. “And they’re trying to get her to cry uncle before the Democratic Party has to decide what to do in Florida and Michigan because they are claiming that it only takes 2029 votes on the first ballot to win, and it takes a lot more than that if you put Florida and Michigan back in. Well, they will have to unless we want to lose the election. I mean, look, so there is that that is going on.”

“She is winning the general election today and he is not, according to all the evidence,” Clinton said. “And I have never seen anything like it. I have never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running. Her only position was, “Look, if I lose I’ll be a good team player. We will all try to win but let’s let everybody vote and count every vote.'”

Of course, he would not conclude this thrashing with giving the media a tongue-lashing. He said that ever since Iowa they have been against his wife, making him feel as though he was living in a “fun house.” As he concluded his thoughts on how this election has been handled, he again went back to the media’s choice of coverage. “If you notice, there hasn’t been a lot of publicity on these polls I just told you about,” Clinton said. “It is the first time you’ve heard it? Why do you think that is? Why do you think? Don’t you think if the polls were the reverse and he was winning the electoral college against Sen. McCain and Hillary was losing it, it would be blasted on every television station? You would know it wouldn’t you? It wouldn’t be a little secret. And there is another Electoral College poll that I saw yesterday had her over 300 electoral votes, yeah. She will win the general election is you nominate her. They’re just trying to make sure you don’t.”

Every time Bill Clinton comes out swinging for his wife it backfires. I guess this is nothing more than desperation on the part of Team Clinton and the fact that their precious dream of being the only husband-wife team to be president of the USA is fading fast. Bill Clinton, for what it is worth, back in the day was a good campaigner and an astute politician. It seems that he has lost his mojo or something to that effect. He is not the masterful politician and campaigner as he once was. So, do we need to sit through another tongue-lashing from Bill Clinton about how the nomination process is going? Everything the Clintons do is calculating and intentional. I think the American people are just tired of politics as usual and the political establishments in Washington D.C. I guess the Republicans are happy because they feel that Barack Obama is the weaker of the two candidates, as it has been said in the media. Well, I guess Bill Clinton is about to put his foot right back into his mouth with comments about a “cover-up.” He needs to just get real, Team Clinton has no one to blame for this campaign but Team Clinton. Had they done the right thing and not alienated and insulted voters, as well as embellished the truth in numerous instances, then I am pretty sure that Hillary Clinton may have been the nominee from the Democratic Party by now. With her recent comments about Robert Kennedy’s assassination, she has essentially taken herself out of serious contention for the vice presidential spot. Just my thoughts, you be the judge….

Filed under: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, cover-up, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, John McCain

Watch Out! Hillary Clinton is Crying Again

Watch out people! Hillary Clinton is at it again. She teared up again, right before another primary. According to news reports, when she took the microphone from one of her old law school professors at a New Haven, Connecticut, event, she said that the moment had gotten to her. Awwww, gee, I am touched. “I said I would not tear up. Already, we’re not exactly on that path,” Clinton told the audience. She doesn’t deserve the presidency, she deserves an Oscar award for that performance.

Photos from the event also reveal what appear to be moist eyelids on the former first lady. The comment comes just one day before the presidential candidates face voters in Super Tuesday polls, and Clinton is hoping to edge out a surging Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.

This show of her emotional side comes less than a month after another public emotional moment for her. She almost broke down as she was facing criticism in early January for not being human enough, but a widely seen video recording showed Clinton shedding a tear at a New Hampshire event just before the primary there. That moment might have helped give her the boost she needed to win The Granite State. Damn, she can cry on cue!

According to news reports, the moment in Connecticut came as she revisited her law school days while hosting a campaign event at the Yale Child Study Center where she first pursued her interest in child advocacy. Penn Rhodeen, a New Haven public interest lawyer who worked with Clinton as a student, recalled her showing up on his doorstep wearing purple bell-bottoms.
“It was so 1972,” he recalled, praising Clinton for her longtime interest in helping children. “Here is the abiding truth we know — you have always been a champion for children. Welcome home, dear friend. We are so proud of you,” he said.

Clinton at one point wiped her eyes with her hand, but unlike her teary-eyed moment in Portsmouth, N.H., her voice never broke. Of course not. This is a performance people. It is an act. Hillary, read our lips: STOP THE CRYING, IT IS PLAYED OUT!

Filed under: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Crying, Hillary Clinton, Presidential Elections