Second of all, surely we all agree that this is a positive message and one that our students desperately need to hear. Is anyone suggesting our kids should not do well in school or that they should drop out?
I think his critics need to get a grip on themselves quickly because it is now becoming a question of either intelligence or hatred. At this point, it is hard to tell if they are ignorant when it comes to the facts or if their hatred has simply blinded them to the truth. It has been said that ignorance is bliss but that is not the case. Ignorance is simply ignorance. Bliss requires knowledge of and appreciation for your circumstances thereby ruling out ignorance. FYI, ignorance is not a good look.
According to a news article, the President’s critics seem to have a problem with the questions on the study guide that has been provided to assist in a discussion session to follow his speech. Questions such as “What do you think the President is trying to say to you?” Where is the offense? If the President is the one who gave the speech, isn't it legitimate to ask, “What is the President trying to say”? This is simply getting ridiculous. Instead of making intelligent points, they are grasping at straws and making themselves look less than intelligent. Much less.
Our country is falling behind other countries and our children need encouragement from every quarter and President Obama’s critics want to play politics! You know what? President Obama is not perfect. If he makes a mistake, he should be called on it but this petty straw grasping does not reflect well on his critics at all.
I do, however, have to give our President credit for his incredible ability to stay above the mess. I hope in a similar situation I could react the same but as agitated as I feel now on the sidelines, I don’t think I would handle it as brilliantly as he does.
I should not continue to be surprised at the low level tactics of his critics, yet I am. I am disappointed as well. See, having been born post slavery, it has always baffled my mind that this great country I live in could have such a period of shame in its history. Yet, as each day passes and the hatred becomes more blatant, my mind becomes less baffled.
A speech on the importance of education is now a BAD thing? The President is being criticized for sending out questions to get students thinking about the speech he just made? Not comments, mind you, but questions? So, the students should listen to his speech and then what? Not discuss, not think about it ever again? Not question the message they just heard? I think it is a sign of strength that President Obama didn't just expect to give a speech and have students mindlessly swallow it whole. Instead he chose to spark discussion with the students about the value of education and the wisdom of staying in school. He chose to get them thinking and talking.
Show me the downside! It’s wrong? Really?
I’ll tell you what’s wrong. What's wrong is that it is 2009 and this conversation is historic in that it has never been done quite this way.
When graduation rates dropped, this should have been done!
When the achievement gap widened, this should have been done!
When other countries began to surpass us, this should have been done!
If you want to point fingers, let’s at least point them in the right direction!
I am more than ready for people to stop politicking, roll up their sleeves and get to work! Let’s get to the hard work of getting us back on track! Our situation is entirely too serious for us to still be playing politics! Let’s get to the hard work of getting our kids to see the value of education, what it means for their future and for the future of our country.
It’s time for some people to wake up! Instead of worrying about us drinking the Kool-Aid, I sincerely wish they would start smelling the coffee!!
Good Day All: I just completed celebrating Thanksgiving & my birthday with four days off work. I can truly say that I feel especially blessed this year because I'm thankfully alive, my family and friends helped me celebrate and I received the best birthday present of my adult life - the president that I wanted, wished for, worked for and helped to elect - Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. Yay!!! The only damper I've felt in the past few days has come from the dastardly news going on in Mumbai, India.So, I've been thinking (a dangerous action), and trying to figure out a NEW and more EFFECTIVE way to go about changing the hearts and minds of the overly sensitive hot-headed terrorists of the world. I don't know that mine or anyone else's ideas would help at this point, and we might just help to make them more desparate & volatile, but I believe we MUST use a new tactic or two. Here are my lofty & realistic ideas:* President Obama should call a World Summit for Peace by asking the top aids and/or officials of all hostile nations to meet (probably in groups with neutral mediators), work towards consensus on at least two issues and agree to a cease fire (no bombings or terror actions) while implementing the agreed upon changes within a specific timeframe. If successful, the countries can work on the next two issues and keep repeating the process as needed...
* President Obama can ask our U.S. foreign ambassadors to team up with our foreign aid workers to put an AGRESSIVE plan in place and begin helping with the food, medical, clean-water, agricultural and micro-economic issues of the people in nations that are hostile towards America. A lot of the hostility towards western nations is due to the enormous gap between the haves & the have nots! I believe that we could bring an end to some of the hostile angst by helping the resentful nations to feed, clothe and shelter those in need...
* I believe President Obama's humility, diplomatic attitude and calm demeanor will also help to quiet some of the hostility that other nations have toward America. I would like to see President Obama give a few reality check speeches to some of America's hard-core opposition nations so that they can witness his sincerity and hear his message of peace in person. I don't think they would be able to resist Barack's charm and inspiration...
Yes - I know these are a crazy mix of hope, pipe-dream and realism but, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the above.
August 31, 2008
Words matter, speeches can change America; both are tools of great leadership. Leadership that has been absent these last eight years with a seemingly illiterate Administration.
Slogans sell. Remember “Remember the Alamo?”; “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”; “The New Deal”; “The New Frontier”; and “The Great Society.”
Then there are the great quotations: “Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security”; “A day that will live in infamy”; “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. (Eisenhower).”
“A day that will live in infamy” ---allowed FDR to move a very unwilling and completely unready nation to war in World War Two.
Remember a “uniter not a divider”; compassionate conservative”, “I don’t believe in nation-building and won’t get involved in foreign entanglements”---famous words of George W. Bush that many people believed in and became the real basis of their vote in 2000. Things that can be proven today to be totally untrue about a leader some thought was ready to lead. Yet, you fell for them, hook, line and sinker.
"The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie - deliberate and dishonest --- but the myth - persistent and persuasive....." - John F. Kennedy.
Words did matter for Barack Obama in every one of his 45 minute speeches, when the Neoconservatives picked out a sound byte and held it against him. In dozens of speeches so inspiring that they will guide history---they stand almost forgotten on his website. Worse yet, a small group of greedy right-wing self-interested anti-patriots can destroy our hopes, our dreams, and the change we can believe in by running ads with their carefully crafted sound bytes. Our hopes, our dreams, and the change we can believe in are the central core of the Obama campaign.
A theme echoed some 40 years earlier: "Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not." - Senator Robert F. Kennedy; 1968 Presidential Campaign.
Obama’s opponents dismiss him as a novice and unready; and even level the ridiculous charge of him being an elitist. Yet, the same was said of another President: “The free society who do not take care of its many who are poor will not be able to save it’s few who are rich.” - John F. Kennedy.
John McCain is a rebel not a maverick. A rebel is one that seeks to destroy the system and not work from within.
Sincerely,
William Henry Mee
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Candidates should hold press conferences quite regularly, for four main reasons.
First, the regularity would ensure that different subjects were covered in rotation up until the election. A good deal of time could be spent examining an issue and allowing the public to get a definite feel for how the candidate would deal with it. It would allow the public to also envisage that candidate in a 'presidential' capacity, dealing ad hoc with difficult questions, instead of someone just making speeches they have prepared and saying anything they believe the audience wants to hear. It would definitely force them to keep on topic.
Lincoln
If you're wondering what makes a good president nowadays, just remember the greatest presidents of the past and try and find their qualities in a candidate from today.
Yes We Can (words and music by Peter Armetta) is at http://www.archive.org/details/YesWeCan_111
I guess you can't know how numb you've been until you begin to wake up. Hearing a Presidential candidate unequivocally state an obvious fact, that a government serving the interests of the wealthy and the powerful at the cost of untold pain to ordinary people all over the world is not worthy of us and the country we all love, has made a tremendous difference to me. Senator Obama is right; hope is an American tradition. In the last analysis, it is we ordinary people who make the difference, either by our benumbed and hopeless silence or by beginning to take responsibility for shaping our own destiny. Ordinary Americans of all races and traditions have done it before us, and we can do it, too.
The song at the link above was written the day after Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for President. I hope it will speak to you. Please forward it to anyone you feel may respond to Obama's message: that real change is possible and the time for it is NOW!
But the best advocate is the man himself. Here is a link to a collection of his speeches that really gives a sense of what he's about and what he's asking of us (especially "On Taking Back Government" and "A More Perfect Union"):
http://cid-989b4bad74a5dfb1.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Essential%20Obama%20AudioI hope this finds you well and successfully engaged in exactly your own way in making the world what Senator Obama's candidacy reminds us it can be.
Peter Armetta
This campaign is beginning to look too much like the last two. Who ever is running this campaign needs to get their you know what together. Obama and Biden look unprepared, their answers to questions are unfocused and their speeches are rambling.
Believe you me, the Republicans are not going to leave anything to chance. This campaign shouldn't either.
Get on message and get on message now. This campaign is losing the swing voters it needs to attract and its losing them by letting McCain and Palin make too many cheep shots. When McCain says "Obama believes you need to lose Iraq to win Afghanistan", we need to hit back with "McCain believes we need to win a war that never should have been, while losing Afghanistan to Al Queda and the Taliban"
What this campaign needs is a focus bullet points. Take a lesson from Ross Perot and Newt Gingrich. Why were they so popular - particularly with the crowd this campaign needs to win? Because they understood the basic principle of having short, easy to undertand committments that can be communicated to the average joe. American's remember Perot's graph charts and Gingrich's Contract For America.
> America needs Health Care Plan that keeps Americans healthy, not a Health Care Plan that keeps Insurance companies and Pharmaceutical Companies healthy.
> American needs a Tax and Economic Policy for the Middle Class and those in Need, not a Tax and Economic Policy for the Rich
> America needs a Foreign Policy that creates partnerships in the world, not enemies.
> America needs a Military Policy that focuses on Military missions, not Nation Building missions. A plan that secures America by going after Al Queda where they are - like Afghanistan and Pakistan - not being a police force for Iraqis.
> America needs a Government by and for the People, not by and for the corporations and lobby groups. We need transparency and openness, not secrecy.
> American needs a Government that creates a fair playing field for businesses and workers on an international stage - equal pay for women, protection from aggressive and monopolistic capitalism like China.
> America needs a Government that believes in Science, not Science Fiction. Direct and immediate investment in Energy, Transportation, and Infrastructure and in Education.
All I can say is quit screwing this up or the entire thing is going to go into the toilet. Why don't I hear anything about Keating 5? Its time to take the gloves off. I see too many commercials and hear too many speeches on the defensive - get back on the offensive and do it now.
> Get back on Oprah, get back in the churches
Bottom line - don't screw this up.
-----Original Message-----Subject: FW: Sarah Palin comments from people who know herAbuse of Power maybe in the eyes of the beholders…… Sarah Palin First, comments by a political cynic and Second, those of a Palin relative that lives in Alaska gives us her feelings toward McCain's running mate And from a Alaska man who is a very serious cynic about all things political here is my take on Sara.I met and spoke with Sara Palin about two years ago at our downtown Park Strip. It is a place for walking, carnivals, political outdoor things and such. She was cooking hotdogs at a fund raiser and introducing herself to the public as a Governor hopeful.She came by and said the usual "Hi, I'm Sara Palin and I am running for Governor"...and I expected her to keep on to the next person but she asked me who I was and what I did in Alaska and we ended up talking for 15 minutes about me, Air America (she was all agog!) and my career in the Army and AAM. She is a pilot (Super Cub) I'm told although all she told me about that was that she loved flying.As I watched her over the next six months as she successfully ran for Governor I was really impressed. I was impressed greatly even before that after she resigned a good position (Alaska Gas and Oil Regulatory Commission) because a fellow Commission member (Chair of the Alaska Republican Party) misused their office and position. He was using the FAX, computers, printing room and all to promote the Republican endeavors while in a State job. That is a huge no-no in any government employment position.She resigned and made her point and within weeks Randy Ruderich (the above bad guy) found his ass out on the street and a subsequent investigation found him guilty and he was fined $12,000. Small change actually but a giant point was made.Next she went after our most horrible Governor ever, Governor Murkowski, and damned if she didn't beat him! All of us here in Alaska , except the Democrats, are sick of our State's corruption. That fact was shouted to the heavens after she was elected with an overwhelming point spread.After she got into office she started after corrupt legislators and with the FBI's help we've put four of them in prison, indicted six more and the "Corrupt Bastard's Club" as they arrogantly called themselves (even had hats made with CBC on the front!) suddenly found it no fun anymore. Club membership is now in the toilet!!The current flap which has cost her a ten point loss of popularity (she's still 82%!) was over firing a popular Commissioner of Public Safety who is responsible for our Alaska State Troopers. She fired him for no STATED reason which was her prerogative as the Gov. He served entirely at her option. She and her whole family had a bad, bad experience with a rogue Trooper who was married to Sara's sister. His name is Trooper Wooten. This dimwit Trooper had threatened Sara's father (death threat!), threatened Sara ("I'll get you too"), tasered his 12 year old stepson, drove drunk in his AST cruiser, got a pass by a fellow Trooper who stopped him for erratic driving a second time while in civvies and just a host of other things not yet released to the public. He got away with it and got another pass by the Commissioner's appointed AST Trooper Internal Affairs investigator with a tiny slap on the wrist. Five days off without pay to be exact!!This maverick Trooper is still on the payroll but only just. The Union intervening saved his malcontent ass. He'll yet get his I'm sure. Incredible heat is being heaped on the Troopers. Public heat, not the Governors office.The Democrats had the audacity to appoint a obviously biased investigator, Rep. "Gunny" French (so called because he lied about being in the USMC while running for the Legislature) is a staunch liberal and under the orders of Senate President Lyda Green who hates Sara. She hates Sara because after being elected Governor Sara told the whole Legislature in one of her first meetings with them that, quote; "All of you here need some Adult Supervision!!!". Sara was seriously pissed and not afraid of anyone there.That played wonderfully well with Alaskan's after all of our corruption and after all of her successful battles against a seriously entrenched corrupt government here in Alaska . It pissed off the whole Legislature though! They have stayed pissed but also afraid of her because of her popularity.She reminds me personally of our Alaska wolverine which will fight anything in it's path if it see's fit to do so. No respect at all for size or position. Wife Cindy is in this category too. Unfortunately.In closing I must tell you that she is the best, most moral and most focused leader I've seen since President Reagan. I feel, really strongly, that like Alaska the rest of our country will love her within a few weeks. Put simply, she represents middle America like NO leader we've ever had. I think McCain made a totally brilliant move in choosing her. She's a maverick who is probably tougher and more focused than McCain himself....and she won't be a total "Yes Man" or more appropriately, woman. McCain will love her.In 2012 she will be President.My best to all of you in the hurricane belt. I hope you are all OK. We just had another mini Air America reunion here in beautiful Soldotna , Alaska along the Kenai river. Milt Olson, Mike Seal and Ernie Brace (McCains POW buddy) were all here. Ernie's wife, Nancy, is a class act and a wonderful gal. I wish you'd come up and see us. We'll be doing this every year now I guess. Like our Flying Tiger pal's before us there are not that many Air America guys left. I'm 71 myself this September 16. Where the hell did the years go so fast?My best to you old buddy.Semper Fi from the friend of a friend A relative that lives in Alaska gives us her feelings toward McCain's running mate.We were excited to hear Sarah was McCain's choice.... She is an awesome candidate.... She has proven herself a strong leader in AK and Alaska girls are pretty tough.... Around here their favorite bumper sticker is that " Alaska Girls Kick Ass" and they aren't kidding....Sarah is known for being "common folk" ... she refused her security detail, and picks up her own dry-cleaning. She lives in her own home instead of the Governor's mansion so her kids can go to their regular schools.... He husband is an Alaska Native (Indian) her kids are named after Alaska things... "Trap" is the oldest, Bristol (Bristol bay), Willow and baby Paxon are named for places, and Piper for an airplane (AK's primary transportation) She and her husband Tod still net salmon commercially during the fishing season, and she is an avid hunter, and respects the state's traditions...One of the favorite recent stories concerns the birth of her last baby... She was scheduled to speak at a big conference of Governors in the Southwest and shortly before going on stage her water broke, and she went into labor with her 5th child... She still gave the speech which was 20 minutes long and no one knew she was in labor... she was then whisked to a plane and flew back to AK because she said it just wouldn't do for the Gov. of AK to have her baby out of state!She is also a strong leader, and managed to push through a LNG pipeline contract that the men had been talking about for 20 years without action and she has only been Governor for 2 years.... She has given the good old boys a run for their money, in a state where politics are pretty rough.... She has cut spending, and believes that the PEOPLE own the resources and not the government... remember AK has no income tax, and we actually get paid to live here.... this year we will get about $3300 apiece to compensate for gas prices and our usual share of government oil revenue... She is smart, practical and Real! She also cleans up well and has a good sense of decorum in addition to speaking well and being comfortable in crowds.... Overall we are thrilled by this choice and optimistic that the McCain/Palin ticket will bring the change that the country needs... Can you tell we approve?
I have recently placed two video posted on ireport.com that were placed on cnn.com. Just my response to the Palin and McCain speeches at the RNC. Enjoy, and tell me what you think. Please feel free to leave a post because the McCain supporters certainly are going crazy with the comments! GO OBAMA!
Palin: Woman or Pitt
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-76992
Republican change? A regift
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-78406
Has anyone else noticed that the RNC speeches are asking for donations by giving out a number that DOES NOT MATCH THE NUMBER ON THE SCREEN?!
It's true, we are watching the Republican National Convention... Dingaroo Press writers are watching the entirety of BOTH conventions, to ensure that our coverage is fair... as fair as possible, considering our passion and dedication to REAL service to local communities. Just like many who spoke in Denver, at the most inpiring example of politics I have witnessed in my lifetime. (a topic for another time...)
Back to my question:
How can it be that day after day, one after another, the RNC speakers stand up and talk about the importance of "SERVICE to others" in vague ways, yet mock the years of low-paying, unappreciated, and glory-less public service by Barack? Not to mention stealing from the opposition both the theme of service and Barack's mantra that "this isn't about me, it's about you."
How can it be, that day after day, one after another, the RNC speakers make a plea for us all to donate to the numbers on the screen, yet every single time the speakers repeat a different number... one 2 on the screen, but two 2s in the speeches.
How can it be that day after day this (perhaps small) mistake is not caught? We might come to the conclusion that accuracy is not a top priority for this campaign. We might even generalize that inaccuracy is commonplace in today's entrenched Republican guard. As time goes on, and we learn more about the realities of Iraq, we watch the growing pile of evidence for such conclusions.
But the simple answer to the donation plea problem? Easy! IT MUST BE THAT NONE OF THEM HAVE ACTUALLY TRIED TO DONATE!
Please, everyone... break the code of silence around speaking politics with friends and family. We must ensure that our country has the opportunity to meet history's call, and ELECT OBAMA/BIDEN THE BEST MEN TO LEAD US INTO OUR CUTTING-EDGE PROSPEROUS DESTINY!
NO ONE CAN ARGUE THAT BARACK OBAMA IS ONE OF THE GREATEST SPEAKER THAT EVER LIVED. HIS STYLE, HIS CHOICE OF WORDS, HIS INTERACTION WITH HIS AUDIENCE ALL ARE PROOFS OF HIS ORATORY SKILLS. AS A FAN OF THIS GREAT LEADER, I DECIDED TO RANK HIS SPEECHES BY ORDER OF GREATNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. A MORE PERFECT UNION
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid1472313547
2. AUDACITY OF HOPE
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid791793079
3. CALL TO RENEWAL
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid416343938
4. NEW HAMPSHIRE: YES WE CAN SPEECH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe751kMBwms
5. IOWA VICTORY SPEECH
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid1366492713
6. EBENEZER CHURCH (DR. KING HOLIDAY)
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid1416909230
7. SAN ANTONIO SPEECH
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid1445116743
8. SOUTH CAROLINA SPEECH
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid1394647848
9. THE AMERICAN PROMISE (ACCEPTANCE SPEECH)
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid1764090280
10. SPEECH ON PATRIOTISM
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid1646739168
11. SUPER TUESDAY SPEECH
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid1407950326
12. POTOMAC PRIMARIES SPEECH
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid900718856/bclid900554575/bctid1416618529
FEEL FREE TO COMMENT!
Back in August 1963, Washington, D.C. closed all of its liquor stores and prohibited the sale of alcohol in the belief that over 100,000 crazy Black folks were going to descend on the district, get drunk and create all kinds of mayhem. Police officers were equipped with riot gear. White women were warned that because so many Black men were coming to town, they needed to be cautious about possibly being raped. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was not seen as the love fest that we see it as now. It was viewed as a recipe for disaster and mayhem. Importantly, most major newspapers did not mention Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. At that time, that speech was not seen as particularly exceptional. Time has aged it and the nation well. I was approximately two years and eight months old; Barack Obama was exactly two years old. We are the first generation of Black Americans who would be one part witness, and one part recipient of the kind of opportunities that M. L envisioned for peoples of color. Time does bring about change.
As Barack gave his monumental address, I thought about Fannie Lou Hamer again. Hamer was a Black woman from Mississippi who organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party that arrived with its own legally elected delegates at the Democratic Party’s 1964 convention. A few years earlier in 1962, Hamer was arrested after registering to vote, taken to a jail cell, and beaten so severely there that she suffered permanent kidney damage. So disfigured from her torture, for weeks she would not even allow members of her own family to see her out of the fear that one of them would become so angry they would retaliate against her captors and subsequently get themselves killed. She made the decision to organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party after meeting young black college students (who made up a majority of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s membership) traveling throughout the South spent their summer vacations educating Black citizens about their voting rights.
Hamer recognized that many counties in Mississippi held a Black majority. She believed that even she, a sharecropper with a sixth grade education, could make a difference. Hamer’s testimony on August 22, 1964 before the Democratic Conventions’ Credentials Committees was so emotional that news networks made the decision to cut away from it. Fortunately, her voice and words are preserved for future generations in numerous biographies and sound archives. (Visit: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fannielouhamercredentialscommittee.htm to hear her statement in its entirety.) When Hamer spoke to the DNC’s Credentials Committee about why the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegates should be seated, I was three years and eight months old; a few weeks earlier Barack Obama had celebrated his third birthday.
I have made references to how old we were for a reason. It has been during our lifetimes that these epic changes have occurred. In a span of less than fifty years Black Americans have gone from being beaten and killed for daring to register to vote to a moment when one Black man has become a nominee for President of the United States. As I listened to Barack’s speech this past Thursday August 28, 2008, he invoked a rather forgotten section of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech when he said that, “we cannot turn back.” I am glad that Barack chose that section to highlight.
What we have witnessed has been earned. Martin Luther King, Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer, and countless others are not here in the flesh to see this moment. Yet they made the down payment on this moment. It was never their speeches and statements that mattered most, but rather their willingness to go to jail, risk being shot at, bombed, fired from their jobs, along with their efforts to politically organize their neighbors that made what we witnessed on August 28, 2008 possible. They literally gave their lives. It is my sincere hope that none of the folks younger than I will ever have to endure what those who have gone before them have endured. But it is also my sincere hope that none of those who are younger than myself ever forget that they too may be called to extreme moments of sacrifice, particularly in the next few months before November 4, 2008. May we all remember that “we cannot turn back,” and “we cannot walk alone.”
Copyright © 2008 by Leslye J Allen
Below is a note I sent to the campaign on the eve of Barack's nomination speech in Denver. It will probably will get lost in the magnitude of feedback this site gets.
But perhaps others will resonate with its respectfully simple suggestion.
_____________
100% for Obama/Biden But... Let's Keep It Honest Too. One Example with Solution.
I understand the need to emphasize certain things about one side or the other, pros and cons, etc. but it always disappoints me when exaggeration or omissions show up in ads or speeches. Regardless which campaign does it.And especially mine (ours :)So here is a recent example where the truth could have been included without excluding the point:Biden made the point that McCain voted "95%" of the time with Bush. Only partially true: that applied for one year out of the last 8. The fact is that he went as low as +/- 77%.Biden could have said that he had voted an average of more than 85% (or whatever the exact average is).I check Politifacts and Factcheck and other sources, so do other.Why I am sensitive to (and/or pontificating on) this? Not only because I am like most voters, but I also did some spec speech work for Kerry in 2004. And my father wrote speeches for Democratic Senator and Presidential candidate Estes Kefauver in the 50s.Kefauver was a very honest man and probably not "political" enough and this may have been one of the reasons he didn't win.But this is 2008 and an historic moment for all of us.Elegance and power, honesty and persuasion, humility and conviction -- NONE of these are mutually exclusive.Applying those more IS part of the change we can believe in.Joe and Barack have strong moral, ethical and honor centers within them. PLEASE find a way to be more accurate yet still be effective in all future speeches and ads.Sincerely,Philip S. Knight
I've been following the Democratic National Convention on television and all I can say is I wish I could be there!!!
I was absolutely floored with Michelle Obama's brilliant, poignant, humble and exquisitely delivered speech. Well Done Mrs. Obama!!! Oh and Senator Kennedy's speech and Senator Clinton's speech - all were absolutely breathtaking. I missed Craig's and Senator Obama's sister's speeches, and I missed Rev. Jessie Jackson's son's speech. I'll catch up however. Everyone that I did hear spoke with great hope, anticipation, change and grace in their presentations and I am so proud to be in the Obama campaign family. So proud that I decided to support Senator Obama in the longrun!!! (I was a Hillary Clinton supporter before hearing Barack Obama speak in February 2008.)
They are currently replaying Senator Biden's speech as I type, and I'll catch the replay of President Clinton's speech. I'm just SO EXCITED. They're having such a sensational great time there.
I'll be catching Barack Obama's acceptance speech either at home on television or at the designated place to watch his speech downtown tomorrow night. I'm now running a small business and it takes a lot of my time, but I'm trying to make my life better financially so there are priorities in my life now, but I haven't forgotten my volunteer duties for the Campaign and I haven't forgotten to donate when I have extra money.
MUCH hugs and luv from me to ALL of you and to the Obama/Biden families of course.
Deborah Cunningham (aka Sweetzie1)
I was in complete awe of Michelle Obama's speech - her poise, her grace, her joy of motherhood and of being Obama's wife. I was moved and overjoyed by her overall demeanor and I loved the way the girls reacted when they were on stage and saw their dad. In addition, she looked absolutely fabulous! Her hair was gorgeous! My cousin didn't care for the broach, but I thought she looked classy.
My cousin and I, along with my 14 year old son and 13 year old daughter, watched Hillary give her speech and we were quite pleased. We just wished that she had not ran such a dirty and devisive campaign.
We watched the speeches on C-Span so that we wouldn't be bothered with commercials and news commentators. However, after the convention on Tuesday, we turned on CNN and an African-American Clinton supporter was interviewed. She was in tears because Clinton was no longer the nominee. She said she would still vote for Clinton at the convention, but in November, she might not vote at all. She said Obama has two months to prove to her why she should vote at all - citing that experience matters to her. She stated that she used to be the one to rally her troops to vote, but now she might need the rallying herself. She stated that she was on the threshold of history, being able to elect Clinton. If I could ask her two questions, I would ask her: 1) Doesn't she know she is still on the threshold - being able to elect a Black man; and 2) What first time president actually has 'experience' to be a president? Hillary has never been president; she is a senator such as Obama. I hate the fact that she continuously harped upon her 'experience' and discredited Obama's, and that one of her own ads is now being used by John McCain.
I am excited about being in such a position to make history, and I know Senator Obama has just as much experience as Senator McCain and Senator Clinton. As a party, the democrats need to unify and show other independents such as myself that same unity.
My only other comment about Hillary in general is that had she not ran in the primaries, or had she backed out earlier before feelings ran so high, it would not be this difficult to unite this party. I hope by November, people get over their hurt feelings, their desire to see a woman president, and stand behind Senator Obama and elect him to become President Obama.
All through the primaries I have talked about change, about how we cannot afford four more years of a Bush administration, and now I want to tell you emphatically and passionately why I believe this to be true.
Fact: Republicans have lied the American people into an unnecessqry war of choice and it must stop. It must stop sooner rather than later. It must stop because it is morally wrong, politically wrong, displomatically wrong, and financially wrong. Of course we must leave responsibly, we must take all of our weapons and materials with us so as not to provide the means for continuation of a brutal civil war, but leave we must. I vow to change the Bush/McCain policy of war without end or end point. I vow to engage our allies worldwide to assist us in this withdrawal.
Fact: Republicans have recklessly and stupidly financed their foolish war by selling American bonds and increasing the national debt. No American family of any means could finance their lives in this fashion, nor would they try. Our founding father would be spinning in their graves to see the fiscl health of the republic so imperiled. Not satisfied with funding the war, Republicans also wish to fund the reconstruction of Iraq with massive amounts of additional debt. I vow to reverse this reprehensible policy, and I plan to do it by dismantling the tax cut for the wealthiest of our citizens and imposing a pay as you go accounting system in the congress.
Fact: Republicans have not enacted one single piece of legislation which improves the lives of Middle Class and poor Americans. I vow to change this misguided and irresponsible folly by launching a series of legislative initiatives including universal health care, prescription drug coverage, rebuilding of neglected schools, and many others. I vow to change this Republican loyalty to wealth and privilege only by reaching out to all Americans to give them a better life and a more hopeful future for their children.
Fact: Republicans have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to a sensible renewable energy policy; I voew to stop this short-sighted stupidity for that is what it is. We can drill every square inch of American land and acheive nothing; we can drill into every possible off-shore site and be no closer to a secure energy supply. I vow to start telling the truth about energy use and I promise to change our nonsensical assignment of energy policy to big oil companies.
I promise to discuss these issues and more as the campaign unfolds and I promise to change the way these issues are discussed by politicians. When my opponent or his party lie about details of my life or positions I have taken I vow to take them head on and give them all the fight they can stand. I will not tolerate being lied about, caricatured, demeaned, or dismissed. I will do my best to convince the American people that John McCain is wrong for America, that the Republican party is wrong for America, and that we can and must do much much better in the near future or we risk losing a better future for the country we all love.
Thank you.
Latitude with Platitudes
Now that Joe Biden is starting to be “unwrapped” as Obama’s VP still un-announced, but anointed running mate, select media types will dredge up speech pilfering charges against him.To get out in front of this story, I observe the following.
No politician with national name recognition (or wants such recognition) writes everything they say. (I know Agnes, I was shocked to here that, too.)So, let’s not try to establish the parentage of an idea. It is hard enough trying to discern if they believe what they are reading.Here are some words that someone would like to see Obama speak. I agree with the sentiment expressed by these words. If Barack wants to speak them, fine; if not, that’s is also okay, because I have already repeated them myself.
The best expressed words, no matter by whom, will always be repeated; so forget about who said what first.
"Over the past year, Barack Obama has called emphatically for "change" in the United States, and on a range of issues he has offered (especially on his website) detailed analyses of the specific policies he would pursue as president. But many Americans still need to hear what would be the most enduring values of Obama's America. As one who confidently believes Barack Obama is the best choice for our nation, here is part of what I would like to hear him say in his acceptance speech:
It is time for change in America. But what do I mean by change? I mean a change back to "the better angels of our nature." I mean a change back to an America in which citizens once again ask "what they can do for their country." I mean a change back to an America that once again stands for the highest ideals of human civilization. I mean a change back to an America that inspires our own citizens and our friends throughout the world with our national purpose, our national values, and our national conduct. It is time for change in America. It is time to reaffirm once again that in our nation the government "shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech," "the right of the people to be secure . . . against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated," no person shall "be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law," "no person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws," and the government does not inflict "cruel and unusual punishments" upon any person.
These are the fundamental truths, the elemental commitments, of our American constitutional system. They define the essential core of our society and our history. It is to attain these liberties that huddled masses yearn to be free; it was to guarantee these freedoms that the Framers of the Declaration of Independence pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor; it was to protect these rights that Americans have fought and died to free the slave, make the world safe for democracy, and unyoke the world from the tyrannies of fascism, communism, and radical Islam.Sadly, in the last eight years we have lost sight of these freedoms, as we have fallen into an abyss of unrestrained government surveillance, brutal methods of interrogation, secret detentions, and secret prisons.
We have lost our way as the world's beacon of justice. We must change in order to relight that beacon for ourselves, for the international community, and for our posterity. We must also change in order to reaffirm that we are one nation. We are not red states and blue states, we are not blacks and whites, we are not Christians and Muslims, we are not the rich and the poor, we are not the straights and the gays -- we are Americans all. Each of us is precious, each of us is a valued member of our American family.
And we are a family, a family that cares for -- that must care for -- one another. Our most fundamental responsibility is to treat others as we would have them treat us. Because we are a great nation and a great people, we must be a family in which we cherish every American's worth and nurture every American's potential. That is not a Democratic idea. That is not a Republican idea. That is the American idea. It is the idea that informed the leadership of Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, John Kennedy, and Franklin Roosevelt. It demands that our government not only protect the interests of the rich and powerful, but also care for the meek, the oppressed, and the disadvantaged.
That is what a family is, and that is what America is, and must be once again.This principle of a national American community, with justice for all, will drive my economic policies, my health care policies, my environmental policies, my foreign policies, my tax policies and my judicial appointments.
We must change in order to recapture the best of our nation, the best of our history -- a history that freed the slaves, granted women the right to vote, ended racial segregation, guaranteed religious liberty, and enacted laws to protect the rights of children, the elderly, and the disabled. Ours is a nation built on a spirit of empathy - on a capacity to see into the hearts of our fellow citizens and to understand what drives them, what sustains them, what makes them different, and ultimately what makes them human. We need to change in order once again to be the America that aspires for what is best for all Americans, that reaches out a hand to those in need, that respects our most fundamental freedoms. As the descendents of those bold and optimistic men who mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to one another more than two centuries ago, we can do no less today.
Most liberal pundits have been casting McSame as the reincarnation of red-baiting fascist McCarthyism. Joe McCarthy was a one-note anti-Communist. The breadth and depth of the radical changes envisioned by the far right (and they are radical and not traditional) are much more accurately seen as a parrellel to the visions of the Nazis. This is not a comparison that I make lightly; comparing everyone we don't like to Hitler and the Nazis is an insult to the millions of lives ended by their evil program, as well as to an intelligent understanding of the easy acceptance that greated their all-consuming fascist, jingoist philosophy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
After we were hit on September 11 2001, we were in a state of national shock. Less than six weeks later, on October 26 2001, the USA Patriot Act was passed by a Congress that had little chance to debate it; many said that they scarcely had time to read it. We were told we were now on a "war footing"; we were in a "global war" against a "global caliphate" intending to "wipe out civilisation". There have been other times of crisis in which the US accepted limits on civil liberties, such as during the civil war, when Lincoln declared martial law, and the second world war, when thousands of Japanese-American citizens were interned. But this situation, as Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda notes, is unprecedented: all our other wars had an endpoint, so the pendulum was able to swing back toward freedom; this war is defined as open-ended in time and without national boundaries in space - the globe itself is the battlefield. "This time," Fein says, "there will be no defined end." Creating a terrifying threat - hydra-like, secretive, evil - is an old trick. It can, like Hitler's invocation of a communist threat to the nation's security, be based on actual events (one Wisconsin academic has faced calls for his dismissal because he noted, among other things, that the alleged communist arson, the Reichstag fire of February 1933, was swiftly followed in Nazi Germany by passage of the Enabling Act, which replaced constitutional law with an open-ended state of emergency). Or the terrifying threat can be based, like the National Socialist evocation of the "global conspiracy of world Jewry", on myth.
After we were hit on September 11 2001, we were in a state of national shock. Less than six weeks later, on October 26 2001, the USA Patriot Act was passed by a Congress that had little chance to debate it; many said that they scarcely had time to read it. We were told we were now on a "war footing"; we were in a "global war" against a "global caliphate" intending to "wipe out civilisation". There have been other times of crisis in which the US accepted limits on civil liberties, such as during the civil war, when Lincoln declared martial law, and the second world war, when thousands of Japanese-American citizens were interned. But this situation, as Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda notes, is unprecedented: all our other wars had an endpoint, so the pendulum was able to swing back toward freedom; this war is defined as open-ended in time and without national boundaries in space - the globe itself is the battlefield. "This time," Fein says, "there will be no defined end."
Creating a terrifying threat - hydra-like, secretive, evil - is an old trick. It can, like Hitler's invocation of a communist threat to the nation's security, be based on actual events (one Wisconsin academic has faced calls for his dismissal because he noted, among other things, that the alleged communist arson, the Reichstag fire of February 1933, was swiftly followed in Nazi Germany by passage of the Enabling Act, which replaced constitutional law with an open-ended state of emergency). Or the terrifying threat can be based, like the National Socialist evocation of the "global conspiracy of world Jewry", on myth.
Hitler evoked Christianity in his Munich speech, April 12, 1922
Today Christians … stand at the head of [this country] … I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press—in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past … [few] years.
And in his 1928 speech in Passau
We are a people of different faiths, but we are one. Which faith conquers the other is not the question; rather, the question is whether Christianity stands or falls. … We tolerate no one in our ranks who attacks the ideas of Christianity … in fact our movement is Christian. We are filled with a desire for Catholics and Protestants to discover one another in the deep distress of our own people.
And time and time again in early 1933:
But at Dormund, 9 July 1933, on the day after the signing of the Nazi-Vatican Concordant of 1933:
This is for us a ground for satisfaction, since we desire that the fight in the religious camps should come to an end … all political action in the parties will be forbidden to priests for all time, happy because we know what is wanted by millions who long to see in the priest only the comforter of their souls and not the representative of their political convictions.
A country founded by and lead by religious men and women can receive the benefits of religous thought and belief. State-sponsored religion, however, is just one stick in the helve of fascism. Fundamentalism can only create a false unity that marginalizes a silent-in-fear rather than in complacency, majority.
Henry M
If what I've read this morning in Goodwin' column: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/08/14/2008-08 14_barack_obama_blinks_in_hillary_faceoff.html
then, I think those of us who believe Obama can bring significant change, to both the Democratic Party and to our country, will be sadly disappointed. (See except below.) Anyone who has closely followed the politics of the 90s, know that many of the policies that Clinton had advanced—from the deregulation of banking and media and NAFTA, to the culture of greed and commodity worship—have come back to haunt us now.
Bush, as inadequate as he has proven to be, is no less a malignant force than the Clintons. Saying this, I implore Obama and those who advise him to assert his control of the party and deny the Clinton's their delusional belief that the Democratic party belongs to them. (Tell me, will Bill be flying to Denver from Kazakhstan or from South Hampton? )
From Goodwin's column:
Yet already the list of what Hillary wants and what Hillary gets is unprecedented for somebody who lost the nomination. She gets a prime-time address where she will be introduced by daughter Chelsea. She gets her own team to produce a hagiographic video of her.
Hubby Bubba gets a prime-time speech on Wednesday night. And Hillary gets a platform plank that uses "glass ceiling" language right out of her speech to suggest she would be the nominee if not for sexism.
A few more big-ticket items and she'll be the co-nominee. Maybe that's the point.
