GetListy » Barack Obama

Failed Supreme Court nominations

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:40:59 +0000

With President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court drawing plenty of scrutiny in Washington, she is hardly the first to feel the heat of the spotlight.

Supreme Court nominations often are contentious. In the Court’s history, 35 judges have withdrawn their nominations or failed to receive approval, with Harriet Miers the most recent back in 2005.

Here, by president, is a list of judges who were nominated for the nation’s highest court, only to be rejected or forced to withdraw:

Washington:

• William Paterson, nominated in 1793: Withdrawn

• John Rutledge (for Chief Justice), 1795: Rejected by 10 to 14 vote

Madison:

• Alexander Wolcott, 1811: Rejected by 9 to 24 vote

John Quincy Adams:

• John J. Crittenden, 1828: Postponed by 23 to 17 vote

Jackson:

• Roger B. Taney, 1835: Postponed indefinitely by 24 to 21 vote

Tyler:

• John C. Spencer, 1844: Withdrawn

• Reuben H. Walworth, 1844: Tabled by 27 to 20 vote, then withdrawn

• Edward King, 1844: Tabled by 29 to 18 vote

• John C. Spencer, 1844: Withdrawn

• Reuben H. Walworth, 1844: Motion to consider nomination was objected to, no further action

• Reuben H. Walworth, 1844: Tabled (no record of vote), then withdrawn

• Edward King, 1844: Tabled (no record of vote), then withdrawn

• John M. Read, 1845: Motion to consider nomination failed, no further action

African-American senators

Bill Sullivan — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:05:16 +0000

When Roland Burris finally was allowed to assume Barack Obama’s Senate seat, the 71-year-old former Illinois Attorney General became only the sixth African-American to serve in that body.

Here’s the list:

– Hiram Revels, Mississippi (Feb. 25, 1870, to March 4, 1871)
– Blanche K. Bruce, Mississippi (1875-1881)
– Edward Brooke, Massachusetts (1966–1979)
– Carol Mosely Braun, Illinois (1992-98)
– Barack Obama, Illinois (2005-2009)
– Roland Burris, Illinois (2009-)

Source: FactMonster.com

Celebrities who Twitter

Bill Sullivan — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:31:12 +0000

What are you doing? It’s usually a pretty simple question, and Twitter gives you 140 characters at a time to let family, friends, and just about anyone else in the world know just how you are spending your time.

Some of us, of course, are more interesting than others, leaving more people curious about our activities. Celebrities, by definition, are among that group, and more and more of them are using Twitter to let their fans know what’s up.

Which among the famous are the biggest Twitter fans?

Forbes has this list:

1. Britney Spears

2. Lance Armstrong

3. Barack Obama

4. Stephen Colbert

5. Shaquille O’Neal

6. Tina Fey

7. Jimmy Fallon

8. John Cleese

9. Hammer

10. Wil Wheaton

(Okay, so maybe you don’t need to know what ALL of these folks are doing 24/7. For those you’re really curious about, check out some background and a slideshow at Forbes.)

U.S. presidents

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:07:22 +0000

As Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, here’s a list of the 42 men who preceded him into office, with years served.

(And, yes, we at GetListy can add…at least most of the time. Why only 42 predecessors? Grover Cleveland was elected to two non-consecutive terms. As a result, Cleveland is both the 22nd and 24 president.)

Meanwhile, back to the list:

Washington, George (1789-97)
Adams, John (1797-1801)
Jefferson, Thomas (1801-09)
Madison, James (1809-17)
Monroe, James (1817-25)
Adams, John Quincy (1825-29)
Jackson, Andrew (1829-37)
Van Buren, Martin (1837-41)
Harrison, William Henry (1841)
Tyler, John (1841-45)
Polk, James (1845-49)
Taylor, Zachary (1849-50)
Fillmore, Millard (1850-53)
Pierce, Franklin (1853-57)
Buchanan, James (1857-61)
Lincoln, Abraham (1861-65)
Johnson, Andrew (1865-69)
Grant, Ulysses S. (1869-77)
Hayes, Rutherford B. (1877-81)
Garfield, James (1881)
Arthur, Chester (1881-85)
Cleveland, Grover (1885-89)
Harrison, Benjamin (1889-93)
Cleveland, Grover (1893-97)
McKinley, William (1897-1901)
Roosevelt, Theodore (1901-09)
Taft, William H. (1909-13)
Wilson, Woodrow (1913-21)
Harding, Warren (1921-23)
Coolidge, Calvin (1923-29)
Hoover, Herbert (1929-33)
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (1933-45)
Truman, Harry (1945-53)
Eisenhower, Dwight (1953-61)
Kennedy, John F. (1961-63)
Johnson, Lyndon (1963-69)
Nixon, Richard (1969-74)
Ford, Gerald (1974-77)
Carter, Jimmy (1977-81)
Reagan, Ronald (1981-89)
Bush, George H.W. (1989-93)
Clinton, William J. (1993-2001)
Bush, George W. (2001-2009)
Obama, Barack (2009-)

Source: whitehouse.gov

Related lists:

Newsweek’s 50 most powerful people

Bill Sullivan — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:48:01 +0000

Power, like money and good looks, can be fleeting. One day you’re calling the shots, the next you’re completely irrelevant…or worse.

This time a year ago, Barack Obama was an Illinois Senator with a big dream and long odds against achieving it. Today, he’s President-elect and ready to rearrange some White House furniture, while George W. Bush prepares to “retire” to his new home in Dallas.

Things change.

Newsweek set out to determine whose star was either shining brightly or on the rise as 2008 comes to an end, compiling its list of the 50 Most Powerful People in the World.

Here are the Top 10:

1. Barack Obama

2. Hu Jintao, President, China

3. Nicolas Sarkozy, President, France

4-6. Economic Triumverate: 4. Ben Bernanke 5. Jean-Claude Trichet 6. Masaaki Shirakawa

7. Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, United Kingdom

8. Angela Merkel, Chancellor, Germany

9. Vladimir Putin, former President, Russia

10. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, King, Saudi Arabia

Who else made the cut? Visit Newsweek to find out.
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Popular 2009 calendars

Amazon.com — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:18:39 +0000

From Amazon.com

Dilbert: 2009 Day-to-Day Calendar

Ansel Adams 2009 Wall Calendar

Twilight Calendar 2009

2009 Barack Obama wall calendar: Words of Hope and Inspiration

Sierra Club 2009 Wilderness Calendar

Michael Phelps 2009 Wall Calendar

Hubble Space Telescope 2009 Wall Calendar

Sarah Palin 2009 Calendar

The Jonas Brothers 2009 Deluxe Wall Calendar

Time Persons of the Year

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:27:06 +0000

When Time named Barack Obama its 2008 Person of the Year, the president-elect joined an august if occasionally startling list of winners.

Charles Lindbergh won the first-ever award in 1927. Franklin D. Roosevelt was honored on three different occasions. Winston Churchill won twice, as did George W. Bush and Richard Nixon.

Over the years, the magazine has valued “doing” over “doing good.” That probably explains the back-to-back victories of Adolph Hitler (1938) and Joseph Stalin (1939).

Here’s the full list:

1927: Charles Lindbergh
1928: Walter Chrysler
1929: Owen D. Young
1930: Mahatma Gandhi
1931: Pierre Laval
1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt
1933: Hugh Samuel Johnson
1934: Franklin D. Roosevelt
1935: Haile Selassie I
1936: Wallis Simpson
1937: Chiang Kai-shek/Soong May-ling
1938: Adolf Hitler
1939: Joseph Stalin
1940: Winston Churchill
1941: Franklin D. Roosevelt
1942: Joseph Stalin
1943: George Marshall
1944: Dwight D. Eisenhower
1945: Harry S. Truman
1946: James F. Byrnes
1947: George Marshall
1948: Harry S. Truman
1949: Winston Churchill
1950: The American Fighting Man
1951: Mohammed Mossadegh
1952: Elizabeth II
1953: Konrad Adenauer
1954: John Foster Dulles
1955: Harlow Curtice
1956: Hungarian Freedom Fighter
1957: Nikita Khrushchev
1958: Charles de Gaulle
1959: Dwight D. Eisenhower
1960: U.S. Scientists
1961: John F. Kennedy
1962: Pope John XXIII
1963: Martin Luther King, Jr.
1964: Lyndon B. Johnson
1965: William Westmoreland
1966: The Generation Twenty-Five and Under (Baby Boomers)
1967: Lyndon B. Johnson
1968: Apollo 8 astronauts (William Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell)
1969: The Middle Americans
1970: Willy Brandt
1971: Richard Nixon
1972: Richard Nixon/Henry Kissinger
1973: John Sirica
1974: King Faisal
1975: American women
1976: Jimmy Carter
1977: Anwar Sadat
1978: Deng Xiaoping
1979: Ronald Reagan
1981: Lech Wałęsa
1982: The Computer – Machine of the Year
1983: Ronald Reagan/Yuri Andropov
1984: Peter Ueberroth
1985: Deng Xiaoping
1986: Corazon C. Aquino
1987: Mikhail Gorbachev
1988: The Endangered Earth: Planet of the Year
1989: Mikhail Gorbachev
1990: George H. W. Bush
1991: Ted Turner
1992: Bill Clinton
1993: The Peacemakers (Yasser Arafat, F.W. de Klerk, Nelson Mandela, and Yitzhak Rabin)
1994: Pope John Paul II
1995: Newt Gingrich
1996: David Ho
1997: Andy Grove
1998: Bill Clinton/Kenneth Starr
1999: Jeffrey P. Bezos
2000: George W. Bush
2001: Rudolph Giuliani
2002: The Whistleblowers (Cynthia Cooper, WorldCom; Coleen Rowley, FBI; and Sherron Watkins, Enron)
2003: The American Soldier
2004: George W. Bush
2005: The Good Samaritans (Bono, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates)
2006: You
2007: Vladimir Putin
2008: Barack Obama

Source: Time

Secret Service code names

Bill Sullivan — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:26:18 +0000

The Secret Service likes to have a little fun with the people it protects. When a new president comes into office, he and his family are given nicknames that make it easier for the guys in the black suits to know who they are talking about.

President-elect Barack Obama was offered a list of possible monikers beginning with “R.” He chose “Renegade.” In turn, wife Michelle became “Renaisssance,” while daughters Malia and Sasha are “Radiance” and “Rosebud,” respectively.

What are some of the other nicknames the Service has used for presidents and other people they are charged with keeping out of harm’s way?

Here’s a list, courtesy of Time magazine:

John F. Kennedy: “Lancer”

Richard M. Nixon: “Searchlight”

Jimmy Carter: “Deacon”

Edward M. Kennedy: “Sunburn”

Ronald Reagan: “Rawhide”

Pope John Paul II: “Halo”

Karenna Gore (daughter of VP Al Gore): “Smurfette”

Dick Cheney: “Angler”

Cindy McCain: “Parasol”

To read more about these choices, and to see a slideshow, visit Time.

Related lists:

Going from red to blue

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:09:24 +0000

In winning the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, Illinois Senator Barack Obama was able to sway voters in nine states that went in favor of President George W. Bush just four years earlier. The swing helped Obama win 28 states in all and gave him 365 Electoral College votes, 95 more than needed for election.

The shift in allegiance wasn’t limited to one part of the country: Three of the states in question were in the South, three more were in the Midwest, and the others were in the West.

Here are the states that switched from red (Republican) to blue (Democrat):

Colorado
Florida
Indiana
Iowa
Nevada
New Mexico
North Carolina
Ohio
Virginia

Source: CNN.com