An open invitation to join : President Barack Obama Inauguration Day 2009 - Washington, DC Group!!!
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/InaugurationDay2009
Make plans to be in DC on this historical day!
Make plans to be tuned in with TV and/or the Internet.
Be out in public with friends and fellow citizens.
A Grand and Wonderful Celebration!
Having watched the last in the series of the Debating season and the subsequent spin, I was somewhat apoplectic to realize the fact that we may be the only democracy in the world where the politics centrifuges so heavily on the abortion issue and gravitates so heavily on the judicial appointments.
After 15 th reference to JOE THE PLUMBER by Sen.McCain, I came to realize that he was trying to KILL A MOSQUITO WITH A CANNON.
I am self employed and pay almost $10,000 dollars a year in health care costs for my family with a renewal cost increase slated at 10% and yet in the current economic condition, I can't bring myself to empathize with Joe or resonate with John's commentary on the subject. I applaud Sen.Obama's approach to Healthcare not withstanding that it has room for improvement.
I wish Joe all the luck in his entrepreneurial effort as I have been through the process a number of times and have truly appreciated this country for the chances it provides to such people WITHOUT HAVING TO PUT A POLITICAL SPIN ON IT.
Based on my experience , in projecting for a start up BUSINESS, health care cost is a crucial component of the economies of scale in consideration but not the paramount one. I for one, don't consider Joe the Plumber's situation as the middle classe's strife as emphatically pressed on by Sen.McCain.
The current economic crisis is far more bleak than Joe's situation. As a small business steward, my pressing concerns are whether I will be able to sustain my business with impending crisis in the economy, what will be the adverse effects to my staff and me. Will we be able to provide the basic essentials to our families such as food, shelter and education for our children near and long term?
Most Americans are not concerned with Taxes at the moment but are more anxious to know whether they will have a job or means to support the FAMILY. YES, we are in favor of more refined tax code that recognizes the trials and tribulations of the middle class in our country. Most middle americans that I know do not complain about taxes but about opportunities both missed and lack there of.
In a wide diaspora that is our country, our politicians should seize the chance to unite a nation ailing in spirits rather than fragmentize the already low morale by amplifying the SOCIO CULTURAL differences and attempting to widen the divide. What makes this country the greatest of all is that despite our cultural and ethnic differences, WE ARE ALL AMERICANS. No other country in the world offers that to different population segments. I have the confidence that we will over come the obstacles we face and to facilitate that we will make the right decision to elect the person who understands the middle class and its difficulties without the talking points because he is the MIDDLE CLASS AMERICAN WHO EPITOMIZES THAT THIS COUNTRY REWARDS ALL THOSE WHO WORK HARD BY EXTENDING THE CHANCE TO SUCCEED. In my humble opinion that person is :
BARACK OBAMA.
Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies … Community organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. And it's happening today in church basements and community centers and living rooms across America.
All the efforts of RNC to conspicuously omit the word "BUSH" at the convention just went south with the Sarah Palin speech yesterday. Her self description as a "Pit bull with Lipstick" is strikingly similar to G DUBYAH in the WH for last 8 years, VIZ: ignoring those who disagree with personal opinions, stubborn, uncompromising vindictive and arrogant. With the PIT BULL traits she claims to posses how does she propose to make life better for Americans who are losing their jobs and homes? Can't attend to their sick children's medical needs for the lack of insurance or adequate coverage? She conveniently skipped to address that in her speech.
Please Sara know that WAR IS NOT A BUSINESS and a strong army is contigent upon a strong domestic Economy. Reasoning with your detractors is not weakness but an indication of your intellectual strength. You have to correctly identify your enemy and engage him in a dialogue before convening an army to attack them. WE HAVE TO USE ALL OUR RESOURCES TO DEFEND OUR COUNTRY NOT JUST THE ONE THAT STAKES LIVES OF OUR MILITARY PERSONELL UNWANTINGLY.
Misinforming a emotionally distressed nation by fabricating evidence to attack IRAQ is your party's definition of Patriotism and yours of a PITBULL. Well time has come for America to cage that animal for the well being of the Nation.!!
“If we think that we can secure our country by just talking tough without acting tough and smart, then we will misunderstand this moment and miss its opportunities. If we think that we can use the same partisan playbook where we just challenge our opponent's patriotism to win an election, then the American people will lose. The times are too serious for this kind of politics.” […]“One of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can’t disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism. I have never suggested that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America's national interest.”
Why is it that when McCain switches policies, it is considered statesmanship and when Sen.Obama revises his; it is Flip Flop.
Being able to examine, adapt & change stances on issues is a required trait for a politician whether inherent and acquired. A true leader is required to change the platform he stands on in the interest of the people he/she is serving. No policy matter should be personal as exhibited by George HW & son. since personal agendas tend to gravitate towards resorting to undesirable methods for implementation and execution such as fabrication, mis information, outright lies, intimidation and bullying.
Sen. Obama has made the correct choice in proposing to allow limited off-shore drilling to circumvent the present oil situation and I agree that it is not permanent solution. A comprehensive Energy policy has to implemented to include energy awareness, alternate sources, alter consumption patterns and independence from foreign oil.
I applaud Sen. Obama's revision to this policy, this denotes his ability to understand and empathize with the common people of his country.
"Look at their past for a pattern of behavior. One or two missteps are not necessarily indicative of anything nefarious (just bears watching as a tendency). However, a pattern of behavior, especially in times of stress, pressure, or general adversity, reveals much about a person's character. In this day of instability, synthetics, and faux reality shows, people want someone real and consistent."
"The major quality I think any American President should manifest is a deep personal conviction that he or she is accountable to the people, an awareness that they are not a monarch, that they are "up front" in keeping the people informed, seeking the people's will and common good."
The Religious Affairs department has put together a newsletter called the “American Values Report,” which contains top news stories, interviews with people of faith, and commentary on faith and politics. We’re excited to bring you this week’s issue as it addresses a range of social and moral issues. Other highlights include:
If you are interested in subscribing to the American Values Report, please send an email to Faith@BarackObama.com. This is the most comprehensive report we have for all values news as they relate to the Obama campaign.
In an article appearing in USA Today, Tom Krattenmaker uses theological and practical evidence to show the peaceful side of religion. Elements of “just war” theory – just cause, right intention, last resort, proportionality – exist in many religious traditions. Peacemakers are extolled. In practice, initiatives like Interfaith Youth Core, Seeds of Peace, and “A Common Word Between Us and You” are all about embracing the humanity of everyone, regardless of faith background. They inspire Christians like Greg Mortenson to venture into the Middle East bringing “books not bombs,” as his initiative builds schools in poor areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.Religion can help end wars, too
Faith is sometimes the fuel that feeds conflict and spreads strife. History is a witness to this. But lest we forget, believers also can be the salve to bring people and religions back together.Religion — a solution to the problem of religiously motivated conflict and violence? Yes, actually. Because in their best traditions, the world's two dominant faiths do promote peace, both through their central teachings and the lessons-by-example taught every day by innumerable Muslims and Christians who take their scriptures seriously.Yet if skeptics are going to hold religion accountable for the atrocities committed under the banners of faith, so, too, must they credit religion for the unifying and uplifting deeds performed in its name. We cannot dismiss the countless acts of compassion and peace-making by devout believers — acts that are central to the teachings of the Bible, Koran and other holy books.So how we will know religion in the final analysis? By its peace or by its violence? The scriptures have had their say. It's now up to the believers — through their words and works — to settle the account.
The year was 1985 and Gerald Kellman, a community organizer, was interviewing an applicant named Barack Obama to work in the demoralized landscape of poor neighborhoods on this city's South Side. He liked the young man's intelligence, motivation and acutely personal understanding of how it felt to be an outsider. He also remembers that Mr. Obama drove a hard bargain."He challenged me on whether we could teach him anything," Mr. Kellman recalled. "He wanted to know things like 'How are you going to train me?' and 'What am I going to learn?'"Mr. Obama's three-year stretch as a grass-roots organizer has figured prominently, if not profoundly, in his own narrative of his life. Campaigning in Iowa, Mr. Obama called it "the best education I ever had, better than anything I got at Harvard Law School," an education that he said was "seared into my brain." […]In recent days, Mr. Obama has imbued those years with even greater significance, invoking them last week as inspiration for his plan to deliver social services through religious organizations. He told a conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church on Saturday that as a community organizer he "let Jesus Christ into my life" and "I dedicated myself to discovering his truth and carrying out his works."
Grant Gallicho, Associate Editor of Commonweal Magazine – a Catholic review of “religion, politics, and culture”:
Why do you, as a person of faith and conscience, support Senator Obama?
“Charity. Without sacrificing the toughness a successful political campaign must show, Sen. Obama has demonstrated that a candidate need not demonize his or her ideological opponent in order to win votes. The virtue of charity, as any cable-news watcher knows, is in short supply in our political culture. Sen. Obama's remarkable 2006 speech about faith and politics may prove to be a watershed moment for the post-Bush Democrats. I can't count the number of friends and family members who contacted me with something approaching awe that a Democrat would speak so movingly and authentically about the legitimate role of religious values in our political discourse. A lot of Catholics I know hadn't heard a Democrat speak so, well, charitably about religion in decades.”
Senator Barack Obama appeared today at Eastside Community Ministry in Zanesville, OH. Before speaking on the subject of faith-based initiatives, Obama toured Eastside Community Ministry, a group that seeks to "break the cycle of poverty" through individual and community assistance. Smiles were in large supply as Obama interacted with children at the Ministry. Obama also conversed with Ministry leaders, who he believes should become active partners with the government in meeting the challenges of the 21st century.
Today, Senator Obama gave a momentous and timely speech on the future of faith-based initiatives. Obama spoke with immense personal experience and conviction, arising from his work as a community organizer. Senator Obama notes:
I believe that change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up, and few are closer to the people than our churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques. That’s why Washington needs to draw on them. The fact is, the challenges we face today – from saving our planet to ending poverty – are simply too big for government to solve alone. We need all hands on deck.
Senator Obama does not intend to diminish the work of secular initiatives, but instead wants to unite all forces – all hands – in rising to the challenges of the 21st century.
While President Bush may have established the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives with these intentions in mind, the Office has not lived up to its promise. Senator Obama affirms:
Support for social services to the poor and the needy have been consistently underfunded. Rather than promoting the cause of all faith-based organizations, former officials in the Office have described how it was used to promote partisan interests. Well, I still believe it’s a good idea to have a partnership between the White House and grassroots groups, both faith-based and secular. But it has to be a real partnership – not a photo-op. And that’s what it will be when I’m President.
Support for social services to the poor and the needy have been consistently underfunded. Rather than promoting the cause of all faith-based organizations, former officials in the Office have described how it was used to promote partisan interests.
Well, I still believe it’s a good idea to have a partnership between the White House and grassroots groups, both faith-based and secular. But it has to be a real partnership – not a photo-op. And that’s what it will be when I’m President.
However, as a former constitutional law professor, Senator Obama will not trespass on the separation between church and state. He appreciates the separation as preserving not only the integrity of the state, but also and more essentially, the integrity of religious practice. As such, he lays down some ground rules for future faith-based initiatives:
First, if you get a federal grant, you can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them – or against the people you hire – on the basis of their religion. Second, federal dollars that go directly to churches, temples, and mosques can only be used on secular programs. And we’ll also ensure that taxpayer dollars only go to those programs that actually work.
Senator Obama wants to renew our commitment to faith-based partnerships by creating a new Office, which will have moral authority and the ability to empower, from the grass-roots up:
I’ll establish a new Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The new name will reflect a new commitment. This Council will not just be another name on the White House organization chart – it will be a critical part of my administration. And my Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will also have a broader role – it will help set our national agenda. Because if we are going to do something about the injustice of millions of children living in extreme poverty, we need interfaith coalitions like the Let Justice Roll campaign standing up for the powerless. If we’re going to end genocide and stop the scourge of HIV/AIDS, we need people of faith on Capitol Hill talking about how these challenges don’t just represent a security crisis or a humanitarian crisis, but a moral crisis as well.
I’ll establish a new Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The new name will reflect a new commitment. This Council will not just be another name on the White House organization chart – it will be a critical part of my administration.
And my Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will also have a broader role – it will help set our national agenda. Because if we are going to do something about the injustice of millions of children living in extreme poverty, we need interfaith coalitions like the Let Justice Roll campaign standing up for the powerless. If we’re going to end genocide and stop the scourge of HIV/AIDS, we need people of faith on Capitol Hill talking about how these challenges don’t just represent a security crisis or a humanitarian crisis, but a moral crisis as well.
In addition to its broader moral role, this Council will also strengthen faith-based groups by “making sure they know the opportunities open to them to build on their good works.” Senator Obama will empower already established and successful organizations to “pay it forward” and train smaller organizations in order to create real, bottom-up ‘armies of compassion.’
John DiIulio, the first Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, had this to say about Senator Obama’s proposed reforms:
Senator Barack Obama has offered a principled, prudent, and problem-solving vision for the future of community-serving partnerships involving religious nonprofit organizations. He has focused admirably on those groups that supply vital social services to people and communities in need. His plan reminds me of much that was best in both then Vice President Al Gore's and then Texas Governor George W. Bush's respective first speeches on the subject in 1999. Especially in urban America, all the empirical evidence continues to show that local faith-based organizations can make a measurable civic difference. His constitutionally sound and administratively feasible ideas about community-serving partnerships hold special promise for truly disadvantaged children, youth, and families. Many good community-serving initiatives can be built, expanded, or sustained on the common ground that Senator Obama has staked out for us here.
We invite your comments on the Senator’s address.
Senator Obama plans to prove his presidential mettle by embarking on a foreign tour of Europe and the Middle East. One hopes that the next President will understand the religious and ideological climate of the regions he visits.
Obama Plans Trip to Europe, Mideast
“Senator Barack Obama will make his first foreign trip as a presidential candidate next month when he travels to the Middle East and Europe, his campaign announced today.
Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, will visit Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. On a separate trip, he is also planning to visit American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but aides declined to disclose those details for security reasons.
‘This trip will be an important opportunity for me to assess the situation in countries that are critical to American national security,’ Mr. Obama said in a statement, ‘and to consult with some of our closest friends and allies about the common challenges we face.’”
Senator Obama’s worldly background gives him a unique ability to engage with other countries. As he often quotes from John F. Kennedy, “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.” On matters of national security, it becomes all the more critical for a leader to understand the social environment in which he is dealing. Meeting the challenge requires knowing the turf. Especially when the turf is largely carved by religion.
Hello, all!
My name is Alyssa Martin, and I’m excited to be interning with the Religious Affairs department of the Obama campaign. I will be posting regular updates on the Faith-Action-Change blog, and I look forward to having many positive faith-based discussions over the course of the summer. But first, allow me to introduce myself:
Originally from heartland Nebraska, I am a rising junior at Stanford University. I plan to double major in International Relations and Religious Studies, though I’d be lying if I said this originated from a purely academic interest. Raised Catholic by my father, I don’t recall the newness of mass – for all intents and purposes, I woke up one day with the entire Catholic service ingrained into my being, ready at a Sunday’s notice. However, my faith goes beyond regurgitation, as it informs my inner convictions and outer spirit.
To give you a fuller, more authentic, introduction of myself, I would have to mention my experience with other religious traditions as well. As a young girl, I would watch my Hindu grandparents do puja (prayer), not knowing that I would have the opportunity to observe its roots in India, where religion is omnipresent. I went from knowing 3 Jewish people in Nebraska to becoming involved in Israeli-Palestinian events on campus with my 2 Jewish best friends. I attended an overseas seminar in Italy regarding Judeo-Christian relations, and promoted interfaith dialogue on campus.
Ultimately, I found myself drawn to Obama’s appeal to people of all faith backgrounds. A committed Christian, he does not eschew the topic of religion, but embraces it in a straightforward, refreshing manner. Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr once said, “Power without love is brutality, but love without power is mere sentimentality.” By organizing people of all backgrounds from the grass-roots up, Obama bridges love and power, faith and action. By opting to visit California’s Saddleback Church instead of a more “conventional” stronghold, he challenges typical slice-and-dice politics by seeking unity – which is something that I, a person of faith, can truly believe in.
I look forward to communicating with you all this summer!
With warm blessings,
Alyssa
Obama's identity is neither black nor white. His book, Dreams From My Father, is a sensitive and thoughtful exploration of identity. It is clear that, for Obama at least, being biracial does not mean being both black and white, but being neither black or white. He sees both sides of the equation - has experienced both sides, raised by white midwestern grandparents, and then living as an african american in Chicago.
He understands why some African Americans rightfully feel angry in a country where - let's face it - racism still exists. But he also understands white resentment - the resentment of hard working white people when they feel that they have to apologize for sins that they were not responsible for, as they struggle to make ends meet, as another job goes to a black man instead because of affirmative action. Obama also knows that America cannot achieve its highest potential by alienating itself from the rest of the world.
It's not easy for Obama - because in post 9/11 America, I think people have become more suspicious and uneasy about anything that seems vaguely "foreign". And with a name like his, it wont be easy.
From Daniel Goleman's Primal Leadership. "The original sense of the hipster term cool referred to the capacity of African American jazz musicians who could control their rage at the racism of the times, even as they channeled that anger into an extraordinary expression of deep feeling.
Effective leadership demands the same sort of capacity for managing one's own turbulent feelings while allowing the full expression of positive emotions."
Who is the coolest one of them all: McCain, Clinton. Or Barack Obama?
