Obamanian Politics, Books and What's Up

[Drawing courtesy of Once Made]

Whew! another week gone by and with March Madness in all aspects of life, I think it's quite fascinating how we deal with the scheme of things and what to expect in President Barack Obama's first hundred days in office. It's tough, ain't it? The president is optimistic about the paralized economy bouncing back sooner or later. And methink he's doing the best he can neverminding what conservative Republicans are up to in throwing all the bad stuff that is seemingly negative to the affairs of state in an economy gone so bad they should be blamed for as a result of a bad managed Bush 2 era.

Actually, I read Elizabeth Drew's elegantly written piece on Obama's code of conduct and his boys -- "The Thirty Days of Barack Obama" -- in the White House, in the March 26, 2009 edition of The New York Review of Books which pinpointed how Obama really wants to change the way business is done in Washington.

Drew's essay spoke volumes. She spoke to a whole lot of insiders and notably pointed out how a Obama close observer has seen the president as "the boys are running the White House." The "boys" are Rahm Emmanuel (Chief of Staff), David Axelrod (Chief Campaign Strategist and Senior Adviser to the president), Jim Messina (Deputy Chief of Staff), and Patrick Gaspard who heads the office of Political Affairs in the White House.

Interestingly, Obama is using his executive orders and pen swiftly to do stuff.: "the memos of John Yoo," George W. Bush' measures on the "war on terror," "justified torture and lenghty detention without trial were nullified," writes Drew.

Also, interestingly, Drew wrote on Obama's mistakes and choice of appointments --the appointments of Timothy Geithner and Tom Daschle -- which she described as "rookie mistakes" and "as the results of sheer fatigue and overload."

For some reasons, the books are popping up and myself being the non-fiction kind of guy book reader, I tend to shoot it straight with reality -- life's true events and personal experiences even though the online book bash and its fifth annual Tournament of Books is full of upsets but quite novel.

I'm still sticking to books that are based on facts and issues that I can relate to. Books of inspiration, and perhaps that's why books of inspiration are popping up all over, especially those of Abey Lincoln who unquestionably inspired President Obama. Oxford University Press has released two books on Lincoln" "Abraham Lincoln," by the Pulitzer Prize Winner James M. McPherson and "Lincoln and his Admirals," by Craig I. Symonds. And in Hollywood, David Welky's "The Moguls and the Dictators: Hollywood and the coming of World War II" had Morgan State University's Thomas Cripps put it up this way: "There have been other works that treat this area, but few match the quality of interveaning the worlds of movies, diplomacy and tghe temper of the times (especially as seen in the minds of the 'moguls')." In short, too many fascinating books in the world of Spring and especially the "March Madness of Books."

In the meantime, I have browsed through G. Pascal Zachary's memoir "Married to Africa," after reading its review by Megan Harlan in "Love and Marriage for an American Ex-Pat in Ghana." Good read and it's all about Zachary's obsession for the woman he loved and never looked back. A strange love affair. A humble beginning. A middle-class upbringing. A marriage put together. A real understanding. And, a generation apart.

What's up? My readers are wondering what's going on, especially with the "About Me" on my blog and what's up with that. I'm not revealing anything for now but I'm quite sure they must have figured out who the picture is since I pulled the first one out. There's been a whole lotta noise about Rita Edmond and her velvet voice that is now capturing jazz music lovers. As a jazz enthusiast, I was one of the guys that picked up her debut CD "Sketches Of A Dream" and after going through all the gigs in Los Angeles Rita had this to say about her love for Jazz: “I am sketching out a lifetime dream of what I want to do vocally. I love jazz and the standards are some of the most beautiful songs ever written. Jazz is the most liberating free form of music there is; I call it free flowing music..."

On the other beat, the women at WOWOWOW are not taking anything for granted. Celebrating its first year anniversary, a whole lot is going on for them and they seem to be equal to the task, and the vibe looks good. Yes, the vibe looks good.

They love Obama and Obama seems to be winning their votes which increasingly is disturbing to conservative Republicans. I, in particular, do not know what these folks think they are conserving in a fast changing world. The world has changed and we better admit it and deal with it. These so-called neocons have made the hoodrats look like gurus and intellectuals; and for sure, they are not thinking right.

It's a "New Dawn" and the world must get better!