Obama wins, first black to gain presidency

[grovestreet]

---

and although it seems heaven sent
we ain't ready, to see a black president. ugh!
- tupac shakur (changes)

hehe

[TheCoffee]

Obama snubbed the Philippines? Please.

Excuse me for being an entire month late in throwing my two cents into this issue, but the story that Barack Obama supposedly snubbed Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is sounding more and more ridiculous with each passing day, which is doubly infuriating because I'm totally aware that I'm the only one still paying any attention. Despite the fact that this falsehood has ceased to be a ripe issue and has tragically lapsed into the realm of conventional wisdom, allow me a moment to sort out the facts as a sort of token honoris causa to sanity.

So here's the premise: Following the presidential elections in America last November 4, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, along with every other world leader who isn't a total dick, makes a phone call to Barack Obama to congratulate him on being elected the next President of the United States. And like every other person who had just been elected President of the United States at the time, he was a tad too busy to take phone calls at three in the morning, even if it was the leaders of every other country in the world at the other end of the line.

Apparently in the thin-skinned bizzaro world of the Philippine opposition this amounts to a snub.

Two days later Obama got around to the first batch of around 10 return calls to world leaders who congratulated him, and much to the delight of cynics the Philippines was not one of those lucky chosen few. This is apparently enough to conclude that "Snubs show Obama is no RP friend" and plaster that statement as the headline of some front page analysis.

Now it's worth mentioning the sort of nonsense Amando Doronila put into this particular linked article because it reflects the baloney that people on that side of the bridge trick themselves and the casual public into believing. He said the Philippines is not on Obama's radar, he says it's a speck on his map, he calls our leaders humiliated, and he conjures up a story about Obama's staff not knowing where the Philippines is. He implies that Obama will never give a return call, calls the Philippines a sidelined leper, and then closes by saying, this is a quote, "Obama is not our friend". It's unclear whether Doronila is being maliciously crooked or merely an affable naive old man.

But what the cynics don't realize (or pretend not to notice)-- and amazingly I have yet to see a single person point this out-- was that the countries Obama returned calls to that week were basically the members of the G8 plus America's southern neighbor Mexico and their best-friend-down-under Australia and their Middle-East-mistress Israel.

Let's be real. Those that demand or expect the Philippines should be included in that top tier of countries Obama makes return calls to are either extremely presumptuous or simply don't have a clue.

In fact, Arroyo did get a return call from Obama on November 17, making her the first Southeast Asian leader to get such a call, a fact which would make a lot of Filipinos feel all fuzzy inside had only someone bothered to point it out aside from myself several weeks after the fact. The only other Southeast Asian leader Obama has called up is Indonesia's president on November 24. Does this make Malaysia and Singapore lepers too, or does Obama get the benefit of the doubt this time?

Other people who Obama has returned calls to in the weeks after he called Arroyo are the leaders of Argentina, Chile, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Haiti, Afghanistan, the Palestinian Authority, the European Commission, and United Nations. Just yesterday he made calls to the leaders of Denmark, Greece, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, and the Netherlands.

Anyone who was spreading intrigue or prematurely declaring a new dark age of Philippine-American relations needs a good kick in the ass from the boot of perspective.

Unfortunately it's the cynics that have won this round, not by being correct (clearly) but by barking the loudest at a time when people gave a damn and couldn't know any better. They've succeeded at their goal of undermining respect for the government and making people feel just a little bit worse about their country and the people in charge of it. So who, really, is no friend of the Philippines?

[Sol_Itaire]

Rick Warren to give invocation in the upcoming inauguration.

I'm not a church-goer but i respect Rick Warren. He is as much a leader as Obama. Weeeeeee!

[brad]

sup
what poopin yo,
what cha takin bout snubin somebody

this is obama.
merry christmas to your family from my family.
check out my freestyle on the eve january 20 09.
its gonna da bomb kid.


peace out son

your prez.

[babygrace_pilapil]

good luck sa mga aeta...
hehe

[Sol_Itaire]

hapit na inauguration. weeeee!

[hobie]

Hapit na gyud, good luck earth

[Malic]

IT: With Obama at helm, Iranian threat looms large
Israel Today Headline News
From FEATURE: With Obama at helm, Iranian threat looms lar
Sunday, November 09, 2008 Nicole Jansezian

With President-elect Barack Obama ready to assume power in the most powerful nation on earth, Israel faces the grave prospect of a nuclear Iran. Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center, says he is worried about Obama’s stated intention to "conciliate with our enemies, not support our friends. That worries me a great deal."

Rubin said that while the Israeli-Palestinian situation is not likely to be vastly affected by any American president, the more serious threat is a nuclear Iran and the "extremely serious strategic challenge which affects 20 countries or more."

"We have every reason to believe that [Obama] will take a relatively soft approach, whether or not he holds direct negotiations or indirect negotiations" with Iran, Rubin told a news briefing in Jerusalem last week. "We cannot expect that he will take a tougher line on sanctions and pressures, and he will not persuade Tehran that he's going to do so. This will have the predictable effect that the Iranians are going to push ahead on nuclear weapons as fast as they have with much less concern over the consequences."

While Israeli leaders welcomed Obama's election and said they expect the "special strategic relationship" between the two countries to continue, signs of strain quickly emerged. A day after the election, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni publicly condemned Obama's plans to talk to Iran.

"We live in a neighborhood in which dialogue -- in a situation where you have brought sanctions, and you then shift to dialogue -- is liable to be interpreted as weakness," Livni said. Asked if she supported the US dialogue with Iran, Livni replied: "The answer is no."

Some Israelis are jealous of a charismatic figure that galvanized a nation, a dynamic missing in Israeli politics. As Israel heads toward its own elections, no such visionary leader has risen up.

But others expressed misgivings about Obama's policies toward Israel. An editorial in the right-wing Israel National News said Obama's readiness to sit down with an adversary comes from his "limited experience in international affairs."

"One who surrenders and retreats in hopes of gaining a little peace places his own survival in jeopardy," the editorial said. "Such has been Israel's experience at least since the year 2000, and such will be the experience of the United States if it sacrifices the interests of its allies in the pursuit of facile and elusive 'solutions.'"

More cause for concern came from the Arab press. The Lebanese newspaper al-Ahbar reported that Obama told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in secret that he supports a Palestinian state and Arab "rights to East Jerusalem." The sources said Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad "heard the best things they ever heard from an American president."

The London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi ran an editorial by Abdelbari Atwan who said that Obama won a racial intifada (uprising) to become president. He said the Arabs should learn from this to "impose our point of view and serve our cause."

"The conditions are now right for the Arabs to use their wealth to obtain a favorable commitment from the US and correct historical mistakes made in Palestine," Atwan writes. "It is our right today to show our support for Obama, not because his father is called Hussein, or because he is black, even less because he is Moslem. But just because he revolted against contempt."

Palestinians in Gaza celebrated Obama's victory with spontaneous celebrations in the streets and waving Hamas flags, probably more an expression of contempt for President Bush than support for Obama.

By contrast, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert praised Bush and said he would go down in Israeli history. "His name will be engraved in golden letters on the heart of the State of Israel," Olmert said. "The $30 billion we received over 10 years are only the very tip of the iceberg of the things Bush has given us."

By the same token, a poll showed that 76 percent of American voters in Israel cast their ballots for Bush's fellow Republican John McCain. It was the direct opposite in America where Jews voted on domestic issues and put Israel on the back burner. Polls show that some 78 percent of American Jews voted for Obama.

--
Online Petition Against HB 5043 (Lagman anti-life Bill)
No to Reproductive Health Bill (HB5043) Petition

Obama likes to pursue peace but Zionist totally disagree with it. Mao ng wa jud peace tungod aning klase nga attitude.

[Dorothea]

To all US peeps, on Inauguration Day, get your free Krispy Kreme!

Now, if only Starbucks would offer free coffee, life as we know it would be perfect.

*haaaaYyy*

[Motownkid]

Today is Martin Luther King Day... Tomorrow is Barack Obama's Inauguration...

One of the most historic events in centuries is about to happen. Good luck to all who will be witnessing the momentous occasion & be safe.