Hello Northeast Ohio Obama Volunteers,
I hope this note finds everyone well. I am reminded of how much I enjoy our summer days.
Since the First 100 Days Event held in April, many of us have directed our attention to participating in local days of service, volunteering in our communities, and finding other ways to "walk the talk". Health Care reform is on everyone's mind as it the state of the economy and unemployment in Ohio. We still have much work before us to do.
There are two very important items that I want to bring to your attention.
The first is the article written by Margaret Bernstein in the Plain Dealer on Sunday July 19. This is a six-month follow-up to the President's Inauguration with a focus on the activities of the Obama Volunteers.
Here is the link to the Margaret Bernstein article:
http://www.cleveland.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/obamainspired_volunteerism_con.html
The second thing is that President Obama is scheduled to come to Shaker Heights on Thursday, July 23. It is listed on the www.shaker.org website:
The Shaker Heights City School District is delighted to host a Town Hall meeting with President Barack Obama on Thursday afternoon, July 23. Tickets are required and are to be allocated by lottery. Ticket requests may be made by visiting the White House website until 3:00 p.m. on July 21. Due to limited space at the event, the White House will only be able to fulfill a limited number of requests for tickets.
The link to apply for tickets (distributed by lottery) is here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/ administration/Shaker-Heights- Town-Hall-7-23-09/
Best wishes,
Maureen
ohio_voter_44120@sbcglobal.net
Check out the story behind the Obama logo as told by Sol Sender, who led its creative development. Sender recounts the story in two parts on the VSA Partners website. A graphic presentation of the other ideas that were considered in the development process leading up to the ultimate selection of the now ubiquitous design is at "Obama logo ideas that weren't chosen."
Both parts of Sol's interview are on YouTube. And if you advance to minute 2:18 on "Sol Sender - Logo Design Part 2 of 2" you will see our Food Tasters for Obama logo -- conceived by me and executed by my son Zach -- used as an example of the "viral expression" of the grassroots movement.
We will be back with more political analysis and satire soon. If you would like to be notified when a new article is posted join Food Tasters For Obama.
God
Bless
THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD !!!
YES WE CAN
HOPE & CHANGE
"LOVE CAN OVERCOME HATERED"
Mr. & Mrs. Birama Tine
Dear Friends:
To those of you who so kindly congratulated me for Tuesday’s election outcome, as if Barack Obama’s victory resulted from my personal and deeply committed efforts. I thank you for your generous comments.
To those who may have wondered how I fared in “radio silence” for six weeks on the Ohio battleground. Be assured that I survived.
To those who do not know me or are unfamiliar with my previous descriptions of the realities and ironies of the 2008 election. What follows is the final chapter of my life as a political activist, a missionary for democracy, an apostle of Change. Hopefully you will also understand how it is that for the first three nights after I returned home I woke up from the same dream in which I wander nameless streets in search of faceless voters.
The Buckeye State
On September 23 I joined the Ohio Campaign for Change as a member of its newly created Vote Corps. The invitation had warned of 14-hour days, seven days a week, right up through Election Day. I accepted because the Obama campaign considered this important enough to make it a paid position and because it was in the one state McCain had to win to become President.
I left home certain that my life experiences -- in retail sales, as diplomat and political officer, and Obama volunteer in seven states – would be useful in the Buckeye State. Stopping at Starbucks on the way out of Burlington that Sunday morning, I noticed the first trace of red on the outer edge of a leaf on a small maple tree in the parking lot. I realized that by the time I returned to Vermont the leaf peepers would have come and gone. Fortunately, it turned out to be a mild autumn in Ohio that showcased the Buckeye State’s own colorful foliage.
The Akron Vote Corps
A hundred of us reported to Columbus for Vote Corps training and by the first night we were already deployed across the state. I was assigned to the city of Akron, birthplace of Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James and Pretenders’ singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde, who wrote about her birthplace in “My City Was Gone”. The Akron Campaign for Change Office was headed by Regional Field Director Max Lesko. In charge of Summit and Portage Counties, he proved himself a very capable and genial manager. My hosts, Cathy and David, and their daughter Nicky, lived in a northwest suburb. Their friendship and cozy accommodations would be my home for the next six weeks.
At first the Akron Vote Corps consisted of six whites, from metropolitan DC, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Texas and California. Like most of the Obama staff and volunteers I met during the primaries, they were young and well-educated. In fact, I was two-and-a-half times their average age. By the end of the second week we lost one and gained five new members. Our new team-mates were all African Americans, from California, Texas and Georgia. Their average age was early forties and many had worked on the Kerry campaign. One of my first initiatives was to buy half a dozen fingerless gloves for our new friends from the warm weather states. Our Vote Corps was rounded out by a “Lead,” a young lawyer from Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown’s Washington staff.
The Vote Corps’ mission was to register voters, identify supporters and get out the vote for Barack Obama. Our primary targets were “Sporadics,” first time voters and people who voted Democratic in the past, but did not always turn out. For a while we were also instructed to knock on every single door in a targeted neighborhood. I successfully resisted attempts to create competition within our group for most doors knocked, “Doors” being the campaign’s primary measure for the work accomplished by staff and volunteers. My feeling was that competition focused on this imperfect metric would distort our effort, demoralize some members of our group, and sacrifice quality for quantity. For in the end, the real measure of our success would be the vote count on Election Day. And to that end, it was our diligence after the “knock” that would help determione the outcome.
Registration
Our first task was registering new voters and re-registering people who had moved before the deadline of October 6. We knocked on doors and scoured bus stops and other public places to register as many people as possible. Most people were already registered, as they clearly understood the importance of this election. Those who had not yet done so enthusiastically signed up, particularly in the African-American community. My first Saturday in Akron, I missed my first grandchild’s first birthday party back in Virginia. But my reward on that day was registering many first-time voters, including former felons who had recently regained the rights of other free men and women.
Many of our Sporadics were transients who frequently moved from one run-down Akron neighborhood to another. This city was in decline for a long time, and the recent economic downturn just aggravated conditions. In older residential neighborhoods there are a growing number of abandoned homes or houses soon to be vacated due to lost jobs or foreclosure. Many porches are marked by hand-painted signs announcing “Copper Already Stolen” or littered with trash by people who have given up. It is in this environment that we spread our message of Hope and Change.
Starting on September 30, we entered “golden week” when voters could both register and vote early. Ohio’s new rules allowed “no fault” early voting by absentee ballot or in person. A single polling place was created for Summit County at the Job Center in northeast Akron. The Job Center is well-known, because job losses have been ongoing for many years. The building, also known by locals as “the old library,” is next to another landmark, the County’s Auto Title Office. For those without cars, bus number 12 took people there from downtown in 15 minutes.
Early Voting
Registration and early voting at the Job Center was very convenient. Open every day, including Saturday and Sunday, there were 50 polling booths and seating for voters waiting for their paper ballots. But many Ohioans, especially African Americans disenfranchised in previous elections were suspicious. They worried that ballots were going to “disappear,” as reportedly happened in 2004 in Cuyahoga County. Overcoming these legitimate concerns required some persuasion. Our most important argument was: “Barack Obama wants his supporters to vote early.” That usually did it. We helped to spread the word that this process would protect, not suppress voting rights. And by November 3, the daily early vote turnout had grown from hundreds to thousands, the wait from 15 minutes to three hours.
By my third week I had developed a routine for creating a multiplier effect in conversation with early voters. Once they had made an Early Vote Commit, I introduced community organizing techniques to build on the widespread desire to help Obama get elected. Within the family, a grandparent or parent, or maybe the principal driver would agree to take responsibility for getting the entire household to vote early. I also encouraged voters to take along a relative or friend, or a neighbor who needed a ride.
Finally, I would make the following pitch:
“I’m working for Obama and I want you to work for him too. So I’m going to deputize you. No badge, no pay, just the satisfaction of knowing you helped to elect Barack Obama."
That always earned a smile. Then I continued:
"Now I'm sure you know someone who wouldn’t vote unless you drag their lazy a-- to the Job Center to vote. Do you know anyone like that?”
I could tell when they were hooked. Eyes turned skyward. Faces revealed minds thinking of who they would get to early vote. A knowing smile indicated they knew exactly who they would take along. In closing I urged them to let everyone know how easy it was to vote at the Job Center and that Obama wanted them to do so. By the time I left their door, the early voter had been empowered and had taken ownership of the Obama campaign. Now it was their campaign too.
Get Out The Vote
During our last week in Ohio, the Vote Corps was dissolved. We were detailed to assist Field Organizers with their neighborhood teams of volunteers, which were part of the Ohio get out the vote (GOTV) strategy at the precinct level.
I was assigned to Barberton to work for Sol, an energetic field organizer from Texas. My main “turf” was the south Akron neighborhood of Kenmore. Unlike my earlier work with Sporadics in largely African American neighborhoods, I was instructed to “persuade” and “motivate” the remaining “Undecided” voters. But with Election Day closing in fast, there would only be minutes to talk to any single voter.
In Barberton and Kenmore, the Undecideds were predominantly white, working class Democrats. Most did not want to vote for McCain, but were not yet sure about Barack Obama. I understood their concern. Not only was Obama a relatively new and unknown political personality. Most of these voters had supported Hillary in the March primary. And like voters elsewhere, they were being bombarded with smear emails, Republican mailings about Ayers and NRA propaganda warning Obama would take away their guns.
With openly racist voters there was the curt “Thanks for your time.” But it was not difficult to pull the other undecided voters off the fence, especially with the credibility of being an older white man with a knowledge of history and 23 years of federal service under five US Presidents. These voters knew that Obama and Hillary shared a common policy agenda and that she was campaigning hard for the Democratic ticket. They also recognized Rove tactics and our argument that: “They can’t win with the truth, so they are attacking him with lies.” Second amendment concerns were easily neutralized with Biden’s quote: “No one’s taking away my Beretta.” But the simplest most effective argument was “Are you happy with the way things are going or do you want change?” And Change is what voters wanted more than anything this year.
Election Day
November 3rd and 4th were taken up with the final GOTV effort, primarily distributing door hangers and reminding voters of their polling places. From 3:30 pm on Election Day until it was too dark to read house numbers, I scoured for remaining undecided voters who had yet to cast their ballots. I actually found several and they agreed to go to their local poll station, which by then was no longer crowded.
I was at the Barberton volunteers’ party at Lake Anna Hall when MSNBC announced Ohio for Obama. Having already won Pennsylvania, I knew it was all over except for reaching 270 electoral votes. While happy, I was so physically and mentally exhausted that the victory did not seem real. I headed back to my host family home and watched the candidates’ speeches before turning in and resting for the long drive home. Now as my dreams of knocking on doors in Ohio recede, the enormity of our achievement and the challenges facing Barack Obama are coming into better focus. I have no idea what my next step will be, but I will continue to do what I can to get our country back on the right track.
Epilogue
After 40 days of walking the streets of Summit County, I had knocked on or distributed campaign literature at over 4000 doors.
More importantly, I had in-person conversations with more than 1500 voters and obtained about 1000 Early Vote Commits, which probably understates the number of people who were convinced to go to the Job Center. Along the way I also helped remove several hundred bad addresses from our “Turf,” easing the task of later attempts by volunteers to find our voters.
The Akron Vote Corps’ effort over five weeks contributed greatly to the early vote turnout, which by Election Day totaled 90,000, or fully one-third of the 272,000 ballots cast in Summit County. And while he won Ohio’s 20 electoral votes with 51% of the state’s popular vote, Barack Obama won Summit County with 57.45%.
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LET GODS WILL BE DONE !!!
we did it people change is now reality
from bloggersmosaic.com best luck for all of us and thanks for all the work each one of you did...
15 minutes to vote !
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Barack Obama : President-in-Waiting?
Many people are becoming involved in politics for the first time because of Senator Barack Obama, who has now become the presumptive democratic nominee for President of the United States. He has brought Democrats, Republicans, Independents, young and old into the historical movement for change. What qualities does Senator Obama have to lead the nation? The junior senator from Illinois has several qualities to lead the nation that separate him from the Republican contender, John McCain. Those characteristics include his leadership ability , his organizational skills, and his motivational genius.
The number one quality that a truly great leader possesses is exceptional leadership abilities. This quality presents itself through one or several intangible traits which a person either does or does not have. They include charisma, a benevolent and ingratiating presence, and a certain, if not a substantial amount, of sophisticated charm. Senator Obama possesses them all. He also has in his possession three tangible traits that help make him an exceptional leader. These include the ability to formulate a plan for the nation's economic, social, and foreign welfare, his ability to transcend racial, political, and economic lines in an effort to bring all citizens under the same red white and blue umbrella, and his ability to articulate policies and ideas through his first-rate oratory skills.
Senator Obama's organizational skills came to the fore when , in the mid 1980's he became a community activist and organizer in the poorer sections of Chicago through a church-based group to help improve living conditions. While a member of the Illinois State Senator Barack Obama worked in a bipartisan manner to help create the state's Earned Income Tax Credit which helped provide tax cuts for families across Illinois, while in Congress, and among many things, Senator Obama has worked across party lines to make sure all Americans can have acess to the flow and distribution of their tax dollars, helped reduce the number of jack-leg lobbyists in Washington, and served on the Veterans' Affairs Committee to insure that Illinois veterans receive proper remunerations for their services rendered and disabilities incurred. Of course, Senator Obama's leadership savvy is seen in his outstanding ability to bring together diverse groups of people for whatever level of public office he has sought to pursue, and put together first-class teams to spread his message and vision to the public.
To that end, Barack Obama's motivational genius stands as an incomparable testament to the Senator's exceptional leadership skills. Who would have thought that a black man with such humble beginnings could rise with such relative alacrity to the heights of American politics and in the process inspire multitudes of diverse peoples to not only become interested in politics, but to take an active part in the process as well? Barack Obama is the kind of Presidential man that grade-school teachers of not-too-long-ago proclaimed that we could aspire to be if we walked the straight and narrow. Whether or not a majority of Americans embrace such a person remains to be seen, but the substance that many claim to have longed and rooted for stands among us. If we pass it by for the sake of tradition and the status quo, then we will certainly get what we deserve.
Sen. Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died after a battle with cancer, his campaign office says.so sorry for bad news
my condolences to sen. barack obama and his family and all of us
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"CHANGE"
THE TIME
IS NOW !!!
Victorious
Obama
Transcends
Elections
"BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT"
"Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is
a reproach to any people."
PROVERBS 14:34
"OBAMA"
Ohio
Believes,
And
Michelle,
Also
"CAN TWO WALK TOGETHER, EXCEPT THEY BE
AGREED? WILL A LION ROAR IN THE
FOREST, WHEN HE HAS NO PREY?
WILL A YOUNG LION CRY OUT
OF HIS DEN, IF HE HAVE
TAKEN NOTHING ?"
AMOS 3:3-4
It is fitting that we meet today on the mall of the American Legion, surrounded by monuments to our nation's heroes. Because on this day, 25 years ago, the Marine barracks in Beirut were bombed. 241 Americans laid down their lives for this country and for the peace they were there to protect. We revere their service. We honor their sacrifice. And we keep their families in our prayers.
We will never forget them.
Indiana, in just 12 days, you'll have the chance to elect your next President. And you'll have the chance to bring the change we need to Washington. That's the good news. But we're going to have to work, and struggle, and fight for every single one of those 12 days to move our country in a new direction.
I am hopeful about the outcome. We were thrilled this weekend when a great American statesman, General Colin Powell, joined our cause. But we cannot let up. And we won't.
Because one thing we know is that change never comes without a fight. In the final days of campaigns, the say-anything, do-anything politics too often takes over. We've seen it before. And we're seeing it again today. The ugly phone calls. The misleading mail and TV ads. The careless, outrageous comments. All aimed at keeping us from working together, all aimed at stopping change.
Well, what we need now is not misleading charges and divisive attacks. What we need is honest leadership and real change, and that's why I'm running for President of the United States.
Now, more than ever, this campaign has to be about the problems facing the American people - because this is a moment of great uncertainty for America.
We're facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The Dow plummeted again yesterday, threatening the job security, retirement security, and economic security of millions of ordinary Americans. Indiana lost 4,500 manufacturing jobs in September alone. And just today, we learned that more and more Americans are filing for unemployment. Home values are falling. Foreclosures are rising. Wages are shrinking. And the cost of health care and college tuition has never been higher.
And that's what this election is all about - because John McCain and I have real differences about how to get us out of this economic mess. You see, Senator McCain thinks the economic policies of George W. Bush are just right for America. In the Senate, he's voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Said earlier this year that we've made "great progress" over the last eight years. And while Senator McCain says now that he's different from President Bush, you sure couldn't tell by the policies he's proposing.
Just yesterday, Senator McCain strongly defended the Bush policy of lavishing tax cuts on corporations that ship American jobs overseas. He made the peculiar argument that the best way to stop companies from shipping jobs overseas is to give more tax cuts to companies that ship jobs overseas. More tax cuts for job outsourcers. That's what Senator McCain proposed as his answer to outsourcing.
He said that's - quote - "simple fundamental economics."
Well, Indiana, my opponent may call that "fundamental economics," but we know that's just another name for the Wall Street first, Main Street last economic philosophy we've had for the past eight years - and that's fundamentally wrong.
If Senator McCain wants to defend tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, that's his choice. But I say, let's end tax cuts for companies that ship American jobs overseas, and give them to companies that create good jobs right here in Indiana - in the United States of America.
If he wants to defend free trade agreements designed to protect the profits of multinational corporations and a trade policy that lets countries like China tilt the playing field against our workers, that's up to him. But I say, we need a trade policy that protects the dreams of hardworking Americans.
If he wants to defend a tax code that's more than 10,000 pages long and filled with loopholes written in by corporate lobbyists like the ones running his campaign, he's got every right. He has every right to defend offshore tax havens that let companies avoid paying taxes here in America. But I say, it's time to close corporate loopholes, shut offshore tax havens, and restore balance and fairness to our tax code.
By the way, did you know that there's a building in the Cayman Islands that supposedly houses 18,000 corporations. That's either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record. And I think we know which one it is.
That's the system my opponent defends. That's the system he wants to preserve. Well, Indiana, we've tried it John McCain's way. We've tried it George Bush's way. And we're here today to say enough is enough. We can't afford four more years of their "fundamental economics." That's why I'm running for President of the United States of America.
You see, I have a different notion of fundamental economics than my opponent. Because where I come from, there's nothing more fundamental than a good-paying job. There's nothing more fundamental than being able to pay your health care bills, put your kids through college, or retire with dignity and security. There's nothing more fundamental than the American dream - and that's the dream we can reclaim if you stand with me on November 4.
I know we can do this. I know we can steer ourselves out of this crisis. Because I believe in you. I believe in the American people.
We are the United States of America. We are a nation that's faced down war and depression; great challenges and great threats. And at each and every moment, we have risen to meet these challenges - not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans. With resolve. With confidence. With that fundamental belief that here in America, our destiny is not written for us; it's written by us. That's who we are, and that's the country we need to be right now.
But Indiana, I know this. It will take a new direction. It will take new leadership in Washington. It will take a real change in the policies and politics of the last eight years. And that's why I'm running for President of the United States.
It's time to turn the page on eight years of economic policies that put Wall Street before Main Street but ended up hurting both. We need policies that grow our economy from the bottom-up, so that every American, everywhere, has the chance to get ahead. Not just the person who owns the factory, but the men and women who work on its floor. Because if we've learned anything from this economic crisis, it's that we're all connected; we're all in this together; and we will rise or fall as one nation - as one people.
The rescue plan that passed the Congress was a necessary first step to easing this credit crisis, but if we're going to rebuild this economy from the bottom up, we need an immediate rescue plan for the middle-class - and that's what I will do as President of the United States.
Nine months ago, I called for a stimulus plan to provide immediate relief for states, along with tax rebates to get money directly to middle class families and a foreclosure prevention fund to help people keep their homes. Senator McCain's advisors openly mocked the stimulus plan before Congress - one referred to it, and I quote, as "borrowing money from the Chinese and dropping it from helicopters." Another dismissed it as "junk."
Just this week, after nine straight months of job losses, when our Federal Reserve Chairman supports another stimulus to get our economy moving, Senator McCain said he doesn't think we need to pass this stimulus immediately. Well, the working families who've been hard hit by this economic crisis - folks who can't pay their mortgages or their medical bills or send their kids to college - they can't afford to go to the back of the line behind CEOs and Wall Street banks. They need help right here, right now - and that's why I'm running for President of the United States.
I've proposed a new American jobs tax credit for each new employee that companies hire here in the United States over the next two years. And I'll help make sure the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow are built not just in South Korea or Japan, but right here in Indiana.
Few have been harder hit by our credit crisis than the workers who make our cars and the companies that supply their parts. Now, when it came to rescuing Wall Street, Washington didn't waste a minute. But now that auto-workers are suffering, Washington's put on the breaks. It turns out it could take a year for the auto industry to get the loan guarantees we passed a few weeks ago.
Well, the workers who are being laid off and the companies that are seeing their sales drop - they can't afford to wait a year, they need help right now. That's why I've called on Washington to fast-track those loan guarantees and provide more as needed - because that's how we'll secure our auto jobs and save our auto industry.
I'll also help small businesses by eliminating capital gains taxes and giving them emergency loans to keep their doors open and hire workers. I'll put a three-month moratorium on foreclosures so that we can give homeowners the breathing room they need to get back on their feet. And I will create a Jobs and Growth fund to help states and local governments save one million jobs and pay for health care and education without having to raise your taxes.
These are the steps that we must take - right now - to start getting our economy back on track. But we also need a new set of priorities to grow our economy and create jobs over the long-term.
It starts with tax relief. There's been a lot of talk about taxes in this campaign. And the truth is, my opponent and I are both proposing tax cuts. The difference is, he wants to give a $700,000 tax cut to the average Fortune 500 CEO. I want to put a middle class tax cut in the pockets of 95% of workers and their families. My opponent doesn't want you to know this, but under my plan, tax rates for middle class families will actually be less than they were under Ronald Reagan.
It's true that I want to roll back the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans and go back to the rate they paid under Bill Clinton. John McCain calls that socialism. What he forgets is that just a few years ago, he himself said those Bush tax cuts were irresponsible. He said he couldn't "in good conscience" support a tax cut where the benefits went to the wealthy at the expense of "middle class Americans who most need tax relief." Well, he was right then, and I am right now.
Let me be crystal clear: If you make less than a quarter of a million dollars a year - which includes 98% of small business owners - you won't see your taxes increase one single dime. Not your payroll taxes, not your income taxes, not your capital gains taxes - nothing. That is my commitment to you.
For the last eight years, we've given more and more to those with the most and hoped that prosperity would trickle down to everyone else. And guess what? It didn't. So it's time to try something new. It's time to grow this economy from the bottom-up. It's time to invest in the middle-class again.
If I am President, I will invest $15 billion a year in renewable sources of energy to create five million new, green jobs over the next decade - jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced; jobs building solar panels and wind turbines and fuel-efficient cars; jobs that will help us end our dependence on oil from Middle East dictators.
I'll also put two million more Americans to work rebuilding our crumbling roads, schools, and bridges - because it is time to build an American infrastructure for the 21st century. And if people ask how we're going to pay for this, you tell them that if we can spend $10 billion a month in Iraq, we can spend some money to rebuild America.
If I am President, I will finally fix the problems in our health care system that we've been talking about for too long. This issue is personal for me. My mother died of ovarian cancer at the age of 53, and I'll never forget how she spent the final months of her life lying in a hospital bed, fighting with her insurance company because they claimed that her cancer was a pre-existing condition and didn't want to pay for treatment. If I am President, I will make sure those insurance companies can never do that again.
My health care plan will make sure insurance companies can't discriminate against those who are sick and need care most. If you have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums. If you don't have health insurance, you'll be able to get the same kind of health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves. And we'll invest in preventative care and new technology to finally lower the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the entire economy. That's the change we need.
And if I'm President, we'll give every child, everywhere the skills and the knowledge they need to compete with any worker, anywhere in the world. I will not allow countries to out-teach us today so they can out-compete us tomorrow. It is time to provide every American with a world-class education. That means investing in early childhood education. That means recruiting an army of new teachers, and paying them better, and giving them more support in exchange for higher standards and more accountability.
And it means investing in agricultural education. From seeing all those blue corduroy jackets in the crowd, I know there's a Future Farmers of America convention here in Indianapolis. And I want you to know that if I'm elected President, I will fight for you - because America's farmers are America's future. And it's time we had a President who understood that.
We need to make sure every American who has the drive and the will but not the money can go to college. My opponent's top economic advisor actually said that they have no plan to invest in college affordability because we can't have a giveaway to every special interest. Well I don't think the young people of America are a special interest - they are the future of this country. That's why I'll make this deal with you: if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford your tuition. No ifs, ands or buts. You invest in America, America will invest in you, and together, we will move this country forward.
Now, make no mistake: the change we need won't come easy or without cost. We will all need to tighten our belts, we will all need to sacrifice and we will all need to pull our weight because now more than ever, we are all in this together.
At a defining moment like this, we don't have the luxury of relying on the same political games and the same political tactics that are used every election to divide us from one another and make us afraid of one another. With the challenges and crises we face right now, we cannot afford to divide this country by class or region; by who we are or what policies we support.
There are no real or fake parts of this country. We are not separated by the pro-America and anti-America parts of this nation - we all love this country, no matter where we live or where we come from. There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women from Indiana and all across America who serve on our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America.
We have always been at our best when we've had leadership that called us to look past our differences and come together as one nation, as one people; leadership that rallied this entire country to a common purpose - to a higher purpose. And I am running for President of the United States of America because that is the country we need to be right now.
This country and the dream it represents are being tested in a way that we haven't seen in nearly a century. And future generations will judge ours by how we respond to this test. Will they say that this was a time when America lost its way and its purpose? When we allowed the same divisions and fear tactics and our own petty differences to plunge this country into a dark and painful recession?
Or will they say that this was another one of those moments when America overcame? When we battled back from adversity by recognizing that common stake that we have in each other's success?
This is one of those moments. I realize you're cynical and fed up with politics. I understand that you're disappointed and even angry with your leaders. You have every right to be. But despite all of this, I ask of you what's been asked of the American people in times of trial and turmoil throughout our history. I ask you to believe - to believe in yourselves, in each other, and in the future we can build together.
Together, we cannot fail. Not now. Not when we have a crisis to solve and an economy to save. Not when there are so many Americans without jobs and without homes. Not when there are families who can't afford to see a doctor, or send their child to college, or pay their bills at the end of the month. Not when there is a generation that is counting on us to give them the same opportunities and the same chances that we had for ourselves.
We can do this. Americans have done this before. Some of us had grandparents or parents who said maybe I can't go to college but my child can; maybe I can't have my own business but my child can. I may have to rent, but maybe my children will have a home they can call their own. I may not have a lot of money but maybe my child will run for Senate. I might live in a small village but maybe someday my son can be president of the United States of America.
Now it falls to us. Together, we cannot fail. And I need you to make it happen. If you want the next four years looking like the last eight, then I am not your candidate. But if you want real change - if you want an economy that rewards work, and that works for Main Street and Wall Street; if you want tax relief for the middle class and millions of new jobs; if you want health care you can afford and education that helps your kids compete; then I ask you to knock on some doors, make some calls, talk to your neighbors, and give me your vote.
In Indiana, you can vote early right here, and right now. To find out how, just go to voteforchange.com. And if you stand with me, I promise you - we will win Indiana, we will win this election, and then you and I - together - will change this country and change this world. Thank you, God bless you, and may God bless America.
CHRISTIANITY
Humbles
Attitudes,
Nurturing
Growth
Experience
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed
by the renewing of your mind,"
ROMANS 12:2
Chastising
Historical,
Anti-american,
Non-progressive,
Government
Enterprises.
" And where the spirit of the Lord is ,
there is liberty."
2 Corinthians 2:17
Christian
Heritage,
Activates
Nation-wide
Efficiency
"And if the house be divided against itself,
That house cannot stand."
Mark 3:25
