| Name | Barack Obama |
|---|---|
| Alt | A portrait shot of a serious looking middle-aged African-American male (Barack Obama) looking straight ahead. He has short black hair, and is wearing a dark navy blazer with a blue striped tie over a light blue collared shirt. In the background are two flags hanging from separate flagpoles: an American flag, and one from the Executive Office of the President. |
| Order | 44th |
| Office | President of the United States |
| Vicepresident | Joe Biden |
| Term start | January 20, 2009 |
| Predecessor | George W. Bush |
| Jr/sr2 | United States Senator |
| State2 | Illinois |
| Term start2 | January 3, 2005 |
| Term end2 | November 16, 2008 |
| Predecessor2 | Peter Fitzgerald |
| Successor2 | Roland Burris |
| State senate3 | Illinois |
| State3 | Illinois |
| District3 | 13th |
| Term start3 | January 8, 1997 |
| Term end3 | November 4, 2004 |
| Predecessor3 | Alice Palmer |
| Successor3 | Kwame Raoul |
| Birth date | August 04, 1961 |
| Birth place | Honolulu, Hawaii Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 general election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. |
Category:1961 births Category:21st-century presidents of the United States Category:African American academics Category:African American lawyers Category:African American memoirists Category:African American United States presidential candidates Category:African American United States Senators Category:American Christians Category:American civil rights lawyers Category:American legal scholars Category:American Nobel laureates Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Kenyan descent Category:American political writers Category:American politicians of German descent Category:American politicians of Irish descent Category:Audio book narrators Barack Obama Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Community organizers Category:Current national leaders Category:Democratic Party Presidents of the United States Category:Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees Category:Democratic Party United States Senators Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Illinois Democrats Category:Illinois lawyers Category:Illinois State Senators Category:Living people Category:Luo people Category:Nobel Peace Prize laureates Category:Obama family Category:Occidental College alumni Category:People associated with renewable energy Category:People from Honolulu, Hawaii Category:Politicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:Presidents of the United Nations Security Council Category:Presidents of the United States Category:Punahou School alumni Category:Time Persons of the Year Category:United Church of Christ members Category:United States presidential candidates, 2008 Category:United States Senators from Illinois Category:University of Chicago Law School faculty Category:Writers from Chicago, Illinois
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| Name | Jon Stewart |
|---|---|
| Caption | Stewart at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, October 30, 2010. |
| Alma mater | William & Mary |
| Birth name | Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz |
| Birth date | November 28, 1962 |
| Birth place | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Medium | Stand-up, television, film, books |
| Nationality | American |
| Active | 1987–present |
| Genre | Satire/political satire/news satire, observational comedy |
| Subject | Mass media/news media/Media criticism, American politics, current events, religion, Jewish culture, race relations, human sexuality, self-deprecation |
| Influences | George Carlin, Woody Allen, David Letterman, Steve Martin, is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He is widely known as host of The Daily Show, a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central. |
In January 2005, CNN announced that it was canceling Crossfire. When asked about the cancellations, CNN/US' incoming President, Jonathan Klein, referenced Stewart's appearance on the show: "I think he made a good point about the noise level of these types of shows, which does nothing to illuminate the issues of the day." Soon after, Stewart quipped on The Daily Show that "I fought the law, and the law lost!"
When asked about his relationship with Tucker Carlson on CNN's Larry King Live in February 2008, Stewart said: "It became this idea that it was personal between the two of us, and it wasn't... If there's one thing I regret about that thing, it was probably the idea that it was personal, that there was something I was saying about Tucker to Tucker, but actually it was about the show."
On March 18, 2009, Carlson wrote a blog entry for The Daily Beast criticizing Stewart for his handling of the CNBC controversy (see below). In this article, Carlson discusses the CNN incident and claims Stewart remained backstage for at least "an hour" and "continued to lecture our staff", something Carlson described as "one of the weirdest things I have ever seen."
Subsequent media coverage of exchanges between Jim Cramer, who had been featured heavily in the original segment, and Stewart, led to a highly anticipated face-to-face confrontation on The Daily Show. The episode received a large amount of media hype and became the second most-viewed episode of The Daily Show, trailing only the 2009 Inauguration Day episode. It had 2.3 million total viewers, and the next day, the show's website saw its highest day of traffic in 2009. Although Cramer acknowledged on the show that some of Stewart's criticisms of CNBC were valid and that they could "do better," he later said on the "Today" Show that Stewart's criticism of the media was "naïve and misleading."
Stewart stepped up his criticism of Fox News in 2010; as of April 24, The Daily Show had 24 segments criticizing Fox News′ coverage. Moments later, Stewart defended his assertion: On April 30, 2009, Stewart apologized on his program, and stated he did not believe Truman was a war criminal: }}
In 2004, Stewart and The Daily Show writing staff released , a mock high school history textbook offering insights into the unique American system of government, dissecting its institutions, explaining its history and processes, and satirizing such popular American political precepts as "one man, one vote", "government by the people," and "every vote counts." The book sold millions of copies upon its 2004 release and ended the year as a top fifteen best-seller.
His first film role was a minor part in The First Wives Club but his scene was deleted. In 1995, Stewart signed a three-year deal with Miramax. He played romantic leads in the films Playing by Heart and Wishful Thinking. He also had supporting roles in the romantic comedy Since You've Been Gone and in the horror film The Faculty. Other films were planned for Stewart to write and star in, but they were never produced. Stewart has since maintained a relationship with Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein and continues to appear in films they have produced including Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Doogal and the documentary Wordplay.
He also appeared in Half Baked as an "enhancement smoker" and in Big Daddy as Adam Sandler's roommate; he has joked on the Daily Show and in the documentary The Aristocrats that to get the role he slept with Sandler. Stewart often makes fun of his appearances in the high-profile flop Death to Smoochy, in which he played a treacherous television executive, and the animated film Doogal, where he played a blue spring named Zeebad that shot a freeze ray from his mustache. In 2007, Stewart made a cameo appearance as himself in Evan Almighty, which starred former Daily Show correspondent Steve Carell. In the movie, Stewart was seen on a television screen in a fictional Daily Show episode poking fun at Carell's character for building an ark.
Stewart had a recurring role in The Larry Sanders Show in which he played himself as an occasional substitute and possible successor to late-night talk show host Larry Sanders (played by Garry Shandling). In 1998, Stewart hosted the television special, Elmopalooza, celebrating 30 years of Sesame Street. He has guest-starred on other sitcoms such as The Nanny, Dr Katz, Professional Therapist, Spin City, NewsRadio, American Dad, and The Simpsons. He has also made guest-appearances on the children's television series Between the Lions, Sesame Street and Jack's Big Music Show.
In 2005, Comedy Central reached an agreement with Busboy to finance the production company. Comedy Central has a first-look agreement on all projects, then Busboy is free to shop them to other networks. The deal spawned the Daily Show spin-off The Colbert Report. Other projects include the sitcom pilot Three Strikes, the documentary Sportsfan, the series Important Things with Demetri Martin, and the film The Donor.
He supported the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, commenting on The Daily Show episode just before the strike in a sarcastic manner about how Comedy Central had made available all of the episodes for free on their website, but without advertising, and said 'go support our advertisers'. The show went on hiatus when the strike began, as did other late night talk shows. Upon Stewart's return to the show on January 7, 2008, he refused to use the title The Daily Show, stating that "The Daily Show" was the show made with all of the people responsible for the broadcast, including his writers. During the strike, he referred to his show as A Daily Show with Jon Stewart until the strike ended on February 13, 2008. Stewart, as well as several other late night talk shows, returned to TV early in January even though the strike was not over, because their stage crews and production teams were suffering much more than the writers from the financial crunch, and by that point had been out of work for two months.
The Writers Guild Strike of 2007–2008 was also responsible for a notable mock feud among Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Conan O'Brien in early 2008. Without writers to help fuel their witty banter, the three comedians concocted a crossover/rivalry in order to garner more viewers during the ratings slump. Stephen Colbert made the claim that because of "the Colbert bump", he was responsible for Mike Huckabee's success in the 2008 presidential race. Conan O'Brien claimed that he was responsible for Huckabee's success because not only had he made mention of him on his show, but also that he was responsible for Chuck Norris' success (Norris backed Huckabee). In response, Stewart claimed that he was responsible for the success of O'Brien, since Stewart had featured him on The Jon Stewart Show, and in turn the success of Huckabee. This resulted in a three-part comedic battle between the three pundits, with all three appearing on each other's shows. The feud ended on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with a mock brawl involving the three talk-show hosts.
In the December 2003 New Years edition of Newsweek, Stewart was named the "Who's Next?" person for the coming year of 2004, with the magazine predicting he would emerge as an absolute sensation in that year. (The magazine said they were right at the end of that year.)
Entertainment Weekly named Stewart as its "Entertainer of the Year" for 2004.
In 2004, Stewart spoke at the commencement ceremonies at his alma mater, William and Mary, and received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree. Stewart was also the Class Day keynote speaker at Princeton University in 2004, and the 2008 Sacerdote Great Names speaker at Hamilton College.
In 2000, when he was labeled a "Democrat," he generally agreed, but described his political affiliation as "more socialist or independent" than Democratic.
Asteroid 116939 Jonstewart, discovered April 15, 2004, is named in his honor.
Stewart was also named one of the 2005 Time 100, an annual list of 100 of the most influential people of the year by Time Magazine.
In addition, Stewart and The Daily Show received the 2005 NCTE George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language.
Stewart was presented an Honorary All-America award by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) in 2006.
On April 21, 2009, President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made Stewart a chief.
On October 26, 2010, Stewart was named the Most Influential Man of 2010 by AskMen.com.
Critical response to Stewart's performance was mixed. Roger Ebert compared him favorably to legendary Oscar host Johnny Carson. Other reviewers were less positive; Tom Shales of The Washington Post said that Stewart hosted with “smug humorlessness.” James Poniewozik of Time said that Stewart was a bad host, but a great “anti-host” in that he poked fun at parts of the broadcast that deserved it, which lent him a degree of authenticity with the non-Hollywood audience. Stewart and correspondent John Oliver later poked fun at his lackluster reception on The Daily Show
Stewart also hosted the 80th Academy Awards on February 24, 2008. Reception this time, however, was far more positive.
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| Honorific-prefix | The Right Honourable |
|---|---|
| Name | Hugh Gaitskell |
| Birth date | April 09, 1906 |
| Birth place | London, United Kingdom |
| Death place | London, United Kingdom |
| Death date | January 18, 1963 |
| Office | Leader of the Opposition |
| Term start | 14 December 1955 |
| Term end | 18 January 1963 |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Primeminister | Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan |
| Predecessor | Clement Attlee |
| Successor | George Brown |
| Office2 | Chancellor of the Exchequer |
| Term start2 | 19 October 1950 |
| Term end2 | 26 October 1951 |
| Primeminister2 | Clement Attlee |
| Predecessor2 | Stafford Cripps |
| Successor2 | Rab Butler |
| Office3 | Minister of Fuel and Power |
| Term start3 | 24 October 1947 |
| Term end3 | 15 February 1950 |
| Primeminister3 | Clement Attlee |
| Predecessor3 | Manny Shinwell |
| Successor3 | Philip Noel-Baker |
| Constituency mp4 | Leeds South |
| Term start4 | 5 July 1945 |
| Term end4 | 18 January 1963 |
| Predecessor4 | Henry Charles Charleton |
| Successor4 | Merlyn Rees |
| Majority4 | 17,431 (65.4%) |
| Nationality | British |
| Party | Labour Party |
| Alma mater | New College, Oxford |
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell PC (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a British Labour politician, who held Cabinet office in Clement Attlee's governments, and was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955, until his death in 1963.
Gaitskell was attached to the University of Vienna for the 1933-4 academic year and witnessed first-hand the political suppression of the Marxist-oriented social democratic workers movement by the conservative Engelbert Dollfuss's government in Vienna in February 1934. He added: "You may say, all right! Let it end! But, my goodness, it's a decision that needs a little care and thought.".
He is still regarded with affection even among Labour's left wing, including Tony Benn, who in particular contrasts his stand on the Suez Crisis to that of the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, on the war in Iraq. Margaret Thatcher compared Blair with Gaitskell in a different manner, warning her party when Blair came to power that he was the most formidable Labour leader since Hugh Gaitskell.His name appears in popular culture from time to time. For example, 'Hugh Gaitskell House' is the building Nicholas Lyndhurst's character Garry Sparrow is looking for in Goodnight Sweetheart when he first stumbles into World War II London. A tower block of that name can be found opposite Stoke Newington railway station in North London.
'Hugh Gaitskell Primary School' is situated in Beeston, part of his Leeds South constituency.
In private, Hugh Gaitskell was said to be humorous and fun loving, with a love of ballroom dancing. This contrasted with his stern public image.
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| Name | David Axelrod |
|---|---|
| Office | Senior Advisor to the President |
| Term start | January 20, 2009 |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Alongside | Peter Rouse and Valerie Jarrett |
| Predecessor | Barry Jackson |
| Caption | Axelrod in the Oval Office, 2009 |
| Birth name | David Axelrod |
| Birth date | February 22, 1955 |
| Birth place | Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York |
| Occupation | Senior Advisor to President Obama |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Susan Landau |
| Children | Lauren Axelrod, Michael Axelrod, Ethan Axelrod |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago |
| Education | B.A. 1977 |
| Religion | Judaism |
David M. Axelrod (born February 22, 1955) is an American political consultant based in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known as the top political advisor to President Barack Obama, first in Obama's 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate in Illinois and later as chief strategist for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Following the 2008 election, he was appointed as Senior Advisor to President Obama.
Axelrod is the founder of AKP&D; Message and Media, was a political writer for the Chicago Tribune, and operated ASK Public Strategies, now called ASGK Public Strategies. He is also a supporter of Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool, who helped Axelrod begin his firm (under the name Axelrod and Associates).
In 1985, Axelrod formed a political consultancy company, Axelrod & Associates. In 1987 he worked on the successful reelection campaign of Harold Washington, Chicago's first black mayor, while also helping to spearhead Simon's campaign for the 1988 Democratic Presidential nomination. This established his first experience in working with black politicians and he later became a key player in similar mayoral campaigns of blacks, including Dennis Archer in Detroit, Michael R. White in Cleveland, Anthony A. Williams in Washington, D.C., Lee P. Brown in Houston, and John F. Street in Philadelphia. Axelrod is a longtime strategist for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and styles himself a "specialist in urban politics." The Economist notes he also specializes in, quote "packaging black candidates for white voters". However, Goldschmidt announced in February that he would not seek re-election.
In 2002, Axelrod was retained by the Liberal Party of Ontario to help Dalton McGuinty and his party to be elected into government in the October 2003 election. Axelrod's effect on Ontario was heard through the winning Liberal appeal to "working families" and placing an emphasis on positive policy contrasts like canceling corporate tax breaks to fund education and health.
In 2004, Axelrod worked for John Edwards' presidential campaign. During the campaign, he lost responsibility for making ads, but continued as the campaign's spokesman. Regarding Edwards' failed 2004 presidential campaign, Axelrod has commented, "I have a whole lot of respect for John, but at some point the candidate has to close the deal and — I can’t tell you why — that never happened with John."
In 2006, Axelrod consulted for several campaigns, including the successful campaigns of Eliot Spitzer in New York's gubernatorial election and Deval Patrick in Massachusetts's gubernatorial election. Axelrod also served in 2006 as the chief political adviser for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel for the U.S. House of Representatives elections, in which the Democrats gained 31 seats.
Until recently, Axelrod also worked as an Adjunct Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University, where he, along with Professor Peter Miller, taught an undergraduate class titled Campaign Strategy, a class that analyzed political campaigns, the strategies used by them, and the effectiveness of those strategies.
On June 14, 2009 Axelrod received an honorary "Doctor of Humane Letters" degree from DePaul University, speaking at the commencement exercises of the College of Communication and College of Computing and Digital Media.
Axelrod served as the chief strategist and media advisor for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Axelrod contemplated taking a break from the 2008 presidential campaign, as five of the candidates —Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Christopher Dodd, and Tom Vilsack — were past clients. Personal ties between Axelrod and Hillary Clinton also made it difficult, as she had done significant work on behalf of epilepsy causes for a foundation co-founded by Axelrod's wife and mother, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) (Axelrod's daughter suffers from developmental disabilities associated with chronic epileptic seizures.) Axelrod's wife even said that a 1999 conference Clinton convened to find a cure for the condition was "one of the most important things anyone has done for epilepsy."
However, Axelrod decided to participate in the Obama campaign. Ultimately, he viewed Obama's potential candidacy as inspirational and historic. He often likens Obama to Robert F. Kennedy and told The Washington Post, "I thought that if I could help Barack Obama get to Washington, then I would have accomplished something great in my life."
Axelrod contributed to the initial announcement of Obama's campaign by creating a five-minute Internet video released January 16, 2007. He continued to use 'man on the street' style biographical videos to create intimacy and authenticity in the political ads.
in February 2008]] While the Clinton campaign chose an incumbent strategy that emphasized experience, Axelrod helped to craft the Obama campaign's main theme of "change." Axelrod criticized the Clinton campaign's positioning by saying that "being the consummate Washington insider is not where you want to be in a year when people want change...[Clinton's] initial strategic positioning was wrong and kind of played into our hands." The change message played a factor in Obama's victory in the Iowa caucuses. "Just over half of [Iowa's] Democratic caucus-goers said change was the No. 1 factor they were looking for in a candidate, and 51 percent of those voters chose Barack Obama," said CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. "That compares to only 19 percent of 'change' caucus-goers who preferred Clinton." Axelrod also believed that the Clinton campaign underestimated the importance of the caucus states. "For all the talent and the money they had over there," says Axelrod, "they — bewilderingly — seemed to have little understanding for the caucuses and how important they would become." This includes drawing on "Web 2.0" technology and viral media to support a grassroots strategy. Obama's web platform allows supporters to blog, create their own personal page, and even phonebank from home. Axelrod's elaborate use of the Internet has helped Obama to organize under-30 voters and build over 475,000 donors in 2007, most of whom were Internet donors contributing less than $100 each. The Obama strategy stood in contrast to Hillary Clinton's campaign, which benefited from high name recognition, large donors and strong support among established Democratic leaders.
The Politico described Axelrod as 'soft-spoken' and 'mild-mannered' and it quoted one Obama aide in Chicago as saying, "Do you know how lucky we are that he is our Mark Penn?" Democratic consultant and former colleague Dan Fee said of Axelrod, "He's a calming presence." "He's not a screamer, like some of these guys," political advisor Bill Daley said of Axelrod in the Chicago Tribune. "He has a good sense of humor, so he's able to defuse things."
On April 15, 2009, Jim Messina and Jon Selib, chief of staff to Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, convened a meeting at the headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) with leaders of organized labor and health care groups, including PhRMA. At the meeting, the groups decided to form two nonprofit entities to promote reform efforts, Healthy Economy Now and Americans for Stable Quality Care, that would be almost entirely funded by PhRMA. The two groups spent $24 million on their advertising campaigns; the contract to produce and place ads went to White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod's former firm, AKPD, which owed Axelrod $2 million.
David Axelrod is expected to vacate his White House senior advisor post on February 1, 2011.
Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:American political writers Category:American columnists Category:American Jews Category:Jewish American political consultants Category:Obama Administration personnel Category:Chicago Tribune people Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:People from Manhattan Category:Stuyvesant High School alumni Category:United States presidential advisors Category:University of Chicago alumni
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