When Benjamin Franklin said this cynical witticism the stakes were high. Franklin and company had just signed the Declaration of Independence and Franklin knew that a united front would be crucial for victory in the struggle against tyranny.Now, we find ourselves in a similar situation 232 years later. Our party has been torn apart by one of the longest, most invigorating and challenging primary contests it has ever seen. Two powerful candidates, Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton, have just concluded their struggle and as I write this I am awaiting the broadcast of Senator Clinton's concession speech.For many people the clash between the senators has become a war of personality. After all, our party is the party of health care, education, environment and a solution to the mortgage crisis. Both candidates are champions of these important issues. Sen. Clinton has sixteen years of experience as an advocate for Americans, and Sen. Obama's brief career in the senate and his amazing and audacious run for the presidency has shown him to be a champion of the people. Both want to see an end to our disastrous war in Iraq. Both want to see Universal Health care (although they differ marginally on how to to get it).So why is it important for Clintonites to show grace in this loss and equally important for Obamians to be magnanimous in victory? It is because of our shared destiny as a party. We have no choice, but more importantly we have the privilege to work together. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton all provide important skills, constituencies and experience to our campaign against John McCain and George W. Bush's third term.We must choose to build a united party that can accomplish the promise of both these strong campaigns. We must band together to bring health care to every American and to bring our troops home from Iraq. We must band together to end the reign of the lobbyist in Washington, as exemplified by Phil Graham, a lending industry lobbyist and key McCain adviser.
We must save the planet. We must save our Constitution. We must work together, we must move forward, we must beat John McCain, and just as it was 232 years ago...We must all hang together or we will hang separately.Vote for Hope in O8!-Tim
Yesterday, Sen. Obama spoke at Strath Haven High School, just a few miles from where I grew up. Several of my friends were able to go see him, and I'm glad. One thing that struck me from this speech, however, was his claim that he would offer Al Gore a seat in his cabinet. Now, there are really only two places Mr. Gore could fit into the cabinet: Sec Energy or Sec of Environmental Protection (which would require Barack to raise the EPA to cabinet status, which is a long overdue move in my opinion). For those of you hoping for an Obama/Gore ticket, forget about it. That's not happening for the reason John Nance Garner (FDR's vice prez) so eloquently stated, "The vice presidency isn't worht a pitcher of warm [spit]". And he didn't say spit.
To many of us, especially the younger generation who have at this point spent anywhere from a third to almost half of our lives with Co-President Dick Cheney, it may be surprising to realize that even up to Al Gore's term in the vice presidency, the position had little or nothing to do except sit around and wait for a midterm succession. Sure, there were foreign leader's funerals to attend, and Spelling bees to judge (I'm looking at you, Dan Quayle) but largely the position was useless. Dick Cheney changed a lot of that, but I think most people would agree that (in the Obama administration at least), the vice president will not have the power or ability to effectively create a fourth branch of the government.
To sum it alll up: Al Gore was a hearbeat away from the presidency for eight long years, and if Barack Obama, young and fit as he is, comes into power, Al could look forward to another lonnnnng term waking up everyday and calling the President to see if he's dead. Now, admittedly I may have spoken too soon when I said no new vice president could muster a Cheney like independence. Perhaps, Al Gore, should he choose to become Vice President again, would spend his time pushing for environmental protection instead of shredding documents and torturing detaines. Who knows? Right now though, my call is that Al Gore will not be anyone's vice president again, and in fact he may not choose to serve in Barack's cabinet if asked, and he may not choose to endorse any candidate at all.
That last part is what we should be looking at very closely. Relations with the Clinton family have been strained since Al's 2000 election bid. Admittedly, they are still friendly, but I don't think Al wants to tie himself to that family again. At the same time, Al Gore has no real reason to want to endorse Barack Obama. In fact, especially in such a contentious race, Gore might choose to withhold his approval from either candidate. He's spent the past 8 years transforming himself from the stodgy vice president to the hip hero-of-the-planet. I wonder whether he feels it's worth it to alienate the same people he needs to help him save the world, in exchange for a chance to still not be president.
In short, look for Al Gore to play his cards close to his chest until the convention. He is a super delegate, so he does have a vote, but we may not know who he will choose until August. I'm skeptical of Al's willingness to play second fiddle to another president, or to accept a position in the cabinet that would severely limit his ability to speak for himself. Al Gore will have a big influence in any upcoming democratic presidency, but it may be from an unofficial stance.
Vote for Hope in O8,
-Tim
I think this was the best day of my time on the campaign. Today we were the proud hosts to Sen. Barack Obama's Road to Change Rally in University Park, PA. This morning I managed to get 10 VIP tickets for my fraternity, so 8 of my brothers, my girlfriend and her sorority sister all got to rub elbows with Democratic elite, congressmen and Jay Paterno. I didn't sit there. I sat behind the podium!!! I honestly have never been so pumped in my entire life.
We were standing there and trying to get people all sorts of excited, We were doing "Fired Up/Ready To Go" "O/ Bama" " We Are/ Penn State". It was hilarious, I was having a great time, the guys from Sigma Lambda Beta behind me and they were real into it.
The speech was nice, man, it was pretty much stuff I'd already heard, but he was so exciting to hear speak. I did like the fact that he talked about merit pay and america's schools (I'm an education major). Aside from that, I liked the way he talked about how we Can Not Wait to address the problems of our generation, it's true. The way things are, if we don't make a change things are just going to continue to deteriorate.
I made it on CNN, btw, sitting right at the man's shoulder!!! Also, I SHOOK BARACK OBAMA'S HAND!!! TWICE!!!
yeah, that's pretty much it. If I can figure out how to post pictures, I will.
Vote for Hope in O8!
I am very very excited to announce that Sen. Obama's coming to PSU! SUNDAY @ 1130! That's so awesome... I've wanted to see the man speak for a long time and now he's coming HERE! Also, we registered over 5000 new DEMOCRATS alone on PSU campus, making us the largest grassroots/student drive in the STATE! We crushed Pitt by a whopping 3500 registrations. This next few days is going to be hardcore too, making signs, making shirts, etc.
It's been a busy month! We're now in the last five days of voter registration here at PSU, and team obama is going great! We just had an opening for our new Centre County Regional Office, adn we've been working overtime to register. I'm going to be hitting up all of my lecture classes today, and then at night I'll be visiting the fraternities to register there. Meg Simpson registered ALL of the PHC sororities last night, so that was a big boost.
If you're @ PSU or just in centre county, come out to the office on 224 S. Allen Street (next to the library, across from the Borough building).
Vote for Hope in O8
Greetings from snowy Centre County. It's snowing pretty heavily right now but WE'RE FIRED UP!
I've been doing a lot of reading recently about Sen. Hillary Clinton. One article that struck me was from the Huffington Post: "Clinton's Ground Game Plunges Into Chaos" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/clintons-texas-ground-ga_b_87723.html
As Penn State Students for Barack Obama is preparing for our big canvassing trip next weekend, and our voter registration drives here in University Park, and around the commonwealth, I can't help but feel for the Hillary Texas Campaign. It's a huge undertaking. It requires a lot of time from dedicated, devoted people who really believe in their candidate. Although the Senator from New York's supporters and I disagreee on several fronts, I respect them for taking part in the political process.
Barack Obama has just reached 1 million campaign donors. In the state of Pennsylvania almost the entire state movement is volunteers. A lot of us are young, progressive, grassroots activists. And that's the difference. We are riding high on a tidal wave of victories, fundraising success, and general exuberance. We are still looking for new recruits, and we're finding them. We are the premiere (read only) candidate group at PSU, and I would argue that we are the premiere Barack campaign group in the State.
So what does this have to do with Bill Clinton in a pickup truck in a rainy rally in Texas? Everything.
We have only seen the positive side of campaigning. We have seen excited people flush with victory. We need to build an organization here that is ORGANIZED. It's not redundant, just look at Hillary in Texas. Lack of communication, lack of boots on the ground, lack of funds. We need to steel ourselves against this. We need to build an organization that can flourish after 10 straight wins, AND after 10 (God forbid) losses. Senator Clinton did not have that organization in Texas. We need to make sure that we can give Senator Obama that organization in Pennsylvania.
We're doing that now. It's all been a bit hectic, and we seem to spend about half our time talking what we should be doing, but it's a start. We're a week old. But we're getting stronger. The trip to Ohio is going to provide invaluable experience to our members. We will be better experienced come April, and by November we will be professionals.
The voter registration drive is an important part of this as well, it is good to remember that in a campaign like this it won't all be flashing lights and media frenzy. It won't be just speeches and rallies. It will be hard work, long work, and rewarding work.
In Pennsylvania, and here at Penn State University, we are working on this. We are building an organization from the ground up, but when we are finished it will be strong. It will be effective.
Yes We Can.
"There is a moment in the life of every generation when, if we are to make our mark on history, this spirit must break through
This is the moment.
This is our time."
-Senator Barack Obama, Des Moines, IA December 27, 2007
Tenpeat! Tenpeat! Tenpeat!
So despite my butterflies before the Wisconsin primary last night, it seems Sen. Obama is going to continue his epic run. Here at PSU, Penn State Students for Barack Obama is doing great, with a ton of new members and a canvassing trip to Ohio next weekend before the big primary. We even had to move to a bigger room on campus because our original meeting place couldn't hold all the supporters!
Now we're moving into the meat of the campaign, tonight we'll be working in policy groups at the meeting as part of our outreach campaign. We will be discussing the Senator's stance on Iraq, Labor, Civil Rights & Social Justice, Faith, Education, Healthcare, Science, Energy and the Environment, and the Arts. The meeting will feature small group discussions to help train our members to spread the message.
As of right now, PSSO has a lot of good things happening. We're currently looking for more students to help canvass in OHIO on Feb. 29th, and help work the voter registration tables in the HUB, East, Pollock, South, West and North commons. Come on out to the meeting TONIGHT at 830 in 160 Williard Building!
VOTE FOR HOPE IN O8
Tim
I attended the first meeting of PSU Students for Obama. I have to admit, I'm pretty psyched. I hadn't really done much with the campaign for a while since I got back to school, but this is a pretty sweet way to get back involved. Right now we're focusing mainly on voter registration and stuff like that, but all in all, I am impressed. A quick note about the meeting: 68 people showed up, including 2 professors, 11 grad students, and the son of a famous local football coach who I won't name out of respect for his privacy. A pretty eclectic group, from many places, many majors, and a lot of different reasons for supporting Sen. Obama. One thing that we all seemed to share was a common belief in this man and what he represents. It would be trite to say "hope" or "change" or any one of the millions of buzzwords floating around today, what struck me was "authenticity."
Barack Obama has given us something to believe in. It's the idea that people, like us, can have a say. It's the wonders of the grassroots movement. Back in 04 when Dean got the ball rolling on web-fundraising I don't think anyone could have predicted how big this would get. I don't think I even considered the possibility of joining a campaign, much less writing a blog on the official website. That was the most fascinating thing about PA's Obama-nation.
According to Greg Stewart, co-chair of the PA State committe for Barack Obama, there are currently only two paid staffers in PA. This will change in a few days as more people come into the state to gear up for our primary in April, but still that's pretty impressive. With those two people are hundreds, thousands of volunteers. People like the 68 students who packed themselves into an empty classroom in Williard Building. People who wouldn't usually get involved, people who never thought they'd have a voice. We are the ones building this campaign. We own it. We are it.
I've been leary of classifying anything "a movement" unless I was sarcastic. Barack Obama's campaign has already become more than a campaign. It is a movement. It is a revolution. It is OUR TIME!
I was in my car in the parking lot of a WaWa listening to NPR reporting on the New Hampshire primaries when it happened. Hillary won the primary, in an epic 39% to 37% victory. Truly, by claiming that extra 2%, Hillary has shown her divine mandate to rule.
Meanwhile, in reality...
At first I was upset when Sen. Clinton won this primary. After all, one of my earliest reasons for supporting Barack Obama was my disdain for that woman and her family, and by extension to bitter, partisan, and most dammingly, INEFFECTIVE system we have now. It was then that I understood that this loss is something wonderful. There are still many many primaries to go before a candidate is chosen. By losing today, Sen. Obama, although I'm sure he would have prefered to win, has kept the media from crowning a new king. We all remember how Kerry won all but 4 primaries in 2004 (Vermont, Oklahoma, and North & South Carolina) and was named as the Democratic Party's candidate a full 3 MONTHS Before the convention! Now, however, we have two people fighting for the hearts and minds of our party.
This is the best scenario for the American voter, we have elections for a reason, we don't have coronations. Mr. Obama's speech last night mentioned a "hard fought" and "challenging" battle in New Hampshire. This is true. I am a firm Obama supporter, but I support the concept of many voices.
However, negative campaigning can be a problem. Senator Clinton is a competent lawmaker and a human being. However, he attempts to lash out at the hopeful message of Barack Obama mark her as part of the old guard. Hillary can claim she wants "change", but for her and people like her, it means putting a different face on the same old government. She is the standard bearer of the status quo.
Supporters of Sen. Clinton would like voters to believe that she is different, and a voice for change, because she is a woman. Allegations that her campaign is being opposed by the "dying remnants of sexism" are not completely unfounded, but there is a deeper truth. Hillary has sacrificed so much of her integrity and her ability to effect change in the interest of being elected to the Senate, and being Reelected to the senate. She tried very hard to shed any unfortunate stigma attached to her sex, and I congratulate her on having suceeded. But by unsexing herself, much like Lady Macbeth, Hillary loses some of her claim to the gimmick.
When voters see Hillary Clinton they should see her the same way any other candidate is viewed. Her gender should not play a role in this campaign, she has already shown that she can play just as hard and fast and dirty as the big boys. And that's the real shame. Not that she has shed any lingering doubts about the competency of her gender, but that she had to sacrifice the things which Sen. Obama stands for.
For fear of being weak, she voted for war. To hide her record of voting with and for the establishment, she criticizes those who wanted change. Hillary Clinton even went so far as to claim that she only had shown the ability to make change happen. Too oftern, Sen. Clinton, too often that meant selling your soul.
Senator Obama is not perfect. As Bill Clinton correctly pointed out, Sen. Obama has been able to make effective use of vague statements to avoid criticism. But to call this campaign a fairy tale is the biggest mistake yet from the Clinton camp. His scoffing dismissal of Sen. Obama shows exactly how the established Washington crowd of Lobbyists, Special Interest Groups and their pet lawmakers view a man like Barack Obama.
It's a fairy tale to believe that a man can inspire a whole nation to be great again.
It's a fairy tale to believe that Americans want someone to work with ALL of us.
It's a fairy tale to believe that a man wants to give power back to the voters.
It's a fairy tale to believe that anyone in America can grow up to be president, be they a scion of a political family or a young black man from Honolulu, HI.
And it's crazy to believe that a fairy tale can't come true.
First “major” step in the campaign today: I donated 25$ and set up a fundraising page. My goal is pretty modest, 500 dollars. It’s about half of the default. I picked 500 for a simple reason: if 100 people give me 5 dollars, I’ve reached my goal. Now, 5$ isn’t a lot, but as a college student I can safely say that that is a meal at any one of the fine restaurants like Chez McDonalds or etc. Heck, with the dollar menu it can be FIVE meals. So I set my goal a lot lower: .05$, five cents, from 10,000 people. That’s a lot more people, but it’s almost certainly easier to get a nickel off a stranger than 5$ off a casual acquaintance. I decided to call this plan “Nickel and Dime Barack”.
I cheated a little, I donated 25$ of my own money to start the pot, (a whopping 5% of my total!). I’m hoping that at least one or two other people will ‘cheat’ and give me more than a nickel. Even if they don’t, I’ve decided to spend an hour a day at the HUB soliciting donations of a nickel. That’s kind of a spur of the moment decision, and I’ll have to check the legality of that (although, asking strangers for spare change probably won’t have the same impact as a can and a sign), but I think it could be an interesting way to spread awareness, and to get my grassroots growing. So far I’ve asked 10 people to support this drive via email, and if each of them sends it to ten other people, and each of those people send it to ten other people, by the fourth time we’ll have reached 10,000 people (1x10 = 10, 10x10 = 100, 100x10=1000, 1000x10=10,000). Of course, I hate chain letters. I hate campaign spam. And so, I’m loathe to use email to solicit money. I think that’s a big part of the problem with the modern presidential campaign, and to be honest I was disappointed when barackobama.com FORCED ME TO SEND A NEW REQUEST AFTER I DONATED.
I used another email which I control, but I was very upset by that. If I donate to Barack that doesn’t mean that all my friends want to donate to him. For all barackobama.com knows, my friends are out and out communists! Still, I understand the idea behind it, and I’m still a supporter of grassroots democracy. It was a good moment because it reminded me not to get blinded by the lights during this experiment. I hope that Barack is going to be different than the rest, and signs say he is, but he’s still trying to raise money.
I included the math above because I made a crucial error in that email. I miscalculated by a factor of 10! Originally, since I did this math at about 4:30 AM, I thought that if 100 people gave me 5 cents or .05 dollars, I’d have 500 dollars. I focused on the FIVE and the HUNDRED more than the CENTS! Of course, if 100 people gave me .05 dollars I’d have 5 dollars. So, if you’re reading this after following the link in my email, I am aware that I did some lousy math. Sorry!
Either way, I’m kind of excited for this experiment. It’ll be a chance for me to raise money, raise awareness, and test my commitment to this whole crazy campaign I’ve gotten wrapped up in.
Nickel and Dime Barack all the way to the White House,
NOTE: I also listened to Barack's speech following the loss in New Hampshire, at first the chanting supporters sounded a little bit creepy, but when he spoke I got chills. I am continuously impressed by the poise of this man and the call to action. That's the most important part of all, Barack isn't claiming to be the agent of change, he's claiming to be the foremost person in the swelling tide for change. He's letting us take back our own government, and I'm excited.
I've always been a little leery of getting too involved in electoral politics. In fact, I've very rarely seen a candidate who I've cared enough about to, well, care about. I've joined mailing lists and attended speeches, but I've never actually done any organizing, or canvassing. During the last mayoral election in Philadelphia I went out with some friends door to door in north Philly trying to rally voters for Knox. Obviously, that didn't work out too well. I supported Chris Dodd, but wound up with spam. I was a Green for a total of sixteen days, until my schools chapter of the party folded. I even voted for Bob Casey, Jr., mainly because he wasn't Rick Santorum. That logic is part of the problem.
The "Anybody but (blank)" approach is fine for football (I'll root for any team that's going to beat the Cowboys), but in politics, it really does something awful to democracy and just breeds cynicism. So, I was skeptical approaching the Obama-Nation. I originally supported him because he “wasn’t Hillary”. I’d vote for Mike Huckabee’s dog before I voted for Hillary, to be frank. So, when Iowa came around and Mr. Obama trounced the Iron Maiden I was overjoyed. It took a friend’s challenge for me to really get involved.
I was at a restaurant when the topic of the Iowa caucus came up. I started to say how glad I was that Obama won, but when one of my friends asked why, I could only reply “No More Clintons”. I muttered something vague about “the politics of hope”, and the moment passed. But the question haunted me, WHY get excited for Barack Obama? What drew me to this man?
My politics are complicated at best. I’m a Christian, but I tend to lean more towards the “whatsoever you do to the least of my people” than the “thou shall not suffer a witch to live”. I believe that economic fairness doesn’t mean universal poverty, but I understand that universal prosperity is difficult at best. I’m proud to be an American, and I welcome anyone who wants to join me. I speak two languages, and I’m trying to learn Spanish. English will always be the first language of this country, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a second language. I’m studying to become a secondary school teacher, and I’m a proud graduate of a public school. There’s so much more to go into, but the general gist is this:
Like most Americans I AM NOT A SINGLE ISSUE VOTER.
A lot of things matter to me, and I know no candidate can represent all of them. I want my politicians to be principled, and I want them to be willing to compromise and cooperate with each other. Polarization has always hurt more than it helped.
So now I’m here, at my.barackobama.com, I’ve decided to get involved with this campaign. I’m going to document my experiences as I try to balance work, school, and a presidential campaign. I plan to explore the issues that matter to ME: health care, education, social justice, and environmental awareness. I plan to explore the issues that I don’t know as much about. I hope you’ll join me, and I hope you’ll vote for Hope in O8.
