These are the men and women Barack Obama assembled today to advise him on how best to fix the cratering economy. They are a largely respected group, and though they ain’t perfect—so many CEOs and so much Larry “Women Be Unable to Learn Math” Summers!—they are certainly more reassuring than the ideologues and incompetents our last guy surrounded himself with. We’ve identified them for your benefit and their brief bios are below.
Roel Campos (former Securities and Exchange commissioner)
Eric Schmidt (chairman and CEO of Google)
Antonio Villaraigosa (mayor of Los Angeles)
William Donaldson (chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 2003 to 2005)
Laura Tyson (professor at Haas School of Business of University of California at Berkeley; chairman of the National Economic Council from 1995 to 1996; chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1993 to 1995)
David Bonior (member of the House of Representatives from 1977 to 2003)
Robert Rubin (chairman and director of the Citigroup executive committee; secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department from 1995 to 1999)
Jennifer Granholm (governor of Michigan)
Paul Volcker (chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987)
Richard Parsons (chairman of Time Warner)
Anne Mulcahy (chairman and CEO of Xerox)
Roger Ferguson (president and CEO of TIAA-CREF; former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve board of governors)
Lawrence Summers (professor at Harvard University; managing director of DE Shaw; secretary of the U.S. Treasury from 1999 to 2001)
Roger Ferguson (former Fed Vice Chairman, CEO of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund)
Penny Pritzker (CEO of Classic Residence by Hyatt)
Robert Reich (professor at University of California at Berkeley; secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1993 to 1997)
William Daley (Midwest chairman for JPMorgan Chase; secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1997 to 2000)
VIENNA, Austria – She was a stranger, and she kissed me. Just for being an American.
It happened on the bus on my way to work Wednesday morning, a few hours after compatriots clamoring for change swept Barack Obama to his historic victory. I was on the phone, and the 20-something Austrian woman seated in front of me overheard me speaking English.
Without a word, she turned, pecked me on the cheek and stepped off at the next stop.
Nothing was said, but the message was clear: Today, we are all Americans.
For longtime U.S. expatriates like me — someone far more accustomed to being targeted over unpopular policies, for having my very Americanness publicly assailed — it feels like an extraordinary turnabout.
Like a long journey over a very bumpy road has abruptly come to an end.
And it’s not just me.
An American colleague in Egypt says several people came up to her on the streets of Cairo and said: “America, hooray!” Others, including strangers, expressed congratulations with a smile and a hand over their hearts.
Another colleague, in Amman, says Jordanians stopped her on the street and that several women described how they wept with joy.
When you’re an American abroad, you can quickly become a whipping post. Regardless of your political affiliation, if you happen to be living and working overseas at a time when the United States has antagonized much of the world, you get a lot of grief.
You can find yourself pressed to be some kind of apologist for Washington. And you can wind up feeling ashamed and alone.
MOSCA – “Barack Obama? Giovane, bello e abbronzato”. Parola di Silvio Berlusconi. Ieri, rivendicando la sua “anzianità”, aveva annunciato di “volergli dare consigli”. E oggi, puntuale, è arrivata la prima clamorosa gaffe. Che rischia di oscurare perfino il tristemente celebre Kapo’ rivolto a Strasburgo all’eurodeputato tedesco Schulz.
Il capo del governo da Mosca, durante l’incontro con il presidente russo Medvedev, torna a parlare del neo-presidente Usa e non resiste al gusto della battuta. E’ l’ennesima del Cavaliere, che però stavolta non esercita il suo humour sui suoi abituali cavalli di battaglia (donne, sesso o gli odiati “comunisti”). Stavolta è il colore della pelle a scatenare la tentazione irresistibile. Poi definita “un grande complimento, una carineria assoluta nei suoi confronti”.
“Complimento” che il premier rivendica con fermezza anche dopo un’ora, quando rientrando in albergo sbotta con i cronisti che lo interrogano sulle prevedibili polemiche: “Se non hanno il sense of humour allora vuol dire che gli imbecilli sono scesi in campo, che se ne vadano a…”.
Il presidente del Consiglio, grande amico di Bush tanto da far cadere un leggio (VIDEO) per – sono parole sue – “troppo amore”, è riuscito insomma laddove nemmeno 21 mesi di durissima campagna elettorale erano potuti arrivare. E vedremo come la boutade sarà presa negli States, dove mai la questione razziale è stata oggetto di scontri o battute pubbliche. Dove è inimmaginabile, anche pensandoci e posteriori, immaginare un McCain che definisce “abbronzato” il suo rivale di colore nella corsa alla Casa Bianca.
Le reazioni. L’opposizione attacca il premier, ed è il Pd il primo a chiedere che “il capo del governo chieda subito scusa”. “La migliore delle ipotesi – dice Franceschini – è che Berlusconi non riesca più a controllarsi. Dimentica che le sue parole coinvolgono l’immagine del nostro Paese nel mondo. Dire che il presidente degli Stati Uniti è ‘giovane, bello e anche abbronzato’ suonerà alle orecchie di tutto il mondo come una offesa carica di pericolose ambiguità”. Parla anche il leader del partito, Veltroni, secondo il quale le si tratta di parole “che colpiscono e feriscono la dignità dell’Italia”. E che la danneggiano, perché un uomo di Stato non può permettersi continuamente battute da cabaret”.
A seguire, l’Italia dei Valori, che con Donadi sostiene che Berlusconi, con le sue parole, scredita l’Italia sul piano internazionale”.
Dall’altra parte si avverte a caldo un certo sconcerto. Basti pensare alla reazione del ministro Ronchi (An), che informato dai giornalisti a margine del Consiglio dei ministri appare prima incredulo, poi si dilegua alla svelta senza commentare: “Arrivederci…”.
Poi scatta la chiamata a raccolta e arriva puntuale la nota di Capezzone, portavoce di Forza Italia, che parla di “sinistra desolante, che non sa più a cosa attaccarsi per colpire Berlusconi. A seguire, la minimizzaone del leghista Calderoli: “Solo una battuta”. E poi, ancora, la originale spiegazione del ministro Rotondi, secondo il quale le parole del Cavaliere “si spiegano con una teoria psicologica per cui fondamento del razzismo è l’invidia dei bianchi per un colore più gradevole”.
Da questo momento in poi, mentre la frase di Berlusconi fa il giro del mondo – dall’ inglese Herald Tribune all’americano Drudgereport, dal turco Daily allo spagnolo Heraldo – da destra è tutto un fiorire di sorrisi e spallucce e attacchi alla “sinistra tetra”. Quella sinistra che, come dice Gasparri, “non sa capire che Berlusconi ha lanciato una operazione simpatia”. Forse la medesima “operazione simpatia” che proprio Gasparri aveva lanciato ieri commentando l’elezione di Barack: “Al Qaeda sarà contenta”.
Thank you. Thank you, my friends. Thank you for coming here on this beautiful Arizona evening.
My friends, we have we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honour of calling Senator Barack Obama to congratulate him.
(Crowd boos)
Please.
To congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love.
In a contest as long and difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance. But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving.
This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.
I’ve always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Senator Obama believes that, too.
But we both recognise that, though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound. Read the rest of this entry »
The hour of national redemption we’ve been waiting for is at hand, and President-Elect Barack Obama is about to lead our nation to a new city on that hill. Inspiration, gratification, and a desire to guaranty his success runs deep through my veins as I watch the hundreds of thousands in Chicago’s Grant Park waiting for the man from Illinois to complete the national challenge of emancipation that his predecessor president from Illinois began nearly two centuries ago.
We all deserve to believe again in the greatness that is America and to look forward to the day tomorrow when Americans stand a little taller, believe a little deeper, and enjoy the great moment that has been bequeathed to us by a man who convinced us change is at hand. I rejoice in the celebration of those who marched in Selma who now have the wonderous satisfaction to relish and cherish the moment that arrived at 11pm EST when the networks finally called the election. I imagine how my ex-boss, an ailing Ted Kennedy must feel tonight, knowing that many, many months ago he exclaimed to the nation that he could feel change in the air. He understood before so many of us did that change was indeed in the air.
Let the cynics sleep. Let them discount the magnitude of the moment. Let them deny the righteousness of the cause. It does not matter. They are small in mind, and do not deserve to share in it if they do not succumb to it.
David Axelrod and David Plouffe have steered the ship of state to a new, more secure safe harbor. They and the wonderfully gifted campaign team they assembled are indeed a true liberation army. They deserve to march down the Champs Elysee to an adoring national crowd.
In the wee hours of our morning, as dawn rises across the world, millions will look at the news and exclaim that America is back…the America they yearned for, and the America they deserve to believe in again.
To the cynical Republican cabal that only wrought so much wickedness and pain on a vast swath of the American electorate, yes you Karl Rove, Tom DeLay, Dick Cheney and ultimately George Bush and the divide and disdain bunch around them, the nation finally found its voice and seized its ballot to repudiate all you inflicted on us. The electoral sweep is as much the people’s voices reflected in a referendum of rejection and indictment of the Bush presidency as it is a vote of trust and confidence in Barack Obama.
I am proud to be alive at this moment. I am proud my kids could join me in this hour of deliverance. Change has finally arrived in wave after cleansing wave. Yes, America, tomorrow, there will be two wars, a terrible financial crisis, threats from abroad, and challenges at home, but there will be a President Elect Obama, and that alone will make those challenges seem just a bit less daunting, a bit less formidable, and a bit more manageable.
These are the men and women Barack Obama assembled today to advise him on how best to fix the cratering economy. They are a largely respected group, and though they ain’t perfect—so many CEOs and so much Larry “Women Be Unable to Learn Math” Summers!—they are certainly more reassuring than the ideologues and incompetents our last guy surrounded himself with. We’ve identified them for your benefit and their brief bios are below.
