Cindy Allen is managing editor of the Enid News & Eagle. Want to comment? E-mail editor@enidnews.com
Media wakes up to Obama tactics
I just want to note the day in history. October 22, 2009. That is the day the American media appeared to awaken from its trance over Barack Obama . A lot of us inside and outside the media have been debating over whether the national media has done a good job in objectively covering President Barack Obama. The national media, in general, has been accused of fawning all over Obama. Conservative talk radio has demonized the “mainstream media” for turning a blind eye to problems with the Obama administration. Fox News -- which is demonized by most liberals because of its strong lineup of conservative opinion shows -- has been attacked in the last two weeks by the Obama administration, who has called it an arm of the Republican Party and also a “perspective” media and not a real news organization. Obama even went on the record saying his administration doesn’t want the “other media” to follow in Fox’s footsteps. I can only hope members of other news outlets took notice of that comment -- a president basically “advising” the other media on how to do their jobs. But, the Obama administration went over the line and out of bounds on Thursday when they said they weren’t going to make the “pay czar” available to Fox News for the pool broadcast interviews. That definitely got the other media outlets’ attention, and CNN, NBC, CBS and the others involved in the long-established pool system cried foul. The Washington bureau chiefs of the five TV networks decided that none of their reporters would interview the pay czar unless Fox News was included. Media analysts have praised the decision to boycott the Feinberg interview, finally acknowledging the Obama administration has gone too far. The administration relented and made the guy available for all five pool members and Bloomberg TV. It is simply out of bounds for the president of the United States to boycott the media. Its radical and its dangerous. Even those who absolutely hate Fox News’ conservative shows should squirm because -- what if it were a Republican administration that decided to freeze out NBC or CNN? There would be hell to pay and rightly so. The media better wake up and understand this president is not operating in the good will of the First Amendment or the American people by his actions and his arrogant attitude. They came very close to breaking the bounds of the constitution by denying access to a pool member. The media and the lawmakers we cover are supposed to have a somewhat adversarial relationship. It doesn’t have to be confrontational -- but it should always be skeptical. We are tasked with asking questions on behalf of the public., and that includes hard questions about policy. Our politicians only have power because we give it to them. They seem to forget that sometimes, and by golly, these kinds of actions by a sitting president certainly not only get the media’s attention, but they get the American public’s attention as well. I only hope and pray that Oct. 22, 2009 was the day the earth stopped standing still and marks a sea change of real objectivity (and yes, skepticism) when it comes to media coverage of the president and the entire Congress.
Government workers and teachers should put President Barack Obama on their Christmas card lists this year. Why? Because about the only jobs that have been “saved” through the president’s stimulus package have been education jobs and government jobs. The White House report on actual jobs created points out that 250,000 education jobs have been saved through the stimulus package. That happened through the allocation of that stimulus money to the states, which allowed states to shore up their huge revenue holes left by this economic recession. Since most states spend the majority of their budgets on education, it makes sense that education jobs have been saved. The number of other non-government jobs created through the package is calculated to be about 30,000. Wow, that’s impressive, isn’t it? Not. This recent recession has eliminated 7.2 million private-sector jobs from the economy. Some states are experiencing double-digit unemployment numbers. And, this is all the administration can boast about their jobs-saving stimulus package? While we all really HOPE and WISH that an economic recovery is on the horizon, there are too many signs that point to this “recovery” simply being a hallucination. Without jobs, there is no economic recovery. While some economic factors may stabilize, it’s simple -- if people don’t have jobs, they can’t make purchases. Spending makes this economy run. I can’t see anything in the president’s economic plan to encourage me that he is in the mood to create jobs. Because to create jobs, you have to offer incentives. What’s the biggest incentive to a business looking to expand? Tax breaks. This president and administration has no interest at all in providing tax breaks to anybody -- not even their coveted “middle class” masses. The plans put forth by this president will only increase taxes on everyone, including businesses. Unless he does something significant to create private sector jobs in the next six months, the president is setting himself and his administration up to “own” this recession. Don’t think for a minute that little reality won’t be pointed out big time during the 2010 election cycle.
Obama has a lot to live up to with Nobel Prize honor
I think it’s safe to say that President Barack Obama’s selection as the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize has come as a shock -- even to his most ardent supporters. According to Associated Press reports, Obama’s aides work him up about an hour after the announcement and had to scramble to put together some kind of statement. Meanwhile, national pundits -- including Obama’s supporters and opponents -- are crafting their own analyses of the reason for his selection. An Associated Press analysis accurately, I think, says the prize awarded to the president is more for promise than what he’s actually accomplished. After all, the nominations for the honor deadlined just two weeks after the president’s inauguration. So, whoever nominated him was doing it based on the campaign and the sweeping changes the president “promised.” The president hasn’t even been in office for a year, and his accomplishments as president are very slim. That’s not a slam on the president, it’s just fact. It’s hard to get a lot done in the first year. Also, he has proposed some very sweeping societal agendas that will have a huge impact on our nation, and those kinds of changes should not be engaged in lightly. So, is this Nobel Peace Prize simply a swipe at the former president, George W. Bush, who was reviled by much of the world because he acted decisively and quickly in regard to combating our foreign enemies? Or is it an award based on the promises our new president has made, and perhaps even the apologies he’s made, for our nation? Obama is being lauded for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” That’s certainly vague, and it remains to be seen if his diplomatic efforts and belief make the world safer or more dangerous. Whatever the reason, it is a great honor. The president certainly should be humbled by this international honor that only two other sitting presidents have received, the latest one being bestowed on President Woodrow Wilson some 90 years ago! Wilson won for founding the League of Nations. Before that, Theodore Roosevelt won for drawing up the 1905 peace treaty between Russia and Japan. Former President Jimmy Carter won in 2002 for his peace missions after his presidency. So, Obama really has a lot to live up to in the company of the other presidents. It would likely be best for him to low-key this honor and see if he can actually deliver on Nobel Peace Prize expectations.
Hamas leader's son offers glimpse of struggles to come
Some of the reader reaction I’ve seen to the story the Enid News & Eagle published on the former Hamas terrorist Masab Hassan Yousef’s talk to Emmanuel Baptist Church Sunday has been fascinating. Yousef is the son of one of the founding leaders of Hamas, which has a wing considered to be an international terrorist organization. The man said he was formerly involved in terrorist activities until arrested and sent to an Israeli prison. He said it was there he discovered the Bible and its teachings. He later converted to Christianity, keeping it a secret until just a few years ago, when he came out publicly. Yousef has been on national TV a few times, and he’s been denounced by the Muslim world. He speaks about his experiences and his reasons for converting to Christianity, and that is why he was at Emmanuel on Sunday. Yet, the shadow of Sept. 11, 2001 and the mistrust many Christians have regarding the Muslim faith have made many skeptical about Yousef’s conversion. Others have embraced Yousef enthusiastically as a testament to the power of God’s love. The comments reveal much about where many American Christians stand regarding the Muslim faith and their lack of understanding of it. Yousef says the same thing about Muslims and their lack of understanding of their own faith, as well as Christianity. According to Yousef, Muslims have been isolated for a thousand years. He claims their leaders have built a wall -- both religious and political -- around their followers. Yet, he said the technology of the Internet and mass communications and media is helping bring that wall down. That works both ways. While Muslims may have been isolated from the Western world, westerners have also been isolated from the Muslim ideology. Don’t think the radical factions of Islam are not tech savvy. They are using the Internet to recruit others into their way of thinking and to promote an anti-American and anti-Western ideology. It’s interesting to me to hear from people like Yousef and to try to understand the culture he came from and to get a glimpse of his decision to change his own personal culture. It also offers some context to religious struggles to come. His testimony to the Christian faithful is powerful and a validation of their beliefs. His remarks regarding the United State’s position in the world to stop the spread of terrorism also is a validation of most Americans’ beliefs. Is Yousef the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing as some readers seem to believe? No one can really know for sure. However, if he is just pretending, he’s taking a very high risk in what he’s doing. He gave up everything -- his family, his inheritance, his security -- to move away and declare his Christian faith. From his remarks Sunday and previous interviews, he seems to believe that as more is learned about Islam, the more chance it will not survive for more than another 25 years. From what I’ve read about him in the last few days, I’m willing to give him the benefit of believing in his conversion. He seems to have made enough sacrifices for it.
I know one thing that will make my blood actually boil, and that is if I see my president ever appear on the David Letterman show ever again. President Barack Obama thought one way to reach the public on his health care proposals would be to go on Letterman. I found the ploy ridiculous to begin with because I don’t believe the president of the United States should appear on comedy talk shows. However, following Letterman’s recent admission to sleeping with his female employees and other “creepy” behavior due to the fact he’s the victim of extortion, any more presidential visits to this show would be just too much to bear. I know most Hollywood types have no morals and have no care in the world about sleeping around with whomever they see fit. In the normal corporate world and business world, however, it’s looked on very severely for the “boss” to be sleeping around with any of his or her subordinates. In fact, most of us in the business world have had to take training on sexual harassment and hostile work environment training to avoid the complications of such action. And, yes, in many corporate organizations, people would be fired for such activity. Of course, I don’t expect CBS to fire Letterman. He’s just too popular, and in a TV world where some people don’t consider rape of a 13-year-old minor “rape-rape,” I’m sure this doesn’t even raise an eyebrow with his superiors. But, even though he found himself in a position to have to “confess” to his audience his indiscretions with female staff members, I’m curious about his own assertions that his behavior was “creepy.” What does that mean? Did he stalk his employees? Did he ask them to do perverted things? The term “creepy” brings on some connotations that might need further explaining. But, the White House better take notice. By giving Letterman the kind of attention by coming on to his show, they would be endorsing his “creepy” behavior. That doesn’t sit well with me, and it shouldn’t sit well with any woman in the business world today.
I just can’t get that little chant out of my head. Catchy little ditty isn’t it?
Mmm... mmm... mmm... Barack Hussein Obama.
Of course most of you by now know about this little video of school children chanting praises to the president that has hit the rounds of YouTube and has been featured on Fox News and is the talk of the conservative media and blogosphere. This was filmed at a grade school in New Jersey back in February when the school was doing recognition for black history month. So, it’s not really anything that’s new, it’s about seven months old. I don’t know why its taken so long for it to hit the airwaves, other than whoever filmed it and released it perhaps did so in conjunction with the controversy over President Obama’s speech to school children on Sept. 8. Of course, the conservatives are calling it a case of “indoctrination” of school children. That’s another new conservative code word. It’s one that tends to be overused, just like the word “socialism.” In the case of the president’s speech on Sept. 8, that is NOT a case of indoctrination. In the case of this little video and the exercise it represents -- most definitely YES, it is indoctrination. Yet, you can’t blame the president for this little New Jersey effort. Neither he nor his staff contacted schools during black history month and requested they include chants or songs about him during black history month. I’m sure the National Education Association or the U.S. Department of Education did not send out class lessons on praises to Obama as part of black history month curriculum. In fact, I feel pretty certain the president is probably embarrassed about this ridiculous exercise. No, it’s not the president doing this “indoctrination.” It is the overzealous and misguided teacher and administration at this public school district we can blame for this nonsense. Even after this video has come out, the school district is unapologetic, and the teacher (who is now retired, but is a friend of Obama) has said she would do it again. Mr. Obama may be feeding the apparent media worship of him; but, he is not creating it. The worship is being created by people who for some reason have tagged many unrealistic expectations on this president. When people really and truly pin all their hopes and dreams on an elected politician, they’re setting themselves up for a very, very big letdown.
Mmm. . . mmm. . . mmm. . . (said while shaking head in disbelief)
Note: I lost my dear, previous father last weekend. He was a wonderful man, part of a great generation. i find myself thinking about him a lot, and I wrote this note last night to share with my Facebook friends. I appreciate your indulgence as I repost it here. CSEA
All my life, my dad was making lists. He made them every day. Grocery lists. To do lists But mostly, money lists. He was always thinking about money. When I was going away to college, he sat down with me and we made a list of all the expenses I would likely incur while away from home. When it came time to buy my first car, he sat me down and had me budget my proposed payment and how that would fit in with my other expenses. When I got married, oh, you should have seen the lists. Expenses, expenses, expenses. As he got older, he made other types of money lists. He was a meticulous planner, so he made lists of life insurance policies, retirement accounts, bank accounts, etc. etc. etc. He made sure my sister and I both knew where these lists were and what was on them. After he went to a nursing home, I would go to Shawnee to visit him and usually stay overnight in his house. I still felt like he was there because every where I turned, I would find his lists. Every time he had a payment due or some kind of purchase, he would make a list of how it would fit in with his other expenses. In the nursing home and slipping away a little every day with dementia, he couldn't make his lists anymore. So, when I visited, I would make those lists for him. I always started with the bank accounts. I would write down the information and show it to him. Even with dementia, he still understood the numbers. Those lists helped shape my life and prepared me for a life without my Dad. They are still everywhere around his house. I just can't bear to part with any of his lists.
Eight years ago today, I was sitting in newsroom in Pittsburg, Kansas and helping the news team get a special “extra” edition of the newspaper to press by early afternoon. I was publisher of the Pittsburg Morning Sun on the morning of Sept. 11 2001 when four airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and into a field in Pennsylvania. The morning started out innocent enough. My family had just come off a long weekend and I had been off work on that Monday. I was coming in a little later to work, and I got a cell phone call from my husband telling me something extraordinary had happened. By the time I got to the newspaper and into the newsroom to turn on the TV, the second plane crashed. We all knew, then, this was something more diabolical than we could ever have imagined. Within an hour and a half, our news team determined we needed to print an “extra” edition. We knew people would be clamoring for news, for local reactions. The Internet days had already begun, but not as sophisticated as they are now. We wanted to print a four- or six-page extra edition with the latest information, photos and local reaction to have in readers’ hands by 4:30 p.m. that afternoon. The rush of the deadline took our minds off the overwhelming sadness of what had just happened, even if just for a little while. We were busy getting our stories, our photos and designing our pages. We had to call in the press crew and get some people together to catch the papers off the press. The entire news team, office circulation team and advertising team took papers out that afternoon. Some of us stood on street corners. We delivered them to businesses and other areas where people were gathering. As I think about that day, I am still overwhelmed with sadness. There’s still that feeling in the pit of my stomach when I see the images of that day. Some people think the images are too disturbing and they seem to want to forget. But, we can’t forget. We should never forget. This isn’t a day to be political. This isn’t a day to be cynical. This is a day to mourn, still, the loss of life and the loss of the innocence we had as a nation. And it’s a time for all Americans to steel our resolve and say “never again.”
President's speech hit the right tone in challenging students
I was able to stream in to President Barack Obama’s speech to the school students this morning, at least for a little bit. I had read the speech yesterday, but the president’s oral delivery of it was much more appealing. I understand and explained in an editorial in the Enid News & Eagle late last week where the White House went wrong in preparing for this event. Their mistake is unfortunate, because this was a speech I would be proud for my child to hear. In fact, he will hear it, probably sometime later today when I make him sit at the computer and listen to it. As I said, I understand why the controversy occurred. I also believe there have been some extreme reactions to the purpose of this speech. I believe our political leaders in both parties deserve a great deal of criticism for helping create the kind of climate that makes a political controversy out of a presidential speech to children encouraging then to work hard and stay in school. The president is right. We need kids to step up to the plate when it comes to education. We need kids to take responsibility for their education -- not blame others or other things for their failures. We need kids to hold themselves accountable, not just parents holding school districts and teachers accountable. I applaud the president for the effort in making this speech. I wouldn’t be opposed to it being an annual tradition. However, the national education department needs to do a better job of preparing the school districts for what is coming and also butting out of making suggestions for how teachers could incorporate the speech into a classroom exercise.
As I follow a lot of the coverage on Sen. Ted Kennedy, one story on the wire today struck me as a pretty poignant comment on today’s political climate. There’s a story today about how Ted Kennedy watched his beloved Senate change from a collegial boys’ club known for bi-partisan deal-cutting to a far less friendly placed dominated by polarized parties. In today’ Senate, broad compromise is a dying art. The article goes on to point out that when Kennedy first started out in the Senate more than 40 years ago, the Senate was known as the world’s greatest deliberative body. Coalition building was the rule, not the exception. I don’t think anyone can say that about the Senate or the House today. The loss of that bygone era made Kennedy sad, and it also made him one of the very few who could carry any clout to build bridges between the two parties. It is sad, indeed, that consensus and common ground is becoming increasingly too hard to find in today’s Washington atmosphere. The article is certainly spot on. Today’s legislation is usually drawn strictly along party lines. Now an all-one-party vote is the norm -- not the exception. With Kennedy’s passing, it seems to me there are no real leaders of either party who understand the idea of consensus building. No leaders from either party, except maybe in a small way Sen. John McCain, have the clout to reach across and bring opposition to the table. Even though the Democrats hold solid majorities in both houses, their leaders are weak. Sen. Harry Reid doesn’t stand out as a masterful negotiator and Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn’t credible with anyone other than the far left. I don’t see her at all as a deal maker. There’s really no one in either party who can strike unlikely bargains to get things done. No one seems to understand the necessity of give and take. Instead, it’s winner take all, and the rest of you be damned. That’s why there’s gridlock in Congress, and that’s why Congress has some of its lowest approval ratings ever. People are tired of the bickering, the name calling, the rancor and the deadlock. Where are the workhorses who are willing to help get something done? Kennedy, indeed, was a big part of a bygone era. Whether you agreed with his politics (which I rarely ever did), I understand that he and other lions, like former Republican Sen. Bob Dole, understood the art of legislating. These yahoos who are there now are just shadows of the real giants who went before them. And for that, the entire nation should mourn.
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