This election season is one of the most important in our nation's history. Our democracy is being threatened and many of us feel helpless to fight back. Senator Obama represents the future and the movement towards reclaiming our democratic rights.
As members of Athens County Democrats for Obama, we can help right the ship of state and get the country back on course. We are all in this together and together we can make a difference.
"This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change."
Senator Barack Obama
February 10, 2007
Everything leading up to the election has pretty much been done; the presents are under the electoral college all being watched by both sides with care. And not a mouse at the board of elections is stirring, not even an optical mouse.
Sorry, my ass is so worn out from all this. Since about February, when I threw my support behind this campaign, even though I still thought that he should wait until the next election; then again, I'm a pundit, like I'm a waif model.
Needless to say, I've never in my life, donated my time, money, social life, whatever I could, car, gas...I can't think of it all. But it's over for me as far as anything but answering some questions, if asked, and pulling the lever or poking the chad (he he) or whatever way I'm voting tomorrow.
I've never put more into somethng so outside of my control. I'm planning on going to a friend's for an election party, after karate (I need to punch something) and hope to be celebrating, but am not believeing poll numbers or anything until all the votes are in. I guess I've seen, Red Right 88, the Drive, the Fumble, Jordan blocking Elho's shot, Mesa shaking off Alomar in the 9th of game 7. I'm used to having defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. So I won't unclench until it's called. But I am hopeful.
Hope, that was the whole point, wasn't it? It's still there. I must, Barack Obama has knocked the dust off idealism I thought was long, long ago dead.
I hope that I'm right for a change; and more so, I hope that if I am right about tomorrow, I am right about what's right for the country.
I want my country back.I want my rights back.I want my constitution to mean something.I want my country to be respected around the world once again.I want my country to be thought of as a land of justice, liberty and freedom.I want a place where anyone has a chance.I want a country where anyone with a little drive can make a life for themselves.I want the American Dream to no longer be a joke made on late night talk shows.
I want Sen. Barack Hussein Obama to be the next President of the Untied States of America.
For all the shortcomings of the campaign, both John McCain and Barack Obama offer hope of national redemption. Now America has to choose between them. The Economist does not have a vote, but if it did, it would cast it for Mr Obama. We do so wholeheartedly: the Democratic candidate has clearly shown that he offers the better chance of restoring America's self-confidence. But we acknowledge it is a gamble. Given Mr Obama's inexperience, the lack of clarity about some of his beliefs and the prospect of a stridently Democratic Congress, voting for him is a risk. Yet it is one America should take, given the steep road ahead.
The immediate focus, which has dominated the campaign, looks daunting enough: repairing America's economy and its international reputation. The financial crisis is far from finished. The United States is at the start of a painful recession. Some form of further fiscal stimulus is needed, though estimates of the budget deficit next year already spiral above $1 trillion. Some 50m Americans have negligible health-care cover. Abroad, even though troops are dying in two countries, the cack-handed way in which George Bush has prosecuted his war on terror has left America less feared by its enemies and less admired by its friends than it once was.
Yet there are also longer-term challenges, worth stressing if only because they have been so ignored on the campaign. Jump forward to 2017, when the next president will hope to relinquish office. A combination of demography and the rising costs of America's huge entitlement programmes—Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—will be starting to bankrupt the country. Abroad a greater task is already evident: welding the new emerging powers to the West. That is not just a matter of handling the rise of India and China, drawing them into global efforts, such as curbs on climate change; it means reselling economic and political freedom to a world that too quickly associates American capitalism with Lehman Brothers and American justice with Guantánamo Bay. This will take patience, fortitude, salesmanship and strategy.
At the beginning of this election year, there were strong arguments against putting another Republican in the White House. A spell in opposition seemed apt punishment for the incompetence, cronyism and extremism of the Bush presidency. Conservative America also needs to recover its vim. Somehow Ronald Reagan's party of western individualism and limited government has ended up not just increasing the size of the state but turning it into a tool of southern-fried moralism.
The selection of Mr McCain as the Republicans' candidate was a powerful reason to reconsider. Mr McCain has his faults: he is an instinctive politician, quick to judge and with a sharp temper. And his age has long been a concern (how many global companies in distress would bring in a new 72-year-old boss?). Yet he has bravely taken unpopular positions—for free trade, immigration reform, the surge in Iraq, tackling climate change and campaign-finance reform. A western Republican in the Reagan mould, he has a long record of working with both Democrats and America's allies.
That, however, was Senator McCain; the Candidate McCain of the past six months has too often seemed the victim of political sorcery, his good features magically inverted, his bad ones exaggerated. The fiscal conservative who once tackled Mr Bush over his unaffordable tax cuts now proposes not just to keep the cuts, but to deepen them. The man who denounced the religious right as "agents of intolerance" now embraces theocratic culture warriors. The campaigner against ethanol subsidies (who had a better record on global warming than most Democrats) came out in favour of a petrol-tax holiday. It has not all disappeared: his support for free trade has never wavered. Yet rather than heading towards the centre after he won the nomination, Mr McCain moved to the right.
Meanwhile his temperament, always perhaps his weak spot, has been found wanting. Sometimes the seat-of-the-pants method still works: his gut reaction over Georgia—to warn Russia off immediately—was the right one. Yet on the great issue of the campaign, the financial crisis, he has seemed all at sea, emitting panic and indecision. Mr McCain has never been particularly interested in economics, but, unlike Mr Obama, he has made little effort to catch up or to bring in good advisers (Doug Holtz-Eakin being the impressive exception).
The choice of Sarah Palin epitomised the sloppiness. It is not just that she is an unconvincing stand-in, nor even that she seems to have been chosen partly for her views on divisive social issues, notably abortion. Mr McCain made his most important appointment having met her just twice.
Ironically, given that he first won over so many independents by speaking his mind, the case for Mr McCain comes down to a piece of artifice: vote for him on the assumption that he does not believe a word of what he has been saying. Once he reaches the White House, runs this argument, he will put Mrs Palin back in her box, throw away his unrealistic tax plan and begin negotiations with the Democratic Congress. That is plausible; but it is a long way from the convincing case that Mr McCain could have made. Had he become president in 2000 instead of Mr Bush, the world might have had fewer problems. But this time it is beset by problems, and Mr McCain has not proved that he knows how to deal with them.
Is Mr Obama any better? Most of the hoopla about him has been about what he is, rather than what he would do. His identity is not as irrelevant as it sounds. Merely by becoming president, he would dispel many of the myths built up about America: it would be far harder for the spreaders of hate in the Islamic world to denounce the Great Satan if it were led by a black man whose middle name is Hussein; and far harder for autocrats around the world to claim that American democracy is a sham. America's allies would rally to him: the global electoral college on our website shows a landslide in his favour. At home he would salve, if not close, the ugly racial wound left by America's history and lessen the tendency of American blacks to blame all their problems on racism.
So Mr Obama's star quality will be useful to him as president. But that alone is not enough to earn him the job. Charisma will not fix Medicare nor deal with Iran. Can he govern well? Two doubts present themselves: his lack of executive experience; and the suspicion that he is too far to the left.
There is no getting around the fact that Mr Obama's résumé is thin for the world's biggest job. But the exceptionally assured way in which he has run his campaign is a considerable comfort. It is not just that he has more than held his own against Mr McCain in the debates. A man who started with no money and few supporters has out-thought, out-organised and outfought the two mightiest machines in American politics—the Clintons and the conservative right.
Political fire, far from rattling Mr Obama, seems to bring out the best in him: the furore about his (admittedly ghastly) preacher prompted one of the most thoughtful speeches of the campaign. On the financial crisis his performance has been as assured as Mr McCain's has been febrile. He seems a quick learner and has built up an impressive team of advisers, drawing in seasoned hands like Paul Volcker, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers. Of course, Mr Obama will make mistakes; but this is a man who listens, learns and manages well.
It is hard too nowadays to depict him as soft when it comes to dealing with America's enemies. Part of Mr Obama's original appeal to the Democratic left was his keenness to get American troops out of Iraq; but since the primaries he has moved to the centre, pragmatically saying the troops will leave only when the conditions are right. His determination to focus American power on Afghanistan, Pakistan and proliferation was prescient. He is keener to talk to Iran than Mr McCain is— but that makes sense, providing certain conditions are met.
Our main doubts about Mr Obama have to do with the damage a muddle-headed Democratic Congress might try to do to the economy. Despite the protectionist rhetoric that still sometimes seeps into his speeches, Mr Obama would not sponsor a China-bashing bill. But what happens if one appears out of Congress? Worryingly, he has a poor record of defying his party's baronies, especially the unions. His advisers insist that Mr Obama is too clever to usher in a new age of over-regulation, that he will stop such nonsense getting out of Congress, that he is a political chameleon who would move to the centre in Washington. But the risk remains that on economic matters the centre that Mr Obama moves to would be that of his party, not that of the country as a whole.
So Mr Obama in that respect is a gamble. But the same goes for Mr McCain on at least as many counts, not least the possibility of President Palin. And this cannot be another election where the choice is based merely on fear. In terms of painting a brighter future for America and the world, Mr Obama has produced the more compelling and detailed portrait. He has campaigned with more style, intelligence and discipline than his opponent. Whether he can fulfil his immense potential remains to be seen. But Mr Obama deserves the presidency.
Yes, the polls look great, high-profile Republicans are endorsing Sen. Obama and Camp McCain appears to be struggling. Yes, it’s easy to feel like it’s over – but it’s not.
As I was about to launch into my own appeal to guard against complacency, the following email hit my inbox. Mark Johns from Licking County hit the nail on the head with his message.
After you finish reading, walk, drive or cycle to the Campaign for Change office near you. Walk in, sign up and help bring this historic campaign home.
Athens Headquarters - 540 West Union St. Athens 740-248-6518
Uptown Athens Headquarters - 5 North Court St. 5 on Court Second Floor Athens 740-974-0025
Meigs County Headquarters - Carpenters Union Hall 218 E Main St. Pomeroy
Nelsonville Headquarters - 25 Public Square Nelsonville
Thanks John
Despite what some of the polls are showing, I want to make sure we guard against complacency. There are some other polls that show things tightening. And we know that things in Ohio are going to be very tight.
If we do have the McCain campaign on the ropes, next week is when we MUST begin to deliver the knockout punch! Get down to the Obama office right away, sign your name to the Victory Wall, and commit some of your time to help Get Out The Vote. That is what will be critical to an Obama victory in Ohio, and therefore, in the election itself.
And if you can, take Election Day off from work to help. Without a strong GOTV effort by the Obama campaign, it is in danger of losing the election.
Mark JohnsLicking County, OH for ObamaJOIN THE LICKING COUNTY, OH FOR OBAMA GROUP NOW, AND LET'S HELP SEN. OBAMA WIN OHIO AND THE WHITE HOUSE IN NOVEMBER! GO TO:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/LickingCountyOHforObama
As a volunteer I must refrain from blogging, save this one entry:
I spent three weeks in Athens, Ohio, staying with family and working in the local Obama offices until two days ago, when I came back to New York. The volunteers I met and worked for and with were among the most dedicated, capable, and nicest people I've had the pleasure of knowing. From local students to out-of-towners committing themselves to working virtually nonstop until Nov. 4, the diverse group tought me the best lessons about grassroots democracy and working for a cause bigger than oneself.
I suppose being a New Yorker gives me a slightly different perspective on the way people work, but I pay all of them my highest compliment: "I'd hire them all, no hesitation."
From:Todd Dunbebin
ToColumbus Dispatch, Akron Beacon Journal, The Repository, The Plain Dealer, News Journal, Dayton Daily News, Athens Messenger, Post, Sentinel, The Times RecorderSubjectHealth Care,the Elderly and the Election
Message
I would just like to make a point to anyone and everyone, and hope that no one has to ever to go through what I’ve had to go through, although I’m afraid many have and will be for some time to come. My mother, God bless her soul, lost her life to emphysema two years ago. As her affliction and her COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), got worse, her quality of life went further and further downward. More quickly because she could not afford the prescription drugs she needed to keep her conditions from advancing as quickly. She deteriorated so much that, without her children's knowledge, she went shopping for the cheapest possible funeral solution. She couldn't bring herself to stay in the hospital long enough to get herself well, and would check herself out when she felt better in order to keep her costs down. Mainly because she was already completely devastated by the sky high prescription costs, for the myriad of drugs she was on. There was no extra money, and certainly none for the further doctor bills. You see my mother, like many other elderly people was living solely on Social Security, and Medicaid with a few food stamps thrown in to make sure she could afford, saltines and toast, and other less than healthy foods. In the end she ended up making a living will to end her life, as painlessly as possible, without having to worry about leaving her children nothing but a sky high amount of medical bills. At the time I didn't know that she had done all of this for these reasons. It wasn't until the funeral when the funeral director came up and asked me if she was in price comparing packages several months before, that I figured out why she had suck rigid plans she was making me promise to stick to. I then found out she had gone out of her way to make sure she had the least expensive, lifestyle, health care, and funeral arrangements possible so as my sister and I wouldn’t have to choose between mortgaging our future and taking care of our mother. It's tough enough to watch your Mother try to "live" on $400 dollars a month. It's tougher, to know that she's slowly dying because she can't afford the health care she needs. It's even tougher to watch her die, as she struggles to breathe and gasps for her last few breaths. It's really, really tough, to have your mother cremated, and not be interned in the funeral plot next to your father because of the price. It's completely and utterly heartbreaking to find out later that many of these decisions were made out of a fear of leaving behind too much debt for her children. This as much as anything made recovering from the loss that much more difficult. I helped as much as I could but working for a non-profit, trying to help other poor people my resources were limited. I'm still paying off prescriptions at nearly 30% on a credit card, over two years later, and yes, I'm still paying for her funeral, even though it was the "cheapest" she could find. All of this I don't mind, but I would have loved to have had more quality time with my mother before she went down that slippery slope to the afterlife. Our broken health-care policies and the treatment of the elderly in this country are atrocious. Something needs to change. Sen. Barack Obama has a plan to cover uninsured Americans, a plan that will be similar to the one that members of Congress have. The plan would create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals who wish to purchase a private insurance plan. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy, and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status and without preconditions. While smoking may have taken my mother's life, decent affordable health care could have allowed her to see her 70th birthday, and while I would still be paying for her funeral, I wouldn't be paying loan shark percentage rates on prescription drugs two plus years after her death. We've seen what's happened in the last eight years. I can't believe that anyone would want more of the same. A different pain is sometimes a better pain; take the chance on something different. One thing I know for certain is that Barack Obama could not screw the country up worse than it already is. I don't mean to paraphrase John Lennon, but give change a chance people. I mean there's nothing really to lose at this point. I've been an Obama supporter since the beginning, since his speech before the DNC in 2004. He makes me believe in the America I was taught existed as a child. One I like to believe can still be there, if not for me, for future generations. The America my mother taught me about and praised as I was growing up. The America where a child raised by an abusive alcoholic and a mother who would sacrifice anything for children, was able to grow up, get a good college education, and begin carving out his own little piece of the American Dream. We have a lot to clean up; from the failed policies of the last few years. But we are citizens of the United States of America; we can do anything that we decide we WANT to do. In this case the first step is to make a change. A 26 year Washington insider with little more than former lobbyists controlling his campaign isn’t change. An idealistic Senator, who refuses money from special interests and lobbyists, is a change. When was the last time that a politician turned down money from anyone during an election? That is evidence of change, being funded by private individuals is change. I have a feeling if we don’t make this kind of change, then most of us will be asking for change; this time on the street. In closing if I may quote Dale Watson, "If you always do what you've always done, then you always get what you always got." I for one am tired of the shaft. Thank You for your time, Reverend Todd Dunbebin Sen. Barack Obama Supporter
After a week of jingoistic ranting by the Republican Party, the balloons have popped and the show lights are dim. Speaker after speaker roused the delegates in St. Paul against a backdrop of patriotic imagery burning brightly on a giant screen. One such image stuck in my mind as a metaphor for all that has gone wrong over the last 8 years. Congressman Lindsay Graham (R-SC) made a staunch declaration that America was winning the war on Iraq. Taken by itself, Graham’s assertion is not surprising given the GOP’s history of weaving dung into Egyptian cotton – then selling it as silk. While Graham was declaring mission accomplished, a photograph showed headstones at Arlington National Cemetery – a truly tragic juxtaposition.
Other images from the GOP Convention are less tragic, but no less disturbing.
The most disturbing image of all was that of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin claiming her Party’s nomination as vice president. In a speech devoid of substance and long on folksy and dubious claims of her reform expertise, Gov. Palin did prove she could read from a teleprompter. This is no small feat given how she was thrust upon the national stage as a last minute replacement. Reports have surfaced that John McCain had his heart set on Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) but chose Palin after a single meeting.
Will Palin’s speech, riddled as it was with half truths and some outright lies, be the basis of honest media scrutiny and assessment? Or will legitimate questions be lost in the haze of cotton candy fluff spun by the GOP? Beyond Gov. Palin’s camera presence and GOP stagecraft lays the minefield of questions about her ideology and her knowledge of the world.
For the foreseeable future, Gov. Palin is safe in the cocoon that is Camp McCain, safely sequestered in a cone of indoctrination. Gov. Palin will hear a constant drone of policy facts and figures, accompanied by a heaping helping of quaint phrasing and plenty of the same revisionist history that punctuated the convention. Not until her handlers have deemed her ready, will Gov. Palin be allowed to face the news media - alone.
In the aftermath of all the bellicose rhetoric and national chauvinism, the corporate news media has been left in state of disorder and confusion. Torn between their responsibilities as journalists and fawning over the newest Republican shooting star, few substantive questions are being asked – or answered.
Ironically, the same McCain-friendly media on which the Maverick Mythology was built has now been declared the enemy by Camp McCain. Uber lobbyist and Camp McCain commandant Rick Davis has declared that the campaign will tightly control media access to Palin.
So just what does Gov. Palin know – and not know – about history and the current state of world affairs? There is no end to the list of issues, claims and inconsistencies to cover when it comes to vetting this vice presidential nominee. Will the titans of American journalism have the chance – or the guts – to ask the right questions and insist on getting the answers?
By her own admission, Gov. Palin knows little about Iraq. During an interview in March 2007, Gov. Palin was asked about the troop surge in Iraq. Her answer was stunning given that the war on Iraq has been dragging on for almost 6 years. Treating this tragic chapter in U.S. history like the World Series, Palin admitted that she had “been focused on state government” and “haven't focused on the war in Iraq".
Suddenly, in St. Paul, she knows about Iraq. With all of the “me first, country second fervor they could muster, Palin and the GOP have shamelessly exploited her son’s upcoming deployment to Iraq. While I respect her son’s decision to serve, I find it abhorrent that Gov. Palin chose to use the occasion as a political stage prop. Worse yet, having a son in the Iraq Theater of operations does not demonstrate a knowledge of the lies that were told in order to wage the war.
Nor does that fact alone prove that she understands the tragic consequences the war has wrought on the brave Americans who lay dead and wounded. Surely Gov. Palin has an opinion on the millions of Iraqis who been displaced or left homeless, not to mention the many thousands killed, injured and maimed.
In a complete refutation of the GOP’s platform plank on climate change, Palin has played fast and lose with the facts. Like the Prince of the Dark Ages, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Palin is oblivious to the crushing weight of scientific evidence and consensus. Like Inhofe, Palin denies human activity as a cause of global warming saying "a changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made."
Religious extremists have welcomed Palin into the fold for her position on creationism. Again denying science, Gov. Palin advocates the teaching of creationism as an alternative to evolution, couching her position in the fog of educational balance. On reproductive rights, Palin again panders to the Religious Right by asserting that women have the right to give birth, even if the father is the rapist who got them pregnant.
While Palin and the GOP have touted reform and fiscal responsibility as a central theme, her record as a self-described reformer and conservative is murky.
As a gubernatorial candidate, Palin actively supported the now-infamous Ketchikan “Bridge to Nowhere”. As governor, Palin took credit for killing the project. In fact, the project died for lack of funding since Palin had redirected 80% of the allotted $398 million to other projects. Will the news media ask her why she opposed the bridge but kept the money anyway?
I hope that Gov. Palin will have to answer for why she reportedly left her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska nearly $20 million in debt. Surely the question of how she left 7,000 people with a per capita debt of $2,600 is relevant to her qualifications as a self-described fiscal conservative. Why did she feel it necessary to hire a lobbying firm in order to squeeze more earmarks out of Washington?
The list of questions is long and time is short. The future of legitimate journalism – and the country – hangs on the answers.
Like a laundromat clothes dryer, the spin machine cobbled together to promote Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) is going to need plenty of quarters. I say cobbled together because this decision by McCain feels like it was made without much depth of thought and discernment. In one of the most important reflections on his presidential judgment to date, McCain picked a running mate based on a breakfast at a governor’s conference, one phone call and a job offer meeting.
Palin appears so wet behind the ears, it will take a ton of lose change to spin dry John McCain’s choice for vice president. Already the spin is making Palin appear warm and fluffy. But the smart money says the GOP spin machine may need to buy its own coin mint to get Palin dry enough for primetime.
Passing over a bevy of qualified Republican women – and men - John McCain chose a running mate with all of the “me first, country second” fervor he could muster. With few of the skills needed to take over as President, in one single, fleeting heartbeat, Palin was chosen in much the same way that Bush, Cheney and Rove recruited people into key positions - on the basis of politically expediency. This speaks volumes about McCain’s specious attempt to hang the “me first, country second” sign on Barack Obama.
With the country teetering on the brink of a financial meltdown, most Americans are focused on economic security. Thrown in two disastrous wars, record deficits and rising unemployment and the need for a strong number two has never been more urgent. In what Camp Campaign claims is the best possible choice for the country, McCain went all out to find the most capable, experienced hand around.
Okay, I made up that last part.
McCain has hit the bricks to bolster his decision, sitting for an interview with Chris Wallace of Fox News (sic). In describing Palin as his “partner and soul mate” McCain whirled like a dervish while sidestepping serious deficiencies in his choice – and in his judgment.
Dutifully reciting much of the cotton candy fluff, John McCain touted the governor’s appeal as a reformer, repeating Palin’s claim of being against the now-infamous “bridge to nowhere”. McCain conveniently omitted the fact that Palin was for the bridge long before she was against it. Responding to Wallace on Palin’s lack of experience McCain was quick to point out that “she has had 12 years of elected office experience, including traveling to Kuwait”.
Traveling to Kuwait?
Yes it is true that the governor – in truly a noble gesture - went to Kuwait to visit members of the Alaska National Guard. McCain seemed unconcerned that Palin had to first apply for a passport before the trip. Unlike past VP nominees, Palin seems to have no experience in foreign travel, let alone foreign policy. Wallace then reminded McCain that Palin, when asked in March 2007 about the troop surge in Iraq, didn’t have a clue, admitting that she had “been focused on state government” and “haven't focused on the war in Iraq".
Clearly not grasping the seriousness of the experience question, McCain was undeterred. “Well, by the way, also she was a member of the PTA. I think it's wonderful. But the point is she has been to Kuwait. She has been over there. She has been with her troops, the National Guard that she commands, who had been over there and had the experience. I'm proud of her knowledge of these challenges and issues”.
Meanwhile, Camp McCain unleashed the usual cast of surrogates, hoping to weave Palin’s transparent political resume into a flying carpet of family values. Concluding that changing the issues frame was their last, best hope for salvaging a victory in November, Camp McCain clearly intends to reignite a divisive culture war.
While building a bridge to the 18th Century, Palin plays fast and lose with some serious policy issues. Oblivious to the crushing weight of scientific evidence and consensus, Palin denies human activity as a cause of global warming saying "a changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made."
This is a complete refutation of the GOP’s platform plank on climate change which states that "The same human activity that has brought freedom and opportunity to billions has also increased the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. Increased atmospheric carbon has a warming effect on the earth."
Traveling further into the policy dark ages, Palin favors teaching creationism as an alternative to evolution. Couching her position in the fog of educational balance, Palin seeks to argue that science and religion should have equal standing in the classroom.
So John McCain has pinned his presidential ambitions – and the future of the GOP - on someone with a shiny new passport. Like George W. Bush, Sarah Palin has little understanding of foreign policy, a disdain for science and the enthusiasm of a cheerleader. For John McCain, the choice of this political neophyte is the mother of all gambles and belies his claim to having the judgment required of a modern president.
I am so proud of the letters and blogs I see in the Times Recorder in favor of Barack Obama and Joe Biden! I would also like to thank the Times Recorder for providing this service so people every where, for every issue that matters to them, have the forum to express their views and opinions. I wish every paper had something like this, especially the newspaper in my own area.
Letters to the Editor are nice but are so limited in word count, that to have a Blog space available where you can write so much more is truly a welcome change.
I feel hope when I read some of the letters. I feel hope because now I know there are many, many others who feel as passionately as I do about this Presidential race. People who don’t see race or gender, they are as sick and tired of the old Washington politics as I am. As I have written before, people are so use to being treated like crap by the government; they’ve come to accept it. Well not any longer!! We want CHANGE and we are ready and able to talk to anyone about it who want more answers. Those of us who have already decided who we are supporting have answers for you. And if you feel uncomfortable asking, then go to www.barackobama.com , click on issues, click on plans and educate yourself about this person we have so much faith in.
I am a person of faith. I believe with all my heart of a higher power who will be waiting for us when we take that last adventure home. I also believe in a woman’s rights. I'm going to relate a very personal point I’d like to make and I hope it is read with the seriousness it is being written.
When I was 23 years old I found out I couldn’t have children. My heart was broke. It is the dream of almost every little girl to grow up and have children. You imagine in your mind what your children will be like, the hopes and dreams you want for them in their life time. My heart still aches when I think about it, but as with all things in life, whether good or bad, you go on…you have to go on.
I will always have that ache; it’s a part of who I am. Now let me tell you why I shared my story. I believe in a woman’s right to choose. I don’t think abortion should ever be used as a form of birth control but I do think that when someone is considering such a grave decision, it is not being done lightly. It is not my job to be judge on another’s decisions. It is not my job to make the decision for another. As a person, as a woman, I feel it is my duty to support her. It is a decision that will affect the rest of her life. IF birth control was accessible and available to all who need it, if good, quality sex education were provided by parents and schools then abortions would drop dramatically.
I don’t understand how insurance companies can cover Viagra for men and not cover birth control for women!! How biased is that?
We are a nation of good people. We are a nation of caring people. But each and every day we have to make choices and sacrifices regarding our lives. It isn’t fair that we have to work so hard to get so little. People losing their homes, their jobs, paying more for gas and groceries..paying more for everything! Watching as our jobs are shifted overseas for cheaper labor and losing the tax base in the process. I’m tired of a government that refuses to bring us in to the process, afterall it is OUR government and we need to be treated with the respect and dignity accorded us as “their” employer.
We have been lied to, we have been misled, we have been deceived..When will all the BS stop? It will stop when we have Barack Obama and Joe Biden in our White House. It will stop when the lobbyist have themselves been sent to find new employment. It will stop when big oil, big insurance, big pharmaceuticals are forced out and they find themselves in line for assistance!!
Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the 2 men in this Presidential race who can relate to us, the middleclass Americans. They each only own 1 home. They are men who come from a modest backgrounds, with high morals and big plans for how to bring about the change we need in Washington.
So in closing. Go to your Campaign for America office. In Zanesville it is located on Muskingum Ave. Get signs, bumper stickers, sign up for phone banks you can do from home. There are so many things we can do, it will take some of your time, but if we can make the country better by electing the best team there is, then it will be time well spent!!
Go Zanesville!!
At 3:15 am my cell phone went off indicating a text message, a message we have been waiting for all week. Senator Joe Biden is the choice of Senator Barack Obama as his running mate and our new Vice President. Great choice Barack!!
People, if change scares you then you are exactly where McCain wants you to be. If the governments of past have helped you, then I can see where change is not important to you. But if you are sick and tired of not being heard then we need CHANGE in Washington. if you are ready to have an economy that works again by stopping thousands of jobs from going overseas and giving tax breaks to the companies that will stay right here to provide thousands of jobs here in America, then we need CHANGE in Washington. If you are tired of medical insurance and costs set by the big insurance companies and pharmaceuticals, then we need CHANGE in Washington. If you would like to see your child go to college and it won’t cost you a cent as a parent but will give your child a sense of self because instead of paying tuition with $’s, they will repay with service to their country, in the Peace Corps or a Veterans Hospital, then we need CHANGE in Washington.
We have tried the other and the other doesn’t work. We are a broke country, both in economy and in spirit. WE struggle day after day, week after week, year after year to improve our lives and where does it get us? No where because our government has been working against us all this time. Now is the time for CHANGE, now is the time to let your vote make a difference. A difference in our future and the futures of our kids, grand kids and their kids.
I would rather have in the White House of my country the 2 men who know what it’s like to have a 2nd mortgage, and know what it’s like to owe student loans. Obama and Biden can personally relate to my story because its similar to their own. These 2 men are closer to the average American then anyone else who has ever been in the White House and if we don’t give them the chance they need to CHANGE Washington for the better, then we are only hurting ourselves. Do you know how many homes are owned by these 2 men? Get this, 2. Can you imagine? Neither Barack or Joe own more than 1 family home each. Then you look at McCain and the man has to ask his staff to tell him how many homes he owns. Tell me, who do you relate to?
McCain has no idea what the average American goes through. He has no idea what’s it’s like to only own one home, or unable to take a drive because you need to save your gas so you can make it to work, or instead of spending over $500 for a pair of shoes as McCain does, wondering if you can even afford 1 pair of back to school shoes for your child. McCain is so out of touch with the average American that there is no way possible this man could lead this country!
We have been screwed so long by the people we elect to represent us that we are now use to it and because we are use to it, we don’t expect anything better!! Well it is time to raise the bar on those we elect into office. We can help Barack and Joe fix what is broken in Washington and give our government back to us, the people. Get rid of Special Interests groups who buy laws and loop holes in favor of what they want. We can get rid of the lobbyist who are lobbying for and getting paid by private entities and could care less if we get hurt as long as they get what they want. And the laws get changed and we don’t even know about it until it comes out in the wash several months or years later.
This election is the chance of a lifetime. This election is giving us the opportunity to say we want things changed. We want what is best for our citizens and for our country, not later, but right now!! If we don’t take this chance, then who are we hurting? I will tell you, we are hurting our Country. This land that we all love so much. We are hurting US.
We are a great country, but we can be so much better. When you close that curtain behind you to vote, it will only be you and the ballot. Don’t be afraid of change. Vote for your future and for the future of your country. Vote Obama-Biden!!
Do you feel a draft? Apparently John McCain does.
While at one of his pseudo town hall meetings in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the presumptive Republican nominee let it slip that he would support a return to a military draft. McCain was responding to a question from the mother of a wounded soldier.
While referencing McCain’s oft repeated pledge to follow Usama Bin Laden “to the gates of hell” the woman raised several issues. She reportedly reminded McCain of serious failures in caring for wounded veterans and the deplorable state of U.S. military readiness.
Stating “if we don’t reenact the draft I don’t think we’ll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of hell”, the concerned mother – and the applauding audience - waited for McCain’s response. In a style typical of a man who speaks before he thinks, McCain responded “Let me say that I don’t disagree with anything you said”
Did McCain know what he was saying when he said it? Long a critic of returning to a military draft, did McCain just not listen? Or did he just commit political suicide? Either way his response is truly stunning.
Any objective observer of John McCain knows that he has converted the vaunted “Straight Talk Express” of 2000 into the Double Talk Express of 2008. Flip flopping like a red herring out of water McCain has changed his mind on several key policy points, from opposing a national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to opposing – then embracing - the failed Bush tax cuts. Could this be the fish that finally derails his campaign?
The War on Iraq was a direct result of the failed Neoconservative strategy of preemptive war. Throwing up one boogie man after another, America has been kept in an ungodly state of perpetual war for the last 8 years. Combined with the outsourced war on the cheap strategy of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the result has been a U.S. military stretched to the point of breaking.
Enter John McCain with a strategy of occupation with no end in sight and things look grim indeed. Perhaps the questioner was right. Just how does McCain intend to realize his twisted vision of war without end? Where will the he find the troops needed for four, eight or - as McCain so plainly stated – one hundred years of war?
The War on Iraq has brought untold misery, death and grief to military families. As the rest of the country worries about the recession, military families have borne the burden of this endless war. Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been needlessly slaughtered and millions have been left homeless. Does McCain, after declaring victory in 2003, now feel a need to share the misery?
Only McCain knows. Look for his handlers to backtrack on this flippant response to a concerned mother. If we are to take him at his word – as he insists we should – does John McCain intend, as President, to bring back a military draft? The last thing Camp McCain wants is the suggestion that their candidate favors the forced conscription of young Americans.
But there lies the rub for Camp McCain.
How do they begin to explain away his strident agreement with the notion that a return to a military draft is the only way to get Bin Laden? Perhaps it was just a lack of judgment or worse, McCain really feels that a draft would be a good idea. Camp McCain and their candidate are now painted into a corner from which there may be no escape.
That goes to describe two things, the last couple of weeks of my life. I've had no time to myself not to mention no time to do anything like laundry, let alone any work for the campaign. It also pretty much explains how McCain came off to me in that Presidential Forum thin on CNN Saturday night. I used to like McCain when he was running against President Shub, but when Rove made him cave in like a little girl in South Carolina I decided he's a spineless punk. He proved that in the forum, going against many of his past stances, shamelessly courting the religious right and speaking in talking points rather than actually answering questions.
While I did not catch the first part, the part with Sen. Obama, all I've seen on the web he at least took the time to act like he considered the question and gave a thoughtful answer, not just popping off talking points so he could get to the Lightning Round.
Makes my resolve deeper, as soon, as I get past this next couple of days of BS at work and so forth, I'm back on the case, this cannot be allowed to happen. The man's (McCain) done gone off his rocker.
Over the last week or so, John McCain has been stumping through southern Ohio, preaching a gospel of offshore oil drilling while attacking Barack Obama for being too famous. McCain had to know that he was preaching to the choir while he recited a litany of economic hardships faced by Ohio’s working families.
Ohioans know all too well what years of Republican economic policies have wrought on our communities. Thousands of lost jobs and growing underemployment has decimated Ohio’s middle class and thrown more families into poverty. Unemployment in Ohio is up and the gap between rich and poor has never been wider.
John McCain cried crocodile tears over the loss of jobs in places like Wilmington. McCain’s righteous indignation over the loss of 10,000 Ohio jobs belies his lack of a comprehensive economic plan.
While McCain rails that Barack Obama will raise taxes on the middle class, a study by the independent Tax Policy Center clearly shows McCain’s claims to be false. While refusing to acknowledge that the economic policies of the last 8 years have been an utter disaster for working families, McCain’s prescription is more of the same. His plan for more tax subsidies for corporations, extending tax cuts for the wealthy and a continuation of unfair trade policies will keep us on the road to economic ruin.
The country – and our great state – deserves more than a third term of Bushonomics. We deserve a President who has a plan to start us on the road to economic justice and security.
Barack Obama has a comprehensive plan that will create jobs, restore fairness to tax policies, help small businesses expand and protect the rights of workers. Rebuilding our infrastructure, expanding access to health care and leading the way on energy policy will provide Ohio – and the country – with the economic security we need.
Fired Up & Ready to Go!
Michael O'Brien
Athens County Democrats for Obama
For decades, some corporations have attempted to sway the vote of their employees. In some subtle and not so subtle ways, some corporations threaten, cajole and induce employees to vote their own economic interest.
In the latest attempt at corporate coercion, Wal Mart is herding managers and supervisors into mandatory meetings. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the message at these meetings is clear – vote for Democrats in November and unionization is sure to follow.
The company claims that the meetings are not an attempt to sway the how managers vote. Some managers and supervisors are not buying that line. In the WSJ report, one Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri knew better, saying “I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote”.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121755649066303381.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
Fired Up & Ready to Go!!
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Growing up, I watched my parents struggle to provide a stable home and pass on to their children the values of hard work, fairness and love of country. Devout in their faith, the children of immigrants and proud to live in a land of opportunity, they wanted nothing more than to see my sisters and I receive get a good education, earn a decent living, raise families of our own and – with a little luck – realize the American Dream.
In speaking of her own experience, Michelle Obama speaks proudly of her father who, despite his disability worked hard everyday to provide for his family. Her story touched me in a special way. I proudly watched my father, a crippled combat veteran go off to work everyday without complaint in order to fulfill his responsibilities as a devoted father and husband.
As a father and a grandfather, I have the same hopes and dreams that my parents had. Looking at my two beautiful granddaughters, I cannot help but wonder what the future holds for them. I hope their future will be in a world where social and economic justice is more than just a lofty dream. As a veteran, I want to see the brave women and men serving our great country receive the care they deserve. As the grandson and the son of combat veterans, I hope to see a world that refuses to accept war as a tool of conflict resolution.
As a citizen of this community, this country and of the world, I cannot accept the prospect of continuing the same failed policies of the last eight years.
As Americans, we are faced with tough policy choices that require, not the tired rhetoric of the past, but real leadership. The time to make a real change is at hand and together we can make it happen. This election is one of the most important in our nation's history. Our democracy is being threatened and many of us feel helpless to fight back.
Barack Obama represents the future and the movement towards reclaiming our democratic rights, restoring our standing in the world and inspiring all of us to create a more fair and just society.In announcing his candidacy, I believe Senator Obama said it best:
Senator Barack ObamaFebruary 10, 2007
Office Move-In Party
Saturday July 26
Starting at 10 AM continuing until around 3 PM
In advance of the grand opening of the Athens campaign office there is lots of work to do. In addition to cleaning, decorating and getting the office operational, these items are needed to get things off the ground:
Tables
Chairs
Desks
Refrigerator
Fax machine
Copy Machine
Visa Gift Cards
Telephones (pre-paid cell and regular phones)
Microwave
coffee maker
laser printers
fans
Kinkos pre-paid card
Meals
Paper
Toner
Toilet Paper
Paper Towels
Trash cans
Trach bags
Paper plates
Plastic Utensils
Napkins
Cups
Please come down and join the fun. If you can contribute or loan items to the office, please contact Kristin Gwinn kgwinn@ohioforchange.com
I hope to see you Saturday!
Michael O’Brien
590-3611
It seems as though the McCain campaign is trying to have both ways. Barack is criticized for not having been to Iraq since 2006. As soon as the campaign announces a trip, the McCain whine goes “he hasn’t been” to “why is he going”.
What I find interesting is how the McCain folks think that one has to go to Iraq to know what the situation is. McCain certainly did not know what the situation was when he voted for the war. He blindly plunged forward and has never wavered in support for Bush’s debacle. He has adamantly supported the war even when “conditions on the ground” were clearly failing. Remember his trip to the Baghdad market? He could not visit that same market today because of continuing violence.
So while Barack tours the world, McCain has nothing to say other than to criticize and whine. He has chosen to condemn his opponent rather than promote any plans he might have for reversing the recession, creating jobs or even ending the war. But his whine continues. No plans, no policies – just a steady whine.
Stay Fired Up & Ready to Go!
Not surprisingly, rumors, misinformation and confusion abound in the State of Ohio. The same stories we have been accustomed to are alive and well in Findlay, Ohio. People are conflicted about what to believe and seem content to buy into an alternative biography about Barack.
Many people have responded with Letters to the Editor to the Findlay Courier and I urge everyone to contribute online comments and letters urging the Courier to print the truth about Barack and his phenomenal life story.
http://www.thecourier.com/
Here is a link to the original Washington Post story about voter attitudes in Findlay:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/29/AR2008062901871_pf.html
Act now and help combat rumors with fact.
Don’t forget that tomorrow, Saturday June 28th, is a very special day. Millions of people across the country will be meeting at house parties and other venues to celebrate unification of our party and the movement for change.
These events are a great opportunity to meet and greet friends, neighbors and others in community who are hungry for change we can all believe in.
Go to the events section of MyBarackObama.com and look for an event near you. Bring along a friend or two or three and
Get Fired Up and Ready to Go!
In peace & justice,
