The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.
As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.
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Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.
In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.
Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound.
Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans’ bank accounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government’s role and responsibilities.
In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, “Government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.”
Since the financial crisis, he has correctly identified the abject failure of government regulation that has brought the markets to the brink of collapse.
The Economy
The American financial system is the victim of decades of Republican deregulatory and anti-tax policies. Those ideas have been proved wrong at an unfathomable price, but Mr. McCain — a self-proclaimed “foot soldier in the Reagan revolution” — is still a believer.
Mr. Obama sees that far-reaching reforms will be needed to protect Americans and American business.
Mr. McCain talks about reform a lot, but his vision is pinched. His answer to any economic question is to eliminate pork-barrel spending — about $18 billion in a $3 trillion budget — cut taxes and wait for unfettered markets to solve the problem.
Mr. Obama is clear that the nation’s tax structure must be changed to make it fairer. That means the well-off Americans who have benefited disproportionately from Mr. Bush’s tax cuts will have to pay some more. Working Americans, who have seen their standard of living fall and their children’s options narrow, will benefit. Mr. Obama wants to raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation, restore a climate in which workers are able to organize unions if they wish and expand educational opportunities.
Mr. McCain, who once opposed President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy as fiscally irresponsible, now wants to make them permanent. And while he talks about keeping taxes low for everyone, his proposed cuts would overwhelmingly benefit the top 1 percent of Americans while digging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.
National Security
The American military — its people and equipment — is dangerously overstretched. Mr. Bush has neglected the necessary war in Afghanistan, which now threatens to spiral into defeat. The unnecessary and staggeringly costly war in Iraq must be ended as quickly and responsibly as possible.
While Iraq’s leaders insist on a swift drawdown of American troops and a deadline for the end of the occupation, Mr. McCain is still talking about some ill-defined “victory.” As a result, he has offered no real plan for extracting American troops and limiting any further damage to Iraq and its neighbors.
Mr. Obama was an early and thoughtful opponent of the war in Iraq, and he has presented a military and diplomatic plan for withdrawing American forces. Mr. Obama also has correctly warned that until the Pentagon starts pulling troops out of Iraq, there will not be enough troops to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, has only belatedly focused on Afghanistan’s dangerous unraveling and the threat that neighboring Pakistan may quickly follow.
Mr. Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but he has already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these critical issues. His choice of Senator Joseph Biden — who has deep foreign-policy expertise — as his running mate is another sign of that sound judgment. Mr. McCain’s long interest in foreign policy and the many dangers this country now faces make his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska more irresponsible.
Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia, including NATO, and strongly support Israel. Both candidates talk about repairing America’s image in the world. But it seems clear to us that Mr. Obama is far more likely to do that — and not just because the first black president would present a new American face to the world.
Mr. Obama wants to reform the United Nations, while Mr. McCain wants to create a new entity, the League of Democracies — a move that would incite even fiercer anti-American furies around the world.
Unfortunately, Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, sees the world as divided into friends (like Georgia) and adversaries (like Russia). He proposed kicking Russia out of the Group of 8 industrialized nations even before the invasion of Georgia. We have no sympathy for Moscow’s bullying, but we also have no desire to replay the cold war. The United States must find a way to constrain the Russians’ worst impulses, while preserving the ability to work with them on arms control and other vital initiatives.
Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled out military action to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But Mr. Obama has called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and tougher sanctions. Mr. McCain’s willingness to joke about bombing Iran was frightening.
The Constitution and the Rule of Law
Under Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the justice system and the separation of powers have come under relentless attack. Mr. Bush chose to exploit the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, the moment in which he looked like the president of a unified nation, to try to place himself above the law.
Mr. Bush has arrogated the power to imprison men without charges and browbeat Congress into granting an unfettered authority to spy on Americans. He has created untold numbers of “black” programs, including secret prisons and outsourced torture. The president has issued hundreds, if not thousands, of secret orders. We fear it will take years of forensic research to discover how many basic rights have been violated.
Both candidates have renounced torture and are committed to closing the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
But Mr. Obama has gone beyond that, promising to identify and correct Mr. Bush’s attacks on the democratic system. Mr. McCain has been silent on the subject.
Mr. McCain improved protections for detainees. But then he helped the White House push through the appalling Military Commissions Act of 2006, which denied detainees the right to a hearing in a real court and put Washington in conflict with the Geneva Conventions, greatly increasing the risk to American troops.
The next president will have the chance to appoint one or more justices to a Supreme Court that is on the brink of being dominated by a radical right wing. Mr. Obama may appoint less liberal judges than some of his followers might like, but Mr. McCain is certain to pick rigid ideologues. He has said he would never appoint a judge who believes in women’s reproductive rights.
The Candidates
It will be an enormous challenge just to get the nation back to where it was before Mr. Bush, to begin to mend its image in the world and to restore its self-confidence and its self-respect. Doing all of that, and leading America forward, will require strength of will, character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.
Mr. Obama has those qualities in abundance. Watching him being tested in the campaign has long since erased the reservations that led us to endorse Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries. He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility.
Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000 primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has been replaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tactics and tacticians.
He surrendered his standing as an independent thinker in his rush to embrace Mr. Bush’s misbegotten tax policies and to abandon his leadership position on climate change and immigration reform.
Mr. McCain could have seized the high ground on energy and the environment. Earlier in his career, he offered the first plausible bill to control America’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Now his positions are a caricature of that record: think Ms. Palin leading chants of “drill, baby, drill.”
Mr. Obama has endorsed some offshore drilling, but as part of a comprehensive strategy including big investments in new, clean technologies.
Mr. Obama has withstood some of the toughest campaign attacks ever mounted against a candidate. He’s been called un-American and accused of hiding a secret Islamic faith. The Republicans have linked him to domestic terrorists and questioned his wife’s love of her country. Ms. Palin has also questioned millions of Americans’ patriotism, calling Republican-leaning states “pro-America.”
This politics of fear, division and character assassination helped Mr. Bush drive Mr. McCain from the 2000 Republican primaries and defeat Senator John Kerry in 2004. It has been the dominant theme of his failed presidency.
The nation’s problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing “robo-calls” and negative ads. This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.
Obama challenges Palin on earmarksGOP running mate has said one thing but done another, Democrat says in IndianaBy Francesca Jaroszfrancesca.jarosz@indystar.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday launched his first attack on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin during his first appearance in Indiana since the Democratic National Convention.
Palin portrays herself as being against earmarks, but she has taken them "when it's convenient," the Democratic presidential nominee said. Earmarks are funding tucked into spending legislation in Congress by lawmakers for their districts.
"When you've been taking all these earmarks when it's convenient, and then suddenly you're the champion anti-earmark person, that's not change," Obama said of Palin, the Republican governor of Alaska.
Palin initially supported earmarks for a controversial Alaska project called the "bridge to nowhere" but dropped her support after the state's likely share of the cost rose.
The Illinois senator made the references to Palin while focusing his talk in a 4-H barn at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds on GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
He said McCain presents himself as the candidate for change while embracing many of President Bush's policies.
Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., introduced Obama to the crowd of about 1,000 and made a similar complaint about McCain.
"The price that John McCain had to pay to win his party's nomination was to embrace Bush's agenda," Bayh said. "And that's a price that the American people can no longer afford."
Bayh's comments brought cheers from the crowd in this city in Vigo County. Bayh is a native of the county.
"They talk about McCain being a maverick," said Jennifer Nelson, 40, Terre Haute, a pharmaceutical production technician. "I'd rather have someone who is built of character and the fabric of the future."
Obama said McCain's policies, particularly on the Iraq war and the economy, were a continuance of the Bush administration. McCain has voted with Bush 90 percent of the time in Congress, Obama added.
"And suddenly he is the change agent," the nominee said. "Change is not continuing the same tax policies as George Bush -- giving tax breaks to companies that invest overseas."
Obama pledged to create 7 million jobs in the United States by investing in green technology and infrastructure. He also promised to "use the tax code in a smarter way" by giving tax breaks to companies that invest inside the nation and offering tax cuts for 95 percent of taxpayers.
He said he would improve education, with a focus on producing engineers and scientists who could compete with students in China, India and other countries.
Many of those in the audience, who included flood victims displaced from their homes, people struggling to get by on disability payments and parents worried about their college-age children getting jobs, seemed encouraged by Obama's message.
"I hope the economy gets better than what it is," said Bettie Davis, Terre Haute, who at 87 still works to supplement her Social Security income, yet must choose between paying rent and buying medicine. "We need to stop sending money overseas when people here could be using it."
On Monday, Tim Roemer, Obama's senior foreign policy adviser and a former Indiana congressman, will lead discussions in Indianapolis, Franklin and New Albany on Obama's position on Iraq and national security.
Call Star reporter Francesca Jarosz at (317) 444-6310.
Barack Obama at AIPAC
To thunderous repetitive peals of applause by 7,000 gathered attendees at the American Israel Political Affairs Committee Annual Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., Barack Obama today transformed himself in the minds of many doubting Jews and security-minded conservatives.
With unmistakable clarity, Obama stepped out of his haze as a questionable figure and stepping into the limelight as a stalwart in the American/Israel relationship and in the campaign to disarm the Iranian nuclear threat.
With riveting command of the issues, Obama checked off every conceivable question in the minds of Jewish and conservative listeners and showed himself to be knowledgeable and formidable. From no negotiation with Hamas as a terrorist entity, to a personal commitment to the return of captured Israeli soldiers, to the quest for bi-national peace between Israel and Palestinians, Barack drew standing ovations. The ovations were loudest as Obama proclaimed his vision for America’s steadfastness in the looming nuclear stalemate and confrontation with Iran.
Setting aside his prepared remarks and speaking with crystal clarity, Obama declared loudly over the applause, “I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power. Everything.”
Moments later, Obama put Iran on strict notice declaring that while he favors tough diplomacy, sometimes military confrontation is unavoidable. “Sometimes there are no alternatives to confrontation,” he said, “But that only makes diplomacy more important. If we must use military force, we are more likely to succeed, and will have far greater support at home and abroad if we have exhausted our diplomatic efforts.”
Obama also showed a keen understanding of the Holocaust and its place in contemporary world history and Israel’s national mindset, thus righting erroneous misstatements he had uttered in recent days about American soldiers liberating Auschwitz. The death camp in occupied Poland was liberated by Russians in April 1945 not Americans who were fast closing in on Berlin.
Turning to Black/Jewish relations—strained and battered over recent years as anti-Semitism became vogue in the African-American community and the roiling Southside Chicago’s neighborhoods that became Obama’s base—the presumptive Democratic candidate called out for a revival of the longtime alliance that saw Jews in the bloodied front line of the civil rights struggle.
“There is a commitment,” Obama reminded, “embedded in the Jewish faith and tradition: to freedom and fairness; to social justice and equal opportunity. To tikkun olam – the obligation to repair this world.”
Making it personal, Obama continued, “I will never forget that I would not be standing here today if it weren’t for that commitment. In the great social movements in our country’s history, Jewish and African Americans have stood shoulder to shoulder. They took buses down south together. They marched together. They bled together. And Jewish Americans like Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were willing to die alongside a black man – James Chaney – on behalf of freedom and equality.”
Obama was referring to two young Jewish civil rights workers, Goodman and Schwerner, as well as Black civil rights worker Chaney, all brutally murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi during the legendary Freedom Summer of 1964.
Obama asserted, “Their legacy is our inheritance. We must not allow the relationship between Jews and African Americans to suffer. This is a bond that must be strengthened. Together, we can rededicate ourselves to end prejudice and combat hatred in all of its forms. Together, we can renew our commitment to justice. Together, we can join our voices together, and in doing so make even the mightiest of walls fall down.”
Derogatory e-mails have been haunting the Obama campaign since the outset, so much so that he began his AIPAC speech by telling listeners he would tackle them on the spot. “Before I begin,” Obama stated, “I want to say that I know some provocative e-mails have been circulating throughout Jewish communities across the country. A few of you may have gotten them. They’re filled with tall tales and dire warnings about a certain candidate for President. And all I want to say is – let me know if you see this guy named Barack Obama, because he sounds pretty frightening.”
Far from frightening, the new Obama proved nothing short of amazing to many who had known nothing more of him than his thin past, a past linked very closely to such clerical hatemongers as Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Trinity United Pastor Jeremiah Wright and Catholic priest Michael Pfleger. The new Obama is one that seems to have been profoundly educated, toughened, and seasoned by a grueling primary against Hillary Clinton. To many he must have seemed like a man ready to leave his streetwise Southside Chicago and assume the mentality of a world leader. New e-mails of astonishment and support of Obama quickly began burning through the Internet, many from the ranks of former Obama rejectionists.
The Obama speech was the highlight of a remarkable American political event, the largest and most distinguished political assemblage in AIPAC’s history. Republican presidential candidate John McCain spoke earlier in the week when the conference opened. Today, in a star-studded turning point morning, Obama was preceded by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and followed presidential contender Hillary Clinton. Still aflame with enthusiasm, Clinton’s speech made no reference to further presidential ambition, and indeed repeatedly offered accolades to Obama. At one point she declared, “Let me be very clear, I know that Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel.”
For many, that question is being viewed in a newer and more positive light.
Oh, there is such a thing as bad publicity
Just a few months after Barack Obama announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for president, Mars, Inc. launched a campaign to remake the image of its iconic Uncle Ben, the face of the Uncle Ben's brand. The rebranding, which elevated the character from smiling servant to a worldly business executive, was clearly intended to blunt criticism the company has faced over the years that the 1940s character portrays a derogatory stereotype. The reinvention was meant to modernize and personalize the brand in a way that was respectful of his African American heritage and provided a unifying umbrella for new and well-established products. Unfortunately for Uncle Ben's and its parent Mars, some multicultural-marketing observers saw it differently. They viewed it as patronizing treatment of a symbol associated with repression and slavery. The estimated $20 million Web and print campaign recast Uncle Ben as the wealthy head of a fictional rice company. The site's landing page, by TEQUILA, a division of tbwaChiatDay, became Uncle Ben's wood-paneled executive office, where users could read his newspaper, look at his e-mail and peruse his journal. Left intact was his trademark bow tie - and the moniker "Uncle," a frequent target of critics.The new Ben, unveiled in April 2007, aimed to realign some long-held perceptions about the character. It didn't quite go over that way - at least not without a few hitches.Parboiled BacklashThe March 30 announcement of Ben's "promotion" on the Web site caught the attention of the mainstream and spread throughout the blogosphere. That day, The New York Times ran an article about the launch, headlined "Uncle Ben, Board Chairman," and National Public Radio reported on mixed reviews from multicultural marketing specialists. On Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert quipped, "Now that you are a big shot, Uncle Ben, you're going to need your own private chef. I recommend the Cream of Wheat guy."Carmen Van Kerckhove, co-founder of firm New Demographic - tagline: "Better than diversity training" - wrote on her blog, racialicious.com: "This rebranding campaign is really the epitome of putting lipstick on a pig. Uncle Ben is still grinning and wearing a bow tie. There's nothing Chairman of the Board-esque about that image. Uncle Ben still has no last name. When's the last time you heard a powerful man referred to by his first name? No matter what fantasies you weave about him being the Chairman of the Board, his very name still comes from the culture of slavery." A few weeks later, David Segal, a Washington Post Style section writer, posted in Slate, "What's amazing about this Uncle Ben is that he still has a job at all. Uncle Ben is a rare survivor in the once-crowded world of racist spokescharacters. Most of his contemporaries were fired a long time ago." Just after that, interactive agency Organic's Daniel Turman wrote on the company's blog, threeminds.com, "This strategy might have worked better if there was some substance behind the smoke and mirrors. He still is called 'Uncle' in spite of the fact that this title was a Jim Crow-ism used to avoid the use of the honorarium Mister? Really!? By refusing to own up to the divisiveness of the character, the [campaign] falls flat." The initial response from the company was sort of underwhelming. According to Mars, the Ben icon comes from American folklore - stories of a legendary farmer known for his quality rice. When farmers went to market, they would claim their rice was "as good as Uncle Ben's." The portrait of Uncle Ben was introduced in 1947, and it's said that it's the likeness of Chicago chef and maitre d' Frank Brown, who died in 1953.But still, some say this explanation comes off as laughably tone-deaf. How could a group of sophisticated marketers have been blind to the backlash, which seems somehow inevitable? Howard Buford, founder and CEO of multicultural ad agency Prime Access, says, "Over time, the Uncle Ben character had gone from a concrete person to an abstract logo, which had lessened its racial baggage." Mars' move to personalize Ben partially backfired and just reminded people of the logo's history, just as media coverage began to focus on the possibility of electing the United States' first black president. "This was not the time to call attention to that problem," Buford says.Proof Is in the (Rice) PuddingThe controversy seemed to increase consumer interest in the brand: Traffic to the site soared during the summer of 2007 as criticism and online discussion peaked. Unique visits ballooned 1,800 percent, from 191,000 in the third quarter of 2006 to 3.6 million in the same period of 2007, per comScore. Mars uses BuzzMetrics to track brand references on blogs, communities and news sites. Tracking showed that in the month after the launch, the Uncle Ben's brand got more online attention than it has ever experienced, and ended up with three times as much "buzz" as its biggest competitors, says Bryan Crowley, vice president of marketing and sales for Mars Food U.S.The concept of a virtual office gave consumers a way to interact with the character's world, says Austin Hurwitz, TEQUILA management supervisor. "The office setting allowed us to talk about products, offer nutrition facts about rice, showcase recipes and describe the company's philanthropic efforts to end hunger - all in one unified setting," he says. Ads by tbwaChiatDay in celebrity, women's, food and African American magazines focused on Ben as chairman of the board and drove traffic to the site. But Web traffic does not equal brand loyalty or sales (or votes - just ask Ron Paul). So, did the move score for Mars? Crowley says yes. Since the campaign broke, growth in sales and market share has accelerated, he says. And according to Information Resources Inc., sales have indeed swelled in some sectors: The brand's biggest product category, dry rice, showed sales growth of 6 percent in 2007 compared to 2006, per IRI. The year before, sales growth was 4 percent. Sales of ready-to-eat rice mixes, which are about one-seventh the dollar volume of dry rice, rose 8 percent in 2007 compared to 2006, per IRI. But that's less impressive than the year before. Ready-to-eat rice sales in 2006 showed a 21 percent rise compared to the previous year. "We respect the views of the critics and we want to keep open the lines of communication with them," Crowley says. "We also understand that for many people in our target market, the Uncle Ben character stands for trust and quality. Both of those viewpoints are important, and we are working with advisors to figure out how to strike a balance." Mars started conducting research about the Uncle Ben's brand at least 18 months before the campaign's launch, around January 2006. The mission was to "find a big idea that could tie the content of the site together and bring the brand experience to life," says TEQUILA's Hurwitz. Research identified the target as 35- to 54-year-old mothers who are devoted to their home environment, have attended college, are avid readers and are interested in health, Crowley says. About 80 percent are white and most of the remaining 20 percent are African American, plus a small percentage of Hispanics and Asians. "Focus groups, one-to-one meetings and other qualitative research uncovered that consumers had a tremendous amount of respect for the Uncle Ben icon and that he represented quality, trust and family," Crowley says. "To leverage the respect and values of the brand, we decided to present Ben as chairman of the company and use him as the center of the marketing." The campaign itself was in development for about seven months, starting in the fall of 2006, before the launch hit and the brouhaha began. By October 2007, the Web site's traffic dropped almost to normal levels, but not quite. While the site saw 3.6 million unique visits from July to September 2007, it attracted only 114,000 uniques from October to December, according to comScore - but that was still almost double the visits during the same period the year before. In the last several months, the company scrapped some of the plans for the site that were touted at the launch. Gone are plans to further personalize Ben with voicemail messages from him and a full-length picture of him in a business suit. (Only his portrait is currently used on the site and in the ads.) Since tracking shows most visitors use the site to find recipes, the company is expanding that content and tweaking the landing page to give direct links to recipes, Crowley says. Hurwitz says the recipe section continues to get about 20,000 visitors a month and average three minutes per visit. Crowley declines to say if any of the changes are related to the criticism. Dust, CautionThere are no easy answers here. Possibly the best solution is to dissolve the brand, eliminating the inflammatory iconography. Of course, this is a catch-22, so the task became a salvage job. Industry experts find the eventual campaign's costs and benefits complicated."The admirable part of this effort is that they generated Web traffic and attention to the brand, and the company looks like it is trying to be positive and proactive," says Larry Vincent, group director of strategy, Siegel+Gale. But he questions the wisdom of using such a strategy to shake the dust off an antiquated image. To change the backstory of Uncle Ben "is a risky branding move even without the race issue. It is difficult to reinvent history in a way that is different than what consumers perceive. When a brand pulls an about-face, people subconsciously get the feeling [that] it is trying to pull the wool over their eyes," he says.Some multicultural marketing experts were hoping for more of a response from the rice company. "I'm flabbergasted that they didn't change the existing site after the press criticism," says Luke Visconti, partner and co-founder, DiversityInc Media. That shows the failure of the company "to have respect for American history. Since launch, Obama has hit the scene, uniting the political and racial discourse," says Visconti. "For Mars to be so recalcitrant at this point seems blockheaded; it does not reflect the audience's mood," he says. Ron Campbell, president and chief strategist, Campbell-Communications, which specializes in multicultural marketing strategies, is more blunt: "It is a marketing faux pas that is paternalistic and condescending. It's like something out of Mad magazine." But so far the backlash seems to be mainly from "gatekeepers," says Campbell. Whether the decision to focus on Ben turns out to be "a big branding mistake and a big revenue mistake depends how much the noise from the gatekeepers reaches consumers who buy the rice because they need a quick meal for their families," he says. If Mars' objective was to get exposure, it was a good move to be bold, rather than changing the icon subtly over time, as the Quaker Oats Company has done with its Aunt Jemima brand, says branding expert Vincent. But with "online social media and the rumor mills, criticism of a brand can take on a life of its own," he warns. In exchange for an incremental lift in sales, Mars could be harming the brand's reputation and permanently relegating its rice to a commodity product, he says, echoing other experts.Crowley won't admit to a downside. The company is "thrilled with the results of the campaign and considers it to be working well," he says. Perhaps a more telling question is whether Uncle Ben - the icon and the chairman - will keep his bow tie. "Yes," says Crowley. "The bow tie stays."
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=79730
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington BureauSunday, February 17, 2008(02-17) 04:00 PST Washington -- The contest for the Democratic presidential nomination between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a white woman, and Barack Obama, a black man, has scrambled 21st century identity politics, producing startling turns in an election that, whatever its outcome, will make history.
It was former President Bill Clinton who called the racial divide "America's constant curse" in his second inaugural address 11 years ago.
But it was after Bill Clinton injected race into the South Carolina primary last month that African Americans, one of the Democratic Party's most important voting blocs, abandoned his wife's candidacy in droves.
Obama's novelty is not that he is the first black candidate for president, but the first black candidate who is not running as a black candidate. Obama has scrupulously avoided racial stereotyping, yet his race is an obvious element of his appeal that no rival can match.
It was his string of victories in overwhelmingly white states, starting with his upset in Iowa and followed by wins in Idaho, Utah, Nebraska, Maine and elsewhere, that has generated his lead.
That, in turn, attracted black voters stunned that whites would vote for a black man and enable him to win. White voters, especially at higher income and education levels, see in Obama a chance to salve the nation's deep racial wounds.
The combination has undergirded an enormous momentum that last Tuesday in Virginia cracked Clinton's hold on Latinos, women and poorer whites.
Obama acknowledged this appeal in his victory speech afterward, declaring, "This is the new American majority."
"In a matter of months with Barack Obama, we've seen white men support a black man for president," said James Taylor, a race and American politics scholar at the University of San Francisco. "We've seen the country's most pro-black president try to manipulate race against a black candidate. These are some transformational things that are happening in Obama himself. For those who support him, he represents an opportunity to deal with race in an unconventional way."
As the son of a white Kansan and a black Kenyan, Obama's very genetic makeup "is the African and the American ... what W.E.B. DuBois called the 'double consciousness,' " Taylor said. "Obama, on an emotional level, on a psychological and a visceral level, is an opportunity for America to reconcile this history in an important way. If an African American man can become president of the United States in the 21st century, then it tells us that the remainder of the 21st century represents all kinds of possibilities, because in his person there is a representation of both black and white American experiences. He allows us to exorcise some of the demons we've had in our history of race in America.
"On a practical level, the Clinton errors in South Carolina allowed Obama to broaden his base into a powerful new coalition, while dangerously weakening Hillary Clinton's.
Hillary Clinton began with many more African American supporters than Obama. Their loyalty had been cemented during the long economic boom under her husband's presidency, when African Americans and Latinos made big economic strides.
"For most of last year, African American voters were more of Hillary's base than Obama's base," said David Bositis, who studies black voting behavior at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington.
Obama's support, by contrast, was concentrated among the young, the prosperous and the highly educated. It was predominantly male and white. It was the base of former Democratic candidates Howard Dean, Gary Hart and Bill Bradley, Bositis said, "that would always lose.
"But after Obama pulled out his surprise win in Iowa, the Clintons "panicked ... and began introducing race into the campaign," Bositis said. "It had the opposite effect, I'm sure, of what they intended."
Even after Obama sealed his victory in South Carolina, Bill Clinton sought to marginalize the win, comparing it with Jesse Jackson's victories in the same state in 1984 and 1988.
African American voters turned decisively to Obama. His margins among black voters soared to 8-1 and even higher. In a matter of weeks, the black support that the Clintons had cultivated over decades vanished, while Obama found the missing key to a winning coalition.
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, an African American and nonvoting member of Congress for the District of Columbia, said Obama had to have something more than his race to sunder that tie to the Clintons.
"To break that, you needed something quite extraordinary, and what happened to African Americans is they got to know a black candidate the likes of whom we haven't seen in any race, certainly in my lifetime," said Norton, 70. "You've got to have an extraordinary candidate to have whites do what they have no history of doing, which is vote in large numbers for an African American to be their leader. That means you've got to have a lot of things going for you, and he puts those ingredients together.
"Ron Walters, a political scientist at the University of Maryland who helped run Jesse Jackson's campaign in 1984, said the Obama campaign is "very careful about not posturing him as a racial candidate," which allows white voters to vote for him. It also leaves many people "lapsing into racial analysis and categories, because we can't quite explain what he is and where he is and why he is.
"It seems odd that during a time of war and terrorism, a mortgage crisis, health care worries and a teetering economy, that race would assert itself. Last summer, the Democratic contest seemed destined to focus on Iraq. Instead, it has become a lesson in demography.
With few domestic policy differences separating Clinton and Obama, the patterns that have emerged revolve around age, income, education and the ethnic and racial composition of various voting blocs. Clinton has drawn her highest support from white women, Latinos, seniors and lower-income workers. Obama's inroads among each of those groups in Virginia recast the contest and now threaten Clinton's last hopes in Texas and Ohio on March 4.
That race has become an issue in 2008 should come as no surprise in light of enormous immigration-driven population changes, said Simon Rosenberg, founder of the New Democrat Network, previously allied with the Democratic Leadership Council headed by former President Clinton.
"The country is undergoing its most profound demographic change in its history," Rosenberg said. "When I was born, the country was 89 percent white and 10.5 percent African American and 0.5 percent 'other.' Today, it's 66 percent white and 33 percent minority. We've seen a tripling of the minority population in the United States in a very short period of time.
"Race began percolating as an issue most recently with the 2005 immigration debate, he said, and continued in that guise through the early GOP primaries, where he contends Republicans "demonized" Latinos. "For any civil society, that kind of transition is going to be hard.
"Thanks to the fast-growing Latino vote, many analysts believe 2008 will be the year when a presidential election will be decided for the first time by minorities. Some contend that milestone was already passed when President Bush drew more than 40 percent of Latino voters in 2004, providing his victory margins in closely contested Southwestern states."The story that was never written and needs to be written is that President Bush got 6,000 more Latino votes in Florida than Al Gore" in 2000, said Lionel Sosa, who has handled several GOP advertising campaigns and now heads Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together. "Latinos have already elected a president of the United States, and it will happen again in a tight race because the big states are the states that have the highest Hispanic population.
"So far, Clinton and Obama have been splitting the Latino and African American vote. That lineup will be tested in the March 4 Texas primary, where Latinos may be the last bulwark Clinton has to keep her hopes alive. Clinton won Latinos in California 69 percent to 29 percent, handing her a decisive victory in the nation's biggest state, without which her candidacy might already be dead.
But unlike California, whose 6 percent African American population is less than half the national average, Texas has the nation's third-largest black population. African Americans vote in much higher numbers than Latinos. And because the Democratic Party allocates delegates among congressional districts based on past turnout, heavily African American districts have more delegates than Latino districts. That gives Obama a stronger edge in Texas than has been widely assumed.
Obama has made gains among Latinos, winning 53 to 47 percent in Virginia. Latinos are a young population, an Obama strength. Young voters seem to care less about race, gender and ethnicity than older voters. After a late but aggressive outreach by the Obama campaign before Super Tuesday Feb. 5, "you saw inroads in Arizona and New Mexico, where Obama's share of the Latino vote was closer to 40 percent," said Arturo Vargas, secretary director of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials.
Bositis, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies researcher, said if Texas is Clinton's firewall, "She's in trouble."
For the best display of the unconventional racial dynamic, look at Obama's appearance in Kansas, said Christopher Malone, a Pace University political scientist: "He goes to the hometown of his grandfather on his mother's side and points to a cousin in the audience, a 72-year-old woman who is as white as any other Kansan. Could you imagine him accepting the nomination and standing there and bringing up his family members, Kenyans and white Americans, and saying I am America, this is America? It really seems like a perfect storm here."E-mail Carolyn Lochhead at clochhead@sfchronicle.com.
Written by J. Bennett GuessJanuary 11, 2008
A ramped-up smear campaign against the UCC's largest congregation and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's home church — Trinity UCC in Chicago — has raised the ire of the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, who called the e-mail-driven claims "absurd, mean-spirited and politically motivated."
"Our national offices in Cleveland, as well as other settings of the UCC, have been forwarded countless e-mails that obviously derive from a similar source," Thomas said. "They contain misleading statements obviously meant to undermine the integrity of one of our most vibrant, mission-driven congregations."
Thomas said, while it's not his intent to come to the aid of Obama or any presidential candidate, he does feel it's imperative that "absurd, mean-spirited and politically-motivated attacks against one of our UCC churches be challenged forthrightly."
Obama, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, has been a member of Trinity UCC for 20 years.
Since Obama won the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, a flurry of e-mail messages with identical language and sentiment began circulating across the internet, claiming that Trinity UCC was a "racist" congregation because of its long-stated church motto: "Unashamedly Black, Unapologetically Christian."
"Trinity UCC is rooted in and proud of its Afrocentric heritage," Thomas said. "This is no different than the hundreds of UCC churches from the German Evangelical and Reformed stream that continue to own and celebrate their German heritage, insisting on annual sausage and sauerkraut dinners and singing Stille Nacht on Christmas Eve. Recognizing and celebrating our distinctive racial-ethnic heritages, cultures, languages and customs are what make us unique as a united and uniting denomination."
While Trinity UCC is predominately African American, it does include and welcome non-Black members. The Rev. Jane Fisler-Hoffman, Illinois Conference Minister, who is white, has been a member of the congregation for years.
"Trinity is a destination church for many members of the UCC, a multi-racial, multi-cultural denomination that is largely Caucasian," Thomas pointed out. "When in Chicago, many UCC members flock to Trinity to share in and learn from its vibrant ministries, dynamic worship and justice-minded membership. Contrary to the claims made in these hateful emails, UCC members know Trinity to be one of the most welcoming, hospitable and generous congregations in our denomination."
Trinity UCC was founded in 1961. Ten years later, when the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright became its pastor, the church had 87 families. Today, Trinity UCC has more than 8,000 members, 70 ministries and three Sunday worship services.
Trinity UCC is also the largest congregational contributor to Our Church's Wider Mission, the UCC's common purse for regional, national and international ministries.
The circulating e-mails are written to appear as if they are coming from a groundswell of persons, with different names and e-mail addresses. But each uses nearly identical language, makes similar claims and even manages to make the same mistakes. For example, each makes introductory reference to "Trinity Church of Christ" instead of "Trinity United Church of Christ."
"It's clear that someone is using the internet to give the appearance of widespread concern and, thus, to hopefully create traction for this absurd story," Thomas said.
About the UCC
Formed by name in 1957 by the union of the Congregational Christian Churches in America and the [German] Evangelical and Reformed Church, the UCC's roots in American history are deep. Eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence were from UCC traditions, and a full 10 percent of present-day UCC congregations were formed prior to 1776.
Many UCC churches trace their founding to the early 1600s, when the Pilgrims and Puritans first came to America. These Congregationalists, as they became known, sought religious independence from persecuting political authorities in Europe. They believed firmly in local church autonomy, covenantal church life, personal piety and the priesthood of all believers.
Today, the UCC holds firmly to these early religious tenets. Often recognized for its historical and contemporary social justice commitments, its present-day approach to worship, however, might be considered traditional by most standards.
Interestingly, the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, published in 2002, found that UCC members, slightly more than members of other mainline denominations, listed traditional hymns and biblically-sound preaching as being essential to good worship. Surprising to some, the same study also found that slightly more UCC members self-identified as conservative rather than liberal a tidbit that President Calvin Coolidge, a conservative Republican and the nation's only Congregationalist president (1923-1929), might have found interesting.
Although each congregation's liturgical style is influenced by its heritage and members preferences, as is true in most mainline denominations, the UCC, as one pastor aptly put it, is known for its "beautiful, heady and exasperating" mix.
Known for arriving early on social justice issues, the church's history includes being the first to practice democracy in church governance (1630), the first to ordain an African-American pastor (1785), the first to ordain a woman (1853), the first to ordain an openly gay man (1972), and the first to support same-gender marriage equality (2005).
In 1773, Old South UCC in Boston helped inspire the Boston Tea Party and, in 1777, Old Zion Reformed UCC in Allentown, Pa., hid the Liberty Bell from occupying British forces.
Hundreds of schools including Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Howard, Fisk, Wellesley, Smith and Oberlin owe their beginnings to the UCC. The UCC's publishing company, The Pilgrim Press, is the oldest publisher of books in North America.
Obama and his family live in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, which is home to Chicago Theological Seminary, one of the UCC's seven seminaries and the city's oldest institution of higher education.
Largely regarded as a northern church, about 80 percent of UCC members are clustered in the Northeast and industrial Midwest. The UCC is the largest Protestant church in New England, the birthplace of Congregationalism, and it has more than 700 churches in Pennsylvania, the heart of the German Reformed tradition. The UCC is also strong in New York, Missouri, Florida, Hawaii and the Pacific West Coast.
In Iowa and New Hampshire, two states with early Presidential contests, the UCC has 188 and 138 congregations respectively.
In recent years, the UCC has posted growth in the South. The denominations second largest church, the 5,500-member Victory UCC near Atlanta, affiliated with the UCC in 2002. The UCC's fourth-largest, the 4,300-member Cathedral of Hope UCC in Dallas, Texas, joined in 2006, as did churches in Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.; Montgomery, Ala.; and Columbia, S.C., among other places.
Last year, the UCC launched its national Nehemiah Project with plans to start or welcome at least 250 new southern churches within five years.
While Obama is the only UCC candidate in the 2008 presidential election, the 2004 campaign included two UCC members, both Democrats. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, now chair of the Democratic Party, is a member of First Congregational UCC in Burlington, Vt., and then U.S. Senator Bob Graham is a member of Miami Lakes Congregational UCC in Florida.
The current U.S. Congress includes 10 UCC members -- five Republicans and five Democrats.
Five U.S. Senators are UCC: Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Obama.
Five House seats are occupied by UCC members: Thelma Drake (R-Va.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.).
Other notable UCC members include New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D); former U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.); actress Lynn Redgrave; current U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall; Pulitzer-prize-winning newspaper columnists Connie Schultz (and wife of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio) and Leonard Pitts Jr.; and Marilynne Robinson, the Pulitzer-prize-winning author of Gilead.
The Rev. Andrew Young former congressman, U.N. ambassador and Atlanta mayor is an ordained UCC minister, who began his Civil Rights activism working for the UCC.
The late Rev. William Sloane Coffin, the legendary social activist who became immortalized as the pastor in Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury comic strip, had ministerial standing in the UCC and served as pastor of the UCC's Riverside Church in New York.
The Rev. Reinhold Niebuhr, a UCC minister considered to be one of greatest Christian theologians of the 20th century, authored the now-famous Serenity Prayer.
MediaPost
by Mark Walsh,
Tuesday, Dec 18, 2007 7:30 AM ET
POLITICAL JUNKIES HAVE GOTTEN AN early Christmas gift from Yahoo: a new dashboard on its election site that pulls polling and funding data together in one handy Web guide.
The new feature compares the standing of Democratic and Republican presidential candidates side-by-side in four basic categories: polling, "Y! buzz," prediction markets, and funding raised.
Poll numbers are based on aggregated polling averages from Real Clear Politics, while "Y! buzz" shows the relative popularity of candidates based on Yahoo search queries. (Data based on Google queries might have been more representative of the online population, but don't expect Yahoo to team up with Google any time soon.)
The prediction markets data indicates candidates' chances of winning their party nomination based on information supplied by Irish company Intrade, which lets investors buy "shares" in candidates.
Fund-raising totals are tracked quarterly, while the other categories are updated daily.
The dashboard also includes indicator arrows for each category (except money raised) showing whether a candidate's support is trending up or down.
The political scoreboard highlights some intriguing contrasts. Internet favorite Ron Paul, for instance, registers at just 4% in the polls among Republican candidates, but has the highest buzz rating of any candidate at 50%. Paul's status as the Howard Dean of the 2008 election was reinforced by his breaking the one-day record for online fund-raising, with $6 million on December 16. Paul broke his own previous record of $4.2 million, raised back on November 5.
Meanwhile, Rudolph Giuliani, who leads the Republican field at 23% in the polls, is generating only 5% buzz.
The dashboard also highlights the lag between Mike Huckabee's recent surge in popularity and his fund-raising efforts. While in a near dead heat with Giuliani in the polls at 20%, Huckabee has raised only $2 million, a fraction of the $48 million raised by the former New York City mayor.
Democrat Hillary Clinton posted by far the strongest numbers in polling (44%), prediction markets (58%) and fund-raising, with $91 million so far. But Barack Obama, who leads Clinton in polling for the upcoming Iowa Caucus, still beat out the Democratic frontrunner in the buzz category, with 48% to Clinton's 31%.
In addition to national data, Yahoo's political dashboard also provides state-by-state polling and buzz tracking via a U.S. map that lets users click on a given state to find information.
The site also breaks down the electorate by race, with Caucasians making up 66%; Hispanics, 15%; African-Americans, 12%; Asians, 4%; and other, 3%.
Teaming with the Associated Press, Yahoo last month also launched Political Pulse, a series of presidential polls over the next year that will examine how Americans feel about various issues and the candidates.
Nor is Yahoo alone in the rush to handicap the candidates online.
Separately, on Monday, Forrester Research analysts Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff posted research on their Groundswell blog showing that Democrats are at least 10% more likely to be involved in online social technologies than Republicans.
For example, Republicans are 22% less likely to join a social network and 21% less likely to blog or upload an online video, according to a survey of 10,000 Internet users nationwide.
The Forrester findings, however, don't seem to explain the online success of Paul, a Republican candidate whose anti-war stance and libertarian views have struck a chord with the so-called "netroots." The study only included research on the top four candidates in either party.
"[Paul's] supporters make a lot of noise online, but that noise is significantly out of proportion to his level of support in the electorate," observes Forrester's Bernoff. Even so, the amount of money Paul has raised online lately is not insignificant.
Mark Walsh can be reached at walsh@mediapost.com
by Shankar Gupta, Thursday, Feb 22, 2007 6:00 AM ET
AMERICANS ARE INCREASINGLY TURNING TO the Internet for political information, according to a survey released Wednesday by DoubleClick.
Forty-two percent of 1,047 U.S. adults surveyed by the company's Performics division said they intended to use the Web for information about the 2008 elections more than they did in 2004. Overall, that same proportion (42%) also said they currently use the Web as a source for political information. That group tends to skew young, with almost nine in 10 respondents (88%) between the ages of 18 and 34 saying they use the Web for election news, compared to only 25% of those 65 and older.
Of the respondents who turn to the Web for political information, 60% visit TV or news magazine Web sites, 42% go to search engines, 36% visit newspaper sites and 45% head to other online news sites, as among their top 3 choices. Web sites for individual candidates drew just 18%, while political action or issues-based sites garnered 11%, consumer groups attracted 9% and blogs were cited by just 5%.
Offline sources still remain the primary sources of political information, however. TV news and talk shows were listed as the primary means of getting political news by 41% of respondents, followed by local or national newspapers with 26%, radio news or talk shows with 14%, the Internet with 12% and friends or family with 5%.
I worte a letter last night that I had no idea what the outcome would be. I can honestly say I did not care what the response was going to be because I worte from the heart. I received over 100 emails from people who too action last night and made a donatio to Obama '08. I also received several nasty emails from people who just did not get it. But then this after I received the following and I can say that it left me truly speechless.....
Kelly- My name is Cherina I am a vice-principal of a alternative education school in Sacramento California, your letter came across my email and I had to let you the impact that your words have had on my life. I signed up on www.barackobama.com joined a couple of groups and was not sure what I personally could do to help. This morning I was scheduled to give a speech to all of the administrators in the district, the school board, community, members of the county office of education, state officers, and senators about the hope that we have to close the achievement gap between minority and white students, to open our forum. I had a great "politically correct" speech, (because politics were not involved) prepared and practiced and perfect. Last night at about 11:45 pm I opened your letter examined it and went to bed, thinking of your words.
This morning I woke up late at 7:30am, (I was supposed to speak at 9:30) With the spirit of your letter in my heart. I got dressed went to Starbucks and had my Blended Mocha and checked my laptop for messages, at this time I looked at your letter once again and I found my self making changes. 10 minutes later I found that I had put myself and my passion (which is history) into your message. I looked at the time and realized that I was to speck in 20 minutes, so I closed my lap top and rushed to the venue. Standing at the podium with my lap top open with my speech laid out before me; my reflection towering behind me on a large overhead standing in fount of a hall of the most influential people in education and politics in the state, I got nervous. I never get nervous! So I took a drink and began my speech: "Many of you are sitting the audience looking at me and asking how this young black chick is qualified to lecture us, about education and the achievement gap. 1. I myself am a product of this district from the class of 1997, yes I am 26. 2. I understand the problems that cause the achievement gap because I am a product of it. So let me dispel some misconceptions.
These experience alone an expert, we have schools full of experts but we don't listen. 3. Lastly I am the a vice-principal of a continuation high school and I am in possession of a M.Ed. in Urban Cultural Education and am in the process of completing my thesis for to complete studies towards M.Ad. in Uraban & Social Educational Leaderships. Both of my thesis projects have been focused on the achievement gap and the color line. The combinations of these three elements make me an expert as this is my passion and my chosen field of study. However just to illustrate the problem of the way educators of the greatest intention often view students of color, had I not been a woman of color I would not need to nor would I have been asked to share with you while I was qualified to stand before you, the assumption would that been that I was qualified. The gap in education is a margin that divides communities and withholds hope that falls along the color line, this is a FACTt! Another fact is that students of color are treated differently and expected to conform there behavior, priorities and cultural methods of interaction to be successful in the current U.S. school system, which inherently puts White students in an advanced position from day 1, that is referred to as White privilage.This is a problem that can be addressed, a gap that can be closed. This this can only be done with principles of honesty about race in this country. Until we are honest with our feelings about race and culture in this place at this time, we can not begin to hope for change." Once I spoke the works "hope for change" I realized that the feelings of nervousness that I thought I had were not what they seemed, for at that moment I realized that I had not gotten nervous. I got nerve. The nerve, the audacity to say what at that moment needed to be said. Your letter, your message that I rewrote and revised was still minimized and with the click of a button, in front of people who have proven to be people of action and agents of change, I found myself answering your call to spread the message. So, I continued to speak with words that are a a testament to this Obama '08 campaign, which through tools technology united the brainpower of two women, with two backgrounds, separated by distance and time to collectively make change. This is the remainder of what became my speech which was heavily inspired by your letter,as it was the rewrite that completed when I woke up this morning with an inspiration of urgency. I did not know what I felt the need to do that, as I have never been driven to political action, or been driven to give a political voice, but God has a purpose for everything and the remainder of the speech was the purpose for my need for urgency this morning. This is the remainder of the speech:
There is not any purpose in my standing here offering methods of closing the achievement gap if our educational system is not supported, if our children feel hopeless and there parents feel oppressed. There is no purpose of offering theory if we do not have the leadership that will make it a priority. There is no purpose if we don't accept and understand race and culture , rather than acting highly enlightened and boasting that we do not see color". This gap will not close unit this nation makes a commitment to equity. The audacity to hope for a solution to the achievement gap is pointless unless we have the audacity to hope for the change in this nation, and first make that commitment. Then and only then will can have the resources, priorities and leadership to make the fundamental shifts necessary to change the culture ,structure, methods, and theory's of our school systems. Otherwise, the great intentions of those who have fought to narrow this achievement gap since Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education would have eliminated this gap at some point over the last fifty years. We are all people of action this is why we are servants of the community whether we are educators, politicians, or active community members; students who are working to make a difference or concerned parents and grandparents. It is with the audacity, hope, and a simple request.
Take a minute to learn about Senator Barack Obama Esq. and his campaign to become the 44th president of the United States. Come to know his perspectives, policies and his wife Michelle Obama Esq., who is a force in her own right. Once you have done this I have no doubt that that you will be inspired, just as I have to support Senator Obama and become an agent for change. Today is the 16th of the month and many of you were paid yesterday. Maybe you are retired or your income comes once a month. Whatever your situation, I send this out to you with one request - make a donation tonight, no matter how small. As you sit down to look at your budget and pay your bills, start to look at the financial investments that you make on the little things, hair, nails, fast food, music, movies, toys, so on and so forth. There is an investment that is of great priority in my life and should be of great priority in yours, and that is the future of our country; I can not stand the prospect of watching my children grow up for the next 6-10 years in a country with a Dubya aligned white house. The candidate that is most concerned with the social, educational, medical needs of our children and our parents is Barack Obama, we must show him support early and often, which includes monetarily. As a candidate he has personally taken the moral road to not be bought and has refused large donations from special interests groups that could later request for him to return a favor that may not be in the best interest of the people. There's been a tremendous amount of interest in the last week; we're all feeling pretty good about the hope and promise of Senator Obama's candidacy. This will be a very long election cycle and the one thing that will give the Obama '08 campaign the "legs" to sustain itself over the next 18 months is the audacity to hope, the passion to work and the financing to make it happen.The Obama campaign has made some smart investments like the web site www.Barackobama.com to help build the grassroots infrastructure form, network with other believers, find volunteer opportunities locally and offer your opinions and advise and given us easy to use tools to make a contribution. Making a contribution online is just like paying a bill online and you can do it in less than 1 minute. I'm certain the Obama '08 media team is already developing the strategy for how they will target markets for TV ad support. Despite the effectiveness of social networking tools like this as well as other forms of user generated media (YouTube, myspace, blogger relations and other social networking tools), The Obama campaign still needs to play with the big boys and the big lady which means he needs to build a cash war chest to buy expensive TV time, pay highly qualified staff and open local offices. People are betting their lives and livelihoods on putting Senator Obama in the White House, and if we don’t we will be betting the lives of our men and women in service. Take a minute and make a contribution now. If you can only donate $1 or $5, do it! It adds up one at a time. If you can afford $10, $25 $50 or more, do it. Like many of you I'm a working parent with three small children on a budget. I donated what I could, but I plan to do the same the next time I get paid and monthly from here on out just like paying a bill, the difference is this is a bill that can and will save lives and make this country a better more hopeful place for our children. I can't, we can’t afford to not support Obama '08.
Donating now is more about the principle than the amount; it is about making a statement and committing to making changehappen. This is the time to stop talking about Bush, time to stop SCREAMING with frustration about Bush, time to stop office chats about Bush’s latest blunder and what has gone wrong THIS time, time to stop trying to figure out when our president will get it right, because at this point we know that HE WON’T, it is simply not going to happen. What it is time to do is focus our collective energy,effort, emotions and passions to Senator Obama and commit to bringing the light and hope that he brings to the grey cloud that has covered our hopes, damped our dreams and darkened our light over the last seven long years. This is a call to action! This is the time when the generations of Americans of great divide must unite; as this is the moment to which history will judge us. It is time for the baby boomers, the wild child’s, and the children of generations X,Y & E to unite with Americas greatest generation; the generation that endured the great depression, & the generation that earned the respect of the world when defending human liberties in World War II.
It is time that we stand with our countries greatest generation and reclaim the respect of the world, and restore the honor that once was bestowed to them and bequeathed to us as citizens of this principled nation. Simply, it is time for a change! Senator Obama is the thread that can bring this county together, through generational, racial, social, & economic lines to share with us the contagiousness of his audacity of hope. This will be the great test of our time and a testament to future generations judgment of our greatness. Our many tomorrows will depend on our actions and commitments in these small moments and rare seconds in history that can change the world. Will we continue to be the polarized nation that is remnant of the cast systems which allowed the rich become exceedingly wealthy and watched the poor fall to poverty leaving little middle ground? Will our many tomorrows be continuation of our rich American history which includes principles of the unalienable Rights, Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; the principles of Roosevelt’s New Nationalism which defined our government as the instrument that is to provide for the general welfare and prosperity of a nation, as “the judgment of a nation is at it roots not its branches” (F.D.R., 1933)? or will become a hollow shadow of the greatness that what we once were? I say let this be the generation of reclamation, a generation of greatness.
Let November 7, 2008 become “a date which will live in infamy”(F.D.R., 1941) a date which is infamous not for the battle cry for war, but as the date that is the culmination of our collaborative revolution against the principles and practice of this administration. An administration which has high-jacked the hopes and reputation of the great social experiment that is the United States of America. Let this be the date that we reclaim our country, and return control of this democracy those whom it was intended, the people. A date infamous as the day we elected a president who understands and respects the principles of this government, and the fragility of the foundation upon which his office sits as a representative of the people. Let this be the day that as a country we will hear the words “President Elect Barack Obama the Senator from Illinois, will on January the 20th, 2009 at noon Eastern Time will become the 44th president of these United States of America.”
We can make this happen. Get involved, donate, volunteer and make your voice herd, if you are not registered to vote do it now! and make sure that everyone you know is resistered to vote. This is the time for action, if path that this country has strayed upon during the Bush administration does not inspire you to become an agent of change then nothing will and you can not and should not complain. This is a call to protect our future and make an investment in our children as our children's future rides on changing our current tide. With issues such as the war in Iraq, education (NCLB), healthcare, Social Security, Veterans benefits, energy policy, international policy, homeland security, and the economy in disarray I can’t afford to not support the Obama 08’ campaign, the cost is too great and I will not leave these issues to become my children's burdon. Every penny counts so just do what YOU can whether it is $1, $5, $20, $50 or more, whenever you are able or monthly, give what you can. Involvement will strengthen your belief about what we're trying to accomplish together! Then you can tell others with conviction you've "put your money where your mouth is".
It is my personal commitment to donate monthly $20 to Support the Barack Obama ’08 campaign, what will you do? I love you all as family as this community and this nation if a family, and although I don't love the path that this country has taken, I do love the principles for which it stands and it will only with indivisibility that we can return this countries to the principles of liberty and justice. I hope that you are as inspired as I have been by Senator Obama and his vision for our country. Please take a minute to conceder what I am asking of you and the costs of what could be if we do not act now. Please pay this message forward, and send it to everyone that you know. I have the audacity to hope, & I prey the contagiousness of audacity has through my words spread to you as it was spread to me, and that your contagiousness may spread as well.With Audacity & Hope Changes will come to pass, that that will be the time when we can truly begin the task at hand an make an effective and core effort to change the culture, structure, methods, and theory's of our school systems to permanently eliminate the achievement gap.
Kelly- I hope that you approve of my message that was inspired by your words and thoughts, and the Obama '08 campaign. So often we never learn of the changes that we have made in the lives of others, and I want you know that you have made change. you have changed my life and evoked my passion, and today I received a standing ovation that was a bit to long for comfort, so I know with out a doubt that your message is continuing to make change and invoke passion in others through my words. Thank you!!! I think that I am going to format this into a letter and forward it and hopefully people will get your version and mine, so that those who did not react the first may be reminded once again of the importance of supporting this campaign. In Education, - Cherina
Dear Obama '08 supporter,
I'm writing to all of you with a simple request. Today is the 15th of the month and many of you got paid today and be thankful. Maybe you are retired and your income comes once a month. Whatever your situation, I send this out to you with one request request - make a donation tonight. As you sit down to look at your budget and pay bills, start to look at the financial investment you can make on a monthly basis to Obama ‘08 as an investment in our future.
There’s been a tremendous amount of interest in the last week as we've all seen the number of groups in this social networking portal grow. We're all feeling pretty good about the hope and promise of Sen. Obama's candidacy, and many of us are having a good time networking with each other too! This is important stuff, and one of the things that will give the Obama campaign "legs" to sustain itself over the next 18 months is the financing to continue. Even if you’ve already made a contribution, make another one tonight.
The Obama campaign has made some smart investments like this site to help build the grassroots infrastructure and given us easy to use tools to make a contribution. Making a contribution online is just like paying a bill online and you can do it in less than 1 minute.
I'm certain the Obama '08 media team is already developing the strategy for how they will target markets for TV ad support. Despite the effectiveness of social networking tools like this as well as other forms of user generated media (YouTube, blogger relations and other social networking tools), The Obama campaign still needs to play with the big boys which means he needs to build a cash war chest to buy expensive TV time, pay his staff and open offices. People are betting their lives and livelihoods on putting Sen. Obama in the White House.
Take a minute and make a contribution now. If you can only donate $5, do it. If you can afford $10, $25 $50 or more, do it. Like many of you I’m a working parent with two small children. I donated what I could, but I plan to do the same the next time I get paid and twice monthly from here on out just like paying a bill. Just like I save for college, my children's future rides on changing our current tide. I can't afford to not support Obama '08. Donating now is more about the principle than the amount. It will strengthen your belief about what we're trying to accomplish together, and you can tell others with conviction you've put your money where "your mouth is".
Here’s the link Pay Forward – Donate to Obama’08 NOW!
After you make a donation, check your email and copy the receipt in a blog post and post it to the groups that you belong to. Also send this out as an email to all your "Obama friends" with the subject line “Pay It Forward – America 4 Obama” and show every group you belong to you are serious about electing the next president of the U.S. Let’s plaster this portal with donation receipts!!!!! Let Sen. Obama know we’re serious and not all talk.
Everyone can not afford to attend a $500 dinner; just do what YOU can afford. Do something. Do it on a monthly basis if you need to. Pay it forward. Do it now.
Best regards,
Kelly
Kelly McCoy Williams
Chair, Episcopalians for ObamaLink>and a member of several other groups
feel free to cc me on your email...... :)
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Dear Kelly,Thank you for your generous donation of $50.00.Your gift will be immediately put to work building a campaign to change our country and our politics for the better.Looking for more ways to get involved?Head over to My.BarackObama.com where our growing set of tools puts the future of this campaign in your hands:Link>On My.BarackObama.com you can...... build your own profile and connect with supporters near you... find or create your own local or national group... create your own personal fundraising page and track your progress... find events near you or plan your own... chronicle your campaign experience on your own blogThere will be much more to come in the weeks and months ahead thanks to your support.Thank you again for your donation.
Welcome to Episcopalians for Obama!
Thank you for opting to join the movement of Americans who support the candidacy of Barack Obama. Like all of you, I am excited about the hope Sen. Obama brings to our country and I'm certain we agree on the numerous qualities that make him a solid presidential candidate.
The purpose of this group is to support the larger coalition of Obama supporters by connecting with members of the Episcopal Church nationwide. There is an ugly war waging across the country in our church. While these larger conversations take place, the intent of Episcopalians for Obama is to find common ground among worshipers and use our diverse talents to mobilize what will probably be a small but tactically effective army of Obama supporters who are focused on campaign education, voter turnout and fundraising.
In alignment with the wonderful tools made available by BarackObama.com, we will also utilize the best technologies to communicate and organize. Recognizing that we Episcopalians are very busy people, we will work to blend teleconferences, web meetings and local in-person meetings to make our volunteering experience something you look forward to doing.
As our numbers grow, we will be looking for people to take on leadership roles to help support our national foot print. Additionally, we'd like to assemble a coordinating committee to encourage and help sustain a collaborative process throughout the campaign. It is our goal to build our numbers and become an effective fundraising resource so that Episcopalians for Obama gains the attention of the larger campaign.
Spread the word. Let fellow parishners know you've joined Episcopalians for Barack Obama and invite them to join as well.
Lastly, keep Senator Obama and his family in your prayers. We have a long road ahead of us, and this is just the beginning of a long season of negative attacks and attempts by opposing forces to derail his candidacy. We want Barack Obama to be our next President because of his experience, depth of knowledge on domestic and foreign affairs and the hope he brings us all. In addition to our grassroots "roll up your sleeve" support, Sen. Obama needs our prayers so that his words, thoughts and ways are guided in the spirit of the Lord.
Thank you, and looking forward to working with each and every one of you to make this campaign a reality.
I look forward to meeting the New York City Obama '08 group. I live in Chicago but travel to NYC frequently on business. I am a member of the Hyde Park Obama group so it will be great to be able to network in both cities and bring information to the team in New York about activities and updates happening in the base camp.
Does anyone know if there are any trainings scheduled yet or are we working from shear excitement and natural organizing skills? Either way, determination appears to be the common denominator of all the groups.
I'd like encourage those of you who have blogs on Blogger (especially), TypePade, Wordpress etc to add back links to you GROUP PAGES with very specific anchor text. Instead of "link here" or "read more", use keywords like "Hyde Parkers For Barack Obama" . If thousands of people do this it will improve the way Google views the site and more interior pages with show up in the search results. As more people search for information about the campaign they will land on pages that contain specific content about the campaign. This will help grow sign-ups, participation, fundraising...it is a snowball.
I'm excited to be a part of the Obama campaign and even more excited about the technology we have at our disposal. I am among the generation that does not have affinity with Myspace despite understanding its power. Social networking for a cause has a tremendous draw and the app used by the Obama campaign is one of the best I've seen.
Clearly the Obama campaign will benefit from the “long tail” effect as the number of small niche groups will grow organically. The load time for searching through the various groups has been slow but that is probably a good sign. I’ve elected to participate in a number of groups including my alma mater (Bowling Green State University), several Chicago local groups, a parents group and I have started a group for Episcopalians for Obama. I’ve set a fundraising goal of $10,000 and look forward to exceeding this goal over the course of the campaign.
I am wife, mother of two beautiful girls and an executive in the digital marketing space. I work for a leading search engine marketing company and it is great to be able to witness the interplay between emerging media in the corporate sector and what is happening in the Obama ’08 political campaign. There are so many things about the Obama platform that resonates with me so I look forward devoting what little extra time I have to helping to elect the next president of the U.S.
I was encouraged by the press coming out of Australia today - that the Labor party is now condemning Prime Minister Howard for his criticism of Sen. Obama.
Suggestion – for those of you who want to broaden your scope of news – go to Google and set up “Alerts” based on specific keywords. If you want to capture information from the global press and blogsphere about Senator Obama add his name as an alert. I personally track over 400 keyword alerts on a daily basis.
The Episcopalians for Obama group will launch with a conference call next week and discuss ways to expand the group and map out our plan for organizing and mobilizing voters in our local areas. Stay tuned, stay focused and keep pushing……
kellymccoywilliamsATgmailDOTcom
