Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Books are my comfort food!

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Biden & Obama Together Again! (LIVE) at 1:30 pm

Reader Interactions

189Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    YEAH!!!

     

    So happy for this.

     

    I remember the trip to DC when I did the White House Tour. What it would have meant to see the permanent portraits of a Black President and First Lady. When I went on a tour in the 1990’s, the thought of a Black President was stuff of fantasy.

  2. 2.

    zhena gogolia

    @rikyrah: I just watched a Chris Rock routine from I think 1996, and he’s ridiculing the idea that there would ever be even a Black VICE president.

  3. 3.

    FelonyGovt

    Kind of pisses me off that TFG (again) flouted tradition and decency and didn’t do this for the Obamas, but it’s really so much better that it’s Joe who gets to host them now.

  5. 5.

    Dangerman

    Let’s do a twofer and have the unveiling today  for Obama and Trump (the latter of which would be a mugshot).

  6. 6.

    Elizabelle

    @FelonyGovt:   Yes.  Absolutely.  I rather hope TFG never gets his portrait, in the White House or at the National Portrait Gallery.  Because he has been disgraced, even convicted, by the time it comes around.

  17. 17.

    MisterForkbeard

    This is so kind and human. I love it.

    Also, the ASL interpreter is joyous and I am there for it.

    ETA: Literally, I’m still struck by the contrast to Trump, who spent every speech congratulating himself and talking about how great he was. This is Biden applauding Obama, thanking people that worked in the White House back in the day, and saying that it was due to their hard work and example that he’s able to be a good president today.

  19. 19.

    bbleh

    @FelonyGovt: @Eunicecycle: I could only make it about halfway through a CNN “analysis” explaining that TFG never hosting an Obama portrait event just shows bothsides, because TFG never did and Obama — we are assured by the authors — wouldn’t have attended.  Oh and if a Republican wins in ’24, it might happen to Biden too.  See, bothsides!

  20. 20.

    jonas

    God, it’s still refreshing, even after almost two years now, to watch the American president speak at an occasion like this and not have it be a rambling whine-fest of butthurt and bigotry.

  21. 21.

    Raoul Paste

    Joe  is so good at winning people over when he speaks.   It’s a tragedy that too many people get their news in a filtered form

  22. 22.

    Elizabelle

    Speaking of hope.  I am remembering when Michelle said something about how we were then living without hope (with the interloper in office).

    I love feeling hopeful, and not wincing at what POTUS might be doing “in our name.”  It is a sea change.

    BUT:  let’s not speak of the interloper in this thread.  This is all about the Obamas and Bidens.  The good people.

  23. 23.

    MisterForkbeard

    @jonas: I know, right? It’s weird, because we shouldn’t care two years later. I think we were all slightly traumatized by Trump’s sheer narcissistic assholishness.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    @patrick II: While I get the double entendre, I read that Trump’s portrait is in the works.  I don’t know when it’ll be ready, but I suppose that is something that will have to be handled delicately.

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud:  No public unveiling, and straight into the White House basement.

    I hope that TFG will be imprisoned, and they will do it that way “to spare him” the embarrassment.

  32. 32.

    zhena gogolia

    I’m confused. I guess I thought these were going to be the portraits that were in the National Portrait Gallery.

  40. 40.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Gosh, all these underlying hostilities and tensions and simmering resentments. It’s just a terrible thing to be forced to witness.

    s /

  43. 43.

    Elizabelle

    About the earlier unveiled portraits:

    The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery unveiled its commissioned portraits of former President Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama by artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, respectively.

  66. 66.

    zhena gogolia

    The contrast between these tributes to the staff and “ketchup dripping down the wall” — SMH

  67. 67.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    I see Bobby Rush in the audience (the only person to ever beat Barack in an election).   Obama magnanimous to the end.

  68. 68.

    Elizabelle

    “And once our time is up, we move on.”

    Well, yeah.  And, WRT to that baton that gets passed:  no more runners who drag it back in reverse.

  70. 70.

    Jeffro

    Btw not only is Fox News not covering this event at the moment (it appears they may have had very brief coverage earlier) but the top 5 stories at the moment on the website are…

    1. ‘Far-left’ teaching materials exposed!
    2. Families flee city (Portland) as homeless overrun it (which is confusing…I thought Portland was burnt to the ground in 2020?)
    3. Fetterman/jogger incident from 2013
    4. (white) Memphis mom allegedly murdered by (black) suspect
    5. HUGE shark spotted!  Maybe!

    Not one word about tfg and nuclear docs.  Funny, that…

    And now back to live coverage of Portland!

    j/k, I’m going back to coverage of the Obamas  =)

  72. 72.

    piratedan

    @Elizabelle: I’d be okay with a placque tho… and then list all of the crimes he was indicted with, outlining that he was impeached twice et al… granted we may have to wait another ten years before we uncover ALL of his crimes, but there’s only so many prosecutors to go around.

  76. 76.

    Elizabelle

    These are real people who are enjoying the occasion.  Being themselves.

    ETA:  Always good to remember Grant Park.  I love thinking of the Denver DNC too.  Exciting times.

  77. 77.

    FastEdD

    I remember working for the Obama campaign in three states. There was a button with the Obama family that read “America’s next first family.” I couldn’t believe it when it actually happened! And now it is in the rear view mirror. I’m proud that I was alive to see it.

  79. 79.

    Old School

    After being called out for not standing, President Biden gives Dr. Jill Biden a belated standing ovation.

  81. 81.

    lamh36

    Had to come out from lurking to say I love both portraits.

    Of the two, I love Michelle’s the most, but I also love PBOs.

    love the white background for PBO!

    His skin looks flawless as ever and the white background really makes it pop. NO whitewashing of his Blackness!!!

    yes…it makes his skin pop which is, I’m sure purposeful.

    He IS the first Black president and no whitewashing that!

    Love PBOs intro, but Michelle’s intro hade me near tears!  I just love them both, but when I see Michelle I see me and my sisters and my family!

    Love them

  83. 83.

    Elizabelle

    That was wonderful.  WaterGirl, thank you for putting that up.

    Need a little joy in our lives.

  85. 85.

    Wanderer

    It is so wonderful that this event is hosted by a President who can lead by letting others take the spotlight for a while. This is the proud and joyous event it should be for Biden, for the Obamas and the American people.

  87. 87.

    rikyrah

    I love both of them for different reasons.

    I love 44’s because it’s so striking – it looks like a photograph. I love the choice of no background. Just him. It completely fits.

     

    As far as Forever FLOTUS…

    She looks absolutely beautiful. Just wondrous. Love it.

  88. 88.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Wow! That entire event was pitch-perfect!

    (Well, except the piano.)

    The portraits look wonderful, and I can’t wait to see good reproductions to study more closely. The five speeches were terrific, and I couldn’t be prouder that I voted for #44 and #46.

    Michelle was wearing that lovely dark red/burgundy that suits her so well. I think she wore the same colour outfit to Biden’s inauguration.

  90. 90.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: IIRC Oliver Cromwell’s Cambridge college still displays his portrait, but most of the time it is covered with a curtain.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    @Omnes Omnibus:   Behind a curtain sounds good.  That is what I envisage for the interloper.  A massively gaudy golden frame around a Polaroid-sized portrait, and hung behind black crepe.

  93. 93.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    I see Josh Earnest, Stephanie Cutter, Dan Pfieffer, Jim Messina – great seeing the crew together again

  94. 94.

    Steeplejack

    @Elizabelle:

    I came in late, just as Michelle Obama was starting to speak. I did hear her say that her artist’s “studio” is in her home and the artist wanted her privacy protected. Makes sense, of course.

  100. 100.

    Steeplejack

    @lamh36:

    For some reason it struck me hard when Michelle said that her daughters had lived in the White House longer than anywhere else when they were growing up. A wonderful experience, but also a lot of issues, I’m sure, being in a public fishbowl.

  101. 101.

    Origuy

    @Elizabelle: Oliver Cromwell did die of natural causes. However, after the Restoration, Charles II had his body exhumed, hanged, and beheaded along with two others who had participated in the trial of his father. Their heads were displayed in Westminster Hall, where the trial took place.

    Now that’s taking a grudge to extremes.

  108. 108.

    phdesmond

    @zhena gogolia:

    i like the Portrait Gallery ones too.

    i didn’t remember or know that the portraitist agrees to paint two different portraits.  but the artists are the very same:  Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald.

  110. 110.

    Ken

    @Elizabelle: Died of natural causes at 59.

    This reminds me of the joke that all British monarchs have died of natural causes, if you remember that being killed in battle, assassinated, or executed by a rival for the throne count as natural for kings.

  113. 113.

    rikyrah

    Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) tweeted at 1:45 PM on Wed, Sep 07, 2022:
    The video of Michelle Obama:

    “We hold an inauguration to ensure a peaceful transition of power. Those of us lucky enough to serve work, as Barack said, as hard as we can, for as long as we can — as long as the people choose to keep us here — and once our time is up, we move on.” https://t.co/2fns1hx3NG
    (https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1567584807999209484?t=5tFNQXk1p92lcQ-F_7Z8wA&s=03)

  116. 116.

    phdesmond

    @phdesmond:

    no, it turns out i’m wrong — the portraitists are different:

    • President Obama’s image was painted by Robert McCurdy and Michelle Obama’s portrait was painted by Sharon Sprung.
  118. 118.

    eversor

    @FelonyGovt:

    You know, I’m glad he didn’t do that.  Fuck Trump.  So more awesome to have Biden do it.  I’m a DC local and looking at the pictures of Biden and Obama just hanging out in say Ben’s (chili bowl for the non locals) and having a blast was awesome.

    The two of them had a great relationship, still do.  I’m much happier with Biden throwing up the portraits than fucking Trump.

    Trump isn’t a fit enough or good enough human to place the Obamas pictures up.  Biden is kind, decent, and their friend.  I’m happy with thist outcome, and I’m sure they are happy as well.

  121. 121.

    lamh36

    @JPL: hi..I’m slowly going to be coming back to BJ.

    I still keep up and in touch on twitter and FB and email whic John and Adam and a few other folks.

    I’m no longer in Houston.  Moved back home to NOLA last December and back to my old job/position (although I was just recently promoted to Lead Tech, so that’s a change)

  122. 122.

    scav

    I like the subtle teamwork between the portrait styles.  Barak’s is unapologetically modern, laser sharp and the black white silver-grey clothes do make his skin tones pop.  Again, understated and unapologetic.  Michelle’s too, only using /coopting the gilded chairs, fancy dress mode, putting her absolutely on the same traditional showcase / gracious / whatever level with all the first ladies to date.  Portrait itself is still modern (and unapologetic) but that chair choice is working overtime (dress helps).  Plus her tones are all the wonderful warm ones with that bang of blue.  Between the two they cover a spectrum of colors, styles, past and future, situating themselves as a bridge, a team, and individuals.

  123. 123.

    Mike in NC

    Trump’s official portrait can hang in the Kremlin or Leavenworth, which ever one he ends up in.

  126. 126.

    danielx

    @Baud: ​

    Consider that when he kicks the bucket his grave will have to be under guard 24/7/365, since i guarantee that otherwise there will be a never ending line of people waiting to piss on it.

  127. 127.

    JoyceH

    @Wanderer:

    It is so wonderful that this event is hosted by a President who can lead by letting others take the spotlight for a while.

    During the previous administration, I always felt sorry for people who’d toiled at some important project in obscurity for years and reached the point of getting official recognition for their important contributions, and having an event at the White House. Because there you’d be with your Nobel or whatever, and Trump takes the podium and starts blithering, and comes out with some newsworthy outrageous statement, and it runs over and over on the news, with you in the background looking like you wished you were anywhere else on earth. (Remember those Navajo code talkers, and Trump going on about ‘Pocahantas’?) Being recognized at the White House is supposed to be such an honor and Trump always turned it into… something else.

  130. 130.

    Chris Johnson

    @bbleh: CNN got bought by a rightwinger guy. Don’t expect much: it’s going to try to be on the right of OANN. These things change when they’re business enterprises and get bought by wealthy fascists: there’s already a purge at CNN and the fix is in.

  131. 131.

    laura

    I was fortunate to see the Obama Portraits while they were on tour in San Francisco. Each portrait has it’s own separate power, grace and beauty. What struck me in analyzing the Presidents portrait was how power was implemented. The President’s left hand is the focal point. His wedding ring is the focal point of the hand. It’s subtle, unmistakable, confident and a wellspring of power. Forever FLOTUS is Barack Obama’s Super Power IMHO.

  134. 134.

    danielx

    @Baud:

    Mentally calculating what I’d be willing to pay to piss on his grave. $25? $50? A hundred is as high as I’ll go…okay two hundred and that’s my final offer.

  135. 135.

    Ken

    @Baud: No, the guards would be there to make sure everyone in line to piss on the grave had bought a ticket.

    You don’t think the family would fail to monetize it, do you?

  137. 137.

    eversor

    @Mike in NC:

    I’d say we just non person him and add his mug shot to the rack of all the other traitors cleared people have to view on getting cleared in the hallways.

    We need to redo our systems.  Elected officials get cleared due to constitutional authority, that may need to change.  I get read the riot act every couple years as my family is Dutch so I have a ton of foreign national contacts that I need explain away.   I had a bankruptcy in 2009 due to the crash but that’s OK as well.  We all go through this, repeatedly.  They aren’t trying to flunk you they want people.  And as the (Navy) joke goes if they flunked all of us who’d gotten into a bar brawl none of us would be cleared.

    The fact that they bullshited Kushner and Ivanka into the cleared level set off alarm bells not because of what showed up on their vetting but because the vetters wanted to pull the plug.  Neither of them had any sort of service to the government to ask for a waiver either.

    I don’t want to, nor do I think we should, force politicians to pass a background check that opens the door to a world of shit.  But they are forcing us to do it.  Because now we know people can be so brazenly stupid to run out the door with the proverbial NOC list, SIGINT, TK, and another nations nuclear secrets.  A stunt which all the rest of us would be shot for.

  138. 138.

    JPL

    @laura:  I had tickets to see the portraits when they were at the High Museum in Atlanta, but there was a major Covid outbreak, so I passed.

  139. 139.

    Baud

    @Ken: They’ll definitely monetize it.  The only question is whether they can make more money selling off his bones to MAGA heads as sacred relics than they could with a piss-o-rama at one of his golf resorts.

  141. 141.

    brendancalling

    @SiubhanDuinne: I know!! The Washington Post assured me just this morning that Obama and Biden HATE each other, and they’re simmering with resentment. I was promised melodrama! Where’s my melodrama???

  142. 142.

    Brachiator

    @Ken:

    This reminds me of the joke that all British monarchs have died of natural causes, if you remember that being killed in battle, assassinated, or executed by a rival for the throne count as natural for kings.

    The fates of British monarchs have been relatively mundane after the mid 17th century.

    George II, at the age of 60, was the last British sovereign to fight alongside his soldiers, at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 in Germany, against the French.

    Richard III was the last British king to actually die in battle.

    Charles I was, of course, beheaded in 1649. The British seemed to have shocked themselves that they would actually go this far.

    Even in some later battles for the throne, the loser was allowed to choose exile.

  144. 144.

    Belafon

    On the other book, Obama’s at the end of a long helicopter ladder pulling Biden up. It’s called Hope Rides Again.

  145. 145.

    Brachiator

    @danielx:

    Mentally calculating what I’d be willing to pay to piss on his grave. $25? $50? A hundred is as high as I’ll go…okay two hundred and that’s my final offer.

    Well, 200 bucks might be okay if they include a souvenir photo (tastefully taken as a rear view).

  146. 146.

    Ken

    @Baud: There are only 206 bones, though I suppose they could crush them and seal the fragments in plexiglass in increase the inventory. But I have to think the real money will be in cloned cell cultures, especially if marketed properly.

    “Is your slice of history absolutely fresh? If not, replace it now! Operators are standing by to take your call. Mention this ad and receive a second patty at no additional cost! Just pay shipping and handling.”

  148. 148.

    JoyceH

    My current dread is the thought that Trump will kick the bucket before he’s indicted and completely discredited – and the government feels compelled to give him a state funeral. Wouldn’t that be GHASTLY?

  149. 149.

    Elie

    Two very interesting portraits unveiled and a wonderful, wonderful event.  I liked both portraits but its so hard to appreciate on a tv screen.   From what I could see, Michele’s portrait was soft and warm but her eyes — her clearly depicted eyes seemed to penetrate a reality that told of her deep wisdom and also her dreaminess and hope.  I could see his less well but it looked fascinating, stark and realistic — the counterpoint to Michele’s dreaminess…  anyway my two cents

    Their words were so powerful and poignant at this event — particularly Michele’s.  I soooooo miss the words and deep thoughts.  The Bidens are necessarily dealing with a different America right now –I so grieve for (and hope we can still save), the America that Michele talked about so movingly in her comments.  She was near tears, you could tell — and I was too …  Those of us who care about the dream of this nation are in pain and her words today reminded me anyway of the hard work still to be done and hope reasserted.   I’m still shedding a tear or two as I remember what she said.  May we all remember and try to live what she said…..

  150. 150.

    Baud

    @Ken:

    There are only 206 bones,

    Dude.  The bones that the Trump family markets as Trump’s bones do not have to be Trump’s bones.  They’ll sell millions.

  152. 152.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    This was so lovely. I adore both of them.

    One point I’ll argue, though: I refuse to believe that TFG ever laid awake for a single moment at night wondering if he’d made the right decision. He is incapable of anything even remotely resembling self-reflection.

  156. 156.

    EarthWindFire

    @Baud: And his joke about the tan suit was <chef’s kiss>. I’m looking forward to Biden’s jokes about the shade of orange in TFG’s portrait.

  157. 157.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    Antiques Roadshow, 2048: “I’m sorry to tell you that this is not a fragment of a genuine Donald Trump bone. It is part of a chicken wing—with traces of Cajun ranch seasoning, judging by the color. How much did you say you paid for it?”

  161. 161.

    Jay C

    @Baud: \

    You mean like Napoleon? Who was commented on by a later wag that he must have the luckiest man in the world: since he apparently had six penises (to go by the “relics” which had been sold off)….

  166. 166.

    J R in WV

    @Baud: ​
     

    Should my White House portrait use the Adam and Eve fig leaf?

    But would a fig leaf be big enough? I suspect not!

  172. 172.

    piratedan

    @J R in WV: I always assumed that we would have one portrait of Baud, sans pants and the accompanying portrait would be of his pants… but that’s just idle speculation.

  175. 175.

    Elizabelle

    @Ksmiami:  A sterile desert.  Or an Arctic island.   Something barren, desolate, unreachable and unescapable.

    Incarcerated is fine by me, though.  Although, no ankle bracelet and house arrest.  An actual penal facility, please.

    Timbuktu:  for all we know, the escaped Fat Leonard might rescue him from there.

  177. 177.

    J R in WV

    @Elizabelle:

    Timbuktu — a small city in the southern edge of the Sahara desert. Remote enough, and a totally black-owned and managed locality. Perfect for Trump’s imprisonment.

  178. 178.

    Elizabelle

    Timbuktu could work.  Alcatraz is good.  Just:  prison.  In this lifetime, please.  Tired of him delaying and skating on everything.  Enough.

  182. 182.

    stinger

    @Baud: Why don’t they just use the gigantic one of him in tennis togs? So classy.

     

    ETA: Still reading through, but gotta say that this is one of the best comment threads evah!

  184. 184.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Elizabelle: In my wishes, he is tried and convicted of at least most of the serious crimes. But as he awaits sentencing – and ideally shortly after the conviction itself – he dies of natural causes (or apoplexy, either is good) in full public view with cameras rolling.

    It won’t stop the inevitable attempts at martyrdom, but it will save millions of dollars and hours (maybe years) of labor stress involved in his imprisonment. I mean, I don’t really know which would be worse – the assassinations/attempts, or the prison gang he forms around himself.

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