Mayan Calendar

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Fiscal Cliff and Rope

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Obama’s Obsession

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Romney will lunch with Obama at White House tomorrow

The White House has announced that former presidential candidate Mitt Romney will have lunch with President Obama at the White House tomorrow.

Could Romney be joining the administration?   Treasury Secretary?  Ambassador to Libya?

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Until You’ve Lived It, You Just Can’t Get It

Christie’s Republican Critics Don’t Get It

In early December of 2005 I attended the annual holiday gathering of the Monmouth Ocean Development Council.  This particular party stands out in my memory of the hundreds of such parties I’ve attended over the years because of the entertainment.  A jazz band from New Orleans was touring the country to raise money for the Katrina recovery efforts.  Their music was fabulous.  Their plea for help is what stuck with me.  It was deep, personal and profound.  The wreckage seen on television four months earlier was a distant memory for me, until I felt a little of the pain in that band’s plea.

The difference between hearing about and watching news accounts of a devastating hurricance and living through the aftermath of such a catostrophic event is like the difference between watching porn and having sex, though not nearly as fun.  It’s not fun at all.

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Did Christie Throw The Election to Obama?

As someone who has witnessed the destruction of my hometown and the devastation Sandy wrecked upon the lives of so many people I care about, I really don’t care if the partnership that Governor Chris Christie forged with President Barack Obama contributed to Obama’s reelection.

As I embraced my dear friend while we were standing in the wreckage of what used to be her mother’s home while she was crying, “she’s going to die,” the last thing I cared about was politics.

For over a week I’ve witness my neighbors’ possessions be piled into a garbage transfer station that used to be a parking lot and then be loaded into trailers be be trucked away.  Soon many of those neighbors will be living in trailers in a park while someone else decides when, how and if their homes can be rebuilt.

I won’t complain that I haven’t slept in my own bed and there is no power at my house.  I still have a house.  My friends don’t.  My friend, the mayor, his wife and three young children are sleeping on cots in a gymnasium.

I could care less that Christie wept when Bruce Springsteen called him a friend.  I care even less that Obama facilitated the friendship.

I am comforted that Chris Christie is doing his job and doing it well.  I am comforted that he assembled such a competent team to form his administration three years ago and that they work so well together.

I can’t imagine Jon Corzine, Richard Cody, Jim McGreevey, Christie Whitman, Jim Florio, Tom Kean or Brendan Byrne being as hands on or as competent as Christie has been in this crisis.  I also can’t imagine Cory Booker doing the job that Christie has done or assembling as good a team to do it.

Chris Christie is doing his job and doing it well.  He’s witnessed far more of the devastation to New Jersey than I have. I’m pleased that for the last weeks he hasn’t cared about politics either.

Pundits on both sides of the aisle are saying that if not for Hurricane Sandy, Obama may not have been reelected.  That could be true.  But given Obama’s record, the state of the world and the economy, the election should not have been close heading into the last weekend in October.

Obama said he will be a better president as a result of the campaign. He said he heard those who opposed him and his policies.  I hope that proves to be true.  We’ll know soon enough.

I don’t think Chris Christie will be a better governor because he has Obama’s cell number.  I think it is more likely that Obama will be a better president because he has Chrisite’s number.

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President Obama’s Reelection Speech

President Barack Obama’s speech in Chicago after his re-election Tuesday night, as transcribed by Roll Call:

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Obama Reelected

FoxNews has projected that President Barack Obama will be reelected.

The GOP will retain control of the House of Representatives.

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Write your own caption

Posted: November 1st, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Barack Obama, Chris Christie, Hurricane Sandy | Tags: Barack Obama, Chris Christie, Hurriane Sandy | 7 Comments »

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President Obama Assesses the Hurricane Sandy Damage in NJ

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