Watch their statements side by side.
From President Obama: “Stand up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the US”
GOP candidates, please take note.
Thank you.
President Obama at Human Rights Campaign Dinner 2011
President Obama begins speaking at the 9:20 mark.
I think it was a good speech. Considering he spoke for 20 minutes, he listed accomplishments, hit future goals and fired up the base for the election ahead.
I think there’s a reality to what can be done in a single speech and in a single term. He’s done more than any other American President for the LGBT community.
I know many would like to see more done – as do I – but I also have a sense of reality in an election year how much will or can get done. With the GOP candidates running so far to the right, Obama needs to move to the center to hold on to the independent voters as well as his base in the Democrat party.
I also believe that a 2nd term President Obama will be a different President than a 1st term President Obama. These are political realities. With the experience of four years, plus the lack of pressure regarding re-election I honestly believe President Obama will press harder on many of the issues that concern the LGBT community.
Revolution often represents quick changes that don’t last, while evolution can be slow changes that do last.
I had a few “conversations” tonight after the speech, and while others kept saying we have to keep “pushing” Obama – and I agree with “keep pushing” – there’s a point where it becomes a negative if all the LGBT community does is bitch and complain about what President Obama hasn’t done for us. Push – but know there are political realities.
Thank you for what you’ve done for us President Obama. Please keep moving forward.
Quote for the day: President Obama
“I mean has anybody been watching the debates lately? You’ve got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change. It’s true. You’ve got audiences cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don’t have healthcare. And booing a service member in Iraq because they’re gay. That’s not reflective of who we are.”
– Barack Obama at Democratic fundraiser
President Obama at the UN: “we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere”
Obama addressing the United Nations: “No country should deny people their rights, the freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but also no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere.”
President Obama announces debt reduction plan
President Barack Obama called for $1.5 trillion in new taxes Monday, part of a total 10-year deficit reduction package totaling more than $3 trillion. “We can’t just cut our way out of this hole,” the president said.
Obama’s plan would end Bush-era tax cuts for top earners and would limit their deductions.
Responding to a complaint from Republicans about his proposed tax on the wealthy, Obama added: “This is not class warfare. It’s math.”
28 recent polls show Americans support some tax increases as part of any serious deficit reduction plan.
Coupled with about $1 trillion in cuts already approved by Congress and signed by the president, overall deficit reduction would total more than $4 trillion, a number many economists cite as a minimum threshold to bring the nation’s debt under control.
Key features of Obama’s plan:
• $1.5 trillion in new revenue, which would include about $800 billion realized over 10 years from repealing the Bush-era tax rates for couples making more than $250,000. It also would place limits on deductions for wealthy filers and end certain corporate loopholes and subsidies for oil and gas companies.
• $580 billion in cuts in mandatory benefit programs, including $248 billion in Medicare and $72 billion in Medicaid and other health programs. Other mandatory benefit programs include farm subsidies and federal employee benefits.
• $430 billion in savings from lower interest payment on the national debt.
• $1 trillion in savings from drawing down military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.
• $48 billion – The administration’s Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee, which has been proposed multiple times but never moved in Congress, would require the nation’s biggest banks to pay any outstanding costs associated with the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). I would expect the Tea Party to support this whole-heartedly.
• $4 billion annually – Repealing tax subsidies to the hugely profitable oil and gas industries.
President Obama’s Jobs Speech – in 35 seconds
Rush Limbaugh on Oreos and Obama
Rush Limbaugh on the new Oreo cookie and President Obama: “Kraft foods is going to launch a new Oreo … It’s a Triple Double Oreo. Do you like Oreos, is that? Well, it, what it’s going to be here, it’s actually a biracial cookie. You’ve got three of the chocolate wafers, and then you’ve got the white vanilla cream, the cream, and then there’s a chocolate cream. So you’ve got, you’ve got three — the stuff, the thing that says Oreo on it, the wafer. And then you’ve got the white cream, then you’ve got another chocolate wafer, then you’ve got the chocolate cream, and then you’ve got the bottom wafer. The Triple Double Oreo. You wait, it isn’t going to be long before it’s called the Or-Bam-eo, or something like this. Well, it’s a biracial cookie, here … In the midst of all this talk of obesity. And, I mean, every time Michelle Obama goes out there and talks about healthful eating, the food industry responds with, ‘Oh, yeah? Take this.’ And Kraft comes up with the Or-Bam-eo, the triple double-dipper.”
There is no way that Rush Limbaugh is ignorant of the racial slur “Oreo,” which refers to a black person who “acts white” or is white on the inside. Is this a pointed comment at President Obama being an “Oreo”?
Presidential Vacations
There has been some criticism of the president taking a few days vacation at this time. But how does the number of vacation days the president has spent compare to his predecessors? CBS Radio’s Mark Knoller has kept track of presidential vacations for years and supplied the data.
So far, President Obama has taken 61 vacation days after 31 months in office. This number is actually only a third of what his predecessor had taken at this point in his presidency.
At this point in their presidencies:
George W. Bush had spent 180 days at his ranch
Ronald Reagan had taken 112 vacation days at his ranch.
Bill Clinton took the least time off — 28 days.
Unlike Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, who got grief for vacationing at the family estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, Obama doesn’t own a vacation home.
To be fair, a presidential vacation away from the White House is not the same as a vacation for the average person. The president is still in contact with his advisers and on call for any emergency.
What The Heck Has Obama Done So Far?
