by Thu Nguyen

Created on: August 19, 2010   Last Updated: August 20, 2010

Arianna Huffington recently wrote a post entitled, 'Memo to America's Middle Class: Obama is Just Not That Into You'. In it, she runs down the reasons why Obama is neglecting his 'promise' and trying too hard to impress many sides of the political environment, all the while not getting anything done. Although she tried not to be too harsh, she could not help it but spill the beans on telling people, Obama is just not into the people.

The convincing thing about this article wasn't her reasons, moreover it's the truth of the matter of what has happened up until now and what is still happening if the President doesn't focus his attention in the right places. It is because of these views which she syndicates often to The Huffington Post, that has made her one of the most influential women of 2009 according to Forbes and one whose liberal and progressive views in the news made her an American news icon.

Early Life 

Born in Athens, Greece, Arianna Stassinopoulous came into the world on July 15, 1950. She is the daughter of a journalist and sister to an author, speak and performer. She moved to England when she was 16 and went to Girton College at Cambridge University. There she got her Masters degree in economics.

She dabbled a bit in politics and got involved with the Democratic politician, Jerry Brown. This got her to be known as a liberal Democrat. However, she met Michael Huffington, an oil millionaire not so long later who was set up by her friend at a party. The couple got married a year later and soon after, Arianna helped Michael with his election campaigns as a Republican. Later on, both divorced and Arriana kept Huffington as her last name.

It was during these times that Arianna got seriously into politics where she ran against Arnold Schwarzenegger and called their debacle 'the hybrid verses the Hummer'. The underlying joke here came from a project she head called 'The Detroit Project' where the purpose for lobbying carmakers to produce cars running on alternative fuels was proposed. These TV ads ran in 2003 and anyone who was driving a hummer at that time was considered 'funding terrorism'. So you can see how influential Arianna's views are.

Authority Figure 

With over 11 books written, ranging from spirituality, memoirs and political treatises, Arianna has made a name for herself across the world. The Huffington Post co-founded by her, Kenneth Lerer and Jonah Peretti has over 3,000+ contributions online from bloggers, politicians, celebrities, you name it. Not only that, the topics span everything against the board and it has localized news too for Chicago, New York, Los Angelos and Denver. Having been launched on May 9, 2005, it is now one of the top sites online.

As you can see, Arianna will be sticking around for awhile. Her liberal and progressive views on the political environment have already build a following. The Memo article alone brought in over 1500 comments. Not only that, she will be releasing her new book entitled 'Third World America' on September 07, 2010 which will further bring on debates about her progressive views.

Resources:

Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington

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