I just wanted to post this, cuz I'm always looking for way to still have hope for real healthcare reform that will work for my children and myself...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Private-sector-signs-on-for-cnnm-15194800.html
I'm never sure what is going on in DC, but I can hope that we are making progress.
Please consider organizing a visible gathering, preferably ON THE STEPS OF THE CAPITOL, if you are near that area.
I believe we need to combat the lies that Republicans are spouting on CSPAN, that they represent us, the American people who are out here hurting, and paying their salaries. Tax breaks, for the unemployed? That equals a BIG ZERO. We need jobs, and investment in our crumbling, out-dated infrastructure.
I think we need to be out there, and have our voices heard, and be VISIBLE, and hopefully be interviewed, and hopefully our crowd will be full of Democrats, Republicans, and Independants.
It is time for the PEOPLE to be seen and heard on this issue, we need to move forward, and those people in Congress are not doing a very good job of speaking for us!!
Thank you!
I've seen some pictures, and read something about how you maybe are a bit perplexed by people who seem to have a "reverence" for you, like that video of you with the lady and her young daughter who were crying when they met you while you were out canvasing. It probably seems a little over the top, I'm sure!
I thought I would try to explain it to you, because I know that I would have the same reaction, and I get tears in my eyes at so many videos, and during your talks, or speeches. I just cried again watching the video of you and Joe Biden popping into a restaurant in Indiana. I think it is because it is such a rare feeling, to actually BELIEVE that someone is so sincerely on our side. Times really ARE so unbelievably difficult right now, many of us are nearly lost in trying to find a way to survive and to give our kids a fair chance. And we soooo want to believe in the possibilities, so it truly has the feeling of a miracle, to finally feel that things are going to be ok. It's not that we think you are a messiah, or a savior or anything, it is just FINALLY we are seeing someone who believes in US, and THAT gives us faith and hope for our future, because you will give US the chance to make it work. It is overwhelming after what we have been through. I hope you understand and don't think we are crazy, those of us who may cry over you so much.
And thank you, and Joe Biden, for being such great role-models for families. It is exciting to think of our leaders being someone we can look up to, and I can only hope THAT will have a "trickle-down effect"
09 Jan 2008 11:59 am
Ross takes me to task for downplaying Obama's liberalism. That's a little unfair for a blogger who wrote last May:
He may, in fact, be the most effective liberal advocate I've heard in my lifetime. As a conservative, I think he could be absolutely lethal to what's left of the tradition of individualism, self-reliance, and small government that I find myself quixotically attached to.
I don't expect the Democrats to be the party of limited government. But any reward for the Republicans after the massive expansion of government power and spending under Bush would be much more fatal. Because it would destroy even the potential for a party of limited government in the future - by ceding the GOP to spendthrift Christianists. So voting for Obama to punish the GOP and then hope for a revival of conservatism in the ashes doesn't seem like such a contradiction to me. I find it staggering that commentators on the right who have said virtually nothing about Bush's nanny-statism and fiscal irresponsibility these past few years start raising these issues immediately with Obama. Yes, Bill Bennett, I'm looking at you. I'm sorry but you have zero credibility on these matters. And neither do most of the Beltway Republican punditocracy.
I also just think that Obama is a pragmatic liberal. His judgments in the past have been largely practical and reasonable. He is not an ideologue. Nor is he an excessive partisan. Those qualities are admirable from a conservative point of view. As for Burkeanism, I agree it can be an amorphous concept. Because it allows for a great deal of lee-way for prudence to determine particular judgments in history, it allows for minimal change and maximal change within its boundaries. I don't think this makes it meaningless as a concept. It is the way a society changes that Burke was interested in. He backed the huge change of the American revolution, for example. And all we're talking about with Obama is a prudent response to an ill-begotten war, some measures to tackle a failing healthcare system and an attempt to tackle the emergent problem of climate change. And all in a spirit of national reconciliation. This is no Robespierre, Ross.
Ross claims there is still some space to the left of Bush. Sure - but much less than there was eight years ago. Put it this way: if a Democratic president had added $32 trillion to the next generation's debt in eight years, if he'd bungled a war, if he'd abrogated habeas corpus indefinitely and authorized torture, do you think a Republican would be criticized as a leftist for wanting to withdraw troops, and extend healthcare insurance - without mandates - for more of the working poor?
Come off it. There are two possible solutions to GOP degeneracy: Obama and McCain. As of last week, there appeared only one: Obama.
