If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I am—obviously—a huge political junkie.
Well, I am also a huge NASCAR fan. So I was stunned, thrilled and excited all at once to learn last night that my two biggest hobbies were going to collide: President Obama was going to be on NASCAR Now this afternoon to talk shop with ESPN reporters.
Of course, I forgot all about it this afternoon and completely missed the whole thing.
I did catch some of it tonight on SportsCenter, though.
I simply cannot help myself. I have to share these clips with you.
In the first one, observe as the multicultural, cosmopolitan, Ivy League-educated president suddenly turns twangy. He’s droppin’ Gs all over the place. He’s a-speakin’ Suthern, y’all.
Oh, I thought it was funny. After all, this isn’t the first time that one of our Northern friends has tried to pick up the accent for a special event.
Once you get over the initial shock of hearing the former president of the Harvard Law Review soundin’ more like the Yellawood guy than the reigning king of eloquent political rhetoric, check out what he says about NASCAR: He praises it as “quintessential American sport,“ but then goes on to explain why he hasn’t yet been able to make a race.
Come on! That’s funny!
I also have to take issue with the president, once again, on his statements about “American car manufacturers.“
Psst ... Mr. President: Toyota stock cars also run in NASCAR. And a bunch of Toyota passenger cars are made right here in the good old U.S. of A. Come on down to Huntsville, Ala.; we’ll show you around the plant where good men and women of Alabama and Tennessee make the Toyota Tundra, Tacoma and Sequoia.
Come to think of it, plan a trip for Halloween weekend. You can swing down through Talledega and catch the big boys running wide open on the biggest, baddest, fastest track on the circuit. I’ll admit, you’re probably not quite ready for a trip through the infield. But a herd of 43 stock cars careening around the corners and flying down the superstretch at more than 200 mph? It’s something you just have to see—and feel—for yourself.
Come on down, Mr. President. We’ll feed you good and show you a good time.
... And we’ll help you a bit with that accent, too.
In the next clip, President Obama does the formal speech-ifying for the event. I have to say that the jokes in this speech are just plain awful. Donuts on the White House lawn? Really? You can almost hear people going, “Um, OK.“ But the president continues on, lauding Jimmie Johnson for his third consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
... which he won two weeks after Obama won the presidency, back in November. But never mind.
It is SO OBVIOUS that President Obama knows NOTHING about NASCAR. (“Chad Kin-OUSE? Did I say that right?“ Dude, Knaus and Johnson are only the most dominant crew chief-driver pairing since Ray Evernham and Jeff Gordon back in the 1990s.)
But the president makes great points about the philanthropic work of NASCAR drivers, owners, sponsors and fans. For all he gets wrong, President Obama is right about the most important thing: NASCAR is more than a sport. It’s a way of life, and giving is a big part of that. Check out the Victory Junction Gang camp web site if you want to see what I mean. VJG was started by the First Family of NASCAR and has been supported by NASCAR’s other families, far and wide, since its inception.
I give the president a lot of credit for diving in head-first into something about which he so obviously knows so little. Way to get out of your comfort zone, Mr. President.
Now, about that trip to Alabama ...
P.S. Check out the drivers. They clean up good. Talk about your drivers’ suits!!
I love NASCAR.
See also:
Bonus clip: Check out this segment featuring Jimmie Johnson and The King, Richard Petty (in a rare condition—minus the hat!), talking about how they compare this trip to the White House to others they have taken in the past. Richard, especially, makes some remarkable observations—about history, about government and about citizenship in general.
Petty is a country boy from Level Cross, N.C. And he’s a smart fella, to boot.
Speaking of feelings, word has it that Mr. and Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton—er, Mrs. and Mr. Hillary Rodham Clinton—er, Bill and Hillary Clinton are set for a romantic getaway this weekend on the island of Bermuda.
According to CNN, America’s preeminent political power couple will spend four days at Cambridge Beaches Resort and Spa, a posh island resort.
CNN reported that the Clintons tried to arrange to stay at the same resort—and even in the same cottage—where they vacationed in 1979 (and where Bill Clinton has said daughter Chelsea was conceived), “but the venue was unable to meet their needs.“
Understandable: Their security needs as the current secretary of state and former president of the United States are aplenty, and the cottage where they stayed 30 years ago is now a bed and breakfast.
An earlier version of the CNN story picked up this interesting information about Cambridge via the Bermuda Sun:
The plush, adult-only resort has a “clothing optional” sky deck and occasionally hosts sex seminars to improve couples’ relationships.
Curiously, the current version of the CNN story deletes this info. Perhaps an editor felt that it was “TMI.“
Anyway, the Clintons seem to be set for a lovely, sentimental weekend in Bermuda ... provided that another Bill stays away.
The latest salvo in the Republican firestorm against President Obama’s health care reform push is the news that Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod has ties to the consulting firm that’s been hired to produce a multi-million dollar ad campaign for the effort.
Axelrod, of course, is Obama’s right-hand man; he was the linchpin for Candidate Obama’s presidential strategy during the campaign, and he immediately moved into a high-level advisory role during the presidential transition.
AKPD Message and Media, founded by Axelrod, along with firm GMMB, were paid $12 million by Health Economy Now and Americans for Stable Quality Care, a coalition that includes Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, to produce ads promoting President Obama’s health care reform.
The firms received over $300 million to manage ads for Obama’s presidential campaign.
But wait! There’s more!
Obama announced an agreement with PhRMA on June 22 to achieve $80 billion in savings as part of his reform agenda. On August 8, a coalition of interest groups including PhRMA pledged to spend $150 million to help Obama’s overhaul health care this fall.
Axelrod left the firm on Dec. 31, 2008, with the agreement that it owed him $2 million—and some Republican critics now question whether the firm was hired to indirectly fund his severance package.
The bottom line is that under this arrangement, Axelrod, who is instrumental in steering the one of the president’s top two domestic priorities, will likely end up with some of the money used to buy the ads promoting the priority.
INCONVENIENT REMINDER/HYPOCRISY ALERT: Lest we forget, the Obama Administration has staked out a hard line against lobbyists—sort of— in the senior staff. END INCONVENIENT REMINDER/HYPOCRISY ALERT
Here are more fun facts from the Fox News story:
Axelrod, a veteran journalist and former columnist with the Chicago Tribune, founded AKPD Message and Media in 1984 following his work managing Paul Simon’s victorious U.S. Senate campaign.
The firm, formerly known as Axelrod and Associates, provides consulting and advertising for Democratic candidates and causes. Axelrod’s son, Michael, joined AKPD in 2006 as the firm’s research director. AKPD also employed Obama’s presidential campaign manager David Plouffe as a partner beginning in 2003.
See? It’s all in the family.
What do you guys think about this? Is it a real problem, a perception problem, or not a problem at all for the president as he seeks to regain control of the health care reform battle? Vote in my poll below, and add your comments if you like.
As Congress prepared to take its August recess a few weeks ago and speculation swirled around the fate of the health care reform package that is being so contentiously debated throughout the country, most media coverage centered on that issue.
It was easy to miss other stuff—other important stuff.
So, in case you missed it, here’s an update from CNN on the welfare of Fannie Mae, your government’s mortage business:
Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage insurer, said Thursday that it needs another $10.7 billion from the Treasury Department to stay afloat.
The new infusion means the troubled company has drawn a total of $45.9 billion of its $200 billion lifeline this year. Fannie Mae and its sister firm, Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500), were taken over by the federal government last September amid the global financial meltdown.
Yep!! Still broke!!
But wait! Lest you think it’s all bad news:
In one hopeful sign, Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) narrowed its quarterly loss to $14.8 billion, or $2.67 per diluted share, down from $23.2 billion, or $4.09 per share, in the previous quarter. The company lost $2.3 billion, or $2.54 per share, in the second quarter last year.
Oh, good. Only $14.8 billion. For a minute there, I thought they were losing big money.
For what it’s worth, I think Tami Luhby, who wrote that article for CNN, is stretching the reaches of “hopeful” a bit. If a government-controlled entity losing only $14.8 BILLION can be considered a “hopeful sign,“ then we are fresh out of hopeful signs.
