"Oh my God, it is Obama!" In Alaska?

"Oh my God, it is Obama": Alaska mom, baby meet ex-president https://t.co/hig00Hf1uQ pic.twitter.com/zKhxy7oWnw

— ABC News (@ABC) July 8, 2017

Courtesy of the Star Tribune:  

An Alaska mother is cherishing cellphone photos she snapped of her wide-eyed 6-month-old baby in the arms of former President Barack Obama. 

Jolene Jackinsky was at Anchorage International Airport on Monday looking for an airline when she ended up in a waiting area for private flights where a man she thought looked like Obama was sitting. 

"As I got closer, I thought: Oh my God, it is Obama," she recalled Friday from Newhalen, a small Alaska village where she's vacationing. 

Obama then walked up to her and asked "Who is this pretty girl?"

Oh man! If I would have known that the greatest President of my lifetime was in my state, I would have dropped everything and made a beeline for the airport.

You may not know it from our voting record but a lot of Alaskans admire Barack Obama, and his trip up here in 2015 really endeared to many Alaskans.

So I imagine if this visit had been made public there would have been quite a large crowd of admirers who would have joined me in welcoming this great man to our great state.

President Obama leaves Donald Trump in the dust as the most admired man of 2016, while Hillary Clinton wins again for the 15th year in row.

Courtesy of Gallup: 

Americans are most likely to name President Barack Obama as the man they admire most in 2016. Twenty-two percent mentioned Obama in response to the open-ended question. President-elect Donald Trump was second at 15%. It is Obama's ninth consecutive win, but the seven-percentage-point margin this year is his narrowest victory yet.

Obama's win over Trump this year is largely a result of the president earning more mentions among Democrats than Trump receives from Republicans. Fifty percent of Democrats named Obama as most admired, compared with 34% of Republicans choosing Trump. 

The remainder of this year's top 10 most admired man list includes Pope Francis, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Rev. Billy Graham, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, The Dalai Lama, former President Bill Clinton, businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates, and Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

I would not be surprised if next year, after Trump has demonstrated what a total fuck up he is, that President Obama might STILL win this category and by an even wider margin.

As for the women:

Americans named Hillary Clinton the Most Admired Woman for the 15th consecutive year and 21st time overall. Since her initial win in 1993 as first lady, Clinton has topped the list every year but 1995 and 1996 (when she finished behind Mother Teresa) and 2001 (behind Laura Bush). Eleanor Roosevelt has the second-most No. 1 finishes among women, at 13. 

First lady Michelle Obama finished second on the Most Admired Woman list this year, tied with 2012 as her best finish. The remainder of the top 10 most admired women include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former and current talk-show hosts Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres, Queen Elizabeth of England, human rights activist Malala Yousafzai, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Okay well it is just pathetic that Sarah Palin still makes this list, even if it is with only 1%.

But wait, isn't there a name missing?

Why didn't future first lady Melania Trump make the list?

Does that mean that prostituting yourself to a disgusting wealthy man in order to live a life of opulence is not considered admirable?

Hmm, who knew?

Just for fun let's watch Carly Fiorina, who Ted Cruz just chose as his running mate, gush over Hillary Clinton back in 2008.

Courtesy of The Wrap: 

Back in 2008, while campaigning for Arizona Sen. John McCain, Fiorina released a special video with a message to women voters that heaped so much praise on Clinton, you’d think the two were besties, braiding each others’ hair at a slumber party. 

“I have such great admiration and empathy for Hillary Clinton,” Fiorina says in the video. “I know what it takes in some small measure to do what she has done.” 

 “As a woman, I take great pride in the fact that Hillary Clinton ran for president,” says Fiorina circa 2008. “And I also watched with a lot of empathy as I saw how she was scrutinized, characterized, talked about as a woman.” 

And just for kicks, she ends her ode to Hillary with this touching love letter: 

“Women in positions of power — particularly bold women — who are trying to drive change as Hillary Clinton most surely is … bold women, women in power are characterized, scrutinized differently than their male counterparts are.”

Oh yeah Republican women really admired Hillary Clinton right up until it started to look like she might actually win the White House.

And then it was all "She's so corrupt," "She's playing the woman card," She never accomplished ANYTHING!"

So either Hillary Clinton has fundamentally changed in the last eight years, or perhaps instead of her political opponents being impressed by her accomplishment they now are threatened by them.

Gee, I wonder which seems more likely?