Obama's Alleged Retreat From History [UPDATED]

By way of Hot Air I learn that Reason has detected Obama's retreat from history, or at least, past Presidential biographies:

In May, several folks took note that the White House’s web site had quietly added USA Today-style factoids promoting Obama’s accomplishments at the bottom of the biographies of other presidents, Democrat and Republican alike....

But as quietly as the Obama boasts appeared, they have been removed. The bullet points are now gone from all the biographies on the White House’s website.

Really? Some of them may be gone, but I can still find supplemental "Did You Know" plugs for Obama at the Kennedy, Reagan and Nixon bios. Also Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, and Carter. [And now Reason can, too, in their update.]

In fact, unless we are talking about a major format change, I don't think anything has happened. So what website was Reason looking at, or what am I seeing?  I put in a few current screenshots below.

And here is how the NY Times described it last May:

The White House added the footnotes on Monday in a section titled, “Did You Know?” under the official biographies, which were written by the historian Michael Beschloss and the journalist Hugh Sidey. A White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal operations told The New York Times and other news outlets on Tuesday that no biographies had been altered, and emphasized that the White House was simply adopting a promotion technique widely used on the Web.

Here is the bottom of the White House bio for Reagn:

And Kennedy:

Beats me. What are other people seeing?

 

 

Comments

[Thomas Collins]

Obama is scheduled for a June 25th fundraiser at Boston's Symphony Hall. A performance by Grammy Award-winning violinist Miri Ben-Ari is scheduled at the fundraiser. So much for getting anywhere in Boston on June 25th.

[Porchlight]

A performance by Grammy Award-winning violinist Miri Ben-Ari is scheduled at the fundraiser.

Otherwise they probably couldn't get anyone to come. Gotta have a celebrity or a performance of some sort.

[AliceH]

Clarice - still no news. They talk but say nothing.

[Clarice]

Sorry..Better than bad news I guess.

[Ignatz]

--The 'concern trolls' and lefties need to breathe into a paper bag for a few minutes--

And if that doesn't work there's always a Hefty bag and a ziptie.

[lyle]

Damn, that WZ thread is amazing. Such serious chin-pulling from concern trolls and other "above the fray" types. We evil Rethuglicans should run nicer campaigns where our candidate wants the other candidate to win like in '08.

My fave comment was the one claiming Romney "never worked a day in his life." Stunning.

[Rick Ballard]

For polling aficionados - a very interesting Michigan LV poll showing a dead heat. The interesting part is it's a Dem poll with a 42/32/26 skew. That skew should produce 51% for Obama rather than the 47% reported. Rebalancing the poll to a proper skew places Obama at 43%.

In Michigan.

No wonder T1000 is now firing for effect.

[Threadkiller]

Thanks TC. Here is a link that dives into Ol' Chet's history.

http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/urgent-historical-breakthrough-proof-chester-arthur-concealed-he-was-a-british-subject-at-birth/

[henry]

Raz has Tommy Thompson leading Baldwin 52-36 for the senate seat now occupied by Herb Kohl. The other three Rs appear tied with Baldwin who never exceeds 44%.

This may be a duplicate post, I think our favorite software at the first attempt.

[henry]

. Rats.

[Rick Ballard]

Henry,

Is there any reason why Baldwin should run lower than Barrett? Feingold took 47% in '10, Barrett pegs at 46% - is the fact Baldwin is a bigger proglodyte than Feingold responsible for her miserable showing?

How's Voter ID coming? Have the cases been scheduled for hearing?

[Neo]

“Let’s get real here,” McCain told The Hill. “There was never any outreach from President Obama or anyone in his administration to me.”

McCain disputes the notion that he has rejected entreaties to cooperate with the White House because he is bitter from his defeat four years ago.

[henry]

Baldwin is running as "the first openly lesbian senator" and is from Madison. She is currently in the House and is as prog as anyone out there.

[henry]

No news on voter ID.

[Ignatz]

--Baldwin is running as "the first openly lesbian senator" --

Was Hillary trying to hide it?
Or was Tom Daschle for that matter.

[MarkO]

McConnell really nailing Obama's hate of free speech. I'm impressed. I've never seen any president who so hates free speech. Not even Nixon.

[Extraneus]

The White House added the footnotes on Monday in a section titled, “Did You Know?” under the official biographies, which were written by the historian Michael Beschloss and the journalist Hugh Sidey.

Forget the "footnotes." What about the rest of the "official biographies?"

Michael Bechloss: "Obama is probably the smartest guy ever to become president.”

Hugh Sidey: "Most of us are Democratic and probably most of us line up in the fairly liberal world.”

[MarkO]

Is Pitzer still in session. I'd like to drive out and see the dean.

[Captain Hate]

Damn, that WZ thread is amazing. Such serious chin-pulling from concern trolls and other "above the fray" types.

Yes I think some of those "lifetime Republicans" that needed smelling salts to deal with Willard's disruptive borderline felony weren't being 100% honest. Just a hunch...

[Captain Hate]

Is Pitzer still in session.

There's no evidence here that Pitzer is ever in session.

[narciso]

There, the opposite of Dean Vernon's advice, seems to operate,

[Ignatz]

Weak whiny tea from the lefties means November's looking bleak.
Table cloths, horn honking, whining about a small pushback on Soros and Lewis's mega bucks?
As Jed Clampett used to say, "pitiful, just pitiful".

[hrtshpdbox]

President Obama currently has the small matter of a country to run
Nah, it's a big matter; tragically, Obama was never up to the task.

the former governor of Massachusetts isn’t going to win his home state this fall.
Agreed; besides Massachusetts, Romney will likely lose eight or nine other states as well (you can't win them all, after all).

[Captain Hate]

But Iggy, they've got the double-naught Pezzydint and all 'round sooper genius Barack Bodine Soetero.

[Extraneus]

I can still get past these droppings in under two seconds, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

[hrtshpdbox]

If you include payroll taxes, it turns out that only 18 percent of households pay no direct federal taxes.
You ninny, the "47 percent who don't pay taxes" get their payroll taxes back in a refund check every year.

[lyle]

Who's the cut n paste jackass?

[Rick Ballard]

That would be Dana Gilbert Ward of Pitzer College. He teaches occupooping and defacement of private property to the drooling cretins dumb enough to matriculate at a fourth rate prog dump.

[Rocco]

When the reporters start clamoring for a Romney apology, Romney better say somethin Pattonesque like--I thought Elizabeth Warren was with the president and might enjoy a re-enactment of her ancestors circling the wagons.

[Extraneus]

Obama: Election is chance to break stalemate

He's finally made a good point.

[Ranger]

This is a pretty good rundown of the state of play in Egypt right now:

Counter-revolution: Egyptian court invalidates parliamentary elections, affirms Mubarak PM’s place on presidential ballot

The only factor left out is the extent to which I think the Egyptian Army feared a Brotherhood government might actually try to start a new war with Israel to distract from economic problems.

[sailor]

I agree, completely with confuscious@5:50. And, also, I really hate reading the long posts from McBain. Do all of you just scroll by or what?

[AliceH]

I can't direct link it, but I went to WaybackMachine and searched for the Reagan Bio, which uses the URL http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rr40.html

I just compared the "old" Reagan bio to the current one, and so far as I can tell, they are identical except for 2 things added to the current site:

1) Credit appended: "The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Michael Beschloss and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2009 by the White House Historical Association."

2) Addition of "Did you know" Obama stuff.

Which makes me wonder - how did a Reagan bio from 2004 get credited to something copyrighted in 2009? And if it's a renewed copyright, why wasn't it credited before?

[Captain Hate]

Keeping you abreast of all the big stories http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2159220/Mother-12-operations-L-cup-breasts-says-wont-stop-theyre-biggest-world--her.html#ixzz1xoBdrDFM

[Clarice]

Narciso, pls check your emails.
Even ABC is making fun of the Wintour bash:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/fundraiser-sarah-jessica-parker-anna-wintour/story?id=16567579#.T9ptvWJqxCW

[AliceH]

ahh- interesting. Found this on the archive main presidents page "The President biographies presented here are from the book The Presidents of the United States of America written by Frank Freidel and Hugh S. Sidey (contributing author), published by the White House Historical Association with the cooperation of the National Geographic Society. "

Out with Freidel, in with Michael Beschloss? Same book? I don't get it.

[Captain Hate]

I swear I had no idea that Romney being the candidate would be so enjoyable. Whacking the trolls at Weasel Zippers was like plinking pests such as woodchucks with a .22; except woodchucks are kind of cute despite their destructive ways and you wish you didn't have to do it.

[Captain Hate]

More fainting couches please http://minx.cc/?post=330137

[centralcal]

sailor - just scroll and ignore.

[Clarice]

Quinn confused friends with fellow social -is- business types--common enough here. And when one's status declines as it invariably does, so go the invites and the desire of others to have invites from you.

She was there before because Ben Bradley held a powerful position. He no longer does. The wheel turns. Glad she apparently actually has a few real freinds--lots of people on that wheel don't really and are shcked to learn that.

[centralcal]

Smells good in here. TM must have sprayed some room freshener.

[hit and run]

The cut n pastes will be consigned to the ash heap of history in the not too distant future. Considering that -- talking to or about the person who posts them is rather pointless.

Except for the work Mr. Ballard does to properly identify him.

Oh, and I must admit my one weakness in this regard: I may never tire of quoting him...

"Don't backpeddle now."

[narciso]

Thanks Clarice, you know 'Game of Thrones' is an apt metaphor for the regime, just not the way they intended, Tyrion as the mad prince,
is familiar, as are other characters, of the
Lannister line,

[hit and run]

By the way, I think Matthew Broderick is getting short shrift in never being mentioned as being part of tonight's shindig. Bueller....Bueller....Bueller....

Well, that's it for me. Now I must go win a couple hundred bucks or so off of my neighbors playing poker. Not enough to afford a plate at an Obama dinner, but it'll have to do.

[matt]

quote from the NY Post article on Holder's Last Days:

“I’m offering to sit down with the speaker, the chairman, with you and work our way through this in an attempt to avoid a constitutional crisis and come up with ways, creative ways, in which to make these materials available,” Holder this week told Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Full article LUN.

[narciso]

You would think the faculty at Pitzer, would be demanding some original work, not the republication of a four year old obscure
monograph, on French anarchism.

[Sara]

Chris Wallace hooked up in DC for driving while on cell.

[Chubby]

((Do all of you just scroll by or what?))

you treat them as you would cowpies when you are walking through a field.

[narciso]

Oh, sorry, I mean Joffrey, Tyrion is relatively competent, Sally has gone 'fully
Norma Desmond' except the other did have some
talent from time to time.

[sailor]

I LOVE daddy and CH and how they say things.

[Captain Hate]

Thanks sailor.

Is there anybody at all in the MFM that is willing to ask Stedman why him being held accountable for his actions by a branch of government with clear oversight responsibilities is a "constitutional crisis"?

[Ignatz]

--Do all of you just scroll by or what?--

sailor,
It is such a frequent occurrence it has produced the all purpose acronym ScrollOnBy, which can be used like this;
Godd***ed, frickin SOB makin me SOB again.

As narc would say it's a floor wax a and desert topping.

[Sara]

In honor of Flag Day, an Oldie but Goodie video.

[Ignatz]

--By the way, I think Matthew Broderick is getting short shrift in never being mentioned as being part of tonight's shindig.--

I'm just glad it's at his house so he doesn't have to drive to the shindig.

[Porchlight]

I saw that Michigan poll, Rick. Look how they had to torture the poor skew to get Barry a measly point ahead.

I also noticed that New Mexico state polling has been very quiet. I wonder if the next poll will show Romney having gained significant ground.

[GMax]

Rick

I saw that Meecheegan poll this AM. Its 59.9% Female which skews it all by itself. I never heard of the folks doing the poll. Still if you have to add 7% too many females and you still get a stat deadheat in Michigan, you got a horse race. Another race the Democrats will have to defend.

Just a quick plug, who has been saying since 2010 that the entire Midwest is in play?

[Clarice]

Narciso, my pleasure. Let me know how it goes.

[sailor]

Well, Iggie, I had almost forgotten that car accident w/Broderick. I think that is the reason he always looks so traumatized in pictures with his wife.

[Jane]

How long do you guys think Holder has left?

[narciso]

You know the folks at a certain nutroots blog,
which has had some decent dissents on the Zimmerman case, but they have some odd bete noires, they think that the Eastern District of Maryland's McBride was not included was significant, and they think the Saudi plot
was totally made up, as a pretext to go after AQAP,

[matt]

so Obama is making this year's campaign all about Bush again. LUN to the Telly article.

[Clarice]

Jane, I wish I knew.

[Captain Hate]

I have no idea, Jane, because I think ValJar likes him no matter how toxic he gets.

[narciso]

Ah summer reruns are so boring, Matt, that's why I;m looking forward to the new season of Burn Notice.

Doesn't this contradict E J Epstein's thesis;

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nicolas-sarkozy/9317380/Nicolas-Sarkozy-swore-aides-to-silence-over-Dominique-Strauss-Kahn-orgy.ht

[dublindave]

Vagina

[Clarice]

Link doesn't work narciso..maybe it should be html at the end.

[Rick Ballard]

Porchlight,

I believe New Mexico will be interesting due to drop in male Hispanic approval for BOzo. I have no great desire to see Wilson (Duke & Duke) in the Senate but I believe Governor Romney has a good chance there.

The skew is being massaged by Quinnipiac, Marist and PPP (Prog Propaganda Polling) in most of the RV state polling. If the polling were being played straight, the Dems wouldn't be getting a nickel.

[Ignatz]

Well, I guess we know what Davey spent the day googling.

[narciso]

I'll try again,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/nicolas-sarkozy/9317380/Nicolas-Sarkozy-swore-aides-to-silence-over-Dominique-Strauss-Kahn-orgy.html

The DCRI's reputation, has left a lot to be desired, with the Merah affair

[Another Bob]

Jane, this crowd is so tone-deaf, I don't think there's any intention of forcing Holder out.

I've been surprised that there's been no end-of-term cabinet shuffling, but whenever I think that I have to remember that the cabinet is meaningless and it's the czars running the show.

[Threadkiller]

In other non-Hannity and non-Brietbart news:

[Threadkiller]

Gadzoooks!!

[Sara]

Looks like a fun family.

30 Photos Of Mitt Romney As A Child

[narciso]

Well we do recall, from excerpts from Klaidman, who is so gullible, you can feed him any line, that he considered resigning over the KSM trials backlash, I read somewhere
that Tony West, head of the Civil Division, and Suleiman Faris (John Walker Lindh's atty)
was one of the replacements.

[pagar]

"this crowd is so tone-deaf, I don't think there's any intention of forcing Holder out."

I'm surprised we haven't heard talk of replacing Biden with Holder. Could bring in millions of illegal voters with BP's to make sure they voted correctly.

[Rick Ballard]

I believe the Pinhead Troika is too involved in the search for the Vicious Cycle Appendix to the ACME Political Strategery Manual to pay any attention to Holder in the quicksand. It's going precisely as Rove laid out months ago. There's way too much fixed overhead tied up in the Chicago politburo, revised lower fundraising targets are not being met and the President is making a complete fool of himself dashing back and forth between Manhattan and Beverly Hills on his weekly butt kissing trips.

IOW - the reelection campaign is doing fine.

[MarkO]

"Gadzoooks!!"

Holy Catholic League of Decency, Batman.

[MarkO]

Thanks, Sara. No reefer madness there.

[Clarice]

I don't know about you, Rick, but I'm getting exhausted, calling and writing the Wh every 5 minutes to tell them what a great job they're doing .Whew

[MarkO]

Megyn Kelly said a fair number of really stupid things tonight.

[narciso]

'Eggselent,' as Mr, Burns would say;

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/06/obama-accused-of-dissing-two-top-us-allies-in-one-day/

Even if you believe such things, you don't make such feelings so obvious.

[MarkO]

Isn't this the essence of being out of touch:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-rt-us-annawintour-obamabre85c1fv-20120613,0,5114066.story

[pagar]

Clarice, be careful you don't get selected to pay for dinner with Obama.

http://weaselzippers.us/2012/06/14/pay-your-fair-share-obama-chews-and-screws-on-bill-at-bbq-restaurant/

[Clarice]

Many of you might be interested in this email I just received:

I know many of you, and most of you were active in 2004 supporting the Swiftees, as was I.
There's a new organization of former Special Operations men (active can't participate) who are calling out the leaks from the Obama administration, SpecialOperationsSpeaks.com .
These leaks for the benefit of President Obama's re-election, are not for the benefit of the men who place their lives in danger, revealing their secret missions and tactics, not for the benefit of the locals enlisted to help them or feed them intel, some killed or imprisoned as a result of the leaks and others scared away due to fear of exposure by the leaks, and certainly not to the benefit of the security of the US and its citizens,

Below are links to two posts that I have done, and a link to the syndicated newspaper column by Ret. Colonel Austin Bay.

http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/19913-Special-Operations-Forces-Organize-Against-Obama.html

http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/19948-Special-Operations-Speaks-2004-Redux.html

http://www.creators.com/conservative/austin-bay/white-house-national-security-leaks-draw-surprising-political-pushback.html

Please take up this cause. For more info, you can contact me, or Larry Bailey (email above).

Thank you, and Semper Fi.

Bruce Kesler ChFC REBC CLU RHU
BNKSD1@aol.com
760-942-1759

[Jane]

Jane, this crowd is so tone-deaf, I don't think there's any intention of forcing Holder out.

I think his letter today revealed weakness. And there is a hint that Issa won't bite. Also Neo's link this morning that there are high end whistle blowers was heartening.

But I wouldn't bet money on it.

[Clarice]

I think there is at least one and possibly two whistleblowers; Holder doesn't know who they are and what they know; he's scared and his response today shows it.

[Rick Ballard]

Jane,

When would be the very best time for the Obama Administration's War on Mexicans to fill the news? I lean towards Labor Day rather than the 4th of July. Let's enjoy the Holder pinata through the summer and cross our fingers that it breaks at just the right moment.

[narciso]

Of course, Judy Woodruff was complicit in furthering the Christic conspiracy theories on Frontline, even though she got the story entirely wrong, shocker I know.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2012/06/14/pbs-newshour-arrives-eric-holder-story-why-are-republicans-coming-down-s

[Clarice]

NY Mag treats Sally Quinn's lament as viciously as I did:

t’s certainly true that the Washington power structure no longer exists in quite the same way it once did, identifiable by its attendance at fashionable Georgetown dinner parties. But it’s also probably true that if such an identifiable elite did exist, they probably — to be perfectly brutal about it — wouldn’t be having dinner at Sally Quinn’s home all the time. People who make their social engagements solely on the basis of career advancement aren’t going to spend that much time currying favor with a man who retired two decades ago from the executive editorship of a newspaper that no longer carries the same cachet.
When assessing Quinn’s sense of the Lost Eden of Washington, we should also have a firmer sense of what the culture was actually like. Here is one scene from Quinn’s inculcation into the Washington elite:
Washington writer Sally Quinn told of a 1950s reception where: “My mother and I headed for the buffet table. As we were reaching for the shrimp, both of us jumped and let out a shriek. Senator Strom Thurmond, grinning from ear to ear, had one hand on my behind and the other on my mother’s. As I recall, we were both quite flattered, and thought it terribly funny and wicked of Ol’ Strom.”
Once Washington was a happy place where a girl and her mother could be groped simultaneously in good fun by a white supremacist. Sadly, it has all been ruined by Kim Kardashian and Ezra Klein.

[narciso]

There's a reason one calls them Morning Joke;

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20120614warren_the_boston_herald_is_the_boston_herald/

[centralcal]

Narciso: I love Judy Woodruff - well, not love as in love, but still! It was Judy Woodruff on CNN the night John Kerry lost to W, (when all the exit polls said otherwise), and who broke down in tears (really, she did) on air that made me finally follow my children's advice and change the TV channel to Fox News.

I have never looked back. And, it is all due to Judy Woodruff.

[centralcal]

Ha Ha Ha Ha, Clarice! What a great story!

[narciso]

Well they are unintentionally useful, at times, in the mid 80s, the Christics Contra
theory, was all over not a few publication, but as with the fracking matter, the theme of almost every police or action drama,

[Clarice]

Jane, reportedly two high level whistleblowers and Holder's toast on F & F http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2012/06/sipsey-street-exclusive-more-doj.html

[narciso]

To be blunt, isn't Sally upset, that Kim is muscling in on her turf, 'networking' btw,
I don't believe such a self serving anecdote
as Bass accepts, from either Quinn or Clyburn.

[Clarice]

More good news from Doug Ross that's about to hit the fan this fall:

"Thousands of college students face serious sticker shock this year if they want school-subsidized health insurance... The cost is expected to be sharply higher at some schools, while others have dropped coverage altogether.

They’ve discovered that the health care reform law sets dramatically higher coverage limits for student insurers [which] will require higher premiums that colleges and students, particularly at smaller schools, are worried they can’t afford.

...Some schools won’t even try [to offer insurance any more]... This year, for the first time in decades, Avila University will not offer health insurance plans for domestic students. Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kan., also opted out of health coverage — leaving more than 100 students potentially uncovered — after premiums were projected to rise from $450 a year to $2,500."

[centralcal]

Why I like to follow Mark Knoller on Twitter (reason #374):

Mark Knoller ‏@markknoller
Press pool reports SJParker wore a navy lace cocktail dress, 3/4length sleeves, hair pulled back; jeweled necklace; lots of mascara.

Ah, shades of Tammy Faye!

[narciso]

See this is why you delete the previous story, entirely, otherwise you leave inconsistencies.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/surprise-vp-selections/story?id=16559428#.T9qVxlJ-jcv

[narciso]

OT, this sounds like the opening lines from
'Crimson Tide' where they speak of Rutul and Belagani

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/06/14/russian-fighters-preparing-for-war-in-the-caucasus/

[Clarice]

Only took abc 5 years to acknowledge that Palin never said she could see Russia from her house. This people are without shame.