Date: 2024-04-28 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00022448
POLITICS
THE OBAMA YEARS
The Obama years had 'hope' in ways that were encouraging. The idea that Obama was followed by Trump is a reminder that the USA has deep seated animosities and problems.
THE OBAMA YEARS
The Obama years had 'hope' in ways that were encouraging. The idea that Obama was followed by Trump is a reminder that the USA has deep seated animosities and problems.
Original article:
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
I have good memories of the Obama years in the main because Barack Obama and Michelle were decent human beings ... something that is difficult to say about Donald Trump and many others who are high up in modern US politics.
Most of us have already forgotten how bad the economy of the US had become in the last few months of the Bush (43) presidency. The Obama administration did a commendable job of helping the US economy back on track in its first two years taking one big initative after another.
Sadly, the Democrasts lost congressional power in the 2010 midterm elections and from then on the Republicans made it almost impossible for Obama to get any legislation passed at all ... especially legislation that had any potential for being good for US people and which might rebound to the benefit of Obama's administration and the Democrats. This has been the GOP playbook under Mitch McConnell ... a playbook that is good for getting party members reellected but very bad for economic performance that would benefit all Americans.
Peter Burgess
Barack Obama
May 27th 2022 9:30 AM
Hi Peter,
Do you remember this photo?
I sure do.
In 2009, Carlton Philadelphia, a National Security Council staffer, brought his wife and two sons to the Oval Office for a departure photo. Carlton’s older son, Isaac, asked me a few questions about policy, but a more surprising question came from his younger brother, five-year-old Jacob.
“Is your hair like mine?” he asked.
It wasn’t the kind of question a president gets every day.
So, I bent down and told him, “Go ahead, touch it.”
He replied, “Yeah, I think that’s pretty much what I’ve got. ”
White House photographer Pete Souza captured that moment and for years the photo hung in the halls of the West Wing. It was a reminder of one of the reasons I first ran for president: that if I were to win, young people—Black kids, Hispanic kids, kids who may not have always felt like they belonged—might see more possibilities for their own future.
It’s hard to believe 13 years have passed. Today, Jacob will graduate high school and continue on to the University of Memphis to study political science. And I couldn’t be more proud of him.
We recently reconnected to reflect on that moment and his journey since then: Check out our reunion here.
Congratulations, Jacob, and best of luck to the Class of 2022.
—Barack
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