The ObamaNation's impression of itself

Were any of ye socks as stunned as yours truly was to hear tonight that the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue gave himself high marks for his track record to date?

Seriously.

He told his guru/benefactor Oprah that he would give himself a B+.

Self-deluded much?

I mean, really, how do you get that kind of a grade with only a 46% approval rating?

When I was going to school back in the Stone Age, a 46% was pretty much an F-.

He must be grading on one heck of a curve.

I tried to engage in some Al Gore style fuzzy math to figure it out, but got about as far as his presidential ambitions.

For instance, I'm willing to concede that roughly 25% of the population is never going to approve of the ObamaNation.

And, I figure there's another 25% who will always goosestep behind this guy, or any other Democrat for that matter.

So, really, you'd have to grade him on how well he's doing with the remaining 50% in the middle.

Well, by my caluclations, 46% - 25% loyal supporters = 21% real approval rating x 2 = 42% of actual middle of the road type folks.

But, that result is even worse than the poll numbers, and still yields a big fat F-.

Hmmm . . .

O, No!

Whether ye socks choose to believe that O stands for Oprah or ObamaNation doesn't really matter.

The answer to both--at least as far as the International Olympic Committee is concerned--was a resounding NO during their meeting in Copenhagen this afternoon.

The 2016 games will not be in Chicago.

Instead, for the first time in Olympics history, they will be held in South America.

How's that for some change we can believe in?!

Congrats to the team from Rio de Janeiro who bested their rivals from The Windy City and elsewhere.

A great genealogy program on PBS

This one kept me up way past my bedtime for a typical work night, but it was well worth it. It is entitled "African American Lives 2," by Harvard history professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

The 2 is added to the end of the title, because he put out a similar program last year. But, that one focused only on media maven Opra Winfrey.

This latest production weaves twelve different family tales that actually transcend race and geography. They include, besides Dr. Gates' discoveries about his own roots:

Linda Johnson Rice - CEO of a media empire that includes "Ebony" and "Jet" magazines, who receives evidence of why her father left Arkansas for Chicago as a young man.

Don Cheadle - The actor is shocked to discover his ancestors were enslaved not by white plantation owners but by Chickasaw Indians.

Chris Rock - The comedian is amazed at the roller coaster life of his ancestor who (in just 15 years) went from being a slave, to fighting in the Civil War, to serving as a South Carolina legislator, to returning to farm land near Charleston.

Tom Joyner - the radio talk show host is stunned to discover two great-uncles were apparently framed from murder and sent to the electric chair.

Peter Gomes - a minister from Cambridge, Massachusetts, talks about the complicated racial identities of his Cape Verde ancestors and growing up in an overwhelmingly-white community.

Maya Angelou - the poet gained even deeper knowledge about the characters who feature so prominently in her masterpiece "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."

Morgan Freeman - discovers an interracial couple in his family tree, who did whatever it took to stay together despite the prevalent racism in 19th Century Mississippi.

Jackie Joyner-Kersee - the Olympic runner draws strength from the examples of her East St. Louis ancestors.

Tina Turner - the mega-star is brought to tears when she discovers her elementary school was built on land donated by her great-uncle and that an ancestor performed 50+ wedding ceremonies in her Tennessee hometown.

Kathleen Henderson - a fan of the original episode had the legend behind her ancestor's Woodbridge surname disproved by the historical record.

And, finally . . .

Bliss Broyard - another non-famous participant was shocked to discover her father's true racial identity after his death in 1990.

If you like ancestor hunting and root digging as much as yours truly, check your local PBS listings to see when/if this great series will re-air.

You will not be disappointed.

Powerful Women

Perhaps as a way of commemorating the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's Death, Forbes Magazine released their annual list of the most powerful women in the world.

I was impressed that, of the top 25, thirteen (just over half) are Americans:

1. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State.
2. Indra K. Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo.
3. Patrica A. Woertz, Chair of ADM.
4. Irene Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft.
5. Patricia Russo, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent.
6. Anne M. Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox.
7. Mary Sammons, CEO of RiteAid.
8. Brenda Barnes, CEO of Sara Lee.
9. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court.
10. Oprah Winfrey, Chair of Harpo Studios.
11. Margaret Whitman, CEO of Ebay.
12. Melinda Gates, wife of Bill Gates.
13. Hillary Clinton, wife of Bill Clinton.

What impressed me more than the overwhelming number of Americans on the list was how they got there. Most of the foreigners made the list because of their role in government. While the overwhelming majority of the U.S. listees made it because of their business acumen. That says something about the power of the marketplace in this country, doesn't it?!

And, of course, judging by the last two listees, it doesn't hurt to marry the right guy, either . . .