Archive for the ‘Obama’ Category

Trump Official Praises Oval Office Makeover, Blames Obama for Wallpaper Stains – Vanity Fair

No one knows exactly what the unnamed Trump official is implying, but it can't be good.

By Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

When Donald Trump returned to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue after his working vacation in Bedminster, the West Wing had undergone some radical changes. For one, Steve Bannon had been fired. But just as prominently, the White House had finally received a much-needed $3.4 million upgrade. While Trump deservedly caught some flack for allegedly calling the residence a dump, current and former administration staffers have admitted the property could use some sprucing up. The renovation, approved during the Obama administration, included updating a 27-year-old H.V.A.C. system, upgrading I.T. systems, and repairing the South Portico steps for the first time since the Eisenhower administration. Much like any fixer-upper project, though, the structural changes gave the new administration a chance to change the decoran opportunity that Trump, an amateur interior decorator with an eye for Louis XIV-style glitz, apparently seized with vigor.

CBS News toured the new digs, which include a refresh of the Navy mess, the West Wings V.I.P. lobby, and the Roosevelt Room, which is now a tribute to both our 26th president and Sheraton Conference Centers. (House Beautiful has some more before-and-after photos of the renovation, which showcase the White Houses preference for a neutral color palette of taupes and grays, a very on-trend look for the Fixer Upper and West Elm set.)

The Oval Office itself received a facelift, swapping out the midcentury modern furniture and curtains for some conspicuously gold-hued upholstery, and replacing Barack Obamas striped yellow wallpaper with a gray damask print that Trump picked out himself. (The wallpaper itself is temporary and may be changed when Trump picks out a permanent rug; a pragmatic choice for someone renting a room.)

Normally, this would be an uncontroversial process, newsworthy only to HGTV Magazine and Martha Stewart acolytes, but in Trumps White House, full of leaking and backstabbing and petty feuds, an unnamed source could not resist taking a swipe at his predecessors design choices:

[Mr. Trump] wanted to bring back the luster and the glory of the White House, said the White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Obama wallpaper was very damaged. There were a lot of stains on it, the official said.

This may be the first time in White House history that a White House official has gone on background to discuss something as mundane as a wallpaper refresh.

Some of the changes were more symbolic than cosmetic. Trump also selected politically relevant pieces of decor to offset his attempt at a muted color palette. He previously raised hackles when he chose a portrait of Andrew Jackson to hang in his office, added six extra flags behind his desk, and replaced a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. with one of Winston Churchill, complaining that Obama had given the bust back to the British government. (A false story, it turns out.) CBS News noted that Trump had added another touch to the Roosevelt Room: Two large, gilded eaglesacquired by G.S.A.s West Wing historian at a Maryland antique shopwhich now adorn pedestals in the large West Wing conference room.

By J. Scott Applewhite/AP Images.

By Charles Dharapak, FILE/AP Photo.

Courtesy William J. Clinton Presidential Library.

By Susan Biddle, White House, FILE/AP Photo.

From the White House Historical Association.

By John Bazemore/AP Photo.

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By J. Scott Applewhite/AP Images.

By Charles Dharapak, FILE/AP Photo.

Courtesy William J. Clinton Presidential Library.

By Susan Biddle, White House, FILE/AP Photo.

From the White House Historical Association.

By John Bazemore/AP Photo.

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Trump Official Praises Oval Office Makeover, Blames Obama for Wallpaper Stains - Vanity Fair

Trump’s Afghan Strategy Is Different, and Braver, Than Obama’s – Bloomberg

U.S. President Donald J. Trump was right to jettison his initial instincts for a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan and to articulate a firm, continued commitment to that country and the region in his speech on Monday night. The conventional wisdom was quick to dismiss the strategy as little different from that of President Barack Obama. But it is in fact a welcome departure from Obamas foreign policy in two critical ways.

First, Trump deserves credit for a decision that clearly goes against immediate political interests. Sure, this is a low bar; we should all want and expect our commander in chief to prioritize national security above voter popularity. But it is easy, when viewing the tumultuous and sometimes baffling Trump foreign policy, to forget how domestic political considerations were so often the driving force behind Obamas foreign policy. The best example of this is the drive to remove all U.S. forces from Iraq before the 2012 presidential elections.

Trumps advisors may try to spin the approach outlined in the Monday speech as consistent with his campaign rhetoric, but this is a tough sell. One just needs to look at Trumps pre-presidency tweets to see what a departure this is:

More important, Trumps new strategy discards the timeline under which Obamas Afghan strategy always labored. The significance of returning to the conditions-based approach of President George W. Bush -- that is, tying U.S. military presence to improvements in security, not domestically driven political timelines -- cannot be underestimated.

Nothing did more to undercut Obama's 2009 surge of troops into Afghanistan than his announcing in advance when Western forces would be pulled out. Given that no victory over the Taliban was conceivable, the only realistic objective of more military might was to bring the enemy to the negotiating table. Yet as long as waiting out U.S. resolve was a distinct option, compromise never seemed attractive to the Taliban, and the war dragged on. This is not just my opinion. It is also that of the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan under Obama, James Cunningham, who said as much to an audience at the Aspen Institute just last month.

Ditching the timeline will also help strengthen the nation's institutions critical to success. Afghans were reluctant to invest in a state when the chances of its failure seemed high; instead, many in important roles saw their time in government as little more than a chance to position themselves as well as possible for when the state collapsed. But now that the U.S. seems committed to staying, Afghans are more likely to see the state as worthy of their efforts to create a new reality.

Finally, losing the timeline could make a big impression on two countries that are not mentioned in Trumps speech, but are creating major obstacles to a better Afghan future: Iran and Russia. Both governments have upped their meddling, likely positioning themselves for what was perceived as an imminent American departure.

For all these reasons, removing an arbitrary timeline from the U.S. Afghan strategy will make it a significantly different approach than that tried under Obama -- with better prospects for success.

Yet, while appreciating these two points, I still find the new strategy wanting. As a former deputy national security adviser to President George W. Bush, I listened to the speech asking myself whether it would give all members of our government sufficient strategic guidance to put in place a winning plan. The answer was no. At least three major contradictions need to be resolved before what was outlined can be translated into an approach with some prospect of delivering a different outcome than the current stalemate acknowledged by General John W. Nicholson, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

First, Trump spoke of how a fundamental pillar of our new strategy is the integration of all instruments of American power: diplomatic, economic and military. No such speech could afford to say otherwise -- this phrase is the bread and butter of anyone who has worked in national security since the Sept. 11 attacks. Yet not only did Trump not explain how the non-military tools would be used in concert with physical force, he sowed doubt about their importance with his line we are not nation-building again, but killing terrorists.

I understand that nation-building may be the most unpopular phrase in America. But one cannot succeed in squelching terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction without improving the military and civilian abilities of partner governments that face terrorist threats. Military engagement helps -- armies, air forces and police are critical institutions any society. But it is in the realm of nation-building that the nonmilitary instruments of national power truly come to bear. What is the purpose of diplomatic and economic efforts in Afghanistan if not to buttress the legitimacy and capacities of the Kabul government?

Second, Trump made his usual comments about how he will not provide the enemy with details about his military approach. But the president needs to keep in mind that his audience is not only the enemy; it is also, more importantly, the American people. If he wants to calibrate the U.S. military presence to conditions on the ground in Afghanistan, he will need to invest a lot of time and effort speaking to the American public about why Afghanistan is important and how what the U.S. is doing there is producing results. Obama rarely did this, even with tens of thousands of Americans deployed there.

Trump will have to be different, and specific, if he hopes to succeed -- and banalities about not telegraphing plans to the enemies will grow thin quickly. Americans arent interested in tactical or operational plans, but they do want to understand and have confidence in the strategy -- which will require sharing more details than offered on Monday night.

Finally, Trump glossed over the complexities of the U.S. relationship with Pakistan. For those who have worked on Afghanistan over the last 16 years, it was refreshing to hear an American president call Pakistan out on its troubling behavior. But there is an obvious tension between the ability of the U.S. to work with Pakistan on the larger agenda of nonproliferation and counterterrorism that goes beyond Afghanistan, and threatening to condition U.S. support for Islamabad based only on Pakistani actions in Afghanistan.

In a world in which terrorism and WMD have not yet been married but could be, Pakistan -- the fastest builder of nuclear weapons in the world -- has as least as much leverage over the U.S. as Washington does over Islamabad. The Trump administration may have decided to prioritize Afghanistan above all other interests in which Pakistan -- for better or worse -- has a role to play. If so, this approach requires some major contingency planning about other regional crises that may occur, and we can only surmise such planning is going on behind the scenes.

Trumps speech on Afghanistan was welcome on several fronts. But lets hope that it was just a telegraphed version of a much more developed strategy -- one that the president's team is laying out in much greater detail to the military and civilian leadership in the government right now, and one that he will take more time to explain to the American people in the future. If not, the kudos he gets for resisting a more politically popular short-term approach will be meaningless in the face of a long-term strategy full of unresolved contradictions.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Meghan L. O'Sullivan at Meghan_OSullivan@hks.harvard.edu

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tobin Harshaw at tharshaw@bloomberg.net

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Trump's Afghan Strategy Is Different, and Braver, Than Obama's - Bloomberg

Obama family can still excite a crowd – Martha’s Vineyard Times

A few rounds of golf, visits to local restaurants, a bike ride, and a trip to the Yoga Barn.

The vacation of former President Barack Obama and his family is playing out similar to what his vacations were like during seven of his eight years in the White House.

The familys visit to Red Cat Kitchen in Oak Bluffs on Monday, August 14, had a rock-star vibe.

I felt like it was the Beatles coming out, said Tom Miller, who shared his video with The Times. It was really exciting.

On the tape, you can hear a throng of people screaming for the Obamas.

Come back, come back, come back, a male voice can be heard saying.

Oh my God, Barack Obama, shouts a female voice as the former president steps up onto the running boards of a Chevy Suburban, giving a couple of waves to the crowd before the motorcade, a much smaller one than when he was Commander in Chief, raced away.

It made for an interesting pizza night, said Mr. Miller, who went to Oak Bluffs for dinner at Giordanos.

Unlike previous years when you could count on the press contingent following the president to fill in the blanks of the Obama vacation with daily dispatches, this one has been more private with only chance sightings confirming the presence of the Obama family on the Vineyard, like when folks spotted Michelle Obama heading into the Yoga Barn last week.

The family took time on Thursday to throw a college send-off party for their eldest, Malia Obama. They filled the private dining room at the Barn Bowl and Bistro with about 50 guests, and rented all 10 lanes for some smashing fun before Malia left for Harvard University.

The group bowled until they could bowl no more, shutting down the place at 11 pm. Before he left, Mr. Obama signed a large poster of himself bowling at the White House bowling lanes.

He bowled a pretty good game, said Alisun Armstrong, a manager at the Barn. Ms. Armstrong said one of the other dads beat Mr. Obama and insisted that she print out the score. Bragging rights can only take you so far when youre playing against a former president.

The timing all makes sense. Boston.com is reporting that Barack and Michelle Obama were spotted in Cambridge on Monday, moving Malia into her dorm. Most freshmen at the Ivy League college were scheduled to move in Tuesday.

On Tuesday there was evidence the rest of the family had returned to the Island to finish up their vacation after jetting Malia to her new digs.

A spokeswoman for Garde East, the Vineyard Haven restaurant that has recently added seating on a marina deck, told The Times in an email that the former president dined there Tuesday night.

MV Times photo editor Stacey Rupolo contributed to this report.

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Obama family can still excite a crowd - Martha's Vineyard Times

Barack Obama and the Nommo Tradition of Afrocentric Orality – JSTOR Daily

Black actors, entertainers, and everyday citizens often have a particular cadence to their voices that others can identify as black, whether or not the listeners can see the individual speaking. Popular culture seems to think that black men sound wise simply by their voices alone, leading to black actors narrating myriad commercials, including Dennis Haysbert for Allstate Insurance and Samuel L. Jackson for Capital One. In an article for Guernica, John McWhorter breaks down this speech pattern: It differs from standard Englishs sound in the same way that other dialects do, in certain shadings of vowels, aspects of intonation, and also that elusive thing known as timbre, most familiar to singersdegrees of breathiness, grain, huskiness, space.

While sound influences dialect, black oration goes back much further, to the idea of nommo, which is rooted in West African tradition. Through both dialect and nommo, formerPresident Barack Obama was able to inspire black and white audiences, altering his word choice and patterns accordingly.

A scholar analyzes two of Barack Obamas commencement speeches, using West Africannommo oratoryas a guide.

Scholarship ofnommo is wanting. However, in the Journal of Black Studies, Sheena C. Howard definesit in the following manner: Nommo, the creative power of the word, is a delivery style that is unique to African Americans. Nommo is manifested in characteristics of African orality. She focuses on four characteristics of nommo: rhythm, call and response, mythication, and repetition, and she analyzes their use in two of Obamas speeches: one at Howard University and the other at Southern New Hampshire University, both in 2007.

Obama intensified his use of nommo when speaking to Howard University, a historically black college. [H]is speech race fluctuated and his rhythmic style planted a seed of excitement He also employed call and response, in which he created space for the audience to respond to his message, through clapping, laughter, and phrases such as amen, and alright. Obama practiced mythication, referring to the audience as the Joshua Generation and sermonizing about Joshua and Moses. He also repeated important words and phrases multiple times, such as civil rights and (in)justice.

During Obamas commencement speech at Southern New Hampshire University, he did not employ rhythm, but instead kept a steady pace throughout. He did elicit call and response: [T]here were interruptions of clapping and laughter during both speeches, however, call and response was more prevalent during Obamas speech at Howard University. This is likely due in part to his use of shared history when addressing the audience at Howard. Obama did not much employ mythication at Southern New Hampshire University; however, he did recite one passage from the Bible, regarding the putting away of childish things. His use of repetition was also considerably less at this second institution. For instance, he used the phrase Be strong and have courage seven times at the end of his speech at Howard, but used no phrase more than twice when addressing Southern New Hampshire.

Sheena C. Howard concludes her study by recognizing the larger impacts of Obamas use of nommo: Obama maintains a connection to Ancestral Africa through his use of nommo, however, he is able to communicate to audiences outside of African American culture, making Obama a dynamic and effective leader. Seems that our presidents have long had their own ways of telegraphing layered messages through the way they use language.

By: Sheena C. Howard

Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 42, No. 5 (JULY 2011), pp. 737-750

Sage Publications, Inc.

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Malia Obama moves into Harvard University – CBS News

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In this June 19, 2015, file image, Malia Obama smiles as she serves food during a lunch at the U.S. and NATO military base in Vicenza.

Getty

The Obamas were spotted on Harvard University's campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, this week ahead of the school's official freshman move-in day.

The eldest daughter, Malia Obama, is headed back to school after her gap year, and former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were on-site to help, The Boston Globereports.

Images and videos of the Obamas around Harvard Square have circulated on social media this week.

On Monday, one Facebook video showed Malia Obama and her parents leaving the Harvest restaurant as Mr. Obama waved to onlookers.

Saw Obama in Harvard during peak solar eclipse, I'm in a weird dream right now

The 19-year-old spent her gap year traveling and interning with the Weinstein Company film studio. It's unclear what Malia Obama will be studying, but in the past, she's worked on the set of the HBO show "Girls" and as a production assistant on the CBS sci-fi series "Extant."

Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear said on Twitter that he attempted to interview Malia on Tuesday, but she "politely declined."

Last year, Mr. Obama said that he's proud of his daughter, but he would "miss her terribly" when she's gone.

"This is my first one leaving and my daughters are wonderful, and one of the great pleasures of being in the White House is because I live above the store, I've been able to spend every night that I'm in town with them," Mr. Obama told CBS affiliate WKRC-TVin Cincinnati, Ohio.

"I'm going to miss her terribly," he admitted. "But she is well-prepared, she is going to do great things -- and as Michelle reminds us, our job is to make sure they don't need us anymore."

Classes at Harvard University are scheduled to begin on August 30.

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Malia Obama moves into Harvard University - CBS News