Posts with the tag 2008 campaign

Haiku for the 2008 Obama Campaign

Gramma Willi — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:49:26 EDT

Fangirls and overdogs

Multicolored president

Yes we can... pinch me!

David’s Excellent Adventure in Ohio

David from Lexington, MA — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:24:33 EST

There are a bunch of pictures embedded in the text of what I wrote and it's kind of a pain to copy the post here. So let me refer you to my personal web site where the story is posted at:
http://davidkessler.biz/obama_campaign.htm

Sorry for the off-site reference and I hope you like the story.

Congratulations to us all!

David

The MyBO Activity Tracker

Jamie from Marion, IL — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:22:13 EST

The MyBO Activity Tracker does not reflect the impact that I did or did not have on the outcome of this champaign! I think that you are wrong to track peoples efforts this way because there are a number of people who worked hard for this champaign. To measure ones dedication to this champaign effort by tracking their activity on this site is wrong! What, is this intended to allow people who have large numbers boast that they did more to elect now president elect Barack Obama? I believe this is wrong because you don't know everyone who contributed to this champaign nor the efforts they made to put this champaign over the top. Am I "minority" because I donated less than someone else if what I donated was all I could afford to give? This kind of judging needs to change!

The MyBO Activity Tracker

The MyBO Activity Tracker allows you to measure your impact on the campaign. It displays a record of all your past activity using our online tools but calculates your activity level (1-10) based only on recent actions. Stay engaged to keep or raise your activity level! You need 10 points to go up one activity level. Here's the breakdown of points assigned to certain actions:

15 points for every event hosted
15 points for every donation made to your personal fundraising page
3 points for every event attended
5 points for every call made using Neighbor to Neighbor
10 points for every door knocked using Neighbor to Neighbor
3 points for every blog post
3 points for every group joined

We can make a different

Marvin Dean — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:23:34 EDT

This is my 2nd blog Oct. 15, 2008. First i want to thank the lady that called me earlier today from out of State in Indiana that told me that she saw my blog posting and the Southeast Bakersfield Community & Minority Group for Obama site. She asked me if I would help her with getting two people registered in Bakersfield. She informed me that the two people were her mother and father who needed help in getting registered to vote in the NOV 4, 2008 Election. I told her I would be very happly to assist her parents with getting registered, I informed her to have them call me or attend our voter registration event plan for Oct. 16,2008 @ 6-8 pm about an hour later her father called me to discuss getting registered.I set up an appointment with her parents to attend our 1st Southeast Bakersfield Community & Minority Voter Registration Drive to get registered. Also earlier today in talking with my 38 year old son who had just move back to Bakersfield, he told me that he had not ever voted before in his life, but will vote the very first time for Obama. These times are to serious and the issues too important to not be counted. Your vote will make a difference. We are targeting the large number of of unregistered voters in the African American and Latino community. Deadline to register is Oct.20, 2008 to be able to vote in the Nov. 4, 2008 Election.

We have formed a new Non Partisan PAC to support local, statewide & national candidates. San Joaquin Valley Black & Minority PAC is Hosting a Voter Education Forum Oct. 23, 2008 @ 5:30-7:30 pm location: Petroleum Club 5060 California Ave, Bakersfield, Calinfornia. All candidates are being invited to come tell us why they want your vote. Guest Speaker: Fair Political Practices Commission, City & County Election Registrar. The PAC will explain why it was formed & it's membership and endorsement process. How do you get those things that matter to you ? Better public services, Job & Training, Business contract, etc. You need to empower yourself ! Get organize, Become a PAC Member, Register & Vote. Everyone welcome ! * Information # 661-747-1465 Public is Invited.

EVOLVING TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Global Symbolic Votes — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:38:27 EDT

It is no longer about getting Barack Obama into the White House. Baring the outbreak of WW III or some other kind of unforeseen disaster, he is already there. During one of his recent rallies, Senator Obama invoked these words: “CHANGE the country” and “CHANGE the world.”

Getting Senator Obama into the White House is not the end of a process; it’s the beginning of a process. Keeping him in the White House will be the hard part. Prudence dictates that we should never underestimate the will of the forces which are arrayed against him/us.

In the beginning, Senator Obama talked a lot about “Old Politics” or “Old Thought” – which is essentially the same thing. Our messages have been about “New Thought” and saving the Planet. Obama has often said that he can’t do it alone and neither can we. We need your help.

This is a sampling of what some of you had to say about our messages:

Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:43:29 -0400, [ HarvardLawforObama@groups.barackobama.com ] “This is a very astute comment, Jan Derek. Please take 3 minutes and post it on my posting of Barack's speech posted at...” and this is an open invitation to all members of HarvardLawforObama…”
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:22:22 -0400, “I hope you do not mind but I liked this E-mail so much that I have published it in my Blogs giving you credit. Keep up the great work.”
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:48:04 -0400, “Well said, thank you!”
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 14:43:24 -0700, “Right on, Jan!!! …would you forward this to MD?”
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2008 21:51:51 +0200, “How well said Jan, how wise and eloquent, and how true... Can we forward this? Thank you so much…”
Date: Saturday, August 02, 2008 3:24 PM, Hi Jan: “…I'd like to keep in touch!.… p.s. "I love your musical references! :-)”
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:34:57 -0400, [From Obama for America] Jan. “Your passion and energy are crucial to electing Barack Obama president and moving this country in a fundamentally different direction.”

Why do we impart/promulgate our “New Thought” messages? Actually, I like Michelle Obama’s answer. She said, “It’s my job.” Some people are genuine truth seekers, not a lot but some. Mohandas K. Gandhi said, “If you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.”

And here we have our quandary, what to do now? It is time to evolve to the next level. We are dedicated to keeping the “Obama Movement” alive for 100 years, if necessary, and we need your input. If you would like to know the rest of the story, sign up at. http://www.global-symbolic-votes.org/first.html

New thought is our only chance,
The GSV Team
-------------------------------------------------------
"We can either fear that human culture is falling apart or we can hold the vision that we are awakening. Either way, each of us must consciously choose between these two futures.” (James Redfield)
-------------------------------------------------------
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/GLOBALSYMBOLICVOTESFOROBAMA
http://www.global-symbolic-votes.org

Who is sleeping with the enemy

JUDY'S PLACE — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:41:05 EDT

Judy's Place "County First" "WHO IS SLEEPING WITH THE EMEMY? "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Born Todd Mitchell Palin September 6, 1964 (1964-09-06) (age 44) Dillingham, Alaska, USA Nationality American Citizenship United States Education Graduate, Wasilla High School Occupation Homemaker, Oil field production worker-Commercial fisherman Employer BP Home town Wasilla, Alaska Religious beliefs Christian Spouse(s) Sarah Palin In late August 2008, The Politico reported that Palin was registered to vote as an independent ("undeclared"), and had never registered as a Republican.[12] In early September 2008, a spokesman for John McCain said Palin was now a registered Known for Champion Iron Dog snow machine racer, husband of Alaska governor Sarah Palin This article-SALON.COM Political party Alaskan Independence Party (1996-2000), Republican (2002 to present)On September 18, the McCain/Palin campaign announced that Todd Palin would refuse to testify because he does not believe the investigation is legitimate. The Alaskan Independence Party is a political party in the U.S. state of Alaska that advocates a state vote which includes several options, including increased state autonomy, territorial status, becoming a separate nation or commonwealth state, and, failing that, for increased Alaskan control of Alaskan land, gun rights, privatization, home schooling, and reduction of governmental intrusion in the private lives of its citizens with adherence to the founding documents of the United States. The party has appeared on the ballot in Alaska in all state elections since 1970.[citation needed] Oct. 10, 2008 PALMER, Alaska — On the afternoon of Sept. 24 in downtown Palmer, Alaska, as the sun began to sink behind the snowcapped mountains that flank the picturesque Mat-Su Valley, 51-year-old Mark Chryson sat for an hour on a park bench, reveling in tales of his days as chairman of the Alaska Independence Party. The stocky, gray-haired computer technician waxed nostalgic about quixotic battles to eliminate taxes, support the “traditional family” and secede from the United States. So long as Alaska remained under the boot of the federal government, said Chryson, the AIP had to stand on guard to stymie a New World Order. He invited a Salon reporter to see a few items inside his pickup truck that were intended for his personal protection. “This here is my attack dog,” he said with a chuckle, handing the reporter an exuberant 8-pound papillon from his passenger seat. “Her name is Suzy.” Then he pulled a 9-millimeter Makarov PM pistol — once the standard-issue sidearm for Soviet cops — out of his glove compartment. “I’ve got enough weaponry to raise a small army in my basement,” he said, clutching the gun in his palm. “Then again, so do most Alaskans.” But Chryson added a message of reassurance to residents of that faraway place some Alaskans call “the 48.” “We want to go our separate ways,” he said, “but we are not going to kill you.” Though Chryson belongs to a fringe political party, one that advocates the secession of Alaska from the Union, and that organizes with other like-minded secessionist movements from Canada to the Deep South, he is not without peculiar influence in state politics, especially the rise of Sarah Palin. An obscure figure outside of Alaska, Chryson has been a political fixture in the hometown of the Republican vice-presidential nominee for over a decade. During the 1990s, when Chryson directed the AIP, he and another radical right-winger, Steve Stoll, played a quiet but pivotal role in electing Palin as mayor of Wasilla and shaping her political agenda afterward. Both Stoll and Chryson not only contributed to Palin’s campaign financially, they played major behind-the-scenes roles in the Palin camp before, during and after her victory. Enjoy this story? Thanks for your support. Palin backed Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including one that altered the state Constitution’s language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. She joined in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring. She attempted to name Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as “Black Helicopter Steve,” to an empty Wasilla City Council seat. “Every time I showed up her door was open,” said Chryson. “And that policy continued when she became governor.” When Chryson first met Sarah Palin, however, he didn’t really trust her politically. It was the early 1990s, when he was a member of a local libertarian pressure group called SAGE, or Standing Against Government Excess. (SAGE’s founder, Tammy McGraw, was Palin’s birth coach.) Palin was a leader in a pro-sales-tax citizens group called WOW, or Watch Over Wasilla, earning a political credential before her 1992 campaign for City Council. Though he was impressed by her interpersonal skills, Chryson greeted Palin’s election warily, thinking she was too close to the Democrats on the council and too pro-tax. But soon, Palin and Chryson discovered they could be useful to each other. Palin would be running for mayor, while Chryson was about to take over the chairmanship of the Alaska Independence Party, which at its peak in 1990 had managed to elect a governor. The AIP was born of the vision of “Old Joe” Vogler, a hard-bitten former gold miner who hated the government of the United States almost as much as he hated wolves and environmentalists. His resentment peaked during the early 1970s when the federal government began installing Alaska’s oil and gas pipeline. Fueled by raw rage — “The United States has made a colony of Alaska,” he told author John McPhee in 1977 — Vogler declared a maverick candidacy for the governorship in 1982. Though he lost, Old Joe became a force to be reckoned with, as well as a constant source of amusement for Alaska’s political class. During a gubernatorial debate in 1982, Vogler proposed using nuclear weapons to obliterate the glaciers blocking roadways to Juneau. “There’s gold under there!” he exclaimed. Vogler made another failed run for the governor’s mansion in 1986. But the AIP’s fortunes shifted suddenly four years later when Vogler convinced Richard Nixon’s former interior secretary, Wally Hickel, to run for governor under his party’s banner. Hickel coasted to victory, outflanking a moderate Republican and a centrist Democrat. An archconservative Republican running under the AIP candidate, Jack Coghill, was elected lieutenant governor. Hickel’s subsequent failure as governor to press for a vote on Alaskan independence rankled Old Joe. With sponsorship from the Islamic Republic of Iran, Vogler was scheduled to present his case for Alaskan secession before the United Nations General Assembly in the late spring of 1993. But before he could, Old Joe’s long, strange political career ended tragically that May when he was murdered by a fellow secessionist. Hickel rejoined the Republican Party the year after Vogler’s death and didn’t run for reelection. Lt. Gov. Coghill’s campaign to succeed him as the AIP candidate for governor ended in disaster; he peeled away just enough votes from the Republican, Jim Campbell, to throw the gubernatorial election to Democrat Tony Knowles. Despite the disaster, Coghill hung on as AIP chairman for three more years. When he was asked to resign in 1997, Mark Chryson replaced him. Chryson pursued a dual policy of cozying up to secessionist and right-wing groups in Alaska and elsewhere while also attempting to replicate the AIP’s success with Hickel in infiltrating the mainstream. Unlike some radical right-wingers, Chryson doesn’t put forward his ideas freighted with anger or paranoia. And in a state where defense of gun and property rights often takes on a real religious fervor, Chryson was able to present himself as a typical Alaskan. He rose through party ranks by reducing the AIP’s platform to a single page that “90 percent of Alaskans could agree with.” This meant scrubbing the old platform of what Chryson called “racist language” while accommodating the state’s growing Christian right movement by emphasizing the AIP’s commitment to the “traditional family.” “The AIP is very family-oriented,” Chryson explained. “We’re for the traditional family — daddy, mommy, kids — because we all know that it was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. And we don’t care if Heather has two mommies. That’s not a traditional family.” Chryson further streamlined the AIP’s platform by softening its secessionist language. Instead of calling for immediate separation from the United States, the platform now demands a vote on independence. Yet Chryson maintains that his party remains committed to full independence. “The Alaskan Independence Party has got links to almost every independence-minded movement in the world,” Chryson exclaimed. “And Alaska is not the only place that’s about separation. There’s at least 30 different states that are talking about some type of separation from the United States.”

FEAR IS HERE BUT CHANGE IS COMING

Global Symbolic Votes — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:46:38 EDT

In the best selling book CONVERSATONS WITH GOD, God said to the author, Neale Donald Walsch, something like this: “The world is full of sleep-walkers….to get people to wake up you sometimes have to shake them.” Been there; done that.

Obama has said that he can’t do it alone. He said, “I need your help.” We are all trying to help. But, far too often, my words tend to frighten the sleep-walkers who refuse to wake up. They obviously love the pain, the drama and the not knowing. The truth is hard to swallow.

I support Senator Obama 100%. The only difference between others and me is that I know this and they do not. When faced with new ideas, some engage the issues and others elect to run and hide. To keep FEAR out of the equation it is best to engage issues.

Most people tend to participate in politics unconsciously. They do this because it is easier to let others decide for them -- the experts, the pundits, the negative TV ads and things of this nature. When it comes to politics, most of us don’t even know what we are doing.

Addressing all humans, God said to Neale, “Go ahead. Act on all that you know. But notice that you have been doing this since time began and look at what shape the world is in. Clearly you’ve missed something.” Those who love their pain have not missed a thing.

Most of us have no idea of what we are going to have to deal with after the election is over. What is the famous quote? “Know thine enemy.” (Shakespeare, I think) Even Barack Obama has no idea. He is but a man and therefore subject to the laws of the universe.

Barack Obama has said many, many times, “It’s not about me; it’s about you. This is the other thing that most of us simply will not hear. It’s not about the man; it’s about what the man/movement represents. It’s about the message not the messenger.

I predict that Senator Obama has already won the election. Getting Obama into the White House will be the easy part. However, keeping him there, now that will be the hard part. We should never underestimate the will of the forces which are arrayed against him/us.

DUPED AGAIN

Global Symbolic Votes — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:54:19 EDT

Senator Obama should not respond directly to the attacks levied by John McCain’s attack dog/walking reality show Sarah Palin. That would be undignified, a big mistake. Mohandas K. Gandhi said that they cannot take away my dignity unless I give it to them. Let Joe Biden, the Obama Team members and the surrogates respond to her attacks. The other side is desperate and their three dimensional thinkers can still hurt the campaign and possibly even turn things around -- especially if we follow their game plan. To thwart their attack initiatives, we will have to change the rules of the game and we are running out of time.

MCCAIN’S TWO MANTRAS

Global Symbolic Votes — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:12:12 EDT

John McCain and Sarah Palin seem to be stuck on two themes: “The Surge” and “Change is Coming.” It is clear that John McCain hi-jacked the “Change” concept from Barack Obama. In my blog MCCAIN’S MISTAKES, I touched upon the inherent fallacies pertaining to the so called "Surge." Apparently, John McCain actually believes that he can support Bush’s lies, tricks and games and continue duping voters with impunity. Some have asked how is this even possible. I do not know. Nonetheless, he’s a viable Presidential Candidate. The question is what’s wrong with this picture?

THE AUDACITY OF THINKING

Global Symbolic Votes — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:33:45 EDT

I am told that Plato said: “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” Almost right. I believe that Plato is telling us that this is the penalty that one pays for participating in an Aristotelian based political thought system -- better known as Democracy.”

During the debate, Senator Obama implied that Russia and China are not true Democracies. If not, the question becomes what are they? I do not know. Perhaps we should take a closer look at Premier Wen Jiabao’s China -- with a population of 1.3 billion people. Apparently, Premier Jiabao has elected to take his country in a different direction.

In doing so, he will inevitably change the course of history and there is nothing that we Americans can do about it. If we can’t change the ultimate outcome, what can we do in the interim? We can help Senator Obama win the election. Then we might have a chance to get it right. As JFK said, “We all breathe the same air and we all cherish our children’s future.”

The political thought system that we call Democracy was born in Greece around 500 B.C. It is based on Aristotle’s political philosophy as outlined in his book POLITICS. Incidentally, in Aristotle’s POLITICS he ranked women one notch above slaves. Hence, women can thank Aristotle for creating the equal work/equal pay issue.

The 21st Century has given rise to a different kind of political thought system, a Chinese version of Democracy. It parallels Plato’s political philosophy as outlined in his book THE REPUBLIC. What is the penalty for participating in a non-Aristotelian based political thought system, the kind that Plato talks about in his book? Plato suggests that it’s being governed by a superior mind.

Am I saying that this is a good thing or a bad thing? Neither. I am making no value judgments at all. Good and bad are relative terms, subjective terms. I am simply stating facts and telling it like it is. However, I will say this: Since it is clear that we Americans seems to enjoy being governed by our inferiors, all that we have to do now is vote for more of the same -- John McCain.

MCCAIN’S MISTAKES

Global Symbolic Votes — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:46:39 EDT

Let’s assume for a moment that “The Surge” did work. This gives rise to the next logical question, but at what initial cost? If a person spills milk on the floor and then wipes it up, that person corrected a mistake. The problem here is that we are not talking about spilled milk. We are talking about spilled American blood and lost American lives and treasure.

Should the erratic McCain hit the "Panic Button" intentionally or un-intentionally we are all just as dead. (1) How do we bring back over 4,000 lives or make the injuries of the 30,000 plus soldiers disappear? (2) How do we get back the 10 billion plus missing tax dollars that disappeared in Iraq? (3) How do we recover the 600-700 billion dollars that we have already spent in Iraq?

We make mistakes because this is what human beings do best. Am I saying that all human beings are by nature flawed? No. I am saying that most human minds are by nature flawed. So what do we do now, get a lobotomy? No. We learn how to think correctly. Most of us probably think that we already know how to think correctly. No problem.

Then we should go ahead and act on all that we know. But notice that we have been doing this since time began and look at what shape the world is in. Clearly, we’ve missed something.

DEMOCRACY & BROKEN MINDS

Global Symbolic Votes — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:01:41 EDT

Shortly, about 10% of the American electorate will decide who will become the next U.S. President. These people will play a major role in deciding the fate and destiny of the entire Planet. America assumes that it is the world’s undisputed military super-power, the world’s leading economic power and that it has the best type of government period -- Democracy.

Now let’s separate fact from fiction and the de jure from the de facto. Is America really the only military super-power in the world? I do not know. The Russians still have enough nuclear warheads on their Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles to make this a moot point. Secondly, the Chinese are destined to become the leading economic power in the World. It’s inevitable.

But let’s get to the heart of the matter, Democracy. So who are these people, the 10% of the American electorate? What kind of minds do they have? I do not know. Let’s not ask them about the Bush Doctrine. We could ask them a simple question like where is Alaska situated. To the best of my knowledge, we are not necessarily talking about America’s intellectually elite.

We are talking about the so called undecided voters. If I understand the demographic parameters correctly, this 10% represents the least educated white working classes, blue collar men and women -- and probably predominantly white women. Would these people be inclined to vote for a black Harvard educated law school professor with a funny name?

The Planet is in Peril and America is in demise. It is no longer about America. Ethnocentrism died with the introduction of the Information Super Highway and Globalization. Today, it is about the Planet, of which roughly 75% of the world’s population is for Obama -- 10% verses 75%. What am I missing? Logic suggests that there is something wrong with this picture?

There is a saying: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” What do we do if it is broken? We fix it. How do we fix a broken Democracy? That’s easy. We don’t tear down the whole house. We replace one brick (one legislator) at a time. So once we fix the broken government and get rid of the liars, what do we do next? We fix the broken minds that put the liars in office.

New thought is our only chance.
The GSV Team
-------------------------------------------------------
"We can either fear that human culture is falling apart or we can hold the vision that we are awakening. Either way, each of us must consciously choose between these two futures.” (James Redfield)
-------------------------------------------------------
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/GLOBALSYMBOLICVOTESFOROBAMA
http://www.global-symbolic-votes.org

MELTDOWN: OBAMA’S CONGENITAL DEFECT

Global Symbolic Votes — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:23:32 EDT

Give Obama a break. Senator Obama has delayed responding to the so called Wall Street Meltdown and/or the Economic Crisis, probably because it is only prudent and proper to get the facts straight prior to jumping to false conclusions. As always, Barack Obama seeks to get it right the first time. He does this because he suffers from a congenital disorder that causes him think before he acts. This psychological affliction -- that could also be in the genes -- causes him to engage his brain before engaging his mouth.

John F. Kennedy also suffered from this kind of malady. During the Cuban Missile Crisis virtually all of his generals urged him to take swift, strong and decisive military action. At the end of the meeting that could have started WW III, the generals left the room and they all immediately looked at each other in absolute astonishment. One of them said, “What in the hell happened in there?” To their amazement, JFK did not make a decision. Instead, he remained focused on the objective. His objective was to save the country and the world. Does this sound familiar; does it resonate?

Now let’s examine John McCain’s intellect, or lack thereof. Responding to the Meltdown Crisis, at first he said that we should not bail out the banking institutions. He then flip-flopped on this issue and on many other issues. He obviously subscribes to the: “Act first and think later philosophy.” You know, the kind of thinking that could get us all killed. When it comes to the nuclear “Hot Button” one does not get a second chance to correct mistakes or set up a commission to study why we are all dead.

What about Sarah Palin? The Planet is in peril and she believes that Global Warming is a fantasy and that we should continue raping the environment. With respect to the position that she has already taken on these issues, clearly she is not opposed to killing people slowly. If she enjoys killing wolves, bears and God knows what other forms of wild life from helicopters, just think about what she could do with a B-2 Bomber. Who said that Americans are not suicidal? Are we talking about all Americans or roughly half of them? I don’t know. Has Obama killed any innocent life forms for fun lately?

So what do we do now? We tell the American people, specifically those who claim to be undecided, that now, it is all in their hands. To increase humanity’s chances of surviving the insanity that Bush has created, it would be in our interest if the next American President possessed a superior mind. God knows that he will need one in order to successfully navigate through the treacherous, muddy waters (the cesspool) that he will inherit from the Bush Administration. In short, just hold your nose and vote for the smart black guy from Harvard. You might live longer.

PLANET IN PERIL – FUTURE IN JEOPARDY

Global Symbolic Votes — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:21:06 EDT

Now that we have the law makers where we want them, all that we have to do now is order them to do exactly what we tell them to do, or else. We should tell them to return all of the bribes that they have taken from special interests groups. We should tell them that from this point on, they work for us, as the authors of the United States Constitution intended. If they fail to follow our orders, we simply kick the bums out.

Do we replace them with another Republican or Democrat? No. We replace them with a humanist. A humanist is a decent, moral human being who may or may not be affiliated with a political party. What guidelines should we use? Definitely not religious guidelines. He or she should be, in nature, as much like M.K. Gandhi as possible. Words like Republicans or Democrats are just that, words/labels that have no real meaning. On the other hand, Republicans and Democrats are the creators of the reality that we are now experiencing -- A Planet that is in Peril and a future that is in jeopardy.

They are the guilty ones. To be fair we are all guilty, or slightly masochistic, because we helped them abuse us. So what do we do now? We point put our index finger between our eyes and accept responsibility for being less than smart. Think of it as going to confession. Everyone runs around crying and complaining and going through the motions and nothing changes. Nothing will change until we stop the lies, tricks and games. We can stop this now.

Obama is the man. He tells us that he wants to change things. We are just going to have to trust him because, at the moment, there is no other viable alternative. Some people have told me that they are willing to give their lives for this man. Not me. However, I am willing to give my life for what I believe that this man represents. He tells us that he wants to change things. Me too. I want to save a Planet that is in Peril and a future that is in jeopardy -- and humankind while I am at it.

The truth is the most valuable virtue that we have but "TRUTH" is dead. “Oh what a deadly web we weave when we practice to deceive.” (Shakespeare, I think?) Some people have told me that I am not going to win any friends talking like this. Demented minds are destroying our country, our world and our children’s future. With friends like these, who needs enemies? That’s just my opinion. Mohandas K. Gandhi said, “If you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.”

NON-COOPERATION WITH EVIL IS A MORAL DUTY

Global Symbolic Votes — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:00:57 EDT

Long after getting the leaders of their sleeper cell (Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld) into the White House, the Republicans are continuing with their feeding frenzy. Using fear as a weapon, they have been able to exploit the weaknesses in the minds of many Americans -- call it the supreme mind f - - k, if you will. The undeniable fact is that George W. Bush and his followers, like John McCain, are directly responsible for the senseless loss of tens of thousands of lives in Iraq.

Using fear as a weapon, they have so far been successful convincing those of us with weak minds, or no brains, that Global Warming is an illusion and that it would be in our mutual interest to drill offshore and further exploit the environment. They have been busy murdering our soldiers, destroying our minds and raping the environment. Now they want economic Carte Blanche to exploit our pocket books and finish destroying America. To date, they are on the verge of doing just that -- accomplishing their mission.

So what do you call a political philosophy that gives rise to such insanity? Would it be unfair to call it pure, unadulterated Evil? Mohandas K. Gandhi said, “Non-cooperation with evil is a moral duty.” Since moving into the White House, George W. Bush and company have been killing, raping, exploiting and plundering with impunity. John McCain cooperated with, and voted with, George W. Bush nearly 95% of the time. This is not guilt by association. This is guilt by deed; it’s manifesting evil.

Both Gandhi and Martin Luther King preached a philosophy of non-cooperation with Evil. So, do we reach out to the other side of the aisle, to the Republicans and cooperate with them? No. Barack Obama and the other politicians have to play this game but we do not. What do we do? It’s simple. We replace the extremist legislators with humanistic legislators. It is more efficient. This way we do not have to reach across the aisle.

How do we accomplish this? First, we start educating the so called “undecided” voters, in the trenches of the "Battle Ground" states. They are not undecided they are just confused. Our job is to un-confuse them. We have six weeks.

OBAMA AND WORLD OPINION

Global Symbolic Votes — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:36:40 EDT

In the eyes of the World Barack Obama has already won the election -- hands down. Actually, this statement is axiomatic in nature. It is not necessarily a truism. I have heard that roughly 70% to 80% of the global population would like to see Obama win the election. If this statement is deemed to be reasonably true, then why isn’t Obama further ahead in the polls?

Is racism playing a role here? Are we Americans inflicted with some type of unknown psychological genetic disorder? Are we inherently less intelligent than the global population in general? Are we masochistic and delusional in nature? Bill Clinton and the Democrats gave us prosperity and a balanced budget -- including a surplus. Do we want more of the same? No.

We Americans love our pain. We love the drama. We love the not knowing. That’s why we are here, doing exactly the same thing that we did when both Al Gore and John Kerry ran for President. Since it is clear that we love and need our pain, does this mean that we are stupid? No. It simply means that 70% to 80% of the global population for Obama is not masochistic.

NEW ISSUE: TRUST

Global Symbolic Votes — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:00:48 EDT

John McCain has been trying to hijack Barack Obama’s Change concept and he may have succeeded. In addition, he has stolen, and is now using, Obama’s phrase “Enough is enough.” Logic suggests that he is having difficulty formulating an independent thought or concept. Who knows, if we give him enough rope he may just hang himself.

Perhaps it is time to throw the Republicans a curved ball. It is slowing becoming common knowledge that they use lies, tricks and games to win elections. If true, the thinking mind begs to know what does one do with a public servant/government official who violates the public trust; i.e., who lies? Do we reward him or her and put them in higher office? Yes, twice.

It is time to introduce a new issue into the mix -- TRUST. It would be wise to do this now because John McCain needs more rope. TRUST is the most important issue of all and no one even talks about it. In such a volatile political climate -- one in which incorrect thinking dominates -- TRUST is not only an issue, it is perhaps THE issue.

UNBRIDLED GREED

Global Symbolic Votes — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:13:53 EDT

Today John McCain said, “We’re gonna put a stop to it.” It’s not about unbridled greed. It’s about unbridled insanity. Albert E. Einstein put it magnificently when he said that there are two things that are endless, human stupidity and the Universe. Whereby, I am not so sure about the latter. Now, McCain wants to put a stop to precisely that which he helped create. In other words, he wants to fix the barn door after the horses have already left.

But let’s get to the heart of the matter. Is it about greed or insanity? I do not know. What I do know is that, for all practical purposes, Einstein implied that humans are inherently stupid. Voting for John McCain and his “Reality Show” running mate would be like voting for Jim Jones -- nothing less than suicidal. The lies, tricks and games must end here, now. After the elections are over, we will know if American voters qualify as an exception to Einstein's rule.

THE CULTURE WAR

Global Symbolic Votes — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:51:38 EDT

The Pundits keep talking about a Culture War. What we are talking about here is indeed a war. However, it is not a Culture War. It is the war that won’t go away -- the struggle between good and evil. It is the war that Mohandas K. Gandhi fought so magnificently and won. He came to this planet to teach us how to fight and win such wars but we will not listen. “The greatest blindness is the blindness of one who will not see. (Elizabeth Haich)

The Culture War is an illusion. The agents of evil keep duping us. They keep tricking us into fighting each other. As long as we do this we can’t focus on them -- the real enemy. This is Kinder logic. Who is the real enemy? I’ll tell you this. It is not McCain or Palin or even Bush.

Am I saying that McCain, Palin, Bush and their cronies are all inherently evil? No. I am saying that they are confused victims/pawns. We do not have to hate our extremist brothers, sisters and friends to defeat them. Gandhi said that, in the end, the British will simply pack their bags and leave India. And when they go, we want them to leave as friends.

So what do we do now? First we get back on message, stay focused on the real issues and avoid participating in, or contributing to, the Sarah Palin Reality Show. Secondly, we have to expose the lies, tricks and games perpetrated by the Republican Attack Machine. Thirdly, we have to identify and discredit the evil entities who manipulate the pawns.

In my blog dated September 10th, I wrote about Sarah Palin being a movie of the week phenomenon. Yesterday on CNN, Donna Brazile (Al Gore’s former campaign mgr.) referred to her as a “flavor of the month or week.” What a coincidence. It seems that at least someone in the hierarchy of the Democratic Party is listening. That’s a good sign.

Interview Sarah? “Not In The Campaign’s Interest.”

Charley James — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:05:51 EDT

OK, so like every other major, minor and would-be journalist in the world, I want to interview Sarah Palin. Yet when I called McCain’s campaign headquarters in McLean, Virginia, I was told “She’ll be made available for interviews when it is in the best interests of the campaign.”

Excuse me? “She’ll be made available for interviews when it is in the best interests of the campaign.”

A woman no one outside of Alaska ever heard of before last week is running for Vice President of the United States of America, purportedly the second-most important job in the country if not the world, yet reporters are being told the overarching consideration of the McCain organization is “the best interests of the campaign.”

What about the best interests of the United States? Isn’t that what presidential elections are all about?

So why are the boys and girls on the bus – excuse me, reporters on the McCain-Palin campaign plane – sitting quietly in back with their hands folded instead of throwing food over the top of the bulkhead separation, demanding she be made available to them? Why aren’t they shouting “Give us Sarah! Give us Sarah!” out loud every time the charter takes off, every time Palin comes out of hiding to stand next to McCain at some carefully orchestrated photo op, whenever a campaign official pops out of his or her hotel room in the morning.

Drown out McCain when he’s giving a speech, if necessary; shout questions out to her with a bullhorn if that’s what it takes; refuse to cover any of the campaign if the Republican media machine stands in your way.

Do your bloody job, you whimpering band of so-called professionals. What are you afraid of? Being denied “access?” You’re not getting access now so there’s nothing to lose.

You didn’t do your job and the country was lied into in Iraq. For God’s sake, do it now.

Let's Have a Campaign of Issues

Miss Jan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:10:46 EDT

I would love to see our campaign quit responding to the sniping by the Republican party and use it against them to say that the Obama Campaign is going to talk about the issues only. The American people are sick and tired of negative campaigning that is only an excuse to avoid the issues. Let's hear about:

What are we going to do to turn around this sick economy?

What are we going to do to stop the influx of illegal immigrants-much of the source of our ailing economy?

What are we going to do to stop the move to Third-World status? Huge population growth, huge salaries on the top, low on the bottom, shrinking middle-class as a result.

What are we going to do to bring manufacturing back to the United States?

What are we going to do to end the war in Iraq without tucking tail and running?

What are we going to do to stop the hatred of the United States among Muslim nations?

What are we going to do about health insurance - forced coverage is NOT the answer: the bully insurance companies are the problem.

What are we going to do about developing a viable bio-energy fuel: corn is not the right answer, sugar cane is. The use of corn as an ingredient in bio-fuels is causing an increase in the price of many foods.....sugar cane could be developed, Central American countries and the U.S. could grow an abundance of this product and not affect NEEDED food sources.

Let's quit fighting like children and talk about what will fix our country and help our people.

Part-time President?

Ralph — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:29:29 EDT

John McCain’s campaign schedule includes weekends off and on most week days he schedules only one campaign event per day. Today, the McCain campaign has no events scheduled.

We are currently engaged in two wars. Our economy is struggling, with GM losing over $15 billion in the most recent quarter and Exxon Mobil earning $11.7 billion. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which finance $5 trillion in home mortgages, are near collapse. Next year’s federal budget deficit is projected to be the largest ever recorded. About one in every six of us is without health insurance. Thousands of us are losing our homes to foreclosure. Nearly half a million jobs have been lost this year. Our economy needs to make a major transition away from oil, requiring huge research investments. Our infrastructure is worn out and an Interstate highway bridge has collapsed. Three years after hurricanes struck New Orleans, that city is still struggling. Seven years after the destruction of September 11, what we think of as the most powerful nation in the world, has yet to bring to justice a man who lives in a cave, who travels by camel or pickup truck, and whose most powerful weapon is his ideology.

There are 75 days to campaign before the Nov. 4 election. If this is as hard as John McCain is willing to work for himself, how had is he going to work to solve some of these problems for us?

Social Networking in the 2008 Campaign

Tom Johnson — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 02:36:04 EDT

On election day 2004, the New York Times op/ed page ran a piece entitled “The Revolution will be Blogged” about the how blogs helped shape the 2004 campaign.

If the New York Times were to repeat this in 2008, I would believe the headling would be “The Revolution will be Networked” because I believe social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and You Tube have played major roles in 2008.

At the centerpiece of Obama's Internet strategy has been social network sites.

1. He created his own social network site mybarackobama.com (MyBO), where supporters can join local groups, start and find out about local events, sign up for updates and start their own personal fundraising page.

2. he has a major presence on Facebook and MySpace with more than 500 groups on Facebook.

3. He has been very successful reaching specialized groups through niche social network sites such as blackplanet.com, glee.com (for gays and lesbians) and Eons.com (site for baby boomers).

The advantages to a social network strategy:

1. One of the most difficult things is to get a list of supporters. Social network sites make it easy. One group, Students for Barack Obama, which was started by a student, has developed into a political action committee with more than 62,000 members and chapters at 80 colleges.

2. Social network sites make politics local. You can find out and plan local events. You can volunteer to canvass local partisans and call your neighbors

3. Social nework sites aid in fundraising. He raised $32 million in advance of the Iowa primary only 12 percent offline. He has not had to spend nearly the time of most politicians in hitting the phones looking for big corporate sponsors

4. Social network sites don't simply allow Obama to connect with supporters, but allow supporters to connect with each other. If you go to Obama's wall on Facebook, you will see almost as many people posting to each other as specifically posting about Obama, creating a community of Obama supporters.

5. Most earlier Internet innovations, such as blogs, attract the political junkies. Social network sites are a way to connect to previously uninvolved voters, particularly the young. there are 30 million new voters registered for this campaign, many under 30.

The question is will these social networkers come out to vote? I think they will. What do you think?

PUMA DE-FANGED ON HARDBALL

Sweetwater Station — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:43:54 EDT

PUMA took a major hit last night - perhaps a death blow - on MSNBC's Hardball. Hardball's David Shuster interviewed Darragh Murphy, founder of PUMA and Will Bower, founder of Just Say No Deal, the two anti-Obama groups that have been threatening the Democratic convention. Shuster effectively dismantled and discredited both groups on national television! A wonderful victory for the Obama campaign!

The two biggest crusaders against PUMA and Just Say No Deal, Tommy Christopher and Christina Baker, submitted their PUMA research and reports to Hardball and helped make the Shuster debunking a success. They deserve our thanks for their dedication and all their hard work. These Obama supporters are heroes. Go read their reports and give 'em kudos!

Tommy Christopher is a journalist for AOL News Political Machine. Christina Baker runs the anti-PUMA website Say Yes to Democracy.

Read Tommy Christopher's awesome report on this:
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/08/15/puma-de-fanged-on-hardball/

Christina's Response to the program:
http://www.yestodemocracy.com/yes_to_democracy_no_to_pu/page-7.html

The Hardball video:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/26208124#26208124

Profile: Melody Barnes, Senior Domestic Policy Advisor

Suzanne Charle' — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:35:49 EDT

WOMEN FOR CHANGE: Senior Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes

This is the second in a series profiling women in key positions with the Obama campaign.

In July, Melody Barnes, 44, joined the Obama campaign as Senior Domestic Policy Advisor. Prior to that, Melody was executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. As chief counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy (1995-2003) Barnes, who received her J.D. from the University of Michigan, focused on civil rights, women’s health and reproductive rights, and religious liberties.

You have worked in Washington for much of your career. Have you ever worked on a campaign before?

This is the first time I’ve ever worked seriously on a campaign. When I was eight, I sold cupcakes to support the McGovern campaign. When I worked for Senator Kennedy, I would go out on election day, but that was it. I’ve always enjoyed politics and policy, but I focused on the legislative process. I never planned to get involved in a campaign.

What made you change your mind?

I was drawn to Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency because of his policy ideas, and because he feels strongly that people can be a force for change in government.

I spoke with him in January 2007, one-on-one, and he talked about things I hadn’t heard a Presidential candidate say since I’ve been old enough to vote. He energizes and empowers people to believe that they can make a difference. This obviously comes from his experience as a grass roots organizer.

With serious problems like climate change and a massive deficit, it’s very easy for voters to feel that it’s all too much, that “I can’t do anything,” and so they disengage. Obama speaks movingly about how people can be engaged. As someone who has worked in government, that is meaningful to me.

Women for Change: Indiana State Director Emily Parcell

Suzanne Charle' — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:27:16 EDT

WOMEN FOR CHANGE: Indiana State Director Emily Parcell

Emily Parcell, 27, Indiana state director. A native Iowan, Parcell is a veteran of the 2002 re-election campaign of Sen. Tom Harkin and the 2004 Iowa caucus campaign of Rep. Dick Gephardt. Described by Talking Points Memo as “one of [Team Obama’s] most valued campaign staffers,” Parcell was political director for Obama in Iowa, where “the Illinois Senator secured a huge win that essentially put him on the path to the nomination.”

For those who aren’t familiar with the responsibilities of a state director, what is your day to day like?
As state director, I come up with the overarching goals of the campaign and plan how the campaign will operate in Indiana, making sure all the departments –everything from communications and new media to operations—work together and that goals are being met. In Indiana there will be close to 100 people on the staff.
Every day is different. Outreach is important: Some days I meet with labor leaders, other days with local Democrats on the ballot to strategize. We pool resources, and offer to have our volunteers carry their campaign literature, if it helps. Of course, I track the budget and have daily conference calls with Chicago headquarters – we talk about mail, polling, TV. I’m involved in the decision-making process on all of this.
One interesting challenge is that Indiana has never had a presidential campaign of this operational level, this competitive. Historically, Democrats have been elected statewide, but Indiana hasn’t voted for a Democratic President since 1964 [when LBJ led the ticket]. So there’s really no model of how to run a presidential campaign in Indiana—no plans, no prior budgets, we’re starting from scratch. We’re breaking new ground. For instance, activists weren’t used to having to door knock in July. They’re so excited—but they’re in a state of disbelief.
Indiana is a conservative state, but it is a place where people are conscious of the economy, they’re feeling the pinch: Indiana led the country in jobs lost in June of this year and lost a total of nearly 50,000 in the past year. It’s important that we talk with people who don’t know who Obama is, about what he stands for, what his programs will mean in their everyday lives. Middle-class Hoosiers aren’t worrying about partisan platitudes, they are worrying about how much a tank of gas costs, they’re worrying about how to buy milk for their families. (Continued in Extended Post Text)

Presumptuous

Valeroso2008 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:09:44 EDT

A discussion on 30 July 2008 between 10 and 11 in the morning characterized Barack Obama as presumptuous. This description has been appearing with some frequency on television commentaries since Senator Obama concluded his successful overseas tour. In this particular rendition of the seemingly never-ending story, the black commentator rejected the label. I want to assert that I, a 62 year old, white, Vietnam veteran, also reject this description. In fact, I find this to be a covert way of accusing Senator Obama of being uppity.

The Case for Barack Obama - Healthcare

Rob J — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:44:30 EDT

This is my first post as a new member of my.barackobama.com. I am also a fairly new blogger, having been inspired in part by Obama's candidacy to get my voice out there. Over the next several weeks, I will post to my main blog, Opinion Streams, a series of articles laying out Barack Obama’s position on the issues that matter most to me and discussing how those positions differ from - and are better than - John McCain’s. The first article in that series makes the case for the superiority of Obama's healthcare plan. Barack Obama's healthcare proposal approaches universal healthcare, bringing the U.S. in line with other industrialized nations, and promises to be more affordable and inclusive than John McCain's. McCain's plan, by contrast, will place far too much of a burden on lower and middle income Americans and will do little to decrease skyrocketing costs.

Here's the link for the full article: http://opinionstreams.com/blog/?p=24

I will post updates to this blog as I continue the series. I really hope you enjoy this post and the series. I look forward to meeting and discussing this and other issues with you all.

Rob J.

Charisma and the Cult of the Personality

Petur Williams — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:59:45 EDT

I recently read a gushing little essay, entitled "The Day I Shook Senator Obama's Hand", and I was reminded that I have met some charismatic people and I have been carried some distance by the charm of others...various Kennedys, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton, the Dali Lama, a local Senator named Tim Wirth, Colorado's former Governor, Roy Romer, and people unnamed because you won't know their names...each meeting has been stirring because everything was set up to be just that...Obama brings with him the dangerous seeds of charisma that fascinate and repel me at the same time.

What a great gift of communication the Senator has, and what a personable package delivers the gift, and what a grand experience it is to watch and be a part of the exciting presence he brings to American politics. It is, in the end, the message, and the movement toward ideas and accomplishments that the Senator has eloquently put forth that make this a great election cycle.

Don't be disappointed in Senator Obama, but in yourself, if the excitement wears thin and you see that The Wizard of Oz is slightly smaller in real life...it is still him who created this phenomenon that is the 2008 Obama Presidential campaign. There has been nothing like it since 1968 and there will not be its like for a while. What great theater, what a stellar performance, what a burden.
Best of luck to Senator Obama and to us all.

Feeling the Pain

Obama Donna — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:51:49 EDT

The remarkable comeback that Hillary Clinton had in the primaries was greatly influenced by her being able to "feel the people's pain." I was not a Hillary supporter, although I greatly admire her strength and accomplishments as a woman of my generation. My question today is: how can Barack Obama begin to tap into that same emotion that Hillary did? Does anyone have a unique, fresh way for Barack to do this aside of what he is already doing? If Barack was coming to speak in your area, what would you like him to say or do that would in some way emotionally reach your heart?

early-summer reading

Marianne Rutter — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 14:14:20 EDT

A recent trip out of the country left me hungry for political news of the campaign. I was gratified to discover the following important pieces of analysis—three in the latest issue of the Atlantic Monthly, one op-ed piece from this morning’s New York Times, and one recent important speech by Senator Obama in Florida that seems to have been largely overlooked by the press and the pundits. All are crucially important political viewpoints in this campaign, and help us understand -- and communicate to others -- why Obama is not just the best choice in this election but the best choice by far. Please add these “bookmarks” to your reading lists:

How Obama understands the power of the Web:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/opinion/26cohen.html?th&emc=th

Barack Obama’s grasp of Internet-driven networking comes from his conviction that in a globalized world sociability is a force as strong as sovereignty

Obama on the world:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/yglesias-obama

How an early gaffe and an excruciatingly long primary season helped Barack Obama find a distinctive voice on foreign affairs

Obama on Latin America:

http://www.barackobama.com/2008/05/23/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_68.php

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: Renewing U.S. Leadership in the Americas. If you missed the speech, view it at http://www.barackobama.com/speeches/index.php [scroll down to May 23, 2008]

Obama’s internet fundraising success – more than money:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/obama-finance

How Silicon Valley made Barack Obama this year’s hottest start-up

The Web as government:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/ambinder-obama

How would Obama’s success in online campaigning translate into governing?

Happy reading.

Vice President of the United States!

Mary — Fri, 09 May 2008 11:14:29 EDT

Although the Democratic candidate may choose to wait until the 2008 Democratic National Convention in August to make an announcement, speculation by news organizations has already begun about the likely potential running mates for Barack Obama.

List of some potential candidates for Vice President of the United States from the United States Democratic Party:

U.S. Senators

Governors

Mike Easley of North Carolina [12]
Bill Richardson of New Mexico [13]
Tim Kaine of Virginia [14]
Joe Manchin of West Virginia [15]
Janet Napolitano of Arizona [16]
Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania [17]
Bill Ritter of Colorado [18]
Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas [19][20][21]
Ted Strickland of Ohio [22][23]
Brian Schweitzer of Montana [24]

Former Senators

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota [25]
Max Cleland of Georgia [26]
Bob Graham of Florida
Bob Kerrey of Nebraska [27][28]
Sam Nunn of Georgia
Bill Bradley of New Jersey

Former Governors

Roy Barnes of Georgia [29]
Tom Vilsack of Iowa [30]

Generals

Retired General Wesley Clark [31][32][33]
Retired General Anthony Zinni [34]

Clinton campaign chairman states, "Hillary wins in the states that count..." I thought all votes count?

Willow — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:50:47 EDT

Clinton campaign chairman,Terry McAuliffe, was on CNN lastnight. During his interview with Wolf Blitzer he said, "...Hillary wins in the states that count..." Does that mean if you live and have voted in states she hasn't won, your vote doesn't count? I can't believe a campaign chairman would say something so insensitive.

I am proud to report that I have attended several Obama functions and I have always heard positive things from the staffers and volunteers. Most notably, the first function I attended the staffer, Anne, said, "...as volunteers for the Obama campaign, please remember the 3 I's we stand for when speaking with others, Invite, Include and Involve..." What a positive comment. I think the Clinton campaign could take a lesson from that.

Speech on race and racism

Aging Grace — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:29:35 EDT

Thank you, Barack Obama. If I weren't already supporting you, I'd be forced to support you after hearing your speech yesterday.

Your speech served as a reminder of why you will make an excellent president, and of how you operate far above the usual political sound bites. You were honest, compassionate, direct, and eloquent.

You are the kind of person this country needs as president, and even if people are convinced otherwise, at least you will have elevated the discourse so that whoever is elected will have to operate on a higher level than if you had not been involved.

Despite the prevailing inclination of politicians and pundits to focus on our worst aspects, to spotlight our mistakes and flaws, you insist upon appealing to the better angels of our nature. This insistence will not go unrewarded because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

Whatever the outcome of this presidential campaign, I know that you are and will be a powerful influence in this country and the world for many years to come.

Enough is Enough!

Trish — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:03:55 EST

Good Morning Joe and Mika,

I am a 52 year old woman who has always been active in the Democratic Party and in local politics. Frankly I am flat out tired of the “type “of tactics that the Clinton’s have used in this political campaign… there is nothing clean or honest about either one of them. Why are we still waiting for the Clinton’s to release their tax returns? Where did that five million dollar campaign loan REALLY come from? Who ARE the donors to the Clinton foundation? Who DOES Bill Clinton have international business relationships with? I believe that we need to hear the REAL answers to these questions. At this critical time in our Nation we can not afford to elect a candidate whose tactics and thinking are tied to the past. Yes it is critical that we find the right solutions to health care, unemployment, poverty, education, our environment and the Iraq war. And we can not afford to vote for Hillary Clinton who will continue to keep divisiveness alive and well… Just take a good look at her Campaign of I WILL do anything, SAY anything AND sacrifice the Democratic party to try and get back in the White house. Enough is Enough!…Hillary and Bill.

3.5.08 Sent to the MSNBC show Morning Joe

Empowering Americans with Disabilities

Darline — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:46:51 EST

Senator Obama has a plan for empowering Americans with disabilities. No other candidate has listed disabilities as an issue on their websites that I can see to date. Correct me if I am wrong. Go to www.barackobama.com and click on Issues. You will see Disabilities on the list. Click on Disabilities, and you will gain access to his plan, a link to submit your ideas and one to submit your stories. Also, visit http://www.barackobama.com/tv/ to see captioned video clips in English for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing (HOH). There are also video clips captioned in Spanish.

Too often persons with disabilities are a forgotten group, until there is an event and an interpreter or other concession is needed. This is a group that crosses racial, cultural and economic lines. Please remember to include them and the people who support them as you build support for Senator Obama. It is refreshing to see the forethought and inclusiveness that Senator Obama has demonstrated in this regard. He has redefined the concept of "beginning work on day one" as other candidates say they are prepared to do to "work has already begun and day one has passed."

A rose by any other name

Tom Hayes, working for change — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:20:10 EST

The attempts to feign plausibility while employing "Hussein" to imply connections between Senator Obama and fundamentalist Islamic extremists fall apart when compared to behaviors by those writers and/or speakers in analogous situations. Political candidates are referred to by any serious commentator in whatever way the campaigns prefer. It's respectful to not refer to Senator Clinton as Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton even though she employed Rodham deliberately earlier this decade. Willard chose to be known as Mitt Romney, and that wish was respected. Some years back now, J. Danforth Quayle was greeted by the pundits and columnists on both ends of the political spectrum as "Dan" which was obviously a political decision to make him sound less snobbish (or more folksy and normal.) How many voters today know that Senator McCain's middle name is Sidney, or that he's John Sidney McCain III?

Why don't we hear these full names? Primarily because it's not respectful. We all know that.

McCain Aide Says He Will Quit if Obama Gets Nod

Lucy from Manchaca, TX — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:15:08 EST

This is encouraging news from the other side. I heard the same news story on the radio the other day, that Mark Mckinnon, a long-time policital campaign consultant who now works for McCain, doesn't want to work against Obama, if Obama is the Democratic nominee. The quote I'd heard was essentially that he thinks it would be political suicide to run negative ads against Barack. Yes!

The far right is already gathering their ammo against Obama. This morning I heard someone on Joe Scarborough's early show saying that "Obama is farther left than Kennedy."

The counter to that argument may be something like "Read his book, The Audacity of Hope. You'll find that Obama doesn't blindly ignore any side of an issue or argument. He acknowledges the complexity of the issues and the validity of the various concerns before he arrives at a measured conclusion."

McCain Aide Says He Will Quit if Obama Gets Nod
Thursday, February 14, 2008 12:18 PM

By: Newsmax Staff Article Font Size

Mark McKinnon, a top adviser to Republican presidential front-runner John McCain, says he will quit the campaign if Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination.

McKinnon — a Democrat-turned Republican who was President Bush’s chief media adviser in 2004 — told National Public Radio he would leave the McCain team to avoid involvement in any attacks on Obama.

“I met Barack Obama. I read his book. I like him a great deal,” he said.

“I disagree with him on very fundamental issues. But I think … it would be a great race for the country and I would simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be inevitably attacking Barack Obama.

“I think it would be uncomfortable for me, and I think it would be bad for the McCain campaign.”

Hillary Clinton's Sleaze Parade

Paul from Seattle, WA — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:48:50 EST

Politics can be a rough game. Candidates need to hold their competitors accountable and challenge distortions and lies. And God knows, we need a Democratic nominee who's willing to fight. But Hillary Clinton's campaign has included far too many cheap shots, sleazy manipulations, and unsavory players.

The antidote to allegations

Tom Hayes, working for change — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:39:02 EST

There are some folks who are going to buy the viral smears, and the negative soundbites, and the campaign can't afford to ignore them. As a member of the "Obama Rapid Response" group my responses, and those of the group, include both reporting and countering the alleged facts before they grow into problems, but we can also get beyond the allegations by proactively presenting the positives. Sure, the email(s) will still circulate and surface. Such tactics may even help opponents identify a few supporters of their own who resonate with the style and/or the substance. There is, nonetheless, a wealth of interesting, compelling, real information that's a whole lot more effective in expanding the understanding of voters, who are largely aware of the down-low tactics which visible politicians must endure.

Here's an entry at DIGG.COM, for instance, that points at an article from February 2007 demonstrating Senator Obama's non-partisan diplomacy in action dealing with John McCain, who had just issued a highly confrontational, critical assessment of the "Freshman Senator." Bringing documented cases of the candidate's exemplary actions to light helps build a context resilient enough to withstand the character assaults that outrageous tacticians, for better or worse, are bound and determined to launch.

As politically active citizens, we wear many hats.

Kindred spirits

Tom Hayes, working for change — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:17:24 EST

A man who clearly has the credentials coming out of law school to go virtually any direction chooses to work on behalf of low-income citizens because it's the right thing to do. Barack Obama was obviously a growing force when the DNC selected him to debut his stirring vision for a national audience via the 2004 convention, bringing him to the attention of so many of us. Had anybody dared imply he was raising "false hopes" in the wake of that inspirational speech the party leadership would have been outraged.

Senator Obama will be a factor in the direction of politics and government in this country for decades; he has the vision, drive, and integrity we all crave in our leaders. The opportunity has become: can we help him ascend to the Presidency to carry on his work, where he can spread his impact more readily across the country and the world?

Our time is now.

Rush Limbaugh?

Gavin — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:01:20 EST

Well I don't know for sure, but I think Obama did a damn fine job today. Good organization, good politicking, and great speech about change. Hillary is running, Edwards is floundering, the Republicans are sweating (including Huck) and Rush made comment on Obama.

Haven't we had enough? Democrats '08

Tom Hayes, working for change — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:58:47 EST

A great article at the Huffington Post, on Ms. Huffington's conversation with ad exec Rich Silverstein: A HuffPost Project: Posterizing the Modern GOP.

...I thought he might have some ideas on how to help the Democrats, who continue to struggle with framing an election where they are holding all the cards. He did. When I suggested that he blog about his ideas, he said that since he usually expresses himself best in visual terms, he wanted to see if he could "blog visually."

The images are too large to include here, but you can click these links:

Hello!!!! I'm new to this blog!!!!

Douglas4Obama — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:29:20 EDT

Hello!!! I'm new to this blog!!!! I want to devote my time to Obama's 2008 campaign as much as I can right now with my schedule. Barack Obama is impeccable with his word that makes me inspired very few people can follow that lead or even take it... IF you have any articles that are worth reading about Obama, please send them to me I'm really interested in being educated about Obama much more so I can make it possible to stand behind him 100%!!!

If anyone needs shirts made or any other advertising materials for Campaign purposes only! please contact me I have several contacts that are involved in distribution as well as manufacturing shirts for very minimal costs. I'm heavily involved in import/export trade so I make that possible every day.

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THANKS!!!! Douglas Stewart

We Need a New Foreign Policy

Peter Calvet — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:31:00 EDT

The Democratic Party needs a new foreign policy. I don't mean get out of Iraq. I think every thinking person in America wants to get out of Iraq. Frankly, I am sick of all these "Get out of Iraq plans" as if that is all we need to do.

We have to get out of the "We know what's best for the world" game. It is OK to try and persuade people we know what we are doing. There was a time when we actually had some people in power who actually knew something they could teach the world. (Re: The Marshall Plan.)

We could start in Iraq. Not with who has the best idea for Iraq. But how about we ask the Iraqi people whether they want us to be there? I thought we believed in democracy. So let us act like it! Let the Iraqi people decide if they want us there or not. If they say leave, we should leave. If they say stay and help us rebuild their country, then we have to figure out a way to do it in a competent way. (We can start by firing all the war profiteers.)

We need bold leadership on the world stage today. Most of our leaders are not leading anybody. They are just following. People are naturally sick of the war so most of the Presidential candidates fall all over themselves with exit strategies. In this limited sense, Bush is a leader. He is leading us over the cliff, but is leading, not following.

So let us have some bold leadership, shall we, and can we decide that our country should not be the world's vigilantes, because we have not reached the level of policemen yet since most of what we do is all self-appointed policing. So can we get out of the vigilante business and respond to human needs both at home and abroad?

We desperately need to build alliances, and restore trust in our country. We need assistance in our fight against terrorists - the real kind, not the made up ones. And we need strong leadership to pull this off.

Fellow Democrats, we are in a serious jam.

We are hated around the world.

We are broke.

And our ability to defend ourselves has been seriously undermined by an ill-conceived and badly executed war. We have failed strategically AND tactically. This is no time for just well articulated PR. This is no time for fancy speeches. This is no time for politics as usual. This is not the time to appeal to greed or fear, or whatever the politicians are peddling these days. The Republicans are out. If the Democrats lose the next election then we can just hang it up and move elsewhere. Maybe the Chinese will give us a small island we can govern.

But seriously, folks it is time to demand more than platitudes from our leaders. The situation demands it. The country demands it. The world demands it.

PS Note to Barack: Please articulate a vision of our place in the world that we can all get behind! A vision that is not the usual paternalistic drivel the world hates, but something the entire world can get behind. I remember reading about FDR's "Good Neighbor Policy" towards Latin America. That was a good concept and a good starting point. Surely we have some good minds that can put together a coherent policy statement that makes sense, is positive and helps us keep secure.

Newsweek Evaluates Obama's "Oppo Team"

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:11:31 EST

Link 2007 MSNBC.com/Newsweek: Handicapping Obama’s Oppo Team

He’s been through the first minor skirmish of the ’08 wars. Does Obama’s team have the dirt-diggers, the counterpunchers, and the wise guys he’ll need to go the distance?WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARYBy Richard WolffeNewsweekUpdated: 4:36 p.m. AKT Feb 27, 2007

Feb. 27, 2007 - It was Obama’s first taste of 2008 blood. After Hollywood mogul David Geffen took a shot at Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Clinton camp hit back—demanding that Obama return money Geffen had raised for him, and calling on the Illinois senator to disavow Geffen’s remarks. Obama declined the invitation, and an aide pointed out that the Clintons, too, had benefited from Geffen’s largesse. But the incident left the chattering classes asking: does the rookie have enough muscle and experience in his entourage to trade blows with the battle-tested Clinton crowd?

The answer to that question leads, inevitably, to David Axelrod. “We all view it as a lesson in how easy it is to slide into the muck,” says Axelrod, Obama’s media adviser and chief strategist, of last week’s dust-up. “We are a 6-week-old campaign and we’re going to learn a lot of things along the way.”

He may be trying to help steer his candidate to a new kind of politics, but Axelrod knows plenty about the old ways. He covered politics for the Chicago Tribune before becoming a consultant, helping first Harold Washington and then Richard M. Daley win the Chicago mayoralty. And he’s punched his ticket nationally, having worked for Sen. John Edwards's 2004 White House bid and a number of rising Democratic stars at the state level—including newly minted Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Perhaps most helpful for the challenge ahead, he even did a stint inside enemy territory, working on Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign. In fact, he’s the only operative out there to have logged time with the top three Democratic contenders in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Axelrod says he’s ready to rumble. “There’s no doubt that there are times when shots are going to be taken at us that are going to require a tough reaction because they are on substantive things that directly relate to something Barack has said or done—or some distortion of what he’s said or done,” says Axelrod. “As my old friend Harold Washington used to say, politics isn’t beanbag.”

But his team is still in the process of figuring out when to fire, and when to keep the powder dry. “It’s a question of assessing the incoming and deciding, ‘Is this heading for the main engine or is it going to pass by?’ That is the process. If you are going to respond to something, respond to something substantive and real, not something contrived and meaningless.”

So what counts as “substantive” and “real”? Take a look at how Team Obama responded to a recent Los Angeles Times story about the candidate’s early work as a community organizer in Chicago. The L.A. Times quoted locals who said Obama had oversold his role in helping to improve a Chicago housing project—strongly suggesting that Obama had overplayed his part in his own memoir, "Dreams From My Father." The Obama campaign’s response: a point-by-point, annotated rebuttal, entitled “Just Because Someone Writes It, Does Not Make It True.”

That rebuttal—complete with testimonials from fellow community activists—was the work of the campaign’s research department. The group is headed by Devorah Adler, a former DNC research director who worked for the Clinton White House, and for then-Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle. (She later joined the DNC’s research operation under Mike Gehrke, who headed up the "oppo" research effort for the Kerry campaign in 2004.) Axelrod says the team will do as much research into its own candidate as its rivals. “We have a long record—actually a longer record in public life than several of the other candidates—and the first order of business is when representations are made about that record, we are completely informed as to what Barack has said and done and written,” says Axelrod. “You’d be foolish to have a campaign without that operational capacity.

“Second, it’s important for us to know what other candidates have said and done because you need to understand where there are similarities and contrasts. The difference is about using your opposition research as a kind of offensive weapon on a day-to-day basis to try to besmirch your opponents.”

In selling that message, Axelrod will have help from a team that does not have deep ties to the candidate. Robert Gibbs, his communications director, is the longest-serving staffer, having joined Obama in 2004. Bill Burton, national press secretary, was at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for last year’s elections. He started the 2004 presidential cycle with Dick Gephardt, before joining the Kerry team after the Iowa caucuses. Dan Pfeiffer, another press secretary, worked for Daschle in 2004, and was part of Evan Bayh’s brief presidential bid. Loyal Democrats all—but a crew assembled from the ashes of other presidential campaigns faces a tough challenge against the wily veterans of Hillaryland.

Can Obama stick to the high road, and win? It’s an admirable goal. But his posse will be hard-pressed to stay that course once the serious dirt-dishing begins. Candidates, after all, sling mud for one reason: It works, much of the time.

Character - Obama Has It, And It Shows

V, aka VCubed/Virginia V — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 07:44:58 EST

This story is taken from Sacbee / Opinion.

Ruben Navarrette: The character issue in 2008By Ruben Navarrette -
Published 12:00 am PST Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Think of it as revisionist politics.

The Clintonistas and some of their chums in the elite media want you to think that Hillary Clinton actually got the better of Barack Obama in their recent scrape over the comments by movie and music mogul and Obama supporter David Geffen.

Excuse me, but what fight were they watching? Hillary never laid a glove on Obama. And he got in two sharp jabs -- one that he served up himself and one delivered by his campaign spokesman, Robert Gibbs, who now is under fire from liberal bloggers because he is so effective at drawing blood from fellow Democrats.

At the very least, the Clintonistas seem to be hoping that the verbal shoving match has shattered the spell that Obama has had on much of the national media and that, from this point forward, he'll be treated like any other candidate running for president.

Some members of the media are obediently picking up on that thread.

Kate Zernike of the New York Times wrote that "Mr. Obama's reputation for being above politics was soiled." Her colleague, Adam Nagourney, insisted that Obama "seemed to acknowledge that he may have been outmaneuvered." And Dan Balz of the Washington Post lamented that Obama "missed an opportunity to project the kind of campaign that he says he wants to project, which is to get away from the politics of polarization and personalization."

To recap, Geffen -- who, with pals Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, recently raised about $1.3 million in Hollywood money for Obama -- made some incendiary but insightful remarks about the ease with which both Bill and Hillary Clinton tell whoppers and the difficulty of electing Hillary, who Geffen aptly described as "another incredibly polarizing figure."

Clearly, it stung. The Clinton camp quickly fired off an e-mail to Democratic supporters in an attempt to drive a wedge between Obama and Geffen. "If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics," the e-mail read, "he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money."

Obama spokesman Gibbs shot back in a written statement: "It's ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when he was raising them $18 million and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln Bedroom."

And when reporters asked Obama whether he would condemn Geffen's remarks, the Illinois Democrat tossed in some common sense. "It's not clear to me why I'd be apologizing for someone else's remark," he said.

Good for them both. Gibbs deserves a raise, and Obama deserves to be seen by Democrats as being able to counterpunch and keep his wits while under fire.

Too bad the Clintonistas didn't come across nearly as well in all this.

The question in all this is simple: do people like David Geffen have the right to free speech or not? They absolutely do. And that speech should be protected, whether it comes in the form of a check to a campaign or provocative comments about a candidate. If you believe in one, you have to believe in the other.

As for Obama, he has since said that he intends to take the high road from now on and that he told his staff he wants them not to "be a party to these kinds of distractions" but instead to talk about issues.

Yet one of the most important issues in a presidential campaign is character. And this latest ruckus told us something about who has it and who lacks it.

Obama '08

Jacob E — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 23:56:26 EST

During the last two presidential elections, I've been completely frustrated with the candidates. Among Gore, Kerry, and Bush, no one represented the character of a president. And they seemed far removed from the issues important to me.

But since Barack's speech at the DNC, I've been excited to see what he might do for America.