Talk:Presidency of Barack Obama

Edward Snowden NSA

Edward Snowden leaked details of top-secret American and British government mass surveillance programs to the press. Sources: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57591281/obama-concerned-edward-snowden-could-leak-more/ http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/27/196202553/obama-nsa-leaker-edward-snowden-has-more-documents http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/edward-snowden-nsa-leak-george-w-bush-comments-93604.html http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/edward-snowden-steps-secret-us-russia-spy-scuffle/story?id=19495341 http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/26/19156698-hagel-calls-on-russia-to-return-edward-snowden-to-answer-for-serious-security-breach?lite http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23084166 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Abbazorkzog (talk • contribs) 13:51, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

Sources about Obama admin in relation to press

• Goodale, James C. "Only Nixon Harmed a Free Press More." The New York Times. May 21, 2013.
• Younge, Gary. "Is Obama worse than Bush? That's beside the point." The Guardian. Friday 21 June 2013.
• Redden, Molly. "Is the 'Chilling Effect' Real? National-security reporters on the impact of federal scrutiny." The New Republic. May 15, 2013.

WhisperToMe (talk) 08:40, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

The first two are editorials so not directly usable, though they may point to things that are. The third isn't very comprehensive, it's about one specific thing, the chilling effect on press coverage that occurs when the government launches investigations to find the source of leaks. And it mentions several anecdotes rather than summarizing the subject. The best would be to find a long article done that talks about the broader issue as an analysis, or a compendium. The larger issue is the administration's approach to dealing with transparency, leaks, and covert information. How it relates to the press specifically is a part of that. - Wikidemon (talk) 15:38, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the analysis. It's good even to bring up things not directly usable as they, as you said, can point to things that are. WhisperToMe (talk) 22:33, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

• Roberts, Dan. "US diplomats cry foul as Obama donors take over top embassy jobs." The Guardian/ July 10, 2013.

Taylor, Marisa and Jonathan S. Landay. "Obama’s crackdown views leaks as aiding enemies of U.S." McClatchy. Thursday June 20, 2013. WhisperToMe (talk) 22:33, 25 June 2013 (UTC)

Krugman editorial and Greenwald response on Obama administration scandals

• Krugman, Paul. "Whitewater Down." (Opinion) The New York Times. June 28, 2013.
  • Greenwald, Glenn. "James Clapper, EU play-acting, and political priorities." The Guardian. Wednesday 3 July 2013. "Defending the Obama administration, Paul Krugman pronounced that "the NSA stuff is a policy dispute, not the kind of scandal the right wing wants." Really? In what conceivable sense is this not a serious scandal?[...]"

WhisperToMe (talk) 16:38, 5 July 2013 (UTC)

Drone wars and Prism surveillance missing

There is nothing in this article about America's waging drone wars in the Middle East and Africa and nothing about the PRISM mass surveillence program. Can it be added or not? I believe this is the top current discussions about Obama's presidency at least at the moment. Nyttkonto (talk) 13:28, 13 July 2013 (UTC)

Good luck getting the drone war mentioned. Obama's supporters are really adverse to mentioning that policy on wiki.

Yep, and if you keep up that line of posting, we'll track you down and debate the issue in your lounge room. HiLo48 (talk) 22:34, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

I think that these are huge issues worth inclusion. In both cases I think that they were continuations of previous practices (neither was initiated by him), and coverage should acknowledge that, but continuation is also a decision. North8000 (talk) 01:11, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Re 'huge issues worth inclusion'. Yes they are. Remember truth is not a criteria for inclusion. Worse, Wikipedia isn't really always on top of WP significant events. It takes a core of non POV dedicated editors per article to make a great balanced article. Equally again a small group can keep a article like this safe and bland. Blade-of-the-South (talk) 10:50, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

First African American president makes no sense

He's *half* African American. That's like me saying that a glass is full or empty when it's only 50% full. It is neither full nor empty. Obama is either white AND black, or neither. A more correct statement would be that he's the first president with a parent of African descent.MisterZed (talk) 17:11, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Please see Talk:Barack Obama/FAQ#Q2, and well as the talk page of the Barack Obama and and its archived discussions on this subject.--JayJasper (talk) 17:17, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Do we distinguish African/American from African-American? Hcobb (talk) 00:28, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

I have no idea what "African/American" refers to. Tarc (talk) 00:40, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

A lot of people seem to have trouble understanding what "African-American" refers to. HiLo48 (talk) 00:43, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

There's no definition. In this case most seem to accept 1/2 African-American as being African-American and that sounds like as good of a standard as any. Sincerely, North8000 (talk) 00:53, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Did anybody repeal the One-drop rule? But can Mr. Obama really lay claim to the heritage of Africans in America the way Mrs. Obama can? Hcobb (talk) 01:00, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

That sort of tangential meandering is about as pointless as discussing Who is a Jew? on someone else's article talk page, though. We're not here to debate or distill historically contentious conversations on racial and/or ethnic identity, we're here to write articles based on what reliable sources say about a subject. Regarding this particular subject, not only do the preponderance of sources use the African-dash-American descriptor, but the subject self-identifies this way as well. That is a one-two punch that the pro-biracial crowd simply is not going to overcome, which is why this is a perennially-denied request. Tarc (talk) 01:08, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Do those thinking that there is some sort of "pure" African-American race understand the history of black slave ownership, where white plantation owners took their pleasures with the female slaves, whose children were then obviously brought up by the black families? Many modern, self identified African-Americans would have some European ancestry. HiLo48 (talk) 01:41, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

Shooting of Trayvon Martin

It has been suggested that Obama speaking publicly about this event should be stated on this article. For reasons unexplained, Obama feels great affinity with Martin, stating that if he had a son, he would look like Martin, and that 35 years ago, he would have been Martin. The President has said nothing about the vast majority of the thousands of people who are shot dead in the U.S. every year, so it is notable he spoke directly to the media about the Martin case and the connection he feels to the case and to Martin personally, despite having never heard of him before his death and having very little in common with him. 94.197.30.250 (talk) 14:39, 21 July 2013 (UTC)