I support Obama, but I don't think that means I have to agree with everything he and his campaign decide to do. I'm not "whining" or being a "chicken little" or being a "defeatist". All my points are valid and are logical.
1. Obama is focusing too much on the economy: At first glance this seems like a smart choice. We are in a economic downturn, the economy is not McCain's strongest suit and the downturn has happened while Bush has been president.
The problem is that proving your economic plan is better than your opponents is notriously hard. Obama can say he'll cut taxes, stop jobs from being outsourced and help the working man McCain can say he'll do the same and all it does is create a stalemate. The only time voters respond to the economy is when things are REALLY bad and I don't think we've reached that point yet.
I'm not saying Obama should stop talking about the economy but it should not be the centerpiece of his campaign strategy and it should not monopolize Obama's time.
2. Obama is not focusing on foreign policy: Economics can be confusing, foreign policy can be much easier to understand and this is where the differences between Democrats and Republicans is so obvious. Obama should be telling voters that McCain is a hawk and he would inflame tensions and take us to another needless war with Iran and possibly Russia. He should remind us how Bush mislead the country on Iraq and the influence that warmongering neoconservatives had on Bush and will also have on McCain. He should make it clear that as president he would use our armed forces for defense or for national interests (such as aiding an ally) but not for regime change and nation building like we have done with Iraq. He should make it clear he's not a pacifist but he would be much more cautious when taking the country into war and paint McCain as a man with a bad temper who would be much more trigger happy than he is. He should also make it vividly clear that voting for McCain could mean your kids might be drafted into another world war with the likes of Iran or Russia.
3. Obama is not going after Palin: This infuriates me, by going after Palin I don't mean personal attacks, there are a ton of legitimate reasons and concerns that a Palin Vice Presidency presents. First if elected she would be the VP to a 72 year president. Her lack of knowledge on foreign matters borders on the dangerous, she is completley unqualified. Also despite all the talk of McCain = Bush Palin seems to be more closer to Bush in terms of being a religous zealot. If she were to become president it would again mean no money for stem cell research, ignoring global warming, and possibillity of overturning roe v wade by putting conservatives justices on the bench.
Yet again and again Obama and Biden ignore her and trying to put the focus on McCain. The fact is she is the story right now and while she has energized the republican base she presents a opportunity to peg McCain as not a maverick centrist republican but more far right than independents like. Why do they not go after her? Why do they shy away and either ignore her or throw her compliments?
4. Lack of creativity: How can it be that Obama, the candidate of change, youth is getting beaten in the arena of creativity by the campaign of the guy who can't even use a computer? Doesn't Obama have the more hip, young organization? Then why are his ads so vanilla? Yes I have seen the newer commercials including the roulette wheel one. Which is a start but still it drives me crazy. The "Celebrity" commercial may be sleazy but at least it's memorable. If the Obama campaign can't make a good commercial then just choose one of the numerous good ones on YouTube made by amateurs and air that one.
What burns me is that if the O campaign held nothing back, did not hold anything back and exposed every one of McCain's lies and hypocrisies and made every point they could i could live with it if McCain still one. Because I would know the obama campaign did their best. But that's not the case, day after day they let opportunities slip away, time after time they don't nail McCain for a lie or respond to a smear. There seems to be a confusion, you are not going negative when you are telling the truth, nobody is telilng you to sink to McCain's level, but for the love of god stop holding back so much, say everything that there is to be said about McCain so god forbid we lose at least we can hold our heads high and we can say we did EVERYTHING we could.
My personal lot in life is not bad. I am one of the lucky who get to travel, send my child to private schools and feel secure in my financial situation. My worries are for the rest of our country. I see a chicken in the store for $10 and think, "How can someone just starting out on their own, or who just lost their job, or a single mom (which I have been) buy that?"
As I have traveled far and wide, I see the way the world looks at us. The Bush Regime has made us enemies of so many. My French friends wonder, "I know the American people are not a stupid people, how can they elect this man twice?" Their love of the American people has not faltered, but our government has placed us, like so many Imperialist regimes, tottering on the edge of downfall.
Barack Obama is the first plain-speaking politician I have seen in many years. I have put my heart and soul into trusting a politician again. He has verbalized what I have thought for so long, that we have become a nation enslaved by big business lobbies and hypnotized and disinterested, feeling helpless over OUR OWN GOVERNMENT! We may as well be living in a dictatorship if we remain passive, that's why I am here.
I'm just tired of the bias in the media. As far as I'm concerned, the media was far too easy on Clinton for the Bosnia sniper fire gaffe. I bet that if lightning were to strike and give her the nomination, that same gaffe will be magnified.
What most people don't realize is that the Republicans have been preparing for years to run against Hillary. Two political events occured that they didn't count on. There are countless outside events, but I'm just talking about political for now. For one, they counted on Guiliani to be their nominee, and not McCain. They counted on Hillary. Remotely, they thought maybe Edwards, but not Obama. They don't know how to handle Obama.
When I said frustrated, I mean that the far right gave us their strategy, and we still fell into the trap. During the Texas & Ohio primaries, even though Clinton was far behind, with little chance of catching up, Rush Limbaugh said that Republicans should keep her in the race as long as possible, so that Obama was already bloodied up for his fight with McCain.
Also, the media focuses on the Reverend Wright, even though McCain sought the endorsement of a minister that called Catholics whores and advocated starting World War III. Yet you always hear them refer to the "Liberal Media". Sorry, just had to get some of that out. Anyone else?
Frustration is something that seems temporary to me - for example when the computer freezes up or when there're unexpected traffic snarls keeping you from being on time for that appointment. Bitter truly feels more like an emotion that has deepened inside of your physical and mental realms. Its presence may even define the facial aging lines a bit more severely and make us more prone to a reactionary response. Bitterness sets in when the situation provoking it is out of the control of the people affected to do anything. Bitterness is the ultimate emotional response resulting from "being victimized" by something you felt was trustworthy but found to be otherwise.
So I responded as being both frustrated and bitter at the following links:
http://pa.barackobama.com/page/s/paletter and http://www.bitteramericans.com/
My response is below:
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We've got work to do.I watched Russert on Meet the Press this morning with some of the most saavy political operatives that exist today.If you get past their obvious backing of their respective candidates, you get a common thread.'Bitter' is going to be run into the bitter ground!I have a great deal of respect for the managers of our campain. A metered and decisive response to the Wright issue was exceptionally handled. Sen Obama's response was strong and confident. It gave me new respect and faith in our candidate. It took exactly 10 days to get the focus back on the issues and off 'Obama the candidate with problems'.What's exactly 9 days from now? We need to get to work! I have no doubt our campain staff will handle this quickly and forcefully with definition and heavy air time focusing on the true meaning of the 'bitter' that we feel as voters, and then re-focus on the true issues and voters themselves.'WE THE BLOGGERS' need to get into overdrive to help the campaign refocus on 'our' message.Put this outstanding Barack Obama response on the 'true' value and meaning of his comments http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc9PepjyDow out there in cyberspace at every location you can come up with. Get on the phone banks and make new calls or re-double the calls you've made to date. People really want to talk about this and we can't allow the 'truth' to be spun.DONATE! DONATE! DONATE! Buy Barack stuff, contribute to a fundraising site, contribute directly, get a fundraiser going, get a new donor, cash in your pennies and start a Barack penny fund, whatever,, this becomes the strongest message we can send. Donate! Donate! Donate!Truth is tough some times.. 'Bitter' can become the meaningful message for us that it was meant to be.
Please donate here and help: http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/maingroup/newsmyrnaforobama
YES WE CAN!!
Sometimes the truth matters!
Here's the link to the Terre Haute town hall meeting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc9PepjyDow
TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA – At a town hall meeting in Indiana, U.S. Senator Barack Obama made the following comments in response to the Clinton and McCain campaign’s attacks:
“When I go around and I talk to people there is frustration and there is anger and there is bitterness. And what’s worse is when people are expressing their anger then politicians try to say what are you angry about? This just happened – I want to make a point here today.
“I was in San Francisco talking to a group at a fundraiser and somebody asked how’re you going to get votes in Pennsylvania? What’s going on there? We hear that’s its hard for some working class people to get behind you’re campaign. I said, “Well look, they’re frustrated and for good reason. Because for the last 25 years they’ve seen jobs shipped overseas. They’ve seen their economies collapse. They have lost their jobs. They have lost their pensions. They have lost their healthcare.
“And for 25, 30 years Democrats and Republicans have come before them and said we’re going to make your community better. We’re going to make it right and nothing ever happens. And of course they’re bitter. Of course they’re frustrated. You would be too. In fact many of you are. Because the same thing has happened here in Indiana. The same thing happened across the border in Decatur. The same thing has happened all across the country. Nobody is looking out for you. Nobody is thinking about you. And so people end up- they don’t vote on economic issues because they don’t expect anybody’s going to help them. So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don’t believe they can count on Washington. So I made this statement-- so, here’s what rich. Senator Clinton says ‘No, I don’t think that people are bitter in Pennsylvania. You know, I think Barack’s being condescending.’ John McCain says, ‘Oh, how could he say that? How could he say people are bitter? You know, he’s obviously out of touch with people.’
“Out of touch? Out of touch? I mean, John McCain—it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he’s saying I’m out of touch? Senator Clinton voted for a credit card-sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt after taking money from the financial services companies, and she says I’m out of touch? No, I’m in touch. I know exactly what’s going on. I know what’s going on in Pennsylvania. I know what’s going on in Indiana. I know what’s going on in Illinois. People are fed-up. They’re angry and they’re frustrated and they’re bitter. And they want to see a change in Washington and that’s why I’m running for President of the United States of America.”
Here's the link to his magnificent response to Clinton and McCain attacking him on his "people are bitter" comment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc9PepjyDow
I was talking to my family about the Nevada debate today while we were watching the results come in from the caucus. It occurred to us, as the pundits began to attribute reasons for the projected outcome that the “strength and weakness” question that Senator Obama has been repeated whacked with portrays a greater flaw embedded in Hillary’s so-called answer.
