Inaugurating Obama's Dictatorship

What else can you call it?  

"Obama.... utilizing more of the executive powers of the presidency....  the plan to take full advantage of the legal powers of his office, relying more on executive orders to impose his agenda....  the evolution in his thinking.... what powers there are in the presidency and how to use them more fully.... the president would have to decide what laws he wants to break...."  


EXCUSE ME?

I mean, I know he has already committed a bunch of war crimes with his personal attention to drone missile strikes, and his authority under which torture, indefinite detentions, and warrantless spying are carried out. 

Btw, his legal powers include killing anyone, anytime, anywhere, in the name of the war on terror. 

"Inaugural planning for Obama almost afterthought

Last time, the ticketed crowd included scores of celebrities, with Oprah Winfrey, MTV, and Nickelodeon holding special broadcasts from the capital city. An inaugural weekend concert at the Lincoln Memorial in 2009 featured appearances by Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, Jamie Foxx, and Tiger Woods. No such event is planned this time.

Questions remain about how the inaugural committee will handle fund-raising to put on the parade, balls, and other celebratory events. Four years ago, the committee tried to make good on Obama’s campaign promise to change the way business is done in Washington by refusing contributions from corporations, unions, political action committees and lobbyists and by limiting individual donations to $50,000. But some on his team want to lift that self-imposed restriction this year to make fund-raising easier at a time when there’s less hype to fuel it."

Translation: you corporate interests can start rolling the cash up in a wheelbarrow. 

"Inaugural planners seeking big-money donations

WASHINGTON — Planners of President Obama’s second inauguration are making an unprecedented solicitation for high-dollar contributions up to $1 million to help pay for the celebration in exchange for special access.

This at a time of austerity for the American people, and with President 'bomber spewing platitudes from his mouth.

The changes are part of a continuing erosion of Obama’s pledge to keep donors and special interests at arm’s length of his presidency.

After four years I'm kind of numb to the disappointments and broken promises.

He has abandoned the policy from his first inauguration to accept donations up to only $50,000 from individuals, announcing last month that he would take unlimited contributions from individuals and corporations.

A $ign of corporate totalitarianism.

See: For inaugural, Obama will accept corporate donations

Why not?  They funded his f***ing campaign.

A fund-raising appeal obtained by the Associated Press shows the Presidential Inaugural Committee is going far beyond his previous self-imposed limits — or apparently any fund-raising in the modern history of American presidential inaugurations — by offering donors four VIP packages named after the country’s founding fathers....

All that money-grubbing would have horrified those conscientious aristocrats. 

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Looks like it will be easy to get a room:

"D.C. hotels less busy for Obama’s 2d inauguration" Associated Press, December 26, 2012

WASHINGTON — Visitors coming to the nation’s capital for President Obama’s second inauguration can’t stay in the one place President Ronald Reagan’s family once called an eight-star hotel. That spot is the White House, and it’s booked for the next four years.

But because second inaugurations tend to draw fewer spectators, finding a place to stay in Washington won’t be nearly as difficult as in 2009.

City officials are expecting 600,000 to 800,000 visitors for the Jan. 21 inauguration, far less than the 1.8 million people who flooded the National Mall four years ago to witness the inauguration of America’s first black president. Then, some hotels sold out months in advance and city residents rented out their homes for hundreds of dollars a night.

This time, hotels say they’re filling up more slowly, with rooms still available and prices at or slightly below where they were four years ago.

‘‘Very few hotels are actually sold out at this point, so there’s a lot of availability,’’ said Elliott Ferguson, chief executive of the tourism bureau Destination D.C.

In 2009, hotel occupancy in the city for the night before the inauguration was 98 percent, and visitors paid an average rate of more than $600 that night, said STR, a company that tracks hotel data.

This time, some hotels still have half their rooms available. Some establishments have relaxed minimum stays to three nights and could drop prices closer to the inauguration.

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"In debt crisis, options push legal limits; Obama could tap disputed powers" by Jim Kuhnhenn  |  Associated Press, January 14, 2013

WASHINGTON — A fresh showdown. The possibility of Social Security cuts — and more — is back on the table in exchange for an agreement raising the borrowing limit....

They only backed the car up from the cliff. Then it was full speed ahead again.

It could shortchange Social Security recipients and other people, including veterans and the poor, who rely on government programs.

It also could force the Treasury to contemplate selling government assets, a step considered but rejected in 2011. In short, the Treasury would have to create its own form of triage, drawing up a priority list of its most crucial obligations, from interest payments to debtors to benefits to vulnerable Americans.

They are always first in line for the tax booty. You who paid for it? Last. 

In such a debt crisis, the president would have to decide what laws he wants to break.... 

Say what?

‘‘There are only two options to deal with the debt limit: Congress can pay its bills or they can fail to act and put the nation into default,’’ White House press secretary Jay Carney said. ‘‘Congress needs to do its job.’’

So what is left if Congress does not act in time?

Technically, the government hit the debt ceiling at the end of December. Since then, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has halted full payments into the retirement and disability fund for government workers and to the health benefits fund of Postal Service retirees.

The Treasury can stop payments to a special fund that purchases or sells foreign currencies to stabilize world financial markets. Past administrations have taken such steps to buy time awaiting a debt ceiling increase.

Those measures and others could keep the government solvent, perhaps as far as early March, according to an analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The federal government also could sell some of its assets, from its gold stockpile to its student loan portfolio. 

That's what you and I own collectively, Americans!

Treasury Department officials in 2011 considered and rejected the idea, concluding that gold sales would destabilize the international financial system, that selling off the student loan portfolio was not feasible, and that such ‘‘fire sales’’ would buy only limited time.

Once all efforts are exhausted, then the government would be in uncharted territory.

It would continue to get tax revenue, but hardly enough to keep up with the bills. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, the federal government between Feb. 15 and March 15 will get $277 billion in revenue and face $452 billion in obligations. The Treasury would have to decide whether to pay some obligations and not others or to simply pay for one day’s bills as tax revenue rolls in, exponentially delaying payments the longer the debt ceiling is not raised. Under virtually every approach contemplated, payment of interest on the debt takes precedence to put off a calamitous default.

Nothing is changing, Americans. 

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But the inaugural committee is finding plenty of dough:

"Group promoting Obama has no fund-raising limits

WASHINGTON — A new political operation created to advance President Obama’s agenda in his second term will be allowed to raise unlimited money and accept corporate contributions, but officials said Friday the donations will be disclosed.

Well, we $ee who is behind the agenda!

Obama for America, the organization that mobilized the president’s supporters during his two races for the White House, now has a new name: Organizing for Action.

A rose, by any other name, is still a rose.... and a turd by any other name still stinks. 

The aim of the group, which will be overseen by an inner circle of former campaign advisers, will be to promote Obama’s policies and to give Democratic activists and other allies a way to rally behind his agenda.

The group’s chairman will be Jim Messina, the president’s campaign manager in 2012. He said Friday the grass-roots effort would start by tackling gun control, immigration, and climate change and would operate under the same financing rules as the president’s inauguration committee, which accepts corporate contributions.

“We’re disclosing all donors,’’ Messina said in an interview. ‘‘The president feels strongly about transparency.’’

Pfft! 

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Related: Post-Election Aftermath: Obama's Agenda

And adding insult to inauguration?

"Inauguration Day will coincide with King holiday" by Kate Brumback  |  Associated Press, January 19, 2013

ATLANTA — President Obama plans to use a Bible that belonged to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as he takes his oath of office on the holiday honoring the slain leader, marking what some say is an inextricable tie between the nation’s first black president and the civil rights movement.

It is only the second time Inauguration Day has coincided with the King holiday. Some say it is fitting that the celebrations are intertwined.

‘‘It’s almost like fate and history coming together,’’ said US Representative John Lewis, who worked alongside King in the fight for civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s and plans to attend the inauguration. ‘‘If it hadn’t been for Martin Luther King Jr., there would be no Barack Obama as president.’’ 

So that's who his father is!

****************

The only other time a presidential inauguration has fallen on the King holiday was in 1997 at the start of President Clinton’s second term....  

The president plans to take the oath of office for his second term with his hand on two Bibles, one owned by King and one by Abraham Lincoln....

Oh for the love of Lincoln!

Obama also plans to honor King throughout his inaugural weekend, beginning by asking Americans to volunteer in their communities on Saturday to honor the civil right leader’s legacy of service.

Not that I'm against pitching in; however, I'm tired of looting government appealing to us to pick up the slack. 

Inaugural planners also say there will be a float honoring King in the parade to the White House after the swearing-in ceremony.

In Washington and Baltimore, however, annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parades have been moved to avoid conflicting with the inauguration. The Baltimore parade, typically a major event in the majority-black city, will be held Saturday.

The parade along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in southeast Washington has been moved to April 20, the 50-year anniversary of King’s release from a Birmingham, Ala., jail. 

In Montgomery, Ala., where King did some of his early civil rights work while pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, the annual parade and rally at the state Capitol are to be held as normal on Monday, though some prominent black politicians will miss it because they will be at the inauguration.

The National Civil Rights Museum — the site of the Memphis motel where King was fatally shot on a balcony on April 4, 1968 — is hosting a food drive and blood drive, and touring a new exhibit focused on African-American women in the civil rights movement. However, much of the facility is closed for renovations, and it will not host an inauguration watch party.

See: Slow Saturday Special: King-Sized Insult

Bernice King, who is also president and chief executive of the King Center, which is dedicated to preserving and promoting her father’s legacy, said she is not worried about the inauguration drawing people away from the annual celebration at Ebenezer Baptist Church, which will include watching the ceremony on a big screen after the service.

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I'm surprised the speech at Riverside wasn't mentioned.

"As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men.... They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government."

Related: Obama Misses MLK's Message Again 

So did the AmeriKan media -- again!

"President Obama still talks of change in 2d term; For president, success will mean wresting progress from the numbers that confound us" by Matt Viser  |  Globe Staff, January 20, 2013

WASHINGTON — The mood was ebullient that day. A new face, a new breed of politician, had put his hand on the Bible that once belonged to Abraham Lincoln. Then the 47-year-old Barack Obama, born of a struggling white mother and a black father he barely knew, walked with his family to the White House, carrying with him a nation’s hopes, fears, and dreams.

But by the day’s end, harsh realities would become clear, previewing the challenges and messy politics to come: The stock market plunged 4 percent.

Four years after that day of history, the mood in advance of President Obama’s second inaugural is rooted more inreality and a sense of limits. The talk in the nation’s capital is no longer about grand ideas, or sweeping generational change. It’s about whether the government will be able to pay its bills next month. And although Obama sought to be a postpartisan president, his tenure is increasingly being marked by bruising partisan battles.

At the White House, however, the belief is that this is not just a second inaugural but a second act, with a changed man in the lead who has been shaped by his first term, emboldened by the lessons learned, who is seeking new ways to gain ground with or without the support of the opposition party....

Obama’s second-term power is different. It is no longer driven by the blunt political instrument of his first two years in office, when his party controlled both chambers of Congress and could pass legislation without a single Republican vote.

Now, Obama must rely on a more subtle art of politics and persuasion, spoken with the confidence of a man reelected by millions of Americans. He feels emboldened, aides say, to take on some of the nation’s hardest targets — gun control, announced last week; immigration reform; the deficit; climate change. And, to make his case, he has ahead of him the bully pulpit of his inaugural address on Monday and, three weeks later, the State of the Union.

Those two speeches — being crafted by Jon Favreau, 31, from North Reading, Mass., who has channeled Obama’s words for nearly eight years — will provide the blueprint for howObama hopes to use his political capital before itdiminishes over the next four years.

Yet mostly gone is the idea that he can heal the nation’s deep political divisions simply by preaching from a lectern. Instead, according to his advisers, Obama plans to spend more time going around Congress and communicating directly with the public, deploying the organizational campaign techniques that helped him win reelection, and utilizing more of the executive powers of the presidency.

“He goes into his second inauguration . . . as a hardened politician,” said Julian E. Zelizer, a professor of history at Princeton University. “The spirit of bipartisanship is not nearly as strong as it once was in the White House. He comes in more as a fighter, willing to take on an opposition.”

Working around Congress

Obama’s first term had begun in crisis but, notwithstanding harsh criticism from Republicans, it resulted in the major accomplishments of the stimulus bill, health care legislation, the auto bailout, Wall Street regulation, the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, and the killing of Osama bin Laden. It also included a devastating midterm election that left the GOP in control of the House.

Even with Obama’s resounding reelection, he has only control of the Senate, and lacks a filibuster-proof majority in that chamber. While his victory earlier this month on the slimmed-down package that averted the “fiscal cliff” raised hopes in the White House that he can win by dividing the Republican Party, that is a narrow road for future success....

So, while Obama will continue to try to find a pathway in Congress to tackle issues such as tax reform and immigration, he plans to lay the foundation for other paths to policy change as he heads into his second term. Chief among these alternative pathways, according to his advisers, is the plan to take full advantage of the legal powers of his office, relying more on executive orders to impose his agenda rather than working with a recalcitrant Congress. This reflects the evolution in his thinking....

Obama had hoped to play the role of negotiator and mediator, and the failure was a harsh lesson, according to Douglas Brinkley, one of several historians who have met regularly with Obama in sessions that sometimes focus on lessons from prior presidents.

“He navigated the racial divide in America. He certainly [feels he] should be able to work with Congress,” Brinkley said. “The problem the president has is you have to go back a long ways — to almost Confederates not wanting to be seen with Abraham Lincoln — to have a group of congressmen who don’t want to be seen in the same frame with him, let alone do deals with him,” Brinkley added. “I think people overrate what can be done on things like gun control and immigration. It’s just more gridlock.”

So Brinkley has spoken with Obama about the path taken byPresident Theodore Roosevelt, who treated Congress like an irritant and found ways to work around it.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, who has also been among the group of historians who have met with Obama, agreed, saying, “When you’re stymied by the Legislature, presidents have reached for executive action and been roundly yelled at by the other side. But you understand what powers there are in the presidency and how to use them more fully after you’ve absorbed those first four years. And that seems to be showing right now.” 

She's a plagiarist and yet here she is in my newspaper!!!

“That’s one thing that [Obama] has talked about that he learned,” she said. “It’s showing now — more public press conferences, and the kind of language he’s using to get public support even though it’s going to create furor on the other side.” That strategy has been evident recently. Obama last year signed an executive order that made it easier for children of illegal immigrants to become citizens, a move that helped him win Hispanic support crucial for reelection.

Last week, knowing that he might get nowhere negotiating with Congress about gun control, Obama took 23 executive actions to strengthen gun laws in the aftermath of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He also urged Americans around the country to mobilize and call for action.

Obama also showed that he is willing to use harsh campaign-style rhetoric, saying at a recent press conference that he won’t negotiate with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling. Casting the opposition as villains and himself as a fighter for the common man, the president used some surprisingly stark language when he said he wouldn’t allow Republicans to hold “a gun at the head of the American people.”

Obama’s effort to go around Congress comes from his frustration in trying to deal with Republican leaders....

Shortly after the debt ceiling deal collapsed in 2011, Obama’s campaign outlined a new theme called “We can’t wait” that outlined the ways in which he would go around Congress.

Fiscal cliff, debt ceiling, same thing.

Campaign focus groups found that people just wanted Obama to get things done, regardless of whether it was done by working with Congress or done through executive actions.

The new initiative had all the trappings of a presidential campaign. A new website was built, signs were made up, and a speech was given in Osawatomie, Kan. It was no coincidence that it was in the same small town where nearly a century earlier Theodore Roosevelt called for a strong government to protect ordinary citizens.

A crucial year lies ahead

In the immediate aftermath of the election, Obama told people close to him that winning in 2012 was almost more satisfying than winning in 2008. A portion of voters in 2008, he said, were rejecting the previous four years. Obama viewed his 2012 victory as a reaffirmation in his vision for the country. It meant his main achievements, including health care and Wall Street regulation, would be preserved and implemented, instead of dismantled, as his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, had promised.

Second terms are notoriously fickle. They can provide a framework for success, building upon the public’s vote of confidence, or turn into an exercise in lame-duck ineffectiveness. That makes the coming year all the more crucial for Obama.

Usually due to crimes and corruption.

“He has maximum political capital this year,” said Neera Tanden, president at the Center for American Progress, a think tank that has close ties with the Obama administration. “To the extent he can, he should try to forge his legislative battles this year.”

Foreign policy, as it has for many presidents, may provide fertile ground for executive initiative....

More wars?

But second terms have also been marked by missteps and scandals. President George W. Bush had the leak scandal that ensnared Scooter Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney; President Clinton had the affair with Monica Lewinsky; President Reagan had Iran Contra; and President Nixon resigned in the wake of Watergate.

Hey, place the blame on Plame, boys. You might want to take a room, too. 

“I’m more than familiar with all the literature about presidential overreach in second terms,” he said in a White House press conference shortly after he won reelection.

Obama has said one of his goals is to be a more effective communicator than during his first term, a somewhat surprising resolution for a man who wrote a bestselling book noted for its eloquent prose and a politician known for his sometimes inspirational speeches....

Using campaign network

A familiar figure appeared recently at the White House. Jim Messina, who managed Obama’s successful reelection campaign, was standing just outside the Oval Office. It was a reminder that Obama’s campaign machinery is one of his most successful legacies, and his aides are determined that it not lay fallow for the next four years. Instead, they want to make it the instrument of a successful second term.

Messina is planning to oversee the transformation of Obama’s campaign network, Organizing for America, into a nonprofit operation called Organizing for Action that will attempt to harness the campaign energy and put pressure on Congress in a way Obama aides concede they failed to do in the first term. The group has been hosting a conference for activists this weekend, in the buildup to the inauguration.

Current and former White House advisers say the first months of the term hold greater possibilities than many may realize. Four years ago, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at 7,949, losing 4 percent of its value and marking the worst Inauguration Day loss in the 113-year history of the index. Since then, the Dow has slowly but steadily risen, almost doubling its value from four years ago. On Friday, the Dow closed at 13,649. Now the emphasis is on bolstering the economy, not saving it from the brink.

Obama’s campaign will be redeployed to push the agenda of immigration, gun control, tax and entitlement reform, and global warming.

From a political standpoint, the Democratic coalition is continuing to be built in a way that could have impacts for elections to come.

Black, Hispanic, and youth voters went to the polls, in some cases in stronger numbers than four years ago. Now Obama’s second term will determine whether the voters who helped put him into office will also help him govern....

What does he need us for? He can just fire off an executive order. 

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Are you going to the inaugural? 

"Four years later, reflections on a historic inaugural" by Tracy Jan |  Globe Staff, January 20, 2013

Life has moved on....

So have I. 

the Globe followed up....

Pfft!

All say they will be watching, clinging to the promise they felt four years ago.

* * *

“It’s not that Barack Obama became president and the world changed,” said Kevin Meehan, 46. “Many people who voted for him have had some disappointments because change didn’t happen overnight. Progressives thought it was going to be utopia after the election – love, hold hands, kumbaya. But it was incremental change. When all’s said and done, we’re trudging along.”

The Meehan’s situation has improved, and more than incrementally. Kevin has a $65,000-a-year job as a case manager at a local rehabilitation nursing facility, where he sees the benefits of Obama’s health care overhaul law on a daily basis. The law has also freed the Meehans from having to choose between dining out and a flu shot.

They’re able to begin saving for a home, their children’s college educations, retirement — luxuries they could not allow themselves to consider before.

Does that just scream self-internalized elitism or what? Reporter probably didn't even know what he wrote. A home, kid's college, and retiring now luxuries, huh? Then the American dream has indeed become the AmeriKan nightmare. 

“We’re finally making ends meet,” said Kevin, who will likely watch Obama being sworn in from work. “We really are making our way to the point where the idea of being a middle class family is actually a reality.”

* * *

Doreen Hawkins, a child of immigrants from Barbados, continues to pray for Obama’s safety above all else. But she says she is now too old, too ill, too weary to make the journey for his second inauguration. She plans to watch the moment from home on television, grateful she was able to witness it the first time.

Hawkins doubts another black president will be elected in the near future, given the disrespect some members of Congress have shown Obama in his first term and what she called the vitriolic racism evident during his reelection campaign.

“I don’t know how much longer I’ll be here,” she said, “but this is enough for me.”

* * *

Lieutenant Benny White ­focused on not falling over as he marched toward the Obamas with the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment, a replication of the famous all-black military unit formed during the Civil War....  

The Civil War reenactors ­saluted Obama as they ­approached. He acknowledged them with a wave.

Other than marrying his wife and raising his four children, being in Obama’s presence was the “greatest thing that’s ever happened in my life,” said White, dressed in his period uniform of sky blue wool trousers, a navy waistcoat, and carrying a pocket watch during a recent board meeting for the regiment in Hyde Park.

White, a Vietnam-era ­Marine veteran, cofounded the reenactment regiment 22 years ago after the release of the movie “Glory,” which told the story of the volunteer infantry during the Civil War . Since the 2009 inauguration, he has been flooded with invitations to ­appear in schools, speaking to young people about the importance of history.

White will return to Washington to march in Obama’s second inauguration with a larger group....

“Obama shows you that anybody can do anything in this country,” said White....

* * *

The boys from Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Roxbury rose at 3 a.m. in a West Virginia hotel to begin their pilgrimage to the Capitol. Not that they ever went to bed. They were five teenagers who had spent the night wrestling and wondering about what they would see the next day. For most, this was their first trip outside Boston, made possible by their history teacher who secured tickets to the inauguration from US Senator John F. Kerry.

They were bright students, the few who paid attention in an overcrowded class. Their teacher, Marcie Fiorini, had persuaded them to join her history club after school, where for one hour a week she was able to expand upon her lessons.

Elysander Plaza had never paid much attention to politics, uncertain how what happened in Washington affected his young life. But he liked Obama. He trusted him and identified with him. Obama had brown skin like him, and, in another parallel, had been raised by a single mother....

Until that day, Plaza said, he was just a Puerto Rican kid who did what he was supposed to do and not much more. “I never wanted to be an overachiever,” he said, even though he did internships in the IT departments for the Red Sox, Harvard, and the Museum of Fine Arts. High school was going to be it. College seemed like somebody else’s dream.

“But I thought about how Obama made history, and how he was going to leave a legacy in this world,” Plaza said. “Ms. Fiorini would ask us what we wanted to be remembered for when we die. I didn’t want my life to not mean anything.”

***************************************************

College has been a tough transition. Plaza did not feel ­academically prepared for many of his classes, and doesn’t understand why he needs to take subjects like physics and chemistry when all he wants to do is fix computers. Even though his tuition is covered, his mother had taken out a $2,300 loan on his behalf to pay for books, health insurance, and other expenses. A collection agent regularly calls his mother’s cellphone, threatening court action.

Plaza now thinks about leaving school, just for a little while, so he can make enough money to repay the loan. He is waiting to hear from the Apple Store and Best Buy.

All of this seemed to put the buzz about Obama in the background. Plaza registered to vote but failed to cast a ballot in November. He began to wonder if Obama’s call for change had made much difference. “That was kind of a letdown for me,” Plaza said. “He sounded good at the time, but what now?”

One day recently, Plaza took the faded bus ticket from his wallet and tucked it in a shoe box in his mother’s living room closet for safekeeping.

Then, last week, he visited his former school, where he is volunteering as an assistant coach for the boys volleyball team. He ran into a computer teacher and the two reminisced about how Plaza had felt four years earlier. “My teacher told me that I had come back a different person after the inauguration,” he said.

It wasn’t just because of Obama’s words, but because so many people at the event, black and white, had told Plaza “how much of a difference we need to make and that we can make in this world.” That, it turns out, may have been the greatest inspiration of all.

On Monday, Plaza plans to watch the inauguration on television....

Not me, even though it is droning in my ear from the other room. 

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"Visitors flood D.C. for presidential inauguration" by Sheryl Gay Stolberg  |  New York Times, January 20, 2013

WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of visitors streamed into the capital city this weekend as organizers prepared for an inauguration that, while not as grand as four years ago, is still cause for celebration among supporters of President Obama....

Across town, workers spent Friday erecting lighting and stages for Obama’s two official inaugural balls. Tens of thousands of ticketholders will cram into the 2.3-million-square-foot Washington Convention Center on Monday night, where they will be entertained by the likes of Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, and the cast of TV’s ‘‘Glee’’ — all while hoping for a glimpse of Obama and his wife, Michelle, twirling around the dance floor.

‘‘It’s clearly not as big or as plentiful or elaborate as the last time, but in many ways for Democrats it’s even sweeter,’’ said Hilary Rosen, a prominent Obama supporter. ‘‘People are thrilled about the president; there are a record number of women in the Senate. Gay people are happy, and Latinos. You have these pillars of the election; it meant something different to everybody, but it culminated in this collectively powerful feeling.’’

Officials expect 600,000 to 800,000 people to turn out on the National Mall to witness Monday’s ceremony on the West Front of the Capitol — a crowd typical for most inaugurations but far short of the 1.8 million who clogged the city in 2009, creating pedestrian gridlock that kept many ticketholders from getting to their seats.

This year, the congressional committee overseeing the Capitol ceremony arranged for extra cellphone towers to be installed on the Mall, and devised a mobile phone app with a global positioning system to help inaugural-goers navigate the city, said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, the committee chairman.

Schumer, who as master of ceremonies will make opening remarks and introduce the participants, said the thought that ‘‘so many people who have been waiting with anticipation for months won’t be able to get their seats’’ was one of two fears that had kept him awake at night. The other is that he will miss his cue to introduce the chief justice.

‘‘I’m practicing my speech, but I’m less worried about that and more worried about when I’m supposed to get up and say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. John Roberts Jr., the chief justice of the Supreme Court,’ ’’ he said. ‘‘I’m worried I won’t get up in time.’’

Obama will take his official oath of office at 11:55 a.m. Sunday in the Blue Room of the White House; the Constitution states that presidential terms expire at noon on Jan. 20. Monday’s festivities, which coincide with Martin Luther King’s Birthday, are ceremonial.

Obama will use one of King’s Bibles, along with one that belonged to Abraham Lincoln, when he retakes the oath on Monday. The swearing-in will be followed by the president’s inaugural address, lunch with congressional leaders and other top government officials, and the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.

To honor King, Obama designated Saturday a national day of service. He and his wife, Michelle, and their daughters, Malia and Sasha, spent part of Saturday afternoon helping to refurbish an elementary school in Northeast Washington, with hundreds of other volunteers organized by the City Year nonprofit group. Barack and Michelle Obama stained a bookshelf. While much of Washington is gearing up for a party, some Republicans are lying low — or getting out of town.

‘‘My wife had a partial knee replacement, so I am staying with her in Mississippi,’’ said Trent Lott, the former senator from that state, in an e-mail message. ‘‘Most Republicans will be otherwise busy. Some will attend events and parties, because it does only happen every four years.’’

But Democrats are in the mood to celebrate. Emily’s List, which helps elect Democratic women who favor abortion rights, was planning a party for 1,400 to welcome female congressional newcomers, including Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

‘‘We have record numbers of women in the House and in the Senate,’’ said Jen Bluestein, the group’s communications director. ‘‘We’re celebrating our shattering of glass ceilings everywhere.’’

The Futuro Fund, which mobilized Latino voters in support of Obama, is helping to stage a three-day ‘‘Latino Inaugural,’’ including lectures and a star-studded Sunday night celebration of Hispanics’ newfound political clout. Eva Longoria, the ‘‘Desperate Housewives’’ actress and a cochairwoman of Obama’s inaugural committee, will headline the event, along with Jose Feliciano, Chita Rivera, Rita Moreno, and other Hispanic entertainers.

Hotels said last week that rooms were booking up, in part because celebrities and their entourages were making last-minute decisions to take part.

I'm so sick of being fed s*** imagery, celebrity, and illusion along with the lies. 

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Related: Latinos take on bigger role in Obama inauguration

Wait until you see what greets you down at the plaza. 

"Security still tight for inauguration festivities; Officials trying to balance need for safety, fun" by Peter Hermann  |  Washington Post, January 20, 2013

WASHINGTON — Four years ago, law enforcement officials overseeing President Obama’s first inauguration were concerned primarily with keeping the new president safe amid rising threats and nearly 2 million spectators packing the Mall.

This year, the conversation has turned largely to balancing the need for a heavy police presence with ensuring that the crowd gets where it needs to go — and has fun — even if people have to be scanned airport-style to reach the parade route.

I'll skip the cancer scan, thanks. 

‘‘The main focus is to make sure that people enjoy the event without feeling the security is overbearing,’’ D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said Tuesday.

For the 2009 inauguration, the Secret Service ordered five extra tons of bulletproof glass, its largest-ever order of ‘‘transparent armor,’’ as preparation for possible danger.

This year, said FBI special agent Debra Evans Smith, acting assistant director of the Washington field office, there are ‘‘no credible threats against inaugural activities.’’

Translation: no intelligence agencies have a false flag planned.

Law enforcement officials from six leading agencies overseeing security at the inauguration, parade, and balls briefed reporters last week on the sensitive security preparations at a secret joint command post in suburban Washington.

Starting Sunday and running nonstop through Tuesday, representatives from 42 agencies — mostly police and military, but also from public works and state highway agencies in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland — will camp there to watch over festivities and coordinate responses to threats, emergencies, water main breaks, and traffic accidents.

They will work in front of detailed digital maps of the US Capitol grounds positioned in front of an arena-like room, along with live feeds from thousands of traffic and surveillance cameras.

Authorities declined to discuss details such as ‘‘threat levels’’ faced by those protecting the president. In 2008 and 2009, security officials worried about the large crowds Obama drew across the nation — sometimes tens of thousands more people than expected — and reported sending about 4.3 million people through metal detectors during campaign events, nearly double the number from 2004.

In the briefing, police chiefs took turns promising that they’ve learned from mistakes four years ago when ticketholders were stranded in the Third Street tunnel, unable to reach the inaugural ceremony.

The tunnel will be closed. Beyond that, police said there will be more signs, more people to direct visitors, more officers on social media sharing news and information, and smartphone apps to help deliver ticketed people to their seats with Global Positioning System data. The Secret Service is now on Twitter.

‘‘We recognize the need to get people to where they have to go,’’ said Ed Donovan, a Secret Service spokesman.

Police nevertheless warn that there will be checkpoints and road closures and urge people to come early, prepare to stand for hours in the cold, and study inaugural websites to know what they can and can’t bring: Thermoses are prohibited on the parade route, for example, and strollers are not allowed for those with tickets on the Capitol grounds.

Officials have posted lists of prohibited items on the Secret Service’s inaugural website....

But fewer people won’t diminish the police presence. D.C. police — with about 3,900 officers — are deputizing more than 2,000 from 40 states to help with security, comparable with 2009.

Lanier said the extra help will ensure that the department doesn’t have to pull officers from neighborhood patrol shifts to staff the inauguration. Most of the officers from outside agencies will line the parade route.

The National Guard is deploying more than 6,000 soldiers and airmen. Another 2,000 will be stationed just outside the city.

They will come from more than 25 states and territories, including Alabama, California, New York, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

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I can't hear him, readers!

"Boston heeds President Obama’s call for service" by Billy Baker and Dan Adams  |  Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent, January 20, 2013

The president asked. And on Saturday, hundreds in Boston answered.

As part of the National Day of Service, volunteers heeded a call from President Obama and turned out throughout the city for a variety of community projects, from serving food at soup kitchens to helping to clean blighted neighborhoods....

The National Day of Service was the kickoff to three days of inaugural festivities, and an estimated 250,000 people nationwide were expected to participate in the event, which also honors the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Obama made national service an emphasis of his 2009 inauguration as well, and on Saturday, he and his wife, Michelle, spent the morning helping to spruce up a school in Northeast Washington.

At his inauguration, John F. Kennedy famously called on the American people to “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

Related: Thanksgiving Celebration Canceled

Perhaps the greatest speech ever delivered. 

Obama made his request via e-mail and YouTube, taking advantage of the vast network of supporters who carried him to reelection.

“It’s a great way to take advantage of all those supporters after Nov. 6, but I think it needs to be more than one day,” said Megan Corrigan, a 20-year-old Harvard freshman who was wearing a hair net and slicing beets at St. Francis House.

Occupy protests ran into that problem.

While one of the stated goals of the National Day of Service is to encourage people to become regular volunteers in the community, many of those who give their time regularly feared that many of the newcomers would never be seen again.

Sister Linda Ballard, volunteer coordinator for the Haley House, a nonprofit group that fights poverty and homelessness, refers to them as “one-shot deals.”

“There’s a difference between doing a thing once and making a stand,” said Ballard....

Unless you take a different stand.

But among those who came out for the day, there was a general sense of inspiration. Not only did they say that volunteering makes them feel good, but working alongside the regular volunteers made them see the positives that could come from ongoing service.

“It gives you a lot of perspective on what’s going on around you and how much need there is,” said Erica Sorrentino, a 28-year-old research coordinator at Dana-Farber who was preparing to serve lunch. “It makes you appreciate what you have, and it’s inspired me to continue on volunteering.”

Cradles to Crayons, which collects and distributes donated children’s items, encourages youths to volunteer, and several turned out with their parents on Saturday to get a taste of altruism.

“Doing this reminds kids that not everyone is so lucky,” Valarie Lima, a 48-year-old from Allston, said as she sorted through donated children’s books. “They want the new ­iPhone, but here are kids who need shoes and backpacks.”

One day of effort will not change society’s ills.

But....

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Related:  

"Students must do more than simply memorize words from a page, she said. They must comprehend the meaning and history behind them.  “If it weren’t for Obama, all the poor people would die by now because they wouldn’t have no food to eat.”

Yeah, I must be dreaming.

"Obama takes oath, with gala to follow today; Second term begins; another swearing-in, inauguration address, parade, pomp next" by Matt Viser and David Uberti  |  Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent, January 20, 2013

WASHINGTON — The festive mood is not as grand as it was four years ago, when 1.8 million people flooded the capital to witness the inauguration of the nation’s first black president after a campaign built on messages of hope, optimism, and generational change. Fewer than half as many people are expected to attend Monday’s inauguration.

Notwithstanding Obama’s vow to change the culture of Washington, his second inauguration takes place with the country and Congress still divided after a bitter campaign. Democrats have a majority in the Senate, and Republicans rule the House....

At the new memorial to Martin Luther King Jr., hundreds gathered to pay homage to the man who delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 on the Mall, 45 years before Obama’s election. Martin Luther King III called upon the crowd to remember his father, the man whose likeness is now etched in stone.

See: Occupy is Old News

“We are a better nation than the behavior we’re exhibiting,’’ he said. “We must continue [my father’s] mission.”

*****************************

The weather forecast for Monday during the inauguration is for mostly cloudy skies, with a 30 percent chance of rain in the afternoon and a high of 44 degrees.

God sending a bit of a message? Going to rain on the parade?

Obama’s inauguration speech is expected to focus on broad themes that will urge Americans to be more active in politics, as well as make a new call for bipartisanship....

Just be active in the right way. Don't be an antiwar or Ron Pauler.

Obama’s State of the Union address, which will come in about three weeks, will be more focused on the specific policy proposals expected to guide his next term, including immigration, gun control, and climate change. The next few months, though, will be largely guided by financial issues such as raising the debt ceiling and cutting the growth of the budget.

After his speech and swearing-in ceremony, Obama will join members of Congress for lunch....

Speaking of which.... 

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Related: Marking the start of second term, Obama calls for unity and action

An inaugural speech worth waiting for?

I didn't think so as he was in my ear as I worked on this post. I didn't like the hubris, arrogance, and self-delusional exceptionalism.

Also see: For Obama, a second term hanging by the debt ceiling

Action on guns and immigration needed

Taking oath in America’s shrine

NEXT DAY UPDATES:

President Obama urges unity for common good

President Obama stuns with call for gay rights

In the throng, mix of hope, worry about divide

Nigerian immigrant would not miss inauguration

A progressive start to Obama’s second term

Globe got you tickets to the ball:

"For Obama’s second inaugural, fund-raising limits lifted" by David Uberti  |  Globe Correspondent, January 11, 2013

WASHINGTON — The price? A cool $50,000.

Four years ago, that was the maximum donation accepted for Obama’s inauguration, which touted such limits as evidence of its ethical standards. Now, it’s a bargain. Individuals are being asked to contribute up to $1 million, and the ban on corporate donations has been lifted.

Obama’s lifting of limits on inaugural fund-raising has led to criticism that he has gone from a candidate calling for an end to business as usual in Washington to one who is embracing the big money he once said he would reject.

“It’s another instance of Obama not living up to the talk that he talked,” said Mary Boyle, a spokeswoman for the government accountability group Common Cause. “It’s never too late to turn back. But this was a relatively easy and simple way to put some muscle behind his words.”

Inauguration organizers, however, defend the decisions as pragmatic. The president’s $1 billion campaign wrung donors dry, they say, while this round of inaugural fund-raising still declines money from lobbyists or political action committees.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee’s “goal is to make sure we are able to meet our fund-raising obligations for this civic event in a way that comports with this administration’s commitment to transparency and to not accepting contributions from lobbyists and PACs,” committee spokesman Cameron French said in a statement.

Obama’s 2009 inauguration, a history-drenched affair featuring the nation’s first African-American president, had little trouble drawing donations. The event attracted an estimated 1.8 million people to Washington, costing $53 million, with private donors funding 10 balls, the parade, and entertainment.

Taxpayers, meanwhile, pay lesser costs that are deemed necessary by Congress.

So what's the bill for the pomp and circumstance in this time of austerity, Americans?

The 2009 swearing-in ceremony cost the public $1.24 million, and a similar amount will be billed this year, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Security across Washington, Maryland, and Virginia totaled more than $100 million and was paid by federal and local governments.

The corporations and million-dollar donors couldn't pick up the tab?

Obama’s inaugural team said in 2009 it would have high standards when it came to collecting money, pledging it would underscore the president’s “commitment to change business as usual in Washington and ensure that as many Americans as possible, both inside and outside Washington, will be able to come together.”

The 2009 inaugural attracted people such as Steve Gutherz, a Cambridge-based immigration attorney, who drove with his wife from their home in Sudbury and “slummed at people’s houses” to witness history, he said.

“I felt like it was the end of a dark area,” said the 56-year-old, who donated $1,000 to attend an inaugural ball after the swearing-in ceremony. “There was great optimism and hope. . . . It was an American experience.”

Snuffed out long ago. 

But this time, Gutherz said he will neither attend nor donate to the president’s second inauguration, as the novelty has worn off and intensity died down.

“It’s not because I’m disappointed with the president at all,” Gutherz said. “It’s just that I did it. I don’t need to do it again.”

While an allotment of $60 tickets to inaugural balls for average Americans sold out in minutes, the elite can still don a tuxedo or gown and show up as long they pay the minimum $10,000 for a special event package.

Analysts say it is not surprising that the Obama team had to loosen the rules to collect enough money for a second inaugural....

Festivities have been cut from four to three days this year, and the number of official inaugural balls has been cut from 10 to two.

Most notable was the administration’s decision last month to accept corporate cash and $1 million individual donations. Organizers are soliciting big-dollar contributions for various ticket packages providing access to special events, naming the practice after four of the nation’s founders.

The thumping sound you hear is those honorable men spinning at light speed in their burial boxes. 

This year, top-level George Washington donors — individuals paying $250,000 and institutions breaking $1 million — get reserved parade seats and tickets to an inaugural ball, among other perks. John Adams donors, despite paying a $150,000 starting price, don’t get reserved bleacher seats.

Purchasing the Thomas Jefferson and James Madison packages, starting at $75,000 and $10,000, respectively, affords only “special,” but not “premium,” event access.

You guys are soiling their good names by selling special access privileges under their name. 

All four levels of presidential packages do provide access to a “Finance Committee Road Ahead Meeting,” which suggests another push for contributions.

Corporate cash and top-shelf ticket packages and daily deals are not the only changes from 2009. The Presidential Inaugural Committee previously disclosed donors, including their hometowns and contribution amounts, a month before Obama was sworn in.

But the committee’s first disclosure this year came last Friday evening, when it published on its website about 400 benefactors, including a handful of corporations. The list included neither donation amounts nor benefactors’ employer or hometown, information the Federal Election Commission requires within 90 days after the event.

“Obama was not only disclosing a lot more [in 2009], but he was bragging about it,” said Kathy Kiely, managing editor of the open-government advocate Sunlight Foundation. “It’s startling now because it’s so transparently untransparent.”

And above you read.... sigh.  See why I'm so sick of reading this shit?

The planning committee’s list of donors this year includes seven corporations and a number of Obama donors who were top 2012 campaign bundlers, according to analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a research group that tracks political donations.

Along with giants such as Microsoft and AT&T, benefactors include biotech firm Genentech, which lobbied Congress heavily during its health care overhaul.

Yeah, they practically wrote the bill. 

Also making the list is Financial Innovations Inc., a marketing firm based in Rhode Island that ran the Obama campaign’s official online store last year.

Neither Genentech nor Financial Innovations immediately returned calls for comment on Thursday.

Obama’s decision to solicit $1 million donations and corporate cash is a return to recent tradition.

Oh, being bought off is a tradition. 

The FEC allows unlimited contributions. But George W. Bush capped donations for his first and second inaugurations at $100,000 and $250,000, respectively. He also accepted corporate money, bringing in $30 million in 2001 and $42 million in 2005, according to the Congressional Research Service. 

The amount of corporate money sloshing around in politics is sickening when the American people are suffering such a declining standard of living. 

Bill Clinton’s organizers unsuccessfully tried to sell million-dollar corporate packages in 1993, though they did rake in cash donations up to $250,000 en route to raising between $25 million and $30 million.

Representative Michael Capuano, the Somerville Democrat, said the changes in donation limits could be avoided if, as he advocates, inaugurations are toned down and publicly funded.

I'm for the toning down, and you know what? If they are going to be publicly funded then let's just skip it and use the money for health care or social security that people paid for and earned. We should just say you won, you got the job, now get started. 

“It’s a reality,” Capuano said of the decision to lift contribution limits, “but it’s a reality we could change if we wanted to. . . . I come from a different world. I cannot believe somebody would donate $1 million for two tickets to anything.”

I'm with you there, Mike. 

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UPDATE: President Obama scaling back inaugural cost