Recently in Barack Obama Category

This month's Harper's Bazaar features Tyra as Michelle Obama.  And a delicious hottie named Roman as Barack Obama.

It just kills us that Elizabeth Edwards has to go through this.

Man, ever since that Obama cat learned to text, he's been thinking he is just 2 cool 4 school.  He's been blowing up our phone left and right!  (Well, maybe just left...)

Anyhow, the technocrat told us (via text, of course) that he will announce his vice presidential pick via text message between now and the DNC convention which starts August 25th.  If you want to be the first to know who will be rolling with him to The White House (or trying to roll, anyway), text VP to 62262 or go over here.

Michelle Obama is on the cover of Ebony this month.  She talked to the magazine about her style, getting in some me time, her husband and kids, and of course, politics.  You can listen to excerpts of her interview over here.

Also in this issue is an interview with Michelle's mother, Marian Robinson.  Mrs. Robinson talks about Michelle's childhood and the road to The White House.

Extra Extra!  Read all about it over here!  The Washington Post reports that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is at the top of Obama's short list for veep. 

So who is this Tim Kaine guy anyway?  Read on.

• Gov. Timothy Michael "Tim" Kaine was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1958 and raised in Kansas City, Missouri.  He is 50 years old.
• He is a graduate of the University of Missouri (economics major) and Harvard Law School.
• He took a year off from law school to work as a Roman Catholic missionary in the Honduras.  There he served as principal at a school that taught carpentry and welding skills to youth.
• He practiced law in Richmond, Virginia for 17 years, representing people who were denied housing because of their race or disability.
• Prior to becoming Governor, he served as a Richmond City Council Member, Mayor of Richmond and Lt. Governor of Virginia under Gov. Mark Warner (who is currently running for U.S. Senate). 
• A Roman Catholic, he opposes abortion rights and capital punishment.
• He is married to Anne Holton, daughter of former Virginia Governor A. Linwood Holton, Jr., and the only person to live in the Governor's Mansion as a child and adult.  The couple has three children, Nat, Woody and Annella.

Today the RNC launched BarackBook, a new website that spoofs FaceBook and attacks Barack Obama.  (Naughty naughty, RNC!) So many Obama supporters clowned the site on its message boards that the RNC reportedly had to take them down.

Michelle Obama.  Photo from her BlogHer bio page.

In addition to wife, mother, attorney, and political campaigner,  Michelle Obama is adding blogger to her resume.  She joins 15 million American women who already have their own blogs. 

Michelle's blog will be carried on the BlogHer network.  BlogHer, the online community for women who blog, has 26,000 members and is by far the most well known "meeting place" for women bloggers.  Way to reach women voters, Michelle!  We think this move is smart, smart, smart, expecially when you consider that women make up 54% of the electorate.  

Being tech savvy is nothing new to the Obama camp.  The campaign has used web organizing tools, blogging, viral video and text messaging to it's advantage from jump.  Michelle's blog is yet another extension of the rock solid tech platform that the campaign has built to spread it's message, combat the the messages of political foes and create a momentum now known as Obama-mania.  

Check out Michelle's blog over here and her BlogHer bio page here.

Glamour's editor-in-chief Cindi Leive and Sen. Barack Obama spoke at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana.

Why is Cindi Leive so live?  She is editor-in-chief of top women's publication Glamour, has scored one-on-one interviews with each of the presidential candidates, and looks understatedly fabulous in just a simple black dress. Some girls have all the luck smarts, savvy and style. 

Leive sat down recently with Barack Obama and asked his reaction to political attacks on his wife Michelle. "It's infuriating," said the senator, adding later that "rarely do these foks have the guts to say it to [my] face."  In defense of Michelle, he asserted:

Everybody who knows Michelle knows how extraordinary she is. She's ironically the most quintessentially American woman I know. She grew up in a "Leave it to Beaver" family. She is the best mother I know. And our kids are a testimony to that, because she's really had to raise them, oftentimes without me being there. She's the most honest person I know, she's smart, she's funny, so yeah, it infuriates me. And I think that it is an example of the erosion of civility in our political culture that she's been subjected to these attacks, and my attitude is that the people who have attacked her in the ways that they have...if they've got a difference with me on policy, they should debate me. Not her.

You can read a lengthier excerpt of Leive's interview with Obama in Glamour's Glamocracy blog over here.  The full interview will be published in Glamour's October issue. 

Barack Obama scored his second cover of RollingStone this month.  Inside the mag is an in-depth interview with the senator.  Audio is over here and a few highlights are below. 

What's on Barry's iPod:

An eclectic collection of Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Earth Wind & Fire, Jay-Z, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, Howlin' Wolf, Yo Yo Ma, Sheryl Crow, and more.  Get the full scoop on Obama's musical tastes over here.

What gave him "the juice and the confidence" (reporter's words) that he could win the presidency:

Iowa.

Three books that inspired him:

"Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon, the tragedies of William Shakespeare and probably Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls."

What he calls Bruce Springsteen:

The Boss, because "you've got to."

How rap has helped desegregate American music:

"By definition, rock & roll is rebel music, which means if it's not being criticized, it's probably not doing its job. I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics, but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music. Music was very segregated back in the Seventies and Eighties -- you'll remember that when MTV first came on, it wasn't until Thriller that they played Michael."

He doesn't play:

"...I don't do cowering. You have to respond forcefully, quickly and truthfully to attacks."

His parting words (to the reporter):

"Ok, brother - take care."

It's Time for Some Campaignin', a little diddy about campaign 08...

Maria Menounos of Access Hollywood interviewed Barack Obama's family (wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha) on the 4th of July.   Sasha, 7, dished this scoop about her dad: he doesn't like ice cream.  "My dad doesn't like sweets," she explained. "He likes like minty gum.  He doesn't like bubble gum."

If elected President, Barack Obama will remove the flat screen TV from the Lincoln bedroom in the White House.  He says you should read the Gettysburg Address in there, not watch ESPN. 

Who does he think he is?!  This is another example of a politician trying to force his own morality on the American people.

And it's not the way to win votes from sports enthusiasts and fans of The Hills.

[The Los Angeles Times]

Ebony Magazine has just named Barack Obama one of the 25 coolest brothers of all time.

Now this we can speak to from personal experience.  We participated in a conference call with Obama sometime in 2004, before he was senator, before the speech, before he was the man. (And before we knew his name. At the time and for weeks after, we actually thought his name was Obama Barack.) 

Anyway, accustomed to the arrogant (but feigned friendly) posturing politicians usually do on these calls, we were surprised - read utterly shocked - when Obama hopped on the phone with a laid back and unassuming  "Hey, it's Barack." 

Cool.

We mean, he said it like a "Yo man, what's up, bruh?"  response would have been okay. (We elected not to do that, because we would have sounded ridiculous.  But somebody cooler than us could have pulled it off.)

Then Barack went on to tell us that he'd just heard from the DNC that "we" (he was inclusive even back then) might have a role at convention.  "I don't know what that role will be yet," he said, "but I think it could be an opportunity for us."  

The speech.  An "opportunity."

Uh, ya think?

MTV's Emmy Award winning Choose or Lose campaign will take over MTV2 today to present programming that will engage its young adult audience in the plight of America's more than one million young troops who have served on the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

MTV News and the 51 MTV/Knight Foundation Street Team will air special reports on young veterans issues.  These reports will highlight stories of young veterans in their communities, focusing on the challenges of post traumatic stress disorder, lack of educational benefits, and the difficulties young veterans face as they struggle to acclimate back into civilian life.  In addition to these reports, MTV2 will broadcast the following specials: 

6:00 pm - Iraq Uploaded

6:30 pm - True Life: I Live in Iraq

8:30 pm - True Life: I'm Shipping Out

9:30 pm - True Life: I'm Coming to America

10:30 pm - True Life: I'm a Civilian Again

John McCain and Barack Obama have each prepared special July 4th video messages in honor of our young troops that will air exclusively on MTV2 today. Recent MTV research shows that 70% of young adults 18 to 29 personally know someone who has fought in Iraq.

John McCain and Barack Obama made July 4th public service announcements for MTV viewers.  Watch below.

John McCain's message:

Barack Obama's message:

Oregon Republican Sen. Gordon Smith expects a blue tide to roll accross his state this November, and he hopes to ride it all the way to Washington.  He's just released a new ad that implies that he and Barack Obama are total BFFs when it comes to developing better public policies.

"Who says Gordon Smith helped lead the fight for better gas mileage and a cleaner environment?" the ad asks. "Barack Obama."

Dude is seriously tripping, said the Obama campaign.  "Barack Obama has a long record of bipartisan accomplishment and we appreciate that it is respected by his Democratic and Republican colleagues in the Senate," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. "But in this race, Oregonians should know that Barack Obama supports Jeff Merkley for Senate. Merkley will help Obama bring about the fundamental change we need in Washington."

 Hat Tip: Ben Smith at Politico

Barack Obama claims to be for the American family, but he's actually kind of a homewrecker. 

Jennifer Lopez, flanked by aides, on Capitol Hill. Photo from Faded Youth Blog.

Jenny from the block was Jenny on the Hill last Wednesday, as the star made an unannounced visit to Sen. Barack Obama's Capitol Hill office.  Sen. Obama wasn't there, so J.Lo met with his staff for an hour and a half.  J.Lo and Obama's staff are mum about what the meeting was about.

(We digress to say... Peep the Birkin she's carrying.  Nice!)

See also: J.Lo: The new Obama girl? [Faded Youth Blog]

New ad by the Tennessee Republican Party targets Michelle Obama.  The ad takes a 5 second clip from one of Obama's speeches and plays it over and over again to critically characterize who she is and what she stands for.

Is this okay? Do you think Michelle Obama fair game?  Let us know in the comments.

By the way, we haven't seen a potential first lady attacked like this in an ad before (absent a simultaneous attack on her husband).  If you know of such an ad, give us the heads up in the comments, k?

Emily's List, a PAC that helps pro-choice women get elected to public office, is none too pleased that the NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC has endorsed Barack Obama for president.  Ellen Malcolm, Emily's List founder and Clinton BFF, says the endorsement is "tremendously disrespectful" to her girl.  NARAL is like, "Whatev! Endorsing a Clinton is so '96!"  NARAL will host a web chat about their endorsement on this Friday, May 16th.  Submit your questions here.

to let us know that John Edwards just endorsed him for real like a minute ago.  Obviously, we're among the first Barry told, because we have it like that.  You can have it like that too, if you text HOPE to 62262 or sign up over here (and get you a new ring tone while you're at it). 

Tell Bar we said 'sup.

In this mother's day video, little kids ask their moms not for a puppy or a Nintendo, but to please vote for Barack Obama. Clearly, Obama has been handing out candy bribes.

Michelle and Barack Obama (mostly Michelle) were on Rachael Ray about a week ago.  Rachael tried to play it impartial, but her sparkly eyes and beaming smile totally gave her away as an Obama supporter.  She just ate the Obamas up!

Highlights:

Michelle and Barack have date night once a week.

Rachael implied that she loves her dog Isaboo more than the Obamas love their kids.  You know the Obamas talked about that later. (But in Rach's defense, she was clearly star struck and these things just happen when you're star struck.)

The Obamas first dance was was to "Unforgettable" (presumably the Nat King Cole version, but if not, they're not as cool as we thought).

Michelle walked down the aisle to a Stevie Wonder song at their wedding.

Michelle said she watches what the kids eat. (Ugh! That probably means no sugar cereals.  As in no Lucky Charms and no Cocoa Puffs. And worse, no prizes in the box!)

At the end of the interview, Michelle fondly reached for Rachael and said, "Girl...."  Michelle is so regular, and we love it!

Barack Obama is turning green!  He is calling on Americans to host "green gatherings" and discuss how we can preserve our environment.  Check out his green website here and his latest green commercial below.