Politics Archives

New York, November 10, 2008 – Folks at Glamour's Women of the Year Awards were clearly thrilled that Barack Obama won the presidential race.  Glamour EIC Cindi Lieve said that she considers the awards gala to be the most electric evening of the year, but that Tuesday’s election came pretty close!  Honoree Hillary Clinton said, “We had an incredible event last Tuesday with the election of our new to-be president Barack Obama, and it offers so much hope.” 

We wondered what fellow honoree Condoleezza Rice, a Republican, was thinking.  But the U.S. Secretary of State was gracious, and told the crowd that she loves America because nothing is ever impossible here.  “We overcome old wounds, as we did on Tuesday, to elect the first African American president of the United States. And for a little girl from Birmingham, that’s a special thing,” Rice said. 

Fergie opened up the ceremony with a performance, and later, Mary Steenburgen surprised her old friend Hillary Clinton – and all of us in the audience – by bringing out American Idol winner David Cook to sing.  Clinton quipped that the Idol alum garnered more votes than she did. 

Nicole Kidman, Tyra Banks, Dr. Jane Goodall and artist Kara Walker were among those receiving awards.  Presenters were a noteworthy bunch that included Salman Rushdie, Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Natalie Portman and America Ferrera. 

Chicago, November 4, 2008 - America came to its senses after eight years of the Bush regime, and elected Democrat Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Perhaps sanity will return to the White House.

New York, September 24-26, 2008 – While world leaders were in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, Bill Clinton took advantage of the opportunity to bulk up the guest list for his Clinton Global Initiative, which was going on at the same time at a Sheraton Hotel in midtown Manhattan.  World political leaders from Clinton to Al Gore to Shimon Perez to Tony Blair to Afghan President Hamid Karzai to wannabe leaders like Sarah Palin called attention to global problems at the CGI. 

But unlike the U.N. Assembly, celebrities like Drew Barrymore and Matt Damon also lent their voices to Clinton’s “Call to Action”.  George H.W. Bush joked that he had trouble getting in, so he told them at the door that he knows Bono, who was, indeed, inside, and was quite smitten with Queen Rania of Jordan.  Lance Armstrong answered the question of the week when he spoke about having met French President Nicolas Sarkozy: “I met his wife – that’s what everyone asks me,” Armstrong quipped about the popular Carla Bruni. 

Clinton even had the pull to attract business leaders like Bill Gates and T. Boone Pickens – at the same time that Wall Street was in the throes of its biggest meltdown in history. 

New York, September 23-26, 2008 – Carla Bruni stole the show at the 63rd United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.  With most of the world’s leaders gathered at U.N. headquarters, all eyes were on France’s glamorous and sophisticated First Lady.  Nicolas Sarkozy spoke only in French while at the U.N.; the only phrase he uttered in English was: "Ladies first", when he was taking questions from a group of jostling journalists.

That same day, when Sarkozy and Bruni got stuck in traffic on their way to the Waldorf-Astoria, they hopped out of their car and walked to the hotel, where the French president received an award from the Appeal of Conscience Foundation.  Their security team must have loved that! 

The other big surprise at the U.N. Assembly was that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seemed to be having a blast.  He was friendly and joked with journalists, who began to refer to him as “I’m a dinner jacket”, and was something of a chick magnet, with women asking him to pose for photos.  Of course, Ahmadinejad’s good mood didn’t stop him from railing against the U.S., but we’ll leave that topic to political blogs.

New York, September 3, 2008 - While the country music world in general tends to lean to the right, politically – remember when the Dixie Chicks were shunned for bad mouthing President Bush? – LeAnn Rimes works both sides.  She performed at the Republican National Convention last week, but says it was a bipartisan event.  “I performed for both parties; it really doesn’t say much about where I’m at and where I’m not at politically,” Rimes told us at the launch of Stop Hiding, Start Living, a psoriasis awareness campaign.  (Rimes has battled the condition since childhood, and now has it under control.) 

“I’ve performed for many presidents - it’s funny to say that at 26 - but I have performed for three different presidents now,” the Grammy winner said.  She’s a big Bill Clinton fan.  “Clinton was always way into music, and he’s just an incredible man to be around, and very, very funny,” she says.  But then she had fun with fellow Texan W, too.  “You know, it’s funny, it happens to all of us, we’ll meet a ton of people and they’ll walk by and you’re like, hi, how are you.  And he’ll get to me in a line, and he’ll be like, ‘Hi…Oh, LeAnn!  How’s it goin’?  It’s my Texas girl.’”  Rimes says no matter the party, it is a thrill to meet the president.  “You know, it’s our president at the end of the day.  So I go and have fun with them.  That’s my job.  I get to go have fun.”

Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, September 1, 2008 – Day one of the Republican National Convention here in St. Paul was a subdued affair, with activities cut back drastically thanks to Hurricane Gustav striking the U.S. Gulf Coast on Monday.  While President Bush canceled his RNC appearance, First Lady Laura Bush introduced Cindy McCain – and both women made pleas for hurricane relief. 

While Angelina Jolie claims that she has not yet made a decision on which presidential candidate she will support, her estranged father Jon Voight has come out for McCain.  At the convention, Voight told reporters that he felt Barack Obama was an unknown quantity, and not up to the task of securing America.   “Who is this guy?”  Voight said of Senator Obama.  “I know John McCain”, he added. 

Denver, CO, August 28, 2008 – During the Democratic National Convention, celebrities like Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lopez and Sean Penn made appearances at various events around Denver.  But on the historic closing night, when Senator Barack Obama accepted the party’s presidential nomination, we found Hollywood stars everywhere amidst the crowd of 80,000 packing Invesco Field. 

Jessica Alba and Fergie waved American flags from their seats.  Matthew Modine had been there for several days.  Actors Wilmer Valerrama and Rosario Dawson were in town to participate in a Voto Latino event.  On the stage, Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, John Legend, Jennifer Hudson and Will.I.Am sang for their candidate of choice. 

We almost forgot there were also political folks there, like Al Gore and Obama’s running mate Joe Biden.