Outage doesn't short circuit Obama's workout routine
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KAILUA, Hawaii - President-elect Barack Obama has resumed his vacation workout routine after Oahu's island-wide power outage.
Obama rode to Marine Corps Base Hawaii near his rented vacation home in Kailua shortly before 8 a.m. His wife, Michelle, and close friends from Chicago, Valerie Jarret, Eric Whitaker, and Martin Nesbit, traveled with him.
Obama has used the Marine Corps base gym almost every morning since he arrived in Hawaii on Dec. 20.
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Chip Saltsman, who is seeking the RNC chairmanship, sent committee members a 41-track CD by conservative comedian Paul Shanklin as part of his Christmas message to committee members. The CD includes the song about President-elect Barack Obama.
"The 2008 election was a wake-up call for Republicans to reach out and bring more people into our party," RNC chairman Robert M. "Mike" Duncan said in a statement. "I am shocked and appalled that anyone would think this is appropriate as it clearly does not move us in the right direction."
The ditty originated on Rush Limbaugh's radio program in reference to a March 2007 opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times by David Ehrenstein headlined "Obama the Magic Negro." In the article, Ehrenstein argued that voting for Obama helped white voters alleviate guilt over racial wrongs in the past.
The CD is titled "We Hate the USA," which is also the title of one of the songs. Other tracks include "I Can Talk Like a Coal Miner's Daughter" and "Down on the Farm with Al Gore."
"Paul Shanklin is a longtime friend, and I think that RNC members have the good humor and good sense to recognize that his songs for the Rush Limbaugh show are lighthearted political parodies," Saltsman told The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper that published a story about the CD on Friday.
Limbaugh has insisted that the song was a parody to prove a point about liberal white voters.
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