Obama thoughts

Quick post, as I've got loads to do. Just a couple of quick thoughts about Obama and the feline showdown going on in the financial world. No doubt he's having a hard time right now, and I must say that I too would like to see him flex the power given to him. It's true that we elected him on the promise of change, and while I understand a bit of the sheer difficulty of his job, last week's election of Scott Brown should be a severe wake-up call to Obama and his administration that they might ought to don a stronger domestic image.

Here's an interesting (yet related) perspective on Obama from Pravda.ru (no, it's not the Communist Party publication anymore).

Obama continues to follow me around the world...

Obama is coming to Tokyo on Friday, continuing his trend of following me around the world.

Here's an interesting article from the Associated Press about the question of visiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That's an intriguing issue for me personally. There's no question that I will visit the memorial at Hiroshima while in Japan, and I already feel very emotional about it. I'm glad to hear that Obama wants to visit while in office, something that no sitting President has done before. It's very, very important to me.

Another article from the Washington Post, outlining the President's itinerary.



Finally, from the above article, an interesting bit to ponder, what with all the ridiculous toxicity that still ravages American politics...

"President Obama is enormously popular in all the countries that he's visiting. I haven't seen the latest polls, but the numbers I have seen are staggering," said Jeffrey Bader, senior director for East Asian affairs at the National Security Council.

"When we have someone who has that degree of respect and affection and admiration, the message that he is bringing is much more likely to resonate than when you come in with a five percent approval rating," he said.

Obama is following me...

and apparently so is Stephen Fry? What ho, old boy!

Two days before I left LA, Obama was snarling traffic on Wilshire. Then, the one day I was in New York, he was snarling traffic in midtown. Then, when I was in Israel, he came to Egypt and gave that speech about peace in the Middle East and such that everyone seemed to like. Now he's coming to Russia on July 6!
Obama in Russia


Time for Theatre now. Tomorrow we're going to the Hermitage! Afterward, we're having a picnic all together for the 4th of July (they gave us an American Picnic at lunch today too). Something tells me I'll like this 4th of July a lot better than last year when I just sat at home and wallowed, even though I do now recall that I saw Will Smith's "Hancock" with some good friends post-wallow.

May be seeing the new Pixar movie today too. And perhaps a SURF ROCK CONCERT?? Да! Да!

Thanks for all the messages and comments, all! It's great to keep in touch. It's also great to be able to talk on the phone, and for those I've talked to (and those I haven't) it's been wonderful! I'm looking forward to a great weekend. On Sunday evening, we're going to the Banya. hoho! It's a Russian bath-house. Should be an excellent experience!

Lastly, apparently we're in for one of the coldest bouts of weather that this city has seen in a very long time. Coldest in 100 years, someone said, but I think he was being facetious. Still, I'll miss the warm weather we've enjoyed for the past two weeks.