This is change I believe in. Yes, it is a slogan but I believe in it.
President Obama has largely delivered what I voted for. I am most comfortable with this Democrat than I was with any previous Democrat president in my 40 plus years. Until now, I have been a Democrat with reservations at times over those years. Now I am a Democrat with pride.
If there is the wonder where we all went, where we all are since the campaign...well, we are refocusing on the things we took time off from to make the campaign a success. We are rebuilding our bank accounts, turning back to our families, and making our regular work as good as we can.
As one writer here noted, we too have to help out. The only problem with that is that most of us don't have the luxury of time and fortune to continue with as strong of a campaign over four years that we did over two years of a campaign. There is such a thing as burning out and if we truly went at the pace of the campaign for the next four to eight years, we would be. Financially, physically, emotionally, or all of the above.
Everything since the campaign has convinced me we made the right choice at that point in history. It was never about electing the first black president. This was just a bonus. It was about electing a man (could have been a woman for that matter) who was cool, calm, and collected under pressure. Someone who had a personality that could reach out to people and make them more confident both in him to lead the charge and in themselves.
We needed and got someone who could understand that we are not a monolithic people, who are easily separated into wedge groups. We are diverse in thought, with people who believe that yes we need new priorities but please find ways to phase out programs and services we no longer need and cut the budget in the process. We also have people who believe in more to lift up those in need, particularly when our economy is at its hour of need.
Do I have doubts? Yes, but not about who I elected. I have doubts that our programs that should phase out where phasing out may be needed, will not be included in the language or the follow through. Minor details really, but important ones. I talk as if I am part of the administration, because really the government is and always has been We The People. We are always a part of every president's administration.
I believe that people are tired of the constant drumbeat of fear. If Ronald Reagan's election proved anything, is that people wanted to believe in something better. This has lead to the election of so many of our nation's presidents over the centuries from both parties and the political parties that came before the Republicans and Democrats. Barack Obama was the one wrapped up in the optimism banner this time around. If it had been someone as uninspiring as Dukakis was to me back then, we might have seen that optimism banner around a President McCain instead.
What worked for me about Obama was that he also was wrapped in the solution finding banner as well. He admitted during the campaign all that we have seen since. One of the rare moments of true advertising. He said all along he would rather have a solution to problems, even if they were half measures than to have no measure at all. If any side had a better solution, he was willing to come part way.
You know he is doing something right when both liberals and conservatives have had some successes because of Obama borrowing a page from both. Conversely, both have had a few setbacks as a result.
Yes, he is what I came for. Yes, I will vote him back in for the next election. After that, who knows who will be running. I had this knowledge I would vote for him in the first place after his 2004 DNC speech. Everything since has only strengthened that thought.
Obama is to Democrats what Reagan is to Republicans. It only grows more true with every parallel. Reagan had a recession just as deep shortly after he took office. There are more parallels, albeit with far different philosophies and different results. I know what my Republican friends felt when Reagan was in, faith that all will work out. I see it with my party now, but for different reasons. No matter who or what, everything will work out.
I have an acquaintance that talks about the end of the world. The most amazing thing is that it has to do with black people, the biggest foolishness of all. As if skin color or national origin has anything to do with it! I can't say African Americans per say in their twisted logic, because of the cross-national BS spouted.
I guess step one of the Apocalypse was having a black President. Gee, to me I have never felt more at ease with our President. I am a Democrat and I feel better about this Democrat President than I have about any President from the Democratic party in my 43 years of life!
Oh and step two for the Apocalypse is when we have a black Pope! I almost wanted to laugh when I heard that one. Not that I don't foresee an African born Pope or a Latin American or Asian Pope in my lifetime. No, just the thought that having blacks in charge is somehow one or two of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse!
Where has this collective mental illness come from? Well, I do notice that this person listens around the clock to conservative chatter on the internet, radio, and cable television. No, I do not think that right wing talk is more dangerous than any other talk. Just that they aren't helping right now when we have so many problems caused by BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES in the last 30 years!
Coincidence perhaps, but I cannot overlook how angry Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Laura Ingraham are about this country. When their party was in power, it was as if they were not happy even then. No, all the liberals have to be removed - except one, so that we can have a perfect world! Get rid of Barney Frank, keep Ted Kennedy for a liberal museum as to what is wrong with this country, and eliminate the entire rest of the Democratic party at the ballot box or through recall elections. Hooray for Norm Coleman not allowing Al Franken to be seated in the Senate, they say! They want Norm to keep up the pressure, oh at least for the next six years, because Al Franken was illegally elected by ACORN.
If a Democrat was preventing Norm Coleman from being seated in the Senate, well that would have been a legitimate election that Coleman won. The liberal should back off then. It is just illegal when a Democrat wins. Why is because in their world this nation is a right-center government. Most Americans out there are Republicans! Yes, see that map in the newspaper? Well, notice it was all red except for areas with a lot of people living? See the liberals control the cities, but in the rest of "God's country" it is a conservative nation. A Democrat cannot possibly win! Certainly not a BLACK Democrat! When in reality, this nation is a CENTER-CENTER nation.
Now there is where I think it really is. They can't handle the truth, as Jack Nicholson said in the movies. They are so afraid that a minority president, be he or she a black, hispanic, or asian might oppress the white population the same way the whites did all of those years. How stupid is that?
Well, really stupid these days. Why is because no matter what your skin color or ethnic origin we are all too busy trying to raise our families, keep our jobs, maybe make some money, go to school, or have some entertainment in what is left of our free time.
When you think of what is really important, this is not the end of the world. We aren't even at the halfway point to the end of times. There are many thousands of years to go before our sun goes supernova. When that happens our descendants will be vaporized or living on other planets. None of this will matter in thousands of years!
It is almost a comedy skit, listening to Sean Brain Removed Hannity.
Sean (only to those who agree with him): You're a great American!Caller (who could be Osama bin Laden as far as we know): You're a great American!
I know that many of the so-called liberals threatened to move to Canada or Europe when George W. Bush was elected. Not that many did, from what I gather.
However, to have the Governor of Texas Rick Perry almost encourage Texas to secede from the Union...over what? Taxes? I guess he must be making over $250,000 a year as are the rest of the dittoheads who want to have their state pull out of the Union.
If you want to leave the Union as an individual, go right ahead. Canada isn't that far away. Threaten to leave this nation as did the so-called liberals a few short years ago.
Having a state pull out though over the most trivial reasons is absurd and will never ever happen. Just threatening this stuff and repeating it over and over for the next few years will encourage those who are a bit of an anarchist or mentally ill to do all sorts of foolishness, for real. It isn't Obama or Bush that made you less safe, it was your own mental illness brought to real-life action by a nutty few.
Great civilizations rot from within. External threats by other countries or individuals from other areas of the world only serve to unite us over our 200 plus year history. Nations throughout history fell not because of an invasion of another country, but by those within their own country.
For the brain dead that think you'd do better outside of the Union. Think of free enterprise here. Who are you going to trade with? Mexico? The rest of the dreaded United States you left in a huff? Canada? Oh that'd be great, transporting your goods to trade across your dreaded United States by land or air. You see that this does not work out.
President Obama will not leave office just because a few states leave....if they were ever foolish enough to do so. No, Obama or your now sainted Bush and Cheney if they were still in office would do an Abraham Lincoln and bring you back. No matter who is President, leaving this Union would not stand. My how brave it is for you idiots to spout off when nothing comes to pass, not even by you.
How childish for liberals or conservatives, or anyone of any political persuasion, to threaten to pick up their marbles and go home simply because their candidate lost! Simply because the opposite political party won the White House, Congress, and maybe a few local or state offices! It is as if four or eight years is an eternity for these people. I guess if you are going to be so extreme because a Republican or Democrat won, you might as well hide the razor blades from these people. They are looney tunes!
Unless someone became a dictator and therefore President for life, no one stays in office forever. Not even Dick Cheney! No President has ever assumed dictator for life status in this nation, and I don't expect that to ever happen. Not even if Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken became President!
I guess 4 or 8 years can seem like forever when you are 8 years old! The mental age of these people are probably less than that. Amazing though how they physically look like 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 year olds!
Isn't there anything that can be done to eliminate the spam posts?
If you wonder what I mean, just browse the pages long 'diamond earring......' yadda yadda.
Does anyone actually read these? I think not.
How exciting! An Organizing for America meeting at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Student Union!
Tuesday, April 28 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Hey, is there any way that the Stop the Smears web site could continue?
I want a web site that I can go to which gives us the definitive answer for these e-mail spammers who spread half truths and distortions. I know the campaign is over, but it is an area that is really beyond what the whitehouse.gov web site would or should cover.
Does the stop the smears web site still exist? Is there any way to keep us informed as to what is a true e-mail? I'm seeing those new spams that smears our President and I want at least to read what this side of things has to say.
It is all over the Internet and forwarded by people I get irritated receiving forwarded e-mail from.
Is it true that Obama snubbed the Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball? According to the Cleveland Leader, this is the first time a President has ever snubbed the Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball since Dwight Eisenhower attended in 1953. It is a ball that is sponsed by the American Legion and salutes Medal of Honor winners.
It is easy to sit in the armchair and wonder, but all of those regional balls could have been combined in one or two cases allowing time to attend this ball. I know the Commander in Chief's ball honors the military, but it looks really bad to miss the one that honors those who sacrificed the most.
This is, if this is what really happened. I want the real story. Anyone care to enlighten me what the deal really was?
I want to approach this with skepticism and with someone who will tell me something that convinces me that this will not be spread around forever. You know how they spread that "proud of my country for the first time" quote of Michelle and I just don't want yet another thing.
No matter how minor this is compared to the situation this country is in, you just don't want to give the detractors more ammunition. They sure can invent plenty on their own!
Okay, I don't care who started it. I don't care if it was in jest.
Why oh why did President Obama even bring up Limbaugh's name? Even in jest!
It gives Limbaugh a day of free press. A day he does not deserve. So then now that Limbaugh has responded in the Palm Beach newspaper it is Obama's time. It seems that Hannity was brought up during the campaign too, which only helped that guy's ratings too.
Wait a minute! Isn't this what Obama was trying to get away from? The politics of division? The senseless wagging of fists across the divide?
I don't care if Limbaugh started it. I don't care if Hannity started it. I don't care if Glenn Beck started it. I don't care if....(fill in the name of a conservative talk show host) started it.
Even for a laugh, don't go there. You fell in their trap. Don't fall in it again. The last thing I want to hear is "President Obama responded to Limbaugh's response...."
Grrr! This is one time I pray for everyone to have amnesia about who said what, even if it was a joke.
Are you trying to give him an audience? This is no time feeling sorry for the man having lower ratings. Ignore him. He might not go away, but he isn't going to go away if he is in the headlines either!
If anyone knew the perfect retort, they would have tried it by now. The man has been on for about two decades and nothing has worked so far.
Please end the broadcast of medication ads on our media.
No longer do I want to hear or see ads that tout, "Will cause miscarriages if handled by pregnant women...." You would think the pro-life people would be up in arms with that medication warning. Or how about "may cause seizures" and "consult your doctor." Oh heck yeah, I want to take that medication!
I would much rather have health related PSAs that raise consciousness than push specific pills or treatments. Prevention related ads. Awareness ads. Life saving ads.
I argue the cost of health care has went up as you see more advertisements for these services. It has to cost some money to air television ads and ads in various media.
Think about how we can innovate solutions. Who would have thought of using a plumbing plunger to restart a heart? These innovations do not cost millions and billions of dollars to do.
This is where we should invest money. Not another prescription ad that talks of "may cause strokes or heart attacks."
From time to time, this guy (me) is holding back laughing, crying, and more. It happens when I get so excited. Today, inauguration day, is one of them.
Congratulations President Obama, you will serve the nation well.
Each of us in our own way as hard working men and women, and individuals, will do far more if we do a simple test. Will this help? If it does, do so. Whatever it is, no matter how small or large, makes a difference. Doing good on your job, doing good with others on the job and beyond, make more impact than you realize.
America, change is here.
It seems unrealistic that everyone will be volunteering in their communities. Not everyone will, for some have multiple jobs and struggle to find the time to watch over their children or families.
You can make little changes without serving a soup kitchen. Hold doors open for people. Rediscover some of the manners and ways that make people feel special, valued, and respectful of others.
Pay attention to people. Sometimes people are crying out for help but do not always make it obvious unless you are really observant. People in crisis who need to feel loved, paid attention to, or just listened to.
It does not have to be a monumental project. Not every project is building grand things. Just pull your friends, family, and acquaintances closer.
By rediscovering those around you, you are doing a service not to your community immediately but to your immediate surroundings that may be far more profound and spread through a community. Every change, no matter how slight, can reap tremendous rewards from one person to one person, sometimes creating a ripple effect.
Change one person and they may change another person as well. Change ripples from those people to those you may have never met. This change ripples to even more people in a compounding effect like interest on a savings account. Change hits a town, a county, a state, a region, and a nation by your one simple act.
So do not be discouraged if you cannot build affordable homes yourself or find homeless people to save. Your simple acts of listening, kindness, or respect may in the end affect far more than you know.
In every time, but in this time in particular, people are the key.
Pay attention to those around you. Sometimes they are communicating things to you that they don't even realize they are communicating to you. Listen, analyze, think, plan, execute, and learn.
In a true story shared here earlier today, I related the story of a man that was in need in my own circle. He needed someone to pay attention, to listen up, and he was in turn receptive to advice.
Life is a two way street, so no amount of intervention will change someone's world unless they are in turn ready for that to happen. When activity on behalf of someone meets their need at just the right moment, magic happens.
Yes, people are the key. No amount of gifts or material wealth can replace a single individual.
We have moved a nation to Barack Obama. Move your neighborhood to a new optimistic reality one person at a time. A more helpful, listening, benevolent reality. One that is between individuals in a brotherly and sisterly bond. We are all brothers and sisters in this struggle we call life. Do not forget that.
I have seen that phrase a million times now, in the campaign and beyond. "Be the change you seek." It rings hollow with some people sometimes. I guess because we do not know how to be the change we seek. Where do we start? What is the cause that is bigger than us?
Some of us saw this in the campaign season now nearly two months ago. We saw or lived the moment or moments that were indeed bigger than us. We helped in large or small ways to get Barack Obama elected the 44th President of the United States. The world acknowledged this feat.
I didn't play as large of a role in the presidential campaign as I wanted to. I only gave my money (for the first time ever), phoned a handful of people, and blogged around 900 posts here. I should've, could've, would've.
For some of us, we are either energized to do more or in withdrawal from having those big moments in our past. Where do we go from here?
2008 has been a better year than I realized. My career is not going in new directions and my personal life isn't settled.
No, what makes it better is that I am being the change that I seek. In a group I am in outside of work, I wasn't satisfied with the lack of enthusiasm. I have taken the lead now more than I had in the two years I've been in the group. I have heard comments about how they like my enthusiasm. One positive comment gets me by for weeks!
Sometimes you have to be the change. Sometimes people have to see with their own eyes how hard you are trying. Maybe they will start helping too, after you started it.
Yeah, I do think it is more than that. You can be the change all you want, but please people make note of this too. If you see someone busting their chops here, there, or anywhere for God's sake acknowledge it!!!
One positive comment to a doorman, bellhop, waiter, waitress, store clerk, taxi driver, or bus driver can help them get through their day! So it isn't just that you should get out there and do something. Please, for the love of God acknowledge people who do!
I mean that so strongly, I don't know how I can say it any stronger.
Getting involved is so much more than just getting involved in the issues of the day. Getting involved is sometimes about reaffirming, re-establishing, and re-connecting with people. I will give you a true story here from this past week.
There is a person I know who was extraordinarily slim for someone over six foot tall. When they got sick, he fell to around 100 lbs. I sat back and felt that if I just left well alone that everything will be okay. When they didn't get back to work in at least one month, it was when another friend pointed out to me that they could find the energy to go to a movie and stay up late that I spun into action. My mind finally wrapped around the notion that this person doesn't seem to have a goal anymore. The person had regained some of their weight, but had never been above 135 lbs in anyone's memory.
I e-mailed this person quite a bit, maybe more than I needed to. However I sparked in them the idea that they needed to set a goal for themselves to return to work. Not only that, but I shared my concern. They needed to improve their body image and get into shape. Raise their goal from 135 lbs to 170-180 lbs for a person of their height. Don't reach for a minimum, reach for the ideal weight.
Well, that friend returned to work this week, a shorter week gave them the spirit to return rather than a longer 5 day week would have. In an e-mail to friends, they acknowledged me twice for my efforts and said I had a "good heart." They also say they will get into shape too, so that they can be a stronger person physically and weight-wise. They acknowledged that I had already got them into shape emotionally.
This to me was the greatest Christmas gift I received this year. To spark in someone else the spirit to improve themselves.
So often we all think we must find ourselves in a political cause, when in fact a lot of politics is just simply connecting with people. I have, one person at a time, built myself a "political" base. The "political" is the people connection I either took for granted or thought would come to me. No, I have to go to them whether by one form of communication or another. Not every connection has to be face to face, but it MUST be heart to heart.
This is what you too can do in the year 2009. Join me in doing this for those who you know. The gift may keep on giving.
Gee, Barack Obama is real serious about this team of rivals. He is now reaching back to distant rival Tom Vilsack of Iowa to be ag secretary. Quick, who is left to have in the administration that ran as a Democratic candidate for President?
I know we won't be seeing Secretary John Edwards anytime soon. Who is left though? Secretary Chris Dodd? Secretary Gravel? I doubt if we will see Secretary Ron Paul or Secretary Chuck Baldwin though. Democrats so far on the team of rivals. No Secretary John McCain.
I am thinking out loud about what I wish I could say to some people at some times. How best to tell them that they may be barking up the wrong tree?
These are the words we should live by. Be forceful, be direct, get the facts, and most of all be helpful.
When we find an argument not fully thought out, including my own, give suggestions on how to make it stronger. Be forceful in making your case. Be direct, for we don't have the time to beat around the bush, George Bush or otherwise. Get the facts and spread them as widely as possible to the vast majority of reasonable people out there. Help people to make their case or refute it if it is a thought being manipulated by the last thing they've read, seen, or heard.
If in doubt or feel a bit too angry, ask each other for advice as to whether this is how they see it too. Give it a few minutes to read it over. Is this what we really want to say? Heaven knows I could have used that myself about 80% of the time with my own posts.
Finally, have fun and be helpful. We all were new once. Sometimes people aren't as rigid as you think. They may be open to seeing diverse thoughts.
If you don't enjoy the moment take a break. Come back when you are excited and energized. Your ideas make this a very fascinating place to read.
Take it for what it is worth, about two cents after inflation. Just some thoughts I had after reflecting on some of my own posts I wish I had not done. I am so glad I can delete my own posts.
Let us see if I can follow my own advice! ;-)
My fellow Obama supporters,
Be aware of this sham political television advertisement. It is airing throughout this nation and merely replaces the names of who to call to your local U.S. Senator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXWwFs6Zz6g
The TV ad starts with America's current favorite corrupt politician, Illinois Governor Rod Blagodoyevich. In quick video it tries to link Blago with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), specifically the Illinois chapter. The ad then leaps to all of these so-called associations like a really bad John McCain political tv ad. It shows the Democratic National Convention, indirectly linking them all to Obama. It then says for you to go and call your U.S. Senator (fill in blank here) and urge them to say 'no' to the "Union Boss Bailout."
The so-called Americans For Job Security is a sham organization. The real non-profit organization called Public Citizen says it very bluntly at the following web site, which I will quote below.
http://www.citizen.org/congress/campaign/special_interest/articles.cfm?ID=16408
"Americans for Job Security is a sham front group that would be better called Corporations Influencing Elections. This group is masquerading as a non-profit to conceal its funders and the scope of its electioneering activities. Read why Public Citizen has called upon the IRS to revoke AJS's tax status and asked that the FEC fine the group for election-law violations."
Be aware of this group when working locally for your political causes in the near future. There is a lot of phony campaigns out there, desperately working on what seems to be the perpetual campaign. It is as if November 4th is not over in some TV markets, lately with this ad in particular.
I call it one step short of brainwashing.
My gosh. I don't know if I can find out the number of posts I've done without counting each one, but it is 20 pages long!
Although I see my first post was in February 2008, I have been for Obama since 2004 and browsing before February 2008. I didn't realize you could do all this on a blog at first.
When I say the terms "god's country" and "brain trust" I am doing so with a bit of humor. The gall of those who use that without blinking.
My point is that we have a lot to do now and in the future. While we can certainly learn from the lessons of the past and maybe use some tools of the past if they worked well and can work well again, I just don't want politicians and others to live in the past. We have a lot to solve.
I do not mind if you are a fan of JFK or RFK. They had a lot to give in their day. The spirit of getting things done, I do not mind if you evoke. I am a fan of FDR too, but that doesn't mean we have the exact same situation as FDR. Some things, yes we do have the same.
Just that there will be plenty of time to evoke the glamour of the Kennedys, the human rights of the living Jimmy Carter, and the ability to wage on positiively like FDR. Right now, especially in January, our time is now.
