President Barack Obama stands with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during the transfer of remains ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sept. 14, marking the return to the United States of the remains of the four Americans killed in Benghazi, Libya (Pete Souza)
President Obama talks with Mario Orosa, a native Ohioan, before dinner at the Smith Commons Dining Room and Public House in Washington, DC, on October 12, 2012. Orosa was one of the three winners of the final “Dinner with Barack” fundraising contest. The winners are Kimberley Cathey, Mario Orosa and Joe Laliberte (UPI/Pete Marovich)
July 2012 marked the two-year anniversary of the enactment of the Tribal Law and Order Act …. Lisa Iyotte, a Lakota woman, a survivor, shared her personal story of her brutal rape that occurred in her home on a reservation as her young daughters watched. The man who raped her was never prosecuted for his crimes against her.
As President Obama put it:
“When one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes, that is an assault on our national conscience; it is an affront to our shared humanity; it is something that we cannot allow to continue.”
I just thought of this video tonight, after the events of today. The President wasn’t meant to appear until Lisa Iyotte introduced him, but while speaking for every victim of rape (because, needless to say, it’s not just the native American community that suffers from this horror), she was overcome, so he came out early to comfort her.
It was what ‘Romney/Ryan/Legitimate Rape 2012’ would never recognize:
Steve Benen: There were modest expectations for the new jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and in this case, the economy met them. A net total of 120,000 jobs were created in November, which is just about what economists and analysts said would happen. The same report showed the overall unemployment rate dropping from 9% to 8.6%.
As is always the case, there was a significant gap between the private and public sectors. Businesses added 140,000 jobs last month, while budget cuts forced the public sector to shed 20,000 jobs, which continues to be a major drag on the overall employment picture.
Republican policymakers, it’s worth noting, are eager to force more public-sector layoffs, making the jobs landscape worse on purpose, while Democrats have fought to do the opposite.
President Barack Obama shows military officials the White House Christmas Tree in the Blue Room following a meeting, Dec. 1. The 18-foot-6 inch balsam fir is decorated with holiday cards created by military children and ornaments featuring medals, badges, and patches from all of the military branches. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
USA Today: Later this morning, President Obama and former president Bill Clinton will take a tour of a building blocks away from the White House and announce a $4 billion initiative to improve the energy efficiency of government and private-sector buildings. Obama is scheduled to deliver remarks to reporters after the tour.
****
Steve Benen: The Senate held two votes on extending a payroll tax cut for more than 160 million Americans, most of whom are middle class. As expected, Republicans killed them both. What was unexpected, though, was the vote totals on the proposals.
First up was the Democratic plan, which would have kept the payroll break in place for another year, and pay for it with a slight surtax on millionaires and billionaires. A 51-member Senate majority supported the bill, but that was far short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster. It’s worth noting that one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins (R) of Maine, broke ranks and supported the Dems’ proposal….
…. What was just as interesting was the next vote, when the Senate considered the GOP alternative, which would also keep the payroll break in place, but pay for it largely through a pay freeze on federal workers …. it was rejected 78 to 20, with more than half of Republicans opposed. Yep, most Republican senators opposed their own party’s legislation….
Spiegel: The US Republican race is dominated by ignorance, lies and scandals. The current crop of candidates have shown such a basic lack of knowledge that they make George W. Bush look like Einstein. The Grand Old Party is ruining the entire country’s reputation.
Africa is a country. In Libya, the Taliban reigns. Muslims are terrorists; most immigrants are criminal; all Occupy protesters are dirty. And women who feel sexually harassed – well, they shouldn’t make such a big deal about it.
Welcome to the wonderful world of the US Republicans. Or rather, to the twisted world of what they call their presidential campaigns. For months now, they’ve been traipsing around the country with their traveling circus, from one debate to the next, one scandal to another, putting themselves forward for what’s still the most powerful job in the world.
As it turns out, there are no limits to how far they will stoop.
Sacbee: President Barack Obama, who is a fervent basketball fan, will get his NBA fix next month but his campaign will have to postpone the Obama Classic fundraiser that was to feature more than two dozen professional basketball stars.
The campaign on Thursday notified ticket holders the Dec. 12 event would now be held in the summer.
The fundraising all-star game was planned while a lockout put the NBA season in jeopardy, and top players had committed to play. But team owners and players reached an agreement and games are set to begin on Christmas Day.
****
****
Washington Post: There’s little doubt President Barack Obama has won high esteem among Native Americans by breaking through a logjam of inaction on issues that matter to them.
The Obama administration this week unveiled sweeping changes to federal tribal-land leasing rules that had not been touched in 50 years. Obama nominated a Native American to the federal bench, signed a law renewing the Indian Health Care Act and settled a tribal royalties lawsuit that had dragged over three administrations.
…. Obama on Friday speaks for the third time with the nation’s 565 tribal leaders in Washington…. Obama has gone beyond lip service, said Bill John Baker, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, and “backed up his words with actions that have made a positive impact on the lives of Native people.”
…. Jacqueline Johnson Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians and an Alaska native, said native peoples’ enthusiasm for Obama goes deeper. Obama has embraced Native American tribal sovereignty preserved in the Constitution, court decisions and treaty agreements and made that the foundation for his administration’s dealings with tribes, Pata said.
…. “I think we have made strides under the Obama administration the likes of which tribes have not seen for 30 years,” said Stacy Bohlen, executive director of the National Indian Health Board…..
Jonathan Capehart: …. GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich defended his stance against certain child labor laws during a campaign stop in Iowa Thursday, saying that children born into poverty aren’t accustomed to working unless it involves crime.
“Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works so they have no habit of showing up on Monday,” Gingrich claimed. “They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal,” he added.
….. Gingrich’s blanket condemnation of “really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods” is unbelievably disgusting. And it’s disrespectful of the overwhelming majority of those children and their families who live their lives with far more integrity and far less cash than Gingrich ever will.
Anchorage Daily News: Speaking to 500 people representing 320 Native American tribes, President Obama pledged last month that he wouldn’t forget his campaign promise to give Native communities more of a voice in the White House. “I said that so long as I held this office, never again would Native Americans be forgotten or ignored,” he said. “And over the past two years, my administration, working hand in hand with many of you, has strived to keep that promise.”
For the most part, tribal leaders say the president has been true to his word….”There is this feeling that there is traction, that we’re having a true dialogue,” said Jacqueline Johnson Pata…
Some of the work has been symbolic – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar early in the administration restored the historic painting “Navajos Breaking Camp” in his office, after it had been mothballed during the Bush administration, for example.
But other accomplishments have had more tangible and far-reaching effects on thousands of people, including the settlement of the long-simmering Cobell lawsuit, which compensates thousands of Native Americans whose land was mismanaged while held in trust by the federal government.
There’s the passage of the Tribal Law and Order Act … the inclusion of Indian Health Service in the health-care law, and the $3.2 billion in stimulus spending, which went to schools, roads on tribal lands and technology upgrades in some of the poorest and most remote corners of the nation.
…Others point to what they say is a shift in tone from previous administrations. Late in 2010 the administration decided to support a United Nations declaration defending the rights of indigenous peoples. The U.S. voted against the declaration when the U.N. General Assembly adopted it in 2007, arguing it was incompatible with existing laws.
“The reversal of that policy and the support behind that … showcase the U.S. change in policy and what they’re doing are historic,” said Julia Kitka of the Alaska Federation of Natives. “I would put that very much at the top of the list.”
A layer of snow covers flowers left as part of a memorial at the US Capitol in honor of the victims of the shooting in Tucson
The US flag flies at half-mast before President Obama and First Lady Michelle arrive to board Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base
Marine One kicks up overnight snowfall on the South Lawn of the White House….
Ron Barber, District Director for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, is visited by Daniel Hernandez in his hospital room at the University Medical Center in Tucson. Hernandez, who works with Barber as an intern for Rep Giffords, rushed to Giffords’ aid after she was shot. While holding the wounded Giffords, Hernandez asked another bystander to put pressure on Barber’s wounds. He also asked Barber for his wife’s phone number and then shouted it out to someone so that Barber’s wife, Nancy, could be informed of the shooting. Barber was extremely grateful and impressed with Hernandez’s composure under the circumstances and had been asking to see him after he had gained strength following surgery.
Native American practitioner Carol Locust uses traditional methods to provide healing for the injured at the Tucson University Medical Center
People rest under a blanket as they wait in the line to get tickets to see President Obama speak at McKale Center in Tucson
President Barack Obama signs the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, December 8
Last month: The U.S. Senate approved a $1.15 billion measure to fund a settlement initially reached between the Agriculture Department and minority farmers more than a decade ago.
The 1997 Pigford v. Glickman case against the U.S. Agriculture Department was settled out of court 11 years ago. Under a federal judge’s terms dating to 1999, qualified farmers could receive $50,000 each to settle claims of racial bias.
Officials are still working to resolve similar discrimination lawsuits filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture by women and Latino farmers.
The Senate also cleared – in the same piece of legislation – $3.4 billion to fund a separate settlement reached with the Department of Interior for the mishandling of a trust fund managed for Native Americans. The bill also includes settlements for four water-right lawsuits filed by Native American tribes.
Prominent members of both parties have voiced support for paying out the settlements.
President Obama signs the Tribal Law and Order Act, a law that gives tribal authorities greater authority to prosecute and punish criminals. July 29, 2010
The Obama Diary 
You must be logged in to post a comment.