Kris Allen's Win & My Excitement!

First let me say, I don't even watch American Idol. I stopped watching it after the year Studdard and Akins was on there.

I am really excited about his win. There was so much media bias toward Adam Lambert to win it all. I tivo The View each day and you actually had Barbara Walters saying, "I've never watched A.I. before, but I watched it Tues night and Adam should definitely win, he has the showmanship of an American idol." I was like whatev...paid endorsement via Fox. I feel that the promotion of Adam Lambert to win was the same shameless marketing & promotion that Twitter uses. I mean Twitter claims they do no marketing. However, do you think you would have stars shouting "Follow me on twitter! at every turn, movie promos, book signings, etc? No! Most of the high profile stars are definitely getting paid by the volume of followers that they have. Otherwise, why would you have Oprah, NBA players during games, the entire View cast except Whoppi, Sean Combs, and so many others talking about following them on Twitter, I mean come on...

Kris Allen's win last night exemplified the fact that the younger generations like ours will vote what we truly think is the best thing, and not what the so called experts on tv are saying. TV media thinks that suggestive advertising works bc that was the most effective marketing for baby boomers. However, now you have an era where people look and see for themselves, what they think is best. I did not like the fact that Kris Allen stated, "I don't deserve to win, clearly Adam should have won." I am hoping his comment was simply bc the moment was so surreal versus him believing the hype of what Simon and the other judges Clearly trying to force Adam down every one's throat. I am proud of the NY Times for doing a comparative article on Mon. that stated that Kris Allen was the better singer, where Adam was the more dramatic, like an Elvis if you will! I am sure Adam had some okay performances, but with great branding and enough talk show appearances Kris Allen will be quite successful. However, Kris needs to beef up his swagger a bit, bc the better man won last night! Again, I didn't even watch the show at all, other than to get the call in number on voting night, and the last 5 minutes for announcement. But clearly, I could see from recaps that Kris was the pure singer! Plus, I will purchase his cd to beef up album unit sells :)

Obama Will Not Close Guantanamo

I cannot see into the future, but I definitely feel that it will be inevitable that President Obama will need to reverse on his decision to close Guantanamo Bay. It will only be a matter of weeks before he makes this announcement. I realize that he was trying to fulfill a campaign promise; by signing an executive order to do so, but in all practicality this is not going to happen. Yesterday the Senate Democrats publicly stated that they planned to block any efforts to close Guantanamo Bay, by not approving funding for the President to do so. Likewise, several state governments have passed legislation that would prohibit any detainees from being moved to their states. Republicans have also seized on the issue, saying closing the prison endangers Americans.

This is the primary reason that I am an Independent. Because the reality of the situation is, neither side ever accomplishes anything b/c they are always caught up in political rhetoric. It was a great idea to want to close Guantanamo Bay but is it really practical? My answer is, no. The reality is no one wants any of those detainees transferred to any U.S. facility. To be quite honest, if Georgia had a military prison, I would not want them to take on the security risk of having one of those detainees held prisoner here. It would open up the residents of this state to too much risk. I mean maybe I have seen to many Hollywood films that have played on my fears, lol. Remember Air Force One? The reason those terrorists hijacked the plane was because they were trying to get their leader released from prison. Does anyone really want that in their backdoor.

Democrats have also prevented the administration from spending any money to transfer Guantanamo detainees to the U.S. this fiscal year. I realize that our President is an optimist, but there is really no legitimate plan or strategy he can develop that he can highlight to close this prison down, and satisfy everyone.

He will need to rescind on this promise. Of course, liberals will be outraged. However, they will need to get over themselves. In these tough economic times, it makes no real sense to build a new prison, or to spend $80 billion dollars to move the detainees to other areas. What needs to happen is that President Obama needs to use governmental funding to make Guantanamo a more transparent facility. The goal should be to hire an independent monitoring organization to oversee that the detainees are being treated humanely there. The entire prison needs to be adequately staffed holding video cameras in every square of the prison.

However, it is not a good idea to close this prison. Eric Holder did a tour of the facility and suggested that improvements should be made but the prison was still quite viable. I applaud President Obama for trying to keep his campaign promise but the reality is no one wants those detainees in their backyard. Foreign allies are afraid to offer to house any of these detainees in their countries, and the security risks that are inherent with the transport of any of detainees is far too high.

Obama will take a lot of heat for not closing Guantanamo but long-term it is best for the American people. I do plan to send our President a letter conveying the same thing to him. Although, I believe our President can highlight an extensive plan to shut the prison down; there is no viable place for these detainees to go.

It is amazing to me how you have so many people monitoring whether or not he keeps promises that he made during the campaign. Never in history has any president been held to such a standard. I mean when you look at Clinton, he made 1000s of promises before being elected. George Bush Sr. made more than 700 promises. Reagan had several hundred. Bush Jr. had more than 800 promises. Obviously, none of the presidents listed were able to keep all of the campaign promises; however, now you have so many political pundits, websites, and book writers that are capitalizing on this very thing. I mean there are even websites that have been built that track real-time political promises made by Obama. Each time he is unable to fulfill a promise, they send out site messages to members of the site. Tavis Smiley has written a book that is tracking each individual campaign promise made by President Obama, and talks about the fact that he plans to call him out on each one he does not fulfill.

Because of the transparency that President Obama attempts to govern with, people feel the need to scrutinize him harder. The reality is President Obama made campaign promises. If you listen to the speeches, read the books that he wrote, and listened to the debates, he stated, "If elected, I will try to get this passed." "I plan to get this done." I don't recall him saying he guaranteed any of those things. What he did guarantee was, "When I am wrong, I will not be afraid to let the American people know that I am wrong, I can guarantee that." He also stated, "I guarantee that sometimes "We will disagree." He stated, "I guarantee that I will work to do things differently in Washington." The brutal truth is, President Obama can only control his actions. He can't control Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, McConnell or anyone else.

So I really hate any liberal or conservative vent to insinuate that he offered some pie and the sky ideas just to get elected. I believe that those individuals that are well read and versed on the president's true plans and goals realize that he has an agenda. He will try to get that agenda passed but they should realize that one thing about Obama is that he is willing to listen to all sides of the spectrum. If someone presents a better idea than he had, than he will go with that counsel versus his own. I don't agree with all of his policies and agendas, but I do agree with his leadership style.

Furthermore, it is not about typing in a topic in Google and finding some flamboyant article to support the theory you have about Obama. What you need to do is read a collection of articles and books on the plans and strategies that he laid out before his election and after. I am referring to credible sources like the WSJ, CSPAN, Fact.org. Not partisan sites that of course are going to tout their own viewpoint or agenda. A lot of these partisan sites are meant to inflame emotions but are not based on true statistics or facts. Case in point, the Human Rights organization's response to Obama not releasing the additional photos of the prisoner abuse. I mean really! There is no real point to releasing those additional photos. However, they are screaming bloody murder! Bottom line, I believe that President Obama is trying to do what is best for this country on certain fronts, and I hope that one of those will be, Not to Close Guantanamo Bay.

Wanda Sykes at White House Correspondents' Dinner

I do not feel that Wanda Sykes' jokes were inappropriate. She is a comedian and that is what comedians do. Jokes are jokes! She was definitely a little risky with her comments, but anyone that knows Sykes, realizes that this is her style. On the other hand, I feel that the comments that Rush made in regards to President Obama were just as risky and highly inappropriate. Rush stated the day after election day, "I hope Obama fails." Rush also stated, "I will never address him as President! He is not my President!" Now everyone that defends his comments stated that he was not wishing the country would fail, but that the policies of President Obama would fail. However, stating it in this fashion was highly disrespectful, and could have been taken to mean that he hopes the country fails, as well as Obama.

Despite the fact that some people don't like that President Obama won the election in November, the fact of the matter is, he won. He deserves the same respect and honor that any other president has been given in the past. Instead of people being outraged at inappropriate comments made by a political pundit, people roll Rush’s comments under “freedom of speech.” However, so many people are inflamed about the punch lines and jokes of a risky comedian.

I mean when the New Yorker had the offensive picture of President Obama and Mrs. Obama on the cover, they proclaimed it was mere satire. I don't think that Sykes' comments were any different. I mean Sykes was communicating her frustration with Rush's comments via satire. I don't think she really means that she wants Rush water boarded, or that she thinks that he intended to be apart of the 9/11 attacks. It was just comedy/satire, right! I guess satire was involved with the NY Post Monkey cartoon, referring to President Obama. Just satire...right!

"Obsessed" A Horrible Movie! - Strong Marketing Prevails Horrible Trailer!

It amazes me how easily controlled people are by great marketing. I guess the word is fickle. I mean it is obvious that the movie Obsessed is horrible, but because there was great marketing put behind this movie, various people went out to see the movie. I would probably say about $15 million dollars was put into marketing this movie via the web, television, and magazines. Anytime you see an actress/actor for a c-league movie promoting it via Letterman, Leno, Jimmy Fallon, The View, Vogue, Vanity Fair, and CNN, you know that millions of dollars have been put into this movie for marketing. I mean if you have an A-league actor like George Clooney in a movie that has received positive critical reviews, than those same late night talk shows, will invite those artists on screen, because they want to boost their ratings. However, for a c-league movie like Obsessed, you can best believe that dollars were dropped by the Production company or the Artist themselves to be on these shows.

Also, it was brilliant of Sony, Beyonce's parent company to release this movie the weekend of April 24th. Why? The Soloist, and 3 other D-league movies which could not afford a decent marketing budget were released. So headlines reported that Obsessed got #1, but really by default, it was going to land there anyway. Another great example of how consumers are mind controlled by Great Marketing is the promotion of Lil Wayne's, the Carter 3 album. He sold a million copies of his album the first weekend. However, you would hear DJ's and other people on Hip hop stations, stating, "I know that his lyrics are garbage, and he is not really saying anything, but his beats are so tight." At the same time those are the same people that whine and moan because they claim hip hop is dead. However, because Universal is the financial backer for Cash Money records, they actually put a brilliant marketing campaign behind the sale of Wayne's album. As a result, his album was one of the most highly anticipated albums of 2008-2009. Wayne's marketing team had him rapping on every universal R&B singer's song that they could find for a year and half before he released his album. Thus, building anticipation for his next project. Because prior to Wayne's re branding, he could only move about 200k or 300k units.

Now it seems everyone wants to be relevant and in. Not necessarily thinking for themselves but whatever messages or themes are being put out there, that is what they will go and grab. I think it comes down, to the hidden desire for people to be considered "cool." I think people are so celebrity crazed that they will support whatever projects that they do. I mean that is why you see so many stars coming out with fashion lines, perfume lines, alcoholic endorsements, etc. They are counting on loyal fans supporting whatever they do. I mean I love stars such as, Coldplay. However, I am not going to support a restaurant that Chris Martin is opening up in Atlanta because I am a diehard fan of Coldplay.

I would have to see interviews done by him to explain, why he opened up a restaurant, and his background with cooking the genre of food he is competing in. Plus, I would need to hear about some favorable reviews from reputable food critics. However, if he just said something like, I decided to open up a restaurant because I really love good food, I embarked on this venture because I wanted to share my likes with everyone else, I would not support his restaurant. However, people do that stuff all the time.

I watched 3 different interviews of Beyonce with her movie Obsessed. Because I am a major fan of Beyonce's I wanted to give her a chance on this movie. Because the trailer was so horrible, I felt it necessary to watch her interviews. Each time, she kept repeating that, I am really passionate about acting now, and I really feel good about this project. I am sorry B...but that was not enough for me!

-Disclaimer-
I love Beyonce and think she is a very talented & gorgeous singer, yet, I think she is a horrible actress!**** I posted this on my facebook Friday afternoon! " I am really glad that REAL movie critics are not afraid to say her acting sucks! As an entertainer, it is important to stick to your core competency. Beyonce's core competency clearly is music. I wish she would really put some serious time in the studio and develop a quality musical project like "Crazy In Love." I feel that her other solo cds had some limited hits, but in my opinion, not the caliber of work that I know Beyonce is capable of. B's marketing team is great! Yet, no matter how great the campaign, quality reigns supreme! Early adopters may take a bite b/c of good marketing, but word of mouth advertising will harm your long term success. Bottom line, every musical artist can't be a successful turned actor like Will Smith. Natural talent is required..."

Another factor that helped this movie was timing. Considering the movies that she had to go up against, definitely this movie was going to get #1. I think the movie getting #1 has nothing to do with Beyonce being a box office draw, but she has enough money to do a really aggressive marketing campaign, so most people will believe what they see the most. In addition, a month leading up to the movie being released, every other commercial you saw on major network programming was the Obsessed trailer. It is not that Beyonce has taken over as the Black actress of choice, it is just that she has managed to buy her way into C league movies. I have attached a very reputable movie critic's review of Obsessed below. He rips the movie apart, and talks specifically about how horrible Beyonce's acting was. Another fact to note about this movie is that Beyonce's team did not do a pre-screening for Obsessed by movie critics or a pre-audience. Most if not all major movies do a pre-screen. However, they did not do this, because they knew the movie sucked. A key indicator that a movie sucks is when you can tell from the trailer that the movie is horrible! It really was not hard to be #1 this time, if you are going up against The Soloist, Jamie Foxx 's movie. Not really hard....Foxx sort of messed their chances up for being #1 when he went on his rant about Miley Cyrus via his radio show. I mean Miley does overstep her boundaries as a 16 year old kid often times, but Jamie should have communicated it in a better way. There was actually a negative campaign being led by parents to not support The Soloist because Jamie Fox was in it. Plus, The Soloist did a mediocre marketing campaign.

Every other movie had already been in theatres the previous week, Zack Effron - 17 again, and Hannah Montana. Because Marketing is based on the cost per viewer, $15 million dollars is a major penny to pay on marketing a movie. Especially, for its first weekend it only made $28 million. Once word of mouth gets out that the movie is horrible, it will not last. It probably cost about 12 million to make it, not a smart business move to me. But when you got money to burn like Beyonce...I guess you can afford to do this :).

I am happy to see that Beyonce and Magic Johnson were able to financially back this movie. I do like to see African Americans do successful business ventures, but I wish that quality would have been considered when investing in this movie. I mean if Beyonce wants to act and that is her true desire, I would recommend not paying your way into roles, but actually take some time off and go to acting school. I mean in my opinion this movie venture is no better than Paris Hilton's pop album. I mean really, Paris cannot sing, but because her family is wealthy, they can pay to market her album aggressively. Bottom line, in these economic times, consumers should not just follow something because it appears to be the most popular thing out, but they should solicit things that they know represents quality. Spend your dollars wisely.


Obsessed
By Brian Orndorf April 24th 2009, PG-13, 99min, Screen Gems

After two failed shots to nab Oscar gold with “Dreamgirls” and last year’s underwhelming “Cadillac Records,” Beyonce Knowles is ready to get her hands dirty. Summoning the spirits of the dearly departed blaxploitation genre, Knowles has selected “Obsessed” as her initial step to becoming more than just a rabid prestige hunter and ideal object of stunt casting agents.

This is the lauded singer’s first non-singing starring vehicle, and she’s chosen wisely. What better way to show some imposing box office muscle than to headline a trashy, empty calorie thriller that plays with racial bugaboos and DTV slasher conventions for a cheap, conversation-with-the-screen response. Oh my, this picture is junk food, but worse, it’s an absolute toothless bore.

A talented corporate drone, Derek (Idris Elba, “The Wire”) is on the verge of great professional success, while also tending to his domestic duties with loving wife Sharon (Beyonce Knowles) and their infant son. When Derek is introduced to sultry office temp Lisa (Ali Larter, “Heroes”), a series of harmless flirtations transforms into a serious situation of potential infidelity, leaving poor Derek in a panic. When Lisa’s playful sexuality turns into an alarming bout of stalking, Derek is forced to explain his temptations to a suspicious Sharon, who, as any territorial wife would, rises to the occasion, defending her husband’s honor to the bitter end.

One of the many problems that plague “Obsessed” is the character of Lisa. Modeled after Glenn Close’s bravura turn in “Fatal Attraction,” Lisa, as interpreted poorly by the limited Larter, is a stormy ocean of psychological disease, only she never makes a salient point. With a film titled “Obsessed,” one would think a little naughty fire in the nether regions is enough to build a central battery of suspense, but director Steve Shill and writer David Loughery fail to offer the character a tangible point of view. Lisa is a stock villain character, parading around in high heels, providing zero motivation; she’s a cherry-lipped boogeyman meant to titillate and revolt, but the proper response to the role is laughter. Larter wildly overplays the sex kitten nonsense to a point of uncomfortable camp. And if the central figure of menace is a joke, imagine how unrelentingly goofy the rest of “Obsessed” gets.

As much as I like Elba as an actor (he can be phenomenal), “Obsessed” is way below his skill level. It’s a hackneyed, tacky suspense film struggling to tighten a noose around the neck of the audience that was never properly fashioned in the first place. Elba displays his best faces of terror, but when Lisa’s unholy stalking alchemy consists of spam e-mails and fraudulent flower deliveries, there’s really no reason for the actor to even stay awake. Shill doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing, clutching the wooby of cliché like a filmmaking infant. “Obsessed” is allowed some room for silliness, but only if the material maintains a proper edge. The discomfort never arrives, mostly due to the PG-13 rating that keeps Lisa’s panties on her body instead of where they truly belong: in Derek’s mouth. And I mean that metaphorically. A dastardly sneak attack concerning a drugged beverage is also neutered by the rating, turning an unsettling hotel room violation into a vague game of “did they/didn’t they” the film never answers. If you’re a sexually charged thriller and you can’t even play the rape card, then what good are you?

Regardless of the ineffective tension build, most of the target demo is here to watch Beyonce beat up a skinny, blonde white girl, and Shill is more than happy to dish the violence up for the finale (the film’s alleged working title was “Oh No She Didn’t”). Knowles is an unforgivably terrible actress, but once she assumes her domestic lioness stance to go all Pam Grier on Larter, “Obsessed” rockets to another planet, devolving into an absurd action film with both actresses eager to follow atrocious fight choreography, punctuated by composer James Dooley’s repetitive two-cent Casio stings, leaving me wondering when the Leprechaun was going to pop up and devour Lisa and Sharon. He never arrives, but a cameo by a horror icon is a more artistically sound idea than anything the conclusion “Obsessed” comes up with.

Co-produced by the Knowles Empire and Magic Johnson, “Obsessed” is minor league ball compared to the other wonderfully lurid highlights of the subgenre. It’s a film to laugh at instead of with, and that’s a missed opportunity Magic Johnson should be ashamed of. I don’t know why I’m singling out Magic Johnson, but logical motives aren’t a priority for this loathsome movie, so it won’t be a priority for me.

What Good Friday Means to Me This Year?

Yesterday, was the first day that I spent the entire day really reflecting on Good Friday, and what the day really means. I know this may sound weird since I have been a Christian since age 11. However, I got the opportunity to see Good Friday through a new set of eyes.

I saw Good Friday through new eyes because a great deal of my activities that day were spent on preparing for the Good Friday program at my church. I spent a great deal of the day rehearsing the songs that I had to sing in the Good Friday program at my church. Throughout my practice time, a verse from one of the songs would make me reflect to a scripture or verse. So I took time to read the different scriptures that were brought into rememberance.

Typically, Good Friday has always been a day that I had off of work. I was aware of the actual significance of the day but I really did not use the day to reflect on the agony and pain that Christ endured. Normally, I would always see Good Friday as a travel day to go home to visit my family. Once I got home, it was more of a celebration by my family because I was home and not for the holiday itself. My family's church did not host a Good Friday service. Therefore, this was the first time, I ever attended an actual church service dedicated to observing Good Friday.

I guess a part of me subconsciously may have tried to omit the thoughts of Christ being on the cross because as a Christian it is very painful to think of my Lord experiencing this pain. Soldiers pierced his side, he wore a crown of thorns, he was beaten until the flesh fell from his body, and then he was nailed to the cross. I think that I may have fought a true reflection on what Good Friday truly meant because all of these images bring a sense of sadness to my heart. It brings a since of sadness because of my deep love for Jesus. Yet, I can soothe my grief by remembering that if Christ did not die on Friday, he would have not rose again on Easter Sunday for my sins.

Our Good Friday program, helped me to see the joy and miracle that emerged from my savior's pain. The songs that we song. The scriptures that were read. The words spoken by Pastor Cooper. The presentations that were made. All of these components worked together to create a church service that was so dynamic and so profound. While we were singing on stage, I thought of the sacrifice and pain that Christ endured on Good Friday. It was pain experienced, voluntarily. Not only was it voluntarily experienced, but Christ endured the pain of the cross because of his love for us.

I would highly recommend a Good Friday service to any Christian in the future. It is a time of reverence but most importantly it is a day that reminds me of how much Christ loved me. Christ loved me so much that he made atonement for my sins, not because of anything that I had done good, but ONLY because he loved me so.

I am very thankful to my husband, my church, my choir, and my minister of music. I thank my husband, Patrick, for always being supportive of my work in the choir and my rehearsal time for choir. I am thankful for my church for hosting a program as profound as the Good Friday program and always staying relevant. I am thankful to my choir for being a family of believers that truly love to worship. I am thankful to Mark, our church's minister of music, because he really puts his heart and soul in the music that is song before our congregation. The music he selects is always thought provoking and songs filled with worship and praise of our Lord and savior. For it was the music and the meaning behind the songs, that helped to bring home Good Friday's true meaning for me. I am truly a blessed child of the Most High!

All praises to Jesus. Bless his holy name!

How the Republican Party Will Take Back the White House?

I was having dinner with my husband and some friends, and my husband said something that really resonated with me. What he said was, “When the Obama Administration is out of office, he said, “The Republicans will take back the White House.” He said the reason he believes this is because, “The Democrats don’t stick together, most Democrats are so power hungry, and more interested in pushing their individual agendas, unlike the Republicans, who stick together for the most part in their pursuit to gain power.”

Basically, in a nutshell, the Republicans have a philosophy of coming together for their cause regardless of their differences. When you look at Republicans, they have sought to gain power by speaking in one unified voice. The message that is communicated to the public is one message. Now whether or not this message is one that people actually want to hear is a different story. This is why since the election in 2008, Republicans identify that they need to fine tune their message, and really incorporate a more effective one. Republicans recognized after losing the general election that their message was outdated and really did not resonate with most voters.

If you even reflect back to how long the Republicans stuck by President Bush, it seemed like they stayed in his corner as long as they could. It was only when they could not stand by him any further that people begin to separate themselves from him.

Another great example for how the Republicans demonstrate how they stick together regardless was when they rallied behind John McCain when he won the nomination. McCain was not the choice candidate for the party. Prior to McCain winning the nomination pundits such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hanity, Ann Coulter, and Newt Gingrich all talked about their opposition of McCain being the front runner. Yet, when it became apparent that McCain would be the front runner, and Romney had to step down, the party jumped behind McCain. In Mitt Romney’s concession speech he stated that “I am stepping down from my bid for the Republican party, for the good of the party. I am throwing all my support behind Senator McCain.” Romney gave his support the day he withdrew from the party run. If you look at Governor Huckabee, he supported McCain in the same way.

Also consider Sarah Palin’s selection as the vice presidential candidate, when you think of die hard unity that Republicans demonstrate. When Palin first came onto the scene, the party rallied behind her because of the excitement she stirred. However, when she had the Katie Couric interview, the media began to criticize her stating that she clearly was not ready to be Vice President. However, you had most of the Republican politicians and pundits on television and in the newspaper singing the same tune, “We feel she is qualified.” Some of the Republican pundits even tried to glaze over the significance of the VP role itself, just to safe face for the ticket. It was only after McCain and Palin lost that Republicans began to be vocal about their reservations on Palin.

In contrast, when you look at the Democratic nomination process, it was filled with divisiveness and scandal. It took Hillary FOREVER to drop out of the campaign. It was only after Obama was just overly diplomatic and gracious in catering to her and her supporters that she dropped out of the race. He even decided to participate in a process to divide the Michigan and Florida votes up with her, even though those two states votes were considered invalid for the nomination process. Even after he compromised and gave her 50% of each state, she still did not want to drop out of the election. It took her like a month and a half after this point that she came out and endorsed Obama. This was only after he had met with her privately and offered her a cabinet position, as well as, agreed to travel around the country to have fundraisers so that she could pay her political debt off. Obama did all this to unify the party. If the roles were reversed, Clinton would have not extended the same concessions to Obama. Now she would have asked Obama to be Vice President, simply because I believe that Hillary would have not been able to solidify a White House win without Obama being on her ticket, but that is a conversation for a another day.

Basically, Democrats act like tadpoles in a pond, struggling for that one piece of bread at the top. Like a tadpole, most of the Democratic politicians will do anything, say anything, step over anything, kill their mother or other next of kin to capture a sliver of power. It just seems so cutthroat, it is amazing to me.

Obama has tried to work to get Democrats to eliminate this dog eat dog mindset. However, I feel that several politicians are bucking his call for unity because of their own individual political agendas. In our most recent history, Obama has tried to bring to the party a level of unity and a level of discipline. However, it is so apparent that the party will not stick together. I read in the NY Times on Thursday that President Obama was rushing over to meet with the Democrats to solidify support for his budget. The article stated that a lot of the Democrats that were not supporting the budget were not supporting it because of personal things they wanted to include in the budget. Specifically, there are certain earmarks that they would like to see in the budget, and those were not there. I think that this is so ridiculous within itself, because in politics you are not going to get everything that you want to have.

I think that President Obama needs to work with both Republicans and Democrats to get a budget passed. I don't want a majority Democratic party voting his budget into office. I would like to see 20% of the Republicans supporting his budget as well. Each party must go in with the mindset that every bell and whistle wanted, personally, may not be included. But on the big things, they should agree on some definite plans for those. Definitely, it makes Obama’s pursuit to pass his budget even more difficult if you have petty Democrats opposing it because they are angry that their pet project such as “animal relief awareness” is not added to the budget. (No pun intended!)

If the roles were reversed, and President Obama was a Republican, the party would support the Budget that he was trying to pass. If there were oppositions to the Budget, than I believe Republicans would go to the President privately. Instead, you see Nancy Pelosi and other high profile Democrats in the media listing their disgruntled views to the media. And in turn, really not getting anything accomplished.

Obama has worked diligently to break them from this debilitating process. However, it is difficult to teach old dogs new tricks. Obama emphasized unity of the party and unity of the nation, this is why he won the election. He exemplified a unified front by picking Senator Biden as a running mate, when initially in the campaign; Biden was his main critic in the primaries. He reached out to McCain after winning the election, when in reality I don’t think McCain would have done the same for him. He reached out on a state level by inviting various governors to the White House for a gala.

If that same speak of unity is not practiced or adopted by the next Democratic candidate for the White House, that individual will not win the general election. Instead, what will happen is that the Republicans will have perfected their message, selected stronger candidates for 2016, and they will in turn take back the White House. After all, in this country, people are driven to things that are of the majority view. By this time frame, the Republicans will have revitalized their party.

I believe that this is why I have considered myself an independent since 2005. I am an independent because I believe that ultimately you must vote for and support the best candidate for the position. I voted for Bush in 2004, because I thought that John Kerry was too flip floppy on a lot of issues. Of course, lol, I regret that decision greatly.

I voted for Obama because he ran on principles and change that he is working currently to now implement. I don’t think he will be able to improve everything overnight but I do believe that he is willing to work with all politicians to improve the state of our nation. I think that Obama could really focus on really making the rubber meet the road if he had a truly unified party that was willing to work with him to bridge Republican alliances in creating legislation and budgets that would turn the economy around.

It is my hope that people will only give him a fair chance. No president in history has been able to turn around the problematic issues of a nation in only a few months. I hope he will be able to turn enough of our issues around because definitely once he is out of office, I think the Democrats will have a hard time hanging onto the White House, thereafter!

In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Making the Band: Destruction & Insanity At Their Best

I want to blog about the Making the Band 4 episode last night. Can I say ridiculous…….

I will sort of give you a little background on the entire season just in case you are not watching this season. Initially, the season started off pretty slow. The first episodes were dedicated to the aftermath of the Danity Kane breakup. Basically, these episodes consisted of Dawn and Andrea fretting about whether or not the group Danity Kane was still going to exist or not. I assume that the future of their group has now fizzled out because you hardly see Aundrea on any of the recent episodes and Dawn just seems to be around stirring up trouble.

The past 3 episodes have been climatic. Viewers get to see Que and his downward spiral. [The thing that has really surprised me about his character (emphasis on character) because you don't know if this stuff is really true or if this is good drama TV by MTV!] Que has demonstrated such a level of unprofessionalism. It is really embarrassing to himself, his family, and to young men all around. He has handled resolving conflicts in a very childlike way by going on tirades of childish banter.

This may be because he is age 20. Two of the guys are 27 but most of the other members of Day 26 are around his age. At any rate, I feel that Que's behavior in the past 3 episodes has demonstrated poor commitment to the group. I think that he is serving as an actual bottleneck to the actual music production of the group’s next album.

I do realize with reality shows, that 80% of the show is setup by the producers and only 20% is actual events and emotions. But last night the episode consisted of a lot of editing to make you think that there was a heightened level of orchestrated controversy, but at the same time, you could also tell that there are some serious issues going on with Que. Furthermore, last night, I think that viewers were able to see an actual moment of intervention for Que. Basically, Que's mother, all Day 26 group members, and the manager, tried to meet with Que to determine his problem.

I think the intent of the intervention was to help Que realize that there are some changes that need to be made, and to really get at the root cause of the issues. There was even an instance where "Big Mike" even said something to Que. Anyone that watches the show knows that Big Mike hardly says anything negative. He is always the go to guy when you are looking for positivity! Tears even streamed down his face as he talked with compassion to Que, about helping him. However, just like a typical drug intervention would go, Que responds by yelling and blaming everyone else for his problems. He refuses to take a step back and look at his possible responsibility for any of the issues that are transpiring.

As a sidebar, it is easy to deflect to someone else when it is 1 or 2 instances but if multiple negative interactions happen with you regarding the same thing, than it is probably a best practice to take a look in the mirror! Yet, Que refuses to listen to anyone, and his mother states the biggest character flaw that Que has perfectly, "Que you don't want to listen to anyone. No one can tell you anything!"

What made the situation more realistic is that during the climatic exchange between Will and Que, Que's mother followed Will out of the room to calm him down versus soothing her own son. This is ironic because normally, your mother always defends you to end. This was a key indicator to me that there were some real issues going on here versus MTV producer drama. I actually told Patrick that I think Que may be on drugs. I hope he isn’t but his sporadic behavior is alarming.

To make things worse, Dawn is serving an enabler. She is only enabling Que because she makes him feel like his behavior is appropriate in all instances, and clearly it is not. Que even told Will and Brian that he thought that they were jealous of him. This was the reason why they were even trying to talk to him at that point. This is laughable within itself, because if anything, Que is not a primary contributor to the group. Que has deceived himself that the other group members are jealous of him. This does not come down to others being jealous of you trying to be successful individually. What this comes down to is a situation where your individual pursuits are hurting the progress of the group. The group is your bread and butter at this point. It is great that Que wants to sharpen his dance skills but the reality is that he needs to do that on a separate timeline that does not conflict with music production.

When you are on a downward spiral like he is on, the last thing you need is someone supporting your insaneness, lol! It makes no sense for someone to take dance lessons when they are supposed to be putting in studio time to make an album. While Que should be in the studio rehearsing, he is doing things such as fighting some guys in Starbucks. I mean, come on, how do you get into a fight at Starbucks? Starbucks is one of the more laid back environments to hang…

Even if things are not going your way, in a professional work environment you have to take out the I and work towards the We. It is really important to make sure you are there and contributing. However, you must also understand that with a team dynamic, everyone is not going to love all your ideas. But that does not mean that you should go into shut down mode, like a kid. What this means is that you need to develop a level of patience. Have patience that if your idea is meant to come to fruition for the team, that time will come. If you don't have this faith and confidence in your idea, than you must really evaluate the true workability of what you are trying to do.

Clearly, Que is non-coachable. It is a shame that when you are non-coachable, that this can inhibit your future success. There are two things that Business school really instills in you, #1 the Ability to work successfully in teams and #2 To be able to handle constructive feedback. In today's society, so many people lack those two skills and regardless of what industry or profession you are in, you can't be successful without those two elements. If you happen to climb over some people to get some form of success without using these two principles, eventually your failure to hone these skills will ultimately lead to your failure.