On July 2, 2008 then candidate Barack Obama called for a new era of service:
“…One of those moments came on September 11, 2001. Whether you lived in Manhattan or thousands of miles away in Colorado, you felt the pain and loss of that day not just as an individual, but as an American. You also felt pride – pride in the firefighters who rushed up the stairs while workers rushed down; pride in the police who provided comfort, and the neighbors who lent a hand; pride in your citizenship, and the tattered flag that flew at Ground Zero. That’s why Americans lined up to give blood. That’s why we held vigils and flew flags. That’s why we rallied behind our President. We were ready to step into the strong current of history, and to answer a new call for our country. But the call never came.
Instead of a call to service, we were asked to go shopping. Instead of a call for shared sacrifice, we gave tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans in a time of war for the very first time in our history. Instead of leadership that called us to come together, we got patriotism defined as the property of one party, and used as a political wedge to take us into a war that should have never been authorized and never been waged.
We have lost precious time. Our nation is less secure and less respected in the world. Our energy dependence has risen, and so has the specter of climate change. More of our children have been left behind, and our American Dream risks slipping away. The burden of service has fallen on to the backs of our military – and their families – who have endured tour after tour of duty bravely and brilliantly, even though they haven’t always gotten the care and support they have earned….”
I guess Obama, as POTUS has managed to forget his call to sacrifice. Or, he has his own special version of sacrifice. What does he do, but turn up the heat to 75 degrees! He’s from Hawaii, don’t you know. Well, I’m from South Florida and I keep my heat pump on 65 degrees!
ALOHA ZEN
“…If Mr. Obama’s clock is looser than Mr. Bush’s, so too are his sartorial standards. Over the weekend, Mr. Obama’s first in office, his aides did not quite know how to dress. Some showed up in the West Wing in jeans (another no-no under Mr. Bush), some in coats and ties.
So the president issued an informal edict for “business casual” on weekends — and set his own example. He showed up Saturday for a briefing with his chief economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, dressed in slacks and a gray sweater over a white buttoned-down shirt. Workers from the Bush White House are shocked.
“I’ll never forget going to work on a Saturday morning, getting called down to the Oval Office because there was something he was mad about,” said Dan Bartlett, who was counselor to Mr. Bush. “I had on khakis and a buttoned-down shirt, and I had to stand by the door and get chewed out for about 15 minutes. He wouldn’t even let me cross the threshold.”
Mr. Obama has also brought a more relaxed sensibility to his public appearances. David Gergen, an adviser to both Republican and Democratic presidents, said Mr. Obama seemed to exude an “Aloha Zen,” a kind of comfortable calm that, Mr. Gergen said, reflects a man who “seems easy going, not so full of himself.”…”
OBAMA’S WORK ETHIC:
“…lthough his presidency is barely a week old, some of Mr. Obama’s work habits are already becoming clear. He shows up at the Oval Office shortly before 9 in the morning, roughly two hours later than his early-to-bed, early-to-rise predecessor. Mr. Obama likes to have his workout — weights and cardio — first thing in the morning, at 6:45. (Mr. Bush slipped away to exercise midday.)
He reads several papers, eats breakfast with his family and helps pack his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, off to school before making the 30-second commute downstairs — a definite perk for a man trying to balance work and family life. He eats dinner with his family, then often returns to work; aides have seen him in the Oval Office as late as 10 p.m., reading briefing papers for the next day….”
TOP CHEF: WHITE HOUSE
The Obama’s are bringing their own PRIVATE chef with them to the White House. Yes, they have a private chef. I’m not complaining about Sam Kass, the private chef they brought with them from Chicago, it is the fact that the MSM portrayed the humble Obamas, Barack & Michelle, as the modern version of Mary & Joseph with no room at the inn, living in the stable, sort of thing.
Who knew?
Who knew they were wealthy enough and aristocratic enough to have their personal private chef?
He’s also eating very expensive, $100 per serving steak!
The NYTimes thinks it is wonderful.
“…Mr. Kass will work alongside the White House executive chef, Cristeta Comerford, who was promoted to that job by the Bushes in 2005 and is being kept on by the Obamas. Mr. Kass is filling a vacancy and will be a White House employee, paid by the government, not the Obamas.
Mr. Kass’s appointment should please chefs like Alice Waters, who have lobbied the Obamas to set an example for the rest of the country by emphasizing food that is healthy, local and sustainable. It further suggests that a vegetable garden on the White House grounds, another of Ms. Waters’s dreams, could be on the horizon.
Mr. Kass, one of the new breed of chefs who are concerned about the environment and about poor eating habits in this country, has been quoted as saying people in his profession should take the lead in tackling public health issues.
“Not only is there an unconscionable amount of people who remain hungry,” he told In These Times magazine last year, “there’s even a larger population, mostly poor, who are faced with obesity, diabetes and various other problems from overabundance.”
A Chicago native, Mr. Kass graduated from the University of Chicago and received his formal training at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Europe. He then went to work at Avec, a Chicago wine bar serving Mediterranean food.
After he left the restaurant, Mr. Kass, 28, founded Inevitable Table, a private chef service in Chicago that, according to its Web site, is the client’s “link to clean, healthy food.” In addition to cooking and shopping “mainly from local farms” and buying wines from “small sustainable wineries,” the Web site says, the service offers meals for children and for private parties. Walter Scheib, the White House chef for the Clintons and Bushes, said the decision to bring Mr. Kass to the White House was “a master stroke.” Mr. Scheib said Mr. Kass would be a tremendous resource for Ms. Comerford, the first woman to hold the post of executive chef….”
