Well, I think [health care] should be a right for every American. In a country as wealthy as ours, for us to have people who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills -- for my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they're saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don't have to pay her treatment--there's something fundamentally wrong about that.
I am humbled by the incredible support the American people and others around the world have shown to our selection of 44th President of The United States of America. I say THANK YOU to those of you who have been with me since the beginning of this journey, as well as to those who have come on board along the way. The last 20 months have been an amazing time for all of us. I am in your debt and soon, we will all be called upon to help make our country and our world a better place. I also want to thank those of you who sent me words of encouragement when I needed them, I am ever grateful to you. To those of you whose opinions differed, I ask that you join me and let us celebrate this historic event, as we begin to bring our people together as one nation, under an awesome God…
Love to all - Cinda
I can't believe it, I just can't believe it. It's like 16 hours after the election was called and it's just setting in.
We won, AMERICA WON!
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.
When we found out you weren't registered to vote, we were a bit disappointed.When we further discovered that "rich" as you claimed to be, you hadn't paid your taxes, we were a bit MORE disappointed in you... but, okay. You're not a tax expert. You're a plumber.It was a little tough for me to take that someone making $250,000 a year in profit wouldn't be willing to pay $900 extra on his taxes so I and 95% of your neighbors could have a break, pay for gas, keep a little more of our income when we need it so much. My family struggles for groceries... but okay. What are we to you, after all? (Some of us are you five or ten years ago, but forget that... and especially forget that some of us could be you a few years in the future.)
Then we found out you weren't even a plumber. Wait, what?Lastly, we discover that you, Joe the Plumber, are possibly even related to Charles Keating, one of McCain's cronies from the Keating Five scandal. No wonder you're calling Senator Obama a socialist and suggesting he's "tap dancing like Sammy Davis, Jr." Hm. We suspect in others, as the saying goes.At least you won't be voting for McCain, seeing as how you didn't bother to register. All my Ohio friends are voting Obama, by the way.
UPDATE: Links have been fixed.
"...in the inevitable moments when all seems hopeless, men know that without hope they cannot really live, and in agonizing desperation they cry for the bread of hope."Those were the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and they came to mind as I wended my way through the crowd of an astounding 5000 in Chilicothe, Ohio. It was a drive for me; I am from a rural county in West Virginia, but Chillicothe is only a few hours away, so I did not want to miss it.
I hate crowds: despise them. They press upon me, I get panicky. A throwback to an earlier era, perhaps, I find it astounding that people discuss personal issues loudly .. phones. I find public manners and courtesy generally lacking, and I usually loathe the busy mindedness of people that prevents them from appreciating the world around them. (It recalls to me a blurb in the Onion a while back: Fall Foliage Appreciated on Walk to Car.)However, the people here were similar to the folks in my own small town. (While I live in the country, the little town I am closest to has a population of slightly above 200, and our county seat has only a few thousand.) Perhaps it was that--perhaps it was just that I was still in Appalachia. The crowd was courteous. There were cell phones, but mostly from high school aged kids who had, perhaps, been excused from classes for this event. (Two feet away from each other, I could hear one kid begging another: "Text me BACK!")I don't have a cell phone, and am not interested in getting one. Does that make me old, or just poor?Chillicothe is a pretty little town, and like many places in this area, the unemployment rate is exceedingly high. If you have ever been out of work for any period of time, you will know how easily things can go to fear and desperation. I have been; I speak from experience. I currently do some freelance writing, but I have been out of "proper" work for long enough that I am no longer even counted among the unemployment statistics, and I have a feeling there are plenty of people like me around here. I would bet the 10% figure is rather low when it comes to looking at how many people are ACTUALLY unemployed or underemployed. Do you know who is counted in the statistics, and who is not?This is why I think Obama will win Ohio: he is offering the "bread of hope." Those words kept playing over and over again in my mind. McCain and Palin, by contrast, seem to be offering only the Bread of Hate. They are feeding to their crowds the words that enflame division: when people call out for blood, they don't stop in horror. Flipping off the media (and calling out racial epithets to black members) is really the least of what that crowd has done.In Chillicothe, the tree-lined street was filled with people milling around and discussing the upcoming speeches as well as the election in general--as well as, alas, young 'uns texting each other and laughing uproariously. Most, however, were simply interested to hear what the Senator had to say.
There were speakers beforehand, Ohio Congressmen and representatives. I admit I rather grew frustrated at this point, because the texting behind me seemed to grow to a fevered pitch, and there were snorts of laughter at whatever they were saying to one another. This is too bad; the gentlemen were good speakers.Governor Ted Strickland spoke briefly, as well, and assured hunters that Senator Obama would support their second amendment rights to bear arms. The adults (and the vast majority of the kids in the crowd) were very polite, however.Strickland receives a grade of "A" from the NRA, and I could see some surprised, hopeful and relived faces in the crowd on hearing his reassurance. I hunt, too. Not moose (although give me the chance and perhaps I would). And certainly not wolves from helicopters, which seems a bit unsporting. However, since we have 45 acres or so and are rather spectacularly poor, we always do try to get a few deer in season to fill the freezer with. Hunting is important to people in this area, and I could see he touched on something people had been concerned about.Above us, I spied security on the roof of the courthouse. Normally this would oppress me, I admit. However, having seen the way in which the Bread of Hate is distributed so freely to the starving masses at recent McCain Palin rallies, having watched it grow with such horror, disgust and outrage, I found myself comforted. The Bread of Hate is unfulfilling, you see... and what can one do when one is unfulfilled by hatred? One commentator writes that "Some dupes of these reprehensible statements by Palin and McCain are going to think that a patriot must act to stop this 'terrorist' from taking over the presidency. Their shouts have already been heard from the mobs at Palin and McCain rallies this week: 'Traitor!' 'Terrorist!' 'Kill him!' Mrs. Palin nods and winks."The crowd in Chillicothe grew silent as a local person introduced Senator Obama. I'm afraid there was no "program" available (at least, not that I saw), so I don't have the speaker's name. That's too bad. He was just a regular person, but what he said was moving, and I would have liked to be able to share his name, here. He spoke quietly and looked down at his cards, but his words were powerful because he was talking about experiences many people in the crowd had shared. This young man discussed having been laid off three times in two years--working for local companies that many residents doubtless have also worked for, from which many have doubtless been laid off. In small communities like those in southern and southeastern Ohio as well as my own small community in West Virginia, if you have been lucky enough to keep your job, you still really feel for the people who have lost theirs--they may well be your friends or relatives; they may well be your childhood playmates, or the parent's of your children's classmates. In small communities, everyone knows everyone--or knows OF everyone. I wondered how familiar this young man's face was to those in the crowd, and how hard it would be to stand up in front of all the people you know and talk about your personal struggles in getting further and further behind on your mortgage payments? I wondered how hard it would be to make such a plea to your friends and neighbors: Do you want the Bread of Hope or the Bread of Hate? Do you want to vote based on your hatred and fear, or based on hope for making the future better, for fixing the economy and for helping all of us rise together?Senator Obama was greeted warmly by the crowd. It was a beautiful day. Flocks of birds swirled overhead, and the occasional pair of Canada geese circled. It was brisk and cool, but sunny, and the autumn foliage--yes, the Onion come to mind again--was in peak, although most of the trees lining Paint and Second Streets still had green. We were a block away from Main Street, in front of the courthouse.I admit I am not much of a cheerer. As I say, I'm uncomfortable amongst crowds, and cheering makes me feel as if I'm a part of a mob. I'm a cynic, remember. I applauded, but I mostly just nodded (in what I hope was) a sage and polite manner. The crowd was warm without me. Senator Obama spoke about issues in a frank and down to earth way that I imagine was a surprise to some. I find it amusing that Senator Obama is portrayed as a latte-drinking "elitist" who is out of touch with normal people. That seems to be a rather empty attack, especially in the face of the way people respond to him.
Besides... I drink latte. I noted several cuppas in the crowd, hands wrapped around the warm cups on a brisk morning. Is the McCain Palin camp suggesting that these are not "normal" down to earth people, either? Bosh. There are coffee shops in Chillicothe and in plenty of small towns. My grandmother was not a latte drinker--she liked sweet and creamy, though. In any case, I find it hard to imagine grandma scoffing at someone's coffee preferences. She didn't seem to mind my drinking latte, I have to say. The Senator seemed to speak directly to "Black coffee or death!" seems an odd tack to take when there are other considerably more pressing issues at hand.
The Senator seem to speak directly to people like me, people who have been disengaged from the political process and who don't like the direction our country has taken:
"This country and the dream it represents are being tested in a way that we haven't seen in nearly a century. And future generations will judge ours by how we respond to this test. Will they say that this was a time when America lost its way and its purpose? When we allowed our own petty differences and broken politics to plunge this country into a dark and painful recession? "Or will they say that this was another one of those moments when America overcame? When we battled back from adversity by recognizing that common stake that we have in each other's success? "This is one of those moments. I realize you're cynical and fed up with politics. I understand that you're disappointed and even angry with your leaders. You have every right to be. But despite all of this, I ask of you what's been asked of the American people in times of trial and turmoil throughout our history. I ask you to believe - to believe in yourselves, in each other, and in the future we can build together."
He must have been speaking "directly" to a great number of the crowd. As he began to speak, where there had been murmuring before, now there was silence, punctuated by applause and cheers. Even the giggling, texting kids behind me grew quiet and attentive. Then they began to hurrah with the crowd.
"It's easy to rile up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that's not what we need right now in the United States. The times are too serious. The challenges are too great. The American people aren't looking for someone who can divide this country - they're looking for someone who will lead it."
'Again, this is a populace starving for the Bread of Hope; the vast majority of us have had little enough of that for years. Now ravening, some, in madness, seem to be stuck in this cycle of creating division. To them, the American Dream is not one in which everyone has an equal chance of improving his or her life: it is one in which they want certain people to be more equal, whether it is income inequality between genders or income inquality between the upper and middle class.I must point out, as well, that frankly no one is discussing the lower class. Why is this? Are we afraid to admit it? I honestly wonder if there really is a middle class anymore, or if we are all just deluding ourselves. Perhaps most of us should be classed as "impoverished gentility" but reject the label. I will bear that label without argument.I am poor.I suppose there is no sense in arguing the issue of what is middle and what is lower class. Either way, Senator Obama addressed the underlying problem:
"We need policies that grow our economy from the bottom-up, so that every American, everywhere has the chance to get ahead. Not just corporate CEOs, but their secretaries too. Not just the person who owns the factory, but the men and women who work on its floor. Because if we've learned anything from this economic crisis, it's that we're all connected; we're all in this together; and we will rise or fall as one nation - as one people."
His message is a striking contrast to the message of the McCain-Palin rallies, as Nate Silver reports:
The language that the two candidates used on yet another rough economic day showed contrast. For Obama's part, threaded through an extensive discussion of economic policy were repeated phrases: "I have confidence," "I believe in you," "we can do this," "we're in this together," and "together, we cannot fail." On the other hand, Palin's comments were directed at Obama -- she was in full hockey agitator mode -- "terrorist," "judgment," "ambition." As for DHL shutting down 8,000 jobs in Wilmington, "we're gonna do something about it." Obama is afraid of mavericks. And Obama is a very dangerous guy who can't be trusted. Big disconnect from the day's events. While most of the 10,500 or so people cheered loudly, I noticed a number of people who stood with arms folded as the attacks unrolled.
Do you see the little pigtailed girl in the photo below?She is cute. I wondered how old she was--probably between one and two. She might be ten years old, then, the next time there is a presidential race without an incumbent. The next president could be, to her, the only one she'll remember from her young childhood. What message would you want your kids exposed to for the next eight years: hope or hate?
"The American story has never been about things coming easy - it's been about rising to the moment when the moment is hard; about rejecting panicked division for purposeful unity; about seeing a mountaintop from the deepest valley. That's why we remember that some of the most famous words ever spoken by an American came from a President who took office in a time of turmoil - 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'"
And where would you like your kids to grow up?
"I repeat: we must do more to help innocent homebuyers. I've worked on a series of proposals over the past two years to do that. But we need to do it in a responsible way. That means making sure that we're not overpaying for these mortgages and rewarding the very lenders whose recklessness helped cause this crisis. It means giving taxpayers a share of the benefit when our housing market recovers. And it means cracking down on predatory lenders by treating mortgage fraud like the crime that it is."
You see these photos: the scope is widening. I found that rather interesting. At first, I wanted to take photos of Senator Obama, to get as close as possible. As he spoke, however, his words seemed to include more and more. The crowd grew earnest and many cheered. The photos themselves seemed to include more people as I went along, mirroring the inclusiveness of his words. The more he spoke, the more he seemed one of us; a unifying force. And when the speech was over, he waded in for handshakes, becoming a part of the crowd. You may be able to tell where he is only because of the mikes held overhead:After he left, I was surprised to see how many people who had been further back in the crowd were hoping he would make another pass or two now that the folks in front had cleared away. It didn't seem likely to me, although I was sorry I didn't have the opportunity. It was as if a great energy had been here and suddely left, leaving people refreshed and happy. People were smiling. The day was warmer.
For some strange reason, the boys near me asked for the bottles of water near the podium. Were they going to try to sell it on ebay or were they just thirsty? I hope they were just thirsty, but it seemed a strange request. When things get odd, I suppose I may take it as a sign to go home to the chickens.For the most part, though, people milled about just to discuss the speech and perhaps talk about lunch plans. I was not, unfortunately, brave enough to bear sitting in a restaurant, even though I imagine there were some nice ones there downtown, and I couldn't see expense after spending so much in gas just to get there. I enjoyed imagining eating in downtown Chillicothe, though. I love "main streets" like this.
I thought this young woman had a pretty smile. She smiled almost the entire time I saw her.
Thanks for having me, Chillicothe. You have a lovely, friendly town... and I hope the majority of you will choose the Bread of Hope rather than the Bread of Hate to sustain you.
You can also read Senator Obama's complete remarks, as prepared.
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
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:
"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 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
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,
