|
08arack 08ama 08log
Amateur punditry from a young Barackonnoisseur.
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. Read More »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! Here is the video blog redux of my June 10, 2007 post titled "'Obama Movement' is for Meaningful and Participatory Politics!"
Read More »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!
Read More »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. Read More »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. 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. 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?" Read More »Content on blogs in My.BarackObama represents the opinions of community members and in no way should be interpreted as endorsed or approved by the campaign.
|












Posts