Tag Archive for "President Obama"

Posts Tagged President Obama

BREAKING: Senate passes “nuclear option” so judicial confirmations only need 51 votes

Did Majority Leader Harry Reid just win the day? The so called “nuclear option” just passed and that means that the GOP, who have been blocking judicial and executive branch nominees for years, can no longer simply block nominations to the courts. Prior to today, the GOP would simply refuse to allow confirmation hearings on Obama’s nominees and there didn’t necessarily have to be a reason. They would threaten to filibuster, and one GOP Senator is all you need to block a nomination.

Via ThinkProgress

By Mychal Denzel Smith • 10 years ago

What you need to know about the government shutdown

A small faction of the Republican party in the House of Representatives has finally done what they’ve always wanted: shut down the government. As of midnight, the federal government has been shut down because Congress failed to pass a bill that would continue funding it. Speaker of the House John Boehner refused to bring a funding bill to the floor for a vote without amendments aimed at dismantling or delaying Obamacare, the once pejorative now popular name for the Affordable Care Act that will make health insurance more accessible to the millions of Americans without it. Of course, the president would never sign that into law, as healthcare reform has been the signature domestic victory of his presidency. And because ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

Dear President Obama, I voted for you as a citizen, not a daughter, wife, or mother

I’ll have a longer post on the State of the Union speech later, but for now, here’s one nitpick. In making a plug for the Violence Against Women Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, President Obama said:

“We know our economy is stronger when our wives, mothers, and daughters can live their lives free from discrimination in the workplace and free from the fear of domestic violence.”

Like Melissa–and many other feminists I saw on Twitter–I really, really hate this framing. (And he used it more than once last night.) As I’ve written before, I think it is counter-productive and offensive to continually ask men to imagine a female relation when calling on them to support ...

I’ll have a longer post on the State of the Union speech later, but for now, here’s one nitpick. In making a plug for the Violence Against Women Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act,

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

President Obama’s second inauguration speech

There’s no question that Michelle Obama’s reaction to Speaker Boehner was the highlight of this year’s Inauguration Day. But President Obama also gave a pretty great speech…

Here’s the full transcript.

What did y’all think? And, most importantly, how can we hold Obama to the strong progressive ideals he articulated so beautifully yesterday?

There’s no question that Michelle Obama’s reaction to Speaker Boehner was the highlight of this year’s Inauguration Day. But President Obama also gave a pretty great speech…

Here’s the full transcript.

What did y’all ...

By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

Political fictions

We are gifted with a President who can write. A kind of chronicle of a president foretold, Obama beat any biographer to the punch in penning his first book, Dreams from My Father, nearly twenty years ago. I remember reading that book review, obliquely, noting in my notebook as a “summer read.”

I didn’t get to Dreams until November 2008, after the election, and I’m quite glad I waited. I think as a voter I would have been less critical of then-candidate Obama, colored by the insightful and poetic language, wooed by a writer who seemed aligned with my worldview, a black man who so aptly describes the experiences rather than policies that aligned with my politics. He did win me ...

By zerlina • 11 years ago

Quick Hit: Adorable moments in Presidential history

The president and first lady are a very likable couple with a number of cute public displays of affection to choose from. But I have now discovered my favorite! In a recent interview with People, Michelle Obama reveals that she and the president have a bedtime ritual.

We have a ritual where he tucks me in, because I’m usually in bed before anybody. He’ll come and turn the lights out and give me a kiss and we’ll talk. He’s like, “Ready to be tucked?” I’m like, “Yes I am.”

You already know that we here at Feministing love the first family and especially Michelle Obama, but President Obama gets mad props for being so adorable with his wife. It seems ...

By zerlina • 11 years ago

Air Force Academy graduates first openly gay cadets

Yesterday was an historic day. The President spoke at the commencement ceremony of the Air Force Academy, and nearly eight months after the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” the Academy graduated its first openly gay cadets. The cadets were not identified but school officials confirmed that since repeal of the policy at least four cadets from the graduating class are openly gay.

In his commencement address, President Obama said the graduation marked “a new feeling in America.” The cadets are graduating into a world without Osama Bin Laden, a world where we have ended the war in Iraq, and where we have finally begun the process of drawing the war in Afghanistan to a close. The President also highlighted ...

By zerlina • 11 years ago

President Obama: making news and making history

Yesterday’s announcement by President Obama that he personally believes that same sex couples have a legal right to get married was a watershed moment. It will go down as one of the great days in civil rights history. As Rachel Maddow said last night, policy-wise, the Obama administration’s legacy on the issue of gay rights was already solid.

The administration’s accomplishments include not only repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but as The Maddow Blog lists, the administration has also

…expanded federal benefits for the same-sex partners of executive-branch employees, signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law, cleared the way for hospital-visitation rights for same-sex couples, lifted the travel/immigration ban on those with HIV/AIDS, ordered the Federal Housing Authority to no ...