Barack Obama Makes History As He Wins the Democratic Presidential Nomination

Illinois senator Barack Obama has laid claim to the Democratic presidential nomination, taking a historic step toward his once-improbable goal of becoming the United States' first black president. (June 3)
| 4-Jun-08 12:39 AM GMT

Tuesday night June 3, 2008, U.S. Senator Barack Obama became the first African-American to win the presidential nomination of an American political party when he reached the required number of 2, 118 national convention delegates of the Democratic Party.

"Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another -- a journey that will bring a new and better day to America," Barack Obama declared.

Senator Barack Obama acknowledged his formidable Democratic presidential rival, Senator Hillary Clinton.
"Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton," Obama said.

The last contests of the Democratic presidential primary season ended in Montana and South Dakota with Barack Obama winning Montana Primary and Hillary Clinton won South Dakota Primary.

Nigerian Times International Online Media Network (NTIOMN) congratulates Senator Barack Obama for his historic achievement in the history of American Democracy.

But Can Barack Obama beat John McCain in the Presidential Election?

Watch out for Barack Obama and the American Dream to be published before the presidential election in November.

President George W. Bush Proclaims June Black Music Month

President George W. Bush

31 May 2008 20:19 Africa/Lagos


Black Music Month, 2008

by the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

WASHINGTON, May 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- America's diverse musical heritage exemplifies the creativity and optimism of our Nation. During Black Music Month, we celebrate the extraordinary talents and creativity of African-American singers, musicians, and composers whose achievements have enriched our culture and enhanced our lives.


For generations, African-American artists have created music that communicates across racial boundaries and expresses both joy and sorrow. When facing the cruelty of slavery and injustice, African Americans lifted spirituals to the heavens, bringing comfort to troubled souls. These timeless declarations of hope and faith evolved into the more modern genres of gospel, blues, ragtime, and jazz, and they are given voice in the musical genius of Scott Joplin, Marian Anderson, Eubie Blake, and Mahalia Jackson. During the Civil Rights era, African-American musicians such as Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters, and Ruth Brown conveyed the struggles of their communities while bringing people of all backgrounds together. Today, this music continues to inspire America's citizens and advance its creative spirit.


Throughout the course of American history, black musicians have used their great talents to share the richness of the African-American experience and to develop a uniquely American style of music enjoyed throughout the world. This month, we honor the pioneers of African-American music and today's contemporary artists who have enriched the lives of people everywhere.


NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2008 as Black Music Month. I encourage all Americans to learn more about the history of black music and to enjoy the great contributions of African-American singers, musicians, and composers.


IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.


GEORGE W. BUSH


Source: White House Press Office

CONTACT: White House Press Office, +1-202-456-2580


Web site: White House

From Hillary Clinton for President On the Decision on Florida and Michagan Primaries

Dear Orikinla,

Hillary has consistently stood up for the voters of Michigan and Florida. She, like you, has insisted that the voice of all Americans be heard. Today, the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee announced their decision on seating Florida and Michigan's delegations. In recent days, almost 350,000 of Hillary's supporters wrote in to the committee to make clear what an important principle it is for our party to count every vote.

Our campaign has released an official statement about the results of the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting and I'd like to share it with you, our most dedicated supporters.

I know how passionate you are about the importance of counting every vote cast in Florida and Michigan and I appreciate everything you are doing.

Sincerely,

Maggie Williams
Campaign Manager
Hillary Clinton for President

What Did Not Happen

This is my rejoinder to the report on Former Bush Aide: McClellan Is Getting Ripped For Telling The Truth posted on Huffington Post.

Any dummy can write a book on how President George W. Bush and his goons lied and misled America into one of the dumbest wars in history.

The Downing Street Memo and Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson have already shown us the facts, so any dummy writing another book on it is only desperate to fish in the troubled waters and make money from the political Fiasco of Dubya.

Writing best selling books on the falsehood of the mission to Iraq is medicine after death. If President George W. Bush had been impeached in 2005, thousands of American soldiers would have been saved from dying in the war in Iraq.

In fact, I condemn all the office holders in the American government for misleading America into a wrong war in Iraq.

From the messenger who filed the classified lies of the Weapons of Mass Destruction to the President who told the lies, they are all guilty. And the innocent blood of every American killed in the prosecution of the war in Iraq is in their hands and the Law of Harvest awaits them and their children, because what we sow we shall surely reap now or later.
I know what it means to be a victim of a suicidal war, as already documented in Memories of a Refugee Child.

The only book on the war in Iraq that deserves to be read is the book written by those who have been there and not armchair critics who are cowards who are only speaking after the FACTS have been revealed years ago.

Did Scott McClellan suddenly have the balls to spill his bitter guts in What Happened.
Scott, we already know what happened even before you published your book.
What did not happen is that you and the rest of the present and former goons of Dubya failed to stop the war in Iraq.
You failed woefully since 2002 to date.

Who is fooling whom?

Newsweek Cover: Barack Obama, Race and Us

25 May 2008 16:10 Africa/Lagos

NEWSWEEK Cover: Obama, Race And Us

Despite Decades of Progress, Race Is Still an Issue for Many White Americans as Well as Some Democrats

Newsweek Poll Shows Misconceptions About Obama May Be a Hindrance to His Campaign but There Are Ways He Can Overcome Challenges

NEW YORK, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Barack Obama's success on the campaign trail indicates that the United States may be ready to elect its first non- white president. A recent Newsweek poll, however, suggests that although he is poised to secure the Democratic nomination, Obama is still facing problems winning over white voters. In the June 2 Newsweek cover package "Obama, Race and Us" (on newsstands Monday, May 26) a team of Newsweek correspondents offer an open memo to Obama, with suggestions on how he can overcome race issues and convince doubters, of all skin colors or backgrounds, that they will be better off during an Obama presidency than a McCain presidency.

Newsweek pollsters recently created a "Racial Resentment Index" to measure the impact of race on the 2008 election. White voters were asked a series of 10 questions about a variety of race-related topics, including racial preferences in hiring, interracial marriage, and what they have "in common" with African-Americans. About a third of these voters scored "high" on this index; 29 percent of all white Democrats did. Overwhelmingly, these Democrats are the ones most likely to defect to John McCain in the fall. (Among "High RR" white Democratic voters, according to the new Newsweek Poll, Clinton leads McCain by 77 percent to 18 percent, while Obama only wins by 51 percent to 33 percent.) Many Democratic voters in West Virginia interviewed by a Newsweek reporter on primary night, May 13, did not hide their animus towards Obama as a kind of exotic alien. Menina Parsons, 45, said she will not vote for Obama in the general election because: "I don't think he's real. I don't think he's American."

The letter points out that some commentators have said that his problem is not with race but rather with geography. The Daily Kos Web site recently posted a map that makes the point: the majority of counties in which more than 65 percent of whites voted for Clinton closely track Appalachia-the mountainous region running from upstate New York into the Deep South, where voters tend to be somewhat less well-off and less well-educated than in other parts of the country. But Appalachia is a big place, encompassing 13 states and he cannot afford to lose all those states and still win in November. Dee Davis, president of a Kentucky-based advocacy group called the Center for Rural Strategies, points out in a recent article on Salon.com that in June 2004, John Kerry trailed George W. Bush by the same 9-point margin in the same rural battlegrounds. "Your mission," Newsweek's letter urges, "is to not wind up like Kerry, who ended up losing the rural vote by 20 points." According to Davis, the reality "is that when Democratic candidates run competitively in rural America, they win national elections. And when they get creamed in rural America, they lose."

For other issues such as the questions over his patriotism, the letter suggests Obama take the high road. "The Internet has been a sluice for lies and distortions about your religion and background. It is widely and falsely rumored that you are Muslim (in the Newsweek poll, 11 percent of voters believe you are); that you chose to be sworn into the Senate using a Qu'ran rather than a Bible; and that you refuse to place your hand over your heart for the singing of the national anthem because, you are imagined to have said, 'the anthem conveys a warlike message.' You must confront this slur, with more force than you have shown so far." While Newsweek sees Obama's recent wearing a flag lapel pin as wise, it also suggests it would be helpful to be seen venerating his white mother and grandparents as well as his black father. "Your mother is a sympathetic figure, fighting to raise a child out of poverty ... Voters need to know that you are definitely not John Kerry, who was raised to wealth and privilege, an Ivy Leaguer educated, for a time, at a French boarding school."

The cover package also includes essays on how the issue of race might play out in the election:
Contributing Editor Ellis Cose writes, "That Barack Obama seems poised to become the Democratic nominee is certainly evidence we've arrived at a redefining moment in this nation's evolution. But that's not to say race has ceased to be of consequence." He adds that, "for years, most Americans have told pollsters they were prepared to put race aside when voting for a president. Some 94 percent of Americans (up from 53 percent in 1967) tell Gallup they would vote for a black candidate. But it's impossible to know what to make of that, since respondents routinely lie to pollsters when asked any permutation of 'Are you racially biased?'"

Harold Ford Jr., Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, writes that concerns about race in this election are overstated. He writes. "Do many rural or working-class people have questions about Obama? Sure. But these are less about race than about culture ... In the weeks and months ahead, he just needs to show that he respects them and understands the issues that matter to them ... Obama has run a first-rate primary campaign, energizing countless new voters. Now he's got to get off the big stage more often and meet with people where they work, play and pray ... He needs to earn their trust."

Richard Rodriguez, the author of "Brown: The Last Discovery of America" writes that America has become a mixed society. "There are millions of us in America who similarly belong to more than one race. There are millions of us who belong to contending races or religions or tribes." In this world, "the political necessity is for someone who might help us imagine lives larger than racial designations. A politician might win the day, if he or she were able to speak of the ways our lives are mixed."

Marjorie Valbrun, a contributing writer for TheRoot.com, writes about the low-grade war of words between black women supporters of Barack Obama and white women supporters of Hillary Clinton. "Black women's support for Obama is not just about race, just as it's not solely about gender with Clinton supporters. The problem is that, as both camps have appealed to their most loyal supporters, the divide has broken down along racial lines: all too many progressive white women now say they will have a hard time voting for a black man in November."

(Read cover story at http://www.newsweek.com/.)
Cover: Obama, Race and Us. http://www.newsweek.com/id/138611
Harold Ford Jr. http://www.newsweek.com/id/138511
Ellis Cose http://www.newsweek.com/id/138512
Richard Rodriguez http://www.newsweek.com/id/138513
Marjorie Valbrun http://www.newsweek.com/id/138514
Source: Newsweek
CONTACT: Brenda Velez of Newsweek, +1-212-445-4078
Web site: http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/

Address by President Bush to the Nation for Memorial Day

24 May 2008 15:06 Africa/Lagos


Radio Address by President Bush to the Nation

WASHINGTON, May 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a transcript of President Bush's weekly radio address to the Nation:


THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This Memorial Day weekend, kids will be out of school, moms and dads will be firing up the grill, and families across our country will mark the unofficial beginning of summer. But as we do, we should all remember the true purpose of this holiday -- to honor the sacrifices that make our freedom possible.


On Monday, I will commemorate Memorial Day by visiting Arlington National Cemetery, where I will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The tomb is the final resting place of three brave American soldiers who lost their lives in combat. The names of these veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean War are known only to God. But their valor is known to us all.


Throughout American history, this valor has preserved our way of life and our sacred freedoms. It was this valor that won our independence. It was this valor that removed the stain of slavery from our Nation. And it was this valor that defeated the great totalitarian threats of the last century.


Today, the men and women of our military are facing a new totalitarian threat to our freedom. In Iraq, Afghanistan, and other fronts around the world, they continue the proud legacy of those who came before them. They bear their responsibilities with quiet dignity and honor. And some have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country.


One such hero was Sergeant First Class Benjamin Sebban of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. As the senior medic in his squadron, Ben made sacrifice a way of life. When younger medics were learning how to insert IVs, he would offer his own arm for practice. And when the time came, Ben did not hesitate to offer his fellow soldiers far more.


On March 17, 2007, in Iraq's Diyala province, Ben saw a truck filled with explosives racing toward his team of paratroopers. He ran into the open to warn them, exposing himself to the blast. Ben received severe wounds, but this good medic never bothered to check his own injuries. Instead, he devoted his final moments on this earth to treating others. Earlier this week, in a ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I had the honor of presenting Sergeant Sebban's mom with the Silver Star that he earned.


No words are adequate to console those who have lost a loved one serving our Nation. We can only offer our prayers and join in their grief. We grieve for the mother who hears the sound of her child's 21-gun salute. We grieve for the husband or wife who receives a folded flag. We grieve for a young son or daughter who only knows Dad from a photograph.


One holiday is not enough to commemorate all of the sacrifices that have been made by America's men and women in uniform. No group has ever done more to defend liberty than the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. Their bravery has done more than simply win battles. It has done more than win wars. It has secured a way of life for our entire country. These heroes and their families should be in our thoughts and prayers on a daily basis, and they should receive our loving thanks at every possible opportunity.


This Memorial Day, I ask all Americans to honor the sacrifices of those who have served you and our country. One way to do so is by joining in a moment of remembrance that will be marked across our country at 3:00 p.m. local time. At that moment, Major League Baseball games will pause, the National Memorial Day parade will halt, Amtrak trains will blow their whistles, and buglers in military cemeteries will play Taps. You can participate by placing a flag at a veteran's grave, taking your family to the battlefields where freedom was defended, or saying a silent prayer for all the Americans who were delivered out of the agony of war to meet their Creator. Their bravery has preserved the country we love so dearly.


Thank you for listening.


Source: White House Press Office

CONTACT: White House Press Office, +1-202-456-2580


Web Site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Robert F. Kennedy Associates Gather for a Look Back at '68 Campaign

Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also called RFK, was the 64th United States Attorney General from 1961 to 1964 and a US Senator from New York from 1965 until his assassination in 1968.

Robert F. Kennedy Associates Gather for a Look Back at '68 Campaign

Associates and observers of Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign will examine what made that endeavor significant and what lessons are to be learned 40 years later from Kennedy's brief but transformative run for the White House.


"To Seek a Newer World: A Symposium on the Life and Legacy of Robert F. Kennedy" will be held May 27 at the Freedom Forum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.


Sponsored by the Freedom Forum, Vanderbilt University and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, the program will begin at 1 p.m. with an introduction by Kennedy's eldest daughter, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, followed by two panel discussions.


The symposium is being held in conjunction with the presentation that evening of the Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards.


Media planning to attend the symposium, please contact:
Tina Tate at 202/292-6313 (ttate@newseum.org) or
Susan Bennett at 202/292-6310 (sbennett@newseum.org)

WHAT:

"To Seek a Newer World: A Symposium on the Life and Legacy of Robert F. Kennedy"


WHERE:
Knight Conference Center rooms 705/706
The Freedom Forum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C.

WHEN:
1 p.m. Introduction, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
1:30-2:45 p.m. Panel: The 1968 Campaign
3-3:30 p.m. "Robert Kennedy Remembered" film
3:30-4:45 p.m. Panel: RFK, 1961-1968: Seeking a Newer World

WHO:

Former Kennedy associates John Doar, Peter Edelman, Frank Mankiewicz, John Nolan, John Seigenthaler, James E. Tolan, William vanden Heuvel


Authors Jules Witcover, Thurston Clarke
Former NAACP Legal Defense Fund Director-Counsel Elaine Jones
Former assistant to President Clinton, Jill Schuker
Co-founder, Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee Chuck McDew


CONTACT: Elizabeth Latt of Vanderbilt University, +1-615-322-NEWS Elizabeth.p.latt@vanderbilt.edu


/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- May 23/


Source: Vanderbilt University