***The following is an updated repost of an earlier blog post. I think it is very appropriate in light of recent events (distractions)***
These last remaining days until the election, I have found myself doing what a number of Obama/Biden supporters are doing, watching the pre-election polls and the pundits and being distracted by the latest GOP gimmick. While the election is a mere 57 days away, the number of days seem longer with each fluctating poll and naysayer pundit. However, I've come to realize that while there is not much I can do about the twists and turns of pre-election polls, pundits and MSM. There is something I can do RIGHT NOW to affect the polls on Nov. 4th.
These remaining days are for organizing, fundraising, canvassing, registering voters and educating the American electorate on the policies, leadership skills, judgment and attributes of Senator Obama and Senator Biden -oh, and did I mention REGISTERING VOTERS . Instead of spending my time fretting over what some MSM pundit said, I'll e-mail family and friends copies of Barack's policy ideas, documents from his website or direct them to his website. Instead of worrying over the latest turn in the polls, I'll spend my time registering voters, fundraising, phonebanking, or knocking on doors, etc.
When you think about it, the time is now! We don't have much time to do what will really affect the polls -Nov.4th.
What will you do from now until Nov. 4th ????
*I read this commentary by Jack Cafferty and was struck by the similiarities between the two men.*
By Jack Cafferty CNN
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Russia invades Georgia and President Bush goes on vacation. Our president has spent one-third of his entire two terms in office either at Camp David, Maryland, or at Crawford, Texas, on vacation.
His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans.
Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California.
I think he made a big mistake. When he was invited last spring to attend a discussion of the role of faith in his life with Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, McCain didn't bother to show up. Now I know why.
It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries. McCain then retold a story we've all heard a hundred times about a guard in Vietnam drawing a cross in the sand.
Asked about his greatest moral failure, he cited his first marriage, which ended in divorce. While saying it was his greatest moral failing, he offered nothing in the way of explanation. Why not?
Throughout the evening, McCain chose to recite portions of his stump speech as answers to the questions he was being asked. Why? He has lived 71 years. Surely he has some thoughts on what it all means that go beyond canned answers culled from the same speech he delivers every day.
He was asked "if evil exists." His response was to repeat for the umpteenth time that Osama bin Laden is a bad man and he will pursue him to "the gates of hell." That was it.
He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich.
One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.
Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.?
John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet.
He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly.
I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.
George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.
He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.
I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.
***I have to admit, I'm with Jack on this one!!! ***
There are many reasons that I am voting for Barack Obama and also a number of reasons that I would never vote for John McCain. The issue of war and diplomacy is the one on my mind today.
This opinion piece by Jay Bookman today in the AJC, examines McCains tendencies regarding war and diplomacy:
Sen. John McCain has seized on the Russian invasion of Georgia as a chance to demonstrate to the American people what kind of president he would be on foreign policy matters.
For better or worse, I think he’s succeeded. McCain has clearly been more confrontational and aggressive than the Bush White House, going so far as to announce that in the wake of the invasion, “We are all Georgians,” a statement that implies a degree of commitment that the United States is not in a position to honor.
Even more startling was McCain’s decision, as a mere candidate for president, to send personal envoys to confer with Georgia’s leadership. Such a step is the prerogative only of a president, and is an act of dangerous presumption at an extremely delicate time.
To some Americans, McCain’s rhetoric has nonetheless communicated an image of authority that they find reassuring in a president. It also confirms him as an instinctive type of leader, someone whose response to a crisis is driven more by his own character than by the specifics of a challenge.
Read rest of article here:
I, as an American citizen, have had enough of war just for war's sake. I have had my fill of an unjustified war. I do not want a President who sees military action as the first and only answer to every foreign crisis question (real or imagined). We must not continue to engage in "dumb" wars.
In today's world, I want a President with the judgement and skills to lead our nation and keep us safe without resorting to destruction and war at every opportunity in lieu of diplomacy and reason.
The question for the American voter is: what do you want???
I've read and commented on some of the posts regarding the new activity tracker system. I did not intend to comment on the new system because it doesn't matter to me how supporters' activities are measured, if at all. But I did so after reading some of the comments regarding the new system. Some complaints read that the new system is demeaning, doesn't accurately reflect all efforts by supporters on behalf of the campaign and it insults those who have done"so much" to help the campaign. And to the extent that people use the measurement to compare themselves with others, the complaining voices are correct. I'm not here to defend or berate either system.
However, I would argue that you could voice those same complaints about the point system that you do about the new system. Yet, I don't recall seeing such complaints. To many of us, points v. activity tracker doesn't matter. And in my opinion, the explanation from the campaign for the change is clear:
" From the start, the emphasis was on quantifying an activist’s contribution to the campaign not on encouraging people to rack up points for the sake of racking up points. For some people, that wasn’t always clear. " - Obama HQ Blog 08/07/08.
Some people were dismayed to see their activity tracker index at 1 and their point totals vanished. I can understand some of that dismay. After all, there are many people who accrued massive amount of points by doing some amazing and truly outstanding tasks during the primary ( i.e. phonebanking) And, there were also people who had a meager amount of points who performed equally amazing tasks, but it was not reflected in their point totals.
For example, I know of a college student who is now a precinct co-captain. She attends school full time and works part time. She has not taken time off from either. Yet during the primaries, she phone banked at the local office, drove a van full of supporters to NC to canvass, registered voters in PA on several different occasions, performed community service with ObamaWorks, attended many visibility events in VA passing out flyers, donated, made bus trips with others to several key states to canvass, did data entry at the local office(and at home on her laptop) and fundraised, etc. She is basically doing the same for the general (along with her new duties as precinct co-captain), except she has also signed up to provide housing for an Obama volunteer and is focusing more on voter registration in her home state of VA. She and many more like her intend to deliver VA for Obama on Nov.4th. and they are working their hearts out to do so. She's no different than many others across this country. Her point total under the old system was less than 100; her activity index number is 1. She couldn't care less about either!!!
She has work to do; as we all do.
Like many Americans, my family makes most of the important economic decisions around the kitchen table. When my husband and I discuss financial issues,(house purchase, college tuition,401(k)plans,etc) we usually do so at the kitchen table. When we are looking at a monthly budget strained by the ever rising costs of gas, food and health care, we do so at the kitchen table.
This election year many families are facing a myraid of economic difficulties. And I imagine that these families will be having kitchen table discussions on which candidate is best suited to solve our economic woes(not an easy task). If these families are anything like my family, then they will be looking for a candidate who is comfortable with addressing the economic difficulties for everyday Americans.
America needs to elect a President who has an understanding of the economic plight of many average, ordinary citizens. We need someone who will take this issue seriously, not someone who mocks the American people. This economic crisis is real and it is not "psychological." This election is too important to risk it on a candidate who is not serious.
I want a candidate who is familiar with the kitchen table and takes the issues discussed there very seriously. That is why I support Barack Obama, our next POTUS.
These summer days, I have found myself doing what a number of Obama supporters are doing, watching the polls and the pundits. While summer is approximately 100 days, the number of days seem longer with each fluctating poll and naysayer pundit. However, I've come to realize that while there is not much I can do about the twists and turns of polls and pundits this summer. There is something I can do this summer to affect the polls on Nov. 4th.
These summer days are for organizing, fundraising, canvassing, registering voters and educating the American electorate on the policies, leadership skills, judgment and attributes of Senator Obama. Instead of spending my time fretting over what some MSM pundit said, I'll e-mail family and friends copies of Barack's policy ideas documents from his website or direct them to his website. Instead of worrying over the latest turn in the polls, I'll spend my time fundraising or phonebanking, etc.
When you think about it, summer is actually quite short. We don't have much time to do what will really affects the polls -Nov.4th.
