Time Magazine

Robert Gibbs Leaves, Jay Carney Becomes Obama’s Press Spokesman

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Today marks the end of the tenure of Robert Gibbs as President Barack Obama’s press spokesman, and the succession of former Time Magazine journalist Jay Carney to that challenging position.

Gibbs worked with Obama since he announced for the Senate seat in Illinois in 2004, and will continue to work behind the scenes for the reelection campaign of the President. He was well liked by most journalists on the White House beat, but the position was starting to become a stressful one for him, as it is one of the more difficult jobs, to be the public spokesman for the President on a daily basis.

Carney, who was most recently the press spokesman for Vice President Joe Biden, with a strong journalistic background, and also married to ABC News correspondent Claire Shipman, should be able to stay on good relations with the press, at a time when the public image of the President should be even more significant, as he heads into the re-election campaign.

It was amazing to realize that Gibbs left his position on the single most historic day of the Obama Presidency, with the stunning success of the Egyptian Revolution!

The Gap Between College Education Needed And The Response Of College Age Population, Particularly Males: Danger Sign For The Future Economic Growth Of America! :(

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With the unemployment rate rising from 9.6 percent to 9.8 percent, over 15 million people out of work, and over 6 million out of work for a long term, the nation is faced with the reality that college graduates or higher earn far more than others, and have a very low unemployment rate in this horrible economy!

At the same time, African Americans and Hispanics, and those with less than a high school diploma, or even those who finish high school but achieve no higher level of education, are faced with an extremely high unemployment rate and little hope of a real employment opportunity anytime soon!

In the midst of this crisis, we are finding a larger number of high school students no longer aspire to college education, and that this is particularly noticeable among males, who now comprise far less than a majority of college level students!

Women are becoming more educated, and gaining better pay than in the past, and have a lower unemployment rate than men, and this is also adding up to fewer marriages, with women no longer feeling the need to marry because they can support themselves, and less resistance to the idea of having children out of wedlock!

As Time Magazine stated in a recent issue, women don’t need to marry for money, and neither men nor women need to marry for sexual relations, so marriage is a declining institution, as well as the goal of many young people, and particularly males, to gain a college education, which would improve their chances of keeping a job and avoiding unemployment!

This is a social problem that plagues America and will adversely affect its long range future, unless we can convince young people of the importance of education in their lives!

2000-2009: A Horrible Decade In So Many Ways!

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Time Magazine calls the decade from 2000-2009 the “Decade From Hell”!

In so many ways, it was just that! Notice that it coincides with the eight years of the Bush Administration after the contested election of 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows the American people have a very negative view of the decade now ending. Fifty eight percent saw the decade as negative, with only twelve percent perceiving it positively, and 29 percent seeing it as “fair”, which is seen as basically neutral.

The major negative developments in percentage were the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the mortgage and housing crisis, the Iraq war, stock market crash, and Hurricane Katrina. All five of these can be attributed to blunders of the Bush Administration.

The positive developments of the decade, according to the poll, were in science and technology and race relations.

But the negative developments included by percentage the following: economic prosperity, moral values, treating others with respect, nation’s sense of unity, peace and national security, health and well being, and the environment, with the negative percentages ranging from 74 percent down to 37 percent, with only the last two under 50 percent.

Overall, we have lived through a dreadful decade, and it makes one wonder whether the next decade will see improvement in these different areas, or whether we are in chronic decline as a nation! 🙁