Archive for the ‘Obama’ Category

Obama ‘Shadow’ Presidency Is Latest Conspiracy Delusion – The National Memo (blog)

Reprinted with permission from MediaMatters.

Fringe media supporting President Donald Trump have claimed that former President Barack Obama violated federal law and is acting as a shadow president because he has talked to former and current foreign leaders since the end of his presidency. The claims, which have at least partially been parroted on Fox News, are an extension of conservative medias ongoing conspiracy theory that Obama runs a shadow government.

Since Trumps inauguration, conservative outletshavebaselesslyclaimedthatObama is running some kind of shadow government, a conspiracy theory which has since been invoked by aRepublican congressmanand byone of Trumps attorneys. The right-wing hysteria took on a new level of feverishness after Obamametwitha handfulof former and current world leaders, some of whom he worked closely with as president.

Pro-Trumpfake news purveyorswere quick to attack Obama for his post-presidency activities. Several websites, includingAmerican Today,Patriots On The Right,US Postman, andUSA Daily Time, claimed in June that Obama was undermining President Trump while advertis[ing] his shadow government. They suggested that Obama had committed treason and violated the Logan Act, a law barring private citizens from interfering with American foreign policy and for whichno one has ever been prosecuted.The Federalist TribuneandThe Washington Feedalso asserted that Obama would get a lengthy jail sentence as a consequence of the law. Eventually, more fake news purveyors continued to push the false narrative, withMad World News,USA Newsflash,GOP The Daily Dose,The Angry Patriot,Global Politics Now,Freedom Daily,US Advisor,ENH, andBefore Its Newsjoining in.

Additionally,alt-right-affiliatedInfowarsand fake news purveyorsConservative Fighters,TruthFeed, andRed Rock Tribunehyped a Daily Caller piece suggesting Obama was ashadow president.Alt-right-affiliatedThe Gateway Pundit also called Obama ashadow presidentwhomay be breaking the Logan Act.There has also beensomediscussionregarding Obama and the Logan Act on thealt-right-affiliatedforum 4chan /pol/.

According to social media analytics website BuzzSumo, these claims being peddled by the pro-Trump fringe ecosystem, including American Today, Mad World News, USA Newsflash, GOP The Daily Dose, The Angry Patriot, Freedom Daily, Infowars, Conservative Fighters, TruthFeed, and The Gateway Pundit,have drawn numerous Facebook engagements that rise well over the thousands, according to social media analytics website BuzzSumo. There were at least 380 engagements with American Todays article, 41,900 with Mad World News article, 122,500 with USA Newsflashs article, 6,500 with GOP The Daily Doses article, 7,000 with The Angry Patriots article, 48,300 with Freedom Dailys article, 58 with Infowars article, 10,200 with Conservative Fighters article, 8,700 with TruthFeeds article, and 5,000 and 6,900 for The Gateway Pundit articles, respectively.

Some of the narrative has now gained cable news visibility by reaching Fox News, with host Lou Dobbs on July 6attacking Obamafor shadowing and trying to undercut Trump, andFox & Friendsco-host Brian Kilmeade on July 7wonderingwhy Obama was shadowing Trump and wondering whether Obama was trying to swamp him.

The spread of these baseless claims yet again illustrates how the pro-Trumpalt-right/fake news ecosystemhas been used to pushlies,conspiracy theories, andfalsehoods.

Header image bySarah Wasko / Media Matters

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Obama 'Shadow' Presidency Is Latest Conspiracy Delusion - The National Memo (blog)

Obama charms seemingly stoked Alaskan baby – CNN

While in a waiting area for private flights at Anchorage International Airport on Monday, Obama, who was on his way home after a trip to Asia, spotted 6-month-old Giselle and her mother, Jolene Jackinsky, of Anchorage.

Jackinsky told CNN that Obama walked up and asked "Who is this pretty girl?" before scooping up the adorable infant, who was sporting a ribboned sun hat, while her mother snapped a couple of photos.

When Giselle's father approached, Obama joked, "Hey! I'm taking your baby," Jackinsky recalled.

"It was unreal and very exciting. After I met him I couldn't believe I actually talked to him and he held my baby," she said.

Yet, despite the famous man holding her, it was baby Giselle's wide-eyed expression that some on social media in delight Saturday.

"Will never get enough of this baby's expressions, like she KNOWS she's meeting Pres Obama," said one tweet.

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Obama charms seemingly stoked Alaskan baby - CNN

‘Oh my God, it is Obama’: Alaska mom, baby meet ex-president – The Boston Globe

In this July 3, 2017 photo provided by Jolene Jackinsky, former US President Barack Obama held Jackinsky's 6-month-old baby girl while posing for a selfie with the pair at a waiting area at Anchorage International Airport.

An Alaska mother is cherishing cellphone photos she snapped of her wide-eyed 6-month-old baby in the arms of former President Barack Obama.

Jolene Jackinsky via AP

Jackinsky said Obama walked up to her and asked, "Who is this pretty girl?" ()

Jolene Jackinsky was at Anchorage International Airport on Monday looking for an airline when she ended up in a waiting area for private flights where a man she thought looked like Obama was sitting.

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As I got closer, I thought: Oh my God, it is Obama, she recalled Friday from Newhalen, a small Alaska village where shes vacationing.

Obama then walked up to her and asked Who is this pretty girl?

They chatted about how fast children grow while Obama carried baby Giselle. Jackinsky took a few photos of a smiling Obama carrying Giselle, who was wearing a straw hat with a white ribbon.

Obama told them he was headed home from a vacation, Jackinsky said.

Airport officials were not immediately available Friday evening after work hours to confirm that Obama had stopped there.

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When Giselles father approached, Obama joked, Im taking your baby, Jackinsky said.

Giselle was calm and content during the brief encounter, Jackinsky said. It was only five minutes but it was a moment that will last forever, she said.

She posted the photos on Facebook.

I think its unreal and pretty exciting that I get to have a picture with him and my baby, she said. Not a lot of people get to meet him.

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'Oh my God, it is Obama': Alaska mom, baby meet ex-president - The Boston Globe

Former Obama staffers say they’re running for office to protect his legacy – The Mercury News

OAKLAND As one of Barack Obamas top political organizers, Buffy Wicks plotted national campaign strategy, mobilized support for the Affordable Care Act and helped marshal the thousands of volunteers who carried Obama to the White House.

Early on Thursday evening, Wicks stood in front of a circle of 14 voters in a sun-drenched living room in the Oakland hills, fielding questions about housing costs, charter schools and bicycle safety. This time, she was working on a very different campaign: her own state Assembly race.

Wicks is one of at least 20 former Obama administration staffers who have decided to seek elected office around the country in the eight months since President Donald Trumps election. From former interns to senior officials, theyre running for everything from school board to city council to Congress to governor.

Part of the inspiration is simply being out of a job. If Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the presidency, many would have been contenders for top White House posts.But most say they also feel a responsibility to protect Obamas hard-won policies as the Trump administration tries to put them through a wood-chipper.

We have to let Trump know that were not all standing here watching him dismantle the legacy of President Obama, said Wicks, 39.

Only a handful of Obama staffers quit their jobs to run for office in the eight years he was in the White House, including Obamas first chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, now Chicagos mayor.But Trumps election accelerated a lot of peoples decision-making about wanting to serve and wanting to lead and get out there, said Jeremy Bird, another top organizer on Obamas campaigns.I dont know how many would have run without Trump.

It was a wake-up call to a lot of people in the administration, said Ben LaBolt, Obamas former campaign press secretary.

In his farewell addressin January, Obama encouraged his fans to start their own campaigns. If youre disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures and run for office yourself, he said. Show up. Dive in. Stay at it.

Many have taken that advice to heart.

Wicks, who grew up in a trailer in rural Placer County, joined the Obama campaign in 2007 as employee number 32 after stints on local campaigns and former Vermont Gov. Howard Deans presidential bid in 2004.

As the field director for Obamas California primary race, Wicks is credited with developing a model of grass-roots organizing that became the bedrock of his national campaign strategy. She adopted ideas from social movements, dividing volunteers into local teams and enlisting them to run the campaign neighborhood by neighborhood.

In the White House, Wicks organized advocacy groups supporting the passage of the Affordable Care Act. She still remembers sitting in the Roosevelt Room with Obama and other senior staffers watching the final votes come in.

Seeing Trump and Republicans work to repeal Obamacare helped prod her to run, Wicks said. They are literally trying to defund and take away health care from the most vulnerable in our society in order to give the wealthy tax breaks, she said.

Wicks, who also ran Hillary Clintons 2016 California primary campaign, moved to Oakland a year and a half ago. Her campaign to represent the 15th Assembly District which includes Richmond, Berkeley and north Oakland has ruffled some feathers among the other candidates: local office holders who have lived here for decades.

Voters want people who have been doing the work of standing and fighting alongside the residents not someone who has lived in a district for just one year, said Jovanka Beckles, a Richmond City Council member whos also running for Assembly.

I get that Im an unorthodox candidate, Wicks said, but I had my daughter in this district. I bought my home in this district. Im committed to this district.

The star of Wicks campaign events is Josephine, her rosy-cheeked 7-month-old daughter, whose duedate was Nov. 8, 2016. I thought she would be born the day we elected our first woman president, Wicks said. Then Trump won, and Josephine waited she was born two weeks later, on Thanksgiving. That was her first act of civil disobedience, Wicks joked.

Other Obama staffers running for office in California include Ammar Campa-Najjar, 28, who jumped into a San Diego congressional race this year.

Obamas 2008 victory was revelatory for Campa-Najjar,the son of a Mexican mother and a Palestinian father, who at the time was a brooding, biracial kid struggling to define his identity.

Campa-Najjar organized volunteers as San Diego field director on Obamas re-election campaign, interned at the White House reading letters sent to the president, and worked in the Labor Department helping develop job-training programs.

Obama gave me this ticket to my dreams to serve in Washington, he said. But it was always a round-trip ticket Id always come back home and serve.

Hes one of several Democrats challenging Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican in one of the most Republican districts in California. Campa-Najjar said hes planning to do the Obama model of campaigning and focus on a strong ground game.

Kelly Gonez, 29, interned on Obamas campaign and worked as a policy adviser inthe Department of Education before running for and winning a seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education earlier this year.

Im a very introverted person, so being in elected office was not something I pictured for myself, the former science teacher said. But Trumps election made her realize that her work for the federal government helpingwrite handbooks for educators about how to support undocumented students and consulting on policies banning immigration enforcement activity in schools was under threat.

Seeing someone try to take away undocumented kids opportunity to get a good public education made me think a voice like mine was needed, she said.Besides, she added, the fact that Trump became president helped alleviate her doubts that she was qualified for school board.

Other Obama administration veterans turned California candidates include Jeff Bleich, a former presidential counsel and ambassador to Australia, whos running for lieutenant governor; Eleni Kounalakis, Obamas ambassador to Hungary, whos also a candidate for lieutenant governor; and Alejandra Campoverdi, the former White House deputy director of Hispanic media, who ran unsuccessfully in the special election for a Los Angeles congressional seat earlier this year.

Obama himself isnt expected to make many endorsements or campaign appearances, but his alumni network isa powerful support group for candidates launching their first campaigns. Candidates such as Wicks can turn to their former colleagues for a leg-up in raising money, recruiting staffers, earning endorsements and fine-tuning campaign strategy.

Its not unusual for people who served in presidential administrations or campaigns to run for office in their home states, said Jim Brulte, chairman of the California Republican Party. But it seems like with (Obama staffers) its more organized than in previous administrations.

For his part, Obama is watching his former staffers take up the mantle from afar, Kevin Lewis, Obamas post-presidential spokesman, said in an email:

It doesnt surprise him that the staff that joined him on (his) journey, and worked every day on behalf of the American people in the Obama administration, are emerging as the next generation of leaders and elected officials.

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Former Obama staffers say they're running for office to protect his legacy - The Mercury News

Quora: Why Didn’t Obama Share Russia Info? – Newsweek

Quora Questions are part of a partnership between NewsweekandQuora, through which we'll be posting relevant and interesting answers from Quora contributors throughout the week. Read more about the partnershiphere.

Answer from Charlotte Lang:

Now that we know that Obama knew about Russian meddling in our election over a year ago, why didn't he say anything or try to stop it?To me this is the classic damned if you do, damned if you dont situation.

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But Obama made the right call here, as he usually does, and if people on both sides would stop and think a bit, theyd be able to see why.

Former President Barack Obama waves after speaking at the Global Food Innovation Summit in Milan on May 9. Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama are on a six-day vacation in Italy this week. Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters

Think about it a little bit.

Obama and Hilary are friendly, and Clinton used to work for Obama. They are both Democrats and its no secret that there is no love lost between Obama and the Republicans.

Obama gets information showing that the Russians are meddling in the elections to slant the election away from Hilary and toward Trump, and that the Trump team is possibly complicit in this.

So, let me ask you this simple question:

Do you believe for two minutes that a Democratic president who has had issues with the Republican party and is friendly with the Democratic nominee could possibly get away with announcing that the Republican party is benefiting from the actions of the Russians, a country that is our adversary, and not be accused of doing something unethical or unfair?

Look at all the hollering that took place when Comey stated that the FBI was conducting the investigation into additional emails they found on Huma Abedins server. Comey was pilloried for making it sound as though Clinton was still under criminal investigation when it turned out to be nothing. Of course, by the time Comey did affirm that it was a nothingburger, it was too late, Clinton didnt have enough time to build back the loss in support she suffered because of the announcement. To this day, people are convinced that announcement flipped the election to Trump (and I personally believe that it was a factor in her defeat).

If Obama had come out with what he knew, it would have been seen as a partisan move, and would either have been condemned by the Republicans or it would have been ignored and seen as another example of partisanship.

Obama, being a man who actually thinks things through before he decides to do anything, surely thought this out, and chose the best of two bad options. He chose to not publicly reveal it in order to maintain neutrality. He understood that whatever he did had the weight of the White House behind it, and throwing the election to either party would have disgraced the office.

Had he said anything, and Trump had lost the election, the following would have happened:

No. Obama did the right thing here. Trump is now President, it is possible that members of his team worked with the Russians, and now the investigation is going according to how it should go, by an independent prosecutor who will gather and analyze the situation, render a verdict, and a Congress controlled entirely by Republicans will have the responsibility of dealing with it.

If it turns out Trump is dirty and the Republicans do nothing, it will be clear that Republicans are party first, and the nation second, and they will suffer for that. If it turns out Trump is clean, then nobody gets hurt, and Obama will have had no hand in any conclusions reached or actions taken/not taken.

Now that we know that Obama knew about Russian meddling in our election over a year ago, why didn't he say anything or try to stop it? originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

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Quora: Why Didn't Obama Share Russia Info? - Newsweek