Here is my latest OP-ED submitted today for my local papers.
"How Can Patriotic Americans NOT Support Obama"
Have you, as a McCain or Clinton supporter or even an undecided or lapsed voter, done any research into Senator Obama's views, comments and methodoligies? Do you know, for instance that he wants to end lobbyist control of the United States government and give it back to the people of this country? In other words, he wants to take power away from the few "kingmakers" in this society like Karl Rove and Mark Penn and make sure that the American people know "everything" about who makes our decisions in Washington, how much they cost and what all the options are... for a change. How could this possibly be seen as a bad thing? For far too long our society has been complacent and apathetic toward the democratic process (I know, I was one of them) and we are very close to losing all control to the spin masters and extremists in conservative politics who "play to the death." Case in point has to be "Bush's War" and the ideology used to rally support around it by convincing the American people that they were at risk from Saddam Hussein. As most of now realize, yes Saddam was a tyrant and a terrible leader, but he had nothing to do with 9/11 and never possessed the WMD's that the Bush Administration used to sell us "the war." Now five years later, this country has suffer 4000 plus casualties, is weaker militarily, poorer by billions, even trillions of dollars spent on waging what has become a civil war in someone else's country because of someone's personal agenda and a huge does of "Spin". If you don't believe this, you should watch the Frontline special of the same name, "Bush's War" on PBS online and open your eyes to the facts.
Some of Obama's other plainly obvious managerial skills lie in the way he has galvanized the over 1 million supporters in his campaign, raising millions of dollars, mobilizing them to call, canvas and raise money by leaps and bounds over the other candidates. Several political science experts have recently been quoted as saying, "if you want to see what kind of presidency a candidate will have, take a look at how they run their campaign." Who would not want what Obama brings to the table in this regard? And who in their right mind would disenfranchise the hords of young people that his candidacy has brough to the forefront. For years, pundits have discounted the voices of the young (i.e.18-25 year old range) as flighty and undependable...well, not this time. This time there are scads of high school seniors and college students who hear in Obama's words what we all heard in John and Robert Kennedy's and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's; passion. They hear plain talk that they can understand, they hear sensible answers to powerful questions of social and political justice and equality, they hear his commitment to ending this farce of a war, his commitment against the stubborness of placating our enemies and alienating our allies and the commitment to reinstate this country as a world leader once again.
How can anyone who loves this country as much as I do, not want this man to do everything in his power to make all of this a reality? Why is it so hard for some people to believe in the impropable in this day and age? Do we all think we are too smart for that? Well, if that were the case how could we have possibly been bamboozled by "W" into putting him back in office for four more years? I think it's time to stop listening to pundits and spin doctors and start listening to our gut instincts about who and what embodies the definition of democracy for a change.
Mary in CA!
Nothing about what Barack said tonight surprised me, he said outloud what most expected, "I don't support gay marriage, but...." This brings up something I've been thinking and voicing to friends and family since the 2004 elections; mainly, "let them call it whatever they want, as long as same-sex couples are allowed the exact same rights as heterosexual married couples."
Let the straight world have their mostly religious tradition and call ours "civil unions" or whatever better name we can come up with as long as everyone is treated on a level playing field. Who better to fight for equal rights for same-sex couples than a constitutional law professor and civil rights attorney. Barack understands the two truths that are core to this issue. One, that a huge glut of Americans older than 50 are never going to "accept" gay marriage because they feel it is too far from what they were raised to believe is right and two, that it doesn't matter what you call it as long as the rights of the individuals are vendicated.
If a same sex couple can win the right to file taxes jointly, make health decisions without a power of attorney, inherit property and join the host of whatever 1400 or so other laws a married couple is privy to, then basically, we've won, haven't we?
There are churches that will provide the appropriate ceremonies for civil unions, I've been to more than a few. There are whole denominations, UCC for the most part that encourage gays and lesbians to join their congregations and become as big a part of their "church" family as any white anglo-saxon Protestant could ever be.
Let them have the name "marriage" and let the GLBT community embrace and celebrate all the same rights in their own ceremony called a civil union; it's a solution where we all win.
~Mary
p.s. for those that do not know me and see on my profile that I am a white, married (to a man) mother of two, do not judge me because I am not in a same-sex relationship. I am outwardly bi-sexual (published in The Advocate and vocal in CA politics) and have been fighting for equal rights for the GLBT community for the past eight years with conviction and gusto.
So, all of us who have been paying attention have noticed, Barack continues to surround himself with smart, thoughtful, forward-thinking people. Last week's interview with Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski on Morning Joe proves that not only is Barack intelligent, but that he knows how to gather the most brilliant minds around him. Samantha Powers and Susan Rice are also examples of this and although Samantha has stepped away for the moment, there's no question that she will have a prominent place in Barack's cabinet. I'm also more confident than ever that he will choose the most respected cabinet in a generation in order to make the sweeping changes that are necessary.
I have so much respect for Barack, he's steady and calm, stallward in his beliefs, and unflappable when the chips are down, how could we ask for anything more in a true leader.
You know, the people in this country are just plain tired. Tired of hate, tired of racism, tired of liars, tired of scandals, tired of feeling as if they don't matter and that's why this movement is so important. That why people flock by the thousands to see Barack, to be inspired, to feel good about themselves again, to feel good about their country again.
I've often said since 9/11 that GWB had an opportunity, that at that particular moment in histroy he could have taken advantage of the huge tide of patriotism that swelled in this country and united us, but he didn't. He chose to lie to the American people, to put in place his own agenda (IMHO that was pre-conceived before the attacks on the twin towers) and to avenge his father's name in IRAQ. He let us all down on that day and has continued to let us down every day since then. Well, I for one am tired of looking at a man on television that I don't respect and can't even stand to listen to. The Republican Party has become the party of Nixon and Reagan and Bush, liars and cheats and cowards, all of them. There is no more room for the apathy that they breed, for the closed door politics of "good ole boy" dealings. And I'll tell you one more thing, when my 85 year old grandmother can get excited about a black man running for President, it's almost as shocking as saying Rev. Hagee came out in favor of gay marriage.
The winds of change are blowing through this country and I for one am proud and honored to be witnessing the historic accomplishments of our first "Smart" President in a long, long time!
Something I've said since Feb. 2007.... OBAMA '08....someone we can believe in! FINALLY
I wrote this letter to Keith Olbermann tonight hoping he would see fit to add some of it to his SPECIAL COMMENT piece on his show COUNTDOWN tomorrow night.
Keith,
I was thinking about this tonight as I watched MSNBC’c coverage of the Mississippi primary. Hillary has been short-sighted throughout this campaign; not planning ahead after Super Tuesday, counting on Texas as if the Latino’s there would “wrap it up” for her, keeping her mismanaging staff on at the expense of her campaign’s financial solvency. And now, the fact that she refuses to separate herself from Geraldine Ferraro’s remarks might have consequences that I’m sure she isn’t willing to admit or take responsibility for.
She is not only categorically tearing apart the Democratic Party; she’s fanning the flames of long-dormant racial divides in this country as well. Just as people began to blame Muslims for all our problems after 9/11 thanks to George W. Bush, it seems as though she would like to use, for the moment, the idea that Black American's are responsible for her shortcomings. If she is willing to tamper with America societal dynamics in this manner, as one of the panelists on Hardball said today, in order to “get the white vote in red portions” of Pennsylvania, it becomes apparent that not only has she run a divisive campaign, but a HIGHLY irresponsible one.
We’ve come too far in this country to allow one woman’s quest for power to set us back generations. We let Bush get away with it for EIGHT FREAKING YEARS; let’s not allow the idea of blaming a “scapegoat for our problems” be yet another terrible tradition this country is willing to carry forward from the disastrous Bush/Cheney years.
Mary
The thread for the thoughts and prayers for the victims of the recent tornados inpired me to write this article which I sent to the USA Today, The Sac Bee and my local paper. What we're working for here and what Barack has accomplished so far is so much more than politics. Maybe it will inspire you to write or phone or raise money...
Here is the letter:
Can We Be Better Americans?
I’ve been supporting one candidate for President for the past year and a half. Ever since I heard him give the most inspiring speech my ears had heard in my generation, I began to hope that we had a chance to be a whole country again. I’m sure most of you know who and what I’m talking about. The speech was the one Barack Obama gave at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and in it he said some things that I hadn’t heard or felt in a very long time, patriotism. (You can look it up on YouTube if you haven’t seen it and I recommend you do, it’s awe inspiring.
The message that he projects is one of unification and hope, something some in this country don’t want to hear. But I charge you to think for yourselves and to dig down deep in your soul and think about what path this country and its citizens are headed for without hope. We don’t know our neighbors anymore, we don’t volunteer or get involved in community activities, we’ve become apathetic and separate from each other, afraid to reach across the street or even a table to open ourselves up to new experiences. Now all of this is not the fault of the American political system, but they certainly have preyed upon it.
Most of us are weary of politics and politicians who use their divisive plots and spin machines to separate us down the lines of gender, race and religion, but we have a chance at this moment to put all of this behind us. We are on the brink of a historic break through in America where one man has gathered a coalition of people together of all race, gender and class to tell the world that we can be strong again. He inspires us to care about each other and to hold each other up in the face of tragedy, insurmountable hurdles and a country that is literally broken.
Do we dare to care about each other again? Do we dare to dream that we could all be proud of ONE AMERICA? Barack Obama challenges us to believe again, “that there is not a liberal America or a conservative America, but the UNITED STATES of AMERICA”, that “there is not a white America or a black America, there is the United States of America.” You can certainly turn a deaf ear to this, but I wonder why anyone would? I challenge you now, Listen, Hope, and Believe.
This is a poem I wrote a few years ago. While reading it again, it made me think about what Barack means to some of us and what he COULD mean to the rest of us. I think that we need to keep in mind what his wife (the person who probably knows him best) keeps saying about him..."he's just a man and he's going to make mistakes." He is not a GOD or some infalliable being that all the media hype is building him up to be, but a rudder for this America that that has slowly been drifting off course.
People come into our lives in so many unique ways.Some distinctive; the rising sun burning into your spirit for eternity. Some, atypical;the classic friend uplifting, expanding you and your horizons with a singular purpose unknown to you at that time.Taking your elbow;the rudder in a sea of humanity. Some seem hardly unusual in any way.Their nature washed away with the retreating tide though…leaving an imprint.Not to notice, yet indelible. When each has passed through this space in time,you are left with a choice.To accept, at face value what they have come to mean;a guide, a mentor,or simply a lesson for you to learn;a way to examine yourself...or a way for them to see their reflections in your eyes.
I'm sure all of you have been reading the articles and media coverage since the debates. It's not all been good, has it? Not that I put a whole lot of faith in the media these days, but let's face it...people do listen to what's being said and here is what I'm hearing.Barack Obama is drawing crowds, but behind in the polls. His message is starting to sound like rhetoric because he keeps saying the same thing. You have to admit that most of us have seen all of his speeches on You Tube or here on barackobama.com and not that his message needs to change, but certainly the "phraseology" needs updating. Obama is certainly an intelligent man and could probably write his own speeches for the entire campaign, but people are going to begin asking pointed questions about how exactly we're going to enact a national healthcare system without it being "socialized medicine?" How are we going to get the drug and insurance companies to buy into these ideas when they most certainly are going to cause them loss of profits? What will happen if the current HMO system is deposed and replaced by a universal system, will that not cause loss of jobs? What are the answers to these questions? They are going to have to be answered.As for the war, luckily he is still the only one that stood firm against the conflict from the beginning. As the President persists in the fatalistic view of the Middle East, Obama's views on the subject continue to be a beacon of hope. This stance is going to continue to polarize people, especially Dems, but Hillary and the rest of the bunch all agree on this point (at least on the surface). Obama is going to have to find other ways to separate himself from the crowd and prove that he is a step up from the pack. AND keep finding new ways to say it, instead of using his tried and true fallback phrases or they'll soon become the rhetoric the media is accusing him of.In the age of instant media, the person that's going to win this election is going to have to be smart, resourceful and FRESH. Barack was fresh in January, he's going to have to keep evolving to continue to be so and to win over the electorate. I for one will keep supporting him no matter what, but in order to win over the doubtful, what's the next step?
Up until yesterday, I was at a crossroads personally, about Obama's position on gay rights. On the one hand, the man is everything we could ask for in a candidate; strong, fair, open-minded and most of all visionary with a huge desire to put this country back on the right track. On the other hand, he doesn't support same-sex marriage because of his Christian upbringing...then I reread this exceprt (I'd already read it in his book once, but my memory isn' the best sometimes...)
"For many practicing Christians, the same inability to compromise may apply to gay marriage. I find such a position troublesome, particularly in a society in which Christian men and women have been known to engage in adultery or other violations of their faith withoutcivil penalty.
All too often I have sat in a church and heard a pastor use gay bashing as a cheap parlor trick -- "It was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!" he will shout, usually when the sermon is not going so well. I believe that American society can choose to carve out a special place for the union of a man and a woman as the unit of child rearing most common in every culture. I am not willing to have the state deny American citizens a civil union that confers equivalent rights on such basic matters as hospital visitation or health insurance coverage simply because the people they love are of the same sex -- nor am I willing to accept a reading of the Bible that considers an obscure line in Romans to be more defining of Christianity than the Sermon on the Mount.
Perhaps I am sensitive on this issue because I have seen the pain my own carelessness has caused. Before my election, in the middle of my debates with Mr. Keyes, I received a phone message from one of my stronger supporters. She was a small-business owner, amother, and a thoughtful, generous person. She was also a lesbian who had lived in a monogamous relationship with her partner for the last decade. She knew when she decided to support me that I was opposed to same-sex marriage, and she had heard me argue that, in the absence of any meaningful consensus, the heightened focus on marriage was a distraction from other, more attainable measures to prevent discrimination against gays and lesbians. Her phone message in this instance had been prompted by a radio interview in which I had referenced my religious traditions in explaining my position on the issue. She told me that she had been hurt by my remarks; she felt that by bringing religioninto the equation, I was suggesting that she, and others like her, were somehow bad people. I felt bad, and told her so in a return call. As I spoke to her I was reminded that no matter how much Christians who oppose homosexuality may claim that they hate the sin but love the sinner, such a judgement inflicts pain on good people -- people who are made in the image of God, and who are often truer to Christ's message than thosewho condemn them. And I was reminded that it is my obligation, not only as an elected official in a pluralistic society but also as a Christian, to remain open to the possibility that my unwillingness to support gay marriage is misguided, just as I cannot claim infallibility in my support of abortion rights. I must admit that I may have beeninfected with society's prejudices and predilections and attributed them to God; that Jesus' call to love one another might demand a different conclusion; and that in years hence I may be seen as someone who was on the wrong side of history. I don't believe such doubts make me a bad Christian. I believe they make me human, limited in my understandings of God's purpose and therefore prone to sin. When I read the Bible, I do so with the belief that it is not a static text but the Living Word and that I must be continually open to new revelations -- whether they come from a lesbian friend or a doctor opposed to abortion."
This quote gives me new hope. I keep running over the ideas in my mind that no matter what we call it, 'Marriage," "Civil Union," "Legal Union" or anything else, as long as GLBT Americans and their partners eventually end up able to legally be joined to their partner with inclusive rights as a hetero couple "married" in a church, then what does it matter what it is called or how we get there.
I have long been a vocal proponent of gay marriage, I think, whether you agree with me or not, that it holds exactly the same amount of significance that racially mixed marriages did in the 60's and 70's. It is a civil rights issue no matter how you look at it and I wasn't one to waver on my stance. My best friend should be able to marry his partner and they should be able to file their taxes jointly and receive ALL the same benefits my husband and I do, but is NOW the time to fight that fight?
When you look at the fiasco that "W.tf" has put us in at this point, I think you have to weight the significance of this fight against getting someone in office that possesses a sense of fairness and justice first. Maybe now is the time for change of leadership and maybe later is the time to fight for same-sex legal unions.
~~~Mary
Yesterday, the country heard the voice of change. We heard a single man with a vision that may likey be the best and most honest path to the sweeping revolution that needs to take place in Washington. Not since John Kennedy has this country seen such charisma and true statemenship. With the heart of the biggest problems in mind, Obama suggests the WE, not he can make a difference and if that isn't enough to wake you up, listen carefully to his words as he speaks or simply read his book. This man may be the closest thing we will ever see to an HONEST politician, something we haven't seen in a very long time.
