How beautiful is this?
President Obama's book is in the stores now,
from The Washington Post
By
Stephen Lowman
"Have I told you that America is made up of people of every kind?" asks President Obama in his latest book.Two weeks after voters gave his party a "shellacking," Obama is out with children's book celebrating the American people.
“Of Thee I Sing,” aimed at children ages 3 and up, is light on text but rich with Loren Long’s illustrations. On the opening page Obama addresses his two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
“Have I told you lately how wonderful you are? / How the sound of your feet / running from afar / brings dancing rhythms to my day? / How you laugh / and sunshine spills into the room?”
Obama goes on to tell them about 13 “groundbreaking Americans.” In order, they are:
Georgia O’Keeffe (“helped us see big beauty in what is small”)
Albert Einstein (“changing the world with energy and light”)
Jackie Robinson (“showed us all how to turn fear to respect”)
Sitting Bull (“a Sioux medicine man”)
Billie Holiday (“sang beautiful blues”)
Helen Keller (“taught us to look and listen to each other”)
Maya Lin (“public spaces should be filled with art, she thought”)
Jane Addams (“fed the poor”)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (“taught us unyielding compassion”)
Neil Armstrong (“first to walk on the moon”)
Cesar Chavez (“showed farmworkers their own power”)
Abraham Lincoln (“promised freedom to enslaved sisters and brothers”)
George Washington (“our first president”)
Obama’s dedication reads: “To Michelle — whose fierce love and daily good sense have nourished such wonderful daughters.”
Random House said that the 40-page book has a first printing of 500,000 copies. It has a list price of $17.99.
The origins of the book date back to 2004, when then Senator Obama inked a three book deal with Random House worth $1.9 million.
Proceeds from the sales “Of Thee I Sing” will be donated to a scholarship fund that serves the children of soldiers who have been killed or disabled.
The book is subtitled "A Letter to My Daughters," but it's not the first time the president has written a letter to Sasha and Malia for everyone to see. Shortly before taking office in 2008 Parade Magazine published a "letter" he wrote to them.
Say what you will about Barack Obama, but it's quite obvious he is a wonderful loving husband and father. His family are lucky to have him.....I think we are too
50 comments:
Bush is a loving husband and wonderful father, so is (cough,cough) Clinton
Leave it to Lisa to come here and be the proverbial turd in the punch bowl.
And I wonder who Bush is donating the proceeds of his book to. Any guesses?
LOL, JC. I was just wondering the same thing. Maybe the "Truth Foundation?"
W's daughters did not join the military to fight in Papa's "war of choice".
Cheney's daughters did not sign up for Papa's "war of choice".
Wanna bet Obama's daughters do not sign up for Papa's "just war" of choice".
I guess they are all "special"?
can't we all just say Obama is a great dad, is that too much to ask?
Yes it is too much to ask.
But do not ask me.
Lets ask the innocent civilians that have died due to the drone attacks.
It is almost a ratio of 10 civilians to each militant.
These civilians also have/HAD families.
Lets ask the mothers and fathers of our soldiers that have died or have been injured if The Big O is a great dad?
I'm with you Sue. It's too damn bad that ugly angry politics has to enter into every damn thing - whether it comes from the left or the right. To me this is as bad as cheering when a president gets assassinated. It is no different than criticizing the president for speaking to school children via the television.
I think his children are very lucky to have a dad who loves them enough and who is literate enough to create such a book for them and all children in America.
Just for one fucking minute, can we look beyond our own little doom and gloom world?
RZ has a point. I'd like to add to that the fact that he does have the tendency to pimp his daughters out for certain occasions.
The Clintons never did it to Chelsea. Don't EVEN get me started on the bush's offspring.
I'm just sayin'...
RZ, you are seeking a miracle worker, there is no such person. You can say the same thing about every president we had at wartime. Barack Obama was a dad before he was a president, we can still say he is a good dad.
Leslie I agree, I want to put aside the politics when talking about this book. One of the reviews at Amazon said it too. She hopes this book is not politicized and just read as a sweet story written by a man for his girls.
C, I don't know why some of you here are even talking about past presidents and their fatherhood. What does that have to do with this book? And he does not pimp out his girls, thats ridiculous..
" he does have the tendency to pimp his daughters out for certain occasions."
Holy fucking shit. Very, very rarely and only for very, very special events. Why shouldn't his daughters be a witness to history in the making? Why shouldn't they be able to attend special concerts in the White House. I don't see them at cabinet meetings for Pete's sake.
You must not be old enough to remember the Kennedy years.
BTW, I can say Bush is a war criminal, and the worst president in our history, but I never said anything about his role as father, never. And that's because his role as dad doesn't have anything to do with his presidency.
Exactly - and Bush actually has a very close and loving relationship with them.
I can't even find polite words to describe my reaction to such silly nonsense.
OUCH
I don't know what is happening with our party Leslie. If we can't even look at our president as a human being with flaws just like every other human being on earth then we are a sad, sad people. It's the righties who say he is our messiah, that's not us saying it. The man is a dad and a husband first, our president second.
RZ, you are a Vietnam veteran, I get your pain. I have told you before. But when I saw this book it never once entered my mind that Obama should not be talking about his daughters, should not be anything but OUR PRESIDENT who hasn't ended wars he did not start. He's a dad, a good dad, what's wrong with that? If you put aside your bad feelings about war you might be able to see the man as a man.... with 2 daughters.
Everything that comes out of D.C. is political.
This book is a tool to appease his base once more.
He has thrown another bone out there to show his inner self.
And as usual the dems fall all over themselves.
Why did he publish it?
He could have just given the manuscript to his kids for Xmas.
oh well, I see we will not see eye to eye on this one RZ. Your knight in shining armor president is nowhere to be found, there is no such thing. Why beat yourself up about it, why live so miserably?
Sue: I didn’t know about Obama’s new book until I read your blog. I copied and pasted the info about it to mail to friends with young children or grandchildren. What a lovely gift idea!
THEN, I read the above 18 comments. Don’t get discouraged, Sue. Doesn’t it occur to those so bent out of shape about a war Obama didn’t start that if more children learned about love, felt love, we might have fewer wars?
Thanks for the post.
T. Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter and JFK have all penned books for children. Hillary wrote one while she was first lady.
On a lesser scale Glen Beck and Lynne Cheney have written books for children.
He could have given his two girls the manuscript for Xmas?
Actually, this book is part of a deal where Mr. Obama was contracted to write THREE books. The first was "Dreams From My Father," the second, "The Audacity of Hope," and this is the third.
A simple google would have informed you of this:
The book was written before Obama became president and was part of a three-volume deal he signed in 2004, just after he was elected senator. His two other books were bestsellers: "Dreams From My Father" in 2004, and 2006's "The Audacity of Hope."
And this is a particularly ugly statement:
"I'd like to add to that the fact that he does have the tendency to pimp his daughters out for certain occasions."
But it is an insight into how the MSM influences people's thinking. That phrase "pimping out his daughters" is a variation of some teevee reporter who accused the Clintons of "pimping out" Chelsea during the primary campaigns in 2008.
So the writer who thinks Obama "pimps out" his two daughters, is actually repeating some mindless blather from a teevee pundit and encouraging the people here to think of Mr. Obama as father who uses his daughters for political and financial gain.
Can we sink any lower? Wait a while, we assuredly can.
BTW, all monies earned from the sale of this book will go to a fund to help the families of the military serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some "pimping," eh?
About Sean Hannity's Freedom Concerts:
Since 2003, over $10 million has been raised for the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund through the Freedom Concerts and generous donations from the Sean Hannity Show and its listeners. The Scholarship Fund is designated for the education of children of U.S. service members who have been killed or 100% permanently disabled in an operational mission or training accident. Freedom Alliance receives all net proceeds from ticket sales and merchandise, aiding greatly in Freedom Alliance's effort to assist hundreds of families who have lost their loved ones while they were protecting and defending our nation and our freedoms.
You know, I could have gone back as far as the Kennedeys, but I chose a cutoff that I was aware of. I'm not geriatric enough to know of the Kennedeys.
Holy fucking shit! Express what I observe and I get blasted. It's not like I called him a socialist or illegit by birth or something. He has a tendency to mention them from time to time at certain occasions that I find suspect. But hey, it's my opinion and you have yours. I just threw mine out there and it was like I chummed the waters.
Get a fucking grip folks! Recognize!
Anonymous said...
can't we all just say Obama is a great dad, is that too much to ask?
Yes it is too much to ask
Ignoranus.
Look it up.
who mentioned fuckwad Hannity?? Get a life anon. Hannity and his money were investigated for fraud. I'll be back with links...
Conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel has accused Sean Hannity's Freedom Alliance charity of unethical fundraising practices and use of money. Schlussel points out how less than four percent of Freedom Alliance's earnings in 2006 went to the nonprofit's listed causes -- college funding for the children of fallen soldiers and care for wounded veterans.
Media Matters For America points out the accuracy of Schlussel's numbers analysis, but withholds judgment on the validity of her claims, as Freedom Alliance does not openly state on its Web site the percentage of raised funds that will go to their specific programs. Nevertheless, Freedom Alliance may be hurt by Schlussel's accusations that tens of thousands of dollars were spent on private planes for Hannity's family and friends.
From DebbieSchlussel.com:
In fact, less than 20%-and in two recent years, less than 7% and 4%, respectively-of the money raised by Freedom Alliance went to these causes, while millions of dollars went to expenses, including consultants and apparently to ferret the Hannity posse of family and friends in high style. And, despite Hannity's statements to the contrary on his nationally syndicated radio show, few of the children of fallen soldiers got more than $1,000-$2,000, with apparently none getting more than $6,000, while Freedom Alliance appears to have spent tens of thousands of dollars for private planes. Moreover, despite written assurances to donors that all money raised would go directly to scholarships for kids of the fallen heroes and not to expenses, has begun charging expenses of nearly $500,000 to give out just over $800,000 in scholarships.
Credit goes to Daily Kos, who broke this story back in 2007.
From Daily Kos (08/06/2007):
So if we were to assume that the average ticket price was $50 (we'll err on the conservative side) then the organizers of this event are skimming $37 a person off the top, not including other paraphenelia. Of course there may be some expenses involved but how much is each person being paid? It also means that 92% of all moneys being paid by concert goers is NOT going to the families of soldiers. Hannity claims that "100% of the profits" go to the families. Again, note the use of the word "profits." By the time Hannity and the Freedom Alliance have taken out money for "expenses" profits are few and far between
This is not about Hannity and I don't know why this person even brought the asshole up.
thanks Shaw, I cut that part out to make the post smaller, but that's true about the book deal.
C, all past presidents with children either small or grown have talked about them. And why not, they are a part of who the president is. Some are saying Palins new hideous show is a campaign for the presidency and it's all about her and her family.
Sue you're talking more about quantity, I'm talking more along the lines of application.
palin...did you really need to bring that into this? She ain't no president and she ain't a role model for parenting. That much, I think, we can ALL agree with.
CDM,
"Holy fucking shit! Express what I observe and I get blasted. "
No. We expressed OUR disagreement with you. And you deserve to be blasted for using the imagery of a pimp when discussing President Obama and his daughters. You knew exactly what you were doing when you used that language, and we expressed our dislike of it.
"It's not like I called him a socialist or illegit by birth or something."--CDM
No, what you suggested was worse. You implied that President Obama is a PIMP. What does a pimp do? He "pimps out" his girls.
"He has a tendency to mention them from time to time at certain occasions that I find suspect."
Oh really? Did it ever occur to you, as it has to us, that you find his mentioning his children suspect because you are prejudiced against the man and all he stands for--and his mentioning his children had nothing to do with your "pimp" imagery? You just thought it would be great to throw that out there.
"But hey, it's my opinion and you have yours."--CDM
Implying that the president pimps out his daughters is not an opinion, it's a disgusting racial slur.
And that's not an opinion, that's a fact.
Shaw, you have absolutely NO clue as to who I am. Sue, however, does. So does Donna.
I'll use whatever imagery I want. Sue and Donna both know where I'm coming from so you can halt your campaign right there. I won't be railroaded because you don't know me.
Sue, set this woman straight before the shit gets really twisted.
CDM,
You're right, I don't know who you are.
All I know right now is that you used the racially loaded word "pimp" in describing what you believe our first bi-racial president, Barack Obama, is doing with his daughters.
That's all I know.
And it angers me when people use loaded racial images like that.
You could have simply stated that you believe Obama uses his daughters for improving his image as a regular guy, or whatever.
That's an opinion that has no undercurrent racial meaning.
I'm touchy, yes, because I've seen so much racial smearing of this man, and it's not good for the country.
Attack his policies, fine. But we need to stop the slurs on his character.
Now you know something about me and why I reacted as I did.
I have authored posts on this blog before and have said some very politically incorrect things in very politically incorrect language. That's how I am now and have always been, I'm consistent. I'm the Don Rickles of blogworld and as Sue can tell you, I'm unapologetic about any and all my characterizations. Does it make me a racist? Like I care, seriously. The people that know me will look at a question like that and laugh.
People need to understand that "pimp" is not reserved for a specific race. That in itself is racist in my eyes. That goes for a lot of other words too.
Besides, I'm tougher on the crackers of Capital Hill anyway.
Shaw, C is harmless and definitely NOT racist. His pimp word has been used here before, one post was about Orly Taitz if I recall. He is a young dude and uses slang. No harm done. Kiss and make up kids!
Harmless????
GODDAMIT SUE!!!
"A young dude that uses slang."
Jesus-tap-dancing-CHRIST!!! Where do I start with that one grandma Sue?
yes C you are harmless and if you call me gam gam one more time I will put you across my knee and spank your bare ass...
Well, I'm sure those children who are getting the scholarships would much rather have their parent back, or back the way they were before they got blown up, to read them a bedtime story.
I applaud CDM for saying what is on his mind.
It seems that even the dems have declared dissent a crime against "Fascist" democracy.
Those who are pleased with mediocrity, deserve to be imprisoned inside of their own comfort zone.
As far as pimps go.
I have known more "white pimps" than "black pimps".
To suggest that the term of "pimp" is racist. Is a racist assumption all in its own.
As far as the royalties of the Big O's book.
Another oxymoron at play.
He sends them to battle, then he pays a pittance for their demise.
Does this clear his conscience?
Oh my, oh my.
Is there no truth to power left in America?
Is there no shame left in America?
RZ, until this country can pull together and nominate a real life third party candidate, one who could truly win the White House, I feel I have no other choice then to vote democratic. The lesser of 2 evils I feel.
And unless and until our country rises up in revolt and protest against the wars, we don't have a voice, do we? It really is up to us the American people to end the wars, but we are too lazy and uninterested after 9/10 yrs.
BTW, anonymous is my cousin from Wisconsin. She voted for Obama but does not call herself a democrat. She votes third party, Green Party.
IMHO There will be a dem or independent challenger in 2012 for President.
The Big O Team can not pull the economy out by then.
Afghanica will become Dante's Inferno .
We will still have "combat" troops in Iraq.
And they will probably have a boot print in Yemen, Somalia, or one of their other targets for endless wars with out borders.
The Presidents change, but the agenda stays the same.
When will the dems understand this?
When will dems hold their own accountable.
In the 60's we voted for who was MORE LIBERAL within the democratic party.
We voted for who would get us out of war faster.
Not who was MORE like a republican.
The Big O never was a Liberal, and he never will be a liberal.
He will go so far to the right come 1/11 it will make your heads spin.
A vote for a third party candidate is as good as a vote for the other party. If progressives what a candidate of their own, they need to take over the Democratic Party, like the Cons have of the republican party.
Anon:
Hello cuz.
Seems we have some thing in common. LOL
Good for you and the Greens.
I will never ever vote dem again.
Lets see how the dems vote on ear marks. :-)
JC
The dems will not allow a spin off in their own party.
Hell they will not even vote for term limits.
They will not even give up their seniority chairmanship positions.
In society this is called inbreeding.
So this is what we have.
A bunch of inbreds sitting on both sides of the aisle.
RZ she has been voting third party candidate for 30 yrs. How many more yrs do you think it will take this country to put a third party candidate in the White House?
When true pain comes to America that is when we will have a third party President.
It most probably will be a Fascist dictator.
America has come to accept security over freedom.
This is why democrats have to be even more left than left. Not left center.
In that respect I agree with JC a true democratic socialist must come from the democratic party.
Democratic Socialism is the only thing that will save this country.
Not Kleptocratic Korporate Klansmanship. LOL
It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
Eugene V. Debs
I don't want a Republican sent to the White House in 2012. The only other viable option will be Barack Obama. I'd vote for a Democratic Socialist candidate if I actually thought he or she had a chance. I fear, however, the Republicans have so poisoned the American people against anything socialistic that such a prospect is a near impossibility.
As for Obama's book, I have little interest in it. I don't have any children... or even like them for that matter.
I agree w. I would rather die then vote for a rethuglican...if no other dem choice it would definitely have to be Obama.
you would love children if you spent a day with my granddaughter, she is a joy and has me lmao all day long!
The President's book is a beautiful thing. An added bonus is that the proceeds are going to a worthy cause. Of course, FoxNation (just like it's TV counterpoint) won't pass up a chance to smear President Obama:
http://nation.foxnews.com/media/2010/11/15/obama-praises-indian-chief-who-killed-us-general
Even though the headline was changed because it was historically inaccurate, the URL remains the same.
thanks Malcolm, I'll check that out. And yes I think the book is beautiful and I can't wait to get it!
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