Leading up to the election, foreign newspapers were filled with expressions of hope that Obama would be elected as President of the United States and put forth a "New Face for America".
There are several reasons Clinton would be a disasterous selection Secretary of State: 1. Clinton represents the same old face of America, albeit not as much as Bush the Lesser does.
2. During the primaries, Clinton expressed herself time and time again as antipodal to Obama's foreign policy positions.
3. Clinton is a limelight seeker and would detract from the importance of both Obama and Biden on foreign affairs issues.
4. Over half the Democrats and all of the Republicans have expressed that they don't trust her judgment on foreign affairs issues.
5. Clinton can do more in the Senate working for Universal Heath Care.
6. Clinton has a history of mistaking little girls with gifts of flowers as machine gun fire and the need to duck into airplane hangers. (If she lied about that, ...)
I am immensely proud to be a part of this great community, and with you all I was a part of the most historic election in history.
We did it. We spent many hours in N. California on phone banks, sometimes landing on pretty hostile anti-Obama folks, but it was all worth it. The undecideds we spoke to from the DNC offices, asking them to vote for Barack, were the most encouraging part of this journey for me.
Now, it's time for us to show resolve and to be disciplined, focused and unrelentant in our drive to change this country.
It will be impossible for one man to reverse the global economic downturn we're experiencing. He will be a positive catalyst, without doubt. But let's not expect overnight solutions to a complex, global problem.
The power of unions in America's automakers and other troubled sectors must be balanced with the need to allow some weaker players to fail. We can't afford artificial prop-ups - not for Wall Street, not for Detroit either.
And it's time for divisive politics to be put to sleep. Part of Obama's gift is his refusal to answer a wrong with another wrong. We must all follow this example and refrain from GOP-bashing, Joe the plumber bashing, Palin-bashing. This behavior feeds the fire and is divisive, not constructive.
America is already in rebuilding mode. Almost like a post-war nation, we are in convalescence and nursing our injuries. This takes hard work, courage and grit. It isn't about handouts - it's about opportunity.
We did it!
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
God Bless you, Barack Obama, and be with you, right with you, in the days ahead.
After reading and inserting some comments to the article below, I believe it paints a very realistic picture of America's position for change last night!
The Most Unlikely President Ezra Klein | November 5, 2008 |
Source: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles;jsessionid=aC5PMCoQTTGdP9G4S1?article=the_most_unlikely_president
[In the 2008 election], Barack Obama forced America to confront its own subconscious, [Ins][our racist past, anti Muslim anxieties.and the shadowing sense of terrorism] This election was fundamentally about what happened when fear collided with fact. [Ins]However, last night we decided to focus on the concrete dangers facing our nation and use our God given facuties of reason and faith. Indeed, the election results suggest something striking: America has forgotten. September 11 has not disappeared from our memory, of course, but we have recovered from the blow. We have forgotten how it felt to be afraid, and so, yesterday, we forgot to vote our fears. And in doing, we have elected a black president with a Muslim name. Fear again proved but a temporary detour from our history's long arc toward justice.
The events in the Middle East over the next few days are no coincidence: there is every reason for us to suspect a coordinated diversion from McCain's awful mess in the polls with just days to the election.
We must be ready to discredit this subversive diversion tactic!
What McCain needs to win: a dramatic military event that can be turned into a national security argument for an intensified state of war, with a new "enemy", flaring up in the last week of October.
Is he capable of trying it? Absolutely yes, he is. Does he have the connections to make it happen?
Yes, he does. The Pentagon is largely anti-Bush these days, making it harder to manufacture evidence of Syrian malevolence. However, the military itself maintains very strong ties to McCain and his cronies.
Let's not stand around saying "this isn't really happening".
It looks more and more like a reality. By 31-October we will know for sure.
Dear Syria, please have patience - we have an idiot for a president. We're working to elect a sane, educated and even-tempered man we can trust. If we ail, we will elect Idiot 2.0 and you will be justified in your mistrust of America. Please hold your anger for two more weeks.
Sincerely,
America
You might like this Republican Switchers site, which has been designed to be a handy, one-page, at-a-glance guide that one can easily send to conservative and undecided voters -- grandparents, relatives, colleagues, friends, etc. It provides up-to-date information on conservative leaders and newspapers who have endorsed Barack Obama.
The URL, or website address, is http://inprogress.typepad.com/republicanswitchers
A shorter address (for Twitter, blogs, etc.) is http://budurl.com/c679
The current post is based in part on a wonderful compilation from John Martin at RepublicansForObama.org. (A friend and I followed his directions to another poster to "disseminate as widely as possible." We'll be watching for his updates and adding them. Thanks, John!)
I actually started the site for Kerry, in 2004:
http://chicagoist.com/2004/11/01/local_mom_creates_republicanswitchersco...
And this week, with much help form a good friend, I revived it.
To other readers, please help spread the word.
--Send to folks in your address book (especially in toss-up states --Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Missourit, Indiana, Montana, Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, and New Mexico),
--post on Twitter and on blogs, and
--share on discussion lists and forums.
And if you know of other conservatives for Obama, please let us know.
Thanks so much!
P.S. Also check out the Kids for Obama blog: http://inprogress.typepad.com/kidsforobama
While it is wonderful to see the polls showing Barack Obama so far ahead with just days to go until Nof 4th, we must remain vigilant.
Voter suppression is rampant.
Worse, there may be a 'military' incident or a homeland security incident of some sort in the final days before election date. There is no malicious act of trickery that is beyond the McCain campaign's ability to conjure up and pull on the American people. And there is nothing they won't do to retain power.
Fortunately America is fed up of the lies and the rhetoric, os it will increasingly take an act of God to save McCain. Or, an act of grand scale decelption that might mobilize the patriotic instincts of Americans. Don't fall for it. We must be ready to respond, if suddenly we're at war with Iran or faced needing to respond to an attack on Israel. It is a lie, it is fake, and it must be treated as such.
Be ready, fellow Americans!
The Moral Equivalent of Stealing
The loud complaint from the Republican camp in this Presidential race is that Republican-branded “socialist” Obama wants to “spread the wealth” around by funneling rich people’s dollars to people who do not pay taxes. Let’s look at that socialism claim realistically. People with a family of four who earn above $250,000 have all of their basic needs covered: generally speaking, they own comfortable houses; can afford good medical care, food, cars, insurance policies, vacations, private education, books, thus less need for library, park, school, health, public transit systems.
The people earning from $100,000 to $250,000 have to plan a bit more and actually can’t afford to send their children to private schools (certainly, not without scholarship assistance, as some schools now charge up to $36,000 a year in the Washington area). These otherwise middle class workers might not be able to vacation in as elegant a style as they wish, but they can still get away, probably can own a house.
People earning less than $100,000 are called on actually to sacrifice and make tough choices on what they do, and those making less than $50,000 are struggling in this economy to put food on the table, keep roofs over their heads, and God forbid they get sick, because most of them cannot afford health insurance. ALL of them are paying taxes.
Those families earning less than $50,000 are called the working poor now, and they pay taxes, which even Warren Buffet has acknowledged place a greater burden on them than the taxes he is asked to pay. Even those who have lost their jobs and are collecting unemployment insurance, pay taxes, such that the State giveth with one hand and taketh away with the other. The elite Republicans, who broad-brush paint most of them as welfare cheats, almost universally condemn those citizens on welfare. Public Assistance recipients often find no road out of welfare; surely, a few are gaming the system, and the State goes after cheats and prosecutes them soundly. A criminal is a criminal whatever the income, but it is usually the littlest guy who is labeled first and actually pays a price.
Yet the cry goes up from the likes of Senators Phil Graham and John McCain that this country is a “nation of whiners.” I agree that some in this country are whining, but it’s generally not the working poor. Those on welfare have not even found their voices yet, so they aren’t saying a thing. The gaming of the system is less done by the poor on welfare than the rich, who don’t want to call it welfare but still want their farm subsidies in spite of the fact they are not farmers (don’t mind real farmers in need getting help to keep their farms), and the myriad corporations and individuals taking advantage of tax loopholes, and paying NO taxes. Some of these are even getting government grants and subsidies. I’d like to see some of them locked up too—they are the real criminals here.
So let us see just who is benefiting most from the systems set up in this country? How is it possible for someone to earn $250,000 and does he/she do it single handedly? The bones of this democracy that support all our actions, our individual pursuits of life, liberty, and happiness are made up of the rule of law, the administration of justice, an infrastructure of roads/bridges/electrical grids/pipelines, police/fire/military protections of our freedoms. We the People flesh out those infrastructure bones with the building of enterprises that support the structure, keeping ourselves healthy, and carrying out our civic duties, like voting, keeping ourselves informed/educated, and paying our taxes, as a necessary element of survival. We do that because there is no other way to keep the system healthy and alive.
Those who insist that they are not willing to share for the common good their incomes over $250,000 are committing the ultimate in “White Collar Crime.” If you have your basics covered and think this democracy can thrive without all of its people being able to live minimally decent, healthy lives, able to educate their children, and keep order in their communities, you just haven’t had a look around these United States lately. The pain HAS “trickled up” as Obama has said many times. The top 3-10 percent, however, their basics remaining covered, clinging to unrealistic, unfounded economics, wallow in self-centeredness. They have yet to see the light.
If you are in that privileged set, let me make a suggestion: while you are still in control of your life, you might change your attitude and start thinking of the addition to your taxes as taking out an insurance policy, so that this country can continue to stand and YOU can continue to have the opportunity for advancement to keep earning. If you continue to cheat this system, you are undermining this democracy, eating away at its foundations. All of us have the responsibilities that come with citizenship in this great enterprise to keep the country healthy, and none of us can do it alone. Even Adam Smith, the touchstone of capitalism acknowledged this in his celebrated work, The Wealth of Nations.
I haven't written in a while simply because I don't think anyone is reading my posts. However, I thought I would catch up with a few shorts posts all at once.
1. I attended the Obama rally in Roanoke last week. Very rainy and wet, but worth the wait. I was thrilled to be around so many who thought like I do. The shocker is that I am a lifelong Republican. Did I change or did the party shift to include me? I think a little of both.
2. While this campaign feels like it is taking forever to end, now is the time to become more active than ever. I have found several people who were voting McCain simply because they liked Palin. However, a serious discussion on the issues has changed every one of them (at least to my face) to support Obama. Talk to your friends about politics. It does work.
3. In two weeks, Sarah Palin will still be stupid and John McCain will still be eratic. I say this because there are lots of people out there who are afraid the GOP is going to make a comeback. They will try, but the reality is that they are down now because they are on the wrong side of the issues. They are on the wrong side of the issues because that is who they are. They cannot change their nature in the final two weeks.
4. Finally, if you really believe Obama is the best person for the job at this time, then you must vote. I know we are way ahead, but getting out to vote is so important right now. The GOP is going to push hard at churches, neighborhoods and book burnings to get their people to the polls. You need to do the same.
