Bushism stuck with us

"President Bush has asked all the major networks for 15 minutes of air time on Thursday to give his farewell speech to the nation. Well, the White House says he's going to use part of the time to list his accomplishments. No word yet what he's going to do with the other 14 minutes." --Jay Leno

"But I think everybody has warm feelings for George Bush now. He held his final press conference yesterday. He admitted - it takes a big man to do this - he admitted that a couple things didn't go according to plan. A couple of things went haywire. His first term and his second term. Those two things." --David Letterman

"But President Bush did take credit for a couple of things. He said, you know, Dick Cheney hasn't shot anybody in a couple of years. So that's always good, right?" --David Letterman

"But it's nice to know that there is one person untroubled by the Bush presidency that is George Bush himself. He says he gave the presidency his 'all' for eight years and he didn't 'sell his soul for the sake of popularity'. You didn't need to! You sold ours." --Jon Stewart

"In an interview that was taped yesterday, President Bush said that the biggest disappointment of his presidency was the people who expressed bitterness about his leadership. And that was just at the Christmas dinner with his family." --Jay Leno

"President Bush had his final press conference today, and it went pretty well. Only three shoes were thrown." --David Letterman

"After eight years, it is kind of sad President Bush had his final press conference. And you know what that means for us here at the 'Late Show.' We're going to have to start writing our own comedy again." --David Letterman

"Barack Obama promised his kids he would get them a dog when they moved to the White House. But President Bush is nervous. When he heard dog in the White House, he thought, 'Uh oh! What if he digs up all those Al Gore ballots in the back?'" --David Letterman

"And you know, I think he's trying to struggle to come up with some accomplishments. They're trying to make him look good, you know. Like today, he took credit for ending the drought in New Orleans." --Jay Leno

"It was an historic day in Washington, as all four living presidents and our president-elect had lunch together at the White House. Presidents Clinton, Carter, both Bushes, and Barack Obama sat down to share a meal. President Bush was especially excited. It's his place, and when the guys all walked in, he said, 'Hey, you're the guys from the paintings in my office!" --Jimmy Kimmel

It's President OBAMA!

************************************************
Also Read Related Posts:
1. President Barack Obama Victory Speech - Transcript
2. John McCain Concedes defeat - Read Transcript here.
3. American President Barack Obama Profile
************************************************

A round trip of world media coverage on President Obama's victory.

New York Times says: This is one of those moments in history when it is worth pausing to reflect on the basic facts:

An American with the name Barack Hussein Obama, the son of a white woman and a black man he barely knew, raised by his grandparents far outside the stream of American power and wealth, has been elected the 44th president of the United States.

Showing extraordinary focus and quiet certainty, Mr. Obama swept away one political presumption after another to defeat first Hillary Clinton, who wanted to be president so badly that she lost her bearings, and then John McCain, who forsook his principles for a campaign built on anger and fear.

CNN Says: Barack Obama has won the 2008 U.S. presidential election, defeating John McCain and becoming the first African-American to hold the nation's highest office

Newsweek: Obama wins presidency, first black American to gain highest office, declares 'change has come'.
The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Iowa and more. He captured Virginia, too, the first candidate of his party in 44 years to do so.

TIME: When historians look back at the 2008 presidential landslide, they won't focus on the fact that Barack Obama — soon to be our 44th President and our first African-American Commander in Chief — ran a smart and steady campaign. They won't focus on William Ayers or Joe the Plumber or socialism or racism. They won't debate whether John McCain blew it by targeting Pennsylvania or by avoiding the press or by ignoring the Rev. Jeremiah Wright or by picking Sarah Palin as a running mate. They won't remember the robo-calls or "cling" or the Paris Hilton ad or the crazy chick who carved the B into her face. The pundits filling airtime on their 24-hour news channels might have cared, but posterity won't.

No, when historians analyze the 2008 campaign, they're going to remember that the two-term Republican President had 20% approval ratings, that the economy was in meltdown, and that Americans didn't want another Republican President. They'll also remember that Obama was a change candidate in a change election. And of course they'll remember that America elected a biracial leader less than a half-century after Jim Crow. But that's just about all they'll remember. Politics is a lot simpler than the pundits pretend.

The Economist: AMERICA has been painfully conditioned by its past two presidential elections. It was bitterly divided into red and blue states with only a handful in the middle, decided by a handful of votes. On the night of Tuesday November 4th Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, scrambled the assumptions that have governed American politics for half a generation. An intriguing and—to many—inspiring politician, he will take office in January from the most unpopular president in modern time.

Al Jazeera: It is over fairly early, not like the past two elections. This one was a more decisive victory. It is truly a national victory with a national mandate for change. This was a bitter campaign, it was divisive. There were sometimes ugly shouts at McCain's rallies. There will need to be a healing process. President-elect Obama will have to begin that process.

International Herald Tribune: Obama moved America beyond racial politics - Millions of voters put their faith and the future of their country into the hands of a 47-year-old black man who made history both because of his race and in spite of it.

African Executive: Why America needs Obama - It is difficult for ordinary Americans to appreciate the strategic and psychological importance of Barack Obama moving into the White House at this critical juncture of America’s history. You need to situate America’s future in the context of a fast changing and less friendly world to understand that the country desperately needs the type of change that Obama symbolizes so as to slow down and possibly reverse America’s downhill slide from the pinnacle of the world.

SKY: The writing was on the wall for Mr McCain after Mr Obama clinched the key states of California, Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

President Barack Obama Victory Speech - Transcript

.....If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

........continues below
***************************************************
Related Posts:
1. John McCain Concedes defeat - Read Transcript here.
2. It's president Obama! - Read the world media take on a new dawn.
3. American President Barack Obama Profile
***************************************************

It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.

Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.

Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.

And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.

To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way.

To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory.

And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.

You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.

There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.

American President Barack Obama Profile

From Al Jazeera: Barack Obama has become the United States first African-American president.

In a country scarred by centuries of racial tension and violence, the Illinois senator has achieved a place in history.

Obama won the White House race following a groundbreaking campaign that drew on the backing of African-Americans and young voters.

But Obama's message of "change" also turned it into a fundraising phenomenon, raising hundreds of million dollars, 99 per cent of it from individual donors.

Critics say that Obama's campaign was based on style over substance and he has been attacked by some commentators for having appeared to have shied away from making definitive policy statements.

In recent months he has been accused of revising, and even backtracking, on some of his positions on key issues such as the Middle East peace process.

The son of a Kenyan father and American mother, Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961.

After his parents divorce, his mother remarried and he lived in Indonesia for several years.

......continues below
************************************************
Also Read Related Posts:
1. President Barack Obama Victory Speech - Transcript
2. John McCain Concedes defeat - Read Transcript here.
3. It's president Obama! - Read the world media take on a new dawn.
************************************************

He later obtained his degree in New York and spent several years working for church groups assisting the poor in Chicago in the midwestern state of Illinois.

Obama eventually, like several other presidential candidates, entered the legal profession, becoming the first African-American president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review while obtaining his law degree.

He then returned to Chicago, teaching and working as a civil rights lawyer before entering the Illinois state senate in 1997.

Path to fame

In 2004, Obama was elected to the US senate, only the third African-American to achieve such a post since the US's Reconstruction era of the late 19th century, as his website proudly touts.


Not long afterwards, Obama delivered the keynote speech at the Democratic party's annual convention in Boston, Massachusetts, in which he criticised George Bush, the US president at the time, and called for an end to the Iraq war.

The speech sparked national interest in the young senator, and soon led to breathless queries from the media over whether he would announce his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

When he finally did so, there was a media frenzy. The young, photogenic senator was feted by many as the new face of the Democrats.

But it took a long, at times bitter and often bruising presidential primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, for Obama to clinch the Democratic nomination.

And after capturing the nomination Obama had to move quickly to wrest initiative from Republican nominee John McCain.

Foreign policy

The fact an African-American with a Muslim heritage has become the new US president has raised hopes of many people around the world for changes in US foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East.

However in his first major speech after he won his party's nomination Obama angered many Arabs when he told Aipac, the highly influential pro-Israel US lobby group, that Jerusalem should be the undivided capital of Israel.

Those fears were heightened during Obama's visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, when he once again underlined his support for Israel.

However, on Iraq and Iran, Obama has said he will chart a very different course from that of the Bush administration.

Obama has also made much of his early opposition to the war on Iraq and his stated policy is to withdraw US troops from the country.

The Illinois senator has also said he could be prepared to negotiate with the leaders of countries that are perceived to be hostile to the US, such as Iran and Cuba.

At home, however, Obama is going to have to work hard to to quell concerns over his perceived lack of experience in foreign policy.

During his drawn-out primary battle, Obama struggled to win the votes of white, working-class voters in many areas.

And while polls have indicated that Obama was the favourite for the presidency among most countries across the world, it is his own people he must carry with him if he is to make history as a successful 44th US president.