Category: Barack Obama

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In this historic election year, the people have a choice of unprecedented clarity. The presidential candidates for 2008 offer a uniquely stark contrast of policy and vision. One has embraced a theme of hope that is inspiring millions and setting a new course for national renewal and unity. He has ignited a grassroots revolution of citizen activists committed to bringing change to an arrogant, unaccountable, dishonest, and incompetent government.

The other is John McCain.

In contrast to Barack Obama’s campaign of optimism and hope, McCain offers a vision that is squarely focused on obstacles. Its opaque negativity fairly precludes it from even being described as a vision at all. It might be more accurately expressed as The Opacity NOPE!

Peace? Nope. Health care? Nope. Fair trade? Nope. Tax equity? Nope. Choice? Nope. Environment? Nope. Get the idea?

Labor union officials and some liberal activists were seething Tuesday over Barack Obama’s choice of centrist economist Jason Furman as the top economic advisor for the campaign.

The critics say Furman, who was appointed to the post Monday, has overstated the potential benefits of globalization, Social Security private accounts and the low prices offered by Wal-Mart — considered a corporate pariah by the labor movement.

LA Times

We all support Obama against McCain.  And many of us support the labor movement also.  Our support of Obama is not the kind of support that believes he can do no wrong: that’s for those who support Bush.  

Labor leaders are rightly critical of Obama’s choice of Jason Furman as

the economic policy director.  While I continue to support Obama and work for his election, I must speeak out here.  This is the wrong direction.    

More after the fold.

I haven’t been disappeared into a CIA torture chamber, if those of you concerned for my wellbeing have been wondering.  I started college again late last month, and it’s taken up a lot of my free time.  I’ll probably be doing my updates primarily on the weekends for a while.  Anyway, on to business.

Leave it to Paul Krugman to state what should have been obvious from the start:

Maybe I’m wrong, but my sense is that Jason Furman has become a proxy target for some Obama supporters who, now that the Great Satanness has been defeated, are suddenly starting to have the queasy feeling that their hero might be a bit of a …. centrist. I’m tempted to say I told you so; in fact, I guess I just did.

Although Krugman actually likes Furman, I think his remarks are — as usual — spot on.  The Obamamaniacs got the presidential candidate they wanted, but now that they’ve begun to realize they put their hopes in a fraud they’re getting nervous.  I would be too, if I suddenly realized I’d thrown my support behind another DLCer and in so doing, helped Democrats lose the White House again.

Clark on McCain, yesterday:

“I know he’s trying to get traction by seeking to play to what he thinks is his strong suit of national security,” Clark said of McCain while speaking from his office in Little Rock, Arkansas. “The truth is that, in national security terms, he’s largely untested and untried. He’s never been responsible for policy formulation. He’s never had leadership in a crisis, or in anything larger than his own element on an aircraft carrier or [in managing] his own congressional staff. It’s not clear that this is going to be the strong suit that he thinks it is.”

What a genius choice he would be.  Take all that tough chickenhawk military talk and shove it down the pugs throats.  

h/t Big Tent http://www.talkleft.com/story/…

We continue to hear from the strains of Right Wing Hate Radio programming to the musings in conservative rags such as the Washington Times that the media has a Liberal Bias to the stories they cover.  

The Neo-Con’s whine and cry and complain that the New York Times (to a conservative, synonymous with George Soros’ personal newspaper), CNN, The Washington Post, USA Today, BBC News, NPR, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and on and on, are nothing more than the mouthpieces of the dangerous liberal movement in our country!  The Wingnut set decries these media outlets for only giving us one side, TEH LIBERAL SIDE, of any story.

Well, lets once again check into the world of teh Librul Media and see exactly what they have on tap for us.  

Today we will venture into that No-Repulican-Man’s Land of The George Soros New York Times and see what those bastions of Liberal Media claptrap have up their devious progressive sleeves.

Hmmmmm, let’s see.  A story about the South Korean leader.  Nope, nothing to bash Bush or konservatives about in there.  Ok, next story!  This one compares and contrasts Senator’s Obama and McCain in a story by Michael Cooper and Larry Rohter entitled:

Crossposted from BlueNC

Barack Obama kicked off his general election campaign in Raleigh, NC on Monday, an indication that  North Carolina will be a targeted state in the fall.  Obama delivered a major speech on the economy at the NC Fairgrounds,  marking  the beginning of a two-week tour through the state, focusing on Economic Policy.

During his speech, Obama went into full general election mode, launching a direct hit on McCain’s Economic policy, calling it a “full throated endorsement of Bush’s Policies.”

Obama Slams McCain’s Economic Policy

“But when it comes to the economy, John McCain and I have a fundamentally different vision of where to take the country. Because for all his talk of independence, the centerpiece of his economic plan amounts to a full-throated endorsement of George Bush’s policies. He says we’ve made “great progress” in our economy these past eight years. He calls himself a fiscal conservative and on the campaign trail he’s passionate critic of government spending, and yet he has no problem spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for big corporations and a permanent occupation of Iraq — policies that have left our children with a mountain of debt.”

Cross posted at  KOS

Social Justice. Some of us were introduced to the idea in church, appropriately because Jesus preached social justice. Altho social justice is an important theme in all major religions, some churches like the Catholic Church have offices of Social Justice. In deed the term was coined by a Jesuit priest in the mid 1800’s, based on the teachings of Thomas Aquinas.  

It got a lot of press both good and bad in the 60’s when Jesuit priests preached social justice and organized the impoverished of South America. Social Justice is the heart of Liberation Theology and Black Liberation Theology.  Follow me below the fold for a little background on social justice, why shooting the messenger is counter productive and oh yes, the grand experiment of YES WE CAN.

Senator’s Barack Obama and John McCain are working overtime to change the Electoral Map of our country in an effort to win over States that have been recently voting either Democratic or Republic in our current 2008 Presidential Election.  

Both Presidential Candidates are in serious need of changing the Electoral Map, as the polls are showing possible pick-up’s in States that have traditionally voted for one party or the other during a Presidential election.

From Washington Post:

The 2008 general election will pit the best-organized nomination campaign in the history of modern Democratic politics against the battle-tested machinery of the Republican Party, with both Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) determined to shake up an electoral map that has been virtually static over the past two elections.

Democrats enjoy a highly favorable electoral climate at this start of the general election, created by gloomy attitudes about the state of the country and economy, President Bush’s low approval ratings and negative perceptions of the GOP. But as Obama shifts his attention from his primary victory over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) to his test against McCain, the electoral map nonetheless foreshadows another highly competitive race in November.

McCain and Obama offer a rare combination of nominees able to poach on the other party’s turf. Both have proven appeal to independents. McCain will target disgruntled Clinton supporters; Obama will target disaffected Republicans. Women, Latinos and, especially, white working-class voters will find themselves courted intensely by the two campaigns.

Crossposted from ePluribus Media

“This isn’t the party I planned but I sure like the company,” Hillary said as she opened her concession speech at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.

Speaking to the “18 million…from all walks of life,” who voted for her, Hillary congratulated and endorsed Barack Obama, stating:

“The way, the way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand is to take our energy, our passions, our strengths and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama, the next president of the United States.”

Thanking her supporters for their hard work and dedication, Hillary expressed the optimism that she oft spoke of on the campaign trail. “See, you can be anything you want to be.”

Continuing her fight for  Universal Health Care, a signature issue for Hillary Clinton, she noted that she entered “public service to help  people solve their problems and live their dreams.”

“You’ll always find me on the frontlines of democracy fighting for the future.” Hillary said.

Hillary also focused women’s rights, stating she wants to address “every last bias out there.”

“We must make sure that men and women alike, understand the struggles of their mothers and grandmothers and that women enjoy the equal opportunities: equal pay and equal respect.”

Moreover, Hillary spoke to equality in general saying, “There are no acceptable prejudices,” and that “children will take for granted that yes, a woman or an African American can become the President of the United States.”

Emphasizng unity, Hillary stated, “This has been a tough fight but the Democratic Party is a family,” and repeated throughout her speech, “We must help elect Barack Obama President.”

As Hillary said today, “We cannot let this moment slip away.”  

I’m sure Dylan would not call it an endorsement, but the Times of London does:

His 1964 track ‘The Times They are a-Changin’ became the anthem for his generation, symbolising the era-defining social struggle against the establishment.

Now Bob Dylan – who could justifiably claim to be the architect of Barack Obama’s ‘change’ catchphrase – has backed the Illinois senator to do for modern America what the generation before did in the 1960s.

In an exclusive interview with The Times, published today, Dylan gives a ringing endorsement to Mr Obama, the first ever black presidential candidate, claiming he is “redefining the nature of politics from the ground up”.

He does, indeed, have some very positive things to say about Obama, even if it’s not “a ringing endorsement” as the paper claims:

Asked about his views on American politics, he said: “Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval. Poverty is demoralising. You can’t expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor.

“But we’ve got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up…Barack Obama.

“He’s redefining what a politician is, so we’ll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I’m hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to.”

He added: “You should always take the best from the past, leave the worst back there and go forward into the future.”

Pretty amazing stuff from the “Don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters” guy who has always insisted he doesn’t speak for anyone but himself.  

Wonder if he votes.

Anyway, endorsement or not, it’s one more piece of evidence that maybe the times really are a-changin’ if even Dylan sees reason for hope.  

Seventy-five years ago March 4, as I wrote here on the anniversary three months ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt initiated a period of intense activity that would afterwards set the standard – never again attained – for the successful beginning of a President’s term of office. It was subsequently called the “100 Days.”

Of late, when discussion is not focused on who should or should not chosen for Vice President or the new Cabinet, some people have been talking about Senator – or, rather, President – Obama’s first hundred days, offering prescriptions for what he should try to accomplish and what tone he should try to establish during that brief window of opportunity. In the case of former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson and Libertarian talk-show host Neil Boortz, the talk is about the potential for early missteps that could plague him for the rest of his Presidency.

If he wins in November, should President Obama try to discard the whole concept of the 100 Days, which originally was a mere accident? Is it now an obstacle to good governance? And if so, is it even possible to circumvent the inevitable media frenzy surrounding something so deeply entrenched in our political psyche?  

i met a stranger today. a shop clerk in the netherlands. a black girl.  when i spoke in english to her, she stopped. and looked at me.

then she asked me if i was an american.

yes, i said.

she shook her head.

will you vote? she asked.

yes. i couldn’t help it. so i added…

and i’ll be voting for Obama

we looked at each other. in one of those moments.

and we high-fived it, laughing out loud.

bam!

she leaned over the counter

he’s, ah… um, half, um, black. and the other part, um, ah, is white.

and, um, ah maybe he can bring peace.

i was thunderstruck. and understood this:::

we have to become important to this black white stranger.

we have to become his obsession.

we have to give ourselves to him.

and expect. demand he do the same.

we have to give him something greater to lose.

than power. or money. or fame.

but whatever holds people like us, people here at DD

whatever holds us to this urgency to protect life

diversity, freedom

whatever it is that makes us care

we have to pass it onto this man who made a speech four years ago

and swept us away

now. it is our turn.

to sweep him away.

with our love for the very least among us.

the homeless. the hungry. the confused.

the apathetic. the aimless. and all creatures.

it’s our job. to capture his heart and loyalty.

and let him know we get it…  we all have to do it better,  if we want a better world.

we can reach him, this Barack Obama. if we want to.

we can bring him with us.

yes. shop girl. we can. have peace. if we want it so.