Well there I was sitting in front of my computer looking at the Obama website. Now that he was the nominee, I figured I should check out more closely his stance on issues I care about.First is the issue of the inequity of income/benifits/rights/services and how to correct it. I founda VERY thorough spelling out of what he wants to do & the programs he would use to do it. Not bad, great support for Unions which is how my father provided us with a great middle class upbringing. No, he was not IN a union, but his company echoed the local union's contract in order to keep good employees. I like his ideas on bankrupsy & the idea to encourage lenders to make short term small loans. That would help us to get that new roof we need; right now the bank wants us to borrow enough to remodel the whole house. (and lose our house if we have an emergency and can't pay)Second the war, he's been against it from the beginning & said so out loud, that's enough forme. (he was peaceful when peaceful wasn't cool)Third healthcare - well, you can't have everything, but he is leaning toward something better, I always worry when I hear anyone in Government call something "affordable". He wants to expand SCHIP which has helped my granddaughter. I still would like a single payer like my brothers & sisters living in Canada have - they LOVE it. The healthcare on our reservations is so awful & now with gas as it is - nonexistant. How would you drive 4 hours to see a doctor if you had no car? Horses & highways don't mix. Everyone should have the same healthcare, people should not die of cancer waiting for their insurance companies to approve their treatment.The environment is an issue that many find puzzling, what to do? I like the plan requiring use of 25 percent renewable electricity by 2025 & he is against Yucca Mountain.So much damage to undo. Again not bad, a good start. I would like to see a LOT more insentives for single house energy solutions so we can control our own energy. All in all pretty good, surely better than anyone else running! But then I found the Native Americans for Obama page(I have Lakota relations)... I let the video load...then I watched it. He was at Crow Agency, so many were there. He talked about our Native tradition of serving the military in unbelieveable numbers & how our vets are ignored, he talked about the substandard services & greedy middlemen in the BIA & on the rez, he talked about eduction for our children, REAL education, not education preached from the pulplit, but sensitive to our traditions & religions. I felt warm wet tears forming on my cheek - then he talked about honoring treaties & having a Native American cabinet level position. Now the tears flowed down to my ever growing smile. We actually have a chance for a voice with this guy, he's not an idiot who puts on a hollywood style war bonnet(Clinton) or a man dubbed "Walking Eagle"(Bush - joke below in case you have not heard it), but a man who was given the great honor of becoming a part of the nation he was addressing. It was very moving.I have heard since from friends/relations from my "back home" rez in South Dakota thatpeople there are hopful for the first time in a long time that maybe there could be a future where some of our kids & elderly don't have to spend the winters living in cars. They are still skeptical, but at least hopful & registering to vote, many for the first time. Grandsons take their Grandfathers to register. Pretty keen, eh?Joke here - it's just a joke, ok
Bush was on the rez making the usual "love my red brother speech". At the conclusion of his speech, the Tribes presented the President with a plaque inscribed with his new Indian name - Walking Eagle. The proud President then departed in his motorcade, waving to the crowds A news reporter later inquired to the group of chiefs of how they come to select the new name given to the President. They explained that Walking Eagle is the name given to a bird so full of shit it can no longer fly.
