Here is the video blog redux of my July 13, 2007 post titled "A Changing of the Guard!" 



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The moment is critical.  We're nearing the end of a generation of back and forth rancor, defined by the tit-for-tat politics of just two elite political families.  Americans are realizing we are a people capable of much more, and we deserve much better from our leaders.  Many of us have immense regrets and disappointment about the past six years.  Some wish we could re-do most of the last two decades.  But there are no do-overs.

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The largest Facebook in support of Barack Obama, "Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)," is promoting my two Video Blogs , and we'd like to ask for your support to help make them go viral!

Aside from using the videos to attract new support for Obama and to rally our base, we've decided on an ambitious goal of trying to get 50,000 views for the videos by July 4th, with the intent of attracting attention away from viral media distractions like "Obama Girl" to a message that better reflects Barack Obama's.

50,000 hits could potentially generate earned media coverage for Barack Obama. We believe this would be a very positive contribution to the campaign.

We would like to ask you to use your resources in any way possible to help the challenge succeed.  Please spread the following message.

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Here is the video blog redux of my June 10, 2007 post titled "'Obama Movement' is for Meaningful and Participatory Politics!"

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For those who appreciated my blog post on May 13, 2007 titled "The Big Ears Mean He's Listening," here, one month later, is the video blog redux!

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Americans today are showing a level of interest early in the 2008 presidential race that is completely without precedent. The intense focus of the American public on the race for the presidency, many months before even the first primaries and caucuses, reveals the extent to which regular Americans are longing for a new, meaningful politics. It is this extraordinary pang of hunger for change in America right now that explains Barack Obama's unlikely and astonishingly rapid ascent to become the most inspiring and hopeful figure in American politics since President Ronald Reagan, or even President John F. Kennedy.

America is ready to turn the page. To turn the page on patronage, on dynasties, and on polarization. On cronyism, on Swift-Boat style attack campaigns, and on the auctions we've held in place of elections. America is ready to turn the page on the tired politics of the last generation.

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It’s the ears. I mean, it’s not literally his ears. It’s the idea of his ears. Barack Obama has the capacity to listen. And America needs nothing more now than a president who knows how to listen. Barack Obama is unique in a wide field of Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls in that he doesn’t just talk the talk. He has spent his entire career listening the listen, from his work as a community organizer to his current job as the junior Senator from Illinois.

It’s not just having inordinately large ears. If all it took were outsized antennae, George Bush would have SETI-like communications capacity. No, it’s not just that Barack Obama has large ears. It’s not Obama’s ears at all really. The ears are a metaphor, just a symbol.

A lot of attention is paid to Obama’s talent as an orator—his tremendous ability to captivate and excite audiences, to deliver a compelling and credible narrative, to inspire and mobilize with words. But his electric rhetoric is persuasive in large part because he takes great pains to reveal how hard he works to understand the arguments of those who hold opinions different from his own.   Read More »

I met John Ashcroft last night. Yes. You read that correctly. I, Nate Krefman, spoke with former Attorney General John Ashcroft last night. And for the record, I did not douse him with French dressing.  

Mr. Ashcroft spoke last night, Tues. March 13, at Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo, MI at the behest of "the country's best organization of College Republicans" the WMU CR's. As a philosophical liberal, I'm always interested in subjecting my own views to rational consideration by exposing myself to opposing viewpoints, so I try to catch controversial conservative speakers when the CR's bring them to town.

Naturally, I appreciated seeing a former Attorney General, and took advantage of the chance to speak with him afterwards as the opportunity presented itself. I discovered, though, that John Ashcroft, as an ideologue, isn't very interested in thinking critically about the costs of his economic ventures to the American public, which can be measured in terms of millions of tax dollars, unspeakable capacity for violence, and loss of precious civil liberties.

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Can you imagine if Al Gore were humble enough to accept the nod for Veep again on an Obama/Gore ticket? There's nothing in the Constitution prohibiting it, right? Unlikely story, but it would be an unstoppable ticket.

It can't be Barack Obama/Bill Clinton unfortunately (although that would be swell!), because the 12th Amendment says "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States." *single tear*

The following post is in response to a question posed in the Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack Obama) Facebook group: "Who should be Barack Obama's Vice Presidential running mate when (not if) he wins the Democratic nomination?"

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