FAMILY RALLY IN CENTRAL PARK!
Merchants’Gate at Columbus Circle
Saturday, February 2 at 12 NoonNew York
Come show that every vote will counton Feb. 5th!
Bring friends, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters
Visitny.barackobama.com/nyceventsfor more info
59thand Central Park West
Message Not Authorized By Candidate Paid for by New York Women for Obama
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
From friend Tony Midwest:
Obama is going to have to learn to shut out the noise-- namely-- Bill Clinton -- Hilary makes the snow-balls -- Bill throws them-- they've confused him -- he HAS to take the fight to HER and should loudly suggest that the former president shut the fuck up -- He can say this in a way that is witty -- he can say that his wife does not discuss Hilary publicly -- and the former president should shut the fuck up -- Bill Clinton is now the most effective political operative in either party and he is distracting Obama -- by Obama's own admission -- which was a mistake-- he has to go after HER-- she nailed him with the Reszcow stuff -- as I told you she would -- Why isn't Obama nailing her for being the best Senator lobbyist money can buy?-- he is bringing a knife to a gunfight -- When she gets in the mud -- he has to bloody her -- the lobbyist stuff will work and he should NAME said lobbyists-- Why is he not doing this -- She bitch-slapped him in the exchange the other night in the debates and she looked like she wanted this worse than he did -- this is not good. When she goes afterr him he has to NAIL her with something devastating-- the lobbyist stuff is perfect -- Why haven't they used this?-- Is Obama cozy with the same people?-- he didn't look good in the debate -- he hesitated-- he sputtered-- and she got to him .
He cannot say things like 'I'm not sure who I'm running against'-- he has to focus on her and the myriad of scandals SHE has been party to. Hilary has thiick skin -- he will have to hit her HARD-- from here on out it's going to be a knife-fight -- any pretense of above-the-fray politics is OVER with-- she is going to fight like wounded rat , inch by bloody inch , the rest of the campaign-- the crying shit is done .
He has to suggest Bill Clinton shut -up or at least quit lying-- call him out-- maybe suggesting that being the only president to get caught getting his joint copped in the oval office, hardly qualifies him to judge anyone's ethics might do the trick-- it's the mean season. Obama has to take the gloves off -- he has to take Bill out of the equation-- nasty as it is -- he has to use Bill's weaknesses against him-- just to shut him up.
be well
He cannot say things like 'I'm not sure who I'm running against'-- he has to focus on her and the myriad of scandals SHE has been party to. Hilary has thiick skin -- he will have to hit her HARD-- from here on out it's going to be a knife-fight -- any pretense of above-the-fray politics is OVER with-- she is going to fight like wounded rat , inch by bloody inch , the rest of the campaign-- the crying shit is done .
He has to suggest Bill Clinton shut -up or at least quit lying-- call him out-- maybe suggesting that being the only president to get caught getting his joint copped in the oval office, hardly qualifies him to judge anyone's ethics might do the trick-- it's the mean season. Obama has to take the gloves off -- he has to take Bill out of the equation-- nasty as it is -- he has to use Bill's weaknesses against him-- just to shut him up.
be well
From Stephanie in Westchester:
I am absolutely sickened by the way both Clintons are shaming the Democratic Party by the low level on which they are conducting their campaign--and I emphasize their.
I think their message of two-for-the-price-of-one in his first presidential campaign (which seems to be replaying today in reverse) was a subversion of feminism (not to mention not provided for in the Constitution). I think claiming that having been the wife of the president is a qualifying experience to be president is equally anti-feminist and demeaning to women like Nancy Pelosi, who've made it on their own. I think her bungling of the first real opportunity this country had for anything approaching universal health care was the result of her own arrogance, secretiveness and naive and self-serving assumption that she could somehow position the proposal so as not to turn the health care industry totally against her husband. And while it may have been a doomed battle then, it might, but for the way she conducted it, have been a noble one and a template for today, rather than a fiasco of naivete and incompetence that made it impossible to return it to the agenda for another 16 years.
Further, I think Bill Clinton pulled the Democratic Party too far to the center-right and worry that, since she is allowing him such a loud voice in her campaign, she would allow him too loud a voice in the Oval Office. I think that she has not been forthright about her position on the bankruptcy bill, which is one of the most punishing things to have been visited on people struggling to survive financially.
And I don't know of anything concrete she-- or her husband-- the so-called "first black president"-- has done to positively affect the lives of African-Americans (look up Marion Wright Edelman on welfare reform) that would compare with Obama's community organizing on the south side of Chicago with followers of Saul Alinsky. And yet she has the chutzpah to accuse him of talking about change instead of actually doing something to make change happen!
(See excerpts from Washington Post below).
"Alinsky had died, but a group of his disciples hired Barack Obama, a 23-year-old Columbia University graduate, to organize black residents on the South Side, while learning and applying Alinsky's philosophy of street-level democracy. The recruiter called the $13,000-a-year job "very romantic, until you do it."
"Today, as Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton face off for the Democratic presidential nomination, their common connection to Alinsky [she wrote a paper on him at Wellesley] is one of the striking aspects of their biographies. Obama embraced many of Alinsky's tactics and recently said his years as an organizer gave him the best education of his life. Clinton's interest was more intellectual -- she turned down the job offer [from Alinsky]-- and she has said little about Alinsky since their association became a favorite subject of conservative critics during her husband's presidency." (emphasis mine)
I think their message of two-for-the-price-of-one in his first presidential campaign (which seems to be replaying today in reverse) was a subversion of feminism (not to mention not provided for in the Constitution). I think claiming that having been the wife of the president is a qualifying experience to be president is equally anti-feminist and demeaning to women like Nancy Pelosi, who've made it on their own. I think her bungling of the first real opportunity this country had for anything approaching universal health care was the result of her own arrogance, secretiveness and naive and self-serving assumption that she could somehow position the proposal so as not to turn the health care industry totally against her husband. And while it may have been a doomed battle then, it might, but for the way she conducted it, have been a noble one and a template for today, rather than a fiasco of naivete and incompetence that made it impossible to return it to the agenda for another 16 years.
Further, I think Bill Clinton pulled the Democratic Party too far to the center-right and worry that, since she is allowing him such a loud voice in her campaign, she would allow him too loud a voice in the Oval Office. I think that she has not been forthright about her position on the bankruptcy bill, which is one of the most punishing things to have been visited on people struggling to survive financially.
And I don't know of anything concrete she-- or her husband-- the so-called "first black president"-- has done to positively affect the lives of African-Americans (look up Marion Wright Edelman on welfare reform) that would compare with Obama's community organizing on the south side of Chicago with followers of Saul Alinsky. And yet she has the chutzpah to accuse him of talking about change instead of actually doing something to make change happen!
(See excerpts from Washington Post below).
"Alinsky had died, but a group of his disciples hired Barack Obama, a 23-year-old Columbia University graduate, to organize black residents on the South Side, while learning and applying Alinsky's philosophy of street-level democracy. The recruiter called the $13,000-a-year job "very romantic, until you do it."
"Today, as Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton face off for the Democratic presidential nomination, their common connection to Alinsky [she wrote a paper on him at Wellesley] is one of the striking aspects of their biographies. Obama embraced many of Alinsky's tactics and recently said his years as an organizer gave him the best education of his life. Clinton's interest was more intellectual -- she turned down the job offer [from Alinsky]-- and she has said little about Alinsky since their association became a favorite subject of conservative critics during her husband's presidency." (emphasis mine)
From Beth in Westchester: Toni MOrrison Endorsement!
Dear Senator Obama,
This letter represents a first for me--a public endorsement of a
Presidential candidate. I feel driven to let you know why I am writing
it. One reason is it may help gather other supporters; another is that
this is one of those singular moments that nations ignore at their
peril. I will not rehearse the multiple crises facing us, but of one
thing I am certain: this opportunity for a national evolution (even
revolution) will not come again soon, and I am convinced you are the
person to capture it.
May I describe to you my thoughts?
I have admired Senator Clinton for years. Her knowledge always seemed
to me exhaustive; her negotiation of politics expert. However I am more
compelled by the quality of mind (as far as I can measure it) of a
candidate. I cared little for her gender as a source of my admiration,
and the little I did care was based on the fact that no liberal woman
has ever ruled in America. Only conservative or "new-centrist" ones are
allowed into that realm. Nor do I care very much for your race[s]. I
would not support you if that was all you had to offer or because it
might make me "proud."
In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned
myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to keen
intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something
that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and
something I don't see in other candidates. That something is a creative
imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad
if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call
searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we
settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in the forest
while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it.
Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a
class, or earn it in the workplace--that access can foster the
acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom.
When, I wondered, was the last time this country was guided by such a
leader? Someone whose moral center was un-embargoed? Someone with
courage instead of mere ambition? Someone who truly thinks of his
country's citizens as "we," not "they"? Someone who understands what it
will take to help America realize the virtues it fancies about itself,
what it desperately needs to become in the world?
Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities. Yet
unleashing the glory of that future will require a difficult labor, and
some may be so frightened of its birth they will refuse to abandon their
nostalgia for the womb.
There have been a few prescient leaders in our past, but you are the man
for this time.
Good luck to you and to us.
Toni Morrison
This letter represents a first for me--a public endorsement of a
Presidential candidate. I feel driven to let you know why I am writing
it. One reason is it may help gather other supporters; another is that
this is one of those singular moments that nations ignore at their
peril. I will not rehearse the multiple crises facing us, but of one
thing I am certain: this opportunity for a national evolution (even
revolution) will not come again soon, and I am convinced you are the
person to capture it.
May I describe to you my thoughts?
I have admired Senator Clinton for years. Her knowledge always seemed
to me exhaustive; her negotiation of politics expert. However I am more
compelled by the quality of mind (as far as I can measure it) of a
candidate. I cared little for her gender as a source of my admiration,
and the little I did care was based on the fact that no liberal woman
has ever ruled in America. Only conservative or "new-centrist" ones are
allowed into that realm. Nor do I care very much for your race[s]. I
would not support you if that was all you had to offer or because it
might make me "proud."
In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned
myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to keen
intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something
that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and
something I don't see in other candidates. That something is a creative
imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad
if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call
searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we
settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in the forest
while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it.
Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a
class, or earn it in the workplace--that access can foster the
acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom.
When, I wondered, was the last time this country was guided by such a
leader? Someone whose moral center was un-embargoed? Someone with
courage instead of mere ambition? Someone who truly thinks of his
country's citizens as "we," not "they"? Someone who understands what it
will take to help America realize the virtues it fancies about itself,
what it desperately needs to become in the world?
Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities. Yet
unleashing the glory of that future will require a difficult labor, and
some may be so frightened of its birth they will refuse to abandon their
nostalgia for the womb.
There have been a few prescient leaders in our past, but you are the man
for this time.
Good luck to you and to us.
Toni Morrison
From Anne in Chicago:
In case you missed today's Rasmussen news:
"Barack Obama has now cut the gap with Hillary Clinton to 6 percentage points among Democrats nationally in the Gallup Poll Daily tracking three-day averageand interviewing conducted Tuesday night shows the gap between the two candidates is within a few points. Obama's position has been strengthening on a day-by-day basis. As recently as Jan. 18-20Clinton led Obama by 20 points."
Anne
"Barack Obama has now cut the gap with Hillary Clinton to 6 percentage points among Democrats nationally in the Gallup Poll Daily tracking three-day averageand interviewing conducted Tuesday night shows the gap between the two candidates is within a few points. Obama's position has been strengthening on a day-by-day basis. As recently as Jan. 18-20Clinton led Obama by 20 points."
Anne
From NARAL:
Dear friends,
As all of you know, Senator Clinton and her campaign have spent the last several weeks attacking Senator Obama’s pro-choice record and making false claims that call into question his commitment to women’s reproductive health and the right to choose. Pro-choice leaders from across the country have asked the Clinton campaign time and time again to stop these attacks and false claims. They have refused. This has prompted the strongest response yet from the pro-choice community in a statement released by the President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, Nancy Keenan.
Share this far and wide with everyone you know who cares about choice and bringing an end to these false and senseless attacks that threaten to further divide the pro-choice community.
FROM NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA
http://www.bushvchoice.com/archives/2008/01/a_message_to_pr.html
January 24, 2008
A Message to Pro-Choice Voters Regarding the Democratic Presidential Primary
Nancy Keenan is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
This week Americans mark the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a milestone that coincides with the 2008 presidential election.
As we celebrate this occasion, and this critical time for women’s reproductive freedom, NARAL Pro-Choice America is proud that we have such strong pro-choice candidates like Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and former Sen. John Edwards, running for president.
As the political leader of the pro-choice movement, NARAL Pro-Choice America has researched the voting records, public comments, and actions of each of the candidates and shared the information we've documented with the more than one-million activists, supporters, and members our organization represents.
Beginning in Iowa, continuing into New Hampshire, and now in South Carolina and the states voting in the February 5 contests, there has been an undercurrent of speculation and innuendo that calls into question Sen. Obama’s record on choice. This has the potential to divide the pro-choice community and create tension where none should exist. Today, for the sake of our issue and our movement, I am asking that these tactics stop.
As someone who spent nearly two decades as an elected official before coming to NARAL Pro-Choice America, I know that, in the heat of the campaign, charges and counter-charges are made in the honest belief that one candidate is somehow better than another. I get that.
Let me be clear: Here are the facts pro-choice voters need as they head to the polls, whether this weekend in South Carolina, on “Tsunami Tuesday” to vote for the Democratic Party's nominee, or on November 4 when we all vote for the next president of the United States: Sens. Clinton, Edwards, and Obama are fully pro-choice. NARAL Pro-Choice America endorsed all three candidates in their previous campaigns. All of the candidates have voted pro-choice; have publicly affirmed that they are pro-choice; and have taken actions that back up their pro-choice voting records and statements. All three candidates endorse the Freedom of Choice Act, which would codify Roe and protect the right to choose for future generations. Sens. Clinton, Edwards, and Obama have steadfastly supported and defended a woman's right to make the most personal, private decisions regarding her reproductive health without interference from government or politicians.
NARAL Pro-Choice America has not yet endorsed a candidate for president because there are such equally strong pro-choice contenders in the Democratic primary. We understand that other organizations have made different decisions; we respect that. But our collective long-term goal as a pro-choice movement must be to advance the cause.
This focus on nonexistent differences between the pro-choice candidates distracts from the real goal. We must focus our fight on defeating the anti-choice Republican candidates who have called for the overturn of Roe.
NARAL Pro-Choice America will continue to support pro-choice candidates and defend them all against attacks. We can only hope that in the future, we, as a unified pro-choice community, will be defending against anti-choice politicians, not one another.
Becky Carroll
National Director, Women for Obama
Office: 312 819 2525
Cell: 312 550 6762
bcarroll@barackobama.com
As all of you know, Senator Clinton and her campaign have spent the last several weeks attacking Senator Obama’s pro-choice record and making false claims that call into question his commitment to women’s reproductive health and the right to choose. Pro-choice leaders from across the country have asked the Clinton campaign time and time again to stop these attacks and false claims. They have refused. This has prompted the strongest response yet from the pro-choice community in a statement released by the President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, Nancy Keenan.
Share this far and wide with everyone you know who cares about choice and bringing an end to these false and senseless attacks that threaten to further divide the pro-choice community.
FROM NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA
http://www.bushvchoice.com/archives/2008/01/a_message_to_pr.html
January 24, 2008
A Message to Pro-Choice Voters Regarding the Democratic Presidential Primary
Nancy Keenan is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
This week Americans mark the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a milestone that coincides with the 2008 presidential election.
As we celebrate this occasion, and this critical time for women’s reproductive freedom, NARAL Pro-Choice America is proud that we have such strong pro-choice candidates like Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and former Sen. John Edwards, running for president.
As the political leader of the pro-choice movement, NARAL Pro-Choice America has researched the voting records, public comments, and actions of each of the candidates and shared the information we've documented with the more than one-million activists, supporters, and members our organization represents.
Beginning in Iowa, continuing into New Hampshire, and now in South Carolina and the states voting in the February 5 contests, there has been an undercurrent of speculation and innuendo that calls into question Sen. Obama’s record on choice. This has the potential to divide the pro-choice community and create tension where none should exist. Today, for the sake of our issue and our movement, I am asking that these tactics stop.
As someone who spent nearly two decades as an elected official before coming to NARAL Pro-Choice America, I know that, in the heat of the campaign, charges and counter-charges are made in the honest belief that one candidate is somehow better than another. I get that.
Let me be clear: Here are the facts pro-choice voters need as they head to the polls, whether this weekend in South Carolina, on “Tsunami Tuesday” to vote for the Democratic Party's nominee, or on November 4 when we all vote for the next president of the United States: Sens. Clinton, Edwards, and Obama are fully pro-choice. NARAL Pro-Choice America endorsed all three candidates in their previous campaigns. All of the candidates have voted pro-choice; have publicly affirmed that they are pro-choice; and have taken actions that back up their pro-choice voting records and statements. All three candidates endorse the Freedom of Choice Act, which would codify Roe and protect the right to choose for future generations. Sens. Clinton, Edwards, and Obama have steadfastly supported and defended a woman's right to make the most personal, private decisions regarding her reproductive health without interference from government or politicians.
NARAL Pro-Choice America has not yet endorsed a candidate for president because there are such equally strong pro-choice contenders in the Democratic primary. We understand that other organizations have made different decisions; we respect that. But our collective long-term goal as a pro-choice movement must be to advance the cause.
This focus on nonexistent differences between the pro-choice candidates distracts from the real goal. We must focus our fight on defeating the anti-choice Republican candidates who have called for the overturn of Roe.
NARAL Pro-Choice America will continue to support pro-choice candidates and defend them all against attacks. We can only hope that in the future, we, as a unified pro-choice community, will be defending against anti-choice politicians, not one another.
Becky Carroll
National Director, Women for Obama
Office: 312 819 2525
Cell: 312 550 6762
bcarroll@barackobama.com
Ruthie from Arizona:
Good news - our governor who is incredibly well respected by both dem and rep has endorsed Obama. (she is a dem) Hillary is pretty much hated around here.
I have already voted and feel many are really ready for a change. You just never know what people do when they actually make that pencil mark. Caroline Kennedy is a very brave and intelligent and thoughtful woman. And Ted Kennedy basically said f-you to Hillary. and he's right..
I have already voted and feel many are really ready for a change. You just never know what people do when they actually make that pencil mark. Caroline Kennedy is a very brave and intelligent and thoughtful woman. And Ted Kennedy basically said f-you to Hillary. and he's right..
From Caroline Kennedy:Video of her endorsement on Newsmax
Web NewsMax.com
Caroline Kennedy
"Caroline Kennedy Compares Barack Obama to JFK"
Comparing Barack Obama to John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy says that people always tell her how her father inspired them. She feels the same excitement now that Barack Obama is running for president. .
Check out more Election '08 videos -- Click Here Now
© 2007 NewsMax.com All Rights Reserved
Caroline Kennedy
"Caroline Kennedy Compares Barack Obama to JFK"
Comparing Barack Obama to John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy says that people always tell her how her father inspired them. She feels the same excitement now that Barack Obama is running for president. .
Check out more Election '08 videos -- Click Here Now
© 2007 NewsMax.com All Rights Reserved
From Anne in Chicago:
Beth Arnold: Over the Hill (and Bill)
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beth-arnold/over-the-hill-and-bill_b_83299.html
I am a 53-year-old Southern woman I live in Paris now, but come from Arkansas, the former land of Bill and Hillary Clinton In the days before his first inauguration, which my husband and I merrily attended, we used to see Bill jogging down the street and Hillary browsing in our video store My daughter went to nursery school with Chelsea ... Read the rest at HuffingtonPost.com
© 2007 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beth-arnold/over-the-hill-and-bill_b_83299.html
I am a 53-year-old Southern woman I live in Paris now, but come from Arkansas, the former land of Bill and Hillary Clinton In the days before his first inauguration, which my husband and I merrily attended, we used to see Bill jogging down the street and Hillary browsing in our video store My daughter went to nursery school with Chelsea ... Read the rest at HuffingtonPost.com
© 2007 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC
From Elizabeth in Mamaroneck NY:
January 29, 2008
Why do endorsements matter?
Posted by Mark Kleiman
Jonathan Kulick asks a good question: Why should we care about endorsements?
In the abstract, I think there's a good answer. If you're a low-information or low-attention voter, endorsements convey valuable information in easily interpretable form. Just because we're political junkies doesn't mean that everyone has to be; I'm told that some people have actual lives. And for those who haven't done the work necessary to form sensible judgments on their own, using the opinion of someone they respect as a signal may well be the most sensible course.
But in the specific case of Ted Kennedy endorsing Barack Obama, there's actually some information in the endorsement that wasn't available even to the most news-obsessed among us.
The entire Hillary Clinton campaign has been run on the theme that she will be "ready on Day One" and knows how to work the bureaucracies and the Hill to actually get things done, by contrast with Barack Obama, who may talk purty but doesn't actually know his a@@ from second base when it comes to changing policy. And yet we have the great Democratic workhorse Senator, who knows how Washington actually operates as well as anyone could, expressing the opinion that Obama would make the better President.
Not only is that an opinion worth pondering, it's direct evidence. The disaster of the first two years of the Clinton Administration was its failure to convert Democratic Congressional majorities into actual legislation. And one plausible version of the "Obama is inexperienced" idea is that he would make similar mistakes and suffer similar defeats. But Kennedy himself is one of the Hill barons that any President has to work with. His support for Obama now means that, on a wide range of legislation, President Obama would likely have strong support from Senator Kennedy.
And Kennedy knows, not only the landscape, but the candidates. As Brian Beutler points out, both Obama and Clinton have been his juniors on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Clinton has been his junior on Armed Services. He's actually seen them doing the work. And anyone who has ever done hiring knows that a letter of recommendation from a supervisor is worth a dozen interviews with the job candidate. When Kennedy says that Obama worked hard and effectively on the immigration bill, that's an important fact, and one not otherwise available to people outside the Senate.
So I wouldn't put the Kennedy endorsement in the same category as, say, the Oprah Winfrey endorsement. He knows more than I do. That's not to say I would give that endorsement full deference, but it ought to count.
Why do endorsements matter?
Posted by Mark Kleiman
Jonathan Kulick asks a good question: Why should we care about endorsements?
In the abstract, I think there's a good answer. If you're a low-information or low-attention voter, endorsements convey valuable information in easily interpretable form. Just because we're political junkies doesn't mean that everyone has to be; I'm told that some people have actual lives. And for those who haven't done the work necessary to form sensible judgments on their own, using the opinion of someone they respect as a signal may well be the most sensible course.
But in the specific case of Ted Kennedy endorsing Barack Obama, there's actually some information in the endorsement that wasn't available even to the most news-obsessed among us.
The entire Hillary Clinton campaign has been run on the theme that she will be "ready on Day One" and knows how to work the bureaucracies and the Hill to actually get things done, by contrast with Barack Obama, who may talk purty but doesn't actually know his a@@ from second base when it comes to changing policy. And yet we have the great Democratic workhorse Senator, who knows how Washington actually operates as well as anyone could, expressing the opinion that Obama would make the better President.
Not only is that an opinion worth pondering, it's direct evidence. The disaster of the first two years of the Clinton Administration was its failure to convert Democratic Congressional majorities into actual legislation. And one plausible version of the "Obama is inexperienced" idea is that he would make similar mistakes and suffer similar defeats. But Kennedy himself is one of the Hill barons that any President has to work with. His support for Obama now means that, on a wide range of legislation, President Obama would likely have strong support from Senator Kennedy.
And Kennedy knows, not only the landscape, but the candidates. As Brian Beutler points out, both Obama and Clinton have been his juniors on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Clinton has been his junior on Armed Services. He's actually seen them doing the work. And anyone who has ever done hiring knows that a letter of recommendation from a supervisor is worth a dozen interviews with the job candidate. When Kennedy says that Obama worked hard and effectively on the immigration bill, that's an important fact, and one not otherwise available to people outside the Senate.
So I wouldn't put the Kennedy endorsement in the same category as, say, the Oprah Winfrey endorsement. He knows more than I do. That's not to say I would give that endorsement full deference, but it ought to count.
From Judy in Westchester notice of Obama Rally!!!!
The rally is at the Village Green, Bedford, at noon on Sat., Feb. 2. We're having live music and a few speakers - trying to get some 'names.' George Soros unfortunately is out of the country, but I'm calling Ted Sorensen shortly to see if he can make it. Frank Brosens is committed. Ted Sorenson speaking!
The Village Green is right in the center of Bedford. From 684, take 172 into Bedford and you're there.
Exit 4. turn right at end of ramp on to 172; at intersection of 172 and 22 turn left which takes you into the village and the green - about 2 miles from intersection.
The Village Green is right in the center of Bedford. From 684, take 172 into Bedford and you're there.
Exit 4. turn right at end of ramp on to 172; at intersection of 172 and 22 turn left which takes you into the village and the green - about 2 miles from intersection.
From Kathy in KCMO:
It gets even better. I just saw on the news that over 5000 people crammed into the Municpal Auditorium before the fire marshals closed the doors. That left hundreds of people out in the street who stayed to hear him although they could not see him. People were passing out from the closeness and heat in the auditorium and freezing outdoors. No one was deterred. The weather today was terrible. After the snow and ice of the afternoon, the temperature dropped this morning from 55 degrees to 4 degrees. I am so sad that I could not be there, but my respiratory ailments would not allow me to stand in the cold and snow and live through it! My friend went with her whole family. She said he was electric and she is convinced he will be the next president. She was also very impressed with Kathleen Sebilius, our KS governor, and said she should be the first woman president after Barack gives us 8 good years! I am so excited. This was supposed to be Clinton country. Bill maybe drew 1000 people last weekend (those were probably mainly students from William Chrisman High School where he spoke!) This gives me hope! He also packed the little town of ElDorado, KS where little old ladies were claiming to be his relatives. An unbelievable day for Obama in the Midwest! He is a Barack star! I will see him in person one day!
From Anne in Chicago:
Former President of Chicago NOW, Lorna Brett Howard, tells the story of why she switched from supporting Hillary Clinton to supporting Barack Obama.
WATCH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVuMYKs8iJs
WATCH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVuMYKs8iJs
From Hank in NYC:
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 8:12 AM
To: 'oped@washpost.com'
Subject: To The Editor
“What He Could Have Said”
“Madam Speaker, members of Congress, and fellow citizens, the State of the Union is not good. I first want to say that everything I’ve done over the past seven years has come out of my deep love of our great country. But I truly want to apologize to the families and friends of all the brave young men and women who gave life and limb for my ill-advised war in Iraq. I ordered U.S. forces into that country based on the best intelligence we had at the time, but in retrospect it was a terrible mistake. I will work with the Congress in my final year to prepare to disengage from Iraq at the earliest possible time. I also regret squandering the surplus I inherited from the Clinton administration, and the deficits my administration has run up fighting the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If I had it to do over again I would have kept up the search for Bin Laden in Tora Bora and made sure the Taliban and Al Qaeda were completely destroyed. That would have made the world a safer place. I have not kept the promises I made from Jackson Square in New Orleans to the people of the Gulf Coast after Katrina, and for that I am deeply sorry. I regret appointing my loyal friends to key posts in my administration for which they were not qualified. I realize now that these appointments have caused great problems and that I could have done better. I should have recognized the problem of Global Warming and used my position as leader of the free world to rally an American, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian coalition of the willing to establish a mandatory cap on carbon emissions as recommended by Al Gore. One of my deepest regrets is that I did little to provide quality, affordable healthcare to almost fifty million people in America, and my vetoes of the Child Healthcare bill were shameful. I ask the Congress to resend me that legislation and I will sign it forthwith. But of all the things I’m sorry for, and wish I had not done, listening to the Vice President has been my greatest failure. I abrogated my Constitutional responsibility and in so doing broke my oath to uphold and defend our great Constitution. I have been arrogant, defiant and disdainful of the will of the American people. As I prepare for my final year in office I will do everything in my power to right the wrongs I have done, and ask all of you for your understanding and forgiveness. God bless you, and God bless America.”
To: 'oped@washpost.com'
Subject: To The Editor
“What He Could Have Said”
“Madam Speaker, members of Congress, and fellow citizens, the State of the Union is not good. I first want to say that everything I’ve done over the past seven years has come out of my deep love of our great country. But I truly want to apologize to the families and friends of all the brave young men and women who gave life and limb for my ill-advised war in Iraq. I ordered U.S. forces into that country based on the best intelligence we had at the time, but in retrospect it was a terrible mistake. I will work with the Congress in my final year to prepare to disengage from Iraq at the earliest possible time. I also regret squandering the surplus I inherited from the Clinton administration, and the deficits my administration has run up fighting the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. If I had it to do over again I would have kept up the search for Bin Laden in Tora Bora and made sure the Taliban and Al Qaeda were completely destroyed. That would have made the world a safer place. I have not kept the promises I made from Jackson Square in New Orleans to the people of the Gulf Coast after Katrina, and for that I am deeply sorry. I regret appointing my loyal friends to key posts in my administration for which they were not qualified. I realize now that these appointments have caused great problems and that I could have done better. I should have recognized the problem of Global Warming and used my position as leader of the free world to rally an American, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian coalition of the willing to establish a mandatory cap on carbon emissions as recommended by Al Gore. One of my deepest regrets is that I did little to provide quality, affordable healthcare to almost fifty million people in America, and my vetoes of the Child Healthcare bill were shameful. I ask the Congress to resend me that legislation and I will sign it forthwith. But of all the things I’m sorry for, and wish I had not done, listening to the Vice President has been my greatest failure. I abrogated my Constitutional responsibility and in so doing broke my oath to uphold and defend our great Constitution. I have been arrogant, defiant and disdainful of the will of the American people. As I prepare for my final year in office I will do everything in my power to right the wrongs I have done, and ask all of you for your understanding and forgiveness. God bless you, and God bless America.”
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
From Women for Obama and don't miss this in NYC!!!!
FAMILY RALLY IN CENTRAL PARK!
Merchants’Gate at Columbus Circle
Saturday, February 2 at 12 NoonNew York
Come show that every vote will count on Feb. 5th!
Bring friends, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters
Visitny.barackobama.com/nyceventsfor more info
59thand Central Park West
Message Not Authorized By Candidate Paid for by New York Women for Obama
Merchants’Gate at Columbus Circle
Saturday, February 2 at 12 NoonNew York
Come show that every vote will count on Feb. 5th!
Bring friends, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters
Visitny.barackobama.com/nyceventsfor more info
59thand Central Park West
Message Not Authorized By Candidate Paid for by New York Women for Obama
From Kathy in MO:
I just got a call from one of my campaigning buddies trying to get into the Obama event. I was afraid it would be cancelled due to the weather or have a poor turnout. She got her husband off work and her kids out of school and headed downtown. She said the even wasn't for another 2 hours and already it was jampacked. The streets are gridlocked. She said she never had seen anything like it. We went to all of the Kerry-Edwards events and she said they looked small compared to this. She also said she has never seen such a diverse crowd as this. Great! I wanted him to make a good showing. They have been saying that Hillary is in the lead in MO. However, Bill was in Independence last weekend and they reported that a crowd of about 1000 had gathered at Wm. Chrisman High School. It sounds like this is way bigger than that!
I am just sick that I am sick!True, if I could get some Florida sunshine maybe I could bake this stuff out of my system.
It is like the 60's again, isn't it? When else have we seen so many young people feeling moved by a cause coming out in droves? No other candidate has inspired that kind of action. It is amazing. Marisa emailed me this morning about the big rallies she attended she said I would have been so proud to see all of the people taking to the streets. I love it!
I am just sick that I am sick!True, if I could get some Florida sunshine maybe I could bake this stuff out of my system.
It is like the 60's again, isn't it? When else have we seen so many young people feeling moved by a cause coming out in droves? No other candidate has inspired that kind of action. It is amazing. Marisa emailed me this morning about the big rallies she attended she said I would have been so proud to see all of the people taking to the streets. I love it!
From Kathy in MO: Our Marisa's Mom!
They just showed Barack's supporters in the big hall at Municipal Auditorium. There were thousands there waiting for him. They filled up the large floor and the mezzanine that goes around it. It looks huge. They also showed him speaking in the little town of El Dorado, KS this afternoon. They had that auditorium packed to the rafters too (in red state KS!) Apparently that is where his grandparents came from. There were all of these little old ladies bragging about being related to him or being friends of his grandparents! Too cute. The roads were terrible here today. They said that between noon and 3 there were more than 250 wrecks reported to police! That is when people started assembling to see him. They have been waiting for hours. It is amazing.
It is so remarkable the wide array of people that Obama gives hope to. We got an email from a repub friend who was quizzing me about Obama at a fundraiser last week. Ironically, he could not decide between Obama and McCain. I asked him if he was willing to fund a war in Iran and pay for permanent bases in Iraq because that is what McCain is advocating. (Did you hear Pat Buchanan, of all people, call McCain a warhawk and say that he is Bush on steroids when it comes to war?) This guy is a fiscal conservative so he didn't want to hear about wasting more money overseas. We talked him into going to the Obama rally today. I hope it doesn't get cancelled. The weather is really bad, slick roads and a snowstorm moving through. I am just sick (literally) that am going to miss seeing Obama. This is what our friend said to Ron:
I have never attended an event like this. These must be desparate times for a lifelong Republican to cross the line this way in search of inspiration, in search of bi-partisanship, in search of an individual with complete command of the English language.
Amazing! See miracles do happen. We can never give up hope. Ron has also taught me something important. I have wanted nothing to do with anyone who says they are Republican these last 7 years. They make me angry. His stance is to win them over you need to engage them, to see what they are thinking, and to make your point in a friendly way. He is convinced that for most of them our goals are not so different. Especially in these times, there are lots of Republicans who are not neocons or evangelicals, but are just conservative when it comes to money, etc. They are disillusioned and feel that Bush has ruined their party. They need somewhere to go. Obama seems to offer them a haven when he reaches out to both sides. I hope he can wrestle this nomination from Hillary.
By the way, Ron offered to fly Marisa to Florida this weekend, but she said she needed to stay in NYC. She said she has too much to do in the city to get people ready for Super Tuesday. She is so committed.
It is so remarkable the wide array of people that Obama gives hope to. We got an email from a repub friend who was quizzing me about Obama at a fundraiser last week. Ironically, he could not decide between Obama and McCain. I asked him if he was willing to fund a war in Iran and pay for permanent bases in Iraq because that is what McCain is advocating. (Did you hear Pat Buchanan, of all people, call McCain a warhawk and say that he is Bush on steroids when it comes to war?) This guy is a fiscal conservative so he didn't want to hear about wasting more money overseas. We talked him into going to the Obama rally today. I hope it doesn't get cancelled. The weather is really bad, slick roads and a snowstorm moving through. I am just sick (literally) that am going to miss seeing Obama. This is what our friend said to Ron:
I have never attended an event like this. These must be desparate times for a lifelong Republican to cross the line this way in search of inspiration, in search of bi-partisanship, in search of an individual with complete command of the English language.
Amazing! See miracles do happen. We can never give up hope. Ron has also taught me something important. I have wanted nothing to do with anyone who says they are Republican these last 7 years. They make me angry. His stance is to win them over you need to engage them, to see what they are thinking, and to make your point in a friendly way. He is convinced that for most of them our goals are not so different. Especially in these times, there are lots of Republicans who are not neocons or evangelicals, but are just conservative when it comes to money, etc. They are disillusioned and feel that Bush has ruined their party. They need somewhere to go. Obama seems to offer them a haven when he reaches out to both sides. I hope he can wrestle this nomination from Hillary.
By the way, Ron offered to fly Marisa to Florida this weekend, but she said she needed to stay in NYC. She said she has too much to do in the city to get people ready for Super Tuesday. She is so committed.
From Greer's Grandma in KS:
I just watched him speak at Municipal Auditorium (we could watch on the Web) and he was terrific. Greer was there and I can't wait to talk to her.
From Greer's Mom Mindy in KS:
Greer is there tonite.
I wasn't really sure who I backed of the top two contenders. Now I know.
We are in. He is truly amazing.
I wasn't really sure who I backed of the top two contenders. Now I know.
We are in. He is truly amazing.
From Greer in KC: New Voter for Obama!!!
Hey Sunny, it's Greer.
Tonight I got the opportunity to see Barack Obama speak at a rally held in downtown Kansas City, and (of course) I thought of you. I'd heard him speak via the internet and television before, and everyone knows the man's good with words, but being able to see him from thirty feet away talk about his passion as a politician and someone who wants to change the world was an entirely different experience. And I'm sure the excitement in the auditorium was also attributed to the fact that I was surrounded by hundreds of people so fired up about the things that Obama stands for and is capable of helping us achieve.
Anyways, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed seeing him speak; it was well worth the two plus hours I spent waiting in line to get in. He really makes me excited to see Bush finally out of office, and I hope my vote (the first one I'll be casting ever!) will be one of many that will help usher in a new era of hope for our country with him as President.
Also, I overheard my mom saying that you were going to get the chance to meet his family. How exciting for you, and I'm very jealous. I hope that if you get a chance, you'll tell him how much I enjoyed seeing him in Kansas City and that I sport my Obama '08 bumper sticker with pride and optimism for his future and our future as a nation.
Tonight I got the opportunity to see Barack Obama speak at a rally held in downtown Kansas City, and (of course) I thought of you. I'd heard him speak via the internet and television before, and everyone knows the man's good with words, but being able to see him from thirty feet away talk about his passion as a politician and someone who wants to change the world was an entirely different experience. And I'm sure the excitement in the auditorium was also attributed to the fact that I was surrounded by hundreds of people so fired up about the things that Obama stands for and is capable of helping us achieve.
Anyways, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed seeing him speak; it was well worth the two plus hours I spent waiting in line to get in. He really makes me excited to see Bush finally out of office, and I hope my vote (the first one I'll be casting ever!) will be one of many that will help usher in a new era of hope for our country with him as President.
Also, I overheard my mom saying that you were going to get the chance to meet his family. How exciting for you, and I'm very jealous. I hope that if you get a chance, you'll tell him how much I enjoyed seeing him in Kansas City and that I sport my Obama '08 bumper sticker with pride and optimism for his future and our future as a nation.
From Jen in Westchester Yes We Can:
Sunny,
Congratulations! What a great win in SC.
My son loves Senator Obama. He thinks he is smart & cool. He did a
school project on him. And after we watched Senator Obama's his speech
tonight, my son Daniel (10) who loves John Kerry and is such a good kid
said, "Mom, he is a good man like John Kerry. I think he is here to do
God's work. He is here to bring us all together". Wow... I have to say
I was surprised to hear such a young boy convey what many are starting
to believe.
Keep up your great work. Tomorrow's NY Times will be interesting.
Let's pray for his safe travels.
Warm regards,
Congratulations! What a great win in SC.
My son loves Senator Obama. He thinks he is smart & cool. He did a
school project on him. And after we watched Senator Obama's his speech
tonight, my son Daniel (10) who loves John Kerry and is such a good kid
said, "Mom, he is a good man like John Kerry. I think he is here to do
God's work. He is here to bring us all together". Wow... I have to say
I was surprised to hear such a young boy convey what many are starting
to believe.
Keep up your great work. Tomorrow's NY Times will be interesting.
Let's pray for his safe travels.
Warm regards,
From Dani in Brooklyn about Caroline Kennedy Endorsement:
This election is getting more and more interesting - people are engaging at unpredicted levels, especially young people. However you feel about Clinton, Obama, how to end the war in Iraq, the precarious state of our environment, the collapse of our prestige (and the almighty dollar) overseas, ecomonic crisis at home, the fact that two of the candidates could be the first woman or first person of color in the Oval Office, civil rights for all Americans including immigrants and LGBT individuals, there is no ignoring what's at stake - our survival as a species, our future as a nation.
This could be the defining election of our generation. Kennedy and 1960 do come to mind. This op-ed piece reflects this. Senator Edward Kennedy also broke ranks and is endorsing Obama.
Read and get active!
Love and peace,
Dani
This could be the defining election of our generation. Kennedy and 1960 do come to mind. This op-ed piece reflects this. Senator Edward Kennedy also broke ranks and is endorsing Obama.
Read and get active!
Love and peace,
Dani
From Judy in Westchester: NY Times Editorial
The Billary Road to Republican Victory
By FRANK RICH
Published: January 27, 2008
IN the wake of George W. Bush, even a miracle might not be enough for the Republicans to hold on to the White House in 2008. But what about two miracles? The new year’s twin resurrections of Bill Clinton and John McCain, should they not evaporate, at last give the G.O.P. a highly plausible route to victory.
Amazingly, neither party seems to fully recognize the contours of the road map. In the Democrats’ case, the full-throttle emergence of Billary, the joint Clinton candidacy, is measured mainly within the narrow confines of the short-term horse race: Do Bill Clinton’s red-faced eruptions and fact-challenged rants enhance or diminish his wife as a woman and a candidate?
Absent from this debate is any sober recognition that a Hillary Clinton nomination, if it happens, will send the Democrats into the general election with a new and huge peril that may well dwarf the current wars over race, gender and who said what about Ronald Reagan.
What has gone unspoken is this: Up until this moment, Hillary has successfully deflected rough questions about Bill by saying, “I’m running on my own” or, as she snapped at Barack Obama in the last debate, “Well, I’m here; he’s not.” This sleight of hand became officially inoperative once her husband became a co-candidate, even to the point of taking over entirely when she vacated South Carolina last week. With “two for the price of one” back as the unabashed modus operandi, both Clintons are in play.
For the Republicans, that means not just a double dose of the one steroid, Clinton hatred, that might yet restore their party’s unity but also two fat targets. Mrs. Clinton repeatedly talks of how she’s been “vetted” and that “there are no surprises” left to be mined by her opponents. On the “Today” show Friday, she joked that the Republican attacks “are just so old.” So far. Now that Mr. Clinton is ubiquitous, not only is his past back on the table but his post-presidency must be vetted as well. To get a taste of what surprises may be in store, you need merely revisit the Bill Clinton questions that Hillary Clinton has avoided to date.
Asked by Tim Russert at a September debate whether the Clinton presidential library and foundation would disclose the identities of its donors during the campaign, Mrs. Clinton said it wasn’t up to her. “What’s your recommendation?” Mr. Russert countered. Mrs. Clinton replied: “Well, I don’t talk about my private conversations with my husband, but I’m sure he’d be happy to consider that.”
Not so happy, as it turns out. The names still have not been made public.
Just before the holidays, investigative reporters at both The Washington Post and The New York Times tried to find out why, with no help from the Clintons. The Post uncovered a plethora of foreign contributors, led by Saudi Arabia. The Times found an overlap between library benefactors and Hillary Clinton campaign donors, some of whom might have an agenda with a new Clinton administration. (Much as one early library supporter, Marc Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, had an agenda with the last one.) “The vast scale of these secret fund-raising operations presents enormous opportunities for abuse,” said Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat whose legislation to force disclosure passed overwhelmingly in the House but remains stalled in the Senate.
The Post and Times reporters couldn’t unlock all the secrets. The unanswered questions could keep them and their competitors busy until Nov. 4. Mr. Clinton’s increased centrality to the campaign will also give The Wall Street Journal a greater news peg to continue its reportorial forays into the unraveling financial partnership between Mr. Clinton and the swashbuckling billionaire Ron Burkle.
At “Little Rock’s Fort Knox,” as the Clinton library has been nicknamed by frustrated researchers, it’s not merely the heavy-hitting contributors who are under wraps. Even by the glacial processing standards of the National Archives, the Clintons’ White House papers have emerged slowly, in part because Bill Clinton exercised his right to insist that all communications between him and his wife be “considered for withholding” until 2012.
When Mrs. Clinton was asked by Mr. Russert at an October debate if she would lift that restriction, she again escaped by passing the buck to her husband: “Well, that’s not my decision to make.” Well, if her candidacy is to be as completely vetted as she guarantees, the time for the other half of Billary to make that decision is here.
The credibility of a major Clinton campaign plank, health care, depends on it. In that same debate, Mrs. Clinton told Mr. Russert that “all of the records, as far as I know, about what we did with health care” are “already available.” As Michael Isikoff of Newsweek reported weeks later, this is a bit off; he found that 3,022,030 health care documents were still held hostage. Whatever the pace of the processing, the gatekeeper charged with approving each document’s release is the longtime Clinton loyalist Bruce Lindsey.
People don’t change. Bill Clinton, having always lived on the edge, is back on the precipice. When he repeatedly complains that the press has given Mr. Obama a free ride and over-investigated the Clintons, he seems to be tempting the fates, given all the reporting still to be done on his post-presidential business. When he says, as he did on Monday, that “whatever I do should be totally transparent,” it’s almost as if he’s setting himself up for a fall. There’s little more transparency at “Little Rock’s Fort Knox” than there is at Giuliani Partners.
“The Republicans are not going to have any compunctions about asking anybody anything,” Mrs. Clinton lectured Mr. Obama. Maybe so, but Republicans are smart enough not to start asking until after she has secured the nomination.
Not all Republicans are smart enough, however, to recognize the value of John McCain should Mrs. Clinton emerge as the nominee. He’s a bazooka aimed at most every rationale she’s offered for her candidacy.
In a McCain vs. Billary race, the Democrats will sacrifice the most highly desired commodity by the entire electorate, change; the party will be mired in déjà 1990s all over again. Mrs. Clinton’s spiel about being “tested” by her “35 years of experience” won’t fly either. The moment she attempts it, Mr. McCain will run an ad about how he was being tested when those 35 years began, in 1973. It was that spring when he emerged from five-plus years of incarceration at the Hanoi Hilton while Billary was still bivouacked at Yale Law School. And can Mrs. Clinton presume to sell herself as best equipped to be commander in chief “on Day One” when opposing an actual commander and war hero? I don’t think so.
Foreign policy issue No. 1, withdrawal from Iraq, should be a slam-dunk for any Democrat. Even the audience at Thursday’s G.O.P. debate in Boca Raton cheered Ron Paul’s antiwar sentiments. But Mrs. Clinton’s case is undermined by her record. She voted for the war, just as Mr. McCain did, in 2002 and was still defending it in February 2005, when she announced from the Green Zone that much of Iraq was “functioning quite well. ” Only in November 2005 did she express the serious misgivings long pervasive in her own party. When Mr. McCain accuses her of now advocating “surrender” out of political expediency, her flip-flopping will back him up.
Billary can’t even run against the vast right-wing conspiracy if Mr. McCain is the opponent. Rush Limbaugh and Tom DeLay hate Mr. McCain as much as they hate the Clintons. And they hate him for the same reasons Mr. McCain wins over independents and occasional Democrats: his sporadic (and often mild) departures from conservative orthodoxy on immigration and campaign finance reform, torture, tax cuts, climate change and the godliness of Pat Robertson. Since Mr. McCain doesn’t kick reporters like dogs, as the Clintons do, he will no doubt continue to enjoy an advantage, however unfair, with the press pack on the Straight Talk Express.
Even so, Mr. McCain hasn’t yet won a clear majority of Republican voters in any G.O.P. contest. He’s depended on the kindness of independent voters. Tuesday’s Florida primary, which is open exclusively to Republicans, is his crucial test. If he fails, his party remains in chaos and Mitt Romney could still inherit the earth.
That would be a miracle for the Democrats, but they can hardly count on it. If Mr. Obama has not met an unexpected Waterloo in South Carolina — this column went to press before Saturday’s vote — the party needs him to stop whining about the Clintons’ attacks, regain his wit and return to playing offense. Unlike Mrs. Clinton, he would unambiguously represent change in a race with any Republican. If he vanquishes Billary, he’ll have an even stronger argument to take into battle against a warrior like Mr. McCain.
If Mr. Obama doesn’t fight, no one else will. Few national Democratic leaders have the courage to stand up to the Clintons. Even in defeat, Mr. Obama may at least help wake up a party slipping into denial. Any Democrat who seriously thinks that Bill will fade away if Hillary wins the nomination — let alone that the Clintons will escape being fully vetted — is a Democrat who, as the man said, believes in fairy tales.
By FRANK RICH
Published: January 27, 2008
IN the wake of George W. Bush, even a miracle might not be enough for the Republicans to hold on to the White House in 2008. But what about two miracles? The new year’s twin resurrections of Bill Clinton and John McCain, should they not evaporate, at last give the G.O.P. a highly plausible route to victory.
Amazingly, neither party seems to fully recognize the contours of the road map. In the Democrats’ case, the full-throttle emergence of Billary, the joint Clinton candidacy, is measured mainly within the narrow confines of the short-term horse race: Do Bill Clinton’s red-faced eruptions and fact-challenged rants enhance or diminish his wife as a woman and a candidate?
Absent from this debate is any sober recognition that a Hillary Clinton nomination, if it happens, will send the Democrats into the general election with a new and huge peril that may well dwarf the current wars over race, gender and who said what about Ronald Reagan.
What has gone unspoken is this: Up until this moment, Hillary has successfully deflected rough questions about Bill by saying, “I’m running on my own” or, as she snapped at Barack Obama in the last debate, “Well, I’m here; he’s not.” This sleight of hand became officially inoperative once her husband became a co-candidate, even to the point of taking over entirely when she vacated South Carolina last week. With “two for the price of one” back as the unabashed modus operandi, both Clintons are in play.
For the Republicans, that means not just a double dose of the one steroid, Clinton hatred, that might yet restore their party’s unity but also two fat targets. Mrs. Clinton repeatedly talks of how she’s been “vetted” and that “there are no surprises” left to be mined by her opponents. On the “Today” show Friday, she joked that the Republican attacks “are just so old.” So far. Now that Mr. Clinton is ubiquitous, not only is his past back on the table but his post-presidency must be vetted as well. To get a taste of what surprises may be in store, you need merely revisit the Bill Clinton questions that Hillary Clinton has avoided to date.
Asked by Tim Russert at a September debate whether the Clinton presidential library and foundation would disclose the identities of its donors during the campaign, Mrs. Clinton said it wasn’t up to her. “What’s your recommendation?” Mr. Russert countered. Mrs. Clinton replied: “Well, I don’t talk about my private conversations with my husband, but I’m sure he’d be happy to consider that.”
Not so happy, as it turns out. The names still have not been made public.
Just before the holidays, investigative reporters at both The Washington Post and The New York Times tried to find out why, with no help from the Clintons. The Post uncovered a plethora of foreign contributors, led by Saudi Arabia. The Times found an overlap between library benefactors and Hillary Clinton campaign donors, some of whom might have an agenda with a new Clinton administration. (Much as one early library supporter, Marc Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, had an agenda with the last one.) “The vast scale of these secret fund-raising operations presents enormous opportunities for abuse,” said Representative Henry Waxman, the California Democrat whose legislation to force disclosure passed overwhelmingly in the House but remains stalled in the Senate.
The Post and Times reporters couldn’t unlock all the secrets. The unanswered questions could keep them and their competitors busy until Nov. 4. Mr. Clinton’s increased centrality to the campaign will also give The Wall Street Journal a greater news peg to continue its reportorial forays into the unraveling financial partnership between Mr. Clinton and the swashbuckling billionaire Ron Burkle.
At “Little Rock’s Fort Knox,” as the Clinton library has been nicknamed by frustrated researchers, it’s not merely the heavy-hitting contributors who are under wraps. Even by the glacial processing standards of the National Archives, the Clintons’ White House papers have emerged slowly, in part because Bill Clinton exercised his right to insist that all communications between him and his wife be “considered for withholding” until 2012.
When Mrs. Clinton was asked by Mr. Russert at an October debate if she would lift that restriction, she again escaped by passing the buck to her husband: “Well, that’s not my decision to make.” Well, if her candidacy is to be as completely vetted as she guarantees, the time for the other half of Billary to make that decision is here.
The credibility of a major Clinton campaign plank, health care, depends on it. In that same debate, Mrs. Clinton told Mr. Russert that “all of the records, as far as I know, about what we did with health care” are “already available.” As Michael Isikoff of Newsweek reported weeks later, this is a bit off; he found that 3,022,030 health care documents were still held hostage. Whatever the pace of the processing, the gatekeeper charged with approving each document’s release is the longtime Clinton loyalist Bruce Lindsey.
People don’t change. Bill Clinton, having always lived on the edge, is back on the precipice. When he repeatedly complains that the press has given Mr. Obama a free ride and over-investigated the Clintons, he seems to be tempting the fates, given all the reporting still to be done on his post-presidential business. When he says, as he did on Monday, that “whatever I do should be totally transparent,” it’s almost as if he’s setting himself up for a fall. There’s little more transparency at “Little Rock’s Fort Knox” than there is at Giuliani Partners.
“The Republicans are not going to have any compunctions about asking anybody anything,” Mrs. Clinton lectured Mr. Obama. Maybe so, but Republicans are smart enough not to start asking until after she has secured the nomination.
Not all Republicans are smart enough, however, to recognize the value of John McCain should Mrs. Clinton emerge as the nominee. He’s a bazooka aimed at most every rationale she’s offered for her candidacy.
In a McCain vs. Billary race, the Democrats will sacrifice the most highly desired commodity by the entire electorate, change; the party will be mired in déjà 1990s all over again. Mrs. Clinton’s spiel about being “tested” by her “35 years of experience” won’t fly either. The moment she attempts it, Mr. McCain will run an ad about how he was being tested when those 35 years began, in 1973. It was that spring when he emerged from five-plus years of incarceration at the Hanoi Hilton while Billary was still bivouacked at Yale Law School. And can Mrs. Clinton presume to sell herself as best equipped to be commander in chief “on Day One” when opposing an actual commander and war hero? I don’t think so.
Foreign policy issue No. 1, withdrawal from Iraq, should be a slam-dunk for any Democrat. Even the audience at Thursday’s G.O.P. debate in Boca Raton cheered Ron Paul’s antiwar sentiments. But Mrs. Clinton’s case is undermined by her record. She voted for the war, just as Mr. McCain did, in 2002 and was still defending it in February 2005, when she announced from the Green Zone that much of Iraq was “functioning quite well. ” Only in November 2005 did she express the serious misgivings long pervasive in her own party. When Mr. McCain accuses her of now advocating “surrender” out of political expediency, her flip-flopping will back him up.
Billary can’t even run against the vast right-wing conspiracy if Mr. McCain is the opponent. Rush Limbaugh and Tom DeLay hate Mr. McCain as much as they hate the Clintons. And they hate him for the same reasons Mr. McCain wins over independents and occasional Democrats: his sporadic (and often mild) departures from conservative orthodoxy on immigration and campaign finance reform, torture, tax cuts, climate change and the godliness of Pat Robertson. Since Mr. McCain doesn’t kick reporters like dogs, as the Clintons do, he will no doubt continue to enjoy an advantage, however unfair, with the press pack on the Straight Talk Express.
Even so, Mr. McCain hasn’t yet won a clear majority of Republican voters in any G.O.P. contest. He’s depended on the kindness of independent voters. Tuesday’s Florida primary, which is open exclusively to Republicans, is his crucial test. If he fails, his party remains in chaos and Mitt Romney could still inherit the earth.
That would be a miracle for the Democrats, but they can hardly count on it. If Mr. Obama has not met an unexpected Waterloo in South Carolina — this column went to press before Saturday’s vote — the party needs him to stop whining about the Clintons’ attacks, regain his wit and return to playing offense. Unlike Mrs. Clinton, he would unambiguously represent change in a race with any Republican. If he vanquishes Billary, he’ll have an even stronger argument to take into battle against a warrior like Mr. McCain.
If Mr. Obama doesn’t fight, no one else will. Few national Democratic leaders have the courage to stand up to the Clintons. Even in defeat, Mr. Obama may at least help wake up a party slipping into denial. Any Democrat who seriously thinks that Bill will fade away if Hillary wins the nomination — let alone that the Clintons will escape being fully vetted — is a Democrat who, as the man said, believes in fairy tales.
Monday, January 28, 2008
The Last One!
“The Bush Who Got Away” – Op/Ed – January 28, 2008
No matter what George W. Bush says tonight, and no matter what spin he attempts to put on his seven plus years in the White House, there is not, and never was anything in his presidency but lies, deception and disaster. Mr. Bush lied to the country, the world, and to himself. He never was a “uniter” and certainly does not even come close to being a “compassionate conservative.”
I can picture Mr. Bush on his first day at Yale, or Harvard, or even in the Texas National Guard, deluding himself that each occurrence was a fresh start, a chance to show his family and friends what he was made of. He probably believed the same thing when he took the oath of office in 2001, but as in his sordid past, he quickly became disinterested and bored and let others do the business of government while he became a “war president.” It is a miracle that America is still standing after the carnage of seven years of Bush, but I suppose that is the true greatness of our country. I will watch the speech tonight, but unlike the others Mr. Bush has given I will have no false hopes or illusions. I will only be thankful this will be his last State of the Union address.
Henry A. Lowenstein
No matter what George W. Bush says tonight, and no matter what spin he attempts to put on his seven plus years in the White House, there is not, and never was anything in his presidency but lies, deception and disaster. Mr. Bush lied to the country, the world, and to himself. He never was a “uniter” and certainly does not even come close to being a “compassionate conservative.”
I can picture Mr. Bush on his first day at Yale, or Harvard, or even in the Texas National Guard, deluding himself that each occurrence was a fresh start, a chance to show his family and friends what he was made of. He probably believed the same thing when he took the oath of office in 2001, but as in his sordid past, he quickly became disinterested and bored and let others do the business of government while he became a “war president.” It is a miracle that America is still standing after the carnage of seven years of Bush, but I suppose that is the true greatness of our country. I will watch the speech tonight, but unlike the others Mr. Bush has given I will have no false hopes or illusions. I will only be thankful this will be his last State of the Union address.
Henry A. Lowenstein
Billary!
Desperate Husband” – Op/Ed – January 28, 2008
I knew Hillary should have divorced Bill after the stained dress debacle! Now the ungrateful jerk is derailing her once assured nomination to become the first woman President in history. “Wild Bill” is so out there that nobody can rein him in, including Hillary. The ex-president is lashing out at anyone within lashing distance and beyond. While tarnishing Mr. Clinton’s legacy, his wild rants have shown the American people what a “Billary” presidency would look like, and if the results in South Carolina were any indication, the voters want no part of a dual Commander-In-Chief role in 2008.
It is time for Mr. Clinton to return to his exceptional work for the good of peoplekind, and let Hillary sink or swim on her own. This election should be decided on which candidate has the most experience and has the right vision for America. Mr. Clinton’s vision is being blinded by rage.
Henry A. Lowenstein
I knew Hillary should have divorced Bill after the stained dress debacle! Now the ungrateful jerk is derailing her once assured nomination to become the first woman President in history. “Wild Bill” is so out there that nobody can rein him in, including Hillary. The ex-president is lashing out at anyone within lashing distance and beyond. While tarnishing Mr. Clinton’s legacy, his wild rants have shown the American people what a “Billary” presidency would look like, and if the results in South Carolina were any indication, the voters want no part of a dual Commander-In-Chief role in 2008.
It is time for Mr. Clinton to return to his exceptional work for the good of peoplekind, and let Hillary sink or swim on her own. This election should be decided on which candidate has the most experience and has the right vision for America. Mr. Clinton’s vision is being blinded by rage.
Henry A. Lowenstein
The Amazing Race!
“The Amazing Race”
No, not the popular CBS show. This is the most amazing political race for President in my lifetime. One week ahead of “Super Tuesday”, there are actually three viable candidates from each major party. Probably to the consternation of the Democratic and Republican National Committee Chairmen, who would like to see one candidate from each party emerge now, this wide open campaign may be the best thing that has happened to American politics in decades. These races have made fools of pundits and pollsters alike, and have given voters real choices as to who they want to lead America after eight disastrous years of George W. Bush. No serious candidate for the White House can take any state or any political faction for granted anymore. This will truly be a fifty state race for party nominations and in the general election this fall as well.
The campaigns have brought out the best and worst of the candidates and their supporters (and spouses). What appeared to be a coronation for Hillary Clinton has become a hotly contested race between her and Barack Obama. On the Republic side Rudy Giuliani seems about ready to sing his swan song, while John McCain is in the process of making one of the most remarkable political comebacks in history! The media is afraid to predict the winner of any race, which is something this writer has longed for over the years. As a result of the competitive nature of these races voter turnout has set records in every primary and caucus, which may even translate into seventy five or eighty five percent of eligible voters actually going to the polls in November.
This race has made me think about wonderful possibilities for the future of the American political system. I dream of the abolishment of the Electoral College system, meaningful third, fourth and even fifth party candidates, publicly funded election campaigns, foreign born Americans having the right to run for President, and a voting system that is uniform in every state with proper monitoring and validation of all ballots cast. It is truly an “Amazing Race” and no matter who wins the White House in November America will be better and stronger for it.
By:
Henry A. Lowenstein
No, not the popular CBS show. This is the most amazing political race for President in my lifetime. One week ahead of “Super Tuesday”, there are actually three viable candidates from each major party. Probably to the consternation of the Democratic and Republican National Committee Chairmen, who would like to see one candidate from each party emerge now, this wide open campaign may be the best thing that has happened to American politics in decades. These races have made fools of pundits and pollsters alike, and have given voters real choices as to who they want to lead America after eight disastrous years of George W. Bush. No serious candidate for the White House can take any state or any political faction for granted anymore. This will truly be a fifty state race for party nominations and in the general election this fall as well.
The campaigns have brought out the best and worst of the candidates and their supporters (and spouses). What appeared to be a coronation for Hillary Clinton has become a hotly contested race between her and Barack Obama. On the Republic side Rudy Giuliani seems about ready to sing his swan song, while John McCain is in the process of making one of the most remarkable political comebacks in history! The media is afraid to predict the winner of any race, which is something this writer has longed for over the years. As a result of the competitive nature of these races voter turnout has set records in every primary and caucus, which may even translate into seventy five or eighty five percent of eligible voters actually going to the polls in November.
This race has made me think about wonderful possibilities for the future of the American political system. I dream of the abolishment of the Electoral College system, meaningful third, fourth and even fifth party candidates, publicly funded election campaigns, foreign born Americans having the right to run for President, and a voting system that is uniform in every state with proper monitoring and validation of all ballots cast. It is truly an “Amazing Race” and no matter who wins the White House in November America will be better and stronger for it.
By:
Henry A. Lowenstein
Sunday, January 27, 2008
NY Times Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg
Please share this powerful endorsement with your friends and networks of women…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kennedy.html
A President Like My Father
By CAROLINE KENNEDY
OVER the years, I've been deeply moved by the people who've told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.
Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.
We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn't that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960.
Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates' goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.
Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process.
I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents' grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.
Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.
I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.
I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kennedy.html
A President Like My Father
By CAROLINE KENNEDY
OVER the years, I've been deeply moved by the people who've told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.
Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.
We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn't that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960.
Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates' goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.
Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process.
I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents' grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.
Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.
I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.
I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans
Saturday, January 26, 2008
From Stephanie in Westchester:
Two Against One
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: January 23, 2008
GREENVILLE, S.C.
Maureen Dowd
If Bill Clinton has to trash his legacy to protect his legacy, so be it. If he has to put a dagger through the heart of hope to give Hillary hope, so be it.
If he has to preside in this state as the former first black president stopping the would-be first black president, so be it.
The Clintons — or “the 2-headed monster,” as the The New York Post dubbed the tag team that clawed out wins in New Hampshire and Nevada — always go where they need to go, no matter the collateral damage. Even if the damage is to themselves and their party.
Bill’s transition from elder statesman, leader of his party and bipartisan ambassador to ward heeler and hatchet man has been seamless — and seamy.
After Bill’s success trolling the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, Hillary handed off South Carolina and flew to California and other Super Tuesday states. The Big Dog relished playing the candidate again, wearing a Technicolor orange tie and sweeping across the state with the mute Chelsea.
He tried to convey the impression that they were running against The Man, and with classic Clintonian self-pity, grumbled that Barack Obama had all the advantages.
When he was asked yesterday if he would feel bad standing in the way of the first black president, he said no. “I’m not standing in his way,” he said. “I think Hillary would be a better president” who’s “ready to do the job on the first day.” He added: “No one has a right to be president, including Hillary. Keep in mind, in the last two primaries, we ran as an underdog.” He rewrote the facts, saying that “no one thought she could win” in New Hampshire, even though she originally had had a substantial lead.
He said of Obama: “I hope I get a chance to vote for him some day.” And that day, of course, would be after Hillary’s eight years; it’s her turn now because Bill owes her. “I think it would be just as much a change, and some people think more, to have the first woman president as to have the first African-American president,” he said.
Bad Bill had been roughing up Obama so much that Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina suggested that he might want to “chill.” On a conference call with reporters yesterday, the former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a national co-chairman of the Obama campaign, tut-tutted that the “incredible distortions” of the political beast were “not keeping with the image of a former president.”
Jonathan Alter reported in Newsweek that Senator Edward Kennedy and Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman and former Clinton aide, have heatedly told Bill “that he needs to change his tone and stop attacking Senator Barack Obama.”
In the Myrtle Beach debate Monday night, Obama was fed up with being double-teamed by the Clintons. He finally used attack lines that his strategists had urged him to use against Hillary for months. “It was as though all the e-mails were backed up,” said one.
When Hillary tried once more to take Obama’s remarks about Ronald Reagan out of context, making it seem as though Obama had praised Reagan’s policies, he turned sarcastic about getting two distortionists for the price of one.
“I can’t tell who I’m running against sometimes,” he snapped at Hillary, obviously entrapped and pysched-out by the Clinton duo.
On a conference call with reporters yesterday morning, Obama did not back off from his more aggressive, if defensive, stance. The Clintons, he said “spent the last month attacking me in ways that are not accurate. At some point, it’s important for me to answer.” Recalling that Hillary had called mixing it up the “fun” part of politics, he said: “I don’t think it’s the fun part to fudge the truth.”
Bill has merged with his wife totally now, talking about “we” and “us.” “I never did anything major without discussing it with her,” he told a crowd here. “We’ve been having this conversation since we first met in 1971, and I don’t think we’ll stop now.” He suggested as First Lad that “I can help to sell the domestic program.”
It’s odd that the first woman with a shot at becoming president is so openly dependent on her husband to drag her over the finish line. She handed over South Carolina to him, knowing that her support here is largely derivative.
At the Greenville event, Bill brought up Obama’s joking reference to him in the debate, about how Obama would have to see whether Bill was a good dancer before deciding whether he was the first black president.
Bill, naturally, turned it into a competition. “I would be willing to engage in a dancing competition with him, even though he’s much younger and thinner than I am,” he said. “If I’m going to get in one of these brother contests,” he added, “at least I should be entitled to an age allowance.”
He said, “I kind of like seeing Barack and Hillary fighting.”
“How great is this?” he said. “Neither of them has to be a little wind-up doll who’s supposed to behave in a certain way. They’re real people, flesh and blood people. They have differences.”
And if he has anything to say about it, and he will, they’ll be fighting till the last dog dies.
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: January 23, 2008
GREENVILLE, S.C.
Maureen Dowd
If Bill Clinton has to trash his legacy to protect his legacy, so be it. If he has to put a dagger through the heart of hope to give Hillary hope, so be it.
If he has to preside in this state as the former first black president stopping the would-be first black president, so be it.
The Clintons — or “the 2-headed monster,” as the The New York Post dubbed the tag team that clawed out wins in New Hampshire and Nevada — always go where they need to go, no matter the collateral damage. Even if the damage is to themselves and their party.
Bill’s transition from elder statesman, leader of his party and bipartisan ambassador to ward heeler and hatchet man has been seamless — and seamy.
After Bill’s success trolling the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, Hillary handed off South Carolina and flew to California and other Super Tuesday states. The Big Dog relished playing the candidate again, wearing a Technicolor orange tie and sweeping across the state with the mute Chelsea.
He tried to convey the impression that they were running against The Man, and with classic Clintonian self-pity, grumbled that Barack Obama had all the advantages.
When he was asked yesterday if he would feel bad standing in the way of the first black president, he said no. “I’m not standing in his way,” he said. “I think Hillary would be a better president” who’s “ready to do the job on the first day.” He added: “No one has a right to be president, including Hillary. Keep in mind, in the last two primaries, we ran as an underdog.” He rewrote the facts, saying that “no one thought she could win” in New Hampshire, even though she originally had had a substantial lead.
He said of Obama: “I hope I get a chance to vote for him some day.” And that day, of course, would be after Hillary’s eight years; it’s her turn now because Bill owes her. “I think it would be just as much a change, and some people think more, to have the first woman president as to have the first African-American president,” he said.
Bad Bill had been roughing up Obama so much that Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina suggested that he might want to “chill.” On a conference call with reporters yesterday, the former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a national co-chairman of the Obama campaign, tut-tutted that the “incredible distortions” of the political beast were “not keeping with the image of a former president.”
Jonathan Alter reported in Newsweek that Senator Edward Kennedy and Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman and former Clinton aide, have heatedly told Bill “that he needs to change his tone and stop attacking Senator Barack Obama.”
In the Myrtle Beach debate Monday night, Obama was fed up with being double-teamed by the Clintons. He finally used attack lines that his strategists had urged him to use against Hillary for months. “It was as though all the e-mails were backed up,” said one.
When Hillary tried once more to take Obama’s remarks about Ronald Reagan out of context, making it seem as though Obama had praised Reagan’s policies, he turned sarcastic about getting two distortionists for the price of one.
“I can’t tell who I’m running against sometimes,” he snapped at Hillary, obviously entrapped and pysched-out by the Clinton duo.
On a conference call with reporters yesterday morning, Obama did not back off from his more aggressive, if defensive, stance. The Clintons, he said “spent the last month attacking me in ways that are not accurate. At some point, it’s important for me to answer.” Recalling that Hillary had called mixing it up the “fun” part of politics, he said: “I don’t think it’s the fun part to fudge the truth.”
Bill has merged with his wife totally now, talking about “we” and “us.” “I never did anything major without discussing it with her,” he told a crowd here. “We’ve been having this conversation since we first met in 1971, and I don’t think we’ll stop now.” He suggested as First Lad that “I can help to sell the domestic program.”
It’s odd that the first woman with a shot at becoming president is so openly dependent on her husband to drag her over the finish line. She handed over South Carolina to him, knowing that her support here is largely derivative.
At the Greenville event, Bill brought up Obama’s joking reference to him in the debate, about how Obama would have to see whether Bill was a good dancer before deciding whether he was the first black president.
Bill, naturally, turned it into a competition. “I would be willing to engage in a dancing competition with him, even though he’s much younger and thinner than I am,” he said. “If I’m going to get in one of these brother contests,” he added, “at least I should be entitled to an age allowance.”
He said, “I kind of like seeing Barack and Hillary fighting.”
“How great is this?” he said. “Neither of them has to be a little wind-up doll who’s supposed to behave in a certain way. They’re real people, flesh and blood people. They have differences.”
And if he has anything to say about it, and he will, they’ll be fighting till the last dog dies.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
What a waste!
“In Kabul, Shattered Illusions” – Op/Ed – January 24, 2008
The right war in Afghanistan has been a failing situation for almost two years now, because Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld decided there were “better targets” in the wrong war in Iraq. Like Mr. Cheney’s statement that “the insurgency in Iraq is in its final throes”, almost two years ago, the comments coming out of NATO sound alarmingly similar. Had the Bush administration moved forcefully at Tora Bora and taken out Bin Laden and his closest supporters five years ago, Afghanistan would be rid of the Taliban today and there would likely be no Al Qaeda in Iraq to deal with.
The Taliban, like Al Qaeda in Iraq, are fighting for their very existence and they will not give up until they are defeated down to the last man, woman and child. The American people and the innocent citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan only want to live and work in peace. America has truly shattered their illusions.
Henry A. Lowenstein
The right war in Afghanistan has been a failing situation for almost two years now, because Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld decided there were “better targets” in the wrong war in Iraq. Like Mr. Cheney’s statement that “the insurgency in Iraq is in its final throes”, almost two years ago, the comments coming out of NATO sound alarmingly similar. Had the Bush administration moved forcefully at Tora Bora and taken out Bin Laden and his closest supporters five years ago, Afghanistan would be rid of the Taliban today and there would likely be no Al Qaeda in Iraq to deal with.
The Taliban, like Al Qaeda in Iraq, are fighting for their very existence and they will not give up until they are defeated down to the last man, woman and child. The American people and the innocent citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan only want to live and work in peace. America has truly shattered their illusions.
Henry A. Lowenstein
Stop the Hate Campaign!
“Editing Hillary’s Story” – Op/Ed – January 24, 2008
Ms. Collins states that a lot of people are O.K. with the Clinton team returning to the White House. I’m not one of them. While I think that Hillary would probably be a good president (not as good as senator Obama), the idea of Wild Bill back in the saddle is very discomforting, especially given his “attack dog” performance thus far in the campaign. It seems that Ms. Clinton’s message gets muddled when her husband lashes out at Senator Obama, the media, and anyone else within shouting distance of the former President.
My main concern is, if Hillary and the campaign managers can’t control Mr. Clinton now, what will happen when he gets a whiff of the White House and the presidential adrenalin rush hits him come January of 2009? Mr. Clinton is not doing his wife or his legacy any good whatsoever and he should cool his jets and let Hillary do her presidential thing. The voters deserve to hear the unvarnished truth from all the candidates.
Henry A.Lowenstein
Ms. Collins states that a lot of people are O.K. with the Clinton team returning to the White House. I’m not one of them. While I think that Hillary would probably be a good president (not as good as senator Obama), the idea of Wild Bill back in the saddle is very discomforting, especially given his “attack dog” performance thus far in the campaign. It seems that Ms. Clinton’s message gets muddled when her husband lashes out at Senator Obama, the media, and anyone else within shouting distance of the former President.
My main concern is, if Hillary and the campaign managers can’t control Mr. Clinton now, what will happen when he gets a whiff of the White House and the presidential adrenalin rush hits him come January of 2009? Mr. Clinton is not doing his wife or his legacy any good whatsoever and he should cool his jets and let Hillary do her presidential thing. The voters deserve to hear the unvarnished truth from all the candidates.
Henry A.Lowenstein
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
King Midas he ain't!
“Not Exactly the Midas Touch”
Everything that George W. Bush has touched since becoming President seven years ago has been a disaster. The economic crisis we now face brings America full circle to the carnage created by the very worst person to ever occupy the Oval Office. As a result of Mr. Bush’s failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are reviled around the world by friend and foe alike. These wars have caused the deaths of almost five thousand brave young American soldiers, and countless Iraqi and Afghan civilians, not to mention all the physically and emotionally wounded and the millions of refugees set adrift by the policies of Bush. The President has allowed over five million people to die in the Congo, and some two million in Darfur, without so much as lifting a finger to stop the killing, disease and starvation in those lands.
Mr. Bush has tried his hand at immigration reform, healthcare coverage, energy policy, and environmental issues, all with little or no success. As a result almost fifty million Americans do not have access to quality affordable healthcare. Our borders are wide open leaving us vulnerable to terrorists entering the country. We aid our enemies around the world by purchasing their oil because Bush and Cheney have not done anything to develop alternative sources of energy. Bush has single-handedly done more damage to the environment than all the presidents that came before him combined.
In a twisted sense the looming recession keeps this delusional, disinterested and despicable man relevant when he should already be a footnote in history. It is actually harder to fail at everything, than to be successful some of the time. In a very convoluted way, Bush has actually succeeded at failing!
By:
Henry A. Lowenstein
Everything that George W. Bush has touched since becoming President seven years ago has been a disaster. The economic crisis we now face brings America full circle to the carnage created by the very worst person to ever occupy the Oval Office. As a result of Mr. Bush’s failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are reviled around the world by friend and foe alike. These wars have caused the deaths of almost five thousand brave young American soldiers, and countless Iraqi and Afghan civilians, not to mention all the physically and emotionally wounded and the millions of refugees set adrift by the policies of Bush. The President has allowed over five million people to die in the Congo, and some two million in Darfur, without so much as lifting a finger to stop the killing, disease and starvation in those lands.
Mr. Bush has tried his hand at immigration reform, healthcare coverage, energy policy, and environmental issues, all with little or no success. As a result almost fifty million Americans do not have access to quality affordable healthcare. Our borders are wide open leaving us vulnerable to terrorists entering the country. We aid our enemies around the world by purchasing their oil because Bush and Cheney have not done anything to develop alternative sources of energy. Bush has single-handedly done more damage to the environment than all the presidents that came before him combined.
In a twisted sense the looming recession keeps this delusional, disinterested and despicable man relevant when he should already be a footnote in history. It is actually harder to fail at everything, than to be successful some of the time. In a very convoluted way, Bush has actually succeeded at failing!
By:
Henry A. Lowenstein
Wild Bill!
“The Legacy of William Jefferson Clinton”
Just when we thought President Clinton had made people forget his lewd, illicit relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, and the idiotic impeachment that followed his lying about it under oath, wild Bill is at it again. Mr. Clinton is engaged in a dirty tricks campaign for his wife that should have died with Nixon’s Watergate scandal. He and Hillary are so frightened by the prospect of Barack Obama winning the Democratic nomination for president they have stooped to lying about Obama’s record and otherwise twisting information to make it appear that the Senator from Illinois is less than what he says he is.
Since leaving the White House in 2001, Mr. Clinton has suffered from and recovered from a serious heart ailment, and done a remarkable job through his foundation raising hundreds of millions of dollars to fight starvation, AIDS and other pandemics around the world. He has formed bi-partisan relationships with the likes of George H.W. Bush, and together they have done more than any group to help the victims of the tragic Tsunami in Southeast Asia a few years ago. And while it is not in the least bit unusual for Mr. Clinton to use his extraordinary talent for campaigning to help Hillary to the nomination, it is quite another matter for an ex-president to engage in smear politics and fear-mongering ala the Bush administration.
The public, in my opinion, is happy to forgive Mr. Clinton his past sins. I think they will however, hold his legacy in contempt if he continues his bullying, aggressive and antagonist treatment of senator Obama.
By:
Henry A. Lowenstein
Just when we thought President Clinton had made people forget his lewd, illicit relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, and the idiotic impeachment that followed his lying about it under oath, wild Bill is at it again. Mr. Clinton is engaged in a dirty tricks campaign for his wife that should have died with Nixon’s Watergate scandal. He and Hillary are so frightened by the prospect of Barack Obama winning the Democratic nomination for president they have stooped to lying about Obama’s record and otherwise twisting information to make it appear that the Senator from Illinois is less than what he says he is.
Since leaving the White House in 2001, Mr. Clinton has suffered from and recovered from a serious heart ailment, and done a remarkable job through his foundation raising hundreds of millions of dollars to fight starvation, AIDS and other pandemics around the world. He has formed bi-partisan relationships with the likes of George H.W. Bush, and together they have done more than any group to help the victims of the tragic Tsunami in Southeast Asia a few years ago. And while it is not in the least bit unusual for Mr. Clinton to use his extraordinary talent for campaigning to help Hillary to the nomination, it is quite another matter for an ex-president to engage in smear politics and fear-mongering ala the Bush administration.
The public, in my opinion, is happy to forgive Mr. Clinton his past sins. I think they will however, hold his legacy in contempt if he continues his bullying, aggressive and antagonist treatment of senator Obama.
By:
Henry A. Lowenstein
From Vicki in KCMO:
Sunny - this video was excellent! While I am still with John Edwards ( Obama and Clinton's policies are nearly twins), I am applauding the enthusiasm and especially the racial and age range that he is drawing! It is terrific to see.
I wish he would take the high ground - I think Bill C looks like a frustrated, demented old man who is storming the bastions! He doesn't do Hill any good. She is not doing her self any favors by letting her man do that! Obama should next time - say = you know, we've ploughed that ground - there are more important things to talk about than stuff that happened 5 years ago - and that goes for everyone!
Anyway- it's an exciting time for politics right now. You heard that our baby governor is not seeking re-election! People- GOPers are SHOCKED! Many think there is a scandal in the wings. I personally think Melanie - his wifey poo - put her foot down and said - come home. He doesn't live in Jeff City - the mansion - she was afraid! they spent $18K of taxpayer money to install panic buttons throughout the house! - so she moved back to springfield and he commutes on taxpayer money 4 hours from JEff City to Springfield EVERY DAY!
Claire surprised everyone coming out so early and endorsing! I think she has pissed off many women pols back her by doing so, however. No judgement from me - it will be an exciting Feb. 5. My daughter, Libby, and her boyfriend, are both Obama people and Libby is interning for jay Nixon for governor. Keeping it in the family.
Take care. Do good stuff!
I wish he would take the high ground - I think Bill C looks like a frustrated, demented old man who is storming the bastions! He doesn't do Hill any good. She is not doing her self any favors by letting her man do that! Obama should next time - say = you know, we've ploughed that ground - there are more important things to talk about than stuff that happened 5 years ago - and that goes for everyone!
Anyway- it's an exciting time for politics right now. You heard that our baby governor is not seeking re-election! People- GOPers are SHOCKED! Many think there is a scandal in the wings. I personally think Melanie - his wifey poo - put her foot down and said - come home. He doesn't live in Jeff City - the mansion - she was afraid! they spent $18K of taxpayer money to install panic buttons throughout the house! - so she moved back to springfield and he commutes on taxpayer money 4 hours from JEff City to Springfield EVERY DAY!
Claire surprised everyone coming out so early and endorsing! I think she has pissed off many women pols back her by doing so, however. No judgement from me - it will be an exciting Feb. 5. My daughter, Libby, and her boyfriend, are both Obama people and Libby is interning for jay Nixon for governor. Keeping it in the family.
Take care. Do good stuff!
Women for Obama NYC
By Kathy from MO
I cannot resist posting this video for all to see. It is our dear friend Sunny at her finest. She is organizing a committee called "Women for Obama NYC". She brought together a wonderfully diverse group of women to lead NYC to a victory for Obama on Super Tuesday. There were women from all ages, ethnic groups, and economic backgrounds. The hope on their faces is inspiring. I am very proud that my daughter Marisa got to be part of this group. She recently moved from Missouri to Brooklyn. She could not be in better hands than to be working with Sunny! You can see the group's first meeting on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUyP16qL2Ys
Personally, I think Obama should post it on his website!
Good luck, ladies, and thank you for all that you do!
I cannot resist posting this video for all to see. It is our dear friend Sunny at her finest. She is organizing a committee called "Women for Obama NYC". She brought together a wonderfully diverse group of women to lead NYC to a victory for Obama on Super Tuesday. There were women from all ages, ethnic groups, and economic backgrounds. The hope on their faces is inspiring. I am very proud that my daughter Marisa got to be part of this group. She recently moved from Missouri to Brooklyn. She could not be in better hands than to be working with Sunny! You can see the group's first meeting on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUyP16qL2Ys
Personally, I think Obama should post it on his website!
Good luck, ladies, and thank you for all that you do!
From Beth in Westchester:
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 9:43 AM
To: 'letters@thejournalnews.com'
Subject: Westchester Obama Women
Dear Editor:
Westchester women are organizing to get out the vote for Senator Barack Obama. We believe in his ideals and ability to lead our nation. We also believe that Senator Hillary Clinton has falsified her record. President Clinton and Senator Clinton’s strategy to pump up the senator’s experience through exaggeration and patent lies mocks spousal conferring (most spouses cultivate an expertise different from their partners even if they both participate in the same profession).
Moreover, the Clinton’s behavior testifies to their dangerous modus operandi: to win at any cost. In so doing, they display, yet again, their poor judgment.
We’ve seen this dance before. Democrats, let’s be sure of who really is on the ticket in November—let’s partner with Senator Barack Obama.
To: 'letters@thejournalnews.com'
Subject: Westchester Obama Women
Dear Editor:
Westchester women are organizing to get out the vote for Senator Barack Obama. We believe in his ideals and ability to lead our nation. We also believe that Senator Hillary Clinton has falsified her record. President Clinton and Senator Clinton’s strategy to pump up the senator’s experience through exaggeration and patent lies mocks spousal conferring (most spouses cultivate an expertise different from their partners even if they both participate in the same profession).
Moreover, the Clinton’s behavior testifies to their dangerous modus operandi: to win at any cost. In so doing, they display, yet again, their poor judgment.
We’ve seen this dance before. Democrats, let’s be sure of who really is on the ticket in November—let’s partner with Senator Barack Obama.
Women for Obama video
Rob Cohen has submitted a great on Women for Obama. Check it out on YouTube. Featuring SUNNY! :-)
Rob's Women for Obama video
Rob's Women for Obama video
No More Blunt Trauma for MO!
By Kathy from MO
I just heard that Matt Blunt has dropped out of the race for governor! His excuse was that he "had accomplished everything he set out to do for Missouri!" If running the state into the ground was his goal, mission accomplished! Thousands of jobs have left the state, 8400 jobs gone just since May 2007. Unemployment is among the highest in the nation and wages among the lowest. We are 42nd in home ownership, and 48th in pay growth under his administration. National economic groups give our economy a D under Blunt! He slashed and burned medicaid leaving over 400,000 without health care. His goal was to get rid of it entirely. He slashed higher education. We have had world class researchers fleeing the state because of his ban on stem cell research. Yes, it looks like he did accomplish all he set out to do! He tried to do to Missouri what Bush has done to the country. He had to know it would be an ugly campaign because of his terrible record. He also has legal problems. It is rumored that he has spent nearly $100,000 in legal fees in recent weeks. He is being sued by his own Republican attorney for destroying emails concerning secret meetings that were damaging to his administration and then firing and smearing the whistleblower. (I wonder where he learned to do that!!!) Even national media called him the most endangered governor in the country! Jay Nixon, the Dem candidate, has been ahead in all of the polls. We will continue working to get Jay Nixon elected and also Kay Barnes. She is running against Bush's biggest rubberstamp in Congress, Sam Graves. I look forward to restoring Harry Truman's state to its rightful "blue status"! It looks like a strong possibility as another one bites the dust! Goodbye, Baby Blunt and good riddance!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
From John Kerry: Bravo finally a person who will stand up to swift boating!
Dear Sunny,
I support Barack Obama because he doesn't seek to perfect the politics of Swiftboating -- he seeks to end it.
This is personal for me, and for a whole lot of Americans who lived through the 2004 election.
As a veteran, it disgusts me that the Swift Boats we loved while we were in uniform on the Mekong Delta have been rendered, in Karl Rove's twisted politics, an ugly verb meaning to lie about someone's character just to win an election. But as someone who cares about winning this election and changing the country I love, I know it's not enough to complain about a past we can't change when our challenge is to win the future -- which is why we must stop the Swiftboating, stop the push-polling, stop the front groups, and stop the email chain smears.
The truth matters, but how you fight the lies matters even more. We must be determined never again to lose any election to a lie.
This year, the attacks are already starting. Some of you may have heard about the disgusting lies about Barack Obama that are being circulated by email. These attacks smear Barack's Christian faith and deep patriotism, and they distort his record of more than two decades of public service. They are nothing short of "Swiftboat" style anonymous attacks.
These are the same tactics the right has used again and again, and as we've learned, these attacks, no matter how bogus, can spread and take root if they go unchecked.
But not this time -- we're fighting back.
And when I say "we," I mean that literally. I know Barack is committed to fighting every smear every time. He'll fight hard and stand up for the truth. But he can't do it alone.
We need you to email the truth to your address books. Print it out and post it at work. Talk to your neighbors. Call your local radio station. Write a letter to the editor. If lies can be spread virally, let's prove to the cynics that the truth can be every bit as persuasive as it is powerful.
The Obama campaign has created a place where you can find the truth you'll need to push back on these smears and a way to spread the truth to all of your address book.
Take action here:
http://my.barackobama.com/factcheckaction
So when your inbox fills up with trash and the emails of smear and fear, find the facts, and help defeat the lies.
Barack Obama is committed to bringing our country together to meet the challenges we face, but he knows that power gives up nothing without a struggle -- and to win the chance to change America, we must first defeat the hateful tactics that have been used to tear us apart for too long.
With your help, we can turn the page on an era of small, divisive politics -- but only if next time you hear these attacks on Barack, you take action immediately:
http://my.barackobama.com/factcheckaction
The fight is just heating up -- we won't let them steal this election with lies and distortions.
Thank you,
John Kerry
I support Barack Obama because he doesn't seek to perfect the politics of Swiftboating -- he seeks to end it.
This is personal for me, and for a whole lot of Americans who lived through the 2004 election.
As a veteran, it disgusts me that the Swift Boats we loved while we were in uniform on the Mekong Delta have been rendered, in Karl Rove's twisted politics, an ugly verb meaning to lie about someone's character just to win an election. But as someone who cares about winning this election and changing the country I love, I know it's not enough to complain about a past we can't change when our challenge is to win the future -- which is why we must stop the Swiftboating, stop the push-polling, stop the front groups, and stop the email chain smears.
The truth matters, but how you fight the lies matters even more. We must be determined never again to lose any election to a lie.
This year, the attacks are already starting. Some of you may have heard about the disgusting lies about Barack Obama that are being circulated by email. These attacks smear Barack's Christian faith and deep patriotism, and they distort his record of more than two decades of public service. They are nothing short of "Swiftboat" style anonymous attacks.
These are the same tactics the right has used again and again, and as we've learned, these attacks, no matter how bogus, can spread and take root if they go unchecked.
But not this time -- we're fighting back.
And when I say "we," I mean that literally. I know Barack is committed to fighting every smear every time. He'll fight hard and stand up for the truth. But he can't do it alone.
We need you to email the truth to your address books. Print it out and post it at work. Talk to your neighbors. Call your local radio station. Write a letter to the editor. If lies can be spread virally, let's prove to the cynics that the truth can be every bit as persuasive as it is powerful.
The Obama campaign has created a place where you can find the truth you'll need to push back on these smears and a way to spread the truth to all of your address book.
Take action here:
http://my.barackobama.com/factcheckaction
So when your inbox fills up with trash and the emails of smear and fear, find the facts, and help defeat the lies.
Barack Obama is committed to bringing our country together to meet the challenges we face, but he knows that power gives up nothing without a struggle -- and to win the chance to change America, we must first defeat the hateful tactics that have been used to tear us apart for too long.
With your help, we can turn the page on an era of small, divisive politics -- but only if next time you hear these attacks on Barack, you take action immediately:
http://my.barackobama.com/factcheckaction
The fight is just heating up -- we won't let them steal this election with lies and distortions.
Thank you,
John Kerry
From AOL news:
In Carolina, It's Obama vs. (Bill) Clinton
By PATRICK HEALY,The New York Times
Posted: 2008-01-22 13:58:18
Filed Under: Elections News
(Jan. 22) -- Facing formidable support for Senator Barack Obama in South Carolina, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is deploying former President Bill Clinton there while she shifts her attention to campaigning in states with nominating contests next month and to raising money.
The strategic shift intensifies a new dynamic in the race: Mrs. Clinton’s campaign this week in South Carolina is essentially running Mr. Clinton against Mr. Obama. The two have been engaged in a war of words, with Mr. Clinton accusing the Obama campaign of voter coercion in the Nevada caucuses, and Mr. Obama saying on Monday that Mr. Clinton had made comments that were “not factually accurate” and that his advocacy for his wife had grown “pretty troubling.”
By PATRICK HEALY,The New York Times
Posted: 2008-01-22 13:58:18
Filed Under: Elections News
(Jan. 22) -- Facing formidable support for Senator Barack Obama in South Carolina, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is deploying former President Bill Clinton there while she shifts her attention to campaigning in states with nominating contests next month and to raising money.
The strategic shift intensifies a new dynamic in the race: Mrs. Clinton’s campaign this week in South Carolina is essentially running Mr. Clinton against Mr. Obama. The two have been engaged in a war of words, with Mr. Clinton accusing the Obama campaign of voter coercion in the Nevada caucuses, and Mr. Obama saying on Monday that Mr. Clinton had made comments that were “not factually accurate” and that his advocacy for his wife had grown “pretty troubling.”
Borowitz Report:Humorous look at Bill!
Bill Clinton Acting ‘Like a Madman,’ Says Kim Jong-Il
North Korean Leader Urges Former Prez to ‘Dial it Down’
Former President Bill Clinton is behaving “like a madman” as he campaigns for his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), and needs to get control over his erratic outbursts, North Korean President Kim Jong-Il said today.
While the reclusive Mr. Kim rarely comments on U.S. politics, the North Korean president said that he felt “compelled” to speak out because Mr. Clinton’s behavior on the campaign trail “had gone too far.”
“When I see him popping off like that, I wonder if he knows that he looks like a lunatic,” Mr. Kim told reporters in Pyongyang. “I really think the guy needs to dial it down a little.”
As a head of state, Mr. Kim said that “it gives him the willies” when he sees other world leaders behaving in a seemingly unhinged manner: “I wouldn’t want people who see Bill Clinton losing it conclude that we’re all a bunch of whackjobs.”
Mr. Kim’s words found support from another head of state, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who said that he, too, was “troubled” by the former U.S. president’s “kooky rants.”
“I would strongly advise Bill Clinton that before he opens his mouth, count to ten first.” Mr. Chavez said.
But perhaps the most somber assessment of the former president came today from British singer Amy Winehouse, who called Mr. Clinton’s antics “a desperate cry for help.”
“Bill Clinton needs an intervention,” Ms. Winehouse said. “I hope it’s not too late.”
Elsewhere, Iran called its recent encounter with American warships an “accident,” blaming the entire episode on Mapquest.
North Korean Leader Urges Former Prez to ‘Dial it Down’
Former President Bill Clinton is behaving “like a madman” as he campaigns for his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), and needs to get control over his erratic outbursts, North Korean President Kim Jong-Il said today.
While the reclusive Mr. Kim rarely comments on U.S. politics, the North Korean president said that he felt “compelled” to speak out because Mr. Clinton’s behavior on the campaign trail “had gone too far.”
“When I see him popping off like that, I wonder if he knows that he looks like a lunatic,” Mr. Kim told reporters in Pyongyang. “I really think the guy needs to dial it down a little.”
As a head of state, Mr. Kim said that “it gives him the willies” when he sees other world leaders behaving in a seemingly unhinged manner: “I wouldn’t want people who see Bill Clinton losing it conclude that we’re all a bunch of whackjobs.”
Mr. Kim’s words found support from another head of state, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who said that he, too, was “troubled” by the former U.S. president’s “kooky rants.”
“I would strongly advise Bill Clinton that before he opens his mouth, count to ten first.” Mr. Chavez said.
But perhaps the most somber assessment of the former president came today from British singer Amy Winehouse, who called Mr. Clinton’s antics “a desperate cry for help.”
“Bill Clinton needs an intervention,” Ms. Winehouse said. “I hope it’s not too late.”
Elsewhere, Iran called its recent encounter with American warships an “accident,” blaming the entire episode on Mapquest.
From WOW Westchester Obama Women
January 23rd at 8:15 PM
COME TO A FORUM ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT TO HEAR REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE CAMPAIGNS EXPLAIN THE REPORTED POSITIONS AND TAKE QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC
WHERE: Daronco Town House. 34 5th Avenue in Pelham.
WHEN: Wednesday, January 23rd at 8:15 pm.
REPRESENTATIVES to speak:
For Hilary Clinton: Tim Idoni, Wechester County Clerk and former Mayor of New Rochelle.
For Barack Obama: Judy Aydelott, Democratic candidate in the last primary for NY19 Congressional District. (Good friend and wonderful representative for our team!!!)
For John Edwards: Debbie Fugazy, an Eastchester resident and realtor who is originally from North Carolina.
ADMISSION: FREE (come early for good seats) and everyone is welcome.
January 27 at 2PM:
Time: Sunday, January 27 at 2:00 PM
Duration: 2 hours
Host: Cynthia Combe
Location: Cindy Combe's home (Scarsdale, NY)
22 River Road
Scarsdale, NY 10583
View Map: Google Maps
MapQuest
1/29 Tuesday, January 29
There will be a meeting of the Town of Mamaroneck Democratic Committee on
Tuesday, January 29 at 8pm at my home - 47 Vine Road, Larchmont.
at 8pm at my home - 47 Vine Road, Larchmont. Roz Weinstein
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss, debate, etc. the Presidential Primary which will be held on February 5. Let's get together and hash it out. I can get a spokesperson for Hillary. I do not know the Obama or Edwards people in Westchester. Please let me know if you have contacts in those campaigns. I will be happy to invite any and all.
2/2 Saturday February 2
Westchester Obama Women (WOW) group that is mushrooming also - will have a rally on Feb. 2 at noon in Chappaqua - well, of course, why not in Chappaqua! Come join us and bring friends to wave the WOW signs!! Judy
COME TO A FORUM ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT TO HEAR REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE CAMPAIGNS EXPLAIN THE REPORTED POSITIONS AND TAKE QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC
WHERE: Daronco Town House. 34 5th Avenue in Pelham.
WHEN: Wednesday, January 23rd at 8:15 pm.
REPRESENTATIVES to speak:
For Hilary Clinton: Tim Idoni, Wechester County Clerk and former Mayor of New Rochelle.
For Barack Obama: Judy Aydelott, Democratic candidate in the last primary for NY19 Congressional District. (Good friend and wonderful representative for our team!!!)
For John Edwards: Debbie Fugazy, an Eastchester resident and realtor who is originally from North Carolina.
ADMISSION: FREE (come early for good seats) and everyone is welcome.
January 27 at 2PM:
Time: Sunday, January 27 at 2:00 PM
Duration: 2 hours
Host: Cynthia Combe
Location: Cindy Combe's home (Scarsdale, NY)
22 River Road
Scarsdale, NY 10583
View Map: Google Maps
MapQuest
1/29 Tuesday, January 29
There will be a meeting of the Town of Mamaroneck Democratic Committee on
Tuesday, January 29 at 8pm at my home - 47 Vine Road, Larchmont.
at 8pm at my home - 47 Vine Road, Larchmont. Roz Weinstein
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss, debate, etc. the Presidential Primary which will be held on February 5. Let's get together and hash it out. I can get a spokesperson for Hillary. I do not know the Obama or Edwards people in Westchester. Please let me know if you have contacts in those campaigns. I will be happy to invite any and all.
2/2 Saturday February 2
Westchester Obama Women (WOW) group that is mushrooming also - will have a rally on Feb. 2 at noon in Chappaqua - well, of course, why not in Chappaqua! Come join us and bring friends to wave the WOW signs!! Judy
From Newsmax:
Obama Plans to Confront Bill Clinton
Sunday, January 20, 2008 10:22 PM
Article Font Size
Sen. Barack Obama says the gloves are coming off against former President Clinton.
In an interview set to air Monday on "Good Morning America," Obama says: "You know the former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling. He continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts -- whether it's about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas.
"This has become a habit, and one of the things that we're going to have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he's making statements that are not factually accurate."
Bill Clinton has said it was a "fairy tale" that Obama has consistently opposed the Iraq war from the beginning. He also has claimed that Nevada union officials intimidated members into caucusing for Obama.
"I understand him wanting to promote his wife's candidacy," Obama says in the GMA interview. "She's got a record that she can run on. But I think it's important that we try to maintain some -- you know, level of honesty and candor during the course of the campaign. If we don't, then we feed the cynicism that has led so many Americans to be turned off to politics."
In response, Hillary Clinton's campaign suggested that Obama was sore after finishing second in Saturday's Nevada caucuses.
© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Sunday, January 20, 2008 10:22 PM
Article Font Size
Sen. Barack Obama says the gloves are coming off against former President Clinton.
In an interview set to air Monday on "Good Morning America," Obama says: "You know the former president, who I think all of us have a lot of regard for, has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling. He continues to make statements that are not supported by the facts -- whether it's about my record of opposition to the war in Iraq or our approach to organizing in Las Vegas.
"This has become a habit, and one of the things that we're going to have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he's making statements that are not factually accurate."
Bill Clinton has said it was a "fairy tale" that Obama has consistently opposed the Iraq war from the beginning. He also has claimed that Nevada union officials intimidated members into caucusing for Obama.
"I understand him wanting to promote his wife's candidacy," Obama says in the GMA interview. "She's got a record that she can run on. But I think it's important that we try to maintain some -- you know, level of honesty and candor during the course of the campaign. If we don't, then we feed the cynicism that has led so many Americans to be turned off to politics."
In response, Hillary Clinton's campaign suggested that Obama was sore after finishing second in Saturday's Nevada caucuses.
© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Monday, January 21, 2008
From Sunny and Obama campaign:
Sunny --
Barack Obama gave a stirring speech at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s church in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday morning.
Watch this video of the event and share it with someone you know:
http://my.barackobama.com/KingChurch
The full text of the speech is below.
Thank you,
Obama for America
--
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: The Great Need of the Hour
Atlanta, GA | January 20, 2008
The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter. The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force. And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through.
But God had a plan for his people. He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram's horn, they should speak with one voice. And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
There are many lessons to take from this passage, just as there are many lessons to take from this day, just as there are many memories that fill the space of this church. As I was thinking about which ones we need to remember at this hour, my mind went back to the very beginning of the modern Civil Rights Era.
Because before Memphis and the mountaintop; before the bridge in Selma and the march on Washington; before Birmingham and the beatings; the fire hoses and the loss of those four little girls; before there was King the icon and his magnificent dream, there was King the young preacher and a people who found themselves suffering under the yoke of oppression.
And on the eve of the bus boycotts in Montgomery, at a time when many were still doubtful about the possibilities of change, a time when those in the black community mistrusted themselves, and at times mistrusted each other, King inspired with words not of anger, but of an urgency that still speaks to us today:
"Unity is the great need of the hour" is what King said. Unity is how we shall overcome.
What Dr. King understood is that if just one person chose to walk instead of ride the bus, those walls of oppression would not be moved. But maybe if a few more walked, the foundation might start to shake. If a few more women were willing to do what Rosa Parks had done, maybe the cracks would start to show. If teenagers took freedom rides from North to South, maybe a few bricks would come loose. Maybe if white folks marched because they had come to understand that their freedom too was at stake in the impending battle, the wall would begin to sway. And if enough Americans were awakened to the injustice; if they joined together, North and South, rich and poor, Christian and Jew, then perhaps that wall would come tumbling down, and justice would flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Unity is the great need of the hour -- the great need of this hour. Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it's the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country.
I'm not talking about a budget deficit. I'm not talking about a trade deficit. I'm not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans.
I'm talking about a moral deficit. I'm talking about an empathy deficit. I'm taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother's keeper; we are our sister's keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.
We have an empathy deficit when we're still sending our children down corridors of shame -- schools in the forgotten corners of America where the color of your skin still affects the content of your education.
We have a deficit when CEOs are making more in ten minutes than some workers make in ten months; when families lose their homes so that lenders make a profit; when mothers can't afford a doctor when their children get sick.
We have a deficit in this country when there is Scooter Libby justice for some and Jena justice for others; when our children see nooses hanging from a schoolyard tree today, in the present, in the twenty-first century.
We have a deficit when homeless veterans sleep on the streets of our cities; when innocents are slaughtered in the deserts of Darfur; when young Americans serve tour after tour of duty in a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged.
And we have a deficit when it takes a breach in our levees to reveal a breach in our compassion; when it takes a terrible storm to reveal the hungry that God calls on us to feed; the sick He calls on us to care for; the least of these He commands that we treat as our own.
So we have a deficit to close. We have walls -- barriers to justice and equality -- that must come down. And to do this, we know that unity is the great need of this hour.
Unfortunately, all too often when we talk about unity in this country, we've come to believe that it can be purchased on the cheap. We've come to believe that racial reconciliation can come easily -- that it's just a matter of a few ignorant people trapped in the prejudices of the past, and that if the demagogues and those who exploit our racial divisions will simply go away, then all our problems would be solved.
All too often, we seek to ignore the profound institutional barriers that stand in the way of ensuring opportunity for all children, or decent jobs for all people, or health care for those who are sick. We long for unity, but are unwilling to pay the price.
But of course, true unity cannot be so easily won. It starts with a change in attitudes -- a broadening of our minds, and a broadening of our hearts.
It's not easy to stand in somebody else's shoes. It's not easy to see past our differences. We've all encountered this in our own lives. But what makes it even more difficult is that we have a politics in this country that seeks to drive us apart -- that puts up walls between us.
We are told that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don't think like us or look like us or come from where we do. The welfare queen is taking our tax money. The immigrant is taking our jobs. The believer condemns the non-believer as immoral, and the non-believer chides the believer as intolerant.
For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays -- on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system.
And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community.
We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.
Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party. It is played out on television. It is sensationalized by the media. And last week, it even crept into the campaign for President, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation.
So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds. The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others -- all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face -- war and poverty; injustice and inequality. We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late.
Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts.
But if changing our hearts and minds is the first critical step, we cannot stop there. It is not enough to bemoan the plight of poor children in this country and remain unwilling to push our elected officials to provide the resources to fix our schools. It is not enough to decry the disparities of health care and yet allow the insurance companies and the drug companies to block much-needed reforms. It is not enough for us to abhor the costs of a misguided war, and yet allow ourselves to be driven by a politics of fear that sees the threat of attack as way to scare up votes instead of a call to come together around a common effort.
The Scripture tells us that we are judged not just by word, but by deed. And if we are to truly bring about the unity that is so crucial in this time, we must find it within ourselves to act on what we know; to understand that living up to this country's ideals and its possibilities will require great effort and resources; sacrifice and stamina.
And that is what is at stake in the great political debate we are having today. The changes that are needed are not just a matter of tinkering at the edges, and they will not come if politicians simply tell us what we want to hear. All of us will be called upon to make some sacrifice. None of us will be exempt from responsibility. We will have to fight to fix our schools, but we will also have to challenge ourselves to be better parents. We will have to confront the biases in our criminal justice system, but we will also have to acknowledge the deep-seated violence that still resides in our own communities and marshal the will to break its grip.
That is how we will bring about the change we seek. That is how Dr. King led this country through the wilderness. He did it with words -- words that he spoke not just to the children of slaves, but the children of slave owners. Words that inspired not just black but also white; not just the Christian but the Jew; not just the Southerner but also the Northerner.
He led with words, but he also led with deeds. He also led by example. He led by marching and going to jail and suffering threats and being away from his family. He led by taking a stand against a war, knowing full well that it would diminish his popularity. He led by challenging our economic structures, understanding that it would cause discomfort. Dr. King understood that unity cannot be won on the cheap; that we would have to earn it through great effort and determination.
That is the unity -- the hard-earned unity -- that we need right now. It is that effort, and that determination, that can transform blind optimism into hope -- the hope to imagine, and work for, and fight for what seemed impossible before.
The stories that give me such hope don't happen in the spotlight. They don't happen on the presidential stage. They happen in the quiet corners of our lives. They happen in the moments we least expect. Let me give you an example of one of those stories.
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organizes for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She's been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and the other day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
So Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."
By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we begin. It is why the walls in that room began to crack and shake.
And if they can shake in that room, they can shake in Atlanta.
And if they can shake in Atlanta, they can shake in Georgia.
And if they can shake in Georgia, they can shake all across America. And if enough of our voices join together; we can bring those walls tumbling down. The walls of Jericho can finally come tumbling down. That is our hope -- but only if we pray together, and work together, and march together.
Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone
In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone.
So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all. May God bless the memory of the great pastor of this church, and may God bless the United States of America.
Paid for by Obama for America
This email was sent to: sunnyg45@aol.com
To unsubscribe, go to: http://my.barackobama.com/unsubscribe
Barack Obama gave a stirring speech at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s church in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday morning.
Watch this video of the event and share it with someone you know:
http://my.barackobama.com/KingChurch
The full text of the speech is below.
Thank you,
Obama for America
--
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: The Great Need of the Hour
Atlanta, GA | January 20, 2008
The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter. The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force. And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through.
But God had a plan for his people. He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram's horn, they should speak with one voice. And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
There are many lessons to take from this passage, just as there are many lessons to take from this day, just as there are many memories that fill the space of this church. As I was thinking about which ones we need to remember at this hour, my mind went back to the very beginning of the modern Civil Rights Era.
Because before Memphis and the mountaintop; before the bridge in Selma and the march on Washington; before Birmingham and the beatings; the fire hoses and the loss of those four little girls; before there was King the icon and his magnificent dream, there was King the young preacher and a people who found themselves suffering under the yoke of oppression.
And on the eve of the bus boycotts in Montgomery, at a time when many were still doubtful about the possibilities of change, a time when those in the black community mistrusted themselves, and at times mistrusted each other, King inspired with words not of anger, but of an urgency that still speaks to us today:
"Unity is the great need of the hour" is what King said. Unity is how we shall overcome.
What Dr. King understood is that if just one person chose to walk instead of ride the bus, those walls of oppression would not be moved. But maybe if a few more walked, the foundation might start to shake. If a few more women were willing to do what Rosa Parks had done, maybe the cracks would start to show. If teenagers took freedom rides from North to South, maybe a few bricks would come loose. Maybe if white folks marched because they had come to understand that their freedom too was at stake in the impending battle, the wall would begin to sway. And if enough Americans were awakened to the injustice; if they joined together, North and South, rich and poor, Christian and Jew, then perhaps that wall would come tumbling down, and justice would flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Unity is the great need of the hour -- the great need of this hour. Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it's the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country.
I'm not talking about a budget deficit. I'm not talking about a trade deficit. I'm not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans.
I'm talking about a moral deficit. I'm talking about an empathy deficit. I'm taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother's keeper; we are our sister's keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.
We have an empathy deficit when we're still sending our children down corridors of shame -- schools in the forgotten corners of America where the color of your skin still affects the content of your education.
We have a deficit when CEOs are making more in ten minutes than some workers make in ten months; when families lose their homes so that lenders make a profit; when mothers can't afford a doctor when their children get sick.
We have a deficit in this country when there is Scooter Libby justice for some and Jena justice for others; when our children see nooses hanging from a schoolyard tree today, in the present, in the twenty-first century.
We have a deficit when homeless veterans sleep on the streets of our cities; when innocents are slaughtered in the deserts of Darfur; when young Americans serve tour after tour of duty in a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged.
And we have a deficit when it takes a breach in our levees to reveal a breach in our compassion; when it takes a terrible storm to reveal the hungry that God calls on us to feed; the sick He calls on us to care for; the least of these He commands that we treat as our own.
So we have a deficit to close. We have walls -- barriers to justice and equality -- that must come down. And to do this, we know that unity is the great need of this hour.
Unfortunately, all too often when we talk about unity in this country, we've come to believe that it can be purchased on the cheap. We've come to believe that racial reconciliation can come easily -- that it's just a matter of a few ignorant people trapped in the prejudices of the past, and that if the demagogues and those who exploit our racial divisions will simply go away, then all our problems would be solved.
All too often, we seek to ignore the profound institutional barriers that stand in the way of ensuring opportunity for all children, or decent jobs for all people, or health care for those who are sick. We long for unity, but are unwilling to pay the price.
But of course, true unity cannot be so easily won. It starts with a change in attitudes -- a broadening of our minds, and a broadening of our hearts.
It's not easy to stand in somebody else's shoes. It's not easy to see past our differences. We've all encountered this in our own lives. But what makes it even more difficult is that we have a politics in this country that seeks to drive us apart -- that puts up walls between us.
We are told that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don't think like us or look like us or come from where we do. The welfare queen is taking our tax money. The immigrant is taking our jobs. The believer condemns the non-believer as immoral, and the non-believer chides the believer as intolerant.
For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays -- on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system.
And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community.
We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.
Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party. It is played out on television. It is sensationalized by the media. And last week, it even crept into the campaign for President, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation.
So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds. The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others -- all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face -- war and poverty; injustice and inequality. We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late.
Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts.
But if changing our hearts and minds is the first critical step, we cannot stop there. It is not enough to bemoan the plight of poor children in this country and remain unwilling to push our elected officials to provide the resources to fix our schools. It is not enough to decry the disparities of health care and yet allow the insurance companies and the drug companies to block much-needed reforms. It is not enough for us to abhor the costs of a misguided war, and yet allow ourselves to be driven by a politics of fear that sees the threat of attack as way to scare up votes instead of a call to come together around a common effort.
The Scripture tells us that we are judged not just by word, but by deed. And if we are to truly bring about the unity that is so crucial in this time, we must find it within ourselves to act on what we know; to understand that living up to this country's ideals and its possibilities will require great effort and resources; sacrifice and stamina.
And that is what is at stake in the great political debate we are having today. The changes that are needed are not just a matter of tinkering at the edges, and they will not come if politicians simply tell us what we want to hear. All of us will be called upon to make some sacrifice. None of us will be exempt from responsibility. We will have to fight to fix our schools, but we will also have to challenge ourselves to be better parents. We will have to confront the biases in our criminal justice system, but we will also have to acknowledge the deep-seated violence that still resides in our own communities and marshal the will to break its grip.
That is how we will bring about the change we seek. That is how Dr. King led this country through the wilderness. He did it with words -- words that he spoke not just to the children of slaves, but the children of slave owners. Words that inspired not just black but also white; not just the Christian but the Jew; not just the Southerner but also the Northerner.
He led with words, but he also led with deeds. He also led by example. He led by marching and going to jail and suffering threats and being away from his family. He led by taking a stand against a war, knowing full well that it would diminish his popularity. He led by challenging our economic structures, understanding that it would cause discomfort. Dr. King understood that unity cannot be won on the cheap; that we would have to earn it through great effort and determination.
That is the unity -- the hard-earned unity -- that we need right now. It is that effort, and that determination, that can transform blind optimism into hope -- the hope to imagine, and work for, and fight for what seemed impossible before.
The stories that give me such hope don't happen in the spotlight. They don't happen on the presidential stage. They happen in the quiet corners of our lives. They happen in the moments we least expect. Let me give you an example of one of those stories.
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organizes for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She's been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and the other day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
So Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."
By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we begin. It is why the walls in that room began to crack and shake.
And if they can shake in that room, they can shake in Atlanta.
And if they can shake in Atlanta, they can shake in Georgia.
And if they can shake in Georgia, they can shake all across America. And if enough of our voices join together; we can bring those walls tumbling down. The walls of Jericho can finally come tumbling down. That is our hope -- but only if we pray together, and work together, and march together.
Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone
In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone.
So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all. May God bless the memory of the great pastor of this church, and may God bless the United States of America.
Paid for by Obama for America
This email was sent to: sunnyg45@aol.com
To unsubscribe, go to: http://my.barackobama.com/unsubscribe
Saturday, January 19, 2008
From Vicky in KC:
This is a blog that has compared styles - it is very compelling. I urge you to read it and pass it on. (full disclosure - I am an Edwards supporter, but you gotta look at the blog. I would love some feedback.)
Vicki
http://www.groupnewsblog.net/2008/01/declaration-request-promiselead-lobby.html
Vicki Walker
KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio
Listen Mondays 9:30am - KC Media Watchdogs - KC only media critique show!
vwatsonwalker@gmail.com
Vicki
http://www.groupnewsblog.net/2008/01/declaration-request-promiselead-lobby.html
Vicki Walker
KKFI 90.1 FM Kansas City Community Radio
Listen Mondays 9:30am - KC Media Watchdogs - KC only media critique show!
vwatsonwalker@gmail.com
From Ashley in Westchester: About CA
He could bridge political divides
Published 12:00 am PST Saturday, January 19, 2008
It is beginning to look as if the Democratic Party will break historic barriers this year no matter how the party's contest for the presidential nomination concludes. If the nominee is Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York or Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, as seems likely, either a woman or an African American will be a major party's nominee for the first time.
The two leading candidates give California Democrats and independents voting Feb. 5 an interesting choice. Both have been senators for a relatively short time, but both also have other attributes that give them unique perspectives on the country and on the job they seek.
As first lady for eight years, Clinton served as a serious policy adviser to the president, not only on health care, where she famously failed, but on other matters as well. On free trade and reforming welfare, she and Bill Clinton faced down their friends and allies to do what was right, and Hillary Clinton is still paying the price today with some in the left wing of her party.
The Clinton years were tainted by scandal, and Hillary Clinton took her share of hits for those problems. Some were deserved; some were not. Dealing with the constant accusations no doubt toughened her. That toughness is one thing we admire most about her.
But those battle scars are also evidence of a troubling trend in American politics that would likely only intensify if Clinton were to become president. Since her husband's first term, politics has become increasingly polarized, the partisan fights more brutal. The Clintons have been both aggressors and victims in those wars.
Barack Obama, in contrast, would be a fresh face with a new approach and no old scores to settle. His ascension would represent a clean break with the generation that has fought and re-fought the Vietnam War and the cultural upheavals that wracked the 1960s.
As a former community organizer, civil rights lawyer and state legislator, Obama is familiar with real issues people face, and he has worked to solve them on the ground. As president, he says, he would cross party lines to find solutions to the nation's most vexing problems, from health care to global warming. There is reason to believe he could do that. His inspiring personal story and his communications skills could nudge Americans of all ages, but especially the young, to give more of themselves to aid the less fortunate in their communities.
Unlike Clinton, Obama was an early opponent of the war in Iraq, because he thought it was a strategic blunder that would only hurt the United States. His credibility on that issue would position him well to end the occupation quickly while also giving him the flexibility to extend it if necessary to avoid shedding the blood of more innocent Iraqis.
Obama's lack of experience at the highest levels of government might lead to mistakes. But that risk is smaller, in our view, than the benefit of moving on from the Bushes and the Clintons, who have been in the White House for longer than some young voters have been alive. That is why Obama is the best choice for the Democratic nomination for president.
Published 12:00 am PST Saturday, January 19, 2008
It is beginning to look as if the Democratic Party will break historic barriers this year no matter how the party's contest for the presidential nomination concludes. If the nominee is Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York or Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, as seems likely, either a woman or an African American will be a major party's nominee for the first time.
The two leading candidates give California Democrats and independents voting Feb. 5 an interesting choice. Both have been senators for a relatively short time, but both also have other attributes that give them unique perspectives on the country and on the job they seek.
As first lady for eight years, Clinton served as a serious policy adviser to the president, not only on health care, where she famously failed, but on other matters as well. On free trade and reforming welfare, she and Bill Clinton faced down their friends and allies to do what was right, and Hillary Clinton is still paying the price today with some in the left wing of her party.
The Clinton years were tainted by scandal, and Hillary Clinton took her share of hits for those problems. Some were deserved; some were not. Dealing with the constant accusations no doubt toughened her. That toughness is one thing we admire most about her.
But those battle scars are also evidence of a troubling trend in American politics that would likely only intensify if Clinton were to become president. Since her husband's first term, politics has become increasingly polarized, the partisan fights more brutal. The Clintons have been both aggressors and victims in those wars.
Barack Obama, in contrast, would be a fresh face with a new approach and no old scores to settle. His ascension would represent a clean break with the generation that has fought and re-fought the Vietnam War and the cultural upheavals that wracked the 1960s.
As a former community organizer, civil rights lawyer and state legislator, Obama is familiar with real issues people face, and he has worked to solve them on the ground. As president, he says, he would cross party lines to find solutions to the nation's most vexing problems, from health care to global warming. There is reason to believe he could do that. His inspiring personal story and his communications skills could nudge Americans of all ages, but especially the young, to give more of themselves to aid the less fortunate in their communities.
Unlike Clinton, Obama was an early opponent of the war in Iraq, because he thought it was a strategic blunder that would only hurt the United States. His credibility on that issue would position him well to end the occupation quickly while also giving him the flexibility to extend it if necessary to avoid shedding the blood of more innocent Iraqis.
Obama's lack of experience at the highest levels of government might lead to mistakes. But that risk is smaller, in our view, than the benefit of moving on from the Bushes and the Clintons, who have been in the White House for longer than some young voters have been alive. That is why Obama is the best choice for the Democratic nomination for president.
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Countdown Begins!
“As of Monday”
Many of us thought it would never happen, but as of Monday, January 21, 2008, there will be exactly 365 days remaining in the imperial rule of King George 43. In the words of Barack Obama, “on January 20, 2009 the world will breathe a collective sigh of relief.” King George has accomplished much in seven plus years as Commander-In-Chief; He has ruined the Armed Forces, wrecked the economy, dealt close-to-death blows to the environment, allowed the continued unchecked flow of illegal immigrants across our borders, surrounded himself with the greatest group of losers in presidential history, denied the benefits of embryonic stem cell research to millions of Americans, increased our dependence on foreign oil, tortured and rendered prisoners of war and suspected terrorists, allowed the genocide in Darfur to continue, turned his back on peace between Israel and Palestine (until a recent half-hearted effort), ignored the United States Constitution, stacked the Supreme Court with right-wing conservatives, allowed almost ten million more people to slip into poverty on his watch, stood by while almost fifty million people have no access to affordable health insurance, broken his promise to the people of the Gulf Coast, caused our friends to distrust us and our enemies to hate us even more than we thought possible, and as a result has made the world a far more dangerous place than before 9/11.
King George has had a lot of help. Prince of Darkness Cheney has been at Bush’s right hand the entire time, and has whispered in Bush’s ear that all that matters is we take care of our wealthy friends. In the process they have weakened the Republican Party to a point where no matter who the nominee for President is, they will all but certainly be defeated in November. I have a calendar on my office desk with a “Bushism” on every page starting from 365. I will eagerly rip off one page every morning while I sip my morning coffee, and dream of an America without this tyrannical, delusional man in charge.
By:
Henry A. Lowenstein
Many of us thought it would never happen, but as of Monday, January 21, 2008, there will be exactly 365 days remaining in the imperial rule of King George 43. In the words of Barack Obama, “on January 20, 2009 the world will breathe a collective sigh of relief.” King George has accomplished much in seven plus years as Commander-In-Chief; He has ruined the Armed Forces, wrecked the economy, dealt close-to-death blows to the environment, allowed the continued unchecked flow of illegal immigrants across our borders, surrounded himself with the greatest group of losers in presidential history, denied the benefits of embryonic stem cell research to millions of Americans, increased our dependence on foreign oil, tortured and rendered prisoners of war and suspected terrorists, allowed the genocide in Darfur to continue, turned his back on peace between Israel and Palestine (until a recent half-hearted effort), ignored the United States Constitution, stacked the Supreme Court with right-wing conservatives, allowed almost ten million more people to slip into poverty on his watch, stood by while almost fifty million people have no access to affordable health insurance, broken his promise to the people of the Gulf Coast, caused our friends to distrust us and our enemies to hate us even more than we thought possible, and as a result has made the world a far more dangerous place than before 9/11.
King George has had a lot of help. Prince of Darkness Cheney has been at Bush’s right hand the entire time, and has whispered in Bush’s ear that all that matters is we take care of our wealthy friends. In the process they have weakened the Republican Party to a point where no matter who the nominee for President is, they will all but certainly be defeated in November. I have a calendar on my office desk with a “Bushism” on every page starting from 365. I will eagerly rip off one page every morning while I sip my morning coffee, and dream of an America without this tyrannical, delusional man in charge.
By:
Henry A. Lowenstein
Thursday, January 17, 2008
From Obama Campaign:
Dear Sunny,
Primary season is in full swing, and with Kansas' February 5th caucus only a few weeks away, now's the time to turn your enthusiasm for Barack into action.
Across Kansas, Obama supporters are coming together to knock on doors, make phone calls, and organize their communities.
We're building the grassroots network that will make this campaign successful on caucus day.
Sign up now and help Barack in your community:
http://my.barackobama.com/KSvolunteer
This is an important time for our campaign. After our dramatic victory in Iowa and our strong showing in New Hampshire, the momentum of our movement for change is building across the country.
Every day, more and more Americans are standing up to reclaim their part in the political process -- knowing that what unites us as a people is stronger than anything that divides us.
You can have a major impact on the race for the Democratic nomination and help Barack in Kansas.
Sign up and make a difference in the days leading up to February 5th.
Get involved now:
http://my.barackobama.com/KSvolunteer
Thank you for your support,
Mitch
Mitch Wallace
Kansas Caucus Director
Obama for America
Primary season is in full swing, and with Kansas' February 5th caucus only a few weeks away, now's the time to turn your enthusiasm for Barack into action.
Across Kansas, Obama supporters are coming together to knock on doors, make phone calls, and organize their communities.
We're building the grassroots network that will make this campaign successful on caucus day.
Sign up now and help Barack in your community:
http://my.barackobama.com/KSvolunteer
This is an important time for our campaign. After our dramatic victory in Iowa and our strong showing in New Hampshire, the momentum of our movement for change is building across the country.
Every day, more and more Americans are standing up to reclaim their part in the political process -- knowing that what unites us as a people is stronger than anything that divides us.
You can have a major impact on the race for the Democratic nomination and help Barack in Kansas.
Sign up and make a difference in the days leading up to February 5th.
Get involved now:
http://my.barackobama.com/KSvolunteer
Thank you for your support,
Mitch
Mitch Wallace
Kansas Caucus Director
Obama for America
From Kathy in MO:
Have you seen the news? President Bush is negotiating a deal with Iraq to keep our troops there indefinitely--it could include permanent bases and a massive military presence for years! Bush is trying to tie the hands of the next president.
Congress can stop him from setting up permanent bases in Iraq and block an indefinite occupation--but they need to hear a groundswell of pressure from us immediately and loudly so they act on this quickly.
I just signed a petition demanding that Congress stop the president from committing to a massive military presence in Iraq for decades. Can you join me? Please sign the petition and pass it on!
http://pol.moveon.org/endless/?r_by=-4506833-ygz6Ey&rc=mailto
Thanks!
Kathy
Congress can stop him from setting up permanent bases in Iraq and block an indefinite occupation--but they need to hear a groundswell of pressure from us immediately and loudly so they act on this quickly.
I just signed a petition demanding that Congress stop the president from committing to a massive military presence in Iraq for decades. Can you join me? Please sign the petition and pass it on!
http://pol.moveon.org/endless/?r_by=-4506833-ygz6Ey&rc=mailto
Thanks!
Kathy
From Robert Greenwald Brave New Films:
Dear activists, colleagues and friends,
At Brave New Films, we have generally stayed away from engaging with the extreme right-wing fringe. However, the recent Michael Savage attacks against Muslims are so hateful and vicious, we believe it is important to respond. Not only does he engage in the worst kind of racist name-calling and stereotyping, he then compounds it by filing a frivolous lawsuit against CAIR because they dared to fight back. Really.
1. Watch the video
2. Stand up to Savage
The video is very upsetting, and we believe after seeing it you will want to act.
Watch the video: http://nosavage.org?utm_source=rgemail
You should call or write a personal letter to one of the sponsors listed. Don't make it an attack, but let them know that the video is shocking and you are sure they would not want to be associated with such behavior. A phone call, a letter or an email to the sponsor calling attention to this action by Savage can be effective in hitting him where it hurts.
And then have some fun. The call-in number for his radio show is 800-449-8255, and he is generally on the air between 6-9pm ET. You may have to bite your tongue to get by the phone monitors, but when you do and you get on the air, enjoy yourself. Take the high road. Don't go to his level. You might consider expressing your dismay that his sponsors (pick one, like the USDA or Intuit, the makers of TurboTax) are funding hate.
We also want you to know that we are challenging Savage to try and silence us the way he has with CAIR.
Savage filed a lawsuit against CAIR because they tried to raise money on the same website where they posted his hateful message. The full story is in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/arts/17sava.html
In support of taking on bullies and in defense of free speech, Brave New Films has decided to do exactly the same thing: put Savage's words next to a donate button on our website NOSAVAGE.org. By contributing to Brave New Films, you will send a message to the hateful bully, WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED. And we'll donate all but $1 of the proceeds to the Interfaith Alliance, a group that promotes religious freedom.
And if you have a blog or website, consider doing the same thing. Put up the YouTube video with a link to the donate page to show that his efforts to intimidate those who speak out against him will do nothing but make our voice stronger.
Stand up, stand tall, and join us.
Robert Greenwald
At Brave New Films, we have generally stayed away from engaging with the extreme right-wing fringe. However, the recent Michael Savage attacks against Muslims are so hateful and vicious, we believe it is important to respond. Not only does he engage in the worst kind of racist name-calling and stereotyping, he then compounds it by filing a frivolous lawsuit against CAIR because they dared to fight back. Really.
1. Watch the video
2. Stand up to Savage
The video is very upsetting, and we believe after seeing it you will want to act.
Watch the video: http://nosavage.org?utm_source=rgemail
You should call or write a personal letter to one of the sponsors listed. Don't make it an attack, but let them know that the video is shocking and you are sure they would not want to be associated with such behavior. A phone call, a letter or an email to the sponsor calling attention to this action by Savage can be effective in hitting him where it hurts.
And then have some fun. The call-in number for his radio show is 800-449-8255, and he is generally on the air between 6-9pm ET. You may have to bite your tongue to get by the phone monitors, but when you do and you get on the air, enjoy yourself. Take the high road. Don't go to his level. You might consider expressing your dismay that his sponsors (pick one, like the USDA or Intuit, the makers of TurboTax) are funding hate.
We also want you to know that we are challenging Savage to try and silence us the way he has with CAIR.
Savage filed a lawsuit against CAIR because they tried to raise money on the same website where they posted his hateful message. The full story is in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/arts/17sava.html
In support of taking on bullies and in defense of free speech, Brave New Films has decided to do exactly the same thing: put Savage's words next to a donate button on our website NOSAVAGE.org. By contributing to Brave New Films, you will send a message to the hateful bully, WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED. And we'll donate all but $1 of the proceeds to the Interfaith Alliance, a group that promotes religious freedom.
And if you have a blog or website, consider doing the same thing. Put up the YouTube video with a link to the donate page to show that his efforts to intimidate those who speak out against him will do nothing but make our voice stronger.
Stand up, stand tall, and join us.
Robert Greenwald
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