In the first presidential debate, the most dramatic difference between the two candidates was in their temperament and communication style. Barack Obama was steady and under control in his delivery, even in instances of strong disagreement. When common ground was uncovered, Obama complimented his opponent, despite being engaged in a high-stakes dialogue that would cause most individuals to act in a less cordial manner. In stark contrast, John McCain appeared irritated and quick to anger, often sneering when challenged. On several occasions when exasperated by the weakness of his position, McCain was dismissive and stated that “Senator Obama just doesn’t understand.”
“You don't understand,” was McCain’s refrain. But in each case, Obama was able to document very clearly that he did indeed understand.
The challenges and opportunities of this century will be great. Now more than ever, the success of the American people is linked to the success of the larger world. Going it alone might have sounded good at one point, but in this complex interconnected world, it is no longer an option. Perhaps the most damning evidence of McCain’s inability to build the necessary relationships to regain our global leadership position was his failure to look his senate colleague in the eye. From this debate, it is clear that one presidential candidate is suited to reestablish the standing of the United States. Only one candidate has the temperament to repair our leadership position in this world, and that man is Barack Obama.
Perhaps the most distressing consequence of increased tuition is that many students will not go to college. In a global economy that requires an educated workforce to be competitive, we lose people because they simply cannot afford college. As a nation, we are stacking the deck against ourselves.
The Ghost Writer Guild develops brief op-ed style articles so that you can easily send them to newspapers. The articles highlight notable developments in the 2008 presidential election, and are posted here on the blog for your use. You can copy and modify these articles and send them to your local news outlets or to national news sources, or post them on external blogs.
We need your help! Here are three ways you can get involved.
(1) You can submit articles to your local newspapers, using the Speak Out tool. Scroll down and pick any state. Enter your zip code and click "participate.” Then submit the article to any newspaper on the list by cutting and pasting it into the tool. (We advise you don’t send ghostwritten articles to national papers.)
(2) If you have more time, you can get involved by submitting to newspapers in other states (especially battleground states) and to external blogs. To help in this way, start by clicking here.
(3) If you are a writer and would like to contribute to this effort, please join the Guild. We aim to provide at least one featured article per day. In addition, these articles are archived on the group’s blog.
So, what is this group all about? Essentially, we will be ghostwriting articles that can be distributed by the wider membership of the my.barackobama.com website. What is a ghostwriter? The American Heritage Dictionary defines a ghostwriter as “One who writes for and gives credit of authorship to another”. Our group will write short articles and post them on our blog. We will promote these articles on a daily basis through the HQ blog, and provide instructions on how to use the SPEAK OUT contact tools provided by HQ. This web-based tool makes it very easy to send comments, letters, and articles to the editors of national, regional, and local newspapers. If you haven’t checked this feature out, take a peek at this URL to see how it works.
To forward articles, a person just enters their zip code and contact information. They can then cut-and-paste the ghost written article, choose which newspapers they wish to send it to, and click to send. If we are successful at promoting the group, we can distribute these articles to a large number of editors, and if we are lucky, ghost-publish a few articles or at least influence some editorial decisions.
One of the most efficient and rapid way to get the word out is to post articles and letters on other political blog sites. If we are speaking to each other on the Obama HQ blog, we are preaching to the choir. Posting at those blog sites may sway an independent, or motivate other Obama supporters who often get beat up out side the friendly confines of Obamaland. Here are some example sites:
http://www.openleft.com/http://www.dailykos.com/http://www.50states.com/http://www.usnpl.com/http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/
http://www.openleft.com/
http://www.dailykos.com/
http://www.50states.com/
http://www.usnpl.com/
http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/
How can you help? If we are successful, we will have several activities going at all times. First, we will need some members to write op-ed style articles, which discuss a particular theme. We also need some members who would be willing to proofread/edit these articles before they are posted for distribution. The BIGGEST help would be to distribute these articles using the tool. We hope that all group members are using the communications tools provided to help get the word out. Finally, I would ask for your help in occasionally promoting the articles when you are blogging throughout the day.
We are looking for articles that rely on information, not smears. Since we are widely distributing these articlesy, I believe we have a responsibility to uphold the positive campaign message and not slip into ad homonym attacks. This line isn’t always clear so that is why we use the moderator function. Jude will read the article as submitted and post it, or provide feedback on possible changes that would make it consistent with the tone of the campaign.
I am looking forward to reading your work! Let’s hope we can in some small way help Barack Obama in his effort to bring change to our country. If you have any questions please feel free to drop me a line any time.
Rich
Hello All!
The Ghost Writer Guild (an Obama group) is writing op-ed articles that support the candidacy of Senator Barrack Obama, and we would like your help. We are asking you to cut and paste the featured op-ed of the day into the Speak Out communication tool provided by HQ.
Have you used the Speak Out tool yet? It is an incredibly powerful and easy way to widely distribute letters and articles to national, regional, and local newspapers.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/speakout/
To use it, scroll down and pick any state. Enter your zip code and click on "participate.” Then you can submit the article to any newspaper on the list by cutting and pasting it into the tool. If we all participate, this article can be read by thousands of editors, and may ultimately reach many more readers (and potential voters).
Each day on the HQ blog, we will post the featured article. Just search the page for the words Ghost Writer, and go to the posted URL to cut and paste the article into the speak out tool.
In addition, you can access other archived articles on The Ghost Writer Guild blog:
If you have an extra second or two, leave a comment on the blog so we can get a sense of how well this strategy is working.
Jude
The Ghost Writer Guild
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/TheGhostWriterGuild
This fall the McCain campaign will bait you into big arguments over small things, and they will try to keep that shell game running until November 4th. His campaign has decided that no political stunt is too foolish; no lie is too big, if it can keep your eyes off the crumbling U.S. economy.
Alas, the economy refuses to be ignored, and this week it made so much noise that no squealing pig with lipstick smears could drown it out. In the space of 48 hours, the global investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy; Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch; and the Federal Reserve Board took over AIG, the world's largest insurer, in an $85 billion rescue plan. Oh yeah, did I mention the Dow Jones industrial average fell over 800 points? In one week, we have seen the biggest financial disaster in the 80 years following the market crash of 1929. Alan Greenspan called the crisis a “once-in-a-century type of event," the worst "by far" in his career.
By no measure is the U.S. economy strong. Over 650,000 jobs have been lost so far this year, and the current unemployment rate stands at 6.1% and growing. The federal budget deficit is over $357 billion, and our national debt is $9.7 trillion. Both these factors have led to a weak dollar, which in turn contributes to rising consumer prices. There are over 10,000 home foreclosures every day in the United States, contributing to a loss of the leading source of wealth for the middle class, and to a steady reduction in the value of homes not at risk for foreclosure. Just today, the Federal Reserve said it expects the economy to grow far more slowly in 2008 than previously thought, and predicted further increases in unemployment.
Gas is $4 a gallon, and John McCain says our economy is strong. Seniors lost roughly 5% of their retirement income in one day due to falling stock prices, and John McCain says the economy is strong. Students now routinely assume $100 thousand in debt to pay for a college education, and John McCain says the economy is strong. We are borrowing $10 billion a month to fight a war with no end in sight, and John McCain says the economy is strong. Is McCain talking about the same economy as the rest of us?
So, we can expect big distractions from the McCain campaign in the coming days. Today the McCain campaign was pushing the “troopergate” scandal to the media to try to keep them from talking about the economy. They would rather have the news dominated by an ethical scandal involving their vice presidential candidate than discuss their lack of plans to fix the economic legacy of the Bush administration. I wouldn’t venture to guess what crazy story they will push tomorrow, but I bet it’s a doozy.
This election season, do the smart thing. Don’t be distracted by large flaps over small issues. Don’t let McCain substitute phony controversies, or righteous indignation, for the facts. Pick up your money and walk away from the shell game. We don’t have time for small talk.
John McCain worked hard to construct the personal history of a man who will look you in the eye and tell you how it is. During his long Senate career, he garnered the praise of the media for his accessibility and candor. More recently, we see a man guilty of ignoring the facts and promoting his political agenda regardless of the truthfulness of his assertions.
One of McCain’s milder forms of dishonesty is a denial of past gaffes. His dishonesty also takes the form of bending objective facts or modified them for political advantage.
However, he has taken his duplicity a step farther; he has gone over the line of excusable dishonesty. The McCain campaign is engaging in overt lies regarding verifiable concrete facts in the hopes that in repeating the lie enough, it will stick. One bold face lie claims Barack Obama was personally responsible for the meteoric rise in gas prices. Another says Sarah Palin never accepted earmarks as Governor of Alaska. Yet another says Obama’s tax plan will increase taxes on 50% of small businesses, when the overwhelming majority will actually see a decrease.
Given the sheer number of falsehoods McCain has embraced during this campaign, his reputation as a straight talker must be re-examined. Honor isn’t a permanent commodity that once earned can never be questioned. Integrity isn’t a characteristic that once recognized never fades. McCain may have been an honorable man, but in his efforts to attain the highest office in the land, he has been shamelessly deficient in character. He is a shadow of the candidate he once was, and in choosing to abandon his principles for the direction of unscrupulous advisors, he has become a shadow of a man.
During his run for the presidency Republican candidate John McCain has vigorously repeated his vow to defeat what he refers to as “the transcendent issue of the 21st century”, radical Islamic extremism. It has become the centerpiece for his bid for the presidency, and a tired phrase on the stump. Yet we are less than 10% into the 21st century, and it is probable that what he sees as the transcendent issue of our time is more likely to be a thin sliver of the next 100 years.
What do you suppose American leaders in 1908 would have suggested was the transcendent issue of the 20th century? In 1908 Jack Johnson, a black man, was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world and promoters were looking for a “great white hope”. The Chicago Cubs were about to win the world series, and the first Model T rolled out of the Ford Motor car company. The top issue of the 1908 election revolved around commerce abuse. In the presidential election, both political parties rested their chances of winning on persecuting the “sins of the railroad industry”. William Jenning Bryan called for the socialization of the railroads, which led to the eventual victory by Taft. Citizens feared typhoid and tuberculosis more than they worried about the Japanese eye on the Philippines.
Neither candidate mentioned the looming possibility of nuclear warfare, which was arguably the transcendent issue of the 20th century, because we had yet to harness the power of the atom. They saw the world and the issues facing the nation through their experiential lens, and the political zeitgeist of the day. We cannot fault these leaders for missing the largest single threat that faced the 20th century, but then again, they did not make such grand claims.
John McCain has. Since the tragic attacks of 9/11, he has viewed radical extremism as a legitimate justification to wage war on those who would oppose U.S. policy regardless of whether they pose a threat to the United States. Hours after the fall of the twin towers McCain solidified his malicious intentions towards Iraq, and used the “transcendent issue of our times” as a leverage point to lead the call for war.
However, he too is limited by his 20th century experiences and lacks the vision to see what may be around our collective corner. This lack of vision will prove costly if he is elected President.
He refuses to leave Iraq until “victory is achieved”. Doing otherwise is equated with “raising the white flag of surrender”. It is not hard to see where this worldview comes from. His experiences in Vietnam have likely led him to a singular conclusion; that we cannot withdraw without honor and victory, because the withdrawal in Vietnam caused him and his comrades so much suffering. Yet he cannot see that he is repeating the mistakes of Vietnam. Vietnam was lost partially because there was little reason to fully engage in the conflict other than to win the conflict, and because the conditions that constituted victory were never defined. So that war slogged on until the nation lost the will to continue it.
Senator McCain has repeatedly been asked to define “victory” in Iraq and has failed to do so. Without this operational definition of the end game, the war can never end for him. McCain reminds us of the legends of the Japanese soldiers who continued fighting on remote Pacific islands long after the end of the Second World War. Soon the Iraq war will be over, but he is determined to stay and fight, determined to win the war even though he does not know what victory looks like. For him the war may never be over. And therein lies the real danger of electing John McCain president. Because make no mistake he will find a war to win.
The transcendent issue of the 21st century may prove to be radical jihadism, but history would suggest otherwise. It may be wise for us to actually leave our post 9/11 bomb shelter and engage with this century before we know the dangers, and yes, opportunities that lie ahead. Our challenges are sure to be great, and I for one would like to see a clearer, and more forward thinking mind at the helm than John McCain's.
Recently Senator John McCain has ratcheted up his rhetoric regarding Barack Obama’s stance regarding the ongoing war in Iraq. With the American public growing tired of comparisons between Obama and young blonde starlets, McCain has returned to one of the most important issues of the 2008 presidential election, albeit with a selective memory. His campaign hopes that this selective memory catches on, because the entire success of his presidential ambition is based on collective amnesia.
The McCain campaign has returned to the narrative that Senator Barack Obama’s judgment on the war is wrong because he did not support the troop escalation that we have come to know as the surge. McCain accuses Barack Obama of shifting positions regarding the success of the surge, and stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that the surge worked. Obama has repeatedly praised the efforts of our troops and acknowledged that violence in Iraq has significantly subsided. However, the McCain camp won’t rest until Obama cries uncle and repeats the words “the surge worked” so that they can wag their finger, say I told you so, and once again accuse Obama of shifting his position on Iraq.
Upon closer examination, it is evident that the major shifts on the state of Iraq have come from John McCain. He just hopes you will not remember. In May of 2003, McCain boasted on the Senate floor, “We won a massive victory in a few weeks, and we did so with very limited loss of American and allied lives. We were able to end aggression with minimum overall loss of life, and we were even able to greatly reduce the civilian casualties of Afghani and Iraqi citizens.” In June of 2003, McCain stated “many argue the conflict (in Iraq) isn’t over. “Well, then why was there a banner that said ‘Mission Accomplished’ on the aircraft carrier?”
Good question Senator McCain.
While John McCain uses Obama’s disagreement with the tactical adjustment of the surge to question The Democratic nominee’s judgment, he conveniently forgets the judgment to go to war in the first place. He is banking that the American people will forget as well.
As a recent New York Times article outlines, “While pushing to take on Saddam Hussein, Mr. McCain also made arguments and statements that he may no longer wish to recall. He lauded the war planners he would later criticize, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney. (Mr. McCain even volunteered that he would have given the same job to Mr. Cheney.) He urged support for the later-discredited Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi's opposition group, the Iraqi National Congress, and echoed some of its suspect accusations in the national media. And he advanced misleading assertions not only about Mr. Hussein’s supposed weapons programs but also about his possible ties to international terrorists, Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 attacks”.
John McCain is resting his hopes for the office of president on our amnesia regarding the architects and origins of the Iraq war. As long as he can convince the American public that the war started with the surge, he can maintain the high ground on shifting positions and judgment. Perhaps John McCain really has forgotten the events leading to the war, but we had better hope the American people remember or we may have our memories refreshed in another unjustified, and costly, conflict in the near future.
