Well, here we go again on theBarack Obama birth certificate controversy that just won't die because it's one of those zombie issues like who really killed JFK.
No less an authority on politics, history and government archives than thePat Boone is now raising serious questions about the legitimacy of the entire Obama administration and everything it has done since those 21 guns went off shortly after noon on Jan. 20.
This is because a lot of people, including firebrand conservative Alan Keyes (as The Ticket described here in February) and now Boone, insist or suggest or imply that Obama cannot be president of these United States because they insist, suggest or imply he wasn't really born in Hawaii but was actually born in Kenya, his father's homeland.
(Helpful Ticket Political Reminder: Obama thoroughly thumped Keyes, a last-minute hopeless fill-in GOP candidate, in his initial 2004 U.S. Senate run in Illinois. So there may be a lingering issue there in the mind of Keyes, wherever that is.)
Now, none of this should actually matter because Obama's mother was an American, if you consider Kansas America. So she could have been on Mars when wee Barry emerged and he'd still be American. All the courts have consistently thrown out challenges to the first African American president's legality. And Obama's spending, golfing and official POTUS Air Force One jacket sure don't indicate he's got any doubts about his legitimacy.
Anyway, the latest development is that Pat Boone, in an article headlined "Mr Obama, Show Us Your Birth Certificate," goes on a long while about the hassle of non-terrorists trying to board commercial American flights nowadays. Which is so true, isn't it?
It's gotten so bad, Pat reports, that he's actually turned down some gigs just to avoid the airport hassle. Which must be a nice position to be in, even with the hassle.
Pat -- we call him that because we've never met -- questions the validity of the certificate of live birth published on The Ticket. He raises dramatic fears about what will happen if years down the road Obama is actually proven to be legally barred from holding the Oval Office as is, say, California's Austrian-born Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But then PB gets to his main point:
If I have to produce my passport, my driver’s license, my birth certificate, for things like leaving the country and returning, buying and selling and leasing and renting — all the things ordinary citizens are required to do all the time — why then, in the name of decency and equality, and, in the “open” and “transparent” approach to government Obama promised, should our elected leader not do the same?
Now, some might say, who is this Pat Boone to question the legitimacy of the president of the United States? Well, he's a lifelong conservative who had a very nice voice and made so many popular hits for your parents that for many years he was second only to a singer who died of drug issues (that would be Elvis).
Pat's qualifications also include popularizing the wearing of white suede shoes about a century or so ago, even though such foot gear is impossible to keep unscuffed for more than 27 seconds..
Pat says Obama is dismantling America’s free markets, taxing the higher-earning middle class into despondency, spending and taxing the nation into bankruptcy, imposing socialistic, government-run healthcare, seriously weakening our military and encouraging our enemies and enacting crippling and fraudulent “global warming” laws, among other nefarious things.
And, he asks, what if "he wasn’t even legally entitled to be president at all. Yes, it is important, crucially and everlastingly important. America’s very future depends on the defense of, and obedience to, our basic constitutional laws."
So while it seems unlikely Pat will be invited to perform at the next White House lesbian gay pride celebration, this birth certificate thing doesn't seem to be going away as quickly as white suede shoes.
An economic crisis, with billions of spending and tons of controversy over bankers' bonuses. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and maybe Pakistan, and sometimes conflicts with Somali pirates. Meetings with world leaders, questions at town halls and press conferences, campaign promises met to close Guantanamo Bay prison and open stem cell research. So many firsts -- from the first African American president to the first who fought to keep his BlackBerry. So many marvels -- the first lady's transformation from novice campaigner to international and fashion rock star. And so many memories.
The first one shows President Obama, with Caroline Kennedy, looking under the desk in the Oval Office for the trap door that allowed young John Kennedy Jr. to peek out of their father's desk during the Kennedy administration. (Click the "Read more" line to open up many more photos and our video.)
Today is the 100th day since the nation experienced Aretha Franklin's huge hat.
Crime and drinking rates are back to normal. Crowds on the mall have dwindled. The Washington Nationals, an alleged major league baseball team, have lost five of the last six games. Numerous seniors have postponed retirement after reading their 401(k) statements.
Timothy Geithner, Kathleen Sebelius, Tom Daschle and Hilda Solis' husband are finally up-to-date on their taxes, which is nice and democratic. But automakers have tanked; Pontiac's been euthanized. And unemployment and the projected national debt have soared since she sang. Oh, and China's reaping immense interest income on its loans over here.
The pundits have all had their chance -- actually, several chances each, with more to come all day and after tonight's news conference -- to punditize on these 14+ whole weeks. So now it's your turn. Vote here and feel free to leave copious comments below. See how your feelings match others.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Speaking of hats, cap off your reading each day byclicking here to get automatic Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot Photo: Ron Edmonds / Associated Press
A surprising split -- or perhaps a chasm -- appearing now between the former White House team of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, who seemed so solidly in sync for eight years.
After a previous interview with Politico.com, the ex-vice president was on CNN last weekend, again criticizing the new Barack Obama administration for what Cheney characterized as decisions that could seriously threaten American national security, including changes in terrorist interrogation policy and closing Guantanamo Bay. The former VP did say Bush should not be blamed for the economic meltdown.
But Cheney was also openly critical of the decision not to pardon his former chief of staff, Lewis Libby in the closing days of the Bush administration.
That decision, perhaps needless to say, was made by Cheney's boss, President Bush, who unexpectedly chose Cheney as his two-time running mate in 2000 after originally asking Cheney to lead the search for a VP partner. So the right-hand guy is letting the world know now his post-administration displeasure with the boss.
Since flying home to Texas after the Obama inauguration on Jan. 20, Bush has been totally silent, staying first on his Crawford ranch and then moving into a new house in the Preston Hollow section of north Dallas to begin work on a book and his presidential library at Southern Methodist University.
Tuesday in Calgary, the 43rd president gave the first of about a dozen paid speeches arranged so far by the Washington Speakers Bureau on his 2009 schedule. And here's what Bush told about 2,000 business persons about his successor, the 44th president:
"There are plenty of critics in the arena. He deserves my silence."
Bush said something else too:
"I love my country a lot more than I love politics. I think it is essential that he be helped in office."
Not exactly the Rush Limbaugh failure line of comment. Or the Dick Cheney tone. Bush also said if the new president wanted his help, "he's welcome to call me."
The former president received two standing ovations from the Canadian audience, which paid $3,100 per table for "A Conversation with George W. Bush."
Bush said he was pleased to make his maiden post-presidential speech in a place like Alberta, (named for a daughter of Queen Victoria), which is Canada's most conservative province and one with close and deep energy-economic ties to Texas.
Bush joked that he'd need more such engagements to pay for the house his wife, Laura, bought without him seeing it. "I actually paid for a house last fall," he told the crowd. "I think I'm the only American to have bought a house in the fall of 2008."
The ex-president seemed to enjoy himself in the question-and-answer session, saying he was prepared to stay all day. "I'm flattered people even want to hear me in the first place."
Bush also revealed the outlines of his book, which will be built around what he regards as his 12 toughest decisions. "I want people to understand what it was like to sit in the Oval Office," he said.
Photo (top): Former President Bush talks with former Canadian Ambassador Frank McKenna in Calgary. Credit: Ewan Nicholson / tinePublic via Associated Press
Photo (bottom): Bush arrives for speech. Credit: Associated Press
Turns out, in addition to the Daschle problem and the Killefer problem and the Mr. Solis problem and the non-bipartisan partisan problem, President Barack Obama now has an Etta James problem.
Etta is not (underline that) happy with Obama and Beyonce for stealing her trademark song, "At Last" for the first dance during the recent inauguration celebration in Washington.
Our pals over at KTLA first broadcast the audio tape of Etta dissing Obama during a recent concert (See video below):
"You guys know your president, right?," James asks the crowd. "You know, the one with the big ears? Wait a minute, he ain't my president!"
She refers to Beyonce as "that woman he had singing for him, singing my song." James adds she "can't stand Beyonce," who, of course, played James in the movie, "Cadillac Records."
Etta also promises the crowd to do something violent to Beyonce's rear end. (Caution: Video contains juvenile language that may be offensive to someone somewhere but that's just too bad; they don't have to click the video then.)
The night in 1865 that John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln in downtown Washington not far off the recent inaugural parade route for the man who used the same red Bible for his 2009 presidential oath, Booth's co-conspirators fanned out across town to murder other Cabinet members. The Union targets included William Seward, later of Alaska Purchase fame.
Turns out the assassins couldn't find their victims because they weren't at home. To be more accurate, Seward and others weren't in their rooms. Their rented rooms. In a boarding house.
That's the way Washington used to be, a place where representatives of the people went to work temporarily before they returned back home to the states, districts and, most important, the people they represented. Somewhere along the way, things got turned around.
Once elected, the representatives moved to the Washington area (Republicans generally to Virginia, Democrats to Maryland), got home mortgages there and, most likely, sold their home back home. Unless they had so many they couldn't keep track.
They lived in Washington and became part of a bipartisan, permanent political aristocracy because they knew, even if they ever got unelected, they'd be staying on to work in the lucrative legal-lobby-association complex that permeates that onetime swamp that Maryland gave away as worthless for the federal capital. (See video report on Obama's TV interviews about the Daschle withdrawal below.)
Pretty soon, even well-meaning elected folks began to represent Washington during their home district visits, instead of the original way. It takes a very strong personality to resist the self-import that comes from living and working and socializing in the national seat of power.
The same applies to the media, whose elites thrive on the access and exposure there. And it is a heady experience to address the president and others as unelected representatives of their audiences. Once assigned there, you may notice, few rotate back out into the field where most Americans live.
And so the District of Columbia becomes a club, mainly a fraternity still, with all the rights and privileges assigned to membership thereto. This club has its own culture, protocol and....
Today, with no foreign funerals ready yet, Biden was sent over to the State Department to re-administer the oath of office to Hillary Clinton. She actually took the oath just off the Senate floor moments after being confirmed last month. But a new administration can never have too many happy photo ops showing everyone getting down to work.
So in front of an eager pro-Clinton audience Biden stepped up to the new secretary of State with her oath on a piece of paper in hand.
While most everyone was watching the attempted bipartisanship on Capitol Hill this week, some of it broke out successfully in an unlikely place elsewhere.
It seems that Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin, the unsuccessful GOP VP nominee, was worried that the Army was going to cut off pensions to the state's old-timers long-retired from the Alaska Territorial Guard. So she sat down and wrote a letter to the new big guy himself, Democratic President Barack Obama, who's vowed to take extra special care of veterans.
And the largest state's small congressional delegation got involved too.
It found a special fund to pay them, while Sens. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, and Mark Begich, a Democrat, together shepherd the proper authorizing legislation through Congress.
Amazing when it works.
And speaking of Sarah and Barack, this weekend they're both attending the off-the-record black tie dinner of the Alfalfa Club, one of those fraternity-like get-togethers that Washingtonians schedule throughout the year to convince themselves of their eliteness. Palin, who as The Ticket reported, formed her own SarahPAC this week, says she's attending to pitch the interests of Alaska.
And?
According to Paul Bedard over at Washington Whispers, Palin's presence in D.C. has sparked an interview bidding war between CNN's Larry King, who's had seven wives and almost as many heart attacks, and ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who hasn't.
While much of the world focused on such transitory things last week as the inauguration of the United States' 44th president, Barack Obama, some of you may have noticed the story about Mouse.
And wondered whatever happened.
Mouse is the normally calm horse who was supposed to be in the historic inaugural parade with 10,000 other people and animals on Jan. 20.
But Mouse has a thing about other horses attached to carriages. As in, he doesn't like them. Like elephants and mice. Tom and Jerry. Homer and Ned. Sarah and Katie.
So a horse-drawn carriage came by. And Mouse got a little spooked. And he backed into a parked truck and wedged his leg. You know how it is when one of your four legs gets caught between a winch and a hard place.
It gets a little complicated if you weren't there. But to make a long story somewhat longer, a lot of animated animal people could have been tranquilized that day instead of Mouse.
Well, our kindly blogging colleague Lindsay Barnett has the latest on Mouse over here on L.A. Unleashed. Spoiler Alert: The news is good.
Speaking of animals, the Obamas haven't reported adopting their promised poodledoodledor or whatever dog yet. But word from the vast video collection on animals on the Unleashed blog page is that the need for shelter homes is great and growing across the country these days.
It seems the economy is apparently prompting many Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Ron Paul disciples and Naderites to unload their apolitical pets. So if you can make room in your house and heart....
--Andrew Malcolm
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It's with Hisham Melhem, the Washington bureau chief of Al Arabiya television, the Dubai-based, Saudi-owned international news network. The session was taped Jan. 26 in the White House. Melhem told CNN's Wolf Blitzer of "The Situation Room" that his network was picked by the White House for its regional moderation, for how Melhem had requested the interview after Nov. 4, and Melhem mentioned that his daughter was, in fact, a campaign volunteer for Obama last year.
Melhem said he found Obama had "a sharp analytical mind" and "a very sophisticated understanding of the world." Blitzer added that Obama "spoke with authority and knowledge. He clearly knew what he was talking about."
Melhem later told Time that his headquarters in Dubai got a White House feeler Sunday and the session occurred late Monday afternoon. A vocal critic of U.S. Mideast policy, Melhem recounted that when he told the president his wife and daughter were big Obama supporters, the commander in chief wrote each a note on White House stationery.
See what you think of the questions and Obama's responses. Here's the full transcript. And there's a video excerpt below.
Q: Mr. President, thank you for this opportunity. We really appreciate it.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much.
Q: Sir, you just met with your personal envoy to the Middle East, Sen. Mitchell. Obviously, his first task is to consolidate the cease-fire. But beyond that you've been saying that you want to pursue actively and aggressively peacemaking between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Tell us a little bit about how do you see your personal role, because, you know, if the president of the United States is not involved, nothing happens -- as the history of peacemaking shows.
Will you be proposing ideas, pitching proposals, parameters, as one of your predecessors did? Or just urging the parties to come up with their own resolutions, as your immediate predecessor did?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think the most important thing is for the United States to get engaged right away. And George Mitchell is somebody of enormous stature. He is one of the few people who have international experience brokering peace deals.
And so what I told him is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating -- in the past on some of these issues -- and we don't always know all the factors that are involved. So let's listen. He's going to be speaking to all the major parties involved. And he will then report back to me. From there we will formulate a specific response.
Ultimately, we cannot tell either the Israelis or the Palestinians what's best for them. They're going ...
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Our Bloggers
Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the Countdown to Crawford blog here at The Times.
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