Uncle Gryphen knows just what you need, here is a little Barack Obama to soothe your troubled brow.

I swear after the last nine months the man's voice is like a soothing balm for the soul.

And the hopefulness in his voice.....I had almost forgotten how good that sounds.

Here is how GQ Magazine described it: 

Yesterday President Barack Obama re-emerged on the scene like Han Solo coming back at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope. Okay, maybe that's overstating it a little, but what can I say, we've been severely lacking in hope and here we have Mr. Hope himself back on the national political scene campaigning and reminding us what it was like to have an actual honest-to-God adult speaking to Americans. He campaigned for Democrats in both New Jersey and Virginia and in the process threw some political elbows at his successor and the depressing state of the American political landscape. You know how when you used to wake up and check Twitter, it was kind of fun, but now it just feels like someone spitting directly into your face first thing in the morning? Yeah, these speeches were the first things in a while that don't make me feel that way.

Exactly!

In the first part of this speech you can hear the crowd shouting "Four more years!"

And just for a minute did you not find yourself wishing that such a thing were possible?

I think we need this tonight.

my president is black. pic.twitter.com/e3ydB5wVay

— deray mckesson (@deray) September 9, 2017

Every so often I am going to post a video, or tweet, or article featuring the greatest President ever just so we can remind ourselves of what we once had, and what we should look for in our next Commander-in-Chief.

Everywhere he goes Barack Obama brings joy and hope. 

And he reminds us that we should never give in to depression or fear, but instead should remember that we as a country once did the impossible, and someday we will do so again.

While accepting a Profile in Courage award, Barack Obama calls on the American people to "stand up to hate."

Courtesy of NBC News:  

"For many Americans, I know that this feels like an uncertain and perilous time," Obama — accompanied by his wife, Michelle Obama, and former Vice President Joe Biden — said in accepting the annual Profile in Courage award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

"Our politics remains filled with division and discord," Obama said just days after House Republicans won passage of a bill that would dismantle much of his signature health care law."At such moments, courage is necessary," he said. 

"At such moments, we need courage to stand up to hate, not just in others, but in ourselves. At such moments, we need courage to stand up to dogma, not just in others, but in ourselves. ... 

"Courage means not doing what is simply politically expedient but doing what [people] believe in their hearts is right," he said. "And this kind of courage is required of all of us."

Here is video of Obama's entire speech.

I would like the last man whom I recognize as my President to know that I try everyday to follow this advice.

I try everyday to not allow my anger to get the better of me.

I try everyday to remain optimistic.

I try everyday to be a good example to others.

But it is harder now than it has ever been before.

Which I guess is why we need to find the courage to keep moving forward, to keep fighting for progress, to keep fighting for equality, and to keep fighting for a peaceful world.

I will just continue to keep in mind that if Barack Obama could remain positive through eight years of the most aggressive disrespect we have ever seen directed at a sitting President, and still keep fighting for all of us without caring that it would only attract even more anger and vitriol, then how could I do any less?

The French want Obama to lead them. Seriously, who can blame them?

Courtesy of CNN: 

Could France elect Barack Obama president? Not really -- but that's not stopping the organizers of Obama17, a guerrilla campaign trying to entice the former U.S. president to head to Paris. 

"It's totally crazy, but the cool thing is that once you get past that, you start thinking that maybe it's possible. Who cares that he's not French? He's Barack Obama," one of the campaign organizers told CNN. 

They've launched a website and they put up 500 posters of Obama around Paris last weekend, said the organizer. He asked to be identified only as Antoine. 

They're hoping to get 1 million people to sign a petition urging Obama to run.

This can't happen of course, but some citizens in France are panicking because they are on the verge of electing their own version of Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen.

Hopefully they will be luckier than we were, and THEIR voters will be a little smarter.

Remembering when we had hope.

The other day this song popped into my head and I suddenly remembered how inspired I was at the promise of a better tomorrow in America.

These days I know we often feel such despair that is it hard to remember when we had hope.

Well we certainly did and this song was our theme song.

So you take a moment to hear the words and remember how inspired we were to stand up for our country, stand up for our freedoms, and stand up for ourselves.

"Always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. Yes we can."

I cannot think of a better way to end our day than with Michelle Obama's final speech as First Lady.

Courtesy of Politico: 

“As I end my time in the White House, I can think of no better message to send to our young people in my last official remarks as first lady,” Obama said. “For all the young people in this room and those who are watching, know that this country belongs to you, to all of you, from every background and walk of life.” 

“Our glorious diversity, our diversity as the faiths and colors and creeds, that is not a threat to who we are — it makes us who we are,” she said, after citing immigration and religious diversity as proud American traditions. “To the young people here, and the young people out there, do not ever let anyone make you feel like you don't matter, or like you don't have a place in our American story, because you do, and you have a right to be exactly who you are.” 

“But I also want to be very clear,” she continued. “This right isn’t just handed to you. No, this right has to be earned every single day. You cannot take your freedoms for granted. Just like generations who have come before you, you have to do your part to preserve and protect those freedoms, and that starts right now, when you're young. Right now, you need to be preparing yourself to add your voice to our national conversation.”

Listen to that voice.

So filled with class, and hope, and inspiration. 

The President, and essentially everybody who knows Mrs. Obama, says that there is no way that she will ever run for political office. And if that is not in her heart then of course she should not.

But when I hear her speak like this, I cannot help but think that her decision not to run is this country's loss.

She is amazing.

And they are both, she and her husband, perhaps better than we ever deserved.

Right Wing responds with outrage over Michelle Obama's assertion that America has lost hope.

First here is a link to Essence containing the First Lady's remarks: 

Following the election of Donald Trump, First Lady Michelle Obama says many Americans are now realizing what it's like not to have hope.

"We feel the difference now, See, now, we are feeling what not having hope feels like," she told Oprah. "Hope is necessary. It's a necessary concept and Barack didn't just talk about hope because he thought it was just a nice slogan to get votes." 

She also expressed concerns for children in the country as many parents continue to express similar feelings of hopelessness. 

"He and I and so many believe that -- what else do you have if you don't have hope?" the First Lady added. "What do you give your kids if you can't give them hope?"

Now if you are anything like me these words very closely mirrored your feelings since this election, and if anything seemed perhaps a little too carefully chosen to adequately represent how freaked out you have been since November.

However that is NOT how they were received by those who are thrilled that Donald Trump will soon be leading us to Armageddon.

Here was what Fox rabid attack dog Jeanine Pirro had to say about Mrs. Obama's words: 

“To try and convince America that once you and Barack exit the White House, hope is removed for America is an outrage,” Pirro ranted. “But I get it, for you hope is gone. You and your family and friends won’t be able to fly to another 46 countries, with security and hair and make-up in tow. Michelle, you may not realize it, but Americans’ rejected you and everything you stand for. Hope is when people — 30,000 at a time — stand in line in the cold with their children hoping to get a glimpse of a man they think can change the course of their lives from the downward spiral that you and ‘Mister Hope and Change’ have put them on.”

Hang on I have to wipe some venom out of my eyes.

Other Right Wing outlets were equally defensive and attacked Ms. Obama for suggesting that the election of Donald Trump means the end of hope.

In fact Trump himself suggested that FLOTUS just made a simple misstatement:

"She made that statement not meaning it the way it came out," Trump said.

"I assume she was talking about the past not the future cause I'm telling you, we have tremendous hope and we have tremendous promise and tremendous potential," Trump said Saturday. The crowd booed at the mention of Mrs. Obama.

Damn that is some thick ass bubble this guy lives in.

No the First Lady said EXACTLY what she was trying to say, and she is of course absolutely correct.

President Obama ran on "hope and change" and spent his entire presidency, sometimes naively, trying to bring the country together and work with both sides of the aisle to bring that about even when one side was working to sabotage every single thing he tried to accomplish.

On the other hand Donald Trump ran his campaign on building a wall to keep Mexicans out of the country, rounding up undocumented immigrants and shipping them home, while targeting others based on their religious affiliations. 

Try as I might I simply cannot glean even a glimmer of hope from any of that.

So yes Michelle Obama is correct. Hope is indeed dead.

And our job is to do our best to revive it, and once revived inform others how to keep it alive.

Here's a helpful hint, You cannot keep hope alive if you allow fascists to run the country.

A little shot of optimism from our favorite astronaut Chris Hadfield.

I love this guy.

And I appreciate hearing such hopeful talk from a man who has seen this planet from a perspective that few others will ever experience.

We are moving forward, getting better, and improving our lives.

There are many battles yet to wage, and adversaries yet to defeat, but what we have learned is that in the end those who are moving us forward leave those trying desperately to stop us dead or turn us back in the dust.

Mr. Rogers makes everything better.

Why Noam, why?

“I don’t usually admire Sarah Palin,” Chomsky said, “but when she was making fun of this ‘hopey changey stuff,’ she was right, there was nothing there.” Noam Chomsky


God do I hate it when people start giving Sarah Palin legitimacy.

There are so many other ways to voice your displeasure with the President other than evoking a quote from the Wasilla Wendigo.

Besides I personally believe that if the Republicans had not gathered on the NIGHT OF OBAMA'S INAUGURATION, and decide to sabotage every single policy they he put forth, that we might very well have seen and incredibly hopeful change in this county. There was no way that Obama could institute change all by himself, though he did a pretty damn good job without their support.

As for hope, well I have rarely been more hopeful than I have been since Obama has been in office. Perhaps those who thought he would walk on water and then turn it into wine were disappointed but not I.

I am usually singing the same tune as Chomsky, but this time he definitely hit a sour note and in my opinion committed an unpardonable sin.

"See? I told you so!"

 And that is giving THIS lunatic any credibility whatsoever.

(Source.)

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight, Cleveland kidnapping victims, offer thanks for all of the support they have received.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Stylish and smiling, three women allegedly held captive in a Cleveland home for a decade offered thanks on YouTube for emotional and financial backing they've received since going "through hell and back." 

From Amanda Berry, 27: "I want everyone to know how happy I am to be home, with my family, my friends," she said. 

"I would say `thank you' for the support," said a soft-spoken Gina DeJesus, 23, in response to prompting from a narrator. 

And from Michelle Knight, 32, who wasn't a familiar face on a milk carton around town like the other two, came a sometimes halting yet defiant reading of a statement. "I may have been through hell and back, but I am strong enough to walk through hell with a smile on my face and with my head held high," she said. "I will not let the situation define who I am. I will define the situation. I don't want to be consumed by hatred." 

The 3 1/2-minute video, produced last week and posted at midnight Monday, was filmed in a Cleveland law firm overlooking treetops, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and Lake Erie. 

DeJesus' parents, Felix DeJesus and Nancy Ruiz, joined the heartfelt statements of gratitude, thanking the public for donations to a fund set up to help the women. More than $1 million has been donated. 

Ruiz encouraged parents with missing loved ones to reach out for assistance. "Count on your neighbors," she said. "Don't be afraid to ask for the help because help is available."

I surprisingly found watching this video a little emotional, not only for the terrible pain they were subjected to, but also how their mannerism indicate how it deeply it impacted them.

I have worked with the victims of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse and I can see it written all over these three. Especially the last one, Michele Knight.

I hope that they will fully recover and learn to overcome the nightmares, flashbacks, and difficulties learning to trust that often incapacitate women who have suffered similar violations..

Ian's letter: "Dear Mr. President."

I think you might need some Kleenex for this.

Broadway stars turn song from "Les Miserables" into Obama campaign song. Okay this is awesome!

Wow! That was amazing!

Here is the open letter from their website: 

DO YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING? 

To nearly everyone an RPM's a rev-per-minute. To me it's a Rosa Parks Moment. 

Her decision to remain seated in December '55 moved me to stand up in 2012. Like so many over the intervening years, I've taken inspiration from an unflinching American icon who said, "Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others." For me that seminal Moment occurred when Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke was viciously and repeatedly attacked on the air by a podium-pounding predator whose venomous remarks disgusted pretty much everyone within the sound of his voice. (I don't know Ms. Fluke or her assailant.) 

More to the point – that predator's driving the Republican bus and arguably no less menacing than the one Ms. Parks encountered 57 years ago. 

You'll recall her busman summoned Montgomery police and had her arrested for refusing to give up what had been designated a "Colored Section" seat. (The bus was full; a white man wanted to sit down; the driver reflexively moved the Section sign from in front of Ms. Parks to behind her.) 

Under the circumstances she hadn't actually violated the law but was – as well we know – arrested anyway; and convicted. 

Her tenacity ignited the modern civil rights movement. Fittingly, history was preserved as that Cleveland Avenue bus now famously resides in the Henry Ford Museum, an enduring testament to character and courage, to those who dared to dream a dream and undeniably to the audacity of hope. 

While the GOP's resident rabble-rouser routinely defames those with whom he disagrees, their party's presumptive nominee hasn't the character or courage to condemn such abusive behavior. Indeed, fomenting incivility and intolerance is grist for their ground game – and they're doubling down. 

If you're not a moneyed Republican plutocrat with a name commonly mistaken for a mattress, soft drink or sundae, don't own a ball club in Chicago or casino in Macao or have an extra hundred-mil lying around, what do you do to make a difference? You stand up the only way you know how. 

I'm not an activist, lobbyist, PAC, 527 or 501(c)-anything, just a private citizen (and sometime parodist) asking "who will be strong and stand with me." 

One Term More is a transformative political parody rendered under fair use. The accompanying illustration conveys the transcendent nature of a remarkable man. Sketches based on a recently reported, well-sourced, deeply disturbing event depict an uncommonly cruel act of aggression. 

No ad time will be purchased nor will it be sold. It's intended as social commentary, criticism & personal expression, displayed only online and freely available to all. Its purpose and character is informational, non-commercial & not-for-profit. The parodied lyrics are mine; the music's from "Les Mis." 

Jefferson wrote, "The greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions and make them one people." The Founding Fathers wouldn't have tolerated 21st century Tea Party polemics. No matter the nation's crushing ills or deep political divide, the framers chose to govern, not obstruct. 

Having brought forth a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, you've got to wonder: 

Are there any levelheaded Republicans left to remind untethered Tea Party apostles – notably those washed up on the shores of the Potomac – that incendiary rhetoric, hysterical white populism and a reckless disregard for the unalienable rights of others is not a government of, by or for the people? 

Misogynistic, homophobic, radically regressive and ideologically unhinged with little apparent interest in governing and no appetite for compromise or common ground, that Grand Old Party's out-of-order, a consequence of preposterous partisan pandering, legislative belligerence…and all that tea. 

To the extent any nominal independent expenditure can underscore the titanic distinctions between candidates, parties and platforms – from ALEC-influenced legislatures codifying colossally misguided stand-your-ground laws to muddleheaded McCarthy-mimicking Members of the House calling colleagues Communists – ours will, we hope, attract the attention of an inquisitive electorate and contribute to a more reasoned electoral outcome. 

At the end of the day will unruly Republicans simply be too tone-deaf to hear the people sing? We'll know when tomorrow comes. 

Don DeMesquita

Well that was just as powerful as this amazing song! You know I don't know what it is about President Obama but he ALWAYS gets the best songs written for  him, and attracts the most gifted of supporters.

Do you all remember this one?

Well with this kind of talent supporting the President how can he lose?

(H/T to The New Civil Rights Movement.)

The Power of Hope, and Dreams Now Realized.

Now THIS is the American dream.

I thought this would be a nice video to share as we prepare for our night of slumber.

Namaste my friends.

In the Obama White House pictures come and go, except one.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

For decades at the White House, photographs of the president at work and at play have hung throughout the West Wing, and each print soon gives way to a more recent shot. But one picture of President Obama remains after three years.

The boy in the picture is Jacob Philadelphia of Columbia, Md. Three years ago this month, his father, Carlton, a former Marine, was leaving the White House staff after a two-year stint on the National Security Council that began in the Bush administration. As departing staff members often do, Mr. Philadelphia asked for a family photograph with Mr. Obama. 

When the pictures were taken and the family was about to leave, Mr. Philadelphia told Mr. Obama that his sons each had a question. In interviews, he and his wife, Roseane, said they did not know what the boys would ask. The White House photographer, Pete Souza, was surprised, too, as the photo’s awkward composition attests: The parents’ heads are cut off; Jacob’s arm obscures his face; and his older brother, Isaac, is blurry. 

Jacob spoke first. 

“I want to know if my hair is just like yours,” he told Mr. Obama, so quietly that the president asked him to speak again. 

Jacob did, and Mr. Obama replied, “Why don’t you touch it and see for yourself?” 

He lowered his head, level with Jacob, who hesitated. 

“Touch it, dude!” Mr. Obama said. 

As Jacob patted the presidential crown, Mr. Souza snapped. 

“So, what do you think?” Mr. Obama asked. 

“Yes, it does feel the same,” Jacob said.

When historians talk about how historic Obama's presidency was, they will cite the end of the Iraq war, the end of DOMA, his support for gay marriage, the fact that he rescued the American economy, and many other important policy decisions.

But none of them will ever do as good of a job of demonstrating how important his Presidency was to millions of people, as will this photograph of a little boy discovering that all of his dreams are suddenly within reach.

Here is today's big announcement in the President's own words.

Courtesy of ABC News:

The president stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states' deciding the issue on their own. But he said he's confident that more Americans will grow comfortable with gays and lesbians getting married, citing his own daughters' comfort with the concept. 

"It's interesting, some of this is also generational," the president continued. "You know when I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same-sex equality or, you know, sexual orientation, that they believe in equality. They are much more comfortable with it. You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we're talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn't dawn on them that somehow their friends' parents would be treated differently. It doesn't make sense to them and, frankly, that's the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective." 

Roberts asked the president whether first lady Michelle Obama was involved in his decision. Obama said she was, and he talked specifically about his own faith. 

"This is something that, you know, we've talked about over the years and she, you know, she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do. And that is that, in the end the values that I care most deeply about and she cares most deeply about is how we treat other people and, you know, I, you know, we are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it's also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that's what we try to impart to our kids and that's what motivates me as president and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I'll be as a as a dad and a husband and, hopefully, the better I'll be as president."

I think that the President has really thrown down the gauntlet here and is essentially daring the Right Wing to come after him on this issue.  As we know the country is more than willing to accept gay marriage, and by attacking Obama the Republicans will demonstrate how out of step they are with the will of the American people.

And let's face it, for those people to whom "protecting the sanctity or marriage" is their overriding issue, Obama was NEVER going to be their choice of candidate anyhow.

It is a GREAT day in America today and I have every hope that now with this issue front and center we will start to see the acceptance of gay marriage sweep the country. As our Vice President would say, "This is a big fucking deal!"

Hey, people were wondering where the hope and change were, well now you know!

Here goes the President running on his record again. I thought the Republicans said he couldn't do that?

Hey is it just me, or did anybody else notice a Change, and feel a little Hope?

Republicans constantly claim that President Obama can't run on his record. Somebody forgot to tell him that.

That seems to me to a pretty damn impressive list of accomplishments to me.

War on Women? Well of course there is no War on Women. Right?

To see larger image click here.

And does ANYBODY think things will improve for women if Mitt Romney gets elected?

Somehow I doubt it.

But right now there still is HOPE, and there already has been a positive CHANGE.

Let's just keep that change happening, and keep hope alive for women everywhere.

(You can see more at the Democratic Underground.)

Regardless of the man racists see through the eyeholes cut in their white hoods, THIS is the President that I am proud to have in the White House.

I simply could not allow that hate filled post about the commenters at Fox Nation be the one that stayed on the top of my page all night long, so here is one that should soothe your frayed nerves and quiet your troubled hearts.

This is the man our President truly is.

He is not a secret Muslim, or Saul Alinsky trained socialist, or religion attacking ivy league snob.

He is a man that children are drawn to like moths to a flame.

He is a man who fights for this country everyday despite the fact that it seems half of it will never accept him due solely to the color of his skin, or the political party with which he is affiliated.

He is by no means perfect, but then most of us never set the bar that high.

He has made mistakes, and I expect that there are still more to be made, but his successes far outweigh his failures. And he has made progress, and helped the nation to make progress, in the face of the most withering opposition that I believe we have ever seen.

So this is the REAL face of the man who now occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

And personally I am going to do everything in my power to make sure he stays the resident at that address. And I urge all of you to lend a hand toward that outcome as well, because we are certainly going to need all of the help we can get.

After all we can't simply count on the Mitt Romney gaffes to do all of the work for us now can we?

By the way if you want to see charisma at work, check out this video of the speech he gave in San Francisco today.

You can click here to see parts two and three.

(All photos for this post are borrowed from our good friends over at The Obama Diary.)