Inaugural Feedback

From: wniles@nilesadvertising.com
To: Vaughndobson@aol.com
Sent: 1/20/2009 10:33:27 A.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: RE: INAUGURAL DAY MOMENTS


Hey Family,

I am getting emails from California, Houston, US Virgin Island, Arizona, Philadelphia, Dominican Republic..... all over. Everyones is pumped-up and so optimistic. I am on my way to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Bldg. to share this moment with the Harlem Community. I will continue pray and encourage others to do the same for President Obama, his family and administration. Pray is powerful.

Wendell Niles

President

Niles Advertising

The Inaugural Feedback

From: Rositakard
To: Vaughndobson
Sent: 1/20/2009 2:44:15 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: our president

Hello Vaughn.
I am just filled with such emotion just having witnessed a president of our United States make his case for our nation to be hopeful of the changes he will usher in to make our country whole. Changes that will give everyone the opportunity to be what they have dreamed of being regardless of who their grandparents were; changes that will honor our gift of freedom by uniting in peace not war; changes that will once again make the United States earn its legacy of the most powerful nation in the world by upholding those "old" values of hard work, compassion, honesty and tolerance; changes that will allow the United States to make alliances and give aide to countries who come to us in peace- I loved the way Obama said that citizens of a country will look to to see what has been built not what has been destroyed. Obama honored over and over again the struggle of race and equality in this "young" nation. His presidency is the absolute culmanation of that long, hard struggle seen in the faces of so many people there.

I truly believe that Obama has the grit and high intelligence to get this job done. Every young African American person I see in my work at Catholic Charities has demonstrated in some form or another that they have HOPE. Obama celebrated and honored his roots. Awesome for young people to see.

The bigots of this country have no place to hide anymore. I really feel that they won't be tolerated.Let's pray that Obama is safe always and God protects him and his family.I have never been prouder to be an American. I have never had more hope in humanity.

Hope to see you soon and give you a celebratory hug.
Rose

President Obama In Living Color!

Catch the Inaugural Address here:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Full Speech Here:

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, 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, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Read more...

Thompson for Mayor: The Political Whirl

From the New York Times:

William C. Thompson Jr. has put it in writing: He’s running for mayor.

In documents filed on Wednesday afternoon with the city’s Campaign Finance Board, Mr. Thompson, the city’s comptroller, formally designated himself as a candidate for mayor, said an aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information is not yet public.

By checking the mayor’s box on the fund-raising forms, Mr. Thompson is “putting to rest any doubts about his plans,” the aide said. “He is running for mayor.”

Mr. Thompson, a Democrat who is the city’s chief financial officer, was roundly expected to drop out of the mayor’s race after the city’s term limits were extended this fall, clearing a path for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to seek re-election. Many predicted that the comptroller, a low-key, mild-mannered politician, did not have the stomach to take on Mr. Bloomberg.

Instead, Mr. Thompson has started waging an unexpectedly aggressive campaign for mayor. Over the last month, he has created a Web site, held a series of fund-raisers and lashed out at Mr. Bloomberg in combative speeches.

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Before They Were The First Couple

From The New Yorker:

On May 26, 1996, Mariana Cook visited Barack and Michelle Obama in Hyde Park as part of a photography project on couples in America. What follows is excerpted from her interviews with them.

MICHELLE OBAMA: There is a strong possibility that Barack will pursue a political career, although it’s unclear. There is a little tension with that. I’m very wary of politics. I think he’s too much of a good guy for the kind of brutality, the skepticism.

When you are involved in politics, your life is an open book, and people can come in who don’t necessarily have good intent. I’m pretty private, and like to surround myself with people that I trust and love. In politics you’ve got to open yourself to a lot of different people. There is a possibility that our futures will go that way, even though I want to have kids and travel, spend time with family, and like spending time with friends. But we are going to be busy people doing lots of stuff. And it’ll be interesting to see what life has to offer. In many ways, we are here for the ride, just sort of seeing what opportunities open themselves up. And the more you experiment the easier it is to do different things. If I had stayed in a law firm and made partner, my life would be completely different. I wouldn’t know the people I know, and I would be more risk-averse. Barack has helped me loosen up and feel comfortable with taking risks, not doing things the traditional way and sort of testing it out, because that is how he grew up. I’m more traditional; he’s the one in the couple that, I think, is the less traditional individual. You can probably tell from the photographs—he’s just more out there, more flamboyant. I’m more, like, “Well, let’s wait and see. What did that look like? How much does it weigh?”

BARACK OBAMA: All my life, I have been stitching together a family, through stories or memories or friends or ideas. Michelle has had a very different background—very stable, two-parent family, mother at home, brother and dog, living in the same house all their lives.

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Mr. Obama, Here's How You Fix The Economy

Paul Krugman, columnist for the New York Times gives the President-elect some advice:

Last week President-elect Barack Obama was asked to respond to critics who say that his stimulus plan won’t do enough to help the economy. Mr. Obama answered that he wants to hear ideas about “how to spend money efficientlyand effectively to jump-start the economy.”

O.K., I’ll bite — although as I’ll explain shortly, the “jump-start” metaphor is part of the problem.

First, Mr. Obama should scrap his proposal for $150 billion in business tax cuts, which would do little to help the economy. Ideally he’d scrap the proposed $150 billion payroll tax cut as well, though I’m aware that it was a campaign promise.

Money not squandered on ineffective tax cuts could be used to provide further relief to Americans in distress — enhanced unemployment benefits, expanded Medicaid and more. And why not get an early start on the insurance subsidies — probably running at $100 billion or more per year — that will be essential if we’re going to achieve universal health care?

Mainly, though, Mr. Obama needs to make his plan bigger. To see why, consider a new report from his own economic team.

On Saturday, Christina Romer, the future head of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Jared Bernstein, who will be the vice president’s chief economist, released estimates of what the Obama economic plan would accomplish. Their report is reasonable and intellectually honest, which is a welcome change from the fuzzy math of the last eight years.

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A Big Step Towards Voter Rights Reform

From The Washington Post:

The Supreme Court agreed yesterday to examine whether a central component of landmark civil rights legislation enacted to protect minority voters is still needed in a nation that has elected an African American president.

The court will decide the constitutionality of a provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that seeks to protect minority voting rights by requiring a broad set of states and jurisdictions where discrimination was once routine to receive federal approval before altering any of their voting procedures.

The Supreme Court has upheld the requirement in the past, saying the intrusion on state sovereignty is warranted to protect voting rights and eliminate discrimination against minorities. But challengers say it ignores the reality of modern America and "consigns broad swaths of the nation to apparently perpetual federal receivership based on 40-year-old evidence."

"It has the potential to be the most important election-law case this court has heard," said Richard L. Hasen, an elections expert at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, adding that it raises the possibility that "the remedy that was once constitutional is now unconstitutional."

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