Join our group and find out how you can help Barack in our neighborhood.
I voted and supported President Obama. I wanted change, however, not this change!
MANDATORY FLU INJECTIONS TO ALL NEW YORK STATE HEALTH CARE WORKERS! WHERE IS MY INHERENT RIGHT OF CHOICE? PRESIDENT OBAMA, PLEASE REVERSE THIS BLANTANT VIOLATIONOF OUR CIVIL AND INHERENT RIGHT OF CHOICE.
Where in the 10th Amendment to the Constitution are you given the right to try to pull a stunt like this? No government has the right to require vaccination of any kind for anyone UNLESS it has been PROVEN WITHOUT A DOUBT that a NATIONAL EMERGENCY exists and then the requirement is questionable and only to be used under the strictist guidelines. Would you even stop to find out if someone is allergic to such ??? medications ??? As far as I'm concerned this is just one more attempt to negate State's Rights laws and the rights of the citizens of this country. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution does NOT give you the power to make this requirement of the citizens of this country, nor to impose punishment should a person refuse to cooperate.
Approximately 1 million people will attend the Caribbean Day Parade on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn on Monday, September 7. Help us spread information about our broken health care system and the Obama plan for health care reform. We will set up tables along the parade route with flyers listing online sources for issues such as comparative costs and results of health care spending (US vs. other countries), the economics of health care, how we will actually save a lot of money by investing in health care reform now, etc. We will also provide info on how to connect with other people who want to bring real change to our health care system and help people to get involved in pressuring Congress to pass a health care reform bill with a strong public option. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Details here.
Health reform is finally within grasp. Opponents are spending millions every day to destroy it. We cannot let this happen. We voted for change in '08 and we must see it through.On Saturday, August 29, 2009, New Yorkers will walk from all parts of the city for the first ever United We Walk for Reform Rally in support of the historic health reform legislation before Congress.It's our health care. It's our time. Save the date to make your voice heard.MID-MORNING, ACROSS THE CITY: Grassroots groups will meet in front of hospitals and health clinics across the city to walk to rally at Times Square. Check out mybarackobama.com for meeting locations in the next week (or set up one of your own).
2 - 3:30 PM - UNITY RALLY: Rally for health care at Times Square, 42nd St. and 7th Avenue
Every aspect of our social world is the result of choices that could have gone one way or another. Now is one of those key moments in our lives when the choices we make have a dramatic effect on our lives, those of our children and their children.
For the first time in history, health care reform plans have been voted out of committee in Congress. With thousands of people losing their health insurance every day, and costs projected to rise much faster than our wages--until health care spending crowds out all other items in the Federal budget--we cannot afford to let the best chance in our lives for health care reform slip away. Conservative (blue dog) Democrats are threatening to torpedo health care reform and we can't let that happen. That's why NYC for Change and various other groups are organizing phone banking events this week asking Obama supporters in the states of blue dog Democrats to call their senators and urge them to support President Obama's health care reform plan with a strong public option.
PLEASE VOLUNTEER for one or more of the phone banking events on the list below.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090417_Obama_proves_his_toughness.html
With the dramatic and successful conclusion of this past week's pirate standoff in the waters off Somalia, the media and punditry are buzzing with analyses of President Obama's performance as commander in chief during his first "crisis."
We now know the president closely monitored the situation, having received 17 briefings on it. And Vice Adm. William Gortney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said the president gave military operators "very clear guidance and authority" to use deadly force if Capt. Richard Phillips' life appeared to be in danger.
As a former naval officer, I was riveted by this at-sea hostage rescue and the safe return of Phillips. And as a progressive Democrat who campaigned and voted for Obama, I was reminded that he represents a breed of Democrats who are strong on national security, believe in the strength of the U.S. military, and will not shy from the use of force when warranted.
And it wasn't just this rescue mission that proved it.
Let's consider Obama's broader performance as commander in chief over the past 12 weeks. This is a president whose critics labeled him unfit to lead. Sarah Palin called him "reckless" and "disqualified," while Dick Cheney accused him of making America "less safe." They were as wrong as Obama has been successful.
Contrary to popular opinion, the pirate standoff was not Obama's first national-security test. He has already made major decisions involving the military on Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Mexico (the setting of a full-fledged counterinsurgency against drug cartels). I would argue that the rescue of Phillips was not even Obama's first authorization of the use of force; he also has maintained the U.S. military's ability to conduct Predator drone strikes against al-Qaeda in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In February, the president implemented his plan to end the war in Iraq by withdrawing most American combat troops by August 2010, with a residual force of 50,000 remaining until the end of the following year. This balanced approach heeded the advice of military commanders on the ground and fulfilled the requirements of the status-of-forces agreement with Iraq, which requires U.S. forces to leave by the end of 2011. The president has not, nor will he, "cut and run."
Also in February, Obama ordered the deployment of an additional 17,000 soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to aid in the defeat of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. As the president said at the time, "This increase is necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction, and resources it urgently requires."
Three weeks ago, Obama announced the results of his strategic review of Afghanistan policy. While he is recommitting the United States to a regional approach and a renewed emphasis on diplomacy and development, he authorized an additional 4,000 troops and is showing no signs of shying away from the fight against al-Qaeda.
The fact is that this president has made a muscular stand on national security in the short time he has been in office. I believe he has garnered the respect of our military leaders for his clear ability to seek, listen to, and apply their counsel. And I believe he has the admiration and support of our servicemen and servicewomen for his clear-eyed approach to how the military should be employed, where it should be fighting, and how its veterans should be treated when they return home.
I am proud of Obama's performance as commander in chief, and of the fact that a strong, progressive Democrat is doing exactly what we elected him to do.
Hello:My name is Allie Feldman, and I'm helping Ben Baruch with Organizing for America here in New York. We just wanted to make sure everyone sees the email and video below discussing OFA's next nationwide initiative -- the Pledge Project. Please feel free to contact me or Ben if you have any questions or concerns.Stay tuned for more updates coming by the end of the week!Thanks,Allie--Allie FeldmanVolunteer Organizing for America | New Yorkallie.feldman@gmail.com 908-370-2689
Ben BaruchVolunteer LiaisonOrganizing for America | New York
bennett.baruch@obamaalumni.com
Just over a week ago, President Obama submitted his first budget and made it clear he was ready for the fight to come.The President isn't alone. We're ready for that fight too -- it's what you built this movement for.Watch a video I recorded announcing our new initiative, the Organizing for America Pledge Project:Americans are ready for the bold new direction this plan offers. It's what they voted for in November, and it's needed now more than ever as we continue to face an unprecedented economic crisis.But the special interests and old ways of Washington won't go away easily. In fact, they'll only fight back harder.It's up to you to organize support for President Obama's plan throughout the country. It's the only way we'll get the change this country needs.Take the next step now in our fight to bring change:http://my.barackobama.com/pledgeprojectThanks,MitchMitch StewartDirectorOrganizing for America
Today President Obama revealed his administrations plan for the national budget. The Forbes site has a story with a very user friendly breakdown on how the budget will affect us based on agency. I carefully went over it once and it not only seemed reasonable but at the same time "revolutionary" (good ideas for some reason are referred to as "revolutionary" when in fact they are simply good ideas) then i had a beer and went over the budget once again. And i have to say it made even more sense. You can check out that link here: By the way...President Obama included the projected price of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as projected to 2010 in the budget. The Bush administration never came close to even thinking of revealing that information. It's like the 2 wars fell into the category "miscellaneous" expenditures that somehow we didn't have to worry about paying. Umm...ya...ok. p.s. i have a bridge to Brooklyn on sale in case anyone is interested. I accept paypal. Anyway...link here: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/02/26/ap6101662.html For some un-friggin' believable reason the republi-con party continues to try to equate the idea of "fairness" as a form of socialism. And this because "the rich" will have to pay their fair share of taxes and yes....luxury taxes. After all...how can it be that we, citizens of the greatest democracy to ever exist on this planet earth, now in the midst of the greatest economic crisis finding millions losing their homes and jobs with many of the "working poor" on public assistance while a "fortunate" few involved in our demise can own 5+ houses, 10+cars, an airplane and a couple of yachts etc... etc...etc...and get tax breaks all at the same time to save "them" money so that they can in turn make the "economy better"..??? Who's economy is that..?? It's not mine. And yet if you watch conservative media they try very hard to tell you that the same old plan will work. They may make reference to two popular republicans; Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan (the former is and was my personal hero, the latter i considered great on foreign policy but an @sshole in regards to domestic issues and yet "the latter" is the only one referred to by the republi-bot party.) For Gods' sake you'd think republi-scums were ashamed by Lincolns abolition of slavery. (maybe they were..) In either case neither one of them had access to the internet so they at least had an excuse. But that story doesn't work so well anymore. the republican party not only has to be a partner in a solution to this nations' problems; they have to reflect the nations demographic. A demographic that is ...how shall i say....shittily represented? ("shittily" isn't a word i know...but it is now.) After all...we aren't all white conservative christian southerners. And despite that fact we can be patriotic Americans. (oooh...did i let that slip out..??) One last thought for tonight (before my wife kicks me again...) "Punditry" is not journalism. It's propaganda. Punditry is an industry. Whether it be from the "left" side of Matthews and Olberman or from the "right" side of "limbaugh and coulter" their function is not one of journalism. It is one of propagandism. It's about ratings and income and advertising and fame. It is not journalism. We now have the ability to look things up ourselves and i suggest we do it every chance we get because the only truth is the truth you discover. Change comes from the bottom up, not from the top down. That said...i can see something in the distance.....something raucous and chaotic. Something non-sensical. I can see it clearer now.....it's the republican response to the budget. Look out...Here they come. Reporting live from my situation room on the east side of manhattan island ; It's dave.
Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive.
The election of Mr. Obama amounted to a national catharsis — a repudiation of a historically unpopular Republican president and his economic and foreign policies, and an embrace of Mr. Obama’s call for a change in the direction and the tone of the country.
But it was just as much a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago.
Mr. Obama, 47, a first-term senator from Illinois, defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona, 72, a former prisoner of war who was making his second bid for the presidency.
To the very end, Mr. McCain’s campaign was eclipsed by an opponent who was nothing short of a phenomenon, drawing huge crowds epitomized by the tens of thousands of people who turned out to hear Mr. Obama’s victory speech in Grant Park in Chicago.
Mr. McCain also fought the headwinds of a relentlessly hostile political environment, weighted down with the baggage left to him by President Bush and an economic collapse that took place in the middle of the general election campaign.“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” said Mr. Obama, standing before a huge wooden lectern with a row of American flags at his back, casting his eyes to a crowd that stretched far into the Chicago night.
“It’s been a long time coming,” the president-elect added, “but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America.”
The focus shifted quickly on Wednesday to the daunting challenges facing the president-elect, with his supporters offering sober reflections of what lies ahead.
“We’re in deep trouble,” said Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat and leader in the civil rights movement, on NBC’s Today show.
“We’ve got to get our economy out of the ditch, end the war in Iraq and bring our young men and women home, provide health care for all our citizens,” Lewis said. “And he’s going to call on us, I believe, to sacrifice. We all must give up something.”
Mr. McCain delivered his concession speech under clear skies on the lush lawn of the Arizona Biltmore, in Phoenix, where he and his wife had held their wedding reception. The crowd reacted with scattered boos as he offered his congratulations to Mr. Obama and saluted the historical significance of the moment.
“This is a historic election, and I recognize the significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight,” Mr. McCain said, adding, “We both realize that we have come a long way from the injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation.”
Not only did Mr. Obama capture the presidency, but he led his party to sharp gains in Congress. This puts Democrats in control of the House, the Senate and the White House for the first time since 1995, when Bill Clinton was in office.
The day shimmered with history as voters began lining up before dawn, hours before polls opened, to take part in the culmination of a campaign that over the course of two years commanded an extraordinary amount of attention from the American public.
As the returns became known, and Mr. Obama passed milestone after milestone —Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa and New Mexico — people rolled spontaneously into the streets to celebrate what many described, with perhaps overstated if understandable exhilaration, a new era in a country where just 143 years ago, Mr. Obama, as a black man, could have been owned as a slave.
For Republicans, especially the conservatives who have dominated the party for nearly three decades, the night represented a bitter setback and left them contemplating where they now stand in American politics.
Mr. Obama and his expanded Democratic majority on Capitol Hill now face the task of governing the country through a difficult period: the likelihood of a deep and prolonged recession, and two wars. He took note of those circumstances in a speech that was notable for its sobriety and its absence of the triumphalism that he might understandably have displayed on a night when he won an Electoral College landslide.
“The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep,” said Mr. Obama, his audience hushed and attentive, with some, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, wiping tears from their eyes. “We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.” The roster of defeated Republicans included some notable party moderates, like Senator John E. Sununu of New Hampshire and Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut, and signaled that the Republican conference convening early next year in Washington will be not only smaller but more conservative.
Mr. Obama will come into office after an election in which he laid out a number of clear promises: to cut taxes for most Americans, to get the United States out of Iraq in a fast and orderly fashion, and to expand health care.
In a recognition of the difficult transition he faces, given the economic crisis, Mr. Obama is expected to begin filling White House jobs as early as this week.
Mr. Obama defeated Mr. McCain in Ohio, a central battleground in American politics, despite a huge effort that brought Mr. McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, back there repeatedly. Mr. Obama had lost the state decisively to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in the Democratic primary.
Mr. McCain failed to take from Mr. Obama the two Democratic states that were at the top of his target list: New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Mr. Obama also held on to Minnesota, the state that played host to the convention that nominated Mr. McCain; Wisconsin; and Michigan, a state Mr. McCain once had in his sights.
The apparent breadth of Mr. Obama’s sweep left Republicans sobered, and his showing in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania stood out because officials in both parties had said that his struggles there in the primary campaign reflected the resistance of blue-collar voters to supporting a black candidate.
“I always thought there was a potential prejudice factor in the state,” Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat of Pennsylvania who was an early Obama supporter, told reporters in Chicago. “I hope this means we washed that away.”
Mr. McCain called Mr. Obama at 10 p.m., Central time, to offer his congratulations. In the call, Mr. Obama said he was eager to sit down and talk; in his concession speech, Mr. McCain said he was ready to help Mr. Obama work through difficult times.
“I need your help,” Mr. Obama told his rival, according to an Obama adviser, Robert Gibbs. “You’re a leader on so many important issues.”
Mr. Bush called Mr. Obama shortly after 10 p.m. to congratulate him on his victory.
“I promise to make this a smooth transition,” the president said to Mr. Obama, according to a transcript provided by the White House .”You are about to go on one of the great journeys of life. Congratulations, and go enjoy yourself.”
For most Americans, the news of Mr. Obama’s election came at 11 p.m., Eastern time, when the networks, waiting for the close of polls in California, declared him the victor. A roar sounded from the 125,000 people gathered in Hutchison Field in Grant Park at the moment that they learned Mr. Obama had been projected the winner.
The scene in Phoenix was decidedly more sour. At several points, Mr. McCain, unsmiling, had to motion his crowd to quiet down — he held out both hands, palms down — when they responded to his words of tribute to Mr. Obama with boos.
Mr. Obama, who watched Mr. McCain’s speech from his hotel room in Chicago, offered a hand to voters who had not supported him in this election, when he took the stage 15 minutes later. “To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn,” he said, “I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president, too.”
Initial signs were that Mr. Obama benefited from a huge turnout of voters, but particularly among blacks. That group made up 13 percent of the electorate, according to surveys of people leaving the polls, compared with 11 percent in 2006.
In North Carolina, Republicans said that the huge surge of African-Americans was one of the big factors that led to Senator Elizabeth Dole, a Republican, losing her re-election bid.
Mr. Obama also did strikingly well among Hispanic voters; Mr. McCain did worse among those voters than Mr. Bush did in 2004. That suggests the damage the Republican Party has suffered among those voters over four years in which Republicans have been at the forefront on the effort to crack down on illegal immigrants.
The election ended what by any definition was one of the most remarkable contests in American political history, drawing what was by every appearance unparalleled public interest.
Throughout the day, people lined up at the polls for hours — some showing up before dawn — to cast their votes. Aides to both campaigns said that anecdotal evidence suggested record-high voter turnout.
Reflecting the intensity of the two candidates, Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama took a page from what Mr. Bush did in 2004 and continued to campaign after the polls opened.
Mr. McCain left his home in Arizona after voting early Tuesday to fly to Colorado and New Mexico, two states where Mr. Bush won four years ago but where Mr. Obama waged a spirited battle.
These were symbolically appropriate final campaign stops for Mr. McCain, reflecting the imperative he felt of trying to defend Republican states against a challenge from Mr. Obama.
“Get out there and vote,” Mr. McCain said in Grand Junction, Colo. “I need your help. Volunteer, knock on doors, get your neighbors to the polls, drag them there if you need to.”
By contrast, Mr. Obama flew from his home in Chicago to Indiana, a state that in many ways came to epitomize the audacity of his effort this year. Indiana has not voted for a Democrat since President Lyndon B. Johnson’s landslide victory in 1964, and Mr. Obama made an intense bid for support there. He later returned home to Chicago play basketball, his election-day ritual.
Elisabeth Bumiller contributed reporting from Phoenix, Marjorie Connelly from New York and Jeff Zeleny from Chicago.
This is it!
We're coming down to the final stretch and Barack Obama needs your help now, more than ever before!
Please bring your cell phone, a charger and a few fun friends who care about change and join with thousands of your neighbors in the largest ever-attempted phone bank effort in New York state history. The Obama campaign is hosting several of these "mega call centers" all over New York, so invite your friends and family to make calls to voters in key battleground states and change America for years to come.
Visit http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/nylastcall to find a location near you.
As I watch the news, look at the campaign stops, listen to the various tactics the McCain campaign has tried...I ask myself one simple question.
If John McCain can not run an organized campaign, if he can not come out with a clear strategy and clear tactics to achieve those goals...
HOW CAN HE RUN THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE GOVENMENT OF THE UNITED STATES????
THINK ABOUT IT my friends
When John asked Sarah to be his running mate,
She did not blink, she did not wait.
Did Sarah so charm John McCain
That he failed to think and think again?
A presidential hopeful, old and sick,
Needed to make a smarter pick.
Sarah's rise to fame was rapid;
She's better dressed, but no less vapid.
The GOP has, thus, become
The party of the confused and dumb.
For a lot less chaos and a lot less drama:
Vote for Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
