I'm sitting at a computer here in Philly at the Philadelphia Field Headquarters for Obama on Sansom Street, and the excitement of the moment is simply breathtaking. I can barely contain my emotions as the hundreds of volunteers chant "Yes We Can!" and "Obama! Obama! Obama!" I am overwhelmed. I just couldn't get myself to drink the champagne before the magic number 270, and now that Barack Obama has attained that seemingly insurmountable goal, I am overwhelmed, and finding it difficult to keep from smiling and crying at the same time.
I wish my dad were alive to witness this moment. He is not, but I am, and I am savoring every moment of this historic moment in honor of my father.
Enjoy this moment America. Because Yes, We Can!
To all my friends who have been idly sitting by, watching Barack Obama's poll numbers rise, it is time to ask yourself, "What have I been doing for the Campaign for Change lately? Ask yourself, "Am I getting complacent?"
I have not posted on this blog in roughly a month because I have been knocking on doors in Pennsylvania, canvassing voters. I've also been busy entering voter registration and phone call canvassing data to prepare for getting out the vote.
We are now in the GOTV phase, and it's tme to get serious! Please don't be one of the supporters of Senator Obama who wakes up disheartened, dissilusioned and disappointed on Wednesday, November 5th, saying "If only I had done more..." If you can't give the time, give the money. If you can't give the money, give the time to this campaign. The time is NOW.
We need everybody to "Get up offa that thing" and get to work. Even if you can only donate an hour of your time to enter data, to make calls to a battleground state, to canvass in a battleground state, to knock on doors to persuade voters. We are 13 days away from the most important election of our lifetimes. Do something.
Frank Rich's 9/27/08 column in The New York Times is a MUST READ.
The political posturing and outright misleading statements from the McCain campaign prior to today's congressional bill defeat reveal a lot about the two candidates running for President of the United States.
If you missed it, here's the permalink:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/opinion/28rich.html?partner=permalink
Now, you tell me, isn't it obvious who would make a better President of the United States? Come on America (especially you undecided voters), WAKE UP!
VOTE BARACK OBAMA '08!
In case you missed Joe Biden on the "Today" show this morning, this is a must watch. You'll see why Barack chose Joe to be his running mate. I like the way he doesn't take any guff from Meredith Viera as she tries to attribute Joe Biden to the term "sleazy" when Obama's ad is actually attributing the use of "sleazy" to Joe Klein in Time magazine:
http://thepage.time.com/2008/09/16/biden-rebuts-mccain-on-morning-shows/
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/wingnuts_at_play.html
And now McCain is making quips about Barbra Streisand's fundraiser for Barack in Beverly Hills:
“He talked about siding with the people… just before he flew off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you, my friends, there is no place I’d rather be than here, with the working men and women of Ohio.”
I don't know about you, but I'm fed up with all the garbage that the McCain-Palin campaign is churning out, and I've signed up to go knocking on some doors in PA this weekend. It's time to set the people straight! It's time to fight back! I'm fired up and ready to go! What about you?!! Are you ready to knock on some doors?!!
Michelle Obama -- Wow! With the speech she gave tonight, she hit it out of the ballpark! This woman could be President of the United States. I'm hoping the campaign makes buttons that say "VOTE FOR MICHELLE OBAMA'S HUSBAND FOR PRESIDENT!" I couldn't be prouder of my country than right now, knowing that the United States of America could produce such an outstanding, beautiful and brilliant woman, who has my vote to be the next First Lady of the United States of America. Yes We Can!
I've been reading a number of the blog posts from folks clamoring for change, who are a little disappointed with Barack choosing the consummate Washington insider for his running mate, but I say, Whoa! What a great choice. Who better than Joe Biden, gifted and tough, fiercely independent (famously for the occasional verbal gaffe) to help guide Obama through the corridors of power in Washington, DC, to jolt the American people to its collective senses, and win this election, to effect the change we so desperately need in this country.
For all of you "non-believers" out there, get on the bandwagon, and let's win back the White House!
I don't know about you, but tonight I got goosebumps when I heard Al Gore proclaim "ELECTIONS MATTER!" As I watched the man I voted for, in that ill-fated 2000 election, remind us once again, that we've lost eight precious years in the fight against global warming and climate change, it occurred to me that a poster on today's NY Times got it right: What Gore considered "climate change" has now become "climate crisis," and what is required now on the part of the American people is no longer a belief that the world's climate is changing -- but MORAL COURAGE to stand up and do something about it.
How many polar bears have we lost? How many more floods have destroyed farmlands? How many more devastating tornadoes and cyclones have occurred? How many more brush fires have scorched the West? I don't believe these strange weather conditions are normal, anymore than I believe losing our dedicated military men and women to a civil war in Iraq is normal, when we have our own civil war raging here, in the USA.....Rich people thriving, while poor people are barely surviving. Are you ready for $5.00 gasoline, let alone $6.00 gasoline? What about bananas? When's the last time you bought bananas at $.39 a pound? And you might as well forget about corn. More than three million acres of farmland have been wiped out by the "Once in 200-Year Flood" Think about it: What are the most important things that concern you?
Food: Gas prices causing food prices to go up.
Shelter: Mortgage foreclosures causing the middle class to become the homeless class.
Financial Stability: More people in debt; more people jobless.
Health: More people, now 47,000,000 people without health insurance.
Peace: Fighting two wars -- the one on terrorism and the one in Iraq.
Just imagine what the USA would be like today at the end of two Gore administrations..........
I didn't hear the shocking news about Tim Russert until I returned home, around 8:30pm after seeing an advance screening of a wonderful new film, "Kit Kittredge, An American Girl," about a 10 year old in Depression era Cincinnati, whose dream is to become a journalist. Her story inspired me as I walked through Central Park, all the while oblivious to this bombshell of a loss. Here was this little girl who was obsessed with telling the truth, and her intellectual curiosity was delightful to watch on that movie screen. But as I instinctively turned on the television at home, thinking I would watch the second half of "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" I knew something was wrong immediately. There was Keith with this sad look in his eyes, a plain blue background, not his usual set at 30 Rock, and there were these words on the TV screen: "TIM RUSSERT, NBC NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, DIES AT 58."
I just can't believe it, it seems surreal, these past 24 hours. I wrote this post on the NY Times blog:
I’m stunned and saddened by the sudden loss of Tim Russert, a giant of a journalist, and on the eve of this Father’s Day, a giant of a man. To say that he will be missed is a gross understatement. My heartfelt condolences to his family, Buffalo and his extended family at NBC. I can’t imagine this election without him. He was a great American. I lit a candle for his sweet repose and for the love of his family. The world is a better place because of Tim Russert. If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet The Press, and we will always remember.Tim Russert truly was one of the good guys, and what made him so special is that he exemplified what a decent human being can be in the rip-roaring, tumultuous world of Washington politics. He could be simultaneously considered the knife that cut through the same old political BS, but also, the quintessential teddy bear of a nice guy. I will miss his enthusiasm, his thoroughness and breadth as a political interviewer and analyst, but I think most of all, I'll miss his smile and his ebullient warmth that he expressed with the way he lived his life and his love for his family.
I tried to write this post last night, but there was so much traffic on the site that it had to be taken down for maintenance after Barack's historic achievement. It's all good. It gave me a good night to sleep on this momentous occasion -- the first American of African descent to be named a major party's nominee for President of the United States. Wow! Somebody pinch me. Am I asleep and dreaming an extraordinary dream? When I woke up and read the front page of the New York Times, I was convinced this was not a dream, but the culmination of a dream come true. If only my dad had lived to see this day. Yesterday was his birthday -- he would have turned 80. What a magnificent birthday present for him, an African-American of mixed race heritage, just like Barack Obama. His mother's mother was white, his father a black man who passed away only a short time after Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
I'm going to enjoy this moment. I'm going to savor every minute of this historic moment for my forebears, whose dignity was trounced, and whose dreams were shattered, who were judged not by the content of their character, but by the color of their skin. For them, this day had to seem like a distant dream, a far-fetched parallel universe, where all people of integrity are treated with respect and dignity. Somebody pinch me. This is the America I have dreamed of my whole life. This is our moment. This is our time, America.
As reported on time.com, by the AP:
(WASHINGTON) — Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday after a grueling marathon, based on an Associated Press tally of convention delegates, becoming the first black candidate ever to lead his party into a fall campaign for the White House.
Campaigning on an insistent call for change, Obama outlasted former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a historic race that sparked record turnout in primary after primary, yet exposed deep racial and gender divisions within the party.
The tally was based on public declarations from delegates as well as from another 15 who have confirmed their intentions to the AP. It also included 11 delegates Obama was guaranteed as long as he gained 30 percent of the vote in South Dakota and Montana later in the day. It takes 2,118 delegates to clinch the nomination.
The 46-year-old first-term senator will face John McCain in the fall campaign to become the 44th president. The Arizona senator campaigned in Memphis during the day, and had no immediate reaction to Obama's victory.
Clinton stood ready to concede that her rival had amassed the delegates needed to triumph, according to officials in her campaign. They stressed that the New York senator did not intend to suspend or end her candidacy in a speech Tuesday night in New York. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been authorized to divulge her plans.
Obama's triumph was fashioned on prodigious fundraising, meticulous organizing and his theme of change aimed at an electorate opposed to the Iraq war and worried about the economy — all harnessed to his own innate gifts as a campaigner.
With her husband's two-White House terms as a backdrop, Clinton campaigned for months as the candidate of experience, a former first lady and second-term senator ready, she said, to take over on Day One.
But after a year on the campaign trail, Obama won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, and the freshman senator became something of an overnight political phenomenon. "We came together as Democrats, as Republicans and independents, to stand up and say we are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come," he said that night in Des Moines.
A video produced by Will I. Am and built around Obama's "Yes, we can" rallying cry quickly went viral. It drew its one millionth hit within a few days of being posted.
As the strongest female presidential candidate in history, Clinton drew large, enthusiastic audiences. Yet Obama's were bigger still. One audience, in Dallas, famously cheered when he blew his nose on stage; a crowd of 75,000 turned out in Portland, Ore., the weekend before the state's May 20 primary.
The former first lady countered Obama's Iowa victory with an upset five days later in New Hampshire that set the stage for a campaign marathon as competitive as any in the last generation. "Over the last week I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice," she told supporters who had saved her candidacy from an early demise.
In a reference that likened former President Clinton to Harry Truman: "There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced criticism from the preceding Democratic president, who was widely respected in the party."
Merely by surviving Super Tuesday, Obama exceeded expectations.
But he did more than survive, emerging with a lead in delegates that he never relinquished, and proceeded to run off a string of 11 straight victories.
Clinton saved her candidacy once more with primary victories in Ohio and Texas on March 4, beginning a stretch in which she won primaries in six of the final nine states on the calendar, as well as in Puerto Rico.
It was a strong run, providing glimpses of what might have been for the one-time front-runner.
But by then Obama was well on his way to victory, Clinton and her allies stressed the popular vote instead of delegates. Yet he seemed to emerge from each loss with residual strength.
Obama's bigger-than-expected victory in North Carolina on May 6 offset his narrow defeat in Indiana the same day. Four days later, he overtook Clinton's lead among superdelegates, the party leaders she had hoped would award her the nomination on the basis of a strong showing in swing states.
Obama lost West Virginia by a whopping 67 percent to 26 percent on May 13. Yet he won an endorsement the following day from former presidential rival and one-time North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
Clinton administered another drubbing in Kentucky a week later. This time, Obama countered with a victory in Oregon, and turned up that night in Iowa to say he had won a majority of all the delegates available in 56 primaries and caucuses on the calendar.
Click to Print
I've been deep into reflecting on the WHY of the whole Rev. Jeremiah Wright debacle/spectacle. And now, it has left me drained. Sometimes life is manifested in very mysterious ways, and this tragic unfolding is one of those instances. I don't know about you, but I'm left very sad by this whole thing. After listening to Senator Obama divorce his former pastor in what can only have been a very painful experience, I felt for Barack. It's just emotionally excruciating to witness something like this played out on the public stage, when most people don't have to go through any such experience with their pastor/rabbi/minister/priest.
I gave Mr. Wright the benefit of the doubt. I listened to more of his sermons than just the endless loop of snippets of his most inflammatory comments. I learned of his exemplary military service, his service not only to LBJ, but also to our 42nd President in his desperate hours of needing salvation. I learned that he was a noted biblical scholar and theologian, and a pastor who built a congregation and a worthy mission of community service, and when I watched him answer Bill Moyers' questions in his thoughtful and intelligent manner, I thought this remarkable man had been misunderstood. But after watching his performances at the NAACP and National Press Club, I too am convinced that Rev. Wright is not only a man of God, but he is also a sinner: a man capable of not doing unto others what he would have them do unto him. I only hope that Jeremiah Wright is capable of seeking forgiveness and his very own salvation. The time to move on from this painful experience is now.
It's ironic that today is the Pennsylvania Primary, and it is also Earth Day. It is a rare opportunity for the people of Pennsylvania to cast a ballot that actually can make a difference this election year. It is paramount that those people who go to the polls today to vote, realize that they can actually make a huge statement by voting for a leader who believes that the United States has to loosen the stranglehold that we find ourselves in called dependence on foreign oil. With the cost of gasoline skyrocketing here in the United States, and the residual, snowball effects of those expenses for Americans everywhere, is it any wonder that we harbor so many doubts about most of our elected representatives' commitment to listening to the people and actually taking action to break free from this prison of our own making. The U.S. economy is in a state of shambles right now, and the American people cannot help but make the connection that our tax payer dollars have been used for purposes other than those which each of us can actually stand up and be proud. The war in Iraq is costing each of us a bundle, and it bears worth repeating on this Earth Day, that lives lost are worth more than any precious metal or liquid fuel.
We need to start thinking more about the future -- to our future as a nation, and how we can creatively approach getting out of this rut. Going green is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. And if we are to remain a leader in this world, we need to start looking to the quality of the education that we produce, the quality of the jobs that we create through our basic needs. I urge you to read Bob Herbert's excellent column "Clueless in America" in today's New York Times on education (or the lack thereof) in the U.S.A. It's a good place to start.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/opinion/22herbert.html?th&emc=th
My Vote's for Obama (if I could vote) ...by Michael Moore April 21st, 2008 Friends, I don't get to vote for President this primary season. I live in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted. So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will you please cast my vote -- and yours -- on Tuesday for Senator Barack Obama? I haven't spoken publicly 'til now as to who I would vote for, primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?; and 2) I (and most people I know) don't give a rat's ass whose name is on the ballot in November, as long as there's a picture of JFK and FDR riding a donkey at the top of the ballot, and the word "Democratic" next to the candidate's name. Seriously, I know so many people who don't care if the name under the Big "D" is Dancer, Prancer, Clinton or Blitzen. It can be Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Barry Obama or the Dalai Lama. Well, that sounded good last year, but over the past two months, the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting. I guess the debate last week was the final straw. I've watched Senator Clinton and her husband play this game of appealing to the worst side of white people, but last Wednesday, when she hurled the name "Farrakhan" out of nowhere, well that's when the silly season came to an early end for me. She said the "F" word to scare white people, pure and simple. Of course, Obama has no connection to Farrakhan. But, according to Senator Clinton, Obama's pastor does -- AND the "church bulletin" once included a Los Angeles Times op-ed from some guy with Hamas! No, not the church bulletin! This sleazy attempt to smear Obama was brilliantly explained the following night by Stephen Colbert. He pointed out that if Obama is supported by Ted Kennedy, who is Catholic, and the Catholic Church is led by a Pope who was in the Hitler Youth, that can mean only one thing: OBAMA LOVES HITLER! Yes, Senator Clinton, that's how you sounded. Like you were nuts. Like you were a bigot stoking the fires of stupidity. How sad that I would ever have to write those words about you. You have devoted your life to good causes and good deeds. And now to throw it all away for an office you can't win unless you smear the black man so much that the superdelegates cry "Uncle (Tom)" and give it all to you. But that can't happen. You cast your die when you voted to start this bloody war. When you did that you were like Moses who lost it for a moment and, because of that, was prohibited from entering the Promised Land. How sad for a country that wanted to see the first woman elected to the White House. That day will come -- but it won't be you. We'll have to wait for the current Democratic governor of Kansas to run in 2016 (you read it here first!). There are those who say Obama isn't ready, or he's voted wrong on this or that. But that's looking at the trees and not the forest. What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a profound, massive public movement for change. My endorsement is more for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama the candidate. That is not to take anything away from this exceptional man. But what's going on is bigger than him at this point, and that's a good thing for the country. Because, when he wins in November, that Obama Movement is going to have to stay alert and active. Corporate America is not going to give up their hold on our government just because we say so. President Obama is going to need a nation of millions to stand behind him. I know some of you will say, 'Mike, what have the Democrats done to deserve our vote?' That's a damn good question. In November of '06, the country loudly sent a message that we wanted the war to end. Yet the Democrats have done nothing. So why should we be so eager to line up happily behind them? I'll tell you why. Because I can't stand one more friggin' minute of this administration and the permanent, irreversible damage it has done to our people and to this world. I'm almost at the point where I don't care if the Democrats don't have a backbone or a kneebone or a thought in their dizzy little heads. Just as long as their name ain't "Bush" and the word "Republican" is not beside theirs on the ballot, then that's good enough for me. I, like the majority of Americans, have been pummeled senseless for 8 long years. That's why I will join millions of citizens and stagger into the voting booth come November, like a boxer in the 12th round, all bloodied and bruised with one eye swollen shut, looking for the only thing that matters -- that big "D" on the ballot. Don't get me wrong. I lost my rose-colored glasses a long time ago. It's foolish to see the Democrats as anything but a nicer version of a party that exists to do the bidding of the corporate elite in this country. Any endorsement of a Democrat must be done with this acknowledgement and a hope that one day we will have a party that'll represent the people first, and laws that allow that party an equal voice. Finally, I want to say a word about the basic decency I have seen in Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton continues to throw the Rev. Wright up in his face as part of her mission to keep stoking the fears of White America. Every time she does this I shout at the TV, "Say it, Obama! Say that when she and her husband were having marital difficulties regarding Monica Lewinsky, who did she and Bill bring to the White House for 'spiritual counseling?' THE REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT!" But no, Obama won't throw that at her. It wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be decent. She's been through enough hurt. And so he remains silent and takes the mud she throws in his face. That's why the crowds who come to see him are so large. That's why he'll take us down a more decent path. That's why I would vote for him if Michigan were allowed to have an election. But the question I keep hearing is... 'can he win? Can he win in November?' In the distance we hear the siren of the death train called the Straight Talk Express. We know it's possible to hear the words "President McCain" on January 20th. We know there are still many Americans who will never vote for a black man. Hillary knows it, too. She's counting on it. Pennsylvania, the state that gave birth to this great country, has a chance to set things right. It has not had a moment to shine like this since 1787 when our Constitution was written there. In that Constitution, they wrote that a black man or woman was only "three fifths" human. On Tuesday, the good people of Pennsylvania have a chance for redemption. Yours,Michael MooreMichaelMoore.comMMFlint@aol.com
My Vote's for Obama (if I could vote) ...by Michael Moore
April 21st, 2008
Friends,
I don't get to vote for President this primary season. I live in Michigan. The party leaders (both here and in D.C.) couldn't get their act together, and thus our votes will not be counted.
So, if you live in Pennsylvania, can you do me a favor? Will you please cast my vote -- and yours -- on Tuesday for Senator Barack Obama?
I haven't spoken publicly 'til now as to who I would vote for, primarily for two reasons: 1) Who cares?; and 2) I (and most people I know) don't give a rat's ass whose name is on the ballot in November, as long as there's a picture of JFK and FDR riding a donkey at the top of the ballot, and the word "Democratic" next to the candidate's name.
Seriously, I know so many people who don't care if the name under the Big "D" is Dancer, Prancer, Clinton or Blitzen. It can be Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Barry Obama or the Dalai Lama.
Well, that sounded good last year, but over the past two months, the actions and words of Hillary Clinton have gone from being merely disappointing to downright disgusting. I guess the debate last week was the final straw. I've watched Senator Clinton and her husband play this game of appealing to the worst side of white people, but last Wednesday, when she hurled the name "Farrakhan" out of nowhere, well that's when the silly season came to an early end for me. She said the "F" word to scare white people, pure and simple. Of course, Obama has no connection to Farrakhan. But, according to Senator Clinton, Obama's pastor does -- AND the "church bulletin" once included a Los Angeles Times op-ed from some guy with Hamas! No, not the church bulletin!
This sleazy attempt to smear Obama was brilliantly explained the following night by Stephen Colbert. He pointed out that if Obama is supported by Ted Kennedy, who is Catholic, and the Catholic Church is led by a Pope who was in the Hitler Youth, that can mean only one thing: OBAMA LOVES HITLER!
Yes, Senator Clinton, that's how you sounded. Like you were nuts. Like you were a bigot stoking the fires of stupidity. How sad that I would ever have to write those words about you. You have devoted your life to good causes and good deeds. And now to throw it all away for an office you can't win unless you smear the black man so much that the superdelegates cry "Uncle (Tom)" and give it all to you.
But that can't happen. You cast your die when you voted to start this bloody war. When you did that you were like Moses who lost it for a moment and, because of that, was prohibited from entering the Promised Land.
How sad for a country that wanted to see the first woman elected to the White House. That day will come -- but it won't be you. We'll have to wait for the current Democratic governor of Kansas to run in 2016 (you read it here first!).
There are those who say Obama isn't ready, or he's voted wrong on this or that. But that's looking at the trees and not the forest. What we are witnessing is not just a candidate but a profound, massive public movement for change. My endorsement is more for Obama The Movement than it is for Obama the candidate.
That is not to take anything away from this exceptional man. But what's going on is bigger than him at this point, and that's a good thing for the country. Because, when he wins in November, that Obama Movement is going to have to stay alert and active. Corporate America is not going to give up their hold on our government just because we say so. President Obama is going to need a nation of millions to stand behind him.
I know some of you will say, 'Mike, what have the Democrats done to deserve our vote?' That's a damn good question. In November of '06, the country loudly sent a message that we wanted the war to end. Yet the Democrats have done nothing. So why should we be so eager to line up happily behind them?
I'll tell you why. Because I can't stand one more friggin' minute of this administration and the permanent, irreversible damage it has done to our people and to this world. I'm almost at the point where I don't care if the Democrats don't have a backbone or a kneebone or a thought in their dizzy little heads. Just as long as their name ain't "Bush" and the word "Republican" is not beside theirs on the ballot, then that's good enough for me.
I, like the majority of Americans, have been pummeled senseless for 8 long years. That's why I will join millions of citizens and stagger into the voting booth come November, like a boxer in the 12th round, all bloodied and bruised with one eye swollen shut, looking for the only thing that matters -- that big "D" on the ballot.
Don't get me wrong. I lost my rose-colored glasses a long time ago.
It's foolish to see the Democrats as anything but a nicer version of a party that exists to do the bidding of the corporate elite in this country. Any endorsement of a Democrat must be done with this acknowledgement and a hope that one day we will have a party that'll represent the people first, and laws that allow that party an equal voice.
Finally, I want to say a word about the basic decency I have seen in Mr. Obama. Mrs. Clinton continues to throw the Rev. Wright up in his face as part of her mission to keep stoking the fears of White America. Every time she does this I shout at the TV, "Say it, Obama! Say that when she and her husband were having marital difficulties regarding Monica Lewinsky, who did she and Bill bring to the White House for 'spiritual counseling?' THE REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT!"
But no, Obama won't throw that at her. It wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be decent. She's been through enough hurt. And so he remains silent and takes the mud she throws in his face.
That's why the crowds who come to see him are so large. That's why he'll take us down a more decent path. That's why I would vote for him if Michigan were allowed to have an election.
But the question I keep hearing is... 'can he win? Can he win in November?' In the distance we hear the siren of the death train called the Straight Talk Express. We know it's possible to hear the words "President McCain" on January 20th. We know there are still many Americans who will never vote for a black man. Hillary knows it, too. She's counting on it.
Pennsylvania, the state that gave birth to this great country, has a chance to set things right. It has not had a moment to shine like this since 1787 when our Constitution was written there. In that Constitution, they wrote that a black man or woman was only "three fifths" human. On Tuesday, the good people of Pennsylvania have a chance for redemption.
Yours,Michael MooreMichaelMoore.comMMFlint@aol.com
I talked a little bit about Pennsylvania in a previous post. Now Hillary Clinton and John McCain are actually trying to make political points here by typical, sickening parsing to death of Barack Obama's recent comments made at a Marin County fundraiser.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/obama-no-surprise-that-ha_b_96188.html
Lou Dobbs is fanning the flames of his "populist" anti-immigration movement once again with a poll on his website entitled Do you believe that Senator Barack Obama's comments reveal his elitist attitude toward every hardworking American?
Note to unemployed, underemployed workers who have lost hope that politicians give a damn, and that your government really doesn't care:
With Barack Obama you will have a much greater chance that the person sitting in the Oval Office will not give tax breaks to big companies who ship American jobs overseas to save money, or give tax breaks to the rich or give tax breaks to companies who can afford big lobbyists in Washington at the expense of the American worker. Sure, Senator Obama called it like he saw it. Some of you are bitter, and have every reason to be. Some of you do cling even harder to religion or guns or transfer your resentment on to people who seem to come in and take on jobs that even while low-paying, are better than the job that you no longer have.
Now, you can become even more bitter, or you can actually listen to Barack Obama and hear what he's saying. He's listening to you, and he can work with members from the other party to start putting you first, to put America's economy first. If you pay close attention. PLEASE.
I cannot let this 40th anniversary of the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pass without telling you my personal story -- For I lived in Indianapolis, Indiana at the time. I was a teenager, and I'll never forget how I felt that awful moment when I first heard the terrible news. And I'll never forget watching Bobby Kennedy, on black and white TV, break the news of Dr. King's death. In my mind, that moment remains one of those singular moments that transcends space and time, and the words that Bobby Kennedy spoke bear retelling here, for I do believe in my heart that he prevented the city of Indianapolis from going up in smoke that fateful night.
Ladies and Gentlemen - I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because...I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.For those of you who are black - considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization - black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love.For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times.My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, yeah that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love - a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke. We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very much.Robert F. Kennedy - April 4, 1968
I hope that all Obama supporters who have never read or heard these words, especially the young people, who have come to embrace this campaign, will pledge to do good in honor of Dr. King, and live the kinds of lives that mirror the spirit of humanity that Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy so exemplified.
I don't like to boycott something unless the issue really gets in my craw. Well, my craw is screaming now. My hat's off to Keith Olbermann!
Must Read: From Today's Women's Wear Daily: http://www.wwd.com/issue/article/123890?page=1
TAKEDOWN IN AISLE 5: MSNBC "Countdown"'s Keith Olbermann has waged a battle against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for suing one of its former employees, Debbie Shank, 52, for $470,000 in medical expenses paid for her care after a car accident left her brain damaged. Olbermann has named the mass retailer to his Worst Person in the World list for four nights in a row, and says his fight with Wal-Mart will continue so long as its pursuit of money from Shank continues. "If they continue to do the morally indefensible to this woman, no matter what their legal rights may be, we will keep reminding people that's what they're supporting when they go to Wal-Mart. And we'll do it nightly, and indefinitely," said Olbermann via e-mail.In 2001, Shank was left with severe brain damage (her short-term memory is virtually nonexistent) after being hit by a semitruck. Her medical expenses were paid for by Wal-Mart, and Shank won close to $1 million in a settlement from the trucking company and, after paying out legal fees, was left with $417,000. But a clause in the retailer's benefits agreement says the store can recoup medical fees paid if an injured employee receives damages from a lawsuit. Wal-Mart, which earned more than $11 billion in profits last year, sued Shank for $470,000, and won. Shank appealed the ruling in the summer, but lost again. Six days later, her 18-year-old son was killed in Iraq. "Wal-Mart, may your stores melt in the hot sun," Olbermann declared.Daphne Moore, Wal-Mart's corporate communications director, responded in a statement: "This is a very sad case and we understand that people will naturally have an emotional and sympathetic reaction. While the Shank case involves a tragic situation, the reality is that the health plan is required to protect its assets so that it can pay the future claims of other associates and their family members. These plans are funded by associate premiums and company contributions. Any money recovered is returned to the health plan, not to the business. This is done out of fairness to everyone who contributes to and benefits from the plan. The Supreme Court recently declined to hear an appeal of the case, which concludes all litigation. While Wal-Mart's benefit plan was entitled to more than the amount that remained in the Shank trust, the plan only recovered the funds remaining in that trust," which according to reports amounted to about $277,000. The spokeswoman did not respond specifically to Olbermann's TV battle. — Stephanie D. Smith
I urge you, as Obama supporters, to both denounce and reject Wal-Mart! Here is a woman who has suffered enough, and Wal-Mart hasn't got the decency to know right from wrong. I'll take my business elsewhere. And so should you. The low savings is not worth this price.
It is now very apparent that Hillary and Bill Clinton are prepared to cause irreparable harm to the Democratic Party in their quest to regain the White House. They are determined to take the "Tonya Harding" option -- kneecapping Obama in order to win, as ABC's Jake Tapper reports from an unnamed Democratic Party source. In case you missed it, please be sure to read David Brooks' excellent piece on "The Long Defeat" we Democrats will incur if Hillary Clinton keeps up her negative campaign in pursuit of the Presidency.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/opinion/25brooks.html?th&emc=th
Clinton said earlier today, "[Rev. Wright] would not have been my pastor." It's clear to anybody who's seen those photographs making their way around the blogosphere that she and then President Clinton, who hosted a prayer breakfast at the White House with notable clergymen, including Reverend Jeremiah Wright (next to whom Hillary Clinton was seated), clearly were familiar with the Rev. Wright, and remained relatively quiet about it until the pictures started to surface, in wake of the recent Fox News-incited brouhaha.
Hillary Clinton is right on the mark when she says that "[Wright] would not have been my pastor." For the Trinity United Church of Christ isn't the kind of church that Hillary would ever set foot in, unless she were actively pursuing public office, and pandering for votes. Isn't it ironic how Rev. Wright was there at the White House to deliver hope to a fallen President, only hours before Bill Clinton's sins were revealed. Now that Hillary has no use for Wright, she disposes of him the way one would a used rag doll.
I'm glad that Barack Obama learned something about forgiveness in the Trinity United Church of Christ.
James Carville got it right: There's Philadephia, there's Pittsburgh -- and there's Alabama in between. Having grown up in a small town in the "Alabama" section of Pennsylvania in the Jim Crow days, I have vivid, and somewhat traumatic memories of my time living there.
We probably won't win Pennsylvania, but I don't expect to. And I'm sad about that, but realistic in my expectations. I highly recommend reading this excellent piece of reporting by Krissah Williams in today's Washington Post.
In Parts of Pa., Racial Divide Colors Election (By Krissah Williams, The Washington Post)
