President Obama's first 100 days

[MaxShimba]

I just got this one.

Since the President 'OBAMA' makes $471K per year and as a Senator Obama was making 174K.

I heard that he will freeze his own salary by delaying his raise for one year or so?

 

[MaxShimba]

[media]http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=did+obama+freezes+his+salary%3F&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8[/media]

 

[Kuhani]

Naona kuna "group think" ya kumbeba Obama hapa ambayo hata yeye mwenyewe haitaki. Thread zinaunganishwa lakini hazitafutiwi headings zinazofiti mada zote zinazorundikwa pamoja.

Uamuzi wa Obama kusimamisha mishahara ya vigogo umeonekana kama ni kazi njema na creditable kwa wengi wa observers, lakini kitendo cha kutoa waiver kwenye kanuni ya maadili wengi wameona kama ni mchemko. Sasa topic negative kuhusu Obama itafukiwaje ndani ya kichwa cha habari cha topic positive?

Sijali kwamba mada zimeunganishwa, after all zote zinahusu moves za Obama wiki ya kwanza ofisini, lakini moja ni detraction nyingine ni accolades halafu detraction zinafukiwa ndani ya accolades. Come on now, tuache kumbeba huyu Rais kwa kuficha missteps zake, hatajua pa kujirekebisha. Hata yeye mwenyewe kasema hataki "group think"!

Pendekezo la title mpya: "Siku za kwanza za Rais Obama: Umahiri na Utata."

 

[Susuviri]

Jamani Obama ana kazi kubwa sana undoing what Bush did but this Gag rule was really a burden! Yaani Bush alitaka kuleta udini wake katika misaada! Another good move by President Obama:

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Friday struck down the Bush administration's ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information _ an inflammatory policy that has bounced in and out of law for the past quarter-century.

Obama's move, the latest in an aggressive first week reversing contentious Bush policies, was warmly welcomed by liberal groups and denounced by abortion rights foes.

The ban has been a political football between Democratic and Republican administrations since GOP President Ronald Reagan first adopted it 1984. Democrat Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but Republican George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.

"For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. "I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate."

He said the ban was unnecessarily broad and undermined family planning in developing countries.

"In the coming weeks, my administration will initiate a fresh conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world," the president said.

Obama issued the presidential memorandum rescinding the Bush policy without coverage by the media, late Friday afternoon. The abortion measure is a highly emotional one for many people, and the quiet signing was in contrast to the televised coverage of Obama's announcement Wednesday on ethics rules and Thursday's signing of orders on closing the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and banning torture in the questioning of terror suspects.

His action came one day after the 36th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.

Huu ni unafiki wa GOP kwani watoto wao kisheria wanaruhusiwa kufanya abortion katika nchi yao lakini they want to deny the same rights to poor women in developing countries!

 

[Mzee wa Gumzo]

Hi JF members,
Am not sure you have come across Obama's letter to East Africans.
Dear Sirs,
> Thank you for your support during my campaign and the kind words of
> encouragement and counsel in the last few weeks.
>
> Kenya is the home of my father and I am not averse to being called a
> Kenyan- American and by extension an East African-American, it is with
> this background that I write to you gentlemen.
>
> Gentlemen, we stand on the cusp of history.
>
> Our region is a much more peaceful place than it was 20, 10 or even five
> years ago, but unrepaired hearts continue to simmer under the surface.
> This has allowed the region to begin to harness the minds of its sons and
> daughters to drive progress and yet poverty continues to dog our every
> step. We are only just beginning to appreciate the true potential under
> our soils but our efforts to exploit these may be scuttled by greedy
> bureaucrats and corrupt businessmen.
>
> Gentlemen, we need to reassess our ambitions and reposition our legacy.
> I write to you in salute of your efforts at East African Cooperation and
> also to lend my hand in furthering this cause that will bring us together
> as brothers and do away with the artificial boundaries that have no basis
> in culture or logic.
>
> Beyond sentimentality, the reestablishment of the East African Community
> is our best hope of maintaining our relevance in a world that is moving
> and changing fast, leaving the weak nations behind and enriching the
> people of organised, determined and focused nations.
>
> We need to inject a sense of urgency into forging our people together as
> one common market with no barriers to the movement of labour, capital or
> ownership of property and land.
>
> I have at least four years, at most eight, in office, I have inherited an
> economy on its knees and a country groping to regain its preeminence in
> world affairs, but even with these limitations America can still do good
> for East Africa.
>
> American capital can help extend your infrastructure – road, railway,
> power and communication networks, the key ingredients necessary to meld a
> people into one, to set the engines of commerce in motion and bring wealth
> and prosperity to our people.
>
> American science and technology can help in boosting your agriculture,
> improving the health of our people and widening the scope of your
> education system, because after all what is a nation without its people.
>
> Given an unfettered market the size of which you aspire to, American
> entrepreneurship can fire up your manufacturing sector and power up your
> service industries creating hundreds, thousands even hundreds of thousands
> of jobs for our people.
>
> Gentlemen the lifting up of our people out of the desperation of poverty
> and ignorance should be our ultimate goal. That is what will ensure that
> our legacy will endure beyond our children and our children’s children.
>
> But gentlemen this dream can only come about through clean and accountable
> government.
>
> Without clean governments the costs of doing business will rise and make
> East Africa unattractive for commerce and trade.
>
> Whereas America, through its various agencies may send money to your
> countries, it is harnessing the power of corporate America that will have
> a more lasting and sustainable impact on our people.
>
> The curve of history has not been kind to our region. We have suffered
> brutal dictators, kleptocratic despots and genocidal generals but we are
> still here.
> That should count for something.
>
> Gentlemen it is your duty, in fact your obligation to turn things around
> to clean your houses of corruption, nurture and oversee efficient
> governments that can deliver the services that will see our people to the
> promised land.
>
> America and I, can help you in this historic mission but I need you to
> help me to hel you.
>
> God Bless America. God Bless East Africa.
>
> Barack Obama
> President of the United States of America
> CC President Mwai Kibaki
> CCPresident Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
> CC President Jakaya Kikwete
> CC President Paul Kagame

 

[The Truth]

Naona kuna "group think" ya kumbeba Obama hapa ambayo hata yeye mwenyewe haitaki. Thread zinaunganishwa lakini hazitafutiwi headings zinazofiti mada zote zinazorundikwa pamoja.

Uamuzi wa Obama kusimamisha mishahara ya vigogo umeonekana kama ni kazi njema na creditable kwa wengi wa observers, lakini kitendo cha kutoa waiver kwenye kanuni ya maadili wengi wameona kama ni mchemko. Sasa topic negative kuhusu Obama itafukiwaje ndani ya kichwa cha habari cha topic positive?

Sijali kwamba mada zimeunganishwa, after all zote zinahusu moves za Obama wiki ya kwanza ofisini, lakini moja ni detraction nyingine ni accolades halafu detraction zinafukiwa ndani ya accolades. Come on now, tuache kumbeba huyu Rais kwa kuficha missteps zake, hatajua pa kujirekebisha. Hata yeye mwenyewe kasema hataki "group think"!

Pendekezo la title mpya: "Siku za kwanza za Rais Obama: Umahiri na Utata."

Don't you realize you are only supposed to post positive articles/comments about the messiah on this forum? Haven't you been reading this forum? Negative articles/comments about the annointed one are not allowed to pollute the forum. I suggest you find a different forum if you want to critisize the one.

 

[Susuviri]

Obama's first Tv interview is with Arabic network!

Hisham Melhem, Washington Bureau Chief for Al Arabiya, was trying to chase down an interview with former U.S. Senator and new presidential envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell. Pounding all of his channels, friends, networks, Melhem was informed Sunday that "something" might be in the works -- but keep expectations modest.

By Monday morning (yesterday), Melhem was told that he'd likely get Mitchell, and then later in the morning, he received a call telling him that he'd "either be very happy, or made miserable" by what the White House was planning. And then Melhem was asked if he would like to interview President Barack Obama at 5 pm Monday -- but that the bureau would have to keep the interview secret until it happened.

The Al Arabiya Bureau Chief said that was not a problem and that he'd adjust his schedule -- with enormous grin accompanying his response.

Al Arabiya is part of a major Arabic news network, considered second in global coverage to Al Jazeera, which may yet see a nod from the Obama administration down the road -- but seeing that George W. Bush may have joked and/or been serious about bombing an Al Jazeera office in Baghdad, Al Jazeera may still be too much of a leap for the bounding forward new US President.

Obama's exchange with the Al Arabiya journalist, which was only supposed to last about six or seven minutes got extended a bit as press secretary Robert Gibbs saw how well it was going.

This interview is the initial punctuation point in Obama's global public diplomacy. By most accounts, Obama's decision -- shocking to some, refreshing to others -- to talk to the Muslim world in his first formal, sit down press interview hit the ball out of the park.

 

[Susuviri]

Naona kuna "group think" ya kumbeba Obama hapa ambayo hata yeye mwenyewe haitaki. Thread zinaunganishwa lakini hazitafutiwi headings zinazofiti mada zote zinazorundikwa pamoja.

Uamuzi wa Obama kusimamisha mishahara ya vigogo umeonekana kama ni kazi njema na creditable kwa wengi wa observers, lakini kitendo cha kutoa waiver kwenye kanuni ya maadili wengi wameona kama ni mchemko. Sasa topic negative kuhusu Obama itafukiwaje ndani ya kichwa cha habari cha topic positive?

Sijali kwamba mada zimeunganishwa, after all zote zinahusu moves za Obama wiki ya kwanza ofisini, lakini moja ni detraction nyingine ni accolades halafu detraction zinafukiwa ndani ya accolades. Come on now, tuache kumbeba huyu Rais kwa kuficha missteps zake, hatajua pa kujirekebisha. Hata yeye mwenyewe kasema hataki "group think"!

Pendekezo la title mpya: "Siku za kwanza za Rais Obama: Umahiri na Utata."

Kuhani, nadhani kama ulifuatilia mwaka wote mwaka jana ungegundua ya kuwa ampeni nzima iliwekwa thread moja, ingawaje watu mbalimbai walianzisha mada tofauti zinazohusiana na kampeni, lakini baada ya muda moderators waliunganisha threads. hakuna kinachokuzuia kuchanganua siasa na hatua anazochukua Obama. Sidhani kama heading inayosoma Obama's first 100 days ni positive!
Endelea tu kuchangia mkuu usiwe na shaka!

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

Obama's first Tv interview is with Arabic network!

I knew he was a muslim and that's why he gave his first interview to an arabic network....

 

[Susuviri]

Kuhani, mkuu kuhusu waivers, here is Robert Gates:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed concern Tuesday that tough new ethics rules introduced by President Obama could make it too hard for those with experience in the defense industry to work at the Pentagon.


Gates, the only Cabinet-level holdover from the Bush administration, hinted that the Obama administration may have to issue a series of waivers to allow people with the right kind of experience to serve in the Pentagon.


"I think all of us - the Congress, the executive branch - together need to look at this and see whether we're cutting off our nose to spite our face … if we haven't made it so tough to get people who have the kind of industry experience that allows them to know how to manage an acquisition process to come into government, do public service and then return to their careers," Gates said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.


The Pentagon is currently facing a dearth of high-level personnel with managerial and purchasing experience, Gates said.


Gates stressed that problems in filling high-level vacancies have been caused by a series of factors, and that the new presidential order was not to blame.


"Last thing I would do is criticize the ethics executive order that the new president has just signed," he said.


Obama on Friday issued a waiver from that order just days after it was issued. The waiver allows Raytheon executive and former lobbyist William Lynn to become the next deputy secretary of Defense.


If he is confirmed by the Senate, Lynn - who deregistered as a lobbyist early last year - will serve as the No. 2 official at the Pentagon. The deputy secretary of Defense is essentially the Pentagon's top manager not only making day-to-day decisions, but also decisions over what kind of weapons the Pentagon should buy.


Gates stressed the importance of being flexible in providing waivers.


"My own view is on a lot of these issues transparency is the answer, and the recusal approaches that we have, the president recognized the need for some of these," Gates said. "To be able to get some of these people, he would need to exercise a waiver, and he provided for that, I think, wisely in the executive order."


The Pentagon still needs to fill many procurement positions across the services, and in many cases needs to find experienced personnel. Senior officials who will have to manage programs worth billions of dollars cannot be newly recruited employees who are joining government service right out of college, Gates said.

 

[Susuviri]

I knew he was a muslim and that's why he gave his first interview to an arabic network....

Umeanza tena....
Lakini seriously, I think that this was a great move on teh part of Obama especially looking at teh Middle East crisis where he wants to move quickly early in his presidency. it was a gamble but I believe that Obama made the tough but right choice. Also the fact that he spoke to Al Arabiya and not Al Jazeera was a way to choose a more mainstream Arab TV.

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

Kuhani, mkuu kuhusu waivers, here is Robert Gates:

Robert Gibblets ndio chief propagandist wa Obama regime....

 

[Susuviri]

Robert Gibblets ndio chief propagandist wa Obama regime....

Nyani umeanza kuchanganyikiwa! Robert Gates ni Republican! Na alikuwa Defense Secretary wa Bush and was asked to stay on by Obama.
Sasa atakuwaje chief propagandist?

 

[BAK]

Commentary: Focus on first 100 days is absurd

Editor's note: A nationally syndicated columnist, Roland S. Martin is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith" and "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America."​

(CNN) -- The new president has been in office one week and already the clock is ticking as to whether or not he can get a lot accomplished in the first 100 days of his presidency.

Did I miss the memo? I thought the presidency is a four-year term.

If you turn on television or radio, commentators, correspondents and talk show hosts are speaking in breathless tones about the need for President Barack Obama to get off to a fast start and show all kinds of accomplishments in the first 100 days.

And we are given the sense that if he hasn't signed a lot of major bills into law and issued a slew of important executive orders, then he will have failed.

Oh stop it.

Lest you think this is about Obama, it isn't. I thought it was just as stupid to put Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush on some kind of silly shot clock.

This Washington, D.C., parlor game happens every four or eight years. It has gotten so silly that some folks actually analyzed Obama's first 100 hours. It took that long to figure out the quickest path from the presidential sleeping quarters to the Oval Office!

The problem with so much emphasis being placed on the first 100 days is that a premium is placed on speed as opposed to thoughtfulness.

Take the president's stimulus package.

We are looking at spending $900 billion, and Congress is proceeding so fast that I doubt most of the members have actually read the entire bill. We know from history that moving with lightning speed leads to all kinds of problems later on.

The Patriot Act was rushed through, and we didn't find out about some of the weird provisions until after it was already signed into law. Oops! Sorry, too late.

The same with the bailout of the banking industry. We didn't discover until after it was too late that there weren't enough provisions focused on accountability of the funds, as well as mandates to ensure banks didn't sit on the cash to buy other banks but instead used it to open up the credit lines.

These measures are too doggone important for us to act like we're watching the movie "The Fast and the Furious."

The fundamental problem with this approach is that every president operates as if he is President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who set the initial standard for decisive action in the first 100 days of his presidency. Ever since then, my media comrades have tried to hold each president to this same timetable, not realizing that times are different, and the needs of the nation are different.

I believe in taking action when necessary. But I also realize that doing something for the sake of doing something is dangerous, and sets a horrible precedent. And we are seeing this now with the stimulus package.

The House is scheduled to vote on the measure today with very little discussion about the nuances of the bill. Questions of oversight, how to manage the spending of billions of dollars, and whether the right programs will be funded initially all have gone by the wayside in order to, as some have suggested, give the president a quick victory out of the gate.

As a basketball player, President Obama knows that you can have a hot first quarter, hitting every shot and grabbing every rebound, and that could very well propel you to a decisive victory. But a basketball game is four quarters, and if you only play the first half well, you can blow the game in the second half.

We need thoughtful, measured political leaders who have studied all the angles and are making the right calls. Let's focus on our long-term future, and not be bogged down in meeting a ridiculous report card for the satisfaction of the media.

 

[Susuviri]

Bubu: napenda sana kusoma makala za Roland Martin, and he does have sme sound points. Ngoja uone comments za Nyani, utachoka mwenyewe!

 

[Susuviri]

Nyaniii, Rush Limbaugh amekuwa elevated siku hizi to politician status, kwikwikwi

President Obama and a key outside ally are stepping up efforts to ensure passage of the massive economic stimulus package, reaching out to Congress with both carrots and sticks.

While the president and his top aides are using all the trappings of the office, courting members through phone calls, cocktail parties, West Wing sit-downs and even a politically mixed Super Bowl party, liberal groups are dispensing with the niceties and seeking to drive a wedge between Republicans and one of the right's most influential leaders.

Politico has learned that tomorrow Americans United for Change, a liberal group, will begin airing radio ads in three states Obama won - Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada - with a tough question aimed at the GOP senators there: Will you side with Obama or Rush Limbaugh?

"Every Republican member of the House chose to take Rush Limbaugh's advice," says the narrator after playing the conservative talk radio giant's declaration that he hopes Obama "fails."

"Every Republican voted with Limbaugh - and against creating 4 million new American jobs. We can understand why a extreme partisan like Rush Limbaugh wants President Obama's Jobs program to fail - but the members of Congress elected to represent the citizens in their districts? That's another matter. Now the Obama plan goes to the Senate, and the question is: Will our Senator"-here the ad is tailored by state to name George Voinovich in Ohio, Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, and John Ensign in Nevada-"side with Rush Limbaugh too?"

Asked to respond, Limbaugh had a message for his party.

"Senate Republicans need to understand this is not about me," he wrote in an email. "It is about them, about intimidating them, especially after the show of unity in House. It is about the 2010 and 2012 elections. This is an opportunity for Republicans to redefine themselves after a few years of wandering aimlessly looking for a ‘brand' and identity."

Brad Woodhouse, the Democratic strategist who is overseeing the ad campaign, said: "The House Republicans put their Senate colleagues in the crosshairs because they decided to play politics rather than do the right thing."

 

[Susuviri]

Jamani hawa maCEO wana akili kweli? Yaani after raking in all those bail outs bado wako busy wanajipongeza kwa kazi nzuri??

President Barack Obama said it was “shameful” for Wall Street to walk away with $18.4 billion in bonuses last year in the depths of a recession. Leaning his elbows on his knees, with his mouth clenched, Obama lashed out at the executives and employees who were found by the New York state comptroller to have earned the sixth largest bonus haul on record last year.

“That is the height of irresponsibility,” Obama said before a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. “It is shameful. And part of what we’re going to need is for folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline and show some sense of responsibility.”

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

Nyani umeanza kuchanganyikiwa! Robert Gates ni Republican! Na alikuwa Defense Secretary wa Bush and was asked to stay on by Obama.
Sasa atakuwaje chief propagandist?

Hujanielewe...haya...Robert Gibbs....white house press sec.

 

[Nyani Ngabu]

Nyaniii, Rush Limbaugh amekuwa elevated siku hizi to politician status, kwikwikwi

Oh yeah....apparently Obama is more scared of Rush than he is of Republicans...mind you, El Rushbo is a conservative, not a Republican....

And I doubt Obama wants to have a give and take with Rush or Sean...

 

[Kuhani]

You know what, hata Jakaya Kikwete sijawahi kusikia akitetea mtu kwa kusema "nobody is perfect."

Utasemaje "namwamini rafiki yangu na msiri wangu"? I mean, hata Kikwete siku swahiba wake wa damu Ditopile alipochemsha chemsha huko mabarabarani alimtoselea kule!

I mean, even by African standards huwezi kuliongelea tuhumiwa la ufisadi kwa kusema "my friend and confidant."

Obama huyu asipoangalia ataanza ku free fall sasa hivi. Watu wake wenyewe waliomchagua kwanza wako kwenye ki-experiment mode fulani hivi, halafu ni vigeugeu ile mbaya, huyu Bush walimchagua mara mbili kabla ya kumchenjia kibao in quickness. Haya.

Daschle delayed revealing tax glitches

Without becoming a lobbyist, former Senator made more than $5 million

By Ceci Connolly, Joe Stephens and R. Jeffrey Smith

updated 4:50 a.m. ET, Sun., Feb. 1, 2009

Thomas A. Daschle waited nearly a month after being nominated to be secretary of health and human services before informing Barack Obama that he had not paid years of back taxes for the use of a car and driver provided by a wealthy New York investor.

Daschle, one of Obama's earliest and most ardent campaign supporters, paid $140,000 to the U.S. Treasury on Jan. 2 and about two days later informed the White House and the Senate Finance Committee, according to an account provided by his spokeswoman and confirmed by the Obama administration.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said last night that
Obama stands behind his friend and confidant. "The president believes nobody's perfect but that nobody's hiding anything," Gibbs said.

....Meanwhile, the disclosure of Daschle's lucrative ties to private companies with Washington interests have begun to raise eyebrows among those who expected Obama to be wary of relying on wealthy insiders to stock his administration.

"... it would be hard for Obama to fill his administration without ever turning to someone like that. That said, these are the kind of Washington insiders that Obama campaigned against" said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit government watchdog group.

The Obama team is "learning that it's easier to campaign on that than govern under it," Sloan added. The problem is that "it looks disingenuous."