This is my last post before I unsubscribe.
I gave some money, a lot of time, but most important my faith to Barack Obama. The first two were wasted. The last has been greivously betrayed. The loss of the first two is minimal, but the ability to believe that the participation in the political process matters once lost cannot be regained.
Shame on you Barack Obama
I have been an active Obama supporter since 11/2007. There were 100,000's of other NYers who did likewise. We labored on in the face of a Dem Party leadership that refused to recognize our existence.
There are so many people in NY who contributed so much to Obama's victory
We won. So my question is why is this organization headed by an aide to a Congress member who campaigned against Obama and continued to advocate for Clinton long after the primaries were over.
It's not that I'm advocating a spoils system or doubting Ms. DeRosa's sincere commitment. I'm just saying it might be better to have one of the many people who committted to Obama's agenda and techniques early on to lead this effort.
(BTW, I hear something similar is going on in South Carolina)
I just saw the clip of Michael Goldfarb's demoguogic claim that Obama hangs out w/ antisemities, a vicious last gasp of the immoral campaign of a man I once respected and admired. Here in NY the alliance between people of color, women, and others seeking justice & equity is old and, except for the ocassional demagogue on both sides, deep.
Back in the 60's when I was young this alliance was expressed in the disproportionate number of young Jews sho were freedom riders. One of them was a young man from Queens, Andrew Goodman. His murder is recounted in "Miss. Burning." There is a belltower on the Queens College campus that bears his name.
And I know that if Obama wins (don't beshri it) on November 5 my heart will lead me to that belltower to tell him that we have overcome and that his death was not in vain.
When Obama was a mere blip on the radar w/ no chance to get the nomination there was something about him that spoke to all the dreams for my country I thought lost when RFK was assassinated. He seemed to me a passionate, brilliant partriot who could love a country that did not always love him back. A bit to my embarassement I started to believe again "with my childhood faith." And yes I mistrusted any one who atacked him.
Because I believe so fervently in the principles Obama not only articulates but has practiced all his life I was shocked by his apparent abandonment of them. In addition to the groups I communicated my pain to the main campaign.Instead of attacking me or dismissing me the campaign engaged in a respectful dialogue with one single voter. That is extaordinary.
I suppose when you're as old as I am as I am and have seen what I have it's almost impossible to believe in the power of good. But that is what Obama is.
The proof is the best the GOP can come up with is stuff about a middle aged professor of education, self satire.
I don't apologize for my angst and I do recommend that we all as we go forward together try to learn from Obama and listen for the meaning in what is expressed.
Yes We Can and for the sake of our country we must.
Miri
I just donated $39.95, the cost of one year's subscription to the New Yorker, to Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
I invite you to do the same if you can. The cover price is $4.50 if you want to buy an issue or 2 instead.
Am posting this from one of the Washington Post blogs where it was posted in resposne to the no expereience allegation.
Barack Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983. Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.
He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
Illinois Legislature During his eight years in the Illinois state Senate, Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. Obama also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama enlisted the support of law enforcement officials to draft legislation requiring the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.
llinois Reform: In 1998, Obama joined forces with former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon (D-IL) to pass the toughest campaign finance law in Illinois history. The legislation banned the personal use of campaign money by Illinois legislators and banned most gifts from lobbyists. Before the law was passed, one organization ranked Illinois worst among 50 states for its campaign finance regulations.
U.S. Senate 109th Congress - important legislation Obama took an active role in the Senate's drive for improved border security and immigration reform. In 2005, he co-sponsored the "Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act" introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). He later added three amendments to the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act", which passed the Senate in May 2006, but failed to gain majority support in the U.S. House of Representatives
Partnering first with Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), and then with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Obama successfully introduced two initiatives bearing his name. "Lugar-Obama" expands the Nunn-Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons, including shoulder-fired missiles and anti-personnel mines.[61] The "Coburn-Obama Transparency Act" provides for the web site USAspending.gov, managed by the Office of Management and Budget. The site lists all organizations receiving Federal funds from 2007 onward and provides breakdowns by the agency allocating the funds, the dollar amount given, and the purpose of the grant or contract
More on Lugar-Obama... Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world
In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the "Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act," marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.
As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In August 2005, he traveled to Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan. The trip focused on strategies to control the world's supply of conventional weapons, biological weapons, and weapons of mass destruction as a first defense against potential terrorist attacks. Following meetings with U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq in January 2006, Obama visited Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. At a meeting with Palestinian students two weeks before Hamas won the legislative election, Obama warned that "the U.S. will never recognize winning Hamas candidates unless the group renounces its fundamental mission to eliminate Israel." He left for his third official trip in August 2006, traveling to South Africa, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Chad. In a nationally televised speech at the University of Nairobi, he spoke forcefully on the influence of ethnic rivalries and corruption in Kenya. The speech touched off a public debate among rival leaders, some formally challenging Obama's remarks as unfair and improper, others defending his positions.
110th Congress - important legislation In the first month of the newly Democratic-controlled 110th Congress, Obama worked with Russ Feingold (D-WI) to eliminate gifts of travel on corporate jets by lobbyists to members of Congress and require disclosure of bundled campaign contributions under the "Honest Leadership and Open Government Act", which was signed into law in September 2007
Obama's energy initiatives scored pluses and minuses with environmentalists, who welcomed his sponsorship with John McCain (R-AZ) of a climate change bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds by 2050, but were skeptical of his support for a bill promoting liquefied coal production
Obama also introduced the "Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007", a bill to cap troop levels in Iraq, begin phased redeployment, and remove all combat brigades
Obama joined Chuck Hagel (R-NE) in introducing legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. A provision from the Obama-Hagel bill was passed by Congress in December 2007 as an amendment to the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill.
Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to provide one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries. After passing both houses of Congress with bipartisan majorities, SCHIP was vetoed by President Bush in early October 2007, a move Obama said "shows a callousness of priorities that is offensive to the ideals we hold as Americans
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) today hailed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's passage of the Global Poverty Act (S.2433), which requires the President to develop and implement a comprehensive policy to cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015 through aid, trade, debt relief, and coordination with the international community, businesses and NGOs. This legislation was introduced in December. Smith and Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) sponsored the House version of the bill (H.R. 1302), which passed the House last September.
Since I am interested in the content of character, I wonder whether Obama was also the 1st editor of the Harvard Law Review to take that "golden ticket" & enter directly into law in the service of human needs.
Dear Mr. Obama:
I am attaching a comment I posted to the Wash. Post article on your apology for using the word bitter to describe working voters.
You are a nice guy. John McCain seems to be a nice guy. Good for both of you. Unfortunately there are people in politics who are thugs. That is why nice guys finish last unless they know how to disarm them. (They teach us this stuff @ lower tier law schools.)
Pls note how I phrased my statements. Couldn't you said "I don't apologize for saying that working people are bitter. When they work 2 & 3 jobs and can't even accumulate enough to provide for their families, while corporate board members get paid more for attending a meeting than they make in a month, when they see their jobs shipped overseas to countries that pay 100's of thousands of $ to lobbyist who have the ear of political leaders, when their children go off to die in wars that benefit those who give millions to those who claim to represent them of course good Americans become bitter. They should be bitter. Any right thinking person should be bitter. Note that as above where I didn't say who the thugs were I don't say who does such traitorous things. You don't have to either, but damnit you gotta take it to her.
The Comment
One week ago, we learned that Bill Clinton had made $15M from the Emir of Dubai. Dubai as the other UAE states is anti Israel, refuses to let Jews enter its borders and oppresses women.
Mrs. Clinton's pro war vote now makes a lot of sense. The only beneficiaries of the Iraq tragedy are the Arab oligarchies.
This, inter alia, is a breach of the Senate ethics rules. Mrs. Clinton reported only that her husband made "more than $1K" from this association.
Yet this week, while we have heard a bit about Colombia there has been no press coverage of this. Now the press leaves off "THE REVEREND WRIGHT CONTROVERSY" only to parse a speech in which Obama describes very accurately the roots of what appears as racism.
Similarly, "THE REVEREND WRIGHT CONTROVERSY” is a red herring. There seems to be an absolute passion to hold Obama accountable for every word or action of any one with whom he is remotely associated. Yet Mrs. Clinton who is running on her 35 years working for change is never questioned about her own actions as a board member at Wal-Mart, a partner at an anti-union, anti-consumer law firm or just about anything else.
Let's get this straight. Wright in some sermons over years said some appalling things. Obama did not say those things. Mrs. Clinton herself in the past six months out right lied about an event that never happened. She must have known it did not happen because no mother would take her child into a war zone. Similarly, she lied to the Senate. If she did not know where Bill was making those millions she, well we've had 8 years of a President whose major failing is a lack of curiosity. We do not need another.
BTW, I am a "white" working divorced grandmother. I am one of those "big money" donors to Obama. ($105 so far) I have never contributed financially to a candidate before. I cannot. Because of the Reagan Bush Clinton Bush policies that helped only the Wal-marts of the world, I’ll have to work until I die.
It saddens me to see the Clintons and their establishment supporters use the phenomenon that Obama so aptly described to persuade the American people to vote against their own interests.
I came of age in the Kennedy era a time of great hope for the United States and the world. Over 40 years I have seen it all slip away. My life is economically less secure than my mother's was. My daughter had fewer economic opportunities than I did and my granddaughter is learning Chinese "so she can communicate with her future employers." I saw my brothers come back from Nam with much less support than the WWII veterans. Now our soldiers come back from Iraq to no aid @ all (& to be fired from their Wal-Mart jobs.)
Am I bitter? You bet I am! I'd be crazy not to be.
So all of you who are being distracted by the Clinton (and to his credit he does much less of it McCain) manipulative appeals, please not for me, because I'm kinda old, but for my granddaughters do not be fooled.
Granny Miri.
Mr. & Mrs. Clinton have made $100 Million in 7 Years. Most of their charitable contributions went to the Clinton Foundation.
Hillary a proponent of the Iraq war compounds her lie by joking about sniper fire on the eve the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination by sniper fire.
Now we learn that the uninsured woman who died perinatally was in fact insured.
If the Democratic Party elders do not tell how to stop now because she's not electable (I phone banked today & had ! dairy farmer and one fellow granny insist there's no way any one could make that much money legally.) If they don't I will leave the party bcs it literally has sold out and myCon Law Prof was right. Only diff bet Dems & Reps is Reps are more honest about their lack of principle
If she is elected I will leave the country, bcs we are lost and H.L Mencken was right.
Just want to remind all NY folks that there is a rally in City Hall Park at noon on 4/12. Wouldn't it be great if we could flood the streets in Hillary's "home" state.
This is a msg I am sending to Dr. Dean @ dnc.org. I think that those of us who are loyal Democrats or decent patriotic Americans should all do something similar.
Dear Dr. Dean:
I write this more in sorrow than in anger, although there is much of the latter. It is time for the Democratic Party to come together and eject Bill Clinton and advise Mrs. Clinton that her campaign must end because it violates the principles and practices of the Democratic Party . Clinton's comments are indeed McCarthyite.
"I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country," said the former president. "And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."
It is he who first injected race into this campaign and the Clinton campaign's devaluation of Gov. Richardson, implying his support would resonate only among Latinos is more of the same. Indeeed at a time when the contrast between the health care proposals was an issue Mrs. Clinton chose to spend debate time highlighting Farakhan's support of Obama.
There is precedent for Clinton's ejection. Back in the late 70's the only Democratic office holder in Nassau County was an anti reproductive rights DA whom we had cross endorsed. Despite the miniscule size of the party we withdrew our support. It did not cost him anything & we looked a bit foolish. For the record the party, by adhering to principle now controls most offices in the county and our congressional delegation has only one Republican, Peter King, who did not support the Clinton impeachment.
Along w/ other Democrats I voted for Bill Clinton twice. (In fact in '92 I scheduled minor surgery for late in the day to be sure to get to the polls.) During his campaigns I worked for his election defending him against those who impugned his patriotism because of his activities during Viet Nam. My sadness is that this man who brought us a message of hope and unity has now turned into a caricature of those who opposed him.
My anger has a different source. We Democrats and the American people invested in him. Those of us on the liberal end of the spectrum gave him the benefit of the doubt on the welfare reform that has worked harm on poor and working people. We berated those who raised issues about his & his wife's private business dealings. He had the opportunity to forge a new Democratic coaltion and knowing the forces arrayed against him, he threw it all away for a trivial sexual indulgence. During his tenure we actually lost control of Congress and by the end of his term the highly qualified, brilliant Al Gore could not pull far enough ahead of the spectacularly unqualifed Bush to win the electoral college
Lest any one have any doubt this was not the result of vast right wing conspiracy whose tactics and conduct he now adopts. (I really don't think that representing Dubai is all that patriotic.) Clinton's troubles were the result of his putting his own selfish needs ahead of party and country.
To recall a mantra from our last campaign (in which he & Mrs. Clinton played a curiously small role) "It's time for him to go."
Respectfully,
Miriam Callaghan
I, Too – Langston Hughes I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed – I, too, sing America. 1926.
This is what I felt except that I have never been so proud to be part of the country that produced a person who truly does sing the America that can be a beacon to the world.
Miriam Hussein Callaghan
I was bemused to read in the NYT (aka the Clinton Campaign Newsletter) how the Spitzer scandal is helping HRC w/ younger women because it demonstrates the pain she has endured. (Of course it destroys her chances in the general election where Dem from NY will become a punchline.)
So to all you younger women pls listen to a feminist Granny.
I knew that I would never vote for HRC for many reasons. Her collusion w/ Walmart was perhaps the largest but the feminist reason was that she colluded in the abuse of other women for her own gain & comfort.
I do not know what Silda Spitzer will do & if she stood w/ her husband out of love & loyalty any shame attaches to him.
HRC is another kettle of fish. She & I are of the same generation. In the generations before us the only path to power for women was an alliance w/ a powerful man wherein we had to endure whatever pain he caused us. Some of us used that derivative power to do great good. (Eleanor Roosevelt comes to mind.) In HRC's & my generation for the first time women could achieve in our own right w/o placating abusive men. Many of us chose to do just that and stood in solidarity w/ other women including those who were abused. Many of us insisted that the rules be changed to accomodate all women. (Judith Kaye, Sandra Day O'Connor & Ruth Bader Ginsberg are exemplars.)
But it was still the easier path to ally oneself w/ the male power structure and tolerate abuse and collude in the abuse of others to secure advantage for ourselves.That is the route HRC chose. The experience HRC claims is that gained from her alliance w/ a man, not from winning positions on her own merits. Time & again Bill Clinton abused & harassed female subordinates & just as many times HRC not only stood by him but attacked the women he had abused. (I did not know when I formed my opinion of her that before women and men of good will gained shield laws she had used their absence to impeach a 12 year old rape victim.) I do not doubt that Bill caused pain in his marriage. But the pain of the wronged upper class wife who chooses to stay may not equal the pain of the woman abused by her boss and then reviled as a slut or nut. The pain of the beautiful Silda Silver is balanced by her accomplishments and her daughters. I hope and pray that her life will contain all the good things she deserves and I do not think that she will stoop so low as to attack her husband's victim whose life, whatever the short term gains from her current notoriety will be forever deformed by this incident.
I would love to see a woman president in my lifetime. But if this woman becomes president or even steals the nomination the message to young women will be to endure abuse, to abuse other women and align yourself with masculinist ways of being. For this woman to be rewarded sets the cause of women back 100 Years.
Granny Miri Esq.
I'm a New Yorker, unlike my junior Senator. The major argument for HRC over Barack Obama was her electability. With Spitzer's conduct that is gone. Spitzer is form New York. HRC is the Senator form NY. They are linked. There are pictures of them together all over the news. She is no longer electable.
Spitzer's betrayal of the public trust is much worse than Bill's. Everybody knew Bill was a (pardon me) horn dog. He never pretended otherwise. Part of his charisma was that he admitted his frailties.
Spitzer's calling card was moral rectitude. He promised an end to corruption beginning on Day 1. How can people ever trust a New York Democrat again. She’s not electable.
And at what cost. Ferraro despite her own recollection was on the ticket not because she was a woman, but because of her own remarkable accomplishments. She opened a range of possibilities never known before to young girls. She freed my daughter and her generation from the sense that First Lady was the limit of their aspirations.
And she was a civil rights activist. That is why her profoundly racist comments are so destructive. I am a white appearing woman who literally does not see race and move in the undifferentiated world of NYC without consideration of that social construct. But today there was a chilling among those of us who work & celebrate together based on who writes the best memos, jump starts the bureaucracy, has a good sense of humor or makes great vegan chili. (The knock on Barack in my crowd was that he was one of "those people," Harvard Law grads) Now that ease & trust is gone. If Ferraro could turn out to be a racist how can African Americans trust any white person. And the Clintons enabled Ferraro to do this.
With this week’s developments, HRC is unelectable. (Neither the race nor the "experience" cards will play against McCain.) I do not Know whether her immediate withdrawal will ameliorate the terrible damage she and her supporters have done but it will keep them from doing any further harm to our party and our country.
If she will not have the grace to withdraw the party must make her do so. She cannot win the nomination without superdelegate support and any MI or Fl votes would occur in the poisoned atmosphere she created.
No one person is important enough to let this continue.
Geraldine Ferraro has multiple myeoloma. The medications she takes are often associated w/ psych symptoms.
I think Barack should issue a statement expressing his comapassionate concern for a person who has served our party well.
Mrs. Clinton, regrettably successfuly, and her supporters equate gender w/ philosophy. Although her record on women's issues is deplorable HRC attracts "NOW" & self pity feminists like Steinem. (Boy won't the general election be great when the McCain campaign runs clips of Gloria's mocking of POW's 3 times a night. That giant sucking sound is the votes of of every one who has served in the military & their families going to McCain. I'd predicted that HRC would carry Ark. Now I'm not sure.)
What brings this to mind is that I have invited several people to join Feminists for Obama. About half are men.
I can only hope that after the damge the Clintons have done with the silent acquiesence of the DNC and the media, African Americans will accept that "white" or Latino does not = racist. I fear not.
I am heartbroken because I see signs that the DNC is determined to keep its promise to Mrs. Clinton made in exchange for her enduring her husband's abuse.
We had a chance to live out the meaning of our creed. Mrs. Clinton's demands took precedence. After we assure that she is not elected by voting for McCain whose feminist credentials are better than hers (so are my dog's) Third Party anyone. The Democratic Party is history
This may come off as a rant (OK it is a rant!) but I fear for the Democratic Party. Even more given the terrifying possibility that John McCain might also decide to conduct himself as a gentleman I fear for my country. And I fear the loss of the amazing opportunity to have the amazing Barack Obama lead.
I am a late life lawyer who abandoned a very profitable career in ERISA compliance for community law. Community law is tough So I missed an obscure article in Newsday on 2/24. So I was puzzled by a remark by an adversary in a Family court case where I was representing a man about beating up 12 year olds.
The reference was to HRC's representation of a42 Y old man who raped a 12 Y old girl. His court appointed lawyer submitted an affidavit making asserting that this child had made previous allegations and had a psych history. Some of my colleagues (shame on you Andrew Schepard!) have defended this as zealous advocacy. It is not. Making unsupported assertions in an attorney's affidavit is misconduct and grounds for disbarment. To do so with respect to a child rape victim is reprehensible. In defense of my profession very few lawyers would do such a thing if only to avoid disbarment.
Reportedly the Defendant who never denied that he'd had sex w/ the child asked for a woman lawyer for tactical reasons. I too have male clients accused who choose me because I am a woman. It does strengthen their cases and I'll do that. But if my client is in fact abusive I work with him and the court to resolve the matter in a way that is most favorable to him, but that stops the violence for his own protection.
Ms. Clinton claims that she was forced to take the case because she was assigned and she did not want to offend judge. The welfare of children having been a lieflong principle I would have advised the judge in writing that I do not represent admitted abusers of children and the only thing I'd do with this guy would be to plead him out. If he still wanted me it would be on him. (Wouldn't be the first time I ticked off a judge. Wouldn't be the last) Some lawyers feel differently and I can respect that. BUT IF THAT'S THEIR POSITION THEY DO NOT GET TO CLAIM THAT THEY ARE CHILDREN'S RIGHTS ADVOCATES. (I'd also like the names of any students whom she trained who practice in NY so I know what I'm dealing with.)
What is alarming is that we hear all about the press goig easy on Obama. I'm a political junkie and I learned about this only through our blog. However, I know a lot about a business associate and contributor of Obama's going on trial for corruption and a memo that someone at the Canadian embassy wrote. But only a regional paper printed this story that undercuts one of HRC's big selling points. Parodn my language but BULLSHIT she cares about children.
Similarly we've all seen the pictures of Obama in a turban. There's a picture of a grinning HRC with sitting as the only woman on the board of Walmart. Walmart has certainly done every bit as much damage to the middle class as NAFTA. She and Bill divested themselves of Walmart stock only in 2007. How many union members would support herif they knew that? How come the press who's so tuff on her doesn't publish that
So Barack with all due respect, I'm a little CUNY fighting lawyer. You Harvard guys are sometimes just too damned prissy. Sometimes to win for your client you gotta go tactical and tough, especially when your dealing with an unprincipled sleazebag on the other side.
The American people are your client. Stop being so damned Harvard and do your job.
Yes we can.
Mir
