CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Wyatt Cenac on how Europeans tricked us about Obama

"The deal was we give them Obama -- they don't hate us anymore." - Wyatt Cenac

On "the Daily Show", Jon Stewart pokes fun at European protesters and Wyatt Cenac has an epiphany about our relationship with Old Europe.

Watch the following video. The part about Old Europe still disagreeing with us starts at about the 1:24 mark:

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Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton, reminds us that there have always been differences between the United States and Old Europe:

• If you go back to the time of the Revolution, there have been differences between Europeans and Americans very reminiscent of things we've seen in more recent years.

• During World War I French Prime Minister George Clemenceau said, America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.

• If you read the diaries and letters of the British and American top political and military leaders in World War II, they were at each other's throats.

• Lord Allenbrook, the British commander, didn't think Dwight Eisenhower was fit to be Supreme Commander or Americans were fit to fight.

• In 1996, during those halcyon days of the Clinton administration's transatlantic relations, former French President Francois Mitterrand said  we are at war with America, a permanent war, a war without death. They are very hard, the Americans. They are voracious. They want undivided power over the world. And that was five years before George Bush was elected president.

The mere election of a liberal left-wing president isn't going to change the fundamental differences between Old Europe and the United States.

Obama Received a $101,332 Bonus from AIG

Senator Barack Obama received a $101,332 bonus from American International Group in the form of political contributions according to Opensecrets.org. The two biggest Congressional recipients of bonuses from the A.I.G. are - Senators Chris Dodd and Senator Barack Obama. 

The A.I.G. Financial Products affiliate of A.I.G. gave out $136,928, the most of any AIG affiliate, in the 2008 cycle.  I would note that A.I.G.’s financial products division is the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps and "misjudged" the risk.

The Washington Post reports a "mob effect" at A.I.G financial products division:

A tidal wave of public outrage over bonus payments swamped American International Group yesterday. Hired guards stood watch outside the suburban Connecticut offices of AIG Financial Products, the division whose exotic derivatives brought the insurance giant to the brink of collapse last year. Inside, death threats and angry letters flooded e-mail inboxes. Irate callers lit up the phone lines. Senior managers submitted their resignations. Some employees didn't show up at all.

With the anger and rage that is being exhibited against A.I.G., perhaps the bonuses Obama received from A.I.G. explain Obama's A.I.G crocodile tears.

Now that the Wall street Journal has revealed that A.I.G. paid bonuses of $1 million or more to 73 employees, it's time to ask if recipients of A.I.G. "bonuses," including President Obama, will give what now ought to be taxpayer money back?

President Obama takes the Oath

Barack Hussein Obama took the presidential oath as he became the 44th president of the United States:

What a shame President Obama and Chief Justice Roberts flubbed the 35 word oath.

President Obama declares a day of renewal and reconciliation

In his first official act after taking the oath of office, President Barack Obama issued a proclamation, declaring his Inauguration Day a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation:

NATIONAL DAY OF RENEWAL AND RECONCILIATION, 2009

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

As I take the sacred oath of the highest office in the land, I am humbled by the responsibility placed upon my shoulders, renewed by the courage and decency of the American people, and fortified by my faith in an awesome God.

We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty. Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the face of adversity, reconciliation in a time of discord, and we know that there is a purpose for everything under heaven.

On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, and that this legacy is not simply a birthright -- it is a glorious burden. Now it falls to us to come together as a people to carry it forward once more.

So in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, let us remember that: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

I was disappointed in Obama's inauguration speech. It did not have that inspirational wallop we have grown to expect from his major speeches. It reminded me of President Carter"s malaise. 

You can read President Obama's inauguration speech here or watch it in the following video:

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Cheney needs wheelchair for Obama inauguration

Vice President Dick Cheney  will be in a wheelchair for Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony.

Cheney pulled a muscle in his back on Monday while moving into his new home in McLean, Virginia.

The Associated Press produced the following Video report:

Previewing Obama's inauguration speech - a call for responsibility

Obama will call for culture of responsibility in his inauguration speech.

The Wall Street Journal reports Obama is expected to call for a "new culture of public service":

The time has come for a new culture of public service, as well as a new national unity after years of bitter partisan political division.

On ABC World News, George Stephanopoulos said "the theme will be responsibility, service, facing up to a very difficult moment in the country's history, but also pointing out that the country has pulled through challenges like this before."

You can watch the inauguration here.

Jill Biden suffers from Joe's foot in mouth disease

Joe Biden's wife revealed that Biden had his pick of being vice president or secretary of state -- Hillary's eventual consolation prize:

"Joe had the choice to be secretary of state or vice president," she said. Her husband turned to his wife with his finger to his lips and a "Shhhh!" that sent the audience into laughter. "OK, he did," Jill Biden said in her defense.

The vice president-elect blushed, grimaced and gave his wife a hug while the audience continued to erupt in laughter. "That's right," he finally said to his wife. "Go ahead."

Mrs. Biden said she told him vice president would be better for the family.

"If you're secretary of state, you'll be away, we'll never see you, you know," she said. "I'll see you at a state dinner once in a while."

After the exchange aired on television three hours later, Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander denied Jill Biden's account in a statement e-mailed to reporters.

"To be clear, President-elect Obama offered Vice President-elect Biden one job only - to be his running mate," the statement said. "And the vice president-elect was thrilled to accept the offer."

While the statement denies that Obama ever offered Biden the secretary of state job, it doesn't rule out that the two discussed the possibility. Obama's transition office did not respond to questions about their private discussions.

Jill Biden's comment came during an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," taped at Washington's Kennedy Center on the eve of Obama's inauguration.

Watch the following MSNBC video report:

Does Jill's slip mean Hillary might have vice president?

Celebrating Obama

Even though it will take Barack Obama less than a minute to recite the oath of office, his lavish celebration will cost more than $160 million and required a state of emergency to be declared in the District of Columbia.

In 2005, the International Herald Tribune (the "global edition of the New York Times) found spending $40 million for President Bush's second inauguration to be "disquieting":

Still, aspects of the inaugural are disquieting. For instance, historians have noted that the ceremonies have frequently been muted in time of war, notably by Woodrow Wilson in 1917 and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. Two Democratic congressmen have informed colleagues that Roosevelt gave a short speech in the White House and served guests "cold chicken salad and plain pound cake."

The Associated Press reminds us that in 2005, Democrat Congress critters Anthony Weiner and Jim McDermott, asked President Bush to "show a little less pomp and be a little more circumspect at his party":

"President Roosevelt held his 1945 inaugural at the White House, making a short speech and serving guests cold chicken salad and plain pound cake," the two lawmakers wrote in a letter. "During World War I, President Wilson did not have any parties at his 1917 inaugural, saying that such festivities would be undignified."

The thinking was that, with the nation at war, excessive celebration was inappropriate. Four years later, the nation is still at war. Unemployment has risen sharply. And Obama pressed Congress to release the second half of a $700 billion bailout package in hopes of rescuing a faltering banking industry.

Where are the disquiet and the demands to be more circumspect now? We are still at war, and as Obama likes to say we are "in the midst of a crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime." Do we hear calls for a short speech and cold chicken salad? No, instead the Democrats' Obamafest requires a state of emergency and $170 million. As for the recession, the Democrats' solution is the same as their solution for every problem -- throw more money at it.

Obama: inauguration a celebration of the American people

In this week's edition of what Obama use to call "Your Weekly Address from the President-elect," Obama notes America's tradition of the peaceful transfer of power from one President to the next.

Obama also previewed themes of his inauguration speech:

• A celebration of the American people

• We will carry the voices of ordinary Americans to Washington

• Difficult days are upon us, and even more difficult days lie ahead

• We can once again provide an example to the world, and move forward with a renewed sense of purpose and progress at home

You can watch "Your Weekly Address" in the following video: