I did not see her show yesterday, but searched out the videos when I realized he appeared and glad I did. The On The Road To Equality (above) was touching. Spoiler alert: Ellen’s not gay.
President Obama talking about his daughters, FLOTUS and the video Anne Laurie alluded to last night are below the fold.
Yes, I will miss this president. Consider this an open thread.
ETA: Blame any typos on Bixby, he is literally laying in my lap (or his head is, that’s all that can fit). Not sure what that’s about, he’s not usually this clingy.
TaMara (BHF)
Also, a quick note on the Authors in Our Midst post. There were a lot of great comments and suggestions, so I think I’ll do it again soon and hopefully focus on the author experience, self-publishing vs. traditional, etc. Kind of a support thread. What do you think?
Emma
Why can’t we find more people of this caliber to be in politics? Even when I disagree with him, I can appreciate both his reasoning and his character. The man is a mensch.
Trentrunner
LGBTQ people of a certain age will regard Obama the way poor/working class people regarded FDR.
If we don’t have a literal altar to him in our homes, there’s one in our hearts. And no, he wasn’t at the leading edge on equality, but he crested the wave and used the world’s largest megaphone (and the presidential signing pen) to support equality.
Some of us will never, ever forget that.
Germy
Fake Trump vs. Fake Sanders appeared on CNN!
http://splitsider.com/2016/02/watch-james-adomian-and-anthony-atamanuiks-trump-vs-bernie-cnn-interview/
Marcelo
Is he wearing a Fitbit watch? I wanna be Fitbit friends with him….I wonder how many steps you take in a typical Presidential day.
jeffreyw
Breakfast!
Frankensteinbeck
@TaMara (BHF):
Wait, I missed that post? Ah, well. Life goes on!
Shell
Since this is an open thread…….Goddamn, its fucking COLD!
WereBear
@TaMara (BHF): love the idea. Sorry I missed the thread.
TaMara (BHF)
@Frankensteinbeck:
@WereBear:
You were highly featured here.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
Bernie would have done it better by equalizing incomes and outcomes….
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Shell:
You must be in North America. I was supposed to stay in Connecticut for another week but I cancelled yesterday and came home to Detroit because the CT weather was crummy. It was 3 degrees when I got up.
New York has low temps and high winds. Wind chill down to -40. Makes me hope they’re sweeping the streets for homeless people sleeping rough. In the wealthiest nation the world has ever known, nobody should die from the weather.
Frankensteinbeck
@TaMara (BHF):
Awww, thank you!
Marcelo
Also, can I just say I love how good PBO is with children. I’ve seen it over and over. I’m sure it’s part and parcel of being the dad that he is, but as a middle school teacher I know it takes a special kind of spark to be truly great and natural with kids, the natural patience and excitement and empathy. Not all my colleagues have it, even though many are spectacular teachers. It’s a special quality and really wonderful to see.
WaterGirl
Is Ellen really not gay???
TaMara (BHF)
@WaterGirl: Yes, just like Obama wasn’t born in the US. :-)
Baud
@Emma: Why can’t everyone be as fast as Usain Bolt?
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Marcelo:
Goes along with being a nice guy generally I think, Though you can be a good person and still not connect with kids.
Dude deserves a rest after the last 8-9 years he’s had, but I so want to see him on the Supreme Court ASAP.
amk
He obviously enjoys doing these comedy shows. They act as stress busters given the 24×7 political bs and backstabbing.
Germy
@Ultraviolet Thunder: He said he has no desire to be on the Supreme Court. He says he’d feel too isolated. Prefers to work with young people; teaching law.
Of course I can’t wait to read the book he writes when he leaves office.
Germy
The president was great on Seinfeld’s show “Getting Coffee” (he is actually quicker than Seinfeld with a comeback)..
amk
@Germy:
Yup. contrast this with dumbya’s stupid fratboy cackles.
WaterGirl
@TaMara (BHF): So glad you asked!
I loved Authors in Our Midst. I would love to see all the books get the same treatment that the initial books you listed did – I liked seeing the covers and reading the blurbs.
I would love to see all the BJ author books in a thread that permanently hangs out at the top where the lexicon and site maintenance threads live. That way we could peruse that thread when we have the time to find new book, or the time to see who the BJ authors are and what their books are, or when we are in the market for a gift.
I’d also love to see a couple of things as weekly features. You could schedule a book thread once a week at a regular time and highlight just one book in your post (but include the link to the permanent thread I asked for above). That way we could talk about the book if we’ve read it and/or have a Q&Q with the author (if willing!) like we did with Wiley Cash. I absolutely loved his book This Dark Road to Mercy.
Separate from the threads about a particular book you could have the support thread you mentioned (scheduled at a regular time) that would focus on the author experience, self-publishing vs. traditional, etc.
If the BJ book compilation thread sounds like a lot of trouble to you, I would be willing to help with the compilation. I have read so many great books from BJ authors and have given them as gifts, it would be so great to see them all in one place.
In a perfect world, I’d love to be able to get all my christmas gifts from BJ folks – books, photos, artwork, soap. This would at least help support our authors on the book front. Not that some of them need any help from us!
bemused
All the episodes were fun to watch. It’s easy to see that Obama genuinely enjoys and appreciates children. It should be obvious that the Obamas are nice, caring, thoughtful and intelligent people who have raised their girls well and they have great senses of humor. People can disagree with Obama’s policies but the hate, bile and vitriol that some people spew at them tells me there is seriously wrong upstairs with those folks.
moderateindy
I love the guy, but if anyone thinks Obama is anything but a pragmatic politician, his “evolution” on gay marriage is proof otherwise.
Does anyone truly believe that when he first ran for President that he felt any differently about the subject than he does now? He didn’t evolve. He knew he would have had difficulty getting elected if he supported same sex marriage in ’08, and once public opinion had moved enough, he changed his position with it. I have no problems with the calculation on his part, but I don’t think he should get all that much credit for moving the dial. He was on the wrong side of history, until he wasn’t.
TaMara (BHF)
@WaterGirl: It would be fun. I only posted blurbs from the authors who emailed me, I didn’t want to be presumptuous and out anyone’s nym if they didn’t want it. It did take a lot of time to pull together the links, so one book a week might be more manageable. Have to see how my schedule goes on this.
Kathleen
@TaMara (BHF): I think that’s a great idea. I’m so impressed with Juicers’ breadth of talents and I always feel I learn something.
WaterGirl
@Marcelo: I thought about this last week – how all kids and babies LOVE barack obama and instinctively reach out to him.
I thought of that as I watched Cruz’s child seem to recoil at his touch. How creepy do you have to be for that to happen?
WaterGirl
@Germy: I don’t know if you saw my comment last time you mentioned the president’s remarks about that. I heard them in the context of “right now”. Maybe I heard what I wanted to hear. :-)
WaterGirl
@Germy: Have you seen the youtube video of barack obama on conan o’brien before he was a declared candidate? How anyone cannot love the man is totally beyond my comprehension.
Iowa Old Lady
I love the way Obama talks about his daughters. All children should get to hear their parents praise them like this.
Elmo
@WaterGirl: I have to speak up in defense of the child-challenged. I don’t think of myself as particularly creepy, or other-than-nice, but I do not get children and it’s mutual. We have a mutual nonaggression pact – I don’t try to touch or interact with them and they don’t cry and pull away or hide behind their mothers.
Anya
@moderateindy: That’s not how it played tho. PUTUS played a strong role in advancing the cause. Instead of a government that was demonizing LGBTQ citizens we have a president who was from day one working to remove discriminating practices and laws. He didn’t move with the public opinion, he moved public opinion.
Ultraviolet Thunder
@moderateindy:
Me too, so I understand the President’s claimed evolution on this issue. 8 years ago I was persuaded by arguments that civil unions could provide equivalent benefits for same sex couples while giving hetero couples another option to traditional marriage. Then gay friends lobbied me, saying that if they didn’t have the same rights I did they were second class citizens. Now I agree. So I guess I’m with PBO on this. If you were right all along, good for you.
WaterGirl
@Elmo: As more of a puppy person than a baby person, I am not judging people who just don’t get kids! Did you see the video of Cruz where he reaches for her (no doubt as a prop) and she looks like he repulses her? That’s what I’m talking about. His own child. That just did not look right to me.
debbie
I hope my fellow Wolf Hall–freaks are around to see this. On NPR’s version of a sports show (Only a Game), one segment was speculation that Henry might have suffered from CTE. Seems possible to me.
Emma
@moderateindy: See, I know enough people my age that evolved the same way that I completely believe it. Especially the ones who focused on a strict interpretation of legal equality. It took a while and a lot of careful talking-to before they got the point.
Denali
I already miss Obama.
Germy
@WaterGirl:
On Seinfeld’s show, Obama said kid’s like him because he has big ears, and looks like a cartoon character to them. Also, they like saying his name like it’s one word: “Barakobama”
NotMax
@debbie
Not so much speculation as giving a modern diagnostic name to a known occurrence. Contemporary reports of his personality change and subsequent hair-trigger mood swings abound.
bemused
@Denali:
Me too.
@WaterGirl:
Not that I don’t think Cruz could be daddy hard to love but I know how kids can get really cranky with exhaustion from too much going on, wanting to go home and don’t want anyone trying to engage them not even their parents or maybe especially their parents because they are the ones who should get them out of there.
SarahT
debbie: Makes a lot of sense – so many accounts of how he became much more of a monster after nearly dying from a fall during a jousting tournament
debbie
@NotMax:
Seems obvious to me too, but so many kings and princes were similarly tempered. Guess the lead in the pewter theory is either bogus or these people were doomed before they even began.
SarahT
@Germy: Ha ! Have so many fond memories of going to the 1st Obama inauguration, one of which is returning to my brother’s place (we crashed in his basement) & my then 5-year-old niece chanting, “Bah-RACK oh-BAM-ah is our President ! BAh-rack OH-bama is our President ! bah-rack oh-bam-AH is our President !”. God what a great day…
SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel
@Trentrunner:
During the 2007-08 campaign, and for several years after the inauguration, I had what I referred to, only semi-ironically, as my “Obama Shrine” — in reality a couple of bookshelves with books, magazines and special edition newspapers about the Obamas, campaign buttons and swag, and the like. Much of it is packed away now, or at least shelved more sensibly, but I have never regretted giving him my heart as well as time, money, and energy.
Redshift
@Marcelo: It’s definitely more than just being a dad and a nice person. Ms. Redshift and I call it his magic baby powers. There a great video from a few years ago where Barack and Michelle are interacting with a crowd, and someone hands Michelle their baby. The baby is unhappy and she can’t quite get him to settle down, so she passes the baby to Barack. The baby is instantly relaxed and looking up at him adoringly. Michelle has a good-natured look of mild exasperation that conveys that this is not at all an unfamiliar experience.
Technocrat
@WaterGirl:
I’m also more of a puppy person than a baby person. When we brought my daughter’s home, she was sort of a lump that i was remotely fond of, and personally responsible for. I still remember the day we “clicked’ – I was watching a game with her on my lap, I cheered for something and she lookup up at me and grinned. BAM. I’ve been wrapped around her finger since that day.
Of course I fell in love with my dogs the moment I saw them as puppies. But I don’t tell my daughter that.
SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel
@WaterGirl:
I haven’t, but am glad to know about it (I assume it hangs out on YouTube). I think also before he was a declared candidate, he was the “Not My Job” guest on NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. He was really funny, especially some stuff about his daughters’ schools (I think Sasha had just started kindergarten). Would love to hear that segment again … time to paw through the NPR archives.
SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel
@SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel:
Aha! Success! (In case anyone else wants to listen.)
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@TaMara (BHF):
For me, self-publishing was definitely the way to go. I made the decision at a time in my life when I needed something that was totally under my own control, that wouldn’t involve getting rejection notices. I am very fortunate that I have parents that were both able and willing to provide enough financial support that I could produce a professional quality book with professional editing and a professional cover.
I’m finding the marketing of it to be less onerous than I was expecting. I’m comfortable walking into a bookstore and saying that I’m a local author and would they like to carry it. I’m comfortable emailing a book review blogger and asking if they would review it. Some of it is just that this means more to me than anything else I’ve ever pitched to anyone, including pitching myself in the job search process. Getting such a glowing review from Kirkus, and then the news that it had been picked as a featured review also helps. I’m confident that what I’m pitching really is a damned good book, even if a particular individual doesn’t like it.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel: I think this is the right link to Obama on Conan. You won’t regret watching.
gogol's wife
@Marcelo:
Yes, that was fantastic. Crying here, both for how touching this interaction was and because he can’t just be president forever.
gogol's wife
@debbie:
Sounds plausible, especially when he would have died without Mark Rylance’s 16th-century version of CPR.
SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel
@WaterGirl:
Thanks! Have it bookmarked for a little later.
amk
@WaterGirl: Thanks, I didn’t. :)
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel: Maybe you have to have been there, but this is a local group in 2007: Pretty Funny.
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
@Anya: This.
PBO used his power to diversify the federal judiciary, including many firsts for LGBTQ judges, from day one. His judicial appointments will shape the law in the country for decades to come.
HeartlandLiberal
@Shell: Tell me. I just spent an hour going door to door in my fifth of our neighborhood with a petition to protest the plans to build a cell tower 804 ********* feet from the edge of the subdivision. We figure from our research, including recent studies and docs from national realtors association, this will knock 20% of the value of properties (including mine) directly facing the tower, and when that ripples on the rest of the neighborhood appraised values, we are looking at over 1.2 million potential loss in values on 87 total properties. I hate our corporate masters. You know they threaten to sue municipalities who do not give them what the want? They have coerced state legislatures, like here in Indiana, to change the proximity rules, now allowing towers to be build as long as only 500 feet separate the nearest houses. Of course studies coming out of Europe, Israel, and Brazil and India are finding 3 – 5 fold increases in cancers and neurological problems for people living with 500 meters or 1600 feet of towers.