Updated Obama Primer

By Carol Gee

"Barack Obama 1-2-3-4-5"

This post was first written on 3/22/08. For today I've updated the original a bit and reposted it. It amounts to a little "pocket reference" for keeping connected with (or regarding) President Obama.

Obama on the Web - In chronological order:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need -- Obamba Blog, Obama Store: This is the original campaign web site, Obama for America*.

The Inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden -- This was the site of the Presidential Campaign Committee, fronted by Senator Dianne Feinstein.

USA Service.0rg -- This was the web site that was used with the thousands of volunteers who participated in the MLK National Day of Service on January 19.

Welcome to the White House -- The main website of President Obama's administration. It replaced White House.gov in the blink of an eye at noon on January 20. It can also be reached via a link (click Executive Branch) at "Federal Government" at USA.gov.

USAspending.gov -- is the result of legislation authored by Senators Obama and Coburn in 2006 and launched in 2007. To quote Obama,

"We should do everything we can to ensure that the American public can easily access and track how the Federal government does its business," said Senator Obama. "Our government took an important step last year by launching USASpending.gov and giving ordinary citizens an important tool to hold Washington accountable.

"*Obama for America becomes Organizing for America" in a merger with the Democratic Party. David Plouffe, the Obama campaign manager, will remain involved. Former Governor Tim Kaine has replaced former Governor Howard Dean as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Marc Ambinder explains (1/17/09):

The Obama political machine is merging with the Democratic National Committee.

The President-elect launched Obama 2.0, or Organizing for America, this morning with a YouTube video.

An Obama political aide said that OFA will be housed at the Democratic National Committee, resolving a longstanding debate about whether the entity should be separate.

A press release prepared by OFA calls the organization "the next phase" of the Obama organization, and will offer "volunteers the continued opportunity to work for change in their communities by organizing in support of reform in Washington."

From the original post -- March 2008

Barack Obama: My Space

Barack Obama: Wikipedia

3/18/08:" The Speech" from NYT Obama on Race

Foreshadowing References -- I found it interesting to see his progression in print as I wrote the first post.

Roots -- From Voice of America, "Obama Receives Hero's Welcome at His Family's Ancestral Village in Kenya" Nairobi 27 August 2006.

National oratory -- Barack Obama: 2004 Democratic Convention Speech

Environment -- From Grist/Muckraker Barack Star :"Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama's got green cred." By Amanda Griscom, 04 Aug 2004 To quote:

"Environmentalism is not an upper-income issue, it's not a white issue, it's not a black issue, it's not a South or a North or an East or a West issue. It's an issue that all of us have a stake in," Obama shouted. "And if I can do anything to make sure that not just my daughter but every child in America has green pastures to run in and clean air to breathe and clean water to swim in, then that is something I'm going to work my hardest to make happen."

The crowd went bananas in response to this call for unity across ethnic and socio-economic lines, as though they'd been waiting for exactly this kind of dynamic leader to free environmentalism from the perception that it's predominately a white upper-middle-class issue.

Obama's environmental activism stretches back to his undergrad days at Columbia University, during which he did a three-month stint with a Ralph Nader offshoot organization trying to convince minority students at City College in Harlem to recycle. Later, when he worked as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, he fought for lead abatement in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood.

Harvard Law Review -- Barack Obama in New York Times Feb. 6, 1990, "First Black Elected to Head Harvard's Law Review." To quote:

The new president of the Review is Barack Obama, a 28-year-old graduate of Columbia University who spent four years heading a community development program for poor blacks on Chicago's South Side before enrolling in law school. His late father, Barack Obama, was a finance minister in Kenya and his mother, Ann Dunham, is an American anthropologist now doing fieldwork in Indonesia. Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii.

''The fact that I've been elected shows a lot of progress,'' Mr. Obama said today in an interview. ''It's encouraging.

''But it's important that stories like mine aren't used to say that everything is O.K. for blacks. You have to remember that for every one of me, there are hundreds or thousands of black students with at least equal talent who don't get a chance,'' he said, alluding to poverty or growing up in a drug environment.

. . . On his goals in his new post, Mr. Obama said: ''I personally am interested in pushing a strong minority perspective. I'm fairly opinionated about this. But as president of the law review, I have a limited role as only first among equals.''

Therefore, Mr. Obama said, he would concentrate on making the review a ''forum for debate,'' bringing in new writers and pushing for livelier, more accessible writing.

. . . Professors and students at the law school reacted cautiously to Mr. Obama's selection. ''For better or for worse, people will view it as historically significant,'' said Prof. Randall Kennedy, who teaches contracts and race relations law. ''But I hope it won't overwhelm this individual student's achievement.''

(Cross-posted at South by Southwest.)