Jill designed the groovy Obama tube sign t-shirt herself. For more of her style goodness, check out her site.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Stylin' at the Palace
Jill designed the groovy Obama tube sign t-shirt herself. For more of her style goodness, check out her site.
Michelle Knocks 'Em Dead at Islington School
Mrs Obama was close to tears as she addressed the excited crowd at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington, north London.
She told them: "We are counting on every single one of you to be the best that you can be."
Mrs Obama is in the UK with husband Barack for the G20 summit.
Her visit to the North London school was greeted with much excitement by pupils and she sat smiling, riveted, as Year 11 pupil Grace Hollowell and the school's junior choir performed the Whitney Houston hit Believe.
G20 Leaders Announce Agreement on Global Reform
The most significant parts of the agreement comprises 6 broad principles that each of the 20 countries signed up to:
* Bankers' pay and bonuses will be subject to stricter controls
* A new Financial Stability Board will be set up to work with the IMF to ensure co-operation across borders and provide an early warning mechanism for the financial system
* There will be greater regulation of hedge funds and credit ratings agencies
* A common approach to cleaning up banks' toxic assets has been agreed
* The world's poorest countries will receive $100bn extra aid
* G20 countries are already implementing the biggest economic stimulus "the world has ever seen" - an injection of $5tn by the end of next year.
In particular, it strikes me as noteworthy that the group agreed to set aside more money for International Development aid - basically, support for the world's poorest nations - than anyone had expected.
In addition, tougher regulations frameworks were agreed for financial sector that will hopefully help to prevent such crises in the future.
I feel extremely grateful for the presence of the protestors during this event - without them there many people back home in the US might have mistaken this agreement to put a sharp curb on executive compensation, restrict the financial markets and redistribute wealth from the world's richest countries to it's poorest countries for an extremely progressive approach. Fortunately, the protesters were there to remind us that the world's leaders failed to abolish capitalism or put an end to money, so we can now see that these proposals are middle of the road pragmatic solutions.
Help Me Barack Obama. You're My Only Hope...
For my readers back home, just a quick reminder amidst all this G20 hullabaloo - here in the UK Gordon Brown is a politician on the ropes. He's seriously behind in national polls and he'll need to call an election in a little over the year. He desperately needs to restore confidence in his government before then if he wants to stay in power, and this is something that Barack - who is far more popular over here than the Prime Minister - is in a position to be very helpful with.
That's why Gordon was beaming with such evident (and uncharacteristic) pleasure yesterday any time the camera caught him looking at the Prez.
Thanks Kathy!
I met some interesting people there, and we shared our stories. A dog reporter was there, filming a piece on the search for the Obama's dog. A couple of women from Trinidad and Cape Verde were standing next to me, filled with hope and pride in the new American president. As the woman from Trinidad showed me photos of her extended family, many of them living in America, I realized how America is a global concept. The world's citizens all want to claim America as theirs, and our new president as their world leader.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Jonathan Freedland is Full of.... Baloney.
In his Guardian column about the G20 summit, Jonathan Freedland critiques President Obama's performance at this morning's press conference, saying:
Brown was relaxed and fluent at the podium, while it was Obama who gave the more faltering, sometimes long-winded performance. Obama appeared to be stumped twice, first by a question from the BBC's Nick Robinson – which invited the president to wonder why France and Germany blame the US for the recession – and next by a deceptively simple inquiry from a member of the travelling press corps: does the president advise ordinary Americans to spend or save? One brought audible hesitation; the other a bit of a ramble as Obama visibly tried to work out what to say.
OK, well fair enough - I thought - maybe our guy was just having an off day. It happens.
But then I went to the source. Here was the Q&A referring to France and Germany:
Q Prime Minister, thank you very much, indeed. Nick Robinson, BBC News. A question for you both, if I may. The Prime Minister has repeatedly blamed the United States of America for causing this crisis. France and Germany blame both Britain and America for causing this crisis. Who is right? And isn't the debate about that at the heart of the debate about what to do now?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: I would say that if you look at the sources of this crisis, the United States certainly has some accounting to do with respect to a regulatory system that was inadequate to the massive changes that had taken place in the global financial system.
I think what is also true is that here in Great Britain, in continental Europe, around the world, we were seeing the same mismatch between the regulatory regimes that were in place and the highly integrated global capital markets that had emerged.
So at this point, I'm less interested in identifying blame than fixing the problem. And I think we've taken some very aggressive steps in the United States to do so -- not just responding to the immediate crisis, ensuring that banks are adequately capitalized, dealing with the enormous drop-off in demand and the contraction that's been taking place, but more importantly for the long term, making sure that we've got a set of regulations that are up to the task.
That strikes me as a good answer. It's gracious to the leaders he's going to be meeting with, avoiding a needless confrontation, it's constructive and informative. I mean, what was he looking for?
And as for the pause - yes, there was one. But it didn't sound to me like the President didn't know what to say, more that he was choosing his words carefully. See for yourself. In the video above, Nick Robinson's question comes at about 1 minute 55 seconds in.
So - am I right? Let me know in comments if you think I'm just being a shameless Kool Aid drinker - I'm tough I can take it.
Shorter Obama: More that unites us than divides us
Mr Obama told the press conference in the Foreign Office’s Locarno Room that America was willing to lead the world out of crisis, but could not do it on its own.
With France and Germany making it publicly clear they are not yet ready to sign up to the final communique, Mr Obama was at his smoothest — and it was a hugely smooth performance — when playing down the divisions.
“I am absolutely confident that this meeting will reflect enormous consensus about the need to work in concert to deal with these problems,” he said.
“The separation between the various parties has been vastly over-stated.”
This is a very Obama theme:
Deep Thought...
"Balls to the Banks", "Abolish Money" and "All You Fascists Are Bound to Lose".
So what I'm wondering is - if the world's leaders woke up this morning in an agreeable mood, realised the errors of their fascist ways, and decided to live by these credos, would these protestors be able to support themselves in the new barter economy? Are they farmers and shepherds?
I'd Go to Michelle's Dinner...
But, much as I would LOVE to be at the table with President Obama, I must admit that given the chance I might actually be tempted to skip it in favour of the Spouses dinner.
At the dinner for spouses, the US First Lady, Michelle Obama, will be seated between the Harry Potter author JK Rowling and Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes.
Not Gonna Be Easy...
Certainly, Nicholas Sarkozy doesn't seem intent on making it any easier at this week's G20 summit:
Gordon Brown's hopes for a show of unity at the G20 took an unwelcome knock today with a declaration from President Sarkozy of France that he would not sign up to any "false compromises" at tomorrow's summit in London.
President Obama Would Want You To...
I can tell you one thing for would be an awfully nice gesture - if you're an American Abroad, why not join Democrats Abroad UK? We do events and activities in support of President Obama all year round, and we can help you register and vote and keep you up to date on election news in your state and region.
www.democratsabroad.org.uk/join
You might even want to make a little contribution to Democrats Abroad in support of his work.
https://www.democratsabroad.org/contribute/
How about this donating $31.03 in honor of the President's arrival here on our shores on the 31st of March. Go on, you know you want to.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Is Obama Coming to Walthamstow to See ME?
A MASSIVE security lock-down brought Walthamstow to a standstill on Sunday when a mysterious procession of diplomatic vehicles stopped to re-fuel at a petrol station.
Hundreds of police and security personnel closed the Texaco garage on Forest Road and surrounding area at 2pm while the motorcade filled up, as dozens of stunned residents rushed from their homes to watch.
Welcome Barack Event - Update
Dear All
Further to yesterday’s email I am writing to provide more specific details of the meet points following helpful advice from the Metropolitan Police.
MEET-UP ONE – Queen Victoria Monument, North Footway, Canada Gate at the top of the Mall at 16.00hrs
We are now meeting on the north side not the south side of the Mall area at the above addresses as detailed here:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=Canada%20Gate%2C%20The%20Mall%20North%20Footway&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
The President will arrive at the Garden Entrance of the Palace 17.15. I suggest we still congregate from 16.00.
MEET-UP TWO – Meet at the north side of Parliament Square on the Junction between the Whitehall and Great George Street at 18.00hrs
The President Obama will then travel to Downing Street for a meeting at 19.30. Downing Street and Whitehall are closed areas but the police recommend that we wait in this location:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=CanadaWhitehall%20and%20Great%20George%20Street%20Gate%2C%20The%20Mall%20North%20Footway&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
Please try and get there for 18.00 hrs.
It should be fun and I’m sure President Obama will be delighted to see our support.
Best wishes
Steve
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