Obama's Book Deal

President Barack Obama, a best-selling author who received royalties of $2.5 million last year, will get hundreds of thousands more for a youth-oriented version of his published memoir and will write a nonfiction book after he leaves the White House.

Obama agreed in early January to deliver the new book after he leaves office, which could be in 2017 if he wins a second term. The White House said he already had a deal with Crown Publishing Group to write another book, and agreed Jan. 9 that he would produce the book after his term ends.

About a week later, shortly before his inauguration, Obama agreed to a $500,000 advance for an abridged version of "Dreams From My Father" that would be suitable for middle school or young adult readers, according to a new personal financial disclosure report released this week. Read more at MSNBC

Obama Dreams From My Father 1995 Interview

I found this at This Week With Barack Obama. A great interview of Obama answering questions about his first book.

Obama's books (the other is The Audacity of Hope), by the way, are on the NYT Nonfiction Best Seller list, spots 8 and 16. Politico points out that they are there dagger free, meaning no one is trying to manipulate the order.

anti-Obama books in spots 1 and 6. A little bird points out that both have daggers next to them: “A dagger (†) indicates that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders.” That raises the possibility they are there through manipulation.

part 2

part 3

Winning Over Hillary Supporters Tough - For McCain

Let me say to Hillary supporters, the reasonable ones who are deciding between Obama and McCain, Obama will do right by the American people. 

I refer you to Scribd, to read Obama's policy documents. Of course everything is on his website as well. To get some perspective on who Obama is, I'd recommend reading Dreams From My Father.
Do your own research. The PUMAs, they're going to go down like toddlers, kicking and screaming on an important day in history.

NY Daily News: "Before I came here, I was a die-hard Hillary Clinton fan," Mark Sollars, 19, told McCain at a town hall meeting.
"She's no longer in the race, and I'm deciding now on you and Sen. Obama," Sollars said. "Quite frankly, I'm not sure where you stand on issues for younger citizens like myself."
Desperate to win over the Clinton voters who beat Obama by 10 points in April's Pennsylvania primary, McCain went into full-frontal pander mode.
He thanked the young man for being there and urged him to come to another rally - and bring all his friends. "I'd love to meet and discuss with them" their concerns, he said.
McCain said he was a big Clinton fan. "She ran a very good campaign that inspired young women and people all over America," he said. "I need to do a better job - I'll give you straight talk - with the young voters of America," McCain added.

Bruce Springsteen Says it Best

the politics of celebs or musicians tends to grate on me, but bruce put the recent fake controversy in perspective and he did it succinctly:

At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams of My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.

note: it should be Dreams From My Father, still at the top of the bestseller list.

Clinton Campaign Desperate

there is nothing wrong with this photo but there is something seriously wrong with someone (especially someone who wants to be the next president but can't think of any other way to win but to appeal to the ignorant) who circulated the photo with the intention of spreading the rumor that obama is muslim and sympathetic to terrorists, someone who wanted people to become fearful. i have to add here that muslims are not terrorists. only terrorists are terrorists.

i try to keep this blog positive but i really think we've had enough of fear mongering. that's why we're supporting obama.

for those who don't already know, obama's father is from kenya and this outfit was presented to him by an elder when he visited in 2006. it's a great photo and a kind gesture.
he also received a hero's welcome. obama took an AIDS test while he was there to encourage kenyans to do the same. 2 million people have died of AIDS there.
want to know more? pick up his memoir "dreams from my father."
let's get beyond silly season.

in response to clinton's silly season attacks:

Obama adviser Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration, USAF (ret) accompanied obama to kenya. here's his response to Clinton's attacks on Obama:

"Americans are looking for a Commander-in-Chief who will make the right judgments on Day One. It's ironic that Hillary Clinton compared Barack Obama to George Bush when she voted to authorize the war in Iraq, supports the Bush policy of not talking to leaders we don't like, and gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran and Pakistan. On these key questions, Barack Obama not only made a different judgment - he made the right judgment. That is why more and more Americans believe that he is the best choice to defend our security as Commander-in-Chief, and to restore our standing in the world."

obama's speeches
obama's behind the scenes work in kenya
video of obama's visit in kenya



what are presidential qualities?
Roosevelt was called inexperienced
Historians for Obama

New York Times Story Obama

i'm not sure if i like this story about his time at occidental college. i like the photo, though, and it's interesting to see how people remember him and what shaped some of his thoughts and policies. he was interested in social justice and the politics of the day.
but it would be great to see an analysis pieces on the differences in the candidates policies. for example, where does each stand on oil drilling in alaska?
the story tries to quantify his drug use, which is kind of silly. he mentioned using drugs in his first book, dreams from my father. he was a casual user in college just like the majority of the population, i'd suppose.
i'd recommend reading his books.
here's an excerpt:

The Long Run
Friends Say Drugs Played Only Bit Part for Obama
By SERGE F. KOVALESKI
Nearly three decades ago, Barack Obama stood out on the small campus of Occidental College in Los Angeles for his eloquence, intellect and activism against apartheid in South Africa. But Mr. Obama, then known as Barry, also joined in the party scene.

Years later in his 1995 memoir, he mentioned smoking “reefer” in “the dorm room of some brother” and talked about “getting high.” Before Occidental, he indulged in marijuana, alcohol and sometimes cocaine as a high school student in Hawaii, according to the book. He made “some bad decisions” as a teenager involving drugs and drinking, Senator Obama, now a presidential candidate, told high school students in New Hampshire last November.

Mr. Obama’s admissions are rare for a politician (his book, “Dreams From My Father,” was written before he ran for office.) They briefly became a campaign issue in December when an adviser to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr. Obama’s chief Democratic rival, suggested that his history with drugs would make him vulnerable to Republican attacks if he became his party’s nominee.

Mr. Obama, of Illinois, has never quantified his illicit drug use or provided many details. He wrote about his two years at Occidental, a predominantly white liberal arts college, as a gradual but profound awakening from a slumber of indifference that gave rise to his activism there and his fears that drugs could lead him to addiction or apathy, as they had for many other black men.

Mr. Obama’s account of his younger self and drugs, though, significantly differs from the recollections of others who do not recall his drug use. That could suggest he was so private about his usage that few people were aware of it, that the memories of those who knew him decades ago are fuzzy or rosier out of a desire to protect him, or that he added some writerly touches in his memoir to make the challenges he overcame seem more dramatic.

In more than three dozen interviews, friends, classmates and mentors from his high school and Occidental recalled Mr. Obama as being grounded, motivated and poised, someone who did not appear to be grappling with any drug problems and seemed to dabble only with marijuana.

Vinai Thummalapally, a former California State University student who became friendly with Mr. Obama in college, remembered him as a model of moderation — jogging in the morning, playing pickup basketball at the gym, hitting the books and socializing.

“If someone passed him a joint, he would take a drag. We’d smoke or have one extra beer, but he would not even do as much as other people on campus,” recounted Mr. Thummalapally, an Obama fund-raiser. “He was not even close to being a party animal.” nyt