As a Union Representative from Iowa my work often takes me to Illinois. So I am proud to have known about Barack and been one of his first supporters from Iowa to sign Dick Durbin's petition to draft Barack to run. After that I was with my family among the thousands to gather in Springfield as he officially announced his candidacy. From there I have served on committees and have been an Iowa Precinct Captian as well and I never had a single doubt ..... until today. You see, today I heard for the first time in person, Michelle Obama speak. And as much as I think of Barack I was left wondering if perhaps I was not supporting the wrong Obama. What an incredible woman that delivered what I can honestly say was the single best stump speech I have EVER heard. Michelle later assured me that I had better stick to my original candidate because he was the only Obama I would get an opportunity to vote for any time soon. And Caucusing for Barack AND Michelle really will be an opportunity that I am looking forward to. What a magnificant first lady we'll have.
Yesterday afternoon I was proud as a county chair to serve as host to Senator Barack Obama at a campaign stop in my home town. With only about 5,000 souls in Chariton it is an incredible sight to see almost 300 people turn out in the middle of the afternoon to see a candidate. That alone made me feel very proud of my community but I would soon have other reasons to feel proud. After listening to Barack speak I was inundated by folks who renounced their affiliations with other candidates (And even other parties!!!) and are now firmly committed to electing Senator Barack Obama as our next president. Finally they got to see what I have been telling them along about this guy; that he is genuine and you will feel that when you look into his eyes. But perhaps most significant was that after the rally there was a stronger sense of community among these neighbors for having been drawn into a political landscape by this man where we are all worthy of respect and political differences are respected values. I genuinely wish that every community in this nation was able to experience what ours did yesterday, not because it would guarantee the election of Barack Obama (which it most certainly would!) but also because of what it would do for us as a nation to come together again and understand that there is far more within us all that binds us together than there are political nuances that seperate us. And I sincerely and genuinely believe that under an Obama presidency we really will all get that opportunity, not to have him in every town and city neccessarily, but to become a nation again where neighbors are neighbors regardless of their beliefs and all of us can share in a mutual sense of community as Americans.
I heard that the machinists endorsed both hillary and huckabee today. I know many machinists who are good people and great trade unionists and I would suspect that they too are scratching their heads right now saying WTF?!?!? Perhaps it is a sign of the times with many "business" minded union leaders at the healms in washington these days that such a great organization should be led down such a path. It is no bold statement of idealism to back the front-running democrat and then, to make certain your derrier is adequately covered, to also back a moderate appearing republican. I can only feel sadness in my heart for my brothers and sisters in that union who now must choose between publicly working to support a republican or the wife of the man who brought us NAFTA and yet today tours the nation and the world touting the wonders of globalization.
If you are like me at all, you have grown sick and weary of washington hypocracy. Of republican politicians who campaign on "family values" and vote against extending any rights to gay americans while seeking their own filthy sexual gratification in public restrooms behind the backs of their families and their constituents. And today president bush visited new orleans on the 2nd anniversary of katrina to talk abour hope and promise while few of the original inhabitants were able to attend as they have been forced to flee the area for lack of government support in rebuilding their homes.
Now is the time to put an end to this hypocracy and elect a candidate that means what he says and says what he means. A man who will put the nations resources where our values are, and a man who will restore not only hope but faith in our government both at home and abroad. We have the power to make it all happen without revolution or revolt....we need simply vote......Barack Obama for President.
For all of you who were fortunate enough to view the democratic debate in des moines recently you know that there was a clear winner and that winner was Senator Barack Obama.
I was fortunate enough to have been in the audience that morning and I will tell you that no other candidate drew the audience applause and praise as did Obama. What's more, what you did not see was that when the candidates were all expected to arrive twenty minutes in advance they all did so with one exception....hillary. Her royal heiness instead came at her own leisure just moments before the debate actually began. It was disrespectful to the audience as well as the other candidates who had been there on time.
The title of this post is not union leaders for Obama. Nor is it unions for Obama. It is Union Members for Obama because if you are a union member you need to be supporting Barack Obama for president. Barack is the only candidate out there that understands the struggle of working people because he actually was one of us. He does not have to reach into generations past like so many other candidates to tell stories of humble beginnings. He can share with you his own story. He doesn't have to talk about the struggle of working America because he alone has lived that struggle and fought beside working families as a community organizer. So this year I would ask you each not to wait and see who your international unions endorse. I would ask you not to wait and see who your Local Union President will endorse. I would tell you each to set a course of change in American politics and support Barack Obama because his story is our story.
It seems both tragic and funny to me whenever I
hear some people talk about what candidates are
rather than who they are and what they stand for.
Americans are yearning for a new kind of politics
and yet many expect to get that new kind of politics
out of the same old sort of politicians.
The hair stands up on the back of my neck when
I hear someone say they wouldn’t vote for Barack
Obama because he is black, for Hilary Clinton
because she is a woman or for Bill Richardson
because he is hispanic. If we truly desire a new kind
of politics then certainly this will require a new kind
of politician and just as equally, a new kind of voter.
I guess that it requires reminding to each of us that
the current president of our United States was sent
to Washington not because he had any great ideas
or grand ideals, but rather because he was a white
male who claims to be a christian. Indeed, many of
the folks who voted for him were thoroughly
convinced that Christ Almighty Himself snuck into
W’s room at night and whispered inspirations into
his ear, but of course as we have since discovered, it
wasn’t Jesus at all that was pulling his strings, but
Dick Cheney and Haliburton instead.
As a volunteer with the Red Cross in the Gulf Coast
following Hurricane Katrina I was nearly lynched
when I made similar remarks about the president to
a small group of "christians" who were also there
volunteering. They informed me that God had also
told them to come down there and help so it was not
at all a stretch of the imagination to believe that His
divine hand would be guiding little W.
Well, after only a week of the sultry weather and
frustrating conditions God must have told them same
people that it would be okay to quit early and go
home because that is precisely what they did. I have
never spoken to any of those folks again but I often
wonder if they are among the 20% or so of
Americans who still believe that the boob who is in
our Nation’s oval office wakes in the morning with
the words of God still ringing in his ear.
There was a time not so very long ago when this
sort of talk about W would be considered an act of
treason. I am no doubt in some top secret FBI
possible terrorism suspect file for doing so and some
day a flower van is probably going to pull up at my
door and haul me away to parts unknown.
And when that happens and the CIA is driving
wedges under my fingernails it will all have been
worth while if only one voter, just one, will take a
little more time to learn about the issues and the
candidates and vote just once for a president based
upon the individual’s abilities, capabilities, and
policies. Because when that day comes I’ll be looking
to that new president for a pardon and I’ll accept my
freedom from a woman or a man, a black or a
hispanic, a christian or an atheist. Vote Smart!
America's middle class is teetering upon the very edge of extinction. Reports of the daunting numbers are rolling in each day that confirm that most of us are struggling and remind us that we are not alone. The number of the children of working families who are attending universities has plummeted as tuition costs have skyrocketed. With stagnant wages and costs soaring like that of gasoline, combined with the neverending offers from unscrupulous lenders of every variety there to put you further into the hole, Americans are beginning to see the trend of despair in their own homes in record numbers, that is of course, if they still have their own homes.
This could well be the final shot that we have to address the needs of working America politically and dismiss old lines drawn that divide this nation into two political parties. Setting this nation right again is going to take more than experience in Washington. It will require more than the experience of working within the system to try to get things done. This task, more than ever before in our lifetimes, will require Herculean courage and a vision that goes beyond what we have come to think of as politics and government.
I believe that most working Americans are fed up with politics and the government. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to impress the virtues of political activism upon folks who are a paycheck or two away from homelessness. And while the right has always depended upon the destitute not participating in the process, I do not believe they have considered the dire consequences of the middle class giving up on it as well.
The future of this nation experiment of ours may well depend upon our ability to elect the sort of individual who can cast off the spells of parties and beltway insiders and really accomplish something for this nation and her people. I believe that Barack Obama may be the only candidate who can create not only the results that America needs, but the hope that we all have come to yearn for as well.
According to the latest Rasmussen Reports Senator Obama has finally pulled into the lead ahead of Hillary! It goes to show that the ground game that we are helping to create is working. His opponents are discovering that all of the high profile wealthy freinds in the world cannot purchase or influence the political will of we the people.
The political tide has shifted dramatically in this country and we are ready for Obama. Not because he talks about morals and character, but because he has morals and character! Not because he talks about middle class values, but because he actually possesses them.
Enough gloating, now get back to work and I'll see you at the Obama Inaugural!
Senator Obama is slowly closing the gap in the latest polls to a margin barely large enough to cover the error spread. With no Republican even close it will fall upon the ranks of Democrats to ultimately decide who the next leader of the free world will be. At no time in recent history has such awesome responsibility been granted to such a small portion of the electorate.
Times like these are the reason that many of us got into politics in the first place. It is an opportunity to change the world we live in and elect visionary leadership capable of such change. I would urge everyone out there to muster just a few more dollars each month and contribute them to this campaign. Likewise, I would urge you each to spend just a few more hours helping this campaign achieve victory. But most importantly of all, work to convince those closest to you that this is THE ELECTION and Barack Obama is THE CANDIDATE!
Really want to change the world? Convince five people close to you to support this campaign and call and nag them and make certain they go their caucuses or polls. Convince them to give a few bucks to the campaign. Let them feel your excitement! We can either continue to imagine a world where our leadership had values, intelligence, charisma, and a genuine understanding of His/Her constitutional duties or we can elecet Barack Obama and live that dream.
Watching the Obama Webcast yesterday reaffirmed why I have supported this man from the very beginning. Not only does he legitimately seek to reaffirm our constitution as the moral directive for the executive branch, he restores a common sense approach to government that America is desperate for. Even as a candidate he does not always say what I would like most to hear, but rather his words remain based in modern realities and he lays out a realistic achievable agenda for America. After the last several years of our current administration, America is ready for someone who is not only articulate and intelligent, but who also has the common sense to approach problems not as a mindless drone bound by an ideology, but as an informed leader with a firm understanding of the law and our nation's founding documents. I believe that with an Obama Administration would come profound change in the way our nation views politics and we would NEVER be content to settle for less again.
You hear a lot of talk from the other side of the aisle about "Big Labor" as if the organizations that represent hard working Americans can be compared to Enron or oil tycoons. But at the end of the day "Big Labor" is really just a collective group of individuals who work every day to advance the cause of working people. And that is why when the smoke all clears and the dust has settled much of "Big Labor" will utlimately decide to back Barack Obama to be the next president of these United States.
There is no other candidate who understands better the struggle of working America today than does Barack Obama. His success has come as a result not of his inherited name or family lineage. It has been a result of hard work. Unlike our millionaire president who being the son of a millionaire president likes to talk big about pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, Senator Obama knows firsthand what it means not to be able to even afford to buy a pair of boots!
Senator Obama has fought in the same trenches as labor during his time as a community organizer and because of that time he has insight into the problems of everyday Americans that all of the other candidates millions combined will never be able to buy. He knows that political decisions have real world consequences and he knows that the collective spirit of the masses must overcome the political clout of a priviledged few if this national experiment of ours is to ultimately succeed. Labor will rally around Obama because Obama represents what they represent, us.
This is and will be the most open presidential race of our lifetime. As such it will draw countless new faces into the tired political equation and stands to shift the face of American politics. With such an exciting race at hand so many people who are either new to politics due to youth or previous apathy will be drawn into the fold this cycle.
This is reason enough why we must elect a candidate that will rise to the challenge with a new breed of politics and while there are some formidable challengers out there in the Democratic field, I believe that Senator Obama is the only one who has specifically addressed this issue. Further, he seems to be the only candidate with a plan to alter the political landscape in a positive way that will meet the rising expectations of so many Americans.
If you are not new to politics you know that in the past we have been made to content ourselves with the lesser of two evils when selecting candidates. But today we have an opportunity not only to elect a man who genuinely understands the concerns of middle class America from his own first hand experiences but will offer this Nation visionary leadership of the like that we have not witnessed perhaps since FDR.
The Iowa Caucus Website has an on-line unofficial poll on it. According to the results thus far Obama leads Clinton 70.4% to 29.6%!!! Also Obama leads Edwards by 66.1% to 33.9%!!!!
Go today and cast your votes for OBAMA!!! The site is www.theiowacaucus.com , vote as often as you like!!!!
I am very delighted to be able to report that I had the incredible opportunity to speak breifly with Senator Obama a few days ago. In case any of you are wondering what I was wondering the answer is a definitive YES! This guy is the genuine article. There is nothing remotely phony or "political" about him. He does not ham for the camera or change his tone or words regardless of who is in earshot. These are both things you will notice about 90% of the time when dealing regularly with politicians. He speaks person to person with the casual familiarity of an old freind or a good neighbor.
Out of a sense of duty have I campaigned for others in the past, but this one is personal. This campaign really is about me and what I want for this country. And what I want for this country most right now is to elect Barack Obama as our next President of These United States. And rather than a chore working to elect this man will truly be a labor of love for family, country and something brighter for tomorrow.
I am a radical leftist. Deep in my heart of hearts I wished that Kucinich and folks just like him would win their races. I have always maintained a secret desire for the far left to come to power and rule by dictatorship.
But as I age and mature so do my political ideologies. We have all witnessed the oppressive rule of the far right in the current administration. I have come to realize that a dictatorship by any name relies upon the suppression of the ideas and beliefs of a large segment of the population. And while we often disagree on many issues we cannot continue to summarily dismiss the ideas, hopes, dreams and beliefs of whatever third of the country is not in power at that moment. That cannot be the America that I wish upon my children.
This is why I was so inspired by reading 'The Audacity of Hope'. Senator Barack Obama does not aim to govern from the far right or the far left or even the center really. His ambition is to hear the best that comes from each party and every individual and to make fair decisions based on what is best for the hard working men and women of this country and their families. He aspires not to rewrite the way we govern, but rather to reaffirm the basic structure of government as it was designed and framed so perfectly in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and our Bill of Rights.
It is tempting to come to power and forego all of the rules that stand in your way, dismissing the seperation of powers as the mere inconvenience of an outdated system. But as President Bush has proven to us time and again, no one can be entrusted to assume so much power as to question the wisdom of the framers of our constitution and summarily dismiss the rules of government as minor inconveniences.
There are a good number of reasons why I support Senator Barack Obama in his bid for President. But perhaps most importantly, I support him because he is the only candidate fielded from either party who recognizes that a "house divided cannot stand". That the way of the future and a better America was spelled out for us in recipe form some 200 years ago and we need only follow its' design to realize our more perfect union.
Let there be honest representation of the people's values in the house. Let there be thoughtful deliberation within the walls of the senate. And let there reside in the white house a man who has not only read the constitution once in college, but knows the document by heart, has studied the intentions of each of her creators, and has the humility to respect its' wisdom. This, not empty partisan rhetoric about flag and country, is patriotism and there is only one individual in the field today who can fill these shoes and his name is Barack Obama.
