Posts Tagged ‘Barack Obama’

US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle . put on their Wednesday’s best to welcome Mexican President Felipe Calderon and his wife, Margarita Zavala to the White House’s second State Dinner.

Celebs like Beyonce (who performed ), Whoopi Goldberg, Eva Longoria Parker, Olympic gold medalist Shani Davis, and many others were all in attendance as well.
Fab times!!!

President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal’s of Freedom to South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and 15 other honorees including Sen. Edward M. Edwards Kennedy, Billie Jean King, Sidney Poitier, Muhammad Yumnus, and scientist Stephen Hawking. The prestigious event took place August 12 2009, at the White House where president Obama presented the the Medal of Freedom.

In a public release statement Desmond Tutu said that he was overwhelmed, deeply honored, humbled, and speechless. He went on to say that “as always I am so aware that it’s really given to me representatively, I could not be who I have been without the millions of people who honored me by agreeing for me to be their leader”.

Congratulations goes out to all those who paved the way and were honored.

Barack and Michelle Obama may look like the picture of wedded bliss, especially when they jet off to New York for a date night, but it wasn’t always so for the First Couple.

In the new book “Renegade,” about Obama’s barrier-breaking run for the presidency, author Richard Wolffe recounts a stretch in 2000 when the Obama’s marriage was a lot frostier than it appears today.

“There was little conversation and even less romance,” Wolffe, who covered Obama’s campaign for Newsweek magazine, wrote of that period. “She was angry at his selfishness and careerism; he thought she was cold and ungrateful.”

“We’re not racists. It will be good to have a Negro in the White House. It will be practical. Black on white, it will be easier to shoot him,” one of the hosts laughed.

The show also showcased an Obama impersonator to whom the host said, “the blacks, you all look alike,” and warned viewers to hide their wallets and purses.

The Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council said the comments and sketches violated regulation standards and stated the hosts “went too far in terms of Canadian broadcast.”

The council released a statement condemning the hosts poor taste in jokes and said: “nothing redeeming in the allegedly comedic notion that an American president should be shot, still less that this would be easier to achieve because of the color of the president’s skin. It was a disturbing, wounding, abusive racial comment.”

The show’s producers still do not believe the skits were racist and claim the episode was meant to mock the characters making offensive remarks.

The Canadian Radio-Televsion and Telecommunications Commission does not have the power fine the network but will likely issue a public reprimand. Reprimands of this nature could cause problems for the network’s broadcast license renewal, which Radio-Canada is due to reapply in 2011.

The jokes come as surprise to many Canadians who prefer Obama to their own leaders, polls report. A massive crowd greeted the U.S. president with cheers and screams when he made a quick visit to Ottawa, Canada in February.

It remains unknown if the White House complained about the show.

Stunned!!!