Some Recent Portraits

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Barack Obama
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Patrick Swayze
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Barack Obama
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René Magritte
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Barack Obama
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Albert Einstein (in numbers)
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Mona Lisa (Business is Business)
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Nicoleta Ionescu (Romanian artist)
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Barack Obama
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© 2009 - Ben Heine
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Barack Obama's
Toughest Opponent
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© 2009 - Ben Heine
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Watercolor on paper...
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Obama Works to Repair America's Image in the
World. Smiles and handshakes are a start, but
Obama's real challenge will be to show results

By Thomas Omestad

The few "Yankee Go Home" signs that greet him abroad seem almost an afterthought, and when he enters a room of world leaders, he is the most sought-after man for a photo op and a handshake. Such is the star power that has swirled around Barack Obama on his initial foreign travels as the U.S. president.

This comes as little surprise, yet it will present a challenge of sorts for the president. Obama's relative youth and vigor, his calls for reaching out to adversaries and friends overseas, his breaks from past policy, and his triumphant personal story as the nation's first African-American president all seem to make the 47-year-old leader the best single antidote to anti-Americanism in years, maybe decades. White House officials say Obama's appeal extends beyond just the leaders of the world. "What has happened is that anti-Americanism isn't cool anymore," says top Obama adviser David Axelrod.

But this initial repositioning of the American leadership brand onto more popular terrain internationally will be the easier part of Obama's task. For all the sense of fresh starts and of goodwill, the seeds of perhaps inevitable disappointments are present as well. Visiting the Czech Republic in April, Obama got a friendly warning from Vaclav Havel, the once dissident playwright and former president who led his country's Velvet Revolution. Havel cautioned that the accumulation of exaggerated expectations could turn against the new American leader. "People may end up thinking that he has betrayed them, that he has raised their hopes too far," Havel said. A smiling Obama is said to have replied that he is aware of the danger.

Still, Obama has deftly gone about trying to reset the global image of America. The guiding impulse seems to be to start reviving U.S. standing in the world quickly in the hope that policy gains will accrue later. He has ordered the future closure of the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, barred torture of terrorist suspects, and made public the Bush administration's internal memos authorizing harsh interrogation methods.

>>> Read the full article
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Obama's Popularity

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© 2009 - Ben Heine
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Old work (small caricature)...
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Obama Popular
Despite Challenges

By David Zussman

The United States is a great sporting nation and, as a result, Americans like keeping score and handicapping most public events. The performance of their presidents is no exception and, since the early days of the Roosevelt presidency, the media have marked the first 100 days by providing a report card based on their performance.

It is generally acknowledged that no other U.S. president has arrived in office with higher expectations than Barack Obama, and more difficult problems. It is, therefore, not surprising that he has been subjected to a steeper learning curve than his predecessors.

By the time Obama was sworn in on Jan. 20, the U.S. financial system was in freefall, the credit markets were becoming unglued, house prices were tumbling, and a half-dozen foreign hotspots required presidential attention. It is difficult to imagine how it could have been more challenging.

Since the 100-day mark is an artificial marker, the White House staff was reluctant to join in on the rating game but their efforts proved futile.

Once they realized that it was going to be impossible to blunt the media's interest in rating the administration's performance, some senior staff tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to lower the public's expectations regarding Obama's early accomplishments by assigning themselves a B-plus. And finally, the White House embraced the 100-day anniversary, with the president appearing at last month's 100-day town hall celebration in St. Louis.

At this point, given all of the challenges and difficulties encountered by Obama, he remains a very popular political leader. In fact, according to the Pew Foundation, his personal popularity is higher than the ratings for his individual programs.

>>> Read the full article

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Obama's Magic
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© 2009 - Ben Heine

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Ink on paper (digital colors)

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He Is a Real
Magical Man

By Peter S. Quinn

He is a real magical man
Walking down the magical span
Making so much magical for everyone’s treat

Not everything needs to be true
Though it’s going to be like it seems too
In its way on every walking street

Magical man, please have a try
There is deep and there's blue sky
Magical man, make your own magical plan

He’s exited for what he is
Reaching the earth in watery bliss
Magical man, never reaching your own feet

Magical man keeps on flying
Go all the way in your trying
Bringing it all up into reality
In magic’s for all to see

Not everything needs to be true
Though it’s going to be like it seems too
In its way on every walking street

Magical man please has a try
There is deep and there's blue sky
Magical man, make your own magical plan

He is a real magical man
Walking down a magical span
Making so much magical for everyone’s treat

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Bad Boy - Barack Obama
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© 2009 - Ben Heine
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A drawing I made on paper
(with digital colors afterwards)

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Bad Boy - Because

By Peter S. Quinn

There are moments lost in my natural sky
Feeling times that are done to nothing
Every time travel there asking reasons why
Sometimes giving no answers - just bluffing
Taking my heart to pieces in each try

When I reach down to deepest of my low
Finding no answers to keep me still high
When my life is a shadow of darkish glow
Answering nothing of its reasons and why
Only time spaces between goings to fly

I´m not a substitute for agent 007
Only awake up call to be taken seriously
I'll give you a touch of my heaven
If you are behaving mysteriously
Because I´m a man in black
Pointing my future at you
Keeping you on the right track
Anything to get you here through

Nothing to get exited either way
Only point-blank clear for its go
Feeling pressures of a coming play
To the hours that I don’t know
Drifting by and by in their flowing
In the answers that never come
Always something either way going
To somewhere it all is from
Nothing taking a turn to more
Just a seat in the corner of dark night
Coming to nowhere in what it’s all for
Because it has lost all its flight

Nothing more to be done or said
For my decisions are staying right here
Don’t worry- be happy – stay ahead
Just agree and everything’s clear

Nothing to get exited either way
Only point-blank clear for its go
Feeling pressures of a coming play
To the hours that I don’t know
Drifting by and by in their flowing
In the answers that never come
Always something either way going
To somewhere it all is from
Nothing taking a turn to more
Just a seat in the corner of dark night
Coming to nowhere in what it’s all for
Because it has lost all its flight

I´m not a replacement for agent 007
Only awake up call to be taken seriously
I'll give you a touch of my heaven
If you are behaving mysteriously
Because I´m a man in black
Pointing my future at you
Keeping you on the right track
Anything to get you here through

Nothing more to be done or said
For my decisions are staying right here
Don’t worry- be happy – stay ahead
Just agree and everything’s clear

Whenever you try - it's getting lost
Like a flight into nothing from nowhere
Feeling downsides and double-crossed
Reaching to nowhere from here to there

I´m not a substitute for agent 007
Only awake up call to be taken seriously
I'll give you a touch of my heaven
If you are behaving mysteriously
Because I´m a man in black
Pointing my future at you
Keeping you on the right track
Anything to get you here through

Because I´m a man in black
Pointing my future at you
Keeping you on the right track
Anything to get you through

Because I´m the man in black
Pointing my future to go
Because I´m the man in black
In point-blank clear to blow

(People are heard singing faraway:
“Yes he can! Yes he can!
Everything is coming now clear!
Yes we can follow…”)
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Barack Obama's
Challenges
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© 2009 - Ben Heine

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Together We Can

A poem by Peter S. Quinn

I want to chance all yes change all
Give me your hope and I have a call
For I am the man for your destiny
Yes sing with me - that's me!

Living isn’t easy if love isn’t growing
We have a new call now worth knowing
I just need to have you by my side
Take a moment and hold me tight

This isn’t easy for me you know
To build it all up and let it grow
I need your help and to be with me here
Stand by my side close and near

The rivers are going to fall a long way
Before we can give a prosper day
But if you will jus build with me
Yes we can! - Yes we can, hope again see

I want to make this a better place
For everyone to have their days
To live and make good of what they do
Together we can! - Yes it’s up to you

I didn't say it would be very easy
We come along way and it’s been breezy
But trust me to build you a hope
And I shall try to be your strong robe

I want to chance all yes change all
Give me your hope and I have a call
For I am the man for your destiny
Yes sing with me - that's me!

Living isn’t easy if love isn’t growing
We have a new call now worth knowing
I just need to have you by my side
Take a moment and hold me tight

I told you yes we can make and stop
Build the future reach the top
I am counting on you to help me
Lent me your hand and it shall be

The rivers are going to fall a long way
Before we can give a prosper day
But if you will just build with me
Yes we can! - Yes we can, hope again see

I want to make this a better place
For everyone to have their days
To live and make good of what they do
Together we can! - Yes it’s up to you

The rivers are going to fall a long way
The rivers are going to fall a long way

Give me your hope and I have a call
For I am the man for your destiny
Yes, sing with me! - That’s me, that’s me

Yes we can, yes we can
Together we can
Build up our hope and dreams

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How big a change
can Obama produce?

Comparisons with presidencies that produced
historic changes in direction are overstated.
More like a rebalancing seems in the cards.

By Ted Van Dyk (*)

National media and pundits have seized on the theme that President Obama's new budget, released last week, represents an historic change of direction akin to those taken by Presidents Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, Lyndon Johnson in 1965, and Ronald Reagan in 1981. It represents change, all right, but a close look at the earlier examples might make it seem less momentous than billed.

More likely, it represents one of the periodic rebalancings we take in domestic policy between those responsibilities taken by the public and private sectors — but never far from a moderate middle. The so-called historic turn being taken by Obama is more a course correction, putting us somewhere between the Johnson and Reagan models

One reason for this prediction is the fact that the Obama budget is based on optimistic assumptions that were dealt a blow Friday when data indicated the economy will be slower than previously anticipated in pulling out of recession. That also means that federal tax revenues accordingly will be fewer than those necessary to pay for the Obama domestic initiatives. Resource constraints, interest-group opposition, and a Congress accustomed to having the final say will certainly slow if not stop much of the Obama program.

>>> Read the full article
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Obama Vs. The Fear
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© 2009 - Ben Heine

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One of my illustrations of Obama

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I'm Superman

A poem by Peter S. Quinn

Come to my heart knock on wood
Don’t worry, be good I'm your super man

I will let you be what you want to be
Bring you through because I'm superman
Let you have wings - set you free
Fly with me with these wings if you can

Don’t pretend just come on and really fly
Everything I said - I'm going to try
Bringing in all the hope I gave
Just you wait and see and - be with me brave

There is no one other - I'm the one
I am the man with the super sign on
Giving you what real power is and test
And you will have to imagine with me the rest

Because I have the powers of kryptonite
There is no way to test such might
But just come with me and see what I can
Together we can - yes we can! Because I'm superman

All the strength that you couldn't know
Is inside and now coming out so fine!
Every power known - now superman shall show
Just watch my symbol as it glows up like sunshine

Mightier than a jet plane I’ll fly and I promise you
Everything will be to better put and straight
Promises you thought gone I shall again renew
Take away all doubt and settle each debate

I will let you be what you want to be
Bring you through because I'm superman
Let you have wings - set you free
Fly with me with these wings if you can

Don’t pretend just come on and really fly
Everything I said - I'm going to try
Bringing in all the hope I gave
Just you wait and see and - be with me brave

I am the guy who will always stand by your side
Give you opportunities and money in your pocket
Don’t you worry - let the worries away ride
I'll be your superman and fly like a rocket

There is no one other - I'm the one
I am the man with the super sign on
Giving you what real power is and test
And you will have to imagine with me the rest

Because I have the powers of kryptonite
There is no way to test such might
But just come with me and see what I can
Together we can - yes we can! Because I'm superman

Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
Because I'm superman
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Obama Vs. The Fear

By Mark Morford

Everyone I know is feeling a little bipolar right now. Everyone I know is going through the most unusual of psychological and socioeconomic fits, a bit unsure what to do and how to feel and exactly which emotional flush should be the one to modulate their equilibrium on a day-to-day basis.

The conundrum is obvious and compelling and, as always, deeply enhanced -- if not wholly solved -- by vodka.

It goes something like this: Do you allow yourself, even now, to feel any sort of ongoing, relieved, merciful joy that Barack Obama actually is sitting in the Big Chair in the White House? That this elegant, articulate, Zen-like man whose integrity is rock-solid and whose ideas, while certainly not in perfect alignment with every ultra-lefty vision on the planet (clean coal? Please), are astonishingly ambitious and brave, is leading this nation during one of the worst economic times in its short and paroxysmal history?

Or do you say whatever, sorry, no time for that. Everything's plummeting and jobs are dying and (in my case, certainly) the industry you've worked for your entire career is gasping its last breath, and therefore, melancholy and dread and panic are the only truly appropriate responses, because I don't care how great the guy is, any smile that might cross my face when I see him gets immediately wiped out as soon as I ponder my 401k?

It's a bizarre choice indeed. The good news is, the Obamafied bliss is still out there, still swirling, still waiting to be supped like a fine digestif. At any given moment you can, if you so choose, pause in whatever it is you're suffering from and hear that voice and see his visage or perhaps merely hear some pundit say the words "President Obama" out loud, and you can still enjoy that delicious chill, that little jolt that says, "Oh my God, did we really do it? Is that lucid, impeccably centered man really the leader of the free world?"

Hey, it sure beats doing your taxes.

>>> Read the full article
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- Barack Obama -
C h a n g e
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© 2009 - Ben Heine

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Illustration on paper

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Poll: Obama More Popular Than Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

John Lennon once claimed the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Now President Obama has evidence that he's more popular than both.

Obama topped a new Harris interactive poll that asked 2,634 Americans who they admire enough to call a hero.

Jesus came in second on a list that includes God, Mahtma Gandhi and George Washington.

Other historic or notable figures making the top 10 were Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, U.S. Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger and Mother Teresa.

Participants named the heroes randomly instead of being shown or read a list of people to choose from. The poll was conducted online between January 12 and 19, 2009.

At the 16th spot in the poll, George Washington, Bill Clinton and Colin Powell tied.

Other politicians who made the poll's top 25 include Hillary Clinton (12), FDR (13), Condoleezza Rice (12) and Sarah Palin (21).

God ranked 11th, between Mother Teresa and Hillary Clinton.

Of the multiple reasons participants gave to explain their choices of heroes, the ones most cited is, "Doing what's right regardless of personal consequences" with 89 percent, "Not giving up until the goal is accomplished" with 83 percent and "Doing more than what other people expect of them," with 82 percent. Also popular were "Overcoming adversity" and "Staying level-headed in a crisis."

In the first Harris Poll asking this question in 2001, Jesus came in first, followed by the Rev. King, Powell, John F. Kennedy and Mother Teresea.

Obama joked last year at a roast that contrary to rumors, he was not born in a manger but on the planet Krypton. Apparently, Obama is even more popular than Superman, who didn't make the cut.

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--> The above article appeared on Foxnews.com
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