BlackLiberalBoomer

The United States Supreme Court today declined to hear an appeal from a lower court concerning whether Barack Obama is or is not a true natural-born citizen of the United States and therefore qualified to be elected President of the United States of America.

The people who keep bringing this issue up grasp at straws such as:

* His father was a British citizen at the time of his birth (since Kenya was still a British colony in 1961), so Barack had dual-citizenship. Barack declined his own American citizenship when he moved to Indonesia when he was a 5-year-old CHILD.

* His mother was only 18 when Barack was born so she was “too young” to “give her citizenship” to her son.

* The “Certificate of Live Birth” that the State of Hawa’ii has produced was forged.

* The fact that Barack was born on United States soil doesn’t matter.

* If Barack can be President, so can Arnold Schwarzenegger–even though the “Goven-nator” was born and raised in Austria of Austrian parents.

Factcheck.org has actually seen and touched the actual birth certificate in Hawa’ii.

Some people have even suggested that the birth notice printed in the Hawa’ii newspaper right after Barack’s birth was “planted” there by his grandparents just in case their little grandson decided to run for President over 45 years later!

The bottom line is, there is a group of Americans who just can’t believe that a 1/2 American white, 1/2 Kenyan black man named Barack Hussein Obama has been duly elected President of the United States, with a clear majority AND an Electoral College landslide, and they will try anything to de-legitimize the election. The 2008 election was the first time since Ronald Reagan that a candidate has received more than 50% of the popular vote!) As Barack Hussein Obama said a few months ago, he “doesn’t look like any of the other Presidents”…but the 44th President of the United States also said: “It’s time for a CHANGE!”. So, get with the program!

The Washington Post reported about the Supreme Court denying the case here:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/12/08/supreme_court_declines_to_hear.html

The BBC also reported here, since it involved a former British citizen (Barack Obama, Sr.):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7771937.stm

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court is going to waste time and taxpayers’ money hearing a case on whether President-elect Barack Obama really is or is not a “natural-born United States citizen”. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is the one who actually put this case on the Court’s docket.

There are people who have been trying to undermine President-elect Barack Obama from the time he announced his candidacy. He’s a Muslim, he’s a terrorist, he’s not quite “one of us”; on and on ad nauseum. First, people tried to get the Supreme Court to stay the December 15th Electoral College vote (didn’t work) in the “national interest”. Now, they are trying to say that because Obama’s father was a Kenyan national, and his mother, though a U.S. citizen, was only 18, that she could not “bestow” her citizenship on Barack. Then she re-married and moved to Indonesia with Barack and her new Indonesian husband, so there is no way that Barack could be natural-born because his mother wasn’t “old enough” to give him her citizenship and then moved him out of the country when Barack was five years old.

Pul-leeze. First and most importantly, because Barack was born on U.S. soil he is automatically a natural-born citizen. It doesn’t matter whether one or both parents was or was not a U.S. citizen. The Constitution states that a natural-born citizen is one who is born in a U.S. state or territory. Hawa’ii had been our 50th state for two years before Barack was born. The state of Hawa’ii has verifed Barack’s birth certificate, but people actually think that the State of Hawa’ii is lying or that Barack “paid them off”. People are even trying to say that if Barack is “allowed” to be President, then Arnold Schwarzenegger should be able to run for President, too! Of course, it doesn’t matter to these “haters” that Governor Schwarzenegger (R-CA) was born in Austria of Austrian parents and didn’t come to the US until he was an adult! The same with Governor Jennifer Granholm (D-MI), who was born in Vancouver, Canada of Canadian parents; although she and her family moved to California when she was a child. They are not eligible to be President.

The people filing these cases are ridiculous. President-elect Barack Obama is 1) a Constitutional scholar, and 2) not stupid. He would have known if he were not a natural-born U.S. citizen. Of course, those same people refuse to believe that Barack ran for President, not for himself, but for the greater good of the country. Not everyone is only out for himself.

Although people tried to say that John McCain wasn’t eligible because he was born in the Panama Canal, and that Barry Goldwater wasn’t eligible because he was born in Arizona before it was a State, both of those court challenges were thrown out; both the Panama Canal and the Territory of Arizona were “under the U.S. Flag” at the times of their births. Even if Hawa’ii had not been a state yet (which it was) when Barack was born, all people born in U.S. territories, commonwealths, and districts such as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, world-wide U.S. military bases, etc.–even Washington, D.C.!–are U.S. citizens. ‘Nuf said.

But this case would not even had come up if Barack Obama wasn’t 1/2 Kenyan with the middle name of Hussein; let’s be clear. For more clarity, I looked at snopes.com which has a page-long explanation.

However, the bottom line is: Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. was born in the U.S. State of Hawa’ii on August 4, 1961. His mother had never even been to Kenya. He may or may not carry dual citizenship with Kenya; but he is a natural-born United States Citizen because he was born in the United States, no matter how young his mother was at his birth. Case Closed. Believe it or not; but just call him “Mr. President”.

As we transition from November to December, and fully into the 2008 holiday season, our President-elect is very busy managing the (hopefully) smooth transition into his new administration.

According to the MSNBC website, the transition process as it is known now has been used since 1952 and was started by President Harry Truman:

Since 1952, at the urging of President Harry Truman, transition processes have been in place to help facilitate the change from one administration to the next.

The Presidential Transition Act of 1963 formalized the process, providing federal funds and logistical support. The act was updated in 2000 by President Bill Clinton to accommodate an increasingly complex transition process.

Presidential transitions today involve the turnover of over 4,000 political appointments, all of whom must be identified, vetted, and confirmed. Over 1,000 of those positions require Senate confirmation. By some estimates, recent transitions have taken an average of one year to be seen through to completion. The last time a transition occurred across political party lines was in 2000, between Clinton and President George Bush.

This year, just 77 days separate election day from inauguration day, but the transition process began long before any ballots are cast, and will continue long after Barack Obama takes the oath of office.

Until the mid-20th Century, the Presidential Inaugurations took place in March, to allow for the slower communications and travel available at that time. Now that the new President takes office in January, there is much less time to accomplish an increasingly more complex process.

It will be exciting to watch the Presidential appointments and nominations along with all of the politicking going on. December will be especially busy; so far only about 12 people have been officially named. However, historically, Presidential Cabinet and Staff positions didn’t even begin to be filled before December. President-elect Barack Obama realizes the seriousness of the job ahead of him, and as he stated: “There is not a minute to waste!”

You can see a great pictorial chart of the Cabinet and top staff members who will be named in the next few weeks here at MSNBC.

Future First Lady Michelle Robinson Obama

In the flurry of appointments and Cabinet picks in the last few days by President-elect Barack Obama, and the hoop-la over the possibility of you-know-who as Secretary of State, some important women and progressives may have been overlooked.  According to my favorite progressive journalist/blogger, Al Giordano, a high-level woman progressive has been appointed to the Economic Team. At his blog, The Field, Al says:

The most interesting news out of the press conference just concluded by President-elect Obama was the appointment of an unabashed progressive, Melody Barnes (in the photo, above), to head the Domestic Policy Council. Barnes will coordinate the mega-board of the Cabinet secretaries of Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Energy, Treasury, Agriculture, Transportation, Interior and Veterans Affairs. Basically, she’ll be domestic policy czar.

Meanwhile, “Chicago” will still continue to its mark on the new Obama White House, with the appointment of high-level Chicago businesswoman Desiree Rogers as Social Secretary. Hardly a light-weight dilettante, Ms. Rogers is a graduate of Wellesley College and has an MBA from Harvard. She has been working in prominent positions in Illinois government and in the private sector for over two decades. The Social Secretary does much more than plan parties; Ms. Rogers will be in charge of all functions–public and private, domestic and international–for the White House. She brings many social and political contacts to her new position, and everything that everyone does who is involved with the Obama White House has to be cleared through Ms. Rogers.

As President-elect Barack Obama moves with all deliberate haste (”emphasis on ‘deliberate’”) in appointing people to his Cabinet and White House staff, many people are asking: why so many “Clinton people”? where’s the “Change”?

First of all, there are “Clinton people”, and then there are “Clinton people”.  According to the absolute BEST progressive blogger on the planet, Al Giordano, some Clinton people are totally loyal to Bill and Hill, and nothing less will do than making sure that the Democratic Party and all of America stays all Clinton all the time. Then there are those Democratic operatives who worked in the only Democratic White House available since 1980–if they are Democrats, they worked in the Clinton White House! There IS a difference.

As it stands right now, the mainstream media as well as many progressive blogs are all agog about the possibility of Hillary Clinton being named Secretary of State in an Obama White House. Yes, it’s “As the Clinton World Turns…”, but this is BARACK’S party.

If you’re ready for some comic relief, check out Al’s post about the vetting of the First Dog…

Tomorrow: more real Obama staff picks…

 Eric Holder, Attorney General Nominee

One of the most important tasks for President-elect Barack Obama during the Transition is the selection of the Cabinet members. “The Cabinet” as it is called, is not exactly listed in the U.S. Constitution, but the President is supposed to name advisers and staff.  President George Washington started “The Cabinet” with four members; now there are twenty-three Cabinet Members.

This series will be continuous as President-elect Obama selects his Cabinet members, the fourteen Cabinet “Secretaries” and the Attorney General must be approved by Congress. The Huffington Post today reported that Eric Holder has been nominated as Attorney General.

The Cabinet Secretaries to be chosen are:
Secretary of State
Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary of Defense
Attorney General
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security

The Cabinet members as listed are in the “line of succession” after the President, Vice-President, Speaker of the House, and President pro tempore of the Senate in the case of death or resignation. Therefore, one Cabinet member is always absent from any instances (even the Inauguration and State of the Union Address) where all the rest of the Cabinet members may be; in an “undisclosed location” in case all of the rest of the Executive Branch are killed at once. That absent Cabinet member is called the “designated survivor” and would immediately become President of the United States of America.

Tomorrow will be exactly 14 days or two weeks since Barack Obama was elected as the 44th President of the United States!

Tomorrow will also be the day I start blogging on issues concerning the Transition Period…it is just over two months before the Inauguration.

There are so very many important issues confronting President-elect Obama: the economy, his White House staff, his Cabinet posts, a dog breed…

Speaking of Cabinet posts: Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State?  Oh here we go again…methinks that many different “unofficial sources” are trying to force President-elect Obama’s hand in choosing Hillary for the top vacant spot.  This is exactly what happened when Mr. Obama (he is no longer a Senator) was choosing his Vice-Presidential candidate.

Everyone said it HAD to be Hillary…she had 18 million votes, she was the most qualified, she was a woman: on and on ad naseum!  Mr. Obama said back then, that whatever “other people” said and heard was not what he said; and he said that he would name his Secretary of State Designate when he was ready.

Until Barack Obama makes his choice, everything else is pure speculation.  Those pundits and almost-important people have to say something to justify their high salaries; their only “sources” are the standard-issue anonymous sources…

Personally, I feel that Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State is a bad, bad move…

Stay tuned…

Did anyone else notice that on Election Night the First Family-elect wore RED? I am sure that wearing the “Republican Color” was intentional, because as we’ve come to learn, everything President-elect Obama does is well thought out. I know, I know; a lot of women HATED Michelle’s dress, but I liked the Family being color-coordinated and I like anything that shows off Michelle’s figure. Makes me do another workout!

What a week it has been! I continue to be in awe of Barack Hussein Obama. I certainly hope that he will get some rest this weekend. Monday, his beloved Toot dies, yet he continues with his campaigning. Tuesday, he makes a quick campaign stop in Indiana, and he wins Indiana. Then of course, Tuesday was Election Day. Wednesday and Thursday, making a swift, yet totally seamless turn from candidate to President-elect . Friday, parent-teacher conferences, meeting with economic advisers, and first press conference.

Please rest this weekend, Mr. President. Take some deep breaths and grieve for your Toot. The American people (most of us, anyway) have your back!

In this time of financial uncertainly, both Presidential candidates talk a lot about “taxes”.

Senator John McCain says that he’ll cut taxes at the top; hoping for the same “trickle down” philosophy of his hero, Ronald Reagan. John McCain believes that if the rich pay less taxes, they will start more businesses that hire more people. Unfortunately, especially lately, the rich have gotten richer, and the poor and middle class have gotten poorer and less “middler”. Of course, Senator McCain believes that people who make $5,000,000 are “middle class”…I don’t know about you, but I don’t make anywhere near $5M/annually, and neither do any of my family, friends, or neighbors.

Senator Barack Obama believes that cutting the taxes of the “real” middle class, which includes the 95% of the American public who make less than $250,000, the economy will be jump started. Having a business is fruitless if there is no one to buy your product or service. That’s what Henry Ford believed; that’s why he paid his workers the then-unheard of sum of $5.00/day. He said no sense building cars that his workers couldn’t afford to purchase! By paying his workers a “middle class” wage, others followed suit, and that idea literally brought millions of people into the middle class.

The middle class is the backbone of the American economy. Find out how much more your taxcut will be under the plan of Barack Obama rather than under that of John McCain by clicking Obama Tax Cut. Just input your filing status and AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) and instantly find out how much you’ll save in taxes in an Obama Administration!

Barack Obama has run an almost flawless campaign for over nineteen months. He doesn’t change his message every few weeks based on what other people are doing; he doesn’t get flustered or out-of-control; he doesn’t hurl personal attacks against his opponent(s); he stays on message–and his message has been the same ever since he wrote them in his books and speeches over the past several years; he has not had to make changes in his campaign staff because he made the correct choices the first time.

John McCain, on the other hand, cannot make up his mind what he’s for or against; it depends on what he thinks is politically expedient at the moment. He “suspended” his campaign to “work on the bailout”, but his campaign offices never stopped nor did his TV ads nor did his political appearances. Senator McCain went to Washington after a “deal in principle” had been announced. After he got to Washington, the “deal” fell apart.

One of the great political blogs this election season is The Jed Report (TJR). One of the frequent commenters on this blog, “Shasta”, has written an excellent comparison of the campaigns of Senator Obama and Senator McCain. After you read this, you decide who is “Ready On Day One” to be President and Commander-in-Chief. Here’s a hint: the best person for the job has not been a POW.

President Bush looks feckless and McCain looks desperate and confused.

Can anyone imagine a McCain/Palin administration being run the way they run their campaign?. I am dizzy from the McCain/Palin drama, lying and gimmicks. I have a serious case of McCain/Palin fatigue. And I think it’s catching.