On this Election. I, Bart DeSaboya decided to vote for both Mr. Barack Obama & Mr. John McCain. What our Country needs desperately is the enthusiasm, spirit, sincerity, boldness, unity, which our President Barack Obama talks and lives by. That is why our President Barack Obama is trying to bring Republicans & Democrats together as a great Leader to show the World; United We Stand.
Our President Barack Obama with his kind demeanor, who is unafraid to show true change, shows he is genuinely bringing the World together. For us here at home in The Great United States of America, we should say a prayer every chance we get to say thanks, showing how grateful, lucky we are to be blessed with such Leadership.
The darkness, chaotic, devastating experience our President Barack Obama is inheriting is shameful, however very real. The massive forces of evil, destruction, encompassed with our dire straight economy, which has no end to the great fall that lies ahead waiting for us to pay as we play. Is one incredible task our President Barack Obama is embracing with his kind generosity.
Our President Barack Obama is focused, courageously showing all he can to bring us the people the help we desperately need. I Bart DeSaboya believe in our President, I believe in our new Transition Talented group of dedicated Administration, who all together will make the miracle take place.
Which is why it is so important that we strip ourselves from our ego, our old ways of doing business, the old ways of our political self-leadership, and come together right now with everything we stand for, believe in, wish and pray for, as Republicans together as Democrats, hand over hand as humans that we are and live to see this miracle happen, as we always say, Yes We Can.
My true Congratulations to you Sir President Barack Obama, Congratulations to our courageous group of Administrators who stand ready to fight the good fight. Congratulations to all Americans who saw the Talent, Elected the finest group of individuals to represent our new Government, Congratulations to all of us for coming forth to join in with passion to help in everyway shape or form.
For Our Home The United States of America I pray with Gods Speed, United We Stand.
This is why I support our President Mr. Barak Obama and his Administration:
I have been slowly educating my mind with President Obama; my soul has now realized that perhaps this one man and his administration finally have it right. His passion very much like ours with the skills to genuinely want to help the people and our Home the open door USA.
We have many concerns, complexities, political views, mass confusion, past history political administrations, our current so called leaders in the George W. Bush Administration which have all shamefully brought chaos into our lives and our Country’s economy.
Throughout history we have been evolving inside our political machine status quo ante,
who has been slowly destroying our home the United States of America and us as the People of our open minded Country. These are a few from the many reasons why I as a Republican praise with my support the efforts of our President Mr. Barack Obama and his Administration.
Some commentators have claimed there is a double standard being applied to Sarah Palin regarding visual image because she is a woman.The issue is not the importance of visual image - it is important. It is important whether you are man or a woman (as Nixon / Kennedy proved). There is no double standard in play.The issue is the obscene and lavish spending from the party that promises fiscal discipline.The issue is the hypocrisy of the Republican Party's positioning of the Palin family as small town 'real' America and then taking the Palin family on a Pretty Women-esque dream shopping spree at stores (like Saks) that are only accessible to a tiny percentage of the population - the very portion of the population, ironically, that would most benefit from McCain's tax policy.By any objective measure $150,000 on clothing for a single family (even one with 5 children) is obscene and gratuitous.
The Powell endorsement of Barack Obama reinforced my decision to support the Obama campaign after two terms of voting for Bush and after initially supporting Hillary Clinton. My switch from Clinton to Obama was in no way a negative on Clinton but rather a positive on Obama - the more I researched and understood Obama's views and opportunity to inspire the country the more I believed he would make the best president in a generation. Powell captured that thought in his endorsement.
Powell also made a strong statement about Gov. Palin - that she is not ready to be president. My frustration with Palin's selection by McCain led me to setup a website - http://www.palinomaly.com - in order to help voters understand (in a humorous way) the implications of Palin as vice president.
Since I launched http://www.palinomaly.com on Sept 30, in an amazing testament to the power of the Internet as a voice for the individual, over 3,200 visitors from over 1,200 cities across the US (and a few visitors from outside the US touching 54 countries) have visited the site.
Without the Internet it would have been impossible for my one voice to reach so many ears. The Internet has also allowed the full speeches of both campaigns - and Powell's remarks - to be made available for voters.
That is truly an extension of democracy, liberty and freedom of speech that is remarkable.
This campaign is a dead heat which means the political spinsters are spinning half-truths into whole truths and non-truths into myths. While both sides are guilty of being loose with the facts even Karl Rove has admitted that the McCain campaign has to watch it. What is the electorate to do?
Fortunately there are good resources out there to help cut through the propaganda and misinformation. One of the most useful is the completely independent site www.factcheck.org. This frequently updated site looks into candidate claims and corrects them. Here are a few highlights... and while I'm not saying the Obama campaign and like minded folks haven't stretched the truth here are just a few recent items that need correcting from McCain campaign spin:
If it sounds outrageous, it probably is. Help your friends, neighbors, family and colleagues find the truth - it is out there if you look.
This message is going to the 95% of Americans that want tax relief. To seniors struggling to get by on less than $50,000. To those who believe the richest Americans (those in the top 1%) should pay a fair share. Obama's economic plan addresses the fundamental unfairness in our tax code.
For an excellent independent analysis take a look at the detail provided in the Tax Policy Center's analysis (http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411749_updated_candidates.pdf). A key finding in this study is summarized in the picture below - average Americans benefit greatly from Obama's plan whereas the richest do much better under McCain. Doesn't that sound familiar? Doesn't that sound like Bush's approach?
It staggers me that many of McCain's supporters believe they will be better off financially in a McCain administration - there is simply no evidence to suggest that is the case. No evidence from Bush's eight years and no evidence from McCain's published plans for the economy and tax changes.
It is no coincidence that McCain isn't putting a spotlight on the detail of his tax proposals - if he does he'll have to admit the richest of the rich (and he's a member of that elite group) benefit the most.
McCain’s campaign predictably seized on Obama’s ill-timed use of the “lipstick on a pig” expression, accusing Obama of making a sexist remark. I’ve listened to the entire speech where he made the statement and in context there was nothing even remotely sexist.
I’m not making that statement out of blind loyalty to Obama but rather because I have ears and the patience to listen for myself rather than trust sound bites or campaign spin. I encourage you to do the same – here is the part of the that generated the current issue-distracting tempest in a teapot: http://www.wlwt.com/video/17437208/. (And I suppose I must now apologize to teapots.)
Obama quickly responded to the attack ads placed by the McCain campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b42UI_m-HSU.
Obama was on David Letterman and responded to the Palin controversy (with a sense of humor and no sexism) - and covered other topics:
And for the record on this silly distraction from real issues here is McCain’s use of the same well worn expression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4v8FMwUr7w. Was he making a sexist comment about Hillary Clinton? No – and neither was Obama.
While this is much ado about nothing, it is a reminder that this election will be won by inches (or lost by just a few words). Every word counts – every donation counts – every family member or friend or neighbor or letter to the editor you write counts. Every registered voter counts.
Most importantly – on election day – every vote will count.
It is going to be an emotional fight to the finish line for everyone caught up in the race for President. Here are a couple of lighter moments (still politically relevant) to entertain you:
From the Daily Show - Samantha Bee at the RNC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANlICS8QsnE
From Letterman - Obama presents the Top Ten List: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnL9HRLNxIA
The campaign from here to November 4 is unlikely to be very funny - so laugh while you can!
California, if you're anything like me you've been a little unmotivated. Hey our state is a gimme, registering voters, knocking on doors, making phone calls - eh why? Well you're right if you stick to California. But California Obamians have adopted a our sister to the East.
The battle cry has been sounded, we are turning up in record numbers in Reno, Carson City, Tahoe, Vegas. If you live in CA and have time you can allocate to travel to Nevada please do. If that's just not an option you can still heed the cry by phone banking (Not as terrible as it seems!) You can get more information at http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/nvdfcsept12
If you live in another state find out if you're a battle ground (New Mexico I'm talking to you;) and if it's not find out what the goals are in your area. There are volunteers donating flights and hotel rooms etc so you aren't required to fund yourself, though if you can fantastic! So don't get comfortable if your state is firmly democrat - CA may have 55 electoral votes but the 5 in Nevada will make or break us!
Liz
Hi all,
I just completed the Camp Obama Seminar held in San Mateo. I thought I report on the experience for those of you who are curious or haven't heard about it.
Camp Obama was two days long (Sat-Sun 9am-5pm) and they don't waste a minute. There is a lot of motivational clapping going on but for the most part it is about training us to become... Here it comes... Community Organizers. Turns out it may be kind of useful;) They teach you how to communicate and give you pointers on Leadership. You will actually do some phone banking (I hated the idea but am now a convert) and attempt to recruit new volunteers.
It was a highly useful and enjoyable experience. I highly recommend you look and see if there is another you can attend, or better yet get some on the job training canvassing or making phone calls.
Now that the campaigns are in full swing and prime-time convention speeches over the power of the Internet really comes into play, most significantly YouTube. What I love about YouTube is the ability to see entire speeches - and speeches from places on the campaign trail I can't be. These campaign stops are far away from the very tightly scripted and tele-prompted confines of a convention hall. Gives me a chance to ride along on the campaign bus.
Below are a couple of great examples I encourage you to view... and don't just view them for a minute or two - view the entire video. Take the time. Turn off the sitcom and engage in this election. Set aside your cynicism of politics and Washington (and let's face it - your cynicism is justified) and read, listen, debate and finally decide.
Obama on change - real change not just lip service to change:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSmn25rvQRo
Obama talking in detail about his economic plan for the country:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L31go6-LAs0
Obama responding to a question on community organizing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SwwO00aWqM
Take time to set aside sit coms and DVDs for 30 minutes each night - dive into YouTube and listen, think, challenge, decide.
Tonight’s dose of Republican speeches provided a dose of fear and finally a bit of dignity. The attacks of Wednesday night did have a silver lining - $8 million and counting in new donations to the Obama campaign.First the fear – a solid dose of 9/11 via a video montage (with Giuliani… but no Bush with a bullhorn). Republicans as our protectors from the Evil of the world. No mention, of course, of the 9/11 Commission findings about Bush ignoring al Qaeda threats in the first half of 2001 and Bill Clinton’s warnings as Bush took office in 2000. Lindsey Graham (full text here: http://portal.gopconvention2008.com/speech/details.aspx?id=77) made the Iraq surge case while avoiding, of course, the costly mistakes in managing the war (for which Republicans bear sole responsibility) and the false pretense for the war in the first place.
Cindy McCain provided the most dignified speech of the Republican Convention that I witnessed (http://portal.gopconvention2008.com/speech/details.aspx?id=82). She’s fabulously wealthy by birth – that doesn’t bother me – and as far as I can tell has leveraged the freedom provided by her financial security to serve worthy causes around the world. The ups and downs of her personal life are public record and irrelevant – on the balance she is one Republican’s words I can respect this week.McCain's speech (interrupted several times by protestors that managed to sneak in – shocking for the party of security!) managed to be respectful (full text here: http://portal.gopconvention2008.com/speech/details.aspx?id=84). McCain took shots at current Republicans and Democrats as failing the country – and promised to shake up Washington. McCain can be respected – but will he inspire the country and the world? The themes were less specific – in particular about the economy – than I expected given the criticism of Obama’s lack of specifics early in the campaign. There was – primarily – a focus on McCain the war hero (how many times do we need to hear his story as impressive as it is?), McCain as the personification of America, McCain the maverick. Or perhaps best said by Peniel Joseph on PBS the theme of the convention and the Republicans: “Gods, guns and country.” All of that said I at least found McCain’s speech respectful after the insult-laden diatribe of Giuliani last night.
A final observation looking around the audience at the Republican Convention – that is one white, homogeneous (93% white, 5% Hispanic, 2% African American) and rowdy crowd. Our country is hopelessly divided which is why we need a President that believes in hope rather than feeds on fear.
First to acknowledge Sarah Palin – she gave an historic speech for the Republican Party that has so long been the bastion of aging white men. Progress and change that is good. As noted in my earlier blog entry, Sarah Palin is intelligent and fresh – I simply disagree passionately with her social conservative world view.
This blog isn’t about Palin’s speech which I found predictable – and especially in the second half generic Republican. And given her background as a sports reporter for KTUU in Anchorage back in 1988 I expected her presentation skills in front of a camera to be engaging.
What I want to focus attention on is the hypocritical speech by Mitt Romney and vicious speech by Rudy Giuliani. I had the pleasure of listening to both during my commute home to pick up my daughter (who heard the tail end of Giuliani’s diatribe and asked why he was being so nasty)..
Starting with Romney – his theme was classic liberal bad / conservative good (stereotypes like Spy vs. Spy from Mad Magazine). “Is government spending - excluding inflation - liberal or conservative if it doubles since 1980? -- It's liberal”, Romney cried, “We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington -- throw out the big government liberals and elect John McCain!” Mitt… haven’t we had a Republican President for 8 years? And a Republican dominated Congress for most of those 8 years? Didn’t the Republicans inherit a Democratic surplus and turn it into a massive Republican deficit? How many jobs have been lost under Bush? Perhaps start with and own up to the failures of the Republican Party during their mandate.
For the full text of Romney’s speech visit here: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/NEWS15/80903125/1215.
Regarding Giuliani I was very disappointed because I respected his leadership, calm and selfless approach after 9/11. The sarcastic, dismissive, viciousness of Giuliani’s speech surprised me – perhaps it will work and that’s part of the script. Perhaps it will backfire. We’ll know November 4. The full text is available here: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/NEWS15/80903128 but the words don’t provide the full picture. Giuliani stated: “This is not a personal attack....it's a statement of fact - Barack Obama has never led anything.” Make no mistake – Giuliani’s speech was a vicious and very personal attack. You have to hear the delivery (available on YouTube soon) to fully appreciate how nasty this election is going to get. Giuliani’s message (unstated but there) – if you vote for Obama you are foolish – you are crazy. Sorry Rudy – this time you got it wrong.
Obama responded today and I believe effectively: http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=11130@cbslocal.dayport.com.
I've had the opportunity to visit India several times for business (great experience - one place in the world that doesn't hate Americans... but that's another story). Anyone who has visited India will have stories about the crazy experience of crossing the street in India - the complete chaos and apparent lack of any enforcement of traffic laws.
One Indian colleague described the unwritten rule of the India roadway this way - the larger vehicle has the right of way. The lorry takes priority over the bus, the bus over the van, the van over the sedan, the sedan over the auto rickshaw, the auto rickshaw over the motorcycle, the motorcycle over the scooter, the scooter over the bicycle and the bicycle over the pedestrian. In India a pedestrian trying to cross the street blindly will be run over.
That's exactly what's happened in America under George W. Bush. The rules of the road have been reversed - where the pedestrian (individual consumer or middle class family) is at the bottom.
Human beings - completely unregulated - are in the aggregate irresponsible. The commons is not respected without regulation. Lending practices are not fair unregulated (the mortgage crisis). Energy market deregulation without controls is not beneficial to the consumer (Enron). Individuals and industry don't do what is best for the environment independently (global warming).
It is not about more government or big government or big brother - but it is about preventing individual selfishness and short sightedness from destroying out economy and our environment, and in doing so putting our national security at risk.
Take the time to listen and read about Barack Obama's economic plan. It is transparent, specific and consistent - not just rhetoric and high concept. Start here with an excellent speech that covers bankruptcy law reform particularly well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGi30GErEKI
And continue here for Barack's complete plan:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/
For an independent and objective analysis The Tax Policy Center is a good resource. Particularly useful is the lastest side-by-side analysis of Obama and McCain's economic plans. If this document doesn't convince you that the richest Americans (0.5% of the population) benefit the most under McCain's plan, nothing will. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411749_updated_candidates.pdf. This quote from that document summarizes the differences well: "The two candidates’ tax plans would have sharply different distributional effects. Senator McCain’s tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes, almost all of whom would receive large tax cuts that would, on average, raise their after-tax incomes by more than twice the average for all households. Many fewer households at the bottom of the income distribution would get tax cuts and those tax cuts would be small as a share of after-tax income. In marked contrast, Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers. The largest tax cuts, as a share of income, would go to those at the bottom of the income distribution, while taxpayers with the highest income would see their taxes rise significantly".
The alternative? John McCain said himself in December 2007: "Economics is not something I've understood as well as I should." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X9LypdiQFo) The Republicans decry tax and spend yet have spent 8 years destroying the budget surplus they inherited. We can't afford 4 more years.
I have voted for both Republicans (notably Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Democrats, and consider myself a fiscal conservative / social democrat.
My interest in a Democrat for President was initially motivated by Hillary Clinton - who I voted for in the Primary. My view changed after hearing several speeches by Barack Obama. His approach didn't lessen my positive view of Hillary Clinton but rather demonstrated that Barack Obama would be a remarkable President for our country. Barack Obama is painted as words without substance - a great orator but nothing more. A leader inspires - inspires people to act - to overcome their fears - to change their view of the world. Barack Obama will do all of these things - he is already doing these things.
For everyone like me who started this Democratic campaign supporting Hillary Clinton I encourage you to take time to listen to Barack Obama's speeches - not the sound bites, but the entire speeches. I also encourage you to really understand the extreme right wing alternative of McCain that has gone farther right with the selection of Sarah Palin.
The real John McCain (http://therealmccain.com) is not my kind of Republican. His view of hope as a cheap campaign trick, his eagerness to jump to a military solution - his "Bomb Iran" song being just one of many examples(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U39zae4IxUA), his unilateral view of the world so reminiscent of Bush are not my idea of change.
The Republican Party has become a party of fear - believing that Americans can be manipulated by fear politics. Prove them wrong - vote for hope and change - vote for Obama.
I was in an uncomfortable situation the other day. Normally I do not bring up politics among people I am unsure what their political views are. The situation with my other blog was when the other women approached me. I was sitting in a car with my supervisor and 2 other co-workers going to a birthday lunch when my supervisor started on a rant. She started stating that liberal democrats are ruining this country, causing big government and wasting money on stupid things like the new rule that San Francisco is no longer allowing cigarettes to be sold at pharmacies. You can buy malt liquor at Walgreens but no longer cigarettes.
I agree with her logic regarding the cigarettes. Hey if you want to kill yourself smoking them, it is your choice. We have been trying to get my husband’s mother to quit for years. She promised that she would quit if we had a second child. We did.(we were planning on having one anyway) Two years later she is still smoking. When she comes over to visit, we request that she smoke outside of our home and away from the children. She smokes on our deck but brings the ashes into the house and dumps them in the trashcan so our house still smells like an ashtray. Anyway I digress.
Anyway, she was still ranting on “liberal democrats” which I can drown out but she said something that struck a cord. She said, “this is another example how liberal democrats and their PC b___ s___ try to control our lives and tell us what we can and cannot do with our own lives.”
That statement made me angry. I wanted to argue with her. What about Bush trying to take away our right to chose an abortion? He has already taken away the right for partial birth abortions. Something that should only be decided between the doctor and the mother. What about him taking away the right of federal employees of obtaining birth control through their insurance? How about regulating who can and cannot be married? How is that not controlling what we can or cannot do with our lives?
Unfortunately I have only been with this supervisor for a couple months. Everyone one else was quiet so I stayed quiet. Do I think I made the right decision? Yes. Does it make me feel any better? No.
It is amazing what type of telephone calls you get when one of your household is registered as a Republican. My husband is the registered Republican. I am hoping that he would change his party to Independant but he is hoping to change his party. You see my husband is a moderate republican. He voted for Clinton twice, Gore and then Kerry. He cannot stand Bush and how the Republican Party is run by the extreme conservatives.
Unfortunately, we are getting calls from those extreme conservatives and unfortunately I am the one who has to listen to the beginnings of the phone call because I am the only one here when they call. And they are recorded so I cannot tell them to shove their views where the sun wont shine.
Both my husband and I are pro-choice- We get calls stating which candidate is the baby killer
I support gay marriage- I pick up calls from some woman says our values are being threatened.
Today I got a call from the "freedom fighters" claiming democrats are holding millions of gallons of oil hostage that will decrease our gas prices because they will not approve drilling along our coast. I wanted to scream down the phone that even Governer Arnold does not want oil wells off our coasts and he is a Republican.
The funniest call I ever got was for this June's election. Someone called me and asked me if I was going to support this woman (I cannot recall her name) for assembly. I asked if she was a Republican or Democrat. He actually told me that he did not know. He started laughing, then apologized and hung up on me.
The sad part of this all is that all the calls are for the Republican stand point. I never get calls from any Democrat or any "liberal" issue to support. At the last presidental election my husband (or me since I am anwering the phone) got at least 15 calls from Bush supporters. You want to know how many I got from Kerry? "ZERO"!!!
I can ignore all the calls but I still have to hear them over my answering machine.
One positive I can say about this election is that I have met two nice people at my door step asking my support for Obama. Maybe this year I will get phone calls I like to hear.
Today I sent the following message to the Campaign and would like to invite others to do the same.
Mr. Obama,
Please do not support the FISA Bill. As a supporter I am placing a lot of faith in you. You've inspired this faith by voting as you believe whether or not that means voting the party line. You must stand with your supporters and the Constitution. Vote NO on this bill.
The Fourth Amendment ensures:
'The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.' http://www.lectlaw.com/def/f081.htm
The FISA bill refutes the Constitution and everything I believe you stand for. The bill is completely unnecessary to national security as the original bill had provisions for emergency searches. The only, ONLY reason this bill exists is to provide immunity to the current administration and the Telecom Companies who helped to perpetrate crimes against american citizens. Vote no on the FISA bill.
