I saw Steven Soderbergh on the Rachel Maddow show this week. He raised an interesting point that has really stuck with me.
Rachel asked him how it is that his movies, which are so smart and thought-provoking, could possibly be the commercial successes that they always turn out to be. The popular theory is that Americans prefer to watch "dumb" material... going to the theater to escape the real world... and not wanting to be bothered with having to think.
Soderbergh replied that while he only had a high school education, he was a thinking man and chose to not under-estimate his audience. The remarkable thing is that what had impressed upon him that Americans might just be smart enough to care about politics and the important issues of the day was his experience with Sports Radio. He explained that in listening to sports talk on the radio, he had realized that our citizens are perfectly capable of memorizing years' worth of statistics, understanding obscure rules, maintaing focus on an issue from beginning to end over several months, if not years, and expressing great passion about their beliefs. He was particularly impressed with how mere fans have no problem calling a coach out for a bad play... and are able to easily articulate how they could do it better.
He's right. If you ever listen to a sports radio station, you will hear this borne out every day. It's exciting and fascinating... and there's no reason that we cannot put the same amount of energy and intelligence into our politics and our communities. Our sports teams, are, after all, just another community of which we are a part and supporting a team is rife with politics. We have the model to be excited and involved. And a little bit of observation does, in fact, prove that doggone it... we're smart enough and committed enough to do this thing.
We can do it! Yes we can!
Be the change...
Join us:
www.changecorpsnola.org
I'm on my way out to the local HQ to make some phone calls, but wanted to share a photo of our Halloween Candy - every piece had a "Vote Obama" sticker on it!
Click Here for the photo
.... I think the McCain households were giving away Kool Aid to trick-or-treaters.....
Watching the Phillies bats come alive against the Rays, I put this together on my laptop, and thought the baseball geeks / fans / devotees would appreciate it.
Click Here
9 days seems like an eternity.....
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=everybody_calm_down_obama_is_hitting_back
This is a great article. I agree we need to keep calm and let Obama do his thing. The easy thing to do would be to hit back as low as McCain has, and yet Obama has kept it on a higher level. This is our game this time around and we cannot let the naysayers and slanders run this campaign. Lets keep the message positive and remind people of what is possible with an Obama Presidency. For those who question Obama's assertiveness, we can refer to this article and remind people of Obama's integrity in fighting back. Barack Obama truly has the character to lead this country.
Dan
Whether you grew up warmed by the memory of how the 1951 Giants caught the Dodgers in the sweltering heat of a New York City summer, or you're still trying to forget the way the Phillies collapsed in 1964, or you're excited as all get out about the Cubs being four games up on the Brewers while the White Sox are holding off the Twins, you're no doubt fully aware of what a pennant race feels like, smells like, and sounds like.
My friends in Obama Nation, we are in a pennant race and the crown for the next four years goes to the campaign that keeps its focus and does all the little things right:
At this writing we have 57 days to glory. Tighten the laces on your gloves. Get the mud out of your spikes. Wear your lucky thong if you have to. It's time to bring this puppy home.
Fired up? Ready to go? --Ruairi (center field) O'Murchu
Notes from the Rope Line In Battle Creek
We got there right around 4:00 p.m. and found volunteers crisscrossing the throng of supporters from multiple angles. Campaign volunteers with tickets were herded one way, those in the general public were politely herded another way. Congressional campaign staffers for Mark Schauer, the candidate in Michigan's 7th District, handed out yard signs and stickers to all who would take them. As our queue neared the security checkpoint, Bob Alexander approached each person in line and introduced himself as the Democratic candidate in the 8th District. Once inside the stadium, built to accommodate 6,000 minor league baseball fans, we caught a glimpse of Senator Debbie Stabenow shaking hands and exchanging laughs with voters. To this point, we found ourselves in a typical campaign event, the only surprise being the immense crowd outside the stadium.
"Standing room only on the field, or seats in the stadium?" A young and very polite Obama campaign staffer gave us our choice as we came up to her.
"We'll go on the field and stand." And that we did, immediately taking up a spot fifteen yards from the podium and one person away from the rope line.
Any event I've ever attended in the past would have had "reserved" chairs set up on the infield, close to the podium. Senior elected officials and loyal donors would have been ushered to those seats. People like me would have been clawing for the nosebleed seats in the bleachers--and in the past, would have been happy to get such seats. This was not just any event from the past, however; this was a gathering of Obama Nation.
And so we stood, in 90° heat under a slanting afternoon sun, already packed shoulder to shoulder by the shared hope of being as close as possible to our candidate. My wife and I quickly met the people around us: a group of resident assistants from Wesley Hall at Albion College; a retired army sergeant with his wife, his mother, and his four children; a photographer from Fresh Fire AME Church in Kalamazoo; a group of seven young women from Gull Lake High School in Richland; and a man right on the rope line with his two year old daughter, a man who answered all questions about how he had obtained a ticket by jovially responding, "I was born with a ticket."
Two hours went by and one youngster fell out in the heat and had to be taken off by paramedics to receive fluids. Everyone was struggling to cope with the scorching heat, but tempers remained tamped down by the shared excitement. Sporadic call-and-response chants of "O" and "Bama" rippled through the crowd. The near seats in the stadium filled up, and auxiliary seating beyond the outfield filled up as well. Word went through the crowd via cell phone that 16,000 were on hand.
Local county commissioners and state senators spoke. Senator Debbie Stabenow spoke.
"Only two of the four people on the ballot get it," she exhorted the crowd. And finally Ray, an unemployed window washer and house painter from Battle Creek, spoke. "First my knees gave out and then my back," he told the crowd, "then I lost my health insurance." And then he did what he had been asked to do. He introduced "the next president of the United State of America, Barack Obama."
So we stood for the main event, a pair of speeches from Joe Biden and Barack Obama, knowing that nothing we had experienced at the rally had been anything like "business as usual." Good men like John Kerry and Al Gore never drew crowds like this, never inspired this kind of loyalty and dedication, never brought together young and old, black and white, rich and poor this way.
During his turn at the microphone, Joe Biden pounded away at the central themes of the campaign. He spoke without notes, and he spoke with passion. He urged us to turn the page on the failed Bush administration, urged us to help restore America's moral standing in the world. He looked us squarely in the eyes and said that he had taken Barack Obama's measure during 13 debates, had seen the man's basic character laid out for him in those early contests and had found that character to be strong. In the background, as he had done in Unity, New Hampshire, Barack sat on a tall stool and gave his full attention to his colleague and fellow senator. "Barack gets it", Biden said, echoing Senator Stabenow, while shouts of "Joe Biden gets it" rang out from the crowd. When he finished his rousing speech, Biden stepped into the background and warmly accepted spontaneous chants of "Joe! Joe! Joe!" from the audience.
Senator Obama, looking just as cool and collected and yet engaged as he always does on television, walked around the stage and looked into our faces. When he was finally allowed by the exhilarated crowd to begin his remarks, he paused to remind all of us that the people in the path of Hurricane Gustav needed our thoughts and prayers. Acknowledging that lessons had been learned and that all the evidence pointed toward better governmental response to a Gulf Coast hurricane this time around, Obama asked us to wonder aloud with him why it took a devastating hurricane to reorder our priorities. "There's a quiet storm surging across America," he said, "and our government has to be ready for that, has to be ready to help those who are losing their jobs, their houses, and their insurance."
For someone like me who has been listening to every Obama speech since the announcement of his candidacy on February 10, 2007 in Springfield, Illinois, there was not much that was truly new in what he said. And yet, for the first time I felt what it was like to be in a crowd of fired up and ready to go supporters, heard the cries coming from my own throat, and felt the tears welling up in my eyes as he appealed to all of us to come together in order to address America's needs and to restore America's good name in the community of nations. When he reached his closing benediction with that familiar promise that we could not only win this election but change this country and change this world, I was jumping up and down with toddlers, high schoolers, college students, veterans, and grandparents.
On the rope line I got to shake Barack's hand and felt a firm commitment in his clench of my hand. I got to shake Joe Biden's hand and tell him how touched I had been by his son's introduction of him at the convention. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLSoXaP5E8c
I got to watch both men pick up and embrace that two year old girl who had waited more than five hours for her rendezvous with history. And I got to see the exhausted joy on the faces of everyone around me.
Walking back to where we had parked our car at Verona Elementary School, an underfunded public school half a mile up the road from the stadium grounds, we met a small group of elderly women standing along busy Capital Avenue. They looked as if Joe Biden's mother would fit right in with them. When we asked if we could help them in any way, they answered, "No, we came for the rally and now we're just waiting for the bus to pick us back up," one of them told us.
Our whole nation, it seems to me, is standing and waiting for a bus to pick us all up and take us to our destination. Please, there is so much at stake. Hop on the Obama-Biden line!
By now, many people have an idea of who they hope Barack Obama will select as his running mate. My vote is for Evan Bayh. I know many others will cite others as better candidates. My reasoning is as follows:
Many undecided voters may see Senator Obama as "inexperienced" or "no foreign affairs" experience. Senator Bayh as served on the Armed Services Committee and cares about our troups. He understands while diplomacy may not always work, many of our current allies have been past adversaries. Having a person with that type of experience would help balance the ticket.
Senator Bayh also serves on the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, Select Committee on Intellegence, and Special Committee on Aging. I feel he could bring the base of the Democratic Party together.
I also hope Hillary Clinton plays a role in his administration. With Senator Clinton in the right position, Univeral Health Care might finally become a reality.
I'd like to know what others think. Who would you like to see Senator Obama select and why.
This is a truly remarkable time in our country's history. Be well everyone.
Unwritten rules attach themselves to every major sport. Soccer players know when to kick the ball out of play if an opponent lies injured on the ground. Basketball players understand if they're on the receiving end of a hard foul. And baseball players know that they simply cannot talk about a no-hitter while the no-hitter is still in progress.
American politicians have their own unwritten rules. Ronald Reagan actually articulated one when he talked about his "Eleventh Commandment"--thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.
No unwritten rule of American politics has been more important than the one that forbids any candidate in any campaign from uttering the word "assassination."
Senator Clinton has been around far too long for any of us to buy the story that she meant no offense. She clearly knows that a candidate cannot ever say such a thing, whether it's an historically accurate observation or not. The comments made in South Dakota do not belong in any campaign.
What would you do to a teammate who greeted your starting pitcher after the seventh inning with a comment like, "Hey, only six more outs and you've got the no-hitter!"
Exactly. And that's what me must now call on Democrats everywhere to do to Senator Clinton: show her the clubhouse door. This contest is not going to extra innings.
Barack Obama has understood what needs to be done with America for awhile now.
Barack Obama was eager and ready to make a change for awhile now.
Barack Obama has learned how politics "works" for awhile now.
Barack Obama is what America needs.
Barack understands freedoms.
Barack understands Democracy.
Barack understands diversity.
Barack understands the Constitution and laws of the United States of America.
Barack understand honesty and integrity.
Is is to good to be true?
I will Vote for Change to find out!
JOIN ME - Friends, list, groups, donation, events, etc.
One by one, two by two, electing Obama will be an easy thing to do!
I have many memories of acts of compassion, extended love of others, and miracles of faith. I also have many memories of pain & suffering, witnessed horrific trauma of me & others, and have unintentionally hurt others through my actions & my words.
I pray that I can be forgiven by the loved ones that I have hurt.
I pray that I can continue to show compassion, understanding, and forgiveness towards people who have deeply hurt me.
I love people. I see people. I understand people.
I believe that humanity shall shine through us all. I believe that we are all connected through our commonalities more than our differences. I believe that our differences strengthen us more than it pulls us apart.
It was great to see the citizens of North Carolina and Indiana place their votes for Obama on Tuesday. Being originally from Indiana, I would have preferred to see Obama win Indiana. Yet Obama kept it close. In North Carolina, it was a resounding victory.
These last 3 weeks have only strengthened my support for Barack Obama. Those in opposition threw Rev. Wright and William Ayers and yet Obama is still standing strong. They said calling Americans "bitter" would hurt his chances. And yet those voting for Obama have shown that they're not going to let the special interests or lobbyists speak for them. Americans are starting to (to borrow a phrase from Senator Clinton) "Getting Their Voice Back!"
Despite the fact that Obama is close to the finish line, there is still work to be done. Once Obama seals the Democratic nomination, there will be much work to do. We will need to appeal to those who currently support McCain and Clinton. We may not convince many, but one is better than none. While I'm not a good vocal speaker, I will continue to do what I can to help support Barack on his exciting journey to the White House.
...believes she is the most "electable" candidate, why does Obama have more popular votes??
It's time to start putting the nomination to rest. I'm donating $100 to the Obama campaign after I post this blog. I invite everyone to join me.
Obama 2008 (and 2012)
is because I believe he will best represent ALL Americans. Listen to the speeches of all three candidates. With Clinton, you get negative. From Obama, you get positive. Obama doesn't tell you what's wrong with the other candidate. Clinton does. Obama talks about what WE can do as a country together. Clinton talks about what SHE can do for our country.
Who better understands the troubles of all Americans than Barack Obama. Who better understands the different cultures that make up America than Barack Obama. Clinton and McCain can only try to understand how those less fortunate live. Barack Obama lived that life.
People say "well, he's a really good speaker" but doubt he'll deliver. How many of our past presidents were great speakers who also delivered. Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, and Abraham Lincoln were just three presidents who spoke well and delivered. Barack Obama understands, like those past presidents before him, that being American isn't easy. You've got to stand together and fight for what is right.
For the last 8 years, we've been digging ourselves into a deeper hole as a country. With Clinton or McCain, that hole will only get bigger. It's time to stand up and take responsibility for our country. It's time to elect a leader who can bring about real change. It's time to elect a leader who can finally bring respectibility back to the office of President.
Indiana and North Carolina cast their votes for their candidate. I pray all citizens from both states stop and think about where our country has been these last 8 years. Then I pray they think hard about where a Clinton or McCain presidency will bring them in the next 4 years.
Do we put up with 4 more years of Bush-like policies under McCain? Or go through 4 more years of politics as usual under Clinton?
It's time to give this country back to ourselves. It's time to unite together to solve our problems. It's time to say enough of the same divisiveness we've come to expect from our leaders. It's time to stop letting the corporations, lobbyists and special interest speak on our behalf. It's time to elect a leader who can bring everyone together, Democrats and Republicans. It's time to elect Barack Obama.
I've never personally believed the Muslim rumors. As for Rev. Wright, it's between him and Obama and quite frankly, I feel it's nobody's business. Right wing radicals would have everyone believe of some type of conspiracy with the Obamas. And the reason why is obvious.
They are scared of Obama. Obama will not bow down to special interests and lobbyists. He understands the problems of today AND tomorrow. He also understands that the only way to solve these problems is to come together as a country.
Our country has been divided for much too long. As a result, our own citizens have suffered. Whether its the soldier fighting for our country, or our citizens trying to figure out how to pay for the neverending cost of living, the longer we remain apart, the longer our country will suffer.
Now, who do you feel is the best qualified to bring people together to accomplish a common goal? Clinton and McCain represent the old way of doing business in Washington. Does anyone really feel deep down inside that Clinton or McCain have any desire to stop the petty bickering and decisiveness that's plagued this country for the last 8 years?
The only candidate I see even closely having the opportunity to promote REAL change in Washington is Obama. I've heard several speeches on TV. He doesn't talk about what we can't do but what we can do. He's been able to engergize the younger generation to get involved with your country by voting. He tells us its time for us to stop letting the corporations, lobbyists, and special interests speak for us and to speak for ourselves.
I shudder to think of 4 more years of a "do-nothing" president and a "do-nothing" congress will be like. With a Clinton or McCain presidency, that's exactly what we will get. Anyone who voted for Bush in either 2000 or 2004, is that what you really want? The only way to stop it is to start taking responsibility for your country and vote for Obama. Anything less is simply giving up.
I've spoken with a few people over the last two weeks who have had negative feelings towards Barack Obama. Each time, they tell me that they cannot understand how Obama could support someone like Rev. Wright. But then I ask them if there is anything else that bothers them. Thats when they mention that they think Obama is a "secret" Muslim.
Here's the problem I have with anyone giving me that argument. These people are "so upset" over Rev. Wright's comments from his sermons, such as America supporting state terrorism or that the US was responsible for 9/11. Yet they somehow also think Obama's been keeping a secret from the entire world. They believe Obama was influenced by Rev. Wright's sermons, yet they somehow believe the rumors about him being a secret Muslim.
I simply do not see how both can be true. If he were influenced by Rev. Wright and his sermons, he would be a "secret" Christian, not a "secret" Muslim. And if he were a "secret" Muslim, then he couldn't possibly be influenced by Rev. Wright.
Anyone else see the hypocracy in that argument? I've only mentioned it to the last person who spoke to me about this. It made them stop and think. In the end, they had no argument. I told this person that perhaps they should do their own homework instead of believing every email sent to them.
I just finished with a team meeting at my place of employment. There, we talked about what is possible, not what is not possible. It's the same message Obama has been giving. Barack wants to bring all of us together to work to improve our lives. Obama doesn't say "No we can't". He says "YES WE CAN".
Rush Limbaugh once said that finding compromise over issues is a weakness. Yet my experience has brought me to believe that it is much harder to work together to resolve an issue than it is to run from it or refuse to work with others. Sounds to me that anyone supporting any candidate other than Obama simply wants the easy way out. They really don't care to work hard to resolve issues. If that's the case, then its not the America I want to live in and it's not an America that is "for the people".
Online poll pm Friday
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/
I just finished watching a great video of Michelle Obama on Facebook. If anyone is a member, I suggest checking it out. She speaks about Barack having a unique understanding of our country and the world around us. It is that unique understanding that I have only recently discovered. And it is that unique understanding that will make him a great president.
